This week, Rhea and Destiny get real jolly with talk of their favorite holiday movies, songs, and television specials! We also discuss dark and weird computer games, the new Superman movie trailer, and some Hobbit feelings. We treat you to a couple of songs from the Skull Sketches musical Rhea co-wrote, and Destiny reveals her love of Christmas Carol adaptations. Also: A Christmas Story vs. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.
There's no theme this week, as Rhea is hard at work co-writing and starring in a Christmas musical! She and Destiny spend some time chatting about the junk they've been absorbing lately, such as Mad Ron's Prevues from Hell, heavy metal sexism, and the cinematic "genius" of Neil Breen. There's also audio viewer mail and teen movie talk! Look out for the cold hand of Kurt Cobain's ghost in this one, kids!
Spoiler Alerts for the Following: As far as we remember, nothing was spoiled to ruin this week! Is that a first?
Corrections: The name of the Neil Breen film that was probably screened at the Butt-Numb-a-Thon was Fateful Findings (see video above). Cilla Black did sing a cover of "Love of the Loved." The song they danced to in She's All That was called "Rockafeller Skank." John Woo's first American film was Hard Target. Proof we've never seen Mondo Cane: We can't pronounce it.
Fucking Books Destroy All Movies by Zack Carlson and Bryan Connolly Shock Value by Jason Zinoman(FYI, Rhea hates this book and Destiny's never read it.)
This week, the Badland ladies freak out over the new Star Trek teaser trailer, and talk ZOMBIES! Learn why science and zombies don't mix, why vampires ain't all that, and balk at their ambivalence over the upcoming Hobbit film! They also read a nice fan email and deal with the sound issues involved with recording an episode in an Asian fusion restaurant on a Friday night.
Spoilers for the following:
Haven
Downton Abbey Season 2
28 Days Later
Corrections: The name of the composer for a good chunk of Godzilla films was Akira Ifukube. Here is the track they use in Tokyo! (It's from a Godzilla v Mothra fight). In Freaks and Geeks, "Jesus is Just Alright with Me" is an old gospel song, but the version that show was referencing was by The Doobie Brothers, not Foghat. Dan O'Bannon only wrote Dead and Buried.
After such a long hiatus, the internet herself begs the Badland Ladies to come back! They discuss all the movies watched while away, including Skyfall, Harold and Maude, and Lincoln. Rhea and Destiny also come to blows (almost) over Beyond the Black Rainbow and Black Sabbath (the Mario Bava movie, not the band!) After catching up,it's time to go through every single movie directed by JOHN CARPENTER and give an opinion or two. Tell us how much you missed us: badlandgirls at gmail dot com!
Spoiler alerts for the following:
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Big
Harold and Maude
Cloud Atlas
Dark Star
Beyond the Black Rainbow
Black Sabbath (1963)
All the Daniel Craig Bond movies
Every movie directed by John Carpenter, especially Dark Star
Corrections: Britt Ekland was the Bond girl in Man with the Golden Gun. She is not a ye-ye girl but Rhea swears she did some French pop song (she is probably wrong). The awesome song on Let It Be Naked was called "Don't Let Me Down". When talking about bug sex and Green Porno, Destiny said the title of the movie Microcosmos wrong. Also, Debra Hill and John Carpenter may not have been married. The internet is back and forth of this, but we at least know they dated in the '70s. Night of the Demons came out in 1988.
Hello dedicated listeners. Now, I bet you've been wondering where the hell we've been, especially since Destiny said we would make our grand return on lucky ol' 11/11.
Sadly, Rhea (me) had to get surgery two days prior to 11/11, and so she is still recovering from not having an organ (albeit a crappy one) inside her anymore. That coupled with that fact that people keep giving Destiny the runaround for a research project she's working on means that Badland Girls will be on hiatus for the rest of the month. We shall return to your ears on December 2nd.
To help tide you over, Destiny and I decided to share with you some of our current interests and Things of Note, via blog form instead of podcat form.
Rhea:
I've actually been watching a LOT of old WWF videos on youtube, specifically, Piper's Pit. I don't know much about the classic wrestlers of the 80s, so I'm using Rowdy Roddy Piper as my gateway since he's been in movies I like (They Live, Hell Comes To Frogtown). I'm gonna be totally honest: I thought I was WAY too girly to ever enjoy WWF. The last WWF thing I watched (before these videos) was a documentary in a Women's Studies class about how sexist the WWF was (they were referring in the modern incarnation of it that we see today, so, basically, the WWE). I WAS SO WRONG. I have been endlessly entertained by Piper's Pit.
(Not my favorite by far, but THE MAN took down all the Piper's Pits I liked on youtube. Sad day.)
Moving on to my Thing of Note:
This excellent mixtape of some of John Carpenter's soundtrack work brought to you by the podcast Special Features.
Destiny:
Hi, everyone! Here are trailers for the last two movies I watched:
Circumstance: I didn't like this movie because it felt like an after school special, but the acting was great, and I loved seeing a side of Tehran that you don't often see portrayed via Western avenues.
Chungking Express: This movie was a cute pair of romantic stories. I think every nation should give Faye Wong a holiday or put her on a stamp or something.
Other than watching an ungodly amount of movies and listening to podcasts, I've been doing school and the occasional stand-up show. In fact, I have one this Saturday with those darling men of OK Party Comedy on the 24th of November. It's at Studio Gallery!
Destiny here!
Due to factors beyond our control, Rhea and I are going to put the podcast on hiatus until November 11th. Until we return, we ask that you support your local comedy scene, watch as many scary movies as you can, and make sure you're drinking enough water.
Here's a gif of Chris Evans doing a thing. Because why not?
The Badland Girls, being ABSOLUTE PROFESSIONALS, regret to inform you that there is no new episode this week. We have a live performance at the PS Collective tonight, so if you have a problem with this, you know where to find us. We'll return next week with a JOHN CARPENTER-themed episode and other wonderful things!
In the meantime, enjoy these words of wisdom from The Fabulous Stains:
This week, the ladies keep up the spooky goodness and chat about Stephen King! Rhea and Destiny also discuss the steamier side of caramel apples, the steamier side of dinosaurs, and the not-so-steamy appeal of Jean Rollin movies. Rhea finally wrote a theme for Comic Book Corner! Destiny can't pronounce "vampirology"! RED RUM IN THE MIDWEST, YOU GUYS!
This week, we're getting real spooky as we kick off horror month! Rhea talks robot bees, takes back last week's Terminator feelings, and discusses the fine manga of CLAMP. Destiny watches a horror film every day, questions the death of cinema, and is attacked by animals in her sleep. We also discuss pop culture-related fears from childhood, including mirrors, Are You Afraid of the Dark?, and a particular spooky vhs tape.
Spoiler Alert for the Following:
Terminator 2
Jaws
Candyman
Evil Dead 2
Eraserhead
The Innkeepers
Corrections: The Hills Have Eyes (1977) was not the follow-up to Last House on the Left. The Nolan Strong tribute album is called Daddy Rockin' Strong. Robert Shaw played Quint in Jaws. The Masters of Horror episode featuring sound is called "Sounds Like" and was directed by Brad Anderson.
This week, Rhea and Destiny welcome Becky from All Young Girls Are Machine Guns! Becky plays songs from the new album, Here's Hoping Tomorrow Never Comes, and talks to us about the things near and dear to her heart, including old Adult Swim shows, comics, and Otis Redding. Before that, we keep bringing up time travel and the fiction it inspires, including the new Rian Johnson film, Looper. Rhea gives us her final feelings on that dino-erotica novel, Destiny rambles about Fire Walk with Me, and we list the sweetest boys in the Badlands. We recorded the first part of the episode outdoors, so there are many Comedy Bang Bang-influenced "car breaks."
Spoiler Alerts for the Following:
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
Twin Peaks
Terminator 2
Corrections: Lily Tomlin's character in The West Wing was named Deborah Fiderer. Capt. Murphy was the Sealab 2021 character who was trapped under the Jazz Cola machine. The MST3k episode Rhea discusses is called The Deadly Mantis. Allen Heinberg wrote Young Avengers. The Breeder's song Destiny was talking about is called "Shaker in Gloomtown" (see video below).
This week, the Badland Girls keep things short, as they are prepping for a live show that, by the time you are reading this, has already happened! Rhea talks rare blood, Destiny brings some country sass, and both ladies learn the truth about dinosaurs.
This week, we conclude the Ultimate Parker Project with Crank 2! Rhea talks comics, Destiny responds to an old AV Club article, and we have a lot of feelings about that Scarlett Johansson album full of Tom Waits covers. We also discuss the weird world of ASMR, goosebump music, and shitty media from our childhood.
Spoiler Alerts for the Following:
Crank 2 Corrections: Guided by Voices has released 18 albums.Destiny said Midnight Train to Terror when she meant Night Train to Terror. The Ride song in Doom Generation is called "Leave Them All Behind." Destiny got the name of the ASMR youtuber wrong, it's not Soundscapes; it's Sound Sculptures. The Boxcar Children were originally published in 1924, reissued in the '40s, and the first 19 were written by Gertrude Chandler Warner. We Googled around and found at least 1 ASMR-related podcast: ASMR Radio. The Baby's Day Out sequel never happened.
Rhea and Destiny continue the Ultimate Parker Project with the Jason Statham adrenaline-fest, Crank! Find out if Statham wins them over! There's also talk about tabletop gaming, a revisiting of some things about Invasion USA, and discuss minorities in action movies.
Spoiler Alerts for the Following:
Crank
El Topo
The 300
Corrections:The correct title is Celeste & Jesse Forever, not the other way around. The actress we were referring to when talking about Total Recall was Rachel Ticotin.
This week, Rhea and Destiny kick off the Ultimate Parker Project (see episode 28) and watch the 1985 Chuck Norris explosion-fest, Invasion USA! The film tells the story of Matt Hunter, a one-man army who takes on a motley crew of Communists led by the evil Rostov after they invade our beloved Florida. The Badland ladies also read a fan email, talk about LGBTQ romance in films, plea for the retirement of a certain joke, and feel incredulous.
I'm sending you this email because while I often listen, normally I just complain to you both on twitter about your shows and this time my problem is a little more complicated and formal. Also, a certain someone suggested that I write in about it instead of just talking her ear off, because it'd give you all something to cover. So here I am, and here's my disclaimer: this isn't meant to be critical or accusatory, since it was just stuff I was thinking about while I was listening to the episode from Aug 26.
In that episode, Rhea was talking about "The Little Mermaid" and about how it was originally about HCA's would-be gay lover and Rhea said "I wish it had been about that, because that'd be much more interesting" or words to that effect. And this after the question was asked about a gay couple in Teen Wolf just minutes before. It got me wondering: at what point does the inclusion of gay characters automatically make something a curiosity, and is that a good thing?
I think it's great to have LGBTQ people and relationships represented in the media, don't get me wrong. It's not done enough, and it's often done so poorly, that when it is done well it deserves mention and championing. But I also see a lot of fandom feelings and general opinion among my peer group that turns the mere fact of homosexuality into a sort of interest point, the reason to visit something all on its own. It's rare, yes, but that behavior turns it into something exotic, a thing to stand around and rubberneck about because of its scarcity in a heteronormative entertainment culture. And while that's very human, I feel like that rush creates a sort of fascination, sometimes bordering on fetishization, that's very othering to these LGBTQ relationships. I don't see how two people of the same gender being in a relationship is inherently more interesting than people of different genders, outside of the fact that culturally we see them less often. While that's a problem, I feel like assigning an interest imperative beyond that helps contribute to this sense of distance that perpetuates the cycle that banishes those relationships to 'special interest'. People being human and having human emotions should never be a special interest.
I'm not alone in this. British director Andrew Haigh, whose 2011 gay romance Weekend was one of the better movies about relationships to come out in recent memory, has been outspoken about these things. He likens gay cinema, and gay media, to a sort of perpetuating creative dead end, where people make entertainment on the cheap and often poorly to make a buck off of audiences starved to see themselves on screen. It perpetuates this idea that LGBTQ stories aren't for 'normal' people, because they're not given the same sort of consideration and budget as straight movies, or they're treated with this fascination by people who are into them that puts people who might be looking in from the outside off about their seeming exclusionary exotic-ness, dimly understood by people who aren't confronted with it regularly. He implied, though perhaps didn't explicitly state, that he wanted to make a movie that would be about people first and about gayness second, that it should be interesting divested of the gender identities involved, and that the gay 'issue' was just a part of the background. Not the fulcrum, not a point of fascination to stand around and revel in, but just a fact of normal life. I can link a critique that covers these ideas here, written far better than I could: http://www.criterion.com/current/posts/2426-weekend-the-space-between-two-people
Anyway, that's about all I have to say. It's lengthy and less an opinion as it is something I was thinking about, but I figure that maybe you both have thoughts, and it'd be worth talking about as part of your 'here's some internet/culture things worth considering' piece. Keep kicking ass.
This week, we Skype-it-up all the way to Georgia to speak to teacher, writer, PhD student, and transmedia editor Alexandra Kingsley! We get cerebral about fandom/fandom platforms, boy band aesthetics, and the easily-forgotten history of internet fan culture. We also break down what's wrong with dissecting One Direction fan behavior on Tumblr, freak out about mens touching one another, and convince you to play the very dangerous Badland Girls drinking game.
Spoiler Alerts for the Following:
Iron Man (both movies)
MTV's Teen Wolf
Corrections: The Gael Garcia Bernal/Diego Luna soccer movie where they're brothers is called Rudo y Cursi. What was tumblr for? The correct title of the Jon Stewart book of humorous essays was called Naked Pictures of Famous People.
This week, Rhea and Destiny speak to Lisa Fary of Pink Raygun! Wetalk about the start of Pink Raygun, make some Superman apologies (sort of), and nerd out over Bobak Ferdowsi. We also talk about Lisa's personal history with watching all things Star Trek, our childhood nerd trajectories, and we read some superhero-tastic fan mail.
Spoiler alerts for the following:
True Blood (current season)
Battlestar Galactica(reimagined series)
Corrections:It wasn't the 37th Heaven on Adventure Time, it was called the 37th Dead World. The unmade Superman movie starring Nic Cage was to be made circa '96-98. It cuts out a little when we're talking about what a dreamboat Peter Dinklage is. I want you all to know that we all were "mmm-hmming" in approval.
And here's the complete email we received from Mel. Thanks for writing in!
Hi there Badland Girls,
I'm sorry that I can't recall which episode you mentioned this in (I'm leaning towards 20 or 21), but you spoke of the upcoming Superman movie and the darker tone that it will be taking, and the phrase 'Superman is not meant to be dark' may have been dropped. A comparison to Batman surely happened, and the two were treated as opposites - Batman is dark and gritty and angsty, and Superman is... not that. Whenever I see and hear comments like this, I have to wonder about the last Superman trade the person read. Because Superman has not been happiness and light for a long, long time.
This actually legitimately upsets me - I got into comics in a big way around the mid-two-thousands, and I gorged myself on runs from the nineties (ESPECIALLY those involving sidekicks - if you know who Impulse is, let's be friends?). However, just as I got ready to spend my money on current comics, DC felt the need to have another reboot, and basically spent the next six months making me cry. I don't know why, but DC decided to make everything gritty. Even Superman. (Especially Wonder Woman. They even decided to get grit all over the Justice League International. I don't know if you know your Justice Leagues, but COME ON. JLA can be as gritty as you want, but JLI is where they stuck the screwballs and the smart-mouths. Or it was, before the darkness came. Don't even get me started on Justice League Antarctica getting retconned out of existence.) Wow, that was a tangent.
But even before the latest crisis, Superman was not a squeaky clean character. I think the Lex Luthor: Man of Steel run was the turning point for me. If you haven't read it, you should. You only need to know the basics of who Superman is, and that there's this guy called Lex who doesn't like him. The art is stunning, and the conviction laid out on the page does a great job of casting what we know and love about Superman in a new light. Superman for Tomorrow actually focuses on the Superman's POV, and still manages to make him morally questionable and a little unhinged. Somewhere along the way, Superman has stopped being the nice guy who rescues kittens from trees and has revealed himself to be an essentially indestructible alien who plays by humanity's rules only as long as they suit him. Which, let's be honest, is a great element of his character to be explored! But it sure does get gritty in there. The dominant discourse of a character in the comics changes (whether I want it to or not), and I guess I find it frustrating that people seem unwilling to see similar ideas in their movies. Would you really go and see essentially the exact same superhero movie released in the cinema every six years? Wouldn't you want to see something a little more?
Sorry, Bandland Girls. I've had a feelings explosion all over this e-mail.
I guess the core argument of 'movies are a reflection of the comics' can be applied to your critique of the Toby Maguire Spiderman movies - the claim was made that Spiderman is a young character, and that aging him up so fast was a mistake. While I love my teenaged superheroes, the first Spiderman comic I ever read had Peter Parker in his twenties, fighting vampires with Blade while Mary Jane was a successful model who had taken up smoking again and was questioning her engagement to Peter because he was too busy fighting vampires to go on vacation with her. Which certainly sounds a little soap opera, but Peter Parker has a long run in the comic books of being post-pubescent. With all of the tv shows and comics and alternate universe comics and Marvel teen comics and that whole first movie in which Peter was a teen, I'm was actually glad to see Peter as an adult on screen. Peter had some really interesting story arcs as an adult before he sold his soul or got reborn or whatever exactly happened there. I think someone died. Anyway. The trilogy is not a set of perfect films by any means, but the specific criticism about seeing Peter graduate high school just gets my nerd rage hackles up. Critique the movies for doing really boring and stupid things with Peter for an adult, but critiquing the raw adulthood itself seems kind of redundant to me.
Is that a big enough nerdfight for you? Because I also have a lot of opinions about Robins...
This week on the "broad-cat," the Badland Girls talk to Ultimate Parker Bowman and Jason Frisbabe Frisbie from Pool Party Radio! We have a darn skippy fun time talking about action movies, their tropes, and movies that bend the genre. There's actually a lot of confusion as to what actually constitutes an action movie, so we talk about that, too. We also read another amazing fan letter and dream up a high school TV show about the 4 of us. It's real California Gold, you guys, except only one of us is actually in California. Note: this is our first Skype interview, so beware yon glitchy Skype noise!
This week, Rhea and Destiny meet up at Blue Line Coffee to talk to Des Moines comic Dan Umthun (and silent "corporate sponsor" Martin) about cool things going on in the Iowa comedy scene and comic books! We recorded the first part of the episode in a parking lot downtown, where we battle the vicious streets to ramble about Arrested Development's influence on current sitcoms, the beauty of breaking the fourth wall, and get a bit real.
*We apologize for the smooth jazz, squeaky chairs, and overlapping conversations during our interview.
Spoiler Alerts for the following:
Beyond the Black Rainbow
Earth 2 Green Lantern
Corrections: Lecy Goranson left Roseanne at the start of season 5. We cannot remember the name of the rad queer lady rappers we blanked out over early in the episode. For some reason Destiny keeps saying "yellow ribbons" when she means pink. The man who wrote The Celluloid Closet was named Vito Russo. Ian's response to the Sexy Pizza tweet was: "Nope, just bomb ass 'za."
This week, the Badland ladies recap Omaha Comedy Week, spoil the heck out of The Dark Knight Rises, and have a brief talk about women in hip-hop. We almost have a Kreayshawn fight, and discuss the importance of DIY comedy scenes, as well as the importance of a woman-driven superhero movie.
Spoiler Alerts for the Following:
The Dark Knight Rises
Inception
Corrections:Matthew Barney is Bjork's partner, and the artist behind Drawing Restraint 9 (2005). Dancer in the Dark came out in 2000. When Destiny is talking about Frank Miller, she said Dark Knight when she meant Dark Knight Returns. The Robin in those books was named Carrie Kelley and she didn't become Batgirl. Lady Sovereign came out as a lesbian in 2010.
This week, on the eve of Omaha Comedy Week, the Badland ladies keep things brief, but go on at length about Dark Knight Rises, cool stuff on Tumblr, problematic movies from the 70's, and tell another nice Robert Downey Jr. story. Destiny gives her Sleepaway Camp feelings, Rhea doesn't want to live in the Big Bird Cage, and a Marvel VS DC fight is narrowly avoided.
Spoiler Alerts:
The Big Bird Cage
Sleepaway Camp
To Rome With Love
Corrections:The graphic novel Rhea was talking about is called Fatale, by Ed Brubaker. The lead actress in The Big Bird Cage is Anitra Ford. Liza Minnelli is not of of the competitive EGOT winners, because one of her awards was an honorary award. Barbra Streisand's honorary award was a Tony.
Prepping for Omaha Comedy Week has taken over, so welcome to Badland Bites No. 4! This one is in honor of one of the greatest days in the world, Friday the 13th, as well as one of the greatest trailers in the world.
This episode is a bit shorter than usual because we're working hard on our sketch for Omaha Comedy Week. We talk about Moonrise Kingdom, Andrew Garfield's hair, weird internet games, and a couple of film projects we want to undertake! There's a fun, electric version of our theme song, and fun bracelet noises!
Slight spoiler alert for the following:
The Amazing Spider-Man
Moonrise Kingdom
Interiors
This week, the Badland witches talk to Andrew McGreevy, artistic director of the PS Collective! Andrew gives us some bad movie recommendations, reveals the truth about Tommy Wiseau, and gives out some Tolkien reading tips. We also have a debate about Cabin in the Woods and talk Batman and Spider-Man movies again.
Spoiler Alerts for the following:
Stab
Rock of Ages
King Kong (1976 and 2005)
Fantastic Four
Let the Right One In (book/film)
Knight Fall (comic)
Brick: The Musical
Corrections: King Kong starring Jessica Lange and Jeff Bridges came out in 1976. Jesse Eisenberg was on the show Get Real. The name of the sci-fi movie with Tom Selleck and Gene Simmons was called Runaway.
Here it is, the official BG Twitter account: @badlandgirls
We'll post updates from this site, as well as other interesting stuff. Follow away, witches.
This week, the Badland Girls occupy the living room of their dear friend Andrea to talk vampires in pop culture, young adult lit, and Kathryn Bigelow. We also discuss rape culture in comedy, problems with The Hunger Games, and why The Vampire Diaries tv show is so damn good.
Spoiler alerts for the following:
The Future
Me and You and Everyone We Know
Innocent Blood
The Hunger Games book trilogy
Twilight (films and books)
Blood and Donuts
The Vampire Diaries
Strange Days
Thriller: A Cruel Picture
Corrections: Feminist Frequency is run by Anita Sarkeesian. Forever Knight wasn't an '80s show, it was a 90's show. Andrea accidentally says Steven Cronenberg when she means David. Blood and Donuts was directed by Holly Gale and came out in 1995. The Golden Compass was directed by Chris Weitz, who also directed New Moon. I tried to look up the movie Tarantino cited in the rape scene conversation, but the Google results were horrifying and offensive and I never found the movie he was referring to, anyway.
