Author Topic: EP241: Thargus and Brian  (Read 21168 times)

Swamp

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on: May 20, 2010, 03:02:26 PM
EP241: Thargus and Brian

By Stephen Gaskell.
Read by Chris Miller of Unquiet Desperation.

Thargus thought the time right. He set the lights to full strength and flailed and gnashed and roared as he’d been practising. He felt rather silly, but the performance seemed to be working. The human, one hand steadying its spin, looked on intensely. It moved the white stick up to its mouth, breathed in, and then stabbed the stick out against the sac wall.

“Don’t be afraid,”  Thargus said, meaning the opposite. He’d seen the trick on old films stored in the moss-brain when humans always said one thing and meant another like “We’re safer if we split up.”

The human exhaled a long stream of smoke. “I’m not,” it said.

That didn’t sound right. Thargus considered his response while staring at the human. It sure was ugly. A patchwork of dirty synthetics over the majority of its body, and on top of its pudgy, pink head, strand upon strand of greasy hair. Ugh!  Thargus felt sick.

“Be afraid, then,” he said.

“Why, are you going to eat me?”

Thargus didn’t feel comfortable telling an outright lie, but that didn’t mean he needed to be too honest. “I might.”


Rated F. for two f-bombs and some serious munchies.


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DKT

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Reply #1 on: May 20, 2010, 03:45:51 PM
Great story, great outro, great to hear Mur again, great to hear Bill in the outro, and a great way to start off my morning. All around good times. Thanks ;D

(Did anyone else imagine a younger Jeff Bridges as Brian?)


vdemarino

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Reply #2 on: May 20, 2010, 07:53:36 PM
I agree..great story...light and uplifting. Past stories seemed to be getting a bit 'maudlin'.

Rgds,

Victor



Great story, great outro, great to hear Mur again, great to hear Bill in the outro, and a great way to start off my morning. All around good times. Thanks ;D

(Did anyone else imagine a younger Jeff Bridges as Brian?)



KenK

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Reply #3 on: May 21, 2010, 12:42:40 AM
Meh.



Talia

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Reply #4 on: May 21, 2010, 12:43:37 PM
Meh.

Lol. Welcome to EP Mur, here's your first helping of Meh. :p


Lighthearted, fun story, with cute touches like 'Mind Tentacle' (hehe) and various alien expressions.

Also - Maharraby = VULCANS! :p



Boggled Coriander

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Reply #5 on: May 21, 2010, 01:22:47 PM
This was a fun story!  And a great way to kick off the Mur Era.

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eytanz

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Reply #6 on: May 21, 2010, 04:32:34 PM
I really enjoyed this one. It felt like a callback to the early days of EP, before it became dominated by more serious themes. Certainly not a story that will leave a deep impact on me, but a fun listen.



stePH

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Reply #7 on: May 21, 2010, 04:53:23 PM
I'm confused.  Brian was rolling a "doobie" but dropping "tobacco"?

"Nerdcore is like playing Halo while getting a blow-job from Hello Kitty."
-- some guy interviewed in Nerdcore Rising


stePH

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Reply #8 on: May 21, 2010, 05:28:47 PM
Oh, and I quite enjoyed the story.

(Did anyone else imagine a younger Jeff Bridges as Brian?)

I think I'm disliking The Big Lebowsky more and more, every time somebody quotes from or alludes to it.

"Nerdcore is like playing Halo while getting a blow-job from Hello Kitty."
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DKT

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Reply #9 on: May 21, 2010, 05:33:58 PM
Aw, man. Well, I guess nobody's perfect, dude.   :D


Talia

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Reply #10 on: May 21, 2010, 06:08:22 PM
Lebowsky

That's because you watched the wrong one; 'The Big Lebowsky' was the cheap Russian knockoff... :p



KenK

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Reply #11 on: May 21, 2010, 10:44:00 PM
@Talia
Like saying "meh" is a bad thing?  What can I say? I just didn't feel it. ::)



Talia

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Reply #12 on: May 21, 2010, 11:13:12 PM
@Talia
Like saying "meh" is a bad thing?  What can I say? I just didn't feel it. ::)

I'm just teasing. :)



Bdoomed

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Reply #13 on: May 22, 2010, 04:52:01 AM
@Talia
Like saying "meh" is a bad thing?  What can I say? I just didn't feel it. ::)

"meh" without some actual statement of reasons for said "meh" is generally frowned upon around here by us moderators, yes.

I'd like to hear my options, so I could weigh them, what do you say?
Five pounds?  Six pounds? Seven pounds?


KenK

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Reply #14 on: May 22, 2010, 09:16:34 PM
@bDoomed
The dialectical critical realism found in this podcast may be seen under the aspect of Foucauldian strategic reversal---of the unholy trinity of Parmenidean/Platonic/Aristotelean provenance; of the Cartesian-Lockean-foundationalisms (in practice, fideistic foundationalisms) and irrationalisms (in practice, capricious exercises of will-to-power or some other ideologically and/or psychosomatically buried source) new and old alike; of the primordial failing of western philosophy, ontological monovalence, and its close ally, the epistemic fallacy  within context of sci-fi; in addition the story had no fart jokes, ray gun battles, or talking missiles.

