215 – Guillermo Del Toro’s Frankenstein

This was a big episode for me to put together, as in I had to limit myself to the amount of time it takes to drink a pot of tea or else I would have talked about Guillermo Del Toro’s Frankenstein FOREVER.

How does it compare to Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel? How many Snapes do I award this film for its faithfulness to the source material? And what does that have to do with whether or not the movie was good?

In this episode I mentioned how Victor is a Byronic character. Here’s my previous episode where Chloë and I discuss Byronic themes in Taylor Swift’s lyrics:

214 – My Tween Has THOUGHTS About Banning Kpop Demon Hunters

Chloë does a lot for the show, mostly behind the scenes. But a school of literal actual Lilliputians has banned kids from singing songs from Kpop Demon Hunters struck a nerve, and I thought she had some great ideas about grownups freaking out over a great story that only has good things to teach children.

213 – Book Drama: Insane Paddington Bear Is Canceled

There are two bits of book related silliness to cover this week. A tiny group of outspoken activists are trying to cancel J.K. Rowling — again. And the corporate juggernaut Studio Canal+ has succeeded in canceling the wild-eyed parody of Paddington Bear that was featured on the revived comedy show Spitting Image.

Movie Night! Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

My friend Miguel Lopez joined me to record a commentary track for the silly and fun film Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which is based on the mashup novel by Seth Grahame-Smith that was based on the classic Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. You can play this commentary track while you watch the film:

Miguel spent twenty years in the United States Air Force, retiring with the rank of Major. He did a tour in Iraq and is now working on a PhD in History, focusing on World War II. He has a lot of great insight into the military situation in Jane Austen’s time and gives his opinion on the military prowess (or lack thereof) shown in the film.

Later we got together again to chat about the film and give it a Snape Score as well as a military ranking:

209 – Reading Rapunzel to Kids: Messy and Fun

First, we start off with some MORE tedious Harry Potter book drama.

Then you get a behind-the-scenes look at what goes into a Fireside Fairy Tale. I always test stories on my kids and their friends, and I don’t mind that there are interruptions and a bunch of noise. Asking questions means they are interested, and the kids always ask questions about things I take for granted, which helps me give better commentary for all of you.

208 – Take Me to the Promised Land

We start off with some book drama about a hilarious, not-safe-for kids parody of Paddington Bear on the comedy show Spitting Image as well as an unneccessary freakout over a url printed on children’s books leading to a spicy site.

In the main story, the biggest surprise for me this year is the amount of faith-based book adaptations that are . . . really good? Stories like this aren’t my usual thing, but I will enjoy a well told story no matter what it’s about, and a new web series doing a comedic adaptation of the Book of Exodus in a mockumentary style has got me hooked.