Criterion Now – Episode 162 – Criterion Flash Sale, December 2025 and January 2026 Announcements

Jill Blake (0:00)

You are now listening to the Someone's Favorite Productions Podcast Network.

Aaron West (0:29)

And we're back, Criterion Now. It is a real podcast, actually. Jill, hello.

Jill Blake (0:36)

Hey, Aaron, how are you? I had to dust some cobwebs off the old mic.

Aaron West (0:42)

Cobwebs have been a topic of conversation today. They have been. But we actually weren't sure what episode number, because we had some debacles. We had one episode that was out, it was the day before the Wes Anderson box set was announced, and we had a lot of time, a lot of fun speculating about what that could be, and then we realized that, okay, well, we know what it is and we're just going to look like fools. There's more reasons to. Then I had an episode with Derek, Derek Smith, where we spent a good hour and a half. It's actually still on YouTube, but it also became outdated too quick. I'll just say, listeners, podcasts are hard. I'm writing a book, we don't have an editor, lots and lots of stuff.

I think we have an editor now, more on that soon, probably in another episode. The book is actually not done, but it's pretty close, we'll talk about that too. We have a lot to talk about, a lot of releases, a lot of friends. Maybe a good time to announce one of those friends right now. Hello, Tiffany Vazquez.

Tiffany Vazquez (1:44)

Hi. Welcome. Hello, hello, hello.

Aaron West (1:47)

I think people know you, but do you want to give a little introduction in case people don't? They should.

Tiffany Vazquez (1:53)

Sure, sure. A general film lover used to handle a lot of film-related content at Giphy for 10 years, briefly worked at TCM for a couple of years, filmed at Lincoln Center before that, so lots of just movie-related things.

Aaron West (2:12)

And you are doing, yes, and.

Jill Blake (2:15)

And, yes, and. She's a guide for Cine Journeys. And she is sort of part of CineJourney staff. Well, no, sorta. She is part of CineJourney staff. Kind of sorta, yes, she is, helping out with some things with us. So, wow, that was really complicated.

Aaron West (2:38)

Boy, yeah, we really undersold that.

Jill Blake (2:39)

That was just really wow.

Tiffany Vazquez (2:41)

Anyway, I love it.

Aaron West (2:42)

We are growing, we are growing. And we want Tiff to be a full-time employee, we think with the aforementioned book and some of the fun stuff, a lot of crazy fun stuff that is coming out. But anyway, Tiff, you are in the midst. Actually, we're recording this on Flash Sale Day, which we'll get into, and hopefully it'll be out. Of course, we're dating the episode just by saying that, just by sharing the website on this day.

But you also, the night before you, just had your first Mira Nair call for CineJourneys, which of course will come up with the Criterions. So do you want to talk about what we're doing there?

Tiffany Vazquez (3:17)

Yes, last night was call one of two, going through four movies of Mira Nair's. Last night, we talked about Mississippi Masala, which was just such like a miracle of a movie that exists, and I think is still pretty rare today. And then we talked about Monsoon Wedding, another one that just like was a huge crowd favorite, and I do think was sort of the introduction for a lot of people to Mira Nair's work. And then next week, we'll talk about Vanity Fair and The Namesake.

Aaron West (3:50)

Yeah, I haven't seen Vanity Fair in a while. I don't remember it being that good, but I probably didn't know about, I know the novel, of course, but The Namesake is fantastic. I can't wait for that.

Tiffany Vazquez (4:00)

Yes, The Namesake is a big one for me. I feel like it's sort of, in a lot of ways, the culmination of the themes that are often in Mira's work.

Aaron West (4:12)

It's a good one to finish with. And I heard a rumor that she has this son. I think he's doing something. I don't know. A lot of people seem to dislike him, but a lot of people really like him. I don't know. What's that deal?

Tiffany Vazquez (4:23)

Yeah, quite a polarizing figure, but I fear he's a cutie patootie also.

Jill Blake (4:31)

I mean, polarizing and politics?

Tiffany Vazquez (4:34)

Yeah. Mira Nair's son is Zoran Mamdani who's running a pretty historic run to be mayor of New York City. If he wouldn't, he'd be the first Muslim mayor in the city's history.

Also for many cities across this country, I think that would be a pretty historic thing.