Episodes

  • Bonus-wag: David Grann

    Bonus-wag: David Grann
    Jun 14 2024
    📓✍🏽🛢️ In this captivating Bonus-Wag, hosts Paul and Stephen sit down with investigative historian David Grann for a cerebral exploration. Grann’s journey began as a journalist with an insatiable passion for storytelling. How did he transition from reporting facts to weaving gripping narratives? Then, imagine a man unfairly sent to death row, despite evidence screaming his innocence. How could prosecutors ignore the truth? Paul, Stephen, and Grann dissect this real-world mystery, questioning justice and human fallibility. Paul asks about Grann’s process and the fragment of a photograph which led him to embark on a five-year odyssey to write Killers of the Flower Moon. Discover how Grann selects stories worth dedicating years of his life to—unearthing truth, layer by layer. Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer, and the self-proclaimed Emperor of Neptune. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art. He also is the acting Minister of Triton for the Chinwag. David Grann is a journalist and author renowned for his investigative work and captivating storytelling. He has written for The New Yorker as well as several acclaimed books, including The Lost City of Z, and Killers of the Flower Moon, which was adapted into a Martin Scorsese’s Oscar nominated film. The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder, will also be adapted into a film. 📓✍🏽🛢️ ========= Make sure to follow us @chinwagpod 👉🏼 IG: https://www.instagram.com/chinwagpod/ Tik: https://www.tiktok.com/@chinwagpod Website: http://chinwagpod.fm YT Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@chinwagpod Send your stories, Qs, or thoughts to 📧 questions [at] chinwagpod [dot] fm ========= Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    24 mins
  • Chin-wrecked!

    Chin-wrecked!
    Jun 12 2024
    🌊🏴‍☠️⚓ Paul and Stephen embark on a deep-sea exploration of maritime history with David Grann, author of Killers of the Flower Moon, The Lost City of Z, and most recently, The Wager. The trio unravel tales of mutinies, scurvy, and the enigmatic allure of failure. Did you know most seamen couldn’t swim? How were sailors selected or found aboard these vessels? David shares how kidnappings were common too—people snatched and pressed into service aboard these floating wooden death traps. Join Paul, Stephen, and David as they navigate the treacherous waters of history, literature, and human nature. It’s a Chinwag like no other—come aboard! Chin-word of the week: DICKENSIAN Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer, and the self-proclaimed Emperor of Neptune. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art. He also is the acting Minister of Triton for the Chinwag. David Grann is a journalist and author renowned for his investigative work and captivating storytelling. He has written for The New Yorker as well as several acclaimed books, including The Lost City of Z, and Killers of the Flower Moon, which was adapted into a Martin Scorsese’s Oscar nominated film. The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder, will also be adapted into a film. 🌊🏴‍☠️⚓ ========= Make sure to follow us @chinwagpod 👉🏼 IG: https://www.instagram.com/chinwagpod/ Tik: https://www.tiktok.com/@chinwagpod Website: http://chinwagpod.fm YT Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@chinwagpod Send your stories, Qs, or thoughts to 📧 questions [at] chinwagpod [dot] fm ========= Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 3 mins
  • Bonus-wag: Shaking Hands with the Dead

