Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonneguys published on 2016-12-13T00:21:13Z From the Group! (01:00) Plot Time! (07:45) Kurt Blurt! (11:40) Kurt Cameo! (1:53:20) Recurring Characters! (1:54:40) VonneWHAT! (1:57:15) The Meat! (2:07:15) VonneGrades! (2:12:20) Movie Time! (2:16:00) Related Reading! (2:26:10) Vocab Quiz! (2:33:50) Vonnegut News! (2:37:00) Related Reading: Article: Scientific American: Let's Colonize Titan: https://goo.gl/KP4dx0 Song: 10cc - Sand in My Face (Dynamic Tension): https://goo.gl/S0UbEP Movie: Synecdoche, New York: https://goo.gl/h6AV1Z Book: Ginger Strand - The Brothers Vonnegut: https://goo.gl/zIYN0X Short Story: Ray Bradbury - The Fire Balloons (in The Illustrated Man): https://goo.gl/ihH8r9 Book: Will Self - The Book of Dave: https://goo.gl/ApmVV4 Song: Ambrosia - Nice Nice Very Nice: https://goo.gl/m6xlA3 Short Story: Harlan Ellison - The Deathbird (in Deathbird Stories): https://goo.gl/neeVyS Short Story: Harlan Ellison - The Executioner of Malformed Children (in Shatterday): https://goo.gl/b1koGV Book: Robert Heinlein - The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag: https://goo.gl/fdU6RM Book: John Brunner - The Traveler in Black: https://goo.gl/unBNQG Book: Margaret Atwood - The Handmaid's Tale: https://goo.gl/Sf4rdn Book: Lois Lowry - The Giver: https://goo.gl/1PPIWv Music: Ice-9 Ballads: https://goo.gl/CQc5jS Genre Comedy Comment by Frank Kool I'd like to mention here that Strauss (author of 'The Game') is a lot more self-aware than most people give him credit for. He eventually realises that the life of a pick-up artist is shallow, and the PUA ends up objectifying women while simultaneously being dependent on their attention. As he writes in the final chapter: "The goal of the Game is to stop playing." 2017-07-26T11:05:25Z Comment by Richie Stix barracuda is actually delicious! 2017-03-14T16:21:04Z Comment by . In the same vein as Cat's Cradle, I'd also like to recommend "A Canticle for Leibowitz" by Walter M. Miller, which features similar themes as Cat's Cradle: namely, the inevitability of mankind's self-destruction by its own curiosity. Truly a heart-breaking story (if slow at times). There's a great (and FREE) rendition of it here: http://www.oldradioworld.com/shows/A_Canticle_for_Liebowitz.php 2017-02-21T02:16:24Z Comment by Jackie Marr I see Charlie Heaton (Stranger Things) as Frank! 2017-01-12T23:49:01Z Comment by Mike Mullins It wasn't Jack's hobby shop that was a front, Frank left to work in a similar shop in Florida, that Florida shop was the front that got Frank in trouble. Not to be persnickety. 2017-01-06T21:12:51Z Comment by Mike Mullins I gotta say, I'm siding with Michael on so many of these pronunciations 2017-01-06T20:52:17Z Comment by Gândesc Degeaba yeah. and rocky horror picture show 2016-12-22T12:29:19Z Comment by Várady Csongor Am I the only one who always imagined a sort of Tyrion Lannister from Newt when I read the book? I quite liked his character. 2016-12-20T14:10:46Z Comment by Paul Nevius Hit it, Brett! 2016-12-17T21:14:41Z Comment by Zack Kenyon Those aren't muskets! 2016-12-17T17:34:48Z Comment by Albee Probably AGM-114 Hellfire Missiles, Sidewinder are usually carried by fighters to shoot down other aircraft. 2016-12-16T01:52:55Z Comment by Michael Richard Ingram Felix's headstone is that size because that's what he specified in his will. 2016-12-15T22:22:30Z Comment by The Underwerewolves If you want John to have even less personality than Edward Norton, there's always John Cusack. 2016-12-14T21:21:50Z Comment by Ping Anthony We need more Brett, have him read the comments 2016-12-13T19:51:19Z Comment by Ping Anthony that sounds like a line from Slapstick 2016-12-13T19:37:58Z Comment by Ping Anthony a healthy amount of blurts in this episode 2016-12-13T17:09:51Z Comment by The Underwerewolves I know the idea of applying "Give the reader all the information up front" to a mystery was a joke about how that doesn't seem like it would work, but it almost sounds like TV's Columbo-- a HowCatchEm instead of a WhoDunIt. When reading Vonnegut, I frequently think "So I know that this insane thing is going to happen. How the heck does this insane thing happen that I know is about to happen?" perhaps similarly to "I know Lt. Columbo is going to own this MFer. How the heck is Columbo going to take this a-hole down?" I agree with Swaim though, that it's hard to apply writers' rules generally to all fiction writing, even if it works in more than one style. 2016-12-13T16:44:02Z Comment by larrikin.fm Ice-nine isnt possible. BUT there is a more horrifying real world ice nine called a prion. its a lifeless blob of amino acids that turns every protein in your body that it touches into other lifeless blobs, spreading exponentially until youre dead. pop one of those suckers in a cows brain and its brain will be consumed from the inside driving the creature insane, what we affectionately call mad-cow disease 2016-12-13T15:06:45Z