Shows
Flaming Hydra Round TableEpisode 0011: Episode 11: The Ultimate Truth of SupermanA distinguished panel who will be yelling at each other most entertainingly for the next 40 minutes or so. Josephine Reisman, the New York Times bestselling author of Ringmaster and True Believer, S.I. Rosenbaum, a journalist and artist, Zach Rabiroff, a writer on books, comics, and culture, living in Brooklyn, Sam Thielman, a reporter, critic, essayist, and editor and graphic novel columnist for the New York Times, and pod producer Joe MacLeod. Special Guests: Josephine Riesman, S.I. Rosenbaum, Sam Thielman, and Zach Rabiroff.Support Flaming Hydra Round Table2025-07-1446 min
Flaming Hydra Round TableEpisode 0010: Episode 10: SupernerdsJoe MacLeod and Sam Thielman discuss Sam's Flaming Hydra piece "My Ten Favorite Superman Stories," and Sam goes way past ten.Special Guest: Sam Thielman.Support Flaming Hydra Round TableLinks:My Ten Favorite Superman Stories — I love Superman. He was originally conceived as a vagrant corrupted by ultimate power in a short story by Jerry Siegel called “The Reign of the Superman.” Siegel was scared of girls and introverted with other boys, too. He didn’t do well in school. His buddy Joe Shuster illustrated it; the boys couldn’t give the thing...2025-06-1331 min
Comics Closet5 - Reflections & ResolutionsBetty and Alex go over their favorites of the year, lessons learned (comics-wise, that is), and reading resolutions for 2025!
Inspired to pick up one of the titles mentioned in the pod? Head over http://bettysbooksstl.com.
Media mentioned:
Apps: Storygraph and Reading List
CAT COMPANIONS: MARURU & HACHI by Yuri Sonoda
LET’S EAT TOGETHER AKI & HARU by Makoto Taji
BATCAT #1 and #2 by Meggie Ramm
NEW GIRL by Cassandra Cailn
THE MYTHMAKERS by John Hendrix
SELF ESTEEM AND THE END OF THE WORLD by Luke Healy
ASH’S CABIN by J...2025-01-111h 13
The 2000 AD Thrill-CastBest of the Year 2024!So that was 2024 – but what were some of the highlights of the past 12 Thrill-powered months? Molch-R and KLO-E are joined by critic and journalist Sam Thielman as they pick their favourites from 2000 AD and the Treasury of British Comics this year, as well as a top pick from beyond the House of Tharg. Join them as they give their opinions on what tickled their Thrill-receptors in 2024!And stay tuned to the end for some exciting news about what's in store from the 2000 AD Thrill-Cast in 2025!The 2000 AD and Treasury of British Comics titles na...2024-12-1847 min
Saved by the CityApocryFUN: Hillbilly Elegy + Sam ThielmanIn the '00s, America was introduced to J.D. Vance, who pitched himself as a middle man between coastal elites and the rural white Americans he'd been raised around. Hillbilly Elegy was part memoir/part explainer and, at the time, seemed to establish Vance as a moderate conservative who wanted to bridge the partisa cultural, political and religious divide. In this episode, Tyler and journalist/critic Sam Thielman explore Hillbilly Elegy and chart Vance's strange, subsequent journey to becoming Donald Trump's running mate. 2024-09-1952 min
Flaming Hydra Round TableEpisode 0007: Episode 7: Zombie no go think, unless you tell am to think (Zombie)Sam Thielman at the Round Table with Luke O'Neil, Julianne Escobedo Shepherd, David Moore, and Jonathan M. Katz. Joe MacLeod pressed the RECORD button.Special Guests: David Moore, JOE MACLEOD, Jonathan M. Katz, Julianne Escobedo Shepherd, and Luke O'Neil.Support Flaming Hydra Round Table2024-04-1536 minFlaming Hydra Round TableEpisode 0006: Episode 6: Crappy baseball uniforms, Gaza, NYC street dining, and Nirvana's first drummerMaria Bustillos at the Round Table with Tom Scocca, Arwa Mahdawi, Sam Thielman, David Moore, and Mark Yarm. Joe MacLeod pressed the RECORD button.Special Guests: Arwa Mahdawi, David Moore, Mark Yarm, Sam Thielman, and Tom Scocca.Support Flaming Hydra Round Table2024-04-0829 minFlaming Hydra Round TableEpisode 5: At The Round Table We Can Say "Whoop-Ass"Maria sits at the Round Table with Shirley Wang, Gabriel Snyder, Sam Thielman, Jennie Rose Halperin, and Kọ́lá Túbọ̀sún. Joe MacLeod pressed the RECORD button.Special Guests: Gabriel Snyder, Jennie Rose Halperin, Kọ́lá Túbọ̀sún, Sam Thielman, and Shirley Wang.Support Flaming Hydra Round Table2024-04-0135 min
22 Panels - A Comic Book PodcastBonus Episode: With Great Power #155...22 Panels with Sam ThielmanSend us a text
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2024-03-0946 min
Vegan Theology: For the Least of TheseThe New Creation!This episode discusses the new creation which will be an eternal and bodily existence for the whole world. We referenced the following verses to highlight the qualities of the new creation: Genesis 1:1 - 2:3, 2:9-14; 3:8; Leviticus 26:12; Deuteronomy 23:14; 2 Sam 7:6,9; Ezekiel 28:13-18; 40:6; Isaiah 2:4; 11:6-9; 25:8; 26:19; 66:22;Matthew 5-7; Romans 8:18-23; Revelation 21:1-6; 22:1-2. Books and resources referenced in the making of this episode: The New Creation and the Storyline of Scripture (Short Studies in Biblical Theology) by Frank Thielman God Dwells Among Us: Expanding Eden to the Ends of the Earth by G. K. Beale and Mitchell Kim https://youtu.be/_7watmvWVN4?si=6dE3...2023-10-1741 min
Blocked and ReportedEpisode 128: The Salman Rushdie Attack Holds a Mirror To The West And The Opera Finally Bans SlaverySalman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses, has spent decades in hiding as radical Muslims have hunted and killed many others involved with the controversial novel. Recently, he reemerged in New York, only to be stabbed near-fatally as he took the stage. But are others wrong to draw parallels between the rhetoric used by his attackers and the rhetoric we see increasingly in the West?Plus, Substack writer Sam Thielman had his contract unfairly terminated, but Jesse uncovers events in his past that suggest he may not be quite as fair to others. Then, enjoy the chaos...2022-08-221h 00
Young Adult Movie MinistryThe Exorcisthood of All BelieversHello! Long time no post! Alissa is writing her book and Sam is working on [REDACTED] and we have let this fall by the wayside a little bit in the interest of drawing out the length between episodes, since we have precious little time to record these days. But we really ought to announce that sort of thing in the future, and for this we apologize. We have a very fun episode for you today, a little out of date but none the worse for wear, with the great Mason Mennenga, on James Wan’s faith-based film The Conjuring. We...2022-07-041h 01
All The Rage Christian PodFrom Statement to Statutes: The Nashville Statement w/ Sam ThielmanWe welcome our first guest! Journalist and fellow right-wing watcher Sam Thielman joins us to discuss the anti-lgbt laws that are inundating states and school districts across the nation, and the links between these efforts and the 2017 Nashville Statement, its authors and signatories, and the dark money groups turning Christian far right dreams into nightmarish legislative reality.
