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S&L Podcast - #94 - Can't Keep A Good Map Down
Save the gingers! Cause I R 1! I wasn't always bald. Don't let the mean authors kill us!
I can't believe it.The new Discworld reading order guide has replicated the mistake in the last one!
The short story "A Collegiate Casting out of Devilish Devices" comes before Unseen Academicals.
I know it's not important, but this drives me crazy.
The sheer size of the Discworld reading order guide makes me mildly dizzy. I've dipped a toe into the world via the Tiffany Aching books, but sweet heaven above, how does one even begin to negotiate everything else? I am now trying to track down Nine Nations of North America, because the concept behind it utterly fascinates me. I come from a country consisting of 7,000+ islands (give or take a few with the changing of the tides), and in my country regionalism is deeply ingrained. I'd really like to see how that works in the US.
I'm also trying to track down the LOTR-style map it inspired, mostly because that would make a much prettier reference than the 80s-style graphics I sense I'll find in the original.
Kam wrote: "The sheer size of the Discworld reading order guide makes me mildly dizzy. I've dipped a toe into the world via the Tiffany Aching books, but sweet heaven above, how does one even begin to negotiat..."Well the part of the reading order guide is to help people who don't want to read all of the Discworld from start to finish by giving a series of starting points and a chronology from there in. Like, if you liked Tiffany Aching, why not go back to the start of the Witches books (or skip Equal Rites because it's terrible, and as the guide shows, bears only a minor connection to the rest of the sequence).
Anothe good podcast....I think there are just some number of tropes in scifi and fantasy and that is why there is reoccuring stories....sort of a cycle thing...I think that in general people look for reason to politisized almost any issue to justify their reason to grind some ax they have which I blame on the tendenacy of tv reporting to always link things...sometimes a cigar is just a cigar....
Mod
Please. :)
Please don't say video is coming next week. I'm so afraid of that. This week was...well, not the best.Luckily, "not the best S&L" is still better than most out there.
I was glad to see some discussion of the thread topics brought up. Usually there isn't much discussion, it ends up being more of a "mention." I'm looking forward to the discussion of The Lies of Locke Lamora.
I cant Believe the F-bomb was dropped in the middle of the podcast. Going to have to start tagging your podcast explicit on Itunes. Between that and vaginal being said every few minutes im starting to wonder if its a book club or a bar.
Glenn wrote: "I cant Believe the F-bomb was dropped in the middle of the podcast. Going to have to start tagging your podcast explicit on Itunes. Between that and vaginal being said every few minutes im startin..."I see the podcast as a group of friends getting together to discuss books they are reading. This means what is said is said and it is inferred we are all adults here.
I'd join a book club that met up at a bar.
Ala wrote: "I'd join a book club that met up at a bar."seconded. I live near Dallas. Anybody else? we could get together and drink and say fuck and vagina until we started drawing attention to ourselves.
Jlawrence wrote: "MOAH readings/enactments of horrible 19th-century sci-fi!Please. :)"
Seconded.
Wait... Americans have book clubs that don't meet in bars?
WonderCon 2012.. it's only a few miles from me.. somehow I never heard of this until the PodCast. Hopefully I can make it on Sat :)
Mod
Luckily, "not the best S&L" is still better than most out there.
I was glad to see some dis..."
What was wrong with the podcast this week?
I enjoyed the podcast Veronica. I do agree with Terp only in that I'd like to hear more about the book we're reading. I realize this is difficult to do without being spoilery AND you guys cover a ton of other stuff in the podcast about sci-fi and fantasy in general. Reading these books is just such a significant time investment that I'd enjoy more discussion. That being said I enjoy you guys soo much that I'm reading in a genre I wouldn't ordinarily look at. (I read more books along Felicia's favs.) So with or without changes I'd listen.
Veronica wrote: "What was wrong with the podcast this week?"In the interest of full disclosure, this has been a horrendous week at work, so part of this week might have just been my frame of mind.
I really liked the discussion of the political views and how that influences (consciously or subconsciously) your and Tom's reading and enjoyment of books. But it felt as though the episode started slow and for the first bit (longer than usual), it was a bit of "inside baseball" type talk. I don't usually mind the wine talk and the talk of the vaginal fantasy group, but in this episode it seemed to go on longer and be distracting. Also, I personally don't like it when hosts start laughing at things that the audience isn't a part of...but as that is a staple of talk radio, I think I'm in the very small minority on that.
As I said, it just wasn't "as good" as usual. It's still way ahead of most of what's out there.
Mod
I get that you're not slagging us, of course. Always good to get constructive criticism. And I get that we're not always at the top of our game.
But one thing I like about what we've done lately is loosen up a bit and have fun. So I want to keep that element of the podcast. But I certainly don't want it to be a bunch of inside jokes and long boring stuff.
I don't like us laughing about stuff the audience isn't a part of either. I'll certainly watch that.
And too Rebecca's point, I think we can add a lot more book discussion too.
The fact is, the podcast is always changing, and the pace of change may pick up, but we want to make sure it's changes for the better. Always.
Thanks for being honest with the input!
I could go for a bit more book discussion. Seems most of it gets relegated to the wrap-up shows.
Awesome, you read my comment! Great podcast guys, keep it up!
I must admit, I sure would like more engagement with the book as well. I especially enjoy Tom's analysis of book content.
Since I'm not reading the current book, I thought the lack of book discussion and general fun-having was great. So there!
