This week’s show was all about the fandom, and the films which it surrounds. Wikipedia defines fandom as “a subculture composed of fans characterized by a feeling of sympathy and camaraderie with others who share a common interest.” We talked about Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings, and various movie franchise thingies, and rapped about why comic conventions seem less and less about actual comics. Here’s a clip from the BBC TV series Spaced that we used to open the show:

This week, Kate and Pete rapped about the transformation of books into movies and the problems and benefits therein. We talked about book/movies like L.A Confidential, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Devil in a Blue Dress, and Get Shorty, among others. Our site of the week was Book or Movie.

We are working on making podcasts of some of our past prerecorded shows, so keep watching this blog for further details!

Welcome to Tuesday! We’re inexcusably late with this week’s recap. If we were into excuses we’d probably blame it on Pete misplacing his back and Kate’s home being invaded by flying ants (during which time she hung out at Pete’s, took over his tv, and watched countless episodes of Fruits Basket while he was too broken to get up off the couch).

First off, we’re terribly sorry about the audio problems during the first six or seven minutes of the show. We really hope it won’t happen again but a little bit of chaos is what gives college radio it’s edge. For anyone who persevered and listened to the last twenty minutes: THANK YOU!!!

Sunday’s topic was (in case you missed it) The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Kate repeatedly forgot Arwen’s name and ranted a little bit about New Line needing to just chill and let the fans have some fun.

The site of the week was The Very Secret Diaries by Cassandra Claire.

The show ended with Gollum’s Song which was sung by Emiliana Torrini and not by Annie Lennox – as Kate claimed.

We also issued an appeal for show ideas (we’re smart but lazy) so send those suggestions in. It’s relatively painless – just leave a comment.

Today’s Lord of the Rings special is postponed until next week due to a nasty bout of food poisoning (we think). To keep you satisfied until then, here is a “Sweded” version of the saga:

It’s all about the one ring this week as we take a look Peter Jackson’s take on the Lord of the Rings. Will Kate reveal her love of Gandalf? Will she finally admit that Star Wars is not the only movie trilogy? Will Pete actually read the books before the show? Tune in to SFMH 107.3 FM Sunday at 2:00 PM.

Kate decides that Gollum and Legolas need to become BFFs.

Sure, the sequel takes advantage of its “unrated” status to go much, much further than its predecessor ever did … but all the extra blood and boobs just made me admire the relative restraint with which Schumacher managed to tell his story. And believe me, I never thought I’d put those words in that order.

From Norm Wilner in his review of Lost Boys: The Tribe.

If you didn’t tune in to Off the Shelf today, you missed Kate waxing poetic on the magnificence of Viggo Mortensen’s… attributes in A History of Violence and Pete’s eloquent defense of Jean Grey/Dark Phoenix in the X-Men flicks. They also talked about the importance of being Seymour in Terry Zwigoff’s Ghost World, the sleight-of-hand involved in filming The Crow without a leading man, and the animated wonders of Persepolis. For those of you who missed out, here’s “Jaan Pehechaan Ho”, the energetic Bollywood number used in Ghost World and played at the end of today’s show.

Because tomorrow we’re taking a look at some of our favourite movies that started life as comics. They won’t all be superhero movies – though Thora Birch does look really super in a leather cat girl mask.

Tune in Sunday at 2:00PM on CFMH 107.3 FM.

The Blockbuster on McAllister Drive (and, I suppose, possibly others) is having a 30% off sale on previously viewed DVDs.

I scored a copy of Neverwhere for under $4. Yes, I know it sucks. It was, however, the catalyst for a most excellent book.

“Why don’t you eat something?”
”I’m not hungry enough yet”

2022 is a bad year. The wealthy dress like it’s the 1970’s, strawberries cost a hundred and fifty bucks a jar, most of the water has been poisoned, and food has become something old men dream about and young men can’t remember. Thank God for the Soylent Corporation – without them half the world would be starving.

Of course, starving might be better than living. The future is hot and dusty. Society limps along, patching together what they can of dying technology, feeding off the remains of better days. The population has exploded. Bodies are huddled over every surface and even the churches look like crowded corners of hell. The only bright colours are the occasional splashes of blood and the ominous Soylent Green tablets. Everything else is washed out – faded , and trodden. The future isn’t bright, it’s grim. Like the more recent Children of Men, the cinematography and art direction reinforce this, reminding the audience at every turn that this isn’t the future they were promised.

Across this landscape strides Charlton Heston. In a world where everyone is scrounging, the cops are scavengers. Detective Robert Thorn is no different. Called to the murder scene of a man connected to the board of Soylent, he takes statements as he casually swipes fresh towels and bourbon from the dead man’s apartment. Most cops would have taken the bourbon and called it a night but Thorn is tenacious. Something’s wrong here and he’s going to find out what. Where was the victim’s bodyguard? Why is the governor taking a personal interest in the case? Where can he get more of those nice fluffy towels? Just what’s in this Soylent Green stuff, anyway?

Soylent Green has become embedded popular culture. It’s been referenced in the Simpsons and people who have never seen the film can quote the famous ending line. “Soylent Green is…” has become almost as recognizable as “Take your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty ape!”. With good reason. It’s a cautionary tale that’s ahead of its time. It touched on global warming, and tampering with the food supply before they were “hot” topics and raised the point that it’s not only permissible to question what you’re told to eat and swallow – it’s vital.

People wonder why I’m suspicious of the weight loss industry when so many of their products have been either FDA approved or used by thousands of people. Maybe it’s because my parents sat me down at the ripe old age of eleven to watch Soylent Green.

Soylent Green is copyright 1973 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

You can catch Soylent Green (for free!) Thursday July 24 at 7 PM The New Brunswick Museum’s Mary Oland Theatre as patr of the UNBSJ Summer Film Series.

We won’t be there. We own the movie.