Octothorpe

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60: Different Types of Tedium

June 23, 2022

John is going to brunch, Alison watched a film, and Liz is critical.

Please email your letters of comment to octothorpecast@gmail.com and tag @OctothorpeCast when you post about the show on social media.

Content warnings this episode: None

Letters of comment
- Kevin Standlee and Tammy Coxen
- Bridget Bradshaw
- Chris Garcia
- Unofficial Hugo Book Club on Twitter sent us a graph
- Catherine Crockett
  - Transcripts on eFanzines
  - Subtitles on Podbean - Jonathan Cowie asked “What special Hugo would we introduce if we were in charge at Glasgow?”
- Alison: Best Transcript
- Liz: Best Non-Fiction/Best Criticism
- John: Best Short Film or Best Dramatic Presentation (Very Short Form)
- Alison (seriously): Best Dramatic Presentation (Audio Form)
Hugo voting is now open until August 11th
Picks
- John: Moon Knight (Disney+)
- Alison: ABBA: Voyage
  - Pepper’s Ghost
- Liz: [PICK REDACTED]
Credits
- Cover art: DALL-E, courtesy of Bridget Bradshaw
  - Alt text: A three-by-three grid of images generated by DALL-E with the prompt “cover art for Octothorpe podcast”. They are quite surreal, often involve figures, and are mostly in shades of green and pink with one black and white one. They almost give an impression of Lovecraftian tutti-frutti.
- Theme music: ‘Fanfare for Space’ by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)

59: Chickens

June 9, 2022

John is roast beef, Alison is pickled onion, and Liz is flamin’ hot.

Please email your letters of comment to octothorpecast@gmail.com and tag @OctothorpeCast when you post about the show on social media.

Content warnings this episode: COVID (chapter 3)

Letters of comment
- Artwork: Dave Coxon
- Podcasts for tedium: Jonny Baddeley, Ali Baker Brooks, Virginia Preston
- Convention data: Chris Garcia, Lilian Edwards
- Worldcons: Malcolm Hutchison, Gillian Polack
- Picks:
  - Raybearer is getting the Netflix treatment
  - Abigail Nussbaum’s essay on Everything Everywhere All at Once
- Ali Baker Brooks: Athena Scalzi’s review of a British snack box
Fanzine Lounge at Chicon 8
- Alison’s job title is s alonnière
- You can volunteer to help out!
- Masks will be required as it’s not a designated space for eating and drinking
Hugo Voter Packet
- We are working on getting transcripts up for people who aren’t Worldcon members, stay tuned…
WSFS Constitution
- Kevin Standlee’s tweets
Picks
- John: Sci-Fi London’s short movie track
- Alison: Severance (Apple TV+)
- Liz was busy: Bob’s Burgers (Disney+)
Credits
- Cover art: “Monster Munch” by Alison Scott
  - Alt text: Photo manipulation of a purple packet of crisps reminiscent of Monster Munch, with “MEGA OCTOTHORPE PODCAST episode 59” written on the centre of the packet. below that are pictures of three monsters eating monster-paw shaped snack, and beneath each of those reads “40% massive hunks of John ‘roast beef’ Coxon flavour baked corn snack,” “40% huge chunks of Alison ‘pickled onion’ Scott flavour baked corn snack,” and “20% mighty bites of Liz ‘flamin’ hot' Batty flavour baked corn snack.”
- Theme music: ‘Fanfare for Space’ by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)

58: Oh No! Really? Pancakes

May 26, 2022

John has a paper cut, Alison feels seen, and Liz is cheating on her homework.

Please email your letters of comment to octothorpecast@gmail.com and tag @OctothorpeCast when you post about the show on social media.

Content warnings this episode: racism and sexism (chapter 6)

