The Left Page

Hello everyone!! Time for us to talk about one of the bigger and better releases of the year, and a kind of horror movie, no less, it's Sinners! Come along as we go into how the film represents music and culture, how it frames the ideas of religion and "sinning", and, obviously, the institutional practices of racism, colonialism and oppression. There's a LOT to talk about, and we certainly do! Enj...

Hello everyone!! Time to wrap up the Witcher Saga proper!! As we go over this series in things we hadn't yet covered last time! We dive into the sense of History and Myth established, some other relationships and the fellowship functions themselves, and some of our general thoughts on the Witcher and the Saga! We mark it here for the books, we are (probably) finished! Enjoy!! If you can and are in...

Hello everyone!! We are back with some more Star Wars, and of the best kind, with the second season of Andor! There's been a lot of talk on Andor lately, and having done an episode for the first season, we were not going to let it pass us by. So join us, as we dive into what makes this such a compelling show (amidst flaws, as we talk about them too), critiquing a great deal of liberal hypocrisies,...

We found something else. Frank talks about the videogame SEASON: A Letter to the Future. It has problems when it talks about History. It's worth talking about. Thank you. For more, keep an eye out on: https://www.patreon.com/leftpage Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello everyone!! The time has come!! Now that both of us have read the Witcher Saga books, it's time to finally return to this universe and talk about them! However, it being a rather involved story and universe, alongside comprising 5 books, we decided to make two episodes but discussing the whole Saga. In this first part we dive into some of the relationships of Ciri, Geralt and Yennefer, how th...

Hello everyone. The time has come to face our enemy once more. Yuval Noah Harari wrote another book, so we dive into how it is, indeed, a torment of pain and horror. We try to fathom how Harari misunderstands History, historical practice, information, institutions, religion, power, science fiction, AI etc etc. There is very little accurate in this book, and yet, it seems to be rather successful in...

Hello everyone!! We have a special episode with a great guest! In order to talk about the magnificent show The Wire (2002-2008) we bring along Oli Mould, professor of Human Geography at Royal Holloway, University of London! In this episode we dive into this destructive institution that is the police, alongside a few others. All while understanding how the show interweaves its characters, environme...

Welcome one and all to the Left Page & Here Be Media Podcast! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello everyone!! The time has come. We finish our first long-term game series! Dragon Age has come to an end as we understand it. Let's talk about The Veilguard , with good friend Holly! It is a sad time, as we go over some of the many failings of The Veilguard , its faults in production, writing, execution... And yet, all boiling down to a rather generic game (and failing even at that), that is q...

Hello everyone!! For our late Left Page this month, we dive into an odd choice, but a fruitful one! Emperor Marcus Aurelius' Meditations, from 161 A.D.! In what we find to be one of the original inspirations for self-help books, we... certainly suffer through this one! Talking about how an Emperor can isolate himself from his society and keep himself above it, becoming "a perfect and invincible so...

Hello everyone!! It's been a little while, but we're back with another Concept episode! This time trying to thing about what makes an RPG! In this new series we intend to understand a few of the several messy questions that surround this genre, including trying to define what is an RPG. In this first episode we tackle that initial question, with Leon putting forth a framework that might be the mos...

We found something. Leon brings up crucial ways to talk about History, and doing so responsibly. Video Referenced: https://youtu.be/AnySV4SZdqg Thank you. For more, keep an eye out on: https://www.patreon.com/leftpage Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello everyone!! In another collab with our good friend Jay, we finally decided to talk about Opera, in particular, Don Giovani!! Come along with us as we dissect this odd portrayal of the "Don Juan" image, his terrible deeds and punishment, and continually this articulation of sound, story and music that opera can create. While never forgetting several matters of class within opera, the notions o...

Hello everyone!! Kicking off March, we're talking about religion, and the Catholic Church! With the Oscar-winning Conclave! As we finally dive deeper into how we engage with spirituality, organised religion, and the dreadful dynamics of power of the Catholic Church, we find an interesting film! Even if it does get beholden by its own liberal politics. A more personal episode than usual, perhaps, b...

Hello everyone!! As our episode celebration of 6 years of The Left Page we go back to the 19th century with our very first Jules Verne: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea! For this very fun episode we not only reminisce a bit about the show and we feel about it after all this time, but also think over these elements that were at the dawn of science fiction as we know it! Elaborate scientific explanation...

Hello everyone! As we make our way through February we bring yet another collab with our friend André, and on another very liberal piece of media, the League of Legends based show: Arcane! There was potential (some) to this show, as we elaborate on it, and yet, a rushed production, a terrible political perspective, and more, turn this into yet another, although worse, liberal and alienating show -...

Hello everyone!! We start February in style, with Emma's return as she's got a new book out! The excellent The Quick and the Dead! Alchemy, romance, power, religion, and more! As such we talk a bit about how these elements constitute historical representation, how to depict them and queerness in the Elizabethan era, and dive into matters of religion, State power, and belief! Check it out and read...

Hello everyone!! Kicking off 2025 with the Left Page we bring a very special series of books, the First Law trilogy, by Joe Abercrombie! A series dear to Leon and, now to the pod itself. We dive into how these books actually achieve goals of engaging the psychological, the social and the political, while also making compelling literature, imagine that! As such, we explore the building of this worl...

Hello everyone!! For our first HBM of 2025 we offer something quite strange, at first glance something all about military propaganda and nothing quite our podcast range, Ace Combat 7! But, as we are joined by our friend Sid of, among other things, The Bad Game Hall of Fame, we dive deeper! And yeah... there's a lot of propaganda, but still, attempts at telling a story and even being anti-war, but...

Hello everyone! We are rounding out 2024 and Dunecember with a very special episode on a... "special" film? David Lynch's Dune from 1984 is not good. But it is worth talking about, and with a friend! As Audrey joins us to brave these strange strange sands. Plenty on the erasure of community and the fremen themselves, the roles of social identity, and some of the not good choices and narrative path...

Greetings and Salutations everyone, We decided to do a second HBM episode this month instead of a HBE, we know a part of our audience likes it when we talk about Bioware so we hope this is a fun holiday present for you guys! We are going to be honest, this is a very text based analysis, and might not be the easiest to follow along with for those who have not played the game. We do think there is s...

Hello everyone!! Welcome to Dunecember!! Lots of Dune to cap off 2024! For starters, we tackle the one, the original, the 1965 book by Frank Herbert! It's been a long-time coming, and we hope it was worth the wait. So join us as we talk religious manipulation, "untapped human potential", warrior cultures, being a weird little guy, and lots more in the last Left Page episode of the year. Enjoy! And...

Hello everyone!! Here is us finally talking about the Elden Ring DLC (or just a standalone game according to the GOTY-awards, Geoff should be struck down for his hubris and so on) we hope you all enjoy it! Due to technical difficulties Ash's precis was added post-recording. Our sincere apologies if it sounds odd, it was the best we could do. Find the Crypt dwellers near a cemetery or at the follow...

Hello everyone!! The end of the year and the holidays approach rapidly, but not yet! Rejecting that, we remain in the lands of horror, as we talk about Brian Evenson's Good Night, Sleep Tight , with our friend Nate! We dive into some of the themes in this collection of short stories, their representation of childhood and anxieties of parenthood, sleep and more. And while elaborating on elements we...

Hello everyone!! For this month's spooky HBM we go back to Interview with a Vampire! Season 2! And in good company too, with Jay, of LibraryPunk and Tender Subject fame! It's vampire talk again, as we go back into interviewing immortal beings and finding out just how interesting their drama really is. Is it? We wonder that as we dive into this continued adaptation, its successes and limits, and ju...