A Glimmer Into Glitterjaw: Turning Audio Into Action
This month, our spotlight shines on one of the newer projects the Collective has worked on together—though by no means is this endeavor truly “new” to our creators.
Our goal has always been, at the very least least, two-fold. First, we want to give our art a place to exist and persist in the world in a way that connects us to other fans that love the things we love and love the things we do. Second, we strive to always lend a proudly queer and social justice focused lens to our discussions to remind others that—in the chorus of fandom and media analysis where loud voices are oftentimes are at odds with everything we stand for as artists and humans—our voices are profoundly important and impossible to silence.
Behind the scenes, we have been consistently engaging in conversations to do even more. Earlier this month, we launched one of the first outputs of these discussions, the Glitterjaw Resources page—a compendium of recommendations for anyone eager to learn about current issues and enact change. We carefully compiled these resources together, with consent and oversight from all of our members working towards the goal of unifying that twin purpose: persistence and a focus on queer and social justice.
On the page, you’ll find a collection of resources focused on important issues in our world today: how to take action and fight fascism, standing together with the LGBTQIA+ community, combating genocide and standing for the lives, dignity, and rights of Palestinians, and more. We’ve collected book recommendations, organizations you can support with your time or money, and direct actions you can take to enact change right now.
We’ve also provided episodes where some of these topics are discussed, inspired by the media we’re already talking about. Generally speaking, it’s always been our goal to create a space where conversations like these can happen organically and happen when they make sense. To that end, collecting these resources and highlighting the topics we have serves as a reminder that they’re always at the heart of the art we create, even if we’re not speaking to them directly.
Our work is a labor of love; and it’s that love that has enabled us to find new ways to not only keep our voices out there but to take action and make an impact, too.
Ultimately, Glitterjaw is a group of hobbyist podcasters who share similar values. We’re all in it for the love of the game. It just so happens that “the game,” for us, is being queer and talking about media. To paraphrase one of Glitterjaw’s founders, Doug Fink:
Sometimes, just getting together with your gay besties to geek about stuff is important, too. Sometimes, that’s what we need the most.
And speaking of…
Episodes happening around Glitterjaw
Are You My Mother? bobbed for bad apples—and landed one of the baddest of them all: Regina Mills from Once Upon a Time. To aid him in his battle against evil, David was joined by guest Matt Bruneau-Richardson (indie filmmaker and freelance animator, Tiny Siren). They also discussed Matt’s upcoming film, Sirenetta: Part-Time Mermaid before diving into a delicious dissection of The Evil Queen herself.
Lee Carvallo’s Podding Challenge delved into the case file of The Simpsons Game That Almost Was: “Simpsons Bug Squad.” Dreamcast preservationists found this unheard of tech demo in late 2020, proving just how significant fans can be in preserving video game history. Plus! Tommy and Derek usher in the end to the “Golden Age” of The Simpsons with a discussion of Seasons 9-12!
Skreeonk! went to space with Josh (Biorante Tokusatsu Subtitle Database) to fight aliens WITHOUT using nuclear weapons (gasp) in a chat about The Mysterians (1957). Then, Derek and Doug shed the spacemen getups and got a little soft with Russ (Kaiju Comic Cast) to discuss Godzilla and his ~*feelings*~ as everyone’s favorite Kaiju faces off against his own drag persona in Godzilla vs. Spacegodzilla (1994).
Novel Gaming! played nice with a read of their very first non-fiction book, Jason Schreier’s Play Nice: The Rise, Fall, and Future of Blizzard Entertainment. Next, the gang gets back out into the farmlands for Coral Island, a lovely little cozy farming sim to rival the beloved Stardew Valley. Then, the trio kicked off spooky season early with a delightful read of Robin Gow’s 2023 book Dear Mothman: A Novel in Verse.
Walloping Websnappers! got into some high-maintenance grooming of mutant furry catboi Kraven in their discussion of The Spectacular Spider-Man’s “Destructive Testing.” Next up, it’s Christmas in… August? with a very special Christmas episode featuring the New Sinister Six in “Reinforcement.” And of course, what’s better than capping off a Holiday Episode with another Holiday episode as Derek and Doug catch up with Doc Ock’s evil highjinks—on New Year’s Eve, no less—in “Shear Strength.”
Super Mario Moment collected golden coins, treaded through thousand-year doors, and proclaimed “It’s a-me!” as Hamish smashed through several entries in Mario’s history. First, writer and fighting game veteran D.J. Kirkland (OhHeyDJ) chose their fighter and challenged Hamish to a round of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate! Then, artist and animator Carl Doonan joined for one of the best Mario RPGs ever made—Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. And it was back-to-back Glitterjaw crossovers as Doug joined to talk the handheld classic Mario Land 2, followed by David, who got polygonal to discuss Super Mario 64.
The Mixed Reviews welcomed Kevin Tudor (Almost Major podcast) back to discuss the career of the international action star and icon: Jet Li! Gavin, Luis, and Kevin gave us recaps and their reviews of this absolute legend’s greatest hits: Shaolin Temple, Once Upon a Time in China, Romeo Must Die…and so much more!
Gimmicks brought back the hits with a few of Derek and David’s favorite episodes from early ‘22 all with fresh new commentary. First up is “MOONLIGHTING does Shakespeare” with guest Kevin Cafferty (Best Stuff in the World, Gleaming the Tube); then, “DEAD END does a climactic rock opera” with fellow Glitterjaw co-creator Doug Fink. Last but certainly not least, they fondly (?) revisit “KING OF THE HILL does a disturbing psychological thriller” with Glitterjaw’s own KOTH super-fan Tommy!
Distant Echoes: A Star Wars Podcast geared up for the return of Star Wars: Visions in October by kicking off their re-rewatch of Star Wars: Visions, Season 1. So far on their journey, they’ve revisited the Kurosawa-inspired land of the wandering Ronin (Jedi…? Sith..?) with “The Duel,” then the duo took a quick jump into hyperspace to catch Starwaver’s ass-kickin’ performance in “Tatooine Rhapsody.”
Falling with Style stayed in Birthday-mode! This time, the duo celebrates Derek’s birthday with a bowl full of bao and a watch of Dreamworks Animation’s 2008 Kung Fu Panda! For a guy that notoriously loves beefy, nipple-y animal dudes, we’re just as surprised as you are Derek hadn’t seen this one yet!
Fear Coded gets lured down into the sewers with shiny red balloons all month long. It’s AUGUSTE! What better way to kick off a clown-filled horror month than with THE 1990 television mini-series It. But that’s just the beginning: your hostesses with the mostesses also subjected themselves to the low-budget gore-fest from 2022, Terrifier 2, 1989’s Batman: The Killing Joke, AND… Star Trek? That’s right, to put the kiebash on all this clowning-around, the gang reminds us that yes, Michael McKean wore face paint and terrorized captives in Voyager’s episode, “The Thaw.” Because CLOWNS are what? TERRIFYING!
The Q Division gave us more! More! MOORE! In this latest episode, Gavin and Chels get into 1973’s Live and Let Die alongside Morgan Roberts (The Female Gaze: The Film Club podcast), introducing our second Bond man: the one, the only, Roger Moore. They temper their love for Moore’s version of Bond with talk about this film’s problematic attempt at doing a Blaxploitation film with a white hero.
