September 4, 2023 • 20 mins
Once more, it's time for a weekly dose of Stuff to Blow Your Mind and Weirdhouse Cinema listener mail...
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind Listener mail.
My name is Robert Lamb.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
And I'm Joe McCormick, and it is Monday, the day
of each week that we read back messages from the
Stuff to Blow your Mind mail bag. If you would
like to get in touch, and you've never done it before,
why not give it a shot. You can email us
at contact at stuff to Blow Yourmind dot com. We
like all kinds of messages. We of course always like
feedback to recent episodes, especially if you have something interesting
(00:37):
you'd like to add to a topic we covered that
we didn't get to, or of course, if you have
corrections send them on in, or if you have questions
about a topic we talked about, or if you'd like
to suggest something for the future. All of that's fair game.
Send it to us contact at stuff to Blow your
Mind dot com. Rob do you mind if I kick
(00:58):
things off with this message from me Lissa? In response
to the vegetable Lamb of Tartari.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Yeah, how's that?
Speaker 3 (01:09):
Melissa says, Hello, Stuff to Blow Your Mind Team. I'm
Melissa from Taiwan who listens to podcasts to No Interesting
Things and Learn English. Thank you for all those fantastic episodes.
They really blow my mind. Here, I would like to
share an idea for a future episode. Hope you don't mind,
because maybe you did this topic before. If not, that
(01:29):
would be wonderful. The idea is the walk Walk tree.
I heard about the story about the vegetable Lamb of
Tartari from your show. So when I heard of the
walkwalk tree from a kid's educational TV show talking about
Islamic art, the vegetable lamb of Tartari came to mind immediately.
Both topics related for me because the two trees both
(01:50):
produce animals. The walkwalk tree produces fruit looking like women, men,
or monster anima. After googling, I found out that a
similar tree was described in the Chinese ancient novel Journey
to the West. Also, the walkwalk tree has some links
to Indian ancient stories. So weird, but we're able to
(02:12):
trace the historical origins of this tree. It both appeared
in literature and artwork. Surprisingly, wishing you like this suggestion,
love your show. Have a great cool hydrated summer, Melissa.
Thanks Melissa. I don't know if I was aware of
this before, if I'd ever come across this, it did
not really stick in my mind, But so I looked
(02:34):
this up again. It's called the walkwalk tree, sometimes spelled
wakwak or sometimes waqwaq. I found a very cool illustration
from a fourteenth century Arabic text called Kitab al bu Han,
which that name translates to something like the Book of Wonders.
(02:54):
So it's a fourteenth century text attributed to an author
named Abdul Hassan al is Ahani. And in this illustration, yeah,
there's like a tree growing up from the earth, and
there are fruits coming off of it, and some of
the fruits apparently like seems to be according to their
level of ripeness, starts splitting open, and then when they
(03:15):
split open, their sort of legs dangling out of them,
and then some have legs and torsos dangling out, and
one has like a whole body with a fully formed
head with hair. And I was reading about this text.
Apparently it says that this tree exists in a land
I think, where there are only women, and so the
people there reproduce because they are the women are grown
(03:38):
from the tree.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Hmmm. Interesting, Yeah, I don't remember coming across this one before,
and I've certainly touched on some Arabic bestiaries on the
monster fact before. But yeah, this is pretty amazing. As
I was looking it up, I also noted that it
has appeared as an enemy in I think two Castlevania games.
So great, our Castle Castlevania players out there may have
(04:02):
already been at least somewhat familiar with the concept.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
Well, very interesting. Thank you for bringing it to our attention, Melissa,
and indeed, maybe this legend will be worth a deeper
exploration than a full episode someday.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
All right, this one comes to us from Sheldan. This
is in response to our series on Stickiness subject title
geck o hnts. She says, Hi, guys, I've just finished
listening to the second Stickiness episode. It was so interesting
and really made me think about the various glues and
(04:37):
adhesives I use day to day. In your call for
sticky superheroes, not really a hero, but in the third
Takeshi Kovac's novel Woken Furies by Richard K. Morgan, Takeshi
is wearing a genetically enhanced sleeve. This is like a body.
I'll explain this in a second that has Gecko abilities,
(04:58):
which is used as a plot device. It always stuck
with me because I thought it was interesting. No spoilers.
I highly recommend reading the trilogy. Thanks for the great podcast, Sheldy.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
Okay, so do you know this book? Rob?
