WEBVTT - STBYM Listener Mail: La Muerte 0:00:03.000 --> 0:00:08.160 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:10.280 --> 0:00:13.160 Hey you welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind Listener mail. 0:00:13.320 --> 0:00:14.680 My name is Robert Lamb. 0:00:14.800 --> 0:00:17.560 And I am Joe McCormick, and hey folks. I know 0:00:17.600 --> 0:00:20.440 we don't usually do a preamble on our show before 0:00:20.440 --> 0:00:22.200 every episode, but I thought it'd be good in case 0:00:22.200 --> 0:00:24.000 there are some new listeners out there, to kind of 0:00:24.040 --> 0:00:27.400 remind you who we are if you're new to the show. 0:00:27.680 --> 0:00:30.520 Stuff to Blow Your Mind has been an audio podcast 0:00:30.560 --> 0:00:33.239 for like fifteen years or sixteen Rob and when did 0:00:33.240 --> 0:00:33.920 it actually start? 0:00:34.200 --> 0:00:36.000 We've always been here, it's been a while. 0:00:36.479 --> 0:00:40.240 Our core episodes published on Tuesdays and Thursdays of every week, 0:00:40.320 --> 0:00:43.239 and those are about diverse topics that we get interested in. 0:00:43.360 --> 0:00:45.920 Usually they have something to do with science or culture 0:00:45.960 --> 0:00:49.480 in some way. Most Wednesdays we publish a short form 0:00:49.520 --> 0:00:52.760 scripted episode, and then on Fridays we do a sub 0:00:52.840 --> 0:00:56.080 show called Weird House Cinema where we just talk about 0:00:56.080 --> 0:00:59.240 a strange film. You can find all of those episodes 0:00:59.280 --> 0:01:02.440 in the Stuff to Blow your Mind podcast feed wherever 0:01:02.480 --> 0:01:06.679 you get your podcasts. In today's episode, this is a 0:01:07.160 --> 0:01:09.520 recurring segment we do called Listener mail where we're going 0:01:09.560 --> 0:01:12.320 to read and respond to some email from listeners. We 0:01:12.360 --> 0:01:15.240 do this at variable intervals now, usually maybe once every 0:01:15.280 --> 0:01:18.000 month or month and a half. And I'll go ahead 0:01:18.000 --> 0:01:20.120 and give you the email address in case you would 0:01:20.120 --> 0:01:22.240 like to get in touch and send us a message 0:01:22.280 --> 0:01:24.959 that could be featured on a show like this in 0:01:25.000 --> 0:01:28.480 the future. That email address is contact at stuff to 0:01:28.520 --> 0:01:32.040 Blow your Mind dot com. Also, we just wanted to 0:01:32.160 --> 0:01:34.920 check in about the fact that just within the past 0:01:35.000 --> 0:01:38.240 month we started recording a video version of the show 0:01:38.280 --> 0:01:41.480 that you can find on Netflix. It's the exact same content, 0:01:41.560 --> 0:01:44.280 it's just with the cameras turned on, and so we're 0:01:44.319 --> 0:01:47.840 still relatively new at this. I think we're kind of 0:01:47.840 --> 0:01:51.680 getting used to the merciless unblinking eye. But we have 0:01:51.760 --> 0:01:54.640 gotten some encouraging emails from listeners saying they're enjoying the 0:01:54.720 --> 0:01:57.680 video version, So thank you for that. The kind words 0:01:57.720 --> 0:02:00.680 really do mean a lot to us. If you happen 0:02:00.720 --> 0:02:02.960 to be watching us on Netflix now and you want 0:02:02.960 --> 0:02:05.960 to subscribe, you can click the remind me buttons so 0:02:06.000 --> 0:02:10.240 future episodes will pop up when they publish. And please listeners, 0:02:10.480 --> 0:02:13.520 if your game, we encourage you to just leap wantonly 0:02:13.600 --> 0:02:16.720 from one platform to another and consume the show however 0:02:16.720 --> 0:02:20.200 you like best. So if you found us on Netflix, please, yes, 0:02:20.280 --> 0:02:23.320 go subscribe to our audio format wherever you get your podcasts. 0:02:23.639 --> 0:02:25.760 And if you're an audio listener, please look us up 0:02:25.800 --> 0:02:27.280 on Netflix if you're so inclined. 