Pop Culture Podcast
Archive for August, 2011
Popspotting #109: “The Buffy Rush” (Aug. 18, 2011)
We love Canada. We love Canadians. And one of the main reasons why we’re so resolute in our affection for the Great White North is Alirio (@alirio)… as well as his wonderful family. If you need a friendly face and brilliant mind to help survive the chaos of Comic-Con, Alirio is a guy you need to know.
Alirio is also a fellow podcaster, one of the voices behind “PotentialCast” (devoted to his first pick, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”), as well as “Yip! Yip!” (devoted to “The Last Airbender”), and PauseCast” (devoted to everything, but now on hiatus).
Jealous as we are of his home country’s reasonable sanity, we made sure his trivia challenge was solidly America-centric. What does a Canuck know about “The Simpsons,” right?
Popspotting #108: “Songs of 1972” (Aug. 17, 2011)
You want more music shows? You’ll get more music shows! As Jen celebrates yet another 29th birthday, we arbitrarily choose the year 1972 to highlight with a top five list. Then, we share some music recommendations from our listeners. Here’s the playlist:
- Sylvia’s Mother (Dr. Hook)
- I Saw the Light (Todd Rundgren)
- Coconut (Harry Nilsson)
- School’s Out (Alice Cooper)
- Still In Love With You (Al Green)
Plus:
- Barton Hollow (The Civil Wars)
- John Prine (Illegal Smile)
- Dark Blue (Jack’s Mannequin)
We’d love to feature more picks from our listeners, so please don’t hesitate to share your favorite tunes and artists! Just keep sending them in… we’ll figure out a theme later.
Photo by Neokrisys.
Popspotting #107: “Game of Thrones†(Aug. 16, 2011)
For TV Tuesday, we finally get around to “Game of Thrones,” a medieval fantasy series on HBO that many of you declared a must-see show. Indeed, fellow podcasters Colleen Glatfelter and Robin Burdge featured “Game of Thrones” during their Popspotting appearances.
Based on author George R. R. Martin’s best-selling “A Song of Ice and Fire” book series, “Game of Thrones” is an ambitious series that encompasses a sprawling, complex world. It takes some time to get a handle on who, what, and where, but it’s totally worth it. Beyond the sets, costumes, and effects, the characters and performances are really where this show shines.
The first season of ten episodes aired a few months ago. Although it was renewed for a second season only three days after it premiered, we won’t see more of “Game of Thrones” until next year.
Popspotting #106: “Crazy Stupid Love” (Aug. 15, 2011)
When we saw Steve Carrell was cast in a comedy with both “Crazy” and “Stupid” in the title, we figured we’d be getting yet another take on “The 40-Year-Old Virgin.” But it turns out that this movie, directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, focuses mostly on “Love.” This movie was a surprisingly smart but still comedic exploration of adult relationships (and those that aspire to adulthood).
“Crazy Stupid Love” stars Carrell, Ryan Gosling, Julianne Moore, Emma Stone, Marisa Tomei and Kevin Bacon, plus Jonah Bobo and a noteworthy turn by model-turned-actress Analeigh Tipton.
This Movie Monday podcast also includes a bonus review by Jen of “Glee in 3-D,” a movie she saw opening weekend with Katie, our teen “gleek” daughter.
Popspotting #105: “Rewire” (Aug. 12, 2011)
After our break, we start to dive into some of the great feedback we got while we were in San Diego, starting with Swedish romantic horror films. Perhaps a future Movie Monday double feature? There’s a lot of love out there for “The Wire,” at least one tiny shred of love for “The Killing. الفرق المتاهله في اليورو “
Popspotting #104: “Falling Flags” (Aug. 11, 2011)
Our first post-Comic-Con PopTalk & Trivia guest is Jimmy, a.k.a. @JimmyinGA, who is behind “Falling Skies Cast,” a podcast devoted to TNT’s new original sci-fi series starring Noah Wyle and Moon Bloodgood.
Of course “Falling Skies” is his first recommendation (a show that was also the first pick of our last guest, Des), but he also tells us about “Star Wars: The Clone Wars,” and last year’s “Black Death.”
Jimmy gets off to a strong start in our trivia segment, but can his knowledge of U.S. state symbols carry him through to victory?
Popspotting #103: “San Diego Comic-Con Flashback†(Aug. 10, 2011)
It’s impossible to cover nearly a week of travel and pop culture craziness in fifteen minutes. Turns out it’s also impossible to do it in half an hour. Our longest podcast yet still doesn’t completely convey our glee (no pun intended) as we look back at our fourth Comic-Con, and at our first family vacation to San Diego.
Ryan shares some of the adventures he and eldest daughter Katie had at the San Diego Convention Center, and Jen recounts the kid-friendly sights and sounds of the surrounding city. We talk about where we went, what we ate, and what we saw, touching briefly on the preview screenings for “Alcatraz,” “Person of Interest,” and “Terra Nova” (and snickering at “The Secret Circle”). العب انترنت
If you’ve never been, we encourage you to consider attending your first “Geek Prom.” Thanks to the trainwreck that was this year’s advance registration setup, you have a better chance at 2012 passes than anyone’s had in a long time. سكرل
Popspotting #102: “Friday Night Lights†(Aug. 9, 2011)
We might not know much about comic book movies, but we do know good television. Today we tackle one of our favorite shows, “Friday Night Lights,” an NBC/DirecTV-backed series that survived five seasons despite shaky marketing and disappointing ratings.
Just last week, the Television Critics Association named “Friday Night Lights” the “Program of the Year.” Today, Jen goes as far as to say that this is the one show, out of the many shows we love, that you absolutely must watch.
The final episode just aired on network TV, and every episode is available on DVD or via online streaming. And with talk of a movie that might continue the story next year (making it a movie based on a TV series based on a movie based on a book), there’s more than enough time to catch up.
Popspotting #101: “Captain America: The First Avenger†(Aug. 8, 2011)
Having finally shaken the inevitable and late-onset case of the ubiquitous and inevitable “nerd flu” (the trademark illness of Comic-Con), we’re back with another Movie Monday podcast.
Today we tackle “Captain America: The First Avenger,” the origin story of the most unflinchingly patriotic of Marvel superheroes. The film is set in a plausible but still fantastic period in American history, as the “Star-Spangled Man” takes on the most classic of baddies: power-hungry Nazis. tanio kilox The film stars Chris Evans, Hugo Weaving, Tommy Lee Jones, Stanley Tucci, and Hayley Atwell. ivermectina dosis perros oral
Grievously omitted from our discussion was the character of Howard Stark, played by Dominic Cooper, who provided a great and necessary link between the world of “Captain America” and the contemporary Marvel superheroes (and superhero movies). ivermectina formula Of course, we’re not well versed in the comic book world, which we amply demonstrate in our review.
So what else did we miss? What did “Captain America” get right, or wrong, in this fifth installment in the Marvel cinematic universe?
Popspotting #100: “Glee†at Comic-Con 2011
We continue our series featuring audio from San Diego Comic-Con panels. As always, the sound quality isn’t perfect, and audio levels can only be tweaked so far. Nonetheless, we hope it helps you feel a little closer to the wonder and chaos of this incredible annual event.
Today’s featured panel is “Glee,” which kicked off the Hall H program on Sunday. My daughter Katie was so eager to attend, we slept overnight outside the San Diego Convention Center. You may, in fact, periodically hear her voice on this recording (and my shushing!).
Here’s the official synopsis:
Creator/executive producer Ryan Murphy, creator/executive producer Brad Falchuk, and stars of Glee present a sneak peek at Glee The 3D Concert Movie featuring never-before-seen footage, behind-the-scenes secrets, and Q&A session.