Hola, Sneakers! It’s Episode 619 of the poplar cult podcast Sneaky Dragon!
This week Ian and David talk: first person; comfortable silence; oblivious; questionable superpowers; musical trail off; flashblechhh; anti-matter of taste; stop the insanity; Lynchian elusiveness; peak frustrations; deep dives; it’s called show biz; endless stories; rejuvenated ghosts; Puff and other stuff; trivial knowledge x infinity; the superest Supershow; home taping; Ian’s wild about The River Wild; repeat viewings; where is Avatar; nerdstalgia vs. normies; motion capture theatre; log hugger; child actor theories; sexy jail; dishonour among thieves; just a sucker; it’s nice to share; duck or duck; hot dinosaurs; visible ennui; fantasists; corporation capitulation; book launches; Dave banning; culture clubs; say AA; a cure for comedy; money money; Question of the Week – Sneakers respond; cool music; Peanuts gallery; Frasier for the ages; loco about Loki; handicasts; and. finally, a giant of jazz.
Question of the Week: What is your feeling about flashbacks in media?
Sub-question of the Week: Have you ever been a member of or had a near miss with a cult?
Thanks for listening.
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Greetings to you guys and all the Sneakers out there.
Without sounding too pitiful, it’s been a rough month for me but things are looking up for October. Last month we lost our last cat, Charlie to what was either pancreatitis or a cancer in the intestines. She spiraled down so fast that we had to say goodbye to her. We’re now in a cat-less home and I miss her terribly. I thought about how Ian mentioned we take the pain so that our pets can have release from it and that helped me. I couldn’t watch Charlie go through that another day but I helped her go painlessly and with dignity.
All the talk about work and meetings a few shows back couldn’t be more timely, I wish I had the time to write in about it. My boss was fired along with a few others who walked out making it unbearable at the office, we’re still trying to come up for air we’re so busy…and not good busy, stupid busy. I’ve known and worked with my boss on and off for 40 years and it was a blow to our team, he’s also a good friend. Another member of our creative team left before him and they’ve hired one of the most incompetent employees I’ve ever worked with. I’m doing the work of three people now and it’s madness, thank God I know what I’m doing. For all that I was given a very healthy raise, so it’s not going unnoticed and I’m being paid for it.
I also took this entire week off which has given me time to unwind a bit and write you all for the first time in awhile. I also wanted to give you guys a break from reading my epic responses for a change, I know it’s overwhelming.
Flashbacks. Handled well they can be a good storytelling device. I think Dave said he never watched LOST, they made flashbacks such an engine to the character’s stories in that show. I like the way they handled it one character at a time…per episode and built on each character’s story letting their overlaps with the other characters in very carefully. It was almost like a comic series the way they did it, kind of reminiscent of WATCHMEN comics.
Never been near a cult or anything like it but I heard Ian mention The Forum. Maybe you could elaborate on that for me please. I did have a Creative Director at Dr Pepper way back in the mid-90’s who was in The Forum, at least that was what she called it. All of us from work were invited to her home for a party and all these Forum folks were there too, they were nice enough and VERY outgoing to us from the office. Things got pretty crazy and before I knew it they were naked and jumping into a hot tub, like I said they were really outgoing. It was quite the party. She wasn’t the Creative Director for much longer after that but we never heard from her ever again…and no, I didn’t get naked in the hot tub. I just made out with our office manager.
I’m siding 1000% with Ian on Avatar, it’s definitely not discussed in the same circles and in the same way as all it’s genre siblings! If there’s any following to Avatar, it’s an incredibly niche one and I really don’t hear anyone looking at it’s past or where it’s going with any nerdy curiosity or interest. Sounding like a Dedrick echo, I saw the first one in the theater way back and that was enough for me, I still haven’t watched the second one. It’s a fun anecdote to say that some franchises just don’t have a great marketing or licensing plan. A few years back we learned from Amazon that once they bought the rights to the series “The Expanse” from Sy-Fy, there was zero licensing or merchandising to go along with it. We pitched ideas to remedy that with Amazon and made some incredible “Fan-Funded” collectibles for the Expanse fans, it was like shooting fish in a barrel. Three seasons in and the fans finally got exactly what they wanted for Expanse collectibles after a massive poll and some crowd funding. I guess the timing was right but there was an enormous fan base just waiting that neither we or Amazon knew existed outside of just watching the series.
See, I ranted. Sorry for the long catch-up but hey…I’m off for the entire week. I’m allowed.
By the way, last week’s show was terrific and it feels good to get all this out here.
All Good Things to you both and all the Sneakers listening….
I agree that Andor started off slow, but it finally took off for me at the end of Episode 3. The writing is aimed at a more mature audience with burning questions about the economic and socio-political underpinnings of the Star Wars universe. How DID the Rebel Alliance finance its activities? What careers were available in the Empire’s military industrial complex?
In Ahsoka, Grand Admiral Thrawn as played by Lars Mikkelsen, reminded me too much of a blue version of Dr. No. His brother Mads Mikkelsen played Le Chiffre in Casino Royale, so maybe that Bond villain vibe runs in the family.
The big heist at Toronto’s Pearson Airport last spring wasn’t just cash. 2 million of it was in bank notes but 20 million was in gold bars which makes it even more heisty, if you ask me. If I were the RCMP, I’d check on the whereabouts of one Auric Goldfinger.
I’m flashing back to attending a service at a relative’s cult-like fundamentalist church in the 1980s. The pastor is condemning the evils of sinful TV shows like Three’s Company. Flash forward to this week. I wonder if there is an afterlife and if so, are she and Suzanne Somers now having a conversation about that or did they end up in different places and if so, where?
I have an Avatar 2 poster proudly hanging in my dorm room. So I guess I’m in the cult of James Cameron?