Unexpected Superheroes
Although superheroes may seem like two dimensional relics of our childhoods, they can have a significant impact on our lives. Stories of superheroes battling in academia, superheroes living among us, and fictional superheroes fighting real-world battles.
Host: Micah Cratty
Producers: Micah Cratty, Lee Konstantinou and Matt Larson
Featuring: Professor Scott Bukatman and Robert Walker
Music: Kissing Johnny and Noah Burbank
Release Date: 21 May 2009
Listen to the Full Show:
Intro Story: With Gawking Eyes
When Victor sees New York for the first time, he sees comic book magic. When he moves to New York for graduate school, the magic fades… then he applies for a job at Marvel Comics.
image via flickr
Story 1: Academic Superheroes
Lee Konstantinou talks with Scott Bukatman and finds that comic book superheroes have followed this esteemed professor from his childhood to the halls and classrooms of academia.
Story 2: What’s Your Superpower?
Matt Larson heads out to discover the super abilities and superheroes hiding in plain sight. After listening, you might not ever look at your fellow co-workers or students the same way again.
image via flickr
Story 3: Superheroes Can Fight Diseases Too
Robert Walker creates a set of super heroes who fight the most vicious killer on earth: HIV/AIDS.
Apocalypse
We attempt to come to better terms with our impending doom. This is such a mind-blowing episode that it is in a record eight parts: one short story, one excerpt from a novel, two poems, one interview, one story-booth vignette, one ballad, and a correspondence with our friend Pete, on the other side.
Host: Bonnie Swift
Producers: Jonah Willihnganz, Bonnie Swift, Dan Hirsch, Micah Cratty, Lee Konstantinou, Killeen Hanson, Elizabeth Bradfield, Hannah Krakauer, Jack Wang
Featuring: Daniel Steinbock, Adrienne Chung
Music: Nataly Dawn
URLs: People Say I’ve Changed, Pop Apocalypse: A possible Satire, Long Now Foundation
Release Date: 28 May 2009
Listen to the Full Show:
Story 1: PEOPLE SAY I’VE CHANGED
SSP producer Micah Cratty reads his story of post-apocalyptic magical totalitarianism. You can also read this story at the McSweeney’s website.
Story 2: DOCTOR EXCELSIOR + SONG
Adrienne Chung reads her poem “Dr. Excelsior,” followed by music from Nataly Dawn.
Story 3: POP APOCALYPSE EXCERPT
Lee Konstantinou reads an excerpt from his novel,Pop Apocalypse: A possible Satire, which was published by Harper Perennial in 2009.
Story 4: THE LAST DANCE
Daniel Steinbock sings “The Last Dance,” a song he wrote before an spring quarter circus party at Synergy house. For many Stanford Students, this was the last party before graduation. photo via flickr
Story 5: WHITE PLAZA INTERVIEWS
The SSP Apocalypse takes to the streets, asking members of the Stanford Community about their feelings on the doom that potentially approaches all that is everything. Responses range from the very serious to the very un-serious.
Story 6: ADAM JOHNSON ON “THE PERSONAL APOCALYPSE”
Stanford Creative Writing Professor Adam Johnson waxes poetic on the many various Apocalypses that each of us faces in our daily lives.
Story 7: NOAH IN THE ARCTIC
Elizabeth Bradfield reads a poem of when Biblical stories are transformed into a shape that Arctic Native Americans can relate to.
Story 8: SPECIAL INTERVIEW WITH ALEXANDER ROSE
Bonnie Swift interviews Alexander Rose, director of the Long Now Foundation. Among other things, they discuss Long Now’s 10,000 Year Clock project, in which they are constructing a gigantic mechanical clock in the middle of a mountain. This clock, when completed, is likely to outlast any civilization collapses that may occur in the next handful of millennia.