Episode 93: The Christmas Quest (2024)

Happy Holidays! To celebrate the season we’re reviewing The Christmas Quest (2024), a brand-new Hallmark movie starring Lacey Chabert as an archaeologist searching for the lost treasure of Iceland’s Yule Lads. Josh regales us with stories of his Icelandic/Canadian heritage, from prune cake to giant classist cats to the witch living in his grandmother’s attic.Get in touch with us:Twitter: @SotSA_PodcastBluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.socialFacebook: @SotSAPodcastLetterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/Email: [email protected] this episode:Gryla and the Yule Lads: https://guidetoiceland.is/history-culture/the-icelandic-yule-lads-and-gryla Icelandic patronymic surnames: https://www.routesnorth.com/language-and-culture/icelandic-last-names-a-simple-guide/ Icelandic Runic Alphabets: https://guidetoiceland.is/history-culture/a-guide-to-icelandic-runes The Galdrabók (Icelandic Book of Magic): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galdrab%C3%B3k Necropants: https://guidetoiceland.is/connect-with-locals/aldasigmunds/the-necro-pants-revisited The Rosetta Stone: https://www.britishmuseum.org/blog/everything-you-ever-wanted-know-about-rosetta-stone Geographic coordinate system: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geographic_coordinate_system Jólabókaflóðið: https://jolabokaflod.org/about/founding-story/ One in ten Icelanders will publish a book in their lifetime: https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/444296-most-published-writers-per-capita Snowmance (2017) trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WeODKICqxA Hot Frosty (2024) trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dmi794YO-0w Kilchurn Castle, Scotland: https://www.historicenvironment.scot/visit-a-place/places/kilchurn-castle/ Kæstur hákarl (fermented shark): https://yourfriendinreykjavik.com/fermented-shark-iceland/ Harðfiskur (hard fish): https://grapevine.is/food-main/2016/06/30/food-of-the-week-hardfiskur/ Vinarterta: https://macleans.ca/society/life/dont-ask-icelanders-how-to-make-their-traditional-christmas-cake/ Pönnukökur: https://www.cietours.com/en-ca/blog/recipe-icelandic-pancakes Dimmuborgir: https://guidetoiceland.is/travel-iceland/drive/dimmuborgir UK Escalator PSA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zirp59zm1qE

Today we’re reviewing One Million B.C. (1940), a film from Hollywood’s Golden Era which is probably the common ancestor of all caveman movies. The 1966 remake with Raquel Welch is much more famous, but as it turns out it’s pretty faithful to the original, the main difference apparently being the blatant on-screen animal cruelty (consider this your content warning).Get in touch with us:Twitter: @SotSA_PodcastBluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.socialFacebook: @SotSAPodcastLetterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/Email: [email protected] this episode:Watch One Million B.C. (1940) on YouTube in glorious AI colour: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgJBtn417QoListen to our review of One Million Years B.C. (1966): https://youtu.be/gcTrCwrR0tk?feature=sharedVictor Mature: “I’m not an actor – and I’ve got 64 films to prove it!”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Mature#:~:text=Mature%20was%20famously%20self%2Ddeprecatory,That%20is%20my%20real%20occupation.Snow White singing with the animals in the forest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khmrr7-W6BAThe TVTropes entry for “Slurpasuar” has a screenshot from this movie: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SlurpasaurAnimal cruelty in One Million B.C.: https://www.californiaherps.com/films/lizardfilms/OneMillionBC1940.htmlThe modern bikini was born in 1946: https://www.euronews.com/culture/2023/07/05/culture-re-view-a-short-history-on-the-invention-of-the-bikiniSeventeen thousand-year-old conch shell horn: https://www.npr.org/2021/02/10/966322717/why-a-musician-breathed-new-life-into-a-17-000-year-old-conch-shell-hornPalaeolithic flutes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleolithic_flute

