Radio vs. the Martians!

This month, we’re continuing our talk with Kirby Green , for a chat about reality television and the “Am I the Asshole?” sub-reddit. So, reality television isn’t real. I mean, duh. Or is it sometimes? And does it actually matter? Aren’t we – like most scripted programs on TV – just agreeing to believe the reality we’re given for the sake of a story? And Mi...

“I am a horror maniac who prefers to stay at home.” This Halloween, we’re chugging down salad oil and hiding from our balloon dopplegangers with returning friend of the show, Kirby Green , and see if our sanity can can survive the brain-melting onslaught of Junji Ito’s collection of his shorter manga works, in Shiver: Selected Stories ! In this anthology of the legendary ma...

This month, we’re back with Sam Mulvey to get nerdier than we have for a while. Mike takes the rough draft of his new “Bechdel Test”-esque thought experiment about media worldbuilding for a spin and tries to punch holes in it.  Are our large shared universe worlds really as large and expansive as they appear to be, or is that just an illusion to hide something much smaller and more ins...

“It’s 106 miles to Chicago, we’ve got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it’s dark, and we’re wearing sunglasses.” This month, we’re getting the band back together with the Station Manager of KTQA 95.3 FM in Tacoma (and former Illinois resident) Sam Mulvey . We’re on a mission from God to drive our car through John Landis’ anarchic...

We’re continuing our chat with Joe Preti , for a deep dive into the topics that really matter. We perhaps spend too much time, dissecting the many pathological lies and shitty behavior of 90s action star Steven Seagal, and we explore the two qualities a person can have in combination that can precipitate a downfall (or at least make you wish that it had). We explore the new Elvis Presley biopic, a...

The system gave him a raw deal. Nobody gives him a raw deal. We’re back! This month, we’re slicking back our hair and dodging cakes with Joe Preti , and infiltrating the inner circle of the mostly-forgotten organized crime action flick: Raw Deal ! Disgraced ex-FBI agent Mark Kaminsky is living in exile as a small town sheriff when he’s contacted by an old mentor from the bureau. Thirsty for reveng...

We’re back with Dave Brouillette to speak in defense of cinema’s great unsung wet blankets. The long-suffering adults left to pick up the pieces when the reckless hot shot protagonist with a disregard for human life blows up half of downtown or nearly starts World War III while they were saving the day or just looking cool. Is there an age where your empathy naturally starts to gravitate to these...

“Blood is rushing into your muscles and that’s what we call The Pump. Your muscles get a really tight feeling, like your skin is going to explode any minute, and it’s really tight – it’s like somebody blowing air into it, into your muscle. It just blows up, and it feels really different. It feels fantastic.” This month, we’re hitting the weights and getting a good pump with Dave Brouillette , as w...

We continue our chat with Michael Warbington and dig into a rich vein we usually leave unmined: video games. With different levels of skill, engagement and knowledge, we look at the experience of gaming in 2022, the intersection of art and commerce, the prevalence of in-game microtransactions, getting mercilessly griefed by racist swearing twelve year-olds, and a game’s replayability. What do we w...

He killed for gold… He killed for his woman… He killed for himself! After a month off, we’re back! And this time, we’re dragging a coffin through the desert with the Camp Director and President of Camp Quest NorthWest , Michael Warbington , and diving into the notoriously violent 1966 spaghetti western by director Sergio Corbucci, Django ! When a mysterious gunslinger named Django drag...

We’re back with Kirby Green and talking about the strange and surprising wholesomeness of Jackass Forever , the history of “caught-on-video” media, and the opportunistic moral panics they often inspire. While we talk about how a franchise famous for dangerous stunts and painful assaults on the testicles has become one of the few things in America that we can all agree on, and how it might just be...

Nothing is inconceivable. This month, we’re enjoying some franks in a blanket with longtime friend of the show, Kirby Green , and re-examining the much-maligned and universally-panned Arnold Schwarzenegger pregnancy comedy: Junior ! After his miracle fertility drug, Expectane, is rejected by the FDA for human trials and the university has terminated his funding, research geneticist Dr. Alex Hesse...

We’re back in the studio with Patrick Johnson for one of our weirdest conversations yet. First, what are the consequences of having a perfect memory? On our emotions, our morality, or our sanity? What does it mean to forget, is it for the best that our memories are imperfect? And when Star Trek ‘s Data finally achieves a range of emotional responses, would he suddenly be bombarded with a tidal wav...

Beware the ball, beware the tall man, beware the never dead. We return this month to break into Morningside Mortuary and get some fuckin’ answers with returning guest Todd Maxfield-Matsumoto, because we’re digging up the 1979 psychedelic cult horror classic: Phantasm ! Living with his older brother Jody after the death of their parents, thirteen year old Mike becomes suspicious of a local mortuary...

Has the world gone mad? Well, yes. But we’re also looking back on 2021 as a remarkably great year at the movies! We’re still talking to Tobiah Panshin for an uncharacteristically positive and optimistic discussion about the current state of cinema. For real! We briefly touch on: The Last Duel , Titane , Spider-Man: No Way Home , Licorice Pizza , The French Dispatch , Dune , C’mon C’mon , Spencer ,...

“Honor. That is why a knight does what he does.” With the New Year, we’re on a knightly quest to the Green Chapel to trade blows with returning guest Tobiah Panshin of the View from the Gutters podcast, to dive into David Lowery’s visually stunning and unorthodox adaptation of a 14th century Arthurian legend, The Green Knight . When the supernatural Green Knight issues a yuletide challenge for any...

The legend comes to life. This Christmas Eve, we’re back in the studio to celebrate the season with Rebecca Friedman of KTQA-LP 95.3 FM , and dive into the 1985 holiday movie where Alexander and Ilya Salkind, the father and son producer team behind the Christopher Reeve Superman films try to make lightning strike twice with a mythic origin story for jolly old Saint Nick himself in Santa Claus:The...

In the first of two episodes this month, we’re talking with Rebecca Friedman about the low-stakes things that give us the warm fuzzies. We chat about the phenomenon of ASMR and the YouTube videos that endeavor to trigger that pleasurable brain-tingling sensation in people. From a Polish cleaning company’s videos of meticulous deep cleanings of filthy rugs to the paintings of Bob Ross, we plunge in...

We’re back with a quick bite of conversation from last month with Chelsea Rustad. We’re talking about the profound disappointment that was Halloween Kills , particularly in how it was a direct sequel to an inventive and surprising 2018 relaunch that was actually really good. Really. Is it the fate of sequels, especially horror sequels, to inevitably get dumber and trashier? And isn’t it better to...

“I grab myself one last lungful of night air. Then I trade it in for a smoky soup spiced with sweat and vomit and booze and blood. I know the flavor well.” After more than two years, we’re back with another panel episode! And this month, we’re tossing back some cheap booze at Kadie’s Saloon and making some bad decisions with Joe Preti , and Kit Laika , and get our filthy mitts on Frank Miller’s hy...

We’re back with Chelsea Rustad to dig into the big questions. Have we hit the barrier when technological advances on video quality, frame rate and sound are butting up against the point where human senses can no longer perceive the difference in quality? What about cars? Clothing? Is there a point where an expensive T-shirt can’t really get much more technologically advanced than a cheap one, and...

A father’s duty is to protect his daughter. This month, we’re joined by author and chair of the Puget Sound Socialist Party , Chelsea Rustad to explore perhaps the most unexpected and interesting departure from the expected Schwarzenegger oeuvre, an independent zombie family drama: Maggie ! As civilization buckles under a deadly zombie pandemic, farmer Wade Vogel retrieves his runaway teenage daug...

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 c...

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 y...

“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...