Serious Fun

This week, Serious Fun brings you what you've been craving - academic lectures! Recorded on April 18th, 2022 as part of the Climate Change Teach-In at UWGB, Bryan talks about the movie "Don't Look Up" and the broader question of pop culture metaphors for scientific and social issues. How do metaphors work? Is Don't Look Up a successful one? Are there better ones? How should pop culture talk about climate change? All this and more is yours should you download the new episode of Serious Fun!

If you were waiting for a new episode of Serious Fun, well...your wait is over. Also, maybe get some other things going on in your life? I mean, do what you will, just seems weird that you await this podcast with bated breath. That said, this is a real good episode! A great one, I daresay! The illustrious writer and author David L. Craddock joins us to talk about his latest tome, "Long Live Mortal Kombat: Round 1". Bryan and David talk about the history and legacy of Mortal Kombat, how public opinion has changed, the process of writing a decades-spanning book, the arcade scene in Bulgaria, and so, so much more in this jam-packed, wide-ranging episode. If you've ever spent your lunch period quickly scrawling down input codes for Fatalities, this episode is for you. SHOW NOTES: Check out the Kickstarter page for "Long Live Mortal Kombat" here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/davidlcraddock/long-live-mortal-kombat-the-definitive-history-of-mk Music: Dan Forden - "In the Beginning" (Mortal Kombat 1 A

It's another Serious Fun! This week, Bryan dons his brightly-colored spandex and joins forces with artist Joe Hunter and returning guest writer Lan Pitts to talk about their series "Beast Heart Strikers" and its exciting new announcement, as well as the sentai genre and how their cultural influences have shaped the work. We also talk about a lot of other stuff, like He-Man and pro wrestling. Also Ray Romano drops by a couple times. It's a whole thing. Go ahead and listen, if you want. SHOW NOTES: Check out Beast Heart Strikers here: https://www.comixology.com/BEAST-HEART-Strikers-Vol-1-Volume-1/comics-series/141187?ref=c2VhcmNoL2luZGV4L2Rlc2t0b3Avc2xpZGVyTGlzdC90b3BSZXN1bHRzU2xpZGVy For more information on Sentai, Tokusatsu, etc.: - Watch Episode 1 of Marvel's 616 on Disney+ - "Japanese Spider-Man" - Netflix - "The Toys That Made Us" - Power Rangers and He-Man episodes MercuryFalcon's YouTube channel and its Tokusatsu documentary: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIeWDKo2xp8rQ8rXwbqH0bg Vintage Hensh

Once again, Serious Fun goes into the breach and picks apart the latest offering from the Marvel monoculture – SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS. This time, however, we have a very special guest – academic professional, martial arts and comic movie aficionado, and beloved spouse Pang Yang! Bryan and Pang talk about her experiences growing up in a media environment where she didn’t see herself represented, where Shang-Chi fits into the MCU pantheon, as well as how the character represents an homage to classic martial arts cinema and marks a new stage in high-profile representation, as well as how it delves into lived experiences and topics blockbuster films seldom address. (Also we got the name of the hidden village wrong, it’s Ta Lo.) Show Notes: Women’s Media Center & BBC – SuperPowering Girls Study: https://www.womensmediacenter.com/reports/bbca-wmc-superpowering-girls GQ Interview – Tony Leung https://www.gq.com/story/tony-leung-tries-his-hand-at-hollywood Vox – Why Shang-Chi’s success matte

Earlier this year, the Oshkosh Public Museum played host to “The Nostalgia Awakens”, a traveling exhibit that holds the distinction of being the largest public display of the original Star Wars action figures and toys ever in Wisconsin. Such a momentous occasion merits an equally momentous podcast – one that cannot be contained in a single show alone! So this week, Serious Fun crosses over with fellow Phoenix Studios network shows Canonball and Voyageur to talk about the Star Wars franchise and its merchandise, but also the broader concept of nostalgia, memory, and why we long for the characters and fun of our youth. It’s a fun, sassy conversation about a topic near and dear to many of our hearts, so go on and listen already! Show notes: The Nostalgia Awakens homepage (with photos, comments from the curator, and more): https://www.starwarsexhibit.org/ Voyageur Podcast: https://www.uwgb.edu/podcasts/shows/voyageur/ Canonball Podcast: https://soundcloud.com/canonballpodcast

