Mission to Zyxx
Mission to Zyxx is one of my favorite and highly bingeable podcasts. It’s a sci-fi audio drama (although very much a comedy) about a ragtag crew of space adventurers ranging from humans to aliens to r...
3 Sep 202044min
Doug Jones: Guillermo del Toro’s Go-To Creature Actor
You've probably seen Doug Jones many times without realizing it because he is best known as a creature performer. You may have been moved by his performance as Saru in Star Trek: Discovery, captivated...
20 Aug 202031min
A Harry Potter Fan’s Reckoning
In 2016, I put out an episode about how JK Rowling’s themes in the Harry Potter series inspired a generation of progressive activists including Jackson Bird, who was the spokesperson for the Harry Pot...
6 Aug 202043min
How Writers of Color Are Inverting Lovecraft
The works of H. P. Lovecraft have inspired a number of Black creators and other writers of color, from the new HBO series Lovecraft Country to the novella The Ballad of Black Tom. What’s so surprising...
23 Juli 202038min
Once and Future Comic Con
San Diego Comic Con is the high holiday of geekiness where fans converge to cosplay, buy collectables, show their appreciation to creators, and be the first to hear big announcements and see upcoming ...
9 Juli 202034min
Creativity of Creature Makeup Design
If we ever make contact with aliens, they probably won’t look like humans with pointy ears or bumpy noses, but creature makeup design is more about communicating ideas. I talk with creature and makeup...
25 Juni 202032min
Larping in Place
Live theater has been shut down across the country, but live action role play (“larp” for short) is finding new ways to thrive in digital spaces. I talk with Betsy Isaacson and Ryan Hart of Sinking Sh...
11 Juni 202033min
Are Time Travel Stories Unhealthy Fantasies?
Time travel is one of my favorite genres, and it’s also my go-to daydream. But I’ve begun to wonder whether time travel fantasies are a psychologically unhealthy way of avoiding problems in the presen...
28 Maj 202033min
