The Middle Geeks

Nov 30 2024 77 ep. 69 mins 36
The Middle Geeks Podcast artwork

Mae and Swara are two writers and geeks of West Asian (IE Middle Eastern) descent who discuss and review all things Southwest Asian and North African (SWANA, ie "MENA") representation each month, along with other entertainment topics. Come join us as we highlight positive depictions of SWANA people in popular media, review the latest popular releases, and just have a fun time nerding out. Follow us @TheMiddleGeeks, @MaeAbdu, @spiderswarz

  TV & Film  Society & Culture
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The Middle Geeks Episode 69: Jaylee Hamidi on their Career and "How to Die Alone"

Nov 30 2024 43 mins  
Jaylee Hamidi (they/she) has made significant history in their supporting role on Nathasha Rothwell's Hulu series How to Die Alone as "Allie." A queer, Kurdish-Iranian-Chinese actor, Hamidi has made history as one of the first major Kurdish actors in a major network show, getting to showcase some of her culture and providing groundbreaking representation for Kurds and Iranians who

Episode 68: 'The Rings of Power' Season 2 SPOILER Review

Oct 03 2024 97 mins  
The Rings of Power Season 2 has concluded, and we have back on our friend Arezou to go through all the details of the riveting sophomore outing of this take on J.R.R. Tolkien's Legendarium. But on that note, just how canonically faithful is the series, or does it take too many deviations from the source material? Either way, we discuss and praise the performances, particularly Bla

Episode 67: Star Wars: The Acolyte Season 1 Review

Jul 23 2024 74 mins  
Leslye Headland's The Acolyte, streaming on Disney+, is unique in more ways than one. As one of the most diverse Star Wars series, in front of and behind the scenes, with writers like the SWANA and Turkish Kor Adana, it presents a bold story in the era of The High Republic, showcasing the mistakes made by those in power and the reverberations for our main characters. Namely, twins

Episode 66: 'We Are Lady Parts' Season 2 Review

Jun 03 2024 77 mins  
Our favorite costume designer Isa joins us once again to review one of our all-time favorite series, Nida Manzoor's We Are Lady Parts, starring a British Muslim women punk band comprising of frontwoman Saira (Sarah Kameela Impey), lead guitarist Amina (Anjana Vasan), bassist Bisma (Faith Omole), drummer Ayesha (Juliette Motamed), and band manager Momtaz (Lucie Shorthouse). After

Episode 65: Author Rania Hanna on 'The Jinn Daughter'

May 22 2024 50 mins  
In her debut novel, The Jinn Daughter, Syrian-American author Rania Hanna weaves together a family tale based in stories of oral tradition across the Arab world. In telling stories with the Jinn, she seeks to tell a fundamentally human story. We discuss Rania's foray into the book world, how she aimed to tell stories on her own terms, and what she hopes to achieve with her novels.

Episode 64: LIVE at Awesome Con (Washington D.C.)!

Mar 11 2024 48 mins  
Joined by our friends Darya Bajestani, Roxana Hadadi, Ali Nasser, and Zaina Ujayli (while sadly missing Mae!), we're live at D.C.'s premier comic-con, Awesome Con! In this panel of SWANA writers, scholars, artists, and actors, we will discuss how we grew up feeling or not feeling represented, how Hollywood has constantly Orientalized our peoples, excluded us, and appropriated our

Episode 63: 'Dune: Part Two' Review

Mar 07 2024 81 mins  
Roxana Hadadi joins us once again to review the Dune franchise, now with Dune: Part Two in theaters. In a franchise that appropriates so much from SWANA and Muslim cultures, does the second installment improve on that regard, or does it continue to appropriate and Orientalize? But even beyond that, does Denis Villeneuve effectively convey the meaning of Frank Herbert's original te

Episode 62: 'Assassin's Creed Mirage' Review and Updates on Gaza

Feb 12 2024 96 mins  
We welcome back our friends Jasmin and Isa to discuss Assassin's Creed Mirage, a sprawling action-adventure game from Ubisoft set in 9th Century Abbasid Baghdad, that tells the story of Basim Ibn Ishaq (Lee Majdoub) and his mentor Roshan (Shohreh Aghdashloo). We go into detail on why this game is the the best Iraqi, Arab, Persian, Muslim, and SWANA representation we've ever seen i

Episode 61: ‘The Persian Version’ Review on the Eve of Yalda

Dec 21 2023 67 mins  
On the eve of Yalda, the Iranian Winter-Solstice, we review writer-director Maryam Keshavarz's The Persian Version with our friends Arezou and Samira. How well does Keshavarz do at portraying a unique yet universal experience through Leila (Layla Mohammadi) and her mother Shireen (Niousha Noor)? How does intergenerational trauma shape our familial relationships, and what can we do

Episode 60: "Squire" Through the lens of Palestine with Nadia Shammas

Nov 20 2023 80 mins  
We welcome back Palestinian-American Harvey award winning comic and video games writer, Nadia Shammas, to discuss their critically acclaimed graphic novel Squire, which takes place in an a SWANA/MENA fantasy setting, through the lens of Palestine in the midst of the IDF's ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. We discuss Nadia's upbringing in both Palestine and the US, how the