Derek & Laurel dish on myths, history, pop culture and more as they explore universal themes in storytelling. From Game of Thrones and Harry Potter to the Marvel Universe and Star Wars, we've been making pop culture sound smart since 2017. Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/midnightmyth/support
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(BONUS) The Wheel of Ka: Finders Keepers
1:09:42
1:09:42
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Derek and Steve discuss the second book in the Bill Hodges Trilogy, Finders Keepers and how it connects to the Dark Tower — Check out our merch store for Midnight Myth, Boomerangerang, Sleep & Sorcery and Wheel of Ka tees and totes! Learn more, view sources and inspiration, and sign up for e-mail updates at www.midnightmyth.com Check out Sleep & So…
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Meditation: What's the Deal with the Jedi?
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35:30
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After spending the last few months talking nothing but Star Wars, Derek and Laurel finally get to the real question we’ve all been wondering…What’s the deal with the Jedi? Religious order or security forces? Warrior or priest? — Check out our merch store for Midnight Myth, Boomerangerang, Sleep & Sorcery and Wheel of Ka tees and totes! Learn more, …
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(BONUS) The Wheel of Ka: Mr. Mercedes
1:19:25
1:19:25
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Steve and Derek talk Mr. Mercedes — Check out our merch store for Midnight Myth, Boomerangerang, Sleep & Sorcery and Wheel of Ka tees and totes! Learn more, view sources and inspiration, and sign up for e-mail updates at www.midnightmyth.com Check out Sleep & Sorcery, Laurel’s podcast for fantasy and folklore-inspired bedtime stories. Support on Pa…
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Episode 218: I Have the High Ground | Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
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We conclude, at long last, our series on the Star Wars prequels with an in-depth look at Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. How do the Jedi sow the seeds of their own downfall? How does the Force - and our relationship to it - evolve throughout the prequels? Is this movie just a post-Freudian adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein?? Come along wi…
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Steve and Derek talk Stephen King’s Misery and how it relates to the Dark Tower — Check out our merch store for Midnight Myth, Boomerangerang, Sleep & Sorcery and Wheel of Ka tees and totes! Learn more, view sources and inspiration, and sign up for e-mail updates at www.midnightmyth.com Check out Sleep & Sorcery, Laurel’s podcast for fantasy and fo…
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Meditation: Is Die Hard a Christmas Movie?
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53:12
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Let it snow, listeners, because this is it - the definitive debate! We’re going to answer, once and for all, whether Die Hard (1988) is Christmas movie, with ABSOLUTE CERTAINTY… kind of. We get deep into the internet’s favorite festive debate, and where it intersects with Post-Modernism, linguistics, and folklore in the digital age. Yippee-ki-yay, …
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Episode 217: The Senate, Sand, and Other Things | Stars Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
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55:33
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And now for a movie that’s as coarse, rough, and irritating as sand! Still, in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, we find meaningful parallels to military history across the world (the US, Ancient Rome, and Enlightenment France, for example). Plus, why the Jedi should adopt a practice of courtly love. — Check out our merch store for Midnig…
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Episode 216: Now This Is Podracing | Star Wars Ep. I: The Phantom Menace
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1:06:27
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A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, two podcasters strapped in for an exciting undertaking… It’s been years since we first sat down to analyze the original Star Wars trilogy, one movie at a time; now, we take on the prequels. Framing our conversation about the much-maligned films are questions about the nature of the Force, the balance of p…
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Episode 215: Midnight Dreary | The Fall of the House of Usher (2023), Egyptian Mythology & Poe
1:08:56
1:08:56
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Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary… We’re back for a spooky Halloween special covering Mike Flanagan’s latest anthology outing for Netflix, The Fall of the House of Usher. This reworking of the bibliography of Edgar Allan Poe opens many avenues for discussion, including a focus on Egyptian mythology and burial ritual, the…
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Perhaps it is time to begin again… In this wrap-up and breakdown of Ahsoka, we look to the limits (and limitlessness) of the galaxy George Lucas created over forty years ago. We share our impressions, predictions, and analysis of the show’s first season before heading into a larger conversation about the future of Star Wars. — Check out our merch s…
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Come on Barbie! Let’s go party! In this laidback Midnight Myth Meditation, we’re discussing the smash-hit Barbie. We talk about its impact on cinema-going, the folklore of Barbenheimer, and how one little doll is taking on the patriarchy. With lots of love for Greta Gerwig’s triumph. — Check out our merch store for Midnight Myth, Boomerangerang, Sl…
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Episode 213: Summer's End | Moonrise Kingdom (2012), Mythology & Music
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The thrilling conclusion of our Wes Anderson series is here! This week, we take a close look at Moonrise Kingdom and its mythic and musical roots. What lies beneath the surface of this seemingly familiar story of star-crossed lovers? What makes the island of New Penzance such a unique place to set the scene? And what does Noah’s Flood - the Biblica…
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(BONUS) The Wheel of Ka: The Talisman Part 2
