Call For Comments: Does Pop Culture Matter? (LIVE show at Wizard World Pittsburgh)

From Mav: Well, this is kind of exciting. We’ve been invited to do a live panel at Wizard World Pittsburgh this week. We’ll be joining together with our good friend Danny Anderson of the Sectarian Review to talk about why pop culture matters on Sunday, July 28th at 12:30 in room 315 at the Wizard…

Call For Comments: Parallel Media

From Mav: To me, one of the most fascinating things that happens in Hollywood is when two different movies with essentially the same plot come out at roughly the same time. I don’t mean one movie that is a remake of another movie. I mean when two studios come up with essentially the idea as…

e61. Narrative REMIX!

We seem to like stories we already know. Not just rereading or rewatching an old favorite. We seem to derive some sort of pleasure in seeing a new version of an old story… a version with a “twist.” What if Superman was a horror story? Well, lets explore that in Brightburn! What if Lizzie Bennet…

Call for Comments: You Kant Like That!

From Hannah: If you follow our show at all, you probably know that several of the main hosts (including myself) keep having a reoccuring argument about what the best show on television is: Riverdale or The Good Place (the clear winner). And you may think we’re all wrong — especially since the last season of…

Call For Comments: Cinematic Franchise “Endgames”

From Mav: (No worries, no spoilers in this post) Well, it’s finally time… we’re in the endgame now… and all that. In a couple hours, Avengers Endgame opens in theaters, and I assume a large number of our listeners are going to go see it (please, NO SPOILERS in the comments of this post). By…

e49. Cinema vs. Streaming

Recently Steven Spielberg allegedly implored the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to make it harder for films distributed primarily through streaming platforms to win Oscars. Or maybe he didn’t. The details are actually kind of fuzzy. But moreover, we’re not sure it really matters whether he did or not. The very idea of…

e48. Political TV and Nostalgia

In the current age of Trump, we’ve noticed a peculiar trend. People yearning for the days of an earlier president… a great orator… a wise statesmen with decorum… a calming presence on television. Not Barack Obama (well, maybe he too). We’re talking about Jed Bartlet, fictional president on television’s The West Wing. Of course, he…

Call for Comments: Streaming and the Death of Cinema?

From Mav: Back on our Oscars show, we talked a little bit about the movie Roma and what it would mean for the film industry if they allowed it to win best picture (they didn’t). Last week rumors surfaced that Steven Spielberg is petitioning the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to change the…

Call For Comments: Oscar Predictions and Baiting

From Mav: It’s Oscar time! I love Oscar time. You have no idea how much I love Oscar Time! The answer is… well, a lot! Usually I put a list of predictions up on my regular blog. Last year I went 20 for 24. Pretty good, I think. I even nailed both Sounds Mixing and…

Call For Comments: I Hate Continuity (and so do you)

From Mav: We haven’t really done an episode that focused on comics in while. This one doesn’t entirely FOCUS on comics, but that’s where we started. It’s also academic… or at least, it’s a part of my dissertation, so let’s just say it is. And maybe it’s a little controversial… at least to comic book…