Listeners of this show know that Dean Haglund and Phil Leirness love to read, and that includes poetry. Yet, in all the years YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour has been “changing the way people listen to the internet”, Dean and Phil have never dedicated an entire episode to discussing a particular poet’s work. Until now … All That Remains is a powerful, evocative new book of poetry by Betsy Holleman Burke, and it announces the arrival of an indelible voice onto the scene. Betsy joins Phil to discuss the book, its themes and the “moment” poetry seems to be having now. Dean then takes a deep dive into two of the book’s more “stand-alone” poems. Quite unexpectedly, listeners will learn a few new things about Dean, himself! You can learn more about All That Remains and its author at searchingforhummingbirds.com. Have a happy and safe New Year, everybody!

 

Phil’s unexpected need to spend summer away from Los Angeles took another turn on Friday when his father died. On this week’s show, he shares memories of his dad. He and Dean also celebrate the lives of the director of numerous box office blockbusters, a giant in animated filmmaking, a legendary comic book artist, and an influential novelist. They will discuss a couple great television series that may be worth your time. Finally, they champion the absurdist cinema of Roy Andersson. From the heartfelt to the absurd, we trust there will be something for everyone on this week’s installment of YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour!

Recorded at 6 am (Pacific) on a Monday morning, this 70 minute conversation between your friends in podcasting is a heartfelt, insightful, irreverent exploration of such topics as knife-wielding homeless, the NFL, The Joker, backstage yoga, the important life skills improv training can teach, the key to artful conversation, the danger of reading “news” online (especially on social media), curiosity, empathy, grief, The King of Comedy and more! Oh, and don’t forget to check out Dean’s live, improv, streaming comedy series, Gravity Hole!

YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour turns 500 episodes old this week and your friends in podcasting celebrate this august milestone with one of their most bizarre shows ever, and it’s truly an episode where everyone is dying to get in … You see, after meeting up at a certain historic building in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles to discuss such topics as a recent Guillermo del Toro exhibit at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Dean’s art work AND Dean’s long-awaited graphic novel, Dean and Phil go on a field trip to Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, one of the most unusual cemeteries in all the world! Never mind their usual segment “Celebrity Deaths”, in this episode your friends in podcasting celebrate death itself! Sound odd enough for you?