Tag: Blog

My Dad took me to my first concert, Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings.  Being a man who was in to Willie, Waylon, Hank Jr, Glen Campbell… my Dad’s music tastes shaped my early music tastes.

Recently, on a drive home from work, I suddenly had an urge to hear “Pancho and Lefty” by the aforementioned Willie and Waylon.  That got me to thinking about the Country music I used to listen to growing up, so grab your Stetson, pull up your boots and check out these old-school Country tunes…

Whiskey River – A cover of an earlier song, Willie first released this on his album “Shotgun Willie” in 1973.  Bouncing back and forth between Southern Rock and a Texas Two-Step vibe, it’s a catchy song that has become Willie’s signature song.

Dixieland Delight – Released by ‘Alabama’ on their 1983 album “The Closer You Get”.  In 2019, Rolling Stone put it as #7 in the Top 25 “Songs about the South”, and it has been an on-and-off ‘pre 4th Quarter’ song tradition of the Crimson Tide.

Devil Went Down to Georgia – This song by Charlie Daniels Band has more than just a passing history with me.  If you know, you know.  If you don’t, then you weren’t there and wouldn’t understand.

She Got the Goldmine (I Got the Shaft) – The stereotypical “country song” about a guy who’s wife leaves him and takes everything, it’s cleverly done by Jerry Reed and his storytelling style.

Convoy – This song by C.W. McCall is more of a silly guilty pleasure (as is the movie).  It’s made even ‘better’ by the fact that there’s like 3 different versions of it.

What say you Somethings?  Hit us up on our socials and let us know!

-PCR

Last week we featured a list of our Bottom 5 Actors – and I promptly got a message from my sister, long time listener first time complainer, who said, ‘What about…’ and mentioned an actress that, for years, I had kvetched about. I had entire rants built around this one performer and she was surprised she didn’t make the top of my list.

Who? We’ll get there in a moment.

This, to me, is a perfect showing of precisely why I am certain my brain has an over-active repression gene. I would be concerned if it hadn’t been that way my whole life. I’d talk to someone about a video game I loved and they would say, ‘Oh, remember when Hero B plants their sword and screams because they finally had the revenge over their murdered mother.. wasn’t that awesome’ and I would stare dumbfounded, ‘Wait.. is that before or after you beat Bowser?’ — like, I just have a brain that things, even things I once held tightly to my bosom, fall out of.

Anyways, the actress is Helena Bonham Carter.

I guarantee, if you go back and listen to old episodes, I’ve done at least one rant about HBC’s inability to play anything but Marla from Fight Club wearing different outfits. (With the exception of Big Fish, which is the exception of HBC’s acting and Tim Burton’s everything else).  I’m sure she’s a delightful person, gives to charities, kisses puppies – the fact is that there was a hot minute in the early 00’s where I kept wanting to see movies and instead saw Madame AloofGoth draping herself across scenery and had complained about it enough that my sister was shocked she was unmentioned.

What this does mean, though, is if we decided to rerecord some of our topics from years gone by, not only would I possibly not remember that we did it.. I also might have entirely different answers.

(Also, my wife is still angry at me about Justin Long)

Hey all, PCR here.

For a while now, people have been talking about, or discussing Superhero Movie Burnout.  This likely more pertains to the MCU as they have the bulk of Superhero Movies out and.. I think there’s something to it and there’s blame to lay.. but.. just like the Y in Madisynn.. it’s not where you think.

When the MCU first started, there was nothing else like it.  It was new… fresh…  one couldn’t really compare it to anything because.. well, there was nothing like it to compare to.  10 years later, with the culmination of the Infinity Saga in Endgame.. MCU 1.0 came to an end in my opinion.  The issue now is a lack of evolution.  Folks loved RDJ as Iron Man, Hemsworth as Thor, Boseman as Black Panther, Johansson as Black Widow, Evans as Cap.. etc, etc.  Now however, the next ‘phase’ of the MCU will need to lean on new people.  Doctor Strange is solid and in good hands with Bibblebop Thundergun, but Marvel seems intent on forging forward in a similar fashion as the first 10 years and.. the question is… will audiences be into Ironheart replacing Iron Man?  Shuri as Black Panther?  Sam as Cap?  It’s a huge ask and, while it’s done in comics on a semi regular basis… comics don’t pull in *nearly* the money for a brand that movies do.  Might it be time to change the MCU formula?

