Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Wired is One Rad Magazine

And Joachin Kohn is one rad dude.

Kohn himself pioneered a new class of degradable compounds that are now used inside the body to provide controlled drug delivery, as well as for tissue engineering and regenerative processes like bone and nerve repair. And during his leadership of the AFIRM program, scientists under Kohn’s guidance have already completed an array of futuristic therapies to heal wounded soldiers: Among them are the country’s first-ever face transplant; lab-grown ears nearly ready for human transplantation; and an engineered skin substitute that will soon be tested on soldiers with extensive burns.
 Read more about AFIRM and the radical edge of medical science here at Wired.

Because holy crap face transplants.

Monday, September 17, 2012

Primo J/O Material

Mother of fuck, I want an Eames chair. Like, you don't even know, guys.

(via here.)

Friday, September 14, 2012

FALLOUT 4 TEASER



But not really. The 80's were just batshit crazy.

Merry Christmas!

Sunday, September 9, 2012

I love T2

And I love this drawing.

(PS: New and incredibly outdated episode coming this Monday!)

Sunday, August 19, 2012

What is wrong with you people?

11 year old retarded girls are not the problem with your country, Pakistan!

I would argue that accusing little disabled girls of blasphemy might be of a greater concern! Just saying!

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Monday, July 23, 2012

It's a Rolling Stones Reference, You See

Episode number 44 is out, which means that we're only six episodes and five years away from our 50th! Don't get excited, get angry!

As a reward for your loyalty, here is a description on the crazed and insane origins of ventriloquism!

Professionally Begging for you Loose Change

Joe and James (and a few other folks who we need not mention) are making a comic and they need your help to get it going!

So, give us money!

As of writing this, we're already a third there and this thing opened up last night. Don't let us down, folks, we need your help! We need your money!

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Thursday, July 5, 2012

We Also Went and Did an Episode

That's right! Episode #42! And we didn't even make a Douglas Adams reference or nothing!


Like I said Joe is involved with some kind of a baby-type situation for the time being, which means that he is going to be indisposed while people like me and my co-host Cruz Flore, gather our strength by sucking the energy out of Joe's ear through a sugar reed while he sleeps a frightful sleep.

It's fun is what it is!

(This is a movie we talk about. For some reason Manhunter has been coming up a lot recently.)

And, in case anyone wants to accuse me of being some how high-hatidly racist, the episode title is a Philip K. Dick reference and not a reference to me and my father's belief that Hispanics are agents of a crypto-Pope dead-set on creating a new Papal States in Southern California.

If I ever seem racist it is more than likely just a Philip K. Dick reference. On that I give you my scout's honor. . . My voortrekker's honor, but still, it's better than the word of a racist!

Here's the trailer for one of the other movies we talk about-- Yeah. You be the judge on that one.

One quick thought about this trailer (because I haven't read the books nor do I plan to), which is. . . Isn't the idea of a special forces killer on the run a real effed out idea? I mean, that was the entire premise of Lethal Weapon, which is a violent crime movie that is hemmed into a location. At this point I suppose that is a stock character or a well-worn idea of the genre, but how is that your selling point? The special forces just dropped Osama Bin Laden and you're making movies about how one of their number is a loose cannon. It's not disrespectful or hackney or anything, it's just odd. I guess movies about women torturers being hunted down by Madeas have to be, though.


Anyways, we cut out a bunch of junk from the last time we recorded-- Or, really, it just got lost because motherfuck the iPhone edition of Garageband-- Including our extended rapportage on Huell Howser. And all of that reminded me of the podcast Uhh Yeah Dude, which is basically the good version of our own podcast. Specifically I would like to recommend this episode, which drops some bombs about who and what Huell Howser is for those who are both initiated into the mystery of Huell and those who do not live in California or watch too much public broadcasting.

Alright-- One last aside-- PASADENA HAS A BUNNY MUSEUM. AND OF COURSE HUELL HOWSER WENT THERE.

I LOVE THIS COUNTRY. I LOVE THIS TOWN.

And I bid you farewell.

(Ugh. Technical error. Blogspot isn't accepting YouTube embeds for some reason. Or vice versa. Or whatever. Hold that thought. . . ) 

(Nope, shit's fucked for some damn reason. Stupid.)

