Where’s My Jetpack?!

We're going on hiatus for three main reasons: firstly life has gotten in the way, secondly our patreon wasn't sufficient to cover our costs, and finally solidarity with the Writers' Strike.

We'd like to thank all of our listeners and contributors. We'll see you in the future!

Lidia Grigorut guests to discuss extended reality: a term including virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality. We discuss possible futures, how political economy shapes technology, and what the heck is the deal with the MetaVerse.

🎃 Happy Halloween! 🧙‍♀️ In this finale, we conclude our reviews of  horror we overlooked in last year's roundup of faves down the decades.  We wrap up with recs from the 2000's-20's.

Recs:

Last year we picked favourite horror movies through the decades. This year we're reviewing horror we overlooked. In Part 2 of 3, we cover the 1980's-90's.

Recs:

• Possession (1981),
• The Evil Dead (1981), Evil Dead II (1987),
• Mr Wrong (1984),
• Nightmare on Elm St (1984), plus documentaries Never Sleep Again: The Elm St Legacy (2010), Scream Queen: My Nightmare on Elm St (2019),
• Gremlins (1984),
• C.H.U.D. (1984),
• The Stuff (1985),
• The Fly (1986),
• Bad Taste (1987),
• Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1987),
• The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988),
• The Blob (1988),
• Shocker (1989),
• Poison (1990),
• Hardware (1990),
• Braindead AKA Dead Alive (1992),
• Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992),
• The Prophecy (1995),
• The Craft (1996),
• Halloween H20 (1998),
• Dark City (1998),
• Anthologies: Creepshow feature (1982), Twilight Zone feature (1983), Tales from the Darkside TV series (1984-1988), Tales from the Darkside feature (1990), Amazing Stories TV series (1985-1987), The Twilight Zone TV series (1985-1989), Friday The 13th TV series (1987-1990), Monsters (1988-1991), Freddy's Nightmares TV series (1988-1990), Tales From The Crypt TV series (1989-1996), Tales from the Hood feature (1995).

Christianity vs paganism! Cult dynamics! Nicolas Cage: good or bad?! 

Our first Halloween episode features guest superfan Lucy Buchanan. We review folk horror classic The Wicker Man (1973), and its descendants The Wicker Man remake (2006), The Wicker Tree (2011) and Midsommar (2019). 

The idea of a middle class has popular currency, with everyone from factory workers to millionaires self-identifying as 'middle class.' Meanwhile, the concept of a 'Professional-Managerial Class' has recently gained currency on the left.  

But is there a middle class? Is this the same thing as the 'petite bourgeoisie', or the 'Professional-Managerial Class'? What might the answers to these questions mean for those of us who aim to challenge class society?  

Samples from the last 50+ years, from a queer ultra-left perspective. 

Thumbnail image: Quote from The Raspberry Reich (2004 feature film). 

Pride Month #2: a retrospective on the work of plus-size gay Latino actor Harvey Guillen, particularly reviewing vampire sitcom What We Do in the Shadows, and criminally overlooked teen drama Huge. 

Thumbnail image, of Harvey Guillen by Valentina Vee. 

First of a two-part retrospective on the queer-friendly family TV show Steven Universe, with guest superfan Ivy Decker. 

Thumbnail image: Ivy cosplays as Garnet, from Steven Universe. 

An update on the emergence of real life kaiju (strange beasts), particularly a battle between two Destroyers and two Protectors in the Mojave desert. 

We discuss Biden-era socialist strategy with two guests, NY Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) members Hakan Yilmaz and Robert Cuffy. 

Thumbnail image from Yahoo News. 

A May Day story: the Rank and File Teachers' Organisation (RAFTO) in 1980s Aotearoa/New Zealand. 

Trigger warning for discussion of rape culture, and workplace abuse. 

We discuss the question of who determines meaning: author, audience or both? 

We review Godzilla vs Kong, with guest kaiju superfan Jase Short. Discussion ranges from style vs substance (which will triumph?!), to a deep dive on 'real-world' hollow earth theory, to ranking the Legendary MonsterVerse. 

On the 10th anniversary of the Syrian Revolution, we interview exiled Syrian-Palestinian scholar-activist Razan Ghazzawi. 

We interview Irish scholar-activist Gavan Titley on his book Is Free Speech Racist? 

Ani discusses tankie* politics and alternatives with returning guest Gayaal Iddamalgoda (a socialist, trade unionist, and migrant rights  advocate). We touch on the history of the mass Sri Lankan Trotskyist  movement, the left in the Philippines, and the Syrian Revolution among  other topics - arguing in sum that tankie politics erase the rich legacy of  struggle in the majority world. 

*Supporting 'actually existing socialist' states such as China and 'anti-imperialist' states such as Iran. 

9 reports from the No Fate Project, about the war against the zombie plague.  

No Fate Project Report No 9: A dark horse in the race turns the tide against the zombie plague. 

We review the classic BBC sci-fi Quatermass serials written by Nigel Kneale, and their adaptations. Quatermass was immensely influential on Doctor Who, The X Files, and John Carpenter's work among other sci-fi  and horror. We discuss Quatermass' themes including humanism, pacifism,  paranoia, and the alien behind the familiar.