Hello everyone!! We are back with some more Star Wars, and of the best kind, with the second season of Andor! There's been a lot of talk on Andor lately, and having done an episode for the first season, we were not going to let it pass us by. So join us, as we dive into what makes this such a compelling show (amidst flaws, as we talk about them too), critiquing a great deal of liberal hypocrisies, having a rather nuanced understanding of violence, all while never conceding that "maybe the fascis...
Jun 30, 2025•2 hr 3 min
We found something else. Thank you. For more, keep an eye out on: https://www.patreon.com/leftpage Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jun 20, 2025•1 hr 16 min
Hello everyone!! The time has come!! Now that both of us have read the Witcher Saga books, it's time to finally return to this universe and talk about them! However, it being a rather involved story and universe, alongside comprising 5 books, we decided to make two episodes but discussing the whole Saga. In this first part we dive into some of the relationships of Ciri, Geralt and Yennefer, how the story's form has changed since the short story collections, we spend time talking about the villai...
Jun 12, 2025•1 hr 32 min•Ep. 92
Hello everyone. The time has come to face our enemy once more. Yuval Noah Harari wrote another book, so we dive into how it is, indeed, a torment of pain and horror. We try to fathom how Harari misunderstands History, historical practice, information, institutions, religion, power, science fiction, AI etc etc. There is very little accurate in this book, and yet, it seems to be rather successful in its nonsense. As we interweave some of the MANY ways this book misrepresents reality, we try to get...
May 30, 2025•1 hr 35 min•Ep. 91
Hello everyone!! We have a special episode with a great guest! In order to talk about the magnificent show The Wire (2002-2008) we bring along Oli Mould, professor of Human Geography at Royal Holloway, University of London! In this episode we dive into this destructive institution that is the police, alongside a few others. All while understanding how the show interweaves its characters, environment and narrative that is always aware of the sociological, the psychological and the personal. There...
May 22, 2025•1 hr 12 min
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May 15, 2025•34 sec
Hello everyone!! The time has come. We finish our first long-term game series! Dragon Age has come to an end as we understand it. Let's talk about The Veilguard , with good friend Holly! It is a sad time, as we go over some of the many failings of The Veilguard , its faults in production, writing, execution... And yet, all boiling down to a rather generic game (and failing even at that), that is quite unrecognizable from the Dragon Age series, even in its lowest points before. So come along for ...
May 09, 2025•2 hr 15 min
Hello everyone!! For our late Left Page this month, we dive into an odd choice, but a fruitful one! Emperor Marcus Aurelius' Meditations, from 161 A.D.! In what we find to be one of the original inspirations for self-help books, we... certainly suffer through this one! Talking about how an Emperor can isolate himself from his society and keep himself above it, becoming "a perfect and invincible soul". And we tackle it in turn, with our own experiences, charging against his feeble attempts at "hu...
Apr 29, 2025•1 hr 34 min•Ep. 90
Hello everyone!! It's been a little while, but we're back with another Concept episode! This time trying to thing about what makes an RPG! In this new series we intend to understand a few of the several messy questions that surround this genre, including trying to define what is an RPG. In this first episode we tackle that initial question, with Leon putting forth a framework that might be the most useful way to understand not just the genre, but how games and their connection to us, can be broa...
Apr 24, 2025•1 hr 52 min
We found something. Video Referenced: https://youtu.be/AnySV4SZdqg Thank you. For more, keep an eye out on: https://www.patreon.com/leftpage Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Apr 07, 2025•1 hr 49 min
Hello everyone!! In another collab with our good friend Jay, we finally decided to talk about Opera, in particular, Don Giovani!! Come along with us as we dissect this odd portrayal of the "Don Juan" image, his terrible deeds and punishment, and continually this articulation of sound, story and music that opera can create. While never forgetting several matters of class within opera, the notions of performance and lots more! Enjoy! And check out Jay's stuff elsewhere! Library Punk And if able, p...
Apr 03, 2025•1 hr 39 min
Hello everyone!! Kicking off March, we're talking about religion, and the Catholic Church! With the Oscar-winning Conclave! As we finally dive deeper into how we engage with spirituality, organised religion, and the dreadful dynamics of power of the Catholic Church, we find an interesting film! Even if it does get beholden by its own liberal politics. A more personal episode than usual, perhaps, but no less engaging and rigorous! Enjoy! If you can and are interested in early episodes and the Her...
