No Improvement Podcast 👯 Episode 49



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 49th episode of No Improvement, we talk about Colossal, the 2016 fantasy/sci-fi movie with Anne Hathaway.

Next week, we will be reading Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado.

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All in Good Storytime 📚 Episode 29

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 29th episode of All in Good Storytime, we continue reading White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi from section "Jennifer Silver" up to section "Sade." In these chapters, the powers and sentience of the House are further expanded upon. Mystery surrounds the disappearance of Jennifer, Miranda's grandmother, and it is suggested that she was either strangled by her own mother or forever trapped in the house. Everyone experiences horrifying dreams. Miranda is attacked by a group of girls led by Tijana as the attacks on immigrants in their community intensify. Eliot goes to South Africa for an internship and Miranda goes off to college at Cambridge where she becomes Ore's rebound after being rejected by Tijana.

We examine the numerous haunted house moments in these chapters which include animating a mannequin to give Sade, the new housekeeper, a classic jumpscare. We look at the relationship between Anna, whose devastation over the death of her husband during WWI coincided with the creation of the house as a conscious figure, and nationalism. We end by discussing our predictions that Great-Grandma Anna Good has been possessing all of the Silver women and that Ore will eventually use Tijana's purple holy water gift as a cleansing bath bomb for Miranda to exorcise her.

Next week, we will be reading from section "Sade" through the end of White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi.

Subscribe on iTunes!

No Improvement Podcast 👯 Episode 48



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 48th episode of No Improvement, we finish up season 2 of The Good Place by discussing the last four episodes ("Best Self," "Rhonda, Diana, Jake, and Trent," "The Burrito," and "Somewhere Else").

Next week, we will be talking about Colossal, the 2016 fantasy/sci-fi movie with Anne Hathaway.

Subscribe on iTunes!

All in Good Storytime 📚 Episode 28

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 28th episode of All in Good Storytime, we discuss White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi up to the section "Jennifer Silver." In these chapters, we are introduced to the Silver family, composed of twins Miranda and Eliot, recently deceased mother Lily, and father Luc. Together they run a bed and breakfast in England. Miranda suffers from pica, a disorder characterized by the appetite for non-nutritional substances, and following the death of her mother, her condition is worsened and she is briefly hospitalized in a psychiatric facility. It is also clear that other Silver women have had this disorder and have been generally mentally unwell.

We begin by discussing how pica is not a quirky character trait and regardless of any supernatural elements, witches, or ghosts, Miranda is going to die from an intestinal obstruction. We examine the role of the House as a sentient narrator as well as to what end it is communicating with the other characters in the story. We end by theorizing that Miranda will eat the house.

Next week, we will be reading from section "Jennifer Silver" up to (not through) section "Sade" of White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi.

Subscribe on iTunes!

No Improvement Podcast 👯 Episode 47



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 47th episode of No Improvement, we discuss three episodes of season 2 of The Good Place: "Janet & Michael," "Derek," and "Leap to Faith."

Next week, we will be talking about the last four episodes ("Best Self," "Rhonda, Diana, Jake, and Trent," "The Burrito," and "Somewhere Else") of the second season of The Good Place.

Subscribe on iTunes!

Anastasia 👸 Theatre Review




Written by Thelonia


When visiting friends and family come to New York City, it is a time honored tradition of finding something to see on Broadway. It can get a bit complicated to accommodate everyone's tastes at once (are we going for sad? light-hearted? indie darlings? the big shows?). Luckily, if you're hosting twenty year old girls who like Disney Princesses, you currently have a pretty good selection to choose from (well, if you count two big Broadway shows a good selection, which I am, so), and so, once upon a December, I got to see Anastasia (the Broadway Musical)!  And was torn between nostalgic love, a good fun musical, and a lot of confusion as to how to feel politically.

The Greatest Showman 😧 Film Review



Written by Thelonia


P.T. Barnum's first attraction was an enslaved woman, Joice Heath, whom he bought and showed as "George Washington's 161 year-old nanny," (when she died he sold tickets for her autopsy). He made his entire career exploiting and trading 'exhibits', which were sometimes artifacts (like his Fiji mermaid - the top half of a mummified monkey attached to the bottom half of a fish), sometimes people - which is the main focus of the 2017 film - released just in time for Christmas, so you know it's a feel-good, The Greatest Showman.