Podcast di Shrieking Shack

It's been a while since we did a proper news segment, isn't it? We have grievances to air with the coming and going of that game's release, a certain author's doings and new media projects, and the shambling undead franchise we are finally free of. We miiight also have a teeny tiny bit of schadenfreude to spare for some gamers whose wildest dreams …

The Da Vinci Code, pt. 2We're back to wrap up our discussion of Dan Brown's novel and we brought cards! We explore the Da Vinci Code Top Trumps deck to refresh our memories on some of the facts of the story before we walk through some of the Facts of the novel, and end up falling down a rabbit hole trying to piece together the game's design through…

The Da Vinci Code... part one!That's right--we called an audible mid-episode this week because there's just too much to fit into even a big two-and-a-half-hour episode! In a fitting development for discussing a novel all about dualism, we're devoting an episode each to the two halves of the story: The airport thriller novel this episode, and the sp…

Maximum Ride: The Angel ExperimentLiz has pulled the greatest coup in Shriekcast history! This week we discuss Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment, the first (sort of) book in James Patterson's hard swerve into books for kids in the wake of the Harry Potter phenomenon. So much happens in this novel, and I can scarcely keep track of it all--you're ju…

Twilight (the movie)I have a confession to make: I've been listening to the soundtrack all week. Now that we've finished reading Twilight and Midnight Sun, it's time to talk about the crown jewel of the franchise: the movie! This film launched several acting careers and catapulted the series into unimaginable popularity, and is also responsible for…

Twilight/Midnight Sun epilogues (which are really chapters)We did it! We made it all the way through the first Twilight novel and its companion, and we have over two hours of discussion about what a weird ending it all has. First, though, we touch briefly on the (developing; I'm sure we'll be back on this soon) story about Jo inserting herself into…

Twilight chapter 'An Impasse'/Midnight Sun chapters 'Chores', 'Three Conversations', 'Inevitability'We've got a mystery on our hands! We open this week's episode with a discussion of the theory circulating on book blogs that a newly released novel--teased as being written under a pseudonym by a "New York Times bestselling author"--might be an under…

Twilight chapter 'The Angel'/Midnight Sun chapter 'Blood'Our chapters were very, very short this week, and we got a little rowdy. We chat about current events (respectfully), character birthdays that happen to fall on unfortunate dates (respectfully), Edward's horny blood drinking (respectfully), and much more!…

Twilight chapters 'Phone Call' and 'Hide-and-Seek'/Midnight Sun chapter 'Race'On this week's episode we've got an exciting follow-up to last episode's amazing K-pop-related discovery, but first we have to catch up with the thousand page monstrosity that's been analyzed in more detail since last week. Then we have some really fun--dare we say, good?…

Twilight chapter 'Impatience'/Midnight Sun chapter 'Ambush'We've got big news this week--literally, as early reviews have revealed that Jo's new book clocks in at over one thousand pages (Twilight talk starts at 30 mins in if you fancy skipping this). We've also got two wildly different chapters to discuss: one that is moody, plaintive, and mysteri…

Twilight/Midnight Sun chapter 'Goodbyes'The classic Song of Throne and Games button gets a workout this week as we discuss dudes' heads exploding on the new one of those shows, along with the rumor that a Wizarding World HBO show is in the works (again). We've also got quite a chapter to discuss: one with a brisk, thrilling pace that falls apart th…

Twilight/Midnight Sun chapters 'The Hunt'We ease into our new evening schedule with a check-in on the Peacock Box before discussing a truly electrifying chapter of our vampire romance novel(s). 75% of the way through the book, conflict is here! ...In the form of some French guys we've never heard of. How will Edward mind-read his way out of this on…

Twilight/Midnight Sun chapter 'The Game'The Money Fandom is out of control this week and we check in with the aftermath of the latest round of WB/Discovery news and lament how close we might have come to Fantastic Beasts meeting a dark fate. Then we have a packed chapter to discuss: Billy is making veiled threats! Bella isn't understanding them! Ed…

Twilight/Midnight Sun chapter: CarlisleIt's another no news week so far for us (knock on wood) so we spend our time at the anchor's desk goofing off and talking about private planes, Star Trek: Voyager, pricing errors, and movie lengths. Our chapters this week were incredibly short (Twilight's was 10 pages!) and maybe the most pointless content in …

Bella visits the Vampire Family.After a recent run of Shriekcast After Dark recordings, we record a little earlier to beat the heat! We chat about morning television and blockbuster adventure movies based on YA movies before moving on to discuss our chapters. Edward has decided it's time to introduce Bella to his family, but how will she react to h…

Twilight chapter 14/Midnight Sun chapter 18We convene a Late Recording to deliver a rowdy episode about a rowdy pair of chapters! Bella has invited Edward into her house, but what's going to happen when there's only one bed!? It turns out that they won't, naturally, but things will get incredibly weird, between Edward admitting that he has been wat…

Twilight chapter 13/Midnight Sun chapter 17We've had a week (knock on wood) with precious little Potter or Twilight news, so we start this week's episode with another Maximum Ride check-in as a sort of Common-Room-Lite treat! Then we're off to the meadow to discuss Confessions, which is perhaps the origin of a huge amount of the popular criticism o…

It's a big one this week! After catching up with some updates on last week's news stories and checking in with Maximum Ride, we have four (!!!) chapters of Twilight and Midnight Sun combined to get to. Not much is happening, but there's a lot going on, not least of which is Edward's wardrobe. We've got so much Twilight content, in fact, that we hav…

Twilight chapter 11/Midnight Sun chapters 12-13Here we are! Safe from the heat with a late night recording, we cover the surprisingly ample amount of news from the past week and dig through a combined three (!) chapters of Vampire Content! This week, Edward and Bella have long, deep conversations about soda, Linkin Park, and much much more--all whi…

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of DumbledoreWell, here we are. After actual years of filming delays, author controversies, and a theatrical release we didn't feel like spending money on, we've finally watched the third and hopefully final entry in the Fantastic Beasts series. Thankfully, for as predictably awful as it is, it's awful in some very unp…

Twilight chapter 11/Midnight Sun chapter 12Well, well, well! The money fandom is in shambles as two franchises race to the bottom of the box office. This week's chapters are the closest together these two books have been yet, so we have a fun time analyzing both characters' contributions to a very, very long conversation they have with each other a…

Twilight chapter 10/Midnight Sun chapter 11 (Theory)Well, the new Fantastic Beasts movie is on HBO Max now, so I guess we have to watch it... soon. This week, however, we have a strange pairing of Twilight chapters set almost entirely in a car going 80-100mph. We chat about Bella's confession, how enigmatic Edward truly is (and how Midnight Sun fid…

Twilight & Midnight Sun joint chapter (Port Angeles)Well, well, well! Harry Potter is back in the news thanks to a maddeningly vague line in a Wall Street Journal profile of the new Warner/Discovery media boss. Since we can't glean anything of substance from that, we dig a little deeper by examining a recently published poll comparing the franchise…

Twilight chapter 8/Midnight Sun chapter 9.This week features Bella storming off to her room to listen to Linkin Park (really!), getting so mad at Mansfield Park she slams her book shut, and Edward using vampire telepathy to read peoples' horny thoughts--and that's the easy stuff. There's also a pair of new evil vampires that Edward is worried might…

Twilight chapter 6/Midnight Sun chapter 7We're back with another pair of split chapters this week! Bella is off to the beach with her school friends and learns some disturbing facts about the Cullens; Edward, meanwhile, is at home with his weird family composing tunes and hunting mountain lions. We've got lots to discuss, and it's a real range: fro…

Twilight chapter 5/Midnight Sun chapter 5We're back! After a week's break, it's time to check back in with the money fandom again, now that the new Fantastic Beasts has been in theaters for nearly a month. More importantly, we've got a new pair of Twilight/Midnight Sun chapters to discuss! This week we see some of the most recognizable moments and …

We check in once more with the money fandom to see how Fantastic Beast's U.S. box offices numbers look before diving into a triple (!) helping of vampire drama. This week, Bella is free from the hospital and already back to gruffly monologuing about everything that bothers her--and this week, it's boys; both boys who aren't Edward, but perhaps Edwa…

Twilight Chapter 3/Midnight Sun Chapter 3The money fandom is dying! We tally up Fantastic Beast 3's international box office numbers. How is it faring in the Season of Morbius? Speaking of vampires, we have some juicy character stuff to explore this week. How long will Edward's roguish charms and gatekeep-gaslight-girlboss vampire secret hiding rou…

Twilight Chapter 2; Midnight Sun Chapter 2After a brief check-in with the advent calendar of bad PR events marring the countdown to the new Fantastic Beasts film release, we head back to Forks WA to hear more of Bella's adventures! This week... well, not much actually happens, but there's a lot to talk about! Meanwhile, Edward is in Alaska whipping…

This week's episode is a fun surprise. :)Di The Shrieking Shack

It's a big news week for the Shriekcast! We've got a loooong discussion of the State of Play gameplay reveal for HP Skyrim (or, from the looks of things, HP Fable) this week to make up for the fact that we are now free agents when it comes to reading! We have a lot to discuss, from our gut reactions to the game in a vacuum and the precarious, exhau…

Cursed Child stage play.We're in the big apple, baby! We took a plane/time machine into the past to see a performance of the Cursed Child in New York with the original London cast. We... had a surprising time! We dig into all of our detailed thoughts: what met our expectations, what surprised us, and what let us down. This 8th story has been a real…

Cursed Child reading wrap-up episode!With our reading complete, we take some time to discuss our overall thoughts on the play before we embark on our Very Real journey to See It In Real Life! What worked? What didn't? What did other reviewers think at the time? We check in with a mix of coverage from our rogue's gallery, and then another article il…

