The Heroine's Journey

Yay for potential Farscape episode(s)!

I've listened to a few episodes and love the positivity! This is something my wife and I might want to clue our oldest into as she moves forward with her own social education. She's very deep into how our society and culture influence fiction and vice-versa. We've had many similar chats, but good resources outside of our family - especially ones focused on female topics - are extremely difficult to find. Thank you so much for doing this.

I just got started listening to the podcast and picked the D&D podcast to start with. I really enjoyed it. Now I have to rearrange things to make room for it on my long list of podcasts, the extra segment was also really good.

Also.... holy crap those show notes are the best show notes I have ever seen. That is freaking awesome!

This entire thread is a travesty.

There's nothing "little" about Farscape.

Lend me your strength; I'm going to put my Veronica Mars watching on hold to binge-revisit Farscape before the pending Farscape episode. Whee!

Caught episodes periodically when it used to be on TV but never watched in sequence. NOW IS THE TIME!

Amoebic wrote:

Lend me your strength; I'm going to put my Veronica Mars watching on hold to binge-revisit Farscape before the pending Farscape episode. Whee!

This is not a dilemma I would wish upon my worst enemy. Mostly because my worst enemies have terrible taste, so the dilemma would be utterly wasted on them.

Was thinking about the amount of well written women characters are in Farscape today, and I've come to the conclusion that Furlow is my favorite secondary character in that show. I want a spin-off called Furlow's Garage or something. Make it happen SyFy!

At first mention of Farscape I was sitting here thinking... yeah. I need to rewatch that show.

Then someone mentions Veronica Mars.

I can make time for both. I have to. I don't know how not to.

Also, I know it got a brief mention at least once but is Orphan Black in the plans for a full discussion at some later date?

/hoping

This week: Rat Queens, with Tanya DePass. Sorry for the cruddy audio quality on her side; she was traveling and we had to make do.

IMAGE(http://thelearnedfangirl.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/ratqueensbetty.jpg)

Tanglebones wrote:

IMAGE(http://thelearnedfangirl.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/ratqueensbetty.jpg)

I was coming here to post that!!

Also this podcast was filled with lies!! You said RQ vol 2 was out but it comes out next month.

I wanted to bring up two other things:

IMAGE(http://fangirlsarewe.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/rat-queens-4-2.jpg)

Leader-Dave's armor is the male version of what we often see in women's armor, with the exposed midriff.

Spoiler:

f*ck you Gary!

And how could you not talk about Braga!

Really great episode!

NathanialG wrote:

Also this podcast was filled with lies!! You said RQ vol 2 was out but it comes out next month.

Yes, I misspoke. Wishful thinking, I suppose.

No bonus episode today, sadly. With my husband on a business trip, there just wasn't enough time in the week to put one together.

However, I am interested in your thoughts about me possibly starting up a Patreon to support the show. Is that something people would be interested in donating to? I do THJ pretty much all by myself, and it's not cheap to run, either in real dollars such as hosting fees or in less defined costs, such as lost time from my freelancing business. At the same time, monetary recompense was never the goal of THJ, and it feels weird even asking for it. IDK. Thoughts?

I would definitely throw you a few monthly dollars. I'm already around 20 bucks deeper than I probably should be for some other Patreon folks, but that's the price of ART.

I don't see it being an issue, but I do understand why it makes you feel weird. If you want a tip from someone who's never done it (hooray for unsolicited advice), I recommend keeping it simple. A lot of Patreon pages I've visited go way overboard with milestones and the reward tiers, which is ostensibly fine, but from what I've read, it adds a lot to upkeep, and can make it more a source of stress rather than monetary relief.

I'm sure with careful consideration and planning, that's more easily mitigated, but I've seen a few too many of these Patreons overwhelm their creators not to add a word of caution. Which, upon reflection, I'm sure you've already given thought to, so you can probably ignore this post.

You've got my support, regardless.

I would support a Patreon for sure. I'd guess you would get a lot of support for it here.

