This podcast ran independently from 2016 to 2020. We reflect on our goals in creating it and how successful those were while trying to be transparent about the ins and outs of podcast production, marketing, and monetization.
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Supercontext: From Hell
This graphic novel by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell came out between 1989 and 1998, 100 years after the Jack the Ripper murders it’s based on. We look at the meticulous research they put into this to try to understand how this story manages to be about true crime while indulging in deep themes like English identity, psychogeography, and the nature of time.
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Additional Resources:
- A Look Back at ‘From Hell’ by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell
- Delivering the Twentieth Century, Part 1: Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell’s From Hell
- Delivering the 20th Century, Part 2: Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell’s From Hell
- The Great Alan Moore Reread: From Hell, Part 1
- The Great Alan Moore Reread: From Hell, Part 2
- Eddie Campbell explains why he’s coloring From Hell for the first time
- Michael J. Prince (2017) The magic of patriarchal oppression in Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell’s From Hell, Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics, 8:3, 252-263
- Vollmar, R. (2017). Northampton Calling. World Literature Today, 91(1), 28–34.
- The House That Jack Built – An Interview with Alan Moore (2002)
- From Hell And Back: The Eddie Campbell Interview
- Superhuman Cognitions, Fourth Dimension and Speculative Comics Narrative: Panel Repetition in Watchmen and From Hell
- Postimperial Landscapes “Psychogeography” and Englishness in Alan Moore’s Graphic Novel”From Hell: A Melodrama in Sixteen Parts” Author(s): Elizabeth Ho Source: Cultural Critique, No. 63 (Spring, 2006), pp. 99-121 Published by: University of Minnesota Press
Supercontext: Heat
This 1995 film by Michael Mann is considered a quintessential cops-and-robbers epic. We look at Mann’s attention to detail and his attempt at authenticity in light of the movie’s influence on audiences, filmmakers, and real-life criminals.
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Additional Resources:
- Interview w/ Eliot Goldenthanl
- Michael Mann Launches Book Imprint; ‘Heat’ Prequel Novel A Priority
- Life imitates art in Colombia robbery
- The long warm-up to Heat
- Heat
- Crime in the emptiness of Los Angeles
- Why Is Heat So Great? Let’s Ask Michael Mann.
- What Michael Mann Changed, and What He Didn’t, for the Anniversary Edition of Heat
- Michael Mann’s ‘Heat’: A Complex, Stylistically Supreme Candidate for One of the Most Impressive Films of the Nineties
- The Loneliness Of Los Angeles In Michael Mann’s ‘Heat’
- 10 Intense Behind-The-Scenes Facts About Heat
- Michael Mann eyes ‘Heat 2’ film as book nears completion
- Decades Later, Viewers Still Feel The ‘Heat’ For Michael Mann’s 1995 LA Crime Saga
- REVISITING THE L.A. OF ‘HEAT’ 24 YEARS LATER WITH THE ICONIC CRIME DRAMA’S LOCATION MANAGER
- La Story: The Making of Michael Mann’s “Heat” – by Tom Ambrose [Empire]
- Michael Mann on ‘Heat,’ 22 Years Later: What We’ve Learned from His Recent Interviews
Supercontext: Hounds of Love
This 1985 concept album by Kate Bush is split into pop songs and a suite of music about someone drowning. We look at Bush’s career arc leading up to this record and how the support she received from those around her allowed to experiment and create this wholly unique music.
Interested in the media we discussed this episode? Please support the show by purchasing it through our affiliate store:
Additional Resources:
- Kate Bush
- Kate Bush rules, OK?
- Hounds of Love
- Landmark Productions: Kate Bush – Hounds of Love
- Classic Album: Hounds Of Love – Kate Bush
- Cowley, J. (2005). The Wow factor. New Statesman, 134(4726), 38–39.
- Sinclair, D. (1994). Dear diary: The secret world of Kate Bush. Rolling Stone, 676, 13.
- Moy, R. (2007). Kate Bush and Hounds of Love. Ashgate.
Supercontext: Hyperion
Dan Simmon’s 1989 science-fiction novel is acclaimed for its unique structure, references, and style. We take a closer look at how it interrogates our expectations of genre to explore a complex host of themes. Thank you to Chris Marlton for coproducing this episode.
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Additional Resources:
- Throwback Thursday: The Mind-Altering Scope of Dan Simmons’ Hyperion Cantos
- Better to travel hopefully: Dan Simmons’s Hyperion
- Dan Simmons World-class maker of worlds
- Dan Simmons. By: Shindler, Dorman T., Writer (Kalmbach Publishing Co.), 00439517, Feb2001, Vol. 114, Issue 2
- THRALL, J. H. (2014). Authoring the Sacred: Humanism and Invented Scripture in Octavia Butler, Kurt Vonnegut and Dan Simmons. Implicit Religion, 17(4), 509.
- Shea, B. (2015). Evolution and Neuroethics in the Hyperion Cantos. Journal of Cognition & Neuroethics, 3(3), 139.
- The one huge problem with Dan Simmons’ sci-fi mystery Hyperion
- Eschatology and Pain in Dan Simmons’ Hyperion
- Senior, W. (2012). Dan Simmons’s Hyperion Cantos: The Fantasy Within. Hungarian Journal of English and American Studies (HJEAS), 18(1/2), 213-226.
