Years back, Dean & Phil used to start each year with a show where they revealed their New Year’s Resolutions. They stopped doing this because their perceived failures to fulfill their resolutions started to become depressing! Flash forward to present day and your friends in podcasting and broadcasting participate in a “side project” called The Art Life with good pal (and creator of many Chillpak Hollywood Hour theme songs) Jon Lawlor. Each week they hold each other’s feet to the fire as they try to free up their creativity, make it manifest in the world AND encourage each other to live more artful, authentic lives. This weekend, they discussed their intentions for 2024 and how they intend to set their compasses to their true North(s). We thought it might prove interesting, funny and maybe even inspiring, so we are sharing that conversation with you. Happy New Year, one and all!

Your friends in podcasting follow up on last week’s conversation about how the response to hatred and violence directed at the AAPI community might shape the current movie awards season and in the second half of the show, they welcome a great friend, journalist and member of the AAPI community, Yoshi Kato, who weighs in on a year of hate crimes, as well as a year of pandemic and the toll it has taken on the music business and on the business of writing about the music business! He also weighs in on Dean’s Doberman, the Paramount Network and both his favorite and least favorite superhero movies! In the show’s first half, Dean discusses a new Korean sci-fi film, and Phil discusses a classic German sci-fi miniseries! There are also 4 vintage movie ads discussed in connection with four “celebrity deaths” as the careers of two great performers, one leading French filmmaker, and a best-selling, award-winning novelist get celebrated.

This week’s show gets started with Dean providing an update on his graphic novel and a review of “Star Trek: Discovery” Season 3. Phil then shares a message from a loyal listener about their film The Truth is Out There. This leads to further discussion about such topics as conspiracy theories, cults, fear, how to recognize the truth, and “alienation of affection”. In “Celebrity Deaths”, Dean and Phil remember one of the greatest writers of television mysteries and an iconic voice of the British Invasion. Dean and Phil share a new review of their dark comedy feature film The Lady Killers and celebrate the fact that now everyone in the world can see it! Finally, a whole bunch of movies get discussed and reviewed, including Spike Lee’s critically-acclaimed Da 5 Bloods, Kelly Reichardt’s award-winning First Cow and a disappointing Tom Hanks western from director Paul Greengrass. Graphic novels, sci-fi TV, great new movies, conspiracy theories, celebrity deaths and more, all in one hour!

From May 26 through 28, your friends in podcasting converged in Dallas for a Famous Monsters Convention. While there, they filmed interviews and footage for part 2 of their documentary The Truth Is Out There, AND they recorded an entire podcast with special guests Bruce Harwood and Tom Braidwood! It’s a reunion of The Lone Gunmen on YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour!