Prepare yourself for Lucy, Chinatown, transvestite superheroes, Peruvian drug lords, intergalactic bounty hunters, a Joe jingle, and Thomas Blackhall.
Read the full show notes at http://flashpulp.com
The Skinner Co. Network
FC32 - Chinatown
[music] Hello and welcome to Flashcast32. Prepare yourself for Lucy, Chinatown, Transvestite Superheroes, Peruvian Drug Lords, Intergalactic Bounty Hunters, A Joe Jingle, and Thomas Blackhall. This episode is brought to you by Juju Click and Twitter's own, Our Heron. If you'd like to sponsor the show, please use the donate button at flashpulp.com. [music] Tonight we have myself, oh, Poop-N-X, Nefertiti of Narration, Jessica May, hello, Cleopatra of Acoustics, and J-R-D. Hello. VowelsmelingBagrant. That's disgusting. I just wanted to take a second before popular press to say thank you to all of our donors, both those that we've named off the top and those who've chosen to remain anonymous. We really appreciate it. Hello. Keep the dream alive. Thank you. Mm-hmm. All right. But that's Ed. Poop-N-X. So I thought we'd start this week with the recurring feature of kind of delving into the pulp history and coming up with a interesting character from the archives. And is this one ever interesting? Mm-hmm. I actually picked this one up, off an article that was circulating, I believe this is one of those items that kind of makes its way around the internet every now and then. But the person in question is Madame Fatal, or Madame Fatal, I believe is how it was intended to be. Yes. Madame Fatal. Madame Fatal, but... Madame. Madame. Is it more Madame, like... Madame Fatal. Madame. It just makes me think she's Heidi Fleis. Madame Fatal. She's... She's... Madame Fatal. Madame Fatal. Madame Fatal. Yes, please enlighten us. Because this one, it's like progressive. Anyways, continue. Go. First period of 1940. Mm-hmm. Not a very long run. You know. In the guise of a little old lady dressed up vaguely like a grandmother who would pummel crime. In a red jacket. Mm-hmm. And a secret identity, however. And a cane. Don't forget the cane. That was the only super hero was the... Or not super hero, but that was the only superpower was cane fighting, which in and of itself really isn't a superpower at all. But you know... I've ever looked into that. If you're a granny, right? I've ever looked into that Victorian cane fighting style. No, I haven't. And I haven't seen the Sherlock movie, so there might be. And yet, his alter ego, really a young man named Richard Staunton. First Stanton. Mm-hmm. That's right. A young father, actually. Yeah. The premise of the comic being that his daughter has been kidnapped, and he must somehow break up the criminal ring who's taken off with her. Mm-hmm. Yes. But he takes on this guy as an old lady, and for some reason decides he really likes it. So, he essentially loses. He loses for him. He loses the Richard Staunton sort of personality, and generally lives his life out as Madam Fittau. Mm-hmm. Although, it wasn't a very popular hero, I guess. And it was a very short-lived run, as Jamie mentioned a little earlier. There were several references to Madame Fittau later on in the DC universe. Which is a little unfortunate because they're not all terribly respectful. Yeah, I think the last reference made of him was at the funeral of a different superhero or supervillain, I can't remember which, but somebody referenced that they hoped their funeral didn't turn out like the funeral from Madame Fittau, where no one showed up except for the cast of Khajaful, which is the, I believe it's the play that the Birdcage movie was based on. Oh, yes, I see, I see. So it was a bit of a homosexual reference there, but not, I just said it's depressing, not that, but that no one came to her funeral. Yeah. Well, it's unfortunate that he/she eventually turned into essentially a lame joke. Yeah, well, they referenced that he was living alone in an apartment and was part of the theatre in his later life, so it was kind of a veiled reference, but- Although he was living alone in his apartment as his character, but it was supposed to be the life of intense solitude, I think. Yeah, I think the one thing that really got me about that was when they were talking about his daughter being kidnapped, and he finally got the guy that kidnapped his daughter only to find out in a very, your princesses in another castle fashion that the guy who had initially kidnapped his daughter had passed her off to some other super villain who was now holding her hostage. So I don't know if that was everyone really resolved for the poor guy here. No, I think they essentially canceled the series at that point. Yeah, well, his wife like killed herself at a grief or died of a broken heart, that was it, because the guy that had initially kidnapped the daughter was like her first love who had been scorned for Stanton or something like that. The only epic. The only person he had to turn to or only sympathetic ear he had was Hamlet, his pet parrot. That's awesome. Who would quote Shakespeare and give him inspirational quotes, I suppose. 1940, seeing more than one cross-dressing superhero though, is that correct? Yes, that's right. Later that same year, we had the appearance of the very first cross-dressing female hero, Miss Abigail Matilda Honkel, also known as Ma Honkel. Great name. Yeah. She sported a pair of red long johns and a pot on her head and she called herself the red tornado. Wow. She's fierce. Yeah. Well, apparently there was a lot of violence and gang activity in her neighborhood. I guess this was back in the '50s. Moonshiners, I suppose. Well, I guess it's not entirely the '50s, like that era, right? And she was inspired by her son's love of the Green Lantern. And so she decided to be a superhero herself. That's her backstory. And then later on, she was a, I don't want to say a hit, but people really liked the idea of, like, she was one of the first superhero parodies kind of, you know? And so she actually became an honorary member of the Justice Society that was like, you know, the Green Lantern and all of them. But she was never an official member because the day she showed up to get her membership, apparently, there was some kind of incident with her pants getting ripped. And so she had to leave before she was able to... Wow. Yeah. So... But later on, they mentioned her again. I can't... I want to say issue 55 of Justice Society, but I don't want to be quoted on that. They mentioned her later as being an honorary member of the Justice Society and the Green Lantern and Hawkman and the Flash. They show up and ask her to come to their headquarters, because she's been in the Witness Protection Program. And they're like, the last of the gang that you testified against is dead. So now come work for us. And she becomes like the cleaner caretaker of their... Oh, right. Yeah. So I thought, well, that's kind of lame. She ends up like the cleaning lady, but her children go on to become superheroes in and of themselves as well. They form the Young Justice Society, and that's to protect like the sidekicks and the younger superheroes and stuff. And her granddaughter even goes on... Her granddaughter Maxine goes on to be the cyclone, and she has wind controlling powers. So you know, there's a little bit to be said of... Okay. Now hold on a second here. So she's just a normal person who dresses up in a costume and runs a muck, and then eventually she ends up being the cleaning lady for the Justice Society, and all of a sudden she starts having children that have superpowers. I think there's a little hanky-panky going on in the Justice Society. I think somebody's kind of getting in the cleaning closet if you know what I mean. Well, uh... Well, kind of superpowers the talking man. Don't judge. Don't judge. She does what she needs to do for her family, whether it be clean or... That's right. I... Supernatural. I don't hear any mention of pah-hunkle, so I don't know who's to say. Speaking of superheroines, a while ago I had put out a call on the audio-booography that I sometimes do for the blog regarding female costumes and, um, superhero costumes, and there seems to be a lot of hullabaloo on the blog lately on that topic, and sort of some pointed questions at DC specifically about the way they dress some of their ladies. Although, Marvel is no better, really, but sex story. Yeah. Oh, certainly. Every female comic hero right now is essentially over-sexed. Yeah. Um, now an example that a lot of people came back to me with was Carmen San Diego. That's true. As one of the few non-sexually dressed, um, super heroines, and the thing is that the one thing I identified in that little mini podcast was that a trench coat is one of the few things that you can actually wear that looks cool, but doesn't necessarily reveal a whole lot of flesh for a female. But then I came across this bit of art by someone the other day in which it was just, it was so ridiculous. Well, this is dirty, Carmen San Diego, this one I'm looking at now, 'cause I was gonna say, you're like, "Oh, well, she's respectable," and then you're linking me to a photo where she, you know- And I'll put it up in the show notes so you guys can check it out if I want to come. Yeah, you guys can see what we're looking at. For a character that rose out of educational children's software. Yeah. It's kinda silly. Yeah. So, again, I put a further call for what a female costume can look like without being- Sexy. Unnecessarily sexy. Now, there's nothing wrong with a lady being sexy, but I feel like unnecessarily objectifying. And there's nothing wrong with a man being sexy, but I think it should stop at a certain point. Yeah. So, that also brought to mind, however, that I saw a trailer for a film coming out soon or possibly already in theaters called "Hey Wire," have you guys seen or heard anything like this? Yeah. And I don't know much about the film. I'll put the trailer I saw in the notes, but it's a female lead. She's very sort of Nikita ninja-assassany. Okay. But she stays, as far as I can tell from the trailer, at least, there is no "I am here for naughty sexy" time. It is all "I am wearing clothes and booting you." So I don't know if it's gonna be a good film, but it's one to keep an eye on, I think. Nice. It has potential. Also in movie news, a while ago we had discussed a documentary we went out to see at the theater. Mm-hmm. That's right. The superheroes. Mm-hmm, which was an interesting documentary about real-life people dressing up in superhero costumes and doing their best to fight the injustices of the world. And with varying levels of success, I read recently that it's actually out on HBO now. And it'll be airing a few more times in the next couple of weeks, so check your local listings. That's cool. I wonder what it's gonna mean for those superheroes that were sort of showcased in that movie. Spotted. Yeah. I wonder what it's gonna mean for their, well, like obviously awareness of them is going to rise. But what's that gonna mean for them personally? I hope it means for at least one of them that they find better housing instead of living in a van. Yeah. So anyway. But I hope it doesn't end up with some jerk who's like, oh, that guy, you know what? I'll get one of those guys. I'll take them out, you know, like- Rise of the supervillain. Are you saying that because these superheroes are kind of, I appreciate what they're trying to do, but they're not a set, they're not comic heroes. They're not beat 'em up type fellows. And are you saying that in the same way that the Dark Knight, Christopher Nolan Batman, inspires crazed supervillains? These maybe lower rent superheroes are inspiring lower rent supervillains. They go drive by and water balloon their house or beat them up. Or like, you know, be like, you know, if one of those guys ever saw me, I'd beat 'em up, you know, something like that. I just hope it will have bad implications for them. They really delved into, you know, each person and why they did it and really humanize them in a way that I think if anybody saw this, they would hopefully learn something from it and be less of a doucheball. Yeah. That's another thing. I can't picture too many people that would go out and beat Jackass and say that. I don't think Hitler's clone is going, "Finally." A documentary that someone worthy. A nemesis I can sink my moustache into. Anyway. Keep calm. Stick your local listings. Yeah, one moustache. Good film. We can definitely recommend it. Mm-hmm. In news a little closer to home, we had a little Facebook kerf fluffler earlier in the week. We had a few folks come around. Well, here's the truth of the matter. I tend to maintain that Facebook account solely for flashpull purposes at this point. I don't really have interest in a personal account. And at some level, I don't put on much of an online persona per se, persona per se. I do like to keep a certain amount of my personal life, our personal life separate from the internet. And so I assume if people are connecting to the JRD Skinner Facebook account, they are coming for, at this point, flashpull, because I really don't have any other projects up and running at the moment. And as such, I invited them to a group that apparently they were not so happy with. So I'm so worried if any of you out there have been invited to groups that you were not particularly interested in. Yeah, we didn't want you anyway. And you know, show patience to those. People who come along and may not be as interested as we are. I know that some of you are quick to defend us, which is awesome. Well, yeah, I love our Pitchfork wielding mobsters, but yeah. Look at the torches. I would like to note that we maintain actually two sort of Facebook presences. There's flashpull as an interest, which you can like, and we post all the episodes to you. And there's occasionally commentary, but not very much. And it certainly isn't terribly intrusive. And then there's the flash mob, which is meant as a more interactive clubhouse, I believe. Yeah, there's always one of us there during the day, generally me, I'm the one who thought a day job. I just do flashpull-related junk. Well, there's generally somebody there to chat with. Hooting children, counts as quite a nut thing as well. Yes, yes, for realzies, but you know, in regards to a nine to five, I'm supposed to be sitting somewhere and doing something, you know, job-related. The truth is, if I could, especially after upsetting people, I'd rather just write the stories and disappear down a spider hole otherwise. I consider the flashcast really Jessica May's baby, flashpull is more in my bag. It was my idea. Yeah. But I really do like having a place for people to go. I really have a, I