Peep This Noise

This week, we dive into Octavia Butler's short story, Bloodchild. Full disclosure, this one gets a little visceral, but in our defense, it' a visceral read. We discuss themes of love, symbiosis, and parasitic relationships as they relate to the narrative. It's a real romp through this wild sci-fi tale.

Hope you enjoy!

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The Serpent and the Rainbow is a longer work, but it's one that's worth your time if you're interested in anthropology. The book details the work of ethnobotanist Wade Davis and his travels in Haiti, studying the potential origins of the phenomenon of zombification. In this episode, we discuss our thoughts on The Serpent and the Rainbow, its triumphs and its issues. We address the immense difficulty inherent in a white man's telling of a Haitian story, and we analyze the places where the narrative is at its most valuable.

Hope you enjoy!

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Hello, Sweet Summer Children!

Yes, this episode is also late. We're very sorry. We address it in the beginning of this episode, but with school on, editing on a regular schedule is a little bit difficult. On the plus side, the tardiness means you had plenty of time to watch Hamilton or listen to the soundtrack. In this episode, we let the void consume us and talk about why we all love this play. We also bring a bit of light criticism to keep things interesting. This episode also has more tangents than a geometry textbook. You can't say no to this.

Enjoy!

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Hello, Sweet Summer Children!

Apologies for the extra delay on this one. School has kicked up, and so I (Logan) officially slipped out of the editing groove while I moved. I'll be back to normal from here out, though.

This week, we talk about Taylor Swift's new album folklore, and we do a deep dive into some of our favorite tracks. We talk about what makes this album significant, and ultimately, where we all land on it. Hope you enjoy it!

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The album Blood on the Tracks is one of Bob Dylan's most enduring, featuring a few of his more famous songs and liner notes that won a Grammy on their own merits. In this episode, we discuss some of our favorite tracks and what they mean to us. We review some of Dylan's more personal lyrics, investigate the source of Dylan's songwriting, and analyze the concept of the American rock-and-roll "road warrior"

This episode has a little bit of audio difficulty, there were some noise gating issues that damaged the overall sound in the end. Hopefully they don't interfere too much, and you enjoy the episode notwithstanding.

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Hello, Sweet Summer Children! Our apologies on the lateness of this episode. As a result of a move, things had to be shuffled and delayed, but we hope to be back to a weekly release schedule after this one.

In the mean time, while this episode is here, you may as well enjoy it! In this one we talk about Lilo and Stitch, Disney's weird alien move form the early 00's. We talk about Secret Agent Cobra Bubbles, the relationship between would-be boyfriend David and the cute little family established in the film, and the way the film uses mirroring micro-narratives to establish its themes.

Hope you like it!

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Attack on Titan is a gritty, post-apocalyptic anime that explores the combat between the few remaining humans and vicious, giant beasts called Titans, which roam outside of the walls of a well-defended city. But this episode isn't about the gore and violence of that battle. In this one, we'll cover season 1, episode 14 of Attack on Titan, where a young man who can transform into a Titan is court-marshaled and put on trial.

In this episode, we talk about the various ways that Attack on Titan approaches politics, power dynamics, and religious zeal.

Content warning for Attack on Titan in general: This show is very violent and bloody. The episode discussed in today's podcast (S1,E14) is neither of those, though one character is hit repeatedly while imprisoned.

Spoilers throughout for Attack on Titan as a series beyond the episode in question; nothing character based, but a few world things here and there.

Hope you enjoy the episode!

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After an upload error delayed the release of this episode by four days, we decided to just save it for this week. Hopefully, though, that gave you time to read through Hemingway's Nobel Prize-winning classic The Old Man and the Sea. Inspired by the Hemingway's time spent in Cuba, this story details the battle between an experienced fisherman and the catch of a lifetime.

In this episode, we talk about the story's themes, Hemingway's life, and the nature of the Old Man's relationship to the sea. We reflect on the overall meaning of the story, and we talk about the role of "The Great DiMaggio".

Hope you enjoy!

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Somewhere, deep in the dark recesses of our minds, a phrase has emanated loudly for as long as we have released Peep This Noise. "Everyone likes bad things" is more than a pithy maxim we say to defend the things we questionably love... It's a defense of the topics we select to discuss on the show.

If you resonate with that opening, then boy, this episode is one for you. We discuss Disney's recent adaptation of Artemis Fowl, and let me tell ya, that film is a rough one. In this episode: Gregg laments the loss of the original source material, which is found almost nowhere in the film; Nathaniel discusses the problem of avoiding sensitive topics in children's movies; and Logan rants at length about how confusing the film was for him, given his lack of familiarity with the original text.

Hope you enjoy!

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While writing for Kotaku, critic Heather Alexandra once claimed that "criticism is an act of love". And if that's true, boy oh boy, we've got a lot of love for Atlantis: The Lost Empire. Released in 2001, the film is a splashy, colorful, and adventurous romp into some murky colonialist waters.

In this episode, we talk about why we love to hate Atlantis. We examine its many problematic elements, and Nathaniel defends some of the cheap shots we take at the film's issues. Gregg talks about the gut-wrenching pain he endured watching the film with an anthropology degree, and Logan uses the very professional and legitimate term "fake-woke" at least a quarter-dozen times.

Also, perhaps it's fitting, but this episode is a bit difficult to listen to, because Nathaniel and Gregg sound like they're underwater. Perhaps that's fitting, and if you listen close, you might even hear a whale noise.

No seriously. Early on, you might hear a whale noise. Or you might not. Who can say what ended up in this mix?

Hope you enjoy the episode!

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