Spring is on the way, but the nostalgia is already in full bloom! Episode 186 takes you on a wild ride—from a windswept island to the world of low-budget cinema and the unforgettable sound of the ‘80s.
📸 A Winter Adventure in Nantucket – The newest Dedication to the Craft photography segment takes me back to a gray and moody day on Nantucket in 2014. Remote landscapes, unexpected wildlife encounters, sandy drives, and a tragic beer spill—it’s all here, along with some photography tips!
🎬 What Exactly Is a B-Movie? – Cheesy? Campy? Low-budget? Sometimes brilliant? We break down the wild and weird world of B-Movies—what they are, why they exist, and why some have become cult classics. This is just the beginning of our deep dive into the world of B-Movies!
🎶 Top 5 Songs & Videos That Scream 1980s – Some songs could only exist in the ‘80s. We’re counting down the tracks and music videos that define the decade—big hair, neon lights, and all. Did your favorite make the cut?
🕰️ This Week in History & Time Capsule – A tribute to the birth of an action movie legend: Chuck Norris.
Hit play and let’s rewind time! 🚀
For more great content become a subscriber on Patreon!
Helpful Links from this Episode
- Purchase My New Book Cape Cod Beyond the Beach!
- In My Footsteps: A Cape Cod Travel Guide(2nd Edition)
- Hooked By Kiwi - Etsy.com
- DJ Williams Music
- KeeKee's Cape Cod Kitchen
- Christopher Setterlund.com
- Cape Cod Living - Zazzle Store
- Subscribe on YouTube!
- Initial Impressions 2.0 Blog
- Webcam Weekly Wrapup Podcast
- CJSetterlundPhotos on Etsy
- Chuck Norris Jokes - Men's Health
Listen to Episode 185 here
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 00 (00:00):
Hello, world, and welcome to the In My Footsteps
podcast.
I am Christopher Setterlund,coming to you from the vacation
destination known as Cape Cod,Massachusetts, and this is
episode 186.
It's going to be a fun showthis week filled with twists and
(00:22):
turns and loads of nostalgia.
We're going to kick it off withthe latest dedication to the
craft photography segment.
Looking back at a photo trip toNantucket in 2014.
We're going to go way, way backin the day and give kind of an
overview of what a B-movie is.
(00:42):
There'll be a brand new topfive that are the top five
quintessential 1980s songs andvideos.
These songs could not have beenmade in any other decade.
And there'll be a brand newThis Week in History and Time
capsule centered around thebirth of the legend himself,
Chuck Norris.
All of that is coming up rightnow on episode 186 The In My
(01:07):
Footsteps Podcast We could talkabout how much fun I had this
(01:31):
past week celebrating my littleniece Sylvie's sixth birthday,
including her dressing me up inpink like an 80s jazzercise
star.
But enough about me.
How are all of you?
Thank you all so much fortuning into this show.
The 186th episode of thispodcast, man.
(01:53):
Sometimes I get lost in theshuffle of research, record,
edit, and market the podcastthat I have to step back and see
the forest for the trees andhow many episodes of this
podcast I've done.
Think about how many...
thousands of podcasts there areand how many thousands more
(02:13):
where there's people that do twoor three episodes and don't get
the downloads they want or theylose time or they lose interest
and these podcasts just fadeaway and here I am super
stubborn but I also enjoy what Ido and if I can provide you
with an escape from today'sworld for just an hour a week
(02:35):
then it's kind of my obligationAnd if you enjoy my work, you
could become like these finepeople, my Patreon subscribers,
Laurie, Mary Lou, Ashley, Kevin,Leo, Marguerite, Neglectoid,
Crystal, Matt.
Thank you all so much.
Those of you out there thatwant to join, $5 a month gets
(02:58):
you access to bonus podcastepisodes, early access to
YouTube videos.
Now access to the remasteredWithout a Map live streams that
I did a few years ago for thepodcast.
And a growing free tier so youcan go and check that stuff out.
You know, try before you buy.
But of course you can alwaysjust listen to this show and
(03:20):
share it.
That is free and that does awhole lot.
Telling others to tune in.
Where else can you get suchstories as my filming of one of
my scenes for the upcoming...
Indie horror film that FrankDurant is producing.
He's not directing.
As I've said before, I playmyself, the podcaster.
And it includes me beingmurdered.
(03:43):
And I filmed my death scene,although it's off screen.
And this horror film, it'ssupposed to be a little bit
campy.
So it's not super dark.
I mean, it's horror, butprobably more in the line of the
B movies we're going to talkabout later in the show.
So I'll just say I made mydeath a little bit over the top,
but you're going to have to seeit and watch the film when it
(04:06):
comes out in the summer.
I will say it is fun butnerve-wracking doing actual
acting with a script that youdidn't write.
Because I wasn't an actor, so Idon't know if I'm good.
So getting positive feedbackfrom the director...
That's definitely helpful.
Frank said if I was terrible,the director would have told me
(04:27):
so.
So that's good to know.
He said my scenes so far havebeen great.
So that's very helpful.
As we go, there'll be more infoabout this film and my acting
and kind of behind the scenes.
And coming up later this month,I'll be going up to
Provincetown, finishing the hikeout to Race Point Lighthouse
that Frank and I were supposedto do in October.
(04:48):
So there'll be a new interviewup on my YouTube channel, and
there will be a lot of contentsurrounding the film and the
people that are a part of it.
That's coming up in the nextfew months.
So there'll be plenty of thatfor those of you that are
interested in my acting journey.
But we go from a metaphoricaljourney to an actual journey
(05:09):
with photos.
So let's start off the podcastwith a new edition of Dedication
to the Craft, my photographysegment.
And we'll go back to 2014 andwe'll go to the beautiful island
of Nantucket right now.
Oh, so here we go.
Dedication to the craft.
I believe this is the sixthsegment that I've done.
(05:30):
For those that might be newhere, the idea of dedication to
the craft, it's something thatme and my buddy Steve came up
with.
The gist of it is it's puttingyourself in danger or out of
your comfort zone, I guess, toget the photo you're looking to
get.
For us, a lot of the time itcomes down to going out in
(05:51):
perhaps cold weather, windyweather, driving to places
people wouldn't normally go,hiking out in the woods to find
things.
And as I share these adventureson the podcast, I do try to
drop a little bit of knowledge,what I have as far as
photography goes.
I'm not a professionalphotographer.
(06:12):
My buddy Steve is more of that.
He actually worked innewspapers and such for
photography.
Me, I joke that I'm a hack, butI do have a photography book
that you can buy.
I have a photography shop nowon Etsy that I reopened that you
heard me talk about a few weeksback.
So I do know what I'm doing.
I kind of sell myself short asa joke, but I do.
(06:35):
I wouldn't do these segments ifI didn't think that I could
offer something to you out therebesides laughs at the stories
themselves.
And speaking of laughs, so weare going back to November of
2014 and a trip from Cape Codover to the island of Nantucket
located 30 miles off the CapeCod coast.
I was going to Nantucket to getphotos for a book I was
(07:00):
writing, a travel guide.
It was my third book that wasreleased in 2017.
I was so lucky to have aconnection at the Massachusetts
Office of Travel and Tourism, myold friend Bill D'Souza Mock.
Such a good man, a good friend,someone that just wanted to
help me, a young author,succeed.
(07:22):
So he kind of hooked me up withtickets on the Steamship
Authority ferry, allowing me tobring my buddy Steve to bring
his Jeep with him.
I kid you not, those of youthat know me, that know my
history with writing, and I'vegot nine books and all that, the
only book that I've writtenthat I could say Bill didn't
(07:44):
have any influence on was thevery first Cape Cod Travel
Guide.
And that's only because Ididn't know him yet.
Every other book I've written,either he has helped with things
like I'm talking about gettingover to Nantucket or connecting
me with other publishers.
And then these books that I'vewritten have opened the eyes of
other publishers.
(08:04):
So it's a whole lot.
I just want to give him hisprops, give him his flowers.
The main point of thisDedication to the Crafts segment
is not just the trip toNantucket, but where Steve and I
were going.
He and I are huge Lighthousefans.
On the island of Nantucket,there are a few lighthouses.
(08:24):
Brant Point, everyone sees thatwhen you come into Nantucket on
the ferry.
It's one of the most well-knownlighthouses in the country.
There is Sankity HeadLighthouse, which is white and
red striped, right on the golfcourse, right on the east coast
of Nantucket.
But the main selling point,really the reason that I was
(08:45):
able to get Steve to bring hisJeep over...
was the fact that we would beallowed to drive out to Great
Point Lighthouse.
Great Point Lighthouse is atthe tip of Nantucket, and for
those of you that aren'tfamiliar with it, it is in a
very remote location.
Sure, you could try to walk outto it and literally take all
(09:06):
day, or you could take anoff-road vehicle, a jeep,
something like that.
In order to do that, youtypically have to have some kind
of an off-road pass.
This is where Bill came in andhooked us up.
We arrived at Nantucket Harborand immediately took Steve's
Jeep and started heading east.
In the off-season and outsideof downtown Nantucket, it can be
(09:30):
very desolate.
There's not lots of people.
So keep that in mind.
So the last bit ofcivilization, I guess, is a bed
and breakfast called theWawanette.
Once you get past that, thenwhat you've got to do is, if
you're going off-roading, you'vegot to deflate your tires some
so that you can drive over thesoft sand.
(09:51):
So we did that, but here'swhere the dedication to the
craft comes in.
Steve and I start heading northtowards Great Point Lighthouse.
To get there, it's more thanfive miles on the soft sand with
nobody.
There is nobody around.
I chatted with my buddy Steveabout this trip and I said, what
(10:13):
do you remember about that timewe went out to Great Point?
And he said it was basically aseries of small heart attacks as
he worried about his tireseither blowing or getting stuck
and knowing that we were in themiddle of nowhere.
For me, I got to be thepassenger.
So we're driving, we're goingslow.
(10:34):
It must have been less than amile north that we were driving
when we noticed something whiteand fluffy in the dunes.
It turned out to be a snowyowl.
The best part was me being thepassenger.
I was able to hop right out ofthe Jeep, grab my camera, and
start snapping photos of thissnowy owl sitting in the dunes
(10:56):
just looking at us.
And by the time Steve would gethis camera and get out of the
Jeep, the owl had realized whatwe were doing and it would take
off and fly away.
But it would fly ahead of us.
So it would land again.
And this process repeateditself a couple times.
That's kind of the issue withany sort of nature photography.
