Best Frank Rudiger Lopes Podcasts (2025)

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The Left Page & Here Be Media Intro 0:34

3d ago0:34

0:34

Welcome one and all to the Left Page & Here Be Media Podcast! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Here Be Media - Episode 54 - Dragon Age The Veilguard: A Journey from Reign to Ruin w/ Holly 2:15:11

9d ago2:15:11

2:15:11

Hello everyone!! The time has come. We finish our first long-term game series! Dragon Age has come to an end as we understand it. Let's talk about The Veilguard, with good friend Holly! It is a sad time, as we go over some of the many failings of The Veilguard, its faults in production, writing, execution... And yet, all boiling down to a rather ge…

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The Left Page - Episode 90 - Meditations: How to Hide Inside Your Empire 1:33:47

19d ago1:33:47

1:33:47

Hello everyone!! For our late Left Page this month, we dive into an odd choice, but a fruitful one! Emperor Marcus Aurelius' Meditations, from 161 A.D.! In what we find to be one of the original inspirations for self-help books, we... certainly suffer through this one! Talking about how an Emperor can isolate himself from his society and keep himse…

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Here Be Media - Episode 53 - Concept: RPGs Pt. 1 1:51:50

24d ago1:51:50

1:51:50

Hello everyone!! It's been a little while, but we're back with another Concept episode! This time trying to thing about what makes an RPG! In this new series we intend to understand a few of the several messy questions that surround this genre, including trying to define what is an RPG. In this first episode we tackle that initial question, with Le…

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Conversation #0001 1:48:31

1M ago1:48:31

1:48:31

We found something. Video Referenced: https://youtu.be/AnySV4SZdqg Thank you. For more, keep an eye out on: https://www.patreon.com/leftpage Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Here Be Media - Episode 52 - Don Giovanni: Ways Opera deals with Societal Strife w/ Jay 1:39:24

2M ago1:39:24

1:39:24

Hello everyone!! In another collab with our good friend Jay, we finally decided to talk about Opera, in particular, Don Giovani!! Come along with us as we dissect this odd portrayal of the "Don Juan" image, his terrible deeds and punishment, and continually this articulation of sound, story and music that opera can create. While never forgetting se…

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Here Be Media - Episode 51 - Conclave: The Obscene Dynamics of Doubt 1:28:49

2M ago1:28:49

1:28:49

Hello everyone!! Kicking off March, we're talking about religion, and the Catholic Church! With the Oscar-winning Conclave! As we finally dive deeper into how we engage with spirituality, organised religion, and the dreadful dynamics of power of the Catholic Church, we find an interesting film! Even if it does get beholden by its own liberal politi…

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The Left Page - Episode 89 - 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: The Animation of Science Fiction 1:16:53

2M ago1:16:53

1:16:53

Hello everyone!! As our episode celebration of 6 years of The Left Page we go back to the 19th century with our very first Jules Verne: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea! For this very fun episode we not only reminisce a bit about the show and we feel about it after all this time, but also think over these elements that were at the dawn of science ficti…

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Here Be Media - Episode 50 - Arcane: Alienation Through Political Complacency w/ André 1:39:28

3M ago1:39:28

1:39:28

Hello everyone! As we make our way through February we bring yet another collab with our friend André, and on another very liberal piece of media, the League of Legends based show: Arcane! There was potential (some) to this show, as we elaborate on it, and yet, a rushed production, a terrible political perspective, and more, turn this into yet anot…

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The Left Page - Episode 88 - The Quick and the Dead: A Traversal of Finding One's Place w/ Emma Hinds 1:22:43

3M ago1:22:43

1:22:43

Hello everyone!! We start February in style, with Emma's return as she's got a new book out! The excellent The Quick and the Dead! Alchemy, romance, power, religion, and more! As such we talk a bit about how these elements constitute historical representation, how to depict them and queerness in the Elizabethan era, and dive into matters of religio…

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The Left Page - Episode 87 - The First Law 1-3: Master Making Fantasy Worlds 2:47:31

4M ago2:47:31

2:47:31

Hello everyone!! Kicking off 2025 with the Left Page we bring a very special series of books, the First Law trilogy, by Joe Abercrombie! A series dear to Leon and, now to the pod itself. We dive into how these books actually achieve goals of engaging the psychological, the social and the political, while also making compelling literature, imagine t…

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Here Be Media - Episode 49 - Ace Combat 7: Mach 3 Speed Propaganda w/ Sid 1:23:47

4M ago1:23:47

1:23:47

Hello everyone!! For our first HBM of 2025 we offer something quite strange, at first glance something all about military propaganda and nothing quite our podcast range, Ace Combat 7! But, as we are joined by our friend Sid of, among other things, The Bad Game Hall of Fame, we dive deeper! And yeah... there's a lot of propaganda, but still, attempt…

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Here Be Media - Episode 48 - Dune (1984): Lynching Social Identity w/ Audrey 1:19:43

5M ago1:19:43

1:19:43

Hello everyone! We are rounding out 2024 and Dunecember with a very special episode on a... "special" film? David Lynch's Dune from 1984 is not good. But it is worth talking about, and with a friend! As Audrey joins us to brave these strange strange sands. Plenty on the erasure of community and the fremen themselves, the roles of social identity, a…

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Here Be Media - Episode 47 - Dragon Age: Inquisition: Putting "U" in Institution! 3:12:47

5M ago3:12:47

3:12:47

Greetings and Salutations everyone, We decided to do a second HBM episode this month instead of a HBE, we know a part of our audience likes it when we talk about Bioware so we hope this is a fun holiday present for you guys! We are going to be honest, this is a very text based analysis, and might not be the easiest to follow along with for those wh…

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The Left Page - Episode 86 - Dune: The Spice is Right 1:55:26

5M ago1:55:26

1:55:26

Hello everyone!! Welcome to Dunecember!! Lots of Dune to cap off 2024! For starters, we tackle the one, the original, the 1965 book by Frank Herbert! It's been a long-time coming, and we hope it was worth the wait. So join us as we talk religious manipulation, "untapped human potential", warrior cultures, being a weird little guy, and lots more in …

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Here Be Media - Episode 46 - Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree: FromSoft's End of History 2:10:51

6M ago2:10:51

2:10:51

Hello everyone!! Here is us finally talking about the Elden Ring DLC (or just a standalone game according to the GOTY-awards, Geoff should be struck down for his hubris and so on) we hope you all enjoy it! Due to technical difficulties Ash's precis was added post-recording. Our sincere apologies if it sounds odd, it was the best we could do. Find t…

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The Left Page - Episode 85 - Good Night, Sleep Tight: Short Friction w/ Nate 1:11:48

6M ago1:11:48

1:11:48

Hello everyone!! The end of the year and the holidays approach rapidly, but not yet! Rejecting that, we remain in the lands of horror, as we talk about Brian Evenson's Good Night, Sleep Tight, with our friend Nate! We dive into some of the themes in this collection of short stories, their representation of childhood and anxieties of parenthood, sle…

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Here Be Media - Episode 45 - Interview with the Vampire S02: Vamphere, Vampthere, Vampeverywhere! w/ Jay 1:37:41

7M ago1:37:41

1:37:41

Hello everyone!! For this month's spooky HBM we go back to Interview with a Vampire! Season 2! And in good company too, with Jay, of LibraryPunk and Tender Subject fame! It's vampire talk again, as we go back into interviewing immortal beings and finding out just how interesting their drama really is. Is it? We wonder that as we dive into this cont…

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The Left Page - Episode 84 - The Scar: The Dangers of DIY Quantum Physics w/ Horror Vanguard 1:24:08

7M ago1:24:08

1:24:08

Hello everyone!! It's October and you know what that means! We drag the ghost, from their crypts (or ship) and have a good Halloween book chat! As Jon joined us for China Mieville's 2nd book of the Bas-Lag Trilogy: the Scar! It's a great time talking about the power and potential of class consciousness, the strange dynamics of cities, pirates, libe…

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Here Be Media - Episode 44 - Paradise Killer: Defective Detectives 1:16:24

8M ago1:16:24

1:16:24

Hello everyone!! For this chaotic month's HBM we're diving into one of Frank's favourite genres, right back into detective fiction! This time talking about the very weird and very interesting Paradise Killer! Join us as we discuss the complexities of building a world from scratch, of making a sociologically compelling story, and creating a decent a…

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The Left Page - Episode 83 - Concept: Tropes and their handling of Art 1:18:27

8M ago1:18:27

1:18:27

Hello everyone!! We kick off September with a very interesting concept episode, as we talk about Tropes, and clichés and archetypes! A very good time as we consider not just the creation of art, especially literature, but also its very superficial and weak discourse that is mostly upheld by these building blocks of tropes. We also go over a general…

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Here Be Media - Episode 43 - Baldur's Gate 3: The Complexities of Creation and Desire w/ Holly 2:54:26

9M ago2:54:26

2:54:26

Hello everyone!! This is a big one! We are finally talking about Baldur's Gate 3! In our longest Left Page and Here Be Media episode to date we dive into many of the complexities involving Dungeons & Dragons, tabletop RPGs, the fantasy problems of "races" and this incredibly interesting and fun game of wish-fulfillment, adventure, and more! We stil…

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The Left Page - Episode 82 - The Expanse 4-6: A Culmination of Tragedy 1:43:20

9M ago1:43:20

1:43:20

Hello everyone!! It has been one year since, but we return to the responsible dystopia of The Expanse! Following books 4 to 6, Cibola Burn, Nemesis Games & Babylon's Ashes! This time we dive further into the possible horrors mankind can accomplish all on its own, the difficult nature of resistance and rebellion, the looming unknowns orders of magni…

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The Left Page - Episode 81 - Capitalism: A Horror Story 1:09:35

10M ago1:09:35

1:09:35

Comrades! Lend us your ears! As one of the best to ever pod it joins us to talk about his book! Are you tired of being alone in the dark clutches of Capital-C-Capitalism?! Then take our hand our downtrodden compatriot, and join us on a voyage of radical informational archeology, and imagination. "If you’ve been feeling isolated or afraid, take up t…

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Here Be Media - Episode 42 - X-Men '97: Liberalism’s Flawed Dreams w/ André 1:54:06

10M ago1:54:06

1:54:06

Hello everyone!! As a special treat this July, we have another Here Be Media episode! It's an X-Men deep dive, even as we talk about the latest show, and we're joined by a good friend and academic, André Kanasiro! We talk about the many parallels that are usually established when one talks about the X-Men, the pervading liberalism of it all, and th…

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Here Be Media - Episode 41 - Bad Game Hall of Fame: Give Bad Games a Chance 1:17:30

10M ago1:17:30

1:17:30

Hello everyone!! For our first episode of July we have a very special collab! We are joined by Cassidy and Charkie of the Bad Game Hall of Fame to talk about bad videogames! Havin been interested in the subject for a while, we bring in the experts to dive into and games, and their merits! What makes a videogame bad? Why are they still interesting? …

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Here Be Media - Episode 40 - Concept: Canon Pt. 1 1:13:49

11M ago1:13:49

1:13:49

Hello everyone!! For our Here Be Media episode of the month, we dive into some aspects of this horrible and conservative force we call: Canon! To start off this new Concept series we go into some media products and franchises, their issues as "IPs", fandom and their relationship to Canon, and finally, we talk about this terrible beast we see as the…

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The Left Page - Episode 80 - The City and the City: Breaching Borders in Solidarity 1:26:27

11M ago1:26:27

1:26:27

Hello everyone!! For this month's Left Page we turn back to China Miéville, in a weird and fascinating book about detective stories, borders, and violence, it is The City and the City! In this episode we dive into the place of these cities, both fictionally and the real-world cultures they interact with and are a part of; we consider the detective …

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The Left Page - Episode 79 - Gogmagog: Hybridity, innit? W/ Eden 1:07:43

12M ago1:07:43

1:07:43

Hello everyone!! For this month's Left Page we talked about the very weird, very interesting, and very hybrid Gogmagog, by Jeff Noon and Steve Beard! And we are joined by friend and podcaster Eden, of Heavy Blog is Heavy, Death // Sentence and AnarchySF fame! It's a thorough conversation over the weirdness present in the book, the alegory with Engl…

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Here Be Media - Episode 39 - Scavenger's Reign (2023): How Space Exploration Leads Us Back to Ourselves w/ Nate 1:32:37

12M ago1:32:37

1:32:37

Hello everyone!! For our second HBM we'll dive into an animated sci-fi series that's weird, strange and very very interesting, we talk about Scavenger's Reign! And we won't do so alone, as we invited our great friend Nate along! Join us as we discuss the challenges of being marooned in an alien moon, the inherent horror of capitalism in space, and …

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Here Be Media - Episode 38 - Starship Troopers (1997): F*ck Fascism w/ HorrorVanguard 1:15:44

1y ago1:15:44

1:15:44

Hello everyone!! For our first May episode we have a mega collab with Horror Vanguard, on Starship Troopers (1997), directed by Paul Verhoeven! As we interweave Heinlein's book with the film we ultimately dive into how fascism works and should be fought at every turn, in every way. Enjoy! Do check out Jon's book on Bloch and Utopia: https://www.ama…

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The Left Page - Episode 78 - Ways of Seeing: How Art Confronts Colonialism and the Self w/ Nadjah 1:22:48

1y ago1:22:48

1:22:48

Hello everyone!! For our Left Page episode of the month we are talking about a very interesting book, and documentary series! It's John Berger's "Ways of Seeing", and to dive deep we are joined by our friend, podcaster and art historian, Nadjah of Imaginarium Podcast! We think about colonialism, the idea of "value" when atributed to art, the connec…

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Here Be Media - Episode 37 - The Prince of Egypt: When Liberation and Faith Reflect into one another 1:58:55

1y ago1:58:55

1:58:55

Hello everyone!! As a special treat for Pesach, we dive into the incredible animated film The Prince of Egypt! Approaching Faith and Liberation, we consider not just the question of religious & historical narratives and their complex relations, but also of their representation in media. Further still, we talk about violence and how to comprehend "v…

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Here Be Media - Episode 36 - Bethesda: Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, Who's the Pulpiest of them All? 1:33:44

1y ago1:33:44

1:33:44

Hello everyone! Our first episode of April is a different one, if something we've been meaning to do for a while, more than talking about a game, it's a studio, so join us as we talk about Bethesda and their games! Jumping off from our mention of Bethesda games and their connection to mods last month, and Leon's previous writing on Skyrim, we decid…

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The Left Page - Episode 77 - The Actual Star: The Pitfalls Towards Actual Utopia 1:04:07

1y ago1:04:07

1:04:07

Hello everyone! To round out this month's episodes, we dive back into sci-fi, and more utopian fiction! With a recommendation from listener, and patron, Nate: Monica Byrne's The Actual Star! It's a complex discusson on Utopian writing, its challenges, and how sometimes things don't quite work out as we'd like. So join us in this conversation on Uto…

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Here Be Media - Episode 35 - Mods: When Games Meet Post-"Mod"ernism 1:04:41

1y ago1:04:41

1:04:41

Hello everyone!! As we're rounding out March, we offer a different kind of conceptual HBM episode! We take a look at videogame mods, what they are, what they can be, and what's so damn interesting about them! Join us as we talk about the difficulties involved in modding, the relationship to game companies, and how mods, at their best, can express a…

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Here Be Media - Episode 34 - Max Payne 3: How Hate can Erode Quality 1:24:43

1y ago1:24:43

1:24:43

Hello everyone!! As a logical continuation of Leon's writings on Rockstar and GTA, we both revisited a game (not a franchise, mind you), which enrages and frustrates us both Max Payne 3. In a game where you relentlessly shoot poor brown and black people and play the "American Hero" cop, we dive into what this game does with this setup and what it d…

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Here Be Media - Episode 33 - Cyberpunk 2077 & Edgerunners: The Dangers of Purely Aestheticizing 1:32:00

1y ago1:32:00

1:32:00

Hello everyone!! For this final February episode, we, talk about when Cyberpunk... goes awry, to put it mildly, it's time to see the issues of Cyberpunk 2077 and Cyberpunk Edgerunners! We dive into what happens when one tries to recreate just the aesthetics of a genre, and the effects of cutting out the politics. And so we turn to this hollowness a…

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Here Be Media - Episode 32 - Disco Elysium: Rummaging through the Ruin of History w/ Labor Kyle 1:23:58

1y ago1:23:58

1:23:58

Hello everyone!! We continue well into February, as we bring in the incomparable Labor Kyle to talk about... one of the best games of all time. It's time to talk about Disco Elysium!! Join us as we dive into the real genesis and formation of revolutionary character that can happen in Harry DuBois, and then, with no less gravitas, about the intersec…

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The Left Page - Episode 76 - 5 Year Anniversary: The U and I in Utopia 1:21:41

1y ago1:21:41

1:21:41

Hello everyone!! Happy 5 year anniversary of the Left Page!! This is a huge achievement and one I still can't believe is here, and yet, it has been a wonderful journey so far, and we're not thinking about stopping anytime soon! To celebrate such a date, Leon and I spoke about a book foundational to my entire research, the 1516 book by Thomas More: …

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Here Be Media - Episode 31 - Hitman: Silliness as a Foil for Hypercompetence 1:06:13

1+ y ago1:06:13

1:06:13

Hello everyone!! For our last January episode we dive into an excellent recent trilogy of games, Hitman: World of Assassination, and think about how good these games are, as they embrace strong silliness. Alongside advancing Frank's ideas and arguments for the silly, we look into the protagonist of Agent 47 and how his hypercompetence is both relat…

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The Left Page - Episode 75 - The Knowing: Art as Triangle of the Personal, Historical, and Supernatural w/ Emma Hinds 1:30:17

1+ y ago1:30:17

1:30:17

Hello everyone!! Kicking off 2024 for the Left Page we have a very special episode with dramaturgist and debut novelist Emma Hinds, as we talk about her, as of this episode's release, published book The Knowing! Via this gothic, queer, historical, and violent story, Emma joins us as we dive into some of the ways both the book, and ourselves, try to…

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Here Be Media - Episode 30 - Looking at 2024 1:15:03

1+ y ago1:15:03

1:15:03

Hello everyone!! To kick off 2024 we consider some of our different plans for the pods, our big ideas and the things we have in store! And, of course, we chat a bit about upcoming media we're interested in, some which interests us and some which uhhh concerns/frustrates us. It's a new year with a whole lot more to read, watch, play, and talk about!…

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Here Be Media - Episode 29 - 2023 Year-in-Review 1:11:13

1+ y ago1:11:13

1:11:13

Hello everyone!! To finally wrap up 2023, we stop for a moment and think back on both the things we saw/watched/played and even recorded this year, to review how it went. And overall, we're pretty happy with what we've done and are planning to do next year!! Thank you so much for a great year, especially, especially our Patrons, and here's to anoth…

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The Left Page - Episode 74 - The Secret History: How dark is this academia? We found out! w/ Jay 1:25:22

1+ y ago1:25:22

1:25:22

Hello everyone! For our final 2023 Left Page episode, we are joined by Jay, of LibraryPunk and Tender Subject fame to talk about the "original dark academia text" Donna Tartt's The Secret History! It's a wonderful send off of 2023 as we dive into what "dark academia" is and can be, the bad writing of novels, the characterization of terrible charact…

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Here Be Media - Episode 28 - Armored Core VI: Capitalist Realism? In my Mech-Economy?! 1:41:05

1+ y ago1:41:05

1:41:05

Hello everyone! As we round out the year, we have some very fun shows to share, and here we are with one of our favourite games this year: Armored Core VI! Nevermind the From Software bias, we do find plenty to talk about in regards to the destructive nature of the mech-economy, how characterization functions in this wonderfully fun game, and how i…

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Here Be Media - Episode 27 - Dragon Age II: The emptiness of non-committal liberalism 1:34:21

1+ y ago1:34:21

1:34:21

Hello everyone!! As we wrap up November we talk about a game we encourage you NOT to play! And yet, there's still plenty interesting, and plenty important, to talk about regardless. So join us as we talk about another game in Bioware's roster, it's Dragon Age II! A somewhat timely discussion, given the many layoffs in Bioware and just how the polit…

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Here Be Media - Episode 26 - Analogue Horror: Where Horror and Nostalgia Meet w/ Leslie from Fangs for the Memories 1:00:19

1+ y ago1:00:19

1:00:19

Hello everyone!! Because the Horrors are neverending, we have Leslie from Fangs for the Memorieeeeeees! To chat with us about Analogue Horror! In this more conceptually focused episode we go into what is Analogue Horror, the relationship of horror with form, media and technology. And to top it off, we go into one of the best things about this genre…

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The Left Page - Episode 73 - Woman on the Edge of Time: Ins and Outs of Communal Utopianism w/ Elton Furlanetto 1:16:13

1+ y ago1:16:13

1:16:13

Hello everyone!! For this first episode of November we have a very special show on our hands! We are talking about Marge Piercy's 1976 Utopian novel, Woman on the Edge of Time! And to do that, we invited on Brazilian researcher, translator, professor, and friend, Dr. Elton Furlanetto of the Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul (UFMS)! Elton tra…

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Here Be Media - Episode 25 - Castlevania (2017): The Merits and Faults in our Vamps w/ Jay 1:36:27

1+ y ago1:36:27

1:36:27

Hello everyone!! As a slightly late Halloween bonus episode we have a fantastic chat about Vampires! It's Netflix's Castlevania show! We talk about how we do or don't relate to vampires, our interest in them, and how it can be the people and their own independent actions with and against vampires that can ellicit the most of our interest and sympat…

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Frank Rudiger Lopes Podcasts

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