Hello, dear listeners! This week, Windy and Melissa talk about ROCK MUSICALS! Because, clearly, we don’t talk about musicals enough!

If you’d like to drink along this week, well, you’ll need to BYOB, because we were drinking nothing but glorious water. We’d already killed a bottle of wine before the episode, and we were sleep deprived from the Minnesota Fringe Festival, so honestly, we couldn’t handle anything else. By the time you finish listening to the episode, I’m sure you’ll agree.

Show notes behind the cut!

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The post Episode 36: Metal as F*ck appeared first on Xanadu Cinema Pleasure Dome.

This week, dear listeners, we get down and dirty with the Birdchick (aka world-renowned birdwatcher and author Sharon Stiteler) for an episode all about film director Douglas Sirk! Now, don’t worry if you don’t know anything about Mr. Sirk’s films, because we do our very best to drunk-describe the awesome, plump melodramas that make up Mr. Sirk’s American ouvre.

Helping us on our journey was a lovely bottle of Lagavulin 16 scotch, which definitely gave us the right frame of mind to discuss 1950s melodramas.

And once again, we have to apologize for some sound issues. During the recording of this episode, we could have filled out a Audio Interference Bingo Card: a neighbor’s barking dog, police sirens, a small child, a chatty husband, an oscillating fan, a rainstorm, and a tornado siren. We were able to remove some of it from the episode, and and then work around the rest. Thus, the audio starts fine, and then slowly gets a bit burbly at the end.

Anyway, show notes behind the cut!

Douglas Sirk movies mentioned:

Other movies mentioned:

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The post Episode 35: Emotional Turgidity appeared first on Xanadu Cinema Pleasure Dome.

Gordon Smuder, in his element.

This week, dear listeners, we are joined by professional puppeteer Gordon Smuder for an episode all about PUPPET MOVIES! And, because we like a challenge, we have decided to discuss only non-Henson puppets, so no Muppets allowed! (Don’t worry, we still love Muppets — it’s just that everyone knows about Muppets already, right?) So bring your ventriloquist dummies and magic talking flutes and have a listen!

This week is an even-numbered episode, too, so Windy and Melissa are extra-sauced for this puppetry discussion. If you would like to drink along, we suggest Red Guitar Old Vine Temperanillo-Garnacha, which is what you hear being poured generously throughout the episode. Alternately, if you are a sober driver like Gordon, we suggest a mixture of fizzy mineral water and your juice of choice. It’s delicious, and you get to sound extra smart next to the silly drunk ladies.

Pictured: silly drunk ladies

Show notes behind the cut!

Movies mentioned:

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During the episode, we mention a Mystery Science Theater 3000 outtake. The relevant item starts at 0:12 in this video:

The post Episode 34: Flatitudes, Y’all appeared first on Xanadu Cinema Pleasure Dome.

This week, we get our monster love on with an episode about Guillermo del Toro! To make this episode even better, we are joined in the Pleasure Dome by Matt Kessen, the very tall mad genius behind Reverend Matt’s Monster Science!

If Reverend Matt’s resonant voice makes you want to join in our drinking rites, we suggest a fine, peaty scotch like Laphroaig Cairdeas, which is the bottle we killed while recording this episode. We certainly enjoyed setting our mouths and souls aflame with that stuff.

More show notes behind the cut!

Guillermo del Toro movies mentioned:

Other movies mentioned:

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The post Episode 33: Pure Ejaculation of Awesome appeared first on Xanadu Cinema Pleasure Dome.

In this week’s extra-boozy episode, we talk about heist movies! Because, seriously, don’t we all want to be part of a heist at some part of our lives? It’s even a great word. HEIST. Roll that around in your mouth for a while. HEISSSSST.

Anyway, if you would like to drink along, we found a bottle of Layer Cake Malbec that served us quite well. We promise we paid for it. We did not steal it, because we like and admire the honest workers of our local alcohol-providing establishments.

Show notes and links below the cut!

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Here’s the Beastie Boys “Body Movin'” video, as mentioned in the episode:

And here’s the opening sequence from Dhoom 2:

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This week, we share our love of REMAKES! Okay, we only love good remakes, but there are plenty of good remakes to talk about, right? We certainly thought so!