National Treasure (2004) is lowkey an American history lesson disguised as a heist movie—or vice versa? Either way, there are no cavemen in it, so we have invited Kyle from the History According to Hollywood Podcast to help us Commonwealth citizens understand the American obsession with faded old documents, broken bells, and Benjamin Franklin.Listen to the History According to Hollywood Podcast – maybe the episode where Josh joined them to discuss 10,000 B.C.? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBdkfjssevo&list=PLMIHuz5VH0Xdk_w8feD8qJiLM0ygQ-eBl&index=2Get in touch with us:Twitter: @SotSA_PodcastBluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.socialFacebook: @SotSAPodcastLetterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/Email: [email protected] this episode:The Silence Dogood Letters: https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-01-02-0008The Charlotte: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte_(1784_ship)Revolutionary War codes and invisible ink: https://www.mountvernon.org/george-washington/the-revolutionary-war/spying-and-espionage/spy-techniques-of-the-revolutionary-warSymbols on American Money: https://www.philadelphiafed.org/-/media/frbp/assets/institutional/education/publications/symbols-on-american-money.pdfBen Franklin didn’t invent Daylight Saving Time: https://fi.edu/en/science-and-education/benjamin-franklin/daylight-savings-timeGeorge Washington Inaugural Buttons & Medalets 1789 & 1793 by J. Harold Cobb C.P.A.: https://kirkmitchell.tripod.com/CobbGW/GWIBM.pdfTreasure hunting laws: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/article/130306-finders-keepers-treasure-hunting-law-uk-usThe Repatriation of Egyptian Art: https://scholarship.law.ufl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1054&context=jtlpTreasure hunters allege the FBI made off with Civil War-era gold and covered it up: https://www.npr.org/2022/06/13/1104823285/treasure-hunters-fbi-gold-civil-warMetal detectorist who stole £3m Viking hoard jailed for five more years: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/sep/12/metal-detectorist-who-stole-3m-viking-hoard-jailed-for-five-more-yearsAmistad (1997): https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118607/Skullduggery (1970): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEyACQ0Yvy0

Today we’re making a sacrifice to the gods of the algorithm and reviewing an episode of Graham Hancock’s Ancient Apocalypse: The Americas (2024). To help carry this burden, we’re joined by Dr. Andrew Kinkella, who helps us evaluate claims about the ancient Maya in this series’ sixth episode. How did ancient people learn to count? How did they find out that the sun exists? It’s a real mystery.Check out Andrew Kinkella’s shows:The Pseudo-Archaeology Podcast: https://www.archaeologypodcastnetwork.com/pseudoThe CRM Archaeology Podcast: https://www.archaeologypodcastnetwork.com/crmarchpodcastKinkella Teaches Archaeology: https://www.youtube.com/@KinkellaTeachesArchaeologyGet in touch with us:Twitter: @SotSA_PodcastBluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.socialFacebook: @SotSAPodcastLetterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/Email: [email protected] this episode:Fingerprints of the Gods (1995) by Graham Hancock: https://ia803100.us.archive.org/8/items/fingerprintsofthegodsbygrahamhancock/Fingerprints%20of%20the%20Gods%20by%20Graham%20Hancock.pdfAtlantis: The Antediluvian World (1882) by Ignatius Donnelly: https://archive.org/details/atlantisantedilu00donnuoftKukulkan/Quetzalcoatl: https://www.worldhistory.org/Kukulcan/Palenque: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/411/Palaeolithic Calendars: https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-1-4614-6141-8_115How to track the solstices and equinoxes yourself: https://johnmuirlaws.com/sun-shadows-exploring-the-solstice-and-equinox/Milky Way Mythology: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milky_Way_(mythology)Ayahuasca: https://adf.org.au/drug-facts/ayahuasca/The Mayan Numeral System: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/waymakermath4libarts/chapter/the-mayan-numeral-system/Serra da Paituna: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5173343/The Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0012825211000262Flint Dibble livestream with Ken Feder for #RealArchaeology: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEimOPN_pO8Homer Simpson deceptively edited: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEGFaOeUm2A

Today we’re getting spooky with As Above, So Below (2014), the story of yet another unethical archaeologist who has no qualms about breaking into sites, vandalizing artifacts, and never documenting anything. Unlike most archaeological heroes, however, she is forced to atone for these sins by passing through the nine levels of Hell, à la Dante’s Inferno.Discover new #RealArchaeology podcasts, YouTube channels, and more at https://real-archaeology.com/Get in touch with us:Twitter: @SotSA_PodcastBluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.socialFacebook: @SotSAPodcastLetterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/Email: [email protected] this episode:Visit the Paris Catacombs: https://www.catacombes.paris.fr/enThe movie was actually filmed in the catacombs: https://ew.com/article/2014/08/28/as-above-so-below-dowdle/The real Nicolas Flamel was not an alchemist: https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/history/cobbling-together-legend-nicolas-flamelDante’s Nine Circles of Hell: https://www.thoughtco.com/dantes-9-circles-of-hell-741539You can’t get a PhD in “Symbology”: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2009/09/in-the-dan-brown-books-robert-langdon-is-a-professor-of-religious-symbology-is-there-really-any-such-thing.htmlSemiotics: https://www.cs.princeton.edu/~chazelle/courses/BIB/semio2.htmThe Sedlec Ossuary: https://sedlecossuary.com/We ArE lIvInG iN a SiMuLaTiOn – R/sUpErStOnK kNoWs ThE tRuTh! https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/q0m68d/so_uh_anyone_read_manly_p_hall_lucifer_equals_741/Manly P. Hall – The Secret Teachings of All Ages: http://www.themasonictrowel.com/books/hall_the_secret-teachings_of_all_ages/files/chapter_29.htm“It’s the Trevi Fountain! There can be no question!”: https://comb.io/iPRAQX

