This time we are blessed with two musicians whom we are both fans of. Jonathan Coulton, known best for his Code Monkey and zombie songs, and MC Frontalot, known best, apparently for his back trouble int he nerdcore documentary but really for his amazing nerd rap prowess. We discuss their visions of synthetic life, machine-led government, nanobots and the amazing growth of our brains. Or will we have brains in the future? Listen in!
I sent in a viewer question to the ChannelFlip Web guys and got them to review Facebook. Fun stuff! Take a look.
We spend a good amount of time talking about the President receiving the Nobel Peace prize but also discover some truths about the world economy from zombies and vampires.
Get the episode at this link: http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/www.archive.org/download/EastMeetsWest177-ZombiesEndTheRecession/eastmeetswest177.mp3
It’s time to wrap up Haldeman’s The Forever War, but we still haven’t finished talking about Songs of Ice and Fire. So we start with a quick recap of our thoughts up through A Feast for Crows, then intro our new book choice, Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Mists of Avalon.
QUICK BURNS – unrelated news of the month
Octavia Butler’s Papers Preserved For Future Generations
Mary Russell has been Twittering at Veronica
October 27th will be a HUGE day for book releases
THE FOREVER WAR – Wrapup
Was it dated by having a date?
Nick W. – What did you think of the ending?
Mists of Avalon – Kickoff
1982 novel. It’s a re-telling of the Arthurian legend from a female point of view.
The book follows the trajectory of Morgaine (often called Morgan Le Fay in other works), a priestess fighting to save her matriarchal Celtic culture in a country where patriarchal Christianity threatens to destroy the pagan way of life. The book follows the lives of Gwenhwyfar (Guinevere), Viviane, Morgause and other women who are often marginalized in Arthurian retellings. King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table are supporting rather than main characters. A lot of people accuse the book of being anti-Christian. (Via Wikipedia)
“About the time I began work on the Morgan le Fay story that later became Mists, a religious search of many years culminated in my accepting ordination in one of the Gnostic Catholic churches as a priest. Since the appearance of the novel, many women have consulted me about this, feeling that the awareness of the Goddess has expanded their own religious consciousness, and ask me if it can be reconciled with Christianity. I do feel very strongly, not only that it can, but that it must.” – Marion Zimmer Bradley
Isaac Asimov called it “the best retelling of the Arthurian Saga I have ever read”
Turned into a miniseries on TNT in 2001.
BARE YOUR SWORD – feedback from the audience
Animated Feature-Length Film Suggestions
ADDENDUMS
Say hello to our new partner Sticker Fu. Use the code Sword1 and get 10% off the stickers.
Tom’s scared that we might run out of phosphorus and have food shortages, Roger’s more worried about zombies but hopes there as hilarious as Zombieland. And we all agree Roman Polanski needs to pay for any crimes he may have committed, good director or no.
Get the episode at this URL: http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/www.archive.org/download/EastMeetsWest176-PhosphorusForAllOfUs/eastmeetswest176.mp3
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