Is The Bubble Bursting?

As Stephen King once stated - Everything's Eventual. For as long as movies have existed there have been remakes, sequels, even superheroes. But they are merely trends, with varying degrees of popularity at any given time. Just as the physical comedy of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton was taken over by the verbal humor of The Marx Brothers and the Western eventually morphed into something more Science Fiction related like John Carpenter's Escape From New York. Samurai movies were overtaken by the Western before it. Everything's Eventual. The more things change the more they stay the same.

I often feel as though I have lived several lifetimes given how fast things have changed only to come full circle. In 1978 Richard Donner promised us we'd believe a man could fly. And we did believe. Superman ushered in a brand new era of superhero movies. And yet it didn't. Sure, we had Howard The Duck, Sheena and a few other comic book related films but superhero movies. We were gonna have to wait a little while longer. Of course we still had The Hulk and Wonder Woman on the small screen.

It wasn't until 1989 that we saw a new hero emerge from the shadows, one familiar to even the casual fan, one known for always having the right tool in his utility belt, one able to make bad puns and call his platonic ward "Chum". That's right. Batman had arrived. But gone were the days of bad jokes and silly costumes. Now it was time for a serious take on the character starring a failed stand up comic best known as Beetlejuice. And the kicker - it's directed by the same guy. It was gothic and serious and crazy. Audiences loved it. Because audiences loved it we got a fantastic animated series, a very dark and crazy sequel with Michael Keaton, an animated theatrical film and a live action series based on The Flash. And there was a thread that tied them all together - Danny Elfman.

When Batman arrived in theaters in 1989 it was the rebirth of the superhero movie.It had suddenly become something that we could relate to more than a flying man with ultimate power. It was a regular guy with no powers doing what must be done to save his city. Without Batman we may never have had such films as Blade or X-Men. Even with their more fantastic elements they still felt more gritty and real. They were grounded, something we could relate to on some level. But, just as soon as ts it began we saw it starting to wain. Batman Forever and Batman & Robin nearly killed the superhero movie. Blade Trinity didn't work out the way the studio planned. Even, a few years later, we thought the X-Men films were done with the third installment. And somewhere in the middle of all this was Fantastic Four. First Roger Corman attempted making a movie in 1994. It was so bad it was never released. Then we got the Fox movie that miscast the leads and made a lot of fans angry. But they still made a sequel...and made fans even angrier with treatment of Galactus in that film.

During that time we also saw the first big screen outing of the Hulk, directed by Ang Lee. Surely this would be enough to ruin the chances of future superhero movies. Nope. In fact, it just made them stronger. It was shortly after that a plan was hatched - Marvel elected to have as many heroes as they could get the movie rights for under one banner (no pun intended). This started with Iron Man, then moved into The Incredible Hulk reboot. After that we began to see a shared universe forming. And now DC wants to follow suit.

Here's the problem - We have reached a point where there are comic book movies coming out left and right. We have TV shows based on comics all over the tube and Netflix. There's iZombie, The Flash, Arrow, Agents Of S.H,E.I.L.D,, The Walking Dead, Legends Of Tomorrow, Daredevil, Supergirl, Preacher is coming, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Agent Carter, the failed Constantine series and more. With movies Marvel and DC have their films mapped for the next ten years. But will we stick around that long? Everything's eventual, and eventually we will tire of the comic book fad and move on to whatever the next big thing happens to be. I'd love it if the next trend was marionette puppets.

Wolverine Can't Fight

The latest episode of The Gorram Nerd Hour is now available. We start off the latest episode by talking about the new X-Men movie and how it looks very much inspired by Prince's Purple Rain. This leads to a discussion about how Wolverine cannot seem to utilize any type of defense. Given the fact that he has been around longer than most mutants and had to hide for so many years you'd think he'd learn how not to run straight into bullets.

There was also some talk about insanity, Nicolas Cage level insanity. Jeremy theorized that his power was in his hair. Since he lost it he lost it...if you get my meaning.

Beyond that we did a little more Bad Impression Theater - Indiana Jones and the City of Gods. Listen to Jacob, Jeremy and Casey doing crazy voices in the unmade Indy sequel.

Go give it a listen.

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Episode 3 Has Landed!

Ladies and gentlemen,

We had an epic day in the studio and recorded a lot of stuff you will find in future episodes. It took a lot for us to edit the show down to only one hour. We were joined in the studio by friend Casey Otero. He is just as big a nerd as us and has a very contagious laugh. Casey will be appearing in a few episodes over the next few weeks as he graciously devoted his time and voice to playing random characters in future installments of Bad Impression Theater. You will find the first part of that as part of next week's episode.

As for this week we did a new segment where we channeled the spirit of a dead celebrity for an exclusive interview. That celebrity was none other than Jim Henson! We also discussed Goosebumps, who we'd go gay for and Planet Of The Apes. No, none of us would go gay for one of the apes, in case you wondering.

So what are you waiting for? Go listen for yourself right here. Or you can go here. Enjoy.

The Archive Of Gorram Fun

Hey everyone,

Jacob Here. I have been tirelessly going through old and new episodes looking for clips of some of our best moments to cut down into clips for you all to enjoy in little bite sized morsels. I first went through the first two episodes with myself and my new co-host, Jeremy Taylor, and found some great moments filled with inappropriateness and glee (not the TV show, but there is some singing in one clip).

One thing I am very grateful for is that Kevin Moyers, one of the main men behind Abnormal Entertainment, always told us that even though our shows were on his network they belonged to us. So I've been raiding the Abnormal archive looking for fun moments. The first one pulled for you all was from the final episode featuring myself and Brian Smith. We were in the middle of shooting our second short film, Terrestrial starring Bill Oberst Jr., and decided to have him come by and record with us. During the show we did a piece called Bad Impression Theater where we read an unproduced screenplay in really ridiculous voices. We had a lot of fun with Bill that day. I remember that time fondly. He was game for anything we threw at him. We read from the unproduced Rob Zombie movie The Crow 2037. Have a listen right here.


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The Rule Of Ten

There are certain rules that movie makers abide by. Sometimes it's consciously. Sometimes it's just by sheer accident. In slasher movies there is "Sin" rule that was pointed out so well in the movie Scream. Drinking, drugs, sex - they are the things that make you a murder target. In action movies there is the 10 page rule - every ten pages of the script needs some sort of action or explosion, something to keep the audience awake and alert.

But there is a lesser known rule, one that is not observed as much anymore thanks to PG-13. It's another rule of ten. During the 70's and 80's it happened quite often. The last movie released in theaters that observed this rule was Rise: The Blood Hunter with Lucy Liu. The rule is simple - nudity, lots of it, every ten minutes or less to ensure that even if your movie isn't good men will keep watching. Growing up in the 80's I saw plenty of that rule on HBO, Cinemax and Showtime. Today we see this rule more on cable and internet series, not film. Watch Orange Is The New Black some time, season 2 especially. Use a stop watch if you want. Game Of Thrones is pretty close to following that rule most of the time. Season 2 of Dexter did it. One of the greatest examples of two of the rules of ten is the Transporter TV series - explosions and/or nudity every ten minutes or your money back. True Blood held pretty true to the rule as well.

Now, don't get wrong. I'm not complaining about the rule. I'm a heterosexual man. I like breasts and the beautiful soft form of a woman's naked body. She could even have three breasts. Who didn't think about that after seeing Total Recall.

But why dies it have to be that the rule of ten only seems to apply to movies trying desperately to keep our attention with flesh? Couldn't they invest a little more time in creating characters we care about and don't want to see die? Then, if the actress still wants to show a little skin so be it. The filmmaker earned that by keeping us entertained with a good story and characters first. 

In episode 3 of The Gorram Nerd Hour Jeremy and will be addressing this issue. Hopefully we'll have a friend stop by to discuss it with us. One week to go!

We're Now On Stitcher

Things are progressing. We just got word that Stitcher has accepted our little show. This is great news. You have many different options on how to listen. You can go to Podcast Garden, Soundcloud, Stitcher or just click on the links we provide right here on this blog.

Since we accidentally posted episode 2: I Don't Mean To Sound Racist... early there won't be another episode until July 11th. But it's gonna be great. We're getting back into doing movie reviews, starting with a movie called Creeper from Unearthed Films. We're gonna do a new edition of Bad Impression Theater. And I'm gonna be going on a bit of a rant. It's gonna be good one.

