Really True Fiction

In this episode we discuss the sequel to the 1982 classic. We talk about how, even though he is a replicant, K shows more subtle humanity than any other character in the movie. We also talk about the desire for relationship, Niander Wallace's desire to bring back slavery, Ryan Goslings acting, and the humans prejudice against the replicants (who are like them in basically ever manner). Additional Spoilers: The Expanse 43:55

In this episode we dive into the 1982 Ridley Scott classic Blade Runner (based on the Philip K. Dyck novel Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?). We talk about the nature of personhood, the Turing Test, where we think Plato got things wrong, and what it means to treat another being as a person. This is one of our more philosophically heavy episodes; so be forewarned! Enjoy! Additional Spoilers: There are several spoilers for the movie Ex Machina and the show Westworld in this episode.

We dive into everyone's favorite high school assigned reading and the Salinger classic. Both David and Luke were pleasantly surprised at how much they enjoyed this book. We talk about insecurities, depression, rage, theological whimsies, gift giving and receiving, a Promethean vs. a hero, and much more. Hope you enjoy!

An RTF first! We welcome our friend Billie as our first ever guest on Really True Fiction! We discuss the Stephen King novel The Stand in this episode. We discuss the world of The Stand, and how it might be similar and different from our COVID world. We also discuss leadership, reflected decision making, remember the world before a tragedy, learning and growing from a global catastrophe, goodness being small but persistent, the dangers of teleology, how propaganda works in this world, and how protracted adolescence clouds potential. You can also find Billie and Luke on the Nothing To Fear podcast where, with their friend Alex, they watch a discuss horror movies. https://anchor.fm/nothingtofear Additional Spoilers: Game of Thrones Season One 16:43 REC 48:20 Black Mirror (Men Against Fire and Metalhead) 56:08 Contagion 1:06:30 Arrested Development 1:24:30 It's a Wonderful Life 1:26:50 The Affair 1:31:00 Gladiator 1:40:05 Breaking Bad 1:52:10 IT 2:16:00 Monsters Inc 2:30:30 Pinocchio 2:40:30

We embark into our first Kubrick film. In this episode we discuss the fallout of bad leadership, the difficulty of maintaining good leaders, contemporary American issues, the challenge of moral psychology, and how older films don't really float our boats so much. Enjoy! Additional Spoilers: 2001: A Space Odyssey - 4:45 Being There - 8:55 Arrested Development Season 3 - 9:50 A Tale Of Two Cities - 49:17 Rope - 1:27:35 *Corrections* - At one point David says the band Straylight Run did the song "My slow descent into alcoholism". That song is actually written and performed by The New Pornographers. However, Straylight Run does have a song called A Slow Descent. - This film did not come out four months after the Cuban missile crisis as Luke said, but rather a year and four months after.

We take the plunge. In this episode we attempt to do justice to the 1996 masterpiece Infinite Jest; written by David Foster Wallace. This novel is massive and thorough, so it would be impossible to cover everything in it. However, we talk about the three main themes/critiques (as far as we see them) which are: achievement, entertainment, and pleasure/addiction. Enjoy! Additional Spoiler: Brave New World 1:23:55 *Correction* Luke says David Foster Wallace was born in 1965. He was actually born in 1962. Here is the link to the David Foster Wallace "This Is Water" commencement speech from 2005: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ms2BvRbjOYo&ab_channel=BestEnglishSpeeches

Hey everybody! Amazingly, it has been a year of Really True Fiction! We are so grateful for everyone who listens and has contributed to this awesome experience for David and Luke. In this *not* episode, we take a little time to talk about our reflections on making this podcast over the last year. It is much shorter than a normal episode and a little bit personal. We talk about our favorite episodes from the last year, our favorite moments, what it has done for us mentally, and what we are looking forward to doing in the year(s) ahead. Again, thank you so much for listening to our podcast! If you want to get in touch with us, you can send us an email at [email protected].

And we are back from our summer hiatus! In this episode we jump into the 1994 Tarantino masterpiece. We talk about Jules being a mensch, Jules Vs. Vincent in their level of consciousness, life as happenstance, our annoyance with gossip, and predict Pulp Fiction as a good candidate for modern censorship. If you want to get in touch with us you can send us an email at [email protected]

In this episode we discuss the 1999 David Fincher film (based on the Chuck Palahniuk novel) Fight Club. We talk about the ethics of crashing support groups, the psychology of talking to someone with a terminal illness, the specter of death, healthy vs pathological thinking, and the need to be conscious of your own life. Hope you enjoy. Additional Spoilers: The Life of David Gale 1:33:40

We take a deep dive into George Orwell's 1945 novella. We talk about ideology, philosophy, the importance of precise language, the disaster that results from trying to erase history, the importance of speaking up early, and overall having a more mature understanding of human nature. We also talk about the importance of not focusing on superficial qualities in other people to develop opinions about them. Additional Spoilers: There are spoilers for 1984 scattered throughout the episode.

