134: 2011 - A Convention Odyssey

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Movie related. You can tell harrowing tales of the film industry if you'd like. Harrowing tales of the film industry. We don't have time, man. We don't have time.

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Our nuclear reactor pumping out one million kilowatts of power. Provide more cooling in. The containment chambers. To your sentinels, we have a rebound. Twenty million years ago, an ape-like creature inhabited the Earth.

And the ape stood and became man. What's the matter? What's up and welcome to Movie Meltdown. I'm Brian. I am Misty.

I'm Jake. I'm Greg. And we are awesome. And we are coming to you live via digital recording from the midst of the Fright Night Film Fest slash Fandom Fest. And we just had a nerd room reunion.

Revenge of the Nerds photo op or something. We did see Ogre go by and Booger and It was pretty exciting. No, it wasn't. It was for the people that were over there woohooing. They took their picture and they woohooed.

It was pretty exciting. And I want to go take my picture with Curtis Armstrong. All right, so we will continue on with the geek activities this week. So, Misty, Jay, do you have joint activities? I think for the most part we have joint activities.

I'll start with the one I did first myself. I've been watching the hell out of some Parker Lewis Can't Lose because, goddammit, Parker Lewis, he can't lose. He's so fucking awesome. I love me some Corin Nemec. I don't give a shit what anybody says.

He can only lose in the rest of his career. Dude, for serious. Yeah, I love Parker Lewis Can't Lose. I love that whole fucking show. I love all, like, watching it and the guest appearances that are on there.

Like, Mila Jovovich was on. Sorry, Mila Hovovich? I can't say that. Jovovich. Whatever the fuck her name is.

She was on an episode. I get excited. She was so cute. She was so goddamn ridiculously adorable. At the end of it, did it ever list it as, like, cute skinny chick?

I think she had a name, but I can't remember what it was. She's freakishly tiny. She was so cute. Oh, my God. But she's taller than me.

Yeah, but she's just so skinny. It's ridiculous. But, yeah, I watched the hell out of Parker Lewis. I love that show. I can't help it.

I'm addicted. I love that show. I don't care what anybody says. Who are the other fabulous guest stars that have shown up? I can't remember right now.

I know there's been plenty of them. I thought you mentioned one the other day, but now I can't remember either. I know one of the stars, Mickey Randall. I think his real name in like William is Billy something. But he was also in my favorite movie, Beastmaster.

He played Dar when he was younger. That's the one you were dealt with. I can't remember his name in real life. That was Billy something or William. I don't remember.

Jay, I saw you checking out the Captain America tattoo. I called that guy out earlier. I was like, that guy's been waiting for decades until they made a Captain America movie so he can walk around with, like, he bought, like, cases of tank tops for this summer. He was just like, I'm going to show this thing off every day. It looks all right.

I'll give him credit. It's not a terrible tattoo. No, it does look good. It looks really good. Yeah.

But you can tell he got it a long time ago, before Captain America was really cool. And he's been waiting, because now it's like two or three years ago when you'd show that to people, they'd be like, Captain America, really? Yeah. And now, like this summer, he's the coolest dude he knows. He was getting that tattoo, and he goes, one day this is going to be awesome.

Just wait until they option the movie again, because the last one didn't go over that well. Okay, back to your story. I don't remember. What else besides Parker? Me and Jay spent the last week watching the season three of True Blood.

That was pretty exciting. Actually, it wasn't very exciting. I take that back. It was a very non-climatic episode. The whole season was non-climatic, and the season finale was just like, That was the end of your season right there?

Yeah. It was kind of boring. They had moments. They had moments. But yeah, it's definitely starting.

I don't know. Just in my opinion, I believe the whole True Blood series is kind of starting to lose steam. It hasn't jumped the shark yet. We've got to wait until the musical episode. Then we know it's going to start jumping the shark.

Let's just say they deviated so far from the books. I think they tried so hard to be like, we're going to do this because it's so cool. They added so much more gay stuff. I mean, I had nothing wrong with that, but it's not in the books. The fact that they deviated so far, it seems like they tried to do it just...

To be controversial? Or just to wrangle in a certain audience. But, you know, whatever. That is an audience. But it's not the books.

Well, that's if you're taking the books literally. Like, that's always mine. That's two different arguments. But it seems like they're forcing it. Like, they're doing it just to try.

Because it makes them money. I mean, that's what it is. Well, they do have a gaggle full of hot guys on there. So, I mean, what do you expect? And they have a guy who plays Alcide, or Alcide, whatever the fuck his name is, and he has, like, three miles of chin.

Werewolf guy? Yeah. Yeah. He has a chin that's, like, from his neck to the tip of his chin. He could, like, house a family of orphans underneath there.

Well, that's nice of him. Does he do that? No. Oh, what a jerk, then. He's a werewolf.

He doesn't have to have his shirt off near as often as Jacob does. If you, like. kept orphans under there he gets snack on them when he turns into a werewolf dude seriously that'd be handy for him. They're lining up for more stuff. More geekery gonna unfold in front of us yeah what's. This one gonna be I don't know but yeah it's a true I love True Blood I love the books I've read them all except for the last one I haven't gotten around to it yet but I love them but it's just they're changing it so much and I don't know because the first season followed the book really close and.

Then I don't know to me that's just two different things Like, it's just, if you like the books, you better just read the books. And it's true, I've said that for years with movies. I'm just like, if you expect them to make the book, They're not. They're making something entirely different. So it's like you just have to put it in its own little box and watch it separately.

Because it's going to be something entirely different. Other than True Blood, we watched your apparently new favorite show that you're obsessed with. Ah, The Misfits. I know you've been waiting to talk about that. I've heard really good things about that.

Oh my god, that fucking series is hilarious. Even if you don't like British comedy. Because I don't like British comedy. She doesn't like British comedy. I made her sit down and watch it.

And she really didn't want to sit down and watch it at first, because one, it's a British show, and two, some of the accents are so heavy, but funny. But yeah, it's a show. That's based around these kids that are serving community service for different things, and they get struck by lightning. And they all get these weird, strange powers. One of them can turn invisible, and one of them.

Read minds. Read minds. And a couple of the other ones get different things. One of them has the ability to make people really horny and want to shag their brains out, which really doesn't seem like a very good one. Is it the power to get raped, is what you said?

Yeah. Doesn't seem like a very good power. It's not really the superpower you're looking for. I don't know. The character Nathan on there is probably my favorite character.

And he starts out. In the beginning episode. Yeah, in the beginning episode, I hated him. I was like, God, this guy's a dick. I just don't like him.

But as the show progresses on, he becomes like the funniest fucking character on there. Because all he does, he never has anything good to say about anybody. He's always making fun of the one weird kid. I can't think of his name. Simon.

Simon. Because Simon, I swear to God, Simon is like, he is a straight-up rip-off of Crispin Lover. If you want to rip people off, that's really not in the first choice you should go for. Well, no, for his character, it is. He's just kind of this really kind of moody, weird, introverted nerd, and he doesn't talk to anybody.

And, of course, Nathan just immediately starts attacking him. You know, what are you here for? Are you here for a panty sniffer? Are you a pervert? You know.

Yeah. It's a pretty good series. If you get a chance, check it out. I think the first season is on Hulu. So you can get on Hulu and check it out.

They're posting new episodes all the time. Or if you've got connections, you can get it other ways online. Or if you're in England, you've probably already... Watch the second season, which we've already watched the first and second season, and we're very excitedly waiting the third season to come out. That's a long time from now.

October, November. Yeah, not soon enough for me. We do have listeners in England, so yeah. If you're watching it, you know, let us know. Let us know if the second season turns out pretty good.

Well, we've already seen it, but it has turned out good. And I like it. Whatever. Well, will they even do another? Usually they wrap stuff up so quick in England, like, It's rare that a show goes, like, three seasons.

Like, you'll get maybe two. I've been doing three seasons. But from what I heard, I think Nathan's dropping out of it. Yeah. Which really kind of disappoints me because, like I said, he's one of my favorite characters on here.

I think Boyfriend has a main crush on him. Not really. He's just fucking hilarious. I'd be his friend. That's what I'm saying.

That's what I said about Duke. I'll hang out with Wolf Boy. Yeah, I don't know. I don't think we watched any movies. He'd be running around with his shirt off all the time.

Yeah, I would tell him, dude, really, it's uncomfortable now. Put a shirt on. It doesn't do me any good. You're sitting on the couch watching a movie. It's a little uncomfortable now.

Would you please put a shirt on? I'd end up being the ugly fat chick that has to hang out with him so he can pick. Up hot girls. I don't want to be like that. That means I've got to work out.

I don't know. Maybe he'll show me some ab secrets. There you go. I'm too old for that. You are.

I've got a six-pack. It's just buried under about 15 pounds of flesh. I think we all fall into that category. It's in there. Not too proud to admit that.

Anything else? Did we watch any movies? You know, I don't think we did. We spent most of the time watching True Blood. It seems like I watched some.

I did watch a movie. I watched two movies. I specifically remember watching him now because he had Timothy Olyphant in him. I watched. What was that?

Imagine that. I watched Catch and Release, which had Timothy Olyphant and horse face herself, Jennifer Gardner. Big old teeth. I don't have a problem with Jennifer Garner. She's all right.

It was weird because it's a romantic comedy that had Jennifer Garner, Timothy Olyphant, and Kevin Smith. Kevin Smith and one of his few strictly acting roles. Oh, you already watched that one? Yeah, you didn't want to watch it. Oh, okay.

It had Jennifer Garner in a romantic comedy. Weird. You did not want to watch it. I don't think she looks that bad. Hey, Jennifer Garner won a lot of things.

Of all people, I wouldn't have gone for her. But hey, whatever you need to do. It is a romantic comedy. It's got you in. The right one.

It was fairly decent. It's about a girl. She's getting ready to marry a guy. And he goes off on his bachelor party and he dies. So you never actually see the guy she was going to marry.

So I guess she actually meets Timothy Oliphant's character at the funeral. And, of course, he's nailing some girl in the bathroom while she's hiding in the shower. He is that cool. Yeah. And it's pretty much him, and he's hanging out, and apparently there's some shit that he has to help her deal with because there's a whole separate life that the fiancé had that she didn't know about.

So, yeah, it's this whole her having to deal with it and then eventually hooking up and all that shit. And then I watched Electrolux. The one I showed you the trailer for? It's got a. I remember you showing me the trailer.

Yeah, I think that was the title. Electrolux. Anyway, it's a former porn star who's having a deal with her mom. Apparently it's a sequel. I didn't watch the original because it didn't have Timothy Elf in it, so fuck the original one.

But yeah, it's Carla, that one chick whose name I can't say right? The mom from Spy Kids? Yeah. Well, anyways, it's her as a former porn star having to deal with life. She's getting a little bit older, so she's teaching a class.

There's always, like, granny porn. I don't see what the deal is. Well, she's pregnant, too. There's always pregnant porn. Yeah, there's pregnant.

Well, there's pregnant porn, so you just got to find your... Whatever kind of weird porn you got, there's a niche for it. There is. There's no possible way you could be out of the porn business. There is a market.

She wanted to have this kid not grow up being, hey, my mom's a porn star. Oh, yeah. So she's kind of wanting to... get out of it a little bit. You know, so her kid's not going to be ashamed of her growing up. She's supposed to be a better.

Role model and not, you know. So, yes. Yeah, I know. Actually, the trailers look pretty good. It is hilarious.

It's also got a Jordan, what's his name? Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Yeah, Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Oh, okay. He plays, like, apparently he has, like, a webcast where he talks about porn and, like, all the stars.

