The Left Page

Hello everyone!! It's October and you know what that means! We drag the ghost, from their crypts (or ship) and have a good Halloween book chat! As Jon joined us for China Mieville's 2nd book of the Bas-Lag Trilogy: the Scar! It's a great time talking about the power and potential of class consciousness, the strange dynamics of cities, pirates, liberation, and the terrible risks of mishandling quan...

Hello everyone!! For this chaotic month's HBM we're diving into one of Frank's favourite genres, right back into detective fiction! This time talking about the very weird and very interesting Paradise Killer! Join us as we discuss the complexities of building a world from scratch, of making a sociologically compelling story, and creating a decent and engaging medium to solve a mystery. All while d...

Hello everyone!! We kick off September with a very interesting concept episode, as we talk about Tropes, and clichés and archetypes! A very good time as we consider not just the creation of art, especially literature, but also its very superficial and weak discourse that is mostly upheld by these building blocks of tropes. We also go over a general engagement with art and the willingness to confro...

Hello everyone!! This is a big one! We are finally talking about Baldur's Gate 3! In our longest Left Page and Here Be Media episode to date we dive into many of the complexities involving Dungeons & Dragons, tabletop RPGs, the fantasy problems of "races" and this incredibly interesting and fun game of wish-fulfillment, adventure, and more! We still have many critiques though, and go into ways thi...

Hello everyone!! It has been one year since, but we return to the responsible dystopia of The Expanse! Following books 4 to 6, Cibola Burn, Nemesis Games & Babylon's Ashes! This time we dive further into the possible horrors mankind can accomplish all on its own, the difficult nature of resistance and rebellion, the looming unknowns orders of magnitude above humanity, and how this book series cont...

Comrades! Lend us your ears! As one of the best to ever pod it joins us to talk about his book! Are you tired of being alone in the dark clutches of Capital-C-Capitalism?! Then take our hand our downtrodden compatriot, and join us on a voyage of radical informational archeology, and imagination. "If you've been feeling isolated or afraid, take up this book and find that the only thing hiding in th...

Hello everyone!! As a special treat this July, we have another Here Be Media episode! It's an X-Men deep dive, even as we talk about the latest show, and we're joined by a good friend and academic, André Kanasiro! We talk about the many parallels that are usually established when one talks about the X-Men, the pervading liberalism of it all, and the terrible terrible notions of "evolution" at play...

Hello everyone!! For our first episode of July we have a very special collab! We are joined by Cassidy and Charkie of the Bad Game Hall of Fame to talk about bad videogames! Havin been interested in the subject for a while, we bring in the experts to dive into and games, and their merits! What makes a videogame bad? Why are they still interesting? How can we talk about and make content on them? Ho...

Hello everyone!! For our Here Be Media episode of the month, we dive into some aspects of this horrible and conservative force we call: Canon! To start off this new Concept series we go into some media products and franchises, their issues as "IPs", fandom and their relationship to Canon, and finally, we talk about this terrible beast we see as the Literary Canon! Join us as we start laying the gr...

Hello everyone!! For this month's Left Page we turn back to China Miéville, in a weird and fascinating book about detective stories, borders, and violence, it is The City and the City ! In this episode we dive into the place of these cities, both fictionally and the real-world cultures they interact with and are a part of; we consider the detective narrative and how it interacts with this story, a...

Hello everyone!! For this month's Left Page we talked about the very weird, very interesting, and very hybrid Gogmagog, by Jeff Noon and Steve Beard! And we are joined by friend and podcaster Eden, of Heavy Blog is Heavy, Death // Sentence and AnarchySF fame! It's a thorough conversation over the weirdness present in the book, the alegory with England and the broader aspect of Hybridity in the man...

Hello everyone!! For our second HBM we'll dive into an animated sci-fi series that's weird, strange and very very interesting, we talk about Scavenger's Reign! And we won't do so alone, as we invited our great friend Nate along! Join us as we discuss the challenges of being marooned in an alien moon, the inherent horror of capitalism in space, and how we must be open to engage with the environment...

Hello everyone!! For our first May episode we have a mega collab with Horror Vanguard, on Starship Troopers (1997), directed by Paul Verhoeven! As we interweave Heinlein's book with the film we ultimately dive into how fascism works and should be fought at every turn, in every way. Enjoy! Do check out Jon's book on Bloch and Utopia: https://www.amazon.com/Primer-Utopian-Philosophy-Jonathan-Greenaw...

