The Cinemania Society Podcast

As it would appear we're entering an era when certain aspects of speech are being curtailed (*cough* criticism of the ruling political party *cough cough*), we bring back an episode wherein Professor Andrea discusses "Magical Realism," a means by which people in previous instances of police states could make their ideas known without saying the actual words or communicating the ideas that would ge...

Cinquisitor Ethan presents a field report on The Kentucky Fried Movie, a film that this society considers to be the textbook example of a critically endangered genre of film: the sketch comedy movie.   Written & performed by Ethan Ireland Music by Karl Casey at White Bat Audio Tracks used: "Mission Control" and "Ocean View."   LEGAL NOTICE: This is a work of parody and/or satire, and should no...

We re-broadcast Verifier Andy's Profile in Cinemania on Master Bad Guy-slash-Henchman Extraordinaire, Michael Ironside

Cinquisitor Ethan (with a heapin' helpin' of help from Verifier Andy) presents a Field Report on the CINEMANIA-inducing movie trope of post-apocalypticism. It might not have begun in the '80s, but if we learned anything from that decade, it was how to sell literally *anything,* even the end of the world.   Written by Andy Slack and Ethan Ireland, with additional material by Daniel Scribner Perform...

Scrutinizer Zacharia presents a Field Report on the objectively CINEMANIA-inducing film from 1987: ROBOCOP! Perhaps the single most inappropriately-marketed sci-fi/action satire in existence, when it first came out this film left life-long scars on viewers who saw it at far too tender of an age. Scrutinizer Zacharia, Cinquisitor Ethan, Verifier Andy are among them.   Written by Zacharia Berks, Eth...

Verifier Andy presents a Cinemania Field Report on an animated series he remembers from his bygone youth, a mind-buggeringly bizarre Japanese-French sci-fi animated series: ULYSSES-31, which is sort of like "The Odyssey" meets "Macross." Giant robots and mythology. It was a hell of a thing. Come let Brother Andy spin you a tale...and be cautious you don't develop CINEMANIA.   Written & perform...

Cinquisitor Ethan, assisted (and annoyed) by Verifier Andy, presents a Cinemania Field Report on the 2003 film "Evil Alien Conquerors," a stand-out example of stoner cinema, marked for its level of CINEMANIA.    Written & performed by Ethan Ireland & Andy Slack Music by Karl Casey at White Bat Audio Tracks Used: "War Games" and "Consumed."

Cinquisitor Andy provides a Cinemania Field Report on a phenomenon he remembers having sprung up occasionally in his youth. No, I don't mean that way, you sickos.   Written and performed by Andy Slack Production & sound design by Ethan Ireland Music by Karl Casey at White Bat Audio Incidental music & sound courtesy of Epidemic Sound. 

Verifier Andy presents a Cinemania Field Report on "The Strange World of Gurney Slade," one of the weirdest, rule-breaking-est television series to ever emerge from television - in Britain or anywhere else for that matter. Go on. Have a listen.   Written and performed by Andy Slack Music by Karl Casey at White Bat Audio Track used "Awaken"      

In the last of our rewinds before our next Conclave, Mark Hoffman and Andy Slack perform "Remedy," a short story by Patrick Ireland.

We present for your listening pleasure SLUGGER, by Patrick Ireland. This is a recording of a 2016 live performance by Cinquisitor Ethan for "NOW HEAR THIS!" at the Gold Lion Arts Center in Sacramento.   Don't worry, new material is coming soon...  

This episode is a re-broadcast of Patrick Ireland's first-ever published story, "Discovery," performed by the late Phil Ryder. This story of high adventure features a sketchy archaeologist in over his head who is faced with the hardest choice of his life. It was originally published in the October, 1988 issue of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and appears here by permission of the author.   Perfor...

This week we're re-running an original story written sometime in the early 80s by Patrick Ireland. A man has an otherworldly encounter on a spring evening in his back yard. Sometimes suburbia can hold surprises... This episode is performed by Ethan Ireland Produced, mixed & mastered by Ethan Ireland Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound

Cinquisitor Ethan presents a memorial Profile in Cinemania on his personal friend, and one of the greatest Hollywood stuntmen who ever lived, Carl Ciarfalio.    Written by Ethan Ireland Performed by Ethan Ireland & Andy Slack Caricature art by Andy Slack Comics Music by Karl Casey at White Bat Audio Tracks used: "Arcane," "Kiss of Death," "Midnight Paradise" LEGAL NOTICE: This is a work of par...

