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Overview
Why do we like the shows we like? We aren’t sure, we just know we like them. While not all shows have been super throughout, many have been good overall – like some of our favorites with DC and Star Wars.
And sometimes, something just doesn’t click with you. Maybe you don’t really get it or your mind was expecting something else.
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https://www.the-sun.com/tech/6965767/movie-secrets-avengers-game-thrones-neil-degrasse-tyson/
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Transcript
Alan: Going on there. Yeah.
Stephen: Okay. Which that’s something that needs to be looked at with VPN companies, . Exactly. Okay. So May, there’s so many things to talk about, but real quick before I forget, I just gotta share this fun little dude, dad thing. Okay. So I was watching an old episode of Supernatural with Jensen Ales and Jared Padalecki.
And they traveled back in time. They went to the Old West. So Dean went and got ’em some Western gear and they went they were using that. So they traveled back in time and they enter this saloon and in the show it’s a kind of a joke. They’re constantly identifying themselves as F B I and they always use rock band names.
Alan: Pagen plant or things like that. Exactly,
Stephen: yes. Yes. Ok. Ok. So this time they walk in and everybody looks at him and Dean’s oh, hi. And he points to Jared Beki and says, this is Walker, Texas Ranger. And why that’s you know why that’s so funny?
Alan: I, he doesn’t have a partner, but anyway, I don’t know.
Stephen: No. You know what TV show Jared Padalecki is doing now? Is it the rebirth of Walker, Texas Ranger . That’s funny.
Alan: Wow. Premonition. That’s pretty funny. Okay. I didn’t,
Stephen: yeah, I’ve not heard that. I’m like, really? The show’s been on for three years and I’ve not seen any memes about that, but it was, was dying.
That’s the stupid little things that I, that make my day Yes. I’m, I know I just had something like that happen and it’s not coming to mind, but where something that you thought was like un disconnected or unconnected through time resurfaces again. So I know they’re doing that often with movies now that like in Cape Fear it was originally Robert Mitcham as the crazy convict that’s obsessed and then he actually becomes the father of the daughter.
Alan: Or maybe the judge being pursued because. de Niro took over the role, right? So they’ve done that now where it’s the previous player of the role gets to reappear, like Christina Ricci, just they’ve remade, not remade a new addition to the Adams family can. And his Wednesday she’s a teacher at the place, in fact, a villain as I recall, , I’m not sure I there’s still so much to be revealed in this series, but it must be interesting to, they’re like, be there, be on set are the new ones. Asking for advice or are they saying make this your own? Is there jealousy? Is there I don’t know. Yeah. Sometimes artists say, yeah, I really went and talked to the original person.
If I talked to Schindler or whatever else it might be, I don’t think that really happened, but, or otherwise they say, no, I really stayed away from any influences because I wanted it to be an original creation, my own take on it. There’s all kinds of ways to do that.
Stephen: I know the DC shows that were on the cw that they brought in a lot of past people. They brought in Dean Kane that used to be Superman and he was right. People’s father. Supergirl’s mother played Supergirl back in the eighties, heard a movie. Exactly. Exactly. And they do that a lot with, or they did that a lot with those shows and I kinda like that.
It’s fun. It keeps it going. Yeah.
Alan: And it’s funny, if you don’t mind the segue, I think I mentioned I’ve been watching Star Girl. I was hoping, segue that now. And I just actually a thought OK , thank you very much for the setup. I’m sorry we, there’s still a little bit of Yeah. Come out, back and forth just I don’t always here every I see you get slightly frozen but then stutter forward.
So I apologize for not having heard you Wonderful. Enthusiastic Yes.
Stephen: But . Yeah. Which is weird because it’s only between you and I interviewed three people in the last couple weeks and I didn’t get any of that. And not all of them had as good a setup. So I don’t know what the issue is.
Alan: I’m not sure if I. It really might be that despite my thinking that I have gig ethernet, that it’s got some kind of governor, some kind of, I don’t Companies are so opaque nowadays, as to when they say it’s not a guaranteed rate. And I think I mentioned, I just checked my speed and I’m getting like 9 66.
Stephen: I really, oh yeah you’re way above me. That’s more than double. Yeah. But it’s also, as as we talk, it’s not only speed. There’s always things about latency, things about what is small versus large file size or street and media is a whole different animal than file transfers so whatever FTP type stuff I was used to using as an indicator of how fast can I get things up and down back when I was doing websites.
Alan: That’s more, that’s like way, it’s like, how do you measure it? How many wheelbarrows can I move it it’s like antiquated and doesn’t even really apply that we’re doing. So anyway, the segue back to DC . Exactly. I’m always pleased I know that I’m unable to keep up with everything.
I, sometimes I’ll dip a toe in and get an episode or two and I must admit some things. If they don’t catch me in the first couple, maybe three episodes, I’m just like They’re they’re doing the financial thing. They know that if they’ve got this brand and they can do four different spinoffs, that comic book fans like me will slavishly follow them to every single thing.
And it’s not always of quality, it just is that they know that they can. And so I never even gave Star Girl a try because any number of reasons. It’s like teen superhero type stuff. And I, for instance, the Runaways, which I tried watching was continuously over acted. There really is something about it’s ama amazing to get a young person like hay Joel Osmond that really seems to be an actor from five years old on.
There’s others that are just, they are they over emote They. Whatever else it might be. So I had fears of that, that I didn’t and not to be weird, my concerns or my love in life is I’m a 63 year old guy. I kind of wanna, I don’t care about who has acne. Do you know what I mean? That’s not a plot point to me anymore.
But having said that, I’m wonderfully surprised about Star Girl, not only because it does the teen thing. It’s got enough like Heathers and mean girls things going on where there’s high school boy intrigue going on with who’s dating who. And then in this age of selfies and oh God, the wrong selfie you sent a sexy selfie to someone that did not honor you, and so now they’re all over the school.
But it’s also a very combination of, it’s very modern about that. But also what it’s doing is it’s talking about the jsa golden Age heroes that have gone to ground in a place called Blue Valley Can. No, Nebraska, I think it’s, I think it’s Kansas, this Nebraska and. What I love intergenerational sagas like that.
One of the best things that DC did for a long time was they had infinity Incorporated, I think maybe Roy Thomas writing it, where, hey, they really had the kids of these heroes and that it wasn’t always an easy thing for a hero to hand off the baton. Did they train them? Did they try to shelter their kids from even knowing that they were a superhero or much less following in their footsteps because, hey, it’s dangerous.
This really and also it’s a kind of very good sense of some things I just have to be explained away with. That was the fifties kind of corny. It was a different time. But the villains here are very menacing. They’re not woo-hoo, I’m gonna steal from my candy store because I’m a super.
They’re really got like world evil plots. They kill people pretty readily, like sociopathically easy. So a very interesting contrast between the innocence and what people are working towards today as youth. And that by having to dealt deal with these people and especially all the what a sociopaths, what a psychopaths learn to do, they don’t walk around with a big horns on their head.
So you can say that’s a bad guy. They’ve learned to blend in beautifully. And not only that, but there’s a super popular that comes from being a sociopath that they’re often our CEOs and our church leaders and our school leaders and our policemen and all that kind of stuff. For someone to be growing up and discover.
Wow. Big thing about runaways was you just, you don’t know. You can’t trust anyone. We were totally blindsided by the fact that our parents are like people who practice human sacrifice and to extend lives. Right? Mom what are you doing? There’s all that going on, and there’s really good, as well as balance to evil.
But I’m just one of those things that every episode has been a cool new introduction, a cool. , what? What? That’s not the standard way of doing this. They’ve been wonderfully surprising and interesting. So I’m only maybe five, six episodes in and I’m like, can’t wait. Can’t wait to see the next thing.
Nice. And having said that, I made a point of not burning through it in a couple days by binge watching it, because I really don’t wanna lose this wonderful glow of what a cool series. I made a point of pulling back from that and saying, oh, the last of us has the latest episode. Let’s go check that out.
And I wasn’t current with Teen Titans, so let’s go check that out. And interestingly, in Stark contrast, another DC creation, boy, there’s like a lot of swearing and a lot of the latest series with Brother Blood. It’s dead evil, freaking serious with too much blood and possession and people I guess the contrast between, so once you break out to being a teenager and being a young adult, apparently the stakes go way up, , because they’re dealing with horrifying things. The Scarecrow and everything from the last series. So having said that, I just, I’m pleased. Things like Legends of tomorrow.
I’m trying to think. A lot of the Green Arrow verse seem to be, you said good things going on there where they were introducing old character and that kind of stuff. I always found it slow moving and maybe I just don’t like the Green Arrow character enough, or maybe the, it seemed to be that there was like how many times are these people gonna fall in and outta love?
How many times can that be a plot point? Gimme something new. And so I got the same thing I feel about DC movies. I was feeling about DC series that they just didn’t match up to what Marvel was doing with She Hulk, with Wanda the vision in the Scarlet Witch. And another thing then and Alias that is Jennifer Garner.
You know what I mean? J i, there seemed to be a big difference in quality and in really getting what makes comic books cool. . But then I look into credits and I see like Jeff Johns is the executive producer, maybe the head writer or something like that. And there are some people that really, they seem to have that, just like I always talk about doing the Mandalorian and John Favreau really being just everybody if he’s got the time, let him do all the Star Wars.
Really gets what makes Star Wars wonderful. I know. I just, blah blah, blah blah. Sorry to not let you get a word . No. But I’m just, sometimes I’m just so pleased. I want to ause about this is really worth watching and in a way that I didn’t expect it .
Stephen: And you’ve talked about Doom Patrol and teen Titans.
I’ve seen a little bit of Titans. Not too much really. D Doom Patrol. Okay. No Star girl. But they’re all on my list that’s the other problem. When you get into a show you really like, Sometimes you’re like I feel a little obligated to keep watching cuz I’ve watched eight years already.
Alan: momentum. Exactly. .
Stephen: Yeah. So then it’s here’s my time. Maybe I’ll wait till the end of the season. Great. Now I’ve got 25 episodes like The Walking Dead last two seasons. Okay. I have got 25 episodes of season to catch up on, yeah. And it’s do I want to, but I’ve watched nine years worth let’s see this last couple It’s kinda funny.
Alan: I’m getting all these little litmus tests or something, like I have I have multiple subscriptions and so you can’t just go to One Source and see everything. You wanna watch where you can just kinda see ’em all on the screen and pick one. And what I’ve noticed is, okay, I really wanna watch The Walking Dead.
Where was that again? And there’s a certain amount of, if I can’t find it in the first two or three places that I try, I just how about the new. Some things I will keep looking for and other things, it’s like if they’ve made it, that there’s just enough overhead so that I’m willing to let it sit. And that’s how they accumulate for two and a half years is, it’s not hidden, but whatever the overhead is of finding them I let that be my guide, I get, by the way, should have mentioned that, started watching Do patrol. I wasn’t even aware that there was a whole new series, so you can tell how much I’ve been like hungering for that. It just got flopped out there. And I’ll say this about Doom Patrol. They, it’s a very interesting ensemble show because instead of always being the squad doing things together, they have all kinds of interlocking threads that each of the various different team members is featured.
And then they often come together because it was all interconnected without being immediately obvious why at the start. the characters are not equally interesting. They’re not equally tragic or funny, or just the actor or actress is not. I gotta stop saying that The actor, whoever it might be it is not as good as others.
And so it’s wow, I wish you would stop giving time to the lame and stay with the main plot lines in the better actors and the more whatever else it might be. That’s my biggest criticism of do patrol, is I feel like I’m getting a third of a good episode and it’s filler, it’s fluff otherwise.
And I don’t like comic series like that. I don’t like regular, anything like that. No. I not that’s anyway, , right? And also I love the dude patrol is weird. And that I really, it’s not only surprising, it’s like where the hell did that come from? It has all kinds of, grant Morrison is a maniac and he introduced so many things that not only were not in the comic book universe, they’re not in any kind of reality.
That and the Invisibles and various other series he’s worked on were really like, Okay, artistic license, let’s run with it and see where this goes. Because it wasn’t at all conventional and the Doom Patrol might have, I don’t wanna say jump the shark, but they, each of the various different villains, some are really interesting and menacing and some are like, oh, they’re just doing that to do it.
Because they can draw a room full of little carnivorous butts running around and don’t look out. They’re like Piranas. And I don’t know, sometimes also when things are like naughty and they’re, it seems that’s what a 12 year old boy would think was a cool villain. That’s not a necessarily adult thing.
And so I, I have some of that same sense of, I hope it gets better because right now it’s adolescent .
Stephen: That’s a good point. And it’s something. , me and Colin have talked about, and I’ve talked with lots of other people, like in the Star Wars realm. Yeah. And it applies to the superhero realm too.
Colin Colin’s biggest comment about Star Wars is nobody hates Star Wars as much as Star Wars fans because
Alan: they want to be so much better. And it sometimes has
Stephen: been. Sure. And I often come back when people say, oh the Ewok sucked. And, oh, I can’t stand Jar. I hate all three of the prequels, cuz Jar was there.
And this is bad and why don’t they do this? And I’m like, let’s stop a minute. Two things. George Lucas has stated many times, this was a modern mythology for 12 year olds. Okay. That’s what he wrote. He wanted it to be a fantasy mythology that 12 year olds could get behind and. So if you are now 50 and complaining, shut up.
Go watch something else. . And I’ve said, if you cannot get approach Star Wars as a kid, you’re going to miss out on a lot and not like it. And I’ve seen that over and over. Yeah. Like Jar. Now, do I think Giro is my absolute favorite character ever? No. Did he annoy the crap out of me?
No. Did I think he was okay for the show and it was nice to have something different? What? What? should do something different. Cause every alien on here is basically just a human with different colored skin. Okay. They did something different and you complained about it.
It’s think the problem with the superheroes, and this I think is what DC is still struggling. Superhero movies before Ironman were treated as kids’ fantasy, as a comic book, a funny book. Like they used to call Oh, exactly that. Yeah. So we’re not gonna put a lot of money into it.
We’re not gonna put a lot of effort into it cuz we don’t care. It’ll keep a kid entertained on a Saturday afternoon. And that was the thought. And Ironman changed that. Now the comics themselves have had the highs and lows. You’ve had comics for kids. Comics for adults,
Alan: yeah. And for a long time. But they hadn’t converted to that in the movies.
That’s right. Yeah. And you don’t get that mixture though, where it’s got adult themes but it’s still, kids can enjoy it. Like Bugs Bunny, . Yeah. Yeah. But and I think DC is still struggling with that and they don’t know which direction to go. Marvel of has their characters and their movies that are definitely more.
Stephen: Fun oriented and more than serious adult topics. They have a mixture of those in there. What’s good, what’s bad? I can’t tell you. I enjoy all of them pretty much.
Alan: See, I do too. And it’s interesting, this thing about maybe due patrol being like too odd or too silly. Usually I’m the one that says, yeah, I want more of that.
I’m not sure why it’s affecting me in this case. Maybe I just, because it has been really good and then this is a lull. Sometimes things have a bad part of the season or an entire season where it’s okay, bring back other showrunners or whatever else it might be. When I talked also earlier, my segmentation criticism if you will, oh, now that they know they got a good thing, let’s just flood the market with too many Batman titles or too many spinoffs from the Air Force or whatever else it might be.
But I really do understand that’s a wise move. You really do wanna do segmentation. If you’re trying to expand your market and please more people, you really can have Shazam. More innocent for the kids. You can have black Adam, where like he doesn’t have a code against killing at all. More for the adults.
And sometimes if people don’t have the background of what a breakthrough that is for comic books that pretty much every other superhero had a code against killing until Wolverine, sn Sned or whatever else it might be. It’s interesting to see this is for kids, this is for ladies, this is for like honestly, truly the elderly there really are there’s nostalgia, movies and that kind of stuff.
So I’m curious because I try to have a foot in all those camps. I still try to, despite being a senior citizen, have a child-like wonder a foot in that camp. And I like going, I still love animation. That really is just that silly, fun, goofy. It doesn’t have to be adult level animation, how much? I don’t wanna see it a concentration camp animated.
You know what I mean?
Stephen: Yes. That would be good.
Alan: So it’s I think that it isn’t any of those particular, Things in that I don’t like. It’s that it has to be well executed you can make a thing that is meant to be silly or adult or nostalgic or all those things. And, but if you don’t find it, if you don’t find the sweet spot for what a movie like that should be where we always see the Oscar shorts each year, and there’s usually documentary and live action and animation and definitely animation there has the what were they going for here? Is it a mood piece? Is it about pathos or joy? Is it a like you can tell harsh truths through animation or puppetry that you can’t tell in human life. And so there, there really was an animation last year, two years ago about a person that used to be in the camps and now they’re, what are they doing in their life that is, that they worked in the camps, they were the bad guys.
And what’s, how did they deal with that? What’s that burden like in their life? I guess I’m almost looking for good execution. It’s not that I immediately dismiss pretty much anything. Is there any kinda movie that I know I’m just not gonna I don’t know, maybe classic chick flicks I finding out are you in love and gonna stay in love? Boy meets girl, boy loses girl. There’s a certain dynamism to them. And if they’re done witty and happy, and the actor and actress, again, sorry, the two actors, no matter what they might be, are, there’s interest to that, but I don’t like it as much because of what I prefer as my guns and explosions movies,
That’s why likes to tease me about I like to being more like higher stakes or something like that. I get to see broken hearts all around me every day. I don’t get to see the world being threatened by the click of a the snap of a finger every day.
Stephen: So there’s a movie coming. By Nolan whatever his first name is.
Christopher, right? Christopher? Yeah. He’s normally big explosions. He did the Transformer movies and whatever else. It’s like his goal is to have scenes that lead to explosions. That’s Colin really doesn’t like his movies because of that. He’s eh, the plots are just so weak and it’s really just to hold together the explosions.
And it’s so funny because his newest movie Colin said, that’s the only movie I care to go see. And that’s the Oppenheimer. I said if you like explosions in your movie, that’s the movie to make . There’s gonna be a really important one at the end, but not a series of Can I blow up a building?
Alan: Can I blow up a car, a bridge, or whatever. I know what you’re saying. . And I saw that, I don’t know if you’ve seen it, the trailer for the new Flash movie that’s coming. I have not. You have not. Oh, no, I have, oh it’s a multiverse thing. , it’s that’s what all they are. Actually, I must have,
but I watched six trailers in a row because a lot of ’em were released during the Super Bowl.
Super Bowl. Then I went to a site that said, Hey, watch ’em all and somehow I remember, I, now that I remember watching it, and it was like I’ll see what happens, because like you said, the multiverse, we even talked about this boy really had a brain blip there. We talked about this because the flash was the originator of that whole thing, right?
Flashing two worlds in old flash and then all the J L A J S A crossovers and stuff. That’s what all started this way before. Marvel had the concept, So I’m hopeful cuz I’ve been disappointed in DC overall. Individually. I like most of the movies, I think they’re pretty good.
Stephen: Not bad. But I also like that overall universe that Marvel has and DC’s not been able to capture that. So I’m hopeful now because they’re saying the Flash movie, even though it ties into the past movies the Flash movie is the kicking off point to the like, new Universe and James Gunn’s in charge of it all.
Okay. So here’s really hoping that Gun can pull it together and give us something that we want. For everyone getting tired of DC or of Marvel and what they’re doing. Yeah. Let’s see what DC can do for the next decade. You know what’s
Alan: interesting? I’ve seen posts where people are already talking about worked on Marvel and then he like defected, he betrayed and went to dc It’s if you’re any kind of kind book fan.
You got past the Marvel versus DC thing, kinda like act versus Windows like 30 years ago, forever ago. It’s ridiculous to say that you don’t get comic books by being with only one company or the other, right? Sometimes comic companies have demanded exclusivity from their various writers or artists, and I also thought that’s interesting, but I’m always happy to see when they finally break free of that, what do they do?
Some of Jack Kirby’s best work, as is when he finally left Marvel and created the entire fourth World and everything, Darkside and commanding and the forever people and the New Gods and Mr. Miracle. And he just and oddly Jimmy Olsen, where very interesting, cool things happened in a way what’s he doing there?
Because he had nostalgia for growing up with Superman and Jimmy Olson and wanted to do his own take on it I can see how. I’m really happy because James Gunn compared to others that I don’t have as much confidence. He really seems the guardians of the Galaxy movies were so much better than I hoped that they would be.
Yes. And I hope he bring some of that in as a suicide squad. With his first stuffer DC I’m trying to think of what he’s done each of those places. He’s got a good enough resume, a good enough portfolio that I like. Okay, let’s see what he has to do. And cause other things have been like one and done, please don’t let him do a movie again.
Stephen: And on top of that, I heard that HBO o which you know, has DC license and has all the movies and crap they’re working on, whatever that they are launching a whole new TV universe based on peacemaker. That it’s the cornerstone of that whole new TV universe for DC TV shows. That’s very interesting.
Alan: Cause that’s got such an irreverent vibe to it. And also, this is funny. I used to love Whenever they’ve had series like this that were like the Secret Society of Super Villains for DC was like 40 years ago. They said, what would it be like to have all these nuts, these arch criminals all very competitive, how would they interact?
And Marvels had its and these then had the suicide squad and Marvel had the thunderbolts and sometimes their their identities were not revealed to be, oh, these are like villains that decided to be heroes so they could get licensed to do things from the government. Anyway, I like seeing that sometimes superhero teams don’t get along, but the stakes are higher when I don’t know, I remember there being a secret society of super villains where a relatively minor character, red Doll, if I remember, sorry, spoiler alert, but I think it’s 40 years.
Killed someone by pushing ’em off a building totally unexpectedly. And it was like, that’s what they’re like, you’re in a pit of vipers. There is no cooperation beyond let’s go get the money. They really are perpetually at each other’s throats in subtle as well as large ways. And that’s what made the series so interesting is, this was like Congress, right. it just was and whoever can write that kind of stuff, that can make give insight into what it’s like to be a damaged person, that your brain just doesn’t work with empathy or planning or, they’re so impulsive that they’re dangerous, they’re so narcissistic that they’re dangerous.
It sure gave insight premonition into what we’re seeing today. Comic books have always mirrored and informed the world and predicted the world, and that series absolutely did things where it’s no wonder this is e every small town sheriff, if you gave him a superpowers. , would he be a good guy or a bad guy?
You know what I mean? There’s always that weird risk of who’s gonna abuse it instead of feeling that need to like the weak need protecting and I’m the guy to do it. Oh very interesting.
Stephen: Okay so you mentioned some movies, eh, you don’t wanna see and you pass ’em off.
You there’s definite things you wanna see and you hopefully spend your time with that. I’m sorry to admit fold me all you like yesterday it was $5 movie day and Colin said, let’s go see this. I said, oh, bear was definitely better than I thought it would be. ,
Alan: that’s Elizabeth Banks, right?
Yes. He was the director, writer, et cetera. I, yes I’m so curious because it really does seem like a movie done on a dare. She even said this movie is either going to make my career or break my career, . And the crazy thing was I wasn’t that interested. I’m like, for five bucks, whatever, I’ll sit there.
Stephen: Course and stuff. It was actually really good and it was two hours and did not feel like two hours. They it was not a drama, it was not a comedy, it was not a horror. It was all of those things, but they didn’t treat it as any one of them and Interesting, okay. , that it was, it had some hilarious stuff in it and we, everybody was laughing in the audience, but.
It wasn’t stupid goofy comedy. They weren’t like just doing sight gags to do stupid sight gags. It fit the story, it fit the characters. The one little boy said stuff now, he was like eight, nine years old an eight, nine year old say stuff sometimes and Right. And that’s exactly what it was.
It wasn’t over the top written, but it was just this little kid getting excited in what he said. And it was hilarious. And
Alan: the adults weren’t like the stupid ones. And the kids were the smart ones that will save the day that it actually fit. That
Stephen: character. Okay. The characters to me, I was watching, I’m like, wow, this is such a unique, diverse group of characters and the way they’re all act the.
Lady that played the park ranger. Okay. I’ve seen her before on other stuff. Never a big part. Always a secondary part. TV and movies. Yeah. And she was a park ranger, but she was more interested in trying to win the affections of the guy doing the inspections and was trying to ignore everything going on.
And just the way her character was, it made it interesting. That’s funny. But then the bear attacked and she started cussing and swearing and pulling out her gun and it was like, oh my God. She’s Annie Oakley tough, that’s funny. And then she got scared and she ends up shooting a guy. And there’s just the one guy was, he’s the animal guy, right?
Okay. And the bear’s there and this guy gets away and he runs up a tree cuz there’s a boy up in a tree. And this guy runs up the air tree and the kid’s we’re safe up here. And the guy’s no bears can climb trees. And the kid’s So why did you climb a tree? . it was
Alan: hilarious.
You’re the animal control guy. Exactly. Yes. , you
Stephen: should know better. And then the bear did climb the tree and get him, and when he, his body fell out of the gr out of the tree. It didn’t just flop him on the ground, it went headfirst, hit the ground. You heard a crack and then it slumped over.
Oh yeah. No kidding. It was like over the top. But it was funny. And there were a couple other I hate to say it this way, but the gore in that ended up being funny the way they filmed it. And
Alan: I read a thing from Elizabeth Banks that she said that sometimes I, if you’re gonna have that for not to be only a horror movie, you have to be over the top about it.
Where people can be, and not in an unrealistic way, but it’s more wow, that’s really terrible. But whatever the dark side of humor is that says, that’s really terrible, yes.
Stephen: Of course like anything, a lot of people aren’t going to get it. They’re not going to enjoy it. My parents, I thought Kill Bill was an amazing set of movies.
Tongue in Cheeks, spaghetti westerns, but with Samurai Swords right over the top. Everything. Action. I thought Quentin Tarantino did a fantastic job, right? But you have to get it to, to appreciate it. My parents hated that movie. Okay, don’t even wanna talk. It was the stupidest movie ever. I feel cocaine bears a little bit like that, that there’s go people going, why are you people enjoying this?
This is a stupid movie, . But the thing is, the numbers are showing people are enjoying it. More than not, this was the only $5 movie we went to see. The theater was packed. If we had showed up five minutes later, we wouldn’t have got a seat. We would’ve had to wait. We got a seat. That’s
Alan: wild. Sometimes it is word of mouth.
People don’t know what to make of it until they have friends that say, , you don’t give this a chance. It’s like nothing else you’ve seen. And I, that’s so much, that’s what I’m always looking for. It’s like nothing else you’ve seen. Yeah. So I’m probably, I’m not gonna wait, I’ll go see it at either $5 movie night or I have like credits on cinema.
I’ll go to a matinee so that maybe it’s also, it’s a different thing to see it in a full theater cuz you get the waves of gas and laughter and et cetera, et cetera. So seeing it alone is my tub of popcorn might not be the right way to do this. I’ll have to think about
Stephen: that. The girl next to me was just, was helping cracked me up.
She’s like mumbling the whole time. Shoot the damn bear. This guy’s carrying a gun and she’s shoot him, dear God, shoot the damn bear. And I leaned over and said, that’s a handgun. He’s gonna have to waste that whole clip on that bear and the barrel kill him before that
Alan: happens. Gotta go for a brain shot.
Cuz otherwise there’s a whole bunch of bear surrounding his heart. Yes. .
Stephen: And she leaned over and she goes, I know but part of me just wants it to she, it was like, okay. She’s this is the third time I’ve been here to see this movie. Wow.
Alan: Oh man. Already a Peter. Okay. Yes. . So I’m thinking, remember, do you see The Revenant that was, it was Leonardo DiCaprio, and it’s funny, bears had become I don’t know, smokey, the bear gal, lumpy, gentle band, that kind of stuff.
And to really see here’s a thousand pound animal that can throw you around, can bite through an arm or a leg. And he did that. You know what I mean? I just, they’re an engine of destruction. They’re like, I, whenever I’ve seen like zoologists talk about this who would you pick in a fight kind of a thing again, like maybe 10 year old boys do.
There’s very few animals that could take on a bear. Lions, tigers really big and dangerous and lots of claws and stuff. But a bear is like phenomenal killing machine, they got way, they got quickness. I read somewhere a bear is lightning and a fur case. They’re very freaking fast when they wanna be , and I think salmon outta the air and stuff like that. And I think Elizabeth Banks was kinda okay trying to show some of that so she wouldn’t offend everybody about this crazy maniacal bear. We’ve gotten past the movies where it shows like all apex predators as evil. That’s not today’s world, right?
Stephen: So it starts off with descriptions of bears and what they’re like and what the rangers say, and that they are not crazy maniacal killing machines that hunt people. And that you leave them alone, they’ll leave you. Now this bears on cocaine. Let’s look at the differences. Exactly. And it shows
Alan: of our people too Hey, if you’re looking for someone not acting in their right mind, that’s the way to do it.
Absolutely. .
Stephen: Now there are a few blue from Jungle Book Throwbacks. Okay. That they, I think she did it very much on purpose. That makes you laugh. Okay. And you could tell the bear they, they had coke, like on the bear snout, so he was snuffling in these packages. So you knew he’s high as hell right now
And he is rubbing up against the tree and stuff then. Exactly. . Yeah. Then he sees the people and they’re looking through Spike. I said, where’d he go? And then he pops up and he’s got the most evil look on his face. Oh my, I really took it. As you can see that he’s. And this is his reaction to people and it’s not normal.
And at the end they did show him the Cubs playing. So they showed it when they
Alan: weren’t, when he came down. Yeah, exactly. Yes. I, if I remember, isn’t this based on a true story? Yes. It actually is, was a bear that got cocained up and went crazy for a while. I don’t think it killed people, but it definitely was uncharacteristically aggressive and nasty bear.
Stephen: Yeah. Ok. My, my highlight of the whole movie, trying not to give everything away. My highlight of the whole movie was the frantic. Comical Chase, almost Benny Hill type running chase ambulance scene. Okay. But they’re playing Depeche Mode in the, and the song set the chase perfect. And you were cheering for them to get away while still cheering for the bear to devour them and laughing because the music made everything seem like a Ah
Alan: Exactly. Like you said, Betty Hill, you know that guy? That’s very funny. . So I’m curious as hell. I will go catch that. It’s okay. Very
Stephen: good. . Yeah. Okay, so what’s next on our hit agenda?
Alan: Let’s see, we I want to see we, Colleen and I want to see Neil Degrassi Tyson speak last Wednesday, and it’s very heartening.
He filled the theater at 5,000 seat or so, that over at Playhouse Square, and he’s like the science guy. It’s very heartening to see that the world doesn’t just. Circus Bear acts and et cetera, et cetera to and I know he’s got an ego on him. There were a couple times where he was like, you could have toned that down a little bit, but he really knows a ton of stuff and he’s really got good perceptions about here’s what’s good and bad about topic was science in the movies and especially like astrophysicist type science.
So we talked about the Martian really got a lot of the science, right? That if you’re gonna science the shit out of it, he did lots of things that made sense for how would you survive, how would you keep energy going, how would you make food, et cetera. He said moon fall, which is just a really recent movie from, it was Halle Berry from 2022, took the award that he used to give to another movie for the worst science in a movie ever.
That it just was wrong in terms of how it handled. He had cool anecdotes about Titanic that when they’re on the one is on the door floating in the middle of the water and they look up at the sky. They didn’t get the sky right where the Titanic was when it sank.
Cuz that’s really historic record it Oh, near exact latitude. Longitude. And he said that’s not what it he actually had teased, criticized Cameron for getting that wrong. And what, where they actually had a back and forth a little bit about it. It’s only a movie. But then when Titanic was gonna be re-released for like his 25th 30th anniversary, whatever recently happened, Cameron contacted, he had a guy contact him and say, talk to the guy that knows what the would’ve looked like.
I really would appreciate if you would give me that. And so in the re-release, it is the correct Sky remember hearing that over them while they were floating to Titan .
Stephen: I remember
Alan: hearing that. Yeah. Sorry, you. I didn’t hear that
Stephen: last thing. I’m sorry. I just said, yeah, I remember hearing that about the sky, how he was talking about that.
Yeah.
Alan: And he really liked contact. He really liked the ones he liked. He was happy to say, this is mostly how NASA operates how science works, et cetera, et cetera. And others that it was like they started with science and then they, in order to do something interesting, they broke a lot of laws and stuff like that.
And he I didn’t get a chance because we were up in the balcony and he took some questions, but not enough to ask him about the car in space and whether you could steer around up there, and stuff like that. But he was charming and knowledgeable. And I, like I said, I just, I love the fact that, and a lot of guys do this.
We’ve seen a couple things now from National Geographic, from like TED Talk type stuff, and I love the fact that they really do favor questions from kids. Cuz even if they’ll be a little bit less seasoned, maybe a little bit more naive, You want to encourage that interest? Yeah. You wanna get the STEM kids saying, yes, I had a chance to talk to Neil deGrasse Tyson.
And what questions he was taking. A lot of them were like that. And, but and some were like, wow, that kid is gonna be a scientist. He already knows. When you meet the kid that could really tell you how momentum works, tell you what the names of all the dinosaurs are, he had a couple wonderful prods there.
And it was fun to see him interact with them, that he was encouraging and heartening and playful with them. You know what I mean? So hats off to him for this generation’s Carl Sagan someone’s gotta speak up for science. And one of the things he did was, of course, not only what’s wrong in movies, but here’s what’s wrong in the world.
You can’t deny the science of what’s going on in these various different ways. And now we are absolutely paying the price. Last Wednesday. Let’s see this maybe the start of bad storms in most of the Midwest, Minneapolis and stuff like that. And he is without going into it too much.
Yes. That’s climate change. Yes, we’re getting those kinds of different mixtures of weather that we get the atmospheric rivers in California and we’re getting horrible weather in the northeast that they characteristically haven’t had for the last a hundred years. Poor Richards Almanac is you can’t judge weather based on Willy Bears anymore.
We’ve really changed things and we have to learn how to cope with that. Our, we’ve talked about this, you and I, the weather. Prognostication tools are really quite good so that you can plan on, but even then you’re gonna get these kinds of phenomenon, unexpected things and often like lethally, so you know what I mean?
So it’s, someone’s gotta be, hopefully not the Cassandra, but we’ve had a series of people, like they’re telling the truth and nobody listens. Right here’s hoping that he will, we will all together make a breakthrough about. They gotta take this seriously. We are drowning the world. We are killing the coral reefs, et cetera.
He said it really well with the frustrations of being in a a professor at Harvard. And that even amongst like students they come in with, they’ve been indoctrinated already. And a lot of his work is just, man you gotta make science your friend. You can’t come in here with preconceived things and then throw out how science works.
It’s about repeatability and predictability. It’s about taking the data. And he was a great advocate for reality and that some people are really big advocates for fun reality .
Stephen: So anyway and the thing about the movies, and I think he understands and can appreciate this.
Movies are for entertainment. So there are times laws and things get bent or Sure. Change and he knows that. And that’s, and
Alan: it does that by definition. What if we could teleport and then you go with it, I’m sorry.
Stephen: No you’re absolutely right. And I love the thing with the sky, cuz I know I don’t think you can like, or not like Titanic regardless of whether it was the right night sky in the one scene but as a scientist, that’s the fun thing I like to point out in computers, I’m like, That is not how it works. I, you would not hack into the federal trade whatever in that three seconds that it took them. That’s just, that’s right. Not how that’s right. Yeah. Are you plugged into USB driving?
Suddenly you have access. That’s not how that works. Yeah. But it doesn’t ruin the whole movie because you suspend some disbelief.
Alan: You understand why they did it that they had to no, you’re right. We actually have friends that are so knowledgeable in various different areas that sometimes I’m like please don’t not enjoy the show because it’s not period costume.
Correct, yes. That’s, doesn’t have that kind thing, but everybody brings their particular passions to it. You know what I mean? What at and I hope that everybody has the ability to say I get why they got it wrong out of whatever, out of budget, out of artistic license, out of not caring, and that they don’t let it spoil the movie.
For them, it’s more I noticed that. That kind of glove wasn’t used for another a hundred years . Whatever else it might be,
Stephen: Okay. And cops do the same thing with cop shows. Absolutely. Oh, that’s not how we do it. And but on the flip side too, and I’ve had this argument, I’m like, okay, but some of the things that we do in real life would slow down the pace of the show that instead of being a 32nd thing and we move on, it would be a three day thing that you have to wait for.
You can’t tell a good story and keep people interested. So you do take allowances. One of the things I remember recently hearing some cop talk about that when they come walking up on a car that they pulled over, they tap the trunk, they said they do. Just in case somebody’s inside. He is that’s very rare.
It doesn’t, that’s, we don’t expect a body to be in the trunk. Okay. But what it does is it startles people in inside the cab and it throws ’em off their game. Okay. And lets ’em know we’re coming up. There are cases they get, they don’t understand that. So I was watching The Rookie with Nathan Fillon.
Okay. And I saw them
Alan: walking up the next series. Now we finished Castle. I’m gonna follow him to his next series.
Stephen: Okay. I like it. I enjoy it. I was but Alan Tunics had been in it a couple times. A couple other Firefly Castle people have been in it, so that’s cool. Okay. But I was watching it and I saw her and they didn’t focus on it.
They didn’t make it a big deal, but she walked up and she just reached over, tapped it, and kept going. And I almost missed it. And I’m like, oh my God, she really did tap it. So really didn’t they do listen and they do wanna make it authentic, but they also have to be true to the entertainment value.
Alan: Yeah. It’s of funny. I’m sure I bring, so for instance, went to see the first Wonder Woman movie, and I come in with all my knowledge of comic books. And so I gave a little review and said this was all okay, but there’s no way that fight scene would’ve played out at the end with her at Aries.
And it’s funny, y when you’re online, you, of course I have lots of friends, but I also risk that there’s gonna be people that bring their own preconceptions in. And so I was taken to task for, are you saying that a woman couldn’t fight like a man, that she wasn’t strong enough and all that kind of stuff.
And there’s no, it’s that Wonder Woman was never a power caster before. She’s a warrior. Nobody can beat her with Sword shield, lasso, et cetera, but she doesn’t shoot Ray out of her eyes or bolts out of her hands. And I like when I explained all that and I kinda said so that’s what I bring into this.
And that’s why it didn’t ring true for me because it was not the Wonder Woman character I was expecting. What did you bring to this discussion that you were waiting for people to be like? , I’m a pig and I’m not a pig so it’s nice to get that opportunity when it isn’t life or death.
It, and yet you can see that, that people I don’t know, people watch a cooking show and say, that’s not how that would really work. Or cooking in a movie, I should say. It’s they, like you said, they don’t want to take the half hour it would take to do a souffle.
They wanted to make it that you could do it in two minutes of whisking eggs and boom, you got
Stephen: the food. No, it’s funny you mentioned the Wonder Woman movie because the thing that bothers Alana of people with that movie is the actual science of the lasso of truth and how it would really work.
Alan: And and I just, I occasionally I see that where they criticize things and like, how would it actually work? It’s like you’re using the wrong word to describe anything having to do with comic books. There’s no actual Right. It’s in line with what they’ve established from 70 years of comic books.
So I guess whatever the word is that it’s inconsistent or something like that. But once you start, like you losing reality too, buddy, because Oh,
Stephen: Right? Yeah. Hey star Trek always touted as being much more scientifically accurate than Star Wars. And I always say, who cares? That wasn’t the point of Star Wars.
It’s fantasy. It’s mythology. We don’t care how the Hyperdrive really works. It’s Hey, we got hyperdrive, we’re done. It’s a fantasy. Star Trek wanted to be that more realistic sciencey. Type of thing. know, And you mentioned the Martian Andy Weir when he was writing that he actually wrote it and put it up on a blog for free and started, cuz he, he worked for NASA,
Alan: I believe.
Exactly. And he wanted to get what do you find wrong in this? So that I will Yes. Write published with errors. Exactly.
Stephen: And that’s probably why I fell in love with that book. When I was reading it. I was like, the funny thing is when I read the book the first time I’ve read it more than once, , when I read it the first time, I’m like, oh my God.
All I’m hearing in my head with the main character is Matt Damon. And then they got Matt Damon to play that part in the movie. I’m like, they couldn’t have done better.
Alan: Exactly that. funny. I don’t he’s not my. See him in every movie that he’s in, or at least he wasn’t when he started his career.
And he has become that, he’s been in enough variety of roles now that he’s not only always Jason Bourne or he’s not always the right kid from Goodwill hunting and stuff like that. Yeah. I’ve he was in a movie where they were talking about doing the guys that are the front men for fracking and how they go into communities and convince people to do it.
And he was terribly believable as the guy that you think is a hometown boy, that you do trust him and he’s not got your best interest at heart, and you know what I mean? It I like seeing that they’ve got a rounded enough career that they took some risks and that they evidence that they really can be more than I’m playing.
Tom Cruise again says Tom Cruise, they should just relabel all Tom Cruise’s movies as Tom Cruise, as it should be like the
brand. Cause Tom Cruise part, the building, Tom Cruise drives the car. Tom Cruise, yeah. He’s done some cool stuff. Like risky business was not that kind of thing.
Wasn’t he in what’s the one where there’s a whole bunch of cocaine traffickers and he’s a really bad drug pin. Dr. Kingpin businessman and was totally in like enough makeup so that he didn’t look at all like handsome Tom Cruise, Tropic Thunder maybe. Was
Stephen: he in Tropic? Was that, I don’t remember.
Alan: Anyway, it is cool to see people that, that get out of their stereotype, if you will. You know what I mean? That they’re not, they don’t have to be their own brand all the time,
Stephen: that kinda thing. Okay, so speaking of, there’s another movie coming out. I didn’t know a thing about, I’m not gonna give away too much.
I saw the trailer for it last night. Okay. It is called Renfield. Which is the name of
Alan: Dracula, the vampire’s assistant, Dr. Ok
Stephen: Draculas assistant. It’s from Universal. So it’s a universal monster movie. It kinda, the hammer
Alan: verse that they were trying to create at one point, remember this, they put the Mummy and the, and they were trying to do modernized
Stephen: versions of it all tied together.
I don’t know who played, but when it came on, I’m wa they didn’t say what it was. I hadn’t heard about it, so I’m watching it. I’m going, okay. Oh. And the guy playing Renfield is the Beast from the X-Men First Class movies. That was also the zombie warm Hearts or whatever. Okay. Yes. Okay, so I’m watching it.
I’m going, okay, so this must be a vampire thing. He’s renfield so Dracula’s gotta be in it. I’m going to give it away. Cause me and Nino, what? I’m not gonna give it away. You go find the trailer. I’ll put, I’ll find. Dracula came in of course and revealed himself and the actor the minute we saw who the actor was, me and Colin looked at you and said, oh man, we’ve gotta go see this movie.
Alan: I pick is a modern Dracula. Is it the face? Is it like the SAP face? Cause I know that will played cause we just saw SK that Paul Bich did as our concert and they, when we watched the movie and it was like who would I pick that’s got that? Like evil. Some people have resting bitch face, some people have resting villain face you , right?
Yeah,
Stephen: but it’s not you. I’m just go leave it out there. Go find the trailer when we’re done. Okay. It’s worth the two and a half minutes to watch a couple
Alan: good trailers spoiling it. Cause I want that same Oh
Stephen: yes. Yeah. There’s a Woody Harrelson movie coming out. Okay. That looked good. And this is one of those good things that this gener new generation is really pushing and accommodating and it’s coming out in other ways in our culture.
So Woody Harrelson is a basketball coach for the pros, but he’s got an attitude and he ends up getting fired. Okay. We’ve seen that storyline a million times, right? Yeah. What small
Alan: town is he gonna go through and with his big heart rediscover himself as a human being?
Stephen: The movie plot already
This one, it’s a group of down syndrome people that are trying to get to the Special Olympics. Oh my. Now that’s a if that would’ve come out in like the eighties or nineties, it would’ve flopped. Okay. And it would’ve just been a laugh. They would’ve made it a comedy that you laugh at, this did not look like this. This looked like the heartwarming trail that he goes on to discover himself. I leaned over to Colin. I said, so let me guess. They hinted that, whoa if you do good with this, we could bring you back to the majors. I’m like, oh. So he’s going to get offered the majors, okay, he’s gonna turn it down to stay with this group of kids that have Down Syndrome.
That it’s gonna be that heartwarming story right there. Sorry, did I freeze up? You froze
Alan: up e exactly that. Yes. I got most of what you were saying by, yeah. Okay.
Stephen: Yeah. So I, we know what the plot is, but I’m like, I love the fact that they chose people with Down syndrome and they’re showing them in a light that, hey, these people wanna be normal and they can do it, just not the way others do it.
And that’s what was coming across in the trailer very cool.
Alan: Yeah. And tell me that we’ve seen Peter Butter Falcon Rudy was like that, that, yeah. don’t know that he was radio. Yeah. Where people are just differently abled and at I like inclusion. I like that we’re all human more than we are, any of our differences.
I, I hope that I have the ability to say, wow my initial instinct is to, oh, down syndrome. I don’t know that I know that much about it. Right? Am I curious enough about it? Yeah. Am I accepting enough? Of course. I i, everybody has family, friends, et cetera, that like their kids is, and so they’re not worthy of love.
Of course they are. Of course, they’re human beings,
Stephen: et cetera. I think the really heartening thing is like we said, we mentioned a couple movies back in the day, 30, 40 years ago, that everyone remembers as, oh, that was heartwarming. And oh, it had such a good message. It made me feel good. But it was an outlier.
It was, oh, we went and saw it, so now I feel good about myself. Whereas the progression now is this is just normal. This is just how people are to the point where later. We’re going to have movies and it might be 20 or 30 years from now, but when people with Down Syndrome are in the movie, no one will even have to point out, oh, they have Down Syndrome.
It’s a Down syndrome movie. But that progression has been very slow. Yeah. But that’s hopefully, eventually where it gets to that point. And not just Down Syndrome, autism big Bang Theory helped that a lot bring out autism and point out, and it’s one’s no longer
Alan: a stunt. It’s just, yes, the world is rich and it has all different kinds of people and you’re gonna have, you name it, wheelchair people and blind people and downs people.
What I, and I don’t know which of those are now considered handicapped or differently able, they all just seem to be like, why spend time trying? Perfectly classified. I don’t know, when people are they’re not that bright. Remember they used to have a whole bunch of classifications for who’s an idiot and who’s a moron and who’s a right.
And they’re like all those words of course are loaded. And I don’t know that I don’t use them. They are appropriate sometimes for when someone is I don’t know, I save ’em for an insult when someone is maliciously stupid. So it actually a problem of mine. But you would hope that we’ll spend times ki understanding and accepting instead of trying to find more ways in which we are unlike instead
Stephen: of alike.
And I’ve said this before, that we’ve got to stop shouting and pointing out that, Hey, this is a Down syndrome movie. We just have to say, Hey, that looks like a heart, a good movie. Let’s go see it and get to the point where it’s just normal and natural. Yeah. Because until then we’re just, every time it gets pointed out and has to be made special, It’s just make, keeping it separated, right?
Is what it’s doing. What the boy I don’t know. A confession, i, Kaley and I were just talking about this, we were watching honestly maybe like America’s test kitchen and there was someone on there that talked really fast, but with poor addiction. And it’s I, that’s what bothers me.
Alan: It’s not that they’re of I’m trying to think how to say this. That quality doesn’t have to be because they’re a guy or a gal because they’re black or white, because their downs are not. It just was, that’s a bad combination to be able to speak fast and not be understood. It’s about the communication that matters, not any characteristic, if you will.
And so I often, when I speak pretty quick and I even often preface my talk saying, I really do talk this fast. If I really get to where it’s weird and overwhelming, raise your hand and let me know. But I think that I speak well enough that it’s not gonna sound like a used car salesman or a FedEx commercial, then I’m still imparting a lot of information without trying to blow it at you and have it be un understandable.
And maybe the podcast is a lot like that too. I think I, we, I talk pretty fast, but I don’t think I talk where he’s raving or he’s slurring or anything like that. I, not to .
Stephen: I know a lot of the other podcasts I listen to. I speed it up like 1.5, 1.7, and other people have heard it.
They’re like, why did they sound like Mickey Mouse? , chip works ? I’m like, what do you mean while they’re talking so fast? Oh, that’s, I sped it up because Colin said, he’s of course you sped it up because people talk so slow. ,
Alan: It I hope that I don’t let my impatience get the best of me when I’ve occasionally been in situations where it was, please get to the point, please get to the point.
Sometimes people really are over dramatic, and I’m, we, Colleen and I just we had, I’m trying to think what it was like. I really, I seek out places where I will not feel that I’m al I, I almost feel that I’m a little bit ahead of the world because I really do think relatively quickly and get to it.
I get to the points of most things and I don’t think I’m so impatient that I don’t want to hear the craft with which they are talking or the point that they’re trying to make. . I have people in my life that have started doing that where they like you they cut you off and it’s wow, I don’t think that everything that I was going to say, there’s more of a point than the one that you’ve already jumped to.
That’s something that’s happening nowadays. Maybe because in fact, cell phones created this phenomenon of people started talking bursty instead of an analog phone where you could hear each other’s chatter over each other, and it didn’t stop it from happening. Cell phones were initially, like when you started to talk, they cut out and people learn to wait for the other person to talk, but then get as much out as they could so that they wouldn’t be, and I noticed that in certain people, that they really had cell phone voice, that they learned to talk very bursty and wow I feel bad for you because it’s Abrupt, and it’s not like good speaking style if you’re gonna go out to persuade to orate to share information, it really doesn’t have to be all in sound bites and quick blasts like that.
But I don’t think that people can turn it off once they’ve been trained by the cell phone to do that. I think maybe cell phones are now more forgiving and our podcasting is more forgiving that we might occasionally get small cutouts because we’re talking over each other , but it isn’t entirely the screen goes blank or something like You know what I mean? So that’s not an interesting technological phenomenon. That, and when I, of course when I tried to say that in a group, The people that had the worst weren’t the most to volunteer. Oh, I have that. They’re very unaware of it. You know what I mean? So it’s then I guess that’s just a new thing to deal with in the world.
And some people are and not like flowing, not .
Stephen: All right. So anything else before we get going?
Alan: I think anything big on the list. We got our panel, we’re gonna be at fan expo. Yes. In Cleveland. Let’s see, the last weekend of March. And I, I mentioned I had submitted for both of us a podcast as well as my talk.
They accepted talk and I didn’t see the other one, so I’m ho. But having said that, they expect many of these things to not be a presentation, but to be a panel discussion. So if you will, that’s what I’d like to turn it into. Yeah. If you’re willing to, the topic is adventures in the comic book multiverse, and you, Colin, whoever else wants to join in I’d be happy to, if we run the presentation and have that be the guiding thread, but that we talk about it, riff on it, and not just me, but everybody.
So I, if you’d like to do that with me, I’d really much. Absolutely. That sounds way cool. I don’t have a date and time yet, and apparently they don’t release that until, like two weeks before the show, so we won’t know until March 12th or something like that. But I think we’ll have a lot of fun with it, and I think our audience will have a ton of fun with it too.
I hope so. Yeah. Okay.
Stephen: And for me, I’ve I’ve got some things scheduled author tables and go into some author events. So I’ll use this as a platform to say, Hey, if anyone wants to come see me, this is where I might be okay. But I’m super excited because I get to meet in about a month. Not only MacGyver, but Qua from DS nine.
I’m going to meet both of them. And Quark has Armon Shimerman has been on my podcast. Yes. I sent an email and said, Hey, I’m just gonna give you a heads up if you remember me, you are on the podcast. I’m gonna meet you. I’m getting it in your brain now. So when you see me an actual
Alan: f q f instead of old the voices in the ether.
That’s cool.
Stephen: Good for you. Yeah. So I’m, so this is gonna be a busy month. Yeah. And
Alan: as far as I didn’t we, I still need to get you a legend. Couldn’t do it at the last month gathering. Cause we were ni Tyson. But whatever, honestly, if I need to drive it down to you, when whatever’s gonna be coming you when is, I know I need to get it to you before you meet Richard d Lemme
Stephen: do that.
You get one signature. And I, so I’m gonna get ’em to sign my Swiss Army knife. Oh I was like, okay then I’m no big hurry for legend. But yeah, I’m super excited to have them sign my
Alan: going my way, but, Yeah, I am going ask
Stephen: him though, Adams story, who still has the license to that, to legend, because I’d love to get the license to be able to write some stories with those characters.
Alan: Interesting. A shared world. That’s kind. Cool. Okay. Yeah. Very good.
Stephen: So we’ll see. Okay. All right, so next week, maybe next week we’ll move back to Zoom and see how that goes. I’m going to contact, support and tell ’em what’s been going on, see what they say. Okay. Yeah.
Alan: I did see like on, when I look at our more phone-based presentation on a regular website, it really is distended.
It’s distorted a little bit tall and stuff like that, so I know we’re trying to hit every platform. We’ll have to find the happy medium because right now things don’t work equally well everywhere. ,
Stephen: you’re you, the one was like that because that was one of them where we broke up a lot and had three different recordings.
Okay. So I tried to splice ’em together with the video editor. Yeah. For some reason, whatever the video editor exported and then script imported it, squished it in the middle. So I was trying to stretch it out, but it would stretch it beyond the top and I’m like, this is ridiculous. Yeah. Really.
Alan: What’s the information that’s locked?
Stephen: Export. Yeah. The normal export from Zencaster looks a lot better. Okay. So again, Yeah,
Alan: you can keep experimenting. Honestly. E even these little blips, we’re not cutting out where it’s, oh, it dropped the connection and stuff like that. Let but I’m happy to keep experimenting until we find what works.
Easiest for you because so much you’re doing a lot of the underground, the background work of all of getting
Stephen: this out there. Good. Good thing with Zencaster is, even though us talking, there may have been some dropouts and blips, it doesn’t appear in the final because we’re both recorded locally and then it merges it.
Got it.
Alan: That’s reassuring that our experience is not what really was recorded and that makes perfect.
Stephen: Ok. But still you don’t wanna be like, oh, what? And so people are listening in every two seconds. Someone’s going What? Huh? What? .
Alan: Yeah. Cause that’s a way to lose a listener right away.
It’s let’s listen to the stutter boys, let’s listen to the, yeah, brother. Exactly. As, all right man, when we sign off, I’ll make sure that I’m all uploaded and that we’ll make sure we have a good copy of whatever we’ve captured. Yes. Okay. Alright.
Sounds good. Care Steven, talk you later. Byebye.
