Night Call

Latest Episodes:

116: The Fireworks Conspiracy Fireworks Spectacular! Jun 29, 2020

Show notes

The ladies take on the fireworks conspiracy! But first, a night message about Colorado intentional community Drop City. More commune geodesic domes and experimental theater companies. What is the most Night Call time zone? How should we return Mount Rushmore to its former sacred natural state? Then, checking out the story about the shitposting cult DayLife Army. What does it look like when a cult is extremely online, seemingly self-aware about being a cult, and dead set on exploiting people's better instincts? Then, it's the moment everyone's been waiting for: ten thousand hours of incredibly loud nonstop fireworks. We lay out the various theories about the fireworks and our own personal takes. Is it the cops? Just kids? Professional fireworks enthusiasts? Or the ghost of dead Paris Review legend, fireworks hobbyist and CIA plant George Plimpton? The big differences between the fireworks in different cities, and why this specific conspiracy feels convoluted but not far-fetched. Is it all a big psy-op? Just innocent 4th of July fun? Or something even more sinister...

FOOTNOTES

Ex-DLA member's Instagram

Daily Dot article

Son of Baldwin thread

The Atlantic article on fireworks

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115: Tearing Down Disney with Robert Evans Jun 22, 2020

Show notes

Today we take a night call about problematic Disneyland rides and suggest alternatives. Should we replace the torn down Splash Mountain with a Princess And The Frog Ride? (Yes) What is the most racist ride at Disneyland? Can theme parks be divided from themes of imperialism? Then it’s a listener query about Synanon, the self help drug rehab retreat on the Santa Monica strand that turned into a cult in the seventies. For our second half we are joined by Behind The Bastards host Robert Evans to discuss citizen journalism during the uprisings era! Robert discusses covering the Pacific Northwest, the Boogaloo creeps, showing up to face fascists. Then he takes our listeners’ questions about storing rations in small spaces, how to combat fascists flyering in your town, and where the best place to be during the revolution is (hint: among friends). Plus Molly exposes Robert as a full on pumpkin spice Fallhead!

Footnotes:

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114: Fan Cams & CHAZ Fans Jun 15, 2020

Show notes

Tess is off this week so Molly and Emily are joined by Night Call’s fabulous producer Joelle Monique! We start off with an email from a listener who was disappointed with our Lana Del Rey talk recently and take the opportunity to examine our own blind spots. We solicit more critiques from our listeners, and ask how we can be more helpful during this critical time in our country’s history. Then it’s a trip to the CHAZ! Emily learned about the history of autonomous zones and yes it does get weird. The connection to Burning Man and Santa Con is unveiled, and Emily provides the requisite Seattle context for the CHAZ and the French origins of the ZAD. Then we are joined by boy band expert Maria Sherman, author of the new book Larger Than Life, to dive into the recent radicalization of k-pop stans online. Sherman explains what exactly the “fan cams” are that stans have been overloading American police departments asking for footage of rioters with. Night Call is an autonomous zone of the MIND!

Footnotes:

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113: California Writ Jun 08, 2020

Show notes

We start with a serious moment from Night Call about the current Black Lives Matter protests and our support for them. We plan to cover historic current events this month by looking into America’s past. Then we take some night calls and emails. Then the first (and most likely last) installment of Ramblin’ Gamblin’ June is our discussion of Robert Altman’s California Split! Who is horny on main for Elliott Gould and who is decidedly not? What is the secret to a gambling buddy comedy? What are our games? We are back and we will be here for our listeners all year, at Night Call.

FOOTNOTE

RESOURCES

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112: Can Sell Culture May 25, 2020

Show notes

Night Call finishes up Y2May with some great calls and emails about the 2038 Problem that explain what it actually entails. Then we debate the merits of parallel universes and whether people just like theories because they offer a way out. And a surprise venture

into the recent rash of cancellations and Cancel Culture in general. Does cancellation provide people with a sense of control in a time when there is none? Can any societal ill ever actually be corrected by cancelling a singular person? How long is the cycle

for cancellation narratives really? What are the possibilities cancellations open up for larger conversations about culture, racism and capital? Does anyone ever actually get or stay cancelled? Should we retroactively beloved artists for fucked up shit? Can

you separate the art from the artist? Then we receive an amazing call about the “WWW = 666” Y2K era conspiracy, and finish up with a discussion from our home bunkers about end of the millennialism and prepping for disasters.

FOOTNOTES

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111: Sex, Y2K & Videotapes May 18, 2020

Show notes

A listener question about the 90s and early 2000s celebrity sex tapes prompts a discussion about Tommy and Pam, Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton’s tapes that leads into a talk about Only Fans. Molly tells Emily and Tess a story about the 528 Hz “love vibration” necklace that Denise Richards owns which turns into a story about shady right wing new organization Epoch Times and how it relates back to Shen Yun. Plus, the terrifying robot dog right out of Black Mirror and Christopher Meloni’s haunted house!

