Tag Archives: White Raven

VoK 123: The Magicians series (by Lev Grossman)

Posted on July 13, 2014 by bina007 | Leave a comment

The Vassals discuss Lev Grossman’s Magicians series of portal fantasy novels. Topics include millennial ennui; impotent gods; the plight of being a fantasy fan; and how the rules of magical top-trumps aren’t entirely clear. This episode spoils the Magicians series (including the short story in Dangerous Women) and also discusses Narnia, Harry Potter, Brideshead Revisited and Tolkien. (Aftershow begins at 1h 20m).

Podcast hosts: Bina007, Katie (Lady Griffin), Brett (WhiteRaven), Michael (Mordion) and Greg (Claudius The Fool).

Edited by Bina007 using Geoffrey Burgon’s marvellous score to ITV miniseries of Brideshead Revisited and Queen’s It’s A Kind of Magic.

[MP3] Download or play this episode directly
[Archive.org] View this episode’s page on Archive.org
[Forum] Podcast SubForum
[iTunes] Subscribe to us on iTunes
[RSS] Podcast Feed

Leave a comment

Posted in Books & Novellas, Harry Potter, Podcast

Tagged Bina007, claudiusthefool, Lady Griffin, Mordion, White Raven

VoK 102: LOTR ReRead (Part 8) – The Fourth Age of Middle-Earth

Posted on May 25, 2014 by bina007 | Leave a comment

Join the Fellowship of Vassals for the final episode of their epic eight part re-read of JRR Tolkien’s Lord of The Rings. In this episode, Bina007, Shellfish (Peter), Nadia, Middlecyclone (Amanda), Whiteraven (Brett) and EastTexasDirewolf (Shane) discuss chapters 5 to 9 of The Return of the King and the Appendices.

Topics of discussion include the logistics of Maiar reincarnation; the sex lives of elves; badass ninja hobbits; whether, if Galadriel had a beard, she would be more attractive to Gimli; the ineptitude of the White Council and the relative merits of a wiffle bat and a cricket bat in the event of a Zombie apocalypse.

The chapter discussion runs up to 1h 9m and the appendices to 2h.

This podcast contains spoilers for the works of Tolkien and George R R Martin.

Credits:
Edited by Bina007

[MP3] Download or play this episode directly
[Archive.org] View this episode’s page on Archive.org
[iTunes] Subscribe to us on iTunes
[RSS] Podcast Feed
[APOIAF] Forum Thread

Leave a comment

Posted in Books & Novellas, Podcast, The Lord of the Rings

Tagged Bina007, easttexasdirewolf, middlecyclone, Nadia, Shellfish, White Raven

VoK 81: LOTR ReRead (Part 7) – The Destruction of the Ring

Posted on April 7, 2014 by bina007 | Leave a comment

The epic Vassals quest to destroy the One Ring finally reaches Mordor as we complete Book Five and begin Book Six of Tolkien’s fantasy epic Lord of the Rings. Join Bina007, Shellfish (Peter), Nadia, Whiteraven (Brett), Middlecylone (Amanda) and Teddard (Eddie) as they discuss how culpable Gandalf is; Breomer’s poor swordsmanship, and the general awesomeness of Sam as we journey to the Field of Cormallen.

Please note that this episode contains spoilers for Lord of the Rings and incidentally other parts of the Tolkien oeuvre as well as George R R Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series.

Intro; 3m: Book Five Chapter Eight: The Houses of Healing; 17m: Chapter Nine: The Last Debate; 32m Chapter Ten: The Black Gate Opens; 44m Book Six Chapter One: The Tower of Cirith Ungol; 56m: Chapter Two: The Land of Shadow; 61m: Chapter Three: Mount Doom; 80m: Chapter Four: The Field of Cormallen; 90m: Outro; 96m Aftershow.

Credits:
Edited by Bina007

[MP3] Download or play this episode directly
[Archive.org] View this episode’s page on Archive.org
[iTunes] Subscribe to us on iTunes
[RSS] Podcast Feed

Leave a comment

Posted in Books & Novellas, Podcast, The Lord of the Rings

Tagged Bina007, middlecyclone, Nadia, Shellfish, Teddard, White Raven

VoK 74: Vikings (History Channel series) – Season 1

Posted on March 16, 2014 by vokadmin | 7 comments

Vikram (Fortytwo) is joined by Brett(White Raven) and Nadia to review and discuss Michael Hirst’s Epic Saga Vikings. The crew try to puzzle out navigation by sun dial, women in Viking society, what was the point of the priest character Athelstan, Effect of Vikings on England and then finish it all off with One Nite/marry/kill game.

