Episode 54: Duck Tales! woo hoo!

Episode 54: Duck Tales! woo hoo!
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

So the conversation is all about the new Duck Tales this episode. I didn't know much going into it, other than it existed. I watched it (thanks to John) over the weekend of my birthday, and had an enjoyable time viewing it with my lady.

It's enjoyable, and if you have any nostalgia for the original there's a very real chance you might enjoy it. There's also a very real chance you may have a few of the same criticisms we did (Launch Pad, we're looking at you here). 

One big note I want to make is thanks to listener meg-elizabeth who gave us a little bit of the background on Tony Anselmo becoming Donald Duck. John has some heavy criticisms for Donald, and meg-elizabeth shared links than Mr. Anselmo did with Leonard Maltin detailing how he ended up becoming the voice of Donald after the original voice-actor, Clarence Nash, passed away. It's a sweet interview and if you have any interest in Disney, film history, or voice actors it's worth a watch. I'd like to thank meg-elizabeth for the conversation in the comments on the Soundcloud site, which you can click on the speech bubble on the track above to see. 

Part 1.


And of course Part 2:


We don't dislike Mr. Anselmo, John just dislikes the voice of Donald Duck. We actually talk about it more in the episode that follows this one. But until then listen to the catchiest t.v. theme song ever written put to the video of All the Single Ladies by Beyonce!

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 52: Horror Movie Spectacular

Episode 52: Horror Movie Spectacular
Produced by Relevant to Our Interests
Scripting by Frank Shaw and John Belliston
Edited by: Frank Shaw and John Belliston
Graphic Design by: Nathan Newell
Intro Music: Morning Activities by F.G. Shaw
Outro Music: Morning Activities by F.G. Shaw

It's our Halloween episode! A month after the fact! And now the show notes are 6 weeks after that fact. 

There's not a lot to add here in the notes that we didn't talk about in the episode itself. 

Here is a link to the film Patchwork's IMDB page. While John liked it more than I did, it's still a fan campy horror flick and is worth a watch if you're in for a night's entertainment and in the right mood. 

And here is the link to Residue's IMDB page. While I love the concept, and overall like the film (mostly for the concept and ideas it presents), I can't help but feel this would do amazingly well both narratively and with an audience as a series. It's highly unlikely, but still, a guy can hope. 

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 50: Stranger Things 2

Episode 50: Stranger Things 2
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 Stranger Things 2!

John and myself talk about Stranger Things 2, we mostly liked it! It's not without it's problems. 
But even despite episode 7, this season is pretty awesome, and fixes a lot (though not all) of the problems we had with the first season. 

The thing that excites me the most is the Lovecraftian horror that informs the monsters of this series. I throughout the name Nyarlathotep in this podcast, the Nerdist suggests it as inspiration as well. Now is it Nyarlathotep? I'm with John -though I think the idea is cool- it would be better, and cooler if the Duffer brothers are only inspired by the Lovecraftian monstrousity and not stealing whole cloth from it. 

We do talk about a few insane fan theories a bit, (my favorite is still that the "Mindflayer" is Barb taking revenge on the town) the only theory that has any traction is the theory that the Upside Down is somehow in another time.  It's a fun theory. 

We are both looking forward to season 3. 

Episode 49: Wonder Woman!

Episode 49: Wonder Woman!
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

Forever behind, and never ahead. Episode 49 John and I talk about Wonder Woman. This movie was surprisingly good, and honestly if it could be pulled out of the greater DC Universe and stand on it's own two legs it would be even better. The DC Universe is suffering, and all reports that peoples attitude on Justice League are mixed. Wonder Woman suffers for being tied to the overarching DC Universe. It's too bad, because Gal Godot makes a fantastic Diana. I'm not sure what Warner Brothers is going to do with their franchise, but if the Justice League's performance is any indication, things do not bode well for the future of DC. I've seen rumors thrown around, but until I see something solid all I can do is speculate. At least their television franchises are fun. 

Here is a link to the one of the bigger insane fan theories. It's a fun little Reddit thread. It's fun to speculate. 

Episode 48: Video Games and more!

Episode 48: Video Games 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

Better late than never!

Our single October episode this year was dedicated mostly to video games. While mentioned frequently on the show (mostly by myself), John get's in on the act this time as well. 

First off! The Creep Farm at the Bluebell Corn Maze. Now a tiny bit of background: the corn maze is in a small "town" called Bluebell at Water Hallow Ranch. The maze opens up mid September, and goes till the end of October. The haunted part is called the Creep Farm and it is open the last few weekends of October at dark. Now the maze is a lot of fun, if you're in Utah or in a nearby state, you should try and check it next fall. Come on the weekend, make it a day trip. It's great family fun, and worth a visit. Doing the corn maze ate up a lot more time and energy than I anticipated. Between it and the regular 9 - 5, I suddenly found myself with out even minimal time to prepare for each episode, let alone getting it edited and out in a timely fashion. We're back to form though and will be back to the weekly schedule until Christmas. 

Then we have the Viking exhibit at the Natural History Museum of Utah. I personally can't speak about it much (yet) as I haven't attended. John however has and has loved it. I'm excited to see it, and should be heading out at some point this December. 

Now for actual video games: 

So I won a digital copy of The Evil Within 2, as well as some other cool things. I have been playing it and am much further along now than I was during the episode. It's a lot of fun. Sort of a Resident Evil 4 meets Silent Hill 2 vibe. Definitely check it out if you're a fan of survival horror. Prove EA wrong about single player games going away. 

John then dives in about the Forced Unleashed 1 and 2. Fairly middling games (well 1 is) that have some camera issues. The (now) non-canon games help amplify John's problems with the Star Wars universe, that will eventually be address in a John Hates What You Love. 

Frank talks about the Playstation TV. For those that don't know, it's essentially PS Vita put into a mini console form. It's limited to what games it can play, due to the Vita's touch pad and touch screen. However if you're a JRPG fan like I am, and you want to experience an inexpensive way to play the ones that came out on the Vita, it's a good way to go. 

Next John discusses Cuphead. For those that don't know Cuphead is a retro-style run and gun game that released during the end of September and is known for being difficult. John lauds the game, and if you dig the retro style games, it's probably for you. 

Frank then asks for recommendations: Table top war games based around World War One. He's found a few potential candidates, but if you have any that you'd like to share, please do. 

John finishes off this episode by talking about his dream girl (literally), and Duck Tales. I have a feeling that Duck Tales will be the focus of a later episode. So stay tuned. 

And as always... John's Bad Advice. I've decided to start sharing the questions so here we are:

"How do I get Olivia to stop throwing things out of frustrating?"

-Tiffany T

"I'm enrolling in a master's program. How can I focus on my studies and what's the best way to reward myself for studying?"

Sherry S

"I'm thinking of shaving my head. Hair is so annoying. What do you think?"

Mary S