Month: December 2020

VIEWS ON…EPISODE 2: COBRA-KAI

Episode 2: Cobra-Kai

This time out my interests turn to television, specifically binging television on Netflix.  I, like many kids raised during the eighties, have an affection for the Karate Kid series of films.  I like them all, to one degree or another.  I even like The Next Karate Kid, which had some problems, but was an enjoyable entry into the series.  So, when YouTube decided to start running original programming and one of those shows was a continuation of the Karate Kid universe called Cobra Kai I wasted in no time watching the first two episodes of the first season and…not signing up for the service to watch the rest.

I’m kind of lazy when it comes to watching television series.

Anyway, even after watching the free preview of the first episode of the second season, I still didn’t watch the show.  It took the series coming to Netflix, which I have a subscription to, and a vacation during a pandemic for me to binge the entire series.

And.  I.  Loved it.

My good friend The Irredeemable Shag (he of The Fire and Water Podcasting Network and the Justice League International: Bwah-Ha-Ha Podcast) also binged the show and we sat down for nearly two hours to talk about the series.  What did we like?  What characters gave us the feels the most?  How does Shag as a parent feel about how the kids are portrayed on the show?  Is Stingray annoying or awesome?  Listen and kind out the answers to all of these question.

Views On… is available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.  You can email the show by clicking this link with all questions, concerns, fears, and trepidations.  Also, if you could leave a review over on Apple Podcasts, that would be keen.

Next Time: No clue.  The next episode has not been recorded yet, but this is an irregular show, so it will return at some point.

VIEWS FROM THE LONGBOX EPISODE 272 – TALES FROM THE LETTERS PAGE

Episode 272 – Tales From The Letters Pages

At the risk of sounding like and old man and talking about when I wore an onion on my belt (which was the style of the time) there was a time when the letters pages of a comic was a big deal.  They’re still around today, but the mystique of them has been replaced with the various ways talking about comics is done on the Internet.  In their day, the letters pages were a window into what the audience was thinking about the books they were reading and if you could get a letter printed it was a big deal.

From 1999 to 2002(ish) I wrote (or e-mailed, I guess) into a bunch of comics and some of those missives actually got printed.  In fact, one of those letters was printed in an issue of Martian Manhunter, where another letter by a fellow podcaster was also printed.  And that’s why Paul Hix (co-host of Waiting For Doom, DCOCD, and The Gary Show) and I are teaming up.   Not only do we talk about why the letters pages mattered but we read a handful of the ones that we got printed with some fun digressions along the way.

Below is the cover and the letters page from the book where Paul and I first “worked” together.

 

Views is available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.  You can also like the official Views From The Longbox Page over on Facebook.  You can email the show by clicking this link with all questions, concerns, fears, and trepidations.  Also, if you could leave a review over on Apple Podcasts, that would be keen.

Next Time: No idea, but it will be about comics.  Yeah.  I’ll stick with that.

VIEWS FROM THE LONGBOX EPISODE 271 – 100 BULLETS: FIRST SHOT, LAST CALL

Episode 271 – 100 Bullets: First Shot, Last Call

Views is back and I have a case of Vertigo.

(In all seriousness, I have suffered from vertigo from time to time over the past fifteen years.  It’s not fun.  That has nothing to do with this episode, but I felt like sharing.)

Anyway, this time out I am joined by Professor Alan to talk about the first trade paperback collection of the Vertigo series 100 Bullets.  Well, that’s only half the episode.  During the first part, we discuss the idea of The Lifetime Pass.  Does something a creator does that you love give that creator a lifetime pass when it comes to other projects that aren’t as good or are problematic.  Examples discussed are Brian Azzarello and J. Michael Straczynski.  It’s a fun conversation that is full of nuance and the occasional cheap joke.

After that, Alan and I discuss the first two story arcs of 100 Bullets.  They are linked by a mysterious man offering a gun and 100 rounds of untraceable bullets to get the revenge the person being offered deserves to exact, but are set in very different worlds and there is a mystery afoot.  Alan is the one that turned me on to this series after talking about it on one of his shows and I’m glad I not only read these issues but that I got to talk to Alan about them.

Here are the covers and select (and potentially NSFW) pages from the comics discussed on this episode.

Alan is the host or co-host of some fantastic shows over on The Relatively Geeky Podcasting Network.  Those shows are The Quarter Bin Podcast, Shortbox Showcase (which he hosts with his progeny Em), and Doomspeak.  On a separate but equally awesome feed, he co-hosts (again, with Em) Dorkness to Light, which is where theology and pop culture meet.  All of these shows are amazing and I cannot recommend them enough.

Views is available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.  You can also like the official Views From The Longbox Page over on Facebook.  You can email the show by clicking this link with all questions, concerns, fears, and trepidations.  Also, if you could leave a review over on Apple Podcasts, that would be keen.

Next Time: Paul Hix stops by to discuss writing letters to comic books and actually getting them published.

VIEWS ON… EPISODE 1: THE FILMS OF 1990

Episode 1: The Films of 1990

Welcome to the first episode of a new(ish), mostly sporadic show here on The Fortress of Baileytude Podcasting Network.  Views On…is going to be a catch all show.  A place where I can come and talk about stuff other than comic book.  It is replacing Fortress of Baileytude Showcase Presents for…reasons.  Books.  Movies.  Television.  Music.  It’s all on the table.

This time out I am teaming up with Tom Panarese for the second part of a two part “crossover” with Views From The Longbox.  On the most recent episode of that show, Tom and I talked about the comics of 1990, since that was 30 years ago.  On this episode we are going to talk about the movies of 1990.  Not all of them.  Just the ones that stood out to me and stood out to Tom.  So we cover Dick Tracy, Robo-Cop 2, Gremlins 2: The New Batch, Die Hard 2: Die Harder, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles before going through a lightning round of other movies.  I also reveal my very controversial opinion of the original Total Recall.

During the course of the episode, I mentioned that if you wanted to hear more about the Dick Tracy film and the comic strips, check out these episodes of The Film and Water Podcast and TreasuryCast, where host Rob Kelly discussed them with the late (and very much missed) Xum Yukinori.

Be sure to check out Tom’s shows over on The Two True Freaks Network.  Pop Culture Affidavit (which he hosts with the occasional guest) and Required Reading With Tom and Stella (which he hosts with Stella).

Currently this show does not have its own feed, so hopefully that will be all sorted out with the next episode.  For the moment it’s on the main Fortress feed.