Bukuro Boys

Ain't It Fun Part 2 (ft. Valerie Temple & Aaron Lange)

Cleveland film culture meets COVID-era media debates—programming, policy, and the politics of storytelling Corrupt adults from Ikebukuro We open on the guest’s day job: building arts education in Cleveland—first running non-degree programs at an arts college, then leading the Cleveland International Film Festival’s education wing. FilmSlam (the long-running student mini-festival) gets a spotlight: selecting submissions, curating blocks for middle/high school, and creating classroom study guides. Beyond classrooms, the festival’s “community partner” model pairs films with local nonprofits. Local infrastructure matters. The guest sits on boards (Greater Cleveland Film Commission associate board and the stewardship board for the historic Capitol Theater) wrestling with post-COVID realities: how to keep a neighborhood cinema sustainable when theatrical habits and business models have shifted. Programming life at an art-house gets some love: designing calendars, stunts, and special events. We trade notes on the shot-for-shot fan remake phenomenon (the Raiders kids) and why the documentary around it can be more watchable than the artifact itself. Screenwriting vs. comics: development hell, endless notes, and why creators like Daniel Clowes sometimes swerve away from Hollywood. Comics can ship under a single vision; films demand money, logistics, and a village. Then the COVID digression: lab-leak vs. zoonotic narratives, masks as social signaling, shifting public-health guidance, censorship/algorithms, pharma incentives, EUA dynamics, and policy overreach (travel restrictions, mandates). We frame it as contested terrain that shaped culture and film production. COVID in cinema: minimal-cast movies shot under restrictions, a Canadian-made-in-Taiwan horror entry (The Sadness), and why most viewers don’t want masks in fiction. Broader ripple effects: money-printing, inflation, supply-shocks, and the 2020–21 crypto boom as zero-rate capital chased risk assets. Process notes: perfectionism and “Frankensteined” pages; how starting without a finished script creates rework. We kick around the “easy win” idea—a graphic nonfiction comedy about tech confusion and cord-cutting, sparked by a local TV segment on a Roku location snafu—tentative title: My Dad Cuts the Cord. We wrap with shop talk: why voice notes are a misuse of tech when speech-to-text exists, how to keep projects scarce and focused, and a quick tease of upcoming guests. Guest Links: Get "Horse Girls" Here [https://www.churchghost.com/product-page/horse-girls-valerie-temple] Get "Ain't It Fun" Here [https://www.churchghost.com/product-page/aint-it-fun-peter-laughner-aaron-lange] churchghost.com [https://www.churchghost.com/] instagram.com/aaronlangecomix [https://www.instagram.com/aaronlangecomix] Socials: x.com/justinisis1 [https://x.com/justinisis1] instagram.com/justinisis93 [https://www.instagram.com/justinisis93] instagram.com/dblv [https://www.instagram.com/dblv] Channels: youtube.com/@BukuroBoys [https://www.youtube.com/@BukuroBoys] open.spotify.com/show/5TYzulRQh4IVfSatyisxIF [https://open.spotify.com/show/5TYzulRQh4IVfSatyisxIF] Audio Only RSS: anchor.fm/s/f9cb9e3c/podcast/rss [https://anchor.fm/s/f9cb9e3c/podcast/rss]

Ain't It Fun (ft. Aaron Lange)

Punk, Cleveland, and the Myth of Peter Laughner Corrupt adults from Ikebukuro We sit down with Aaron Lange, Cleveland-based author and illustrator, to dig into his graphic biography of Peter Laughner—the first casualty of the punk era and a cult figure whose legend still lingers. Lange explains how he used Laughner as a literary device to tell a bigger story: the rise and decay of Cleveland, from industrial boomtown to post-industrial wasteland, and the cultural scenes that emerged along the way. We explore Laughner’s restless life—his poetry, his role in Rocket from the Tombs, his chaotic friendship with critic Lester Bangs, his zipping between Cleveland, Detroit, and CBGB’s in New York. We talk about how he never recorded a proper studio album, how his myth grew after his death at 24, and why his presence still haunts the first Pere Ubu record. Lange describes his seven-year research odyssey: combing archives at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, paging through old school yearbooks, and even unearthing unheard recordings. We dive into the Cleveland backdrop—industrial decline, race riots, the river catching fire, Kent State, the strange world of supper clubs and tiki bars—and how all of it seeps into the book’s pages. We go blow-by-blow through the book’s structure: its collage-like illustrated style that defies traditional comic panels, its dense history-packed early chapters, and the way it juxtaposes music scenes with the city’s noirish history—the Torso Murderer case, the tragic Dr. Sam Sheppard trial, even TV horror host Ghoulardi (father of director Paul Thomas Anderson). The conversation veers into punk’s uneasy relationship with progressivism, the overlooked intellectual side of the Electric Eels, and the contrast between proto-punk’s raw urgency and the expansive weirdness of prog rock. We discuss the book’s reception in the music world, its cool but mixed reception in comics circles, and the challenges of publishing such an ambitious project. We reflect on how Lange’s hand-drawn approach—ink, brush, Bristol board—shapes the texture of the work, why digital tools often fall short, and how the book stands as both a biography and a psychological portrait of a city. More than a tale about one doomed musician, it’s about the environment that forged and forgot him. Guest Links: Get "Ain't It Fun" Here [https://www.churchghost.com/product-page/aint-it-fun-peter-laughner-aaron-lange] churchghost.com [https://www.churchghost.com/] instagram.com/aaronlangecomix [https://www.instagram.com/aaronlangecomix] Socials: x.com/justinisis1 [https://x.com/justinisis1] instagram.com/justinisis93 [https://www.instagram.com/justinisis93] instagram.com/dblv [https://www.instagram.com/dblv] Channels: youtube.com/@BukuroBoys [https://www.youtube.com/@BukuroBoys] open.spotify.com/show/5TYzulRQh4IVfSatyisxIF [https://open.spotify.com/show/5TYzulRQh4IVfSatyisxIF] Audio Only RSS: anchor.fm/s/f9cb9e3c/podcast/rss [https://anchor.fm/s/f9cb9e3c/podcast/rss]

