Shows
The Dead DropCASTRO SMITH | Engraving Myths on Jewelry and Filipino FolkloreCASTRO SMITH is one of the best known intaglio engravers in the world. The Filipino-British carver of jewelry and art pieces is based in London, known for his intricate work on signet rings.
The signet rings often sell out fast at Dover Street Market and other upscale merchant platforms. It’s also captured the attention of A-list celebrities such as Elton John, Jeremy Strong, the actor in HBO’s Succession, and Anya Taylor-Joy from Queen’s Gambit, who have gone straight to Smith to commission pieces.
From A-list actors to professional gamers, scientists to elite athletes, Smith’s work caters to that m...2023-03-0244 minThe Dead DropBASALT SHRINE | Burning Up the Sludge Swamp & Track By Track of "From Fiery Tongues"Extreme slow metal at its tastiest. Hailed as genre-defying and a tour-de-force, BASALT SHRINE's debut LP is burning up the Pinoy sludge swamp like someone freed a quartet of gleeful arsonists.
The Filipino doom/post-metal super group is composed of Bobby Legaspi (Surrogate Prey, Malicious Birth), Rallye Ibanez (Ex-Religious Nightmare, Surrogate Prey) and Ronaldo and Ronnel Vivo (Dagtum, The Insektlife Cycle, Abanglupa, Imperial Airwaves, Ex-Hateure).
On this interview we go through each of the tracks on their excellent album "FROM FIERY TONGUES", their thoughts on extreme music, and how they found a hack for performing th...2022-09-231h 42The Dead DropCliff-Diver RHIANNAN IFFLAND | Elite Mental Secrets for Injury RecoveryAustralian phenom Rhiannan Iffland is one of the most dominant female Olympic divers in the world and the undisputed Queen of Cliff-Diving.
A five-time consecutive Red Bull Cliff-Diving Series World Champion, she still credits one of her biggest wins to the time she came back from a devastating MCL injury in 2017, claiming the championship title despite a six-week rehab layoff. How did she bounce back so fast? Visualization and mental training were crucial to her recovery.
This is a field recording from 2019, when Red Bull held an event off Palawan Island, in southwestern Philippines.
Read my...2022-09-1608 min
The Dead DropSuch Violent Criminals | Writing Pinoy Crime Thrillers with RONALDO VIVO Jr.RONALDO VIVO Jr. may be a well known musician and visual artist in Filipino metal and extreme music, being in bands like sludge supergroup Basalt Shrine and Abanglupa, but he is also an indie publisher, director, and popular writer of transgressive crime literature. On this episode, we talked about his recent release that's since become a cult hit "Ang Bangin sa Ilalim ng Ating mga Paa" (The Abyss Beneath Our Feet) and his first book "Ang Kapangyarihan Higit sa Ating Lahat" (The Power Above Us All), both available on independent presses.
CONTAINS sound samples from "Cottonmouth"...2022-06-261h 11The Dead DropMANIC MUNDANE | KATH DIZON ON MAKING THE 'Narrative 3' EPMANIC MUNDANE is the musical moniker of solo artist Kath Dizon.
A young, bedroom producer based in Mindanao, she crafts a particularly robust strain of electronic music out of deceptively simple riffs, spiced up by sci-fi synths imbued with a triphop vibe, garnished with 80s post-punk.
“Narrative Three,” is Manic Mundane’s debut EP under the Cebu-based record label Melt Records. It’s Dizon’s big coming out as a solo artist as well as a return to her roots, literally being back in her hometown of Koronadal City in South Cotabato.
A college rocke...2022-02-2338 minThe Dead DropMIKHAIL RED | On Directing "Arisaka", Videogames, & Right-Brain FilmmakingMIKHAIL RED is a Filipino director best known for Birdshot and Dead Kids -- the first Netflix original film from the Philippines. As the eldest son of acclaimed director Raymond Red, Mikhail has been immersed in cinema from an early age, studying under Marilou Diaz-Abaya when he was 15, and then making independent films in 20s.
