Podcasts about Xanadu

Be careful out there kids.https://linktr.ee/FromBehindTheBarcast

Amazingly, this year marks the 20th Anniversary of the Broadway musical The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. In 2005, after an incredibly short development period, opened first off-Broadway at Second Stage Theater, and quickly moved to Circle in the Square Theatre on Broadway. It was nominated for six Tony Awards and won two, including “Best Book of a Musical,” and the show would go on to run for 1,136 performances and be produced around the world. In celebration of that anniversary, two new productions will open this fall. Off-Broadway at New World Stages, performances are scheduled to begin on November 27, and next week, on October 21, Spelling Bee will open at Theater Under the Stars in Houston, Texas, where it is directed and choreographed by my guest today, TUTS's Artistic Director, Dan Knechtges. Not coincidentally, Knechtges made his Broadway debut as the choreographer of the original production, and as you will hear, he was actively involved in every stage of that musical's development from its very first incarnation working closely with composer/lyricist William Finn, and director, James Lapine. Knechtges' other Broadway credits includes the choreography of Sondheim On Sondheim, the revival of 110 in the Shade, and Xanadu, for which he received a Tony Award nomination, and the direction and choreography of the musical Lysistrata Jones. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on 2010's Deadly Premonition. We revisit the Twin Peaks of it all, and then discuss some of the more mechanical aspects of the game, particularly the profiling and the combat. And then there's that open world. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Past/to the Sawmill (Tim/Brett) Issues covered: schedule of the next couple weeks, rewatching the Twin Peaks pilot, homage or theft?, leaning into the uncanny valley, things in video games we don't want to show people, technical limitations, localization issues, copying the diner, pricing items, music choices and tones and creepiness, adaptation and filters, conversations about rain, an artifact, survival horror elements, profiling, going through the clues, York putting together the profile, putting the player in the crime scenario, who is Zach?, hot take from Tim: "serial killers are bad news," having confidence in the story, dipping into the combat, aiming and lock-on, failing QTEs, random QTEs vs not, picture-in-picture, talking to Zach in the car, walking around the town after dark, the horrible map and how it interacts with driving conversations, a mechanic to help you understand the game that you don't understand, learning the space, car/character relativity, peeking into buliding windows, zombies after midnight and the blood moon, similarities to Silent Hill 2, the difficulty of making this at AAA scale, unorthodox mechanics, good moment-to-moment gameplay, publisher cachet, hearing about the games.  Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Welcome Back Kotter, Portal 2, Defeating Games for Charity, Phil Salvador, Video Game History Foundation, KyleAndError, Twin Peaks, Nintendo Switch, Swery, Yakuza: Like A Dragon, Waitress, Mark Frost, David Lynch, Naomi Watts, Batman (series), Golden Idol (series), Return of the Obra Dinn, Heavy Rain, Mindhunter, David Fincher, Zodiac, Se7en, Jaws, Miguel Ferrer, Fire Walk With Me, Chris Isaak, Kiefer Sutherland, God of War (2004), Shenmue, Alien: Isolation, Beyond Good and Evil, PhysX, Don't Look Now, Nicolas Roeg, Julie Christie, Donald Sutherland, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Fred Ward, Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins, Joel Gray, Jennifer Gray, Olivia Newton-John, Xanadu, Audrey Hepburn, GTA 3, Silent Hill 2, Hideo Kojima, Metal Gear Solid (series), Death Stranding, Suda51, No More Heroes, Lollipop Chainsaw, Shadows of the Damned, Remedy Entertainment, Sam Lake, Far Cry, Sony, Spelunky, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.  Next time: More Deadly Premonition! Twitch: timlongojr and twinsunscorp YouTube  Discord  DevGameClub@gmail.com 

Christian College Sex Comedy: Part 7 Zane s Kappa Sigma Cock Legend In 30 parts, By FinalStand. Listen to the podcast at Explicit Novels.             Domestication may be our second greatest accomplishment, exceeded only by Fire       Rhaine had clearly heard something and was trying to make up her mind if she could both check it out and keep me contained when I decided to change her train of thought. I gave an exaggerated sigh, took off my towel, threw it over my shoulder, and headed to my room. "Put, put, put, put that towel, back on," Rhaine stammered. "Why? There are not supposed to be any girls out on the fifth floor at this hour. It is all mine, according to the Chancellor herself," I said over my shoulder. "Now, are you coming along or do I get to shut my door in your face?" "We don't care," Rhaine tried to recover the momentum, "we have a key." "I don't believe you," I accused her as I stopped and kept looking over my shoulder. Barbie Lynn must be right, I have a really fine ass, because that was what they were all staring at. "Well, I have one," she taunted me as she brandished it in my face, from ten feet away. I just had to beam a smile her way. Her key was silver; mine, which hung around my neck on a light chain, was bronze, as were all five of the original keys. Someone was giving out copies of my room key; what a bunch of fuck-nuts. I turned and walked right up to her, which entailed backing her into a wall since she was trying to backpedal away, her eyes torn between my fiery gaze and awakening erection. The other two made to grab me but were flummoxed by my lack of clothing. I took the opportunity to press myself into Rhaine, who was giving me the deer-in-the-headlights look, ran a hand along her jaw and curled a lock of hair. I tickled her cheek with that lock, causing Rhaine to blush and her eyes to flutter. "Thanks, Rhaine. You are helping me out more than you know. If there is anything, I mean anything, I can do for you, let me know," I softly growled with a wolfish hunger to her, but still loud enough for her companions to hear. I stepped back and strutted away again, my semi-rigid rod swaggering back and forth. "Let's go to my room," I laughed. "Weren't we supposed to hurt him if he tried anything like that?" one girl whispered. "But he was naked," responded Mercy quietly. "What would happen if, you know, we touched, IT?" "We are not going to your room with you," Rhaine shouted at me. "Fine, suit yourself, because it isn't like I'm going to avail myself of any of the three fire escapes that lead off the roof," I chortled. "Also, touching IT can lead to blindness and sterility in the elderly under twelve and children over 65," I purposely attempted to confuse them. Children over 65, sometimes I need to show the whole world that I'm not getting enough sleep. Double Dating I was still laughing at my screw-up as the door swung shut. At the last second I failed to hear the 'clunk' of the latch hitting home, though I was already to my bed, when I heard the first hesitant footfalls on steps. I was well into my morning meditative trance, lotus style, when Rhaine crested the stairs. My eyes were shut but I could tell by her sharp intake of breath where she was and what she was staring at. "Put on some clothes!" she barked. I remained blind and silent. "I said 'put on some clothes'," she repeated. I hardly had more reason to do so now than I had a second ago. "Put on your clothes," she now sounded petulant; no response. We remained silent for almost a minute, I normally remain still for ten minutes, when she said the magic word. "Would you please put some clothes on?" "Please?" I responded, cracking open one eye. "Come over right now and give me a kiss; then I'll get dressed. Otherwise, you have to wait nine more minutes while I remain in prayer." "Prayer?" whispered Mercy; strangely, I prayed to the Christian God when I meditated, drawing upon Psalms and the Songs of Solomon mostly. "I will not kiss you; you sex, sex, sex fiend!" Rhaine shouted with disgust. I closed my eye and went back into my own little dream demi-plain. "Get dressed," she insisted once more. I could keep this up for another eight and a half minutes. Finally, in frustration, she stalked up to the side of my bed, the other two in tow. "If we need to, I'll escort you straight to the gymnastics facility where Coach Gorman can administer another lesson in humility." Since I hardly felt humiliated by our last encounter, I felt no necessity to slip out of my Center. My carpets were thin cast-offs from an earlier college epoch so they hardly aided any stealth attempt. Rhaine walked up to me, weighed her options, then pushed me lightly. "Get dressed, Zane," she said, neither convincingly angry nor commanding. That didn't work so she repeated the phrase and pushed harder. The third attempt used more strength but got the same results. Rhaine decided that her problem was in the application of force, not her message, so to increase her push, she placed a knee on the bed and pushed harder. "Get dressed, she squealed as I fell over, grabbing her wrist and pulling her with me. I leapt on top of her even as she rolled from her stomach to her back. Rhaine's eyes were wide as I dove in for a kiss. Her lips were locked shut so nothing more happened. She was still struggling for words when Mercy and the other girl grabbed my arms and yanked me up and back. "Get off of me," Rhaine shouted, a little too late to be effective or believable. Experienced leg-breakers usually keep their victim's arms up or to the side; they never stick them between their thighs. As it was, I was being pulled back on my knees, pinning Rhaine's shins to the bed and my hands merely inches away from their pussies. Was it Christmas already? So much of life is about leverage of one kind or another and in this case, the leverage was all in my captor's favor, so I needed to change things up. "Let go of me!" I shouted, struggled, and slipped my hands higher up their thighs. I'm not going to win an Oscar but I did make Rhaine smile at my feigned discomfort, to the point she propped herself up and grinned wickedly at me. "Now you are going to do what I say," she gloated. "Oh, I don't think so," I grinned right back. I rolled my arms in my shoulder joints and launched my upper body toward Rhaine. For those fans of physics, when the shoulder goes down and they've made the elbow a pivot point, then the lower arm goes up, science is my friend. I rolled my fore- and middle finger into one stiff rod and prodded Mercy's and her partner's perineum. They yelped and pulled back, drawing my fingers onto their slits and along them until I flicked their slumbering clits. Their faces flushed crimson as they stumbled back and released my arms. This allowed me to descend on Rhaine unimpeded. Her mouth open in a surprised 'O', our lips met and then our tongues touched inside her mouth. I was quick enough to wrap my arms around her before her back hit the bed. "Umm" she protested inside our oral embrace. "Umm" she mumbled, before, "Umm, she ended up moaning. I was a bit curious why Mercy and the as-of-yet named accomplice weren't all over this, breaking us apart, when I felt Rhaine's legs move from beneath me, to up my sides until they crossed over my ass and locked me in. "Is that, your, I'm not sure what to call it, cock?" she whispered between kisses. How she had become oblivious of her cohorts was beyond me. "I prefer the term cock," I responded with great gentleness but with a hungry stare, "but if cock works for you," I added with a slow, steady, downward pressure with my hips upon hers. Rhaine groaned from deep within, her head lolled back, and her eyes became somewhat unfocussed. "Oh, yes," she mouthed, barely audible. "Rhaine?" Mercy inquired. "Get, get off of Rhaine," the third girl said weakly. "Please?" Since she said please, I obliged. I flipped us over so that Rhaine was on top. I'm not sure how happy the girl was because Rhaine showed no haste in dismounting me, though we did stop kissing once more. "Would you, would you please get dressed now," Rhaine panted. I would have been more impressed, and able, if Rhaine hadn't been humping me at the moment. Clearly, my cock had wedged itself right against her panty-covered love box, her lips divided and her clit rubbing along my shaft. "You really are quite beautiful," I complimented her, as I brushed some loose hairs out of her eyes. Her face softened and she gave me her first compassionate smile. She also ground down on me harder, biting her lip as she did so. The two companions decided something, technically, it could be called a rescue mission, but I never really figured out who was being rescued as they grabbed my arms that encompassed Rhaine. The unnamed girl grabbed my unresisting hand and pulled it to her chest and kept it pinned tightly there. Mercy made even less pretense of actually helping out. She grabbed my other hand and put it in her lap. This would have been minutely more believable if her skirt hadn't 'accidentally' ridden up her thighs so that when I curled in my fingers, my hand slipped between her thighs. Any guess as to what happened when I flexed them again? As best as I could tell (I was still dealing with a face full of Rhaine), she had raised her closest thigh to block her friends from seeing what she was doing and was thrusting my hand into her crotch like it was some sort of fleshy dildo, with the 'finger-tickler' function. Heavy breathing, five seconds grinding my hand in deep, fifteen seconds figuring out that I was working my fingers underneath the elastic bands of her panties, twenty-two seconds. After that, she spread her thighs open slowly and as wide as she hoped she could get away with without being caught. She remained absolutely still as I slipped two fingers underneath her virginal armor and into her cream-covered labia while rubbing my thumb against her clit from the outside. Back to Rhaine: "I hope, ugh, ugh, you have learned, ugh, ugh, ugh, oh, God, your lesson, ugh, ugh, and we won't, Oh, have to force ourselves on, oh, yeah, ugh, ugh, you again." By this time, Rhaine had soaked her panties so thoroughly that she was making squishing noises as she rode me. "If you give me one more kiss," I grinned at her, "I'll do what you want and get dressed." I've rarely seen someone so arrogant and conceited so utterly baffled about what they should do. Obviously, if she kissed me and I stood up, we would stop having 'safe sex,' but she was truly, in her heart, trying to enforce her will on me too. "Fine," I saved her, "if you kiss me until I surrender to you, I'll go quietly and do what you say all day long." At no time was it ever discussed between us what it would take to make me surrender; she never gave me the chance. She grabbed my head with both hands and proceeded to suck the air out of my lungs and use her tongue to wrestle my tongue into submission. No-Name Girl wasn't humping me like a kitten on speed or pretending I was blind and her cunny was Braille, imparting knowledge by touch; she was playing the nervous virgin. I gave the slightest nudge toward her left breast, she stopped me. I repeated the motion and she stopped me again. On the third try, she controlled my gradual migration over her breast and centered my fingertips over her nipple. Mind you, I still had a face full of Rhaine so I couldn't see what I was doing, but I've had sex on moonless nights and I've even had sex blindfolded once (we both were and it was really fun), so I had some experience at sexual navigation by touch alone. I didn't grab, grope, or shake her orb around; I palmed the breast and slowly contracted the hand up, letting the fingers and thumb bring the areolas and nipple into a tantalizing squeeze, then re-extend hand and repeat. Her nipple was pretty average but it soon made an appearance, so on the seventh stroke, I migrated my hand toward the middle of her chest. She groaned in disappointment until I tapped on two of her buttons rapidly before going back to the breast. She understood right off the bat and that shirt got unbuttoned in three seconds flat. Another squeeze and I rolled like a gentle breeze back to the sternum, under the shirt, and to her surprise, under the bra, and started tweaking the nipple and letting her breast roll in my palm. You know, it would be easier to tell my friends from my enemies if they weren't both trying to fuck me to death. I guess all my girl-'friends' do it out of love; my enemies are trying to bring me closer to God, as long as I get there from outside the campus grounds. There are a million worse ways to die and I shouldn't complain; the most important point is that I do have friends after all. Making the Most of Punishment I had barely gotten Nameless to suck two of my fingers and my thumb to slippery goodness and returned them to working her nipple when I heard someone not on the bed speak. "Do you think we have enough footage now, Iona?" Rio purred in a lethally seductive voice. "In the words of the immortal Rio Talon," Iona recited, "these bitches are toast." Dedicated readers will recall how I once claimed that I didn't live in the real world; I lived in Crazy Town. I still do. Rhaine rolled off me, into Nameless, and they clutched each other to avoid tumbling off my bed. (I have a newer, far bigger bed on order for the very reason that I'm tired of lovely ladies nearly taking headers off my favorite sexual encounter spot.) Rhaine was bosom to bosom with a girl whose shirt was wide open with one boob pulled out of her bra. My hand was yanked free in the exchange so I rapidly pushed myself into a semi-reclined position. Why was I not getting all the way up, you ask? Reference: Crazy Town - Mercy decided that being secretly included in a sex video was a huge turn-on. She started riding my two fingers like they were a mini-cock and she was going off like gangbusters. "Yes, yes, yes, yes, ahah." Mercy's whimpers kept rising in volume. "Oh, here it comes," was Barbie Lynn's assessment, based on deep personal experience with me. "Ah," Mercy continued with even more vigor. "Don't you worry, Barbie Lynn," Rio patted her on the shoulder, "she's not nearly as loud as you are." "Uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh," Mercy's whimpers became hiccups as I redoubled my efforts on her clitoris. "She's no Leigh either," Opal pointed out. "Ai, ai, ai, ai, ai, ai," Mercy began yelping louder still. "What is he doing to her?" Brandi gasped in wonderment. "Ba, ba, ba, ba, ba," Mercy's diaphragm began building up a terrible tension deep inside. "Ask him to show that to you in the shower tomorrow," Opal sighed, reliving her own tactile experiences under my care. "I'm not fixated on his cock; if I can't have it, I'll settle for his hands and mouth on me whenever I can get it." "Mother Fucker!" Mercy's head rolled back and she howled at the ceiling, killing all conversation in an instant. Silence hung over the room. Mercy started to fall forward but I caught her and let her drop onto my chest. I held her close until I felt her breathing start to come under control. She pushed up enough to look at me with eyes brimming with tears. "I'm ruined," she told me in a tired, raspy voice, then put her face into my shoulder and began wailing uncontrollably. I stroked her back and hair with my free hand. My other hand was covered in Mercy's fluids, and while some chicks might get off on being covered in their love juice, I doubted Mercy was into that kink; and besides, she was in her school uniform. "You are fine," I cooed. "No one is showing that video to anyone so you are safe. You are one of us and we'll protect you." That last bit was pulled 'outta my ass' so to speak. Every one of my friends up here had their own idea what our relationship was about and I could hardly speak for any one of them, much less all of us. "Speak for yourself, Num-nuts; I'm going to sink these skanks," Rio growled. "Rio, please," I requested in a calm and tender voice. She glared back with ill-concealed rage. "Do you have any idea what these bitches have been doing to me and the other freshmen?" Rio spat back. "Only the vaguest. And I am not saying they shouldn't make amends but there are two things we should consider," I began. It is a testament to how close Rio and I had grown that she permitted me to continue talking uninterrupted. "If we turn them in, we are precisely the type of people they think we are, immoral degenerates. This is supposed to be fun and liberating; if we start breaking people because they cut loose, actually express themselves and have fun, we become what they are and what we despise. I'll leave first," I told her. "Also, as strange as it sounds, probably more to you and me than anyone else on campus, we are Christians," I continued. Rio scoffed and clearly thought I'd lost my mind, or sold out. "You don't bend, Rio. You know right and wrong, and while you often choose wrong, you don't make excuses about it, and I've never had a better friend because I know you mean what you say and say what you mean, no matter how cutting," I explained. "You have clearly lived a socially deprived life, Rio taunted me, but her words cracked under her emotional turmoil ", if I'm what you consider to be a good friend, you stupid bitch moron cocksucker." "Let's put it to a vote," Iona volunteered the notion. "I think that's a good idea," Barbie Lynn stated, with Brandi and Opal agreeing. "Fine, whatever," grumbled Rio. "Okay. We are voting on whether or not we use the video as leverage against Rhaine, Mercy and, I looked to the nameless girl. "Joy," she provided. "Joy Jefferson." "Okay, and Joy Jefferson," I finished. "I vote 'no'." "I vote 'No'," Barbie Lynn went first, but Iona was right behind her with the same vote. "I'm actually with Rio on this one," Brandi said. "They are trying to get rid of Zane. I vote 'Yes'." "I vote 'Yes' as well," Opal agreed. "They shouldn't even be in our dorm or in Zane's room." The most surprised person in the room was now Rio. She clearly expected all the girls who had 'fallen under my spell' to do what I said, leaving her to be in the too familiar spot of being the Odd Woman Out. "I vote 'Yes' for both those reasons," she beamed hate at Rhaine, "plus I am Evil and I want your parents' heads to explode when they see you humping a guy in his dorm room while your lesbian buddies hold him down." "It is a tie," Iona pointed out. "What do we do now?" "It isn't a tie," I countered. "Not every FFU student has voted." "Oh, fuck no," Rio snapped. "They don't get a vote. I'll run and get Cappy and she'll sink their asses." "Okay," I told her. "I'm sure you can relate to having your fate boned by forces beyond your control. You go out and get as many people as you think are necessary to get them expelled and possibly tossed out by their parents. Take your time; there is nowhere they can run." Rio got halfway down the stairs before she came storming back up in a fury that would make a tornado proud. "Move, Bitch," she screamed at Mercy. I pushed Mercy out of the way because I knew what was coming while she had no clue. I scooted to the edge of the bed closest to where Rio was charging. Slap! Oh, fuck, that hurt. "You motherfucking, cock-smoking, son of a bitch," she seethed. Slap! resounded from my other cheek. I caught a glimpse of Iona coming to my aid but she was corralled by Barbie Lynn in time. Opal looked concerned and Brandi was totally stunned. "Don't you ever talk to me like that," she screamed, Slap! "I am not the Better Person. People fuck with me and I make them burn! Do you hear me?" "I understand," I responded with quiet, sincere intensity. Rio hauled off to hit me again and stopped. "Give them to me, Zane. Don't fight me on this. You'll be sorry," she threatened. "I'm doing this because I am your friend, Rio. From 6:00 a.m. on Day One, it has been you and me, and in four years when we earn our release, it will still be you and me," I related. "I don't fucking need you or your fucking pity, Shit For Brains," she growled. "Did it ever occur to you that I'm doing this for me, not you?" I explained. "Look around you right now; mostly really special people but none of them have lost their family and been sent off to live in exile." "My family is not dead, Zane," she replied, her anger misting away like fog before the Sun. "They may live and breathe but you lost them some time ago just the same," I prodded her. Rio said nothing for the longest time, then a lone tear escaped down her cheek. "Sorry, Bro," she stroked my tenderized cheek. "I'm seriously awake now, if that's any consolation," I smirked. "Smart ass," she chuckled back. "Are they okay now?" I overheard Brandi asking the other three girls on my side. "Oh, they are fine, Brandi," drawled Barbie Lynn. "They are like feuding twin brother and sister, somewhat incestuous, mind you, but they are about as close to kin, without being kin, as anyone I've ever seen, save Christina and Heaven." "Rio?" I requested once more. "Fine, the dumb bunnies can vote," she snarled, "but I am praying to God they screw it up anyway." "How do you ladies vote?" I looked to Rhaine but addressed them all. "Um, 'No'," Rhaine said quietly. When no one said anything, Joy rapidly agreed. That left everyone looking at Mercy not that her vote mattered to the final outcome; Rhaine and company were safe by at least one vote no matter what. "I," sniff, "okay, yes," gak, "I mean No!" she corrected, then added, "thank you." "The Noes have it; the video will be archived, not to be seen again until my funeral, which might convince Rhaine to let me live in peace," I teased. The three seniors sighed with relief. "Now for the punishment," Barbie Lynn pronounced. "What?" Rhaine blanched. "I thought we covered that. Are you going back on your word?" "No," Barbie Lynn smiled. "The video is out of bounds but there is still the matter of this being my dorm and me finding you in one of my student's rooms sexually molesting him. Re-read the Handbook if you doubt me or my authority, Rhaine." "We were told to be here by Dean Gorman," Rhaine countered. "Coach Gorman told you to go into Zane's room, sit on his lovely piece of male reproductive perfection, and ride it like you were in the Pony Express?" Barbie smirked. Rhaine, Joy, and Mercy realized that they had no plausible defense and too many witnesses. "What about you all being here?" Rhaine reposed desperately. "We heard his cries for help," Rio beamed. "I think Zane's cries went something like, 'Help, help, I'm trying to remain pure but these scantily clad babes are tearing off their clothes and partaking of my muscular, well-toned man-flesh'." "But that's a lie," Rhaine wailed. "Rhaine, we just salvaged your college career, if not your entire life, and you are worried about Rio's colorful recreation of events?" I inquired. "What is the punishment?" I looked to Barbie. "Spanking," she declared. "Three swats from each of us should do it - barehanded." Rhaine, Joy, and Mercy looked unhappy but not horrified. They looked decidedly less happy when Rio perked up. Morphing Intentions "Iona goes first," Rio said gleefully. "And it has to be on the bare, naked bottom, no panties; three spanks from each of us on each of you, no more than three minutes between the first and last." "No way," Rhaine snapped. She moved to the edge of the bed and stood up. "Fine. Let's go to Gorman's office right now," Barbie Lynn declared. "Zane, you come along as soon as you get dressed. "I'll do it," Mercy sniffled. "I'll take my spanking." "Me too," Joy joined in. Rhaine looked around for some lifeline but there was none. "Very well; let's get this over with," Rhaine conceded. The three girls took off their panties, which probably needed replacing anyway, turned around, bent over, and put their hands on the bed. "No, no, no," Rio denounced their efforts. "All three of you, on the bed, hands and knees with your knees at the edge." When Rhaine looked ready to object, "You agreed to this, Ladies. It is this or else!" The Condemned looked at one another, then slowly obeyed, but Rio wasn't satisfied. She pushed their tushes around and forced them to spread their legs farther apart and generally harangued them until she was happy with the arrangements. It didn't take a 'Doctor Ruth' to figure out what Rio was really doing but the three victims, plus Brandi and Iona, had no idea what they were in store for. "Iona, you first; give them something to remember you by. I'm next, followed by Barbie Lynn, Brandi, Opal, and Zane bats clean-up," (snicker) Rio directed. Barbie Lynn walked down the line, lifting up each skirt onto their back while I scrambled off to get dressed. (Okay, I walked six feet to my wardrobe and dresser.) Iona stood somewhat timidly behind Rhaine, took a deep breath, and, did a rather lukewarm smack. As soon as it fell Iona flinched, and she looked over to a glaring Rio. The next smack was hard enough to make Rhaine give a startled jump but not really cruel. The third, on the other cheek, was about as forceful. Iona stepped down the line and administered her share of the punishment. When she shuffled over to Rio, she looked embarrassed. "I'm sorry, Rio. I'm not sure about all of this. I don't want to hurt them," she explained. "It's cool," Rio soothed her. "You did exactly what I wanted you to do. Now," and whispering followed. Iona shrugged, raided my towel shelf, and headed downstairs quickly. Now it was Rio's turn. She walked up behind Rhaine, knelt between her legs, pressing them apart. "What the, Rhaine began. "Shut up and take it!" Rio growled with such menace that Rhaine turned forward and lowered her head in shame. When Rio placed a hand against Rhaine's rump, it wasn't in anger, though, but to rub it softly. "Very soft," Rio purred sensually. "Did Iona hurt you?" "Ah, not too bad," Rhaine stammered, confused by Rio's sudden affection. "I see a handprint," Rio told her. She was seeing something the rest of us were missing was all I could think. She leaned in and kissed that invisible mark, which caused more of a reaction than any of Iona's slaps. "Hey, what are you doing?" Rhaine squawked. Slap! "Ow!" cried Rhaine. She tried to pull away but Rio grabbed her hips with two hands and pulled back. "You agreed to this," Rio threatened her. Rhaine shuddered but she stopped trying to escape. "Are you going to behave so we