What's Interesting About...

Well, Vivian got sick of Aled and Jonathon chatting about Elden Ring for about two hours before each recording, so we're doing it on mic this time! Aled and Jonathon chat about what makes Elden Ring interesting: Jonathon's intense knowledge of From Software means they can give us a detailed overview of the story of Elden Ring, and how it compares to the Buddhist ideologies of other From Software games. We also chat about how Elden Ring is kinda political, how large open world games still need some kind of constraint, and how just gosh-dang difficult this game is. Oh, and Vivian talks about a completely different game.Follow us on twitter: @altacuk@vivianasimos@aledjllthomas@demonologian

This week, Aled Thomas, Vivian Asimos and Jonathon O'Donnell chat about fanfiction and the complicated idea of canon. We talk about the ever-changing canon and history of Star Wars, the ret-coning of Star Trek, and the ever-complicated and TERF controlled canon of Harry Potter. We chat about the power of fanfiction to change the idea of canon and the importance of story to a fan audience.Follow us on twitter: @altacuk@aledjllthomas@vivianasimos@demonologian

Pixar's Turning Red is a movie all about a young girl going through puberty, and the bodily changes as well as the sexual changes that go along with that. It also brings in cultural trauma and familial trauma, particularly the issues associated with being an Asian immigrant in Canada in the early 2000s. Aled Thomas, Vivian Asimos and Jonathon O'Donnell sit down to talk what's interesting about Turning Red.Follow us on twitter: @altacuk@demonologian@vivianasimos@aledjllthomas

Aled Thomas, Vivian Asimos and Jonathon O'Donnell discuss video game music this week! From Breath of the Wild music to Pokémon battle songs, to not listening to the music at all, we talk about what makes the best video game soundtrack, and how our gameplay can be affected by the music in the game.Follow us on twitter: @altacuk@vivianasimos@aledjllthomas@demonologian

Sorry! This week, there's no What's Interesting About due to some personal life stuff. But! I thought I'd throw in an episode from the latest season of the Religion and Popular Culture Podcast for those interested. Hope you enjoy!In this episode, Aled Thomas and Vivian Asimos chat about the claims surrounding Mary Cosby's church in Real Housewives of Salt Lake City (RHOSLC). Many online, as well as outside of the internet, are claiming Cosby runs a "cult". In this episode, Aled and Vivian talk about "cults" from the perspective of a social scientific approach to the study of religion.

This week, Vivian, Jonathon and Aled talk about the complicated relationship between the seemingly seperate worlds of reality and fiction. We talk a lot more about our research fields than we expected to talk about, but also talk about reality television, meaningful fiction, and what the hell "meaning-making" actually means.

This week, Jonathon and Vivian finally gave in to Aled's intense need to discuss the Hobbit Trilogy. With the Lord of the Rings Amazon show on the horizon, it was actually on the mind so wasn't too far of a stretch for us. We talk about some Tolkien facts, a bit of LotR mythology and lore, and Aled - you guessed it - complains about CGI.

This week, Vivian, Aled and Jonathon talk about the act and the art of binging. We talk about the format of Netflix's idea of binging, how it's changed the format of television shows, and what it means when we say that a show is “bingable”. We also talk about other pop culture we binge: from tv shows, to movies, to podcasts.Follow us on twitter:@altacuk@vivianasimos@aledjllthomas@demonologian

In this episode of What's Interesting About, Jonathon and Aled discuss Persona 5, with a few questions and inserts from Vivian. Jonathon brings up their questions about the game: how nationalist is Persona 5, and which type of nationalism is it embodying? We talk about Japanese culture and the over-arching influence of the United States, anti-foreign sentiment, and how Christmas is the perfect time to summon Satan and murder God.Follow us on twitter: @altacuk@demonologian@aledjllthomas@vivianasimos

Today we talk What's Interesting About… Visual Novels! We didn't get around to it before, so today Jonathon and Vivian dish all things visual novels, along with an occasional input from Aled. The discussion centers around the interesting question of what defines a visual novel - what makes it a genre, or not a genre? We talk about romance visual novels, but also visual novels that subvert the genre and the player's expectations.Send us an email: info@alt-ac.ukFollow us on twitter: @altacuk@vivianasimos@aledjllthomas@demonologian

