Nurture and Support

It’s all about Science and Steampunk! (And maybe a little bit about Victorian Underwear.)

Mel’s Recommendation:

Book/Comic/Web-Comic: Girl Genius: A Gaslamp Fantasy with Adventure, Romance and Mad Science

* A wonderful Steampunk Web-Comic by Phil and Kaja Foglio available at GirlGeniusOnline.com

* If you’re new to this one, definitely start in the archives here.

* Girl Genius tells the story of Agatha Heterodyne, a builder of “clanks” in a Steampunk Victorian Era Europe and her ongoing adventures.

* It’s a fun steampunk/gaslamp romp with a fun heroine, lots of airships, and a huge cast of quirky characters. You have got to meet some Jagerkin.

 

Kelly’s Recommendation:

Music: ‘Here Comes Science’ by They Might Be Giants

* A 2009 Album by TMBG. While technically a children’s album, both Kelly and Mel like this one.

* Check out all of the Music Videos from the album here!

* The great sun debate (gas or plasma) is settled in this album.  You all recall the big sun debate, right???

* You get the DVD and CD when you purchase the physical version.

 

 

 

Social Media Recommendations:

Mel: @superherotexts: Like it says, it’s Texts From Superheros.

Kelly: @nailedit: As you might suspect, these people did not, in fact, “nail it”.

 

Want to subscribe to the Nurture and Support podcast??   Our feed – http://nurtureandsupport.net/feed/podcast  iTunes – Nurture and Support Thanks for listening! Mel (@karmic9) and Kelly (@kellythul)

Kelly listens to more Alice Cooper and shows us Alice in France while Mel pretends to be a doctor in Theme Hospital and hunts a very elusive Raptr.

Kelly’s Recommendation:

 Music: Special Forces by ALICE COOPER

*  Special Forces is a 1981 album by the one and only Alice Cooper that’s the middle one of the three “Blackout Albums” that Alice does not actually remember recording in the early 80s.

* The album photos and tour featured the biggest departure from Alice’s “traditional” make-up… and even Kelly admits it is “not his best look”.

* If Alice was ever in charge of his own branch of the military, it would look and sound like “Special Forces”.  So there is that.

 Video: Special Forces in Paris!

* Alice and the band did a series of Special Forces music videos on French TV!

* In addition to most of the Special Forces songs, the show featured past hits like “Under My Wheels”…

 

 

Mel’s Recommendation:

Game: Theme Hospital by Bullfrog Productions/ Electronic Arts

* a 1999 Hospital Management Sim game that is full of fun diseases like Bloaty Head,  The Squits, Slack Tongue, and Heaped Piles.

* It’s available over at GOG.com and due to their awesomeness, it will now play on your Windows 8 computer!

* Sadly, the GOG version will not give you play credit on Raptr, but it’s still worth it.

Game Service: Raptr

* A gaming community/service that tracks not only your games, but the time you spend playing them!

* You actually earn points for the time you spend playing PC, Xbox, Playstaion, or Wii games.

* Join up and join the hunt for this adorable little guy, the elusive Raptr Dino Plushie!

Social Media Recommendations:

Kelly: @theretronaut: All retro photos every hour!

Mel: @geekbegangster: Geek stuff galore!

Want to subscribe to the Nurture and Support podcast??   Our feed – http://nurtureandsupport.net/feed/podcast  iTunes – Nurture and Support Thanks for listening! Mel (@karmic9) and Kelly (@kellythul)

This week, Kelly talks about George Romero’s zombies and Mel reads a space book.

Mel’s Recommendation:

 

Book: Fluency by Jen Foehner Wells aka @Jenthulhu

* A Science Fiction novel that centers around a linguist named Jane Holloway attempting to make first contact with an alien species. Jane and her fellow astronauts have been sent to investigate a silent alien spaceship that has been sitting out past Mars for several decades.

* Mel assures Kelly that while there is some romance in this novel, this isn’t a “bodice-ripping-in-space” story.

* The author has included a number of fun nerd references. See if you can find them all!

* Check out the author’s website here and Fluency on Goodreads.

 

Kelly’s Recommendation:

 

Movie/Documentary: Birth of the Living Dead

* 1968. Peace. Love. And the Undead.

* The story of George Romero’s creation of ‘Night of the Living Dead’ and ZOMBIES!

* Learn about how he got his start in film making with Mr. Rogers and Calgon.

* You might want to watch ‘Night of the Living Dead‘ again first.

* Check it out on Netflix!

