Towards Thee I Roll: Four Friends Read Moby-Dick

Dibbs, Karlis, Lattner, and Matthew
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A forntighlyish podcast where four friends, at least two of which are significantly cooler than your high school English teacher, talk about how great/dumb/gay the book Moby-Dick (or, The Whale) is. Spoiler alert: There are multiple whales?! Follow us on Cohost (@mobydick) and Twitter @towardsthee to stay up to date with when we publish a new episode (or see a funny Moby Dick post).

Episodes

  1. 07/26/2023

    Episode 11: Footnote City

    Ahoy! We're back to talk about this book again! Big surprise! Let's just get right into it – this is a pretty big moment! We finally get the title card drop in chapter 41, Moby Dick, and what can only be described as Footnote City, in chapter 42, The Whiteness of the Whale. Other talking points include, but are not limited to: God Modes of transformation in Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom The insightful parallels between shooting a gun and giving birth Bringing it back to #TeamAhab How Moby Dick is a Dragon’s Dogma-like (and vice versa!) Ice cream and cat monoliths like in 2001: A Space Odyssey Matthew’s hatred (for horses) Our definition of fortnight Fortnite Fireworks And cycling! Wow. How could they possibly cover all of that insightful knowledge in a mere hour and thirty nine minutes? Listen to find out. Until next time! :) Chapters covered: 41. Moby Dick to 42. The Whiteness of the Whale. Links and Notes: Our theme music is by Josie Brechner. Find more of her work at ⁠josiebrechner.com⁠ and ⁠visager.bandcamp.com⁠. Find the podcast on Cohost at ⁠cohost.org/mobydick⁠ or ⁠@TowardsThee⁠ on Twitter. And thanks to our followers for bearing with our increasingly cryptic posting that only makes sense weeks later. CALL US at (510) 764-DICK [3425‬] if you've got any questions you'd like us to read on the air (or go to ⁠anchor.fm/towardsthee/message⁠)! You can also send us questions the boring way at ⁠ej.uz/ttir⁠. 🗣: Dibbs (at Edinburgh Fringe), Karlis (wandering the streets of Scotland), Lattner (twitch.tv/anlattner), and Matthew (⁠@mrfb⁠ and mrfb.itch.io).

    1h 40m
  2. Episode 10: Ahab Could Fix Her – He Could Make Her Worse (After Dark)

    06/03/2023

    Episode 10: Ahab Could Fix Her – He Could Make Her Worse (After Dark)

    We're all Team Ahab this episode. We get a little weird, a little playful, a little poetic, some might even call it... theatrical – it's Towards Thee I Roll. After Dark. This is a fun one, the first After Dark of the Towards Thee era. More in spirit than in reality (it was 4pm for Latt, early evening at best), but the energy was there! 'But what makes an episode After Dark?' I hear you asking. Lattner had this to say: Hi Gamers, this episode is a kinda chaotic one (as opposed to our other episodes, which are normal episodes of a podcast that is hosted by normal people. All very normal). This is partly Herm’s fault as he decided to write very fun theatrical chapters. I don’t want our adoration of the chapters to be overshadowed by us clowning around. The chaos is also the fault of Karlis, for recording an episode at like 1am. It is also the fault of Baseball, for existing as a sport. Thanks Latt! Yeah, it's mostly just a combination of a late recording time (for some of us) manifesting into an energy, one that makes us clown around a little more than usual. It's a concentrated form of clowning this time, though; a tight 75 minutes of only our best material. Maybe 'clown' is the wrong word; maybe it makes us better, lets us tap into some deeper insights, revelations otherwise held captive by the sun, like how Ahab is actually really babygirl Kendall Roy-coded and how Scooby Doo is a hack we don't associate with. You be the judge!* Here's Latt again, with some other talking points: soil in ohio paradise lost Bella Twilight/Ahab fanfic how the sun works moby dick Baseball Peanuts (the cartoon not the edible legume) Notice that Moby Dick is there, you can't say we don't talk about the book as that would be lying. And thanks for sneaking in this little factoid about peanuts being a legume – we don't discuss that in the episode, but don't be surprised if it comes up in episode 12. Happy listening, as always! Chapters covered: 37. Sunset to 40. Midnight, Forecastle. Quote of the Week: “…Flask, alas! was a butterless man!” Links and Notes: Our theme music is by Josie Brechner. Find more of her work at ⁠josiebrechner.com⁠ and ⁠visager.bandcamp.com⁠. Find the podcast on Cohost at ⁠cohost.org/mobydick⁠ or ⁠@TowardsThee⁠ on Twitter. And thanks to our followers for bearing with our increasingly cryptic posting that only makes sense weeks later. CALL US at (510) 764-DICK [3425‬] if you've got any questions you'd like us to read on the air (or go to ⁠anchor.fm/towardsthee/message⁠)! You can also send us questions the boring way at ⁠ej.uz/ttir⁠. 🗣: Dibbs (I'll update this when MLB.tv adds social functionality), Karlis (karlislog on Letterboxd), Lattner (anlattner on Letterboxd), and Matthew (⁠@mrfb⁠). * This only makes sense if you're listening on Spotify, but there's a Q&A question there about what you think about the After Dark energy; or you can tell us via any of the means listed above.

    1h 15m

  3. 05/06/2023

    Episode 9: Pro-Pipeline, Anti-Whaling

    Have you ever wondered why they call them tube socks? Have you been listening to us talk about Moby Dick and thought ‘hmm, I wonder what they think about the whaling industry’? Well, good news. In this, episode 9 of critically-acclaimed podcast Towards Thee I Roll, we finally take a stance – to build more pipelines. But for whales! We also talk about Tim Horton’s, soil triangles, how being alone and looking out at The Ocean can benefit your mental health (citation needed), our opinions on naps (controversial), and what a ‘hornpipe’ is. We also discuss whale extinction and how to prevent it – perhaps with a new Netflix show? Unless…? What else. I think we talked about some tweets. Oh, we also talked about podcasting in real life. I don’t think we talked about baseball yet, I think that’s next episode. And then we definitely talked about chapters 34-36, that’s for sure. Alright, it’s Saturday night as I’m typing this and Latt and Dibbs are talking about merch ideas in our group chat so I'm gonna head out because this likely won’t end well. Happy listening! 🙂 Chapters covered: 34. The Cabin-Table to 36. The Quarter-Deck Quote of the Week: “…Flask, alas! was a butterless man!” Links and Notes: Our theme music is by Josie Brechner. Find more of her work at ⁠josiebrechner.com⁠ and ⁠visager.bandcamp.com⁠. Find the podcast on Cohost at ⁠cohost.org/mobydick⁠ or ⁠@TowardsThee⁠ on Twitter. CALL US at (510) 764-DICK [3425‬] if you've got any questions you'd like us to read on the air (or go to ⁠anchor.fm/towardsthee/message⁠)! You can also send us questions the boring way at ⁠ej.uz/ttir⁠. Alyssa’s hornpipe dance: Alyssa - Sailors Hornpipe Interpretive canoe dance: Matthew didn’t add a link for this one so good luck out there List of individual cetaceans: List of individual cetaceans It's Very Sunny⁠ Funny tweet Latt mentioned: https://twitter.com/krneely/status/1638628468383531014?s=46&t=reftyrUJZ3JDhpRFX9wMpA What Are Tube Socks - Best Guide for 2021 🗣: Dibbs, Karlis (@townout), Lattner (on Strava), and Matthew (⁠@mrfb⁠).

    1h 48m

  4. 03/29/2023

    Episode 8: Whale Talk

    It’s finally time. In this episode, we find out what a whale is. We also have a long in-depth discussion about why this chapter exists, the nature of describing things, if things are more or less terrifying if defined, and also another chapter in the book that Herman didn’t even spell right. We (and by “we” I just mean Matthew and Lattner) also talked more about Tal Bachman and his hit 1999 song “She’s so High” then you would expect for a podcast about Cetology. However at this point you have probably listened to this podcast before so I’m really not sure what your expectation are. Chapters Covered: 32. Cetology to 33. The Specksnyder. Quotes of the Week: Matthew: “the plebeian herds crouch abased before the tremendous centralization”. **Dibbs: “**God keep me from ever completing anything. This whole book is but a draught—nay, but the draught of a draught. Oh, Time, Strength, Cash, and Patience!” Lattner: "They are the lads who always live before the winds" Karlis: "I submitted all this to my friends Simeon Macey and Charley Coffin, of Nantucket, both messmates of mine in a certain voyage, and they united in the opinion that the reasons set forth were altogether insufficient." Links and Notes: Theme music by Josie Brechner. Find more of her work at ⁠josiebrechner.com⁠ and ⁠visager.bandcamp.com⁠. Find the podcast on Cohost at ⁠cohost.org/mobydick⁠ or ⁠@TowardsThee⁠ on Twitter. CALL US at (510) 764-DICK [3425‬] if you've got any questions you'd like us to read on the air (or go to ⁠anchor.fm/towardsthee/message⁠)! You can also send us questions the boring way at ⁠ej.uz/ttir⁠. 🗣: Dibbs (⁠@Dibbs⁠), Karlis (⁠@karlis⁠), Lattner (⁠@Anlattner⁠), and Matthew (⁠@mrfb⁠).