Updates, Updates, Updates!

We have loved the start of the new Gorram Nerd Hour. Jeremy and I have had a blast doing it so far. And we appreciate those of you have listened so far. Tell your friends. And if you didn't like the show then tell your enemies. And if you'd rather just tell random strangers you can do that too. You don't even have to like the show to do that. If you don't feel like telling anyone you don't have to. It's fine. We don't need you. We don't need anything...except this lamp.

Sorry, I got off track there for a moment. Okay, I'm back and clear headed now. First update - Jeremy and I will not be recording this week in celebration of Independence Day. We're gonna spend the day punching aliens and shouting, "Welcome to Erf!" This is why I tried and failed to have the second episode scheduled to arrive on the 4th. But I'm not sure how I feel about Podcast Garden as a hosting site yet. They put the right date on there but still made it available right away. Maybe it was user error. I am getting old, after all, and computers are a young man's game. Sure, I could work in IT and tell people to turn their computers off and turn them back on. Sure, I can actually open my email. I can even properly take a photo on my phone and not have my thumb anywhere in the picture. But, as far as you know, I thought a gig was either when a band plays at a club or short for 1.21 gigawatts.

Update number 2 - At work I have this guy I talk to quite a bit. He's a big nerd and he lives relatively close. When we talk at work he has this way of getting me ranting about all sorts of random topics I didn't even know I was passionate about. And his laugh sounds like a turkey gobble.

We're gonna have him come in from time to time. How could we not share a laugh like that with the world? If all goes well we'll have him in for Episode 3. Maybe we'll even do an episode of Bad Impression Theater while he's there.

Speaking of Bad Impression Theater. Before Brian and took our very long hiatus we did a really fun installment of BIT with our guest Bill Oberst Jr. and read from Rob Zombie's never produced movie - The Crow 2037. Jeremy and I have been talking about what unproduced movie to read from. There was talk of continuing with the Rob Zombie anti-masterpiece. But there are also so many others out there that would be great. One that comes to mind is the David Twohy version of Alien 3. Either way I'm sure you'll love what we'll bring to the table.

Once again we want to thank you for listening and just know we'll be continuing to make this show unique and fun. Find our new episodes here.


- Jacob

Better Early Than Late

So I thought that I had set this to publish on Saturday the 4th. But It's already up.

Here's Episode 2: I Don't Mean To Sound Racist...


The boys are back for episode 2. This week they discuss the myriad of sequels in some form of development in Hollywood...all 140 of them. They talk about sullying the memory of Brandon Lee. There's also a moment when Jacob decides to go on what could have easily been construed as racist by Jeremy. And Jacob's dad calls twice during the show sounding thoroughly confused. Jacob sings Spinal Tap. There are some strong opinions shared about Melissa McCarthy. They close out the show talking about putting Gwyneth Paltrow's head in a box and say goodbye to James Horner by playing a piece of music from Star Trek II.

It's Official

We have arrived, ladies and gentlemen...or any reasonable facsimile thereof. We don't discriminate. Here it is, the new and different Gorram Nerd Hour. I'm Jacob O'Neal, one of the original hosts of the show, along with Brian Smith. We loved doing the show...and then life got in the way. He went off and joined a cult. I decided to focus on work, my film festival duties and learning the art of tantric love making. I just didn't have a partner for it so that didn't last long.

All my podcasts ended roughly around the same time. But I missed it. So Brian and I talked. He agreed to let me have the name in a very kind and selfless moment. He said, "Fuck dude, it was always your fuckin' name to use. Why the fuck would I care? But it fuckin' means a fuckin' lot that you'd ask first, you fucker." For anyone who knows Brian that's pretty close to an accurate quote, kind and vulgar all at once. The search was on at this point. I needed a new co-host. I have this habit of auditioning them without them knowing it. Over the last two years I've had the honor of being the film festival coordinator for Phoenix Comicon's Film Festival. One of my volunteers is a man named Jeremy Taylor (pictured below).

Jeremy was someone I seemed to have an easy and playful way of talking to, something I thought could translate well to the show. And I think I made a good choice. He's a nerd, he's opinionated, he's sometimes funny and, most importantly, he's not as good looking as me.

We will be posting new shows every Saturday. Come check us out, enjoy and share.