123: Do You Ever WonderFest?

Falling Program is a proud member of the Palava family of podcasts. Check out all the shows over at palava.com. That's P-A-L-A-V-A dot com. The following feature has been rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America. It is intended for mature audiences and parental discretion is advised.

It's showtime, folks. Enjoy the show. Our nuclear reactor pumping out one million kilowatts of power. What's up and welcome to Movie Meltdown. I'm Brian.

And I am Misty. We're coming to you live via digital recording from Wonderfest here in sunny Louisville. Sort of overcast. Louisville, Kentucky. We haven't got towed yet.

That's good. Yeah, that's true. We're going to tow this while we're in the truck. So, yes, we are at Wonderfest here in the level of model geeks. And I don't know.

What else have we... If you haven't been to it, yeah, definitely go check it out. It's lots of stuff. But their main core crowd is like. Nerds.

No. Officially vinyl modelers. If you're into vinyl model kits and actually doing a lot of modeling, there's probably... I don't know if I'll. Say the biggest in the country, but I'd say one of the biggest assemblages of models and modelers.

And they have a competition. They have a whole contest that goes on every year and a display that everybody can be part of. So it's pretty amazing how many people show up with models and models that they've spent. A ridiculous amount of time on. Yeah I'm lucky I'd glue my hands together if I tried it dude I.

Totally would too I used to do model cars I think a lot I was pretty fucking awesome at it but I'm awesome at most things but I. Just didn't you get the green hornet car that one time oh yeah. To do the make and take of the green hornet yeah so I'll walk by this year I'll walk by their make and take and I'm like dude he's putting together a fucking pony that's not badass dude had a fucking emo haircut and like fucking wrist cut marks and he's fucking building. A pony for god's sake. It's ironic That's something.

It was an orange pony, too, so you can't even pretend like it's badass. It's not even, like, a cool pony. It's orange. If there is such a thing as a cool pony. Hey, my little ponies were awesome, but just not the orange ones.

No, I guess Applejack was okay. He was orange. I've watched way too much My Little Ponies the past couple days. Oh, no. Because I've been watching a lot of the mashups.

I watched The Watchmen and My Little Pony's mashup, and that was fucking awesome. I don't care what anybody says. I watched another one, too, but I totally forgot. What it was. I don't think I've seen these.

You don't see the mashups? It's fucking hilarious. I've seen a couple of them. I can't remember the other one I watched, but it was fucking hilarious, too. Yeah, I watched The Watchmen last.

That's why it's more fresh in my memory. Wow. I don't know what to do with it. Awesome. Chock full of awesome.

Oodles and noodles of awesome. My Little Pony. My Little Pony was awesome. Fireflies was my favorite. Which one was Lightning Butt?

That was Firefly. Alright, that was my favorite because it was Lightning Butt. Yeah, Lightning Bolt Butt. He was my favorite. He was pink.

He was pretty awesome. Blue Lightning Bolt. He had wings. He flew. He was.

A pegasus. Alright, so that is where we're at. We'll probably check in the convention there and figure out. And check in with peoples as we go along. We've got a few we're attempting to sit down and talk to, so that should be fun along the way.

But in the meantime, I guess we can roll into this week's geek activities. Woo! For me, a lot of prep stuff doing this, so I sort of re-watched some stuff. I did re-watch The Spy Who Loved Me. Man, I forgot.

And that's what I was telling you earlier, Misty. I mean, a lot of people like the old school Bond movies and they love the Sean Connery ones because he was like more hardcore and whatever. I grew up with a lot of the Roger Moore ones, I think, because they just hit at cable at that point. And I watched a lot of goofy movies on cable and I thought, you know, it's got gadgets and cool stuff in it. So, OK, let's watch that.

I think I forgot just how ridiculous they are. I have never in my entire life seen an entire Bond movie. I was going to say Sean Connery movie. You've seen those, but just not a Bond version. Maybe like one or two.

I guess I'm not a big Sean Connery fanatic. I've not seen any James Bond movies all the way through. I'm okay with that, but Jay's having like a meltdown. Like, we have to watch it. We gotta watch it.

I'm like, dude. Old ones or more recent? He wants to watch all of them. All of them. See, I'm saying, if you want to do, like, a whole sub-series of Misty's thoughts on Bond movies, I'm all for that, because that could be entertaining.

See, Jay's more of the Sean, he's more of the Sean Connery. I can see that. His mom was in love with Sean Connery. Yeah. Apparently, according to him, his dad likes to pretend like he looks like Sean Connery, and he does not look like Sean Connery.

Not really. You've seen his dad, you've seen Sean Connery. Could they in any way be mistaken for each other? That's not really what I think of when I see his dad, but all right. I know.

His dad has British teeth. But this, yeah, this one is a Roger Moore one, and it's, yeah, it's quite silly. But I remember as a kid loving that one because that one has, to me, everybody else loves the, like, fancy, like, street racing cars that you can actually go out and buy if you're a millionaire. I always loved that one because that's the one with the underwater car. Dude, I want an underwater car.

Like, I had the little Hot Wheels of it, and you've probably seen it. Yeah, it's a freaking underwater car. It drives around underwater. It's awesome. I thought that was so cool.

It's the first appearance of Jaws. I thought Jaws was pretty awesome. When I was a kid. Was there a shark in it? Kind of.

He's equally as frightening. Richard Keel, right? I got that one. I don't even see this movie. Wow, you are a dork.

His boyfriend loves him some Richard Keel. I don't know why. Because he is awesome. It is the right character, right? I am getting it right.

I believe so. But yeah, he's fucking awesome. I mean, again, that part becomes so ridiculous, but yet I'm still like, no, he's awesome. And he is quite a formidable foe the entire time. He just, he, yeah, he just undying villain.

So, uh, yeah, that, that's, it's all fun. And Carolyn Moreau is in that one. So I was kind of rewatching that and, um, yeah, it doesn't have enough screen time, but I don't know that she should have shoved Barbara Bach out of the way. I don't know why she didn't get the starring role. Cause I didn't, It seems a little off, really, because Barbara Bach's kind of iffy in that role.

Yeah, back when, you know. There's no Catherine Bach, I'll tell you that. No. No, most people can't be Catherine. In fact, Catherine Bach can't be Catherine Bach these days.

I never thought she was that hot in the first place. That's just me. You were busy with Bo. You didn't have time for her. Dude, he was totally pretty.

He's still pretty. He is. He's gorgeous. We were talking about that when we were watching the finale of Smallville. Yeah, we did last night when I called to talk about. coming here i was like oh yeah and smallville's on and haven't really paid attention to it in years but tonight's the finale it's.

Like holy shit that's still on yeah. I know that's what that's what i would say every season when i would say it i'd be like really tell me he's at least flying tell me he's at least got a damn cost no. Fuck what's this blur bullshit just making superman for god's sake this has gone on for like nine years She. Was on forever. I watched it when it first came on, but I just didn't.

That's the thing, I liked it. I mean, I liked it for the first, you know, half of the run. You liked it because it had Chloe in it. I do like Chloe. Chloe was freaking adorable.

I liked Lex, and Lex was hot, but he has not aged as well as the, uh, Clark. Yeah. And none of them fucking age as well as John Schneider. That fucking guy is gorgeous. He's...

God. He is pretty for an old dude. He has held up. Again, I think he looks better now. He looks better in person even than he does in, like, TV shows.

Usually they pretty him up for the TV shows, and then you see him and you're like, uh, uh. But, God, he was gorgeous. He was so fucking nice. God, I want to hug him. You did.

I want to hug him again, like, right now. Every day. Every day. Start off your day with a hug from John Schneider. Dude, seriously, could there be a better way to start a day?

I don't think so. Let's see. I'll see if I can make cupcakes. That would be awesome, too. He shows up with cupcakes and a hug.

Fresh baked. He made them, too, from scratch. I've seen them from. Scratch, too. If you can set that up.

That would be so awesome. He was pretty nice. We might be able to talk him into it. I don't know. I'm not sure what Jay liked.

As long as it's cupcakes. As long as he gets some cupcakes. And maybe once in a while a hug, you know. He would do like the bro hug. The bro hug.

He'd fist bump him. Yeah, he'd get a fist bump. A manly handshake. Jay's more a fan of a manly handshake. Yeah.

You can't go wrong with that. So, yeah, we randomly watched that sort of halfway last night when we were talking about coming here. It was quiet. I muted it. I didn't want to hear what was going on.

It's going to ruin it if I'm... It was interesting. I'm just like, you started way too late. Like, they should have done this, all of this stuff that they did at the end here. The whole last, like. episode worth of stuff I'm like that's kind of cool why wouldn't like this an entire season's arc of a story and then like go ahead and give him the damn suit let him fly around, and, like, do, like, a couple of seasons of him actually being Superman, I know you're supposed to be Smallville, but I'm like, you've worn that out, after, like, four or five seasons, the show should have switched its title to Metropolis, it should have focused on him in the city, and not worried about the Smallville nonsense anymore, and made him superman and went ahead and like done a whole new storyline but but.

No they beat that thing to death. And that's you know i give them credit every once in a while they would still turn in interesting episodes when i would catch it You know, they brought in all the other superheroes after a while. Okay, the Wonder Twins was a bad idea. But, you know, Hawkman was kind of cool. Hawkman?

Hawkman was on there, and that guy was cool. Like, the costume was the real Hawkman costume from the comics. Like, it actually looked pretty good. So, again, that part of the storyline was kind of cool. What I saw of it last season, that's about the only one I saw last season.

I just kind of. I haven't seen it in years. Yeah. Years and years and years. I don't know.

They just really should have. turned it around midway in I think I quit. Watching it when they killed off his dad. Yeah I think that was about the last season I watched. It regularly like you know what fuck you show I don't want to watch you anymore get rid of John Schneider fuck you. Well he returned last night for his special appearance they brought everybody back last night including Lex.

Showed off his sewing ability apparently I. Was just amazed they got Michael Rosenbaum back. What the fuck has he got to do? That was the other thing. I figured they pissed him off and he would never come back, but then again, I was.

Like, well. They've been working on Sorority Boys 2. I was like, what's he done since then, actually? So, yeah, he'll probably take that one-episode paycheck. Whatever.

The only other thing I'd watched lately, I did watch I Love You, Philip Morris. I don't know if you're familiar with this one. What's his face in it? You would probably hate it initially because of the cast. Because it's got Jim Carrey in it.

Oh, fuck Jim Carrey. See? I hate that guy. I went into it very reluctantly because I'm so sick of his stupid, over-the-top, ridiculous comedic performances. That's not what's going on here.

It's got Ewan McGregor, too. Ewan McGregor is the one to watch in this. Like, his... character is so. Awesome and like it's another one I'm watching him going I've seen him in like freaking Star Wars and crap so I kind of forget oh yeah he's actually a really good actor like I've seen him in so much other mediocre stuff in the last several years that I'm just like it's been a while since I've seen him turn in like a really good performance and he's really good in this like it's he's They're believable. And that's the thing that probably a lot of people, well, certain types of people are going to have a problem with, because it's basically a prison love story.

Jim Carrey plays. This guy, and he's a married guy, he's a cop, he's got all this stuff going on, and he gets himself into some crazy trouble, and he ends up in prison. Do shenanigans ensue? There's a lot of shenanigans in this movie, let me tell you. Does hilarity ensue?

No hilarity? Yeah, actually there is. I mean, there are times when it is just. seriously a laughing out loud kind of comedy and then there's times where. Like whoa okay this is kind of serious so I bet it's. No let's go to prison or let's go to jail no thank god it's not was it prison or jail I fucking loved that movie I ain't gonna lie it had Joe Bennett from uh Arrested Development I loved.

That movie this is not that movie it had Dax Shepard I loved that movie I do remember Dax was in it I would almost watch it cause Dax is pretty. Funny but it was awesome This is not that. His character was always gay, so it's not like it's some sort of, oh, he magically finds this in prison. He had this secret life going on, and then as he gets busted. He comes to terms with the fact that I'm going to turn my life around, I'm going to be who I feel like I need to be.

So then you enter into this relationship with this other prisoner. Who is Ewan McGregor, and it's very genuine. It's one of those that I'm so. amazed to see any relationship feel real in a movie regardless of the gender so that this one is like usually they ham up any you know gay relationship in any movie tv show whatever to the point that it's so ridiculous that you know this didn't really feel like that like it actually just felt like a real relationship they felt like they were just in a relationship They happen to be in prison, but it was still, like, pretty, like, normal otherwise. As normal as you can get as a prison relationship. But that part's kind of cool.

And then once it gets out, it gets more interesting because then he gets out of, you know, Jim Carrey gets out of prison and he works to get Ewan McGregor out of prison. And then they go on and try to have, like, a life. And then the really, like, the most interesting thing about this movie is the fact that it's all real. It's all based on an actual guy. Hmm.

And everything that went on with this guy, this guy is, like, such a good scam artist. Like, and that's how he originally gets himself in trouble with the basics. But as he gets out, like, he, what all does he do? He convinces people he's a lawyer. Never been to a day of law school in his life.

But he's in court talking up cases to a judge. And, like, he's got everybody convinced he's a lawyer. He gets a CEO job at, like, a Fortune 500 company by making up everything just by scamming the guy in the interview. Yeah. He, um, he then at some point, like he's, he's like ripping off and bezzling huge amounts of money.

He gets into prison again at some point. He like escapes from prison like four or five different times. And this is all real. This guy, like all the plots and shit that this guy does to escape from all these different types of prison facilities that he's in. Are all a true story.

Like, this guy actually did all of this stuff. And that, to me, is the most amazing part of it, is the fact that this. Was a real guy and all these crazy things that are happening really went on in the real world. And that's kind of strange. And Jim Carrey does not overdo his performance.

He's, I mean... Yeah. Cause I mean, it's, it's, it's kind of Truman show. Like, you know, it's like, I liked him in that he's got that little bit of like overtly cheesy thing that he does, but it really works on this character because this character had to be that way. You know what I mean?

He had to be able to bullshit people and you kind of get that vibe that this guy could do that. You know, he actually is that. Skilled at, you know, just scamming people and getting them to trust him, even though he's totally screwing them over. So it's, again, that was, that was a lot better. And it's just well done too.

I mean, I figured I was going in for those performances that everybody talked about, but like, it's also well put together. Like it's shot really well. The way the director like features everything and works in this like ongoing storyline. He works in really cool music cues along the way. It's just, it's a lot better put together than I didn't know.

I had such bad expectations going in because of the Jim Carrey factor that I was really, really surprised with how much I liked it. I will probably never watch it simply because of the Jim Carrey factor. I really don't like him. I think you can get past that. Again, as much as I don't like him now, I was surprised how quickly I kind of got over that and just got interested in the character.

You know how very unforgiving I am? Yeah, but you've liked him in the serious stuff. I don't appreciate it. I liked him in The Truman Show, and that's it. Yeah.

Have you seen The Majestic? No. I didn't hate him in The Majestic. It's a weird, cheesy movie. Like, the movie's not as good as these other two.

But his performance wasn't bad. He can play. That's probably his most normal character ever. I don't want to give him another shot. He already blew all his shots with me.

I'm okay with The Truman Show, and that's it. I don't leave it at that. He's another one of those and we just brought that up. I don't want to tip the scales. Well, it's one of those we brought it up lately of like a person's personal life if you can separate that from the performance.

Because the thing is, as a person, he seems. Ridiculous and he seems so annoying and hammy and always looking to get attention at every turn. And even, like, lately they were kind of giving him shit because now he's, like, trying so hard. He still wants an Oscar. He keeps trying to do those kind of roles.

