155 | Justin Willman (Magic for Humans: Season 3)

My Summer Lair Chapter #155: Are You A Human Who Is Ready For Magic?

There’s this hope that comes with watching streaming service tv shows. You kinda hope a show comes back for another season yet at the same time if it doesn’t you’re good: you enjoyed everything they gave you. Well hope no more: Magic for Humans returns for a third season. Cue the fireworks.

Season 1’s six episodes were released on Netflix on August 17, 2018. Season 2 magically appeared on December 4, 2019, and on May 15, 2020, we get 7 episodes for Season 3. Oh Yes!

If you haven’t already, go check them all out. Magic for Humans is hosted by comedian and magician Justin Willman who often performs his magic tricks for people on the street similar to early David Blaine magic specials. I really dig this show (especially as a fan of magic!!) and Justin insists there’s no camera or editing tricks. Hmmm. See for yourself!

Though for this My Summer Lair conversation you’ll probably want to also check out The Last Dance: the Chicago Bulls—Michael Jordan documentary. Highly recommended: even if Last Dance didn’t pertain to this conversation watch it anyways.

As you’ll hear in my Justin interview I’m curious what happens when somebody dedicates himself to his craft in this case magic. We saw that with Jordan and his fully devoted connection to basketball and being the best. He was incredibly successful: as a leader, as a basketball player, as a teammate and yet you can’t help but speculate what that dedication cost him.

This all sounds heavy but trust me this conversation is playful and fun and inspiring. Just like Magic for Humans, we get into wonder and joy.

Magic for Humans: Season 3 is on Netflix:

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Justin Willman @ WT F

Host Sammy Younan

Recorded: Monday May 11, 2020 at 3pm EST

141 | Laura Mennell (Project Blue Book)

My Summer Lair Chapter #141: What Is Project Blue Book?

Close Encounters of the X-Files kind! Project Blue Book is a TV show inspired by real-life ufologist Dr. J. Allen Hynek who famously created the six-tiered Close Encounter scale while working for the U.S. Air Force. (Later, Spielberg would name his movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind which apparently is the kind where aliens come to earth to play Casio keyboards.)

This is real-life X-Files and how much you want to believe is up to you. This show easily fills the X-Files hole in my heart: government conspiracies; government cover-ups; a skeptical scientific approach to determine UFO encounters and what is oh let’s just a…weather balloon. (It so helps the show is set in the 1950s an era where men often wore hats so that instantly gives it a noir feel.) Bonus? It’s shot in Vancouver oh X-Files why did you ever leave my life? The first two episodes dive into The Roswell Incident. Yup.

The third episode is Area 51. Oh snap!

This is why this show is one of my Must See TV Picks for 2020!

As for actress Laura Mennell, she’s so charming and if you don’t recognize her name you’ll recognize her face. In Zack Snyder’s Watchmen, she played Janey Slater Doctor Manhattan’s first girlfriend, in The Man In The High Castle Thelma Harris and now for Project Blue Book, she is Mimi Hynek. She has a subtle presence on screen and it can be easy to overlook her and her contributions. Yet in this interview, I call her a ninja-linchpin because of that subtly and because so much happens around her. You’d think is a show about UFO exploration Mimi Hynek would be a boring 1950s housewife yet so much action hinges around her.

Don’t believe me? See for yourself: Tuesdays, 10pm on History Channel. Or listen for yourself when I call her a ninja-linchpin to hear how she responds.


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Project Blue Book @ WT F

Host & Photography by Sammy Younan

Recorded: Tuesday January 21, 2020 at 3pm (EST) at Corus

Picard’s First Tea

Ok. Are we gonna discuss last night’s Picard debut??! Barely 3 minutes into the first episode Jean-Luc Picard says in that forceful Patrick Stewart way:

“Let’s behave like civilized men.”

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132 | Darby Wheeler (Hip-Hop Evolution: Season 3)

My Summer Lair Chapter #132: So What Happened When You Hung Out With…A Bad Boy?

There’s a scene in the first episode of Season 3 of Hip-Hop Evolution on Netflix where Tupac is leaving a courtroom and all these white journalists are around him and they’re asking for comments and Tupac yells out “Thug Life! Thug Life!” and one of the white journalists responds: “I don’t know what that means.” Heh.

Now granted part of that is this is beginning of Thug Life; it hasn’t taken on that iconic connotation yet however a lot of the mainstream media was incredibly negative when it came to hip-hop they either didn’t get it or we’re racist or a combination. So thankfully we have Hip-Hop Evolution to correct some of that bogus narrative.

3 Seasons are currently on Netflix; with the forth and final season to debut January 2020.

It’s crazy to see that evolution: season 1 is DJ Kool Herc and sweet block parties; it sounds chill and fun and by the time we get to Season 3 Tupac is getting shot and robbed while NWA is coming Straight Outta Compton. Surreal. In between is Public Enemy, Dre, Tribe Called Quest and so much more.

And while those hip hop stories so expertly captured by the show’s director and creator Darby Wheeler (and host Shad K) it’s the stories off camera that are hilarious and just as surreal and even…incredible. Wait until you hear the Isiah Thomas story; just wow!

Darby Wheeler @ WT F

Host Sammy Younan

Recorded: Friday November 1, 2019 at 6:00pm EST at WeWork

130 | Nicholas Parisi (Rod Serling: His Life, Work & Imagination)

My Summer Lair Chapter #130: How Much Do We Know About The Fifth Dimension’s Narrator?

Rodman Edward Serling was born on December 25, 1924 and passed away on June 28, 1975. And in between those two dates is a wealth of work. For example: Rod Serling wrote 92 of The Twilight Zone scripts (70 originals and 22 adaptations).

