Shows
Walter Rhein PodcastEscapist Delights in a Crumbling Democracy w/ Lawrence WinnermanHey Everyone!Today our special guest is Lawrence Winnerman from “The Daily Whatever.” We had a blast, and I got to get Lawrence’s pick for the definitive Gen X movie.I should come up with a question for every episode and have everyone write down their answer for the big reveal. That was kind of fun.I was just reflecting with Ben as to how much I enjoy these talks. It’s great to have an open topic such as film/shows/video games to form the basis of a discussion with all thes...2025-06-281h 00
Walter Rhein PodcastWhy You Should Never Feel Bad When You See Somebody Blocked YouHello, friends,Today, I want to spend a few minutes talking about the misconceptions and the misunderstandings that can easily transpire in our digital world. A couple of weeks ago, I tried to message Ben Ulansey. Those of you who follow me know that I do a weekly live with Ben where we bring in a guest and we discuss film and other ideas. We try not to talk about politics one day a week, but that’s becoming increasingly difficult in these dystopian times.I was preparing for our weekly meeting when I...2025-06-2308 min
The Daily WhateverThe Daily Whatever, Jun 20: Fucked-up Friday with Frederic Poag & Walter RheinI always knew this day would come.As many of you know, I’m a west-coaster and a night owl. So a 7am daily podcast requires discipline as well as a loud alarm. Guess which one I forgot to set this morning?It was a delight to realize how much concern you all had for me—so many messages!—and a relief my amazing guests Walter Rhein and Frederic Poag were such good sports about it all. We still had a rowdy chat and such amazing conversation about all the fucked-up news of the we...2025-06-201h 17
Walter Rhein PodcastEscapist Delights in a Crumbling Democracy w/ Abby ParadisHey Everyone!As always, our conversation skips across movies like stones in a stream. This was a fun talk. Also, stay tuned for the moment I spilled my coffee all over myself. Abby is pretty new to Substack, so you can check her publication here:I hope you enjoy it!Thank you Sara Niles, Somo, valeriep🇨🇦, Dr. James C Collyer, Robert e carroll, and many others for tuning into my live video with Ben Ulansey and Abby Paradis! You all make this newsletter happen! Thanks for your sponsorship! I have paymen...2025-06-201h 09
Walter Rhein PodcastAnother Movie Chat Where We Try to Take a Break From PoliticsHello Friends,It was nice to have Peter William Murphy join us again. I’m getting a kick out of his chaotic Monday podcast. He’s been pulling out all the stops and he’s the first Substack user I’ve seen to openly parody the idea of a livestream. I guess Ben is their next guest, so I’ll be sure to tune in to that.We can’t take ourselves too seriously… lord knows there are enough jerks out there who take themselves too seriously.This week, we went all over the place with...2025-06-151h 00
Walter Rhein PodcastTalking Movies, Bob Dylan, Kubrick, Horror, and Sailing Around the WorldHey Everyone!I keep saying that one of the joys of Substack is that it allows the opportunity to have conversations with writer friends I’ve known only through their work. It’s really cool to read somebody’s articles and then discover how much they exceed your expectations when you have a conversation with them.I wish I lived in a town and had all these people as my neighbors. Imagine that! Imagine if we could go for coffee and there would be Cory Vinny or Brandon Ellrich or Sarah Paris or all the other...2025-06-051h 17
Walter Rhein PodcastEscapist Delights in a Crumbling Democracy w/ Brandon EllrichHello Friends!Ben and I were delighted to have Brandon Ellrich come and give us his thoughts on some of his favorite films last Thursday. You can subscribe to his newsletter here:I chatted with Brandon after the talk and we discovered that technology played a little trick on us. We occasionally dropped our connection and that made us lose parts of the conversation. He mentioned how he saw in the replay that I asked him some questions that he didn’t hear during the live. The same thing happened from my end, so there is...2025-05-311h 04
The Daily WhateverThe Daily Whatever, May 27: The Dating Show with Frederic PoagThere’s no business like show business, amirite? And what a show we had today! Thanks to the always loquacious and irresistable Frederic Poag whose wild hair presaged a wild time talking about dating, sex, desire, and a whole lotta nonsense!If it ain’t clear, Frederic is ALWAYS welcome to talk to us, and when the topic is as spicy as today—well, we might just have to make that a thing! “The GenX Dating Show with Frederic, Dana, & Lawrence!” Smash the heart button ❤️ on this post if you’d like to see that weekly show, friends!W...2025-05-271h 05
Walter Rhein PodcastIs Film an Insider's Club that Refuses to Offer True Poverty Representation?Hello Friends!Well, this was just a delightful conversation with special guest Sarah Paris. She told us about how she spent some time working on scripts in Hollywood, so it was fascinating to get her perspective on that experience. This conversation kind of goes all over the place. As always, we deliberately tried to avoid talking about politics, but these days a little bit of political commentary seeps into almost everything you do.We were having so much fun we went over by about 10 minutes. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I...2025-05-261h 10
Walter Rhein PodcastHow Short Videos and Live Conversations Have Become Useful Growth ToolsHello Friends!When I was in school I wanted to be a cartoonist. This was back in the era of the Sunday morning comics and that seemed like the best thing in the world to me. I used to sit in my classes and doodle in my notebooks. This annoyed the teachers even though I always got my work done and got good grades.When I became a father, I realized how good kids are at listening even if they’re apparently engaged in some other task. I found this out after reading a chapter of...2025-05-1905 min
Walter Rhein PodcastThunderbolts, Game Theory, The Ocean's Films, AI, Bandersnatch, and Separating the Artist From the ArtHello Friends,Ben was kind enough to bring his dad Ken to join us for a conversation. I thought this was a lot of fun. We ended up discussing how video games often overlap with reality and are becoming an increasingly important mechanism for longform storytelling. This conversation ends up tying together rather neatly (David Harbour gets an assist for that).Oh, and we also spend a significant amount of time on depression. Wouldn’t it be great if somebody could make a 2 hour movie, or video game, or AI assistant that would lead you ou...2025-05-171h 01
The Daily WhateverThe Daily Whatever, May 16: Fucked-up Friday with Frederic PoagIt’s always an amazing day when Frederic Poag joins your Live.Even when it’s Friday, so it’s time to talk about the fucked-up news of the week.For those of you new to GenXy, each Friday we invite a guest to join us—and all three of us present our pick for most fucked-up news story of the week. Here were our respective picks:* Frederic: Kristi Noem Wants Migrants to Compete for Citizenship on New Reality Show. Like “The Long Walk” or “The Hunger Games,” only real life! So fucked-up!* Lawrence...2025-05-1652 min
The Daily WhateverThe Daily Whatever, May 10: Is GenX Feral? with Robin Wilding!What an absolute delight to welcome Robin Wilding of Wilding Out onto The Daily Whatever this morning/ afternoon! We had a great conversation with her about a multitude of things, and we got to shout out that our little Substack venture here is only two months old, and The Daily Whatever is really only two weeks old.CONFIDENTIAL TO ROBIN: Next time we have you on, we’ll do a better job of prepping questions in advance and, you know, share them with you beforehand, too. 🙈🙈🙈Hey, we’re learning over here, and we cannot tha...2025-05-101h 06
Walter Rhein PodcastA Boisterous Discussion About Anime, Thunderbolts, The Iron Claw and a Kiss ConcertHello Friends!I always enjoy these chats with Ben on Thursday. He’s finding excellent guests. The real power of Substack is taking the opportunity to chat with all these wonderful content creators. There are so many rational and insightful people out there—why does the mainstream media have such a hard time elevating reasonable people (is it because the mainstream media doesn’t want to broadcast reasonable perspectives?).Anyway, I tell the famous Kiss story in this interview, and provide a great parenting idea about how you should show your kids Yojimbo, followed by a Fist...2025-05-101h 05
The Daily WhateverThe Daily Whatever, May 9: Fucked-up Friday with Ben UlanseyWe were so excited to welcome Ben Ulansey from The Gen Z Report to The Daily Whatever this morning! Ben is an amazing writer, with opinions on everything from politics to popular culture, which means he’s a great add to the genXy fam. He may be two generations removed from us, but clearly, he’s one of us in spirit and vibe. We mean that in a GOOD way, Ben! 😜Today was Fucked-Up Friday, and as per the rules, all three contestants entered the ring with a story that they could credibly argue was THE most fucked...2025-05-0959 min
