Quiz Time - Were The Hell Are We, Anyway?

Joe befuddles Amy and Randy with questions about fictional towns and cities in movies, books and TV.

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Episode 44 - Some Legal Eagles Soar, Some Go Splat

Randy requested "courtroom drama." Joe selected Dominick Dunne's retelling of the O.J. Simpson trial Another City, Not My Own. Amy chose  The Lincoln Lawyer starring Matthew McConnaughey.

Show notes

What We're Into Lately:

Randy - U2's new tour. And Mad Max: Fury Road

Amy - Still more of The X-Files 

Joe - H is for Hawk by Helen McDonald and Up in the Air (better late than never)

• The incomparable Joe Bob Briggs (aka John Bloom) 
• Clearing up some of O. J. Simpson's criminal record: He was convicted in 2008 on multiple felony counts and sentenced to 33 years in prison with the possibility of parole. He was granted parole from some of the convictions in 2013, but is continuing to be held for other charges. It is possible he could be released in 2017.
• Court TV launched on July 2, 1991. On January 1, 2008, it was renamed TruTV.
• The novel The Lincoln Lawyer was published in 2005.
• The AV Club's "Random Roles" with Bob Gunton. 
• The beginning of the McConnaissance is hard to pinpoint... Was it with his excellent comedic cameo in Tropic Thunder (2008)? But that was followed by Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (2009) - which Amy will happily defend but was critically drubbed and a commercial flop. The Lincoln Lawyer comes out in March 2011, followed later that year by Bernie and Killer Joe. So was Lincoln Lawyer the very tiniest beginning of the McConnaissance? Maybe.

Music

Intro: "The Miracle (of Joey Ramone)" - U2
Outro: "Hot Rod Lincoln" - Charlie Ryan and the Livinsgton Bros.

Next Episode

Joe's chosen the theme "Let's get the band back together." Amy and Randy both went with metaphorical bands rather than actual ones. Randy's giving us all the chance to rewatch Galaxy Quest and Amy's reaching back for Donald E. Westlake's Hot Rock.

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Episode 43 - Mothers And Daughters

As Amy starts on a road trip with her mother and since this is also Mother's Day week, Amy asked us for mother and daughter stories.  Randy went with the high-strung people in Seattle novel Where'd You Go, Bernadette, by Maria Semple [Amazon] [Goodreads] and Joseph chose the 1993 drama The Joy Luck Club  (Amazon).

Show notes

What We're Into Lately:

Amy - The latest novel from the Fugg Girls, The Royal We [Amazon] [Goodreads]

Randy - The new Alabama Shakes album, Sound And Color.

Joseph - The new monster romance Spring [Amazon] [iTunes]

• While we discussed Jupiter Ascending and Joseph expressed his...feelings about it, Amy mentioned her disappointment at the Chicago locations not including the Harold Washington Library.  For those not familiar, here it is with its striking red walls and fantastic aluminium sculptures on the roof:

• The actress who played Auntie Lindo in The Joy Luck Club, Tsai Chin, is also notable for her history in the Bond films.  She betrays Bond in the beginning of You Only Live Twice (1967) and is Madame Wu, one of the fellow high-stake Texas Hold Em players in Casino Royale (2006).

• A good profile of Andrew McCarthy, travel writer, can be found in Details.

• We didn't know about it at the time, but apparently there is a movie in the works for Bernadette which Richard Linklater is in talks to direct.  Randy thinks Julianne Moore is perfect for the part, Amy goes for Amy Aquino but Joseph has the nutty idea of Courtney Cox (but may have been watching too much Cougar Town).

• If you're interested in all in TED Talks, which Joseph is probably completely unfair to in describing a lot of them as woo-hoo, you can browse them at the TED website.

Music

• Opening Music: Mr. T, "Treat Your Mother Right," possibly the greatest Mother's Day video ever:

• Closing Music: Taylor Swift, "The Best Day."

Next Episode

Randy decided he wanted to do with courtroom stories for our next podcast.  For the movie, Amy went with the 2011 Matthew McConaughey vehicle The Lincoln Lawyer (sorry, not streaming anywhere but dirt cheap on Amazon).  Joseph went all meta and went with Dominick Dunne's fictionalized version of covering the OJ Simpson trial for Vanity Fair, Another City, Not My Own [Goodreads].

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Episode 41 - "Who Has That Kind Of Stamina?!?"

It's True Crime Week, as picked by Randy.  Joe had the movie, so we watched the 1988 documentary from Errol Morris, The Thin Blue Line. Amy had the book and we read Susan Orlean's The Orchid Thief.

Show notes

• The original essay Susan Orlean wrote for The New Yorker, Orchid Fever, is on her website and very much worth a read.
• Randy recommended three folks writing excellent things about Mad Man:
• Alan Sepinwall at HitFix
• Matt Zoller Seitz at Vulture
• Tom & Lorenzo

Next Episode

Joe, inspired by nothing, asked for a book and a movie in modern times where it would, have been different with cellphones (or a working cellphone).  Randy went with the imprisonment novel Room, by Emma Donoghue [Amazon] [Goodreads] and Amy chose the 1998 comedy Can't Hardly Wait (which appears to be only available for digital rental on Google Play, but the DVD is dirt cheap on Amazon).

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Episode 39 - Urban Ireland

Joe asked for works of urban Ireland in honor of St. Patrick's Day

• Amy chose Colin Bateman's Belfast thriller, Divorcing Jack.
• Randy selected the 1935 John Ford classic that won a est Actor Oscar for Victor McLaglen and John Ford's first Best Director, The Informer.

Show notes

Intro Music: "Tell Me Ma" by Gaelic Storm
Outro Music: "James Connolly" by Black 47

• Randy talks about The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and the new Madonna album, Rebel Heart.
• Joe's been watching The Last Five Years and is still working his way through Parks & Recreation.
• As for Irish politics, there was no Prime Minister of Ireland in 1995 so...hell, we have no idea.  They haven't had one since 1972 when the Parliament was suspended (but they have a First Minister since 1998).
• The Nobel Prize Stearkey refers to in the novel would have been the one that Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan were awarded in 1976 for their work for a peaceful resolution to the violence in Northern Ireland.  The Good Friday accords come three years later in 1998.
• Atoní Dvorák was indeed Czech and Béla Bartók was Hungarian.
• An example of the Spider-Verse newspaper strip can be found here.
• Linda Holmes from Pop Culture Happy Hour wrote the Bachelor Pad recap of lore, including the phrase "The Courtyard Of Abandoned Dignity."
• The Florida novels Joe was trying to remember were the Travis McGee books by John D. MacDonald.
• There was indeed a much better Quiet Man Blu-ray that came out for the 60th anniversary in 2013.

On the next episode

Amy's birthday is coming up!  So, birthday stories.

• Randy chose John Hughes' 1984 movie, Sixteen Candles.
• Joe choose the Jhumpa Lahiri novel The Namesake (and for the record, it was her story collection, Interpreter of Maladies, that was awarded the Pulitzer).

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Episode 38 - Controversy!

Randy asked for works that were controversial at the time of their release. 

• Joe chose D. H. Lawrence's classic piece of smut, Lady Chatterley's Lover.
• Amy selected Dirty Harry singled out by both Pauline Kael and Roger Ebert as "fascist" at the time of its release

Show notes

Intro Music: "Dirty Harry Theme" by Lalo Schifrin

• Reviews of "Dirty Harry" at the time of its release: 
• New York Times - Roger Greenspun
• Roger Ebert
• Lalo Schifrin did indeed write the theme for the television series "Mission: Impossible"
• The closest I could find to the quotation Joe alludes to is one from Shirley MacLaine: "I am an expert in hookers. I'm an expert in doormats. I'm an expert in victims. They were the best parts."
• Andre Braugher played Frank Pembleton on "Homicide: Life on the Street"
• The Irish film Joe was trying to remember is actually titled "Waking Ned Devine"
• "Dancing with the Stars" returns March 16.  Here's the cast of "stars"  
• Willow Shields played Primrose Everdeen in "The Hunger Games" 
• Redfoo was born Stefan Kendal Gordy and is the youngest son of Motown founder Berry Gordy, Jr. 
• Here's an image of Cris Collinsworth, then and now. The hair's been trimmed, but it's still basically the same style

On the next episode

Joe returns to his Irish roots, just in time for St Patrick's Day, and asked us for tales of urban Ireland.

• Randy chose John Ford's 1935 film The Informer.
• Amy originally chose Colin Bateman's Murphy's Law, but it proved a bit difficult to obtain via library methods. So the pick was switched after recording to Colin Bateman's 1995 novel Divorcing Jack.

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Episode 37: The Cat Came Back

Amy wanted Cats!

• Randy chose Timothy Findley's 1984 novel, "Not Wanted On The Voyage."
• Joe selected the 1979 classic, Ridley Scott and Dan Bannon's "Alien."

Show notes

Intro Music: "Wildcat" by Ratatat
Exit Music: "The Cat Came Back" by The Countdown Kids

• Amy and Randy had a real back and forth on whether Jupiter Ascending is a lot of fun or it it's just a big pile o' shit. (Trailer)
• Randy wants to recommend everyone see The Last Five Years (trailer) and Paddington (trailer).
• Joe's wholeheartedly recommending the new Joe Lynch and Salma Hayek thriller Everly (his review and the trailer) but is only somewhat recommending Alien Outpost (trailer)

On the next episode

Randy decided that he wanted us to plumb the depths of past depravity and so asked us to pick works that were controversial back in the day.  Joe picked the 1928 D.H. Lawrence novel Lady Chatterly's Lover (Goodreads) and Amy chose the 1971 Don Siegel vehicle for Clint Eastwood, Dirty Harry (trailer).

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Quiz Time - First Initials

It's Quiz Time!

In honor of our recent theme of "First Efforts," Amy was inspired to create a quiz about Firsts - First Initials, that is. Do YOU know what the F. in F. Murray Abraham stands for?

Amy puts Randy and Joe through the paces with a series of clues to help them guess the full names of some famous people.

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Since they might be considered spoilers for the quiz, the Show Notes are after the jump...

Episode 36 - First Efforts

Joe wanted first efforts, and we obliged.

• Randy chose Gillian Flynn's debut novel Sharp Objects
• Amy selected the first directorial effort of Nicole Holofcener: "Walking and Talking"

Show notes

Intro Music: "Go West" by Liz Phair
Exit Music: "Must I Paint You a Picture" by Billy Bragg

• Randy does, and should, feel guilty about enjoying Jennifer Lopez's latest cinematic effort: "The Boy Next Door" (Trailer)
• Amy just finished up "Galavant" and her less is a lot less joyful for its absence (watch on Hulu)
• Joe's recommending "Predestination" a sci-fi thriller of sorts starring Ethan Hawke and his moustache (Trailer)
• The passage Randy reads from Gillian Flynn's website, can be found on this page
• Dictionary definition of "effete" complete with audio at Merriam-Webster (I think I was going for definition C -- Amy)
• The street in Berlin named Olivaer Platz, which so delighted Amy on her trip to Berlin

• After about 9 tries, I finally found a clip with someone brave enough to attempt to pronounce Nicole Holofcener's surname. If he's right, we all had it wrong. Listen for yourself.

On the next episode

The Interenet was made for cats (and porn) so next week, because we're, with the exception of Amy's pottymouth, mostly a reputable podcast, we'll be dealing with two works with memorable feline characters: Joe's chosen Alien and Randy has selected Timothy Findley's Not Wanted on the Voyage. (Goodreads)

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Episode 31 - One Order of Scandal, Hold the Olivia Pope.

Episode 31 and we have a guest host! Amy's off galivanting in Europe so we brought in previous guest host Becca Gross.  She chose the theme of Hollywood Scandals, giving us a chance to revel in the dirt of Hollywood past.

Joe's chosen "The Cat's Meow" as the movie, which is a "semi-true story" about a murder that occurred at a star-studded gathering aboard William Randolph Hearst's yacht in 1924.

Randy's picked Full Service: My Adventures in Hollywood and the Secret Sex Lives of the Stars by Scotty Bowers with Lionel Friedman. It's a dishy account of one man's sexual adventures, and the others he helped arrange, in the Hollywood of the 40s, 50s, and 60s.

Show notes

Intro Music: "TMZ" by Weird Al Yankovic (YouTube)
Exit Music: "Private Eyes " by Hall And Oates (YouTube)

• Becca and Joseph have been watching and enjoying Arrow, which keeps getting better in it's third season.
• Randy and Joseph talked a bit of the new USA show Benched, which shows some fun potential and is a good showcase for Eliza Coupe.
• Joseph recommended the new podcast I Was There Too, where Marr Gourley talks with actors who were in the background of classic film scenes. The first episode has Paul F. Tompkins talking There Will Be Blood, which is a great start.

On the next episode

Amy's back!  Randy had the theme for this time around and we'll be talking Creating Art.

• Amy chose the 2012 movie Ruby Sparks (Available for digital purchase, but I got it from the library). Paul Dano (coincidentally, from There Will Be Blood, accidentally creates a living person from his novel and things go weird.
• Joseph chose the 1891 novel The Picture of Dorian Gray (Project Gutenberg link).  Randy is happy it's a short novel this time.

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Our guest host Becca Gross

Episode 30 - Shake over ice, strain, and serve with garnish

Episode 30 was deemed to be the "Cocktail" episode by Joe. Alas, this does not mean an in-depth exploration of a middling Tom Cruise movie.

Amy chose as the movie, "The Blue Gardenia" from 1953 starring Anne Baxter and directed by Fritz Lang. Baxter has a night to forget to remember after consuming SIX Polynesian Pearl Divers at the Blue Gardenia supper club.

Randy selected Rebecca Barry's "novel in stories" Later, at the Bar. It "tells the sad and funny tales of the forlorn denizens of Lucy's Tavern, a gathering place and watering hole for the hapless, lonely, and lovelorn."

Show notes

Intro Music: "One Mint Julep" by Ray Charles (YouTube)
Exit Music: "Manhattan (Cha Cha)" by Xavier Cugat & His Orchestra from the album Cugi's Cocktails which is entirely made up of songs inspired by potent potables.

• Joe's just finished reading and liked Gutenberg's Apprentice.
• Randy's wowed by "We Are The Best!" a Swedish film about three girls forming a punk rock band
• In the film we watched, Nat King Cole's performance of "The Blue Gardenia" is used repeatedly. See a clip of him performing in the film on YouTube.
• Fun fact: In "Django Unchained" the character played by Leonardo DiCaprio orders a "Polynesian Pearl Diver" at one point. This almost certainly is a deliberate homage by Quentin Tarantino to Fritz Lang's film. One intrepid blogger has made and drunk the cocktail.

On the next episode

Amy's gallivanting across Europe (well, just the Netherlands and Poland, really) so Becca Gross will be guest hosting in her stead. Becca got to pick the theme and went for "Hollywood scandals."

Joe's chosen "The Cat's Meow" as the movie, which is a "semi-true story" about a murder that occurred at a star-studded gathering aboard William Randolph Hearst's yacht in 1924.

Randy's picked Full Service: My Adventures in Hollywood and the Secret Sex Lives of the Stars by Scotty Bowers with Lionel Friedman. It's a dishy account of one man's sexual adventures, and the others he helped arrange, in the Hollywood of the 40s, 50s, and 60s.

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Next week's guest host Becca Gross

Episode 27 - Alternate Histories

This week we look at alternate histories; Amy chose The Arcanum for the novel and Randy chose Inglorious Basterds for the movie.

Also discussed: 6 Feet Under, Bomb Girls, Manhattan, Mad Men, Gods of Gotham and Arthur & George.

The 6 Feet Under finale sequence we discussed:

The Mitchell & Webb sketch Amy references:

The Rotten Tomatoes interview with Tarantino can be found here.

For the next episode, Amy asked Joe and guest host Diane to be inspired by the Lewis Grizzard book title, "They Tore My Heart Out and Stomped that Sucker Flat." Joe chose We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson and Diane chose the 1995 film adaptation of Jane Austen's Persuasion. 

         

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Episode 26 - The One Where We Catch The Killer

It's Mystery Week! We plumb into the shadowy figures and devilish plots behind the 1998 movie Zero Effect and the 1997 novel Garnethill. 

Also discussed:  Boyhood

For the next episode, Joseph chose as a theme "Alternate History." Amy chose Thomas Wheeler's The Arcanum for us to read and Randy chose Inglorious Basterds to watch. 

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Music: 

Intro: Scooby Doo theme performed by Matthew Sweet


Outro: Oh Sweet Mystery Of Life, performed my Mario Lanza

Episode 25 - Boys of Summer

Emile Hirsch, Paul Rudd, and Paul Rudd's moustache in David Gordon Green's "Prince Avalanche"

For Amy's chosen theme of "The Summer that Everything Changed," Randy and Joe went dude-centric with their choices, entirely by accident. Randy chose Stephen King's novella "The Body," the basis of the movie "Stand by Me." Joe chose David Gordon Green's 2013 film "Prince Avalanche." 

Also discussed:  Rush (The USA network show), Only Lovers Left Alive, Twin Peaks, and Guardians of the Galaxy.

For the next episode, Randy chose as a theme "Mysteries." Joe chose Denise Mina's Garnethill for us to read and Amy chose Zero Effect to watch. 


