Watch.Read.Listen.

This episode of Watch.Read.Listen. is Part 2 of our Season 2 opener, "It's on Random." We discuss a variety of topics including film editing, sequels, adaptations, superhero fatigue, and unlikable characters in movies. On a side note, the new WRL drinking game is drink whenever we mention Devin Faraci.

1. Every Frame a Painting - an excellent video series and blog about the art of film. We discuss the latest episode, "How Does an Editor Think and Feel?"

2. Kirby Ferguson's Everything is a Remix, specifically the newest episode on Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens

3. Tony Zhou's (creator of Every Frame a Painting) article from December 21, 2015 "The Force Awakens is Deeply Broken"

4. Ghostbusters (2016) - Specifically the irrationality surrounding reaction to the film (see our Ballad of the Fanboys episode for more on this topic in general)

5. Superhero "fatigue" and why we think that's not really an issue or a thing

Devin Faraci's article on it

6. Game of Thrones Season 6 (SPOILERS)

7. Preacher Season 1 Episode 1 (SPOILERS)

iFanboy podcast on it

Devin Faraci's "My Problem with Preacher"

8. (fittingly) The Hateful Eight and how a movie doesn't have to have good, likeable people to be enjoyable

Devin Faraci's "The Hateful Eight Review: America's Original Sin as 'The Thing'"

After six months (!) of Watch.Read.Listen., we begin Season 2 with a multi-topic discussion of things we watched, read, or listened to that don't yet warrant their own episodes. In Part 1, we start with our This Week segment, and then dive into two Captain America - related controversies: #GiveCapABoyfriend and #SayNoToHydraCap. In both of these, the crux of the argument is how much artists should or should not cater to their audiences. Our general conclusion is that artists should be allowed to create their art, and that if people want greater representation in media, they should start creating that media. We also find the attacks on creators to be ridiculous, unwarranted, and in some cases scary. Check out Devin Faraci's article "Fandom is Broken" for a great analysis of the issues of social media access to creators and fandom's use of that access. In our This Week segment: Duane (and his wife, Jen) watched Circle (2015) and Before I Go To Sleep (2015) (both on Netflix), and he read the introduction to Harlan Ellison's short-story collection Strange Wine. David read Southern Bastards by Jason Aaron and Jason Latour, Velvet by Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting, watched The 60s and The 70s documentaries on CNN, and Listened to the World Balloon podcast discussion and interview with Nick Spencer (writer on the "controversial" Captain America: Steve Rogers #1) .

In this episode of Watch.Read.Listen., we discuss our top 5 comics without superheroes.

David's List: 5) Chew by John Layman and Rob Guillory; 4) Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson; 3) Locke & Key by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez; 2) Fear Agent by Rick Remender and Tony Moore; 1) Preacher by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon

Duane's List: 5) Gunsmith Cats by Kenichi Sonoda; 4) Scott Pilgrim by Bryan Lee O'Malley; 3) Bone by Jeff Smith; 2) Thieves and Kings by Mark Oakley; and 1) Strangers in Paradise by Terry Moore

Honorable Mentions

Duane: Maus, The Maxx, Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service, Yotsuba&, Genshiken, Welcome to the NHK

David: The Maxx, The Walking Dead, 100 Bullets, Sin City, Ronin, From Hell, V for Vendetta

This Week:

Duane: The Cure at the Toyota Center; Hank Green and the Perfect Strangers, Driftless Pony Club, Harry and the Potters, Andrew Huang, and Rob Scallon at Super Happy Fun Land; the Canon podcast on Se7en.

David: The Hitcher (movie); The Fury (movie); Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes (band); Nails (band)

In this episode of Watch.Read.Listen., we discuss the issues with Fanboys, arguing for more inclusiveness in the various fan cultures. We break down four main problems that we've observed both in others and ourselves: 1) fan tribalism, 2) gatekeepers, 3) "cheer pressure" (coined by Brady from Hello Internet and Numberphile), and 4) lack of critical thought around their fandom.

On the more serious side, we discussed briefly the death of comic creator Darwyn Cooke. His loved ones encourage donations to the Canadian Cancer Society and the Hero Initiative, which is dedicated to helping comic creators in need.

This Week:

Duane - Stuff You Missed in History Class (two-parter on Hercules Mulligan in particular); Marathon Man (1976) and the Canon episode on it; Free Comic Book Day @ Bedrock City Comics, Love & Rockets, Mooncop by Tom Gauld; Rachel Rising Vol 1-2 by Terry Moore.

David - Shock Waves podcast (from the hosts of Killer POV); Bloodcast; The Damn Fine Cast

Devan Faraci's "I am Biased" article.

Opening clip is from Portlandia.

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In the second edition of the Watch.Read.Listen. Special Report, Duane and David breakdown the thirteenth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Captain America: Civil War.

Note: After about 30 minutes we break into spoilers. We give you a heads up so if you go past that, well, that's on you.

Overall we both enjoyed the film. David goes over some nitpicks that he has in terms of the way action scenes are shot, and the lack of memorable music coming out of the film. Both agree that it is one of the better films to come out of the MCU, and that it manages to close out the Captain America trilogy, and put our heroes in an interesting spot going into Phase 3.

P.S. We aren't Marvel shills (still), and we manage to not talk about that other superhero film that came from the Distinguished Competition. Since, that seems to upset folks if you compare similar movies.

In this episode of Watch.Read.Listen., we discuss and evaluate Phase Two of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. SPOILERS for Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy, Marvel's Avengers: Age of Ultron, and Ant-Man. The entries in this slate of movies are somewhat uneven, but we think that while The Dark World is a bit of a snooze, the others are great examples of superhero movies that each manage their own tone and voice.

In our This Week segment:

Duane: Tales to Terrify (horror short-story podcast), The History of English podcast

David: Wes Borland's Crystal Machete, Radiohead's A Moon Shaped Pool, The Witch (2015)

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In this episode of Watch.Read.Listen., we discuss Phase One of the MCU in anticipation of Captain America: Civil War. Spoilers (really?) for Iron Man, Iron Man 2, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain American: The First Avenger, and Marvel's The Avengers. We also take an extended detour in our This Week section as we search for that "Amblin Feelin'".

This Week:

Duane: Game of Thrones and sundry things, Neil Simon's Rumors (live at the Crighton Theatre in Conroe, TX) - check out this interview with Rumors director Travis Bryant, Far Fetched Fables "The Dark Down There" by Joe R. Lansdale (read by Eric Lake)

David: Killer POV ends this chapter of the podcast, Krampus (the good one directed by Michael Dougherty, who also did Trick 'r Treat), Rob Zombie's The Electric Warlock Acid Witch Satanic Orgy Celebration Dispenser

Remember to check us out at watchreadlisten.net, on Facebook, Twitter @WRLPodcast, and to rate and review us on iTunes.

In this episode, we are joined by Shoe and Ian to discuss Game of Thrones. We focus on episode 1 of season 6, but we also discuss the show as a whole, and there is at least one possible spoiler from the books because we honestly don't really care about spoilers.

Check out our website WatchReadListen.net for show notes, including links to our watches, reads, and listens for this week.

Stay tuned for more on Game of Thrones this season, as well as the Marvel movies and upcoming launch of Shoe's book club podcast.

In this week's episode of Watch.Read.Listen., we are joined by Shoe to discuss George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire novels. SPOILERS for everything in the ASOIAF universe! We also go on a tangent about why we like John Green as a personality but don't read his novels.

This Week:

Shoe - TV: My Mad Fat Diary, Unbreakable Kimmie Schmidt, iZombie, Last Man on Earth, 11-22-63; Books: 11-22-63, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, Dorothy Must Die series (Danielle Paige), The Ice Dragon; Podcasts: Criminal, History of Westeros; Music: Portishead

Duane - Star Wars Rebels Season 2 finale, short stories by J.G. Ballard and Dorothy Parker, Preacher (comic)

David - The Projection Booth podcast, Outside the Cinema, stuff directed by Jeremy Saulnier (Green Room, Blue Ruin, Murder Party)

Music at the break is the Game of Thrones theme by Rameses B, which you can find at https://soundcloud.com/ramesesb/game-of-thrones, which is used under a Creative Commons 3.0 license.

In this episode of Watch.Read.Listen., we discuss Peter Jackson's The Hobbit trilogy and explore both the things we like about and the things we don't. Overall, it doesn't work as a trilogy, and we wonder what would have been different if 1) Guillermo del Toro had stayed on to direct and 2) if these had been two films instead of three. We also look at these as adaptations of Tolkien's book.

In our This Week section:

Duane: Selected Shorts podcast for March 30: "The Sun and the Moon", Far Fetched Fables podcast episode 100 features a story by Michael Moorcock, and Star Wars Rebels

David: Shudder horror movie service, Lucio Fulci's The Beyond