Forced Obsolescence

Here’s the deal: we were supposed to have Internet access here in the new Home Office yesterday. However, a short-sighted, irritating little company that we’ll call Comcast (because that’s it’s name) said they wouldn’t hook up Internet unless they could confirm that the TV also worked… And considering every TV in this house needs to be wall-mounted, that was a tricky order.

So we will be exposed to the joys of FiOS on Thursday. This means yes, no new show this week, and for that, we apologize.

But rest assured: we have it on good authority that all required equipment will be in place for Thursday, when a nice man with 100 megabit internet will arrive at our door.

There should be a new show next Sunday. Thanks for hanging with us.

Longboxes. And Short Boxes. Oh God, The Boxes…

If you’ve been listening to the show for any length of time, you know that we’ve been preparing to move to a new Home Office for a while now.

We prepared for the move by watching a bunch of HGTV, which has a variety of programming showing people picking out a house, sending in handsome contractors who never seem to sweat through their $200 work shirts, and have the homeowners in the new place within 22 minutes.

Those shows are bullshit.

See that picture at the top of the page? That’s three days of unpacking. And we’re not even close to done.

We not only have no Internet access yet, but we can’t get an electrician out to wire our recording studio for Internet, let alone the actual Internet people, until the end of this week. Jesus, we don’t even have cable, which means instead of watching the new Walking Dead or Ash Vs The Evil Dead, we’re watching old X-Files DVDs and pretending it’s research for the upcoming miniseries.

We currently plan to have a new episode next Sunday… But it depends on a lot of electrical things happening between now and then. To be honest, it might be two weeks until we have a new episode.

Thanks for your patience. We will return to our regularly scheduled programming as soon as possible.

…We Riot

Due to move preparation, we can’t do the show tonight. We should have one up tomorrow… and if you’ve seen tonight’s The Walking Dead, I think you’ll know part of what we’re going to be talking about. Jeezus…

Episode 90: Laverne And Zombie

As we have been for the past several weeks, we remain immersed in the process of moving to a new Home Office. This means that we have spent our week collating documents mundane and obscure, and hunting for documents demanded by Unseen Powers that are so obscure that they apparently Cannot Be Named.

So we welcomed the distraction provided by a universe where, if a man wants a new house, he need but clear it of shambling ghouls and defend it from traitors and raiders. That universe being that of The Walking Dead, which debuted its sixth season last Sunday. So we discuss this magic world that is so blessedly empty of lawyers, mortgage underwriters and real estate brokers. A world that provides not only some of the most stunning visuals this series has ever presented, but which also raises questions about the very nature of morality and the rule of law, in a world where a society’s members, circumstances and requirements can change by the second.

We also discuss:

• Chewbacca #1, written by Gerry Duggan with art by Phil Noto, and:
• Uncanny Avengers #1, also written by Gerry Duggan with art by Ryan Stegman!

And, the inevitable disclaimers:

• We record this show live to tape, with minimal editing. While this might mean a looser comics podcast than you are used to, it also means that anything can happen. Like the avocation of financial, and perhaps physical, sanctions for late comics.
• This show contains spoilers. While we try to shout warnings ahead of time, be aware that we may ruin the surprise as to who this season of The Walking Dead’s Carl is (fun fact: it might not be Carl!).
• This show contains adult, profane language, and is therefore not safe for work. We talk a lot about “horrible biological sounds” this week. Think your boss would use that in a positive way in your annual review? Yeah, get some headphones.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:44:23 — 96.4MB)

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Thanks for listening, suckers!

Episode 89: Do You Want G’nort? Because That’s How You Get G’nort

Well, New York Comic Con was this week… and we were not at it. And what with the impending Home Office move, we were too busy to follow nearly as much of it as we would have liked. But still, we open the episode gamely trying like hell to round up some of the news and announcements from the convention… before realizing that there is one activity that no amount of bad scheduling or work commitments or lack of funds can keep us from experiencing: television.

This week gave us the debuts of the new seasons of The Flash and Arrow on The CW (or, as Rob continues to insist upon calling it, The DCW). And these debuts brought some interesting new angles to old familiar characters, like Arrow trying to find love, and The Flash trying to nuke a guy to death. So we discuss the episodes, some of the changes that seem to be in store for the characters in the coming season, who we think will die, who we think will receive either a power ring or villain helmet… and most importantly, how Arrow and The Flash seem willing to take standard superhero story tropes and turn them delightfully on their heads.

We also discuss:

• Dr. Strange #1, written by Jason Aaron with art by Chris Bachalo, and:
• The Amazing Spider-Man #1, main story written by Dan Slott with art by Giuseppe Camuncoli!

And, as usual, the disclaimers:

• We record this show live to tape, with minimal editing. While this might mean a looser comics podcast than you are used to, it also means that anything can happen. Like a discussion about how the best Inhumans movie would feature Lockjaw, a green screen, and piddling on a baby.
• This show contains spoilers. While we try to shout out warnings ahead of time, be warned that you will learn whether or not we were serious about The Flash nuking a dude to death.
• This show contains adult, profane language, and is therefore not safe for work. Do you want your employer hearing about the surgical alternative to Method Acting? You do not. Listen with headphones.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:43:15 — 93.7MB)

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Thanks for listening, suckers!

