Mini Crush #87 Featuring John Hodgman

Where are you from? Where am I from? Well? I both of my parents were opera singers. Was born in Germany. His mom it was an opera singer in New York City. She's saying it the met for many years she was still living where she is. Her name is Sandra Walker, it still is. That was her stage name as well. And the opera listeners in the audience are going insane. Now.

It's a very niche thing. I mean, even as famous as she was, being a famous opera singer, there's only like two or three we mortals have even heard of, like Paparotti and maybe Marylyn Horny exactly. We would we would never um. But she was a mezzo soprano, which is not the lead. It's sort of that. She always said she played witches, bitches, mothers, and maids. That was her. Well she's still working on it, but now she's a she teaches voice and really really interesting kind of retired

diva type lady. That's awesome. Still live in New York. She lives in Augusta, Georgia, which is where we moved when I was six. Um after Germany, she met my dad in New York, lived there for twenty years and then we moved to Europe and then moved to Augusta. But I grew up going to visit her in New York a lot, so I have these memories of nineties New York. So she would live in Augusta, but was then go into New York to sub let a place for a couple of months. Come Augusta, Come Augusta, Georgia.

Because my dad was an opera singer too, and his career sort of fizzled before you know, hers was riding high and his wasn't a retirement home in Augusta. Well, it's it's called it's called working at a church is what it's called. You know, classical musicians when they when their career kind of fizzles, they they tend to become choir directors or organists or something like that. And despite your dad's classic dad attempt to when his career fizzle to bring the career of his wife down with him,

basically she's still succeeded. No, she crushed it. And so she was always out doing that. And I would visit her for extended periods of time during the summer and stuff. So I have very fond memories. And here you are working with your voice. Now we've got a great voice, the musician and singer too. I was going to say he did the oh wow, okay position. Well, see it just goes to show ask questions everybody you never know

shall get answered. Person sitting next to you my be the son of two famous or one famous opera singer and the and the man who tried to destroy your career. Indeed, indeed, all right, what's going on? More? More things? More things? Uh? This is Hodgman Edition Mini Crush. So look, I have to explain why I'm here. Well, we should talk for a minute about your book medallion status. Well, that's not why I'm here, Chuck, I'm here because I like you, and I like Noel now that I know a little

bit more about him. I was on the fence before Noel, but now i'm it does happen to be the case. Then. My new book, Medallion Status, is coming out October, and listeners, if they wish to, can pre order it at the website bit dot lee slash Medallion Status. That's B I, T dot L Y slash capital M, capital E capital D capital A capital L capital L couple of couple of capital N capital capital T capital A capital capital you capital s Shirley. Caps don't matter in a U

R L in a bidly you are all day. Absolutely, I'm sorry. Yeah, I don't know why. I'm all caps is terrible and I shouldn't have done it, But there it is. That's where it is. It'll take you to a place where you can pred my new book. It's called Medallion Statist Stories from Secret Rooms. Whereas Vacation Land, my previous book was about vacation. This is me about all the weird jobs that I've had growing up and

then as adult, including cheese, moonging, traffic counting. Uh yeah, I'm mons, I'm moonged a lot of cheese for a while, literary agent ing uh service journalism ng uh, ticket ripping at a movie theater or college Corner movie theater in Brookline, Massachusetts. And then the strangest job of all being a somewhat

famous minor television personality. And then it's about losing that job, and then in the absence of what little fame I had, disappearing and withering, chasing a new status, which was trying to become Diamond Medallion on Delta Airlines. Diamond Medallion Status by John Hodgman available now for pre order at a

bit dot lee Slash Medallion Status. You can go there and go to any your favorite online retailers, or go to indie indie bound dot com that there's a link right there, get it from your local bookshop, or preorder your local bookshop. Now that's not why I'm here, Chuck, but I'm glad you gave me a chance to say all of that. I have pre ordered your book, I have purchased, and you have given me all your books. Like I told you, I have two copies of all

your books. Thank you very much, because I always want to buy one, because that's just the right thing to do well, Chuck, that's why you are double famous quergy status in the Medallion Status universe. Explain what that means. So, uh, you know when I asked people to preorder the book, When I did that for Vacation Land, I realized that, first of all, that's the right thing to do because the way book sales work. Now, you know, having a

bunch of pre orders, it's a big deal, right. Having that buy in from an audience before even the publication date really helps to launch the book successfully and and ensures that it has a good life and it reaches the people that it wants to read, and people talk about it and so forth. And that's that's why I do it. But when they scheduled the Vacation Land tour, a number of the venues required a purchase of the book from a local bookseller to get into the event.

And similarly with Medallion Status. I'm going around and you can check all this out at John Hodgman dot com slash tour. I'm going all around to different different cities in the United States. San Francisco, Boston, UM Washington, Well, San Francisco, Boston, l a uh at Austin, Texas. You can find them all there John Hodgen dot com, slash Tour, and a number of them do require the purchase of

the book to go. So I don't want to punish the people who pre ordered, pre ordered the book and say you can't come, say you know, and and give them a disincentive to come to my event. They're my they're my people book. Yeah, you're my pre order peeps. So, as with Vacation Land, I am offering to people who have pre ordered the book a special piece of UH exclusive merchandise, a thank you gift from me, a status symbol.

If you will, everyone who comes to my UH, who comes to my book events and buys a book, whether it's the first or last time they ever buy it, you will get. You will you will be. You will get a famous Corgy pin, an enameled lapel pin of high quality, designed by the Great Aaron Draplin of either Linus the Corgy or Choppers the Corgy, one of two famous Corgis who are characters in my book. There. Well, yeah,

I'm wearing my podcast listeners can probably here. This is the sound of my famous corgy pin up against the microphone. I gotta tell you, John, from a distance where I'm sitting. I thought it was Gizmo from the Gremlins movie. Well, corgies look like Gremlins, you know, they're very adorable, and that's why they're That's one of the things I learned in the course of Medallion Status the book. When I go to a party that has some famous quorgies from

Instagram at it, they're more famous than I am. I don't understand how entertainment works anymore, but apparently if you're if you're a corgy on Instagram, you're a star because everyone loves the corgy, and you also should not feed them after midnight. Don't feed them after midnight or they become what would be the evil gremlin equivalent of a dog. I was just trying to think, because everyone loves dogs, I don't want to belign a breed of crede of dog.

So anyway, everyone who buys a book at one of my book events, whether it's an official book event or part of the upcoming Judge John hodgment or in November, all those dates are on the website. You get you buy a book, you get a famous corky pin. But if you're a chuck, if you're a chuck, Bryant a person who has two copies of every book. If you preorder a book and then you buy a book at the event, you upgrade two double quirky status, then you get a pin that has both quirkies line is and

chompers on it double quirky status. These were only going to people who come in the signing line and have two books. Double corky pin in my hand. Listen to it. Yeah, two wolfs, two wolves up for double quirky status, and only only people who have two books on the signing line will will be double will will upgrade to double core. And that can be an e book and a cardcover. It can be too hardcovers, it can be too e books, it can be too it could be too audio books.

The audiobook is out now, narrated by me. So that's just just a way of thanking you and trying to incentivize you to come out to these events because uh, they're gonna be fun. In l am in conversation with Amy Man in New York, I'm in conversation with Elizabeth Gilbert, and in Boston. In conversation with my old high school friend gender Ico in San Francisco, I'm in conversation with Linus, the quirky and Chompers the corky. They're both going to be there one of those. In conversation with you in

Atlanta for vacation. You were great. Unfortunately we can't do it again because I'm coming to Atlanta in November. But that's part of the Judge John Hodgman, and I look forward to hearing the audiobook version voice by John Malaney. Oh what called back to the last last epic last? Previously on movie Crush Mode, play a clip of me being jealous about John Laney getting to be in a anime of film. Alright, let's go. You got your gif.

He read your audio book. That's not right, No, no, no, I record my own all right, Okay, all right, guys, should we get going here with yes? Please, with a segment You're gonna love John. We do something here on Movie Crush Mini Crush called Haiku Theater, and in this case we asked the movie crushers to give hikus in an effort to stump you. You have to guess what the movie is. Okay, do you follow? Yeah? I got you, all right, Hiku, I guess the movie exactly. So let's

start it off with in you know the movie. Sometimes they just don't follow directions. They they're supposed to say what the movie is too. So I know anyone, because let's drop blind one and see if we can. We can all guess. All right, well this is what I know. Old pal logan Kelly truck Sell says this. They aren't very smart, Harry and friend Lloyd Christmas. The beer flows like wine. That's not a high coup though, sure it is. They aren't very smart Harry and friend Lloyd Christmas. The

beer flows are right? Okay? Five seven? Five? Forgot? Aren't is she's pushing it or he's pushing it, or they're pushing it on? Aren't as being one syllable? Uh? Yes it is one? What do you say, aren't that's two syllables? Aren't aren't in Massachusetts? Oh god, we say, are not? Okay? It's dumb and dumber. Nice, I thought you were stumped. No, No, Lloyd Christmas is all right. One of the great movie names, I would say, a great name for a character in

a comedy. This is from one of our oldest appels over in Europe. Stellin Carrison says this, Carlson, why is that Carrison. That's weird. Sell though, that's great, He's awesome. Uh, Scholary Brothers, Rick and Annie babysit Libby walks around? No, do you have this one? Libby Libby who baby sits? Rick and Annie? Adventures in Babysitting? No, I'm sorry there was a call back to a previous many cars. I have not seen Adventures and babies. There's babysitting in other movies.

That's not the only not really, don't tell mom the babysitters dead right one? All right? I think you've guys are stumped right? Ghostbusters too? Oh oh, those are some pretty that's a very deep cut. Not the movie, but the clue. The references are very obscure. It should have been a Vigo reference in there. I mean, you can't talk about Ghostbusters too without talking about Vigo. Sorry, Stell in there bagging on your on your on your cue? No?

Is it Stelling's scarcecard? No? Carlson old friend, Yes, old friend, Zack Pointer says this. Two white soul brothers, four fried chickens in to coke banned back together Blues brothers. Yes, very nice, old Did you know that I did? Okay, even though I haven't seen the movie my favorite. All right, here's here. I just want to tell you right now, these last two movies have two of my favorite lines

and movies in them. Okay, the Blues Brothers. When John Candy is the the he's been chasing the Blues Brothers and he's got his two henchmen with him. It's like, as long as they're playing the concert, let's listen. And the waiter comes by, guys, what do you boys want on? Orange whip? Orange whip? Three orange whips? It's I think it's like a I think it's like an orange Julius or something. I mean, it's just such a did someone write that line? It's just such a moment of a

weird realness. And he's just like he's really into orange whips. He's like, you know, and the two guys are like, I don't want an orange whip because three orange whips the Chicago thing. It sounds like a Chicago thing, Like an orange? Is that kind of like whipped up creamsicle speak? Yeah? Yeah, I don't know. The Varsity in Atlanta and in Georgia they call it a frosted orange. It's good. I might have to go over and check out some of that. And then in what was the movie? I couldn't get

the Ghostbusters too. I think it is Peter McNichol is the actor who who is the and and he's overseeing the art restoration. This is when before he becomes the monster, right, And he's overseeing the art restoration, and he's got all these assistance around him and he's just being a jerk, classic jerk character. And he says this line. I think about all the time. He's walking amongst his employees and

he goes, everything you were doing is wrong. I just I just wanted you to know that isn't his name, Yeah that's right. He had an accent. He becomes like the thrall to yeah that's right, everything you are doing is wrong. I just wanted you to know that. Think about it all the time. No helpful words of advice though, just you know, shut him down and walk away. That was gonna make it funny. That was probably a written line.

Wesley Ball old Pal says this. I thought that was like the Haiku childlike Empress best Friend sinks in the Sad Swamp, the Nothing is Real, the Phantom Menace. Correct, No, what no, you probably noticed what is that it's a movie that books of a certain age don't think about. It's ah, the never Ending Story, the never Ending Story, and said you missed it, said it was of the never Ending Story read famously. But the music georgidor I'm

at a last time. Yeah, that's a movie that's definitely gotten mad about you just well, no, no, it's it was just back big time because of Stranger Things. It was in a whole scene they sing the whole song in season three and season three. See I didn't even see season three. So now everyone thinks I'm referencing Stranger Things. I'm not. It's having a moment right now. I'm referencing the Ridge and I think there's actually a Netflix cartoony version of The Never New Story that just came out.

You know what I'm embarrassed about. I have not I have not here here we are. I won't tell you when we're recording this, but it's late in the day. I've slept on the Netflix Star Crystal, which I here is amazing. I haven't seen it either. I keep trying to start it. It's a little slow, but it's beautiful. I need to watch it at the right time. This weekend. It's gonna be my thing. Old friend Austin Handler says this.

He didn't leave the movie, but I know it. New Roommate o d s Found Money, Double Crosses, It's under the floor. The Tell Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe No funny because that's the plot. New Roommate o'ds? What what? What? What's the second line? Uh? Where? It doesn't matter. I don't know the New Room found Money, Double Crosses, It's under the floor. Anyone? Is it? Um? Is it you and McGregor in this? Yes? Is it called Danny Boyle's first film? That's right. I can't believe I got that one.

Pull that out of your ass. Christopher Accleston, the Best Doctor Who? That's right. Boy. Did you see his recent admission that he had struggled with anorexia, um and depression most of his life and he really went through a bad interrexic phase on Doctor Who? Is that why he left the show? I don't know, but he's talking about it now, which is great. Yeah, that makes sense. It's still I mean, and I think that will be an

enduring mystery. I hope he's feeling better. Yeah. I was really sad when he did not come back for the I love that John Hurt the War Doctor. I love John Hurt Caligula for my Claudius. By the way, I set up so many I Claudius references in the last one, and we never got around to the segment where you ask me what I've been watching lately? It is okay, I was I lost that one for time. Yeah. I figured you killed it for time because I was musing

too much in the last episode. There are twenty musing opportunities, and that's a lot of music. All right, don't make sure we get to a tease it tease it streaming. What's the segment called stream this stream? I stream sure? Change that up? I like it? Yeah, put it. Put a pin in that. I want to get back to that. Let me see here another all right, Christopher, this game Christopher Paxton says this sweltering sunrise, Death rides a motorcycle? Who are you sweltering? Is uh? Is it uh? Ghost

Writer starring Nicolas Gauge, No Coast Rider two starting Nicolas Gauge. No, is it raising Arizona? No, that's a good guess, though, I was thinking too, because Death a Motorcycle opens with that motorcycle. Is it a mad Max property? Perhaps death rides a motorcycle? It's not who are you? That's that's a that's batman, Batman. I think I should read it like this, not death rides a motorcycle, it's death rides a motorcycle. It's hard to were you saying? The second

line of the cycle is two sentences. No, I see where he's going here. I'll just go ahead and tell you Lawrence of Arabia, Oh, sweltering sunrise death. He died riding a motorcycle. That is it? Oh? I see are you that? I am right? Okay? And the answering line to that is, I'm Lawrence of Arabia. Yeah, I guess so.

I mean I finally covered that on the show. For the show you hadn't seen anither, and we projected it at the Coolidge Corner Theater in Brookline and ninth and when they re released it in CinemaScope or where it was gorgeous to look at. And I remember walking in and catching scenes, but I never said that. You enjoyed it, right, Chuck? You? Oh boy? It was great. You know whose movie that was? John? That was Chris Whites American Film director. I thought David

Lean directed it. You're being coy cool, all right, let's do more of these. Yeah, I like this, this is fun. Huh. We do themed onins too, theme tykous like Kevin Bacon additions and things like that. It's never met him. I've never met him. Really, no bake, I've never met I've never met the bake. All right, you'd figured that you

know you as you read medallion status. I've I've pass actwords into a lot of different weird meetings with various famous people, and you would think that, you know, a guy who had met George R. Martin and Barack Obama probably would have been one degree from one degree of separate from Kevin Bacon at this point. But alright, Sammy Delko says this and this one's this one is funny. Some dudes lips close up newspapers, YadA, YadA. It's the

fucking Sled. Um Uh. This is a high coup. That is referencing a movie, that is making a reference to a movie. M M no, Well, I don't know what movie this is, but how can it's the fucking Sled not be a reference to Citizen Kane, that is, Citizen Kane. So the hiku is a reference to a movie. That is making a reference to a movie. Well, the hiku is about Citizen Kane. Some dudes lips, Oh I see, Oh I thought that. I thought it's the fucking sled, right,

you know, I thought I thought it's the sled. Was a line from this other movie of a character getting so mad because I feel like I remember I remember a character in a movie or a TV shoo sled. Yeah, exactly that. That joke has been done repeatedly. Yeah, I guess I got I gotta Yeah, So it's it's okay. So this is the hiku writer's own cynical take on Citizen Kane. That's a high coup writer saying that's are you just now getting this bit? Yeah, that's right. What

was the first line was lip? Second line was what newspapers? YadA YadA. Also, he's referencing Seinfeld. This one is purposefully self obscured. I would agree with Yeah, I would agree with that because it sounds like it sounds like he's referencing a Seinfeld episode where they're talking about Susan Kane and Jason Alexander goes this the fucking sled that famous bomb episode of I know that you don't see it very often anymore. God, I'm mad about you, all right.

