Xanadu Cinema Pleasure Dome

This week, dear listeners, we set Melissa loose on early Hitchcock films! Why? Because she’s seen them all, and can tell you which ones are the best of the Master of Suspense’s early years. If you would like to drink along with us, we recommend Esprit Barville Cotes du Rhone wine, which has those little hat-like marks over several letters when written correctly. Or, if you don’t...

This week’s episode, dear listeners, is the second half of our John Carpenter discussion! And, of course, returning from last week is Master of Carpentry, Noel Thingvall ! As you can probably tell from our diction during this episode, Melissa and Windy had a whole litany of drinks coursing through their veins while recording. If you care to join in, Fox Barrel Pear Cider and Great Lakes Brew...

This week, dear listeners, we bring you the first half of an epic podcasting session about horror director John Carpenter! And joining us for our discussion is John Carpenter expert and returning Pleasure Dome guest, Noel Thingvall ! If you get thirsty while listening to our discussion of Carpenter’s early career, we recommend Fox Barrel Pear Cider. Or, if you are beer inclined, Great Lakes...

This week, dear listeners, we talk about art vs. entertainment! Do movies fall on a scale between the two, or is it all just a Venn diagram of awesome? We drink a lot of wine and try to find out! Speaking of drinking, if you would like to join us in our wine-haze, we recommend Foghead Red Wine. Nothin’ fancy for our erudite discussions here, people! Show notes behind the cut! Movies mentione...

Grab your razors, dear listeners, because this week, we go in depth about screen and video versions of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street ! And to join us for our analysis, we grabbed two people who had never, ever seen any version of Sweeney Todd before: David Justin and Barb Lind! If you would care to drink along with the fountains of blood we discuss, we suggest either Castle Rock W...

This week, dear listeners, bring out your jazz hands, because we talk about BOB FOSSE! Well, mostly Windy talks about Bob Fosse. But that’s alright, because Melissa suggested the topic because she knew she could be lazy for an episode while Windy expounded upon the greatness of Bob Fosse. If you would like to drink along with us (and you know Fosse would have wanted it that way), we suggest ...

In today’s very special episode, dear listeners, we celebrate our first year of podcasting with an episode all about XANADU! That’s right, friends, it’s all leg-warmers and ribbons and magical Olivia Newton John today! And for this grand event, we called up some fellow Xana-fans and former guests, namely Gordon Smuder (of the Puppet Forge  and Transylvania Television ) and Sharon...

Get out your glitter and your androgyny, dear listeners, because this week we bring you an episode all about the films of DAVID BOWIE! And for this episode full of fabulous, we are joined by erudite author, mixologist, podcaster, and man-about-town, Pat Harrigan ! If you would like to drink along with us, we recommend Cocobon Red Blend, which fueled our glam quite nicely. More show notes (and phot...

This week, dear listeners, we bring you part 2 of our Robert Aldrich extravaganza! Once again, we are joined by Aldrich super-expert, fellow podcaster Noel Thingvall . Join us as we finish drinking an excellent bottle of wine, finish talking about an excellent director, and cap the whole thing by talking about Care Bears. Show notes behind the cut! Robert Aldrich movies mentioned: The Flight of th...

Happy New Year, dear listeners! Today, we herald 2015 with the first half of a two-episode pairing about director Robert Aldrich! Even better than that, we are joined by podcaster extraordinaire  Noel Thingvall , who has seen nearly every Aldrich film and has so many things to teach us. The wine for this episode was provided by devoted listener Elliott James: Kenwood Vineyards 2009 Cabernet Sauvig...

Happy holidays, dear listeners! Our gift to you this year is an extra-long and exuberant episode about our experiences at Butt-Numb-a-Thon 2014! We are also pleased to welcome back our guest star, awesome artist and fellow BNATer Meghan Murphy ! If you would like to drink along, we suggest a delicious milkshake made with (512) Pecan Porter and topped with whipped cream and pecans. If you don&#8217...

This is our 45th episode, which means it is time for our third Off Topic extravaganza! If you’re a longtime listener, you already know what this means, but in case you’re new to the Pleasure Dome, here’s what’s going on: Our episodes are heavily edited, because we record drunk and edit sober. Most of what we cut out are things that nobody will miss, but sometimes we have to clip out something that...

