Welcome to the new website!!
Now for some housekeeping. If you have any RSS feeds associated with us, you may have to update them. Hopefully, iTunes will not be affected in any way. Our Facebook and Twitter, being separate from our website, will not be affected.
We apologize if the transfer has inconvenienced you, and thank you for bearing with us.
Have you ever said to yourself, “Self, I sure do enjoy drinking the same drink that those guys are, but they never tell me what the drink IS until 10 minutes into the show, and then I have to hit pause to make the drink.” Well, now you never have to think that again!
You asked for it, and we delivered! We now have a link at the top of our Homepage to our new “Drink of the Month” page. It has the drink names and recipes in an easy to understand format.
Let us know what you think, and Enjoy!
Hey everyone, the long anticipated collaborative podcast between Matt and Gretta and Mr. and Mrs. Skullhead has arrived on the prestigious internets! Our new show deals with being a nerd at 30ish while being married and having children. Somehow, we have all found ourselves in this predicament and now we’re just trying to figure out what to do next. Find us online at our super high tech website, or check us out on iTunes. We welcome feedback, questions, and advice at thefamilyhotdog@gmail.com, check it out and let us know what you think.
MC Frontalot and the Incomparable Brandon “Mah-Fuckin” Patton will be in MPLS on August 19th at Club Underground! We insist that anyone who can read this that is within traveling distance attend this show. In fact, anyone who attends this show can get a FREE Apropos of Nothing sticker! Just show up and ask for one.
The website has a new tab on top that links to our “Dictionary”. Yes, the air quotes are necessary. Love it. LOVE IT, DAMN YOU!!!
So Chris Hardwick of the Nerdist has mentioned many times how much he loves this faux blaxploitation film. They even dedicated a live podcast at Meltdown comics to Black Dynamite. I figured there was something there worth checking out, and as Black Dynamite is now available streaming on Netflix, I watched it tonight.
The Plot: Black Dynamite is a veteran and former CIA agent who is now a badass. Or perhaps more accurately, he should be described as having no discernable job, and has all the time in the world to do badass shit. In this case, he must avenge the death of his brother, get smack off the streets, solve a mystery, fly to Kung Fu island, and more in an amazing over-the-top plot that is every bit as awesome as it is incomprehensible. Hilarity and a half ensue.
So this movie is one of the best parody/homages I’ve ever seen. The film was shot on 16mm, giving it an authentic, 70′s feel. The acting and action is occasionally purposefully clumsy, which adds to the films charm. (An early scene has a boom mic dip into frame during a speech by Black Dynamite, and eventually his eyes flick up toward it in a masterful acknowledgement of the cheapness of the format.) Pretty much every blaxploitation trope is present, including pimps, hoes, “jive” slang, afros, racism, and kung fu. I feel I need to remain deliberately vague about the movie in order to avoid spoiling some great humor, suffice to say, I highly recommend it.
Check out the trailer here:
It’s inbred-hillbilly-southern-stereotypes-psychopathic-killers-movie-time!
Oddly enough, it’s not The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. (The original, good one you heathens, not the Jessica Biel remake.) This series certainly owes a debt of gratitude to Tobe Hooper, as they are relying heavily on his groundwork for their plot. (At least in the first movie, which is the one which attempts to keep the tone serious and tries it’s damnedest to inspire dread and suspense.) As I have mentioned on the show, I think you could prolly section off a portion of horror films and label them “Inbred Mutant Killer Horror” as a sub-genre. This is not a particularly prolific sub-genre, but has the notable entries of the aforementioned Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and the Wes Craven helmed The Hills Have Eyes. (It should be noted that the remake of The Hills Have Eyes, in contrast to the TCM remake, is phenomenal and I consider it an improvement on the original.) I’ll run down the three movies I watched in quick succession.
Wrong Turn – The Plot: Through a series of unlikely events a bunch of poorly-equipped, overly-attractive twenty-somethings (Of which Eliza Dushku is the only recognizable name or face.) are stranded in the middle of nowhere and must strike out into the wilderness to try to find help. The couple who remain with the broken down vehicles are the first to go, while the expedition soon stumbles on the cabin of the inbred mutant cannibal freaks, take cover upon their return, and are discovered in their attempt to sneak away. The remainder of the movie features the kids attempting to not get eaten by hillbillies. Hilarity ensues.
Wrong Turn 2: Dead End – The Plot: A small crew is filming a reality show, Apocalypse: Ultimate Survivalist, in a remote backwoods location. On hand are the appropriate number of poorly-equipped, overly-attractive twenty-somethings and Henry Rollins. Rollins plays the on-camera host of the show, as his status as a retired military commander is meant to lend weight to the series. As the kids tramp around the forest, they begin to realize that the reality show is anything but realistic, and they seem to be disappearing. The remainder of the movie features the kids attempting to not get eaten by hillbillies. Hilarity and Henry Rollins kicking ass ensue.
Wrong Turn 3: Left for Dead – The Plot: The obligatory poorly-equipped, overly-attractive twenty-somethings are on a rafting trip. All but one of them die. Then, a prison is shown, prepping inmates for transfer from one facility to another. The bus is attacked by a familiar hillbilly-driven truck and runs off the road. Through a series of unlikely events, the surviving guards, inmates, and twenty-something find each other, stumble upon an armored car full of money and proceed to try to not get eaten by hillbillies. Hilarity most definitely does not ensue.
So, to give you the gist of each movie, as they all summarize similarly, the first one is the straight up, survive the horror, slasher movie. It takes itself seriously, and attempts to be genuinely scary. To it’s credit, there are a few taut moments, though the characters never really became likeable enough for me to give a shit about them.
The second movie is for all you Sam Raimi fans out there. It seems to be self aware without being self referential. It was definitely the most fun movie for me to watch. It seemed to take as a given that the movie couldn’t successfully pull off the same basic plot of the first with new victims, and the reality shoe angle, shile hardly novel, was entertaining. There are some fun kills in this one as well. Lastly, as a big Henry Rollins fan, I cheered when he showed up, as I hadn’t known he was in the movie beforehand.
The third movie was obviously an attempt to wring a little more money out of a franchise based on the name alone. The story is convoluted and ridiculous, even for a horror movie. No one can act worth a shit, and the kills are not even interesting. Pass.
All this to say, I’d still recommend the first two as a good time. Though you could just watch the second if you wanna just watch the best one, they don’t require knowledge of the others to watch them.
As a head’s up, allegedly, the guy who did the dreadful third installment has been tapped to do a fourth movie. There is no god.
Check out the trailers here:
And here:
And, unfortunately, here:
Amazingly enough this movie was not a porno. Jick (creator of Kingdom of Loathing – see episode 4) has spoken about this show many times over on the KoL podcast, and I’ve been meaning to give it a watch for a couple years now. The other day I saw it on Netflix streaming, and gave it a shot.
The Plot: It’s the final day at Camp Firewood for the summer of 1981. That means this is the last chance for all the counselors and campers to find someone to kiss or hook up with at the big talent show that night. Coop, the nice guy counselor has spent his summer pining for Katie, unfortunately for him, Katie is seeing douchebag/serial cheater Andy. Beth, the camp director, works on hooking up with camp neighbor Henry. This turns out to be a good idea, as Henry is an astrophysicist, and a piece of SkyLab is on a collision course for the camp. Hilarity mostly ensues.
