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Study 105 - The Presentation (Patreon)

Published:
2024-09-05 14:37:32
Imported:
2024-09
Tags:

Content

Grab a seat as Patton Oswalt returns to discuss The Presentation by Michael Shea!

And don't forget to snag a copy of Momma Durtt while you're at it!

Or how about Barfly, from the World of Minor Threats? (The artist mentioned in the episode is Scott Hepburn, btw)

This is the last story in our coverage on Copping Squid. Can't get an affordable copy of Copping Squid? Check out Demiurge: The Complete Cthulhu Mythos Tales of Michael Shea!

As with most presentations, we apologize for some of the spotty call quality!

Files

Comments

Karl Haikara

So great to hear Patton back on covering Shea. You guys should definitely continue on with more Shea

Steve

A big Patton the back for everyone involved!

ESTY

“Beware the artist, they mix with all levels of society, and are therefore most dangerous.” -Queen Victoria If poetry/ abstract is at one end of the spectrum, and wordless Lego instructions/literal at the other; comics are the perfect marriage of both with all of their strengths and none of their weaknesses… they are the best way to communicate ideas. A couple notes: The real-world comic publisher that Death Moan is based on is Last Gasp. Patton meant to say David Cho (David Chang is the chef) And the name Chet is a reference to the original black and white, Eastman/Laird Ninja Turtles comics which had a running gag of characters and businesses named Chet. Love this episode and the story, Thank you 🙏

Ryan Thomas

Michael Shea's description of the mural, which is on both the wall and part of the floor, parallels for me how one might describe a laptop. New, but old, with a sense of coldness, "hinged jaws that opened on a seamless, lifeless gulf." I wonder if the connection I see between the "folded plane" of the mural's "living mouth of stone" and the laptops brought by the audience/investors was Mr. Shea's intention. Just as the theater disappears into the void, the audience being pierced by glowing green, burning eyeballs, so seemingly do my surroundings while the light of the screen burns my eyeballs and steals my soul.

Eric - Speaker in Digressions

So what I'm hearing is that in Patton's comics the fly spontaneously generated? Very old school. There's a lot of "Nyarlathotep" in the mysterious traveling presenter and the transportation of the theatergoers into another reality. Usually Nyarlathoteppy characters are a bit shabby, like Stephen King's "Walkin' Dude," but why not have a corporate suit model?

Allison Albright

Oh no you guys, I'm starting to think that the real Cthulhu is the robber barons and tech billionaires we made along the way. In seriousness, Cthulhu is a gilded age monster. It's probably not entirely coincidental that it had a bit of a resurgence during a 2nd gilded age. And I can see some similarities between an entity like Cthulhu and a Rockefeller, or a Ford, or a Thiel, or a Musk. I think that art is possibly one of the only things with the potential to be as powerful as money. Nazis are somewhat notorious for their hatred of art that pushes boundaries or isn't strictly representative. I mean they're notorious for a lot of other things too, but hatred of art is among them. They destroy it whenever they're able to. In my opinion, one of the signs of a social movement with nothing but empty grievance at its heart, bent on human destruction is if the art of that movement is essentially hollow. Art is an antedote to loneliness. Art is human connection. Art is one of the methods through which we change the world, even just a bit at a time. Anyway, I really enjoyed the conversation you guys had about this story. Patton Oswalt is always a great addition.

It's a Ghost.

I often think about this quote by Peter Capaldi regarding advice he'd give writers and directors starting out. "Surround yourself with talented people, and do everything for as little money as possible . . . The more money comes into the picture, the more control other people exercise, and the more difficult it is to get what you want on the screen. If there isn't a lot of money involved, people don't care. And if you are surrounded by gifted people, they will take very little money . . . When I did the Kafka film [Kranz Kafka's It's A Wonderful Life], I thought, 'I’ll surround myself with people who, if we have nothing, I know at the end of the day they can lift a paintbrush, paint the sky, or make something.' So surround yourself with gifted people you trust, and take no money." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMltlFAIQrE&t=956s

Eldritch Golem (JPM)

I had somehow convinced myself that when Patton came back it would be to discuss Michael Shea's "The Autopsy" and the David Prior adaptation for Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities. But rounding out the Copping Squid collection makes sense. I still hope you'll cover "The Autopsy" in the future, but doing the Nifft the Lean stories sounds fun - if only those weren't also out of print. Also I seem to recall that it was Patton who reached out to Chris and Chad about being on the show, but another celebrity that I would love to hear come on who I bet would in a heartbeat is Paul Giamatti as he is also on record as being a big Lovecraft/Weird Fiction fan. He's also a Fortean, to callback to my own comments from last month.

Richard Maier Art

During the early days of the pandemic, I listened to old episodes of the podcast a lot. At the time, it bummed me out that we probably wouldn't get to hear the rest of the Michael Shea Mythos stories until the pandemic had passed. Well, all these years later, it's finally happened! Patton is back! Notify the CDC and let them know that the pandemic is now *officially* over! I hope "The Autopsy" and the Antarctic stories from "Demiurge" get some love at some point, and I'm sure "Nifft the Lean" would be awesome too. Great work as always, guys!

Cole Caron

This was my favorite story in Copping Squid. I was really struck by Shea’s use of em dashes to represent the creative process of the narrator, which Patton commented on without mentioning the punctuation. Those sentences have a really clear structure that repeats: he has an idea, a related idea, getting closer until—the idea takes its final form like a strike of lightning. The process of mulling over a nebulous cloud of interrelated ideas that suddenly comes into perfect focus without warning was very relatable. It’s an excellent representation of the internal experience of creating something new.

Professor Murder

Kudos to Mr Oswalt for referencing 'The Second Coming". Very appropriate. Some really keen thoughts here. Always a pleasure to hear him on the show.

Robby

After hearing the episode, I came all the way here to write my first comment (longtime listener, first time caller) and by god, I can't remember what I was going to say. I guess I'm getting old. Anyway, Love Shea, big thanks to you guys for getting me into his work! (I'm sure I'll remember at 3:00am some morning a week from now.)

The Chet

The wolf-faced skeleton made me think ghouls, but it didn't really pan out unless that was also just a little HPL flavoring (although he would spell it flavour). Also, as a guy who goes by Chet, you guys are right; you only know one of us a a time.

Michael Cunliffe

The world will end not with a bang, nor with a whimper, but a ‘yeah, that sounds about right’ 🤷🏻‍♂️

Jeremy Impson

I bought and read Demiurge based on y'all's recommendation in the first episode that Patton guest hosted on. When I read this story then and when I listened to it now, for no reason I could possibly imagine much less explain, every time the name "Ron Tindal" got referenced, I replaced it with the name "Dick Trickle", and let me tell you it substantially effects the tone of the story.

JonEsprockets

This was also my favorite story in the collection and Wow! What a collection!

Andrew Brown

I gotta be honest I had a different reaction... felt too close a lecture at times. One of the keys to cosmic horror is that the universe doesn't care, so "nothing matters". This seemed to be mired in the real world and left me cold. I like some of Shea's stuff but likely gonna pass on this one.

David Halstead

Nice outro music. Not sure if I've heard this one before, but has a Joy Division vibe. Which is fitting as you discussed 70s bands appropriating Nazi symbolism.

Jim Cannon

I found a relevant podcast regarding revolutionary philosophies called Shea Guevara or did y'all already do that one? I can't remember

Anne Ominous

Such a fun listen - you three have some great chemistry

Stewart

Listening to this helped clarify why I don't like Michael Shea stories. This one felt largely devoid of mystery, and the finance bros possibly selling their souls or what have you to Cthulhu in exchange for stock performance wasn't a particularly interesting denouement. I realized after listening that the cosmic horror never feels cosmic in Shea; it feels small, grubby, and knowable.

Jaemin Jang

I really wish I could find a copy of Copping Squid… maybe we could convince Hippocampus Press to get the rights and do another print run with pre-orders?