The Daily WhateverThe Daily Whatever, May 8: Speculative fiction “The Book of Deek”One of the great things about having a daily podcast with your bestie, Dana DuBois, is that you get to focus entire episodes on featuring each other’s writing! Yesterday we spoke about Dana’s piece on her lifetime love affair with the band The Cure, and today we dug into the nuts and bolts of my latest spec-fic piece, The Book of Deek.Dana is a great interviewer, and so we dug into everything from my friendly non-binary Muse, who shows up and delivers stories to me, fully formed, to the themes that permeate the story, as w...2025-05-081h 12
Walter Rhein PodcastThe Revenge of the Sith, South Park, and America the Motion PictureHello Friends!It was our pleasure to bring along Peter William Murphy this week. He had excellent commentary (and a funny story about ‘The Lion King’). I hope this episode gives you all a little bit of a break from these anxiety inducing times!Thank you Yolanda D., Brandon Ellrich, Larry C. Brown, Joyce Jordan, cheryl mcgrady, and many others for tuning into my live video with Ben Ulansey and Peter William Murphy!“I'd rather Be Writing” exists because of your generous support. If you have the means please consider upgrading to a paid spo...2025-05-0459 min
Walter Rhein PodcastHow Medium's Boost Program Helped Make Me a Better WriterHello Friends,I hope you all had the opportunity to get rested and recharged over the weekend. It was warm enough yesterday that I was able to go out on a bicycle ride with my daughter. I appreciate those moments. It allows us to chat and I get caught up on the stuff that’s going on in her life.My daughters are becoming powerful and that’s so wonderful to see. We played Pictionary last night, and it was delightful to see how sharp their minds are. It’s becoming obvious that I can no lon...2025-04-2805 min
Walter Rhein PodcastHow Can You Enjoy Superheroes When America No Longer Respects Justice?Here’s my favorite quote from the conversation.“I had no idea what changed in the snowman’s heart to make him go on that killing spree!”—Ben UlanseyTune in to find out the context of that statement, it’s kind of funny.Thank you Rich Dornisch 🏳️🌈, Baz, Polly Walker Blakemore, Brandon Ellrich, Kenyon, and many others for tuning into my live video with Eric Pierce and Ben Ulansey! Join me for my next live video in the app.Thank you for listening! This publication is reader sponsored. Your support means the world to me...2025-04-261h 13
Walter Rhein PodcastEscapist Delights in a Crumbling Democracy w/ Walter Rhein, Ben Ulansey, and Courtney SenderHello Everyone!Thank you Peter William Murphy, Karen Marie Shelton, Yolanda D., Joe Walker, Brandon Ellrich, and many others for tuning into my live video with Courtney Sender and Ben Ulansey!This is the first time doing our movie talk with a guest and I hope Courtney can become a regular contributor. She’s very insightful and I look forward to reading more of her work.As always, we hope this discussion gave you a much needed break from the issues we currently face as a nation. Thanks for tuning in!“I'd...2025-04-171h 17
Walter Rhein PodcastMovie Break: Tick, Tick... Boom! The Electric State, Yellowjackets, and White Lotus (again)Hello Everyone!Thank you Baz, Jeanne Elbe, Yolanda D., Jonathan Harvey, Michelle Maisner, and many others for tuning into my live video with Ben Ulansey! I’m a little late in getting this posted. Today was basketball day but we got rained out. Still, I managed to get in about a 50 minute practice with my daughter. Then I had to drive the other girls home. It’s all good, it beats time fretting on the cell phone.Ben and I were having all sorts of technical problems. It’s probably the fault of my cel...2025-04-111h 04
Walter Rhein PodcastMovie Break: We Discuss Don't Look Up, Transformers One, Walking Dead, The Men Who Stare at GoatsHello Friends!Thank you Baz, Polly Walker Blakemore, Zuri Stevens, Brandon Ellrich, Robert Danna, and many others for tuning into my live video with Ben Ulansey! Join me for my next live video in the app.As always, we love reading your comments as we chat away. I always do my best not to get too much into politics, but it’s pretty difficult with the way the world is going to pieces.Sigh…Still, this is our life and we have to find enjoyment and relief any way we can. Than...2025-04-0358 min
