The Incredible True Facts of Space Podcast

Looking at Noel Black films as an allegory of the suicide of the westSkater Dater 1965Pretty Poison 1968Jennifer on my Mind 1971Noel Black’s Skater Dater, Pretty Poison, and Jennifer on My Mind can be read as an allegory for a culture drifting toward self-destruction: young, privileged characters with freedom, comfort, and possibility who nevertheless chase danger, alienation, and nihilism as if boredom were more intolerable than ruin. The films feel like snapshots of a civilization that has everything materially but lacks conviction, meaning, or restraint. So it experiments with its own collapse for stimulation. In that sense, Black isn’t moralizing; he’s observing a Western psyche that mistakes freedom for emptiness and, unable to articulate purpose, plays recklessly at the edge of its own undoing. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit williamchadbowers.substack.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit williamchadbowers.substack.com

Meet Chad Bowers. He’s the guy that sounds like he escaped from a Texas mental institution when he podcasts. Oh wait, no, that’s Jimbo. I think Chad is the one who plays it straight and then twists the story enough to where you are go, “What the hey?” Yeah, that’s the guy.Anyway, whoever he is, he recently answered a mess of odd questions for Jimbo. Partake with this audio as if this were Bayou-spicy all-you-eat-seafood.contentsintro .. finding the Onsug .. via iTunes .. Frank Nora’s thoughts = Chad’s thoughts .. found during free time .. synchronicities .. started listening in 2007 .. trying to listen from Show #1 .. Frank hasn’t changed but production has .. Frank’s changing the show numbering .. describing Frank and impressions .. Hawkeye Pierce from MASH .. large, gracious person .. spending time with Frank .. laid back .. familiar .. Mobile, Alabama .. French Mobile .. “the South is a place where you’d have to live to understand things (the South)” .. spirit that binds us (Onsug) together .. synchronicity .. road trips .. seating during the road trip .. trips to Connecticut .. tourist attractions .. Richie Rich and comic books .. “Are you boys are on drugs?” .. strange, unusual, funny stories .. learning comedy from the mentally ill .. comedy balance is the believable + mentally disturbed thoughts .. early influences: TV shows watched as a child .. Happy Days (Fonzie) .. neighbor girl who ate raw meat .. cartoons .. Bozo the Clown (Chicago) .. big fan of Johnny Carson and Tonight Show .. watched him with contrast adjusted and volume low .. wanted to be Johnny Carson .. magazines .. older brother was an influence .. appreciation for art .. the moving mosaic .. The Killing Fields .. X Files .. David Lynch films .. Star Wars .. Sid and Marty Kroft theme park .. documentaries and viewing films .. Class Clown? .. monkey bars kiss memory .. office assistant in school .. hated physical education .. value of being close to school faculty .. mimeograph machine .. Chad’s joke of the day .. growing up in the deep South in the 1970’s and 80’s .. hurricane .. Mardi Gras .. fog .. picnics at the graveyard .. race relations were better then .. and worse off now .. dream of a new America after WWII .. another fall coming? .. growing up in the South shaped Chad’s humor .. Chad’s granddad .. he could make a tragic story funny .. a celebration of the strange .. storytelling with ‘hypertruth’ .. Dallas is full of superficial people .. important life lessons from granddad .. spicy seafood .. bathroom errors after seafood parties .. lack of knowledge of BBQ baloney! .. foods of Mobile .. bread, butter and sugar .. pecan pie .. seafood .. an island to yourself .. Mobile Bay .. rainy and foggy .. magic on the causeway bridge .. history haunts Mobile .. running the sound board for his older brother’s band .. special privileges as a member of the ‘Rotting Reagans’ .. loving elevator music (is he kidding or not?) .. various bands Chad likes, most start with ‘The’ .. re: BBQ baloney .. another list of bands Chad enjoys .. The Cure .. he’s a ‘Vic and Sade‘ fan! .. couldn’t understand Vic .. PQ Ribber and the Overnightscape Central .. PQ is good .. the large Chick-o-Stick candy .. the Chick-o-Stick song by Chad!! .. Joe Cain Hot Sauce .. in honor of Joe Cain and his history .. author Richard Brautigan .. Chad says goodbye .. ♫ CHAD YOU’RE SO NORMAL This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit williamchadbowers.substack.com

