Gobbledygeek

Our favorite Britisher, Wesley "Wezzo" Mead, makes his return to Gobbledygeek, appearing twice in one year for the first time. What does he have to say in his alluring hick accent? Lots about politics (they have elections over there too!), the cinema (he watched four whole movies the day we recorded this, including Paper Towns and Vacation !), and the sorry state of TV on DVD (it is ceasing to exi...

Comin' straight from the underground, this week Paul and AJ discuss the N.W.A. biopic Straight Outta Compton . Yes, the two whitest podcasters you know deliver their take on the film's authenticity, its sad relevance, where it falls on the biopic spectrum, and yes, the bizarre fact that Ice Cube offspring O'Shea Jackson Jr. is playing Ice Cube. Here's hoping it's less awkward than that time they j...

Stop me if you've heard this one before: a near-autistic supergenius, a Portishead-loving invisible girl, a man on fire, and a big ol' pile of rocks walk into another dimension... Oh wait, you have heard this one before? You didn't like it then, either? Huh. Hollywood has now ruined the Fantastic Four three times, and Paul and AJ are on hand to detail all the ways this one goes wrong. What makes i...

The Geek Challenge once more rears its ugly head, this time to a dark and somber tune. That's right, Paul and AJ have decided to talk about music again, a subject which they famously lack the words to discuss. But that won't stop 'em! AJ has challenged Paul to John Lennon's debut solo album, 1970's John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band , known for its direct and confessional lyrics; while Paul has challeng...

  Power is the only thing of substance in this world. Well, that and Jeff Smith's Bone , which Greg Sahadachny of The Debatable Podcast  joins Paul and AJ to discuss once more. This time, the gang scales the cliffs of Vol. V: Rock Jaw - Master of the Eastern Border . It's an imposing title for such a straightforward volume, not to mention the shortest of the series thus far. Yet the boys find plen...

For the twelfth entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the House of Ideas goes microscopic with Ant-Man , bringing Paul Rudd into the fold and attempting to shrink from their recent overstuffed epics. Is there still room for a small-scale, one-and-done movie in the MCU? On their way to finding out, Paul and AJ discuss the film's inventive use of perspective, what it thinks of women, how Rudd stac...

  I'm sure you've missed Paul and AJ in their extended absence. (Are those crickets I hear?) Well, if you'd like to find out what they were up to, the lowdown's here, as the boys--along with original Gobbler Joseph Lewis--subject anyone who dares listen to the 21st century equivalent of vacation slideshows. These three heathens made their way down to Austin, TX, where they enjoyed the sights, the...

  During Miyazaki Month earlier this year, Paul and AJ (along with a number of their friends) discussed every feature film of Hayao Miyazaki's career...except two. Which is why they've revived the concept for a "lost" Miyazaki Month analyzing 1979's The Castle of Cagliostro , Miyazaki's first movie; and 2008's Ponyo , his penultimate film. Well, "analyze" might be the wrong word...for different re...

  We got th' gitchy feelin', which can only mean one thing...it's time for another Four-Color Flashback installment exploring the world of Jeff Smith's Bone . Once again, Greg Sahadachny of The Debatable Podcast and All the Pieces Matter joins Paul and AJ to discuss Bone: Vol IV - The Dragonslayer . The series now has both feet in the "epic fantasy realm," so the gang discusses how the expository...

   If you ever feel like you've got more than one voice in your head...you just might. That's what the eight leads of Netflix's new series Sense8 discover. What Paul and AJ discover, along with their  The Deli Counter of Justice  co-editor Eric Sipple, is that the show, from the minds of the Wachowski siblings and J. Michael Straczynski, is a fascinating intersection of race, class, sexuality, and...

  Don't you just hate how amusement parks jack up prices during the summer season? I mean, $12 for a Slurpee? Not to mention the lines and the waiting and the heat and the crowds  don't get me started on the crowds  and OH GOD WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE! Jurassic World is the only park on Earth where you're more likely to get bitten by a pterosaur than a mosquito, so of course the thing's been up and...

  Welcome to sex class. Today, Paul and AJ will be teaching you about the repr--wait, no, sorry, that's later this season. This week, we're indulging in a four-color Geek Challenge: AJ must read the run so far of Rick Remender and Wes Craig's Deadly Class , about a wayward teen boy recruited by a school for assassins in the late '80s; and Paul must read all ten current issues of Matt Fraction and...