Credits:
Edited by Vikram (Fortytwo)
Outro music was Fever Ray’s If I had a heart

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

7 Comments

Posted in History, Podcast, TV Shows

Tagged fortytwo, Nadia, White Raven

VoK 67: LOTR ReRead (Part 6) – The War of the Ring

Posted on March 2, 2014 by bina007 | Leave a comment

WitchKing

The Fellowship of Vassals record their best reread yet, covering the Siege of Minas Tirith; the Ride of the Rohirrim; and the Battle of Pelennor Fields. Naturally, this podcast is chock-full of spoilers for all of Tolkien’s works.

02:30 – White Raven recaps Chapters 1 (Minas Tirith) and Chapter 2 (The Grey Company). Shellfish accuses Aragorn of being a usurper and MiddleCyclone accuses Gandalf of knowing less than the average Gondorian. Bina007 defends Eowyn’s decision to abandon her people and ride to war, and Nadia supports the manliness of archers.

35:00 – Shellfish recaps Chapter 3 (The Muster of Rohan), in which it is discusses how good orcs are at math; how scary it must be to watch people lay siege upon you; and the difference between Book and Movie Eomer.

50:20 – Teddard recaps Chapter 4 (The Siege of Gondor), including the attack from the Mordor Air Force. White Raven argues that Faramir is baked and Bina007 plays devil’s advocate for Denethor.

1:12:00 – Nadia recaps Chapter 5 (The Ride of the Rohirrim), inciting the mantra, “Theoden is magnificent here, but also really stupid”.

1:28:00 – Middlecyclone recaps Chapter 6 (The Battle of the Pelennor) Fields, the coolest chapter in perhaps ALL of literature. Fact! But we all have a bit of a rant about how the movie handles the Army of the Dead.

1:45:57 – Bina007 recaps Chapter 7 (The Pyre of Denethor), and discusses what would happen if an Eagle took the ring, and more seriously, the overtly religious nature of this chapter (and the twisted love Denethor has for Faramir).

Credits:
Edited by Bina007

[MP3] Download or play this episode directly
[Archive.org] View this episode’s page on Archive.org
[iTunes] Subscribe to us on iTunes
[RSS] Podcast Feed

Leave a comment

Posted in Books & Novellas, Podcast, The Lord of the Rings

Tagged Bina007, middlecyclone, Nadia, Scilens, Shellfish, Teddard, White Raven

VoK 64: LOTR ReRead (Part 5) – Forum Feedback Discussion

Posted on February 17, 2014 by bina007 | Leave a comment

In this episode our Fellowship of Vassals takes a break from carrying the Ring into Mordor in order to discuss all the fantastic feedback the four previous episodes have had in the Podcast of Ice and Fire forums.

Podcasters: Shellfish (Peter), WhiteRaven (Brett), Teddard (Eddie), MiddleCyclone (Amanda), Scilens (Tanja) and Bina007 (also editing, using music from the Brobdingnanian Bards and Chicago.)

[MP3] Download or play this episode directly
[Archive.org] View this episode’s page on Archive.org
[iTunes] Subscribe to us on iTunes
[RSS] Podcast Feed

Leave a comment

Posted in Books & Novellas, Podcast, The Lord of the Rings

Tagged Bina007, middlecyclone, Scilens, Shellfish, Teddard, White Raven

VoK 62: LOTR ReRead (Part 4) – The Journey into Mordor

Posted on February 5, 2014 by bina007 | Leave a comment

Join our Fellowship of Vassals as they Journey Into Mordor, and discover that the much-dreaded Book Four of Lord of the Rings has more to it than just ‘more walking’. Not least, many spoilers for all of Tolkien’s oeuvre.

