This is a further discussion on Park Chan-wook's The Sympathizer. Sort of. Topics discussed: the problem with art that sits on the fence, Downey Jr hijacking every project he's tied to, the watered-down osmosis of style, Jordan Peele and the state of horror, Mad Max, being ethnically ambiguous, how and why we love America, the death of Hollywood, in defense of nepotism, the devolution of rap, investigating the greatest opening scene in cinematic history, Belly and Harmony Korine, Atlanta and kings of niche audiences, the deep-seeded American narrative, the construction world vs the art world, and what's next for Agitator. patreon.com/agitator FULL DISCLOSURE: Around the 2-hour mark for a stretch of 20-ish minutes, then again near the end of the episode, Ryan's stupid interface switched his input to AirPods mic and it sounds like a robot with a sore throat. Posting anyway because it's a great conversation, but if you're sensitive to sound, know that those are the areas it gets rough. Y'all be easy. Listen to Mutual Aberration Society: https://open.spotify.com/show/5pskLTN4rrqYDvk3fxqlTE

Writer, podcaster, and strategist (and musician, and inventor of solarpunk) Jay Springett joins Kelby for this AGITATOR Z FINALE. Everything changes beyond this point, and what a way to end an era. We're talking Izumi Suzuki's incredible bizarro short story collection Hit Parade of Tears. Keep up with Jay: https://www.thejaymo.net/ Buy Hit Parade of Tears: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/721251/hit-parade-of-tears-by-izumi-suzuki/ Pure Invention: How Japan's Pop Culture Conquered the World by Matt Alt: https://www.amazon.com/Pure-Invention-Japan-Modern-World/dp/1984826719/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= Hardware (1990): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dCEp_ktPXY Hit Parade Spotify Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2f2sUqmqJdDHvpK1bgoEtD Soundtrack: "Tunnel to Heaven" by The Dynamites "Somebody to Love" by The Mops

I'ma just do long titles now to save time coming up with descriptions. Listen to Mutual Aberration Society: Mutual Aberration Society | Podcast on Spotify

This was an early release episode for paid subscribers of Agitator: patreon.com/agitator

Jacob Everett, founder and editor-in-chief of the low life/high strangeness lit mag and indie press Apocalypse Confidential, joins Kelby to discuss the no-budget 1983 murder drone film Blood Beat. This episode's a deep dive into the inner workings of successfully running an independent press with some glimpses into the future of both APCON and Broken River. READ APOCALYPSE CONFIDENTIAL: apocalypse-confidential.com FOLLOW ON X @APCON_MAG and IG @apocalypse_confidential

Broken River boas E Rathke and David Simmons join Kelby in the Agitator booth to figure out how we're going to piece together our fallen brother JDO's unfinished magnum opus about a fence salesman who can control tornadoes. But first! You know we're getting wild, talmbout Call of Duty lobbies back in the day, how quickly things get racist and how come that's funny, inflation on boardwalk caricature art, the extreme horror community and how all writers (including us) should stop posting so much, what happens when you're teaching English in South Korea and your appendix explodes, and oh so much more. Find E Rathke's eclectic musings at radicaledward.substack.com and keep up with David Simmons on X @WholeTimeDavid or IG @toppdogghill. More on the Broken River crew at brokenriverbooks.com and, of course, you can support this show at patreon.com/agitator for only $5/month in the Agitator Z tier, where you gain access to bonus and extended episodes, behind the scenes looks at film and writing projects, and exclusive Agitator Discord access.

Very special interview episode today with ADR (English dub) anime director/producer/writer Shannon Reed of Sentai Filmworks. We get into the nuts and bolts of what it means to direct anime and what all goes into the dubbing process, from rewriting to match mouth flaps to pulling the perfect performance out of voice actors and everything in-between. We also talk balancing fun and hard work, Star Wars, Shannon's personal journey into anime, and more. Check out the HiDive streaming platform: https://welcome.hidive.com/

Follow Shannon Reed on IG @thearcadeprince

Discover your next favorite anime at https://www.sentaifilmworks.com/

Support the show and gain access to bonus content at patreon.com/agitator

Today on the show, we have Jeremy Bronaugh, author of When You Bleed to Death, to discuss processing trauma through art, anime of the '90s vs today, technology going too far (or not far enough), prose vs plot, the Road House remake, the best Easter movies, Poor Things, pop culture reflecting culture, raising kids, and so much more. This one's a banger. Check out the audiobook of When You Bleed to Death narrated by Kelby here: https://www.amazon.com/When-You-Bleed-to-Death/dp/B0CYHG1PHF/ref=tmm_aud_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= And follow Jeremy on IG: @jeremybronaughwriter

As always, to support the show and gain access to bonus content, go to patreon.com/agitator

Agitator boy Kelby was flying solo holding it down for the Broken River crew at Ghoulish Fest in San Antonio. Shouts out Max Booth III and Lori Booth for the hard work throwing and promoting that; there was a major turnout of locals ready to buy weird and fucked up books. On this special boots-on-the-ground episode, Kelby is chopping it up with author (and psychiatric professional) Michael Tichy bout the fest, his new book The Winnowing Draw, and Kôji Shiraishi's shot-on-video one-take horror film A Record of Sweet Murder.

Support the show and gain access to early film projects, behind the scenes, uncut and bonus episodes, exclusive Discord access, and more at patreon.com/agitator