  Our names are Paul and AJ. Our world is fire and blood. Once, we were Gobbledygeek . A podcast searching for a pop cultural cause. Here to give us that cause is none other than Im-Mere-ator Furiosa herself, Mere Smith, author of Cowface and Other Hilarious Stories About Death and writer for such fine television programs as Angel and Rome . Mere schools the boys on the feminism of Mad Max: Fury R...

  Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to mourn the passing of one of this world's brightest lights: Koko the Showfucker. Jason Tabrys, veteran pop culture writer and one half of Radio Bastard , has returned to Gobbledygeek having outlived his podcast-wrecking parasite. Left to his own devices, Jason only manages to sidetrack Paul and AJ into discussions of the 1993 film Airborne , his favor...

With Miyazaki Month behind us and Ultron vanquished, Paul and AJ return to the world of Jeff Smith's Bone . Greg Sahadachny of The Debatable Podcast and All the Pieces Matter joins the boys for another Four-Color Flashback, this time taking a look at Vol. III: Eyes of the Storm , wherein things get serious. Smith still crams in plenty of jokes and moments of perfect comedic timing, but the book's...

  Not much in this world is surprising. The irony of this statement is that in order to tell you about how Paul surprises AJ in this episode, we have to give away said surprise: this is the one where Paul finally watches Breaking Bad . AJ remained in the dark the whole time, misled by Paul to think some ominous present was on its way; turns out the present is a discussion of Vince Gilligan's accla...

  Killer robots. Mind-controlling witches. Suits of armor from space. Dudes with frosted tips. All of this and so! much! more! is contained within Avengers: Age of Ultron , the highly anticipated sequel to Joss Whedon's 2012 extravaganza. The reception has been decidedly less rapturous than that which accompanied the first film, so Paul and AJ dig into what works about the movie, what doesn't, whe...

  Our month-long celebration of Japanese animation master Hayao Miyazaki reaches its bittersweet conclusion with a look at Miyazaki's purported final film, 2013's The Wind Rises ; and Mami Sunada's documentary about its making, The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness . Joining Paul and AJ for their final descent into the world of Studio Ghibli is Smoke Gets in Your Ears: A Mad Men Podcast co-hosts Kenn...

Bathhouses, talking fires, giant babies, grotesquely overweight witches...for this leg of Miyazaki Month, Paul and AJ enter the world of the filmmaker's two most visually distinct yet perhaps least coherent films: 2001's Spirited Away and 2004's Howl's Moving Castle . Joining them on their journey is first-time guest (but longtime background entertainer) Monique Morgan of Beacon Hills: After Dark...

  Netflix has unveiled the first of four original series from the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Daredevil , starring the most Catholic of all blind superheroes. Executive producers Drew Goddard and Steven DeKnight bring Matt Murdock to the small screen, played by Boardwalk Empire 's Charlie Cox. The result is, well, it's surprisingly good, even by Marvel standards. Paul and AJ discuss the parallel st...

  Miyazaki Month takes to the skies this week with 1986's Castle in the Sky , the first official Studio Ghibli production, about a boy from a mining town and a princess from a floating island (jeez, does this guy have a thing for princesses or what?); and 1992's Porco Rosso , wherein a man with the face of a pig fights air pirates and evades the Italian Secret Police. Greg Sahadachny, host of The...

  Our month-long celebration of Japanese animation master Hayao Miyazaki continues! After the intense, mythology-laden epics Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and Princess Mononoke , Paul and AJ turn to perhaps Miyazaki's lightest features: the 1988-89 one-two punch of My Neighbor Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service . Joining them is author (and The Deli Counter of Justice contributor) Kitty Chand...

  Man has been exploiting nature since the first caveman picked up a rock and bludgeoned another to death with it. This doesn't sit well with some, like Hayao Miyazaki, who has made two powerful films about the environment and the ways in which human greed corrupts it: 1984's Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind , which led to the creation of the revered Studio Ghibli; and 1997's Princess Mononoke ,...

  Paul and AJ's Four-Color Flashback journey through Jeff Smith's Bone continues with the return appearance of The Debatable Podcast 's Greg Sahadachny. This time they're taking a look at Vol. II: The Great Cow Race , which follows the first by being just as funny (maybe even funnier) while teasing a deeper, darker mythology. The gang discusses the way Smith conveys so much expression with just a...

  #LifeChange is in the air! That's right, this week, the boys have a lot on their minds. As Paul embarks on a new chapter of his life, AJ deals with the major hang-ups of being a homeowner by proxy. None other than frenemy of the show and The Deli Counter of Justice co-editor Eric Sipple is on hand to listen to their whinging after which, the gang gets down to some serious writing talk. The boys...