Dear Listeners,
It being award show season, we curators thought it would be fun to do our own award show this year. We invite you all to use the form below and nominate your picks for best movie,TV show,Anime,Video Game etc.
http://goo.gl/forms/c9zzMm2ATW
Entries will be tallied, and the popular choice wins..simple as that.
Posted in Announcements
The Vassals of Kingsgrave celebrate Valentine’s Day by discussing Chapter 19 of the Quenta Silmarillion: Of Beren and Luthien. Star-crossed lovers or doomed from the start?
Beren the mortal falls in love with Luthien, the most beautiful elf that has ever lived. Before they can marry Beren must complete the impossible task of cutting a Silmaril from the crown of Morgoth. As we follow Beren on his journey we touch on the continued dickishness of the Sons of Feanor, the possibility of Morgoth babies, the epic awesomeness that is Huan the Hound of Valinor as well as the Epic Rap Battles of the First Age and Luthien’s ability to make everyone simultaneously fall in love with her and fall asleep.
Hosts Greg, Matt, Alix, Matthieu, & Eddie discuss all this and more in the fifth part of our continued Silmarillion re-read series. The previous episodes in this series are VOK Episodes 147, 155, 163 & 172.
Credits:
Edited by Greg
Image art: “Carcharoth” by Justin Gerard
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Posted in Books & Novellas, Podcast, The Lord of the Rings
Tagged Aiwendil, Beric175, claudiusthefool, Teddard, Varley
In this podcast the crew give eulogies for their (second)favorite Hobbit…trilogy.
0:00 – Spoiler free discussion of the movie, trilogy and the book series
31:30 – Spoiler filled deepdive discussion begins
1:47:00 – Claudiusthefool’s review of the movie
Credits:
Edited by Vikram (fortytwo)
Hosts: Beric175, Ser Patrick the Tall, Aiwendil, White Raven, Amberrocks, Alias,Scilens, Teddart, claudiusthefool and fortytwo
Intro Music: “hmm ok” by Gablé
Other Music by BoxCat Games BoxCat’s Discography
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Posted in Movies, Podcast, The Lord of the Rings
Tagged Aiwendil, Alias, amberrocks, Beric175, claudiusthefool, fortytwo, Scilens, Ser Patrick the Tall, Teddard, White Raven
Tagged claudiusthefool, easttexasdirewolf, Eiffel, FTWard, skywaltzer
Weeks after the Horror Movie Roundtable (VOK 158), Dagos_Rivers (Glen) and Beric175 (Matthieu) recorded an expanded edition of the 1986 cult classic, ‘The Fly’ starring Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis and John Getz.
References are briefly made towards The Fly II, The Fly (1958) and other disgusting 80’s movies like Cocoon and Videodrome. However, the primary focus is Jeff Goldblum / Geena Davis vehicle.
Both Vassals discuss how much Jeff Goldblum looks like Michael Jackson, Stalking 101, and are (truly) classic movies ‘unremakable’? Glen contradicts himself about the difference between remakes and ‘readaptations’ as
he realises both Carrie movies were based on the Stephen King book.
The most infamous scenes of the picture are discussed, the professionalism of the midwife (cameo by Mr. Cronenberg), movies that are in development hell and the plot is discussed at length.
Running Time: 02:49:57
Credits:
Edited by Dagos_Rivers
Links:
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References:
Girl with 8 Limbs
In this academic-inspired episode, Kingsgrave head-honcho Amin discusses Westerosi politics with David D. Perlmutter, a communications professor from Texas Tech University. Also joining them is Michael (Mordion) and Aziz (from History of Westeros).
Topics include political persuasion, propaganda, and public relations amongst the various factions of A Song of Ice and Fire. And stick around afterwards for a brief recap of Davos I (from ASOS), flown in directly from Amin’s “other” podcast. 😉
Credits:
Edited by Amin
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The crew cozy up next to a fire with a cup of eggnog to rate and review 1st episode of TellTale’s Game of Thrones Video game. This game can be played on iOS devices, Android devices, PlayStation 3/4, XBox 360/ONE and Steam PC/MAC.
Spoiler Scope:
First 35 mins of Podcast has NO Game spoilers,
Podcast contains spoilers for HBOs Game Of Thrones upto Season 4, and
Upto Book 5 of A Song of Ice and Fire Series.
Credits:
Edited by Vikram (fortytwo)
Hosts: Fortytwo, Alias, claudiusthefool and drownedsnow
Intro Music: “hmm ok” by Gablé
Christmas Music by E’s Jammy Jams courtesy of Youtube’s Audio Library
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Posted in A Song of Ice and Fire, Game of Thrones, Podcast, Video Games
Tagged Alias, claudiusthefool, drownedsnow, fortytwo
The Vassals of Kingsgrave continue our Silmarillion re-read in which we cover chapters 13-18 of the Quenta Silmarillion; “Of the Return of the Noldor” through “Of the Ruin of Beleriand and the Fall of Fingolfin”.
The Noldor have a few bright spots and shining moments before everything starts to go downhill in their ceaseless war against Morgoth. We visit the hidden city of Gondolin and follow Maeglin the clinically depressed Elf as he tackles his daddy issues and falls in love with his cousin. Men finally show up on the scene and join the fight; and we get one of the most awesome and bittersweet scenes in the book in which Fingolfin challenges Morgoth to single combat with the expected results.
Hosts Greg, Matt, Alix, Shane, Brett & Matthieu explore all this and various tangents including having several lessons on pronunciation, debate the wingspan of the great eagles, who would win in a fight; Gimli or The Mountain, and why didn’t the eagles just fly the damn ring right to Mount Doom in the Lord of the Rings.
Credits:
Edited by Greg
Image art of Fingolfin and Morgoth by artist unknown
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Posted in Books & Novellas, Podcast, The Lord of the Rings
Tagged Aiwendil, Beric175, claudiusthefool, easttexasdirewolf, Varley, White Raven
In Part 2 of VOK’s Women and Geek Culture series, hosts Alias, Beric175, inkasrain, No True Lady and Valkyrist bring passion, opinions and insight to GamerGate, the controversy that’s taken the internet by storm.
Credits:
Edited by No True Lady
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Posted in Fandom, Podcast, Video Games
Tagged Alias, Beric175, inkasrain, No True Lady, Valkyrist
Hi Gang,
As you know we at VoK use archive.org to host and distribute our podcast. Its one of the main reasons we curators have been able to run VoK for free, and don’t have to ask for donations or look for sponsors.
Archive.org hosts other good podcasts like APOIAF and content from independent news sites like Democracy Now!. They also do the fun “Wayback Machine”, which crawls the web and saves sites, like do you miss the look and feel of Martin’s old site? , then check out this.
Archive.org is a non profit and is run thru donations from patrons. So if you can, please give generously to Archive.org
Thanks
Vikram aka Fortytwo
Posted in Announcements
In this “bonus” episode of VOK, jed o’white hart presents a stirring rendition of the Tower of Joy scene from George R. R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones, with all of the key parts recast by Monty Python.
Bonus episodes of VoK are bite-sized podcasts (such as songs, sketches or mini-discussions), which are under 20 minutes in length. If you have a similar project you would like submit or organise via VOK, then please contact us, or let us know on the forums.
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Join the vassals for the third meeting of the VOK Book Club. We review and discuss Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, a finalist for the 2014 National Book Award (that’s right, literature!).
Join hosts Greg (claudiusthefool), Amber (amberrocks), Zach (Alias), Michal (inkasrain) & first-time podcaster Alex (LuckyCharms) as they try to make sense of this “hopeful” post-apocalyptic world in which 99% of the world’s population has been killed by a super-flu and yet Shakespeare (and comic books) have survived.
Come journey the empty weed-ravaged roads of what once was Michigan with the Traveling Symphony and its motley group of eccentric musicians and performers as well as visit The Museum of Civilization with its exhibits from a gone-away world.
Be sure to vote on the forums for the next pick of the VOK Book Club!
Credits:
Edited by Greg
Jacket image and map taken from the US Hardcover Edition published by Alfred A. Knopf, 2014. Station Eleven Comic by Nathan Burton. Logo from The Adventures in Bookland Blog.
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Posted in Books & Novellas, Podcast, Science Fiction
Tagged Alias, amberrocks, claudiusthefool, inkasrain, LuckyCharms
In this (not)161st podcast the crew gather around a coffee table to give their first impressions on GRRM’s The World of Ice and Fire. They lay down plans for more podcasts on this book. In after show they do an impromptu review on Brad Pitt’s Fury. Discussion is mostly kept spoiler free.
0:00 Pre Podcast Discussion (minor spoilers for GoT season 5)
9:20 Podcast Begins
1:12:00 After show
Credits:
Edited by Vikram (fortytwo)
Hosts: Fortytwo, Valkyrist, Alias, Inkasrain and Claudiusthefool
Intro Music: “hmm ok” by Gablé
Various other music: BoxCat’s Discography
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Posted in A Song of Ice and Fire, Books & Novellas, Fandom, Podcast
Tagged Alias, claudiusthefool, fortytwo, inkasrain, Valkyrist
Join the Vassals of Kingsgrave for the third part of the ongoing Silmarillion re-read project. Today we recap chapters 7-12 of the Quenta Silmarillion which covers “The Silmarils and the Unrest of the Noldor” through “Of Men”.
The action picks up in earnest as the light of the Two Trees are extinguished by Melkor and his giant spider, the Noldor swear a terrible oath, the Valar create the Sun and Moon, and the Dwarves (Stunted People) and Men (The Sickly) finally come into the story.
