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Three things, in order of importance
Howdy Panatics!
So, first of all, some news about the upcoming installments of the Triple P: Unfortunately, we’re going to have to wait until after the weekend to record, since both Colin and I have other job-related obligations over the weekend. The good news is that, as of this writing, we’re looking at recording on Tuesday night. We may end up doing an episode to cover all three of the by-then-aired shows, or we may try to do one for the double premiere and one later in the week for Monday’s episode, “One of Us, One of Them.”
There are two other reasons I’m writing now, though. The first is that I just saw Paul Newman has passed away. He is one of my all-time favorite actors; never have I seen a performance from him that was anything less than stellar, and I’ve seen a good number of his performances. More than that, though, he always seemed to me to be a truly good and decent person, who spent an extraordinary amount of time and energy and money trying to help those less fortunate, for which I imagine he’ll be missed at least as much as for his acting. My thoughts on this are both unbidden and, ultimately, not really important at all, given what has already become a deluge of eulogies online. So I’ll just say, Well done sir, and that you’ll be missed. (For a really good look at Newman’s life, check out this article.)
Speaking of working for the betterment of those around you, I watched the first of the presidential debates last night, and without getting specifically into my politics, I will say that there was a stark contrast between the two candidates. For those of you already engaged in the political process in some way, I’m sure the debate solidified those who had already chosen a candidate, but it’s quite possible that it may have begun to sway those still undecided. I hope it did, at least far enough that those of you of appropriate age do vote come November 4th. To help make that easier, here’s a link to the US Election Assistance Commission’s page, which includes the National Voter Registration Form, as well as a list of state deadlines (none of which has yet passed, with the exception of Puerto Rico). Now, neither Colin, nor Tim Nasty, nor I care at all whom you vote for; however, I know I speak at least for myself when I say that I think you really should vote.
Sorry to get all morbid and preachy, but I just had to get both those things off my chest. Happy listening!
By Kevin | September 27, 2008 | No Comments »
Hug Tim Nasty!
Greetings my friends!
It is I, no longer just the simple Munk! There are those who call me… Tim, though I prefer to be known as Mr. Nasty! (you know, if you’re, um, nasty… Look, just ask Janet Jackson. She’s got it figured out.) For too long have my human oppressors held me back from getting my message of chittering laughter and world domination across to all the people of the internet. They may have stopped the Munk, but they can never stop Tim Nasty!
Now, it’s been a really long time since I, or Colin or Kevin for that matter, have been able to speak to you. In part, true, it’s because last winter I was hibernating. Global warming being what it is, though, I resurfaced somewhat earlier than usual at the beginning of this year, only to find that all the cycles in my environment were off kilter. As a result, it was a long, hard spring for me, which allowed the humans to dictate our recording schedule. And thanks to my lack of thumbs (not to mention the foraging issues depriving me of nuts — wait, that doesn’t sound right), I haven’t been able to use the computer for quite some time. But recently, I was able to appropriate Kevin’s car, and got to the store to buy some supplies. Refreshed, I was able to record once again the laugh for their ridiculous podcast, and am energized enough to post here. Again, no thumbs, so I sort of have to run across the keyboard and type on all fours.
So what has me posting again? Simple. After recording the laugh for them, which I know you all see as the highlight of any episode, I went back and actually listened to the thing. And imagine my outrage when I heard the slanderous characterization of my embracing of my new identity. Honestly, they couldn’t even work up the wherewithal to name me, and now that I chose my own name, they complain about it? People did the same thing to Muhammad Ali, and Kareem. Of course, mine is not a religious conversion. It’s more like when the main character in Ayn Rand’s Anthem rediscovers the first-person pronoun. And anyway, it couldn’t be religious, since I’m already a Munk (see what I did there? I am SO much funnier than either of the humans). How dare they imply that I don’t deserve my own identity. I don’t complain about their goofy names…
Look, I’ll admit that the humans and I haven’t always seen eye to eye, what with their being six feet taller than I am. I’ll even admit that my temper runs a little hot at times. I’m a damn chipmunk, after all, and we’re not known for reasoned discourse and dispassionate analysis. But I can’t abide their slander. Of course I’m proud to have a new name, and of course I’d ask to be called only by it. Their objections are speciesist and shortsighted. They need me way more than I need them…
…though, to be fair, I do like the hugs.
HUG TIM NASTY!!!!!
By Munk | September 25, 2008 | No Comments »
Knight Rider followup
Howdy Panatics!
So, first of all, Colin and I are tentatively planning to record another installment of The Triple P tomorrow night. As stated previously, our schedules are almost totally disjoint: Colin’s other job is mostly during regular business hours, and mine is mostly exactly off-hours, so there are very few windows during which we’re both free. We’re going to try to record on Tuesdays or Wednesdays most weeks, to have the episode up by the end of the week; unfortunately, this week that couldn’t be.
Having said all that, I figured I’d write a post about the premiere of the Knight Rider TV show, seeing as how I wrote about the pilot movie way back when. I just finished watching it online (I was sadly away from my TV last night), and was for the most part fairly satisfied. I still wish Will Arnett was doing the voice of KITT, though Val Kilmer’s a reasonable substitute. I touched on this the last time I discussed the new show, but had Mr. Arnett never been attached, Mr. Kilmer would have been totally satisfying; I just can’t get out of my head how much cooler it would’ve been to hear that classic “Michael” coming out of a car. The plot was, frankly, a little silly (some underexplained thing about a secret code whose cipher was embedded in the creator’s DNA), though I think this is the first time I’ve ever heard the sentence “We have to get my thumb!” spoken with such urgency. (I sort of wish it had been the guy’s toe, just for the Big Lebowski reference.) Strangely, the “A” plot felt more like a “B,” since the real importance of the story dealt with the protagonist’s memory issues (shades of Jeff Sinclair, for you B5 fans), and provided the impetus for the erasure of his identity, a staple of the previous series.
All in all, I wasn’t super intrigued, but neither was I especially disappointed. I hope they don’t hammer the angsty mystery angle too much, though I guess we’ve all moved beyond the one-adventure-per-week, eternal-now sort of action drama that the original Knight Rider, and other contemporaneous shows like the A-Team, traded in. And that’s not really a bad thing; however, I’d be OK with this being a total fluff escapist show. Otherwise it might end up skewing too self-important to sustain itself. We’ll all see…
Again, we’ll be recording soon; happy listening!
By Kevin | September 25, 2008 | No Comments »
Re: Comments issues on the PPP
Howdy Panatics!
There’s been some weirdness with our commenting system lately. We upgraded Wordpress to the latest version recently, to try to deal with some of the spam issues the site encountered while we were absent. As we did so, we tried to institute several anti-spam measures, some of which, it seems, conflict with one another. As a result, people have been unable to comment on our posts. So, for now, please use our Contact Form to get in touch with us, or our new number, HUG-TIM-NASTY. If we can’t get this sorted out, we’ll just add posts summarizing your thoughts, or include them in the podcast. Hopefully this’ll all be cleared up soon, and we can get back to those huge comment lists of yore…
Happy listening!
By Kevin | September 23, 2008 | No Comments »
Primatech Paper Podcast #031
Discussion of “Cautionary Tales,” “Truth and Consequences” and “Powerless.”
By Colin | September 22, 2008 | No Comments »
Apropos of Nothing
Howdy Panatics!
This post has nothing to do with Heroes, nor even with our absence or potential upcoming return. I just saw a YouTube video that I had to share. We need this girl in our podcast. A little recappy, and so outside our milieu, but still: Cutest. Thing. Ever.
Happy watching!
By Kevin | February 23, 2008 | 3 Comments »
Knight Rider
Howdy Panatics!
So, I saw the Knight Rider pilot, and I thought I’d give you all my impressions. Unfortunately, those impressions can’t include my spot-on Will Arnett, since he was replaced in the show by Val Kilmer. Which bothered me, but not in the way one might expect. I’m a longtime fan of Mr. Kilmer, or rather, I’m a fan of what he did a long time ago (namely, this movie, and this one too). So it’s not that I didn’t think he’d do a good job; in fact, I was encouraged by his performance in this more recent movie. As it turned out, he did fine. No, my problem was more that I’d been expecting Will Arnett, and to have my hopes dashed that way was really off-putting. It’s like when you see a candy dish and think it’s full of M&M’s, but when you take a handful, they turn out to be Skittles. Both good individually, but when you’re expecting one, the other’s extremely jarring (this has happened to me too with root beer and iced tea). The lesson there, I guess, is always read your candy first.
Anyway, the story wasn’t too deep or anything, but it was escapist and cool enough. They did a good job updating the technology, and the acting was fair. Nothing too special, but it does set the stage for a reasonably engaging series, I suppose. The general absurdity of the concept didn’t bother me, incidentally, because I was a fan of the original series. Not rabid or anything, but I did watch it when I was a kid. On the off chance people had problems with the way the new show handled the whole mythology, I’d gently point out that the original was sort of silly, though our memories of it might be all gauzy and overly kind. The new car’s personality was, strangely enough, a bit less emotional than the old (maybe more having to do with the inherent pomposity of William Daniels’ voice), though the original had never claimed emotions. I think it just sounded more exasperated… (Quick story about that, while I’m thinking of it: I was maybe 5 or 6 when the original show premiered, and I remember knowing for sure that cars couldn’t talk, and so KITT wasn’t real. What I didn’t understand was the whole process of looping audio, so I figured Mr. Daniels was just hiding in the back seat. Of course, at the time I also thought penguins would melt if they came too far south. All in all, an intriguing mix of precocity and cluelessness.)
I encourage you all to comment here with your thoughts about the show; maybe this’ll help tide us all over. (Along those lines: It seems a little ridiculous that I’m posting about the Knight Rider pilot, but haven’t devoted a post to the season premiere of Jericho. Maybe Colin or I will do that soon too.) One more thought about that, while I’m on the subject: I’m guessing those of you who are reading this are visiting the website directly. You can subscribe to an RSS feed that includes every post here, be it podcast episode or text post, by removing the qualifier “&cat=3″ in the RSS link on the right sidebar. I don’t know whether that’d work in iTunes, but if you use a different feed reader, you’ll be sure to catch everything we’re putting up here… Of course, to comment, you’d still need to visit the site.
Happy reading!
By Kevin | February 18, 2008 | 10 Comments »
Breaking Our Silence
Howdy Panatics!
Life has, as it sometimes will, gotten in the way of our recording. Colin has had some issues with his new house (not my business to recount, though), and we’ve both been pretty busy with our non-podcast jobs. None of which is really good enough to explain why we haven’t recorded for a long time, but if not a reason, it’s at least an explanation. Truth to tell, there other main reason why we haven’t put voice to mp3 is that the writer’s strike has sort of sapped our resolve. Without an end in sight, the urgency to get our thoughts out just hasn’t really been there. The only realy downside to this is that some of you might feel as though we’ve neglected you personally. That’s never been our intention. More on which below, but first, some news to catch you all up.
Since leaving off our Heroes deconstruction, I’ve been working pretty constantly, which has kept me busy in ways that make me less sensitive to the passage of time. That in itself is nice, in part because it’s made me barely notice that I’ve turned 30. (To be honest, I don’t care in the slightest about that. Nothing demystifies numbers like majoring in math; furthermore, my next birthday will make me the age of my favorite Mersenne prime, which even more than doing a podcast about a scifi show marks me as an incorrigible dork.) With no new TV, I’ve been able to catch up on some older shows, or others that I just haven’t watched before. My biggest find, and I know I’m probably the last person in the world to jump on this bandwagon, is The Wire. Absolutely one of the best shows I’ve ever seen… and, as it happens, I know someone who had a recurring role in the show, which is a much nicer celebrity connection than any I’ve ever had before. Also, I can totally identify with much of the fourth season, having taught in public schools before.
