The ClearOut

• This Is Not a Performance (It's My Life!)

  A hiatus imposed on Dara by life's steamroller has reminded him how non-performative the podcast continues to be. He reflects on the circumstances that rendered him incapable of recording over the last few weeks and reiterates his conviction that being judiciously transparent is of more use to his listeners, and to him, than jazz hands and soft shoe shuffles.Recalling Bruce Willis's boxer in Pulp Fiction who chose not to go down in a fixed fight, Dara wonders if one of his challenges is pride, and whether he should just put his hands up and admit defeat. While he tries to work that out he first considers how much juice he has left for his current path before turning to what can be learned from soothing babies. The lesson is valuable in relation to how we treat ourselves.As AI creations gather more purchase in online spaces, Dara is bemused by users' willingness to engage directly with seductive fabrications. The fembots are here boys, and they want to play...Website: https://theclearout.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theclearoutpodcast/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theclearoutpodcast/YouTube: The ClearOut PodcastEmail: [email protected] Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theclearout Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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• "And Then I Ran Away to Call the Watch!" - Ten Shakespearean Monologues, Live!

  In this episode, Dara goes hard at Shakespeare! Following an urge to wrap his mouth around some Elizabethan verse, he stumbled across a perfect collection of Shakespearean monologues to quench his appetite. So, with thanks to Rachel, whose curation it was, and apologies to enemies of The Bard, the greasepaint was applied, the voice warmed up, and the curtain raised!Drawing from the histories and tragedies, Dara represented spurned sons, grief-stricken widows, vengeful queens, frantic lovers, traumatised children, heartbroken mothers, dodgy politicians and more. Following his own advice, he tried to stay out of the way and let the language do the work, but it was hard not to chew just a little scenery...Pace, Amore, Libri - the source for the monologues featured in the episode: https://paceamorelibri.wordpress.com/2021/03/19/favorite-shakespeare-monologues/Website: https://theclearout.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theclearoutpodcast/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theclearoutpodcast/YouTube: The ClearOut PodcastEmail: [email protected] Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theclearout Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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• Bulletins from the Frontline of Now! Reflecting on 200 Episodes of Existential Flailing

  In this episode, Dara quietly reflects on 200 episodes of this thing that he does and tries, for the umpteenth time, to define what the podcast is all about. After all this time on the microphone, it's funny and fitting that he still isn't really sure. Is it a glitch or a feature?All he knows is that he has continually tried to be honest and authentic, and appropriately transparent, about where he's been at at any given time over the course of the show. Whether the subject matter has been movies, philosophy, psychology, politics, martial arts, or simply events and dramas from his own life, he has always strived to share something relatable and real. It's how he understands wellness - it's owning the mess of imperfection!This episode is no different as Dara attempts to contextualise doing the podcast throughout one of the most personally challenging periods of his life. Is it time to call it quits? Is this the end of the road? He knows changes are coming, he just doesn't know what they look like.Thinking about his daughter and the changing landscape that her pre-adolescent world is presenting provides an opportunity for Dara to laugh at his own devolving reality.Website: https://theclearout.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theclearoutpodcast/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theclearoutpodcast/YouTube: The ClearOut PodcastEmail: [email protected] Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theclearout Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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• 'Adolescence' - Harrowing, Topical, and No Easy Answers

  In this episode, Dara shares his response to the compelling drama series 'Adolescence' that recently launched on Netflix. Covering the harrowing events around a 13-year-old schoolboy murdering a female schoolmate, the show is an extraordinary dramatic and technical achievement that has found itself at the heart of the dark side of the zeitgeist - namely, the changed social landscape that shapes the minds of boys and young men in insidious online spaces that are ubiquitous, ever-accessible and distressingly persuasive.Through his involvement with What Does He Need? - the long-running community arts project exploring contemporary masculinity in boys and young men, Dara feels like he has a foot very firmly in the world of 'Adolescence'. He discusses the work and his own experience with the young people he has spent time with. He also talks about performing masculinity, and how he was very clear from a young age about the type of masculinity he was not attracted to.Further to that, Dara advocates for placing love at the centre of male engagement. He remains convinced that the confident expression of love is key to building the safety, trust and vulnerability that will allow men of all ages to thrive. His vision is one of collaborative leadership rooted in caretaking - men and boys taking care of themselves, and caring for those they share this world with.Finally, Dara recommends an interview with Delroy Lindo on Marc Maron's WTF podcast as a complement to this discussion of masculinity.Celena Ribeiro article on Adolescence from Guardian Australia: https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/mar/29/the-adolescence-alarm-if-theres-a-problem-with-boys-behaviour-its-because-of-usDelroy Lindo speaks to Marc Maron: https://www.wtfpod.com/podcast/episode-1630-delroy-lindoWhat Does He Need? masculinity project: https://www.whatdoesheneed.com/Website: https://theclearout.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theclearoutpodcast/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theclearoutpodcast/YouTube: The ClearOut PodcastEmail: [email protected] Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theclearout Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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  1:18:14
• I Object! Three Movie Treatments of Desire

  In this episode, Dara is recalling an early cinema experience that only succeeded at the second attempt - but it was ET, so it was totally worth the wait. At that time, all his objects of desire were heroic archetypes and it would be another few years before an actress on the big screen stopped his breath. The year ET came out, 1982, also saw the release of Robert Towne's Personal Best, which placed Mariel Hemingway as the focus of longing in the world of aspirant Olympic athletes. Former athlete Patrice Donnelly was cast as the older athlete who competes with Scott Glenn for her affections and her chemistry with Hemingway jumps off the screen.There are also palpable sparks between Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift in 1951's A Place In The Sun, a nasty treatment of social climbing and complicated pasts that leaves one in no doubt about the privileged lives of beautiful people. The moral of the story? Don't presume to desire something that's not meant for you.That's one of the problems facing Marlon Brando's repressed army officer in John Huston's Reflections In A Golden Eye (1967), also featuring Elizabeth Taylor. Dara recalls seeing that peculiar and slightly kinky film when he was a teenager and being surprised not only by the messy sexual themes of the film, but also by Robert Forster's pivotal role in proceedings.Finally, why does a song from the Robert Towne-scripted Days of Thunder (1990) hold such particular resonance for Dara?Website: https://theclearout.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theclearoutpodcast/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theclearoutpodcast/YouTube: The ClearOut PodcastEmail: [email protected] Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theclearout Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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