The reason to tell stories
What is the reason why all societies throughout history have felt the need to tell stories? Why is it something that defines people? Perhaps filmmaker Paco Cabezas’ (director of shows like Penny Dreadful and The Gypsy Bride) podcast, Casa Paco, doesn’t answer these general questions, but it does analyze the reasons why Spanish filmmakers do what they do. He himself welcomes directors, screenwriters, actors and other industry professionals to his home and chats with them. From actress Alexandra Jiménez to Javier Olivares, creator of “The Ministry of Time,” they have worked through some of the more than 80 chapters so far.
The story behind an Argentine meme
If there’s a country more embracing the meme than Spain, it’s Argentina. The meme is created when it arouses deep emotions in the public. And both nations know a little about it. Iceberg Effect (El Extraordinario) was created by analyzing a moment in Argentine pop culture that is already 20 years old. In the middle of the economic crisis, journalist Mauro Viale and meat entrepreneur Alberto Samid had a clean fight live on television.
The situation, as surreal and absurd as it may be, continues to generate jokes, just as happened in Spain with the clashes between Ruiz Mateos and Jesús Gil’s punch against Fidalgo. It is also an event that helps define a very specific era and society, and that is exactly what this sound space does in several parts. Boxers, anthropologists, comedians, scientists and artists break down this insane event.
The most embarrassing moment of your life
The shame of others is a strange feeling that combines such opposite emotions as contempt and empathy. For several seasons, Tomàs Fuentes and Ignasi Taltavul have made it the humorous material and the backbone of La Ruina.
Although each part has an illustrious guest, this show needs an audience because it is the audience who shares its most embarrassing moment with it. The saddest story wins a prize. The good thing is that the protagonists can tell the stories themselves with a smile. Because the room is not only a psychological exercise, but also reminds us at every moment of one of the comedians’ maxims: humor is tragedy plus time.
In English: the sonorous alternative to the Hollywood strike
The Hollywood writers’ strike is over and with it the reason for Strike Force Five. It’s the podcast that brought America’s five most famous late-night hosts together in front of the microphones to offer an alternative to the five-month hiatus of their television programs. Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, Stephen Colbert and John Oliver have already stopped recording parts of their joint project, but some episodes have not yet been released, so the podcast is still alive in a sense.
The idea behind this dream team is to raise money for those workers who have not received any income for almost half a year in return for defending their labor rights. Not only does the room offer an alternative approach to the media exposure of its five hosts, but it also serves as a weapon against entertainment industry bosses. In one of the episodes, the communicators broadcast content in which artificial intelligence perfectly recreates their voices, supporting one of the main demands of the Writers Guild of the United States in this strike.
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