Oh wow, listeners. This week, we bring you the drunkest drunk we’ve ever drunked. Author and storyteller  Rob Callahan returns to join us for an episode about philosophy movies, which is absolutely the sort of brainy episode you want to embark upon after killing three bottles of wine before even starting to record. Seriously. We recorded for three hours. We edited out two hours of unintellig...

This week, we talk about a fine selection of book-to-movie adaptations! And yes, dear listeners, even though this episode runs extra long, not all of it is about The Lord of the Rings . If you would like to drink along while we get down with our literary selves, we suggest a bottle of Foghead Red Wine. That’s right. Just plain Red wine this week, baby! Show notes behind the cut! Movies menti...

This week, dear listeners, we talk about HOLIDAY MOVIES! And before you run away screaming, we assure you that we will only be talking about holiday movies that don’t get enough love during the holidays. If all this holiday talk makes you want to drink along, we suggest Yellowtail Cabernet Sauvignon, which gets the job done nicely. Show notes behind the cut! Movies mentioned: Titanic Beauty...

Good afternoon, dear listeners! This week’s episode is our long-awaited movie trade marathon! For this episode, Windy and Melissa spent an entire weekend watching movies, recording bits of podcast between films. That’s why this episode is super-duper sized (even though it’s not as super-duper sized as it was originally supposed to be, due to a microphone calamity at the end). Whi...

This week, dear listeners, Sharon Stiteler (aka Birdchick) joins us again for an episode about Mel Brooks movies! We chat about his filmography, his collaborators, and, of course, My Favorite Year . If you would like to drink along with us, we suggest Jameson Irish Whiskey, which steered us reliably into silliness by the end of this episode. Show notes behind the cut! Mel Brooks movies mentioned:...

This week, dear listeners, we are joined by Rob Callahan and Chris Bowlsby for an episode about game movies! Movies about video games, movies about board games, movies that feature games heavily… all are fodder for this episode! Or, rather, we intended to cover such a broad swath, but we somehow managed to never really escape the 1980s. We blame the scattershot nature of this episode on Cupc...

In this week’s episode, dear listeners, we are joined once again by Matt Kessen for a discussion of Planet of the Apes ! Matt Kessen, as you may recall, is the gentleman behind Reverend Matt’s Monster Science , and he is also a complete and total Planet of the Apes nerd. If you would like to drink along, we vastly enjoyed a bottle of Lagavulin 16 during the episode. We highly recommend...

This week, dear listeners, we have an episode all about ghost movies! Haunted houses, poltergeists, and children in peril… it’s all here! If you would like to enjoy some spirits with your spirits, we suggest you join us in drinking Fog Head Cabernet, because is fog is creepy and ghostly. If we sound like we’re recording in a box (AGAIN), it’s because the recording software...

Hello, dear listeners! This week, Windy and Melissa talk about ROCK MUSICALS! Because, clearly, we don’t talk about musicals enough! If you’d like to drink along this week, well, you’ll need to BYOB, because we were drinking nothing but glorious water. We’d already killed a bottle of wine before the episode, and we were sleep deprived from the Minnesota Fringe Festival, so...

This week, dear listeners, we get down and dirty with the Birdchick (aka world-renowned birdwatcher and author Sharon Stiteler) for an episode all about film director Douglas Sirk ! Now, don’t worry if you don’t know anything about Mr. Sirk’s films, because we do our very best to drunk-describe the awesome, plump melodramas that make up Mr. Sirk’s American ouvre. Helping us...

Gordon Smuder, in his element. This week, dear listeners, we are joined by professional puppeteer Gordon Smuder for an episode all about PUPPET MOVIES! And, because we like a challenge, we have decided to discuss only non-Henson puppets, so no Muppets allowed! (Don’t worry, we still love Muppets — it’s just that everyone knows about Muppets already, right?) So bring your ventrilo...

This week, we get our monster love on with an episode about Guillermo del Toro! To make this episode even better, we are joined in the Pleasure Dome by Matt Kessen, the very tall mad genius behind Reverend Matt’s Monster Science ! If Reverend Matt’s resonant voice makes you want to join in our drinking rites, we suggest a fine, peaty scotch like Laphroaig Cairdeas, which is the bottle...

In this week’s extra-boozy episode, we talk about heist movies! Because, seriously, don’t we all want to be part of a heist at some part of our lives? It’s even a great word. HEIST. Roll that around in your mouth for a while. HEISSSSST. Anyway, if you would like to drink along, we found a bottle of Layer Cake Malbec that served us quite well. We promise we paid for it. We did not...