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We're washing away the rest of the OOZE by Anthony M. Rud!

Special thanks to our reader: PHOOLE! Explore the Phooliverse!

Next up: The Closing Hand and The Snake Fiend by Farnsworth Wright!

Comments

Ben Gilbert

I gave up on it about half way through and decided to let you guys tell me about. It made me think of the 50s movie Caltiki the Immortal Monster about a one celled creature than didn’t divide but kept growing bigger.

Anonymous

This does feel like a proof-of-concept rather than a fully realized story. Or a bit of not-for-publication backstory for a series bible. We have characters and scenes generally waved at, but not fully pseudopodded out. Good seeds for growing great stuff.

Anonymous

I do declare! That running gag of Fifer's drawling impression of Crawford Tillinghast had me rolling like a pig in mud. I did an e-search for the reference, my forgetful mind guessing Tillinghast to be a well-known Dixie lawyer, either real or fictional, and was hornswaggled to get a refresher on "From Beyond". I want now to re-listen to the Podcraft team's discussion of "From Beyond" to hear Fifer's inspiration for such a Southern-fried take on Tillinghast. Or is this personification new, corrupted by the Alabama sweet tea in "OOOZE"? The mad scientist conducting experiments on Providence, Rhode Island's Benevolent Street (The New Annotated HPL) has a name that, in the opinion of TOR.com's Ann in "It Was Seeing that Made Them Scream: 'From Beyond'", is "quintessentially Rhode Island." She then conjectures whether Crawford was "related to Dutee Tillinghast, whose daughter Eliza married Joseph Curwen. Probably, in which case he might have inherited Curwen’s affinity for cosmic horror." Whatever was behind Chad Fifer's performance, I think he's fixin' to charm the mornin' dew right off the honeysuckle, and it's workin'.

Anonymous

I do have to say, hearing coverage of this story hits a bit different when you're getting some Whitt's barbecue *in* Alabama. Still, while your coverage was as entertaining as always, the tale was overshadowed by the pulled pork.

Anonymous

Regarding people laughing at recently obsolete tech; I went to a screening of The Thing a few years ago. There's a point where Blair runs some computer simulation that looks a bit like an old arcade game and enters some very specific questions. The audience began to snicker and laugh at the scene. The weird thing is, it's no less realistic than a lot of current depictions of nonexistent tech. The giant geometric computer virus is Skyfall springs to mind.

Anonymous

I liked your Man eater gag! 😂

Anonymous

I decided not to read this after all, so I was disappointed when you guys revealed that the ooze died. I fully expected it to end with the ooze loose and growing in the swamp. Got to think that would have been another of Lovecraft's improvements, some lingering suggestion that the horror was not finished.

Anonymous

I am SO GLAD you called bullshit on the description of the Crammers as "the type two million dollars cannot spoil". When faced with an unpleasant or inconvenient task, both father and son choose to outsource it: "Kill this giant amoeba, I'm too busy"; "Keep my mystery pet fed while I spend a month in Cuba." What a pair of entitled idiots. Also, apparently Lee has never read GULLIVER'S TRAVELS, or he'd realize that the spectacle of a giant amoeba is more likely to inspire disgust than wonder or admiration.

Anonymous

Edwin Baird was the editor for Weird Tales. The little I read said he was also the editor for a detective magazine. If he was more “crime” minded, it might explain why he may not have been the right person for “weird” stuff. Also, Chad, I work for Target & would appreciate it if you would not shop at my store! LOL! Just kidding! I work at store #1777 in Omaha. I would love for both of you to visit me in the bakery!!!

Anonymous

Maybe part of the giant amoeba survived, headed north, and became the monster in Stephen King's "The Raft."

Anonymous

Maybe it’s having been trained by all the more modern horror movies I’ve seen where it’s expected that the possibility of a sequel will be set up, but I was convinced that there would be a final scene where a little bunny rabbit or similar pauses by a bush, and the pseudopod that Cranmer severed leaps out and engulfs it. And I can empathise with Chad’s story about “Hey, Lackey!” - I still remember working at an electronics store in my late teens with Johnny Dumass, Mikey Yewsuck and Susie Worthlesshumanbeing.

Steve

Chances are that there's a thin layer of slime and other biological substances on everything in Chris's room. In the same way that one in six mobile phones is contaminated with faecal matter.

Anonymous

When you brought up technology it reminded me of when I was talking to my dad and how he and his friends would go out but you'd have to bring cash on hand because its not like you had atms or anything to run to. I mean, sure it's one thing to sort of lambast the technology of a given time but doesn't it also inform the nature of that particular time? Having a cell phone where you can call people in an instant versus having to have change and remember people's numbers can and does really affect the story if it's an important consideration

Anonymous

A lot of horror movies from the late 90s had to explain why they can't just use their mobile phones.

Anonymous

Great show as always, gents. This would've made a sweet "Tales From the Crypt" adaptation. Also, I'm immune to mocking 80's tech because I still think that Max Headroom is really, really cool. Mandatory physical connections, "super futuristic" (just kinda small) VCR cassettes, super computers represented by either bad vector graphics or a dude in a latex mask and all. Max Headroom is still really cool, and I will die on this hill. I guess that was my point.

Anonymous

And WarGames will always hold a place in my heart. I’ll die on the hill adjacent to yours.

Anonymous

Was there an audio corruption at the 9:05 mark? I didn't hear Chris laughing at Chad's excellent joke.

Anonymous

Hog-slinging is an honest profession that anyone should be happy to list on their tax forms.

Anonymous

You guys, have you no entrepreneurial spirit? If you could grow a three-story longhorn, you could sell it to Texas for any amount of money you could ask. Wisconsin's purchase of your giant badger might go more poorly so be responsible.

Anonymous

We need to conduct an experiment where we hire random people to toss ever increasing bags of meat into a pit with no explanation given and see how long they will do it before bugging out. In the 60's we could probably have added recordings of people pleading for help but now I don't think an IRB would sign off on that part :P

Anonymous

That Tillinghast bit had me rolling, driving and laughing maybe not that safe, though I do think Chad missed the perfect place to put an ivan ooze reference as the name of the defendant.

Anonymous

Just listened to this episode while working at my lab bench, which is currently covered in petri plates filled with amoebae. My amoebae eat bacteria and are only 10 microns in diameter (very cute). I will tell them to try harder!

Anonymous

Wait, I have more things to say. I actually study how bacteria have evolved to interact with amoebae, which is very interesting because amoebae are predators that eat bacteria, but can also be hosts for bacterial pathogens. If I were a mad scientist with a giant amoeba, I would let it eat me and then, like the bacteria I study, I would take it over from within and become more powerful! Sadly, cell size is limited by the rate of diffusion. Science is hard, even when your experimental organism doesn't eat your relatives. The desire to melodramatically throw your lab notebook at someone (like maybe your PhD advisor haha) and then leap into a pit is relatable. But seriously, this podcast was a lifeline for me in the last two years of my PhD and helped me get though a lot of late nights and weekends in lab. Thank you!! To express my gratitude and enthusiasm for microbiologist representation in weird fiction, I will see if I can arrange for the podcast to be eaten in effigy by amoebae. Fun!

Anonymous

Hey, since we are nearing the end of an era with the closing of the beloved Witchouse Media site, I think it’s important we take advantage of the Patreon tags. That a Crawford Tilinghast tag doesn’t appear here is a crime against nature a level beyond that of the ooze itself!

Anonymous

In 'the dark swamp' episode of voluminous the letter of Lovecraft's they read mentions 'the ooze'

Anonymous

God I missed Crawford Tillinghast so much