Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men

HAWK TALK – Call Any Vegetable

This would usually be a skip week, but the world is still being a jerk, so we made you a bonus, entirely unedited, and almost entirely off-topic episode. This time, we talked about vegetables. Kind of.


Topics, roughly:

  • Vegetables. Like we said.
  • Is Apocalypse a fruit?
  • Ghost vs. slime trees
  • Dwarves in the rutabagas
  • Ramen mishaps
  • How to be less terrible at cooking
  • Cherimoya, that weirdo

13 comments

    1. I am 50% of the way through the episode and “vegetable” has ceased to be a real word with any meaning, any more.

      Congratulations, I assume that was half the point.

      1. Wait hold on, that wasn’t supposed to be in response to anything. Just the episode itself.

        Uh… well, while I’m here I guess, definitely seconding the Hackers as a topic idea. Absolutely ICONIC movie, still so resonent with people today (shoutout to donk_enby), and between the Extremely 90s, the tech, and the queer readings/subtext (“queer subtech”? I don’t know what I’m saying), I’m pretty sure you have every single major angle on that movie covered.

  1. Suggested Topic – old DND campaigns. I’ve gotten into DND partially due to your asides throughout the podcast and also partially because it became a fun way to hang out virtually with college friends during the pandemic. I would love to hear more about your old adventures.

    Other thoughts on this ep:

    1. I LOVE vegetables, BUT I also love the term “cultural vegetable” even though it’s such a diss to vegetables. (For those of you who haven’t heard it, it’s something you watch because you think it’ll be good for you, even if it bores you: https://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/01/magazine/mag-01Riff-t.html)

    2. Perfect Albums: Born to Run by Springsteen, Picaresque by the Decemberists, Everything Went Numb by Streetlight Manifesto, Natasha, Pierre, & the Great Comet of 1812 soundtrack (one of the only musicals that I feel doesn’t have a weak song)

    3. My vegetable discovery was roasting cauliflower in ginger and garlic and olive oil, then tossing with marmalade, dijon, red wine vinegar, and capers. I’ve been a cauliflower lover for years, but it creates such an interesting flavor profile.

    4. Definitely am on Team Miles re: Raw carrots.

    5. Sweet Potatoes – IF potatoes are vegetables, would these be vegetables that act like a fruit (in that they are one of the most dessert-y of veggies)?

  2. Possible Hawk Topic: the good, the bad, and the ugly of non-Marvel media franchises that are inspired by X-Men. I’m thinking of NBC’s Heroes as obviously leaning heavily and explicitly on X-Men. But others, either drawing on the mutant metaphor, or blatant ripoffs of particular X-Men characters?

  3. As far as topics go, the other podcast I listen to (Kevin and Ursula Eat Cheap) ostensibly reviews prepackaged food, but at almost 300 episodes later has covered a lot of other topics in among the vegan pizzas and faux-Amish health tonics. So, some thoughts on topics mostly influenced by that:

    * Miles mentioned he hasn’t cooked much. If it wouldn’t be too similar, I’d be interested in a Hawk Talk on cookery in general, prepackaged foods and opinions, something in that genre.

    * Weird niche topics one or both of you will always rant on given the option. Not necessarily the super-heavy ones Jay tackles in his articles; KUEC host Kevin will reliably go off about the low quality of Hershey chocolate and how “Milton Hershey is spinning in his grave”, while Ursula will expound on the 4,000 varieties of potato known to the Inca Empire. I have a vague memory that Jay once did an episode of “Into It” with Elle Collins about Speed Racer; Hawk Talks about Speed Racer and/or Silent Hill, together or separately, could be interesting?

    * Y’all not being an explicit podcast does preclude some of the funnier topics that have come up on KUEC, such as whether fornicating with a sea anemone is a victimless crime. (Doing the same with a sea *urchin*, it was decided, is definitely not a victimless crime; the human is the victim. ^_^)

    * I don’t know if episodes on upcoming holidays would have enough content. Unless you’re aromantic (I can get really bitter about Valentine’s Day), most minor holidays are probably sort of “eh”. The Halloween episode was fun, but Halloween is objectively the best holiday. XD

    * Y’all covered childhood nostalgia TV, video games, and so forth, but what about more current media you have strong opinions on? I always like the little bits where Jay will be recommending Miles something he hasn’t seen yet, I’d enjoy sort of an expansion of that, although I am the sort of person who likes a lot of advance spoilers so I’m not sure how much content you could get out of that if you were trying not to spoil things.

    * Something like the all-question episodes you did occasionally on the main show, but Hawk Talk, so completely random possibly user-generated questions. Coffee or tea? Buffet or menu restaurants? Favorite season? And so forth.

  4. I was chopping and roasting vegetables while listening to this, actually, but the title had me hoping for a discussion of music and then there was some! As a fan of The Cars, Zappa, AND clipping., I could probably listen to y’all talk about other music for in excess of an hour, formative, current, a “desert island discs”-type thing, whatever. Multiple genre-specific episodes, even. Miles is on record as a metalhead, obviously, and now I’d be stoked to hear more from Jay on hip-hop.

  5. My perfect albums? “Darkest Days” by Stabbing Westward, “Dulcinea” by Toad the Wet Sprocket, “Post” by Bjork and “Native” by Onerepublic.

    Topic suggestions? I don’t really have any that haven’t already been done in the past year or that haven’t already been suggested above.

  6. As a topic suggestion that is slightly adjacent to cooking *and* vegetables* – as the person who generally brings up anime and manga because I spent most of high school through college reading manga and watching anime, and only recently returned to western comics in general – you’ve occasionally dropped references in the past to various anime series you’ve watched, and not just the standard Toonami Fare, but stuff that’s a little more niche, like Serial Experiments Lain (which, yes, did air on TechTV, but I don’t know how many people knew it was airing there).

    Quick aside related to cooking and anime & manga – my standing recommendation for cooking manga and anime is Today’s Menu for the Emiya Family – the anime is absolutely joyful and wholesome, and does a really good job at showing how to prepare the dishes, while the manga includes the recipes, and the volumes that have come out thus far include recipes that weren’t in the show (like a recipe for tea scones – as in scones made with tea).

  7. Possible Hawk Topic: Star Trek! You’ve often on the podcast mentioned your history watching TNG and Voyager, and Star Trek has had some comic and novel X-Men crossovers, not to mention Patrick Stewart’s role in both. I think people would be interested to hear about your relationships with Trek and how you feel about any of the newer Trek shows (if you’ve seen them)

    Also, you should make sure to mention on the podcast that you are eligible to be nominated for a Hugo Award for best fancast. I nominate you every year and I bet there are enough people voting for the Hugos who listen that if you remind people that you are eligible, you’d have enough votes to get on the ballot!

  8. Hawk talk topic: non-x-men time travel media! Inspired by mentioning Doctor Who and referencing Time Bandits. Just what do you like? What wasn’t great? Wherever the discussion goes.

    I really enjoyed this vegetable episode. I love cooking and veggies. Also I really love meandering discussions with only a vague core.

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