Where do you pick a point to start talking about the book, though? Do you assume that everyone is at least 75% done and go from there? Or do you dance around major plot points to keep the discussion spoiler free?It's a tough call and I can understand not wanting to get too into the books guts before the official end date.
Oh. . . .vaginal.
Someone make a "Danger Zone" parody with the lyrics changed to "Spoiler Zone," to be played where appropriate. Please? Thank you.I'd do it, but, you know. I don't want to.
They could post the percent assumed read in the podcast description so people who are not far enough can avoid listening.
The LotR map of the USA doesn't have the Arizona meteor crater marked. I think that should be be an important landmark in this style of map.
I see the podcast as a group of friends getting together to discuss books they are reading. This means what is said is said and it is inferred we are all adults here. I haven't listened to all the pod casts but having the ones I had listened to had all been clean and I had started playing the podcast through my speakers as I worked. Having Fuck yelled out of a podcast when the boss walks by is not a good way to keep your job. Now it's not listed as Clean on Itunes but its not listed as explicit either.
My problem might be that I followed Tom from the Twit network and assumed that the editing would exclude that as they do on the Twit programs.
Mod
The reason we keep things for the wrap up is because everyone reads at their own pace (myself and Tom included) so it can be hard to gauge where people are at! In fact, we originally tried to do it by chapters, but it became too unruly.
Maybe we'll revisit that again going forward?
It's better the way it is now. I found it was too easy to get spoiled the way it was before and I don't think I'm alone in thinking that. The format is good!
I prefer the book discussion and am less interested in the news and book releases. Maybe we should settle this with fists.
I think it would be fine to say up front "In this podcast we will be discussing up to chapter X" and let people decide for themselves how spoiled they want to get.
Mod
You mean fisticuffs. You mean sword-fists and laser-cuffs.
Jlawrence wrote: "You mean fisticuffs. You mean sword-fists and laser-cuffs"I meant fists, Lawrence. I'm ready to ruin my face for this shit.
Sweet! Welcome to Book Club. The first rule of Book Club is: you do not talk about Book Club. The second rule of Book Club is: you DO NOT talk about Book Club!
Boots wrote: "you DO NOT talk about Book Club!"That's what this whole argument is about.
im pretty sure sword-fists would ruin everybody's faces.
Micah wrote: "im pretty sure sword-fists would ruin everybody's faces."Point taken. I apologize, everyone.
aldenoneil wrote: "Micah wrote: "im pretty sure sword-fists would ruin everybody's faces."Point taken. I apologize, everyone."
+1 still laughing as I type this out.
Jess wrote: "I think it would be fine to say up front "In this podcast we will be discussing up to chapter X" and let people decide for themselves how spoiled they want to get."Funny enough, we did that at the very beginning of the group. And we tried it to some extent with Shadow and Claw. I think it worked pretty well but also had some issues. The biggest issue I saw was people not being able to keep up and possibly getting spoiled by automatic emails from Goodreads.
Tom wrote: "But one thing I like about what we've done lately is loosen up a bit and have fun. So I want to keep that element of the podcast."
I agree 100%. I don't usually mind the "looser feel" and in fact like it. But this week there seemed to be a little much... But you guys seriously do a great job. S&L is the only podcast I download directly to my phone when I wake up...I'm bummed if it's Tuesday morning and it's not there! Then I go to work and make a point to listen (assuming the fecal matter isn't hitting the rotating air-moving device) and when I get home I download it again through my subscribed iTunes, to ensure you guys get the credit. :)
As always, looking forward to the next show!
I love, love your show. I read science fiction and fantasy when I was younger, then I fell into classics and became an English teacher. I now have two teenage children who love science fiction and fantasy. Your podcast gives us some great topics for discussion. Anytime you can get teenagers to talk to you is a great time. I think you balance the book discussion with other topics quite well.While I am happy for you both as you branch out into video, I will miss the weekly podcast. I save the episode for my weekend long run (12 -20 miles). Do you have any recommendations for other podcasts?
I doubt I will have time to watch the video episodes. I still have not caught up on Doctor Who.
Mod
The audio podcast will still happen every other week! :)
Hi Veronica. At one point in this episode you were discussing which "Generation" you are a part of. I was researching this a week before I listened to the podcast so I thought I would share with you that you are a Millennial/Generation Y (it's the same).The defining factor of our generation is that we lived through the internet transition while we were young enough to fully embrace it. Gen X was older when the internet took off, and the generation that follows us was born with the internet and doesn't remember a time without it.
Us of the still older generation were lucky in that for many years we could add 'Internet Use' to our resume as a skill and get payed extra for it :)
Mod
Downloading those gif's was expensive.
Tamahome wrote: "Downloading those gif's was expensive."Not if you had a local BBS or better yet, a local dial-in to the University's big iron. My first IM client was the CMS "TELL" command. Yes, us Gen X-ers will be telling our grandkids; "Back in my day, you had to enter the IP address and port by hand! And we only had one color - green! Kids these days and their hoverboards ..."
I actually like the relaxed tone of the recent podcasts – to jump back on point for a second. I look for the forums for the in-depth analysis of the books. Not that the podcast can’t be in-depth, just that it is hard to condense a month of the entire group’s opinion and content - not to mention their own thoughts - into a normal length show.
The Sword and Laser
Books mentioned in this topic
Shadow & Claw (other topics)The Lies of Locke Lamora (other topics)
The Nine Nations of North America (other topics)
Unseen Academicals (other topics)
http://www.swordandlaser.com/home/201...