Gobbledygeek

Because our mascot is a turkey, and because we generally frown upon genocide, Paul and Arlo are spending Thanksgiving weekend discussing films with ties to Native American culture. For this Geek Challenge, Paul urges Arlo to watch Michael Apted's 1992 conspiracy thriller Thunderheart, starring Val Kilmer as an FBI agent who grows to embrace his Sioux heritage. In turn, Arlo makes Paul watch Jim Jarmusch's 1995 psychedelic Western Dead Man, wherein Johnny Depp's iteration of William Blake takes an offbeat journey to the next life. The boys address the major caveat of both films starring white men, as well as their own lily whiteness; determine that Graham Greene and Gary Farmer walk away with their respective movies; and discuss how both films explore spiritual death and rebirth. With a bonus discussion of Apted's documentary Incident at Oglala!

NEXT: Arlo's having a baby. We're going on hiatus with hopes of returning in mid-to-late January. We wish everyone a happy and, more importantly, safe holiday season. We love you.

BREAKDOWN

00:01:00  -  Intro / Guest

00:07:15  -  Thunderheart

01:08:16  -  Dead Man

02:09:36  -  Outro / Next

LINKS

• “The Best of Both Worlds: Otherness, Appropriation, and Identity in Thunderheart” by Sam Pack

• “FILM VIEW: One Director, Two Routes to American Indian Travail” by Caryn James, New York Times

• “Dead Man: Blake in America” by Amy Taubin, Criterion

• “Unveiling the spiritual nature of Dead Man” by Briana Berg, Cinescapade

• “The Untamed Territory of Jim Jarmusch’s Dead Man” by Scout Tafoya, The Spool

• “For Native Peoples, Thanksgiving Isn’t a Celebration. It’s a National Day of Mourning” by Tonya Mosley and Allison Hagan, wbur.org

MUSIC

• “Grafitti Man” by John Trudell, A.K.A. Grafitti Man (1986)
• “NDN Kars” by Keith Secola, Circle (1992)

GOBBLEDYCARES

• Support Black Lives Matter and find anti-racism resources: https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/
• Help teachers and classrooms in need: https://www.donorschoose.org/
• Do your part to remove the burden of medical debt for individuals, families, and veterans: https://ripmedicaldebt.org/
• Register to vote: https://vote.gov/

For the penultimate Gobbledygeek of the year, Paul and Arlo return to an institution they dropped like a bad habit at the start of the pandemic: the Four-Color Flashback! Vickie Willis Navarra, board member of the Comics and Popular Arts Conference at DragonCon, joins the boys to discuss Sandman Mystery Theatre: Book One. Matt Wagner’s resurrection of DC’s Golden Age hero Wesley Dodds, with art by Guy Davis, John Watkiss, R.G. Taylor, and David Hornung, explores the dark dreams of 1938 New York. The gang discusses the art’s sketchy, shadowy noir qualities; Vickie interrupts her praise of Dian Belmont long enough to wonder if Dian falls into the “exceptional female” trope; Paul and Arlo ponder the series’ connection to Neil Gaiman’s Sandman; and more.

NEXT: season 11 comes to a close with a Geek Challenge featuring Thunderheart and Dead Man.

BREAKDOWN

00:00:35  -  Intro / Guest

00:11:50  -  Main Topic

01:54:34  -  Outro / Next

LINKS

• V.E.W. Navarra: Writing All The Things

• Reading Joss Whedon, edited by Rhonda V.. Wilcox, Tanya R. Cochran, Cynthea Masson, and David Lavery

• At Home in the Whedonverse: Essays on Domestic Place, Space and Life, edited by Juliette C. Kitchens
• Geek Rock: An Exploration of Music and Subculture, edited by Alex DiBlasi and Victoria Willis
• Routledge Companion to Popular Music and Humor, edited by Thomas M. Kitts and Nick Baxter-Moore

MUSIC

• “Begin the Beguine” by Artie Shaw (1938)
• “I’ve Got a Pocketful of Dreams” by Bing Crosby (1938)

GOBBLEDYCARES

• Support Black Lives Matter and find anti-racism resources: https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/
• Help teachers and classrooms in need: https://www.donorschoose.org/
• Do your part to remove the burden of medical debt for individuals, families, and veterans: https://ripmedicaldebt.org/
• Register to vote: https://vote.gov/

We’re still here. The world spins on, at least for a time. In the aftermath of Election Day 2020, there are many variables. Will that loser leave the White House? Will the GOP’s slow-rolling coup pay off? Will a Trumpian shadow militia form, leading to an actual Civil War II? As is the norm, Paul and Arlo have no answers, but they ponder these questions and many others. The boys recount their Election Night spirals; Arlo gets tested for COVID; Paul goes to the severe county of Sevier County; and they discuss some pop culture too, like why the kitchen-sink melodrama of This Is Us works, why Baby Yoda being a monster on The Mandalorian is cool and good, and why Paul hates The Simpsons.

NEXT: for the penultimate episode before our pregnancy-induced hiatus, Vickie Willis Navarra joins us for a Four-Color Flashback discussing Sandman Mystery Theatre: Book One by Matt Wagner, Guy Davis, John Watkiss, and R.G. Taylor.

MUSIC

• “FDT (feat. Nipsey Hustle)” by YG, Still Brazy (2016)
• “Three Little Birds” by Bob Marley & The Wailers, Exodus (1977)

GOBBLEDYCARES

• Support Black Lives Matter and find anti-racism resources: https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/
• Help teachers and classrooms in need: https://www.donorschoose.org/
• Do your part to remove the burden of medical debt for individuals, families, and veterans: https://ripmedicaldebt.org/
• Register to vote: https://vote.gov/