Podcasts about Jaws

Conor Kilpatrick's back and he brought non-comic con con crud with him! I guess it's all on Josh Flanagan this week to hold it together! Note: Time codes are estimates due to dynamic ad insertion by the distributor. Running Time: 01:11:40 Pick of the Week:00:03:20 – End of Life #2 Comics:00:12:24 – G.I. Joe #2000:19:17 – Powers 25 #700:23:33 – Lobo #100:28:46 – Deathstroke: The Terminator #100:31:09 – Invincible Universe: Battle Beast #700:37:20 – New Titans #3300:39:41 – The Sentry #1 Patron Pick:00:44:21 – Batwoman #1 Patron Thanks:00:51:57 – Herminio Reyes Audience Question:00:53:28 – David M. from Houston, Texas has a follow-up question to an email from two episodes ago about the state of comics. Brought To You By: iFanboy Patrons – Become one today for as little as $3/month! Or join for a full year and get a discount! You can also make a one time donation of any amount! iFanboy T-Shirts and Merch – Show your iFanboy pride with a t-shirt or other great merchandise on Threadless! We've got TWENTY THREE designs! Music:“Small Town”John Mellencamp Watch The iFanboy After Show for Pick of the Week #1018! Listen to Conor, Josh, and Ron on their other show Goodfellas Minute. Listen to Conor and Ron reminisce about Goodfellas Minute on Sporadicast: An Oral History of Movies by Minutes. Watch Ron talk about the online pinball ecosystem on Dirty Pool Podcast. Listen to Conor, Josh, and Ron discuss Blade (1998) on Cradle to the Grave. Listen to Josh discuss Fargo on Movie of the Year: 1996. Listen to Conor discuss Swingers on Movie of the Year: 1996. Watch Ron talk about pinball technology on the Daily Tech News Show. Listen to Conor discuss Ghostbusters on Movie of the Year: 1984. Listen to Conor, Josh, and Ron discuss The Crow (1994) on Cradle to the Grave. Listen to Josh discuss Jaws 4: The Revenge (1987) on Cradle to the Grave. Listen to Josh discuss Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) on Cradle to the Grave. Watch Josh and Conor talk about how to start a podcast on OpenWater. Listen to Ron talk about The Phantom Menace minute 80 on Star Wars Minute. Listen to Ron talk about Return of the Jedi minute 124 on Star Wars Minute. Listen to Conor talk about Return of the Jedi minute 104 on Star Wars Minute. Listen to Ron talk about The Empire Strikes Back minute 115 on Star Wars Minute. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

California will rename Cesar Chavez Day after the New York Times reported Wednesday that the labor icon had sexually abused, assaulted and raped girls and women, including his longtime collaborator Dolores Huerta. The Times' yearslong investigation, which was corroborated by more than 60 interviews and hundreds of farmworker union records, broke decades of silence by Chavez's victims, who said they refrained from speaking for fear of tarnishing the union leader's storied reputation. As Californians reel from revelations that upend popular assumptions about Chavez, we talk about how his legacy's being reshaped and hear your reactions. Guests: Miriam Pawel, journalist and author, "The Crusades of Cesar Chavez: A Biography" Manny Fernandez, California editor-at-large, The New York Times Matthew J. Garcia, professor of Latin American, Latino and Caribbean studies, Dartmouth College; author, "From the Jaws of Victory: The Triumph and Tragedy of Cesar Chavez and the Farm Workers Movement" Alexandra Macedo, assemblywoman representing California's 33rd assembly district, which includes Fresno County, Kings County and Tulare County Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Thanks to our awesome Patrons, we're proud to present another episode of Mediasplode! What's a Mediasplode? It's a monthly special edition show in which we talk about what we are enjoying in media outside of the realm of comic books. It's like our All Media Year End Round-Up but in a shorter, monthly format. Note: Time codes are estimates due to dynamic ad insertion by the distributor. SPOILERS BELOW! Running Time: 01:07:48 This month, Conor Kilpatrick and his original Pick of the Week co-host Ron Richards are joined by their friend Mike Romo to discuss… What We've Been Enjoying:00:02:12 – Ron (and Mike and Conor) finished the first season of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms and went to the theater to see Hoppers.00:09:34 – Mike (and Conor) watched the latest season of The Traitors and has been playing ARC Raiders.00:19:18 – Conor enjoyed the World Baseball Classic and (with Ron) finished the latest season of Industry. Discussion:00:28:40 – The 98th Academy Awards Review:00:36:03 – Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, Season 1 Music:“Beautiful Child”Rufus Wainwright Listen to Conor, Josh, and Ron on their other show Goodfellas Minute. Listen to Conor and Ron reminisce about Goodfellas Minute on Sporadicast: An Oral History of Movies by Minutes. Listen to Conor, Josh, and Ron discuss Blade (1998) on Cradle to the Grave. Listen to Josh discuss Fargo on Movie of the Year: 1996. Listen to Conor discuss Swingers on Movie of the Year: 1996. Watch Ron talk about pinball technology on the Daily Tech News Show. Listen to Conor discuss Ghostbusters on Movie of the Year: 1984. Listen to Conor, Josh, and Ron discuss The Crow (1994) on Cradle to the Grave. Listen to Josh discuss Jaws 4: The Revenge (1987) on Cradle to the Grave. Listen to Josh discuss Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) on Cradle to the Grave. Watch Josh and Conor talk about how to start a podcast on OpenWater. Listen to Ron talk about The Phantom Menace minute 80 on Star Wars Minute. Listen to Ron talk about Return of the Jedi minute 124 on Star Wars Minute. Listen to Conor talk about Return of the Jedi minute 104 on Star Wars Minute. Listen to Ron talk about The Empire Strikes Back minute 115 on Star Wars Minute. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1999, a fire at the L'Amicale gambling house in Port Louis, Mauritius, killed seven people. The fire began during riots that followed a disputed football final between the Catholic Fire Brigade and the Muslim supported Scouts Club.Police arrested dozens of suspects, and four men were later convicted of arson and murder. They became known as the L'Amicale Four. Years later, a group of senior lawyers reviewed the case and found major gaps in the original investigation, raising new questions about what really happened.Katie Harris hears from Imran Sumodhee, one of the L'Amicale Four.A CTVC production.Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there.For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.Recent episodes explore everything from the death of Adolf Hitler, the first spacewalk and the making of the movie Jaws, to celebrity tortoise Lonesome George, the Kobe earthquake and the invention of superglue.We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: Eva Peron – Argentina's Evita; President Ronald Reagan and his famous ‘tear down this wall' speech; Thomas Keneally on why he wrote Schindler's List; and Jacques Derrida, France's ‘rock star' philosopher.You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the civil rights swimming protest; the disastrous D-Day rehearsal; and the death of one of the world's oldest languages.(Picture: A crowd of supporters for the L'Amical Four. Credit: l'express)

What's the best tool for making PDFs accessible? It's the question we get constantly, and the honest answer might surprise you. There isn't one. In this episode of Chax Chat, Chad and Dax break down how the "best" accessibility tool depends entirely on your starting point. Are you working in Word, InDesign, PowerPoint, Google Docs, or Canva? Do you have a tagged PDF, an untagged PDF, or a scanned document? Each scenario changes the strategy. We discuss why "born accessible" is always better than heavy remediation, when Adobe's auto-tagging can actually help, why tools like MadeToTag and Access Word continue to be game changers, and how platforms like CommonLook, PDFix, PREP, and Grackle fit into the workflow. We also talk about handling scanned PDFs, the realities of screen reader testing, and why bookmarks aren't the navigation solution many people think they are. If you've ever felt overwhelmed trying to choose the right accessibility tool, this episode will help you stop chasing a magic solution and start making smarter decisions based on context. Every other week, we unravel accessibility so you can build more inclusive, compliant, and practical documents.     Screen Readers NVDA https://www.nvaccess.org JAWS https://www.freedomscientific.com/products/software/jaws Apple Voice Over https://www.apple.com/accessibility/vision   Color Checkers TPGi Color Contrast Analyzer https://www.tpgi.com/color-contrast-checker WebAIM Color Contrast Checker https://webaim.org/resources/contrastchecker 8-Shapes Contrast Grid https://contrast-grid.eightshapes.com Microsoft Color Simulations https://www.microsoft.com/design/color Sim Daltonism https://michelf.ca/projects/sim-daltonism Daltonizer https://play.google.com/store/apps/ Adobe Illustrator https://www.adobe.com Adobe Photoshop https://www.adobe.com Color.Adobe https://color.adobe.com/   Acrobat Plugins CommonLook PDF https://commonlook.com Callas PDFgoHTML https://www.callassoftware.com   MS Word Plugins CommonLook Office https://commonlook.com axesWord https://www.axes4.com   Google Extension Grackle Docs https://www.grackledocs.com   InDesign Plugins MadeToTag https://www.axaio.com/madetotag   PDF Remidiators Adobe Acrobat Pro DC https://www.adobe.com/acrobat Adobe Bridge https://www.adobe.com axesPDF https://www.axes4.com Abby Fine Reader https://www.abbyy.com/ PDFix https://pdfix.net Responsive Table Generator Tool https://ianrmedia.unl.edu/website-resources/responsive-table-generator-tool/ Grackle PDF https://www.grackledocs.com/grackle-pdf Vengage https://venngage.com PREP (Continual Engine) https://www.continualengine.com/prep   PDF Checker PAC Checker 2026 https://pac.pdf-accessibility.org CommonLook Validator https://netcentric.allyant.com/accessibility-software/pdf-validator/   InDesign Scripts Keith Gilbert InDesign Scripts https://gilbertconsulting.com   Virtualization for Mac Parallels Desktop https://www.parallels.com Windows OS https://www.microsoft.com/windows Karabiner-Elements https://karabiner-elements.pqrs.org    

What makes a character so compelling that readers will forgive almost anything about the plot? How do you move beyond vague flaws and generic descriptions to create people who feel pulled from real life? In this solo episode, I share 15 actionable tips for writing deep characters, curated from past interviews on the podcast. In the intro, thoughts from London Book Fair [Instagram reel @jfpennauthor; Publishing Perspectives; Audible; Spotify]; Insights from a 7-figure author business [BookBub]. This show is supported by my Patrons. Join my Community and get articles, discounts, and extra audio and video tutorials on writing craft, author business, and AI tools, at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn This episode has been created from previous episodes of The Creative Penn Podcast, curated by Joanna Penn, as well as chapters from How to Write a Novel: From Idea to Book. Links to the individual episodes are included in the transcript below. In this episode: Master the ‘Believe, Care, Invest' trifecta, how to hook readers on the very first page Define the Dramatic Question: Who is your character when the chips are down? Absolute specificity. Why “she's controlling” isn't good enough Understand the Heroine's Journey, strength through connection, not solo action Use ‘Metaphor Families' to anchor dialogue and give every character a distinctive voice Find the Diagnostic Detail, the moments that prove a character is real Writing pain onto the page without writing memoir Write diverse characters as real people, not stereotypes or plot devices Give your protagonist a morally neutral ‘hero' status. Compelling beats likeable. Build vibrant side characters for series longevity and spin-off potential Use voice as a rhythmic tool Link character and plot until they're inseparable Why discovery writers can write out of order and still build deep character Find the sensory details that make characters live and breathe More help with how to write fiction here, or in my book, How to Write a Novel. Writing Characters: 15 Tips for Writing Deep Character in Your Fiction In today's episode, I'm sharing fifteen tips for writing deep characters, synthesised from some of the most insightful interviews on The Creative Penn Podcast over the past few years, combined with what I've learned across more than forty books of my own. I'll be referencing episodes with Matt Bird, Will Storr, Gail Carriger, Barbara Nickless, and Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer. I'll also draw on my own book, How to Write a Novel, which covers these fundamentals in detail. Whether you're writing your first novel or your fiftieth, whether you're a plotter or a discovery writer like me, these tips will help you create characters that readers believe in, care about, and invest in—and keep coming back for more. Let's get into it. 1. Master the ‘Believe, Care, Invest' Trifecta When I spoke with Matt Bird on episode 624, he laid out the three things you need to achieve on the very first page of your book or in the first ten minutes of a film. He calls it “Believe, Care, and Invest.” First, the reader must believe the character is a real person, somehow proving they are not a cardboard imitation of a human being, not just a generic type walking through a generic plot. Second, the reader must care about the character's circumstances. And third, the reader must invest in the character's ability to solve the story's central problem. Matt used The Hunger Games as his primary example, and it's brilliant. On the very first page, we believe Katniss's voice. Suzanne Collins writes in first person with a staccato rhythm—lots of periods, short declarative sentences—that immediately grounds us in a survivalist mentality. We care because Katniss is starving. She's protecting her little sister. And we invest because she is out there bow hunting, which Matt pointed out is one of the most badass things a character can do. She even kills a lynx two pages in and sells the pelt. We invest in her resourcefulness and grit before the plot has even begun. Matt was very clear that this has nothing to do with the character being “likable.” He said his subtitle, Writing a Hero Anyone Will Love, doesn't mean the character has to be a good person. He described “hero” as both gender-neutral and morally neutral. A hero can be totally evil or totally good. What matters is that we believe, care, and invest. He demonstrated this beautifully by breaking down the first ten minutes of WeCrashed, where the characters of Adam and Rebekah Neumann are absolutely not likable, but we are completely hooked. Adam steals his neighbour's Chinese food through a carefully orchestrated con involving an imaginary beer. It's not admirable behaviour, but the tradecraft involved, as Matt put it—using a term from spy movies—makes us invest in him. We see a character trying to solve the big problem of his life, which is that he's poor and wants to be rich, and we want to see if he can pull it off. Actionable step: Go to the first page of your current work in progress. Does it achieve all three? Does the reader believe this is a real person with a distinctive voice? Do they care about the character's circumstances? And do they invest in the character's ability to handle what's coming? If even one of those three is missing, that's your revision priority. 