Curated by Chance

Episode 84: Scrolls, Shrines, and Spring Break Delusion This week’s prompts: 458, Salmon, Sleep Lauren is back solo again — slightly overbooked, a little raspy, and fully in the thick of spring-semester chaos — with an episode that moves from museum donor events and teaching highs and lows to ancient Japan, Buddhist scrolls, and the enduring power of visual storytelling. After a little life update from the MAG, the classroom, and the general circus of adjunct-professor existence, Lauren takes the prompts in a different direction and dives into Japanese art before 1333. Using a single extraordinary hanging scroll — The Death of the Historical Buddha — as a starting point, she explores Buddhist imagery, grief, animism, shrine rebuilding, narrative scrolls, and the long visual history behind everything from manga to robot dogs. Along the way, she unpacks the spiritual and aesthetic traditions that shaped early Japanese art: the solemn beauty of Buddhist nirvana paintings, the Shinto reverence for objects and ritual, the rebuilding of the Ise Shrine every 20 years, the gendered distinction between “masculine” and “feminine” art forms in the Heian period, and the lively, sketchy animal scrolls that feel like proto-manga centuries before manga existed. It’s a wide-ranging, deeply visual episode about how art, ritual, storytelling, and national identity evolve — and how some of the most ancient forms still feel startlingly modern. PLUS:🖼️ A gorgeous Buddhist hanging scroll full of grief, gold, and symbolism⛩️ Why Japan rebuilds one of its most sacred shrines again and again🧵 Broken needles, animism, and the spiritual life of everyday objects📖 The Tale of Genji and the rise of “feminine” narrative art🐸 Frolicking frogs, monkeys, and rabbits as the ancient ancestors of manga Next week’s prompts: Stripe, 97, Green Please support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/curatedbychance Check Out Lauren’s Substack:👉 https://ltlikesthis.substack.com/ Follow the show and its creators on Instagram:🎧 The Show – @curatedbychance🎨 Lauren – @paisleylo🎬 Neal – @nealefischer 📧 E-mail us: curatedbychance@gmail.com Hear Neal each week on Triviality Podcast – Subscribe now!Listen to Lauren on Miss Information Podcast – Subscribe now! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 83: Sick Voice This week’s prompts: Teal, Leg, 1960 Lauren is flying solo again and opens with a few updates from the past couple of weeks of guest episodes, a quick peek into the strange and wonderful conversations that happen at academic faculty parties, and a heartfelt shout-out to listener Dan for a timely and encouraging email. There’s also a little housekeeping about Patreon, reviews, and how much the show appreciates its listeners sticking with them during this busy stretch. From there, Lauren dives into the life and work of Wilfredo Lam, one of the most fascinating — and often overlooked — artists of the 20th century. Born in Cuba to a Chinese immigrant father and an Afro-Cuban mother, Lam described himself as “a mulatto of many worlds.” His art reflects that hybrid identity, blending Afro-Caribbean spirituality, Chinese visual traditions, and European modernism into something entirely his own. Lauren traces Lam’s path from studying art in Havana and Madrid to joining the surrealist circles of Paris, where Picasso, Matisse, and André Breton became part of his artistic orbit. Despite those connections, Lam remained somewhat outside the traditional modernist canon — in part because his work centered Afro-Cuban culture and identity in ways that European audiences often overlooked. The episode focuses on Lam’s most famous painting, The Jungle (1942–43) — a dense, eerie landscape of hybrid human-animal-plant figures emerging from sugarcane. Beneath its surreal imagery lies a powerful commentary on colonialism, tourism, and the exploitation of Afro-Cuban labor in Cuba’s sugar industry. PLUS:🎨 Lam’s friendships with Picasso and the Paris surrealists🌿 Hybrid figures inspired by Santería and Afro-Caribbean spirituality🌍 How tourism and colonial economics shaped Cuban culture🖼️ Why The Jungle remains a modernist masterpiece hiding in plain sight Join us on Patreon to support the show and its creators: www.patreon.com/curatedbychance Next week’s prompts: 458, Salmon, Sleep Check Out Lauren’s Substack:👉 https://ltlikesthis.substack.com/ Follow the show and its creators on Instagram:🎧 The Show – @curatedbychance🎨 Lauren – @paisleylo🎬 Neal – @nealefischer 📧 E-mail us: curatedbychance@gmail.com Hear Neal each week on Triviality Podcast – Subscribe now!Listen to Lauren on Miss Information Podcast – Subscribe now! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 82: Princely Magnificence This Week's Prompts: 1600, Divine, Royal Purple With Neal out (we miss you, sir), Lauren brings in a guest co-host whose name is… suspiciously close. Enter Dr. Nile Blunt — museum professional, early modern historian, maximalist icon, and longtime friend — for an episode that begins at Wegmans and ends with a beheading. Nile takes us deep into the life of Charles I of England, the famously ill-fated monarch who quite literally lost his head — but before that? Built one of the most astonishing art collections Europe had ever seen. From fake-beard diplomacy missions in Madrid to being absolutely gobsmacked by the Spanish Habsburg art hoard, we follow young Prince Charles as he travels incognito to woo a Spanish princess… and instead falls in love with something else entirely: power expressed through art. After witnessing Philip IV’s jaw-dropping collection (Titian, Raphael, Caravaggio, Bosch — the greatest hits of Western painting), Charles returns to England determined to build something even grander. And he does. Lauren and Nile unpack how Charles’ obsession with collecting wasn’t just aesthetic — it was political. In the Caroline era, “good taste” equaled moral authority. Magnificence wasn’t just décor; it was divine-right propaganda. Surround yourself with beauty, and people might believe your soul is beautiful too — and maybe that you deserve to rule. Spoiler: Parliament disagreed. Along the way, the two explore:• Why Charles River and the Carolinas are named after this doomed art bro• The concept of princely magnificence (and why it mattered)• How collecting art became a political loyalty test• Fake beards, royal cringe, and the world’s most dramatic failed proposal• Why London briefly became the Vatican–Louvre–Prado of the 17th century It’s a story about power, ego, aesthetics, absolutism, and what happens when you mistake artistic discernment for political wisdom. Plus: maximalism solidarity, pandemic friendships, and whether fake-beard diplomacy should make a cinematic comeback. Next Week's Prompts: Teal, Leg, 1960 Check Out Lauren’s Substack:https://ltlikesthis.substack.com/ Follow the show and its creators on Instagram:The Show – @curatedbychanceLauren – @paisleyloNeal – @nealefischer E-mail us: curatedbychance@gmail.com Hear Neal each week on Triviality Podcast – Subscribe now!Listen to Lauren on Miss Information Podcast – Subscribe now! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 81: Magic Mike Walked so Heated Rivalry Could Run This week’s prompts: Blue, Twitch, 15 Lauren flies solo — but not really — as she welcomes her longtime partner-in-podcast-crime Julia from Miss Information: A Trivia Podcast for a full-throttle celebration of the cinematic masterpiece that is Magic Mike XXL (2015). What begins as a prompt-inspired detour quickly becomes a passionate thesis: this is not just a stripper sequel. It’s The Odyssey. With abs. The two dive into the eight-and-a-half-hour road trip that somehow takes three days, from Tampa to Myrtle Beach’s gloriously unnamed “Stripper Convention.” Along the way: Mad Mary’s voguing chaos, a gas station Backstreet Boys breakdown for the ages, Jada Pinkett Smith presiding over a velvet-draped Savannah hedonism palace, and Andy MacDowell hosting a Charleston book club that accidentally turns into foreplay. Lauren argues that the film’s true message is simple and profound: stripping is healing. Julia charts the logistical madness of the Froyo truck crash, the montage sewing session, and the conference room glow-up that somehow transforms Resurrection into the 10:20 p.m. moneymaker. And yes — they break down that final mirror routine from Channing Tatum and the late Stephen “Twitch” Boss in reverent, breathless detail. They also tackle the deeper questions:Why is everyone littering?How long are these women at the convention?Why does no one slip on the dollar bills?And why did the third movie even exist? PLUS:The Stripper Convention as American mythJoe Manganiello’s Cheetos-fueled Backstreet Boys meltdownDomina, Rome, and subscription-based beautySex swings, Nine Inch Nails, and the most romantic wedding ever stagedMagic Mike Live in Vegas and the $87 spiritual awakeningWhy you can skip Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey and just watch this instead No death. No brooding. Just friendship, fireworks, and finely crafted choreography. Next week’s prompts: 1600, Divine, Royal Purple Join us at Patreon for more fun: www.patreon.com/curatedbychance Check Out Lauren’s Substack:https://ltlikesthis.substack.com/ Watch Julia on Trivial Pursuit and listen to Miss Information Follow the show and its creators on Instagram: The Show – @curatedbychanceLauren – @paisleyloNeal – @nealefischer E-mail us: curatedbychance@gmail.com Hear Neal each week on Triviality Podcast – Subscribe now!Listen to Lauren on Miss Information Podcast – Subscribe now! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 80: Dr. Dermis: A Brief History of Nudity in Film This week’s prompts: Nude, Mirror, 2193 Neal flies solo this week — juggling book deadlines, radio producing, directing gigs, and on-camera classes — and takes the prompts “nude” and “mirror” as an invitation to dive headfirst into one of cinema’s most controversial, complicated, and endlessly fascinating subjects: nudity on screen. From the silent era’s flesh-colored body stockings and allegorical “Truth” figures to the Hays Code crackdown that scrubbed Hollywood nearly clean for three decades, Neal traces how filmmakers have used (and misused) the naked body for art, shock, comedy, horror, politics, and pure box office bait. Jane Mansfield makes mainstream movie history. Blow-Up and Midnight Cowboy help dismantle the Production Code. The ’70s explode with art-house extremity and exploitation excess — from Last Tango in Paris to Carrie. The ’80s normalize teen sex comedies and birth the erotic thriller, giving us Phoebe Cates in slow motion, Richard Gere in full frontal, and the rise of the femme fatale as both fantasy and threat. And then the ’90s detonate the culture wars. Sharon Stone’s leg-cross in Basic Instinct becomes the most paused moment in VHS history. Showgirls tests the limits of NC-17. The Crying Game uses nudity as narrative revelation. Schindler’s List reminds audiences that nudity can devastate rather than titillate. Through it all, Neal examines the power dynamics behind the camera — from Maria Schneider’s traumatic experience on Last Tango in Paris to Sharon Stone’s later revelations about consent and deception. This isn’t just a history of skin on screen. It’s a history of censorship, power, vulnerability, gender politics, commerce, shame, and spectacle — and how cinema keeps holding up a mirror to all of it. Next week's prompts: Twitch, Blue, 15 Join us on Patreon to help support our efforts: www.patreon.com/curatedbychance Check Out Lauren’s Substack: https://ltlikesthis.substack.com/ Follow the show and its creators on Instagram: The Show – @curatedbychance Lauren – @paisleylo Neal – @nealefischer E-mail us: curatedbychance@gmail.com Hear Neal each week on Triviality Podcast – Subscribe now! Listen to Lauren on Miss Information Podcast – Subscribe now! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 79: Reclining Nudes and One Rude Dude This week’s prompts: Nude, Mirror, 2193 Surprise! It's a solo episode, this time with LT! Neal is working on his book and way over his head, so we're changing things up a bit. He'll be back next week. Today, LT takes on the prompts of nude and mirror, and brings us along through a minor history of nudity... in what else? Art! LT talks about stereotypes in art, Manet, how nudes and class evolved over time, and maybe a hot take on Paul Gaugin? Listen in for a great opening story that LT says might be the best compliment she's had in ages! Thank you to all of our Patrons for supporting the show. We couldn't do it without you! Join our patrons by going to: www.patreon.com/curatedbychance Next week: a solo show from Neal about nudity in... what else? Film! Check out Lauren's Substack: https://ltlikesthis.substack.com/ Follow the show and its creators on Instagram: The Show – @curatedbychanceLauren – @paisleyloNeal – @nealefischer E-mail us: curatedbychance@gmail.com Hear Neal each week on Triviality Podcast – Subscribe now!Listen to Lauren on Miss Information Podcast – Subscribe now! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 78: Whose Cah We Gonna Take? This week’s prompts: Holy, New England, 530 Neal and Lauren welcome listeners to the deep winter doldrums with an episode that starts cozy and conversational… and then quietly spirals into bank robbers, nun masks, American realism, and one of the most haunting paintings of the 20th century. It’s a classic Curated by Chance hang: warm, thoughtful, and gloriously meandering. Neal takes Holy and New England straight into The Town (2010), Ben Affleck’s Boston-set crime thriller that doubles as a love letter to place, loyalty, and impossible escape. He breaks down how Affleck reshaped a bloated studio script into a lean, character-driven heist film; why Charlestown functions as both setting and prison; and how real Boston crime lore — from codes of silence to armored car robberies — found its way into the movie. Along the way, Neal highlights Jeremy Renner’s Oscar-nominated performance, the infamous nun masks, the jaw-dropping Fenway Park climax, and why The Town belongs in the modern heist-movie canon alongside Heat. After the break, Lauren also follows New England, but through art history, with a rich and moving portrait of Andrew Wyeth, one of America’s most iconic — and most misunderstood — painters. She traces Wyeth’s upbringing under illustrator father N.C. Wyeth, his frail childhood and intense artistic training, and the profound impact of loss, isolation, and landscape on his work. Lauren digs deep into Christina’s World: its real-life subject, its emotional ambiguity, and why viewers can read hope, despair, or quiet endurance into the same image. She also explores Wyeth’s mastery of watercolor and egg tempera, the tension between “illustration” and “fine art,” and the controversial, secretive Helga paintings — a body of work that shocked the art world and complicated Wyeth’s legacy. PLUS:Nun masks, Fenway Park, and Boston as a cinematic characterJeremy Renner’s breakout performance and Affleck’s growth as a directorChristina’s World and why it refuses a single interpretationNew England landscapes as emotional terrainAndrew Wyeth, watercolor wizardry, and the thin line between intimacy and obsession Next week’s prompts: Nude, Mirror, 2193 Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/CuratedByChance Check out Lauren's Substack: https://ltlikesthis.substack.com/ Follow the show and its creators on Instagram: The Show – @curatedbychanceLauren – @paisleyloNeal – @nealefischer E-mail us: curatedbychance@gmail.com Hear Neal each week on Triviality Podcast – Subscribe now!Listen to Lauren on Miss Information Podcast – Subscribe now! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 77: Betty Spaghetti This week’s prompts: Peach, Necktie, 309 It’s a solo mission this week as Neal takes the wheel for a heartfelt, history-rich deep dive into one of the most beloved sports movies ever made — a film that still makes audiences laugh, cheer, and maybe tear up just a little. Neal takes Peach straight to A League of Their Own (1992), Penny Marshall’s classic underdog comedy about the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League during World War II. He walks through the film’s origins, from its real-life inspiration to its journey to the big screen, and explains why it remains one of the most enduring sports movies of all time. From John Lovitz’s fast-talking scout and the formation of the Rockford Peaches to the unforgettable chemistry of Geena Davis, Tom Hanks, Madonna, and Rosie O’Donnell, Neal breaks down what makes the movie such a perfect balance of comedy, heart, and history. Along the way, he digs into Penny Marshall’s legendary direction style, the intense baseball boot camp that put the cast through their paces, and the behind-the-scenes stories that gave us iconic moments like “There’s no crying in baseball!” Neal also explores the real women behind the story — the trailblazing athletes who kept professional baseball alive on the home front and whose legacy finally received long-overdue recognition at the Baseball Hall of Fame. It’s a love letter to teamwork, sisterhood, representation, and the kind of feel-good storytelling that never goes out of style. PLUS:⚾ The real All-American Girls Professional Baseball League👒 Rockford Peaches, Racine Belles, and the best team names in sports history🎬 Penny Marshall’s boot camp, bruises, and baseball realism💄 Charm school, skirted uniforms, and playing hard in a “ladylike” world🏆 Why A League of Their Own belongs in the sports-movie hall of fame Next week’s prompts: Holy, New England, 530 Join us on Patreon: CLICK HERE Check Out Lauren’s Substack https://ltlikesthis.substack.com/ Join The Curated By Chance Music League (RD 5!) https://app.musicleague.com/l/3d2c21ad32fd4e58add97006df33d0c9/ Follow the show and its creators on Instagram: The Show – @curatedbychanceLauren – @paisleyloNeal – @nealefischer E-mail us: curatedbychance@gmail.com Hear Neal each week on Triviality Podcast – Subscribe now! Listen to Lauren on Miss Information Podcast – Subscribe now! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 76: A Pod Full of Tangents This week’s prompts: Peach, Necktie, 309 Neal and Lauren lean fully into chaos this week with an episode that earns its title the old-fashioned way: by going absolutely everywhere. What starts as a quick check-in spirals into a joyful, free-range conversation about internet conspiracies, parasocial fandom, doomscrolling, poetry whispered in the middle of the night, Roman fruit paintings, French Impressionists, and the eternal question of whether Doctor Who has queer time-travel fan fiction (spoiler: obviously). Lauren takes Peach and turns it into an art-history fever dream, beginning with drunken T.S. Eliot recitations (“Do I dare to eat a peach?”) and winding through ancient Roman still lifes, fuzzy fruit symbolism, and the unexpectedly rich visual history of peaches in painting. From there, she launches into a deep, deliciously nerdy deep dive on Pierre-Auguste Renoir — the Impressionist painter of glowing skin, soft pastels, and famously gravity-defying nudes. She traces his journey from porcelain factory apprentice to founding Impressionist, his crisis of confidence after seeing Raphael and Titian in Italy, his pivot toward classical modeling, and the voluptuous excess of works like The Large Bathers. Along the way: invisible corsets, painterly filters, imposter syndrome, arthritis rumors, nepo-baby descendants, and one of the best art quotes ever: “The pain passes, but the beauty remains.” By the end, the episode has become exactly what it promised: a pod full of tangents, powered by curiosity, affection, and the belief that sometimes the long way around is the most fun. PLUS:🍑 Ancient Roman peaches and pre-cultivation fruit history📜 Drunk T.S. Eliot poetry as a lifestyle choice🎨 Renoir’s glow, his gravity-defying nudes, and Impressionist rebellion🩰 Invisible corsets, painterly filters, and the fantasy of beauty🧠 Imposter syndrome, artistic reinvention, and why Raphael ruins everything📱 Doomscrolling, fandom conspiracies, and the last good corners of the internet Next week’s prompts: Peach, Necktie, 309 Join us on Patreon! www.Patreon.com/curatedbychance Check out Lauren's Substack: https://ltlikesthis.substack.com/ Join our Music League (Volume Five launches This Friday!)https://app.musicleague.com/l/3d2c21ad32fd4e58add97006df33d0c9/ Follow the creators on Instagram 🎧 The Show – @curatedbychance🎨 Lauren – @paisleylo🎬 Neal – @nealefischer 📧 E-mail us: curatedbychance@gmail.com 🎙️ Hear Neal each week on Triviality Podcast – Subscribe now!🎧 Listen to Lauren on Miss Information Podcast – Subscribe now! 🌐 And for more Neal in your life:www.linktr.ee/nealefischer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 75: To Couture a Mockingbird This week's prompts: Paper White, 1962, Glasses Neal takes 1962 straight to To Kill a Mockingbird, the landmark film adaptation of Harper Lee’s novel that somehow manages to be both gentle and devastating. He talks about Gregory Peck’s towering, quietly radical performance as Atticus Finch; why the movie still holds emotional power decades later; and how its moral clarity feels almost shocking in a modern landscape full of irony and cynicism. Neal also touches on the book’s long history of bans and challenges, why that still matters, and how the film’s restraint — its refusal to sensationalize — is exactly what gives it weight. Meanwhile, Lauren unspools the life and legacy of Yves Saint Laurent, the fashion prodigy who permanently changed how women dress. From his early paper-doll designs and meteoric rise at Dior to the creation of ready-to-wear as a democratizing force, Lauren breaks down how Saint Laurent blurred gender lines, mainstreamed women in pants, and fused art, business, and rebellion into a single brand. She digs into his partnership with Pierre Bergé, his friendships and rivalries (Warhol, Lagerfeld), and the darker side of genius — addiction, burnout, and a career that flickered between brilliance and collapse. Along the way, we get couture history, fashion-week mechanics, and why Saint Laurent’s influence still shapes what hangs in our closets today. PLUS:📚 Why To Kill a Mockingbird still lands — and still gets banned⚖️ Gregory Peck’s Atticus Finch as moral north star👖 Yves Saint Laurent and the radical act of putting women in pants🧵 Couture vs. ready-to-wear, and how fashion actually makes money🎨 Genius, excess, and the cost of changing culture Next week’s prompts: Peach, 309, Necktie Join our show on Patreon: www.patreon.com/curatedbychance Lauren's substack: 👉 https://ltlikesthis.substack.com/ Follow the creators: 🎧 The Show – @curatedbychance🎨 Lauren – @paisleylo🎬 Neal – @nealefischer 📧 E-mail us: curatedbychance@gmail.com 🎙️ Hear Neal each week on Triviality Podcast – Subscribe now!🎧 Listen to Lauren on Miss Information Podcast – Subscribe now! 🌐 And for more Neal in your life:www.linktr.ee/nealefischer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 74: Down Ghibli Road This week’s prompts: Bath, Paper White, 70 It’s New Year’s Eve at Curated by Chance, and Neal and Lauren settle into a quieter, cozier kind of chaos — the kind fueled by lingering colds, holiday brain fog, and the strange emotional clarity that tends to arrive between December 26 and January 1. What starts as a low-key check-in turns into a surprisingly tender conversation about memory, comfort, and the stories that show up exactly when we need them. Lauren takes the prompt “Bath” straight into the warm, surreal waters of Spirited Away (2001). What begins as a rewatch with her son becomes a meditation on growing up, fear, and transformation. She explores Chihiro’s journey from frightened child to quiet hero, the dream logic of the bathhouse, and why Miyazaki’s world never explains itself — it simply invites you to exist inside it. From No-Face’s eerie longing to the film’s gentle emotional pacing, Lauren reflects on how Spirited Away trusts its audience in ways most Western animation never dares to. Meanwhile, Neal brings in Down Cemetery Road, the moody British mystery series that’s become his latest obsession. Set in a quiet English neighborhood with secrets simmering just beneath the surface, the show taps into a very specific kind of storytelling pleasure: slow-burn tension, intimate character work, and the creeping sense that something is deeply off. Neal talks about the show’s measured pacing, lived-in performances, and why British crime dramas hit differently — less spectacle, more unease. It’s less about “whodunit” and more about the emotional fallout of knowing too much. Next week’s prompts: 1962, Glasses, AstroTurf Join us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/curatedbychance 👉 https://ltlikesthis.substack.com/ 👉 https://app.musicleague.com/l/6704df400ff1429186ef8bb85e56a488/ 🎧 The Show – @curatedbychance🎨 Lauren – @paisleylo🎬 Neal – @nealefischer 📧 E-mail us: curatedbychance@gmail.com 🎙️ Hear Neal each week on Triviality Podcast – Subscribe now!🎧 Listen to Lauren on Miss Information Podcast – Subscribe now! 📘 Order Neal’s newest book Law & Order: SVU – Confidential (out October 14):👉 https://geni.us/HPgeZ 🌐 And for more Neal in your life:www.linktr.ee/nealefischer Check Out Lauren’s SubstackJoin The Curated By Chance Music League (Round 4 Sign Up)Follow the show and its creators on Instagram Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 73: Johnny Galecki Is My Wingman This week’s prompts: Attic, Fur, 160 Neal and Lauren close out the holiday season with migraines, subzero temperatures, Christmas Eve recording energy, and an episode that somehow becomes both a love letter to seasonal chaos and a rom-com–worthy personal anecdote. Neal takes “Attic” straight to National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989) — the quintessential “everything goes wrong” holiday classic that turns good intentions into full-blown festive disaster. He walks Lauren (who has somehow never seen it) through Clark Griswold’s doomed quest for the perfect Christmas, unpacking iconic moments like the blinding house lights, Cousin Eddie’s RV arrival, the squirrel chaos, and that legendary Jelly of the Month Club rant. Along the way, Neal dishes out a sleigh-full of behind-the-scenes stories: a deceased trained squirrel, cue cards , an unscripted crotch grab into the final cut, and why this movie accidentally helped give us Home Alone. It’s pratfalls, pine sap, and pure holiday mayhem — with a surprising amount of heart. Meanwhile, Lauren picks up “Attic” in a very different way, launching into a sharp, funny, and surprisingly moving breakdown of The Husbands by Holly Gramazio — a magical-realist novel about a woman whose attic functions as a portal dispensing an endless supply of husbands. She unpacks the book’s clever metaphor for modern dating, choice paralysis, grief, and self-definition, spotlighting standout husbands, the running Netflix joke, and why the book’s ending lands with such emotional precision. It’s funny, thoughtful, occasionally dark, and deeply relatable — even when the premise is completely bonkers. And then — because this is Curated by Chance — Neal casually drops a real-life holiday rom-com story in which Johnny Galecki accidentally becomes his wingman. Yes, that Johnny Galecki. Sometimes the universe just hands you a third-act twist. PLUS:🎄 Why Christmas Vacation still feels painfully accurate🐿️ Dead squirrels, wild squirrels, and very nervous stunt warnings📖 Magical realism as dating allegory (and emotional survival guide)💍 The grief of losing a perfect husband… to an attic portal🍸 Johnny Galecki, Midwest bars, and the power of accidental celebrity proximity Next week’s prompts: Bath, Paper White, 70 Join us on Patreon: www.Patreon.com/curatedbychance Check Out Lauren’s Substack:👉 https://ltlikesthis.substack.com/ Follow the show and its creators on Instagram:🎧 The Show – @curatedbychance🎨 Lauren – @paisleylo🎬 Neal – @nealefischer 📧 E-mail us: curatedbychance@gmail.com Hear Neal each week on Triviality Podcast – Subscribe now! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 72: Dancin' Slow This week’s prompts: Goldenrod, 919, Hat Lauren returns — coughs muted, spirits high — and Neal officially hands the mic back after last week’s Bond-fueled solo outing. What follows is a cozy, conversational episode that blends modern art theory, eccentric geniuses, and a little bit of podcast navel-gazing as the two reflect on growth, gratitude, and why structure can sometimes be the ultimate form of freedom. Lauren takes Goldenrod and 919 straight into the world of Piet Mondrian, the Dutch modernist whose grids of black lines and primary colors became one of the most recognizable visual languages of the 20th century. She traces Mondrian’s journey from impressionist windmills to Cubist experimentation to the radical philosophy of De Stijl and neoplasticism, unpacking how horizontal and vertical lines were meant to represent nothing less than the underlying structure of the universe. Along the way: theosophy, occult philosophies, jazz clubs, secret flower paintings, rigid diets, racist pseudoscience, and the deeply funny revelation that Mondrian — stoic grid-master — loved dancing the Charleston. Meanwhile, Neal reacts in real time, connecting Mondrian’s self-imposed artistic rules to movements like Dogme 95, modern minimalism, and why restriction often produces innovation. The conversation drifts into Mondrian’s lasting influence on fashion (hello, Yves Saint Laurent), graphic design, architecture, and pop culture — including why his work keeps resurfacing every few decades as the ultimate visual reset. In between, the two share Spotify Wrapped–style listener stats, celebrate international fans, and marvel at the strange, wonderful overlap between art nerds, trivia lovers, audiobook obsessives, and people who just really liked an episode called Wash Your Damn Hands. Next week’s prompts: Attic, Fur, 160 Join our Patreon! www.Patreon.com/curatedbychance Check Out Lauren’s Substack: 👉 https://ltlikesthis.substack.com/ Join The Curated By Chance Music League (Round 4 Sign Up): 👉 https://app.musicleague.com/l/6704df400ff1429186ef8bb85e56a488/ Follow the show and its creators on Instagram: 🎧 The Show – @curatedbychance 🎨 Lauren – @paisleylo 🎬 Neal – @nealefischer 📧 E-mail us: curatedbychance@gmail.com Hear Neal each week on Triviality Podcast – Subscribe now! Listen to Lauren on Miss Information Podcast – Subscribe now! 