Tangentially Speaking with Christopher Ryan

Latest Episodes:

642 - ROMA 83 Mar 07, 2025

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Does Trump have the wrong answers to the right questions? It feels like things are falling apart, but have they been falling apart for a long time? How long? When did this process of collapse begin? Why do intelligent people sometimes say incredibly stupid things?

Intro music “Brightside of the Sun,” by Basin and Range. Paid version: Outro: “Politic Amagni,” by Amadou and Miriam.

Amazon link is here.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

641 - Simon Rex in Laurel Canyon Mar 05, 2025

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Simon first came on the scene as an MTV personality, then starred in the Scary Movie franchise, appeared in a slew of TV shows, and toured the world as parody rapper, Dirt Nasty. Now he’s appearing in films with the likes of Al Pacino and Vince Vaughn. What a trip!

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

640 - Learning to Fly (with Uncle Dan) Feb 23, 2025

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My uncle Dan died on February 13th, my birthday. Here’s a look back at his life and mine.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

639 - Vincenzo Barney (Cormac McCarthy and Sudden Fame) Feb 11, 2025

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Young guy writes a Substack piece about his favorite author, Cormac McCarthy. It gets a few reads, and turns out that one of those readers knows old Cormac and actually reads him the piece. In fact, she’s known and loved old Cormac for 40+ years. She corresponds with the young guy and eventually decides he’s the right person to tell her story, which is a love story that began almost half a century ago, when she was a homeless 16 year-old girl who randomly met a not yet famous author in his 40s sitting by the pool at a run-down motel in New Mexico. Crazy, wild love story/lifelong friendship commences. Young guy writes this forbidden love story, publishes it in Vanity Fair in prissy, easily offended 2024, and all hell breaks loose.

Vincenzo’s Substack is here. Vincenzo’s professor’s Substack is here.

Dare to join us in Montana this summer!

If you’re gonna buy stuff on Amazon, please use this link.

Intro music “Brightside of the Sun,” by Basin and Range. “Star People,” by George Michael. “Come on in My Kitchen,” sung by Chris Thomas King.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

638 - ROMA 82 Feb 04, 2025

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This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit chrisryan.substack.com

A few of the questions I ponder in this one: How can we distinguish what’s true for me from what’s just true? How can we tell when the shit’s hitting the fan? Is it always hitting the fan? When is a dress not a dress? How is a bikini like “the N-word?” Was Trump inevitable? Do we choose our world, or are we just observers?

Intro music “Brightside of the…

637 - ROMA 81 Jan 24, 2025

Show notes

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit chrisryan.substack.com

What does it mean to be a “consenting adult?” (Thoughts on the Neil Gaiman mess.)

Why podcast?

David Milch: “People who are unable to turn their wishes into passions … sit passively in mute outrage, anticipating disasters.”

The original article accusing Gaiman is here. Kat Rosenfield’s thoughts are here. Information about the Becoming Uncivilized event is

636 - Theo Von (Reboot of Ep 342) Jan 10, 2025

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This conversation was originally recorded in September, 2018, when Theo was famous, but not yet FAMOUS. We talked about his recent trip to China, whether mental health issues can be considered a luxury, the ethics of sleeping with married women, Louis CK’s fall from grace, obscure masturbation techniques, and the strangeness of fame. The main thing I felt re-listening to this conversation was just how real Theo was/is. He seems to instinctively understand the power of vulnerability. No pretense with this guy.

Intro music “Brightside of the Sun,” by Basin and Range. “Big Time,” by Peter Gabriel. Outro: “Party at the End of the World,” by Carsie Blanton.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

635 - Chewing the Fat with Cameron Shayne Dec 31, 2024

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This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit chrisryan.substack.com

Cameron has been studying and sharing martial arts, yoga and mobility for over 30 years producing hundreds of highly skilled teachers world wide. He currently lives and runs Budokon University Montana with his wife Budokon University Director Melayne Shayne.

Come decivilize yourself with us in Montana this summer. More info h…

634 - Peter Anderson (Author/Poet/Mountain Man) Dec 24, 2024

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This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit chrisryan.substack.com

Pete and I entertain a few questions and we talk by the fire. Among them: What is soul? Is there a purpose in learning these lessons as we get older? Are silence and solitude necessary components to the soul’s maturity? Are silence and solitude even available in a world overrun by the “attention economy?”

633 - ROMA 80 (Part 2) Dec 17, 2024

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This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit chrisryan.substack.com

Some stuff I didn’t get to yesterday. Who was inside Aubrey Plaza’s consciousness, watching her have a stroke? Do podcasters like Rogan and Theo Von have a responsibility to change what they do in light of their massive audiences?

Intro music “Brightside of the Sun,” by Basin and Range. Outro: “That’s What I Got,” by Marcelo D2.

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