0:02:27.480 --> 0:02:30.079 Yeah, if you're listening to us, if you're watching us, 0:02:30.440 --> 0:02:33.399 whatever you're comfortable with, we're just pleased that you took 0:02:33.400 --> 0:02:35.720 time out of your day to listen to our content, 0:02:35.800 --> 0:02:36.480 and we're grateful. 0:02:37.440 --> 0:02:39.480 All right, Rob, are you ready to get right into 0:02:39.480 --> 0:02:40.079 the messages. 0:02:40.800 --> 0:02:43.040 Yeah, A lot of these, or at least the ones 0:02:43.080 --> 0:02:45.200 at the top, are gonna have to do with our 0:02:45.360 --> 0:02:51.119 recent series on personifications of death. Anthropomorphic personification, so death 0:02:51.200 --> 0:02:54.520 like the grim Reaper certainly in Western traditions, but other 0:02:54.560 --> 0:02:58.520 related figures. We weren't able to cover everything out there 0:02:58.600 --> 0:03:02.200 because this is a sort of figure that occurs just 0:03:02.680 --> 0:03:06.680 throughout human cultures, and there's so many different varieties and 0:03:06.760 --> 0:03:10.200 yet at the same time, there are certain aspects, certain 0:03:10.240 --> 0:03:13.560 tropes that you'll find again and again, and so we 0:03:13.639 --> 0:03:16.280 reached out to listeners because we knew that people would 0:03:16.320 --> 0:03:20.400 have all sorts of personal but also cultural details to 0:03:20.440 --> 0:03:22.320 fill in for us. Right. 0:03:22.440 --> 0:03:24.440 So, Rob, if it's okay with you, I'm going to 0:03:24.480 --> 0:03:33.880 do this message from Maya. Yeah, Maya, says dear Robin, Joe. 0:03:34.360 --> 0:03:37.840 What a fascinating discussion about the personification of death and 0:03:37.880 --> 0:03:41.480 grammatical gender. As a speaker of Mexican Spanish as my 0:03:41.560 --> 0:03:44.840 first language, I found it especially compelling given my country's 0:03:44.880 --> 0:03:49.840 fascination with death and its many representations. Curiously enough, every 0:03:49.960 --> 0:03:53.200 name we give to death, and there are hundreds I looked, 0:03:53.640 --> 0:03:57.320 is a feminine noun. La morte death is feminine, but 0:03:57.440 --> 0:03:59.880 so are Laparca, one of the fates in Greek myth, 0:04:00.520 --> 0:04:04.680 and Laflaca, the skinny one. Folk images of death seem 0:04:04.760 --> 0:04:07.640 to be divided. A very well known representation of death 0:04:07.800 --> 0:04:12.040 is Lakatrina, an image created first created by the engraver 0:04:12.360 --> 0:04:16.760 Jose Guadalupe Posada, that depicts death as a high class lady. 0:04:17.040 --> 0:04:20.520 Its name means something like the well dressed one. And Rob, 0:04:20.560 --> 0:04:22.200 I went and looked up this image. I pulled it 0:04:22.240 --> 0:04:26.640 into our outline. So this is Lakatrina by Jose Guadalupe Pasada. 0:04:27.279 --> 0:04:30.200 It's a figure of a skeleton who seems to be 0:04:30.480 --> 0:04:34.040 I don't know what these kind of fluffy things around 0:04:34.080 --> 0:04:37.040 its shoulders are maybe they're bushes or clouds. I guess 0:04:37.080 --> 0:04:40.080 clouds would make sense. But it's wearing this big, elaborate, 0:04:40.120 --> 0:04:43.600 beautiful hat. It's like a gently sloping kind of domed 0:04:44.200 --> 0:04:47.280 hat with flowers on the top and big, you know, 0:04:47.480 --> 0:04:52.520 dangling feathers coming off, and then also something seemingly tucked 0:04:52.560 --> 0:04:54.840 into the skeleton's ear, though of course a skull wouldn't 0:04:54.880 --> 0:04:56.720 have an ear. But what are those things down there? 0:04:56.720 --> 0:04:58.479 Are those like tassels or flowers? 0:04:59.080 --> 0:05:03.040 Yeah? Yeah, the overall appearances yet death in a festive hat. 0:05:03.080 --> 0:05:06.520 And this this image was discussed in some of the 0:05:06.560 --> 0:05:09.599 sources that I was using for those episodes, but I 0:05:10.200 --> 0:05:12.960 I didn't get to it, but it is quite an 0:05:12.960 --> 0:05:14.240 important one, I'm to understand. 0:05:14.760 --> 0:05:18.159 Maya's email goes on to say the Maschika deities of 0:05:18.240 --> 0:05:23.279 death were a male and female skeletal figure. Mictlandakoutli was 0:05:23.320 --> 0:05:26.200 the lord of mik Dlan the underworld, and mik Takasi 0:05:26.279 --> 0:05:29.880 Watt was his wife. And Maya this you may have 0:05:29.880 --> 0:05:32.040 written this email before we discussed them on the show, 0:05:32.080 --> 0:05:33.880 but these figures did come up, I think in part 0:05:33.960 --> 0:05:37.240 four of our discussion there, where we were talking about 0:05:37.800 --> 0:05:40.320 a paper about what were the cultural inputs on the 0:05:40.360 --> 0:05:44.760 creation of Santa Marte, which does come up in this email. 0:05:44.800 --> 0:05:48.560 By the way, Maya says, in many other visual traditions, 0:05:48.600 --> 0:05:51.120 death is a male figure. Rob will be happy to 0:05:51.160 --> 0:05:54.000 note that there was a Lucha libre character known as 0:05:54.120 --> 0:05:57.200 La Parca, although he tragically died as a result of 0:05:57.200 --> 0:05:59.680 injuries sustained in a match. Rob, I think you've got 0:05:59.680 --> 0:06:00.800 some stuff on Laparca. 0:06:00.880 --> 0:06:03.320 Later I do, and we have another listener male that 0:06:03.360 --> 0:06:06.080 will also fill in some of the blanks for us. 0:06:06.120 --> 0:06:10.599 Yeah, okay, Maya says. Punk and heavy metal depictions of 0:06:10.640 --> 0:06:15.000 death as a male, devilish figure coexist with the controversial 0:06:15.080 --> 0:06:18.480 La Santa Morte the Holy Death, a folk cult figure 0:06:18.480 --> 0:06:21.600 that appears as a female skeletal deity who personifies death 0:06:21.640 --> 0:06:24.159 and is venerated by people from all walks of life, 0:06:24.600 --> 0:06:28.400 and Argentinian equivalent, in contrast is a male figure San 0:06:28.520 --> 0:06:32.160 la Morte. And of course, during Da da Mortos, the 0:06:32.240 --> 0:06:34.159 Day of the Dead, you can write your name on 0:06:34.200 --> 0:06:36.800 the forehead of a sugar skull and add it to 0:06:36.839 --> 0:06:40.520 the altar or afrienda, and in doing so you turn 0:06:40.560 --> 0:06:45.120 a neutral, genderless confection into your own gendered alter ego. 0:06:45.720 --> 0:06:51.120 Ah, that's a nice, nice tidbit to mentioned. Yeah, there's 0:06:51.120 --> 0:06:54.160 an excellent Day of the Dead celebration here in Atlanta. 0:06:54.240 --> 0:06:57.120 Every year. They hold it at the historic Cokeland Cemetery, 0:06:57.200 --> 0:06:58.920 and we generally try to go. 0:06:59.160 --> 0:07:01.040 As somebody who didn't grow up with Day of the 0:07:01.120 --> 0:07:03.880 Dead celebrations. I for a long time, I think I 0:07:03.920 --> 0:07:06.000 had the wrong idea that it was only it was 0:07:06.040 --> 0:07:08.400 like Mardi Gras, that it was only like this big 0:07:08.440 --> 0:07:13.320 public festival kind of thing. But I realized more recently, Yeah, 0:07:13.440 --> 0:07:16.320 that you know, you can have private celebrations. And I 0:07:16.360 --> 0:07:19.680 actually went to one that was hosted by some family 0:07:20.280 --> 0:07:22.880 of ours this past fall. It was beautiful and the 0:07:22.920 --> 0:07:25.280 afriendo was I don't know, I found it very touching. 0:07:25.600 --> 0:07:30.280 Oh nice, coming back to Maya's email. As for grammatical gender, 0:07:30.400 --> 0:07:33.480 its influence on our perception of external objects is still 0:07:33.520 --> 0:07:36.000 up for debate. Some studies have found that we tend 0:07:36.080 --> 0:07:39.720 to think of feminine inanimate objects such as table mesa, 0:07:40.200 --> 0:07:43.520 as having more feminine attributes than masculine objects, but other 0:07:43.560 --> 0:07:46.000 research has found these effects to be more subtle or 0:07:46.040 --> 0:07:48.760 even non existent. Yeah, we talked about that in the 0:07:48.760 --> 0:07:51.560 episodes too. There's kind of a mixed research picture on 0:07:52.160 --> 0:07:55.679 to what extent this is really happening. But Maya says, 0:07:55.720 --> 0:07:58.120 in the case of death, nothing seems to prevent us 0:07:58.120 --> 0:08:01.280 from thinking about it as both the mascular and feminine figure. 0:08:01.520 --> 0:08:03.920 Despite the grammatical gender of the noun, we used to 0:08:03.920 --> 0:08:06.800 refer to it a wonderful series. Keep up the great 0:08:06.840 --> 0:08:09.280 work and know that you have many non native English 0:08:09.280 --> 0:08:13.440 speakers as fans all over the world. Maya. Well, thank you, Maya, 0:08:13.680 --> 0:08:16.679 very nice, wonderful. It warms my heart. And then also 0:08:17.080 --> 0:08:19.360 Maya had a follow up email just to share a 0:08:19.360 --> 0:08:22.320 picture with us, She says, Dear Joe and rob By 0:08:22.360 --> 0:08:25.240 the way, here you have a picture of the Santa 0:08:25.280 --> 0:08:28.800 Morte van that makes the rounds in my brother's neighborhood, 0:08:29.000 --> 0:08:31.760 so her devotees can worship her from the comfort of 0:08:31.800 --> 0:08:36.479 their own homes. All the best, Maya, And this is wonderful. 0:08:36.600 --> 0:08:40.640 It's a Santa Morte figure enthroned on a big chair, 0:08:40.840 --> 0:08:43.439 draped in looks like gold satin or something kind of 0:08:43.480 --> 0:08:47.720 a gold leaf texture, sitting in the bed of a 0:08:47.760 --> 0:08:50.719 trailer or the back of a pickup truck, or it 0:08:50.800 --> 0:08:53.360 might be like one of those small three wheel pickup trucks, 0:08:54.000 --> 0:08:56.920 and so she's a very dry skeleton. As we talked 0:08:56.960 --> 0:08:59.760 about she usually, you know, she's very parched. But she's 0:08:59.800 --> 0:09:03.040 wearing a pink floral gown and a mantle like a 0:09:03.080 --> 0:09:06.320 hood over the top of her head. In her right hand, 0:09:06.320 --> 0:09:09.080 she's holding a scythe. In her left hand a golden 0:09:09.200 --> 0:09:11.440 ball which I think could be the earth. It's like 0:09:11.480 --> 0:09:15.760 a globe. And then she has an owl perched over 0:09:15.920 --> 0:09:18.160 either shoulder. Do you see the two owls. 0:09:17.840 --> 0:09:20.200 Rob Oh, yeah, I didn't see them at first, but 0:09:20.240 --> 0:09:21.199 now I see. 0:09:21.040 --> 0:09:23.760 Them hiding in the ruffles of the gold on the chair. 0:09:23.880 --> 0:09:24.400 That's great. 0:09:25.120 --> 0:09:27.800 And then also in the same hand as the scythe, 0:09:27.880 --> 0:09:30.319 she's got some kind of foliage. I don't know exactly 0:09:30.360 --> 0:09:32.040 what that is. I was wondering, could that be a 0:09:32.080 --> 0:09:32.800 palm leaf? 0:09:33.200 --> 0:09:35.040 It does kind of look like a palm leaf. 0:09:35.120 --> 0:09:37.720 Yeah, yeah, I can't say for sure what that is, 0:09:37.760 --> 0:09:40.000 but this is great. Thank you so much for sending Maya. 0:09:40.760 --> 0:09:43.160 Yes, indeed, all right, I said, we're going to have 0:09:43.200 --> 0:09:46.959 more about La Parca the Lucha Door, and indeed we're 0:09:46.960 --> 0:09:54.640 going to read this next one from Angelo Angela, says Hi, 0:09:54.760 --> 0:09:57.760 Robert and Joe. While listening to your podcast series about 0:09:57.760 --> 0:10:02.599 the Personifications of death, mention of the Mexican Laparca immediately 0:10:02.600 --> 0:10:08.839 got me thinking about professional wrestling, the WCW promotion. This 0:10:09.480 --> 0:10:11.160 some of you may not be aware that this promotion 0:10:11.360 --> 0:10:14.440 used to exist heyday during the nineties. 0:10:14.960 --> 0:10:17.400 Wait, what's it called now? It's not that anymore. 0:10:17.520 --> 0:10:21.360 It doesn't exist. It was, yeah, it went away. It 0:10:21.400 --> 0:10:26.760 was purchased by WWE, and it is now part of 0:10:27.200 --> 0:10:33.680 that conglonerate anyway, Angelo writes the WCW promotion showcased luchadors 0:10:33.679 --> 0:10:36.640 in the mid to late nineties, including one named Laparca. 0:10:37.120 --> 0:10:40.120 He wore a skeletal mask and costume to look like 0:10:40.200 --> 0:10:43.280 a reaper, but instead of a scythe he always carried 0:10:43.280 --> 0:10:45.520 a steel chair to the ring. He would, of course 0:10:45.640 --> 0:10:48.560 use it on his opponents during matches, but he would 0:10:48.559 --> 0:10:51.840 also play guitar air guitar on it during his entrances 0:10:51.880 --> 0:10:55.480 and post match celebrations. He used the chair so much 0:10:55.559 --> 0:10:59.359 that announcers gave him the nickname the Chairman of WCW. 0:11:01.120 --> 0:11:05.080 He did well. He did use the Mexican grim reaper costume. 0:11:05.120 --> 0:11:08.040 The gimmick never really went with the subject of death 0:11:08.080 --> 0:11:11.160 in the same way that another wrestler, the Undertaker, did 0:11:11.200 --> 0:11:14.559 in his earlier days. Other wrestlers would take on the 0:11:14.640 --> 0:11:18.040 Laparca mantle, with the character making an appearance in this 0:11:18.120 --> 0:11:21.960 year's WWE Royal Rumble. Anyway, the series was great and 0:11:22.000 --> 0:11:23.800 I really learned a lot from it. Please keep up 0:11:23.800 --> 0:11:28.480 the great work. Thanks Angela. So yes Laparka. Believe me. 0:11:28.559 --> 0:11:31.839 When Laparca came up in our death episodes, I did 0:11:31.880 --> 0:11:33.800 have to fight the urge to bring him up, but 0:11:33.800 --> 0:11:35.800 I was like, we can save this for later. Somebody 0:11:35.800 --> 0:11:38.040 will write in about this and we can follow up. 0:11:38.400 --> 0:11:40.960 I don't think anybody would have minded if you'd, oh, we. 0:11:41.160 --> 0:11:43.600 Had a lot of ground to cover. It was hard 0:11:43.640 --> 0:11:46.920 to argue that we needed a side trip to louchal 0:11:47.000 --> 0:11:49.559 Libra at that point, and I knew we'd come back 0:11:49.600 --> 0:11:52.400 to it. Yes, Angelo did a I think a great 0:11:52.480 --> 0:11:55.319 job here summarizing the Laparca that wrestling fans of the 0:11:55.400 --> 0:11:59.280 nineties in the US likely remember. Tied to the Triple 0:11:59.360 --> 0:12:01.199 A promotion in Mexico at the time, and then I 0:12:01.360 --> 0:12:03.840 think he was full time with WCW for a spell 0:12:03.920 --> 0:12:08.079 there too, and he was played by a wrestler named 0:12:08.480 --> 0:12:13.520 Adolfo Ibarra born nineteen sixty five. And yeah, I believe 0:12:13.600 --> 0:12:18.800 his real name, this character, this luchador, has never been unmasked, 0:12:18.840 --> 0:12:21.760 but I believe his name and age are of public records, 0:12:21.800 --> 0:12:25.559 so we're not spoiling anything there. But when he left 0:12:26.040 --> 0:12:30.280 that promotion Triple A, Triple A retained the rights to 0:12:30.360 --> 0:12:33.240 the costume and the gimmick, and so they handed the 0:12:33.280 --> 0:12:37.839 gimmick over to Jesus Escoboza, who lived nineteen sixty six 0:12:37.880 --> 0:12:40.160 through twenty twenty. This is the Laparca that was mentioned 0:12:40.200 --> 0:12:45.760 earlier that died in twenty twenty. So but this handoff 0:12:45.840 --> 0:12:47.679 was occurring in the late nineties, and I believe there 0:12:47.720 --> 0:12:49.680 was a lot of like legal back and forth about 0:12:49.720 --> 0:12:54.480 the gimmick. But certainly by around two thousand and three, Abarra, 0:12:55.040 --> 0:12:58.920 the first Laparka, ended up altering his costume to look 0:12:59.040 --> 0:13:02.480 like a combination of Darth Maul and the Laparca skeleton 0:13:02.559 --> 0:13:05.360 costume that he had been wearing in order to perform 0:13:05.440 --> 0:13:09.880 in televise matches for CMLL. That's Mexico's biggest lush promotion 0:13:10.040 --> 0:13:13.360 and arch rival of Triple A. At this point, he 0:13:13.520 --> 0:13:16.839 changed his name to what as an English speaker, I 0:13:16.880 --> 0:13:20.520 always read as La park but I'm to understand in 0:13:20.600 --> 0:13:24.160 Spanish it is pronounced la Parka, so it still sounds 0:13:24.320 --> 0:13:30.800 like Laparca, but is spelled differently for legal regas. I see. Yeah, 0:13:31.200 --> 0:13:33.920 so he did some great work for CML during that timeframe. 0:13:34.480 --> 0:13:36.719 I watched some of his CML matches back in the day, 0:13:37.520 --> 0:13:40.319 and since then, the Laparca legacy has continued, with a 0:13:40.440 --> 0:13:43.280 third Laparka. In Triple A there was and then at 0:13:43.280 --> 0:13:47.000 different times there were various family members of Agvarres that 0:13:48.080 --> 0:13:51.040 ended up taking on some sort of Laparca gimmick. So 0:13:51.080 --> 0:13:54.640 there was a super Parka, various sons of Laparca. There 0:13:54.720 --> 0:13:57.800 was also a lark There were some La Parkitas, more 0:13:57.840 --> 0:14:01.360 than one, like many Laparca's, and for a short while 0:14:01.440 --> 0:14:04.199 there was a female Laparka as well. So it just 0:14:04.280 --> 0:14:06.640 goes to show, you know, once you've established a great gimmick, 0:14:06.760 --> 0:14:09.480 you just can't keep it down. People are gonna wear 0:14:09.559 --> 0:14:10.559 the hood no matter what. 0:14:11.160 --> 0:14:13.599 Wait, do you know how did Darth Maul get wrapped in? 0:14:14.040 --> 0:14:15.400 Was that just zeitgeist? 0:14:16.240 --> 0:14:18.200 I think it was just yeah, in the zeitgeist at 0:14:18.240 --> 0:14:21.360 the time, and I don't know for certain, but I'm 0:14:21.360 --> 0:14:23.880 assuming he just realized he needed to mix up the 0:14:24.000 --> 0:14:26.560 look a little bit, and so it made sense for 0:14:26.680 --> 0:14:28.200 him to do this. He might have actually done it 0:14:28.800 --> 0:14:33.960 a little bit before he became La Park, if you will, 0:14:34.640 --> 0:14:38.000 just because it was fun, you know, like sometimes costume 0:14:38.040 --> 0:14:41.200 wrestlers in Mexico, the Lucitos, will do this where they'll 0:14:41.400 --> 0:14:43.400 they'll take their existing costume and they'll tweak it a 0:14:43.440 --> 0:14:45.560 little bit, maybe a'le align it with something in pop 0:14:45.640 --> 0:14:51.000 culture beyond what they have going on. But yeah, I'm 0:14:51.040 --> 0:14:54.360 mostly familiar with the guy who would become La Park, 0:14:54.600 --> 0:14:57.360 and I generally describe him as a brawling, wild man 0:14:57.480 --> 0:15:00.840 luchador that could still bust out some really sweet maneuvers 0:15:00.840 --> 0:15:04.200 here and there. But yeah, one does not get much 0:15:04.200 --> 0:15:07.640 of a traditional mainstream grim reprovibe from him though, you know, 0:15:07.800 --> 0:15:10.560 especially the WCW days he was dancing, he was playing 0:15:10.560 --> 0:15:13.600 at your guitar. He wasn't coming for people's souls or 0:15:13.640 --> 0:15:18.160 anything like that. He was doing spin kicks. Yeah. Well, Angela, 0:15:18.240 --> 0:15:20.560 thanks for writing in about all that. It was nice 0:15:20.600 --> 0:15:23.240 to dive in on a little Laparka history. And then 0:15:23.280 --> 0:15:28.960 there's so many other lugadors that have skull motifs incorporated 0:15:29.040 --> 0:15:31.400 into their look, you know, the whole army of them. 0:15:32.360 --> 0:15:43.760 Yeah, thank you Angelo. Okay, are you ready if I 0:15:43.840 --> 0:15:47.960 do this message from Luisa? Yeah, Luisa says, Hi, guys, 0:15:48.160 --> 0:15:50.520 I hope this twenty twenty six is a great year 0:15:50.600 --> 0:15:54.240 for you and yours. I've been fascinated by your Death series. 0:15:54.320 --> 0:15:58.240 You always give such an interesting, deep analysis of obscure information. 0:15:58.680 --> 0:16:03.560 Thank you, Louisa, is what we hope for. We try. However, 0:16:03.800 --> 0:16:06.840 I had hoped you would mention Las Intermittensias de la 0:16:06.880 --> 0:16:11.160 Morte by Sarah Mago and that title is usually translated 0:16:11.280 --> 0:16:15.360 Death with Interruptions. Luisa says, if you haven't read it yet, 0:16:15.400 --> 0:16:18.200 I can't recommend it enough. It is elegantly written, with 0:16:18.320 --> 0:16:21.560 a mysterious plot and a beautiful ending. Please consider it 0:16:21.640 --> 0:16:23.840 in your reading list for this year. And if you 0:16:23.920 --> 0:16:26.080 do happen to talk about it further on the series. 