Tag Archives: Valkyrist

VoK 36: Women in Geek Culture


gamergirl

Things get raucous as Bina007, No True Lady and Valkyrist navigate the murky waters of geek culture’s woman problem and attempt to slay the myth of the Fake Geek Girl. This episode also features a shocking lack of Tolkien knowledge, the secret behind Tom Hiddleston’s charm and the heartbreak of discovering that the creators of things you like are actually terrible people.

Credits:
Edited by No True Lady

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[Forum] Podcast Forums.

Links:
Feminist Frequency YouTube Channel
Harassment Against Anita Sarkeesian
The “Fake Geek Girl” Has Got to Go
Tony Harris’ Facebook Rant
Tolkien’s Ladies: Is Geek Culture Female-Friendly?
Podcast Awards
Suits and Madness Podcast

VoK 32: The Last of Us (Naughty Dog)


TheLastOfUs

Join the Vassals for their very first video game podcast! Hosts Duncan (aka Valkyrist), Zach (aka Alias), Katie (aka Lady Griffin), and Peter (aka Shellfish) unite for a critical discussion of The Last of Us, for PlayStation 3 And stay tuned for the Aftershow, where they delve into their top 5 games for this console cycle, and ask the question: “Can video games be considered art?”

0:00 – Introduction [lemon cake ratings; favourite moments in the game]
11:36 – Story and Characters [Joel and Ellie’s character arcs; interpreting the ending; narrative and thematic structure; writing quality]
41:59 – Gameplay and Design [combat and inventory mechanics; level design; enemy and ally AI; music and visual presentation; voice acting and character animations; online multiplayer]
1:08:11 – Conclusion [criticisms of the game; recommendations for similar works; DLC predictions]
1:17:13 – Aftershow [top 5 games of this gen; can video games be considered art?]

Warning: Contains explicit language, and plot spoilers for The Last of Us and Game of Thrones.

Credits:
Edited by Valkyrist
Audio clips owned by Sony Computer Entertainment

[MP3] Download or play this episode directly.
[Archive.org] View this episode’s page on Archive.org.
[Mirror] Download from mega.co.nz
[iTunes] Subscribe to us on iTunes
[RSS] Podcast only feed.
[Forum] Podcast Forums.

Links:
The Last of Us: The Kotaku Review
The Last of Us – The Musical (with Orchestra)
Map of Joel’s Progress
The Rootwork Building: Interactive and Thematic Structure in The Last of Us
Two Best Friends Play The Last of Us

VoK 28: FeastDance (Part 5) – We Remember the North


Asha Greyjoy Aeron Davos Seaworth Theon Greyjoy

Beware of Spoilers, The following podcast discusses A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons in detail.

In the penultimate FeastDance discussion, Dagos_Rivers is joined by No True Lady, Valkyrist and Nadia to discuss the storylines of Asha, Aeron, Davos and Theon up to the climax of A Dance With Dragons.

The hosts also discuss the following topics:

-Roose Bolton’s bedroom habits
-What are ‘Mature’ podcasts?
-Do ‘Show watchers’ know who Jon Snow’s mother is?
-Will the promise of a dragon binding horn help you win any election?
-Is the Kingsmoot an analogy to claimants of the Iron Throne
-Australian kids’ tv shows

Timestamps:

Asha: 0 ” 6 ” 46.365
Aeron: 0 ” 35 ” 18.619
Davos: 0 ” 57 ” 48.319
Theon: 1 ” 15 ” 45.749
AfterShow 1 ” 59 ” 45.606

Download Links:

[MP3] Download or play this episode directly.
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[Mirror] Download from mega.co.nz
[iTunes] Subscribe to us on iTunes
[RSS] Podcast only feed.

Reference Links:

VOK FeastDance Part 1 Discussion
VOK FeastDance Part 2 Discussion
VOK FeastDance Part 3 Discussion
VOK FeastDance Part 4 Discussion
Watch Thunderstone Season 1 Episode 1
Round The Twist
Ocean Girl
Fall of Giants by Ken Follett
He, She and It/Body of Glass by Marge Piercy
Shadow Man by Melissa Scott

VoK 24: Breaking Bad (AMC series) – Season 5


Join our four guest hosts for a spoiler-filled discussion of AMC’s Breaking Bad. Fortytwo aka Vikram, Valkyrist aka Duncan, Alias aka Zach and Bina007 aka Bina take a critical look at the entire series.

Credits:
Edited by fortytwo
Music from Breaking Bad original soundtrack.

Episode 24:
[MP3] Download or play this episode directly.
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[Streaming] from grooveshark.com
[Mirror] Download from mega.co.nz
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[RSS] Podcast only feed.

Links:
Podcast: Breaking Bad Insider
Podcast: AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER

VoK 23: Metanarrative in the Game of Thrones (audio essay)


IronThrone

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)

VoK 21: The Wire (HBO series)


The best TV show ever made?

The best TV show ever made?

Join our four guest hosts for a spoiler-filled explicit discussion of HBO’s seminal TV series The Wire, as well as all things A Song Of Ice and Fire.  Mordion aka Michael, Valkyrist aka Duncan, The Parsnip Knight aka Will and Bina007 aka Bina take a critical look at each of the five seasons in turn, before a more light-hearted after-show discussion.

Running order:

00:00  Introduction to the hosts, how we found the show, season ranking and favourite characters.

13:00 Season One –  The pOlice start to investigate the Barksdale crew and we discuss how The Wire measures up to standard cop shows; the character development of Prezbo and Daniels; and the who we were rooting for.

26:00 Season Two – Union leader Frank Sobotka tries to keep the dockworkers in business by making a deal with “The Greek”.  We also discuss how The Wire tackles female characters, equal opportunities for white drug dealers, and whether Ziggy or Herc is the biggest idiot.

46:40 Season Three  – We discuss the pros and cons of Bunny Colvin’s Hamsterdam plan, the comedy of drug dealers recognising the chair in co-op debates, and the tragedy of the rivalry between Stringer Bell and Avon Barksdale.

1:10:40  Season Four – The Wire delves into the parlous state of public education in Baltimore as Prezbo becomes a teacher and we debate how far Chris is a “bad guy” and why The Wire didn’t achieve the commercial success of shows like Mad Men, let alone Game of Thrones.

1:38:40 Season Five – We discuss how plausible the McNutty storyline is, and whether the journalism story is too rushed for its own good.

1:50:00  Aftershow –  In which we discuss who the biggest badass of the show is, who the biggest dumbass is, and whether Herc would be a gentle lover, Stringer Bell would cuddle, whether you can say “shiiiiiiiit!” in an English accent and which characters in The Wire resemble characters from A Song Of Ice and Fire.

Credits: Edited by Bina007 with music taken from the soundtrack album “…All the pieces matter – Five years of music from The Wire.”

Episode 21:

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Links:
The Aidan Gillan Game Of Thrones/Wire Mash-Up Video

VoK 20: FeastDance (Part 4) – Another Brick in the Wall


Varamyr Sixskins Sam Melisandre Jon Snow

Beware of Spoilers, The following podcast discusses A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons in detail.

Continuing the discussion of A Dance With Dragons and A Feast For Crows (FeastDance), Vassals of Kingsgrave present part four in the discussion of the latest books in A Song of Ice and Fire.

Dagos_Rivers is joined by Bina007, Alias, Nadia and new host, Valkyrist.

Observations made during the discussion:

– Wilding baby name faux pas.
– Randyl Tarly’s nomination for father of the year.
– Casting news for Game of Thrones Season 4.
– More wacky theories, courtesy of the VOK hosts and Westeros.org forums.

Editing Credits: Dagos_Rivers

Episode 20:
[MP3] Download or play this episode directly.
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[Streaming] from grooveshark.com
[Mirror] Download from mega.co.nz
[iTunes] Subscribe to us on iTunes
[RSS] Podcast only feed.

Links:
Martin Confirms Azor Ahai…
Season 4 Casting
Part 1 of the VOK FeastDance discussion
Part 2 of the VOK FeastDance discussion
Part 3 of the VOK FeastDance discussion
Valkyrist’s fanfic about Arya Stark
Valkyrist’s fanfic about Jon Snow