#021 – The S&L Podcast: A Game of Thrones

We loved A Game of Thrones, but you'll have to listen to find out why. We also get into fantasy metal songs with a metal expert, and report some news on the Game of Thrones on HBO. [display_podcast] ADDENDUMS Game of Thrones Wikis Unnoficial Songs of Ice and Fire A Wiki of Ice and Fire But Tower of the Hand is much much better! Thanks Padwen! Game of Thrones being shot for HBO Sean Bean cast as Lord Eddard. A Game of Thrones card game. BARE YOUR SWORD - feedback from the audience What Was Robert's Rebellion Really About (Minor Spoilers, Major Speculation) Check out these lizards they've discovered that swim through sand in the Sahara. They didn't mention it, but I'm guessing they smell like cinnamon. :) Love the Show, Dave in Portland Abner Senires sings amazing parody songs... this one is about the Kwisatz Haderach. ENGAGE - Interviews with interesting characters Talking to Charles Davis, from Metal Gamer and the Chizzle and Dizzle show. Holy Thunder Force: Charles dares you not to air guitar to this one. Rain of a Thousand Flames: This the one that has a nude woman in it, but Charles assures us, it is definitely the most ridiculous one they have made. Unholy WarCry: 10 minutes long and the one that has Christopher Lee dressed in a giant king costume. Magic of the Wizard's Dream: Charles says it's not that interesting of a music video, but it's the one he mentioned that has Christopher Lee singing on it. QUICK BURNS - unrelated news of the month Download DroidMaker for free 1969 Hugo Awards. Neil Armstrong, Edwin E. Aldrin and Michael Collins received a Hugo Award in 1969 for The Best Moon Landing Ever. Also Novella "Dragonrider" by Anne McCaffrey [Analog Dec 1967,Jan 1968] Tagline Contest Come up with a tagline for The Sword and Laser! The winner will have their words emblazoned on the back of our new t-shirts, which will be making their debut at Dragon*Con this September!" Email theswordandlaser@gmail.com by Wednesday July 29.
Read More

#018 - The S&L Podcast: Kwisatz and the Haderachs

It was Dune time and we found out how much of nerd I (Tom) am for Frank Herbert's stuff and how hard it is to pronounce pretty much anything he wrote when you try to say it out loud. [display_podcast] We also found out that there are Dune influences all over popular culture including Films, spinoffs, and metal. In fact there are all kinds of heavy metal scifi influences. Including, apparently this podcast. You must listen to the end to hear the rockingest book club rock anthem ever to rock. And we also form a new band based on Dune. More info, including club members thoughts on Dune, in the podcast and after the jump. Dune comments Hard to get into - Terpkristin Bizarre early attempt to make a film of Dune - Josh Lawrence Great lines - Sean o'Hara One thing I love about Dune is the great quotes it provides. - A beginning is the time for taking the most delicate care that the balances are correct. - Mood's a thing for cattle or making love or playing the baliset. (For some reason I imagine Gurney sounding like Groundskeeper Willy when he says this) - I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain. What are the ones that stand out to you? Comment by Sh1mm3r Does anyone else find the sentence structure a little wacky? I find myself having to re-read some to understand what is being said. I'm in the first few pages though. I might just need to get into the rhythm. Tom's currently reading the Butlerian Jihad by K. Anderson (one of the extended universe novels - a prequel actually) Thread of the month Books with both Sword and Lasers Next Book: Daemon (buy here)
Read More

#017 - The S&L Podcast: Let's talk about ...er... sex?

Really, most of the episode is about The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan: UPDATE: Hopefully the file will work now in iTunes! [display_podcast] We disucssed the paralells to other fantasy worlds like Lord of the Rings and even World of Warcraft. We also passed along Randy's post from the Ning site about the Robert Jordan convention which you can find out more about by visiting www.AgeofLegends.net. But then we got to talking about Watchmen near the end and one thing led to another. It all came back around to Robert Jordan though as we discussed Sean O'Hara's Ning thread called Sexbots and dragons. Speaking of the Ning group, we called out a couple of user-created groups that aren't related to official book club selections. Take a gander at the Alternate History group if you like to pretend things are different than they way they really are. And a really cool group that crosses TV fandom with literature, The Lost literary references group. Finally we settled on Frank Herbert's Dune as the next book. We'll kick it off in the April episode, so if you have any questions, or non-spoiler thoughts for newbies to the book, let us know here in the comments
Read More