I don’t know what the right answer is, but what I DO know, as someone who saw 95% of the run up to Endgame in theaters…  I just have no urge to see a Cap movie with Sam (you can listen to our “Bottom 5 : Actors” episode if you haven’t to hear why), nor do I care to watch a movie with Kate as Hawkeye, or Ironheart and on and on.  It was the original actors who created the interest, and the casting was impeccable.  These actors?  While I might power through a 4-6 episode series on a streaming service from the comfort of my own home.. they sure don’t have the pull to put my ass in a movie theater seat.

So I think Marvel in general has some considering to do, and I honestly think they’ll come to realize that when the next Captain America movie comes out.

What are your thoughts?  Hit us on the socials and let us know!

-PCR

Audio Blog

Last month, I paid into Microsoft Game Pass because Starfield was coming out and I am a fan of Bethesda games. Similar to Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed series, the Bethesda games are the same game with different coats of paint. It’s an entire genre of paint, but still guns for bows and arrows, space for wastelands.. I dig it.

Sadly, that game was made with top of the line hardware in mind and mine is not. It’s stupid, but it is what it is. Hell, it isn’t even what I want to talk about today.

Since Starfield was out, I stuck around with Game Pass to see what else they had, and saw that Lies of P was on its way. I downloaded it, played it for about 4 – 6 hours, and promptly uninstalled it because I can’t stand Souls Games. First, I need to clarify that this isn’t a situation of ‘getting good’ – I enjoy a lot of tough gaming genres… hell, I will play a Rogue-like until my eyes won’t dialate without seeing Dead Cells or Hades characters. Even ‘2-d Souls-Likes’ and I am a demon possessed. I am the kid who beat Mike Tyson on the Nintendo (I did, I swear).

But, put me in front of a Souls-like and I am a raging he-beast of gaming ineptitude which sucks because they almost all are in worlds I want to play in. Dark and grimy fantasy, please. The rooftops of feudal Japan, gods yes. A Steampunk dystopia filled with gearwork police, stick it in my veins. And yet, the idea of learning the location and timing of a dozen villains through try and die, learning the attack and block strats for a series of enemies, and doing the constant struggle to get to where you were before to figure out how you died to not die again and I have never ever come closer to taking my controller and hurling it through a window.

So, after those 5 hours, I uninstalled Lies of P, disappointed that there is yet another game that I won’t get to learn the secrets of because it is made with a type of gamer in mind that I, in fact, am not. It’s shocking how every part of those games seems to be painted with me in mind and yet, somehow, their unforgiving relentless need for near perfect leaves me going back to installing Opus Magnum and Human Resource Machine… you know, actually hard games. (I kid.. kinda)

Oh, and Lies of P was playing on Ultra, suck it Starfield.

Hey all, PCR here!

Now, Hatton’s dislike of short-form videos is fairly well known, but I myself have fallen down many a rabbit hole on Facebook or Instagram watching vid after vid.  Now, not all of them are gold of course.. for every “Kiss or Slap”, “Watch till the end”  and dying expensive sneakers in shaving cream video.. there are some real gems.  Here’s some of my favorite ones.

Hack Reacts – Hack Reacts is from The Bearded Bard who you can find on YouTube, TikTok and elsewhere.  It’s a split screen vid of him reacting to people showing off ‘hacks’ for various tools and hardware.  It’s great to me because invariably someone uses 13 odd steps to solve a 3 step problem and the exasperation in his voice is palpable.

ChefReactions – Specifically, his Amaury Guichon videos.  If you don’t know who Amaury Guichon is.. please go look him up.  The man has godlike skills when it comes to working with chocolate and pastries.  The ChefReacts video that nearly broke me was him watching Amaury make something and he goes “Oh.. starting off the video by working chocolate on a lathe so.. that makes me a piece of shit I guess”.

Casey Van Arsdale – He makes a lot of videos of various things.. creating.. cooking.. art.. but it’s his ‘spraypaint art planets’ that I will watch for hours.  His descriptions of what he’s doing.. from using his ‘sha sha bowls’ to ‘pooping out stars’ just makes watching his videos that much more awe inspiring.

Basketball Flash Mob – I really don’t know what else to call this.  The page is Tuvok12 on YouTube, but, it’s basically a bunch of guys with a backyard basketball set up on wheels who run into crowded public areas, lob a basketball at people passing by and the video rates their shot attempts.  Some people brush it off and ignore them.. some people give it their all.  It’s never belligerent or insulting to those who try, but when they sink one, it’s like a buzzer beater in game 7 of the championships.

What about you?  What short-form videos do YOU find yourself binging?  Hit us in the usual places and let us know!

-PCR

Audio Blog

Hatton here – I unabashedly love the Rocky franchise. Ok, fine, I love any ‘bottom to top’ hero movie. Rudy, Karate Kid.. any movie where someone starts as literal garbage and ends with people chanting his name. Anyway, my favorite movie from a couple years ago was Creed. I think it’s smart, it follows the legacy that the Rocky movies created, and with Creed 2 – it builds on them in a very special way that even the MCU is having a hard time with when it comes to evolving their franchise.

This comes to where I told my wife I wanted her to see Creed, but we’ll watch Rocky, Rocky IV and we’ll get to Creed.  She, on the other hand, said she wanted the whole experience… and so as of last night we have gotten to what is the ‘main line’ of the RCU. We just finished Rocky V last night, so I thought I’d drop some quick reviews here as it has been a long time since I’d seen them and my tastes have evolved as I have become a jaded grown-up.

Rocky I – It is a slow movie. I mentioned in a recent episode that there is a reason that older movies are so hard to watch when modern films have learned how to BEAT BEAT BEAT EXPLOSION BEAT CLUE BEAT BOOM our ADHD addled brains into a state of visual stupor.  Rocky I, where a great story and deserving of its accolades, spends a lot of time making Philadelphia a living breathing city – as we have cameras watching city streets as much as we have Rocky.  Anyway, it’s still a classic although some of its emotional beats are a bit.. well, lets say they wouldn’t work in a modern film and thankfully Adrian really liked him.

Brit’s one line review – “So much yelling – but so much heart.”

Rocky II – Previously, I joked that R2 was just R1 with a happier ending, but there is something more to it. I don’t think Rocky is as good without Rocky 2 at this point. In the first movie Creed outright ignores this chump he’s picked out of the phonebook. You could argue Rocky goes the distance with him when Creed isn’t at his best.  In the second, they are both at their top and even though the ending is, in wrestling terms, a schmozz, it proves that Rocky can hang with the best.

Brit’s one line review – “Rocky finally gets what he deserves.”

Rocky III – If there is one consistent thing in, literally, every Rocky film.. it’s that Rocky is retiring. In his 60+ fights, I swear every 5 is him thinking about hanging it up to make Adrian happy and he gets bored and goes and punches out some more dudes. The fight, versus Mr. T, is one of the shorter of the series and in the perspective of the whole series, I like that. Rocky can hang. Clubber Lang is just bluster and nobody believes in Rock.. and yet again, proven wrong.

Brit’s one line review – “Rocky and Apollo is the best bromance in tv history, period.”

Rocky IV – I think, because of its quotable Dolph-isms (‘i must break you’) this movie is remembered well, but it is a really good 45 minute movie and a really bad 30 minute montage video. Let me clarify, Hearts On Fire, aka, the Russian Training Montage, is my favorite montage of all time… but… this movie montages shit we saw 20 minutes ago. It feels like they were really pushing that soundtrack and, because of it, the plot takes a hit. There was a ton of room here for a subplot about a Russian Trainer, about making Creed’s trainer ‘Duke’ a more full character, something. I have a longer rant about it I’ll discuss another time.

