30 – A Change Ringing Roast

Another campanological excursion

The gents do a deep dive into the world of Change Ringing with church bells, comparing and contrasting with other types of ringing.

SEE: Change Ringing

SEE: Campanology

SEE: Peal

SEE: BellBoard

SEE: North American Change Ringing Towers

SEE: Love’s Guide to the Bells of the City of London

SEE: Love’s Guide to the Church Bells of Kent

SEE: The Central Council of Church Bell Ringers (CCCBR)

SEE: North American Guild of Change Ringers (NAGCR)

SEE: The Ancient Society of College Youths (ASCY)

SEE: Ringing up in peal – Yardley, Derick Obergene Society

SEE: Handbell Change Ringing – ASCY 2021 Dinner

SEE: National Cathedral Bells, 1349 Grandsire Caters 2013-12-31

29 – Britain's Tallest Spire

Salisbury Cathedral: An archetype of English gothic

Zack investigates the origin of Salisbury steak.

SEE: Salisbury steak

SEE: Broil

Tom compares and contrasts English gothic with French gothic, using Salisbury cathedral to demonstrate the design aesthetics and choices of the medieval English builders.

SEE: English gothic architecture

SEE: Salisbury Cathedral

SEE: Documentary—Britain’s Great Cathedrals w/ Tony Robinson, Ep3 Salisbury

SEE: Patriarchal cross

SEE: Britain’s tallest churches

SEE: Old St. Paul’s Cathedral

SEE: Lincoln Cathedral

SEE: Original Tower of Salisbury

SEE: Bowing Central Piers of Salisbury

SEE: Salisbury Cathedral clock

SEE: Cathedral close

SEE: Cathedral cloisters

SEE: Magna Carta

Tom shares his latest Minecraft build of Salisbury cathedral.

SEE: Tom’s Salisbury Cathedral (1:1 scale) build

SEE: Tom’s YouTube Salisbury Cathedral video

28 – Modded Times

Demoing the Minecraft Create Mod

Zack demonstrates how to use the Create Mod to build customized factories that can generate a variety of blocks using the power of water, wind, and steam.

SEE: Create, Minecraft Mod (curseforge.com)

SEE: BdoubleO100 Create Mod Playlist

SEE: Tango Tek Create Mod Playlist, Season 2

27 – Nonlinear Talk

A disaster show duct-taped together

David and Zack run the show, discussing the latest restoration updates at Notre-Dame.

SEE: Restoration Progress at Notre-Dame

SEE: 60 Minutes Video on Notre-Dame’s Restoration

Zack briefly discusses visiting David and Tom on the East Coast.

SEE: National Cherry Blossom Festival

SEE: Cherry Blossom Biome in Minecraft 1.20

26 – Masonry Follow-up

Reviewing stonework at Washington National Cathedral

David and Zack get a chance to weigh in on Tom’s interview with Joe Alonso from Episode 25, regarding masonry and the Washington National Cathedral.

SEE: Washington National Cathedral (WNC)

SEE: WNC Slides—Tour & Earthquake

SEE: Tallest Buildings in Washington, D.C.

SEE: Architect

SEE: Structural engineer

SEE: Stonemasonry

SEE: Igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rock

SEE: Stone carving

SEE: Russell Sage Memorial Chapel

Tom shares that the construction of Notre-Dame’s main crossing vault is underway.

SEE: Wooden centering for main crossing vault at Notre-Dame—NBC Today

25 – Alonso, Head Stonemason

Restoring Washington National Cathedral

DONATE: Washington National Cathedral Preservation (click podcast box at bottom)

Joe Alonso, Head Stonemason at Washington National Cathedral, discusses repairing the cathedral after the 2011 earthquake in DC, along with a variety of construction topics including structure settlement, mortar application, limestone qualities, and a special visit from the architects of Notre-Dame de Paris.

SEE: Washington National Cathedral (WNC)

SEE: WNC Slides—Tour & Earthquake

SEE: WNC—Art & Architecture Virtual Tours

SEE: 2011 Virginia earthquake

SEE: Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception

SEE: George Frederick Bodley (architect 1906–1907)

SEE: Henry Vaughan (architect 1907–1917)

SEE: Philip H. Frohman (architect 1921–1972)

SEE: Notre-Dame Architects US Tour—Philippe Villeneuve & Rémi Fromont

SEE: Tuckpointing

SEE: Portland cement

SEE: Indiana Limestone

SEE: Empire Quarry

SEE: Cathedral of St. John the Divine

SEE: The International Union of Bricklayers & Allied Craftworkers

24 – France’s Largest Cathedral

Surveying Amiens Cathedral, the apex of high gothic

The gents further investigate the eccentricities of Trombone Champ.