Follow Sam Thielman on twitter at https://twitter.com/samthielman, find his podcast at Young Adult Movie Ministry, and see his substack at foreverwars.substack.com. The article we discuss in this episode is At War With the Pedophile Knowers.2022-05-0951 min
Young Adult Movie MinistryVol. 2, Ep. 17: A Dark Knight ReturnsHello! We are back with friend of the pod Jamelle Bouie to talk about the new Batman flick, which is good. We hope you enjoy it! Soon Alissa’s book will be out and we will announce the winner of our subscriber contest!This episode of Young Adult Movie Ministry is produced by John Kemp. Our theme song is Louis Armstrong and His Hot 5’s Muskrat Ramble, made freely available by the Boston Public Library and audio engineering shop George Blood, LP through the Internet Archive. The Batman is copyright 2022 Warner Bros. All other material is copyright 2022 Sam Th...2022-05-041h 00
Veterans of Culture Wars052: Chrissy Stroop at the VCWRussia expert and trans activist Chrissy Stroop joins the VCW hall to discuss Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Putin's religious and ethno-nationalist mindset, the connections between the Kremlin and some on the American right and the various anti-trans state laws that are being proposed in red states around our country. She also shares her Evangelical story.
Connect with Chrissy:
Twitter: @C_stroop
Website: https://cstroop.com/
Mentioned on the pod:
Portland June 4th meet-up:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/pdx-meetup-tickets-310758094827
Sam...2022-04-261h 28
Young Adult Movie MinistryVol. 2, Ep. 16: Beep Beep YeahHello! We have acquired a wonderful producer, John Kemp, an old friend of Sam’s who offered to help a bit ago and whom Sam in his generalized lack of organization finally followed up with much more recently. John’s great, as you can hear, and we’re thrilled to have him aboard. This may also mean a more regular pod sked for a bit, and as such, we offer yet again a plea to subscribers: Please become one! This month (April, not March, as Sam says on the pod), if you subscribe, we will enter you in a drawin...2022-04-111h 06
Young Adult Movie MinistryVol. 2, Ep. 15: It's a bird! It's a plane!Hello! Today we watched the critically acclaimed and Best Picture-nominated 138-minute $75 million Netflix dramedy Don’t Look Up so you don’t have to! We hated this. We hated it so much we didn’t have the heart to make a guest watch it. Sam is kind of ranty on this one. If you like hearing him angry, please subscribe. If you can’t do that (we understand!) please leave us a good review on your podcatcher of choice (but especially Apple Podcasts) so that more people can hear us. It’s the environmentally friendly thing to do.Our imag...2022-02-251h 15
Young Adult Movie MinistryVol. 2, Ep. 14: Never go to anybody's houseThis episode we have the marvelous Helen Shaw, New York magazine’s theatre critic, to talk about Joel Coen’s new film of Macbeth, which we all enjoyed immensely. The movie can be streamed on Apple TV and might still be in theaters; it’s good. Watch it.Our theme song is Louis Armstrong and His Hot 5’s Muskrat Ramble, made freely available by the Boston Public Library and audio engineering shop George Blood, LP through the Internet Archive. The Secret of Kells is copyright 2009 Cartoon Saloon; brief audio excerpts from the film are used here for purposes of...2022-02-111h 20
Young Adult Movie MinistryVol. 2, Episode 13: Work Backwards From the CatWe got to have Jeffrey Overstreet back! Hooray! Jeff is the author of the Auralia’s Colors fantasy novels and Through a Screen Darkly, as well as being writer-in-residence at Seattle Pacific University. We hope you enjoy this one. It’s free, but please subscribe if you haven’t!Jeff, Alissa, and Sam are talking about The Secret of Kells, Tomm Moore and Nora Twomey’s 2009 animated fantasy feature about the preservation of the great illuminated book of the gospels.Our theme song is Louis Armstrong and His Hot 5’s Muskrat Ramble, made freely avai...2022-01-241h 19
Young Adult Movie MinistryVol. 2, Episode 12: Felt LossDetails, credits, errata: Merry Christmas! This week’s episode is about The Muppet Christmas Carol, NOT A Muppet Christmas Carol, or Carol. Or Scrooge. Or Scrooged. There are lots of versions of the Charles Dickens novella, which you can see in its original manuscript form here. You can also visit it in person at the home, now museum, of real-life Scrooge JP Morgan! This is a free episode, so please consider subscribing!or buying your hosts a coffee using ko-fi.com/samthielman. Thank you for listening! We love you!Our theme song is Lo...2021-12-241h 05
Young Adult Movie MinistryVol. 2, Episode 11: More Power to Him and His Big Stupid FaceDetails, credits, errata: It is a two-episode week! Sam has finally gotten around to editing our episode on Free Guy, a very good one, if we do say so ourselves. The movie is fun! It’s neither a stone classic nor something we feel the need to apologize for inflicting on you, but it is fairly new and we do have to spoil it for you a bit to talk about it, so check it out before listening to the pod if that kind of thing bothers you.This is a free episode, so please consider subscribing!...2021-12-0855 min
Young Adult Movie MinistryVol. 2, Episode 10: God Is a Pink RobotDetails, credits, errata: This week’s returning guest is the wonderful Tyler Huckabee, of Relevant magazine! He knows his Jack Kirby upside-down and backwards and he was definitely the guy to talk abou Eternals, Chloe Zhao’s new, much-discussed Marvel movie. It is… okay? There’s a lot of theology in it.This is a free episode, so please consider subscribing!or buying your hosts a coffee using ko-fi.com/samthielman. Thank you for listening! We love you!Our theme song is Louis Armstrong and His Hot 5’s Muskrat Ramble, made freely available by the Bost...2021-12-061h 12
Young Adult Movie MinistryVol. 2, Episode 9: How to Live in a CircleDetails, credits, errata: This week’s guest is Meg Conley, the terrific writer of homeculture, a newsletter about, uh, home culture! It’s very good and you may have seen it around as Meg’s work often attracts the kind of attention that elevates thoughtful writing into the general discourse. Meg was incredibly forthright and insightful about this week’s movie, Arrival, one of our favorites, and very open and honest about her own life in the Mormon church, as well. We thank her for it.This is a free episode, so please consider subscribing! or buyin...2021-11-171h 24
Young Adult Movie MinistryVol. 2, Episode 7: An Unworthy MannerDetails, credits, errata: This week we watched Netflix’s incredible, terrifying show about [SPOILER] and Christian theology, Midnight Mass, which I don’t think I call Black Mass during the episode but if I do, please know that Alissa has already teased me about it and you will only be encouraging her if you do the same. Black Mass isn’t very good, whereas Midnight Mass is. Our guest us the delightful Andy Levy, costar of the only watchable show Fox News ever broadcast, Red Eye (long since canceled, obviously), now ascended to the highest planes of Twitter, where he is...2021-10-291h 28
Young Adult Movie MinistryVol. 2, Episode 6: The Last Temptation of Silent BobDetails, credits, errata: This week Alissa and I watched Dogma, Kevin Smith’s goodhearted, filthy movie about theology and goofy stoners, a film that is very easy to watch but very hard to see! Alissa notes that there’s a YouTube upload and an Internet Archive version, neither of which seem terribly legit but since there’s no way to stream the movie or buy it from the distributor, we do not recommend watching a bootleg version but we also do not have an alternative.Sam mentioned Terry Schiavo, and Alissa mentioned the You’re Wrong Ab...2021-10-201h 07
Posting Through ItDrums in the Distance (9/29/21) ft/ Joe MulhallJoe Mulhall is Head of Research at HOPE not hate and one of the UK's leading authorities on far-right extremism. He joins SH!TPOST for a chat about his latest book, “Drums in the Distance: Journeys in the Global Far Right.” In it, Joe provides an exhaustively researched accounting of far-right political movements around the world that he tastefully pairs with vivid recounting of his time spent infiltrating and exposing those movements.Follow Joe Mulhall on Twitter: https://twitter.com/JoeMulhall_Read the book: https://bookshop.org/books/drums-in-the-distance-journeys-into-the-global-far-right/9781785787515Joe’s favorite thing on the in...2021-09-3030 min
Young Adult Movie MinistryVol. 2, Episode 5: That's a PipelineDetails, credits, errata: This week we’re delighted to have the great Vinson Cunningham, theater critic at The New Yorker, essayist, humorist, and all-around terrific writer whose work we heartily recommend to you. We watched P.T. Anderson’s 2007 masterpiece There Will Be Blood, starring Daniel Day-Lewis and Paul Dano, beloved of our hosts but new to Vinson. Vinson is really wonderful and open about his own experience of charismatic worship and we are very happy to have him on this one.Our photo on the site this week is of a Baptism near Mineola, Tx. in 1935, take...2021-09-271h 09
The Worst BestsellersEpisode 180 – The Dark Knight Returns
We’ve read a lot of popular books over the years, but this episode might be the one most likely to make men on the internet yell at us. Oh well! We’ve already read The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller, Klaus Janson, and Lynn Varley and there’s no turning back now. Phillip Mottaz, author of The Murderous Haircut of the Mayor of Bel Air, joined us at the local dump to discuss this extremely influential–perhaps too influential–Batman graphic novel.
Readers advisory: Here.
Footnotes: Squirrel Girl on Dump Teens
Bruno o...2021-09-131h 31
Young Adult Movie MinistryVol. 2, Episode 3: Vibing Into a DreamscapeDetails, credits, errata: Our guest this week is Friend of the Pod Isaac Butler, journalist and cultural historian who has a new and very good book called The Method coming out in February; he would be grateful if you’re able to toss him a pre-order—he’s a terrific writer and you won’t regret it. He also hosts a podcast of his own, Working, at Slate. Check him out!The movie we’re talking about is David Lowery’s The Green Knight, starring Dev Patel, Alicia Vikander, and Joel Edgerton. It’s still in theaters most places an...2021-09-031h 24
Young Adult Movie MinistryVol. 2, Episode 2: Painted Women Who Will Do Anything for SilverDetails, credits, errata: Our guest this week is the delightful Lyz Lenz, returning to watch another awkwardly erotic 1950’s Biblical epic with us. It’s a goofy one. Our film is The Prodigal, a notorious turkey that lost the studio a ton of money despite having the beautiful Lana Turner as a fertility priestess. It is, as you might imagine, “based on” the parable from the Gospels in only the loosest possible sense of that phrase. Please buy Lyz’s books! They’re good.Our image is a gorgeous Wally Wood illustration from his lengthy parody of this film, “...2021-08-261h 17
Young Adult Movie MinistryVol. 2, no. 1: Resting Pod FaceDetails, credits, errata: Welcome back! We took a break and now are thrilled to return to you with a new episode about Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Philip Kaufman’s 1978 remake, and guest Jeff VanderMeer, short-story writer and novelist whose masterly book Annihilation got made into a terrific movie by Alex Garland and whose books Hummingbird Salamander and A Peculiar Peril are both very well-reviewed (and good!) and available at Midtown Reader signed and inscribed, should you so choose, by the author himself. This movie has been made a few times! The original was made in 1956 by Do...2021-08-181h 16
Young Adult Movie MinistryEpisode 47: I'd Buy That for a DollarDetails, credits, errata: This week we’re delighted to have the great comics writer Mark Russell on the pod to discuss another 1980’s classic action movie, Paul Verhoeven’s 1987 sci-fi satire Robocop, much of which has come to pass in the years since its release. Mark calls it the best of the superhero movies; we are inclined to agree. It adapts and sends up all kinds of cool and weird comics without smoothing out any of their rough edges, and, of course, manages to be very much its own thing. Verhoeven is the creator of the controversial “Jesus Seminar,” a really u...2021-07-071h 15
Veterans of Culture Wars027: When Swamp Thing Met Jesus: Sam Thielman on Jack Chick and Christian Comic BooksEvangelical subculture has a habit of copying different art forms from the wider culture. In the era of superhero movies developed from long running Marvel and DC comic books, what were Christian comic books like? Cultural critic and co-host of the podcast Young Adult Movie Ministry, Sam Thielman joins the pod to discuss Christian comic books and committed Christian personalities who have worked in the comic industry. He also shares his story with Evangelical Christianity including his family's connection to Billy Graham and Franklin Graham.