Walter Rhein PodcastHow to Resist Corruption and Help Create a Better WorldHey Everybody!I always appreciate talking to Zuri! It makes me feel better. It makes me feel like we have a chance to take our country back. Thanks to all of you who joined in to listen and leave your wonderful comments!WRThank you Ben Ulansey, Robin Wilding, Marwa, Rusty, 9070, and many others for tuning into my live video with Zuri Stevens! Join me for my next live video in the app.This publication is reader supported. Your generous sponsorship keeps me going! Here’s a discount code because yo...2025-03-281h 00
Walter Rhein PodcastThursday Movie Break! We Discuss Dexter, Time Bandits, Katamari Damacy, and Big Trouble In Little ChinaHello Friends!Thank you Earl Brownlee, Lucy Hanson, Brandon Ellrich, Sam samuelson, Ian Huntington, and many others for tuning into my live video with Ben Ulansey! Join me for my next live video in the app.Here’s where you can find our other discussions[Psst: If you’ve got a tutorial for how I can neatly insert a google docs spreadsheet into a Substack post, please share it in the comments]The Boys, First Blood, Severance, Man Vs. Wildhttps://walterrhein.substack.com/p/live-with-walter-rheinA Brid...2025-03-2757 min
Walter Rhein PodcastThursday Movie Break: We Discuss Jurassic Park, For All Mankind, Ladyhawke, and The Secret KingdomHello Friends!Thanks to Caro Henry, Ollie - if Only i, Brandon Ellrich, Kate E, Jonathan Harvey, Peter William Murphy and many others for tuning into my live video with Ben Ulansey! In addition to the movies listed above we also spent quite a bit of time on Robocop, Blade Runner, and others.Here’s where you can find our other discussions[Psst: If you’ve got a tutorial for how I can neatly insert a google docs spreadsheet into a Substack post, please share it in the comments]The...2025-03-201h 03
Walter Rhein PodcastThursday Movie Break: We Discuss 3 Body Problem, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, White Lotus, and HoosiersThank you Caro Henry, Susan Fourtané, Jonathan Harvey, Earl Brownlee, AlbanianQueen, and many others for tuning into my live video with Ben Ulansey! Join me for my next live video in the app next Thursday at 1 PM CST.During the chat, Jonathan provided his pick for the worst movie line from all time. He typed it in just as we were shutting down.His choice: “You think that just because you’re scientists, you can break the laws of Physics and get away with it.”Haha, that is pretty funny.Please comment...2025-03-131h 07
Walter Rhein PodcastThursday Movie Break Replay--Suspense, War Movies, and SuperheroesThank you Zuri Stevens, Peter William Murphy, Jeanne Elbe, Yolanda D., Mary J Hunt, and many others for tuning into my live video with Ben Ulansey! Join me for my next live video in the app.Hello Everyone!For the last few weeks, Ben and I have been taking a break from our dystopian reality to just have a lively chat about movies and shows. To be honest, we do this to familiarize ourselves with various multimedia tools, and to gain more experience doing live chats.This time I figured out that I...2025-03-071h 06
Walter Rhein PodcastLive Movie and Travel Chat with Walter Rhein and Ben UlanseyThank you JR Roessl, Philip Ogley, Dr. Richard Francis Hogan, Cory Vinny, Basta, and many others for tuning into my live video with Ben Ulansey! Join me for my next live video in the app.With my wife at Machu Picchu:“I'd rather Be Writing” exists because of your generous support. If you have the means please consider upgrading to a paid sponsorship. I have payment tiers starting at as little as twenty dollars a year. I'm so happy you're here, and I'm looking forward to sharing more thoughts with you tomorrow.Upgrade at 3...2025-02-2848 min
Walter Rhein PodcastHow We Must Focus on the Positive During Anxious and Uncertain TimesHello Everyone!The people I mention in my podcast today are Will Fullwood, Zuri Stevens, and Ben Ulansey. I’ll be posting my interviews with them over the next few days.Here’s a teaser of the podcast I did with Ben:Also, you all need to read this book. Loretta Ross quotes me three times in here! THREE!“I'd rather Be Writing” exists because of your generous support. If you have the means please consider upgrading to a paid sponsorship. I have payment tiers starting at as little as twenty dollars...2025-02-2818 min
