Author: UncaScroogeMcD

  • Ken P. D. Snydecast #232: Beer Naugles

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    Adult Swim’s Dana Snyder and FRED’s Ken Plume set out to have a literate conversation between two pals, but inevitably devolve into a verbal, and funny, free-for-all full of bickering, infighting, and the special kind of male bonding that comes from conflict expressed through the podcast medium.

    Actor/comedian/raconteur Dana Snyder, you’re certainly aware, is Aqua Teen Hunger Force’s Master Shake, Squidbillies‘ Granny, Minoriteam’s Dr. Wang, and The Venture Bros.‘ Alchemist. Available for weddings and bar mitzvahs (bat availability pending), you can keep tabs on him via his website, www.eyeofthesnyder.com.

    Ken Plume is the editor-in-chief here at FRED. He is a friend of Dana’s, as well as his arch-nemesis.

    VISIT THE SNYDECAST EXPERIENCE

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    KEN P.D. SNYDECAST #232: Beer Naugles – Ken & Dana return with a great big bag of cheesy sad.

    [CONTENT WARNING]: This podcast may contain some foul language and horribly off-color jokes. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

    DOWNLOAD: (right click to save)
    Episode #232 (MP3 format)

    [audio:http://traffic.libsyn.com/snydecast/ken_p_d_snyde_cast-232.mp3]

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    SUBSCRIBE
    Subscribe to this Podcast via iTunes

    Got something to say? E-mail Dana & Ken at the Snydecast mailbag.

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    CLICK HERE FOR THE SNYDECAST ARCHIVES

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  • Ken P. D. Snydecast #231: Choc-o-dial

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    Adult Swim’s Dana Snyder and FRED’s Ken Plume set out to have a literate conversation between two pals, but inevitably devolve into a verbal, and funny, free-for-all full of bickering, infighting, and the special kind of male bonding that comes from conflict expressed through the podcast medium.

    Actor/comedian/raconteur Dana Snyder, you’re certainly aware, is Aqua Teen Hunger Force’s Master Shake, Squidbillies‘ Granny, Minoriteam’s Dr. Wang, and The Venture Bros.‘ Alchemist. Available for weddings and bar mitzvahs (bat availability pending), you can keep tabs on him via his website, www.eyeofthesnyder.com.

    Ken Plume is the editor-in-chief here at FRED. He is a friend of Dana’s, as well as his arch-nemesis.

    VISIT THE SNYDECAST EXPERIENCE

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    KEN P.D. SNYDECAST #231: Choc-o-dial – Ken & Dana return with the ghosts of conversations past.

    [CONTENT WARNING]: This podcast may contain some foul language and horribly off-color jokes. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

    DOWNLOAD: (right click to save)
    Episode #231 (MP3 format)

    [audio:http://traffic.libsyn.com/snydecast/ken_p_d_snyde_cast-231.mp3]

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    SUBSCRIBE
    Subscribe to this Podcast via iTunes

    Got something to say? E-mail Dana & Ken at the Snydecast mailbag.

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    CLICK HERE FOR THE SNYDECAST ARCHIVES

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  • A Bit Of A Chat with Ken Plume & Josh Cagan & Courtney Cronin about The Monkees 2

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    I’m Ken Plume, and soon you’ll be listening to “A Bit Of A Chat” with me, Ken Plume.

    In this episode, I have another chat with writer Josh Cagan and producer Courtney Cronin about our mutual love of The Monkees (live).

    Hope you enjoy…

    Download “A Bit of a Chat with Ken Plume & Josh Cagan & Courtney Cronin about The Monkees 2“:

    [audio:http://traffic.libsyn.com/bitofachat/bit_of_a_chat-josh_cagan_courtney_cronin_monkees_2.mp3]

    SUBSCRIBE
    Subscribe to this Podcast via iTunes

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    Drop Ken a line HERE.

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    You can also find more of my interviews by clicking HERE.

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  • Ken P. D. Snydecast #230: Shanghai Surprise

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    Adult Swim’s Dana Snyder and FRED’s Ken Plume set out to have a literate conversation between two pals, but inevitably devolve into a verbal, and funny, free-for-all full of bickering, infighting, and the special kind of male bonding that comes from conflict expressed through the podcast medium.

    Actor/comedian/raconteur Dana Snyder, you’re certainly aware, is Aqua Teen Hunger Force’s Master Shake, Squidbillies‘ Granny, Minoriteam’s Dr. Wang, and The Venture Bros.‘ Alchemist. Available for weddings and bar mitzvahs (bat availability pending), you can keep tabs on him via his website, www.eyeofthesnyder.com.

    Ken Plume is the editor-in-chief here at FRED. He is a friend of Dana’s, as well as his arch-nemesis.

    VISIT THE SNYDECAST EXPERIENCE

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    KEN P.D. SNYDECAST #230: Shanghai Surprise – Ken & Dana return with a trip on stranger tides.

    [CONTENT WARNING]: This podcast may contain some foul language and horribly off-color jokes. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

    DOWNLOAD: (right click to save)
    Episode #230 (MP3 format)

    [audio:http://traffic.libsyn.com/snydecast/ken_p_d_snyde_cast-230.mp3]

    snydecast-album-ad-03.png

    SUBSCRIBE
    Subscribe to this Podcast via iTunes

    Got something to say? E-mail Dana & Ken at the Snydecast mailbag.

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    CLICK HERE FOR THE SNYDECAST ARCHIVES

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  • Weekend Shopping Guide 9/16/16: Captain Courageous

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    The weekend’s here. You’ve just been paid, and it’s burning a hole in your pocket. What’s a pop culture geek to do? In hopes of steering you in the right direction to blow some of that hard-earned cash, it’s time for the FRED Weekend Shopping Guide – your spotlight on the things you didn’t even know you wanted…

    (Please support FRED by using the links below to make any impulse purchases – it helps to keep us going…)

    While they’ve been concentrating on plenty of stellar releases featuring characters from the original trilogy, plus more Storm Troopers than you can shake a bushel of sticks at, Hot Toys has turned their sights back on Star Wars: The Force Awakens with a trio of figures that actually comprise only a pair of releases, as two of the figures are bundled in an exclusive two-pack. First up is a character that became legend for her visuals long before anyone saw the film, Captain Phasma (Sideshow/Hot Toys, $249.99). Despite whatever happened with her character in the film, the figure is an imposing realization of her instantly-iconic design, from the chrome armor to the mighty match of actress Gwendolyn Christie’s mighty height. Of course, what would Phasma be without her failed former cadet, FN-2187, who is available in the aforementioned two-pack of Finn and First Order Riot Control Stormtrooper (Sideshow/Hot Toys, $359.99). And really, how could you not get Finn, replete with lightsaber, together with his Stormtrooper sparring partner of the memorable exclamatory “TRAITOR!”, with his unique energized riot control club? That’s right, you simply must, or else be branded a fanboy TRAITOR!

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    Even if you’re louse at catching Pokemon, you can at least learn to sketch ’em all with the Pokémon How to Draw Kit (Thinkgeek, $16.99). Not only does it come with the how-to book with detailed instructions, but also the paper, pencils, erasers, and pencil sharpener to sketch with. It’s your all-in-one poke-sketching pokestop.

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    If Batman V Superman was the absolute nadir of this year’s superhero films, then the pinnacle is Captain America: Civil War (Walt Disney, Rated PG-13, 3D Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP), a film which managed to juggle a massive cast in a well-established cinematic universe without any of the participants seeming superfluous, in a story that cranks along. Oh, and Spider-Man. It gave us a right and proper Spider-Man. Did I mention Spider-Man? I probably should. Spider-Man. Bonus materials include an audio commentary, deleted scenes, featurettes, a peek at Doctor Strange, a gag reel, and a making-of documentary.

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    The 5th volume of Fantagraphics’ brilliant Uncle Scrooge And Donald Duck: The Don Rosa Library (Fantagraphics, $29.99 SRP) brings to a conclusion his epic “Life And Times Of Scrooge McDuck” storyline in a suitably beautiful presentation, fully loaded with supporting materials and insights, plus a pair of stories that fit within Rosa’s output chronology, “Guardians Of The Lost Library” and “From Duckburg To Lillehammer”. The next volume can not come fast enough.

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    After years of being overlooked and underappreciated by the studio going all the way back to its unceremonious theatrical release, Warner Bros. has finally treated The Iron Giant (Warner Bros., Rated PG, Blu-Ray-$14.97 SRP) as the classic it is, releasing it for the first time in high definition, fully restored, including an alliterate expanded cut. It also includes an audio commentary, deleted scenes, featurettes, and a brand new documentary charting the journey of the film.

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    If you’re looking for a definitive document of the cultural phenomenon that is the Back To The Future trilogy, featuring interviews with Robert Zemeckis, Bob Gale, Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, and more, look no further than Back In Time (MVD, Not Rated, DVD-$19.95 SRP), a great documentary that does just that.

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    Tilda Swinton is a rock star vacationing in the Mediterranean whose quiet vacation with her lover is disrupted by the arrival of a former flame (Ralph Fiennes) and his seductive daughter in the potboiler A Bigger Splash (Fox, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP). Seeing Swinton and Fiennes together onscreen is more than enough reason to give this a spin. Bonus materials include featurettes and the theatrical trailer.

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    Olive’s deep dive into the MGM catalogue brings up the high definition debut of Cecil B. DeMille’s thought-to-be-lost 1915 silent film The Captive (Olive, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$24.95 SRP), while their stroll through Paramount’s catacombs brings up the pre-Brady Bunch tale of a massive blended family, Yours, Mine And Ours (Olive, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$24.95 SRP), starring Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda as widowers who bring together their combined 18 kids.

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    If you’re watching the 13 specials featured within the 6-disc Thanks For The Memories: The Bob Hope Specials (Time Life, Not Rated, DVD-$59.95 SRP) looking to laugh, you’re going to find genuinely funny jokes and performances few and far between. No, the brilliance of this set is in their time capsule nature, capturing a bygone era of vaudeville relics and old school celebrity, spread across very much of their time spotlights. The best example of this is the painfully unfunny special Joys, which gathers together dozens of celebrities, from Don Knotts to Phil Silvers and Groucho Marx to Charo, for a whodunit that is somehow also a parody of recent hit Jaws, but really isn’t, but is instead a stunning collection of an entire generation’s worth of entertainers. In addition to the specials, the set also contains the gold documentary Shanks For The Memories.

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    I love jigsaw puzzles. I love The Legend Of Zelda. So, how could I not love Legend of Zelda 550pc Puzzles (Thinkgeek, $9.99), which combines both of those in a single box? The quartet of images currently available include Majora’s Mask, Link on horseback, and a pair of stained glass pictures from Windwaker.

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    The adult coloring book craze will one day consume all pop culture properties, which means you can now color your way through the Seven Kingdoms and beyond in the Game Of Thrones Coloring Book (Chronicle Books, $15.95 SRP). Be sure to crack out the white crayons, because winter is here.

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    Having grown up on that base, even seeing the name Quantico (ABC Studios, Not Rated, DVD-$29.99 SRP) piques my interest, and this series, about an FBI recruit framed for a terrorist attack who must try and clear her name while exposing the true traitor within their ranks, is a wild, engaging ride that delivers on that pique. Bonus materials include video commentary, featurettes, deleted scenes, and outtakes.

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    For those curious about where to find deeper scholarship of every nook and cranny of comics history, the best place to turn is two the always unique output of Twomorrows Publishing. Case in point? Their latest tome is The MLJ Companion (Twomorrows, $34.95 SRP), which explores the complete history of the Archie Comics superheroes from the Golden Age up to the present day. Never heard of The Mighty Crusaders? Read on!

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    Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson return as paranormal investigators Lorraine and Ed Warren in The Conjuring 2 (Warner Bros., Rated R, Blu-Ray-$29.98 SRP), a genuinely scary sequel that finds them engaged with the malicious spirits of the Enfield Haunting, known as England’s Amityville. Bonus materials include featurettes and deleted scenes.

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    While a standalone version has been previously released, the legendary anniversary special Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever (Time Life, Not Rated, DVD-$79.95 SRP) has been expanded for a brand new collector’s box set that includes an extended version of the concert, over 14 hours of bonus materials across 3 additional discs beyond the original release, and a 48-page collector’s book. With reunions by the Miracles, Supremes, and Jackson 5 to host Richard Pryor, it remains an incredible evening.

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    The first Michael Bay-produced film was disappointing in myriad ways, but its sequel, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows (Paramount, Rated PG-13, 3D Blu-Ray-$45.99 SRP) manages to eke out even more disappointment just by dint of being, well, boring. Well and truly so. Which is sad, because it manages to bring Bebop & Rocksteady in, and fix some of the first film’s Shredder problems. The turtles themselves still look like steroidal monstrosities, but nothing is unfixable, but it remains unfixed here. Bonus materials include featurettes and deleted scenes.

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    The folks at Mill Creek continue to make catalogue content available at ridiculously low prices, which means you can now get the first and second seasons of the beloved shows Coach (Mill Creek, Not Rated, DVD-$14.95 SRP) and Friday Night Lights (Mill Creek, Not Rated, DVD-$14.98 SRP each) for far less than their original DVD releases.

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    This weekend, dive into a clutch of documentaries from the public broadcasting purveyors of premiere programming, PBS, with 9/11: Inside The Pentagon (PBS, Not Rated, DVD-$24.99 SRP), Nazi Mega Weapons: Season Three (PBS, Not Rated, DVD-$24.99 SRP), and Frontline: Policing The Police (PBS, Not Rated, DVD-$24.99 SRP).

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    I think we all knew it was inevitable that even the 80s direct-to-VHS filler from Vestron Video would eventually be seen through enough nostalgia that we’d get high definition releases of those titles (collector’s editions, even!), and the first batch includes the gore fests Chopping Mall and Blood Diner (Lionsgate, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$39.97 SRP each). Bonus features include audio commentaries, featurettes, and archival interviews and trailers.

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    It’s been many, many years since the death of the much-missed Palisades line of Muppets action figures. Just when fans feared we may never see its like again, the whatnots at Diamond Select made a rainbow connection and gifted us with a brand new line of Muppets Action Figures (Diamond Select, $23 SRP each). The scale is smaller than the Palisades line, but the massive size of those figures is part of what made the line untenable. So, here we get what should hopefully be a more sustainable run, which kicks off with Kermit (with Robin & Bean Bunny), Gonzo (with Camilla), Fozzie & Scooter, Beaker & Bunsen, Statler & Waldorf (with their elaborate theatre box), and Animal (with his drum kit). I can’t wait to see how deep this line will go.

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    So there you have it… my humble suggestions for what to watch, listen to, play with, or waste money on this coming weekend. See ya next week…

    -Ken Plume

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  • Ken P. D. Snydecast #229: Mastertaters

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    Adult Swim’s Dana Snyder and FRED’s Ken Plume set out to have a literate conversation between two pals, but inevitably devolve into a verbal, and funny, free-for-all full of bickering, infighting, and the special kind of male bonding that comes from conflict expressed through the podcast medium.

    Actor/comedian/raconteur Dana Snyder, you’re certainly aware, is Aqua Teen Hunger Force’s Master Shake, Squidbillies‘ Granny, Minoriteam’s Dr. Wang, and The Venture Bros.‘ Alchemist. Available for weddings and bar mitzvahs (bat availability pending), you can keep tabs on him via his website, www.eyeofthesnyder.com.

    Ken Plume is the editor-in-chief here at FRED. He is a friend of Dana’s, as well as his arch-nemesis.

    VISIT THE SNYDECAST EXPERIENCE

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    KEN P.D. SNYDECAST #229: Mastertaters – Ken & Dana return with a cheeseburger in paradise.

    [CONTENT WARNING]: This podcast may contain some foul language and horribly off-color jokes. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

    DOWNLOAD: (right click to save)
    Episode #229 (MP3 format)

    [audio:http://traffic.libsyn.com/snydecast/ken_p_d_snyde_cast-229.mp3]

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    SUBSCRIBE
    Subscribe to this Podcast via iTunes

    Got something to say? E-mail Dana & Ken at the Snydecast mailbag.

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    CLICK HERE FOR THE SNYDECAST ARCHIVES

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  • Ken P. D. Snydecast #228: Garbage Plate

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    Adult Swim’s Dana Snyder and FRED’s Ken Plume set out to have a literate conversation between two pals, but inevitably devolve into a verbal, and funny, free-for-all full of bickering, infighting, and the special kind of male bonding that comes from conflict expressed through the podcast medium.

    Actor/comedian/raconteur Dana Snyder, you’re certainly aware, is Aqua Teen Hunger Force’s Master Shake, Squidbillies‘ Granny, Minoriteam’s Dr. Wang, and The Venture Bros.‘ Alchemist. Available for weddings and bar mitzvahs (bat availability pending), you can keep tabs on him via his website, www.eyeofthesnyder.com.

    Ken Plume is the editor-in-chief here at FRED. He is a friend of Dana’s, as well as his arch-nemesis.

    VISIT THE SNYDECAST EXPERIENCE

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    KEN P.D. SNYDECAST #228: Garbage Plate – Ken & Dana return with a dark journey to tater town.

    [CONTENT WARNING]: This podcast may contain some foul language and horribly off-color jokes. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

    DOWNLOAD: (right click to save)
    Episode #228 (MP3 format)

    [audio:http://traffic.libsyn.com/snydecast/ken_p_d_snyde_cast-228.mp3]

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    SUBSCRIBE
    Subscribe to this Podcast via iTunes

    Got something to say? E-mail Dana & Ken at the Snydecast mailbag.

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    CLICK HERE FOR THE SNYDECAST ARCHIVES

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  • Ken P. D. Snydecast #227: All’s Well That Ends Welles

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    Adult Swim’s Dana Snyder and FRED’s Ken Plume set out to have a literate conversation between two pals, but inevitably devolve into a verbal, and funny, free-for-all full of bickering, infighting, and the special kind of male bonding that comes from conflict expressed through the podcast medium.

    Actor/comedian/raconteur Dana Snyder, you’re certainly aware, is Aqua Teen Hunger Force’s Master Shake, Squidbillies‘ Granny, Minoriteam’s Dr. Wang, and The Venture Bros.‘ Alchemist. Available for weddings and bar mitzvahs (bat availability pending), you can keep tabs on him via his website, www.eyeofthesnyder.com.

    Ken Plume is the editor-in-chief here at FRED. He is a friend of Dana’s, as well as his arch-nemesis.

    VISIT THE SNYDECAST EXPERIENCE

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    KEN P.D. SNYDECAST #227: All’s Well That Ends Welles – Ken & Dana return with a dinner to die for.

    [CONTENT WARNING]: This podcast may contain some foul language and horribly off-color jokes. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

    DOWNLOAD: (right click to save)
    Episode #227 (MP3 format)

    [audio:http://traffic.libsyn.com/snydecast/ken_p_d_snyde_cast-227.mp3]

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    SUBSCRIBE
    Subscribe to this Podcast via iTunes

    Got something to say? E-mail Dana & Ken at the Snydecast mailbag.

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    CLICK HERE FOR THE SNYDECAST ARCHIVES

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  • Weekend Shopping Guide 8/26/16: She’s Our Only Hope

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    The weekend’s here. You’ve just been paid, and it’s burning a hole in your pocket. What’s a pop culture geek to do? In hopes of steering you in the right direction to blow some of that hard-earned cash, it’s time for the FRED Weekend Shopping Guide – your spotlight on the things you didn’t even know you wanted…

    (Please support FRED by using the links below to make any impulse purchases – it helps to keep us going…)

    Until Hot Toys decided to turn their uncanny gaze her way, I don’t think we’ve ever gotten a good collectible representation of Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia Organa (Hot Toys/Sideshow, $204.99 SRP). Sure, there have been plenty of figures and statue that come close – and a multitude more that were horrifyingly inaccurate, but Hot Toys 1/6-scale take, depicting the rebel leader as she appeared in Star Wars: A New Hope, is the gold standard. Take a look at the photos below and see for yourself – they’ve nailed it. I just hope they tackle her various looks from Empire, Jedi, and The Force Awakens.

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    The second season of Star Wars: Rebels (Walt Disney, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$45.99 SRP) not only doubled down its connections to Star Wars: The Clone Wars, it tripled and quadrupled them with Mandalorians, Darth Maul, and Ahsoka’s tale. Bonus materials include “Rebels Recon” featurettes, a featurette on references and easter eggs, and a look the journey of Ahsoka and Vader.

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    Shane Black knows how to craft a buddy action-comedy, and that’s exactly the kind of skill that makes The Nice Guys (Warner Bros., Rated R, Blu-Ray-$29.99 SRP) such a delight. The fact that it stars a sparking Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling as a pair of mismatched detectives trying to find a missing girl while dodging both bad guys and each other certainly helps out, too. Bonus materials include a pair of featurettes.

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    It’s not the best John le Carre adaptation, but The Night Manager (Sony, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$40.99 SRP) really shines in the performances from Tom Hiddleston and Hugh Laurie in what is most definitely an engaging spy thriller that hits enough notes to elevate it to the upper tier.

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    A live action take on your animated take on The Jungle Book (Walt Disney, Rated PG, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP)? Directed by Jon Favreau? Okay, Disney. Whatever. You’re drunk. But wait. Shockingly enough, the final result is actually a delightful flick. I mean, come on – Bill Murray as Baloo? Who thought that would work! But it does! I don’t know what to think anymore. Bonus materials include an audio commentary and a trio of featurettes.

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    The remake of the original film was a forgettable mess, but the first season of Ash Vs. Evil Dead (Anchor Bay, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$49.99 SRP) all of the bloody swagger and gory good time that made the original franchise such a memorable cult favorite, and all due credit for that must go to the return of the mighty Bruce Campbell as the titular goofball. Bonus materials include audio commentaries and featurettes.

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    I haven’t quite decided what’s more remarkable – that we’ve already had nineteen seasons of South Park (Paramount, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$42.99 SRP), or that Matt & Trey have managed to keep it as smart and funny as they have. Sure, I don’t agree with every position they take on a topic, but there are certainly more hits than misses. Bonus materials this go round include their usual mini-commentaries, -plus deleted scenes, #SocialCommentary, and a trailer for the upcoming Fractured But Whole game.

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    A few months back, Doc Hammer (of Venture Bros. fame) giddily told me about the miraculous existence of a bluetooth device that perfectly re-created both the look – and more importantly the function – of an old school Star Trek: TOS Communicator (Thinkgeek, $149.99). Well, he wasn’t just delusional – the folks at The Wand Company have actually managed to craft such a bluetooth device that is every bit as accurate as a prop replica as it is an honest-to-goodness bluetooth device for your phone that allows you to flip up the antenna and make/answer calls. It even comes pre-programmed with a few sound bites from the original crew, if you weren’t already having enough of a nerdgasm. The first thing I did when I got mine? I called up Doc and we talked for over an hour on them. Like nerds. Giddy, giddy nerds.

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    As much as the products inside, stores can hold a place in our emotional landscape. For music lovers, none hold more nostalgic pull than the late Tower Records chain. From its fascinating founding and rapid rise to its tragic demise, Colin Hanks’ documentary All Things Must Pass (MVD, Not Rated, DVD-$24.95 SRP) is an emotional journey worth taking.

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    I don’t mind that some of quite legendary Warner films have been relegated to their specialty direct order catalogue, because I’m just delighted they’re finally getting the high definition treatment they deserve. Case in point is the high-def debut of the Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall classics Key Largo, Dark Passage, and The Big Sleep (Warner Bros., Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$21.99 SRP each). If that weren’t enough, they’ve also released Hitchcock’s The Wrong Man (Warner Bros., Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$21.99 SRP), Liam Neeson in Michael Collins (Warner Bros., Rated R, Blu-Ray-$21.99 SRP), and Christopher Guest’s A Mighty Wind (Warner Bros., Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$21.99 SRP). Cheers and kudos, Warner Archive! MORE!

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    If you want proof of just how deep the well is at the Warner Archive Collection, look to their release of a quartet of titles from the Hong Kong studio Golden Harvest – Big Bullet, Blade Of Fury, Downtown Torpedoes, and Pedicab Driver (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$21.99 SRP each) – and all 4 are packed with the action and martial arts you’d expect.

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    They certainly didn’t think it was going to be the end of the road, but at least they filmed a version of the finale that gave Castle (ABC Studios, Not Rated, DVD-$45.99 SRP) and its supporting cast a proper bit of closure after a rocky eighth season. Bonus materials include audio commentaries, deleted scenes, bloopers, and “The Great Escape” escape room featurette.

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    Shondaland’s bedrock Grey’s Anatomy (ABC Studios, Not Rated, DVD-$45.99 SRP) keeps chugging along, with the 12th season finding everyone mired in a constant miasma of drama, but then that’s what you expect. Bonus materials include deleted scenes and a gag reel.

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    As iconic as the original miniseries was, the modern take on Roots (History Channel, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$29.99 SRP) could easily have been a disaster for no other reason than feeling like a redundancy that falls short of its predecessor. Instead, it manages to be a powerful piece that stand as a worthwhile updating for modern sensibilities, often managing to pull even fewer punches than the original. Bonus materials include a documentary on the history of the material dramatized in the miniseries.

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    Over the years, The Doctor has adopted many new and updated versions of his trusty multitool on Doctor Who, and of course that means a new toy version, as well. So, as the last season introduced yet another new iteration, you can now get your mitts on The 12th Doctor’s Sonic Screwdriver (Thinkgeek, $29.99), full of flashy lights and multiple sounds. It’s just all kinds of spiffy.

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    There’s a bit of Marley & Me to the emotional arc of Me Before You (Warner Bros., Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$19.99 SRP), about a relationship that is as celebratory as it is complicated, buoyed by ace performances from Emilia Clarke and Sam Claflin. Bonus materials include a featurette, outtakes, and deleted scenes.

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    I love that every month the folks at Olive release another batch of catalogue titles I feared would never make the transition to high definition. This month’s clutch includes Otto Preminger’s Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon (Olive, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$29.95 SRP), the original American Ninja (Olive, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$29.95 SRP), and the religious comedy Saved! (Olive, Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$29.95 SRP). As for bonus materials, American Ninja features an audio commentary and a making-of featurette, and Saved! sports a pair of audio commentaries and a pair of featurettes.

