Author: nowherecentral

Episode 61: “Mathematical” Courage or Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner Part II

After Dukes summarizes the plot of Beverly Hills Cop for Bagg, the UMBs get down to business. The second half of The Kite Runner fulfills its promises. Everything is excellent, but again, the lads feel that things are a bit too perfect, and still prefer the rare moments that upset the balance. https://chrt.fm/track/F72699/media.blubrry.com/1470605/content.blubrry.com/1470605/kite_runner_2_mix_v2.mp3Podcast: Play in… Continue reading Episode 61: “Mathematical” Courage or Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner Part II

Episode 60: “Zero Sum Narrative,” or Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner.

Bagg and Dukes haven’t read this 2003 bestseller, and confess to a little snobbishness about a book that is ubiquitous at airport books stores. But…it’s really good! Despite being impressed by the novel’s depiction of a childhood event that impacts our protagonist’s entire life, the UMBs wonder if the novel’s narrative physics are a bit TOO perfect.

Digression: Underdogs, Comebacks, and Seafood Substitutes, or Baseball Movies with Jason Herbert

Jason Herbert, from the Historians at the Movies community and podcast, joins us to talk about favorite baseball films. We share an uncomfortable moment when Chris learns who Jason’s favorite team is (hint: pinstripes), but settle into a rollicking, nostalgic, nerdfest. We discover a surprising shared affection for a certain Charlie Sheen film from the late 80s, and both Jesse and Chris hurl their picks from deep into Left Field.

Digression: Demented Whimsy with Joshua Mohr.

Writer Joshua Mohr joins us to talk shop about his recent book Farsickness. The idea began with watching his daughter and her friends create short dramatic productions for his neighborhood, during COVID. He talks about the virtues of supposedly “hapless” protagonists, collaborating with his daughter, and how COVID should have taught us to pursue the art we crave the most. 

Coming Soon: A Live Discussion of Sideways!

On Thursday, January 11th, join Upper Middlebrow for a live (independent) watch party. We’ll all watch the movie starting at 4:05PM PST, and then our live video episode will begin promptly at 6:30 PST. https://chrt.fm/track/F72699/media.blubrry.com/1470605/content.blubrry.com/1470605/Sideways_LIVE_Trailer.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Mark your calendar:

Details to follow! This will be a virtual event, in which we agree to watch the movie at the same time, and then a video discussion to follow.

Boulet du Mouton

Fill out our LISTENER SURVEY!!! If you listen to our episode on Babette’s Feast, you will understand why Jesse felt compelled to create a recipe for something called “Boulet du Mouton”. We don’t want to spoil it exactly, but Babette might say “Il a fait du mensonge une vérité.” Jesse INVENTED this recipe, although it has… Continue reading Boulet du Mouton

Draft Results!!

Thanks to everybody who joined our first ever live event last night. Here are the results for our next series (after we finish Neuromancer, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, and The Forever War). We’ll publish the audio from last night’s event in our podcast feed in the coming weeks. See below for our plan… Continue reading Draft Results!!

Upper Middlebrow Live DRAFT!

On Wednesday, August 2nd, at 7:30pm EDT, we will select our next FOUR series using a ranked choice voting system we like to call “DRAFT DAY”. If you want to join, watch this space for a youtube live link, around 7:15pm EDT. Here is a rando Creative Commons image we found searching “Draft Day”. It’s…… Continue reading Upper Middlebrow Live DRAFT!

Episode 22: “In Search of the Perfect Read, Part II” or “Summer Reading for Grown Ups.”

We’re joined by two journalists and avid readers, Susie An and Arionne Nettles, both former colleagues of Jesse’s from WBEZ in Chicago. Susie and Ari both like the IDEA of a beach read, and both say they use summer as a time to catch up on books they WANT to read, as opposed to books they’re SUPPOSED to read. Susie recommends The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson, and Ari recommends You Made a Fool of Death With Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi.

Episode 13: “Time the Ravager” or Jennifer Egan’s 2010 A Visit From the Goon Squad, Part I

After a camel cricket update (!), Jesse and Chris try to untangle the conga line of affection and destruction that forms the structure of Egan’s remarkable 2010 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. Bagg plays the babyface/fanboy while Dukes combines admiration for Egan’s craft with a deep sense of discomfort with the characters’ circumstances. We wrap it up with some trivia about titans of tech and shoplifting spin.