And they were sort of making fun of him even for this role. Like, it was something he was trying so hard to do. Please, I'm a serious actor. Give me an Oscar. If Jamie Foxx can get one.

Yeah, well, see, there you go. But yeah, I almost felt like maybe it was that situation, but I can separate that as much as I don't like his behavior in the outside world. I don't give a shit about his behavior in the outside world. Most of his movies suck ass. I can't get past that.

He fucked up the Grinch, and that's sacred territory right there. Yeah, I won't let that one slide. I'm sorry. No. I'm still pissed at Ron Howard for.

That, too. I haven't seen it. I will never watch it, but the fact that it's out there existing kind of pisses me off, and I will never forgive that, and I will not give him another chance. Yeah, I saw The Truman Show. before he did The Grinch. He crossed the line.

Yeah, I can get on board with most of that, but I'll still try to put that aside and watch a performance. Not me. I know, that's because you're hard-headed, but I will try to watch a performance for the performance, and this actually works. I think if you can get past not liking Jim Carrey like a lot of people do now, it's actually a really good movie, but that's most of what I've watched. I watched several things.

I can't remember what they all are at this very moment, but I will try my best. I did watch Ensue in the Darkness, because I think I'm cheating on my Sean Patrick Flannery right here. I love me some Carl Urban. Now, because he is just chock full of just, ugh, he's so sexy. So I watched Ensue in the Darkness, which I was pissed at this movie, because I was pissed at everybody in this movie, because everybody's fucking retarded.

Like, just stupid shit. Like, alright, two girls. I guess they at some point were with a bunch of other people and then they just took off on their own in Argentina. Good idea. Yeah, you're riding your bikes.

Two girls, two hot chicks alone in Argentina. Yeah, this is going to go well. And so, God, I was just so mad at these girls. One of them was Amber Heard and she's just so, gosh, she's so beautiful. But I was just.

Mad because the other girl was the one who got kidnapped. If you're going to kidnap them, I guess the other chick was kind of slutty. So I guess you had the slutty girl and the not slutty girl. I'm still going with Amber Heard. I don't know.

Have you seen the other girl? Her name is Odette some shit. I don't know what it is. Odette, whatever. She's hot.

But she's all like, hey, look at me. I'm sexy. Right. And I also don't have a shot with Ambers. I got a better shot than you do.

You do have a better shot than I do. I do. But, yeah, they end up in Argentina and they miss their plane because they're a bunch of... First, they miss their bus because, God forbid, they fucking not get drunk and hung over and miss their bus. Woo-hoo, party girls.

Yeah, totally. And then they're out somewhere and Amber heard and her friend getting a fight over something. So Amber just fucking leaves her ass. by a fucking pond out in the middle of fucking nowhere a waterfall bitch gets kidnapped i'm like i'm gonna leave this girl in the middle of the wilderness by herself in argentina no i'm gonna add argentina to the list of countries that i'm never gonna fucking go to art it's already probably on there argentina and australia fuck a bunch of both of those countries because everything there wants to kill you either i'm gonna kidnap you and sell you Or everything that can fucking eat you will eat you. It's just, nah. Yeah, so far we haven't heard from anyone from Australia.

Because they're dead. They haven't called in, they haven't written in to tell us that they've survived whatever it is that's trying to kill them there. They're getting eaten by koala bears at this point. So if you're out there in Australia, which I know we've got a few people that are, let us know that there are things that aren't trying to kill you there. I'm not buying it.

I think everything in Australia and Argentina wants. To kill you. I guess in Argentina it's more the people. They want to kill you and, oh, I guess they will sell you and then kill you. That might be true.

I don't know if we have anyone in Argentina. If we do, let us know if you've been kidnapped or are a kidnapper and let us know your take on the whole situation. Yeah, dude, totally. But, yeah. I was kind of mad at Carl Urban because, spoiler, he gets killed like a bitch.

I'm mad. I was mad. You don't fucking... Okay, I'm totally going to spoil this right now. You never fucking turn your back on the guy.

Who has been trying to kill you. Ever. I don't care if you have a gun. You never look away from him because chances are he's got another gun. Fucker.

I'm mad. Haven't you watched movies before, Carl Urban? You would think. God. You're in them.

God. You would know the rules by now. Dude, seriously. And then after that I watched Doom. Because following along with the Carl Urban theme.

I forgot he was even in that. I liked that movie. It was so ridiculous. I don't care about anybody. It was fun.

I was kind of thrown back. Oh, I forgot one that I should mention that one first. I watched Race to Witch Mountain. Well. I'm going to tie these two together.

Okay. We watched Race to Witch Mountain, which had The Rock in it. And it's a kid's movie. It's a Disney movie. It wasn't bad.

I didn't know that. Kids were fucking aliens. I guess I don't know if that's any different. That's not like a surprise. I'm not ruining anything right there.

They pretty much tell you right at the beginning, oh, a spaceship landed. Pretty sure that's why they're going to Witch Mountain. Yeah. I didn't know. This was Jay's idea to watch this.

By the way. I don't want any of this piled on me. He was the one in control of the remote. He wanted to watch it because you know what? The Rock is fucking awesome.

The Rock is pretty awesome. Can't argue with that. So the race to Witch Mountain was not as... It was a bad angle. That brought it back to the fact that then we watched Doom...

And hearing The Rock say fuck after watching Race to Witch Mountain, I was just like, oh my god, The Rock. Said a bad word. Like, how do you go from being in. A Disney movie to being in Doom. And saying fuck?

And he said it quite a bit, too. Yeah, he's gotten so far away from that. Well, I guess Fast Five withstanding. I mean, you know, the Tooth Fairy and the, what was the one where he's raising the little girl? He's the football player.

I don't know, I blocked all that shit. I haven't watched any of that. Yeah, I was like, he's done so many, like, kiddified movies that, yeah, he's, he's, ugh. He's going to pacify his career. He better go back to doing some more action stuff.

I can't not like The Rock. I don't want to like him. Part of me wants to hate him. Damn it, I can't. He's just.

He's The Rock. Yeah, I can't argue with you. He's awesome. I don't like most wrestlers that turn into actors. Most of his bad, kiddified movies I don't like.

But damn it, he's funny. He's got a good sense of humor. Yeah. He makes fun of himself more than anybody. Like, he's just charismatic.

Charismatic. I love him. But then, yeah, the movie was so cheesy. Doom was just, it was ridiculous. But you know what?

Like I said, it was fun. I was laughing. Carl Urban was sexy. That's how I follow along with my Carl Urban. Then I watched, well, it kind of skips around.

Jesus Christ. We watched Pitch Black. Because Jay's never seen them, and he wouldn't let me watch The Chronicles of Riddick unless we watched Pitch Black first. You'd be lost. Actually, no.

Barely. They make barely any references whatsoever to it at all. But we watched Pitch Black, which I haven't seen in years. I was kind of bored. I remember kind of liking it at the time.

I remember liking it years ago, but this time I was just like, Maybe I was just wanting this movie to be over so I could watch the next one that had. Carl Urban in it. Probably. Come on, movie, stop. But yeah, it was just, it was cheesy, even for me.

And just like the, it was written and the lines, I'm just like. So bad. I just liked it because it wanted, it was such a knockoff Aliens movie. I mean, it so wanted to be Aliens. It just, let's make the creatures a little different, and they have to be in the dark.

But other than that. It still felt like an Aliens rip-off kind of movie. I remember, I was excited, because that was back when I didn't dislike Vin Diesel. Vin Diesel, yeah. That's when I actually kind of liked, he wasn't bad at that point.

I liked him in Pitch Black. It's because I didn't know who he was in Pitch Black. He was, and his voice, oh, he was so sexy in that movie, just because of his voice. He was, at that point, it was before, like, The Pacifier and retarded shit like that. But I liked him, and then.

Then we. Got to the Chronicles of Riddick, and oh my god, that one was even more cheesy and badly written. And I'm not even sure what the hell they had going on with Carl Urban's hair, dude. Have you seen it? It's like a skullet.

