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SOLD OUT BLOG


Learn more about Ian and Michael, get a behind the scenes look into the pod, and get a jump on each week’s movies

Roller-Death Shark Loves You.

06/21/2025

‍We promised and we delivered. You wanted to know what movies we would be covering in our first trilogy of episodes and we will conceal them no longer.

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‍1. Rollerball, the 1975 dystopian cult classic. Directed by Norma Jewison and starring James Caan. There are skates, spiked gloves, and flaming motorcycles. That should be fun, right?

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‍2. Love and Death, the pre-Annie Hall send-up of Russian dramas that Tolstoy never saw coming. And yea yea, you don't need to tell us, it's Woody Allen.

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‍3. And the headliner, the shark face that launched a thousand blockbusters, the movie that made us all drag our fingernails down chalkboards at least once, Steven Spielberg's JAWS.

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‍We had a ton of fun traveling to 1975 to watch and read about these three films. And we have a slew of weird facts and insights to share with all of you on 6/23 when the first three SOLD OUT episodes drop. 

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‍So check out the movies and subscribe to the pod. Then share it with a friend, a dentist, a wingman, a cloaked stranger, and a local drunk fisherman. See you at the movies.

Welcome to SOLD OUT

Jun 9, 2025

‍I’m Ian and I grew up on movies. When I was 8 my family moved to a rural area in Northwestern Washington. Like it-was-a-20minute-walk-to-the-bus-stop-which-was-a-45-minute-ride-to-school rural. We were surrounded by mountains on three sides and could not get regular old bunny-ear TV. But the house we moved into had a satellite dish in the backyard. And I'm not talking DirectTV. I'm talking a SETI, cover of Contact, satellite dish. My dad hooked it up to a receiver, pointed it at the classic movie channel, and didn't change it for the next 3 years. So, while the other kids were pretending to be Ninja Turtles at recess, I was wearing fake eyebrows, tapping a bubblegum cigar, and making wisecracks Groucho-Marx style. I was SUPER popular.

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‍I met Michael in 2019. He had been a film critic for a long time and had some amazing stories about his time in the industry. He met some really cool people (I'll spare you the name dropping) and I was fascinated by his experience. So we started a little movie club and began meeting up once a week to talk movies. 

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‍A few months ago we decided we wanted to expand our little movie club, but we had to figure out a way to make it fun, interesting and unique. I've always been fascinated by the weird little movies (Greedy with Michael J. Fox and The Shadow with Alec Baldwin) that were overshadowed by the giant blockbusters of our era. I realized that some of my favorite movies growing up were these off-kilter movies that never quite hit. 

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‍So our movie club evolved. Michael and I began going to specific moments in time and watching the movies that withered in the shadows of the monster hits like Home Alone, Star Wars, and Jaws. And we are excited to share it with all of you.

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We Just Can't Wait

Jun 9, 2025

‍Our trio of episodes for the summer of '75 and Jaws drop in two weeks and we cannot wait for you to hear it.

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‍Before I started Up Left Media and began rehearsing for SOLD OUT I always thought that making a podcast was both pretty easy and that it was strangely out of reach. I’d think to myself, "I'll get to it someday, I just need to say stuff into a microphone." Now that we are dropping our first episodes I can definitively say that I was super wrong. About everything.

‍I was not going to get to it "someday" because someday is not a day. And I had do way more than say stuff into a microphone.

‍Making something that is good, that I am are proud of, and that I would actually want to listen to has taken a lot of WORK. While I could plug a USB mic into my MacBook and record the first episode of "My Thoughts From My Bedroom Closet," would it have been something that I was excited to share? And would I have been able to stick to it, evolve it, and keep it fresh and interesting?

‍We have been through some high highs and some low lows to bring SOLD OUT to all of you. From technical issues, to format issues, to a lack of motivation after my 5th, 6th, and 7th hours in Logic Pro. It has been an absolute journey. And we will still be evolving and improving our content even after we launch.

‍But I couldn't have done it without Michael, without Rosie Paige, and without my family. I believe that we are developing a support structure at Up Left that is able to help anyone to build their brands through the production and distribution of excellent digital media.

‍We just cannot wait for you all to see and hear Up Left's first of many projects, SOLD OUT. See you all on June 23rd!

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