This episode contains: We three hosts are here! Ben’s wife is having another birthday, but don’t worry it’s not 40 gifts over 40 days all over again. She wants to have a “Fat Girl Sunday” (not a Sundae) where she eats and drinks with friends, super chill. Ben’s happy to be a cabana boy for it. Devon starts talking about food and now we’re hungry… but I guess we have to record a podcast! Steven’s youngest had her birthday party, and I guess they’re not little kids any more. What will you miss when you don’t have little kids around? Birthdays during the summer are tough, but around our parts, Hops Bounce House has got you covered (what’s up Hops!). Steven’s got a secret 3d printing project (TELL US STEVEN), but instead of talking about secrets Steven’s 3d printed some props for some Ahsoka cosplay, and I guess he’s watching Black Sails. Ben makes a clever Starz joke. Ben and Devon wax poetic about One Piece (is it really just Farscape?). Ben prefers the anime of One Piece to the live action, though he’s watched 60 episodes of the anime and 1 episode of the adaptation… maybe a larger sample size is needed. Ben’s super excited for season 2 of Star Trek: Prodigy on Netflix this week.
Let’s go way back: The Acolyte episodes 1-5. Steven’s gotta talk about Star Wars, and we’re here for it. There was a great Red Letter Media review about The Acolyte’s first five episodes and you should watch it… maybe after you finish this episode. After watching that Red Letter Media review, Devon’s intrigued and might actually watch… Farscape (DO IT! but wasn’t this about The Acolyte?). The Acolyte is something new for Star Wars, which can be rare in this day and age. Forget the haters. Live long and prosper.
Multiverse of Madness: In defense of Madame Web. Imagine the Spiderverse with dialogue written by Tommy Wiseau, which actually isn’t that bad, especially when compared with other superhero stinkers (looking at you every Fantastic Four film so far). Ben and his eleven year old really enjoyed the campiness of Madame Web, and we’re kinda bummed they’re not gonna make the sequels they were totally setting up.
Book Club: The Black Pages by Nnedi Okorafor (part of Amazon’s Black Stars collection of scifi short stories). A solid 4 out of 4 stars this week, but was it scifi? Or was it modern mythology? A djinn is reborn into an iPad app after her book is burned in an al-Qaeda raid on an ancient library, and the boy carrying the iPad is now way in over his head. This story has got so much going for it in 31 pages, and y’all should read it if you haven’t already.
In two weeks, Book Club will return with a longer novella. We’ll be reading All Systems Red: The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells.