Listen to Gobbledygeek Episode 468 – “Geek Challenge: Lady Bird vs. Ladyhawke”

Top: Saoirse Ronan in Lady Bird (2017), directed by Greta Gerwig
Bottom: Rutger Hauer, his lover, and their horse in Ladyhawke (1985), directed by Richard Donner

Gobbledygeek episode 468, “Geek Challenge: Lady Bird vs. Ladyhawke,” is available for listening or download right here, on Spotify, and on Apple Podcasts.

It’s Ladies’ Night on Gobbledygeek! By which we mean we’ve got a Geek Challenge featuring Richard Donner’s 1985 medieval fantasy epic Ladyhawke and Greta Gerwig’s 2017 millennial coming-of-age tale Lady Bird. What do these two films have in common? They’re both about transformation, of course! In Lady Bird, Saoirse Ronan transforms into a young woman ready to take on the big city; in Ladyhawke, Rutger Hauer and Michelle Pfeiffer quite literally transform into a wolf and a hawk, respectively. Paul struggles with passive aggressive family drama, Arlo is annoyed by Matthew Broderick, and they both remember what it was like to be 15.

NEXT: this month’s Four-Color Flashback contemplates mortality with a dive into Ram V and Filipe Andrade’s The Many Deaths of Laila Starr.

BREAKDOWN

  • 00:00:45  –  Intro
  • 00:10:54  –  Lady Bird
  • 01:04:04  –  Ladyhawke
  • 01:57:04  –  Outro / Next

LINKS

MUSIC

  • “Main Title” by Andrew Powell & Philharmonia Orchestra, Ladyhawke (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (1985)
  • “Crash Into Me” by Dave Matthews Band, Crash (1996)

GOBBLEDYCARES

Listen to Gobbledygeek Episode 464 – “West Side Story (2021)”

Ariana DeBose and David Alvarez in West Side Story (2021), directed by Steven Spielberg

Gobbledygeek episode 464, “West Side Story (2021),” is available for listening or download right here, on Spotify, and on Apple Podcasts.

Somethin’s comin’, somethin’ good: this week, Paul and Arlo pirouette through a discussion of Steven Spielberg’s new take on West Side Story, nominated for Best Picture at this year’s Oscars. Is it a spoiler to say they love it? The boys discuss how Spielberg and screenwriter Tony Kushner’s changes enrich the text, why choreographer Justin Peck’s bold choice to discard Jerome Robbins’ iconic choreography was the right move, what it means for the Sharks to be played by Latinx actors, and the joy of watching Spielberg treat every musical number like his and Janusz Kaminski’s playground. Plus, Taco Bell sends Arlo spiraling into an existential crisis, and the boys chat about this year’s other Best Picture nominees.

NEXT: Si Spurrier and Jeff Stokely’s Six-Gun Gorilla is locked and loaded for this month’s Four-Color Flashback.

BREAKDOWN

  • 00:00:53  –  Intro
  • 00:06:39  –  Interminable Oscars Discussion
  • 00:37:43  –  A Look Back to Episode 402
  • 00:47:04  –  West Side Story (2021)
  • 02:14:52  –  Outro / Next

LINKS

MUSIC

  • “Something’s Coming” by Ansel Elgort, West Side Story (2021 Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2021)
  • “Somewhere” by Rita Moreno, West Side Story (2021 Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2021)

GOBBLEDYCARES

Listen to Gobbledygeek Episode 414 – “Batman and the Heat Death of the Universe”

Mentally, I’m here.
(Batman: Black & White Zombie statue designed by the legendary Neal Adams.)

Gobbledygeek episode 414, “Batman and the Heat Death of the Universe,” is available for listening or download right here and on Apple Podcasts here.

For another freewheeling freestyle extravaganza, Paul and Arlo cast their minds to everything from billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne to the inevitable end of all things. They wonder how they might write The Deli Counter of Justice in the harsh light of 2020 before the conversation mutates into a treatise on the relative fascism of Batman, an update on Arlo’s progress through Andy Mulvihill’s Action Park book, the boys reacting to the Dune trailer because that shit always gets mad hits on YouTube, and eventually a rumination on whether or not human life should even exist. What a fun pop culture podcast.

Next: more fun.

MUSIC

  • “The End” by The Doors, The Doors (1967)
  • “The End of the Line” by Traveling Wilburys, Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 (1988)

GOBBLEDYCARES