The Weekly Stuff Podcast #95 - Doctor Who Series 8 Premiere Review & Discussion

It’s time for another episode of The Weekly Stuff Podcast with Jonathan Lack & Sean Chapman, a weekly audio show that explores the worlds of film, video gaming, and television. Remember to subscribe for free in iTunes by following this link!

It is a longstanding tradition on the podcast that when a new episode of Doctor Who airs, we talk about it in depth. And with the Series 8 premiere having debuted last night, giving us our first good look at Peter Capaldi’s 12^th Doctor, there is a lot to talk about. For instance: This is a major moment in the history of the series, but is it any good? Has Steven Moffat gotten over his worst instincts as a writer? And will Clara ever have an even partially consistent character? Listen to find out.

Since this is the Doctor Who season premiere, it’s the only topic for this week’s episode, but don’t worry – future episodes will have plenty of other topics of discussion, and we usually keep the Doctor Who talk contained to the end of the show.

Enjoy!

Download and Stream 'The Weekly Stuff' Episode #95 as an MP3

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If you have questions, comments, or concerns about The Weekly Stuff, or would like to write in to the podcast to have your questions read on the show, please e-mail dinochow@jonathanlack.com.

The Weekly Stuff with Jonathan Lack & Sean Chapman is a weekly audio podcast, and if you subscribe in iTunes, episodes will be delivered automatically and for free as soon as they are released. If you visit www.jonathanlack.com, we also have streaming and downloadable versions of new and archival episodes for your listening pleasure.

The Last of Us Remastered: Portraits - Part Three: Environment

Over the previous year, we have talked plenty of times about Naughty Dog's masterpiece The Last of Us on The Weekly Stuff Podcast. We reviewed it on Episode #54, named it the best game of 2013 on Episode #75, discussed the DLC Left Behind on Episode #78, and just last week shared our thoughts on the new Remastered edition for PS4.

Suffice it to say, the game is one of my all time favorites, as a second playthrough on the PS4 really reinforced. And while the Remastered edition is indeed a terrific revitalization of an already gorgeous game, my favorite part of playing it wasn't the new graphics, or even the preexisting story itself - it was the newly added 'Photo Mode,' which allows players to freeze the action, manipulate, and create gorgeous screenshots from within the game. It is an unbelievably powerful tool for a console game, giving you all the power of a skilled photographer within the game world, and as soon as I started using it, I just couldn't stop, and spent a wholly unnecessary amount of play time simply experimenting with the game's imagery. At a certain point, I felt like an actual photographer trying to put a portfolio or gallery together, out exploring the world and taking pictures whenever I felt inspired. It is a truly fascinating and uniquely engaging way to interact with a game.

This obsession is something I have mentioned on the podcast a few times now, and I wanted to share some of the best photos I got with our listeners. From a raw number of around 200 screenshots, I whittled things down to a few dozen really strong ones, and so as not to overload these web pages, I have split the images into three galleries. You are looking at Part Three right now, which focuses on various shots of the landscape and environment. Part One focuses on calmer scenes with Joel and other characters, while Part Two captures moments of action and violence. Enjoy...

See The Last of Us Remastered: Portraits - Part Three after the jump...

The Last of Us Remastered: Portraits - Part Two: Action

Over the previous year, we have talked plenty of times about Naughty Dog's masterpiece The Last of Us on The Weekly Stuff Podcast. We reviewed it on Episode #54, named it the best game of 2013 on Episode #75, discussed the DLC Left Behind on Episode #78, and just last week shared our thoughts on the new Remastered edition for PS4.

Suffice it to say, the game is one of my all time favorites, as a second playthrough on the PS4 really reinforced. And while the Remastered edition is indeed a terrific revitalization of an already gorgeous game, my favorite part of playing it wasn't the new graphics, or even the preexisting story itself - it was the newly added 'Photo Mode,' which allows players to freeze the action, manipulate, and create gorgeous screenshots from within the game. It is an unbelievably powerful tool for a console game, giving you all the power of a skilled photographer within the game world, and as soon as I started using it, I just couldn't stop, and spent a wholly unnecessary amount of play time simply experimenting with the game's imagery. At a certain point, I felt like an actual photographer trying to put a portfolio or gallery together, out exploring the world and taking pictures whenever I felt inspired. It is a truly fascinating and uniquely engaging way to interact with a game.

This obsession is something I have mentioned on the podcast a few times now, and I wanted to share some of the best photos I got with our listeners. From a raw number of around 200 screenshots, I whittled things down to a few dozen really strong ones, and so as not to overload these web pages, I have split the images into three galleries. You are looking at Part Two right now, which focuses on some (frequently horrific) moments of action and violence. Part One focuses on calmer scenes with Joel and other characters, while Part Three closes things out with some shots of the environment and landscapes. Enjoy...