Rick de Madeiro says, this cabin in the woods. Yep, Cavin in the Woods is the answering Henrietta is angry, al swallow your soul? Oh, evil dead? Yes, all right. He gave it the listener no check gave me a prompt. I was knowing glance. Uh. That's when we were talking last time about movies. You can't wait to show your kids, and my son who's fourteen, is getting into horror movies, and he just walk them down the street with me. Said, you know, I kind of feel like horror and comedy

are two sides of the same coin. Yeah, of course that's I mean, that's right. A lot of been written about it. In the head. I was like, original thoughts take no. I said, yeah, you're absolutely right, and we have to watch Evil Did Too because Evil Did One was trying to be scary, and they realized, well yeah, but they also realized that people liked it more for the schlock factor than they did for it being super scary, and then they leaned into that super hard for the

subsequent interest, which I don't you know. We talked also last time about science fiction parody movies like Dark Star and Space Space, Space Pirates, Spaceballs is its own thing. It's it's it's it's beautiful. But you know, no one had seen something like Evil Dead Too before, where it is a straight up horror movie and it has comedic aspects,

but the comedic aspects are not winky or parotic. It's just like, yeah, when Bruce Gamble says groovy, that's the greatest joke in the world and one of the greatest moments in cinema. It's genuinely funny and genuinely horrific. Yeah, it's both of those things. It's cool, it's awesome. All right, we'll do one more. We'll close with one of the oldest apals in page Admind Vanessa Lopez, Vanessa High, part of the Vanessa Squad, combing the desert. He commands ludicrous speed.

I'm my own best friend that Spaceballs. There you go. Ludicrous speed was to giveaway on that one. That's good. Oh, combing the desert when they calmed the deserts. I've met mel Brooks. I've met mel Brooks, and i haven't met Kevin Bacon. Mel Brooks is an incredible, incredible human force. Did you listen to Free to Be You and Me when You're Yeah, I was trying to explain in all the the power of that. It was a children's record

produced and I'm performed largely by Marlo Thomas. That was her deal of sketches and songs that were sort of and I'm feeling like it has to be late sixties, early seventies, certainly not later than early seventies, right, because it was and they're empowering, empowering songs and sketches for kids, all the right messages at a time where they weren't. Boys can have dolls. Yeah, It's okay to cry. It's okay to cry. That was Rosy Greer. Yeah, it's all

right to cry. It's all right to cry. Crying takes the herd out of your song. Yeah. And and and I want to say mel Brooks. It was mel Brooks. And was it Joan Rivers? No, it was Marlo Thomas did the sketch about baby babies and trying to decide what whether there are a boy or a girl and deciding that it doesn't matter anymore. Really progressive. There was one about a girl being nice to her grand mother. Dick Cavitt got in there with a little Oh yeah,

he has a little poem. I've been in a room with Dick Cavitt and mel Brooks at the same time in conversation. Did you talk to me free to be? You and me? Probably no, I forgot to even bring that up. I was standing to legends. All right, we're gonna where are you at, Kevin Bacon. We're gonna move on to a social studies segment. Guys, Mini Crush Hodgman edition, Let's hear who you think is the best movie villain of all time? Interesting? And why? So we'll go ahead

and kick it off with old Pal. David Barlow says Jack Torrens from the Shining Hmm, it's hard to argue that's a good one. Mike Ireland says Mr Smith and the Matrix m hmm. That was me doing Cugo weaving just in case and cuga weaving. Old Pal. Maria Ersano Lawson says Alan Rickman as both Scruba and the best Sheriff of Nottingham. In any Robin Hood movie, which one was I and was he? And which which Robin Hood

was hence. But he was the good part about it because he had a relationship with this witch character who was pretty spooky too, and they had some weird stuff going on. You didn't quite know the nature of their relationship. So funny that I would have, I mean, because Rickman had such an amazing and and absolutely appropriate and earned second and third act as Snape. But I think of him as a much more contemporary actor than something than

Kevin Costner, for example. Like, that's really funny. I feel like cost Austin Handler too. That's a voice I cannot I cannot do an Alan Rickman impersonation that he's a weird accent shoot the glass like guess I just don't. It's pretty good. That was pretty good. He's so great man. Did you ever see um? I believe The name of the movie is Truly Madly Deeply. It's a British, yes, great romantic, sad comedy in which he plays the dead boyfriend of the main character and he puts back as

a ghost. He was great in that. You know, die Hard was his first film. He was a stage guy before that, exclusively. Truly Madly Deeply is also a song by Savage Garden just in case anyone was interested. Oh, I didn't know that. What was the new wave band we thought of yesterday? Oh? Negative space, negative Space. That's pretty good. Good paying for a new wave band. I need to point out. Old friend Austin Handler also shouted out Hans Screwber. He is one of the great movie villains.

