PODCAST

Upper Middlebrow

A podcast in which we discuss high-craft works of popular culture

arts books

All Episodes

1:08:21

Episode 44: “Faintly Dickensian?” or Paul Beatty’s...

Upper Middlebrow ·

2024/02/12

Chris and Jesse are thrown into Paul Beatty's 2015 Man Booker Prize Winner The Sellout, because this novel seems to try to take the upper hand with its reader. Our two heroes agree that it's beautiful, but is it a mess or not? We marvel at Beatty's prose, quickly sum up all of epic poetry, and finish with trivia about child actors from The Little Rascals and ovoid/cuboid watermelons.

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1:02:17

Episode 43: “Put On Your Seatbelt,” or Alexander...

Upper Middlebrow ·

2024/02/01

A rebroadcast of our Live recap and discussion of Alexander Payne’s Sideways (2004). The UMB’s admire Miles’ Saab, la costa perdida, and enjoy the rustically simple cinematography, and marvel at the chemistry and performances of Paul Giamatti, Thomas Hayden Church, Sandra Oh, and Virginia Madsen. Was there ever such an acting quartet?

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37:39

Digression: Demented Whimsy with Joshua Mohr.

Upper Middlebrow ·

2024/01/25

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.

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1:13:31

Episode 42: “Waiting for Prima,” or Campbell Scott...

Upper Middlebrow ·

2024/01/18

The UMBs went in expecting a quietly great film, and their expectations were exceeded. Big Night is at times BIG and LOUD, even though the characters spend much of the film not saying what they mean. Big Night combines excellent kitchen scenes (especially the memorable timpano preparation) with family drama and the central dilemma of all artists: When to compromise vision for the sake of practicalities.

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2:36

Coming Soon: A Live Discussion of Sideways!

Upper Middlebrow ·

2024/01/08

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.

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1:02:15

Episode 41: “Borrowing the Bigness,” or Sandra...

Upper Middlebrow ·

2024/01/01

Sandra Nettlebeck’s 2001 film is beautifully shot and carries its narrative in a bucket effectively, following its fiery protagonist into the thickets of surrogate parenthood. Martha is a brilliant chef who struggles to take both compliments and criticism, and she’s been dragooned into therapy by her boss. This unstable stability is complicated by the arrivals of Martha’s niece, Lina, and a charismatic but erratic Italian sous chef. The UMBers admire the performance of Martina Gedeck and talk about

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1:24:09

Episode 40: “All’s Well That Tastes Well,” Or Ang...

Upper Middlebrow ·

2023/12/21

Ang Lee’s 1994 family drama/comedy is a sprawling epic, set in 1990s Taipei, about an aging chef, his three daughters, and the big themes of love, loneliness, loss, and togetherness. It’s full of gorgeous intimate images of cooking, and the film is punctuated by occasional family dinners. We wonder if Ang Lee has a discernable style, and whether this counts as a “foodie film.”

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1:12:41

Episode 39: “A Fistful of Noodles,” or Juzo Itami’s...

Upper Middlebrow ·

2023/12/11

Juzo Itami’s brilliant 1986 film combines elements of Greek theater, the American Western, vaudeville, silent movies, French Noir, and other eclectic elements as it explores the myriad relationships with food humankind can experience. The central stem tells the story of a widow’s attempt to serve sublime ramen at a small roadside stop, aided by two truckers, and a ragtag posse of helpers. The film plays with and subverts expectations in a way the UMBs find wildly charming. Also, it will make you

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1:10:01

Episode 38: “Michael a l’Orange,” or Peter...

Upper Middlebrow ·

2023/11/30

Peter Greenaway’s film feels like an opera. It even features some operatic singing, but more to the point, its pleasures are more sensual than story driven. It’s not an easy film to watch, and may not inspire you to cook, but it is beautifully disturbing and meticulously crafted. Starring Helen Mirren and Michael Gambon in their primes, ˆThe Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover,” will haunt you for a long time.

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1:24:38

Episode 37: “Maxing Out the Turtle Budget,” or Axel...

Upper Middlebrow ·

2023/11/20

Axel Gabriel’s 1986 Danish film deservingly makes many people’s Foodie Top 10s, and we can see why. We LOVE this film, which not only shows some high level delicious cooking, but tells a parable of destiny, thwarted desire, and the balance of simplicity and hedonism with a gentle and incisive eye. The UMBs discuss whether it’s a comedy, tragedy, or something else.

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51:25

Digression II: Foodie Films Preview with Chewing host...

Upper Middlebrow ·

2023/11/16

The UMBers sit down with Monica Eng, co-host of the podcast Chewing, to discuss our upcoming "Foodie Films" series. Monica and Jesse educate Chris about the Jibarito sandwich, and Monica impresses us by having seen 7 out of 7 of the works in this series.

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3:53

Season Two Trailer!

Upper Middlebrow ·

2023/11/13

We are almost one year old! Our first episode, on Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash, launched almost exactly a year ago, and we are so excited to be heading into Season Two of Upper Middle Brow. This season we're kicking things off a little differently, with a tour of "Foodie Films," beginning with Gabriel Axel's Babette's Feast, followed shortly thereafter by Peter Greenaway's harrowing The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover. We'll talk to Monica Eng of the Chewing podcast and listen to some

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1:10:00

Episode 35: “DON’T Save the Cat!” or Joe Haldeman’s...

Upper Middlebrow ·

2023/11/06

The UMBs have ANOTHER thorough conversation about the novel’s sexual politics, and Mandella’s low key homophobia, asking whether the protagonist’s biases serve some narrative purposes, or simply reveal the author’s own biases. We marvel at the sparse internality, and Haldeman’s ability to poetically reveal just enough about Mandella’s emotional state. And, we decide that Larry Niven is good.

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1:14:52

Episode 34: “Einstein, Hemingway, and Vietnam,” or...

Upper Middlebrow ·

2023/10/26

The Forever War is widely regarded as an analogy for America’s involvement in Vietnam, and an anti-war novel, but we’re not so sure it’s firmly anti-war. Perhaps more anti-military. But that said, Haldeman’s protagonist doesn’t consider the apparently antagonistic aliens, the Taurans, to be the real Enemy. The UMBs are blown away by the ideation and certain moments of prose, but raise doubts about the one-way nature of the structure

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1:19:45

Episode 33: “Real Sheep Don’t Buy Themselves,” or...

Upper Middlebrow ·

2023/10/16

Rick Deckard spends much of the second half pondering Rachael Rosen’s girlish legs, and his growing feelings of empathy to the Androids, before deciding to go after the remaining three. Does his empathy make it harder for him to do his appointed grisly task? Maybe? Both UMBs wonder if Dick’s ideas were too big for the scope of this book, even though it has its virtues.

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1:08:35

Episode 32: “Keeping up with the Jetsons,” or Phillip...

Upper Middlebrow ·

2023/10/05

Fill out our LISTENER SURVEY!!Dick’s famous novel begins… weird. And the weirdness continues. Dick orients his readers to a world in which fallout is everywhere, most animals have died, many humans have left Earth for colony planets, and androids (or andys) do much of the manual labor. The UMBs are both blown away by Dick’s imagination, but wonder if some of the books mechanics are too clunky.

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1:15:36

Episode 31: “Frogmarched to the Head,” or William...

Upper Middlebrow ·

2023/09/25

Chris and Jesse are in the same meatspace in Maine, but still talking about cyberspace in…space. As the two microphone jockeys wrap up William Gibson’s Neuromancer, we do TWO close readings (one for and one against Gibson’s chops), talk about how this book created something completely new, and discuss if that fact is why Neuromancer had shown longevity and resilience, despite some issues of craft.

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26:34

DIGRESSION I: Pas de Joie de Neuromancer

Upper Middlebrow ·

2023/09/18

Our friend Lindsay Lajoie saw that we were considering William Gibson’s Neuromancer on the podcast, and admitted on her Instagram that it’s one of the very few books she attempted and could get through. Lindsay joins us for a mini-sode, and we pick apart her reaction, and try to convince her it’s worth another go.

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1:13:31

Episode 29: “Blind Animal Panic,” or William Gibson’s...

Upper Middlebrow ·

2023/09/11

Dukes and Bagg return to William Gibson’s groundbreaking 1984 novel, that popularized the cyberpunk genre. The reviews are mixed. There are moments of brilliance, but does the young Gibson’s drive to “put a hook on every page” lead to more confusion than clarity?

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1:17:51

Episode 28: “Tales of Teachers,” with Educator Justin...

Upper Middlebrow ·

2023/08/28

As students, parents, and teachers happily (or wrenchingly) return to school, we invite our resident education specialist, Justin Reich, to talk about stories with teachers. We identify many examples of bad teachers and bad teaching in fiction, and while film and TV often present sympathetic teacher protagonists, we wonder if the Great American Teacher novel is yet to be written.

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