    1h 38m

  5. 01/06/2023

    Episode 7: Hot Girl Alert; or, Bone Throne; or, Meeting Ahab Is Low Key The Move When Being On The Pequod Is The Vibe

    Happy New Year from the Towards Thee crew! It's been a while since we last recorded an episode – you might have noticed by some less-than-timely references to The Witch Queen and Elden Ring 'just having come out', the last two were recorded back in April 2022. But we're back in full force to meet back up with our old friends aboard the Pequod, make some new ones, and officially kickstart The Year of Towards Thee I Roll. This episode, we meet the rest of the crew of the Pequod as it sails south, including our first glimpse at Captain Ahab, whose 2023 resolution was to quit smoking; proud of him! We also talk about the soil triangle and states of matter, our favourite ways to talk about a guy, the Elden Ring boss-ification of Ahab and Ahab (Island Time), Avatar: The Way of Water, crab mechs, hot old men, telling your coworkers breathlessly about your deranged dreams, and how no one's talking about the health benefits of smoking a pipe. Chapters Covered: 26. Knights And Squires to 31. Queen Mab. Quotes of the Week: Matthew: “[W]hen the red-cheeked, dancing girls, April and May, trip home to the wintry, misanthropic woods”. Dibbs and Lattner: "A hot old man!" Karlis: "Long usage had, for this Stubb, converted the jaws of death into an easy chair." Links and Notes: Theme music by Josie Brechner. Find more of her work at josiebrechner.com and visager.bandcamp.com. Find the podcast on Cohost at cohost.org/mobydick or @TowardsThee on Twitter. CALL US at (510) 764-DICK [3425‬] if you've got any questions you'd like us to read on the air (or go to anchor.fm/towardsthee/message)! You can also send us questions the boring way at ej.uz/ttir. 🗣: Dibbs (@Dibbs), Karlis (@karlis), Lattner (@Anlattner), and Matthew (@mrfb). This episode was recorded on 2 January 2023.

    1h 57m

  6. 12/02/2022

    Episode 6: This Curse Can't Stop Me Because I Can't Read

    Wow two episodes in a month? Look at us! (Editor Note: That's not true its December now.) This week we go aboard a ship! We go to a party and hate on colonialism? Maybe? While also being bound within it's constraints? But we do definitely hate on Yale and Harvard. We pick up some DVDs from a Lyft driver. We talk about Fortnite. We make fun of our friend Colin. We oil up a monarch. AND we read all the way to the Postscript. I guess we're done with the podcast now thanks for listening!!!! Chapters Covered: 21. Going Aboard to 25. Postscript. Quote of the Week: 👑 "That great America on the other side of the sphere. Australia" 👑 Links and Notes: Theme music by Josie Brechner. Find more of her work at josiebrechner.com and visager.bandcamp.com. Find the podcast on Cohost at cohost.org/mobydick or @TowardsThee on Twitter. CALL US at (510) 764-DICK [3425‬] if you've got any questions you'd like us to read on the air (or go to anchor.fm/towardsthee/message)! You can also send us questions the boring way at ej.uz/ttir. Diagram of Leeward vs Winward 🗣: Dibbs (@MLDibbs), Karlis (@townout), Lattner (@andrewsplattner), and Matthew (@mrfb). This episode was recorded on 15 April 2022.

    1h 42m

  7. 11/17/2022

    Episode 5: What Am I Gonna Do With a Soul Anyways?

    We're all here and back to talking about the adventures of good ol' Ishmael and Queequeg; it's like we never left, even! Tune in for some tips and tricks on kicking down a door, recommendations for the best natural healthy face wash for men, and hear us talk about religion (deluxe) (from the vault), Herman’s sibling drama, prophecy, pet snakes, what clam chowder and WWI have in common, and what Hickey does on The Terror! Chapters Covered: 17. The Ramadan to 20. All Astir. Quote of the Week: 👑 "Anything down there about your souls?" / "About what?" / "Oh, perhaps you hav'n't got any," he said quickly. "No matter though, I know many chaps that hav'n't got any,—good luck to 'em; and they are all the better off for it. A soul's a sort of a fifth wheel to a wagon." 👑 Links and Notes: Theme music by Josie Brechner. Find more of her work at josiebrechner.com and visager.bandcamp.com. Find the podcast on Cohost at cohost.org/mobydick or @TowardsThee on Twitter. CALL US at (510) 764-DICK [3425‬] if you've got any questions you'd like us to read on the air (or go to anchor.fm/towardsthee/message)! You can also send us questions the boring way at ej.uz/ttir. Natural healthy face wash for men. 🗣: Dibbs (@MLDibbs), Karlis (@townout), Lattner (@andrewsplattner), and Matthew (@mrfb). This episode was recorded on 2 April 2022.

