The Doctor Who Workout - "The Unquiet Dead" Routine

Well, I think you know the drill by now. So let's get right into the workout.

20 crunches
5 V-ups
70 crunches
20 bicycles
10 leg lifts
160 jumping jacks
10 leg lifts
20 jumping jacks
20 bicycles
20 crunches

Not a lot of exercise cues in this episode. But once again, they did say "Doctor" a whole lot and so there are jumping jacks a-plenty in this one. Nice way to start the new year, turning your legs to Jell-O while you work out.

As always, thanks for checking it out!

The Doctor Who Workout - "The End of the World" Routine

Just finished watching Doctor Who Season 1 Episode 2, "The End of the World", and took note of the actions and their corresponding exercises. Note that the actions appear in chronological order as seen in the episode and if multiple instances of a action occurred consecutively, I combined all the exercises into one set.

For reference, see the following post for the workout guidelines - http://dramaguycjm.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-doctor-who-workout.html

And now, the workout itself:

15 squats
10 leg lifts
10 jumping jacks
15 squats
60 crunches
5 V-ups
20 crunches
30 jumping jacks
10 leg lifts
10 jumping jacks
10 crunches
20 jumping jacks
10 leg lifts
100 crunches
10 leg lifts
20 jumping jacks
20 leg lifts
10 jumping jacks
5 V-ups

For a moment I was going to say this one looked less intense than the one for "Rose". And then I got to the part where I'm going to do 100 crunches. Yeah, the Sonic Screwdriver was used a lot in this episode. Oh well, at least they didn't say "Doctor" a whole lot in this one. All those jumping jacks really took a toll on my last time.

Going to try this one tomorrow morning. I'll let you know whether I survive.

MST Month of Turkeys; Day 15 - Parts: The Clonus Horror

Parts: The Clonus Horror

Brief Wikipedia Summary: In an isolated community set in a remote desert area, clones are being bred to serve as a source of replacement organs for the wealthy and powerful. Starring Timothy Donnelly. With Peter Graves, Keenan Wynn, and Dick Sargent 

Watch It Here: http://youtu.be/XegRyQo7QjY

MST Month of Turkeys; Day 14 - Santa Claus Conquers The Martians

Santa Claus Conquers the Martians

Brief Wikipedia Summary: Martians abduct Santa Claus and two human children in hopes of bringing Christmas to their planet.

Watch It Here: http://youtu.be/Lqe7dlAXTkc


My Thoughts: This is one of the all-time classic episodes. There's good reason it's part of the 2-Disc Essentials DVD Collection. I make it a point to watch this episode every year around Christmas time. And since Cinematic Titanic recently re-riffed the movie, I now have two versions to watch and enjoy!

MST Month of Turkeys; Day 13 - The Beatniks

The Beatniks + Short: General Hospital Part 2

Brief Wikipedia Summary: A leader of a gang of delinquent teens is heard singing along with a jukebox at a greasy spoon and gets the chance to be a star. His gang, resentful of his success, threaten to ruin his career. Well-known voice actor Paul Frees directed and wrote the music and screenplay to the movie.

The General Hospital installment involves a tense celebration at a nurse's house.


Watch It Here: http://youtu.be/8CuiVtZRHhQ

My Thoughts: Another one of my favorite episodes. One of the few episodes I recall having a video game-based riff in it. And that's just one of several great jokes in this episode.

MST Month of Turkeys; Day 12 - Teenagers From Outer Space

Teenagers From Outer Space

Brief Wikipedia Summary: A group of aliens land on Earth and decide to use the planet as a farm for their livestock. One of the aliens rebels and flees to a small town, where he is pursued by another alien who kills anyone in his path.

Watch It Here: http://youtu.be/vnOzPbjM4cQ


My Thoughts: One of my favorite episodes. So many great riffs, I could go on for hours. You owe it to yourself to watch this one.

MST Month of Turkeys; Day 11 - Gamera

Gamera

Brief Wikipedia Summary: A military plane crashes in the Arctic, awakening giant turtle Gamera. It attacks Japan, yet seemingly befriends a young boy.

Watch It Here: http://youtu.be/gxhgFfjVwHk

MST Month of Turkeys; Day 10 - The Beast Of Yucca Flats

The Beast of Yucca Flats + Shorts "Money Talks" & "Progress Island USA"

Brief Wikipedia Summary: In this Coleman Francis film, A defecting Russian scientist (Tor Johnson) turns into a monster after being caught in an atomic bomb explosion and wanders around the test range, killing various people.

Shorts include Money Talks, a 1955 outing about the importance of a budget, and Progress Island USA, a 1973 film meant to lure investors to Puerto Rico.

Watch It Here: http://youtu.be/BRhGW53eoxY

MST Month of Turkeys; Day 9 - Robot Monster

 Robot Monster + Shorts "Radar Men From the Moon" Parts 4 & 5

Brief Wikipedia Summary:  After destroying all civilization on Earth, an alien attempts to wipe out the planet's last survivors.

In the shorts, Commando Cody's assistant is kidnapped, leading to the pursuit of gangsters working for aliens from the Moon.

Watch It Here:  http://youtu.be/K2YjhnPC1DQ

My Thoughts:  One of the quintessential bad sci-fi movies. Everyone should see it at least once in their lives.

MST Month Of Turkeys; Day 8 - Gamera vs. Gaos

Gamera vs. Gaos

Brief Wikipedia Summary: Gamera fights the pterodactyl-like Gaos.

Watch It Here: http://youtu.be/oNrn2Gcdx4g

MST Month of Turkeys; Day 7 - The Final Sacrifice

The Final Sacrifice

Brief Wikipedia Summary: A teen follows a map left for him by his long-dead father, runs afoul of a devil-worshiping cult, then teams up with a beer-guzzling drifter who has a secret.

Watch It Here: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8740416142059241489&hl=en

MST Month of Turkeys; Day 6 - Godzills vs. Meaglon

Godzilla vs. Megalon

Brief Wikipedia Summary: Mutant dinosaur Godzilla and size-changing robot Jet Jaguar battle Seatopian god Megalon and alien cyborg Gigan, bent on razing the planet for the underground civilization of Seatopia.

Watch It Here:  http://youtu.be/j5OY1drc8_U (Another "Best Of..." Video"

MST Month of Turkeys; Day 5 - Humanoid Woman

Humanoid Woman

(Not So) Brief Wikipedia Summary: 23rd century. A reconnaissance starship discovers a dead alien spaceship of unknown origin in deep space. The crew are found to be humanoid bodies, made by an advanced cloning process. One humanoid woman appears to be alive but has memory loss and is brought back to Earth. Scientist Sergei Lebedev settles her in his own house and names her Niya.

Some time later, Niya finds out that she has supernatural abilities. Prof. Ivanova finds a special neurocenter in her brain which can be used to control the humanoid clones. Niya suddenly remembers her home planet Dessa, where businessmen eager for easy money destroy nature.

A rescue mission with Niya on board is sent to her home planet. When she arrives there, her brain falls under the control of the neurowaves of local monopolist Turanchoks, who is trying to make the Earth expedition fail.

However, Niya is strong enough to resist the control and saves her civilization from an imminent catastrophe.

Watch It Here: http://youtu.be/WSz8FsRn1cU

My Thoughts: This episode is included on this list because it is a very rare creature, a KTMA episode! Experience what MST3K was like back during its humble beginning as a public access TV show.  

MST Month of Turkeys; Day 4 - Jack Frost

Jack Frost

Brief Wikipedia Summary: Filmed version of a Russian folk tale. A woman is forced to slave away, while a young boy with the head of a bear must perform a good deed to reverse the curse.

Watch It Here: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6388698292229088209&hl=en

MST Month of Turkeys; Day 3 - Time Chasers

 Time Chasers

Brief Wikipedia Summary: A Castleton college professor and a reporter go through time in a modified light plane to stop a corporation from using his invention to accidentally create a dystopian future.

 Watch It Here: http://youtu.be/vdE0f5Hj7xw (Note: This is a highlight video. I've been unable to find the full episode or a cohesive playlist with the whole episode on YouTube or anywhere else)

MST Month of Turkeys; Day 2- Samson vs The Vampire Women

 Samson vs The Vampire Women

Brief Wikipedia Summary: Masked wrestler El Santo battles vampire women who want to capture a young woman destined to become their queen.

Watch It Here: http://youtu.be/kpfS1STYamQ

My Thoughts: Easily one of my favorite moments is Crow's hysterical laughter when El Santo appears on-screen in full regalia including mask and cape. Also, this was the last appearance of Frank Conniff  as TV's Frank. A historical and bittersweet landmark episode.

MST Month of Turkeys; Day 1 - Space Travelers

Welcome to the "MST Month of Turkeys" here on the Thoughts Out Of Context blog. From now until Thanksgiving, I'll be spotlighting an episode of MST3K on this very page. Now, initially the idea was I'd watch an episode of MST3K and write a recap for it every day. I now realize that there's no earthly way I'll be able to do that with the way my schedule is. So I'm going to do the following; For each episode I'll post a brief Wikipedia summary of the movie being featured in the episode, post a link to the episode that can be watched usually on either YouTube or Google Video, and then post any personal thoughts/observations/etc I may have about the episode. I know it's vastly different from what I initially promised, and I apologize for that. But it's the only way I would be able to do this. Hopefully I'll be able to give these episodes proper recaps in the future, but for now let's get started.

Space Travelers

Brief Wikipedia Summary: Various obstacles hamper attempts to rescue three NASA astronauts trapped aboard a crippled space capsule.

Watch It Here: http://youtu.be/ax3q-RkVIt4

My Thoughts: Gregory Peck? Gene Hackman? This movie won an Oscar? What's it doing on MST3K? Trust me, there's a very good reason

Idea For A Countdown List I Had

I LOVE Mystery Science Theatre 3000! And I know I'm not alone in my fandom. And I'm sure there are various places out there that pay tribute to the show that made riffing on movies an artform. But that's not going to deter me from getting in on that action. So from October 22 until November 22 - which is Thanksgiving Day - I'm planning on running the "MST Month of Turkeys" on my blog.

Basically the idea is on each day I'd post a review/recap post of a particular episode on my blog, much like the way the few "MST Monday" posts were (And I do plan on resurrecting that as a regular feature after this experiment is done). But I want to gauge and see if there is any interest in this project before I dive head first into it. That's where you come in! Since you're reading this, I assume you're also a MSTie and would like to see me go forward with this. So, tell me what to watch. I want you to tell me your favorite episodes or any episodes you think I should consider watching. Leave them here in the comments, message them to me on Facebook, send an e-mail to me at chrismcg1983@gmail.com with the list. However you decide to do it, get in touch with me and tell me what to watch. And feel free to suggest as many episodes as you want. We have 31 days to cover, and lord knows there's more than enough episodes out there to cover that time frame. Any episode is fair game; Joel-era, Mike-era, Comedy Central-era, Sci-Fi Channel-era, I even have a couple of KTMA-era episodes in my collection. Like I said, lots to work with.

You have from now until 5:00 PM EST on Monday October 15th to get your suggestions in. I know that might seem like a small window of time, but keep in mind I need to find time to compile the results as well as watch and take notes on the episodes that will become the blog posts. And between work and rehearsal, my free time isn't exactly copious so I'm going to try and budget my time as best I can. The number of suggestions an episode gets will determine when it's discussed; the episode with the most "votes" will be covered on Thanksgiving, 2nd most on the day before, and so on. In the event of ties, which I'm sure will be likely, episodes I personally prefer will be given preferential treatment and moved ahead in the rankings.

Thanks for reading and I hope you'll support me in this possibly foolish, but hopefully entertaining endeavor. Push the button, Me. *pushes publish button*

The Doctor Who Workout - "Rose" Routine

OK, I just finished watched the first episode of the Doctor Who relaunch entitled "Rose" and took note of the actions and their corresponding exercises. This is going to be one hell of a workout tomorrow morning. Note that the actions appear in chronological order as seen in the episode and if multiple instances of a action occurred consecutively, I combined all the exercises into one set.

For reference, see the following post for the workout guidelines - http://dramaguycjm.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-doctor-who-workout.html

And now, the workout itself:

15 squats
10 leglifts
10 jumping jacks
15 squats
10 crunches
10 jumping jacks
100 crunches
50 jumping jacks
10 bicycles
20 crunches
130 jumping jacks
10 crunches
20 bicycles
10 jumping jacks
20 bicycles
30 crucnhes
20 bicycles
10 leg lifts
20 jumping jacks
15 squats
10 leg lifts
30 bicycles
20 crunches
20 bicycles
40 crunches
10 bicycles

...Yeah, they said "Doctor" a lot in this episode. I better stretch well before I attempt this tomorrow morning. And I advise anyone else who wants to try it to do the same. No sense in injuring yourself first crack out of the barrel. Good luck to me, and anyone else who will attempt this as well.

KOT 2012 Pairings I Want To See

It's that time of year again. The teams participating in King of Trios this year have been announced... for the most part. I say that because 16 Trios have been named, but apparently a place-holder image exists for a 17th Trio that - as present time - hasn't been announced yet. To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure if there actually is a 17th team or if CHIKARA is just messing with us a little bit. That being said, I'm going to proceed as I have in the past; taking look at the 16 teams that have been announced so far and listing pairings I'd like to see at some point during the tournament and my reasoning behind it. If a 17th Trio does arise, I'll amend this post by adding them to the list. OK, first is the list of the currently announced 16 Trios.

The Extreme Trio (Jerry Lynn, 2 Cold Scorpio, Tommy Dreamer)
F.I.S.T. (Icarus, Chuck Taylor, Johnny Gargano)
The Batiri (Obariyon, Kodama, Kobald)
The Spectral Envoy (UltraMantis Black, Hallowicked, Frightmare)
The Throwbacks (Dasher Hatfield, Mr Touchdown, Matt Classic)
Team JWP (Commando Bolshoi, Tsubasa Kuragaki, Kaori Yoneyama)
Ring Of Honor (Nick Jackson, Matt Jackson, Mike Bennett)
The Swarm (combatANT, deviANT, Solider Ant)
Quack. Jig & Toyota (Mike Quackenbush, Jigsaw, Manami Toyota)
The Faces Of Pain (The Warlord, Barbarian, Meng)
Osaka Pro (Kikutaro, Ebessan, Takoyakida)
Team Sendai Girls (Dash Chisako, Meiko Satomura, Sendai Sachiko)
3.0 & Akuma (Shane Matthews, Scott Parker, Gran Akuma)
The Colony (Fire Ant, Green Ant, assailANT)
Team WWF (1-2-3 Kid, Aldo Montoya, Tatanka)
Submission Squad (Evan Gelistico, Pierre Abernathy. Davey Vega, Gary the Barn Owl)

And now, let the fantasy booking begin!

Submission Squad vs. The Batiri - Mainly because Kobald stalking Gary the Barn Owl would be instant hilarity.

Submission Squad vs. The Spectral Envoy - Mainly because I want UltraMantis Black to take a humanitarian stance during the match; "Beat on the humans all you want, but don't dare harm a feather on the majestic barn owl's head!"

The Extreme Trio vs. The Faces of Pain - There's no way this match would be anything but hard hitting.

The Extreme Trio vs. Team WWF - Mainly because I'd love to see The Extreme Trio insist they've seen this Aldo Montoya fellow somewhere before.

Team WWF vs. The Faces of Pain - The 1990's have returned! Do want!

Team WWF vs. The Throwbacks - Mainly because I want someone on Team WWF to mistake Dasher Hatfield for Abe "Knuckleball" Schwartz

F.I.S.T. vs. Team JWP - Every time Icarus is involved in an intergender match, he always underestimates his opponents and gets the crap kicked out of him at some point. And it always brings joy to my little heart.

F.I.S.T. vs Team Sendai Girls - See above

F.I.S.T. vs. Ring Of Honor - I'm sure Taylor and Gargano are still none too happy about The Young Bucks taking the CHIKARA tag belts from them

F.I.S.T. vs. The Swarm - The long standing rivalry between F.I.S.T. and The Colony is well documented and would continue this year... in a fashion. Plus you know those smug bastards would love the fact that Solider Ant was forced into teaming with two GEKIDO ants and is hating every second of it

F.I.S.T. vs. The Faces Of Pain - Dear CHIKARA, if you love me, you'll have Icarus fall victim to the Full Nelson, a Boot to the Face and the Tongan Death Grip.

F.I.S.T. vs. 3.0 & Akuma - Any opportunity for Akuma to get his hands on Icarus.

F.I.S.T. vs. The Colony  - Semi-rematch from last year's finals.

The Batiri vs. The Spectral Envoy - Sinn Bodhi may have left CHIKARA, but I don't think the rivalry between these six individuals is anyone near over.

The Batiri vs. The Throwbacks - Is it wrong that I want Matt Classic to have some sort of issue with wrestling people with green faces?

The Batiri vs. The Faces Of Pain - Two trios of monsters, in different senses of the word.

The Batiri vs. Team Sendai Girls - Demons vs cute Japanese girls. I've seen enough anime to know where this is going.

...wait, what?!?

The Colony vs. Quack, Jig & Toyota - Theoretically it's one member of GEKIDO against 5 CHIKARA folks. I don't like assailANT's chances of emerging unscathed from this match.

The Colony vs. The Swarm - Because... duh!


Team Sendai Girls vs. The Throwbacks - Because as we've seen in the past, Matt Classic doesn't quite grasp the concept of wrestling "broads".

Team Sendai Girls vs. Team JWP - Six of the finest Joshi wrestlers in one match. Need I say more?

Team Sendai Girls vs. Quack, Jig & Toyota - One of the greatest Joshi wrestlers ever taking on three up and comers in the field.

The Throwbacks vs. Osaka Pro - Could this match happen without hilarity ensuing? I think not.

The Trowbacks vs. Team JWP - See above hypothetical scenerio with the Sendai Girls

The Faces of Pain vs. Ring Of Honor - Beat the crap out of those smug ROH mofos!

Ring Of Honor vs. Quack, Jig & Toyota - I'm sure Quack and Jigsaw would want to get their hands on the Young Bucks for absconding with the tag titles.

Quack. Jig & Toyota vs. The Swarm - Once again, an opportunity for Quack to get his hands on members of GEKIDO

OK, I think that will do it for now. If this 17th Trio emerges, I will do some more thinking and posting. But until then, feel free to let me know what you think about the possibilities I've posted above.

The Doctor Who Workout

I saw a picture posted in a few places on Facebook last week dubbed "The Doctor Who Workout". It was a list of situations that could occur in an episode of Doctor Who and next to it what you would have to do each time the particular situation happened. Here's the list.

EVERY TIME

Someone says "Doctor" - 10 jumping jacks

The Doctor says "Run!" - 15 squats

The Doctor uses his Sonic Screwdriver - 10 crunches

Someone gets in or out of the TARDIS - 10 bicycles

You hear the TARDIS sound  -  20 crunches

Anyone says their catch phrase - 10 leg lifts

Someone travels through time, space, or both  - 5 V-ups

The Doctor talks to the TARDIS - 10 push-ups

You see a DALEK  - RUN!

 
I think this is a pretty neat idea. I assume that "bicycles" are the exercise where you lie on your back, lift your legs into the air and then move them as if you're pedaling a bicycle. And "V-ups" are where you attempt to do a sit-up and raise your legs at the same time making your body form the shape of a "V" in the process. At least, that's how I'm going to interpret those instructions when doing this work-out. I think the way I will do it is watch an episode of Doctor Who, take note of each instance that happens, and then do the workout that was "built" by the episode after it finishes. As for the DALEK instruction, I have decided to do the following; if I'm watching an episode that features the DALEKS, I will have a stopwatch with me. I will run the stopwatch whenever a DALEK is on-screen, pause it when a DALEK is not on-screen, and at the end of the episode I will run on the treadmill for however long the DALEK's screen time was in that episode.

I may even post some of the workout routines for the episodes for those interested in trying it themselves. Now, how wants to do some Timey-Wimey workouts?

