Episode #185- Was Wrestling Ever Real? ft. RJ City (Part III)
Most professional wrestling fans have accepted the scripted nature of wrestling for decades, but are we truly living in a post-kayfabe world? This week's guest, RJ City, thinks that maybe kayfabe neve...
8 Aug 20231h 22min
Episode #184- Was Wrestling Ever Real? (Part II)
Professional Wrestling had a long history of manipulated matches, but it took time to evolve into the pure theatre we know today. Along the road Professional Wrestling passed through a strange interme...
25 Jul 20231h 19min
Episode #183- Was Wrestling Ever Real? (Part I)
In 1957 the French philosopher Roland Barthes called professional wrestling a "spectacle of excess." That may be the most beautifully succinct description of sports entertainment ever written. For dec...
11 Jul 20231h 12min
Episode #182- What Were The Hell-Fire Clubs? (Part II)
In 1721 the first Hell-Fire club caused a scandal in London and quickly disbanded, but the story did not end there. Soon new blasphemous rake's clubs were being founded all over England, Scotland and ...
27 Jun 20231h 6min
Episode #181- What Were The Hell-Fire Clubs? (Part I)
In Britain in the early 18th century private social clubs were all the rage. These societies grew out of the emerging coffeehouse culture and soon became an integral part of the social life of the Bri...
13 Jun 20231h 4min
Episode #180- Columbus? (Part III)
There is a long tradition of writers comparing Christopher Columbus to mythical figures. 16th century historian Peter Martyr believed Columbus was like a later-day Aeneas, the Trojan hero who travelle...
30 Mai 20231h 35min
Episode #179- Columbus? (Part II)
A Columbus biographer once wrote that the famous navigator had an "an imperfect understanding of the line between truth and falsity." The Genoese mariner had a habit of lying, exaggerating, or revisin...
16 Mai 20231h 16min
Episode #178- Columbus? (Part I)
There are few historical figures whose reputation has swung in as many extreme directions as Christopher Columbus. The Genoese mariner once credited with "discovering America" has in recent years been...
2 Mai 20231h 6min