What was supposed to be an episode on many different small subjects ended up just being Vivian and Aled (with an occasional Jonathon) chatting about gigs.Get in touch with the show: info@alt-ac.ukFollow us on twitter:@demonologian@vivianasimos@aledjllthomas

The time has come for us to finally give our thoughts on My Octopus Teacher. Jonathon, Aled and Vivian disect the documentary, including discussions on toxic masculinity, human's capacity to colonialise the environment, and whether or not that dude got a little too friendly with that octopus.Follow us on twitter: @altacuk@vivianasimos@demonologian@aledjllthomas

This week, Aled shares his love for the Muppets with Vivian and Jonathon. We talk about how puppets are nostalgic, the importance of the Christmas Carol in British households, and Aled talks about Rainbow Connection for a solid four minutes.Follow us on twitter: @altacuk@vivianasimos@aledjllthomas@demonologian

This week, Aled Thomas, Jonathon O'Donnell and Vivian Asimos chat about Guillermo del Toro's 2006 film Pan's Labyrinth. We talk about disobedience, animatronics vs CGI, and discuss how the true monster in our world is the white patriarchy.Follow us on twitter:@altacuk@aledjllthomas@demonologian@vivianasimos

Today, Aled Thomas, Jonathon O'Donnell and Vivian Asimos chat about the documentary Searching for Sugarman, available through Amazon. Vivian and Aled may have a little disagreement, but through the discussion we can get at the heart of what we can find interesting about the Sugarman.Follow us on twitter: @altacuk@vivianasimos@demonologian@aledjllthomas

In this episode, Aled Thomas, Jonathon O'Donnell and Vivian Asimos chat about Nintendo's Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. We focus in on how the Great Plateau functions as a great video game tutorial, and how Breath of the Wild is a beautiful depiction of a nature-filled post-apocalyptic world.Register for Aled's talk on Free Zone Scientology!Follow us on twitter:@altacuk@vivianasimos@aledjllthomas@demonologian

In this episode of What's Interesting About, Vivian Asimos brings the topic back to reality television as she, Aled Thomas and Jonathon O'Donnell discuss why Love Island is so interesting. We talk about the sociological and anthropological viewings of Love Island, discuss lad culture, and talk about the interesting aspect of the audience lens.Follow us on twitter:@altacuk@vivianasimos@demonologian@aledjllthomas

This week, Aled, Jonathon and Vivian chat everything interesting about Lil Nas X's music video Montero (Call Me By Your Name). We chat about why it's interesting that a gay rapper gives Satan a lap dance, talk about the deeper meaning to the music video, and learn about the history of seeing demons and Satan as powerful.Follow us on twitter: @altacuk@demonologian@vivianasimos@aledjllthomas

This week, Vivian, Jonathon and Aled chat everything interesting about Good Omens, originally a book written by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. We focus our discussion on the Amazon Prime television show, however. We chat about the relationship between Aziraphale and Crowley, and Jonathon teaches us about the history of corporate Heaven.Follow us on twitter: @altacuk@vivianasimos@aledjllthomas@demonologian

Vivian, Aled and Jonathon talk the Bernie Sanders meme from Januaray 2021. We talk about why memes work, and how complicated they are as a form of storytelling. We also discuss the power of the underdog, and the way younger generations turn to lesser-known older people to communicate their ideas.Follow us on twitter:@altacuk@vivianasimos@aledjllthomas@demonologian

This week, Aled, Jonathon and Vivian talk the video game Undertale. This game takes strong moral stances, and we discuss what's interesting about the Undertale's morality, it's likeable characters, and its full-on fandom.Follow us on twitter:@altacuk@vivianasimos@aledjllthomas@demonologian

This week Aled gets Vivian and Jonathon to discuss Rick and Morty… but more specifically, all the marketing and merchandise that surrounds it.

In this episode, Vivian, Aled and Jonathon talk about Ariana Grande. We discuss trauma, celebrity, gossip and music.Follow us on twitter: @altacuk@vivianasimos@aledjllthomas@demonologian

This week, Jonathon, Aled and Vivian talk about the video game series Dark Souls. We talk about its Buddhist undertones (or overtones), toxic masculinity in video games, and the construction of video game narratives.Follow us on twitter: @altacuk@vivianasimos@demonologian@aledjllthomas

This week Aled, Jonathon, and Vivian discuss a Green Day fan-fiction album. They discuss the nature of fan-fiction and its relationship with music.