Supercontext: Withnail & I
This 1987 film is celebrated as a cult classic for its depiction of self-destructive young Englishmen at the end of the 1960s. We discuss how creator Bruce Robinson got it made, and whether it congratulates its characters for their alcoholism or criticizes their generation and the end of that era of British culture.
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Additional Resources:
- How “Withnail & I” Became a Cult
- Withnail and I
- BRUCE ROBINSON Interviewed by Peter Murphy
- The World According To Grant
- 13 Loaded Facts About Withnail and I
- Withnail & I Comes Of Age This Year – If Only The Fans Would Too
- Withnail and I Facts and Trivia
- The Cult of Richard E. Grant’s Withnail and I Is Finally Having Its Moment
- We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful: “Withnail & I”
- Withnail and Brexit: Why the cult classic is the perfect movie for our troubled times
- https://www.grough.co.uk/magazine/2020/03/09/withnail-and-i-fans-prepare-for-lakeland-alfresco-screening-of-cult-film
Supercontext: We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
This 1962 novel is being reappraised by critics and fans as a creeping meditation on 1950s housewives, agoraphobia, and good old-fashioned New England persecution.
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Additional Resources:
- We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson – a house of ordinary horror
- The Witchcraft of Shirley Jackson
- Flavorwire Author Club: Shirley Jackson’s Haunting Final Novel, ‘We Have Always Lived in the Castle’
- SILVER, M. (2013). Is It Real? On Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle. Southern Review, 49(4), 665–667.
- Savoy, E. (2017). Between as if and is : On Shirley Jackson. Women’s Studies, 46(8), 827.
- BOYD TONKIN. (2015, July 29). Her dark materials: how Shirley Jackson became the ‘sorceress at the sink.’ Independent (UK).
- Shirley Jackson. (2020). Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th Edition, 1.
- We Have Always Lived in the Castle: A Prelude to a Myth
- How ‘We Have Always Lived In The Castle’ By Shirley Jackson Novel Made Me Love Horror — Even Though I Hate Being Scared
- The Haunted Mind of Shirley Jackson
Supercontext: Lone Wolf and Cub
This epic 1970s manga series is celebrated for its influence on other stories. We look at the conditions that produced it and how the comic represents Japanese history, revenge, gender, and the irredeemable hero on the road to Hell.
Interested in the media we discussed this episode? Please support the show by purchasing it through our affiliate store:
Additional Resources:
- ‘Lone Wolf and Cub’: Japan’s greatest samurai manga?
- The untold truth of Lone Wolf and Cub Read More
- Lone Wolf and Cub Part 1: History and Influences
- Lone Wolf and Cub Part 2: Revenge in the Epic Narrative Tradition
- Lone Wolf and Cub Part 3: Artwork and Swordplay
- Lone Wolf and Cub Part 4: Ogami Itto and the Rejection of Bushido
- Lone Wolf and Cub Part 6: Cloud Dragon, Wind Tiger
- If You Are Patient Like a Samurai, Kazuo Koike’s ‘Lone Wolf and Cub’ Will Reward You
- Transcultural Reinterpretation of the ‘Lone Wolf and Cub’ Narrative
- Kazuo Koike, 1936-2019
- An Expanded Look at Lone Wolf and Cub: The First arc – Meifumado
Supercontext: Fly By Night
This 1975 rock album began to define Rush’s identity after the late Neil Peart joined the band on drums and lyrics. We look at how they treated their band as a business to try to understand the particular blend of instrument solos and libertarian ideology that later defined them.
Interested in the media we discussed this episode? Please support the show by purchasing it through our affiliate store:
Additional Resources:
- Rush Dedicates Newest Album To Rod Serling
- Rush: The Complete Album-by-Album Guide
- The History Of Rush by Geddy Lee & Alex Lifeson: The Early Years
- Men At Work By Paul Elliott
- Rush-BTO’s Heavy Metal Challengers
- Success Under Pressure
- https://rush.fandom.com/wiki/Fly_by_Night_(Album)
- Rush: ‘You have no freedom. You do what you’re told to do. By the socialists’
- Flohil, R. (1975.) Rush: living the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle. The Canadian Composer (97).
Supercontext: The Goldfinch
This 2013 novel generated a cantankerous debate in the world of literary criticism over the quality of fiction and how we define it. We look at Tartt’s writing process and themes to try to understand whether this book deserved the praise and awards it received.
Interested in the media we discussed this episode? Please support the show by purchasing it through our affiliate store:
Additional Resources:
- It’s Tartt—But Is It Art?
- The Goldfinch is a bad movie because it is based on a deeply flawed book
- Donna Tartt on The Goldfinch, Inspiration, and the Perils of Literary Fame
- Why the backlash against Donna Tartt’s ‘The Goldfinch’ was so extreme (2014 Year in Review)
- I HEART DONNA TARTT: 10 FACTS ABOUT MYSTERIOUS AUTHOR OF ‘THE GOLDFINCH’
- Pulitzer Prize–Winner Donna Tartt on Writing The Goldfinch
- Donna Tartt shares The Goldfinch’s secret history
- Donna Tartt’s multicultural fantasy: How “The Goldfinch” got away with its disgraceful racial politics
- https://newrepublic.com/article/156282/not-write-book-review