Then it’s more Y2K May! Emily listened to a podcast about how Y2K was averted through IT workers working together, and how depressing it is that tech is only becoming more dystopian now faced with the current crisis. The incredible tale of the real Bob Loblaw’s Y2K blog, still available to view as an artifact. And Molly watched a famous SportsCenter commercial about Y2K that ends up with chaos that feels like now. All this and more podcasting by candlelight, on an all new Night Call!

FOOTNOTES

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110: Fight Call/Night Club May 11, 2020

Show notes

Y2May continues with a listener query about the millennium celebration at Epcot, leading us down a hole about theme park rides like The Great Movie Ride and Superstar Limo that are no longer with us, the weird retro futuristic aesthetic of Epcot, and why Mickey Mouse can never be cool. Then it’s the Y2K movie chat everyone’s been waiting for, we break the first rule of Fight Club! We take on David Fincher’s 1999 satire to talk about capitalism, men’s rights groups, and whether the movies can ever blow up a building for fun ever again. Why did we all love this movie so much as kids and how do we feel about it now? Soap, eco-terrorism, homoeroticism and school shootings around the turn of the millennium on an all new Night Call!

Footnotes

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109: The Last Future May 04, 2020

Show notes

Welcome to Y2May! Our monthlong celebration of all things related to the year 2000 and the end of the 20th century. We start off with some William Gibson inspired chat about the current dystopian moment and then head back into the relative calmness of the near distant past. What were each of us doing on Y2K itself? But first it's our new sports show within the show Sports Call, where we take a call about Dennis Rodman and The Last Dance, the new ten part ESPN documentary about Michael Jordan's last season. Molly recommends The Last Dance to Tess and Emily, who remember their own sports thoughts. Our producer Joelle jumps in with some basketball facts after Molly wonders why the Bad Boys of Detroit were allowed to foul like that. As a new generation discovers Dennis Rodman and Carmen Electra for the first time, is anyone surprised they're going viral again? Then we get down to Y2K color schemes with a query from a listener about the late nineties Pacific Northwest color scheme of purple and forest green. We discuss what color schemes and design elements remind us most of Y2K, and why we all wish we could go to a late nineties Taco Bell. On a new Night Call!

FOOTNOTES:

William Gibson Quotation

The Last Dance

Lakers Threepeat

Decade Color Schemes

90's Colors, Textures

90's Taco Bell Aesthetic

Blackbirds Slate Gray

Interview with Evan Collins, Y2K Aesthetics Enthusiast

Molly Soda

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108: Unhappy Science Apr 27, 2020

Show notes

A night email about Instagram face and The Twilight Zone episode "Number 12 Looks Just Like You" start a discussion about transformation narratives that turns into Emily describing a terrifying YA series called The Uglies and Molly explaining what POT LEDOM means. A discussion about whether wellness will merge fully with beauty, and how that turns into eugenics. Then we learn about Happy Science, the Japanese cult promising followers that Coronavirus can be cured by the sound of their leader's voice. Emily explains the very unfriendly rivalry between Happy Science and another cult, Aum Shinrikyo. Then a Night Call about the Real Housewives of New York objecting to new housewife Leah having had a tattoo when they have all had vaginal rejuvenation on camera leads Molly to desperately try to convince Tess and Emily to give the franchise a chance. Plus nightmarish plastic surgery reality TV like I Want A Famous Face, Botched, and Extreme Makeover. And of course, The Swan. What the hell was going on in the mid 2000s on television? Find out on the last episode of Plastic Surgery April!

FOOTNOTES

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107: Instagram Face/Off Apr 20, 2020

Show notes

The ladies are joined by Jia Tolentino, staff writer for the New Yorker and author of the essay collection “Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion” this week. First up we fetch the bolt cutters for our first impressions of the new Fiona Apple album. Plus, pandemic dreams! A scientific explanation for why people are having such weird dreams during self-isolation. Then we talk about "Instagram Face," which Jia wrote an incredible essay about. She also describes her experience meeting the Kardashians' plastic surgeon Dr. Ourian. Who has the most Instagram face? What will the beauty standards shift toward next? Can you facetune reality? We take a Night Call about Heidi Montag and recall the first phase of young people getting extreme plastic surgery. Then Tess, Molly and Emily take on another classic plastic surgery movie for Plastic Surgery April: John Woo's Face/Off! First time viewer Emily talks to seasoned Face/Off fans Tess and Molly about the operatic silliness of John Travolta and Nic Cage in this movie, the low-key sci-fi world it takes place in, and whose faces we would personally like to take off. More fun in the new world at Night Call!

Footnotes:

Jia's Book!

Fiona Apple's Feature in 1997 Spin "Girls"

Emily Nussbaum's Fiona Apple Profile

Rachel Handler's Fiona Apple Interview

And Rachel's Texts from Fiona

NY Times on Corona Dreams

And Nat Geo on 'rona Nightmares

How to Lucid Dream

Jia Tolentino on Instagram Face

Heidi Montag on her Plastic Surgery

Face/Off Trivia