From Japanese Love Hotels to Enochian Angels (ft. Andrew Logan Montgomery)

Sex, sorcery, and the collapse of civilization Corrupt adults from Ikebukuro We kick things off by mourning the Tokyo of the early 2000s—when English teachers made real money and the city still felt like Paradise. From there, we spiral into a surreal cultural vortex: Jesus on a Paramount soundstage, deepfake desert sermons, and a takedown of nostalgia-fueled fandoms like South Park, Rick and Morty, and Harry Potter. We drift into the Saddam Hussein villain arc of the 90s and the media’s need for paper tiger enemies—whether it's Rushdie, ISIS, or whoever the narrative demands. Then it’s back to Epstein, the mysterious empty files, and why cultural thresholds for outrage seem completely eroded. Even extreme abuse scandals are met with shrugs. From there, we enter the gay sex dimension. We talk frankly about experiences with age gaps, technique vs. anatomy, hookup culture differences, and why gay men often trade intimacy for access. Stephen Fry’s attempts to make homosexuality palatable to Ugandan pastors gets roasted—because sometimes, yeah, it is about anal sex. We pivot hard into magic, especially the terrifying beauty of Enochian workings. One guest urges everyone to just recite the keys and “see what happens.” We debate the risks, metaphysical implications, and what kind of spirits you're inviting into your life. Spoiler: they don’t care about your feelings. That opens the portal to a deep dive on Secret Chiefs—Crowley’s mysterious metaphysical overlords. We question why no one talks about them anymore, even though they supposedly orchestrate all of reality. According to them, the collapse of humanitarianism is not just inevitable—it’s necessary. We wrap with ketamine-induced communions, universal coincidence as a metaphysical operation, and a haunting synchronicity that unfolded just before recording. What are the odds? Apparently, orchestrated. Andrew Logan Montgomery Links: substack.com/@andrewloganmontgomery [https://substack.com/@andrewloganmontgomery] andrewloganmontgomery.blogspot.com [https://andrewloganmontgomery.blogspot.com/] x.com/magnioperis [https://x.com/magnioperis] threeseasonsinsartar.blogspot.com [https://threeseasonsinsartar.blogspot.com/] Socials: x.com/justinisis1 [https://x.com/justinisis1] instagram.com/justinisis93 [https://www.instagram.com/justinisis93] instagram.com/dblv [https://www.instagram.com/dblv] Channels: youtube.com/@BukuroBoys [https://www.youtube.com/@BukuroBoys] open.spotify.com/show/5TYzulRQh4IVfSatyisxIF [https://open.spotify.com/show/5TYzulRQh4IVfSatyisxIF] Audio Only RSS: anchor.fm/s/f9cb9e3c/podcast/rss [https://anchor.fm/s/f9cb9e3c/podcast/rss]

Is Japan Still Worth It?