See The Last of Us Remastered: Portraits - Part Two after the jump...

The Last of Us Remastered: Portraits - Part One: Moments

Over the previous year, we have talked plenty of times about Naughty Dog's masterpiece The Last of Us on The Weekly Stuff Podcast. We reviewed it on Episode #54, named it the best game of 2013 on Episode #75, discussed the DLC Left Behind on Episode #78, and just last week shared our thoughts on the new Remastered edition for PS4.

Suffice it to say, the game is one of my all time favorites, as a second playthrough on the PS4 really reinforced. And while the Remastered edition is indeed a terrific revitalization of an already gorgeous game, my favorite part of playing it wasn't the new graphics, or even the preexisting story itself - it was the newly added 'Photo Mode,' which allows players to freeze the action, manipulate, and create gorgeous screenshots from within the game. It is an unbelievably powerful tool for a console game, giving you all the power of a skilled photographer within the game world, and as soon as I started using it, I just couldn't stop, and spent a wholly unnecessary amount of play time simply experimenting with the game's imagery. At a certain point, I felt like an actual photographer trying to put a portfolio or gallery together, out exploring the world and taking pictures whenever I felt inspired. It is a truly fascinating and uniquely engaging way to interact with a game.

This obsession is something I have mentioned on the podcast a few times now, and I wanted to share some of the best photos I got with our listeners. From a raw number of around 200 screenshots, I whittled things down to a few dozen really strong ones, and so as not to overload these web pages, I have split the images into three galleries. You are looking at Part One right now, which documents some fleeting moments of horror or beauty I captured within the game. Part Two focuses on action moments, while Part Three closes things out with some shots of the environment and landscapes. Enjoy...

See The Last of Us Remastered: Portraits - Part One after the jump...

The Weekly Stuff Podcast # 94 - Revisiting Classic Doctor Who Introduction Stories

It’s time for another episode of The Weekly Stuff Podcast with Jonathan Lack & Sean Chapman, a weekly audio show that explores the worlds of film, video gaming, and television. Remember to subscribe for free in iTunes by following this link!

You all know by now how much we love Doctor Who here at The Weekly Stuff, so it should come as no surprise that we are very excited for the introduction of Peter Capaldi’s 12^th Doctor on the new season of the show this Saturday. In preparation for this momentous occasion, we’ve gone back to several other Doctor introduction stories over the life of the series to examine how other writers and actors have handled the difficult and unique challenge this kind of episode presents. Specifically, we break down and discuss the 3^rd Doctor debut “Spearhead from Space,” the 6^th Doctor premiere “The Twin Dilemma,” “The Christmas Invasion” from the 10^th Doctor, and “The Eleventh Hour” from the 11^th.

Enjoy, and come back in just a few days for the next episode, in which we discuss the first story of the Capaldi era!

Download and Stream 'The Weekly Stuff' Episode #94 as an MP3

Subscribe for free to 'The Weekly Stuff' in iTunes!

Follow 'The Weekly Stuff' RSS Feed Online!

If you have questions, comments, or concerns about The Weekly Stuff, or would like to write in to the podcast to have your questions read on the show, please e-mail dinochow@jonathanlack.com.

The Weekly Stuff with Jonathan Lack & Sean Chapman is a weekly audio podcast, and if you subscribe in iTunes, episodes will be delivered automatically and for free as soon as they are released. If you visit www.jonathanlack.com, we also have streaming and downloadable versions of new and archival episodes for your listening pleasure.

The Weekly Stuff Podcast #93 - Guardians of the Galaxy, Robin Williams, Gamescom & More

It’s finally time for another episode of The Weekly Stuff Podcast with Jonathan Lack & Sean Chapman, a weekly audio show that explores the worlds of film, video gaming, and television. Remember to subscribe for free in iTunes by following this link!

There is a ton to cover on this week’s show – in part because we (once again) missed a few weeks, in part because things have been eventful lately – but the passing of the legendary Robin Williams obviously casts a shadow over all of it. As we say at the top of the show when paying tribute to the actor, he was one of the first film and TV performers we ever knew, and a permanent pop culture fixture our entire lives. His death cuts deep, and while words obviously aren’t enough to explain or contain his greatness, we try our best at the beginning of the show.

From there, though, it’s business as usual, as we cover a few weeks’ worth of movie and gaming news, including all the big announcements out of Gamescom 2014, before moving on to our in-depth review and analysis of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. It’s a film both of us had been looking forward to immensely, and it’s become an unexpected smash hit – so what did we think of it?

Enjoy, and come back next week (promise!) as we prepare for the incoming Twelfth Doctor by re-watching classic Doctor Who introduction episodes from the life of the series.

  

Download and Stream 'The Weekly Stuff' Episode #93 as an MP3

Subscribe for free to 'The Weekly Stuff' in iTunes!