feel a sense of community and it's only growing. Sometimes we get like a bunch of people there at one time and the threads are moving quickly. So big props to everyone who throws in conversation on that page? Yeah, and if you're not part of the mob, then ask to join and we'll let you in. There's special things there, just particularly for the mob. You can search Facebook or head to their show notes as I keep mentioning and I'll be sure to link to it there. So, Opope, you had an interesting bit of news from down south. Yeah, well, it's not the most recent thing. I heard about it not that long ago, but it was about an uncontacted tribe in Brazil that had been found in the Amazon. And I was reading, there's actually over 100 uncontacted tribes still out there. It really surprises me in the world. And a lot of these tribes are located sort of in the area of Brazil and Peru in the Amazon there. And this one in particular, they had just recently shown pictures of it back in February. They had these people with spears and makeshift bows and they were all brightly colored paint and stuff like that. Now, just before we get to the zinger of this one, I think the term uncontacted tribes is often a little loosely applied. I think these people are vaguely aware that, like they've seen planes at some level have been contacted. They know that they're not alone. They don't necessarily seek out anyone else, but they live in their dense rainforest. Yeah. They don't have contact. Anyway, sorry, not to interrupt. So they had some pictures taken recently. Yeah, well, those pictures were published back in February. So the government of Brazil and Survival International, which is an organization that takes care of things like this, they had been working to keep people out of that area. They had put up sentry towers and stuff around the place. But their most recent check on the area had discovered that one of their sentry towers had been attacked and they could no longer find the tribe. And there were reports of over 40 armed men crossing from the Peruvian border in the area. Respected Peruvian drug cartel traffickers. That's not so awesome. Armed with assault raffles and machetes. Yes. Yes. Oh, that's horrific. Although they don't know whether the tribe fled or is hiding, they really have no idea. There was a backpack of one of the armed men found in the area with an arrow in it. So I don't know if that really bodes well. But that's kind of sad. It goes another tribe of contacted people, trampled underfoot. The story actually reminded me a bit of the, I'm going to mispronounce this horribly. The Worry people? Well, actually, I was going to say this tribe, I couldn't find a name for them. And presumably it's because they don't have a name for them since we've never contacted them. Oh, that's an interesting note. The Worry people are the Worry Kaka, sometimes known as the Pakanova. And I'm sure all of that is wrong. I referenced them in episode 172. Yes, I remember that. And they are people who really exist. They do in fact perform mortuary cannibalism. They eat their dead. The close family actually don't eat of the dead person. They just encourage the extended family and surrounding community to eat the dead person. Because they already have a strong connection, is that why? It would be hard to eat your own. I'm not really sure exactly. I can't remember. The grief is there. I did a lot of research at the time, but I have to admit a lot of it slipped from memory. I recall that in the story, the guy's wife had, yeah, the guy had eaten his wife. And I suppose it really, now that you mentioned that it would be really the rest of the tribe that would do it, not the close family. It makes that even sadder, because Coughlin had noted that the guy had nobody else to do it. So he had to do it all himself. When normally it is unnatural for him to be eating his wife, it's just less unnatural than it would be for us. Yes. I believe the close family do eat a token of their flesh, but it's not the health. They're not sitting down a supper. Yeah, not the helping portions that are given to the rest of the tribe. Anyway, moving on to slightly lighter news, I just quickly wanted to mention that I caught a couple episodes with the eights of the new Thundercat show, which seems pulpy in its way. I grew up with that show, and it was close to my heart, and I just wanted to note that it follows a very sort of anime story arc now. It's obviously intended for an older audience. It's aiming at this at all swimming in the audience, I believe. Yes, the people that remember Thundercats and loved them, as well as children. Yeah, and they're like, "You remember Thundercats, now watch it with your kids." Yeah, it's interesting that there's this new market developing of older geeks. Yeah, remember it's just strawberry shortcake. Bridge shows so that you can watch with your kids, but still get something out of it. I am so waiting for Rainbow Bright to come back. I loved Rainbow Bright. I hope she's a bounty hunter that goes across the galaxy fighting aliens. Yeah, it's gotta bring true to the original. Speaking of intergalactic bounty hunters. Fresh fish, a new batch of cinematic pulp with the always-listening, 3-day fish. I'd like to open up with an apology. The fish was confused last week on what vacation meant for the Flashcast, so that would be why I did not report on Plan of the Apes, which was definitely a green light, just so everyone has. But that's the path. And this is now. Now, I briefly considered reviewing 30 minutes or less, because I thought the concept was pulpy enough. But after watching the movie, it doesn't really fit into any category of pulp. So I forego rating anything that is current and shall do a retro review. This retro review shall tread strange waters for the fish because it enters the realm of anime. The movie is practically titled the Cowboy Bebop movie, for those of you who don't know anything about anime, and therefore nothing about Cowboy Bebop, Cowboy Bebop is about space bounty hunters. It's pretty pulpy, right off the bat there. And there are episodes like Mulligan Smith just kind of happens sporadically. There is some linearness to the storyline, but only in the meanest sense. So you don't really have to know the anime to enjoy the movie, which is why I'm reviewing it. The Cowboy Bebop movie is pretty good, action-wise, and plot-wise. It's, especially if you're into sci-fi, which it definitely falls into that realm. The only bad thing I can say about the movie is that it's kind of short, but it's an anime movie, so I guess that would be why. Well, no, I shouldn't say that. It's not short. It's just that, I don't know. I feel like the story could have been drawn out a bit more. So I shall conclude this issue of fresh fish with a yellow light. I only give it a yellow light because anime is kind of a acquired taste, though actually, this movie does not really possess any of the hallmarks of the cheesy anime, like unnecessary yelling and cries that I need to get stronger to defend my friends and blah, blah, blah. But it is still anime, so that does kind of just put people off right on the bat. Tune in next week for Koonan, and we'll see what kind of violence is dished up next week. Also, I'd like to ask anybody who's interested or has a Facebook to, like, three-day fish on Facebook, and if anyone has any suggestions for what they might like to hear or see done on fresh fish, please just leave a comment on the mob or at the fresh fish page. That's all. Always listening. How dare you fish. I can't believe that you give Cowboy Bebop a yellow light. I have to say, I'm a fairly large Cowboy Bebop fan. I'm actually a fan of both Bebop and Sam are actually employed both by... Oh yeah! I think that he makes a good point that anime isn't for everybody, and I think that's a fair warning. I do think Bebop as a series is a great intro for people who aren't into it to try the waters. I would also say the same of Shamploo. True, actually, absolutely true. It just sort of goes in a different branch of anime. Yeah, choose your flavor, do you prefer sci-fi or do you prefer Classic Feudal Japan? If you prefer Classic Feudal Japan, go with Shamploo. If you prefer Space Bounty Hunters, pick up Cowboy Bebop. Now, the thing is, I would also say that his yellow light was a good decision because... Oh, how dare you. Although I love the movie, if you haven't seen the series, the film is a little bit... Yes. Well, I haven't seen Shamploo until I met you, and you did give me a bit of backstory behind it before I sat down with you, so I feel like maybe I'm a little prejudiced because I had somebody had seen it, so I think maybe a yellow light is a good idea, because however much you like short fiction stories, you might not like anime. Well, and if you don't, then you're wrong. No, it's a great film, but it stands as part of a series. In my mind, it would be like trying to watch the first Star Trek movie after never having seen any of the previous original series television shows, and you would just be wondering why there's so many long lingering shots of the spaceship and who are these guys who all seem to know each other, and there's a lot of that sort of assumed backstory. And you can watch it as a standalone item. I know people who have gotten into Bebop via the movie, but it is a much more satisfying experience to have watched after the series. Anyway, no worries fish about having been belated. Everyone needs a break now and then. And we really weren't clear, so don't worry about it. No worries about the vacation period. It's interesting that you sort of fluffed off 30 minutes or less. I would be interested in hearing your opinion on it. I have to admit we watch some of our television via streaming on the intertubes and here in the Canadian because as is common to streaming services, ads haven't really moved on to the medium extensively. We watch a lot of the same ads over and over and over again. Yeah, every time it's a commercial, it's like two commercials. So we have become intimately familiar with the commercial for 30 minutes or less. And although I don't know that I could actually watch it at this point because it's been indoctrinated into my mind. As an annoying sort of sidebar, you try to ignore it. Even the sort of musical hits that they use for the trailer, at first I was okay with the song, but now it just grinds at my ears. But I would be interested to hear what you thought of it. I'm actually super excited to hear about Conan because I have a lot invested in this film. He loves the Conan. I do too. I love Conan. That'd be great. Not Conan the Destroyer though. Remember the Red Sony movie that I had Conan in it? That was great. I love Red Sonya. Anyways, moving on to help close out the last few weeks of summer. Jeff has brought us a slightly less calamitous spot of bother, which is kind of nice. So to change things up a little bit. Spot of Butter. Hi, mobsters. Rather than dwell on the dark and dreary this week, I decided to pass along something a little bit uppy and joyous. A celebration of sorts that occurred over the past week for a very special person in the world of comedy and especially 50s television. What's that? What's that? Okay. So now you know that horrible, wretched scream was none other than Lucille Ball. And this is why I'm discussing her today. And this story is out of Reuters, sporting up-swept hairdos and blue and white polka dot dresses. The crowd of 915 Lucy Ricardo's set to establish the first Guinness World Record in her honor. It was all part of the annual Lucy Fast in Jamestown, which drew fans from as far away as Australia to the normally sleepy town of 30,000 people in upstate New York. This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It has to be the best time in my life, said Cindy Wilson, 22 of Cleveland, Ohio. Wilson started watching the Eye Love Lucy show and reruns when she was 7 years old and has a Lucy stick figure tattoo on her left foot. While sitcom husband Ricky adorns her right. She said her fiance's name is Ricky and joke that's one reason she's marrying him. Across generational and gendered divides, those who love Lucy milled around a downtown plaza under a mural painted with the word "I can't even pronounce this, guys. Vitameeta Vegemann, there you go, Vitameeta Vegemann." In three-foot high letters, for Lucy fans, the well-known tincture made famous on her long-winning TV sitcom needs no explanation. Some revelers recited the words in unison, others saying "Happy Birthday" in honor of what would have been Ball's 100th birthday on August 6. He did the hoopla a man proposed to his girlfriend, both wearing night shirts imprinted with the image of a polka dot dress and holding cardboard cutouts of Lucy up to their faces in accordance to Guinness' qualifying guidelines. She said yes and the crowd roared. Kelly Wright, a natural redhead from Grand Valley, Pennsylvania, simply wore one of her own polka dot dresses to look the part. Local resident Steve Watterson donned a patterned shirt but was missing the lipstick participants needed to be considered a true Lucy. Floating among the waves of Lucy's where some people dressed as Ricky, played on the show by Ball's real-life husband Desi Arnaz and their neighbors Fred and Ethel Mertz, who often babysat for little Ricky Ricardo. I Love Lucy ran for 179 episodes from 1951 to 1957 and has been seen in reruns for decades since. A fact sheet, distributed by the festival's sponsor, the Lucy Desi Center, says 40 million people tuned in to watch The Birth of Little Ricky in 1953. That's compared with the relatively modest 29 million who watched the inauguration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower the following day. Michael Stern, whose new book "I Had a Ball, My Friendship with Lucy Old Ball," is the only such account authorized by the children of Ball and Arnaz, told Reuters the relationship began when, as a 12-year-old boy growing up in Los Angeles, he got a chance to meet Paul. "I brought my scrapbook of pictures to her mother and she said, 'Had you like to meet her?' Stern said, the two formed a sort of mother-son relationship for years afterward. She said, 'Look Michael, you can be my number one fan but you've got to get a job and stay in school.' She was very serious, very down to earth." The five-day festival, which wraps up on Sunday, included performances by comedians including Joan Rivers and Paula Poundstone and Cake, with a cast of professional actors who impersonated Lucy, Ricky, Fred, and Ethel in a recreation of Ricky's Cuban-themed TV nightclub, The Tropicana. Ball died in 1989 and was buried in California. Her daughter, Lucy Arnaz, had her