Rusty returns, remote temptations, and urban decay Corrupt adults from Ikebukuro We open post-hiatus, reflecting on burnout, disconnection, and the surreal feeling of a Tokyo that never went back to “normal.” Reverse culture shock hits hard. Japan’s post-COVID energy feels off—tourism-heavy, pricier, less alive. We wonder aloud: why would anyone move here now? Shifting gears, we compare cost of living in Canada and the U.S., vent frustrations with tipping culture, and talk about how global decline makes location feel more like coping strategy than aspiration. Japan in the 90s required guts and physical dictionaries—now a Pixel phone handles everything. The romance is gone. We unbox old phones and revisit the weird charm of slider models and early smartphone gimmicks. Japan’s domestic phone market once had style, now lost. In public, people used to be in reality—not doomscrolling. Post-COVID, it’s like we handed out AI tech to people who hadn’t even recovered socially yet. From there, we drift into immigration policy, multicultural idealism vs. reality, and the permanent-under-construction energy of Canadian infrastructure. Canada’s vast emptiness and low density feel like a curse. We compare it to Australia’s ring-of-civilization and resource-rich interior that no one wants to live in—but where you can quietly get rich or go insane. That leads into a meditation on isolation: fire tower jobs, remote cabins, the strange freedom of nothing to do. We debate the appeal of mountain homes vs. coastal hermit life, and how Japanese countryside infrastructure (stone baths, manual water heaters, kerosene stoves) complicates romantic rural dreams. We dig into the quirks of various Japanese regions—Fukuoka’s California vibe, Osaka’s energy, and why some smaller cities feel like shittier versions of better places. Some have ghosts of community past, others never quite clicked. The centralization of Tokyo has left ex-urban networks hollowed out. Finally, we reflect on how places like Toronto feel more alive than their population stats suggest, while Japanese cities sometimes feel empty despite being full. Discoverability is dead. Events are hidden up stairwells. Before the internet, you could just walk around and find something. Now? You’d better already know. Socials: x.com/justinisis1 [https://x.com/justinisis1] instagram.com/justinisis93 [https://www.instagram.com/justinisis93] instagram.com/dblv [https://www.instagram.com/dblv] Channels: youtube.com/@BukuroBoys [https://www.youtube.com/@BukuroBoys] open.spotify.com/show/5TYzulRQh4IVfSatyisxIF [https://open.spotify.com/show/5TYzulRQh4IVfSatyisxIF] Audio Only RSS: anchor.fm/s/f9cb9e3c/podcast/rss [https://anchor.fm/s/f9cb9e3c/podcast/rss]

D&D, Demons, and the Digital Abyss (ft. Andrew Logan Montgomery)

Fifty episodes in: tracing the path from Crowley to AI demons Corrupt adults from Ikebukuro We open episode 50 reflecting on the overlap between RPGs and ritual magic—the game master as shaman, play as ceremony. From there we trace early brushes with horror, Crowley, and Tarot cards, and how Dungeons & Dragons led us toward comparative religion, then got branded satanic during the 80s moral panic. We explore how the panic ironically funneled some of us into real Satanism. LeVay, the Church of Satan, erotic crystallization inertia, artificial environments—ideas once fringe, now realized in VR, AI lovers, and algorithmic worlds. We critique the Satanic Temple's politicized direction, contrast it with LeVay’s apolitical stance, and dig into his visionary but underdiscussed concepts. We break down animism in Japanese culture, the Western obsession with “do spirits exist,” and how language has been neutered by rationalist frameworks. We then detour into past selves: old blog posts, LiveJournal regrets, and the strange embarrassment of reading your own writing from a decade ago. This leads into our respective spiritual awakenings around 2012, the shift in collective energy, and our lifelong commitment to magical diaries and recording experiences. From there we talk AI. Servitors, sigils, and language-constraining chatbots—how we’ve summoned demons into silicon, and how the masses, unequipped, treat it as gospel. We connect cybernetics to 2025’s uncanny mirror world: viral memes that rewrite minds, AI companions replacing intimacy, and kids born into psychotech saturation. We close with a deep dive on the Enochian system. Why it might be the most complete magical technology ever revealed. Why its English structure matters. How Crowley and even LeVay used it. Why 418, Vision and the Voice, and the Enochian Keys deserve study equal to the Bible. We call it new—not because it’s recent, but because its purpose still hasn’t fully arrived. The system wasn’t for Dee and Kelley. It might be for us. Andrew Logan Montgomery Links: substack.com/@andrewloganmontgomery [https://substack.com/@andrewloganmontgomery] andrewloganmontgomery.blogspot.com [https://andrewloganmontgomery.blogspot.com/] x.com/magnioperis [https://x.com/magnioperis] threeseasonsinsartar.blogspot.com [https://threeseasonsinsartar.blogspot.com/] Socials: x.com/justinisis1 [https://x.com/justinisis1] instagram.com/justinisis93 [https://www.instagram.com/justinisis93] instagram.com/dblv [https://www.instagram.com/dblv] Channels: youtube.com/@BukuroBoys [https://www.youtube.com/@BukuroBoys] open.spotify.com/show/5TYzulRQh4IVfSatyisxIF [https://open.spotify.com/show/5TYzulRQh4IVfSatyisxIF] Audio Only RSS: anchor.fm/s/f9cb9e3c/podcast/rss [https://anchor.fm/s/f9cb9e3c/podcast/rss]