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Now displaying: 2018


Hosted by Charlie Bennett and Christian Sager.

American Horror Story: Murder House 0
Dec 21, 2018

It's our third annual Christmas ghost story episode and we're looking into this 2011 debut of the popular horror anthology series by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk. We discuss Murphy's mission, the show's popularity and its contrast of trashy excessive violence and sex, with themes of mainstream, heteronormative patriarchy.

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Kamasi Washington, The Epic 0
Dec 14, 2018

This 3-disc debut by an accomplished saxophonist was universally acclaimed as a sea change in music. We discuss how Washington was influenced by friends, family, history and dreams, while trying to challenge his listeners with genre-defying sounds.

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The Trouble with Reality: A Rumination on Moral Panic in Our Time, by Brooke Gladstone 0
Dec 7, 2018

This long-form essay by one of the hosts of On the Media argues that our current sociopolitical conflicts stem from a dissolution of facts and reality. We look at Gladstone's manifesto for producing her radio show to unpack her project here, while considering her advice for bolstering our own personal realities.

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The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, by Don Rosa 0
Nov 30, 2018

This 12-part comic series seems like a fan's homage to Carl Bark' Disney stories, but we uncover how the values of "hard work" within (and the corporate machinations of many publishers) led Rosa to quit making comics out of frustration and resentment.

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Spalding Gray's Swimming to Cambodia 0
Nov 23, 2018

This 1987 filmed monologue changed the way mainstream media considered autobiographical performance art. We discuss how Gray made the film with director Jonathan Demme and the emotional themes throughout that resonate after his suicide.

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Gang of Four, Entertainment! 0
Nov 16, 2018

This influential 1979 album combined art education with working class political activism to play with the meaning of pop music. We discuss the production of the record and the band's conflicts (or lack thereof) with their record label and the BBC.

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Nameless 0
Nov 9, 2018

This horror comic by Grant Morrison, Chris Burnham and Nathan Fairbairn purports to act symbolically like our archetypes of myth. We ask whether it's successful in getting into our subconscious and if cosmic horror and lack of meaning even scare us anymore.

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Shadowland by Peter Straub 0
Oct 26, 2018

This fantasy/horror novel about prep school boys and magical authority came in the middle of the genre paperback boom. We talk about Straub's concerns when writing it and how he walked the line between horror and "literature," while responding to the market pressures on his publisher.

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Altered States 0
Oct 19, 2018

This movie had a tumultuous production, with constant fighting between writer Paddy Chayefsky and director Ken Russell. We discuss how their conflict influenced the end product... and the studios paying their bills. We also wonder if this movie unintentionally captures what we now refer to as toxic masculinity.

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Neurosis, Through Silver In Blood 0
Oct 12, 2018
 
This 1996 album is heralded as the critical apex for the "post-metal" sub-genre. We discuss the hardships and trauma the band members were struggling with while recording it and how it acts as catharsis for them and their listeners. We also spend a lot of time on meaning, genre distinctions and the inability of language to describe the identity we form with music.

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Astronauts in Trouble: Live From the Moon 0
Oct 5, 2018

This comic book about a private moon mission gone wrong is now lauded for launching the career of Walking Dead artist Charlie Adlard. But, it was also responsible for Larry Young and Mimi Rosenheim's publishing house AiT/PlanetLar. So we discuss their approach to balancing commerce with art, and medium with story.

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The Handmaid's Tale, Season 1 0
Sep 28, 2018

This dystopian television series presents a horrifying, totalitarian society that forces women to bear children as slaves. We discuss its streaming based production and reception, and then turn to multiple articles on representation, politics, religion and intersectionality to try to provide a perspective the two of us might not normally find.

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The Killing Floor by Lee Child (Jack Reacher Book 1) 0
Sep 21, 2018

This crime novel follows a wandering problem-solver who always wins. We discuss why these books are so immensely popular and the vicarious consolation we get out of the hero, his nobility and his alienation.

