The Vassals delve deep into devilry, and hope to escape with their souls intact. Why is it goats?
Hosts:
Peter/Shellfish
Sara/DrBlood
Jock/munrojock2
Adam/drownedsnow
Zach/Alias
Kat/kitkathistory24601
Patrick/Ser Patrick the Tall
Credits:
Edited by Peter/Shellfish
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Posted in Books & Novellas, Movies, Philosophy, Podcast, TV Shows, Video Games
Tagged Alias, DrBlood, drownedsnow, kitkathistory24601, Munrojock2, Ser Patrick the Tall, Shellfish
Absolute lunacy erupts as the Vassals come face to face with werewolves! Is the beauty of this beast more than skin-deep? Topics include the history of werewolf tales, possible inspirations, shapeshifters around the world, and general human-canine relations.
Hosts:
Peter/Shellfish
Sara/DrBlood
Abby/daceymormont
Adam/drownedsnow
Matt/Varley
Kit/kgcanary
Jock/munrojock2
Credits:
Edited by Peter/Shellfish
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Posted in Books & Novellas, Movies, Philosophy, Podcast, Video Games
Tagged Daceymormont, DrBlood, drownedsnow, kgcanary, Munrojock2, Shellfish, Varley
In the third installment of A Seminar of Ice and Fire—the VoK series that examines A Song of Ice and Fire through various theoretical texts—the Vassals take on Jeffrey Jerome Cohen’s essay “Monster Culture (Seven Theses).”
We talk about what makes a monster, what monsters we see (or don’t see) in a Song of Ice and Fire, and what particular types of monsters might suggest about the culture that created them.
Hosts:
Sara/DrBlood
Ben/KingJucio
Varley
Peter/Shellfish
Wilson/The Wandering Prophet
Patrick/Ser Patrick the Tall
Credits:
Edited by Shellfish
A PDF of the Cohen reading is available here. For more reading on some of the other topics mentioned in the episode, you can start with Bauman, Zygmunt, Community: Seeking Safety in an Insecure World (2000); and Tajfel, H., “The achievement of inter-group differentiation” (1978).
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Creature chat discusses vampires!
Hosts:
Peter/Shellfish
Zander/The Lord Baron
Sara/DrBlood
Jock/munrojock2
Abby/daceymormont
Matt/Varley
Patrick/Ser Patrick the Tall
Content Warning: This episode contains discussion and descriptions of sex and sexuality, bodily fluids, decaying corpses, murder, torture, animal distress, and very bad vampire impressions.
Credits:
Edited by Shellfish
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Posted in Books & Novellas, Movies, Philosophy, Podcast, Video Games
Tagged Daceymormont, DrBlood, Munrojock2, Ser Patrick the Tall, Shellfish, The Lord Baron, Varley
The Vassals convene to chat about magical reptiles of various shapes and sizes. So grab your ceiling wax and look out for sharkdoors.
Hosts:
Peter/Shellfish
Michal/inkasrain
Sara/DrBlood
Amber/amberrocks
Zander/The Lord Baron
Marie/Nymeria
Ben/King Jucio
Adam/drownedsnow
Credits:
Edited by Peter
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Posted in Books & Novellas, Movies, Philosophy, Podcast, Science Fiction
Tagged amberrocks, Dragoncast, DrBlood, drownedsnow, inkasrain, King Jucio, Nymeria, Shellfish, The Lord Baron
Sara aka DrBlood continues her seminar series examining A Song of Ice and Fire through various theoretical texts. This time, she and the rest of the crew consider whether or not the many central characters in this story have an “ultimate concern,” or an overriding purpose that demands total surrender as Paul Tillich describes in his text, The Dynamics of Faith.
Hosts: Sara (DrBlood), Adam (drownedsnow), and Zach (Alias)
Paul Tillich’s The Dynamics of Faith
This podcast will contain spoilers for all published book in George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series.
Credits:
Edited by Zach (Alias)
Music by Alpine Universe and DrumurBoy
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Posted in A Song of Ice and Fire, Books & Novellas, Philosophy, Podcast
Tagged Alias, DrBlood, drownedsnow
Why are horror movies so popular? In this lecture, Valkyrist explores the arcane origins of horror cinema and speculates over the social and psychological reasons behind its appeal. Celebrate Halloween season by dissecting the power and meaning behind some of the most famous (and infamous) horror movies of all time.
