Torture Cinema Poll for May 2015: Whose childhood should we destroy next?
You know the drill. Vote!
Torture Cinema Polls
Announcements and Errata
Announcement: Around the World (Cycle One) and the New Retro Nostalgia Begins!
For the past month, I’ve been thinking about my various blogging ventures and how to improve them. For Totally Pretentious, that has involved reconsidering how I engage with film in written form. After all, I can’t keep up with Hollywood’s production levels no matter how hard I try; that requires a full time commitment. So I decided to concentrate my film discussions on two specific projects: the Retro Nostalgia feature (derived from my personal blog) and a new feature called Around the World. There will still be the occasional review of a film that doesn’t fit in either of these categories, but my primary focus outside of the podcast will be on these two projects. These changes will also be noted on my Patreon page, which you can support if these columns (or anything I do) interest(s) you. So what are “Retro Nostalgia” and “Around the World”?
Blog Posts
The April 2015 Read List: What You Read and Loved
Last week, I asked for listeners/readers to share their favorite reads from April 2015. The following is a reading list comprised of those favorite reads. Do with this mystical knowledge what you will! Novels: Fool’s Assassin by Robin Hobb Edge of Dark by Brenda Cooper The Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin The Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler A Companion to Wolves by Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear The Boy Who Lost Fairyland by Catherynne M. Valente I, Robot by Isaac Asimov The Stars Seem So Far Away by Margrét Helgadottir Beasts of Tabat by Cat Rambo Last First Snow by Max Gladstone Short Stories: “The Shape of My Name” by Nino Cipri There you have it. It’s a small list, but we just started this fancy feature. I’ll put up a call for your favorite reads from May later this month! Now get reading!
The Skiffy and Fanty Show Podcasts
270. Logan’s Run (1976) — A Torture Cinema “Adventure”
http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFEpisode270LogansRun/SandF%20–%20Episode%20270%20–%20Logan's%20Run.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSS(I’ve temporarily disabled comments on this post because of an excess number of irritating spam. I’ll enable comments again in the future. If you’d like to get in touch about the episode, send us an email.) Carousels, Popsicle people, and protein from the sea, oh my! In this very special “Childhood Destruction” edition of Torture Cinema, the entire crew (minus Mike) join forces to talk about David’s childhood movie crush, Logan’s Run. We hope you enjoy the episode! Note: If you have iTunes and like this show, please give us a review on our iTunes page, or feel free to email us with your thoughts about the show! Here’s the episode (show notes are below): Episode 270 — Download (MP3) Show Notes:
The Skiffy and Fanty Show Podcasts
Episode 4. The Shop Around the Corner (1940): Romantic Fantasies, Cults of Personality, and the Chaos of Capital
http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/TotallyPretentiousEpisode004TheShopAroundTheCorner/TotallyPretentiousEpisode004–TheShopAroundTheCorner.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSRomantic Fantasies, Cults of Personality, and the Chaos of Capital! In our fourth episode, we drop back a decade to discuss Ernst Lubitsch’s The Shop Around the Corner starring James Stewart and Margaret Sullivan, from the character’s fantasies about romantic relationships to the posturing of its characters to the underlying metaphors and references embodied in the shop. Needless to say, we had a pretty intense discussion. This episode also marks the beginning of our Subscriber Drive. We want to add a second episode to the show, but we want to reach 200 subscribers before we do. The second episode would take the shape of a “Gap Filler” episode, wherein David and Shaun pick a movie they think is “good” that the other hasn’t seen but should. This will result in some very interesting choices. If you like what we do, help us spread the word about the show! Enjoy!
Blog Posts
Book Review: The Clockwork Dagger by Beth Cato
Octavia Leander is a healer, and a talented and blessed one at that. A graduate of Miss Percival’s school for the training of Medicians, those who can not only use herbs and other remedies to heal the sick, but draw upon the power of the Lady to do wondrous feats of healing, even wounds and conditions that threaten the victim with death. Octavia’s desire to use her talents, and an offer to help a village on the far end of the nation of Caskentia from her, leads her to board an airship for the long journey. On that ship, Leander faces intrigue, adventure, romance and danger, the latter especially in the person of the eponymous agent of the Queen, The Clockwork Dagger. The Clockwork Dagger is the debut novel from Beth Cato.