The SomethingSomethingCast

It’s Lord of the Flies in space.. or at least that’s the way it starts.

By the end we have factions fighting factions, a semi-omniscient judge deciding the fate of humanity, the weakest excuse to ever make an ending “appear” happy… but is it?

We’re talking about Space Romance In Space – The 100! Find out if  the CW knocks it out of this world or grounds it down like a frakkin toaster… on THE END: THE 100 

Ok here we all go.. and go.. and go.. and go.. and go.. and imagine 95 more of those…

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Hey hey Somethings!  PCR here, and today I’m listing out my “Top 5 Favorite Swords”!  These could be from movies, TV, Comics, Video Games… not limiting myself here.  I am also grouping “Lightsabers” as an honorable mention as a whole.

On to the list in no particular order!

5 – D’Artagnan’s/Top Dollar’s/Inigo Montoya’s Rapier
While not the same prop, they all have an amazingly similar style and look to them.  The large, swept-hilted basket hilt is very distinctive and back in my Ren-Faire days, it was my favorite kind of weapon to wield.

4 – Highlander’s Ivory Katana
While there should have been only one (movie), this sword quickly became iconic.  I know when that movie came out, if you picked up *any* katana, you were immediately acting out one of the many scenes from “Highlander”

We’ve all thought about that big moment where we could change the world. 

Sure, some of us want to be supervillains.. I mean.. some of you.. ahem, but if you had this perfect moment to stick it to the man and nobody would be harmed – would you do it?

What if it made you one of the most wanted men in the world?

Well the Somethings are going to talk about a man who did just that. Nobody knows who he is, nobody knows if he survived, nobody knows what happened to the money…. we’re of course talking about the Mystery of DB Cooper. So settle in, get you and the flight crew a martini, set your seats back and your tray up – It’s takeoff on The Wheel: DB COOPER 

Okay here we go!

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In the last two or three months, I’ve started going back to X-Men. You have to understand, there was a time where I drank down everything ‘X’, and when I needed new furniture, I was able to put my mattress on the longboxes I had so many filled with Charles Xavier’s team of racial allegory.

Now, I will admit, I am not currently brought up to speed… I stopped reading what I previously had said was a couple of years ago, but honestly is almost coming up on a decade. Somewhere shortly after Hope Summers saved the world I got super busy and life happened and comics just fell to the wayside. I’ve found during our current Under-The-Dome sheik lifestyle, comics and logic puzzles have helped me caulk up the boring minutes.

So to celebrate that, here are my three favorite X-Men and why!

#3 – JAMIE MADROX
Oh yes, the Multiple Man, the only comic book character that shares my name. Maddrox, for a long time, just felt like ‘another tough do-gooder’ in his younger years, but after Peter David took back X-Factor and we got ‘Multiple Man, Private Dick’ and the much more traditional soap opera of David’s runs, Jamie really came into his own as a complicated and, in many ways, man broken into hundreds of pieces. He’s layered and at times completely wrong in his choices… but that’s what makes good character.

#2 – ROGUE & GAMBIT
The middle spot here is a bit of a revolving door of characters. I always love Maddrox, and #1 is kind of a non-shocker if you know anything about me… but this middle spot really could be taken up by ‘whomever I am really loving right now’. It’s been Blink, it’s been Colossus, it’s been Maggott (oh yes, you read that right). But Rogue and Gambit, at their best, are a fantastically brutal story about the things you can’t have and the toxicity of relationships. Some writers have done them well, other writers have been complete garbage to them and can’t help but treat them like a ‘forbidden fruit’ trope.

When they’re good, they’re great, though – and in my trawling through the X-verse, I have been keeping an eye on where they end up. Sadly, with the way comic books work, their world will never be perfect, and if it feels that it is, it won’t be for long. He’s too broken and she’s too uncomfortable with who she is and there will never be a writer that wants you to feel that they are an ideal that has been achieved when there is so much more gristle on the bone in their dysfunction.