Letters of comment
- Phil Dyson
- Chris Garcia
- Bradley Harris
  - “I listened to some of your Octothorpe podcast which was cool in general just because I like to hear the British styles of speech. Also I agree with John that Detroit-style pizza is very good. I too have some food recommendations for Chicago so you may look forward to those (if you want to get a start, look up ‘Jibarito’), yum!”
- Mark Plummer
Hugo Voter Packets
DisCon III has translated their Souvenir Book into Chinese
- Chengdu Worldcon has a Translation Services Working Division
Chicon 8 programme participation
- “Chicon 8 will be using an opt-in program development model.”
Data in convention planning
- Disney’s FastPass: A Complicated History by Defunctland
- Len Testa’s model of theme park behaviour
Picks
- Alison: Everything Everywhere All at Once
- John: Paper cuts
- Liz: Raybearer (paperback, epub, audiobook, Amazon) and Redemptor (paperback, epub, audiobook, Amazon) by Jordan Ifueko
Credits
- Cover art: Brad W Foster
  - Image description: Illustration by Brad W Foster. Three aliens cluster around an old-style radio microphone in turquoise with a red speaker grille and green text saying “ON AIR”. The aliens from left to right are green, pink, and blue and look suspiciously like the hosts of Octothorpe. The title of the podcast is atop the artwork in orange.
- Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)

57: Back Bacon is Best

May 12, 2022

John is a muppet bilby, Alison is actively drinking, and Liz MURDERS OWLS.

Please email your letters of comment to octothorpecast@gmail.com and tag @OctothorpeCast when you post about the show on social media.

Content warnings this episode: COVID (chapter 3), animal hunting (chapter 7)

Letters of comment
- Malcolm Hutchison: ‘Listening to the sound John makes at start of this episode made me visualise John as a Muppet (in a good way)’
- Chris Garcia
- Roman Orszanski
- Jersey Gryphon: ‘The Hello Internet podcast did a vinyl edition episode before jumping the shark and doing a 4–5 minute wax cylinder episode.’
Reclamation 2022
- 74 cases before tracing stopped,, all over the convention, lots of different fan networks
- ‘One-woman superspreader event Alison Scott has absolutely no regrets’ – Shona (Prufrax)
- Norwescon had case 3 and case 5 which will pass into fannish infamy
- A journal article discussing Omicron attack rates
Fia Karlsson has won TAFF!
Chicon 8
- We’re all going!
Picks
- John: Detroit-style pizza from Square
  - John also likes this Detroit-style pizza from San Francisco that he didn’t mention
- Alison: Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve (paperback, epub, audiobook, Amazon)
- Liz: Horizon Forbidden West (digital, PS4 disc, PS5 disc)
Credits
- Cover art: Alison Scott
- Theme music: ‘Fanfare for Space’ by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)

56: Sorry, Am I Supposed to Be Recording This

April 28, 2022

John, Alison, and Liz are live from Reclamation, the 2022 Eastercon!

Please email your letters of comment to octothorpecast@gmail.com and tag @OctothorpeCast when you post about the show on social media.

Content warnings this episode: None

Conversation 2023
Levitation 2024
Nicholas Whyte’s blog, From the Heart of Europe
- No merchandise (yet)
This Never Happened
- John’s Untappd check-in
Taste of Mold
Victoria Line moquette sofa
Picks
- Liz: The Midnight Bargain by C. L. Polk (paperback, epub, audiobook, Amazon)
- John: A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger (hardback, epub, audiobook, Amazon)
Credits
- Cover art: Duncan MacGregor
- Theme music: Fanfare for Space by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)

55: Beatboxing Champagne

April 14, 2022

John is a Hugo Award finalist, Alison is a Hugo Award winner, and Liz’s mum got a folk award once.

Please email your letters of comment to octothorpecast@gmail.com and tag @OctothorpeCast when you post about the show on social media.

Content warnings this episode: classism (chapter 2)

Hugo Awards
- We are a finalist for Best Fancast
  - We are SO EXCITED
  - John and Alison are almost certainly going to Chicon 8 (Liz is a “maybe”)
  - We will be thrilled to lose to any of the other finalists (especially Hugo, Girl!)
Letters of comment:
- Ali Baker
  - A whole emergency episode of Fantasy Book swap!
- Malcolm Hutchison
- DC
- Duncan MacGregor
- Nick Gibbins
- Jonny Baddeley
Eastercon
- We are live from Eastercon at 1:30pm on Monday!
- The fan funds are having “amazeballs” and a silent auction
The Hugo Awards
- Do these all look Chinese?
Liz has been listening to Lifewriting by Tananarive Due and Stephen Barnes - Brandon Sanderson
- Alex Holden’s concertinas
- Brandon Sanderson’s YouTube channel
  - His confession
  - They backed every publishing Kickstarter
- The project on Kickstarter
  - It made $41m!
- Sanderson’s blog post about the Kickstarter
  - Including details about how he wanted to have an alternative platform away from Amazon dominance
  - His team is so big he has an HR director, he’s splitting that cash quite a lot of ways
Tolstoy on wax cylinder
Picks
- Rossum’s Universal Robots on BBC Radio 4
- Liz: Base Notes by Lara Elena Donnelly (paperback, Kindle, John can’t find an alternative ebook vendor)
  - N ice review from Lee Mandelo
- John: Moon Knight vol. 7 (comiXology, Marvel)
Credits
- Cover art: WSFS/The Hugo Awards (!)
- Theme music: Fanfare for Space by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)

