Call for Comments: Mr. Sandman Bring Me a Dream

From Mav: Well, today is the day that I don’t think I ever believed would happen. There’s a Sandman TV series premiering on Netflix. It’s not that I’m surprised that there COULD be a Sandman TV series or even that someone would want there to be a Sandman TV series. Quite the contrary, it seems…

Call For Comments: Styles and Cycles (or, a funny thing happened on the way to Ragnarok)

From Wayne: So the biggest complaint I’ve heard about Thor: Love and Thunder is that is too silly. It’s a Taika Watiti movie, so I’m not really surprised by this, but the complaint seems to center around the idea that this change in the basic character of Thor from the comics is a bridge too…

Call for Comments: Dissertations, what the hell are they?

From Katya: You know us as the pseudo-academic podcast with drinking and swearing. We also lied about that (very openly, in all fairness.) All of us have Ivory Tower experiences through teaching, conferences, independent scholarship, and the occasional long-winded degree. I left academic research a few years ago and the transition from being surrounding by…

Call For Comments: Fill-in and Bottle episodes

From Mav: I was recently listening to our friends over at the Protagonist Podcast and they gave us a shout out of sorts. They mentioned that a great idea for a podcast episode might be to spend a show talking about fill-in and bottle episodes. Then, Joe mentioned that maybe instead of doing the show…

CFC: So, who wants to talk about Stranger Things?

From Hannah: I have no idea why we haven’t done an episode on Stranger Things. But with Volume 1 of Season 4 currently released on Netflix (and breaking ratings records … such that they are things), and Volume 2 about to drop next weekend, I thought it was time. Besides, as a podcast with connections…

Call For Comments: So who wants to talk about Kenobi?

From Mav: It’s been a whole since we did and episode on Star Wars. So, tonight is the season finale of Disney+’s Obi-Wan Kenobi and I’ve really been enjoying it. In fact, I’m loving it. I haven’t talked about it much online, but I have a lot to say about it. I will say that…

CFC: How do TV ratings work and why do we care?

From Mav: So if you’re keyed into conservative media this week — and I get that most of our listeners aren’t, but I like to keep up on the whole political spectrum… even the crazies for work — you might have seen a very weird talking point making the rounds. Random alt-right news sites are…

CFC: Bechdel Tests, Fire Island, and the lack of nuance in pop culture criticism

From Mav: So I hate the Bechdel Test. I think it’s stupid. See what I’m doing here is saying something kind of outrageous to start an article and then going into a more nuanced discussion where I try to make a larger point but that will be ignored by a lot of people who just…

CFC: We CAN do an episode about Jurassic Park; does that mean we SHOULD?

From Hannah: It’s been almost thirty years since we first were welcomed to Jurassic Park on the silver screen. And this weekend, the sixth movie in the franchise (which, uh, many of might say never should have had one sequel much less this many) Jurassic World: Dominion will premiere on North American screens. I’ve been…

Call for Comments: “Get in loser, we’re going shopping”

From Monica: This week on VoxPop, we’re feeling nostalgic for the ultimate palace of capitalism— the mall. Because even if you don’t like shopping, the sheer quantity of things geographically centered meant that you probably bought clothes, or read comics, or listened to CDs, or saw a movie, or had a haircut, or took a…