Episode 74: Antman and the Wasp

Episode 74: Antman and the Wasp
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


John and I go through Antman and the Wasp on this episode. It has gotten some criticism for how small the story is, and how little it did to further the meta-plot of the MCU. But we love it! Is it perfect? Absolutely not! But it is fun, and it's refreshing after so many large scale stories.

Now we didn't delve into fan theories a whole lot, but apparently with recent set photos, and an interview with the Huffingtonpost given by Peyton Reed, a popular theory is that time travel will play a role in the next Avenger's movie. The interview is worth a read. Reed is rather cheeky with some of his answers (the question of what Janet van Dyne ate for instance). 

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 67: Avengers Infinity War

Episode 67: Avengers Infinity War
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

Everybody and their dog has given thoughts to this film. Overall most fans, and casual movie goers liked the movie. John and I were no different. I would have liked to have seen this movie split into two films. I think it would have helped the pacing issues, and helped developed the Black Order a bit more. And like most people, John and I had an issue with some of the folks "dusted" at the end of the film.

But you can hear that, and more on our thoughts on Thanos in the episode. 

The fun stuff is the fan theories and this Bustle article pretty much sums up all of them quite nicely. (Much better than I could). I personally like Nebula killing off Thanos. I'm not a fan of the Soul Stone theory (I know, it's contrary to the comics). I'm not sure exactly where John lies, but I suspect he likes both theories quite a bit.

Regardless, I'm excited to see Avengers 4, and until then bring on Ant-man and the Wasp, and Captain Marvel! 

Episode 62: Jessica Jones now on YouTube.

It's Episode 62: Jessica Jones on YouTube! If you haven't listened to it yet, then you totally should! Listen to Frank and John while seeing their magnificent beards.

Episode 63: The Punisher

Episode 63: The Punisher Season 1
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

Man! The Punisher! If you haven't watched it yet, and you're a fan of the Marvel series, you need to do that right now! It's amazing! I've used a lot of exclamation points in this first paragraph so far to make my point, but I mean it. The series is well paced, well thought out, brutal as fuck, and it has some fairly thoughtful moments. It's the least comic-y of the Netflix Marvel series. Don't get me wrong, it still has that comic-book vibe in spots, but I could easily see it as a completely unrelated series and doing well, even if the Punisher didn't exist as a character.

The series hints at social commentary with-out ever fully taking a side or becoming overtly political. Which honestly I think works. The main focus of the series is grief and PTSD neither of which should have any political side. The series never uses the "PTSD" through out it's 12 1/2 hour run. It doesn't need to. We see men haunted by things that they'd done, things that were done to them, and things that they still have an itch to do. 

It doesn't handle PTSD without fully delving into film cliches however: The radicalization of Lewis was a massive misfire in my opinion, and I agree with Michael Rougeau from Gamespot: this was a large "misfire". I think it could have been handled better, and perhaps been true of the actual real dilemma if Lewis had killed the older vet O'Connor and had to deal with the ramifications of just that. Frank Castle didn't need another analogue to his character. A "bad cop" to his "good cop." I think there was potential to deal with Lewis' tragic and all too real story (to a point) without denigrating it into the homegrown terrorist cliche we see in action films. It's not that these individuals don't exist, they do. Unfortunately. But that this is something that a series like 24 would try and do, and the Punisher is quite honestly a better thought out series than that.

The other elephant in the room is the gun-debate. Yes it does come up in the show, mostly around Lewis' character and his actions with a senator that is very pro gun control. The debate itself is... well I feel it's a non-starter. It's there to provide some fodder for Lewis' radicalization and that's all. The show stays fairly neutral in its stance* and the debate itself is a plot device. It was chosen I'm fairly sure, because it is such a topical issue right now. So while it is there, and it is front and center later on in the series, it's not something that be taken as a theme of the series, and it's not either for or against. And here's the thing: It shouldn't be a big focus of the series. The Punisher isn't here to decide the gun debate one way or the other, nor is it here to bring the debate to the table to serious discussion. The two episodes that feature the debate are quite honestly there to provide motivation and an end to Lewis' character while inching Frank Castle's plot forward. 

Now John and I did talk about a couple of charities during the episode, and we want to make sure they get a mention again: I talk a little about The Wounded Warrior Project, which is a fantastic charity helping vets and their families. If you're a veteran and you're not a member you can check out the website and see what they do. You can also donate, which I encourage you to do. The other charity is Pet's for Vets. I love he idea of this one as it gives animals a new friend and family member and it gives the vet a loyal companion as well. I love getting pet's into peoples lives so this is another one I highly endorse. 

All that said, The Punisher is fantastic. If you can handle the brutal violence that the series has to offer, and the emotional violence as well, then perhaps binge it in a weekend. If you're like John and I however, take your time with it. Watch a few episodes in a sitting and let things gel. But whatever you do, give it a watch, especially if you're a Marvel fan, it's worth watching.

*It's very much worth arguing that Frank Castle, the character would be very pro-gun, and because of that the show itself is pro-gun. The thing is, it's never really preachy, even when the gun debate comes to the front of the series. HOWEVER, I feel if the debate ever did come up in the serious it would be considerably nuanced, at least until it wasn't any more. The show, when dealing with gun-violence, is very much still a "Hollywood" affair. It may treat the subject more seriously than say, John Wick, but it's still very much grounded in that language of cinema. 

Episode 61: Black Panther now on Youtube!

We don't have a new episode this week, John and I were both down with different sickness. I had lost my voice, and John took a trip to one of his favorite places: The Hospital.

Ok. Maybe not.

But we do have a new Youtube video for you. It's Ep. 61: Black Panther. If you haven't listened to it, you should. It's definitely worth a listen I think. Moreover check it out to see what sort of shenanigans our video editor catalia did with it. She's been super busy, but she'll be getting back into the full swing of things again here in the next week or so, you'll see more content both old and new uploaded.

Episode 62: Jessica Jones Season 2

Episode 62: Jessica Jones Season 2
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

It's our discussion about Jessica Jones season 2. Overall we liked it. Well, to be fair I really liked it. John had a few issues: namely Jerri Hogarth. Now he does like the character, he just feels like she'd fit in better... someplace else. In another series. He's a lot clearer during the episode, and it's something that we disagree on.

We struggle to find a theme to this season. Season one is concretely about abuse, with Killgrave being the primary villain. This season is about... learning that you can move on. Jessica Jones mother is a force to be reckoned with in the season, and is a bad guy, in the sense that she has a negative impact on Jessica's life, but she's not evil. Nobody is really (except Jerri). Selfish? Sure. Idealistic? Maybe. But evil. Nope. None of the villains are really villains. 

But I think that's going to change next season. I honestly think the central conflicts will come from Jerri, who manipulates Chen and Malcolm against Jessica, and from Trish who is going to come out swinging with her own powers. What will be the reasoning for it be? I have no idea. But I'm excited to watch it. 

Speaking of next season: still no announcement about it from Netflix or ABC Studios. I'm optimistic and hopeful we'll hear something soon. I'm loving what Marvel and Netflix has done so far (with one notable exception) and I can't wait to see more of Miss Jones. There are folks who are as optimistic as I am. 

Episode 61: Black Panther

Episode 61: Black Panther
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

Black Panther! This movie is fantastic, and we spill that opinion right off the bat going in. I manage to mangle the characters as I do, which, let's be honest was stupid of me, but that doesn't change our opinion of this film. 

John and I both feel, like many other critics and commentators (I'm not sure if we fit into either one of those categories) that this is important. Being written, directed, and having an almost entirely black cast and reaching the height of popularity that this film has is an important milestone in cinema. But...

John and I aren't qualified to speak about black identity politics, are the black experience. Neither of us are people of color, just two white guys from Utah, so we can't speak from a position of experience, but despite the topic of our podcast we do watch the news, we can see what's happening. Black Panther is not going to solve any of the problems that the black community faces in the United States. I could and perhaps should go into a tirade about mass incarceration, police brutality and income inequality of POC, but I'll save that for my personal blog and instead end with John's thought about Killmonger: "He's not wrong." No, he's not, his solution might not be the right way to solve the issue, but Killmonger isn't wrong. 

I'll leave it at that. I may personally write more on this on my personal blog, but until then please be in touch. Let us know you're thoughts we'd love to hear from you!

-Frank

Throw-back Thursday! Ep. 15 Jessica Jones on Youtube.

It's one of our more serious discussions (we used to have those now and then) on Jessica Jones season 1. We'll be talking about the second season very soon here, but until then, for throwback Thursday here's the new YouTube vid for it, as well as our original notes:

Episode 15: Jessica Jones
Hosts: Frank Shaw and John Belliston
Special guest: Matthew Ivan Bennett
Produced by Hobos in the Back Row
Scripting by Frank Shaw and John Belliston and Matthew Ivan Bennett
Edited by: Frank Shaw 
Intro Music: Piano Sonata mvnt 1 by F.G. Shaw
Outro Music: Morning Activities by F.G. Shaw

John and I are joined by playwright Matthew Ivan Bennett on this episode of the podcast to discuss Jessica Jones: What are our thoughts on the Netflix series? How does it portray female superheros? How well does it portray the survivor of domestic abuse? What are our thoughts about what's to come for Marvel Netflix series? We try to answer all those questions and more in the podcast.

There is one question we discuss above that have better sources than what we three are able to give and that's the matter of the survivor of domestic abuse. To start with here are several links where women give their response to Jessica Jones and how it portrays the victim/survivor role of Jessica in the series.

I have little commentary about the following links because the content is not to be sugarcoated, and nothing I say can do the job of the articles original authors. Each and every one of the following articles is worth a read, especially if you've watched Jessica Jones.

Here is the first link.

Here's the second link.

Here is a link to a Cracked article right in line with the previous two. 

And finally, here's a link with information about being "gas lighted" or psychology abused and manipulated.

None of the above links are particularly light reads. As well they shouldn't be. It's a pretty nasty topic but is something that needs to be addressed, and confronted. As you'll read in the articles, Jessica Jones does a great  job of doing just that.

Throwback Thursday! Episode 1: Daredevil Season 1 now on YouTube!

Hey folks!

It's come to our attention here at Relevant to Our Interests (Relevant 2 R Interests) that we've got a large backlog of episodes. So we thought it might be a brilliant idea to start doing Throwback Thursdays. Especially as we are slowly creating videos and uploading our back catalogue to YouTube, it's time to share some of the old content here in the new form.

So without further ado:




And for those that want to listen to the original episode, check it out on Soundcloud here!

Episode 53 WI Trailers, Videogames and more!

Episode 53: What's Interesting, Trailers, Videogames and more!

Produced by Relevant to Our Interests

Scripting by Frank Shaw and 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

It's old now, especially with the Antman and the Wasp trailer having come out today. But still, it is an awesome trailer, and it's fun to speculate: 


The holidays have come and gone, but that doesn't mean gaming has to. Here's the Dice Tower's top 10 list of gateway games for those who are, but might be interested in becoming gamers. Those guys are the experts, if you don't want to watch their video on the topic, there's a great list of all the games they discuss down below the video. Most of the games I suggest are not there (but do appear on similar lists on the website). 

John has a lot of video games to talk about: First up Doki Doki Literature Club. I still haven't played it, visual novels aren't usually my thing, but it is intriguing enough that it's on the purchase list. 

The Overlord games are a blast. They are pretty cheap to find used if you have an XBox 360 or if you prefer you can also pick them up on steam. Sadly, they don't appear to have been made backwards compatible yet for folks that have an XBox One but not a 360. If you get the chance, play them! They are incredibly fun.  

The last recommendation from John, and not the first time he's mentioned it on he podcast (and likely won't be the last) is Psychonauts. It's available on steam here.  But also if you have a hard copy (or can manage to get your hands on one) it's now backwards compatible on the XBox One. It's also available on www.gog.com (which to John's chagrin is my preferred method). 

Not a ton of new news that I can see on the Quentin Tarantino R rated Star Trek film. One of the early articles on this news is pretty speculative. Mostly mentioning how he has talked to JJ Abrams about a Star Trek movie, and the possibility of putting together a writers room for the film. This Variety article, published after this episode was recorded, indicates that he has been joined in writers duties by Mark L. Smith writer of The Revenant. I'm not sure what to think personally. I love Star Trek, so I'm hoping it has some legs... but at the same time I'm not. We'll have to wait and see I suppose. 

Finally, the Cracked.com layoffs. This is the most detailed news article that I can find on it. I've completely given up on Cracked now, and I think John has as well. The video content there was quickly becoming some of the best stuff the website was putting out, and despite a few of the writers remaining that I like, they don't contribute enough articles at a regular intervals for me to check more than once or twice a month. Which is sad as the site was one place I'd visit online nearly everyday for a very long time. We'll eventually catch up and look into this in a future episode, even if it's just to comment on a project a former Cracked creator is working on. 

Episode 51: Thor Ragnarok

Episode 51: Thor Ragnarok
Produced by Relevant to Our Interests
Scripting by Frank Shaw and 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

Well, it's been a bit. We don't honestly have a lot of notes for this. I will state that if you like this movie then it's worth checking out the directors, Taika Waititi's film What They Do In the Shadows. This is by far my favorite Marvel film to date. I guess this is a fairly boring entry of show notes. Listen to the episode if you haven't, but more importantly WATCH THE MOVIE!

Episode 44: John Hates What You Love: The Defenders (with a bonus cut track!)

Episode 44: John Hates What You Love: The Defenders
Hosts: Frank Shaw and John Belliston
Produced by Relevant to Our Interests
Scripting by Frank Shaw and 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

John levels some pretty hard criticism towards Netflix/Marvel's The Defenders. There's no links in this weeks show notes, but there is a clarification, or a reiteration if you will: We didn't actually hate The Defenders. I know the title is provocative, and often times John has a genuine dislike for things that fall under this heading, though not always (see our episode on Nightmare Before Christmas). This is one of those instances. We both actually liked the Defenders, but there was a weakness to the series that put into focus all the other problems it had: Iron Fist. 

Which brings us to this: in order to keep the show at between 40 minutes to an hour long I have to cut conversation out of each episode. Usually it's wild tangents, or interruptions to the recording that can't always be avoided. It's the nature of our podcast and how we currently have the production set up, being so far apart and struggling with separate recordings. Now and then something that isn't integral to the conversation but still adds to it has to be cut. This is one of those instances. About 5 1/2 minutes were cut out of this episode that just rehashed some of our thoughts on Iron Fist. I'm presenting it here for those that are curious. 

Frank's Rant on Iron Fist

We meant to post this with the notes, but here it is by itself instead. Frank has some pretty strong feelings about Iron Fist, but despite that he's still hopeful about Defenders.


This is supposed to be about a dude with magical fists of iron and we hardly get any of that. Daredevil is getting his ass kicked like every episode. Jessica Jones isn’t throwing cars around constantly, but at least when it isn’t showing her fighting or her powers her character and side characters were interesting and her series gave us plenty of time with the villain. Even Luke Cage has some brilliant moments early on showcasing bullets bouncing off of him. What the hell Marvel?

Madam Gao is one of the coolest villains in Daredevil season one and in this series, where she's a natural fit they barely spent any time with her. Upping the stakes in the series doesn’t mean adding more bad guys half way through: DD season 2 did it, Luke Cage did it, and now Iron Fist and it did it so poorly! You’ve already got two potentially fascinating villains in Gao and Harold, why the hell throw Bakuto in there? If it was for the twist, that’s fucking lame because it was goddamned obvious it was going to happen. You have all this potential and you fucking wasted it because for whatever reason the show runners thought it would be more entertaining to focus on running a business/hostile takeovers/ and corporate moralizing than the potentially kick ass characters and their depth.

The first three or four episodes should have been one. Bakuto should have been introduced sooner (or better left out completely). Madam Gao and her network should have had way more screen time than they did. There’s some good here. The series picks up decently by episodes 6/7, but fuck me running! That’s half way through the series! If your series isn't interesting to watch until halfway through, then maybe you should have started the plot and development closer to that point.

This is depressing. There was so much potential here, but there are many problems: too few fight scenes, uninteresting dialogue, characters whose arcs are barely speed bumps, and not enough focus on the truly interesting characters or worse yet waffling with them and then trying to do all the interesting shit with their characters right at the end. I hope this get’s one more season, not because it was good (it’s tolerable, I will probably watch it again before the Defenders) but because I want to give the creators one more chance to repent for what they gave us with this.

Episode 35: Iron Fist ("Hi Ron Fist!")

Episode 35: Iron Fist
Hosts: Frank Shaw and John Belliston
Produced by Hobos in the Back Row
Scripting by Frank Shaw and John Belliston
Edited by: Frank Shaw
Graphic Design by: Nathan Newell
Intro Music: Piano Sonata mvnt 1 by F.G. Shaw
Outro Music: Piano Sonata mvnt 3 by F.G. Shaw

Forever behind, and never a head. Here are the show notes for Episode 35: Iron Fist, only several months after the fact.

