Listener Mail: Hurdy Gurdy Man

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of
I Heart Radio. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind.
Listener Mail. My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick.
And today we're reading messages that you've sent in over
the past couple of weeks. So most of them concern
episodes that played in that time period. Occasionally there will
be one or two that reaches deep into the archive,

(00:24):
but that's okay. We're always happy to hear about stuff
that came out a while ago. Today our mail bought
Carney smells heavily of of not just eggs, not just sulfurous,
but like burned eggs, and I think that's that's a
bad sign of things to come. But rob do you
mind if I jump right in with this message from
Derek go for it? Okay. This is from the replay

(00:50):
of our episode Into the Egg Chamber, in which we
did talk about various not just the biology of egg
laying an egg incubation, but also how cooked eggs can
some times explode and so oh and one more thing
before I start this, I I edited this message to
remove various apologies for the length of the email, And
here I want to issue a public service announcement. Folks.

(01:11):
If it's too long to read, that's okay. We either
we just won't read it, or we'll pare it down
before we read it. Either way, there is no need
to apologize about the length of email. So I'm gonna
try to try to avoid that in the future. When
you know, one sentence here there might get through, but
I'm trying to dance around it. We'll see how well
we do so, Derek says, Hey, Robert and Joe, I'm
writing in regards to your recent vault episode into the

(01:33):
egg Chamber. The strangest thing happened about a week after
listening to the episode. I came back from work late
at night to discover that someone had left something burning
on the stove. Rushing to check what it was, I
found they had been trying to boil two eggs. I
don't know how much time had passed by the time
I got to it, but all the water had evaporated

(01:54):
from the pot, even though the lid was still on.
You can imagine what happened next. I went rate for
the lid, and what followed was a loud bang, with
the lid flying out of my hand and what I
can only describe as egg shrapnel flying everywhere. Anyway, no
one was hurt, and no one is owning up to it.
This is this? Is this a family situation or a

(02:15):
roommate situation? I wonder I like to imagine that this
is just Derek and one other person. He's being very
polite in his vagueness about placing Blaine. H No, it
was you, man, But why did I have the bowl
bart um? Anyway, Derek goes on to say, I've been
listening to your podcast for almost five years now and

(02:36):
have been loving every minute of it. The topics you
cover have something for everyone. I recently started a new
job and for someone who is as socially awkward as
I am, your podcast to save me many times because
I can always bring up a different, interesting or weird
topic of discussion. Thanks for all your hard work. And
I've tried to attach a picture of the eggs so
rob I feel scrolled down in our document here these

(02:57):
are Derek's eggs. I think this is a it occasion
to use the thanks I Hate It meme. This truly
does look absolutely revolting, and it looks like it smells
like stomach churning Yeah, this is thanks for sending. Now.
I guess this would go in line with what we
talked about in the end of the Egg Chamber episode,
where there was the phenomenon of hard boiled eggs. I

(03:20):
think often having been reheated in the microwave, that when
somebody pierces them with a fork or bites into them,
they will suddenly explode. And it's not known for sure
why that happened, but the best hypothesis seems to be
that there are little pockets of superheated steam that form
inside the matrix of the oolk and when those pockets
get released, they rapidly expand and kind of turned the

(03:42):
egg into a bomb. Yeah, and that seems like that
maybe what happened right here in this picture. Yeah, maybe
moving the pot disturbed it or something, but I wonder
that anyway. That's uh. I'm glad no one was harmed.
I hope the culprit is found. Yeah, all right, here's

(04:02):
another bit of listener mail. This one comes to us
from the Home dat Abroad um Home dat Abroad Rights. Greetings,
Joe and Robert. There are many aspects of your two
partner on numbers that sparked great interest in thoughts for me.
But what inspired this note was your query concerning different
finger counting systems back in the seventies. Until third grade,

(04:23):
I was segregated from the larger student body and experimental
class that combined four years of interacting students and three
shared teachers. When the time came for educational seminars and conventions,
one of the three would rotate out to attend and
invariably return with new ideas and approaches to test on
our captive minds. One such convention during my first grade