 

And a bonus video, just for Mel…

 

Social Media Recommendations:

 

Mel:@PopSci: the twitter account of Popular Science magazine. They recently told Mel about a killer amoeba who calls way more people than sharks every year.

Kelly: @CrapTaxidermy: Like it sounds, they memorialize unfortunate examples of very bad attempts at taxidermy.

 

Want to subscribe to the Nurture and Support podcast??   Our feed – http://nurtureandsupport.net/feed/podcast  iTunes – Nurture and Support Thanks for listening! Mel (@karmic9) and Kelly (@kellythul)

We present to you the makings of a perfect summer weekend: a Hammock, a Tomato, and a Sharknado (book).

Kelly’s Recommendation:

Music: Little Feat’s ‘Waiting for Columbus’ Live Album (1978)

* Little Feat is a genre crossing band formed by Lowell George. (Mel likes the term Swamp Rock.)

* Features a Tomato-Headed Woman sitting in a Hammock on the cover….

* The first full track “Fat Man in the Bath Tub” TOTALLY sold Kelly.

* Listen to the album out on Spotify and check out LittleFeat.net for info.

* If you like the album cover, you can even get that Hot Tomato Lady on a t-shirt here.

* Learn the secret of the Tomato and the Hammock

* One of the best live albums EVER!

 

Mel’s Recommendation:

 

Book: ‘How to Survive a Sharknado and Other Unnatural Disasters’ by Andrew Shaffer

* Yes, this is a book that was born from the Sharknado horror wonderfulness.

* Don’t worry, it’s not just about Sharknados. It’s mostly about the “Other Unnatural Disasters” part.

* I feel it’s more like a bestiary of wonderful exotic creatures like SHARKTOPUS and PIRANHACONDA with a few ARACHNOQUAKES and ICE TWISTERS for good measure.

* There’s also a sort of Alice Cooper reference (see the Bigfoot section)

* If you’re a fan of so-bad-they’re-good B movies, you need to get yourself a copy. You’ll sleep better at night. I promise. ~M

* Check out more at the author’s site, or at SharknadoBook.com

 

Social Media Recommendations:

 

Kelly: @Amy_Glitters: A clever lady that live tweets bad movies. Join in!

Mel: @AndrewTShaffer: The humorous author of “How To Survive A Sharknado” knows his B movie monsters…

 

Want to subscribe to the Nurture and Support podcast??   Our feed – http://nurtureandsupport.net/feed/podcast  iTunes – Nurture and Support Thanks for listening! Mel (@karmic9) and Kelly (@kellythul)

Nurture and Support’s favorite pro bono voice over guy, Matt Shivers joined us once again.  SPOILER ALERT: At the end of the show Mel and Kelly start talking Breaking Bad again – they can’t help themselves.

Mel’s Recommendation:

Blah blah 4 book trilogy, blah blah (awesome cover pics)

Click the Pics to unfurl the awesome.

 

 

Book Trilogy: Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn by Tad Williams

* This Epic Fantasy actually consisted of 4 paperbacks because the last book had to be split into 2 parts since it weighed in at ~1700 pages.

* This is a classic Epic Fantasy and hits all the tropes. In a good way. In a nutshell, a lowly kitchen boy must save his people from an ancient evil. There are Wise Old Men, a Courageous Prince, a Good Prince, a Bad Prince, Elves, Wolves, Trolls, and maybe even a Dragon or two.

* The books in order are: The Dragonbone Chair, The Stone of Farewell, and To Green Angel Tower Part 1 and Part 2.

* The covers were done by the incomparable Michael Whelan. Check out his work at michaelwhelan.com.

* The Dragonbone Chair was released in 1988 and the series finished with To Green Angel Tower in 1993. Happily, the author has released that he will be returning to the land of Osten Ard with an all new trilogy. A date has not yet been released.

 

Matt’s Recommendation

We tricked Matt Shivers (@MattShiversVO) into joining us again! We may or may not have had ulterior motives. Only time will tell.

Event: COMIC-CON! otherwise known as SDCC or boringly as Comic-Con International: San Diego

* Matt made us all jealous by actually getting to go to this year’s Pop Culture Extravaganza, because he was actually on a PANEL!

* The panel was for the short film Fluffystein, where Matt’s voice acting skills were featured. This was a really cool project that was made from a script written by two teenage girls. Check out the full short below!

* Matt even has an IMDB listing now. We ARE NOT jealous.

* While at Comic-Con, he also visited NERD HQ and sat in on Conversations with Zachary Levi. Mel is VERY JEALOUS.