Follow 'The Weekly Stuff' RSS Feed Online!

If you have questions, comments, or concerns about The Weekly Stuff, or would like to write in to the podcast to have your questions read on the show, please e-mail dinochow@jonathanlack.com.

The Weekly Stuff with Jonathan Lack & Sean Chapman is a weekly audio podcast, and if you subscribe in iTunes, episodes will be delivered automatically and for free as soon as they are released. If you visit www.jonathanlack.com, we also have streaming and downloadable versions of new and archival episodes for your listening pleasure.

Essay Day - "Spaces of Transgression in Kenji Mizoguchi’s Sansho the Bailiff and Takeshi Kitano’s Sonatine"

It’s Wednesday, and it’s time for the final installment of ‘Essay Day’ here at Fade to Lack. As explained here, I have written a large number of essays during my time at the University of Colorado as a student in film studies, and I thought it time to share the best of those with my readers, so throughout the summer, I have been posting a new essay every Wednesday, all focused on film in one form or another, but often incorporating other research and fields of study. 

For the final piece in this series, I have selected an essay on two of my very favorite films – Kenji Mizoguchi’s Sansho the Bailiff and Takeshi Kitano’s Sonatine. Written for a course on ‘Cinema and the Poetics of Transgression’ in the Fall of 2013, which, as the name implies, explored films dealing with themes of transgression, the assignment for this final paper was to pick two films not discussed in class dealing with the topic and write an analytical essay about them. These films immediately came to mind, and the essay was one of my favorites to write as a result. Enjoy, and many thanks for following Essay Day throughout the summer!

Read “Spaces of Transgression in Kenji Mizoguchi’s Sansho the Bailiff and Takeshi Kitano’s Sonatine” after the jump...

Review: "Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie" is a hilarious and heartwarming love letter to the fans

In Internet time, 10 years is an eternity. Social networking platforms rise and fall, popular personalities are forged and forgotten, and the ways in which we consume, share, and discuss media are wont to change with startling rapidity. That James Rolfe’s Angry Video Game Nerd character has now survived an entire decade online, maintaining a passionate fanbase and a measure of online cultural currency over 119 episodes and an increasingly erratic release schedule, is just one of the many amazing things about this vitriolic gaming review sensation. The series, which has from its inception displayed a palpable intelligence and fierce creative passion to complement Rolfe’s delightfully silly and scatological comic stylings, always stood out from the pack of web review shows, and even as the type of entertainment the show provided evolved over time – AVGN eventually settled into a calmer, more educational rhythm, something that’s given the show greater longevity beyond its initial, rancorous premise – the amount of enjoyment it has to offer has not, in 10 years, diminished in the slightest.

With Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie, that enjoyment is at a fever pitch, and the series’ unlikely lifespan seems more miraculous and unique than ever before. Rolfe and co-writer/co-director Kevin Finn have crafted a full-length feature adventure that both honors the series’ game review foundations and transcends them utterly, a film that plays beautifully to the fans through its wit, charm, and personality, rather than just pandering or repeating itself. Rolfe and Finn have aimed big here, and while the end result is undoubtedly a micro-budget, occasionally haphazard production, there is so much passionate creativity on display, such enthusiasm and spontaneity and lust for the pleasures and possibilities of filmmaking, that it is impossible to leave the theatre with anything less than a broad, warm smile and a renewed appreciation for the role of imagination in cinema.

Continue reading after the jump...

Essay Day – "Aggression and the Modern Pathology in Polanski’s 'Knife in the Water' and Kieslowski’s 'A Short Film About Killing'"

It’s Wednesday, which means it’s time for the penultimate ‘Essay Day’ here at Fade to Lack. As explained here, I have written a large number of essays during my time at the University of Colorado as a student in film studies, and I thought it time to share the best of those with my readers, so throughout the summer, I have been posting a new essay every Wednesday, all focused on film in one form or another, but often incorporating other research and fields of study. This is the second to last installment, and the series will be concluding next week.

This week’s piece was one of the several in this series never written with publication in mind, as it was penned for an in-class exam in just one hour. But I find the films discussed here very interesting, and the ideas explored worth sharing, so I felt the essay would be of interest to readers. The course was called ‘Cinema and the Poetics of Transgression,’ exploring issues of transgressive behavior in a variety of foreign feature films, and the essay prompt was to use two films viewed in class – specifically, Roman Polanski’s 1962 film Knife in the Water and Krzysztof Kieslowski’s 1988 film A Short Film About Killing – and discuss how aggression is represented and explored in each. As this was written for an exam in a classroom setting, there is less of the usual shorthand plot synopsis for those who have not seen the films, so you may wish to seek them out before reading. Otherwise, enjoy...

Read “Aggression and the Modern Pathology in Polanski’s Knife in the Water and Kieslowski’s A Short Film About Killing” after the jump...