Episode 184 - Johnny Mnemonic: LIVE!

[Dsexauer 5]

Not 100%, but I think the Crazy Bob thing might have been a nod to pinball. He's a reoccurring character in multiple machines, including the Johnny Mnemonic machine (yes they made a pinball machine for this movie). Other games to include Crazy Bob are NBA Fastbreak, Creature from the black lagoon, junkyard, and dialed in.

[ChunkStyle 1160]

I think the Lo Teks could have benefited from some self examination. For all their anti-technology messaging it seems like the only thing they didn't use was firearms. Compared to everything else in 2021 guns are a pretty primitive technology and if they are OK with having a cybernetic dolphin, microwave emitters, world wide broadcast equipment, etc. then I think you can swap your crossbow for an uzi when it is time to fight the Yakuza and keep a clean conscience.

[sycasey 2.0 2301]

I would also like to nominate Jessica St. Clair as permanent co-host, because she has been a hoot in these episodes. Or maybe she can just come in for movies that take place in the future.

[SeaSkunk 212]

Did Shrek 2 have any Smashmouth songs on the soundtrack? Did Jessica St Clair actually listen to the original Shrek soundtrack over and over?

 

Also, I couldn't hear the reveal that made everyone scream at the end. Can anybody help me out?

[muttnik 476]

Did Shrek 2 have any Smashmouth songs on the soundtrack? Did Jessica St Clair actually listen to the original Shrek soundtrack over and over?

 

Also, I couldn't hear the reveal that made everyone scream at the end. Can anybody help me out?

The woman in the machine was Johnny's mom.

Also, I believe it was the first Shrek soundtrack as SM isn't listed on the official soundtrack for the second movie.

[muttnik 476]

Not 100%, but I think the Crazy Bob thing might have been a nod to pinball. He's a reoccurring character in multiple machines, including the Johnny Mnemonic machine (yes they made a pinball machine for this movie). Other games to include Crazy Bob are NBA Fastbreak, Creature from the black lagoon, junkyard, and dialed in.

 

I don't have a comment about the movie but you brought up the pinball machine which, for me, is as disappointing as the movie since I've never played one where the data glove worked.

[sycasey 2.0 2301]

The woman in the machine was Johnny's mom.

Also, I believe it was the first Shrek soundtrack as SM isn't listed on the official soundtrack for the second movie.

 

Yes, Smash Mouth only had songs in the first Shrek movie, though I believe the ad campaigns for Shrek 2 did use their songs as well.

 

By the way, Smash Mouth are NOT happy to have their career success attributed to Shrek.

 

https://www.pedestrian.tv/news/do-not-tweet-at-smash-mouth-about-the-shrek-songs-they-do-not-like-it/

 

http://gawker.com/smash-mouths-desperate-endless-twitter-battle-1781910819

 

 

 

It's true, though. "All Star" was already an ubiquitous hit song before any Shrek movies came out.

[joel_rosenbaum 1269]

This movie is astoundingly bad. Even by the standards of its age.

 

My favorite part of it comes twenty years after the fact, where Robert Longo tries to blame Dolph Lundgren for it.

 

Each week, they came back and told me I had to have a new actor. To sell the movie in the Middle East, we have to have Dolph Lundgren. Oh f—! No!" Longo recalled was his reaction. "Dolph shows up with his acting coach, a guy with a cape and a cane. We said, 'Get the f— out of here!'" Longo and author Gibson, who wrote the screenplay, didn't know what to do with Lundgren so they dressed him in robes and long hair and sent him out into the street as a doomsday prophet.

 

"It was torturous. We tried to make the best move we could. It was really hard. I talked to William recently. William and I had post-traumatic stress from that movie. I said, 'Y'know what, I'm going to turn it black and white for the 25th anniversary and rerelease it on the web. Actually, right now we're in the process of trying to figure out how to do it, the 45-minute version of it without Dolph."

[FisterRoboto 7499]

 

Yes, Smash Mouth only had songs in the first Shrek movie, though I believe the ad campaigns for Shrek 2 did use their songs as well.

 

By the way, Smash Mouth are NOT happy to have their career success attributed to Shrek.

 

https://www.pedestri...do-not-like-it/

 

http://gawker.com/sm...ttle-1781910819

 

 

 

It's true, though. "All Star" was already an ubiquitous hit song before any Shrek movies came out.

I mean...yeah. Shrek was two full years after "All Star" was released. But I do like that they say it was "on its way to #1." It peaked at #4 on the Hot 100. Maybe they mean the Adult Top 40 (although almost everyone means the Hot 100 when they talk about singles charting).

 

And also, they're absolutely crazy if they don't think there's a whole generation that only knows that song from the movie because they grew up watching it while Smashmouth was almost irrelevant by the time the film was even released.

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

When i saw this as an 11-year-old kid (see my last post), while I knew there was a city called Newark, I'd never seen it spelled, so when the title card announced the location of Newark, I thought it was a biblical reference, like "new ark".

I live in Delaware and that's how the city here pronounces it. It apparently was also spelled that way originally but I can't find confirmation of that. There is this mural though...