Trevor Southward says Doc Cock. And Spiderman too, he was great. Hunter Freiberg says Anton Sugar and no country for old men. That's that would be my pick. Wow, completely lacking empathy, dead eyed psychopath. Yeah, and boy, that what a what an effective thing to use that cattle pride or not a cattle both gun both gun as a weapon. Um, yeah, terrifying. Never had seen anything like that before. And it was

so cold and just like this. It's like, the the quickest simplest way to kill a cow is also the quickest simplest way to kill it. And it leaves no trace, It leaves no slug to pull out and connect to a weapon. It just shoots in and retracts and then it's right. Yeah, I have to watch I love that movie. I have not seen it since then I and I really need to revisit it. The most you've ever lost on a coin toss. He just sounded like I know, it's the only voice I can do. He sounds a

little bit like that. Yeah, he's a little he's a little hurt, soggy. There was a great moment a couple of weeks ago, John, where we were plugging the Mandalorian and no one had not seen the trailer yet. Yeah, I haven't either. And he's a big verner, hurts all guy, and he is in that. And I did not let him be surprised. I'm surprised. I didn't. I mean, I guess I saw some internet chatter boy, and I didn't know.

At the end of the trailer, you just hear uh the voice over at for bounty hunting is dangerous business. And Noel shrieked Ramsey, we should drop in the sound effect now, all right, there it is. It's one of the best. I told him. It's been dubbed by the movie Crushers, the Noel Helm scream. It was just it was wonderful. I was. I was genuinely that was a genuine reaction for me. It wasn't performative. I hope it's good,

looks pretty cool, It looks like it can't not be good. Okay, can't not can't not Daisy, Christina Bruce says Alan Arkin and wait until dark? Right, Yeah, he was very terrifying blind Audrey hepburn and he was creepy on that. Scott Deels is Darth Vader. Sure, solid, do you have one? It's interesting, you know, I was I was drawing a real blank once you and then when you posited this question, and then as you've been reading them out, these are

all great villains. And I would have blanked on Hans Gruber and I love Alan Rickman so much, and he is a great villain, and that one because of the turn where it's revealed like no we're not terrorists, we just want money and he's just, I mean, exceptional thief. Yeah. It's just so, you know, it's like, how how what is the There's so many different styles of villain to choose from. There's the villain that is just a human being who's really good at their job, and and then

there are the villains who are like Darth Vaders. Certainly before you knew the backstory is just a force, a terrifying force of evil, a monster. Anton Sugar is a force of nature, like, that's not a human being. That's what makes him terrifying, is that it's not a human being the same way we are, you know, so you know, and he's portrayed as being a wild animal basically, you know who happens to have speech and reasoning and shotgun with a silencer on it, and it's just sort of

sitting on his lap right pointed at the guy. No one said, Hannibal Lector, because he's the hero, not the villain. Oh interesting, I'm sure that's in here somewhere. Uh, Sarah Stapleton, that's where that's where you're that's where you Sarah Stapleton said it. No, no, no, she says, hard to beat Buffalo Bill. Years later, I still won't part next to

a van. Sure. I mean you think about that scene and what a piece of what a public service announcement that was, Like how many how many people have not been kidnapped and put into a van because of that scene? It's incredible. Don't help that guy with the broken arm? And so he also he's he's he's like a creepy villain, you know what I mean? Uh, Hannibal Lector, is that point where your understanding of and sympathy for the villain is so great that you root for him, do you

know what I mean? So that therefore I don't consider him a villain. And um, and and then I struck upon the one and you know, we we touched upon this last time. It's controversial, but I really I think Midsummer is the best movie I've seen this year. I'm the best villain. One of the best villains in movies is Christian the boyfriend from Midsummer Oh, that guy who can't act. He does an amazing job acting like and entitled and and entitled douchebro white. Dude thinks that he's

a good guy, but actually as a bad guy. And I don't mean bad guy like Darth Vader, I mean a bad person. It's not a quality humans and ends up causing a lot of harm. So there. I mean, Hey, remember that you guys got mixed feelings about that movie, but I'm not here to mix it up with you about that. Remember that part when they all ate stuff, what Ben had those meals? If you don't look, maybe you don't like dinner scenes as much as I do.

Know I will say this, I thought the dinner scenes were beautifully shut and demonstrated the pecking order because it used like it had is like overhead where I don't see don't see the directors there is an extor. There are extra dinner scenes in the directors cuts, and it is. It is one of those rare. With great respect to Ari Astor who made the movie. Uh and the director's cut is worse than the Oh you saw it? Yeah, because I liked it so much immediately had to take

people to see it in theaters. This is one of the most visually beautiful things I've ever seen, I agree, and it was gorgeous. I think some of the psychedelic experienced scenes are very very well played out. I've never done I've never done psychedelic drugs before, but I felt like it seemed to capture what that is as as it has been described to me. It's it's just done so often in a very cliche, over the top way, and this was very subtle and it was much more

of like a cerebral maybe want to do drugs? You should love this movie, maybe want to do drugs? CHET. Did you like Hereditary? I liked Hereditary a lot. I did not like it as much as mid Time. I liked it more by Miles, but I need to see Hereditary again. After talking to Well, I went with David Reese, our good friend, uh former artisanal pencil sharpener, uh now now my now my partner and assumed to be announced

f X short form animated show. Um. But David Reese took me to saw to see it and he loved it and I did too, and we got out of it just like, wasn't that just the most amazing thing.

I was like, yeah, had you seen Rosemary's Baby? And He's like no, And I'm like, yeah, I mean, in no way is that it's you know, it's not it's not borrowing from it's not even an homage to Rosemary's Baby, but it's informed by Rosemary's Baby in the same way that I'm sorry, whereas Midsummer is obviously me quicker man and I don't, you know, like we talked about about remix culture and I don't mean to lay this on him. Um, it's like what he's doing, what he's were We all

remix our influences and he's created in double works. Apart for me, Rosemary's Baby is such a touchstone movie that watching this I enjoyed it. I thought it was brilliantly directed, scary, beautifully paced, but I was like, yeah, I see where this is going in a way that like and you didn't see where Midsummer was going because I felt like I felt like I knew exactly where it was going. I I felt that I knew where Midsummer was going, and I really enjoyed the journey getting there. I enjoyed

the trip. If you will, I'm talking about would, I would, and I would like to see it again with with fresh eyes. I also made the mistake of spoiling some things about it for myself before I watched it, And now that I've had a little time to separate myself from it, and I've talked to some people with varying opinions on it, I think I'd like I think that I think that it would be worth because it's fine with me if you don't like it. Humans of the world.

It's like, you know, people are different, but like the Shining, it's so visually stunning that you could just go You could just go into that movie for a cinematography pass, like just ignore the words and watch the pictures and it would be worthwhile. You equally could go in having seen it now for like the Shining, for like a hidden clue pass because so much of the story talking

about spoilers. It's in the visual or whatever you see. Yeah, if you go to see it, the first frame of the movie is a is a like a Swedish pictogram that tells the story of the movie. You should not You're not supposed to pay attention to it because you don't know what you're looking for. But if you go, if you go and don't look at it, close your eyes. Midsummer a new movie by John Hodgman, author of Medallion Status. I wish I could say that we're true. All right.

We're gonna finish with comment card and then a quick stream this segment. But the uh, the movie crushers have some questions for you, John. And we covered this on a Social Studies a few weeks ago about favorite book to movie adaptations. This is from Melissa Johnson Wells. What is your favorite? Oh I feel like I was just I just have this in mind. Oh yeah, I was just talking about a movie that was Better Country for old Men. Perhaps that's great. I haven't read the book.

Well that doesn't count, man, And I've read The Road by corn McCarthy. But I've not seen the movie because great movie. I don't want to destroy myself. It's tough. It's a slog and a pretty smart adaptation, like a very he did a logical. Yeah, it's brutal. Um, that's interesting. I don't know. You guys go first. Maybe I'll have an idea. Do you have a thought? Uh? Yeah, right on the tip of my tongue. I mean, certainly No Country for Old Men in the road. Like Cormac McCarthy,

we talked about it before. I has a really good track record of adaptations. Um. I also thought like A Door in the Floor was a decent adaptation of what was the name of the book? Because it wasn't door in the Floor? What's the John Irving book? Totally blanking now Cider, Well, there was a prayer for Owen meing was Cider has rules? I think the Door in the Floor is what the book was called too. Uh changed based on A Widow for one Year? A Widow for

one Year? Oh yeah, Actually, wife loved that book. Gard was really good, A really good adaptation the movie that I've always wanted to see. Yeah, what's that's a that's a good one too. Is Uh Cavalier and Clay an Yiddish Policeman's Union because the Cohen Brothers were going to do that at one point. Yiddish Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Shabon I would love to see as a movie that was one where I would love to see that that constructed world, yeah, like played out like familiar with.

It's a great book. So Yiddish Policeman's Union is a alternate history murder mystery and it is set in Alaska. But in this universe, after World War Two, UH Jewish refugees and UH and and and Jews throughout the world did not move to the new State of Israel in the Middle East. They were instead given land in Alaska.

So this whole portion of southern Alaska is an autonomous zone within the United States that is a de facto Israel for for Jews all over the world and the world that he builds there and the alternate university builds there. What it were like if if the Jewish home, if the if the Jewish home state, we're a part of Alaska, and what that culture would be like and how they interact with Native Alaskans is really really interesting. And fascinating.

It's detective stories. It's a page turning detectives murder, and it coincides with the whole territory is going to be given back to the United States because of it a treaty that has expired or whatever. It's really a lot of fun and that would be really interesting to see. I know the Coen Brothers option did at one point, but I don't know. I'm looking on wikipedia'ss canceled film adaptation. Yeah, so there you have it. He wrote, Wonder Boys is

one of your favorite pictures. Also another Yeah, shape one's got a good track record. I've you know, as a

as a professional muser, I'm really drawing blanks here. But um, the thing that the ones that you want to see made into movies are the ones that have that build unusual visual worlds, Right, That's why you wanted to see even like, even though comic books are a visual medium, you wanted to see Superman in three D and for the longest time, even you know, even with Christopher Reeve being the greatest Superman of all time on screen, he still looked like a dumb dumb standing around in his underwear.

Like some things just don't translate do you know what I mean? And uh, you know. I I the misfortune of really loving a book called Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin in my twenties, which is a a fantasy book set in early twentieth century New York City that has has deep fantasy magical elements in it, but it's also this fun, rollicking history of gang warfare in early twentieth century New York City. And I think it was a Kiva Goldsman that was Keeva Goldsman's passion project to turn

that into a movie. And I was like so excited to see this flying horse in Manhattan, and then I made the mistake of watching it. It was terrible. It just wasn't there. You know, Taking a story, like taking the books work for a reason because you can live inside the heads of other characters, and the stuff that sounds amazing to look at, like the stuff that you wish that you could behold, like a flying horse in

Manhattan or a giant sandworm on the planet Aracus. More often than not, when you actually get the chance to see them, it's like this just a dude stand around in his underwear. All right, we'll take one more question here and Uh, this is for you John from Old pal Brian BISSSSI. What is the your favorite movie that you have been in? Oh? Hang on, I just remembered one. Now. Best best book to movie translation Blade Runner. Oh, because I tried to read do Android stream Electric Sheep not

as good. Okay, best movie that I was in. I have not been in a lot of movies. Um, obviously. I was a star of Pitch Perfect two. I was the star of Baby Mama, co starring Tina Fey and Amy Poehler and Steve Martin rounding out the cast. Very kind of you to allow them, well their legends, you know what I mean, Like I gotta pay it back. I was the star of the Invention of lying Um movie by Ricky Gervais. Oh sure, yeah, I was. I was mad at you because you were in the Arthur remake.

I was the star of the Arthur remake. We finally fixed Arthur. Thank you. You're welcome. That's where I met Scott Adds it the great comic actor. And if you should see it because Arthur was such a loved film to me. Yeah, I think that's fine. He comes around here a lot. He does things that Dad's Gary Scott

adds it, you should have him on the show. Scott adds it, Yeah, he would, totally, he'd be an amazing right, yeah, yeah, And if you ever had a chance in the world to see Scott adds it to improv comedy, like if you're like me, improv comedy, like you immediately run out of the room like no, thank you. But he is such a brilliant performance. You don't like I do. But there's so much crummy improvlem I was exposed to at an early age that I just have an aversion to it.

I got to do better, see my deal as I've only seen the top notch improv. That's right, Chuck is saved, saved himself. I don't go see it much. So you know, I've seen Ascat and I've seen Convoy, and like I've seen the best of the best. Comboy has an a amazing I don't know if they're still performing together, but Alex Fernie and those guys had Alex on not too long ago. Out of Sight. Oh yeah, great movie, great movie.

Soderberg yea um, but I think probably my my favorite movie that I was in, and I liked my performance the best in and actually had something to do in it, and it's also a great movie as Coraline by Henry Selleck. Great answer, I mean, I mean, I have very few things to choose from my My career is just that limited in film. But yeah, if I wasn't gonna pivot, I wasn't gonna pick pictures done more on TV. But I mean, speaking of adaptation, I mean, Coraline is a

fantastic attitude. Yeah, also a beautiful point, a great and definitely like one where the visual world that you imagine does not disappoint when you put it on screen because it has been so thoroughly reimagined by the genius of Henry Selleck as a designer and as an animator. I mean, it was legit stop motion animation. Nothing like it. How old does uh my daughter have to be to see that?

I think she's a little young. It's a little scary, scary, A little scary involves like, yeah, she's cutting out eyes and stuff. I mean it's there's no blood or anything, but it's got some themes of like parents being replaced by evil. Well, and that's why, I mean, that's why it works as a book as a story, because that's a fantasy the children have bad sometimes they're afraid of it, and sometimes I hope it's true. Yeah, I watched it recently with my mom and my daughter who is ten,

and we all adored it. I think my daughter was nine when it came out and we went to see it and it was just on the edge. But but yeah, always you were talking. Maybe it was the last episode about letting kids watch above their pay grade, and I've always done that with Ruby. When I'm googling, like movies for whatever year olds, always google a couple of years ahead because they really dumb it down on the Internet. When you're saying, what movies can my four year old watch? Right,

and you don't want to. You don't want to disqualify a movie that has an incredible character who's inspiring, or an incredible you know, or incredible plot or storyline that is either either historical or just interesting. Like kids should be exposed to great stories. Um, it's it's how imagination develops, you know, and engaging with great stories is a is an important training tool for being able to make great

stories later on. We just don't want to disqualify something just because it's got a swear word in it or whatever. You know, we just showed Ruby Annie, yeah, which was a big big deal for Emily because that was her jam as a musical theater kids, and she was she was nervous, visibly nervous that Ruby would tune out or not like it the old one, yeah, the eighties, and boy, she was just in like fully in one. But I'll

tell you what delighted. Sometimes kids don't tune into the stuff that you tuned In't you ready for her age? And you know, we were talking about you can't wait to show Ruby t And we showed our kids et both in succession and they were like, no, my son loves Ee Claudius, which brings us to our next segment. I stream us yes really really quickly though. I just showed my daughter the made for TV movie version of

it from the nineties. Gets scared the ship out of me when I was her age, like big time nightmares, sleepless nights for for weeks. She laughed her ass off throughout the whole thing because it just doesn't hold up at all. It's not scary. Tim Curry is the clown is goofy as hell. Uh, the acting is awful, It's just she's the bar has been raised for kids. You know, they if they're going to get scared, it needs to be genuinely scary. Like you know, there's there's used to

so much. I just remembered what it was I was talking about with my wife about the movie that is the best adaptation of a book, Shining. Oh well, and that Shining works because it throws the book away. It takes what it wants from the book and throws the rest away. Steen King, Stephen King hates it for that reason. And I and you know, the worst book to movie

translation could easily be Shining. The other version that Stephen King commissioned once he got his money right, not good and it's you know, it's obviously faithful, fine and the and the acting is good. I mean, like, what what a what a what a thankless job that would be to play Jack Torrence who's the actor he was on Wings, Tim Daever whatever. Why do you think there's so many Stephen King made for TV movies and they're all so bad?

And you know there's obviously a lot of there's Yeah, there's the Tommy Knockers, the Shining, the Stand they got, Golden Years, they got you. I mean that was that was the time when there was broadcast television. Stephen King was a brand name. It was an event. And even though I mean, you know, it's like I'm you're not gonna You'd be hard to find a bigger Stephen King fan than I am. But one of the things Stephen King fans understand is it's it's gonna be a mix

of good and bad, you know what I mean. He is an incredible machine of imagination and great writing, line by line. One of the greatest writers alive or dead. But you know, sometimes you get a Tommy Knockers instead

of or a maximum overdrive, maximum directed. Sometimes in the in the work, you're gonna get a Tommy Knockers when you're expecting I don't know, a bag of bones or something, or you know, uh, He's done some so many great later works, but you know, the kujo with his novel is much better than I've never read a Stephen King book. They're great, They're great. Read them, They're great, they are every even though even the less terrific ones are incredibly readable.