(04:44):
year produced a new methodology for finger counting, which was
implemented immediately in the classroom. It consisted of using both hands.
The right represented single digits and the left was double digits.
The four right fingers were one and the thumb was five.
The left fing ers were each ten, with the thumb
as fifty. Just using the two hands, one could easily

(05:05):
count to If one extended from the left hand two
fingers and the thumb, while extending four right fingers, it
would produce the number seventy four. By shifting the fingers,
it became possible to quickly add, subtract, multiply, and divide.
It would take a much longer email to adequately describe
the various techniques that I still barely remember. But it

(05:26):
was smooth and easy and would often result in the
dropping of pencils. This became our go to method in
class for counting and learning the multiplication tables. Subsequently, it
allowed me to teach myself how to divide at least
a year before it was covered in the curriculum. The
system was not adopted outside of that class, which was
sadly disbanded when I entered fourth grade, and I have

(05:48):
never been able to track down information online about this method.
Despite it all, I default to that method to this
very day and risk the dropping of my phone in
lieu of pencils. Sheers the home down I brought. This
is really interesting. I've never heard about this before. Yeah,
this I would I would be very interested if anyone
out there listening knows what this counting system is. This

(06:10):
number system happens to be and uh, yeah, we need
to to to put a name to it. Maybe it's
number one. I don't know. Well, Rob. There is an
email we also got from longtime correspondent Jim in New
Jersey about a finger counting system that sounds kind of similar. Actually,

(06:31):
do you want to read this one too. Sure? This
is from Yes, from Jim in New Jersey, Robert and Joe.
Anyone with four fingers in a thumb on each hand
can easily count into basic arithmetic with number zero to
using a technique called chiss and bop. You use the
fingers on each hand mimicking one rod with a five
bead the thumb and four one beads the fingers. The

(06:54):
right hand represents units, the left hand represents tens. Jim
in New Jersey PS a podcast on non electronic computing
devices such as the Abbicus and slide rule would be
a good addition to this series. I just open this
up in another tab to look at it. Chisenbop is
a Korean finger counting system. Actually the word comes from

(07:15):
the Korean for finger calculation chi or chichi meaning finger
and scent pop or send beyop. I think for calculation. Oh,
very interesting and uh and I agree with Jim. I
think I think it would be great to do an
episode on non electronic computing devices. There's some really really
really fun stuff absolutely so I was just trying to

(07:35):
think about something funny, like what is the correct technological
analogy for the mental skill you learn that allows you
to better or more efficiently perform numerical and mathematical tasks
with the aid of body parts like fingers or external tools,
like the way that the Ashango bone might have been
used if the if the hypotheses about it are correct,

(07:56):
I guess what I'm looking for is something that is
neither quite software nor hardware, but the or maybe it
is a kind of software. Be the mental software upgrade
that makes better use of the existing hardware. Would that
be like the device drivers in your head? M yeah,
I don't know. I'm not sure what the what the
actual terminology for this would be, but as we explored

(08:16):
in those episodes, it goes way back. You know, this
actually makes me think about how while there are standard
finger counting systems, I guess there's nothing to prevent somebody
from coming up with a totally idiosyncratic finger accounting system,
right like just making up some system on their own
and using that. I wonder is anybody out there ever
did anybody do that? Did you go your own way
with finger counting, some sort of self taught uh finger

(08:40):
accounting system? Like you know, what kind of system would
we come up with if if one wasn't presented to us. Maybe,
like you know, each wrinkle on the back of your
knuckle means something. I'm not sure. Yeah, okay. We also
got some messages in response to the episode that Seth

(09:01):
and I did about musical free san Uh, Rob, do
you want to read this one from Hannah or should
I just I can jump in in Hi, Robert Joan
Seth loved the episode on musical Frissonne and although I'm
sure you're getting tons of emails like this one, I
wanted to share something that tends to set off my
own musical frisson. Crowds singing together. I think it is

(09:22):
a combination of a couple of things. First, is the
pure volume of that many people singing in unison and
probably at the top of their lungs. Second, I think
it is the almost magical feeling that comes from communal singing.
If I'm witnessing it in person, especially if I'm joining in,
I'm obviously feeling that magic directly. And even if I'm
listening to a recording of a sound of a crowd singing,

(09:44):
I can still get those chills because I can imagine
how awesome that moment must have felt. The last aspect
that does it for me, which I'm sure not everyone appreciates,
is that I love, love, love imperfect vocal performances, not
so much like wasted karaoke level, but maybe someone who
is untrained but giving it their best shot, or a
highly skilled vocalist who maybe loses control for a little bit.

(10:06):
I think it may tie into the performance, subverting my
expectations with things like a breath taken in a weird place,
a quick vocal crack, or a half second where they're
slightly out of tune but then lock in. I know
a lot of people are not really fans of the
crowd singing along during a concert quote I paid to
hear so and so singing, not their fans, which I
understand to some extent, But for me, it's one of

(10:28):
the things I love most about a live performance, and
something I've grown to appreciate even more since the pandemic
took it away. Not just experiencing something you love, but
experiencing the way other people love the same thing. Just
my two cents love the show so much. Hannah p s.
After Joe mentioned chrono trigger in a listener email episode,
I gotta know if any of you have played Zeno Gear.

(10:51):
Zeno was Zeno Gear Gears, Zeno Gears Gears? You know gear?
What was Alien Pinball Machine? Is this what we're we're
talking about? Alien Invall Machine, Zeno Gears? Or is it racing?
It's like Mario cartl really have no idea. Well, I
would guess it's an RPG from what Hannah is saying here. Okay,
she says I was a little too young to play

(11:12):
it when it first came out, but played it out
emulated last year, and there's a lot about it that
seems right up this show's alley, lots of max and gnosticism. Well,
obviously from what we were saying. No, I have not
played you Know Gears. I'm not like a big like
JRPG or even RPG in general. Guy, I just happened
to have at some point played Chrono Trigger, which is

(11:32):
a wonderful game for the Supernintendo. Um that is definitely
worth going back and revisiting on emulator or whatever if
you can. But but beyond that, I don't know a
lot about RPGs of that era. Well. Um, Hannah makes
some some great points about communal singing. Um, I don't
know if if I am necessarily is moved by just

(11:52):
choral performances so much. But I do appreciate the experience
of communal singing like I I enjoy singing as a
part of like a church congregation or um, you know,
doing like Elizabethan Christmas carols whilst begging for wassaal that
sort of thing. Uh. You know. Part of it is
like growing up with these songs and the shared culture

(12:13):
of these songs. But there's just something also fun about everybody, um,
you know, everybody singing these songs. At the same time,
you're getting your your sinking up your neural networks to
a certain extent and engaging in this sort of you know,
communal you know, uplifting of music. Yeah. I mean this
very much reminds me of stuff we talked about in

(12:34):
our episode on the the emotion of Kama Muda, which
has to do with, you know, the these sort of
communal emotions, and I I feel that very much with
crowds singing along to music that that they love. So
I love crowd singing along to music, though I have
the exact opposite reaction about something. Rob. I don't know
if you've ever been to a show like this where

(12:56):
the crowd just cannot shut up during rest sore pauses
in the music. So like anytime there's a rest or
anytime a song gets quiet, people start going whoa. It
drives me nuts. I hate really, I don't know. Sometimes
that's the time to woo. That's that's when you let
them know, like the song has been really hot and heavy,
and then you know, it goes down a little bit,

(13:17):
and and that's when you can get through to the
musicians on stage. Well maybe if it happens once in
a concert, okay, but I've been to concerts that literally
every quiet moment was filled with woo's and unacceptable. I
think sometimes I'm thinking particularly about well, I guess like
tool songs come to mind. That was the last concert

(13:38):
I went to. UM is that sometimes like the you're
you're on a ride with this song, and it can
be a rather long song, you know, and it's it's
it's hitting me hard, and then you finally get to
the part where things quiet down a little bit and
there's a short break, and you know, part of it
is it's quiet and I can yell and be heard,
but also it's it's it's like you've you've come out
of the tunnel, right you've you've you've reached be not

(14:00):
the end of the roller coaster, but like this is
your your chance to uh to express what you've been
feeling the last five minutes. I don't know now in
terms of people singing along with songs, I probably have
found it uh slightly annoying at times, but I tell
you I will take it every concert for the rest

(14:21):
of my life. Over anybody, UM, like visibly filming a
show using their their phone or essentially but like watching
the performance through their phone screen. That is the absolute worst,
because I'm trying to focus on the performance and instead
like your gooney face is illuminated by your phone, and
and there's the footage of the thing we're trying to

(14:43):
watch in real life, and uh and I have to
like look at that as well. Um that that gets
on my nerves to no end. Musicians love it. Look
out in the audience and just see a sea of phones.
But another thing, Hannaman shad this is the certain types
of imperfect vocal performances UH caused causing frees on for her,

(15:07):
and I can definitely identify with that. In fact, one
of the best examples of a frees on trigger of
in Like All of Music, which we played briefly in
that episode, is the backing vocal track from the Rolling
Stones song Gimme Shelter, which is sung by a singer
named Mary Clayton, who is a fantastic singer. But there's
a part where she's singing so hard that her voice

(15:28):
just kind of cracks, and and it's those cracking moments
where like the person who is a great singer is
singing with such intensity that like they're they're singing falters
that that's like incredibly powerful. Oh yeah, Mary and Faithful
is wonderful. Um, she's no, No, Mary, Mary Clayton is well.

(15:48):
I still stand by the fact that Mary and Faithful
is pretty great. She's great too. Didn't she have some
connection to the Stones? I think she was. She may
have sung with them. I think she and Mick jaggerbick
together at some point. Maybe that's where. Yeah. Anyway, yeah,
Mary Unfaithful. Uh, I really like her as well. The
memory remains. I'm gonna say it, great Metallica song. I
like that. I like that song. I'll put that I'll

(16:10):
cue that one up sometimes and listen to it. A
divisive pick I know load. Well, let's reload. I can't
remember it's unload unload. What's the other one? Yeah? But no,
this is Mary Clayton, but Mary unfaithful? Also very good? Yes, okay.

(16:33):
A few more messages about free soon. One comes from James.
I think this might be the same correspondent who we
were getting back and forth with about GEX at some point,
unless I'm mistaken anyway, James says, good day, Joe and
Seth and Robert Um was excited to see your recent
episode on the subject of musical free song appear in

(16:54):
my podcatcher. It's a sensation I've experienced for many years,
but only recently learned its name game, which I've been
pronouncing incorrectly. Whoops. I wouldn't worry about. I mean it
sounds like people just say different ways. Uh yeah, say
however you want. I most frequently feel it when I
have a strong personal memory tied to a song, such
as pop punk tunes by the Atari's that I listened

(17:16):
to endlessly while daydreaming about early crushes in high school. Additionally,
I've often found remixes of classic video game melodies trigger
frees on is they rekindle fond memories of a blissfully
wasted childhood. One that always does it for me is
the nerd core artist Mega Rand's track for the Gamers,
which features samples and lyrics related to many beloved games.

(17:38):
I'm curious if this song elicits frees on when the
build up completes uh and gives a gives a time
stamp here for others who grew up loving these games.
While I'd always assumed it was just a subjective feeling
based solely on personal memories and anticipatory dopamine release resulting
from rhythmic pattern recognition and prediction, makes sense too. I

(17:58):
noticed your examples of the replacements Alex Chilton and Mary
Clayton's singing on Give Give Me Shelter, both causing the fun, fuzzy,
warm feeling for me. So it's hard for me to
argue on the subject of the feeling itself. I associate
it more with a warm tingle than a cold shiver,
and the the term this is a term that was
cited about it skin orgasm. Though it's obviously not a

(18:21):
sexual experience, doesn't seem too far off problematic, though it
may be at any rate, this episode really hit home,
and as your recent video game correspondent. If you'd do
me the honor of bestowing such a title, I couldn't
resist replying to this one. Please keep up the great
work with one of my favorite podcast Cheers, James. I
love what what James brought up here about for some

(18:42):
and it's in its connection to two things where it's
not just the music that you're that that is in
your mind when you're experiencing this, but it's something that
has become immersed with the music, particular memories or in
my case, it will often be a song that I
was listening to while I was reading something that made
had a big impact on me, you know, a work

(19:04):
of fiction or or um a piece of music. I
was listening to a lot whilst envisioning a Dungeons and
Dragons campaign, that sort of thing, you know, where the
two becomes so uh linked together and then they also
there's like this feedback loop, I guess, or this uh
the system where each one makes the other more potent.

(19:26):
Like the music is more effective because it makes me
think of the Dungeons and dragon setting, and then you know,
thinking about the Dungeons and dragon setting is more, uh
more of an experience because of the music that I'm
listening to while I'm doing it. Music and a vacuum
can definitely elicit it, though. I think some of the
studies we were looking at found it was especially common
with things like film scores, and I think that there

(19:48):
may well be a reason to that. It's not just
that film scores are particularly free so on inducing in
sonic terms, but that they are paired with scenes in movies,
and these scenes bring their own emotional heft and sort
of compliment the song in various ways that they create
these emotional associations. Yeah, to just crank it up to
where it's just absolute emotional manipulation. Yeah, you know. A

(20:11):
quick example that comes to mind is the Hurdy Gurdy
Man song, which which I don't think I ever had
a real effect, right, Yeah, I don't think it ever. Really.
I always appreciate it as a nice song, but it
wasn't until I saw it used in the Fincher's Zodiac
Zodiac where it's like it's it took on a new
quality for me, and uh, and it just gives me
the shivers when I hear it now if it's used

(20:32):
in another I saw it recently in a TV show Um.
That was also had had a great sense of style
and in setting, but it instantly brought me back to Zodiac. Yeah.
It's funny how really good use of a pop song
in a movie can sort of change that song forever,
Like you can't think about it without thinking about the movie.
For for me, it's both sides now. I can't hear

(20:53):
it without thinking of Hereditary. Oh yeah, I haven't seen
Hereditary yet. Oh wow. Okay, well, I don't know if
I know this song either, so I'm really look it up.
Joni Mitchell. Wait, wait, wait, how's it go? I've looked
at clouds from both sides now, from up and down?
I mean cheese if I do too much? Yeah, yeah,
you know. No, Okay, I know the song. Yes, Moons

(21:15):
and Junes and Ferris Wheels, the dizzy dancing way you
feel and pieces on the ground. So think that's a
different Sweet dreams and flying machines. Getting back to listener mail, Okay, uh,
let's see Rob, do you want to do this one?
From Robin here? Absolutely all right? From Robin Um. Also

(21:43):
addressing the Comfort in the Box episodes, Hi, Rob, Joe
and stuff, I am catching up on some of your
episodes from the latest round of work from home disruption,
and I tend to listen to more podcasts during regular
work than when working from home anyway, listening to your comfort.
In a cat addition episode, I had a short comment
on the idea of some kind of a three D

(22:04):
social chess that cats undergo with their square sitting behavior.
The young adult fiction author Diane Dwayne, in her on
her Majesty's Wizardly Service series about cat wizards, introduces the
concept of haish. It is essentially an ongoing game of
three D social chess where postures, sightlines, attention, position, actions,

(22:27):
et cetera all play a part. I found it a
particularly delightful and satisfying way to explain in fiction what
all cat owners or cat observer's notice exactly what you
were discussing? Uh, there sometimes inscrutable behavior. On a separate note,
for the experience of musical Frozen that was discussed in
the episode with Joe and Seth, the piece that always

(22:47):
gets me even now thinking about it as I type
is Mountains from the Interstellar soundtrack by hand Zimmer, crank
that baby up, and get ready to shiver. The entire
organ music content of this soundtrack is extremely evocative. Cheers
Robin film scores again, Yeah, and hand Zimmer. Hand Zimmer
is one of those artists that, Yeah, sometimes I barely

(23:09):
notice his music, but when he's a when he's working
at the right score and it's the right picture, Yeah,
he's he's amazing. I mean I tend to, I think,
over associate him with the way his Batman score sounded
was so very heavy on, like the brass part of
the orchestra, the kind of rang thing. But but yeah,

(23:30):
he's got more range than that. I believe other other
movies are more melodic. Maybe. Yeah, I think sometimes I
set myself up to dislike his his music just because
he's such a huge name that I forget that the Yeah,
he's he's got this terrific range and he's a he's
a famous composer for a reason. I think. I know,
I'll have to look it up after we record, but
I think I know this one from Interstellar and it

