Michael & Ethan in a Room with Scotch

In one of their patented specials, Michael and Ethan discuss informal poetry, or as anyone other than us might call it, Free Verse. Poems discussed: “The Leaves,” by Austin Smith “The Second Coming,” by William Butler Yeats In this episode: Protestant Whiskey Leaves, but not leaves, if you know what I mean Form, but not form, y’see A possibly imaginary sonnet Punctuation Ethan says “most people” w...

In one of their patented specials, Michael and Ethan discuss formal poetry—why is it? How is it? Poems discussed: “If We Must Die,” by Claude McKay “Sestina of the Tramp-Royal,” by Rudyard Kipling “On Claude McKay’s ‘If We Must Die,’” by Tonya Foster In this episode: The hosts are ANCIENT We only do one cool thing on this podcast Discussion of definitions, speaking of cool To be clear, Ethan is tr...

Michael and Ethan continue their discussion of Despair, by Vladimir Nabokov . In this episode: A shocklingly concise start If two people look like each other, they can be mistaken for one another The triumphant return of Names With Michael A special guest An amazing race Quite frankly, Ethan forgot to take any notes while editing so he probably missed some stuff The next book is Michael and Ethan’...

Michael and Ethan begin their discussion of Despair, by Vladimir Nabokov . In this episode: We always pluck the low-hanging fruit, and the high-hanging fruit Scotch noises Very interesting pronunciation discussion Yeah, Ethan voices suspicions about some stuff that is apparently just true Michael says “maybe” and Ethan says “he never” put on the podcast a theory that Ethan definitely floated, like...

Michael and Ethan continue to discuss Wide Sargasso Sea, by Jean Rhys . In this episode: A third host joins the podcast, but not like THAT Michael is generous, or is he? Ethan was definitely trying to think of “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” The discussion goes pretty deep pretty quickly and it’s kind of hard to say sarcastic things about it? Most of the episode is spent on three pages of the book, so...

Michael and Ethan begin to discuss Wide Sargasso Sea, by Jean Rhys . In this episode: The hosts are even more underqualified than usual. Star Wars: like Star Trek but the science is better. The terms “revisionist” and “revisionary” are used interchangeably, sorry. Also sorry for the crunching noises Ethan contributes, geez Having promised not to talk much about the additional material, the boys ob...

Michael. Ethan, and special guest Jacob Kempfert continue to discuss Babbitt, by Sinclair Lewis . They basically do the secret third episode in this one, sorry/you’re welcome. In this episode: Spaghetti spray, and other types of spray A concept for the worst Marvel crossover event of all time Probably Jacob is referencing William Morris Babbitt is a fantasy novel—in fact, it’s multiple fantasy nov...

Michael. Ethan, and special guest Jacob Kempfert discuss Babbitt, by Sinclair Lewis . In this episode: Ethan is mean to Michael, but then he pays the price Perhaps the most fraught rule anyone has introduced A lot of talk about Azar Nafisi Sinclair Lewis says the bad thing is bad, but maybe him saying so is also bad Traps are a good thing Thinking about thinking, and then thinking about that Campb...

Michael and Ethan present extremely good theories regarding The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain. In this episode: Plagiarism encouraged Prosecuted, banished, and shot A wife’s theory shamefully rejected Is Mary real? Is Huck Don Quixote? Or is Huck… much more sinister still? Tom Sawyer is both a jock and a cop Sorry we assassinated Huck’s character. Or, not sorry Next episode Michael...

Michael and Ethan continue their discussion of By Force Alone, by Lavie Tidhar . In this episode: Very important distinctions Stalker and God and how they relate to this podcast or something? The wildly offensive Matter of Britain Does Ethan technically lose? At least we acknowledge that Stalker wasn’t the point It both is and is not always about power For the third time this episode, we’re NOT th...

Michael and Ethan begin their discussion of By Force Alone, by Lavie Tidhar . In this episode: We’re not making an Ireland rule There’s only very large OR very small Some pretty troubling talk featuring the verb “goad” Wishbone references. Get on our level. How Me Evaluate Surprised by Maguffin The Choir of Charlie’s Angels Michael’s titles are/are not the point Stalker is Southern Reach is The In...

Michael and Ethan take a no rules, no kings, anarchy special and explore “The Tay Bridge Disaster,” the most famous poem by William McGonagall, widely considered the worst poet in the English Language. In this episode: The podcast very nearly turns into a very different, wasabi-based podcast Ethan does some puns, but they might not be intentional McGonagall Online is a great website, honestly. Mic...