Mar 23, 2025•1 hr 29 min
Hello everyone!! As our episode celebration of 6 years of The Left Page we go back to the 19th century with our very first Jules Verne: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea! For this very fun episode we not only reminisce a bit about the show and we feel about it after all this time, but also think over these elements that were at the dawn of science fiction as we know it! Elaborate scientific explanations, a tough narrative, a compelling mystery, and the ocean as wondrous and unknowable as space! It's ...
Mar 07, 2025•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 89
Hello everyone! As we make our way through February we bring yet another collab with our friend André, and on another very liberal piece of media, the League of Legends based show: Arcane! There was potential (some) to this show, as we elaborate on it, and yet, a rushed production, a terrible political perspective, and more, turn this into yet another, although worse, liberal and alienating show - reminds us of the previous time we had André on, for X-Men '97 , what a shame! And yet, although we...
Feb 19, 2025•1 hr 39 min
Hello everyone!! We start February in style, with Emma's return as she's got a new book out! The excellent The Quick and the Dead! Alchemy, romance, power, religion, and more! As such we talk a bit about how these elements constitute historical representation, how to depict them and queerness in the Elizabethan era, and dive into matters of religion, State power, and belief! Check it out and read the book! https://bedfordsquarepublishers.co.uk/book/the-quick-and-the-dead/ If you can and are inte...
Feb 07, 2025•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 88
Hello everyone!! Kicking off 2025 with the Left Page we bring a very special series of books, the First Law trilogy, by Joe Abercrombie! A series dear to Leon and, now to the pod itself. We dive into how these books actually achieve goals of engaging the psychological, the social and the political, while also making compelling literature, imagine that! As such, we explore the building of this world, and how it depicts History, war, power, and even its own sense of mythology. A very strong recomm...
Jan 30, 2025•2 hr 48 min•Ep. 87
Hello everyone!! For our first HBM of 2025 we offer something quite strange, at first glance something all about military propaganda and nothing quite our podcast range, Ace Combat 7! But, as we are joined by our friend Sid of, among other things, The Bad Game Hall of Fame, we dive deeper! And yeah... there's a lot of propaganda, but still, attempts at telling a story and even being anti-war, but we shall see. Happy new year and here's to plenty of HBM in 2025! Enjoy! Check out Sid's stuff! http...
Jan 23, 2025•1 hr 24 min
Hello everyone! We are rounding out 2024 and Dunecember with a very special episode on a... "special" film? David Lynch's Dune from 1984 is not good. But it is worth talking about, and with a friend! As Audrey joins us to brave these strange strange sands. Plenty on the erasure of community and the fremen themselves, the roles of social identity, and some of the not good choices and narrative paths this version of Dune took. And all for our very first approach of David Lynch in the podcast! Enjo...
Dec 27, 2024•1 hr 20 min
Greetings and Salutations everyone, We decided to do a second HBM episode this month instead of a HBE, we know a part of our audience likes it when we talk about Bioware so we hope this is a fun holiday present for you guys! We are going to be honest, this is a very text based analysis, and might not be the easiest to follow along with for those who have not played the game. We do think there is something there for everyone since we talk about how you can approach RPGs and choices in video games...
Dec 24, 2024•3 hr 13 min
Hello everyone!! Welcome to Dunecember!! Lots of Dune to cap off 2024! For starters, we tackle the one, the original, the 1965 book by Frank Herbert! It's been a long-time coming, and we hope it was worth the wait. So join us as we talk religious manipulation, "untapped human potential", warrior cultures, being a weird little guy, and lots more in the last Left Page episode of the year. Enjoy! And please support our Patreon if you can and are interested in early episodes and the Here Be Extras! ...
Dec 11, 2024•1 hr 55 min•Ep. 86
Hello everyone!! Here is us finally talking about the Elden Ring DLC (or just a standalone game according to the GOTY-awards, Geoff should be struck down for his hubris and so on) we hope you all enjoy it! Due to technical difficulties Ash's precis was added post-recording. Our sincere apologies if it sounds odd, it was the best we could do. Find the Crypt dwellers near a cemetery or at the following links: https://www.patreon.com/c/horrorvanguard/ https://bsky.app/profile/thelitcritguy.bsky.soc...