(23:52):
is it is moving, all right? Do we want to
wrap up and mentioning a couple of weird house cinema messages.
Let's do it, Okay. This first one comes from Scott.
Scott says, dear Robert and Joe I was delighted by
the subject of this week's Weird House Cinema episode, Death Moon,

(24:13):
because I happened to be moving to uh is it Kauaii?
Is that how you say it? Um? Kawaii for a
job opportunity. With that in mind, it would be very
interested in an episode dedicated to Hawaiian mythology. Per Robert's
request for listener feedback on the subject, best Scott, Okay,
we got we got a thumbs up for coming back
to Hawaiian mythology, and I imagine that would get heavily

(24:35):
into Hawaiian monsters, right, That's that's often our entry way
into such discussions. Um, I think you know, a little
a little of it might be coming a We have
some upcoming episodes that deal with with Polynesian culture, So
I don't know if we're going to get into any
mythology and those or not, but but certainly down the line,
I think we could do something that involves monsters that

(24:57):
gets into Hawaiian mythology. Those upcoming episode well, I don't
want to spoil too much, but they're a little bit
more Polynesian science and technology focused. But but yeah, we should,
we should definitely do Polynesian Beasts and Wonders and stories
as well. Yeah, all right, here's another weird house cinema

(25:18):
listener mail. This one comes from Country. Hello guys, if
you're in search of a genre bending weird house film,
try to fine British space vampire flick Life Force from Yes.
It is streaming on Amazon Prime. I recommend it for
both the extremely dry line delivery by all the actors

(25:39):
and the improbably great uh special effects, some of which
are definitely practical, which I love. I clicked on this
flick thinking it would be a good, forgettable be movie
to play in the background while cooking, but it turned
out to be far too strange and original not to
actively watch. And also I vote yes to an episode
on cross cultural man beast myths. Thank for the hours

(26:01):
of free brain massaging Country. Oh and ps, the movie
staceships and creatures look a lot like the entities in
Watts blind Side. Oh. I never would have made a
connection to blind Side, but oh yeah, you you know us,
well you I think we I can say we both
love Life Force, right Oh yeah, I mean now, I
have to admit it's not a film that I've seen

(26:22):
in recent decades, but but it has I finally look
back on it, so I would be up for watching
it again at some point. It has so many bonkers
elements in it, some great practical effects. Toby Hooper. Yeah,
Toby Hooper at the Helm though, wasn't it was? It was?
Was somebody else involved in well as well in this?
Or was it Toby Hooper was the I know he

(26:44):
directed it, but I'm trying to remember if this was
like a big studio venture that had other fingers in
the pot. I'm looking it up now. Terrific cast though.
Oh well, it was written by none other than Dan O'Bannon,
who is Oh, that's who I was the Yeah, it's
also a Dan O'Bannon picture. Some of the great horror
inside by movies. Dan O'Bannon behind, of course, the writer
of Alien and Umtal writer. Yeah. Was he Total Recall? Okay?

(27:10):
He was involved in Total Recall? Yeah, well, if so,
that's a great movie. Also a writer director of Return
of the Living Dead, which is maybe my favorite zombie movie.
That's a great one. Yeah. I'm getting repped up into
some We're gonna have to do some zombie stuff for
Weird how Cinema going forward, because I I don't know
that we've done a proper zombie film yet, and there's

(27:30):
so many good ones and I'm I'm starting to fill
myself get into zombies again. It's coming back. Yeah, I'm
still weary. I mean, zombies were sort of my first
love when I was getting into horror movies, and really
I don't know, having having just total cinema geek outs,
I started with like Dawn of the Dead and all that,
and it was I for some reason, it felt unique

(27:51):
to me at the time, but I realized I was
part of a cultural zombie craze that took place in
the two thousands. I still don't know exactly why that
happened to be interesting to analyze culturally, like in terms
of what trends contributed. That may have just had to
do with things like they're being remakes of Dawn of
the Dead coming out then and stuff which I never
never actually saw. But yeah, I went zombie crazy, just

(28:14):
like everybody did in the two thousands, and then I
got so burned out on zombies I thought I never
wanted to see a zombie movie again. But but I'm
coming back around. Yeah, I think I was pretty burned
out on on um as well. For some reason, I
watched the news exc Snyder Army of the Dead picture
on the airplane on my recent trip, and uh, you

(28:34):
know it's it's and depressing. You know, it's a movie.
It's a If you're gonna watch an it really zombie
film on an airplane, then go for it. Um. I
skipped around in it. But then on the trip I
was reading the new Raven Loft Book for Dungeons and Dragons,
the fifth edition, and their use of the use of

(28:55):
zombies in one of the particular domains of dread in that. Uh,
that really captivated me. And now that I think that's
what has has has got me interested in zombies again.
It's it's Dungeons and Dragons. It's it's done it once more.
But I guess we did watch a zombie movie, didn't wait,
we watched uh we watched the Shockwaves movie. Oh yeah,
I mean that was zombie light there. Um. Yeah, Well,

(29:18):
coming back to Tontry's recommendation here, Yeah, Life Forces is
absolutely bonkers. It is. It's funny. I've never thought about
it this way, but yeah, I think some of the
strangeness comes out of the out of mixing how bonkers.
The premise is with some of the extremely dry, very British,
you know, almost Charles Gray level of dryness, uh, performances

(29:41):
by some of the main actors. Yeah. And and then
also there are some very I don't know how juvenile
the plot is, but there were elements of it that
definitely appealed to juvenile viewers. Um. You know, there's the
silliness with the you know, some of the silliness of
the monsters and the basic concept. And then I think
there was a lot of arguably unnecessary female nudity in

(30:03):
the picture. Um. And then yet I have this sort
of this this very very dry British dialogue on top
of all that. But yeah, i'd be I'd be up
for looking at that movie again. Is that the second
movie that Dan O'Bannon made that was in some way
inspired by A Planet of the Vampires? I guess so, yeah,
because you can draw lines from Planet of the Vampires

(30:23):
to um to both Alien and this film. Um. So
that the Planet of the Vampires. That's another film I
watched on the airplane. Uh, that that one? Uh what
that was a streaming on the plane. Wow. I brought
it with me on my phone pre downloaded off of Prominent. Yeah,
and uh, and I've been meaning to watch it in

(30:44):
full and I finally did. Um and I think I
was telling you about this. It's it's It's not an
exciting movie in terms of plot or performance, but absolutely
breathtaking to look at, just wonderful visuals and colors and
sights and sounds. Well, speaking of movies that are right
to put on while you're cooking, as Tantry says, uh,

(31:04):
she did here, I I sometimes also put on movies
while I'm cooking or just while I'm hanging out with people.
Playing The Vampire is a fantastic movie to do that with. Yeah,
all right, Well we're gonna go ahead and close up
the mailbag here. I do have one last bit here,
and that is a plug for Corridor Magazine. As many
of you may remember, our former co host, Christian Sager,
masterminded a weird art fiction and non fiction publication called

(31:28):
Corridor last year. Uh, they ran a kickstarter that was successful,
and I'm I'm to understand that physical copies are currently
making their way to the owners. And if you didn't
get in on the kickstarter, you can pre order yourself
up a copy as well. Um, I think you just
go to the Kickstarter page for Corridor, but if you

(31:48):
want to go to their social media accounts to get
more of like a definite link to where you need
to go. On Facebook their Corridor Publications. On Twitter they
are Corridor Pubs, and on Instagram Corridor Publications. Uh so
pick it up. I've I've I have reviewed. I have
not had my hands on the physical copy of but
I've looked at a PDF, very colorful, full of all

(32:10):
sorts of exciting written works, and i even wrote a
futuristic shark short story in there that has a really
cool illustration. So check it out. If that's your thing,
it sounds great. I'd love to read it. Yeah, I'll
get you a copy, all right. Well, if you want
to write into us, do so. We'd love to hear
from you. We do stuff to blow your mind listener
mail every Monday, Tuesdays and Thursdays are our core stuff

(32:33):
to blow your mind episodes. On Wednesdays we do an
artifact and on Friday's That's Weird how Cinema. That's our
time to set aside most of the science and culture
and just focus on some sort of a weird motion picture.
Huge thanks as always to our excellent audio producer Seth
Nicholas Johnson. 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

(32:54):
say hi, you can email us at contact at stuff
to Blow your Mind dot com. Stuff to Blow Your
Mind is a production of I Heart Radio. For more
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