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

I wonder if Jessica has always turned into an old lady every time the internet or sci-fi is mentioned or whether she's been influenced by June's anti-robot agenda?

At least we knew what the dolphin's mission was.

[joel_rosenbaum 1269]

I think the Lo Teks could have benefited from some self examination.

Maybe they could also put some thought into their defense/security system. Dropping those flaming cars seems cool but

 

1) They would only work when someone is standing directly under it.

2) It takes about 2-3 seconds from when those things blow up to when they hit the ground.

 

In other words, you'd have to be completely idiotic and/or incompetent to get killed by one of these things.

 

Kind of like this:

 

[joel_rosenbaum 1269]

I can’t speak to the short story, not having read it. But there is some obscure computer history that might provide context for the "Doubler" that Johnny Mnemonic undergoes.

 

MS-DOS versions 6+ (released in 1991) came packaged with a small piece of standalone software called “Doublespace”. As you might have surmised, it roughly doubled the storage space of your floppy and/or hard drive by using compression. Given that hard drives capped out below a gigabyte in those days, this was a pretty useful piece of technology. However, using Doublespace came at the cost of slower performance as files needed to be compressed and decompressed on the fly. There was also a bug in the software that would cause the data to be corrupted after repeated compression/decompression cycles.

 

Computers were not as widespread as they are today, but it's clear that the writers were aware of contemporary hardware/software so it wouldn't surprise me if they were alluding to this. And it does seem like the screenwriters were trying to fit "storage issues" in the plot somehow, but they drowned everything in so much arglebargle that any mileage they might have gotten out of this point was completely lost.

[RyanSz 3140]

 

Yes, Smash Mouth only had songs in the first Shrek movie, though I believe the ad campaigns for Shrek 2 did use their songs as well.

 

By the way, Smash Mouth are NOT happy to have their career success attributed to Shrek.

 

https://www.pedestri...do-not-like-it/

 

http://gawker.com/sm...ttle-1781910819

 

 

 

It's true, though. "All Star" was already an ubiquitous hit song before any Shrek movies came out.

What's the best is that when trolls hit at SM on Twitter saying they should be thanking the Shrek film for giving them a career, the lead singer fires back saying that it first came out for the Mystery Men soundtrack, which is a comeback with negative street cred that they should have just left social media right there. And to be fair, I almost went with a friend to see them in concert recently as they are reduced to the state fair circuit, but even then they aren't an weekend worthy band, they were playing on a Tuesday or Wednesday night at the CA State Faire, which I just imagine being a sea of Shrek masks in the crowd of one hundred. I mean hell even Eddie Money or Salt N' Peppa get better standing in the schedule.

[sycasey 2.0 2301]

I mean...yeah. Shrek was two full years after "All Star" was released. But I do like that they say it was "on its way to #1." It peaked at #4 on the Hot 100. Maybe they mean the Adult Top 40 (although almost everyone means the Hot 100 when they talk about singles charting).

 

And also, they're absolutely crazy if they don't think there's a whole generation that only knows that song from the movie because they grew up watching it while Smashmouth was almost irrelevant by the time the film was even released.

 

Shrek definitely extended Smash Mouth's career for another few years.

 

I still stan for "Walking on the Sun," which hods up as a surprisingly, shockingly thoughtful song (while being just as catchy and ear-wormy as their other hits) and also the only time that band ever wrote anything like that.

[sycasey 2.0 2301]

What's the best is that when trolls hit at SM on Twitter saying they should be thanking the Shrek film for giving them a career, the lead singer fires back saying that it first came out for the Mystery Men soundtrack, which is a comeback with negative street cred that they should have just left social media right there. And to be fair, I almost went with a friend to see them in concert recently as they are reduced to the state fair circuit, but even then they aren't an weekend worthy band, they were playing on a Tuesday or Wednesday night at the CA State Faire, which I just imagine being a sea of Shrek masks in the crowd of one hundred. I mean hell even Eddie Money or Salt N' Peppa get better standing in the schedule.

 

Smash Mouth played at the first concert I paid for with my own money. They opened for Third Eye Blind. This was right around the heyday of "Semi-Charmed Life" and "Walking on the Sun." I knew very little about these bands and was just going because my friends wanted to go.

 

It wasn't a bad show, actually. This was in San Francisco, so both bands were local and the crowd was enthusiastic.

[Korben Dallas Page 7]

I think the Lo Teks could have benefited from some self examination. For all their anti-technology messaging it seems like the only thing they didn't use was firearms. Compared to everything else in 2021 guns are a pretty primitive technology and if they are OK with having a cybernetic dolphin, microwave emitters, world wide broadcast equipment, etc. then I think you can swap your crossbow for an uzi when it is time to fight the Yakuza and keep a clean conscience.

For some reason the crossbows reminded me of the fight scene in Anchorman. Just a random, out of place weapon. Then again, this movie also has laser dental floss so I guess we can't be too critical.

