Episode 149 - The Lawnmower Man: LIVE! (w/ Neil Casey, Emily Heller)

[bella_008 188]

I feel like they should continue the VR streak and do The Cell next.

[JoelSchlosberg 352]

Omission: the Lawnmower Man short story is in Night Shift, the very first book collecting Stephen King short stories... which also includes "Trucks", the basis for HDTGM favorite Maximum Overdrive! Plus the sources for such quality motion pictures as Children of the Corn and The Mangler.

 

You'd think they would have stopped making movies from Stephen King short stories after that, but then we wouldn't have Stand By Me or The Shawshank Redemption (both from his second book collection of shorter-than-full-length-novel tales)!

 

Also, in Night Shift's introduction, Stephen King answers in detail the question in the Vampire's Kiss episode of how much an agent earns for selling a short story! About the only thing King doesn't lay out is how long it takes the agent to sell a short story, but unless it's more than a couple full days' work, his agent would be earning more an hour from the story than he is!

(I had a correction/omission in mind that I never got to writing up: I don't think it was implied that Nicolas Cage was agenting short stories full time. The author specifically refers to the short story he's asking for archived info about from Cage as one he wrote earlier at the beginning of his career. It seemed to me to be implying that he'd moved on to higher-paying markets since, but had some sentimental nostalgia to the short story sale for breaking him in to getting paid for writing.)

[firsttimecallerlongtimelistenr 3590]

so has anyone watched the new gilmore girls episodes yet?

[RyanSz 3140]

Omission: the Lawnmower Man short story is in Night Shift, the very first book collecting Stephen King short stories... which also includes "Trucks", the basis for HDTGM favorite Maximum Overdrive! Plus the sources for such quality motion pictures as Children of the Corn and The Mangler.

 

You'd think they would have stopped making movies from Stephen King short stories after that, but then we wouldn't have Stand By Me or The Shawshank Redemption (both from his second book collection of shorter-than-full-length-novel tales)!

 

Also, in Night Shift's introduction, Stephen King answers in detail the question in the Vampire's Kiss episode of how much an agent earns for selling a short story! About the only thing King doesn't lay out is how long it takes the agent to sell a short story, but unless it's more than a couple full days' work, his agent would be earning more an hour from the story than he is!

To be fair Stand By Me and Shawshank Redemption were more novellas and had a lot more meat to their stories in order to create fully realized worlds on film.

[SevenDollarsWorthofHoobastank 226]

They are very meaty lips.

 

 

That part right there in particular bugged me.

Those meaty lips and the greasy/sweaty face. Its like I'm looking at a frying pan with sausage links cooking on it.

[Cameron H. 23786]

so has anyone watched the new gilmore girls episodes yet?

 

 

I have (the first episode anyway)! I have not, however, listened to this episode yet....

 

 

I mean, it's same old Gilmore Girls. I have the same problems I've always had with that show, but it also has all of the things that I liked (basically everything that is not the Emotional Hurricane that the Gilmore Girls seem to project onto everyone around them) However, I'm 100% going to be watching all of them! (I've already spoiled the last four words for myself )

 

 

Which would have been better if this was made when the show was originally on the air and Rory was younger. Oh, well..

 

[faye-raye 109]

Am I the only person who had a ad with the voice over 'when you send a dirty picture of yourself....' pop up right in the middle of the cybra sex scene? Annoying but funny

[firsttimecallerlongtimelistenr 3590]

 

I mean, it's same old Gilmore Girls. I have the same problems I've always had with that show, but it also has all of the things that I liked (basically everything that is not the Emotional Hurricane that the Gilmore Girls seem to project onto everyone around them) However, I'm 100% going to be watching all of them! (I've already spoiled the last four words for myself )

 

i have never watched the gilmore girls and i cant see myself ever watching it at this stage but looking at twitter early there .. i've said too much already ... enjoy

[jarrycanada 2483]

Yep, that sounds about right. He was probably just off by a few years, that was almost 20 years ago.

...

So, anyone know the answer to this puzzle?

 

 

asnwer is second row, last one.

 

 

with this ring!

[jarrycanada 2483]

i am going to spoil the ending of this movie for you all, so if you haven't seen it or didn't make it to the end and don't plan on re watching it.

Your welcome!!!

 

after he gets sucked into the computer!

 

I got to get out of here some how.

 

 

YES!!!!!!!

 

I FOUND PORN!!!

On a sad note,I can never enjoy VR-Porn because I can't wear the headsets with eye glasses. Plus I don't have the walking space needed to move around the room with out walking into walks and breaking my color television set.

 

 

and that's what the film is about.

[LawnmowerJam 1]

Monkeys and virtual reality headsets so silly and 90s?!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KkjSEtDb9g

 

 

I think not!

[Conal Cochran 21]

Very good ep, though I could have done without Emily laughing full volume into the microphone the whole show a la Pete Holmes. Got annoying really fast and doubt I'll revisit this one much for that reason.

[SlidePocket 707]

The director of this movie, Brett Leonard, later went on to make another film about virtual reality in 1995's Virtuosity with Denzel Washington and a pre-fame Russell Crowe (a decade before the two would star in American Gangster together).

[Cameron H. 23786]

 

i have never watched the gilmore girls and i cant see myself ever watching it at this stage but looking at twitter early there .. i've said too much already ... enjoy

 

Fuck! Just finished episode two.

 

 

Congrats, Zouks! And a scene with River Song, too! I'm jealous.

 

[firsttimecallerlongtimelistenr 3590]

this goes back to the discussion in the mini about crying at movies ... project x was mentioned in the ep ... this was the first movie i saw on sky movies (a uk satelite movie channel). i remember being all excited about this new tv thing that allowed you watch movies all the time. so i saw project x was on, didnt know anything about it other than it had ferris bueller and a monkey in it so i was well excited. sitting there in front of a tiny tv that seemed massive at the time and i was loving it .... communicating with monkeys ... amazing ... monkeys playing computer games ... brilliant ... but then it all went wrong ... i bawled my eyes out at that stupid movie ... i was traumatized ... never watched it again.

 

but i just watched the trailer ... its like congo and lawnmower man and monkey shines and stealth all wrapped into one .. i wonder if it would still make me cry ..

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0de66wOE4Y

 

no, i'm not risking it

[RyanSz 3140]

The director of this movie, Brett Leonard, later went on to make another film about virtual reality in 1995's Virtuosity with Denzel Washington and a pre-fame Russell Crowe (a decade before the two would star in American Gangster together).

I've been pushing for a Virtuosity episode for a while now because it is so over the top crazy and both leads actually play their characters really well despite the movie being insane.

[ElieB 238]

I've been pushing for a Virtuosity episode for a while now because it is so over the top crazy and both leads actually play their characters really well despite the movie being insane.

 

Yeah it's basically lawnmower man meets Face/Off

[RyanSz 3140]

 

Yeah it's basically lawnmower man meets Face/Off

Let's not forget that it almost single handedly destroyed the UFC at that time as critics of the promotion used the scene where Crowe goes to a UFC event that looks like a scene from Thunderdome, as proof as to why the sport shouldn't be licensed in various states.

[Elektra Boogaloo 3371]

I didn't watch this movie but the ep was fun. I also noticed Emily laughing into the microphone but it didn't bother me enough to turn it off.

 

so has anyone watched the new gilmore girls episodes yet?

I don't know how to do spoiler text but I was very excited to see a certain person who finally got to be on his fave show, even if his part was very small and didn't involve having sex with both Rory and Lorelai.

 

ETA: Also I *do* think the remix theme song should be longer!

[ElieB 238]

Let's not forget that it almost single handedly destroyed the UFC at that time as critics of the promotion used the scene where Crowe goes to a UFC event that looks like a scene from Thunderdome, as proof as to why the sport shouldn't be licensed in various states.

 

omg I'd never heard of that happening. Oh noooooo. That might be the only time the adage 'There's no such thing as bad publicity' was proven wrong.

 

As far as Emily laughing, I did find that a touch annoying in the first 20mins or so of the podcast but she settled in and i thought she was pretty good on the show. Though I do wish Neil Casey had had more to contribute overall. Love that dude, and his twitter account.

 

I am feeling nostalgic for the old in-studio podcasts though. The live shows often don't allow enough time to really dig into the movie, instead spending half the show on introductions, commercials, and audience participation. This episode was the perfect example of that. Though I understand why they keep rolling with the live shows.

[RyanSz 3140]

 

omg I'd never heard of that happening. Oh noooooo. That might be the only time the adage 'There's no such thing as bad publicity' was proven wrong.

Yeah the owners of the UFC at the time thought being in a movie starring a big name like Denzel would do wonders for their mainstream appeal, but they had no control with how they were portrayed in the movie, which led to a scene where fans are brawling in the crowd or walking around topless in an arena that looks more fitting for No Holds Barred, and in the Octagon are four fighters brawling with each other, which is odd as one of them is Ken Shamrock who never thought it might be good to let the people setting up the scene know that fights aren't done that way. In the end it came off as incredibly barbaric and some lawmakers used it as proof that the sport wasn't worth having in their state for the time being.

 

The only other huge bad publicity for a sport promotion that I can recall was the laughably bad WCW wrestling movie Ready to Rumble starring David Arquette, and to help promote the movie, they made Arquette the honest to go World Heavyweight Champion, a reign that still remains in the record books by the WWE so it is not a fluke stunt.

[Cam Bert 8145]

Was Jobe suppose to be an idiot savant? When we first meet him the drunk Irish man comments that he built "Big Red" the lawnmower and that he is a whiz with machines. I thought that would play into things later on in the movie, but he's not good with the game or other machinery in the film until he starts to get smart. But also is he really that good with machines because Big Red is one very unsafe lawnmower. There is no front deck cover on Big Red to protect people from the blades or objects falling into them. Not to mention if he went over a rock or something with it it could fly right out at him. Very flawed.

 

Also maybe this is not the time or place to admit this but.... I've never seen an episode of Gilmore Girls. I know Jason loves it and it seems popular on here. People I know have recommended it to me and I like the cast and from clips I've seen of it it seems like something I would enjoy. However, I always seem to forget about it or when I do remember I remember it's like 150 episodes and that's a huge commitment.

[tomspanks 9039]

Also maybe this is not the time or place to admit this but.... I've never seen an episode of Gilmore Girls. I know Jason loves it and it seems popular on here. People I know have recommended it to me and I like the cast and from clips I've seen of it it seems like something I would enjoy. However, I always seem to forget about it or when I do remember I remember it's like 150 episodes and that's a huge commitment.

 

I've never seen it either. It doesn't appeal to me at all.

[Cakebug Tranch 6873]

Yeah the owners of the UFC at the time thought being in a movie starring a big name like Denzel would do wonders for their mainstream appeal, but they had no control with how they were portrayed in the movie, which led to a scene where fans are brawling in the crowd or walking around topless in an arena that looks more fitting for No Holds Barred, and in the Octagon are four fighters brawling with each other, which is odd as one of them is Ken Shamrock who never thought it might be good to let the people setting up the scene know that fights aren't done that way. In the end it came off as incredibly barbaric and some lawmakers used it as proof that the sport wasn't worth having in their state for the time being.

 

The only other huge bad publicity for a sport promotion that I can recall was the laughably bad WCW wrestling movie Ready to Rumble starring David Arquette, and to help promote the movie, they made Arquette the honest to go World Heavyweight Champion, a reign that still remains in the record books by the WWE so it is not a fluke stunt.

 

I first heard of UFC when it was on 'Friends', where Jon Favreau played a billionaire boyfriend of Monica's (more David Arquette connections!), who spends a lot of money on a 'ring', which turns out to be a UFC ring rather than an engagement ring. From that day until I actually saw it on sports television, I assumed UFC was Thunderdome fiction.

[Cakebug Tranch 6873]

Okay, finally listened to the episode this morning: not much to add so I won't chip in much this week. I thought my big glorious reveal this week would be the misspelling of 'millennium', but there it was, right in the ep.

 

Three things that heightened the enjoyment of this film for me.

 

First, every time someone mentioned Jobe's name, I mentally spelled it G.O.B and thought about Will Arnett in the role.

 

Second: my wife and I agreed that if you recast Larry and G.O.B with anyone, it would be best served as a David Spade (as Larry)/Chris Farley (as G.O.B ) team-up movie. I would pay GOOD MONEY to see that transition into sexy G.O.B with Farley at the helm (rest in peace)

 

Finally: the VR things in this film made me think of the Def Leppard video for 'Let's Get Rocked', which came out almost at the same time as this. So I hummed that song throughout and that helped a lot.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BO1Nae_EBvQ

 

Great ep. Looking forward to reading the discussions!