August Programming Note

I know. I know. "What do you mean, programming note? You've had more programming notes than actual programs!" Yes, I realize this and I apologize. Now will you shut up and let me speak?   Thank you.

This past week was a hard one for me. Stress from work plus a healthy dose of self-doubt came for a visit. Don't you love when that happens? I was really questioning whether or not if I wanted to contine with the podcast and if it would matter to any one if I just up and quit. So I spent a lot of time last week thinking about that and eventually came to this conclusion.

I'm going to keep podcasting and writing blogs and doing videos. But the podcast schedule is going to change. One of the biggest issues I seemed to have was coming up with content week after week. I don't think that's going to be much of an issue with this new schedule. Podcasts will now be released on a rotating schedule with a different show planned each week. These shows will be (in posting rotation order); Thoughts Out of Context, Intelligent TV on DVD Fan and This Is Gonna Suck.

Basically, I figure that if I focus on prepping for one type of show each week, there will be less potential for burnout. Also, it'll give me plenty of time to gather content with about a two week break between episodes for each show.

Since I'm making This Is Gonna Suck a regularly updated podcast, I'm discontinuing the "Jersey Shore" bounty concept. People can still feel free to donate to the show, it just won't correlate with how much I eventually torture myself by watching that god-awful program. I'm planning on also expanding the program by watching and providing commentary on other things that I'd likely find awful. But we'll get more into that as it comes closer to being a reality.

I'm going to try and get more "Let's Read..." videos recorded and uploaded in the next few weeks. The Internet connection on my computer has been spotty at best recently so that makes it kinda hard to pull stuff up and record myself reading it if I can't connect. Also, a new "Let's Nom On..." video was filmed last week and should be up sometime later this week as well so keep an eye out for that.

I also know I've been way behind on MST3K recaps. And I apologize for that also. So for the month of August, I'm going to try and post as many as I can from now until the end of the month to commemorate the two big shows the Sweet Translucent Dreams - my Rocky Horror Picture Show shadowcast - will be participating in along with One From The Vaults - another Rocky Horror shadowcast - in Bethlehem, PA. OK, I'm afraid I may have lost some of you. You may be wondering, what is the correlation here? Well, Mystery Science Theatre 3000 brought the art of riffing on a movie to the forefront of popular culture and Rocky Horror is well known for its audience participation that consists largely of talking back to the movie. And if you think that's a rickety sounding justification... you're probably right, but if it'll get me to write than don't complain.

OK, that will do it for this update. Thanks for sticking with me. Thanks for your patience. And stay tuned for tonight's new episode of Thoughts Out of Context.

MST Monday - "The Human Duplicators"

We've reached Monday again, and so it's time for another edition of MST Monday. This week, we take a look at "The Human Duplicators", a rather dull movie about an alien plot to infiltrate humanity with an army of android duplicates. Ready? Settle in, we've got Blog Post Sign!

Host Segment #1

Joel is considering making some modifications to the Bots and asks what they might like. Gypsy wants another eye and possibly a fin. Crow wants to stay the way he is unless Joel can increase his capacity to love. Tom Servo has drawn up a couple of sketches for redesign ideas he had including becoming a 700 foot tall tank and a trendy hotel in Seattle.

Invention Exchange

Dr. Forrester and TV's Frank are having a laughing fit at the very thought of their invention for this week, so Joel decides to go first. Borrowing the idea from the beanie hats that were popular when he was a kid, Joel has made a Beanie Copter with a massive propeller on top. The Bots are less than impressed as they were thinking  Joel would go through the roof when it turned on.


The Mads finally present their invention, though they're still in hysterics as they describe it. It's the William Conrad Fridge Alert, an alarm system specially designed go off whenever William Conrad is raiding your refrigerator. Dr Forrester admits he has it set on demo mode as Frank continually opens and closes the fridge door in the background setting off the alarm.

As odd as this may sound, I say the Mads won this week's Invention Exchange if only for the fact that Frank shouting "Look at me, I'm William Conrad" through fits of laughter as he trifles with the door was one of the few moments that made me laugh out loud this episode. And that being said, it's Movie Sign!

Movie Segment #1

The movie begins with a spaceship that resembles "a Christmas ornament from the 1960s" flying through space. Tom Servo takes that as his cue to sing a few bars of the theme song from "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians". On the ship, the very tall Dr. Kolos is instructed by his overlords to go to Earth and, with the help of a man named Professor Dornheimer, establish a colony on the planet so they can expand their Galaxy Domination Program.

Kolos is transported to Earth and arrives at the Professor's estate. After dispatching the doorman, Kolos enters the house and meets Lisa, the Professor's blind niece. She leads Kolos to the lab where he announces his intentions to assist Prof. Dornheimer with his android creation experiment regardless of whether or not he wants it.

Movie Segment #2

We next see a man by the name of Dr. Munson arrive at a government research facility. He breaks into a supply room and begins to steal transistors. Upon trying to flee the facility, he breaks through a metal gate and suffers no ill effects from four point blank gunshots fired by a security guard. I think it's possible there may be more to Munson than meets the eye.

The police arrive to investigate followed closely by Glenn Martin, an agent of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA). Given the odd nature of the incident, Glenn wants to take a look at Dr. Munson's file.

The highway patrol call in and report they saw the suspect's car go into a canyon. Glenn and the police report to the scene to investigate. Upon descending into the canyon, they find a body. It's Dr. Munson, now looking quite dead.

Host Segment #2

 Joel and the Bots participate in an art project, make a spaceship as good as the one in the opening of the movie using objects found around the house. Gypsy made her ship out of a Quaker Oats can, an old earring of hers, a sneaker and leftover carpet samples. Tom didn't put much effort into his model and just cut a Clorox bottle in half. Crow made a scale model of the Satellite of Love. Joel made a modal also. Crow dismisses it as a piece of junk noting it's made out of a bowling pin, a lacrosse helmet, some Tupperware pieces... wait a minute...

Movie Segment #3

 Glenn returns to the NIA offices. The report from the crime lab comes in along with the coroner's report. It says that Munson died from electrocution several hours before the robbery occurred. Glen decides to investigate the Dornheimer estate since it was near the crash site.

Lisa confronts Kolos saying that everything seemed to change after he arrived and asks why everyone seems to take orders from him. Kolos says she shouldn't be bothered and she storms off.

Glenn comes to the door posing as a reporter saying he wants to do an article on the Professor. As he enters the estate, he encounters Lisa who tells him that it would be best for Glenn to not stay but she is interrupted by saying anything further when her uncle walks in. Glenn tells the Professor that he wants to do an article on his daily life. Professor Dornheimer says he life is not the dull routine that the general public might imagine. Glenn's response, "Your niece is very lovely" to which Joel replies, "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" In all honesty, it is a fair question for Joel to ask.

Movie Segment #4

 Glenn is interrupted while trying to pump information from the Professor. A servant apologizes to Glenn and asks if he can come back at a later time as the Professor has some urgent work to attend to.

Gail, Glenn's colleague and love interest, is seen lounging at poolside with a terrier. The phone rings and Crow remarks, "Hey, your dog's ringing. Oh, it's the phone". It's Glenn calling. He's made arrangements for the two of them to meet for dinner and asks Gail to pick up some books from the library on her way over.

After dinner, they return to Gail's apartment to do some research. Glenn is deep in thought as he reads, tending to ignore Gail. What follows is easily my favorite moment of the episode;

Gail: Well, say something.
Crow: Something.
Glenn: (Two seconds later) Something.
Crow: D'oh! I got riffed back on that one.

As Glenn continues his reading, he discovers that Professor Dornheimer is a leader in the field of cybernetics and mentions the possibly of the Professor creating androids.

Host Segment #3

Tom Servo has gone and created several duplicates of himself. Joel and Crow enter and are horrified by what they see. Joel tells Servo is treading shaky moral ground by doing this, but Servo fails to see a problem and orders his army to attack. They just stand around, not responding. Joel drags Servo off and the clones start to close in on Crow with malicious intent. Just as it seems like all is lost for our hero, he is saved by Movie Sign!


Movie Segment #5

Glenn breaks into the estate and finds a room filled with components for the androids. He walks into another room and finds caskets filled with the bodies of people who have already been duplicated and disposed of afterwards. Glenn stumbles across the lab and witnesses a duplication taking place.  

Lisa finds Glenn and tells him that her uncle is not responsible for what's happening. Her real uncle has been imprisoned and the "Professor" that Glenn is seeing is actually a "twin". Kolos is actually the one in charge now.


Glenn walks back into the lab as is then attacked by the servant and Kolos.

Movie Segment #6

Glenn fights back and throws the servant off the stairwell. The servant's head breaks open and Glenn's suspicions are finally confirmed, they are indeed creating androids. Glenn is apprehended and they decide to make a duplicate of him. Lisa enters the lab and the screen goes black for a brief moment. Crow: That must have been from her point of view. Lisa finds a coin on the stairs that Glenn dropped in the fray and takes it with her as she leaves the lab.

"Glenn" returns to the NIA office and doesn't seem quite like himself. Gail suggests that perhaps Glenn has become an android and decides to do some undercover work of her own and follow him.

Movie Segment #7

Dr. Kolos makes a report to his superiors informing them of his progress. He tells them about the duplicate they made of Glenn and the fact they're keeping him alive since it may benefit them to create more duplicates since he's a government agent and may be able to gain clearance to obtain the resources they may need to continue with their mission. Kolos is then asked why he hasn't made a duplicate of Lisa yet. Kolos explains he feels there is no need to do so and that she poses no threat to remaining as an original. This doesn't sit well with the overlords and they inform him that he must not deviate from the plan and, as such, has to duplicate Lisa. After signing off, Kolos still insists he will not make Lisa into a duplicate despite the insistence of his supervisors and the Professor's duplicate.


Lisa makes her way to the dungeon to check on Glenn and her uncle, the real Professor Dornheimer. Lisa mentions she found a coin on the stairwell in the lab and Glenn asks her to bring it to him. Somehow this coin will help him escape, I assume.

Gail has tailed "Glenn" to a government facility in the middle of the night. She follows him in and locates him in a supply warehouse. He pulls a gun on her and this is enough to convince her that this is not really Glenn and she runs off screaming. "Glenn" chases after her and gets into a fight with a security guard who, it turns out, is also a duplicate as his head shatters after he's thrown to the ground. How deep has this plan gone?

Host Segment #4

Hugh Beaumont, who plays the head of the NIA in the movie, stops by the Hexfield Viewing Screen. He's crabby as hell.

Movie Segment #8

"Glenn" is seemingly cornered but manages to escape, leaving his right arm behind in the process.

Kolos is in Lisa's room fiddling with the coin on her dresser as he's waiting for her to show up. He tells her about what his supervisor's had told him in regards to turning her into a duplicate but how he has no desire to do so. After dropping a doll on the floor to distract him, Lisa swipes the coin off her dresser in order to bring it to Glenn.

Meanwhile, the duplicates are beginning to rebel. They decide to go after Kolos and then subject Lisa to duplication once they have him incapacitated.

Lisa makes her way to the dungeon via a secret staircase. Two robot nurses spot her and follow her down.

"Professor Dornheimer" has now appointed himself the leader of the duplicates and they seize Kolos down in the lab.

Lisa brings the coin to Glenn. The nurses then grab Lisa and drag her upstairs. Glenn frantically begins to file the bars in an effort to try and escape.

The Professor's duplicate tells Kolos that in designing the androids, one fatal flaw had been made. They all ended up achieving individual thought. Now that they are able to act on their own accord, androids will become the new master race.

Movie Segment #9

The real Professor Dornheimer tells Glenn that the way to defeat the androids is to cause electrical breakdown to their brains. With his dying breath, the Professor tells Glenn to use a fusion beam in the lab to accomplish the job.

Lisa is sealed in the lab in preparation to be duplicated.

Glenn finally breaks out of his cell and makes his way to the lab.

Kolos breaks free of the wall manacles he had been chained up in and begins to fight back against the duplicates. Glenn had made his way to the lab at this point and fires the fusion beam at the duplicates who begin to fight one another instead. Eventually all the duplicates collapse to the floor since their circuitry had been overpowered by the fusion beam.

Glenn faces off with the "Professor" in the foyer and the duplicate "Glenn" eventually enters. He refuses to fight the real Glenn even as the "Professor" continually commands him to. The two duplicates then fight each other just as reinforcements for Glenn arrive and enter the mansion.

Kolos emerges from the lab, carrying Lisa with him. He reveals all the details of the plan and says that ultimately he has failed. But it's not because he was weak, it was because Glenn was strong. Kolos says he will now return to his home planet where he will be exterminated for his failure, but this doesn't matter to him because he was also actually an android as well. Kolos teleports back to his ship to await his fate as the movie ends.

Host Segment #5

Joel commends Richard Kiel who played Kolos for coming out as a robot at the end of the movie. Crow says that he and Tom Servo had been inspired by the movie but faints as the emotional weight of their announcement is too much for him. Servo picks up the slack and comes out of the closet admitting to Joel that he and Crow are both robots. Joel says he knew that already.

In Deep 13, the Mads are still laughing at the absurdity of their invention. Just then, William Conrad sneaks in and raids their fridge. The Mads aren't bothered and just continue to laugh noting that he won't get very far. Dr. Forrester pushes the button to end the episode.

Stinger

Two duplicates are fighting one another, making goofy looking faces all the while.

I found the movie itself to be pretty dull. As a result, it didn't seem like there were many funny riffs in this episode. So unfortunately this episode gets another low rating from me, 2 and 1/2 stars out of 5.