What kind of a dork would do something? Oh, wait, no. He reviews porn and stuff like that. But it's hilarious and funny. It's fun, and apparently Timothy Olyphant's character is a private investigator sent to find these lyrics that her boyfriend wrote about her before he died, and it's a big old train wreck, and a lot of it doesn't make a lot of sense, but it's funny when you do watch what there is.

The trailer looked funny. Oh, yeah. It's just kind of odd. I kind of liked it, but if you want a story that actually wraps up it all, don't watch it, because it just kind of fucking abandons you. So, other than that, I don't think I watched anything.

I don't think I watched anything either. I don't remember. Oh, that's the same chick. I thought it was. The one that was awake and asleep then and had tons of tattoos and was repeatedly going to the bathroom to puke.

Oh, she's the one in the plasticky Superman costume from the Horror Fest. Out of the other one. She was wearing that outfit last time. Yes, she was. It's one of those costumes you don't put it on, you pour it on.

Alright, is. It Greg's turn? Heat shrink. If you're ready. Yeah, I'm melting in the heat, but I'll go.

My kids actually got me. To watch a movie that I quite enjoyed. Alright. It was. And I know I heard about it, but I hadn't gone out and seen it.

And you all may have seen it. It's an animated movie. Igor. At least I like the subject matter. Right.

I still haven't watched it, though. It's an Igor in a world called Malaria, where basically everyone is a mad scientist and everyone has an Igor. They're the servant. Well, he's the creative Igor that wants to really pretty much be the mad scientist and He wants to create life. His mad scientist dies.

It's a very, very dark kid's movie. and it's Steve Buscemi plays a cat that's been made it's a bunny rabbit that's been made and he's immortal so he dies probably 40 times in the movie getting shot in the face everything that could possibly happen to him and he comes back alive this is a fun kids movie and the kids are just cracking up laughing at this which is exactly what I want to be doing um You know, jokes like he creates life and she's not evil enough, basically. So it has a feel of like Nightmare Before Christmas. And so he takes her to a brainwasher, him and his crew, to make her more evil. And sits her in front of, much like a Clockwork Orange, horrific scenes. Well, one of them, the bumbling idiot of the group accidentally changes the channel from another room, and she watches Inside the Actor's Studio for, you know, whatever prescribed.

Amount of time. That's pretty awesome. And she wants to become an actress. Well, it's all about how this actress. female Frankenstein becomes a death-killing machine. So it's quite amusing, especially if you're into dark stuff.

And a lot of the jokes are very understated. You have to really be paying attention and being an adult to catch them. Plus it also has a lot of slapstick Looney Tunes humor in it as well. It's a fun watch, especially with younger kids. It's not too mature.

And I very much appreciated it. Cool. Very cool. And I'm proud of my kids for recommending it. Nice.

Yeah, if Jay's kid ever recommended it, we'd be watching hours of Pokemon. Yeah, no, that's not going to happen. I swear to God, if I hear that Pokemon theme song one more goddamn fucking time. I swear to God, that's all she wants to do at night when she goes to bed. Fucking hate that.

Song. Violence and anger. Sorry. Go ahead. I've watched some other stuff, but as far as talking about, they're probably not worth it right now.

All right. Well, I guess that is it for the moment, so we will take a break and be back. Catch them is my real test. To train them is my cause. I will travel across the land, searching far and wide.

It's Pokemon to. Understand the power that's inside. Pokemon, gotta catch them all. It's you and me. I know it's my destiny.

Pokemon, oh. If you leave the theater, folks, please be careful. Don't let this happen to your car. Be sure to remove the speaker before you leave. If you should accidentally pull a speaker loose, please turn it in at.

Our snack bar or box office. Thanks. Welcome to the world of the not-too-distant future. Get going! Go!

A poodle gang is reshaping the world into their own vision of hell. And only one man can stop them. Jean-Claude Van Damme is leading the battle between good and evil. Take him out. As it's never been fought before.

He's on a desperate mission. To rescue a cyborg who holds the secret for saving the world. Why did you help me? I don't want to see you die. From the dust of destruction rises the warrior of.

A new age. Say goodbye, my friend. Jean-Claude Van Damme has become the first hero of the 21st century Cyborg. Now it's time for our continuing series that takes a look at filmmakers themselves. It's time to.

Focus on Albert Pugh. All right, we're back. Greg and I are here with a special guest. We have director Albert Pugh with us. And first, I just kind of wanted to do a little intro and kind of talk.

About you for a little while. I feel like, you know, being. As much as I love movies, I feel very removed from the Hollywood system where I grew up here in Louisville. You were even further from the system. So, was it Hawaii you grew up?

Yeah, Kailua, Hawaii, which is a small town on the other side of the mountains from Honolulu. Wow. And it was pretty isolated. I mean, back then there wasn't any internet, and movie making was very. Much a distant uh uh dream right I mean I don't I don't recall anybody that I grew up with that even thought about this as a as a business and um so it was it was tough there was no place even to develop film on.

The island wow that's that makes it difficult yeah oh so it was it were you I'm assuming a big fan of movies as a kid. Or yeah my dad was in the marines so we traveled around a lot and So I was exposed to a lot of foreign cinema really before American cinema. And didn't really see. Actually that many American films until the, I would say, early 60s. Mostly before then that was on Japanese films or French films.

So I think it sort of shaped sort of my approach to filmmaking in the language of cinema. Yeah. And now you have a very distinct difference from American movies. So yeah, I guess that way. But one of the influences back then, when I was a kid that I really liked, even though it made no sense to me, was the Godard movies.

And I just liked, they were so extreme, and they're so sort of in your. Face, and it was, I just really liked it, and it was like, there was really an attempt to see the world from a little different point of view than was normally seen, so. I really respected that, and that, I think, influenced me as well. Very cool. So I guess once you got involved in the closest thing to the industry in your area that you could, you ended up doing a lot of different jobs early on?

Well, an actor, really a superstar in Japan, Toshiro Mifune, had seen a short of mine and brought me to Japan because he understood how hard it was to, especially back then, to get into the business. and how impossible it was really to do it from Hawaii. And the fact that I was Asian was triply sort of hard because there weren't really any Asian-American directors then. So he thought that the best place for me to begin and to get some experience was Japan. So he brought me to. Japan, and I worked there for about a year and sort of interned, but got to do a lot of different jobs.

And then I settled on. Being a second assistant cameraman to Takao Saito, who shot a lot of Kurosawa films. And originally when I went to Japan, Mifune was going to do a film with Kurosawa called Duruso Uzawa. But the shoot location had changed, the schedule had changed, and it went from being something that Mifune wanted to do, and then when he found out it was going to be shot in Siberia, he just didn't want to go spend you know, months and months and months in. Siberia, so he opted out.

I went with him, and he had a production company that did a lot of movies and TV shows. That he started, and I started working on those. And, you know, and then when I got back. To Hawaii, it was actually very easy to get a job, obviously, because I had more experience on sort of a world stage than almost anybody else there. So I worked for the largest, I went to work for the largest commercial production house there.

So was it always your intent to do specifically directing, or did you just want to work in the industry in general? No, it really wasn't directing, per se. It was making movies. And I grew up making movies since I was 9 or 10 years old. And so that was really the emphasis, that I used to go and make as many as 2 or 3 movies a week.

And I just got into that rhythm, and... So I think that's really what drove it. I just wanted, you know, to see ideas up on the screen. Yeah, definitely. Just to touch on a few of yours, I mean, right off the bat, The Sword and the Sorcerer, that's grown into such a big, you know, following over the years.

What was it, I guess, what was the shoot itself like? Well, it was a, it was, you know, being the first film, I was pretty naive about the process, and... I didn't really have a good relationship with the producers on the film, and I actually quit one night, and Lee Horsley. The star of it, actually talked me back onto the set. So I'd walked off, and I was.

About ready to get in my car and drive home, I said. And people were going, wow, it's your first film, you can't quit on your first film. And I just said, I'm not putting up with this. I've got to be able to make the film the way I see it, or else it's not worth being here. And I think that one of the things.

Certainly, I don't know if it's worked for me or against me, was the fact that I never really saw, you know, a film career as like a directing career or a fame or money thing. It was really just I wanted to make films and I wanted to make them my way. And so, you know, that sort of attitude doesn't really jive well in Hollywood. Yeah, yeah. For somebody going into it and having to deal with a budget, you always pick such grand... scale projects as far as post-apocalyptic or medieval times or, you know, you have to change everything about your environment.

Did that ever hinder you from doing a specific project? Well, it definitely hinders the final. Result of a project. Yeah, I guess. But, no, I mean, well, yeah, I mean, it's definitely dealt the outcome of the movie.

Some serious blows. It didn't coalesce quite right. Because there'd be moments that don't work, or generally, like, actually, Sword and the Sorcerer, Radioactive Dreams, I think the first four or five films that I did, I don't even think I got a cut on films. I was actually, you know, locked out of the editing. Room, and now I have about, I don't know, I think from the late 80s all the way to the, almost to present day, certainly to 2000, I think I did about 30 films and of the 30 films, I think three or four.

Of them I actually got my cut. And the rest of them, like Adrenaline, Bob Weinstein. Pulled me off, and. Captain America, Columbia TriStar pulled me off. I mean, I got pulled off a lot of movies after I shot them.

And then on Cyborg, Vondam... kicked me out of the cutting room. So, you know, it's... For some reason, going into the projects, everybody really loves the idea and the concept and my ideas. And then when I actually make that movie, I go, oh, wait a minute, this isn't what we thought. Nice.

And that was one of the next ones I was going to get to, was Cyborg. So what. I guess you've sort of led to what that process was like. Was Van Damme a difficult one to work with? At that point, I think Van Damme was still early in his career.

He was still innocent and I think had a great enthusiasm and was still on the ascent of his career. So he wasn't that bad. I think as the movie progressed, you could see signs that he could be susceptible to sort of the... You know, sort of the star aura. Ego, maybe?

That's just even ego. I think it's just he starts to realize that he has the power to control things. When you become the focus of not just a movie but an entire series of movies, it's all based around me. Right. And, you know, once you realize that you've become a very valuable commercial property, I think it really changes a person.

And I was lucky that during the whole shoot of Cyborg in North Carolina... Jean-Claude's dad was there the whole time. So, you know, he was on pretty good behavior because I don't think he wanted to. And I heard his dad chastise him a couple times in French. So I know that having his dad there.

And I did a film with actually Charlie Sheen in Scotland called Postmortem. And his mom came with him. And so for the six days that he shot on the film, he was fine. Always knew his lines, always showed up on time. never trashed the hotel room until the last night. And I think that's a product of his mom being there.

Sometimes you need that parental influence to keep things. On an even keel. It's hard to bring hookers in when your mom's around. That ruins everything. And I think his mom went home on the last day of shooting, and then he was there one more night, and then all hell broke loose.

Cramping my style, Mom. God. Oh, well, then... Maybe it's for his career to keep his mom around. Yeah, I think maybe she needs to just sit with him all the time.

And then it was going to. Yeah, you mentioned Captain America. So that's... Now, specifically, it's certainly... come back into the light and become a big property. So I guess what was your Captain America like and how did you get involved with it?

Well, when we started shooting, we lost our funding almost immediately. And we were in Yugoslavia and it created obviously a lot of pressure on us to even just continue to film. So what we ended up doing was trying to use the momentum. Of speed because I could shoot pretty fast. And we just kept the momentum, tried to keep the momentum going so it wouldn't just stop dead.

