About Judge a _____ by its Cover: A Little City Library Podcast
A media review podcast where librarians attempt to guess what a book or film is about based only on the cover. Billette, Pete, and Steve take turns competing to see who can judge a material more accurately on the cover alone. The loser from the month before chooses the next material and gets to judge the current cover judgements, picking a winner.
This month, Librarians Billette, Pete and Steve are talking about "Soft Science" by Franny Choi, a hefty collection of Poetry that explores identify, consciousness, and the fading (or failing?) division between technology and humanity - or so we hypothesize! Pete plays the judge this episode to Billette and Steve's cover predictions. Can Billette keep her streak going? Or was Steve more machine than man when he churned out this prediction? Find out!
7 Apr 2021
# 10 The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil
This month, Librarians Billette, Pete and Steve are talking about the 2005 Novella "The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil" by George Saunders. Written on a dare, this eccentric piece of satire weaves together a fable with a cast of absurd alien-like creatures and still manages to tell a very 'human' story. Steve plays the judge this episode to Billette and Pete's cover predictions.
10 Mar 2021
#9 VHYes
This month, Librarians Billette and Pete are talking about VHYes directed by Jack Henry Robbins. Join us as we travel back to 1988 – a time when the VHS reigned supreme and video recording wasn’t just another thing your phone did. Join us as we contemplate comedic skits a la the 80s and a family dynamic destined to fail as a kid inadvertently films over his parents wedding tape.
28 Jan 2021
#8 Holy Motors
Episode 8 of Judge a Blank by its Cover – A Little City Library Podcast
This month, Librarians Billette and Pete are talking about the 2012 film Holy Motors directed by Leos Carax. Bizarre shenanigans galore in the name of art as Dennis Lavant showcases his acting chops in this challenging film that is sure to provoke conversation, even if we’re still not entirely sure what it was about.
Quoted articles:
Senses of Cinema director prtofile:
https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2006/great-directors/carax/
New Yorker review:
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/richard-brody/leos-caraxs-astonishing-holy-motors
Indiewire interview:
https://www.indiewire.com/2012/12/honor-roll-2012-leos-carax-explains-his-beloved-holy-motors-indiewires-top-film-of-2012-42285/
30 Nov 2020
#7 Images
Welcome back for another episode of Judge a Blank by its Cover - a Little City Library Podcast! We are a media review podcast that guesses what a story is about based on the cover. This Month we watched (and judged) Robert Altman's 1972 psychological horror film and boy is there plenty to parse out in film and poster alike! Unpredictable and confusing psychotic episodes are complemented by the beautiful Irish countryside. A captivating story about a children's writer who can't quite draw the line between fantasy and reality. A true puzzle for audience and cast alike.
5 Aug 2020
#6 Lavender Hill Mob
Judge a Book By it's Cover - a Little City Library Podcast, is briefly moving away from Novellas to reviewing/judging films by their posters!
This month, we're talking about Lavender Hill Mob, a 1951 Ealing Comedy directed by Charles Crichton and staring Alec Guinness and Stanley Holloway. It is available to checkout via Kanopy- our libraries streaming service. Join us as Billette and Pete discuss this dry, clever film that won an academy award for best screenplay, and see who gets closer to guessing the plot correctly based on the cover (not to mention who gets our first ever point awarded for proper color identification!)
7 Jul 2020
#5 Ganja and Hess
Judge a Book By it's Cover - a Little City Library Podcast is briefly moving away from Novellas to reviewing/judging films by their posters!
This month, we're talking about Ganja and Hess, a 1973 experimental Horror Film directed by Bill Gunn and available via Kanopy- our libraries streaming service. Bizarre is the name of the game as we talk ancient cursed daggers, vampires that aren't vampires, and purposefully disjointed storytelling. Below are a few articles we reference or mention in the podcast for those who are interested.
http://www.notcoming.com/reviews/ganjaandhess/
https://www.villagevoice.com/2018/05/29/bill-gunns-revolutionary-ganja-hess-gets-the-restoration-it-deserves/
https://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sight-sound-magazine/comment/bradlands/bodies-off-ganja-hess-under-skin-flick
20 May 2020
#4 Playtime Edit
Judge a Book By it's Cover - a Little City Library Podcast is briefly moving away from Novellas to reviewing/judging films by their posters since it turns out Novellas are pretty depressing on the whole! Good and well written, but depressing and nobody wants to listen to us talk about depressing novellas right now.
So, this month, after a brief hiatus, we are picking up with the film Play Time a 1967 French comedy of errors directed by Jacques Tati- available via Kanopy- our libraries streaming service. Enjoy our own comedy of errors as we attempt to judge this film by its poster!
5 Feb 2020
#3 The Kingdom Of This World
Episode 3 of Judge a Book by its Cover- A Little City Library Podcast-
Welcome back! This month, Librarians, Billette and Pete are talking about 'Kingdom of this World' by Alejo Carpentier.
This is a readers advisory podcast where we guess what a book is about based solely on our impressions of the cover, then we actually read the book, have a brief discussion about it, before we see whose 'judgement' was closer. We also have a special trivia question at the end of each episode for our patrons which can be used to waive all the library fines from a single patron account! Be the first to comment with the answer and win.
9 Jan 2020
#2 You Should Have Left
Episode 2 of Judge a Book by its Cover- A Little City Library Podcast-
Welcome back! This month, Librarians, Billette and Pete are talking about 'You Should Have Left' by Daniel Kehlman.
This is a readers advisory podcast where we guess what a book is about based solely on our impressions of the cover, then we actually read the book, have a brief discussion about it, before we see whose 'judgement' was closer. We also have a special trivia question at the end of each episode for our patrons which can be used to waive all the library fines from a single patron account! Be the first to comment with the answer and win.
4 Dec 2019
#1 Haunting Of Tram Car 015
Welcome to 'Judge a Book by its Cover!' AKA JABBIC- a Little City Library Podcast. We read novellas with interesting covers and review them, but before we dig into the book, we make a guess as to what it is about based on the cover image. Sometimes we are spot on, and some times we aren't, either way we'll let you know if the book is worth reading.
This week we read 'The Haunting of Tram Car 015' by P. Djeli Clark- tune in to see if this bureaucratic procedural set in a future past and clocking in at just over 100 pages is the escape you need from daily life.
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