2. Define the Dramatic Question: Who Are They Really? Will Storr, author of The Science of Storytelling, came on episode 490 and gave one of the most powerful frameworks I've ever heard for character-driven fiction. He explained that the human brain evolved language primarily to swap social information—in other words, to gossip. We are wired to monitor other people, to ask the question: who is this person when the chips are down? That's what Will calls the Dramatic Question, and it's what he believes lies at the heart of all compelling storytelling. It's not a question about plot. It's a question about the character's soul. And every scene in your novel should force the character to answer it. His example of Lawrence of Arabia is unforgettable. The Dramatic Question for the entire film is: who are you, Lawrence? Are you ordinary or are you extraordinary? At the beginning, Lawrence is a cocky, rebellious young soldier who believes his rebelliousness makes him superior. Every iconic scene in that three-hour film tests that belief. Sometimes Lawrence acts as though he truly is extraordinary—leading the Arabs into battle, being hailed as a god—and sometimes the world strips him bare and he sees himself as ordinary. Because it's a tragedy, he never overcomes his flaw. He doubles down on his belief that he's extraordinary until he becomes monstrous, culminating in that iconic scene where he lifts a bloody dagger and sees his own reflection with horror. Will also used Jaws to demonstrate how this works in a pure action thriller. Brody's dramatic question is simple: are you going to be old Brody who is terrified of the water, or new Brody who can overcome that fear? Every scene where the shark appears is really asking that question. And the last moment of the film isn't the shark blowing up. It's Brody swimming back through the water, saying he used to be scared of the water and he can't imagine why. Actionable step: Write down the Dramatic Question for your protagonist in a single sentence. Is it “Are you ordinary or extraordinary?” or “Are you brave enough to love again?” or “Will you sacrifice your principles for survival?” If you can't answer this with specificity, your character might still be a sketch rather than a person. 3. Get rid of Vague Flaws, and use Absolute Specificity This was one of Will Storr's most important points. He said that vague thinking about characters is really the enemy. When he teaches workshops and asks writers to describe their character's flaw, most of them say something like “they're very controlling.” And Will's response is: that's not good enough. Everyone is controlling. How are they controlling? What's the specific mechanism? He gave the example of a profile he read of Theresa May during the UK's Brexit chaos. Someone who knew her said that Theresa May's problem was that she always thinks she's the only adult in every room she goes into. Will said that stopped him in his tracks because it's so precise. If you define a character with that level of specificity, you can take them and put them in any genre, any situation—a spaceship, a Victorian drawing room, a school playground—and you will know exactly how they're going to behave. The same applies to Arthur Miller's Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman, as Will described it: a man who believes absolutely in capitalistic success and the idea that when you die, you're going to be weighed on a scale, just as God weighs you for sin, but now you're weighed for success. That's not a vague flaw. That's a worldview you can drop into any story and watch it combust. Will made another counterintuitive point that I found really valuable: writers often think that piling on multiple traits will create a complex character, but the opposite is true. Starting with one highly specific flaw and running it through the demands of a relentless plot is what generates complexity. You end up with a far more nuanced, original character than if you'd started with a laundry list of vague attributes. Actionable step: Take your protagonist's flaw and pressure-test it. Is it specific enough that you could place this character in any situation and predict their behaviour? If you're stuck at “she's stubborn” or “he's insecure,” keep pushing. What kind of stubborn? What kind of insecure? Find the diagnostic sentence—the Theresa May level of precision. 4. Understand the Heroine's Journey: Strength Through Connection Gail Carriger came on episode 550 to discuss her nonfiction book, The Heroine's Journey, and it completely reframed how I think about some of my own fiction. Gail explained that the core difference between the Hero's Journey and the Heroine's Journey comes down to how strength and victory are defined. The Hero's Journey is about strength through solo action. The hero must be continually isolated to get stronger. He goes out of civilisation, faces strife alone, and achieves victory through physical prowess and self-actualisation. The Heroine's Journey is the opposite. The heroine achieves her goals by activating a network. She's a delegator, a general. She identifies where she can't do something alone, finds the people who can help, and portions out the work for mutual gain. Gail put it simply: the heroine is very good at asking for help, which our culture tends to devalue but which is actually a powerful form of strength. Crucially, Gail stressed that gender is irrelevant to which journey you're writing. Her go-to examples are striking: the recent Wonder Woman film is practically a beat-for-beat hero's journey—Gilgamesh on screen, as Gail described it. Meanwhile, Harry Potter, both the first book and the series as a whole, is a classic heroine's journey. Harry's power comes from his network—Dumbledore's Army, the Order of the Phoenix, his friendships with Ron and Hermione. He doesn't defeat Voldemort alone. He defeats Voldemort because of love and connection. This distinction has real practical consequences for writers. If you're writing a hero's journey and you hit writer's block, Gail said, the solution is usually to isolate your hero further and pile on more strife. But if you're writing a heroine's journey, the solution is probably to throw a new character into the scene—someone who has advice to offer or a skill the heroine lacks. The actual solutions to writer's block are different depending on which narrative you're writing. As I reflected on my own work, I realised that my ARKANE thriller protagonist, Morgan Sierra, follows a hero's journey—she's a solo operative, a lone wolf like Jack Reacher or James Bond. But my Mapwalker fantasy series follows a heroine's journey, with Sienna and her group of friends working together. I hadn't consciously chosen those paths; the stories led me there. But understanding the framework helps me write more intentionally now. Actionable step: Identify which journey your protagonist is on. Does your character gain strength by being alone (hero) or by building connections (heroine)? This will inform every plot decision you make, from how they face obstacles to how your story ends. 5. Use ‘Metaphor Families' to Anchor Dialogue and Voice One of the most practical techniques Matt Bird shared on episode 624 is the idea of assigning each character a “metaphor family”—a specific well of language that they draw from. This gives each character a distinctive voice that goes beyond accent or dialect. Matt explained how in The Wire, one of the most beloved TV shows of all time, every character has a different metaphor family. What struck him was that Omar, this iconic character, never utters a single curse word in the entire series. His metaphor family is pirate. He talks about parlays, uses language that feels like it belongs in Pirates of the Caribbean, and it creates this incredible ironic counterpoint against his urban setting. It tells us immediately that this is a character who sees himself in a tradition of people that doesn't match his immediate surroundings. Matt also referenced the UK version of The Office, where Gareth works at a paper company but aspires to the military. So all of his language is drawn from a military metaphor family. He doesn't talk about filing and photocopying; he talks about tactics and discipline and being on the front line. This tells us that the character has a life and dreams beyond the immediate scene—and it's the gap between aspiration and reality that makes him both funny and believable. He pointed out that a metaphor family sometimes comes from a character's background, but it's often more interesting when it comes from their aspirations. What does your character want to be? What world do they fantasise about inhabiting? That's where their language should come from. In Star Wars, Obi-Wan Kenobi is a spiritual hermit, but his metaphor family is military. He uses the language of generals and commanders, and that ironic counterpoint is part of what makes him feel so rich. Actionable step: Assign each of your main characters a metaphor family. It could be based on their job, their background, or—more interestingly—their secret aspirations. Then go through your dialogue and make sure each character is consistently drawing from that well of language. If two characters sound the same when you strip away the dialogue tags, this is the fix. 6. Find the Diagnostic Detail: The Diagonal Toast Avoid clichéd character tags—the random scar, the eye patch, the mysterious limp—unless they serve a deep narrative purpose. Matt Bird on episode 624 was very funny about this: he pointed out that Nick Fury, Odin, and eventually Thor all have eye patches in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Eye patches are done, he said. You cannot do eye patches anymore. Instead, look for what I'm calling the “diagonal toast” detail, after a scene Matt described from Captain Marvel. In the film, Captain Marvel is trying to determine whether Nick Fury is who he says he is. She asks him to prove he isn't a shapeshifting alien. Fury shares biographical details—his history, his mother—but then she pushes further and says, name one more thing you couldn't possibly have made up about yourself. And Fury says: if toast is cut diagonally, I can't eat it. Matt said that detail is gold for a writer because it feels pulled from a real life. You can pull it from your own life and gift it to your characters, and the reader can tell it's not manufactured. He gave another example from The Sopranos: Tony Soprano's mother won't answer the phone after dark. The show's creator, David Chase, confirmed on the DVD commentary that this came from his own mother, who genuinely would not answer the phone after dark and couldn't explain why. Matt's practical advice was to keep a journal. Write down the strange, specific things that people do or say. Mine your own life for those hyper-specific details. You just need one per book. In my own writing, I've used this approach. In my ARKANE thrillers, my character Morgan Sierra has always been Angelina Jolie in my mind—specifically Jolie in Lara Croft or Mr and Mrs Smith. And Blake Daniel in my crime thriller series was based on Jesse Williams from Grey's Anatomy. I paste pictures of actors into my Scrivener projects. It helps with visuals, but also with the sense of the character, their energy and physicality. But visual details only take you so far. It's the behavioural quirks—the diagonal toast moments—that make a character feel genuinely alive. That said, physical character tags can work brilliantly when they serve the story. As I discuss in How to Write a Novel, Robert Galbraith's Cormoran Strike is an amputee, and his pain and the physical challenges of his prosthesis are a key part of every story—it's not a cosmetic detail, it's woven into the action and the character's psychology. My character Blake Daniel always wears gloves to cover the scars on his hands, which provides an angle into his wounded past as well as a visual cue for the reader. And of course, Harry Potter's lightning-shaped scar isn't just a mark—it's a direct connection to his nemesis and the mythology of the entire series. The rule of thumb is: if the tag tells us something about the character's interior life or connects to the plot, it's earning its place. If it's just there to make the character visually distinctive, it's probably a crutch. Game of Thrones takes character tags further with the family houses, each with their own mottos and sigils. The Starks say “Winter is coming” and their sigil is a dire wolf. Those aren't just labels—they're worldview made visible. Actionable step: Start a “diagonal toast” notebook. Every time you notice something strange and specific about someone's behaviour—something that feels too real to be made up—write it down. Then gift it to a character who needs more texture. 7. Displace Your Own Trauma into the Work Barbara Nickless shared something deeply personal on episode 732 that fundamentally changed how I think about putting pain onto the page. While starting At First Light, the first book in her Dr. Evan Wilding series, she lost her son to epilepsy—something called SUDEP, Sudden Unexplained Death in Epilepsy. One day he was there, and the next day he was gone. Barbara said that writing helped her cope with the trauma, that doing a deep dive into Old English literature and the Viking Age for the book's research became a lifeline. But here's what's important: she didn't give Dr. Evan Wilding her exact trauma. Evan Wilding is four feet five inches, and Barbara described how he has to walk through a world that won't adjust to him. That's its own form of learning to cope when circumstances are beyond your control. She displaced her genuine grief into the character's different but parallel struggle. When I asked her about the difference between writing for therapy and writing for an audience, she drew on her experience teaching creative writing to veterans through a collaboration between the US Department of Defense and the National Endowment for the Arts. She said she's found that she can pour her heartache into her characters and process it through them, even when writing professionally, and that the genuine emotion is what touches readers. We've all been through our own losses and griefs, so seeing how a character copes can be deeply meaningful. I've always found that putting my own pain onto the page is the most direct way to connect with a reader's soul. My character Morgan Sierra's musings on religion and the supernatural are often my own. Her restlessness, her fascination with the darker edges of faith—those come from me. But her Krav Maga fighting skills and her ability to kill the bad guys are definitely her own. That gap between what's mine and what's hers is where the fiction lives. Barbara also said something on that episode that I wrote down and stuck on my wall. She said the act of producing itself is a balm to the soul. I've been thinking about that ever since. On my own wall, I have “Measure your life by what you create.” Different words, same truth. Actionable step: If you're carrying something heavy—grief, anger, fear, regret—consider how you might displace it into a character's different but emotionally parallel struggle. Don't copy your exact situation; transform it. The emotion will be genuine, and the reader will feel it. 8. Write Diverse Characters as Real People When I spoke with Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer on episode 673—Sarah is Choctaw and a historical fiction author honoured by the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian—she offered a perspective that every fiction writer needs to hear. The key message was to move away from stereotypes. Don't write your American Indian character as the “Wise Guide” who exists solely to dispense mystic wisdom to the white protagonist. Don't limit diverse characters to historical settings, as though they only exist in the past. Place them in normal, contemporary roles. Your spaceship captain, your forensic scientist, your small-town baker—any of them can be American Indian, or Nigerian, or Japanese, and their heritage should be a lived-in part of their identity, not the sole reason they exist in the story. I write international thrillers and dark fantasy, and my fiction is populated with characters from all over the world. I have a multi-cultural family and I've lived in many places and travelled widely, so I've met, worked with, and had relationships with people from different cultures. I find story ideas through travel, and if I set my books in a certain place, then the story is naturally populated with the people who live there. As I discuss in my book, How to Write a Novel, the world is a diverse place, so your fiction needs to be populated with all kinds of people. If I only populated my fiction with characters like me, they would be boring novels. There are many dimensions of difference—race, nationality, sex, age, body type, ability, religion, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, class, culture, education level—and even then, don't assume that similar types of people think the same way. Some authors worry they will make mistakes. We live in a time of outrage, and some authors have been criticised for writing outside their own experience. So is it too dangerous to try? Of course not. The media amplifies outliers, and most authors include diverse characters in every book without causing offence because they work hard to get it right. It's about awareness, research, and intent. Actionable step: Audit the cast of your current work in progress. Have you written a mono-cultural perspective for all of them? If so, consider who could bring a different background, perspective, or set of cultural specifics to the story. Not as a token addition, but as a real person with a real life. 9. Respect Tribal and Cultural Specificity Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer on episode 673 was emphatic