Think First with Jim Detjen
Think First is a short-form podcast that makes you pause — before you scroll, share, or believe the headline.
Hosted by Jim Detjen, a guy who’s been gaslit enough to start a podcast about it, Think First dives into modern narratives, media manipulation, and cultural BS — all through the lens of gaslighting and poetic truth.
Some episodes are two minutes. Some are ten. It depends on the story — and the energy drink situation.
No rants. No lectures. Just sharp questions, quick insights, and the occasional laugh to keep things sane.
Whether you’re dodging spin in the news, politics, or that “trust me, bro” post in your feed… take a breath. Think first.
Visit Gaslight360.com/clarity to sharpen your BS filter and explore the 6-step clarity framework.
Think First with Jim Detjen
Hollywood Is Broken · The Maverick Effect
Something’s off at the movies — and it’s not just the CGI.
From Jerry Seinfeld’s cultural take-down to Sasha Stone’s poetic-truth autopsy, today’s films feel less like storytelling… and more like committee-approved content. But there are exceptions — Top Gun: Maverick, for one. Why did that one land while so many others fall flat?
In this episode, Jim breaks down the fading cultural power of cinema — and makes the case for a two-part epic on the most mysterious American hero you’ve never seen on screen: Admiral Richard E. Byrd.
Medal of Honor. Antarctica. Operation Highjump. Missing diaries. Maybe even UFOs.
You want magic back? This guy froze his face off for it.
And if you’re a Hollywood exec… consider this your pitch.
Stay sharp. Stay skeptical. #SpotTheGaslight
Read and reflect at Gaslight360.com/clarity
This is Think First, where we don't follow the script. We question it Because in a world full of poetic truths and professional gaslighting, someone's got to say the quiet part out loud. Remember when a new movie felt like a rendezvous with destiny? But now it's background noise while you doom. Scroll Today why movies feel broken and how a frostbitten admiral might fix them. Why do so many releases land with a thud, while a rare few, such as Top Gun, maverick, still make the theater pulsate? Have our expectations slipped or have storytellers surrendered? When did important become a polite synonym for tedious? Are we watching art or ideological slide decks in Dolby Atmos? Why did Maverick blow the barn doors off? Practical jets, real G-forces, while other blockbusters limp on green screens. And could a century-old polar diary be the cinematic nitro? Hollywood's missing? Jerry Seinfeld nailed it. Film no longer sits at the pinnacle. We're walking through a fire hose just trying to see Studios responded by tripling budgets and moral disclaimers. Yet shrinking wonder. We used to quote the Godfather, now we quote Certified Fresh.
Speaker 1:Sasha Stone's roast of modern Hollywood is brutal. Everything must be up to code. Romance Only if intersectional, risk Only if it passes HR. That's poetic truth. A safety manual masquerading as story. Great for corporate trainings? Fatal for imagination. Hollywood's stuck in a DEI onboarding video rendered in CGI. Are we paying for stories or are we paying for sermons? On IMAX? Flashback to 2022.
Speaker 1:Top Gun Maverick fires up real fighter jets 2022. Top Gun Maverick fires up real fighter jets. Zero green screen dogfights and a plot light on lecturing, heavy on adrenaline. Result One billion plus global haul without China, and crowds from Salt Lake to Tokyo cheering in unison, proof that audiences flock to sincerity, spectacle and skill, not algorithmic virtue. Tom Cruise risked actual G-lock, while most franchises risk nothing but Twitter outrage. Enough autopsies, let's pitch a cure. Enter Admiral Richard E Byrd. Real-life credentials Medal of Honor for the First North Pole Flight 1926, and Youngest Rear Admiral at 41, courtesy of a special act of Congress.
Speaker 1:Four Antarctic Expeditions, 22 Major Decorations and a resume thicker than an Oscar campaign packet. A frostbitten overachiever who outranked half the Pentagon before most of us finished grad school. Crossbitten overachiever who outranked half the Pentagon before most of us finished grad school 1946-47. Operation High Jump 4,700 men, 70 ships, 33 aircraft mapping half a continent.
Speaker 1:Whispers persist of Nazi holdouts, exotic craft streaking from the ice and a lost diary claiming birds saw flying disks and an entrance to a hollow Earth Fringe Absolutely Catnip for screenwriters, even more so Based on a true story plus a dash of UFO a recipe even A24 Film Studio would flirt with. Part 1. Magnetic North the rise, the polar flights, the isolation, the nationalpe Bird versus the Elements and his own obsession. Part 2. Darker Skies, operation High Jump, ice Crashes, classified Footage, rumors of Silver Discs, a man swallowed by whiteness.
Speaker 1:Unsure what he's actually seen and who will believe him. Imagine Interstellar's wonder meets the Revenant's grit with practical cold, not an LED volume. Studio execs, ditch the 14th reboot fund Bird. I've got outlines, sources and one frostbitten map in a fire. Safe let's trade virtue signaling for true vertigo. Movies lapsed into algorithmic sermons, yet Maverick-proved heart-racing craft can still hijack culture. Bird's saga is waiting. Metals mystery. Maybe aliens under the ice Shake off the checklists, embrace the unknown and cinematic magic might just resurface. You don't need every answer, but if every movie feels like déjà vu with subtitles, maybe it's time to think first. If this episode made you raise an eyebrow, you're going to want to hear what's coming next. It's called Uncharted, my newest podcast for the conversations that don't fit cleanly in red or blue, fact or fiction, left, right or even polite company. It's where we go off map and, if you want in, head to jimdetchincom and get on the list First to know, first to listen, first to go uncharted.