Part two of our dive into the HBO masterpiece. We talk about Marty, Maggie, and the rest of the characters in this episode. We talk about Marty's penchant for inattention, high level rationalization and self deceit, self discovery at an older age, sex as a weapon, education, and several other topics. Hope you enjoy! Additional Spoilers: Regression 1:33:35

In this episode we begin our discussion on the first season of the TV show True Detective. We focus on any and all things Rustin Cohle (Matthew McConaughey) in this one. We talk about fake nihilism, the observable discontinuity between how people talk about their lives and how they actually live, relationships, consciousness, healthy psychology for police, anti anti-natalism, temperament, and how the light is winning. Please make sure to watch this show as it is incredible. Additional Spoilers: Inception 2:11:45

In this episode we dive into the Dumas classic. We talk about revenge (obviously), Dantes' psychology, the joy of the life of the mind, perceiving motivations in others, non-sheepishness, the crippling nature of a guilty conscience, and our take on sweeping stories. This novel is an absolute treasure (pun intended) and we highly recommend you give it a read! Additional Spoilers: Margin Call 1:00:44 The Big Short 1:01:35 Better Call Saul 2:05:17 Mission Impossible: Fallout (Major Spoiler) 2:18:10

In this episode we talk about the 2000 film The Patriot. We talk about the early insights the framers had about other forms of tyranny, the wisdom of not being cavalier about war, how war involves everyone in a population, American optimism and even talk a little about empire. Additional Spoilers: The Hurt Locker 15:40

A new experiment in RTF living! In this episode David and Luke talk about their favorite musical artists and the real life wisdom and happiness we get from them. In the spirit of the bard or troubadour, we feel like music itself is a beautiful story in it's own right. David - The Tallest Man On Earth - (15:10 - 56:39) - The importance of melancholy, the intimacy of folk music, how imagery affects emotion, using romantic language to mean many things, a general sense of calm and peace. Luke - Jimmy Eat World - (56:39 - 1:38:30) - Jimmy Eat World as the perfect marriage of thoughtfulness and passion, the importance of authenticity to music, the importance of being grateful for and confident in your potential, beauty in rock and roll, and always having reflected hope for the future.

Don't you forget about this movie! In this discussion of the John Hughes classic we talk about the impact of Breakfast Club on culture, the rise of adolescence as a cultural phenomenon, the trailblazing of BC for this genre, music and it's impact on us, and of course the idiosyncratic insecurities of all five teens that make up the heart and soul of the film.

We conclude the two parter on the television masterpiece. In this episode we talk about the Blumquists and the Gerhardts (as well as Hanzee). And we finish up with just some general Fargo show thoughts. This show is incredible. Please watch it. Additional Spoilers: 1917 1:05:08

This is a first of two parts on the second season of the TV show Fargo. In this episode we talk about Lou, Hank, Betsey and Mike. This is one of the best shows of the decade and we highly recommend you watch it before listening as it will add so much flavor to our conversation. *Correction* - The role of Rye Gerhardt is played by Kieran Culkin, not Rory Culkin. Right family, wrong brother.

We sit down for another chat about our current least favourite and most topical virus. We give a time stamped and cursory view through our lense on the state of the world and things of that ilk. Hope everyone is staying safe and well.

David wanted a Scorsese, so we did a Scorsese! In this episode we (obviously) focus mostly on mental health and what constitutes insanity. We talk about this as focused on an individual as well as a society (of course using the Nazi's as the case study of collective insanity). We also discuss what makes someone like Teddy in the movie and someone like Anders Brevik in real life different. This was a lot of fun to do as we both brought up points neither one of has had thought about while watching the movie. Hope you enjoy. Additional Spoilers: Silence 18:25 Primal Fear 48:30 Memento 53:16 Westworld 54:10 A Few Good Men 1:31:40

