#243: Halloween Special

Podcasts Galactic Watercooler
#41

I’d like to see that Zip disk lol! I still have my old drive from my Quadra. Just for the hell of it I did pull up LOA and Ep4 side by side. While an argument could be made for costuming, I still disagree in camera movements and shot selection - especially lens selections. Lean used telephotos for those sweeping wide shots (you can tell by the field compression and shallow depth of field) from very far away compared to the wide angle lenses that Lucas used (bit more barrel distortion and greater depth of field with a forced perspective) on Star Wars. This is also of course due to the fact Lean used 70mm equipment and Lucas shot on 35mm, but the same effect could have been achieved. About the only shot I could line up as a close match is the one of Luke watching the dual sunset and Lawrence on top of the train.

As far as influences, definitely there are a ton of call backs in Star Wars - everything from the opening scrolls to the story lines can be referenced from something, which to me makes Star Wars so special. Much like the afore mentioned Seven Samurai, all the individual elements existed before, but no one ever put them all together like that.

I still disagree on LOA and Star Wars based on my own technical observations, however.

#42

In regards to shows being cancelled and networks struggling, I say that HBO has never disappointed me with their original series decisions. I’ve loved the Sopranos, The Wire, Deadwood, Band of Bros., Pacific, Six Feet Under, True Blood, and Rome. I could’ve used another season of Rome, but they gave me enough to be satisfied.

They are usually 10 episodes with only 1 or 2 weeks off somewhere toward the end, but pretty predictable. Only the Sopranos had a crazy 16 or 20 month hiatus.

For my money, the $12 or $15 I pay for HBO per month gives me the same amount of entertainment I get for the $60 I pay for the other 200 channels. They should just create HBO-Sci Fi and have 3-4 original sci fi series.

I swear, I don’t work for HBO.

#43

We should’ve had more Deadwood. A mini-series finale or another year to wrap it up. Still a fantastic, fantastic show, but the ending was not as satisfactory as it should have been.

All for that John from Cincinnatti. What the frak.

#44

That’s true, Jarathen. I thought they were going to make a Deadwood movie or something. And I didn’t watch John from Cincinnati but I know a couple people who liked it. Still, I say HBO is batting about .900.

#45

Did anyone else immediately think of the Brady Bunch’s washing machine soap-bubble house when Audra, Sean, and Chuck were talking about the bubble room in the haunted house?

#46

All I was thinking about was the mess it made and how long it must of took to clean it up. d:

And, I doubt I’d been able to drive my cart through that. d:

#47

Nope - I was thinking foam party, san antonio in Ibiza techno music - Skimpy dressed woman and ruined clothes :slight_smile:

#48

I once used hand dishwashing soap in the dishwasher. I felt like I was in a TV episode when the bubbles came up to the counter in the entire kitchen.

Also the parquet flooring was absolutley ruined. I look back on it and am still amazed that I really didn’t get into too much trouble over it.

#49

Back when I had a dishwasher, I never bought the dedicated detergent. The hand dishwashing stuff works great, as long as you remember not to put more than a drop in. :smiley:

#50

Yeah, I guess filling up the entire thing is a bad idea.

#51

Another awesome podcast. Loved the camping sounds in the background. I love camping so those sounds make me :slight_smile:

Chuck, I really enjoyed your discussion regarding Caprica early in the 'cast. Even though it wasn’t your favorite show on TV (it did happen to be my favorite), you took the time to talk about it with honesty and not dismiss it out of hand. Most Other podcasts would tend to give no thot to what’s outside their main interest. But it’s a credit to your awesomeness that you think and talk at a broader level.

Now that the dust has settled on Caprica’s cancellation, yeah, I do have to admit the show had flaws. But, hey, I’m enough of a superfan that I will buy the DVD. And looking it from a pure business standpoint, I can understand the move of postponing the remaining episodes and then selling the DVD first. On a purely numbers point of view, they’ll certainly sell more and sell more sooner that way. So even though it’s dickish, it’s hard to fault the thinking.

  • Favorite Halloween candy (1) Carmel Reces Peanut Butter cups. Do they still sell those? (2) Swedish Fish --but they have to be the real Swedish fish–the red ones—caught fresh off the coast of Sweden.

  • Buffalo Chips —LOL, Audra your story about your dad and the buffalo chips. Interestingy, in the old west and the days of the west bound pioneers, people DID use buffalo chips as firewood. There’s parts of the mid western plains that had no trees, so they needed something that burned—and buffalo crap did indeed burn like firewood.

