MU Podcast 040 – Bugs in the Journo's Belfry

Discussion about podcast episodes
Post Reply
Keeper Dan
Daemon Sultan
Daemon Sultan
Posts:708
Joined:Thu Jul 05, 2012 4:46 pm
MU Podcast 040 – Bugs in the Journo's Belfry

Post by Keeper Dan » Sun Oct 06, 2013 8:42 pm

Image
In episode 40, we’re spooling up the time machine to investigate how news and media worked in the Jazz age and beyond. Then, we take a trip back to the Bestiary's secret laboratory to dissect the Insects from Shaggai.


Campus Crier
Charles Stross has a new Novella out called Equoidavailable to read for free at tor.com. This is a continuation of his Laundry Files series and is an excellent read which features H.P. Lovecraft prominently.


Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition Quick-Start Rules PDF is available to the public!


Raiders of Ryleh successfully funded with a total of $28,221.


Oscar Rios’s Island of Ignorance has reached the final phases and will have been in the printer’s hands for almost a week by the time you are hearing this. This puts Golden Goblin on track to have the books out on schedule. Congratulations Oscar and the entire team at Golden Goblin.


Brian Sammons has an article up on Innsmouth Free Press listing out his four favorite podcasts, and generously places MUP among them. Thanks for the kind words Brian!


Contest


Announcing a contest sponsored by Cryptocurium! As we mentioned in the Crier, for one week at a time Cryptocurium is offering exclusive items in Nyarlathotep's Bazaar, never to be seen again. And we’re giving one away!
We have the item that just ended, the Eye of Azathoth Ouija Board. Includes a glow-in-the-dark Nightgaunt planchette. (Board measures 12" x 15")


Image
To enter, go here: http://www.mu-podcast.com/40


Card Catalog


This episode's awesome online resource for Keepers is: Cthulhu Reborn. Check it out -- there's character sheets, scenarios, and lots of other goodies for free!


Bestiary


In this installment of our monster mansion segment, we get close and personal with the those 10-legged space-faring refugee vermin, the Shan. Check out the Wiki article here. And another image at Yog-Blogsoth.


Somehow along the way, we mention a bunch of films starring Denzel Washington, including the tangentially-related Fallen.
Another thing that Dan thought of later on after recording, is that the Shan can be used much the same as the Goa'uld on Stargate: SG-1.


Cryptocurium Newsflash


Nyarlathotep's Bazaar has arrived with the Equinox! Six weeks of new limited edition items each available for ONE WEEK ONLY brought to you by everyone's favorite traveling showman!


It started with an Esoteric Order of Dagon hoodie, then the Eye of Azathoth Ouija Board, now it has a Yig artifact in a shadow box.


Review


Murph gives us a quick preview of Chaosium's Undead and Unbound book of Lovecraftian fiction.


Main Topic


This week's topic comes to us from Jacek, via our Google Plus page.


"Could you guys delve more into how news were made back in the 1920? How radio/press worked, how fast the news spread in different parts of the world. What are the differences between now and then and such? We had discussion during our last game about how fast and what type of info can reach press."

You bet, Jacek!


Hold on to your press badges, because we mentioned a sheaf of links that you can check out for further investigation. History House has a nice overview of various news events in history, and how long it took for London papers to print the stories. By the 1920's worldwide telegraph networks and the Transatlantic Cable made news delivery pretty fast -- inside of 24-hours if the story is newsworthy.


We also talk about the history of radio news, and the fast-talking Floyd Gibbons. For a look at changes in radio news delivery, check out this overview, or this one!


We also delve into the development of newsreels after the "talkie" revolution in cinema.


In yet another meander, we talk about the development of late night radio, and how it spawned such strange children of the night as Joe Frank, Dr. Demento, Art Bell and Coast to Coast AM.


In discussing the state of current journalism, we mention this depressing site that is tracking the decline of printed newspapers.


Unicron image by Venksta.
Keeper Dan of the Miskatonic University Podcast

User avatar
Howard
Graduate Student
Graduate Student
Posts:198
Joined:Wed Jan 30, 2013 7:29 am
Location:Akron, Oh
Re: MU Podcast 040 – Bugs in the Journo's Belfry

Post by Howard » Wed Oct 09, 2013 6:50 am

Good show fellas. The "news travels fast" segment was great. I used to listen to Art Bell and I still youtube old radio.

trevlix
Investigator
Investigator
Posts:510
Joined:Sun Aug 19, 2012 2:58 am
Contact:
Re: MU Podcast 040 – Bugs in the Journo's Belfry

Post by trevlix » Wed Oct 09, 2013 6:28 pm

Great podcast!

I am going to disagree on one point though. I think it was Murph said that every Shan ship had an avatar of Azathoth in it (Xada-Hgla). However, I thought the ships each had a gate to Xada-Hgla, not the actual avatar. Its been a while since I read the story, but thats how I recall it.

