It's everyone's favorite time of year... the time where we celebrate that birth of... Cheesy Christmas movies! I mean, I'm sure there's probably some other significance to this time of year too, but round these parts, we know that the December Holiday Season is all about the seasonal Christmas movie rom coms. And so, it's time for our annual Christmas movie special. This year, Hannah and Mav are joined by retuning guest Jackie Johnson and Sandy Eckard to talk all about this years — actually somewhat limited — crop of new streaming Christmas movie options. Or at least, there seem like there were fewer on the major services than there have in the past. BUT, what's the quality like? Join us on this week's episode to see what we thought...
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e178. Pop History vs. Public History
How do we learn history? The easy answer is to say we learn it from history books, but is that true? How many of us ever read a history book after 10th grade? It’s more likely that we get the majority of our history either from museums or from historic entertainment… things like Hamilton… or,…
CFC: Improv in the Living Room
From Mav: Way back in April — which granted, wasn’t actually that long ago, but in the world of COVID, feels like a lifetime — we did a show about how stand-up comedy works in a world where everyone’s socialization is socially distant. Since that time, the world got a little better and then a…
Excalibur #27: “Reel People”
Excalibur #27 “Reel People” Writer: Chris Claremont Pencils: Barry Windsor-Smith Inks: Bill Sienkiewicz Colors: Glynis Oliver Letters: Tom Ozechowski Editor: Terry Kavanagh Original publication date: September 1990 In this episode, Anna, Mav, and Andrew are joined by Connor Goldsmith, literary agent and host of the Cerebro podcast, to talk films inside comic books inside famous film studios…
Excalibur #26: “The Times They Are A-Changin’”
Excalibur #26 “The Times They Are A-Changin’” Writer: Michael Higgins Pencils: Ron Lim Inks: Joe Rubenstein Colours: Glynis Oliver Letters: Agustin Mas Editor: Terry Kavanagh Original publication date: August 1990 In this episode, Anna, Mav, and Andrew recruit author Darby Harn to help them make sense of some less-than-stellar storytelling in Excalibur #26, “The Times They Are A-Changin’.” It’s…
Excalibur #25: “Guess Who’s Coming for Phoenix?”
Excalibur #25 “Guess Who’s Coming for Phoenix?” Writer: Chris Claremont Pencils: Chris Wozniak Inks: Al Milgrom Colours: Paty Cockrum Letters: Rick Parker Editor: Terry Kavanagh Original publication date: August 1990 The Cross-Time Caper is still over… or is it? Resolution careens into crisis into conversations about both as Anna, Mav, and Andrew welcome author and critic Steve Sellers of Omen…
e175. Game Studies: Ludology vs. Narratology
We don’t talk about games as much as we should on this show, but arguably they’re one of the most enduring mediums of popular culture. They’re certainly one of the most popular. There’s much comparison of modern video games to movies. This makes sense… if we want people to consider games to be a legitimate…
Excalibur #24: “Tempting Fates”
Excalibur #24 “Tempting Fates” Writer: Chris Claremont Pencils: Alan Davis Inks: Paul Neary Colours: Glynis Oliver Letters: Tom Orzechowski Editor: Terry Kavanagh Original publication date: July 1990 Anna, Mav, and Andrew are joined by professor, poet, literary and cultural critic, and friend-to-all-mutants Dr. Stephanie Burt to celebrate the not-so-epic conclusion of the Cross-Time Caper, plus Kitty…
CFC: Pop vs. Public History — Why Do We Love Nonfiction?
From Monica: I want to talk about Seabiscuit. Being an archetypal precocious horse girl, at age 9 Laura Hillenbrand’s Seabiscuit (1999) was the first nonfiction book I remember reading. It was the first time I was conscious of the popular weight attributed to the New York Times bestseller list, and for once my childhood interests…