Michael & Ethan in a Room with Scotch

Michael and Ethan continue their discussion of Gargantua and Pantagruel, by Francois Rabelais, as translated in one case by Thomas Urquhart and Peter Motteaux and in the other by M.A. Screech, while drinking Benriach distilliery’s The Smoky Twelve. In this episode: Yes, we implied Rachel Barrie was a demi-god last time, so godmother may seem like a demotion, but consider this: we love her. Three h...

Michael and Ethan continue their discussion of Gargantua and Pantagruel, by Francois Rabelais, as translated in one case by Thomas Urquhart and Peter Motteaux and in the other by M.A. Screech, while drinking Benriach distilliery’s The Smoky Twelve. In this episode: If you don’t understand something, don’t get upset about it Just accept it and find the humor in what you do understand (These are not...

Michael and Ethan begin their discussion of Gargantua and Pantagruel, by Francois Rabelais, as translated in one case by Thomas Urquhart and Peter Motteaux and in the other by M.A. Screech, while drinking Benriach distilliery’s The Smoky Twelve. In this episode: Now listen. This episode starts with some pretty esoteric humor, even for us, but: To our Calvinist listeners: sorry. To everyone else: a...

Another special, in which Michael and Ethan set the table for the discussion of one of the books in literature which itself has perhaps some of the most tables set within it: this is the world of Francois Rabelais, and his Great (dirty) Book, Gargantua and Pantagruel. In this episode: Rabelais as Dirty Book Ethan has one page of notes Michael gets put on a Diet of Worms Michael’s wife is the main...

An Ethan-only special episode (sorry) in which Ethan gives us just a taster of the massive medieval Japanese novel The Tale of Genji, by Murasaki Shikibu, and makes his case that a Japanese woman may have written the first “true” novel. Next time Michael and Ethan will begin discussion of our next Mongo Book: Gargantua and Pantagruel, by Francois Rabelais . Join the discussion! Go to the Contact p...

Michael and Ethan continue their discussion of The Fishermen, by Chigozie Obioma, while drinking Benriach distilliery’s The Twelve. In this episode: The payoff to a secret joke Obligatory D&D discussion, sorry Sorry also to our Morning DJ audience Maybe more pointing out than usual of things we don’t understand. shrug At least we’re honest Leaping Christ figures MaEiaRwS: avoiding the easy int...

Michael and Ethan begin their discussion of The Fishermen, by Chigozie Obioma, while drinking Benriach distilliery’s The Twelve. In this episode: Michael Prophesies Ethan deconstructs The Scotch… is The Biblical allusions aren’t even trying to hide This book is either a defense testimony, a gospel, a Kafka-esque absurdist novel, an apologetic, or none of those things (The metaphors keep escaping)...

Michael, Ethan, and special guest Nick continue their discussion of The Devil and the Dark Water, by Stuart Turton, while two of the three of them drink Benriach distilliery’s The Twelve. In this episode: Michael does an unfair thought experiment, but at least it has a key After an initial pledge not to discuss morality, most of the episode is about morality Digression into D&D alignment types...

Michael, Ethan, and special guest Nick begin their discussion of The Devil and the Dark Water, by Stuart Turton, while two of the three of them drink Benriach distilliery’s The Twelve. In this episode: Nick makes a very good rule Michael is provoked into asking a bad question and then the rest of the episode is about that Ethan says “fantasy” a bunch of times when he probably should have said “spe...

Michael and Ethan continue their discussion of Filthy Animals, by Brandon Taylor, while drinking slightly different iterations of Redbreast Irish whiskey in sherry cask finishes. In this episode: MaEiaRwS: the podcast where nothing gets done Ethan fishes a book with a chair (scintillating audio that the editor chose to leave in) Trawling for references The Case Against the Trauma Plot , by Parul S...

Michael and Ethan begin their discussion of Filthy Animals, by Brandon Taylor, while drinking slightly different iterations of Redbreast Irish whiskey in sherry cask finishes. In this episode: Ethan admits to torturing a co-worker This was a very trying episode for Michael Esoteric rants (surprise!) Yes, Ethan has been playing a lot of chess lately Some real digs at true crime Next time Michael an...

Michael and Ethan continue their discussion of Jude the Obscure , by Thomas Hardy, while drinking slightly different iterations of Redbreast 12yo Irish whiskey in sherry cask finishes. In this episode: A messy beginning. (Also messy in the middle, and at the end) Some Walker Percy, some Apostle Paul, and a bunch of the Apocrypha A slight foray into Names With Michael Extremely counterfactual count...

Michael and Ethan begin their discussion of Jude the Obscure , by Thomas Hardy, while drinking slightly different iterations of Redbreast 12yo Irish whiskey in sherry cask finishes. In this episode: Improv that goes great! Multiple instances of Wikipedia research in real time! Gaslighting future podcast historians! Thomas Hardy shade! Shades of Thomas Hardy! And Shakespeare! Ethan does a bad job t...

