Show Notes
This is a repost of a 2016 episode. In our 2016 holiday episode, we looked at the forgotten Christmas Eve tradition of telling ghost stories. M.R. James' work from over a hundred years ago best represents this Victorian trend, so in his honor we brought horror to academia and safe spaces. Interested in the media we discussed this episode? Please support the show by purchasing it through our affiliate store: Ghost Stories of an Antiquary Additional Resources: How Did Antiquarians Become Action Story Heroes? Ghost stories: why the Victorians were so spookily good at them Christmas Ghost Stories: The Ghost of Christmas Past Goes Further Back Than You Might Realize M. R. James' Ghost Stories Work Eerily Well in This Graphic Fiction Form Telling ghost stories is a lost tradition on Christmas Eve
More from Supercontext: an autopsy of media
Hellbender's 1997 album was the final and little-known release by a group of young men who would go on to do plenty more than punk rock. So why did it get a remastered re-release 25 years later, and why is it still Chris's favorite record? We talk about the band, the recording, and what emo themes live in the literary, haunted lyrics. Sources https://deadbrokerekerds.bandcamp.com/album/con-lim-n
This 2023 Netflix movie directed by David Fincher was either a stunning technical tour-de-force or a slick bit of over-processed product. (Maybe it was both.) We talk about how the filmmakers paid attention to every detail of this visceral revenge thriller, and why that didn't connect with as big an audience as you might think. Sources: https://www.screendaily.com/features/david-fincher-and-andrew-kevin-walker-on-creating-hitman-thriller-the-killer/5188929.article https://filmmakermagazine.com/124199-interview-cinematographer-erik-messerschmidt-david-fincher-the-killer-handheld/ 'The Killer' Q&A Fincher & Fassbender & Rian Johnson 15th Nov 2023 https://mubi.com/en/notebook/posts/hardly-working-david-fincher-s-the-killer https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/david-fincher/the-killer-review https://www.indiewire.com/features/craft/the-killer-editing-michael-fassbender-david-fincher-netflix-1234922058/ https://www.dazeddigital.com/film-tv/article/61273/1/david-fincher-on-filmmaking-fassbender-the-smiths-twisted-comedy-the-killer https://variety.com/2026/film/news/netflix-dan-lin-wont-work-with-directors-who-want-theatrical-1236768048/ https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/01/movies/david-fincher.html?eafs_enabled=false https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/sep/03/the-killer-review-terrific-david-fincher-thriller-about-a-philosophising-hitman https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/netflix-top-10-ratings-12-1235806179/ https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/09/movies/the-killer-review-fincher.html?eafs_enabled=false
This horror anthology launched in 2018 and has been lauded for its storytelling, genre experimentation, and charming nostalgia, while dealing with violence, sadness, and the constant human struggle between good and evil. We talk about the creative team's intentional and personal process, and why we get a good vibe from those fellas. Sources: https://www.comicsbeat.com/interview-w-maxwell-prince-ice-cream-man/ https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/ice-cream-man-movie-wednesday-1235992798/ https://comicsxf.com/2020/07/02/writer-w-maxwell-prince-on-dropping-cameron-stewart-his-ice-cream-man-plans-and-remaking-the-world/ https://chachor1.medium.com/an-interview-with-w-maxwell-prince-8dde9486df27 https://strangehorizons.com/wordpress/non-fiction/ice-cream-man-by-w-maxwell-prince-martin-morazzo-and-chris-ohalloran/ https://imagecomics.com/features/ice-cream-man-you-scream-monsters-feature https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/24/arts/halloween-comics.html Staff. (2018, April 30). Comics Reviews. Publisher's Weekly Review. Seamas O'Reilly. (2019, September 14). The best graphic novels so far of 2019; Ice cream horror, hardboiled crime, LA dreams and the best film never made. The Irish Times. https://slowburnhorror.com/2022/12/15/what-is-anthology-horror-and-why-i-love-it/ https://www.thepopverse.com/the-massice-ice-cream-man-interview-with-w-maxwell-prince-and-martin-morazzo-youve-always-wanted
This revisionist Western is a mix of fictional and historical narratives about how law, society, and America came to South Dakota in the late 1800s. We talk about how the show's creator, David Milch, got from Ancient Rome to the Dakota gold rush, and all the lines he crossed to get there. Sources Deadwood, Generic Transformation, and Televisual History by Allison Perlman
In 1993, our late, lamented hero Steve Albini wrote this gross and profane takedown of the music industry, and we've been thinking about it ever since. We try to follow the evolution of Albini's attitude about how music is distributed while also checking in on David Byrne, Marxist theory, and Tik Tok. Sources https://thebaffler.com/salvos/the-problem-with-music