Paul tackles the granddaddy of Norse Sagas with the story of Sigurd the Dragon-slayer, role of Odin and the lovely Brunhild; Attila the Hun drops in, and there's also the discussion of this saga's adaptation by Richard Wagner, and it's lamentable appropriation by the Nazis. 

Byock, Jesse L. (Translator). The Saga of the Volsungs. Berkley: U. Of California Press, 1990.

Jones, Chuck. What's Opera, Doc? USA: Warner Bros. Cartoons, 1957.

Tarantino, Quentin. Django Unchained. USA: Columbia Pictures, 2012.

Wagner, Richard. Die Walkure. 1870.

Have you noticed that no popular hero gets to retire or just ride off into the sunset? Sure, because Harrison Ford needs to make bank, but it seems indicative of an overall problem of not letting people just be old.

The Presidents of the United States America. "Back Porch." The Presidents of the United States of America. PopLlama/Columbia, 1995.

Young, Neil. "Old Man." Harvest. Reprise, 1972. 

I spent like fifteen minutes thinking up an episode title and that's the best I came up with. But this is a great episode about the second volume of the Lord of the Rings.

Faith No More. "Epic" from The Real Thing. Slash,1990. 
Tolkien, J.R.R. The Two Towers. London: Harper Collins, 2010.
Torrini, Emiliana. "Gollum's Song" from The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Reprise, 2006.  

There's been a lot of hullabaloo and even a fair amount of ballyhoo about this Snyder Cut JLA movie shenanigan. It was mostly a McGuffin, I figure.  But why, why is it so hard to make this thing better? Because at it's heart, the Snyder-verse is a flawed creation.

Paul discusses the Man of Steele, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (a movie that's actually worse than its horrid title), the Whedon Justice League, and the four hour Snyder (not so) Cut


Snyder, Zack. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Warner Bros, 2016
Snyder, Zack. Justice League. Warner Bros, 2017
Snyder, Zack. Man of Steel. Warner Bros, 2013
Snyder, Zack. Zack Snyder's Justice League. Warner Bros, HBO Max 2021

"Is She With You?" composed by Hans Zimmer and Junkie XL
"Superman Theme" composed by John Williams

Batman is the most popular super hero in existence, but his depiction as the grim, humourless Dark Knight hasn't been the whole story of his 82-year history. In this episode, Paul explores the critical period from 1986-1989 that completely redefined the character through four texts.

Miller, Frank. The Dark Knight Returns. DC Comics: New York, 1986. 

Moore, Alan and Brian Bolland. Batman: The Killing Joke. DC Comics: New York, 1988.

Morrison, Grant and Dave McKean. Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on a Serious Earth. DC Comics: New York, 1989.

Starlin, Jim and Jim Aparo. Batman: A Death in the Family. DC Comics: New York, 1988. 

Batman theme (1989 and 1992) composed by Danny Elfman.  

I'm just kidding with that title, but it's pretty clear that the majority of people who have encountered the Godfather in the past forty years have encountered it as a film first. I finally sat down to read the novel and compare it to the two fine films.

Coppola, Francis Ford. The Godfather. Paramount Pictures: USA, 1972.

Coppola, Francis Ford, The Godfather Part II. Paramount Pictures: USA, 1974.

Puzo, Mario. The Godfather. Signet: New York, 1999. 

"The Godfather Waltz" composed by Nino Rota

In films and novels, writers often write the hero as someone like themselves. In this Rambling episode, Paul looks at a few writers who are heroes. Sometimes they're the Hemingway type--an action hero with a typewriter, but usually they're just a regular person caught up in events. 

Viking Stuff! (well, Anglo-Saxon stuff)

The starting place of English literature. An epic poem difficult to translate and even harder to adapt.

Paul Talks Beowulf. The poem, it's themes, its characters and monsters, its influence. As well, Paul discusses some noteworthy (not always good!) film and novel versions. 

Donaldson, E. Talbot. Beowulf: A New Prose Translation. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 1966.

Heaney, Seamus. Beowulf. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2000.

Tolkien, J.R.R. Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary. London, Harper Collins, 2014.

Paul freakin' finished War and Peace!

(It's a happy coincidence that this episode is being released on MLK Jr. Day in the US!)

To Kill a Mockingbird is Harper Lee's 1960 masterpiece and has remained noteworthy and controversial for its entire history. It's never been out of print, is taught in schools across North America, and in Paul's opinion is one of the books everyone must read.

Its heroes and villains are simple to see and understand, its themes clear. And yet, because it is told from the point of view of Scout Finch, a young girl, there is still so much that is unexplained and implied.

In this episode, Paul looks at how the motif of light in darkness is used in several key scenes and in relation to some of the key characters, including Scout, Atticus, Jem, and of course Boo Radley.

Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. New York: Grand Central, 1982.