5 Star Tossers

Feb 02 2025 53 ep. 96 mins

5 Star Tossers Podcast artwork

Playful academic podcast that looks at movies and other cultural objects through the lens of 5 groovy themes: Pervs 'R Us, Beast & Sovereign, Il vaut mieux Lyotard que jamais, Marx Grudge, and What Would Jesus Do?

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Revenge of the Nerds: Elon Musk, Silicon Valley, Crypto Fascists and Other Sad Shit

Feb 02 2025 86 mins

Welcome to a sad episode about the sad state of our world. If you thought the nerds taking over for the jocks was a sign of liberation, think again. The spiteful nature of the nerds knows no limits and certainly knows even less about care. Referring at times to the now canceled 1984 movie Revenge of the Nerds, we read this fantasy into the new conservative self-made man, the one wh

Late Stage NBA...

Jan 25 2025 102 mins

Hello, audient,We are discussing the NBA's crisis of viewership these days, how to analyze it, where to approach it from, who to blame...Jake takes the side of the NBA "worker"; a late-stage capitalism employee that has already fully adjusted to the true mentality of the sport - personal profit. He also raises the issue of homoeroticism, which becomes particularly resonant with the

24: Jack Bauer's Beastly Christian Sovereignty in the State of Emergency

Jan 11 2025 77 mins

Sagi and Jake take on the toxic political masculinity of Jack Bauer on their own. They speak about how the State of Emergency places Jack in a position outside the law, both beast (criminal) and sovereign. In this state Jack finds a Christian faith that ensures that every extra-legal decision he makes will save the lives of pure innocent and good Americans, specifically his erotic

Middle Age, and Middle Ages: The Tossers' 50th Episode, and Trump's Re-election

Dec 01 2024 94 mins

Dear, stubborn, listener, Are you still there? For our weirdly unlikely 50th Episode -- mine and Jake's Gold Anniversary or something(?) -- we went populist. Donald Trump's re-election is now fact, but the meaning of that fact remains to be articulated, engaged-with. We seem to be in agreement that more than Trump's winning the elections, the Democratic party lost it. Jake calls it

Cultural Appropriation: The Terror and Promise of ALWAYS having to do it

Nov 16 2024 93 mins

In this episode we discuss the absurdity of the taboo against cultural appropriation. Introducing specific examples like which Halloween costumes to wear, or which recipes you can and cannot cook, the Tossers argue that culture is itself appropriation, and thus the taboo attempts to inhibit something that can never be inhibited. To emphasize this universal necessity of cultural app

The Substance: The Capital and Narcissistic Horror of The Young Beautiful Woman (Or: Where is my Mother?)

Oct 20 2024 107 mins

We all loved a movie, oh, actually Jack hated it. This is a perfect episode, you should listen to it. Aside from withering take downs of the myriad misreadings of Coralie Fargeat's new movie The Substance, we introduce you to the narcissistic split of the melancholic subject. Beginning with Freud and moving to Melanie Klein, we read this movie as a visceral portrayal of the infanti

The Multiverse: Jesus, What a Racket!

Oct 06 2024 83 mins

With a healthy dose of disdain, we enter the multiverse via the Marvel movie Deadpool and Wolverine and the Oscar-winning movie Everything Everywhere all at Once. Sagi talks about the hollow nostalgia of the cameo, and the way that the characters become something of a Heideggerian standing-reserve for more scenes, more plots, and more revenue. Is Sagi finally doing Marx Grudge? And

Israel's Fault: The Problem with (a Messiah-less) Zion

Aug 30 2024 148 mins

Oh boy... This episode is longer than usual, more contentious, as it addresses the current genocidal violence in Gaza in ways that neither 'the left' nor 'the right,' as they are now called (defined?), would stand behind; except perhaps with a dagger?.. We are both against what Israel is doing in Gaza, and think it ought to stop immediately (which would still be much much too late)

Muteness Envy: Did We Even Talk about It?

Aug 05 2024 112 mins

In a political climate of unbearable urgency, the Tossers ask: "What if we just stopped talking?"

Steve Bannon: Militant of the Western Church

Jun 01 2024 98 mins

Hello listener, How's it been? Great, right? Right?.. This episode follows Naomi Klein's recent book Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World, and Errol Morris' 2018 documentary around Steve Bannon, called American Dharma (2018). In both, we get a rare glimpse into the mind of this highly effective manipulator, or enemy, of (social) media; who treats it like a political actor tha