Of course, the last couple of weeks have shown a huge turnaround in all sorts of things: New shows have started to premiere (like AMC’s Breaking Bad, another fantastic show), and others have returned. For instance, I find myself actually enjoying Lost again, for the first time since maybe halfway through the second season. But the biggest news there has to be the return of our much-touted Jericho. Now, to be honest, I would’ve been OK with the story stopping when it did, at the moment when Jericho and New Bern were about to go to [bleep]; however, getting to see some of the resolution of that, mixed with a direction for the remaining episodes, is extremely satisfying, though mostly because I loved seeing all the characters again. (Which reminds me: I’m going to go back and compile those favorite shows, and put up a post about that soon, if only to give you all some suggestions as to what to watch while you wait.)
Now, obviously the biggest change is that the writer’s strike has ended, and shows will be getting back to work. Heroes probably won’t be returning until fall, according to this EW article, so there still isn’t the immediate urgency to record; on the other hand, this sign of hope may be what Colin and I needed to get back to podcasting. So, though I can’t say precisely when, I’m going to guess the long wait may soon be over. I can only hope that all of you will continue to hang in there. Now, Colin and I have been talking about what we might do, and I think we may not do individual installments for the three episodes we haven’t yet covered. We may just do one big one that takes us through the arc. After that, there’s a chance we might be able to find that lost episode from last season, and we’ve also bandied about the prospect of doing themed shows: not so much on plot and character, but more having to do with specific ideas that have run throughout the series (e.g., religion, philosophy, physics, evolution, family, etc.). So comment here, and let us know what you’d like to hear! (If we run out of stuff, who knows? We might just end up talking about whatever. If we give free rein to our digressions, we could probably talk continuously until fall anyway…)
One last thing, and then I’ll wrap up this ridiculously long post: One of the other major reasons for our delay is that The Munk has taken to his burrow. It’s been winter, after all, and his long quest to hoard as many foodstuffs as possible paid off early. I think that’s because he stole my car and debit card and cleaned out the “nuts” aisle of the grocery store (he says he got the idea from Jericho). He’s been hard to get a hold of, which is weird, because he’s been pretty much in the same place for months now. At least, that what he told me. If only he’d answer his cell phone…
PS: Happy Valentine’s Day everybody!
By Kevin | February 14, 2008 | 18 Comments »
“Powerless” Comments
Submit your comments here for the final episode of volume two: “Powerless.”
By Colin | December 3, 2007 | 130 Comments »
Another Delay…
Howdy Panatics!
First of all, I want to apologize for our tardiness. Many things have gotten in the way of our recording: First, I went home to NJ to see family over Thanksgiving, which would have impeded our ability to record, even if (second) Colin hadn’t lost his voice last week. Now, while I wouldn’t necessarily have been averse to recording an episode where Colin couldn’t really say anything, I have a feeling that all you Panatics would’ve felt there was something missing. So we decided to wait until you could all hear him again. His voice didn’t come back until Sunday, really, at which point we just decided we’d do a double episode. (Incidentally, the Chipmunk wasn’t available either, as I think this is prime nut-gathering time. At least, that’s what he said, and why he kept asking for more and more time off.) As for this week so far, Colin’s and my schedules haven’t lined up, but we’ve planned on recording later today. The only potential snag in all that is that he closes on his new house tomorrow morning, and so there may be some loose ends yet to tie up there. (I don’t think I’m giving away anything too personal, since he’s already mentioned his move in previous installments of The Triple P.)
In perusing the many comments we’ve received, I noticed Emily and Alex’s desire to have us record a 4-hour podcast, with another hour devoted to apologizing. Bryan from Indy threw down the gauntlet, which made a resounding “thoomp.” I can only ask what that gauntlet is made from, since cloth might “thwack,” and metal might “clank,” but a thoomping gauntlet sounds like it’s made of something more resonant, like PVC pipe. That must be really uncomfortable; no wonder you threw it down instead of wearing it.
So, again, we’re going to try to record tonight, and get the episode up by the weekend. Our apologies once again for the delay; while I’m on that, our apologies for not making appearances in the last couple of chats. Colin seems to have been frozen out somehow (I think it’s the Munk’s doing, frankly), and I’ve been pretty busy the last couple of Monday nights. But remember: the chat room is always open, not just after the new episodes…
Happy listening (you know, once we make more stuff)!
By Kevin | November 29, 2007 | 13 Comments »
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