📘 Order Neal’s newest book Law & Order: SVU – Confidential (out October 14): 👉 https://geni.us/HPgeZ And for more Neal in your life: 🌐 www.linktr.ee/nealefischer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 71: The Gold Standard This week’s prompts: Goldenrod, 919, Hat Neal’s flying solo this week — migraine hangover, holiday chaos, Lauren home sick — but he shows up with a gleaming, gadget-packed deep dive into Goldfinger (1964), the Bond movie that became the blueprint for all Bonds to come. From Ian Fleming naming his villain out of pure pettiness to the film’s choice to replace a convoluted Fort Knox heist with an elegant “poison the gold” scheme, Neal breaks down how Goldfinger sharpened every piece of the franchise into the gold standard. It’s a whirlwind of gold paint, gadgets, henchmen, and cinematic swagger — plus a look ahead at where Bond might go next under Amazon and who’s circling the 007 mantle now. PLUS: 🏆 The petty real-life inspiration behind Auric Goldfinger 🎶 Shirley Bassey, Jimmy Page, and the most iconic Bond theme ever recorded 🎩 Oddjob’s killer hat and Q’s weaponized DB5 💥 The laser table scene that redefined villainy Join us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/curatedbychance Check Out Lauren’s Substack: 👉 ⁠https://ltlikesthis.substack.com/⁠ Follow the show and its creators on Instagram: 🎧 The Show – @curatedbychance 🎨 Lauren – @paisleylo 🎬 Neal – @nealefischer 📧 E-mail us: ⁠curatedbychance@gmail.com⁠ Hear Neal each week on Triviality Podcast – Subscribe now! Listen to Lauren on Miss Information Podcast – Subscribe now! Order Neal’s newest book Law & Order: SVU – Confidential (out October 14): 👉 ⁠https://geni.us/HPgeZ⁠ And for more Neal in your life: 🌐 ⁠www.linktr.ee/nealefischer⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 70: Broad on a Couch This week’s prompts: 1717, Arena, Titian Red Neal and Lauren kick off the post–Thanksgiving stretch with an episode powered by heating pads, sunglasses, and sheer stubbornness. Neal shows up bundled in a hood, nursing shoulder pain and a barometric-pressure headache, while Lauren juggles the last week of classes, giant waitlists, and adjunct life. Neal takes “Arena” (and a little bit of “Titian Red”) straight into The Running Man (1987), the gaudy, neon-drenched Arnold Schwarzenegger cult classic loosely based on Stephen King’s Richard Bachman novel. He breaks down how the original bleak, globe-spanning manhunt of the book got reshaped into a gladiatorial TV deathmatch; why King refused to have his real name on the movie; and how the film swaps an everyman desperate to save his sick daughter for an ultra-jacked, framed helicopter pilot with an endless supply of one-liners. From American Gladiators–style stalkers (Fireball! Sub-Zero! Dynamo in a light-up diaper!) to Richard Dawson’s inspired turn as sadistic game show host Damon Killian, Neal unpacks the casting, the chaotic production history (multiple directors, Starsky-as-director Paul Michael Glaser, and hurt feelings from Arnold), and the bizarrely prescient “deepfake” climax that confused 1980s audiences. He also looks ahead to Edgar Wright’s new, more book-faithful adaptation starring Glenn Powell — complete with a blessing from Arnold himself. Meanwhile, Lauren grabs “Titian Red” and delivers a lush, art-historical love letter to Titian, the 16th-century Venetian master whose women, fabrics, and hair basically rewired Western painting. She traces his path from Bellini workshop kid to international court painter for dukes, popes, and emperors; explains how his portrait Man with a Quilted Sleeve inspired Rembrandt; and then settles into a sensual close-reading of the Venus of Urbino. Is she a mythic goddess? A high-end courtesan? A new bride waiting in a palace bedroom while the ladies root through her dowry chest? Lauren breaks down the jewelry, the sleepy dog of fidelity, the flowers, the direct eye contact, and why a bit of strategic nudity plus a mythological fig leaf made it “okay” for a not-so-celibate cardinal-in-training to hang in his room. She closes with Titian’s late “magic impressionism,” his plague-era death, and how “Titian hair” became shorthand for rich red locks all the way to Anne of Green Gables. In between, the two take a detour into modern stardom and the Glenn Powell Industrial Complex: Tom Cruise mentorship, Hollywood’s desperate search for the next capital-M Movie Star, Roman Reigns as a wrestling parallel, and why the studio machine trying to manufacture a “relatable leading man” feels a lot more obvious in the age of Instagram, fan cams, and micro-fandoms. PLUS:🎮 The Running Man as proto–reality TV fever dream📺 Richard Dawson weaponizing his game show charm as a dystopian villain⚡ Opera-singing stalkers, flamethrowers, and the most 80s cast list imaginable🖼️ Titian’s Venus of Urbino and the long, horny history of “it’s not porn, it’s mythology”🧡 “Titian red” hair, Renaissance fashion as identity, and why jewelry makes nudes feel even more naked🌟 Glenn Powell, Tom Cruise, and Hollywood’s struggle to mint a new generation of marquee names Next week’s prompts: Goldenrod, 919, Hat Join us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/curatedbychance Check Out Lauren’s Substack:👉 https://ltlikesthis.substack.com/ Follow the show and its creators on Instagram:🎧 The Show – @curatedbychance🎨 Lauren – @paisleylo🎬 Neal – @nealefischer 📧 E-mail us: curatedbychance@gmail.com Hear Neal each week on Triviality Podcast – Subscribe now!Listen to Lauren on Miss Information Podcast – Subscribe now! 📘 Order Neal’s newest book Law & Order: SVU – Confidential (out October 14):👉 https://geni.us/HPgeZ And for more Neal in your life:🌐 www.linktr.ee/nealefischer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 69: Podcast Therapy This week’s prompts: Turquoise, 110, Watermark Neal and Lauren fight through Thanksgiving-week chaos, closet recording, AirPods audio, and a brutal Zoom delay to bring you an episode that accidentally turns into group therapy — in the best way. Lauren takes “turquoise” straight to the American Southwest by way of Wisconsin with a rich, nuanced dive into the life and work of Georgia O’Keeffe. From her early training at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Art Students League, to her complicated relationship with photographer and champion Alfred Stieglitz, Lauren traces how O’Keeffe moved from charcoal abstraction to monumental flowers, New York skyscrapers, and the bone-and-desert landscapes of Ghost Ranch. Along the way, she busts the “vagina flower” myth, talks about O’Keeffe’s resistance to being labeled a “woman artist,” and explains why the artist’s prickly independence still makes her feel so modern — even as her paintings disappear into private collections. Meanwhile, Neal grabs the “110” prompt and goes full pressure-cooker with Falling Down (1993), Joel Schumacher’s tense, divisive portrait of a man who absolutely should have gone to therapy instead of terrorizing Los Angeles. He walks us through Michael Douglas’s infamous D-FENS — short-sleeve shirt, flat-top, briefcase, and all — and the film’s odyssey structure, from the overpriced soda in the corner store to the legendary Whammy Burger breakfast meltdown and a horrifying detour through a neo-Nazi surplus shop. Neal digs into the film’s early-’90s LA context, its connection to American rage, economic anxiety, and white male grievance, and why the final “I’m the bad guy?” moment still hits uncomfortably hard. Then, in true Podcast Therapy fashion, the conversation swerves into real talk: male loneliness, the thin line between anger and sadness, revenge as a brain addiction, and why misery might be more contagious than we think. Lauren breaks down anger and grief as “roommates,” Neal brings in a book about the neuroscience of revenge, and together they make a compelling case that a lot of what we call “snapping” is really untreated sadness… plus a broken air conditioner. PLUS:💐 Georgia O’Keeffe’s flowers, bones, and “witch of the Southwest” era🏜️ Ghost Ranch, feminist iconography, and why she hated everyone’s interpretations🚗 Road rage, the 110, and the early-’90s LA anxiety baked into Falling Down🍔 The Whammy Burger scene and the fantasy of yelling “this doesn’t look like the picture!”🧠 Anger vs. sadness, revenge circuitry, and why men will literally shoot up Los Angeles instead of going to therapy Next week’s prompts: 1717, Arena, Titian Red Join us Patreon: www.Patreon.com/curatedbychance Check Out Lauren’s Substack:👉 https://ltlikesthis.substack.com/ Follow the show and its creators on Instagram:🎧 The Show – @curatedbychance🎨 Lauren – @paisleylo🎬 Neal – @nealefischer 📧 E-mail us: curatedbychance@gmail.com Hear Neal each week on Triviality Podcast – Subscribe now!Listen to Lauren on Miss Information Podcast – Subscribe now! 📘 Order Neal’s newest book Law & Order: SVU – Confidential (out October 14):👉 https://geni.us/HPgeZ And for more Neal in your life:🌐 www.linktr.ee/nealefischer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 68: Maybe It’s Ghibelline This week’s prompts: Charcoal, Record, 1265, Story Neal and Lauren dive into political chaos, medieval poetry beef, and paranoid thrillers for an episode that swings from 13th-century Florence to 1980s Philadelphia. Lauren takes the year 1265 and spins it into a fiery tour through Dante Alighieri’s life, exile, enemies, and the giant, cosmic fanfiction we now call The Divine Comedy. She breaks down the Guelphs vs. Ghibellines feud (and then the even pettier White vs. Black Guelph split), how Dante wrote in Italian instead of Latin to reshape an entire language, and why Beatrice lives rent-free in the author’s imagination. From the nine circles of Hell to that iconic three-part afterlife road trip with Virgil as tour guide, Lauren untangles how one poet turned politics, heartbreak, and theology into the most influential self-insert narrative in history. Meanwhile, Neal takes “Record” literally with Brian De Palma’s Blow Out (1981) — the sound-obsessed, paranoia-drenched thriller where John Travolta accidentally captures audio evidence of an assassination. Neal digs into De Palma’s cinematic lineage, how Blow Out riffs on Blow-Up and The Conversation, why the film basically invented its own genre of political dread, and the glorious insanity of the director’s beloved split-diopter shots. Expect Travolta love, Nancy Allen appreciation, Lithgow creepiness, and a crash-course in De Palma’s entire filmmaking DNA. PLUS:🔥 Dante’s exile and the pettiest political grudges of medieval Italy📚 Why The Divine Comedy shaped the afterlife in Western art🎙️ Blow Out and the conspiracy thriller hall of fame🔪 John Lithgow doing John Lithgow things🎥 Split diopters, deep focus, and De Palma’s visual mischief BLOW OUT FULL FILM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z20y1YqCc0Y SPLIT DIOPTER SHORT EXPLANATION:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6HkQvH5QvM Next week’s prompts: Turquoise, 110, Watermark Join us on Patreon: www.Patreon.com/curatedbychance Check Out Lauren’s Substack:👉 https://ltlikesthis.substack.com/ Follow the show and its creators on Instagram:🎧 The Show – @curatedbychance🎨 Lauren – @paisleylo🎬 Neal – @nealefischer 📧 E-mail us: curatedbychance@gmail.com Hear Neal each week on Triviality Podcast – Subscribe now!Listen to Lauren on Miss Information Podcast – Subscribe now! 📘 Pre-Order Neal’s newest book Law & Order: SVU – Confidential (out October 14):👉 https://geni.us/HPgeZ And for more Neal in your life:🌐 www.linktr.ee/nealefischer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 67: Sisyphean Endeavor This week’s prompts: Automatic, Peach, 88 Neal and Lauren brave snow, slush, and Sisyphean car scraping for a cozy winter episode filled with musicals, surrealism, and just the right amount of existential dread. Neal kicks things off by greasing the wheels of nostalgia with Grease (1978) — the leather-clad, pop-perfect, Chicago-born musical that became a worldwide phenomenon. He dives into the scrappy origins of the stage show at Kingston Mines, its wild Broadway success, and the unlikely road to Hollywood superstardom. You’ll learn how Travolta stole a solo, how Olivia Newton-John got sewn into her pants, and why half the cast was pushing thirty while pretending to be in homeroom. From the palm-tree fights to the palm-sweat dance scenes, Neal proves that Grease remains the slickest high