Connect with Sam Thielman:
@samthielman on Twitter
2021-07-061h 30
Lush Left MediaThe fantastic reporter, Sam Thielman (CJR, The Guardian, NBCNewsThink & cohost of YAMMPOD podcast)Journalist, Sam Theilman returns to Lush Left Media to talk RW fuckery & more! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app2021-07-0241 min
Young Adult Movie MinistryEpisode 45: Good Music, the Flesh, and the DevilThis week we are privileged to have the great Gregory Thornbury, author of Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music and some terrific essays as well, notably this one on QAnon, to talk with us about The Devil and Daniel Johnston, Jeff Feuerzeig’s 2005 documentary about the late, supernaturally gifted, near-unknown singer-songwriter whose struggles with bipolar disorder kept him out of the public eye even as he amassed a following of similarly talented people. Also, demons.Demonology is something we talk about a little on the podcast when we watch The Exorcist or Hereditary; here we...2021-06-221h 13
Young Adult Movie MinistryEpisode 44: The Shadow of the TorturerDetails, credits, errata: This week’s guest is friend of the pod and all-around good guy Spencer Ackerman, who won the Pulitzer and the IRE Medal for his work on the Guardian’s Snowden coverage team and a National Magazine Award for his reporting on anti-Muslim training materials used to teach FBI recruits. His book Reign of Terror, which builds on that excellent reporting, is due out from Viking on August 10; you can pre-order it here. Sam has read it; it’s very good.Our film, I’m sorry to say, is Kathryn Bigelow’s despicable 2012 Oscar-bait torture ap...2021-06-091h 27
Young Adult Movie MinistryEpisode 43: MortifiedDetails, credits, errata: This week’s film is another A24 horror picture, Saint Maud, director Rose Glass’s first movie and a terrific flick Alissa has been trying to get Sam to watch for months. It has pretty much everything we like to talk about on this podcast, so it’s just the two of us this week, and we think you’ll dig the discussion.Our header image on the website this week is a picture of a polychrome wood carving of Mary Magdalene wearing a cilice or hair shirt undergarment, carved by 17th-century sculptor Pedro de Mena a...2021-06-021h 17
Young Adult Movie MinistryEpisode 42: Notes on Church CampDetails, credits, errata: Saddle up your horses, we’re back and want to thank you so much for your patience during our unannounced week off. We have some great episodes banked and here’s the first of them: friend of the pod Emily VanDerWerff returns with her friend Cassie LaBelle to talk about, appropriately, A Week Away, country music video director Roman White’s sophomore feature film, a Christian Contemporary Music (CCM) jukebox musical set at a church camp and distributed through Netflix.A Week Away is surprisingly palatable and clearly intended to be a trip down memory...2021-05-261h 17
Young Adult Movie MinistryEpisode 40: Thigh Guy SummerDetails, credits, errata: This week’s episode is about Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s classic film of faith, missionary life, and repressed desire, Black Narcissus, as chosen by our wonderful guest, Jessica Winter, an editor at The New Yorker and the author of the new novel The Fourth Child, which Alissa read, loved, and recommends to all of you.Our image is a still from the film; the hat, we are reasonably certain, is a mashed-up bycocket, though we welcome correction on this point since nobody was able to identify it with complete confidence and we have...2021-05-051h 29
Young Adult Movie MinistryEpisode 39: [Whispers to date] "That's the resurrection"Details, credits, errata: This week we had the wonderful Sarah Welch-Larson, Alien franchise scholar extraordinaire, on to discuss the least-loved and weirdest movie in the series, Alien Resurrection. It was great. You can read an excerpt from Sarah’s excellent book, Becoming Alien: The Beginning and End of Evil in Science Fiction's Most Idiosyncratic Film Franchise, here at RogerEbert.com, you can follow her on Twitter here, and you can buy her book for yourself and then a duplicate in case you lend it out, plus copies for your loved ones, here.Our he...2021-04-271h 16
Young Adult Movie MinistryEpisode 38: St. Joan and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad DayDetails, credits, errata: This week we have the delightful Rob Weinert-Kendt, editor of American Theatre magazine and contributor to America, The New York Times, and many other discerning publications, and absolutely one of our favorite people. His terrific pitch was to watch Carl Theodor Dreyer’s 1928 silent drama The Passion of Joan of Arc, one of many movies made from the story of Joan’s trial, largely because, as Rob observes, there’s lots of documentary material about the trial, notably the transcript, available in English here.There are lots of Joans of Arc; Sam did indeed go to...2021-04-191h 19
Young Adult Movie MinistryEpisode 37: Mom Let Me Sleep In... Forever!Details, credits, errata: This week we have the delightful Natasha Oladokun, the poet, journalist, and teacher; her most recent arcticle is here and two of her wondeful poems can be read here. Our film, as we have threatened for many months, is Left Behind: The Movie, directed by Vic Sarin and starring, though perhaps that word is misleading, Kirk Cameron, Brad Johnson, Gordon Currie, and Chelsea Noble, among other luminaries. It is… astounding. I believe this is the first time we’ve discussed a movie so bad the author of the book sued the filmmakers.The TikTok we r...2021-04-121h 39
Young Adult Movie MinistryEpisode 35: Release the Schrader CutDetails, credits, errata: For Holy Week, we have decided to be a bit daring and look at Martin Scorsese’s 1988 film The Last Temptation of Christ, the much-maligned work of two Christians, Scorsese and Paul Schrader, based on the work of a third, Nikos Kazantzakis, who published Last Temptation in 1955, two years before his death. With us is dear friend and author of The World Only Spins Forward and The Method, Isaac Butler. We re-recommend Alissa’s excellent interview with Schrader here, which we also mentioned during our episode about his film First Reformed. (Also chec...2021-03-261h 36