An extra-special, extra-troublesome-for-Ethan, First Paragraph Challenge, featuring Karen, the Voice of the Rules. In this episode: A special, pretty troublesome, guest! Disclaimers from Ethan: Collect all 3! They’re guessing what the title of the book is based on the first paragraph. Ethan at no point makes this explicit. Sorry. Sorry to Neil Gaiman yet again Michael, Ethan needs you Karen underc...

An extremely special episode where, after a 5-year ban, Michael finally gets to talk about vampires. In this episode: Michael is or is not a vampire Michael finds vampires everywhere Ethan knows how lists work Ethan compares Michael to Einstein, but only by accident Florence and the Machine and Vampires Vampires everywhere! Some ill-advised digressions in the middle of the episode, sorry Much plac...

Michael and Ethan continue their discussion of The End of the Affair , by Graham Greene. while continuing to drink Highland Park 12 Year Old Viking Honour Edition. BUT THERE’S A TWIST! In this episode: Ethan explains this up top, but he had a glitch that caused him to record not with Michael, but several weeks in the future from Michael. Thus, Ethan is VERY SORRY THAT: 1. This podcast is probably...

Michael and Ethan Begin their discussion of The End of the Affair , by Graham Greene. while continuing to drink Highland Park 12 Year Old Viking Honour Edition. In this episode: Everything is arbitrary Bladder perspectives The broad drunk history strokes We prove we read the book Excursions within excursions A teaser for next time! Next time Michael and Ethan will continue their discussion of The...

WHAAAATTTT? It’s an extra-big, extra-in-the-sense-of-you-get-three-episodes-this-month, extra in the way Michael and Ethan are always extra, VERY SPECIAL EVENT PODCAST! Our first episode came out on December 23rd, 2016. So here, today, December 23rd, 2021 [plus a few days because Ethan has NEVER been good with meeting actual deadlines] we offer you a thorough, comprehensive retrospective, in which...

Michael and Ethan continue their discussion of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, by Lisa See while drinking Highland Park 12 Year Old Viking Honour Edition. In this episode: What’s a plot? Misunderstanding misunderstandings Michael says “duty” a bunch of times and Ethan doesn’t even giggle. That’s maturity Just some fanboy moments about Lisa See (to balance out the s*** we talked last time) Michael...

Michael and Ethan begin their discussion of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, by Lisa See while drinking Highland Park 12 Year Old Viking Honour Edition. In this episode: Dark self-reflection Some clarifications Excursus into Cormac McCarthy (sorry) A lot of time discussing the word “for” The SF version of Henrik Ibsen It Doesn’t Have to be Intentional for a Grad Student to Analyze It: A Thesis Next...

Michael and Ethan have their first Very Special, a competition in which they try to stump each other with the openings of books. Don’t worry, there are stakes. (But not steaks.) In this episode: There are special rules, which Michael and Ethan do manage to break without acknowledging it (4 = 3, apparently) Some really scintillating discourse about The Lake House starring Keanu Reeves Believe it or...

Michael and Ethan continue their discussion of I Am A Cat, by Soseki Natsume In this episode: A rubber seal of waxy approval Like real men, instead of feeling our feelings we drink our whiskey (If the audio seems jumpy in a couple places it’s because Ethan’s software was glitching + Ethan is bad at editing) The cat is an Every Man THE REFERENCE IS TO “ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA” OF COURSE Modern Major G...

Michael and Ethan continue their discussion of I Am A Cat, by Soseki Natsume In this episode: Ethan maybe loses right away? But Michael didn’t catch it, so… DECLINE and Fall, duhhh Some really good info about Prince Arthur of Connaught Time travel speculation Michael admits Ethan is right about everything Also, communication is impossible Next time Michael and Ethan will continue to discuss I Am a...

Michael and Ethan begin their discussion of I Am A Cat, by Soseki Natsume In this episode: Immediate digression into Irish stouts, sorry For the record, the line Ethan butchers is “…torment/Of love unsatisfied/The greater torment/Of love satisfied Soseki wrote Lost in the Cosmos 80 years early? We are all burglars and detectives Kids these days Saw, But You’re Chained to a Bear Trap and the Instru...

Michael and Ethan begin their discussion of I Am A Cat, by Soseki Natsume In this episode: Politics and current events, obviously Seduction books vs bonding books The Sordid Histories of Wives and Books Violence Arguing The Truth of Cats Mistakes Next time Michael and Ethan will continue to discuss I Am a Cat , by Soseki Natsume . Join the discussion! Go to the Contact page and put "Scotch Talk" i...