So even though, you know, like we couldn't pay a hotel bill or we couldn't pay an equipment bill or a lab bill, we could, you know, because we were moving ahead at a pace, we were always able to keep everybody connected. still, you know, working forward, even if they didn't get a paycheck that week, or it was late, or, you know, it just, it was, but it's difficult when you're shooting that way, because you're not really shooting the movie anymore, you're really shooting, the shoot is totally controlled by the deal and the financing, and it was miserable, and we lost a lot of the action scenes, because those are obviously the most expensive things, and in 1989, you had to stage it practically, there was no CGI, so, It was very involved and it was very costly.

So a lot of those things were the first things we cut out. Of the shoot. It is different than most superhero movies because it almost does focus on the guy more so than the costume superhero version. So it's more interesting, I think, the way that it focuses on him and what he's going through. And then I was going to ask, was that part of the storyline, was that pre-existing?

Did that come from Marvel, that the whole, like, almost time travel? It's like he loses, you know, what, 30, 40 years there. So it's like, was that a pre-existing notion that they came to you with in the project, or did. That get added? No, I think that was in the script, and I think that was pretty much from the comic book.

I think that one of the marching orders, I think, to the writer, Steve Tolkien, was that he had to be he had to be a slave. To the comic book. And when we started shooting, like, I wanted to adjust the Captain America costume a little bit to make it a little more practical for somebody going into, you know, war on a mission. Marvel probably didn't like that. No, they didn't like that at all.

Although in the new one, I noticed that they made a lot of adjustments. Oh, yeah. And, like, they removed the wings off his, you know, and stuff like that. So, you know, it was... We had a lot of difficulties with that, but I think. what we really wanted to do, once we realized that the funding was gone, we really focused on that part of the script that was about Steve Rogers and him, his sort of quest or journey to becoming Captain America.

And it really, you know, just because somebody gives, like, I think what he learns is that you can't just be given an experiment and. Cured, you know, his polio's cured and he's stronger and he's faster. He's given this costume and it's called Captain America and then all of a sudden he's going to be this hero right off the bat without earning it, I guess. And the movie's about him realizing that and that he has responsibilities to earn that title or name and to earn the right to wear the costume. And that's kind of what we focused on.

And then within that cast, it made me want to ask you, because... You got to work. With Darren McGavin. Right. I love Darren McGavin.

What was he like working with? Wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. Actually, before he agreed to do the film, I had to meet him. And I met him in London, where he lived then.

And he was just the most, I mean, just the nicest man. And kind. I mean, he has that. You know, he always has that persona of being kind of a grumpy, you know, guy. But in real life, he's just so pleasant and nice and easygoing.

And, you know, it was one of the best experiences I've had. Yeah, he seemed like he would be amazing to be around. And then you also got to work with, years later, Dennis Hopper. What is that? What is it like trying to be on set with Dennis?

Dennis was wonderful also. I think at that point in his life, he had gone through all the wars that I was still going through. And he knew I was going to continue to go through them because he knew you can't buck the system. without paying a price. He did it years ago. He told me that.

He commended me the fact that I wanted to do it the way I wanted to do it. And that was it. He told me that there would be a price to be paid for that. And it was actually on that movie Ticker. I had to pay a pretty extreme price.

I got removed from that film too. But he was great because By that point, he had built up so much life experience and film experience that he understood, even before I talked to him, what needed to be done and how it needed to be done. He was just amazed that we could shoot. I think he was in. 25 pages of the film, which is a quarter of the script.

We shot all of it in one day. He was in a dozen locations. We still shot all of his stuff in one day. Wow. And he was, that's exactly what he said.

He said, he said, he just goes, wow, you blow my mind. He just kept saying, this blows my mind, this blows my mind. Yeah. I mean, most shoots you get, yeah, like two or three setups a day. But I think he liked it because it kind of took him back to more of how he started.

And it's kind of like how he did Easy Rider, which was just kind. Of a, really guerrilla style film and nobody knew what it was going to be and they were just all following their noses and we appreciated the fact that I had to shoot them out in one day. That's amazing. Let's see. I guess you've had a lot of different experiences over the years.

Do you have any advice for up and coming filmmakers? I think you just have to not try to anticipate what the way you think things should be and how you need to adapt to those things i think you just need to be who you are and uh you know be persistent yeah i think persistence is the main thing don't let anything i mean like one of the things that i've always believed which i said when anybody said no that was. A maybe yeah and anybody. Said maybe that's a yes and so let that be the So that way, when you get the no's or rejections or passes, they're actually on. The fence about you.

So there's a chance. As long as you believe that, I. Think you can make any film you want to make. and you can because one of the things i've learned is that either with studios or banks or whoever you're dealing with or investors is they really don't invest in the movies of art and i think they invest in the individual yeah and they look you in the eye and they say can i trust this guy with my money will this guy protect my investment yeah to. The hill no matter what happens. Come hell or high water even as an atomic war this filmmaker will figure out a way to get this film done and.

Get my money back nice and and. I think that that's what maybe filmmakers don't really understand uh it doesn't come down to concept or how good something is or how bad something is it really comes down to the commitment of that filmmaker to their project yeah Definitely. I did want to help you get the word out on the stuff you've got coming up. So you've been doing director's cuts of your movies? Yeah, yeah.

And information is available about those director's cuts at pernampictures at gmail.com. And basically because I was thrown off with so many of my movies, but I retained the material to write the release because that was usually. The settlement for me not to pull my name off the movie. So I didn't you know, I had the privilege of being able to now reconstruct these director's cuts or my cut of the film in most cases for the first time and release them to the public and people could see what I had in mind. And, you know, I'm trying to at least really go after at least the most maligned of my films.

Yeah. Captain America being one. It's good timing for that one. And hopefully people, you know, can appreciate what I was intending to do. Definitely.

Very cool. Anything else you want to put the word out on my. Project that's it mainly they should just check my facebook page at our two movies for updates on what I'm doing and how things are proceeding pretty fluid. We'll take a break here we'll be back with our movie of the week. Music Tweet Audio, your source for high-performance.

Noise-reducing earbuds. Available in three styles and seven colors. Durable and designed to sound great for both music and those chatty podcasts, like the one you're listening to now. Tweaked Audio earbuds come with a one-year warranty, and now there's a special deal for Movie Meltdown listeners. Just go to tweakedaudio.com, and when you check out, enter the discount code MELTDOWN.

Then you'll get 33% off and free shipping. Tweaked Audio. Sounds better. You thought that all would last forever. But like the weather, nothing can ever.

I'm C. Thomas Howe and you're listening to Movie Meltdown. Staying old. But can it be? It's time for Sofa Theater.

Well, thank you, Dr. Alderson. Hi, everybody. Nice to be back with you. Well, first of all, I bring a personal message from Dr.

Howell, who has asked me to convey his deepest appreciation to all of you for the many sacrifices you've had to make. And, of course, his congratulations on your discovery, which may well prove to be among the most significant in the history of science. Now, uh, I know there have been some conflicting views held by some of you regarding the need for complete security in this matter. More specifically, your opposition to the cover story. Created to give the impression there's an epidemic.

At the base. I understand that beyond it being a matter of principle, many of you are troubled by the concern and anxiety this story of an epidemic might cause to your relatives and friends on Earth. Well, I. completely sympathize with your negative views. I found this cover story personally embarrassing myself. However, I accept the need for absolute secrecy in this.

Dr. Floyd, have you any idea how much longer this cover story will have to be maintained? I don't know, Bill. I suppose it'll be maintained as long as deemed necessary by the council. All right, we're back with this week's special guest, Albert Pugh, and we're going to do our Sofa Theater Feature of the Week, which this week is 2001, A Space Odyssey.

The director is Stanley Kubrick. The year is 1968, and the plot, according to IMDb, mankind finds a mysterious, obviously artificial artifact buried on the moon, and with the intelligent computer house, that's off on a quest. I think it's much bigger than that, but that's what IMDb says. That's a pretty poor description of it. It's a pretty minor description of it.

All right, so that is our movie of the week. So where would you like to begin with this one? Is this something that you personally. I saw it with my dad in the Cinerama Theater in Honolulu when it came out. And I remember. in the lobby getting my dad to buy me the program that came with it because it was like a road show it was in full cinerama three projectors.

Yeah back when they used to do that you used to be able to get programs and stuff in the lobby i remember. That and um so it was this really slick program that was what i and i maybe it's one of the reasons i shoot all my films on widescreen is that that program the format of the program was in widescreen so i could bend that program the around my head like a cinema screen. Wow. And it actually sort of came to life. And so when the movie started, well, first it has a really long overture.

Oh, yeah. And I love that. I think it took, I don't know, it took how many minutes for the lights to dim in the theater? It starts really slow, so you're not really that aware that the lights are dimming. And the overture is going on and on, and suddenly the lights, you're aware suddenly that the lights are dimming.

And it's just such a magical thing. And I just thought that this is really what, you know, a cinema experience should be. Where you're just surprised and you're enthralled and you're sucked into the world of that movie. And when the screens open up in the Cinerama, what was amazing to me was when they pass the. Point where you normally see the curtains.

And it keeps going. And the curtains keep going and going and going. And it was just amazing. And then there's that opening shot, you know, with the... uh for the planets and yeah and so I think I was just so amazed of the vision not not even the movie or the story or the actors or anything just a vision that somebody had and the commitment somebody had to bring that experience into a theater in Hawaii you know and I was going this is definitely you know the business I want to be in and uh because I just love that experience and I was a kid and I didn't quite understand the story like a lot of other people, but the. Vision was very clear.

And he took you into a different universe, different worlds, and he presented cinema sort of in a different, with a different language. And I just thought that was just magical and Yeah, and that's something I've tried to do with my films, and try to present sort of the more, like even, you know, even like The Cyborg with Van Damme, or Ticker with Seagal. You can see the director's cuts, I really try to emulate that, try to give the audience something different, and give them an experience more than just, you know, what they expect from the genre. Yeah, I mean, it definitely, especially I was thinking back, the time frame, I mean, it was... If you think back at.

That point, we really didn't have all of this sci-fi, especially cinematic. There was like maybe star trek on tv but you hadn't seen star wars in the theater and you hadn't seen you know the star trek movies and all the big blockbusters that came i mean this this was predating that so it's like this kind of did have to blow your mind at that point that you're presenting this grand a scope and at the same time you're also doing it with what they had perfected some pretty impressive special effects for being, you know, 68. I mean, just re-watching it this weekend, it was like, it still holds up. It's like, it's rare that you see anything that I would even imagine them doing differently now. It still looks that good.

The vision is so strong behind the film, and you can't really, the sound, the music, the pictures, just the framing, every aspect of that movie is just so... strong because of the vision behind it. And that's partly why probably I do take on these movies like Radioactive Dreams where I don't really have a budget for Sword and Sorcerer or even Cyborg or any number of the movies that I've done. I think there's always something about that that I strive for. Yeah. Ben, did you have anything to add?

Yeah, it was interesting that you went into the score at the beginning and the overture and everything. That's the thing that separates that movie from me. Just that the sound, and not just the sound of the score that goes along with it, and what he chose to put in it, but all of the sound throughout it, and sometimes even the lack of sound, you know, what's going on at those moments. Almost tell the. Story as well or better than the visuals do.

It's, you know, I I saw it very young and then saw it much later in my life. I didn't know what was going on when I was young, but there was still an impression burned in my head that there's something bigger going on, there's something grand going on. And every part of it, from. Just the entire feeling of the film. In every sense almost just tells you no there's something bigger going on than just a regular movie I think that's.

