Sean Watched Zack Snyder's Justice League. It brought up some ideas about how we talk about movies. But first, the movie itself. Was it good? What is our history with DC? The conversation around the movie, however, has devolved (or has always been bad), and it seems like it is because there is a lack of conversation about basic assumptions. We talk about basic assumptions, and the role they play in our opinions, yet nobody seems to talk about them. Also, some other stuff, and yes, it was a windy...
Apr 20, 2021•54 min•Ep. 34
Exploding barbed-wire wrestling makes for a good story, Prized Pig is excellent noisy punk, and Zelda games are fantastic. Somehow, we end up saying "earhole" a whole lot more than either of us ever wanted. In addition: - The rules of wrestling is strange - Unity is convoluted and impressive - The virtue of recommendations - We talk about headphones and earholes waaaay too much - The Wu-Tang clan is something I don't remember - Reading of packages not guearanteed - I thought I was a smart kid, b...
Apr 10, 2021•1 hr•Ep. 33
How are we navigating these crazy times in collectibles? We have some thoughts. Also, Paul read Something Is Killing The Children. Sean read X-Men: Grand Design. We start off with the comics. Something Is Killing The Children, and Paul is all-in. It is a book that kept him awake despite being old! It is a compelling story, and Paul discusses why so. Next off, X-Men: Grand Design is a rewarding recap of Claremont's tenure on X-Men. It is a whirlwind review with a cool twist. The art is amazing to...
Mar 30, 2021•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 32
We HoXPoX our way around X-Men. We discuss our de-stress techniques. We re-engage with our hobbies. We discuss generations. Paul and Sean have both had a busy couple of months, so we unwind and discuss some of the things on our mind. Paul is re-read HoXPoX, which gives us a chance to revisit what is great about that series, and why it has so much re-read value. We talk about the way we unwind and relax after work has kept us wound up. How do we re-engage with our hobbies? How do we keep collecti...
Mar 21, 2021•59 min•Ep. 31
We dabble in discussing a few items, as we often do in Smorgasboard episodes. We discuss Tomie, since Paul has now read some of that work by Junji Ito. Paul played Nier: Automata, and so he tells us about the virtues of that video game. Last, Sean has been watching Wandavision, and we have a non-spoiler discussion of that show. In addition to that, we talk about: - Paul has problems with his streaming stick. - Tomie weaponizes infatuation - Sean likes good shelf - There are a lot of fancy robots...
Mar 13, 2021•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 30
Game of Thrones. Why is the show compelling? Now that Sean has finished watching, we discuss the show in its entirety, so beware ye spoilers! What death's are the most memorable? Which are the most satisfying? Why is that even a question? What characters had the best progression throughout the series? How to not be dissatisfied by the ending. Also, Paul has some words to say about Run The Jewels. And in addition: - Jim Shooter, friend or foe? - Definitely legend though! - We have spoilers for Ch...
Mar 08, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 29
Paul and Sean can always talk about X-Men, so they choose ten of their favorites to discuss. Which X-men and X-Women will make the cut? Also, a quick diversion to talk about Cobra Kai and The Toys That Made Us. We each chose five X-Men characters to discuss, and pruned for overlap, to come up with a list of ten to discuss. We talk about why we like these characters, and why they made the list over other great X-Men characters. Also, Paul has finally watched Cobra Kai, season 1, so we talk about ...
Feb 26, 2021•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 28
Paul and Sean interrogate each other with important questions about comics, music, movies, video games and more. Who will crack under the pressure? Find out! Also: - Most collectible comics. - Guilty pleasures in music featuring Wordburglar and Kelly Clarkson - DangerDoom and the Gray Album - Sage Francis blew young Paul's mind - When you remove Star Wars and Comic book movies, what is left? - Comedy greats: Old School and Zoolander - Unique and interesting movies are more enjoyable than nonuniq...
Feb 23, 2021•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 27
Sean catches up on his progress with Game of Thrones. We talk about streaming services and shows in general, and our wishlist of features. Also, we touch on social media and distraction. Finally, a riff on the difference between acting and performing. Also: - Spoilers don't matter when you aren't in tune. - The show swims in misery to give us surprises - What shows have you rewatched multiple times? - Show highlights are the way to go - Disconnecting from social media alerts for mental health - ...
Feb 13, 2021•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 26
Sean is Finally watching Game of Thrones. Paul is finally watching Mandalorian. We catch up on our TV adventures. Game of Thrones is quite a dreary show. It is not a happy place. But still, it has some merits, so we discuss. Mandalorian is a happy place for Sean, and Paul is catching up, so we discuss some of the merits of that show. Along the way, we ask if some things work better as TV shows than as movies? Or is this a silly question? Also, how does binging compare with watching something wee...
Feb 07, 2021•38 min•Ep. 25
Sean watches the Watchmen. The TV show that is. And... it didn't quite live up to the name. So, we discus sequels, and what we want out of them, and how the Watchmen TV show didn't quite work as a sequel. Also: - The virtues of Limbo and Inside - Paul finally played The Long Dark, which is Sean's favorite game - Sean is playing Cyberpunk 2077, which is a bit overwhelming - What makes a good sequel? - Also, how was that Wonder Woman movie? A lukewarm review......
Jan 17, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 24
We have several goals we want to achieve in 2021. What do we want to watch, read, and collect? We share our nerdy proposed accomplishments for 2021. Of course we want to eat better, exercise more, and all that. But we also have a lot of cool stuff to read and do, and that's what we talk about. Plus, how do we approach goals? What makes a good goal or resolution? Tune in!
Jan 10, 2021•57 min•Ep. 23
2020 wasn't the best of years for most of us, but we decide to look back at some of the things we enjoyed most from the year. It is our 2020 wrap up, with the best of the year! Here are the categories we go through: - Best Action Figure - Favorite Comic Book - Most Memorable Comic Book - Biggest Nerd Accomplishment - Best Discovery of the year - Best Viewing Moment of the year - What we are most looking forward to in 2021 And also: - The stupidest thing Sean did this year - We're getting old, so...
Jan 01, 2021•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 22
Christmas comes this time each year! Paul and Sean reminisce about some of the greatest hits from Christmas as a child, and then transition to the traditions and things we love about Christmas now. Also: - Parenting present storage failure! - Kids enjoy the two months of Christmas - The story of the Barbecue stocking miracle - More doing, less thinking! - Crucial stocking design theory is discussed - Action figures are not cheap anymore! - Include the instructions! - Beating a game as a child wa...
Dec 26, 2020•54 min•Ep. 21
Paul read a bunch of comics. Sean got a bunch of action figures. We both have watched a lot of TV. We talk a little bit about a lot of things. We have three smorgasbords to cover! On Paul's comics smorgasbord, we talk about Death Note, The Way of the Househusband, Cells at Work! Code Black, Scooby Doo Team-Up, and Dementia 21. On Sean's action figure smorgasbord we talk about G.I. Joe Classified, Joy Toy, Mythic Legions, and Star Wars Black Series. On our combined Netflix smorgasbord, we discuss...
Dec 18, 2020•1 hr•Ep. 20
Our most stressful conversation ever! We discuss God Loves, Man Kills, the stand alone graphic novel that is still as meaningful and relevant today as it was when it was printed 38 years ago. We talk about this from two angles, how it is a great X-Men story, and how it still works as to convey the mutant-as-metaphor meaning in the X-Men. How do you talk about this book without talking about politics? We try to find out, and somewhat fail. Then! Paul has completed his run of Uncanny X-Men from is...
Dec 15, 2020•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 19
We read the metaphoriest of Junji Ito's stories, and discuss how we read meaning into an author's work, understanding a writer's intention, and how that informs our understanding of the stories we read. Also: Bruce Lee movies! Paul watched The Final Boss, and so we talk a bit about the experience of watching old Bruce Lee movies. Note: This episode ends abruptly, some emergency work-related responsibilities popped up during this recording! Emergencies aside, this episode also includes: - Neil Ga...
Dec 04, 2020•35 min•Ep. 18
We are very thankful for family and friends, health, our jobs, and all those very good things we have in our lives. We are also thankful for many things more in the wheelhouse of this show, so we indulge and discuss ten things we are thankful for, ranging from comics to music to sports, and more. We each have a list of ten, some are timely and pertinent to this year, some are evergreen items we are thankful for. Happy Thanksgiving!
Nov 26, 2020•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 17
Sean and Paul discuss The Doll's House, the second volume of Sandman! This volume has a mix of the horrifying and the meaningful, so we dig deep into what this volume of The Sandman means to us.
Nov 15, 2020•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 16
Sean has been on a Cyberpunk kick, and that has most recently included reading Neuromancer by William Gibson. Paul is a fan of underground Hip-Hop, and provides three albums to check out as an intro to the genre. Want to follow along with Sean's dive into Hip-Hop with Paul's suggestions? Listen to the followig before next week's show: Sage Francis, "A Healthy Distrust" Aesop Rock, "The Impossible Kid" Eyedea & Abilities, "By The Throat" And as always, little tidbits such as: - The Mandaloria...
Nov 08, 2020•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 15
We talk about Top Ten items! What does that mean? Tune in and see! Also, our top ten comic runs! No more fancy descriptions than that, just a lot of talking about things we think are good.