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Show Notes:

For the record, William Goldman has adapted three of Stephen King's works for the Screen: Dreamcatcher, Hearts in Atlantis, and Misery.

Raynold Gideon and Bruce A. Evans are both credited as writing the screenplay for Stand by Me.

The real life wildfires referenced by Joe are known as the Bastrop County Complex fire of 2011. 

Music: 
Intro music by The Motels

Exit music by Explosions in the Sky and David Wingo. Explosions in the Sky not only scored the movie, they were the ones who suggested the film to Gordon Green in the first place. 

Extra: Quiz Time 2 (First Lines)

It was the best of quizzes, it was the worst of quizzes.

Since it is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single podcast in possession of pop culture junkies, must be in want of a good quiz, here's Joe quizzing Amy and Randy about first lines of novels.

The full episode will be up later this week; sorry, there were technical issues.

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Episode 24 - This One Is Stacked!

This week, Libraries and Librarians!  We talk ordering systems, the philosophy of trying to keep everything, how libraries can disappear and of course, how to look fabulous when becoming a librarian in 1990s New York.  The movie was 1995's Party Girl and the book was Alberto Manguel's The Library At Night.

Also discussed:  The Witches Of East End, Obvious Child, The Astronaut Wives Club, From The Earth To The Moon, In The Shadow Of The Moon, Ex Libris, The To-Do List.

For the next episode, Amy chose the theme; we'll be talking "The Summer That Changed Everything."  We'll be watching 2013's Prince Avalanche (which is streaming on Netflix) and reading Stephen King's "The Body" (which is collected in Different Seasons).

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Show Notes:

Amy refers to high heels for books so that they would be the same height on shelves; that was not Johnson but Samuel Pepys, whose library is still maintained at Magdalene College at Cambridge.

I refer to Jorge Luis Borge's at one point and mention a story he wrote about an infinite library.  That is "The Library Of Babel," which is available here.

The essay that Amy references on actors and range & actors who have that one great groove is here.

Intro music:  "Swinging Long," by The Magnetic Fields

Outro music: "Librarian", by Morning Jacket

Extra: Quiz Time 1. On the lips or on the shelves?

As a podcast extra, Amy quizzes Joe and Randy on their knowledge of pulp fiction and cosmetics. Listen to the quiz to test yourself and then check out the answer key.

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Episode 23 - Hello, Sailor!

It's an attempt to stay positive as we discuss contrariness in trying to review and talk about things (especially on the Internet) and in that context we went back to things that we have disliked or found generally terrible in attempts to find something good to say about them.  Amy had the book and chose Edith Wharton's 1911 novel Ethan Frome and I chose the 1999 movie The Boondock Saints.  We talk snow imagery, horrid amounts of Willem Dafoe scenery chewing and why Ethan Frome in general is not the best choice to assign to high school students.

Also discussed:  Only Lovers Left Alive, So You Think You Can Dance, The Witches of East End and Under The Skin. 

Next episode, we talk libraries and librarians!  We'll be watching Party Girl and reading Alberto Manguel's The Library At Night.

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Show Notes:

The documentary about The Boondock Saints that I mention is Overnight and is really, really recommended.

We mention Lovecraft in comparison to Wharton at one point and Amy mentions a mash-up of them; I don't think that exisst, so here's Neil Gaiman's mash-up of Lovecraft and Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Emerald. (PDF)

Opening Music: "Mi Chiamano Mimi" from Puccini's "La Boheme," sung by Maria Callas
Closing Music: "James Connolly," Black 47


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Amy

Randy

Episode 18.5 - WHOOPS

Sadly, this is going to be a lost episode due to a corrupt file issue. We'll be back for our regularly scheduled podcast on the 26th, with special guest Becca Gross!

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Episode 18 - Healing the Head, Healing the Heart

This week, we welcome our special guest Russ Hanser! He chose the theme of Healing for podcast this week and we had a great discussion after watching the 2009 Australian movie My Year Without Sex and we read Ian McEwan's's Atonement from 2001.

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Show Notes:

The Jimmy Smits series we were trying to remember may have been Outlaw, but I can't figure out the connection in Amy's head between that and Kings besides both of them being a one-season series.

Behold, Benedict Cumberbatch's Atonement moustache in all its weaseliness:

Intro music: "Elegy For Dunkirk," by Dario Marianelli

Outro music:  "Down Under," by Men At Work