- Taliesin?
(sneeze)
Aww, hey bud.
Hey, how you doing?
Tuesday.
- Oh, god.
- Yeah, ready to do the show?
Oh, yeah look at that.
Look at that.
You want the coffee?
There you go.
Do the show, bud, do the show.
(electronic music)
- Ah, woo.
(glass breaking)
Hey, cats and kittens!
Taliesin Jaffe here, finally starting my run
on Signal Boost.
Before we begin today, I want to give a special thanks
to the brave people who brought back the antenna of destiny,
especially my good friend Marisha who is way too happy
to use a tazer on Hector.
Look at that smile.
Isn't she precious?
But, enough about that.
Let us begin the boosting!
Right?
Is that how we start this?
It's like is there a word or a buttoon, I, uh.
(electronic music)
My very first boost is The Wicked and the Devine.
I read a lot of comics, and this is the book
that isn't at the top of my pile,
it's in its own pile, set aside
for just the right quiet moment with coffee and pie.
Mmm.
Quick pitch: Every 90 years, 12 gods descend
to Earth to inhabit human hosts.
They live like pop stars and idols among us,
and within two years, they're dead.
I know, it's so high concept, but it's so pretty,
so smart, and so unflinchingly brutal.
I haven't felt this way about a comic
since ye old Vertigo days with Sandman and the Invisibles.
Writer, artist team Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie
have had a number of amazing collaborations together
like Young Avengers and Phonogram: The Singles Club,
but this is their Ode de Joy.
They tackle the nature of creativity and fame,
the relationship between art and artists,
and how far people are willing to go
to be loved or hated by strangers.
Just as an added bonus, Kieron Gillen has been kind enough
to create a Wicked and Divine Spotify playlist
for you to dive through.
Then, after you've been through a nice, slow read
of the book with the sound track,
hop on over to his Tumblr for a page by page writer's notes
that read like the best audio commentary you've never heard.
Be prepared to invest in some new music and some tissues.
Oh, and volume one hard cover just got released.
I already have mine digital,
but I always love a lone out copy.
Also, it's easier to make out with the physical copy.
(electronic music)
Atlas Obscura.
I love road trips, specifically for the bits of crazy
you find along the highway system from giant lumberjacks
or mystery spots or what have you.
Atlas Obscura is a curated collection of strange things
to see and do all around the world.
It lets you keep tabs on where you've been
and what you've seen as well as a list of things
you still need to do.
It's the first website I got to when I find out
I'm heading out of town.
Do I want to see any haunted houses,
run down insane asylums, an abandoned amusement park?
So, yeah, basically it's a website
for Scooby Doo larpers of which I am not.
That was another life.
(old film music)
(film real running)
A life I left behind.
Were we really just pesky kids?
Lost in my soul, I sing myself to sleep at night.
Scooby Dooby Doo, where are you?
We need some help from you now.
(electronic music)
Final boost!
There is an incredible group out there
called Lucent Dossier.
What is it?
It's a traveling circus arts performance troupe.
At first glance, they could easily be compared
to Cirque du Soleil, but Lucent takes the Avant-garde
circus experience in a different direction,
creating a more intimate
and even sometimes interactive performance.
The mix of fire, acrobatics, clown work,
brilliant character performances, and always amazing music
makes their shows powerful enough that they stick
with you for years.
They also run a non-profit called Cuddle the World
where they travel to poor and developing countries
to teach circus arts to children and help develop a sense
of play for kids who are stuck in situations
where the opportunities for play are scarce.
They will dazzle you.
They will enchant you.
They will try to wash your feet.
Seriously,
but you'll also be helping spread the love.
Win, win.
Find out everything you need to know at lucentdossier.com
and learn more about their beautiful charity work
at cuddletheworld.org.
(electronic music)
That's it for my first episode of Signal Boost.
We'll be back here next Tuesday, but before I go,
I'd like to take a moment to talk about a subject
that's very close to me.
I promised my grandfather on his 90th.
How'd they know?