I'm Bijan Stephen, podcaster and journalist, and on my weekly show Eclipsed I find the stories you never knew you never knew — AMA!

which story has been your favorite to work on?

i love all of my children equally.

that said: i had a blast working on the lake peigneur eps! the story was fascinating, for one thing, and for another i was geeking out over working with lenval brown (who is a sweetie, confirmed)

Are you doing any video game history? If so, what games?

excellent question. the answer is yes! we've got something in the pipeline about the sumerian game, so get excited

Cool, how do you make a podcast about video games? How do cover a very visual subject?

very carefully

Are there any new stories that have come up recently that were overshadowed that you plan or want to cover on your show?

great question! we're definitely open to doing recent stories (and if you have something in mind shoot us an email!!!). but for now we don't have anything more recent than, say, 2001

I really like Eclipsed! What inspired the show/how did it come about?

hey that's great to hear! thanks for listening.

the idea for the show was something that campside had been kicking around for a while, but it really solidified after i came on as host. and we took it in a different direction! so i can say that the show is a reflection of the team's tastes. also we just love these kinds of stories!

If you could choose anybody working today to play T.K. in a TV adaptation of Fun City, who would you choose?

(My friends and I frame-story our occasional Shadowrun game as a low-budget, constantly-on-the-edge-of-cancellation cult classic, and we “cast” the PCs and NPCs accordingly.)

ok so this may be obvious but

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mahershala ali

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my man has ALL of the range. float and fun city both

Omg we went to the same high school! Did being in East Texas have any lasting impact on your outlook/worldview?

lolol wait WHO IS THIS (email me or whatever im around???)

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the answer is yes absolutely. the longer answer is email me and we can talk it out

why do you think media publications always gravitate towards the newest shiny toy (blogs, social media, video, now, podcast) instead of sticking to a medium and making the most of it ? do you think that a podcast episode is the best way to tell a compelling story really ?

the simple answer is the obvious one: money!

that is to say: i think publications gravitate to the new because it's another chance to reach and develop new audiences. creating media is expensive!

as for your second question: i think every story has its own shape. some stories fit best in a magazine; others fit way better as a podcast episode. so the answer is yes, but it's not one size fits all

Do you plan to write about what is going on in retail pharmacies right now? Seems like a good match based on your previous writing. Ellen Gabler wrote a peice for the New York Times last year that got a lot of attention, but there have been a lot of new developments since then.

i hadn't considered it because honestly it wasn't something on my radar, but maybe? probably not though because this podcast work is all consuming. i don't want to rule anything out!

What would you most like to tell us that no one ever asks about?

the fact that 9/11 was a huge day for new music (everyone from bob dylan to nickelback put out an album), and that the people who had #1 records on those days had the best and worst day of their lives

As a fellow Persian from Afghanistan, I have to ask: are you Persian?

i am not! my caribbean parents just liked the name

Do you have an interesting event in your personal life that was eclipsed? Much love for Fun/Float City btw!

that is a fascinating question! and i think the answer is yes and no? because yes obviously things have been wild in the world, but also no because my job for a long time has been to cover those wild things

¯_(෴)_/¯

What's your favorite way to eat a potato? French fry form? Or whole baked potatoes? Mashed perhaps? Back to the fries, there's so many variants of those alone out there - there's Steak Fries, Waffle Fries, Curly Fries...you must have a favorite.

fantastic question. i think the fry form is my favorite (portability). i'm a big fan of waffle fries and curly fries. i think more study is needed though. a good baked potato can break your heart

Thanks! I don't want tater tots, the little rounds, or hashbrowns to feel left out either though. Waffle and curly are both great fries

you really can't go wrong with a potato imo

The stories so far have really been all over the place, in terms of chronology. How did you choose which parts of history to focus on and which to leave alone?

for the episodes we've been working on in this season, we sorta just went with stories that we found interesting — hence why we've jumped around a lot. turns out there's a lot of history in history!

What advice do you have for early career journalists trying to break into national magazines and titles?

hm! this one is tough. i'd say pick one place you really want to work with, get very familiar with their stuff, and start pitching.

BUT, in the meantime, publish work elsewhere that you think is good. it's useful to have really good stuff you can show to other people! it's also useful to build relationships with editors, no matter where they are, because you never know where people are going to end up. i think your goal should always just be to write a good story — better for it to be out than just sitting in a doc somewhere. because you never know when an editor for a national pub is gonna email you out of the blue about that great piece you just did!

I appreciate the response! Looking forward to checking out the podcast.

you got it! good luck out there

wow you’ve done so many cool things! How do you manage to create these different life paths? (Do you worry about paying rent in these fields that aren’t known for being generous with pay?) asking from a place of admiration! I wish my life were this cool.

hello! the short answer is that i just kept working -- i said yes to just about everything. (i do not necessarily recommend doing that.) but i was lucky! the jobs i did actually paid me enough to live on. which is not always the case in journalism / writing / creative fields.

i also just do a lot of stuff simultaneously -- like my criticism at the nation and my columns at the believer are jobs i do in addition to the job that pay my rent. like i said, i've been lucky!

Off the top of your head, is there anything that you think might be getting overlooked recently? I guess it might be tough to say while it's happening.

ok that's a great question! basically i think yes, but i think the stuff that are overlooked are things like streaming -- stuff that's esoteric but super popular among a certain set

Where can one listen to your podcast? Also, didn't you stream on Twitch too?

you can listen to eclipsed literally anywhere you get your podcasts

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also yes. i stream on twitch. in fact im streaming right now

Game of pretend.

Let's say you come across some information that shakes your moral foundation (doesn't matter what it is, use your imagination). Do you publish the information or ignore it and hope it never comes to light?

lol ok so i think it matters what it is! if you have information that hurts other people that they don't have, i think you're morally obligated to publish it!

How do you market your podcast ? It doesn't fall under a particular sub genre . And more so it finds very niche stories . What is your marketing strategy ? And do you have assistants to work with you ?

this is kind of a hard question to answer! we do marketing, but it's mostly cross promotion on other podcasts. and yes, i work with a lot of other really great people! it's a team effort to make this show, and i think that shows

As a teacher at Terminally Online University, what's in your Memes 101 curriculum? Bonus points for Meme 400 curriculum too.

the only meme i know about these days is this one.

I haven’t listened to your podcasts but I plan to check them out. Are there any other podcasts you can recommend? What podcasts have you been subscribed to for the longest?

i can recommend a ton actually! i love fun city (the other podcast i do lol), rude tales of magic, the content mines, icymi, the insert credit show, how to do it, etc etc etc

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the one i've been subbed to for the longest, though, is fun city (because again, that's another podcast i do)

hoob2 reunion tour when???

hoob2 reunion tour when we get paid reunion tour

what's your thoughts on moonshine as a party beverage?

hey Bij!
fuckin' rockstar, you are.
miss your face.

<waves>

moonshine is for partying exclusively and explicitly

Where's your first name from? I have a friend of mine with the same name, he's from Tajikistan among other countries

it's persian!

Do you pronounce that as "BITCH-ANNE" ?

no