Binary System Podcast

It sure doesn’t happen very often: both the East and West Coast branches of Binary System actually saw a movie before it left the theaters. But it was a Transformers movie, and the reviews were great, so how could they NOT go see it?

Spoilers ahoy! Listen in as they break down everything they loved (and a couple teeny tiny things they didn’t) about Bumblebee. After that they segued into…more Transformers stuff, including the Transformers The Movie mini-documentary that Kathryn recommends, IDW’s Transformers: Historia, and, you know, all the other IDW Transformers books that they loved.Read OnBinary System Podcast #161 – Bumblebee and other Transformers topics

Well, that didn’t take long, did it? Not that we’ve fallen behind on our podcasts by accident, oh no. We knew it would freak out our listeners if we actually stayed ahead of schedule for too long, so we went back to our tried-and-true method of skipped weeks, delays, and a complete lack of planning. Because we’re considerate.

We also have an Arizona convention for Elizabeth to talk about, a new Transformers movie for Kathryn to squee over (best in the series, suck it Michael Bay!) and we really really really need some suggestions for cosplay, because Wondercon is coming up in less than three months and the only ideas we have so far would take, oh, about two years to put together.Read OnBinary System Podcast #160 – Happy New Year…two weeks late

So did you watch Haunting of Hill House, or did you skip it and wonder what the fuss was about? Did you love all of it, or did you recognize the parts that were deeply flawed? Did you enjoy the ending, or did the last line make you want to flip a table? Pull up a chair, we’ve got you covered, as special guest Hannah Wallace returns to help us break down this wonderful yet sometimes bafflingly annoying show.Read OnBinary System Podcast #159 – The Haunting of Hill House

Last week was our Christmas episode so of course Night Vale released a Christmas episode for us to recap the next day. But seeing as how it was a downer of a story about mortality and terror, it’s probably good we waited until after Christmas to recap it. And to cheer ourselves up, we also talked about Penguin’s father on Gotham, Klaus’ predicament after season three of The Originals, and the city of pirate ships in China Mieville’s The Scar.

A very happy new year to everybody!Read OnBinary System Podcast #158 – WTNV #140 “A Blood Stone Carol”

Only a few days until Christmas, it’s almost the end of the year, and we’re finally getting better at movies! We managed to watch a popular film only six months late instead of, um, how long did it take us to see “Tangled?” Two years? Anyway, we watched “Incredibles 2” this week, and we have comments. Listen in as we fangirl about the animation, the characters, the powers, the Jack-Jack vs. Raccoon fight, and the treasure trove that is the IMDB Trivia section.

We also talk a little about the film “Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets” (stunningly beautiful visuals, but pretty much everything else is a big ol’ nothing burger),”Gotham,” the penultimate season of “The Vampire Diaries,”  the cancellation of ALL THE MARVEL NETFLIX SERIES (okay, that’s an exaggeration. BUT NOT MUCH OF ONE.), why Common Core Math is supposed to be a good idea, and the similarities between binging a TV show and waiting to buy a comic book until the graphic novel comes out.Read OnBinary System Podcast #157 – Incredibles 2

This week it’s time to grab a plate of imaginary corn with some theoretical butter and celebrate the birthday of Lee Marvin! (At least, that’s what they’re doing over in Night Vale. We still don’t understand why it’s always Lee’s 30th birthday but we do like the corn.)

And for the first time in months we’re actually ahead of the game in our recordings, so we probably won’t need to take a week off for the holidays! But since we recorded this almost two weeks ago, you’ll get to hear us talk about such “breaking news” as the cancellation of Daredevil, the new Go-Bots series at IDW, and the fallout from Tumblr removing all adult content from the platform. It was breaking news when we recorded it anyway.Read OnBinary System Podcast #156 – WTNV #139 “The Birthday of Lee Marvin”

It only took a year and a half (well, close to two years), but Kathryn finally took Elizabeth’s suggestion and watched the 2017 movie “Get Out.” First impressions: very weird movie. The discussion about just how weird it was includes mentions of cultural appropriation, inadvertent racism, indigenous people having to perform their religious ceremonies for tourists, how nice it is to see Bradley Whitford in another role, and how delighted we were with Lil Rel Howery stealing every scene he was in.

Then (because we can’t stay on one topic to save our lives) we talked about the fifth and sixth episodes of “The Haunting of Hill House”. We can’t say enough good things about this show, and it’s probably not overstating it to say that the last forty seconds of episode five is some of the best TV ever created.Read OnBinary System Podcast #155 – “Get Out” and “The Haunting of Hill House”

SPOILER ALERT. Last week IDW released Optimus Prime #25, the very last issue of all the current Transformers series, after this the entire universe reboots. Seeing as how this podcast could easily be the All Transformers All The Time Network (if it weren’t for breaks to talk about Night Vale, vampires, and Marvel movies) we had to devote a whole episode to the finale. Spoilers ahead, for Optimus #25, Unicron #6, and basically the last six years of Transformers comics.Read OnBinary System Podcast #154 – The IDW Transformers Finale Wrap-Up

Okay, try to guess what all these things have in common: nights getting longer (and whether that’s good or bad), mayonnaise, eating contests, studying (or not) for the PSAT, how annoying autoplay is on Youtube, the change of venue for DesignerCon, that time Kathryn was in the Barnes and Noble parking lot with Hannah and thought the car was rolling forward, and the correct order of C.S. Lewis’s Narnia books.

Give up? They’re all the topics we talked about during a Welcome To Night Vale recap that had nothing to do with Night Vale.

And of course we also reviewed the latest Night Vale episode. Autumn in the desert, mysterious statue in the town hall, Community Calendar, yadda yadda yadda. Hey YouTube, we turned off the autoplay fifty times now, cut it out!Read OnBinary System Podcast #153 – WTNV #138 “Harvest Time”

With no Night Vale episode to recap this week, we just jumped on every random topic that wandered into our airspace, first saying a few words about the passing of Stan Lee (thank you for so many things we love, Stan) then geeking out about NC Comicon, Chuck Palahniuk, Limetown, The Haunting of Hill House, Wallander and the announcement of a Loki TV show starring Mr. Hiddleston (eeeee!) and then we had an unintentional return to the Binary System Crapfest, where we complained about The Walking Dead, the third season of Daredevil, the first season of The Punisher, and how ridiculous an author’s vocabulary can get when they don’t want to use the word “boobs.”Read OnBinary System Podcast #152 – NC Comicon, Limetown, Hill House, and more randomness