We also thought this week’s wine selection was excellent: Castello di Volpaia Indue, which was given to us by one of our fine Brians, Mr. Donohue. We learned that “Indue” is Italian for “Two Together”, which made it extra special. Brian can select our beverages any day! Thank you!

Show notes and links behind the cut!

Films mentioned (in both original and remake form):

People mentioned:

Links:

I Love/Hate Remakes Podcast:

The Monthly Midnight Movie Exchange:

Masters of Carpentry (which is about John Carpenter!):

And, finally, that baffling Magnificent Seven trailer:

The post Episode 31: A Lovely Forge to Hammer Upon appeared first on Xanadu Cinema Pleasure Dome.

This week, we celebrate our 30th episode with our second Off Topic extravaganza! If you missed our first Off Topic episode, here’s what’s going on: while we edit our regular episodes, many things get clipped out. Usually, the stuff that winds up on the cutting room floor is just long silences or drunken ramblings, but sometimes those edits are worth saving for another time.

THE TIME IS NOW.

The audio clips in this episode were recorded between April and August of 2014. The audio quality, subject matter, and level of sobriety will vary widely. You will also randomly hear the voices of:

Romeo Azar

Please enjoy the randomness of our second Off Topic episode! Show notes behind the cut.

People mentioned:

Movies mentioned:

Stage productions mentioned:

Links:

Hawkeye Initiative

The post Episode 30: I Expect Jazz Hands appeared first on Xanadu Cinema Pleasure Dome.

Windy’s chest is also a creature.

Good tidings, dear listeners! This week, we are joined by Jennifer Menken of the Bell Museum of Natural History for an episode all about movie critters! That’s right, we’re bringing SCIENCE to creature features!

SCIENCE also brought us the tasty Protocolo 2011 Tempranillo that we drank while recording this episode. Please feel free to sip along!

Now, before we go to the show notes, we have a couple of corrections for this episode:

Show notes and links behind the cut!

Movies mentioned:

People mentioned:

Links:

Here’s a link to the video of Sigourney Weaver actually making that basket:

Zombie ants with fungus:

Sadly, the Dark Crystal “Director’s Cut” has been taken down, per the Jim Henson Company. However, here’s a good interview with the creator of the video, which describes what he set out to do:

The post Episode 29: Kilt Weasels and Other Charismatic Macrofauna appeared first on Xanadu Cinema Pleasure Dome.

Photo by Meghan Murphy

This week, we have part two of our discussion with screenwriter, author, and film critic C. Robert Cargill, which we recorded a few days after our live podcast at CONvergence 2014. That’s right: if you were at our CONvergence panel, there is still more podcast to enjoy!

Once again, we apologize for the sound quality of this week’s episode. We recorded this session on the same night as our episode with Meghan Murphy, which means we were still recording with that damned Rock Band microphone. (Don’t ever think it’s a good idea to try to record a podcast with a Rock Band microphone. You’re probably better recording with an iPhone. Lesson learned.) Anyway, we cleaned up the audio as best as we could.

Show notes behind the cut!

Movies mentioned:

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Books mentioned:

Games mentioned:

The post Episode 28: Sexism, Screenwriting, and Scotch: Part 2 appeared first on Xanadu Cinema Pleasure Dome.

Photo by J. Garth Wilcox

This week, we have a very special thing for our fine listeners: our first two-part episode! In Part 1, you will hear us with screenwriter, author, and film critic C. Robert Cargill, in a discussion we recorded in front of a real live studio audience at CONvergence 2014. In this episode, we tackle the issues surrounding writing good feminist media and tackle a very nice bottle of Yamazaki 12 year single-malt scotch.

We only had an hour to talk about a very big subject, which is why the three of us got together a couple days later to record for another hour. You’ll hear that part next week!

We apologize for the sound quality of this week’s episode, which contains a lot of ambient noise from the room.

Show notes behind the cut!

Movies mentioned:

People mentioned:

Books mentioned:

Links:

The Hawkeye Initiative

“25 Things to Know About Sexism and Misogyny in Writing and Publishing” by Chuck Wendig

“We Are Losing All Our Strong Female Characters to Trinity Syndrome” by Tasha Robinson

The post Episode 27: Sexism, Screenwriting, and Scotch: Part 1 appeared first on Xanadu Cinema Pleasure Dome.