I'm not even sure what's going on. It's like, it sticks straight up in the front like this, but it's shaved on the sides, and then it's long. In the back. This is not a good look for anyone, right? It's not, but I kept cropping it just right so that you couldn't see part of his hair.

I'm like, oh, see right there. Handsome you just edit this shit out I almost hoped for pan and scan just so they could cut out a lot of the shit that I didn't want to see blasphemy I know right it was so ridiculous it was just chock full of I could every time Karl Urban came I just laughed I'm like really wow just overacting was just ridiculous but I love him what else did I watch The Horde it was alright I give it that much. There's a lot of reading. It's one of them there French movies. Reading in zombies.

It was alright. I'm not really sure how I feel about it now. I think I liked it at the time when I watched it a couple days ago, but now I'm like, hmm. I don't know. Boyfriend was confused.

Jay came by. I was like, what the hell are you watching? Sounds like they're talking Klingon. I'm like, no, it's just an angry black French guy. Sorry.

Not or. No, not at all. I can't think if I did anything else. Oh, yeah, I don't have much to say about The Horde, really. There was some scenes in there that were really impressive.

It just, it starts off a different movie. It starts off like a cop and mob movie, because apparently the mafia guys killed the police officer, and so the police officers want to go get their revenge on the mob guys, so they go into this, I guess it's like a big abandoned old apartment complex or whatever. There's still like a few tenants in it, because they just kind of took over, because that's what they do, I guess. And then while they're trying to get their revenge, they pretty much get all shot up and shit. And then zombies show up.

Zombie damn. Then the bad guys and the good guys start working together. And it's wackiness and shenanigans and a lot of dead people. A lot. All right.

Yeah, that's all I got. Anything else before we head back into the convention? Nope. All righty. I like totals.

There you go. Alright, we will head back in and see what's going on at Wonderfest. I wonder, wonder who wrote the book of love. Tell me, tell me, tell me who wrote the book of love. I've got to know.

The answer or there's someone from above. I wonder, wonder who. Please remember to replace the speaker on the post when you leave the theater. Flesh crawls. Blood curdles.

The coffin hasn't been built that can hold him. Dr. Fives rises again. Fives, wait! Dr.

Fives rises again in an even more startling motion picture with a whole new gallery of gruesome gimmicks of torture and murder. See the scorpions embrace. The eagles caress. The sausage machine. See Dr.

Fives out-duel his enemies with the most diabolical devices ever created. See Dr. Fives rises again, starring Vincent Price as the menacing Fives and Robert Quarry as the evil Biderback. Going, going. It's time for another installment of The Art of Being a Movie Geek.

All right, we're here with artist Belle Dee. I guess just as we go through this series on artists, just try to figure out how you end up where you are. Were you always interested in art, even as a kid? Oh, yeah, absolutely. I used to watch Saturday morning cartoons all the time, Disney movies, whatever.

So a lot of my art is very inspired by, like, animation style. Yeah. So, and caricature work. Yeah. Is it something you... planned on doing you know as far as professionally.

Um no not really and i'm only halfway professionally there aren't we all so um i'm i'm just amazed and overwhelmed at the response that i've gotten to the work that i've shared with people on the internet. It's always good when it sort of clicks with people and they kind of find it. But again, you do some good work. It's good to see people appreciate stuff. And it's kind of original in the way you approach it.

Is it something you studied extensively or is. It more of a self-taught kind of thing? It's absolutely self-taught. I did take some art classes but I mean, I just kind of did what I did. I didn't really learn any sort of techniques.

Actually, I work in Adobe Illustrator, so I had a job where I worked and I had to draw maps and things like that, logos. So I learned a lot about how to use Illustrator through on-work job experience, and I just applied it to my sketch drawings, and that's how I kind of got the style. That I have now. Yeah. Yeah, I've found most of the artists I'm drawn to when I talk to them are self-taught.

I think you sort of find yourself better that way. Yeah. It seems like it's always more original, the people that are like that. I guess you had already mentioned, I was going to see as far as your style, if it was something specific that drew you to that look or that style, but you were saying cartoons? Oh, yeah.

Yeah, absolutely. Just cartoons and animation and... any kind of caricature work. I'm a big Al Hirschfeld fan, so that kind of style, I was like, I want to do that, you know. Did you know enough about, like, artists and animators to know them by name when you were a kid? Oh, yeah.

That's pretty hardcore. Yeah. I was obsessed with Don Bluth for, like, the longest time, and then, like, after American Tail came out, because I, you know, they released Secret of the M, and I was a big Secret of the M fan, and then... American Tail came out and I was like, this is getting a little sugary for me. I don't know, like, because Secret was so dark.

Yeah, that's why I always liked it. It's, yeah, that whole creepy overtones. Yeah, you kind of lose when Fievel comes on. Exactly. Exactly.

And then, of course, like, when I started getting a little, like, older into, like, my teenage years, I was still, like, watching other cartoons, but then that's when I started getting into, like, heavy metal and, like, rock and roll and other, all these kind of movies that are not really geared towards little kids but adults and um so i was like really excited about that because it's like oh wow there's naked ladies in a cartoon movie wow this. Is not for kids anymore. Exactly they're cursing. That definitely yeah i remember yeah the first few times i saw that as a kid i was like wait wait it's like it doesn't process it but they. Don't do this on cartoons on Saturday morning.

So, had you also always been a movie fan in general? Um, yeah, and I've always been a horror movie fan probably from the time that I was like, like sixth grade or something. That's kind of when I started and nobody in my family really watched horror movies so I kind of had to just sort of fall into it on my own. Yeah. And, um, you know, I grew up watching slasher movies that was all like Friday the 13th and, um, you know, sleepaway camp and all that kind of stuff.

And it wasn't until I was about, you know, 19, 18, 19, that I watched Dracula Has Risen from the Grave, the Hammer film, for the first time. And then after that, it was just, it was all Hammer. And then I had to go back and, like, watch all the Universal films and all that. And I was just like, oh, it's like a whole new world. Why didn't somebody tell me about this?

And it was just because there wasn't anybody. To at the time. Yeah. So at what point did you decide to sort of cross over and work the movies and your love of movies and horror into the artwork? That's a good question.

I don't really remember. I think originally I had this idea that I wanted to do pin-up style art, like cheesecake kind of style. And then as much as I like to draw pretty girls, it kind of got boring and I was like, you know, I want to try something that has a little more depth and interest. So I just started, like, drawing pictures of, like, Frankenstein, and I was like, you know, I think I should do more of this. And, of course, like, then I was like, with the Hammer stuff, it's like, why haven't I been doing this all along?

I love Hammer, and I love, like, art, like, cartoon art style. It's like, why have I not been doing this? Tie them all together. Exactly. Exactly.

Do you still, I was going to say, what medium? I guess at this point you can almost be exclusively digital, but do you still start off with, like, pencil drawings? Oh, yeah, yeah. It's always just sit down with a sketchbook and sketch out what I want to draw, and then I pretty much just, like, redraw it in Illustrator, and that gives me the option to, like, you know, change colors. If I don't have a definite idea about what I'm going to do, I'm, I can go in there and like play with it a little, which makes it fun.

Yeah. You've been a contributor to Little Shop of Horrors and now, um, Rumorg you just got. So I mean, those, and the Rumorg is great by the way. Oh, thanks. That was awesome.

Um, so is it, is it something you're looking to do just more like covers or is it, again, did you just kind of fall into that? I have just kind of fallen into it. Actually, um, And I don't know, like, I'd like to keep it fun. Like, the minute that it becomes not fun for me anymore, I don't know that it's... I'm afraid that that might happen, so I'm trying to, like, you know, I want to take some time off to do some more personal work.

Because it's been a while, I've been doing stuff for other people, and it's like, I'd like to take some time and get back into, like, I just want to do this for fun. So. I don't know. I just kind of take it as it comes and see how it goes. I don't really have any...