It’s October so we’re reviewing scary movies! Tár (2022) is the story of a groundbreaking orchestra conductor who... wait, that doesn’t sound right... Oh, I see, we actually watched Tar (2020), the story of a greasy prehistoric demon who emerges from the La Brea tar pits to haunt a small computer repair store. Well, Josh and Ross did – Kim messed up and watched the wrong movie, but we decided to spare her the ordeal and record the podcast anyway.Win some SotSA Merch! Send your mistakes, inaccuracies, and corrections to us by email or social media:Twitter: @SotSA_PodcastBluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.socialFacebook: @SotSAPodcastLetterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/Email: [email protected] this episode:Watch Tar (2020) on YouTube (with Sinhala subtitles): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rB5SN57t9OAAcademy Award Nominee Graham Greene as explosives expert Edgar Montrose on The Red Green Show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyPjeeoVMU0Predator Traps: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predator_trapPredator fossils from La Brea: https://tarpits.org/research-collections/tar-pits-collectionsLa Brea Woman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMKptjhffrMOther tar pits: https://tarpits.org/tar-pits-worldHorses in the Americas: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/native-americans-spread-horses-through-the-west-earlier-than-thought-180981912/Matchee Manitou: https://dchp.arts.ubc.ca/entries/Matchi%20Manitou

Today we’re reviewing the Adam Driver vehicle 65 (2023), a story about humans fighting dinosaurs, except the humans aren’t really humans and the dinosaurs aren’t really dinosaurs. We talk about Triassic archosaurs, shrink-wrapped dinosaurs, and “dinosauroids”, and try to figure out who this film was meant for.Win some SotSA Merch! Send your mistakes, inaccuracies, and corrections to us by email or social media:Twitter: @SotSA_PodcastBluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.socialFacebook: @SotSAPodcastLetterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/Email: [email protected] this episode:The tongue-eating louse: https://www.npr.org/2021/10/23/1048718433/the-tongue-eating-louse-does-exactly-what-its-name-suggestsTyrannosaurs claw: https://www.theprehistoricstore.com/products/tyrannosaurus-rex-life-size-thumb-claw-replicaVelociraptor claw: https://www.fossilcrates.com/products/velociraptor-killing-claw-and-artworkDinopedia’s list of dinosaurs in 65: https://dinopedia.fandom.com/wiki/65Screen Rant’s list of dinosaurs in 65: https://screenrant.com/65-movie-dinosaurs-species-list/Shrink-wrapping dinosaurs: https://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/tetrapod-zoology/dinosaurs-and-the-anti-shrink-wrapping-revolution/The Sixth Extinction (2014) by Elizabeth Kolbert: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250062185/thesixthextinctionTimes when you know the most about dinosaurs: https://i.imgur.com/8I6sTZW.png65 Pitch Meeting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FwjddnNMcMThe Dinosauroid: https://tetzoo.com/blog/2021/8/30/dinosauroid-at-nearly-40-years-oldQuicksand on Mythbusters: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhV-WpY24nE

When Men Carried Clubs and Women Played Ding-Dong (1971) is an Italian sex comedy in which cave women of two warring tribes stage a sex strike until their cave men make peace. If that sounds familiar, it’s because it’s a stone-age adaptation of the Ancient Greek play Lysistrata by Aristophanes. It’s all Greek to us, so we’ve invited Dr. Sara Hales-Brittain and Sam Siegel of the Greeced Lightning podcast to help us understand the erotic chicken cosplay, glory-hole fish emasculation, and petroleum-based conversion therapy. You heard me.Listen to Greeced Lightning wherever you get your podcasts.Follow Greeced Lightning on Social Media:https://x.com/Greecedlightpodhttps://www.instagram.com/greecedlightningpod/https://bsky.app/profile/greecedlightning.bsky.socialWin some SotSA Merch! Send your mistakes, inaccuracies, and corrections to us by email or social media:Twitter: @SotSA_PodcastBluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.socialFacebook: @SotSAPodcastLetterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/Email: [email protected] this episode:Watch When Men Carried Clubs and Women Played Ding-Dong on the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/when-men-carried-clubs-and-women-played-ding-dongRead Lysistrata by Aristophanes: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/7700/7700-h/7700-h.htmChi-Raq on Greeced Lightning: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/chi-raq-lysistrata/id1667396859?i=1000623681450Il Primo Re on Greeced Lightning: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/il-primo-re-the-founding-of-rome/id1667396859?i=1000641708307Attila on SotSA: https://pasc-scpa.ca/sotsa/sotsa-e60“Spare me your space-age techno-babble, Attila the Hun!”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aid8hBOGePw“Chickens don’t clap!”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaS_WXQ9QK0Circummingo: https://www.latin-is-simple.com/en/vocabulary/verb/1700/Petronius’ werewolf story: https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2007.01.0027%3Atext%3DSatyricon%3Asection%3D62Lingurium: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LynguriumCrannogs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crannog

