Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.
Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. Listener mail. This is Robert Lamb.
And this is Joe McCormick. And it's Monday, the day of each week that we read back some messages from the Stuff to Blow your Mind mail bag mail box. I realized I say both. If you have never gotten in touch with us before and you would like to, why not give it a try. You can email us at contact at stuff to Blow your Mind dot com. Any kind of correspondence is fair game. You can email us feedback on recent episodes. If you have something interesting
you'd like to add to something we talked about. If you have questions, corrections, suggestions for future topics, send it all in contact at stuff to Blow your Mind dot com. Let's see Rob, Do you mind if I kick things off here with this message from Brett about the horse hook.
Let's do it.
Brett says, Hello, gentlemen, It's been a minute since I've written in, but I wanted to make a quick comment on horse hooves. I've always wondered the same thing you both described, which is why the horse has single wide hoofs, which seem to be different from other large hoofs of animals. I wondered if this allows them to be steady in damp soil and would allow them to still have power to move themselves out of trouble. I think of it
similarly to the Eiffel Tower. The wide hooves can spread out the weight of the animal as its powerful legs can propel them quickly if the horse so desires, whether on dry or wet ground. Just to thought, hope your summer is off to a wonderful start, Brett. Well, Brett,
that's an interesting idea. But actually, the more I thought about it, I was kind of thinking in the opposite direction, because this reminded me of some stuff I covered think a while back in a listener mail episode that I did solo, where a listener got in touch about seeing his dogs running on top of snow, and I ended up talking about some stuff I was reading about wolf pause being adapted for running on snow, specifically because they can spread the toes out wide and distribute the body
weight across a larger surface area with that kind of you know, big wide webbed foot, which in some cases allows them to run more quickly in snowy conditions, because they can run up on top of the frozen crust at the top of the snow layer, whereas the prey animal like a the hoofed point of a deer leg will punch through the crust and then the deer will get bogged down wading through the snow. So I don't know.
I would tend to think that having a larger, wider foot with multiple toes would give you more stability on wet or soft or unstable ground, whereas having a smaller footprint would allow you to I don't know. I guess have maybe less friction and less less drag if you're trying to move quickly.
Interesting by the way, Joe, on the question of box or bag, I have looked inside carney our mail bot, and it does appear to be more of a horseshoe shaped cylinder. I guess it has to curve around some important wiring and so forth.
Yes, okay, I understand all right.
This next bit of listener mail comes to us from Taylor, and this concerns of the beaver. This is another animal based series that we did. Taylor says, Hello, Robin, Joe, I loved your recent two part a on beaver's wonderful work as always. For the past few years, I have worked with the Forest Service to manage a visitor center
at Silver Lake in Utah Wastoche Mountains. Silver Lake is a beaver engineered body of water, so I've had the pleasure to introduce countless tourists to our resident rodents of unusual size, and thought i'd share a few insights from my experience. Few people realize that beavers live in their lodges instead of their dams. Even fewer know that several commensal species cohabit with beavers in their lodges. Muskrats, another large semi aquatic rodent, have been known to cohabit with beavers.
This relationship may even represent a form of mutualism, as some authors have argued that the muskrat may help beavers keep an eye on for predators and provide additional body heat for the lodge in cold winter months. I have heard some accounts of other rodent species and even some mustlids like mink and otters, cohabiting with beavers, but these relationships seem less well established in reputal literature. In any case, we can confidently add landlord to our list of beaver pons.
Along with architecture and engineering, I also have a few anecdotes to contribute to the discussion of beaver intelligence. While I've never seen beavers use anything that looked like a constructed ladder to get higher up a trunk, I have observed our local beavers mounting boulder stumps and the snowpack to reach aspen trunks of their favored diameter about four inches.
I am quite skeptical that a beaver would use a log it fell to reach a higher point on another trunk, particularly because the beaver's webbed feet make it ungainly on land, let alone climbing a log so narrow as those they prefer to fell. But I can highlight another beaver behavior that borders on the nebulus realm of tool use. In addition to the trees they fell themselves, beavers opportunistically feed from and build with trunks and branches fell by windstorms.
I and many rangers I have worked with, have observed that beavers often abandoned trees they have been gnawing when the trees are nearly felled, only to return later after a storm has knocked them down. Of course, it is impossible to ascribe real intention to the beavers, but it is possible the beavers have developed the behavior of letting the wind finish the last dangerous step of felling the
trees to save some effort and avoid being crushed. I've had difficulty finding any writing about this, and if it is the case that beavers sometimes outsource their work to storms, it would be difficult to distinguish from their usual nocturnal labors. Nevertheless, the more time one spends around these weird and noble rodents, the easier it is to imagine a thoughtful intellect behind those big orange incisors. All the best, Taylor, Oh wow,
great email. Thank you for sending Taylor. That is an interesting observation, and multiple things we were reading really highlighted how much beavers seem to want to get off of land when they're on it, like they don't want to spend any more time out of water than they have to. So I don't know, I could imagine, yeah, maybe an adaptation where if they think they can save some time and energy by not finishing off the tree themselves and
coming back to it later, I could see that being possible. Yeah, yeah, so I absolutely agree wonderful insight and observation added, Thanks Taylor.
All right now. We also got a bunch of messages in response to Weird House Cinema. Several answers came in after a listener named Michelle gave us a query last week. Michelle was trying to find the name of a movie she remembered about a woman who breaks up with her human boyfriend in favor of a robot suitor who was more sensitive and caring. We got several different answers to this. One came from Sheldan. Sheldine says, Hi, guys, might the
movie that Michelle is recalling be making? Mister Wright, I vaguely remember watching it in the eighties and I thought it starred Ali Sheety, but I am wrong. It stars John Malkovich as a scientist who makes a robot version of himself, and the female lead is played by Anne Magnuson, who falls in love with the robot. Thanks Sheldane, and also wanted to note there was another listener named David who suggested the same movie that this is the movie Michelle might be thinking of.
Hmmm, I have never seen it, but it looks it looks interesting. Robot John Malkovich as a lever.
Okay, One thing I recall Michelle saying, well, I recall her saying that the movie was in black and white and was probably from the fifties that would not match here, and also saying that the human boyfriend was was too macho, which is not how I would usually imagine John Malkovich.
True. True, you know, unless this is a you know, an altered memory, this would seem to be going against type for John Malcovich. Though, I have to say, looking at the the images from this movie, I mean, it is a different on Malcovich that I'm used to seeing. Anyway. He has like a full head of like blonde hair in it, and it is clearly playing some sort of an altered, unnatural human. So I don't know. I'm intrigued.
Who would leave John Malkovich's character from Burn after reading for a Robot? How could you imagine that?
Yeah, I don't know. Nineteen eighty seven's John Malkovich is a slightly different flavor.
Okay, But we also got a different suggestion of a movie from Chris. Chris says Joe and Robert Listener. Michelle wrote to you about a science fiction film from the nineteen fifties, in which a woman rejected her human boyfriend in favor of a robot. Although she said it was in black and white, that plot element struck a chord in my aged brain about a film that I recollected
as being in color. A bit of appropriate Internet searching resulted in Creation of the Humanoids from nineteen sixty two, which I've not seen in more decades than I care to think about. Let's just say that I paid the huge sum of fifty cents from my mowing earnings to watch it at a local theater. This might be the film she's remembering, even if not, might be worth an investigation for Weird House Cinema.
Chris, Yeah, nineteen sixty two is the Creation of the Humanoids. I haven't seen it, but I knew I had seen the title somewhere, and I quickly realized this is because this features a cast that includes Dudley man Love of Plan nine from Outer Space fame.
It is Dudley Man Love Arrows, the alien bad guy.
I think he's the one. Your stupid mind, stupid, stupid, that.
One that's enough out of you.
The Creation of the Humanoids looks interesting, though it is apparently in color and not black and white, So I don't know that. Perhaps the mystery remains. But I looked into this in a little bit. I think a lot of people did not like it. I think Michael Weldon said it was fun, sounds perfect, Okay.
All right.
We also heard from someone's sort of giving my own take on this whole idea about how sometimes we have partial bits of movies stuck in our head from when we caught part of them on television. Lawrence writes in and says, Hi, Rob, Joe, and JJ Happy Monday. During your last listener mail, Rob mentioned a movie about two kids looking for their parents. If it was animated. I'm pretty sure he's thinking of Grave of the Fireflies. It won't be a letdown in terms of quality, but it
is an incredibly sad and harrowing film. Yeah, it's not a Grave of the Fireflies, which I haven't seen, but the thing I'm half remembering is not animated. Grave of the Fireflies is one that I've It's been on my to watch list for a long time. But I know, I know it's an important film, but I know it is sad and harrowing, so I keep putting it off.
This is, of course, a nineteen eighty eight Japanese film that came out from Studio Ghibli if memory serves, and it yeah, deals with like the tragedies of war anyway, Lawrence continues, I watched seconds based on your spoiler warnings for the movie, and I'm glad I did. I liked your conversation about Eastern religious interpretations of the film. If I can suggest a good double feature, nineteen seventy four's
The Parallax View with Warren Batty seems fitting. It has a similarly distinct visual style, also gained a mixed reception upon release due to its ending and his age into a better reception. I'd be really curious to hear your thoughts on it. Thanks for all you do, Lawrence.
I haven't seen it. It is on my radar.
Same Yeah, I haven't seen this one, but you know it's a quick glance. You got Stacy Keach Sr. And anthony' zerba in it, so I mean I'm already a little interested as well.
Did ever tell you I've met Anthony zerbe?
Really? Yeah?
Yeah?
How did this come around?
I truly have no idea what he was doing. Some kind of event or something in the town where I went to college when I was in college, and so he gave some kind of talk and I went to it, and I don't know, there was just a general chatting around afterwards. So I don't know I met him in some capacity. I don't really remember anything about it.
Hmm. Interesting. I don't know that we've actually watched a film on Weird House with him in it. But he's such an interesting and commanding presence when he does show up.
What are his mystery science theater movies? I know there was there was sometimes kind of an Anthony's Erbe watch on the show.
Oh Man. You know, I'm not not sure off him. They would often make references to him.
Uh maybe maybe he wasn't actually in a movie they did. They would just say, like, you know, if it's a seventies movie, they're like, Okay, where's Anthony's Abbe?
Yeah, yeah, you know, he was. Of course, when I think of him, of course I think of the Omega man and the vampire character who plays in that where he's talking about, you know, creature of the wheel and so forth. Or I think about him exploding in that one James Bond film. But yeah, you had a number of interesting credits.
Okay, This next message is from Shana, who has gotten in touch many times before. Shana says Howdy howdy and kicks things off by sharing some info about movie theaters that I think this year are going to be running classic studio ghibli films. I don't know if that's just local or in locations all over, but thanks for sharing that.
But anyway, SHANEA goes on to say, after catching one of my absolute favorite films of all time, Conan the Barbarian in theater's Last Fall the fortieth anniversary screening, I am convinced that if one loves a film but has never seen it on the big screen, it is worth the money in time to try to do so. I had watched Conan dozens of times in my life, but saw details I'd never noticed on the small screen. And yes, please do nausicaa as a weird house movie. It is
so beautiful, moving and relevant. Thanks as always for the podcasts, Shana, Shana, thank you, and I will say I can second the idea of seeing a film you already love from home video in a theater. It's a completely different experience. I guess that's probably a cliche I've heard people say that before, but it is true. The main examples I can think of are mostly horror movies, but I'm real standout experiences are seeing The Exorcist in theaters, seeing Alien and The
Shining in theaters. All three were like seeing a whole different movie. And I don't know, in a way, I feel kind of kind of guilty about this because I don't go out and see movies in theaters as often as I would like to a lot of times. You know, it's just the same problems most people have. It's difficult to find time to plan ahead, leave the house, etc. Lives are busy, and it is easier to make room for streaming half of a movie on your TV before you go to bed than it is to go out
to a scheduled theater showing. But it's especially when I see a movie on the big screen that I have already seen before on the small screen that I really understand like the difference. I realize how different the experience is, and that for the most part, this is how movies are made to be seen. The home viewing experience is kind of a fac simile. But then again, I mean, I understand why people are often not going out to theaters.