1:17:32 – Birmingham Pizza of the Sea Review – Holiday Edition – with Chad Bowers and Mike Boody. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit williamchadbowers.substack.com

Thoughts on Amusing, Amazing, Annoying, things in regards to our self service world. LoveSack couch construction project, Health Insurance, Eggs shopping, Milk Shopping, Home Depot Self Serve disaster, walking at the park. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit williamchadbowers.substack.com

Sometimes you just need to listen to a guy say things that are somewhat funny. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit williamchadbowers.substack.com

Here we find TITFOS, Chad Bowers, pondering the year 1968. The fool wasn’t even alive and yet is pontificating with the certainty of a broken clock. He was born just slightly later and absorbed much via orgone accumulation.Lava-Lamps This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit williamchadbowers.substack.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit williamchadbowers.substack.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit williamchadbowers.substack.com

UFO’s, a haunted house, and strange aliens probe a mans leg, turning it into a pipe. After it was all over, many children were dead, having gone to the home during this episode in order to trick or treat some candy. Instead of candy they received salvation from all human suffering for the rest of their lives. Minutes rather than decades. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit williamchadbowers.substack.com

Chad Bowers speaks about Copies This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit williamchadbowers.substack.com

Kindergarten through first job This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit williamchadbowers.substack.com

What’s bugging me is that monochrome monitor swarming with locusts. These plagues and exodus. Just crawling all across that screen with letters and munching in pixels like Egypt’s crops. Flour. It parables with no yeast whatsoever. It was made as mean old loaf for the multitudes, but solo, like dusty in my mouth. Where’s the rising?Rubber bands have lost all of their Samson-like strength. They’ve just gone limp. Goliath’s faith did. There’s no snap to bind my scrolls of woe together. These crockpots are just sitting around idle. It’s just like talents buried. Matthew warning me and haunting me. Stew the gifts. Don’t hide them under a bushel. Anunnaki fumes. Babble smoke rises. Stink.Pride seeping in. Confusing my tongue. Across this earthly domain. Words sleeping between meanings. It’s like Eden’s serpent. Truth slithering off. Leaving my mind. A gallon of half-eaten thoughts. J.J. Walker in the garden. Snatched my Proverbs quip. Dino-mite was my wisdom nugget. Now it’s his. I’m just a fool on the hill.Toaster oven’s acting like a golden calf these days. All willful and hot and demanding worship with every slice. Devil’s yelling at me through the toaster oven. Satan’s voice roaring from the coals. My bread’s still burnt.Time is all tangled in revelation scrolls.Gravity and hours bend away, groan. End days messing with my sundial’s count. Jonah’s whale keeps spitting up my mail. Letters all drenched in fishy brine. Straight from Nineveh’s depths. Can’t read a soggy word of it. Gas stations, toilet, paper wax squares mock my cleansing. Metal holder gleams at me like Judas Silver but the brittle little sheets.Betray my hope for purity as I sit on the bowl. My brain might as well be vegetables. Nebuchadnezzar’s fields. My thoughts sprout like Daniel’s wild herbs. Am I a man or a cabbage grazing in Babylon’s dirt? My blood made me drunk like Noah’s wine. Veins fermenting with Genesis juice. Stumbling through my days. Vineyard full.We’re just sardines in a tin. Kidding cousins like Lot’s clan. Packed tight in Sodom’s can. Our closeness is breathing just too cozy. We’re all turning to salt. Roller skating in hell to a heat beach torment. Gliding on fiery rinks with the rich man’s flames. Dancing to Lazarus’ beat. My soul scorched.Sperm are just sea monkeys in Eve’s belly. Swimming free. Genesis seed turned into brine shrimp in her womb. Now I’m wondering what I’ll be. Elevator ride to heaven while purgatory’s just a coat room? Ascending to glory like Elijah’s chariot? Hell no, I’m stuck in Limbo’s closet checking coats for lost souls.Strange Indian man at my window made me powder the damn house. His gaze was like Balom’s angel. I threw baby powder everywhere. Now my home’s a dusty Moab. Damn ghost escaped out of my car’s AC. Leaving it a tomb. Spirits fled like Samuel’s shade. Hot air blows from Sal’s folly. There’s no cool for this weary soul.My air conditioner don’t work at all. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit williamchadbowers.substack.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit williamchadbowers.substack.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit williamchadbowers.substack.com

