TMR 17.3: "Mónica & Carlos & Tony" [Eltit + Hahn]

Talk of Australian cartoons—and not just Bluey—morphs into a look at several specific passages in Wright's Praiseworthy, discussion what makes the book "difficult" to read, the style of humor, what pushes us away from the text and then re-grabs out attention, and much more. This week's music is "Frontier Psychiatrist" from The Avalanches. You can find all previous seasons of TMR on our YouTube channel and you can support us at Patreon and get bonus content before anyone else, along with other rewards, the opportunity to easily communicate with the hosts, etc. And please subcribe and rate us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Tune in next week for more banter and analysis live on YouTube where we will be covering pages 463-525. (Up to chapter 5 in "Cargo Shifter.") Follow Open Letter, Two Month Review, Chad Post, Kaija Straumanis, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests.

Chad and Kaija make up this week's panel as they play the "Slang Game," then discuss the elliptical meta-structure of the book and how this impacts their reading and the book's effectiveness. They also discuss Sam Rutter's New York Times review of the novel, addressing the difficulties of discussing the workings of the text itself given the burden of having to contextualize so much for a foreign audience. This week's music is "Under the Milky Way" from The Church, one of Australia's most widely known bands. You can find all previous seasons of TMR on our YouTube channel and you can support us at Patreon and get bonus content before anyone else, along with other rewards, the opportunity to easily communicate with the hosts, etc. And please subcribe and rate us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Tune in next week for more banter and analysis live on YouTube where we will be covering pages 400-463. (Up to chapter 12 in "Sitting in the Bones.") Follow Open Letter, Two Month Review, Chad Post, Kaija Straumanis, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests.

"Who's Stronger?" is the game of the week in this episode about the Maximum Superhero Cop-God's arrival in Praiseworthy to quell the frantic search for Aboriginal Sovereignty. There are lots of moths, discussion about acknowledging the land which we occupy as a good first step, and more about the difficult reality of life in this part of the country even without government interventions. This week's music is "Punching in a Dream" from the New Zealand band The Naked and Famous. (I thought they were Australian!) And if you want to see the Norm Macdonald bit, you can find it here. You can find all previous seasons of TMR on our YouTube channel and you can support us at Patreon and get bonus content before anyone else, along with other rewards, the opportunity to easily communicate with the hosts, etc. And please subcribe and rate us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Tune in next week for more banter and analysis live on YouTube where we will be covering pages 265-336. Follow Open Letter, Two Month Review, Chad Post, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests.

Emmett Stinson (Murnane) joins Chad W. Post and Kaija Straumanis this week to educate us about Australian culture and literature and things we should keep in mind while reading Praiseworthy. He also participates in a round of the world-famous trivia game: "Australian Baseball Player or Indigenous Australian Writer?" There is, of course, Bluey talk and cuck jokes, along with analysis of the end of "The Censer." This week's music is "Pinball Lez," the original intro music to Bluey, by Custard, fronted by David McCormack who you might know as the voice of Bandit. For more of Emmett, check out this episode of Beyond the Zero. If you want to see a truly horrible "Australian influenced" recipe from someone whose Instagram might be a cry for help, click here. You can find all previous seasons of TMR on our YouTube channel and you can support us at Patreon and get bonus content before anyone else, along with other rewards, the opportunity to easily communicate with the hosts, etc. And please subcribe and rate us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Tune in next week for more banter and analysis live on YouTube where we will be covering pages 265-336. Follow Open Letter, Two Month Review, Chad Post, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests.

This episode could be titled, "Dead Bodies in Water," as Chad and Brian talk about the unfortunate situation in Rochester and the juxtaposition of Absolute Sovereignity trying to drown himself while his brother, Tommyhawk!, watches, doing nothing to save him. There's also more talk about Bluey, but also the tone of the book, the nature of the life challenges Tommyhawk! and First Nations children face, his perceptions and the influence of media on that, and much more.   This week's music is "Stacking Chairs" by Australian band, Middle Kids. You can find all previous seasons of TMR on our YouTube channel and you can support us at Patreon and get bonus content before anyone else, along with other rewards, the opportunity to easily communicate with the hosts, etc. And please subcribe and rate us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Tune in next week for more banter and analysis live on YouTube where we will be covering pages 198-264. Follow Open Letter, Two Month Review, Chad Post, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests.

From discussion of Ohio and disturbing news about everyone's favorite Australian export, this episode skirts talking too deeply about Alexis Wright's Praiseworthy  (New Directions, And Other Stories, Giramondo) to discuss challenges of getting into particular books, what the purpose of this podcast is in trying to assist in that and get whatever it is we get out of finishing something we might otherwise give up on. (We're not giving up on this book! Just a meta-commentary.) Also: The University of Rochester's wifi was all screwed up during the recording. Most of the big gaps have been erased, but it is a bit choppy at the start, for which we apologize. This week's music is "If Not Now, Then When?" by Australia's own King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard. You can find all previous seasons of TMR on our YouTube channel and you can support us at Patreon and get bonus content before anyone else, along with other rewards, the opportunity to easily communicate with the hosts, etc. And please subcribe and rate us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Tune in next week for more banter and analysis live on YouTube where we will be covering pages 133-198. Follow Open Letter, Two Month Review, Chad Post, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests.

The first episode of the new season of the Two Month Review—covering Alexis Wright's Praiseworthy (New Directions, And Other Stories, Giramondo)—start off with Chad crapping on golf, then rolls on into book design and books as objects, the pacing and rhythms of Wright's work, its humor, its orality, what ancillary information is beneficial, and how the introduction of the two children really snap the first section into place as a reading experience. This week's music is "Sham System (The Limiñanas Rework)" by Al-Qasar. You can find all previous seasons of TMR on our YouTube channel and you can support us at Patreon and get bonus content before anyone else, along with other rewards, the opportunity to easily communicate with the hosts, etc. And please subcribe and rate us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Tune in next week for more banter and analysis live on YouTube where we will be covering pages 68-133. Follow Open Letter, Two Month Review, Chad Post, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests. The large image of the Carpentaria Gulf Coast associated with this post is copyrighted by Sentinel Hub.  

We've reached the end which, in Chad and Brian's opinion, Ed Park totally lands. There's Friday the 13th talk. Reagan makes an appearance. The structure of the book is revisited. As are all the ideas of mirrors and patrimony, assassins and conspiracy theories. Note: Information about the "Opening the Channel" translation and creative flow retreat being organized by former co-host Katie Whittemore discussed on this episode is available here. This week's music is from Jodie Foster's Army. You can find all previous seasons of TMR on our YouTube channel and you can support us at Patreon and get bonus content before anyone else, along with other rewards, the opportunity to easily communicate with the hosts, etc. And please subcribe and rate us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Stay tuned for information on Season 22 featuring Praiseworthy by Alexis Wright. Follow Open Letter, Two Month Review, Chad Post, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests.

The threads all come together in this week's section as the book barrels toward its conclusion. On this episode, Chad describes his visualization of the book's structure, Tim Hortons and Dunkin Donuts get crapped on, 2333 gets a new meaning, the Moonies make an appearance, as does Ronald Reagan (boo, hiss), Philip Roth, and PDK. Also, a Sleeper Awakes. Just remember, dreams are everything that's not online. Note: Information about the "Opening the Channel" translation and creative flow retreat being organized by former co-host Katie Whittemore discussed on this episode is available here. This week's music is peak TMR music times. "Tim Hortons" by Pretty Gary.  You can find all previous seasons of TMR on our YouTube channel and you can support us at Patreon and get bonus content before anyone else, along with other rewards, the opportunity to easily communicate with the hosts, etc. And please subcribe and rate us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Tune in next week for "MOON IS A MENACE" which wrap up the book and introduce season 22. (Full schedule here.) Follow Open Letter, Two Month Review, Chad Post, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests. The large image associated with this post is a still from I've Got a Secret courtesy of Google's image search, CBS, and maybe Winston cigarettes?

Korean food, Grocery Games, VCR tapes, screenplays, gazebos, a thumb drive, Amsterdam, and the statement, "TRANSLATION IS A LONG CON." This week's music is "I'll Be Your Mirror" by Velvet Underground. You can find all previous seasons of TMR on our YouTube channel and you can support us at Patreon and get bonus content before anyone else, along with other rewards, the opportunity to easily communicate with the hosts, etc. And please subcribe and rate us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Tune in next week for "Taro Tsujimoto," which will cover through page 450. (Full schedule here.) Follow Open Letter, Two Month Review, Chad Post, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests.