Podcasts
Stephen King’s ‘Joyland’ Is an Emotional Rollercoaster That “Shines” [The Losers’ Club Podcast]
The Losers head down to North Carolina for a summer job at Joyland circa 1973, a time when Rod Stewart was still in Faces, Dark Side of the Moon was the cutting edge new album, and moments could only be captured by Hollywood Girls and their professional cameras. It was also a time when local legends could flourish and remain mysterious enough to linger in our minds. And that’s of major interest to us today as we try to unravel the eerie murder within Stephen King‘s Hard Case Crime novel Joyland.
Published in 2013, King’s second Hard Case Crime novel brought the author even closer to his crime era with The Bill Hodges Trilogy, while also paving the way for his then-highly anticipated sequel to The Shining, aka Doctor Sleep. As they discuss in today’s book episode, Joyland has several connects to the entities, particularly The Shining. They also weigh in on the ’70s setting, explain the difference between state fairs and local theme parks, and eat seconds and thirds of poundcake.
Stream the discussion below and stay tuned next week when the Losers celebrate the 50th anniversary of Carrie with their very first Twinner episode. For further adventures, join the Club over long days and pleasant nights via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, RadioPublic, Acast, Google Podcasts, and RSS. You can also unlock hundreds of hours of content in The Barrens (Patreon), including more Lobstrosities like this episode.
Game Loop.
Trace and I inadvertently bookended our April discussions of John Landis’ An American Werewolf in London (listen) and Ciarán Foy’s Eli (listen) with Jude Law films. At the start of the month, we tackled Matt Damon’s Italian grifter in The Talented Mr. Ripley (listen) and now we’re closing out April with David Cronenberg‘s eXistenZ (1999).
The unofficial sequel to Videodrome (listen) and precursor to Crimes of the Future, eXistenZ takes place in the world of virtual reality and simulation. Game goddess Allegra Gellar (Jennifer Jason Leigh) is forced to go on the run with PR nerd Ted Pikul (Jude Law) through the Canadian backwoods when ‘Realist’ terrorists declare open season on her life.
Featuring no shortage of strange encounters and oddball characters, including Willem Dafoe‘s queer-coded Gas and Canadian film royalty like Don McKellar and Sarah Polley, Allegra and Ted must travel between the real world and the game world, all the while keeping track of who is friendly…and who is foe.
Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get a new episode every Wednesday. You can subscribe on iTunes/Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeartRadio, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, and RSS.
Episode 279: eXistenZ (1999) feat Vannah Taylor
Lube up your industry standard bio-port because we’re playing David Cronenberg’s eXistenZ (1999) with someone friendly: Vannah Taylor!
David Cronenberg’s meditation on the dangers of gaming and simulation is the middle entry of an unofficial trilogy. It’s also a film that gets real confusing, real fast, so good luck figuring out if we’re still in the game!
Plus: criticisms of a “bland” game world, praise for Jennifer Jason Leigh, Canadian royalty, comparisons to Serenity, disgusting gristle guns, and Pikul getting his back blown out (several times!)
Cross out eXistenZ!
Coming up on Wednesday: We’re continuing our celebration of 1999 films with a look at Stephen Sommers’ bisexual awakening, action adventure film, The Mummy (1999).
P.S. Subscribe to our Patreon for over 306 hours of Patreon content including this month’s new episodes on Hannibal S01E04, Late Night with the Devil, The First Omen, Femme, Abigail and a brand new audio commentary on the original The Omen (1976).
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