Call For Comments: Minor Characters

From Wayne: Ostensibly, every story has a protagonist or two, those characters who we are meant to focus and root for, the focal point through which we experience the story. By definition, anyone else in the narrative is a minor character. So, what we want to talk about here is why do we care so…

Call for Comments: Things We Still Aren’t Over

Note: This post contains spoilers for Game of Thrones, Toy Story 4, Frozen 2, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Downton Abbey, Mockingjay, and Grey’s Anatomy. From Hannah: A year ago, Game of Thrones was airing its final few episodes. And, well, we all know how that went. And if you’ve listened to our Game…

e108. Bad Things We Love

Way back on episode 86, our four hosts got together and talked about “Good Things We Hate” Hannah, Katya, Wayne and Mav discussed the idea of taste and high brow and low brow entertainment and talked about a selection of books, movies, TV shows, music and other media that is commonly accepted as great but…

e101. Not the Next Big Thing

So first some notes… we’re in a weird place. As we recorded this episode, we were on the cusp of much of America (where all of our hosts are located) just beginning to prepare (too late frankly) for the COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic. Now, as we post this 4 days later, we are deep into it.…

e100. Hollywood vs. FanCasting

Think about your favorite book, video game, or comic. Who do you think should play the protagonist in the movie? Chances are you have a pretty good idea. Chances are also that if someone already has adapted your favorite character into a film, they didn’t pick your perfect choice. Maybe it turned out great, maybe…

e99. Pseudo-Academic Content: Listener Discretion is Advised

We live in a content driven world: Movies, Books, Music, TV, Comics, Video Games, and even Podcasts. “Content is king!” or so they say. But of course, different types of content are appropriate for different audiences. Anyone who has watched a movie in the last several decades knows that they have ratings, that is, a…

Call For Comments: Fan Casting Adaptations

From Mav: Once upon a time, back when magazines used to be a thing, Wizard magazine used to have a semi-regular feature where they’d take a theoretical movie property that was being adapted — either one that was rumored to be in preproduction, or something that they just thought it would be fun — and they’d…

Call for Comments: Content Ratings and Parental Ratings Guides

From Mav: I’ve gotten into a couple conversations recently with different people about movie ratings. Not the kind of whether they’re good and bad… stars… thumbs up and down and all that. I mean MPAA ratings: G, PG, PG-13, R, NC-17… or at least here in the United States, that’s what they are. Curiously, it…

e97. Fictional & Celebrity Crushes

Happy (Belated) Valentines Day! You know what that means? It means time to do a “very special episode” where we somehow try to tie in the holiday concept to the kinds of stuff we normally do. Academic cultural analysis of popular culture… but with beer! Last year we talked about the “shipping” and the secret…

Call for Comments: Fictional and Celebrity Crushes

From Mav: Last year we did a special Valentine’s Day show about romantic shipping in our favorite fictional universes. It was so great celebrating Valentine’s Day by explaining to everyone in final decisive detail exactly how I am 100% positive that Hermoine and Harry totally absolutely and without a doubt totally “did it” behind the…