can get this over with or do we need to make up an excuse for why we missed breakfast?" "Fine, fine, let's get this over with," Rhaine said dejectedly. "Good girl," Rio cooed. She began massaging Rhaine's right ass cheek with one hand while holding tight with her left hand on Rhaine's left hip. Rio placed a kiss on the cleft between the thigh and ass; Rhaine gave a tiny gasp, twitched, and tried to incrementally pull away. Rio was having none of that. "Bad girl," she murmured, but there was no slap this time. Instead, she slithered between Rhaine and Joy and whispered into Rhaine's ear. "Would you please get on your elbows, Sweet Rhaine?" I'd have bet money that Rhaine would have shot off her mouth if not physically resisted, but Rio was Mistress of the Moment and Rhaine meekly complied. Rio was so dominant, she even kissed Rhaine's ear and nipped the earlobe before resuming her station at Rhaine's posterior. "Is this punishment?" Brandi whispered. "Just you wait and see, Brandi," was my reply. Rio reached out with her hands, separated her ass cheeks, and soaked in the view. Right when Rhaine started to look underneath herself, Rio pushed her face into her cunt and made a loud sucking sound. "Ah!" Rhaine gasped, startled yet aroused. "Umm," Rio slurped, as she rubbed her face deep into Rhaine's Love box. I recognized the tongue technique of darting deep into the cunt, alternating with a vigorous suction of the clitoris. Instead of trying to get away, Rhaine went from resting on her elbows down to her chest touching the bed, her arms crossed, and her head resting on them. Slap! "Ow!" Rhaine whined, "That hurt." Rio was too busy giving Rhaine's cunt a world class swirly so it fell to Barbie Lynn to explain. "That's why it is called punishment, Rhaine," she said, but Rhaine was already moaning in ecstasy. A thin sheen of sweat had just started covering Rhaine's exposed flesh when Iona returned with a wicker basket full of wet cloths. I was buttoning my shirt and enjoying the show when I caught Joy and Mercy studying Rhaine with some concern and exchanging worried glances with one another. Rio seriously worked over Rhaine's cunt for another minute, then launched one more stinging slap. This time Rhaine screamed into her arm instead of out loud and didn't protest. Rio stood up and kissed the small of Rhaine's back. "You have one hot cunt, Bitch. I look forward to tearing another piece of you off later," Rio told her, voice heavy with heated passion. "Iona, towel." Iona tossed her a towel; Rio caught it one handed and used it to wipe off her face. She smiled at Barbie as the blonde came up and knelt behind Rhaine. Barbie Lynn's first spank was hardly brutal but it did get Rhaine's attention. She then began kissing each cheek as her hands parted the Senior Class President's (presumptive) ass cheeks. Her attentions wandered between the twin sets of firm muscle, her tongue flicking along Rhaine's pink, puckered star. "Gak!" Rhaine gasped. She followed it up with a serious tremor throughout her body. Barbie Lynn glanced over to me, gave me a devilish grin, and flexed her eyebrows in sheer delight. Barbie returned to Rhaine's rump and set to work using her extensive skills on her cunt, parting her lips with the fingers of one hand, pinching her clit between the thumb and forefingers of the other hand, and licking along her entire slit with her tongue. Between Joy's thighs, Rio was putting on a performance that would make Jenna Jameson proud, maybe even envious. Apparently her teenage exploration of the Arizona nightlife had not been the waste of time her parents thought it was. I doubt it mattered to Joy, who was already pushing her ass against Rio's face. On this victim, instead of spanking, Rio was biting her ass hard enough to leave marks and make Joy squeal. Two minutes into this round, Rhaine lost it and squirted all over Barbie Lynn's face. This was apparently her first squirter because Barbie tried to back away from the eruption, which only guaranteed that it splashed all over her body from eyebrows to both bodacious breasts. "Rhaine," Barbie Lynn scolded her fellow senior, "you could have warned me." Rhaine didn't respond; her face nestled down on her arms and her whole body wracked with waves of orgasmic bliss and her lungs fighting for air - she was in no state to respond. As Barbie stripped off her shirt, I gave her a washcloth and one of my white shirts. I tossed Rio her second cloth of the morning and motioned Brandi forward. "She's, she's still having her orgasm," Brandi questioned. "That's why this is called punishment," I explained with a knowing smile. Brandi opened her mouth in surprise, followed by understanding, and then a race to get between Rhaine's legs and take her first lick of Rhaine's quivering quim. "Ah, ah, ah,  Barbie Lynn, I've, Rhaine finally articulated ", never done that before, I swear. I am sorry." That was all she could muster; right after that, her fists crumpled up the quilt on my bed and she bit down on the folds in an attempt to stifle the increasingly slutty moans Brandi was bringing forth. Barbie Lynn decided not to put on my shirt, maybe not comprehending that her lacy beige bra had been rendered virtually transparent by Rhaine's ejaculate. Besides myself, Opal was also fixated on the view of her pendulous orbs and gorgeous engorged nipples. The blonde took a different approach with Joy. She lifted up the girl's hips, elevated her to the point Barbie could lick her from pubic mound to ass and back again. I knew Barbie Lynn was strong, but I'd never exploited that quality in that manner. I made a note for experimentation tomorrow night. "No, no, no, no," Joy repeated in a desperate effort to fight off the sensations that were pulsating in an irresistible current surging up from the wellspring of her womanhood. "I can't do this," she sobbed. "Lord, please save me." I hurried around the bed and slid beside Joy's head. I took her by the chin and made eye contact. "Joy, if you really want this to stop, it will end right now," I promised her, though I was sure I was getting a dirty, if unseen, glare from Rio. "You gave your word but if you honestly believe you have been punished enough, take my hand and I'll escort you out of here." I offered my hand to her and she stared at it. "Get me out of here," she panted, tears trickling down her cheeks and gathering at her chin. "No, you get yourself out of here. Give up and agree to leave Mercy and Rhaine to take the punishment you agreed to." "Take my hand, abandon them, and I'll clean you up and escort you back to the fifth floor. That will be the end of it and nothing more will be said," I defined my terms. Barbie Lynn was still going to town on Joy's clit and the poor victim so desperately wanted to escape her nearly impossible battle with her own incendiary sexuality, which was no longer begging for release but tearing its prison down brick by brick. Joy almost reached my hand but fell short at the last moment. "God forgive me," she wept. He breathing began spiraling out of control. "Ugh, ugh, ugh, oh, please, stop, I beg, beg you." Divine intervention or not, Barbie Lynn's session ended and Joy was given breathing room. She even had a moment to look up at me and give a weak smile as if she had gained some small triumph. Her self-deception was made evident to her the moment Brandi exploded onto her scene. What the girl lacked in technique and experience, she more than compensated with raw, hungry enthusiasm. Joy's eyes grew as wide as limpid saucers, "Oh, No!" she wailed. Gurgling came next, and finally, "This can't be happening. God Forgive Me!" and what may have been her first sexual climax. She did grab my hands then and pulled them to her. Her face was slack, her mouth open and panting, and her eyes had this far-off look, so I lowered my lips to her face and licked her lips before settling my lips on hers and basically coaxing her tongue as it struggled to deal with several more waves of orgasm. I kept her kiss going with the occasional rest break so she could continue to breath. "Thank you," she whispered to me as she started to stabilize. "We FFU have to stick together," I both reminded her and boggled her shaken mind at the same time. Half an hour ago she had no doubt I didn't belong here and wasn't really FFU material, male and immoral. In her regard for me, I could see her blind acceptance of traditional FFU dogma weakening. "I've got to go now; it is almost my time to start punishing Rhaine," I softly informed Joy. Her hormone-trampled mind struggled to grasp that she was halfway through her torture. Brandi would finish soon, then it would be Opal, and then it would me, a male; me, face first at the gateway to her sacred womb. Her virginity would be spared from extinction by my will alone and I could tell that scared the hell out of her. She'd been chosen for her belief that Zane was a corrupter and that extraordinary measures were necessary to drive him out, no matter how sinful they may appear, and now she was face down and bare ass up, surrounded in his room by him and his friends. The most terrifying thing of all may well have been that we had made her feel more like a woman than she'd ever felt before. Where Rhaine had divorced her feelings and pleasure from her grasp of reality, and Joy was beating herself up every step of the way, Mercy had completely submerged herself in the transformation her body was going through. Mercy had already experienced one orgasm and come crashing down into doubt and self-loathing, only to be shown that her life wasn't over and no one thought the worst of her for actually enjoying sex. She didn't feel like a tramp or a slut; she felt alive and burning bright, so when Rio gave her that first hard spank, she'd moaned instead of crying out, and when the 'felon' gave her first few licks, Mercy reached under her body with one arm and started rubbing her slit in tandem with Rio's face dance. Even Rio's snicker didn't dampen her ardor, and when Rio took Mercy's hand and pushed two of Mercy's fingers deep in, Mercy thrust back with her hips so that her fingers touched her hymen. When Rio pulled Mercy's hand out of her twat, Mercy whimpered in need, but when she felt her fingers go into a different damp, warm orifice, she stopped, and when Rio's mouth started sucking the juices off of those fingers and twirling her tongue around each individual digit, Mercy couldn't help herself from wiggling her hips like a bitch in heat. With the fingers clean, Rio inserted them, along with two of her own fingers, back into Mercy's cunt, extremely stretching it out. Rio then came around the far side of Mercy, away from the others, and whispered into her ear. Later she related what was said: "You like that don't you?" Rio teased. Mercy nodded vigorously. "Come to Zane's room tonight and I'll fuck you all night long. You'll be my bitch. Do you understand that?" Another vigorous nod. "I've got to leave you soon to these other girls and Zane, but don't you forget you are mine now; my property, my mate. Don't make me hunt you down and put my brand on your ass, clear?" One final, excited nod. I live in Crazy Town. On par with that information was the fact that I had promised the night to Heaven and I had no clue how in the hell that was going to work out. My bed barely held three people, four was asking too much. If you made one of those people Heaven with her secret, the term 'impossible' came to mind. At the start of the line, Opal met Rhaine. She landed two very loud, wet smacks on Rhaine's behind, causing the senior to rock forward. Having gotten most of the 'cover story' (the spanking) out of the way, Opal rolled Rhaine onto her back with only the weakest of protests. She started a few gentle teases and kisses with her lips to Rhaine's cunt while Rhaine's legs dangled off the floor. Once she got Rhaine back into an erotic state, Opal began lifting Rhaine's thighs up and out until she'd pushed Rhaine's knees almost back to her breasts and feeding like a ravenous succubus on every inch of thigh, cunt, ass, and stomach. Opal hadn't been gentle with Brandi, but she'd been absolutely gentle, kind, and caring compared to the treatment Rhaine was getting. Rhaine held it in as long as possible but when she cut loose, she cut loose in a big way. Her fists pounded the bed repeatedly, her head swept back and forth, and her lower torso kept thrusting off the bed and into Opal's mouth, lips, and tongue. "Damn!" she screamed through clenched teeth as her body expended one last spasm. Opal succeeded in catching most of Rhaine's fluid eruption, rolled the heavily panting Rhaine to one side, and administered the proscribed last spank. "You're up, Zane," she winked with a smile, before cleaning her face and moving on to the nearly as devastated Joy. I settled between Rhaine's legs and began administering kisses. "Please, Zane," she begged, "it hurts. I'm so sore. Please just spank me." "Sorry, I can't do that," I told her sternly. Rhaine closed her eyes and muttered some kind of prayer, though she made no attempt to shield her body from me. I doubt she even knew I was lying beside her until my first kiss played upon her eyelids. "You are not going to, to me?" she inquired with a desperate hope. "No. I'm going to spank you so hard you can't sit for a week," I threatened, "unless I forget my three-minute time limit. I can't imagine what would possibly distract me, though." It took Rhaine's sexually fatigued mind a moment to catch on but when she did, she clasped her hands on either side of my face and kissed me with an inspired intensity. I let my fingers play along her breastbone and stroke her breasts through her shirt and bra. About a minute into this little game, I discovered Rio leaning over us, clearing her throat. "This monster made us jump out a second-story window," she stared intently. Fear crept back into Rhaine's eyes as she glanced from Rio to me. "I am biting her tongue, I promise," I grinned. "I'm not joking, Zane," Rio warned me. "Fine," I groaned. "Rhaine, roll toward me," I instructed, as I propped myself up, and she reluctantly rolled toward me. I put a hand on her hip, hiked up her skirt and rolled her farther to me until I got a good look at her rump. "Rio, take a look at this, please," I motioned to Rhaine's ass. Rhaine blushed and lowered her head. I doubt having her ass naked and on display on my bed was what she intended or even imagined possible when she got up this morning. I ran a hand along her spine to the cleft between her cheeks and squeezed the upper one tightly. "This is a thing of beauty," I told Rio, but clearly wanting Rhaine thinking about what was being said. Rio knew me too well to think I'd turn that ass cheek red so she took the other path. Rio reached out and stroked it too. "Okay, Zane; it is damn sexy," Rio acknowledged grudgingly. I took Rhaine's hand in my own and placed it on her side, just below the ribs, and led it in a wandering trip to her lower back, then to the cheek I'd displayed to Rio. "See, Rhaine, you have a fantastic ass. God knew what he was doing when he made you," I told her. "It is a pity we can't see you in shorts or a bikini from time to time." "That is sinful and leads men into the Sin of Lust," Rhaine said with absolute conviction. "This is the work of the Devil, not God." Rio ground her teeth but I grinned. "Did God create the male peacock?" I questioned, while I kept hold of Rhaine's hand and stroking her ass from tailbone to the dip into the bottom of her sopping wet cunt. "Yes," she cautiously replied, her breath coming faster and faster. "Yet we don't run around putting them in garbage bags because they are enticing to the eye," I reasoned. "You make it sound like it isn't a man's fault that he can't control his own impulses, even though he is supposed to lead his household." "God made you beautiful and he made me with will enough to look at you and respect any decision you make about your body," I hammered away. "I'm not going to say I don't want to have sex with you because that would be a lie, but the important thing to me is that you took a Purity Pledge and I have to respect that." Rhaine had nothing to say at that moment. I was clearly a randy bastard who preyed upon good Christian girls and tricked them into surrendering to my dark desires. "You are trying to trick me," she panted, while I leaned in and kissed her neck and ear. "Rhaine, I've been trying to avoid you since we first met. You are the one who cornered me in my dorm," I pointed out. "You came into my room when you knew I was either naked or getting dressed. You chose to crawl onto my bed when I was sitting down, meditating and clearly naked. I was hoping my blatant sexuality would make you leave me alone, not attack me." "Don't blame Rhaine," Rio joked to me. "Rhaine, Zane's like sex candy," she directed to Rhaine. "You won't be the first bunch of Christian bitches we've had to rescue Zane from. It is not his fault; it is ours. He's masculine, kind, and available. You know that he has been in three fights since coming here; right?" "Uh, uh, uh, yes," Rhaine panted. "It makes him dangerous, he's a man." "Really?" Rio chortled. "Two of those fights were to save me from you ladies, and he stopped fighting the moment I was safe. The third fight was caused because two of our girls were being set upon by those University guys and Zane put his body in the way, they hit him first." "I, is this true?" she said with a heavy breath. "Ask Mercy to tell you the truth, not what they've told her to say. Ask Cappadocia about that first fight and the fight off campus. You may not like Iona but she wouldn't lie to you and she knows how that second fight started," Rio sounded so reasonable. I slowly rolled over onto Rhaine while I kissed her neck and shoulders. "Ah, ew, yes," Rhaine cooed passionately. "Tricking me," she sighed but that didn't stop her from slowly moving her arms and legs around me. "Do you want to be on top?" I whispered to Rhaine. "I, uh," she stammered, then nodded. We rolled to the very foot of the bed and started a serious make-out session. I began rubbing down her mid- and lower back for a bit before moving to her ass cheeks and giving them a firm squeeze. "That doesn't hurt too much, does it?" I asked compassionately. "Umm, no, feels good," she managed to get out between kisses. "Okay," Rio smirked as she tapped Rhaine's shoulder. "Tap out; your time is up. Now get off my bitch (meaning me). He's got two more of you to go through before we can leave." "Huh? What?" Rhaine sounded confused, then, "it's over?" Her eyes betrayed how little she wanted this to stop right now. "Good," Rhaine sighed sadly. She began sliding down my body. When she saw that I was rising slower than she was receding, Rhaine waited until our lips met before continuing. We remained lip-locked until we stood up, my hands cupping her ass (now covered by her skirt once more) and her arms wrapped around my neck. "Have you learned your lesson?" I inquired when we finally came up for air. Rhaine looked at me for several seconds, unsure what to say. "Joy's waiting," Barbie Lynn reminded us both. Rhaine let her hands drop to her sides and stepped back. Barbie Lynn pressed something into her hands which turned out to be a fresh pair of panties. "I doubt you want to put on your old pair," Barbie Lynn pointed out, "and these are fresh out of the bag." "Thank you, Barbie Lynn," Rhaine said with embarrassment. "Here is a washcloth," Iona added as she handed one over. "You can go behind my wardrobe to change," I offered. The thought of any of the girls going behind a veil to avoid exposing themselves as they cleaned up and put on underwear might appear pointless, but after everything those three had gone through, handing them back a piece of their dignity was a kindness we could all afford. Rhaine disappeared from sight and I turned to Joy. Opal was still giving her a seriously hard time despite the time limit expiring and gave me a wink as she went to displace Brandi on Mercy. I put a knee on the bed and lifted Joy up. She squealed but didn't squirm and I carefully maneuvered her onto her feet. I held her tight while she reoriented. "Are you okay?" I voiced my concern. Joy gave a brief nod. "Are you ready for your last punishment?" Joy looked me in the eyes, then gave the tiniest acknowledgement. "Now stand on your tiptoes, put one hand around my neck, and use the other to hold up the back of your skirt while you press tightly against me." When she had done as I directed, I looked deep into her eyes. I spanked her cheeks, left-right-left, drawing forth a sharp breath, gritted teeth, and tears brimming in her eyes. I had not been gentle but sometimes a person needs punishment to forgive themselves for feeling good about something they've been told is wrong. That was the pop psychology I was running on at the moment. If I got it wrong, forgive me; I'm only eighteen. No sooner had Barbie Lynn and Iona supplied Joy with her parting gifts did Mercy howl. Her further outbursts were muted by her grabbing my much abused pillow and using it as a muzzle. Her body tensing and recoiling time and again was both frightening and erotic combined, and I was suddenly trying to remember if anyone close by knew CPR. Opal fell back on her ass and looked at the rest of us. "That was wild," she smiled, and licked her lips, "but I think I need to go change." I helped Opal stand and we exchanged a rich yet messy, sticky kiss. "Best intervention ever," Opal joked with me, then skipped off down the stairs. I turned to Mercy and plopped down beside her. A quick examination showed a sweaty, tired young lady with a sensual smile on her lips. "I think she's had enough, but" , I swatted her ass lightly three times and stood up. "Breakfast anyone?" Dorm Life, Heaven, and Mercy too. We were late heading out of the dorm so, under Rhaine's watchful control, the group jogged toward the dining hall. As we made the final approach, Rhaine grabbed my arm. Rhaine, Joy, Mercy and I slowed down while the rest headed in ahead of us. "What are we going to say?" Rhaine hissed in a panicky voice. "I was childish, blocked the door, and you caught me sneaking down a fire escape," I suggested. "You will get in trouble," Rhaine said with utter confusion. "I can take it better than you can," I related. "I don't understand. Why are you, all of you, doing this for us?" Joy asked. "Because," I snorted, "we are the good guys." They clearly thought I was a nut but going inside cut off the conversation. "Besides, I need to do something that's going to be rough on both of us." The Smartest Girl on Campus Looking back on things, that first Monday when it was only Rio and I realizing what I was became the only time I entered the Dining Hall or Assembly without being noticed. First I had been a novelty, now I was the freakish center of the storm. I sort of held my reactions in reverse; the hateful looks my enemies gave me made me laugh while the hopeful looks my allies gave me scared the hell out of me. I was dwelling on that quirk in my nature when I reached the spot my gang was sitting; we had our own location and the majority of the school had given it their blessing. Weird? Only the Class Presidents had their own preordained spots. Speaking of which, "Hey, Jungle Boy," Rio teased in such a dangerous way that I felt my balls crawl up into my body. "Iona nominated you for Freshman Class President." "Ha, ha, ha," I joked dryly, then looked to Iona. She couldn't meet my gaze. "Iona, why? Why didn't you at least ask me first?" "I knew you would say 'no'," she replied softly, then she looked up with more determination, "but I know you would be a great Class President." "Don't sweat it, Zane," Rio chuckled. "You need fifty signatures to be on the ballet." "He has seventy-two," Iona informed us. "Gak! How long have I been out there?" I gasped. "Nine minutes," Iona smirked bashfully. I looked around the room, humbled and disturbed. You have to remember that there weren't 250 freshmen and nearly one-third had decided that I should lead them; the faculty must be having kittens. I was thinking that over when a previous bit of theater came back to bite me in the ass. A girl I vaguely knew, Arielle, a fellow freshman, put her hand on my shoulder and waited. It took me a second to clue in but thankfully she and the others were patient. I put my hand on top of hers. "Thank you," I told her. She smiled and moved away, immediately replaced by another freshman. Over 80 freshmen followed and I could feel the disgust emanating from the head table were Chancellor Bazz sat. Friends like Brandi and Dove came over to congratulate me on my nomination but I realized my more savvy friends stayed away. They knew the struggle I was in for and the very real possibility that even if I was elected, Chancellor Bazz would simply kick me out. I'd be going to them for advice and counsel. I guess I might actually have to ask Iona who the Sophomore and Junior Class Presidents were. In fact, "Iona, who are the other Class Presidents?" I inquired. "They would be those haughty bitches in pleated skirts," Rio interrupted. "Funny like a crutch," I replied snidely. "Besides, that describes about half the girls here." "These would be the ones avoiding you like the plague," Rio snickered. "Here you go," Iona intervened, showing me two pictures on her phone. "Besides, you aren't that alone; the Science Club and Botany Club both support you." "Whoop-de-do," Rio huffed. "What are they going to do? Send nasty e-mails and throw clods of dirt on our opponents?" "Could I meet with them?" I asked Iona, ignoring Rio's snide asides. "They've both agreed to help with your Solarium," Iona shot a 'that will show you' to Rio, "and you already know the head of the Science Club but I can set up a meeting if you like." "Make it so," I commanded loftily. "Zane, if you become Class President Iona will be your Personal Assistant, but what does that make me?" Rio inquired. "My House Assassin," I suggested. Rio seemed to like the idea, it fit with her violent tendencies, but she wanted an explanation. "You are almost always underestimated, and like me, you have nothing to lose." "House Assassin," Rio mulled it over. "Okay, but I prefer the title 'Ninja Reaper Angel'." Rio and I exchanged looks; hers mischievous and mine one of amusement. "N R A"

A real pleasure to chat with Lisa Lambertus from the Rathbone Wine Group at Todo Vino in Puerto Rico. We tasted some delicious wines from Yering Station, Mount Langi and Xanadu. Make sure to taste these delicious wines soon. Thanks for listening and following our podcast.#wine #shiraz #pinotnoir #chardonnay #australia

In dieser Episode der Scheibennostalgie packenn wir u.a. „Die Goldene Schlagerwelt“ aus und genießen nostalgische Hits wie „La Paloma“ und „Xanadu“. Zusätzlich entdecken wir romantische Instrumentalstücke  in „Slow Motions“ sowie Sampler, die Erinnerungen an besondere Momente wecken. Auch eine spanische Compilation aus den 2000ern und die (mich) prägende Kuschelrock 3 finden ihren Platz.

[This is one of the finalists in the 2025 review contest, written by an ACX reader who will remain anonymous until after voting is done. I'll be posting about one of these a week for several months. When you've read them all, I'll ask you to vote for a favorite, so remember which ones you liked] 1. The Internet That Would Be In July 1945, Vannevar Bush was riding high. As Director of the Office of Scientific Research and Development, he'd won World War II. His proximity fuse intercepted hundreds of V-1s and destroyed thousands of tanks, carving a path for Allied forces through the French countryside. Back in 1942, he'd advocated to President Roosevelt the merits of Oppenheimer's atomic bomb. Roosevelt and his congressional allies snuck hundreds of millions in covert funding to the OSRD's planned projects in Oak Ridge and Los Alamos. Writing directly and secretively to Bush, a one-line memo in June expressed Roosevelt's total confidence in his Director: “Do you have the money?” Indeed he did. The warheads it bought would fall on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in mere weeks. The Germans had already given up; Victory in the Pacific was nigh. So Bush was thinking ahead. In The Atlantic, Bush returned to a pre-war obsession with communication and knowledge-exchange. His essay, “As We May Think,” imagined a new metascientifical endeavor (emphasis mine): https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/your-review-project-xanadu-the-internet

Send us a textA hard-boiled police detective sets out to capture an aspiring Broadway dancer who has been terrorizing the canals of Amsterdam with his killer moves. On Episode 687 of Trick or Treat Radio we are joined by our boy Joshua Libre for his Patreon Takeover and he has selected the films Amsterdamned from director Dick Maas and Staying Alive from director Sylvester Stallone for us to discuss! We also talk about Dutch horror, the real reason disco died, and what could have been if Joe Spinell was cast as a choreographer in Staying Alive! So grab your scuba gear, strut on down the street in your finest clothes, and strap on for the world's most dangerous podcast!Stuff we talk about: Horror merchandise, Chia Pets, Pennywise, Elvira, Ghostface, Jason Universe, making the pain go away, the prolific pisser, the 13th step, national hispanic heritage, Amityville, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, The Good Son, Warlock, The Forgotten, Shaun of the Dead, Rare Exports, Wendigo, Bloody Homecoming, Dead Women's Hollow, Woe, The Dunwich Horror, Stitch, Chronicles of the Dead, Trancers 2, Freaked, Alex Winter, Summer School, Mask, Cher, Boone the Bounty Hunter, Journey into Darkness, The Creeping Flesh, King Kong, Victor Wong, James Hong, Pooh-niverse, Anaconda, The Bride, Bonny and Clyde, Tremors, Remo Williams, Walking Dead, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, The Johnsons, Amsterdamned, Dick Maas, James Bond, boat chases, Police Academy 5, Dark Night of the Scarecrow, The Vanishing, Huub Stapel, The Last Crusade, Lucker the Necrophagous, Staying Alive, Sylvester Stallone, Saturday Night Fever, John Travolta, The Sandlot, Kurtwood Smith, Frank Stallone, That 70s Show, Johnny Vasolino, a bulge the size of a coconut, Pulp Fiction, Norman Wexler, Bee Gees, Flashdance, Cynthia Rhodes, Joe Spinell, Fame, Xanadu, D.C. Cab, My Bodyguard, Showgirls, Waiting for Guffman, The Producers, Disco Demolition, time capsule, Weapons, Until Dawn, Peter Stormare, Sinners, Bring Her Back, Amsterdarned, Hamsterdamned, a small serving of Giallo, War of the Worlds, Mac Sabbath, The Apple, The Last Starfighter, Patreon Takeover, Superman, Toxic Avenger, Peter Dinklage, Springtime for Tony and Amsterdamned II.Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/trickortreatradioJoin our Discord Community: discord.trickortreatradio.comSend Email/Voicemail: mailto:podcast@trickortreatradio.comVisit our website: http://trickortreatradio.comStart your own podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=386Use our Amazon link: http://amzn.to/2CTdZzKFB Group: http://www.facebook.com/groups/trickortreatradioTwitter: http://twitter.com/TrickTreatRadioFacebook: http://facebook.com/TrickOrTreatRadioYouTube: http://youtube.com/TrickOrTreatRadioInstagram: http://instagram.com/TrickorTreatRadioSupport the show

Cheryl Baxter's very first job as a young dancer put her on the set of Xanadu with Olivia Newton-John, Gene Kelly, and Kenny Ortega. What does it feel like to step into a world like that straight out of a small town in Wisconsin? And how do you carry lessons from legends into a career that lasts for decades?    Joining John Corella in this episode, Cheryl reflects on the magic of Xanadu, the influence of Gene Kelly's ease and Olivia Newton-John's authenticity, and the ways she has kept her career alive through every crossover - from film and television to teaching and even TikTok!   Cheryl's story invites you to think about resilience, reinvention, and the joy that comes from saying yes to new stages of life in dance.   Episode Breakdown: 00:00 Dance Dad Introduction 03:20 Making Xanadu With Olivia Newton-John and Gene Kelly 06:00 Gene Kelly's On Set Lesson: Relax and Have Fun 10:30 Meeting Olivia Newton-John and Early Xanadu Memories 16:10 Why Xanadu Became a Cult Classic 28:30 Reinvention and Career Crossover From Stage to TikTok 49:30 Filming Magic on Xanadu: Steadicam, Long Days, Big Finale 57:50 Stay Bold: Resilience and Reinvention in Dance    Connect with Cheryl Baxter: Follow Cheryl on Instagram   Connect with John Corella: Follow Dance Dad with John Corella on Instagram Follow John on Instagram Join Dance Dad with John Corella on Patreon John Corella Website Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

In this episode of Tank Talks, host Matt Cohen is joined by Christian Weedbrook, Founder and CEO of Xanadu, a groundbreaking Canadian company leading the charge in photonic quantum computing. With over $250 million raised, Xanadu is on track to revolutionize industries through its cutting-edge quantum technologies.Christian discusses his transition from academia to entrepreneurship, the challenges of building a quantum company, and the potential for quantum computing to reshape industries like AI, drug discovery, and materials science. He shares his insights on Canada's role in the future of quantum tech, how quantum's “ChatGPT moment” will likely change the game, and why error correction is the key to scalable quantum applications.Christian also dives into Xanadu's ambitious plans for a quantum data center in Toronto, aiming to leverage room-temperature photonic computing to create the world's first fault-tolerant quantum computing environment by 2029. From AI-driven innovation to material science breakthroughs, this episode is packed with insights on how the future of computing is being redefined.A Quick Word from our Sponsor, FaskenAt Fasken, our clients don't wait for the future. They build it. As the first and largest dedicated emerging tech practice in Canada, our team is composed of founders, ex in-house counsel, developers and business advisors who have guided clients from startup, to scale-up, to exit. The trust of our clients has enabled us to consistently rank at the top of every major Canadian M&A, Capital Markets and Venture Capital league table. With deep industry knowledge and experience across all areas of emerging and high growth technology including ClimateTech, MedTech, Artificial Intelligence, Fintech, and AgTech we're your partners within the innovation ecosystem as you transform the landscape of what's possible.Tomorrow starts here. Own it with us.For more information, visit fasken.com/emergingtech and follow us on LinkedIn.Christian's Journey from Quantum Physics to Entrepreneurial Vision (08:15)* The transition from academia to founding Xanadu.* Early quantum research and turning theory into a business.Quantum's "ChatGPT Moment" (13:10)* How quantum computing's breakthrough will mirror AI's rise.* The promise of quantum in industries like AI and drug discovery.The Challenges of Quantum Capital and Investment (16:20)* The hurdles of fundraising and dealing with investors unfamiliar with quantum technology.Xanadu's Recent Breakthrough in Photonic Error Correction (18:47)* How solving error correction will pave the way for real-world quantum applications.* Quantum advantage in practical settings.Canada's Advantage in Quantum and Xanadu's Global Impact (22:01)* Why Christian chose to build Xanadu in Toronto.* How Canada can lead the quantum revolution and avoid the pitfalls faced by the AI sector.The Future of Quantum Chemistry and Material Science (39:10)* The role of quantum computing in next-gen battery and solar cell development.* Why quantum chemistry is the next big frontier.About Christian WeedbrookChristian Weedbrook is the Founder and CEO of Xanadu, a leading quantum computing company based in Toronto, specializing in photonic quantum technologies. With a PhD in quantum computing, Christian has held postdoctoral positions at MIT and the University of Toronto, contributing to groundbreaking work in the field. He founded Xanadu in 2016, aiming to make quantum computing scalable and commercially viable. Under his leadership, the company has raised over $250 million and is on track to build the world's first fault-tolerant quantum data center by 2029. Christian is dedicated to positioning Canada as a global leader in quantum computing and helping to unlock its potential across industries like AI, drug discovery, and material science.Connect with Christian Weedbrook on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christianweedbrook/Visit the Xanadu website: https://www.xanadu.ai/Connect with Matt Cohen on LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/matt-cohen1Visit the Ripple Ventures website: https://www.rippleventures.com/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tanktalks.substack.com

Ian and Jeff strap on their skates and venture into the heady neon-glow of Xanadu!Robert Greenwald's 1980 musical fantasy stars Olivia Newton-John as Kira, a muse and daughter of Zeus, who seeks to inspire a struggling L.A. artist named Sonny Malone (Michael Beck). As romance blooms, Sonny meets a former magician-turned-construction-magnate named Danny McGuire (Gene Kelly), who dreams of opening up a nightclub--and who may have crossed paths with Kira during his days as an enlisted entertainer during World War II.This syrupy cult classic was recently brought back to stunning life on 4K, and the guys look back at Xanadu with a reverence that surprised them both. Wade through the cheese and the at times iffy filmmaking, and you'll see a truly moving story about the push-and-pull of independent artists and the end of the Mass Media Artist as Tactile Craftsman era.This episode is part movie review, part continuation of Ian and Jeff's ongoing discussion about the role of Artificial Intelligence in the arts. Whether you love or hate Xanadu (or have no idea it ever existed), there's a veritable buffet of food for thought in this loving look back!Support Kicking the Seat on Patreon, watch us on YouTube, and follow us at:XLetterboxdInstagramFacebookShow LinksWatch the Xanadu (1980) trailer.Order the new 4K UHD of Xanadu from Kino Lorber.Keep up with Jeff York's criticism and caricatures at The Establishing Shot and Pipeline Artists.

This 1979 action drama is one of the best..hands down! “Can you dig it?!” The death of Cyrus has caused some chaos for the Coney island gang, The Warriors. The Fureys, the Punks and the Rogues all want a piece of them and nothing will stop them. Thank god the Warriors have Swan leading the way! Swan is played by (at the time a newcomer) Michael Beck. This is why we are doing this Michael Beck double feature with Xanadu. God help us all. Join Ciaran and Trevor as they talk both films and how one is a cult classic and the other is a class piece of Sh#&! Enjoy! #MichaelBeck #JamesRemar #OliviaNewtonJohn #DavidPatrickKelly #ThomasGWaites #WalterHill #JoelSilver #FrankMarshall #GeneKelly #ELO #SolYurick #BarryDeVorzon #LynneThigpen

This week life writing month takes an experimental turn as Amy, Payton & Justina chat to Olivia De Zilva about her debut genre-defying book Plastic Budgie, out now with Pink Shorts Press. Join us as we dive into the messy intersections of memory, nostalgia, fact and fiction, and we wax poetic about the unapologetically cringey kitsch of Adelaide and our love of novelty processed meats. Our Book of the Month is The World Was Whole by Fiona Wright! Grab a copy of the book, read along and join us at the end of the month for our live book club! MENTIONS

XANADU 45th ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL cont. I'M ALIVE Electric Light Orchestra THE FALL Electric Light Orchestra DON'T WALK AWAY Electric Light Orchestra ALL OVER THE WORLD Electric Light Orchestra DRUM DREAMS... LEARN MORE The post TTBA Replay 29AUG20205 Pt. 1 appeared first on Turn the Beat Around.

