The Projectionist's Lending Library

A new season begins! Horror has come to Hrothgar’s Hall. Grendel the monster,hated by God, has laid waste his mead-hall, slaughtered his men. Now comes the champion, claiming renown: Beowulf the Brave,bringing his band...

Kline and Booth are joined by special guest Mark Brenden to discuss Cormac McCarthy's No Country for Old Men. Mark gives insight into the novel and movie as examples of what he calls "The Bush Western"--a Western...

It's a Christmas episode! Today we look at the short story "The Three Godfathers" and two adaptations--one very loose--of it: John Ford's 1948 3 Godfathers and Satoshi Kon's 2003 Tokyo Godfathers . Explore with us the...

Some seek enlightenment in self-abasement; others, in surrender to the senses; still others, in a contemplation of time and eternity. The protagonist of Herman Hesse’s Siddhartha does all three. Today, on The...

Beneath the surface of ordinary life is another world—the world of the vampire. While you go about your day—shopping, working—the vampire sleeps until the moment when, the sun fallen, he can emerge from his crypt and...

The stars of the West are all larger than life: Wyatt Earp, Wild BillHickock, Billy the Kid. Among the brightest of these stars is Jesse James, an outlaw who became a legend in his own lifetime—and, through his death...

In 1872, Polly Bemis came to America. She did not come, as so many have, out of hope of beginning a new life; she was forced here, sold into slavery (as the story goes) to a man named Hong King. One she arrived...

This is part two of a two-part episode on Edna Ferber's GIANT (1952) and the 1956 film adaptation of it starring Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, and James Dean. In part two, Erik and Nathanael discuss the film, its...

PART ONE OF TWO Please note that we had minor technical issues with recording on these episodes. We have to the best of our ability edited around them. They say everything’s bigger in Texas—the land, the sky, thehair...

In 1893, Frederick Jackson Turner concluded his speech on “TheSignificance of the Frontier in American History” with these words: “What the Mediterranean Sea was to the Greeks, breaking the bond of custom, offering new...

In 1865—or perhaps it was 1833—Horace Greeley gave the famous advice to “go west, young man, and grow up with the country.” He said it in print—or to a young acquaintance—like most legends of the American West, the...

Just in time for Pride Month, we are joined by Jennie Lightweis-Goff to talk about Annie Proulx's short story "Brokeback Mountain" and the 2005 movie based on it. Please note that, of all our episodes, this one earns...

It's spooky season! In their October episode, Nathanael and Erik discuss the figurative and literal body horror seen in Kafka's absurdist novella THE METAMORPHOSIS and Cronenberg's visceral cult classic THE FLY.

Will Murray joins Erik and Nathanael to discuss John Ball's novel In the Heat of the Night and the 1967 movie based on it. Join us as we discuss the idea of the American South as branding and as scapegoat, interrogate...

In the second episode of their Western season, Nathanael and Erik discuss Sherman Alexie's short story collection The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven as well as Alexie's adaptation of his own work in Smoke...