Curated by Chance

Episode 80: Dr. Dermis: A Brief History of Nudity in Film This week’s prompts: Nude, Mirror, 2193 Neal flies solo this week — juggling book deadlines, radio producing, directing gigs, and on-camera classes — and takes the prompts “nude” and “mirror” as an invitation to dive headfirst into one of cinema’s most controversial, complicated, and endlessly fascinating subjects: nudity on screen. From the silent era’s flesh-colored body stockings and allegorical “Truth” figures to the Hays Code crackdown that scrubbed Hollywood nearly clean for three decades, Neal traces how filmmakers have used (and misused) the naked body for art, shock, comedy, horror, politics, and pure box office bait. Jane Mansfield makes mainstream movie history. Blow-Up and Midnight Cowboy help dismantle the Production Code. The ’70s explode with art-house extremity and exploitation excess — from Last Tango in Paris to Carrie. The ’80s normalize teen sex comedies and birth the erotic thriller, giving us Phoebe Cates in slow motion, Richard Gere in full frontal, and the rise of the femme fatale as both fantasy and threat. And then the ’90s detonate the culture wars. Sharon Stone’s leg-cross in Basic Instinct becomes the most paused moment in VHS history. Showgirls tests the limits of NC-17. The Crying Game uses nudity as narrative revelation. Schindler’s List reminds audiences that nudity can devastate rather than titillate. Through it all, Neal examines the power dynamics behind the camera — from Maria Schneider’s traumatic experience on Last Tango in Paris to Sharon Stone’s later revelations about consent and deception. This isn’t just a history of skin on screen. It’s a history of censorship, power, vulnerability, gender politics, commerce, shame, and spectacle — and how cinema keeps holding up a mirror to all of it. Next week's prompts: Twitch, Blue, 15 Join us on Patreon to help support our efforts: www.patreon.com/curatedbychance Check Out Lauren’s Substack: https://ltlikesthis.substack.com/ Follow the show and its creators on Instagram: The Show – @curatedbychance Lauren – @paisleylo Neal – @nealefischer E-mail us: [email protected] Hear Neal each week on Triviality Podcast – Subscribe now! Listen to Lauren on Miss Information Podcast – Subscribe now! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 79: Reclining Nudes and One Rude Dude This week’s prompts: Nude, Mirror, 2193 Surprise! It's a solo episode, this time with LT! Neal is working on his book and way over his head, so we're changing things up a bit. He'll be back next week. Today, LT takes on the prompts of nude and mirror, and brings us along through a minor history of nudity... in what else? Art! LT talks about stereotypes in art, Manet, how nudes and class evolved over time, and maybe a hot take on Paul Gaugin? Listen in for a great opening story that LT says might be the best compliment she's had in ages! Thank you to all of our Patrons for supporting the show. We couldn't do it without you! Join our patrons by going to: www.patreon.com/curatedbychance Next week: a solo show from Neal about nudity in... what else? Film! Check out Lauren's Substack: https://ltlikesthis.substack.com/ Follow the show and its creators on Instagram: The Show – @curatedbychanceLauren – @paisleyloNeal – @nealefischer E-mail us: [email protected] Hear Neal each week on Triviality Podcast – Subscribe now!Listen to Lauren on Miss Information Podcast – Subscribe now! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 78: Whose Cah We Gonna Take? This week’s prompts: Holy, New England, 530 Neal and Lauren welcome listeners to the deep winter doldrums with an episode that starts cozy and conversational… and then quietly spirals into bank robbers, nun masks, American realism, and one of the most haunting paintings of the 20th century. It’s a classic Curated by Chance hang: warm, thoughtful, and gloriously meandering. Neal takes Holy and New England straight into The Town (2010), Ben Affleck’s Boston-set crime thriller that doubles as a love letter to place, loyalty, and impossible escape. He breaks down how Affleck reshaped a bloated studio script into a lean, character-driven heist film; why Charlestown functions as both setting and prison; and how real Boston crime lore — from codes of silence to armored car robberies — found its way into the movie. Along the way, Neal highlights Jeremy Renner’s Oscar-nominated performance, the infamous nun masks, the jaw-dropping Fenway Park climax, and why The Town belongs in the modern heist-movie canon alongside Heat. After the break, Lauren also follows New England, but through art history, with a rich and moving portrait of Andrew Wyeth, one of America’s most iconic — and most misunderstood — painters. She traces Wyeth’s upbringing under illustrator father N.C. Wyeth, his frail childhood and intense artistic training, and the profound impact of loss, isolation, and landscape on his work. Lauren digs deep into Christina’s World: its real-life subject, its emotional ambiguity, and why viewers can read hope, despair, or quiet endurance into the same image. She also explores Wyeth’s mastery of watercolor and egg tempera, the tension between “illustration” and “fine art,” and the controversial, secretive Helga paintings — a body of work that shocked the art world and complicated Wyeth’s legacy. PLUS:Nun masks, Fenway Park, and Boston as a cinematic characterJeremy Renner’s breakout performance and Affleck’s growth as a directorChristina’s World and why it refuses a single interpretationNew England landscapes as emotional terrainAndrew Wyeth, watercolor wizardry, and the thin line between intimacy and obsession Next week’s prompts: Nude, Mirror, 2193 Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/CuratedByChance Check out Lauren's Substack: https://ltlikesthis.substack.com/ Follow the show and its creators on Instagram: The Show – @curatedbychanceLauren – @paisleyloNeal – @nealefischer E-mail us: [email protected] Hear Neal each week on Triviality Podcast – Subscribe now!Listen to Lauren on Miss Information Podcast – Subscribe now! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 77: Betty Spaghetti This week’s prompts: Peach, Necktie, 309 It’s a solo mission this week as Neal takes the wheel for a heartfelt, history-rich deep dive into one of the most beloved sports movies ever made — a film that still makes audiences laugh, cheer, and maybe tear up just a little. Neal takes Peach straight to A League of Their Own (1992), Penny Marshall’s classic underdog comedy about the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League during World War II. He walks through the film’s origins, from its real-life inspiration to its journey to the big screen, and explains why it remains one of the most enduring sports movies of all time. From John Lovitz’s fast-talking scout and the formation of the Rockford Peaches to the unforgettable chemistry of Geena Davis, Tom Hanks, Madonna, and Rosie O’Donnell, Neal breaks down what makes the movie such a perfect balance of comedy, heart, and history. Along the way, he digs into Penny Marshall’s legendary direction style, the intense baseball boot camp that put the cast through their paces, and the behind-the-scenes stories that gave us iconic moments like “There’s no crying in baseball!” Neal also explores the real women behind the story — the trailblazing athletes who kept professional baseball alive on the home front and whose legacy finally received long-overdue recognition at the Baseball Hall of Fame. It’s a love letter to teamwork, sisterhood, representation, and the kind of feel-good storytelling that never goes out of style. PLUS:⚾ The real All-American Girls Professional Baseball League👒 Rockford Peaches, Racine Belles, and the best team names in sports history🎬 Penny Marshall’s boot camp, bruises, and baseball realism💄 Charm school, skirted uniforms, and playing hard in a “ladylike” world🏆 Why A League of Their Own belongs in the sports-movie hall of fame Next week’s prompts: Holy, New England, 530 Join us on Patreon: CLICK HERE Check Out Lauren’s Substack https://ltlikesthis.substack.com/ Join The Curated By Chance Music League (RD 5!) https://app.musicleague.com/l/3d2c21ad32fd4e58add97006df33d0c9/ Follow the show and its creators on Instagram: The Show – @curatedbychanceLauren – @paisleyloNeal – @nealefischer E-mail us: [email protected] Hear Neal each week on Triviality Podcast – Subscribe now! Listen to Lauren on Miss Information Podcast – Subscribe now! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 76: A Pod Full of Tangents This week’s prompts: Peach, Necktie, 309 Neal and Lauren lean fully into chaos this week with an episode that earns its title the old-fashioned way: by going absolutely everywhere. What starts as a quick check-in spirals into a joyful, free-range conversation about internet conspiracies, parasocial fandom, doomscrolling, poetry whispered in the middle of the night, Roman fruit paintings, French Impressionists, and the eternal question of whether Doctor Who has queer time-travel fan fiction (spoiler: obviously). Lauren takes Peach and turns it into an art-history fever dream, beginning with drunken T.S. Eliot recitations (“Do I dare to eat a peach?”) and winding through ancient Roman still lifes, fuzzy fruit symbolism, and the unexpectedly rich visual history of peaches in painting. From there, she launches into a deep, deliciously nerdy deep dive on Pierre-Auguste Renoir — the Impressionist painter of glowing skin, soft pastels, and famously gravity-defying nudes. She traces his journey from porcelain factory apprentice to founding Impressionist, his crisis of confidence after seeing Raphael and Titian in Italy, his pivot toward classical modeling, and the voluptuous excess of works like The Large Bathers. Along the way: invisible corsets, painterly filters, imposter syndrome, arthritis rumors, nepo-baby descendants, and one of the best art quotes ever: “The pain passes, but the beauty remains.” By the end, the episode has become exactly what it promised: a pod full of tangents, powered by curiosity, affection, and the belief that sometimes the long way around is the most fun. PLUS:🍑 Ancient Roman peaches and pre-cultivation fruit history📜 Drunk T.S. Eliot poetry as a lifestyle choice🎨 Renoir’s glow, his gravity-defying nudes, and Impressionist rebellion🩰 Invisible corsets, painterly filters, and the fantasy of beauty🧠 Imposter syndrome, artistic reinvention, and why Raphael ruins everything📱 Doomscrolling, fandom conspiracies, and the last good corners of the internet Next week’s prompts: Peach, Necktie, 309 Join us on Patreon! www.Patreon.com/curatedbychance Check out Lauren's Substack: https://ltlikesthis.substack.com/ Join our Music League (Volume Five launches This Friday!)https://app.musicleague.com/l/3d2c21ad32fd4e58add97006df33d0c9/ Follow the creators on Instagram 🎧 The Show – @curatedbychance🎨 Lauren – @paisleylo🎬 Neal – @nealefischer 📧 E-mail us: [email protected] 🎙️ Hear Neal each week on Triviality Podcast – Subscribe now!🎧 Listen to Lauren on Miss Information Podcast – Subscribe now! 🌐 And for more Neal in your life:www.linktr.ee/nealefischer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices