All in Good Storytime 📚 Episode 22

All in Good Storytime is an interactive, bookish, book club podcast hosted by Alanna, Katya, and Tia. To join the club, make sure you're following us on Twitter to get updates on what book we're reading and to what chapter we are reading through (or what anime we're watching and what episode we are watching through), and listen to the podcast here or on iTunes (see link below) to join in on the discussion. And don't forget to read along!

In the 22nd episode of All in Good Storytime, we begin reading Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J.D. Vance. Without a stable father figure and with a mother who struggled with substance abuse and violence, J.D. and his older sister were primarily raised by their grandparents in both Kentucky and Ohio. This memoir includes tales of hillbilly justice, substance abuse, resilience, family honor, migration, and financial and class status. We begin by discussing the most interesting and mysterious person in this tale, J.D.'s Mamaw. We examine how the patriarchy informs hillbilly justice and family honor in how Mamaw's brothers forcibly defended her honor from outsiders but did nothing to protect her from threats that came from within the family. This supported the well-enforced notion that you could never disrespect your family to outsiders, but nothing was off-limits when it came to fighting each other.

Next, we discussed the apparent role of resilience and wishful thinking in entrapping Appalachian citizens in their situations. To cope with their problems they would simply ignore the reality of them. This, presumably, is where substance abuse also came into play. We also discuss the interaction between financial instability and a tumultuous home life, along with the disintegration of "blue-collar" jobs and financial security in America. We delve into the complicated and sexist nature of domestic disputes and the prevailing notion shared by numerous people in this memoir that violence was an acceptable method of expression, as long as the man didn't hit first. We further discuss the complicated role of race in this memoir. On the surface, it is explicitly ignored as a major contributing factor to the suffering society J.D. Vance describes, but it clearly plays a significant part in its formation. Finally, we discuss a few of our own personal connections to Middletown, Ohio. 

Next week we will be reading chapters 6-10 of Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J.D. Vance.

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No Improvement Podcast 👯 Episode 38


No Improvement is a sort-of-funny talk show that explores the vast, untapped potential of TV shows, books, films, and more. Quill & Slate blog runners Thelonia and Tia review—and then reimagine—the stories you know and love until you can barely recognize them anymore. Hopefully in a good way. And if not, well, we hope you are still entertained.

In the 38th episode of No Improvement, we watch and discuss the final three episodes of Stranger Things (season 2) and talk about what we liked, what we didn't like, and how we would improve it, AKA more of Steve's parenting, less of children kissing (???), and more punk fun with Kali and crew.

Next week, for our December month of books, we will be reading and discussing the upcoming zombie novel Night of the Victorian Dead by Amber Michelle Cook.

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Murder on the Orient Express 😐 Movie Review



Written by Thelonia


The main question that comes to mind when seeing the trailer for Murder on the Orient Express is: how did so many talented actors say yes to this movie? But there are so many other questions, like: why is Imagine Dragons here (and who is making who a Believer?) Why is there Neon everywhere? What in God's name is on Kenneth Branagh's face? I do not have much of an explanation for the first two, apart from the desperate attempts of a marketing team to make the movie look more exciting than the final product wound up being, and I can only assume the last was the result of no oversight, but we can definitely dig in and try to figure out what the hell is happening in the rest of this train wreck of a movie.

No Improvement Podcast 👯 Episode 37


No Improvement is a sort-of-funny talk show that explores the vast, untapped potential of TV shows, books, films, and more. Quill & Slate blog runners Thelonia and Tia review—and then reimagine—the stories you know and love until you can barely recognize them anymore. Hopefully in a good way. And if not, well, we hope you are still entertained.

In the 37th episode of No Improvement, we watch and discuss the fifth and sixth episodes of Stranger Things (season 2) and talk about what we liked, what we didn't like, and how we would improve it, AKA we cry about the Nancy and Jonathan thing, and appreciate Steve's character development.

Next week, we will be discussing the final three episodes of season 2 of Stranger Things.

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🕵️‍♀️ Who is the Black Hood on Riverdale? 🕵️‍♂️ Here Are Our Wildest Theories



Written by Tia


Who is A—I mean the Black Hood—on this season of Pretty Little Liars—I mean Riverdale? It's the question everyone's asking. With each episode in season 2, the Black Hood stalks the town of Riverdale, tortures Betty Cooper (Lili Reinhart), and attempts the occasional murder—with a very low success rate of one confirmed kill out of seven attempts. (Note: It is possible, however, that in the most recent episode—season 2, episode 6—the Black Hood commits his second successful kill, but that has yet to be confirmed.)