[RyanSz 3140]

For some reason the crossbows reminded me of the fight scene in Anchorman. Just a random, out of place weapon. Then again, this movie also has laser dental floss so I guess we can't be too critical.

Well considering the otherworldly abilities of Brick Tamland, I wouldn't be surprised if he traveled to this movie's future to get the weapon he had for the second film.

[Ben Ritter 10]

So why is the film called Johnny Mnemonic? It makes it seem like that's his name, but at no point is he called anything other than just Johnny. Its not even a nickname or anything like that.

 

Anyway, I think it is fascinating how he has no redeeming qualities. He just cares about money and hookers, and not all the people dying. He constantly tries to give the data to the bad guys, and even at the end he's only helping the good guys since they are the only ones who will take the data out without killing him. He's not even good at his job. If he were really such a professional, the instant he heard that it would be too much data, he would just leave and drop the job.

[RyanSz 3140]

So why is the film called Johnny Mnemonic? It makes it seem like that's his name, but at no point is he called anything other than just Johnny. Its not even a nickname or anything like that.

 

Anyway, I think it is fascinating how he has no redeeming qualities. He just cares about money and hookers, and not all the people dying. He constantly tries to give the data to the bad guys, and even at the end he's only helping the good guys since they are the only ones who will take the data out without killing him. He's not even good at his job. If he were really such a professional, the instant he heard that it would be too much data, he would just leave and drop the job.

It's a combination of his name and the type of couriers that they are, which was mentioned in the open text scroll, but Mnemonic is never mentioned after that intro. As for him taking the job when he knew he couldn't fully hold the data, I thought it was supposed to be a high paying job that would allow him to get the hard drive out of his head, so he kinda had to take it in order to get paid and he was desperate.

[grudlian. 4725]

It's a combination of his name and the type of couriers that they are, which was mentioned in the open text scroll, but Mnemonic is never mentioned after that intro. As for him taking the job when he knew he couldn't fully hold the data, I thought it was supposed to be a high paying job that would allow him to get the hard drive out of his head, so he kinda had to take it in order to get paid and he was desperate.

Also, in the story, they used verbal cues instead of pictures of a video to access the stored information. Mnemonic devices are tricks or cues to recall hard to remember information. So, a user is literally using a mnemonic to access information from Johnny.

[Molly L. 99]

OKAY - Dr. Jacques Coulardeau, the one who wrote the long and rambling review, HAS BEEN FEATURED BEFORE in Color of Night (has anyone mentioned this yet??). The name and the writing style seemed really familiar...

 

He reviews A LOT of stuff. Like every other day, it seems.

 

https://www.amazon.c...iews-filter-bar

 

https://www.amazon.com/Johnny-Mnemonic-Keanu-Reeves/product-reviews/B000I8ES4S/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_search_rgt?filterByKeyword=jacques&search-alias=community-reviews#reviews-filter-bar

 

On another note, I didn't watch this movie, but I almost wish I did. What I most want to watch is Jessica St. Clair explaining every Star Wars movie.

 

EDIT: unsure if the links are actually to each of the reviews in question...if they're not you can totally take my word for it and/or google yourself (I tried)

[joel_rosenbaum 1269]

OKAY - Dr. Jacques Coulardeau, the one who wrote the long and rambling review, HAS BEEN FEATURED BEFORE in Color of Night (has anyone mentioned this yet??). The name and the writing style seemed really familiar...

I figured Jason would have mentioned that the Sorbonne is one of the most prestigious universities in the world.

 

Coulardeau appears to no longer work there though (looks like he was a lecturer).

[Cameron H. 23786]

Like Jason, whenever possible, I try to watch these movies with closed captioning on, and I also caught Johnny's request for an "eye" phone, but rather than making the connection to the Apple device, I was struck by just how stupid the word they were trying to create actually was. I mean, I totally get that they were tying to make up a word that sounded like a super futuristic telephone or something, but that's simply not how words work. You can't just replace the prefix of a word with another and expect it to make sense. "Telephone" works because it's the combination of the prefix "tele," meaning "over distance," and the suffix "phone," meaning "sound" (i.e. a device that allows sound to travel over distance). So an "eye phone" would be what exactly? A device that sends and receives the sound of your blinking eyes across vast distances? Are they just blasting sound at your eyeballs? Is that it? If so, then I've got news for them: eyes don't give a fuck.

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

Like Jason, whenever possible, I try to watch these movies with close captioning on, and I also caught Johnny's request for an "eye" phone, but rather than making the connection to the Apple device, I was struck by just how stupid the word they were trying to create actually was. I mean, I totally get that they were tying to make up a word that that sounded like a super futuristic telephone or something, but that's simply not how words work. You can't just replace the prefix of a word with another and expect it to make sense. "Telephone" works because it's the combination of the prefix "tele," meaning "over distance," and the suffix "phone," meaning "sound" (i.e. a device that allows sound to travel over distance). So an "eye phone" would be what exactly? A device that sends and receives the sound of your blinking eyes across vast distances? Are they just blasting sound at your eyeballs? And if it's the latter, I've got news for them: eyes don't give a fuck.

Begs to differ...