54: Embrace the Sweat

March 31, 2022

John is dancing, Alison is listening, and Liz is Batman.

Please email your letters of comment to octothorpecast@gmail.com and tag @OctothorpeCast when you post about the show on social media.

Content warnings this episode: COVID (chapter 1), war and human rights (chapter 2)

Letters of comment:
- Chris Garcia
- Everyone liked Sue’s art and everyone wants John to get better soon
- Liz saw a cat
- Jonny Baddeley is giving John his old Netrunner stuff
- Jonny Baddeley has questions about discos in COVID times
- Lori really liked Six Wakes and is going to try to convince her cohosts to add it to her schedule eventually
Chengdu 2022
- Human rights
  - GoH Sergei Lukyanenko signed a letter on Ukraine
  - Netflix distance from Cixin Liu
  - Open letter to try and revoke the 2023 site selection
  - Liz’s links to different indices for measuring this
    - Democracy Index
    - Freedom in the World
- Membership rates
  - Cheap and cheaper
  - But they are selling one without WSFS voting rights
  - To the WSFS constitution, Bat-Liz!
  - If you simply define a single programme item that the non-WSFS members can’t attend you don’t break the rules – win!
FAAn awards
- The Incompleat Register has the results
- Congratulations to the winners!
- Thanks to the people who voted for us anyway even after we told you not to
Picks:
- John bought a house
- Alison is listening to My Real Children by Jo Walton (paperback, epub, Kindle, Audible)
- Liz has read The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik (hardback, paperback, epub, Kindle, audiobook)
Credits
- Cover art: Alison Scott
- Theme music: Fanfare for Space by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)

53: It Was John’s Idea

March 17, 2022

John has COVID, Alison wanted to do a podcast, and Liz had no better offers.

Please email your letters of comment to octothorpecast@gmail.com and tag @OctothorpeCast when you post about the show on social media.

Content warnings this episode: None

Find a text version of our answers to Cora’s questions here!

Cover art: Sue Mason

Theme music: Fanfare for Space by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)

52: Who’s Robert Picardo?

March 3, 2022

John, Alison and Liz have been nominated for a BSFA Award! (Also, Liz is on holiday, naturally.)

Please email your letters of comment to octothorpecast@gmail.com and tag @OctothorpeCast when you post about the show on social media.

Content warnings this episode: None

Letters of comment
- Chris Garcia
  - The Flying Fantastical Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore
- Peter Sullivan
  - Chris for TAFF
- Kin-Ming Looi
- Duncan MacGregor
- Lori Anderson
Hugo deadline is March 15th
- We recommended some things on Cora Buhlert’s blog
- Tears of the Anaren by C. W. Longbottom
Eastercon: What do you want from your bids?
- Liz:
  - Who’s running it and why?
  - Where and why?
    - Are there significant drawbacks?
  - Commitment to having code of conduct/access policies, even if they’re in progress
  - Why will it be particularly fun?
  - What bits of Eastercon tradition don’t you plan to implement (if any)?
  - What are your plans for hybrid/virtual content?
  - Do you have a good presentation that shows you have organisational nous?
- Alison:
  - Expanding on who’s running the convention a little
  - Are you running at Easter? (See Eastercon tradition)
  - What about real ale?
  - What are your provisions for children?
- John:
  - How much will it cost?
Picks
- Liz: The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years: From The Next Generation to J. J. Abrams: The Complete, Uncensored, and Unauthorized Oral History of Star Trek (hardback, epub, Kindle)
- John: Android: Netrunner (eBay)
- Alison: I Didn’t Do the Thing Today by Madeleine Dore (paperback, epub, Kindle)
The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri (paperback, epub, Kindle)
Music credits
- Our theme music is Fanfare for Space by Kevin MacLeod, used under a CC BY 4.0 license