#1 – EMMA FROST
Are you surprised? If you know anything about me, you shouldn’t be. Emma has been one of my favorite characters since Generation X and, honestly, probably before that (but I’ll blame that on teenage me seeing a woman clad in white lingerie and thinking that was the cat’s pajamas. The truth is, Emma, when done correctly, is a tragically beautiful character. From her Hellions being brutalized to her making amends and being the teacher for the next generation of mutants. Followed up by being Cyclops’s therapeutic ‘other woman’.  She is cold and calculating, brutal and unforgiving, and that’s even after you get to know her. The emotions of Emma and the feelings beneath her coldness has been attempted to be explored in an individual series and many many flashbacks that all don’t seem to make much sense when you blend them together, but the heart of her character is true – it is easier to be cold, than hurt… 

At her best, she doesn’t care about what’s best for the ‘Dream of Mutants’ and she doesn’t care what’s the best legal choice. Emma does what’s best for those she has placed beneath her, the kids that are using her as her template. Every story that includes some concept of ‘will Emma be evil?’ doesn’t get Emma at all (I’m looking at you Whedon) and where I loathe her secondary mutation as it feels a tad to ‘on the money’ – when Emma wants something, you’re doing what Emma wants which is the fear everyone has about the Psi-Level-Mutants because if she wanted to, she could rule the world and you wouldn’t even know she was doing it.

So what about you – who’s your favorite X? Who am I completely wrong about? I’ll tell you right now.. I will happily write more X Reviews if you want, as it’s how I cut my teeth as an internet presence and I do miss it sometimes. See you next time.  

Every week, the Somethings will be giving you a little something extra, so please check back every week for reviews, lists, cool finds, and more!

We are back, and this episode was recorded live before an internet audience over on Twitch.

Do you dig murder?  I mean… not like that… but do you find yourself mindlessly addicted to documentaries about the horrible things that horrible people do to people?

Yeah, look, we all do. That said, there is a new one on Netflix, but the results aren’t precisely what you think they are. The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel takes a police procedural documentary and turns it on its ear with the focus moving from the important facts of the case and sliding on over to an entirely different topic.  

Is it good? Is it worth it? We have opinions…. oh boy, do we. And once you are done, be certain to check out Hatton’s article on Vocal.Media

Okaaaay here we go!

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Hey all you Somethings!

We haven’t talked much Music lately, and we’re always looking to give listeners an insight into what makes us “Us”, so I’ve compiled a list of 10 albums that, as a catalogue, speak volumes as to the person I am. In no particular order….

10 – Eat ‘Em and Smile – David Lee Roth.  The year was 1986, and an impressionable PCR was just entering High School.  Between Yankee Rose (with Steve Vai’s ‘talking guitar’, and the frequency of the video on MTV), Shy Boy, Tobacco Road and I’m Just a Gigolo.. this album quickly became one of the soundtracks of my High School years.

9 – Passion and Warfare – Steve Vai.  A second shout out on this list to Steve Vai.  Up until now, my musical interests had been rather… vanilla?  Commercial?  Mainstream?  Whatever the word, 1990 hit and this album caught my eyes and ears.  Liberty, Erotic Nightmares, The Audience Is Listening and The Animal spoke to ‘college Rob’ in ways other primarily instrumental music hadn’t.

8 – Raising Hell – Run DMC.  I remember recording the Raising Hell concert off WBLS when they aired it live (Fun Fact : Beastie Boys opened for them.  More on that later).  Full transparency, I love EVERY Run DMC album, but this is the one that started that love for me.

7 – Disney’s Robin Hood Album – Various.   I had this on vinyl.  I listened to it endlessly.  I can still quote 90% of the movie word for word in the accents.  Fight me.