SEE: Trombone Champ

Tom, David, and Zack examine the architecture of Amiens Cathedral, the one of the largest gothic cathedrals in the world.

SEE: Amiens Cathedral

SEE: Amiens Cathedral Slides

SEE: Life of a Cathedral: Notre-Dame of Amiens (Columbia University interactive)

SEE: Notre-Dame de Amiens: Life of the Gothic Cathedral, by Dr. Stephen Murray

SEE: NOVA (2010)—Building the Great Cathedrals (PBS)

SEE: Dolly zoom (camera effect)

SEE: Vertigo (1958 Hitchcock film)

Tom shares his latest Minecraft build—Notre-Dame de Amiens.

SEE: Tom’s Amiens Cathedral (1:1 scale) build

SEE: Tom’s YouTube Amiens Cathedral video

23 – Hunchback Dream Cast

Critiquing Disney’s 1996 Victor Hugo adaptation

Tom, David, and Zack discuss the architecture in Disney’s animated 1996 adaptation of the Hunchback of Notre-Dame.

SEE: Disney’s Notre-Dame vs Real Notre-Dame

SEE: Up-wrong bell (clapper strikes counter to bell’s motion) 

SEE: Up-right bell (clapper strikes in-sync with bell’s motion)

SEE: Hunchback Intro up-wrong bell (behind title, 9 seconds)

SEE: Palais de la Cité, a.k.a.: Palais de Justice, Paris

Tom, David, and Zack share their proposed casting lists for the upcoming live-action adaptation of Disney’s Hunchback of Notre-Dame. In order of discussion:

QUASIMODO: Original 1996 Casting—Tom Hulce

Jesús Castro—cast by Zack

Rami Malek—cast by David

Peter Dinklage—cast by Tom

ESMERALDA: Original 1996 Casting—Demi Moore & Heidi Mollenhauer

Alina Serban—cast by Zack

Renée Elise Goldsberry—cast by David

Zoe Saldaña—cast by Tom

PHOEBUS: Original 1996 Casting—Kevin Kline

Gaspard Ulliel (deceased)—in memoriam, Zack

Stephen Manas—cast by Zack

Chris Pine—cast by Tom

The Hollywood Chrises—go-to list for David

FROLLO: Original 1996 Casting—Tony Jay

Vincent Cassel—cast by Zack

Charles Dance—cast by Tom

Mark Strong—cast by David, choice 1

Billy Crudup—cast by David choice 2

CLOPIN: Original 1996 Casting—Paul Kandel

Óscar Jaenada—cast by Zack

Tom Hiddleston—cast by David, choice 1

Robert Carlyle—cast by David, choice 2

Maisie Williams—cast by David, choice 3

ARCHDEACON: Original 1996 Casting—David Ogden Stiers

Gérard Depardieu—hard rejection by Zack

Daniel Auteuil—cast by Zack

Brian Cox—cast by David

Donald Sumpter—cast by Tom

VICTOR: Original 1996 Casting—Charles Kimbrough

Stephen Merchant—cast by Zack

Jim Carter—cast by Tom

HUGO: Original 1996 Casting—Jason Alexander

Jason Alexander (why not?)—recast by Zack

Trevor Noah—cast by Zack

Jerome Flynn—cast by Tom

LAVERNE: Original 1996 Casting—Mary Wickes

Tony Shalhoub—cast by Tom

Aisha Tyler—cast by Zack

22 – Dwarfing the Empire State Building

An anachronistic episode about the NYC skyline

Originally recorded as a trial episode back in mid-2020 during the early days of the COVID-19 Pandemic, Tom discusses whether building mega-skyscrapers next to the Empire State Building would disfigure the the New York City skyline.

SEE: 15 Penn Plaza

SEE: The Guardian (2010)—New York skyscraper to rival Empire State Building

SEE: List of the Tallest Buildings in the World

SEE: Burj Khalifa

SEE: Space Elevator

The gents discuss whether cinemas and big-budget movies are on the way out due to all the new streaming services.

SEE: List of most expensive films ever produced

Tom asks David and Zack what the traffic rules are for stopping for a school bus with an active stop-sign on a divided highway.

SEE: School Bus Laws By State—When to stop and when not to!

Zack struggles to contemplate Tyrannosaurus as a big chicken.

SEE: NYT (2019)—T.Rex Like You Haven’t Seen Him: With Feathers

SEE: Supervolcanos

SEE: Geocentric vs. Heliocentric Universes

SEE: Relativity of Simultaneity

21 – Building Museum

Experiencing augmented reality for architecture

Tom completes the "Phase 1" (1163–1170 A.D.) of his 2:1 scale Minecraft model of Notre-Dame, consisting of the vaulted double-ambulatory and above it, the second-level gallery, complete with various low flying-buttresses.

