His Dark Materials

Anya and Alan welcome Stitchomancery to talk about Tokyo Pet Shop of Horrors by Matsuri Akino. What happens when adults believe every comic and animation is ok for kids? 90s Manga and Anime is what! This story explores the creepy space of pets that can grant wishes. Sometimes those wishes aren’t what is best for us. Whether we wish for it or not, though- Count D knows what we need!The Wiki of the “Pet Shop of Horrors” universe.What is a “Gay Panic”??Tokyo Pop was struck by the shift to digital books and online delivery vs brick-and-mortar stores in 2010sJosei Manga is a thingJapan ranks high on the concept of “Monoethnicity” which contributes to the continued legacy of European notions Race Hierarchy introduced and practiced in the early 20th Century inside Japan. But leading up to, and during, WWII Japan created an Empire called “The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperiety Sphere” that was legitimized based on Japanese racial superiority and included cultural assimilation, mass rape of Chinese women, and scientific experimentation on live Korean prisoners.A Kappa is a mythological creature.“Flipped” Manga was a thing in the 90s.Futekiya is a thing.The US Senate hearings in the 1950s around “Seduction of the Innocent” changed Comics and Animation in America and led to self-censorship of the medium to remain aimed at young people. Perfect Blue was a late 90s anime feature film made for adult audiences.Tokyo Ghoul is a thing.Eva Braun was a real person in the history of facsist Germany and her life was folded in to an adaptation of history by Akino. Toni Morrison wrote Beloved.Eli Roth’s History of HorrorFollow Stitch on Twitter, visit the website, and check out Stitch on Teen Vogue.Our theme song is Background Blues Guitar by Blowball Music.Please visit our website to find out what we will be talking about in the future. If you would like to give us feedback, please email us: [email protected] the podcast on Twitter @HGStoryCast, follow Anya @StrangelyLiterl

Anya and Alan welcome Poetry to talk about the influential Animorphs series by Katherine Applegate. We discuss the whole series but focus on “The Departure” Book 19. When is a kids series not just a kids series? When the real monster is war! There are monsters on both sides, and heroes on both sides. Radical empathy might be the only path- or maybe just another weapon.Poetry’s fan-fiction crossover is Daemorphing on AO3Animorphs are a (fictional) thingMighty Morphin’ Power Rangers is a (fictional) thingScience Fantasy is a (meta-fictional) thingMorph Club is a fun Animorphs podcastKatherine Applegate’s letter to the fans about the end of AnimorphsNatural Kinds may or may not be a thing (but are a philosophical thing)Karen is a memeFollow Poetry on Tumblr Our theme song is Background Blues Guitar by Blowball Music.Please visit our website to find out what we will be talking about in the future. If you would like to give us feedback, please email us: [email protected] the podcast on Twitter @HGStoryCast, follow Anya @StrangelyLiterl

Dr. Paul Moffett joins Anya and Alan to discuss Sir Thomas Mallory’s “Le Morte d’Arthur.” We compare the Roundtable Knights to Super Heroes, discuss 500 year-old dirty jokes, and learn how this story has shaped Paul’s life. If you haven’t taken a class at Clockwork’s Academy then you are missing out! Be sure to check the links in our Show Notes!Shop for Paul’s books! Buy “Maybe if I Pull Harder.”Visit Clockworks Academy! Shop for an online course! Take the 3rd King Arthur course about the Holy Grail.Follow Dr Paul on Twitter: Academic and PersonalOur theme song is Background Blues Guitar by Blowball Music.Please visit our website to find out what we will be talking about in the future. If you would like to give us feedback, please email us: [email protected] the podcast on Twitter @HGStoryCast, follow Anya @StrangelyLiterl

Anya and Alan talk about the Hanna Gatsby comedy special “Nanette”! We rant a lot in this episode about the nature of Art. Society. And Joss Wedon. It’s the nice ranting though. Unless you like systemic oppression, then you shouldn’t listen because you will get your feelings hurt.Sorry about the sound quality issues with Anya’s audio. Alan tried to clean it up as much as possible, but it was very rough. We don’t know what happened, but we will do our best to get things back to our regular standard of sounding good. Our theme song is Background Blues Guitar by Blowball Music.Please visit our website to find out what we will be talking about in the future. If you would like to give us feedback, please email us: [email protected] the podcast on Twitter @HGStoryCast, follow Anya @StrangelyLiterl

Anya and Alan talk about the 2019 podcast ‘Nice Try! Utopia’ hosted by Avery Trufelman and produced by Curbed. We talk about eating crickets, lesbian enclaves, and the sexual revolution…. of the 1840’s in New England. Come visit Utopia with us! Which is a place that doesn’t exist….‘Nice Try: Utopia’ isn’t just a podcast, but also a complete blog experience with lots of resources if you want to keep the experience going.Avery Trufelman is a professional podcast host with a fascinating career. Utopia is not a thingBiosphere 2 episode of Nice Try!Bioshpere 2 was a thing.Gaia Hypothesis Teleology in BiologyMeasures of Truth is not about teleology, even though Alan can’t stop saying that word.Oneida episode of Nice Try!Oneida is still a thing.The Terra Ignota series by Ada Palmer is set in a future free of many identity issues we struggle with- but lots of murder.Herland episode of Nice Try!Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is not just about practical clothes for women.Heterotopia is a thing.Levittown episode of Nice Try!Concord Park started as a racially integrated suburb.White Flight is a thing.Wealth Inequality is either Utopia or Dystopia- depending on where you land.Next Time: Hannah Gadsby- NanetteOur theme song is Background Blues Guitar by Blowball Music.Please visit our website to find out what we will be talking about in the future. If you would like to give us feedback, please email us: [email protected] the podcast on Twitter @HGStoryCast, follow Anya @StrangelyLiterl

Anya and Alan talk about a mutual favorite book, “Tiny Beautiful Things” by Cheryl Strayed. CONTENT WARNING We talk about physical, sexual, and emotional abuse in this episode. We discuss heartbreak, homelessness, and the religion of radical empathy. This book makes us want to be better people- and we want to share it with everyone.The book comes from the blog Dear Sugar that ran on The Rumpus for over a decadeCheryl Strayed announced that her newsletter will revive the advice blogSteve Almond is an American author and co-hosted the Dear Sugars podcast with Cheryl.The Tao te Ching is a thingThe Taoist Sage Zhuangzi said "The Perfect Man uses his mind like a mirror - going after nothing, welcoming nothing, responding but not storing.”Tarot is a thing“There’s a Bundle on Your Head” AKA Scared and Confused“The Truth That Lives There” AKA Playing It Safe“Write Like A Motherfucker” “On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft” by Stephen King is better understood in spirit than in words.“We Are All Savages Inside” AKA Awful Jealous Person“The Future Has an Ancient Heart” AKA Commencement SpeechCheryl Strayed’s memoir is “Wild” which was also adapted into a film.Check out our podcast about His Dark Materials- Measures of TruthCheck out our podcast about American Gods- Shadows and ShamblersOur theme song is Background Blues Guitar by Blowball Music.Please visit our website to find out what we will be talking about in the future. If you would like to give us feedback, please email us: [email protected] the podcast on Twitter @HGStoryCast, follow Anya @StrangelyLiterl

Anya and Alan talk about the movie that taught Anya that movies could be Art instead of just entertainment- Monsoon Wedding! We talk about the surprising storyline of abuse, and how it resonates so many years later. The pull between Old India and New India. And how Dubey is NOT ready for a relationship.Cast, crew, and all the deets on ‘Monsoon Wedding’ that IMD can provide.If you see or suspect child abuse in the United States please use these resources to save that child. Please look up Child Welfare institutions in your area, if living outside the US.The Ancient Indian Caste System continues to effect social status in Indian culture, in the same way the nobility system of Europe has lingering effects.Downton Abbey is a touchstone in American Culture for the Victorian Classism of English Society.Of the 5 movies Anya has picked for the podcast, 2 were directed by men.The MeToo Era could be said to have begun in 2006.The Shakespearean Fool is a thing.Next time is “Tiny Beautiful Things” by Cheryl StrayedOur theme song is Background Blues Guitar by Blowball Music.Please visit our website to find out what we will be talking about in the future. If you would like to give us feedback, please email us: [email protected] the podcast on Twitter @HGStoryCast, follow Anya @StrangelyLiterl

Anya and Alan talk about the 2001 Gore Verbinsky movie “The Mexican”. This is a story about stories which are themselves about stories. It helped Alan learn about stories and how a story should tell a story within itself so that the story makes sense. Story.What is Measures of Truth?Star Wars lore: Rule of TwoMy Best Friend’s Wedding and Erin Brockovich let Julia Roberts show off her range.What is “Men are From Mars and Women are From Venus”The Sopranos changed TV and kicked off a “golden age” in premium cable shows.What is a Bag Man?What’s a Type A Personality?Is MacGuffin that guy who can escape using chewing gum? No?Mr Universe is played by David KrumholtzHitchhiker TropeBury Your Gays TropeFridging TropeGoran Višnjić played Flynn in Timeless and the Car Rental Clerk in The Mexican (who was secretly Flynn all along!!)Next Time: Monsoon WeddingHaiku for Kelli:Loving Guardian,from the Land of the Charmers,Ally from the start.Our theme song is Background Blues Guitar by Blowball Music.Please visit our website to find out what we will be talking about in the future. If you would like to give us feedback, please email us: [email protected] the podcast on Twitter @HGStoryCast, follow Anya @StrangelyLiterl

Anya and Alan talk about the award-winning German-language thriller “The Lives of Others”. We loved this tightly plotted story about Art and Fascism in the 1980s. It resonated with the politics of our time, the fights over the importance of storytelling in culture, and why the truth is worth standing up for.Measures of Truth is a podcast about His Dark Materials- both the novels and the BBC TV show.What are the “Stasi”?Socialism has been co-opted by political operators that are not interested in the values that define the ideology. Freedom and independence for working class people, with no central authority that owns property. Most of what has been called Socialism has either been Fascism or Social Democracy.Vladimir Lenin was a hero to the East German government officials, and would have been lionized in bad plays like Weisler’s.Lenin’s quote about ‘Appassionanata’ was given second-hand years after the fact and might not be true at all. Here is the full quote as related by Maxim Gorky in Georg Lukács' "Lenin - Theoretician of Practice": “I know the Appassionata inside out and yet I am willing to listen to it every day. It is wonderful, ethereal music. On hearing it I proudly, maybe somewhat naively, think: See! people are able to produce such marvels!” He then winked, laughed and added sadly: “I’m often unable to listen to music, it gets on my nerves, I would like to stroke my fellow beings and whisper sweet nothings in their ears for being able to produce such beautiful things in spite of the abominable hell they are living in. However, today one shouldn’t caress anybody - for people will only bite off your hand; strike, without pity, although theoretically we are against any kind of violence. Umph, it is, in fact, an infernally difficult task!”The history of Prostitution in the German Democratic Republic.What’s a Toxic Masculinity?Bertolt Brecht had certain qualities in common with the playwright in the film. He was a playwright who was a loyal Marxist in East Germany who lived with his lead actress, Marianne Zoff.“The Power of the Powerless” was written by playwright Václav Havel about the USSR in Poland during the 1970s. Alan brought this essay up in the fifth episode of Measures of Truth’s coverage of ‘The Golden Compass’ which was about Chapters 18-20.What is Post Truth?“Man” as a gender-neutral word.You have to give your ID to buy allergy medicine?Haiku:Susan-You’re a fan like us,Locke- Buffy- Chidi- Lyra,So many stories…Sarah-Storms broke over us,We fought all broken-hearted,He Rā Ki TuaIf you would like a haiku, please leave a review on Apple Podcast!Next time we are watching The Mexican.Our theme song is Background Blues Guitar by Blowball Music.Please visit our website to find out what we will be talking about in the future. If you would like to give us feedback, please email us: [email protected] the podcast on Twitter @HGStoryCast, follow Anya @StrangelyLiterl

We have a new podcast! Come listen to us talk about “His Dark Materials” with our friend Caitlin. For all the details visit the Measures of Truth homepage, then subscribe to the podcast in your favorite player!