Hosts Greg, Matt, Shane, Brett & Matthieu debate the dickishness of Feanor, the haughtiness of Elves in general and the unintended consequences of unbreakable oaths made in haste.
Credits:
Edited by Greg
Image art of the “Kinslaying at Alqualonde” by Ted Nasmith
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Posted in Books & Novellas, Podcast, The Lord of the Rings
Tagged Beric175, claudiusthefool, easttexasdirewolf, Varley, White Raven
VoK 160: Comic Book Club Comics on TV Fall 2014
The third second Meeting of the Secret Book Club invites you to join our conversation about the current state of comics on television.
Thomas (FTWard), Greg (claudiusthefool), Shane (easttexasdirewolf) & Matt (Eiffel) discuss The Walking Dead, Marvel Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Arrow, The Flash and Gotham as well as some genuinely nerdy topics like the Top 5 Fighters in the DCU, who everyone’s favorite Flash is, the identity of Skye’s father, the nature of prostitution in Canada and of course Swamp Thing.
3:35 The Walking Dead
17:00 Marvel Agents of SHIELD
33:05 Arrow
49:50 The Flash
1:08:00 Gotham
1:28:00 After Show
Credits:
Edited by: FTWard
Image: Art by Al Plastino
Music: Various Artists
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Posted in Comics, Podcast, Science Fiction, TV Shows
Tagged claudiusthefool, easttexasdirewolf, Eiffel, FTWard
The Vassals of Kingsgrave continue their Silmarillion re-read series. Today we discuss the first six chapters of the Quenta Silmarillion. We finally meet the first Elves and follow them as they make their way West and along the way many adventures and hijinks ensue. The Dwarves make a brief appearance, there is some bickering between married gods, a lovely island ferry, mighty eagles, Ents and Orcs.
We also learn the twelve different names the Elves have for themselves (Quendi, Eldar, Avari, Falmari, Eldalie, Calaquendi, Umanyar, Moriquendi, Nandor, Sindar, Falathrim & Eglath) in case you were wondering.
Join hosts Greg, Brett, Shane, Alix, Matt & first time podcaster Matthieu as they attempt to keep all the names straight while at the same time try to understand why Tulkas likes wrestling so much.
Credits:
Edited by Greg
Image art by Ted Nasmith
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Posted in Books & Novellas, Podcast, The Lord of the Rings
Tagged Aiwendil, Beric175, claudiusthefool, easttexasdirewolf, Varley, White Raven
Join Fortytwo, Alias and White Raven for their review of Monolith’s new game, “Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor”. First half of podcast is spoiler-free. Spoiler filled review starts at 43mins.
Credits:
Edited by Vikram (fortytwo)
Hosts: Fortytwo, Alias, White Raven
Intro Music: “hmm ok” by Gablé
Various other music: BoxCat’s Discography
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Links:
AngryJoe vs Olgoth
Posted in Podcast, The Lord of the Rings, Video Games
Tagged Alias, fortytwo, White Raven
Fortytwo teams up with Alias and White Raven to take on a Boss called “Podcast”. The Crew review Bungie’s Destiny the game. At time of Recording Patch 1.0.2 is live and Iron Banner event is underway.
Credits:
Edited by Vikram (fortytwo)
Hosts: Fortytwo, Alias, White Raven
Intro Music: “hmm ok” by Gablé
Various other music: Gillicuddy’s Discography
Blog image by Janee Meadows
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AngryJoe’s Review
Make some room in your MP3 players, cause the vassals are reviewing their favorite Podcasts. They talk about how they got into podcasts, list their favorites and list podcast they hate as well.
Credits:
Edited by Vikram (fortytwo)
Hosts: Alias, Amberrocks, Valkyrist, Claudiusthefool and Fortytwo
Intro Music: “hmm ok” by Gablé
Various other music: Chris Zabriskie’s Discography
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Tagged Alias, amberrocks, claudiusthefool, fortytwo, Valkyrist
The Vassals of Kingsgrave kick off their Silmarillion Re-read series. Before discussing the book itself we break down the troubled history of the publication and the development of the text of what eventually became The Silmarillion as it was published in 1977, four years after the death of J.R.R. Tolkien. We also analyze the letter that Tolkien wrote in 1950 to a friend in which he explained his reasoning behind writing The Silmarillion and what he hoped it would mean to England.
Join hosts Greg, Brett, Shane, Alix & Matt as they try to get into the head of Eru Iluvatar and his musical selections.
Put on your finest raiment and hearken to the tales of the Music of the Ainur and the Valaquenta.
Credits:
Edited by Greg
Image from the Melkor Was Here Tumblr from March 12, 2014.
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Posted in Books & Novellas, Podcast, The Lord of the Rings
Tagged Aiwendil, claudiusthefool, easttexasdirewolf, Varley, White Raven
Vassals of Kingsgrave 