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Sorry for the horrific delay--

But I love America, I love this blog, and I love this show. So here's something to show my thanks for your patience-- Because, hey, kids, you earned it.

Friday, May 18, 2012

In Pod's Name!

As we parcel together our latest episode (we are working on it, slowly. It's a pyramid of a thing. Not a big one or a good one, but it takes a long time and requires the services of fifty-thousand Hebrew slaves), I thought I'd go on about what podcasts I listen to. Because if you're depending on us not only are you a sad bastard, but you are entirely fictional.

You'll note that they're all better than my own, but that should go without saying.

So, as an Ork might say, "'ere we go!"

The Adam Carolla Show*-- 
I don't know that I need to explain who Adam Carolla is or what his program is. You can probably guess. I don't listen to every episode the man puts out (which is one a day, which must be some kind of a record), but when I do, especially after a break, it's a welcome change of pace as sometimes I just want to hear one man wax on and on without anyone else to break the pace. Carolla was born with the gift of gab and it shows as he can pretty much turn something he just learned about into twenty minutes of material. I can appreciate that.

Comedy Bang Bang--
I suppose if you enjoy laughter this is the place to go. Every week the show, hosted by Scott Auckerman, involves a guest (typically another comedian) being interviewed and then interrupted and hijacked by some sort of a madman.The hijacker ranges from Ice T to cowboy poet laureates to Huell Howser (which meets my daily need of Huell Howser impressions). As much as I love other comedic podcasts I'd be hard pressed to think of a program funnier than this one. I actually was scolded the other day because I was laughing so hard at a bit with Christopher Hitchens and recently one of my friends laughed so hard he vomited. I'd wager it was worth it in both cases.


Jordan Jesse Go!*-- 
This program is the very definition of delightful. It is hosted by Jesse Thorn (America's Radio Sweetheart) and Jordan Morris (Boy Detective) and while it fits snuggly into the "two guys talking about stuff" genre it is, as they will tell you, "created by fucking professionals." Just about every week they're joined by a friend, usually a comedian or an actor and they commence to gab about whatever they want ranging from dogs to terrifying tales of sea madness to pornography to trying to become queer icons. And despite their highly regrettable nickname choices from college their program ranges from being legitimately hilarious to sincerely touching. Jordan and Jesse is about as sweet as it is incredibly vulgar. It's kind of amazing that they can pull off that kind of a balance.

Giant Bombcast-- 
Giant Bomb is just about the best video game website that there is and among their various attributes the Giant Bombcast is probably their crown jewel. If you don't care for video games this progam is going to be a two and a half hour misery-fest, but if you do then this is the show you should be listening to. It's a long and dense podcast filled with as much cultural ephemera as it is filled with actual insight and opinions about video games.As focused as it is it never becomes newsy and never becomes bogged down in the kind of pretentious nonsense that forums are lousy with. It really just sounds like five or six of your friends sitting in a room and talking about video games.

Hardcore History**-- 
Dan Carlin's in depth and entertaining history podcast is what I imagine to be the best history podcast out there. Dan typically only ever speaks on the most violent and terrible eras of history which is great for me because there is never too information in my mind about the Ostfront in WWII or the wars with the Apaches. He has an unusual speaking style, but once you get past that what you end up with is some well researched and well written monologues about history from somebody that is enthusiastic about things like the Roman equestrian class.The only problem is that they come out about once every six months, which I guess is nice because it keeps the guilt of an overflowing backlog ever coming to be. And that's just the worst.

Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo Film Review-- 
Not the most cleverly titled book in the bunch, but probably the best. It's been my favorite podcast for years and has been the source of some of my most polemic opinions. The Good Doctor himself is a polemecist, but where he differs from the average sort of internet scumbag or professional trolls is that he will present an argument that is well founded, well argued, and always seem to have a basis in fact as much as they do in personal taste. The same goes for the movie he loves. He has passionate opinions, so even when those questions are about something as questionable as Twilight, he actually has something interesting and effecting to say that might just make you wonder if they aren't terrible movies. Such is his power.

What's great about Mark Kermode is that as much as he hates a movie-- or loves a movie-- he always manages to qualify it and give reasons as to why he believes this (or as to why it is this he believes-- he's a grammar stickler, among other varieties of stickler). What's more is that even in the midst of his most volatile "Kermodian Rants" he does something a lot of other film people-- and the most negative types-- miss: He's entertaining, he's intelligent, and he loves film.

The Treatment--

Elvis Mitchell must be a genius, because he certainly isn't an idiot. What's incredible about the show isn't always who the guest is, but the kinds of layered and thoughtful questions that Mitchell makes about TV shows and movies that range from art-house to blockbusters. Every project discussed on the show is handled with the same kind of thoughtfulness as everything else and the questions are asked in such a way that make you think that Elvis sees something that we can't and not because he's trying to kiss ass to his big shot guest.

Recently the screenwriter of Red Tails was on and while that movie is apparently not very good, what he had to say about the craft was really quite amazing. I was inspired! As much laughter and entertainment I get out of some of these other programs it's hard to walk away with what feels like real knowledge. It seems that some of the best guests, as with Marc Maron's WTF seem to be the ones you would never expect and like Elvis' questions you have to assume that there's something great to be found everywhere.

World Book Club--
The World Book Club is a simple show: It takes an author and the host then asks that author questions from the audience. It's pretty simple, but what's attractive about something doesn't need to be clever or complicated. Like WTF and like The Treatment, most of the time I have no idea who these people on this show are, but that's kind of the charm. I normally would not ever hear from a Swedish crime writer like Jo Nesbo nor would I ever spend my time hunting for a James Elroy interview, but these people almost have something incredible to say about writing and about their work. If it isn't functional advice (and it isn't an advice program, let me be clear about that), it's something that's inspirational, or it's like a clue to a crime and the author reveals something profound just by the act of speaking about their work. It only comes out about once a month, which is perfect as you'll never have a backlog like Adam Carolla seems to always have***.

Now that I've gone through the list here I realize that I've left out a few on accident. I might have to do a second round of this. Then again Marc Maron doesn't need any more publicity, does he?

With all of that said: Hello to Jason Isaacs.
 
*Jesse Thorn also hosts a program "Bullseye" which is an hour long program about various aspects of pop culture, from comedians to non-fiction writers to video games to reviews of forty year old live jazz songs. I'd have listed it here, as well, but I didn't think it fair to double-dip.

**Dan Carlin also has a program called Common Sense, which is an incredibly insightful program, but I had to stop listening because, goddamn, that show is a bummer. If I wanted to learn about how fucked America is I'd talk to my dad and it wouldn't take me forty minutes. . . well, maybe it would.

***The World Book Club also has the best names in the world. I'm always dismayed that no one ever comments on the names of the people on that show.

Friday, May 11, 2012

NEW PODCAST? I-- WHAT?

WE WENT AND DID IT!!!!

I just want all of our fans to know (there is one of you) that I love you. For real.

Because life is too short and full of bullshit not to be full of love.

And this episode is full of murder. . . the point is don't not love people.

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

This Actually Happens?

A man jumped into a vat of acid to save his co-worker who fell in.

I'm just letting you all know now: If you fall into a vat of acid next and I am in the vicinity you better hope there's a pool skimmer or some rope near by because I am not coming in after you.

Also: Where the fuck are there open air vats of acid? I thought only Gotham City had work safety laws as lax as this.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Man What

I don't even know where to begin with this one.

The body of Mr Williams, 31, originally from Anglesey, was found locked in the bag in the bath of his London flat.

Det Ch Insp Jackie Sebire said "two minor components of another contributor's DNA" were found on the zip toggle and padlock.

She said it was her opinion "that a third party had been involved".
Mr Williams's death has puzzled Scotland Yard detectives who have been unable to determine a cause of death or establish whether he had locked himself into the bag.

And then it gets weird.

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Make up your mind, guys. . .

Which one is it? We throwing fire at the cops?


Or water?


Get it together, guys.

(via the Wall Street Journal.)

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

There is Nothing Tasteful I can Affix "-Gate" To

It should come as no surprise that Rick Santorum wants to ban hardcore pornography. He's a religious weirdo who believes that God isn't doing enough on His part when it comes to monitoring people's boners.

What should come as a surprise is the response from pornographers. While most of their responses range from "He's out of his mind" to "It'll never happen," I found the response from Michael Lucas, a gay pornographer, to be the most interesting and, in a way, maybe the most indicative of what America is supposed to be. Read on--

Lucas, who grew up in the former Soviet Union and immigrated to the United States in 1997 after working in Europe as a male prostitute, founded Lucas Entertainment in 1998, which flourished into a mega-enterprise that produces some of the most lavish gay porn films in the industry. His side company, Lucas Raunch, boasts a repertoire of hardcore fetish videos that are so explicit that Canadian officials banned copies from the country in 2009.

