WEBVTT - Listener Mail: The Quickening 0:00:02.960 --> 0:00:05.280 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of 0:00:05.360 --> 0:00:10.719 My Heart Radio. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. 0:00:10.840 --> 0:00:14.760 Listener mail. My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick. 0:00:14.800 --> 0:00:16.600 And today we're going to read some of the messages 0:00:16.640 --> 0:00:19.880 that you've sent in about things like the Universal Solvent, 0:00:20.720 --> 0:00:24.119 Star Wars, Aliens, sargassum, seaweed. It's gonna be a lot 0:00:24.160 --> 0:00:25.840 of fun. Are you ready to jump right in, rob 0:00:26.079 --> 0:00:35.080 Let's do it? Okay? This first message comes from Nathan Is. 0:00:35.240 --> 0:00:39.240 It is about our episode on the Dissolver of Worlds, 0:00:39.320 --> 0:00:42.840 the the Universal Solvent or the Alcahest from the History 0:00:42.880 --> 0:00:46.800 of Alchemy, And Nathan writes, Dear Robert and Joe, I 0:00:46.880 --> 0:00:49.920 recently listened to your episode Dissolver of World's about the 0:00:49.920 --> 0:00:53.240 search for a universal solvent. It reminded me of an 0:00:53.240 --> 0:00:56.360 old time radio show I used to listen to called 0:00:56.520 --> 0:01:01.680 Lights Out. In the episode oxy Chloride X, a disgruntled 0:01:01.760 --> 0:01:05.880 chemistry student creates a chemical compound which eats through anything. 0:01:06.400 --> 0:01:09.640 As soon as it's created, it begins dissolving the chemistry 0:01:09.720 --> 0:01:13.120 lab and eating through the ground below. Over the remainder 0:01:13.160 --> 0:01:16.040 of the story, the whole caused by the chemical grows 0:01:16.160 --> 0:01:20.360 larger both in depth and diameter, wreaking havoc worldwide. People 0:01:20.400 --> 0:01:23.480 even become terrified that it will eat through the entire earth. 0:01:23.800 --> 0:01:26.040 I won't spoil the ending, but here's a link where 0:01:26.080 --> 0:01:28.280 you can listen to it and find out for yourselves. 0:01:28.280 --> 0:01:30.280 And Nathan links to a couple of versions of this 0:01:30.280 --> 0:01:33.360 old radio show. Um, I'd be interested to hear you 0:01:33.400 --> 0:01:36.440 talk about other science fiction old time radio shows in 0:01:36.480 --> 0:01:40.040 the same vein of your anthology of horror episodes around Halloween. 0:01:40.240 --> 0:01:43.520 This is a good idea, Nathan says. Secondly, in the 0:01:43.600 --> 0:01:46.640 same episode Dissolver of Worlds, you talked about an alchemist 0:01:46.640 --> 0:01:49.200 who believed everything in the universe was made of water 0:01:49.320 --> 0:01:53.120 that was yonda Pista van Helmont. I wonder if this 0:01:53.280 --> 0:01:56.120 was at all influenced by a similar hypothesis from the 0:01:56.160 --> 0:02:00.240 Greek philosopher theories of Melitas, who lived in the sixth 0:02:00.320 --> 0:02:03.480 century b c. Thanks for continuing to teach me about 0:02:03.520 --> 0:02:07.960 the world and the weird. Best wishes, Nathan. Well, thanks, Nathan. Yeah, 0:02:08.160 --> 0:02:10.800 this was a great email. So several things here. First 0:02:10.800 --> 0:02:13.400 of all, I remember in that book I was reading 0:02:13.400 --> 0:02:17.080 by Lawrence Prince, you pay about the history of alchemy. Uh, 0:02:17.520 --> 0:02:21.040 the author did mention theories of melitas in the context 0:02:21.080 --> 0:02:24.359 of talking about Van Helmont's idea that at bottom, all 0:02:24.480 --> 0:02:27.520 substances were made of water, just water in different forms. 0:02:28.240 --> 0:02:31.560 But I don't know if you specified whether van Helmont 0:02:31.600 --> 0:02:33.760 got that idea from theilies or not. But it wouldn't 0:02:33.800 --> 0:02:38.000 surprise me because obviously alchemists were usually very concerned with 0:02:38.040 --> 0:02:42.239 the thoughts of the natural philosophers of antiquity. On top 0:02:42.280 --> 0:02:45.600 of that, you mentioned this oxy chloride X episode, and 0:02:45.960 --> 0:02:48.080 I have to say that Seth also brought up the 0:02:48.160 --> 0:02:50.360 same episode to me. We were talking about this, I 0:02:50.360 --> 0:02:52.079 think one day when we were sitting around waiting to 0:02:52.120 --> 0:02:55.320 record one of these episodes, and so, so maybe we 0:02:55.360 --> 0:02:57.560 can get a clip of one of these radio shows 0:02:57.600 --> 0:03:01.920 to play for you right now, CC Barrier, I've CC 0:03:02.080 --> 0:03:05.799 so and he mocks a chloride Oh good, good, you're 0:03:05.840 --> 0:03:07.920 working out just as I plan. Who's there? Who's that 0:03:08.040 --> 0:03:11.160 working there? Professor? What do you do it? And after 0:03:11.200 --> 0:03:13.480 all my warnings, you're just in time, professor, Yes, just 0:03:13.560 --> 0:03:15.160 in time to have you thrown out of the university. 0:03:15.200 --> 0:03:17.639 What are you doing there? What is this messive equipment? 0:03:17.639 --> 0:03:21.359 It's my miracle miracle. What are you talking about? My miracle? Insane? 0:03:21.560 --> 0:03:24.120 Take it apart, all of it at once. Listen to 0:03:24.160 --> 0:03:27.200 it bubbling. A beautiful sound, isn't it, Professor? Get apart, 0:03:27.680 --> 0:03:29.960 empty outter a talk? No, I got to wait. Are 0:03:29.960 --> 0:03:32.720 you mad? Turn out the burners, all right, I'll turn 0:03:32.760 --> 0:03:35.000 them off, for it's no see where you are do it? 0:03:35.200 --> 0:03:37.120 Put down that aid. I'll smash the bottle on your head. 0:03:37.120 --> 0:03:39.240 If you touch anything on the table, no, don't throw it. 0:03:39.480 --> 0:03:42.760 Put the bottle of as down, stewart, please, my experiment, 0:03:43.080 --> 0:03:46.880 my miracle, bubbling and boiling and stewing. It will work, Professor, 0:03:46.920 --> 0:03:49.320 It's got to work. But but what is it? I 0:03:49.360 --> 0:03:51.440 told him, I create something that no other man has 0:03:51.800 --> 0:03:53.640 I told him, and I will, Professor, you hear me, 0:03:53.680 --> 0:03:57.080 I will. But what a solvent? A solvent more powerful 0:03:57.120 --> 0:03:59.119 than anything the world has ever known? What do you mean? 0:03:59.240 --> 0:04:01.800 What are you talking about? I never actually listened to 0:04:01.800 --> 0:04:03.360 this in full, but I'm gonna have to follow up 0:04:03.360 --> 0:04:05.600 and do that after, after we're done today. And I 0:04:05.640 --> 0:04:09.080 love your idea about covering old radio dramas like sci 0:04:09.120 --> 0:04:11.800 fi and horror radio dramas for for some kind of 0:04:11.800 --> 0:04:15.320 October content. I think that's fantastic. I will say, I 0:04:15.360 --> 0:04:19.280 actually don't know all that much old time radio drama, 0:04:19.600 --> 0:04:22.120 but I have a good friend who is really into 0:04:22.160 --> 0:04:24.679 that stuff, and he sent me several things to listen 0:04:24.680 --> 0:04:28.200 to last year, one of which was a great Orson 0:04:28.279 --> 0:04:31.400 Wells performance of the classic story The Hitchhiker, which was 0:04:31.400 --> 0:04:35.880 eventually made into a Twilight Zone episode. Maybe I had 0:04:35.920 --> 0:04:38.320 to hear that in um in school at one point, 0:04:38.360 --> 0:04:40.000 now that you mentioned it, because I was about to 0:04:40.000 --> 0:04:42.440 say I don't really think I've heard much in the 0:04:42.480 --> 0:04:46.320 way of of old timey radio shows either outside of 0:04:46.360 --> 0:04:49.880 you know, some familiarity with war the Worlds and uh, 0:04:50.160 --> 0:04:51.720 you know, and some of the some of the classics, 0:04:51.720 --> 0:04:55.279 you know, like they the old like the Shadow and Shadow. Yeah, 0:04:55.440 --> 0:04:57.839 but it stands to reason there's some good stuff mixed 0:04:57.839 --> 0:04:59.479 in there. Yeah, so maybe we should have a look. 0:04:59.839 --> 0:05:02.080 I think there was some really good radio drama on 0:05:02.120 --> 0:05:05.440 the Colgate Hour alongside Roy Donk and stuff like that. 0:05:05.520 --> 0:05:08.919 But also, um, there was a really good one my 0:05:08.960 --> 0:05:12.520 friend sent me that was an old horror radio drama 0:05:13.120 --> 0:05:16.640 called ghost Hunt that was from a show called Suspense 0:05:16.800 --> 0:05:19.200 that was about a radio host who if it was 0:05:19.240 --> 0:05:21.560 made today, I guess it'd be a podcaster who was 0:05:21.640 --> 0:05:24.599 like broadcasting from a haunted house that he's trying to 0:05:24.600 --> 0:05:28.440 stay in all night. Yeah, I mean, it's it's kind 0:05:28.480 --> 0:05:31.120 of interesting how you look at these old radio shows 0:05:31.160 --> 0:05:33.440 and you see similar efforts to kind of do the 0:05:33.480 --> 0:05:35.920 same thing, to reinvent the same thing in the podcast 0:05:35.960 --> 0:05:40.080 Realm Today. Um. And then of course I think British listeners, 0:05:40.560 --> 0:05:43.320 people who have listened to British radio would easily chime 0:05:43.360 --> 0:05:45.360 in and say, well, yeah, we've been listening to to 0:05:45.680 --> 0:05:49.560 uh to audio narrations auto audio versions of various works 0:05:49.560 --> 0:05:53.760 for years. I mean, they're uh, I'm I'm reminded, especially 0:05:53.920 --> 0:05:58.960 of the precursors to certain television shows that came out, 0:05:59.000 --> 0:06:01.240 like I know, there's you know or who audio dramas, 0:06:01.320 --> 0:06:04.960 and I think there was like a hobbit audio drama 0:06:05.120 --> 0:06:08.040 stuff like that. But but also, but before you got 0:06:08.120 --> 0:06:10.800 the TV show The Mighty Bush, the Mighty Bousch was 0:06:10.800 --> 0:06:15.720 a radio program. Before Chris Morris put out his excellent 0:06:15.880 --> 0:06:20.280 dark comedy Jam. He put out Blue Jam, which is uh, 0:06:20.320 --> 0:06:25.680 this kind of ambient electronic music slash dark comedy mash 0:06:25.800 --> 0:06:27.960 up that works really well. And there are other examples 0:06:27.960 --> 0:06:32.040 of that kind of thing is that you can find too. Huh. Okay, well, 0:06:32.040 --> 0:06:34.240 I can't promise anything, but Nathan, I think this is 0:06:34.279 --> 0:06:36.000 a great idea. Rob and I will have to mull 0:06:36.080 --> 0:06:38.599 it over and uh and see what we think come October. 0:06:43.839 --> 0:06:46.159 All right, here's another bit of alchemy. A listener mail 0:06:46.279 --> 0:06:49.440 David writes in and responding to our discussion of the 0:06:49.480 --> 0:06:53.720 dissolver of Worlds, brings up the topic of black holes. Quote. 0:06:53.880 --> 0:06:56.320 If you mix anything with a black hole, it'll break 0:06:56.360 --> 0:06:59.599 everything down to the most elemental components, and eventually you 0:06:59.640 --> 0:07:03.800 will only have pure energy leftover Hawking radiation. Hear me 0:07:03.839 --> 0:07:06.400 out if I try to imagine how a universal solvent 0:07:06.440 --> 0:07:09.159 would work and what a jar of black holes would 0:07:09.200 --> 0:07:12.040 look like to me, at least they seem like they 0:07:12.040 --> 0:07:15.520 would both be identical. Black holes would reduce everything is mentioned, 0:07:15.760 --> 0:07:19.200 but also gravity would cause it to eat through any 0:07:19.280 --> 0:07:22.160 kind of jar and fall to the ground, where there 0:07:22.200 --> 0:07:25.320 would just be a hole going through the earth until 0:07:25.480 --> 0:07:29.000 the black hole and Earth find a gravitational equilibrium, and 0:07:29.080 --> 0:07:31.800 anything unfortunate to mix with the black hole would further 0:07:31.840 --> 0:07:34.800 be reduced. Always enjoy your insight and helping me think 0:07:34.800 --> 0:07:38.080 of things. Differently and making new connections to David actually 0:07:38.160 --> 0:07:41.120 thought while we were recording this episode about like what 0:07:41.160 --> 0:07:43.280 would be the closest thing to the idea of the 0:07:43.360 --> 0:07:45.520 universal solvent, And maybe you could say that a black 0:07:45.560 --> 0:07:47.880 hole is a kind of universal solvent. So David's on 0:07:47.920 --> 0:07:51.960 the same frequency here, but I'm not sure. Actually, uh, 0:07:52.560 --> 0:07:55.720 it'd be interested for you know, listeners with physics knowledge 0:07:55.760 --> 0:07:57.760 to write in about this. I'm not sure that if 0:07:57.800 --> 0:07:59.960 you had a tiny, tiny black hole in a jar, 0:08:00.160 --> 0:08:02.880 that it would actually eat through the jar, because I 0:08:02.920 --> 0:08:07.480 recall reading some coverage of um people having concerns that 0:08:07.600 --> 0:08:11.840 the large Hadron collider at CERN would create tiny black 0:08:11.880 --> 0:08:14.239 holes and that these would just sort of turn into 0:08:14.280 --> 0:08:16.680 that universal acid they would eat up the whole world, 0:08:17.040 --> 0:08:19.120 and the response to that being that no, actually, if 0:08:19.120 --> 0:08:20.960 you work out the physics on the creation of a 0:08:21.080 --> 0:08:23.760 microscopic black hole, that what it tends to do is 0:08:23.800 --> 0:08:26.840 actually just like dissipate. I don't know that for sure, 0:08:26.840 --> 0:08:28.760 but I've read stuff along those lines, so maybe we 0:08:28.800 --> 0:08:36.280 can revisit that in the future. All right. The next 0:08:36.320 --> 0:08:39.640 bit of listener mail is in response to the first 0:08:39.880 --> 0:08:44.160 of our Star Wars Alien Necropsy episodes, but as we're 0:08:44.160 --> 0:08:47.280 recording this listener mail episode, only the first one of 0:08:47.320 --> 0:08:49.439 those has aired, right, so I'm sure we've got a 0:08:49.480 --> 0:08:52.000 lot more alien stuff coming in. All right, This comes 0:08:52.040 --> 0:08:55.040 from Nick. Nick says, Hi, guys, I love your most 0:08:55.080 --> 0:08:58.000 recent podcast on the alien morphology seen in the Star 0:08:58.040 --> 0:09:01.200 Wars movies and franchises. When you were both talking about 0:09:01.440 --> 0:09:05.000 space faring organisms and how they could possibly evolve in 0:09:05.040 --> 0:09:07.760 the vacuum of space, it got me thinking what if 0:09:07.760 --> 0:09:11.840 amino acids could be collected in places called lagrange points, 0:09:12.000 --> 0:09:15.800 or points where the gravitational pull between two bodies allows 0:09:15.840 --> 0:09:19.000 for objects to remain in place. In fact, the Sun 0:09:19.040 --> 0:09:21.719 and Earth have five different lagrange points that are used 0:09:21.760 --> 0:09:25.480 for satellites to remain put while using very little fuel. 0:09:25.880 --> 0:09:28.680 In theory, these areas would be present throughout the galaxy 0:09:28.720 --> 0:09:31.400 and could act as a collector of amino acids and 0:09:31.400 --> 0:09:35.640 eventually become a nursery for space faring organisms. Additionally, it 0:09:35.679 --> 0:09:38.080 could be theorized that dark matter could also have the 0:09:38.120 --> 0:09:40.360 same effect, as we know that dark matter has a 0:09:40.400 --> 0:09:44.040 gravitational pull, but since we don't know what comprises dark matter, 0:09:44.160 --> 0:09:46.240 may or may not be suitable for life forms to 0:09:46.280 --> 0:09:49.200 live in just a thought. Thanks for the great podcast, 0:09:49.240 --> 0:09:53.120 and I look forward to hearing more episodes. Nick. Well, Nick, 0:09:53.160 --> 0:09:55.000 I'm not sure if what you say is viable or not, 0:09:55.040 --> 0:09:57.319 but I like the idea of stuff just collecting in 0:09:57.360 --> 0:10:00.120 the lagrange points, kind of like in the Sargasso Sea, right, 0:10:00.160 --> 0:10:02.240 there's currents all around it and things just kind of 0:10:02.360 --> 0:10:06.680 drift into that still point in the middle. Yeah. Absolutely, 0:10:07.160 --> 0:10:12.480 And speaking of sargasm the Weed of Deceit, we also 0:10:12.600 --> 0:10:14.840 heard from Jenna, who wrote writes in and says, while 0:10:14.840 --> 0:10:18.320 listening to your Sargasm C episode, I was reminded that 0:10:18.440 --> 0:10:21.760 z frank did a true facts video on frog Fish. 0:10:22.080 --> 0:10:24.720 If you haven't already seen it, you should. It's delightful. 0:10:24.960 --> 0:10:27.719 Here's the link, um, Yeah, and then the link is 0:10:27.760 --> 0:10:31.839 to one of these z franc Um YouTube videos, which 0:10:31.840 --> 0:10:33.319 I imagine a lot of you have seen. These are 0:10:33.679 --> 0:10:37.720 these are like documentary footage, but with somebody else, uh 0:10:38.000 --> 0:10:41.280 putting in this uh, this over the top narration, and 0:10:41.360 --> 0:10:44.000 I think usually there's some some real facts in there, 0:10:44.000 --> 0:10:47.520 but also a bunch of comedic facts. Yeah, it's it's 0:10:47.559 --> 0:10:52.559 basically comedy narration over over nature documentary footage. I mean, 0:10:52.720 --> 0:10:54.880 in the same kind of vein. It's a different person 0:10:54.960 --> 0:10:56.480 doing it, but the same kind of vein is the 0:10:56.600 --> 0:11:01.559 much UH celebrated honey Badger viral video years ago. UH. 0:11:01.600 --> 0:11:04.400 And in this case, it's talking about frog fish and 0:11:04.760 --> 0:11:08.080 at one point brings up the sargassum frog fish. Uh. 0:11:08.160 --> 0:11:10.480 The narrator, I guess this is the Z Frank guy. 0:11:10.520 --> 0:11:12.800 I was not familiar with this channel before, but I've 0:11:12.800 --> 0:11:15.439 seen videos like this, and he points out that they 0:11:15.480 --> 0:11:17.480 eat each other, and he says, it's kind of a 0:11:17.520 --> 0:11:20.000 crappy life because they hang out in this seaweed that 0:11:20.080 --> 0:11:21.839 they look like, and so it's kind of like if 0:11:21.920 --> 0:11:26.439 lions looked like couches, like that analogy. But one thing 0:11:26.440 --> 0:11:29.240 I noticed is that the narrator doesn't just make comedy points. 0:11:29.240 --> 0:11:31.120 A lot of what he does is he's just talking 0:11:31.160 --> 0:11:33.640 about a fish and then suddenly the fish will like 0:11:33.760 --> 0:11:36.320 bite another thing's head off, and he'll just start laughing. 0:11:38.160 --> 0:11:40.920 In a way. It's kind of reminiscent of the narration 0:11:40.960 --> 0:11:43.880 we get at the beginning of that the blood water 0:11:43.920 --> 0:11:45.960 is a doctor Z which of course we we discussed 0:11:46.120 --> 0:11:50.080 uh around the same time on Weird House Cinema. Partially 0:11:50.120 --> 0:11:52.320 related to this, I have to say that there's there's 0:11:52.320 --> 0:11:55.600 a wonderful video that I've watched way too many times 0:11:56.360 --> 0:12:00.720 where it's it's footage from a documentary. Here he's hosted 0:12:00.720 --> 0:12:04.520 by Brian Cox, not the the actor, but the the 0:12:04.520 --> 0:12:09.440 the astrophysicist, wonderful science communicator. Uh, taking nothing away from him, 0:12:09.480 --> 0:12:12.440 but in this video someone has dubbed over it doing 0:12:12.440 --> 0:12:16.480 a Brian Cox impersonation, and it's hilarious because he's because 0:12:16.480 --> 0:12:18.960 he's saying stuff like you might think this is Earth, 0:12:19.000 --> 0:12:22.320 but it's not, it's Mars or something something that effect 0:12:22.400 --> 0:12:26.480 is just like way out there, um, astounding. So I 0:12:26.480 --> 0:12:29.040 don't know. So sometimes these sorts of gimmicks can work 0:12:29.080 --> 0:12:36.520 really well. All right, let's let's move on to a 0:12:36.520 --> 0:12:39.920 little Weird House Cinema listener mail while we're at it. 0:12:39.960 --> 0:12:42.560 Sounds great. Let's see do you want to take this 0:12:42.600 --> 0:12:45.160 one from Katie or should I? Um? I I can 0:12:45.160 --> 0:12:48.920 take this one, so Katie writes, Hi, Rob and Joe, 0:12:49.080 --> 0:12:51.560 I love your show, and Weird House Cinema just makes 0:12:51.559 --> 0:12:54.560 it even better. I'm actually listening to an episode right now. 0:12:54.960 --> 0:12:57.719 I know you mostly do adult movies um and she 0:12:57.840 --> 0:13:01.000 means movies for grown ups. There um or green movies, 0:13:01.040 --> 0:13:06.080 not especially game films, not not especially aimed at children. Um. 0:13:06.080 --> 0:13:08.640 But she continues, but you did do the e Walk 0:13:08.720 --> 0:13:10.839 movies once, which I loved, so I thought I might 0:13:10.880 --> 0:13:13.439 suggest two movies for younger viewers that you may or 0:13:13.480 --> 0:13:16.760 may not be familiar with. The first, and probably the 0:13:16.800 --> 0:13:20.080 stranger of the two, is The five Thousand Fingers of 0:13:20.160 --> 0:13:23.679 Dr t NTE, which I believe has something to do 0:13:23.760 --> 0:13:26.640 with Dr Seuss. And uh, and she is correct on this. 0:13:26.640 --> 0:13:28.280 This was a Doctor SEUs was involved in this. I 0:13:28.280 --> 0:13:30.800 think it would ended up being not not a project 0:13:30.800 --> 0:13:33.559 that that anyone involved in it was particularly happy with. 0:13:34.280 --> 0:13:36.400 But this did come up in my research about like 0:13:36.440 --> 0:13:40.680 weird films from previous decades. Anyway, Uh, they I haven't 0:13:40.720 --> 0:13:43.959 seen it, but our our listener has, and they continue quote. 0:13:44.000 --> 0:13:46.360 I remember watching this a number of times with my 0:13:46.400 --> 0:13:48.520 best friend as a kid and loving it, even though 0:13:48.559 --> 0:13:50.760 it is very strange and at times a little scary. 0:13:51.080 --> 0:13:53.280 At some point in college I found a DVD copy 0:13:53.600 --> 0:13:56.000 and so have seen it at least once as an adult, 0:13:56.240 --> 0:13:58.440 but that was years ago. I keep meaning to show 0:13:58.480 --> 0:14:00.600 it to my kids, but I haven't had a chance yet. 0:14:00.920 --> 0:14:04.160 It's about a boy who is resisting his piano lessons, 0:14:04.200 --> 0:14:06.880 and somehow, maybe through a dream, gets taken to a 0:14:06.920 --> 0:14:11.360 strange world or castle run by Dr to Willaker as 0:14:11.400 --> 0:14:15.440 a prisoner. There are many other children being forced to 0:14:15.520 --> 0:14:19.240 play the piano there, and then he has to escape. 0:14:19.480 --> 0:14:21.840 This may not be exactly right, but it's as much 0:14:21.840 --> 0:14:24.480 as I can remember. Plot wise, this sounds similar to 0:14:24.520 --> 0:14:26.880 a goose Bumps book that I recall when they're one 0:14:26.920 --> 0:14:30.280 about a sinister piano teacher. Well, you know, certainly the 0:14:30.920 --> 0:14:33.280 way that we we think of our piano teachers sometimes 0:14:33.360 --> 0:14:36.600 can can can lean towards the villainus, so it makes 0:14:36.600 --> 0:14:41.000 sense anyway. They continue the second movie, The Return to Oz, 0:14:42.480 --> 0:14:44.760 maybe a little two main stream, but I love it 0:14:44.800 --> 0:14:47.400 still today and it is definitely a little strange. It 0:14:47.520 --> 0:14:49.400 is sort of a mash up of the Next to 0:14:49.560 --> 0:14:52.400 Oz books and has some delightful new characters and several 0:14:52.480 --> 0:14:56.360 genuinely creepy moments, including an old time asylum and a 0:14:56.360 --> 0:14:58.840 witch who takes off her head. I have shared this 0:14:58.880 --> 0:15:00.840 with my kids as well. It was a sixth grade 0:15:00.840 --> 0:15:03.600 class I taught years ago. Although at times they were 0:15:03.640 --> 0:15:06.600 a little worried, they were hooked. Anyway, Thank you so 0:15:06.760 --> 0:15:09.600 much for all the wonderful listening. I don't have much 0:15:09.680 --> 0:15:12.080 time right now to watch movies, so weird how cinema 0:15:12.200 --> 0:15:15.760 is my portal into the strange b movie world. Thanks Katie. 0:15:16.720 --> 0:15:19.200 Uh So, I've never seen all of Return to Oz, 0:15:19.280 --> 0:15:21.480 but this is one that people have told me multiple 0:15:21.560 --> 0:15:23.760 times I should watch and that they thought I would love. 0:15:23.800 --> 0:15:26.680 And so I've seen some clips from it. I recall 0:15:26.720 --> 0:15:30.240 it has some creepy pumpkinheads in it. Uh oh yeah, 0:15:30.240 --> 0:15:35.160 people with wheels skates for hands. It's uh. I think 0:15:35.240 --> 0:15:37.200 I saw it when I was younger, and it does 0:15:37.280 --> 0:15:40.840 have a lot of weird stuff in it, and um uh, 0:15:40.880 --> 0:15:43.120 you know it's and it's got It's got a pretty 0:15:43.120 --> 0:15:45.880 decent cast too. It's got some interesting connections there. So 0:15:46.320 --> 0:15:50.120 Dorothy played by Ferusa Bulk it is yep, and uh, 0:15:50.800 --> 0:15:52.680 let's see who else is that. Gene marsh is in it. 0:15:52.960 --> 0:15:58.360 Um uh. Brian Henson does a voice, so it's it's interesting. 0:15:59.080 --> 0:16:02.160 It might be the sort of film to consider. Is 0:16:02.200 --> 0:16:05.080 it in two mainstream? I don't know. We've we sometimes 0:16:05.120 --> 0:16:07.720 asked that question about things we're considering for Weird House, 0:16:07.720 --> 0:16:11.560 because we don't have a firm definition of what exactly 0:16:11.640 --> 0:16:14.400 a weird house cinema selection is I know there's at 0:16:14.480 --> 0:16:17.960 least one very mainstream children's movie that I have I've 0:16:17.960 --> 0:16:21.280 been kicking around the idea of doing, but I haven't 0:16:21.360 --> 0:16:23.760 quite pulled the trigger on yet. I'd say the criteria 0:16:23.840 --> 0:16:26.480 for weird house inclusion or not super solid. I mean, 0:16:26.640 --> 0:16:29.840 we don't have hard boundaries, but but yeah, well, I 0:16:29.880 --> 0:16:32.320 guess we do tend to the more obscure. But you know, 0:16:32.360 --> 0:16:34.320 I don't know. We did a Star Wars movie. I 0:16:34.360 --> 0:16:37.360 mean it was He Walks, but that's about as mainstream 0:16:37.360 --> 0:16:48.960 as you can get. True true. All right, So this 0:16:49.000 --> 0:16:51.480 next message came to us from James. This is a 0:16:51.640 --> 0:16:55.680 follow up email he I think wrote in the last 0:16:55.760 --> 0:16:57.960 Listener Mail episode. It was the one where he told 0:16:58.040 --> 0:17:02.120 us about all those turbographics sixteen names, including the racing RPG, 0:17:02.360 --> 0:17:05.119 which is still just that was just clanging around in 0:17:05.200 --> 0:17:07.960 my head like a big copper kettle. Uh that that 0:17:08.040 --> 0:17:10.159 you would like go to different towns and talk to 0:17:10.240 --> 0:17:13.200 people and like talking I don't know, have a random 0:17:13.280 --> 0:17:16.600 encounters for racing. That just sounds amazing. But anyway, he 0:17:16.640 --> 0:17:19.000 also said he was seeking out a copy of Frogs 0:17:19.160 --> 0:17:21.199 or I think maybe he'd already gotten one, and so 0:17:21.240 --> 0:17:23.840 he writes again. James says, Wow, thanks so much for 0:17:23.880 --> 0:17:26.560 reading my letter in the latest Listener mail segment. That 0:17:26.680 --> 0:17:29.280 totally made my day, and I look forward to showing 0:17:29.320 --> 0:17:31.320 it off to my brother, who shares most of the 0:17:31.359 --> 0:17:34.360 same memories. I think he's talking about the terbographic sixteen. 0:17:34.920 --> 0:17:38.760 James says, I just finished watching Frogs last night. Between 0:17:38.760 --> 0:17:41.879 the shots attempting to make geckos appear menacing and the 0:17:41.920 --> 0:17:45.359 horrific acting, it elicited plenty of laughter and was well 0:17:45.359 --> 0:17:48.359 worth the four dollar eBay purchase. I'm glad you brought 0:17:48.400 --> 0:17:51.359 this odd little Jim to my attention. And then James 0:17:51.400 --> 0:17:55.000 attaches a photo I suppose of his copy of Frogs 0:17:55.000 --> 0:17:57.200 sitting on a table. I guess this is in his house, 0:17:57.480 --> 0:18:00.280 but it's next to a gecko that I can tell 0:18:00.320 --> 0:18:02.680 if that's like a plastic fake gecko or a real 0:18:02.840 --> 0:18:04.800 that looks real that looks like a real gecko. Uh. 0:18:04.920 --> 0:18:07.040 And then behind the gecko, yeah, I guess this looks 0:18:07.040 --> 0:18:09.560 like a gecko habitat sort of. There's like a place 0:18:09.600 --> 0:18:12.439 with like a water bowl and things be strange if 0:18:12.440 --> 0:18:15.320 that was fake. And then behind it there's a bunch 0:18:15.320 --> 0:18:17.760 of art, and one of the pieces of art has 0:18:17.800 --> 0:18:21.920 this like cool looking gecko with sunglasses. Is this GEX 0:18:22.119 --> 0:18:24.840 from those Gets video games? You remember these things? I 0:18:24.880 --> 0:18:26.960 don't know. It looks like it's a Frogger poster based 0:18:27.000 --> 0:18:30.520 on the term above it, so maybe it was like 0:18:30.520 --> 0:18:35.680 a latter day Frogger video game poster. I'm I'm almost 0:18:35.680 --> 0:18:38.159 certain this character here is GEX. I mean, you should 0:18:38.160 --> 0:18:40.520 google Gets if you don't. I don't. I never play 0:18:40.600 --> 0:18:42.639 these games myself, but somehow I knew about them, and 0:18:42.680 --> 0:18:46.720 maybe friends I knew had them. GEX is a lizard 0:18:47.560 --> 0:18:51.119 game adventure hero who like makes wise cracks about TV. 0:18:51.440 --> 0:18:55.520 He's like a stand up comedian geck action hero, and 0:18:55.640 --> 0:18:58.199 it looks a little Pucci. Yeah, yeah, yeah, very Pucci. 0:18:58.280 --> 0:19:02.639 Actually he's got sunglasses and they definitely pouchified him by 0:19:02.680 --> 0:19:05.440 ten percent. So he'll jump on a big mushroom or 0:19:05.480 --> 0:19:08.359 something and then say, this reminds me of when the 0:19:08.440 --> 0:19:11.200 fawns jumped over the shark or I don't know, I 0:19:11.280 --> 0:19:12.920 just made that up, but he he like, he makes 0:19:13.000 --> 0:19:15.280 jokes about pop culture in a video game, which I 0:19:15.320 --> 0:19:18.720 think was innovative at the time. Okay, yeah, I'm not 0:19:18.720 --> 0:19:20.879 not really familiar with him. But but speaking of Frogs, 0:19:20.880 --> 0:19:24.400 you know who else like the Frog's episode? My mom? Yeah, 0:19:24.480 --> 0:19:26.560 I think she can really. Yeah, she tends to skip 0:19:26.560 --> 0:19:28.480 the Weird House sent in the episodes, but she was 0:19:28.480 --> 0:19:30.240 telling me it's like I saw the Frogs one and 0:19:30.240 --> 0:19:33.199 I saw that had Sam Elliott discussed in it. So 0:19:33.240 --> 0:19:34.840 I listened to it and it was a lot of fun. 0:19:35.000 --> 0:19:37.720 So who doesn't like Sam Elliott? Yeah, she has not 0:19:37.760 --> 0:19:39.879 seen the movie, but she expressed an interest in seeing 0:19:39.880 --> 0:19:43.639 it after having listened to the episode, So there you go. 0:19:44.119 --> 0:19:46.320 I briefly brought up the idea of my wife that 0:19:46.359 --> 0:19:48.600 maybe I could give a copy of Frogs to my 0:19:48.680 --> 0:19:52.960 mom for Mother's Day, but that was shot down. Apparently 0:19:53.040 --> 0:19:56.280 that's not Mother's Day material that that particular movie. I 0:19:56.320 --> 0:20:03.239 guess not. Hey, do you mind if I do this? 0:20:03.280 --> 0:20:06.359 Next message also about Weird House Cinema from Mike. Here 0:20:06.640 --> 0:20:09.760 go for it, alright, So let's see. Mike writes in 0:20:09.840 --> 0:20:12.040 to say he he enjoyed our Weird House Cinema on 0:20:12.160 --> 0:20:16.200 silent movies, and he talks about appreciating that we discussed 0:20:16.200 --> 0:20:19.200 the importance of live music to accompany silent films back 0:20:19.200 --> 0:20:22.119 in the original time. Like. He shares a story of 0:20:22.119 --> 0:20:24.119 when he was in college, he went to see the 0:20:24.160 --> 0:20:28.040 movie Intolerance from nineteen sixteen and says it was It 0:20:28.080 --> 0:20:30.439 was accompanied by piano, and he says it was a 0:20:30.480 --> 0:20:33.200 lovely experience. He says the pianist was like a conduit 0:20:33.240 --> 0:20:36.120 between the audience and the film part of and separate 0:20:36.160 --> 0:20:40.080 from both simultaneously. But then he shares a personally anecdote, 0:20:40.080 --> 0:20:42.719 I wanted to read this part. Sometime after the showing 0:20:42.760 --> 0:20:45.959 slash performance of Intolerance. I mentioned it to my grandmother 0:20:46.080 --> 0:20:48.400 and was treated to a story that I hold dear. 0:20:48.840 --> 0:20:51.920 As a young woman in Rochester, New Hampshire, she played 0:20:51.960 --> 0:20:55.320 the piano for silent movies at the local theater. As 0:20:55.359 --> 0:20:58.720 she accompanied a film one night, her attention drifted. She 0:20:58.880 --> 0:21:01.880 was surprised when the audience started to laugh. No one 0:21:01.920 --> 0:21:04.520 had laughed at that film before. After a moment, she 0:21:04.600 --> 0:21:07.320 realized that everyone was laughing because she was playing a 0:21:07.440 --> 0:21:11.280