R.I.P. Cort and Fatboy 2003-2012

Friday, July 6th, 2012

by admin on July 6, 2012

Mike Russell lends credence to the theory that our pets are simply looking for the best possible opening in which to ruin us all. His pet chooses to do it financially. Bobby’s pets choose the purer act of physical murder. Mike also lends credence to the idea that the Superhero Film is about to replace all other forms of mythologizing in American cinema really soon, and we discuss some of the machinations of that, especially as they pertain to The Dark Knight Rises, The Avengers, the upcoming The Man of Steel (featuring a quick reminder that Zack Snyder was NOT a punchline less than 3 years ago, and for good reason, too) and The Amazing Spider-Man, which Mike and Cort go back and forth over. Other topics include the soul-crushing comedy of Louis C.K., and the long-belated discussion of Mad Men, Season 5.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

download audio

{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }

Steve VanDevender July 7, 2012 at 12:49 am

This is simple, guys.

A robot is any sort of mechanical worker, usually thought of as being autonomous and maybe artificially intelligent.

An android (from the Greek word “andros”, “man”) is a robot with a human form.

A cyborg (“cybernetic organism”) is any kind of hybrid biological/mechanical entity. In particular the biological and mechanical parts are highly dependent on each other and both are needed for the organism to function.

So the Terminator is an android (clearly in human form) and a robot (an autonomous, mechanical entity), but not really a cyborg since even if its skin is biologically-derived, it’s clearly not necessary for the Terminator to function.

Reply

John Book July 7, 2012 at 3:43 pm

I haven’t been comic book-obsessed in years, but loved it when I was a kid. I remember when the first Batman film came out, I had my mom drop me off at theater, but they told me it was sold out. I called the theater from a nearby pay phone around the corner. I called to ask about tickets, but it being opening weekend, all tickets were sold out for the night. I yelled into the phone “SOLD OUT?!” and proceeded to break the phone on the spot. My mom freaked out and told me “what the hell is wrong with you?” I thought dammit, it’s Batman. BATMAN! I believe I ended up watching it a week later. That was the first and only time I ever had a dumb outburst for any film at a theater. I think the rage would’ve been worth it for “Ernest Goes To Camp”.

My point in mentioning this is that, while I have not been in tune with most of the super hero movies in a good 15 years (I simply lost interest), I did watch the first Spiderman. Also, while my attention to most of these films are close to non-existent, I understood what all of you were talking about, in terms of which version of a character was what. Perhaps with various article and blog reading, some of it eventually makes a place in the brain “for future use”. I still would like to see “The Dark Knight” sans phone rage, since I was into the original mini-series. Now if anyone makes a film (full-length or short) of “The Killing Joke”, I would see that. What needs to be done is a film adaptation of Bill Sienkiewicz’s “Stray Toasters. I would probably prefer it if it was 100% animated, but I loved “Stray Toasters”.

To be honest, with a number of people I know who are into drawing and animation, I have been wanting to get back into reading comics and graphic novels again. I still have to read David Mazzucchelli’s “Asterios Polyp”, which I have a pdf for. I believe I had seen a review on AOTS, and I thought “now this might be what I’d like to check out”. Now, it seems I may be interested in watching that 25 minute fan-edit of the new Spiderman movie than the actual film. We’ll see.

Also, the brief discussion about obtaining 35mm prints and going to specific theaters to see specific films: as minor and casual as those few minutes were, it was not overlooked. When you come from somewhere else, and then find yourself in a place where the mentality is “megaplex or nothing”… I’ll just say that it wasn’t overlooked and I hope to be able to immerse myself in that type of habit and discussion again very soon.

Reply

Mandeh July 7, 2012 at 6:48 pm

I dreamt of a day when there would be discussion of Mad Men, but I did not truly think that day would come.

Reply

Roffle July 8, 2012 at 1:14 pm

It’s not THE Watchmen, Cort. Gawd! :)

“THIS is what DC thinks we need?” They like money and they know that many fanboys will grumble, but still buy it.

Reply

Roffle July 8, 2012 at 5:09 pm

ahhh, sorry.

I clicked the wrong reply button. :/

Reply

Anonymous July 8, 2012 at 2:34 am

I STILL dream of a day when there will be a discussion of Cabin in the Woods. That movie has stuck to the inside of my mind the same way a good bowl of oatmeal sticks to your ribs. Still the best movie I’ve seen all year, I think.
That one scene, man.
“Oh come on!”

And…was Sucker Punch really that much of a failure? I never understood the hate for it. Not to use the “You have to turn off your brain, man!” argument, but to me, the movie seemed very…unpretentious. It was just “What Zach Snyder sees when he listens to techno music and closes his eyes: The Movie” and really, with visuals like that, I was more than okay with it. It had the barest of plot threads, and not much in the way of characterization at all, not out of laziness, but necessity. All that exposition would get in the way of chicks in sailor suits slicing robot samurais with chainguns in half! It was just a nice piece of cinematic cotton candy. I don’t understand what problem people have with that.

Reply

Bobby July 9, 2012 at 10:38 am

Most people’s problems with Sucker Punch boiled down to the lazy usage of rape/sexual abuse as a plot mechanic, and actually, its pretensions: Snyder seemed to be trying to dig at something a little deeper than just “This is pretty stuff that looks pretty and shoots stuff,” he was trying to do his own version of Inception – which of course would have a bunch of crazy girls fighting mechanical dragons and whatnot. He just didn’t pull it off all that well.

Others complained about his visual tics (which I don’t mind) and the overall look of the film, but most of the complaints boiled down to those things. There was a huge debate after it came out over whether it was knowingly sexist, or just accidentally sexist.

Reply

Boner Of A Lonely Heart July 8, 2012 at 2:25 pm

Hey Fatty!! I was just listening to that Don Henley song “Dirty Laundry” and realized something was missing in my life…This is a desperate plea for you to bring back your prized Dirty Laundry segment…
Oh how that would bring me such joy… I’ll sponsor it somehow?
Listener Brandon

Reply

Fredgiblet July 8, 2012 at 10:23 pm

According to The Wiki a robot can be autonomous or non-autonomous and an android is a robot designed to look like a human so the Terminators are androids

Reply

Fredgiblet July 8, 2012 at 10:24 pm

Since there’s no edit button. Technically Android means made to look like a MAN, Gynoid would be for a woman-shaped robot. I don’t see anything for androgynous robots.

Reply

Varchild July 9, 2012 at 9:02 am

I didn’t get to go to the midnight movie but did the pre show reel have Arnold in Rio?

Reply

Bobby July 9, 2012 at 10:35 am

Nope. There was a clip of Arnold visiting a co-ed prison from “Pumping Iron,” though.

Reply

BuffaloRiderSD July 9, 2012 at 1:15 pm

Man, I wish I lived in Portland sometimes.

Reply

Leave a Comment

Previous post: Thursday, July 5th, 2012

Next post: Monday, July 9th, 2012