6 – License To Ill – Beastie Boys.   The ‘sampling’ issue had been around for a while, but when License came out I was old enough to understand it.  Sampling from Led Zeppelin for Rhymin’ and Stealin’  felt almost like… well… stealin’, but the beats they dropped for other songs such as She’s Crafty, No Sleep Till Brooklyn, and the rap/rock of Fight For Your Right. turned me in to a longtime fan.

5 – BomBARDed – The Library Bards.  The story of how we met Bonnie and Xander has been told before, but meeting them in person was one of the best things this show has ever done, and we were happy to support both of their albums, the newest of which is BomBARDed which can be found at https://librarybards.bandcamp.com/

4 – Running With Scissors – ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic.  Much like Run DMC, I love ALL of Al’s albums, but for my money, this is probably my favorite in no small part to seeing him live and watching him do The Saga Begins and All About the Pentiums live.  The man is an unstoppable force when performing live and it remains one of my top concerts ever.

3 – Appetite For Destruction – Guns n’ Roses.  Not a bad song on the entire album.  My current workout jam.

2 – Un-Led-Ed – Dread Zeppelin.  Take a reggae band that does Led Zeppelin covers and give it an Elvis impersonator as a lead singer and you have this bit of genius.  First introduced to this band when it was background music at a party I was at, my brain kept saying “I know this song… but not… THIS.. song…”.  Once I was able to focus, I was hooked.  Seeing them live (with Mojo Nixon and the Toadliquors) was hilarious.

1 – Sunshine On Leith – The Proclaimers.  This album was unexpected.  Originally purchased for one song and one song only (I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)) the rest of this album I absolutely adored.  From Cap In Hand, My Old Friend The Blues and Sunshine On Leith showing off their soulful side, to Then I Met You and Oh, Jean being more raucous and rambunctious, this album is still a go to for me on long road trips.

Honorable Mentions.
Music From The Elder – KISS.  My favorite album from one of my favorite bands.
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – The Beatles.  My top Beatles album.
Disraeli Gears – Cream.  For my money, the definitive Cream album.  

Every week, the Somethings will be giving you a little something extra, so please check back every week for reviews, lists, cool finds, and more!

Were you aware that it is Women’s History Month?

Well it is, and to celebrate that the way the Somethings do.. we are talking about our favorite badass women from movies! Now, of course, you are already concocting a list in your head of your favorites, and I assure you – some of them are mentioned – but we also are diving into some of our favorites from movies you might have missed! Oh, and they aren’t all heroes, to be certain…

So if you are ready for some ass-kicking ladies, some gun-toting gals, some name-takin’ dames – settle in and get ready because we’re ready to rock.

And one last time, we would like to thank Quixotic Games for sponsoring these last few episodes.  You have one more chance to get your copies of Core Worlds: Empires & Nemesis as they accept late pledges for their successful Kickstarter campaign! Don’t miss your window, the offer will only be open while supplies last.

Ok, here she goes!

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How many movies have you seen the past year?  If you are anything like good ol’ Hatton here, you have probably seen a lot.  I have been getting annoyed with myself at just how many damned movies I’ve digested in the last year because.. honestly, why the hell shouldn’t I?  I’ve found in recent months that it is harder to settle in to a television show (although I most certainly have), but I can convince myself to give up 2 hours to movies about almost anything. So here are a few of the movies I’ve watched that I’ve loved, and also a couple that I’ve hated.  If you have any interest you can read my shorter reviews on these and every movie I watch over on Letterboxd (which is basically like GoodReads, but for movies (which is basically Raveller, but with books (which is basically … ok, I’ve run out, but about yarn).

The Good

SOUL – Yeah, there was no way that Pixar’s journey into the afterlife, what it means to live, the soul, and jazz wasn’t going to make a list of movies I enjoyed. It’s just rich in color and tone, it makes the music feel like a living and breathing character while the performances of Jamie Foxx and Tina Fey are so emotional in both the good and the bad, I would believe that they are best friends outside of work. I also would watch that talk show. Anyway, Soul is beautiful and the music, from a genre that I don’t usually have anything to say, makes the world live.

