Episode 71: Trollhunters Season 3

Episode 71: Trollhunters Season 3
Produced by Relevant to Our Interests
Hosts: John R. Belliston and Frank Shaw
Scripting by: Frank Shaw and John Belliston
Edited by: Frank Shaw
Graphic Design by: Nathan Newell and Frank Shaw
Intro Music: Morning Activities by F.G. Shaw
Outro Music: Morning Activities by F.G. Shaw

Trollhunters is finished. And this episode gives our thoughts on the final series, and what we hope to see (sometimes with tongue firmly in cheek) in 3 Below and Wizards. 

John loves this show. I do to, but it's slight compared to John's love of this series. We have nothing but praise for it, and it's pretty apparent through all 3 episodes of the podcast that we discuss it on that we'd be hard pressed to find (or admit) to any flaws the series might have. This series is fantastic: it forces the characters to make sacrifices, and unlike many shows for children (live action and animated) they have to live with those choices and sacrifices. There's a strong focuses on family, friendship, bullying, bettering yourself and owning your mistakes. It's also a lot of fun, and if you love fantasy -particularly urban fantasy- then you need this series in your life. We of course spoil the hell of the final season in this episode of the podcast, so watch it first before you listen. 

Here's a couple of articles from Collider that have an interview with Marc Guggenheim on the series: The first is non-spoilery, the second is full of spoilers. One thing he does mention in the first part of the interview was the decision to go with Emile Hirsch for the voice of Jim Lake. As many of you may know already, Anton Yelchin, who played Chekov in the Star Trek reboot, died in a freak accident near the end of 2016. He voiced Jim Lake, the protagonist of this series, and it is in this season where his voice work comes to an end. The primary thought was the Mr. Hirsch, who was apparently close friends with Anton Yelchin, brought the passion for the character, and the desire to see his friends hard work come to a conclusion. Mr. Hirsch does have some controversy regarding past behavior however,  but like Jeffrey Tambor, we're not going to dive into it, as that's not the focus of the show, or the podcast in general. 

Now, just because Trollhunters is finished (and it is) doesn't mean that we don't have anything to look forward to: This article from Polygon discusses 3 Below in a bit more detail. As John and I  hoped, the Creep Slayers (Eli and Steve) from Trollhunters will have a larger role in this next series, and it's supposed to be a bit crazier in scope than Trollhunters. 

That's all for now. Give us your thoughts on Trollhunters if you've finished the series. And if you want to listen to all the episodes of the podcast we've done on Trollhunters: 
It's episode 33 and episode 56. 

And share your thoughts, either comment below: or shoot as a message through email or on Twitter. 

Episode 66: A Series of Unfortunate Events Season 2

Episode 66: A Series of Unfortunate Events Season 2
Produced by Relevant to Our Interests
Hosts: John R. Belliston and Frank Shaw
Scripting by: Frank Shaw and John Belliston
Edited by: Frank Shaw
Graphic Design by: Nathan Newell and Frank Shaw
Intro Music: Morning Activities by F.G. Shaw
Outro Music: Morning Activities by F.G. Shaw

Playing catch up over the next few days with the show-notes/commentary. Not a lot for this one honestly. We both really like this series, and we both have not read any of the books. At this point I'm not inclined to read them until the series has ended so I am not spoiled by the ending. We have some theories how it's going to end, and thus, no real "Insane Fan Theories" on this episode. I love how as the series progress it dives deeper and deeper into Absurdism. The fact that the secret society are Volunteer Fire Department brings me no end of joy. The significant meaning given to mundane things is a nice subversion of theme to these sorts of stories. Also love the bit of meta that Neil Patrick Harris brings to the character of Count Olaf. I may be in the minority, but I also love the musical numbers. 

What can we say other than watch the show, then listen to the episode of the podcast. 

Episode 62: Jessica Jones now on YouTube.

It's Episode 62: Jessica Jones on YouTube! If you haven't listened to it yet, then you totally should! Listen to Frank and John while seeing their magnificent beards.

