Call for Comments: Television in the Time of COVID

From Hannah: In 2020, Voxpopcast talked a lot about the media we consumed during, and partially due to, the pandemic (our comfort viewing, the AMAZING discovery of Marble League, the content that was majorly created pre-pandemic but released after our lives changed). But we haven’t delved too deeply into have the pandemic has changed the…

e138. Holiday Tradition and Ritual in the Time of COVID

It’s the holiday season. In the United States we just celebrated Thanksgiving, and in the coming weeks that will be followed by Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, New Years, Pancha Ganapati, Yule, Festivus, Saturnalia, Slackernalia and probably 1000 other winter holidays that get celebrated somewhere around the world. These holidays are often commemorated by coming together with…

Call for Comments: Do we really like holidays anyway?

From Mav: As I finished teaching one of my Friday only classes, one of my students wished me a “Have a Happy Thanksgiving… or whatever” on his way out the door. It struck me that he was not just trying to be nice; as he was finishing the statement he realized the relative futility of…

e130. Freshman Year in Quarantine

Way back at beginning of the COVID-19 lockdown — what seems like a million years ago — we did a special episode where we talked to Tristyn and Sophie, two graduating seniors who had their final year of high school interrupted by the sudden worldwide pandemic that we now all find ourselves still dealing with.…

Call for Comments: Freshman Year in Quarantine

From Mav: Way back in April — so you know basically a million years ago in the COVID world —we did a show about what it was like to finish up your senior year of high school during a worldwide pandemic lockdown. Back then (seriously it really does seem like forever ago) we had on…

e124. Marveling Over Marble League!

If you’ve been following the show for the last several months, you know that in our COVID pandemic quarantine imposed death of media, we have turned our constant starvation for content to the internet and become big fans of Jelle’s Marble Runs, a YouTube channel featuring athletic competitions between… well, marbles. What started as a…

Call for Comments: Marveling Over the Marble League

From Hannah: Joy, like the Nintendo Switch, has been in short supply throughout 2020. To put it mildly, it’s been a time. A time where a little comfort can go a long way. Enter this podcast’s greatest discovery of 2020: Jelle’s Marble Runs. And the sports series that easily eclipses the Olympics, the Marble League.…

e120. Quarantine Comfort TV

Let me tell you a story, children. Way back in the before time, in the long long ago, before the plague came, we used to have this stuff we called content… media… shows. Back then, if we wanted entertainment, we would turn on our magic picture boxes and marvel at the wonders that displayed before…

Call For Comments: Quarantine Comfort TV

From Mav: This started out being a different kind of episode. A while back Katya pitched the idea to talk about “Feel Good TV.” She can give more details but the short side of it is that I think she wanted to talk about the kinds of shows you watch to make you feel good…

e107. Senior Year in Quarantine

As we continue this never ending battle with COVID-19, a lot of our socializing takes place on the internet… even more than it already had been. As such, there’s been an uptick in memes as people grab on to … anything… just to have something to make a human connection. One of the memes you…