SEE: THSchutt’s Notre-Dame(2:1) build, Phase 1 (1163–1170 A.D.)

David and Tom recount their experience at the National Building Museum to see the Notre-Dame de Paris: The Augmented Exhibition which has been open since April 2022 through September 2022, with countless graphics and interactive applications.

SEE: National Building Museum (NBM)

SEE: NBM—Notre-Dame de Paris: The Augmented Exhibition

SEE: Museum of London—Great Fire of London (1666), Minecraft Model

SEE: Virtual Reality

SEE: Augmented Reality

SEE: National Trust, UK—Explore Virtual Ruins in Minecraft (Grian’s Corfe Castle)

SEE: Grian—Using Real Ruins to Create a Castle in Minecraft

SEE: Assassin’s Creed

SEE: Pagan Scientists at Chartres Cathedral

SEE: The Paris Fire Brigade

SEE: Deep-Cleaning of Notre-Dame’s Limestone

20 – The Bells of Notre-Dame

Contrasting the different peals of bells at Notre-Dame

Zack probes Tom and David regarding artificial chimes and carillons that use recorded bell sounds rather than actual bells.

SEE: Electronic carillons

Tom recalls his experience of hearing a full peal at Bath Abbey.

SEE: Bath Abbey Bells, full peal on Oct. 17, 2021

SEE: Royal Crescent in Bath, England

Tom recounts his first trip to Notre-Dame during Easter 2007, when the 19th c. Bells where still hung for ringing in the north tower belfry.

SEE: Notre-Dame 19th c. Bells, ringing Christmas 2011 (ground level)

SEE: Notre-Dame 19th c. Bells, ringing Easter 2009 (galerie de chimeres level)

Tom and David reminisce over their joint trip to see Notre-Dame on Easter 2013, just as the new peal of bells had become operational for Eastertide.

SEE: Notre-Dame 2013 Bells, full peal “Sonnerie du Grand Solemnel”

SEE: Notre-Dame 2013 Bells, ringing Easter 2013 (Tom & David recording)

Tom shares photos provided by the Friends of Notre-Dame de Paris foundation depicting the fire damage to the north tower belfry, obtained after much persistence.

SEE: Fire Damage to Notre-Dame North Tower Belfry (scroll down)

19 – Bad Circles

Modeling the Roman Colosseum’s curvature

Tom discusses building the Roman Colosseum in Minecraft, demonstrating how he modeled its curvature based on the theories of Ingegner Giuseppe Cozzo, while discussing its history and influence upon Gothic architecture later on.

SEE: Tom’s Colosseum(1:1 scale) build

SEE: Tom’s Colosseum curvature calculations & plans (Excel spreadsheet)

SEE: Cozzo’s Polycentric-Curve Theory for the Colosseum

SEE: Tom’s YouTube Colosseum video

SEE: Wiki—The Roman Colosseum

SEE: Wiki—Classical Roman Arch

SEE: Wiki—Groin Vault

David gets inspired to categorize the different types of podcast listeners with his own polycentric modeling; Zack provides helpful feedback.

SEE: The Polycentric Circle of Cathedral Talk’s Listeners (MS Paint work of art)

18 – Budget Neo-Gothic

Ascertaining whether St. Patrick’s, NYC is Gothic

The Cathedral Talk YouTube channel now has the first couple of podcast episodes uploaded with some nifty video footage as an optional accompaniment. More episodes are to be uploaded in the future (at unavoidably irregular intervals).

SEE: Cathedral Talk YouTube Links

More restoration news at Notre-Dame continues to be published now that we have passed the third anniversary of the fire.

SEE: FRANCE24—Notre-Dame Restoration Update for 3rd Anniversary of Fire

Tom discusses the unorthodox decisions made with the construction of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City which put its categorization as a “Gothic” cathedral up for debate. David and Zack consider revisions to our overall definition of Gothic architecture.

SEE: Wiki—St. Patrick’s Cathedral

SEE: NYT Article—Restoration of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, A Gift to NY in Time for the Pope

SEE: Wiki—Gothic Architecture

17 – Entrancing Acoustics

Evaluating the experience of live music

David presents his very late Christmas gift to Zack, reminding Zack to share literature he received for Christmas about cathedrals. Meanwhile, Tom shares an article about a “soundscape archaeologist” who is working to recreate the sounds that would have existed in Notre-Dame during the medieval times.