Michael and Ethan continue their discussion of Ball Lightning, by Cixin Liu . In this episode: Michael could take ‘em Ethan is a tease How to fit Ireland into China, by way of Kansas God, aliens, or not aliens The real friends are the ideas you met along the way A wild Nat appears! Poor Emily Dickinson It was A Dream of Perpetual Motion, duhhhh Next episode will be one of Michael and Ethan’s paten...

Michael and Ethan begin their discussion of Ball Lightning, by Cixin Liu . In this episode: Segues drive us over the edge We come up with a bad SF novel There is laziness Ethan knows nothing about China. Well, he knows 2 things. The idea is the main character, but also the main character is the idea Michael would be mad at himself, but he’s intentional (I think) Next episode they’ll begin talking...

Michael and Ethan continue their discussion of The Playboy of the Western World , by JM Synge, with supplemental excursions into Synge’s Complete Works . In this episode: A lot of seething The real drama is in the footnotes (again) We do talk about the plot, I think? A possibly baseless Names With Michael This podcast is just… shooting the breeze… in the wind… Michael declines Ethan goes after Rac...

Michael and Ethan discuss The Playboy of the Western World , by JM Synge, with supplemental excursions into Synge’s Complete Works . In this episode: How much we listen to our wives If you’re going to be pedantic, at least know why Siobhan: not pronounced “sie-oh-ban” Film version not available streaming. Maybe try your local library? Literature on fire! Wildly speculating about things we barely r...

In a special episode for the middle of winter, Michael and Ethan discuss A Midsummer Night’s Dream , but not the Shakespeare one! In this episode: Michael makes sacrifices for his art We’re talking about the comic book, but not about the comic book We pair our drinks with meat There’s a lot of talk about Richard Burbage. Where else can you get that? Stories are real. This podcast is the highest fo...

Michael and Ethan conclude their discussion of The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman , by Laurence Sterne. They punish each other, but this one isn’t explicit. In this episode: The show must go on… I feel like we’ve had this bullet point before We find out the moral of the show There is emotional whiplash There is talk about modeling, but not in an exciting way We flirt with it being...

In what might be their most coherent episode ever, Michael & Ethan continue to discuss The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman , by Laurence Sterne. Keep in mind, that’s a pretty low bar. In this episode: We awaken from Michael’s dream An *actually good* reading group guide??? No one on this podcast is a butt Context! When you try to talk about everything, you might end up with not...

It’s a special episode, in which Michael & Ethan are joined by Josiah Willitz to discuss the first book in the Freddy the Pig series by Walter R. Brooks: Freddy Goes to Florida. This also serves as the pilot episode in the brand-new Tapestry Radio show, Freddy Goes to a Podcast! Next episode they’ll continue to talk about The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, by Laurence Sterne. Joi...

Welcome back to whatever this is. Michael & Ethan do continue to discuss The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman , by Laurence Sterne. The next one will be normal, we promise. In this episode: A tour of oddities A moment of silence Why Shakespeare was a socialist (according to Marx) Some finger-pointing Irrelevant is not the same as immaterial The preacher rides a hobby-horse You m...

Michael & Ethan discuss The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman , by Laurence Sterne. The explicit tag is Michael's fault, but it's not VERY explicit. In this episode: This is Michael’s dream A postmodern book, from 1760 Much talk of punctuation It’s not VERY explicit, promise The COOLEST references (Krysten Ritter, btw) This book is poetry. Sort of. No one is being conditioned. Mi...

Michael & Ethan continue to discuss Shotgun Lovesongs, by Nickolas Butler . In this episode: Michael continues his trend of troubling episode openings with maybe the darkest one yet How to rate something 2 on a scale of 1-2 on a scale of 1-10 Ethan is sorry his prediction came true Bon Iver is not pronounced Bon Iver It’s the secret 3rd episode, but shorter! Spoiler: everybody loses Michael kn...

Michael & Ethan discuss Shotgun Lovesongs, by Nickolas Butler. In this episode: This is not the Maybeline Podcast! Michael makes some VERY DARK JOKES The definition of “explicit” is made very implicit This note just says “shame,” and I forgot why Michael complains Ethan has tech issues, but they’re secret ones Ethan tries to make this the Jane Austen podcast, and succeeds pretty well We love R...

Michael & Ethan continue to discuss The Orchardist, by Amanda Coplin. In this episode:' Ethan is Pinnochio, or Pinnochio is on fire, but not both? Michael took some wooden nickels. Michael is friendly for the first time. Some real solid burns Amanda Coplin is very gracious Shakespeare-baiting! The rest is silence New concept, right here at the end Next episode they’ll talk about Shotgun Loveso...