First up! I [Frank] talks about Nintendo, at the time of the episode the Switch had only been out for a couple months, but was (and still is) selling quite well. However Nintendo has discontinued the NES Classic. There was speculation at the time about some of the reasons why they might be discontinuing the device, it's now been revealed that one of the primary reasons is the SNES classic coming out in September. Now the price of the NES classic is so much that it's cheaper to buy the games off the secondary market (especially if you currently own an original NES). I'm still baffled as to the business decision about this, even with the SNES classic coming out. I hope to get one, but we'll see.

John discuss an awesome web comic: Six Billion Demons. Read it. It's incredible and definitely worth a look.

John also talks about the "The Pure Paladins of Palavan" his favorite strike team for Mass Effect: Andromeda.

For the main episode we talk about Iron Fist... Yeah. Despite all the issues, and there were a lot of issues, but I'm [Frank] still hopeful for the Defenders and another season of Iron Fist. I guess they can't all be home runs.

John also gives out bad advice and it's darkly hilarious.

Notes: Episode 30: Dr Strange.

Episode 30: Dr. Strange
Hosts: Frank Shaw and John Belliston
Produced by Hobos in the Back Row
Scripting by Frank Shaw and John Belliston
Edited by: Frank Shaw
Graphic Design by: Nathan Newell
Intro Music: Piano Sonata mvnt 1 by F.G. Shaw
Outro Music: Piano Sonata mvnt 3 by F.G. Shaw

Better late then never!

John and I got sidetracked heavily with the holidays and the post holidays and the long hard winter here in Utah. Ok, no excuses. But now that we're getting into gear again we will get back into the schedule of having these out about a week after each episode.

From this episode not a lot.

I (Frank) talk about the unfortunate young man who fell into a hot springs in Yellowstone. Here's an article from the Washington Post on it. Here's one from CNN. They both have essentially the same information. There isn't a lot to update on this. It's terrible for his family and loved ones.

John talks about why online dating sucks. I'm not going to link to online dating sites, you can find them if you're looking for them quite easily. I think John had some fantastic points about it.

He also discussed Transformers Prime, which we will be featuring on the podcast at some point in the near future.

He also talks about his love of Terraria. Check it out here on Steam or here on GOG.

And finally, before we dicuss the meat of the episode, John gives out the life hack about dry erase markers ability to remove sharpie from white boards.


We discuss Dr. Strange. It's available now on Bluray and to stream. There's not a lot more to say about it other than it's definitely worth a watch. Especially if you like Marvel films. It's almost required viewing. Here's the IMDB page.

Episode 23: Captain America Civil War.

Episode 23: Captain America Civil War.
Hosts: Frank Shaw and John Belliston
Produced by Hobos in the Back Row
Scripting by Frank Shaw
Edited by: Frank Shaw
Graphic Design by: Nathan Newell
Intro Music: Piano Sonata mvnt 1 by F.G. Shaw
Outro Music: Piano Sonata mvnt 3 by F.G. Shaw

John and I discuss the latest Captain America movie. We talk about what we liked and disliked with the movie, including: the plot, Spiderman, issues with the film. The conversation also sparks three potential future topics: Regulation vs. Non-Regulation of WMD's, whether heroes create  their villains, and finally the importance of secret identities. We will eventually touch on these topics in future podcasts.

I also talk about Renegade Cut, a YouTube series that does deep analysis of films both new and classic. It's produced and created by Leon Thomas and I can't recommend this series enough if you like films. Mr. Thomas comes at each movie with a fresh take looking at each picture from an angle that you wouldn't necessarily expect exploring philosophy, film-making techniques, and even fan-theories of the movies.

In addition to his channel, here's Leon Thomas' Patreon for Renegade Cut. John and I discuss Patreon a bit, in both concept and execution. It's a great way for artists to connect with their fans and for the fans to give back to the artists.

Finally, here's the video a Meat Bicycle Built for Two to show off John's love of Borderlands 2. He really likes the game, and this video will give you an insite as to why. So please enjoy.

