Tag Archives: highlander

Episode 60 – Zardoz

Posted on by
Reply

Into a world of eternal life, he brought the gift of death

This month, we’re eating green bread and refusing to go to Second Level meditation with Joe Preti of the late View from the Gutters comic book podcast to dive into the weird and psychedelic science fiction cult film, 1974’s Zardoz!

In the year 2293, Zed is a murderer disciple of Zardoz, a floating stone god who arms and commands him and other “exterminators” to roam the post-apocalyptic wasteland and kill human survivors. After learning the terrible truth of Zardoz – that the god is actually an airship –  the disillusioned Zed stows away aboard his “god” and is delivered into the Vortex, a hidden city of immortals that created Zardoz to manipulate humanity. Thrust into a bored and stagnant society that has forgotten about passion, sexuality and death, Zed’s very presence threatens to tear their fragile civilization apart.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Fun Size Episode 54 – Birds Aren’t Real

Posted on by
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 13 – Some Stuff in the Basement

Posted on by
Reply

In our latest episode, we empty the basement.

Mike has been a dedicated, lifelong comics book and superhero fan. And he’s been thrilled to see these characters and stories play out on the big screen… or he did. So he sits down with Casey to talk about how superhero cinema — even most of the “good stuff” — is leaving him feeling pretty blase and desensitized.

It’s a conversation that’s been brewing for at least a year, and Mike wants to get all of it out of his system. He’s sick of complaining about Marvel and Zack Snyder on podcasts, so he attempts in one conversation to purge all of it out of his system in one go. One last time, for our sanity’s sake.

Pray for us.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Fun Size Episode 30 – That’s My Kind of Garbage!

Posted on by
Reply

We’re back to dive into an overstuffed grab bag of off-topic nonsense with Roz Townsend, and we grapple with the important questions that keep us up at night.

Is Colonel Sanders the closest thing we have to an American Time Lord? What are our favorite fictional restaurants? Are self-published fan zines a lost art? Are skunks a form of Pokémon? Did Freddie Mercury go super saiyan in the ’80s? Are modern video game mechanics inaccessible to people who didn’t grow up with them?

Plus, Casey becomes annoyed at a group of small children not being as entranced by My Neighbor Totoro as he is, and we all betray our socialist leanings.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Episode 35 – Highlander

Posted on by
2

“There can be only one.”

This month, we feel an irresistible pull towards a far away land to test our blades against those of Atomic Junk Shop‘s Greg Hatcher and David “Ace” Gutiérrez of Emmys.com. The field of battle, the Highlander franchise. It started as a 1986 cult fantasy film starring Christopher Lambert and Sean Connery, about a small group of sword-wielding Immortals, living in secret and battling each other across the centuries until only one remains to claim a vaguely-defined “Prize.”

It blossomed — or some say, decayed — into four critically-panned movie sequels, a long-running television show, an animated series, and even an anime film. We dig into topics of whether every film truly should be made into a franchise? Should there have, indeed, been only one?

We face these questions with…heart, faith and steel.

Music: 
“A Kind of Magic”  from Highlander (1986) by Queen

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Black Ops Episode 4 – Death is Kinda Stupid

Posted on by
Reply

In a bonus “Black Ops” episode, we sit down with Sean Duncan and Sam Mulvey to dig into the concept of immortality.

From Doctor Who to Highlander, we look at the trope of the ageless person who mourns their own lack of death and ask each other, is the trope of sad immortal nothing but bullshit?  Shouldn’t never dying actually be pretty great?

We get into armchair biology, the continuity of consciousness, loneliness, the ability (or inevitability) of change over time, theological questions, muse on transhumanism and the ability to opt out of immortality at any time.

Does death serve any useful purpose? Are we really the same person throughout our lives? Would you really want to live for thousands of years. Would you really be sad or grumpy if you had all the time in the world? Aren’t vampires really kind of stupid?

Who, truly, would want to live forever?

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Fun Size Episode 5 – So Many Props Made of Real, Atomic Matter

Posted on by
2

bb-8

In our second Fun Sized episode this month, Mike and Casey continue their talk with Rebecca Friedman, and get into their feelings about the new Star Wars movie, the Force Awakens.

Also, we say goodbye to the recently departed Alan Rickman and David Bowie.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Episode 17.5 – He’s Kind of Just a Little Bit Weirdo Cultist

Posted on by
5

tom_cruise

In our latest bonus episode, Mike and Casey get ready to record our most recent episode and chat a bit about Orson Welles, great actors starring in shitty movies, and some of their favorite fictional cliches.

Later, we’re joined after recording the Spielberg episode with panelists Todd Maxfield-Matsumoto and Scott Kramer to talk about the upcoming Star Wars sequel, more of Steven Spielberg, and the many misuses and strengths of actor/cultist Tom Cruise.

Plus, a random cameo from Sam Mulvey!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download