Nov 01, 2020•1 hr 45 min•Ep. 14
Paul read the first big volume of Berzerk! Sean read Hickman's X-Men! Now it is time for us to discuss. Berzerk is a particular type of story. If you are in the mood for a silent loner to wreck violent havok on demons, this is the book for you. But you need to be in that mood... X-Men is fantastic right now, as it exceeds the bounds of the typical superhero stories and becomes somethign bigger and greater than that. As always, we meander and take tangents as we discuss these two stories. PLUS! 2...
Oct 24, 2020•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 13
Do you ever find your shelves overflowing with books? We do, so we discuss some of our strategies to prune the collection of the fruit that may not be as ripe as it used to be. (The fruit is a metaphor for comic books) Also, we recount our adventures in listening to Audiobooks. Does it work for you? When, and when not? We discuss the types of audiobooks that work for us and the types that don't. Also: - Parenting tips in the morning - How to make Marvel Unlimited worth it - Nobody cares about Ha...
Oct 12, 2020•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 12
Sean has some loose ends to follow up on, particularly Age of Apocalypse, Mind MGMT, and Fear Agent. For the meat of this episode we discuss the first Sandman volume, Preludes & Nocturnes, and why it is so great. Also: - Mike Tyson makes a lot of sense in the Age of Apocalypse - The Summers brothers, "naw, but actually" - Claremont's X-Men makes us love the characters, and you can't go wrong - Mind MGMT follows the rules and pulls it all together - Fear Agent belongs in the dictionary for "S...
Oct 02, 2020•1 hr 43 min•Ep. 11
Welcome to the physically middle aged, mentally adolescent podcast! We relive our virtual glory and dig into the remaster of Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1 & 2. We are having a ton of fun. Also: - Physically - middle aged; mentally - adolescent - A Black Panther heads up - Who doesn't remember Bonk!? - Is the guilt of betraying your video game system loyalties real? - Simulation vs just simple skins on the gameplay, we like one more than the other - We recount our video game system history - The old...
Sep 26, 2020•58 min•Ep. 10
We have a lot of books in our pile to read, so we discuss what is upcoming for the both of us. What have we read recently, and what are we going to read next? We discuss. Sean's List: - Fear Agent - Transmetropolitan - Jack Kirby's Fourth World - Starman - East Of West Paul's List: - IDW G.I. Joe - Deadly Class - The Sixth Gun - Sandman - The Girl From The Other Side Also: - Limitation breeds creativity! - We preview our upcoming read through of Sandman - Also, that audio book is sometimes good,...
Sep 19, 2020•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 9
Mind MGMT by Matt Kindt is an exceptional comic in many ways. We discuss those many ways in this episode. We take a pit stop at the Mignolaverse on the way, with some Hellboy and BPRD discussion. - Do you remember the first time you started following a comics creator, rather than a comic title? Sean and Paul's experiences are drastically different, because of the decade they each started reading - Hellboy vs B.P.R.D., which is which? We talk about which stories are great, and the best way to rea...
Sep 11, 2020•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 8
Paul read Uzumaki, and Sean read Tomie, both by Japanese comics creator Junji Ito. It is horror in the strange, disturbing sense of the genre, so we rave about his work. Before that, however, Sean talks about his Target adventure to find the new Cobra Island G.I. Joe Classified figures. It is an "old men being sad about toys" story, but with a happy ending. Also, Paul shares his love of the Technodrome with his son. - Mushroom coffee vs smoothie - Non-Licensed means more articulation - A Saturda...
Sep 05, 2020•1 hr 28 min•Ep. 7
We discuss Bad Idea's Button, G.I. Joe Classified and the fear of missing out, and the Drifting Dragons manga. Plus, we pack a whole lot more into the nooks and crannies of this episode. Tastes like it's got butter inside. Some Highlights: - The Button: We discuss the new click-demanding overlord - Ramon Villalobos was announced, and it was almost missed -- we didn't miss it - We detour into cancel-ville, and try to delicately navigate those roads - We relish in the art of some of our favorite B...
Aug 21, 2020•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 6
Sean attends ComicCon@Home! Paul builds his own Manga con! It has been a week of building appreciation for this hobby for the both of us! Also, Sean read Berserk. Paul played Resident Evil. Also: - ComicCon@Home is much like the rest of life these days, and Maine is a dearth for cons - Panels, panels, everywhere, that make Sean appreciate Jack Kirby - Panels are the Yoga of information gathering - The crazy adventure of the neighbor's dog and the 4-wheeler - Kingyo's used books is a primer on ot...
Aug 14, 2020•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 5
