Amped Up Radio

Amp Burapachaisri is bringing Amped Up Radio back from a short hiatus. This season, we are changing and shaking things up a bit around here. The podcast is now pivoting to long-form format, with an emphasis on Thai history. Every Tuesday, we'll be looking at the "micro" picture, topics in themes such as art, philosophy, sports, cuisine, religion, and politics. We'll also be piecing apart the "macro" picture in the form of mini-series, exploring major historical events in Thailand, including the Burmese–Siamese wars, Thailand in World War I and World War II. For more info, you can follow us on: InstagramTwitter

In this episode of Amped Up Radio, I sit down to talk with Ryan Stitt, the creator and host of The History of Ancient Greece Podcast. Ryan talks about the thorny issue of historiography in ancient Greece, relating to the lack of reliable sources; what life would have been like if you were a male, female, or slave living in Athens, and Sparta's eugenics program, whether or not it is myth or reality. In the second half of the show, we talk about how Ryan got into podcasting, some roadblocks he's come across, and some tips for new podcasters are arriving to the scene! Follow Ryan StittTwitter: @greekhistorypodWebsite: http://www.thehistoryofancientgreece.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thehistoryofancientgreecepodcast/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgfpX2FXVhjRUY9XK92DN9g

This week on Amped Up Radio, I sit down to talk with one of my FAVORITE professors at Cornell University, Professor Nick Admussen. Known for his misleading "Getting Rich in Modern China" and highly popular "Intro to China" classes, Professor Admussen is completely immersed in contemporary Chinese prose poetry and Chinese culture in the 20th-21st centuries. We talk about censorship in Chinese literature, the changing forms of poetry, what one can learn from reading poetry. Last but not least, Professor Admussen offers some advice for college students pursuing the liberal arts! *Note: This is part 2 of the two-part interview! Follow Nick AdmussenTwitter: @nadmussenWebsite: https://www.nickadmussen.com/Book: Recite and Refuse: Contemporary Chinese Prose Poetry

This week on Amped Up Radio, I sit down to talk with one of my FAVORITE professors at Cornell University, Professor Nick Admussen. Known for his misleading "Getting Rich in Modern China" and highly popular "Intro to China" classes, Professor Admussen is completely immersed in contemporary Chinese prose poetry and Chinese culture in the 20th-21st centuries. We talk about censorship in Chinese literature, the changing forms of poetry, what one can learn from reading poetry. Last but not least, Professor Admussen offers some advice for college students pursuing the liberal arts! *Note: This is part 1 of the two-part interview! Follow Nick AdmussenTwitter: @nadmussenWebsite: https://www.nickadmussen.com/Book: Recite and Refuse: Contemporary Chinese Prose Poetry

This week's episode of Amped Up Radio features Professor Emeritus of Southeast Asian history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a Thai historian known for his involvement as a student organizer at the pro-democracy movements and popular uprising of October 14 in 1973, Professor Thongchai Winichakul (อาจารย์ ธงชัย วินิจจะกูล). Professor Thongchai is also best known for his works Siam Mapped: A History of the Geo-body of a Nation, The Quest for Siwilai, Remembering/Silencing the Traumatic Past: the Ambivalent Memories of the October 1976 Massacre in Bangkok. This week, we unpack the events surrounding the Thammasat University massacre (เหตุการณ์ 6 ตุลา), the 1973 popular uprising (เหตุการณ์ 14 ตุลา), how Professor Thongchai plans to rewrite Thai history, what Professor Thongchai means by "history kills people," and what students of history, as well as any ordinary person, can do to contribute to their nation's history. Quotes“I want to write a new history… Thai history, because I think history kills people. The [Thai] history that was taught, Thai people are indoctrinated–it’s dangerous. So I just want to create a history… a totally different history. “I want to write about October 6 in ways that [are] totally unrelated and not about October 6. Moments of Silence: https://www.amazon.com/Moments-Silence-Unforgetting-October-Massacre/dp/0824882342ออกนอกขนบประวัติศาสตร์ไทย: https://sameskybooks.net/index.php/product/9786167667751/6 ตุลา ลืมไม่ได้ จำไม่ลง: ว่าด้วย 6 ตุลา 2519 (พิมพ์ครั้งที่ 2) https://readery.co/9786167667843โฉมหน้าราชาชาตินิยม https://readery.co/9786167667492

Amped Up Radio is incredibly honored to have neo soul, mor lam enthusiast, and Thai singer-songwriter Phum Viphurit (ภูมิ วิภูริศ) with us on the show today! Join us for a quick session to learn about how Phum went from making YouTube covers to now headlining major music festivals such as DMZ Peace Train and Maho Rasop and collaborating with renowned artists such as 88rising's Higher Brothers and NIKI.Follow Phum ViphuritInstagram: phumviphuritFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/PhumViphurit/Website: http://www.ratsthailand.com/ (Rats Records)

