Alexander Schmid Podcast

In this lecture, we observe (a) the distinction between the laws of man and gods, (b) the prophecies of Tiresias, and (c) the horrific denouement of Sophocles' "Antigone"!

In this lecture we consider (1) Antigone and Ismene's differing value-systems (family vs. state; honors vs. fear); Creon's initial edicts and his own valuation of power vs. family, and (c) we finish by making connections between Oedipus and Creon.

Side Quests 047: The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 001

I Nintendo

a) Nintendo vs. Sega/Sony Aesthetic

b) More childish graphics;

c) Big faces, lots of bright colors

d) A lot with sound, limited dialog and simplistic story

d1) Zelda at first

d2) Mario

d3) Potentially deeper undercurrents

II Playing with cartridges

a) The controller

III Game Play

a) Very different from a turn-based (active battle system with random encounter) RPG

b) Action-adventure/action RPG

c) Real-time fighting

d) Never hear own voice or see own dialog

IV Picks up where The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time left off

a) Have already fulfilled your destiny

b) Have the Ocarina of time

c) Sword

d) Epona (Horse)

V Setting is a dark forest

a) Dante connection (also after-life)

b) Have a big FALL (Lucifer, Hephaistos, Alice iWonderland; The Matrix)

c) Stuck in a three day loop (like Easter/Dante) 

a) All focused on time

b) Collect masks

b1) Personae

b2) Interweave/create personality based on amount of roles played; 

b3) also quality of role-played as measured by real impact on another’s life; 

b4) that shows the puppeteer or actor behind the manifold masks

VI The Antagonist is an outcast for tricks

a) Hermes/Psychopomp

b) Hephaistian/Luciferian (they don’t want to play anymore)

c) Isolated and crying in a heartrending way; 

d) Two fairies, one dark (purple) and one light (white) comand seem to hug/neck;

e) The skull-kid (another reference to death) holds both

e1) Will symbolically choose the dark one

e2) You will get the light to form a full character

VII The gonzo style

a) Creepy/grotesque;

a1) the scarecrow

a2) The Great Fairie

aa1) Further seem of re-integration

VIII Running clock

IX Similarity to FF7

a) Response to iterations in the past

b) Seems to focus on ability to follow instructions and master basic eye hand sequencing drills.

c) Basic strategy and learning from mistakes

In this lecture we consider the denouement of Sophocles' "Oedipus the King"!

In this lecture, we consider (a) Oedipus' slowly dawning revelation that the man who killed Laius was he; (b) that Polybus and Merope whom he believed his parents are not, and (c) that he may have brought the corruption of Thebes about himself if only the herdman who was the man who witnessed Laius' murder says so.

In this lecture, we (1) consider Oedipus' insecurity and his accusations of Teiresias and Creon, and (2) we conclude with Jocasta entering to converse with Oedipus.

In this lecture, we consider (1) the path of Ulysses, and how much farther Dante has come, and how much higher his perspective is now than it was on earth; (2) the choirs of angels and how they relate to the spheres of heaven, and how the spheres of heaven which appear slowest are actually fastest and brightest and closest to the source (God), and (c) we conclude by considering the (1) creation of the world (why it was created), (2) how long it took Lucifer to fall, and (3) how act (form) and potentiality (matter) were first intertwined together.

In this first conversation on J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince", Ms. Sarah Miller, Mr Wesley Schantz, and I discuss (a) the duality and unity between the muggle and magical worlds in the Harry Potter universe; (b) what the cost of choice is, and how that relates to time, blood, and mistakes in the past; and (c) we gave a very rich analysis of Rufus Scrimgeour and Horus Slughorn's differing characters and characteristics. Classical references to Homer's "Odyssey", Dante's "Inferno", and Milton"s "Paradise Lost" abound.

In this final epic podcast, Mr. Wes Schantz and I conclude our final foray into Final Fantasy VII. Specifically we consider (a) upward and downward spirals and connections between the end of the game and the beginning; (b) Sephiroth as a Luciferian figure and in comparison to Achilleus in Homer, Lucifer in Milton's "Paradise Lost", and Voldemort in  the "Harry Potter" series, and (c) Wes and I conclude by thinking about hope and its relationship to power, and then reflecting on what this experience has meant to us. In this final epic podcast, Mr. Wes Schantz and I conclude our final foray into Final Fantasy VII. Specifically we consider (a) upward and downward spirals and connections between the end of the game and the beginning; (b) Sephiroth as a Luciferian figure and in comparison to Achilleus in Homer, Lucifer in Milton's "Paradise Lost", and Voldemort in Harry Potter, and (c) Wes and I conclude by thinking about hope and its relationship to power, and then reflecting on what this experience has meant to us. 

In this lecture, we (a) review Sophocles' biographical information, (b) introduce Oedipus in all his glory and seeming hubris, and (c) lay-out the scene (plague) in Thebes and the initial steps that have been taken to combat it.