Jonathon and Aled want to talk excitedly about Final Fantasy 7, and Vivian joins in to dicuss what's interesting about remake in video games. We talk about the changing representations of women, what makes something canon, and - apparently - plot ghosts.Follow us on twitter:@altacuk@vivianasimos@aledjllthomas@demonologian

Today, Vivian wants to excitedly talk about K-pop group Blackpink with Jonathon and Aled. We talk about K-pop as a sensation, the importance of fashion with music and fandom, and how K-po calls back to early 2000s pop music.Follow us on twitter:@altacuk@vivianasimos@aledjllthomas@demonologian

Yup. We're talking about the animal – squids and octopi. Jonathon's love for Cephalopods is brought to Aled and Theo. Follow us on twitter:@altacuk@theowildcroft@demonologian@aledjllthomas

In this episode, Theo teaches Vivian and Aled about Bunny, the talking dog. We talk about animal behaviour, hierarchy of human consideration of animals, and the importance of companionship with other-than-human beings. Follow us on twitter: @altacuk@vivianasimos@aledjllthomas@theowildcroft

Jonathon allows Vivian to let go of her Frozen rage. With Aled, we talk why Frozen is interesting, why it fails as a feminist kid's movie, queer-baiting, and everything interesting about Disney's Frozen. Follow us on twitter: @altacuk@vivianasimos@aledjllthomas@demonologian

Vivian, Jonathon and Aled talk Hilda on Netflix, a show which may or may not be a children's show. We talk the borders between children's entertainment and adult entertainment, folklore and mythology, and other-than-human persons. Follow us on twitter: @altacuk@vivianasimos@aledjllthomas@demonologian

This week, Vivian is inexplicably obsessed with YouTube channel Imamu Room, where a Japanese woman cooks bento boxes for her husband. Theo and Aled talk the importance of food, the comfort of ASMR channels, and our every day rituals. Follow us on twitter:@altacuk@vivianasimos@theowildcroft@aledjllthomas

This episode, Aled brings the topic of a comedy cartoon Star Trek to Vivian and Theo. We talk the complications of comedy, the often disregard of cartoons, and how into Star Trek Aled is. Follow us on twitter: @altacuk@vivianasimos@theowildcroft@aledjllthomas

In this episode, Vivian, Jonathon and Aled explore Jelle's Marble Runs and the Marble League. We chat all things sport, esport, and Aled's surprising confidence in Splatoon. Expect to get off track far too often, but hopefully uncover all things interesting about marbles.Check out Jelle's Marble Runs: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYJdpnjuSWVOLgGT9fIzL0gFollow us on twitter: @altacuk@vivianasimos@aledjllthomas@demonologian

In this episode, Vivian reveals her recent obsession: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power on Netflix. Aled, Jonathon and Vivian discuss where the responsibility of reboots lay, diversity and representation in television shows, and the wonderful weirdness of 80's cartoons. Follow us on twitter:@altacuk@vivianasimos@aledjllthomas@demonologian

Recorded around Halloween, released around Christmas... there was only one thing we could possibly talk about. Vivian, Theo and Aled talk all things interesting about Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas. We talk about nostalgia, Christmas pressures, and how different 2020 holidays are going to be.Follow us on twitter: @altacuk@vivianasimos@aledjllthomas@theowildcroft

Vivian, Jonathon and Aled talk about Animal Crossing! Topics focus on the Animal Crossing's portrayal of gender and gender identities, and we think about how video games can help us both see and experience our true selves. Follow us on twitter: @altacuk@vivianasimos@aledjllthomas@demonologian

Vivian forces Aled and Theo to talk about celebrity, reality television and Kim Kardashian. We talk about the feminine performance, what it means to be a celebrity, and how someone can be famous for no reason. Follow us on twitter: @altacuk@vivianasimos@aledjllthomas@theowildcroft

Vivian, Aled and Theo talk about erotic comedy author Chuck Tingle. We discuss the nature of someone's true self and the importance of performance. Follow us on twitter: @altacuk@vivianasimos@theowildcroft@aledjllthomas

Aled Thomas, Theo Wildcroft and Vivian Asimos chat what's interesting about My Chemical Romance's album The Black Parade. We talk about fandom, merchandise, music and identity, and much more. Follow us on twitter:@altacuk@vivianasimos@aledjllthomas@theowildcroft