Lanterns is a miniseries celebrating 10 years of Karyn Kusama's THE INVITATION (2015) with some of the brightest lights in contemporary film criticism and podcasting. Through a hybrid of personal essay and long form interview, host/creator Jim Penola weaves a narrative conversation around the persistent merits and prescient lessons of Kusama's cult masterpiece.

Episode #06, the finale, welcomes none other than Blake Howard—who Michael Mann once called "insane" (for good reason). Blake is the host and creator of One Heat Minute which famously examined Mann's HEAT one minute at a time in exhaustive detail. Blake has since produced countless other film podcasts, including Miami Nice and All The President's Minutes, that have emerged under the broader One Heat Minute Productions banner. He is the patron saint of granular film analysis and, without him, there would be no An Invitation to THE INVITATION, et al.

Our talk slaloms through a variety of topics—Blake's surreal experience meeting Michael Mann, the fallacy of the "easy way," the reciprocal dialogue that occurred between our two podcasts—with one unifying notion:

the end.

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Lanterns is written, produced, edited, mixed, and hosted by Jim Penola.

Original music by John Penola.

🍷 🏮 🍷

Support the show

•••Shout-out to some of my lovely & amazing patrons: Rupa dasGupta, John Penola, Jane Penola, and Joseph Penola. ⚫ Get early access, extended episodes, and the Patreon-exclusive companion podcast "Ellipsis" only at Patreon.com/jimpenola ⚫ Follow us on Twitter: @AnInvitation and Instagram: @Invitation2Invitation ⚫ Email us: Invitation2Invitation@gmail.com•••

Lanterns is a miniseries celebrating 10 years of Karyn Kusama's THE INVITATION (2015) with some of the brightest lights in contemporary film criticism and podcasting. Through a hybrid of personal essay and long form interview, host/creator Jim Penola weaves a narrative conversation around the persistent merits and prescient lessons of Kusama's cult masterpiece.

Episode #05 welcomes the illustrious, the insightful—the hilarious!—Jon Gabrus. Gabrus is a comedian, an actor, and an extremely prolific creator known for his podcasts High & Mighty and Action Boyz. His comedy/travel show with Adam Pally, 101 Places To Party Before You Die is currently streaming on HBO Max. Gabrus is also a frequent guest on many other legendary shows including Comedy Bang Bang (see: his recurring character Gino Lombardo) and Blank Check with Griffin & David.

We get into a lot here: our experience with cults (me: Landmark, him: CrossFit + UCB), the "lantern" that is live comedy, and why he would make a great Pruitt.

🍷 🏮 🍷

Lanterns is written, produced, edited, mixed, and hosted by Jim Penola.

Original music by John Penola.

🍷 🏮 🍷

Support the show

•••Shout-out to some of my lovely & amazing patrons: Rupa dasGupta, John Penola, Jane Penola, and Joseph Penola. ⚫ Get early access, extended episodes, and the Patreon-exclusive companion podcast "Ellipsis" only at Patreon.com/jimpenola ⚫ Follow us on Twitter: @AnInvitation and Instagram: @Invitation2Invitation ⚫ Email us: Invitation2Invitation@gmail.com•••

Lanterns is a miniseries celebrating 10 years of Karyn Kusama's THE INVITATION (2015) with some of the brightest lights in contemporary film criticism and podcasting. Through a hybrid of personal essay and long form interview, host/creator Jim Penola weaves a narrative conversation around the persistent merits and prescient lessons of Kusama's cult masterpiece.

Episode #04 features dear friend and returning favorite, Philip Gawthorne—co-host/creator of Die Hard on a Blank—the podcast that examines the influence of DIE HARD (1988) on action cinema one action film at a time, in chronological order. Phil is also a playwright and screenwriter with credits at Netflix, Universal, Warner Bros, and many more.

As an LA resident and expat, Phil is uniquely qualified to penetrate THE INVITATION’s regional specificity, not to mention its themes of feeling "lonely in a crowded room."

We also discuss how the LA public transportation system (or lack thereof) reflects the disconnection that drives the film, not to mention the ways Kusama’s film could credibly be read as “Die Hard in the Hollywood Hills."

🍷 🏮 🍷

Lanterns is written, produced, edited, mixed, and hosted by Jim Penola.

Original music by John Penola.

🍷 🏮 🍷

Support the show

•••Shout-out to some of my lovely & amazing patrons: Rupa dasGupta, John Penola, Jane Penola, and Joseph Penola. ⚫ Get early access, extended episodes, and the Patreon-exclusive companion podcast "Ellipsis" only at Patreon.com/jimpenola ⚫ Follow us on Twitter: @AnInvitation and Instagram: @Invitation2Invitation ⚫ Email us: Invitation2Invitation@gmail.com•••