Duck Town

Alex and Emma discuss Cormac McCarthy's landmark western novel Blood Meridian. They discuss the violence, the mythology, the strange aesthetics of the novel, the dark humor, the Judge, the Kid, the themes of fate and destiny, divination, the symbol of fire, the dance, the game, and so much more. 

Andrea and Emma discuss the 2024 action adventure epic Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, the prequel to 2015's innovative Mad Max: Fury Road. Is this film better than the groundbreaking 2015 film? What's with all the religious symbolism? Is this movie steeped in medievalism? That and much more. 

Alex, Emma, and John discuss two movies from 2024: the first chapter of Kevin Costner's movie Horizon and the third installment of the Quiet Place franchise called Quiet Place: Day One. 

Andrea and Emma talk about graphic novels and recommend some of their favorites. 

Alex and Emma talk about what's new, what they're reading, and then discuss the Esquire piece "Is It A Betrayal To Publish Dead Writers' Books" by Alex Belth. 

Alex and Emily shine a light on what's going on in the library and behind the scenes in this crazy shelf life of ours. The topic this week: Why don't straight men read novels? 

"If you know it in one podcast, it's legendary / What we thought was for all time was momentary"

Alex and John are back creating their individual playlists of Taylor Swift's latest album The Tortured Poets Department (2024). What are their favorite songs? What are the surprises? What are the cringiest lyrics? What do they choose and why? 

0:30 to 4:00 -- Minnesota Vikings talk
4:00 to 34:00 -- Opening discussion about Taylor Swift
34:00 to end -- Playlists

Alex, Emily, and John discuss Christopher Nolan's 2023 movie Oppenheimer. They also discuss Taylor Swift's cultural omnipresence, Emily's ranking of the Jurassic Park franchise movies, the idea of "You Must Watch This..." as a future podcast theme, and the genre of science fiction.

Andrea and Emily discuss two albums of alternate rock band Death Cab for Cutie: Transatlanticism (2003) and Asphalt Meadows (2023). An episode 6 months in the making, they talk about these albums that are separated in time by 20 years but are connected by many themes. Topics include: our punk roots, the pandemic, the Beatles, glove compartments, and more!

Intro music: Bossa In My Heart by SergeQuadrado. Outro music: Life of a Wandering Wizard by SergeQuadrado.

Alex and Emily discuss two of the big movies released in 2023: The Killer (David Fincher) and Killers of the Flower Moon (Martin Scorsese). They start the conversation with a short discussion of the band The Killers, and Alex gives a top 5 of songs with the word "Killer" in the title. 

Music discussion at the start
"The Killer" discussion starts @ 11:00 
"Killers of the Flower Moon" discussion starts @ 37:00