Episodes

  • Pleasant Evenings Book Club // Sabres of Paradise (Part 3)
    Aug 11 2024

    The ending to Sabres of Paradise offers a sober counterpart to the high passions of the previous two parts. The story of a rebellion that even in defeat refuses to be forgotten shifts into the story of a man who, in captivity, refuses to sacrifice his dignity and faces his new life and coming death with grace few can imitate. We count down all the pieces that fall into place as history marches on past the Murid Rebellion. The hostages return to their homes, the Russian Empire consolidates its victories in Ozymandian pride, and mountains still stand. Closing this book felt like saying goodbye to a world we were immersed in for months. We can't wait to return to the Caucasus.

    Opening Song: Laudanum by Velvet Cacoon

    Closing Song: Dag Lezginka by Oleksandr Nepytailenko

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    1 hr and 33 mins
  • Mobile Suit Book Club - Victory Gundam (Part 2)
    Jun 30 2024

    It won't be the last we see of it, but this is as far as the Universal Century goes.

    In some ways compromised but never boring or lacking ambition, Victory Gundam is a true Tomino original and one of our favorite things that we've covered so far.

    For this discussion we discuss the motivations of colonization's middle-managers, inter-generational conflicts vs. cooperation, and more on Lupe Cineau's psychology than is probably merited.

    Join us next time as we wrap up the third and final installment of Sabres of Paradise, and next, Fighter G Gundam.

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    1 hr and 25 mins
  • Sabres of Paradise by Lesley Blanch // Part 2
    May 10 2024

    Part two of Lesley Blanch's Sabres of Paradise is takes us beyond beyond introductions and scene setting and places the reader in the middle of the push and pull of rebellion. (Though many scenes are still set and characters introduced in Lesley Blanch's signature prose). The Russians acclimate to fighting in the Caucasus and the people of the Caucasus hold fast under the relentless onslaught of Russian invasion. We discuss where Murid resistance frays in the examples of Hamzad Beg and Shamyl's own son, the early examples of guerilla tactics and counter-insurgency present in the Murid War, the and the terrifying counterfactual of horse-sized war cats.

    Intro and outro Music: Laudanum by Velvet Cacoon

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    1 hr and 24 mins
  • Mobile Suit Book Club // Victory Gundam (Part 1)
    Mar 14 2024

    Mobile Suit Victory Gundam found yet another way to escalate many of the themes and motifs that defined Gundam. The young pilot is only 13! The main crew is such a scrappy resistance that their base of operations is a big truck! The battles depict more desperation and destruction from the perspective of people that simply want to live normal lives.

    This was Yoshiyuki Tomino's first Gundam TV Show since 1987's ZZ Gundam and we could not have been more excited to return to that particular style of pacing, world-building and characterization.

    This was easily one of our favorite iterations of Mobile Suit Gundam so far and we hope that you enjoy our rambling conversation about it as much we enjoyed having it.

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    1 hr and 27 mins
  • Sabres of Paradise by Leslie Blanch (Part 1)
    Feb 22 2024

    Leslie Blanch's epic biography of Imam Shamyl and the Russo-Caucasian struggle that defined his life for almost 30 years is now mostly remembered for having been a major influence on Frank Herbert's Dune, but it's place as a classic of literary history-writing deserves to be celebrated.

    Blanch's ambition to cover such a complicated period of time seems incidental to the passion evident in every exquisitely rendered sentence describing the Murid freedom-fighters and the mountains they call home. Blanch travelled the world, interviewing descendants of the characters in this book and combing through Russian military dispatches, not only to provide a thorough accounting of the Murid War fought in the early 19th century, but to convey the depth of passion this region and this conflict seemed to have inspired in all who crossed.

    There are a ton of digressions through anecdotes, literary criticism, ekphrasis, and personal observations that might seem out of place in a traditional history, but are essential to the feeling this book plunges you into.

    We had fun discussing Part 1 of this book in our meandering way and we hope you do too.

    For more on Sabres of Paradise's influence on Dune: https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-secret-history-of-dune/

    To email Pleasant Evenings Book Club: eveningspleasant@gmail.com

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    1 hr and 15 mins
  • Mobile Suit Book Club // Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory
    Jan 27 2024

    The second of the Gundam OVAs cements what War in the Pocket had confirmed: that the world of Gundam is rich and exciting enough to sustain and inspire many stories outside of Tomino's original vision. In this case, it is to tell a relatively straightforward wartime melodrama. We discuss the highs and lows of this series. And using the negative provided here, we uncover what exactly the "Tomino Touch®" adds to a project.

    Skip the first 6 minutes if you'd like to jump straight into the Gundam talk.

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    1 hr and 21 mins
  • Ice by Anna Kavan
    Jan 6 2024

    Really proud of how this one came out. Ice is an incredibly slippery novel to try to pin down. The book teeters back and forth between dark anti-romance, bleak rumination on a dying world, and on one occasion, a James Bond parody(?) The story itself is unsteady about its facts and chronology, employing some perspective altering rug-pulls. We had an interesting conversation exploring the emotional landscapes Kavan draws before addressing the shadow that the author's own troubled life casts on her work.

    Truly one of the most unique books I've ever read and one we're glad to share on Pleasant Evenings Book Club

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    1 hr and 36 mins
  • Mobile Suit Book Club // Gundam F91
    Dec 12 2023

    Our initial reaction of F91 was as a beautiful but flawed movie. A stylish and emotional evolution of the themes and aesthetics of Gundam that never truly got to bloom. In way that lost potential somehow makes F91 an even more alluring and curious artifact that has only grown in our estimation since our initial reaction.

    This recording is closer to that initial reaction but even then the budding love we have for this movie is clear in our conversation.

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    1 hr and 4 mins