Janet Forbes wears many hats. She's an experienced archaeologist, soprano & opera singer, polyglot, and writer. However, she's most known for her contributions as co-founder and director of World Anvil, one of the top worldbuilding tools and RPG campaign managers. Join us as we journey into worldbuilding, worldbuilding theory, "worldbuilder's disease," how you should deal with criticism & feedback, and why you don't need to be completely creative and original to be successful as a creator. Quotes"Worldbuilder's disease is contagious, but you can be cured. Essentially, it's building against motivation. If you end up writing a fifteen-page treatise on elven shoes and it's not relevant to anything that's part of your motivation, then you got worldbuilder's disease. And I think it's when people see worldbuilding and they find it overwhelming–they see all the detail and think 'Oh my god, the world is so detailed.' It's really not." [7:05 - 8:30]"Writing is re-writing. It’s all about practice. It’s all about refining and refining. That turd of a first draft that you have churned out, that piece of crap that you have created that you look at and go ‘this is nothing like the thing that I dream it will be’ it’s fine, because that the caterpillar that will turn into a butterfly. It might be that this one you polish it and polish it, and it becomes a really nice caterpillar. But you can’t expect to become a butterfly unless you’re a caterpillar first." [14:40- 15:30]Follow Janet ForbesTwitter: @JD_Blythe YouTube: World Anvil WorldbuildingWebsite: https://www.worldanvil.com/

This week's episode of Amped Up Radio features David J. Peterson, language creator (conlanger) of the Game of Thrones series (Dothraki & High Valyrian), The 100 (Trigedasleng), Defiance (Kastithanu, L'Irathi, Indojisnen, and Kinuk'aaz), Thor: The Dark World (Shiväisith). David is also the author of The Art of Language Invention and Living Language Dothraki and hosts the LangTime Studio on YouTube, where he and Dr. Jessie Sams work to create conlang projects live. We dive into how David became involved with conlang during his undergraduate years at Berkeley, his contributions to the languages in Game of Thrones and The 100, as well as his upcoming works–Dune and The Witcher, to name a few.QuotesThe language I created for The 100 (Trigedasleng) is supposed to be a futuristic version of English that is influenced by the history, takes place in that show in the present day and 150 years in the future. It’s still English and it was intentionally influenced by English in that every word from it comes from English, but in terms of how meanings have shifted, how the grammar has shifted, how the sound has shifted that part was original–it’s an original revolution of English [6:45 - 7:24] The problem of Valyrian is that it’s the language of a dead culture, and a people and a place that have been destroyed. You certainly see echos of it throughout the books, there are ripples of it everywhere, but we don’t ever actually get to see this is what it was like to be a Valyrian speaker in the Valyrian Freehold at that time. Contrasted with Dothraki, where you see a lot of it–a lot of what the Dothraki people do in the books… I felt much more confident in saying this probably fits with Dothraki culture, this is probably what something the Dothraki would do. There is next to nothing to go on for the Valyrians. [16:10 - 17:04] Follow David J. PetersonTwitter: @dedalvsYouTube: https://bit.ly/langtimestudioWebsite: https://artoflanguageinvention.com/

The hat-trick winner of sci-fi awards– the Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Awards–Ken Liu (刘宇昆) is the author of The Paper Menagerie and short stories including "Mono no aware" and "Memories of My Mothers." His pioneering work in the genre of silkpunk, The Dandelion Dynasty series, incorporates past East Asian culture and technology into the realm of science fiction and fantasy. We talk about the relationship between writers and authors, why footnotes are important in translated works, Ken's upcoming novels, and how Ken became involved with Lucasfilm and wrote The Legends of Luke Skywalker.Quotes"When you tell a story, it’s a collaborative effort, the story only becomes real when the reader takes the word you put down on a page and fills it and brings the characters to life and endows the actions of the characters with meaning… Readers do that not in a vacuum, they do it based on their experiences, their own expectations, their own understandings of human nature, their own cultural and social privileged statuses [1:42 - 3:35]"[Silk punk] is a blend of fantasy and science fiction in which the science fictional elements are almost derived from an East Asian engineering tradition from antiquity. I often speak of technology as a language, so the particular language of technology used in these books uses a vocabulary based on materials that are of importance historically to East Asia–bamboos, silk, animal sinew." [8:33 - 9:22]Follow Ken Liu Twitter: @kyliu99Instagram: kyliu99Facebook: authorkenliu Website: https://kenliu.name/

Adal Rifai plays the shape-shifting badger, Chunt, on Hello From The Magic Tavern and is also creator and host of the Hey Riddle Riddle podcast. In the very first episode of Amped Up Radio, we talk about how Hello From The Magic Tavern came to be, how Hey Riddle Riddle still continues to have so many loyal fans despite some of its mediocre riddles, what Adal learned from years of doing improv. Quotes "If I can be an animal [on Hello From The Magic Tavern], I’m on board” “I really believe that if you’re a good conversationalist, you’re a good improviser. This idea that you’re coming from a place of curiosity, that’s what makes a great improviser, a great improviser. It’s just that idea of being curious, asking questions, coming from a place of “how do I connect with you?” “how do I know you?” and I think even when you’re playing a character, that’s at the root of every scene.” [14:38] “The idea of collaboration is what amps me up...Improv is a group sport, it’s an ensemble playing, it’s all about collaboration. [17:47] Follow Adal Rifai Twitter: @adalrifai (also @chuntttttt) Instagram: adalrifaiWebsite: Hello From The Magic Tavern

Amp Burapachaisri loves learning about new things and making meaningful connections among various academic and professional disciplines. Follow along with her as she interviews experts of history, pop culture, the humanities, and the arts.