PrePopCulture

World Fantasy Award and Nebula Award winning author James Morrow and Morrow superfan Andrew Wollman join Jen to talk about Morrow's body of work. From his first books in the science fiction genre to his latest book, the historical fiction novel Galapagos Regained, Jim's passion for telling stories over the years seems to have been rivaled only by his passion for ideological discourse. He shares this love for entertaining along with his Nontological Proof as he discusses his works and career.

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Show notes:

• Find out more about James Morrow and his work at his website. You can also find ebooks of his out of print work at Open Road Media
• Galapagos Regained
• Towing Jehovah
• Follow Andrew on Twitter and see him and Jen in Doctor Who Live! at iO West at 10pm on the second and fourth Saturdays of the month.
• Jim's recommendations: the work of playwright Peter Barnes, and the movie O Lucky Man!
• Andrew's recommendation: Gene Wolfe's novel Peace

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Webcomic enthusiast Jake Goldman and webcomic artist John McNamee join Jen this week to discuss (what else?) webcomics! From narrative to gag a day, highly stylized to stick figures, strips that span decades to limited seasonal arcs, webcomics are now popular enough that readers are spoiled for choice even on a niche level. Jake, John, and Jen share some of their favorites, as well as what they think differentiates comics on the web from other types of comics when it comes to content, style, and the challenges the artists face making them.

If you're enjoying PrePopCulture, please rate/review it on iTunes, and like it on Facebook! You can also follow PrePopCulture on Twitter.

Want to suggest a topic for an episode? Email prepopculture@gmail.com!

Show notes:

• Follow Jake and John on Twitter, and check out John's webcomic, Pie Comic.
• Jake's recommendation: Pro Wrestling Guerrilla
• John's recommendation: China, IL
• Broodhollow
• Hark! A Vagrant
• Narbonic
• Oh Joy Sex Toy
• Penny Arcade
• Poorly Drawn Lines
• Sluggy Freelance
• xkcd
• Frank Santoro's Layout Workshop

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Alps by Motorama is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (aka Music Sharing) License.

It wouldn't be Halloween at PrePopCulture without Dickie Copeland here to read a spooky book, and this year she and Jen tackled a doozy. Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes folds together the gritty realism of an urban crime tale with haunting supernatural elements and a hefty helping of amazing characters. Naturally this makes Dickie decide what she wants to be done with her body when she dies. Happy Halloween!

If you're enjoying PrePopCulture, please rate/review it on iTunes, and like it on Facebook! You can also follow PrePopCulture on Twitter.

Want to suggest a topic for an episode? Email prepopculture@gmail.com!

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Show notes:

• Dickie doesn't want you to find her on social media, but you can see her Harold team The Dragons at UCB Franklin on Monday nights. You can also see Dickie and Jen with their group Argo Navis at Sunday Night's Main Event at 8:30pm on 11/9/14 at Second City.
• Dickie's recommendation: Wicca, particularly love spells
• Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes

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Alps by Motorama is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (aka Music Sharing) License.

Like many of her nerdy friends, Jen spent her teen years playing Dungeons & Dragons. And while it faded out of her life after college, her love for the classic roleplaying game never waned. With the recent release of 5th edition giving her a good excuse to jump back into an old pastime, Jen's joined by Alex Berg, Dave Christenson, and James Mulholland to try out the new edition, and examine what role D&D has played in their lives.

If you're enjoying PrePopCulture, please rate/review it on iTunes, and like it on Facebook! You can also follow PrePopCulture on Twitter.

Want to suggest a topic for an episode? Email prepopculture@gmail.com!

Download directlySubscribe in iTunesSubscribe in your podcast app

Show notes:

• Follow Alex, Dave, and James on Twitter
• Dungeons & Dragons official site
• D&D 5th edition Player's Handbook
• Darkon

Theme song

Alps by Motorama is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (aka Music Sharing) License.

Chasing The Port Chains, Crush At Maracas Bar, Leafless Quince Tree, and Spell by Rolemusic are used under a Creative Commons Attribution License

In a loft in downtown Los Angeles, artist Moses Storm is currently exhibiting The Modern Millennial, a hybrid between performance art and interactive theater. Displaying his work at and living in the loft full-time, Moses is presenting an uncensored look at the modern-day millennial by giving visitors unfettered access to every aspect of his life. Intrigued by the project from the time Moses first launched his Kickstarter campaign to fund it, Jen goes to see the exhibit and talk with Moses about the piece now that it's open to the public.

If you're enjoying PrePopCulture, please rate/review it on iTunes, and like it on Facebook! You can also follow PrePopCulture on Twitter.

Want to suggest a topic for an episode? Email prepopculture@gmail.com!

Show notes:

• Follow Moses on Twitter
• Check out The Modern Millennial, which was funded on Kickstarter
• Watch Terminally Chill Birthday

Music:

Alps by Motorama is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (aka Music Sharing) License.

Cylinder Six, I Am Running with Temporary Success from a Monstrous Vacuum in Pursuit, and Oxygen Garden by Chris Zabriskie used under a Creative Commons Attribution License

Future Paths by 8 Bit Weapon is licensed under an Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License

Time magazine book critic and New York Times Bestselling author Lev Grossman joins Jen to talk about his Magicians trilogy. The final installment of the series, The Magician's Land, hit number one on the New York Times Bestseller list this month, and Lev chats with Jen about wrapping up the trilogy, where the idea for the series first came from, bringing realism to the depiction of fantastical worlds and the use of magic, the forthcoming TV adaptation, and much more. Be warned there are some mild spoilers if you haven't finished the trilogy!

If you're enjoying PrePopCulture, please rate/review it on iTunes, and like it on Facebook! You can also follow PrePopCulture on Twitter.

Want to suggest a topic for an episode? Email prepopculture@gmail.com!

Show notes:

• Follow Lev on Twitter and see him at Dragon Con in the Fantasy Literature Track and the Young Adult Literature Track
• The Magicians
• The Magician King
• The Magician's Land
• Lev's work at Time magazine
• Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea series, beginning with A Wizard of Earthsea
• Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
• Lev's recommendations: Larry Niven's stories The Magic Goes Away and Not Long Before The End (which can be found in the collection The Magic Goes Away), Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and The Gray Mouser books, Metric, the Mountain Goats, the Eels, and webcomic Achewood

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Alps by Motorama is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (aka Music Sharing) License.

Want to celebrate two years of PrePopCulture with updates on topics from previous episodes and unaired clips? Great! That's exactly what Jen has for you.

If you're enjoying PrePopCulture, please rate/review it on iTunes, and like it on Facebook! You can also follow PrePopCulture on Twitter.

Want to suggest a topic for an episode? Email prepopculture@gmail.com!

Show notes:

• You can follow PrePopCulture and Jen on Twitter! And keep an eye on the PrePopCulture Twitter for news about the 100th episode…
• Tiny Hamsters Eating Tiny Burritos
• Trailer for Horns
• Check out David and Leeman's website for info on their performances on America's Got Talent
• Check out episodes 15 and 17 of season 4 of Penny Arcade: The Series for updates on Strip Search contestants
• Teaser for Better Call Saul
• Season one of The Birthday Boys is out on DVD, and season two will premiere October 17, 2014! In the meantime, check out their Instagram for pictures from production
• Check out Failbetter Games' Fallen London for a great interaction fiction game, and their followup, Sunless Sea, on Steam

Theme song

Alps by Motorama is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (aka Music Sharing) License.

Andrew Wollman joins Jen to talk about everybody's favorite parody artist, Weird Al. On Billboard's charts at number one for the first time, Weird Al's latest album Mandatory Fun has gone over like gangbusters with comedy nerds as of late. But lifelong fan Andrew also chats about the original content and more offbeat work Weird Al's done over the years, and enlightens Jen about some of the source material getting parodied. Did everyone but her know what Blurred Lines is about?!

If you're enjoying PrePopCulture, please rate/review it on iTunes, and like it on Facebook! You can also follow PrePopCulture on Twitter.

Want to suggest a topic for an episode? Email prepopculture@gmail.com!

