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

IT'S THROWBACK THURSDAY!

We're going back to our review of Luke Cage on Episode 29. We're joined by our friend D'Artagnon Wells where the conversations meanders from Pandemic Cthulhu, the Arrowverse, nihilistic children, and to video games before getting to the meat of the episode on Luke Cage. If you missed back then, listen now! It was a fun conversation and we want to have D'Artagnon back on the show again soon.


Episode 29: Luke Cage
Hosts: Frank Shaw and John Belliston
Special Guest: D'Artagnon Wells
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

Episode 60: Castlevania the Animated Series

Episode 60: Castlevania the Animated Series
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 and Frank Shaw
Intro Music: Morning Activities by F.G. Shaw
Outro Music: Morning Activities by F.G. Shaw

John and I have a lot to say about this four episode series (so far). I liked it. John had some major issues, and he's complaints are not unfounded. The series, written by Warren Ellis has a tone of anti-religion to it, and that's not surprising given Warren Ellis' personal philosophy (which is heavily Humanist). I think the biggest sticking point for John is the mistreatment of the source material. The series is heavily based off Castlevania 3, and the series ignores some of the established lore of that game. 

One way to make the series more approachable, and make more logical sense for the narrative is to treat the first episode like a flashback episode and postpone it till last, or between episode 3 and 4. This helps the narrative flow, and puts less emphasis on Dracula, who is the focal point of that first episode. It's a recommendation, and one of the reasons I liked the series so much can likely be attributed to watching it in this manner.

That said, how do you feel about the series? Did you like series? Or did you feel like it was too ignorant of the source material. Let us know, we'd love your thoughts.

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.

Video for Episode 59: What's Interesting: Oscars, games and stuff.

Hey, it's the video for Episode 59: What's Interesting. Give it a watch, there's a lot of fun stuff in this episode, and if you haven't listened to it yet then it's worth a watch.

If you want to submit questions for John's Bad Advice, then you can email us at: relevant2rinterests@gmail.com

Tweet @r2interests, @lojakz or @jrbelliston on Twitter or leave a comment down below. We'd love to read your questions on the show.