2/1 - The Weekly Podioplex
2/2 - Dead Kitchen Radio: Supernatural
2/3 - Classic: Verne/Wells
2/4 - Roundtable: DC Universe Reboot
2/5 - Cyborgs: "The Solid Gold Kidnapping"
2/6 - The Dome: "Colective"
2/7 - The Weekly Podioplex
2/8 - It Has Come to My Attention: The Rocketeer
2/10 - Classic: Storyweaving 1992
2/11 - Presenting the Transcription Feature
2/12 - Brainy Brain Game: History
2/14 - The Weekly Podioplex
2/15 - Dead Kitchen Radio
2/16 - In Review: Love is in the Air
2/17 - Classic: The Prisoner
2/18 - Presenting the Transcription Feature
2/19 - Cyborgs: "Population: Zero"
2/21 - The Weekly Podioplex
2/23 - Spotlight: Desert Island Books
2/24 - Classic: Orson Scott Card
2/25 - Presenting the Transcription Feature
2/26 - Brainy Brain Game - Literature
2/28 - The Weekly Podioplex
Congrats!
Congratulations to Andrea for the "Works of L. Frank Baum" episode cracking the top five overall Mevio downloads of all time. The top five has remained the same for some time so it's nice to see a little shifting in listenership.
John
Creator, Producer, All Around God-Like Being
"What? Too much?"
Still a popular story after all these years
After spending the last week and a half in California, I can confirm the widespread love for The Wizard of Oz, or at least the film version of it. I don't know if this was a west coast thing, a San Francisco thing, or what, but during our vacation I heard one cover version of "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" and FIVE cover versions of "Somewhere over the Rainbow." Some were recorded versions and some were performed by musicians out on the street, but they all made me feel a little closer to Oz.
This version of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" was playing on the bus ride back from our Napa and Sonoma wine country tour back to San Francisco. We were all exhausted and full and floating on wine, staring out the windows at the bay and the Golden Gate Bridge ... it was a very moving experience, I have to say.
A few more Oz thoughts
Here's some more stuff that I had in my notes that I never even got to mention in this jam-packed episode:
Memories of a Munchkin: An Illustrated Walk Down the Yellow Brick Road [an autobiography / movie scrapbook written by the actor who played the Munchkin coroner]
"To Please a Child" [Library of Congress site about L. Frank Baum and the land of Oz]
The International Wizard of Oz Club
Finding Oz [A beautiful interactive site promoting this book, subtitled "How L. Frank Baum Discovered the Great American Story"]
Return to Oz: The Joy That Got Away [A documentary about fans of the Return to Oz film. The documentary is interesting because it covers such a small niche/fringe group, but I also have to add that the sound quality is really uneven and awful.]
And here's that link I mentioned to the Internet Archive, where you can see that wacky silent film His Majesty the Scarecrow of Oz for FREE.
Most importantly, I think that I should be congratulated for never mentioning Zardoz in the conversation at all!
What???
Tin Man
I can't agree with the "bad recommendation" on Tin Man. It's not Baum style, but I thought it was enjoyable up to the ending. The ending was a little hollow for me, but I had a good time.
--Michael Falkner
In Defense of Tin Man
Now that we just got our own Roku box hooked up (yay!), we're catching up on stuff that was in our Netflix instant queue. I added Tin Man to our queue in preparation for recording this episode, but I never got to see it until now.
And you know what? I like it!
We just finished the second episode, and while I admit the series started out slowly, I really got into it as time went on and I appreciated the nods to the original books. I will admit that a major factor in my opinion is that Neal McDonough stars as the Tin Man, and I have found him to be a compelling actor ever since I saw him in Boomtown.
I Tried
I got through the first installment, but I have to agree with Steve's assessment. It wasn't very well put together. And from everyone I spoke to about it and the Alice in Wonderland mini series, the latter was much better put together.
John
Creator, Producer, All Around God-Like Being
"What? Too much?"
Notes on Oz
The "populist" interpretation of Oz can be found here. Good reading on its own: Littlefield, Henry. "The Wizard of Oz: Parable on Populism." American Quarterly. v. 16, 3, Spring 1964, 47–58.
Talk about hearing a reference every day . . . In the computer field, there’s actually something called a “Wizard of Oz Experiment," in which you have to pay no attention to the man behind the curtain because he's pretending to be the computer you're interacting with.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wizard_of_Oz_experiment
Star Wars is very influenced by Oz, mainly because both are so perfectly classic examples of Joseph Campbell Hero’s Journey, with a young hero(ine) going nowhere on the farm until swept up into a larger conflict and assisted by a variety of comrades collected along the way.
E-book editions are fine, but one of the loveliest “dead tree” books around is the Books of Wonder edition of The Emerald City of Oz, with illustrations accented by sparkly, emerald green ink. Sounds cheesy, looks magical and fantastic. The perfect gift book someone who is into Oz.
…and you closed with Iz. Mahalo.