0:16:26.560 --> 0:16:29.000 My apologies as always, thank you so much for your 0:16:29.000 --> 0:16:34.520 wonderful podcast, Luisa. Oh, and then Luisa says, ps, every 0:16:34.560 --> 0:16:36.920 time you go over the weekly schedule, when you say 0:16:37.120 --> 0:16:39.680 and on Fridays, we're going to say we do weird 0:16:39.720 --> 0:16:42.600 house cinema. But she says, when you say and on Fridays, 0:16:42.680 --> 0:16:45.560 I expect you to say, I'm in love pop culture 0:16:45.600 --> 0:16:46.080 and printing. 0:16:46.160 --> 0:16:48.560 I guess that's the cure, right, Yeah, yeah, that's the cure. 0:16:48.640 --> 0:16:49.320 That's a great song. 0:16:50.040 --> 0:16:54.400 So this novel is by the Portuguese author Jose Saramago. 0:16:54.560 --> 0:16:57.720 I have not read it, but Luisa, I looked it 0:16:57.840 --> 0:17:01.240 up on your suggestion and I they genuinely ended up 0:17:01.360 --> 0:17:04.200 ordering a copy of the English translation. This is the 0:17:04.320 --> 0:17:08.280 translation by Margaret Joel Costa. And just to give you 0:17:08.359 --> 0:17:11.480 a taste, the opening sentence of the book is the 0:17:11.600 --> 0:17:15.919 following day no one died. So it's a pretty cool premise. 0:17:15.960 --> 0:17:17.960 I don't want to spoil too much about the book, 0:17:18.080 --> 0:17:19.879 though I did kind of read ahead about what the 0:17:19.960 --> 0:17:21.920 plot is, and that got me hooked on wanting to 0:17:21.960 --> 0:17:25.240 actually read the book, but just to sort of sketch 0:17:25.280 --> 0:17:29.240 it out. The premise is that one day, in one country, 0:17:29.640 --> 0:17:35.359 death just stops. People become unexpectedly and suddenly immortal. And 0:17:35.720 --> 0:17:39.320 while this seems like a great blessing, actually it is horrible. 0:17:39.400 --> 0:17:42.680 It turns into a crisis because it doesn't mean that 0:17:42.880 --> 0:17:47.040 people are now eternally well, it just means they don't die. 0:17:47.680 --> 0:17:50.960 So people with fatal injuries and terminal illnesses do not 0:17:51.160 --> 0:17:55.760 get better. They just don't die, which is actually a nightmare, 0:17:56.040 --> 0:18:00.440 and so that happens. I was reading about some interesting 0:18:00.920 --> 0:18:02.840 plots in the middle of the book where the government 0:18:02.960 --> 0:18:05.480 is trying to figure out like workarounds, like what can 0:18:05.520 --> 0:18:08.120 we do with the people who are like basically. 0:18:07.800 --> 0:18:08.800 Dead but not dying. 0:18:09.560 --> 0:18:12.360 And then there is another part in the book where 0:18:12.359 --> 0:18:16.720 apparently the character of Death decides to resume allowing people 0:18:16.800 --> 0:18:19.600 to die, but she gives them a warning a week 0:18:19.640 --> 0:18:23.000 ahead of time so they can prepare and like prepare 0:18:23.040 --> 0:18:25.520 and use their final day as well, and this also 0:18:25.560 --> 0:18:29.960 seems to go disastrously. It increases dread and obsession. So 0:18:30.119 --> 0:18:31.760 it seems like the story is going to be about 0:18:31.880 --> 0:18:35.280 paradoxes in how we think about death, Like a lot 0:18:35.320 --> 0:18:38.840 of things that we want with respect to death, like 0:18:39.160 --> 0:18:42.520 knowing when it will happen or avoiding it entirely, would 0:18:42.640 --> 0:18:47.080 be absolute curses if they were to really happen. And finally, 0:18:47.160 --> 0:18:49.720 the story does seem to involve death falling in love 0:18:49.800 --> 0:18:52.359 with immortal, which we were just talking about stories like that, 0:18:52.440 --> 0:18:52.720 weren't we. 0:18:53.000 --> 0:18:56.440 Yeah, yeah, Well, actually several aspects of this story match 0:18:56.560 --> 0:19:00.640 up with some much older tellings, you know, being taken 0:19:00.640 --> 0:19:03.680 out of commission to what extent death is going to 0:19:03.720 --> 0:19:08.520 give you a heads up on his or her arrival. 