Culturezoo: A Mighty Guild Of Geeks!

The Summer of Miyazaki has turned to fall and we discuss his penultimate work, Ponyo and this time around we’re joined by fellow Ghibli-fan, Sadie Hartmann. Where does Ponyo rank in the films of Miyazaki? It certainly an amazing artistic achievement but does the story hold up to his other work. Our answers may shock … Continue reading Ponyo

Well, better late than never. Work and sickness once again conspire to make this Episode in the Summer of Miyazaki late and actually miss summer altogether. Nevertheless, we had a great time discussing the later Miyazaki film, Howl’s Moving Castle. This one seems to rank a little lower in some Ghibli fan’s estimations but what … Continue reading Howl’s Moving Castle

The summer of Miyazaki’s Spirited Away podcast is finally here. Camping, sickness, and work all conspired to make this podcast extra late. Sorry about that. We dig into Ghibli’s big American debut and talk about how this blew our minds when we first saw it fifteen years ago, even though for some people the animation … Continue reading Spirited Away

After a bit of a delay we finally get to Miyazaki’s fantasy epic, Princess Mononoke: a film that is basically environmentalist propaganda, right? Err, not quite. Levi and Rosalyn discuss the intricate plot and end with some of our interpretations and observations as to what Miyazaki might have been getting at with this film.

This time on the Summer of Miyazaki we discuss a film written, storyboarded but not directed by Hayao Miyazaki: Whisper of the Heart. So maybe, technically, it shouldn’t be here but it’s such a great film, we couldn’t resist. In this episode we talk about love, romance, developing your gifts and end with a rant … Continue reading Whisper of the Heart

On this podcast we continue the Summer of Miyazaki by discussing one of his more personal, adult and idiosyncratic films: Porco Rosso. It’s the classic story of a dashing hero, an innocent young damsel, and a brute-headed villain. Except this is Miyazaki so everything is turned on its head starting with the hero being a … Continue reading Proco Rosso

On this Culturezoo we talk about the 1989 Miyazaki film, Kiki’s Delivery Service. We spend some time comparing the ideas and details of this film to other magical stories like Harry Potter and spend some time discussing the importance of vocations and finding and enjoying our place in the community we are in. Not exactly stuff … Continue reading Kiki’s Delivery Service

We’re back with the Summer of Miyazaki and this time we’re talking about the 1988 classic “My Neighbor Totoro”. Roger Ebert called this one his Great Films and we’re incline to agree. This film is a uniquely beautiful, subtle gem that comes with our highest recommendation. In this episode we talk about animation, childhood, and … Continue reading My Neighbor Totoro

The summer of Miyazaki continues with his second full-length feature and first with Studio Ghibli: Castle in the Sky. In addition to discussing the film, Levi and Rosalyn get existential and end up spending a lot of time talking about the world’s problems and who’s to blame: technology or human nature? We also compare the … Continue reading Castle in the Sky

Welcome to the Summer of Miyazaki! We’re doing something special on the Culturezoo Podcast this summer and we’re going to discuss all the films of animator/writer/director Hayo Miyazaki. Each week we’ll be going through his films in chronological order of their release date and examining common themes and ideas in addition to the unique details … Continue reading Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

On this episode of Culturezoo we discuss the Cartoon Network animated miniseries, Over the Garden Wall. It’s one of our favorite cartoons in recent memory. Heavy spoiler alert for this podcast. After going through the episodes we chat about the hidden meanings and allusions in this cartoon and finally wonder why more fantasy creators aren’t … Continue reading Over The Garden Wall

On this Culturezoo Rosalyn and Levi discuss one of their favorite comics, Jonny Crossbones by Les McClaine. In an age of Frank Millers, Rob Liefelds and countless imitators, Les McClaine and his wonderful Jonny Crossbones is a breath of fresh air. We open the discussion talking about how we didn’t see Superman V Batman and … Continue reading Jonny Crossbones by Les McClaine

It’s finally here after two weeks of sickness, plague, and business delayed this episode, it comes to your waiting ears as if delivered from the lips of friendly spirits: The final episode in our analysis of Attack of the Clones where Levi, Roz, and Zach return to burn the midnight oil and complete the circle. … Continue reading Attack of the Clones, Part 3

Cultruezoo returns with more in-depth analysis of the second act of George Lucas’s romantic space-opera: Attack of the Clones. On this episode we do expert exploratory surgery on each scene to under stand the root causes of why things just don’t work. Also, we ask the hard hitting questions, like: did the Kaminoians never get … Continue reading Culturezoo XII: Star Wars, Attack of the Clones, Part 2

Zach is back on Culturezoo and it’s for another prequel. This time we’re talking about the first act of the squirm-inducing, exercise in awkwardness named Attack of the Clones. This podcast covers from the start of the film up to Anakin and Padme’s departure from Coruscant.

Me and Roz geek out in a big way over The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien. This is book that is responsible for kindling our imaginations as children and has only gotten better with age. Do you crave our dulcet voices reading passages from Tolkien? Look no further than this podcast. Also, we completely ignore the … Continue reading Culturezoo X: The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

For this episode the guild of geeks goes on the road and records from the line and the theater as we wait for The Force Awakens. We chat with fellow geeks in line, we speculate (spoiler-free) about we think might happen in the movie, and finally we head to Denny’s to give our initial reactions … Continue reading Culturezoo IX: Waiting for The Force to Awaken

On this week’s Culturezoo, Levi and Rosalyn back away from Star Wars for a bit to discuss the 1987 mini-series comic, Batman: Year One, by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli. We open with a brief discussion of the various incarnations of Batman over the years. We cover the plot of Year One including David Mazzucchelli’s … Continue reading Culturezoo VIII: Batman, Year One

The final episode of our in-depth analysis, discussion, and group therapy on Star Wars, The Phantom Menace is here. Levi, Roz, and Zach tackle the four-part finale that even had George Lucas scratching his head in confusion. Finally we end the episode with thirty minutes of discussion on how we would fix the Phantom Menace … Continue reading Culturezoo VIII: Star Wars, The Phantom Menace: Act III

In this Culturezoo, Levi, Roz and Zach dissect the second act of Star Wars The Phantom Menace. We puzzle over the interesting direction this movie takes in the second act: namely, no direction. Over about an hour of screen time our heros accomplish nothing more than finding engine parts, betting on a noisy race, dabbling … Continue reading Culturezoo VII: Star Wars Episode 1, The Phantom Menace. Act 2.