In this episode we talk about the 2002 film Minority Report. Originally a short story written by Philip K. Dick, we decided to do the film version instead because we knew it better and felt all of you would as well. In this episode we talk about stigma around drugs, changing your mind based on new evidence, the cognitive overhead of deception, free will, and many more topics. Also, we recorded this episode at a friends house who filmed it, so this is the first episode available on YouTube! If you are interested in watching this episode, not just hear it, here is the link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7oQvxGGAQw&t=171s. Additional Spoilers: House of Cards 28:45 Taken 50:28 The Stand 1:11:40

It's your kids Marty! In this episode we talk about one of the all time greats. If you like camping, there is almost nothing campier than Back To The Future. We talk about Marty being a good friend to his dad, being able to walk away from dumb challenges by lesser minds, Lorraine's shame about her own desires, the wonderfulness culturally speaking of the 80's, and why Back To The Future is just joy incarnate. Hope you have fun with this one as we had a lot of fun recording it. Additional Spoilers: Interstellar 1:05 Nymphomaniac 1:17:48

In this episode we dive into what is arguably the greatest graphic novel of all time. Even though there has recently been a Watchmen TV show, our thoughts are centered on the novel (and the movie a little). That said, there are spoilers for the show scattered throughout the episode, so don't listen if you haven't seen the show yet and do not want it spoiled. Additional Spoilers: The Walking Dead 4:47 The Hurt Locker 55:20 Flowers For Algernon 1:00:28 The Sword In The Stone 1:22:22 The Man In The High Castle 1:53:09 The Plot Against America 1:53:22

Seeing as the whole planet is experiencing something that feels surreal and other worldly, but in real life, we thought why not have a chat about this huge thing we are all experiencing. So, hence our first addendum episode of Really True Fiction. We are pleased to have Joelle Mason (Luke's sister) on as a guest as David was away during recording. Joelle is an HR rep, so she and Luke talked a lot about the Corona virus from an HR perspective (as well as several others). RTF really wants to thank Joelle for taking the time and giving her thoughts and expertise on this crazy experience we are all going through. *There are a few mic stand bumps that couldn't be edited out as they happened when a point was being made, so apologies for that* Spoilers: There are several spoilers for the movie Contagion scattered throughout the episode. Though to be fair, the title is kind of the spoiler.

In part two we talk about Hank, Francisco, Galt and the smattering of Rand's villains. We reference objectivism here and there, but for a full run down of the philosophy inherent in this novel make sure you listen to part one first. Additional Spoilers: 1984 1:34:30

And so we confront the maw. David and I tackle this behemoth of a novel so you don't have to! Atlas Shrugged has lots of interesting ideas scattered within a book that is almost impossible to read. More than any other episode we have done, we sincerely encourage you not to read this novel; if for no other reason than your own sanity. However, the underlying philosophy of Atlas Shrugged, Objectivism, is super interesting and important and very much worth diving into. With all that laid out on the table, we think you can very much enjoy this episode without having read the book. Nay, we implore it haha.

In this episode we finish talking about this awesome show. We discuss Summer, Beth, a number of recurring characters, cultural references, and a number of the shows tropes and motifs. Hope you enjoy! Additional Spoilers: 1984 28:25 The Breakfast Club 44:05 Watchmen 1:16:00 Insidious 1:58:16

Part two of our Rick and Morty adventure. We focus on Morty and Jerry in this episode. Particularly Morty's unlikely growth and Jerry's likely ungrowth. Hope you enjoy! Additional Spoilers: Breaking Bad 10:57

Wub a lub a dub dub! Welcome to part one of our Rick and Morty Odyssey. We will be doing three parts on this show, and there is so much going on and so much to chew over. This episode is all about Rick! Hope you enjoy! Additional Spoilers: Breaking Bad 49:13 The Conspiracy 1:43:33 On Becoming A God In Central Florida 1:48:08

Andys coming! Hope you enjoy our foray into the Disney/Pixar world. This one was such a blast to do and it was wonderful reliving this movie. What a gem. Additional Spoilers: Brave Little Toaster 3:10 Toy Story 2 1:11:50 and 1:15:18

We close the loop on Children of Men. The book is much more meditative on the world and society than the movie; so we flesh that part out a little bit more. We don't talk so much about a world without children here; as we did that a lot in the movie episode. This one was a lot of fun though; enjoy! Additional Spoilers: The Great Gatsby 1:25 The Brothers Karamazov 1:03:50

