Ep. 85 - Kafka's Wet Dream - (Harry Potter and The Order Of The Phoenix)

Welcome to the first foursome for Really True Fiction! A big thanks to Dan, Lydia and Graham for joining me to chat about the (best?) sixth Harry Potter book. In our conversation we cover such ground as:

Relationships as status vs feeling, the monster in the chest, Ginny's subtle art of not giving a fuck, being blinded by bias, humanized villains, evil downstream of fear, what happens when you refuse a tyrant, Malfoy starting in pride, standing up to optics and propaganda, scapegoating, solving problems as the actual best form of PR, navigating popularity, navigating management, Dumbledore's patience, and how women might not get along.

 

Thanks again for listening!

Jump on the Hogwart's Express! We are going to back school!

 

I'm very pleased to be joined by Dan Holder (who joined me on the Master and Commander episode) and Lydia Rollinson to talk about the fifth Harry Potter book. It was a total blast to have two Brits on to talk about a very British, as well as very archetypal, story.

Talking about Order of the Phoenix we discuss the clash between Harry Potter and Evangelical Christianity in the 90s, avoiding hard problems, anxiety in regards to bureaucracies, Harry's blindspots, what it would be like to see your memories like a movie, adopting multiple perspectives, paternal/maternalism, moral philosophy, adults apologizing to children and many more topics. Thanks so much for listening to Really True Fiction!

Additional spoilers:

The Farewell - 1:21:20

For this episode of Really True Fiction I am pleased to have Stuart Kaija and Graham King on as guests to discuss the 2013 novel The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson (winner of the Pulitzer prize). I had never heard of this book before it being introduced to me for this episode and I thorougly enjoyed it. It is, broadly speaking, about the experiences of a young North Korean man through his rise, and fall, and rise again, and fall again in the North Korean's state apparatus. 

In this episode we discuss how the subconcious does the dirty work, how propaganda is never about the content of what it is talking about but rather a reminder that the government is always there, the lies of totalitarianism and how it corrodes the nature of an inner life, among many other facets. Enjoy!

 

Additional Spoilers:

Call of Duty Black Ops - 33:30

Fight Club - 35:55

Welcome back!

 

In the first new episode in over a year, I was very happy and enlightened with sit down and chat with my friend Dan Holder. When I asked Dan what story he would be most interested in talking about for RTF he quickly replied Master and Commander.

 

As I learned, Master and Commander is a 20+ book series on the adventures of Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin. As such, we condensed the series down to watching the 2003 film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World; starring Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany. I absolutely loved this film and can't believe I didn't see it when it first came out.

 

In this episode we discuss:

• The British fleet and what it meant to the British psyche
• The role of duty and how historical pieces help us view how people in the past had different mindsets than today
• Superstition at sea and how that affects people
• The beauty of the Galopagos Islands and how they engender a sense of secular spirituality in me
• Many other elements of the film and books.

 

A big thanks to Dan in joining me for this episode, and stay tuned for more!

In this episode we are discussing Franz Kafka's The Trial; written in 1914 but not published until 1925. This is an incredible and seminal work in modern literature and should be read by everyone. In this episode we talk about:

- The style of a story that puts the audience in touch with the feelings of a character

- If you don't know what you have done wrong than everything comes to mind and it is paralyzing and demoralizing

- Bureaucracy as modern tyranny

- The importance of trust in society

- The bullet or the knife are never relative

- Jostling and career maneuvering as the primary reason for people in these industries, not the betterment of the people they are "helping"

- Irrelevancy is the bureaucrats kryptonite; and they will do anyting to avoid that

- Why even have options?

We really appreciate everyone who listens. Please feel free to support the show by giving a rating or review on whatever platform you listen to it. 

Email:

reallytruefiction@gmail.com

Direct download:

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Welcome to our second foray into the world of F. Scott Fitzgerald. In this episode we discuss his first novel This Side Of Paradise. We talk about:

- How it might feel to have peers die on mass, Eros and Thanatos, egoism vs. narrcacism, the resentment of educated people towards those who make more money than them, hedgehogs vs foxes, butthurtedness, definite optimism and pragmatism, speed and velocity, conformity, personality vs personage, the flywheel life, and cynicism. 

 

Thank you for listening to Really True Fiction, please tell your friends if you think they would be interested in this podcast. You can send us an email at:

reallytruefiction@gmail.com

You can listen to all episodes at:

https://reallytruefiction.libsyn.com/

May the force be with you!

 

 

For this eigthieth episode of RTF I am pleased to be joined by Alex Cormier to talk about the Kubrick film The Shining. Alex and I co-host a radio show called Full Spectrum Cinema, and you can find the link for that posted below. In this episode we discuss:

- Stephen Kings horror is better shown in his human monsters vs his supernatural ones

- The different ways Wendy and Jack fail as parents, and how Danny is scared to misbehave

- Jack's substance abuse, "how did it get to this Jack?"

-  How the ugly can destroy the creative

- Not facing hard things, undermining Jack's masculinity, Danny and Theseus, and the cinematic beauty of this film.

Thanks again to everyone who listens. All episodes of Really True Fiction can be found at this link:

https://reallytruefiction.libsyn.com/

And here is the mixcloud link for Full Spectrum Cinema:

https://www.mixcloud.com/lexacorm/

May the force be with you

 

A update minisode for RTF. This is all about why there haven't been as many new episodes and what the future will be. Part of the reason are the new creative projects David and I have embarked on. Please see links for those projects.

The Canadian Story

https://www.thecanadianstory.com/

The Liberal Soul

https://theliberalsoul87.libsyn.com/

Nothing To Fear

https://anchor.fm/nothingtofear

Full Spectrum Cinema

https://www.mixcloud.com/Lexacorm/

Welcome to our only tradition at RTF: a Christmas episode. For our third foray into traditional Christmas tales we tackle the Frank Capra classic It's A Wonderful Life. Additionally, as per our prerogative of doing a classic cartoon as well, we wax our thoughts on the Frosty the Snowman animation. In this episode we talk about imagination coming back to help us in hard moments, shifting perspective, defeating solipsism, the limits of markets to combat consumerism, how hard it can be to see what you are to others, and what the next existential frontier could look like.

We at Really True Fiction wish you and yours a Merry Christmas and we are very grateful that you listen to the show. 

https://reallytruefiction.libsyn.com/

Thanks for joining us into our first foray in Chinese Sci Fi. The Three Body Problem is a 2005 novel by Cixin Liu. It is the first part of a trilogy; which we will do eventually. This novel is partially about the three body problem in physics, and partially about many other things. Some of the things we chat about in this episode are: how cool it is to read a Chinese take on Sci Fi, what the ethos of science is, what physics could be like in other places, the weird optimism of science and humanity, meliorism and it's importance, the importance of religious freedom, the older generations letting the younger ones push them around, and science vs. ideology.

*The Ted Chiang short story we couldn't remember the title of in the recording is called Hell Is The Absence of God*

Thanks for joining us again. If you love the dulcet and mellifluous tones of David's voice, you can hear him more at The Canadian Story podcast at this link: https://www.thecanadianstory.com/