Show notes:

• Follow Andrew on Twitter and see him and Jen in Doctor Who Live! at iO West at 10pm on the second and fourth Saturdays of the month. On August 23, 2014, check out the Doctor Who Live Series 8 Premiere Party!
• Andrew's recommendation: James Morrow's novel The Madonna and the Starship
• Weird Al's official website, where you can watch music videos from and purchase most of his work, including Mandatory Fun
• Peter and the Wolf

Theme song

Alps by Motorama is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (aka Music Sharing) License.

Jason Greene joins Jen to discuss whether someone who's watching Game of Thrones but hasn't yet read it should delve into the books or just stick with the show alone. As an avid fan of the books, Jason has a lot of reasons why the books are superior, but will they be enough to overcome Jen's fear that she'll love the show less if she takes his advice and cracks into the books? For two people who often give the same reasons for loving the same characters, it's definitely strange that they see each others' experience with the story as so different.

If you're enjoying PrePopCulture, please rate/review it on iTunes, and like it on Facebook! You can also follow PrePopCulture on Twitter.

Want to suggest a topic for an episode? Email prepopculture@gmail.com!

Show notes:

• Follow Jason on Twitter
• Jason's recommendation: Ron Currie Jr.'s novel Everything Matters!
• Game of Thrones: the books and the show

Theme song

Alps by Motorama is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (aka Music Sharing) License.

Kevin Pedersen joins Jen to talk about the way the end of days is portrayed in movies, TV, books, and video games. With a ranking system that takes into account the devastation of the initial impact, the long-term post-apocalyptic survivability, the likelihood of a real life occurrence, and the metaphor of the event itself, Kevin and Jen dissect the various types of apocalypses and deliver their recommendation for the best way for the world to end.

If you're enjoying PrePopCulture, please rate/review it on iTunes, and like it on Facebook! You can also follow PrePopCulture on Twitter.

Want to suggest a topic for an episode? Email prepopculture@gmail.com!

Show notes:

• Follow Kevin on Twitter, and check out his amazing project Channel Zero! You can back it on Kickstarter at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tomvaughan/channelzero, and like it on Facebook!
• Kevin's recommendation: Zombies, Run!
• The Day After Tomorrow
• Edgar Wright's apocalypses Shaun of the Dead and The World's End
• The Fallout video game franchise
• The MaddAddam trilogy
• This Is The End

Theme song

Alps by Motorama is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (aka Music Sharing) License.

Nick Mandernach joins Jen to give you a behind the scenes look at this year's LA Indie Improv Festival. They take you through info about this year's fest, from details about planning and programming it, to additions like the opening panel and art retrospective. They also discuss the indie improv scene as a whole, and how LAIIF has evolved in response to the community's growth. Have a listen and come check out the fest on May 24!

If you're enjoying PrePopCulture, please rate/review it on iTunes, and like it on Facebook! You can also follow PrePopCulture on Twitter.

Want to suggest a topic for an episode? Email prepopculture@gmail.com!

Show notes:

• Follow Nick on Twitter, see his Harold team JV at UCBLA on Monday nights, and check out Room 101's monthly pop-up shows!
• Nick's recommendation: The Forever War by Dexter Filkins
• Check out laiif.com for info about this year's LA Indie Improv Festival!
• Follow @LA_Indie_Improv on Twitter, and tweet your questions there by midnight on 5/23/14 for the opening panel, Developing Your Comedy Career, with Colton Dunn, Dan Gregor, Lauren Lapkus, and David Phillips!

Theme song

Alps by Motorama is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (aka Music Sharing) License.

Jesse Benjamin joins Jen to discuss why certain kinds of TV shows make people feel so bad for enjoying them so much. From the soapy and salacious like Sex and the City, to trashy reality like The Real Housewives of Orange County, to oddly addictive competitions like The Challenge, there's no shortage of guilty pleasures on TV. But what about these shows makes them guilty pleasures rather than shows we can just admit to enjoying without the caveat that we know they're in some way lowbrow?

If you're enjoying PrePopCulture, please rate/review it on iTunes, and like it on Facebook! You can also follow PrePopCulture on Twitter.

Want to suggest a topic for an episode? Email prepopculture@gmail.com!