move to Jamestown's Lakeview Cemetery, fulfilling her wish to be buried next to her mother, said Lucy does he sent her head of tour guides Susan Ewing. "I'm Jeffrey Lynch and that's This Week's Spot of Bother." "I have a confession to make. I find Lucy a little bothersome." "I think you're going to say sexy." "I find her character kind of grating and I'm not a huge fan." The funny thing is I'm actually a much larger fan of Lucy O'Baul, the businesswoman and Hollywood character than I am of Lucy, the television persona. "Well, that's okay." She was a strong lady and she made a lot of headway for females in Hollywood at the time. "Strong females?" "Mm-hmm." Boy, could I do without her television character. I realized the event was probably very well advertised and there would be no possible way to do it, but I do think it would be fantastically lynching to get a couple of busloads of Lucy's and drive them a few towns over and just have them all descend on a single, you know, convenience store or donut shop. "No explanation, just have them land, it's scary." Coming in groups slowly, obviously not really related to each other. "Fill every shop all at one time and then just leave, like a flash mob." "Yeah, like a swarm of Lucy locusts." "Interesting pulp connection, Lucy's company with Arnaz actually helped produce the original Star Trek series." "Really?" "Yeah, I thought that was a little interesting, I believe they gave Rod and Barry the money to get it off the ground and Lucy actually herself went in to fight for the series when the pilot didn't do so well." "Wow." "If you know the series it's all you know that there's sort of an original pilot with Christopher Pike and it's this whole separate situation and then they re-shot it with Kirk in the current cast." "Mm-hmm." "Yeah, she's the one who apparently fought for it to go back in and…" "Huh, that's so cool." "Yeah, who the heck knew that?" "But she did have some other kind of interesting happenings in her life, I don't know if you've ever heard this one, she would often say that during, well not often, that's not fair. I have seen interviews with her claiming that during World War II her teeth picked up a rogue Japanese radio signal." "Yeah, I think she said that on person or something." "Yeah, and she uncovered some undercover Japanese agents or something. Now there was a Mythbusters episode I believe that dealt with it and made it out to be a myth but I do like the story." "It's so pretty cool, yeah." "Also, sort of odd after note, interesting to hear that Paula Poundstone's still working, I always really like that lady." "Yeah, I like her too. She had a strong female." "She had fallen some hard times." "Yeah, she had some issues I understand but it's always nice to hear she's out there somewhere." "Yes." "And I hope her kids are doing okay." "Was there an issue with her kids?" "They were threatened or taken away for a brief time. She had some alcoholism issues, but she seemed like all around pretty good gal. She just had her issues, had a patch." "Okay, go Paula, team Paula." "Now I haven't heard this upcoming piece yet but I do understand that Barry has some childhood memories of Chinatown and I see this as Chinatown part one so." "Yes, it's a two-parter." "I think maybe on a little more positive childhood memory moment, let's move on to..." I'm Barry and this is your New York Minute, which is usually more like three or four minutes. To me, the best part of Manhattan is Chinatown and the best time to visit Chinatown is the 1970s, so travel back with me to the era of the ABA in roller disco. When my dad was young, he and his friends practically haunted Chinatown. There wasn't a dim sum place or a lone main house he didn't know. After my brother and I were born, it became our place too. At least a couple of times a week dad would take us into the city, usually well past the time mom would have preferred us to be in bed and we drive over the bridge into Chinatown. Looking back, it was a really ballsy thing to do. Perhaps even stupid, though as a young kid I thought being up late in Chinatown was about the coolest thing in the world. Whatever you think of the crime rate in New York City, ratchet it up a few powers of ten and you get the idea of New York in the 70s. And in Chinatown, ratchet that crime rate up began and double it. And remember, we were there late after most of the tourists and decent folks had left, so there was the element of extreme danger, but there was also the cool factor we were up late with our dad in Chinatown. Even worse, mom was waiting up for us at home and she was ready to kill all of us for being out so late. Most of the time we never even told her where we went or that would have been the end for all of us. She still remembers the time that dad took me for a ride to the airport just to watch the planes take off, and this was long before anyone had any idea of airport security. And we parked right by the fence at the end of the runway and watched. It got late, I was about eight, so late probably really only meant around nine o'clock. And we went to drive back home and the car just wouldn't start. Dad flagged someone down and we got a jump. Couple of hours later we drove back to Brooklyn and trust me, this is the part that really made mom happy. We stopped off for pizza before going home. Any wonder why hanging out with dad was cool? There was also, and to a lesser extent still is a mythical air about Chinatown. Unlike the rest of New York City, it is not really gentrified, it hasn't much evolved. There are still shops selling strange looking toys, stores with things you don't recognize in the windows, restaurants with strange foods, and of course I never could speak the language, so it was and still is very much like you've left New York. It's old and it's crowded. The streets are much too narrow for modern traffic, some of them meander at odd angles with otter curves. Try to park there and don't bother you can't. Chinatown is about one one thousandth of the parking spaces necessary and of the few that are there, the nearby courthouses hog most to them. There was a mythical air about my dad, he always got a parking spot in Chinatown. Always. And he knew the best places to buy illegal fireworks. As a kid that amazed me, it was like, no actually it was, getting involved in some illicit operation. We pull up near the park, a guy would come over and ask us what we wanted, we'd give them the money, he'd leave and someone else would meet us at the other end of the block with a brown paper bag of fireworks. See why Chinatown was so cool for me in the 70s? Chinatown was always a place of danger. My grandmother once took the train in Manhattan for a job interview. She was a teenager so this had to be the mid 1930s. She got off in Chinatown and when she came out of the subway, she found herself in the middle of a tongue war. It was a total violent riot. Lucky for her, a man saw her and took her into his shop to wait out the mayhem, or I may not be here telling you this story. But unlucky for you, it is to be continued. I'm Barry and this has been part one of a very special New York minute. And that's when I realized things between me and my dad were going to be okay. Oh, I was going to go with Forget It Dead, it's Chinatown. It's very nice. Another fantastic entry Barry, thank you very much. I happen to know from personal correspondence that Barry's dad has some other great New York pulp related story, so this may not be the first time the gentleman, or I mean the last time the gentleman appears in the podcast. But I'm pleased to hear this is a two-parter. And also avoid Tom Wars. Yes, or it'll be like that movie big trouble in little China, you know? Oh yes, I believe that's a very realistic portrayal of its own war. Totally, green eyes. You can hear other New York stories from Barry at BMJ2K.com. And you can actually also hear all of the previous spots of bother in, well, you could read all of the previous spots of bother at bothersomethings.com. As well as extra content, Jeff really goes out of his way to pulling a little extra spice there, so it's worth checking out. And I would actually, while I'm at it, second, fish's call out to like his Facebook page. The lead makes nothing off our efforts, and we appreciate his work, so... Go give the fish some love. At least give the fish the thumbs up. It's all one word, but again, I'll leave it in the show notes in case you need it. Guess what time it is. Bit of a light nail bag this week, but I just wanted to mention up front that if you guys have any comments, questions, suggestions, feedback, arguments, debates, anything you want to... The reading. Anything you want to impart to us, we now have the comments at flashpulp.com address up and running. That's right. So comments@flashpulp.com. For your comments. And now... The world premiere of Jamie's new intro, and Jamie speaking in the third person... Bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum... Here's a cup of joe, four mobsters at home, it's Colorado Joe. First off, Woot, congrats on your Parsec nomination. If I could say anything to the selection committee on your behalf, it would be to comment on the original premise of your entire podcast. Taking so many disparate threads and combining them in a single universe is a great example of your bestness. Glad to hear that your listener base is increasing. Based on a conversation I had with JRD this week, I'm going to drop a hint that we have a super secret project scheduled for September that I'm hoping will help even more. Super secret project, nobody told me about that. Hit me or may I not involve robots? But probably not. Yeah, thanks a lot, we're really excited about the Parsec nomination. So excited, we talk about it all the time actually. I just told my mom about it and we even got a new e-mail from them, right JRD? Tell them, tell them, really? Oh, they wanted to know if we'd be able to make it and we said we couldn't. And then they said, "Do you want to make a video in case you win?" And I suggested that we make something... I didn't know that, you said none of this to me. Well what did you ask me for then? I think you should dress up like Castro. Yeah, that was the original video concept in my opinion, was that we would do a very... Military-esque. Man! A response by video that is so exciting. The regime, thanks you. I'm just not sure we have time to sew flashpump flags. Oh man. I am so excited, I'm already playing this video. Someone e-mail me asking my address so they can mail me a flashpump flag because I have no sewing ability but I just realized that would be very awesome. Oh yeah. Nettie, you're creative. For Amy. Yeah. She knits, does she not? Knitting? She's gonna knit us a flag. I'm just saying that she is artistic, she has something about felt. Soggy and the rain, a wolf flag, I'm just saying. What? A knitted flag. Getting a little soggy in the rain. Yeah. So if you consider true grid a bit pulpy, I'd recommend Silverado from the 80s. A fun romp that in my opinion paid reverent homage to the spirit of the westerns. Also, this gives me another opportunity to plug Linda Hunt, who was awesome as the bar keeps Stella. Amazing cast, including Kevin Klein, Danny Glover, and John Cleese, who gives a really interesting take on the western sheriff. Was that Silverado the kind of SUV that Homer Simpson drove? No. Silverado. That was the Kenyonero. Yeah, I'm actually absolutely gonna look into Silverado. It looks like a very interesting film. I love John Cleese. I vaguely remember maybe seeing it on TV when I was very young, but I don't recall. Yeah, the name strikes chord, definitely. So yeah, that's exciting. And John Cleese went through a weird period of trying to branch out a little bit in his characters. And I didn't approve. No, no, I mean, I actually did. It was a period. I don't know how successful it was for him. I did appreciate it, but I'm a big Python fan, so I would, you know, follow him. Everything measures against that. Yeah. So did you watch Jonah Hex as you implied you might on Twitter? I'm not a tough grader on shows like this, mostly because I don't typically expect much. Jonah Hex didn't disappoint. Okay, Rom, compressed and hurried a bit, which made it feel disjointed, and also made it easy to see what was coming next. With one watch, but won't be coming back to it. I found it interesting that they gave Jonah supernatural powers he didn't have in the original graphic novels. I didn't mind though, the whole concept was kind of cool. One other note, as bad as the music was for Lady Hawk, the soundtrack for Jonah Hex, composed and performed by Mastodon, a progressive metal band, was pretty cool and appropriate. I wasn't expecting much from Jonah Hex. I have to admit I was a little frustrated that they gave him supernatural powers in that I really enjoyed the aspect of the comic that he was a mortal, very normal man who just a guy would wander into these bizarre supernatural situations. I thought it looked really cool when he would bring people back just to have a conversation, but I found especially with a guy who was in that sort of cage thing, a wheeled cage. He had to explain what his supernatural ability was and what would happen to him in a very short period of time, and it was so wordy and kind of silly that I just kind of laughed a little bit. Yeah. There were some neat ideas, but the writing was so rough to me at this harsh. Yeah. I liked his face. I thought it was neat. I thought his makeup was done really well, and you know what it actually made me think of was Game of Thrones, the character of Sandor Clegane, and how half his face was burned off. I think that the guy that played Jonah Hex in this, the makeup that they did in this movie was good enough that it was maybe better than the dude in Game of Thrones. I thought the actor did a really great job. Another pulp movie I want to bring up is Adjustment Bureau, with a couple of caveats really enjoyed this movie. First, if I saw a bunch of people frozen with other people waving sophisticated sensors over their heads, my first thought wouldn't be Angels. Another scene that got me was when it was implied that because of free will, the world was plunged into the Dark Ages. This is so Eurocentric it makes me cringe. The Dark Ages was very localized to certain parts of Europe. Meanwhile in other parts of the world, knowledge and enlightenment were alive and well. Other than that though, really liked the premise and the movie, and slapped my forehead at the end with an exclamation of duh when I saw it was based on a Philip K. Dick story. That guy is a treasure trove of great ideas. Hey Hollywood, I know you lack an imagination, but instead of going with board games, maybe look at some other authors of Dick's caliber? Just saying. Because we don't need any more battleship replicas. They are making Total Recall which is originally based on a dick work. They're actually shooting it near here. Supposedly they're staying closer to the original story, as in there's not going to be any Mars travel, it's all going to be about the vacation agency. Now, the thing with Dick's work is that although there's a lot to love there, if the actual writing is done in such a style as it's not for everybody, and I really enjoy it. I really enjoy the infusion of 70 style spiritualism, and I know it has a lot to do with his sort of neurosis and his psychosis at the time, and his belief that he was living in a sort of mirage and actually existed in the time of Christ. Interesting. He doesn't even touch upon his drug habit, but yeah, things like Blade Runner and Total Recall and the adjustment bureau, which I haven't seen yet, and Joe has given us just enough of a taste that I now really want to. Those stories don't necessarily read as all that terribly accessible to the laymen, but the ideas behind them are fantastic and really exciting and interesting. I think we'll get back to the cycle of making more movies based on original novels and off of this constant remake kick that we're on right now. Hollywood has to go through these periods to cannibalize itself, and we're just really in the swing right now of all of the power being in the hand of the studios and the producers and very little creative control, and as things wither on the vine and die as they are currently happening. People are more and more abandoning the movie theater because of the content that's coming out on it, and at the same time venues like Netflix and online are opening up the options of smaller production houses. You look at a company like Asylum, the guys who make all the Megasaurus, Crocasaurus, but also make a lot of knockoff films, like they made a Sherlock Holmes film that had nothing to do. They were based on the original character, and even got into some like dinosaurs in Victorian London kind of stuff, and had nothing to do with the Harry... Being completely historical? Yeah, it was more, but it was released at the same time. It was supposed to sort of piggyback on the Guy Ritchie fame, you know what I mean? Like they also made a movie called, now I can't remember if the original is Battle Los Angeles, I believe it's just Battle Los Angeles, and their film was Battle of Los Angeles. Yes, that's right. The thing is though that they've got enough, just enough of a budget, and computer editing has gone to a point where you can do special effects of a certain caliber, that the films are passable. We are now in a phase that was very much like the rubber monster suit period, or even the 80s when VHS became ubiquitous, and people needed content to fill the shelves that was maybe cheaper than Hollywood films, where smaller production houses can get their names out. And you know, as that rises, and as those guys gain more attention through these different venues, Hollywood's going to come following because they know where the profit lies, and eventually they'll get back to creator-centric films. And then eventually that'll go overboard, and we'll get a bunch of boring films, and Hollywood will go, these aren't selling anything, and we'll go back the other way again. Okay, episode 200. Based on the title, I'm now as anxious as I am excited. I really like Ruby. A hold-off judgment, but damn. And that was the part of my submission where I do my best to get JRD to spill the beans he doesn't typically intend to. A novel, huh? So what's up with that? I gave a lot of thought about what I would like my last words to be. I'm thinking either my final bequest is that my children get all of my debt, or perhaps the family treasure is in the...take care. I may have to steal that treasure line, actually. Yeah, I like that. That's really cute. Very nice. Um, novel. I don't know what's up with that. I saw this thing appear on the sidebar, the flashbulb.com site the other day, but doesn't seem to have been updated much since then, so I guess we'll just have to keep an eye out. Are you just trying to show him how little you can tell him? And for up to 200, I just...trust me, it'll be okay. You'll be happy with her death. I remember when Episode 200 was potentially the last flashbulb episode. We were going to be done now. Yeah. Because we're going to move on to something entirely different. The experiment was going to be complete. Well, I never knew that I'd be able to...I never thought I'd be able to wrap the universe by 200. I just thought if we haven't picked up to a certain point by 200 that it obviously wasn't going anywhere, and we should stop. And the truth is, we kind of achieved what we were looking for. We completely achieved what we're looking for. So, the experiment continues. Yes. Um... We are filled with bigger, and we're ready for more. I don't know that the surprises for Episodes 300 and 400 are going to be multi-cast member related. Oh, you have no idea. Because this is stressing me a little bit, but the surprises for 300 and 400, I may imply if they don't happen before then. Um... Let's just say not all of the threads are necessarily in place for the universe, but there are certain things that I need to reveal before I can present certain characters. Bum, bum, bum. So thanks very much for your call, Joe. Oh, it's appreciated. Mm-hmm. And I have that jingle stuck in my head. I know, all day we've been singing it to each other. He seemed very pleased with it, Joe did, you know. You know. Yeah, and all. I'm glad that you liked it. Are you a dassy, old hulk? So this week I've completed two intros. We had our half-finished, popular press. Mr. 3 had sang it lovingly into the mic for me about a hundred times. And just added some sound, some type of IDA noises, some dramatic bumb balls. And that was pretty easy as pie. But I had been promising Joe for a while to have his intro done, and it kind of scared me because I had some ideas for it, but I didn't know if I had the balls necessarily to, like, sing on it and do my own percussion and guitar and all that junk. But I went a little gaga, and Lady Gaga actually takes some shots of whiskey when she writes. And so I took one and thought, you know, what the hay. And Joe and I actually, we spoke about what we were going to call it. And, you know, we agree that most people pretty much seem cool with the Cup of Joe concept, but I was still so very in love with the Colorado Joe concept that I kind of did what you wanted and what I wanted and smushed it all together, so. You can't deter Jamie, but yeah, it came together just how I wanted it, and it was really exciting. Now I must say, when Jessica May originally came to me with the premise for her intro, I was reminded greatly of a MST 3K bit, one of my favorite host segments from the show on an episode called "Puggy Creek 2, The Legend Continues." Country legend Hank Brane Guy Jr. has panned a haunting, evocative song about "Z-Beast." You put around these parts long enough, and you might hear tell us some skulking creature. Wandering around the woodish swamp, hair and bee slack, setting them as a heap of trouble among the good folks living up