Tag Archives: roslyn townsend

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

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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.

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Podcasta la Vista, Baby! Episode 16 – Last Action Hero

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This isn’t the movies anymore.

We’re back. This time we’re traveling to the world behind the silver screen with artist Roz Townsend to dissect the meta-fictional cult action/comedy movie that many at the time considered Arnold’s first box office flop, Last Action Hero.

Teenager Danny Madigan is the world’s biggest fan of the Schwarzenegger-helmed Jack Slater series of action movies. When a magic ticket literally transports him into Slater’s cinematic universe, he finds himself in an over-the-top world where a combination of bad puns and giant explosions can always save the day. But when one of the movie’s villains steals the ticket and discovers his own nature as a fictional character, Danny and Jack must follow him back into the real world, a place where, suddenly, the bad guys can win.

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Fun Size Episode 6 – Open Carry Nunchuck Movement

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Nunchaku

In the wake of injury, scheduling issues, and technical problems, we will sadly not be able to give you our regularly scheduled panel episode. However, we can give you another Fun Sized dose of off-topic nonsense!

We sit down with Rebecca Friedman — again — for a talk about weird local insurance ads, superhero cartoons starring M.C. Hammer, and forthcoming return of Star Trek to television.

And seriously, don’t bring your ninja weapons on the White House tour, bro.

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Episode 21.5 – The Robots Disagree with You, Edgar Wright!

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robot

In the aftermath of our Twin Peaks panel, we’re joined again by Roz Townsend and Pól Rua for a continued discussion about how awesome actor Miguel Ferrer is. We also dive into how Twin Peaks‘ Pacific Northwest setting is very familiar to our Seattle-area panelists, and how the show influenced a decade of television.

We get into automated fansourcing of our entertainment, why Godwin’s Law demands you support the arts, and the British science fiction series, Blake’s 7.

Also, Mike argues with a folksy robot.

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Episode 21 – Twin Peaks

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Log Lady

“That gum you like is going to come back in style.”

Mike and Casey are consulting our logs and getting a booth at the Double R Diner to share some damned good coffee and pie with returning panelists Roz Townsend and Pól Rua. Our topic: David Lynch’s surrealistic supernatural thriller/soap opera: Twin Peaks.

We get into the show’s weird and often contradictory tone, and its widely panned theatrical follow-up movie Fire Walk with Me.  We discuss its massive influence on shows like Lost and the X-Files, and try to figure out if Lynch was creating fantastical, challenging art, or just being pointlessly weird for its own sake.

Music: 
“Falling” from Twin Peaks by Angelo Badalamenti

Previously titled: “Happening v. Fargo”

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Miller-ized for your Protection!

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miller-batman

On one of our last Fun Sized episodes, Mike announced the first Radio vs. the Martians! “non-test.” It’s like a contest, just without prizes or promotion, because of our crippling fear that no one would actually enter it.

Thank you for proving Mike wrong!

So, we wanted to see your Frank Miller-style reinterpretations of childhood favorites and all ages media characters.

Who’s Frank Miller, you might ask?

Answers and drawings under the fold!

Continue reading →

Fun Size Episode 2 – The Future is Just…Brown

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BattlestarClassic

In the first of a pair of Fun Sized episodes this month, we sit down in the studio with Roslyn Townsend to get extra meta-topical. We talk about the phenomenon of “misdirected fandom.” Why do some fans not seem to understand or even deny that characters like Breaking Bad‘s Walter White or Watchmen‘s Rorschach have ever crossed any ethical lines?

Are all interpretations of fiction and art valid? Can a property’s fans’ behavior make it hard to enjoy? Can an artist’s views or behavior overshadow their work?

We also dig into the world of 1970s science fiction where everyone wears a cape, all hair is big, and everything is brown.

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Episode 19 – Quentin Tarantino

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Tarantino

 We’re gonna get medieval on your asses!

This month, Mike and Casey pile into a booth at Jack Rabbit Slim’s to debate the merits of tipping our server with Sci-Fest L.A.‘s Matt Goodman and writer and artist Roslyn Townsend. Our topic of discussion: Quentin fucking Tarantino.

We dig into the writer-director’s visual style, his penchant for creating violent films with compelling characters, and his talent for resurrecting dead careers. From Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown, and from Kill Bill to Django Unchained, Tarantino and his movies are awash with copious profanity, critical praise and controversy.

Music: 
“Misirlou” from Pulp Fiction  by Dick Dale and the Del Tones

Previously titled: “Let’s Do a Bunch of Coke and Make a Movie”

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Episode 16.5 – What the Fuck is a Libyan?

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Libyans

When we took a short break during our recording of this month’s episode on Expanded Universes, we ended up taking a long break. And much of it was really good material that was too good for the cutting room floor, but we couldn’t find a reasonable way to edit it into the main episode without killing the flow of it, or cutting out a lot of fun — but off-topic — discussion.

Herein, Mike and Casey are joined again by panelists Ryan Chaddock and Roslyn Townsend. We talk about Ryan’s reaction as a diehard fan to the death of the Star Wars Expanded Universe, Roslyn explains why she just can’t get into Star Wars and how the X-Files comic books taught her about trepanning. Mike tries to figure out why there were terrorists in the first Back to the Future movie, and what he thinks of the new Ghostbusters reboot. And finally, Casey exorcises some of his Star Wars schadenfreude demons.

Let us know what you think! We may make this a regular thing!

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Episode 16 – Expanded Universes

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AdmiralAlienAndCaptainMustache

Read the Bantam Book!

This month, Mike and Casey look at the inevitable result of truly popular culture: that it can and will not be contained by it’s original medium. Star Wars, the Planet of the Apes, and even Murder She Wrote have escaped the confines of film and television to reward their fans with series of books, comics and video games that feed our appetites for more stories in the worlds we love.

We’re joined by veteran panelist Roslyn Townsend and game designer Ryan Chaddock to chat about the concept of the Expanded Universe! We debate canonicity and ask why we just can’t get enough of our favorite media franchises, no matter the format!

Music: 
“Luke and Leia” from the Return of the Jedi  by John Williams

Previously titled: “Ant-Man’s Lawyer”

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Episode 14 – M. Night Shyamalan

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mnight

What if there are no coincidences?

Mike and Casey count their sick days, stock up on hotdogs, and run from gently swaying trees with returning panelist and artist, Roslyn Townsend and Ask an Atheist‘s Rebecca Friedman! This month, we’re diving into the meteoric rise, and precipitious fall of a promising filmmaker whose career trajectory still confuses us, M. Night Shyamalan.

We discuss his brief absolute dominance of both Hollywood and the box office with the Sixth Sense and Unbreakable. We explore his current status as the cinematic butt of many jokes with the Happening and After Earth. And we look at how the writer-director’s legacy remains a subject of debate, speculation, schadenfreude and commiseration.

Music: 
“Mr. Glass” from Unbreakable by James Newton Howard

Previously titled: “Swing Away, M. Night”

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Episode 11 – Hayao Miyazaki

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Totoro

Mike and Casey hitch a ride on the Catbus with our friend Roslyn Townsend and animator and storyboard artist Lauren Montgomery (Justice League: Doom, Wonder Woman) to talk about the legendary animator who is often referred to as “Japan’s Walt Disney,” Hayao Miyazaki.

They discuss Miyazaki’s decades-long filmography from Princess Mononoke to My Neighbor Totoro. They dive into topics like giant killer insects, nature spirits, witches, animated violence, children, and what it is about the man’s work that is so iconic, memorable, gorgeous and often unsettling.

Music: 
“Theme from My Neighbor Totoro“ by Joe Hisaishi

Previously titled: “All Children are Born Completely Drunk”

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Episode 8.5 – Rise of the Planet of the Nerds

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 In an age where jocks wear T-shirts with Iron Man on them, and mainstream audiences pack theaters to watch three-hour adaptations of the Hobbit, the world has become a very different place for geeks over the last few years. Somehow, geekdom has become as mainstream as American football.

So Mike and Casey have posed the question to our listeners on the latest installment of Radio vs. the Mailbag: “What was the turning point that pushed geek culture into the mainstream of popular culture?”

We dig into your answers, and put the question to recent panelists Sam Mulvey and Roslyn Townsend to give us their thoughts on the matter.

And finally, Mike and Casey make an earth-shattering announcement that will forever change this podcast! Listen….if you dare!

 

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Episode 8 – So Bad, It’s Good

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miamiconnection_poster-final__smallWooden dialogue, cardboard sets, visible boom mics and terrible acting!

Mike and Casey dive into the best examples of the worst popular culture with Ask an Atheist‘s Sam Mulvey and first-time panelist Roslyn Townsend! Join us as we wrack our brains to answer the question: Why are some things so bad, they’re good? What makes some poorly made entertainment unintentionally hilarious, and others impossible to tolerate? Why do admittedly terrible movies like the Room, Plan 9 from Outer Space and Birdemic have huge legions of fans?

We dive into bad movies, bad food, bad literature, and even the bad arguments of North Korean state propaganda, to figure out why we love things that are objectively terrible.

Music: 
“Theme to Riki-Oh: the Story of Ricky” by Fei Lit Chan
“Against the Ninja” by Dragon Sound

Previously titled: “A Magical, Wonderful World of Utter Failure”

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