Over the years, we’ve spent many a night (frequently tumbling well into the wee hours of the morning) engaged in comprehensive conversations about the nature of aesthetics and what defines “Art” with a capital A. Indeed, at times it felt like we were seated at the foot of Socrates in the ancient agora in Athens, debating the finer points of beauty and exaltation derived from a perfectly crafted line of poetry or the breathtaking curve of marble in the hands of an inspired sculptor.
And it’s fair to say that from these decades of lengthy discussions, the seeds of our Aesthetic Arrest podcast were planted. Our deep love of culture and all of the creative arts has instinctively led us in boundless pursuit of the question: What gives us “aesthetic arrest” and why?
We thought of tackling this broad topic over a singular podcast but quickly realized it was simply too voluminous for one sitting. So we decided to embark on a new series of deep dives into the five primary cultural topics from our weekly podcast (Reading, Listening, Looking, Viewing and Tasting), investigating our relationship to each subject as it manifests across various genres and media.
Which brings us to the announcement of our latest project . . . Aesthetic Arrest: Conversations on Culture, our new podcast series for paid subscribers! Our first episode tackles the category of Viewing, in this case through the medium of Film.
Click below to listen to Episode 1: A Conversation on Film, where we discuss topics ranging from our personal experiences of movies during childhood and adolescence, to our later discovery of arthouse films and world cinema, some of our favorite directors and actors, as well as the impact of queer cinema and on-screen representation. We also each pick 12 of our favorite films of all time! Enjoy!
