Radio vs. the Martians!

We're like 'the McLaughlin Group' for Nerds!

Black Ops Episode 21 – Hunter Biden and the Holy Grail

Posted on September 29, 2021 by Mike Gillis

Reply

This month, we’re back with Kit Laika to continue the conversation into the cinematic!

Movie theaters are back! And in a dystopian world ravaged by doomsday viruses, we have been inside of them! For the first time in almost two years, we are going into public buildings with giant screens, big sound systems and comfy chairs for the explicit purpose of watching movies. How does the return to cinemas change the movie-going experience after 18 months of exclusively streaming movies on our computers, phones and televisions?

We reaffirm the joy of going to the movies cold — avoiding even teaser trailers, if possible and just letting the movie reveal itself to you without any prior expectation of the story.

We (briefly) touch on movies we’ve recently seen for the first time like Pig, The Green Knight, The Night House, The Suicide Squad, Personal Shopper, Paper Tigers, and Deep Blue Sea.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Fun Size Episode 59 – Don’t Back Dun’, Double Dun’

Posted on September 23, 2021 by Mike Gillis

6

In the soft glow of our most recent discussion, we continue our conversation with Kit Laika, and explore the imperfections of language as a communication tool, and the linguistic similarities between Germans and chimpanzees that have been taught sign language.

Plus, we talk about the first moments of realization that the reality of the voices on the radio were much less cool than the picture in your head.

And come to think of it, what is cool, anyways? Is there a way to make young people think you’re cool? All that and Punks versus Hippies, too!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Episode 47 – F for Fake

Posted on September 14, 2021 by Mike Gillis

2

“Do you think I should confess? To what? Committing masterpieces?”

In our latest Single Serving Selection, we’re joining librarian and artist, Kit Laika to turn our critical eyes to the final film directed by auteur Orson Welles, a conventions-defying documentary about frauds, fakers, and art forgery: F for Fake.

Welles delves into the world of two (or is it three?) spectacular liars. One is Elmyr de Hory, notorious art forger who paints replicas of masterpieces so convincing that they’re said be hanging in many prominent museums, and even the original artists claim to have created them. The other is Clifford Irving, the novelist and writer who exposed Elmyr’s forgeries in a tell-all book, before being revealed as a charlatan and fraud himself. It’s a deeply philosophical and nonlinear exploration of art, authorship, and who the real phonies might actually be.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Fun Size Episode 58 – A Human Soup of Band-Aids and Pee

Posted on July 23, 2021 by Mike Gillis

Reply

We continue our chat with Michael Warbington, as we look at the trajectory of big-budget franchises and the knee-jerk fan anger that Martin Scorsese’s criticisms of “theme park” movies vs. “cinema”….and maybe he has a good point?

And maybe we should really stop complaining about the apparent theatrical monopoly of blockbusters and start championing smaller independent films, like The Paper Tigers instead.

And finally, has toxic fandom finally drifted into a form of self-harm for some people, as one Disney fan on social media starts drinking water out of Walt Disney World’s public fountains and rating its taste?

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Podcasta la Vista, Baby! Episode 23 – The 6th Day

Posted on July 15, 2021 by Mike Gillis

Reply

They picked the wrong man to clone.

After more than a year, we’re back! We’re backing up our syncords and eating some nacho-flavored bananas with the Camp Director and President of Camp Quest NorthWest, Michael Warbington, because this month we’re talking about the near-future sci-fi thriller: The 6th Day!

After a case of mistaken identity, charter pilot Adam Gibson returns home to find himself replaced with a clone. Suddenly, he’s on the run from seemingly unkillable cloned assassins and marked for death by a powerful businessman who must keep his illegal human cloning program a secret at all costs. Now Adam must team up with his own clone to save his family, uncover the truth, and prove his own identity.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Fun Size Episode 57 – The SJW/C.H.U.D. Alliance

Posted on June 23, 2021 by Mike Gillis

Reply

We’re joined again by Tobiah Panshin to dig into some movie talk. Is there really a hard divide between popcorn blockbusters and what Martin Scorsese calls “cinema”? Will the shadow of the pandemic change anything about movies going forward?

And we talk about the oddity of Zack Snyder’s 4-hour cut of the Justice League film, and how it inexplicably exists beyond all probability — both through the world-changing crises, scandals and events that even made its creation possible, and probably made critics and audiences kinder to it.

CORRECTION: Ava Duvernay turned down directing Black Panther, not The Eternals.

Join our official RvtM Discord server!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Episode 46 – Wonder Twins by Mark Russell and Stephen Byrne

Posted on June 10, 2021 by Mike Gillis

Reply

“Wonder Twin powers — Activate!”

This month, we’re balancing teen angst and superheroics with returning guest Paul Hix of Waiting for Doom – the Doom Patrol Podcast to gush over over the hilarious satirical DC Comics maxi-series: Wonder Twins!

Exiled to Earth from the utopian planet Exxor, super-powered teens Zan and Jayna must now juggle high school with their after-school internship with the heroic Justice League! But they must also grapple with strange new Earth concepts like crippling debt, shocking inequality and mass incarceration; and they begin wondering if beating up costumed criminals and throwing them in jail is really making the world a better place…

Join our official RvtM Discord server!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Fun Size Episode 56 – “The Customer is Always Right”

Posted on May 25, 2021 by Mike Gillis

1

We continue to work the registers with Tobiah Panshin, going to places both weirdly metaphysical and painfully mundane.

First, Mike thinks it might actually be preferable to live in a hypothetical computer simulation than a “real” universe. What is real, anyways? Does that make our programmers gods? Is the act of creation inherently selfish — and if it is, does that even matter?