VFW – In the ‘weird subgenre’ tropes that exist out there, the ‘a group have to defend their place from evil’ is one you don’t hear a lot from. Things like Breakin‘ 2 or Revenge of the Nerds, obviously 1980’s fair and Home Alone being the most famous. (I do hope you are now sitting there and trying to find the connection between those 3 movies, and I assure you.. it’s there. They’re movies about a group of like-minded people defending a THING, a PLACE, an IDEA from evil.  Well, in VFW it’s a bunch of veterans defending their watering hole from evil drugged out punks. It’s an action movie riot – and stars so many actors you know from that action movie thing they did that time.  The film looks dated, the locales look old… this movie could be from 1993 Cinemax and you wouldn’t know the damned difference.  It’s brilliant.

SPONTANEOUS – This is, by far, the best movie I’ve seen in a long time. Part of that, I’m sure, is because I wasn’t expecting it.  The premise is that there are kids in a high school that occasionally blow up, so the rest of the class has to deal with it. It sounded like it was going to be a perfect little silly horror comedy, but it isn’t what I got. It is a movie with humor that actually made me laugh out loud, and the emotional weight of a Heathers or a Pump Up The Volume. The movie is a breakdown of the modern teenage experience in ways I can’t empathize, but I certainly can sympathize.  If you go look up one thing on this blog post today – This should be the one.

THE BAD

GIRLS WITH BALLS – A weird French Canadian film about a volleyball team fighting deliverance style backwoods types that turn out to be a cult?  I mean, it isn’t the worst premise in the world… sadly, the movie it got is just a series of  scenes that may have had plots, but somehow they don’t now. The same 5 bad guys dying over and over again due to, I am sure, budget reasons. Moments of suspense ruined by these girls yelling at each other over their status in the team, but the comedy being ruined by not having a punchline. This movie fails at fundamentally everything, it doesn’t even fit the mark for a ‘so bad its good’ because it knows its bad… so there is intent, which makes it even dumber. The poster is actually much cooler than the movie

STARFISH – The world is ending and this girl may or may not have the answer to fix it?  I mean, that feels like a good slug line for a reasonable film… but this movie just.. walks around. Takes a nap. Reads a book. Feeds the fish. Ignores the monster outside. Doesn’t tell you much about what’s going on. Takes another nap. Ends.  Seriously, won’t lie, that’s pretty much the whole thing. The worst kind of ‘horror as art’ and ‘I don’t have to explain it to you, Warren…

30 MILES FROM NOWHERE – A bunch of 30 – 40 somethings all meet in the woods after one of their own’s funeral. I actually am most disappointed by this one, as I find the premise is wonderful. It is the sort of premise you hear about a great play… there is a history the viewer isn’t aware of, tensions we can’t see, there is so much that could be happening before the story even starts that it is rife with things to reveal — but 30 Miles just starts the film with everyone acting nice, but hating each other. It is less ‘Friends reconnected’ and more ‘We have to do this’ – which would be fine, that is a reasonable direction, but none of them respond to anything reasonably. They just do dumb plot-pushing things and yell at each other!

That’s that! A few movies to tide you over until we’re allowed outside – I mean, even the bad ones take up time… it’s an angry, want to crush and destroy, time.. but it’s time.

So what have you seen during the world of lockdown? What great or horrible thing had you previously missed? Let us know!  

Every week, the Somethings will be giving you a little something extra, so please check back every week for reviews, lists, cool finds, and more!

A group of people, connected.. somehow.. for some reason. 

They can see what the others see, they can take control when it’s time to, and when one feels pain… they all feel pain.

Part Wachowski FeverDream, part JM Straczynski longform storytelling – gone before it told its story its own way…. we’re talking about Sense 8. What did the boys think about the movie-length finale that was only done to sate the rabid fanbase? Find out on an episode that spans 3 continents.. on The End: Sense 8

Ok here we all go!