school fantasy ever committed to film. Meanwhile, Lauren spotlights British surrealist Eithel Colquhoun, a painter, writer, and practicing occultist who turned the mystical and macabre into fine art. She explores Colquhoun’s lifelong obsession with alchemy, magic, and androgyny; her expulsion from the British Surrealist Group for being “too into the occult”; and the recent Tate St. Ives retrospective that finally gave her due. From her saturated pastels and coral-toned dreamscapes to her fascination with the body as landscape, Colquhoun emerges as a forgotten visionary who painted femininity as both spiritual and subversive. PLUS: 🩰 Why Grease began in a Chicago trolley barn 🎤 The hickeys, heartbreak, and heat exhaustion behind Rydell High 🎨 Surrealist spellcraft and the art of “automatic” painting 🔮 Eithel Colquhoun’s occult feminism and androgynous visions 🕯️ When artists are literally too witchy for the art world Next week’s prompts: Charcoal, Record, 1265, Story Check Out Lauren’s Substack: 👉 https://ltlikesthis.substack.com/ Join The Curated By Chance Music League (Round 4 Sign Up): 👉 https://app.musicleague.com/l/6704df400ff1429186ef8bb85e56a488/ Follow the show and its creators on Instagram: 🎧 The Show – @curatedbychance 🎨 Lauren – @paisleylo 🎬 Neal – @nealefischer 📧 E-mail us: curatedbychance@gmail.com Hear Neal each week on Triviality Podcast – Subscribe now! Listen to Lauren on Miss Information Podcast – Subscribe now! 📘 Pre-Order Neal’s newest book Law & Order: SVU – Confidential (out October 14): 👉 https://geni.us/HPgeZ And for more Neal in your life: 🌐 www.linktr.ee/nealefischer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 66: One Night at Pita Pit This week’s prompts: Bear, Five, German Lauren takes us deep into the strange and hypnotic world of Grizzly Man (2005), Werner Herzog’s haunting documentary about Timothy Treadwell, the self-proclaimed bear protector who lived — and died — among Alaska’s brown bears. She explores Herzog’s icy narration, the infamous unseen audio tape, and the way the director blurs the line between empathy and existential dread. Along the way, we get side trips through Burden of Dreams, My Best Fiend, and a Herzog TikTok rabbit hole that proves the director might just be one long performance piece. Meanwhile, Neal celebrates the strange majesty of German cinema — from the Expressionist shadows of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari to Karl Freund, the cinematographer who quite literally unchained the camera and later revolutionized sitcoms with I Love Lucy. He traces how Weimar–era innovations birthed horror classics like Dracula and The Mummy, and why every three-camera comedy owes a debt to one very determined German technician. PLUS:🐻 The doomed devotion of Grizzly Man🎥 When Herzog promised to eat his shoe — and did🧛 How Nosferatu inspired Hollywood horror📺 The German who lit I Love Lucy (and every sitcom since)💀 Werner Herzog: philosopher, filmmaker, and accidental meme lord Next week’s prompts: Automatic, Peach, 88 Join our Patreon (New Tiers): www.patreon.com/curatedbychance Check Out Lauren’s Substack:👉 https://ltlikesthis.substack.com/ Join The Curated By Chance Music League (Round 4 Sign Up):👉 https://app.musicleague.com/l/6704df400ff1429186ef8bb85e56a488/ Follow the show and its creators on Instagram:🎧 The Show – @curatedbychance🎨 Lauren – @paisleylo🎬 Neal – @nealefischer 📧 E-mail us: curatedbychance@gmail.com Hear Neal each week on Triviality Podcast – Subscribe now!Listen to Lauren on Miss Information Podcast – Subscribe now! 📘 Order Neal’s newest book Law & Order: SVU – Confidential:👉 https://geni.us/HPgeZ And for more Neal in your life:🌐 www.linktr.ee/nealefischer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 65: Inherent Vice... but not the movie Prompts: 1220, Sage, Newspaper We’re back to our regularly scheduled programming! After a mini panic involving corrupted files and cloud sleuthing, Neal and Lauren are reunited in glorious audio form. Thank you, Riverside, and thank you, listeners, for your patience! In this episode, Neal grabs the morning edition and dives deep into His Girl Friday (1940) — Howard Hawks’s screwball masterpiece that forever changed Hollywood dialogue. You’ll hear about Cary Grant’s rapid-fire wit, Rosalind Russell’s secret joke writer, the gender-flipped origin story from The Front Page, and why the movie’s 191-page script clocks in at over 300 words a minute. Neal breaks down Hawks’s deceptively simple directing style, the film’s public-domain afterlife, and how His Girl Friday helped shape everything from Gilmore Girls to Aaron Sorkin. Then Lauren turns the page to fine art and unpacks the life and legacy of Jasper Johns — the still-living legend of postwar American art. From flags and targets to encaustic wax and found newspapers, she traces how Johns blurred the line between abstraction and realism, pioneered “things the mind already knows,” and shared a creative (and romantic) spark with Robert Rauschenberg. Expect lessons in preservation, a crash course in art movements, and the revelation that Johns plans to turn his Connecticut estate into a creative haven after his death. Also this week:📬 A new patron joins the Curated by Chance family.📚 Book Club updates (and a few reader confessions).🪶 A porch-side dad review! Join us on Patreon to help the show!: www.patreon.com/curatedbychance Next week’s prompts have been drawn: Bear, 5, and German. What could possibly go wrong? Check Out Lauren’s Substack:👉 https://ltlikesthis.substack.com/ Join The Curated by Chance Music League (Round 4 Sign Up):👉 https://app.musicleague.com/l/6704df400ff1429186ef8bb85e56a488/ Follow the show and its creators on Instagram:🎧 The Show – @curatedbychance🎨 Lauren – @paisleylo🎬 Neal – @nealefischer 📧 E-mail us: curatedbychance@gmail.com Hear Neal each week on Triviality Podcast – subscribe now!Listen to Lauren on Miss Information Podcast – subscribe now! 📘 Pickup Neal's newest book Law & Order: SVU – Confidential (out October 14):👉 https://geni.us/HPgeZ 🌐 For more Neal in your life: www.linktr.ee/nealefischer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices