Episode 73: What's Interesting

Episode 73: What's Interesting:
Produced by Relevant to Our Interests
Hosts: John R. Belliston and Frank Shaw
Scripting by: Frank Shaw and John Belliston
Edited by: Frank Shaw
Graphic Design by: Nathan Newell and Frank Shaw
Intro Music: Morning Activities by F.G. Shaw
Outro Music: Morning Activities by F.G. Shaw

So this is it, the first show after a month long break. I talk about my vacation in which me and my lady traveled to many abandoned town sites through Utah just to check them out. Highlights include: Soldier Summit, Mill Fork Cemetery, Thistle, and Wahsatch here in Utah. And Chesterfield Idaho, which is being restored by the descendants of those that originally settled and lived there, and there are tours available through out the summer. It was a fun trip, and we hope to do a similar one in the near future. 

On the geek front: I talk about The Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica. I'm excited for this. It's been a long time since I've broken out the Magic the Gathering cards, but Ravnica is one of the most fascinating worlds created for that game, and the fact it is getting a Dungeons & Dragons guidebook makes me incredibly happy.

John is wrapping up the show he's in: Turn to Page 93, tomorrow afternoon for the Great Salt Lake City Fringe Festival. It's gotten some good reviews, and you have one more day to catch some theater in the Salt Lake City area. If I had been more on the ball, as it were, I would have posted this at the beginning of the week. The Fringe Festival is popular though, and getting more so each year. So it's worth checking out.

John's also been watching a lot of YouTube lately (normally that's my shtick) and he has three channels he talks about specifically: ReignBot, Nightmare Expo, and his personal favorite: Night Mind. You'll have to listen to the episode to here specifically why John enjoy's the channels so much. But know that each explores the dark, the weird and the mysterious. They're all a little bit fun and if you like the dark and weird or creepy-pasta in general, you should check out each of the channels.

And finally James Gunn: Some more has happened since the episode released, though not a lot more: The cast of GotG signed a letter asking Disney to rehire Gunn, and to show their support for him. And David Bautista has stated that he will leave the franchise if Gunn's script is not used for the film. At this point there's little chance Disney will hire Gunn back. I do hope they use his script, as I don't want to see Bautista leave Marvel as Drax, but him actually directing is not likely to happen. What Gunn did was in poor taste, but honestly, I'm not sure he should have been fired. Given who dredged up the old tweets, it's obvious that this was an attack against Gunn to get him fired and nothing more.  
I have a lot I think I want to say about this, but I haven't fully put thought into form yet. This article from Vox certainly is a place to start however. And here's the article that John mentions in the episode that somes up the damning nature of the internet, and social media. I'm disappointed that Gunn was fired. I hope the director they get to replace uses his script, and is at least able to channel some of the direction Gunn was taking the film. 

That's all for now. 

Episode 59: What's Interesting: Oscars, Games and Stuff

Episode 59: What's Interesting: Oscars, Games and Stuff

Produced by Relevant to Our Interests

Hosts: John R. Belliston and Frank Shaw

Scripting by: John Belliston

Edited by: Frank Shaw

Graphic Design by: Nathan Newell 

Intro Music: Morning Activities by F.G. Shaw

Outro Music: Morning Activities by F.G. Shaw

So the Oscars have come and gone, and John actually likes the movie that won this year. Neither of us are big on the Oscars, which is odd for us being a podcast primarily about movies and television, but for those that haven't figured it out: John's primarily interested in cartoons -both mature and children's, animated feature film, and genre TV shows. I am interested in all that too, but I'm also into movies. I like the serious films, but I love the quirky independent movies right along side the bizzare b-grade sci-fi. So when we talk about a movie, unless I'm doing a solo episode (as I've done in the past) then we're talking about stuff that appeals to both of us, or that John really hates or has some level criticism for. The Shape of Water is one of those rare Oscar-bait movies that appeals to John. I haven't seen it (yet), but the fact that it won best picture makes our idiosyncratic corner of the internet a little bit happier. 

Now for Breath of the Wild and Golf Story. If you're a Zelda fan and you haven't played this game yet, go find a copy of it and play it! It's amazing! Despite it's flaws it'll astound you. 

Golf Story was a quirky surprise. I went off on the developers about it on my @lojakz Twitter account because of how much I hated the disc golf segments. I really, really hated them. But the rest of the game is great, especially if you like retro arcade style golf games and RPG's. I don't know what it is about the mixing of both of those genres, but it really worked here. So if you have a Switch, and some spare change, pick this up on the E-shop. 

Michael B. Jordan is an awesome guy! That is all there is to say about that. 

The Grimlock MtG card I didn't know much about. It was released (along with the cards Nerf War and the Sword of Dungeons and Dragons) for HASCON (Hasbro Con) 2017. It's not a cheap card by any means as there's not a lot in print. John's brother is amazing, that's all that can be said about that. I look forward to playing against John on his next visit and seeing his new commander deck in action.

The thoughts on modern cartoons? Well this has been a theme throughout this podcast. We've discussed Star vs. the Forces of Evil, Duck Tales, Gravity Falls, and Stephen's Universe at length. There's a lot more discussion coming up. John feels strongly about animation, and I love it because it's a nice escape after the grinding news day (or the grinding day at work). We'll be dived into are thoughts on modern cartoons and we'll dig deeper as we talk about later seasons of those series, plus jump into shows like: Samurai Jack, Avatar the Last Airbender, Legend of Kora, Wakfu, Adventure Time and a whole lot more. 

So that brings us to synesthesia: John's brief explanation, and our discussion doesn't even come close to scratching the surface. Wikipedia is the place to start. I know little about the topic other than what I learned in music history classes years ago, and some conversations with musicians that have it. John's experience may be unique, and the conversation I think gives a little insight to you, the listener, on John and perhaps some of the quirks of the podcast as well. The conversation going forward is fascinating and I know John will be doing more research. If any listeners happen to have synesthesia please reach out to us, we'd love to talk to you about it and get your perspective. 

Finally: John's Bad Advice. 
Don't ever take his advice, even when I say that it sounds like sound advice. It's terrible, it really is. That being said, you should totally submit questions to John's Bad Advice. We will feature you on the show, and if you give us permission we'll use your whole name.