    1h 41m

  8. 06/01/2022

    Episode 4: Nantucket, Land of Baby-Stealing Raptors

    We're back! And just in time for our powerful friends Ishmael and Queequeg to finally make it to Nantucket where we meet the radiant Pequod for the first time and discuss the conceptual possibility space that is chowder. Tune in as we discuss birds that could pick up a toddler and become you; our favourite place to go to the beach—New York City; Ethan Hawke's breakout hit First Reformed; The Muppets lore; 'getting good' and the sailor meta; whether Ishmael is actually hot/a good boyfriend; and, of course, why Titbit is obvious. Chapters Covered: 14. Nantucket to 16. The Ship. Quote of the Week: 👑 They're all winners! Congrats! 👑 Links and Notes: Theme music by Josie Brechner. Find more of their work at josiebrechner.com and visager.bandcamp.com. Find the podcast @TowardsThee on Twitter. You should still call in to feature on an episode at anchor.fm/towardsthee/message! We talk about a lot of pictures Matthew sent in our Discord chat this week, you can find those here! 🗣: Dibbs (@MLDibbs), Karlis (@townout), Lattner (@andrewsplattner), and Matthew (@mrfb). This episode was recorded on 19 March 2022.

    2h 27m

  9. 03/30/2022

    Episode 3: Kissing Lessons

    We're back from The Game Zone having overcome the Audacity Curse to get our first good glimpse at the life of Queequeg and the developing relationship between our two best buds. Talking points include chrononormativity, formalist defamiliarisation, the symbolism of the wheelbarrow, flightless birds and Microsoft Flight Simulator, Presbyterianism, the hot drama of Melville and Hawthorne's breakup, and our pivot to a relationship advice podcast. Chapters Covered: 10. A Bosom Friend to 13. Wheelbarrow.  Quote of the Week: 👑 “Yet see how elastic our stiff prejudices grow when love once comes to bend them.” 👑 Links and Notes: The Question Bucket. Call in to feature on an episode here! Theme music by Josie Brechner. Find more of her work at josiebrechner.com. Song of the Week: I Melt With You by Modern English. Marsha C. Vick, ‘Defamiliarization’ and the Ideology of Race in ‘Moby-Dick’. Toni Morrison, Unspeakable Things Unspoken: The Afro-American Presence in American Literature. Dan Grossman, How Toni Morrison Hunts the White Whale. 🗣: Dibbs (@MLDibbs), Karlis (@townout), Lattner (@andrewsplattner), and Matthew (@mrfb).

    2h 17m

  10. 02/16/2022

    Episode 2: Preacher Feature

    After Ishmael's first, dreadful night in New Bedford, we wake to a new day at the Spouter Inn and stare longingly at our friend Queequeg before going on a walk through the city and discovering a whale-themed chapel. Join us as we discuss childhood trauma, 2012 hit Beez in the Trap, colonialism and Herman's disdain for commerce and Vermont, making up fake island nations, having a breakdown in a chapel, and Twin Peaks. Chapters Covered: 4. The Counterpane through 9. The Sermon. Quote(s) of the Week: 👑 “Who could show a cheek like Queequeg?” and “Grub, ho!” 👑 Links and Notes: Nicki Minaj - Beez in the Trap Wednesday Campanella - Shakushain Power Moby Dick The Question Bucket Theme music by Josie Brechner. Find more of her work at josiebrechner.com. 🗣: Dibbs (@MLDibbs), Karlis (@townout), Lattner (@andrewsplattner), and Matthew (@mrfb).

    1h 42m

  11. 02/09/2022

    Episode 1: Loomings at the Spouter Inn

    Welcome to the first episode of Towards Thee I Roll, a podcast where four friends read Moby Dick together and contemplate life at sea. This week, we're setting off with a quick introduction of our past experience with the book before diving into its first three chapters. Follow along as we meet Ishmael, stumble on some ashtrays, and get pranked by a guy named Peter Coffin. Our talking points include capitalism, Paradise Lost, the pearly gates of Heaven, where coffee comes from, ominous paintings prophesying death and destruction, and, of course, Ishmael going outside for the first time. Chapters covered: 1. Loomings through 3. The Spouter-Inn. Quote of the Week: 👑 “Two orchard thieves.” 👑 Links and Notes: The Whale by Mark Beauregard Matthew’s Moby-Dick Poetry Zine The Marginalian: Herman Melville’s Passionate, Beautiful, Heartbreaking Love Letters to Nathaniel Hawthorne Theme music by Josie Brechner. Find more of her work at josiebrechner.com. 🗣: Dibbs (@MLDibbs), Karlis (@townout), Lattner (@andrewsplattner), and Matthew (@mrfb).

    2h 10m
  • 11 Episodes

Ratings & Reviews

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About

A forntighlyish podcast where four friends, at least two of which are significantly cooler than your high school English teacher, talk about how great/dumb/gay the book Moby-Dick (or, The Whale) is. Spoiler alert: There are multiple whales?! Follow us on Cohost (@mobydick) and Twitter @towardsthee to stay up to date with when we publish a new episode (or see a funny Moby Dick post).

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