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    Like dancing? Like hip-hop? Like dancing and hip-hop? Then watch a pair of young lovers try and pull off their dream of a hip-hop version of Romeo & Juliet at a prestigious South African school in Honey 3: Dare To Dance (Universal, Rated Pg-13, Blu-Ray-$22.98 SRP). Bonus materials include audio commentary, extended dance sequences, deleted scenes, and featurettes.

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    Spend a few hours in Shondaland catching up before the new season’s debut with the complete fifth season of Scandal (ABC Studios, Not Rated, DVD-$45.99 SRP), as the season finds the Oval Office up for grabs and Olivia Pope is prepared to grab it. Bonus materials include an extended episode and bloopers.

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    Pull up a hay bale and commence to chewin’ your straw for an evening in with the 14-disc Hee Haw Collector’s Edition (Time Life, Not Rated, DVD-$199.95 SRP), which bundles together a trio of previously released collections into a single mega-set packed with more corn than a can from Del Monte. Bonus materials include favorite sketches, guest performances, interviews, and more.

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    If John Waters were to make a German film about a student who rents a bunker room from an odd family only to be sucked into a truly bizarre drama, then it would be Der Bunker (Artsploitation Films, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$22.99 SRP). It’s a quirky little fairy tale worth a spin. Bonus materials include audio commentaries, deleted scenes, and outtakes.

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    Fans waiting for the big screen iteration currently being concocted can whet their whistles by dipping into the complete season releases of Power Rangers: Megaforce and Power Rangers: Super Megaforce (Lionsgate, Not Rated, DVD-$14.98 SRP each). Bonus materials include a featurette and a Zord gallery.

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    So there you have it… my humble suggestions for what to watch, listen to, play with, or waste money on this coming weekend. See ya next week…

    -Ken Plume

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  • Ken P. D. Snydecast #226: The Cookie Crumbles

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    Adult Swim’s Dana Snyder and FRED’s Ken Plume set out to have a literate conversation between two pals, but inevitably devolve into a verbal, and funny, free-for-all full of bickering, infighting, and the special kind of male bonding that comes from conflict expressed through the podcast medium.

    Actor/comedian/raconteur Dana Snyder, you’re certainly aware, is Aqua Teen Hunger Force’s Master Shake, Squidbillies‘ Granny, Minoriteam’s Dr. Wang, and The Venture Bros.‘ Alchemist. Available for weddings and bar mitzvahs (bat availability pending), you can keep tabs on him via his website, www.eyeofthesnyder.com.

    Ken Plume is the editor-in-chief here at FRED. He is a friend of Dana’s, as well as his arch-nemesis.

    VISIT THE SNYDECAST EXPERIENCE

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    KEN P.D. SNYDECAST #226: The Cookie Crumbles – Ken & Dana return with a tricky treat.

    [CONTENT WARNING]: This podcast may contain some foul language and horribly off-color jokes. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

    DOWNLOAD: (right click to save)
    Episode #226 (MP3 format)

    [audio:http://traffic.libsyn.com/snydecast/ken_p_d_snyde_cast-226.mp3]

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    SUBSCRIBE
    Subscribe to this Podcast via iTunes

    Got something to say? E-mail Dana & Ken at the Snydecast mailbag.

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    CLICK HERE FOR THE SNYDECAST ARCHIVES

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  • Weekend Shopping Guide 8/5/16: Droids v Bots

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    The weekend’s here. You’ve just been paid, and it’s burning a hole in your pocket. What’s a pop culture geek to do? In hopes of steering you in the right direction to blow some of that hard-earned cash, it’s time for the FRED Weekend Shopping Guide – your spotlight on the things you didn’t even know you wanted…

    (Please support FRED by using the links below to make any impulse purchases – it helps to keep us going…)

    Hot on the heels of their various must-have droids, the fine folks at Sideshow have decided to grace fans with Tatooine’s favorite droid merchants with their brand new 1/6-scale Jawas (Sideshow Collectibles, $219.99). Their release comes as a two-pack, one slightly taller and featuring different accessories and costuming (vest/rifle). What’s really great about these guys, though, is the light feature, allowing you to re-create the screen accurate glowing eyes. So, unless you’ve got a bad motivator, snap up these guys right quick.

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    Over 30 sets in, Shout Factory has proven itself to be a miracle worker when it comes to sorting out the ridiculously tangled web of rights-holders that make releasing episodes to home video a daunting task, so they should be praised mightily for getting us to Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume XXXVI (Shout Factory, Not Rated, DVD-$59.97 SRP). The 4-episode set contains Stranded In Space, City Limits, The Incredible Melting Man, and Riding With Death, plus a handful of bonus features. And, if you order directly from ShoutFactory.com, you’ll get an exclusive bonus disc containing the 1st And 2nd MST3K Summer Blockbuster Review specials from the Sci-Fi Channel Era. If that weren’t enough, they’re continuing to re-release the long out-of-print Rhino sets with Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume II (Shout Factory, Not Rated, DVD-$44.99 SRP), which adds MST Hour wraps for Cave Dwellers and Pod People. Shout, you are doing an incredible job. KEEP IT UP.

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    I’ve never been keen on the Olympics, but I do love a solid comedy, and so what alternative to Rio could I possibly get than that solidly funny comedy The Bronze (Sony, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$25.99 SRP), starring Melissa Rauch as a washed-up Olympic Bonze Medal winner who risks losing her hometown hero status when she’s asked to mentor a promising young gymnast. Bonus materials include deleted scenes.

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    Over the course of 7 years after the film’s release, a trio of 11-year-olds in Mississippi attempted to film a shot-for-shot re-creation of Steven Spielberg’s epic adventure Raiders Of The Lost Ark. For years, their production remained unfinished. The documentary Raiders: The Story Of The Greatest Fan Film Ever Made (Drafthouse Films, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$34.95 SRP) chronicles the story behind their film, as well as their attempts to reunite and finish the scene they were never able to film. It’s a touching love letter to friendship and the pop culture ties that bind us together. Bonus materials include audio commentaries, deleted scenes, a Q&A, and trailers.

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    Certainly Disney has tried to develop their theme park IP in feature films over the years, but they’ve recently begun to exploit their iconic rides in publishing. For fans of the Haunted Mansion that want a beautifully illustrated, straightforward presentation of the tale as told within the ride, check out The Haunted Mansion storybook (Disney Press, $17.99 SRP), which comes with a bonus CD featuring the ride’s song, “Grim Grinning Ghosts”. For a deeper dive, though, there’s Tales From The Haunted Mansion Volume 1: The Fearsome Foursome (Disney Press, $14.99 SRP), a chapter book series which attempts to tell the story of one of the attraction’s 999 ghosts.

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    I don’t think Danny DeVito gets nearly the praise he should as a director. As a performer, he’s like a focus magnet, and then when you combine the two, as in the little-seen gem The Ratings Game (Olive, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$29.95 SRP) – newly available in high definition – you get a sly, sharp satire about a New Jersey trucking magnate who wants to be a bigtime Hollywood producer. Also on the disc are a collection of rare short films directed by DeVito, a featurette, and deleted scenes.

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    Finn & Jake get swept up in Adventure Time: Card Wars (Cartoon Network, Not Rated, DVD-$18.98 SRP), with 16 episodes of the ever-deepening mythology including the titular tale of flooping the pig. Sadly, we’ll have to wait for the eventual Blu-Ray season release for bonus features, but this will tide you over until then.

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    Be sure to pack your lunch for the post-apocalypse with your very own Fallout Lunch Box (Thinkgeek, $14.99), featuring the retro iconography of the game and a classic metal construction sure to keep your lunch safe from robots.

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    How would you like 50 comedies from the first half of the 20th century, starring everyone from W.C. Fields and Laurel & Hardy to Buster Keaton & The 3 Stooges? You’ll get them and more in the ridiculously affordable Icons Of Comedy: 50 Movie Collection (Mill Creek, Not Rated, DVD-$17.99 SRP). Included with purchase is the ability to stream the entire collection via watch.millcreekent.com. So, affordable and convenient.

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    If nothing, the 5th season of Once Upon A Time (ABC Studios, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$79.99 SRP) has fully embraced its crazy, and has decided to dump every Disney character it possibly can into its crazy, so if you’re a fan of the more is more school of storytelling, than this is the season for you. Bonus materials include audio commentaries, featurettes, deleted scenes, and bloopers.

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    Shailene Woodley blank-facedly ambles her way over the wall in Allegiant (Summit, Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP), the latest chapter in the Divergent Series of dystopian future fic. Bonus features include an audio commentary and a clutch of featurettes.

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    The 9th volume of Fantagraphics fab collections of Floyd Gottfredson’s Mickey Mouse (Fantagraphics, $34.99 SRP) have reached the post-WWII years, with this edition covering the period between mid-1946 to mid-1948, as well as introducing the charmingly bizarre character Eega Beeva. Full of the usual bevy of insightful contextual essays and information, this is another great installment in a wonderful archival series.

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    The theme song is still an earworm in my brain, and now you can dive into both the first and second season of The Rockford Files (Mill Creek, Not Rated, DVD-$14.98 SRP each), which still holds up as a great detective show largely to the charisma of star James Garner, thanks to the economy-priced re-release from the folks at Mill Creek.

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    It’s not often you see Kevin Costner in full-on action mode, and that’s what we get in Criminal (Summit, Rated R, 4K-$42.99 SRP), which finds the memories and skills of a deceased CIA agent placed into the body of Costner’s death-row inmate, in the hopes that the Franken-personality that emerges will be able to complete the operative’s mission. Bonus materials include featurettes, deleted scenes, and a music video.

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    Though it’s unfortunate that they decided to end the show, at least we can deep dive back into modern comedy gold with a marathon re-watch of Key & Peele: The Complete Series (Comedy Central, Not Rated, DVD-$55.98 SRP), which contains all 5 seasons plus “The Van and Mike Show”, “The Super Episode” best of Seasons 1 & 2, and outtakes.

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    While it’s enjoyable enough, I was really hoping that Key & Peele’s debut feature, Keanu (Warner Bros., Rated R, Blu-Ray-$19.96 SRP) would well and truly hit it out of the park. Sadly, it’s just a collection of scenes that vary wildly in how well the comedy hits, largely from how strong the improvisation on display wound up being. It’s a fun film, but could have been so much more. Bonus features include a featurette, deleted scenes, and a gag reel.

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    If you’re a fan of deep diving into all corners of the Disney creative process (as I most assuredly am), you’ll probably dig Disney Villains: Delightfully Evil (Disney Editions, $40.00 SRP), a lavish hardcover book that catalogues the foul antagonists of Disney’s animated canon, with trivia, behind-the-scenes info, and copious amounts of rare development and production art.

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    Let’s just all collectively ignore Zack Snyder’s grimdark universe and embrace a far more inviting feature for the DC Comics pantheon courtesy of LEGO Justice League: Gotham City Breakout (Warner Bros., Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$24.95 SRP), which finds the JL policing Gotham when Batman decides to take a vacation. And even better? It comes with a Nightwing Minifig.

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    Ten years on from the last installment, Barber Shop: The Next Cut (Warner Bros., Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$29.98 SRP) retains the franchise’s fresh, funny, and decidedly relevant strengths without in any way succumbing to fatigue. Maybe that’s because it manages to stay topical with a cast you enjoy visiting again. Bonus materials include a featurette, deleted scenes, and a gag reel.

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    I don’t want to ruin Sing Street (Anchor Bay, Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$34.99 SRP) for you, because I’m hoping you’ll just go ahead and watch it cold like I did, so you can be just as swept up in its tale. Do you love music? Does it define the moments of your life? Then watch this. Bonus materials include featurettes and cast auditions.

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    It’s a great show, sure, but we all know the reason you absolutely must watch The Blacklist (Sony, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$75.99 SRP) is for the absolutely mesmerizing performance from James Spader. The rest is all fine and dandy, but he’s the gravy that makes the potatoes truly spectacular. As for bonus features, the 3rd season set contains audio commentaries, featurettes, and deleted scenes.

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    LEGO cartoons are usually fun romps, and that’s true of their new show, Nexo Knights (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$18.98 SRP), the first season set of which contains all 10 episodes of this medieval sci-fi mash-up.

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    I’m a sucker for a political thriller, and the mini-series The Tunnel (PBS, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$59.99 SRP) certainly delivers with its tale of the murder of a prominent French politician along the UK/France border, and the resulting joint investigation by a pair of detectives (Stephen Dillane & Clemence Poesy). Bonus materials include behind-the-scenes footage, cast interviews, and more.

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    I’m really struggling to say something nice about Batman V Superman (Warner Bros., Rated R, 3D Blu-Ray-$44.95 SRP), a film I well and truly loathed. A dark, depressing affair that managed to suck excitement, heroism, and even sense out of what should have been a slam-dunk big-screen pairing of two cultural icons. But, no. No, it wasn’t a slam-dunk, unless that slam-dunk was into a garbage pail full of fetid slop. But hey, the rain looks pretty in 3D. But then you also get an expanded director’s cut that adds in more. Just more. Bonus materials include a massive clutch of featurettes, and more.

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    Summer’s great for a great many things, but sometimes you just want to escape the ridiculously overwhelming heat by retreating into the AC and watching TV. That’s probably why I spend my summer cool-down time indulging in my love of documentaries, including a new batch hitting DVD from the fine folks at PBS. There’s history, with The White House: Inside Story (PBS, Not Rated, DVD-$24.99 SRP and Teotihuacan’s Lost Kings (PBS, Not Rated, DVD- $24.99 SRP). How about history and architecture, with Operation Lighthouse Rescue (PBS, Not Rated, DVD-$24.99 SRP). Or nature, with The Great Polar Bear Feast (PBS, Not Rated, DVD-$24.99 SRP), Nature’s Perfect Partners (PBS, Not Rated, DVD-$24.99 SRP), and Wild Ways (PBS, Not Rated, DVD-$24.99 SRP). Maybe just watch food being made in season 16 of America’s Test Kitchen (PBS, Not Rated, DVD-$39.99 SRP). It’s all great.

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    With all of the drama that swirls around the Supreme Court, particularly in this heated election year, the story behind Anita Hill’s testimony and the confirmation hearings of Judge Clarence Thomas, as depicted in Confirmation (HBO, Not Rated, DVD-$24.98 SRP), is both timely and fascinating. Bonus features include featurettes and character spots.

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    All the late Garry Marshall sought to deliver with his Day films were an amiable, heartwarming time, and Mother’s Day (Universal, Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$34.98 SRP) certainly delivers on that remit, with a cast including Jennifer Aniston, Jason Sudeikis, Julia Roberts, and Kate Hudson delivering a schmaltzy, affectionate, inoffensive good time. Bonus materials include deleted scenes and outtakes.

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    Everyone is vacationing this summer, including Mummy, Daddy, George, and Peppa in Peppa Pig: Sunny Vacation (E1, Not Rated, DVD-$14.98 SRP), and kiddies can join them in this 4-part special. The disc also includes 8 bonus episodes that will keep them entertained.

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    Director Volker Schaner’s documentary about reggae godfather and the innovator of dub, Lee Scratch Perry’s Vision Of Paradise (Cadiz Music, Not Rated, DVD-$24.99 SRP) is as unique an exploration of the man and his music as it is a piece of filmmaking, blending animation within its footage. The DVD comes packaged in a 24-page hardcover book featuring photos and writings.

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    So there you have it… my humble suggestions for what to watch, listen to, play with, or waste money on this coming weekend. See ya next week…

    -Ken Plume

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  • A Bit Of A Chat with Ken Plume & Jeff Smith 2

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    I’m Ken Plume, and soon you’ll be listening to “A Bit Of A Chat” with me, Ken Plume.

    In this episode, I have a chat with writer/artist Jeff Smith about Bone’s 25th anniversary, RASL, Tuki, travel, and open doors.

    You can visit Jeff and Cartoon Books on the web at
    www.boneville.com.

    (PREVIOUSLY: A Bit Of A Chat with Ken Plume & Jeff Smith #1)

    Hope you enjoy…

    Download “A Bit of a Chat with Ken Plume & Jeff Smith 2“:

    [audio:http://traffic.libsyn.com/bitofachat/bit_of_a_chat-jeff_smith_2.mp3]

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    SUBSCRIBE
    Subscribe to this Podcast via iTunes

    ##

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    Drop Ken a line HERE.

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    You can also find more of my interviews by clicking HERE.

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  • Weekend Shopping Guide 7/1/16: Excelsior, True Believers

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    The weekend’s here. You’ve just been paid, and it’s burning a hole in your pocket. What’s a pop culture geek to do? In hopes of steering you in the right direction to blow some of that hard-earned cash, it’s time for the FRED Weekend Shopping Guide – your spotlight on the things you didn’t even know you wanted…

    (Please support FRED by using the links below to make any impulse purchases – it helps to keep us going…)

    I can state unequivocally and without doubt that Stan Lee is an icon. Whether it be guiding the birth of the Marvel Comics universe or by being that selfsame universe’s biggest booster, he truly is “The Man”. And considering how many cameos he’s had in Marvel films over the years, it is any wonder your toy shelf can now have its very own special guest appearance from the 1/6-scale Stan Lee ($199.99). Dressed in Stan casual, it features a sculpt that perfectly captures the genial quality of ol’ Stan, right down to the tinted (and alternate clear) glasses perched above his grin. In addition to an number of hands (some of which are in Spidey web shooter position), his chief accessory is a folding director’s chair, very similar to the one packed with Hot Toys’ Bruce Lee figure ages ago. So, bottom line, this figure is great. ‘Nuff said.

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    There is absolutely no denying its iconic status, so it was inevitable that Criterion would eventually get around to delving a definitive high definition presentation of Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb (Criterion, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$39.95 SRP). Featuring a newly restored 4K transfer and a remarkable bounty of rare and rarely seen extras, it’s the ultimate edition of a classic.

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    Another new Pixar film means another wonderful new book to devour, and so it goes with The Art Of Finding Dory (Chronicle Books, $40.00 SRP), which does the usual bang-up job of packing its pages with development artwork and interviews chronicling the creation of the much-anticipated sequel.

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    Patrick Stewart as a monstrous neo-Nazi club owner who holds a young band hostage after they inadvertently witness a crime? That powerful performance and white knuckle tension makes Green Room (Lionsgate, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$24.99 SRP) make it a thriller worth checking out. Bonus materials include an audio commentary and a featurette.

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    The kids today. What do they love? We know they love the Minecraft. Oh, how they love the Minecraft. What else do they love? Getting the bejeezus scared out of them while playing the game Five Nights At Freddy’s, whose sole purpose seems to be making kids periodically scream in the dark while playing on for another 17 consecutive hours. Now, those kids can bring the trauma right into their homes with Five Nights At Freddy’s Plush (Thinkgeek, $29.99 each). You can snag either Freddy or Foxy, and each stand a pretty massive 20″ tall.

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    Two thespianic titans as an aging actor and his dresser in a tale of friendship and loyalty? Who would not want to watch Anthony Hopkins and Ian McKellen share the screen for two hours in The Dresser (Anchor Bay, Not Rated, DVD-$24.98 SRP).

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    With Everybody Wants Some!! (Paramount, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP), writer/director Richard Linklater moves his Dazed and Confused coming-of-age nostalgia from high school in the 1970s to college in the 1980s, as a group of friends navigate their way through girls, parties, and problems in the summer of 1980. Bonus materials include deleted scenes and featurettes.

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    While there are showier examples of his filmmaking style, like Conan and Red Dawn, the high-def debut of his John Milius’s first directorial effort, Dillinger (Arrow Films, Rated PG, Blu-Ray-$27.99 SRP) is a great way to discover this oft-overlooked little gem about the legendary outlaw.

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    There was always a crazy quality to the Shakespearean machinations at the core of House Of Cards (Sony, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$65.99 SRP), but the fourth season takes the scheming and backstabbing to a frontstabbing new level as it pits the team of Frank and Claire Underwood squarely against each other in a bloody winner-take-all battle.

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    There’s nothing inherently wrong with Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (Paramount, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP). I mean, a film starring Tina Fey as a journalist who trades her desk job in New York for an assignment in Afghanistan? Co-starring Martin Freeman, Margot Robbie, and Billy Bob Thornton? You’d think it’d be a slam dunk, and while it’s certainly amiable, it never quite clicks. Bonus materials include featurettes and deleted/extended scenes.

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    The adult coloring book market is awash with dozens upon dozens of options, including a fair number based on licensed properties. Two of my favorites, though, are decidedly offbeat. To The Ocean Deep (Chronicle Books, $14.95 SRP), which touts itself as the longest coloring book in the world, unfolds to 15 feet packed with intricate sub-aquatic imagery. The other is The Bicycle Coloring Book: Journey To The Edge Of The World (Chronicle Books, $16.95 SRP) which, as you can well surmise, features fantastical illustrations of bicycles around the world.

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    Slowly but surely, we’re getting affordable Star Trek prop replicas that are well-constructed, screen-accurate, and affordable. They’re perfect as either a fun collectible or the final bit of your cosplay. The latest addition is the Star Trek III: The Search For Spock Phaser (Thinkgeek/Diamond Select, $39.99). Featuring authentic lights and sounds, it’s a must-have before you head down to the Genesis planet to face the Klingons.

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    Like Star Trek before it, syndication success helped the castaways of the S.S. Minnow find their way back onto television via a cartoon. In the case of our 7 stranded seafarers, it was The New Adventures Of Gilligan (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$29.99 SRP), which featured the return of all of the original cast members except Dawn Wells and Tina Louise. The 3-disc set contains all 24 episodes, plus the original bumpers.

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    It’s still a very ugly film, but in watching the new anniversary edition of Shrek (Dreamworks, Rated PG, Blu-Ray-$19.99 SRP), there’s no denying that its success is because it was a very funny film that still managed a decent amount of heart. Bonus materials include an audio commentary, featurettes, and deleted scenes.

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    There’s no denying that Ice Pirates (Warner Bros., Rated PG, Blu-Ray-$21.99 SRP) is an awful, awful film. But it’s awful in that great, pure cheese cult fashion that makes watching it an enjoyable journey into ersatz mediocrity. I mean, this is a film that actually cast Bruce Vilanch in an onscreen role. Ridiculous.

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    Diamond Select has put out a lot of great figures over the years, mainly through their Marvel license, but they’ve recently picked up the license to produce 6″-scale figures from the original Ghostbusters (Diamond Select, $24.99 SRP each). And boy, have they been going to town. With at least 15 figures planned in the line, we’ve already seen the release of Peter, Egon, Ray, and Winston, as well Keymaster Louis and Gatekeeper Dana. What’s even more impressive about their plans is that each figure comes with a piece of what can eventually be constructed into a massive set piece of the rooftop temple from the film’s finale. Add to that copious amounts of accessories and attention to detail, including the sculpts, and you’ve got a line that begs to be completed.

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    So there you have it… my humble suggestions for what to watch, listen to, play with, or waste money on this coming weekend. See ya next week…

    -Ken Plume

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  • A Bit Of A Chat with Ken Plume & Eliza Skinner 2

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    I’m Ken Plume, and soon you’ll be listening to “A Bit Of A Chat” with me, Ken Plume.

    In this episode, I have another chat with writer/performer Eliza Skinner, about fruit dips, brunch, pot luck, rap battles, and ring pops.

    Hope you enjoy…

    Download “A Bit of a Chat with Ken Plume & Eliza Skinner 2“:

    [audio:http://traffic.libsyn.com/bitofachat/bit_of_a_chat-eliza_skinner_2.mp3]

    (PREVIOUSLY: A Bit Of A Chat with Ken Plume & Eliza Skinner #1)

    SUBSCRIBE
    Subscribe to this Podcast via iTunes

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    Drop Ken a line HERE.

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    You can also find more of my interviews by clicking HERE.

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  • A Bit Of A Chat with Ken Plume & Paul Dini

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    I’m Ken Plume, and soon you’ll be listening to “A Bit Of A Chat” with me, Ken Plume.

    In this episode, I have a chat with writer/producer Paul Dini, about Dark Nights, Batman, Maruspilami, holidays, and Headless Horsemen.

    Hope you enjoy…

    Download “A Bit of a Chat with Ken Plume & Paul Dini“:

    [audio:http://traffic.libsyn.com/bitofachat/bit_of_a_chat-paul_dini.mp3]

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    SUBSCRIBE
    Subscribe to this Podcast via iTunes

    ##

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    Drop Ken a line HERE.

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    You can also find more of my interviews by clicking HERE.

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  • A Bit Of A Chat with Ken Plume & Sara Benincasa 3

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    I’m Ken Plume, and soon you’ll be listening to “A Bit Of A Chat” with me, Ken Plume.

    In this episode, I have another chat with writer Sara Benincasa, about kids, books, angry walking, London, and sparklers.

    Also, be sure to visit her official site at www.sarabenincasa.com.

    Hope you enjoy…

    Download “A Bit of a Chat with Ken Plume & Sara Benincasa 3“:

    [audio:http://traffic.libsyn.com/bitofachat/bit_of_a_chat-sara_benincasa_3.mp3]

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  • Weekend Shopping Guide 6/10/16: Expecto Peanuts

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    The weekend’s here. You’ve just been paid, and it’s burning a hole in your pocket. What’s a pop culture geek to do? In hopes of steering you in the right direction to blow some of that hard-earned cash, it’s time for the FRED Weekend Shopping Guide – your spotlight on the things you didn’t even know you wanted…

    (Please support FRED by using the links below to make any impulse purchases – it helps to keep us going…)

    The 1/6-scale Harry Potter figures from Star Ace have, to this point, been pretty darn good. Their young Harry and Ron are by far their best of the line, rivaling anything – from sculpt to materials to paint ops – that bigger fish like Hot Toys and Sideshow have been producing. However, their Harry Potter & The Sorcerer’s Stone Hermione Granger (Star Ace/Sideshow, $209.99) easily outstrips them all, and is as close to perfect a figure as you can get. This is clearly a young Emma Watson, benefiting from a perfectly realized sculpt and the best use of rooted hair I’ve seen in this scale to date. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves, but this figure? Wizard.

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    By the end of its first season, the show had clearly found its footing beyond just the shock value that early episodes relied far too heavily on, and the second season of Rick And Morty (Adult Swim, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$29.98 SRP) cements it as a modern classic, deftly weaving comedy and science fiction together with a well-defined cast of characters. And yes, all without losing the shock value. Bonus materials include audio commentaries, animatics, a featurette, and deleted animatic sketches.

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    It seemed like a far-off goal when it started, but with The Complete Peanuts: 1999 to 2000 (Fantagraphics, $29.99 SRP), we now have all 25 volumes comprising the entirety of the 50 year run of Charles Schulz’s iconic strip. In addition to the final year of strips, it also contains the Li’l Folks strip that Schulz created before launching Peanuts, plus an introduction by President Barack Obama. As a special bonus, Fantagraphics will be releasing an additional volume this Fall, containing rarely seen stories and images.

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    It took a few years of middling pictures, but Disney Feature Animation has most certainly gotten their groove back in recent years, and no where is that more evident than in the self-assured and frankly wonderful Zootopia (Walt Disney, Rated PG, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP). It also manages the difficult feat of striking the perfect balance of being genuinely funny and entertaining while also managing to impart a strong message with a sincere emotional core. Bonus materials include featurettes, deleted scenes, and more.

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    I loved Ridley Scott’s adaptation of Andy Weir’s novel so much that, sure, I’ll watch The Martian: Extended Edition (Fox, Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP) and enjoy its extra 10 minutes of footage and clutch of documentaries on both the science and making of the film, plus additional deleted scenes, a gag reel, and more.

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    Yes, the episodes themselves are truly, truly masterpieces of modern comedy, but the real reason to pick up the fourth season of Veep and the second season of Silicon Valley (HBO, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$34.98 SRP each) is so you can get more sublime moments via the clutch of deleted scenes featured on both sets. Yes, you’ll end up wanting more, but that’s why you’re watching their new seasons.

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    Even 30+ years on, the second film in the series of Kirk & Co.’s cinematic adventures resonates as a glorious outing for Trek and just a great film, and the Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan Director’s Cut (Paramount, Rated PG, Blu-Ray-$22.98 SRP) finally brings Nicholas Meyer’s expanded cut of the film to high definition with the added bonus of a brand new retrospective featurette. The film holds up perfectly, has never looked better, and is the perfect way to celebrate the show’s 50th anniversary.

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    And because the celebration of the show’s 50th anniversary is in full swing, the J.J. Abrams Nu-Trek films are also getting into the act with their debut in 4K Ultra HD. The new 4k editions of Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness (Paramount, Rated PG-13, 4K Blu-Ray-$47.99 SRP each) port over all of the bonus features from the previous collector’s editions of both titles. Say what you want about the merits of the films themselves, there’s no denying that they look truly impressive in 4K.

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    Did you know that Dr. Seuss wrote a live action film in the 50s? Well, he did, and while toned down from the fantastic flights that would define his storybooks, there are more than enough elements that smack of pure Seuss to make The 5,000 Fingers Of Dr. T (Mill Creek, Rated G, Blu-Ray-$14.98 SRP) worth a spin.

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    Anna Kendrick and Sam Rockwell in a comedy about an unlucky in love woman who hooks up with a man who turns out to be an assassin? Yes, that’s a movie I’ll watch, and you’ll probably get a kick out of Mr. Right (Universal, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$26.98 SRP), too. Bonus materials are limited to a single featurette, but you can always just watch the movie over again.

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    I’m finding it terribly difficult to resolve my conflicted feelings about 10 Cloverfield Lane (Paramount, Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP). On the one hand, it’s a gripping bunker drama with the always-watchable John Goodman as a man who either saved a young woman (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) from a mysterious catastrophe or has kidnapped her . And that part is great. But on the other hand… well, it’s where it all winds up. And I don’t want to spoil that, so I’ll leave it to you to judge. Bonus materials include an audio commentary and featurettes.

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    The practical effects work of the original Independence Day (Fox, Rated PG-13, 4K Ultra HD-$39.99 SRP) looks pretty darn astonishing remastered for 4K presentation in this new anniversary release (timed, of course, for the debut of the sequel). In addition to the extended cut of the film and bonus features from pervious editions, this adds a brand new 30-minute documentary.

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    The release of the live action Alice Through The Looking Glass has triggered the nifty book Alice In Wonderland: An Illustrated Journey Through Time (Disney Editions, $29.99 SRP) is a look back at the history of Lewis Carroll’s creation with the focus, obviously, being on Disney’s connection, from Walt’s earliest Alice shorts to Mickey to the animated and live action adaptations.

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    I feel that Gods Of Egypt (Summit, Rated PG-13, 3D Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP) is a misunderstood film. Many have attacked it, but I think its over the top but thoroughly committed cornball nature is actually meant to be a wholly evocative homage to the Cannon films of the 80s. You remember those B-movie fantasy epics like Masters Of The Universe, right? Yeah, this is that, but with a bigger budget. Just big ol’ goofy fun. Bonus materials include featurettes and deleted storyboards.

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    The original Zoolander film manages to exist and largely succeed in a small pocket of absurdity. The sequel, Zoolander No. 2 (Paramount, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP), never manages to find that pocket, and instead manages to just be a bit of a self-indulgent mess. Perhaps some things shouldn’t be revisited. Bonus materials include a trio of featurettes and a Youth Milk Beauty Ad.

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    When you start counting them, there have been loads of Disney dragons – a short list of which includes Maleficent, Elliott, Mushu, Figment, and many more, all of which can be found in The Art Of Disney’s Dragons (Disney Editions, $29.99 SRP), a lovely little tome filled with sketches from the company’s archives.

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    Although it often feels like a DVD bonus feature, Elstree 1976 (MVD Visual, Not Rated, DVD-$19.95 SRP) is full of enough untold anecdotes from the production of an unknown little science fiction film shot in Elstree Studios in 1976 – a little film called Star Wars – that it’s well worth a watch. Those untold tales come courtesy of the background actors who had little idea of what a momentous film they were working on.

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    Oh, I’m sure there are thousands of films from over 100 years of cinema I’ve never heard of that, if I finally watched them, I would probably love. Maybe that’s why I love companies like Olive Films, who on e a monthly basis have been releasing clutches of catalogue titles from the vaults of studios like Paramount and MGM. The quartet this month includes the Mel Stuart-directed 1969 farce If It’s Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium (Olive Films, Rated G, Blu-Ray-$29.95 SRP), original Doctor Who William Hartnell as a thief in Appointment With Crime (Olive Films, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$29.95 SRP), Bob Hope & Tuesday Weld in I’ll Take Sweden (Olive Films, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$29.95 SRP), and the coming-of-age drama Cornbread, Earl & Me (Olive Films, Rated PG, Blu-Ray-$29.95 SRP).

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    Even when I don’t enjoy the film, I always get a kick out of diving into an “Art Of” book for a film and getting to view the design process. The Art Of The Jungle Book (Insight Editions, $45.00 SRP) is absolutely crammed full of great artwork and insight into the development process of Disney’s surprisingly enjoyable live action re-take.

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    And while the film was blah, Warcraft: Behind The Dark Portal (HarperDesign, $45.00 SRP) is a fascinating tome that at least provides plenty of interesting artwork to look at even if the film that eventually came out of it didn’t work.

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    Nick Kroll takes his often bizarre and more-often-than-not deeply funny sketch show out on a high note with the 3rd and final season of Kroll Show (Comedy Central, Not Rated, DVD-$26.98 SRP). To try and describe it any further… I mean, words can not possibly hope to capture just how truly mental it all is. Bonus materials include a trio of additional character bits.

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    If you need the perfect antidote to the grimdark cinematic DC Comics universe, look no further than Teen Titans Go: Eat. Dance. Punch (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$19.97 SRP), which collects the first 26 episodes of the show’s 3rd season in all its brightly colored, upbeat glory.

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    If you watch Washington being targeted in the bombastic actioner Olympus Has Fallen, you know exactly what to expect for ol’ blighty in London Has Fallen (Universal, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$34.98 SRP), which finds Secret Service agent Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) trying to protect US President Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart) from a terrorist organization systematically picking off world leaders in town for the funeral of the British Prime Minster. Bonus materials include a pair of featurettes.

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    After a massive storm off Cape Cod rips a tanker ship in half, one of the greatest small-boat rescue missions in Coast Guard history is undertaken, all of which is dramatized in The Finest Hours (Walt Disney, Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP), starring Casey Affleck as the Chief Engineer of the tanker and Chris Pine as the Coast Guard captain risking all to save the survivors. Bonus materials include featurettes and deleted scenes.

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    You would almost expect Charlie Kaufman to be the mind behind such a beautifully told, traditional yet experimental movie like Anomalisa (Paramount, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP), in which a chance encounter on a business trip upends the life of a middle-aged family man. And it’s all told through stop-motion animation. Bonus materials include a quartet of featurettes.

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    The story of Queen Elizabeth’s courtship and the royal family’s concern with young Philip Mountbatten is chronicled in the fascinating documentary Prince Philip: The Plot To Make A King (PBS, Not Rated, DVD-$24.99 SRP). From his uncouth manners to concerns about his German heritage, it’s a candid portrait of an unlikely marriage.

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    Binge on the ocean’s most iconic predators with Discovery’s Shark Week (Lionsgate, Not Rated, DVD-$19.98 SRP), a 3-disc collection of 13 documentaries from the channel’s iconic annual celebration of all things swimmy-toothy-bitey.

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    After 6 seasons of Workaholics (Comedy Central, Not Rated, DVD-$19.99 SRP), I think we’re reaching the point where Adam, Blake, and Ders are moving squarely into a far sadder territory as they transition into their 30s and the bleak reality of their futures becomes an ever-closer present. Bonus materials include audio commentaries, bloopers, and deleted scenes.

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    There’s a blatant air of an agenda that drags down the none-too-subtle approach of Michael Bay’s 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers Of Benghazi (Paramount, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP), although anyone who thought Bay might have an informed, nuanced approach to such a sensitive event must not be terribly familiar with his oeuvre. Bonus materials include a clutch of behind-the-scenes featurettes.

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    For the younger set, you’ve got the educational Super Why: Goldilocks And The Three Bears (PBS, Not Rated, DVD-$9.99 SRP), featuring four reading adventures, and the fun Strawberry Shortcake: Campberry Stories (Fox, Not Rated, DVD-$14.98 SRP), which also comes in a DVD case that smells like strawberries. Which is both awesome and unsettling.

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    So there you have it… my humble suggestions for what to watch, listen to, play with, or waste money on this coming weekend. See ya next week…

    -Ken Plume

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  • A Bit Of A Chat with Ken Plume & Daniel Ralston

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    I’m Ken Plume, and soon you’ll be listening to “A Bit Of A Chat” with me, Ken Plume.

    In this episode, I have a chat with writer/director Daniel Ralston, about The Zombies, roller rinks, beer, redemption, BBQ, and Pissed Jeans.

    Hope you enjoy…

    Download “A Bit of a Chat with Ken Plume & Daniel Ralston“:

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  • A Bit Of A Chat with Ken Plume & Jake Fogelnest 4

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    I’m Ken Plume, and soon you’ll be listening to “A Bit Of A Chat” with me, Ken Plume.

    In this episode, I have another chat with writer/producer Jake Fogelnest, about panic, fear, meditation, Girlboss, Difficult People, Graceland, and Orion’s 11.

    Visit his official site at jakefogelnest.com.

    Hope you enjoy…

    Download “A Bit of a Chat with Ken Plume & Jake Fogelnest 4“:

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    (PREVIOUSLY: A Bit Of A Chat with Ken Plume & Jake Fogelnest #1, A Bit Of A Chat with Ken Plume & Jake Fogelnest #2, and A Bit Of A Chat with Ken Plume & Jake Fogelnest #3)

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  • A Bit Of A Chat with Ken Plume & Caissie St. Onge 5

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    I’m Ken Plume, and soon you’ll be listening to “A Bit Of A Chat” with me, Ken Plume.

    In this episode, I have another chat with writer/producer Caissie St. Onge, about writing, Prince, politics, Chuck Mangione, Bette Midler, and naturally bicepy lamb.

    Download “A Bit of a Chat with Ken Plume & Caissie St. Onge 5“:

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    (PREVIOUSLY: A Bit Of A Chat with Ken Plume & Caissie St. Onge #1, A Bit Of A Chat with Ken Plume & Caissie St. Onge #2, A Bit Of A Chat with Ken Plume & Caissie St. Onge #3, & A Bit Of A Chat with Ken Plume & Caissie St. Onge #4)

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  • A Bit Of A Chat with Ken Plume & Scott Rosann

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    I’m Ken Plume, and soon you’ll be listening to “A Bit Of A Chat” with me, Ken Plume.

    In this episode, I have a chat with Scott Rosann, about shag carpet, macramé, Star Wars, Harry Chapin, Mon Mothmoments, and transpauls.

    Hope you enjoy…

    Download “A Bit of a Chat with Ken Plume & Scott Rosann“:

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  • A Bit Of A Chat with Ken Plume & Andy Bobrow 5

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    I’m Ken Plume, and soon you’ll be listening to “A Bit Of A Chat” with me, Ken Plume.

    In this episode, I have another chat with writer/producer Andy Bobrow, about LAST MAN ON EARTH, creative fetishes, dumb people, creativity renewals, Will Forte, Barbie, and silent running.

    Hope you enjoy…

    Download “A Bit of a Chat with Ken Plume & Andy Bobrow 5“:

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    (PREVIOUSLY: A Bit Of A Chat with Ken Plume & Andy Bobrow #1, A Bit Of A Chat with Ken Plume & Andy Bobrow #2, A Bit Of A Chat with Ken Plume & Andy Bobrow #3, & A Bit Of A Chat with Ken Plume & Andy Bobrow #4)

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  • A Bit Of A Chat with Ken Plume & Josh Cagan & Courtney Cronin about The Monkees

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    I’m Ken Plume, and soon you’ll be listening to “A Bit Of A Chat” with me, Ken Plume.

    In this episode, I have a chat with writer Josh Cagan and producer Courtney Cronin about our mutual love of The Monkees and the brand new Monkees album, GOOD TIMES.

    Hope you enjoy…

    Download “A Bit of a Chat with Ken Plume & Josh Cagan & Courtney Cronin about The Monkees“:

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  • FROM THE VAULT: Michael Nesmith Interview

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    Conducted ~5/2003

    After 20 years, The Monkees have a brand new album, Good Times, coming out. So, I thought I would dig back into my archives for a conversation I had way back in 2003 with Michael Nesmith. It remains, to this day, one of the most unique chats I’ve ever had. I think I almost kept up with it.

    From the vaults, I present to you my chat with Michael Nesmith… I hope you dig it…

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    If you were to just skirt the surface, Michael Nesmith is known for being one quarter of The Monkees (he’s the one who’s not Micky, Davy, or Peter – aka “the one in the green wool cap”).

    Ah, but delving deeper reveals that Nesmith (“Nez” to his fans) is more than a Monkee – he’s an entrepreneur with an enviable solo career, having produced films (Repo Man, Tapeheads, Time Rider), pioneered the home video market (Elephant Parts), and – yes, it’s true – even created MTV.

    I recently had the chance to speak with Nez in what amounted to a mental jam session, riffing on the power of the internet and art and the new economy.

    You can learn more about Nez’s online ventures at his official website, www.Videoranch.com.

    KEN PLUME: I really appreciate you doing the interview.

    MICHAEL NESMITH: Interviews are usually a follow-up, like a press junket or a publicity junket, or something like that, and I’m not doing any of that right now. I don’t have any axes to grind.

    PLUME: I’ve been wanting to do this for years …

    NESMITH: I read an interview that you did with Terry Gilliam. It was good work. You know, Victoria and I were talking this morning, or maybe it was last night, that the dot com bubble was a market bubble, and the dot com bust, or the dot bomb, was a marke” bust. It wasn’t an industry related thing. I think there was only 20% – I’m just speculating here, but I think it’s reasonable to think – that was industry related. What Greenspan called “unwarranted enthusiasm” or “over-exuberance,” something like that, some measured phrase, but the rest of the Internet has a real, industrial base. Once the smoke of the market crash clears off, you know, the Internet will pick back up and go. Take a look at what’s happening to some of the big companies like eBay and Yahoo, the publicly traded stocks. You know, they’re all coming back up off the mat now.

    PLUME: I think the beauty of the Internet was that the ideas were solid.

    NESMITH: The ideas are solid, the industry’s solid, the technology’s solid, the only thing that went wrong was the market.

    PLUME: I knew the end was nigh when we started seeing commercials for the stock market on TV.

    NESMITH: That’s right. You know what that is? It’s the capital equivalent of media guys interviewing media guys about what happens in the media. It’s the snake eating its tail – it’s circular and so it doesn’t have any depth, any knowledge base. There’s no data there. Larry King interviewing another talk show host is a true piece of unusual…

    PLUME: …”So, Charlie Rose, how do you do what you do?”…

    NESMITH: …Exactly … that’s the perfect example of it. So that was all that was going on, it was just this circular market logic.

    PLUME: It was market inbreeding.

    NESMITH: That’s right, and finally the snake eats its tail until it gets to the end of the body, and there it is looking at itself in the face, saying, “Oh, wait a minute. I didn’t really have anything for dinner.” But you know, Yahoo’s making a lot of money and eBay’s making a lot of money and there’s half a dozen companies out there that are very solid and doing very well, and they’re going to continue to do it. I think one of the big businesses – since we’re talking about it from capital…I’m not talking about spiritually or artistically, but just from a big business standpoint – is subscriber-based, magazine-type, image-driven, or non-text based content.

    PLUME: Multimedia content?

    NESMITH: Kind of multimedia. Multimedia scares me off, because of [Marshall] McLuhan’s concept. His definition of media I think is so important. When you say “multimedia”, it’s like, “Wait a minute. We’re not really understanding media.” No pun intended. Did you ever read that book?

    PLUME: No, I haven’t, but it’s been recommended to me.

    NESMITH: You’ve got to read that book.

    PLUME: What would be better terminology? Multi-faceted presentation?

    NESMITH: Well, there’s got to be better nomenclature than we’ve got. That might do it… multi-faceted means different planes of reflection, so I don’t know. That might do it.

    PLUME: How much of the industry is still limping along because of the existence of buzz words?

    NESMITH: Well, of course, buzz words and clichés – those are stock in trade. There’s nothing wrong with them. And, I don’t know,- I understand the spirit of your remark, but I don’t know if “limping along” is exactly right. It’s important to be precise about words, because of the thought value of them. They frame and shape so much of the way we understand things. A big problem with the Internet, is that people don’t really take the time to see what’s going on there, and they make these snap, knee-jerk judgments. But it’s such a juggernaut, that I don’t think anyone really has taken the time to be very thoughtful and careful and precise in the way they’re defining the different elements. You know, we’re in this text-based mode right now. We’re past the false dawn, and now we’re in this text-based mode, and the text-based mode, of course, is what will have to settle off to one side, because the image… what are we going to call it? It’s not multimedia, it’s not multi-faceted, it’s – I don’t know. You coin something. You’re the journalist.

    PLUME: You’re the artist.

    NESMITH: Yeah, that’s right. I’m the writer, right? I get to think of that. I coined a word the other day, but I forgot what it was. It was a good one. I remember thinking, “Oh, I can use …” Oh, I know what it was. It came to me in a dream. It was sharman. Pronounced like the toilet paper … Sharman is a made up word which means to encounter a victorious, hostile force.

    PLUME: Almost the barbarians at the gates?

    NESMITH: Yeah, except it’s what the Iraqi people are going through right now. They have encountered a victorious, hostile force – but, you know, there they still are. There their culture is, there their history is, they’re not going anywhere. So, whatever the hostile force might impose upon them – they are in the midst of their own sharman – at a certain point they will emerge from that.

    PLUME: So, time and precedent is on their side.

    NESMITH: I think so. Anyway, there’s a coined word. There is no dictionary word sharman… I mean, there’s Charmin bathroom tissue, but that doesn’t mean to encounter a victorious, hostile force.

    PLUME: I was exploring Video Ranch (http://www.videoranch.com) a good deal, and I know in the past you’ve talked about how media is affecting artists, and how artists operate within the new media and the new medium of the Internet in distribution and what’s happening with copyrights now. Also how the music industry and now the movie industry are running scared when it comes to …

    NESMITH: Intellectual property implication?

    PLUME: Right. It’s interesting to see how you’ve tackled it through Video Ranch, by making the MP3s available, by allowing the consumer to mix and match and make their own CDs, and putting a good deal of control in the hands of the consumer – while funneling your creative works and making them available. What was the development effort that you went through in deciding which path you would go down?

    NESMITH: That’s a hard question to answer precisely. It’s a good question, deserves a good answer, but it might take a minute to really develop it out. There’s a certain logic to systems, and that logic is fairly self-evident. It’s very straight-forward, usually. It might take a little research, it might take a little bit of industry to prize it out, but at the end of the day, it’s there to be seen. In the way that the Internet – the Internet’s not fully formed, but there is a contact between the culture, and whatever we’re calling the Internet right now, which is this kind of *potential*. It’s not really formed yet but, you know, in the old high school science class, the rock sitting on the shelf has potential because it can fall – it’s the same way with the Internet. It has this potential. It’s not really doing it yet, but it’s about to. And this *potential* cultural interface has a certain logic to it, and that logic says, “Well, the people who access the Internet are going to do certain things in this conduit.” It’s just going to happen that way, and so it’s important to figure out what it is they’re going to do. It’s clear that people are going to download media files, and they’re going to talk to each other, and they’re going to exchange information and knowledge and so forth. So this “system logic” is basically what you bounce off of. You say, “Okay, well, this is the way it’s going, so let’s go that way.” It’s the way the river flows. It’s the Tao. It’s very simple.

    With Video Ranch, it was: “People are going to download, and I know people don’t want to steal from me, because people don’t want to steal from each other”. The only people who steal are thieves, and that’s a very small percentage of civilization. Most people want to have some way to make the economic transaction valid. They want to return the favor, if you will… return the benefit and reciprocate… so how do I set that up? So, you know, you just dig around the technology and you come up with: “Okay, they can download the file. What kind of file should it be?” MP3s are a good file, because they’re high quality and you can get really close to the master, at least in this stage of the development technology. And should you make them available, what kind of cost? When you sell them with the kind of an agreement that they won’t give them away, or that they understand that they’re just buying it for their use and they shouldn’t resell them, or give them to other people, and you create a place where they can go and get those things, then, you know, there’s this notion that allows people to create their own collection of songs. So, it rewrites what a song is. They may only want 10 seconds of something, or they may only want this particular song, or they want this group of songs. They may want it in whatever order they want it, and things like the length and the sequence and the order – all of those things – just change completely because of the media. It becomes much more user-controlled. So you say, “Well, then *let* the consumer control it.” It becomes a consumer event. Let them do it. So you facilitate that with a computer, and none of it is particularly complex or difficult to figure out. It’s all just embedded in this “system logic”. Does that make sense?

    PLUME: It makes perfect sense. When you talk about the idea of theft, and the rise of Napster, do you think a large part of that was fueled not so much that people were thinking, “This is a criminal act,” but by the convenience and the availability? In the early days of Napster, stuff that hadn’t been released on CD, or rarities that had never been heard of, were suddenly available. The great thing about Video Ranch is that everything is available there. Your entire output is available to the consumer there, so they’re not having to go and search it out. The quality, the convenience, and the availability is all wrapped up in one. Do you see a move for artists in that direction?

    NESMITH: You switched up on me… you started talking about theft, and you ended up here. Let’s go back to the first part …

    PLUME: The old journalist bait and switch.

    NESMITH: Answering the first part of your question … People don’t intend to steal. Only thieves steal. Like I say, there just aren’t that many thieves, they’re just a very small percentage. They get the news, they get all the press and so forth, but there are more honest people and more good people than there are thieves and bad people. It’s just always been that way. When something comes along like Napster, or something comes along about big file sharers, whatever it is, it facilitates a legitimate desire. The legitimate desire was the one you just outlined, which is access to a broader category and broader catalogues – a broader resource that enables you to fulfill a desire for these things. It’s not that you don’t want to pay for it, but in the file sharing programs you don’t have any way to pay for it. When something like Listen.com or Pressplay – these new music services – come along and say, “Here, you can have the same access to the giant pool of music as Napster has, and here’s a way to pay for it,” people do that. That, of course, is starting to happen. Yes, Video Ranch is right in the pocket there, and that is a key component.

    Now answering the second part of your question – “availability” is a key component of the system logic. The Internet provides the access to resources, so it’s incumbent upon the people who control those resources to make sure that the economic engine stays intact. We’re moving from… let me see how I say this… there is a “scarcity” sense, a “scarcity” principal, to economics that has been there from the beginning of the economic idea, that says there’s only so much to go around – and what will happen is, in the closed system called the market, a certain level of efficiency. We’ll seek this efficiency, and the energy of the system, the ecology of the system, will seek this efficiency. These efficiencies are found in the following phenomena, etc. Well, all of it, of course, stemmed from the finite sense of the market. Wealth, in terms of dollars and so forth, could be counted up, because dollars were finite. It doesn’t make any difference how many dollars you have – at a certain point you only have dollars. You start with finite, you end with finite. So the limited economic systems said, “All right. What we have to do is we have to come up with a market efficiency, a market economy, that redistributes – or distributes – the wealth in an efficient and fair and just way. So, political systems and so forth were built on this. This was important, because it was a key component to civilization and order of society and so forth. It was a way that you could go out and make a living. It provided opportunities to do a lot of things. Obviously susceptible to abuse, but nonetheless, it was an important component of the way civilization developed over the last couple of thousand years.

    Well, now we have hit something new. We’re shifting from the “scarcity” of resource to the “abundance” of resource – an “abundance” economy. We’re moving from the finite resource to the infinite – and the infinite resource, of course, is knowledge. We understand it as knowledge, back down into these files, back down to what’s imbedded in a simple music file. It’s a knowledge-based kind of economy.

    PLUME: As you’ve said before, it’s not like clay pots, because there’s only so many clay pots to go around.

