Tuesday, May 30, 2017

100: Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992) - Blank as a Fart


SPOILERS FOR TWIN PEAKS SEASONS 1 & 2 and TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME (1992), including THE MISSING PIECES (deleted/extended scenes from the film).

 In this episode:
  • IMPORTANT NOTE: This episode was recorded BEFORE Twin Peaks: The Return began airing, so you won't hear us discussing anything from the new series (besides the casting news released a while ago)--for better or for worse.
  • We return to the world of Twin Peaks for our 100th episode! Listen as we discuss the 1992 prequel movie Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, and all the weirdness it has to offer.
  • The weirdness is pretty dense in Fire Walk With Me, giving you a much more concentrated dose of what you get throughout the series.
  • Ian gets a bit into the expanded content and additional material on the Blu-ray Entire Mystery box set.
  • We dance around a bit talking about the kind of ineffable, cosmic horror parts of Twin Peaks.
  • Twin Peaks is very likely a weirdness magnet in the same storied company as Derry, Maine and Gravity Falls, Oregon
  • The show/film is incredibly esoteric in the way in attempts to communicate meaning and does little to alleviate that.
  • Fire Walk With Me doesn’t quite function as a single unit, it needs to come after the series to stand on its own.
  • We don’t always understand where Lynch is going with things, but we trust him to do it well.
  • We talk a little bit about shades of interpretation and the how the number of people involved in a film production can change the reading of a character.
  • Ian wants it to be known that he’s not an expert in Zen Buddhism
  • Sheryl Lee and Ray Wise are amazing together.
  • Twin Peaks is effective because it’s so focused. We want to learn more but learning more about that world would dilute the focus.
THERE'S ALWAYS AN ADDENDUM:
  • Apologies for the lateness of this episode once again. I (Ian) just got a new job, so editing fell to the wayside for a bit.
  • I also have watched the first four episodes of the new series, and holy crap, is it David Lynch-y.
  • As we mentioned on the episode: THIS IS NOT THE END! We already have ideas for upcoming episodes. Keep an eye out for them!
Music:

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Friday, March 31, 2017

099: Resident Evil 7: Biohazard - Eeeeethaaaann... ETHAN!



SPOILERS FOR RESIDENT EVIL 7 & 4.

 In this episode:
  • We're back this month to discuss Resident Evil 7: Biohazard. Fio's a long-time RE fan, and Ian got to play both the demo and the game on PSVR, so there's quite some ground that gets covered.
  • It’s good having someone doing something in the style of P.T. since Konami has no interest in games anymore, apparently.
  • While there are definitely complaints to be made about some samey-ness in the monster design, the Baker villains were all very well crafted and they exude character in their appearances.
  • The setpieces in this game are really strong, especially the house. As mentioned the Bakers are also really strong/well-realized monsters and characters. The story, to be charitable, is not so much.
  • In the opening act of the game, uh, you get fucked up bad. You get fucked up real bad.
  • This game is just really well paced and plotted and all around a solid outing, which is definitely refreshing after the mess that was Resi 6.
  • We talk briefly about competing philosophies in terms of how developed your main characters should be in games.
  • Ian found a cool couple of Behind the Scenes featurettes on YouTube (SPOILERS):
THERE'S ALWAYS AN ADDENDUM:
Music:

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Thursday, February 9, 2017

098: Adam Wingard Movies - Blair Witches & Blue Eyes

  

SPOILERS FOR YOU'RE NEXT (2011), THE GUEST (2014), AND BLAIR WITCH (2016).

In this episode:
  • WE'RE ALIIIIIIIIIIVE! And back to discuss three movies from director Adam Wingard: You're Next (2011), The Guest (2014), and Blair Witch (2016).
  • You're Next (2011)
    • The home invasion genre and the ways it clashes with the usual American horror flick philosophy
    • We discuss the relative groundedness of You’re Next. It’s probably up to your own threshold of groundedness interpretation.
    • I (Fio) start off talking about Home Invasion flicks having a kinship with Japanese horror and then take for-goddamn-ever to get back around to what I mean.
    • Man, how good was 10 Cloverfield Lane, though?
  • The Guest (2014)
    • Thanks to podcast listener Kate for recommending this movie to us in the first place!
    • We start tackling The Guest and the Politics of Handsomeness.
    • Also, Ian desperately hopes this was a werewolf film.
    • Again, we get into a discussion of the relative groundedness of the film and how many steps we are away from our own universe in this film.
  • Blair Witch (2016)
    • Everyone in the Blair Witch movies is in film school. Just make peace with this from the get-go.
    • We compare the slow-burn, unscripted nature of the original Blair Witch to the slicker, more “hollywood” Blair Witch 3.
    • We get our Doug Jones jokes out, but rest assured they come from a place of love.
  • Ian talks about Resident Evil 7 for a few minutes while Fio desperately tries not to die.
  • Also: listen to the end of the podcast for "Trespasser," a song from Ian's recently released solo album, Stepping Stones!
THERE'S ALWAYS AN ADDENDUM:
  • Apologies for the long, unannounced hiatus. We plan on being back on a monthly basis for the foreseeable future.
  • We're approaching our 100th episode! Let us know if there's anything in particular you'd like to see us do for it.
  • From Fio:
    • My sneezing and sniffling is goddamn disgusting. Our hideous meat bodies are truly a blight on this planet.
    • Nothing to do with the podcast, but sniffling while I’m listening to myself sniffle on the recording and having them line up is a really bizarre experience.
Music:

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