The power of vision we see a movie where the filmmaker. Had a really distinctive vision whether it works or not almost as irrelevant to the fact that you're seeing something that has a strong will behind it and it's something that person really wanted to put on the screen it's not a job it's not you feel that passion and I think that you know I've I try to do that with my films. I don't know if it's always... I think probably because of. The context my films are distributed and presented in, like Cyborg was just seen as a Jean-Claude Van.

Damme martial arts thing. And I think that when it's presented in that context, and then all of a sudden you try to give it something like... Because originally when I screened Cyborg for Canon, I screened. It in black and white. Because i didn't even think color belonged in the movie you know and uh you know it's like it's it's but because they're so enamored of a certain type of film in the market that they you know 2001 really didn't have that problem because it clearly when they went into it they let them they wanted to see kubrick's vision yeah and uh so the purity of that is there and and.

I wish, hopefully at some. Point in my life, I'll get that opportunity where I can just do a pure, you know, what I have in mind. Yeah. I mean, they really did sort of let him go to town, more or less, and they give him that freedom because he does, like, you brought up the sound, and it's like there's so much of it that there's no talking. I mean, I think there was, like, somewhere a breakdown of, like, 75% of the screen time, there's.

Not dialogue being spoken. Right. So, I mean, that's very unconventional. And it's, I mean, even by today's standards, that's very different than what we're used to. So it was bringing a really artistic end into it that maybe people hadn't seen before.

Because you get somebody doing something like that and taking on this grand scale, like hundreds of years plot line, more or less. He was messing around a little bit with the fact that audiences then, even now, need to have Specific signposts, even in dialogue or something, to tell them what the movie's plot is, where they're at in the story, who these people are. And he just totally ignored all of that. That's where I thought, you know, it's a great achievement in art. You know, it's purely impressionistic.

And actually, I. Thought about 2001 when you were going to do this. I re-edited Tales the last three days. before the screening tonight at midnight and I thought about that I said you know the problem with this movie has been that I'm trying to please sort of an audience or a market and that I'm not really following sort of my own instincts and trying to make a mass appeal movie when that's not the movie that I made and I had to go you know so now the way the movie is and I was a little worried about this but we'll see how it works tonight is that I have flashbacks in the movie which tell the bulk of the plot. But you're never really aware that you're in the flashback. You know, it's like you lose a little sense of time and place.

And I thought that was an interesting thing to bring to the sword and sorcery genre, you know? Feel that disorientation that you should feel when. You go into another world. I think you need to do that, like, as an artist in general, but specifically a filmmaker. I think that's what.

So many mainstream movies now suffer from, is that fact that they... They go in with a very specific set of rules, and the corporation backing it wants this, this, and this, and you have to meet all these little specifics, and then by the end, you've totally watered down what you started out to make. So you can see that, I mean, that was something Kubrick did not worry about. He's just like, what corporation would back you to make crazy monkeys jumping around for the first 15 minutes in your science fiction movie? It couldn't happen today.

No, there's no way they would. Let that happen. People would get up and walk out. Yeah, right. And what's interesting, and you were talking about the signpost, the few times that they bother to put up the little, like, you know, description of where they are.

What I always thought was funny is the fact that it originally comes up with the dawn of man, but it doesn't change from that time period until we find the monolith. So all the way up through those millions of years of evolution, and even up through modern day when we're flying through space, it still considers that the dawn of man. I was like, that's kind of interesting that, like, we don't even ascend to the next level in the story until we come in contact. With the monolith that second time. I thought that was always really interesting.

And I think, you know, I mean, I think it's going to be, I think you don't see that type of risk-taking anymore with filmmaking. And so films just don't, I mean, back when I grew up, I was lucky enough to grow up in the 60s when, you know, you had 2001, you had Easy Riders. You had, you know, Taxi Drivers in the. 70s and, you had all these really adventuresome movies that you just don't, you don't see that where every week there was some audacious sort of, uh, vision on the screen. And, um, you know, I'm hoping.

Like the tales is that I know people have a certain expectation of the sword and the sorcerer and, and the genre itself and Kevin Sorbo and stuff. And I'm hoping that we give them a little bit of a, of a mind trip. And yeah, there'll be some people that will probably walk. Out because it won't be what they want. It doesn't, and tell them how they should feel about it.

They just have to react to it. And that's really, I think, the best thing that we can accomplish, that I can accomplish with Tales, is that it's just a movie that you react to, and it's how you feel about it. Somebody asked me, oh, is there a lot of action in it? Well, you know, it's not really, it's a fantasy film. It's like a head thrill.

Yeah. Yeah, that's the way it should be. Again, I think you have to do that. as an artist to come out with something you're happy with. Just kind of go with what you want to do and create your vision. You look at what Kubrick did.

It doesn't fit what anybody else would do, and it does very much leave it open to the viewer themselves to, by the end of it, kind of piece together the story. He really left a lot of it wide open. That last third of the film is just kind of like, okay, here's some images. I think the great advantage Kubrick has beyond the strength of vision and the will that he had, was that he didn't have to cast Steven Seagal. I think Steven Seagal would have ate the spaceships.

He would have ate Hal. Wow. The star child at the end would have been his vomit. Floating in space. I'm trying to picture Seagal in the middle of 2001, and it's kind of making my brain.

No, I mean, I think that that's its own sort of challenge. Yeah, yeah. I mean, he definitely was, you know, top of his game and then even, I guess, of his power at that point because he does bring in A-list people and the effects are top of the line. So, I mean, it is sort of, you know, when you've got perfect situations to work with, you can definitely. Come out with something amazing.

But, yeah, I think even along the way, he's, I guess, fighting the audience for, like, you know, having them wanting to have some sort of preconceived notion or having. You spell everything out for him where he doesn't do that. I mean, it's... Well, I think that's where he was smart. The film begins five minutes or eight minutes before the film actually formally begins, where we as an audience say, okay, now it's beginning. yeah we're not really conscious that the film has already began and i think that was the brilliance of that overture and.

The way that they deal with the lights and you. Know i just think it was uh you know it was a very very interesting way to psychologically draw. The audience here and it's very like showman like i was thinking especially when you get to the intermission and that doesn't even process in today's world but i was like it really was like a like an experience, you know, that you would go and sit there and listen to an overture in the middle of a movie. It's like our popcorn-eating crowd now doesn't understand that at all. So that's funny.

Going into the opening of the movie, I was going to ask. Well, first of all, it occurred to me as I watched it, I was like, if they did this now, those would be CGI apes. Yeah. There's no way they would let people... And the thing is, those look really good.

I mean, for a 60-year-old... Well, I think it's more poetic when you get it in models. I think there's a realism. And a sort of a weight to that that you don't see in CGI. Yeah.

I was thinking even the characters, I mean, you look at like the rise of the apes coming out and it's a hundred percent CGI characters. And I was like, that's kind of sad because I think there's something to those guys in makeup. And, and, you know, I think, you know, it's, it's a little, I mean, you can kind of tell, but at the same time, I think that's sort of the point too. I mean, you are dealing with that dividing line between ape and when they become man. So it's like, you kind of need people in those suits.

So it's, I think that, yeah, that part was kind of, it's sad that, yeah, I know now if it was back, there would be nothing but CGI apes running around. I don't know, I guess, what were your thoughts on the opening with him and the bone and that whole. I was just blown away. I mean, just, first, I'd never seen anything like that. Never seen or experienced.

Uh movies that way and i think that that was the thing that i took away from it didn't really matter what it was about you know but the story or plot or you know what was going on it was the experience of of healing that scene yeah uh that was fresh and wonderful and you know it's it's really too bad that the experience doesn't really exist that. Often not much no but it does I mean if you go back now and try to piece together because it is sort of something you can just sit back and watch and take it in and not put as much thought into it if you don't want to but then when you do it's like it is that it is funny that he wanted to capture that moment especially dealing in this big sci-fi movie that he wanted to capture that moment of mankind first figuring out a tool and being able to learn to use a tool so I think that's comes to play that's what i've seen you know people then compare that to that's the most basic use of a tool and then to fast forward millions of years to you know through evolution we've got how being the ultimate version of a tool that man is using and how he sort of loses control with it.

Again yeah i just i just i felt that uh really the dawn of man was almost like. Also that whole thing always struck me as like. The dawn of cinema yeah it's You're really seeing cinema. Jump up in the evolutionary scale. You do see stuff back in the early days to what they can do on good projects.

It is really amazing how far it's sort of left. I always thought it was interesting, too, that that same moment, it's like we see mankind first use a tool. It also becomes basically the first murder tool. I mean, before, they didn't really interact that way. Everybody was afraid, and everybody just stayed away from each other.

But once they found the power behind being able to use the tool and think that extra little level, it then occurred to them to murder someone. So I think that's very telling of humanity at that point, that the first thing we learn how to do is kill. And again, it comes back into play later when Hal sort of... first comes to his consciousness of whatever he is in the universe starts killing people so it's I think it's. Interesting the you know that that comes. Into play.

Yeah I mean I guess I guess I don't know if we're getting into that any deeper but I guess that whole idea of evolution I mean you say you know dawn of film and everything but that's what the movie is about is evolving past and breaking free I mean I guess when he does break free from hell he's able to evolved beyond you know a man is no longer tied to his tools you know his tool was his life support everything every everything was contingent upon him having that tool or we would be dead and so therefore uh once he's able to break free from that you know that whole final act is all about evolving past that no longer being caught in that prison i mean at least that's that's how i see it i know that that's always open for interpretation but um, breaking free of that, you know, and.

Actually evolving past what we were. And, and, and I guess, you know, like you said, that beyond just a, I mean, when you think about on a film level is, okay, don't box yourself into what the tools of the trade are. What, what can you do? You know, alone, like you said, having an overture before. The film even begins, you're branching outside of what more the film can be.

Right. And I'm still, you know, that, that, Aspects of that movie really stay with me. I mean, because I think in a lot of the films that I've done really since 2005, I've tried to explore that aspect of it, which is the pure experience of how you perceive a movie and how to use that as really what the movie's about. Yeah. As opposed to, you know, plot, good guy, bad guy, and.

That kind of stuff. Yeah. Well, we can jump, I guess, ahead into the plot, into the space stuff, into the bulk of the movie in outer space. I mean, that too is kind of interesting because it does, I mean, being 68, we'd barely even gotten into space. So it's like looking how much of it became pretty similar to the real world and how some of the space flight stuff is actually the way that it ended up happening.

But even like the crossing over into like the corporate sponsorships on everything was kind of, frighteningly accurate as time goes on now that you've got like your moon base being sponsored by what was it the Hilton space station and then the Howard Johnson's advertising so I mean it is funny how it already saw how much everything was going to have to become commercial but like if you're going to get these billions of dollars to fund space you know you're going to have to get it from somewhere so I I thought that was kind of eerie in how accurate some of that stuff was. I always saw the Hilton and the Howard Johnson as being like MGM or Universal. Like it's stamped on your movie. Pretty much, yeah.

And that's how you get. At the age I was, I saw everything through the glasses of filmmaking. I guess I saw a different movie in a way because of that. I was always. I was just subconscious about the movie, what this movie was saying about, to me as a filmmaker.

I know you've got to get back over there. Thank you. Thank you for talking to us. I appreciate it. Thank you.

You don't mind talking about it, do you, Dane? Not at all. Well, certainly no one could have been unaware of the very strange stories floating around before we left. Rumors about something being dug up on the moon. I never gave these stories much credence, but particularly in view of some of the other things that have happened, I find them difficult to put out of my mind.