Because one of the reasons that his pardon me one of the reasons that his adaptations don't so often or as often is that so much of the Stephen King books are interior to the characters, and he gets into the minds of so many different kinds of characters so authentically and then puts them into play with each other that even when you dislike them, you know what they're doing and why they're doing it, and it's unbearable. You know,

that's what makes them work. Um, they're very interior and so yeah, a scary clowns a scary clown, right, but if you don't see, if you don't understand the feelings that those characters are having, and there's only so much you can do with your lines, with your words and faces. In the book, it's an afterthought that it's a scary clown too, But in the movie you got to lean into scary clown and I really liked it. The new it in chapter two, I think is even better. You

did like Chapter two. People who didn't like Chapter two, I think it's better. I think it's better. But um, what I was saying to check on the way over here is that the house on the Bold Street, which is the you know, sort of the locus of the evil, especially in the movie. In the movie, what did you

call it Tropesville, they go, they go real trophy on it. Yeah, it's a it's just overplayed as such a it's a like it's almost like it was taken out of Coraline, such a cartoonish version of a haunted house, canted angles

kind of leaning, you know. And in the book, my memory of it was, and knowing Bangor Maine where it was set, you you can see just a regular, a regular ranch house on the corner of a street that is for some reason been abandoned for a long time, and it's just it looks like the Brady Bunch house, but it's got a few weeds on it. And that's the scariest house of all in my opinion. And that's how Stephen King played it in the book much more. He grounds a really normal world and then weaves in

fantastic elements and that's what makes it so scary. That's good stuff. Coujo Man, Coujo. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, I won't go on. I've gone on before. So yeah, let's let's finish up with stream this. What have I been watching?

Funny you asked, check Claudius. I'm watching Claudius again, mini series about ancient Rome Claudius, the stammering, stuttering, limping like black sheep of the Roman royal family, who everyone thinks is an idiot but is actually quite smart and is unlikely rise to power because the rest of Rome is, if I may swear, a funk happy ship show where everyone everyone's either having an orgy or orgy as you might say, or poisoning the other person to get power. Where do you uh? It is on the PBS app

because it originally aired on Masterpiece Theater. It is also on the Acorn app. Do you is PBS a free app or do you just put type in what your local station is or it's a you do you download it to your smart TV? It's not already donate money and then I believe it. There is a sub a subscription fee and then you have to link it to your local or whatever. But it's really where I mean,

like you know, PPS is great. They have a ton of old old programming on Predous it's amazing, and Acorn, which I think maybe how we stream it currently um Acorn is started as a catalog where you could order

like Sherlock Holmes DVDs and vhs. Can say that Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes and Now is a whole streaming service that is dedicated to the best of British television and there's a lot of really great stuff there and you can get You can get at Acorn through your Amazon Prime the way you know you can add you can add it on as a channel. You can do it

through PBS um but I Claudius twelve episodes. Uh, it was the Game of Thrones of of the nine seventies, like this whole whole social phenomenon where everyone was talking about it. We you know, I'm recording a podcast now with our friend Elliott Kleen of the Flop House called Ipodius, in which we recap each episode. It's gonna it's coming.

We're recording it now. It's going to come out. It's gonna drop Saturnalia on the Julian calendar, big fan of the Flaphouse, and you know it's We are reading letters that we've solicited from people who have memories of Eye Qualitius and if you're if you're our age, the memories are almost exclusively trauma. Like I watched this with my parents and I didn't know that there was going to be this scene where John Hurt eats the baby out of his sister slash wife's stomach. I gotta see this, man.

You don't see it on camera because the production values are so low. So like the biggest, the biggest battles are all like did you hear about that big battle? Here's what happened, But it becomes a moment for incredible character and the acting is the British character actors who are in this are so amazing. And if that's not enough for you, to take a look at it and then listen to I Podius on Maximum Fund another network, Patrick Stewart's in it with hair. Oh that's right, Yeah,

so it's great. Check it out all right, John, thank you for joining us on U Mini question number two. Thank you for having me. I wish I could do this every day, but I can't because they're gonna go on the road telling people to upgrade to medallion status. The new book by John Hodgman. When does it come out?

Where can they buy it? October fifte It comes out check in hardcover and electronic form and audiobook narrated by no narrated by me except for two words that are that are spoken by John Hamm Oh yeah, he says American Airlines. That's great. Uh, it's It's a funny book that I put a lot of uh work and thought and care into and I hope that people enjoy it. It's available for pre order now at bit dot lee that's b I T dot L y slash medallion status

all one word, all capital letters. You can get it there from Amazon, Barnes and Noble Powells and of course Indie downd. It links in Indie bound, which will link you to your local bookshop, or just go into your local bookshop and check it out. We're here in uh, we're here in Atlanta Books right around the corners Books Books. We've partnered with us for vacation lands. Right. They're great independent bookstores right around your corner and you will enjoy

going to them. Um, so check it out. Thank you. Medallion status all right, Thanks John, Thanks no, see you next time, folks. Thanks no, you got it. Good bye. Nos a opera not only Elliott Callen sings on a podcast. I ran out of words. That's the end of the thing. Yeah. For more podcasts for my Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you us into your favorite shows