The Best Stuff In The World

We’re talking about John Carpenter’s 1982 horror classic The Thing. When it came out, critics hated it and audiences mostly stayed home but over the following decades it was reappraised as one of the greatest horror movies ever made, and I feel that reputation is well deserved.It’s the story of a team of researchers at a remote Antarctic station who take in a stray dog, which turns out to be a shape-shifting alien that can imitate any living thing it absorbs. Kurt Russell leads a cast of fantastic character actors who slowly realize that any one of them could be the monster, and that nobody can leave. Mix in Rob Bottin’s astonishingly gross practical effects, a score by the legendary Ennio Morricone, and an ambiguous ending people are still arguing about, and you get a movie that ranks up there with Ridley Scott’s Alien as being among the best sci-fi horror ever made.To get into all of it, including some of John Carpenter’s other work from around this time, I am thrilled to be joined by returning guest Gary Mitchel, co-host of the horror podcast A Podcask of Amontillado. Gary and his co-host Erin cover all aspects of horror and you should go check that show out after you listen to this one!Gary's horror podcast A Podcask of Amontillado can be found here: A Podcask of AmontilladoI was recently a guest on The Flopcast to talk about Fairuza Balk's work in 1996's The Craft and 1986's The Worst Witch. Listen here: Flopcast 754 - Fairuzapalooza Part One: Lack of TootieOur theme music is by Mister Michael BrousseauYou can email this show at [email protected]. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jane Austen’s classic novel Pride and Prejudice came out in 1813, and it has basically never stopped being popular. We get into what we think the reasons for that are during the episode, but it’s smart, it’s funny, it’s romantic, and it still holds up over 200 years later. Pride and Prejudice tells the story of Elizabeth Bennett, one of the great protagonists in English literature, a character who is witty, intelligent and wrong about every judgement she rushes to make in the first half of the book, and her strange relationship with the wealthy and prideful Mr. Darcy. Along the way she receives no less than three marriage proposals and the entire family’s reputation is nearly ruined by impulsive younger sister Lydia and her poor decisions. And there's a lot of dancing.My guests are literature teacher Dee Anne Anderson and Ann Gav of the Eurovision blog Dudepoints and we get into the book, its enduring popularity, and its many adaptations (Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle or GTFO.)Ann Gav's Eurovision blog is here: Dudepoints.funDee Anne writes about Sleep No More on Tumblr: https://readwithjoy.tumblr.com/Our theme music is by Mister Michael BrousseauYou can email this show at [email protected]. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I’m back after my little break for Dragon Con to talk about the greatest of all television shows, Buffy the Vampire Slayer!On the face of it, Buffy is ridiculous: a show about a teenage girl who fights vampires and demons on top of a literal hellmouth in suburban California and yet somehow it wound up being one of the smartest, funniest, and most emotionally devastating shows ever made. The early seasons had a central metaphor of high school as literal hell, the later seasons got into more ambitious long-form storytelling, and the whole thing was anchored by a powerhouse performance by Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers, the one girl in all the world who had the strength to fight the forces of evil. The show had uniquely witty dialogue, the emotional stakes for the characters were always as high as they could possibly be and it is, with my hand on my heart, my favorite tv show of all time.Joining me to discuss Buffy is returning guest Derek B. Gayle from the Glitterjaw Queer Podcast Collective. Derek co-hosts a ton of great podcasts on Glitterjaw, and you should go check them all out. Links below.Also joining me is Laura Leslie - Laura’s someone I met through our shared fandom of the Punchdrunk show Sleep No More but she also ran one of the most popular Buffy fan fiction sites back in the day and it was awesome to talk with her about a different shared enthusiasm. You can find Laura online at her Tumblr Drink the Halo.Derek's Glitterjaw Podcasts:Gimmicks: https://www.glitterjaw.com/gimmicksWalloping Websnappers! A Spider-Man Podcast: https://wallopingwebsnappers.wordpress.com/Skreeonk! A Godzilla Movie Marathon: https://www.glitterjaw.com/skreeonkLee Carvallo's Podding Challenge: A Simpsons Gaming Podcast: https://www.glitterjaw.com/lee-carvalloOur theme music is by Mister Michael BrousseauYou can email this show at [email protected]. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's the return of our occasional segment where guests come on to talk about albums that changed their lives - the last time we did this was about a year ago when Gary Mitchel joined to talk about Portishead’s Dummy and this time I’m welcoming back to the show writer and musician Andre Salles to talk about two of his favorite records, Tori Amos’ Little Earthquakes and Talk Talk’s Laughing Stock!We get into why Andre chose these particular albums in the episode, and there are links to Andre’s bandcamp and old music blog Tuesday Morning 3am in the shownotes. We recorded this episode a few months ago, and since the recording Andre has launched a patreon - he’s making three albums this year with the support of his patrons: an instrumental guitar record, an album of songs with lyrics about grief, and an electronic ambient suite. He’s also creating improvised diaries each month and those are on the band camp: andresalles.bandcamp.com. The patreon is patreon.com/andresalles.Our theme music is by Mister Michael BrousseauPer usual, You can email this show at [email protected]. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I’m joined by author Michael Blanding to talk about his fascinating new book THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO HOBBY LOBBY.Hobby Lobby is the multibillion-dollar craft store chain you may have wandered through for picture frames and fake flowers at some point, founded and owned by the Greens, an evangelical Christian family who have spent decades quietly using their fortune to push their religious beliefs into American law and culture, from a Supreme Court case that gutted contraception coverage, to a Bible museum blocks from the Capitol, to a long, well-funded campaign to remake the country in their image.Michael’s book traces the Greens' rise from a single picture-frame shop in Oklahoma to one of the most quietly powerful families in the country. His reporting took him from the Oklahoma prairie to plundered museums in Iraq to a monastery library in Egypt, and he's also the author of THE MAP THIEF and IN SHAKESPEARE'S SHADOW. This episode’s a little heavier than our usual fare, but I loved hearing Michael talk about the process of writing this book and I think you will too.Check out Michael and his upcoming appearances in support of the book at his website: https://www.michaelblanding.com/You can get THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO HOBBY LOBBY at a cool indie bookstore near you, or through bookshop.org: THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO HOBBY LOBBYI was recently a guest on the podcast Channel 37's After Midnight to talk about the bonkers 1977 Japanese horror movie House! Listen here: AFTER MIDNIGHT: HOUSEOur theme music is by Mister Michael BrousseauPer usual, You can email this show at [email protected]. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.