His career has since grown by leaps and bounds, and he's now managed by the influential talent management company Creative Artists Agency. While he is still finishing the third season of HBO's folklore series Halfworlds, I caught up with the young director e...2021-10-2444 minThe Dead DropJAY IGNACIO | On Writing the Graphic Novel Adventure ALANDALJAY IGNACIO has worn many creative hats. He is the director of the 2012 FMA documentary "The Bladed Hand" as well as being a practitioner of kali. He is also a stand-up comedian and a guitarist for the novelty rock band Sa Pulis.
Recently, he added graphic novel author to his accomplishments when he released ALANDAL, a swashbuckling tale of conquistadors and pirates set in 1700s Sulu, illustrated by the iconic DC and Marvel artist Alex Niño.
On this episode of the Dead Drop, we talked about the challenges of writing a historical graphic novel, his...2021-10-0348 minThe Dead DropBeauty of Bareknuckle | Coaching Burmese Lethwei with WIN ZIN OOTHE Master, or Saya, WIN ZIN OO, is the founder and head coach of Thut Ti Lethwei Club in Yangon.
"THUT TI" means "courage" in Burmese. The gym itself is home not only to pro and amateur fighters but also known as a fitness destination. While there's of course competition training for lethwei fighters available, a wide range of people go there who don’t want to compete, but rather want to learn lethwei for fitness and wellness, for self-defense or to combat stress.
LETHWEI is the 2,000 years old Burmese style of bareknuckle kickboxing that is...2021-08-1722 minThe Dead DropManila After Midnight | BUDJETTE TAN on Ph Myths, Netflix, and Writing TRESEBUDJETTE TAN is the writer and co-creator behind the award-winning comic books "Trese." Now a hit animated series, I talked to Budj back in 2019 in an interview that was material for a feature article in an international online magazine. On a call to Copenhagen, where Budj and his family are now based, note that throughout this episode you'll hear his son, then two-years-old, as Budj and I discuss his process of creativity, writing comics, the community of Pinoy folklore and mythology creators, and how the "Trese" anime series (back then still in the final stages of production) eventually got...2021-06-2043 minThe Dead DropTEASER TRAILER | Trese Co-Creator BUDJETTE TAN on The Aswang Project & Philippine SpiritsThis is a brief excerpt from the forthcoming full Dead Drop episode with "Trese" comics writer and co-creator Budjette Tan. One that's coming very soon.
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CONTAINS sound samples from "Cottonmouth" by Surrogate Prey. Used with permission. DDP is powered and distributed by Anchor.fm.
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Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/tzaddi-salazar/support2021-06-1805 minThe Dead DropGUILLERMO GOMEZ | Rethinking the Science and Spirituality of Kicking Addiction for GoodGuillermo "Gimo" Gomez is the rehabilitation program director giving alcohol and substance abusers a new chance at life through the innovative treatment at Bridges of Hope Rehab Center.
BoH is the therapy center where GIMO works that offers wholistic therapy and counselling to get people off their addictions. He's also a certified instructor at Triad Jeet Kune Do, one of the local chapters of Bruce Lee's martial arts system.
Before that though, Gimo was also an addict himself who had gone through different therapies to get himself off drugs and alcohol and the inevitable depression...2021-05-091h 05The Dead DropLOURD De VEYRA Part 2 | Turn Loose the Sound and Fury with KAPITAN KULAMWARNING: Explicit words and content in this episode!
Part 2 of 2 parts.
IN FILIPINO arts and literature, LOURD DE VEYRA is a creative goliath. His latest book is "Marka Demonyo," a collection of poetry. With all his literary and media accolades though, he's mostly known for being the frontman of the jazz rock, spoken word band The Radioactive Sago Project, their monster hit "Gusto Ko ng Baboy" is now one of those staples on videoke playlists.