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Touch of Evil 0
Sep 14, 2018

This 1958 Orson Welles' picture has been called the last of the classic film noir era. We discuss Welles' approach to filmmaking, his conflicts with the movie studio and the thematic tensions displayed by the genre at the time. Oh, and Charlton Heston's makeup. That gets a good 10 minutes.

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Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle, Series 3 0
Sep 7, 2018

This British comedy series is a deconstruction of humor in a jazz-like improvisation. We discuss Lee's persona, the BBC's decision-making process and the fine lines between self-absorption, art and masturbation. In fact, we take a masturbation metaphor way too far. So brace yourselves.

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Bone, Volume 1: Out From Boneville 0
Aug 31, 2018

This independent comedy/fantasy comic book series wasn't intended to be for kids necessarily, but because of how savvily Jeff Smith marketed his self-publishing business, it became a hit for all-ages. We discuss Bone's impact on the library market, as well as its struggles with female representation and censorship.

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A Visit From the Goon Squad, by Jennifer Egan 0
Aug 17, 2018

This 2011 award-winning work of literary fiction has been celebrated by everyone from academics to Rolling Stone. But we look at it in light of its cultural expectations, from a "high brow" publisher, to its timidity about engaging with ethnically diverse characters.

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  • A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan – review
  • “Goon Squad”: Jennifer Egan’s time-travel tour de force
    • CS Note: Salon’s site is so full of ads and video overlays that I could barely read the article as it slowed my computer to a halt.
  • HBO Sets Pulitzer Prize Winner 'A Visit From The Goon Squad' For Series Treatment
  • Strong, M. J. (2018). Found time: Kairos in A Visit from the Goon Squad. Critique, 59(4), 471-480.
  • Cowart, D. (2015). Thirteen Ways of Looking: Jennifer Egan's A Visit from the Goon Squad. Critique, 56(3), 241-254.
  • MOLING, M. (2016). "No Future": Time, Punk Rock and Jennifer Egan's A Visit from the Goon Squad. Arizona Quarterly, 72(1), 51.
  • “Water, Water Everywhere,” By: WHELDON, WYNN. Commentary. Nov2017, Vol. 144 Issue 4, p60-62. 3p.
  • “Big Novelist: Jennifer Egan,” By: Heller, Nathan. Rolling Stone. 5/31/2012, Issue 1158, p66-67. 2p.
  • Bookclub-in-a-Box Discusses A Visit From The Goon Squad, by Jennifer Egan, By: Godfrey, Laura; Egan, Jennifer; Herbert, Marilyn; Bookclub-in-a-Box (Firm). [England] : Bookclub-In-A-Box. 2012. eBook., Database: eBook Collection (EBSCOhost)
Jean-Luc Godard's Week-end 0
Aug 10, 2018

This 1967 movie was called "the death of cinema" by its creator, and operated as a critique of both capitalism and mainstream films. We try to understand how a man as notoriously malicious as Godard was to his cast and crew, could also use this platform to argue for a better world.  

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Absolute Planetary, Volume 1 0
Jul 27, 2018

This comic about archaeologists uncovering the secret history of pop culture took Warren Ellis and John Cassaday 10 years to complete. We discuss its interrogation of genre, intellectual property and history, in light of the cyclical nature of the comics industry some 20 years after the project started.

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One Mississippi, Season One 0
Jul 20, 2018

This Amazon television show is about comedian Tig Notaro dealing with tragedy in her Mississippi hometown. But we discuss how its theme of demystifying the South was partially derailed by the corporate pivoting of its distributor and the sexual misconduct of some of its producers.

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The Final Programme by Michael Moorcock 0
Jul 13, 2018

This first part in the Jerry Cornelius saga is literary science-fiction that challenges the politics of its time through transgression. But we find eerie parallels to our current zeitgeist and wonder if Cornelius is the perfect device to question our thoughts about subversion and morality.

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