Show notes:

• You can follow Jesse on Twitter and Instagram, and check out his website, jessebenjamin.com
• Jesse's recommendations: Frasier and the music of Mike Krol
• Gordon Ramsay's various reality shows
• The Real World and The Challenge
• Sex and the City
• Shark Tank

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Alps by Motorama is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (aka Music Sharing) License.

Writing, filmmaking, art, and music are just some of many fields in which people contend with the threat of their second piece of work not living up to their first. In this episode Jen talks with Danny Mastrangelo and James Mulholland in search of what a sophomore slump really is, and why it's so easily applicable to so many different endeavors in art, entertainment, and pop culture.

If you're enjoying PrePopCulture, please rate/review it on iTunes, and like it on Facebook! You can also follow PrePopCulture on Twitter.

Want to suggest a topic for an episode? Email prepopculture@gmail.com!

Show notes:

• John Irving
• The Killers
• TimeSplitters

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Alps by Motorama is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (aka Music Sharing) License.

ayVentura by Rolemusic is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License

Ladybug Castle by Rolemusic is licensed under an Attribution License

She Is My Best Treasure by Rolemusic is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 International License

Right Back To You by Wizwars is licensed under an Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License

This spring marked Jen's seventh year living in Los Angeles, and she's a very different person now than when she moved there from Chicago. Examining her own struggle to acclimate, she talks to some friends about their experiences moving to LA, and how the city has or hasn't become home to them. Featuring Mark David Christenson, Stephen C. James, Jen McCreary, and Andrew Wollman.

If you're enjoying PrePopCulture, please rate/review it on iTunes, and like it on Facebook! You can also follow PrePopCulture on Twitter.

Want to suggest a topic for an episode? Email prepopculture@gmail.com!

Show notes:

• The Cinerama Dome at ArcLight
• The Getty
• iO West
• Largo at the Coronet
• Not For Tourists Guide to Los Angeles
• Thomas Guide: Los Angeles
• The Troubadour
• Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre Los Angeles

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Alps by Motorama is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (aka Music Sharing) License.

All other music in this episode by Chris Zabriskie, used under a Creative Commons Attribution License.

There are changes in store at PrePopCulture when it resumes on April 10, 2014!

If you're enjoying PrePopCulture, please rate/review it on iTunes, and like it on Facebook! You can also follow PrePopCulture on Twitter.

Want to suggest a topic for an episode? Email prepopculture@gmail.com!

Theme song

Alps by Motorama is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (aka Music Sharing) License.

James Mulholland joins Jen to delve into what spurs the beginning of trends, and what happens when people chase them. From books to movies to TV shows (plus books becoming movies or TV shows), there's no shortage of fads that provided increasingly diminished returns as the companies and creators behind them had less to bring to the table with each iteration. Yet sometimes the work at the start of a trend kicks off an equally successful successor. So what does it take to capture lightning in a bottle? And once someone has, how many more bolts can be caught the same way?

If you're enjoying PrePopCulture, please rate/review it on iTunes, and like it on Facebook! You can also follow PrePopCulture on Twitter.

Want to suggest a topic for an episode? Email prepopculture@gmail.com!

Show notes:

• You can follow James on Twitter, but he doesn't necessarily advise it since he rarely tweets
• James's recommendation: Orphan Black
• The Hunger Games
• Divergent

Theme song

Alps by Motorama is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (aka Music Sharing) License.

Clay Larsen joins Jen this week to discuss Android: Netrunner, a game they're both obsessed with. Set in a cyberpunk world, this living card game pits two players against each other in the roles of runner and corporation. A corporation tries to score points by advancing their corporate agendas, while the runner tries to hack into the corporation's servers and steal those agendas before the corporation can score them. With multiple factions to be played on each side of the table, new cards released every month to expand deckbuilding possibilities, and the fact that you play your opponent as much as you do the game itself, no two games will ever be the same.

If you're enjoying PrePopCulture, please rate/review it on iTunes, and like it on Facebook! You can also follow PrePopCulture on Twitter.

Want to suggest a topic for an episode? Email prepopculture@gmail.com!