The big question surrounding the Black Hood right now is his identity, which remains unknown, but which Betty is on the case to discover, in order to bring him to justice. You've all heard the typical theories—that the Black Hood is Hal Cooper (Lochlyn Munro), Hiram Lodge (Mark Consuelos), Sheriff Keller (Martin Cummins), or Betty's long lost brother Chic Cooper (Hart Denton)—and maybe some of the more "out there" ones—that it's actually Penelope Blossom (Nathalie Boltt), Tall Boy (Scott McNeil), Kevin Keller (Casey Cott), or even Betty herself—but the cast continues to insist that they haven't seen anyone pin down the right person yet.

So here I am, ready to pin. Here are some of my (more daring) theories of who the Black Hood is, given that most of the more obvious ones are already taken:

Synthesis by Evanescence 🤔 Album Review



Written by Thelonia


On the same day as Taylor Swift released her much-anticipated (and dreaded) 5th album, band-I -heavily-associate-with-middle-school Evanescence also released an album (their 4th, and their first album in over six years). If you were in any way the kind of kid who listened to a lot of pretty sounding rock in your life (or has jammed to "Bring Me To Life" at karaoke; don't @ me, it's a good karaoke song), then this might come as both exciting news (new music!) and horrifying (oh god, here come embarrassing teen memories). I am here to tell you that your fears are both completely unfounded and terribly, terribly, real.

reputation by Taylor Swift 💔 Songs Ranked


      

Written by Tia


Taylor Swift's new album reputation has finally dropped in full today!

You can buy it on iTunes or, if you're not totally willing to buy it (at this point, at least), you can listen to it on iHeart Radio, interspersed with some of her old hits (which—can we talk about how bad of an idea this is given how good her old hits are and how... underwhelming her recently released singles have been? Anyway...).

Here are my rankings, as a (possibly former) Swiftie, of the worst to best songs on the new album:

Final Girls 🔪 Book Review


http://www.quillandslate.com/search/label/girlpower http://www.quillandslate.com/search/label/thriller

Written by Thelonia


Quincy Carpenter is the only survivor of a mass murder in a cabin in the woods, trying to live a life that is as close to normal as possible, distancing herself from the events that had her labelled "Final Girl" by running her baking blog and living a quiet life in NYC. But after hearing that another "Final Girl," Lisa, who survived a sorority house massacre, has killed herself, and having another, Sam, turn up on her doorstep, Quincy may need to return to her memories of what happened all those years ago at Pine Cottage in order to find out the truth of that night...and who would want to kill off the Final Girls after all these years.

All in Good Storytime 📚 Episode 21

All in Good Storytime is an interactive, bookish, book club podcast hosted by Alanna, Katya, and Tia. To join the club, make sure you're following us on Twitter to get updates on what book we're reading and to what chapter we are reading through (or what anime we're watching and what episode we are watching through), and listen to the podcast here or on iTunes (see link below) to join in on the discussion. And don't forget to read along!

In the 21st episode of All in Good Storytime, we finish reading Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. We begin by expressing our disappointment that Oryx was not developed more as a character and was generally sidelined by Crake and Jimmy's relationship. Additionally, we discuss our frustration that once Oryx moves out of the fantasy world of Jimmy's memories and actual flashbacks, she is almost immediately killed by Crake. We question Crake's motives in moving toward mass genocide and contemplate the role that Oryx played in his plans. We end by discussing solutions to our current world that would save us from this type of dystopian future and come up with three solutions: 1) a great flood, 2) greater access to contraception, 3) and less cooperation between the military and private corporations while limiting the power of private corporations in public affairs.

Next week we will be reading chapters 1-5 of Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J.D. Vance, a 2016 autobiography that offers an honest look into the lives of poor, rural white Americans.

Subscribe on iTunes!

No Improvement Podcast 👯 Episode 36


No Improvement is a sort-of-funny talk show that explores the vast, untapped potential of TV shows, books, films, and more. Quill & Slate blog runners Thelonia and Tia review—and then reimagine—the stories you know and love until you can barely recognize them anymore. Hopefully in a good way. And if not, well, we hope you are still entertained.

In the 36th episode of No Improvement, we watch and discuss the third and fourth episodes of Stranger Things (season 2) and talk about what we liked, what we didn't like, and how we would improve it, as well as launching the #BringBarbBack and #GetWillAKitten campaigns.

Next week, we will be discussing episodes 5 and 6 of season 2 of Stranger Things.

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Lore S1 👻 TV Recap


http://www.quillandslate.com/search/label/horror http://www.quillandslate.com/search/label/historical http://www.quillandslate.com/search/label/documentary

 

Written by Thelonia


Lore began as a podcast in 2015, each episode describing a particular historical creature or event, usually relating to folklore in some manner. This year's adaptation has seen the show picked up by Amazon for a six-episode season. The show incoporates the show's trademark narration by creator Aaron Mahnke (whose voice can be a no-starter on the podcast), some beautiful animation, and reenacted fictionalized versions based off of the historical cases investigated. There are also several comparisons between these historical cases and more modern killings, all in the general goal of saying something about human nature. Whether or not that's your cup of tea is sort of up to you, but let's look at what we got out of these six episodes below.