  

MST Monday - "The Rebel Set"

Hello there. And welcome to the first edition of MST Monday, the Mystery Science Theatre 3000 recap segment. What you'll find here is a recap of various episodes of MST3K with my own unique take on the show peppered in there. So without further ado... we've got Blog Post Sign!

Host Segment #1

As we begin the episode, Joel is trying to read some very scary bedtime stories to Crow and Tom Servo. But they being jaded kids of the 90's, they seem to have no effect on them. Tom says that Joel has subjected them to In Cold Blood and "the 17 novels Stephen King came out with this year". Joel decides it's time to break out the big guns and pulls out Life's Little Instruction Book and begins to read it. The Bots are suitably and understandable horrified as we go to commerical sign.
  
Invention Exchange

 The Mads' offering is TV's Frank's Quick Primp Kit. It consists of a full length mirror that you hang off the back of a person standing in front of you in line for, say, a movie as well as a toiletry hat to place on their head. Frank admits that the effectiveness of the invention depends very heavily on the goodwill of the person in front of you. Dr. Forrester bashes the mirror over Frank's head off-screen while Joel and the Bots present their invention.

Back on the Satellite Of Love, Joel's submission is the Paint-By-Numbers Mark Rathko kit. Since Mr. Rathko specializes in paintings that consist of a single color, this is the simplest Paint-By-Number kit in existence.

My pick for the winner: SOL!

Short: Johnny At The Fair

One of my favorite shorts. Joel asks the Bots not to get too dark as the short begins. I'm sure you can imagine how well that goes. Johnny and his parents go to a national fair in Canada. Johnny, being the curious kid he is, decides to wander off on his own for a while and meets in his travels Joe Frazer, a former Prime Minister of Canada, figure skater Barbara Ann Scott and the Hellzapoppin Boys - Olsen & Johnson. 

I think this short may have the dirtiest riff ever in it. At one point, Johnny goes to a horse show at the fair. A young foal trots around the exhibition floor and then walks over to an adult horse and makes as if to nurse. The foal walks away not soon after and Crow comments, "Whoops. Sorry, Dad". ...Wow, talk about slipping one past the radar! I've watched this short numerous time and this was the first time I ever caught this riff.

Easily my favorite riff of the short was a call back to a comment made by the narrator. Johnny catches sight of a "heel-a-copter aeroplane" taking flight. "'Jimminy', thinks Johnny. 'If only I could get a ride in one of those.'", says the narrator. Shortly after that, Johnny meets up with Barbara Ann Scott who kisses him in the cheek. He puts his head down in shyness afterwards and his face is level with her chest. At which point Crow says "'Jimminy', thinks Johnny. 'If only I could get a ride in one of those.'". Hilarious!

 The Rebel Set Segment #1

The opening credits roll over footage of people in a coffee house sitting around and listening to a jazz band.A guy by the name of Sindey enters and approaches his boss and the owner of the coffee house, Mr. Tucker - or Mr. T for short. Mr. T tells Sidney he's planning "a move". Sidney has his reservations, but Mr. T tells him not to worry.

We then cut to a guy in his kitchen running lines from "The Taming of the Shrew". Turns out, he's running lines opposite a record which begins to skip. Favorite riff of this segment comes from Joel, "It's too for acting lessons now. They've already started filming". This man is John Mapes, an out of work actor. His wife Jeane then arrives home having just finished working late at the drive-in. John tries to reassure her something will come soon and not long after that he gets a call from Sidney. John claims it's a call from his agent who tells him a producer wants to meet with him at midnight. Jeane has her suspicions, but John pays her no heed and gets ready for his meeting.

Host Segment #2

A package has arrived for Crow. He was inspired by the movie to order an acting instruction kit, a record called "Co-Starring With Scott Baio... You!" Crow tries it out with a scene from "Joanie Loves Chachi". He struggles to find the subtext to his line, "Hi, Chachi!"

Movie Segment #2

Sidney meets with George Leland, the estranged son of a formerly famous actress, and Ray Miller, a struggling writing, and tells them to meet at the coffee house for instructions from Mr. T. Tucker tells the three men that he has brought them together tonight to improve their finances and is recruiting them to participate in a heist of $1,000,000 in Chicago. Tucker guaruntees each man will be given $20,000 if they'll participate.

John returns him and feeds his wife a story about having to meet with a producer in Chicago based on this meeting. Jeane buys the story hook, line and sinker.

Movie Segment #3

 The next night at the coffee house, the three men meet and wait to receive their tickets from Karen, a waitress who works at the coffee house. She tells the men to look away and pulls the tickets out from their secure place, her cleavage. Favorite riff of this segment comes from Crow as Karen retrieves the tickets, "Hey, while you're in there, could you get me a newspaper?"

Sidney and Tucker are driving to the train station that night. Sidney asks Tucker why he hired "those three creeps" to be part of the heist. Tucker explains it's all part of his plan figuring they will follow through to the best of their abilities since much importance has been thrust upon them.

Everyone arrives at the train station separately and boards the train. John's wife, Jeane, is accompanying him, much to Tucker's visible consternation. As the train pulls out, Joel and the Bots became to name other movies that deal with trains such as Silver Streak and Murder On the Orient Express. They also name drop  Golan-Globus, a producer duo that is responsible for a future MST3K experiment, Alien From L.A.

Host Segment #3

Joel asks what everyone would do if they had a four-hour layover in Chicago much like the characters in the movie. Gypsy would go do some shopping. Tom would rob a bank, Al Capone style. Joel would visit King Richard's Ren Fest and buy a leather mug. He'd then take that leather mug to Wrigley Field and drink beer from it. Crow would take an intricate and detailed walking tour of the city. In fact, he goes into a little too much detail about the sights he'd hope to see and bores the crap out of everyone until Movie Sign sounds and snaps everyone out of their stupor.

Movie Segment #4

Ray and George confront John in the cafe car about bringing his wife. John insists it was all her idea and the subject is dropped.

The train arrives in Chicago and Tucker waits for his men to leave the train. John tells his wife to find something to occupy her time during their layover. Jeane asks why she can't come with to the supposed meeting with the producer, and John claims it's because he'd get self-conscious if she were there.

The men set up an ambush for the armored car and wait for its arrival. And they wait, and wait, and wait... until it goes to commercial

Movie Segment #5

Sidney cuts off the armored car in his own car and poses as being injured in the accident. John and Ray drive in disguised as policemen and then succeed in accomplishing the robbery. After making off with the money, the group pulls off to a side road and buries the evidence of the heist in a hole.

John returns to the train station and reunites with his wife just in time to board the train which is now departing for Newark. A reporter stops George as he tries to board the train trying to get a quote from him about his estranged mother. As George tries to push past, he drops the gift box that they had hidden the stolen money in. George recovers the box and makes his way onto the train.