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Hey Somethings!

Been playing a fair amount of Freddy on Dead By Daylight lately, and that got me thinking about the “Nightmare” franchise, so here’s my take on ranking all nine movies from worst to best!

#9 – Freddy’s Dead : The Final Nightmare
This movie was trash.  Most of their plots and ‘revelations’ were lifted from other movies that the viewer had known for a while (Wait… you can PULL FREDDY OUT OF A DREAM?!?!?…) which made things very boring for me, and the times they tried to be original (Freddy having a daughter.. his power coming from ‘Dream Demons’…) were so schlocky that this movie easily falls to the bottom of the list.

#8 – A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge
Regardless of the possible ‘subtext’ of this movie… it was a huge downgrade from the original with lackluster acting, cheesy visuals, and ZERO memorable scenes. The lack of memorable scenes gives it JUST enough of a boost over the AMAZINGLY memorable(ly bad) Final Nightmare to have this one clock in at number 8.

#7 – A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010 Remake)
Rebooting a beloved franchise that had fallen off in recent years?  Casting Jackie Earl Haley (who was amazing as Rorschach in ‘Watchmen’) as Freddy?  I’m in!  At least… I wanted to be in.  It felt like a college film project based on the original.  Visually it was close (although, I wasn’t a fan of Freddy’s ‘new’ look), but it lacked the heart and… dare I say charm.. .of the original.  All in all, the title was accurate, though not in the way that was intended.

#6 – Freddy VS Jason
It was a bold move to even attempt this movie as it had the potential to ruin two different, beloved horror franchises…however, out of all the matchups that could have been made… the ‘immovable object’ of Jason paired up with the wise-cracking Freddy was the perfect match.  While the ending was to be expected, it was a valid homage to both fan bases and well done.

#5 – Wes Craven’s New Nightmare
This movie is underrated.  Arriving 3 years after ‘The end of the franchise’, I love the metaness of it.  I love seeing the principle cast back.  While it’s the poorest performing movie of the lot, and falls a bit outside of the continuity of the franchise, it was an amazingly bold direction to go in and I applaud the choice.

#4 – A Nightmare on Elm Street : The Dream Child 
The wrap up of the ‘middle trilogy’, “The Dream Child” uses Alice’s unborn baby’s dreams to fuel Freddy’s ability and was the poorest performing of said trilogy.  The gas was starting to run out of the series, which lead to the inevitable “Final Nightmare” debacle.

#3 – A Nightmare on Elm Street : The Dream Master 
This was the mid point of the “Dream….” trilogy and it effectively put Renny Harlan on the map.  Pulling in nearly $50 mil on a $6.5 mil budget, it was the highest grossing film of the series in the U.S. until Freddy VS Jason came out… even with Patricia Arquette’s role recast to Tuesday Knight.

#2 – A Nightmare on Elm Street : Dream Warriors
Spots 2 and 1 are close enough for me to almost be interchangeable… (almost).  With a great cast (Langenkamp, Arquette, Fishburn…) it revitalized the franchise after the dismal “Freddy’s Revenge” and really drove the series for the next two films.  Had this movie tanked, it easily could have relegated “Nightmare” movies to late-Saturday-night-schlockfests until it died with a whimper.  Instead, it lit a fire in the fandom and shifted the series from straight horror/slasher to more Horror/SciFi/Fantasy which was a wise choice.

And the number one is!

#1 – A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
This is the one that started it all, and therefore deserves top spot on the list.  With an original concept for a slasher/killer and amazing practical effects, this movie put not only Freddy, but Langenkamp and a young Johnny Depp on viewer’s radar.  Without the impact this movie had, none of the others would have been made, and therefore takes its rightful spot at the top of my list.

Every week, the Somethings will be giving you a little something extra, so please check back every week for reviews, lists, cool finds, and more!