0:19:09.160 --> 0:19:12.080 So yeah, this sounds very interesting, like taking all these 0:19:12.160 --> 0:19:17.119 ideas and these literary motifs that we've been ruminating on 0:19:17.280 --> 0:19:19.520 and sort of updating it for a twenty first century 0:19:19.600 --> 0:19:20.439 literary treatment. 0:19:20.880 --> 0:19:23.800 Yeah, so anyway, thank you for the recommendation, Luisa, and 0:19:24.000 --> 0:19:25.919 I am gonna my copies on the way and I'm 0:19:25.960 --> 0:19:27.280 going to be trying to read it this year. 0:19:28.160 --> 0:19:30.400 All right, This next one comes to us from Albert. 0:19:30.720 --> 0:19:33.400 Albert is the name of the human who assists death 0:19:33.920 --> 0:19:38.080 in Terry Pratchett's Discworld books. But I think this is 0:19:38.119 --> 0:19:38.800 a different Albert. 0:19:39.040 --> 0:19:41.440 This is not a pseudonym Albert has written to us before. 0:19:41.600 --> 0:19:43.960 Okay, or it could be a different Albert, or could 0:19:44.040 --> 0:19:47.480 be the fictional character from the Discworld. Now we're about 0:19:47.480 --> 0:19:54.560 to find out. We're about to find out Albert. Right, 0:19:54.640 --> 0:19:56.879 sin and says dear Robin Joe. I have been thoroughly 0:19:57.359 --> 0:20:01.120 enjoying your exploration of the anthropomorphic p sionifications of death. 0:20:01.200 --> 0:20:03.800 I'm writing this after listening to part three. There have 0:20:03.920 --> 0:20:06.760 been many depictions of death in various media over the years. 0:20:07.000 --> 0:20:09.879 Some of my favorites are from the films, and we 0:20:09.960 --> 0:20:12.760 get a short list here, The Seventh Seal, you know, 0:20:12.960 --> 0:20:17.400 classic Monty Python in the Meaning of Life. Yes, that's 0:20:17.400 --> 0:20:21.320 another great one. And meet Joe Black. I haven't seen 0:20:21.400 --> 0:20:23.399 meet cho Blake who plays death in that? 0:20:23.520 --> 0:20:23.680 Is that? 0:20:24.000 --> 0:20:24.760 Is that Brad Pitt? 0:20:24.920 --> 0:20:27.200 Is Is he death in that? Is he Joe Black? 0:20:27.520 --> 0:20:27.960 I think so? 0:20:28.520 --> 0:20:28.560 Or? 0:20:28.920 --> 0:20:32.000 Or is he he ages backwards in this one? Towards Death? 0:20:32.040 --> 0:20:33.960 I can't remember. I can't keep it. 0:20:34.119 --> 0:20:38.119 This is one from the nineties. In my brain, I merged. 0:20:38.320 --> 0:20:40.560 I used to merge Meet Joe Black and City of 0:20:40.640 --> 0:20:44.840 Angels the American remake of Wings of Desire into one movie. 0:20:44.960 --> 0:20:46.000 But they're different movies. 0:20:46.359 --> 0:20:48.879 Okay, all right, Meet chob Blake. Maybe I should give it, 0:20:49.080 --> 0:20:52.600 give it a go on the small screen. The Hitchhiker 0:20:52.680 --> 0:20:55.800 episode from the Twilight Zone was quite memorable, and in 0:20:55.880 --> 0:20:59.200 the various comics and graphic novels. Death of the Endless 0:20:59.320 --> 0:21:02.160 in the Sandman series is my favorite. And we can't 0:21:02.200 --> 0:21:05.640 forget about death the Pale Rider in the Book of Revelations. 0:21:06.280 --> 0:21:09.359 Although side note apparently the original word describing death is 0:21:09.400 --> 0:21:12.520 not pale, but a light green, indicating that it's actually 0:21:12.600 --> 0:21:16.520 the color of rotting flesh. Anyway, in both Meet Joe 0:21:16.600 --> 0:21:19.760 Black and in Sad Sandman, death is shown to be 0:21:19.840 --> 0:21:24.119 a comforting presence, fulfilling the role of psychopomp that you mentioned. 0:21:25.000 --> 0:21:28.040 That's right, So the distinction there is that the psychopomp 0:21:28.240 --> 0:21:32.800 is the figure, like the way Hermes is sometimes depicted 0:21:32.840 --> 0:21:35.159 in Greek mythology, the guide of the soul to the 0:21:35.240 --> 0:21:37.600 afterlife takes you from one place to the next. 0:21:38.000 --> 0:21:42.040 Yeah, Albert continues, I also looked into Japanese culture's depiction 0:21:42.200 --> 0:21:45.520 of death. When I do a search on Shinigami, which 0:21:45.600 --> 0:21:48.280