Prof. Horatio Hufnagel

Whoa. First, this episode was a *glorious* mess. I loved it. I have to ask though, who sold these guys cocaine that night? Because I think that shit was laced! I kid, but it really did remind me of some of those hipster indie rock parties I attended in my younger days. Loud talking! Political opinions thrown with abandon! Constant interruption! All that was missing was the four hosts talking about opening some kind of crazy restaurant, except that they're "For really real this time, guys! We're going to do it!" [passes out two minutes later] Anyway, I haven't been keeping up with the forums lately (lurker mostly), and I've usually been about a week behind on episodes, but after hearing about "Camerongate" on a video game forum of all places I had to check out the HDTGM Reddit sub (which I didn't know existed, and also, Reddit is garbage I have now learned). Which had a link to this thread with the claim that forum users hated this one too, and I thought "Cameron? Fister? PlanB? They hated this and are shitting on the show? I refuse to believe that." Thank god those were lies and this is still one of the most inexplicably awesome forums on the web. I don't have much to add about the movie. I feel like I really need to watch it again to absorb the madness. But! Foodstuffs... I'm also a little meh about coconut, but if it interests anyone, coconut is good for certain stomach problems. And the fake processed stuff is even better for it, for whatever reason. Inre candy ratios: This may be a controversial opinion, but I think that mini/bite-size Snickers are better than real Snickers bars. The ratio is much more pleasing for me. Inre Thin Mints: know that Keebler makes a nearly perfect knockoff of Thin Mints. They're called Grasshoppers and you can find them in most grocery stores. (They also knock off other varieties.) There, you are all no longer slaves sucking at the teat of Big Scouting. Now you can suckle the teat of Big Cookie YEAR ROUND. I'm typing this on my phone at work, so forgive me for not being able to easily scroll back to get all this correct: Congratulations to Cameron and Cainnon. Sorry if I've gotten some of y'all mixed up! Like I said, I can't scroll back but I know we have two expectant parents. Congrats to both. And condolences to Amy the Gorilla (oh. I just got that name) and anyone else I've seen posting here in recent threads about going through hard times. It sucks. I hope things are better soon. Also, was it Amy that mentioned she was a "hardcore singer?" Did you mean a "seriously dedicated singer" or a "singer in a hardcore band?" Also, pineapple juice is good for singing. But just a swig or two.

Ah! That's it. He sprung to mind as a boss in one of the TMNT arcade games, but I couldn't recall if he was a character on the show or something. No argument from me! I grew up in Mississippi so I wore shorts most of the time as a youth, but when I moved to NYC I just stopped. It wasn't a conscious decision, and no one ever hassled me for wearing them, but I guess I picked up on it subconsciously. It's really not all that rare to see men in shorts these days, but some jerk will most likely give you a hard time if you wear them out on a Saturday night. Much like what happened in this podcast! And that's not even the first time I've heard a comedian point out the "cargo shorts guy" in the front row. It's all in good fun though. It's NY! You can honestly wear whatever you want, like a cat on your head, a cape, leather in summer, etc., and most people will just ignore you.

Fun fact: those Chinese take-out boxes can be unfolded to make a little "plate" if you don't feel like doing dishes. You can do it with the food still inside it, even. Brown bagging beer is also very common. Most states in the US have "open container" laws which make it illegal to carry an open alcoholic beverage in public. Brown bagging doesn't exactly absolve you of the crime, but is done more out of respect to police officers. Most people think open-container laws are dumb, including a lot of police, so by putting it in a bag they can plausibly "not see it" and look the other way. They don't always do that, though. Believe me. New Orleans is one of the few places where a person can carry an open beer/drink and consume it in public, so you're less likely to see brown bagging there. Oddly, I was just talking with a friend today about an infamous "Drive Thru Daiquiri Barn" on the outskirts of the city. While you can carry an open container on the street, you can NOT have an open container in your vehicle. Even a passenger can't have an open drink. So to get around this, the protocol is that you buy the daiquiri but you never puncture the lid of your drink with the straw. You lift the lid to take a sip and replace it. That way, your container is only "open" when the lid is lifted. Yeah, yeah; vice laws are dumb. And to be clear: drinking and driving is even dumber.

So Tokka and Rahzar are supposed to be the most vicious animals that the second-in-command Foot soldier could find? Yet when they are returned to their natural state, Rahzar is what appears to be an incredibly well-adjusted wolf/dog? I mean, he's in the middle of "the club" with bass throbbing, keytars literally blowing ninja through walls, people everywhere, some of whom are fighting, and that dog is just happily chilling and taking in the scene. And these are the most vicious animals in NYC? The writers couldn't even go cliche and give us a mutant sewer alligator? (Although, I think I recall that there was a Bayou-themed alligator character in the cartoon.) Not even a C.H.U.D.? Hell, I'd say I could understand why they didn't go with the obvious mutant rat since we already have Splinter, but they did go with Tokka who is just another turtle. Now that I think about it, going with Tokka and a mutated grey rat might have actually made more sense in the vein of the "fighting a shadow version of yourself" video game trope. And why not start with trying the ooze on one of your highly-trained runaway teenage ninjas that society has abandoned to a life of crime? Child labor laws? As for the shorts, that's a classic NYC complaint. I've been in the city eleven years and I've only worn shorts a handful of times to go swimming. And even then, I didn't wear the shorts to the beach, I changed into them when I got there.

Nice.

And so Figrin D'an, who once sat atop the galactic pop charts, resigned himself to a new life of anonymity among the seedy cantinas in Mos Eisley. "The big clubs are looking for a younger sound," his manager had told him. "The kids today aren't into that jizz and jatz music anymore. The only thing they want is quasar-rap. Droidz in the Hood, Jawas With Attitude, Wook-Tang Clan, Run2-D2*. That sort of thing. You've got to modernize your sound, man! Get hip!" "No way," Figrin replied. "I'm going to jizz until the day I die." * Or maybe Run-DMC3P0?

I haven't watched this film in years, so I don't have anything to add except that this was another great episode even with my hazy recollections of this trainwreck. I did want to mention what my first bad movie was, though. I specifically remember seeing Toys in the theater when I was around ten or so and being unimpressed and really confused by it. Almost twenty years later I would re-watch it, get extremely upset at its mediocrity, furiously type "TOYS SUCKS TERRIBLE MOVIE" etc. into the Google rabbit-hole hopeful that I would find a like-minded rant, and instead found a podcast with an entire episode devoted to this travesty of a movie. That plucky little podcast? How Did This Get Made? And so a fan was born. All I can say is "thank you." Now I know I'll never be alone on a Friday commute again.

It was just announced via the Facebook page. Early NYC show is going to be Hercules in New York and the late show will be Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze. An NYC movie extravaganza! I'll be at the late show. Any other NYers on this board going to the shows?

Scheer mentioned to someone on Twitter that people should check again the day before the show because they often release extra tickets to these things. There's still hope! I was kind of bummed that they announced the sale on Twitter, because catching a single tweet in my feed is like searching for a needle in a haystack. No FB announcement? No announcement here? Shocking.

Pedantic nitpick correction: Electrocute specifically means to kill or be killed by electric shock.

I'm not sure this movie would be all that great for HDTGM. I don't think there's anything really bonkers about it, and it succeeds pretty well at what it set out to be. It is interesting for what it was; for instance, I believe it was one of the first cartoon movies with a cast of very well known actors doing the voice work. One thing I always thought was funny about the movie (warning: TF fan here), was the discontinuity between the film and the TV series at the time of release. Apparently, production for the film took two years, which means that it was started during the first season of TF. That's why the movie only has first season characters and all the other Autobots and Decepticons seem to have vanished. It also explains why the Autobots are so frightened of Devastator, even though by this point in the series the Autobots have their own gestalt teams. Where the hell are Defensor and Superion?! Another thing that has always driven me crazy: in a far shot of the "Autobot vs. Decepticon Battle" during the first half of the movie, we are shown lasers that travel in arcs!!! Bad movie physics to the extreme! However, if you are interested in truly bonkers Transformers stuff, then I suggest you check out the comic where: The writers had to explain why Megatron sometimes transformed into a gun small enough that people could fire it, and sometimes his gun form was big enough for Starscream to fire comfortably (they explain this somehow; something about molecular structuring). They also had to explain "where" Optimus Prime's trailer comes from when he transforms, or more generally, where do all the firearms that aren't part of a character's build come from?! (The answer to both: all Transformers posses a small pocket "subspace" that they can store items in and retrieve from wherever they are). Different artists put their own spin on the designs, leading to Transformers that for some issues have cheekbones, tongues, eyeballs, etc. The comic was put out in the US and the UK, but they each had their own story arcs and universes. Later, Marvel decided to combine them, leading to a DC-level of retconning driven to its limits. Lastly, by the end of the series the comic had gotten so batty that many transformers couldn't even transform anymore! All that said, the comics were pretty good. Apparently the series did just well enough for Marvel to keep it going bi-monthly, but not well enough for the higher-ups to pay it any attention, so the writers were not afraid to take risks. Like I said, eventually the Transformers don't even transform.