Month: February 2008

The Signal (BSS #182)

David Bruckner, Jacob Gentry, and Dan Bush are the writer-directors of The Signal. AJ Bowen played exterminator Lewis Denton, Scott Poythress played Clark, and Chad McKnight played Jim Parsons. The film opens on February 22, 2008. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Resisting the suggestions of broadcast signals. Guests: Cast and crew members from The Signal: Writer-directors […]

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Toby Barlow (BSS #181)

Toby Barlow is the author of Sharp Teeth. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Distrusting of certain types of poetry. Author: Toby Barlow Subjects Discussed: The appeal of free verse, genre distinctions, the concern for lycanthropic physiology, Terry Pratchett, deviating from the rules in the werewolf canon, Brian Francis Slattery’s Spaceman Blues, a hyper-giddy version of the […]

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Steve Erickson (BSS #180)

Steve Erickson is most recently the author of Zeroville. He returned to the program for a second conversation with The Bat Segundo Show #447. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Confused by floating point integers. Author: Steve Erickson Subjects Discussed: Approaching a novel with fewer fantastical elements, following the narrative laws of movies, Peter Biskind’s Easy Riders, […]

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Charles Baxter (BSS #179)

Charles Baxter is most recently the author of The Soul Thief. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Vengeful towards literary ransackers. Author: Charles Baxter Subjects Discussed: Nathaniel Branden, Ayn Rand, intellectualism and the academic community, reductionist dialogue, being a grad student in the 1970s, Baxter’s recurrent water motif, placing a novel in Buffalo, getting the setting right, […]

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Charles Bock (BSS #178)

Charles Bock is the author of Beautiful Children. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Reconsidering the last eleven years of his life. Author: Charles Bock Subjects Discussed: Setting a novel in Vegas, writing about a city when living there vs. a more distant approach to learning about the location, Las Vegas and its suburbs as the fastest […]

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Charles Burns (BSS #177)

Charles Burns is the author and illustrator of Black Hole. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Avoiding conspiracy theorists. Author: Charles Burns Subjects Discussed: Responding to Vanessa Raney’s comparison between Black Hole and Sartre’s No Exit, anatomical closeups, World War II venereal disease films, intuitive artistic choices, the influence of postwar culture vs. personal experience, half-naked girls […]

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Eran Kolirin (BSS #176)

Eran Kolirin is the writer and director of The Band’s Visit, now playing in theaters. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Contending with the inflexible language demands of the Academy. Guest: Eran Kolirin Subjects Discussed: Using a great deal of static shots, Antonioni, the influence of comic books, creating a cinematic fable, contending with too many extras […]

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Adam Langer (BSS #175)

Adam Langer is most recently the author of Ellington Boulevard. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Scurrying away from Duke-loving hipsters. Author: Adam Langer Subjects Discussed: Topographical narrative, characters that emerge from the environment, being a “method writer,” dialogue and perspective, the use of quotation marks, writing from the perspective of animals, dog science and memory, coincidences […]

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