Peep This Noise

This week, we're back for our first ever two-part episode, where we'll finish talking about Toradora!— at least for now. In this episode, we take a character each and examine how they interact with the show's core ideas of love and selfishness. Gregg talks about Ami Kawashima and how her need to be understood influences her understanding of love and connection; Nathaniel talks about Minori Kushieda and her emotional strategies of self-sacrifice for those around her; and Logan talks about Taiga Aisaka's instinctive discursive ownership of her feelings.

Most importantly, Logan expands upon his developing thesis that Ryuji Takasu has oatmeal for brains.

Hope you enjoy the episode!

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Everybody loves a good love story, right? Well at Peep This Noise, we certainly do, and this week, we're starting to talk about a great one. This week's media is an anime called Toradora!, and it's the heartwarming story of two neighbors, Taiga Aisaka (The Palm-Top Tiger) and Ryuji Takasu.

We talk about the way that Toradora! explores various kinds of love and friendship. We talk about the ways certain characters interact, and how some of them create a certain selfishness in their relationships.

But most importantly, we stan Taiga Aisaka. Like, a lot.

Hope you enjoy the episode!

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In 2013, The Fulbright Company released Gone Home into a video game scene full of re-used ideas and similar progression loops. Gone Home bucks the trend by playing in the "walking simulator" genre, which means that gameplay is light, and narrative elements take a heavy focus as players physically explore a three-dimensional space and (ideally) experience emotions similar to what the main character might feel.

In this episode, we talk about the aesthetic, themes, and ideas found in Gone Home. We give our insights and reads into what some consider to be one of the most emotive games of our generation.

Sorry for the little bit of background noise in this episode; we're just doing our best out here.

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This episode of Peep This Noise is— admittedly— a little different. It's not a traditional examination of our intended media (the short film Isle of Flowers) due to our inability to access it for review.

Instead, we're examining three theoretical frameworks: Post-Colonialism, Historical Particularism, and Marxism. We talk about some basic ideas of each view, and how we use them to read texts.

Despite the fact that it's unorthodox, we hope you enjoy this insight into a few of the things we read to help us wrap our heads around culture!

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Hello, sweet summer children! Due to some unexpected difficulties, we're releasing this old episode from our archive!

In it, we talk about The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, which is something of a common text in literary studies... Not that I had any idea of that at the time we recorded this episode, all the way back in November 2019.

If you want to read it before listening, you should be able to find it on the internet for free.

Also, stay around for the whole thing to hear Gregg do an impassioned reading of the story's final moments.

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Florence is an independent mobile game which hails from Australia, where it was developed by a small team called Mountains in Melbourne. The game is a touching rendition of a beautiful relationship, and what it means to fall in love.

In this episode, we dive into the game's soundtrack, and some of the fascinating gameplay elements. We talk about how these pieces contribute to the storytelling of the game in meaningful ways, and we talk about our favorite parts. Things also get pretty personal as we discuss some of our own relationships, and where the game hit us hardest.

If you were intimidated by the fact we chose a game (maybe you're not really a gamer) don't be! It's easy enough to play, and if for some reason you aren't able to access the game's main content on your own, there are places to watch it be played (like on YouTube).

Thanks for listening; hope you enjoy!!

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Since 2017, Phoebe Bridgers has become one of the biggest names in indie music. Her folk-rock/emo debut Stranger in the Alps released in 2017 to positive reception that rocketed her career to new heights. Bridgers' music is somber, emotive, and haunting.

In this episode, we talk at length about Stranger in the Alps. We discuss its themes, the ideas of joy hidden inside its somber appearance, and its cathartic nature. Bob Dylan gets quoted, and so does Hamlet.

In order to aid in the explanations, we cut in some of Stranger in the Alps so that you could hear things we were talking about. Those cuts aren't perfect. Sorry about that.

Also, a PSA down here: Bridgers' album addresses some difficult concepts, including suicide, depression, and lethal injection. We only really address the last of these directly, and only for two brief moments, but if you're extremely sensitive to any of those things, we see you and totally understand. Just know that this album (and episode) might be one to sit out.

Hope you enjoy the episode!

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Hello, sweet summer children!

Unfortunately, Nathaniel is out this week on emergency medical leave (don't worry, he's alright), so we're releasing an episode that was previously buried in the archive of recorded but unreleased episodes from when we were getting started with our work on the show.

In this episode, we deep dive into "Aim and Ignite" by the baroque-pop band fun.. We chat about the album's themes, its most poignant lyricism, and what songs we like best.

fun. rose to international fame after the release of their second studio album, "Some Nights" (2012). The band has been on hiatus since the end of the tour surrounding the release of "Some Nights". Both "Aim and Ignite" and "Some Nights" are excellent, emotive, and walk a curious tightrope between blind faith and heartfelt agnosticism. If you're reading this, you should absolutely listen to both albums.

Also, we don't say it in the episode, but we're deeply grateful to Katy Davidson and the band Key Losers for allowing us to use their track "Don't Know Why" from the album "California Lite". This song bumpers our show, and without it, our voices would be hollow, empty, and sad.

There's a few oddities in this episode that come from its divorce from other segments of the show that are presently unreleased. Don't be upset; relish in the mystery. We're sure you'll hear those pieces later.

Thanks for listening. Remember: Everyone like bad things.

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In 2008, during the throes of a TV writer's strike, Joss Whedon and a small team released the mini-series Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, a short musical which comments and subverts superhero movies.

In this episode, we look at the mini-series and discuss the ways in which it anticipates modern superhero films. We examine how it adheres to and diverts from Campbell's "monomyth", and we talk about the music and the role it plays in the project.

Hope you enjoy!

PS: Sorry this is late and that Nathaniel and Gregg sound like they're underwater. It's been a tough remote recording

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K-Pop superstars BLACKPINK have been around the block out here in the United States. Between playing COACHELLA and recording with Dua Lipa, they're about as close as possible to being fixtures of Western pop culture. In this episode, we dig into a few of BLACKPINK's songs: "DDU-DU DDU-DU", "WHISTLE", "BOOMBAYAH", "Kill This Love", and "STAY".

We talk about the ways their music has interacted with Western pop and shifted away from a traditional K-Pop sound. We examine the style and aesthetic of BLACKPINK, and we talk about the use of military language and ideas in their music.

Apologies for the delay on this episode, we had some issues with uploading it.

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