In any case, great job. I really enjoyed the news discussion. Well done!
[Trafford: Insanity: 4, Exhaustion: 2]

http://keepingthegame.blogspot.com/

User avatar
KeeperMurph
Daemon Sultan
Daemon Sultan
Posts:311
Joined:Thu Jul 26, 2012 2:14 am
Contact:
Re: MU Podcast 040 – Bugs in the Journo's Belfry

Post by KeeperMurph » Fri Oct 11, 2013 12:07 am

Each ship has a device which allows for the same avatar to be present in each ship simultaneously. I thought I mentioned that in the show but I night have forgotten.
Image

trevlix
Investigator
Investigator
Posts:510
Joined:Sun Aug 19, 2012 2:58 am
Contact:
Re: MU Podcast 040 – Bugs in the Journo's Belfry

Post by trevlix » Fri Oct 11, 2013 11:40 am

KeeperMurph wrote:Each ship has a device which allows for the same avatar to be present in each ship simultaneously. I thought I mentioned that in the show but I night have forgotten.
You did. I may have mis-heard it then. When I read the story I took it as the device was a gate to the avatar, instead of it being present on the ship. Although I have to admit that its much more terrifying to think of all these ships around the universe with an avatar of Azathoth on it.
[Trafford: Insanity: 4, Exhaustion: 2]

http://keepingthegame.blogspot.com/

User avatar
Scriven
Sponsor
Sponsor
Posts:239
Joined:Wed Aug 29, 2012 1:56 am
Location:Lincoln, Nebraska USA
Re: MU Podcast 040 – Bugs in the Journo's Belfry

Post by Scriven » Fri Oct 11, 2013 1:58 pm

I thought this was a GREAT show -- I got a lot of new insight into how newsrooms and the news production process worked overall in the era. In fact, I'm wondering if a regular segment on specific professions in classic (or other non-modern) settings might not make a great addition to the show format. It could be especially valuable in cases where technological or cultural change has significantly distanced us from what those professions, working conditions, state of knowledge used to be in the 1920s or earlier.

"What keepers/players need to know about being a [name of profession] in a classic-era game" (journalist, priest, psychiatrist, police officer, ship captain, astronomer, etc., etc.)

Those of us in the MUP community with specific knowledge about a certain area (c.f. Keeper Chad's journalism background) might volunteer information, resources or ideas for those segments.

Just a thought. Well done, guys.
AKA Professor Max von Schiller of the Miskatonic Area Paranormal Society (MAPS)
AKA George Finch of the Secret Everest Expedition
"Let's see if someone tries to kill us and work backwards" -- Dr. Who

Dr. Gerard
Professor
Professor
Posts:1353
Joined:Wed Jul 25, 2012 2:00 pm
Re: MU Podcast 040 – Bugs in the Journo's Belfry

Post by Dr. Gerard » Sun Oct 13, 2013 2:58 am

Scriven wrote:I thought this was a GREAT show -- I got a lot of new insight into how newsrooms and the news production process worked overall in the era. In fact, I'm wondering if a regular segment on specific professions in classic (or other non-modern) settings might not make a great addition to the show format. It could be especially valuable in cases where technological or cultural change has significantly distanced us from what those professions, working conditions, state of knowledge used to be in the 1920s or earlier.

"What keepers/players need to know about being a [name of profession] in a classic-era game" (journalist, priest, psychiatrist, police officer, ship captain, astronomer, etc., etc.)

Those of us in the MUP community with specific knowledge about a certain area (c.f. Keeper Chad's journalism background) might volunteer information, resources or ideas for those segments.

Just a thought. Well done, guys.
Thanks, and I love this idea.
Keeper of the Cthulhu Dark "Secret Everest Expedition" PbP scenario
Rip Wheeler in the Call of Cthulhu "No Man's Land" scenario
Plays for Keepers

User avatar
fox01313
Graduate Student
Graduate Student
Posts:236
Joined:Wed Oct 16, 2013 12:18 pm
Location:DFW- TX
Re: MU Podcast 040 – Bugs in the Journo's Belfry

Post by fox01313 » Sun Nov 03, 2013 5:14 pm

Great show on this and the one movie that immediately popped in my mind with the topic of the Shan is the film the hidden from the 1980s with Kyle Maclachlan where law-abiding citizens mysteriously go on looting and killing sprees, a LA Cop & a F.B.I. agent find that unfriendly aliens are inhabiting these innocent Earthlings' bodies.

Rather good film though the aliens are more like average criminals out on joyrides for the bulk of the film instead of something more nefarious but lots of fun moments in it.

The Hidden trailer (1987 with Kyle Maclachlan)


Really enjoyed the parts on the media in the 1920s as it's tough sometimes to envision now what some daily aspects of life were like back then.
"That's funny, usually the blood gets off on the second floor." -Mr. Burns in The Shinning episode (Treehouse of horror V)

Post Reply