What should be the next book? (Ep. 26)(surveys)

See the discussion on the forums if you need some help deciding!

“The language of Avatar revealed”

We chat about the cultural meaning of the movie event known as Avatar, as well as give our review of the movie. Then we turn our attention to newsgathering and the meaning of objectivity in today’s world.

Get the episode at this link: http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/www.archive.org/download/EastMeetsWest186-ObjectivelyObjectingToObjectivity/eastmeetswest186.mp3

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Dr. Kiki predicts 2012 won’t happen, but who knows if that’s good as we’re running out of water and the world may be in worse shape by the end of the century anyway.  But hey, no mass death!


Listen in!

This podcast is brought to you by SquareSpace.com.  Squarespace.com, the fast and easy way to publish a high-quality website or blog.  For a free trial and 10% off your new account, go to – Squarespace.com and use the code CAST when you sign up for a new account.

“Alternate Reality Games”

Heads up! We know Veronica said it was episode 27 (en español) but that’s because she was working with Tom’s bad episode number intel. We’re really on #26, and we’ve finally made it through Mists of Avalon and have a recap for you. Overall we liked it, and Tom gets into some of the Arthurian Legend underpinnings.

QUICK BURNS – unrelated news of the month

Sci-Fi Author Peter Watts Beaten, Charged During Border Crossing

20 Best Science Fiction Books Of The Decade

Extinct Bees and Drugs Haunt Douglas Coupland’s “Generation A”

BARE YOUR SWORD – feedback from the audience

Josh Lawrence’s pics for the Sword and Laser song

Have you guys ever had a book that you really wanted to read but just couldn’t get into? Did you persevere with it?

I haven’t read a lot of retellings of Arthurian legend other than the classics, but has Atlantis been connected with is before now?

What’s next? One of the Top 20! But which one? Make your nomination persuasively on the Ning forum.

New partner Sticker Fu. Use the code Sword1 and get 10% off the stickers at http://www.stickerfu.com/

“World’s Smallest Snowman”

I had the pleasure of being invited to be on Patrick Beja’s awesome Phileas Club podcast again. This was a special single-topic edition on atheism. We do get sidetracked a bit into the meaning of religion, as you might expect, but I think we had a nice discussion of what it means. We also devoted quite a bit of attention to intelligent design and the young Earth theory as adjuncts to this discussion.

Listen in.

“Orson Wells Never Looked So Good”

Leo Laporte joins us to talk about the true meaning of Festivus, the reason we like to buy flags and the chances that we’re all living in a simulation.

Listen to the show at this link: http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/www.archive.org/download/EastMeetsWest185HappyHolidaysIGotYouABrainJuicer/eastmeetswest185.mp3

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