Hello, friends! We actually released two pods this month! Who’d have guessed it could happen again? This episode we are talking about the 2019 Noah Baumbach film “Marriage Story” starring Matoko Kusanagi and Kylo Ren! In all seriousness, we both really liked this movie and we hope you enjoy our chat about how it goes in on the American legal system, what we thought of all the performances, how the film is disarmingly funny at times (often because of its subject matter rather than in spite of it), stimulates reflections on relationships and fatherhood, and just generally creates awareness and empathy in us.
Hello, friends! We are back are far too long an absence to discuss the seminal 1980s OAV, Megazone 23! Parts 1 and 2 only. In this episode, we chat about the creators of the films, articulate our own experiences with them in 2023, attempt to understand them from the mindset of the 80s fandom unto which they were released, answer listener questions, and more!
Doc & Shadon break down Hong Kong action director Benny Chan’s final film, Raging Fire! Donnie Yen and Nicholas Tse tear it up in this high-impact revenge story. We talk about our favorite scenes, discuss whether the film is copaganda, talk a bit about moral luck, and count suplexes!
Oi chooms, we are back with an absolutely nova episode that only a gonk brain wouldn’t enjoy. We are covering all things Cyberpunk: Edgerunners! Doc & Shadon talk about the show’s aesthetics, themes, how it relates to and compares to the video game, where Edgerunners fits into cyberpunk literature, and more. Also we discuss who is best gi–pfft I can’t even joke about this because no discussion is needed. It’s so obvious, right?
Music: Del The Funky Homosapien “Cyberpunks” Underworld “Dark and Long” Echo & The Bunnymen “Killing Moon” Shiruetto “Confusion” Rage Against The Machine “Take The Power Back” Feist “My Moon My Man”
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Blessed Kwanzaa, Merry MegaChristmas, and Happy Holidays! Doc & Shadon are here with you once again to talk about all things media in 2022, at least all things they’ve experienced. Yes, there’s some grousing about the usual awful state of the planet, but the majority of this episode is a celebration of a whole bunch of great anime, video games, books, and movies that have gotten us through the year. Sit back and reminisce with us for a few hours to close out your year with a good time!
Doc & Shadon have come back from a war torn future to talk to you all about a couple of really cool James Cameron movies, The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day! If you’re not super old like us, you might not remember how mind-blowing these films were at the time or how important they were to pop culture and the near-term future of action sci-fi cinema. On the other hand, if you are on old head, then come soak up the nostalgia as we discuss our favorite scenes, smart decisions the movies make, and get annoyed at the T2 trailer.
Newtypes, Oldtypes, and everyone in between, Doc & Shadon are here to talk Mobile Suit Gundam! We invite you to join us as we review and discuss the anime film trilogy that kicked off anime’s biggest franchise. How cool are these robots? How badass is Char Aznable? Is war truly hell? We will answer these questions, your questions, and much more on our trek through the 79th year of the Universal Century!
Doc & Shadon romp, stomp, and spray atomic breath all over the place on this episode that’s all about Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi’s 2016 kaiju powerhouse, Shin Godzilla! We discuss the film’s seething hatred of bureaucracy, ability to put the viewer into ground zero of a disaster, fantastic editing and shot composition, driven core cast, and more!
Doc & Shadon discuss Suncoast Video shelf constant, Video Girl Ai. Is this 1992 OAV sex comedy meets sci-fi romance worth revisiting 30 years later? Listen in and find out as we chat about the show’s themes, characters, comedy and place in anime history. And answer your questions!
After some delays, we’re back to talk about Spike Jonze’ film “Her” from 2013! Shadon enjoyed this film back when it was released, but he wanted to revisit it now, almost a decade later, to see how it held up. We discuss the film’s relevance in 2022, its core message about learning how to love others well, if anything about it would be made differently in 2022, its depiction of societal change in the wake of radical new technology, if the film sufficiently establishes Samantha’s humanity, which app we’d like to fall in love with, and much more!
Music: Foreigner “I Want To Know What Love Is” Michael Kelly “Calicomp 1.1 Shutdown”
Sources I Wanted To Read But Didn’t: Aleksić, Jana. “Defense of Humanity: Defense of Personality: Aesthetic Rethinking of the Concept of Body in the Film Her by Spike Jonze.” Kultura (Belgrade, Serbia), no. 167, 2020, pp. 266–87, https://doi.org/10.5937/kultura2067266A.
Jagoe, Eva-Lynn. “Depersonalized Intimacy: The Cases of Sherry Turkle and Spike Jonze.” English Studies in Canada, vol. 42, no. 1, Association of Canadian College and University Teachers of English, 2016, pp. 155–73, https://doi.org/10.1353/esc.2016.0004.
Jollimore, Troy. “‘This Endless Space between the Words’: The Limits of Love in Spike Jonze’s Her.” Midwest Studies In Philosophy (Wiley-Blackwell), vol. 39, no. 1, Sept. 2015, pp. 120–43. EBSCOhost, https://doi-org.bunchproxy.idm.oclc.org/10.1111/misp.12039.
KIYCI, Hale. “Spike Jonze’s Her: How Transhumanism Turns into a Control Mechanism under the Name of Love.” Journal of the Faculty of Letters, vol. 12, no. 23, Jan. 2022, pp. 121–38. EBSCOhost, https://doi-org.bunchproxy.idm.oclc.org/10.33207/trkede.954659.
warui deshou 