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Yeah, I read this trilogy years back. It's been a
long time. And then I watched the Netflix adaptation of
what the first two books sort of I think they
ended up taking a lot of liberties with the second one,
but yeah, it's The basic idea is like, it's a
world where consciousness or whatever ends up being consciousness in
(05:31):
a futuristic world like this can be resleeved into different
bodies and this is used to travel between planets in
some cases. It's also used to ensure some sort of
immortality for the wealthy, and it also enables a lot
of action sequences and also some occasional sexy scenarios as well.
(05:56):
They're fairly graphic books, but them being being pretty fun
and yeah, I think it's It is the second novel
where he ends up in like a special military sleeve
that has a lot of advanced features and one of
them is like gecko hands, and after some sort of
a big fight, he wakes up and he finds that
(06:17):
he's dangling by like a few fingers on that hand,
and his arm has been I think been completely dislocated.
But yeah, the gecko fingers are still holding on.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
Well, that does seem plausible to me. I mean, the
spatually are again so sticky that you may well be
able to dangle by a single hand or even a
single finger. All right, This next message is from Wonko,
and this has gecko as pet subject matter, so rob
you may be more qualified to comment on this. Wonko
(06:54):
says Robert and Joe. I'm listening to your stickiness part too,
and your discussion of gecko's cl I wanted to show
you another method of how a gecko might cling to
a surface. This is a tok gecko or tokai tokay.
I don't know how you pronounced that. Tkay gecko. One
of the more aggressive species we've domesticated, and this is
(07:17):
actually a necessary part of socializing a new pet. No
harm was done. Thank you for your time, Wonko. So
what is Wonco talking about? Well, they attach a picture
of a gecko just biting the tip of a finger
and dangling from that finger by the bite hmm.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Yeah, I don't know anything about this variety of gecko.
The one that my son has is a leopard gecko,
and he does occasionally nip, but I mean, my son
never complains about it, so I don't think it's a
I don't think it's too traumatic an experience. But I
don't know about these guys here.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
To be clear, I don't know if I specified it
is biting a human finger and dangling from it, not
a gecko finger.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Yeah, it's a handsome creature, though I can see where
the where one might be inspired to try and domesticate it.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
Yeah, look at that nice pebbly looking skin. I want
to pet it.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Yeah. Yeah, they're very interesting to touch. I don't I
don't hold the leopard get got here at the house much,
but he's very fun to watch, you know, watch him
hunt when there's a cricket or a meal worm in
there for him, and you know, he occasionally explores and
it'll go into his hide and shed all of his
skin and then eat it all, so you never actually
(08:30):
see any of the leftover skin, and then he's back
out looking fresh and new, ready to face the day.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
How often does he shed skin?
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Goodness? I forget the I was just looking at the
figures the other day when we were researching all this.
I want to say it's like a few weeks, but
I could be wrong on that. But it's hard to
tell because you again, he doesn't do it out where
you can see it, and then he consumes all of
the evidence.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
I like that.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Yeah, highly efficient. All right, This one comes to us
from Angelo. Angelo says, Hi, Robert and Joe, I was
listening to your second episode on stickiness, and I wanted
to write when you talked about Spider Man's ability to
stick to walls. I think the only instance I can
(09:15):
think of where they explain his ability to stick to
walls was in the first Toby Maguire movie. In the
scene after getting bit by a genetically modified Spider, we
get an extreme close up of the tiny retractable hairs
coming out of his hands, which then allow him to
stick to surfaces. So, yeah, it's been a long time
since I've seen that, and I have forgot about this.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
That's the one with Willem Dafoe. That's what's able about
that movie to me.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Yeah, he plays the Green Goblin and it's pretty pretty fantastic.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
In the Row but I wonder why did they put
him in a mask? You cast Willem Dafoe, and then
why not just like let him use his expressive face.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Yeah, I don't know. The Green Goblin's a difficult one
to adapt. I remember they had kind of a kind
of a clunky looking for him there, but then the
actual comic book Green Goblin is just bonkers, So like,
how do you really how do you really adapt that?
And I think there were some different things they tried.
It seems like I've seen some like behind the scenes
(10:12):
footage or stills where they tried a different approach to
Defoe as the Green Goblin, and for whatever reason they
didn't like it.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
I'm trying to remember, did that have like James Franco in.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
It or something potentially?
Speaker 3 (10:26):
Potentially yes, the Green Goblin as son of Green Goblin.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Yeah, yeah, because there's the whole thing where you have
is the Osbourne's and there's the elder Osborne the younger Osbourne,
and the younger Osborne is also going to eventually become
a one of the Goblin. There are whole bunch of
goblins just like Green Goblin, Hobgoblin, lots of goblins flying around.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
Oh, my god, I was I remembered this right, I
just looked it up. He plays Harry Osborne, who was
I said, son of Green Goblin. This says, alias, here
is the new Goblin, Little Goblin or Goblin Junior.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Yeah, yeah, I think in the comics he becomes both
Green Goblin and Hobgoblin, and also Goblin Prince. I don't
know what Goblin princes, but, like I say, a lot
of Goblins in the Spider.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
Man universe, but not the Goblin King. We know who
that is.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Yes. Now, Angela continues here and says, presumably Spider Man
had to learn how to control when these hairs would
come out, because in a previous scene he would accidentally
get objects stuck to his hands. As for the webbing
in the nineteen nineties animated series, Spider Man explains that
he didn't get the ability to produce web in his body. However,
the spider that bit him transmitted the knowledge of ensigns
(11:39):
that allowed him to create web fluid that he could
put in web shooters. Oyeah, Well that all checks out.
There's absolutely no no issue would be had with that.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
Right because by being a creature, you automatically have knowledge
of all of the chemistry of what's in your body?
Speaker 2 (11:55):
Sure, why not?
Speaker 3 (11:56):
Why not?
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Angela continues. He also explained and in various episodes during
the series that his webs were biodegradable and would naturally
dissolve after a couple of hours. Okay, that's good, because
a bad guy would be webbed up long enough for
the police to come and arrest him. The whole biodegradable
web was even a plot point that was used to
prove that Spider Man was being framed for a series
of robberies because the web used by the impostor never dissolved.
(12:20):
As always, your podcast is an enjoyable treasure trope of
scientific knowledge. Keep up the excellent work, and thanks Angela.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
Thank you Angelo. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
I was a big fan of the nineties Spider Man CARTOONO.
I remember watching that one a lot, but I don't
remember that that particular episode, but it was fun. You
had like, you know, Morbius is showing up now in
a Blade shows up?
Speaker 3 (12:43):
Oh my god. Oh I just now remembered that that
idea of the lost ending of Blade where Blade like
sees Morbius, right.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Yeah, yeah, that was something that I think they actually
shot some footage for it, and they didn't use it.
I mean more, Morbius is a much cooler character than
than some people I realize based on the recent cinematic
incarnation of the character.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
Wait, I can't remember, so I watched the recent Morbius
movie on a plane. I don't know if there's an Alderman.
I guess there probably is not.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
I think that's it that you watched the Morbius movie.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
You know, it was bad, and I thought it would
be funnier. But it's funny in concept at least, if
not in the actual experience of watching. Did you ever
see it?
Speaker 2 (13:25):
I think I looked at it on an airplane. I
did the thing where I like, I looked at it,
I like flipped around in it to see if it
was something that would distract me. And it did not
pass the test, so I did something else instead.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
Well done, sir, well done. You made the correct call
that I failed that test.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
Yeah, I mean, I like some of the people that
are in it. And again, Morbius, the character I think
is pretty interesting and has potential. But I don't know,
I don't know. This doesn't look like yet for me.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
The real movie could not possibly compete with our AI
generated short story Morbius Christmas. I don't know if you
remember that that, Jim, I do remember that. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
I haven't watched any of these newer Spider Man villain
only movies, but I think if I was I would
probably watch one of the Tom Hardy Venom movies. Those
at least look like there may be a little bit
bonkers enough for me to have a good time with,
but I haven't gotten around to it.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
Okay, we got one response to a previous listener mail
from Ian. We got some news you can use, so,
Ian says, Dear Robin Joe. In your listener mail episode
from August fourteenth, you had a brief digression about fruit
flies and Joe's failed attempts to be rid of them
with vinegar and dish soap. That's true, Ian says, so
I wanted to share a technique that has always worked
(14:50):
for me. Get a bottle of fruit juice. We've used
both grape and cranberry apple with good results. And once
there's about an eighth of an inch of juice left
in the bottom of the bottle, cover the top with
plastic wrap held on by a rubber band poke. A
small hole in the plastic wrap and set it out
on the counter. The fruit flies will follow the smell
of the juice into the bottle through the small hole,
(15:12):
but once inside they will be trapped with nothing to
guide them out. Again. This technique has had one hundred
percent effectiveness at our house, and as you know, anecdotal
evidence is the best kind. I know it's been a
while since that episode, so hopefully you've already gotten rid
of your fruitflies this time, but maybe it'll help next
time they show up. Thanks for the great show, Ian,
(15:33):
Thanks for the tip Ian folks at home. Yeah, try
it out. See if it works with one hundred percent effectiveness.
That's a strong promise. Ian.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Do you still have fruitflies?
Speaker 1 (15:44):
No?
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Not really?
Speaker 2 (15:46):
Okay, well you defeated them somehow.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
One at a time with my hands.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
All right, we have one more message. This is from
the Weird House Cinema folder. This is ooh, who is this?
Writing in salt?
Speaker 3 (16:03):
I think so.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
Zlt writes in and says, dear Robin Joe, just a
quick remark to last week's Weird House Cinema episode about
the green slime. The monsters in the movie consume energy
and heat, and we have seen them survive and get
stronger from the decontamination procedure and sunlight exposure, among other things.
By extent, would they also not only survive, but get
(16:32):
stronger in the heat generated by atmospheric entry. This occurs
late in the film, Stronger than ever before, maybe a
setup for a sequel. All the Best Salt.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
Salt I had exactly the same thoughts. So they spend
the whole movie showing that heat and electricity and high
energy that's supposed to kill all forms of life only
makes the green slime monsters stronger. But then at the
end they're like, well, I know how we'll give them.
We'll send them, you know, crashing down through the atmosphere,
and they will burn up on re entry. No, I mean, like,
(17:07):
that's just more heat. Wouldn't that just make them stronger?
You're exactly right.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Yeah, I mean maybe that's how they became so dominant
on that asteroid to begin with.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Right. I was thinking, well, then, how could you defeat them?
And I think the answer is clear. You'd have to
freeze them. You have to beat them by freezing them, right.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Yeah, the old blob technique.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
Oh I forgot, they froze the blob.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Yeah, in the original they did that was these like
fire extinguishers froze it up and then airlifted it to
the North Pole. I think, really that's funny.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
Yeah, oh no, but by now it would be melting,
wouldn't it.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
Yeah yeah, I mean they're setting up that eventual sequel,
right though. There was there was a proper sequel to
The Blob. And then of course there was the the
eighties remake that was a heck of a lot of fun.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
Oh. I haven't seen that many years, but I remember
it being quite good. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
I watched it a few years back and I was
really impressed with it. I feel like it has a
it manages to bring a lot of authentic Blob vibe
and is, you know, very much in some respects a
remake of the original. But then there's this kind of
kind of Stephen King esque flavor to it. The King
didn't actually have anything to do with the production of
(18:19):
the film, but there's there seems to be some Stephen
King inspired energy to it. Has a great cast, great effects.
So yeah, I think if we were ever to do
a Blob film on Weird House, I'd be hard pressed
to choose between the original and the Eighties like they
both are are a lot of fun in slightly different ways,
and of course have a great monster at the center
of things.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
I think I know what you're talking about with the
Stephen King in the eighties one. I have vague memories
of that kind of castle rock aromas.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, So that would be something fun to
talk about if we ever did the eighties blog movie.
But the original Blob has great that great theme song.
So it depends on it just depends on what kind
of mood we're in, right.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
Okay, so does that do it for today?
Speaker 2 (19:04):
I believe it does, yes, So just a reminder listener
mail episodes these are publishing on Mondays every week and
the Stuff to Blow your Mind podcast feed. We have
core episodes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Normally there's an artifact
or a monster fact on Wednesday, and on Fridays we
set aside most serious concerns on weird House Cinema and
(19:24):
just talk about a weird movie like we've just been
talking about here. This week is going to be a
slightly different Today is technically a holiday. That means tomorrow's
episode is going to be a fault episode. Wednesday's episode
is preempted by some other content, but Thursday and Friday
all new stuff for you, so stay tanned.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
Huge thanks to our excellent audio producer JJ Posway. If
you would like to get in touch with us with
feedback on this episode or any other, to suggest a
topic for the future, or just to say hello, you
can email us at contact at stuff to Blow your
Mind dot com.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
Stuffed to Blow Your Mind is a production of iHeartRadio.
For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind Listener mail.
My name is Robert Lamb.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
And I'm Joe McCormick, and it is Monday, the day
of each week that we read back messages from the
Stuff to Blow your Mind mail bag. If you would
like to get in touch, and you've never done it before,
why not give it a shot. You can email us
at contact at stuff to Blow Yourmind dot com. We
like all kinds of messages. We of course always like
feedback to recent episodes, especially if you have something interesting
(00:37):
you'd like to add to a topic we covered that
we didn't get to, or of course, if you have
corrections send them on in, or if you have questions
about a topic we talked about, or if you'd like
to suggest something for the future. All of that's fair game.
Send it to us contact at stuff to Blow your
Mind dot com. Rob do you mind if I kick
(00:58):
things off with this message from me Lissa? In response
to the vegetable Lamb of Tartari.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Yeah, how's that?
Speaker 3 (01:09):
Melissa says, Hello, Stuff to Blow Your Mind Team. I'm
Melissa from Taiwan who listens to podcasts to No Interesting
Things and Learn English. Thank you for all those fantastic episodes.
They really blow my mind. Here, I would like to
share an idea for a future episode. Hope you don't mind,
because maybe you did this topic before. If not, that
(01:29):
would be wonderful. The idea is the walk Walk tree.
I heard about the story about the vegetable Lamb of
Tartari from your show. So when I heard of the
walkwalk tree from a kid's educational TV show talking about
Islamic art, the vegetable lamb of Tartari came to mind immediately.
Both topics related for me because the two trees both
(01:50):
produce animals. The walkwalk tree produces fruit looking like women, men,
or monster anima. After googling, I found out that a
similar tree was described in the Chinese ancient novel Journey
to the West. Also, the walkwalk tree has some links
to Indian ancient stories. So weird, but we're able to
(02:12):
trace the historical origins of this tree. It both appeared
in literature and artwork. Surprisingly, wishing you like this suggestion,
love your show. Have a great cool hydrated summer, Melissa.
Thanks Melissa. I don't know if I was aware of
this before, if I'd ever come across this, it did
not really stick in my mind, But so I looked
(02:34):
this up again. It's called the walkwalk tree, sometimes spelled
wakwak or sometimes waqwaq. I found a very cool illustration
from a fourteenth century Arabic text called Kitab al bu Han,
which that name translates to something like the Book of Wonders.
(02:54):
So it's a fourteenth century text attributed to an author
named Abdul Hassan al is Ahani. And in this illustration, yeah,
there's like a tree growing up from the earth, and
there are fruits coming off of it, and some of
the fruits apparently like seems to be according to their
level of ripeness, starts splitting open, and then when they
(03:15):
split open, their sort of legs dangling out of them,
and then some have legs and torsos dangling out, and
one has like a whole body with a fully formed
head with hair. And I was reading about this text.
Apparently it says that this tree exists in a land
I think, where there are only women, and so the
people there reproduce because they are the women are grown
(03:38):
from the tree.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Hmmm. Interesting, Yeah, I don't remember coming across this one before,
and I've certainly touched on some Arabic bestiaries on the
monster fact before. But yeah, this is pretty amazing. As
I was looking it up, I also noted that it
has appeared as an enemy in I think two Castlevania games.
So great, our Castle Castlevania players out there may have
(04:02):
already been at least somewhat familiar with the concept.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
Well, very interesting. Thank you for bringing it to our attention, Melissa,
and indeed, maybe this legend will be worth a deeper
exploration than a full episode someday.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
All right, this one comes to us from Sheldan. This
is in response to our series on Stickiness subject title
geck o hnts. She says, Hi, guys, I've just finished
listening to the second Stickiness episode. It was so interesting
and really made me think about the various glues and
(04:37):
adhesives I use day to day. In your call for
sticky superheroes, not really a hero, but in the third
Takeshi Kovac's novel Woken Furies by Richard K. Morgan, Takeshi
is wearing a genetically enhanced sleeve. This is like a body.
I'll explain this in a second that has Gecko abilities,
(04:58):
which is used as a plot device. It always stuck
with me because I thought it was interesting. No spoilers.
I highly recommend reading the trilogy. Thanks for the great podcast, Sheldy.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
Okay, so do you know this book? Rob?
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Yeah, I read this trilogy years back. It's been a
long time. And then I watched the Netflix adaptation of
what the first two books sort of I think they
ended up taking a lot of liberties with the second one,
but yeah, it's The basic idea is like, it's a
world where consciousness or whatever ends up being consciousness in
(05:31):
a futuristic world like this can be resleeved into different
bodies and this is used to travel between planets in
some cases. It's also used to ensure some sort of
immortality for the wealthy, and it also enables a lot
of action sequences and also some occasional sexy scenarios as well.
(05:56):
They're fairly graphic books, but them being being pretty fun
and yeah, I think it's It is the second novel
where he ends up in like a special military sleeve
that has a lot of advanced features and one of
them is like gecko hands, and after some sort of
a big fight, he wakes up and he finds that
(06:17):
he's dangling by like a few fingers on that hand,
and his arm has been I think been completely dislocated.
But yeah, the gecko fingers are still holding on.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
Well, that does seem plausible to me. I mean, the
spatually are again so sticky that you may well be
able to dangle by a single hand or even a
single finger. All right, This next message is from Wonko,
and this has gecko as pet subject matter, so rob
you may be more qualified to comment on this. Wonko
(06:54):
says Robert and Joe. I'm listening to your stickiness part too,
and your discussion of gecko's cl I wanted to show
you another method of how a gecko might cling to
a surface. This is a tok gecko or tokai tokay.
I don't know how you pronounced that. Tkay gecko. One
of the more aggressive species we've domesticated, and this is
(07:17):
actually a necessary part of socializing a new pet. No
harm was done. Thank you for your time, Wonko. So
what is Wonco talking about? Well, they attach a picture
of a gecko just biting the tip of a finger
and dangling from that finger by the bite hmm.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Yeah, I don't know anything about this variety of gecko.
The one that my son has is a leopard gecko,
and he does occasionally nip, but I mean, my son
never complains about it, so I don't think it's a
I don't think it's too traumatic an experience. But I
don't know about these guys here.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
To be clear, I don't know if I specified it
is biting a human finger and dangling from it, not
a gecko finger.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Yeah, it's a handsome creature, though I can see where
the where one might be inspired to try and domesticate it.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
Yeah, look at that nice pebbly looking skin. I want
to pet it.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Yeah. Yeah, they're very interesting to touch. I don't I
don't hold the leopard get got here at the house much,
but he's very fun to watch, you know, watch him
hunt when there's a cricket or a meal worm in
there for him, and you know, he occasionally explores and
it'll go into his hide and shed all of his
skin and then eat it all, so you never actually
(08:30):
see any of the leftover skin, and then he's back
out looking fresh and new, ready to face the day.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
How often does he shed skin?
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Goodness? I forget the I was just looking at the
figures the other day when we were researching all this.
I want to say it's like a few weeks, but
I could be wrong on that. But it's hard to
tell because you again, he doesn't do it out where
you can see it, and then he consumes all of
the evidence.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
I like that.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Yeah, highly efficient. All right, This one comes to us
from Angelo. Angelo says, Hi, Robert and Joe, I was
listening to your second episode on stickiness, and I wanted
to write when you talked about Spider Man's ability to
stick to walls. I think the only instance I can
(09:15):
think of where they explain his ability to stick to
walls was in the first Toby Maguire movie. In the
scene after getting bit by a genetically modified Spider, we
get an extreme close up of the tiny retractable hairs
coming out of his hands, which then allow him to
stick to surfaces. So, yeah, it's been a long time
since I've seen that, and I have forgot about this.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
That's the one with Willem Dafoe. That's what's able about
that movie to me.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Yeah, he plays the Green Goblin and it's pretty pretty fantastic.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
In the Row but I wonder why did they put
him in a mask? You cast Willem Dafoe, and then
why not just like let him use his expressive face.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Yeah, I don't know. The Green Goblin's a difficult one
to adapt. I remember they had kind of a kind
of a clunky looking for him there, but then the
actual comic book Green Goblin is just bonkers, So like,
how do you really how do you really adapt that?
And I think there were some different things they tried.
It seems like I've seen some like behind the scenes
(10:12):
footage or stills where they tried a different approach to
Defoe as the Green Goblin, and for whatever reason they
didn't like it.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
I'm trying to remember, did that have like James Franco in.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
It or something potentially?