 

 

Kelly’s Recommendation

TV Show/ Cartoon: Archer (currently on FX)

* Kelly eventually recommended the TV series Archer. While not as thoughtful as Matt’s and Mel’s recommendations, it is very funny.

* “A wonderful show full of horrible people” Me...

Kelly tells us about a musical you may have heard of called ‘Book of Mormon’; and Mel watches some Lifetime TV and finds ‘The Witches of East End’.

 Kelly’s Recommendation:

Musical/Music (Soundtrack): The Book of Mormon

* The award winning musical by the creators of South Park explain Mormonism… sort of.

* There are Star Wars references and a ‘Spooky Mormon Hell’.

* It is full of clever tweaks on songs from other famous musicals.

* For you Frozen fans out there, Olaf  is there.  Sorta.

* The Soundtrack is available from all music retailers, but you’ll need to catch the show at your local performing arts center.

 

 

 

Mel’s Recommendation:

TV Series: ‘Witches of East End’ on Lifetime

* The series is currently in Season 2 on the Lifetime Channel and is loosely based on the books by Melissa de la Cruz

* As you can see, it has lots of Beautiful People in it. So much so that the song  ‘Beautiful People’ is used in it’s promos.

* It’s the story of the Beauchamp Family, who are all witches who have been cursed. Seriously, Aunt Wendy often steals the show by turning into a cat.

* There’s quite a twitter following for the show, so join in if you get the chance.

* Season 1 is available on Netflix, and Season 2 can be seen on Lifetime’s website.

 

Social Media Recommendations:

Kelly: @RockSkimmer: David Davidson is a self admitted “Freak of Nurture”. He’s very good at the Hashtag games on Twitter an has a complicated relationship with a stuffed squirrel.

 

Mel: @SciencePorn: If you think science is sexy, they’re your guy… or gal…. or whatever.

 

Want to subscribe to the Nurture and Support podcast??   Our feed – http://nurtureandsupport.net/feed/podcast  iTunes – Nurture and Support Thanks for listening! Mel (@karmic9) and Kelly (@kellythul)

Throw Penalty Cards at your friends after watching a Warlock curse a Valley Girl.

 

Mel’s Recommendation:

 

Movie: Warlock (1991)

* A super fun Evil Warlock travels through time from 1691 to 1991 California in search of the Grand Grimoire. That’s an evil witch book by the way. You can’t blame him really, they were going to burn him over a bonfire with a basket of live cats.

* It stars Julian Sands (Warlock), Lori Singer (Kassandra), and Richard Grant (Redfern).

* “Ask me anything, I took 2 years of high school.” ~Kassandra

* Sadly it’s not available on Netflix, but it is available to rent/buy from Amazon Instant Video, or buy from iTunes.

 

Kelly’s Recommendation:

 

Web Service: PenaltyCards.com: ‘They deserve it. They really do.’

* Ever wish you could throw a penalty card at your friends, family, and coworkers? Here’s your chance.

* Reward good behavior with a pretty Green Card. (Mel likes to call it Super Green because she’s seen Fifth Element too many times.)

* Penalize bad behavior with a Yellow, Red, or Black Card. The Black Card may or may not involve burning the offensive party over a basket of live cats. (See the Warlock discussion above.)

* Penaltycards.com gets a Green Card for Facebook integration, but Twitter is a little more hands on. Don’t worry, you won’t get carded for it.

* Psst: Our own Kelly created this one! ~Mel

 

Social Media Recommendations:

 

Mel: @eridani99: Laurie K over on twitter is a ‘Computer geek, gamer girl, part time blogger, io9 moderator, gadget lover, novice cookiemancer’ and she’s cool to boot so go follow her. Now.

Kelly: @VisualLasVegas: Fun and cool pictures of Las Vegas and environs (that don’t crush your soul).

We talk Attack on Titan, Sharktopus Art, and the Amazon Prime Directive.

Kelly’s Recommendation:

TV Series/Book (Manga): Attack on Titan

* The Anime series is available on Netflix!

* Check out the first book in the Manga Series here.

* Attack on Titan is the story of humanity’s ongoing struggle against people-devouring giants called Titans.

* The Anime on Netflix uses subtitles, so it counts as reading!!

 

Mel’s Recomendations:

Because Mel couldn’t decide on which was more awesome, she’s recommending 2 Digital Artists today!

I heart You, Sharktopus by EricDaNerd on deviantART

Artist #1: EricDaNerd

* One word, folks. SHARKTOPUS!

* As you can see, Eric has created the most adorably chubby Sharktopus ever. (I want to hug him and squeeze him and take him home with me. ~M)

* There’s more to see at his website: ericdanerd.wordpress.com and at DeviantArt.