Part one of a two parter on this story. We read the book as well, but decided it deserved it's own episode as the plots between the movie and book are so different. Ergo, here is the movie for you! We are really proud of this one, and hope you enjoy it as well. *Additional Spoilers* Inferno (Big Spoiler) - 27:45 The Stand - 28:15 Saving Private Ryan - 32:56

In which the conclusion of this amazing trilogy is achieved. Hope you enjoy the Dark Knight trilogy this go around as much as we did. Additional Spoilers: The Master 12:10 Stranger Things Season 1 1:37:38

Never go full Thanatos! Here is the episode you deserve, if certainly not the one you need. We do a pretty deep dive into the psychological/philosophical differences between the Joker and Batman in this one. The first hour is pretty ethereal as such. If you want more tangible stuff, the second hour is for you!

In this episode we begin the Dark Knight trilogy!

Welcome to 2020! In this episode we talked about the classic and hilarious Joseph Heller novel Catch 22; one of the all time satires. If you haven't read this book before, I would encourage you do before listening to this podcast. Some books are not necessary to read before listening but this one is. It is non-linear and there are lots of characters, so your reference for what we are talking about will be a lot easier if you have read the book. Cheers! Additional Spoilers: The Trial 14:05 House of Cards 29:00 Hacksaw Ridge 1:23:15

Apologies for any ambient sound for the first 45 minutes on this one. We had the furnace blasting. Lesson learned. Either way, it didn't affect this episode too bad. This one was a lot of fun and you can hear the passion in both of us in our feelings about The Crucible. Cheers!

Merry Christmas everyone! We hope that you enjoy the season with your family, and enjoy taking another trip through the wardrobe. Also, we riff for about 15 minutes on How The Grinch Stole Christmas. Additional Spoiler: Inception 18:20

This was a fun one talking about the film There Will Be Blood. Enjoy! Correction Matthew McConaughey does commercials for Lincoln, not Lexus.

In this episode we are talking about the Gaiman novel only as neither of us have seen the TV show. This one is jam packed with meaningful topics; hope you enjoy! Additional Spoilers: Die Hard 1:29:05 *Correction* The Japanese author's name is Haruki Murakami, not Hiroshi Murakami.

Here we go into a film that was a comedic culmination of an era. Be forewarned that this episode contains so many bad words, and so many crude observations. If this is not your jam, really make sure you don't bring any toast. Additional Spoilers: Stand By Me 1:23:50 Pulp Fiction 1:32:05 Wizard Of Oz 1:35:53

Finally we hit the Dickens! Charles Dickens is one of my all time favorite authors and it is always a treat to spend some time with him. David Copperfield is a kind of autobiography of Dickens himself; though with many components of the book being different from his own life. This isn't a book you necessarily have to read in order to enjoy the podcast, but I would still highly recommend you read it sometime for the pure joy of Dickens prose and insights.

His giant is with him wherever he goes. We had a lot of fun re-visiting this one and we hope you do as well. Strength and Honor. *Correction* I (Luke) make a point in this episode that Mother Theresa took money from the Duvalier family in Haiti, and that should count against her. I actually don't know that to be true (I mis-remembered during the recording something Hitchens said about her), though she was supportive of them. Since that is germane to the point I was making, please take my (Luke) arguments on that topic with a grain of salt*

Oo-de-lally, Oo-de-lally, golly what a day. David and I go full on nostalgia for this one. Hope you were as charmed by this movie as we were. Cheers! Additional Spoilers: Chernobyl 43:10 Game of Thrones 1:04:30

Lots of talk about Dwight, Pam and Jim; as well as a smattering on the others. Cheers! Additional Spoilers: Atlas Shrugged 1:09:32 American Beauty 2:11:00

First part of a two parter from everyone's favorite paper company! This one is all about Michael. Additional Spoilers: A Tale of Two Cities 55:13 *Correction* It is Meredith (not Mindy) played by a different actress in the pilot episode.

We talk about the classic novel and movie in this episode. I'm really grateful for this one as I felt David nicely helped me understand the point of the book more. Thanks buddy! Additional Spoilers: I Heart Huckabees 2:10 Narnia: This Silver Chair 1:28:20 Aladdin 1:32:20 This Side Of Paradise 1:45:00 Return Of The King 1:56:05

Additional Spoilers: Slaughterhouse Five 21:50

Hate is baggage, and life is too short to be pissed off all the time. Additional Spoilers: The Sopranos 1:29:00

On growing up with trauma and using all the things you know to not deal with the first part. Spoilers: Citizen Kane 1:19:40