Episode 7 - Sox and Candy

May 17, 2026 by mark coale in comics, popular culture, video games, baseball

Is it live or is it Memorex? The Tokyo Dome in 2026.

MLB The Show 26 WBC edition. Either way, six stars.

Video Game Month continues with content creator and Sony San Diego developer Ashley Sanders (@Ashley22Sanders) to all things baseball.

We start off with Ashley telling us how she went from being a streamer to working at SDS on the MLB The Show game. Ashley lets us know what a typical week of work is like for her, between working on the game and doing the studio’s weekly live streams. There’s talk about all the new features in this year’s game, favorite modes to play in the game and the addition this year of the World Baseball Classic, which actually put two famous ballparks also known for hosting wrestling matches, in the game.

From there, there’s chat about this year’s baseball season, including the rejuvenation of Ashley’s Chicago White Sox, headlined by the arrival of Munetaka Murakami and continued maturation of young stars like Colson Montgomery. When we recorded, the White Sox were 22-22 and in the middle of the weekend series with their crosstown rival Cubs. Ashley also tells us about where she has seen the White Sox on the road so far this season.

This segues nicely into a chat about ballpark food, both the normal stuff like hot dogs and the more esoteric foods we see these days at ballparks.

We wrap up with some talk about San Diego Comicon and Ashley’s first trip to the convention last year. As someone who first went 30 years ago now, I get to share some stories of the old days when there were “only” 50,000 attendees and lament how Petco Park being built next to the convention center meant an end to see the Padres during Con Week.

Ashley has an amazingly busy schedule, so we thank her for finding time to chat. You can see her stream most weeks on the SDS live stream Friday afternoons and her own Twitch stream most Saturdays.

Episode 6 - The Origin of Species

May 10, 2026 by mark coale in film, popular culture, video games, television, history

The box art for 1985’s Ultima IV computer game from Origin Systems.

In what might turn out to be Video Game Month, I’m happy to welcome the video game streamer/content creator Majuular (@majuular) to the show for some classic video game chat.

I first found his channel because of his video essay series on Origin Systems’ Ultima game series from the 1980s and 1990s. Ultima IV was one of my favorite games as a teenager, so really enjoyed his video on that game and Ultima V (which I also played back in the day).

We discuss how young Richard Garriot (aka Lord British) created his first game Akalabeth while still in high school, which was the precursor to the Ultima series and how Origin Systems came to be as a company. Although we discuss many of the games, we mainly talk about Ultima IV and V and how atypical they were for role playing games at the time, be they video game or table top, and probably still are to this day. We also discuss some of the later games and spin-offs, other games published by Origin, what you could call the “coaching tree” of people who started there who went on to make landmark games in the industry. There’s also talk about their complicated publishing history and is there any future for the Ultima brand with it being owned currently by Electronic Arts?

There’s other game chat, including Majuular’s recommendations for classic JRPGs, the greatness of Thief and the not-so-greatness of the games based on William Shatner’s TekWar books and TV show. There’s also talk about the art of reviewing “bad” pop culture, MST3K, punching up vs punching down and when does “so bad it’s good” factor into the equation?

There’s LOTS of other fun tangents and divergences in this show, including chatting about John Ford/John Wayne movies, Gene Autry’s progressive for 1949 film The Cowboys and the Indians (which we discussed years ago on the Plot Podcast), Tim Horton’s fast food chain somehow having an outlet on the East Coast and lots of other random topics.

It was fun having Majuular on the show. He’s also a James Bond guy, so maybe we can have him back once the new “James Bond Jr.” game comes out later this year. You can find his You Tube video essays at Majuular and his streaming channel at Majuularcade.

Episode 5 - Shocked ... Shocked

March 14, 2026 by mark coale in popular culture, film, academia

The 1947 French press kit for Casablanca.

Another show, another guest whose appearance was years in the making. I’m happy to welcome my former film professor at Indiana Barbara Klinger to the show to discuss her most recent book, Immortal Films, which is about the enduring legacy of Casablanca over the decades since its release in 1942.

We start with the film’s origins, design to encourage and support US involvement in WW II, its release timed to coincide with the Allies’ campaign in North Africa, which obviously includes Morocco, where Casablanca takes place.

There’s also talk about its popularity over the years since its release, including radio adaptations right after its release, its rotation for years on television, the burgeoning home video marker in the 1980s and how it became popular as a revival picture with audience participation years before the Rin ocky Horror Picture Show and sing along films in modern times. We even discuss the two failed attempts at making a Casablanca TV show, including the early 1980s version with David Soul as Rick, Scatman Crothers as Sam and a young Ray Liotta as the bartender.

As you might expect, there’s also plenty of talk about Casablanca and metatext, from the adoption of Bogart as an icon in the French New Wave, Woody Allen’s play and later film Play It Again, Sam and those famous scenes you know showing up in places like The Simpsons, Saturday Night Live or even young Gilbert Gottfried’s early stand-up where he did Jackie Gleason as Bogart at the end of the film: “You know that I know that you’re getting on that plane.”

There’s also some chat about various of film topics, including the perils of list making, the role of porn and wrestling in the advancement of new media formats, Alfred Hitchcock, the Harry Lime radio show, Rosencrantz and Guildernstern are Dead, Citizen Kane and more.

I probably haven’t talked to Barb in person for over 30 years so it was a great change to catch up and discuss her book, which you can find in all the usual places you get your reading material.

Also, if you go back in the Winter Palace archives, you can find my chat in episode 63 with my other film professor James Naremore, where we discuss Chimes at Midnight and other things Orson Welles.

Episode 4 - World in Motion

February 17, 2026 by mark coale in soccer, futbol, popular culture

Reading The Blizzard in, well, not a Blizzard but a Snowstorm, in 2016.

It’s time for another bucket list guest, after years of on-again, off-again attempts, I’m happy to welcome polymath/head in a har Jonathan Wilson (@jonawils) to the podcast.

Of course, Jonathan has a new book to discuss and this time around, it’s The Power and the Glory, a history of the World Cup. We talk about a number of the World Cups, including France 38, Mexico 70 and Mexico 86, USA 94 and the upcoming tournament this year in Canada, the USA and Mexico. We discuss how politics has always been a part of the event and how to balance the ethics of attending this year’s matches versus wanting to see a World Cup match an hour from your house.

There’s also chat about popular culture and the World Cup, including Fassbender’s The Marriage of Maria Braun, Miracle of Bern and the not-yet-released in the USA, Saipan, about the Mick McCarthy/Roy Keane showdown in the Ireland team at the 2002 World Cup.

We also discuss soccer in the US, the early success of the sport in the 1920s, the NASL, college soccer and I sneak in a plug for the MISL and the Baltimore Blast.

There’s also time to discuss many of Jonathan’s projects, including the Blizzard magazine, Guardian Football Weekly and the now-approaching 100 episodes Libero Podcast and how it got started and where it will be moving forward.

We end the show on an odd note, as I wanted to chat to noted Detective devotee Wilson about some Victorian and Edwardian detectives like Dr. John Thorndyke and Max Carrados, but Johnathan did not know them. Hopefully, some of the links I passed along after the show may give him an appreciation.