Young Adult Movie MinistryEpisode 34: More of a Comment Than a QuestionDetails, credits, errata: This week’s documentary double-feature is Cameraperson and Dick Johnson Is Dead, both directed by Kirsten Johnson, the former available through the Criterion Channel and the latter on Netflix, both eminently and easily watchable and well worth your time. Our wonderful guest this week is Eric Hynes, curator of film at Astoria’s incredible Museum of the Moving Image and a critic for Film Comment; please check out the Museum’s publication Reverse Shot, which is near and dear to Eric’s heart.The lead image on the website this week is symbolist painter Hugo Sim...2021-03-2100 min
Young Adult Movie MinistryEpisode 33: Just what is it that makes today's homes so different, so appealing?Details, credits, errata: First, a quick explanation—last week Sam had some unexpected childcare stuff and had to bail out on an episode that he and Alissa still plan to do. This week we’ll have two for you: This one, and, to sweeten the deal for potential subscribers, an unlocked episode from our archives, going up on Friday. Thanks for your patience and apologies for the schedule interruption. This week we have a very fun treat for you in the form of award-winning documentarian Penny Lane, who joins us to discuss venerable cable TV tras...2021-03-101h 36
Young Adult Movie MinistryEpisode 32: Circolwyrde-Generated ImageryDetails, credits, errata: This week we watched the extremely lurid and silly 2007 Robert Zemeckis CGI movie Beowulf, easily the best of on-location shoots in the uncanny valley, starring Ray Winstone, Anthony Hopkins, Angelina Jolie, Crispin Glover, and John Malkovich, and written by Neil Gaiman (Good Omens) and Roger Avary (Pulp Fiction). It’s both terrible and wonderful at the same time. Our guest is medievalist Ethan Campbell, which is a lot like having Noam Chomsky on your show to discuss the lyrics of Carly Rae Jepsen.Some recommended reading: Gaiman’s other two stabs at the Beowulf stor...2021-02-261h 32
Popculture InclusiveEp 4 (2/3) - Watchmen comics vs série : le déconstructeur déconstruit ?Dans ce deuxième épisode consacré à Watchmen, nous allons nous intéresser à la série et plus particulièrement à la manière dont cette dernière continue la déconstruction des grands mythes fondateurs du genre super-héroïque – voire dépasse son prédécesseur. On commence avec deux thèmes, et pas des moindres : le traitement de la police et des personnages féminins.
Références :“Blackman Special: Damon Lindelof on Watchmen”, Kevin Smith“The case for reparations” Ta-Nehisi Coates“Tusla, lieu d’un massacre raciste longtemps passé sous silence”, Pierre Ropert https://www.franceculture.fr/hi...2021-02-221h 05
Young Adult Movie MinistryEpisode 31: The Five People You Meet in HellDetails, credits, errata: This week’s episode is about the ridiculous 2005 horror-noir Constantine, one of the early comic-book movies of the modern era and probably the best DC movie in… ever? Our guest is Vox’s terrific healthcare reporter Dylan Scott, a stand-up guy, an interesting Christian with an enormous brain, and a big fan of this flick, which we’re kicking ourselves for not thinking of doing before him (but we’re glad we didn’t, so we could have him talk about it). Dylan has a big piece on coronavirus responses coming soon at Vox, where he is Alissa’s...2021-02-1900 min
Young Adult Movie MinistryEpisode 30: Theodicy SpeedrunDetails, credits, errata: This week we watched Darren Aronofksy’s 2017 horror film mother!, the baby-eatingest Bible allegory in all the land. It was great? One error: Sam said Téa Leoni when he meant Marisa Tomei; he is forever making this mistake despite having met Marisa Tomei a few times and had pleasant conversations with her. He apologizes to Mss. Tomei and Leoni, who are, we want to emphasize, different people.We mention a few different articles for your reading delectation; here’s the oral history of Requiem for a Dream Sam mentions, and here’s Aliss...2021-02-1200 min
Young Adult Movie MinistryEpisode 28: Dinnae Tread on MeDetails, credits, errata: We almost called this “Mel O’Drama” and were also considering “Claymore Minds” and “No Relation,” since our wonderful guest is Tyler Huckabee (no relation) and this film’s most famous line—“Every man dies, not every man really lives”—was written by the poet William Wallace, also no relation. This week’s film is the unbearable turkey Braveheart, a movie that won Best Picture, Best Director, and a ton of other awards it did not deserve. Fargo and Trainspotting, both terrific flicks, also came out this year. Heck, so did Mars Attacks. That should have won the Oscar...2021-01-291h 24
Young Adult Movie MinistryEpisode 27: Modest Pixie Dream GirlDetails, credits, errata: This week we subjected ourselves to Adam Shankman’s 2002 surprise hit romantic drama A Walk to Remember, an amazing time capsule of a movie about the importance of gender roles but not exactly about Christian complementarianism? It’s confusing. Don’t worry, we get into it. Our guest is Katelyn Beaty, founding editor of her.meneutics, former managing editor of Christianity Today, and author of A Woman’s Place. She was terrific and has many wise insights into what on earth is going on that this movie kindasorta refuses to acknowledge for the sake of mass-market appeal...2021-01-251h 26
Young Adult Movie MinistryEpisode 26: Taxi PastorDetails, credits, errata: This week’s movie is Paul Schrader’s 2018 romcom First Reformed, a feel-good romp about a fish-out-of-water preacher (Ethan Hawke) in the New York exurbs who finds his faith tested by a beautiful widow (Amanda Seyfried), a conniving businessman (Michael Gaston) and a bumptious supervisor (Cedric the Entertainer). Just kidding, it’s devastating. But it’s very good. Here’s Alissa’s marvelous interview with Schrader, a masterly director and screenwriter with his own eccentric and thoughtful vision of both the world and our mutual faith. We love him. Paul: We love you.Our lead i...2021-01-151h 25
Young Adult Movie MinistryEpisode 24: Dribble the Ball, KirkDetails, credits, errata: This week we have a crossover episode for Christmas, starring our friends at the Good Christian Fun podcast, Kevin T. Porter and Caroline Ely! Please listen to their pod, subscribe, buy their merch, and wish them a merry Christmas. Our film is the amazingly bad yuletide confection Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas, starring Kirk Cameron as himself and director Darren Doane as Christian White, the white christian. It is a holiday miracle of bad editing, bad sound design, bad lighting, and inscrutable shot choices. Kevin describes it, incredibly, as “part Pureflix, part Koyaanisqatsi,” which Sam th...2020-12-231h 14