Presented here in one convenient package is the entirety of The Cinemania Society's Conclave 21, wherein they analyze Alex Proyas' 1998 solipsistic sci-fi neo-noir masterpiece, "Dark City."   Written & performed by Daniel Scribner Andy Slack Hope Bravo Andrea Palladino Zacharia Berks Ethan Ireland   Music by Karl Casey at White Bat Audio Incidental music and sound effects courtesy of Epidemic...

This week presents a Cinemania Field Report that explores the "spurious reality" film genre that may not have originated in the 1990s, but certainly defined the decade in the way that post-nuclear apocalypse films defined the 1980s. Cinquisitor Ethan explores key films of the era, examines the underlying anxieties that drove this trend, and speculates on why it has largely faded in recent years.  ...

The mystery surrounding Scrutinizer Zacharia's lost memories deepens as the gang goes into their individual analyses and judgements over 1998's neo-noir sci-fi thriller "Dark City." Shit gets a little weird, yo.   Written & performed by Daniel Scribner Andy Slack Hope Bravo Andrea Palladino Zacharia Berks Ethan Ireland   Music by Karl Casey at White Bat Audio Incidental music and sound effects...

Auntie Hope presents a profile on Jennifer Connelly, who has been considered one of the most beautiful women in the world for more than four decades, and whom Hope suspects may be an asymptomatic carrier of CINEMANIA.   Written and performed by Hope Bravo Music by Karl Casey at White Bat Audio Tracks used: "Eternal Youth" and "Acacia" Caricature art by Andy Slack Comics   LEGAL NOTICE: This is a w...

During their conclave on Alex Proyas' 1998 sci-fi neo-noir, "Dark City," the gang pursues some clues that bubble up from the depths Scrutinizer Zacharia's subconscious, leading them to discover a horror only recently perpetrated in the food court, then onward into the depths of the Mysterious Mall of Misery...   Written & performed by Daniel Scribner Andy Slack Hope Bravo Andrea Palladino Zach...

Profligator Daniel presents a Profile on the King of Weird, Richard O'Brien, best known for playing Riff-Raff in "The Rocky Horror Picture Show."    Written by Daniel Scribner Performed by Daniel Scribner, Andy Slack, and Ethan Ireland Music by Karl Casey at White Bat Audio Tracks used: "Playback" and "Touch the Sky" Caricature art by Andy Slack Comics   LEGAL NOTICE: This is a work of parody and/...

Scrutinizer Zacharia awakens in a bathtub to discover things may not be what they seem, which prompts him to call the Society to a Conclave analyzing the 1998 sci-fi neo-noir film "Dark City," by Alex Proyas. Spooky!   Written & performed by Daniel Scribner Andy Slack Hope Bravo Andrea Palladino Zacharia Berks Ethan Ireland   Music by Karl Casey at White Bat Audio Incidental music and sound ef...

Verifier Andy presents a memorial profile in Cinemania on one of Canada's greatest comediennes (and suspected distant relative of Cinquisitor Ethan): Catherine O'Hara, of "SCTV" and "Beetlejuice" fame.   Rest in power, Catherine. We hardly knew ye.   Written and performed by Andy Slack Caricature art by Andy Slack Comics Music by Karl Casey at White Bat Audio Tracks used: "Last Night" and "Kowloon...

We bring back "Cheapskate," written by Patrick Ireland and performed by Daniel Scribner. This story originally appeared in the October, 1988 issue of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and appears here with permission from the author.   Music used under license from APM  Sound effects courtesy of Epidemic Sound

We bring back "Window Shopper," written by Patrick Ireland and performed by Andy Slack. This story was originally published in the October, 1993 issue of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and appears here with permission of the author.   Music and sound effects courtesy of Epidemic Sound

Presented here for your listening convenience is the entirety of Conclave 20, wherein the Cinemania Society analyzes Richard Linklater's 2006 adaptation of the 1977 Philip K. Dick novel, "A Scanner Darkly." Written, produced, and performed by: Andrea Palladino Ethan Ireland Daniel Scribner Andy Slack Zacharia Berks and Hope Bravo   Sound design & editing by Ethan Ireland Caricature art by Andy...