Dr. Advait Jukar, our first ever guest, returns for another crack at the Ice Age franchise. In The Meltdown (2006), we catch up with the world’s most famous computer-animated megafauna as they flee climate change, and a snake-oil salesman, and vultures, and Mesozoic monsters, and in the end it turns out the stakes were never really that high. But if you like long lists of scientific names for animals, then you’re in for a treat!Advait’s links:Florida Museum of Natural History: https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/The Montbrook fossil site: https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/florida-vertebrate-fossils/sites/montbrook/Win some SotSA Merch! Send your mistakes, inaccuracies, and corrections to us by email or social media:Twitter: @SotSA_PodcastBluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.socialFacebook: @SotSAPodcastLetterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/Email: [email protected] this episode:The Channeled Scablands: http://www.sevenwondersofwashingtonstate.com/the-channeled-scablands.htmlThe fan list of species we’re using in this episode: https://parody.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_Species_in_Ice_Age_2:_The_MeltdownSloths:Megalonyx:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MegalonyxNothrotheriops: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NothrotheriopsEremotherium: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EremotheriumParamylodon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ParamylodonArmadillos:Dasypus bellus, the beautiful armadillo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dasypus_bellusPampatheres: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PampatheriidaeHolmesina (a genus of Pampathere): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HolmesinaGlyptodon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GlyptodonSea Creatures:Huphesuchus: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HupehsuchusMetriorhynchus: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MetriorhynchusDakosaurus: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DakosaurusBrachauchenius: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BrachaucheniusGlobidens: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GlobidensPacus: https://animals.howstuffworks.com/fish/pacu-fish.htmElephants:Platybelodon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlatybelodonParacerotherium, the inspiration for Star Wars’ ATAT: https://www.howitworksdaily.com/how-did-a-mega-mammal-inspire-star-wars/Aphanobelodon: https://www.deviantart.com/cisiopurple/art/Aphanobelodon-zhaoi-939120720Other animals:Megaloceras: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MegalocerosProtoceratideae: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ProtoceratidaeMacrauchenia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacraucheniaSerranía de la Lindosa cave art: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rstb.2020.0496 Chalicotherium: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ChalicotheriumTylocephalonyx (dome-headed chalicothere): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TylocephalonyxMylagaulidae (horned rodents): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MylagaulidaeBootherium (extinct Muskox): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BootheriumDodo (Raphuscucullatus): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DodoThe only painting of a dodo from life? https://www.reddit.com/r/Naturewasmetal/comments/ts256f/the_dodos_true_coloursa_dodo_that_was_painted/Other dodo sketches from life: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228371340_The_history_of_the_Dodo_Raphus_cucullatus_and_the_penguin_of_MauritiusThe White Dodo: https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/10.3366/anh.2004.31.1.57New woolly rhino mummy: https://www.livescience.com/animals/extinct-species/siberian-gold-miners-accidentally-find-ancient-woolly-rhino-mummy-with-horn-and-soft-tissues-still-intact

Today we’re joined by Seth Chagi of World of Paleoanthropology to review a stone age classic: Quest for Fire (1981) hits almost all the caveman movie tropes, but to be fair, it probably originated most of them. We talk about the origins of controlled use of fire, “conlangs”, and how this movie has become more scientifically accurate over time.Check out the World of Paleoanthropology:https://worldofpaleoanthropology.org/https://www.youtube.com/@worldofpaleoanthropologyWin some SotSA Merch! Send your mistakes, inaccuracies, and corrections to us by email or social media:Twitter: @SotSA_PodcastBluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.socialFacebook: @SotSAPodcastLetterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/Email: [email protected] this episode:Watch Quest for Fire on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MV1H_bAt-ENonhuman ape sense of humour: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJarjlRVZzYBonobos laugh: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhlHx5ivGGkBonobo sex: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/bonobo-sex-and-society-2006-06/Sabre-toothed cats’ coat patterns: https://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/laelaps/did-saber-cats-have-spotted-and-striped-coats/The Naked Ape by Desmond Morris: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Naked_ApeAnthony Burgess created the Ulam language: https://www.anthonyburgess.org/quest-for-fire/quest-for-language/Australian firehawks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zcJs16aZ5sWere there any human tribes who didn’t have the ability to start fire? https://www.reddit.com/r/AskAnthropology/comments/872kfd/is_it_true_that_ther_arewere_isolated_peoples_who/