Talking the Afterlife with Jennifer Shaffer, Hira, David Crosby, Prince and Carl Laemmle

Hacking The Afterlife podcast

Another unusual visit with pals on the Flipside. In today's podcast we have folks who've been to visit us before, but had more to say.

One is the Oscar nominated dog Hira, owned by the screenwriter director Robert Towne. Hira's been to visit us before, transcripts are in the book "Backstage Pass to the Flipside."

David Crosby stopped by again - after talking to us about what it was like to return to the flipside, and in this case, he wanted to talk further about his semi jaded, snarking observations. Here's a link to the official story of how Graham Nash met David Crosby, but in this account, he recalls a lifetime in Victorian England where he knew Graham. (Be interesting to see if Graham has any memories of that era.)

But in terms of Hira - I walked him for a number of years when Robert was at Warner Bros, and later in the Marina. And was with Hira when he passed - a wild car ride to rush him to the animal hospital to try to save him. That's another story for another time, but Hira stops by to tell the audience that we are always connected to our pets. He talks about the "contract" of our connection.

Then David Crosby takes the spotlight - we didn't ask for him to stop by, but he did a few weeks back, and had more to say about his adventure. (David knew our moderator on the flipside Luana Anders, so it's not hard for me to see how she'd put him at the top of the list of guests.)

Prince stopped by - sorry I didn't ask him any direct questions, but David talked a bit about creating music on the flipside.

Then I did ask a direct question to Carl Laemmle about the film "All Quiet on the Western Front" - a film he bought for his son to produce when he was the head of Universal pictures, which one lots of Oscars. I mention the amazing story of the triathlete who purchased the rights, knowing that it would win her an Oscar (which she hasn't won yet.)

Carl predicts the film will win three Oscars.

A bit about predictions - and why I never do them. Because the future is not set. Carl doesn't know for sure if the film will win three Oscars, but has a "better view" and is more apt to be correct. However, anything could happen - and it sometimes does.

People ask mediums like Jennifer all the time to predict the future, and as I like to point out - it's not set, however a good medium has a better opportunity to get the "likely outcome" as opposed to lottery numbers. "It's likely" that the remake of ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT will win three oscars, so if one is a betting person, perhaps dial up one's bookie. But don't blame me if it doesn't - blame Carl Laemmle. He's the one who said it.

Than back to Hira - who had a message for Robert Towne, my old boss, which I will pass along. Always fun to hear from a pet on the flipside, if only to remind us they still exist.