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Season 5

Episode 17: “This is just doing biz.” | a conversation with Jim & Lionel

Topic: John Hawkwood, Robert Hughes, Terraforming as fantasy, Siberiad

Wednesday, December 18, 2024   #133

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dark ages nobleman on horseback leading charge surrounded by dozens of lancement on horseback their lances fanning out like a leaf

Paolo Ucello: The Counterattack of Michelotto da Cotignola at the Battle of San Romano (c. 1455), wood panel, 182 × 317 cm, Musée du Louvre, Paris

Lionel and Jim discuss a myriad of subjects this week with a subtile common thread. We move from Jim's recent experience with jury duty to return to discussing the novel The Devil’s Broker by Frances Stonor Saunders. From there we revisit the Steerswoman series with Jim's experience reading book 3: The Lost Steersman. Lionel has been left behind on these books, but talks about The Cyberiad by Stanislaw Lem.

In the end we land on the documentary about Robert Hughes and the downfall of the art world called The Mona Lisa Curse discovered for Lionel by (who else) Johnathan Coulthart, you can watch it here on the Internet Archive. This is an excellent movie - immediately engrossing which you should watch forthwith. While you are there, please make a donation to The Internet Archive, which is under attack by various groups.