I had a goal of getting in Remorg and that's already happened, so now I have to set something else. I don't know what that's going to be yet. Still working on that one. Other than that, is there anything else you're working on? Any other big projects?

I think the only other thing that I know for sure that's coming up is the Monsterverse comics are publishing a it's a hammer style book called flesh and blood. And, um, I was asked to do a pinup piece for, of some of the characters like, um, and I don't know if it's going to be the issue that's coming out in October or I think it's one of four. Yeah. So, um, I don't know exactly which, which issue that's coming out in, but, um, I'm looking forward to that. Uh, sexy vampire ladies.

So that's going to be fun to draw. Can't go wrong with that. Yeah. Let's see, we also do just kind of our show. We ongoingly continue to tell people what we like to watch, what we have been watching.

Just in general, what type of stuff do you like to watch or have you been watching lately? Well, let's see. I had to watch Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde to get myself freshened up for Martine Beswick when I saw her. Yep.

And actually, since I've been so busy, the only thing that I've really watched is I discovered this show called League of Gentlemen. It's a British show, and it's kind of got this weird dark horror element and comedy, and I'm really enjoying it. So hopefully I'll get to watch the second and third season pretty soon, like, when I get back. I've heard pretty good things about that, yeah. Yeah, it's really good.

It's... actually more disturbing than I thought it was going to be. I was like, wow. They get away with a lot on BBC. Yeah, absolutely. I guess just as far as you want people to go check your workout online, or where would you send them to go?

Probably the best place to go would be, I have a blog, and it's Do Whackadoodles. and it's dowhackadoodles.blogspot.com and any information like whenever I get the website up and I have an online store that I'm going to be working on that will all be detailed like in the sidebar when that all comes to pass. I'll definitely put a link to that in there because, I don't know, I've been trying to type it in. Yeah, yeah. So, yeah, we'll throw that in the notes on this show. I think that is it, unless you have anything else you want to pass on to people.

Oh, I don't know. I guess that's it. All right. Thank you for talking with us today. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. So yeah, I won't bother playing the promo this week because I'm going to be the promo. Guess what I've got. Here, I'll show you.

These are my... Fanciest hell earphone thingies. Tweaked audio earbuds. So I finally, I'd had my other ones and I was just like, they were just crappy ones I bought at like a department store of some sort. And I was just like, oh, whatever.

I've got these. I guess I'll let them go until then. And those things were falling apart. Like, seriously, that last week, there was, like, wires hanging out where the speaker was. That sounds nice.

And you can kind of get jolted from those. Don't get jolted by your headphones. I'm just saying. It's just a basic thing. It's not good.

And they're shiny, too. These, yeah. I have to say, and I will, you know, normally I wouldn't go on about something that I didn't have something personally to say about it, but I've had them this past week, and I've been impressed with them. They actually are. They sound really good, and they've got a little more weight to them, too.

The ones I had before were, like, little cheap plastic. Like, this actually feels like there's something there. Yeah. It's like it's little sound cannons. It's, like, a little longer, too, and it actually, like, fits in, and it feels like they're actually doing something.

And they're shiny. They don't have to be shiny. They come in seven colors, if I remember correctly. But they're shiny. These are silver.

They match the MP3 player. But, yeah, otherwise, I just, yeah, I wanted to throw my two cents in with a personal version of it, aside from just playing the ad week in and week out. Yeah, I got my Tweaked Audio earbuds this week, and they are actually pretty damn impressive. So go to tweakedaudio.com, put in your fancy code MELTDOWN, and you'll get 33% off and free shipping. Hell yeah.

What more do you want? You can't beat that with a goddamn stick. That's what I'm saying. Hell yeah. So go get some, tweakedaudio.com.

My personal plug is now commenced. Okay, anything else? Ear plug plug? Ear plug plug. I get it.

I'm pretty proud of that one. Right off the top of my head, you can't make this shit up like that. I don't know if I'd be as proud of that as you are. Anything else before we head back in? That should be their new logo.

Ear plug plugs. I think they're buds more than plugs. Plugs means nothing gets in. Nothing gets out either. Every moment, every single day.

So if you're wondering what I do, the. Things I do. We're here with Carole Monroe. You were born in England. Would it be far-fetched to say you weren't planning on going into performing early on?

It's not something you set out to do? I actually didn't set out to become an actor or actress. No, it couldn't have been further from my thoughts. I thought if I was going to do anything when I left school, it would be to do with art. So I suppose it's another form of art, really.

What type did you do, like painting? Love painting, painting, anything to do with making stuff, you know, with my hands. So very hands-on, and I'm very pleased to say that my daughters have that. They are so talented, actually. I don't think I was actually very good.

I enjoyed it, but I was enthusiastic, but I don't know, you know, how clever I was at it. Do you still try on occasion? No. I don't. I don't know whether.

As far as once you got into acting, what I know fell into it through the modeling. So I guess the first big role would be like the Dr. Five films. Not much of a speaking part. One of my most difficult parts.

How did you get involved in those? For Dr. Fives, I think I got through the producers seeing. I was under contract for Hammer for a year, and I think they'd seen some of my work in the Hammer films, so they thought I might be a suitable candidate to play Vincent's wife. And Hammer didn't particularly...

I mean. They weren't mad on me doing that because I was doing Hammer films, but they let me go uncredited. I didn't have a credit in the films. Then again, I didn't have a very big part, did I? It was kind of instrumental.

Kind of, yes, because it all kind of went around her, didn't it? It did, certainly, yeah. He had such a passion for his wife. He set it all in motion. Yeah, I suppose it did, really, yes.

As far as like Dracula, 1872. Yeah. Oh, I loved working on that. It gave me, it was a small role. But it gave me a chance to work with Christopher.

Lee and Peter Cushing, so that was a must. I feel I've been very fortunate that I've worked with some wonderful, amazing, iconic men in the horror genre. So I've been very lucky. I don't know how it happened, but I'm not complaining. No, amazing to work on that film.

It's funny because... During the making. Of Dracula, I suddenly realized, I'd been working for a few years in film, but I suddenly realized that that was the moment that I actually wanted to learn more, study more, and really try and learn about my craft. So that was my turning point, I suppose, with Dracula A.D. And then what was it like working with?

Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. Oh, wow. Working with those two. It was quite, I suppose I was very nervous. I mean, I was young, but also very nervous.

And I felt totally inexperienced because I hadn't been to drama school per se and I hadn't, you know, trod the boards that much. But what I'd done is I'd started out as an extra in. Casino Royale way back. So I'd kind of done a lot of my learning, been sitting on the side of the set watching these wonderful people work. So I was delighted, basically, and to be working with those two.

Yeah. I actually was very lucky because I got to work with Peter again in Appiah School. I was going to ask you about that. Were there any stories or anything from Appiah School? It seemed like a lot of action and activity going on.

There was a lot of action. You're right. The amazing thing was it all took part in Pinewood Studios. No locations. They didn't build this wonderful set in Pinewood.

So we didn't leave the studio for about five weeks. We didn't see the light of day. We were meant to be under the earth anyway, so at the earth's core. I guess that would be pretty. Yeah, a good title for that.

How about Captain Kronos? Yeah. Would that be last in the Hammer series? I think they did several more after that. With you.

Oh, with me it was. And with me it was one of my absolute favorites. I love that film. I just think Brian Clemens did such a wonderful job in the writing and also the directing. I don't know why he didn't go on.

And do more stuff, but he did a brilliant job. And I do think that film, I saw it actually last year in a place called Whitby. In England they had a. Film festival there sort of a horror film festival and Cronus was one of the films they showed I just think it's a brilliant piece of film very underestimated at the time and it's it's kind of not dated there's nothing really to date it you know it just it just has a life of its own and I really I was honoured to be a part of that film yeah I was. Going to say you'd Before that, I guess you'd done a lot of, like, the classic, you know, Hammer Horror and the old stuff, and then you found a lot of fantasy and stuff.