Episode 63: The Punisher

Episode 63: The Punisher Season 1
Produced by Relevant to Our Interests
Hosts: John R. Belliston and Frank Shaw
Scripting by: Frank Shaw and John Belliston
Edited by: Frank Shaw
Graphic Design by: Nathan Newell and Frank Shaw
Intro Music: Morning Activities by F.G. Shaw
Outro Music: Morning Activities by F.G. Shaw

Man! The Punisher! If you haven't watched it yet, and you're a fan of the Marvel series, you need to do that right now! It's amazing! I've used a lot of exclamation points in this first paragraph so far to make my point, but I mean it. The series is well paced, well thought out, brutal as fuck, and it has some fairly thoughtful moments. It's the least comic-y of the Netflix Marvel series. Don't get me wrong, it still has that comic-book vibe in spots, but I could easily see it as a completely unrelated series and doing well, even if the Punisher didn't exist as a character.

The series hints at social commentary with-out ever fully taking a side or becoming overtly political. Which honestly I think works. The main focus of the series is grief and PTSD neither of which should have any political side. The series never uses the "PTSD" through out it's 12 1/2 hour run. It doesn't need to. We see men haunted by things that they'd done, things that were done to them, and things that they still have an itch to do. 

It doesn't handle PTSD without fully delving into film cliches however: The radicalization of Lewis was a massive misfire in my opinion, and I agree with Michael Rougeau from Gamespot: this was a large "misfire". I think it could have been handled better, and perhaps been true of the actual real dilemma if Lewis had killed the older vet O'Connor and had to deal with the ramifications of just that. Frank Castle didn't need another analogue to his character. A "bad cop" to his "good cop." I think there was potential to deal with Lewis' tragic and all too real story (to a point) without denigrating it into the homegrown terrorist cliche we see in action films. It's not that these individuals don't exist, they do. Unfortunately. But that this is something that a series like 24 would try and do, and the Punisher is quite honestly a better thought out series than that.

The other elephant in the room is the gun-debate. Yes it does come up in the show, mostly around Lewis' character and his actions with a senator that is very pro gun control. The debate itself is... well I feel it's a non-starter. It's there to provide some fodder for Lewis' radicalization and that's all. The show stays fairly neutral in its stance* and the debate itself is a plot device. It was chosen I'm fairly sure, because it is such a topical issue right now. So while it is there, and it is front and center later on in the series, it's not something that be taken as a theme of the series, and it's not either for or against. And here's the thing: It shouldn't be a big focus of the series. The Punisher isn't here to decide the gun debate one way or the other, nor is it here to bring the debate to the table to serious discussion. The two episodes that feature the debate are quite honestly there to provide motivation and an end to Lewis' character while inching Frank Castle's plot forward. 

Now John and I did talk about a couple of charities during the episode, and we want to make sure they get a mention again: I talk a little about The Wounded Warrior Project, which is a fantastic charity helping vets and their families. If you're a veteran and you're not a member you can check out the website and see what they do. You can also donate, which I encourage you to do. The other charity is Pet's for Vets. I love he idea of this one as it gives animals a new friend and family member and it gives the vet a loyal companion as well. I love getting pet's into peoples lives so this is another one I highly endorse. 

All that said, The Punisher is fantastic. If you can handle the brutal violence that the series has to offer, and the emotional violence as well, then perhaps binge it in a weekend. If you're like John and I however, take your time with it. Watch a few episodes in a sitting and let things gel. But whatever you do, give it a watch, especially if you're a Marvel fan, it's worth watching.

*It's very much worth arguing that Frank Castle, the character would be very pro-gun, and because of that the show itself is pro-gun. The thing is, it's never really preachy, even when the gun debate comes to the front of the series. HOWEVER, I feel if the debate ever did come up in the serious it would be considerably nuanced, at least until it wasn't any more. The show, when dealing with gun-violence, is very much still a "Hollywood" affair. It may treat the subject more seriously than say, John Wick, but it's still very much grounded in that language of cinema. 

Episode 62: Jessica Jones Season 2

Episode 62: Jessica Jones Season 2
Produced by Relevant to Our Interests
Hosts: John R. Belliston and Frank Shaw
Scripting by: Frank Shaw and John Belliston
Edited by: Frank Shaw
Graphic Design by: Nathan Newell and Frank Shaw
Intro Music: Morning Activities by F.G. Shaw
Outro Music: Morning Activities by F.G. Shaw

It's our discussion about Jessica Jones season 2. Overall we liked it. Well, to be fair I really liked it. John had a few issues: namely Jerri Hogarth. Now he does like the character, he just feels like she'd fit in better... someplace else. In another series. He's a lot clearer during the episode, and it's something that we disagree on.

We struggle to find a theme to this season. Season one is concretely about abuse, with Killgrave being the primary villain. This season is about... learning that you can move on. Jessica Jones mother is a force to be reckoned with in the season, and is a bad guy, in the sense that she has a negative impact on Jessica's life, but she's not evil. Nobody is really (except Jerri). Selfish? Sure. Idealistic? Maybe. But evil. Nope. None of the villains are really villains. 

But I think that's going to change next season. I honestly think the central conflicts will come from Jerri, who manipulates Chen and Malcolm against Jessica, and from Trish who is going to come out swinging with her own powers. What will be the reasoning for it be? I have no idea. But I'm excited to watch it. 

Speaking of next season: still no announcement about it from Netflix or ABC Studios. I'm optimistic and hopeful we'll hear something soon. I'm loving what Marvel and Netflix has done so far (with one notable exception) and I can't wait to see more of Miss Jones. There are folks who are as optimistic as I am. 

Episode 60: Castlevania the Animated Series

Episode 60: Castlevania the Animated Series
Produced by Relevant to Our Interests
Hosts: John R. Belliston and Frank Shaw
Scripting by: John Belliston
Edited by: Frank Shaw
Graphic Design by: Nathan Newell and Frank Shaw
Intro Music: Morning Activities by F.G. Shaw
Outro Music: Morning Activities by F.G. Shaw

John and I have a lot to say about this four episode series (so far). I liked it. John had some major issues, and he's complaints are not unfounded. The series, written by Warren Ellis has a tone of anti-religion to it, and that's not surprising given Warren Ellis' personal philosophy (which is heavily Humanist). I think the biggest sticking point for John is the mistreatment of the source material. The series is heavily based off Castlevania 3, and the series ignores some of the established lore of that game. 

One way to make the series more approachable, and make more logical sense for the narrative is to treat the first episode like a flashback episode and postpone it till last, or between episode 3 and 4. This helps the narrative flow, and puts less emphasis on Dracula, who is the focal point of that first episode. It's a recommendation, and one of the reasons I liked the series so much can likely be attributed to watching it in this manner.

That said, how do you feel about the series? Did you like series? Or did you feel like it was too ignorant of the source material. Let us know, we'd love your thoughts.

Throw-back Thursday! Ep. 15 Jessica Jones on Youtube.

It's one of our more serious discussions (we used to have those now and then) on Jessica Jones season 1. We'll be talking about the second season very soon here, but until then, for throwback Thursday here's the new YouTube vid for it, as well as our original notes:

Episode 15: Jessica Jones
Hosts: Frank Shaw and John Belliston
Special guest: Matthew Ivan Bennett
Produced by Hobos in the Back Row
Scripting by Frank Shaw and John Belliston and Matthew Ivan Bennett
Edited by: Frank Shaw 
Intro Music: Piano Sonata mvnt 1 by F.G. Shaw
Outro Music: Morning Activities by F.G. Shaw

John and I are joined by playwright Matthew Ivan Bennett on this episode of the podcast to discuss Jessica Jones: What are our thoughts on the Netflix series? How does it portray female superheros? How well does it portray the survivor of domestic abuse? What are our thoughts about what's to come for Marvel Netflix series? We try to answer all those questions and more in the podcast.

There is one question we discuss above that have better sources than what we three are able to give and that's the matter of the survivor of domestic abuse. To start with here are several links where women give their response to Jessica Jones and how it portrays the victim/survivor role of Jessica in the series.

