The Revisitors #5 - The Blair Witch Project (1999)

Add another to the list of films that haven't aged well. The Blair Witch Project has some interesting elements to it, but is probably a lot more boring and tedious than you remember.

And here's the video I mentioned in the episode about one of the most compelling theories on the film.

The Revisitors #4 - Jurassic Park III (2001)

Sometimes, this podcast will require a trip down Bad Movie Lane to see if they really were as bad as we thought. Turns out, Jurassic Park III kind of totally is. And yet, it also isn't all that different from Jurassic World, which has been shockingly popular. But why does the franchise really go off the rails in the third film? Well, it's a number of things.

Revisitors #3 - The 40-Year Old Virgin (2005)

I have to admit, revisiting The 40-Year Old Virgin is such a bummer in 2018. I think it would be a terrible film that hasn't aged well at all even without being in a post-Harvey Weinstein revelation world, or in the midst of the #MeToo movement. But those things certainly don't help it. This film is really, really, really hard to watch, and offers nothing but a problematic take on toxic masculinity.

Warning: there is some foul language, and plenty of discussion about sexual activities. It also includes a little bit of personal information, if you think you might not want to know anything, even vaguely, about my own opinions towards or history of sex. (It doesn't get detailed, but I understand people can feel uncomfortable with open discussion of the topic.)

Revisitors #2 - Crocodile Dundee (1987)

I fly solo again to look back at the film that inspired the whole thing: Crocodile Dundee. After hearing people expressing disappointment that that Chris Hemsworth/Danny McBride commercial for Australian tourism wasn't actually a fourth Dundee film (yeah, there have been three of them - one made this millennium!), it seemed like a good time to revisit the original and see if it's actually any good. The result? Well........it's pretty dated, and in some pretty awful ways.

Random Encounters: Special #3 - Black Panther

As we discuss options for the future of our podcast endeavors, we took the time to talk about Black Panther, and boy do we talk about it for a long time. It's about two hours, so...yeah...Sorry. But also, it's hard to not talk about this movie for so long. Granted, we also meander through various other topics from time to time.

Revisitors #1 - Napoleon Dynamite

A new weekly podcast, Revisitors seeks to re-examine once popular films or otherwise still quoted films that seem to have largely faded from our memories. (And hopefully this will someday include other people talking as well. That's the dream with this one.) We begin with one of the strangest films to just explode onto the pop culture landscape for some reason, Napoleon Dynamite.

Random Encounters Special #2 - Star Wars: The Last Jedi - Part 2: Canto A'ight

Part two of our two-part conversation about Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Late to the party, we do discuss more of the criticisms and why we think they are maybe a tad off base.

Random Encounters Special #1: Star Wars The Last Jedi - Episode 1 - What Did You Do, Rey?

Hey! After a nearly two-year hiatus, we are back for a Star Wars special! But, not a holiday special. Rather, we talk - at length - about Star Wars: The Last Jedi. We enjoyed it a lot, but still had to address some of the biggest controversies surrounding it, and why it is one of the most divisive films for a fan-base in ages.

Since we talked for over two hours, we opted to break it up into two episodes. This is the first part.

The Presidential Pod #5: James Monroe

The last president truly from the age of the Revolution was also the first real "national defense" president. You certainly know of the Monroe Doctrine, but his presidency actually had a little bit more to it. Prosperity from expansionism, threats of war with Spain and renewed war with Britain, a splintering Republican Congress, a cabinet undermining him for positioning to take over the Presidency, and dealing with Andrew Jackson all contribute to his tenure. It's funny how little is known about a president whose doctrine is the most memorable.



             Meaningless Ranking of Best Presidents (Subject to Change from Episode to Episode):

1. George Washington

2. James Madison

3. James Monroe

4. Thomas Jefferson

5. John Adams

Meaningless Ranking of My Favorite Presidents (Subject to Change Also):

1. John Adams

2. James Madison

3. George Washington

4. Thomas Jefferson

5. James Monroe

Something Stupid #6 - Bo Fo Sho

Indulge me with my cold and about an hour's worth of thoughts about Bo Burnham and stand up comedy in general. Or don't. It's your life, man. Don't waste it on this if you don't want, but if you are curious, give it a shot!

Something Stupid #5 - Open Fart Surgery

This might be the most seriously and sincerely anyone has every talked about farts and farting outside, say, a medical conference. I'm not sure why I had to talk about farts for 20 minutes, but I did. (Ya know, if my high school had any shop classes, I could be building birdhouses or some shit. But no. Only bible study.)