* Get your very own Sharktopus mug at his store!

* Who wants to get a chubby Sharktopus tattoo with Mel?

Artist #2: Chris McGrath

* Chris has done the book covers for some of Mel’s favorite books, including The Dresden Files books she talked about back in Episode 8.

* Check out his gallery at his website, christianmcgrath.com and follow him on twitter @cmcgrath72

* AND he’s putting up a bunch of his book cover illustration on his store, so you can buy prints and iphone/ipad cases!

 

Mel’s Secondary (Tertiary?) Recommendation:

Store/Service: Amazon Smile

* A program started last year by the Big Evil Corporation to give a small amount of money (.05%) of your physical goods purchases to the charity of your choice.

* Go to smile.amazon.com to sign up

* This has been an Amazon Prime Directive.

This episode we’re leading a Princess through Monument Valley, and taking a trip on a little runaway train called Snowpiercer.

Mel’s Recommendation:

 

Movie: Snowpiercer (2013)

* A fantastic post-apocalyptic dystopia set on a train. Yes, a train.

* This exciting story is set 18 years after a failed attempt at controlling global warming sent the planet into an ice age. The last of humanity lives on a train that circles the frozen Earth once per year. For the economy class passengers in the Tail of the train, it’s not a pleasant little road trip and they decide to change their fate.

* It’s been described as “Hunger Games on a train”, but I think it’s more like Hugh Howey’s ‘Wool’ running into the Capital from ‘Hunger Games’.

* It stars Chris Evans, John Hurt, Kang-ho Song (from The Host), Tilda Swinton, and Octavia Spencer to name a few.

* If you missed the limited run of this Korean movie by Radius TWC in theaters, don’t worry! It’s on Video On Demand as of July 11.

 

 

Kelly’s Recommendation:

 

Game App: Monument Valley

* An iOS and Android app by ustwo.

* ustwo describes the game as “An Illusory adventure of impossible architecture and forgiveness.”

* Check out some of the beautiful screenshots from this game here.

* Art deco meets Escher meets awesome

* You have to play a princess, but it is all cool

 

 

Kelly’s UN-Recommendation

Game App: Flappy Zombie on iOS. Just don’t do it folks.

 

Social Media Recommendations:

Mel: @scottEweinberg on twitter: Scott Weinberg is an online film critic and quite the funny guy. Just go follow him already.

Kelly: @bengreenman on twitter. A writer  for New Yorker Mag. who is responsible for Kelly’s creation of the national holiday, Harbor Day.

 

 

Want to subscribe to the Nurture and Support podcast??  

Our feed – http://nurtureandsupport.net/feed/podcast 

iTunes – Nurture and Support

Thanks for listening! Mel (@karmic9) and Kelly (@kellythul)

 

There are things that go bad in life, like Disney World, football, and Angels, but Christopher Walken will always make it better.

Kelly’s Recommendation:

Movie: Escape From Tomorrow: Bad Things Happen Everywhere.

* a 2013 Horror movie that was filmed guerrilla style at Disney World that’s not for the faint of heart.

* It has one of the most awesome movie posters EVER.

* Check out just how long that it’s been without a lawsuit from Disney at EscapeFromTomorrow.com

* It’s available on Netflix! Buy or rent from Amazon or iTunes.

* The soundtrack is on Spotify for your listening pleasure.

 

Mel’s Recommendation:

Movie: The Prophecy

* a 1995 Dark Comedy/Horror  movie starring CHRISTOPHER WALKEN!

* Good Angels vs Bad Angels fight over the most evil soul on Earth to win the Second War in Heaven.

* Christopher Walken has a zombie sidekick.

* Keep your eyes open and you’ll see Viggo Mortensen as Lucifer.

* There are 5 movies in the series (not all featuring Walken) and they are all available on Netflix.

 

Social Media Recommendations:

Kelly’s: @KurtVan : Kurt Vanderah remembered that Kelly won The Piranhaconda Egg from Syfy and tweeted this fact.  That is EXACTLY how to get Kelly to recommend you on Twitter.  Kurt also has an intense Bears Packers rivalry with his daughter…

Mel’s: @Shark_Katharine: Katharine the Shark is one of OCEARCH.org’s tagged Great White Sharks that is currently hanging out in the Gulf of Mexico.

 

Want to subscribe to the Nurture and Support podcast??  

Our feed – http://nurtureandsupport.net/feed/podcast 

iTunes – Nurture and Support

Thanks for listening! Mel (@karmic9) and Kelly (@kellythul)