about one thing: never treat diverse groups as monolithic. If you're writing a Native American character, you must research the specific nation. Choctaw is not Navajo, just as British is not French. Sarah described the distinct cultural markers of the Choctaw people—the diamond pattern you'll see on traditional shirts and dresses, which represents the diamondback rattlesnake. They have distinct dances and songs. She said that if she saw someone in traditional dress at a distance, she would know whether they were Choctaw based on what they were wearing. She encouraged writers who want to write specifically about a nation to get to know those people. Go to events, go to a powwow, learn about the individual culture. She noted that a big misconception is that American Indians exist only in the past—she stressed that they are still here, still living their cultures, and fiction should reflect that present reality. I took a similar approach when writing Destroyer of Worlds, which is set mostly in India. I read books about Hindu myth, watched documentaries about the sadhus, and had one of my Indian readers from Mumbai check my cultural references. For Risen Gods, set in New Zealand with a young Maori protagonist, I studied books about Maori mythology and fiction by Maori authors, and had a male Maori reader check for cultural issues. Research is simply an act of empathy. The practical takeaway is this: if you're going to include a character from a specific cultural background, do the work. Use specific cultural details rather than generic signifiers. Sarah talked about how even she fell into stereotypes when she was first writing, until her mother pointed them out. If someone from within a culture can fall into those traps, the rest of us certainly can. Do the research, try your best, ask for help, and apologise if you need to. Actionable step: If you're writing a character from a specific culture, identify three to five sensory or behavioural details that are particular to that culture—not the generic version, but the real, researched, lived-in version. Consider hiring a sensitivity reader from that community to check your work. 10. Give Your Protagonist a Morally Neutral ‘Hero' Status Matt Bird was clear about this on episode 624: the word “hero” simply means the protagonist, the person we follow through the story. It's a functional role, not a moral label. We don't have to like them. We don't even have to root for their goals in a moral sense. We just have to find them compelling enough to invest our attention in their problem-solving. Think of Succession, where every member of the Roy family is varying degrees of awful, and yet the show was utterly compelling. Or WeCrashed, where Adam Neumann is a narcissistic con artist, but we can't look away because he's trying to solve the enormous problem of building an empire from nothing, and the tradecraft he employs is fascinating. As I wrote in How to Write a Novel, readers must want to spend time with your characters. They don't have to be lovable or even likable—that will depend on your genre and story choices—but they have to be captivating enough that we want to spend time with them. A character who is trying to solve a massive problem will naturally draw investment from the audience, even if we wouldn't want to have tea with them. Will Storr extended this idea by pointing out that the audience will actually root for a character to solve their problem even if the audience doesn't actually want the character's goal to be achieved in the real world. We don't really want more billionaires, but we invested in Adam Neumann's rise because that was the problem the story posed, and our brains are wired to invest in problem-solving. This connects to something deeper: what does your character want, and why? As I explore in How to Write a Novel, desire operates on multiple levels. Take a character like Phil, who joins the military during wartime. On the surface, she wants to serve her country. But she also wants to escape her dead-end town and learn new skills. Deeper still, her father and grandfather served, and by joining up, she hopes to finally earn their respect. And perhaps deepest of all, her father died on a mission under mysterious circumstances, and she wants to find out what happened from the inside. That layering of motivation is what turns a flat character into a three-dimensional one. The audience doesn't need to be told all of this explicitly. It can emerge through action, dialogue, and the choices the character makes under pressure. But you, the writer, need to know it. You need to know what your character really wants deep down, because that desire—more than any external plot device—is what drives the story forward. And your antagonist needs the same depth. They also want something, often diametrically opposed to your protagonist, and they need a reason that makes sense to them. In my ARKANE thriller Tree of Life, my antagonist is the heiress of a Brazilian mining empire who wants to restore the Earth to its original state to atone for the destruction caused by her father's company. She's part of a radical ecological group who believe the only way to restore Nature is to end all human life. It's extreme, but in an era of climate change, it's a motivation readers can understand—even if they disagree with the solution. Actionable step: If you're struggling to make a morally grey character work, make sure their problem is big enough and their methods are specific and interesting enough that we invest in the how, even if we're ambivalent about the what. 11. Build Vibrant Side Characters Gail Carriger made a point on episode 550 that was equal parts craft advice and business strategy. In a Heroine's Journey model, side characters aren't just fodder to be killed off to motivate the hero. They form a network. And because you don't have to kill them—unlike in a hero's journey, where allies are often betrayed or removed so the hero can be further isolated—you can pick up those side characters and give them their own books. Gail said this creates a really voracious reader base. You write one series with vivid side characters, and then readers fall in love with those side characters and want their stories. So you write spin-offs. The romance genre does this brilliantly—think of the Bridgerton books, where each sibling gets their own novel. The side character in one book becomes the protagonist in the next. Barbara Nickless experienced this firsthand with her Dr. Evan Wilding series. She has River Wilding, Evan's adventurous brother, and Diana, the axe-throwing research assistant, and her editor has already expressed interest in a spin-off series with those characters. Barbara described creating characters she wants to spend time with, or characters who give her nightmares but also intrigue her. That's the dual test: are they interesting enough for you to write, and interesting enough for readers to demand more? As I wrote in How to Write a Novel, characters that span series can deepen the reader's relationship with them as you expand their backstory into new plots. Readers will remember the character more than the plot or the book title, and look forward to the next instalment because they want more time with those people. British crime author Angela Marsons described it as readers feeling like returning to her characters is like putting on a pair of old slippers. Actionable step: Look at your supporting cast. Is there a side character who is vivid enough to carry their own story? If not, what could you add—a specific hobby, a distinct voice, a compelling backstory—that would make readers want more of them? 12. Use Voice as a Rhythmic Tool Voice is one of the most important elements of novel writing, and Matt Bird helped me think about it in a technical, mechanical way that I found really useful. He pointed out that the ratio of periods to commas defines a character's internal reality. A staccato rhythm—lots of periods, short sentences—suggests a character who is certain, grounded, or perhaps survivalist and traumatised. Katniss in The Hunger Games has a period-heavy voice. She's in survival mode. She doesn't have time for complexity or qualification. A flowing, comma-heavy style suggests someone more academic, more nuanced, or possibly more scattered and manipulative. The character who qualifies everything, who adds sub-clauses and digressions, is