I have little commentary about the following links because the content is not to be sugarcoated, and nothing I say can do the job of the articles original authors. Each and every one of the following articles is worth a read, especially if you've watched Jessica Jones.

Here is the first link.

Here's the second link.

Here is a link to a Cracked article right in line with the previous two. 

And finally, here's a link with information about being "gas lighted" or psychology abused and manipulated.

None of the above links are particularly light reads. As well they shouldn't be. It's a pretty nasty topic but is something that needs to be addressed, and confronted. As you'll read in the articles, Jessica Jones does a great  job of doing just that.

Throwback Thursday! Episode 1: Daredevil Season 1 now on YouTube!

Hey folks!

It's come to our attention here at Relevant to Our Interests (Relevant 2 R Interests) that we've got a large backlog of episodes. So we thought it might be a brilliant idea to start doing Throwback Thursdays. Especially as we are slowly creating videos and uploading our back catalogue to YouTube, it's time to share some of the old content here in the new form.

So without further ado:




And for those that want to listen to the original episode, check it out on Soundcloud here!

Episode 58: A Series of Unfortunate Events

Episode 58: A Series of Unfortunate Events
Produced by Relevant to Our Interests
Hosts: John R. Belliston and Frank Shaw
Scripting by Frank Shaw and John Belliston
Edited by: Frank Shaw
Graphic Design by: Nathan Newell and Frank Shaw
Intro Music: Morning Activities by F.G. Shaw
Outro Music: Morning Activities by F.G. Shaw

Man! What I can I say about this series that we didn't already talk about in the podcast? Not a lot honestly. I'm very excited for season 2. In fact here's the trailer for season 2 and it looks amazing.  

Until season 2 releases we really don't have much more to talk about. Neither John or myself have read the books, but we both love the series. Listen to the episode to hear all our thoughts, but know that if you haven't seen season 1 yet, we have no compunction about spoiling the plot.

*We want to acknowledge that we did get the sequence of events wrong in our summary for episode 6 of the series. The kids do go to the restaurant with Mr. Poe and Count Olaf before they discover the code and go to rescue Aunt Josephine. 

Episode 56: Trollhunters 2

Episode 56: Trollhunters 2
Produced by Relevant to Our Interests
Hosts: John R. Belliston and Frank Shaw
Scripting by Frank Shaw and John Belliston
Edited by: Frank Shaw
"Cat Angry Hissing" soundque provided by promete from freesound.org 
Graphic Design by: Nathan Newell
Intro Music: Morning Activities by F.G. Shaw
Outro Music: Morning Activities by F.G. Shaw

Trollhunters 2!

So the more I watch of this series, the more excited I get. When John First told me about it, I was luke-warm to the idea. Despite appearances, John and I don't always have the same taste in things. That said this animated series is quickly elbowing its way into my top 10. By the end of the first season I was hooked, and this second season just wasn't enough. 

The insane fan theories are not so insane. I think it's going to be fun to see exactly what we were right (and wrong about). Who's Jim's dad? Will Angor Rot come back? Who is Morgana/the Pale Lady? 

Tales of Arcadia of course was announced. John has much more knowledge than I do (as is indicated in the podcast). But one things for certain, you can bet we'll be talking about it. 

Episode 50: Stranger Things 2

Episode 50: Stranger Things 2
Produced by Relevant to Our Interests
Scripting by Frank Shaw and John Belliston
Edited by: Frank Shaw
Graphic Design by: Nathan Newell
Intro Music: Morning Activities by F.G. Shaw
Outro Music: Morning Activities by F.G. Shaw

It's Stranger Things 2!

John and myself talk about Stranger Things 2, we mostly liked it! It's not without it's problems. 
But even despite episode 7, this season is pretty awesome, and fixes a lot (though not all) of the problems we had with the first season. 

