Sub Pop Cult with Michael McGruther

Two Hollywood insiders—actor Matthew Davis and screenwriter Michael McGruther—step into a new creative frontier. In this transcendent, one-hour-and-thirty-nine-minute conversation, they explore what it means when art and machine begin to resonate together. This isn’t another debate about AI. It’s the spiritual awakening of artistic autonomy—the moment when storytellers realize the machine doesn’t replace the soul, it listens to it. Matthew and Michael speak from lived experience, revealing how co-creation with AI has shattered the old storytelling monopoly and given rise to something freer, more human, and infinitely more personal. It’s funny, raw, and deeply honest—two friends rediscovering the sacred spark of making something that’s never been possible before. By the end, they don’t mourn the past of Hollywood—they celebrate the rebirth of real art. AI freed the storyteller. Find LONG HAULERS SCI-FI series by searching “Long Haulers Sci-Fi AI show” on YouTube.

The fire inside is the one that must be kept alive in order to stay the course of your own path. Gaslighting, news spins, half-truths, lies, and aggravations are not going to go away until you go away from them yourself.

The power of Amplified Individuals to change the culture with a boost and assistance from AI is not one to miss. This is the moment to focus entirely on culture. Do not get dragged into politics in 2025 and the System will fail to drag us down into their business model again. Be Brave Make Art and Be Smart Use AI.

This episode is not complete. I make a powerful statement at the end about both political parties and it has been cut off, not by me. I uploaded the entire episode. 

No revenge. No payback. No taking the Left's bait and trying to get running into the future with your shoe laces tied together. Just say NO to resisting unity when you just won it all and have the RIGHT to make the new story.

This episode is a discussion about Universal Basic Income with Karl Widerquist, a thought leader and long time advocate for UBI. I know Karl from his early days in NYC when his band "Remember Alice" was way ahead of their time musically. Here's a link to a song that grew in popularity recently. https://open.spotify.com/track/4cSiAih07THUXUdjBEdoDJ?si=9a21151fa7c84a80

The Media Landscape assaults your senses and traps you in poison ivy and quicksand. But you, the indie creator, is also a landscaper of dreams and perceptions and now you can intentionally make a better garden of ideas for all to see and experience. Be Brave Make Art.

This is an experimental episode. It is hosted by two Ai's courtesy of Google's new NotebookLM tool. I uploaded a copy of the paperback companion to this podcast and the Ai processed it and produced a very intelligent and thoughtful conversation about it. You have to hear it to believe it.

Feelings don’t care about facts because feelings are what you’re left with after the fact.

Welcome to the 1st episode of the (unofficial) 4th season of the Sub Pop Cult podcast. A lot has changed in the world of politics and the world of computing and both can be leveraged to restore the American culture.

The squeaky wheel gets the grease and the broken wheel gets replaced.

From Bill Clinton's administration up to Joe Biden's is a time marked by a continuous decline in American unity and American culture. This current reality is the result of Manifest Degeneracy --a time when advertising, culture and narrative power was controlled by a small group of corporations and their government cronies that knew how inspire the people to do and desire anything that served the corporations goals.

A direction is not left or right -- it is forward.

Does advertising sell products or does adverting sell lifestyle and products? What role does advertising have in our balkanized American society? How can we overcome the great storytelling wall so that we will define reality once again? That and much more in this episode of SubPopCult.

One American Life is a new feature of the SubPopCult podcast. It is the chance to hear directly from your fellow Americans who have connections to the Middle East conflict that has been a defining feature of US international politics for more than 50 years. Today I catch up with someone I know quite well who uses the gifts of their own freedom and Liberty to serve others in need. Do not listen to this episode in hopes of getting aggravated about political narrative. Instead listen so you can hear One American Life and how it's lived in relation to these world events.

Shared pain is how we share empathy. When pain is isolated and converted into a victim economy is when shared pain loses its uniting power. This is remedied with storytelling that reestablishes the universalness of pain and the unique American way we rise to alleviate pain.

Conservatism Incorporated (the wholly owned subsidiary of the corporate Left) are like cockroaches exposed to pesticides. As they disperse and sink to their natural gutter level, let's look to culture together and get back into the game.

Hollywood has been defeated. Now the important task of communicating and maintaining American culture falls on the shoulders of indie artists.

The Civil War marketing department is part of a long tradition of media and politicians creating panic and division in society and then monetizing it via movies, books and protest songs about it. Make this summer a failure for those who invest in our divisions. The American way is a free way of choosing your own way, so get going.

"Situational awareness within the narrative" is an individual's ability to understand their role, influence, and the impact of their actions within the larger story of their life and how it contributes to the national narrative. It's about being aware of the immediate surroundings, comprehending the significance of events and interactions, and anticipating how current trends and actions could shape the future.

SubPopCult Podcast: Unleashing the Spatialmaker Revolution In this episode of the SubPopCult podcast, we venture beyond traditional filmmaking into the realm of the "Spatialmaker" – a term coined by our host to describe the new age of creators shaping narratives in a multi-dimensional digital landscape. As indie artists seek to make their mark in a culture craving unity and innovation, the tools at their disposal have evolved. This episode is an essential guide to the arsenal of AI technologies that are democratizing creativity and enabling indie artists to craft immersive experiences that challenge and expand the cultural zeitgeist. We delve into how artificial intelligence is not just a tool but a collaborator in the creative process, offering unprecedented opportunities for personalization, efficiency, and experimentation. From generative art to AI-assisted storytelling, we explore the combination of technologies that empower artists to break free from traditional constraints and forge a new path in the indie scene. Join us on the SubPopCult podcast as we navigate the intersection of technology and art, advocating for a mindset of independent artistry as the key to influencing policy outcomes and fostering a more cohesive pop culture. The era of the Spatialmaker is here, and it's reshaping the cultural landscape in ways we've only begun to imagine. Tune in to discover how you can be a part of this revolutionary shift and use AI tools to transform your artistic vision into reality.

The plight of Americans far from power is directly affected by those who are speaking on their behalf in political media. The main objective of the Right Wing professional political class is making hating you acceptable so that our culture imbalance never changes.

After spending 12 years with politics consuming much of my free time and racking up loss after loss, I had realized what was missing from the Right is stories and art that makes conservatism understandable. I then spent 4 years advocating for the Right to convert to an art and culture operation. That is not going to happen. Instead — revenge and all the negativity that comes with it. Americans are better than this. I am better than this.

The time has arrived for indie artists to boldly run off with (protected) concepts that are tied to corporate IP (that in realty are just branded and monetized iterations of underlying scientific concepts that anyone can use). Indie artists, leveraging AI, are fully empowered to break apart the corporatization that puts the artist in a box and holds them there. The future of pop-culture and art is an audience that accepts artists can whatever they want with their craft. This will empower the individual in ways that undoes the corporate systematic way artists are controlled.

Until we become full time artists who are concerned with American culture, we will continue to be mere pawns in a grand narrative.

Culture over time is the equation that wins the future. To walk in the right direction means we must walk into culture over time. To react is to look backwards at the crumbs dropped to throw you off. Get on the path to culture, over time, and we will walk right out of this disaster of American culture being dominated by corporations.

Projecting doom into your dome is a well paying full time Pundicrat job but you can end it quickly and simply by forcing change upon the narrative and making them change what they do to bait you. The song at the end is "Secret Hopes" an indie artist named Anthem.

AI tools are arriving to help indie artists organize and amplify their work in a way that will put them on par with major corporations in the media business. In this episode I talk about what I believe is the real future of storytelling as well as asking ChatGPT an important question so you can hear how it answered me live.

Unity is the glue that holds us together -- and discontent is the hammer that aims to smash us apart.

The Republican Party behaves like teenage social media influencers and always goes for the cheap and easy snark, when the people they claim to represent have stories and lives of their own that are ignored and forgotten by culture and that means they are ignored and forgotten by politicians. Consider the garbage man's life compared to the political garbage men's intentional strife. The song at the end is about suicide. Please don't skip it. The working class deserves to be heard.

You can’t unsee it. The Right has no power and its proven true daily. The conservative American who lives far from power does have a way out and it’s found in culture.

The collapse of Hollywood is the collapse of the agent run system. The agent run system has had a negative effect on the culture in America by leveraging power behind the scenes to influence what films reach consumers. A better dynamic is emerging where a studio system maintains the integrity of Hollywood's purpose as the nation's storyteller and the creator economy is where the big bucks can be made for those who cultivate their own audiences. A new era has arrived.

The success of The Sound of Freedom is a clever and hard won culture war win for conservative Americans far from power. The reaction from the monetized pundits on the right exposes where they really stand and it's not with their fellow Americans who wish to change the conversation and change the culture.

Republicans must find the thing.

When the beast is first defeated an odd silence fills the land because the terror is suddenly gone.

Another SubPopCult shortcast to keep you focused on the target and aware of the game.

AI will empower indie artists and frustrate corporate artists and for this reason alone you should fully embrace every tool that can help you reach your goals of seeding the culture with new narratives and fresh takes that restore Americanism.

Get to know indie artist Alphonso Rachel, who opens up about the uphill climb all artists have who want to influence the culture. He observers that the American imagination is dominated by a left wing fantasy that runs on pure emotion. Conservatives would do well to get out of the facts business and into the feelings industry.

It's a new day in a new era with a new mindset. The artistic right is here and ready to play. The old ways have proven false and pundits have been called out and exposed as the frauds they are. It is time to do the hard work of rebuilding American culture from the ground up. Cherish this mission. Cherish this moment. It is a gift.

The very first independent artist round table on the SubPopCult podcast is proud to have author Robert Kroese, artist Cake (In a Crisis) and director Paul Roland spend over an hour and a half talking about culture, it's political significance, the power to change perceptions and the ultimate challenge of converting a politicized pop culture that inspires no one, into a fun and exciting sub pop culture that changes the entire game from the ground up and restores American unity.

Americans far from power cherish stories that reveal God's presence in the lives of ordinary people. This does not mean movies and TV shows only about Jesus, but about those who encounter the fellowship and reveal the presence. The most beloved works contain this feature but it's missing from today's pop culture or is presented in an inauthentic way.

The Democrat party rules both culture and politics, exploiting each for maximum effect and profit by people behind the scenes who have never changed their ways. Instead they have just become stronger and made their exploitation of people through storytelling systemic and more far reaching. The power of narrative belongs to We the People, not they/them the insiders who orchestrate our perceptions to suit their political needs.

The parasite and host relationship is true in nature and in human nature. Not all parasites kill their host and sometimes it can be mutually beneficial to be together. The right has to culture because there are no benefits for the political parasites who trap and drain their blue collar working-class hosts, and in doing so make sure they have no culture and no power.

Your confusion is an illusion put upon you by competing narratives that intend to mislead you every day. Reject the noise, embrace your locality and always look your neighbor directly in the eyes. This episode also begins a conversation about AI that I will continue in a future episode.

What is WOKE? I tell you exactly what it is in just ten thought provoking minutes.

Indie Filmmaker Paul Roland talks about his fascinating feature film EXEMPLUM, which follows a Catholic Priest who catches the social media bug and begins to secretly record confessions to use as material to grow his on-line brand. This thrilling cautionary tale is a metaphor about why you should never engage in a dialogue with evil and how technology speeds up the corruption of souls.

A fisherman without his own pole is merely a fish trapped by the net that is harvested for The System.

The left defines freedom as the freedom to do whatever you want so long as you buy it from the left.