Then, we look at a recently unearthed-on-YouTube reality show, Airline, about ticket agents and flight attendants weathering often-drunken customer abuse and demands. It triggers all sorts of all-too-familiar customer service flashbacks. Plus, Mike remembers that one time he almost got into a fight at the airport.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Episode 45 – Willow

Posted on May 18, 2021 by Mike Gillis

1

Adventure doesn’t come any bigger than this.

We’re back in the studio and ready to cross swords with Tobiah Panshin, the author of The Game Master: A Guide to the Art and Theory of Roleplaying, and dive into George Lucas and Ron Howard’s high fantasy tale of magic and child endangerment: Willow!

When a diminutive farmer, Willow Ufgood, finds a baby princess prophesied to destroy the evil Queen Bavmorda, he is recruited by magical forces to be the child’s guardian. Now, aided by a roguish swordsman, a wise sorceress, and an annoying pair of impish brownies, Willow must overcome his fears and save the entire realm from evil.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Fun Size Episode 55 – Jerkbeast

Posted on April 25, 2021 by Mike Gillis

1

We’re continuing our talk with Patrick Johnson, and we’re waxing nostalgic.

We look back at the sliding timeline of The Simpsons and try to count the anachronisms as they pile up. But nothing could prepare us for the existential crisis triggered as we realize that under current show continuity, Homer Simpson is now a Gen-Xer.

We also reminisce about our brief time as public access TV producers on the Seattle Community Access Network. We dealt with shoddy equipment, a menagerie of conspiracy-minded weirdos, and a city council budget crunch that ultimately killed the station. We’ve got boxes full of Pepe!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Episode 44 – Fight Club

Posted on April 21, 2021 by Mike Gillis

Reply

“We’ve all been raised on television to believe that one day we’d all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars, but we won’t. We’re slowly learning that fact. And we’re very, very pissed off.”

In the first Single Serving Selection in over a year, we are Jack’s complete lack of surprise. We’re stealing human fat from dumpsters and peeing into fancy soup with friend of the show Patrick Johnson. This month, we’re breaking the first two rules, because we’re talking about 1999’s Fight Club.

Is this David Fincher dark comedy a brilliant and scathing satirical deconstruction of toxic masculinity and how disaffected men can be drawn into extremism and violence? Or is it a shallow and pretentious edgelord glorification of the same thing? Or is it somewhere in between? We dig into the cult film we all adored as young twenty-somethings and dissect it under the harsh light of 2021.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Fun Size Episode 54 – Birds Aren’t Real

Posted on March 25, 2021 by Mike Gillis

1

We’re joined by Australia’s own Paul Hix from Waiting for Doom – the Doom Patrol Podcast, to dig into the latest and strangest conspiracy theory: Bird Trutherism!

Counterfeit avians? Feathered Cameras in the Sky!? Why does it feel like the desire to answer serious questions in the most unserious ways has gone frighteningly mainstream?

Has the legalization of marijuana in many states left us doomed to a future where pot smoking will be branded tragically…uncool?

And we get an opportunity to grill our Aussie guest on an outsider’s view of American culture and cuisine. Do we have things that scare and confuse others as much as vegemite does us? (Spoiler: yes, we do.)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Black Ops Episode 20 – Difficulty Is Kind of the Point

Posted on March 18, 2021 by Mike Gillis

Reply

After over a year, we’re back with a new Black Ops podcast, we join Joe Preti to continue our conversation from last month.

We talk about Mike’s acquisition of a hardcover omnibus collection of the 1983’s Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, a remarkable creation of a pre-internet age and a time capsule of a time gone by, and wax nostalgic for why obsolete continuity can be a treasure to revisit.

We dive into one of the more contentious discussions on the topic of video games: difficulty settings. Where some games like Bloodborne and Demon’s Souls strive for unforgiving challenge, other games are trying to make themselves more accessible and less frustrating through “Story mode” difficulty that doesn’t try to murder you.

And then there’s the Battletoads jet ski level…

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Fun Size Episode 53 – Rest in Piss, You Piece of Shit

Posted on February 26, 2021 by Mike Gillis

2

In our latest plot to lose any conservative listeners, we’re back!

We’re chatting with Joe Preti, who offers his defense of the much-maligned and frequently buggy Cyberpunk 2077. We dig into the often unreasonable expectations of both gamers and game companies, and why the video game industry exploits their workers and releases unfinished, broken games.

Is online gaming inevitably toxic and ugly? Are we doomed to racism, selfish teammates and endless griefing? Can we bake solutions into the programming of the games themselves?

And why does it seem like everyone on the political Far-Right from Ben Shapiro to Steve Bannon to Adolf Hitler, is a medicore failed artist, movie producer or screenwriter?

And we say goodbye to a dead radio icon with all of the respect and dignity he deserves.

NOTE: The Skype audio was not up to our usual standards, but we still think it’s listenable. Our apologies! No apologies are offered to Rush Limbaugh.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Fun Size Episode 52 – The Show That Launched a Thousand Vasectomies

Posted on January 23, 2021 by Mike Gillis

Reply

Broadcasting live through the smoking ruins of the ‘Quar, we’re back! Again! This month, we’re joined by Patrick Johnson to try and make sense of it all.

We dig into everything from obscure – but real – DC Comics characters, to the limits to which Casey’s kids can make him rewatch the LEGO Batman Movie.

And we look at the massive outpouring of parental joy and relief at the cancellation of the infuriating PBS children’s show Caillou. How has that show influenced and modeled bad behavior in kids, and has the impact of shows like Beavis and Butt-Head and MTV’s Jackass had a similar negative effect on older viewers?

And finally… is the age of the movie theater, at last, dead?

Podcast: Play in new window | Download