Jimmy Cliff in ‘The Harder They Come’ (1972), directed by Perry Henzell

Gobbledygeek episode 406, “Jimmy Cliff and the Apocalypse,” is available for listening or download right here and on iTunes here.

The world is, yet again, a much different place than when we last recorded an episode of Gobbledygeek. In the month since the police killing of George Floyd, there have been a wave of protests worldwide and renewed conversations about what role police have in society, if any at all. We–Paul and Arlo–are not sure we should be part of this conversation. After postponing recording for many reasons, our initial urge to record some deep, thought-provoking discussion about racial injustice has subsided. We’re two white guys on an extremely niche podcast that is supposedly about pop culture. We are not going to cover any new ground. What we will say, unequivocally, is that Black Lives Matter. Yesterday, today, always. We do discuss the state of the world, George Floyd, Rayshard Brooks, police abolition, ACAB, etc.–hopefully in a respectful way that might interest some of our listeners. Oh, and there’s still a pandemic going on, so we talk about that too.

Fear not: we also talk about pop culture! Paul plays The Last of Us: Part II, Arlo watches great films by Black filmmakers like Charles Burnett and Billy Woodberry, we have a brief discussion on the state of the comics industry mid-COVID, and more. Hopefully there are some laughs.

Next: we’ll be back, theoretically in a week’s time.

THE BREAKDOWN

Total Run Time: 01:40:35

• 00:00:40  –  Intro
• 01:37:36  –  Outro / Next

THE MUSIC

• “Fuck tha Police” by N.W.A., Straight Outta Compton (1988)
• “Pressure Drop” by Toots & The Maytals, Monkey Man (1970)