Much better?  :D
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 




stePH

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Reply #15 on: May 23, 2010, 02:46:13 AM
@bDoomed
The dialectical critical realism found in this podcast may be seen under the aspect of Foucauldian strategic reversal---of the unholy trinity of Parmenidean/Platonic/Aristotelean provenance; of the Cartesian-Lockean-foundationalisms (in practice, fideistic foundationalisms) and irrationalisms (in practice, capricious exercises of will-to-power or some other ideologically and/or psychosomatically buried source) new and old alike; of the primordial failing of western philosophy, ontological monovalence, and its close ally, the epistemic fallacy  within context of sci-fi; in addition the story had no fart jokes, ray gun battles, or talking missiles.

Much better?  :D

You could have just said "Perivale to Islington".   :P

"Nerdcore is like playing Halo while getting a blow-job from Hello Kitty."
-- some guy interviewed in Nerdcore Rising


Unblinking

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Reply #16 on: May 23, 2010, 03:46:42 AM
Oh, and I quite enjoyed the story.

(Did anyone else imagine a younger Jeff Bridges as Brian?)

I think I'm disliking The Big Lebowsky more and more, every time somebody quotes from or alludes to it.

Me too!  By the time I saw it, I'd heard it overquoted for years and it was just so overhyped that seeing the real thing was just really disappointing.



stePH

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Reply #17 on: May 23, 2010, 04:11:53 AM
I think I'm disliking The Big Lebowsky more and more, every time somebody quotes from or alludes to it.

Me too!  By the time I saw it, I'd heard it overquoted for years and it was just so overhyped that seeing the real thing was just really disappointing.

I saw it before I'd even paid much attention to the commercials on TV, and I still think it's one of the Coens' lesser works.

"Nerdcore is like playing Halo while getting a blow-job from Hello Kitty."
-- some guy interviewed in Nerdcore Rising


KenK

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Reply #18 on: May 23, 2010, 01:29:45 PM
@bDoomed
The dialectical critical realism found in this podcast may be seen under the aspect of Foucauldian strategic reversal---of the unholy trinity of Parmenidean/Platonic/Aristotelean provenance; of the Cartesian-Lockean-foundationalisms (in practice, fideistic foundationalisms) and irrationalisms (in practice, capricious exercises of will-to-power or some other ideologically and/or psychosomatically buried source) new and old alike; of the primordial failing of western philosophy, ontological monovalence, and its close ally, the epistemic fallacy  within context of sci-fi; in addition the story had no fart jokes, ray gun battles, or talking missiles.

Much better?  :D

You could have just said "Perivale to Islington".   :P
No way! That would be the same as saying "meh" without a detailed critique included.



Wit Amidst Folly

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Reply #19 on: May 24, 2010, 06:19:52 AM
I have always found Roy Bhaskar to be completely incomprehensible.



deflective

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Reply #20 on: May 24, 2010, 11:34:36 PM
i enjoyed the feeling of this new escape pod episode.  the return to a whimsical story was fun, the feedback section created nostalgia for both past episodes and a time when we regularly had feedback.

there were a lot of awkward cultural references throughout the episode and i'm not sure why.  the strangely unnecessary co-opting of cthulhu mythos (yith, for anyone unfamiliar with it), the not quite relevant Douglas Adams quote, the misuse of bogart.  it was like being at a geeky cocktail party where everyone is nervously name dropping.

it's good to have ep showing up again, i look forward to following along as it explores new directions.



KenK

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Reply #21 on: May 25, 2010, 01:32:38 PM
I have always found Roy Bhaskar to be completely incomprehensible.

It's not just you. Post-modernists are nearly impossible to read and are impossible to understand.  :P



Void Munashii

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Reply #22 on: May 27, 2010, 02:59:30 PM
  I enjoyed this one. I liked the fun twist on the typical alien abduction story. In short, I lol'd.

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Scattercat

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Reply #23 on: May 29, 2010, 09:25:15 PM
I dunno.  I feel like this was just a bit too self-indulgent, what with the ersatz political commentary and how both of the would-be countercultural losers turns out to actually be speshul snowflakes.  I actually predicted the entire story just from the title, and that made me sad.  I kept hoping that something new or interesting would happen, but it followed the formula like it was the only path to salvation, right down to the pointless and unnecessary horror/violence visited upon the terrible 'normal' person at the end. 

(Oh, ha ha!  He's going to get his brains eaten!  But that's okay, because he reacted with mild skepticism to his pot-smoking coworker's insistence that aliens are real.  Be nice to the twitchy little weirdos in your office, everyone, or else their alien friends might send mindworms to eat you!)

It feels like vengeance/vindication porn for the slightly odd loser.  As a slightly odd loser myself, I feel very awkward reading someone else's version of those daydreams we all had while sitting alone in the lunchroom.  That sort of thing should stay private, I feel.



CryptoMe

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Reply #24 on: May 29, 2010, 11:24:14 PM
Yeah!!!
     Feedback!!!!
               Yeah!!!!!
(doing cheesy dance and pumping fists in the air  :D )


With regards to the story...
... it followed the formula like it was the only path to salvation, right down to the pointless and unnecessary horror/violence visited upon the terrible 'normal' person at the end. 

I didn't think the horrible thing that happened to the bystander at the end was pointless; I thought is was ominous. I'm not sure exactly what it's implying, but it gave me the distinct impression that Brian, probably Thargus, and definitely the entire human race were soon to be toast. The back of my mind is very much convinced that Thargus is being used by his elders for something really infamous and sooo "next level".