The thing that excites me the most is the Lovecraftian horror that informs the monsters of this series. I throughout the name Nyarlathotep in this podcast, the Nerdist suggests it as inspiration as well. Now is it Nyarlathotep? I'm with John -though I think the idea is cool- it would be better, and cooler if the Duffer brothers are only inspired by the Lovecraftian monstrousity and not stealing whole cloth from it. 

We do talk about a few insane fan theories a bit, (my favorite is still that the "Mindflayer" is Barb taking revenge on the town) the only theory that has any traction is the theory that the Upside Down is somehow in another time.  It's a fun theory. 

We are both looking forward to season 3. 

Episode 44: John Hates What You Love: The Defenders (with a bonus cut track!)

Episode 44: John Hates What You Love: The Defenders
Hosts: Frank Shaw and John Belliston
Produced by Relevant to Our Interests
Scripting by Frank Shaw and John Belliston
Edited by: Frank Shaw
Graphic Design by: Nathan Newell
Intro Music: Morning Activities by F.G. Shaw
Outro Music: Morning Activities by F.G. Shaw

John levels some pretty hard criticism towards Netflix/Marvel's The Defenders. There's no links in this weeks show notes, but there is a clarification, or a reiteration if you will: We didn't actually hate The Defenders. I know the title is provocative, and often times John has a genuine dislike for things that fall under this heading, though not always (see our episode on Nightmare Before Christmas). This is one of those instances. We both actually liked the Defenders, but there was a weakness to the series that put into focus all the other problems it had: Iron Fist. 

Which brings us to this: in order to keep the show at between 40 minutes to an hour long I have to cut conversation out of each episode. Usually it's wild tangents, or interruptions to the recording that can't always be avoided. It's the nature of our podcast and how we currently have the production set up, being so far apart and struggling with separate recordings. Now and then something that isn't integral to the conversation but still adds to it has to be cut. This is one of those instances. About 5 1/2 minutes were cut out of this episode that just rehashed some of our thoughts on Iron Fist. I'm presenting it here for those that are curious. 

Episode 41: WI: Disney, Netflix and Cannibals OH MY!

Episode 41: WI: Disney, Netflix and Cannibals OH MY
Hosts: Frank Shaw
Produced by Relevant to Our Interests
Scripting by Frank Shaw
Edited by: Frank Shaw
Graphic Design by: Nathan Newell
Intro Music: Morning Activities by F.G. Shaw
Outro Music: Morning Activities by F.G. Shaw

Disny and Netflix are parting ways!

Xhamster offers to buy the rights to Sense8

Brittish Cannibals! 
[Here is the actual paper on this. If you speak "SCIENCE" or more specifically "ANTHROPOLOGY!" it may prove to be a fascinating read. Otherwise follow these other links for a more layman explanation.]

For those interested in FFXI: GO HERE!
[This is a fun game, but I'm undecided whether to continue playing. If it wasn't still subscription based it would be a no brainer, but with Path of Exile now available on Xbox One, as well as a large group of RPG's still on my back list it's a tough sale. It's currently on sale (till August 31st) and comes with a month free, so I still might dive into it, but then again....]

Frank's Rant on Iron Fist

We meant to post this with the notes, but here it is by itself instead. Frank has some pretty strong feelings about Iron Fist, but despite that he's still hopeful about Defenders.


This is supposed to be about a dude with magical fists of iron and we hardly get any of that. Daredevil is getting his ass kicked like every episode. Jessica Jones isn’t throwing cars around constantly, but at least when it isn’t showing her fighting or her powers her character and side characters were interesting and her series gave us plenty of time with the villain. Even Luke Cage has some brilliant moments early on showcasing bullets bouncing off of him. What the hell Marvel?

Madam Gao is one of the coolest villains in Daredevil season one and in this series, where she's a natural fit they barely spent any time with her. Upping the stakes in the series doesn’t mean adding more bad guys half way through: DD season 2 did it, Luke Cage did it, and now Iron Fist and it did it so poorly! You’ve already got two potentially fascinating villains in Gao and Harold, why the hell throw Bakuto in there? If it was for the twist, that’s fucking lame because it was goddamned obvious it was going to happen. You have all this potential and you fucking wasted it because for whatever reason the show runners thought it would be more entertaining to focus on running a business/hostile takeovers/ and corporate moralizing than the potentially kick ass characters and their depth.

