As big gamers and fans of the comics it's no suprise that John and I would be interested in a game based off of Chew. Check out this review for the game from Board Game Brawl.

Episode 5: Chew

Episode 5: Chew
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

John and I have a long rambling conversation about the comic Chew. It's not for the faint of heart, the comic that is, not our conversation.

For the uninitiated Chew is a comic by John Layman and Rob Guillory about an FDA agent Tony Chu who is a cibopathic, which means he has the ability to see the past of anything he eats. The comic is full of cannibalism, people with strange food powers, alien fruit that tastes like chicken and a fighting rooster named POYO!

Check it out here.
Or here.
The movie is in the works and David Tennant has been confirmed to play Mason Savoy.

Episode 4: John Hates What You Love: Firefly.

Episode 4: John Hates What You Love: Firefly
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

Here's the newest episode of the show!
This one might rub folks the wrong way a bit, but it still proves to be a fun conversation.
We have a lengthy discussion about Firefly, discuss the purpose of science fiction and criticize Joss Whedon (again).
Give it a listen.

UPDATE:

The show notes are not nearly as extensive as the last few times.

Here's a link detailing the wherefore and why of Firefly's eventual cancellation and how Fox mishandled the series.

This link is a short essay on where the series could possibly go after Serenity. Interesting read, and honestly I'd love something like what the author suggests (I'm sure John wouldn't be opposed either).

Here's a link to Margaret Weiss Productions page on the Firefly RPG. I mention in the podcast that I played the RPG. The version I played was the original version (also by Margaret Weiss Production) and was actually called the Serenity RPG. It was limited to stuff in the film initially. Well it's been republished as the Firefly RPG now and has a few supplements out as well. The game mechanics are sound and the quality and flavor of the books are fantastic. If you like RPG's and you like Firefly it's worth your time to pick this up. I can attest it's a solid system.

Itunes Store Front.

We now have an ITunes store front. Check it out here.

Episode 3: Mad Max, Gender Roles in Cinema

Episode 3: Mad Max: Fury Road, Gender Roles in Cinema
Hosts: Frank Shaw and John Belliston
Contributors: Jax, and Aubrey Spivey.
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

Here it is! A little bit late, but a fun conversation never the less. Joining John and I for this podcast is Jax, and Aubrey Spivey to talk about Mad Max: Fury Road, and to discuss gender roles in cinema.

The sound quality is a lot lower than our previous podcasts. We tried a different way recording this podcast and it turned out not to be ideal. Live and learn. We're taking notes and going to be making changes to help up the quality for when we have multiple guests in the future.
 There are a lot of notes today:

First some links on Fury Road:

Why Furiosa is the main character of Mad Max.

Why Fury Road isn't feminist. 

How Fury Road switches up gender roles in cinema. 

And here's a list of links that lead to articles and studies that deal directly with gender roles in cinema.

Here's a link discussing women in the film industry. We don't delve into this particular aspect, but it is interesting.
 
Let her go!

Here's an actual study of how male and female roles are treated in movies broken down by rating.

A graphic showing gender roles in action films over the years.

Article discussing gender roles in horror films.

Thesis on horror films and gender roles in cinema. (Long read, but fascinating).

This article actually disagrees with the consensus we have about horror films. It's interesting, and we may visit this topic again (specifically with horror).

Gender roles in Disney Films. (I think this is something that we will revisit, specifically for Disney movies down the road.)

More about Disney movies.

Bechdel Test website. 

Movies that pass the Bechdel Test.

Episode 3 is recorded and is in editting.

Just finished recording Episode 3 a few hours ago. Now to edit and polish. This episode we welcome 2 guests: Aubrey Spivey and Jax. We talk about Mad Max Fury Road and discuss gender roles in cinema. It's a fun conversation and I can't wait for people to give it a listen.

Here's our second episode and here are the show notes:

Episode 2: Avengers Age of Ultron and the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
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 and speculate about a lot of things in this episode. Primarily about the MCU (though we do touch on a few other things that will likely pop up in episodes later on). Do you agree with us? Do you disagree with us? Do you just want to comment?

Comment below, or shoot as an email at relevant2rinterests@gmail.com

(The audio issue hasn't been fixed. It plays great on headphones it seems, but on speakers it still suffers from a low volume. I'm still looking into this and experimenting with possible solutions so bear with us.)

Here's some supplemental reading (and listening, and viewing) for the show:
Joss Whedon's fight with Marvel: Vanity Fair Article.
This article gives the bare details, but reports about it from a podcast interview that I'll link to after I have listened to it myself.

Another interview with Joss Whedon from Buzzfeed detailing his thoughts on the Solo Marvel films lacking a strong female character. A spoiler to some of our conversation for the next episode as we are going to be talking about gender roles in the cinema (specifically action movies).

Here's the cast list for Captain America: Civil War

Mark Ruffalow talking about his future as Hulk and Hulk movies. He seems to be potentially contradicted by this article. And if you're not tired of reading about it, here's another one.

Everything I've read on Thor: Ragnarok seems to be focusing on the more mythological aspects (which I'm very ok with). Here's the Wikipedia article on the character Ragnarok, which I think would be cool to see.

Here's some new news about Dr. Strange: Tilda Swinton may be in it? Maybe he'll turn up in Netflix's Iron Fist?

Also, Spiderman apparently has NOT been cast yet.

And finally, for those that have the time and want to listen to Kevin Smith chat with Joe Quesada for a couple hours, here's the link to the Fatman on Batman podcast episode where he does just that, talking about Daredevil.

That's really it at the moment. I'm going to start posting on the blog twice a week. Mostly news about the podcast or if we're doing something a little more in depth (like the next episode) and requires a little more knowledge of something other than geek stuff we'll occasionally be posting articles we're using in our research that the listeners may find of interest.

Shoot us any suggestions, ideas or criticisms you might have.