02:45 Shellfish aka Peter describes The Taming of Smeagol, and his deep and abiding fascination for Elvish rope.
12:45 JoThirteen aka Joanna taks us through The Dead Marshes, and asks what exactly the magicks are that are preserving the bodies.
19:20 EastTexasDirewolf aka Shane leads us to The Black Gate, in which we debate whether the black gate is, in fact, just a big gate.
28:40 Middlecylones aka Amanda speaks Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit in which we discuss the coolness of armoured elephants.
45:30 Bina007 gasps in awe at Faramir in The Window On the West, and gets excited about how the Dalai Lama could use the Ring to take over India.
57:50 Teddard aka Eddie watches over The Forbidden Pool and asks if Frodo was a victim of creaking doors.
1:01:30 WhiteRaven aka Brett takes a Journey To The Crossroads, in which there are some cool staves and a Venn diagram of doucheyness.
1:04:45 Nadia leads us into Cirith Ungol and Shelob’s Lair where we discuss Orc technology, Beren and Luthien and whether Frodo is Lord of the Rings.
1:19:00 Shellfish aka Peter describes the Choices of Master Samwise, as Frodo continues his habit of being stabbed by new and exotic things, this time off-screen, and Shelob Occupies Wall Street
1:30:00 Outro.

Editing credits: Bina007 using music from the original soundtrack to The Two Towers composed by Howard Shore.

[MP3] Download or play this episode directly
[Archive.org] View this episode’s page on Archive.org
[iTunes] Subscribe to us on iTunes
[RSS] Podcast Feed

Leave a comment

Posted in Books & Novellas, Podcast, The Lord of the Rings

Tagged Bina007, easttexasdirewolf, JoThirteen, middlecyclone, Nadia, Scilens, Shellfish, Teddard, White Raven

VoK 60: LOTR ReRead (Part 3) – The Treason of Isengard

Posted on February 1, 2014 by bina007 | 1 comment

The ongoing quest to re-read Tolkien’s fantasy classic continues as the Fellowship of Vassals tackles Book Three of Lord of the Rings aka The Treason of Isengard.

In this third episode, Nadia, Eiffel aka Matt, Shellfish aka Peter, Amanda aka MiddleCyclones, Joanna aka JoThirteen, Brett aka Whiteraven and Bina007 enumerate their love for all things Rohan!

Beware of Spoilers: This podcast discusses Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit and the Silmarillion in detail.

00:00 Introduction to the Fellowship and Bina’s geeky key stats.

05:00 JoThirteen leads a discussion on Chapter One – The Departure of Boromir – Should this chapter have been in the previous book? How were orcs and trolls made? Why does Aragorn keep Boromir’s betrayal secret?

13:00 Eiffel leads a discussion of Chapters Two and Five – The Riders of Rohan and The White Rider – Is Saruman deliberately trying to look like Gandalf? How come Gimli is happy to ‘ride bitch’? Is Aragorn every funny? Does Gandalf know about the Entmoot? Is it weird that Saruman is abroad before battle?

49:00 Whiteraven leads a discussion of Chapters Three and Four – The Uruk-Hai and Treebeard – is cutting off a hand harder than swinging a sword? Poor Orcs! Did the movie misrepresent Ents? What happened to the Entwives?

1:05:00 MiddleCyclones leads a discussion of Chapter Six – The King In The Golden Hall – in which we express our Hama-love for seemingly hours; Theoden compared to Mufasa and/or the Arthurian Fisher-King; why do they let Wormtongue go?

1:22:00 Nadia leads a discussion of Chapter Seven – Helm’s Deep – Do the movies rob Treebeard and Theoden of their agency? The Elves show up! Erkenbrand doesn’t! The absurdity of Aragorn parlaying with the Orcs!

1:45:00 Bina007 leads a discussion of Chapters Eight and Nine – The Road to Isengard and Flotsam and Jetsam – On the new no-nonsense Gandalf the White and the importance of chilling out.

1:54:00 Shellfish leads a discussion of Chapter Ten – The Voice of Saruman and Chapter Eleven – The Palantir – what is the nature of Saruman’s power? Would Theoden have fallen? How Theoden has all the best lines. Does Saruman know Gandalf has the Ring? Was Saruman always bad? Is it credible that Gandalf doesn’t know about the Palantir?

Edited by Bina007 using extracts of music from the official soundtrack to The Two Towers composed by Howard Shore.

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

1 Comment

Posted in Books & Novellas, Podcast, The Lord of the Rings

Tagged Bina007, Eiffel, JoThirteen, middlecyclone, Nadia, Shellfish, White Raven

VoK 53: The Hobbit – The Desolation of Smaug [2013] (Review)

Posted on January 5, 2014 by vokadmin | Leave a comment

Happy New Year Listeners! . Fortytwo is joined by LordManderblee, Bina007, Shellfish, No True Lady, White Raven and Scilens to rate, review and discuss Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013).

Credits:
Edited by Fortytwo