Great innovations are in the air on this week's podcast.

First we talk about this week's unveiling of the iPhone 5, what it means for civilization and how it has changed our world with a man who has been studying the digital space since before it even had the name.  David Lidsky, the deputy editor of Fast Company magazine joins us.

Then: Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master has been the most anticipated film released in years.  And now that it is here, it is certain to be one of the most discussed.  Here to get the ball rolling is our panel of entertainment intellectuals featuring Emily Yoshida and Jim Gibson. 

PLUS!  Thoughts on the election and the backlash era!

And interstitial music by by Kevin MacLeod!

Two of the great stars of the Fake Twitternet join us today.

First, we have the creator/babysitter of the Internet's finest comedy Twitter account @tweenhobo, Alena Smith joins us and chats about her voyage to creating the leading voice of the Boxcar Beiber generation.

We are then joined by Alex Litel, a brilliant young internet provocateur whose parody of Nikki Finke sent Twitter reeling and fooled no less than the NY Times. 

Plus!  Thoughts on the Twitter cool kids table and Twitter self-promoters.

And interstitial music by by Kevin MacLeod! 

First up, we chat with actress Melanie Lynskey, about her new film Hello I Must be Going, coming up in the profession from New Zealand and her cult classic breakthrough performance in Peter Jackson's Heavenly Creatures.  

Then we are joined by our panel of entertainment intellectuals to pore over the ruins of summer. Emily Yoshida and Jim Gibson take one final stab at the season past talking Dark Knight vs. Avengers, Newsroom vs. Breaking Bad.

Plus!  Thoughts on political conventions in the Backlash Era!

And interstitial music by by Kevin MacLeod! 

Women on the Verge or away from the Verge is the theme of this week's podcast.

First we are joined by Lauren Miller, author and star of the new film For a Good Time Call, who discusses the state of romantic comedy and what it means to make a romantic comedy in this day and age.\

Then we chat with Deborah Schoeneman, journalist, writer for HBO's Girls, author of the new ebook Woman-Child a fascinating dissection of the new breed of Hello Kitty Band Aid bedecked grown up, and what that says about and means for women in our culture today.

Plus!

Thoughts on whether to be nice or mean as a critic!

And intro and interstitial music by Kevin MacLeod!

We are back from hiatus with two provactive and exciting conversations about the decline and the fall of civilization - or not!

First off - no generation in American history has been so maligned and disparaged than the millenials.  Even bearing the brunt of the worst economic collapse in almost a century they still get no sympathy - least of all from this podcast!  After disparaging the name of America's most precious generation for so long I have invited on three of its brightest members to offer its defense.   Should Gen Y be saved or rounded up and sent away some where?  I have it out with:

• Logan Sachon, editor and founder of The Billfold.
• Liana Maeby, blogger and internet wit
• Alex Pareene, political writer for Salon.

In the second segment I am joined by entertainment blogger David Poland, editor of Movie City News - a man who has been at it since before the term existed.  One of the true savants on the entertainment industry, Poland will tell us about starting out in the business working on SNL in age 20 and establishing himself and his site at the dawn of the internet.  We discuss the sorry state of entertainment reporting, from high to low, why it matters.  As well as a quick preview of the Oscar race ahead.

Plus - greetings and thoughts!

And intro and interstitial music by Kevin MacLeod!

We explore the extremes of the media landscape in this week's podcast.

On the Trail of Nikki Finke:  Gawker's John Cook  a veteran Nikki hunter joins us to talk about his time on the trail of Hollywood's most bizarre and elusive journalist and how his digging this week ignited to feud between Finke and author Bret Easton Ellis.

The we discuss the career of director Christopher Nolan: inspired visionary or self-serious hack?  We debate all sides of the issue with our panel of entertainment intellectuals Jim Gibson, Kathy Charles and Geoff Berkshire.

Plus thoughts on the end of truth! 

With intro and interstitial music by Kevin MacLeod!

NOTE: This podcast was recorded before the horrifying events at the Dark Knight screening in Colorado and Nikki Finke's comments on such.  Our prayers are with the family and friends of the victims.

We are back from hiatus with a very special conversation with Lauren Greenfield, photographer, filmmaker and director of the new documentary The Queen of Versailles, the incredible tale of one couple's attempts to build the largest house in America, before falling prey to the crashing fortunes of America's financial meltdown.   I talk with Lauren whom over the years has depicted America's monied elites and their mores on how growing up on the cusps of Hollywood shaped her vision and how the culture of our nation's wealthy has evolved over the decades that she has chronicled them.  And much more!

Plus: Thoughts on Comicon!

With intro and interstitial music by Kevin MacLeod.

Unfortunate prequels and grotesque unsolved crimes are the topics on this week's podcast.

First we chat with the great film writer Tom Shone about Ridley Scott, the missteps of Promtheus, the pitfalls of prequels and the question of whether perfect films are even possible in today's world.

Then we visit with the New York Observer's Hunter Walker about his work hot on the case of the Hollywood Sign Killer, and how through tireless internet sleuthing he may have found a link between this case in Los Angeles and a notorious Canadian murderer.

Plus!  Thoughts about our era of super-duper-super-seriousness!

With intro and interstitial music by Kevin MacLeod.

A talk with one of the great cultural heroes of our time.  Singer, songwriter, actor and mensch Paul Williams joins the podcast.  His life is the subject of a new documentary, Paul Williams Still Alive which opens this week. We talk about his amazing journey through the highs of the 70's followed by the lows of his wilderness years in the 80's to the surprisingly wonderful place he's found himself in today.  He also shares the story of writing The Rainbow Connection, memories of Phantom of the Paradise, Bugsy Malone and how one goes about writing an iconic song.

Next we talk about another great icon of the 70's: David Bowie.  The Daily Beast's Chris Lee joins us on a balcony above Sunset Blvd to talk about his article about the greatest disappearing act by any rock mega-star of our times.   Is he really gone for ever, or is this just another mask for the man of a thousand faces?

Plus! Thoughts on movie theater texting!  And why the movies may have only themselves to blame!

Intro and interstitial music by Kevin MacLeod!  

It's a big show for obsessives this week on the podcast of the downfall of civilization.

First up, our roundtable of entertainment intellectuals convenes to discuss the network that made TV safe for nerds: HBO.  Jim Gibson, Hitfix's Geoff Berkshire and The AV Club's Claire Zulkey discuss the finales of Game of Thrones, Girls, Veep, the upcoming seasons of Trueblood and the new Aaron Sorkin show Newsroom and whether HBO's routine has become a formulaic pushing of cultural hot buttons, or is it still ground breaking and relevant to our times.

Then we take the temperature of geekdom in general with nerd royalty, comic book author Gerry Duggan.  As the E3 convention gathers in Los Angeles, Gerry breaks away to look over the changing face of nerds, what the geek culture has lost in becoming America's dominant entertainment voice and where it is headed.

Plus! Thoughts on the end of hype! As it relates to Presidents and TV shows.  And music by The Ventures!