YouTube link here. Special Addie belly, but only at the start.
This week, Tony gets frustrated with a lot of things. Mostly bumper stickers and horror movies. That’s always fun, right? Then Jas spoils the fun by writing an interesting, thought-provoking email, which causes us to have a fascinating detailed conversation on the topic. Boo! Enjoy!
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That red/blue bumpersticker is hysterical. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it.
The Last Kingdom book series was actually what I was referring to in the question. I’ve seen the tv series too and would recommend both. The author does a lot of good historical fiction. I’ve also read his series about Richard Sharpe, a soldier during the Napoleonic wars. That one got me to track down the background on the “impregnable fortress,” Gawilghur, in India.
I was thinking the other day that most of the historical narratives that I really like are basically versions of heist stories. The hero has to figure out how to deal with some military or political situation which seems impossible to overcome, but with the aide of his/her trusty comrades figures out some trick that allows them to succeed.
But in all of these stories it’s pretty clear to me that the story isn’t purporting to be a recreation of what actually happened. It does drive me crazy when students use a movie in that way, both in reference to history and in movies of older narratives. “No, Grendel’s mother does not seduce Beowulf. Perhaps we should should talk about why the decision was made to add that fairly bizarre plot point to the story?”
I do like the idea of getting students interested in historical events by first reading a story that references them. I just finished a fantasy novel called “The Bird King” which is set during the fall of the Emirate of Granada. The story is about a concubine, a djinn, and a mapmaker (with supernatural powers) who try to escape the Inquisition by finding Mount Qaf, a mystical place referenced in the poem “The Conference of the Birds.” I think it’ll be great to use in class to get students thinking about/interested in what the reality behind the story is.
Holy crap! You had a student think the Neil Gaiman written CGI thing was an accurate depiction of Beowulf??? That’s hilarious.
Battle Beasts! Hell yeah!
Damned straight. I got a LOT of them.
Oh, and I love this week’s title. I’m looking forward to the Jane Austen parody that it will inspire!
But will eventually crash back down when some dumbass creates “Pancakes and Sycophancy and Zombies.”
My favorite marathon sticker I’ve ever seen was 0.0 and it really worked because it was on a wheelchair
Also, I know I’ve probably said this and I don’t care. If you have Shudder, you need to watch Psycho Goreman. It’s straight up amazing
Agreed. Though I think you have mentioned it… and I talked about it extensively on an earlier episode. 🙂
I saw a bumper sticker last month that was 2.62. Maybe you could aspire to just over 2 1/2 miles?
I think you’re probably right that bumper stickers are the tattoos of cars.
Tony – is your pom-pom ball collectible item called a Weeble (?)
WAIT – there are regional Bozos? I thought the different ones were just generational?!
Pancake sponsorship – maybe you could just invite people to join you and pay for your breakfast. Not sure you’re going to get $1000 for another version of the podcast, but I might take you guys to breakfast…
According to the internet, Backstairs at the White House the mini-series is based on Backstairs at the White House the autobiography of Lillian Rogers. Sounds like the book is one person’s recollection of the reality of what happened, and the mini-series is likely a grand-departure from both reality and the autobiography.
I thought Weeble sounded correct, but when I look that up as just see the hard plastic wobbly toys. These were… much cheaper. But I couldn’t swear they weren’t *also* called Weebles, I suppose.
You can buy me pancakes, I suppose. 🙂