a different kind of person from the character who speaks in declarations. This is something you can actually measure. Pull up a passage of your character's dialogue or internal monologue and count the periods versus the commas. If the rhythm doesn't match who the character is supposed to be, you've found a mismatch you can fix. Sentence length is the heartbeat of your character's persona. And voice extends beyond rhythm to the words themselves. As I discussed in the metaphor families tip, each character should draw from a distinctive well of language. But voice also encompasses their relationship to silence. Some characters talk around the thing they mean; others say it straight. Some are self-deprecating; others are blunt to the point of rudeness. All of these choices are character choices, not just style choices. I find it useful to read my dialogue aloud—and not just to check for naturalness, but to hear whether each character sounds distinct. If you could swap dialogue lines between two characters and nobody would notice, you have a voice problem. One practical test: cover the dialogue tags and see if you can tell who's speaking from the words alone. Actionable step: Choose a key passage from your protagonist's point of view and read it aloud. Does the rhythm match the character? A soldier under fire should not sound like a philosophy professor at a wine tasting. Adjust the ratio of periods to commas until the voice feels right. 13. Link Character and Plot Until They're Inseparable Will Storr made the case on episode 490 that the number one problem he sees in the writing he encounters—in workshops, in submissions, even in published books—is that the characters and the plots are unconnected. There's a story happening, and there are people in it, but the story isn't a product of who those people are. He said a story should be like life. In our lives, the plots are intimately connected to who we are as characters. The goals we pursue, the obstacles we face, the same problems that keep recurring—these are products of our personalities, our flaws, our specific ways of being in the world. His framework is that your plot should be designed specifically to plot against your character. You've got a character with a particular flaw; the plot exists to test that flaw over and over until the character either transforms or doubles down and explodes. Jaws is the perfect example. Brody is afraid of water. A shark shows up in the coastal town he's responsible for protecting. The entire plot is engineered to force him to confront the one thing he cannot face. Will pointed out that the whole plot of Jaws is structured around Brody's flaw. It begins with the shark arriving, the midpoint is when Brody finally gets the courage to go into the water, and the very final scene isn't the shark blowing up—it's Brody swimming back through the water. Even a film that's ninety-eight percent action is, at its core, structured around a character with a character flaw. This is the standard I aspire to in my own work, even in my action-heavy thrillers. The external plot should be a mirror of the internal struggle. When those two are aligned, the story becomes irresistible. Will also made an important point about series fiction, which is where most commercial authors live. I asked him how this works when your character can't be transformed at the end of every book because there has to be a next book. His answer was elegant: you don't cure them. Episodic TV characters like Fleabag or David Brent or Basil Fawlty never truly change—and the fact that they don't change is actually the source of the comedy. But every episode throws a new story event at them that tests and exposes their flaw. You just keep throwing story events at them again and again. That's a soap opera, a sitcom, and a book series. As I wrote in How to Write a Novel, character flaws are aspects of personality that affect the person so much that facing and overcoming them becomes central to the plot. In Jaws, the protagonist Brody is afraid of the water, but he has to overcome that flaw to destroy the killer shark and save the town. But remember, your characters should feel like real people, so never define them purely by their flaws. The character addicted to painkillers might also be a brilliant and successful female lawyer who gets up at four in the morning to work out at the gym, likes eighties music, and volunteers at the local dog shelter at weekends. Character wounds are different from flaws. They're formed from life experience and are part of your character's backstory—traumatic events that happened before the events of your novel but shape the character's reactions in the present. In my ARKANE thrillers, Morgan Sierra's husband Elian died in her arms during a military operation. This happened before the series begins, but her memories of it recur when she faces a firefight, and she struggles to find happiness again for fear of losing someone she loves once more. And then there's the perennial advice: show, don't tell. Most writers have heard this so many times that it's easy to nod and then promptly write scenes that tell rather than show. Basically, you need to reveal your character through action and dialogue, rather than explanation. In my thriller Day of the Vikings, Morgan Sierra fights a Neo-Viking in the halls of the British Museum and brings him down with Krav Maga. That fight scene isn't just about showing action. It opens up questions about her backstory, demonstrates character, and moves the plot forward. Telling would be something like: “Morgan was an expert in Krav Maga.” Showing is the reader discovering it through the scene itself. Actionable step: Look at the main plot events of your novel. For each major turning point, ask: does this scene specifically test my protagonist's flaw? If not, can you redesign the scene so that it does? The tighter the connection between character and plot, the more powerful the story. 14. The ‘Maestra' Approach: Write Out of Order If you're a discovery writer like me, you may feel like the deep character work I've been describing sounds more suited to plotters. But Barbara Nickless gave me a beautiful metaphor on episode 732 that reframes it entirely. Barbara described her evolving writing process as being like a maestra standing in front of an orchestra. Sometimes you bring in the horns—a certain theme—and sometimes you bring in the strings—a certain character—and sometimes you turn to the soloist. It's a more organic and jumping-around process than linear writing, and Barbara said she's only recently given herself permission to work this way. When I told her that I use Scrivener to write in scenes out of order and then drag and drop them into a structure later, she was genuinely intrigued. And this is how I've always worked. I'll see the story in my mind like a movie trailer—flashes of the big emotional scenes, the pivotal confrontations, the moments of revelation—and I write those first. I don't know how they hang together until quite late in the process. Then I'll move scenes around, print the whole thing out, and figure out the connective tissue. The point is that discovery writers can absolutely build deep characters. Sometimes writing the big emotional scenes first is how you discover who the character is before you fill in the rest. You don't need a twenty-page character worksheet or a 200-page outline like Jeffery Deaver. You need to be willing to follow the character into the unknown and trust that the structure will emerge. As Barbara said, she writes to know what she's thinking. That's the discovery writer's credo. And I would add: I write to know who my characters are. Actionable step: If you're stuck on your current chapter, skip it. Write the scene that's burning in your imagination, even if it's from the middle or the end. That scene might be the key to unlocking who your character really is. 15. Use Research to Help with Empathy Research shouldn't just be about factual accuracy—it's a tool for finding the sensory details that create empathy. Barbara Nickless described research as almost an excuse to explore things that fascinate her, and I feel exactly the same way. I would go so far as to say that writing is an excuse for me to explore the things that interest me. Barbara and I both travel for our stories. For her Dr. Evan Wilding books, she did deep research into Old English