"This is not what Ronald Reagan envisioned," Lucas said after reviewing Santorum's plan. "This is not what the Founding Fathers envisioned. This is what Rick Santorum envisions. And I think the guy is crazy."

Lucas, by the way, considers himself a conservative, votes Republican and donates generously to several libertarian and right-wing causes. And when he casts a ballot in the November election, he hopes it will be for Mitt Romney.
That, in short, is what America means to me. It means gay entrepreneurs immigrating to America to vote for whoever the hell they want to, regardless of what is popular or expected. That and jerking off within the limits of the law and a basic sense of morality are what America means to me. Those two things, together, like the insignia of Conan the Barbarian.

I also like that these guys aren't sweating a presidential candidate equating them with human smuggling rings and prostitution. I don't know what that means, exactly, but I like it.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

How We Record a Podcast



(Withnail & I is on Instant Watch, by the way. You should watch it.)

Friday, March 16, 2012

On Shutting the Fuck Up

I gotta say as much of a known asshole as Bill Maher, I gotta say, he's right on the money when it comes to this Limbaugh's Slut-gate (nobody's used that one yet, right? Oh, come on, they must have).

Anyways, read this and then let's all shut up--

And through it all, I have defended Rush's right to stay on the air! Not what he said, that was disgusting - but the right to not disappear because people who don't even listen to you don't like what you said. That really bothers me. I never hear Rush Limbaugh unless a guy in the next truck at a stop light has it on; it would be arrogant for me to say "he has to disappear" and deprive the people who do listen to him of what they like. We all have different tastes and different opinions, that's America.


(via ABC.)

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

IT BEGINS

First it's wooly mammoths, then it's dinosaurs, then it's dirty ol' cavemen coming into town and stealing our women, giving our ground sun the old stink eye! Well, I won't have it, I tell you! My great grandpa didn't flee a murder charge to come to this country to have it run over with no good flint monkeys!

Oh, what? South Korea and Russia are working on this? Okay, phew. I got worried and started imagining that this was something that existed in reality. What a jerk I've made myself into.

Friday, March 9, 2012

Joseph Kony of Mars


There's a lot of talk about Africa recently and as poorly informed about that continent as I am (read: poorly), I think we all need to take a step back and at least view the darkest of continents with a little bit of context.
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
Because, hey, that shit don't hurt.

(PS: Here's a bigger version.)

This Guy is Also the Guy

A 100 year old guy ran and finished a marathon.

At first I was confused, then I noticed he was a Sikh and it all made perfect sense as
those dudes are tougher than coffin nails.

So, feel bad about not committing to your work-out schedule yet?

I've been voting for Kony for years!

There's a lot of scuttlebutt about Joe Kony (as I call him) over the internet recently.

And while a lot of it is either firmly in the sort of savoir-complex a lot of what I've been seeing a lot of knee-jerk anti-Western sentiments sewn into the topic, as well. There's just a lot of emotions for the wrong reasons flying about and most of them can make you into kind of a jerk.

It's an odd subject to have feelings about-- but I read this article that analyzed the situation and the response, and there was one quote in particular that leapt out at me. It seems like it summarized this whole thing much better than I could have (and about as good as I would like to):

This certainly doesn’t mean people shouldn’t watch the video, like it and share it and it doesn’t mean they shouldn’t feel passionate about making a difference. But before you like and share you need to question. Question the organisation and its motives and funding, question the timing and more importantly question what you now know about northern Uganda that you didn’t before watching the video.


In general we should all frown upon murder and torture and the like. I kind of want to get into some of the stupider things I've seen on Al Jazeera's comments page, but I don't have the energy and I think that momentum out of the subject at hand*. We should also do our best not to get sanctimonious about people who want to stop these kinds of things. This isn't an indy band you can claim knowledge about before hand, this is something that actually matters.

Awareness and "Liking" something isn't enough to make a change and it certainly isn't enough to understand the topic at hand. We can all do more in either case to make the world better. To simply take a poor opinion to something is not an acceptable accomplishment.

I don't know. I've probably said to much, so I just just reiterate one of the maxim's I try to live by, which is: Don't be a dick, please.

We can all at least agree on that, right?

*I'm seriously glad that I didn't see a comments page filled with anti-Semitism for once. . . thought it did have a couple of moments of bizarre homophobia.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Who Wants to Get Depressed?


Is it working?

Say what you want about Bradley Manning or wikileaks, but I can't help but see how he's being treated and think that "This isn't us." And it certainly isn't who we're supposed to be.

It's crazy. We live in a world where soldiers can murder people and get a slap on the wrist, yet a guy releases documents that let us know what our government is up to and this happens? It's like a Kafka story.

It's like a Kafka story, especially, because I don't want to stick around for the ending and I resent that I even have to read it in the first place.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

This Guy is the Guy

70 year-old qualifies for the Olympics.

I'd like to think we could all be that badass at that age, but, man, I just hope I'm there enough to know that I'm not in the goddamn Olympics. We should all be so lucky.

Friday, February 24, 2012

Praise Stalin!

We've got a new episode up!

We talk about spies and writing and not a whole lot of anything interesting. Sorry. Maybe next time?

In the mean time enjoy this trailer--


Man, that was a simpler time, wasn't it?

Monday, February 13, 2012

White Guys Free the World


We released an episode fairly recently! Two, in fact! Listen to it! Them! Whatever! The first one is honestly one of my favorites. The second one I can kind of take or leave.

To get things started, here is the real truth about the Lizardmen (the Jews)--

Laugh if you will, but I went to college with these people. They graduated.

We started the episode with how nutmeg will getchu high.

I personally remember the moment I learned that. I've never been much on getting high. I like drinking. It works for me and I believe it will continue to work for me. If I was a character in the movie Platoon, I would firmly be in the campy of Tom Berringer in that case. I'm a juicer, not a smoker. I would kill Elias, though. That shit's untoward.

But despite this being in the public sphere for. . .well, probably since forever, that doesn't stop ABC News from doing a weird story on people smoking incense. Or something.

And, in the odd chance that an adult researching nutmeg abuse is reading this blog (or, really, anyone), let me tell you: No one uses nutmeg. No one. Ever. Just like no one licks frogs and no one does whippets and no one gets high with music except maybe the dervishes, but they're into religion and shit, so leave them alone.

People don't do weird and crappy drugs because weird and crappy drugs suck. If your retard kid is huffing paint it's because there are far worse things in his life than there is awesome things in sucking up spray paint. So says I*.

And before I get too far along-- Attaching magnet bombs to the cars of political targets isn't only a move of the Israelis-- It seems that Iran might be following suit, as well.

Now, hold that thought. I'm going to work on some more, smaller entries. These things get out of hand too easy.

VOTE RON PAUL 2012!


*And if anyone does, good of them. It'll make a great Dr. Phil episode.

Monday, February 6, 2012

A Warm Up

In order to get myself ready to do a big ol' blog post on our last episode, here's evidence that Ryan Gosling is the only guy on the face of the planet who can get away with that fucking scorpion jacket.

This shouldn't be news to anyone, I just appreciate it being on paper and all.

Also, here's twenty facts about the movie Drive that you may or may not know.

Damn, I love Drive.

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Our Latest Hunk of Misery

Episode 37 is now out in the wild.

It's a miniature episode about the Academy Award nominations and as hard as we try to avoid the usual pitfalls that can be expected on people writing about the Oscars, it still has its own wikipedia section.

There isn't much that can be said about the Oscars that isn't said every single year and repeatedly and, more often than not, un-ironically. We try, though. We really did try.

Anyways, speaking of great movies of 2011, Drive comes out today on Blurray and DVD. (Seriously though, buy it from a local business and not frigging Amazon. Local revenue simply can't compete with juggernuats! And if juggernauts are all you pray to they'll be the only things that are left over when the lizardmen come out of their caves to rule the post-volcanic earth, maaaaaaaan.)

Friday, January 27, 2012

Fuck Yeah, Raps

Go and read this. It is a forensic analysis of Ice Cube's classic "Good Day." It is amazing.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Peter O'Toole on The David Letterman Show January 10, 2007


Since we teased this, we really should post it, huh?

Damn. . . that mother fucker looks rough.