Timecode A.I. West

Cowboys | Ep. 10 | Ten Gallons Deep: California Gold, Twilight Zones & The Wild

Our 10th episode! Ten rides in the can, and we’re celebrating the only way we know how — by

going completely off script. No guests, no notes, just a father-son free-for-all through film history,

memory, and the strange present tense we’re all living in.

Here’s what we wrangle in this milestone episode:

Grand Prix (1966) — split screens, speed, and the ghost of live TVA road trip to the Kern River & the volunteer museum preserving Western film history

A love letter to Huell Howser and the lost art of public-access wonder

Revisiting The Twilight Zone, Rod Serling, and the haunted poetry of early television

A philosophical detour into A.I., art, and the uncanny future of filmmaking

Why A Christmas Carol is the original ghost story

The Luddite wars, ChatGPT’s “computational jellyfish,” and what’s next for the creative class

It’s part California postcard, part Twilight Zone rerun, part midnight symposium on where movies (and

maybe humanity) go from here.

Saddle up, pour a drink, and join us as we mark ten episodes of Timecode Cowboys — still out

here on the reel frontier.

Like, comment, and subscribe for the next ten rides.

Available wherever you pod!

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Timecode Cowboys | Ep. 9 | Renaissance Man Robert Young III

This week we’re catching up with one of Danny’s oldest friends and collaborators — filmmaker, actor,

musician, and bona fide creative polymath Rob Young III — for a conversation that spans decades,

mediums, and mindsets.

From their first short film together (a teenage neo-noir called Bulletproof) to Rob’s latest political rock

opera Nixon King, this episode is a trip through the wild roads of DIY filmmaking, Detroit artistry, and

the strange freedom that comes from doing it all yourself.

Here’s what we cover in this cinematic hangout:

From CalArts to Harvard — the winding path of a multi-hyphenate storyteller

Working at Detroit Public Television and learning the craft from the inside out

The genesis of Nixon King, a rock opera where MLK meets Nixon behind bars

Collaborating with (pre-fame) Damien Chazelle and the power of early creative circles

Reimagining Batman, JFK, and other icons on his long-running YouTube channel

The raw genius and controversy of Last Tango in Paris — and the cost of creative risk

Why filmmaking is still the most democratic art form… and the hardest to sustain

From Detroit diners to CalArts casting calls, Episode 9 is an ode to persistence, friendship, and the

lifelong pursuit of making something—anything—worth remembering.

Saddle up, hit play, and join us for a ride with the one-man studio himself, Rob Young III.

Like, comment, and subscribe for more stories from the reel frontier!

Available wherever you pod!

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Timecode⏱️🤠Cowboys | Ep. 8 | Pt. 2 | Salad Days & Starfields with Crescenzo 🌌🎬

Our ride with cinematographer extraordinaire Crescenzo Notarile continues — and this time we’re diving into his salad days working on ‘80s era music videos, his stint on Star Trek: Discovery, and the bigger questions about art, artists, and legacy - and of course, The Godfather.

Here’s what we cover in this jam-packed part two:

🎶 Shooting 850+ music videos — from Billy Idol to Tom Petty, U2, Pink Floyd & Michael Jackson

🔮 The tricks of the trade Crescenzo still carries with him from his MTV days

🚀 Lighting the impossible corridors of Star Trek: Discovery and Picard

👁️ The unforgettable sadness he saw in Michael Jackson’s eyes

⚖️ Can (or should) we separate the art from the artist?

🎨 Coppola’s Megalopolis and the beauty of taking big swings late in life

🍊 Oranges, tragedy, and the power of symbolism in The Godfather

From lasers at a Pink Floyd show to run and gun camerawork on the ledge of a liquor store, this conversation is a whole cinematic universe unto itself.

👉 Saddle up, hit play, and join us for Part 2 of our conversation with Crescenzo.
🤠 Like, comment, and subscribe for more stories from the reel frontier!
🎧 Available wherever you pod!

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