I live it too. Life is busy, you just it's it's tough to make time to go out and see a schedule showing.
I think when it's when I go to an AMC theater showing these days, there's a there's a long intro in which I think Nicole Kidman is giving a like a long pitch for why the theater experience is the best and how it's like it basically completes us as human beings. It's just the other half of our soul. And and I'm always like, Okay, I'm already here, Nicole Kidman,
I don't need the whole pitch. So I don't want to sound too much like that, but but it is true, Like you know, there's something about seeing it on the big screen. I think it's a there's something about the way, hopefully it's captivating our attention in different ways, in ways that being on our couch wouldn't. Maybe we're a little more inclined to put our phone away, maybe we're a little more inclined to just absorb it as spectacle on the screen. There. I had an experience with this, actually
very recently. It was a big screen, but it was like it wasn't one of the studio ghibli showings that were alluded to earlier. This is like a kid's birthday party. But still they played Totoro on the big screen and it was magical. It was a movie I've seen a million times, and I really was expecting to be kind
of checked out on it. But I really got to appreciate a lot of the details, you know, as if for the first time you know the ways that the children move in that movie, and just the raw and beautiful imagination of the whole thing.
Oh yeah, I can imagine. And I want to say one more thing about the difference with the theater experience, which is we often refer to the difference by metonymy I guess as saying like the big screen, as if it's like the size of the screen that is the major difference. That's one difference, But I think it's really the whole environment. It's like the big, darkened room, and especially the sound. The sound experience is totally different in
the theater for multiple reasons. I mean, they have good you know, a good theater as a good sound system where it sounds good, but also you can listen to the movie at a volume that I at least am not comfortable watching a movie at home because it just feels too loud for my house.
Yeah, and another issue is this is something that I often forget about because when I go to a theater, my sort of selfish experience is that I just don't want to hear other people. I want to have it both ways. I want to have the big theater, a big screen experience, but I don't want to feel like I'm actually in there with any other human beings, you know.
But I was recently reading about some Bollywood films because I'm hoping that we can cover a Bollywood film in the near future on Weird House Cinema, and one of the commentators was saying, like, look, if you're trying to watch this film on your own on like your TV, you're going to have a different experience than what was intended.
Like this is a movie that was supposed to be consumed in a theater packed with other people, and like you're missing out on that whole communal aspect of the viewing. So you know, to whatever extent each of us individually agrees with that for our own viewing preferences, it's something to keep in mind when consuming various pictures.
Oh yeah, I mean for some types of entertainment, the rest of the crowd is part of the experience, Like you know, seeing a concert, it's having the crowd with you there, and the audience is part of what makes it fun. I would say for movies, it depends on the kind of movie. I mean, you know, more serious, quiet or more thoughtful movies. Yeah, I don't want to
be hearing people's popcorn and stuff. But for like say a low brow like a slasher movie or something like that, I would like a pack to and people making noise.
Yeah yeah. Or if you know, you catch an opening night doing of something and everyone who's there is really enthusiastic for it. You know, they came out for this picture, and so there's kind of like a built in I would say, good faith viewing going on there. You know that that can be a lot of fun. All right, Well, on that note, we're gonna go ahead and seal up the horseshoe shaped tube in Carneye the mail Bots Torso,
and we're gonna close this episode out. But we'd love to hear from everyone out there if you have thoughts on any of the topics we discussed in this listener Mail episode or you know, feedback, ideas, experiences, et cetera, concerning any past episodes of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, the Artifact, Monster Fact, Weird House Cinema. It's all fair game. Just a reminder that those episodes of Listener Mail they air on Mondays, Core episodes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Artifactor
Monster Fact on Wednesday, and on Fridays. We set aside most serious concerns just took up at a weird film on Weird House Cinema.
Huge thanks to our excellent audio producer JJ Posway. If you would like to get in touch with us with feedback on this episode or any other, to suggest a topic for the future, or just to say hello, you can email us at contact at stuff to Blow your Mind dot com.
Stuff to Blow Your Mind is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from My Heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.