Young Adult Movie MinistryEpisode 23: The Cheeriness That We Are Expected to FeelDetails, credits, errata: Hello! This week’s guest is the wonderful Emily VanDerWerff, critic at Vox alongside Alissa, the first TV editor of The AV Club, author with Friend of the Pod Zach Handlen of Monsters of the Week: The Complete Critical Companion to The X-Files, available at a number of fine booksellers, and host of her own mystery-comedy podcast, Arden. She is great!Our film for the week is the 1965 CBS holiday special A Charlie Brown Christmas, an important film for a lot of Christians and a perfect evocation of a remarkable artist’s semi...2020-12-161h 03
Young Adult Movie MinistryEpisode 21: Bread AloneDetails, credits, errata: This week Sam and Alissa discuss Gabriel Axel’s beautiful 1987 comedy Babette’s Feast with the great Jeffrey Overstreet, professor at Seattle Pacific University, film critic at Christianity Today for many years, author of the Auralia Thread series of fantasy novels, and current contributor to the film journal Image. Jeffrey writes about art and faith at LookingCloser.org, and you can buy his books, including his highly regarded memoir, Through a Screen Darkly, here and here.Our episode art is a still from the movie, in which the timid townsfolk of the litt...2020-11-291h 14
Young Adult Movie MinistryEpisode 20: There's a Bad Word in the BibleDetails, credits, errata: This week is a Sam and Alissa special, in which we discuss an obscure but hugely influential direct-to-VHS kids’ movie, Rick Garside’s 1985 Jumanjoid stop-motion extravaganza Hoomania, which is sort of the ur-Adventures in Odyssey and was billed as “A journey into Proverbs!” when it debuted in Christian bookstores across this great nation. (Hey kids! Proverbs!) It’s surprisingly pleasant and lacks the sadism of the eventual Focus on the Family offerings, and the production design is worth checking out. It can be bought or rented for a dollar from Christianbook.com, or watched on YouTube...2020-11-211h 25
Young Adult Movie MinistryEpisode 19: Divine Comic HorninessDetails, credits, errata: This week’s guest is the wonderful Alan Scherstuhl, whose incredible Studies in Crap column is one of the great works of 21st century journalism and can be read here. Alan suggested we watch Carl Reiner’s 1977 box office smash Oh, God!, starring John Denver as a schmoe and George Burns as God. It’s a really interesting artifact of the period if not a particularly good movie (Terri Garr, who is awesome in everything, is worth the price of admission), and it was hugely controversial largely because the title was a swear.1977 is a wild...2020-11-121h 26
Young Adult Movie MinistryEpisode 18: Christwashing TrumpDetails, credits, errata: Today, with our special guest Tara Isabella Burton, we finally ask the question: How did we get Trump? We watched the Liberty University-produced drama The Trump Prophecy to answer this question. It was… an experience.Tara is an all-around genius: read her great piece on this film here and buy all her books for yourself and then again as Christmas presents here.Our episode art for the week is twitterer recordsANDradio’s amazing photoshop of Donald Trump’s mouth onto his eyesockets. It is my favorite in the long history of ima...2020-11-041h 11
Past PresentEpisode 253: Sacha Baron Cohen and Satire in the Trump EraIn this episode, Natalia, Neil, and Niki discuss British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen’s new Borat movie. Support Past Present on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/pastpresentpodcast Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: Borat Subsequent Moviefilm is British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen’s latest sendup of American political culture. Niki and Neil commented on Sam Thielman’s NBC Think review, and Natalia cited this BBC piece from a Kazakh perspective. Niki also drew on Maureen Dowd’s interview with Baron Cohen. In our regular closing feature, Wha...2020-11-0335 min
Young Adult Movie MinistryEpisode 16: God's Gonna Run You OverDetails, credits, errata: This week Sam and Alissa talk about God’s Not Dead, Harold Cronk’s 2014 Obama-era fever dream about liberal professors run amok on campus, a sort of Christian version of Crash or Magnolia where a bunch of tangentially related characters have mini-adventures throughout the Fox News Cinematic Universe. Americans can watch God’s Not Dead on Netflix, if they so choose.Our guest is the wonderfully funny comedian and writer Josh Gondelman, an absolute treasure of goodwill and good jokes, whose book Nice Try can and should be purchased here. He’s a writer and prod...2020-10-231h 33
Young Adult Movie MinistryEpisode 15: The Omega EffectDetails, credits, errata: Episode 15: The Omega Effect is written by Sam Thielman and Alissa Wilkinson. Our special guest is the wonderful Sarah Jones, politics writer for New York magazine and all-around solid citizen. Sarah wrote a fantastic piece for New York about Donald Trump’s tendency to bait evangelicals and that one time it seemed like he’d accidentally declared himself the Antichrist in the process. Here’s a profile of her in the New York Times.Sarah suggested we watch The Omega Code, a 1999 thriller directed, if that’s the word I want, by Rob Marc...2020-10-171h 14
Young Adult Movie MinistryEpisode 14: How I Love You, You Are the OneThis week’s episode is Vera Farmiga’s 2011 debut feature Higher Ground, a beautiful comedy-drama new to Sam and Alissa, recommended by friend, colleague, and coreligionist Justin Chang, the film critic for the LA Times. Justin reviewed the movie for Variety when he and Sam worked there together; Sam, Alissa, and Justin all more or less lived in this movie as kids, which is surprising since Sam grew up in a white Presbyterian church in the South, Alissa grew up in a white non-denominational church in New York, and Justin grew up in a Chinese Baptist church in California.2020-10-081h 07
Young Adult Movie MinistryEpisode 13: Swords AND Sandals? In This Economy?Details, credits, errata: Episode 13: Swords AND Sandals? In This Economy? is written by Sam Thielman and Alissa Wilkinson. Our special guest is Caitlin Mae Burke, supervising producer of Field of Vision’s IF/Then Shorts initiative; she is the first honest-to-goodness movie producer we’ve had on the show and she was fantastic.She forced us to watch The Ten Commandments (1956), Cecil B. DeMille’s nearly four-hour Biblical extravaganza starring Charlton Heston as Moses, Yul Brynner as Pharoah, Vincent Price, Edward G. Robinson, Anne Baxter, Yvonne DeCarlo, and the rest of the population of the planet as supern...2020-10-061h 09