    Bonus-wag: Shaking Hands with the Dead
    Jun 7 2024
    ☠️🤝☠️ Join Paul and Stephen for a special bonus episode as they sit down with investigative journalist Leslie Kean. The topic? Spirit hands—ethereal entities that connect the living and the dead. Leslie describes witnessing famed British spirit medium Stewart Alexander conjuring spirit hands seemingly from nothing – conjuring a black amorphous goo into undead hands. But…these experiences are not just anecdotal. As Leslie explains, the proof lies in the pudding, which, in this case, are hot wax molds that reside in the Institut Métapsychique International in Paris. Did somebody say European vacation? As the conversation unfolds, Paul, Stephen, and Leslie discuss the resurgence of psychedelic culture and…sensory deprivation tanks. Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer, and the self-proclaimed Emperor of Neptune. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art. He also is the acting Minister of Triton for the Chinwag. Leslie Kean is an investigative journalist who co-authored a series of groundbreaking stories on UFOs for The New York Times from 2017 to 2022. She is the author of two books: UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go on the Record and Surviving Death: A Journalist Investigates Evidence For An Afterlife which was turned into a Netflix docuseries. ☠️🤝☠️ ========= Make sure to follow us @chinwagpod 👉🏼 IG: https://www.instagram.com/chinwagpod/ Tik: https://www.tiktok.com/@chinwagpod Website: http://chinwagpod.fm YT Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@chinwagpod Send your stories, Qs, or thoughts to 📧 questions [at] chinwagpod [dot] fm ========= Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    20 mins
  • Séances, Skeptics, and ... Spirit Trumpets!

    Séances, Skeptics, and ... Spirit Trumpets!
    Jun 5 2024
    🎺🎺🎺 Open your mind as Paul Giamatti and Stephen Asma talk about accessing the spirit world with investigative journalist Leslie Kean — the very journalist who broke the groundbreaking 2017 UFO story to The New York Times and introduced the world to the Pentagon’s UFO videos. The trio delve into the esoteric world of ectoplasm and explore its weightlessness, spider-webby texture, and the peculiar sound it emits through spirit trumpets. But the questions don’t stop there. Can spirits possess a man’s vocal cords and speak through him? Leslie shares her firsthand account of witnessing such phenomena, including the levitation of a man and objects in a room. Join Paul, Stephen, and Leslie on this metaphysical journey where reality crosses into the ethereal! Chin-word of the week: AMORPHOUS Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art. Leslie Kean is an investigative journalist who co-authored a series of groundbreaking stories on UFOs for The New York Times from 2017 to 2022. She is the author of two books: UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go on the Record and Surviving Death: A Journalist Investigates Evidence For An Afterlife which was turned into a Netflix docuseries. 🎺🎺🎺 ========= Make sure to follow us @chinwagpod 👉🏼 IG: https://www.instagram.com/chinwagpod/ Tik: https://www.tiktok.com/@chinwagpod Website: http://chinwagpod.fm YT Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@chinwagpod Send your stories, Qs, or thoughts to 📧 questions [at] chinwagpod [dot] fm ========= Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 5 mins
  • Bonus-wag: Chuck Bryant Has Seen A Ghost

    Bonus-wag: Chuck Bryant Has Seen A Ghost
    May 31 2024
    🪐🕰️💫 Paul, Stephen and Chuck Bryant on being a strict materialist, natural evolution, Olaf Stapledon, and more Stuff You Should Know. Plus, Chuck shares a creepy ghost story that challenges his skeptical nature to this day. Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer, and the self-proclaimed Emperor of Neptune. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art. He also is the acting Minister of Triton for the Chinwag. Chuck Bryant is the co-host of the award-winning podcast Stuff You Should Know. 🪐🕰️💫 ========= Make sure to follow us @chinwagpod 👉🏼 IG: https://www.instagram.com/chinwagpod/ Tik: https://www.tiktok.com/@chinwagpod Website: http://chinwagpod.fm YT Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@chinwagpod Send your stories, Qs, or thoughts to 📧 questions [at] chinwagpod [dot] fm ========= Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    24 mins
  • Stuff You Should Chinwag About with the Silurian Hypothesis

