『Make Me A Nerd with Mandy Kaplan』のカバーアート

Make Me A Nerd with Mandy Kaplan

Make Me A Nerd with Mandy Kaplan

著者： TruStory FM
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概要

 Hey folks. Mandy Kaplan here. I’d like to share a bit about my intentions and mission for MMAN if you’ll indulge me. You will? Huzzah!

Look, I am a lot of things. I’m a writer, actress, mother, and lover of musicals and cats, but NOT Cats, The Musical. Give me a little bit of credit, would ya? So...throughout my life, I’ve been surrounded (and intrigued) by all things nerd. A sister who plays D&D, a Star Wars-obsessed husband, friends who love anime, comic books, video games, and...well, you get the picture. Somehow, I have always held it all at arm's length. Not to get too deep, but maybe I never thought I was smart enough to follow it. Or maybe I have control issues and have never been able to embrace fantastical things like dragons and time travel. Until now!

So, with an open mind and heart, I am ready to join this massive (and beautifully inclusive) club and GEEK THE #%$ OUT! It’s time for all my wonderfully strange friends to baptize me into NERD-DOM. Please join me on this journey. Who knows? Maybe you’ll discover or remember a side of yourself along the way. Or at least make fun of me as I try!© TruStory FM アート 社会科学
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  • It’s Manga Madness with Helen McCarthy!

    It’s Manga Madness with Helen McCarthy!
    2026/03/23
    Manga has a first-impression problem. It's enormous, genre-defying, visually foreign, and comes wrapped in the kind of devoted fan energy that makes newcomers feel like they've wandered into the graduate seminar by mistake. Mandy Kaplan — who did her manga homework at the Department of Motor Vehicles while her son got his learner's permit — is here to represent everyone who's been lurking at the door. Her guide is Helen McCarthy: author of the very first English-language book on Japanese animation, the first English book on Hayao Miyazaki, and thirteen published works on the subject in total. Her fourteenth, The Manga Bible, drops March 24th. The woman does not stop.They work through three titles Mandy actually read: One Piece, which turns out to be a sneaky piece of social conditioning about building friendships when the world is terrifying (Eiichiro Oda knew exactly what he was doing); Nana, which delivers all the drama of Sex and the City set in 1999 Tokyo — a friendship story Mandy almost completely missed because she was reading it between DMV announcements; and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, which she found deeply upsetting, and means that as a compliment. Helen contextualizes all of it: the cartoony violence, the naïve heroines, the Indonesian protesters waving a One Piece flag, and why manga that looks contemporary might actually be set in your mother's girlhood. By the end, Mandy may not be a manga nerd. But the door is open — and she can see the plushies from here.Helen McCarthy is the author of the first English-language books on Japanese animation and on Hayao Miyazaki — which is to say, she was there taking manga seriously before the rest of the English-speaking world had even formed an opinion about it. She's consulted on doctoral theses, spoken at universities from Akita International to the University of Maryland, and built a career out of a manga collection that started with Spanish-language comics her partner found on a graduation trip to Mallorca. Her latest book, The Manga Bible — an accessible, people-first entry into the world of manga and the artists behind it — is out March 24th from Prestel. Find her at HelenMcCarthy.net.Referenced in This Episode
    • One Piece — manga and anime by Eiichiro Oda; live-action series on Netflix
    • Nana — manga by Ai Yazawa
    • Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind — manga and film by Hayao Miyazaki
    Past Episodes You Might Like
    • One Piece with Zach Logan
    • Watchmen with Adam Rose
    • Superman Smashes the Klan with Jimmy Aquino
    Connect with the ShowFollow Mandy on Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavensMake Me a Nerd runs on curious people. If that's you, the inner circle is at makemeanerd.com/join — it's where the show goes deeper between episodes, and where Mandy's most embarrassingly enthusiastic fans have found their people.
    ---
    Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.
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    55 分
  • Wonder Man: A Superhero Show About Not Being a Superhero

    Wonder Man: A Superhero Show About Not Being a Superhero
    2026/03/16
    Wonder Man is, technically speaking, a Marvel show. It exists in the MCU. Captain America is out there somewhere. The Hulk is presumably smashing things. And none of that matters even a little bit, because this is a show about a guy who bombs auditions, self-sabotages every relationship he has, and quotes Pretty Woman during an improv because he's too afraid to access a genuine emotion. Simon Williams has a superpower, sure, but his actual problem is that he's every actor you've ever met who's three bad decisions away from selling real estate — which, by the way, Joey Pantoliano's character would enthusiastically recommend.Matthew Fox returns to the show and admits they’re the noob this time. Because while Matthew can navigate the MCU lore — explaining Trevor Slattery's bonkers journey from fake terrorist in Iron Man 3 to mystical land adventurer in Shang-Chi to reluctant government informant — it's Mandy who actually understands the world in which this show lives. The auditions that feel like psychological warfare. The directors who demand you "take risks" and then get furious when you do. The friends who call casting offices pretending to be your manager. All of it is painfully, hilariously real, and the show treats it with a respect that certain podcasts hosted by extremely famous actors have never managed.Matthew unpacks Wonder Man's superpower as a metaphor for passing — for anyone who's ever had to hide a fundamental part of themselves to get a job, keep a relationship, or just survive. It's the kind of reading that makes you realize why science fiction matters: not because the problems are unimaginable, but because they look exactly like the ones we can imagine. And if that doesn't get you, the show also features a black-and-white standalone episode about a guy called Damar the Doorman whose entire superpower is that people can walk through him, which is both the most absurd premise imaginable and a devastatingly accurate parable about how we consume and discard fame. Josh Gad plays himself as a monster. The episode description is literally just "Ding dong." It's perfect.By the finale, Simon hasn't become a hero in any traditional sense. He breaks his best friend out of jail — not to save the world, just because Trevor took the fall for him and that's what you do. It's personal and small and exactly right. Mandy and Matthew agree: this is a character study wearing a superhero costume it never actually puts on, and it's better for it.Links & NotesMatthew Fox's hub: TheEthicalPanda.comThe Marvel Movie Minute podcast (currently covering Captain America: Winter Soldier)Wonder Man on Disney+If you like this episode ... The Goonies (featuring Mandy's Joey Pantoliano confession)Agatha All AlongCaptain AmericaThunderbolts (Make Me A Nerd)Thunderbolts (Superhero Ethics)Thunderbolts (The Film Board)The Penguin (with Matthew Fox)The Orville (with Matthew Fox)Last of Us (with Matthew Fox)Links & NotesFollow Mandy on Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavensJoin the nerdy inner circle: makemeanerd.com/join---Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.
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    54 分
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