Meg Wolitzer presents two stories about neighbors and the unexpected relationships that can develop between people who live adjacent to one another.  In Tess Gallagher's “Mr. Woodriff's Neckties,” a famous novelist lets his neighbor in on a secret.  The reader is Dion Graham.  In “Hoodie in Xanadu,” by Ann Beattie, a  woman discovers that her shy neighbor possesses creative genius.  The story is performed by Kirsten Vangsness.

The second volume TPB of the Defenders of the Earth series by Mad Cave Studios is now out for sale around the world. Scott Wydon joins Stephen East and Jermayn Parker as they review all 8 issues from the series. They do a 5 minutes synopsis of the series and then get down to business talking about what they like, what they do not like and much more.We will be discussing the story in detail, so there will be spoilers. We recommend ensuring you read the series before you listen / watch this podcast. We have warned you! Why does the Phantom carry revolvers instead of his 1911's? Is the Phantom still alive and the Phantom? Or is Jedda now the Phantom?Will Jedda taking on the role of the Phantom see Rick, LJ and K'shin also take over the roles by their fathers? Will this then see a change of the song to become "8 becomes 4..."Is Ming still alive?Will Kurt return?Considering that Barin Atomics was used in the first series, will we see Prince Barin?Was bringing Xanadu in the pocket of Mandrake genius or too convenient?Are we seeing a return to the classic golden oldie characters?What would you like to see in the new Defenders of the Earth series starting in 2026?These plus much more are the questions we have. Have you read the series? What did you think about it? We love your comments and feedback from the Phantom phans from around the world. You can either email us, leave your comments at our YouTube Channel, and leave them at our social media platforms on Facebook, Twitter and/or Instagram. Make sure you stay with us, and do not forget to subscribe and leave a review on our podcast and/or our YouTube Channel. Support the show

XANADU 45th ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL includes interview with John Farrar MAGIC Olivia Newton-John FOOL COUNTRY Olivia Newton-John SUDDENLY Olivia Newton-John and Cliff Richard DANCIN' Olivia Newton-John and The Tubes SUSPENDED IN... LEARN MORE The post TTBA Replay 22AUG2025 Pt. 2 appeared first on Turn the Beat Around.

Laurence Bergreen discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known. Laurence Bergreen is an award-winning biographer, historian, and chronicler of exploration. His books have been translated into more than 25 languages. They include Columbus: The Four Voyages, a New York Times bestseller, published by Viking in 2011. In 2007, Knopf published his Marco Polo: From Venice to Xanadu. For this book he crossed China from east to west and camped out on the steppe with hospitable Mongolians in their yurts. His bestselling Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe, was published by William Morrow in 2003.  In its 40th printing, it was awarded the Medalla de Honor by the Asociación de Alcades de V Centenario (Spain). He has also published In Search of a Kingdom about Francis Drake's voyage of discovery (Simon & Schuster, 2021) and Voyage to Mars: NASA's Search for Life Beyond Earth published by Riverhead in 2000. His research for these books included extensive fieldwork.  He has sailed twice through the Strait of Magellan and is one of the few individuals to visit the volcanic island of Surtsey off the coast of Iceland, thanks to the agile helicopters of the Icelandic Coast Guard, among other remote destinations. At NASA's request, he named numerous geographical features around the crater Victoria on Mars. Find out more at https://laurencebergreenauthor.com/. Louis Armstrong's favourite instrument https://oztypewriter.blogspot.com/2020/09/what-wonderful-world-with-typewriters.html The Well Dressed Man with a Beard by Wallace Stevens https://allpoetry.com/The-Well-Dressed-Man-With-A-Beard Vladimir Zworykin https://lemelson.mit.edu/resources/vladimir-zworykin Surtsey https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1267/ The Strait of Magellan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOOKr8Y2xsM The Rubin Observatory https://rubinobservatory.org/ This podcast is powered by ZenCast.fm

This week in physical media with Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski they look at everything from Italian neo-realism to blaxploitation. There is also James Stewart and his invisible rabbit, Jane Austen and her lovelorn sisters plus a little Jess Franco. One of Leslie Nielsen's lesser known parodies is discussed along with the Coneheads feature and one of Adam Sandler's most beloved characters. Erik goes to bat for what he feels is an underappreciated Ron Howard film and Peter goes into the bizarro world of Xanadu.3:41 - Criterion (Shoeshine (4K))7:43 - Universal (Harvey 4K)17:25 - Sony (Sense and Sensibility 4K)24:57 - Shout (Blaxploitation Classics Vol. 2 (4K))41:07 - Arrow (Perpetrator)44:33 - Kino (The Vengeance of Doctor Mabuse, Gung Ho, Repossessed, Coneheads (4K), Happy Gilmore (4K), Xanadu (4K))1:42:36 - New Blu-ray AnnouncementsCLICK ON THE FILMS TO RENT OR PURCHASE AND HELP OUT THE MOVIE MADNESS PODCASTBe sure to check outChicago Screening Schedule - All the films coming to theaters and streamingPhysical Media Schedule - Click & Buy upcoming titles for your library.(Direct purchases help the Movie Madness podcast with a few pennies.)Erik's Linktree - Where you can follow Erik and his work anywhere and everywhere.The Movie Madness Podcast has been recognized by Million Podcasts as one of the Top 100 Best Movie Review Podcasts as well as in the Top 60 Film Festival Podcasts and Top 100 Cinephile Podcasts. MillionPodcasts is an intelligently curated, all-in-one podcast database for discovering and contacting podcast hosts and producers in your niche perfect for PR pitches and collaborations. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit erikthemovieman.substack.com

Two years after his first appearance on The Unlimited Podcast, Jordan Jacobs, Managing Partner & Co-Founder of Radical Ventures, is back to discuss how AI has evolved, and how it will change the future. Brian and Jordan discuss "agentic" AI and its implications, the impact AI is having and will continue to have on jobs, AI regulation around the world, Jordan's favourite AI tools, and more! This episode is a "must-listen" for those looking to understand how far AI has come, what lies ahead, and how to navigate the opportunities and risks of this transformative technology. Plus stick around to the very end to hear "real" Brian speak with "AI" Brian about this episode.Radical Ventures is a global AI-focused venture capital firm investing exclusively in artificial intelligence, with a presence in Toronto, San Francisco, and London and a mission to back founders building transformative AI companies. Radical's portfolio features category-defining AI leaders such as Cohere, Waabi, Untether AI, and Xanadu. Founders also gain hands-on help from Radical's “Velocity” services team across recruiting, chip partnerships, go-to-market, policy, governance, and finance.Jordan Jacobs is the Managing Partner and cofounder of Radical Ventures. He previously co-founded Layer 6 AI (acquired by TD Bank in 2018) and helped launch Toronto's Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence. He also serves on the board of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) and has helped shape Canada's national AI strategy, bringing a policy lens to his work with founders. Jordan is also a member of the University of Waterloo President's International Advisory Board, a Director of Tennis Canada, and has been selected as one of Toronto's 50 Most Influential People.Timestamps:0:00 Episode 16 Recap1:00 Intro & Disclaimer4:06 What is AI?6:30 How has AI evolved in the last 2 years?11:20 What is Agentic AI17:37 What does Agentic AI mean for jobs?21:56 Government sentiment on AI25:46 Jordan's message to the Minister of AI37:25 Jordan's advice to businesses NOT using AI43:35 Where is Radical investing?51:41 What AI tools is Jordan using personally?53:31 Outro54:57 Ginsler.ai

This episode we are joined by Tony nominated performer Kerry Butler! Kerry is currently starring as Ms. Fleming in Heathers the Musical playing at New World Stages!  You know Kerry from her roles in Hairspray, Catch Me if You Can, Xanadu, Little Shop of Horrors, Beetlejuice and Mean Girls…just to name a few! She's also returning to the show Bat Boy at City Center this fall where she originated the role of Shelley in it's original off Broadway production. We talk with Kerry about what it's like working on Heathers the Musical, how it came into her life, going back into working on Bat Boy the Musical and much more!To get tickets to Heathers the Musical visit their website!

On the eve of Xanadu's 45th Anniversary, Dennis is joined by six of his fellow Xanadu superfans--the XanaCrew--to preview the events they have organized for this coming weekend in Los Angeles. The events include a sold out screening on Saturday, August 9th featuring a Q & A with Michael Beck and multiple muses...bookended by a tribute concert on Friday, the 8th and a picnic on Sunday, August 10 from noon to 3 at Pan Pacific Park. The six XanaCrew members who appear on the pod do so in pairs: singers Lisa Donahey and Eric Seppala sneak preview their ONJ/Xanadu tribute concert on Friday; husbands Mykel and Jeff Crerie share the amazing story of how Xanadu brought them together as a couple and Bill Morgan and Matt Tunia recall a Xanadu-themed birthday party that started this whole ball rolling and share what the movie and being part of the XanaCrew means to them. www.xanaduexperience.com

There's a new theater company that opened about a mile from Dennis's home in North Hollywood called The Wisteria Theater and it's a magical place. The show that's currently running there is Xanadu: The Musical, based on the iconic Olivia Newton-John movie musical that Dennis has been obsessed with since 1980. In this episode, Dennis welcomes the team behind the show to play a couple rounds of his game You Don't Know My Life! The five guests are Renée Wylder (Producer and Wisteria Theater co-founder), acress Lexi Collins (Kira, Wisteria Theater company co-founder), actors Connor Bullock (Sonny) and Kelby Thwaits (Danny) as well as the show's director Brayden Hade. The two questions posed during the game are 1) "Xanadu is a story about dreams. When was a time in your life when you thought, OMG, this is a dream come true?" And 2) You come across an old diary entry with the headline A Night at the Theater I'll Never Forget. What happens in it?" Their stories involve everything from scoring big career breaks to on stage mishaps to trying to do a show in a tornado to pigging out on chips and tacos at Salsa y Beer down the street from the Wisteria. Xanadu runs at the Wisteria through August 10th www.wisteriatheater.com

“The current government is really plugged into what's needed.” One step closer to quantum data centres with the launch of his company's advanced photonics packaging facility, Xanadu founder and CEO Christian Weedbrook joins to discuss the renewed federal interest in quantum technology, how it relates to Canadian sovereignty, and where the money to fund it should come from. The BetaKit Podcast is presented by KDD 2025, the world's leading conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining. Connect with top researchers, industry pioneers, and innovators driving real-world impact. At KDD 2025, you'll explore cutting-edge research, gain insights into practical applications, and expand your network with global leaders shaping the future of data and AI. Whether you're in academia, tech, business, or research, this is the conference you don't want to miss. Register today for KDD 2025 at https://kdd2025.kdd.org/. -- The BetaKit Podcast is also presented by Cisco. In the race to adopt AI, security isn't keeping pace. According to Cisco's Cybersecurity Readiness Index, less than half of Canadian companies say their teams understand AI-related threats—while over half face critical cybersecurity talent shortages. Cisco Canada's CTO, Rob Barton, says its new Cybersecurity Readiness Assessment tool helps organizations gauge their overall security maturity in the age of AI. Want to assess your cybersecurity posture? Take Cisco's Cybersecurity Readiness Assessment and get your personalized score. Related links: “Light, tight, right” regulation: Minister Evan Solomon unpacks how Canada plans to support domestic AI and quantum computing Xanadu's Christian Weedbrook is raising another $200 million to build a quantum data centre Dan Breznitz unmuzzled: Canada Innovation Corporation architect explains how we got here

Hold on to your perceptions of reality as Charlie and April dive into a film written under the influence, the "Musical Fantasy" that destroyed careers, 1980's XANADU!!!Visit our website www.secretfriendsunite.comFollow us on IG and Threads: @Toxtra, @TheCeeThree, @Secret.Friends.Unite, @toxtra, @canerdian_jediGet a free one week trial of our Patreon and check out our new member tiers at Secret Friends Unite PatreonUse our special link https://zen.ai/tW9w96GHjJl0oOlORlg-afOO0JOcbUkaBnWlklytL0c to save 30% off your first month of any #Zencastr paid plan.Subscribe to our YouTube channelJoin the conversation in our Discord ServerVisit our REDBUBBLE store for all the SFU Merch you can handle

Barry and Abigail discuss HIT ME HARD AND SOFT by Billie Eilish and sample Fashionable Consumption, Heist of the Century, Plausible Deniability, Mesmerist, and Grapefruit Fluff (bonus beer) from Grand Scheme Brewing in Gainesville, Florida.Grand Scheme's non-alcoholic offering is called Placebo Effect.Abigail and Barry both saw connections between SKINNY and the themes of GUTS by Olivia Rodrigo. Listen to our review of GUTS: ALES (Olivia Rodrigo and First Love Brewpub). Abigail also believes SKINNY is a retrospective summary of the story we are about to explore in the rest of the album, à la Astoria by Marianas Trench. Listen to our review of the Marianas Trench album: Cascadia (Marianas Trench and Cascade Brewing).Barry compared the sound of the back half of L'AMOUR DE MA VIE to both Xanadu and Charli xcx. Listen to our reviews that led him to this conclusion: Can I Do (Xanadu Soundtrack and English Beers) and 3 BRATS (Charli xcx and 3 Daughters Brewing).Abigail compared the story of THE DINER to the story of Paparazzi by Lady Gaga. The accordion sound reminded Barry of the melancholy band from The Nightmare Before Christmas. We also briefly discussed Edward Hopper's Nighthawks and its many pop culture parodies.Abigail compared the very last words of BLUE to the very last words of I've Got All This Ringing in My Ears and None on My Fingers by Fall Out Boy.CHIHIRO appeared on Barack Obama's 2024 Summer Playlist!Up next… Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars by Edie Brickell & New BohemiansJingles are by our friend Pete Coe.Visit Anosmia Awareness for more information on Barry's condition.Follow Barry or Abigail on Untappd to see what we're drinking when we're not on mic!Leave us a rating or a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify!Facebook | Instagram | Bluesky | YouTube | Substack | Website | Email us | Virtual Jukebox | Beer Media Group

