Pleasant Evenings Book Club

Mobile Suit Book Club // ZZ Gundam Part 2

This is where ZZ Gundam momentarily stops being the goofy show we came to love in it's first half, and the horrors of war rear up again and again. We found this second batch of episodes to be really impactful, cementing ZZ Gundam as potentially the funniest and most tragic Gundam series that we've covered so far. 
 
In this conversation we talk about how ZZ interacts with the themes that we've discussed so far in the Gundam franchise and how it handles it's peculiar tonal pendulum (we would argue quite meaningfully).

Exterminator! by William Burroughs

Who knew that reading about the world ending over and over again could be so fun?
Exterminator! isn't as talked about as William Burroughs earlier work even though it contains some of Burroughs' most popular short stories, including "Twilight's Last Gleamings", "The Discipline of DE", and "Wind Die, You Die, We Die".
In the context they're included here, we found the stories sang out twice. This is a collection of strange and affecting stories that seem to swirl together into a single text thanks to the steady (but not predictable) employment of leitmotifs throughout. Themes, images, phrases, or even whole characters or events pop in and out of these stories, adding to the richness of the reading experience.
Over our conversation on this pleasant evening, we attempt to scratch the surface in a wide-ranging discussion of these leitmotifs and their strange prescience concerning modern American life.

Mobile Suit Book Club // ZZ Gundam (Part 1)

We went into this iteration of Gundam hedging out bets, but it easily ended up being our favorite series in the franchise so far.
 
Bright Noa recruits a new generation of Mobile Suit pilots from the unlikely corner of Shangri-La, an impoverished space colony where we meet our new protagonists junking for salvage from the previous wars.
 
Despite dealing with some heavy topics and doing a lot to expand on the world of Gundam, this series takes a lighter more episodic tone for its first half. And we absolutely loved it.
 
Listen to our discussion of Mobile Suit ZZ Gundam and count the ways that we get Glemy's name wrong (we don't get it right once).

Mobile Suit Book Club the Novelization

So this book might literally be your grandfather's Gundam 0079 because it was released really close to the original run of Mobile Suit Gundam and written by Yoshiyuki Tomino himself, robbing me of claim to that cliche.
Nevertheless, reading this novel is a very different experience from the animated '79 Gundam experience. You can find out how in this episode.
It was really fun to record this episode as we fill in some of the gaps of Amuro's journey and the experience of newtypes.

Mobile Suit Book Club // MS Zeta Gundam Part 2

Finishing up Kamile's tragic story, Pleasant Evenings return to discuss the second half of Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam.
We take turns discussing what it means to be a perfect soldier, brood parasitism among birds, and what happened to Reccoa's character in the back half of this show.

Mobile Suit Book Club - MS Zeta Gundam Pt. 1

A few months ago we announced we'd be diving into the world of Mobile Suit Gundam, and with our new episode talking about Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, it's officially a sub-series! Mobile Suit Book Club.
 
Yoshiyuki Tomino parlayed the success of the original MS Gundam theatrical run into a well-heeled sequel that doubled down on everything that made the original series so interesting, exciting, heartbreaking, and strange. Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam is a favorite among fans, and we had a great time digging into everything we liked and didn't for the first half of its run.
 
Join us next time as we round up the rest of the series and continue our exploration into the Mobile Suit Gundam.

Ep. 13 - Mobile Suit Gundam (Movie Trilogy)

After a longish absence, Corbin and Roberto come back to announce our most ambitious project yet: podcasting the entirety* of the Mobile Suit Gundam franchise.
We're starting things off with the trilogy of movies adapted from the original series which we found to be a very exciting introduction to Universal Century and the poor people who have to live in it.
If you're Gundam-curious like us or already an ascended Gundam sage we hope you join us on this adventure.
Email: eveningspleasant@gmail.com

The Tale of Tinuviel by JRR Tolkien

This was a pleasantly entertaining read and a great showcase of the romantic nostalgia that Tokien's Middle Earth is such a great stage for. 
 
The episode itself is definitely one of our loosest and most deranged. We had a great time recording it and I hope that translates to a fun listening experience.
 
You can email us at eveningspleasant@gmail.com for any comments, questions or book suggestions!

Ep. 11 - Into the Wood by Robert Aickman

My favorite description for the curious effect of Robert Aickman stories was given by Neil Gaiman: "Reading Robert Aickman is like watching a magician work, and very often I'm not even sure what the trick was. All I know is that he did it beautifully."
 
His story Into the Wood is one of the more curious entries in his catalogue in that he has somehow inverted the ghost story to such a degree that the real terror becomes a world where nothing goes bump in the night. We discuss the feeling of surrendering to mystery and the way modernity casts itself in opposition to it.
 
For recommendations and comments email us at eveningspleasant@gmail.com

Ep.10 - Junji Ito Special // Human Chair, Fashion Model & Long Dream

10th episode! We didn't plan anything extra for the occasion, but it is coincidentally our very first episode about a comic. So let's say that's how we are celebrating the milestone. 
 
It brings me great joy to introduce the medium to Pleasant Evenings with none other than Junji Ito. His works practically need no introduction as it feels like Ito's name is already mentioned alongside the likes of Edgar Allen Poe, HP Lovecraft, and Stephen King in the pantheon of horror writers.
 
For the uninitiated and the super-fans alike, join us as we discuss what makes his stories so effective and the breadth of his imagination through his stories The Human Chair (adapted from an Edogawa Ranpo story), Fashion Model, and Long Dream.
 
For any questions, comments, or reading suggestions reach out to us at 
eveningspleasant@gmail.com