And then, like, in the 80s, you sort of switched into the new style of horror. So what, I guess, how did that come about, you know, falling into, like, more of the slasher genre? Well, you i suppose if i think back it came about via joe spinel that was the connecting thing we we did a film together in in um well we did star crash yeah um he was the baddie in that the evil count zarfan and then we went on to do another. Film Or was that after? I think Maniac was next.

I think Maniac was next and then the last horror film. It really came about by me being in New York and Joe's leading actress not turning up. She was busy. Daria Nicolodi was busy shooting another film and they needed somebody really quickly and I just happened to be there attending a show and Joe said. He said, what do you think about doing a film?

I said, well, when? He said, well, tomorrow. I said, what? He said, well, we start tomorrow. Would you like to?

I said, sure. That's a big thing. He said, read the script tonight. Let me know five o'clock in the morning. So I read the script, literally slept on the script.

And I thought, well, I adore Joe. And I'd met Bill. I liked Bill very much. He'd taken me to see Halloween. which was quite an eye-opener, quite kind of groundbreaking. And he said, this is the kind of film I want to make.

So I thought, well, nothing ventured, nothing gained, so why not? So all in all, I said yes. So how did you adjust to that new style as far as being in the middle. Of it all? It took quite a big adjustment, I think, really, because it was so different from the gothic horror.

You'd be suddenly... It was kind of quite in-your-face horror. So it was a different sort of way. It was a different era, really. And it was a much younger audience.

You know, Bill was young. People were young and enthusiastic. And it was work for me. And it was interesting work. So I thought, well, why not?

You know, the work is there. And it's something I'm still acting and doing my passion. So I might as well go with that. And then. Again you said you worked with the last horror film you got to work with Joe Spinelli I did I guess you worked well together it was like three I.

Think we got on well we did the three and we were going to plan to do more but sadly he passed away too young but no he was brilliant to work with I must say fabulous actor. An amazing actor. Just, I think it was De Niro who said he's one of the best character actors of that time, you know, on screen. Underrated, yeah. Totally, totally.

And the one to ask about was then when you got to work with Luigi again. In Black Cat. That was wonderful. I mean, that was kind of came out of the blue again. He contacted me and he said, how about, you know, working together?

And because we've had such a good and. Long working relationship on star price i thought yes you know it'd be another foray into a european film which i love i was getting older uh um and also i i find that european filmmakers kind of respect that maybe more than english you know more than once you're past 30 they don't this is this is then they don't um You know, you're not put out to grass. They'll kind of give you another chance. It's very different than American film. It's different.

I was trying to pad around it, and I thought, what? No, I'll call them. You know what I mean? Unless you've had all your face lifted and tucked. Which is scary.

I can't do that. I don't like that anyway. No, I'm not mad. I mean, each to their own, of course. But it's a different route.

And I love European film. I always have done. I always love the French cinema. Yeah. In the 60s, I thought they were so clever and ahead of their time.

And again, it's. The passion they put into the work. So European film cinema it was for me. In fact, I'm going back to do a Spanish film in November, this November. So I'm very excited.

A Spanish Western. That should be great. I kind of started doing Westerns with in Talent for Loving with. Richard Widmark and Topol. Yeah.

That's a long time ago. There it is. 68. Well, I think that was about it. I guess I was going to ask what you were working on, but you got that.

Is there anything else you want to tell people about? Just, do we say we're here in Louisville and we're at the Wonderfest, which is an amazing show, so if you get a chance, come and see it. Definitely. It's been awesome. Also, I'm still around and And I still have the acting bug or the passion.

Can people come. And find you at your website? Yes, you can. You can. I don't know.

Tell me. I think I had it at carolynmonroe.org. That's it. That's the website, is it? Yes.

All right. Thank you. Tell them to find that. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

Thanks for talking with us today. Thank you. Hi, this is famous Hollywood producer Robert Evans. You know, I've made a lot of powerful enemies during my time in Hollywood. Like the time I pushed Steve McQueen in front of a moving car on the set of The Getaway because he was macking on my lady, Allie McGraw.

But I've made one great friend, a bopper friend if you will. Since I retired. It's called Show Show, and it's the best fucking movie podcast ever. It's even better than cocaine, which I would know a lot about. Visit Show Show at showshow.podomatic.com or search Show Show, all one word, in the iTunes store.

Hello, this is Peter Mayhew, listening to Movie Mountain Down. Baby, don't you ever wonder why Backup is not that I think I'm clever I just know that we could do much better Baby, don't you ever wonder. Why We're here with Loren Peterson. How do you bill yourself, I guess, at this point? I mean, you're certainly well-experienced in the effects world, but I guess what's the title you go by as far as a job description?

I was a model shop supervisor. Supervisor. And probably before that, I was a chief model maker. I guess I usually try to go back and see what the beginnings are for most people in the industry. As a kid, were you a big movie fan or.

You know, I wasn't an extreme movie fan or anything like that. I know many of the people I work with saw all those kind of films. Creature from Black Lagoon, King Kong kind of things. And I saw them, but probably as a kid I was more interested in westerns. But I saw Space Patrol and Rocket Man and things like that.

Saturday serials, you know. But cowboy movies had a big influence on me. I had my gun set and my like Winchester and BB gun and all that. Kind of thing. At what point, I guess, did, uh, did modeling or how did that take, take hold of you?

I guess, was that young or, uh, again, I, I was, uh, I had certainly had model ships when there were pirate movies. I had, uh, you know, car modified cars and, um, that kind of stuff. But, um, It wasn't extreme. I got into art and art and painting and drawing and that kind of stuff and sculpting, and I did that in high school. But the model-making thing really came later on.

I was in college and certainly had all the different skills, physical skills, and I was certainly probably a better three-dimensional artist than I was a two-dimensional artist. And I graduated from school and was gone for a little bit. And one of my professors was looking for me. I had him for one class in industrial design, and some friend said that Dave Tompkins has been looking for you, and he wants to hire you to start in a business. And I was like, wow, I wonder what that is, because I needed a job.

And so I got in touch with him, and he said he was starting an industrial design business, and he wanted me to work for him. And I said, well, I don't. didn't study industrial design he said i don't care you know you had one class and and um let's uh let's start a business and so that's what we did we did yeah we did uh sanyo uh stereos we did uh yamaha uh snowmobiles we did uh rockwell calculator we did uh all kinds of stuff. Like that just basic design for all. Yeah yeah Yeah, and product development and that kind of thing. I worked on a.

The Japanese sent a Japanese toilet one year, and we had a contract to do six months of... development work on it to try and make it flush more efficiently with old bananas. We'd buy bananas and let them get really ripe and then test it again and modify it and test it again and all that stuff. So it was that kind of project, so. And then when did film cross into that business, I guess? Well, I was doing sculpting.

I was a good sculptor, a reasonable sculptor, and I was doing McDonald's parks, the Hamburglars and things like that with the swings under his arm and doing the original patterns for those. And I came across somebody I went to college with, and he had said, you know, we're working on a science fiction film out in the valley. and having a hard time finding model makers, do you think that you want to do something like that? And I was like, well, maybe. I'll go out and see what it's like. Little did you know.

Little did I know. Because I think we were hired just for two months to start out and to solve a particular problem. It was a problem with the Death Star, and I knew I had industrial design experience, and so we were able to apply that to the Death Star. So I guess it was already... The production was well underway.

Had they already had a design team working on all that? No, I'm not sure if it was well underway. I think they started in June, and I started, I think, in August. So they'd already started the Princess's ship, which was supposed to be originally Han Solo's ship, but they changed that later. There was only, like, maybe 30 people there when I arrived, 25, 30 people or something like that.

So it was close enough to the beginning, but... The design work is an ongoing kind of thing. Joe Johnson was the art director, and Ralph McQuarrie was a designer also, and George. But certain things were designed, but other things weren't yet. At what point, I guess, did you kind of take a hand in designing things, or did you just kind of come in and build at that point?

Well, designing. When you transfer things from two-dimension to three-dimension, there is design work involved in that. And we took sketches and then did our own drawings of right and left and all that kind of stuff. But really the design was done really in his head by George and then by Joe Johnston, the art director after that, and then to the model shop. But certainly we had a hand in the way that things finally came out and looked.

But sometimes you'd get a real complete sketch or five or six sketches. Other times you'd get a small little drawing. head this direction kind of thing. You could fill in the blanks. Yeah, fill in the blanks. That's interesting.

Is there anything kind of big that you want to lay claim to that you had a big hand in creating? Well, yeah. I had a really big hand in creating the Millennium Falcon. Yeah. And then also Slave I years later.

And I say Slave I because the model shop got bigger and bigger at that time. And I was not having my hands on as much. I was hitting the tops of the waves without getting to spend a lot of time on any particular ship. So when Slave I came along, I was really enamored of the shapes of it, the design of it and all that stuff. And so I kind of set aside some time to make sure that I actually participated as much as I could on the thing while I was heading up the shop.

That one's very unconventional. The Millennium Falcon looks great, but yeah, Slave I, just the design is so different. Yeah. Yeah, real different. As that went on, I guess, did you continue to just head things up, or did you do a lot more designing, like visual designing?

Well, me personally, I like to keep my hand in it. I like to cut with an X-Acto knife and make parts and glue parts and all that stuff. So even as the shop got bigger and bigger, I still didn't have a separate office or anything like that. I had a desk just like everybody else. And, you know, I'd have to split off and do budgeting and scheduling and that kind of thing.

Yeah. But it was more like hitting the tops of the waves, you know, doing some work here, dump some over there. So I always had my hand in all the various ships, but didn't get to work in as much depth as I did in, let's say, the Millennium Falcon and the X-Wing, as I did later on when Slate I and things came along. Yeah. You've worked pretty much steadily since then on a lot of different projects.

How would you say, I mean, I guess what is the biggest way that the industry has changed over the years? Well, CG came along. Computer graphics came along. And they did an incredible job of doing composites. It can be almost spotless compared to when you did blue screen.

And there were certainly more model makers on Sith than there were. There were only seven on the first Star Wars. There was almost 100 by the time we came to Sith. So there was a lot more work during the Star Wars series near the end. but we were a smaller percentage of the whole. On the first show, we were around 10% of the whole.

And by the time we reached Sith, we were more like 7% or something like that of the whole. But we were of a bigger group. There were 1,600 employees by the time we did Sith. There was only about a total of 70 by the time we did the first Star Wars. So that changed.

And right now, there isn't as much model work done as there even was at the end of star wars because it was that kind of movie so yeah and then it's moving you know more of it's done in new zealand now and it's done in england and places that they give uh tax rebates on labor and you know everybody's competing for that kind. Of thing that's such a big part of it now. Yeah it is a really big part of it and you you wonder well are they gonna do work in antarctica with uh penguins, they don't have to pay two cents an hour. If they give them enough tax break. They'll figure out how to feed penguins fish in exchange for CG work.

If somebody will do it, yeah, they'll find a PA in charge of penguins alone. You mentioned CG. Is that something, I mean, there is a good way to work it in there, but are you not a fan of it? At least on the low end scale of a bad CG work? Well, it's a blessing and a curse.

Yeah. They do certainly incredible things. A model shop could do incredible things too. Um, I'm not really in the thick of it really anymore because I have retired two years ago, but she does amazing things, you know, and just the world changes. Yeah.

Were you glad to see it, you know, as it came in while you were still working on all those projects? Was it handy to have there? Oh yeah, for sure. It was, uh, I, um, you know, not being a, uh, dyed in the wolves, computer graph, computer person, you know, I use the computer and email and all that kind of stuff. Right.

But, uh, they came along and I remember a guy giving a demonstration of how he could do the shadows over the planets, you know, and I thought, Oh, that's pretty neat. You know, the animation had to do it before and he had a program that could do it. And, you know, it grew and grew and grew. And, um, You know, in some ways it was like a hand-in-glove relationship for a long time. And one of the women at work said, well, sometimes it's more like a fist-in-a-glove relationship, a clenched fist, which was true.

But all the way through from the very beginning it had a very competitive feel. You know, this department will do that, no, this part. And we had different ideas about how each thing would be done in some cases and some kind of. Sometimes the decision would be made to go one way or another way. You'd make your best proposal and plan on what the budget would be, and sometimes you'd win at that and sometimes you wouldn't.

I guess there's some things about CG when you just use it and use it and use it. You can do everything and make everything synthetic. And when everything is synthetic, then what do you kind of grab onto for reality? Yeah, a little bit there. And the model shop stuff, especially when it was in conjunction with CG and the CG composites, you know, it had a real you're-in-the-world look to it.

And sometimes when it's all synthetic, it has a bit of a computer game feel to it. Definitely. Yeah. So that changes. I think sometimes kids aren't as critical of that kind of thing because they do computer games a lot.

Yeah. They don't know better without watching more of the old stuff. Yeah. You're tied heavily to Star Wars, but you've done a lot of other projects. Is there one that's kind of another one of your favorites or something that you're particularly proud of outside of the Star Wars universe?

Well, I'm certainly proud of the Indiana Jones group. Definitely, yeah. But we did wonderful work for all kinds of films. Mars Attacks was great. Not a movie that people watch very often these days, but it had great stuff in it.

It's underappreciated. Yeah. And Mission Impossible had great work in it that we did. Crash of that big tower. Men in Black.

There were just a lot of good, hard projects that had problems that had to be solved. I had a great time. I felt that I really loved it. Out. I just said upstairs that I kind of got to be living in Florence during the Renaissance.

Yeah, kind of. It was a great feeling. Its own, yeah, science fiction renaissance. That was the bulk of it. You said you officially retired.

Is there any other projects or anything you kind of want to work on, or are you done with it? Well, I worked last year. I worked for about six months on a NASA project doing models of ships that were used for NASA. And it went off to Copenhagen, Stockholm. And I guess another phase of that is going to be we're going to do the same thing but for Taiwan.

And so it's not literally for film, but it's the same people that I've worked with for years and years, and we're doing this one project. I have lots of things. I'm remodeling the house and redoing the kitchen and did a bathroom and that kind of stuff. That's enough work right there, really. Yeah, and I like doing that.

Very satisfying to do that stuff to the house that I never got to in the previous 25, 30 years. Yeah. You just didn't know if there was anything you wanted to promote or anything? No. I wrote a book called Sculpting the Galaxy.

There you go. And it basically is kind of the history of the model shop during the Star Wars series. And it was very satisfying to do that. I'm not a born and bred writer, but with time and stuff like that. came up with a book and it is reasonably popular you know people buy it and there's a big collector's edition version of it that weighs about 19 pounds yeah it has models and dvds in it. And i guess all that yeah it comes with actual all that actual stuff pieces of the death star yeah pieces of.

The death star and a little uh c-3po and r2d2 and a little man speeder and stuff. Like that it's a it's a really well put together project yeah it turned out. One of the It won like an award, an honorable mention at the New York Book Fair that year or something like that as a presentation book. It was Sculpting a Galaxy? Yeah, Sculpting a Galaxy.

The big book. Go check that one out. Otherwise, yeah, that's about it. Thanks for talking to us today. Okay, good.

Thanks again. Thank you. Don't be shy. We'd like to hear from you. So give us a call at 502-365-5565.

Or you can email us at geeksatmoviemeltdown.com. And just stop by the website for our frequent updates. That's moviemeltdown.com. Alright, so we are back in the parking lot at Wonderfest. We're in my car now.

Doesn't smell funny like Brian's. I don't buy that. Your truck smells funny. Whatever. He's got an odor, dude.

Anyway. So, um, what were your highlights of Wonderpants? Uh, Carolyn Monroe liked my hair. She was pretty awesome. She was very nice, as was Tammy.