It's a new fall season of Serious Fun! This week, Bryan sits down with David and Nadia Oxford, retro gaming power couple and co-authors of the new book “Mega Man X: Maverick Hunter’s Field Guide”. In this wide-ranging conversation, the trio discusses how video game fandom has changed since the early days of fansites and message boards, how the Mega Man series has evolved into new aesthetics and formats, and the work that goes into making a field guide for a fictional universe. We’ll also answer listener questions and come up with a million-seller idea for the next Mega Man game. Come for the discussion of the book, stay for a bunch of old nerds talking about the good ol’ days. Show Notes: This is the book with Bryan’s Mega Man chapter in it: https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781442278127/100-Greatest-Video-Game-Characters Nadia’s “Axe of the Blood God” Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/bloodgodpod Poison Mushroom Online: http://www.poisonmushroom.org/ The “Summer Carnival” Chill Penguin skin: https://www.rockman

Serious Fun returns yet again with another group dissection session for a Marvel Disney+ streaming show! This time we're breaking down "Falcon and The Winter Soldier" with Serious Fun production assistant Emily Fecteau and, back by popular demand, it's UWGB History professor and Captain America superfan Dr. Clif Ganyard! Join us as we try to put the series into proper historical and canonical context, explore its intriguing character developments, and challenge whether it is equipped to handle its weighty themes of nationalism, legacy, and racial injustice, all while speculating on what it all means and where it's going. Bryan also marks out for the Dora Milaje, as we all should. Download it now! SHOW NOTES: We are indebted to some of the excellent writing on this show, particularly that of Charles Pulliam-Moore and Richard L. Newby. Read a great piece on the show from Pulliam-Moore here: https://io9.gizmodo.com/the-falcon-and-the-winter-soldiers-head-writer-tries-to-1846772211 And another, excellent ta

Lordy lordy, Serious Fun is 40...episodes in! So there's a little TV show called WandaVision. You might have heard of it. It's the talk of the town. This week's Serious Fun adds on to that talk as Bryan welcomes two special guests on to talk about the first proper Marvel Studios streaming TV show - the Director of Oregon State's General Psychology program and former UWGB faculty Regan Gurung as well as UWGB undergrad and Serious Fun research and production assistant Emily Fecteau. The trio discuss the psychology of the series and how we consume streaming media, how its use of old sitcoms as a framing device is more clever than you might think, and whether grief or love is the driving force beyond the strange events in WestView, NJ. And for the record: there are spoilers aplenty, so make sure you're caught up first! MUSIC CREDITS: "Agatha All Along" - Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez

We are living in a golden age for globalized pop culture – we have access to television, film, music, video games, books and comics from all over the world on a scale never before seen. Have you ever thought about what it takes to bring pop culture from one culture to another, though? Scott Strichart has – and as the Senior Localization Producer for the Yakuza series at Sega, he has had a hand in bringing some of the most daunting, complex, and beloved Japanese video games to Western audiences. In this episode, Bryan talks with Scott about the challenges and joys of localizing video games, from juggling unique spoken dialects to maintaining the cultural integrity of the original script to casting English voice actors to managing puns and humor. It’s a must-listen for Yakuza fans, video game fans, or anyone interested in managing creative works across cultures. And Bryan only fanboys out…a lot. Give it a listen! SHOW NOTES: This is the Twitter thread about the Kansai dialect we talked about: https://twitte

Serious Fun is back and we're talking with journalist and author Abraham Riesman about his new book "True Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee" in a thought-provoking discussion about the fraught relationship between Lee and Jack Kirby, the role of copyright in maintaining celebrity mythology, and the elusiveness of a person's true nature (among lots of other things).

If a wrestling match happens in an arena and nobody's there to cheer - did it really happen at all? These and other questions will kind of be answered as Bryan sits down with Dr. CarrieLynn Reinhard, president of the Pro Wrestling Studies Association, to explore the challenges facing professional wrestling in the age of a pandemic. How are AEW and WWE differing in their approach? Can we still watch wrestling the same way? Should we? It's a great show, so download it already!

Serious Fun is back, and this time it's remote! Bryan sits down, at a comfortable distance, with the crew of Psych and Stuff (Ryan Martin and Georjeanna Wilson-Doenges) for another fantabulous crossover, recorded via the magic of the Internet. On the docket: what kind of media are we consuming during the pandemic curfew, and why does it bring us comfort?

