The Guest Room Podcast

Larry is flying solo this week and he's taking you back to a time when dinosaurs ruled at the box office. As opposed to now. Larry recalls his experience seeing the original Jurassic Park, talks about the sequels and whether or not they hold up, and then launches into his review of Jurassic World. He then goes on a brief tangent about procedural dramas, focusing on Columbo and NYPD Blue, before pr...

Cadwell and Elliot have been after Larry for quite some time to watch the Spike Jonze film Her. Larry was reluctant to watch what he assumed was a shallow love story about a man and his phone. But having been bombarded with AI stories recently, Larry felt it was the right time to engage. With Cadwell in town (but unfortunately without Elliot) the two watched the movie together and had a very deep...

Larry liked Ex Machina so much that he had to see it again, and this time he took Cadwell with him. The two discuss the film, gaining insights not heard in Larry's first review. They also get into some other topics, including a mini debate about the quality of Joss Whedon and a breakdown of the merits of serialized vs. episodic storytelling. Drum Groove of the Week is one of Larry's high school fa...

This week Larry's nephew Anthony makes his podcasting debut! The pair discuss George Miller's return to the action genre with Mad Max: Fury Road, talking about the film's strengths and weaknesses. Ok, this movie has no weaknesses. After that they get into some other subjects including Star Wars, Fast and Furious and some extensive video game talk. Drum Groove of the Week is Highway Star by Deep Pu...

This week Larry, Jess, Anju and Cadwell move away from pop-culture talk and into existential and philosophical territory as they discuss why creative people do what they do, the need to be heard, the frustration of rejection. The group go into the nature of work, the idea of merit, and even touch on matters of faith and spirituality. It's gettin' kinda heavy this week on The GuestRoom Podcast! It...

It's the first ever GuestRoom Trivia Challenge! Grant from The Confabulated Podcast goes head to head with Larry in the ultimate battle of useless knowledge! Categories include Star Trek (obviously), SNL, WWE, Bill Murray and the Pittsburgh Penguins. The pair go off on a couple of tangents as well. Check out Grant's show at confabcast.libsyn.com

Larry and Greg O. couldn't wait to see The Avengers: Age of Ultron and they couldn't wait to talk to you about it! After a brief discussion about music and the complications of ordering pizza, the pair dive into their review of this guaranteed blockbuster, touching on its themes, characters, and action. They also rank the Marvel Cinematic Universe films! Drum Groove of the Week is, appropriately,...

This week Larry reviews the science fiction film Ex Machina, examining its quality, its messages, where we're headed as a human race with the potential for A.I., and the current state of the genre, comparing this film to other depictions of A.I. in film and television. Oh, and the title of this episode factors in as well. 

Larry gives his thoughts on the Jurassic World clip (and Joss Whedon's response to it), trailers for Ant-Man and Terminator: Genisys, whether or not True Lies holds up, and Interstellar on Blu-ray. Stay after the closing theme music as Larry discusses the new Star Wars trailer as well!

Larry is joined once again by Paul from McSoss.com and as always by Jess as the three of them break down the career, and sex appeal, of Sir Sean Connery, going through his list of credits and having a number of laughs (the liquor was flowing on this night). They also touch on Burt Reynolds, Diane Lane, and even some music videos. Enjoy!

Larry caught up with the horror sensation It Follows and recorded his thoughts for all to hear. Is Larry as impressed with this film as many others or is his reaction a bit lukewarm? Only way to find out is to listen and stick around after as Larry gets into some trailer analysis regarding Spectre and Trainwreck.

Paul McGinty from McSoss.com is back this week and he is a big comic book fan. It makes sense, then, that he and his cohorts host the weekly McSoss Comic Book Podcast. After their last encounter Paul loaned Larry the graphic novel Batman: The Long Halloween and they convened to discuss the book, other comics, movie adaptations, and what brought Paul to comics in the first place. They also dip into...

This week Larry reviews the Brit Floyd concert he saw at the Benedum Center, touching on the setlist, acoustics, lighting, and bent strings. Enjoy!

Greg Olszewski makes his triumphant return to The GuestRoom and he doesn't like Samuel L. Jackson. Why? Listen and find out as Larry and Greg talk at length about both Captain America movies, what they liked (hint: they really liked Hayley Atwell) and didn't like and everything in between. Stick around for Drum Groove of the Week as Larry once again tackles Motown and the legendary genius Marvin G...

Last week we lost one popular culture's true giants, Leonard Nimoy. Today Larry and Jess pay tribute to this great actor, director, photographer, philanthropist. In other words, this great human. The world is an emptier place without him.

Larry thought it would be a good idea to predict this year's Academy Awards. Apparently he forgot that he actually had to see all of the nominated films in order to make sound judgements. Thankfully his friends Cadwell and Elliot are more prepared, with Cadwell having seen most of the films and Elliot having seen them all. The trio talk about what they think will win, what they think should win, w...

This week Larry and Jess are talking about Garth Brooks. Why, do you ask? Because Jess is a life-long, die-hard fan of the man and he's playing in Pittsburgh tonight! No better occasion than for Larry to tackle his first ever country and western Drum Groove of the Week!

Couldn't get enough of Paul from McSoss.com? Well he's back for a third go round. This week Larry and Paul start off with a discussion of Man of Steel, get into some DC vs Marvel stuff, touching on everything on TV and at the multiplex. They then get into some more Star Trek and Star Wars talk, complain about George Lucas, Michael Bay and Roberto Orci, and somehow bring it back to music. Paul also...

Today Larry talks about this year's Oscar snubs. Hint: Interstellar is mentioned.

Paul from McSoss.com is back and he and Larry talk about Star Trek. And Star Wars. But it's not the debate you'd expect from a die hard Trekkie and a die hard, uh, whatever Star Wars fanboys call themselves. The two find a lot of common ground, talk about JJ Abams' contributions to both fanchises, wax nostalgic about their youth and discover that they crossed paths before they met without knowing...

Larry and Jess kick off 2015 with their review of The Hobbit: The Battle of the five Armies. The two of them talk at length about what they liked and didn't like about the new film, about the Hobbit trilogy, and about the Middle Earth saga as a whole. Larry also teases a little of what's to come on The GuestRoom Podcast!

Larry and Jess asked all the fine people who have appeared on the show to submit lists of their favorite holiday movies. They then read the lists aloud, tally up which movies get the most votes and reveal the results. There are many usual suspects and a few unexpected surprises, not to mention a couple of pop-culture asides and a bit of talk about the attractiveness of all the show's guests (and p...

Larry and his wife Jess are big, big fans of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and are terribly sad to see him go. This week the two of them talk about why they dig him so much and they also go into the late night landscape overall from what came before to what's coming down the road. One thing is clear: Jess really doesn't like Jay Leno. 

Several weeks ago Larry and Spud poked fun at an old friend for being a fan of Death Cab for Cutie. This week Larry is joined by that friend, Paul McGinty of mcsoss.com, where you can find the McSoss Comic Book Podcast and the McSoss Webcomic, among other things. Larry and Paul talk about all kinds of music, not only Death Cab but country, pop, progressive rock, hair bands, classical music and eve...

Today's Quickie has Larry talking-and ranting-about recent trailers (Jurassic World), announcements (Bond), teaser trailers (Star Wars), and teaser teasers (Terminator).