The presentation includes video clips from the following movies:
Nosferatu (F. W. Murnau, 1922)
Frankenstein (James Wale, 1931)
Godzilla (Ishirō Honda, 1954)
Night of the Living Dead (George A. Romero, 1968)
Halloween (John Carpenter, 1978)
The Silence of the Lambs (Jonathon Demme, 1991)
Get Out (Jordan Peele, 2017)
Credits:
Edited by Valkyrist
Music from John Carpenter and Disasterpiece
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Posted in Fandom, History, Movies, Philosophy, Podcast, Science Fiction
Tagged Valkyrist
VoK’s very own Dr Blood begins a series of academic examinations through a Song of Ice and Fire. To start, we take a look at Durkheim’s Elementary Forms of Religious Life–specifically the excerpts where he discusses totemism.*
In addition to sigils and house symbolism/identity, we touch on everything from ethical questions (e.g. the “wolves” and “lions’ ravaging the Riverlands) to tinfoil (just how close are the Targs to dragons??), as well as more character-centric considerations (Dany, her silver, and her eggs; the Starks and their direwolves, etc.)…and anything else we can come up with! What would have happened if the Starks had found another Direwolf for Theon? Is Victarion Greyjoy a Raiders fan? Isn’t the Flayed Man such a bad brand that it would have been changed at some point?
Hosts: Sara (DrBlood), Adam (drownedsnow), Wilson (The Wandering Prophet), and Michael (Khal Wadege).
*Totemism: A system of belief in which humans are said to have kinship or a mystical relationship with a spirit-being, such as an animal… (Britannica.com)
Here’s a link to the Durkheim selections we focus on:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1wO5AfgU9rDYdkQ21kI6MvrLO-3g6PRMq
This might also be helpful, especially 4&5: http://durkheim.uchicago.edu/Summaries/forms.html
Spoilers: This episode covers all published works in George R R Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire.
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Posted in A Song of Ice and Fire, Books & Novellas, History, Philosophy
Tagged DrBlood, drownedsnow, Khal Wadege, The Wandering Prophet
In this mini-episode Valkyrist explores themes of grief and addiction in George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, focusing in particular on the characters of Robert Baratheon, Tyrion Lannister and Aeron Greyjoy.
Contains spoilers for all published books in A Song of Ice and Fire
Credits:
Written and Edited by Valkyrist
Music from HBO’s Game of Thrones soundtrack
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Posted in A Song of Ice and Fire, Books & Novellas, Philosophy, Podcast
Tagged Valkyrist
In this followup episode to VoK 23, Valkyrist continues to look at postmodern theory in George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series. However, where part 1 dealt with the story and characters, part 2 focuses on structure, and how Martin’s fantasy texts contrast with the more traditional writing of J. R. R. Tolkien.
Contains spoilers for all published books in A Song of Ice and Fire
Credits:
Written and Edited by Valkyrist
Music from HBO’s Game of Thrones soundtrack
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Links:
The Postmodern Condition: A Report on the Understanding of Knowledge (by Jean-François Lyotard)
VoK 23: Metanarrative in A Game of Thrones (Part 1)
Posted in A Song of Ice and Fire, Books & Novellas, Philosophy, Podcast, The Lord of the Rings
Tagged Valkyrist
In this mini-episode, Valkyrist discusses the philosophy of ethics within David Fincher’s Fight Club. Specifically, how Alain Badiou’s theory of the “truth-procedure” is manifested by the characters.
Warning: This episode contains spoilers for Fight Club, and some explicit language.
Credits:
Edited by Valkyrist
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Links:
Ethics: An Essay on the Understanding of Evil (by Alain Badiou)
In this mini-episode, Valkyrist discusses postmodernism within George R. R. Martin’s fantasy series, and the various ways in which “metanarratives” are explored and challenged.
Contains spoilers for the first three books of A Song of Ice and Fire, and some minor spoilers regarding the emotional states of two characters in book 5.
Credits:
Written and Edited by Valkyrist
Closing music taken from Malukah’s YouTube channel
Episode 23:
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Links:
The Postmodern Condition: A Report on the Understanding of Knowledge (by Jean-François Lyotard)