Episode 88: The Brown Note of Justice

Yes, we are back, after yet another long week of trials and tribulations in the hunt for a new Crisis On Infinite Midlives Home Office forced us to miss another episode, for which we humbly apologize. We believe our Long National Nightmare has ended, and that we will have no further service interruptions… at least until November 1, when we will be in the new Home Office, but likely with no Internet service. But that is a problem for the future.

As for today’s problems, well, how do you solve a problem like Heroes Reborn? The sequel to the 2006 – 2010 series that captivated the world before reminding it why many kids abandoned comics once they reached the age of reason (“How about evil carnies? Just write it! I’m taking a long lunch! Did I say ‘long?’ I meant ‘liquid!'”) debuted on NBC last week. We are huge fans of Heroes, going back to when we saw the pilot at SDCC 2006, and had high hopes for this return to the world of Peter Petrelli, Hiro Nakamura and visions of the future via Tim Sale. So we spend some time talking about what works, what doesn’t, and whether you should tune into this show if you aren’t already fans of the Enemies of Sylar (short answer: probably not)!

We also discuss:

• Batman Annual #4, written by James Tynion IV with art by Roge Antonio, and:
• Gotham By Midnight #9, written by Ray Fawkes with art by Juan Ferreyra!

And, the usual disclaimers:

• We record this show live to tape, with minimal editing. While this might mean a looser comics podcast than you are used to, it also means that anything can happen. Like a conversation about how Heroes‘s Noah Bennet is a (terrible) role model to America’s youth via his never giving a woman his real name.
• This show contains spoilers. While we try to shout out warnings ahead of time, just assume that we reveal Hiro Nakamura’s message from the future.
• This show contains adult, profane language, and is therefore not safe for work. Unless you want your co-workers to hear the tale of Drunken Mexican Batman, consider using headphones.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:47:58 — 97.7MB)

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Thanks for listening, suckers!

Lex, What Is This Obsession With Real Estate?

Okay, so remember how we said on Sunday that we had finished negotiating for the new Home Office? Yeah, turns out you are never done negotiating until everyone’s signature is on the contract. Real estate is a dirty, dirty business. Probably why it attracts supervillains. Anyway.

We have been flat-out all week, and at this point, we have to beg off a new episode until this weekend. We sincerely apologize, and swear that we will try to do better as this process winds itself out.

We will return to our regularly-scheduled programming Sunday night.

Mutually Assured Destruction

So during last week’s show, we announced that we had secured a deal for a new Home Office. However, during this week, the sellers of that location seemed to have a different idea. An idea that required us to spend today frantically running around looking for an alternate Home Office location… before they changed their minds and told us that they were, once again, willing to possibly accept our ridiculous amount of money in exchange for their abandoned home.

The bottom line is: we’ve spent today in intense negotiations, which have made recording a new show all but impossible.

But fear not: all deals appear to be done, and our new episode about the first two episodes of Heroes Reborn will be recorded and released by tomorrow night.

Thank you for your patience, and we will (once again) be back to our regularly scheduled programming by tomorrow,

Episode 87: No, I’m Steve Davros. From Poughkeepsie?

After weeks of holidays, househunting, open houses, forced cleaning, and terminal exhaustion, we are finally back on schedule, and back in our Home Office studio! And just in time for The Magician’s Apprentice, the Season Nine debut of Doctor Who.

If you’ve listened to the show for any length of time, you know that Amanda is a 30-plus year devotee of The Doctor, while Rob has only been watching since the reboot with Christopher Eccleston, and yet they both believe that this premiere is too reliant on classic Who villains, adversaries, themes, character beats, and that the Doctor’s grand entrance is a lift of the Doof Warrior from Mad Max: Fury Road. And yet there are still some fun moments, and reasons to be hopeful for the season overall.

We also discuss:

• Captain America: White #1, written by Jeph Loeb with art by Tim Sale, and:
• The Paybacks #1, written by Donny Cates and Eliot Rahal, with art by Geoff Shaw and Lauren Affe!

And now, the usual disclaimers:

• We record this show live to tape, with minimal editing. While this might mean a looser comics podcast than you are used to, it also means that anything can happen. Like the only pitch Rob will ever make for a comic book: ISIU: Insurance Super Investigations Unit.
• This show contains spoilers. While we try to shout out warnings ahead of time, be aware that you will learn things about the season premiere of Doctor Who that no one should know… yeah, okay; it’s a “two organs” joke. We’re sorry.
• This show contains adult, profane language, and is therefore not safe for work. You think your employer wants to hear about how The Doctor’s Companions rank against Japanese Hentai? Yeah, get some headphones.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:25:45 — 79.0MB)

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Thanks for listening, suckers!

Episode 86: Fatigue Hysteria II: The Enhousening

We are aware that this week’s episode is late… and short… and poorly planned. And for that, we apologize. What started as an idle effort to possibly locate a new Crisis On Infinite Midlives Home Office became, somewhere along the way, an all-encompassing time suck of physical labor, self-doubt, emotional blackmail, and begging for money.

And while the worst of the distractions are over (for now), we only have a short show this week, with an update on some of the details behind the delay, and a short discussion about Batman #44, written by Scott Snyder and Bryan Azzarello with art by Jock.

We should be back to our regularly-scheduled programming this Sunday. Thanks for hanging in with us during the interruption!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:35 — 26.4MB)

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Thanks for listening, suckers!