Nov 30, 2024•2 hr 11 min
Hello everyone!! The end of the year and the holidays approach rapidly, but not yet! Rejecting that, we remain in the lands of horror, as we talk about Brian Evenson's Good Night, Sleep Tight , with our friend Nate! We dive into some of the themes in this collection of short stories, their representation of childhood and anxieties of parenthood, sleep and more. And while elaborating on elements we enjoyed and... didn't, unfortunately! Still, we have an excellent time chatting about it, and we ho...
Nov 09, 2024•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 85
Hello everyone!! For this month's spooky HBM we go back to Interview with a Vampire! Season 2! And in good company too, with Jay, of LibraryPunk and Tender Subject fame! It's vampire talk again, as we go back into interviewing immortal beings and finding out just how interesting their drama really is. Is it? We wonder that as we dive into this continued adaptation, its successes and limits, and just how effective, or not, their queer representation really is effective or that engaging! Enjoy! An...
Oct 27, 2024•1 hr 38 min
Hello everyone!! It's October and you know what that means! We drag the ghost, from their crypts (or ship) and have a good Halloween book chat! As Jon joined us for China Mieville's 2nd book of the Bas-Lag Trilogy: the Scar! It's a great time talking about the power and potential of class consciousness, the strange dynamics of cities, pirates, liberation, and the terrible risks of mishandling quantum and nuclear physics. It's Mieville, it's a fun book, and a phenomenal chat! Enjoy! Also buy Jon'...
Oct 16, 2024•1 hr 24 min•Ep. 84
Hello everyone!! For this chaotic month's HBM we're diving into one of Frank's favourite genres, right back into detective fiction! This time talking about the very weird and very interesting Paradise Killer! Join us as we discuss the complexities of building a world from scratch, of making a sociologically compelling story, and creating a decent and engaging medium to solve a mystery. All while dealing with the colonial violence and oppression exacted by an even more powerful ruling class! What...
Sep 30, 2024•1 hr 16 min
Hello everyone!! We kick off September with a very interesting concept episode, as we talk about Tropes, and clichés and archetypes! A very good time as we consider not just the creation of art, especially literature, but also its very superficial and weak discourse that is mostly upheld by these building blocks of tropes. We also go over a general engagement with art and the willingness to confront plenty of both good and bad, and even some of our personally most enjoyed and hated tropes! Enjoy...
Sep 07, 2024•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 83
Hello everyone!! This is a big one! We are finally talking about Baldur's Gate 3! In our longest Left Page and Here Be Media episode to date we dive into many of the complexities involving Dungeons & Dragons, tabletop RPGs, the fantasy problems of "races" and this incredibly interesting and fun game of wish-fulfillment, adventure, and more! We still have many critiques though, and go into ways this is a remarkable game, but could have been even more engaging and entertaining too. We are also...
Aug 30, 2024•2 hr 54 min
Hello everyone!! It has been one year since, but we return to the responsible dystopia of The Expanse! Following books 4 to 6, Cibola Burn, Nemesis Games & Babylon's Ashes! This time we dive further into the possible horrors mankind can accomplish all on its own, the difficult nature of resistance and rebellion, the looming unknowns orders of magnitude above humanity, and how this book series continues to be incredible in its commitment to the psychological the economical and the sociologica...
Aug 23, 2024•1 hr 43 min•Ep. 82
Comrades! Lend us your ears! As one of the best to ever pod it joins us to talk about his book! Are you tired of being alone in the dark clutches of Capital-C-Capitalism?! Then take our hand our downtrodden compatriot, and join us on a voyage of radical informational archeology, and imagination. "If you’ve been feeling isolated or afraid, take up this book and find that the only thing hiding in the shadows is our hope for a better world that could yet be." — Ashley Darrow Please, enjoy! Leon &am...
Jul 31, 2024•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 81
Hello everyone!! As a special treat this July, we have another Here Be Media episode! It's an X-Men deep dive, even as we talk about the latest show, and we're joined by a good friend and academic, André Kanasiro! We talk about the many parallels that are usually established when one talks about the X-Men, the pervading liberalism of it all, and the terrible terrible notions of "evolution" at play here too! We even touch upon the early 2000s films and even some recent comics, it's an X-Men full ...
Jul 24, 2024•1 hr 54 min•Ep. 42