I'd love to support your Patreon. Do it up!

Me too! Or an old-school PayPal subscription/recurring payment.

Hyetal wrote:

I recommend keeping it simple. A lot of Patreon pages I've visited go way overboard with milestones and the reward tiers, which is ostensibly fine, but from what I've read, it adds a lot to upkeep, and can make it more a source of stress rather than monetary relief.

That's definitely my fear. Already this show takes a lot out of me, though a robust Patreon would certainly help ease the financial burden. If I did set up a Patreon, I'm considering making the Friday bonus episodes a patron bonus (or at least early access to them). Maybe also a once-monthly Google Hangout? I see other podcasters doing that, and maybe it's something that my listeners would be interested in too.

But I can't promise some of the super-involved, thrice-weekly/daily updates like I see others doing, at least not at the moment.

For myself—I don't pay much attention to patron bonus things. I got a little thank you note in the mail one time from something I'm a patron of, which was nice. But really, I'm just in it because it's a super convenient way to give money to people making cool things. I'd certainly pledge some money per episode to THJ, as is.

Okay, I did it. Patreon acquired. A little nervous about it for some reason, and I'm still trying to figure out the system, but at least the barebones are there.

My only complaint about this podcast is that I'm ending up skipping some episodes I want to listen to because they're about things that I haven't gotten around to reading/watching yet and I'm a big ole spoiler-phobe.

What's the opposite of a back-handed compliment? A front-footed complaint? I think this is one of those. "Stop being so interesting on topics I'm interested in but not yet ready to engage with!"

Hypatian wrote:

For myself—I don't pay much attention to patron bonus things.

+1 on this - I back This Week In Chiptunes, a 2hr radio show of "hot and new chiptunes", and rarely listen to the patron-only after parties, because they don't sync automagically with my phone.

Jonman wrote:

My only complaint about this podcast is that I'm ending up skipping some episodes I want to listen to because they're about things that I haven't gotten around to reading/watching yet and I'm a big ole spoiler-phobe.

You're not the first person to tell me that, and I don't really know how to get around that. I mean, an old favorite is fine once in a while, but generally we all like to talk about newer stuff, because that's what we're really excited about right now.

If it helps, I feel like over time, my guests and I have worked out a way to talk about newer IPs without spoiling too much about them. We drop spoilers, to be sure, but at least for me, they're more the kinds of spoilers that would get me more interested in watching a show or reading a particular book, etc., not less. At least, that's my goal, anyway. The latest episode about Rat Queens is a good example, I think.

McIrishJihad wrote:
Hypatian wrote:

For myself—I don't pay much attention to patron bonus things.

+1 on this

Good to know. I'll keep that in mind moving forward. I want to have some bonuses for the people who do care about such things, but I also don't want to labor too much on them either.

On this week's episode, I'm joined by afrofuturist nerdcore rapper SΔMMUS to discuss the Metroid series, and it might just be my favorite episode so far.

KaterinLHC wrote:
Jonman wrote:

My only complaint about this podcast is that I'm ending up skipping some episodes I want to listen to because they're about things that I haven't gotten around to reading/watching yet and I'm a big ole spoiler-phobe.

You're not the first person to tell me that, and I don't really know how to get around that. I mean, an old favorite is fine once in a while, but generally we all like to talk about newer stuff, because that's what we're really excited about right now.

If it helps, I feel like over time, my guests and I have worked out a way to talk about newer IPs without spoiling too much about them. We drop spoilers, to be sure, but at least for me, they're more the kinds of spoilers that would get me more interested in watching a show or reading a particular book, etc., not less. At least, that's my goal, anyway. The latest episode about Rat Queens is a good example, I think.

McIrishJihad wrote:
Hypatian wrote:

For myself—I don't pay much attention to patron bonus things.

+1 on this

Good to know. I'll keep that in mind moving forward. I want to have some bonuses for the people who do care about such things, but I also don't want to labor too much on them either.