I’m delighted to welcome to My Summer Lair writer Nicholas Parisi whose dense and delicious non-fiction book is Rod Serling: His Life, Work, and Imagination a massive undertaking that documents Serling’s impressive body of work.

In this interview Nicholas and I explore a fascinating aspect of Rod Serling’s work…and ultimately his legacy. People?our society?had to be taught to have a suspension of disbelief.

Like the idea of somebody time travelling was a surreal concept. Viewers in the 50s into the 60s couldn’t fully grasp the notion what viewers in say the 80s or 90s fully understood. Currently…for us: an individual who time travels is at the start of an adventure not the entire adventure. Back to the Future is a trilogy not a 30 minute Twilight Zone episode, right?

I mean check out these significant nerd/sci-fi Big Bangs…
Action Comics #1 on April 18, 1938
Twilight Zone October 2, 1959 – June 19, 1964
The Fantastic Four #1 (November, 1961)…the begging of Stan Lee’s Marvel run
The Outer Limits September 16, 1963 – January 16, 1965
Doctor Who November 23, 1963 (day after JFK’s assassination) – December 6, 1989
Batman 66 January 12, 1966 – March 14, 1968
Star Trek September 8, 1966 – June 3, 1969

That’s the (pop culture) foundation of our disbelief and our attraction to wonder and mischief. We are indebted to Rod and his work; his astonishing writing.

I’m deeply grateful Nicholas hung out with me so we can talk about Rod Serling. Anything and everything to keep his legacy alive: we don’t get quality like this often. Treasure it like a trip to the Fifth Dimension.


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Nicholas Parisi @ WT F

Host Sammy Younan

Recorded: Wednesday August 28, 2019 at 6:30pm (EST)

#CouchWorthy: Brené Brown: The Call to Courage

You know the thing is I’ve slowly and intuitively figured out a lot of what Brené Brown is saying just from my interactions with people especially in business. She just has the research to back it up and prove it.

That’s the beauty of listening to your gut…you know something to be true; you just can’t explain it.

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112 | May El Calamawy (Ramy)

My Summer Lair Chapter #112: Who Is Ramy?

Hulu’s latest tv show is Ramy which is like a Middle-Eastern Atlanta…the Donald Glover show? Similar non narrative style but set in New Jersey with lots of middle eastern people. (That tone is becoming a trend: AtlantaBarry on HBO and even Orville which offers lots more narrative but balances legit violence with absurd comedy.)

I reached out to Hulu and Ramy Youssef was busy (he’s shooting a comedy special for HBO should be out soon!) so the nice Hulu people suggested I speak to the actress who plays his sister on the show: May El Calamawy.

So she and I talked on the phone. About a lot of things.

AND…this is so interesting. Ramy is about a Muslim family…so we discussed the double standards in the Egyptian culture towards women: if culturally you don’t know what I am talking about check out the tv show for basically a Wikipedia snyposis. Yet.

YET it occurred to me and I pointed this out to her our women are strong…they are oaks. Consistently stubborn, bullheaded, independent and I mean all those as compliments.

Somehow and bizarrely that double standard produces a tough hard woman. I never connected that before. I realize how on the surface that sounds like a careless observation but May is far better at expressing this sentiment as well what working on this show has done for her as a Middle Eastern woman/actress.

Bonus? Ramy’s friend on the show is Dave Merheje who has been a My Summer Lair guest and one of it’s executive producers is Jerrod Carmichael whose stand up special 8 is sublime. One of the best stand up specials from easily the last 10-15 years. Up there with 3 Mics.

Ramy premieres on Hulu on April 19:

Ramy @ WT F

Host Sammy Younan

Recorded: Thursday April 11, 2019 at 6pm at WeWork

#SetTheVCR for Sunday, March 31 to Saturday, April 6, 2019

Behold all the seasons and shows I’ve missed for various nonsensical reasons giving me another opportunity via another season. It remains to be “seen” if I’ll watch. That’s the nice thing about tv…you often get a second chance even if you don’t deserve it.

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#SetTheVCR for Sunday, March 24 to Saturday, March 30

This is one of those weeks where “we’re in the golden era of television” is a hard sell. Still undaunted I’ve found some television worthy of your VCR.

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105 | Katie Douglas (Level 16)

My Summer Lair Chapter #105: What Is Level 16?

Level 16 is a dystopian thriller film written and directed by Danishka Esterhazy. And unfortunately for my guest Katie Douglas she’s made it all the way to Level 16.

The Level 16 breakdown:
“The walled-in world of 16-year-old Vivien is and always has been the Vestalis boarding school, supposedly a refuge from an outside world rendered toxic. It’s a neglected, antiseptic institution where girls without families are monitored, their day scheduled practically to the minute, and “education” consists of a constantly repeated list of “feminine virtues” – obedience, cleanliness, patience and humility – preached by a matriarch and propagandized in moral-hygiene films.

And, as per her age, Vivien has reached “Level 16” in her education and is ostensibly ready to be adopted by an outside family. But her friend Sophia thinks something else is going on at Vestalis, something frightening.”

This pertinent movie is timely and timeless because the issues it addresses like being a “good girl” are evolving. Ideas don’t remain static. As you’ll hear with my interview with Katie Douglas who plays Vivien.

Level 16 won 4 Bloodies at the recent Blood in the Snow Film Festival including Best Actress (Katie Douglas) and Best Director. Yeah!

Level 16 is playing at a cinema near you and as Katie and I can confirm: it is worth pants.

The trailer:


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Katie Douglas @ WT F

Photography by Sammy Younan

Recorded: Thursday February 21, 2019 at 6:30pm at WeWork

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