Better Than the Movie - Friend of the Fest 2025 Special: JOHNNY MNEMONIC
In advance of the screening of Johnny Mnemonic in Black & White that the BTTM crew is hosting for the American Cinematheque's Friend of the Fest 2025, Allan and Justin get together to discuss the film and the William Gibson short story that inspired it.
If you're going to be in Los Angeles on Tuesday, August 26, 2025, why not come to our movie screening at the Los Feliz 3 theater?
Tickets available now on the American Cinematheque website!
Hosted by Allan Traylor and Justin Remer. (Hope that Japan is fun, Tyler!)
Produced by Justin Remer.
Recorded at the LAPL Octavia Lab.
Opening music: "Optimism (Instrumental)" by Duck the Piano Wire.
Closing music: "Rule of 3s (Solemnity Child)" by Elastic No-No Band.
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SKYLIT: Alisha Mughal, IT CAN'T RAIN ALL THE TIME: THE CROW
Abashed the devil stood, and felt how awful goodness is. The Crow (1994) is a one-of-a-kind film, borne out of tragedy and thought to be cursed. Critic and culture writer Alisha Mughal takes a look at the film, its graphic novel origins, its beautiful but doomed star Brandon Lee, and much more in her new book for the Pop Classics series, It Can't Rain All the Time: The Crow. Alisha joins Skylight's Justin Remer for a talk about her book, her hyperfixation on the movie, and the '90s grunge ethos.
For more of Alisha Mughal's recent writing, check out:
*"The Lonely Landscapes of Materialists and The Worst Person in the World" on RogerEbert.com
*"Let's Rock: The Dialectic of the the Sublime in Twin Peaks" on FilmDaze.net
For more information on the screening of Johnny Mnemonic hosted by the Skylight Books podcast crew on August 26, 2025, check out:
*The American Cinematheque's website for Friend of the Fest 2025
For Pop Classics titles on audiobook, check out Libro.FM please!
Hosted and produced by Justin Remer.
Recorded remotely via Zencastr.
Opening music: "Optimism (Instrumental)" by Duck the Piano Wire.
Closing music: "Rule of 3s (Solemnity Child)" by Elastic No-No Band.
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Better Than the Movie 26: HOLES w/ Sophia Benoit
Author and comedian Sophia Benoit (Well, This Is Exhausting) joins the Better Than the Movie crew to discuss a modern children's book classic, HOLES by Louis Sachar, and its 2003 live-action Disney adaptation, which was scripted by Sachar himself, directed by Andrew Davis (The Fugitive), and starred an insanely talented ensemble cast headed by Megalopolis co-stars Shia LaBeouf and Jon Voigt. Both the book and movie have held up extremely well in the ensuing years... but which is better?
Check out Sophia Benoit discussing her book with Tyler Austin on this episode from the Skylight Books archive: https://youtu.be/MxvdzJVo51c?si=Cc2Mq7j_o5YNU21Y
Hosted by Tyler Austin, Allan Traylor, and Justin Remer.
Produced by Justin Remer.
Recorded at the LAPL Octavia Lab.
Opening music: "Optimism (Instrumental)" by Duck the Piano Wire.
Closing music: "Rule of 3s (Solemnity Child)" by Elastic No-No Band.
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SKYLIT: Pete Crighton, THE VINYL DIARIES
Don't drink? Don't smoke? What do you do? THE VINYL DIARIES follows Pete Crighton's journey from a closeted goody two shoes to a blissfully self-possessed lover of queer community, queer joy, and queer sex, while keeping track of the key pop music that resonated along the way. For this episode, Pete Crighton (The B-52s' Cosmic Thing) discusses releasing a memoir as a first-time writer, processing a lifetime of trauma through art, and the role music has played in the whole process. Writer-bookseller Justin Remer asks about the bands and artists that meant a lot (Adam Ant, Fleetwood Mac, Yoko Ono) and those that... well... didn't (Madonna, HAIM). They also talk about how Pete wrote his forthcoming 33 1/3 book on The B-52s in 90 days.
Pick up a copy of the book from Skylight Books or order the audiobook version from Libro.fm.
Hosted and produced by Justin Remer.
Recorded remotely via Zencastr.
Opening music: "Optimism (Instrumental)" by Duck the Piano Wire.
Closing music: "Rule of 3s (Solemnity Child)" by Elastic No-No Band.
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SKYLIT: Veronica Litt, UGH! AS IF! CLUELESS
This is so unexpected, we didn't even have a speech prepared. Author Veronica Litt joins us to talk about her new book in ECW Press's Pop Classics series, Ugh! As If!, on Amy Heckerling's classic film comedy Clueless. This is the 30th Anniversary of Clueless's theatrical release, and the book is both a warm, conversational appreciation and clear-eyed dissection of what the movie gets wonderfully right and what is a bit cringe now.
Litt talks with bookseller Justin Remer about Clueless and all sorts of tangential topics including Jane Austen, girly art, human potato Channing Tatum, footnotes, audiobooks, and the Fast and Furious franchise.
Get the book from Skylight and order the audiobook from Libro.FM please!
Hosted and produced by Justin Remer.
Recorded remotely via Zencastr.
Opening music: "Optimism (Instrumental)" by Duck the Piano Wire.
Closing music: "Rule of 3s (Solemnity Child)" by Elastic No-No Band.
New Zealand