The Guest Room Podcast

Larry breaks down the first installment of Star Trek: Short Treks, titled Runaway, and then is joined by Dr. Jess to discuss the newest Star Trek: Discovery trailer, which dropped at New York Comic Con. They also discuss the budding career of frequent Guest Room guest Cadwell Turnbull.  Pre-order Cadwell's novel, The Lesson, here:  https://amzn.to/2NuiPYV Buy tickets for the next Pitt Floyd show h...

Larry is joined by old friends Paul from The McSoss Comic Book Podcast and Brian aka Spud aka Brizzle. The trio weave in and out of a variety of topics including life at 40, concert going experiences, aging rock stars, pizza, tequila, hair care products, and frightening NHL mascots, of which Gritty is only the tip of the Iceberg. Get it? 

Larry, an enormous science fiction fan who loves all things space had never seen Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. Seriously. That all changes here as Grant joins him to see it on the biggest screen in Pittsburgh. Does it live up to 50 years of hype? Follow the Monolith and enter the Star Gate to find out!

Larry binged the Amazon series Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan this weekend and now he must speak of it. He was a big fan of the early 90s film series. Does this new series live up to his enthusiasm for the older films, or does it fall somewhere near the multiple attempted reboots? 

This episode begins with a special announcement that Larry has been invited to join the Pittsburgh based Pink Floyd tribute band called Pitt Floyd! Afterwards he reflects on life now that he's turned 40 before getting into reviews of the bonkers early Denzel vehicle Ricochet, the latest Spike Lee joint BlackKklansman, and further evidence that Tom Cruise is indeed crazy, Mission: Impossible-Fallou...

The Queen of Soul.

This week Larry and Dr. Jess discuss the newly released trailer for Season 2 of Star Trek: Discovery, breaking down what the presence of classic characters like Pike and Spock will mean for the new show. They also discuss numerous things in the Star Trek pipeline, some confirmed, some rumored, including two limited series featuring Picard and Khan respectively, animation, a potential young adult s...

Larry is back after a long hiatus and he explains why (it has something to do with synovial fluid). Afterward he catches up with the audience about things he's seen, and hasn't seen, including Solo: A Star Wars Story, Cobra Kai Season 1, Lost In Space Season 1, Westworld Season 2, Fahrenheit 451, Won't You Be My Neighbor?, Ant-Man and The Wasp, and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. 

After a brief tribute to the late drummer John "Jabo" Starks, Larry gets into the nuts and bolts of Avengers: Infinity War with Greg O. and his posse of Elwin, KX Emm, and Lesley, all first time Guest Room guests and all very much up to the task. The group breaks down what they liked and didn't like about the film, performances, the past and future of the MCU, strange features of English automobil...

Larry welcomes a true Hollywood veteran to the show, Emmy-winning and Oscar-nominated costume designer Jean-Pierre Dorleac. Jean-Pierre talks about his early experiences in theater, both as an actor and as a costume designer, having the legendary Edith Head as a mentor, his life-long friendship with Jean Simmons, and his experiences on specific projects like the iconic film The Blue Lagoon and, of...

A few years ago Cadwell bought Larry a copy of Ernest Cline's novel Ready Player One for Christmas. Now that novel has been adapted into a feature film directed by Steven Spielberg. Larry and Cadwell get into all the nuts and bolts of what worked - and what didn't - about the movie. 

Larry is joined by Travis Jay Coleman of Superenthusiast Radio to discuss the timeless time travel series Quantum Leap, counting down each of their top 10 episodes. In the process much time is spent gushing over the acting prowess of Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell. Brief tangents include Michael Keaton and filming movies in Utah. 

This week Larry offers his quick takes on the Netflix movies Mute and The Cloverfield Paradox and the theatrical releases Annihilation and Red Sparrow. 

Old friends Cadwell and Elliot are back this week to talk about the latest entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, director Ryan Coogler's Black Panther. After some critiques of the film through a political lens (mostly by Cadwell) and some minor gripes about CGI boss fights, the trio get into what they love about the film, the characters, the actors, specific moments, and where it stands among th...

Larry and Dr. Jess break down the Season 1 finale of Star Trek: Discovery, titled "Will You Take My Hand?" They get into the nuts and bolts of the episode, discuss whether it provided a satisfying conclusion to the season long story arc, and speculate on what may be coming in Season 2. 

This week Larry and Dr. Jess review the Star Trek: Discovery episode titled "The War Without, the War Within," singing the praises of the actors and writers, contemplating the creative process, and discussing how deftly the plot points have been handled throughout the season. This week also marks the return of Fun Facts with Numbers!

Dr. Jess and Larry wanted to have their cake and eat it too this week so they watched the Grammys in their entirety before Star Trek: Discovery Episode 13, titled "What's Past Is Prologue." The result is a brief and rather sleepy discussion, but still one worth listening to!

Larry and Dr. Jess review the latest episode of Star Trek: Discovery, "Vaulting Ambition." In addition to the episode review they also discuss fan reaction to the series overall and how it compares to reaction to Star Wars: The Last Jedi. They also discuss how television has evolved over the years and how Star Trek, past and present, fits in.

This week Dr. Jess and Larry review episode 11 of Star Trek: Discovery, titled "The Wolf Inside," and get into some heavy speculation about where they think things are headed. A lot of time is spent gushing about the acting, because this cast is really, really good.

This week Larry and Dr. Jess review the tenth episode of Star Trek: Discovery, "Despite Yourself," directed by Star Trek legend Jonathan Frakes. The Doc also recalls her early experiences watching Trek.

This week Larry and Dr. Jess asked past and future Guest Room guests to select their top 3 (or 5 if they were so inclined) Christmas songs. Larry and Jess discuss all the selections, count the number of times each song came up in someone's list, and whatever song got the most mentions gets played in classic Guest Room drum and vocal style by Larry! 

This week Larry, Dr. Jess, Autumn, Ashley, and Greg O. review Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the latest installment in the sci-fi/fantasy franchise. Larry and Greg have talked ad nauseam about their lukewarm reaction to The Force Awakens and their lack of excitement for this film. Has writer/director Rian Johnson restored their faith? 

This week Dr. Jess and Larry are joined by Anju, Cadwell, Ashley, and Therese to watch and review the Netflix series Alias Grace, based on the novel by Margaret Atwood, which in turn is based on a true story. It's a six episode limited series (which we used to call mini-series) and the gang watches each episode and gives their instantaneous reaction. Is Larry gonna break with his norm and actually...

Dr. Jess and Larry were joined by a veritable Who's Who of past Guest Room guest for Thanksgiving, including Cadwell, Anju, Ashley, Therese, and Autumn for a broad and mostly spoiler-free pop-culture discussion. Much time is spent on the Netflix series Alias Grace, Mindhunter, and Easy but other mentions include Godless, Black Mirror, and Room 104. Also discussed is a connection between Fight Club...

After a brief cameo by Paul from McSoss regarding The Flash, Larry gets into his thoughts about the newest superhero mash-up, Justice League, discussing each hero individually and how they come together. Larry also gets into his thoughts on why he thinks this movie, which has underwhelmed critics and audiences alike, is significantly better than than Thor: Ragnarok, which has been met with almost...