Episode 20: Daredevil Season 2

Episode 20: Daredevil Season Two
Hosts: Frank Shaw and John Belliston
Produced by Hobos in the Back Row
Scripting by Frank Shaw and John R. Belliston
Edited by: Frank Shaw
Graphic Design by: Nathan Newell
Intro Music: Piano Sonata mvnt 1 by F.G. Shaw
Outro Music: Piano Sonata mvnt 3 by F.G. Shaw


John and I got together and discussed Daredevil Season 2. We talk about the Punisher, Elektra, and what we loved and disliked about the season. We also talk a bit more about Kaiju films, Final Fantasy 15, Planet X and throw out some actual, real crazy fan theories.

 Here are the links to IFLS arcticles on Planet X/Planet 9. There are further links to more in depth articles and papers in each of the articles.

There may or may not be a Punisher spin off. There are a ton of speculative articles on this. I think it's likely, given the popularity of this instance of the character, but as of right now, there's nothing confirmed.

As for Crazy Fan Theories: The Hand the Blacksky are vampires!
Madam Gao is a Skrull!
Daredevil is the actual Devil!!!



 

Episode 15: Jessica Jones

Episode 15: Jessica Jones
Hosts: Frank Shaw and John Belliston
Special guest: Matthew Ivan Bennett
Produced by Hobos in the Back Row
Scripting by Frank Shaw and John Belliston and Matthew Ivan Bennett
Edited by: Frank Shaw
Intro Music: Piano Sonata mvnt 1 by F.G. Shaw
Outro Music: Piano Sonata mvnt 3 by F.G. Shaw

John and I are joined by playwright Matthew Ivan Bennett on this episode of the podcast to discuss Jessica Jones: What are our thoughts on the Netflix series? How does it portray female superheros? How well does it portray the survivor of domestic abuse? What are our thoughts about what's to come for Marvel Netflix series? We try to answer all those questions and more in the podcast.

There is one question we discuss above that have better sources than what we three are able to give and that's the matter of the survivor of domestic abuse. To start with here are several links where women give their response to Jessica Jones and how it portrays the victim/survivor role of Jessica in the series.

I have little commentary about the following links because the content is not to be sugarcoated, and nothing I say can do the job of the articles original authors. Each and every one of the following articles is worth a read, especially if you've watched Jessica Jones.

Here is the first link.
Here's the second link.
Here is a link to a Cracked article right in line with the previous two.
And finally, here's a link with information about being "gas lighted" or psychology abused and manipulated.

None of the above links are particularly light reads. As well they shouldn't be. It's a pretty nasty topic but is something that needs to be addressed, and confronted. As you'll read Jessica Jones does a good job of doing just that.

In a complete switch, here's a link to detailing about Jessica Jones next season, or lack of one.

I've been searching for the specific article Matt mentions in the podcast from the Overthinking website (a fantastic pop culture/geek oriented blog and podcast network), as soon as I find it I'll be sharing it here.

Episode 7: Antman and Absurdism

Episode 7: Antman and Absurdism
Hosts: Frank Shaw and John Belliston
Produced by Hobos in the Back Row
Edited by: Frank Shaw
Intro Music: Piano Sonata mvnt 1 by F.G. Shaw
Outro Music: Piano Sonata mvnt 3 by F.G. Shaw

We discuss Ant-man. How much we either like or disliked it.
Here's the IMDB page for the film. A lot of trivia on the trivia page. 
Here's a link to a timeline of the production for the film: Edgar Wright's involvement and eventually leaving the production after Marvel Studios gains the rights back from Artisan Films. We don't go into a lot of details in the podcast, but if anybody's interested this is pretty interesting and cool.

There is a lot more coming in Absurdism in the next week from John, but here's some links to get you started:
366 Weird Films covers a lot of films, many I haven't seen some I have. It's a pretty long interesting list though some of the movies are a bit difficult to find. Some are on Netflix, a few are on Youtube or can also be found Amazon. Some are just difficult to easily track down.

Here's a link to a blog entitled Absurdism Today. There are only two posts but it excellently details what Absurdism is as a philosophical movement. It's much more academic than we go into in the podcast.

Oddball films has this post specifically on Absurdist Cinema. The entire blog is pretty awesome and you can find a lot of movies detailed that run the absurdist spectrum. It's worth a look and you can spend quite a bit of time here.

Finally, here's another list from Absurdity in Cinema that gives another short list of absurdist movies.