Episode 024: Digging into the Past with Dr. Douglas Ross

This week I'm talking to Dr. Douglas Ross. Doug  holds a PhD in Archaeology from Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, BC, specializing in the lives of early Chinese and Japanese immigrants on the West Coast. He is Currently living the high life in sunny California, where he’s a senior archaeologist at Ablion Environmental, an archaeological consulting firm in Santa Cruz. 

Doug was also my very dear friend and former university  roommate. We met in first year and became fast friends. In fact, he's one of the only people I have ever sung in public with. During the years we were at WLU, we both introduced each other to things that we're still passionate about and discovered things together.

Doug and I have similar approaches to our fandoms - we like to collect and learn as much as we can about them; and they're eclectic. Doug recently contacted me, after listening to the podcast, and had realized how many of his seemingly varied interests actually trace to a fascination with the darker side of human existence: the folkloric, the superstitious, the "supernatural." Our conversation, the kind that only happens between  good friends, goes all over the map: corpse medicine, fears of being buried alive, vampires,  Doug's recent interest in gothic literature, tiki bars and Dutch painters.

If you'd like to be in contact with Doug, he's at Dross@albionenvironmental.com

You can follow me on Twitter @mwboyce to pass along feedback or ideas. I'd love to hear from you.

You can follow the podcast on Twitter @geek4pod and on Instagram @geek4pod

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Episode 023: The House That Dripped Cev Moore

Cev Moore Is a UK based musician and podcaster. He cohosts Film Guff Podcast, which offers low brow talk about low rent movies, and Here Lies Amicus, which explores the work of the decidedly low rent British horror studio Amicus Productions. His love of movies - particularly the under funded and under appreciated - is infectious. We cover the schlocky, and not so schlocky, British horror - from Ealing's Dead of Night, to Amicus and Hammer. We're talking The Psychopath (1966), Dr. Who and the Daleks (1963), Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. (1966), Taste of Fear (1961), Asylum (1972) Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee!

Listen to Cev's podcasts:  Here Lies Amicus and The Film Guff Podcast

Follow him on Twitter and Instagram

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Episode 022: Once More with Kendra Monk

It's usually pretty easy to become a fan of thing . Something grabs our attention and appeals to us on a gut level - whether it's a show,a sport, a movie, a book, a type of art., gardening

When you love something, you can usually weather small disappointments - a bad season, a bigg loss, an ill conceived spinoff, some poor casting, or difficult technique that you just can't seem to master

But what if the disappointment is much more profound?  What if it has to do with the actions, behaviours, or opinions of some key person in whatever it is you love? When a creator, founder, player, writer, actor has been accused of some criminal or immoral behaviour , predatory practice, hate speech. How does that impact your ability to identify as a fan of something.  Does being fan mean you have to ignore such accusations or charges? Do such charges or accusations mean you have to stop being a fan of something? Is it ever cut and dry?

Today we're talking to Kendra Monk. Kendra is the organizer and brains behind the annual Sing Along with Horrible Feeling, Once More, the  Buffy/ Dr Horrible Sing along event here in Winnipeg. She's a huge fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and has had to navigate her fandom through some pretty damning accusations made against Buffy creator, Joss Whedon.

If you're in Winnipeg and are curious about attending or just experiencing the magic of the Sing Along with Horrible Feeling, Once More, which will be held at the newly renovated Park Theatre, you can follow the event on on their Facebook page Instagram @wpgdrbuffy or Twitter @wpgdrbuffy Also, follow #WPGDRBUFFY  to see people's posts about past events.

And if you listen on Apple Podcasrt, please consider leaving a 5 Star Review. It helps other people be able to find the show. Thank, geeks.