Deep Cuts

It was a financial and critical flop, but it secretly changed the way movies are made. In 2008, the Wachowskis released a weird, experimental live action adaptation of the 1960s anime classic, Speed Racer. The movie starred Emile Hirsch, Christina Ricci, John Goodman, and Susan Sarandon, and was not well-received by critics, audiences, and totally flopped at the box office. It has a small continent of fans (including us of course), but ultimately became a forgotten footnote - lost to time. However, a reassessment of the film reveals how it completely changed the way we tell cinematic stories now, and may have been the most influential film of the last 20 years. On this episode of Deep Cuts, we explore the influential legacy of The Wachowski's Speed Racer.

The Deadboy Detectives

Eva – 失望した: https://youtu.be/jVTsD4UPT-k

Hear the most bizarre stories about how technology is shaping culture on Wild Wild Tech: https://bit.ly/WildWildTech

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Did Stan Lee & Steve Ditko create Spider-Man? Or was the idea stolen from a Halloween costume? In the Silver Age of comics in the 1960s and 70s, things were an existential mess from a creator perspective - especially at Marvel comics. There were no artist or writer unions, characters were often created in bull pen-type situations where authorship was given to the company at large instead of the actual people doing the creating. And, in a system where creator-ship was not properly recorded, and artists were unfairly disregarded, many of the people involved in the creation of the books all have their own versions of the story. One of the most notorious examples is Spider-Man. Stan Lee claims he created the iconic wall-crawler because he thought of the name and the superpower. Steve Ditko claims he's actually a co-creator because he designed the web-slinger, drew most of the original books, and basically wrote them as well. But what if Spider-Man existed BEFORE either men created him? What if the idea was stolen from a Halloween costumed created by a different legendary comic book artist a decade prior? On this episode of Deep Cuts we explore the story, the speculation, and the enigma behind the true creator of Spider-Man.

Additional incidental music credits:

The Deadboy Detectives

D.Catalano https://wekeepoddhours.bandcamp.com

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He made a 4 hour movie where he played over 100 characters by himself, but he ended up homeless. In 1994, Laz Rojas desperately wanted to break into the entertainment industry as an actor, writer, and director. He had written literally hundreds of scripts, but couldn't get anybody to pay attention to them. So he shot a 4 hour film that was a collection of random scenes from all of the various scripts he had written. The only thing is - he didn't have any friends or collaborators to make it with. So he played every single character - over 100 - in the film, sometimes playing up to 5 characters in a scene interacting with himself. His career never took off despite this Herculean effort, and years later he ended up homeless and destitute in the streets of LA. On this episode of Deep Cuts, we explore the inspiring, exciting, and terribly sad life of Laz Rojas.

Additional incidental music credits:

The Deadboy Detectives

Eva – 失望した: https://youtu.be/jVTsD4UPT-k

D.Catalano https://wekeepoddhours.bandcamp.com

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Hear the most bizarre stories about how technology is shaping culture on Wild Wild Tech: https://bit.ly/WildWildTech

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Two Scottish guys fooled the world into thinking they were American rappers for almost a decade. In the early 2000s, Billy Boyd and Gavin Bain were college students and best friends. They also loved hip hop and wanted to do something more with their lives than live a small-town Scottish existence. They formed a rap group and got good. However, after various auditions they quickly learned that, no matter how good they were, nobody would ever take two Scottish rappers seriously. So...they fabricated an entire elaborate fake backstory that they were Americans from California and...people believed them. And they also started giving them opportunities. So Billy and Gavin - or Silibil N Brains - moved to London and lived their lives as Americans for several years...and they almost became massive celebrities in the process. On this episode of Deep Cuts, we explore the wild multi-year hoax of Silibil N Brains.

Additional incidental music credits:

The Deadboy Detectives

D.Catalano https://wekeepoddhours.bandcamp.com

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A cult started by a blind Japanese man went on to become a deadly terrorist organization. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Shoko Asahara was rising in the ranks as one of the most powerful cult leaders in history. He had over ten thousand followers, and slowly over the course of several years would launch several deadly terrorist attacks against the country of Japan - a few of which are the worst attack that Japan has ever experienced. They did all of this while producing anime recruitment videos animated by actual anime artists who had joined the cult. On this episode of Deep Cuts, we explore the dark and dangerous world of Shoko Asahara and the Aum Shinrikyo cult.

Additional incidental music credits:

The Deadboy Detectives

D.Catalano https://wekeepoddhours.bandcamp.com

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12 years ago she lost control of her life. Is it for mental health reasons, or something far more evil? In 2008, after a very public mental health scare in which pop star Britney Spears shaved her head and had several violent outbursts, her father, Jamie Spears, was granted a permanent conservatorship over her. Conservatorships are usually reserved for the mentally unwell or handicapped, or the old and infirm, and make it so you are not legally allowed to make your own decisions, vote, drive a car, get married, or many other basic elements of human life. Now, a growing movement of concerned fans believe that she's being held against her will and is trying to cry for help through coded messages on her social media pages. Are they right? Is Britney being controlled by her father and a team exploiting her talents for money? Or is she suffering from private mental health issues and being placed under this legal psychiatric hold for her own good? On this episode of Deep Cuts, we explore and attempt to make sense of #FreeBritney and the Britney Spears conservatorship.

Additional incidental music credits:

The Deadboy Detectives

D.Catalano https://wekeepoddhours.bandcamp.com

Eva – 失望した: https://youtu.be/jVTsD4UPT-k

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They were three young girls held prisoner by their father and forced to become a rock band because of a prophecy. They ended up becoming a huge cult hit, beloved by many - including Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain who lists their album as his third favorite of all time - and one of the most influential indie bands of all time. They were musical geniuses in the category of "outsider music." They also hated playing music, never wanted to be a band, and were held prisoner as teenagers by their father for 11 years and forced to practice 8 hours a day, 7 days a week in pursuit of a prophecy he believed in that they would one day become the world's biggest music group. On this episode of Deep Cuts, we explore the strange, sad, and fascinating life of The Shaggs - the genius rock band who just wanted to be regular teenagers.

Additional incidental music credits:

The Deadboy Detectives

D.Catalano https://wekeepoddhours.bandcamp.com

Eva – 失望した: https://youtu.be/jVTsD4UPT-k

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Actor Jared Leto has slowly been growing a cult-like following for the last several years. What's his endgame? You know him from his films throughout the 90s, 2000s, leading up to today, as well as from his band 30 Seconds to Mars. Did you also know that, for the last several years, he's invited thousands of people to a large gathering that happens on a remote Island in some exotic area of the world? They started out as basically music festivals, but slowly they have morphed into something different. Leto dresses in flowing white robes and speaks to crowds of thousands, preaching nebulous philosophies about life and the universe. They've become less and less about music and more like...a literal cult? On this episode of Deep Cuts, we explore Jared Leto's Mars Island events and get to the bottom of whether or not he's trying to become a cult leader.

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He's the brother that director Christopher Nolan doesn't want to talk about. Because he's a murderer. You are familiar with the massively successful British filmmaker, Christopher Nolan, who has directed films like the Dark Knight, Inception, the Prestige, and the Tenet. You might also be familiar with his brother, Jonah Nolan, who co-created HBO's Westworld. But did you know that there's a third Nolan brother? Why have you never heard of him? Well, likely somebody paid a lot of money to make sure you didn't. In 2009, Matthew Nolan, the eldest Nolan brother, was hired by a wealthy businessman to get some missing money back from one of his ex-partners. Nolan, along with an accomplice, kidnapped, tortured, and murdered the man, but he's never faced trial or gone to prison for it because of the bureaucratic nightmare of extradition laws. On this episode of Deep Cuts, we talk about Matthew Nolan, the third Nolan brother with a dark past.

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He was a one-hit wonder rocker who loved to party, but nobody noticed he was a complete hoax. In the late 90s/early 2000s, Andrew W.K. exploded out of nowhere with the anthemic, epic party anthem "Party Hard" complete with a stylish music video depicting him thrashing onstage in front of a giant mural of his bloodied face. After that, he became a novelty fringe element of pop culture - occasionally popping up to sing about or talk about partying. Ultimately we all kind of forgot about him. However, what nobody who wasn't paying close attention realized was that - all along - there was something deeper going on with Andrew W.K. Ultimately a conspiracy theory about him bubbled to the surface - that he was actually a fictional character played by several different actors. Is that true? Or is the truth even stranger? On the final episode of our three-part "Kayfabe Trilogy", we explore the 20-year-long performance art stunt that is Andrew W.K.

Additional incidental music credits:

D.Catalano https://wekeepoddhours.bandcamp.com

Eva – 失望した: https://youtu.be/jVTsD4UPT-k

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Additional materials:

http://users.tmok.com/~bulb/andrew.html

http://awilkeskrier.homestead.com

http://what-happened-to-awk.weebly.com/awk--steev-mike-the-basics.html

https://youtu.be/iNH4fuWtOjA

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