It's a very special Life Day gift - a special documentary episode about Star Wars! For the final Serious Fun of 2019, Bryan asks a cadre of fans a simple question: "What does Star Wars mean to you?" The answers will surprise, amuse, and even beguile you! Or you'll find it an agreeable way to spend half an hour. Download it now! (Thanks to Kris Vespia, Georjeanna Wilson-Doenges, Alison Staudinger, Ben and Tony from Not Exactly Radio, Mai Lo Lee, and Justin Poirot for their contributions!) Audio: John Williams – A New Hope The Dune Sea of Tattooine/Jawa Sandcrawler Cantina Band John Williams – The Phantom Menace Duel of the Fates John Williams – Attack of the Clones Across The Stars John Williams – The Last Jedi Main Title and Escape Finale Christmas in the Stars – “What Do You Get A Wookiee for Christmas (When He Already Owns a Comb)" Various Star Wars voice clips/SFX Star Wars Holiday Special Intro (youtube.com/theobnoxiousweed) Check out Not Exactly Radio at https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/not-exa

In 2013, the Red Cross issued a statement calling on the video game industry to reconsider how it presented war and war crimes. Six years later, after the controversial release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, how much has changed? Do video games accurately depict war crimes and their consequences? And as artificial intelligence trains on games like Starcraft, should we be worried about what these programs are learning? Bryan sits down with UWGB Democracy and Justice Studies professor Eric Morgan to talk about all these issues and more as part of the 2019 Common CAHSS Human Rights conference. Credits: Thanks to Scott Berg for producing this episode. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare audio copyright Activision, presented under fair use. Show notes: Beyond the Call of Duty: why shouldn’t videogame players face the same dilemmas as real soldiers? - https://www.icrc.org/en/doc/resources/documents/article/review-2012/irrc-886-clarke-rouffaer-senechaud.htm NPR - Red Cross Wants Video Game Companies to Get Real o

Serious Fun wraps up Brown County Library Comic-Con 2019 with the third of its shows recorded live at the event! This week, doctoral candidate Marena Bridges and UWGB Psychology professor Dr. Ryan Martin sit down with Bryan to discuss representation in superhero media in light of the Academy Award-winning movie "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse!"

Smell that pine tar and bubblegum, folks - the World Series is upon us! What better way to celebrate than to take some time to learn about the growing field of sport psychology with UWGB's resident experts Dr. Jana Fogaça and Dr. Alan Chu? Well, you could actually watch the game I guess but too bad, this is what we have. And it's a good one! A great one! Jana and Alan discuss mental conditioning, youth sports culture, growth mindsets, and more! I learned a lot, and so will you!

This week, Bryan sits down with Hugo and Nebula award-winning science-fiction and fantasy author Martha Wells to talk about her work, including her Hugo Award-winning Murderbot Diaries! Martha and Bryan discuss worldbuilding, getting inside characters' heads, writing for collectible card games, and so much more! This episode was recorded LIVE at the 2019 Brown County Library Comic-Con! Listen now! SHOW NOTES: Check out Martha's work at http://www.marthawells.com/!

Serious Fun makes its return to the Brown County Library Comic-Con in the first of a trio of shows recorded live at the event! This week, Bryan sits down with comics artist and writer and creator of the series “Mae”, Gene Ha. Gene talks about his life, his start in the industry, his major comics and storytelling influences, the challenges and benefits of publishing a book on Kickstarter, as well as some weird tangents about axe crimes and town perceptions. It’ll make sense when you hear it. Show notes: Check out Gene’s work and get a copy of MAE at http://geneha.com/! You can see the Marvel rejection letter he references here: https://twitter.com/Learnonaut/status/1182350618805133312

If you missed Serious Fun, good news - it's back! If you didn't - I'm very sorry! But this is the first new Serious Fun of the new season and we spend it with special guest Dr. Patty Williamson of the Central Michigan University School of Broadcast and Cinematic Arts. Bryan and Dr. Williamson talk about the summer in film, from the chokehold Disney has on the medium to the impact of streaming on the box office to some of the best movies this summer and the most interesting ones for this fall awards season. Plus, a lengthy discussion of the spate of classic rock-related films as well as Quentin Tarantino's latest, "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood"! (Apologies for the audio, we had some technical issues that resulted in Bryan recording this on an iPad.)

It only took them eleven years but finally a female hero is frontlining a Marvel Cinematic Universe movie! This week Bryan sits down with CU Boulder media studies professor and Captain Marvel superfan J. Richard Stevens to talk about the new movie, Carol Danvers' turbulent publishing history, and the feminist lessons the film provides for everyone. It's a whole flerken lot of fun! Sound credits: Audio from "Captain Marvel: Trailer 2" - Marvel Studios Pinar Toprak - "Captain Marvel", Captain Marvel Original Motion Picture Soundtrack