Issue #3 -- Bros Is Not In It

In this issue, Jonah and Lucas crack each other up with discussions about the new movie "Project Hail Mary", some TV shows they're watching, and two new albums from February, as well as last month's releases of Absolute Batman, Infernal Hulk, and Chip Zdarsky's Captain America! Thanks for listening!

This episode is dedicated to Wesley, the sweetest and most handsome cat ever to grace this world with his presence. He will live on in our hearts and minds, as well as through the memories we have of him, and the good times we are lucky enough to have the opportunity to create through this podcast.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:02

Hello, everybody. Hello, everybody. Welcome to Wesley's Pop Culture Club, formerly known as Wesley Entertainment Company. My name is Lucas. And my name is Jonah. And we are your hosts here. Basically, what we are is an entertainment discussion podcast of sorts. Today we're going to talk about some movie stuff, some music stuff, some comic book stuff. And if you're wondering how you found us and you need a refresher, we are available anywhere. You get podcasts that include Spotify, Apple Podcasts, possibly by now Amazon Music. I'm still not sure. We might just be submitted on there, but chances are you're on one of the other ones. By a thread. We release an audio only one and we also have a video one. Why? I don't know. No, I do know. I do know. It's because YouTube is just part of the uh podcast release um website that I've got to subscribe to. So whenever we put an episode out, the audio automatically goes up on YouTube. We do the videos separately. That's its own thing. It's a little bit more involved because we edit the film, the film, the film. We're recording on film. Yeah, we're using film. That's why it looks so good. And then we throw that on there. So yeah. Wherever you want to listen to us, you can.

SPEAKER_04 2:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 2:09

Jonah, how are you doing today?

SPEAKER_00 2:10

I'm I'm doing pretty good, man. Pretty good? Yeah. I uh yeah, thank you.

SPEAKER_03 2:14

Good, man.

SPEAKER_00 2:14

Doing good. Glad to hear it. Happy to be here. Happy to do our third issue. Issue number three. Issue number three, man. We are cranking them out. Cranking them. Just get them in the print and press. Let's get them rolling out. One after the other. Right. It's been flying by. It has been so far. Yeah, it's been going fast. Actually, uh, like from this one, the past one to this one felt like really fast.

SPEAKER_03 2:38

Yeah. For me as well.

SPEAKER_00 2:40

Yeah. So uh it's been crazy.

SPEAKER_03 2:43

Good. Um, so we're gonna get into it here, but before we do, um I have an announcement to make. Uh, listeners to the show will know that we are, we have been, and our new name also is currently uh after my cat Wesley. He's featured on my shirt, so if you're on the YouTube, maybe you can see that. Maybe not. Anyways, there he is. Um, we are saddened to announce that Wesley has passed this past week. Um he uh he was a good dude. Um he was a bright light in this in this dark world, and uh he uh he positively impacted the lives of everybody who was lucky enough to have met him. And uh he's on to bigger and better things now, and uh I'm excited to have an opportunity to kind of uh immortalize him in a way through this podcast and good times with my buddy Jonah.

SPEAKER_04 3:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:48

Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 3:48

So that's what we're gonna do.

SPEAKER_00 3:50

Yeah, we yeah. He was uh I just want to add, yeah, he was like you said, that was really beautiful, and uh he yeah, he was just just a little sweet guy, you know. And um I'm gonna miss him too. So he was a good a good dude.

SPEAKER_03 4:05

Um alright. So let's get into the fun stuff. Um we're gonna talk about uh our movie for the month, and also um we're gonna kind of combine things, combine segments here. Last month, oh by the way, this is important to note. Uh these issues drop on the last Friday of every month. Um so if you're listening to this on the day it came out, it's March 27th, right now, I think. Oh, yeah. Um it is the 27th. Yeah. So uh but so last month we did a we did uh we introduced a new segment called Lucas's Book Corner. That's going to be an ongoing thing, trying to read a book a month. So I kind of uh I combined our movie and book corner for this month because the book that I read is what the movie that we saw is based on. And if you're if you're if you've listened to issue two, and also if you're uh watching our video, you can see already in Jonah's in Jonah's side here. We've got the poster up, and I got that book over here on my side.

SPEAKER_00 5:13

We are talking Project Hail Hail Mary. That's fun to do.

SPEAKER_03 5:22

All right. So uh this movie is based on a book, as I've said, by Andy Weir, who also wrote The Martian, and another book called Artemis, which I know nothing about because there isn't a movie about it yet. Exactly. Um yeah, this movie stars Ryan Gosling and Sandra Huller. Um I'm guessing that's how you pronounce that.

SPEAKER_00 5:51

Yeah, I'm gonna guess that too.

SPEAKER_03 5:53

Um yeah, and uh let's get into it, Jonah. Yeah. What uh overall, what did you think about this movie?

SPEAKER_00 6:00

Dude, I loved this movie, it was so fun. I thought it was uh really light and um a lot of positive messages um in a bleak situation. So I thought it was really funny. And Ryan Gosling, this is maybe my favorite performance of him.

SPEAKER_03 6:22

Okay, nice.

SPEAKER_00 6:23

I've seen I've seen a couple of his actually now, like maybe four or something like that. Okay. Um I thought this was his funniest one. Wow, yeah. I wanted to talk to you about that. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 6:34

Oh, also, sorry, yeah, sorry to cut you off here. Uh blanket, spoiler alert for everything, everything contained here in. We're gonna cover it.

SPEAKER_00 6:45

Yeah. Yeah, wow. Snug. Yeah, I feel warm now. All right, yeah. There it is.

SPEAKER_03 6:50

You've been warned. Okay, you've been fair warned. If you continue to listen and get mad, it's on you. Yes. Well said.

SPEAKER_00 6:58

Okay, so um you were saying, yeah, I liked um so kind of overall. Um I'll give kind of like a maybe a brief synopsis, but essentially, well, and I'm oh man, maybe maybe maybe you should do this because you're you know more. I'll I'll try to do it, I guess, best I can. But um basically, like in 30 years, um, is it everybody is going to die on Earth or just a quarter of the population?

SPEAKER_03 7:25

I think it's not everybody, but just a quarter of the thing. I think it's about a quarter, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:31

But like over time, though, more and more yeah. So it's kind of like uh inevitable. Yeah that so like that's kind of the situation. So like a quarter of the folks are gonna die in like 30 years, and there's some stuff happening in space um that's creating this effect that's basically it's cooling the sun. Yeah, correct?

SPEAKER_03 7:49

It's basically a a parasite that's eating the sun, sort of yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:55

Really interesting idea. Because I read The Martian, I know you've read The Martian, and we both saw Oh no, you haven't read The Martian. You saw the movie though, you saw the movie, that's what it was. Um so okay, yeah, interesting. I I'd like to read it though. Yeah, if you wanna if you want to borrow mine, it's oh hell yeah. I got it. Yeah. But there's a lot of uh like a ton of science related talk in that book. Yeah. And um, I know you're in this one there is as well that you had said, but um uh so that's a cool backstory, and then yeah, basically so like he Ryan Gosling's character, um um what is his name? Grace.

SPEAKER_03 8:33

Dr.

SPEAKER_00 8:33

Ryland. Ryland Grace, yeah. He uh is like sent into space with two other astronauts, but it's a one-way trip.

SPEAKER_03 8:42

Right.

SPEAKER_00 8:43

So that's sort of the bleak and the the uh I don't know, kind of the bleakness of it. And so that's kind of like the setup, and uh in the process of all of that, some interesting things happen. I would say so. I would agree. So and yeah, that and then the whole journey is really cool. The ending is pretty interesting too. Um but what about you? I wanna, yeah, what do you think about it?

SPEAKER_03 9:09

I thought it was great, yeah. Okay, yeah. I was really into it. Um I like so the the book took me about like about a month. Like I'm trying to read a book a month, so I set aside enough time that it took me pretty much exactly a month to read it. And uh I noticed like probably like 20 minutes into the movie, because the book, like this was an experience that I was on for a month, you know. So to see it kind of unfold in two and a half hours after those first 20 minutes, I was like, boy, we are flying through this thing. And it really felt like um they were hitting so basically, like the way the story unfolds, both in the movie and in the book, is uh Ryland Grace wakes up in space from a coma that he's been in for like three years, three or four years, and he does not remember anything. He doesn't know who he is, um he doesn't know why he's in space, he doesn't know why he's in a different solar system. Um and so basically he he sort of unlocks memories as he goes, and um it seemed like the movie went real hard at the beginning with the flashbacks to get you kind of caught up, which I think was a good call because like uh you need to know like the movie has to I was telling saying this the other day, like the movie has to get to the problem to then you know the then the rising action can happen and then like you it's just that's just like you gotta keep people engaged, you know. Sure. And I feel like a book can kind of take its time more so to get because it kind of seemed like in the book, like for the few first few chapters, like at the end of every chapter, he makes some discovery that kind of propels things, like he realizes that he's in space, then he remembers that he's a school teacher, and then he realizes that he's not looking at his son, like the star through the through the cameras on the ship. He figures out that he's in a completely different solar system. Um so and then it kind of goes from there, but overall, yeah, I thought I thought this movie was a fantastic adaptation, is really emotionally driven, which uh you mentioned science. That seems to be Andy Weir's thing. Like he seems to be really into like speculative sci-fi kind of so he like he came up with this thing that eats the sun, right? Really cool idea, super cool, yeah. And uh now the sun's going out, we have all these climate issues to worry about. So we're gonna send people into space because they find out that another sun has been infected but is not dimming. So they send Ryland there to figure out why and maybe find an answer that can help save the earth. Um but along the way in the book there's all this math, and and it's not like it's not boring by any means, but it's just a lot of explaining things. Um is helpful as a reader. And I feel like the movie may be focused more on like emotional impact rather than spend a bunch of time explaining like here's what we're doing and why, and here's the math behind it, you know. Because like you have the added benefit in the book of being inside Ryland Grace's head, you know. And a movie just doesn't have that, like uh the ability to like go there. I mean, I guess they could have done like a narration thing, but that's kind of like hokey, I think. I don't know. I think it it was really uh a good choice to do that, because then like certain sequences like stand out more. Um but yeah, I don't what what are your thoughts on that?

SPEAKER_00 13:05

I think that's a really good point. Um, like I feel like that's why I liked the movie was the emotionality of it, kinda like you just said. Um because I I there is a part of me that's like I never really was into sci-fi movies as a kid.

SPEAKER_01 13:20

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 13:21

Um and I think like this for me works because of Ryan Gosling's acting because he's like I maybe it's because I, you know, I we just saw him as Ken and Barbie, you know, or maybe that was actually two years ago now, but you know, and I just know him from doing kind of funnier stuff. Um, and so I'm like, okay, this is probably gonna be a little funny. And uh and it was, and um uh he yeah, I think there was a lot of relatable elements like to his character, but also probably in the way that he portrays it. Just like you know, he's a school teacher, you know, he's kind of down on his luck because he was out ousted from the scientific community from the stance that he made. So now he's kind of like a school teacher, but he's kind of like in the shadows, it feels like. And you could tell he likes being he loves being a teacher. Um, but he's kind of you know, the world's kind of beaten him up. So that's kind of like relatable, you know, and uh on his journey into space, he kind of has to like face some of his personal demons, his his things, and he meets uh so like probably one of my favorite parts of the movie is he meets an alien friend in space. Um his name is Rocky Rocky, and he's basically like a rock spider dog kind of guy. But how I I just thought like that must have been so cool to read that, like when they meet and yeah, yeah. How was how was that kind of when they meet and their interactions?

SPEAKER_03 14:53

It was very cool, yeah. It was definitely um I didn't know like really anything. I guess the like synopsis on the back of the book kind of hints that he's not as alone as he seems to be after waking up to find his only two dead companions, you know, or only two companions have died on the trip. Um and so I I guess I knew something was coming, and they kind of did give it away a little bit in the trailer um for the movie. Yeah, you're right.

SPEAKER_00 15:24

Yeah, the tep tep.

SPEAKER_03 15:26

Yeah. So it was like um, it was interesting. I feel like in the movie he does a little bit more uh like at first, he's like, Nope, nope, nope, nope. And he tries to like get away from the ship and Rocky's ship just keeps following him. In the book, I think it was like he had like a minute of that where he was like, They might try to eat my face, but they also might have information on this thing. Like, we might be here for the same reason. So he's like, if there's even a slim chance that that's what's happening, I need to somehow establish contact. Which is eventually where he ends up in the movie. But it was like they added like a little bit of like uh more like comedy to it, which I thought the movie that was another thing the movie did really well. Is like the book is pretty funny, like Rocky is a pretty sassy he's a sastronaut, and uh and uh I I feel like the movie emphasized that a lot. Um I will say I have one criticism about this movie, and I talked with you about it as we were leaving, I think. Um oh, the the heating's coming on.

SPEAKER_00 16:38

Lucas has a great heater here.

SPEAKER_03 16:40

I really do. It's amazing, it's nonstop, it's uh it's never broken on me. Um when it's cold out, it makes me warm. Yeah, knock on wood. Yeah, knock on wood. Yeah. Um, but yeah, I felt like um the movie does this thing where so in the book, like basically Ryland discovers that Rocky speaks through like musical chords, pretty much. Like really cool, and so he develops like a kind of software to like translate, uh, and he has like a giant spreadsheet for like what certain chords mean in Rocky's language, and then over time he just learns the noises, like he just gets better at at speaking or like hearing the language and understanding it. And in the movie, he did this thing where he he gave him like a human voice as like a part of the translator thing, and um it felt to me like one of the things that I liked the most about the book is like is like reading Rocky's dialogue and like kind of putting your your own interpretation on like his intonations and stuff, like the way he speaks. Um I liked that a lot, and I felt like I felt like giving him a human voice kind of detracted a little bit from like I I still think the one that they settled on was like really funny, and it got it gets the the point of across, but like I don't know. I think I think maybe uh in my head, I guess when I was picturing the movie, I was like, they're probably just gonna subtitle him, and then it'll be like noises, you know. Yeah, um, and I felt like maybe leaving that open to people's interpretation would have been like a little bit I don't know, I don't even know if it would have been funnier or like or what, but I think I don't know. I don't know. For me, that's like that's just where I'm coming from, I guess. On it. I still I still enjoyed the voice that they settled on, and it was it was great, but like yeah, I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 18:53

I think yeah, I get what you're saying. It might have like maybe it would have felt like truer to the story world.

SPEAKER_03 18:58

Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:59

If they yeah, yeah, I feel like because I when you when we talked about that after the movie, like I was like, oh, that actually probably would have pretty cool. Um so I I would I would agree with that too. I I thought it was there was a funny scene where they're picking which voice they want to use for him and they like cycled through a couple of them, and there's one with Meryl Streep. Yeah, and then and then Grace is like, God, she can do anything. Everybody laughed in the theater, too.

SPEAKER_03 19:27

That was a good one. I uh I don't know what I was expecting, but that was her.

SPEAKER_00 19:32

That was her, yeah. That was really cool.

SPEAKER_03 19:34

I was I was like when the credits rolled, I saw her name and I was like, oh my god, they actually got Meryl Street. But like what how else would they have done that? You know? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:43

I figured I didn't even look in the credits, but I because it sounded like her, but that's cool that you like confirmed it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 19:49

That was her.

SPEAKER_00 19:51

I um I loved there's like kind of two other scenes specifically that I loved. But um I I really liked for as far as the comedy element again. Um there's a scene where Ryland is like, like basically, so the um there's a lady who works with the government who's kind of like a part of like all of the governments, it sounds like in the world, and they're kind of like trying to work, they are working together to uh you know go to that other son and collect the sample and everything like that. So they're getting this team. So they basically just like take Grace, and but uh he had also was kind of like, alright, like I'm kind of interested. Yeah, how do I like how do we uh move forward? And there's this scene where she's like, like, get on this jet. So they just like get him on this jet, and they're like it's it's so funny because he's just like like she gives him these pills, he's like, Oh, I don't want to take these, and the the whole jet sequence is like two minutes, it's really fast, but it just shows him and he's like, oh, and he's like, he's so uncomfortable, and he's trying to swallow a whole bunch of pills, and he's like just chucking them in the like four of them, yeah, at his face, and he's like missing, and you could tell he like hates it, and that that thing made me laugh for like minutes. Yeah, like I love that thing. Yeah, you were just I kind of lost it a little bit. Yeah, I don't know why. I there's just something like part of it, like part of it is Ryan Gosling, like kind of reminds me of my brother, like he looks like him, yeah. And so, and my brother is like he can be like goofy like that, so it reminds me of him, and then um, but I love how again, like how the character and the actor he can so easily go from really funny and deadpan to like science and seriousness, yeah. And like he just goes like that in this movie a lot, which was like made it pretty entertaining, I think, for me.

SPEAKER_03 21:45

Yeah, he did he did a great job. Yeah, it was awesome. And then what was the what was the your other one?

SPEAKER_00 21:50

Yeah, my other one was uh that scene where they are in I think it's Adrian, okay, yeah. That other planet, and they're trying to collect was that the what was It called the Predator? Oh, Tao Meeba. Tao Meeba. Okay. Is that the is that predator? Was that a different thing, or is that like the name that like Tao Mebeba is the it is?

SPEAKER_03 22:10

Yeah. He gave it that name because it's uh like a like from the an organism from the Tao Seti system. So he just called it Tao Meeba. Tao Seti is like the sun there. Oh, yeah, that's right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:22

I I didn't follow all these names to be honest. Yeah. There's a lot. There's a lot of names. But uh where he is like out of the ship, he's in a spacesuit, and it just goes like all red and black. Yeah. And there's like in like it just looks so cool. Yeah. But uh it actually made me pretty emotional. I didn't talk about this earlier because um it reminded me of as a kid when we went to Disney World, uh Space Mountain. Oh yeah, yeah, and so there's like some scenes in there. I just remember there's like a hallway that you would walk through in that ride where there's like all these cool lights, and I feel like there's like the red and black at some point.

SPEAKER_02 23:00

Right.

SPEAKER_00 23:00

It just reminded me of like being a kid, and there's a moment in the movie where Grace kind of like uh he stops talking to Rocky, like they're communicating to each other, and Rocky's like, What's going on? He's like, uh I'm just having a moment. Yeah, he's like kind of and taking it in. So um that was yeah, that was my other one.

SPEAKER_03 23:18

Yeah, the visuals in this movie are gorgeous, yeah, super gorgeous. Um yeah, I wanted to like quickly touch on the a scene that follows that one when he does the the EVA when he's outside, he does a spacewalk to like they're basically they're trying to collect a sample from this planet which he has named Adrian because they named it after Rocky's mate on his home planet, but obviously Grace doesn't have a word for that, so he's like, Your name's Rocky, your mate is Adrian, which is hilarious. Um and so they're collecting this thing that they think can sort of it's a it basically it hunts the thing that's killing the sun, that's draining the sun's energy back in his solar system and Rocky's solar system. Um so they find this predator thing and they want to collect a sample of it, but they can't go like too close to the planet or else they'll the orbit of their ship will decay and they'll crash into it and they can't handle the atmosphere. So they drop this giant thing, like a huge in the book it's like it's like ten kilometers, and they have to make all these links of chain. Oh my gosh, that's how long the chain would be. Yeah, I think it was something like that. And uh so basically they make this giant fishing rod kind of thing, like a line basically, and like they attach this thing to the end of it that can collect this sample, and then they reel it up, and then Ryland has to get it back into the ship, and all sorts of shit goes wrong while he's out there and he's falling around. Um, and then there was a point, and then he gets back in the ship, and he has to like there's a hole in two of his fuel bays, so he has to like jettison them into space. Oh my gosh, yeah. And then at that point, the gravity is so intense inside the ship that he's like pinned down in his chair to the monitors in the control room, and while this is happening, they like they show you like a shot from outside the ship and they're just spinning, yeah, and they cut the audio for like maybe it felt like 30 seconds, yeah, really long. It felt so long, and everyone in the theater was just like holding their breath. Yeah, I my palms were so sweaty, it was insane. And I like I knew I knew it was gonna happen, yeah, but I was still so stressed. Like, oh my gosh, it was crazy.

SPEAKER_00 25:51

That's great cinema, right there.

SPEAKER_03 25:52

Yeah, oh my god. It was phenomenal. Um but yeah, that was just another thing I wanted to comment on. And yes, uh, I really overall the suspense, the like you said, the emotionality of it, it's all like really well done. Um it's it's kind of like a space buddy comedy.

SPEAKER_00 26:12

It is.

SPEAKER_03 26:15

Yeah, yeah. Um yeah, I don't what what do you think?

SPEAKER_00 26:19

I think I might, and now to kind of on the other side, my only dislike was that it felt kind of long. Like towards the end, I think it was like two and a half hours we said, or like a little over two and a half hours. Yeah. Um I think man, that like the first um the first like two thirds is like awesome. Like I was like, yeah, I wasn't even I was very engaged. I was like, I love this. And then there's a couple, I think a couple things kind of where they like, we're gonna go. Like uh Rocky's like, I'm gonna help you get home, and he's like, Oh my god, yes. He like changes his mind, or he's like, he's like, okay, I'm excited to go home. And then he goes home, he tries to go home, and then he realizes Rocky's gonna be unsafe. Yeah, so then he goes back for Rocky, um, which actually I I mean I like that idea. Yeah, I mean it's a great idea. Um, but there was um I guess like there were some times towards the end in the latter third that felt a little long.

SPEAKER_03 27:16

Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:16

Is kind of what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_03 27:18

Yeah, I honestly like by that time, like by the time he woke up to the warning sound and like realized that so what happens is like the tao meeba eats its way through the container that he has it stored in and it gets into um all of his uh astrophage, which is the thing that is eating the sun, and he needs it to get home. So like he has enough fuel either to get home or to go save Rocky, but he realizes that Rocky's gonna be unsafe. So he decides to save Rocky and send back these things called the Beatles to Earth, which just have all the information that he's gathered and they have like Tao Meeba samples in them. So he sends those back and he goes to save Rocky. I thought, because by that, by the time that happens, there's only like maybe 15 minutes left in the movie. I I genuinely thought they cut it because I thought they were changing the ending and just sending him home because it felt like it felt to me like the movie was wrapping up. I agree with that, yeah. And so I was like, oh, I wonder if they're not going to do that. Because that is how it happens in the book. He ends up on Rocky's home planet and lives out his days there, um, which is what happens in the movie, but at the movie it felt like it did feel like it had been going on for a while, and then that part just happened, and it felt it actually like to me that part felt really quick because like he just kind of shows up at the ship, Rocky comes out and is happy to see him, and then they kind of cut from there, and like then they just have everything figured out on their own.

SPEAKER_00 28:59

On his planet then, yeah. Yeah, I think that was like the only because the movie is like like kind of a 10 out of 10 for me, like at that point, and um, and it just was like a like a little kind of took me out a little bit, but um, I still give it a four out of four if I'm doing the Roger Ebert uh scoring. Nice, which you are I like to I usually do that. I like Roger Ebert, so I like it. Alright. Well, how you how do you feel? I feel great, man. I think that was that's a wrap on that. Cool. Yeah, let's wrap it up. Let's wrap it up, man.

SPEAKER_03 29:34

Uh this has been Project Hail Mary with Jonah and Lucas in Wesley's Pop Culture Club. Um, just so everybody knows, next month our movie that we're going to discuss is going to be Super Mario Galaxy Movie. Woohoo!

unknown 29:59

Woo!

SPEAKER_03 30:00

Which we were just talking about is the most insane name for a movie. It is. Because bros is not in it. Bros is not in it. And movie is in the name. Yeah. Which any movie with movie in the name is gonna be nuts.

SPEAKER_00 30:16

It's yeah, it's gonna be it's gonna be just crazy rambunctious, wild. Um dude, I was looking the like the colors on it, like on the movie poster, look yeah just incredible. Like the colors is like so eye-popping. Like I feel like the majority of the demographic watching this will be under 12.

SPEAKER_03 30:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:39

And I'm I'm not quite there yet, but you will be one day. But I will be one day. Yeah. And uh, but yeah.

SPEAKER_03 30:46

They gotta they gotta keep it vibrant, you know? They keep people's eyes engaged.

SPEAKER_00 30:50

Did you I want to ask you this? Did you play a lot of Mario growing up?

SPEAKER_03 30:56

Not really. Uh here and there, like the regular like side scrolling, like Super Mario Bros. Um I think I had a Wii game, but I can't remember which one. And um now I just play party a lot. Oh my gosh, yes. We gotta do that again. Yeah, so fun. I played some Mario Kart and I'm like decent at it. Cardi. Yeah. Mario Kart. Mario Karty B.

SPEAKER_00 31:26

That's a good crossover that they somebody needs to do if it hasn't been done yet. You should really capitalize on that. Yeah. Maybe she could be a character in a game. That should probably happen, you know. Probably. And we need a cut of that. Yeah. Like I'm talking eighty percent. Yeah, probably at least. Yeah, something like that would probably be good. It seems fair. That's not much to ask for. No. Yeah. But no.

SPEAKER_03 31:49

80% of sales. No. Of all sales. I think that's good. Oh yeah. Alright, so yeah, if you want to watch along and uh hear our comments on that next month, uh, you got a lot of time, because that one comes out April 1st. And we won't be putting out our next episode probably until oh boy, what even is the last day in April?

SPEAKER_00 32:15

Last Friday is the 24th.

SPEAKER_03 32:18

Yeah, so you got like three weeks.

SPEAKER_00 32:20

We got time, man. Go see it. Yeah, just go see that one. Go see it. And also see Project Hail Mary if you haven't seen it yet.

SPEAKER_03 32:27

Do that first, actually. Yeah. And then you'll be like then you'll be like, oh, I've heard all I know what happens because these two idiots spoiled it.

SPEAKER_00 32:36

But we warned you. We gave you the blanket, right? We did. We gave ourselves the blanket. I'm still snug. Yeah, I'm snug as a bug in the rug. People know. Yeah, they they know. But um go I'll just say this. Okay. Go see every movie. Wow. Then you're safe. That's in the theater or of all time? All time. Wow. Where can I go to do that? Computer. Computer? Computer. Okay. Is that a city or yeah. Oh wow. Okay. Is that near us?

unknown 33:10

No.

SPEAKER_00 33:11

How far away is that? It's on the moon. Oh my, is there astrophage there? Yeah. How long do we have? It's eating chunks of the moon like cheese. The moon is cheese, guys. Oh well it's a grommet. Yeah. It's from we we all know that. We know that one. Yeah, we know that. Yeah. That it is. They set up a little picnic. Yeah, and then they're like, cut some cheese, man. We used to uh we used to remember we watched that movie, me and my sister, we would uh like just cut up cheese and like microwave it and put it on, or like with crackers, put it on the cracker, microwave it and just eat that while watching the movie. That's awesome. Yes, I love the story. All right. So our net let's we'll do we're gonna do uh we're gonna do like a TV show kind of quick plug. Yeah. Just stuff that we're both watching. Um, because we're gonna we're gonna go along with our visual media kind of spectrum that we're on right now. So um so what uh what TV show are you watching?

SPEAKER_03 34:10

Well just watched. As folks know who have listened to the first two issues of this wonderful show, uh I've been watching Primal season three as it comes out. Um and they just wrapped up last weekend.

SPEAKER_04 34:29

They just finished.

SPEAKER_03 34:31

Yeah. Actually, by the time this comes out, it will have been like two weeks ago. But semantics. It just ended.

SPEAKER_00 34:38

Um is this I have a quick question. Are we in the future right now?

SPEAKER_03 34:41

Or we are when we record these, we go forward, and as soon as we hit stop, we go back to where we were.

SPEAKER_00 34:50

Oh, okay, okay. That's why this is so fun, because we're right now, we're in the future right now.

SPEAKER_03 34:55

Yeah, we know a lot of things that are gonna happen in the next few days. Yeah. But some of them are really bad. Some of them are really bad.

SPEAKER_00 35:04

Yeah. But there's like a couple there's a couple good things.

SPEAKER_03 35:06

Uh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:07

Yeah, there's a couple. Yeah. We can't talk about any of that though.

SPEAKER_03 35:10

No, I think we'll get in trouble.

SPEAKER_00 35:11

Yeah. Yeah. By by a lot of people. Yeah. But uh I don't want to upset them. Yeah. Yeah.

unknown 35:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:20

What's uh Sandra Houler's character's name in the Ava Stratt. Ava Stratt. Okay. She's gonna be one of them. She's in uh she's the government head boss in Project Hail Mary. Yeah, I'm not fucking you don't want to mess with her. She is crazy. But she also is saying that that was a Harry Sty, I think it was Harry Styles. That was really cool. That was cool. That was cool. But anyways, to get to get back on track. Yes. So um I also uh no I'm gonna stay focused. Okay. Um I was gonna say, I've never listened to a podcast where they a complete where they get off track. Have you listened to one? I think that yeah, I don't think so. Yeah, I have. You have? Yeah. I think we're I think we're gonna be we're gonna fall prey to that. But we'll be the first one that has done it.

SPEAKER_03 36:11

Yeah. Well, we haven't done it yet.

SPEAKER_00 36:14

No.

SPEAKER_03 36:15

All of this is scripted, by the way.

SPEAKER_00 36:17

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 36:18

So even this, it is all of it. Yeah, all of this is. It's all scripted. Um, so primal's been really good this this year. Yeah. Uh um that's good. I'm actually thinking pretty soon, possibly next issue, we may have a special guest who would love the chance to talk about their experience with Primal and uh what the show has meant to them. We can't reveal anything. That's as clear as I'm gonna make it. Yes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:50

That's pretty murky.

SPEAKER_03 36:51

It's okay. All right. Yeah. All right. But I like that. It's a little bit opaque. Yeah. But uh, you know, I don't like to give too much away.

SPEAKER_00 37:01

I respect that. So um I have a question. Yeah. Is Primal is that the series finale, or just for right now? I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 37:09

I felt like they were done after season two, and then there was like a long gap. I think it was like almost four years between seasons two and three. And uh so yeah, I don't I I have no idea. It seems like they could be done if they wanted to, and I'd be okay with it. Wow. Well, I wasn't expecting this one, you know. So like anything else is kind of just a gift, really. But um if they want to do more, I'll watch it. I'll eat that right up. Wow.

SPEAKER_00 37:42

Just any bites or just straight up. No, this is like just give it to me. Just so is it a gas? Just you're like, is it gaseous?

unknown 37:55

Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 37:57

Basically, they put it out, they deliver it to me in one of those fancy trays with the lid. Okay. They open it up and I just waft it. This is still scripted. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 38:12

All right, I'm gonna I'm gonna go to the next one. What have you been watching? So I've been watching the Scrubs reboot. Whoa! Oh my gosh! The Scrubs Reboot.

SPEAKER_03 38:21

Yeah, the Scrubs. Do they wear boot? Do they wear boots?

SPEAKER_00 38:26

Uh uh No, they don't wear boots. Oh but uh so uh I really like Scrubs. I I have watched like back in the day when they were when they had it on, I had I had watched like a little bit of it here and there when I was younger, and I just thought it was so funny. Um I never watched like the whole thing in its entirety.

SPEAKER_03 38:46

So this is a show that previously aired. This isn't just a new show that's called the Scrubs Reboot.

SPEAKER_00 38:53

Correct. Okay, yes.

SPEAKER_03 38:55

Good to know.

SPEAKER_00 38:55

That's you know, that's a you know, a common thing, a common confusion about that.

SPEAKER_03 39:00

Yeah. I was confused.

SPEAKER_00 39:01

Yeah. I still am a little bit. You are a little bit. Yeah. Well, I'll try to go in depth a little bit more. So um it happened. I think it was like uh see, I did this last time where I guessed and I was way off. So it happened years ago. And then uh, but now it's come back, but it has a lot of the original cast, which is really cool.

SPEAKER_02 39:20

Okay, cool.

SPEAKER_00 39:20

And then I I just so right now they released, I think they're done with episode four. Uh it's coming out weekly Wednesdays on ABC at like seven. It's also on Hulu the next day. Nice, yeah. But I think that it's just uh I've liked it, like seeing it now as I'm older. It's really funny, it's very topical um about just current trends and like cultural stuff. Um, but it's also very like thought-provoking. It's about like you know, since they're in the hospital, there's like usually someone who's dying or like dealing with a serious thing, and they they have like a good lesson about it at the end, and it um yeah, I just like JD and Turk are the main two guys, and their chemistry is awesome. And it I just I feel like reboots, it's hard to stay true to the original and create your own thing. And um and I feel like they're doing that, so nice. I'm gonna I'm gonna continue to watch it.

SPEAKER_03 40:20

Cool. And maybe who knows? Maybe I'll watch some and then maybe we can maybe we can talk about it together like next month or something.

SPEAKER_00 40:30

I think that that's a real possibility that could happen. Good to know. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 40:36

Um cool. Yeah. Well, I'm glad you're enjoying Scrubs the reboot. The Scrubs Reboot.

SPEAKER_00 40:42

The Scrubs Reboot. Wait, I want to I want to be clear. I don't I think it's it's just Scrubs.

SPEAKER_03 40:49

Oh. Hey, what I said before about me maybe tuning in. I think I'm gonna nix it now.

SPEAKER_00 41:00

Yeah, yeah. See, that's what's interesting though, is that I wonder if you like Wikipedia did, which I could do because I have a computer in front of me. Yeah, it's but I don't really want to. A lot of work. It'll the original is called Scrubs. I wonder if this new one is called Scrubs and it just has like 2026, or if it's something or if it's maybe the reboot after that. Scrubs volume two. Yes. See, that would make sense. That would make sense to us. To us, yeah. To comic book uh nerds.

SPEAKER_03 41:27

Nerd?

SPEAKER_00 41:28

What? Oh, okay, I'll speak for myself. Me? I'm a nerd. Yeah, you are.

unknown 41:36

All right.

SPEAKER_00 41:37

You're like a like a really jock kind of guy. Yeah. That's right. You're like the biggest jock I know.

SPEAKER_03 41:43

I'm out here just running laps, yeah, lifting so many weights, yes, and just making this noise all the time. Yeah, you do you do like to make that noise. Yeah. Yeah. Basically, like if you're wondering what's under this sweatshirt, which I have been for a long time, but a lot of people do. Yeah. Yeah. It's just like it's like Bruce Banner's alter ego, the Hulk, under there. Yeah. Are you is it green? Yeah. Wow. Sadly, it is I I regret to inform you it is green. So are you okay? You okay, man? Or no, I've been doing real bad. I got some real bad news from the doctor, uh, but I don't know. I don't want to go into it. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 42:34

Uh this is our escapist podcast. Yeah. So we'll we'll go back to that. We'll push that aside. Yeah. But it's bad. It's bad. It's pretty dire. Yeah. Um okay. Music. Music. Music is next. Music. Music. Blues music. Um okay, so we got we got picked out, we got picked out two albums here. We got two. We got picked out two albums here. I wanted to get him on it. I had to get you on that. Oh gosh. Okay. So we picked out, we got two albums here. And uh dude, okay. So you want to lead us off with your album pick?

SPEAKER_03 43:25

Yes. Okay. Okay, so yeah, we each picked an album. This is kind of how we're gonna do this. And I think uh did did you intentionally make yours newer? Are you trying to do newer stuff pretty consistently? Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_00 43:40

I liked your idea last time you said you went on Wikipedia, just found like newest albums, which dude, I've never done that. I didn't know that existed. Oh, yeah. Thank you. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 43:49

Because it's so nice to see it's comprehensive, it's all there, and then you can just kind of you know, pick what sounds good to you. Yeah. Um, we're gonna we're gonna Try and keep this pretty recent. Yeah, I like that. So the album that I chose came out a month ago today, because again, we are in the future. Oh, you're right. It came out on February 27th of 2026, and this album is called Nothing's About to Happen to Me by Mitskey. Um Mitskey is an indie rocker who's been a concern for a while. A concern? A concern, yeah. What do you mean?

SPEAKER_04 44:33

Concern.

SPEAKER_03 44:36

An outfit.

SPEAKER_04 44:37

Oh, okay, okay.

SPEAKER_00 44:38

And we're and we're concerned about her. Yeah, like she's doing some maybe questionable.

unknown 44:43

I'm just kidding.

SPEAKER_04 44:45

I'm just kidding.

SPEAKER_03 44:47

We don't know anything about it. No, we don't know anything.

SPEAKER_00 44:50

I don't know anything. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 44:52

Uh this is Mitsuki's eighth album, and it was released through Dead Oceans, uh, who is also home to some bands like Japanese Breakfast, Crungbin, Slowdive, Wednesday, Phoebe Bridgers, etc. So these this is a stacked record label here.

SPEAKER_00 45:12

Stacking.

SPEAKER_03 45:13

Uh, this album was produced by Patrick Hyland, and the album art was done by Mark Burkhart. And I say that I mentioned the album art because I I like it, it's got a little cat, it's got a white cat on it, different colored eyes. Yes. And uh actually, so like I've been just streaming it. Like I've just been listening to it in the car or like in the headphones or whatever. I don't have a physical copy, I should say. And the physical copies, there's more art on the cover. There's actually another cat, an orange cat, leaping at the other one. Dude, that changes a lot too much. A lot. Yeah. The whole vibe of the album is different. Um that's really cool, though. And actually the CD, the picture on the CD, like the disc itself, is just the orange cat.

SPEAKER_00 45:59

Really? Yeah. Okay, so that's kind of interesting. I know. I've never I don't know that I've ever seen that before. They like, yeah, they have probably been done, but so it's not yeah, not the cover art on the CD itself.

SPEAKER_03 46:09

Yeah. Yeah. It's interesting. It's different. But uh I like that it's like an extended edition of art. Um so, anyways, yeah, I just wanted to talk about this album because I've been a fan of Mitsky for a while. Like I say, she's been a concern for quite a quite a while. Quite a while. At least a decade. Did I say that already?

SPEAKER_00 46:30

Dude, um I don't think you said a decade, yeah. But you said she did eight out. This is her eighth album.

SPEAKER_03 46:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 46:35

So it's a lot, dude. I remember listening to Puberty 2, which I which that was 2016. So yeah, it's been over a decade.

SPEAKER_03 46:44

And I don't think that's her first. That wasn't.

SPEAKER_00 46:46

I think before it was like 2014 or something like that. Okay. Might have been her first.

SPEAKER_03 46:49

Nice. But yeah. Yeah. Um, so Jonah, did you listen to this album? I did listen to the album, yes. What did you think?

SPEAKER_00 46:58

Yeah, so I I liked it actually, I liked it overall. Um, I kind of we were talking about it the other day and I like revisited it again. Um I okay, so I I I just think like because I've listened to her before, and I, you know, I um back in the day I listened to her too when I was working at the radio station. I don't know if I ever told you that.

SPEAKER_03 47:17

Um I've never heard anything about that. No, you don't find a way to bring that up every time we hang out.

SPEAKER_00 47:23

No. No, this is no. Isn't this the first time? This is the first time. I've never heard anything about that. Oh, okay. Well, it was cool. That's it. Good. Um but um so okay, so I I I just think she is like she's an amazing songwriter. Like, she's like a genius to me. She's genius level. Um a lot of the songs are like this. Feels like Baroque pop to me.

SPEAKER_03 47:52

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 47:53

I was like, I want to try to yes, and I like I've never used that term in a music review or something, which I've not done a lot of. But uh it felt like because it's very like orchestral sounding. There's a lot of um, there's some violins, some strings, um, echoey sounds. Um, but like I was saying earlier, almost like I'm not gonna say every song because I don't remember each one specifically, but a lot of them are like this one sounds like this, this one sounds like this, there's like jazz over here, then there's Baroque over here, there's uh more orchestra over here. Right. I just feel like she is pretty far into her game, yeah. Um and so she like knows who she is, knows who her sound is, so that's I'm like that's awesome. Um I for me personally though, like I'm not gonna like go throw on a Mitsuki album just because I'm not like I like I kinda it's a little sometimes a little like depressing sounding for me. Yeah, and I'm not like sometimes I I just I don't want to like really listen to that.

SPEAKER_02 48:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 48:58

Um but I still yeah, I still think like it's very high quality, like a lot of what I listen to of hers is like really high quality.

SPEAKER_03 49:08

Yeah. What about you? I liked it, yeah. I uh I enjoyed it. I do agree. I think sometimes it uh takes on like a bit of a somber tone, kinda.

SPEAKER_00 49:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 49:20

Um but I mean I've kind of I have I feel like a lot of my like musical roots are kind of in like folky kind of stuff, and a lot of that stuff just by nature is kind of like about serious stuff or like personal trauma and yeah, stuff like that. Um so I mean it's not I do like I feel like as I age, I kind of have been getting into more like energetic stuff, you know. Um my favorite band now is King Gizzard, and yeah, they're just like non-stop. Yeah, but like I still sometimes I do like to go back to like that kind of folky, like um and this album isn't really like folky per se. It's it is more indie rock, but it kind of like like you were saying, it there's like orchestra stuff happening, there's some really cool piano at times, um, but there are some more like driving songs too. Like I I guess I mean like like faster-paced, sort of like upbeat, like like I think Where's My Phone? I think that's one of the singles. It is that's a really good song. Um and then another another one that stands out to me is That White Cat. Oh, yeah, I like that one too. I like that song. I think obviously any cat representation, you're winning points. And there's another song in the album that's just called Cats, I think. Yes, yeah. Um, but yeah, I think uh, like you were saying, she I feel like songwriting-wise is just top tier. Like I think she's fantastic. Um, there's a line on the album opener in a lake, where she says, uh, some days you just go the long way to stay off of memory lane.

SPEAKER_00 51:01

Oh yes. Yes, I remember that. That's an amazing line.

SPEAKER_03 51:05

That's a great line. Wow. Um, and then going back to that white cat, I just think this song is like lyrically really cool. Um, I was gonna I didn't specifically write them down, but they kind of are like the lyrics are kind of like cyclical in nature. Um like she's talking about this white cat in her neighborhood that's marking her house. She's like, it's supposed to be my house, but I guess according to cats, now it's his house. Um and then there's like there's a cool chorus, and then uh she gets into verse two. She says, Gotta go to work to pay for that cat's house. Uh for the red corseted wasp who lives in the roof, for the family of possums, for the bugs who drink my blood, and the birds who eat those bugs. Um then she says, so that white cat can kill the birds, and then goes back into another chorus. And it reminded me of this song by just the lyrics, I should say. Reminded me of this song by Harry Nilsson called Think About Your Troubles. Okay. Um, where he starts off like it's like uh actually the that song is in that movie Um If I Had Legs, I'd Kick You. Oh, yeah. Uh with Rose Byrne. Yeah, yeah. Um it's I think it's in the movie itself, but it's sung by like her daughter's character, and then over the credits they play it again, like that version. But basically the song is like it's also like really cyclical lyrically. Like it he's talking about uh sitting at the breakfast table thinking about your troubles, and then you pour yourself a cup of tea and think about the bubbles, and then it goes through this whole life cycle about how the water eventually goes to the ocean where it's eaten by fish, and those fish are swallowed by a whale who grows old and decomposes, and then he dies, leaves his body at the bottom of the ocean, so that its elements can give be given back to the ocean, and then there's salty water, which tastes just like a teardrop. So we run it through a filter and it comes out from a faucet, pours into a teapot, which is just about to bubble now. Like that one's a little bit more like goes farther out and comes back again. Yeah, but something about like uh the like circle of life kind of thing, yes, going it just reminded me of that. And I any excuse I get to think about that song, I'll take it. So it might sound a little far-fetched, but I love that song, and uh, I think That White Cat is probably my favorite song on the on the Mitsuki album. But wow, yeah, overall just uh a really solid album. Um I think the song Dead Women is also really good, and the lyrics are very poignant and uh yeah. I just overall uh another great album from the Long Time Concern Mitzke. Long time concern.

SPEAKER_00 54:05

I love that. I oh yeah, oh I was gonna say I loved I wanted to add, I also loved Where's My Phone? Yeah, um kind of going going back in time a little bit to that. Um I like how the swear word is bleeped out, which is really funny.

SPEAKER_03 54:20

I like that too.

SPEAKER_00 54:21

Yeah, and then I love there was a lyric in there. I keep thinking surely somebody will save me at every turn. I learned that no one will.

SPEAKER_03 54:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 54:29

And I was like, whoa.

SPEAKER_03 54:30

You know what that reminds me of?

SPEAKER_00 54:31

What's that?

SPEAKER_03 54:32

That song Parachute. Dude, yes, the one from last issue. The Haley Williams song.

SPEAKER_00 54:36

It is just like that. Yeah. Um, that's like a hard lesson, you know, a hard lesson to learn. And yeah, it's a good life lesson, though. Yeah. Um, but I yeah, it and man, the lyric that you said from that opening track is like wow, like yeah, incredible. Some good stuff. Yeah. But yeah, I I um yeah, I think anytime she makes something, it's gonna be good.

SPEAKER_03 54:59

Yeah, high quality. I'll be listening. Yeah. Um, all right, I'm gonna turn it over to you. What did you bring in for us today?

SPEAKER_00 55:07

I brought in um okay, I brought in singing to an empty chair by Rat Boys. Rat Boys! Rat Boys, yeah. So uh they I learned they're from Chicago, yeah. Which is awesome. Yeah, uh that is really cool. So I love that. Uh that this was released on February 6th of this year on New West Records, um, which I I like how I like how you looked up.

SPEAKER_03 55:35

I got a few.

SPEAKER_00 55:35

You okay. Who are some?

SPEAKER_03 55:36

From New West.

SPEAKER_00 55:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 55:37

So we got all them witches, Ben Folds. Oh, I got a question for you.

SPEAKER_00 55:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 55:43

Does Ben fold? He folds all the time. Yeah, he does. We got Caroline Rose, we got we got Drive By Truckers, Emily Lou Harris, Taj Mahal, Warren Zivon, etc. Nice. These are just the ones that I thought were standing out to me. People who I listen to a good deal. Um, and I think this is I think they moved to this label for this album. I think this is their first release on this label.

SPEAKER_00 56:11

I want to pull them up on my Spotify. Um Yeah, it said like on their thing, it was like okay. Actually, I don't I don't know. I can't comment on that, so I don't know. Um but that is cool, yeah, because that's like a bigger label, like or one that likes a little somewhat bigger, I should say. Um but yeah, and then it's 11 songs in like 50 minutes, I put. Um so I I really liked this album.

SPEAKER_03 56:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 56:38

Um, this was kind of more a little bit more my vibe where it was kind of like like fast, fun. Um just like I I always love like so it kind of felt it's kind of like garage rock, indie rock. Yeah, and there's a uh female singer, and she's so good.

SPEAKER_01 56:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 56:58

Um yeah, her voice is gorgeous. She's so amazing. Yeah, her voice is gorgeous. Um, Julia Steiner. I looked up her, look up she is. Um and man, but there's like so many tracks on here that are just bangers. Yeah, like there's there's a stretch where it's um we were both talking, we like the song Anywhere. Penny in the Lake. I think Penny in the Lake is my favorite one. That's a great one, yeah. It's so good. Uh also before that, Light Night Mountains, all that. Strange Love is really cool. So that like that's like numbers three through six. I think all those are really good. Um I feel like even the first song's really good. Open up. Oh yeah. But yeah, they they kind of I just like the it's for me, it's a lot of stuff that I really like. Like when I was like in college, like we would I would sometimes go to some uh like basement shows and this kind of reminded me of that where it's more like lo-fi, a little bit more like energy, um, a little more like uh like rough and stuff, yeah. And uh DIY sound. And this kind of also reminds me of like um like in like where I went to college in that like town, kind of there's like I said, like there's bands, there's a lot of bands that kind of sounded like that. So yeah, it's kind of like college rock, garage rock stuff.

SPEAKER_03 58:21

So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 58:22

Um what uh what do you think about this album?

SPEAKER_03 58:24

I really enjoyed this album. I thought, yeah, front to back, just yes, really good stuff. Um didn't seem like it was particularly loaded on one end or the other. Like I think it's really like spread out. Um yeah, I also I guess this shouldn't be surprising because they're from Chicago, but they I've I learned they recorded this album in Chicago, Evanston, and Richland Center, Wisconsin.

SPEAKER_00 58:51

Really?

SPEAKER_03 58:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 58:52

Where's where is Richland Center? I don't know. I've I haven't heard of it, but dude, that's so cool. Like very local places.

SPEAKER_03 58:59

Yeah. Um yeah, I just thought it was great. I really enjoyed the sound of it. Um, like kind of like you were saying, like uh I I like that it's like it clearly takes some elements of like alt country, sort of. Yes, but also there are moments like that. You mentioned anywhere. Anywhere is just pop punk sweetness to me. Like it's totally. I told I was telling Jonah the other day I went to buy some comics, and I it was like 68 degrees, which is it was a beautiful day in the middle of like this at the end of winter here where it's been kind of fluctuating a lot, right? And uh it was gorgeous out, and I had the windows down, and that song was like deafeningly loud in my car. I was just blasting it, and it felt so good, like uh just such a great song. I also that song I guess is about the guitarist's family dog who has separation anxiety. Oh wow, so like the chorus, like I'm going anywhere that you're going. Oh, that's funny. Kind of funny. Pretty cute, very cute. Um, yeah, this album is is fantastic. Um I really enjoyed it, and I'm glad that you chose this because otherwise it might have it might have gone under my radar.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:14

Dude, yeah. I mean, same thing for Mitsuki. I mean, um, yeah, I I uh I I I had a hard time picking an album because I was looking through the list and it's like there's a lot of albums, so many. I really like I'm gonna I'm gonna keep looking at the list as we pick future albums because it's it's a nice way to just see who's making stuff. I'm like, oh like these guys, like I saw Gorillaz put out one and a whole bunch of other bands I like. And um, but I really the one thing I like about so I I really like near us there's a radio station called XRT in Chicago. It's like one of my favorite stations. Um and they were playing, they've been playing anywhere for quite a while. Nice because when I heard this, I was like, oh, this is from there.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:58

But like just for context, like that song has 517,000 streams on Spotify.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:05

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:06

Which like is it's good, but not compared to some of the like I wonder what Misky's is. I didn't look at hers.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:12

Oh, sure, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:13

You know what I mean? But like it's still that's pretty small, and like going to um their artist page. I want to go to their artist page. So, like, yeah, because usually if you go pull on Spotify and you look at their top five, like there's a couple that are in the millions, sure. But like everything's under like the highest is seven hundred five thousand. Their monthly listeners is two hundred and fifty-eight thousand, so they're like not that well known. Um and they have other albums, like I think this is their tenth, like 10th album or something. Or I I don't know, uh, because I looked at their Wikipedia that like they've been out or no, it's they were formed in 2010, is what it was.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:50

I saw six. This is number six, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:53

Which is still, I mean, that's that's still pretty deep into it. But they yeah, they've formed in 2010, so like they're I think it's cool that this I've seen this happen with bands a lot where like later on they get traction. Yeah, you know, and I feel like right now they're I mean it could just be like just because I'm like, oh, I heard an XRT, yeah. But um I saw that Pitchfork gave it best new music too, nice, which kind of helped my picking of one to check it out. Yeah, um, but I yeah, I just thought I thought that was I wanted to point out the numbers because I feel like that like it'd be interesting to check on this in like six months. Yeah. So that it'll be like that's a good pie.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:31

Yeah, I mean that yeah, that is really cool to learn that they're getting some radio time because yeah, especially that song, I feel like it's super radio friendly, super radio friendly, and it it really fits the vibe over at XRT. Um so that's not not surprising at all.

unknown 1:02:46

Totally.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:47

But very cool. Um also I wanted to mention um this album, like you said, is called Singin to an Empty Chair. Um I read a little bit about where that comes from, like the name. It's mentioned in the in the album. I think it might be Just Want You to Know the Truth, maybe they th that she sings about it, but um basically like Julia Steiner was going to therapy and her therapist recommended this exercise where she uh simulates a conversation with an imaginary person in an empty chair. And so from that stemmed like all these conversations and like ideas for songs, I guess. And then she like used that to make an album, which is incredible. That's such a such a cool and unique like outlet, kind of like the fact that she has music to like kind of channel that energy into is must be like I I would hope cathartic, you know. Sure.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:48

Dude, thanks for telling me that. That's really cool. Isn't that cool? Like that's amazing. I was because I was curious, like that's a really cool album title, and the the album cover is really cool. Yeah. Um with the chairs, but that's that's really cool. Yeah. Like that. Yeah. Well, how you feel? I feel good. Feel good? I think we're I think we're gonna take a quick break.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:10

Okay. Yeah, we're gonna take a quick break, and when we come back, we'll be talking comics. Comics. Thanks, everybody. Bang! Bang. Hello, and welcome back to Wesley's Pop Culture Club. Yeah. Yeah. All right. It's time to talk about some comics. Comics. Comics. In the mix with comics.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:42

Dude, okay, what's our what's our first comic? What do we got?

SPEAKER_03 1:04:45

Our first comic this month is Absolute Batman number 17.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:55

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:56

Have you ever heard of it? No. Hey, you ever heard of Batman?

SPEAKER_00 1:05:00

No. No. Me neither. Is he good or no?

SPEAKER_03 1:05:05

Oh gosh, he's bad? Batman. Wow. He's a bat ombre.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:14

He is a bat ombre. Okay, so this is it. This is it. This is what we got right here.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:22

This is what we got here. Um we're gonna show the covers.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:26

Show the covers? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:29

Take your pick. I'll just cut back and forth between these two shots of us. Like really quick. Like so quick that people won't know, people won't even get a good view of either. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:41

I don't know if we should do that. Is there any way you can do a little bit longer or no?

SPEAKER_03 1:05:47

No.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:48

Alright, you know what? You gotta do what you gotta do, okay? Yep.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:50

Yeah. That's it.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:51

I get it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:52

Alright. Um absolute Batman 17. What do you got, Joni? You wanna get us in here?

SPEAKER_00 1:05:59

Yeah, okay. So Batman is so we we picked up after last issue where he was with Wonder Woman. And um so now we're getting introduced to Absolute Poison Ivy. Yes, and she is not someone you want to mess with, guys. If you didn't know that, um I I'm actually new to her character, but uh I knew she was a bad guy, bad gal. And um so pretty much we so the kind of the setup is like there's this giant building uh in Gotham City called the Heart Building, which is like at the heart of the city. And um this is a flashback, and her mom is like her mom is sick, and she's basically like any wish made here will come true because it's like the heart of the city, so the heart of the the wish from the heart will come true. And then it kind of goes to present day, and there's some bleep going down, and bleep happening, there's some stuff happening, and then it shows a really cool picture of like this tree, like I don't know, growing out from uh growing from inside of the building, yeah, kind of like overtaking the building. Um, so basically, like Batman's trying to get in here to see what's up.

unknown 1:07:18

True.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:18

That's can I just say uh yeah, he comes through, he cuts through with these chainsaw arms, yes, which I thought was totally on brand for absolute Batman. Uh Chainsaw Arms is crazy.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:36

Like everything about this comic just keeps getting crazier, yeah. Like, and I think you said, and I'd heard this too, he's got Scott Snyder has 54 issues planned at least of this. 54 now? Oh my god. So we're like we're not even halfway.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:53

He's gonna he's just gonna be doing it until he's like 90. It's like the Logan thing in Deadpool and Wolfere. Oh, yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:01

He's like, you're gonna be keep doing this until you're 90.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:05

Hey, if he keeps bringing the heat, I'll read it. I will too. I don't I'm not I'm not gonna be ageist about it. No, you know, old men can write, old women can write. Yes, anybody can, anybody can if they want to. But if they don't want to, then they shouldn't have to.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:21

Right.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:22

That's a that's my hot take on this.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:25

Hot hot take right now.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:28

Batman is a pretty cool character. Oh, dude, maybe it's just me, but for me, Poison Ivy is like is like one of the villains in Batman's Rogues Gallery.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:42

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:43

But maybe that's just me.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:44

That's just you.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:45

That might just be me.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:46

Yeah, that's just you. Um so what what are your what are you thinking about this issue? I'm kind of fumbling. No, it's alright.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:55

It's alright. Um you're doing great. You're doing great. Thank you. You're gonna be doing this till you're 90. I probably will. If you want to. I do. If you don't, too bad.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:05

Oh dang.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:07

Um overall, I will say uh so this isn't, I don't think this is like peak absolute Batman by any means. Um I think we've talked about this. They've kind of been like in between big stories here. Um Bane wrapped up in 14. That was like the abomination arc was like um kind of like nine through fourteen, I think. Yeah. And uh exactly right. And that was Jet just felt like so monumental that I think maybe they were like, let's take a breather for a little bit, you know. Um, and so 15 was absolute joker. Not that that's necessarily a breather, because that was an insane, some insane background on Joker. Yeah, um, and then 16 was his part of the duet with Absolute Wonder Woman, and now 17 and 18, it looks like are both going to be Poison Ivy centric, and from there I have no idea what's happening, which I'm glad for.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:05

Me too.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:06

Um, but so it seems like we have yet to uh stumble into our next big bad, so to speak. Um I mean, this is still like a two-part thing about poison ivy, um, is cool, but uh it it is um it's interesting. I really like the part of this story that is her backstory. Um I think that is maybe the most intriguing part of this for me. Um just because I like how it differs from like mainline DCU poison ivy, who is mainly just um plant and human DNA, right? But in this universe, she has not stopped just there, she's combining elements from all six kingdoms of life to create what is the title of this little two-part thing is the seventh kingdom.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:05

Um being her, who is this is why I like doing this with you because you teach me a lot about about this.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:14

Um, but yeah, so I mean also we got a we got a guest artist on this one. Um Eric Kanette. Um, which is and I think he really uh stepped up here. Some of this art in here is very trippy and really cool. Really cool. Um Poison Ivy looks insane. Um, and all of her little minions also are pretty terrifying. Uh the chainsaw arm Batman looks bulky as ever. Yes. Um, he's so bulky, which is cool, but um yeah, I um overall, yeah. I do I like this one. Um talked about her backstory a little bit. Um her mom is sick, and she's she becomes uh a doctor in what does she say? Cytology. So she's like combining human stem cells with DNA from other organisms, which is how she ends up the way that she is, and then basically it seems like she gets to a point where um so she's saying like the people that she works for, all they want to do is divide up each discovery, individuate, separate, old men who only think of what my work can do for them. So she says, fine, I'll take my research somewhere else then. What do you know? They burn down the lab with her in it, or so it seems. And um so she dies, quote unquote. Like Alfred is on comms with Bruce while Bruce is infiltrating this giant tree, and Alfred says she's dead at age twenty-five. She's obviously not, because she's here wreaking havoc, but she's not exactly human either. She is now a combination of all six kingdoms of life. Um so yeah, I think uh I thought I really liked her story. Um I think the Batman infiltration part of it is like pretty cool. I think it's pretty decent. I'm more interested in like so. I still really want to know what's going on with Croc. Um Batman finds a skin in this one, and he gets worried because uh, you know, crocodiles shed their skin when they're getting bigger, not smaller. Um so he's a little nervous there, and he um he's kind of struggling to stay grounded um with all the changes that are going on in his life. Like the public is really attaching itself to Batman in a way of support, but his friends now hate his guts. Yes. Um, which is seems like he's kind of dealing with those things not super well. Umright, but he's spiraling, you know. Um to maintain control here. Um yeah, I I that's that's pretty much those are the things that stood out to me. Um, what what are your thoughts here?

SPEAKER_00 1:14:26

Yeah, I think uh I like a lot of what you said. Um to me, the most intriguing part of the book is Ivy. Um, like man, there's some really cool art for when when she shows her full self being this combination of all these kingdoms. Um especially that second to last page where she's like, Welcome, Batman, to your wish. Oh yeah. And her like face and everything is all like torn apart. Yeah, it's just so cool. Um the a lot of that body horror again for the overall theme of the whole book of Absolute Batman. Um I like the yeah, I guess the artist does really good stuff. Um I think yeah, it kinda yeah, it didn't quite have uh as much energy to this one as the other ones, like we like you had touched on. I yeah, I I yeah, I thought it was still pretty interesting. Uh I her backstory when you were just talking, like I didn't quite um retain all of that. And so that was really cool to hear you talk about that because that made me understand it a little better.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:39

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:40

Uh because so I'm still confused about like her wish. Because it that seems to be the the theme throughout this book. It does. What are your like because she says at the beginning, like the mom says, make a wish, and then at the end she's like, Welcome to your wish. So I'm like, my question is like, is what made her turn like evil the fact that these people like burned her alive in this like why is she taking it out on like humanity? And do we know the answer to that though, too? Is the other thing.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:12

Yeah, I don't know. Um maybe we don't yet. Um it is interesting, uh what does she say? Um she says when she makes the wish uh her mother is already sick, but she doesn't know this yet.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:33

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:34

Right? So I was thinking originally maybe it was like a I wish I could live forever kind of thing, and this is how she made it happen. Okay. But now I'm wondering if like I don't know. Yeah, I don't know. I it doesn't seem like at the time she had a reason to be thinking about that, you know. Um but right, right. And then yeah, at the end she says, Welcome to your wish to Batman, which is also a little bit confusing. Um but I don't know, yeah. I think that's a good question.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:04

I think next issue will probably answer some of our questions because it sounds like it is the end of the Ivy little arc. Yeah. Um but I I think oh, the other thing I wanted to point out was um Officer Barbara Gordon is in there for a little like a quick like a hot second, because there's like a moment where um Pennyworth is um Yeah, his is talking to to Batman, and then um and he was said how like some cops had gone in there, and then Batman you know finds a lot of them are dead. Yeah, but Barbara's still alive, and then there's a scene where he like pushes Barbara off this cliff within the building, yeah, and she's like, I want to be partners, and then like he's like no, yeah. So then the the book ends where like Ivy's about to like kind of like Batman's in a tough spot. Yes, Ivy's probably gonna about to F. Yep. So I'm thinking in the next one Barbara's gonna come to his aid. Okay, I'm hoping she does. That seems like a good bet to me. And the other thing I want to touch on is the the Martha the Martha Wayne in this story, yes, right? So her uh Bruce's mom. So the epilogue is she's working with the Court of Owls, right? And I have not read the Court of Owls kind of lore. I know that is a popular part of Batman's lore, um, but I don't know like anything about it. I don't really either know I I believe it is created by Scott Snyder, though.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:41

Okay, that's his brainchild.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:44

Because I yeah, I think it was from like I've heard it being in the new 52 era. Sure. But I've never but that's pretty sweet. So this is gonna be really cool. I'm really interested about that. Yeah, like that, like that was uh very part, very exciting part of the story for me because it was like because she's also like also in this book, she is kind of becoming more romantically involved with Officer Gordon. True. Um the The Former Maya, the Forma Mea Jim. So I don't really know, like is she gonna be a good guy or bad guy? Like, we don't know what the Court of Owls, what their alignment is.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:21

I don't yeah, I don't know what they're I don't know what they're usually up to, and I don't know what their absolute universe incarnation is, if that's an inverse or if it's yeah, the same thing or what it is, but they seem scary. Yes, they look they look really cool.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:38

Yeah, they they do. We're always here, Martha. We knew one day you'd come back to the Court of Owls.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:46

Do we continue?

SPEAKER_00 1:19:47

Do we continue?

SPEAKER_03 1:19:48

Um also uh before we move on, maybe uh there I like this page that's like right on the middle, right in the middle on the staple page. Um on the right side, we get a little cameo page here. We got Jack Grimm, um, we have a Harley Quinn appearance, and we have Dick Grayson. There's like three little things going on simultaneously. It's also interesting Dick Grayson, who's usually Robin, seems to be pretty anti-Batman.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:19

He is. It's really the stuff they've done has been pretty funny. Yeah. Because he's a nurse, it looks like, in the emergency room. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:27

He's popped in a few times. Yes. Um, but yeah, he he does, yeah, he he works at the emergency room. Um, and he's he just thinks the city's going crazy because of Batman. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:41

Yeah, that's such a cool take uh to make him completely anti-Batman.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:46

There was some funny stuff in previous issues. Wasn't there something he had like remember he had an ID? But there was something that I I can't remember. Do you remember what it was? It was it was something with like an ID, and then it was like something very clearly anti-Batman. And I can't remember what it is right now. No, but it was pretty funny. But who is now who is Jack Grimm?

SPEAKER_03 1:21:08

Jack Grimm is the Joker.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:10

Really? Oh, okay, I forgot that. Yes, yes. So wait a second. Here's the return of Gotham's prodigal son.

unknown 1:21:18

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:18

So that and then you have Bruce in the middle of it all kind of saying, Is it him changing things? Is he behind it, or is it me? Did Batman do all this? What's the real source?

SPEAKER_00 1:21:30

So when he's saying, Is it him, is he saying Batman is him and or me as in Bruce, or is he referring to some Joker or somebody else?

SPEAKER_03 1:21:39

I guess that's a good question, actually. I guess it I I was reading it like, is it Batman? Yeah. But also you do have Jack Grimm here. Um it could be him.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:52

I would I think it would be uh my when I read it originally, it was the him is Batman.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:58

Yeah, because he's kind of been talking about how um he said earlier like he doesn't even recognize uh like what Batman is anymore.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:07

Yeah, exactly. There's that cool page in this too that you touched on where they're uh he's like walking by like merch of Batman. Yeah. And like you had said, like how he's reckoning with this how the city is like internalizing Batman and how like you said, his friends, like he's just having a struggle with this. Yeah. Which I think that's a really cool like plot device to touch on. That now Batman is becoming known publicly in this world, right? And he is like, like you said, he's just struggling because he feels so bad about what happened to his friends because he's Batman. Yeah, but he has to like be a hero to these people, and they have like all these souvenirs, and then he doesn't he like destroy this guy's list.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:53

Yeah, later on he kicks the and the guy's like, what the hell, man?

SPEAKER_00 1:22:57

Yeah, he kicks it over. Yeah. So he's clearly he's clearly upset about that. Yeah. So that's kind of cool, and then okay, that's a really I feel like this is kind of like perhaps the mission statement of this issue is this page you just talked about. Yeah. Because one, it's a splash page, it's a full page, right? But then he's got all three of these kind of somewhat major characters to degrees, and it's like they're all like it's drawn really cool where they're all like in his shadow, and he is like, What am I doing with Batman? And then now he has to like face the present moment of Ivy kind of effing him up. Um I feel like he's like a lesson he's learning slowly, uh, is that he needs people's help. Yeah, he like very much wants to just do it all himself and just nobody help me. Yeah, but like right now, like Alfred's helping him. Barbara just tried to, and I like I said, I have a feeling she's gonna like kind of rescue him in the next one. Um but anyways, it's just kind of some thoughts that just popped up.

SPEAKER_03 1:24:06

Yeah, which I feel like the like needing needing like outside help from other people, whatever, is kind of a recurring thing here because like in the first like in volume one in the zoo, he is like hesitant to tell his friends that he's Batman, yeah, that eventually he does, and then like doesn't Ozzy like flies him out on his helicopter to Black Mask's yacht, and he has all them like he has them all doing various things in different capacities to like help him out, but then it seems like Bain really set him back like mentally with all of the stuff that he did, like he really destroyed his friendship and his friends like physically. Um like uh so I think maybe he has to sort of come to that realization again, maybe because he is now like there's some trust that's been lost between him and his friends. Yeah, so I think maybe now he's hesitant to get people into it again because he's worried the same thing will happen. Sure, possibly that feels very on the point. But yeah, just noticed that that is a recurring thing.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:16

We're gonna stay tuned for issue 18.

SPEAKER_03 1:25:18

Yeah, we are.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:20

I I also just wanted to add this cover. I know we showed the cover earlier, but this is a really cool cover. Yeah. It's like it's one of those ones where I I first picked it up, I was like, okay, this is sick. But then I looked, I've looked at it multiple times, and I just find more stuff happening. Um it's one of those ones where it's like you got the foreground and then there's stuff in the background, and it's like layered really nicely, and it looks really cool.

SPEAKER_03 1:25:47

I agree. Yeah. Shout out Nick Dragota, Frank Martin. Yeah. Oh, yeah. That's cool. All right, moving along. Let's move along, yeah. Next up, we got the infernal Hulk number four. Four. Take a look at that. Little cover action for you. Look at this. There's that. Nice. And again, I'm gonna cut really quick back and forth, and no one will be able to see that.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:20

Okay. So I don't know why. It's not yours to doing that, but um I can't, you know. That's you, man. You have the you're editing it. Don't worry about it.

SPEAKER_03 1:26:34

You you got it. It'll get done, it'll be great. You're gonna see it and you're gonna be like, I can't believe I ever questioned him.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:40

Yeah, it would only make sense in that situation. Yeah, yeah. So okay, man, let's do it.

SPEAKER_03 1:26:46

Infernal Hulk number four. Yes. What are your overall thoughts?

SPEAKER_00 1:26:52

Okay, so at large. So I thought this was an interesting one. It this is a lore builder for me. Yeah, this is a huge lore builder.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:02

Agree.

SPEAKER_00 1:27:03

Um, it makes me want to read the previous run of Philip Kennedy Johnson and Nick Klein. Um, but I'm also like, I'm not going to right now just because I want to like I'm just gonna keep on chugging. Um I thought it was cool that we got so this issue kind of centers around uh the other Hulk, which I think isn't it Hulk's cousin.

SPEAKER_03 1:27:32

Okay, so here's what's up. I think I goofed last month. Okay. Because I thought this was his son. Um what and what did we end up? Scar? Is that yeah, that's right. Yeah. I think this is Hulk. Oh, Hulk. I think this is Hulk. He's like separated from band because in the beginning of this one it says like they have the little get you up to speed. Yeah, do they?

SPEAKER_00 1:27:59

Is it at the end? No, it's towards the beginning, it's like page four or something.

SPEAKER_03 1:28:05

Yeah, it's after that really cool one page shot. Um my gosh, that page is amazing. So good, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:28:11

I love that. It's amazing.

SPEAKER_03 1:28:13

Um Hulk, so it says after his defeat at the hands of Eldist, Hulk is locked away inside the mental prison known as the Hulk Scape, where Hulk once kept Bruce Banner. So that's Hulk. I think I thought it was Scar, but I think what happened was they were saying Scar is who saved Bruce and Betty from Eldist. In the past, in whatever realm that was in. This now is quote unquote Banner's Hulk.

SPEAKER_00 1:28:44

Okay, so this is like the OG guy.

SPEAKER_03 1:28:46

Yeah, so this is the this is the dude. Um so yeah, I like that. I think that was just me getting it uh I just got confused about who that was supposed to be. But now I'm yeah, now I'm pretty certain this is Hulk. Um because they they say like the um at the beginning Excuse me, the president is talking, is doing like a narration, and you're watching an ambassador's plane be ripped apart by the Hulk and some minions, and he says I don't know if this thing really is Bruce Banner's Hulk or if that one is still out there somewhere. If he is still out there, if he can even stop this thing, I hope he shows himself soon, while there are still some of us left to save. And then that the art on that page transitions really in a cool way onto the next page, and then we're left with this guy, Hulk.

SPEAKER_00 1:29:42

Okay, so that's a compelling case. That makes sense. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:29:45

So I believe this to be Banner's Hulk.

SPEAKER_00 1:29:48

Yeah. Okay, cool. I I liked um there's a lot of uh there's a lot of pages in here with no dialogue and like all art. Yeah. And I love that. Yeah, me too. Like, yeah, there's like quite a few of them, and dude, Nick Klein is becoming one of my favorite artists.

SPEAKER_03 1:30:07

Nick Klein is cooking just on this cooking it up, it's insane. Yeah, it's beautiful. All this Hulkscape stuff is just phenomenally done.

SPEAKER_00 1:30:17

Yes, the colors are awesome. Um, so I I did okay, so I wanted to do, I had a couple things I really liked. I really liked Joe Fixit because he's a very cool character to me. We were discussing him. Um I I actually I wanted to do some research. So I went into Marvel Fandom Wiki. Oh, yeah, and I just started looking up characters, and so the mother of horrors is in here.

SPEAKER_02 1:30:45

Right.

SPEAKER_00 1:30:46

Okay, and so it's sound from my reading, like Eldest, who keeps who seems to be the big bad in this book, yes, um, is the firstborn of the mother of horrors. And um, but the mother of horrors is trapped in this in the Hulkscape with all these other Hulks. Um and then I kinda I read more about Eldist. Eldist is not in the Hulkscape, right? But um, yeah, I I was kinda I got a little confused after that, like kind of reading more in depth, but yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:31:24

It's interesting, um yeah, because they say anyone that um anyone that Eldist has ever consumed or possessed, excuse me, is now trapped here in the Hulkscape. Um so there are a lot of Hulks. You got I actually I wrote down some. We've got uh the guy they call Savage Hulk, who's kind of like the monosyllabic, like um Hulk Smash, like that guy. Then you got Joe Fixit, who's like the gangster guy. There's a red harpy in there who is Betty, usually. I don't know if maybe that's ever been anybody else, but I know Red Harpy as Betty. Um then wait, is it yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:32:06

Okay, interesting.

SPEAKER_03 1:32:07

And then you have uh I had to look this guy up because I haven't read Planet Hulk, but the guy with all the armor on his Green Scar.

SPEAKER_00 1:32:16

Oh, that's sick. Yeah, yeah. So lots of different Hulks. I've heard that's a really good run. Yeah. Okay, I want to that's on my list. Be down to check that out.

SPEAKER_03 1:32:24

Yeah. I was gonna ask you, do you know? So there's this there's this guy who seems to be on Hulk's side who makes an appearance in this one. He kind of he brings him to the other Hulks in a way, and then at the end, Hulk sort of wakes up, and this guy is here, and he turns into a crow. Yeah. And he says, He asks Hulk what he's learned. Hulk says he learned that he's not alone, and then this guy leaves him with a little doll and says, Perhaps Agmunder can send the yet another ally. So, two questions. Yeah. Do you know who this is, this Agmunder?

SPEAKER_00 1:33:05

So that is this guy.

SPEAKER_03 1:33:08

Yes, it's the guy like early from early on.

SPEAKER_00 1:33:11

Yeah, earlier on. But do you know I don't know him? I'm wondering if he's original to this or if so I didn't look him up, but I have a clue in his go on. So his okay, you're like, oh my gosh. So I didn't look him up, but his uh his um like lettering is done uh as like an Asgard character, right? So I think he is Asgardian, um, but I didn't look him up further than that. And it sounds like an Asgardian name, so that's that's all I have to say on that.

SPEAKER_03 1:33:43

It does. And then second question. Yeah. Who does that doll look like Betty to you?

SPEAKER_00 1:33:49

So who do you think? I think it's a different character because I looked it up. Um I don't know if I wrote down her name. So I think it's I don't I don't think it's Betty. There is a so I so somebody in the last run turned this girl into a statuette. Oh really? Like there's a yeah, like there she's a statuette. That's what it was named. Okay. Um but I don't know if it's Betty or or I don't think it's Betty. Okay. It was one of those things where I was reading it on the wiki page and it was pretty like deep into the page. Yeah. And I was kind of getting confused. Yeah. Um, but I don't, yeah, I it was it was a different person's name, so I could be wrong though in the next one.

SPEAKER_03 1:34:36

We'll have to stay tuned for that.

SPEAKER_00 1:34:38

Yeah. But I think it is because I remember so I actually picked up um in the last run, I picked up uh it was issue 800, like the legacy one.

SPEAKER_03 1:34:47

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_00 1:34:48

So that was like number 19 in the run, which I think was like 30 issues total. Okay. And I remember there there was a little there was a girl with him. Okay. Um, and she was like, Yeah, so she I remember him her that issue. So there's these flat, like in the earlier part of this issue where there's like a backpack. Uh I think that's her backpack. Okay. And then there's that um there's that wolf. There's a wolf that picks up the statuette, which I I think is her, and then he's like, hey, mine. Yeah, he seems defensive about it. He does, yes. This is the part about the cousin, so that he's just that's Agminder referring to his wolf as the cousin. That's what I thought of that. So I think that they're like this is from the previous run. Okay. Yeah. But I I don't remember if it's Betty. I don't I think it was a different name.

SPEAKER_03 1:35:41

Okay. And then it's at the bottom of the last panel it says next infernal Hulk versus the one above all. That's intriguing.

SPEAKER_00 1:35:51

So I I read a little bit about that because I remember uh Trike talking about the one above all. Um so I think the one above all is kind of like like God, but like a positive force.

SPEAKER_02 1:36:04

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:36:04

And then there's a one below all. Right. Right? And then um I had read somewhere that um, there was like um a battle, I'm trying to remember. I think a lot of this is from the first run. So it does kind of it's a little tough for us, I think, because we haven't read that.

SPEAKER_03 1:36:23

I will say the one below all is the big bad in Immortal Hulk.

SPEAKER_00 1:36:28

Oh, okay. That's so what and what is it then again? It seems like kind of like a devil thing. Yeah, it's kind of what um what I was thinking too. There's something I'm trying to remember where it was like eldest. I can't remember exactly. Um but that like like the stakes in this are pretty high. Yeah, they really are. If it's the god and the devil, and then it sounds like the next issue, like you said, it's gonna be Infernal Hulk versus the one above all. So we need we need some good mojo to start picking up here, guys.

SPEAKER_03 1:37:06

Yeah, because this is this is it's been pretty bleak so far.

SPEAKER_00 1:37:10

Good, but bleak. Yes, I think just going over this again. I like my first read, I didn't like love this issue, but I kind of went over it again yesterday, and this is a very well thought out world by um by these creators, and I had read that Eldest is created by Philip Kennedy Johnson. Oh, nice, so that's like a newer character in the lore. Um, so I I think like this is it's a little confusing, um, but I I really like how, like I said, how well thought out all this is. Yeah, and Nick again, Nick Klein, um killing it and the colorist, like um they it's just awesome.

SPEAKER_03 1:37:58

Yeah, yeah, Matthew Wilson. Matthew Wilson, yeah, yeah, we love him.

SPEAKER_00 1:38:01

I also wanted to add one other thing. I thought Nick Klein was a newer artist. Okay, but he's not. Like he's been with Marvel for like at least 10 plus years.

SPEAKER_03 1:38:13

Well, didn't you say you had didn't you say you found something like a card or something that had his name on it? Um that's I don't remember.

SPEAKER_00 1:38:23

That sounds familiar. But this could that could be like a trading card or something.

unknown 1:38:28

Trading card.

SPEAKER_00 1:38:29

Oh, that was Kev Walker.

SPEAKER_03 1:38:30

Oh yeah, okay, that was the other dude. The other guy.

SPEAKER_00 1:38:33

Oh, that's a really good yeah, good.

SPEAKER_03 1:38:35

So he did the like Bruce and Betty art in three. Exactly. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:38:40

And that that was uh Magic the Gathering card I found from when I was a kid. That's what it was.

SPEAKER_03 1:38:45

So okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:38:46

But yeah, so cool. But yeah, both uh both have been at it for a while.

SPEAKER_03 1:38:50

Nice. Alright. Well, that's it for Infernal Hulk. We got one more comic here. Jonah, would you like to introduce this last one?

SPEAKER_00 1:38:58

Yes. Alright, guys. We got Captain America number seven. And I'm gonna say I didn't say it on the earlier ones, but um, this one is written by Chip Sidarski, art by Delio Diaz and Frank Alpizar, coloring by Romulo Fajardo Jr. Um, and I'm gonna say letter by VC's Joe Caramanga. Okay, this one was my fave out of our three this month. Nice saving the best for last. Yes. I I feel like we are picking up steam right now.

SPEAKER_03 1:39:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:39:43

Uh a lot of the groundwork that was laid in the first arc, the first five issues, which again was set around 2001, like in the past a little bit, is coming to fruition now. This is the present day. Um there is like Chipsidarski. I've read him a decent amount now, and he's like super clever, very smart, usually politically uh like stuff very topical, like talking about political things uh that are current. But what I what I really like is in the first arc, so in the first arc, there's the character Marius Wolf, who is a rebellion leader in Latviria, and he's trying to take down Doom. But in this one, you know, in this arc, kind of the the lowdown is that they're going like Doom has been taken down, and now all of these separate factions are trying to vie for the new power, right? Which like is a real thing that happens, yes, right? And like uh and a lot of chaos happens. So they're um I just thought it was so cool that the bad guy in this issue is we learn is Marius Wolf. Right, and he's the head of one of these uh very violent resistance groups. There's a scene where there's a dude just like opening fire on a whole bunch of civilians, and Captain America, like people in on in his group, SHIELD, are shooting people, and he's like, Stop killing people, basically. He's like, Stop. And this one shooter is shooting a bunch of people, and then this Marius Wolf, who we learned his his character's name is now Salvation, right? Just shoots this dude point blank, yeah, like right in the head crazy in its nuts, and then he's like smiling like two seconds later, and Cap is like, What the f is going on here? So I think like I just I love this, I love Captain America, I really like this comic, but I feel like he's never gonna be not interesting because of politics. Uh and it and there's so many interesting things that happen in politics all the time in a current day. But uh there's a lot of like references where one of his one of his guys in Shield is like, hey, like we should just take this dude out. Let's take out salvation. And he's like, I'm like Cap's like, no, like I'm the leader here. We're not we're not gonna keep doing like an eye for an eye thing.

SPEAKER_03 1:42:10

Yeah, Cap is like, if you lay a hand on this guy, I'll be the first person to testify at your trial.

SPEAKER_00 1:42:16

Yes, that's something so sassy and badass, and then he just look at this, look at him. He's just like, yeah, no, he's like, no. And and there's like he I feel like every issue, like somebody mentions how he's some old out-of-touch dude. Yeah, and that's like the part I'm getting at is that's such a cool part of his lore that you can always bring that in. Yeah, but he's always like he always is the moral center, right? And that people like like he's the moral center of this issue again, like you know, again, that killing is not the answer to this, and uh it's pretty refreshing that way.

SPEAKER_03 1:42:53

Yeah. I actually to go along with what you just said, there is a quote that I really liked that I wrote down for my notes. So at the near the end, Cap decides he's gonna go off and spend some time talking with the people of Latviria, yeah um, which is very cap of him to go go and see. Like, what are what do the people think about this stuff? Um he says people is the whole reason people are the whole reason that he's there. So this woman, Mirel, invites him for dinner uh and basically tells him all three of these factions are trash. Like all there is no good option here for which way this this uh Laveria can go. Um and and Cap drops this quote, he says, I believe in my core that the people need to dictate their future together. Democracy is a flawed beast, and the eyes on it can never rest, but it's worth it. To know that if you're angry at the way your government is being run, you can do something about it that doesn't require picking up a gun. That's okay. Go off and slay. And it's double like it's doubly effective, I feel like, because Mirel is looking at him like he's kind of naive, you know, and he's crazy. But this man just sticks to his principles no matter what. Yes, and it's yes, that's why he's such an admirable, likable guy, you know. Yes, totally. He knows what's right.

SPEAKER_00 1:44:25

I I I love that. That's a great, uh, great quote that you just pulled out there. Oh, yeah. Uh I uh that just sort of yeah, there's I it just makes me think a lot of stuff. I think that that's I just again I love his character because he's very it's very simple. Like he's a guy with a shield, he has super power, like superhuman strength. But like the more intriguing part to me is his principle, like he sticks to the principles. Yeah, like a lot of the obviously a lot of the other superheroes in the MC or the Marvel universe are they do that as well.

SPEAKER_02 1:45:01

Right.

SPEAKER_00 1:45:02

But uh there's just something about him where he he does it like the most, it seems like that, like that is his main focus. He doesn't care about his strength and his other things, like yeah, he just wants to try to better situations.

SPEAKER_03 1:45:14

Definitely, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:45:16

What uh but what like what were your overall thoughts on this one?

SPEAKER_03 1:45:19

I really enjoyed this. I think too, after like after kind of rereading it to get ready for this, I think this did this did take the top spot for me this month. This was my uh my favorite of our three here. Um I really like at the beginning, uh like the guy Charles Castlemore, who's one of the guys that's working for Shield with Cap, he calls Red Hulk Elmo. Oh my gosh, I thought was hilarious. Yeah, um, I think Ross's appearance was like uh surprisingly short. Like I I guess I thought there was going to be more, but then I wasn't angry about it. I just I because he also heavily implies that he's going he's going to come back in some way or another.

SPEAKER_00 1:45:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:45:59

Um and then yeah, just all this stuff going on in Latviria is crazy. Like, like you said, like this stuff happens, you know. I feel like Chip is just consistently hitting the nail right on the head with the commentary. Um it was an awesome uh seeing Cap interact with this Latvirian woman and kind of like uh really like what's the word, I guess. Uh he was just trying to really get a feel for like what uh the m what's going on in the minds of the people of Latviria, you know, which is uh pretty cynical, it turns out. Like it seems like they they have kind of been conditioned to believe that there's no good way to go about this. Because they were with they had Doom in power for so many years, and now they have these three warring factions, and Mirel is saying, you know, none of they all have their problems, and she actually says, like, with Doom, at least they were safe, right? Like he was terrible, but at least they were safe, and Cap is like, there just there has to be some way to do this, which is again part of him being like just a very like stick to your guns kind of guy. Um but or rather stick to your not guns, I guess. Um I will say the ending got me a little bit here. Oh, it didn't. This last page. Um you find out the leader of the homeland party, which is supposedly the pacifist one, is one Alina von Doom. So and I don't are you seriously, she's and she's an original creation of Chip Zidarski's for this, so I don't know what the relationship is there.

SPEAKER_00 1:47:48

This is a new character.

SPEAKER_03 1:47:50

I guess so. Oh shoot. So I don't know who she is.

SPEAKER_00 1:47:54

We're about to find out.

SPEAKER_03 1:47:55

We're gonna find out. We're about to find out. We're gonna find out, dude.

SPEAKER_00 1:47:58

That's really cool because I didn't know if she was from the past like previous characters.

SPEAKER_03 1:48:02

I looked her up and it seems like she's new, dude. That's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 1:48:07

Um yeah, that that was another cool turn. Like I liked when they like just like you said, it was cool, like right before he meets with Morel, they're sticking to their mission plan, and he's like, eh, I'm gonna go, like, I'm gonna go hang out with some peeps and be me. And then and then like they're talking, and then there's people in the backyard that followed him to her house, and there's a cool fight scene, and then uh we find out the reveal of her. Um What do you think? Is she gonna be a good guy or a bad guy? Gal or bad good gal or bad gal?

SPEAKER_03 1:48:46

I don't know. I feel like I've I have a feeling she's gonna be good, but it's entirely possible that I'm gonna be proven wrong. I just think uh I don't know. I she seems to be like being pacifist, I guess. She seems the most in line with Cap. Yeah. You know, but she also, like Mirel says, she's gonna be dead by the end of the year because she's just a target. Right. Like, um, but I mean, and she says she needs Steve's help to save Latviria, right? But that could mean anything. Like the other two factions also think they're saving Latviria and they're killing people. Exactly. So it's like it could be uh either side of the spectrum, but I'm gonna hold out hope for right now that she has good intentions.

SPEAKER_00 1:49:39

Yeah, I I would agree with you. I I think because there's not a lot of good stuff happening right in Latviria, and we gotta have somebody. There's gotta be some some bright light. Exactly. Um so that was a really I'm really excited to see what happens with her. And there was a quote, there was a quote. From Salvation that I wanted to say. Uh where he's like, okay, so it's when they're like Salvation is like walking him through Doom's castle.

SPEAKER_02 1:50:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:50:12

Or his yeah, his castle. Which, by the way, he has kept up like all the portraits. He has like a portrait of Doom, and like you can just tell this dude wants to be him.

SPEAKER_03 1:50:23

Yes. Marius Wolf clearly is uh up to no good.

SPEAKER_00 1:50:29

He's yeah, he's up to no good. Yeah. So yeah. I think that was the main thing I wanted to.

SPEAKER_03 1:50:35

Was there a quote you were?

SPEAKER_00 1:50:37

Oh, I was. I didn't say the quote. Thank you. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. So uh he said, If you try to impose your ways on me or my people, I will remove you from my country. So kind of up until that point, you know, obviously he shoots that dude, but then he's like, Oh, like I'm I'm a good guy, I'm friendly. Yeah, if I just kill that guy, and then now he's like threatening Steve. Yeah. So like we may see some stuff go down.

SPEAKER_03 1:51:01

We may see some stuff go down. By the way, I don't I just don't I wonder if um why people don't know this, but like threatening Captain America. I don't know. You think good idea, bad idea? I I don't know if that's gonna work out for it doesn't seem to work out for a lot of people, yeah. Um maybe he'll be different for some reason.

SPEAKER_00 1:51:21

It might maybe I mean obviously these characters are not reading the comics, no, right? Obviously not, they're obviously not, no, but Doom was familiar with him. He's like, Oh, I'm a big fan, you know, I love you. So, but some of the other guys they don't know what he can do. So they're gonna be in for a rude awakening. Yeah, they are, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:51:43

But uh that was the comics, man. That's the comics portion of this podcast, and uh now we are wrapping up. We're wrapping it up. So we want to uh thank everybody for the continued support and for listening. Um, yeah, just uh to reiterate uh we are Wesley's Pop Culture Club, and we are available wherever you get your podcasts and also YouTube uh sometimes with video, and sometimes the video cuts out because of storage problems. Um and that's okay. We're rolling with what we got, and uh it'll be better next time, probably, maybe not. Um uh yes, and then uh also next month be sure to check out Super Mario Galaxy Movie. TM. It's just so many uh nouns. Mario Galaxy Movie. Yeah, it does seem a little clunky, goofy. Uh yeah, Jonah, do you wanna you wanna take us out?

SPEAKER_00 1:52:55

Yeah. Um all right. I want yeah I wanted to say thank you for listening too. We've gotten some nice compliments. Um and just yeah, just uh hopefully everybody's enjoying all of the stories they are consuming. Um and uh yeah, feel free to reach out to us you know in a comment or please do. Yeah, just leave a little comment if you want to talk about something and we will chat. Uh but other than that, we will see you guys in April. We'll see you next month. Thank you. Bang! Bang