Cursed Child act IV!This act was a bit faster-paced than the rest, so we ended up covering it all in one long go. The boys are back in time and there seems to be no other special time turners... what could possibly get our heroes out of this jam?! The answer might surprise you. We've got Blanket Plans, Smoke Rings, Demiguise Lore (!), Voldemort Sty…

Act 3 part two!The second half of the act 3 roller coaster is aimed directly at our asses. We have a Cool Villain Reveal, flying, a comedy Cedric performance (that's the guess, at least) and a whole host of other moments so over the top it's hard not to be delighted. We discuss how strange this all feels coming off of Deathly Hallows, how different…

Cursed Child Part Two Part One (Act 3)Wowza! This act is A Lot, but we are not immune to its charms. In the world of Evil Hogwarts, only the campiest survive... and even then some of them don't! We chat about the refreshing return to the tongue-in-cheek lower stakes presentation of the early novels that this play provides, as well as the few odd mo…

Cursed Child Part One Act Two Part Two...?The final segment of the first part of the play--really, the first play--has some rocky moments, but it ends in such an incredible fashion it more than makes up for it. It's quite a roller coaster either way--a weird ghost, a lot of Bagman, and a fight scene written just for the Drarryheads in the audience.…

Cursed Child Part One Act Two Part One (I think I got that right...)We're back with more play talk! This week at the theatre, we read a segment of the stage show that has some high highs and low lows. The weird Dark Dursleys scene? Low. Seeing Ludo Bagman again? High. The play's treatment of Padma? Very low. The mere concept of something called "Vo…

Part two of part one of act one... the next bit of the play. The first play. Of the two plays that make up the one play, The Cursed Child.We very nearly didn't finish this one thanks to some nasty Audacity file corruption, but thanks to some heroics you get to hear this nearly-lost episode! We discuss the second chunk of our first reading, which in…

Cursed Child Part One Act One (first half of)We're finally here! The play that has loomed over us for the entire run of the podcast is finally in our hands. After years of hearing about the Trolley Witch and reading complaints about Mary Sues... it's time for Cursed Child!We went very long on this episode, so I've split it into two almost 2 hour ep…

This is an audio-only version of this holiday season gaming video for anyone who wants Shriek content but can't watch for whatever reason! Maybe you're at work or somethin'. Enjoy! It's time to play the legendary game... the awful Deathly Hallows third-person shooter. Remember when PC ports were a total crapshoot? This is from that dark age, so it'…

NOTE: This is an audio-only version of a let's play! It's not really a podcast; however, on the off chance you want to hear us chat over a game but don't have access to video right now, this is for you!For the second part of our December extravaganza, we take a look at one of the more well-liked pieces of HP series nostalgia: the tie-in Lego-brande…

This is an audio only version! There's a video version available as well, just in case you missed it.GRINCH VIBES TONIGHT! We're experimenting with occasional video content, and what better way to kick things off than a blind run through our favorite (airquotes) clothing company's Christmas lookbook? Discover the secrets of the Christmas Wizard, ho…

We make our glorious return to shake off the cobwebs, chat about scams involving beloved 2000s brands, and lay out some predictions for the third Fantastic Beasts movie that is still happening, somehow. SUPPOSEDLY the real answers are out there... we wouldn't know, though.We're talking about Fantastic Beasts a lot here which means I should give a g…

Deathly Hallows Pt. 2 film. The time has come! Before our well-earned pre-Cursed Child break, we watched the final Harry Potter film, and we have so many questions. What worked? What didn't? What was changed? Why is Molly standing everywhere? Why did Voldemort bust when Ron and Hermione destroyed the cup of Ravenclaw? And did this mf really say pon…

Deathly Hallows epilogue. We did it! We've crossed the finish line. While we still have the movie and more to cover, we're officially finished with the 7 books proper. Does the epilogue provide any emotional closure or worthwhile information to round out the rushed final chapter before it, or does it earn its fairly scornful reputation even among d…

Deathly Hallows chapter 35. This is it. This is the end of Harry Potter proper--sure, we still have to read an epilogue, but this is where the Story Ends! And what an ending it is. For a book this long, it sure sprints to a conclusion, and we're here in this bumper-length episode to do our best to pick up all of the threads it leaves hanging. When …

Note: this was recorded before the WHOM COULD HAVE FORESEEN news about the game--tune in next week for that oneDeathly Hallows chapter 35. We had an extra week to let this chapter sink in, but did it help? We try to parse the Matrix Revolutions chapter where Harry talks to a Dumbledore ghost inside his head who claims that this is all happening in …

Deathly Hallows chapter 35. We check in with what life is like with a Snape Jersey and dish about the latest Fantastic Beasts production mishaps before getting theological (again)! This week's chapter is a fan favorite, full of emotional moments and inspiring quotes about death that you've probably seen on coffee mugs, forum signatures, and tattoos…

Deathly Hallows chapter 33. It's here: the prophesied episode has finally arrived. And since we also have some big news to discuss (as well as some personal conspiracy theories about the TV rumors) this episode is another blockbuster length banger! So, how do we actually feel about Snape's big chapter, after all this time? The answer might surprise…