A Geek History of Time

Damian describes the roots of the Screwball Comedy genre and its gender politics dynamics. Ed has an epiphany about screwball relating to the roots of the "Manic Pixie Dream Girl" trope. Damian then describes how World War II affected the genre. Spoiler- it's not a happy story.

In our first episode about Star Wars (!), Ed illuminates how the Jedi should be inherently countercultural figures. He explains where he thinks Lucas planted the seeds of their ultimate failure (hint- it’s because he didn’t do any homework on Buddhism), and Damian gets to go ham on the Jedi Order, something that he truly loves doing.

Producer George judges the contestants in the D&D Thunderdome- Ed continues to marvel at the brutality of Lyudmila, and Damian does likewise about the Viking on the Bridge. A decision is reached.

George joins the team to help bring up the technical quality of the whole operation. Damian and Ed initiate him by forcing him to pick the best D&D 5e adventuring party from a selection of historical figures they have statted out. It’s like “Celebrity Deathmatch,” but without the claymation or the cartoonish gore.

In this episode, Ed and Damian wrap up their analysis with a continued look at the representation of LGBTQ+ characters and issues in the X-Men.

In this episode, Damian lauds Stan Lee for his anti-racism, but deducts some points for well-meaning cluelessness. Ed calls Jim Shooter a jackass. Good times.

Damian summarizes the zeitgeist and current events in the United States at the time the X-Men started. Ed tries heroically to use clean language whilst still talking about George Wallace, and fails.

Damian continues his analysis of the appeal of possession stories in times of disillusionment with government. Along the way he gives Ed a week's worth of insomnia describing the last third of "Hereditary." #klokk

We find out what possessed Damian to research the zeitgeist of horror movies in the '70s, and why Ed takes a dog with him when he goes house hunting.

Damian reveals the results of far too much time spent reading old microfiche of “Variety” magazines, and he and Ed get into a discussion of the Apollonian vs. Dionysian methods for the buttering of corn on the cob. All of this gets tied into screwball comedy, we swear.