Brit’s one line review – “Snow training montage. That’s all you need.”

Rocky V – Fine. I’ve said I like this movie more than the rest of the world. That said, I am a man that can admit he was wrong. It’s not great, and even though I think there are really good beats they could have done without the ‘Rocky is right back where he started’ story… that whole bit about him reverting to the slow thinking, money shaky, ball bouncing, hat wearing, guy is so forced it hurts. Plus, the fight at the end is more than lacking when you know what you want in a Rocky film.

Brit’s one line review – “If you missed Rocky the Bum… he’s back… unfortunately.”

What do you think of Rocky? Sound off in all the places.

Audio Blog

Hey all, PCR here.

So.. there interwebs are starting to bustle with an interview director Taika Waititi gave regarding what he’d do for Thor 5.  Let’s be clear, Thor 5 isn’t green lit, and after Love and Thunder, likely (hopefully) *won’t* be green lit, and if it does, I hope to the MCU gods that Waititi isn’t attached.

For those that didn’t listen to our Love and Thunder episode (with guest Erik Hall, you can listen here), I.. was not a fan.  Ragnarok was fun and different from the first two Thor movies, but.. I dislike when movie makers are like “Yes.. but THIS one needs to go to ELEVEN…” Sometimes, you catch lightning in a bottle, and you need to go in a different direction.  Granted, that’s what Ragnarok did, but.. Love and Thunder was.. just a mess, and I personally would cringe at knowing the guy responsible for that mess was back at the helm yet again.

He certainly has a “style”, but so does Tim Burton and Zack Snyder.  Sometimes the movies work because of the style, sometimes they work in spite of… Waititi’s ‘style’ works for some movies, not for others, and it’s disappointing when Hollywood latches onto someone they make as their current “go-to person” based on some early successes and put them on projects that do not at all mesh with that style.  Case and point… Ragnarok was fun and different, and while Thor can certainly have some comedic moments, he’s not a comedy character, and.. in my lowly opinion at least.. shouldn’t be used as such.

For me, if a Thor 5 WAS to happen, I would want it to be more serious, more gravitas.  Sure, comedy can be a part of it, but only to offset the drama and seriousness I think needs to be part of the character.

That’s my take, what’s yours?  Hit us on the socials and let us know!

-PCR

Audio Blog

Hellooooooo Somethings!

So.. look.  When you’ve been doing a “thing” for 10 years, and you’re as fidgety creative as your co-host is.. every now and then you want to take what you’re making, throw it in a box, shake the shit out of it, dump it out, and see how if lays out now.

To that end, starting in October, we’re going to have a new lineup of shows!

Our first episode of the month is always going to be our ‘podcast’ episode, so that won’t change.

Week 2 will be “In The Beginning”, moved up from the end of the month closer to… well.. you get the idea.  We’ll be talking pilot episodes and it gives us the opportunity to discuss shows that are still ongoing.

In week 3, Elevator Pitch is getting it’s own show.  This is going to allow us to have a guest on once a month, and also allow Hatton and I to flex our creative muscles into more ideas.

Week 4 brings us another new show, One Star Movies.  We find the idea of doing movie reviews of terrible movies hilarious, so we’re looking forward to digging into some real bad ones here.

Now, you may be asking “What about ‘Something In Review’?  What happened to ‘The Wheel’?”  Well, fear not Somethings.  In the past those months that had 5 Tuesdays had a ‘Free For All’ episode at the end, well, we’re renaming that show “The 5th Wheel”, and we’ll be using our Swedish-Made-Totally-Something-That-Exists Wheel for those episodes.

Hatton and I are looking forward to testing the new lineup, and we hope you enjoy it too!  Hit us up on the socials and let us know your thoughts!

-PCR

Audio Blog

Hey all – Hatton here.

Well, the world is talking about the dying gasp that is Twit… ahem.. X. So I thought I would run through a few ideas I’ve had recently that would be better names we could use instead of X to X-eeting.. Skexeet… Xavier-eeting people– better names for Twitter and why.

First let’s work with the assumption that we MUST change Twitter. We can invent some farfetched reason like we have a small peepee and can’t help but cram our greedy fingers into everything, or that we’re doing our best to sink the ship to try and recoup our lost millions somehow. Off the top of head. Fact is, doesn’t matter why.. we’re changing that blue bird of happiness.

Let’s start simple.

What if we called them Shawties?

The caveat is that you can only use them on someone’s birthday.

You’re welcome.

We could go fancy, and try to bring us back to a posher time and refer to them as Missives. A word originating in mid 1500s France – instead of our Tweetdeck being laden with the sale of plummeting NFTs and the dumbfuck opinions of anyone with a phone.. well now we can receive a missive, which will, of course, provide you with a bevvy of financial opportunities for fungible items in an exciting speculative market and give you the regular thoughts of the assinity of the proletariat as they send missives hither and yon.

Another short idea – we could just call it Reddit.. by next year that name will likely be just as available.

Next, I’d like to reach back just a little while ago on the internet, a trend you still see today although not as much. When the land grab for domains got hot, a lot of start ups couldn’t get normal uncopyrightable words, so they made their own. JOOMLA, XOBNO, HULU, SKYPE or they removed expensive vowels: BUTLR, FLICKR, GRINDR, SCRIBD.. hell, even Twitter was almost TWTTR — but now that we’re assuredly changing the way we TWT, why not go all in. No vowels. Not even in your missives. What will we call these.. I don’t care, I just don’t want vowels, so lets go with DPSHT.

Finally, since X is here til the Chapter 11 filings, we can praise Elon for one thing. Someone that works his puppet thoughts realized that with the advent of horrible short form video (a rant for another day) a shorter name saves people time. By X-ing, you’re saving yourself a fraction of a fraction of a second over Tweeeeeeeeeeeting, each time you say it. Efficiency is the name of the game, so we’re going to go one finally step further.

Instead of X’ing… instead of Tweeting… the best thing we can do is just not talk about them at all. Send a text message instead. Except on birthdays. Then we Shawty.

Audio Blog

Hey all, PCR here

Now, it’s been said (hell, I’ve said it myself) that, I’m not a “horror guy”.  I don’t get into horror the way others do, I don’t seem to understand the hype some horror movies get.. they just aren’t really my bag.

That’s not to say I don’t try to watch them.

Over the past week, I checked out a few, and here are my thoughts on them…

Insidious

This was “eh” to me, the ‘non-horror-movie-guy’.  It felt kind of stilted, and.. compared to other movies on this list involving children, it felt the tamest in regards to the scares involving kids.  Sure, the creature had some good jump scare moments, and Specs and Tucker were great for their interaction, the whole movie just felt… lacking and like they made it up as they went.

Sinister

Ok, when it comes to using kids in horror movies, it can either feel terrifying, or like a Happy Meal movie.  Sinister was very much the former.  The scary in it was how disturbing the content was.  Very little back story, a nice cameo from Vincent D’Onofrio…  my biggest gripe really was there was zero explanation for anything.  Maybe they came in later films, but that was my biggest complaint regarding this one.  Probably tied for ‘best one I saw this week”

The Conjuring and The Conjuring : The Devil Made Me Do It

The second installment wasn’t available on my streaming service, so I skipped 2 and went to “Devil…”.  In my opinion, the first one was MUCH better.  Better effects, better scares… I think the horror I can lean in to is the horror that doesn’t feel so fantastical… no traveling to different realms, no giant portals with winged beasties flooding through.. shit that feels like it’s much more practical.  There were some legit scenes in the first one that had me pausing and siting up going “what the fuck…”, Devil Made me Do It.. not so much.  The Conjuring tied with Sinister for ‘best watched this week’

The Nun

I know this is a spin off of The Conjuring ‘universe’, I also know this one was bad.  The story felt forced, and full of “Why the fuck would you do that?” moments that I HATE in horror movies.  Nothing seemed surprising and most of the movie felt telegraphed to me.  Easily the bottom of my list.

What about you Somethings?  What are your thoughts on MY thoughts?  Hit us up on our socials and let us know!

– PCR