literature and the Viking Age. For my thriller End of Days, I transcribed hours of video from Appalachian snake-handling churches on YouTube to understand the worldview of the worshippers, because my antagonist was brought up in that tradition. I couldn't just make that up. I had to hear their language, feel their conviction, understand why they would hold venomous serpents as an act of faith. Barbara also mentioned getting to Israel and the West Bank for research, and I've been to both places too. Finding that one specific sensory detail—the smell of a particular location, the specific way an expert handles a tool, the sound of a particular kind of music—makes the character's life feel lived-in. It's the difference between a character who is described as living in a place and a character who inhabits it. As I wrote in How to Write a Novel, don't write what you know. Write what you want to learn about. I love research. It's part of why I'm an author in the first place. I take any excuse to dive into a world different from my own. Research using books, films, podcasts, and travel, and focus particularly on sources produced by people from the worldview you want to understand. Actionable step: For your next piece of character research, go beyond reading. Watch a documentary, visit a location, talk to someone who lives the experience. Find one sensory detail—a smell, a sound, a texture—that you couldn't have invented. That detail will make your character feel real. Bonus: Measure Your Life by What You Create In an age of AI and a tsunami of content, your ultimate brand protection is the quality of your human creation. Barbara Nickless said that the act of producing itself is a balm to the soul, and I believe that with every fibre of my being. Don't be afraid to take that step back, like I did with my deadlifting. Take the time to master these deeper craft skills. It might feel like you're slowing down or going backwards by not chasing the latest marketing trend, but it's the only way to step forward into a sustainable, high-quality career. Your characters are your signature. No AI can replicate the specificity of your lived experience, the emotional truth of your displaced trauma, or the sensory details you've gathered from a life of curiosity and travel. Those are yours. Pour them into your characters, and they will resonate for years to come. Actionable Takeaway: Identify the Dramatic Question for your current protagonist. Can you state it in a single sentence with the kind of specificity Will Storr described? Is it as clear as “Are you ordinary or extraordinary?” or “Are you the only adult in the room?” If you can't answer it with that kind of precision, your character might still be a sketch. Give them a diagonal toast moment today. Find the one hyper-specific detail that proves they are not an imitation of life. And then ask yourself: does your plot test your character's flaw in every major scene? If you can align those two things—a precisely defined character and a plot that exists to test them—you will have a story that readers cannot put down. References and Deep Dives The episodes I've referenced today are all available with full transcripts at TheCreativePenn.com: Episode 732 — Facing Fears, and Writing Unique Characters with Barbara Nickless Episode 673 — Writing Choctaw Characters and Diversity in Fiction with Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer Episode 624 — Writing Characters with Matt Bird Episode 550 — The Heroine's Journey with Gail Carriger Episode 490 — How Character Flaws Shape Story with Will Storr Books mentioned: The Secrets of Character: Writing a Hero Anyone Will Love by Matt Bird The Science of Storytelling by Will Storr The Heroine's Journey by Gail Carriger How to Write a Novel: From Idea to Book by Joanna Penn You can find all my books for authors at CreativePennBooks.com and my fiction and memoir at JFPennBooks.com Happy writing! How was this episode created? This episode was initiated created by NotebookLM based on YouTube videos of the episodes linked above from YouTube/TheCreativePenn, plus my text chapters on character from How to Write a Novel. NotebookLM created a blog post from the material and then I expanded it and fact checked it with Claude.ai 4.6 Opus, and then I used my voice clone at ElevenLabs to narrate it. The post Writing Characters: 15 Actionable Tips For Writing Deep Character first appeared on The Creative Penn.

When Warner Bros assigned twin brothers and screenwriters Julius Epstein and Philip Epstein to adapt a stage play for the big screen in 1942, no one could have predicted the impact it would have. Casablanca has since become one of the most recognisable and quotable films of all time, firmly embedded in Hollywood history. But what appears effortless on screen was anything but behind the scenes. The late Leslie Epstein, son and nephew of Julius and Philip respectively, tells Louis Harnett O'Meara about the twins' hijinks and the challenges involved in the making of an all-time classic. An Ember production.Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there.For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.Recent episodes explore everything from the death of Adolf Hitler, the first spacewalk and the making of the movie Jaws, to celebrity tortoise Lonesome George, the Kobe earthquake and the invention of superglue.We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: Eva Peron – Argentina's Evita; President Ronald Reagan and his famous ‘tear down this wall' speech; Thomas Keneally on why he wrote Schindler's List; and Jacques Derrida, France's ‘rock star' philosopher.You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the civil rights swimming protest; the disastrous D-Day rehearsal; and the death of one of the world's oldest languages.(Photo: Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca. Credit: United Achieves via Getty Image)

In this episode of the Freedom Scientific Training Podcast, Liz and Rachel demonstrate how Microsoft Copilot works within Microsoft 365 when used with JAWS. They walk through practical examples in Word, Outlook, Excel, and PowerPoint, showing how AI can help draft emails, summarize documents and email threads, analyze spreadsheet data, and generate presentation notes. 03_06 Archive, The Power of Pro… Along the way, they explain the differences between Copilot versions included with Microsoft 365 subscriptions, how Copilot integrates with desktop apps, and tips for navigating the Copilot pane with JAWS. If you're looking for ways to use AI to work more efficiently in Microsoft Office, this episode offers a helpful introduction and real-world demonstrations. 03_06 Archive, The Power of Pro…

When Stephen Spielberg released his iconic film Jaws in the summer of 1975, he not only kicked off the phenomenon of the summer blockbuster, but also reignited the public's fascination with and fear of shark attacks. Although based on a book of the same name, that novel was itself heavily influenced on several real-life events from the past, including one particular summer on the Jersey Shore. In the early twentieth-century, most Americans didn't think much about sharks or the other potentially dangerous fish and animals that lived in the ocean. In fact, the majority of Americans don't live in coastal areas and probably didn't know there were differences between species. That all changed in the summer of 1916, when a loan shark killed four people and critically injured one person in the waters along the Jersey Shore. More than merely accidental bites, the attacks seemed almost intentional, leading to the widespread belief that a man-eater was stalking the waters of the northeastern state.  In the century that has passed since, the Jersey Shore shark attacks have fueled Americans imaginations and nightmares, leading to widely celebrated novels and films about sharks, but also contributing to serious misunderstandings about sharks and their behavior, often with terrible consequences. References Asbury Park Press. 1916. "Bathers need have no fear of sharks." Asbury Park Press, July 5: 11. —. 1916. "Governor urges safeguards such as Asbury Park has." Asbury Park Press, July 13: 1. —. 1916. "Nets and armed motorboat patrol to protect bathers." Asbury Park Press, July 7: 1. —. 1916. "Shak driven from city bathing ground." Asbury Park Press, July 8: 1. Capuzzo, Micahel. 