Nov 06 2014

Episode 39: Nerd Police, I Need Backup.

, with special guest: ,

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0039 GamesThis week, dear listeners, we are joined by Rob Callahan and Chris Bowlsby for an episode about game movies! Movies about video games, movies about board games, movies that feature games heavily… all are fodder for this episode! Or, rather, we intended to cover such a broad swath, but we somehow managed to never really escape the 1980s.

We blame the scattershot nature of this episode on Cupcake Vineyards Red Velvet, Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, and Yellowtail Malbec, all of which contributed the steady decline in our focus and moral fortitude.

Once again, we apologize for the sound quality of the episode. We discovered many weeks later that, among other issues, our audio program wasn’t actually recording through our nice microphone; instead, it was recording through the computer’s built-in microphone. There are about three more episodes in our backlog with the same issue. (Argh.) But after that, our audio should improve remarkably! (Yay!)

Show notes behind the cut!

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Nov 03 2014

Alert: We Upgraded!

Xanadu Sq LogoHello, dear listeners! We just wanted to let you know of a site update that could impact your listening experience.

See, every so often, one of you fine listeners would comment that the website’s podcast player was not behaving as expected. We were unable to replicate the issue on our own, however, so we never made progress in figuring out what was wrong.

This evening, for various reasons, we changed our site’s podcasting plugin from PodPress to PowerPress. So far, it looks like the transition is seamless. Hopefully, this will a) fix the audio player on the web site, and b) not break anything else.

On Thursday, we will make sure our next episode properly feeds to iTunes, Stitcher, and Blubrry, and that our old episodes remain as expected. If you find anything weird going on with our podcast feed this week, please contact us and let us know.

Nov 03 2014

This Week’s Underappreciated Movies

Every Monday, each of us will suggest a film that we feel too few people have seen.

lifeforce

Melissa’s Pick of the Week: Lifeforce

Lifeforce a glossy mid-1980s outer space sci-fi vampire sex invasion film that erupted out of the infamous Cannon Films studios at the apex of their heyday. It’s like everything that was right and wrong about mid-80s sci-fi fare got packed into a single, sprawling, kinda insane film that managed to find an excuse to have a woman walk around buck naked for most of the movie’s running time. Bonus: a younger (and yet still bald) Patrick Stewart appears midway through. Superbonus: this film contains a sweeping score by none other than the great Henri Mancini. You have to see this thing to believe it.

audition

Windy’s Pick of the Week: Audition

I recommend this movie even though I have no intention of ever watching it again. It’s the kind of movie that really sticks with you. Audition is a Japanese film about a widower seeking to get back out into the world and hopefully make a fresh start with a new love. A friend comes up with a perfect dating-screening ploy: A movie audition with a call for a specific type of young female. What could go wrong? At the audition, our protagonist Shigeharu Aoyama (played by Ryo Ishibashi) spies a lovely young woman and pursues her. Warning signals pop up – but who can deny true love?

Oct 30 2014

Episode 38: I’ve Got No Quarrel with a Bomb

, with special guest:

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0038 ApesIn this week’s episode, dear listeners, we are joined once again by Matt Kessen for a discussion of Planet of the Apes! Matt Kessen, as you may recall, is the gentleman behind Reverend Matt’s Monster Science, and he is also a complete and total Planet of the Apes nerd.

If you would like to drink along, we vastly enjoyed a bottle of Lagavulin 16 during the episode. We highly recommend doing the same.

Show notes behind the cut!

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Oct 27 2014

This Week’s Underappreciated Movies

Every Monday, each of us will suggest a film that we feel too few people have seen.

GingerSnaps2

Windy’s Pick of the Week: Ginger Snaps 2

Have we recommended Ginger Snaps? Maybe we’ll do that next! But you don’t need to have seen Ginger Snaps to really get into this unexpected sequel. Brigitte is suffering from a unique curse – being a werewolf. Trying to self-medicate with monkshood while being a runaway leads to her being locked into a juvenile psychiatric ward – and that’s where things get REALLY interesting. The clock is ticking and she needs to either get her drugs or get out – neither of which seems likely. Will her new young friend Ghost help her? A very surprising and interesting take on the werewolf mythos, mixing in excellent commentary on mental health and women’s issues. The ending will leave your jaw hanging! (Sidenote: the young girl Ghost is played by Tatiana Maslany, who is absolutely destroying the lead role in ORPHAN BLACK)

Housebound

Melissa’s Pick of the Week: Housebound

Housebound is a brand-new, delightful horror-comedy from New Zealand. It took Fantastic Fest by storm a few weeks ago, and it was in my top five of best films seen at the festival.

Housebound focuses on a young woman who is caught trying to steal a cash machine. Instead of sending her to jail, the judge decides instead to sentence her to house arrest at her mother’s eerie old country home… which does not delight either woman. However, after a few days, it becomes clear that the mother believes the house is haunted, and while the daughter does not agree about the paranormal, there are definitely things going on that neither can explain. What ensues from there is both creepy and hilarious; if you have fondness of the poppy horror-comedies of the 1980s, you will find a lot to love here.

Housebound became available on several American streaming video services last Friday. Highly recommended!