For instance, the way all our preparations were kept under such tight security, and the melodramatic touch of putting Drs. Hunter, Kimball, and Kaminsky aboard, already in hibernation after four months of separate training on their own. You're working up your crew psychology report. course i am sorry about this i know it's a bit silly. So we're changing gears here since albert had to leave we're uh we've we've got a new guest here so uh tell him your name sir hey my name's steve gladstone all right filmmaker yeah i'm. A filmmaker uh gladstonefilms.com you can find me on facebook and Check out my screenplay at www.blakehousemovie.com.

You're here, so go watch the movie. It's a heartwarming story of a young cheerleader who, in order to win a college scholarship, must survive the night by babysitting a zombie child. A good tie-in for the babysitting theme we've got this weekend. Oh, well, let's see. We'd gotten through the monkey parts, but if you have anything else to add with the ape setup, we just started to move into the space age on 2001.

No, that's beautiful. 2001 is. Almost to the point where there are no words to describe the impact of the film and the beauty of it. And sort of like, I think in the end, Kubrick is the best director. I mean, I have a personal like for Gilliam.

Yeah. His earlier stuff. I think he's gone a little far. And again, Terrence Malick and his earlier stuff. Yeah.

But just the. Amount of control that you get with Kubrick, just his knowledge of the technique and in dealing with actors. just how much planning he put into everything, that he would spend years of research before he even started a project. Yeah, that was amazing. And apparently, you know, what I love is the story about Spartacus, how he ended up taking over Spartacus, because he was like, well. I can't do worse than anybody else.

Yeah, well. You know, every time I go to work on a film, shoot a film, I'm like, well, I can't be worse than other people. So you might as well go full out for it. But, you know, the lovely story, one of the stories is they were looking for a specific lens. Yeah.

And It was a matter of, they were shooting with 35, and they needed a very specific adapter, and the lens manufacturer comes. He's like, no, no, it doesn't exist. And he's like, no, no, it's in your catalog. Right here, right here, this page, right here. It's exactly what I need to just magnify the image just enough to cover my shooting format ratio.

And from a technical side, I don't get that a lot with directors. And when I work with directors as a shooter, and. When I'm directing, it's funny because I don't want to know that much. I want to deal with that. I want to deal with the actors when you're directing.

So it's a monumental film. And then apparently he kept cutting the film after it was released. That was a very Cooper thing to do. Which is. Unusual anymore.

Once you're done with it now, they just take it away from you and you never see it again. So the fact that he even had freedom to go back and keep doing that. Which is nice. It pays attention to the audience, but then. You kind of do have that, though, because you have the director's cut, the extended cut.

Now we've moved into that category where there are so many versions of movies out there now that sometimes it gets crazy. You're like, I don't know if I've seen that anymore. They've changed it six times. I don't know. I think it kind of started with Fatal Attraction.

No, no, the Sharon Stone. Oh, the Basic Instinct. Basic Instinct, where we see, we go down to the end of the film, and there's. An ice pick under the bed, and like, oh! And then we come back and we do it again, and the ice pick's gone.

It's like, okay, make up your mind, guys. Let's change it. Yeah, well, even Fatal Attraction, they had that alternate ending that Adrian Lyons shot it one way, and then they went, well, that's not a very cheery ending. How about we go, like, after the test audience, they went back and totally. Reshot that much more pleasing ending.

Yeah. At least audience i think yeah it's funny it's more interesting the original ending but yeah the audience friendly ending you don't. Get that anymore where you can like be you know this is what it is it's it's um. Von schrier yeah i don't i don't really. Connect to his films but i i heard an interview and i heard him being interviewed and he said something really great which was If you're watching my movie and it's 15 minutes in and you don't understand it, get the hell out.

It's not for you. And I have just, like, tremendous respect for that. It's, like, beautiful. That's what we. Were saying earlier, that you have to, you know, conviction.

You have to have that going into your project and follow through. And if you change too much, you lose sight of the original idea and your movie suffers. I think so. You can't really cater. You have to pay attention to the audience.

You can't. But then Kubrick did. It's not working. And I can see changing something, making this stronger, a little weaker, but to go and change the whole ending, sell out. It's like in The Player.

Yeah. No, but it tested badly. What happened to truth? I love that. There's another filmmaker that kind of, you know, did things his own way for years there.

Now we're off of 2001 Space Odyssey. Yeah, we veer off on many a project on this, but it doesn't surprise me. This has been very cool, and I want to thank you, but I'm going to let. You get back to podcasting. All right, all right.

Thanks for sitting in with us here. Pleasure. Thanks a lot. No problem. All right, cool.

All right, thank you. Just a moment. I've just picked up a fault in the AE-35 unit. It's going to go 100% failure within 72 hours. All right, so obviously we're doing a little musical chairs on this version of the sofa theater, but it's okay.

It kind of makes it interesting. I was going to ask people as we went along what their thoughts were on it, so it's okay to work into the middle of it. I'm actually fine with that. So now we're back to wrap it up with just Greg and myself. All right.

The only opinions that matter. Really, I mean. Well, Albert was pretty cool. I mean, why would we care what a director had. To say about it?

No, no. Albert was pretty cool. He was pretty awesome. I probably could listen to him. His handler had to take him away.

Yeah. I could have listened to him all day. He has some pretty cool stories. He's done a lot of movies and had some amazing experiences. So, yeah, I was glad to listen to everything he had for us.

But time constraints at something like this. We'll do what we can. So. Um, where were we? In outer space, somewhere drifting about.

I think we really didn't delve into, we talked a little bit about it at the end and definitely about the beginning, but we didn't talk about the mid-portion, the, I suppose, battle with HAL and just the actual exploration out into space, right? Yeah. Towards Jupiter, right? I was just going to go into some of the basic visuals. It's so amazing to look at it, and a lot of that is space.

There's some good shots of the early Earth monkey stuff, but the bulk of the movie is in space. You get a lot of really cool stuff, and I was looking at just some of them. Some of them are even the understated ones. There's a shot pretty early on where the flight attendant woman comes walking through that porthole, It's like this weird orange portal that has several... It's layered.

And again, somewhat realistically, as I guess it would have to be. But it's layered with several different versions of the door having to seal itself, I guess. But it's just that the way that it's set up and the layers in the door was just such a cool shot. It's almost an entirely orange shot. The doorway is orange.

The hallway is kind of this orange color. And she walks down in that powder blue looking outfit or whatever. It's just such a cool set up on that shot. Which, again, is nothing. It's just her getting, like, the tray, and then she does, it's when she does that weird upside-down walk.

Yeah, oh, yeah. That shot is just, like, so cool, and it's just a simple shot down the hallway there, but I think that one, and then the tracking shot up. like later on when you've got our two astronauts there and that the one guy's walking through it. I mean, I guess the more, the big iconic one is like the one where he's running, but I like the one after that where he's just walking and the camera's sort of in front of him and kind of leading, but it's tracking like with him before he moves every time. That's just a really cool shot. And the way that it features. the set, the big rounded set and everything is, is really well, I mean, obviously, I mean, he does.

Nothing but well done shots, but I mean, that one in particular. Looks so cool. It's, yeah. Any specific shots you like? Right.

I think visually, yes, though, you know, a lot of, like you said, those are iconic shots. I think visually for me, though, it's, with several shots, it's how long he chooses to linger and, on the shot and you know other directors may cut away a little bit quicker or pace it so that you're cutting away more quickly but there are times where you know Hal will deliver a line or one of the astronauts will deliver a line and it'll just hold for a few moments and almost lets you process how it looks how it feels everything is at such a slow pace and. You know, even when he's running, everything's at such a. Slow pace and is so fluid that. It's almost that feeling.

We've never really even had anyone in deep space. You've got, what was it, another year before with the moon mission. And he's already. Making camera shots and reacting on how someone would have to react. I mean, I know the technology was there and the theories were there, but how a body would almost react and that You see videos of astronauts now from the space shuttle, and everything seems to be so fluid and so.

Almost dance-like in space. And he had that down, not. Perfectly, but that's a vision that he captured that I don't think most people would be. Able to do. Yeah, that's what I was saying before.

It was interesting how much he was sort of ahead of his time with that vision. That, I mean, you do see, again, all that stuff was there in its infancy in the space project at that point. But, I mean, you look at some of the basics of stuff that's now up and running. right the the yeah i mean the the commonplace way that they handle it in this movie is how it kind of became in like those in the space shuttle years you know when we really were making trips up there all the time and they did have basic stuff that they just did day in and day out that it it does sort of capture that and it's already looking at things like you know like you see him like tanning more or less but i'm assuming it's one of those you're going to lose so many vitamins not being exposed to the sun on Earth.

It's like you're going to start having issues like that. Maybe that was in the book. I don't know if they mentioned that kind of stuff, but just that attention to detail that they start putting that stuff in the story that far ahead of time. Now we are physically dealing with that stuff when we go in space, but we hadn't figured most of that out this early. It's funny how just ahead of its time it kind of was on a lot of those. while equally being you know the most backwards looking video monitors it's so funny that's such a telling thing on any dated sci-fi is like looking at the video how like just ridiculous it is compared to how you know the way this stuff is now granted they could have never even imagined you know the just a picture perfect version that you know our displays are now compared to what they had back then but.

It is funny the room that he had to go into for the telephone call yeah back home. Well again I was thinking that's another one that I mean I guess they'd pose that sort of thing for years but again I mean we have that now I mean you've got video chat that's pretty much exactly like what he did and this was 68 you know it's like it's yeah it's amazing how you know Again, I guess they've been throwing dream projects like that out there forever in science fiction, but it's funny how much of it we've caught up with now. I was even looking on the flight to the moon, them having the little video monitors in front of the seats. I was like, that's what normal flights on Earth are like now. I guess it took a lot of money being thrown at it by Pan Am, by all the companies that now all you need is money to fuel all these crazy projects.

Perfect. Yeah, that's kind of funny. No, no, no. Do we just want to go into how? We certainly can.

It certainly becomes a big portion of the movie. At least that, to me, is almost the most fascinating part of the movie, is the how portion of it. Right. And that, aside from just the spectacle of the film, which I guess there really are two parts to it. There's the spectacle of the film, the sound, the visuals... the direction, everything, and then on top of that, which are all A +.

Then on top of that, you have the theoretical discussion. Of what is this, what is life, what is intelligence, what is a tool, as I was talking with earlier. Hal is still just a tool to us. I mean, on some level he is, unless you get into that consciousness. I mean, it does raise that question of, At what point do we make machines that, you know, how good is your computer that it gets to the point of processing like a human brain?

And when it gets to that point, is there some type of, you know, consciousness that sets in? I mean, is it even. Theoretically possible to have a mechanical brain take on, you know, basically what human beings are? Right. And.

What extension of that is it? Yes, he's the computer and he's the life support system for the humans. Everything about the ship is how the computer then does become the ship. He is the sustaining mechanism for their life. And so they're now tied together.

And then that realization that, oh. I don't need them anymore. And like I said before, we were something that he could discard. He had outlived his usefulness. The machines had now outlived their usefulness for the human beings.

And well, let's just discard them and I'll be able to complete my mission or do whatever I need to do. Once they're gone it becomes in watching it this last time it really it struck a chord in me very similar to what kind of alien became like it became a very and i don't know i don't know if i'd noticed this in the past where it became very like must follow orders and the orders themselves are more important than the pieces involved so you get like when when the they're synthetic decides that you know i need to make sure this gets back home right that's my top priority You people are not important compared to my top priority. My, you know, mission is to get this done at whatever cost. Right. And his became kind of like that, too.

And I don't know that they put that, you know, I don't know that they put that in his head. I don't know if it was, you know, you get this done no matter what, even if you have to kill him. I don't know if that was more of they just, you know, more of a computer thing. Like, he had his mission that the higher-ups had given him his mission without even telling the astronauts. Right.

So then in his processing and his messed up brain as it goes on and as his consciousness gets kind of a little off, so in that, did he start to assess that my mission is more important than the human beings I'm taking. Care of the whole way? I don't know. I think, I mean, it does become the most. important part really i mean you can go into the whole wrap-up if you want of like the whole what do you make of the end kind of thing which i think there's no point to that i mean that is sort of a just you do what you want like even eventually kubrick said that's what i want people to do is sort of take the end of it and make whatever you want out of it you know the whole crazy light trip that star child i think he just wanted to sort of leave that up in the air right I think it is the most important part of it.

I think HAL is what sort of takes the rest of it up to another level. It could just be a basic science fiction movie. About them stranded in space or something else, but it's like that HAL aspect really ups the ante and takes it to... then it goes from just being a movie that you watch to a movie that you think about and a movie that makes you ask questions of, you know, what is life and what is artificial life and what is consciousness of, you know, once we create all these machines and the tools and, you know, what exactly is our responsibility as far as, like, using tools and then not letting them get out of hand. Right. And take on.

And our dependence on them. Yeah. And then what we become.... Right without them can we be anything without them yeah it's. And the more we advance the more we like sort of set ourselves back i have seen that mentioned too that like we go from that dawn of man in the beginning and then by the time we get to space we're kind of like in our infancy again it's like we can't walk we're eating mush food we're like you know everything about us is like once we leave earth's atmosphere we're back to like being a baby like we don't know how to operate everything is is awkward and weird and we're still learning everything.

As we get out there. So it also has that aspect kind of thrown in there that's kind of interesting. Which is, I mean, again, it's all about evolution. Yeah. Becoming the next thing and pushing yourself beyond those limits.

You know, when they are in, you know, the 1999 scene when they're going up to the moon, they seem extremely comfortable. They're... I think they all feel safe. They all feel, oh, this is common. We're just kind of hanging out.

And when you see that monolith again, you can tell, oh, they're unsettled. It's like he touches it the. Same way that ape touched it how many million years ago or whatever it was. It's like all of a sudden it gets taken right back to day one. We're starting over now.

We thought we knew everything. We don't know anything. Right. And we're now, like you said, infants again. Because the next part of the movie is when they're out heading towards Jupiter and, like you said, their dependence on machines, their dependence on everything.

Like a baby. And once they're able to overcome that need for it and stop it and walk on their own, essentially, that's when he's able. To evolve again. If that's what you think is happening at the very end, into the next part of what man is. It is interesting, they do sort of.

I've been trying to figure out, so, what this step is supposed to be, and, like, who is controlling it. Like, assuming we're supposed to think that aliens came and planted this, so, like, we've got it on Earth in the beginning, so did they relocate it? I mean, that's kind of the way I was thinking, is then. Once they've made their mark, because they also kind of take it up to the next level. Then, too.

They're completely animal-like. They don't have that higher thought, really. All they do is eat and procreate, and that's, you know, animalistic behaviors. And when they come in contact with the monolith, it, like, takes us up the next notch. And all of a sudden, then, there's a little bit of reason.

There's a little bit of, you know... Finding a way that wasn't there when we were just animals. And then it's like we get to that. So they're like, okay, they're at that point. We've gotten them there.

Now we'll let them progress on their own from here. But we need like a... An indicator when they get ready for the next level. A marker. So it's like when they make it to the moon, like we're going to put it so far out that they have to progress all the way up through all these other levels.

Right. And when they get to the point where they can leave their planet, they might be ready for the next level of evolution or whatever it is, you know. Assuming that these are aliens or, I don't know, a supreme being. Yeah, it could be a deity. Yeah, it could be anything.

However you want to look at that, really. But I think that was always kind of interesting, that they put it at the next spot. Like, the furthest part that we could possibly get to, but also shows that we progressed quite a bit from the apes that we were. Right. Right.

Yeah, yeah. I mean, you can look at it as either a marker that is left, like a waypoint. Okay, they've passed this. Yes. Or it could be. them actually inserting themselves into the situation, you know, like we're just going to leave a clue for them to now uncover.

So like I said, either it's a marker that we're supposed to find or it's a prodding, like they recognize from afar. Okay, they're ready, now we leave this. And they keep sending us. Like, it's like we find the first one on Earth, and then once we progress, we get and find it on the Moon. But then that one, they're beaming to Jupiter.

So the next stage is, they want us to go to Jupiter. Whoever, whatever this thing is, it keeps sending us to that next level. So. It is, yeah, it's kind of interesting that it really does show sort of these stages of evolution kind of idea. It also makes you want to ask what's next.

But unfortunately in. 2010... It's just a different movie. It's not a bad movie. It's just it takes a different turn.

It's certainly not Kubrick, so it's a very different movie. I haven't watched that one in a while. I kind of want to go back and revisit that as like a separate, like not even really connecting the two anymore than it's sort of. Based on that general idea. But yeah, not really in the same.

No, not even the same ballpark at all. I don't know. I think the only other thing was just the howl. Just touching on howl. I think that's probably one of the on one hand creepiest aspects.

When you've got that knowing voice talking to you very slowly and calmly and self-assured that what's going on and it's just like It's really cool that it's like... I don't know, it sets it up in such a creepy way that it's awesome. Yeah, and it definitely. It has an attitude and an ego that it. Believes that it's better.

And that's the part that. I don't even know if it's better. It just feels self-assured. It feels like it's right all the time. It knows itself in its rightness, and it's like it doesn't doubt himself.

It does doubt humans, though. Even in the beginning, it's doubting humans, and everything's human error. So it's like it knows it's infallible, which means, oh, any problem must be human-related. The other thing is that Bobby Carradine stopped by and messed up the podcast. We're talking about 2001.

Yeah. And 2011. Space idiocy. You said that one. Thank you.

Nice. He is pretty awesome. We can ask all the nerds what they think. Of the movie. Right.

Hey, guys. Hey, how you doing? I don't know what we were doing. Before Robert Carradine came along and awesomely messed up the podcast. You're going to have to piece this one together.

It's going to be great. But, yeah, I mean, I think that part's cool. And another nerd interrupts the podcast. We have a lot of nerds. But it is interesting that, I mean, they work, and he uses the visuals that same way, that very imposing shot of the eye.

And then you get the fisheye version from inside of him that, like, they're both really kind of creepy in a way. And you do, especially from the fisheye version, it's like you get that look of you always feel like he's watching them. Like, they're always, it does almost take on, like, a horror aspect at that moment that they're always being watched. This creepy person's watching what they're doing, especially when there enters, like, one of the most interesting parts of it is when you get that mistrust. Right.

And all of a sudden the guy's like, I need to talk to you over here. And you know, like even the watch, you're sitting at home watching and you're like, I don't think, you know, I don't think there's a problem in that pot. I think, you know, and as they get there, you realize, okay, yeah, they don't trust what's going on here. Right. And they're taking these great lengths to make sure that they're, you know, not going to...

It's funny that they are treating him enough like a person that they don't want to say anything in front of him. Then they do that realization of, I don't know how he would take it. That's a great stopping point where it does actually hit that little intermission. It does set up that whole second half of the movie of, uh-oh, what's going to happen. When we decide to do this?

He does great just pacing that and then such a good job of making how... likable but at the same time kind of creepy and kind of overpowering and even sad like in the end when he starts breaking down and winding down and the other ones get kind of creepy but that very first time that he I think he actually says he says I'm afraid and that's kind of creepy on one hand that the machine is saying but it's also just sad you do almost feel like this was a sentient being this was something kind of alive and you're kind of listening to him die. Or he is using that as a ploy it might be a defense mechanism as well so. You don't know that's what the crazy part is you don't know he. Starts getting out of it though he starts getting kind of loopy and it's like to me at that point it probably was real like I read it as like it felt very sincere you know as much as a computer can be sincere it felt that way and.

Then what's what's on top of that the last thing that he reverts back to is a child's song you know singing it the first thing that he learned. The first thing again sort of reverting back to that infancy and like the very first thing that he learned when he turned him on he starts going back to that. That's the part right there that always really. Unsettled me was that he was he was very childlike in that moment yeah. Yeah But yeah, I think that's kind of the.

One of the best things that they do with it is just the thing with Hal and sort of showing his evolution and then having to deal with him as an actual being, more or less. I don't know, that's probably my favorite part. As for the end, again, I don't see any point in trying to pinpoint that because even Kubrick didn't want to pinpoint that. It's hard. It would be hard to.

Even point someone in the direction of what you think. Is going on. Yeah, it's just one of those watch it and take what you want from it. And leave it at that. Right.

I think that will round out 2001. So thanks for our couple of special guests for working in the middle there. It's been quite a run of trying to get it in the middle of all this craziness. But it was good to have Albert on. We definitely liked having him sit in for it.

Otherwise, I guess we will take a break and be back at whatever else we run into down the line. Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer too. I'm half crazy. All for the love of you. And now before the next show starts let's enjoy an intermission.

Mommy yes dear mommy i want to hear smith nick tan's wonderful songs do you dear yes mommy what can i do Well, dear, you can go to www.nictan.co.uk. Will there be details of his gigs there too, Mummy? Yes, dear. Will there be pictures of him and his instruments? Oh, Mummy, please say yes.

Yes, dear. Will there be widgets too, to click on? You know, those ones that link to his blogs and his podcasts? Yes, dear. And links to his friends' websites too?

Yes, dear. Mummy? Yes, dear. Are there links to simply everything that Nick Tan does there? Yes, dear.

What was the address again, Mummy dearest? www.nictan.co.uk Oh, thank you, Mummy. Thank you so very much. That was like a weird moment. Do you need to discuss this? Alright, Misty's here.

What do you got to tell us? I feel dirty. John Carpenter just winked at me in a very weird, strange way. I might cry because I feel very violated. Not everybody gets winked at by John Carpenter.

I don't know. You didn't see the look in his eye as he winked it at me. Even more impressive. You should be pretty pleased with yourself right now. No, I feel icky.

You didn't see it, did you? No, no, I didn't. You saw it, didn't you? Oh, yeah, I saw it in it. it was kind of creepy because you don't really know what he's trying to say. With the wings.

See you later. It was behind Jay's back, which was even better. I hope so. I hope he knows what he's doing. Yeah, I just.

I want to go home and take a shower now, except that we just got here. Wow. Yeah, I feel creepy. Alrighty. Yeah, and dirty.

My eyes watered a little bit. Yeah, weird. Oh, man. Maybe uncomfortable. Alrighty.

So, yay! What a way to start off the day. Okay, I don't know what movie you all. Well, truthfully, I was going to, at the end, I was going to have the opposite opinion. To do our balance of opinions here, we'll work this in now that we're done with our discussion.

This week we talked about. I'll let you finish taking a drink before there's a spit taking off. This week we talked about 2001. Oh, fuck that movie. Misty, would you like to elaborate and talk about your feelings on 2001?

I fucking hate that movie. It was one of the most painful movies I ever attempted to sit through. I got through about 15 minutes, and then I was just yelling. I was like, fucking turn this off before I kill somebody, because I cannot watch this. I can't do it.