I realize that’s a pretty bare bones plot summary, but this movie has only a couple threads that run throughout, and relies mostly on playing with tropes or individual set pieces. I feel that to make people realize how good this movie can be is most easily done by listing the cast:
Janeane Garofalo
David Hyde Pierce
Michael Showalter
Marguerite Moreau
Michael Ian Black
Christopher Meloni
Zak Orth
A.D. Miles
Paul Rudd
Christopher Meloni
Molly Shannon
Elizabeth Banks
Ken Marino
Amy Poehler
Bradley Cooper
That’s a pretty heavy list. In case you weren’t looking that closely, that is Christopher Meloni aka Detective Stabler from Law & Order SVU, playing Gene, the crazy refrigerator-humping camp cook. Damn I love it when that dude shows up in movies. This isn’t a movie where I laughed my ass off constantly. It depends at least as much on putting weird characters together in a room and seeing what happens as it does on its plot. Fortunately, the weirdos at this camp are pretty engaging. Paul Rudd turns in a wonderful performance as Andy, the douchey boyfriend. (A scene in the cafeteria where his is forced to pick up his lunch from the floor and does so in the manner of a 8 year old is priceless.) Showalter gives us a steady lead, and David Hyde Pierce does a great job with a small, but funny role.
It’s not the funniest movie ever, but I enjoyed myself. You prolly will too.
Check out the trailer:
I fucking love zombie movies. I love zombies in general. In fact, as I have mentioned on the show, my son’s middle name is changing to “Zombie Hunter” when his adoption is final. The zombies – I love them.
All that to say, it’s perhaps even more of a drag for me when a zombie movie is disappointing. Even more so when it’s made by George Romero, a man for whom I have a great deal of respect and a pioneer in the genre.
The Plot- A bunch of college kids are filming a shoddy horror movie in the woods when they hear various news reports alleging that the dead may be coming back to life and killing people. They find some raw footage that a TV news cameraman uploaded to the internet that suggests this is indeed the case. Two students, Ridley and Francine, dip immediately to retreat to Ridley’s parent’s estate. Jason, the director of the film, decides to film continuously in the hopes of producing a documentary about the situation. Jason and crew head back to their school to find the Jason’s girlfriend Debra, and eventually they end up in a Winnebago heading to Debra’s parent’s house. They stop at a hospital and a refuge of black National Guard deserters along the way, with a couple of kills at each stop. Eventually, the group reunites at Ridley’s parent’s mansion. Hilarity does not ensue.
I really don’t have much to say about this movie. There is an unfortunate, though unsurprising, lack of practical special effects. This is obviously a low budget movie, so apparently, it’s now cheaper to do so-so CGI over good practical effects. I love me some practical effects and generally loathe CGI, but that’s the way it is. So now I’m an old man tenaciously gripping my record player in a world of iPods.
As a Romero fan and completionist, I’m still glad I saw this one, but unless you suffer from the same obsession as me, you can feel safe skipping it.
Check out the trailer:
This is too short and complain-y to be a segment on the show, but I gotta vent about this.
As I have mentioned on the show, I work at the Vision World at Calhoun Square in Uptown, Minneapolis. It’s a small mall to be sure, but a mall nonetheless. How is it that when people ask where we are and we reply with, “On the corner of Lake and Hennepin in the Calhoun Square Mall,” no one can find us?
The mall has a sign approximately 20 feet tall at that intersection that clearly says “Calhoun Square.” I have gotten phone calls from people standing on the corner in front of Victoria’s Secret, which is across the street, asking where we are. 20 minutes later when they find their way to our store, the reason they couldn’t find us is usually some version of the following:
“This place is so hard to find! We drove around the block a few times, but nothing on the building says Vision World!”
I think, what they mean to say is, “Despite being given directions to your location, the exact address which is posted on the building, the name of the mall, and the names of the cross-streets upon which it is located, my tiny, reptilian brain is unable to see anything but the one name I have chosen to look for.”
If you think I am being too harsh, let me run some numbers for you:
Mall of America- Number of stores inside: more than 400, Number listed on the outside of the building: 4
Southdale Mall- Number of stores inside: approximately 175, Number listed on the outside of the building: 7
Burnsville Center-Number of stores inside: approximately 150, Number listed on the outside of the building: 9
You see what I’m getting at here. Either there are people out there that are completely unaware Cinnabon exists because it’s never been listed on the outside of a mall, or I’m a huge dick for thinking that you should be able to find an address based on . . . THE ADDRESS!
/rant