P.U.L.C.H.
By Nic Riley
P.U.L.C.H.Jul 18, 2020
Watchmen by Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons, and John Higgins
Commercially successful and critically lauded, the P.U.L.C.H. Watchmen episode has been called "the moment podcasting grew up." The award-winning episode sees hosts Nic "Without the K" Riley and Joyce "Joyce" Kittenplan joined by comic writer Robin "R.E." Parrish in a tour-de-force that deconstructs the very figure of the podcaster. With a portfolio of adaptations and spin-offs set to release shortly, there's no better time to listen to the most influential work in podcasting.
Find Robin's work at https://reparrishcomics.com.
Donations Update
While the show will go on, we're pausing donations for now and sending our cash to amfAR, the American Foundation for AIDS Research. Check them out at https://www.amfar.org.
The Wire
Seasoned media detectives Joyce and Nic return to investigate David Simon's hit police drama The Wire. They gather evidence and build their case against the leader of the prestige TV gang. Will they have enough to convict? Or will their superiors bury their investigation? Tune in to find out.
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk
Exactly as the stars predicted, Joyce and Nic return to chat about the Polish novel that shared the 2019 Nobel prize. Joyce entertains a new job offer and reads some Barth. Nic the Greek goes 2/2 on UFC predictions, calling the previous main event perfectly. To our supporters who pulled out their credit cards and ponied up to help the show we say thank you! We hope you'll hear this episode and think your money was well spent.
Ficciones by Jorges Luis Borges (Pt. 2)
In a classic episode recorded just one month ago, we finish our series on Borges. DC writes a new one and Houellebecq threatens to do the same. Nic fails to apply to graduate school. Joyce travels to Spain. Lowtax travels to heaven. Listen closely as a more hilarious, moving, and erudite podcast you'll hardly find.
Here's that link I said I'd give you guys: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3718266&pagenumber=1.
Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges (Pt. 1)
P.U.L.C.H. is back. Listen, then listen again.
Me Too (Ya Tozhe Khochu) dir. Alexei Balabanov (2012)
We discuss Alexei Balabanov's last film, Me Too, in which some Russian guys drink and drive on their quest for happiness. Nic outdoes himself for malapropisms. Joyce's company institutes an irritating new policy. This episode was recorded in late March, and Nic just now got around to editing it, but there's more P.U.L.C.H. awaiting you in the near future, so take care of yourself that you might live to hear it.
Staying Creative While Working a Job
We didn't read nothin' for this episode. Instead, we chat about strategies to stay creative and engaged with art while working a full-time job that pays your way and corrodes your soul. Other topics include on-the-spectrum legend Glenn Gould, lending books to irresponsible people, and Nic's brush with Drag Race fame.
The Mezzanine by Nicholson Baker (with Robin Parrish)
Cartoonist and consultant Robin Parrish drops by to chat with the P.U.L.C.H. pals about Nicholson Baker's brief stream-of-consciousness novel The Mezzanine, but they derail the conversation to discuss working from home, David Cronenberg, and David Foster Wallace's linguistic/mathematical deficiencies.
Check out Robin's work at her website: https://reparrishcomics.com/
and follow her on Twitter @reparrish
Sexual Personae by Camille Paglia
Your wayward hosts return from their hiatus to discuss Camille Paglia's Sexual Personae, the worst book we've ever read about cultural criticism. Curbstomp anyone who tells you to read it. Irredeemable midwit tripe.
The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
In our first guest episode, the great Leo Delmar joins us from Florida to discuss The Unbearable Lightness of Being, which he's read thirty-two times. Other topics include a young Nic's competition-losing Maoist essays and Cerebus the Aardvark.
Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos
My dearest audience,
Never would I venture to suggest that your esteemed virtue is lacking in its expansive scope, and so I must naturally assume you are unaware of the great injury you do me by refusing to listen to my podcast. It therefore presses upon me to make it unambiguous to you how deeply I suffer and how fiercely my soul is inflamed that you will not download P.U.L.C.H. episode 14 in which Joyce and Nic discuss Pierre Choderlos de Laclos's 1782 epistolary novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses.
I beg of you: employ your saintly charity and yield succor to a soul in anguish!
-----
14 October, 20--
A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh
We read A Handful of Dust. The audio quality is bad again because Windows is terrible. Joyce read some Kafka. Nic sings a bit of Memory from Andrew Lloyd Weber's hit musical Cats.
Serotonin by Michel Houellebecq
America calling, America calling. Your fearless hosts delve into Michel Houellebecq's latest provocation, 2019's Serotonin. What will they think? What will they say? Only by pressing the play button on your podcast listening device can you be sure. Other topics include banned novels, weird software bugs, and Nic's disgust for a middle-aged anime lover.
Cosmos by Witold Gombrowicz
The PULCH team touch bases to network and brainstorm a content strategy raising awareness around Witold Gombrowicz's 1965 novel Cosmos. Nic gets a new microphone, and a young British boy's wristwatch torments him for years.
The Temptation of St. Anthony by Gustave Flaubert
Gustave Flaubert spent his whole life writing The Temptation of St. Anthony, published finally in 1874. The P.U.L.C.H. hosts discuss it and many other topics to delight and surprise you in this week's episode. Don't wait--listen now!
Against Nature by Joris-Karl Huysmans
Joyce discusses a novel about an isolated, perfume-obsessed aesthete with an isolated, perfume-obsessed aesthete. Neither of them pronounce the French correctly.
The Looking Glass War by John le Carré
Our friend in England converses with the short fellow about John le Carré's satirical spy thriller The Looking Glass War. Other topics include the boozy life of Malcom Lowry, the regrettable legitimization of TV as an artistic medium, and a yearning for legal, readily available heroin.
The Leopard by Giuseppe di Lampedusa
In the fourth P.U.L.C.H. episode, Nic and Joyce discourse on cartoons, Hollywood pedophiles, and Giuseppe di Lampedusa's 1958 novel "The Leopard."
The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover
In this first excursion into the world of cinema, your hosts discuss Peter Greenaway's 1989 The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover.
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
Despite audio issues, the P.U.L.C.H.ers hold a lively discussion about survivalist llamas, Joseph Goebbels's novel, and Ursula Le Guin's 1969 "The Left Hand of Darkness," a germinal tale of androgyny, cold, Taoism, cold, dreadful-sounding food, and cold.