HIS new band is KAPITAN KULAM, a mix of hardcore punk, doom, and post-metal. Lourd has dropped the...2021-04-1636 minThe Dead DropLOURD DE VEYRA Part 1 | The Power of the Riff Compels with KAPITAN KULAMWARNING: Explicit words and content in this episode!
Part 1 of 2 parts.
IN FILIPINO arts and literature, LOURD DE VEYRA is a creative goliath. His latest book is "Marka Demonyo," a collection of poetry. With all his literary and media accolades though, he's mostly known for being the frontman of the jazz rock, spoken word band The Radioactive Sago Project, their monster hit "Gusto Ko ng Baboy" is now one of those staples on videoke playlists.
HIS new band is KAPITAN KULAM, a mix of hardcore punk, doom, and post-metal. Lourd has dropped the mic...2021-04-0949 minThe Dead DropDUSTIN CELESTINO | No Exit Through Fame in "General Admission"On this episode, DUSTIN CELESTINO comes on the show to talk about GENERAL ADMISSION the newest movie he wrote. Dustin is a multi-awarded fictionist and playwright. He also wrote and directed the black comedy crime thriller UTOPIA. In his work there's usually a running thread of satire that is meaningful and also intensely entertaining. *** Directed by Jeffrey Hidalgo, GENERAL ADMISSION stars Jasmine Curtis-Smith as Katja, a member of a sexy dance group who has a wardrobe malfunction on a Filipino noontime variety show. She and her boyfriend, Carlito, find themselves at the center of a media circus that results i...2021-03-3146 minThe Dead DropAMBRA GUTIERREZ | The Philippines, #MeToo, & Bringing Down A Hollywood EmpireTHE POWER brokers of Hollywood never saw AMBRA BATTILANA GUTIERREZ coming.
THE RISE of the #MeToo and #TimesUp movement has been pretty well documented, the spotlight mostly on A-list celebrities like Alyssa Milano, Rose McGowan, and Angelina Jolie. Their experiences of sexual abuse in the movie industry have filled headlines worldwide. So it’s easy to overlook how, at the root of it all, it was the 22-year old Filipina-Italian Gutierrez (born 15 May 1992), a Victoria’s Secret model and Italian beauty queen, who sat at the NYPD Special Victims desk way back in 2015 that eventually started the fall...2021-02-1418 minThe Dead DropSerpent Medicine | DR KITTS SARTE of Doctors Without BordersMARIA Christina Sarte, known as DOCTOR KITTS, is a Cebuana who's worked with Doctors without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres) for 13 years Now. Her medical missions have taken her all over the world, to crises and conflict areas like Afghanistan and South Sudan.
WHILE she graduated as a pediatrician from the Philippines, she now specializes in snakebites and just finished an MSF project in Ethiopia,where snakebites and diseases like kala azar, a chronic and potentially fatal parasitic disease also known as the "black fever," are endemic.
IN this episode of The Dead Drop Dr Kitts talk...2020-10-1550 minThe Dead DropTOM SYKES | An Englishman in the Realm of the PunisherTOM SYKES is the English author of "The Realm of the Punisher | Travels In Duterte's Philippines" and the forthcoming "Imagining Manila | Literature, Empire and Orientalism."
HE's a veteran writer, editor, and University of Portsmouth senior lecturer who's written satire to short fiction, reportage to travel narrative. But his essay travel writings about the Philippines, the Ivory Coast, and Malaysia, are the best ones among his works, conjuring up Paul Theroux, Philip Caputo, and Alex Garland when he was still firing full clip.
TOM doesn't have a particular beat and is comfortable almost everywhere, discussing diverse su...2020-09-1156 minThe Dead DropRunning Swordsmen | BERNARD ROSE On Directing "Samurai Marathon"English director Bernard Rose has had an eclectic and diverse film resume. From 1992’s cult horror classic "Candyman," 1994’s historical drama "Immortal Beloved," 2010’s Welsh crime caper "Mr. Nice," to 2015’s gritty remake of "Frankenstein."