Longtime listeners know that The Wolf & Action Jackson hava a special place in their hearts for Rush, the Canadian power trio that went through many phases and sounds over their more than 4 decades together. To wrap up our 2nd year of First Concert Memories, our monthly sidecast about special moments in our lives that revolve around a live rock show, we welcomed our Pantheon Podcasts brother Brad Page. Brad grew up in greater Boston and tried to see Rush on the Permanent Waves Tour. However, after he and his friends trekked over 2 hours to Cape Cod for the show, at the last second it was cancelled. Brad was worried that he'd never get to see one of his very favorite bands live. However, that was actually good fortune in that the boys made up the date during a brief tour between Permanent Waves and Moving Pictures that saw the band debut some of the stuff they were working on. Those songs turned out to be Limelight and Tom Sawyer off the forthcoming Moving Pictures, the album that would change the fortunes of Rush forever. Brad tells us how he and his buddies freaked out when Geddy announced they'd be playing something new. But he also remembers hearing some of his all time favorites like Xanadu and the inimitable La Villa Strangiato. The setlist was phenomenal and the venue was smaller than any of the others from that brief tour between major album tours. So Brad saw the greatest setlist, a killer stage production and heard the debut of a couple of stone cold Rush classics before they went back in the studio to finish them. It's a fun story of a night for which we wish we'd been there. Check out our new website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Ugly American Werewolf in London Website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Threads⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LInkTree⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.pantheonpodcasts.com⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Longtime listeners know that The Wolf & Action Jackson hava a special place in their hearts for Rush, the Canadian power trio that went through many phases and sounds over their more than 4 decades together. To wrap up our 2nd year of First Concert Memories, our monthly sidecast about special moments in our lives that revolve around a live rock show, we welcomed our Pantheon Podcasts brother Brad Page. Brad grew up in greater Boston and tried to see Rush on the Permanent Waves Tour. However, after he and his friends trekked over 2 hours to Cape Cod for the show, at the last second it was cancelled. Brad was worried that he'd never get to see one of his very favorite bands live. However, that was actually good fortune in that the boys made up the date during a brief tour between Permanent Waves and Moving Pictures that saw the band debut some of the stuff they were working on. Those songs turned out to be Limelight and Tom Sawyer off the forthcoming Moving Pictures, the album that would change the fortunes of Rush forever. Brad tells us how he and his buddies freaked out when Geddy announced they'd be playing something new. But he also remembers hearing some of his all time favorites like Xanadu and the inimitable La Villa Strangiato. The setlist was phenomenal and the venue was smaller than any of the others from that brief tour between major album tours. So Brad saw the greatest setlist, a killer stage production and heard the debut of a couple of stone cold Rush classics before they went back in the studio to finish them. It's a fun story of a night for which we wish we'd been there. Check out our new website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Ugly American Werewolf in London Website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Threads⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LInkTree⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.pantheonpodcasts.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode provides an exciting dive into the personal and professional life of Rob D. Bilder as they transition into a new phase - turning 39. We embark on a unique journey with Coco Jem Holiday as she celebrates her upcoming birthday and reflects on the many changes that have taken place since the last episode. Listeners are taken on a heartfelt exploration of community events, including a public birthday party and exciting plans to visit the iconic Xanadu in Astoria. The discussion moves into the realm of drag performance with a compelling interview about gender diversity, community, and the essence of drag art in today's vibrant queer culture. Explore the powerful intersection of personal growth, the dynamics of producing engaging drag events, and fostering an atmosphere of acceptance and creativity. The episode brims with excitement, laughs, and a profound connection to the thriving drag scene, making it a must-listen for long-time fans and newcomers alike.

If you've ever roller-skated, then this movie is for you! Michaela Watkins (Hacks) joins Paul, June, and Jason to talk all about the Olivia Newton-John & Gene Kelly musical Xanadu. LIVE from Largo in LA, they cover everything from the opening dance montage where the muses come out of a mural portal, the animation sequence that was basically the sex scene, and Gene Kelly's memory boner. Plus, we discover why Zeus has a British accent during audience Q&A! (Originally Released 01/30/2022) • Go to hdtgm.com for tour dates, merch, FAQs, and more• Have a Last Looks correction or omission? Call 619-PAULASK to leave us a voicemail!• Submit your Last Looks theme song to us here• Join the HDTGM conversation on Discord: discord.gg/hdtgm• Buy merch at howdidthisgetmade.dashery.com/• Order Paul's book about his childhood: Joyful Recollections of Trauma• Shop our new hat collection at podswag.com• Paul's Discord: discord.gg/paulscheer• Paul's YouTube page: youtube.com/paulscheer• Follow Paul on Letterboxd: letterboxd.com/paulscheer• Subscribe to Enter The Dark Web w/ Paul & Rob Huebel: youtube.com/@enterthedarkweb• Listen to Unspooled with Paul & Amy Nicholson: unspooledpodcast.com• Listen to The Deep Dive with June & Jessica St. Clair: thedeepdiveacademy.com/podcast• Instagram: @hdtgm, @paulscheer, & @junediane• Twitter: @hdtgm, @paulscheer, & msjunediane • Jason is not on social media• Episode transcripts available at how-did-this-get-made.simplecast.com/episodesGet access to all the podcasts you love, music channels and radio shows with the SiriusXM App! Get 3 months free using the link: siriusxm.com/hdtgm

This week, I am joined by Jake Fogelnest, who at the age of 14 hosted MTV's Squirt TV, and later collaborated with Will Ferrell, Sarah Silverman & Billy Eichner.  We take a look at the Bee Gees/Peter Frampton mess-a-thon theatrical feature SGT. PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND.We also discuss how Jake turned his childhood cable access show (shot in his bedroom!) into a full-fledged MTV show, getting his hair cut on TV by Kim Gordon, the day Cypress Hill showed up to his bedroom, the difficulties of the MTV show getting cancelled and his struggle with addiction, how the Beatles were less protective of their legacy than we thought, the military aspects of Sgt. Pepper's, how we never noticed the military aspects of Sgt. Pepper's, the legacy of Robert Stigwood's powerhouse career, Grease, Robin Gibb's grandiose delusion that this film's music was going to replace the legacy of The Beatles' original, how this was Steve Martin's film debut, how it felt watching the film as kids, the movie Car Wash, the PG-13 version of Saturday Night Fever, the cult musical film The Apple, the fight scene between Peter Frampton & Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, the incredible Alice Cooper cult leader scene, Sandy Farina as Strawberry Fields, speculating if anyone ever cried watching the film, Xanadu, Billy Preston saving the day, our alternate endings of Sgt. Pepper's, who are all the artists that appeared in the film's big finale, finding peace of mind from just hanging out in a video store and more!So let's run from that wicked Mean Mr. Mustard and his two latex-clad gimb-bots on this week's episode of Revolutions Per Movie! JAKE FOGELNEST: @jakefogelnest www.patreon.com/jakefogelnestREVOLUTIONS PER MOVIE:Host Chris Slusarenko (Eyelids, Guided By Voices, owner of Clinton Street Video rental store) is joined by actors, musicians, comedians, writers & directors who each week pick out their favorite music documentary, musical, music-themed fiction film or music videos to discuss. Fun, weird, and insightful, Revolutions Per Movie is your deep dive into our life-long obsessions where music and film collide.The show is also a completely independent affair, so the best way to support it is through our Patreon at patreon.com/revolutionspermovie. By joining, you can get weekly bonus episodes, physical goods such as Flexidiscs, and other exclusive goods.Revolutions Per Movies releases new episodes every Thursday on any podcast app, and additional, exclusive bonus episodes every Sunday on our Patreon. If you like the show, please consider subscribing, rating, and reviewing it on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!SOCIALS:@revolutionspermovieBlueSky: @revpermovieTHEME by Eyelids 'My Caved In Mind'www.musicofeyelids.bandcamp.com ARTWORK by Jeff T. Owenshttps://linktr.ee/mymetalhand Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kyle, Joe, and Rick review the musical fantasy film Xanadu. Directed by Robert Greenwald. Written by Richard Christian Danus and Marc Reid Rubel. With music by Barry De Vorzon and Electric Light Orchestra. The film stars Olivia Newton-John, Michael Beck, and Gene Kelly. We ranked 10 songs off the soundtrack and picked our favorite lines, characters, performers, and scenes. Enjoy!

