The SomethingSomethingCast

If you listen to us semi-regularly, you know that we were once again a part of the amazing Livestream For The Cure event this past month. With friend of the show and the Jerry Lewis of podcasting charity events, Nick Haskins at the helm, we once again go into the elevator and ask a man with a giant check if we could use it… for what?

Well, this week we are taking a video game franchise and turning it into a movie, or vice versa.

That’s not all you get in this episode, as afterwards we hang out with the Livestream crew and talk movies, Furiosa, a bit about the show ending, and just generally merrymake with our ‘For the Cure’ family.  We want to thank everyone involved and everyone that stuck around and donated during our time.

That said, the event is over, but there is never a bad time to donate and help to live in a world without cancer.

With that said, enjoy the show!  Ok, here we go…

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Hatton here – with Netflix’s drop of Godzilla Minus Zero, my wife and I have gone deep into the monster universe the last two weeks. Starting at 2014 American Godzilla, and working our way up to the newest of Godzilla x Kong: Round 2.  Along the way, we’ve also started watching the Apple TV ‘Monarch’ about the secret covert organization that lives beneath all of the movies and will take a Tokyo Drift over to the Toho Godzilla series that was relaunched with Shin Godzilla.

Now, I could go and simply make a list of our favorites, but I think I’d like just throw out some high and low points because, honestly, if you are a monster movie fan.. good or bad, you’re going to watch them much like I’d watch the animated series SAW: TRAPS ARE MAGIC and Rob would watch FAST & THE FURRY’OUS: TOKYO YIFF.

Firstly, our favorite has been Kong: Skull Island by a mile. The initial Godzilla feels fun, but dark, like they really didn’t trust the CGI to not look a bit silly.  With Kong, you are 15 minutes into the movie and you are seeing a giant f’n monkey swat at helicopters. That movie, a period piece in a post-Vietnam 70’s feels like a true to life adventure movie with big weird creatures, comedy beats, and a strong ending that leaves you knowing there could be more stories told there.  It’s just a lived in kind of movie and I recommend it above all the others.

The rest are fun. They are ‘check your brain at the door’ fun and it all feels like it leads up to the moment in Godzilla x Kong: One where they are fighting in the neon neo-Japan and Kong gets to do parkour of of giant skyscrapers. The plot? Oh, I called the plot before I even saw the movie because it is the archtype of every CHARACTER v CHARACTER story in comic books. We fight over misunderstanding, we have a common enemy, we lose separately, we win together. – jazzhands –

Here’s where I’m going to get hatemail…. I didn’t like Shin Godzilla.  I KNOW… I KNOW.. stop yelling, I know.  You don’t have to tell me how poignant it is talking about how the government failed to protect its people during natural disasters or how it is being utilized the same way Gojira was used to comment about WWII.  I get it. Of course I get it. How could you not get it, 80% of that movie is people in sterile rooms telling each other ‘we need to do something’ ‘we can’t do something’. Over. And. Over. AND I KNOWWW… there’s an aspect where there is homage to the old rubber suit monsters with all of the lengthy talking segments, but even when little Timmy was trying to tell us that Godzilla is his friend, there felt like there was plot movement.  We jumped 45 minutes forward of this 2 hour movie and felt like we didn’t miss a single damned thing.

Last point, I am deeply saddened that we only see Mothra briefly as she is the best monster and we’ve not seen Gamera at all. I know he’s a different franchise, but I don’t care. I need my cartwheeling turtlemeat, dammit.

So, what are you thinking of the new monsterverse? How bad is my take on Shin Godzilla… let me know in all the places.

We woke up this morning, had a blue moon in our eye.. like a big pizza pie, that’s amore’ — nevermind.

This week on In The Beginning, the Somethings are stomping on their homeland of NJ and looking at the first episode of a landmark show in television, The Sopranos. This show may have started the cable television revolution, but does it hold up? Does the awareness of mental health in a world of mobsters still ring with uniqueness? And what’s with the ducks, anyway?

Find out the answers to this question, and a whole lot more on this week The Beginning: The Sopranos

Ok, here we fugeddaboutit… that hurt to write.

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Hey Somethings!  PCR here…

So.. I managed to get my hands on a key for ‘Killer Klowns from Outer Space : The Game’ and decided to give it a shot.

Now, admittedly, I’ve never seen the movie (I’ll wait…     ok, done screaming?  Continue), and I only ever played the ‘survivor’ side of things but.. after putting in over 1500 hours into Dead By Daylight, I feel even having only played a bit of KK, I have some insights.

For those unaware, Killer Klowns is an(other) asymmetrical killer/survivor, cat/mouse game.  It shakes things up a bit by there being 7 survivors vs 3 klowns in a match, and each match has multiple exit points, but each point will only allow so many survivors to leave, forcing the other survivors to find another way out.  When you get caught by a klown, they wrap you up in cotton candy and hang you on a hook.  Other survivors can attempt to free you, or if you have certain weapons you can free yourself.  Where KK differs from DBD (but is similar to other types) the survivors can acquire weapons to fight back.  That’s the gist of it.

Is it bright?  Sure.  Are the survivors all bland?  Yes.  Can you customize your survivor’s look?  Eventually.  “What about the gameplay?”  So glad you asked…   after all those hours of DBD, it’s hard NOT to compare every other asymmetrical game I’ve played to DBD.  Let me clarify.. DBD is NOT a perfect game… not by a long shot.. but in my opinion, KK misses on a bunch of the things that even DBD gets right.

The survivor movement feels way too slow and lethargic…not just in walking/running, but in ALL movements.  The aiming feels atrocious and the running didn’t feel much faster than walking (although it made more noise to alert the klowns).  Searching things felt like it took way too long, and then there would be an annoying cameras angle change for the game to swing around and focus on the inside of whatever you searched.. thereby taking away your ability to keep an eye on your surroundings.

Out of the 7 games I played (2 solo, 5 with other friends) I managed to escape once and that was by complete accident.

When you’re ‘out of the game’ (either dead or escaped), you can play was IGN calls “humorous carnival-based mini games” (not sure what game they were playing.. only 1 was barely ‘carnival based’ and none of them were humorous…) that allow you to choose a ‘fate card’ that can grant a player still in the game something to help them with their continued attempt.  None of the games felt like there was a ‘set score/win’ point at which you could choose a card, and was more ‘oh, you’ve been doing this for 20 seconds…cool!’ as even games I did absolutely terrible at, the game would let me choose a Fate Card.

All of this said, I would venture to guess that if I had watched the movie and been a fan of the franchise, I might be inclined to be more forgiving in my take on the game… but since I haven’t and aren’t.. I won’t.  I got the code for free and even factoring that in, it’s been uninstalled.

If you’re a fan, it might be worth checking out.. just keep in mind your gameplay time and Steam’s return policy if you’re going into with a 50/50 mindset.

Have you played?  What did you think?  Hit us on socials and let us know!

-PCR

Somethings! If you’ve been listening for a long enough time, you are well aware that we have issues. Tons of them. Long boxes full of them. And when we get together and start talking, sometimes the best thing to do is just leave your issues on the table and talk them out.

So join us as we each pick some of our favorite issues of comics. Some because they are shining moments of our favorite characters, others because of the art, and even othersbecause they are the embodiment of the stories we like. So grab a stack of funnybooks and play along by listening to Our Favorite Comic Issues.

Ok, here we go! (Prismatic Foil Edition)

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Hey folks, Big Matt here,

My take on the current state of AI…

So everyone is worried about AI right now, right? With good reason, I would say, but at the same time, will it benefit us? This blog isn’t about that. This blog is about how it will end us all. Will AI and automation put people out of jobs? Sure. Will that be a bad thing? I’m not sure. Do I like being able to ask extremely silly questions about nonsensical scenarios and get serious, calculated answers from ChatGPT? I really do.

Do I love asking ChatGPT what would happen if Gandalf was dropped righht in the middle of the battle for Hogwarts in book 8? Hell yes I do. Have I asked how the ending to Fiddler on the Roof would have been different if Tevye had a “Predator movie style hand carried mini gun?” You’re god damn right I have. Have I asked what kind of bits would come from a meeting of Abbot & Costello and Sam Kinison? Hehe, oh yes, and there was a lot of screaming involved, but not from who you think.

And that extremely worthless type of questioning is why I love AI right now. Will it always be this useful yet fun? Probably not, so we should probably enjoy it while we can, before it enslaves us all.

– Big Matt

The Somethings are in the elevator.. but this time, it’s creepy and it’s spooky.. altogether ookey. It does, in fact, yearn for our sweet sweet brain meats which is why this week’s Elevator Pitch challenge is to Reinvent the Zombie.

Now, who is our guest CEO with the big money zomb check?  Artist, creator, and long-time zombie enthusiast, Nick ‘Ghostfreehood’ DiFabbio. You may have seen Nick’s work on a multitude of webcomic projects, on the poster of your local indie show, at SuperArtFight, or at his homebase studio of CherryMothCake.com  where you can find posters, shirts, enamel pins, toys, and his card game Blade of the Badlands.

What will these new zombos want? Find out on Elevator Pitch: Reinvent the Zombie

Okay here we go….nads!

Full Episode

Hey Somethings, PCR here!

Been chatting with a friend of mien across the pond recently as she’s been posting a lot of KISS content to her socials, and it brought me back to the heyday of my youth.

Two of the first vinyl albums I ever bought was KISS Alive : II and the Gene Simmons solo album.  I was a HUGE fan of the band… dressed as Gene for Halloween multiple times, hell, even got kicked out of Webster Hall one Halloween dressed as him (that’s.. a long and humorous story), so I wanted to take this time to touch on some of my favorite KISS songs…

Radioactive : Gene Simmons Solo Album

I will fully admit now, KISS is an.. interesting band.  Listed on Wikipedia as “Hard Rock”, “Heavy Metal”, “Shock Rock” and “Glam Rock”… I’m not really KISS can be pigeon-holed into a category.  They’ve gone into Soft Rock (See You Tonight : Gene’s solo album), Disco (I Was Made For Lovin’ You : Dynasty), even ProgRock (the entirety of Music from : The Elder).  Radioactive had Rock elements and, a surprising amount of piano on support for a “hard rock” band.  While a Gene solo album song, hearing it again for the first time in years brought me right back to ’78.

God of Thunder : Destroyer

When most people think of a KISS album, this is the one they think of (or Love Gun), and while this album is chock-a-block full of absolute bangers, God of Thunder stands out to me the most.  Also, local bar band “The Goatmen” did a pretty amazing cover of it which you can find here.

Music From “The Elder”

Concept Album designed to reinvigorate the band and brand after lagging sales from “Unmasked”?  Soundtrack to a never filmed/unreleased movie?  Regardless of the actual truth, and regardless that it’s been listed at #44 on “The 50 Worst Albums Ever Recorded”, I absolutely LOVE this album.  The whole thing.  “Under the Rose” and “The Oath” feel right back to their roots, “World Without Heroes” is deep in message, and even “Odyssey” with Paul Stanley’s distinct voice doing such a romantic ballad-esque song makes me crack a smile.  Definitely worth a listen.

Beth : Destroyer

The quintessential ballad.  Peter Criss doesn’t have the best voice, but that adds to the honesty and gravity of the lyrics.  If you don’t like this song, you’re not a fan of music.

What about YOU Somethings?  Hit our socials and let us know your thoughts on KISS!

-PCR

What happens when you take $1000, some Windows ’98 Screen Savers, a green bedsheet, and some stock footage, put them in a blender and turn it on high?  Why you get the Neil Breen collection! Now, if you happen to want to see what we saw, you could go to the Breen Collection on Archive.org. I’m not saying you should… but you could.

Matt, Rob and James sat down and watched the story of…  well.. to be honest.. we’re not sure, but it has Neil playing twins, and space aliens that look strikingly like Paul Shaffer. So join us as we dive into the gift that Nick Haskins gave us in 1 Star Movie Review: Twisted Pair

Check out “Twisted Pair” on 1 Star Movie Review!

Okay here we go!

Full Episode

Hatton here…

This past week, I saw Late Night With The Devil – which is a found footage movie that takes place on an old Carson-esque talk show. It does every part of it amazing.. the sets, the color scheme, the slight fuzz to the camera at certain angles.  I can’t recommend it enough.  But that got me to thinking of all of the other shows I’ve watched and loved that really go out of their way to position themselves as a faux program. Some do it with more intent than others, but they all really do try and emulate the original war of the worlds, and in two instances was on the same day!

WNUF HALLOWEEN SPECIAL – This is one that is worth the watch, but only the once. A local news program that is doing a haunted house expose’. There is a lot to love in it, from the disgruntled newscaster to the authenticity of the commercials in between each news segment. But… it is not without its flaws and lack of feeling and direction. Good, yes. Great, sadly no.

WITHOUT WARNING – I saw this live when it was on tv in 1994 and I was riveted as it may have been my first exposure to this kind of idea. In this one, we are watching news reports and special reports and experts all about a meteor that may hit the earth. It’s a great watch, albeit and you can find it on Youtube.

..and now – the things you must watch…

GHOST WATCH – Out of all of the ones on this list, Ghost Watch is the best of them. In 1992, the BBC put on a talk show about a haunting on Halloween and we walk through a woman’s house, meet her kids, and there is enough not going wrong that it feels like it may just be real. Then, as it goes, it starts using every camera trick in the world to make you feel like you saw something that just couldn’t be there until the big ending. If any one of these inspired Late Night With the Devil – it is this one.

INSIDE NO. 9 – Lastly I’d like to give you one you may not know about. This is a BBC show that, from my limited exposure, feels like a Twilight Zone’esque anthology show. Well, they had one episode that I just happened to bump into online that is framed like a british gameshow… with no breaks or notes or explanations that it isn’t other than the people are a tad odd.  Then it gets very uncomfortable, so much that you really have a hard time figuring out if it is real or not… and then it pops.  Check it out. It is worth the experience.

Or, better yet, show these to a friend and DON’T tell them they aren’t real. Sound off with ones I may have missed in all the places.