Of Spaghetti, Myths, and Donuts
No, I’m not going down the rabbit hole writing an essay on spaghetti, myths, and donuts. It’s just a clever title to cover up the fact that I haven’t had time to write in a while as I’ve been whipping The Last War in Albion: Book One into shape, and it’s finally given up and submitted to my ministrations. It looks like it’s clocking in at 237,000 words and 210 pretty pictures, covering 760+ pages. Whew. So that should be coming out pretty damn soon.
In the meantime, though, I was able to squeeze in some rather lovely conversations with some rather lovely people. A few weeks ago I sat down with James and Kevin of Pex Lives to discuss some Westerns and some Doctor Who. We’ve got three Sergio Leone flicks on tap — A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, and The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly. This “Man With No Name” trilogy (which, by the way, totally applies to LOST) is juxtaposed with the fan-favorite Tom Baker classic, Underworld, which I chose especial for this chat. “What on earth,” you might be wondering, “is this woman going on about? Underworld?!? Compared to Sergio Leone?!?!?” Well, if you want to find out, you’ll need to listen to the podcast, which you can get here. Because the quest is the quest.
In even more exciting news, I am happy to announce what should be a new regular(ish) podcast series called Giant Woman, as the amazing Shana Wolstein of Oi Spaceman! and I both have a deep abiding passion for Steven Universe and we can talk about a few minutes of material for hours on end! (Yes, I’m exaggerating, but only kind of.) In our pilot episode, we talk about the first episode, “Gem Glow,” and compare it with the unaired pilot episode that got Steven Universe greenlit into a regular series on the Cartoon Network. We would be very happy if you would catch that episode here and listened to it with your undivided (undivided, that means “a fusion,” get it? Get it?) attention, and then come back (comeback!) to let us know in the comments what you think. (Sorry about the sound quality on this one, as we had a small technical snafu, which should totally be fixed when) we cover “Laser Light Cannon,” “Cheeseburger Backpack,” and “Together Breakfast” in our next podcast, which will hopefully come out next week.
And hopefully I’ll get back to writing more about LOST and Doctor Who in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!
August 23, 2016 @ 1:25 pm
Yessss! Steven Universe on Eruditorum Press! Aaaaaaaaa
August 23, 2016 @ 1:25 pm
Yessss! Steven Universe on Eruditorum Press! Aaaaaaaaa
August 23, 2016 @ 3:10 pm
I am going to listen to this podcast.
That may not sound like much, but I can’t stand podcasts or talk radio as a medium, I have never been able to listen to someone talking without any visual element. It’s EXTREMELY rare for a podcast to sound interesting enough to overcome that antipathy–the last time was the Phil/Dumpster Fire debate afterparty.
But Jane and Shana talking Steven Universe? And they’re talking about episodes I’ve actually seen? (I’ve only JUST started S3, and at two episodes a week I’m going to be behind basically permanently.) I’m there.
August 23, 2016 @ 5:22 pm
Thank you. This podcast has been very helpful in my own little Steven Universe meta which I’ve been stuck on for a while. There are parts of the article that I haven’t realized were parts of Steven Universe until you two pointed it out. And now I’m almost near the end of it. Thanks. I look forward to future podcasts.
August 23, 2016 @ 11:23 pm
Not a Steven Universe fan (sorry Sean), but I just wanted to chime in and say I very much appreciate the Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland plate scan and the title “Giant Woman“.
August 24, 2016 @ 1:15 am
Fair enough. I really need to read Alice at some point. My reference with her tends to be either Disney movies or that book series that does the thing Burton did with his films, except more grim dark militaristic. They even drag Alice Liddell into the mess.
August 24, 2016 @ 2:15 am
I am aware of that series. It makes me laugh. Out loud.
Alice is very much a children’s story (especially the first book, not as much the second), but a seemingly deliberately oversignified one. I like it for personal reasons. The Carrollian Society just re-issued The Definitive Edition of Martin Gardener’s Annotated Alice with new annotations (that is, annotations that annotate Gardner’s annotations, which is sort of fittingly Alice-y) last year for the 150th Anniversary if you’re interested: https://www.amazon.com/Annotated-Alice-150th-Anniversary-Deluxe/dp/0393245438/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1472004684&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Annotated+Alice
I have issues with Gardner at times, but it’s hard to argue he wasn’t the leading Carrollian scholar who influenced the whole field into what it is today.
I actually don’t think the original (1951) Disney movie is horrible.
August 24, 2016 @ 12:00 pm
I as also appreciated the Alice pic. Thanks jane. Seriously folks if you haven’t read the original Lewis Carrol go and do that now. Seriously go on. We’ll still be here when you’ve done. Go on, fuck that Tim Burton/Disney shit, treat yourself to some classic mind expanding Victoria proto -surrealism.
I also need to point out that the sound recording on the Sergio Leone part of the podcast is a little messed up. Sounds like a double tracking issue as I can hear you, James and Kevin all speaking at once about different things. I mean more than usual. đŸ˜‰
Lots to look forward to on the Eruditorum, particularly a chance to discover Steven Universe with jane and Shana as my guides. Fantastic!
August 24, 2016 @ 12:48 pm
Apparently there were technical problems on this podcast as well, specifically on the Sergio Leone part of the programme. James says a proper version will be up some time this weekend, so anyone who’s tried to listen to this one should wait until then.
August 26, 2016 @ 1:33 pm
Just wanted to say I enjoyed the discussion of Underworld – might even have to watch it!
I’m intrigued to know, after the Time Monster on Oi Spaceman and Underworld on Pex Lives, what derided 5th Doctor story you will be attempting a redemptive reading of on the Shabcast. My money is on Timeflight!
August 26, 2016 @ 2:26 pm
Super excited about Giant Woman, and I thought this first episode was great. Don’t really have much to say about it because it’s been way too long since I’ve seen either of those two episodes… I may have to start watching before listening.