1:11:42
1:11:42
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Derek and Steve talk Stephen King's the Talisman Part 2. — Check out our merch store for Midnight Myth, Boomerangerang, Sleep & Sorcery and Wheel of Ka tees and totes! Learn more, view sources and inspiration, and sign up for e-mail updates at www.midnightmyth.com Check out Sleep & Sorcery, Laurel’s podcast for fantasy and folklore-inspired bedtime…
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While we gather our notes for the continuation of our Wes Anderson series, enjoy this meditation on HBO’s recently wrapped Succession. What kind of tragedy unfolds in the high echelons of corporate America? Why does the “war of succession” story compel us, wherever or whenever it is set? — Check out our merch store for Midnight Myth, Boomerangerang…
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(BONUS) The Wheel of Ka: The Talisman Part 1
1:03:46
1:03:46
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Wheel of Ka Returns to talk Stephen King’s the Talisman — Check out our merch store for Midnight Myth, Boomerangerang, Sleep & Sorcery and Wheel of Ka tees and totes! Learn more, view sources and inspiration, and sign up for e-mail updates at www.midnightmyth.com Check out Sleep & Sorcery, Laurel’s podcast for fantasy and folklore-inspired bedtime …
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Happy Wednesday! Enjoy a little bonus meditation: our thoughts on the final(?) season of Ted Lasso, Apple TV+’s flagship show about football, positivity, and mental health. Our thoughts on the show’s most resounding themes, its wonderful characters, and applications of its lessons in real life. #COYG — Check out our merch store for Midnight Myth, B…
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Episode 212: Bond Company Stooge | The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Mythology & Oceanography
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1:00:48
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Come shed a tear or two with us on an odyssey through the Mediterranean. We’re discussing The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. We’ll plumb the depths of its emotional impact, its inspiration in the life and work of Jacques Cousteau, and the mythological stories it reworks. This is the continuation of our mini-series on the works of Wes Anderson, eve…
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Episode 211: Family of Geniuses | The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), Greek & Roman Mythology
1:07:56
1:07:56
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Join us, if you like, in the perfectly imperfect house on Archer Avenue, where lived the once—great Tenenbaums, a family of geniuses. A decade of failure has brought us here, the Tenenbaum children scattered across New York and the seas, and their father, Royal, at last estranged. What will happen when we get everyone back under one roof? This is t…
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(BONUS) Wheel of Ka: 11/22/63 part 3
1:04:44
1:04:44
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Part 3 and the conclusion of our discussion on Stephen King’s novel, 11/22/63. — Check out our merch store for Midnight Myth, Boomerangerang, Sleep & Sorcery and Wheel of Ka tees and totes! Learn more, view sources and inspiration, and sign up for e-mail updates at www.midnightmyth.com Check out Sleep & Sorcery, Laurel’s podcast for fantasy and fol…
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Fellow Traveler's on the Path of the Beam, Derek and Steve are back doing part two of Stephen King's 11/22/63. We talk about the first two third's of the book, where its going and where it relates to the Dark Tower — Check out our merch store for Midnight Myth, Boomerangerang, Sleep & Sorcery and Wheel of Ka tees and totes! Learn more, view sources…
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Episode 210: Heads Will Roll | Sleepy Hollow feat. Garden of Doom
1:18:32
1:18:32
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There’s a little town upstate, a close-knit community - mainly Dutch - called Sleepy Hollow. The village is haunted by a terrible specter: the Headless Horseman. Only Ichabod Crane, a squeamish, yet sensible officer of the law can crack the mystery that plagues Sleepy Hollow - if he can avoid losing his head. Tim Burton’s Gothic melodrama Sleepy Ho…
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(BONUS) The Wheel of Ka | 11/22/63 Part 1
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57:57
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Fellow travelers on the path of the Beam, Derek and Steve are back discussing the first four parts of Stephen King’s time traveling epic, 11/22/63. If you could change the past, would you? If you tried, would you actually change the events or would you cause a new reality to spring into existence? If you live long enough pretending to be someone el…
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Midnight Myth Meditation: Mythology vs Folklore in Big Fish (2003)
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It’s a Midnight Myth Meditation disguised as a two-parter, carrying on from last week’s conversation around Big Fish. What is the difference between folklore and myth - if, like 18 and 28, there’s any difference at all? Are Edward Bloom’s stories myths or folktales? Does it matter? We’ll debate and discuss in this week’s bonus episode. — Check out …
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Episode 209: Drying Out | Big Fish (2003), Mythology & Truth
1:09:22
1:09:22
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Here to separate fact from fiction, the man from the myth, we’re back with a long overdue discussion of Big Fish, Tim Burton’s 2003 ode to fathers and sons. We peel back the layers of this Southern Gothic fairy tale to uncover truths - objective and symbolic - mythic antecedents, and even more questions. Some Irish mythology, some Homeric epic… plu…
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(Bonus) The Wheel of Ka: The Shining | Trauma, Ghosts, and Booze
1:22:07
1:22:07
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Fellow travelers on the path of the Beam, Wheel of Ka is back! On this episode Derek and Steve go to Colorado to the Overlook Hotel with Jack, Wendy and of course, little Danny Torrence. Yes my friends, this is the Wheel of Ka episode on Stephen King’s The Shining. One of his first books, it helped put King on the map as one of America’s greatest n…
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