The first three or four episodes should have been one. Bakuto should have been introduced sooner (or better left out completely). Madam Gao and her network should have had way more screen time than they did. There’s some good here. The series picks up decently by episodes 6/7, but fuck me running! That’s half way through the series! If your series isn't interesting to watch until halfway through, then maybe you should have started the plot and development closer to that point.

This is depressing. There was so much potential here, but there are many problems: too few fight scenes, uninteresting dialogue, characters whose arcs are barely speed bumps, and not enough focus on the truly interesting characters or worse yet waffling with them and then trying to do all the interesting shit with their characters right at the end. I hope this get’s one more season, not because it was good (it’s tolerable, I will probably watch it again before the Defenders) but because I want to give the creators one more chance to repent for what they gave us with this.

Episode 35: Iron Fist ("Hi Ron Fist!")

Episode 35: Iron Fist
Hosts: Frank Shaw and John Belliston
Produced by Hobos in the Back Row
Scripting by Frank Shaw and John Belliston
Edited by: Frank Shaw
Graphic Design by: Nathan Newell
Intro Music: Piano Sonata mvnt 1 by F.G. Shaw
Outro Music: Piano Sonata mvnt 3 by F.G. Shaw

Forever behind, and never a head. Here are the show notes for Episode 35: Iron Fist, only several months after the fact.

First up! I [Frank] talks about Nintendo, at the time of the episode the Switch had only been out for a couple months, but was (and still is) selling quite well. However Nintendo has discontinued the NES Classic. There was speculation at the time about some of the reasons why they might be discontinuing the device, it's now been revealed that one of the primary reasons is the SNES classic coming out in September. Now the price of the NES classic is so much that it's cheaper to buy the games off the secondary market (especially if you currently own an original NES). I'm still baffled as to the business decision about this, even with the SNES classic coming out. I hope to get one, but we'll see.

John discuss an awesome web comic: Six Billion Demons. Read it. It's incredible and definitely worth a look.

John also talks about the "The Pure Paladins of Palavan" his favorite strike team for Mass Effect: Andromeda.

For the main episode we talk about Iron Fist... Yeah. Despite all the issues, and there were a lot of issues, but I'm [Frank] still hopeful for the Defenders and another season of Iron Fist. I guess they can't all be home runs.

John also gives out bad advice and it's darkly hilarious.

Episode 33: Trollhunters

Episode 33: Trollhunters
Hosts: Frank Shaw and John Belliston
Produced by Hobos in the Back Row
Scripting by Frank Shaw and John Belliston
Edited by: Frank Shaw
Graphic Design by: Nathan Newell
Intro Music: Piano Sonata mvnt 1 by F.G. Shaw
Outro Music: Piano Sonata mvnt 3 by F.G. Shaw

Frank and John chat about John's newest obsession Amateur Surgeon 4, a free game you can download. (It's fun, but of course there are in app purchases. 

John and Frank also discuss Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It's 20 years old this year (the television series). John is not as fond of it as Frank is. 

John also delves a bit into the Occult with his Lepracaun Trap. Pictured Here:

John says it involves alchemy and the Seal of Solomon. I couldn't say but it looks cool and if he manages to catch a Leprechaun hopefully he'll share the wealth. 

And Frank talks about Extra Credits, and specifically Extra History. It's a Youtube channel that talks about game development and concepts but also has a spin-off series that delves into different historical topics. It's pretty fantastic: Here's their Patreon page. 

And of course: John gives out advice... badly! In John's Bad Advice.

For the main event Frank and John chat about the Netflix series produced and co-created by Guillermo Del Toro: Trollhunters. If you haven't watched it, and you like animated series (or cartoons) then you owe yourself a favor to check this out. If you have older kids, then you should down and watch it with them because it's pretty fantastic and has an amazing amount of emotional depth. It's probably one of the best produced series that Dreamworks has come out with. 
That being said, mentioning Trollhunters without mentioning the incredibly tragic death of Anton Yelchin would be a mistake. Anton voices the protagonist Jim Lake. Yelchin was a talented actor and his potential will sadly never be realized. 