    NESMITH: That’s correct. It’s ideas. So, now what we’re doing is we’re redistributing — or we’re distributing – ideas. That’s the new economy. That’s what people mean when they talk about the new economy. That’s what people are talking about when they’re talking about this new economic model. It is not an economy that is a direct linear extrapolation of the old economies of the finite, scarcity-based economies. It is a new paradigm. Remember that old phrase from the 90s? “The new paradigm”?

    PLUME: Oh, yes.

    NESMITH: Well, it is. It truly is. It is a way of thinking about knowledge as value, that we haven’t had before. So, the trick now is to make sure that the systems – and especially the logic of the systems – all match up to the new knowledge-based, “abundance” economy in a way that people are getting the data that they want. We lamented over the years about the disparity between the rich and the poor. We say, “Well, some people have a lot of money, and some people don’t have any money, and the people that have money get richer and the people who don’t have money get poorer. There are all these repressive and oppressive and tyrannical elements in market economies that are abused, so it keeps this big class system in place and so forth.” Well, over the years the market economy started to smooth out, and you see less and less of those giant spikes – but it was nothing compared to the disparity between people who know and people who don’t know – people who are naïve and ignorant and people who are sophisticated and intelligent.

    PLUME: You can’t earn more I.Q.

    NESMITH: Exactly. So, what you have to have is access to information. You have to have access to ideas. The Internet is facilitating that access to ideas. That’s why it’s so powerful. And as it has, it has moved off of text-based – which is a very restrictive kind of delivery – and more into image-based, and more into motion-based, and lord knows what else… you and I are just talking right now, but in 25 years, the way that data’s going to flow back and forth, we don’t quite understand yet.

    PLUME: Kinetic-based.

    NESMITH: Kinetic-based, right. Those systems are being built, and all you do with something like a website, like Video Ranch, is just put it up. You say, “Okay, let’s take all these elements that you and I just talked about, put them in place and say, okay, people can have total access to my entire output of information, of data. That is, music and videos and, you know, the aesthetic that I bring forward as an artist. And let’s create the transaction so that knowledge can be exchanged on a fair basis.” That’s pretty simple to do, and that’s all that has to happen now, as the rest of the media comes online. That’s one of the reasons I’m not too worried about the intellectual property. People recognize intellectual property the same way they recognize real estate. People understand what property is. But the understanding doesn’t go to the old English property laws – it’s a new kind of property, and so the understanding uses new control surfaces. It uses a new way of defining the property. “Okay, that’s your idea, and I’ll pay you for your idea, and now I get to use the idea.” That’s a terrific transaction, because by me giving you the idea, or you giving me the idea, neither one of us loses anything. We both gain something from it. It is a remarkable kind of model, and a remarkable kind of economy, because it’s abundance based. You’re not taking from one side and giving to the other. It is mutually beneficial.

    PLUME: How do you latch-key the new economy? It isn’t like your clay pots that you can lock up in a room, and as you said it’s a resource that’s limited to the supply that you have…

    NESMITH: You don’t latch-key it. There is no key.

    PLUME: So, essentially it’s a trust issue, is what it comes down to.

    NESMITH: No, I think the answer lies deep, buried in the word “reciprocity”. What you want is a creation of a way for you to give to me and me to give to you.

    PLUME: So it’s a barter system, if you boil it down.

    NESMITH: If you boil it down – but be careful of that again, because barter carries the baggage of history with it, and it means I’ll give you a chicken for those bricks – and that’s not exactly what reciprocity means… although all economy is barter on some level. So, yes, it is a barter system.

    PLUME: Chicken for a song.

    NESMITH: If you’d like.

    PLUME: Who’s to say that someone couldn’t pay $20 to get a mixed-disc of your tracks, and those tracks are up on Kazaa with the same quality that you’re offering for a fee, but is now free because this person has made them available on the file sharing network?

    NESMITH: Well, nothing, except – as the transaction-base clarifies – Kazaa will have less and less value, because there’s more value in reciprocity than there is in one-way transactions. The guy that goes around thinking, “Oh boy, I got something for free,” is living in a dream. Nature abhors a vacuum. And, on an economic basis, business is not going to allow an unbalanced transaction. Not just business, but the system of life is reciprocal. A transaction won’t stand if it’s not reciprocal – reciprocity enforces itself within every transaction, so you never get away with just getting something and running off with it. The system will correct itself over a period of time, and what you’ll find, as kind of a demonstration of this, is that the pay services will become perceptively more valuable to a consumer than the free services. I can’t tell you exactly why, or what the elements of that will be. We’re at a point right now where this is difficult stuff to understand, because it’s abstract and it’s more spiritual than it is …

    PLUME: Tangible?

    NESMITH: Tangible? Well, spirit is very tangible, but it is not thought of that way in general use. It’s perceived more as a thought. But, as these transactions become more generally useful, and you see more and more systems pop up that say, “Look, I will facilitate your desire to get this, if you will give me something for it,” and what you give for it is something that enriches you by your process of giving it, then you have a tangible system that beats out the other one. Does that make sense?

    PLUME: Oh, yes.

    NESMITH: There’s no free lunch. Remember that old adage? There’s just no free lunch. So when somebody says, “Okay, I’m going to get this for free,” you’re not getting it for free. There is a cost embedded in it, and it’s like the guy that thinks, “Oh, good, I got myself a new car. I stole one off of the lot.” Well, the cost for that is not just being in danger of going to jail. There’s a deep, embedded cost to the person that steals the car, that they don’t realize, that they will ultimately pay.

    PLUME: It’s interesting, when you’re looking at the distribution of artistic layers and how the consumer sees it, I know a lot of people who will download stuff are the same people that will turn around and buy the same CD at the store if the price is reasonable, and buy the movie when it comes out on DVD.

    NESMITH: That’s right. The present industry’s notion about latch-key – you know, “We’ve got to lock this stuff up” – won’t work. The Internet does not support keys in the conventional sense. It does support a type of key – what it doesn’t support is a tollgate. An arbitrary tollgate. If you put a toll on a road that is inconsistent with the value you get for using the road, it’s not very long before somebody builds a road around the tollgate. Pretty soon, nobody goes through your tollgate anymore. So the solution is a function of matching the use of the value of the road to the cost of the toll – otherwise, somebody builds a road around it. What happens with the Internet is, it’s just real easy to build roads around these tollgates. People come in and say, “I want to put a conventional tollgate that used to happen on the old CD around this music.” That tollgate no longer gives you access to the same levels of value that it used to, when it represented the distribution of the goods, represented bringing the goods closer to you through stores where you could go get it, and so forth, because none of those things are valuable anymore. The music is immediately there – you don’t have to do go to the store and get it. The economic structure of that old tollgate, which went to the distribution of hard goods, is not the same as a tollgate that you set up for the distribution of knowledge-based goods. You do set a new tollgate up, but it’s not the old one. That’s why I’m very wary of words like latch-key, and I’m even using a word that I don’t like, which is the tollgate. But there is a new type of portal, some other sort of way that the goods are transacted for, and a different kind of economic engine that is in place, that gets everybody paid – but it just doesn’t look like the old economic models, because it’s not “scarcity” based. It’s “abundance” based, not based on finite units. It’s based on the infinite exchange of reciprocally enhancing ideas.

    PLUME: Do you think the industry over thinks the problems? An “I can’t see the forest for the trees?” sort of thing? The most brilliant example of this was the millions of dollars that were poured into this new encryption technology on CDs to make them unreadable by a computer, and it was defeated by a black magic marker…

    NESMITH: Right. I don’t know that they over think it, but they certainly do linear think it. Typically what happens – and has as long as I’ve been watching it – is somebody drags an idea from the past that worked in an old set of logics that they try to apply to the new one. And it doesn’t work. That, historically, does not work. They are trying to do that again. So, they spend millions and millions of dollars trying to bring the old models forward into the new systems. That doesn’t work. Why they do that, I don’t know. I mean, again, so often people don’t understand that they’ve got to change some basic ideas about the way they’re paid and what the currency is, what the denomination of the currency is, that they’re paid in. When they say “Wait, I only think in dollars, fives, tens and twenties,” well, maybe they need to think in some other way.

    PLUME: Which isn’t the industry’s strong suit.

    NESMITH: Well, it’s not industry’s strong suit. Linear thinking typifies a highly developed industry. It typifies a highly developed system, a complex system. It starts to get these patterns built into it somehow. I’m not sure how that happens, but certainly… You take a look at dinosaurs – a very complex system there – yet it could not handle something that came along to destroy them. I have a feeling that dinosaurs never realized that evolving into birds was their way out.

    PLUME: So, it’s sort of these legacy thought processes that are embedded?

    NESMITH: You could call them thought processes. They’re more like belief systems… that’s not good either. Thought processes will work, but they’re not legacies – they’re highly evolved. They’re fully adapted. You say, “We made it this far by doing this and this and this. We’ll make it over to here by doing the same thing.”

    PLUME: So, it’s like trying to break instinctual thinking?

    NESMITH: Yes, in a way. And it’s successful thinking. “Here we are, we’re a giant company, we’ve done really well because we’ve done all this and we’ll just do it again and we’ll do really well at it.” Well, every once and a while you hit one of these things that we’ve hit, which is the shift from the mechanical age into the information age, or as McLuhan calls it, “The electric age”… and I think Bucky called it the electric age as well… They all said, “Look, we’re going to have a massive shift that’s going to take all of our old systems and throw them in a cocked hat. You’re going to have to take a look at rethinking how you grandfather the systems that do work, because if you try to bring them forward in a way that you think they’re going to work based on the way they used to work in the old system, they’re not going to work that way. People are just going to run around you, and the new system will just grow up around you, and you will find yourself off in the weeds.” Of course, that’s terrifying, so nobody wants to hear that. But, stated in a more positive way, it is to say, “Look, there is a more efficient and more beneficial ecology of information emerging.” We can see this, as we examine the system of logic in these things. It’s not complex yet, it’s very straight ahead, but it is very radically different.

    PLUME: So there’s a reticence to accept something so radically different, even though it’s right in front of their face…

    NESMITH: Yeah. That reticence seems to evolve itself from these complex organizations, like big industry. What I mean by that is that reticence is not there in the nascent or infant or early stages. The reticence evolves itself from something that’s more fully grown. The trouble with people who labor under the beliefs of old age, as opposed to the advantage of people who labor under the beliefs of young age…

    PLUME: … is it cultural or is it intellectual?

    NESMITH: I don’t know, I think it’s all of those things. I think it’s social, and cultural, and intellectual. The important thing is just to understand the evolution of logic, and the logic of a system. You know, you talk about reticence being carried forward, because it’s …

    PLUME: …instinctual?

    NESMITH: …instinctual. And I don’t think it is instinctual. I think it’s evolutionary, and as Stephen Gould used to point out, “Look, evolution doesn’t necessarily mean you’re progressing.” Doesn’t mean the system is getting better, it just means that it’s changing and adapting to the landscape. So that’s what I’m saying – the reticence to accept the paradigm shift is evolutionary, and that it is most prevalent in large scale, complex systems that have evolved over a long period of time. There’s nothing particularly difficult to understand about this, but there’s a kind of invisibility to it. You know, you don’t see the reticence when you’re in the middle of one of those complex, big, highly evolved systems. You know, in a big, highly evolved system in the present day – one of the things that clearly has emerged is a compression of time, and as time is compressed, things are evolving in matters of hours that used to take matters of decades. Things are evolving in matters of years that used to take matters of eons.

    PLUME: As you said in answer to a similar question, and in quoting Einstein, everything’s relative to the observer, as to how fast things are moving…

    NESMITH: Right.

    PLUME: How would you compare where you are as an artist, and where you are as far as observing the industry, in regards to this sort of distribution system?

    NESMITH: Well, it looks pretty natural to me. I mean, it looks like it’s about what one would expect. I can remember the shift from central controlled broadcasting to the advent of the home video. When people were able to essentially time-shift their watching patterns and bring things home to watch them, and there appeared such a thing as pre-recorded video.

    PLUME: Which the industry fought.

    NESMITH: Bitterly. Because it didn’t understand it. Of course, now DVD can represent more income than the box office – and typically does.

    PLUME: It has saved many a film.

    NESMITH: Many, yeah. It’s a wonderful new medium, where a lot of people release only to DVD because of that power. The same thing happened then – there was a resistance to this shift. I think that that was a more direct linear movement in the marketplace going from the central controlled, kind of “ticket distribution” that was controlled by the big motion picture distributors, into the consumer controlled event of the home video that said, “I’ll go buy this and play it when I want, or rent it and play it when I want.” Kind of wresting it out of studios control. There was something more directly linear in that evolution than there is in this evolution from home video into the Internet. Like I say, the Internet represents this abundance based, infinite resource.

    PLUME: Do you think it’s also because it comprises so many different types of communication and media?

    NESMITH: That, too. Yeah, that too. There you really got at it, because it is not so much about the content right now. The content is just unimaginably huge, and so yes, it does – I’m jumping four steps ahead. Let me back up a little bit and respond directly to what you’re saying. Yes, it is because there is so much more and different media, and it makes it more complex and more difficult to adapt to. However, the fact that there is more content does not really go to the central issue – and this is why McLuhan is so important. McLuhan was the guy who said, more or less, divorce content from the media, from the carrier, and you have made a very important distinction – because the content doesn’t create the social, and economic, or political change The carrier does. Hence his very famous phrase, “The medium is the message.” He was saying it is not what the railroad carries into the town that makes the difference, it’s the fact that a railroad exists. That’s where we are right now. It’s not the fact that the Internet carries intellectual property, and it has a plethora of intellectual property. It’s the fact that the Internet exists – that is the central change. The existence of that Internet says, “Okay, everything changes here,” and we’ve got to understand the inherent thing that’s inside the Internet that makes it so powerful is simply its existence.