    Stuff You Should Chinwag About with the Silurian Hypothesis
    May 29 2024
    ☢️☢️☢️ Paul and Stephen are joined by Stuff You Should Know’s Chuck Bryant for a deep wag on lizard people, the importance and impermanence of what we leave behind, the rarity of finding dinosaur bones, nuclear semiotics, and of course, the Silurian Hypothesis. How do we know advanced civilizations didn’t exist before us and what does that mean for life on other planets? How can we be sure that proof of past civilizations hasn’t decayed without a trace? And why does it even matter if intelligent life was here billions of years ago? What counts as a sign of intelligence and can you build technology without thumbs? Paul and Stephen are all too happy to not be considered experts, or even factually accurate, but if there’s one podcast future generations discover, THIS is the Wag that could help define our civilization’s legacy. Or not. Get on board Wagoneers! Chin-word of the week: THE ANTIKYTHERA MECHANISM Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer, and the self-proclaimed Emperor of Neptune. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art. He also is the acting Minister of Triton for the Chinwag. Chuck Bryant is the co-host of the award-winning podcast Stuff You Should Know. ☢️☢️☢️ ========= Make sure to follow us @chinwagpod 👉🏼 IG: https://www.instagram.com/chinwagpod/ Tik: https://www.tiktok.com/@chinwagpod Website: http://chinwagpod.fm YT Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@chinwagpod Send your stories, Qs, or thoughts to 📧 questions [at] chinwagpod [dot] fm ========= Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 11 mins
  • Mailwag: War of the Worlds & Penis Clairvoyance

    Mailwag: War of the Worlds & Penis Clairvoyance
    May 24 2024
    📻✋🏼♆ It’s back to the WagBag we go! This week, Chinwag listener Scott S. writes in with an account of his grandfather’s panic during Orson Welles’s famed 1938 The War of the Worlds broadcast. Paul recalls his own grandfather’s memory of that fateful broadcast, as well as that of the Hindenburg! Then, Barbara C. writes us with a fascinating tutorial of different types of intuitives. There are so many ways folks deign to read the future, including tarot cards, palms, crystal balls, and yes, penis shapes. And can you guess the most asked question by women to psychics? It might not be what you think! Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer, and the self-proclaimed Emperor of Neptune. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art. He also is the acting Minister of Triton for the Chinwag. 📻✋🏼♆ ========= Make sure to follow us @chinwagpod 👉🏼 IG: https://www.instagram.com/chinwagpod/ Tik: https://www.tiktok.com/@chinwagpod Website: http://chinwagpod.fm YT Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@chinwagpod Send your stories, Qs, or thoughts to 📧 questions [at] chinwagpod [dot] fm ========= Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    26 mins
  • Breaking Down Buddhism

    Breaking Down Buddhism
    May 22 2024
    📿📿📿 Paul and Stephen are honored to welcome the esteemed Dr. Khy Sovanratana, dear friend of Dr. Stephen Asma, and former monk in the Theravada tradition in Cambodia. After 34 years as a monk, Dr. Sovanratana removed his robe and left the monastery to become the Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Cambodian government. Many think they know Buddhism, but Paul and Stephen go straight to the source for enlightenment. This in-depth Wag explores Buddhism’s Four Noble Truths, the five different buddhas, the definition of karma, the causes of suffering, Buddhist beliefs in death, reincarnation, souls, spirits, ghosts, the difference between the Buddha and Bodhisattva, and so much more. What motivates a young man of 17 years old to become a novice Buddhist monk anyway, and what’s a day in the life like? What were the political forces that tried to destroy Buddhism, and how is Dr. Sovanratana using Buddhist teachings in Cambodian diplomacy? If you want to really know the teachings of Buddhism from a master, this Chinwag brings the “bhodi”! Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer, and the self-proclaimed Emperor of Neptune. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art. He also is the acting Minister of Triton for the Chinwag. Until recently, Dr. Khy Sovanratana was one of Cambodia’s most senior monks in the Theravada tradition. Currently, Dr. Sovanratana is the Secretary of State of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Cambodia in the new cabinet of Prime Minister Hun Manet. 📿📿📿 ========= Make sure to follow us @chinwagpod 👉🏼 IG: https://www.instagram.com/chinwagpod/ Tik: https://www.tiktok.com/@chinwagpod Website: http://chinwagpod.fm YT Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@chinwagpod Send your stories, Qs, or thoughts to 📧 questions [at] chinwagpod [dot] fm ========= Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 16 mins