Jeane tries to press John for details about his meeting, but he is very curt with her and not saying very much. He then apologizes saying he's feeling a little on edge. This if followed by Crow delivering my favorite riff of this segment, "George Bernard Shaw was making fun of me".

Movie Segment #6

The conductor comes into Ray's room and tries to make some small talk after discovering that Ray is a writer. Ray has no interest at all.

John goes to George's room to get a look at the money. George has decided to go rogue and take all the money for himself, throwing John's cut to him. The two men fight and John takes off with the box of money. He sees Ray in the cafe car and signals for him to follow. Ray doesn't want the money to be hidden in his room, but John says they can't use his room because his wife is there.

John and Ray head back to George's room and see a Do Not Disturb sign on his door. Ignoring the sign, they open the door and walk in to find George has been shot. An apparent suicide note has been posted. Ray realizes the murder used his typewriter because of the alignment of the "e" on the paper. The two men set out and try to discover who killed George.

Ray decides to chuck his typewriter off the train so that the note won't be traced back to him. Tucker, who has disguised himself as a bald priest, confronts Ray and threatens to kill him in order to eliminate another division of the spoils of the heist. Same reason he killed George.

Host Segment #4

Joel and The Bots have a writer's workshop based on the book Writing Down the Tracks written by Merritt Stone, the conductor in the movie. Tom, however, insists it's not him. Joel rejects Crow's sample as well as Tom Servo's sample even though he plagiarized Joyce de Witt... I mean James Joyce, simply because neither of them mentioned anything train related. Gypsy recites one of those "Two trains leave a station..." math problems, and Joel approves.

Movie Segment #7

Tucker comes to George's room to see the conductor is already there and discovered the corpse. The conductor points out the suicide note but Tucker, still disguised as the priest, says it's possible that it was murder.

John confesses to Jeane that he participated in the Chicago heist and she is heartbroken.

We see footage of a train pass and Crow asks if there is a love scene happening.

The train finally arrives in Newark and the police and coroner are there to meet the train. John confesses to the police that he was part of the heist and offers to lead them to the money.

Tucker whacks the policeman standing guard outside the train with his cane and is able to exit the train. Tucker takes this opportunity to recite scripture to himself, "And thus Samson slayed the Philestine". To which Crow replies, "He hit him in the head with a sitting stick? I did not know that."

John leads the police to Ray's room only to find the money is no longer in the box. John glances out the window and sees Tucker walking past and tells them he's spotted the killer. After forcing the police officer out of the room, he breaks the window in the room and gives chase.

Movie Segment #8

John begins to chase Tucker while the police are in pursuit of John. The chase goes all through the trainyard. Favorite riff of this segment is as follows;

Crow: Now there's something you don't see everyday, Chauncey.
Tom: What's that, Edgar?
Crow: A priest beating the hell out of some guy in a factory

The fight culminates in a generator room. Tucker is knocked into some high voltage wires and is killed by electrocution.

John and Jeane reunite in the train station only for John to be taken into police custody seconds later. George's mother walks into the station giving an interview to a reporter dealing with her estranged son. She says she's ready to reconcile and be a real mother to her son. At that moment, the coroner wheels the covered corpse of George through the station and past his mother. Joel comments on the dark social commentary of the moment.

And the end, Joel sums it up thusly, "So all this happened because Johnny got lost at the fair?"

Host Segment #5

Tom Servo enters as Hercule Poirot claiming he'll solve The Great Merritt Stone Mystery. By analysing five of the films the crew had watched, Tom surmises that Merritt Stone and Gene Roth might be the same person. Crow posits that Jack Kosslyn might be Merritt Stone, but if that's the case then who is Gene Roth?

Servo's head explodes... poor guy.


Frank tries to do some research of his own on the subject and breaks down into confused tears much to Dr. Forrester's chagrin. Dr. F pushes the button himself and the credits roll.

Stinger

A freaky looking beat poet says "I am bugged!"



I'm not big on heist movies, and this movie didn't change my opinion any. I also thought this episode was sort of a weak one. The short is always entertaining, but I didn't feel like many of the riffs in the movie hit their mark. In all, an average episode. My rating, 3 and 1/2 stars out of 5



 




 



 

Looking Ahead To July

Man, hard to believe we're almost halfway through the year. I know I've been kind of idle in terms of content these last few months, and I apologize for that. But I appreciate your patience with me as I try to get things together. So, without further ado, here's what I have planned for next month and beyond.

The Blog

General: Admittedly, not a whole lot happens in my life on a regular basis that I feel is blog post worthy. Honestly, I don't think people would want to come here every couple of days to read me complaining about work. But I'm going to try and add posts here on a more regular basis. In fact, I have a couple of concepts I'm going to try out that will hopefully garner the interest of potential readers.

MST Monday: As the title indicates, I'm planning to post recaps of Mystery Science Theatre 3000 episodes on Mondays. I may occasionally post on other days depending on audience interest and my own personal schedule. I'll have plenty of material to choose from since I have 126 episodes in my collection between DVD Box Sets and burned CDs courtesy of a friend of mine from high school. The format of the recaps will include summaries of the movies & shorts, host segments, a comparison of the items offered up in the Invention Exchange, and favorite riffs. If there's anything else that you think I should focus on and discuss in regards to the episodes, don't hesitate to let me know.

An Hour of Music: The idea behind this concept is every so often I'll pull up either Pandora or Slacker Radio on my phone, choose a station, listen to it for an hour straight without skipping any songs and type up my thoughts on what I'm listening to. Posting goal; at least once or twice a week

Random Writing Prompts: A few months ago, I went to a website that had hundreds of writing prompts listed, chose one at random and made a post using the instructions there. I'm going to try and do this again at least a couple of times a month. Have to get the creative juices flowing somehow.

The Vlogs

"Let's Read...": I've been trying to consistently post new episodes of "Let's Read..." on Wednesdays. I'm planning to stick to that posting schedule. If you come across any works of fan fiction online that you think would be a good fit for the show, let me know and send then my way.

The Podcast

General:  As of July, the podcast will return to a weekly format. Next new episode is coming July 1st. All episodes next month are coming to you courtesy of Adam Leone, a good friend of mine who generously donated to allow me to upgrade to a Podomatic PRO account that enables me to have more storage and bandwidth per month. And I'm very thankful for his help because apparently the podcast experienced a jump in popular recently, actually went over it's allotted basic account monthly bandwidth limit and effectively froze out any new downloads. Thanks to his donation, I am able to get back to podcasting post-upgrade instead of waiting until the middle of July for the monthly reset. If you'd be interested in becoming a monthly sponsor for the podcast, simply donate either via the Donate button on this blog page of send a donation via PayPal to dramaguycjm@verizon.net

Interviews Galore: I have a lot of ideas for interviews coming up in this second half of the year, especially as we get closer to November which will mark 5 years since I first appeared as a guest on a podcast. Who do I have planned? You'll just have to stay tuned to find out.

