Temples Made With Hands Rae Bell

In this episode I compare the book Black Narcissus, by podcast fave Rumer Godden, and its two screen adaptations from 1947 and 2020. Their chronological order correlates exactly with the order of my esteem, which is pretty handy. Throughout, I prove the point of both Terry Pratchett and William James when they suspected that the indignation of an atheist can be as strong a brand of belief as the faith of a religious adherent. In other words, there's more to nuns than sexual repressi...

In this episode I compare the books Station Eleven, by Emily St John Mandel, and Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury. I deplore Bradbury's grimdark death of hope and laud St John Mandel's paradoxically inspiring hope after death (of people and civilisation). In terms of guidebooks for surviving the tech apocalypse, only one need apply.Timestamps:00:50 Introduction; or, Dude, Where's My Brain?13:30 Station Eleven; or, Hope Punk Among The Ruins25:15 Fahrenheit 451; or, Reading Doesn't Mean What You...

In this episode I compare the fairytale retellings of Cinderella in 1998’s Ever After and the imaginatively-named Cinderella of 2015. I ponder how a film as rife with historical inaccuracy as Ever After still gets crowned my all-time queen of the Aschenputtels. I ponder, more pointedly, how a film as rife with potential as Cinderella still turned out so unremittingly banal. Timestamps:00:50 Introduction; or, Enter The Enchanted Forest Of My Childhood Fairytale Faves14:45 Ever After; or, ...

In this episode I compare the college romances of the dreamy Circle of Friends, by Maeve Binchy, and the nihilistic nightmare Normal People, by Sally Rooney. What proves to be most galling is not, as I thought, that Rooney is heaped with laurels for ripping off romance tropes wholesale, but that Normal People is actually a lot better than I remembered. Beautiful World Where Are You is genuinely great! And there goes my formula. Still, nothing can replace Circle of Friends in my heart, and I m...

In this episode I compare the historical satires The Death of Stalin, which is one of my favourite films, and Jojo Rabbit, which isn’t even my favourite film by Taika Waititi. I indulge in several digressions to show off the background reading I had to do to understand my own opinions on these films; I’m sure Jonathan Swift would have something suitably blighting to say about that. Timestamps:00:50 Introduction; or, How Satire Makes Good Comfort Food12:15 The Death of Stalin; or, A Succe...

In this episode I compare the Regency romances The Grand Sophy, by pink of the Ton Georgette Heyer, and The Duke and I, by barque of frailty Julia Quinn. I pull caps by suggesting that Quinn is too smoky by half, and indeed makes a cake of herself in her attempt to render the sexual mores of the Regency period. Meanwhile Heyer remains a Top-of-the-Trees in her splendid evocation of a bygone era, backed up with extensive research, which render her a regular out and outer. By the end you’ll fin...