Tammy was her helper, and I'm pretty sure it's her daughter. Oh, she's awesome. Yeah, she was actually really nice, so I want to thank Tammy as much as Caroline, because she sort of helped make it all happen, so. I like her righteous indignation when that person snaked us. Yeah, there was another podcast trying to move in on our territory.

They didn't try to. They just forced their way in. And he, like, butted all up in and started talking to her. And then, yeah, Tammy came back and. Was like, what?

What the? I can't leave for a second. And I agree. I like how she made them cut their interview short, though. It's because we're cooler.

And we were there first. And we followed the rules. Or as much as we ever followed the rules. But... We were trying to be respectful of the actors.

That guy was a douchebag. I don't know what podcasts they do, but it sounds lame. It's a podcast devoted to one guy's movies. That's it. One Italian guy's movies. lame-ass bullshit.

Yeah, it was kind of like, wow, I didn't even want to pick a genre. I didn't want to get painted into that corner, let alone one person's movies. I can understand a genre. I prefer one genre over most. We stick to that one more than most, but still.

To one director? One director is what he said. An Italian director, which I've never heard of, which really doesn't mean shit because I don't hear most people, but still, fuck that. Asshole. No offense to the rest of the Italian directors, but that podcast, yeah, I don't know.

I don't know what their plan was, but they were all up in our business. He seemed like a douchebag. He looked like a douchebag. He sounded like a douchebag. He walked like a douchebag.

Not quite as douchebaggy as that guy that we saw who looked like an 80s jackass boyfriend. Dude, seriously. He had the hair. It was regottenambiculous. But do you think it was a costume?

I don't know. I can't tell if it was like He didn't have a beard, so I don't think he was a hipster, but he did have tight pants. Hmm. And a V-neck shirt, which I hate V-neck shirts. Is there, like, a new mode of geek hipster?

I don't know. Like, you're so hip, you want to be a geek? Is that possible? I don't know. Ugh, he was sleazy looking.

I was going to try to get a stalker picture, but then I think he realized it and he walked away. Yeah, and you don't want to feed the ego of somebody like that. His head was already big enough. Holy shit. Like helium balloons lived in his hair.

You want to talk about your water? Two fucking dollars for 12 fluid ounces of water. Not even a full-size water. It's one of the stubby bottles. 12 fluid ounces.

This is fucking retarded. Two fucking dollars. I paid a dollar for... for two cookies, but $ 2 for a tiny-ass bottle of water? A fucking plant bottle, up to 30% plant-based. It should be fucking cheaper if it's got recyclable shit in it.

Maybe it's water from plants. I don't know. Minerals added for taste. I don't want fucking taste. It's water, for God's sake.

It's water. I don't want taste. If I want fucking taste, I'll go get some fucking flavor water. Dasani sucks. Ha ha.

But I hate Dasani. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I hate Dasani. I prefer Awkwafina. This episode not sponsored by Dasani.

Unless they want to give us money, and then you know what? Mmm. Dasani. Yeah, send that over. Send us some of that Coke money.

Was it Coke? I thought they were Pepsi. No. Oh, they're Coca-Cola. They're Coca-Cola.

Oh, I'm disappointed in you, Coca-Cola. So, Coca-Cola, if you'd like to send us a big check, we can change our vote. But without that, I don't know if she's going to be swayed. Well, I filled it up with hotel water, too, so I'm sure that didn't help. But you should get out of my work bitch oh there goes some jedis holy shit.

Yeah there are jedis in the bowling alley bowling alley parking lot across the street i fucker. Said across the street little kid liked my hair too that was pretty exciting um. I had somebody liked my shirt what are the odds of that and wearing the dorky grito shirt too. Somebody liked my tattoo uh Corey got mistaken for Lucille Ball. I'm not sure how he feels about that.

I don't think it's good. I don't know what to do with that at all, by the way. Yeah, but he was blind. That's true. And old.

He told you he can't see, so that doesn't help him. I was just glad he got rid of his creepy peeper stalker beard. If that came out correctly. Creepy peeper stalker beard. I can't even say it properly now.

He got me all wonked up. On the water. Oh, and you'll be surprised. You'll be shocked to hear that there was a Ghostbuster there. Oh, yeah, he had fucking a Carl Magnum face, too.

What's the odds that there would be a Ghostbuster at some sort of gathering of geeks? It's so unusual. Did you see a Jack Sparrow? Did I already mention Jack Sparrow? No, but can I add that I still think he looks like as if Jimmy Fallon were playing Jack Sparrow?

Like 15 to 20 years ago, maybe. Maybe he was still young. Jimmy Fallon's gotten old. I don't like that. Jimmy Fallon can't get old.

He still kind of acts like a child. That makes it okay. I don't watch his show. I'm in bed by then. I'm old, too.

It happens. It sucks. Anything else we'd like to pass along? We didn't really buy much. I didn't buy a damn thing but my overpriced water and my cookie.

There's a lot of cool stuff. I just don't have any money at this point. I'd like to, yeah, there's a ton of posters I want. I want to redo the whole thing and awesome posters. But, yeah, those all cost money.

So, I looked at a few. There's some There's some awesome stuff. Wasn't near enough Beastmaster stuff, I'll tell you that right now. Yeah, but that's your problem most places you go. They had one poster, but it's the same one I bought from them last time that I was there.

It's multiplying. They only have one until I buy it. Then they have another one. It's magic. The way that happens.

Yeah. I need to add that one to my list of stuff to get. Who doesn't need a Beastmaster poster? Seriously. Mark Singer, I want you to sign my poster.

Bring it on, bitch. You heard it, Mark. Get on it. Fuckin' Aang. Why does he not do more conventions?

And Dragon Con, man. Oh, I think that about wraps up this episode here from Wonderfest. So once again, if you haven't checked it out, lots of geek stuff, lots of model kits. We did see a lot of awesome models. It's fucking cold in there, too.

I forgot to say that. That's a good thing. It's fucking arctic in there. There needs to be a nice balance. I've been to a lot of really hot and stuffy and sweaty places.

Yeah, at conventions, and I'm glad that this was not one of those. But still, they could have, like, maintained it a little bit better. It's, like, fucking snowing in there. It's fucking cold. You could have worn a jacket. you were just wanting to show off the Enterprise I know what you were up to I was.

Throwing off the Enterprise and Corey didn't want to get left out so I wore a capris and I wore my tank top because I figured hey geek fest it's gonna be fucking hot in there it's gonna be geek sweat I'm gonna be prepared but fucking hell I'm freezing my ass off there I like to be air conditioned but this is just ridiculous you know I like my AC but I'm like fuck this is like I don't like that damn cold. I appreciate the welcome change of AC, as opposed to the miasma, as we've referred to it in the past. The fog of eternal stench. Yeah, we don't want that at any convention, so yes. Still, balance.

But yes, otherwise, lots of cool models, lots of geeky stuff, so check it out. I believe they are at wonderfest.com, so go plan ahead for next year. Otherwise, anything else you need to pass along? $ 2 water is ridiculous. I agree. That's why I didn't buy one.

That's thirsty. That about does it. We will return next week. Same geek time, same geek feed. Thanks for listening.

Bye. When no one else can understand me When everything I do is wrong You give me hope and consolation. You give me strength to carry on. And you're always there to lend a hand in everything I do. That's the wonder, the wonder of you.

And when you smile the world is brighter You touch my hand and I'm a king Your kiss to me is worth a fortune. Your love for me is everything I guess I'll never know the reason why You love me as you do. That's the wonder, the wonder of you. Play the song, James. I guess I'll never know the reason why you love me.

As you do. Oh, this is with Richard Peele. Yeah. I felt very short. This show is a production of Movie Meltdown, produced and edited by Brian Renfro, with opening music performed by The Empires.

To help support the show, email producer at moviemeltdown.com for ways that you can contribute or advertise with us.