Here it is: the big two-hundo! This week, Andrew tackles David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest in a show that is nearly 2.5 hours long and yet somehow still not quite long enough to get to everything.
We break down the plot and the structure, such as they are, and we also dive deeper into the role of addiction and depression in the book and the book’s at-times antagonistic relationship with the reader. It’s a book worth reading, but perhaps more than anything we’ve yet done for the show, it resists being read.
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It's my life...and it's now or never. I ain't gonna live forever! OR AM I?
Natalie Babbitt's beloved children's novel Tuck Everlasting tackles the tough questions. What would happen if I could live forever? What will I do with the time I'm allotted on this mortal coil? Would it be creepy for a teenager to tell a ten-year old to drink immortality water in seven years so that he can be her forever husband?
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What if magic were real? What if your favorite fantasy world was a place you could actually go? Would you be happy? Could you be happy?
These are the questions posed by Lev Grossman's The Magicians, an en*gross*ing urban fantasy novel that's spawned two sequels and a SyFy original series.
Other questions we pose ask about the following: the Fall of Flirting, One-Star Amazon Reviews, Jurassic Park Trespasser, and sexy foxes (we're sorry).
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Something a little different this week: Andrew read a non-fiction book about the personal computer era, something he was reading about mostly because he was also watching AMC’s Halt and Catch Fire. There’s an interesting story at the heart of it, but delivered through the dry and often sterilized viewpoint of its one-time CEO it often seems lifeless.
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If you came out to our second-ever live show at the Philadelphia Podcast Festival, you've already heard this one! But for the rest of you, settle in for a conversation about bunny theology, rabbit puns, tattooed moms, and our normal shenanigans.
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With The Beggar's Opera, John Gay attempted to skewer 18th-century British government, the rich, and Italian operas. Did his satire succeed? Maybe you'll find out on this rather free-wheeling episode.
Off-topic topics include: the firm of Borowitz, Onion and Yankovic; the Ginger Ale Dimension; 99 Degrees; and "Celebration by Kool & the Gang" a new musical by Kool & the Gang.
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Shrink your bodies and expand your minds with this week's Choose Your Own Adventure book: Prisoner of the Ant People by R.A. Montgomery.
This week's choices include tossing out the rules, annoying robots and nicely-shaped Martians, and starting almost as many stories as we finish.
Come join us in Zondo Quest Group II!
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What happens when you take some Ray Bradbury, add some undead, stir in a pinch of Doctor Who, sprinkle with dark humor, and bake in the eternal flames of Hell? You get Jonathan L. Howard's Johannes Cabal the Necromancer, the first in a series of books about a guy who's trying to do what he thinks is the "right" thing in all the wrong ways.
We also talk about some of your First Smooch stories, what we'd want if we sold our souls to the devil, and what it might sound like if Marc Maron got Jesus on WTF.
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"Bond. James Bond."
"Shaken, not stirred."
"It's no good crying over spilt milk."
This week we find out which one of these classic James Bond catchphrases does NOT appear in Ian Fleming's debut novel Casino Royale.
We also discuss test tube Olympians, Cold War capers, and the Communist leanings of your favorite Smurfs. Wake up sheeple!
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Andrew's other podcast pals Margaret and Kathryn give Craig a break this month, and we all talk about Norton Juster's classic The Phantom Tollbooth. Kathryn wasn't totally on board since she never read the book as a kid, but there are plenty of puns and an ample supply of wordplay to keep the gang invested.
If you like the Appointment Television crew, you can find out more at atvpodcast.com!
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