(11:17):
Typically, you get one shot atit, whether it's birds or
something, squirrels, rabbits,whatever type of animal is in
the area where you are.
I'm pretty sure I got severalgood photos of the owl.
I don't know if Steve got anybecause he would have to stop
the Jeep, put it in park, grabhis camera, get out.
(11:38):
Me, I was diving out of theJeep while it was still going.
When you're way out towardsGreat Point Lighthouse on
Nantucket, you really get to seethe scope of what nature can
do.
The erosion that has justdecimated that area.
The Coscata Cochu WildlifePreserve, Longtime listeners
(11:59):
will remember way back inepisode 21, I did a segment
about the grounding of the shipEldia at Nauset Beach in 1984.
I mentioned also in that samestorm that Great Point
Lighthouse on Nantucket, theoriginal, was knocked down and
destroyed.
The lighthouse that's out therenow was built in 1986.
(12:20):
The area surrounding GreatPoint Lighthouse was actually
turned into an island for alittle while because of that
storm.
So when you're driving outthere and you're close to the
lighthouse, there's not a lot ofland on either side of you.
At one point, the thickness ofthe beach is only about 200
(12:41):
feet.
I remember this day that wewent out there.
It was chilly.
It was cloudy.
It was not perfect for photosof a beautiful lighthouse of the
Nantucket landscape.
But we were getting a favordone for us by Bill.
So it wasn't like I could say,hey, could you pay for us to
have a bed and breakfast?
(13:01):
And then we'll go shoot thelighthouse tomorrow.
Sometimes when it comes tophotography, photo trips, like I
said, you get one chance andyou've got to kind of make the
best of it.
You can do little bits ofpost-editing, make it brighter,
make it a little more colorful,but you've also got to watch out
that you don't turn it intosome kind of clown show photo.
(13:22):
I enjoy Lightroom.
I enjoy the Snapseed app, butif I'm looking to sell a photo
of mine, sell a print of mine,the photos are basically raw.
They might be straightened sothey're not shifted to one side
so it at least looks normal, ormaybe cropped a little, but I
(13:42):
keep any edits to a minimum.
It's just an integrity thing.
There were a few hiccups as wewere driving out to Great Point
Light.
We never got stuck, but wewould slow down.
And Steve, he did mention acouple times, you know, if we
get stuck, where do we go?
No cell phone reception.
It's the off-season, so you'dhave to, I don't know, walk till
(14:06):
you got cell phone reception,and then what?
Call AAA to drive five milesout in the sand to get you?
We'd have had a better chanceof lassoing a bunch of SEALs and
having them just swim the Jeepback to Cape Cod.
Yes, speaking of SEALs.
So eventually we get out toGreat Point Light.
We are...
running around, taking as manyphotos as possible, because we
(14:31):
figured this may be the onlychance we get to get out there.
And looking back 11 yearslater, it has been.
That's the thing.
If you think you're in an areathat you may never get back to
for photography, you take asmany photos as possible, as many
angles, doubles of the samespot, just in case.
It's better to have 50 photosof the same thing than to have
(14:55):
one and it doesn't come out welland you're like, oh man.
Great Point Lighthouse is 70feet tall and it's the only
place on Nantucket that'svisible from Martha's Vineyard.
Granted, it looks like a littletiny white matchstick, but
still, that's impressive.
The area around Great Point isalso an area, and I mentioned it
(15:16):
a minute ago, where seals liketo congregate.
Because it's the middle ofnowhere.
They are not bothered byhumans.
Steve and I are out theretaking photos and we go around
one side of the lighthouse andwe look down on the beach and
there's probably three dozenseals.
Naturally, I took a bunch ofphotos from a distance.
But when I go back and look atthem, you can see some of the
(15:37):
seals staring over at us, kindof daring us to go over and say
hi a little closer.
I have dedication to the craft,but I'm not stupid enough to
get really close to dozens ofseals.
I don't think I could fightthem all off.
And I'm pretty sure Stevewouldn't have rescued me.
He'd have remembered me gettingall the photos of the snowy owl
(15:57):
and he would have left me thereto be destroyed.
I make jokes about thededication to the craft and
doing things and going placesthat put myself in danger.
But the reality is it's a lotof calculated risk.
There have only been a handfulof times in my life as a
photographer where I've come outof a situation saying, boy, I
(16:19):
shouldn't have done that.
So just remember that.
Don't be reckless, careful,cautious risk-taking.
I hope as I'm going here, I'mtrying to give little tips as
far as photography goes as I'mtelling this story.
So I hope some of this stuffactually is useful to you
besides laughing.
The majority of our trip toNantucket that day was Great
(16:43):
Point Lighthouse.
We made it out successfully.
We made it back successfully.
The rest of that gray day wasmainly me going around the
downtown area, getting photos ofhistoric homes and historic
places that would be in mytravel guide.
I told Steve that was part ofit.
(17:03):
That was the catch for himgetting to go over there is that
he had to basically be my taxi.
When we got done, And before wewent back to downtown, I
thought this was going to be mylast trip to Nantucket and the
book would be done.
There ended up being anothertrip, which what a shame I had
to go back to Nantucket.
I said, oh, we can celebratethe finishing of the book.
(17:24):
So we went to Cisco Brewers.
They're at 5 Bartlett FarmRoad, just in case if you're
over there, if you want to go.
Local beer brewery.
So I had this vision in myhead.
Steve and I would saddle up tothe bar.
We'd each get a beer, kind ofcheers, and yay, celebrate a
great trip.
(17:44):
So that's what I had in mymind.
Cisco Brewery is amazing.
We went in there.
They had plastic cups, whichwas smart.
Save the earth.
So we each ordered, I think itwas an IPA, nice light-colored
beer.
Steve got his.
I got mine and immediatelyspilled it on the bar.
My dreams of this great momentwent up in flames.
(18:06):
Although I did manage to get apicture of my beer with the menu
in the back with what they hadon tap.
So I have this photo that lookslike it's the perfect moment.
But in reality, as soon as Ipicked the beer up, it was
spilled on the bar.
Yeah, that was good.
When it comes to any sort ofroad trip, photography trip, the
(18:29):
ones I've talked about and manycountless others...
The getting there and gettingthe photos is easy.
It's the, when you're done withthe trip and you've got to
drive home, that's the hardpart.
I've had many trips where I'vebeen out there taking photos and
suddenly I'm tired and hungryand I'm like, I don't want to go
to these last 10 spots, so I'mjust going home.
(18:51):
Luckily on Nantucket, it was alot of, you know, you sit on the
ferry as you go back.
Steve had to drive, so I had tobe chauffeured home.
In the end, this trip was allabout how far away from
civilization we went to get thephotos we were looking for.
Run-ins with nature that youcan't predict.
And a lot of getting lucky withwho you know.
(19:14):
But that is the story of thetrip out to Great Point
Lighthouse.
Dedication to the craft.
I hope this story time wasinteresting and I hope there
were a few tidbits that willhelp you with photography.
Unknown (19:28):
Music
Speaker 00 (19:34):
This week in history, we are going back 85
years to March 10th, 1940 andthe birth of the legend himself,
Chuck Norris.
You've probably all heard thejokes.
When Chuck Norris jumps in thewater, he doesn't get wet.
The water gets Chuck Norris.
(19:54):
When Chuck Norris stares in themirror, the mirror shatters
because even glass isn't stupidenough to get between Chuck
Norris and Chuck Norris.
But did you know Chuck Norrisis an accomplished actor,
martial arts star?
That's why I wanted to get thechance to share a few of those
jokes, but also tell you abouthim.
(20:15):
He was born Carlos Ray Norris,March 10th, 1940, in Ryan,
Oklahoma.
He had a challenging andtumultuous childhood.
He was a shy and unremarkablestudent, which definitely
couldn't have predicted his riseto fame.
Norris enlisted in the UnitedStates Air Force in 1958,
(20:35):
serving as an air policeman inSouth Korea, and it was during
this time that he discoveredmartial arts.
He trained in Tang Soo Doo andquickly became so proficient and
earned black belts in multipledisciplines.
In the 60s, Chuck Norris was adominant force in the world of
competitive karate.
(20:56):
winning numerous championships,establishing a chain of
schools, and countingcelebrities like Steve McQueen
among his students.
That's how he transitioned intoHollywood.
His acting debut was in the1969 film The Green Berets in a
minor role.
His true coming out party inHollywood, the one that a lot of
(21:17):
you probably would think ofwhen you first think of how did
you first see Chuck Norris, It'sthe 1972 film Way of the Dragon
with Bruce Lee, where they hadthe fight in the Roman Coliseum.
This was before Chuck Norrishad his trademark beard.
It's easily one of the mosticonic martial arts fights in
(21:39):
history.
After that film, he became astaple of the action genre, with
films like Good Guys Wear Blackin 1978, Lone Wolf McQuaid in
1983.
Missing in Action in 1984, andThe Delta Force in 1986.
He was typically portrayed as arugged, patriotic hero taking
(22:02):
on impossible odds.
In the 90s, Norris introducedhimself to television with
Walker, Texas Ranger, where hewas Cordell Walker.
This show started in 1993.
That was what probably cementedhim as an American icon.
And then in the early 2000s,Chuck Norris became introduced
(22:23):
to a new generation with theChuck Norris Facts in the
earlier days of the internet.
They're an ongoing joke seriesexaggerating his strength and
toughness.
I gave you a couple of them,but there's other ones like
Chuck Norris doesn't dopush-ups, he pushes the earth
down.
That's if you're looking for alaugh, you should just go check
that out on Google.
(22:44):
There's hundreds of them.
I tried to think of ones Icould make up for putting him in
this podcast, but they were allso bad.
I can't share these.
You think my attempted dadjokes are bad.
My Chuck Norris facts jokeswould lose me all my fans.
Even though he's retired now,Chuck Norris remains a revered
(23:06):
figure, known not only for hison-screen heroics, but for his
contributions to martial arts,philanthropy.
His name is synonymous withstrength, resilience, and
unwavering patriotism.
And this week in history, wewish Chuck Norris a happy 85th
birthday.
Now I'm not introducing a newtime capsule.
(23:33):
Chuck Norris is allowing me tointroduce a new time capsule.
So we're going to go back 41years ago this week to March
9th, 1984.
What was going on in the worldof pop culture back then?
Well, let's find out.
The number one song was Jump byVan Halen.
(23:53):
This is off of their album1984, the last full album with
original singer David Lee Roth.
Back in episode 14 of thepodcast, I told the story about
my foray into being a metalheadwhen I was about 7, 8 years old.