I can't, and I won't. I made it. Through by the monkeys, and by the time I got to the ship, I was just like, dude, fuck this movie. I will never watch that movie. Ever, ever, ever.

This is why I didn't work her into the scenario earlier because, yeah. It would not be safe. It would not. And then, yeah. So, yeah.

That girl is freakish as hell. We saw her wandering around in the parking lot for an hour. She just wandered around like she was lost. She probably was. She's like a giraffe.

She kind of looked like she was lost now. I'm telling you. She's a giraffe. So, yeah. Anything else you want to say to wrap up your love of 2001?

I fucking hate that movie. I fucking hate that movie. I want to punch that movie in the face and then, like... stabbed pencils in his eyes and then i don't know. I respectfully disagree with your opinion but you are entitled to it so i wanted to put that out there that we're not just totally you know just in love with 2001 that we regret yes kubrick is a genius but there are other takes on the on the on the movie many people speaking of. Kubrick i want to mention something real quick They are doing a Clockwork Orange musical.

Like, stage play, or they're going to turn it into a movie? No, stage play. They are doing a stage play version of Clockwork Orange. Well, just the singing in the rain part, I guess they were opening the door right. Off the bat there.

Alright, that's all I have. Kubrick would probably not be pleased with that. Probably not. I'm not, so I feel like I feel for him at this point. But yeah, I wanted to put an opposing opinion in there on that.

We weren't totally just like, in love with kubrick so much we were going to completely i'm sure a lot of people out there have a very opposite view on it than i do so. I'm very hit and miss with kubrick in the first place i only like like a handful of his movies the rest of them i could completely do without. I see so i i wanted to put the opposing opinion in there so like. Lolita he did lolita right yes he did uh clockwork orange i was okay with that um. I hated eyes wide shut a lot of people have issues with that one I really.

Can't think of that many more movies. The Shining. Oh, Shining's fucking awesome. Shining's amazing, yeah. Yeah, I love that one.

Not the remake with that kid that can't close his mouth, though. I don't like that kid. He cannot close his fucking mouth. And you don't put the guy from Wings in a Shining movie. You know, the guy from Wings isn't a bad actor, but you just can't take him seriously after Wings.

It's his own fault for being on Wings, because then after that you're just like, well, yeah, but you're still that guy from Wings. I have no respect for anybody that was ever on Wings. They're not bad. I don't hate Wings. I do.

It's just, yeah, you can't take them seriously. They were all wrong. Can I get a shirt that says John Carpenter wig tip? As long as you make it, yes. Yes, you can.

For now, you have to deal with ours. We did, and it was creepy. Oh, no. We haven't gone into this. We should just do all of this on the show.

Do you want to discuss it right now? If we're going to tell the story, tell the story. Was I awake for this? Was I here? I'm pretty sure you were here.

Why did I not see this? I don't know, you were beside me. Is that not paying attention? Probably not, you usually don't. Are we recording right now?

Yes, I believe we are. Are we going to talk about the smackdown that almost went down? I believe we should. I don't even know, I apparently wasn't there. You were totally there, dude.

Tell me you're reacting. If somebody, yeah, whoever wants to. It's not really that exciting of a story. We were standing here at the table, and lo and behold, Tiffany Shepis stopped at the table. Okay, we'll put it in this context.

We're across from the cash bar, so we've seen Tiffany a couple of times. At least she didn't wink at me. Tiffany seems like a very nice girl. I'll say that. She seems nice enough.

I've even liked her in several of her movies. I've not seen a movie of hers ever. Misty has a different take on it because they have some. Friction going here. That she doesn't know about.

Yeah, Tiffany didn't seem aware of it, but Misty was like. You've got beef. One-way beef. Yeah. I mean, for one, she was married to the guy.

I've seen her at several conventions. You'd think she would at least notice that his face is. On my lip. Yeah, if you're not familiar with that, I believe. They were definitely together.

I believe her and Corey Haim were married for a short while. See, I don't recall actually being married, just dating. Can we look it up? Let's confirm this story. I can confirm it.

That guy has fantastic big hairline. You can go on and tell your story, and we'll come back to the fact of it. But they were together, at least. We know that. Yes.

Well, anyway, she stopped at the table, and then they come. What did she stop at the table for? She liked, again, like everybody else, she liked the t-shirt. So she stopped by, and she kind of did the same usual, that's awesome. And then we were like, well, you know, that's a true story.

So she seemed to think that was kind of cool, and she talked for a couple of seconds there, and then headed out to, I don't know. She didn't even notice my death glare. She went to go to the cool kid's smoking area, wherever she was going, I don't know. She walked out the door to the outside part, so... And then Misty, yeah, as she left, there was the grrr.

The death glare that she totally didn't even notice. I mean, is she oblivious to the death glare? Usually people at least feel it, but she just, no idea whatsoever. When you're a movie star, you know, everything just kind of blows past you. You live in your own movie star world.

I guess. I don't understand. Am I losing my touch? Is that what it is? Yeah, usually.

Did my death glare get lost in her hair? I don't understand. It was quite big. And a lot of hairspray. It might have got stuck in the web of her hair.

Now you are trying to start shit. I am, totally. We don't talk shit about a girl's hair. It looks crispy. I can totally take her.

I don't know. I can't take her. I still want to punch her in the face, but that's okay. Again, I've been impressed with her in movies. I think I went in knowing.

Of her more, knowing her reputation and the type of movies she used to do and kind of went in with a bad take on it and The few that I've watched, I've actually been impressed with her acting. So I don't know how she'd take it into account. Okay, so here's the story. Right, they were engaged to get married. And she moved him away from Hollywood to get him out of the scene.

And then after the fact, broke up with him. Nice. Terrible, he died. I'm holding her and filming personally responsible. The quote says that he's charming but has a lot of issues.

Well, I think we know that's true. So am I. Wait a minute. That might be like the motto of the show. I hate fist bumps.

I reach out to shake someone's hand and have a handful of rings with skulls on them. Was there a fist bump? I was looking down. No, you got a fist bump. I got a fist bump.

I didn't want to do it, but then I would be totally... dissing the. Guy so i guess you do what you gotta do i kind of broke my own uh your code code yeah well see you should have done it to misty because misty not only likes them but she likes the variations oh this. One had like skull rings involved. Her and marlena went into like a 15 minute versions of different one marlena's like the expert she had all kinds of different ones. Down So, yeah, you'll have to go, you know.

There you go. Catch him in physical form. I might catch something from that. Oh, nice. He's going to listen to the episode and go, Oh.

Man, those guys are dicks. We are dicks. We kind of are. I am. We were trying to explain that yesterday.

No, I. I'll say this. Fist bumps are completely cool with certain people. I'm just not cool enough to pull them off. I fist bump ironically.

Okay. But not in a hipster way. What a hipster. I'm not a hipster. If there's anything I hate worse than fist bumps, it's fucking hipsters.

You're going to have to stop doing it ironically. I don't think you can do anything ironically at this point. I did it ironically before they did it ironically. I was ironic before it was hip to be ironic. Is that what you're saying?

I think we ought to invent a new one and just walk up and start kicking people in the shins. Like, dude, I was being nice. Dude. I'm kicking you in the shin. You're so uncool.

God. Jerk. That's kind of hipster too from what I've heard from Marlena. I don't want to know. I'm staying out of the hipster scene.

All right. Are you done with me now? I don't know. We can save other crazy stories. For later.

I don't know if I have any other crazy stories. I took candy from a stranger. First cookies, now candy? It wasn't really candy. It was like.

A nut cluster. That seems like trouble right now. Orange and cashews. This girl was really excited, though, and she also had my love for White Castle, and she loves the mozzarella sticks from Arby's. We bonded over food items.

You were bonding with a lot. Of people yesterday. Not only two. One of them was awesome. I don't know the other one.

I don't know the other one's name, either. I didn't introduce myself. We just talked about White Castle and Arby's, and then she gave me some nuts. As a general rule, though, I'd say if someone offers you nuts, you should probably be kind of leery. Plain nuts are okay, but when they're in clusters, especially.

If they're homemade. They were in a bag. You just shouldn't make them. They weren't homemade. They were bought.

They were in a big, large bag. I guess, but so were those cookies. I'm still pretty sure he poisoned me, so I don't know. You've got to be careful what you're taking from strangers. You've been having strange dreams since.

No, I'm just, I'm dying. Oh, okay. Yeah, I'm pretty sure. It's a slow progression, but it's getting closer to the end. What do you call cheese that isn't yours?

The only show other than that that I would listen to. I'm not even going to. What is it? Nacho cheese! I didn't want to set you up.

It's not like I didn't know what you were going to say. She was going to sit there ready to explode forever. I'm going to swap it with nachos. I can't help it. You can't walk nachos in front of me and not expect that joke, goddammit.

Oh, wow. You know who also tells that joke? Hannah Montana's dad. That became a running joke within the episode is that's Billy's favorite joke to tell the cool kids to show that he's cool. So.

You're right up there with Billy Ray Cyrus. Yay for me. I thought that might put a stop to it. No, it's not going to stop it, though. Oh, okay.

Do you like being in the company of Billy Ray Cyrus? I don't mind, really. I mean, he's got a lot of money. Only because Hannah made it for him. I know, I don't care.

I think a lot. It's totally on my energy player. But I'm sure he totally pissed away his achy, breaky money years ago. If Hannah wouldn't have come along, he'd be by the side of the road somewhere. I'd give him a ride somewhere.

I'd pick him up. Take him to get a real haircut. I think he'd probably be more of a cracker barrel guy. He'd be working it. He'd be hosting.

Can I show you your seat? Ponderous. Ponderous. I love Ponderous. I like it a lot.

More like the diamond yeah not the pyramid but the diamond shaped one is that see we're showing our nerd ignorance. Here well i've got a nine that's a that's that's kind of a prism. Shaped yeah see those i would think you would then get the flat side so you'd be more of the pyramid again. Yeah I just admitted that I had one. I have never in my entire life owned a dice that had more or less than six sides.

You are kind of losing geek cred now. No, that's a different kind of geek. That's giving me cool cred. That's taking away. My geek cred.

That's true. You're losing your nerd points, but you just got a little cooler again. Did you see that girl's ass? It was like brown. But now, I think...

Come here, let's get that on the podcast. Oh, wow. It was like two honeydew melons. It was freakishly round. I'm not going to argue with you.

I think we've got to just put a microphone in front of Misty and let her rip on people. That's what we did last year. That's why Jodi was then shocked that I called her my lady. That's true. I was making fun of that one girl for not putting her outfit together.

That was two years ago was the sad part. We've been doing this for a long time. Yeah, good times. Oh, she's dancing again. Well, they're doing it through headphones because we told them to turn it down.

We're jerks. You know, it's really cute when the girl dances, but it's kind of creepy and sad when the boy does it with her. He's kind of a. Ginger at the same time, so that all medically loses points. And he's got little freckles, too.

You know I don't fucking like freckles or ginger. Yeah, these are your specific issues that you have. I'm not really big on. Fingerless or loves, either. I can't tell.

If she has them. But, yeah, as the update goes, the girl in the cat ears from before is now moved on to a mask. She's got some sort of beanie cap going. No, it's just a baseball cap. She's just got it sideways because she's cool.

She's one of the cool kids. And, yeah, now she's got a feathered mask on that is continuing the dancing. So just so you guys know, I know you were worried, is the cat girl still dancing? No. She's not a cat girl anymore.

She's a mask girl. And yes, she is in fact still dancing. Yeah, it's like choreographed line dancing of club dancing. I don't understand. Yeah, it's a mixture between two-stepping and some sort of club dance.