Other

"Jersey Shore" viewing is going to happen. As I mentioned above, my friend Adam made a donation recently. And any donation made goes towards the "Jersey Shore" bounty. So having donated $11, I'll be watching - I mean, suffering through - the first 5 episodes of that show. Seven more dollars will have me finish out the season given my earlier breakdown of $2 per episode. So now that I'm going to subject myself to this program, how should I recap my thoughts; written out as a blog post or an audio segment on the podcast? Please let me know, whichever one gets the most votes will be the recap method of choice.

As always, thanks for reading, watching and listening. Your support is greatly appreciated and I couldn't do any of this without you. Any and all questions, comments, suggestions and feedback are appreciated. Simply e-mail chrismcg1983@gmail.com with any of the above. And don't forget, if you like what I do, feel free to spread the word!
 

June Concept

I'd been kicking around this concept for a while and decided to finally pull the trigger and go forward with it.

From now until the end of June, I'll be adopting an additional "Cash For Content" model. The idea being that in addition to the videos, blogs and podcasts I have planned for this month, I'll also post about whatever you want me to for the price of a donation. Any amount at all. For as little as $1, I'll take your suggestion and make it into interesting and entertaining content.

Just go to the homepage for this blog - http://dramaguycjm.blogspot.com - and click the Donate button and let me know what you want me to discuss and what medium to use. A blog about the pets I've had? Sure. A video where I discuss TV shows that didn't last beyond one season? I'll do it. A podcast segment where I read from a cookbook? That's an odd option, but if you pay me I'll do it.

I hope you'll consider helping me out in this endeavor. Thanks for your time and I'll see you around.

Update: I'm NOT Watching Jersey Shore... For Now, At Least

Yesterday I reported that someone had taken me up on my offer; donate $18 and I will watch, recap and review the first season of Jersey Shore.

Well, it turns out I'm not going to be doing that just yet. The donor sent me an e-mail yesterday with a few provisions I needed to follow, the main one being this project had to be finished and posted by 5:00 PM on Friday. There's no way I'd be able to make this happen, I have work and rehearsal most every day this week. I don't have all the free time in the world between now and Friday to sit, watch all 9 episodes and then comment on them. ...That and they wanted my reviews to be non-biased and not just full out bashings, but there's no way I could do honestly do that.

So, long story short, I won't be reviewing Jersey Shore just yet. The donation was refunded back to donor and the bounty is back on the table. Yay, I think?

The Mid-to-Late 90's Called, And They're Coming Back

Oh, 1995-1999, you memorable span of time. I don't recall everything I personally did in that span of time. But something I do remember very clearly, the music. During these years, I was aged 11 to 16 and my personal tastes in media were beginning to form. The alternative/modern rock boom was in full force and dominating the radio waves and MTV's music video rotation. Yes, I remember when MTV used to show videos. Incredible, isn't it?

Anyway, last week I heard from a very close friend of mine about a concert tour running this summer called The Summerland Tour. The tour consists of five bands very big during the mid-to-late 90's; Marcy Playground, Gin Blossoms, Lit, Sugar Ray and Everclear. Bands responsible for writing and playing some of my favorite songs from adolescence... and Sugar Ray. Sorry, but Sugar Ray never did it for me. Now had the fifth spot been filled by another band from MTV's Buzz Bin era like say Superdrag, Letters To Cleo, Fastball, Weezer or Better Than Ezra, then MY HEAD A SPLODE!

Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to completely write off this tour because of my ambivalence towards Sugar Ray. In fact, I really want to go see this show! This is the first summer festival tour I've heard about in years that I'm excited about seeing. All the details haven't been ironed out yet, but I'm hoping to go see the show outside of Washington D.C. this July with my friend Lynds who brought this concert to my attention. If I do go, I'll definitely discuss it either here, on the podcast or in vlog form. It'll depend.

The tour itself starts in June and runs until early August. If you're a fan of any of those five bands, or 90's alternative rock in general, check out this tour! More information can be found at the official website, http://summerlandtour.net/

The Future of Thoughts Out of Context

Well, here it is. The time has come for my announcement regarding the future of my "brand", for lack of a better term.

First, a little background. Last Monday, I made a small wager based on tonight's WrestleMania 28 event. One of the big matches on tonight's card is a Hell in a Cell match between Triple H and The Undertaker. The Undertaker, going into the event, was undefeated at WrestleMania with a record of 19-0. And honestly, I feel that the match result would be a foregone conclusion with the streak continuing on and The Undertaker being 20-0 and the end of the event. In fact, I was so sure of it, I wagered that if somehow Triple H won and caused The Undertaker's record to become 19-1, I would quit podcasting, blogging and posting videos.

Well, as I type this it is 9:30 PM EST and the Hell in a Cell match ended about half an hour ago. And I have from good authority - by that, I mean several postings on Facebook and Twitter - that The Undertaker won the match and has extended his record to 20-0 at WrestleMania. So that being said, looks like I'm sticking around for a while.

I'm going to try and post blogs more regularly, a new episode of the Thoughts Out of Context podcast will be up this Sunday on Easter, Intelligent TV on DVD Fan podcast will finally be coming very soon, new Let's Read videos are forthcoming and much, much more.

Now, on the off chance that WWE had booked Triple H to break the streak, I had a statement prepared. Basically, I would've said thank you for all the support and for reading, listening to and watching my posts. And closed it out with one last thing...

APRIL FOOLS, BITCHES!

Yeah, regardless of the outcome of the match I wasn't planning on going anywhere. As I stated before, there was only one set of circumstances that would make me stop posting everywhere all together; a one-time donation from anyone in the amount of $1000. And since I don't foresee that happening anytime soon, it's time for me to get back to it. Stick around and see what's on the horizon!

A Call To Action

As the blog title says, this is a call to action. But it has nothing to do with me. Instead, I am reaching out on behalf of a friend of mine.

My friend Stef is heading up a team for the MDA Muscle Walk taking place February 25 in Atlanta, GA.She is seeking team members to help raise money or come up with ideas on how to raise money. I'll now quote her; 

"MDA has clinics that provide medical care to people like my Dad, Aunt and two cousins who have Muscular diseases. They provide all kinds of services that they might not be able to get any other way. Any help would be greatly appreciated"

MDA is setting up a team website for her this coming week and a team name will soon follow.

If you're interested, please get in touch with her. E-mail her at Shybizkitgirl89@aol.com or contact her on Facebook, the name is Stefany Filyaw.

I hope you'll consider helping her out and feel free to spread this blog post around to any interested parties. Hope everyone has a great remainder of the weekend! Thanks for reading.