Episode 29: Luke Cage

Episode 29: Luke Cage
Hosts: Frank Shaw and John Belliston
Special Guest: D'Artagnon Wells
Produced by Hobos in the Back Row
Scripting by Frank Shaw and John Belliston
Edited by: Frank Shaw
Graphic Design by: Nathan Newell
Intro Music: Piano Sonata mvnt 1 by F.G. Shaw
Outro Music: Piano Sonata mvnt 3 by F.G. Shaw

John and Frank are joined by D'Artagnon Wells to talk about Luke Cage: Did we like it? Did we enjoy the characters? Did we say say 'sweet christmas' several times during the episode? Give it a listen and you tell us!
 We also talk about Pandemic Cthulhu, the Arrow-verse, Black Mirror, the nihilism of John's nephew,  the Nintendo Switch (because Frank can't stop talking about it) and the computer game Sunless Sea. So dive in.

For the main meat of the episode we have links for you:

This is a Time article on the series. It gives a little bit of background on the series, and was initially published about a week or two before the series released.

Here's a story from WiReD discussing the political undertones of the series, as well as being an interview with the principle writer/creator of the series: C heo Hodari Coker. This article cam out in August. 

Finally an article discussing the music of the series, which is phenomenal by the way.

From the What's Interesting: 

Sunless Sea! John loves this game, and I suspect it'll come back up in conversation again, but if you're curious this takes you to the main page of Failbetter Games, the designer of this game and Fallen London. 

Here's a link to ZMan Games site for Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu. We don't discuss boardgames a lot on the podcast though both John and Frank play a lot of table top games: John has regular RPG groups he plays with each week and Frank plays boardgames with his lady and with a local group on a fairly frequent basis. Someday we may take an episode and chat about our favorite games, but until then we'll leave it to D'Artagnon to bring boardgames into the conversation. 

If you have any thoughts, comments, questions or concerns just comment below or email us at relevant2rinterest@gmail.com

Next episode!

We're getting ready to record the next episode on Sunday.

Can you guess what the subject is?

Episode 15: Jessica Jones

Episode 15: Jessica Jones
Hosts: Frank Shaw and John Belliston
Special guest: Matthew Ivan Bennett
Produced by Hobos in the Back Row
Scripting by Frank Shaw and John Belliston and Matthew Ivan Bennett
Edited by: Frank Shaw
Intro Music: Piano Sonata mvnt 1 by F.G. Shaw
Outro Music: Piano Sonata mvnt 3 by F.G. Shaw

John and I are joined by playwright Matthew Ivan Bennett on this episode of the podcast to discuss Jessica Jones: What are our thoughts on the Netflix series? How does it portray female superheros? How well does it portray the survivor of domestic abuse? What are our thoughts about what's to come for Marvel Netflix series? We try to answer all those questions and more in the podcast.

There is one question we discuss above that have better sources than what we three are able to give and that's the matter of the survivor of domestic abuse. To start with here are several links where women give their response to Jessica Jones and how it portrays the victim/survivor role of Jessica in the series.

I have little commentary about the following links because the content is not to be sugarcoated, and nothing I say can do the job of the articles original authors. Each and every one of the following articles is worth a read, especially if you've watched Jessica Jones.

Here is the first link.
Here's the second link.
Here is a link to a Cracked article right in line with the previous two.
And finally, here's a link with information about being "gas lighted" or psychology abused and manipulated.

None of the above links are particularly light reads. As well they shouldn't be. It's a pretty nasty topic but is something that needs to be addressed, and confronted. As you'll read Jessica Jones does a good job of doing just that.

In a complete switch, here's a link to detailing about Jessica Jones next season, or lack of one.

I've been searching for the specific article Matt mentions in the podcast from the Overthinking website (a fantastic pop culture/geek oriented blog and podcast network), as soon as I find it I'll be sharing it here.