Remarkably Magnificent....Mr Molina

 Jen and Dagda celebrate the  remarkably magnificent Alfred Molina—the actor with the incredible voice, impeccable comedic timing, and a career spanning from Indiana Jones to Doc Oct to talking octopuses. This is a love letter to one of the most underrated actors of our time.

Alfred Molina just celebrated his 73rd birthday (May 24, 1953, London). His real name is Alfredo (anglicized to Alfred). His voice is incredible—if you don't have Morgan Freeman, you might as well have Alfred Molina. His very first film role: Satipo, Indiana Jones's guide in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981).

Career highlights: Lorenzo's Oil (1993, Susan Sarandon, based on a true story of a family finding a cure for their son's incurable disease using grape seed oil), Boogie Nights, The Da Vinci Code, Angels and Demons, Identity (John Cusack, serial killer trapped in a hotel), Hideaway (therapist role), and of course, Doctor Otto Octavius (Doc Ock) in Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man: No Way Home, Remarkably Bright Creatures, The Borough and so much more!

#podcast #DocOct #AlfredMolina #SamCooperrules #remarkablybrightcreatures #The Borroughs

Artwork:Love4music1972

Transcript

Welcome

SPEAKER_03 0:03

Welcome to Everyday Life. Thank you for joining our podcast, Conversations Over Coffee. My name is Jen. And I'm Dagda. And we're gonna hit you with the explicit content warning right off the bat. This podcast does include adult situations and adult language from time to time.

SPEAKER_01 0:22

I'm an angel. I never fucking cuss.

SPEAKER_03 0:25

Okay. Anyways, you ready to go?

SPEAKER_01 0:28

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03 0:29

Alright, let's go.

SPEAKER_01 0:37

Oh consider it.

SPEAKER_03 0:39

I'll think about it. I mean, I I honestly try every day to focus.

SPEAKER_01 0:43

I'll take that under consideration.

SPEAKER_03 0:45

That's right. But then my brain goes, oh god, not this again. Shiny. I'll be the candy. Although that's not usually what it is. Usually it's shit again. But it's such as life. Anyways, how are you doing? I'm doing all right. How are you doing today? I'm doing well. I'm uh getting to spend time with you. I know it's amazing. Oh my god. Uh well, we haven't really recorded for a few weeks because uh I had a sinus infection and I was like down for the count for like 10 days, which sucked. And then uh we had a uh I did not, but I had some medical things that had to be no. I wasn't even gonna say it was you, I was just gonna say we had a friend because you know, I know you want a friend.

SPEAKER_01 1:37

My best friend had some medical issues that he had to deal with.

SPEAKER_03 1:40

That's right, and you should be your own best friend, so that's yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:43

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_03 1:45

So you so you had that, so we weren't able to record for a few weeks. So in real time, we are now at Memorial Weekend, which is exciting because we usually only have one day off a week together, or you know, like, but today, this week, oh, we got two.

SPEAKER_01 1:58

I have a three-day weekend this week. I have a four-day weekend. Well, whoop doo.

SPEAKER_03 2:04

I'm like, well, you know, I'm I'm afraid of saying it too many times. Like, my phone's gonna ring, be like, hey, can you come close the shop? So and so called out, and I'm gonna be like, I'm sick. I'm sick of your shit. So, in this time that we've had this break, um, I have been sending you watch recommends. And uh one of them I sent to you was a one of them I I kind of briefly saw you because I don't want them thinking we don't ever see each other when we're not recording, because we do.

SPEAKER_04 2:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 2:41

Um, but I was telling you about this movie I'd seen and I gave you a recommend. Did you check it out at all? Even just the trailer? No, I didn't think so. It's it's it's really hard because it's definitely a human emotion movie, but it's really funny in a lot of spots.

SPEAKER_01 2:58

Now you make me want to sing Bjork.

SPEAKER_03 3:01

Human emotions.

SPEAKER_01 3:06

Oh, sorry, it's human behavior. That's what it is.

SPEAKER_03 3:09

Human behavior.

SPEAKER_01 3:10

Yeah. Well that's a good song.

SPEAKER_03 3:13

Right. So I'd given you a recommendation of a movie and you didn't watch it, and that's okay. Because it really is kind of it, it really is kind of like uh about human emotions and humans' lack of intelligence at times. Um, and then I also had told you about a TV show come that was coming. Uh and I'd said to you, Oh, they've got this show coming out on Netflix. And I actually binge watched it on my birthday. And you said you watched the first episode, right?

SPEAKER_01 3:48

I watched the first episode, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 3:49

Right? So, so what'd you think?

SPEAKER_01 3:52

Um this is kind of the case for most um sort of sci-fi horror thriller type shows in that it's kind of slow and not super interesting to start.

SPEAKER_03 4:09

Oh, really? I thought it was fascinating to begin with.

SPEAKER_01 4:12

I don't know. So I haven't watched uh I watched the first episode and then I started watching the uh Man on Fire TV show show. Um and so I haven't gone back to it yet. I probably will go back and watch more of it because it's kind of like the the first episode is usually not super indicative of how well you're gonna like a show, right? Sometimes it is, but my experience is usually not so much. Um so I'll probably go back and watch some more of it, but yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:51

Right. Well, the one thing that that this movie and this TV show have in common is one very specific actor. Okay, and and it's so funny because it's none other than the magnificent Alfred Molina.

Mr Molina

SPEAKER_03 5:10

Yes, I said it right. Uh now, so I did some research on Alfred Molina because I first of all his voice is just like if you don't have Morgan Freeman talking, you might as well have Alfred Molina because he's got that little bit deeper voice, little bit, he can be a little softer. You literally can hear his emotions and his speeches. Because in the one movie, in the movie that I recommended, that's one thing he talks about how incredibly dull mo and stupid most humans are. So that's how it starts out, yeah, and then it ends differently. But, anyways, um, so Alfred Molina, who just yesterday, in real life time, yesterday just celebrated his 73rd birthday.

SPEAKER_01 5:59

Oh, really? He's that old. Right. He's looking good for a 73-year-old.

SPEAKER_03 6:04

Yes, he is. He's actually lost weight in the last couple years, too. And then and it's crazy, and it's not like he was at an uh I don't know. I mean, he's always been kind of a chunky guy in the middle, but like like he likes his wine or something. But um, so yeah, he was born May 24th, 1953, in London. And his yeah, his mom was Italian, his dad was Spanish, and his real name is not Alfred, it's Alfredo.

SPEAKER_00 6:30

Alfredo.

SPEAKER_03 6:31

But he angelicized it by at the urging of a manager that he had. Anglicized it, anglicized it, thank, yeah, because I always say it wrong. Um, so the very first he he's been in in stage, he's been in, you know, theater uh and movies and everything. But do you know what his very first film role was? Which kind of I just went, oh my god, this is a Gen X geek out of all geeks out.

SPEAKER_01 6:56

He was a water boy. No, don't know.

SPEAKER_03 7:00

He played Satipo, Indiana Jones's guide in Raiders of the Lost Ark in 1980. And I don't know if his name's supposed to be said Satipo or Satipo, because it's been it's been literal decades since I've watched do do do do do do do.

SPEAKER_01 7:20

Yeah. Now the main wait, no.

SPEAKER_03 7:25

You're thinking of short round from the template node.

SPEAKER_01 7:27

I'm thinking short round, and then also the bearded dude. And I'm like, he's not the bearded dude.

SPEAKER_03 7:33

No. Um he was the guide in Raiders of the Lost Ark. He was also in, and it's so funny because as I'm reading through this phonography of him, I'm just going, oh my god, oh my god. Like, like I remembered him from Lorenzo's oil in like 1993 with Susan Sarandon, and it was uh based on a true story of this family that were trying to find a cure for their son's incurable disease. Oh, and they did grapeseed oil, and they did, yeah, yes, yeah. Uh and uh it extended the kid's life. Yeah, because they expected him to die at like eight,

The Films

SPEAKER_03 8:07

nine years old, and they extended him. I I believe the actual child himself he lived till he was 20 or 21, like written in that range. Um, but I remembered him from that. Um but what's interesting is in the last 30 days, I've seen two movies with him in it, and then of course this TV show. Um, but yeah, he was in Boogie Nights, he was in the Da Vinci Code, uh, he was in uh a movie I really liked, Hideaway. Uh he was in Identity, he was the therapist in identity, he was the therapist in hideaway.

SPEAKER_01 8:41

He does not have seen either of those movies. I've also not seen the Da Vinci Code.

SPEAKER_03 8:46

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 8:47

That's hilarious.

SPEAKER_03 8:48

And he was in Angels and Demons, too. But okay, so I swear that you have seen identity because it's got John Cusack in there. And John Cusack's a limo driver, and he's taken this celebrity lady to a from a show in Las Vegas to California, and he gets stranded and flooded in this hotel room where there's a serial killer being transported, and they get stuck in the same one. No, no, oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 9:13

It's I definitely would have remembered that.

SPEAKER_03 9:15

You definitely should watch it. John Cusack, number one, is the best.

SPEAKER_01 9:18

Yeah. Uh he's John C John Cena. You can't see me. John Cusack is awesome. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:25

John Cusack is fantastic. I I'm telling have you ever seen The Frozen Ground with John Cusack? I've not seen that one, no. Oh god. I like okay. I don't want to get onto John Cusack. I'll do a one with John Cusack, but I'm just gonna button my lip about it.

SPEAKER_01 9:40

We will do a John Cusack episode.

SPEAKER_03 9:42

Hell fucking yeah. Oh god, yeah, no, oh my god. John Cusack's like delicious, anyways. Oh yeah. So the coolest thing about Alfred Molina is he plays therapist, he plays scientist, he plays smart guy really good, and his comedic timing is unbelievable. So even though I remember him from Lorenzo's oil, right? As a course of scientist, um, or whatever. Anyways, the first time I really it clicked in my head who Alfred Molina was was in when he played Dr. Otto Octavius in Spider-Man 2. Doc. Okay, yeah, Doc Ock, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:26

Okay, so and recently reprised that same role in one of the multiple versions.

SPEAKER_03 10:32

In Spider-Man No Way Home, yeah, no way home. And it was really it was really cool to see the evolution of this character because he's just so smart. Alfred Molina Lant, this dude just so smart, and in in the movie, in in No Way Home, he's just like, Well, of course, this didn't happen in your reality. This is what happened, and this, you know, but it's hypothesized that Doc Oct really wasn't bad, it was the octopus arms that were bad.

SPEAKER_01 11:00

It was like poisoning or something, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 11:02

Yes, they were taking control of him, like they were screaming at him so he could he just like mentally shut down. And so it was a really great, it was a great story arc. It was just so I love how they, you know. I mean, that's kind of the one thing about the idea of the multiverse is it leaves everything open for a reinterpretation, yeah, except for basic fundamentals. I mean, you will say, Don't I said to a coworker of mine, one of my co-managers, the other day, I said, I have a friend um who can't stand these reimaginings where Snow White isn't Snow White, and I mean her name is literally Snow White. Snow White, yeah. And uh this person, and I swear it was like talking to you, and by the way, her level of intelligence, she can write like she's chat GPT without doing it. It is psychotically weird that she's like the female version of you, brainiac to a degree because she was just like, you know what I can't stand? And I was just like, oh god, you know, and she goes, she goes, it's just lazy. Why don't you just, you know, I don't know, make a new character. It's not that hard. If you want to really represent everybody, how about you make a new character instead of say beating the same old material to death and pissing off the legion? She goes, listen, she goes, I ain't got nothing against the actress, but Ariel ain't black. And I went, Yeah, whoa, like me personally, it didn't bother me, you know, but I'm also not an ethnic person, so I don't look at it as somebody's being lazy. I'm I look at it a little differently, like they want all little girls and boys to be able to envision themselves as they have the same potential to be like this, but uh you know, but it was literally word for word exactly things you've said to me in the past.

SPEAKER_01 12:58

Also, like most of those characters, it's not about their race. Like in the original story, it's not about their race. No, and everybody's making it about the about it now, yeah. Which is fucking annoying.

SPEAKER_03 13:09

Also, if we were to do the opposite and be like, okay, well, we're gonna have fucking if we were to make Princess Tatiana white, oh god, we would have a or Tiana, is it Tiana or Tatiana? The pref the frog and the princess.

SPEAKER_01 13:23

I have no idea. Anyways, if we were to make a noncy a fucking Asian woman, people would lose their shit. If we were to make Shaka Zulu a fucking Indian man, people would lose their fucking shit because those are fucking black figures. So why then is it okay for you to make fucking Heimdall black? Because fuck you.

SPEAKER_03 13:52

And and I will say, you know what's really interesting for me? I can see that point of view because it is they're they're taking a play in a riff off of mythology, and to a lot of the Norse people, actually, their history, and they're changing it.

SPEAKER_01 14:09

Yeah, and it's like, well, but anyways, which is why the the I don't remember the name of the church, but they fucking tried to sue over it because, well, they're like, you are fucking up our religion, and yeah, and they're like, Oh no, we're not.

SPEAKER_03 14:23

So that moment just now, and I want to explain this really clearly that moment, that rage you feel about Heimdall being black, regardless of the fact that Idris Elba is a fantastic actor.

SPEAKER_01 14:35

She's a fantastic actor. I love her.

SPEAKER_03 14:36

She is wonderful, and he's a DJ and a rapper and all that. He's great.

SPEAKER_01 14:40

He's awesome, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:41

But that feeling is how I feel about oblivion. Now you know how I feel. You know the rage inside that I have had for almost 20 fucking years. It is palpable now to you, it's measurable to you now.

SPEAKER_01 15:00

Any fucking way.

SPEAKER_03 15:02

19 years I've had the hatred of that movie. Fucking and for you, it's only been 13 years. So you got some catching up to do. Anyways, so but Alfred Molina, let's get back to Alfred Molina, because I was just so impressed with him. And I'm always impressed with the stuff I see because his you don't think of him as a comedian, you know. But when you go back and review his certain certain movies, especially in like Spider-Man 2, his little one-liners, and then in Spider-Man No Way Home, and just how dead pan he is, is just like, well, obviously, Peter, it's gonna be different because I'm not from your reality, just like all that great stuff. But what I thought was fantastic, and and my sick brain, my antibiotic on medication, I was on double antibiotics, my God. So on my sick brain, my I'm gonna die, I thought I was gonna die. I just resolved I was gonna die. That was fine, whatever. And then I was like, oh shit, I have a birthday coming up, I can't quite die yet. Anyways, so the movie that I recently saw with him, besides Spider-Man No Way Home, yeah, it is called Remarkably Bright Creatures, and it is a it is a movie that's done. Um, it stars Alfred Molina, it's it's got Sally Field as Tova, and it's got uh uh Lewis Pullman as Cameron. Okay, so Marcel is the voice that Alfred Molino does for none other than a giant Pacific octopus. Okay, and I literally had this moment where I just went, it's not that his career has come full circle, but somebody is definitely playing that card right for nostalgia. Okay, because he was Doc October.

SPEAKER_00 16:57

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 16:58

Wow, I mean, you're like a dumb nerd right now.

SPEAKER_01 17:01

Yeah, I you started talking about a talking octopus, and my brain was going to resident alien.

SPEAKER_03 17:08

Yeah, no, I I know. And season four of that comes out here in the next two weeks, I think, on Netflix.

SPEAKER_04 17:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:13

So so no, so I just huh? The final season. Yeah. I just thought that was fantastic because I was just like, there is a part of like Spider-Man 2 where he's just like he talks about how stupid most humans are. Remarkably bright creatures, starts out talking about how dull humans are and how not they're lacking an intelligence that they should have. And he being as smart as he is is going to have to. He's very observant and it's a really cool lead-in. And you get to the end of the movie, and everything happens, it happens. You get to the end of the movie, and he talks about, but every once in a while they're remarkably bright creatures. So I thought it was super fantastic. And I don't think I don't think the uh director and the casting agents, I don't think they realize they actually pulled in Doc Octon to that because Spider-Man 2, he's talking about how stupid most of humanity is. You're all stupid. Spider-Man No Way Home, he talks about everybody has the ability for redemption. Everybody has the ability to make better choices. And every once in a while you're gonna see the spark of genius that most people might not recognize, but it's still there. So I was just like, oh, this is a brilliant tie-in, but it's also how my brain works because, of course, you know, I was just like, oh, Alfred Molina, Wikipedia, just like I do with everything. Yeah. So, so it will it is such a good movie. Remarkably bright creatures. It's on Netflix, it's it's just it's amazing because there's so much humor into it. And just hearing Alfred Molina talk about, I get so bored being stuck in this cage. And and what's really great is how you feel about Heimzall being black, cast black, even though Idris is wonderful. Like I didn't think anything about it, because I'm not a racist like that, just saying. Uh, and how I feel about fuck you, Oblivion, and Morrowind, go to hell.

SPEAKER_01 19:17

Um you should play uh Elder Schools online.

SPEAKER_03 19:22

I really should not, not unless you want to hear a whole lot more cuss words than I already do now. Anyway, there'll be a police standoff with me going screaming and yelling and thinking I'm having a hostage in here. Anyways, I saved him, I saved him. Piece of shit. I did save him. Anyway, and then somebody stabbed him right after you saved him, but it doesn't do that, it it blurs out and it shows him dying. So, anyways, don't get me going on oblivion right now. Uh, so anyways, I'm thinking that so much right now. Like, you just suck so many balls. You dirty just line up everybody. He's in the sucking ball moon today. Um, no, it's it when he's going through this story, uh, he's got his, he's not excited, he's not angry, he's just very matter-of-fact. And he talks about the only time there's any emotion in his voice, is when he's talking about wolf eels, about how disgusting they are, okay, and how much he hates them. Yeah, and it's so funny because Sally Field, who plays Tova, the nighttime cleaning lady at this at this aquarium where he's being held. And they and they explain why he's being held there and all of that.

SPEAKER_01 20:48

Because he's a dirty prisoner.

SPEAKER_03 20:50

Nope. Well, I mean, yeah, I mean, kinda. Um, but, anyways, even Sally Field walks up and looks at this tank of wool fields and is like, ugh,

Marcellus the Octopus

SPEAKER_03 21:00

and it's just so funny. And he's just like, on this, we can agree. She dislikes him almost as much as I do. But and they're hideous things, they're so ugly, and they really are ugly and they're creepy and everything. Uh, but the story revolves around Marcel, who is this Pacific giant squid or giant octopus, who he goes into captivity, not as a haha, we've got you, because he's he got caught and he was there for a rehab. And all he wants to do is go back to his home and die peaceably. Because apparently squids are very aware when they're about to die. They're very aware and they want to go to their hidey hole. So it can be months before you like they they reference the point of not knowing one of the other squids had or one of the other octopuses had died until for for a little for a while. Anyways, um, so it's about his journey to get back to his home, and it's also about Tova's healing journey. And the journey of this guy named Cameron, who comes into her life looking for his real biological father, who, because his mother's died and everything. And it it's it's a really good story. And it's there's a lot of little key points in it where like you see these realizations, and sometimes they're very quiet realizations. Like in Tova's house, she's she's a widowed, her husband's passed away, one of her sons has died, one of her sons is alive. And her son, he lives up in Bellingham, and he wants her to come come live in this retirement community by me, ma kind of thing. And she wasn't gonna do it, and then she decided to do it or whatever. And then she decided not to. But, anyways, so she's going around her old house that she was taking care of herself, and like little things were happening, and Cameron had noticed it, and well, Cameron had come in and fixed things for her, and she's just like yelling at him because he's in her home, she feels uninvited, and then it's like, oh, this rails isn't loose. Oh, this is much safer because she'd fallen down the stairs earlier. And oh, these boards don't squeak. All these little things that people do for us that we we take for we just we're not conscious about it. Okay, it's just like shit that happens, right? Yeah, and there's this great little inner storyline there of a guy who's like literally you and I can see it. We're like, girl, he's hitting on you. Like you're widowed, he's single, he's hitting on you, he's trying to get you to go on a date, and she's just oblivious to it all. And then the realization hits her, like, oh, oh, you know, and she's got like a group of friends she calls the knitwits and everything, and it's just so great because Alfred Molina, he's he's narrating this whole thing, okay, and um, it's just like, oh, you know, if only they made it harder, like kind of thing. And it's it's super great. High recommend. One of the reasons I give a high recommend to you is because I think you'll find the humor in it, but the cool thing about it is it's based off of a book that was written by Shelby Van Pelt, and you'll never believe where she lives. Uh Squim, Washington. Tacoma, Washington. Ah, okay. Which Tacoma Washington has a lot of celebrity peoples like Blair Underwood, uh Kimberly Kane, you know, huh?

SPEAKER_01 24:22

Not El Ron Hubbard, sorry.

SPEAKER_03 24:24

Not L.

SPEAKER_01 24:24

Ron Hubbard Fucking uh Herbert, Frank Herbert, the dude who wrote Dune. Uh-huh. He was from Tacoma.

SPEAKER_03 24:32

Yeah, there's lot, there's we have lots of people that's from Washington State, and you know, King in Pierce County, you know, but it's just kind of interesting that more popular artists are kind of from like the Tacoma Spanaway Graham, like the lower, the mid-Pierce County.

SPEAKER_01 24:48

A current very popular art artist author um from Gig Harbor is Matt Dinneman. Oh. He writes he writes the uh Dungeon Crawler Carl series.

SPEAKER_03 25:01

Ah, nice.

SPEAKER_01 25:02

Yeah. Nice.

SPEAKER_03 25:03

Hey, we just talked about him a couple episodes ago.

SPEAKER_01 25:06

Yeah, and the the main character is from Seattle.

SPEAKER_03 25:11

Yeah. So I well, I thought that was a really cool. I thought that was really cool that it was a a a Washington, a Washingtonian, that not only a Washingtonian, but somebody from, you know, a town like Tacoma, T Town, uh, but a Pierce County person. And I was like, oh, that's neat. Because, you know, like when you tell people, oh, there's lots of people who lots of celebrities who you're from this area, they just they simply don't believe you. And it's like, uh Joe Coy is from Pierce County, he's from this area. You've got Blair Underwood, he's from Tacoma, Washington, Kimberly Claint. Sir, now Sir Mixelah, he's King County. Okay. But he has friends down in Pierce County, and he, when I was going to high school, he definitely picked up some of the artists from my high school. But, you know, you know, back in the day, you just see this cute chubby black kid, you know, because he's only a few, he's only like 10 or 12 years older than me. But he was still like he's always got those chubby cheeks. You know, he went on like this big tour in Japan and everything. It's so crazy how other areas are so delayed in getting into our music. It's it's super crazy, it really is. Uh, but, anyways, uh, and then my favorite thing, which is really this great tie-in.

SPEAKER_05 26:28

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 26:28

So, so Alfred Molina, it really surprised me because I did not at first recognize him when I saw the commercial for it or the trailer for it. Um, but he is the main star in The Burrows, yeah. Which has Gina Davis in it, uh, Alfre, and everybody knows Gina Davis, you know, she's from Fly, Earth Girls Are Easy, all that kind of stuff. Oh, yeah. Earth Girls Are Easy. Sorry, spoiler alert. Uh um, Clark Peters, who was on The Wire, uh, Alfre Woodard. Um, and of course, a lot of people don't know him, but his name's Dennis O'Hare. If you watched This Is Us, uh, he was the partner to uh Randall's Randall's biological father. It was his one of his partners. Um, but Dennis O'Hare also did a lot of work for Ryan Murphy um in the uh the big horror anthology, American Horror Story. He's played several different characters in that.

SPEAKER_01 27:26

Yeah, the dude who was the president in um Independence Day. Bill Pullman. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 27:32

And who's his kid? I don't know. Lewis Pullman. Okay, who just did a movie with Alfred Molina in Remarkably Bright Creatures. Oh Lewis Pullman is Cameron in that.

SPEAKER_00 27:46

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_03 27:47

Here's why here's one of the things why I think you might really like Remarkably Bright Creatures, uh, especially this character Cameron, who's played by Lewis Pullman. He's very much like Bob slash Void from The Avengers or the New Avengers, Thunderbolts.

SPEAKER_01 28:03

I've not seen that.

SPEAKER_03 28:04

Oh, you but you've have you read enough of the comics to know who Void is?

SPEAKER_01 28:10

No. The the Void character that I think of immediately is not a Marvel character, it's like a Wildcats character, so image. I think he's like Void, the century. Oh, he's century. Okay, so Void is his dark side.

SPEAKER_03 28:27

Yes. So that very much reminds me of Cameron when he has his happy moments where he's just like very insecure but happy, reminds me of Bob, who that's of course the century's real name in right, Thunderbolts. Um, and then his dark side reminds me of Void because it's just so heartbreaking to see him. But that's a little pull together that I thought was really cool. I'm like, that's pretty awesome. So he works with the son and the father, but the Burrows, it's on Netflix, it's an eight-part series. They left it open for they definitely left it open-ended for more. And I hope they do more. I have this, you guys, you can pay me, it's great. What they could do is they could take Gina Dafus, Alfred Wooder, Dennis O'Hare if he has not his character hasn't passed away at this point, and and Sam Cooper, who is uh, you know, who Alfred uh Molina plays, and they could go to all these different retirement communities and figure this out. It's really cool, anyways. Uh one of the surprise people that I didn't know was gonna be in there uh was Jane Kasmeric, who is uh Malcolm's mom on Malcolm in the Middle. And Malcolm Life's still unfair.

SPEAKER_04 29:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 29:51

And so she's unfair. Life is unfair. Uh, but it's great because Jane Kasmeric's in there, and uh, you know, Jenna Malone's in there, and Jenna Malone played uh the chick from District 7 in The Mocking Jay who gets undressed. Have you seen it? I've only seen the first of the so you haven't seen catching fire or the mocking jay one or two?

SPEAKER_01 30:18

No, I've only seen the very first uh yeah, the bird things.

SPEAKER_03 30:22

Okay, well, here's here's oh my god. Well, it's over a decade old, so it's not my fault. No spoiler. Spoiler alert! Uh so okay, in Hunker Games, is it catching fire? I think it's the mocking j. Maybe it's catching fire, anyways. Uh, it's the next year, so it's catching fire, and they decide to take two victors from each territory if they are surviving victors and put them in. So they're gonna put everybody who's a victor from their territory, district one, two, three, four, all the way through twelve, they're gonna go in the punch bowl. So in district seven is Jenna Malone, and uh her district is known for lumber, they're known for wood, they are known for wood. So district seven is supposed to be the Pacific Northwest. Ah, okay. So, anyways, um so Jenna Malone plays Alfred Malina's daughter in this, and Alfred Melina is a widower. You've seen this, right? And these guys haven't seen this, yeah. But he's a widower, his wife has died unexpectedly a couple months prior, and he's forced to go and live in this retirement community called the Boroughs, not boroughs, the boroughs, not B-U-R-R, B-O-R-O-U-S, T-H-S, right? There's a slight influx difference, anyways. Because his wife was just, we have to go there, we need I need to be there, we need to retire there. And I mean, you find out why through the course of the series.

SPEAKER_05 31:58

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 31:58

Um, so but he's stuck in this no refund policy, and you knew it was gonna be bad. You knew it was gonna be bad pretty early on, yeah. And fantastic. But I think it's great because you've got all these like 90s and early, you know, like late 80s, 90s, 2000 stars. You've got them all together. Alfrey Woodard is hilarious.

SPEAKER_01 32:21

Yeah, who's the dude who so the husband of the woman's whose house the main character is in? Ed Bagley Jr. Yeah, that dude. I'm like, uh he looks so familiar, right?

SPEAKER_03 32:34

Yeah, it's Ed Bagley Jr. And what's really interesting about Ed Bagley Jr. is the fact that he still is acting, not as much as he would, but he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease 10 years ago. Oh, and he still manages, and it's so crazy when you look at like Michael J. Fox, who has been living with Parkinson's for like, I think 35 years now.

SPEAKER_05 32:54

Something like that, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 32:55

Yeah, like like yeah, because I think he was diagnosed in like 89 or 90. Yeah.

Mr Sam Cooper, Senior Superhero

SPEAKER_03 33:00

He's so you can see how far gone he is when he's not on his meds, and his meds have had to change many, many times over the year. Ed Bagley's Jr., you can't you notice it, but not as much because of the character he's playing who's supposed to have Alzheimer's or dementia. Yeah. And it's like, it's it's oh, you've just got to finish the series because it's funny. The L's are in the walls. The L's are in the walls, like, yeah, trust me, when you figure that one out, it's like, oh, like, like you, oh, right? It's just like, uh, I wish I could say more except, but I don't want to spoil it for you because I am in, I want everybody to go blow this thing up because I hope they'd make a season two where either new people try to move into the boroughs or you know, maybe they go around to other communities, or we're making this thing international, baby. Seven up yours. I I think with the way they left off, they're they're waiting to see what the numbers are gonna be. Yeah, I personally I I binged watched it on my birthday. It came out on my birthday.

SPEAKER_01 34:09

I was and the Duffer brothers are the producers, producing, yeah, which is great.

SPEAKER_03 34:14

They're now they didn't create it, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:15

They didn't write or direct it.

SPEAKER_03 34:17

Yeah, the the writer and director, um, let's see. Doo doo too. I wrote it down because I didn't want to. So the Burrows was created, written and created by Jeffrey Addis and Will Matthews, and it was produced by the Duffer Brothers, who definitely did give a little bit of creative insight into it. Um, but it's it's yeah, it's it's so good. I I you know, like I had to take a break in the middle. I started watching it at like 6 45 in the morning. I took a break, I went out with mommy. Hi, mommy! Hi, mommy, um, and her and I just kind of had a ladies' lunch together. Uh, and then we went to the bookstore next door to the Japanese restaurant um so she could get a new book. And I looked so hard for Jim Butcher. They had one Jim Butcher book in the whole entire brigand store.

SPEAKER_01 35:13

Yeah, I mean, his stuff just flies off the shelf there.

SPEAKER_03 35:18

I really was hoping I could find a copy of is it Battleground, the newest one? No, 12 months. 12 months. I was hoping to get 12 months or Battleground, but what's interesting about it is I think mommy has been secretly listening to some of the podcast. Okay. Because she said, What was that? What's that book series you've been talking about? And I said, Well, my mama, that's uh that's Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files.

SPEAKER_00 35:44

The Spire series?

SPEAKER_03 35:46

No, chut up, look the land series.

SPEAKER_00 35:50

No, I'm Monster Hunter International series.

SPEAKER_03 35:53

No, I haven't. I didn't even think about looking for Larry Korea. Yeah, I didn't even think about it because my mind was just on Butcher because I I I'm trying to be nice. I'm a very fair person because I told her I was like, I really want to rent it from the library again. But I know that it was a big waiting list. You know, when I got my copy, there was still 19 other people waiting for the copy. So I'm like, yeah, so I might do an audible on it. Yeah. Because I still don't, you know, I'm yeah, anyways. Um, but so yeah, mommy is just like, I might have to read that. And I'm like, well, if you're gonna read it, you have to start at the beginning. You can't just start anywhere with the series.

SPEAKER_04 36:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 36:32

Well, I mean, unless you unless you listened to our 12 months episode. Then if you listen to our 12 months episode, you can start anywhere in the series you want.

SPEAKER_01 36:41

Yeah, because spoilers.

SPEAKER_03 36:43

Uh many, because butcher's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 36:47

I will say the series gets really good starting at the third book, but and I felt it was really good from their very first one.

SPEAKER_03 36:55

I love the sarcasm and everything else. Yeah. But, anyways, we can talk more butcher another time. I don't, I'm trying to, I'm trying to do this thing where I stay focused a little better and so squirreling and everything. Um, but uh, anyways, uh, the Burrows, Netflix, people need to check it out. Yeah, it's really good. And I know there's people are gonna be like going, oh my god, it's a bunch of old people. Look, there's gonna come a day if you're lucky, and I say it this way, if you're lucky enough and you're blessed enough, there's gonna come a day where you're gonna be that old person.

SPEAKER_01 37:26

I was actually thinking about that while watching the show. Yeah. I'm like, this is a bunch of old people, and I'm like, I'm not actually that much younger than these people.

SPEAKER_03 37:34

Uh, you know, I I I uh I feel much younger than they are, considering the average age of the actors in it is 74. The youngest actor is 70, the oldest one's like 78 or 79. So it's like 74, 75 is the average age between them.

SPEAKER_01 37:53

Uh there is yeah, I'm still young enough to be their kid, but exactly. Which is kind of funny because the daughter of the main character looks like she might be in her 30s.

SPEAKER_03 38:06

So it's like yeah, Jenna Malone's uh like mid-40s, almost 50. Yeah, okay. You know, and I and I think well, the interesting thing is that they're trying to show all these people basically as an average age of like 65-ish. Yeah, so it makes sense. And Jenna Malone, uh I actually, if you if you if you look at her pictures over the years, the last five years, she's aged a lot. COVID aged so many people up. I don't know why. I think the vaccine it could be stress, but I think it's more because of the vaccine. Because I haven't aged that much in the last five years, and I don't have a vaccine, but I know several people who've taken the vaccine, and it's you know, anyways. Um, yeah, I did think about that as well. They're like, oh, this is a bunch of old people, and then I literally in the first five minutes went if I'm lucky, I'll be one of those old people one day. Yeah, and that's a perspective I think you have to, you know, instead of sitting there going, Oh my goodness it's on these old people or ew, it's all these young people. You have to remember, you were a young person who was fucking stupid at one point. And if you're lucky, you get to be an old person.

SPEAKER_01 39:17

So, you know, old and cranky. Get up my lawn.

SPEAKER_03 39:24

Fucking Bill Pullman just you didn't answer the door, so I just come on in. Yeah. I'm like, I want to live or build a community that I can trust like that. But also, if the wrong person comes, come walking in like that, and I'm good.

SPEAKER_01 39:40

I like when he fucking goes and helps his neighbor with her car. Right? Oh god. Just because he's annoyed with it, and then he walks off and she's like, Thank you. And he just keeps walking off, and then she goes and gives him the riot act for not saying you're welcome.

SPEAKER_03 39:56

Yeah, most people would say you're welcome before just walking off and da da da. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 40:00

He's like, I want to go back to sleep. He's like, if you would have just said you're welcome, then everybody would have gone on their way and you'd be done, wouldn't you? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 40:09

Gina Davis does. I can't tell if she's got a jaw issue or if it's just her face. I can't tell. It's it's really weird. I remember her being much more facially animated when she was younger in movies, but the last few years I've noticed her jaws kind of locked together, like she's holding her teeth really close.

SPEAKER_01 40:33

Like she's clinching her jaw while speaking.

SPEAKER_03 40:36

Yeah, so I can't tell if that's what's going on.

SPEAKER_01 40:38

Or I mean Was she in Thelman Louise? Yes. Okay, that's where I recognize her from mainly.

SPEAKER_03 40:44

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 40:44

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 40:45

Yeah, she's the one who gets who gets plowed by uh Brad Pitt.

SPEAKER_04 40:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 40:51

Yeah, no. Anyways, uh it it's so fantastic because I like a like literally in the first five minutes, I was like, oh, i you take that perspective. If you can take the perspective and go, if I'm lucky enough, I get to be old one day.

SPEAKER_01 41:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 41:06

And then get uploaded. And get yes, let's pray for upload. Because I want to be the bionic woman. Uh uh.

SPEAKER_01 41:14

And go any fucking way.

SPEAKER_03 41:18

Hold on, let me turn on my sound effects.

SPEAKER_01 41:22

Did you ever watch Archer?

SPEAKER_03 41:24

I watched a little bit of it.

SPEAKER_01 41:26

Okay. I was gonna say, then you could be like fucking what was that fucking Russian assassin's name? I don't remember.

SPEAKER_03 41:34

Anyways, I was gonna I was gonna say, I was gonna say Sasha, but that was wrong.

SPEAKER_01 41:39

That might be correct, but I don't know. I don't remember. I was referring to Yeah, you're referring to the dress and files, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 41:46

Yes, I was uh, but they didn't know that, I guess. But anyways, um I I highly encourage anybody to watch it because if I'm lucky enough to be an old person one day, I hope I get into a little bit of mischief just like they do, and I hope that I'm able to see life for what it is at that point in my life, like not be like so angry about things from the past, not be like angry about what the future might bring, just be happy and present in the moment, which is something I've definitely been working on. I it was so funny.

SPEAKER_01 42:16

Be more Bill Pullman and less the fucking character.

SPEAKER_03 42:19

Uh yeah, honestly, because like yesterday I was having a conversation with my partner, and and it was so funny because he said, Well, I think you talk to your brother more than me. And I was just like, No, yo, yes. I'm like, first of all, we work these opposite schedules, so I don't see them as much. And and second of all, I was just like, you know, in 2016, 27, 2018, yeah, maybe, but that was us then, that's not us now. I thought he was gonna knock me over trying to come and kiss me because he loved hearing say hearing me say that. That that was us 10 years ago, that's not us now. Yeah, because there is a huge difference and there's a huge evolution in everybody's life. And so, and that was just something that watching the Burroughs reminded me of is that you're sitting here watching this guy be angry at first, and then the evolution of the show, and it's just like you you do have to find that perspective where you can sit there, analyze, think, and grow. Yeah, so good. The magnificent Melina has my heart again. I I mean, it's just like he's so good, he's so good, but yeah, that's just so great when she gets on him about the car. Yeah, he's laying there. Ugh, uh I'll tell you what, I was not sure which direction the show was gonna go because you said you saw where Ed Bagley in the beginning, where he was talking to his wife on the phone, the owls are on the walls. Yeah, yeah, and then you saw what happened to his wife. So I thought, man, this I know that this is like, look, I'm not over what happened with Stranger Things. I'm very, very, very angry about it. It still just saying. So I didn't want it to be this give me the same feeling that Stranger Things did, where I was just like super excited and wanting more, and then I was let fucking down. It's got it's got a beginning, it has a middle, it has an end, great story arcs all around for all the characters that are involved. Yeah. So I feel satisfied with it if this is all we get is one season. But like Stranger Things, I was not satisfied with one season because there was so much left to explain.

SPEAKER_00 44:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 44:37

So I don't know. I didn't I didn't want it to be the same, like, oh, it's just the Duffer Brothers formula again.

SPEAKER_01 44:44

It actually makes me think of Repairman Jack and how I would love for them to do a series of Repairman Jack. Although so there's some supernatural stuff going on in Repairman Jack.

SPEAKER_05 44:59

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 44:59

But the overwhelming majority isn't, especially earlier in the books.

SPEAKER_05 45:04

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 45:05

I guess I haven't listened to any of the prequel books because there's young Repairman Jack series also. Okay. Um but it's almost like if it's almost as if if Dexter were in Stranger Things. It's kind of like that. Because the main character is he's not really like Dexter, but kind of.

SPEAKER_03 45:30

Like darkly dreaming Dexter. Yes. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 45:33

Um he's somebody who probably should have turned out to be a serial killer. But events happened that kind of prevented him from going in that path and kind of directed his anger at dealing with bad guys. Um and so most of the time he's dealing with just dickheads and gangbangers and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_05 45:54

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 45:55

But there's also a supernatural element in there. And in the first book, it's very little, but as time goes on, it gets more like more and more. Um so I would love to see that series become a TV series.

SPEAKER_04 46:11

Right.

SPEAKER_01 46:12

Um, I don't know because a lot of the books, like like I said, in the first book, it's kind of at the end you find out, oh, there is a supernatural thing going on here. Um and for the most part, he's just dealing with regular people, but there's a thing going on and he has to deal with it.

SPEAKER_03 46:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 46:30

Um, and he's kind of like, I'm going to fucking live. Fuck you.

SPEAKER_03 46:37

Yeah. Kind of thing.

SPEAKER_01 46:38

I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 46:39

It's it's interesting. There's there's lots of books over the years that you know, for one, you know, we would love to see made into like movies or TV shows, and then sometimes they do it, and you go, Oh, maybe you shouldn't ever do that again. And then there's other times it's like King or Koons. Okay. So we've talked about King or Koons, and which for me, at the end of it all, I am a thousand percent gonna, if I'm gonna pick up a book and it has to be one of those two, I'm gonna do Dean Koontz. Because I fall in love every time I read one of his books, I fall in love with that positive aspect of we can do our best to figure things out. And we will either be heroes to ourselves or we won't, but at least we went down with a fighting, you know, with a fighting chance. Whereas King's just he'll just fuck with you.

SPEAKER_01 47:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 47:34

And he and he makes no apologies about it.

SPEAKER_01 47:36

Yeah. Well, I think it's kind of along the lines of my dislike of cosmic horror.

SPEAKER_05 47:44

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 47:45

In the sense that, I mean, I like a lot of like Lovecraftian stuff, but I dislike the fact that it's a situation where you're just fucked. If you survive, good luck, uh, and you're still fucked. Yeah. You survived this week, but next week I'm fucking coming back for you kind of situation.

SPEAKER_05 48:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 48:07

Um, and I don't really like that. It's the reason why I like Conan way better than fucking than the Lovecraft stuff, because in the Conan, Conan is like, fuck you, I'm fucking you up. Yeah. And he does.

SPEAKER_03 48:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 48:21

And but it's always a situation where even if it's really fucked, he still is capable of doing something about the situation. Whereas in the Lovecraft, fucking Cthulhu shows up, you're just fucked.

SPEAKER_05 48:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 48:37

There is no, I'm gonna pick up my sword and fight you. This thing. Yeah. Even if you kill its body, it's gonna come back later.

SPEAKER_03 48:46

Yeah, and that I think that right there is the key component of the books I love and go back to a lot, is at the end of the day, you're talking about hope. And like a lot of people are gonna go, no, yes, it is something as humans we crave. We crave the idea that there is hope for something better, hope that we can do better. And sometimes we actually attain it and we achieve that, and it's why we fall in love with superheroes and badasses like Rambo and and Commando and Predator Badlands. Fantastic movie.

SPEAKER_01 49:24

Not seen it yet.

SPEAKER_03 49:25

What is wrong with you? You are so behind.

SPEAKER_01 49:28

I think, yeah, the last. So I haven't seen the latest aliens movie.

SPEAKER_03 49:34

Uh you know what? I had to turn off Alien Romulus because the girl was so whiny in the first five minutes. I'm like, not today. I haven't I'll come back to you later. I'll come back to you later because I have to see where it goes.

SPEAKER_04 49:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 49:47

Um, Covenant was great, and but yeah. Um hope. And that's one of the things I really like about what I liked about both these works by Alfred Melina is that both the characters in them represent the ideology of finding hope. Marcel in Remarkably Blight Bright Creatures, you know, he had the hope of going home for the last days of his life because that's what it was supposed to be. He had served his purpose, he had done his life, he had lived extraordinarily, and to be, you know, in this position where he thought he was going to be, you know, robbed of his rightful death. All he wanted to do, he'd lived his life. It was coming to an end. He had the right, and it's so amazing because he had the right to die the way he had lived at his home, enjoying his surroundings.

SPEAKER_01 50:46

Go find your dragon.

SPEAKER_03 50:47

There you go, right? And then, of course, you know, you've got Melina playing Sam Cooper in the Burrows, and that you haven't seen it, but I'm telling you, you will laugh a lot. You will laugh a lot. There's lots of good things. Me, of course, I'm a more emotional creature than you. Um, so there was a couple of parts where uh I did cry, but not like, oh my god. I just like have a little tear, and I was like, oh, that was so sweet.

SPEAKER_01 51:18

I cry for him because he cannot cry.

SPEAKER_03 51:21

The the only, the only the only disclaimer I'm gonna give you about the burrows is it is a tale that's being told about at the end of it all, one thing we need to remember as humans is we can't go back to our youth. It is in the past for a reason, and that's all I can say about it. That's all I can say about it. But, anyways, the magnificent Melina. I hope more people check him out. I just think it's so great that a height of his popularity as far as film goes was when he was Doc Ocked. Now he's got a resurgence kind of going on, and I don't mean like he hasn't been working, he has been working, yeah. He's been working this whole time. Um, you know, he took some time off because his first wife, she had Alzheimer's, she died, and you know, but he did a lot of voice acting at that time. He did voice acting in Frozen 2 and and all these other movies and stuff, um, because he's just got a great voice. Um, but kind of an uptick, and now he's coming back to movies. And I think it's probably the perfect time. His his first wife passed away in uh 2019. He married his second wife in like 2021, I think. She's much younger than him, too. Um, but um, you know, so it's kind of like him coming back. He's he's stepping out from behind the box uh and he's bringing these characters to life again. And I just think it's so great. He has this resurgent with an octopus. I just think it's so wonderful. Nice. Like, you know, especially for me, the nerdy side of me, it's just like I'm one of those nerdy Gen Xers that put that pop culture parts together, and I'm just like, that's a nice shout out, that's a nice nod. This is fantastic.

SPEAKER_04 53:02

Nice.

SPEAKER_03 53:03

I'm like, I am sitting here going, How did you not finish watching the burrows yet? Are you crazy? But that's what happens, you know. You you get something that kind of sits on that precipice of am I gonna or am I not? And you kind of need to mull it over a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 53:20

Yeah. I just now I'm super into the man on fire, so I'll probably finish that before I do anything else.

SPEAKER_03 53:26

Yeah, I mean, it's only eight episodes. I mean, it's only you know eight hours of your life. Yeah, I don't even think it's eight hours, I think it's like six and a half hours total from beginning to end, but it's got a great the both remarkably bright creatures and the boroughs have fantastic casts. And my one of my favorite things about remarkable bright creatures before we go, is Sally Field and her knit wits. Sally Field plays Tova, the cleaning lady, and she just her sheer determination to keep doing things at her age.

Until Next Time!

SPEAKER_03 54:00

Because in real life, Sally Fields is 79 and she is really fucking spry for a 79-year-old. I mean, really spry, and I and I say that because you know, my mommy's, you know, mommy's, mommy, mommy is getting up there. I mean, she's a young, uh, but anyways, magnificent Melina. I hope people check him out. I hope you check him out. Okay, yeah, so good. I I literally want to sit here and be like, and what'd you think about this part? Oh, but wait, what did you think about that part? And didn't you find this part? Anyways, I hope you guys have a great day.

SPEAKER_01 54:36

Later.

SPEAKER_03 54:37

Bye.

SPEAKER_02 54:42

Okay, everybody. That's all the time we have for today. So I want to thank you for stopping by to enjoy the conversation. Uh, we're glad you're here, and please share and share again, and share some more. And if you haven't already, subscribe. We'll be having another chat and another cup soon. We'll talk to you then. Look forward to seeing you.