I wouldn't worry too much about having spoiler-heavy episodes; just throw a warning at the beginning in, for the more spoiler-conscious, and they'll be an inspiration to go back and listen at a later point.

Tanglebones wrote:

I wouldn't worry too much about having spoiler-heavy episodes; just throw a warning at the beginning in, for the more spoiler-conscious, and they'll be an inspiration to go back and listen at a later point.

Good idea. Will do in the future.

Too late for this week, though. SPOILER:

Spoiler:

Samus is a woman.

KaterinLHC wrote:
Tanglebones wrote:

I wouldn't worry too much about having spoiler-heavy episodes; just throw a warning at the beginning in, for the more spoiler-conscious, and they'll be an inspiration to go back and listen at a later point.

Good idea. Will do in the future.

Too late for this week, though. SPOILER:

Spoiler:

Samus is a woman.

GASP

KaterinLHC wrote:
Jonman wrote:

My only complaint about this podcast is that I'm ending up skipping some episodes I want to listen to because they're about things that I haven't gotten around to reading/watching yet and I'm a big ole spoiler-phobe.

You're not the first person to tell me that, and I don't really know how to get around that. I mean, an old favorite is fine once in a while, but generally we all like to talk about newer stuff, because that's what we're really excited about right now.

If it helps, I feel like over time, my guests and I have worked out a way to talk about newer IPs without spoiling too much about them. We drop spoilers, to be sure, but at least for me, they're more the kinds of spoilers that would get me more interested in watching a show or reading a particular book, etc., not less. At least, that's my goal, anyway. The latest episode about Rat Queens is a good example, I think.

Oh, I don't think you should change anything about it. The spoiler warning is implicit in the episode title - "Oh, this one's about Jupiter Ascending? I want to see that completely unspoilered, so I'll skip it".

You're right, you can't really get around it, and for what it's worth, I don't think you should be trying to. It's difficult to talk about stories without, you know, talking about the story.

If anything, it leads to a weird inverted-fandom way of listening to your podcast, where I'm listening to the episodes about stories I'm less interested in.

KaterinLHC wrote:

On this week's episode, I'm joined by afrofuturist nerdcore rapper SΔMMUS to discuss the Metroid series, and it might just be my favorite episode so far.

SUCH HYPE! I backed her Kickstarter for the lastest album, and watched her on The Doubleclicks April web concert.

Can't wait for my commute home to listen!

Re: spoilers - I just damn the torpedoes and plow headlong into each episode. Which is weird, because I usually only listen to the spoiler sections of the GWJ CC when it's a game I have a slight interest IN, but no desire to play right now.

Jonman wrote:
KaterinLHC wrote:
Jonman wrote:

My only complaint about this podcast is that I'm ending up skipping some episodes I want to listen to because they're about things that I haven't gotten around to reading/watching yet and I'm a big ole spoiler-phobe.

You're not the first person to tell me that, and I don't really know how to get around that. I mean, an old favorite is fine once in a while, but generally we all like to talk about newer stuff, because that's what we're really excited about right now.

If it helps, I feel like over time, my guests and I have worked out a way to talk about newer IPs without spoiling too much about them. We drop spoilers, to be sure, but at least for me, they're more the kinds of spoilers that would get me more interested in watching a show or reading a particular book, etc., not less. At least, that's my goal, anyway. The latest episode about Rat Queens is a good example, I think.

Oh, I don't think you should change anything about it. The spoiler warning is implicit in the episode title - "Oh, this one's about Jupiter Ascending? I want to see that completely unspoilered, so I'll skip it".

You're right, you can't really get around it, and for what it's worth, I don't think you should be trying to. It's difficult to talk about stories without, you know, talking about the story.

If anything, it leads to a weird inverted-fandom way of listening to your podcast, where I'm listening to the episodes about stories I'm less interested in.

This happens to me in every podcast I listen to. Not sure there's a great answer for it, other than to not care about spoilers, something I'm working on.