I don't know what's going on here. You can hear Jay earlier make fun of all the Bobo Fats we've seen today. Bobo Fats and Jangle Fats. Classy as always. He did.

He was calling it. Well, I mean, which one did you see earlier, Greg? Which one did you see earlier that was a heavyset Star Wars character? Oh, it was a clone trooper. Yeah, and he.

He wasn't a Bobo Fett or a Gandalf Fett? No. It was definitely of the, he was a cloned fat, so yeah. But he looked like he ate a little bit. Not that there's anything wrong with the heavyset people of the world.

The problem is I think they make them, you know. I like that we all shut down. That makes it more subtle. I know we all stop and stare as Edward for a long, you know, moseys by. I choked on my own spit there.

I mean, it's plastic. I should have said, I still love his daddy. He should have said that to his career. He's like, I fucking hate fans. Can you come over here and whine into the podcast for us?

I don't want to be a hater. He's a lot shorter. Than I thought he was going to be, too. Oh, no, I pictured him as short. Oh, he's got some greasy-looking hair and all that.

Did you see Edward Furlong walk by? Yeah. This is where all the celebrities walk by. Yeah, we're kind of the hotbed of the whole world. You didn't wink at me.

No. You're the cool section. But as I was saying about the clone trooper, no, you can always interrupt me for Edward Furlong. When they had them custom-built to match the scale of the clone trooper. problem is on. A bigger guy there's gaps in the armor there's just like.

Spots that you need to have it fit to their specification. Right yeah you missed the one in Chicago last year that had like two flight suits sewn together to make him a rebel flight pilot it was It was interesting just to see that that could be done. So he had to buy two of them so that he could make one? Again, more power to the guy. I mean, he was that much of a fan that, I mean, he did that.

But, I mean, I was just like, that's a lot of work. They don't make a Porkins costume? That's the thing. Because he wasn't playing Porkins. I'm like, dude, how can you not?

I mean, you're missing the best opportunity. That's it. I am going to start selling sci-fi Porkins costumes. They really should. Because that would go over really well.

Yeah, it would be useful. There's a market for it out there. Anything else we need to. Hit whilst you're here? He walks kind of funny.

He looks like he's struggling, doesn't he? Like, oh my god, I can't believe I'm here. Well, when we walked in the room yesterday. There was nobody. At his table.

Oh, I feel sad now. I'm going to go hang out with him. I'm going to go see if he wants a Twinkie or something. I've got some Pringles. He might like Pringles.

Can you believe it? Huh? Pringles are pretty awesome. 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. All right, we're here with Marlena to work in some more geek activities.

Pretty much the only things I've watched or done this week. I saw Horrible Bosses. I thought it was really funny. Maybe it's a little bit tired, but I love Jason Bateman's delivery. He was just so serious.

I think one of the best... I cracked up laughing. No one else really got it, but for me it was hilarious. Jason Sudeikis' character was like, I'd like to bend her over a barrel and show her the 50 states. And he was like, he just stared at him and he goes, no, that's a saying.

He's like, actually, I don't, I don't think it is. Like, I just, I love that like dry, like condescending, almost humor. Um, he's like made. A career of that in the last 10, 15 years. Yeah.

I mean, that's just how he is. It's how he was in Arrested Development. Like his, I just love his delivery. It just kills me. Uh, I've been watching a lot of Wizards of Waverly Place, which Brian is really excited about.

And he, was like, finally, something I can talk about. A show for me. Yeah, exactly. And I mean, it's a really entertaining show. I told one of my friends, I was like, I'm watching Wizards of Waverly Place right now, and he was like, really?

He made fun of me, and I was like, you don't understand. It's a really good show. I believe On one of my online portfolio type things, it had some sort of goofy thing that was like the most ridiculous thing you're willing to admit. And I was like, Wizards of Waverly Place is a good show. There, I said it, damn it.

It's like coming clean. It's like coming out to the world with your horrible, horrible secret. But you know what? I don't care. It's damned entertaining.

Yep. I mean, really, it's a good show. Although Alex, she's an awful human being. She really is. She's just terrible.

Like, she's the most selfish, like, awful person ever. And yet that's why we decided we like her the most. No wonder all of us. And Misty, I think that's what really sells it for Misty. She likes it.

She's awful. Mostly because she's just mean all the time. Yeah, she's a terrible person. I mean, it's just like... It's hard.

I mean, Selena Gomez is cute, and I hope, hope she's not like that in real life. But it just, like, as much as I like her character, I don't like her at all. She seems the complete opposite in the real world. It's strange. How much in the first season, and why isn't Harper on most of the episodes?

They probably haven't worked her in officially yet. Well, no. Well, I mean, is the season out of sync? Because she was in the first, like, six episodes I saw, and now, like. Episode 8, 9, 10, or whatever.

I don't know. She's not in those. Well, that's when she was off shooting Harriet the Spy 2. I'm not making that up. She made a Disney movie.

It's sad that I know. She made a Disney movie that was the continuing story of Harriet the Spy. I'm watching it on Netflix, and I'm just watching it in sequence, and I'm really confused because at first, like, Justin's dating Miranda, and then an episode I watched last night, It's the episode where he meets her. So I'm really confused. They're just messing with you now.

I think so. It's either Disney Channel or Netflix are trying to get to me. But, yeah, that's about all I have to say for that show. It's a good show, even though her character is just an awful, awful person. That's the best part.

She needs to be put in jail. Yeah, eventually we all kind of assume that she will, if the characters were real. Even in one episode, that's what our dad told her. He told her she would end up in jail. I fully believe it.

Actually, people like that, people with no human compassion or concern for anyone other than themselves, usually become nurses. Nice. Dentists? Not even dentists. No, nurses.

They become nurses. Lawyers? No, nurses. Damn it. Seriously.

Seriously. Like, you would think it's dentists and lawyers, people with the careers that. Movie producers? People who lack human compassion. Sadly enough, it's nurses.

Oh, wow. I'm not making that up. No offense to your sister. Yeah, we can kind of call out nurses because I am directly connected to one. Although, she has found something useful to do with it.

I don't know. She seems to be okay with it. Good for her. Anything else on the weekend you need. To pass on?

That's all. I'm sure something really funny happened or a really weird person. There was a guy that came up earlier and he was like, I was going to order the iced tea. No ice and no tea or something like that. That's only a dollar.

I think that's how you wrap it up. Yeah. That doesn't even make any sense. Do you hear yourself talk? Well, a lot of people are drunk, I hate to say.

But yeah, that's several times this weekend I've had people just come up and start kind of saying things that are sort of nonsensical. There was a guy this morning, and he was a nice enough guy, I'll give him that, but just sat down for about 20 minutes and told me what he bought the day before. Do you think I'm someone else? Again, I don't think he gets out much. He was an older gentleman.

And I don't think he comes in contact with people a lot, so he got all excited, and he had to tell me, and granted, he got some cool horror, you know, he got some old Hammer stuff, and you know, so I'm like, I was like, he had decent days, he likes his old cheesy monster movies and stuff like that, so I was like, yeah, but it was funny, I was just like, after a while, I'm like, dude, you are still here. It's crazy. I think that's what we decided, you run into a lot of people that just have no social skills. Yeah, yeah, and I myself am one of those, but I think there's two stages, there's like, my philosophy has always been keep it to yourself just like if you're socially awkward good keep it over there I think.

They see I think they see us and they're like there's a group of people I can talk to you know I think you have like a gift if you're antisocial or like have a lack of social skills and you can look at people and seek them out I mean it worked for my boyfriend like he is probably like one of the most antisocial people I know and somehow he was able to pick me out in a room of other people and like start a conversation with me and it worked because we don't really like to talk to people but we enjoy talking to each other. So sometimes it works out geeks just keep that in mind. That's all i have to say about that all right. We will take a break and come back somewhere down the. Line Well, you know, everything's going to be a breeze.

There's no doubt just by the means. You can fix any problem with a slightest of ease. Yes, please. But you might find out it'll go to your head when you write a report on a book. You never read.

With a snap of your fingers, you can make it. And that's what I said. Everything is not what it seems when you can get all you wanted. In your wildest dreams. You might run into trouble if you go to extremes because everything is not what it seems.

One minute left to top off the evening with a treat from our snack bar. We'd like to send out a big thank you to Ken and Myra and everybody that runs Fright Night Film Fest and Fandom Fest. They put on a great show this year. Everything ran pretty smoothly for a show this size with this many things going on. It's amazing just how much work it took to get to this point.

Just watching them run back and forth all weekend doing different stuff and staying on top of everything. It It was impressive seeing how well everything was kind of pieced together. So I have to give them credit. So go to FrightNightFilmFest.com and FandomFest.com and go ahead and plan on next year because it's an impressive festival and we actually had a lot of fun this year. I was like, okay.

That's why I was like, we can do the anatomy. I'm not going to. Hold them off. Just smile at me. She didn't wink.

Tiffany Chavez just smiled at me kind of convincingly, too. I see a lot of fake smiles. I get a lot of fake smiles. That seemed a little. So, what's the situation?

And I'm pretty sure you're married to that dude making the Frankenstein syndrome, so what's up with that? I didn't say I was ruling him out. I'm just saying what's up with him? This guy should not wear eyeliner. Alright, so we're back and getting ready to wrap things up here.

We've had an interesting weekend. Misty, you were social. You talked to people. I saw you. I talked to at least two different people.

Two different people. It's a breakthrough, really. Making progress. Making friends. Maybe.

I don't know. She didn't know who Jem was. I'm not sure if I can be her. Friend after this. We're going to have to educate her.

That's all there is to it. I think I don't know who Jem is. I told her she's truly, truly, truly outrageous, but that just didn't click. I thought maybe that's what she needed to push it over the edge. I feel really old.

I'd say most kids now don't know what Jim is. I don't know of kids that know who Jim is. No, probably not. Anything else we need to pass along here? No.

Still creeped out by John Conrader winking at me and it's been hours now. I feel violated. I've had enough people for a while. Yeah, this usually does that, and then you give it a month or so, and we're back doing it again. Right.

We're antisocial, so we have to space it out every couple of weeks as soon as possible. She's trying to give us the update if the girl's still dancing. I haven't seen her for a little while. I know. She disappeared.

I wonder if she passed out. We've had the dancing girl down the two tables down for pretty much the whole weekend. So I'm surprised. Did you notice that they changed? She put on the boys' outfit and he put on the girls' outfit.

I guess all the wigs. Yeah. Those kids are so crazy. But they did not know who Henry Winkler was. Oh, well.

Like, oh my God, it's somebody famous. They're not cool anymore. But then made him mad. I got to see a mad Henry Winkler. Last name like Winkler, can you really get mad?

I suppose it came. Feed the Vader. Anyway. Wow. The way he said, Feed the Vader, kind of reminded me of the way that that guy said, The fish in the percolator.

Jack Nance. And then he goes, He says, Feed the Vader. It was creepy. We get a lot of creepy. There's one or two of them.

I think. Alright, I guess that wraps it up. We will return next week. Same geek time, same geek feed. Thanks for listening.

Bye! I'm sorry. So so. Thank you. We're just rambling at this point.

Talking shit about people. It's okay. There's going to be a rumble with Tiffany Shep. It's okay. I know.

That's what I'm saying because I want to get pictures. She'll probably be coming back to the bar. She's hit the bar a couple times. It's going to be a throw down. Oh, we say all that.

We'll see you guys in the future. By the way, they'll come back. Thank you. Take care. Thanks.

That was close. I almost got busted. 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