Before we start the show today…Have you donated to the Me Little Me Virtual Food Pantry? This amazing organization works to get low-income folks (many of whom are in eating disorder recovery) fed — and with the food of their choosing. Meaning yes, ultra processed foods that bring comfort and convenience, and yes to beloved cultural foods…and yes to trusting folks in need to know what they need.We're trying to raise $12,000 and add 50 recurring donors to their rosters by June 1 AND WE ARE SO CLOSE TO OUR GOAL. But we need your help to crush it! Thank you!You're listening to Burnt Toast! Today, my conversation is with the iconic Sarai Walker. Sarai is the author of The Cherry Robbers and Dietland, which came out in May 2015—and is celebrating its 10th anniversary this month.Dietland is one of those books that means so much to me, it's hard to put into words. I consider it a foundational text of the body liberation movement of the past decade. It was adapted as a television series starring Joy Nash for AMC in 2018. It's just one of those books—that inducted so many of us into conversations about fatness, feminism, radical social action. Sarai has also lectured on feminism and body image internationally. Her articles and essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian and elsewhere, and she worked as a writer and editor on an updated version of Our Bodies, Ourselves.I asked Sarai to join me today to reflect on what 10 years of Dietland has meant to her. We also talk a lot about the very mixed experience of being a public fat person, as well as being a woman, and a writer, in midlife. You will love this conversation.And! If you order Dietland and Fat Talk together from Split Rock Books, you can take 20% off the combo with the code FATLAND. If you've already bought fat talk from Split Rock, you can still take 10% off Dietland or any book we talk about on the podcast, using the code FATTALK. Today's episode is free but if you value this conversation, please consider supporting our work with a paid subscription. Burnt Toast is 100% reader- and listener-supported. We literally can't do this without you.Episode 195 TranscriptVirginiaThis is really a big thrill for me. Dietland came out in 2015, we're here to celebrate its 10th anniversary. I read it pretty soon after it came out, and I remember reading about Plum and Calliope House and the Jennifer vigilantes who were killing all the evil men, and just thinking, how is she in my brain? How is she writing my whole heart in this story? So to start us off with what is probably an impossible question: How does that feel, to have contributed something that is so important to the canon? And by canon, I mean the fat feminist literary canon.SaraiIt's funny, as an author, I don't know if I feel it the way you're describing it. Man, I hope that that's the case! I guess it's for other people to decide what a book's legacy is, whether it's important or not. What I can say—you know, the book turns 10 this month, and it has really meant a lot to me over the years that people have just connected with it in such a positive way.People related to Plum's story, they really felt that I put into words something that only they had felt, which was one of the things that I really had to work hard on in the book, because I had all these feelings about my own experience with my own body. And I was like, how do I put that into words? So that was the struggle of writing the book and being able to do that. I was so happy when people really felt that the book could speak for them in certain ways, that it gave them a voice.I still hear from people! I heard from somebody just yesterday who said the book changed their life. We live in an age where so many things just seem disposable, and people forget about things and move on really quickly. Dietland, whatever its legacy may be, it has had a long life.VirginiaWe should say, for folks who don't know publishing: For a book to still be in print 10 years later is incredible. The vast majority of books have a year, two years, and then they're done. It is a huge accomplishment, and a huge contribution.SaraiIt means a lot to me. It's getting a new French publication and a new translation over there. So, you know, my girl keeps on going. And it's funny, because I think one of the things that people enjoyed about the book was the anger and the rage in it, and the revenge fantasy narrative about Jennifer.At the same time, some people were like, oh, well, things aren't that bad. You're exaggerating. Fast forward from 2015 to 2025, and things are worse than I could have ever imagined back then.VirginiaYou downplayed it a little bit.SaraiExactly. So I feel in this weird way, kind of vindicated? That's not a great feeling. But it's just so weird that the 10th anniversary is coming at a time when there's this huge backlash against feminism, against fat. Even something as watered down as body positivity is under attack, you know? It just tells you how bad things are. So in that sense, it's sort of bittersweet to have the anniversary at this time, because things are really just heartbreaking and scary right now.VirginiaBut also: We need the book more than ever. We need the Dietland story more than ever, because things are so scary right now. It gives us a way of articulating that. It gives us a place to put those feelings.SaraiI hope that new readers find the book now in this new climate that we're in and people who read it before might revisit it. I've actually thought of writing some new Jennifer stories. I feel like they would have to be so, so violent and so filled with rage, I don't know if they would be healthy for me, but I've thought about unleashing Jennifer on MAGA.VirginiaI personally am very here for this and yery, very supportive of this idea. I think there would be an audience. I would really love to see Jennifer take on MAGA and MAHA and RFK Jr. in particular.SaraiIf I end up in prison, though, I don't know.VirginiaI'm hearing that concern, as we're saying it out loud. Fictionalized versions of these things, perhaps.SaraiNames changed.VirginiaI mean, you're busy, you're doing lots of things, but it would be a public service.Many more folks discovered Dietland after it became a TV show, which aired in 2018. It was created by Marti Noxon of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame. And it starred the incredible Joy Nash. And we only got 10 magic episodes. It's a really great season, but we only got the one season. I would love to hear how you felt about the show? I've always wondered what that feels like, to have a novel go into on the screen. It's got to be such a strange experience.SaraiIt is strange and surreal. Looking back now, it's hard to believe that it happened. I think so many writers do get their book optioned, but to actually have it not just optioned, but then go into production and become a television series is pretty rare. So I feel lucky that I had that.The show premiered three years after the book was published, which is so fast, but that was kind of the golden age of TV, I think.It was a great experience. Marti really welcomed me in. I went out to the writer's room, and I worked as a consultant. I got to visit the set in New York. And basically the the 10 episodes that we got were the whole book. So, I'm really sad that it didn't go on, that we didn't get at least a season two, preferably five seasons would have been great. But AMC just kind of bailed out on it. There was a lot of drama there going on behind the scenes that had nothing to do with the show that contributed to that.When the show was canceled, one of the cast members posted something on social media saying, “I'm so tired of shows about women that try and do interesting and groundbreaking things just being canceled and not given a chance to grow.” It's very hard to build an audience in one ten episode season. So I just felt like the show wasn't given that chance. And so that makes it a little bit bittersweet. But I treasure the ten episodes that we did get. It's an incredible privilege that we got that.Amd the show was pretty faithful to the book, actually, I thought. When I got there to the writer's room, they were already at work and they were using it as their Bible and I was this kind of like goddess of this world. It was really weird.VirginiaThat's amazing.SaraiAll these people working on something that came from my head. It was surreal.VirginiaAnd Joy as Plum—she's amazing and really embodies the character.SaraiShe is so great. I just love Joy. When I was living out in LA we used to go out to lunch, and she's so fun and just so sweet. And, yeah, I really loved working with her, and having her play Plum.VirginiaSo you mentioned feeling like a goddess in the writers room. But putting this out there did launch you as a Public Facing Fat Person, which I put in capital letters. It's an experience that that I've had, a little bit as well. And it is a real mixed bag. It's just really a weird experience to be professionally fat, especially because, in your case, your subsequent work has had nothing to do with fatness. And yet, I'm sure this is still something that comes up.SaraiYeah, I mean, you know what it's like to be publicly fat. Everyone reacts to it differently. I'm a novelist, so I'm very introverted. The book was published in 2015 and then the paperback in 2016 and the British edition, which was a whole wild ride with the media over there.VirginiaOh god, I am sorry. I know and I'm sorry.SaraiYeah. It made our media look okay!VirginiaNo, it's terrible. The British media is so awful in general, and it's so specifically fatphobic. Anytime I've done anything with the British media, it's been a deeply scarring experience.SaraiIt was awful. I had a big newspaper over there wanted me to write this big article for them, and they're like, “You have to put your weight in the article.”VirginiaI mean, what?SaraiAnd then another website, this feminist website, was like “We want pictures of you to use as stock photos for other articles on body positivity.”VirginiaI'm sorry, can you not find other fat people??SaraiI'm the only one that exists. I don't know if you know that, but I'm the only one.And so, I had years of this. I was on NPR, talking about being fat. I was on MSNBC. I was on other radio shows. I mean, that's the game, right? And at that time, “obesity epidemic” rhetoric was a really big thing. So my book had this hook, which isn't common for novels, but I got all these interviews and so I had to go along with it, and go out there.On the one hand, it's really radical to be like, “Yeah, I'm fat,” and to speak about it in a neutral or positive way. It's radical. It's a taboo. And there aren't a lot of taboos left. But it also just was hard to constantly have my body mentioned all the time. I remember Julianna Margulies, who was on the TV show, did an interview on a podcast talking about me and said something like, “Oh, Sarai's a big girl.” Which is fine. I mean, that's the thing, that's what I wrote about. And that's what it was like, actors, radio hosts, journalists, all referring to me as big or fat. And I'm not blaming them at all, but it was just the effect it had on me over time, was like, I started to kind of feel like a fat lady in like a circus or something. But I was reduced to the it was always about my bodyVirginiaAnd you're like, “I'm actually a writer. I have this whole incredible ability to invent a world. Not many people can do that. Could we maybe talk about that?” Just a thought.SaraiIt was really hard for me. I thought I would love being in the spotlight, and it was harder than I thought it would be.VirginiaI appreciate you saying that. I think it is really hard. I've had a smaller experience with it, and that was enough. I don't want more than I've had. I have a friend who says, “You don't really know how you feel about a book until three years after the book came out. You need that time to survive.” The whole experience of launching a book—especially if a book does well—is like you're basically disassociating a lot of the time to get through all the interviews and the press and the backlash and the trolls and whatever it creates. And then your nervous system needs time to slowly absorb what you just experienced. For me, one piece of it is like, okay, that was enough. I don't need more scrutiny on my body or my life. We don't owe the world that. And there's a weird expectation that because you made a thing or wrote a thing that people are connecting with, you somehow owe them more of yourself.SaraiAnd it's like you're saying, if you kind of step back, it's like, am I disappointing people? And I don't want to do that.VirginiaBut I'm still a person with a life and my own needs.SaraiI've always been fat. When I was a kid and growing up as a young adult, I was deeply ashamed of being fat. And I had the kind of the experience of Plum in Dietland, where I eventually experienced liberation about my body. But that trauma doesn't go away. So having everybody talk about me being fat all the time, it kind of triggers off things that you thought you had dealt with, or were at peace with. Then all of a sudden, it's like picking in a scab all the time.Even in the writers room for Dietland, I was the only fat woman in there. So that was my role. I'm the fat person. I have to tell you what it's like to be fat. And it was just always focusing on that. And that's what happens when you put out a book about that subject. I'm not really complaining about it. It was just harder than I thought it would be and it took a toll on me.VirginiaIt's a weird experience, and it's weird that it's a necessary part of getting this conversation into the mainstream.When Fat Talk came out, Aubrey Gordon texted me and was like, “I'm checking in to see how you're doing, because the book's doing well” Because, obviously, she's had lots of experience as a public fat person. And she was like, “Thanks for taking your turn in the trenches.” And that is kind of how it feels. In order to keep this conversation going around fat liberation and body liberation, we do need to keep putting this work out there. Somebody has to go to the front of the line and take all the hits for a while. And you did it at a time when not many people were getting a big stage to do that. And without a network of other people who had done it, maybe. So thank you.SaraiOh, well, you're welcome. And thank you for everything you do. Because I remember after your New York Times interview, I DMed you. I was like, “Are you okay?” Because I know what it's like to write something and the New York Times people go nuts when it's about fat. I'm like, are you all right? Because we have to look out for each other, you know?VirginiaI really appreciated it when you did that. It wasn't the most fun experience in my life. When we were talking about doing this episode, you were also saying how, as a writer you have gone on to write things that don't have anything to do with fatness. It's not like being a journalist on a beat. So I'm sure that's also challenging, that you're like, this can't always be the most interesting thing about me. That's not fair.SaraiYeah. I mean, my second novel, The Cherry Robbers—VirginiaWhich I loved!SaraiOh, thank you. That was historical. The novel took place mostly in the 1950s. I wanted something totally different. I didn't want to be in the contemporary culture. When the book came out, it got a glowing review in The New York Times, and great reviews, but people just weren't interested in talking to me anymore.I mean, part of that's is the publishing world thing, where your debut is like a debutante ball, and everybody wants to talk to you. And then once it's your second or third book, it's like, oh, yeah, we moved on from you. Sorry, I sound really jaded right now! But without that kind of a newsy hook, people just weren't interested really in talking to me anymore about the book. I think you could be tempted to say, “Okay, well, I'm going to write another book about fatness so I can get back in the media attention.” But no. As you say, other people have stepped up in their writing about it, and they're doing the work on it now. I had my time, I had my voice. I'm not saying I'll never write about being fat again. I'm sure I'll write an essay or who knows what, but I am just doing other things now. I've tried to carve out my space as a writer who is fat and who writes about all different kinds of things.VirginiaNo one needs a thin writer to keep writing about thinness. No one needs a male writer to keep writing about the experience of being a man. It's only when you have some kind of marginalization that people then expect that to be everything you write and think about. As opposed to saying, this is a person who writes and thinks about lots of different things. And happens to be this identity, and cares a lot about that identity and has thoughts about it. But every piece of work doesn't need to be defined by that.SaraiYeah. I mean, I live as a fat person. That's my reality. I'm not running away from it. It is who I am. It's inextricably linked to who I am. But I as a as a writer, as a person, I get bored easily. I want new challenges. I want to write new types of stories.In my next novel, the narrator is fat. But I only mention it once in the novel, so it's sort of like playing around with, yeah, this character is fat, but that's not really that relevant to the story that I'm telling. It's there, and it kind of comes up in other ways, but it's not the whole story. So kind of an evolution, I guess, too, of how I'm writing about fat, at least in fiction.VirginiaThat's where we need to get with representation—where every story about a fat character should not be just about their experience of fatness. That's so reductive. We need more characters that happen to be fat, that are doing other things. SaraiYeah, I think that that's the ultimate goal. I don't think we're there yet in any kind of medium. But, yeah, that would be the dream.VirginiaWe're working towards it.You were also saying that you feel like just a very different kind of writer now than when you wrote Dietland, which is a book with so much anger and fire in it. It's a gauntlet thrown. You described yourself as feeling “less fiery and more muted now,” but I also wonder if this is just being older and wiser and maybe a little more jaded— but also clearer about which mountains you're willing to die on now.SaraiI wrote Dietland in my 30s. But it was published when I was 42 because it took forever to find an agent. Then when we sold it, it took forever to come out. Publishing is quite slow. But that was the novel of my 30s. And I look back now at this anniversary, and I was so fired up. I was so passionate. I was bold and fierce and brave.Some of the things I wrote, I don't know if I would write now, if I'd be brave enough. So I look at that person who wrote Dietland, and I'm not exactly that person anymore. And it's something that's been bothering me for a while.And recently, I listened to an interview with Zadie Smith on the NPR Wildcard podcast. She and I are about the same age, 50-ish, going through all the hormonal changes of this time of life. And she was talking about her earlier books and how she thinks about herself when she was younger versus how she is now. She was talking about how now, at midlife, she feels kind of quieter inside. Her big personality has sort of retracted a little bit. And when I heard her say that, I just was blown away, because that's what I've been experiencing too. And I haven't really heard a lot of other people talking about it, and I hadn't really put it into words or myself. I think because it was upsetting to feel a bit more low key, a bit more apathetic.I'm not really an apathetic person. I've never thought of myself that way. But I kind of feel that way now, so it's a weird time in my life. And I've had women who are older say it gets better. Like, just wait, ride this out, and you're going to come out on the other side of this older and wiser and happier. But right now, I'm just kind of in this weird space where I just feel different. I'm a different person in some ways. I have the same values, but I'm a different kind of a writer, different kind of a person. I'm settling. That's where I am right now. I'm kind of in the thick of it. VirginiaI think we don't often hear this nuance from people after they do something that has the kind of impact and success that Dietland has. We often think, well that person just continues to soar and it's all the next peak and the next peak. And that's not every experience. Probably that's not most people's experiences after having a big success. It's okay that there are valleys and different paths and different twists and turns to it.My other thought is: How could you not be feeling that way right now, given what the world is? Given what it means to be a woman right now? And everything that we're up against. I think there's a some universal—maybe it's apathy, maybe it's… I don't know what it is, exactly. But this feels deeply relatable to me on a lot of levels.SaraiI think going through midlife and perimenopause, at a time when the whole world seems to be a disaster makes it a lot worse. Everybody is coming off the pandemic and Roe v Wade being overturned, and now Trump in office again. Our baseline is just really bad, you know? It's just kind of everything piled on at once.But it is true, I talked to some other women I know my age, who who've written novels in the past and have success and then can't get published anymore once they get into their 50s. You expect you're going to go on forever like you do at the beginning. And you have to deal with the publishing industry. It's a corporate industry. And there are lots of things at play that have nothing to do with whether books are good or not, or whether readers want certain books, or whatever.You start out having these expectations about how your career will go, and then you don't realize that it's, it's always a struggle. Unless you're some massive superstar writer who could have their grocery list published. But for the rest of us, it's a struggle that just kind of peaks and valleys, and that has been a kind of wake up call ten years into being a novelist, for sure.VirginiaThe industry is so complicated. I think the ageism is very real in our industry. I mean, and everywhere. I just turned 44 so I'm kind of getting into this zone that you're talking about. Perimenopause is definitely with me. It has begun. And I think a lot there is an invisibility that's starting to kick in, compared to what I experienced as a woman in my 20s or 30s being out in the world. I can, sort of slip by unnoticed a little more sometimes. And sometimes I really like that, and sometimes it makes me angry. Kind of depends on the day. And I don't even just mean male attention. I just mean the way people interact with you. I'm starting to notice some of those shifts.SaraiI think that's one of the things that's so strange about this time of life. There are a lot more adults who are younger than you all of a sudden. So all of a sudden, you've got 20 or 30 years worth of adults that are younger than you that start to see you as not important anymore.VirginiaMy kids like to remind me that Taylor Swift is 35. as if that's an entire different generation from me. That's not that much younger, guys! Okay, anyway.SaraiI mean, yeah, 35, she's getting up there. But it's kind of like you don't matter as much anymore, in a way. Like that's what society wants you to believe. That you're kind of fading. I think that's one of the things that you kind of have to push back against.And, you know, I'm Gen X. VirginiaI'm elder millennial, but I'm one year off of Gen X or something.SaraiI do think Gen X, despite all of our problems and flaws, are writing more about menopause and perimenopause and aging. And your generation will pick up that mantle and do even more with it. So I feel like, we're trying to change things at least and make it so that we're not fading away. I'm in my 50s now. I'm not going anywhere. And I'm still going to write. You're not going to silence me. It's kind of like just insisting that we're still here, we still have a voice. But, yeah, it's hard.VirginiaIt's hard, and when you're feeling that kind of personal, muted thing you were talking about and then it's getting reinforced by the cultural perceptions of being a midlife woman. Then it's like, am I going to summon up all the energy I need to push back against that? Or am I going to take some of that as, like, it's a little bit liberating. I don't have to be the young, shiny superstar reaching for the brass ring right now. It's kind of a mixed thing, I think.SaraiWith Dietland, I was idealistic and passionate and fiery. And I'm different now, but I'm not putting as much pressure on myself either. I'm not saying everything I write, I have to change the world. That's what I wanted before. And now I'm older, and I realize you're not really going to change the world. You might change a few people, and that's great. But one novel is not going to change the world. And I don't need to aim for that anymore. I want to write different things. I want to not put that kind of pressure on myself. So yeah, there's a kind of liberating part to it as well. I think when I'm not so taking myself as seriously and putting so much pressure on myself, I kind of loosened up a little bit. So that's kind of the flip side of the more negative stuff I was talking about a minute ago.VirginiaI appreciate how honest you're being about the struggle, because I just think it is deeply relatable. And then to this end of what you're working on now, we want to hear all about the next book. You have an announcement for us?SaraiYes, so last year, I sold my third novel. But we didn't want to announce it till I had all the edits done and we had the manuscript ready to go. So summer 2026, my third novel is going to be published. It's called Furious Violet, and it's a suspense novel, which is something I always wanted to do. Like a detective story.It's different from what I've written, but I do think there's a little bit of the spirit of Dietland in it, just in the voice, maybe. I guess, because The Cherry Robbers was in the 50s mostly, whereas I'm back and writing about contemporary culture.So I'm really excited about it. I've always wanted to write a book like this, and it's the most fun I've ever had writing a novel.VirginiaI love that.SaraiMy main character, is 49 almost 50, going through perimenopause. I got to write about that experience in a sort of darkly comedic way, which is a medium that I really like, like that dark comedy that Dietland had. She's a true crime writer. She's writing a book about a serial killer, but she's also the daughter of this very famous poet who is deceased, but like a giant of American poetry. This woman who has this cult following, and sort of is always a shadow over my my character's life.So she has that, but she's a true crime writer, and she kind of embraces her mediocrity. She's not a genius like her mom. She's just a true crime writer. And when the book begins, somebody starts stalking her and telling her, “You're my mother.” And she doesn't understand what's going on, because she doesn't have kids. And so it's this mystery about what does this mean, who is this person, and what do they mean? And it's all entangling all of that and all of the other aspects of her life, and how they all intersect. VirginiaI can't wait to read it. I'm riveted just hearing you talk about it.SaraiI had so much fun working on it. It was a wild ride. So thank you. I'm excited.VirginiaI hope you'll come back next summer when it comes out and talk to us about it some more. And I just have to say, I am filled with so much admiration for how you've evolved as a writer and how you like are going in. This book feels so different from Cherry Robbers feels so different from Dietland.SaraiThank you. I don't like to get bored. I want to do new things.SaraiI think publishing kind of wants to put you in a box, and I don't want to be in that box. I wanted to do something different.VirginiaIt's awesome. I can't wait to read it. I'm so excited.SaraiOh, thanks, thank you.ButterVirginiaSarai, do you have any Butter for us right now?SaraiI just came off months and months of edits, and when I'm doing that, I can't read. I can't read other people's stuff. So I don't have any book recommendations. But I'm really excited to start reading again. But I was listening to a lot of music. I often listen to music while I'm writing, but it can't have lyrics, has to be instrumental.I discovered this Canadian classical violinist named Angèle Dubeau. She plays the work of a lot of contemporary composers. And I don't know a lot about classical music. I'm not plugged into the contemporary classical music scene. But through her, I've discovered all these different composers. And she has one piece in particular called Experience. So if you're on Spotify or Apple Music or wherever, I would recommend looking this up. This piece I just absolutely love it. It's so beautiful, and I listen to it so many times. As I was editing, and then I keep listening to her work, and I don't know it just meant a lot to me during this time. So yeah, it was really exciting to discover that.VirginiaThat's incredible. It's so fun to discover an artist and realize there's more and more of their work, and you can go down the rabbit hole of everything they've done. I find that so satisfying.SaraiShe's introduced me to so many different composers, and I really love it.VirginiaThat's so cool. I'll do a music rec as well, although it's not nearly as sophisticated as that. But my seven year old and I are currently on a big kick with the Hamilton soundtrack. Obviously Hamilton, the musical, had its moment a minute ago. Like, it's been around for a while. But it stands the test of time, and it's very fun to listen to with kids. I end up having to answer a lot of strange questions, because for a seven year old, it's just a lot of things that she doesn't know, that she needs translated. So we have some very funny conversations. It's still a banger of a show and really great and fun to listen to a kid. It's our little bedtime ritual. Before we read, she's a kid who needs to really get her energy out. And we have a swing that she likes to swing on, and we play the Hamilton soundtrack and do three or four songs, and it's just like a fun end of day ritual that I'm really enjoying right now.SaraiI love that. I'm still listening to the Xanadu soundtrack or something for my childhood.VirginiaThese things, they're classics for a reason.Obviously, we want everyone to go pick up a 10th anniversary copy of Dietland!Get it if you haven't read it, or if you read it and loved it, but you've lost your original copy, you probably need another one. It's a great gift for someone else, some friend, mom, sister, whoever. Tell folks anything else about where we can find you, how we can support your work.SaraiSo I have a website, and, you know, I'm on Instagram, I'm on Blue Sky, and I do have a Facebook page I don't update very much. I do have a TikTok account that I don't really know what to do with, but I've done a few videos. So I'm out there, pretty easy to find. My next novel coming out next summer, but that's got a ways to go on that.VirginiaWell, we will keep people posted about that for sure. Thank you so much for being here. I really appreciate it.SaraiThanks. It was so much fun. So thank you, Virginia.The Burnt Toast Podcast is produced and hosted by Virginia Sole-Smith (follow me on Instagram) and Corinne Fay, who runs @SellTradePlus, and Big Undies.The Burnt Toast logo is by Deanna Lowe.Our theme music is by Farideh.Tommy Harron is our audio engineer.Thanks for listening and for supporting anti-diet, body liberation journalism! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit virginiasolesmith.substack.com/subscribe

