019: The Walking Dead 4x02 "Infected" - Sticky Little Brood Monsters

SPOILERS UP TO (and including) THE WALKING DEAD 4x02

In this episode:

• Discussion of The Walking Dead 4x02 "Infected," including the sickness spreading in the prison, Carol and her new charges Lizzie and Mika, Beth and Michonne's character dynamics, Rick and Carl trying to make their relationship work, and Kareeeeeeeeen.
• The difficulties of livetweeting a show that has minimal levity.
• Okay, so whoever's on watch--they have to see someone feeding the zombies, right? ...Right?
• People are dropping like flies, but what everyone's really broken up about is the pigs.
• Is Carol being too hard, or is this appropriate zombie apocalypse behavior?
• Looks like we may discover some interesting bits of Michonne's backstory this season! Hopefully they don't kill her off before we get to find out what it is.
• Take the lighter moments while you still can, 'cause it's all downhill from here. For example, the adorableness that is Judith Grimes.
• Humor and horror: two sides of the same coin?

THERE'S ALWAYS AN ADDENDUM:

• This episode meanders a bit. I'm wondering if it's because we only have two days to process each episode before we discuss, whereas with Hannibal, we had almost a week to come up with things to talk about.
• Highlights from Fio's timestamps for editing this episode:
• ~29:30 - You mention "A History of Violence" and trail off. This is because I was struck with a brief but vivid fantasy of traversing a zombie apocalypse with Viggo Mortensen that totally derailed every other thought in my head.
• 42:45 – Pause, also, how did you come up with “not consumption but burnination” and totally miss the opportunity for “not consumption but combustion”

Music/SFX:

• Intro: "A Song for the Dead" - Queens of the Stone Age | YouTube | iTunes |
• "Taps" - American Military Traditional | Wikipedia |
• Record Scratch noise: http://www.freesound.org/people/luffy/sounds/3536/
• Outro: "Down With the Sickness" - Richard Cheese (originally by Disturbed) | YouTube | iTunes |

(Screencap taken from http://screencapped.net/tv/thewalkingdead/thumbnails.php?album=1440&page=25)

http://archive.org/download/AMOT019/AMOT019.mp3

018: The Walking Dead 4x01 "30 Days Without an Accident" - Power Dynamic Apple Cart

SPOILERS UP TO (and including) THE WALKING DEAD 4x01

In this episode:

• New opening theme! Let us know what you think.
• A couple of Hannibal updates: 
• Cleolinda on Anglo-Filles, and their discussion of NBC Hannibal
• Bryan Fuller was a guest host on Face Off!
• Discussion of The Walking Dead 4x01 "30 Days Without an Accident," including the community that's been established at the prison, Rick's new groove, new character dynamics, Creepy Clara, and what Patrick's untimely fate means for the community.
• Beth and the kids: Are these appropriate reactions to the zombie apocalypse?
• Michonne still has a personality! Yay!
• Ian is afraid EVERYONE IS GOING TO DIE. (Specifically, people who have been there since season 1.)
• A few theories about the Governor's whereabouts.
• How long will these zombies last?

THERE'S ALWAYS AN ADDENDUM:

• I haven't had a chance to re-listen to the whole episode yet, so I'm not sure if there's anything that needs to go here. I'll probably end up editing this once I do.
• Okay, here's something: There is a really strange noise at 32:08, and I have no idea where it came from. Maybe it's just my copy of the file. Who knows. I think it might be a sound from Skype or something.

Music:

• Intro: "A Song for the Dead" - Queens of the Stone Age | YouTube | iTunes |
• Outro: "33" - Coheed and Cambria  | YouTube | iTunes |

(Screencap from http://screencapped.net/tv/thewalkingdead/thumbnails.php?album=1433&page=50)

http://archive.org/download/AMOT018/AMOT018.mp3

017: The Walking Dead Seasons 1-3 - The Neverending Zombie Movie

SPOILERS FOR AMC'S THE WALKING DEAD SEASONS 1 - 3, LOST SEASONS 2 & 3, DOCTOR WHO #199 "THE NEXT DOCTOR," and mild spoilers for Dracula by Bram Stoker and the cast of The Walking Dead Season 4

In this episode:

• My...triumphant?...return? I dunno. I talk a lot this episode. Hopefully I don't bore everyone.
• Discussion of the first three seasons of AMC's The Walking Dead, including major themes and plot points, character arcs, and audience reaction. We keep it fairly linear, but we do jump around a bit.
• The first 20 minutes of this episode are actually not very spoilery, aside from a major spoiler from the first episode. If you're looking for reasons to start watching, though, that may be a good place to start.
• More on the TV show vs. the graphic novel, including the advantages of a televised format
• Season 1: The Southern Gothic tradition, Morgan and the first episode, the "zombie movie"
• Season 2: Pacing, tackling tough issues, exploring the zombie apocalypse from multiple angles, Daryl
• Season 3: David Morissey as the Governor, Rick's mental issues, Andrea's character arc
• How would Hannibal fare in a zombie apocalypse?
• Links:
• Christina's Tumblr posts from the day T-Dog died (and we were singin', bye, bye...). Her commentary on the episode begins a little over halfway down, right after the Clue gifset of Mrs. White and Col. Mustard. It is fantastic in so many ways. (HEY I MAKE A CAMEO AT THE END)
• This is what Fio must have been remembering in reference to me being afraid for characters becoming interesting. 
• The Many Scowls of The Walking Dead's Michonne. I think my favorite is the something-is-amiss scowl.
• It was too damn gorgeous 
• The Walking Dead: Zombie Hunter
• The Lori/Rick GIF set
• The Mercy of the Living - The chord progression I was talking about. It's just looped for 6 minutes, for whatever reason.

THERE'S ALWAYS AN ADDENDUM:

• I apologize if the volume levels are iffy this episode; I kind of glossed over that by accident this time around.
• I didn't take the time to splice in music from The Omen when I talk about Damien the cat. Sorry, Fio.
• It's been a while since I watched a lot of these episodes, so forgive me for my incorrect details.
• I forgot to mention Daryl and T-Dog in the list of characters from the first season.
• When I started talking about the way that the show presents issues, I thought of another thing I like about the way they write: Because they aren't so preachy about issues, they let the audience come to their own decisions and develop their own opinions about the situation.
• I mentioned Andrea having a wrench in the season 3 finale. It was pliers.
• Caesar is probably better known by his last name, Martinez.

Music:

• Intro/Outro: "Walking Dead" - Z-Trip feat. Chester Bennington | YouTube | iTunes |

("Stay In The House Image" taken from http://www.myteespot.com/Stay-In-The-House-Carl-Walking-Dead-T-shirt-p-18300.html)

http://archive.org/download/AMOT017/AMOT017.mp3

016: A Spine-chilling Anthology of Scintillating Tales OR How to Get Weird and Die Trying

SPOILERS FOR Batwoman, The Sandman, Avengers Academy, Avengers Arena, Fringe, Hawkeye, The Wake, Lost? Maybe? Can you spoil Lost? I still don't know what's happening, Metaphors about Lost we definitely spoil those, The Spectre, Jack Kirby Characters in General, The Black Racer in Specific, The Flash, Swamp Thing, Mike Carey's Lucifer a little?, The Sandman Again, The Dark Half, The Walking Dead Kinda (jumped the gun. Whoops, sorry)

In this episode:

• Horror Comics are on the docket.
• As per usual, though, our discussion goes all over the place.
• We talk mostly about the Big Two when it comes to how horror comics have affected us. We do jump out a little bit, but our discussions pretty much circle around characters that you're probably aware of, none of us are trying to be huge comic hipsters and reference comics that some dude printed in a local zine in Chicago upon which I did not at all spend an inordinate amount of money for really crappy comics that I'll never get to talk to anyone about because they were so bad shut up.
• We complain a bit about the monochrome marketing strategy DC's employing.
• Marvel comes out of the discussion a little better but you guys aren't off the hook either. Both of you could be doing better.
• Per Christina: "Swamp Thing is about a guy who used to be a guy who it turns out wasn't a guy at all ever and just some fuckin' Swamp Thing"
• Oh yeah, it's also pretty explicit. Pretend I said that up there.
• This is a "little nubbins of a plant thing."
• Dylan says "the 'comic audience' is a myth that publishers are clinging to [that doesn't really exist]." Nothing else to say, I just wanted to reiterate that.
• This episode was originally supposed to be about women in horror comics. That didn't exactly happen. We ocassionally talk about women who are in horror comics, but that just gives me an excuse to do another comics episode.

THERE'S ALWAYS AN ADDENDUM:

• We talk a lot about Constantine. That has its own show in development. If it gets picked up I will fight Ian to the death over our right to recap it. Hopefully it'll have nothing to do with the movie.
• Opening quote and a few other citations are from "The Ten-Cent Plague" by David Hajdu
• This is the ComicsAlliance article I refer to during the episode.
• You can find our recommendations for comics here, here, and here.
• Someone shared this link to an indie horror film they were working on and we've been remiss in sharing it back with you all. Check it out and donate if'n you can.

Music:

• Intro: "Dig Up Her Bones" - The Misfits | YouTube | iTunes |
• Outro: "Mr. Sandman" -  written by Pat Ballard and originally performed by the Chordettes, covered by Blind Guardian | YouTube |

(Cover image is Chamber of Chills #23 published by Harvey Comics. Screencap from http://www.samuelsdesign.com/)

http://archive.org/download/AMOT016/AMOT016.mp3

BONUS: Cthulhu Gloom - Ribbit, B*tch

No spoiler warning! But I will say there are parts of this that are NSFW.

In this episode:

• Back in July, Fio and I played a game of Cthulhu Gloom with our friends Vic and Louie. Since Fio just did an episode on Lovecraft, we felt this would work nicely as a companion episode.
• Listen as we tell stories most eldritch, non-Euclidean, and squamous in nature. Who must inventory their limbs? Who gets rattled by rats? Who gets thwarted the most while trying to kill off their miserable characters to win the game?
• The official Cthulhu Gloom website, with game rules
• The characters from the starter set, and the Dreamland characters, if you wanted to see what they looked like on the cards. These pages also show the flavor text from the cards.
• Here's some quick reference for who's playing which family:
• Ian is playing characters from the Dreamlands: Barzai the Wise, King Kuranes, Richard Pickman, and Mo'mo'mo
• Vic is playing characters from Arkham Sanitarium: Dr. Willet, Cassilda & Camilla, Henry Akeley, and Tigger-Man
• Fio is playing characters from Innsmouth: Barnabas Marsh, Pth'thya-I'yi, Joe Sargent, and Zadok Allen
• Louie is playing characters from the Whateley family: Old Whateley, Lavinia Whateley, Wilbur Whateley, and Junior

THERE'S ALWAYS AN ADDENDUM:

• I recorded this on my voice recorder, so the audio quality is not the same as our regular episodes, but I did my best to tidy it up. Please let me know if it's completely unlistenable. The audio quality VASTLY improves when I move the recorder onto the table around the 16 minute mark.
• To give a little context for some of the random comments we make, we had just seen Pacific Rim the day before, as well as the Avengers Rifftrax. As for all of the other comments we make without context...well, be glad you weren't sitting at our table at meal times back in college.

Music:

• Intro: "Goin' Down to Dunwich" - The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets | YouTube | iTunes |
• Break 1: "The Kraken" - Hans Zimmer, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (Original Soundtrack) | YouTube | iTunes |
• Break 2: "Devouring the Dragon" - Danny Elfman, Red Dragon (Soundtrack from the Motion Picture) | iTunes |
• Break 3: "Forward to Time Past" - John Williams, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Original Soundtrack) | iTunes |
• Outro: "The Thing That Should Not Be" - Metallica | YouTube | iTunes |

(Cover art taken from the Cthulhu Gloom order page.)

http://archive.org/download/AMOTB01/AMOTB01.mp3

015: Stop! In the Name of Lovecraft

SPOILERS FOR... Well, nothing's really spoiled, but some stuff just kind of gets mentioned. Just to be safe? Oh gods... I don't even know... Lovecraft's Bibliography, Dr. McNinja, Evil Dead, IT, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Scrabble?, Ghostbusters, The Thing (1982, 2011, and the 2002 game), Hellboy 1&2, Pacific Rim, Shadow Hearts, and a lot of other stuff.

In this episode:

• We're talkin' Lovecraft.
• As we mentioned in the last episode, Ian decided to take a bit of a break to recharge his batteries, so it was up to Fio to recruit a guest host to help bear the neural load of completing this podcast. He chose an old friend, Turner, who's currently pursuing his doctorate in Neuroscience.
• We breeze by about a million things to try and communicate the scope of wildly different pieces of media that Lovecraft has had an influence on. We probably fail.
• If you're not familiar with how racist Lovecraft can be, it's honestly ridiculous. It reaches uncomfortable Poe's Law levels at times. I don't think we quite get into it enough on the podcast, but even if you brace yourself for the kind of racism and anti-antisemitism that you might find in early works, there are some bits of Lovecraft that will probably take you by surprise.
• So this would be the time to let you know that here's a crapload of his work.
• If you want to enjoy Lovecraft that isn't horribly racist, we recommend Cthulhu Gloom or Arkham Horror
• This is the Call of Cthulhu film that we reference. It clocks in at 46 minutes and is currently available to stream on Netflix.
• Pacific Rim is a character story. Somebody back me up on this.
• "Wrecking your shit for no reason" is the only motivation any of the interesting characters in Lovecraft need.
• Next episode we're going to talk about horror comics and I swear to you we'll manage to record for longer than an hour this time.

THERE'S ALWAYS AN ADDENDUM:

• We mention Japanese games with possibly Lovecraftian influence and somehow I completely forget to mention that Nyarlathotep is the villain of Persona 2. And I really love the Persona series. Shame, shame.
• Fio corrects Turner when he's talking about "The Rats in the Walls," saying that the mad idiot god at the center of the Universe is Azathoth, however, in "The Rats in the Walls," for whatever reason, Lovecraft refers to Nyarlathotep being the mad god in the center of the earth surrounded by pipers. Soooo... bad Fio.
• Other titles I briefly considered for this episode: "Lovecraft in the Time of Cholera," "I'm not gonna' write you a Lovecraft song 'cause you asked for it," "What is Lovecraft? Baby don't hurt me," "Lovecraft Actually starring Alan Rickman," "Shot through the heart, and you're... screw it, you get it. 

Music:

• Intro: "The Innsmouth Look" - Darkest of the Hillside Thickets | iTunes |
• Outro: "Love will Tear us Apart" - Joy Division | YouTube | iTunes |

(Screencap from http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100202021247/lovecraft/images/1/1b/Kraken-cthulhu.jpg)

http://archive.org/download/AMOT015/AMOT015.mp3

014: Hannibal Rising (2007) - Hannibal Lecter, Nazi Killer

SPOILERS FOR "HANNIBAL RISING" (2007), SEASON 1 OF NBC'S HANNIBAL, AND HANNIBAL RISING AND HANNIBAL BY THOMAS HARRIS

In this episode:

• Back to just Fio and me (thanks again, Cleo!). And we're trying out something new with the opening! Let us know if you like it or if change makes you go into the fetal position (hoo, boy; wait 'til the end of this episode).
• Discussion of the 2007 adaptation of Thomas Harris' novel Hannibal Rising, including Gaspard Ulliel's performance as the young Hannibal Lecter, Rhys Ifans and his band of Nazis, Thomas Harris' screenplay, and what material they might use in NBC's Hannibal.
• David Bowie is like cheese and bacon.
• I want a comic/gifset of the movie's conversation with Fio. No, this is not a contest, it's just something I really, really want to see.
• Here's the gorgeous forest shot Fio and I appreciated.
• I make another comparison to The Phantom of the Opera.
• We ask the hard-hitting questions: Did this movie need to be made? Does Hannibal's motivation make sense? How disappointed would we be if David Bowie wasn't in Season 2 of NBC's Hannibal?
• Fuller's version will probably be ridiculously coherent.
• The problem of origin stories, and the pacing of novels vs. the pacing of movies
• Poor Abigail. Poor, poor Abigail.
• This is the way our discussion of Hannibal in film ends. (You know the rest.)
• We finish up with a few updates on the future of the podcast.

THERE'S ALWAYS AN ADDENDUM:

• Part of me is still trying to figure out the whole cannibalism-begets-cannibalism thing. Is it like, "Well, if I was willing to eat my sister, then everyone else is fair game"?
• I totally forgot to mention all of the ways you can contact us at the end of this episode. Whoops. Well, there's our sidebar up there; you can find links for email and everything there.

Music:

• Intro: "Howl" - Beware of Darkness | YouTube | iTunes |
• Outro: "Goldberg Variations BWV 988 - Aria" - Johann Sebastian Bach (performed by Kimiko Ishizaka) | Free Download |

(Screencap from http://ladymanson.com/galleries/movies/MoviesHK/thumbnails.php?album=2)

http://archive.org/download/AMOT014/AMOT014.mp3