TQ Townsend

Producer Chloë has just discovered the Percy Jackson series and she can't put down her copy of The Lightning Thief. About every five minutes or so she checks on the eclipse but it doesn't seem as interesting as finding out if Percy will survive his first day at Camp Half-Blood.

1 day ago | [YT] | 46

TQ Townsend

Happy eclipse!

1 day ago | [YT] | 41

TQ Townsend

What is YOUR favorite reference to Shakespeare in Star Trek? It could be from a TV episode or a movie. I will be ranking my top 10 on Saturday and I FULLY expect all of you to argue with me (or I will be very disappointed indeed) but I want to hear about your favorites so I can share them during the show.

1 week ago | [YT] | 36

TQ Townsend

Join me Saturday at 8pm BST for the 250th podcast episode! I have been doing this show in audio format for longer than I have been making videos, so the YouTube count is slightly different, but it's been six years and 250 episodes since I started the show!

If the weather allows I'll be out by the fire pit, ranking my top 10 favorite Star Trek Shakespeare moments. You can ask me anything, and if there's time I may read some stories.

Thank you so much to every one of you for following the show and joining in the fun. It's been so great to talk to all of you about why we love great stories.

Here's the link. See you there!

youtube.com/live/ADB9N6pyg_Q?feature=share

1 week ago | [YT] | 59

TQ Townsend

Join me tomorrow at 9 PM BST for a livestream in which I will read my own retelling of Book 9 of The Odyssey, sharing the portion of the story in which Odysseus has his run-in with Polyphemus the Cyclops. While I loved the puppeteering and action in Christopher Nolan's movie, I was quite frustrated with the poor rewrite of the story itself, so I want to share Homer's version with all of you. After I read the story to you all we can have a little chat about the film as well if you like. Here's the link!

youtube.com/live/YR5hIixlZY4?feature=share

2 weeks ago | [YT] | 51

TQ Townsend

A bunch of you have very kindly given me homework to do, asking which translation of the Odyssey I think is best. I don't think I can really answer this firmly, because I am not an expert in ancient Greek literature, I don't speak or read Greek, and I haven't read every English translation of the Odyssey. But I think what I can do for you is put together an episode where I tell you what I think a bunch of different translations are good for. Some people like storytelling flair. Some like textual accuracy. Some like to get a sense of what the original poetry style sounded like. Some like to compare different versions. I think all of these approaches are great and, while of course I was far from charmed by Nolan's approach to Homer's text, I am so glad that so many people are getting interested in the foundational tales of Western literature and I want to encourage that! I will get going on this and have something for you soon.

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 67

TQ Townsend

About to board a plane back to Blighty. This has been an amazing trip and I hope it's not too long before I am back in the US. We finished our vacation with a few days in Bear Lake on the Utah-Idaho border and it was even more fun than I hoped. We had a great meal at The Red Iguana in Salt Lake on the way to the airport. This restaurant is legendary and for good cause. I had their signature dish, the Mole Coloradito with carnitas and I am soooooo happy. The kids got to try fried ice cream for the first time and they give it four sticky thumbs up.

Great trip, great fun, memories made.

Skip the Carousel

1 2 3 4 5

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 72

TQ Townsend

Let the Freedom commence. In this case, freedom means a giant water slide, a giant box of goldfish crackers, and a nice cold soda.

Happy Birthday America. I love you.

#america250 #usaalltheway #usa #independenceday

1 month ago | [YT] | 84

TQ Townsend

What's the best thing I've experienced in the 24 hours since I got back to the USA?

1 month ago | [YT] | 25

TQ Townsend

UPCOMING SHOW SCHEDULE: PURE CHAOS!!!

It's the end of the school year and soon I will be heading back to the USA to enjoy my first proper Fourth of July for the since lockdown. Soooooo . . . I can't promise that anything will be regular and/or coherent but I've got some fun ideas as well as a few things that have been sitting on the back burner waiting for the right time to go out into the world.

I have a house to clean, work to finish, kids' school projects to get done, and a school summer festival to help with, so I will not schedule a livestream in advance. However, if the stars align I may pop online on Friday evening my time (BST), and if I see you there, great!

Once I am in the US I will do a few episodes in the days building up to July 4 to share some thoughts on a great work of American writing that all kids should read as it explains a lot about how our modern world came to be. I have some fireside tales I would like to share and some films to review, but these episodes may have to be shorter or less polished than usual.

I intend to make the most of this trip, especially since my children haven't had a proper Fourth of July and this one looks like it will be extra fun. So far on the agenda is outdoor theater, fishing, barbecues, fireworks, water slides, a baseball game, and a monster truck rally. I am also looking forward to In-N-Out Burger and several trips to Trader Joe's.

1 month ago | [YT] | 49