Young Adult Movie MinistryEpisode 12: Noir 101Details, credits, errata: This week Sam and Alissa talk about The Maltese Falcon, one of Sam’s favorite films, with our terrific guest Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times. It’s a great flick we recommend highly do you—one of the all-time great movies ever made by any standard, and a great introduction to film noir. The movie is available to stream on HBO Max and also to rent or buy through various outlets but Sam hates the degraded quality you get with streaming and recommends the Warner Archive blu-ray that came out a couple of yea...2020-09-281h 12
Young Adult Movie MinistryEpisode 11: Intrigued by the GuillotineDetails, credits, errata: This week Sam and Alissa talk about Donald W. Thompson’s kitsch classic/terrifying youth group mainstay A Thief in the Night, a trim 68-minute horror film about the Rapture, which, Sam was annoyed to learn after having rented it twice on Amazon, is available for free on Tubi, as is are its sequels.Our guest is the wonderful Elizabeth Spiers, who wrote an absolutely terrific piece about the downfall of Jerry Falwell, Jr. and the conservative heirarchy of sin for the New York Review of Books, which we discuss briefly and re...2020-09-191h 19
Young Adult Movie MinistryEpisode 10: Why Are You Following Me?Details, credits, errata: This week Sam and Alissa talk about Silence, Martin Scorsese’s 2016 masterpiece of tested faith and cultural contrast. Sam had never seen it before and it instantly became one of his favorite movies so if you saw the trailer and were like “oh, the torture one,” please rest assured that that’s not what this is it all, in fact it’s unbelievably good. Out-of-this-world great. Our guest is the great film writer Bilge Ebiri, whose piece about Silence is one of the best pieces of writing and thinking about film we’ve had the pleasure...2020-09-1100 min
Young Adult Movie MinistryEpisode 9a: Back-Masking, The Movie (sample)Notes: Sam and Alissa both managed to get into socially distant critics’ screenings of Tenet, which they had long and passionate thoughts about, and they felt strongly that they should yak about them to each other and spare their spouses at least some of the agony of being married to people who can’t be stopped from talking about movies for hours on end.Nolan is a very interesting filmmaker; most of his movies are on Amazon Prime, a couple of them for free. Sam’s essay about whether or not to do to see Tenet is here...2020-09-0409 min
Young Adult Movie MinistryEpisode 9: What Normal People WearDetails, credits, errata: This week’s episode is a fun one: Sam and Alissa talk to renowned feminist public intellectual Jessica Valenti about a movie of her choosing: Brian Dannelly’s 2004 Christian high school satire, Saved! It’s a movie neither of your hosts had seen because frankly they were afraid of being retraumatized but it turned out to be really sweet and funny and we recommend it highly.Jessica is a remarkable writer and thinker and there’s a lot we mentioned here that I’ll try to run down: first, her 2009 book The Purity Myth, available...2020-09-0400 min
Young Adult Movie MinistryEpisode 7: An Extra or a PrincipalDetails, credits, errata: Episode 7, An Extra or a Principal, is written by Sam Thielman and Alissa Wilkinson, produced by Sam and distributed by Alissa, with our very special guest, A.O. Scott—Tony, to his friends. Tony is the co-chief film critic at the New York Times and does not have to be nearly as nice as he is. Please go read his wonderful book Better Living Through Criticism at once; you can buy it here. Our film for the week is the Coen Brothers’ 2016 Hollywood comedy Hail, Caesar!, a favorite of, it turns out, everybody on the...2020-08-211h 01
Nights & Weekends#10 - Lyz Lenz, Sam Thielman - Hurricane in Iowa, The Church of QAnonLyz Lenz, author and columnist at The Cedar Rapids Gazette, talks with Lee Pacchia about the severe thunderstorms that brought 120 mph winds through much of Iowa last week. The storms inflicted severe damage, leaving many homeless and in need of basic services. Lyz talks about the damage and some of the reasons why it took so long for local, state and federal government officials to even realize there was a problem in Cedar Rapids. Also, Sam Thielman, writer and host of the Young Adult Movie Ministry podcast talks with Lee about his recent article in CJR on QAnon and...2020-08-1954 min
Young Adult Movie MinistryEpisode 6: Sullied By MonotheismDetails, credits, errata: Episode 6, Sullied by Monotheism, is written by Sam Thielman and Alissa Wilkinson, produced by Sam and distributed by Alissa, with our very special guest, Lyz Lenz. Lyz is an Iowan affected by the derecho, a storm about the strength of a category 2 hurricane, and would be grateful if folks who have either time or money to give would check out a recent piece of hers at the Cedar Rapids Gazette, where she is a columnist, that itemizes ways to help people left homeless, hungry, and without water or power by the storm.And for...2020-08-141h 14
Young Adult Movie MinistryEpisode 5: He Died Doing What He LovedDetails, credits, errata: Episode 5, He Died Doing What He Loved, is written by Sam Thielman and Alissa Wilkinson, produced by Sam, and distributed by Alissa. This episode is about William Friedkin’s masterpiece The Exorcist, one of the scariest movies Sam and Alissa have ever seen, and a favorite of our guest Jason Zinoman, who features it prominently in his excellent book Shock Value, which he researched by interviewing both Friedkin and William Peter Blatty, author of the book and the screenplay about their relationship—contentious—their movie—tremendous—and their faith. If you would like to buy all of Jason’s...2020-08-0800 min
Young Adult Movie MinistryEpisode 4: It's Gonna Stay Right There in Your Heart (UNLOCKED)Details, credits, errata: This week we’re opening up our first subscribers-only episode as a treat for folks who’d like to see what they’ll get with a subscription. I think this is one of our better eps; we hope you dig it. -sbtHi! This week we have an extra-long subscribers-only episode about McGee and Me, the Focus on the Family-produced VHS tape series sold through Christian bookstores to Christian schoolers (like Sam) and homeschoolers (like Alissa) as an antidote to secular sitcoms like Family Matters, The Cosby Show, and Full House, which neither of us wer...2020-07-311h 22
