Making Up Creatures
If we ever make contact with aliens, they probably won’t look like humans with pointy ears or bumpy noses, but creature makeup design is more about communicating ideas. I talk with creature and makeup...
25 Juni 202032min
Larping in Place
Live theater has been shut down across the country, but live action role play (“larp” for short) is finding new ways to thrive in digital spaces. I talk with Betsy Isaacson and Ryan Hart of Sinking Sh...
11 Juni 202033min
Time Travel Therapy
Time travel is one of my favorite genres, and it’s also my go-to daydream. But I’ve begun to wonder whether time travel fantasies are a psychologically unhealthy way of avoiding problems in the presen...
28 Maj 202033min
The Curse of The Curse
When things go wrong, it’s tempting to say something’s cursed as a joke. But when things go dreadfully wrong on horror movie sets, some fans have speculated that the films were literally cursed. Jay C...
14 Maj 202031min
Toy Stories
Many of us have imaginary friends when we’re young in the guise of a doll, stuffed animal or toy that give us a sense of comfort. Then we grow out of those characters – or at least we’re supposed to. ...
30 Apr 202035min
Solarpunk the Future
Cyberpunk was cool. Steampunk was hip. Get ready for Solarpunk. This new emerging genre of art and fiction imagines a future where DIY environmental sustainability dictates the design of everything fr...
16 Apr 202031min
Fighting a Virtual Pandemic
In 2005, the multiplayer online game World of Warcraft was taken over by a virus called Corrupted Blood, and the virtual pandemic in this fantasy world played out remarkably like COVID-19. I talk with...
2 Apr 202030min
Retcon-apalooza
We're craving an escape into our favorite fantasy worlds, but fans are complaining that all the "retconning" is ruining their suspension of disbelief. Why is retroactive continuity so controversial? O...
19 Mars 202033min
