Episode 12: The Coming & Going of the Coming of Age

Dear Mr. Vernon, It was the summer of 2018 and it was the best year of our life. We spent that summer podcasting with… (you know, it’s really hard to get the effect of a voiceover narration in text. Oh well. Just pretend that was in the voice of a middle aged Daniel Stern looking…

Call For Comments: Mythic Reboots and Adaptations

From Mav: One of my favorite comic book characters when I was a kid was The Mighty Thor. One of the reasons Thor fascinated me was because he was entrenched in mythology outside of the comics. To me, it was cool being able to read a story by Walt Simonson and then later pull out…

Call for Comments: Generation X and Coming of Age Movies

From Mav: If you know me, you know I love movies. It’s one of the reasons I do this. If you know me, then you might also know that maybe my favorite movie last year was Lady Bird (I even wrote a review about it… cheap plug for my other site). Wayne watched it recently and we…

Episode 11: Toxic Offenders & the Dark Side of Fandom

As great as internet is for creating a safe place for people to enjoy all manner of geeky hobbies, there’s a dark side of fandom. From Gamergate to 4chan, there are some segments of geek culture that have a reputation for being toxic. A reputation hat sadly threatens to tarnish the public perception fo geek…

Episode 10: Sex, Gender & FanFic

To some the world of fan fiction is the ridiculous hobby of geeks. To others it is a massive repository of erotica and pornography. But to many, it is a safe haven for Othered communities that have been kept from the mainstream — a place where they can be given a chance to express and…

Call for Comments: Toxic Fandom

From Wayne: Last week actress Kelly Marie Tran, who played Rose Tico in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, deleted her Instagram account because of the constant abuse she was receiving from people who consider themselves “fans” of the Star War franchise. She was ridiculed for her race, her body, her performance, and basically took the…

Call for Comments: Impossible Bodies and the Spectacle of Violence

From Mav: We often watch action movies and talk about how realistic or unrealistic the fights are. Everyone always says “oh, I love John Wick. The action is so realistic!” No it’s not! In real life, fights are really kind of boring. At least most people would probably think they are. In real life a bar…

Episode 9: Chutz-Pow! Superheroes of the Holocaust

Today we change focus and discuss something a little more serious than most of our topics. Mav is away on vacation this week, so Wayne is joined by Marcel Walker of the Holocaust Center in Pittsburgh, PA and Rochel Gasson of Duquesne University to discuss a very important and personal project that Wayne and Marcel…

Call For Comments: Sex, Gender and Fan Fiction

From Mav: I have a fascination with fan fiction. In particular, I have a fascination with the way fan fiction has a history that complexly entangled in issues of sex and gender. I wrote about the porn and fanfic connection a bit on my personal blog a couple years back, and I even had some…