Fun Size Episode 36 – Peak Clown

In our latest fun-sized chat with Tobiah Panshin, we dig into the topics that really matter to working people, like the media depiction of Clowns, and how it’s affected their public perception. Is the happy clown character now a totally dead concept?

We briefly dive into the phenomenon of the Simpsons, and how what was once a controversial program has survived long enough to see an entire culture change around them. We pick at how the experiences of comic book stores and video arcades have fundamentally changed since we were children.

And finally, in a reaction to a recent Rob Kelly podcast, we ask: how can we make obnoxious people shut up in a movie theater?

Episode 36 – Uzumaki by Junji Ito

“Spirals…This town is contaminated with Spirals…”

In our latest Single Serving Selection, we descend into a mind-bending and stomach-churning modern classic of Japanese manga horror with librarian and friend of the show, Kit Laika, but perhaps you’ll wish we hadn’t. Because this month, we’re descending into madness and body horror with Junji Ito’s Uzumaki.

What begins as a series of episodic tales of a small seaside town being driven to death and insanity by ubiquitous spiral shapes soon becomes a tidal wave of ancient apocalyptic destruction, lunacy, and unavoidable doom.

Apologies for the inevitable nightmares.

Fun Size Episode 15 – The Internet Needs to Have Its Mind Blown a Little Less Easily

Mike and Casey continue their conversation with our friend Sean Duncan, and dig into the weird worlds of author pseudonyms and young adult fiction — and the frenzied moralistic panics the latter can provoke. And in the process, we unpack Mike’s decades-long grudge with ending of the Chronicles of Narnia.

Plus, we look at a possible insane New Year’s Resolution to watch 365 new movies during the next year, and try to give a spoiler-free review of Rogue One. And we ask ourselves, is the Star Wars universe really as versatile as we hope it is?

Plus, Sean shares what is sure to to be the most unpopular opinion ever voiced on our show, and he awaits your hate mail.

Fun Size Episode 10 – Jodorowsky’s Still Alive

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Mike and Casey sit down with Kinsey Burke, Patrick Johnson, and Sam Mulvey to bat around a contentious and complicated topic: adaptations, reboots and remakes.

How faithful should a work be to its source material when it’s adapted from one storytelling medium to another? What happens when it deviates over time? What about when a beloved past work is rebooted in ways we cannot stand? Is it really worth getting worked up about, now that the floodgates are open?

And can a bad adaptation transcend the source material and become a wonderful hypnotic disaster? Is it time to make peace with changes to Game of Thrones, and the Ghostbusters remake?

Also, Mike fights — against all odds —  to protect a young friend from a 43 year-old movie spoiler.

Podcasta la Vista, Baby! Episode 1 – The Running Man

Running-Man“A game nobody survives. But Schwarzenegger has yet to play.”

It’s the premiere episode of Podcasta la Vista, Baby!

Mike and Casey are proud to be joined by Greg Hatcher of Comic Book Resources’ Comics Should Be Good! blog, to talk about a 1987 science fiction classic from the height of Arnold’s cinematic career: The Running Man.

The year is 2019. American is governed by a fascist dictatorship that uses television to keep the populace docile. The most popular game show is “the Running Man,” where criminals and dissidents are forced to flee from murderous, costumed gladiators to win their freedom — and their lives. Its newest contestant is a certain Austrian man-mountain, framed for a crime he didn’t commit.

These guys are totally fucked.