The early history of video games began with quirky mechanical-electronic hybrids like 1950’s "Bertie the Brain," a tic-tac-toe "circus machine," and evolved through 1947’s CRT Amusement Device, a radar-inspired missile simulator patented by Thomas Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann. In 1958, William Higinbotham’s Tennis for Two, built on an oscilloscope at Brookhaven National Lab, introduced real-time interactive play for public amusement. Ralph Baer’s 1967 Brown Box, a TV-connected console, became the 1972 Magnavox Odyssey, the first home gaming system, using analog jumpers for games like table tennis. The shift to digital came with the 1976 Fairchild Channel F’s EPROM-based cartridges, though their UV-erasable PROM chips sparked messy patent disputes and production challenges, paving the way for the programmable consoles that revolutionized gaming. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit williamchadbowers.substack.com

Chad discusses Guilty pleasures such as the New Vaudeville Band, Paul Mauriat, Muzak, Seeburg, Pop-tarts, Mcdonalds, Charley Bowers, Andy Warhol, Man with a motion picture camera, Cops videos, Space Ghost, KRESGE, KMART, tube testors, Magic Journeys, Buster Keaton. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit williamchadbowers.substack.com

The Incredible True Facts of Space talks about Lego's X factor, and miniature golf game of Pac Van, where ghosts are chasing a yellow van, pop tarts flavors, thrust of gameplay after destroying most of the asteroids in asteroids, how about a dipstick to measure happiness, blossom hosting Jeopardy, Lego set building a little bit at a time on a card table downstairs, the old mechanical chimes in the hallway stopped working, not happy with sound of new doorbell, slot car fever is an expensive madness, we will not be fooled again, by the Frakis Frakis of no's and no-ways. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit williamchadbowers.substack.com

A nostalgic Chad Bowers, weaves tales of misguided inventions, ill-fated fast food ventures, and personal misadventures. From Thomas Midgley's toxic legacy with leaded gasoline and Freon to the quirky failures of purple ketchup and Howard Johnson’s restaurant empire, the show explores infamous bad ideas that shaped the 20th century. Interspersed with colorful anecdotes—like kissing a hot skillet or snorting salt from McDonald’s fries—the host reflects on local Mobile, Alabama institutions like Checkers and Colonel Dixie, while touching on broader themes of societal missteps, from Woodrow Wilson’s war decisions to the occult’s quirky influence. With humor and introspection, the show blends history, culture, and personal confessionals, musing on human folly, reality, and the fluid nature of time. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit williamchadbowers.substack.com

Chad dives into the colorful world of classic comic strips, blending humor, history, and personal reflection. The show explores beloved strips like Beetle Bailey, Hagar the Horrible, Garfield, Pluggers, and Mother Goose and Grimm, offering vivid descriptions of their characters, settings, and gags. From the atemporal antics at Camp Swampy to Hagar’s bumbling Viking raids, the host unpacks the charm and cultural significance of these strips, drawing on personal memories and relatable insights. The show highlights how these comics create immersive worlds with simple art and timeless humor.It is a love letter to the comic strip medium, examining the quirks of characters like Beetle Bailey’s lazy private or Garfield’s grumpy feline antics, while weaving in historical tidbits, like Mort Walker’s inspiration from his time at a real army base. Chad, (The Incredible True Facts of Space) reflects on the emotional resonance of comics, from silly putty transfers to pinning strips on bulletin boards, connecting them to universal experiences of childhood and family life. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit williamchadbowers.substack.com