Walter Rhein PodcastI Miss the Way Medium Was 5 Months AgoHello friends!It’s Monday, that means it’s time for another assessment of what’s going on in the writing world. I’ve had some successes this month on Medium, but it’s still shaping up to be my poorest month on the platform since February of 2023. Part of that is because I only published 13 stories, but that’s a consequence of how much less articles are making these days. More and more I’m finding myself drawn to Substack.I still feel it’s worth your effort to get a story Boosted on Mediu...2025-02-0305 min
Walter Rhein PodcastKiller Sharks, Affectionate Dogs, Bold Astronauts, Failed Sequels, and MoreInterstellar (2014)Return to Oz (1985)Jaws (1975)Bluey (2018-present)Inside Out (2015)The Bikeriders (2023)You can subscribe to Ben Ulansey by clicking on his name, and support him by clicking here.“I'd rather Be Writing” exists because of your generous support. If you have the means please consider upgrading to a paid sponsorship. I have payment tiers starting at as little as twenty dollars a year. I'm so happy you're here, and I'm looking forward to sharing more thoughts with you tomorrow.Upgrade at 30% offUp...2025-01-1736 min
Walter Rhein PodcastHow to Build a Good Strategy to Maximize the Power of Both Medium and SubstackHello Friends,First off, I want to mention that I’ll be doing one of my Q&A sessions today at noon. I had to move it to noon because of a conflicting obligation. This is an opportunity for paid subscribers to ask me writing related questions.Again, here’s all the important information:Jan 16, 2025 12:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)I’ll send the link later today through the group chat, so you’ll find it in your Substack app. If launch time is approaching and you haven’t found the link...2025-01-1606 min
Walter Rhein PodcastFrom Zero to 10,000 Substack Subscribers in 6 Months!Hello Friends,Today I’d like to introduce you to Jason Provencio, although many of you probably know him already. He runs the Bouncin’ and Behavin’ Blogs (BBB) on Medium. Like Robin Wilding and Ben Ulansey , Jason is a Boost nominator. He’s built a wonderful community over there and he’s only recently expanded into Substack.Boy has he ever!After a couple months of cajoling him with emails with subjects like, “Hey… Jason, you need to be on Substack, I think you’d do really well there” he moved to Substack, and he’s doing rea...2024-09-2305 min
Walter Rhein PodcastAn Interview With Medium Boost Nominator Ben UlanseyHello friends!Today, I’d like to introduce you to Ben Ulansey. Ben is well known for his poetic and thoughtful work on Medium. He’s relatively new to Substack, and his publication The Gen Z Report is worth checking out.I enjoy reading his writing because he has a kind and humanitarian perspective. Also, it’s interesting to see how younger people are navigating similar challenges to what I had to endure when I was their age. Often, I can read something by Ben and it churns up a memory that I hadn’t thought...2024-09-0913 min
The Hidden EggDo You Anime? Do You Weeb?For the Penultimate Episode of Season 5, our Hidden Egg protagonists delve into their own psyche, and the anime that shaped it. TAM and mort discuss their fav anime from the past and present, in this off-topic episode. So, if you do happen to anime and/or weeb, come along and hear us nerd out! XDCheck out the articles that we shouted out during the episode:The Lasting Legacy of Avatar: The Last Airbender by Ben UlanseyI’ve Been Selected to Speak at Medium Day by The Sturg (Gerald Sturgill)Re...2024-08-1352 min
The Hidden EggFrom Democracy to DictatorshipWell, Eggheads, do we have a deep topic to cover today. And, it barely matters since the events of the 13th. In the light of the Supreme Court's ruling on the former president's immunity, we decided we wanted to voice our thoughts and those of several impassioned writers on Medium! Which I will list now:The Discord Among Democrats Is Only Natural and Makes Me Proud to Vote Blue by Ben Ulansey This Country Is Screwed by TAMWith fear for our democracy by Dan Canon*It’s Worse Than You Think by Robert W Ahrens*21st Century Divine Ri...2024-07-1645 min
The Hidden EggBoosted 62 Times And Counting - Interview With Ben UlanseyFor the first time in the history of The Hidden Egg, TAM and mortal welcome special guest, Ben Ulansey!! (applause noises here)We talked with Ben about his experiences with Medium since he started on the platform. As someone that has been recognized by the platform many times, we wanted to get to know the writer and what his art meant to him. We went a few different places with our first interview, discussing Ben's views on technology and the internet and what it all means for our futures and touching on some of the articles he...2024-05-2154 min