Hey, gang. Russ here.

This is a very special episode for…well, for a few reasons.

The first reason, and the one least likely to impact our listeners, is that this will be the final episode recorded and edited on the trusty MacBook that has been with me since the start of the series. It is a work machine, and the corporate overlords at the day job have seen fit to outfit me with a new one that’s about 7 years newer than this. Farewell, old friend.

Secondly, you might notice that I am flying solo on this adventure — and that the sound is kind of all over the place. Today’s episode features an interview between myself and the guys behind THE LAST BLOCKBUSTER — director Taylor Morden and producer Zeke Kamm.

Originally, Zach Roberts and I recorded this — except that apparently, we didn’t, and the audio was lost to history. These good folks have a Kickstarter to promote — you can find that link here, and I encourage you to back it — and so rather than try to find a time where all four of us could be free and risking another technological mishap, we trimmed it down.

And yeah, I kind of glanced over it, but for the first time since I talked to Joshua Hale Fialkov and Tony Fleecs about JEFF STEINBERG, CHAMPION OF EARTH, we have an interview on the show. Exciting times!

Last but not least, this is the first episode where ECV will be featured on ACPN — the Art, Comedy, and Pop-Culture Network. You can check them out at TheACPN.com, and they’re good folks. Before I ever applied to be part of this collaborative circle of shows, I followed them on Facebook for quite some time and enjoyed a lot of the material they put out. If you like what we do here, you will probably like at least a few of their shows, which include Rewind Cinema and the Retro Cinema Podcast.

The Last Blockbuster is a documentary expected to be released in early- to mid-2019. It centers on the final surviving Blockbuster Video store in Bend, Oregon, but that also talks about the video industry as a whole along the way. Taylor and Zeke were kind enough to carve out some time for us twice in a week, so please enjoy this interview — even if the audio quality on this conference call is not exactly the stuff that dreams are made of.

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