And I said one of the firstalbums I had was Van Halen's
(24:14):
1984.
With the little baby that's thecherub and he's got a pack of
cigarettes.
This album had other hit songslike Panama.
I'll Wait, and Hot for Teacher,which had a great video that
was on MTV that would confuseeight-year-old me.
The number one movie wasSplash, and you could get into
(24:38):
the theater with a ticketcosting $3.36.
This is the romantic comedyabout a mermaid in New York,
Daryl Hannah as Madison themermaid, Tom Hanks as her love
interest.
It also stars Eugene Levy, JohnCandy.
The movie made about $70million on a budget of about $11
(25:01):
million.
It's 91% fresh on RottenTomatoes and was definitely one
of the first movies I watched asa kid that I really remembered
a lot of the lines from.
The number one TV show wasDallas.
The nighttime soap opera aboutthe Ewing family, the oil
dynasty.
(25:22):
It was originally on for 14seasons and 357 episodes.
It's also well known for thefamous Who Shot JR episode in
1980, which is the secondhighest rated primetime telecast
ever behind only the finalepisode of MASH.
And if you were around backthen, March 9th, 1984...
(25:46):
Perhaps that's the day you wereborn and you were a newborn
baby.
Maybe your parents are lookingfor something to give you as a
gift coming into the world.
Well, I got something for you.
You can check out the Searscatalog or the Kenner Toys
catalog and get yourself a36-inch plush Care Bear, which I
(26:09):
didn't know existed until a fewdays ago.
Cheer Bear, Bedtime Bear,Friend Bear, Grumpy Bear, all
those bears.
You can get one of those for$99.99 or $305 when adjusted for
inflation to 2025.
Maybe that's why I hadn't heardof these Care Bears before,
(26:31):
because they were so damnexpensive.
But you can go look on eBay.
I found some.
They're not too bad.
$150 to $200 for a 40-year-oldstuffed toy.
I'm sure it smells great.
But that was what was happening41 years ago, March 9th, 1984.
The birthdate of my friend andPatreon subscriber, Crystal.
(26:52):
I hope that painted a goodpicture of what was going on in
the world the day you came intoit.
But now we go from...
Fun memories of the timecapsule to songs that could only
have been made in the 1980s.
These are the quintessential80s songs and videos.
There are some things that justscream whatever time period
(27:21):
they came out.
I've done segments on fads ofdifferent decades.
I've done segments on symbolsof different decades, and I'll
be doing more of each.
It popped in my head a coupleof weeks ago when I think I was
watching some random video onYouTube, some 80s video.
So I haven't heard that song ina while.
(27:41):
Let me play it.
And I thought to myself,There's no way you could make
this song at any other time thanthe 1980s.
So I figured, why not turn itinto a top five segment?
Quintessential 1980s songs andvideos.
I have a good feeling that atleast with some of these, when I
say what they are, you're goingto nod your head and say, yup,
(28:03):
it screams 80s.
And if it doesn't scream 80s,I'm going to explain why it
should.
But enough of me kind ofsetting up the premise of this
segment.
Let's get into it.
So with most of these top fivesegments, there are some
honorable mentions and they'rein no particular order.
And unfortunately, because Idon't want to get copyright
(28:26):
strikes or get yelled at, therewon't be clips of these songs.
So you're going to have to goand imagine them.
Or better yet, what I'll do isI'll create a playlist on
Spotify.
I haven't done one of those ina while.
So it'll be the quintessential80s songs.
I'll kind of gloss through thehonorable mentions, maybe give
you a little bit of why they'reon this list.
(28:47):
Anyway, honorable mentions forquintessential 80s songs and
videos include Never Gonna GiveYou Up by Rick Astley, the
music, the video, the fact thatit became Rickrolling in the
2010s.
Another honorable mention is 99Luftballons by Nina G.
(29:08):
In English, in German, a veryhappy, upbeat song about war and
death.
Another honorable mention isRocket by Herbie Hancock.
An iconic keyboard melody and avery weird video.
Another honorable mention isVideo Killed the Radio Star by
(29:29):
The Buggles.
Yes, it was 1979, but it wasthe first video ever on MTV, so
it kind of counts.
And the final honorable mentionis Rock Me Amadeus by Falco.
A kind of new wave song about aclassical music artist with a
singer named Falco.
(29:50):
That's very 80s.
So those are the honorablementions.
Could you hear them in yourhead?
One thing that proves thatthese songs are quintessential
80s is the fact that I don'tthink any of these have been...
Covered, or at least not byanyone who was anything in the
music industry.
There is no cover version ofNever Gonna Give You Up and
(30:13):
such.
Oh, but on to the top five.
Are you ready forquintessential 80s?
I know I am.
So let's get into it right nowwith number one.
I Ran by Flock of Seagulls.
This song is off of their albumA Flock of Seagulls from 1982.
The thing that I alwaysremember, this was the first
(30:35):
song I thought of for this list,is their hairdo.
Like, I don't know if thepointy hair coming down is
supposed to be like a beak, butcould you imagine anyone with
that kind of hairstyle now?
I mean, I guess they might bekind of post-punk, but Iran is
not a punk song.
This video was all over MTVwhen it came out.
(30:59):
It broke into the top 10 in theU.S., That's the other big
thing about this quintessential80s songs list.
All these songs were hits.
I did not scour the internet tofind the worst songs ever, most
obscure songs.
Although I'm sure a lot of youare hearing this list and
saying, God, all these songssuck.
(31:19):
Number two is Take On Me byA-Ha.
It's like a graphic novel comicbook come to life.
This is another song thatanyone that grew up in the 80s
knows it.
And you know the video and youcan see it.
But it's like the comic bookcharacter and he's getting like
beat up in a hallway.
(31:41):
Like he's just getting throwninto the walls.
And the girl is all scared forhim.
And then he finally falls outinto her reality.
It's like what a weird video.
This was off of their 1985album Hunting High and Low.
It's another one that if youjust heard the song, you've got
a picture in your head.
(32:01):
If you see the video, itdoesn't match up.
The song went to number one,mainly based on how much
rotation the video got on MTV.
Again, it comes back to thestyle of the video.
I guess it was cutting edge atthe time, but it is so dated by
today's standards.
The video took 16 weeks to makedue to all of the animations.
(32:25):
And as of the recording of thispodcast, the video has 2.1
billion views on YouTube.
Quintessential 80s does notmean it wasn't a huge success.
Number three is Safety Dance byMen Without Hats.
This just has music that wouldonly be 1980s, a video that's
(32:49):
only 80s with the singer justwalking through some random
rural village.
This was off of the 1982 albumRhythm of Youth that Men Without
Hats released.
I had to look it up, but Iguess the meaning of Safety
Dance, if you cared, was aprotest song against bouncers in
(33:09):
certain clubs who restricteddancing.
So that's the meaning of thesong, but the video is this
random dude walking through somerural village.
Like, it doesn't match up, andit makes it even more
quintessentially 80s.
It's like so many of these, thevideos or the song lyrics or
the meanings, they don't matchup.
(33:30):
It just reminds me of aninterview I remember with Billy
Corgan from the SmashingPumpkins.
This was probably in themid-90s.
And they were asking him abouthow he titled his songs.
And he said there was a songoff of the album Siamese Dream
in 1993.
And it was about a young persontrying to find themselves and
fit in and know who they were.
(33:52):
Very deep stuff, right?
And he named the songMayonnaise.
I was like, okay, that's theway you want it.
Anyway, moving on.
Number four is Axl F by HaroldFaltermeyer.
It's the instrumental.
It's from Beverly Hills Cop.
You can see Eddie Murphywalking around the dark
(34:14):
warehouse with that synthkeyboard playing.
This was off the 1984 BeverlyHills Cop soundtrack.
And this song went to numberthree on the charts.
This is where I sayquintessential 80s.
That a keyboard synthinstrumental from a movie got
that high on the Billboardcharts.
It just goes to show you howbig a star Eddie Murphy was at
(34:37):
the time and how big a movieBeverly Hills Cop was.
Because just imagine youwatching any movie that's out
now or within the last 10 years,and there's some instrumental
music that's under the scene toset it up.
Could you imagine that musicgetting in the top five charts?
It just doesn't make sense.
But a lot of the 80s didn'tmake sense.
(34:59):
I mean, we had that show SmallWonder about the guy that made a
robot daughter.
Do you remember Vicky?
I'll probably do a segmentabout that at some point.
But let's move on.
Finally, number five on the topfive quintessential 1980s songs
and videos is Walk Like anEgyptian by The Bangles.
(35:20):
Sure, there's been lots ofstupid dance crazes throughout
the decades, but one thatmimicked Egyptian hieroglyphs
and how people were drawn on thewalls of the pyramids thousands
of years ago, that's whatyou're going to make into a song
and a dance craze?
Although a few years later,they did go even further back
(35:43):
and make a song, Walk theDinosaur, so I don't know.
I still love the 80s.
Don't judge too much.
This was off of the Bangles'1986 album, Different Light, and
it was their first number onesong.
Yes, it went to number one Thevideo of people everywhere doing
that stupid thing with theirarms.
(36:04):
It was just a different time.
And all these songs and videoswere quintessentially 80s.
But that wraps up the top five.
How many of these songsdefinitely make you think of the
80s?
And how many are you going togo watch the videos of after to
get some great nostalgia?
We'll do other quintessentialsongs of decades coming up.
(36:28):
But for me, there was no betterplace to start than the 80s.
This segment basically startsoff with a question.
What is a B-movie?
I want to do segments on thepodcast dealing with B-movies'
best, worst, weirdest...
(36:49):
But I was kind of like, theremay be some people that don't
know what I'm talking about whenI mention B-movies, so I
figured why not do a segmentjust about what they are.
So we're going to go way backin the day and do a bit of an
overview of what B-movies are, afew examples and
characteristics of them.
B-movies have long held aspecial place in the world of
(37:13):
cinema.
They started as the lower halfof double feature bills.
So that's where the B movie,there's an A movie and a B
movie.
The B one was the second one,probably figuring people came to
see the headliner and theymight walk out during the
second.
But now so many B movies havecult status in modern pop
(37:35):
culture.
A lot of these films, andthey're still made to this day,
they captivate audiences withlow budgets.
outrageous plots, and endearingcharm.
Going back to the beginning,the term B-movie originated in
the golden age of Hollywood,which is roughly the 1930s
through the 50s.
(37:55):
It was during this period thatstudios produced double
features.
There would be a high budgetA-movie as the main attraction,
a lower budget B-movie as thesecondary offering.
I just had to stop and think.
I can't think of the last timeI went to the movies in the
theaters.
It was before COVID.
That's just a random side notethere.
(38:18):
Sometimes with these podcasts,I'm like a dog that sees a
squirrel.
I'll be recording it, and I'llthink of something that pops in
my head, and I'm like, oh, I gotto talk about it.
Other times, I will make sure Istay on point.
That's why I have notes.
Circling back, though, these Bmovies, they were produced
quickly and cheaply, and theyoften used leftover sets,
(38:40):
lesser-known actors.
formulaic storytelling.
And it all sounds like badthings, but it's not.
Despite their financiallimitations, the B movies were
an essential part of the filmindustry.
I mean, you've got to havemovies that provide affordable
entertainment for audiences andgive a proving ground for
up-and-coming talent.
(39:01):
Look at me.
I've got a small part in anindie horror film.
I can't go to the directors andsay I want to be in the next
Marvel movie, push Robert DowneyJr.
out of the way.
I'm not saying I'm going to bean actor like that.
I'm just saying it's one ofthose that so many up-and-coming
talents, they got to havesomewhere to start.
(39:22):
B-movies in general, they'recharacterized by several key
elements.
First and foremost is a lowbudget.
So many of these movies aretypically made with a fraction
of the budget of mainstreamfilm.
This makes it where thedirectors, the rest of the crew,
they've got to rely on creativeproblem solving to stretch
(39:44):
every dollar.
Low budget, in quotes, is kindof subjective.
I had to pause and go and lookand see what is considered a low
budget film today.
I'm seeing anything from$400,000 to some people saying
low budget films are consideredfilms with a budget of $15
(40:05):
million or under.
Can you imagine that?
Some people think that $15million is a low budget film.
I think I could turn everysingle one of my short stories
and every skit I ever did withmy camcorder into films for
probably like $10,000.
Well, don't hold me to that,but maybe.
(40:29):
Another big trait of B-moviesare the campy or outlandish
stories.
You know, whether it's a giantradioactive monster attacking
Tokyo, group of rebelliousbikers on the run.
B-movies often feature wild,over-the-top narratives.
When I first got the idea to dosegments on B-movies, the first
(40:52):
thing I thought of was 1950sand 60s monster movies.
Not all B-movies have giantmonsters in them, but so many
are.
If you go back to the 1950s,you can find dozens of movies
that are giant lizards, giantspiders, giant ants.
It's like giant anything, andyou fight it.
(41:14):
For all of its success, theoriginal Godzilla film in 1954
had a budget of $175,000 USdollars.
Which even when adjusted forinflation to 2025, it's still
about $900,000.
So that is very low budget.
That's where the copycats camein.
(41:35):
You see the success withGodzilla and suddenly there's
tons of giant lizards and gianteverything.
Another quality of theseB-movies is the unpolished
acting.
That's due to the budgetconstraints that many of these
B-movies cast the lesser-known,inexperienced actors, which led
to performances that ranged fromsurprisingly great to
(41:58):
hilariously bad.
I mean, you get some verywell-acted B-movies like The
Rocky Horror Picture Show orFoxy Brown, both from the 70s.
Then you get the hilariouslybad The Room from 2003 with
Tommy Wiseau.
That's almost cliche to putthat in there.
And they had a budget of $6million, so I don't know what
(42:22):
his excuse was.
In these B-movies, you also getspecial effects or lack thereof
of special effects.
The one that always makes melaugh is 1955's Tarantula, which
is about a giant spider.
But they were out in the desertand there'd be scenes of this
giant spider coming towards themon the horizon.
(42:43):
And it looked basically like apicture of a desert with a giant
spider in its shadow there.
That's because the specialeffects in B-movies can be
wildly inconsistent.
Sometimes you get people likeIshiro Honda who did the
original Godzilla where thespecial effects you can't
believe they did it for such alittle budget.
(43:03):
then you get junk likeTarantula, which is 93% fresh on
Rotten Tomatoes.
So I guess they don't judge itjust on the special effects.
A lot of these B-movies,they've got a lot of the
miniatures or stop motion orsuperimposing normal animals
over smaller scenes or pictures.
(43:25):
But that's not, I'm not sayingit's bad.
It actually adds to the charmof some of the movies.
Another quality of B-movies,it's the genre appeal.
Because you've noticed as I'vebeen naming off examples, the
vast majority of the B-movies Italk about, they're horror,
they're sci-fi, but they're alsoweird ones, crime and
(43:46):
exploitation, capitalizing onthe sensationalism and shock
value to draw in audiences.
You can't count on great actingand great effects.
You've got to have something toget people talking.
So not to spoil all the futuresegments about B-movies, but I
wanted to give you a fewexamples of iconic B-movies
(44:06):
throughout the decades.
First and foremost is Plan 9from Outer Space.
That's in 1959, and it's oftencited as the worst movie ever
made.
Although The Room with TommyWiseau may, say, hold my beer,
but it's an Ed Wood movie.
It's kind of a prime example ofso bad it's good.
(44:27):
The budget for this movie was$60,000.
And for the quote-unquote worstmovie ever made, it's 66% fresh
on Rotten Tomatoes.
George Romero's classic Nightof the Living Dead from 1968,
that's a low-budget B-movie thatintroduced zombies to the
(44:48):
mainstream.
Everything, if you enjoy thezombie genre, it all goes back
to the OG.
And I think I told you that itis public domain, so you could
record it and put it up onYouTube and get people to watch
it.
There's the Toxic Avenger from1984.
It's the quintessential traumaentertainment movie.
(45:11):
Trauma is an independent filmcompany founded by Lloyd Kaufman
and Michael Herz in 1974.
I do remember Toxic Avengerwhen I was in elementary school,
middle school.
The movie blends absurd humorand over-the-top gore and the
anti-hero protagonist Toxie.
(45:32):
He's not exactly cute.
You can't put him on a poster.
Well, you can.
The Evil Dead franchise,especially the first two.
Sam Raimi's horror-comedyhybrid filled with so much blood
and gore.
The first one is an all-timegreat.
Evil Dead 2 kind of changedeverything.
(45:53):
This movie launched BruceCampbell into superstardom.
A more recent one is 2013'sSharknado.
This is the original on theSyFy channel.
Literally a tornado of sharks.
Now SyFy does these onesbecause that became really
popular and an internetsensation.
(46:14):
So it's like they just keepcoming up with more and more
obscure combinations.
I think it was last year I hadan idea for a movie called Shark
Yodi, and it was a great whitethat was going around, but his
best friend was a coyote thatrode on his back, and he just
tag-teamed killed everyone.
See?
(46:35):
Give me ten grand, I'll makeShark Yodi.
Despite their flaws, or maybebecause of them, B-movies have
garnered a devoted fanbase.
I love those 50s films, thegiant monster ones.
I've mentioned them and I makefun a little, but I watch them.
I think part of it is becauseeven when the execution is
(46:56):
questionable, you can see thepassion behind them.
Many B-movies areunintentionally hilarious,
offering unfiltered creativitythat mainstream films often
avoid.
And like I said earlier, theyprovide an avenue for
independent filmmakers,up-and-coming actors...
And no matter what you think,people continue to embrace the
(47:17):
wild, weird, and wonderful worldof B-movies.
So go on, give a chance to oneof those low-budget films,
especially the 50s ones.
And as we go on in the podcast,I'll be doing segments on best
and worst and weirdest B-movies.
But this was the intro to getyour mind going.
And until next time, that isgoing to wrap up episode 186 of
(47:41):
the In My Footsteps podcast.
Thank you for making it to theend.
Thank you for making my show,my low-budget B-movie podcast,
into something that you tuneinto weekly.
I appreciate all of you thatmake this a part of your week,
that share it.
Obviously, I must enjoy doingthese.
(48:02):
I'm 186 episodes in.
There is still so much more Ihave to share.
I said when I began the podcastin the fall of 2020, I probably
had enough content for fouryears worth of podcasts.
We are well past that because Ikeep doing research and finding
(48:22):
new things that I think wouldbe fun to talk about.
Pop culture, history,nostalgia, all that.
It's going to continue nextweek with episode 187.
I could barely contain myexcitement because next week is
going to celebrate the 20thanniversary of The Office.
It's one of my favorite showsever.
(48:43):
And the fact that it's 20 yearsold, I mean, it makes me feel
old.
But it officially, for me, putsit into the nostalgia category.
Yes, I feel that two decades islong enough ago that you can
long for those days.
I don't long for the days of2018.
Although I was in much bettershape as a runner back then, so
(49:04):
maybe I do.
If you enjoy my content, youwant to support me, my podcast,
my YouTube channel, my blogs,any of my nine books, you can
become a subscriber on Patreonfor $5 a month.
You can buy me a coffee.
Be on the lookout for the In MyFootsteps podcast website.
(49:25):
It's pretty much ready to go.
Like the house is built, but Ihave to continue painting the
rooms, if that makes sense.
For example, I'm trying to getevery link that I've shared ever
on all these podcasts into onepage, which takes forever.
I'm also listing every episodeI've done, all the notes,
(49:49):
including the podcast cover art.
So these things take a while.
Hopefully within the nextmonth, it'll be up and you can
tell me what you think.
Visit my homepage,ChristopherSatterlund.com.
Like I said, links to all nineof my books.
I'm hopeful maybe sometimelater this year I'll have an
(50:09):
announcement about book 10.
There are some rumblings,little ripples.
So we'll see if later in thesummer something comes from it.
Check out my Etsy shop with myphotography.
I'm putting up new photo printsevery weekend, one or two, to
kind of keep people coming back.
I'm also going to start doingphoto books.
(50:31):
My Cape Cod Sunsets book.
I think by the time you hearthis podcast, it should be up
there.
I want to make that somethingperfect for people's coffee
tables.
Whether you live on Cape Cod,used to live on Cape Cod, or
wish you did and want to seewhat it's like.
You can find me all over socialmedia.
My Facebook fan page.
(50:52):
Instagram.
Threads.
TikTok, occasionally I dovideos.
They're not dance ones.
It's relevant content.
I'm on Blue Sky.
I'm not on X anymore, whichactually has hurt my marketing
of the podcast some, but thatsite sucks, so I'm not going
back there.
But you can find me all theseother places.
(51:12):
Quick birthday shout out on theday this podcast goes live to
Chris, not just my buddy Steve'sbrother, a good man in his own
right.
We'll see you next time.
(51:36):
So get out there.
The weather is getting warmer.
It's in the upper 40s, maybetouching 50, which, man, this
winter has sucked.
So I'm so glad that the weatheris turning.
(51:56):
As I'm recording this, it'ssunny and 40, but it's so windy.
I feel like a tree is going tocome through the window.
Before you know it, though,spring will be here.
Then summer will be here.
And then it's all downhill.
No.
Enjoy every moment, every day.
Because nothing's guaranteed.
And if you need this podcast asan escape to help you go out
(52:20):
and walk in the sun, definitelytake it with you.
I'll keep pumping out thecontent.
And remember, in this life,don't walk in anyone else's
footsteps.
Create your own path and enjoyevery moment you can on this
journey we call life.
because you never know whattomorrow brings.
This has been the In MyFootsteps podcast.
(52:40):
I am Christopher Setterlund,but you already knew me.
And I'll talk to you all againsoon.
Hello, world, and welcome to the In My Footsteps
podcast.
I am Christopher Setterlund,coming to you from the vacation
destination known as Cape Cod,Massachusetts, and this is
episode 186.
It's going to be a fun showthis week filled with twists and
(00:22):
turns and loads of nostalgia.
We're going to kick it off withthe latest dedication to the
craft photography segment.
Looking back at a photo trip toNantucket in 2014.
We're going to go way, way backin the day and give kind of an
overview of what a B-movie is.
(00:42):
There'll be a brand new topfive that are the top five
quintessential 1980s songs andvideos.
These songs could not have beenmade in any other decade.
And there'll be a brand newThis Week in History and Time
capsule centered around thebirth of the legend himself,
Chuck Norris.
All of that is coming up rightnow on episode 186 The In My
(01:07):
Footsteps Podcast We could talkabout how much fun I had this
(01:31):
past week celebrating my littleniece Sylvie's sixth birthday,
including her dressing me up inpink like an 80s jazzercise
star.
But enough about me.
How are all of you?
Thank you all so much fortuning into this show.
The 186th episode of thispodcast, man.
(01:53):
Sometimes I get lost in theshuffle of research, record,
edit, and market the podcastthat I have to step back and see
the forest for the trees andhow many episodes of this
podcast I've done.
Think about how many...
thousands of podcasts there areand how many thousands more
(02:13):
where there's people that do twoor three episodes and don't get
the downloads they want or theylose time or they lose interest
and these podcasts just fadeaway and here I am super
stubborn but I also enjoy what Ido and if I can provide you
with an escape from today'sworld for just an hour a week
(02:35):
then it's kind of my obligationAnd if you enjoy my work, you
could become like these finepeople, my Patreon subscribers,
Laurie, Mary Lou, Ashley, Kevin,Leo, Marguerite, Neglectoid,
Crystal, Matt.
Thank you all so much.
Those of you out there thatwant to join, $5 a month gets
(02:58):
you access to bonus podcastepisodes, early access to
YouTube videos.
Now access to the remasteredWithout a Map live streams that
I did a few years ago for thepodcast.
And a growing free tier so youcan go and check that stuff out.
You know, try before you buy.
But of course you can alwaysjust listen to this show and
(03:20):
share it.
That is free and that does awhole lot.
Telling others to tune in.
Where else can you get suchstories as my filming of one of
my scenes for the upcoming...
Indie horror film that FrankDurant is producing.
He's not directing.
As I've said before, I playmyself, the podcaster.
And it includes me beingmurdered.
(03:43):
And I filmed my death scene,although it's off screen.
And this horror film, it'ssupposed to be a little bit
campy.
So it's not super dark.
I mean, it's horror, butprobably more in the line of the
B movies we're going to talkabout later in the show.
So I'll just say I made mydeath a little bit over the top,
but you're going to have to seeit and watch the film when it
(04:06):
comes out in the summer.
I will say it is fun butnerve-wracking doing actual
acting with a script that youdidn't write.
Because I wasn't an actor, so Idon't know if I'm good.
So getting positive feedbackfrom the director...
That's definitely helpful.
Frank said if I was terrible,the director would have told me
(04:27):
so.
So that's good to know.
He said my scenes so far havebeen great.
So that's very helpful.
As we go, there'll be more infoabout this film and my acting
and kind of behind the scenes.
And coming up later this month,I'll be going up to
Provincetown, finishing the hikeout to Race Point Lighthouse
that Frank and I were supposedto do in October.
(04:48):
So there'll be a new interviewup on my YouTube channel, and
there will be a lot of contentsurrounding the film and the
people that are a part of it.
That's coming up in the nextfew months.
So there'll be plenty of thatfor those of you that are
interested in my acting journey.
But we go from a metaphoricaljourney to an actual journey
(05:09):
with photos.
So let's start off the podcastwith a new edition of Dedication
to the Craft, my photographysegment.
And we'll go back to 2014 andwe'll go to the beautiful island
of Nantucket right now.
Oh, so here we go.
Dedication to the craft.
I believe this is the sixthsegment that I've done.
(05:30):
For those that might be newhere, the idea of dedication to
the craft, it's something thatme and my buddy Steve came up
with.
The gist of it is it's puttingyourself in danger or out of
your comfort zone, I guess, toget the photo you're looking to
get.
For us, a lot of the time itcomes down to going out in
(05:51):
perhaps cold weather, windyweather, driving to places
people wouldn't normally go,hiking out in the woods to find
things.
And as I share these adventureson the podcast, I do try to
drop a little bit of knowledge,what I have as far as
photography goes.
I'm not a professionalphotographer.
(06:12):
My buddy Steve is more of that.
He actually worked innewspapers and such for
photography.
Me, I joke that I'm a hack, butI do have a photography book
that you can buy.
I have a photography shop nowon Etsy that I reopened that you
heard me talk about a few weeksback.
So I do know what I'm doing.
I kind of sell myself short asa joke, but I do.
(06:35):
I wouldn't do these segments ifI didn't think that I could
offer something to you out therebesides laughs at the stories
themselves.
And speaking of laughs, so weare going back to November of
2014 and a trip from Cape Codover to the island of Nantucket
located 30 miles off the CapeCod coast.
I was going to Nantucket to getphotos for a book I was
(07:00):
writing, a travel guide.
It was my third book that wasreleased in 2017.
I was so lucky to have aconnection at the Massachusetts
Office of Travel and Tourism, myold friend Bill D'Souza Mock.
Such a good man, a good friend,someone that just wanted to
help me, a young author,succeed.
(07:22):
So he kind of hooked me up withtickets on the Steamship
Authority ferry, allowing me tobring my buddy Steve to bring
his Jeep with him.
I kid you not, those of youthat know me, that know my
history with writing, and I'vegot nine books and all that, the
only book that I've writtenthat I could say Bill didn't
(07:44):
have any influence on was thevery first Cape Cod Travel
Guide.
And that's only because Ididn't know him yet.
Every other book I've written,either he has helped with things
like I'm talking about gettingover to Nantucket or connecting
me with other publishers.
And then these books that I'vewritten have opened the eyes of
other publishers.
(08:04):
So it's a whole lot.
I just want to give him hisprops, give him his flowers.
The main point of thisDedication to the Crafts segment
is not just the trip toNantucket, but where Steve and I
were going.
He and I are huge Lighthousefans.
On the island of Nantucket,there are a few lighthouses.
(08:24):
Brant Point, everyone sees thatwhen you come into Nantucket on
the ferry.
It's one of the most well-knownlighthouses in the country.
There is Sankity HeadLighthouse, which is white and
red striped, right on the golfcourse, right on the east coast
of Nantucket.
But the main selling point,really the reason that I was
(08:45):
able to get Steve to bring hisJeep over...
was the fact that we would beallowed to drive out to Great
Point Lighthouse.
Great Point Lighthouse is atthe tip of Nantucket, and for
those of you that aren'tfamiliar with it, it is in a
very remote location.
Sure, you could try to walk outto it and literally take all
(09:06):
day, or you could take anoff-road vehicle, a jeep,
something like that.
In order to do that, youtypically have to have some kind
of an off-road pass.
This is where Bill came in andhooked us up.
We arrived at Nantucket Harborand immediately took Steve's
Jeep and started heading east.
In the off-season and outsideof downtown Nantucket, it can be
(09:30):
very desolate.
There's not lots of people.
So keep that in mind.
So the last bit ofcivilization, I guess, is a bed
and breakfast called theWawanette.
Once you get past that, thenwhat you've got to do is, if
you're going off-roading, you'vegot to deflate your tires some
so that you can drive over thesoft sand.
(09:51):
So we did that, but here'swhere the dedication to the
craft comes in.
Steve and I start heading northtowards Great Point Lighthouse.
To get there, it's more thanfive miles on the soft sand with
nobody.
There is nobody around.
I chatted with my buddy Steveabout this trip and I said, what
(10:13):
do you remember about that timewe went out to Great Point?
And he said it was basically aseries of small heart attacks as
he worried about his tireseither blowing or getting stuck
and knowing that we were in themiddle of nowhere.
For me, I got to be thepassenger.
So we're driving, we're goingslow.
(10:34):
It must have been less than amile north that we were driving
when we noticed something whiteand fluffy in the dunes.
It turned out to be a snowyowl.
The best part was me being thepassenger.
I was able to hop right out ofthe Jeep, grab my camera, and
start snapping photos of thissnowy owl sitting in the dunes
(10:56):
just looking at us.
And by the time Steve would gethis camera and get out of the
Jeep, the owl had realized whatwe were doing and it would take
off and fly away.
But it would fly ahead of us.
So it would land again.
And this process repeateditself a couple times.
That's kind of the issue withany sort of nature photography.
(11:17):
Typically, you get one shot atit, whether it's birds or
something, squirrels, rabbits,whatever type of animal is in
the area where you are.
I'm pretty sure I got severalgood photos of the owl.
I don't know if Steve got anybecause he would have to stop
the Jeep, put it in park, grabhis camera, get out.
(11:38):
Me, I was diving out of theJeep while it was still going.
When you're way out towardsGreat Point Lighthouse on
Nantucket, you really get to seethe scope of what nature can
do.
The erosion that has justdecimated that area.
The Coscata Cochu WildlifePreserve, Longtime listeners
(11:59):
will remember way back inepisode 21, I did a segment
about the grounding of the shipEldia at Nauset Beach in 1984.
I mentioned also in that samestorm that Great Point
Lighthouse on Nantucket, theoriginal, was knocked down and
destroyed.
The lighthouse that's out therenow was built in 1986.
(12:20):
The area surrounding GreatPoint Lighthouse was actually
turned into an island for alittle while because of that
storm.
So when you're driving outthere and you're close to the
lighthouse, there's not a lot ofland on either side of you.
At one point, the thickness ofthe beach is only about 200
(12:41):
feet.
I remember this day that wewent out there.
It was chilly.
It was cloudy.
It was not perfect for photosof a beautiful lighthouse of the
Nantucket landscape.
But we were getting a favordone for us by Bill.
So it wasn't like I could say,hey, could you pay for us to
have a bed and breakfast?
(13:01):
And then we'll go shoot thelighthouse tomorrow.
Sometimes when it comes tophotography, photo trips, like I
said, you get one chance andyou've got to kind of make the
best of it.
You can do little bits ofpost-editing, make it brighter,
make it a little more colorful,but you've also got to watch out
that you don't turn it intosome kind of clown show photo.
(13:22):
I enjoy Lightroom.
I enjoy the Snapseed app, butif I'm looking to sell a photo
of mine, sell a print of mine,the photos are basically raw.
They might be straightened sothey're not shifted to one side
so it at least looks normal, ormaybe cropped a little, but I
(13:42):
keep any edits to a minimum.
It's just an integrity thing.
There were a few hiccups as wewere driving out to Great Point
Light.
We never got stuck, but wewould slow down.
And Steve, he did mention acouple times, you know, if we
get stuck, where do we go?
No cell phone reception.
It's the off-season, so you'dhave to, I don't know, walk till
(14:06):
you got cell phone reception,and then what?
Call AAA to drive five milesout in the sand to get you?
We'd have had a better chanceof lassoing a bunch of SEALs and
having them just swim the Jeepback to Cape Cod.
Yes, speaking of SEALs.
So eventually we get out toGreat Point Light.
We are...
running around, taking as manyphotos as possible, because we
(14:31):
figured this may be the onlychance we get to get out there.
And looking back 11 yearslater, it has been.
That's the thing.
If you think you're in an areathat you may never get back to
for photography, you take asmany photos as possible, as many
angles, doubles of the samespot, just in case.
It's better to have 50 photosof the same thing than to have
(14:55):
one and it doesn't come out welland you're like, oh man.
Great Point Lighthouse is 70feet tall and it's the only
place on Nantucket that'svisible from Martha's Vineyard.
Granted, it looks like a littletiny white matchstick, but
still, that's impressive.
The area around Great Point isalso an area, and I mentioned it
(15:16):
a minute ago, where seals liketo congregate.
Because it's the middle ofnowhere.
They are not bothered byhumans.
Steve and I are out theretaking photos and we go around
one side of the lighthouse andwe look down on the beach and
there's probably three dozenseals.
Naturally, I took a bunch ofphotos from a distance.
But when I go back and look atthem, you can see some of the
(15:37):
seals staring over at us, kindof daring us to go over and say
hi a little closer.
I have dedication to the craft,but I'm not stupid enough to
get really close to dozens ofseals.
I don't think I could fightthem all off.
And I'm pretty sure Stevewouldn't have rescued me.
He'd have remembered me gettingall the photos of the snowy owl
(15:57):
and he would have left me thereto be destroyed.
I make jokes about thededication to the craft and
doing things and going placesthat put myself in danger.
But the reality is it's a lotof calculated risk.
There have only been a handfulof times in my life as a
photographer where I've come outof a situation saying, boy, I
(16:19):
shouldn't have done that.
So just remember that.
Don't be reckless, careful,cautious risk-taking.
I hope as I'm going here, I'mtrying to give little tips as
far as photography goes as I'mtelling this story.
So I hope some of this stuffactually is useful to you
besides laughing.
The majority of our trip toNantucket that day was Great
(16:43):
Point Lighthouse.
We made it out successfully.
We made it back successfully.
The rest of that gray day wasmainly me going around the
downtown area, getting photos ofhistoric homes and historic
places that would be in mytravel guide.
I told Steve that was part ofit.
(17:03):
That was the catch for himgetting to go over there is that
he had to basically be my taxi.
When we got done, And before wewent back to downtown, I
thought this was going to be mylast trip to Nantucket and the
book would be done.
There ended up being anothertrip, which what a shame I had
to go back to Nantucket.
I said, oh, we can celebratethe finishing of the book.
(17:24):
So we went to Cisco Brewers.
They're at 5 Bartlett FarmRoad, just in case if you're
over there, if you want to go.
Local beer brewery.
So I had this vision in myhead.
Steve and I would saddle up tothe bar.
We'd each get a beer, kind ofcheers, and yay, celebrate a
great trip.
(17:44):
So that's what I had in mymind.
Cisco Brewery is amazing.
We went in there.
They had plastic cups, whichwas smart.
Save the earth.
So we each ordered, I think itwas an IPA, nice light-colored
beer.
Steve got his.
I got mine and immediatelyspilled it on the bar.
My dreams of this great momentwent up in flames.
(18:06):
Although I did manage to get apicture of my beer with the menu
in the back with what they hadon tap.
So I have this photo that lookslike it's the perfect moment.
But in reality, as soon as Ipicked the beer up, it was
spilled on the bar.
Yeah, that was good.
When it comes to any sort ofroad trip, photography trip, the
(18:29):
ones I've talked about and manycountless others...
The getting there and gettingthe photos is easy.
It's the, when you're done withthe trip and you've got to
drive home, that's the hardpart.
I've had many trips where I'vebeen out there taking photos and
suddenly I'm tired and hungryand I'm like, I don't want to go
to these last 10 spots, so I'mjust going home.
(18:51):
Luckily on Nantucket, it was alot of, you know, you sit on the
ferry as you go back.
Steve had to drive, so I had tobe chauffeured home.
In the end, this trip was allabout how far away from
civilization we went to get thephotos we were looking for.
Run-ins with nature that youcan't predict.
And a lot of getting lucky withwho you know.
(19:14):
But that is the story of thetrip out to Great Point
Lighthouse.
Dedication to the craft.
I hope this story time wasinteresting and I hope there
were a few tidbits that willhelp you with photography.
Unknown (19:28):
Music
Speaker 00 (19:34):
This week in history, we are going back 85
years to March 10th, 1940 andthe birth of the legend himself,
Chuck Norris.
You've probably all heard thejokes.
When Chuck Norris jumps in thewater, he doesn't get wet.
The water gets Chuck Norris.
(19:54):
When Chuck Norris stares in themirror, the mirror shatters
because even glass isn't stupidenough to get between Chuck
Norris and Chuck Norris.
But did you know Chuck Norrisis an accomplished actor,
martial arts star?
That's why I wanted to get thechance to share a few of those
jokes, but also tell you abouthim.
(20:15):
He was born Carlos Ray Norris,March 10th, 1940, in Ryan,
Oklahoma.
He had a challenging andtumultuous childhood.
He was a shy and unremarkablestudent, which definitely
couldn't have predicted his riseto fame.
Norris enlisted in the UnitedStates Air Force in 1958,
(20:35):
serving as an air policeman inSouth Korea, and it was during
this time that he discoveredmartial arts.
He trained in Tang Soo Doo andquickly became so proficient and
earned black belts in multipledisciplines.
In the 60s, Chuck Norris was adominant force in the world of
competitive karate.
(20:56):
winning numerous championships,establishing a chain of
schools, and countingcelebrities like Steve McQueen
among his students.
That's how he transitioned intoHollywood.
His acting debut was in the1969 film The Green Berets in a
minor role.
His true coming out party inHollywood, the one that a lot of
(21:17):
you probably would think ofwhen you first think of how did
you first see Chuck Norris, It'sthe 1972 film Way of the Dragon
with Bruce Lee, where they hadthe fight in the Roman Coliseum.
This was before Chuck Norrishad his trademark beard.
It's easily one of the mosticonic martial arts fights in
(21:39):
history.
After that film, he became astaple of the action genre, with
films like Good Guys Wear Blackin 1978, Lone Wolf McQuaid in
1983.
Missing in Action in 1984, andThe Delta Force in 1986.
He was typically portrayed as arugged, patriotic hero taking
(22:02):
on impossible odds.
In the 90s, Norris introducedhimself to television with
Walker, Texas Ranger, where hewas Cordell Walker.
This show started in 1993.
That was what probably cementedhim as an American icon.
And then in the early 2000s,Chuck Norris became introduced
(22:23):
to a new generation with theChuck Norris Facts in the
earlier days of the internet.
They're an ongoing joke seriesexaggerating his strength and
toughness.
I gave you a couple of them,but there's other ones like
Chuck Norris doesn't dopush-ups, he pushes the earth
down.
That's if you're looking for alaugh, you should just go check
that out on Google.
(22:44):
There's hundreds of them.
I tried to think of ones Icould make up for putting him in
this podcast, but they were allso bad.
I can't share these.
You think my attempted dadjokes are bad.
My Chuck Norris facts jokeswould lose me all my fans.
Even though he's retired now,Chuck Norris remains a revered
(23:06):
figure, known not only for hison-screen heroics, but for his
contributions to martial arts,philanthropy.
His name is synonymous withstrength, resilience, and
unwavering patriotism.
And this week in history, wewish Chuck Norris a happy 85th
birthday.
Now I'm not introducing a newtime capsule.
(23:33):
Chuck Norris is allowing me tointroduce a new time capsule.
So we're going to go back 41years ago this week to March
9th, 1984.
What was going on in the worldof pop culture back then?
Well, let's find out.
The number one song was Jump byVan Halen.
(23:53):
This is off of their album1984, the last full album with
original singer David Lee Roth.
Back in episode 14 of thepodcast, I told the story about
my foray into being a metalheadwhen I was about 7, 8 years old.
And I said one of the firstalbums I had was Van Halen's
(24:14):
1984.
With the little baby that's thecherub and he's got a pack of
cigarettes.
This album had other hit songslike Panama.
I'll Wait, and Hot for Teacher,which had a great video that
was on MTV that would confuseeight-year-old me.
The number one movie wasSplash, and you could get into
(24:38):
the theater with a ticketcosting $3.36.
This is the romantic comedyabout a mermaid in New York,
Daryl Hannah as Madison themermaid, Tom Hanks as her love
interest.
It also stars Eugene Levy, JohnCandy.
The movie made about $70million on a budget of about $11
(25:01):
million.
It's 91% fresh on RottenTomatoes and was definitely one
of the first movies I watched asa kid that I really remembered
a lot of the lines from.
The number one TV show wasDallas.
The nighttime soap opera aboutthe Ewing family, the oil
dynasty.
(25:22):
It was originally on for 14seasons and 357 episodes.
It's also well known for thefamous Who Shot JR episode in
1980, which is the secondhighest rated primetime telecast
ever behind only the finalepisode of MASH.
And if you were around backthen, March 9th, 1984...
(25:46):
Perhaps that's the day you wereborn and you were a newborn
baby.
Maybe your parents are lookingfor something to give you as a
gift coming into the world.
Well, I got something for you.
You can check out the Searscatalog or the Kenner Toys
catalog and get yourself a36-inch plush Care Bear, which I
(26:09):
didn't know existed until a fewdays ago.
Cheer Bear, Bedtime Bear,Friend Bear, Grumpy Bear, all
those bears.
You can get one of those for$99.99 or $305 when adjusted for
inflation to 2025.
Maybe that's why I hadn't heardof these Care Bears before,
(26:31):
because they were so damnexpensive.
But you can go look on eBay.
I found some.
They're not too bad.
$150 to $200 for a 40-year-oldstuffed toy.
I'm sure it smells great.
But that was what was happening41 years ago, March 9th, 1984.
The birthdate of my friend andPatreon subscriber, Crystal.
(26:52):
I hope that painted a goodpicture of what was going on in
the world the day you came intoit.
But now we go from...
Fun memories of the timecapsule to songs that could only
have been made in the 1980s.
These are the quintessential80s songs and videos.
There are some things that justscream whatever time period
(27:21):
they came out.
I've done segments on fads ofdifferent decades.
I've done segments on symbolsof different decades, and I'll
be doing more of each.
It popped in my head a coupleof weeks ago when I think I was
watching some random video onYouTube, some 80s video.
So I haven't heard that song ina while.
(27:41):
Let me play it.
And I thought to myself,There's no way you could make
this song at any other time thanthe 1980s.
So I figured, why not turn itinto a top five segment?
Quintessential 1980s songs andvideos.
I have a good feeling that atleast with some of these, when I
say what they are, you're goingto nod your head and say, yup,
(28:03):
it screams 80s.
And if it doesn't scream 80s,I'm going to explain why it
should.
But enough of me kind ofsetting up the premise of this
segment.
Let's get into it.
So with most of these top fivesegments, there are some
honorable mentions and they'rein no particular order.
And unfortunately, because Idon't want to get copyright
(28:26):
strikes or get yelled at, therewon't be clips of these songs.
So you're going to have to goand imagine them.
Or better yet, what I'll do isI'll create a playlist on
Spotify.
I haven't done one of those ina while.
So it'll be the quintessential80s songs.
I'll kind of gloss through thehonorable mentions, maybe give
you a little bit of why they'reon this list.
(28:47):
Anyway, honorable mentions forquintessential 80s songs and
videos include Never Gonna GiveYou Up by Rick Astley, the
music, the video, the fact thatit became Rickrolling in the
2010s.
Another honorable mention is 99Luftballons by Nina G.
(29:08):
In English, in German, a veryhappy, upbeat song about war and
death.
Another honorable mention isRocket by Herbie Hancock.
An iconic keyboard melody and avery weird video.
Another honorable mention isVideo Killed the Radio Star by
(29:29):
The Buggles.
Yes, it was 1979, but it wasthe first video ever on MTV, so
it kind of counts.
And the final honorable mentionis Rock Me Amadeus by Falco.
A kind of new wave song about aclassical music artist with a
singer named Falco.
(29:50):
That's very 80s.
So those are the honorablementions.
Could you hear them in yourhead?
One thing that proves thatthese songs are quintessential
80s is the fact that I don'tthink any of these have been...
Covered, or at least not byanyone who was anything in the
music industry.
There is no cover version ofNever Gonna Give You Up and
(30:13):
such.
Oh, but on to the top five.
Are you ready forquintessential 80s?
I know I am.
So let's get into it right nowwith number one.
I Ran by Flock of Seagulls.
This song is off of their albumA Flock of Seagulls from 1982.
The thing that I alwaysremember, this was the first
(30:35):
song I thought of for this list,is their hairdo.
Like, I don't know if thepointy hair coming down is
supposed to be like a beak, butcould you imagine anyone with
that kind of hairstyle now?
I mean, I guess they might bekind of post-punk, but Iran is
not a punk song.
This video was all over MTVwhen it came out.
(30:59):
It broke into the top 10 in theU.S., That's the other big
thing about this quintessential80s songs list.
All these songs were hits.
I did not scour the internet tofind the worst songs ever, most
obscure songs.
Although I'm sure a lot of youare hearing this list and
saying, God, all these songssuck.
(31:19):
Number two is Take On Me byA-Ha.
It's like a graphic novel comicbook come to life.
This is another song thatanyone that grew up in the 80s
knows it.
And you know the video and youcan see it.
But it's like the comic bookcharacter and he's getting like
beat up in a hallway.
(31:41):
Like he's just getting throwninto the walls.
And the girl is all scared forhim.
And then he finally falls outinto her reality.
It's like what a weird video.
This was off of their 1985album Hunting High and Low.
It's another one that if youjust heard the song, you've got
a picture in your head.
(32:01):
If you see the video, itdoesn't match up.
The song went to number one,mainly based on how much
rotation the video got on MTV.
Again, it comes back to thestyle of the video.
I guess it was cutting edge atthe time, but it is so dated by
today's standards.
The video took 16 weeks to makedue to all of the animations.
(32:25):
And as of the recording of thispodcast, the video has 2.1
billion views on YouTube.
Quintessential 80s does notmean it wasn't a huge success.
Number three is Safety Dance byMen Without Hats.
This just has music that wouldonly be 1980s, a video that's
(32:49):
only 80s with the singer justwalking through some random
rural village.
This was off of the 1982 albumRhythm of Youth that Men Without
Hats released.
I had to look it up, but Iguess the meaning of Safety
Dance, if you cared, was aprotest song against bouncers in
(33:09):
certain clubs who restricteddancing.
So that's the meaning of thesong, but the video is this
random dude walking through somerural village.
Like, it doesn't match up, andit makes it even more
quintessentially 80s.
It's like so many of these, thevideos or the song lyrics or
the meanings, they don't matchup.
(33:30):
It just reminds me of aninterview I remember with Billy
Corgan from the SmashingPumpkins.
This was probably in themid-90s.
And they were asking him abouthow he titled his songs.
And he said there was a songoff of the album Siamese Dream
in 1993.
And it was about a young persontrying to find themselves and
fit in and know who they were.
(33:52):
Very deep stuff, right?
And he named the songMayonnaise.
I was like, okay, that's theway you want it.
Anyway, moving on.
Number four is Axl F by HaroldFaltermeyer.
It's the instrumental.
It's from Beverly Hills Cop.
You can see Eddie Murphywalking around the dark
(34:14):
warehouse with that synthkeyboard playing.
This was off the 1984 BeverlyHills Cop soundtrack.
And this song went to numberthree on the charts.
This is where I sayquintessential 80s.
That a keyboard synthinstrumental from a movie got
that high on the Billboardcharts.
It just goes to show you howbig a star Eddie Murphy was at
(34:37):
the time and how big a movieBeverly Hills Cop was.
Because just imagine youwatching any movie that's out
now or within the last 10 years,and there's some instrumental
music that's under the scene toset it up.
Could you imagine that musicgetting in the top five charts?
It just doesn't make sense.
But a lot of the 80s didn'tmake sense.
(34:59):
I mean, we had that show SmallWonder about the guy that made a
robot daughter.
Do you remember Vicky?
I'll probably do a segmentabout that at some point.
But let's move on.
Finally, number five on the topfive quintessential 1980s songs
and videos is Walk Like anEgyptian by The Bangles.
(35:20):
Sure, there's been lots ofstupid dance crazes throughout
the decades, but one thatmimicked Egyptian hieroglyphs
and how people were drawn on thewalls of the pyramids thousands
of years ago, that's whatyou're going to make into a song
and a dance craze?
Although a few years later,they did go even further back
(35:43):
and make a song, Walk theDinosaur, so I don't know.
I still love the 80s.
Don't judge too much.
This was off of the Bangles'1986 album, Different Light, and
it was their first number onesong.
Yes, it went to number one Thevideo of people everywhere doing
that stupid thing with theirarms.
(36:04):
It was just a different time.
And all these songs and videoswere quintessentially 80s.
But that wraps up the top five.
How many of these songsdefinitely make you think of the
80s?
And how many are you going togo watch the videos of after to
get some great nostalgia?
We'll do other quintessentialsongs of decades coming up.
(36:28):
But for me, there was no betterplace to start than the 80s.
This segment basically startsoff with a question.
What is a B-movie?
I want to do segments on thepodcast dealing with B-movies'
best, worst, weirdest...
(36:49):
But I was kind of like, theremay be some people that don't
know what I'm talking about whenI mention B-movies, so I
figured why not do a segmentjust about what they are.
So we're going to go way backin the day and do a bit of an
overview of what B-movies are, afew examples and
characteristics of them.
B-movies have long held aspecial place in the world of
(37:13):
cinema.
They started as the lower halfof double feature bills.
So that's where the B movie,there's an A movie and a B
movie.
The B one was the second one,probably figuring people came to
see the headliner and theymight walk out during the
second.
But now so many B movies havecult status in modern pop
(37:35):
culture.
A lot of these films, andthey're still made to this day,
they captivate audiences withlow budgets.
outrageous plots, and endearingcharm.
Going back to the beginning,the term B-movie originated in
the golden age of Hollywood,which is roughly the 1930s
through the 50s.
(37:55):
It was during this period thatstudios produced double
features.
There would be a high budgetA-movie as the main attraction,
a lower budget B-movie as thesecondary offering.
I just had to stop and think.
I can't think of the last timeI went to the movies in the
theaters.
It was before COVID.
That's just a random side notethere.
(38:18):
Sometimes with these podcasts,I'm like a dog that sees a
squirrel.
I'll be recording it, and I'llthink of something that pops in
my head, and I'm like, oh, I gotto talk about it.
Other times, I will make sure Istay on point.
That's why I have notes.
Circling back, though, these Bmovies, they were produced
quickly and cheaply, and theyoften used leftover sets,
(38:40):
lesser-known actors.
formulaic storytelling.
And it all sounds like badthings, but it's not.
Despite their financiallimitations, the B movies were
an essential part of the filmindustry.
I mean, you've got to havemovies that provide affordable
entertainment for audiences andgive a proving ground for
up-and-coming talent.
(39:01):
Look at me.