yonder, and some folks don't hate on mind. Other folks will tell you it don't mean to harm. Yes, Miss Fidey Lou, she'll look away with her bad eye, and she'll look at you straight on with her good eye, and she'll tell you she don't know nothing about it, but then she gives you a little shutter like she might. She just might know something about it. [Music] That's it. That's so great, I love it. Yeah, I believe that you're going to put that up in the show notes so everyone can see the video, because he really does make it. I will continue to circulate the tapes. Thank you. Circulate the tapes. Backroom plot. So we're mid-Blackhall Six-Partner. Indeed we are, sir. I keep coming to the point before I sit down to write each of these. I have them all blocked out plot-wise, but when I actually sit down to write them I've been having some issues keeping them to a reasonable plot size and pace. Yes, you kept worrying that maybe you were getting to a nine-partner? Yeah. Which you couldn't fit before Episode 200. But with some shoving and folding and some editing that I'm really pleased with, I've managed to get it back down to six. Excellent. People familiar with some of my old blog posts may recognize the current problem as it appears next episode. I don't want to give too much away, but consider it a little teaser. And I feel like this series has gotten back to sort of the tradition of Red Mouse Legacy. Way back in the day, one of our earliest arcs. Is it the bear, the giant bear? Mm-hmm. Okay. So I'm pleased with it. I hope everybody's enjoying it. The next week's worth of episodes kind of moves away from the sporadic incident format we've been at thus far and moves into a more of a headlong rush, but I'm pleased with the way it's paced and I hope everyone else is too. This does leave us in a weird position, though. Yes, it does, indeed. What position is that, Charity? Well, the last episode is going to run at 198 and then there's going to be a single 199 and then 200. You know who is a great one-parter? Mulligan. Mulligan. Smit. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I honestly have nothing really on the burner for that episode yet, and I've got to start thinking ahead about it. I haven't actually entirely finalized the script for 200 and it is causing me no end of panic. Yeah, because we're going to have to voice actors and then if I need them to redo things and they're going to need time, especially with people who may be very far away in different times. 'Cause we don't have time to be making sure all the sound files sound good together. Exactly. Hey, you know what doesn't cause me a bunch of anxiety? Not talking about it. Musical soundtracks for most of Ken Burns' words. Oh, that's not where I thought you were going. Especially his Civil War soundtrack, I've been listening to a lot of that during my black hole writing period. Sometimes he'll be chatting in his computer and he'll realize that it'll just sound better going to Ken Burns' music and he'll think a little harder about what he's going to say and it always sounds very epic. Or he'll turn it on in the background when he's trying to make a point to us. And he'll do it in a southern accent. My dearest summa. My dearest summa. My dearest summa. Can I get 10 seconds of Ken Burns' music just me? When I hear that music, I always expect a narrator to break in, however, and speaking of narration. The art of narration. So, um, I don't know if anybody noticed on the flash mob recently, I put up a post telling people about the new flash mob section of the wiki. And I have noticed some user activity, new user activity. We now have this Snyder man who is part of our flash mob and he has an entry there. Look at Bob. He's got radioactive blood. Yeah, so I encourage everybody who has a user on the wiki to fill out their user page. I shouldn't talk so much because it's not Opope and Maxwell. Well, I could if I wanted to. Well, it's nice to know who to think though. Yeah. You know, Gigantor has put in a little something there and a little link to his Walker journals and we've got a link to Barry's BMJ2K, his tippid rag. So you know, if you have something you want to promote, feel free to put that on your user page as well. Um, all you got to do is go to the flashpulp wiki, which you can find linked to at skinner.com. It's actually at wiki.flashpulp.com. There you go, thank you very much. And yep, go to sign up for a user and then, you know, just click on your name and it will bring you to your user page and I'd be happy to add you to the flash mob. And if you're already there at the wiki, creating your user page, and if you feel like possibly contributing something, you can now go to the community portal section as well. And that has been put up. And that's for anybody who is interested in being a contributor to the wiki. You can go there and, you know, see if there's any jobs that need to be done, see if there's any work that you feel like handling and like it says on the page, whether it's a minute or five, all your time is appreciated. Absolutely. So if you want to go check out the new community portal, go see if there's anything you can do for the flashcast flashpulp wiki, go ahead, enjoy. Speaking of the community, we should thank the folks who contributed to this episode and to most episodes, Fish, again, you can find them at his Twitter, Michelavelin, which frankly is tough to remember, so just check the show notes. You can find Jeff's fantastic work at bothersomethings.com or you can find him on Twitter at #pleaselinchme. And Ingrid, although not in this episode, can be found at vneaslegence.blogspot.com and dancing ala.blogspot.com, her legends are renowned. And finally, Barry and his fantastic New York minute, his New York minutes, have a Facebook page now. So you can look that up or check the show notes and of course you can find all of his delicious blogery at bmj2k.com. If you have any comments, questions or suggestions, you can find us at flashpulp.com. Call our voicemail line at 206-338-2792 or email us text or mp32 comments@flashpulp.com. Jessica May, her vocal talents and musical stylants can be found at maytunes.com. I do have some stuff to add but Jared needs to help me and he's got other things to do. The entire run of flashpulp can be found at flashpulp.com or via the search bar on iTunes. Flashcast is released of the Canadian Creative Commons attribution non-commercial 2.5 license. [Music] ♪ One day to leave my hour, that's number left ♪ ♪ Give it a stand around, I live with our number left ♪ ♪ Let the light cloud will never awaken you ♪ ♪ Not where the black rose of our own has taken you ♪ ♪ Angels have no thought of ever returning you ♪ ♪ Would they be I'd be if I found a joining you ♪ ♪ Oh, here's one day ♪ ♪ Oh, here's one day to leave me ♪ ♪ I'm weary of bending you ♪ ♪ This is the last time and then I am bending you ♪ ♪ Would there be candles and prayers at us ♪ ♪ And I know why to take time ♪ ♪ When they know that I'm glad to go ♪ ♪ It's a dead dream ♪ ♪ Then I'll dream I'm threatening you ♪ ♪ I'm finally I know I'll be blessed to you ♪ ♪ Would there be some way ♪ ♪ Oh, here's one day to leave me ♪ ♪ Oh, here's one day to leave me ♪ ♪ Oh, here's one day to leave me ♪ ♪ Oh, here's one day to leave me ♪ ♪ Oh, here's one day to leave me ♪ ♪ Oh, here's one day to leave me ♪ [bell] (chiming)