Young Adult Movie MinistryEpisode 4 Sample: McGee and MeDetails, credits, errata: Hi! This week we have an extra-long subscribers-only episode about McGee and Me, the Focus on the Family-produced VHS tape series sold through Christian bookstores to Christian schoolers (like Sam) and homeschoolers (like Alissa) as an antidote to secular sitcoms like Family Matters, The Cosby Show, and Full House, which neither of us were allowed to watch. It was a very unusual mix of high-budget sitcom content—at one point a couple of episodes were aired by ABC as trial balloons, but they didn’t break the ratings thresholds to get pickups—and absolutely brutal Calvinist condem...2020-07-3109 min
Young Adult Movie MinistryEpisode 3: The Next Manger OverEcce Homo (Behold the Man), a fresco of Jesus at the church of Santuario de la Misericordia in Borja, Spain by Elías García Martínez c. 1930, altered in good-faith restoration by 81-year-old amateur painter Cecilia Giménez and dubbed by wags on the internet Ecce Mono (Behold the Monkey), or less weightily, Potato Jesus. The restoration attempt breathed new life into the dwindling Spanish town, which saw its tourist trade boom and the resulting revenues benefit restaurants, the church itself, and a local care home for the elderly.Details, credits, errata: Episode 3, The Next Manger Over...2020-07-241h 14
Young Adult Movie MinistryEpisode 2: Nylons SuckPre-Raphaelite Edward Burne-Jones’s frontispiece to 1894 fantasy novel The Wood Beyond the World by William Morris.Details, credits, errata: Episode 2, Nylons Suck, is written by Sam Thielman and Alissa Wilkinson, produced by Sam, and distributed by Alissa. This episode is about the most important text in a child’s life, C.S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia, and its constituent books’ various adaptations, mostly Michael Apted’s 2010 film of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. We also talk about the BBC’s 1990 unapologetically weird adaptation of The Silver Chair, which Alissa loves, and Neil Gaiman’s extremely dist...2020-07-171h 11
Young Adult Movie MinistryEpisode 1: You Should Write a Book About ThatA press handout photo from the 1976 film The Late, Great Planet EarthA podcast? A podcast!Welcome to Young Adult Movie Ministry, a podcast about Christian culture by Sam Thielman (The Guardian, The Columbia Journalism Review) and Alissa Wilkinson (Vox, Christianity Today). We plan on publishing one episode a week and we hope you enjoy it; if you already have a subscription to the Sidereal Daily Mentioner, that will roll over. Some of the furniture is going to change around here, too, but I’ll leave up my old essays with a note absolving Alissa of...2020-07-1000 min
The Dirty Spoon Radio HourRadio Hour Ep 18 (April '20): Asheville in the wake of Coronavirus & Sam Thielman of the Tow CenterWhere we hoped to be opening season 3 from the Southern Foodways Alliance Spring Symposium with conversations with the best and brightest in Southern food, a global pandemic had other plans for us. With Catherine in quarantine, Jon heads out to make sense of the COVID-19 shutdown in Asheville and talks to Sam Thielman (Tow Center, the Guardian, NBC News) about how to source trustworthy information in days of panic and misinformation. Mountain Xpress' Virginia Daffron talks about the trials of local journalism in a particularly harrowing time.2020-04-0358 min
The Dirty Spoon Radio HourHome Fried Episode #7 -- NYC & searching for substance w/ journalist Sam Thielman of the Tow CenterFinding trustworthy news sources is already hard in the digital age, but throw a global pandemic into the mix and all hell breaks lose! Don't worry, Sam Thielman, Editor at the Tow Center and contributor to NBC News and the Guardian, is here to help us sort through the media circus to try to find trustworthy sources. Follow Sam on twitter @samthielman.2020-04-0234 min
Gobbledygeek389 - Gobbledyween / FCF: My Favorite Thing is Monsters (feat. Eric Sipple)Our favorite thing is Gobbledyween, so to close out this year’s frightening festivities, Paul and Arlo are breaking from the norm to discuss Emil Ferris’ 2017 graphic novel My Favorite Thing Is Monsters. Joining them for this first Gobbledyween/Four-Color Flashback crossover is their The Deli Counter of Justice collaborator Eric Sipple. The gang marvels at Ferris’ stunning art (all done in ballpoint pen!), attempts to process the numerous threads in this first of two planned volumes (sexuality, duality, and reality, oh my!), draws unexpected parallels to Art Spiegelman’s Maus (a FCF entry just this past August!), and so much...2019-10-281h 42
The KickerOn Bob Woodward’s sources and journalism in IraqOn this week’s episode, Pete talks with CJR Tow Editor Sam Thielman about the coverage of Bob Woodward’s blockbuster book, Fear: Trump in the White House. In taking the Trump presidency as his subject, Woodward had to assemble a reliable book from unreliable sources. Then, Sam shares what he learned about media in Iraq during his recent trip to the country. After tight controls of the press under Saddam Hussein, journalists are trying to build a vibrant media ecosystem while battling fake news.2018-09-1322 min
The Same, but WorseEpisode 2.1 - That Was The Year That WasWelcome back, Finers! We've returned after a long, child-induced hiatus, just in time to fire up Season 2: Everything Is Still Fine, There's Nothing To Worry About, Really. On this episode, intrepid reporter Sam Thielman joins us for a retrospective on perhaps the dumbest year in American history; we discuss everything from Russian ad buys on Facebook to the Virginia governor's race, and make 100% ironclad predictions about how the following year is going to play out.2017-11-121h 20
The Same, but WorseEpisode 1.10 - Fox PopuliWelcome to This Is Fine episode 1.10: Fox Populi. Thank you very much for listening, Finers. In this week’s podcast, guest Sam Thielman helps us understand the business model that has sustained Fox News. We also talk about the ways in which state and local politicians have conspired with large corporations in places like Chattanooga, Tennessee to keep rural services like broadband expensive and only available through corporate oligopolies. Is fighting against monopoly power a way forward for the Left? As always, the show notes are available at http://www.thisisfine.net/2017/04/20/episode-1-10-fox-populi/.2017-04-2041 min