I've got a small part in anindie horror film.
I can't go to the directors andsay I want to be in the next
Marvel movie, push Robert DowneyJr.
out of the way.
I'm not saying I'm going to bean actor like that.
I'm just saying it's one ofthose that so many up-and-coming
talents, they got to havesomewhere to start.
(39:22):
B-movies in general, they'recharacterized by several key
elements.
First and foremost is a lowbudget.
So many of these movies aretypically made with a fraction
of the budget of mainstreamfilm.
This makes it where thedirectors, the rest of the crew,
they've got to rely on creativeproblem solving to stretch
(39:44):
every dollar.
Low budget, in quotes, is kindof subjective.
I had to pause and go and lookand see what is considered a low
budget film today.
I'm seeing anything from$400,000 to some people saying
low budget films are consideredfilms with a budget of $15
(40:05):
million or under.
Can you imagine that?
Some people think that $15million is a low budget film.
I think I could turn everysingle one of my short stories
and every skit I ever did withmy camcorder into films for
probably like $10,000.
Well, don't hold me to that,but maybe.
(40:29):
Another big trait of B-moviesare the campy or outlandish
stories.
You know, whether it's a giantradioactive monster attacking
Tokyo, group of rebelliousbikers on the run.
B-movies often feature wild,over-the-top narratives.
When I first got the idea to dosegments on B-movies, the first
(40:52):
thing I thought of was 1950sand 60s monster movies.
Not all B-movies have giantmonsters in them, but so many
are.
If you go back to the 1950s,you can find dozens of movies
that are giant lizards, giantspiders, giant ants.
It's like giant anything, andyou fight it.
(41:14):
For all of its success, theoriginal Godzilla film in 1954
had a budget of $175,000 USdollars.
Which even when adjusted forinflation to 2025, it's still
about $900,000.
So that is very low budget.
That's where the copycats camein.
(41:35):
You see the success withGodzilla and suddenly there's
tons of giant lizards and gianteverything.
Another quality of theseB-movies is the unpolished
acting.
That's due to the budgetconstraints that many of these
B-movies cast the lesser-known,inexperienced actors, which led
to performances that ranged fromsurprisingly great to
(41:58):
hilariously bad.
I mean, you get some verywell-acted B-movies like The
Rocky Horror Picture Show orFoxy Brown, both from the 70s.
Then you get the hilariouslybad The Room from 2003 with
Tommy Wiseau.
That's almost cliche to putthat in there.
And they had a budget of $6million, so I don't know what
(42:22):
his excuse was.
In these B-movies, you also getspecial effects or lack thereof
of special effects.
The one that always makes melaugh is 1955's Tarantula, which
is about a giant spider.
But they were out in the desertand there'd be scenes of this
giant spider coming towards themon the horizon.
(42:43):
And it looked basically like apicture of a desert with a giant
spider in its shadow there.
That's because the specialeffects in B-movies can be
wildly inconsistent.
Sometimes you get people likeIshiro Honda who did the
original Godzilla where thespecial effects you can't
believe they did it for such alittle budget.
(43:03):
then you get junk likeTarantula, which is 93% fresh on
Rotten Tomatoes.
So I guess they don't judge itjust on the special effects.
A lot of these B-movies,they've got a lot of the
miniatures or stop motion orsuperimposing normal animals
over smaller scenes or pictures.
(43:25):
But that's not, I'm not sayingit's bad.
It actually adds to the charmof some of the movies.
Another quality of B-movies,it's the genre appeal.
Because you've noticed as I'vebeen naming off examples, the
vast majority of the B-movies Italk about, they're horror,
they're sci-fi, but they're alsoweird ones, crime and
(43:46):
exploitation, capitalizing onthe sensationalism and shock
value to draw in audiences.
You can't count on great actingand great effects.
You've got to have something toget people talking.
So not to spoil all the futuresegments about B-movies, but I
wanted to give you a fewexamples of iconic B-movies
(44:06):
throughout the decades.
First and foremost is Plan 9from Outer Space.
That's in 1959, and it's oftencited as the worst movie ever
made.
Although The Room with TommyWiseau may, say, hold my beer,
but it's an Ed Wood movie.
It's kind of a prime example ofso bad it's good.
(44:27):
The budget for this movie was$60,000.
And for the quote-unquote worstmovie ever made, it's 66% fresh
on Rotten Tomatoes.
George Romero's classic Nightof the Living Dead from 1968,
that's a low-budget B-movie thatintroduced zombies to the
(44:48):
mainstream.
Everything, if you enjoy thezombie genre, it all goes back
to the OG.
And I think I told you that itis public domain, so you could
record it and put it up onYouTube and get people to watch
it.
There's the Toxic Avenger from1984.
It's the quintessential traumaentertainment movie.
(45:11):
Trauma is an independent filmcompany founded by Lloyd Kaufman
and Michael Herz in 1974.
I do remember Toxic Avengerwhen I was in elementary school,
middle school.
The movie blends absurd humorand over-the-top gore and the
anti-hero protagonist Toxie.
(45:32):
He's not exactly cute.
You can't put him on a poster.
Well, you can.
The Evil Dead franchise,especially the first two.
Sam Raimi's horror-comedyhybrid filled with so much blood
and gore.
The first one is an all-timegreat.
Evil Dead 2 kind of changedeverything.
(45:53):
This movie launched BruceCampbell into superstardom.
A more recent one is 2013'sSharknado.
This is the original on theSyFy channel.
Literally a tornado of sharks.
Now SyFy does these onesbecause that became really
popular and an internetsensation.
(46:14):
So it's like they just keepcoming up with more and more
obscure combinations.
I think it was last year I hadan idea for a movie called Shark
Yodi, and it was a great whitethat was going around, but his
best friend was a coyote thatrode on his back, and he just
tag-teamed killed everyone.
See?
(46:35):
Give me ten grand, I'll makeShark Yodi.
Despite their flaws, or maybebecause of them, B-movies have
garnered a devoted fanbase.
I love those 50s films, thegiant monster ones.
I've mentioned them and I makefun a little, but I watch them.
I think part of it is becauseeven when the execution is
(46:56):
questionable, you can see thepassion behind them.
Many B-movies areunintentionally hilarious,
offering unfiltered creativitythat mainstream films often
avoid.
And like I said earlier, theyprovide an avenue for
independent filmmakers,up-and-coming actors...
And no matter what you think,people continue to embrace the
(47:17):
wild, weird, and wonderful worldof B-movies.
So go on, give a chance to oneof those low-budget films,
especially the 50s ones.
And as we go on in the podcast,I'll be doing segments on best
and worst and weirdest B-movies.
But this was the intro to getyour mind going.
And until next time, that isgoing to wrap up episode 186 of
(47:41):
the In My Footsteps podcast.
Thank you for making it to theend.
Thank you for making my show,my low-budget B-movie podcast,
into something that you tuneinto weekly.
I appreciate all of you thatmake this a part of your week,
that share it.
Obviously, I must enjoy doingthese.
(48:02):
I'm 186 episodes in.
There is still so much more Ihave to share.
I said when I began the podcastin the fall of 2020, I probably
had enough content for fouryears worth of podcasts.
We are well past that because Ikeep doing research and finding
(48:22):
new things that I think wouldbe fun to talk about.
Pop culture, history,nostalgia, all that.
It's going to continue nextweek with episode 187.
I could barely contain myexcitement because next week is
going to celebrate the 20thanniversary of The Office.
It's one of my favorite showsever.
(48:43):
And the fact that it's 20 yearsold, I mean, it makes me feel
old.
But it officially, for me, putsit into the nostalgia category.
Yes, I feel that two decades islong enough ago that you can
long for those days.
I don't long for the days of2018.
Although I was in much bettershape as a runner back then, so
(49:04):
maybe I do.
If you enjoy my content, youwant to support me, my podcast,
my YouTube channel, my blogs,any of my nine books, you can
become a subscriber on Patreonfor $5 a month.
You can buy me a coffee.
Be on the lookout for the In MyFootsteps podcast website.
(49:25):
It's pretty much ready to go.
Like the house is built, but Ihave to continue painting the
rooms, if that makes sense.
For example, I'm trying to getevery link that I've shared ever
on all these podcasts into onepage, which takes forever.
I'm also listing every episodeI've done, all the notes,
(49:49):
including the podcast cover art.
So these things take a while.
Hopefully within the nextmonth, it'll be up and you can
tell me what you think.
Visit my homepage,ChristopherSatterlund.com.
Like I said, links to all nineof my books.
I'm hopeful maybe sometimelater this year I'll have an
(50:09):
announcement about book 10.
There are some rumblings,little ripples.
So we'll see if later in thesummer something comes from it.
Check out my Etsy shop with myphotography.
I'm putting up new photo printsevery weekend, one or two, to
kind of keep people coming back.
I'm also going to start doingphoto books.
(50:31):
My Cape Cod Sunsets book.
I think by the time you hearthis podcast, it should be up
there.
I want to make that somethingperfect for people's coffee
tables.
Whether you live on Cape Cod,used to live on Cape Cod, or
wish you did and want to seewhat it's like.
You can find me all over socialmedia.
My Facebook fan page.
(50:52):
Instagram.
Threads.
TikTok, occasionally I dovideos.
They're not dance ones.
It's relevant content.
I'm on Blue Sky.
I'm not on X anymore, whichactually has hurt my marketing
of the podcast some, but thatsite sucks, so I'm not going
back there.
But you can find me all theseother places.
(51:12):
Quick birthday shout out on theday this podcast goes live to
Chris, not just my buddy Steve'sbrother, a good man in his own
right.
We'll see you next time.
(51:36):
So get out there.
The weather is getting warmer.
It's in the upper 40s, maybetouching 50, which, man, this
winter has sucked.
So I'm so glad that the weatheris turning.
(51:56):
As I'm recording this, it'ssunny and 40, but it's so windy.
I feel like a tree is going tocome through the window.
Before you know it, though,spring will be here.
Then summer will be here.
And then it's all downhill.
No.
Enjoy every moment, every day.
Because nothing's guaranteed.
And if you need this podcast asan escape to help you go out
(52:20):
and walk in the sun, definitelytake it with you.
I'll keep pumping out thecontent.
And remember, in this life,don't walk in anyone else's
footsteps.
Create your own path and enjoyevery moment you can on this
journey we call life.
because you never know whattomorrow brings.
This has been the In MyFootsteps podcast.
(52:40):
I am Christopher Setterlund,but you already knew me.
And I'll talk to you all againsoon.
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