SEE: The sounds rebuilding Notre-Dame’s previous vaults (article)

SEE: Guédelon Castle

Tom, David, and Zack evaluate the experience of live music, judging what its advantages are over recorded music. Tom argues that experiencing cathedral music is one of the hardest live-music venues to replicate. The gents ponder how humans have many different ways to listen to music.

SEE: Hello Internet (podcast)

SEE: Mahler’s 2nd Symphony

SEE: Deep Listeners, by Judith Becker

SEE: Eidetic memory

SEE: The Organ of St. Paul’s Cathedral

SEE: XKCD Comic 878: Model Rail (nesting concerns)

SEE: Synecdoche, New York (movie)

SEE: Self-similarity

16 – A Duty to the Truth

Appraising accuracy within historical depictions

Tom shares his latest progress on building the twin-aisled vaulting throughout the ambulatory of the chevet for his 2:1 scaled Minecraft model of Notre-Dame.

SEE: THSchutt’s Notre-Dame(2:1) build, Phase 1 (1163–1170 A.D.)

David discusses how the Steve Jobs movie, written by Aaron Sorkin, is very entertaining yet wildly erroneous. Tom compares this with other loose adaptations of history. Zack debates how to judge characters within narratives.

SEE: Steve Jobs (2015)

SEE: The Iliad

SEE: The Trojan War

SEE: Shakespearean histories

SEE: Richard III (play)

SEE: Julius Caesar (play)

SEE: The Lord of the Rings

SEE: Saruman the White

SEE: Paradise Lost

15 – Terra Transformed

Community building techniques that enhance Minecraft terrain

Tom discusses how different some Minecraft players can build not only epic castles, but also the very mountain ranges that said castles can be nestled into.

SEE: NoxusBolgar’s Tephra Castle & the Town of Noxshire

Zack shows how certain player-made structures can greatly enhance the already amazing caves of Minecraft patch 1.18.

SEE: Jeracraft’s Epic Lush Cave Transformation

David shares his favorite style of building in Minecraft: cliff-side houses with a view.

SEE: Build Therapy’s Cliffside House

SEE: Spiderboy’s Cliffside House

14 – For the Cause

Rationalizing the worthiness of different charities

Tom inquires about Zack’s fictitious Roomba.

SEE: Roomba

SEE: Lego Colosseum

The gents discuss why donating to Notre-Dame is a worthwhile endeavor and how they decide what makes a cause worth donating to.

SEE: Friends of Notre-Dame de Paris

SEE: 2011 Virginia earthquake (DC, MD, VA)

13 – Triforiums vs. Galleries

Identifying vertical elements of Gothic cathedrals

Tom provides more cardinal errata regarding the different ranks of catholic cardinals.

SEE: Cardinal (Catholic Church)

David discusses his new favorite Netflix movie.

SEE: Don’t Look Up (Netflix)

Tom quizzes David and Zack on the nomenclature for different vertical elements of Gothic cathedrals, having already quizzed them in Episode 3 on groundplan lexicon.

SEE: Gothic Cathedral Vertical Elements Vocabulary (matching)

SEE: Triforium

SEE: Gallery

Zack gets confused about ostriches.

SEE: Ostriches

12 – Rome’s Ancient Church

Exploring the Pantheon from Ancient Rome

David learns of the author of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

SEE: Ian Fleming

Tom showcases the architecture of the Pantheon of Ancient Rome, which was the progenitor of much cathedral architecture that followed afterwards.

SEE: The Pantheon images, models, and diagrams

SEE: The Pantheon (Ancient Rome)

SEE: Dome (masonry)

SEE: Rotunda

SEE: Tholobate (Drum)

SEE: Coffering

SEE: Portico

SEE: Pediment

SEE: Monolithic Column

SEE: Pilaster

Tom, David, and Zack confuse themselves over the different types of cardinals of the Catholic Church.

SEE: Cardinal

SEE: André Vingt-Trois

Tom gives Zack and David a tour of his Minecraft build for the Pantheon.

SEE: Tom’s Pantheon(1:1 scale) build

11 – Virtual Wishlist

Hopes and dreams of a better Minecraft

Tom provides errata regarding the origin of the term “Gothic” architecture.

SEE: Gothic Art (Britannica)

Tom, Zack, and David discuss how recent features added to Minecraft have expanded building opportunities, particularly regarding how wall blocks operate in 1.16 and beyond.

SEE: Improved Walls in Minecraft (by Pixlriffs)

The gents also discuss the additional features that they would like to see in the game in the future.

SEE: Minecraft Timeline

SEE: Minecraft Java Version History

SEE: Minecraft Future Planned Versions