    PLUME: In developing what would become Elephant Parts, and especially the distribution system …

    NESMITH: …you’re talking about video?…

    PLUME: …video… and addressing that medium in a way that hadn’t been addressed up to that point, as far as a reasonably priced, pre-recorded entertainment that hadn’t originally aired on TV, and hadn’t originally been seen in theaters – what were the difficulties that you encountered in mounting that addressal of a new paradigm?

    NESMITH: Well, the main one was that nobody knew what Elephant Parts was, so nobody could name it, nobody could call it what it was. Nobody said, “Oh, that’s a… ” It didn’t fit into any economic structure. That was the biggest problem. People would say, “Well, what is this? What do I do with this?” I remember I had this party to introduce it to my friends, basically, and the press. I invited a lot of people that I had known over the years and people in different areas of business, so there were a lot of attorneys there, and there were a lot of studio people there, and there were a lot of musician friends, some rock & roll stars, and movie stars, and so forth. One of the movie stars was Jack Nicholson. Jack’s been a friend for a while, and he came up to me – and, you know, Elephant Parts was playing – and he looked at me and he said, “What is this, Nez?” Jack is extremely bright, and in that one question, he just distilled the whole thing. I didn’t have an answer for him. “You know, Jack, it’s just… it’s Elephant Parts. I can’t tell you. I just went off and did it.” Another guy that saw [the video for] “Rio” in Elephant Parts, before it had become embedded in Elephant Parts, he got very, very excited. He’s one of the richest men in America, and he says, “Oh, this is a whole new thing!” He saw in the music video, which was the same thing that I saw – essentially MTV – which was a whole new landscape, a whole new way of exchanging information. Nobody was able to say, “Oh, this is what this is and this is what this will become and this is how this will work and this is how you sell it.” Typically, I have never been able to predefine any of those things as an artist. What you do as an artist is, you grab hold of the basic arms of the jungle gym and you go out and you just climb up and down it. You don’t think about the parabola or the arc you’re describing or where you’re going to ultimately end up, you’re just kind of crawling around, seeing what’s out there.

    PLUME: At what point in your career would you say that these ideas really gelled? Is there any one thing that happened to you that really caused them to gel?

    NESMITH: No, they just continued to emerge and it happens. The one thing that has become more and more clear to me – we’re all on pretty much the same track. In other words, it’s not like, “I do this, and somebody else doesn’t do this.” This all, more or less, happens to us. As we’ve talked about, there’s a resistance – especially in complex organizations – to these new media, but it doesn’t mean they are not emerging. Resistance is just resistance. So it kind of “happens” to everybody, as near as I can see, and it’s “happened” to me. You grow along like everybody else grows along. People have said to me, “Who was your musical influence?” Or, “Where do your musical influences come from?” And my standard answer, which is the true answer, is that they came from this guy playing the organ in the window of a music store next to the Country Club Pharmacy in Dallas in the ’50s. I think he played “Tico, Tico”, and things like that, on this big Wurlitzer or B3, or something. And the reason for it is not because there was any great musical revolution there, it was that, “Wow, look, you can do something else with your thinking besides throw a touchdown pass. One can do that. That’s an interesting way to use your thinking.” We all have to use our thinking in one way or the other, and some ways of using our thinking are really inspiring. There are people who use their thinking to race cars. People use their thinking to build rockets to the moon. It’s all just a use of your thinking.

    PLUME: Talking about that early influence, would you say there were other paths that you had considered at that early stage, or was music what you had completely focused on at that point?

    NESMITH: Well, I’m talking about I’m 8 years old, 9 years old – so, no.

    PLUME: But that’s formative, to some extent, as far as what path you’re going to go down. It is a domino effect in many regards, in plotting a certain course – even if unintentionally.

    NESMITH: Well, I wasn’t aware of any crossroads or branches at that particular point. I think that there’s been – certainly, over the years there’s been the opportunity to make choices, but the choice is always more or less informed by this desire to maintain the integrity of the spiritual sense. You don’t have to be an artist to do this, and that’s why I was always comfortable in business, and I was comfortable in a lot of different things. What happens is that from time to time, as these left turns come up, they have a kind of a compelling element to them. Music was clearly the most compelling thing in my life. I’m surrounded by it. I love it. The first time I heard it, the first time I knew that you could use your thinking to create music, and the first time I realized what music did to my thinking, I was just swept up in it. It has pushed me along every single endeavor. So, even when I take the path to go be a CEO for a month, or a CEO for a day- music is still there. It’s an extremely important part of what I am.

    PLUME: Were there any detours along the way that threatened to throw you off? I mean, you had a stint in the Air Force…

    NESMITH: But those aren’t detours – those are just paths, you know? It all developed as it did, and now it’s all just knowledge, memories. Once the basic, governing principles and ideas are in place – and they’re in place with all of us, so there’s no talent to any of this, or extra-special skill. This is just sort of what we all have beating deep in our hearts. Then, the different twists and paths, the marriages, the good relationships, the bad relationships, the businesses you try, the things that fail and things that succeed – all that stuff just is stuff. You know, just sort of blows through, and you keep coming back to that central road.

    PLUME: Is music an impulse that you can ever set aside? I know going back, I was looking at some old interviews, around 2000 I believe, and you seemed pretty content with not ever recording again, or playing.

    NESMITH: Well, I’m not playing now. I’m not performing now. What I do now is listen to music all day long. Listening is very nourishing to me. I might go back to perform, I might make another record. I’ve got a record half finished. My problem is, I don’t quite know what a record is anymore. I don’t quite know how to describe it. Don’t know how to define it yet, so I’m just letting it gestate, and grow and see if maybe I’ll get a better sense of what a record is. But I never feel like I have to hang on to the music. I don’t expect that the music will go away, anymore than ideas will go away. It just seems permanent and fixed and, well, they are. Ideas are the only thing I can point to that are permanent and fixed. That’s the way it is with anybody – that’s a central truth, for me and for anybody I’ve ever run into. The whole time you and I have been talking, all we’ve been doing is thinking.

    PLUME: Well, you’re doing most of it – I’m just trying to keep up.

    NESMITH: No, that’s not true. I understand – but, you know, you get my point.

    PLUME: Oh, I definitely do. It also seems, to a large extent – in looking over the course of your career – you’re not someone who took kindly to staying in a rut or playing into a prepackaged version of yourself… or expectations, I should say. You didn’t take kindly to anyone’s expectations of what you should be doing or which direction you should go. Even when you struck out on your solo career, or when you were in The Monkees – or the many failed reunions of The Monkees since then. Many people would say, “Well, why didn’t you go and do the reunion tour in ’86,” or “Why’d you drop out of the reunion tour in ’97?” Or “Why this type of country-rock music after The Monkees?” Is it something that you actively fought against, or is it just that that’s where the path took you and a sense of “Whatever your preconceptions are, they aren’t mine…” ?

    NESMITH: It’s the latter. It’s absolutely the latter. Well, “absolutely”… maybe not, but certainly for the most part, that’s what it is. There is a journey that we’re all on, and I’m on it. Where it rolls, it rolls.

    PLUME: Do you actively fight against being placed in a box?

    NESMITH: No, you don’t have to fight against being placed in a box any more than the number two has to fight against being the number three. I mean, two is not going to be the number three, ever.

    PLUME: When you talk about these reunion tours that everyone tries to put together forever, and the old joke would always be, “You’ll never get Mike.” Was it just a matter of that’s not where your head was at? Even the ’97 tour, where you dropped out, what, halfway through? What were the thought processes behind those decisions?

    NESMITH: It’s a question that could go to every event in my life. “Why did you decide to go to Nashville to record? Why did you decide to go to New York for the 200th anniversary of the United States? Why did…” These things have a reality of the moment – not in any fatalistic or predetermined sense, but there is a certain logic to events that pushes you along a certain path. You go along the path that feels the most true, and most according to the principles that are guiding you, and that’s the way the decisions are made. You try to do that… I try to do that as consistently as possible. You don’t always do it exactly right. I think that there are times when you can do better than others, but once that’s done, that’s done and you move on. You take each new opportunity as it arises. But, to go back and analyze and say, “Oh, I did this because of that, or that because of this” – first of all, you can’t come up with any final answers, and second, the only answer that is decent, the only answer that is close to the right one, is, “Because it seemed like the right thing to do at the time.”

    PLUME: But, there’s a sense that you’re not one that’s easily pushed down a path that you don’t want to go down…

    NESMITH: A large area of thought goes to self-determination and self-will, and what’s doing the pushing, and who is this person you’re talking about that would say, “No,” to something. Clearly, we all make decisions. Clearly, we all have these choices that we make. You make them when you decide the person to interview, you make them when you decide to write. Making decisions has never been a struggle for me. It’s not always been happy, but the unhappiness or the uncomfortable times I do not count as substantial, so they fade away. And what is substantial, what’s left, is the good. That’s where it all sort of settles in, I think.

    PLUME: What would you say were the most uncomfortable times you’ve had in your career?

    NESMITH: Well, again, that’s the same question of, “Why did you make this choice?” or, “Why did you make that choice?” I don’t think about those things. I mean, it’s not that I remember them, and I pushed them out of my mind, like some sort of denial or repression. It’s just that I don’t think about them. I don’t know. I can’t remember.

    PLUME: How would you define a comfortable time?

    NESMITH: The best time, of course, is the presence of just a general good. You know – health, wealth, wisdom, freedom, friendship, activity, joy – those are things that are present when I’m feeling good. Those are things that are present when the right choices get made. You feel really good about that, there’s a real peace to it, that I identify and can turn towards, and say, “This feels right.” What I mean by right is that, “This feels like it’s beneficial in all those ways I listed.” And the effect is that it happens to be beautiful. It happens to be harmonious and concordant and mellifluous and sonorous and all the things we identify with really lovely music. That’s one of the reasons music is so inspiring to me. This “good” also happens to be the better part of painting, the better part of motion pictures, better parts of the arts in general. It’s also the better part of well-run businesses, well-run societies, beautiful relationships, a wonderfully functioning mechanical system, a beautifully functioning computer system – all those things contain within it those elements. When you see them, you say, “Ah! There you go. There’s life working at its best. Which is the only way life works.”

    PLUME: So, anything from a song to a sunset.

    NESMITH: Okay. I’ll give you that. A song, to a sunset, to science.

    PLUME: I know you’re working on a screenplay and have a couple of movies gestating…

    NESMITH: Well, I just finished a novel, and I’m back kind of noodling on the screenplays. You know, screenplays are tough. But yeah, I’m working on some of those. Like I say, I am making music, I’m just not sure what kind of music it is or where it’s going. I’m still at it. I just don’t know which one’s going to hit the ground in a full, upright position yet.

    PLUME: Is it because the ideas are there but the delivery system isn’t?

    NESMITH: A little bit, yeah. You know, you have to get all that buttoned-up and make sure that it manifests itself in a way that’s clear and understandable and useful, rather than being utterly arcane and abstruse.

    PLUME: You definitely know you have fans out there, waiting with bated breath for anything that you might kick out.

    NESMITH: Well, I don’t know that, but I suspect it. I am grateful for it, for sure.

    PLUME: When it comes to the movies, what’s the difference getting a movie and moving forward now, compared to how it was with the films that you did in the ’80s?

    NESMITH: You know, I don’t know. I haven’t been out in the marketplace in a while. I’m thinking about going back into it. I’ve got some things set up over the next couple of months just to go and see. But I have no idea what the specific way to a solution is anymore. It’s mysterious to me. So, I’ll go out, stick my toe back in the river, and see which way it’s flowing.

    PLUME: Is the desire there to self-produce again?

    NESMITH: Well, yeah, some very small way. I don’t quite know which way this will take me, but I’m feeling as if there might be some activity along those lines. But maybe not … You have to wait until it lands on all fours.

    PLUME: Is it a matter of the project not being ready, or you’re not ready for the project to move beyond the point where it’s sitting?

    NESMITH: I think it’s a mixture of both. I don’t quite know.

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  • A Bit Of A Chat with Ken Plume & Mike Phirman 6

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    I’m Ken Plume, and soon you’ll be listening to “A Bit Of A Chat” with me, Ken Plume.

    In this episode, I have another chat with musical genius Mike Phirman, about steampunk moshpits, peanut butter boosters, woofercraft, and drapes.

    Go get all of his music at
    music.MikePhirman.com

    Hope you enjoy…

    Download “A Bit of a Chat with Ken Plume & Mike Phirman 6“:

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    (PREVIOUSLY: A Bit Of A Chat with Ken Plume & Mike Phirman #1, A Bit Of A Chat with Ken Plume & Mike Phirman #2, A Bit Of A Chat with Ken Plume & Mike Phirman #3, A Bit Of A Chat with Ken Plume & Mike Phirman #4, & A Bit Of A Chat with Ken Plume & Mike Phirman #5)

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