This is the way Wikipedia describes Machine Dazzle: "(born 1972) is the stage name of Matthew Flower, an American costume designer, set designer, performance artist and drag queen known for his excessive and fantastical camp, surrealist, queer and maximalist approach."This description doesn't do this creative person justice because his talent, skills and accomplishments are too vast and varied to describe. Pulitzer prize winning theater critic Hilton Als puts it this way in the New Yorker, "...a true theatrical genius, who, under his professional name, Machine Dazzle, has created some of the most inventive costumes and sets I have ever seen. " In this Dr. Lisa session we delve into Machine's immersive process as well as what it was like for him, growing up in a series of small towns as a queer person, how creative problem solving is part of his DNA plus why he doesn't go to therapy. Machine Dazzle was born Matthew Flower, in 1972 in Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania. The middle child of three sons, Matthew was mostly raised by his mother Deborah, while his father James was away working as an engineer on oil tankers. The family moved to Houston, Texas and then eventually to Idaho Falls, where Matthew felt alienated amongst the predominantly Mormon community. “I was always the tallest and the gayest” Machine Dazzle told Hilton Als when speaking about this period of his life for a piece in The New Yorker. Machine cites seeing the 1980 Olivia Newton-John film Xanadu at the age of 8 as a defining moment that helped shape his view of himself. At the age of 19, he came out as gay to his conservative parents.[2] Machine Dazzle attended and graduated from the University of Colorado, Boulder, earning a degree in art. In 1994 he moved to New York City and joined the Dazzle Dancers. Machine Dazzle spent this time working a myriad of day jobs, including a position as a jewelry designer and at the non-profit cultural center Exit Art, to support his growing fascination with designing extravagant costumes to wear at night in New York City's clubs such as CBGB and Jackie 60. The origin of the name Machine Dazzle came from dancing in costume at one such club as a Dazzle Dancer. A friend referred to him as a dancing machine, which quickly morphed into Machine Dazzle. As Machine's costumes began to catch the attention of other club kids and eventually he began taking commissions from drag queens and dancers. Julie Atlas Muz asked Machine to design a full show in 2004. In 2008, Machine Dazzle designed the sets and costumes for Lustre, a Midwinter Trans-Fest, starring Justin Vivian Bond. In 2009, he designed Taylor Mac's five hour long The Lily's Revenge. Mac and Machine Dazzle would go on to collaborate extensively throughout their careers.[3]

A deep dive into Denver Fringe featuring an interview with Ann Sabbah, plus our weekly Top 10 Colorado HeadlinersIn this episode of the OnStage Colorado Podcast, hosts Alex Miller and Toni Tresca go big on Denver Fringe Festival — coming up June 4-6. We take a look at 20 of the dozens of shows coming up and chat with Denver Fringe founder and director Ann Sabbah along with performers Soleil Kohl, True Smith and Megan Dille.Later in the episode, we run down our Top 10 Colorado Headliners — upcoming shows around the state that might be of interest. Chapter BreakdownOpening & Recent Theater Experiences (00:00 - 12:00)• Welcome and catch-up after previous week's hiatus• Discussion of John Moore's guest appearance on previous episode• Alex's experience at The Narrators at Buntport Theater - monthly storytelling event celebrating its 15th anniversary• Toni's coverage of The Narrators for Westword • TV/Film discussion: Mission Impossible Final Reckoning and Netflix's The Four SeasonsRecent Productions & Reviews (12:00 - 19:00)• Toni's review of Exhibit at Curious Theatre - one-woman show by Regina Taylor• Discussion of Hundreds of Beavers film screening at Sie Film Center with actress Olivia Graves in attendance• Preview of Oracle immersive art installation at Union HallTheatre News & Industry Updates (19:00 - 26:00)• Bobby G Awards coverage (Denver Center's high school theatre competition)• Sundance Film Festival's $34 million incentive package to move to Boulder• OpenStage Theater's cancellation of Agnes of God production mid-run• Discussion of funding challenges for local arts organizationsDenver Fringe Festival Main Coverage (26:00 - 39:00)• Overview of the sixth annual Denver Fringe Festival (June 4-8)• Festival statistics: 200+ performances, 75 shows, 20 venues• Ticket pricing and artist revenue sharing (70% to performers)• Toni's curated show selections across three days• Alex's anticipated picks including family-friendly and experimental worksFeatured Show Highlights Include:• Nuptial Nightmare (horror comedy)• Mouse City Podcast (mice starting a podcast)• Arkham Ass-Sylum (Batman villain burlesque)• Rocky Mountain Puppet Slam• Dichotomize Me (immersive absurdist play)• Various experimental, comedy, and performance art piecesColorado Theatre Headliners (40:00 - 53:00)Top 10 Upcoming Shows:• On Your Feet, Town Hall Arts Center, Littleton, May 23-June 22• Xanadu, Creede Repertory Theatre, Creede, May 24-Sept. 7• Forbidden Broadway: Merrily We Stole a Song, DCPA, Denver, May 28-June 29• Torch Song, Vintage Theatre, Aurora, May 30-June 29• [title of show], Little Theatre of the Rockies, Greeley, June 5-15• Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp, Miners Alley, Golden, through June 28• A Tuna Christmas, Bailey Theatre Company, Glen Isle Resort in Bailey through June 8• Something Rotten!, Thingamajig Theatre Company at Pagosa Springs Center for the Arts, through Aug. 30• Another Medea, Bas Bleu, Fort Collins, Through June 15• Ripcord, Firehouse Theatre Company at John Hand Theatre, Denver, through June 29

As we kick off ten weeks of 80s-themed episodes, we're returning to a goofy little game we invented a couple of years ago. The idea is to pluck characters from randomly selected movies from the year 1980, insert them into other movies, and discuss the ramifications. Potential movies include Flash Gordon, Caddyshack, Popeye, Xanadu, The Empire Strikes Back, and many more. So grab a hideously overpriced tub of popcorn and get comfortable. In all likelihood, this is gonna get weird. The Flopcast website! The ESO Network! The Flopcast on Facebook! The Flopcast on Instagram! The Flopcast on Bluesky! The Flopcast on Mastadon! Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net Our music is by The Sponge Awareness Foundation! This week's promo: Earth Station Who!  

Dennis is joined via Zoom by Hillary Carlip the designer and co-author of the most fabulous pop-up book you'll ever see Willis Wonderland: The Legendary House of Atomic Kitsch, which is a book dedicated to the home, kitsch collection and all-round fabulousness of Hillary's friend, the late great songwriter and visual artist Allie Willis. (Allie is also the subject of a documentary that was featured on this podcast last year; The World According to Allie Willis. It's now streaming on Hulu.) Hillary talks about how the pop-up book project came to her, finding illustrator Neal McCullough in Ireland and "paper engineer" Mike Malkovas in Paris and collaborating on this incredibly elaborate book all over Zoom. She also talks about creative endeavors from her past including the memoir Queen of the Oddballs, the photo book Ala Cart, which was inspired by the abandoned shopping lists Hillary's been collecting for years, juggling in the movie Xanadu and winning The Gong Show and host Chuck Barris's mad adoration. Other topics include: her long marriage to TV writer and producer Maxine Lapiduss, watching Olivia Newton-John fall for Matt Lattanzi on Xanadu, managing the ups and downs of a creative career while staying true to herself and the many times during the book's creation when she felt the spirit Allie guiding the way.  www.williswonderlandpopupbook.com www.hillarycarlip.com  

Is Xanadu still a Xanadon't?

Hour 1 -Hey Now! It's the Thursday big show and Jacob & Tommy are fully radioactive. In this segment the talk the Royals being swept out of the Bronx and their 6th inning problems.

Broadway, television, and movie star, Patti Murin, stops by The Mouse and Me to share some incredible stories about what it was like originating the role of Princess Anna in Frozen on Broadway. Patti also talks about her Festival of the Arts performances at EPCOT, and so much more!Not many actresses get to say that they played a Disney Princess one time in their career. Well…Patti is extra extra extra extra special. That's 4 “extra's” because she's played four Disney Princesses!Patti made her Broadway debut in the musical Xanadu, where she played the leading role of Clio / Kira. In her next Broadway appearance, she originated the title role in Lysistrata Jones and was nominated for a Fred and Adele Astaire Award for Outstanding Female Dancer in a Broadway Show. For her performance in Frozen, she was nominated for a Drama League Award for Distinguished Performance and an Outer Circle Critics Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical.Patti was incredibly popular when she played Glinda in the first national tour of Wicked. She was also in Lady Be Good at New York City Center Encores, she played Belle in the American Tour of Beauty and the Beast, and Ariel in The Little Mermaid, Paulette in Legally Blonde, and Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors, all at The Muny in St. Louis, which is America's oldest and largest outdoor musical theatre!Patti is also known in the television world for playing Dr. Nina Shore on NBC's Chicago Med, Ava on Royal Pains, and starred in the Hallmark Channel movies Holiday For Heroes and Love on Iceland.Scott and Patti became fast friends and we know you're just going to just love hearing her stories!Email: TheMouseAndMePodcast@gmail.comSupport: www.patreon.com/themouseandmeFB and Instagram: “The Mouse and Me”Music by Kevin MacLeod from https://incompetech.filmmusic.io

April fool of you, the real title is Hack the Net 257 - Ludwig, Lollygagging, and Length

Today we are getting our 80s energy on with one of the original bad movies and cult classics XANADU Follow Manda on twitter https://twitter.com/amxndareviews Follow Manda on youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCj_Er2_Wrzivd4jUkr0sn7g Order a #animationjunkie shirt and more from our merch store! https://www.teepublic.com/stores/hallmarkies?ref_id=8581 Please support my content on patreon at https://www.patreon.com/hallmarkies Listen to Hallmarkies Podcast at https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hallmarkies-podcast/id1296728288 Follow Rachel's Reviews on Itunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/rachels-reviews/id1278536301?mt=2 Follow my blog at https://rachelsreviews.net Follow me on twitter https://twitter.com/rachel_reviews Follow me on facebook https://www.facebook.com/smilingldsgirlreviews/ Find the patreon at https://www.patreon.com/hallmarkies Follow Halmarkies Podccast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hallmarkies-podcast/id1296728288 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

03-28-25 - More DBacks Proclamations From John After Opening Day - Have Radio Stations Resorted To AI Voices For Man On Street Interviews - Xanadu Coffee Shop Owner Busted And Yelp Reviewers Flood w/One StarsSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

03-28-25 - Reactions And Emails On Second Grade Strip Club DJ And Xanadu Coffee Story - Street To Be Renamed For Local Legends Wallace And Ladmo But We Question Who Remembers ThemSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

03-28-25 - More DBacks Proclamations From John After Opening Day - Have Radio Stations Resorted To AI Voices For Man On Street Interviews - Xanadu Coffee Shop Owner Busted And Yelp Reviewers Flood w/One StarsSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

03-28-25 - Reactions And Emails On Second Grade Strip Club DJ And Xanadu Coffee Story - Street To Be Renamed For Local Legends Wallace And Ladmo But We Question Who Remembers ThemSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

[This episode originally ran on July 18, 2016. It is presented here without commercial interruption.] In 1797, the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge took two grains of opium and fell into a stupor. When he awoke, he had in his head the remnants of a marvelous dream, a vivid train of images of the Chinese emperor Kubla Khan and his summer palace, Xanadu. The vision transformed itself into lines of poetry, but as he started writing, he was interrupted by a Person from Porlock, who arrived at Coleridge's cottage on business and stayed for an hour. when Coleridge returned to his work, the vision had been lost, and the fragmentary nature of the poem Kubla Khan has haunted its admirers ever since. The resentment has centered around the bumbling Person from Porlock, whose visit remains shrouded in mystery. The scholar Jonathan Livingston Lowes put it bluntly: “If there is any man in the history of literature who should be hanged, drawn, and quartered,” he wrote, “it is the man on business from Porlock.” Who was this Person from Porlock, and why was he knocking on the door of Coleridge's cottage? How did Coleridge handle the interruption, and what did it mean for him and his art? And finally, what might we take from this vivid legend today? Music Credits: “Handel – Entrance to the Queen of Sheba” by Advent Chamber Orchestra (From the Free Music Archive / CC by SA). “Piano Between” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's time for a new podcast in a place where nobody dares to go and they call it ‘Xanadu'. This episode we discuss the 1980 cult classic starring the divine Olivia Newton John and Gene Kelly in his last film role. The surreal film sees a Greek muse encourage a struggling artist to crate a roller disco! Tune in to see the neon lights shining for you and enjoy the ride!

Connor and Dylan are joined by Tony & Grammy Award nominee Max von Essen (Chicago, An American in Paris). The boys are BACK, baby and boy, oh, boy, you're in for a great chat. Max joins the twins before an evening performance of Chicago. He dishes on what it's like singing and acting DOWN as Billy Flynn, how things are going at the Ambassador Theatre in the shows 28th year, and what it's like to star alongside reality TV stars Ariana Madix and Erika Jayne. Max's resume is just full of incredible credits and we get into some highlights: little piano man Max on Long Island obsessing over Gershwin and the arts, tiny jean shorts Max on the road with Xanadu, and meant-to-be moment Max as he starred on Broadway in An American in Paris. We honor the late Gavin Creel's friendship and impact, including stories about inspiring activism and spreading enthusiasm. Max also tells his coming out story and what it means to be in this community here in New York City. Oh, and that Carnegie Hall solo concert? You're going to tear up. S'wonderful, isn't it?Follow Max on InstagramFollow DRAMA. on Twitter & Instagram & TiktokFollow Connor MacDowell on Twitter & InstagramFollow Dylan MacDowell on Twitter & InstagramSubscribe to our show on iHeartRadio Broadway!Support the podcast by subscribing to DRAMA+, which also includes bonus episodes, Instagram Close Friends content, and more!