Loved Sean’s Jawa costume story. I made myself a Luke Skywalker in Jr High when Star Wars came out, but I think was too old for trick or treating at the time. My fav trick or treating era costume: a robot costume made out of a big cardboard box—with a slot labeled “Put Candy In Here.”

#52

On the topic of Halloween candy…

Worst Halloween Candy:

Little baggies of popcorn. I’m not even talking about individual sized Smartfood. That’s fine. I’m talking about hand-stuffed sandwich baggies tied off with a twist tie. It’s always stale and flavorless. How does that even count as candy?

Most Coveted Halloween Candy:

Caramel Apples

My mom never made them. I got one going door-to-door once and I was blown away that someone would go though all the effort to make dozens of caramel apples to hand out. Plus, this was during the time when there were urban legends and rumors going around about sociopaths putting razor blades inside halloween candy and all the parents and teachers warned us over and over again only to accept sealed, store-bought candy and not to take anything that looked pre-opened or hand-made, so it had the extra appeal of (literal!) forbidden fruit.

(I still think that rumor must have been started by the corporate candy consortiums as part of a machiavellian scheme to get people to distrust home-made candy and buy more brand-name stuff. Curse you, Nestle and Hershey!)

In the 'cast, Chuck mentioned a kind of candy that was like Smarties or Sweet Tarts, but even more bland. Could this possibly have been NECCO wafers? They were made by the New England Candy COmpany, and I have a sort of nostalgic fondness for them even though, by any objective standard, they weren’t very good. They were chalk-like, about the size of quarters and came in a tube of wax paper.

mmmmm… Chalky.

#53

I would kill you for a pack of NECCO wafers.

No, seriously. You’d be dead and I’d be eating your wafers.

#54

It’s a good thing I don’t have any on me then. I haven’t seen any in years. I don’t know how widely they get distributed geographically outside of New England.

However, you may be in luck. You can buy them online …in bulk! Check it out:

NECCO Wafers On-Line Store

#55

Only forty dollars for a tub?! Christmas just came early!

#56

Necco Wafers are terrible. They make me think of conversation hearts.

#57

Awesome podcast on the Garfield Halloween special! I really loved it, and I loved that these guys actually did a podcast while they’re camping. I mean, even just through the audio and no visuals, it feels like being in a tent, listening to scary stories. (Like, the horror of Caprica being canned, heh.)

Bwah!

I love Necco wafers. Great, now I want some too.

My favorite costume I had was a headless person, which I made by scrunching up big newspaper balls to rest on my shoulders, wearing my dad’s shirt over it (so the arm holes are big enough my arms can fit through, despite being at a weird angle), and then at the neck hole, I had a thin black veil so my head’s covered, but I can still see through it. It really isn’t anything special or creative, but I remember at the time I was so damn proud of thinking up and constructing the costume all by myself. I thought it was clever as hell. :smiley:

As for Twilight, it’s funny that you guys mentioned it, because not too long ago I had a heated discussion about it with a friend (at that time, I’ve only read and seen Twilight), and as a result I read the other 3 books in an attempt to prove my point (and let’s face it, I wanted to be right. :D). And now having read the whole series, I do think there are points in the book that are interesting (like how she envisions the world of vampires and werewolves that deviates from the standard folklore), but I don’t think that Breaking Dawn (or the other 3 books) changed my mind at all in regards to some serious anti feminist leanings (at least, how I interpret it), all of which I still have problems with. It possibly even made it worse. :smiley: In a way, that makes the series more interesting because it raises all these questions, interpretations and debate, so even though I myself am not a fan of the books, I think there is value in them even just because of that.

But, I have a problem with Sean’s notion that people bag on Twilight because it’s popular, or it’s fun to criticize it (all right, it’s a little fun. :D) without even reading it. I think both sides have valid reasons to love/hate the series, and I don’t know, it just feels kind of wrong and unfair to assume that haters hate for the sake of hating, and don’t know the material. Some do, they just have problems with it.

#58

Neco wafers are awesome for decorating gingerbread houses because they make great shingles and have such a broad color palette.

#59

Actually we go over that some in this weeks cast :slight_smile: I’m guessing it will stirr up a lot more discussion afterwards but then again that’s never been a bad thing.

#60

I just finished reading the fourth book in the Twilight series, Breaking Dawn. When the last movie comes out, Sean, do you think some of us who might be fans (or in my case, fans of all characters instead of Bella) might see a podcast arc for it?

:cool: