Machination Log

In 1902, France conquered the moon in a mere 12 minutes to much fanfare. Has film really gone anywhere since? Is Tom Hanks somehow responsible? Does anyone sell audio mixing equipment worth a shit for less than a million dollars? Our crack film crew investigates.

I didn’t deliberately set out to experiment with mirrors. If I had, this would have been a very different video. Probably a lot shorter and less fun.

We brought Hanari to the soundroom; she brought the whole web along with her. cgl, RP, Digimon...this webisode has all the terms (and internet hustle) you need to understand the gelatinous subcrust of the convention scene.

Michael Dowd was a crazy cop; the 75th precinct was a bad place; cocaine's a hell of a drug. The Seven Five is a fabulous look into all three.

What's time? Where does it come from? Why does everyone suck at using it? The midweek gang checks in on where they've been abusing their own time. 

4 days, 2 parties, 1 slapdash Toriel costume.

No man of art or science can avoid considering the bigness of the task at hand…at least not this crew. We continue a conversation from the self-deception episode about how far to look up or down and what that does to a plan. Ryan pipes in upfront to discuss an example too close for comfort.

Imagine XCOM with a one hour campaign and a solid stealth system.

Spring Breakers is a movie, but what does that mean exactly? How does 90 minutes of psychotic teenage girl rambling, Instagram filters, gun sound effects, and braided up James Franco equal cinema? And why does that combination work so well (on the second try)? We hop on the bus to St. Pete to find out. WARNING: the podcast is as lightheartedly sweary as usual, but I would advise against trying to...

If your mood swings, sometimes you just need to tide yourself over until things pick back up. These have been more or less working for me.

Go to actualgarbage.net for more info (and the previous episode)!

American education is constantly derided from all sides, but what is even possible in a nation with a population and infrastructure as varied as that of the US of A? We convene the first student-teacher-David conference to figure out what school should look like.

Nicole and Ryan take a crack at the egg of the bird at the heart of this Hollywood-cross-Broadway one-cam extravaganza. Also plenty of film studies name-dropping, shitty child actors, and Wes Anderson (natch). Also, spoilers. You have, as of this sentence, been warned.

The backhalf of our journey talking about being a brother. Also the audacity of well-adjusted families, bunk beds, hunger, and spaces.

The first half of a two-parter, divided by Birdman (the most divisive force of all). Javier Remy joins us for the first time, primarily to explain to us white kids how family is supposed to work.

Ori and the Blind Forest is the best 2D platformer since Super Mario World. It is beautiful; it is satisfying; it is freeing.