Budapest Unscripted: An Audio Documentary

E11: Obama's Almonds (Day 353)

Day 353. Making a smoothie at 9:47 AM on the morning after Trump's reelection. A digression about Barack Obama's precise almond discipline leads somewhere unexpected — into what it means to stay sane when the news machine runs on your anxiety. Strange times in Budapest, November 8, 2024. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit budapestunscripted.substack.com [https://budapestunscripted.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

E10 From Kyiv: The Proximity Effect

Chip spends three weeks in Kyiv during the war and discovers that fear has a proximity effect — the closer you get, the less terrifying it becomes. Air raid alerts, Telegram threat assessment, a 5am walk to an empty shelter. And a man foraging on a prosthetic leg who refused to let the Russians take the forest from him. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit budapestunscripted.substack.com [https://budapestunscripted.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

E09: Perils of The Magyar Megfázás

A Saturday night at Nemdebar — one drink in the cold, a bar the size of a caravan, and a table of holiday-primed strangers generous with their company and their pathogens. Ten days of Magyar head cold followed: sleeping until 3 PM, a writing schedule in ruins, and one man's lungs working overtime. He's back. Mostly. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit budapestunscripted.substack.com [https://budapestunscripted.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

E08 - I'm Dancing (Day 13)

Week two. Cold, sunny, and a flat move coming on Sunday. A Friday night at the climbing gym ends in humiliation courtesy of a ten-year-old. A Saturday of decision paralysis. And a recurring question: how do you make every weekday feel like a Saturday when you've chosen to work for yourself? This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit budapestunscripted.substack.com [https://budapestunscripted.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

E07 - Snow (Day 9)

Day nine. Snow collecting on fake pansies. A week of documentary films at a Budapest festival — culminating in 20 Days in Mariupol and the 13-year portrait Apollonia, Apollonia — cracks something open about storytelling, craft, and what it means to tell stories from the heart. Also: big heavy snowflakes, and what they meant when you were a kid. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit budapestunscripted.substack.com [https://budapestunscripted.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]