Speaker 3 (10:26):
Potentially yes, the Green Goblin as son of Green Goblin.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Yeah, yeah, because there's the whole thing where you have
is the Osbourne's and there's the elder Osborne the younger Osbourne,
and the younger Osborne is also going to eventually become
a one of the Goblin. There are whole bunch of
goblins just like Green Goblin, Hobgoblin, lots of goblins flying around.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
Oh, my god, I was I remembered this right, I
just looked it up. He plays Harry Osborne, who was
I said, son of Green Goblin. This says, alias, here
is the new Goblin, Little Goblin or Goblin Junior.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Yeah, yeah, I think in the comics he becomes both
Green Goblin and Hobgoblin, and also Goblin Prince. I don't
know what Goblin princes, but, like I say, a lot
of Goblins in the Spider.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
Man universe, but not the Goblin King. We know who
that is.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Yes. Now, Angela continues here and says, presumably Spider Man
had to learn how to control when these hairs would
come out, because in a previous scene he would accidentally
get objects stuck to his hands. As for the webbing
in the nineteen nineties animated series, Spider Man explains that
he didn't get the ability to produce web in his body. However,
the spider that bit him transmitted the knowledge of ensigns
(11:39):
that allowed him to create web fluid that he could
put in web shooters. Oyeah, Well that all checks out.
There's absolutely no no issue would be had with that.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
Right because by being a creature, you automatically have knowledge
of all of the chemistry of what's in your body?
Speaker 2 (11:55):
Sure, why not?
Speaker 3 (11:56):
Why not?
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Angela continues. He also explained and in various episodes during
the series that his webs were biodegradable and would naturally
dissolve after a couple of hours. Okay, that's good, because
a bad guy would be webbed up long enough for
the police to come and arrest him. The whole biodegradable
web was even a plot point that was used to
prove that Spider Man was being framed for a series
of robberies because the web used by the impostor never dissolved.
(12:20):
As always, your podcast is an enjoyable treasure trope of
scientific knowledge. Keep up the excellent work, and thanks Angela.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
Thank you Angelo. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
I was a big fan of the nineties Spider Man CARTOONO.
I remember watching that one a lot, but I don't
remember that that particular episode, but it was fun. You
had like, you know, Morbius is showing up now in
a Blade shows up?
Speaker 3 (12:43):
Oh my god. Oh I just now remembered that that
idea of the lost ending of Blade where Blade like
sees Morbius, right.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Yeah, yeah, that was something that I think they actually
shot some footage for it, and they didn't use it.
I mean more, Morbius is a much cooler character than
than some people I realize based on the recent cinematic
incarnation of the character.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
Wait, I can't remember, so I watched the recent Morbius
movie on a plane. I don't know if there's an Alderman.
I guess there probably is not.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
I think that's it that you watched the Morbius movie.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
You know, it was bad, and I thought it would
be funnier. But it's funny in concept at least, if
not in the actual experience of watching. Did you ever
see it?
Speaker 2 (13:25):
I think I looked at it on an airplane. I
did the thing where I like, I looked at it,
I like flipped around in it to see if it
was something that would distract me. And it did not
pass the test, so I did something else instead.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
Well done, sir, well done. You made the correct call
that I failed that test.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
Yeah, I mean, I like some of the people that
are in it. And again, Morbius, the character I think
is pretty interesting and has potential. But I don't know,
I don't know. This doesn't look like yet for me.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
The real movie could not possibly compete with our AI
generated short story Morbius Christmas. I don't know if you
remember that that, Jim, I do remember that. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
I haven't watched any of these newer Spider Man villain
only movies, but I think if I was I would
probably watch one of the Tom Hardy Venom movies. Those
at least look like there may be a little bit
bonkers enough for me to have a good time with,
but I haven't gotten around to it.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
Okay, we got one response to a previous listener mail
from Ian. We got some news you can use, so,
Ian says, Dear Robin Joe. In your listener mail episode
from August fourteenth, you had a brief digression about fruit
flies and Joe's failed attempts to be rid of them
with vinegar and dish soap. That's true, Ian says, so
I wanted to share a technique that has always worked
(14:50):
for me. Get a bottle of fruit juice. We've used
both grape and cranberry apple with good results. And once
there's about an eighth of an inch of juice left
in the bottom of the bottle, cover the top with
plastic wrap held on by a rubber band poke. A
small hole in the plastic wrap and set it out
on the counter. The fruit flies will follow the smell
of the juice into the bottle through the small hole,
(15:12):
but once inside they will be trapped with nothing to
guide them out. Again. This technique has had one hundred
percent effectiveness at our house, and as you know, anecdotal
evidence is the best kind. I know it's been a
while since that episode, so hopefully you've already gotten rid
of your fruitflies this time, but maybe it'll help next
time they show up. Thanks for the great show, Ian,
(15:33):
Thanks for the tip Ian folks at home. Yeah, try
it out. See if it works with one hundred percent effectiveness.
That's a strong promise. Ian.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Do you still have fruitflies?
Speaker 1 (15:44):
No?
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Not really?
Speaker 2 (15:46):
Okay, well you defeated them somehow.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
One at a time with my hands.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
All right, we have one more message. This is from
the Weird House Cinema folder. This is ooh, who is this?
Writing in salt?
Speaker 3 (16:03):
I think so.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
Zlt writes in and says, dear Robin Joe, just a
quick remark to last week's Weird House Cinema episode about
the green slime. The monsters in the movie consume energy
and heat, and we have seen them survive and get
stronger from the decontamination procedure and sunlight exposure, among other things.
By extent, would they also not only survive, but get
(16:32):
stronger in the heat generated by atmospheric entry. This occurs
late in the film, Stronger than ever before, maybe a
setup for a sequel. All the Best Salt.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
Salt I had exactly the same thoughts. So they spend
the whole movie showing that heat and electricity and high
energy that's supposed to kill all forms of life only
makes the green slime monsters stronger. But then at the
end they're like, well, I know how we'll give them.
We'll send them, you know, crashing down through the atmosphere,
and they will burn up on re entry. No, I mean, like,
(17:07):
that's just more heat. Wouldn't that just make them stronger?
You're exactly right.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Yeah, I mean maybe that's how they became so dominant
on that asteroid to begin with.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Right. I was thinking, well, then, how could you defeat them?
And I think the answer is clear. You'd have to
freeze them. You have to beat them by freezing them, right.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Yeah, the old blob technique.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
Oh I forgot, they froze the blob.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Yeah, in the original they did that was these like
fire extinguishers froze it up and then airlifted it to
the North Pole. I think, really that's funny.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
Yeah, oh no, but by now it would be melting,
wouldn't it.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
Yeah yeah, I mean they're setting up that eventual sequel,
right though. There was there was a proper sequel to
The Blob. And then of course there was the the
eighties remake that was a heck of a lot of fun.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
Oh. I haven't seen that many years, but I remember
it being quite good. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
I watched it a few years back and I was
really impressed with it. I feel like it has a
it manages to bring a lot of authentic Blob vibe
and is, you know, very much in some respects a
remake of the original. But then there's this kind of
kind of Stephen King esque flavor to it. The King
didn't actually have anything to do with the production of
(18:19):
the film, but there's there seems to be some Stephen
King inspired energy to it. Has a great cast, great effects.
So yeah, I think if we were ever to do
a Blob film on Weird House, I'd be hard pressed
to choose between the original and the Eighties like they
both are are a lot of fun in slightly different ways,
and of course have a great monster at the center
of things.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
I think I know what you're talking about with the
Stephen King in the eighties one. I have vague memories
of that kind of castle rock aromas.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, So that would be something fun to
talk about if we ever did the eighties blog movie.
But the original Blob has great that great theme song.
So it depends on it just depends on what kind
of mood we're in, right.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
Okay, so does that do it for today?
Speaker 2 (19:04):
I believe it does, yes, So just a reminder listener
mail episodes these are publishing on Mondays every week and
the Stuff to Blow your Mind podcast feed. We have
core episodes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Normally there's an artifact
or a monster fact on Wednesday, and on Fridays we
set aside most serious concerns on weird House Cinema and
(19:24):
just talk about a weird movie like we've just been
talking about here. This week is going to be a
slightly different Today is technically a holiday. That means tomorrow's
episode is going to be a fault episode. Wednesday's episode
is preempted by some other content, but Thursday and Friday
all new stuff for you, so stay tanned.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
Huge thanks to our excellent audio producer JJ Posway. If
you would like to get in touch with us with
feedback on this episode or any other, to suggest a
topic for the future, or just to say hello, you
can email us at contact at stuff to Blow your
Mind dot com.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
Stuffed to Blow Your Mind is a production of iHeartRadio.
For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
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