In 2019, Rose released "Samurai Marathon," a movie in the vein of the jidaigeki (period film) set during Japan’s Edo period of 1885 when the country was still closed to the world. Against this backdrop, the infamous "black ships” led by US Commodore Matthew Perry, arrive and petition the Emperor for trade.
The Americans brought with them gifts of whiskey and handguns, and...2020-07-1011 minThe Dead DropWe Must Re-Imagine Ph Pro-Wrestling | VERONICA LITTON of the Manila Wrestling FederationVeronica Litton is better known in kayfabe as Veronica Shannon, one of the founders of Manila Wrestling Federation (MWF), and a pioneer of modern Pinoy pro-wrestling. On this episode she talked about the challenges of being a trans woman in local sports entertainment, the early days and struggles of the MWF, how the wrestling ring is a platform for progressive storytelling, and her Wattpad novel on Pinoy rock "Some Jingle Jangle Morning."
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The Dead Drop Podcast is field recordings and conversations from the Philippine and Asian fringe. Hosted by award-winning Manila-based journalist and writer Karl R. De Me...2020-06-2055 minThe Dead DropBeauty Queen in Exile | BAHAR Z. BAHARI on Becoming a RefugeeHighlights of my interview that eventually became a longreads on CNN Philippines.
BAHAREH ZAREH BAHARI is an Iranian beauty queen, a women’s rights activist, and a refugee in the Philippines.
She was infamously in the headlines in October of 2019 when she fought against being deported back to Iran on mysterious charges. Because she resisted, Bahar was trapped at a Manila airport for 21 days awaiting extradition to Tehran, putting her under incredible mental and physical stress, with the threat of torture and even death if she was successfully deported.
These conversations happened months after she won refugee status. As a peek...2020-06-0724 minThe Dead DropBecoming Lagertha | KATHERYN WINNICK on Vikings and Martial ArtsA flashback interview from Historycon 2018! KATHERYN WINNICK plays the fighting Queen Lagertha on History Channel’s hit TV show VIKINGS. Recorded during 2018's HistoryCon Manila, this episode contains highlights of our interview during which she talked about her martial arts experience, using her black belt knowledge to inform the role of the shield maiden, her thoughts on action movies, working with Jonathan Rhys Meyers, and future seasons of Vikings. Contains sound samples from "Cottonmouth" by Surrogate Prey. Used with permission. Check out their music at Bandcamp. This podcast is powered and distributed by Anchor.fm.
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Support this podcast: https://podc...2020-05-2907 minThe Dead DropIn Folk We Trust | ALDUS SANTOS of PamphleteerWho was it that said “All my conversations with men seem to revolve around music”? ALDUS SANTOS is half of the neo-folk duo Pamphleteer. Along with vocalist Dee Cruz, PAMPHLETEER track a uniquely meditative, Pinoy strain of modern folk that’s captured in their new album “Collected Fiction.” In this episode we talked about how the Coivd19 lockdown has fundamentally changed the consumption and creation of all art, coming of age in the 1990s as grungy college kids with literary aspirations, the enduring strength and comfort of poetry, and the process of capturing lightning in a bottle that is a debut reco...2020-05-1335 minThe Dead DropFollow the Bodies | ALYX ARUMPAC of the Aswang DocumentaryAn interview with ALYX ARUMPAC on the making of the ASWANG Drug War Documentary. Recorded during the community quarantine lockdown in Luzon.
Alyx is the director of ASWANG, the first Filipino-directed full-length documentary on the Philippine government's war against drugs.
Shot from 2016 to 2018, it follows characters whose fates entwine with the growing violence during the years of killings the height of the anti-drugs campaign in Manila and the rest of the country. It draws parallels with the aswang, not just as a vampiric, shape-shifting monster of folklore, but also as a CIA creation for fear-mongering...2020-04-2930 min