Show notes:

• Follow Clay on Twitter and check out his photography at claylarsen.com (mention PrePopCulture for 20% off headshots!). You can also check out Clay's indie improv show Shapeshift and his UCB Beta team Muddleberry.
• Clay's recommendations: The Wolf Among Us, Hardcore History, and The Netrunner Project
• Android: Netrunner
• Leigh Alexander's article about learning Netrunner
• Netrunner podcast Terminal7
• Want to build a deck online? Try deckbuilder sites NetrunnerDB and Ono-Sendai

Theme song

Alps by Motorama is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (aka Music Sharing) License.

Danny Mastrangelo joins Jen to chat about the ins and outs of crowdfunding through Kickstarter. From what entices people to back things, to how often projects are successfully funded and fulfilled, to who Kickstarter is really "for," this one site has created a whole new avenue for making and buying everything from innovative tools to entertainment. There are many considerations for project launchers and backers alike though, and Danny gives insight to both sides of the process since he's funded projects and is about to launch a Kickstarter for his company Silhouette Games to complete a video game he's designing.

If you're enjoying PrePopCulture, please rate/review it on iTunes, and like it on Facebook! You can also follow PrePopCulture on Twitter.

Want to suggest a topic for an episode? Email prepopculture@gmail.com!

Show notes:

• Follow Danny on Twitter and check out his site Silhouette Games to play the demo for History of the Demon Girl. You can also see his Harold team The Soft Ricky at iO West every other Tuesday at 9:30pm.
• Danny's recommendations: Extra Credits, Pixel Joint, Radio the Universe, and The Room
• 99% Invisible's Kickstarter for season 4
• Double Fine's Kickstarter for Broken Age (formerly Double Fine Adventure)
• Penny Arcade's Kickstarter
• Rob Thomas's Kickstarter for the Veronica Mars movie
• Zach Braff's Kickstarter for Wish I Was Here

Theme song:

Alps by Motorama is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (aka Music Sharing) License.

Sarah Claspell joins Jen to talk about the plethora of mobile apps making life easier these days than it was in the dark ages before smartphones were ubiquitous. From big things like improving your health or keeping your schedule straight, to small things like saving articles to read later or browsing Reddit, that whole "there's an app for that!" thing has never been truer. But how much do we really value them if we usually don't want to spend any money on them? And how many would it actually be hard to live without at this point? Also, how long will the gardener be on the porch toward the end of the episode? Well, the answer to that last question is "not long," so don't worry.

If you're enjoying PrePopCulture, please rate/review it on iTunes, and like it on Facebook! You can also follow PrePopCulture on Twitter.

Want to suggest a topic for an episode? Email prepopculture@gmail.com!

Show notes:

• Follow Sarah on Twitter, see her on Harold team Cardinal Redbird at Upright Citizens Brigade on Monday nights, plus see her sketch team The Get Go at UCB on 4-2-14. You can also check out Sarah's website well that's adorable!
• Sarah's recommendation: go do something active!
• Alien Blue
• Best Road Trip Ever!
• CalenGoo
• Day One
• Downcast
• Evernote
• GoodReader
• MetrO
• MyFitnessPal
• Waze

Theme song

Alps by Motorama is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (aka Music Sharing) License.

Will Hines joins Jen to talk about text adventures, which are also known as interactive fiction. From formative classics like Zork, to the modern renaissance of the genre, there are countless amazing stories and fiendish puzzles to be experienced by anyone willing to invest the time to figure out the right commands to get past the first few screens. LISTEN PODCAST to hear about some great games, plus what it's like to create one!

If you're enjoying PrePopCulture, please rate/review it on iTunes, and like it on Facebook! You can also follow PrePopCulture on Twitter.

Want to suggest a topic for an episode? Email prepopculture@gmail.com!

Show notes:

• Follow Will on Twitter and see him do improv with Your F'ed Up Family at Upright Citizens Brigade in LA.
• Will's recommendation: Love and Rockets comics
• Will's text adventures Further and Harold Night 2003
• Apollo 18 tribute text adventures
• Coloratura
• Digital: A Love Story
• Get Lamp
• Inform 7
• Interactive Fiction Competition
• Phototopia
• Twine
• Zork

Theme song

Alps by Motorama is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (aka Music Sharing) License.