Hello everyone!! For our Left Page episode of the month we are talking about a very interesting book, and documentary series! It's John Berger's "Ways of Seeing", and to dive deep we are joined by our friend, podcaster and art historian, Nadjah of Imaginarium Podcast! We think about colonialism, the idea of "value" when atributed to art, the connection with the viewer of an art piece and how all t...

Hello everyone!! As a special treat for Pesach, we dive into the incredible animated film The Prince of Egypt! Approaching Faith and Liberation, we consider not just the question of religious & historical narratives and their complex relations, but also of their representation in media. Further still, we talk about violence and how to comprehend "violence" in the name of Liberation. In a conversat...

Hello everyone! Our first episode of April is a different one, if something we've been meaning to do for a while, more than talking about a game, it's a studio, so join us as we talk about Bethesda and their games! Jumping off from our mention of Bethesda games and their connection to mods last month, and Leon's previous writing on Skyrim , we decided to dive properly into their games and their "s...

Hello everyone! To round out this month's episodes, we dive back into sci-fi, and more utopian fiction! With a recommendation from listener, and patron, Nate: Monica Byrne's The Actual Star! It's a complex discusson on Utopian writing, its challenges, and how sometimes things don't quite work out as we'd like. So join us in this conversation on Utopia and Religion, historical and sociological appr...

Hello everyone!! As we're rounding out March, we offer a different kind of conceptual HBM episode! We take a look at videogame mods, what they are, what they can be, and what's so damn interesting about them! Join us as we talk about the difficulties involved in modding, the relationship to game companies, and how mods, at their best, can express an immense passion and creativity, in an anarchic a...

Hello everyone!! As a logical continuation of Leon's writings on Rockstar and GTA, we both revisited a game (not a franchise, mind you), which enrages and frustrates us both Max Payne 3. In a game where you relentlessly shoot poor brown and black people and play the "American Hero" cop, we dive into what this game does with this setup and what it doesn't believe in. For as Leon put it before, ther...

Hello everyone!! For this final February episode, we, talk about when Cyberpunk... goes awry, to put it mildly, it's time to see the issues of Cyberpunk 2077 and Cyberpunk Edgerunners! We dive into what happens when one tries to recreate just the aesthetics of a genre, and the effects of cutting out the politics. And so we turn to this hollowness at the heart of a "cyberpunk" that has left out all...

Hello everyone!! We continue well into February, as we bring in the incomparable Labor Kyle to talk about... one of the best games of all time. It's time to talk about Disco Elysium!! Join us as we dive into the real genesis and formation of revolutionary character that can happen in Harry DuBois, and then, with no less gravitas, about the intersection of this game with Walter Benjamin's "Thesis o...

Hello everyone!! Happy 5 year anniversary of the Left Page!! This is a huge achievement and one I still can't believe is here, and yet, it has been a wonderful journey so far, and we're not thinking about stopping anytime soon! To celebrate such a date, Leon and I spoke about a book foundational to my entire research, the 1516 book by Thomas More: Utopia. We delve into some of its history, the tra...

Hello everyone!! For our last January episode we dive into an excellent recent trilogy of games, Hitman: World of Assassination, and think about how good these games are, as they embrace strong silliness. Alongside advancing Frank's ideas and arguments for the silly, we look into the protagonist of Agent 47 and how his hypercompetence is both related to, and changed, by the silly aspects of the ga...

Hello everyone!! Kicking off 2024 for the Left Page we have a very special episode with dramaturgist and debut novelist Emma Hinds, as we talk about her, as of this episode's release, published book The Knowing! Via this gothic, queer, historical, and violent story, Emma joins us as we dive into some of the ways both the book, and ourselves, try to engage with Art: how to create it, understand it,...

Hello everyone!! To kick off 2024 we consider some of our different plans for the pods, our big ideas and the things we have in store! And, of course, we chat a bit about upcoming media we're interested in, some which interests us and some which uhhh concerns/frustrates us. It's a new year with a whole lot more to read, watch, play, and talk about! Have fun, and hapy new year! Please support our P...