Something Stupid: Episode 4 - Who's Keeping Score?

Hey! I have something to talk about today! Weird. This is a bit of a long-winded one, especially because I wanted to use decent quality clips of theme songs. Basically, I am really starting to wonder why after, what, like, 40 superhero movies in the last 15-16 years, we have no real memorable character themes. This is about 55 minutes long, in fair part due to those clips. Originally I had just recorded it off of the speakers, but I changed my mind and spent 5 hours downloading and editing this thing, adding better quality clips in "post." (I have traditionally done everything I could to avoid spending time "in post," but, unavoidable.)

The Presidential Pod: 3. Thomas Jefferson

The Democratic-Republican from Virginia, and author of the Declaration of Independence, was a man of many contradictions in practice and in ideology. In many ways, that made him an interesting character to read about. Probably an under appreciated President, despite being perhaps the most quoted founder, he also managed to expand the office's authority more than his predecessors.

Meaningless Rank of Best Presidents:

1. Thomas Jefferson

2. George Washington

3. John Adams

Meaningless Rank of Favorite Presidents:

1. John Adams

2. Thomas Jefferson

3. George Washington

Something Stupid: Episode 3 - Kong: Skull Island (And Legendary Issues)

So kind of a repeat in some ways, but mostly I just talk at length about the trouble with Legendary's kaiju universe (kaijuniverse?). I also try to prove my nerd mettle with a couple of online Godzilla quizzes.

Something Stupid: Episode 2 - King Kong v. Godzilla

Tonight, I lose sleep thinking about something very near and dear to my heart: how the hell does Legendary Pictures think it's going to pull off a solid King Kong v. Godzilla in 2020? The miracle here, of course, is that I kept this under half an hour. Normally, once I start talking Godzilla, it goes for about the duration of Peter Jackson's King Kong!

Something Stupid: Episode 1 - "All-Star" by Smash Mouth

New podcast, about random topics that keep me up at night. Could be about something serious or meaningful, but likely to just cover a bunch of random crap that no one cares about. But hey, if you ever wanted to hear me talk about "All-Star" by Smash Mouth for half an hour, you're in the right place!

Dan Solo #11 : Final Fantasy VII: Retake Money, Again, and Again, and Again.

This week's Dan Solo features a lot of thoughts about all this strange news regarding Final Fantasy VII: Remake. Going into things like the completely re-worked gameplay, the confusing meaning of an "episodic" release, and how the news that they're making multiple full-scale games and say to think of it like Final Fantasy XIII doesn't exactly fill me with enthusiasm. Plus, I sidetrack a bit into why I think it's a bit off-base to think that people don't like those early Final Fantasy games for the gameplay.

Run time: 40:19


What do you think? Has your enthusiasm for the remake died down at all? A lot? Are you more interested in it? Is this all a good idea, or does it just feel like a bigger money grab than it would have inherently been?

Dan Solo Episode 6: Emily Is Away

Were you a big internet user in the early aughts? Were many of your high school and early college relationships heavily driven by an almost unhealthy amount of AIM conversations? Do you enjoy interactive stories? If so, then Emily Is Away might be something you'd be into. Tapping into nostalgia, this short, interactive story hits a little close to home, making it a tad uncomfortable at times. (But as Kelly Sue DeConnick said, "On the other side of discomfort is growth.")




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Random Encounters Episode 31

We watched the original trilogy a few weeks ago, so it only seemed fair to force ourselves to watch the prequels too. Are they really as bad as people say? Are they as bad as we remember? (Spoiler: Absolutely.)

Plus, some thoughts on the Jessica Jones trailer, leaked Dr. Strange images, and the Warcraft trailer. Also sprung a game on Dave called "Is this a Star Wars thing?" seeing if he can identify between real Star Wars EU stories and elements, and totally made up stuff. 

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Dan Solo Episode 5 - Dexter Vs. Breaking Bad Finales

Yes yes, I know. Super late to the conversation. To be honest, I kind of forgot all about these shows. But recently I was involved in a rehash of this conversation from a few years ago, and then I was listening to old Cracked podcast episodes and this came up. So I got to thinking about them again. Why is Dexter's finale so maligned, and Breaking Bad's is so well received? Is the former really so bad, and is the latter really so great? Super late, but I weigh in. And yes, I'm without question in the minority here.

As always, there are some big spoilers. Listen at your own risk!





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