2001. Close to Shore: A True Story of Terror in An Age of Innocence. New York, NY: Broadway Books. Central New Jersey Home News. 1916. "Man and two boys fall victims to new raid of shark in Matawan Creek." Central New Jersey Home News, July 13: 1. Florida Museum of Natural History. 2024. Yearly Worldwide Shark Attack Summary. Accessed July 30, 2025. https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/shark-attacks/yearly-worldwide-summary/. Morning Call. 14916. "Swimmer mangled by shark at sea dies in two hours." Morning Call (Paterson, NJ), July 4: 7. New York Times. 1916. "Human bones found in shark's stomach." New York Times, July 16: 5. —. 1916. "Many hunt sharks." New York Times, July 9: 3. —. 1916. "Many see sharks, but all get away." New York Times, July 14: 1. —. 1916. "Shark guards out at beach resorts." New York Times, July 8: 18. The Times. 1916. "Creek yields body of boy shark slew." The Times (Trenton, NJ), July 14: 1. Cowritten by Alaina Urquhart, Ash Kelley & Dave White (Since 10/2022)Produced & Edited by Mikie Sirois (Since 2023)Research by Dave White (Since 10/2022), Alaina Urquhart & Ash KelleyListener Correspondence & Collaboration by Debra LallyListener Tale Video Edited by Aidan McElman (Since 6/2025) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On this special interview episode, Erin speaks with Director Paul Boyd and actors Kurt Deimer, Bill Moseley, and Lin Shaye about their new horror-comedy film, Scared to Death. Joining the ranks of epic horror films that sprang (albeit loosely) from true-life occurrences “The Exorcist,” “Jaws,” “The Amityville Horror,” A Nightmare on Elm Street,” and cult classic horror comedies “Young Frankenstein” “Shaun of the Dead,” and “Slither,” “Scared to Death” is a hell of a cinematic ride. The film releases in theaters on Friday, March 13th. You can follow us on Letterboxd at: https://letterboxd.com/itsafandomthing/Consider supporting us on Patreon: ⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/itsafandomthingpod⁠⁠.For links to our social media, visit our website: ⁠⁠https://itsafandomthingpod.com/⁠⁠Discord: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://discord.com/invite/7aTTCAWZRx⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠You can follow Fergie on TikTok: ⁠⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@schroederandfergs⁠⁠Cover art by Carla Temis.Podcast logo by Erin Amos.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

From ‘Jaws’ to ‘Midnight Express’, Fernando Augusto Pacheco listens to some of the most iconic winners in the Oscars’ Best Original Score category. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on Forgotten Cinema, the Mikes revisit "Arachnophobia", the horror comedy that proves sometimes the scariest monsters are the smallest ones.Mike Butler and Mike Field really enjoy this one; with Butler describing it best as spider "Jaws". The film builds tension around an invasion of deadly spiders while following Jeff Daniels as a small-town doctor who must stop them despite being deeply afraid of spiders himself. Daniels brings a relatable everyman quality to the role that helps ground the story, while John Goodman steals plenty of scenes as the eccentric exterminator brought in to deal with the growing infestation.The movie is also a showcase for great character actors. Instead of relying on huge personalities or scene stealing performances, the film fills its world with memorable supporting characters who feel like real people and deliver plenty of great lines along the way.Balancing laughs and thrills without becoming overly bombastic, "Arachnophobia" keeps things relatively grounded while still delivering plenty of creepy moments. It is a smart, fun creature feature that proves you do not need giant monsters to make an audience squirm.What your favorite films in this genre? Let us know in the comments!

Episode 809 DC KO Episode 12 : DC KO Boss Battle 1, DC KO Knightfight 2, DC KO 4 Sean and Jim continue DC KO for the second phase as we begin a catch up and eventual wrap up to this game changing event. This episode we look at DC KO Boss Battle 1, DC KO Knightfight 2, DC KO 4 The Road to 20 years of Raging Bullets in March continues! Sean is a cohost on "Is it Jaws?" Check it out here : https://twotruefreaks.com/podcast/qt-series/is-it-jaws-movie-reviews/ Coming Up : DC KO Upcoming: Longest Halloween, Legends, Wonder Woman, JSA, Justice League, DC/Marvel Crossover, Absolute DC, and much more. Show Notes: 0:00 Show Topics: DC KO Boss Battle 1, DC KO Knightfight 2, DC KO 4 3:30 DC KO Part 12 1:32:30 Closing Show Topic Request Form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe5l4gZgdGrNpLXAN4NdcAI0WF7fM7yhjHJ3upZ3azEc31zuw/viewform?usp=sharing Contact Info (Social Media and Gaming) Updated 9/23: https://ragingbullets.com/about/ Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/401332833597062/ Sponsors: http://www.DCBService.com, http://www.Instocktrades.com Favorite Organizations : http://www.heroinitiative.org, http://cbldf.org/ We'll be back in a week with more content.  Check our website, Twitter and our Facebook group for regular updates.

When Stephen Spielberg released his iconic film Jaws in the summer of 1975, he not only kicked off the phenomenon of the summer blockbuster, but also reignited the public's fascination with and fear of shark attacks. Although based on a book of the same name, that novel was itself heavily influenced on several real-life events from the past, including one particular summer on the Jersey Shore. In the early twentieth-century, most Americans didn't think much about sharks or the other potentially dangerous fish and animals that lived in the ocean. In fact, the majority of Americans don't live in coastal areas and probably didn't know there were differences between species. That all changed in the summer of 1916, when a loan shark killed four people and critically injured one person in the waters along the Jersey Shore. More than merely accidental bites, the attacks seemed almost intentional, leading to the widespread belief that a man-eater was stalking the waters of the northeastern state.  In the century that has passed since, the Jersey Shore shark attacks have fueled Americans imaginations and nightmares, leading to widely celebrated novels and films about sharks, but also contributing to serious misunderstandings about sharks and their behavior, often with terrible consequences. Recommendations in this Episode Listen to Laughing in the Dark an 'Are You Afraid of the Dark' Rewatch Podcast with @mikie_sirois & Dave (@thatqueerwolf) (in addition to Bryan and Aileen!)  Grab SIGNED EDITIONS of The Butcher Legacy from Barnes & Noble before they run out! References Asbury Park Press. 1916. "Bathers need have no fear of sharks." Asbury Park Press, July 5: 11. —. 1916. "Governor urges safeguards such as Asbury Park has." Asbury Park Press, July 13: 1. —. 1916. "Nets and armed motorboat patrol to protect bathers." Asbury Park Press, July 7: 1. —. 1916. "Shak driven from city bathing ground." Asbury Park Press, July 8: 1. Capuzzo, Micahel. 2001. Close to Shore: A True Story of Terror in An Age of Innocence. New York, NY: Broadway Books. Central New Jersey Home News. 1916. "Man and two boys fall victims to new raid of shark in Matawan Creek." Central New Jersey Home News, July 13: 1. Florida Museum of Natural History. 2024. Yearly Worldwide Shark Attack Summary. Accessed July 30, 2025. https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/shark-attacks/yearly-worldwide-summary/. Morning Call. 14916. "Swimmer mangled by shark at sea dies in two hours." Morning Call (Paterson, NJ), July 4: 7. New York Times. 1916. "Human bones found in shark's stomach." New York Times, July 16: 5. —. 1916. "Many hunt sharks." New York Times, July 9: 3. —. 1916. "Many see sharks, but all get away." New York Times, July 14: 1. —. 1916. "Shark guards out at beach resorts." New York Times, July 8: 18. The Times. 1916. "Creek yields body of boy shark slew." The Times (Trenton, NJ), July 14: 1. Cowritten by Alaina Urquhart, Ash Kelley & Dave White (Since 10/2022)Produced & Edited by Mikie Sirois (Since 2023)Research by Dave White (Since 10/2022), Alaina Urquhart & Ash KelleyListener Correspondence & Collaboration by Debra LallyListener Tale Video Edited by Aidan McElman (Since 6/2025) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

FULLY & COMPLETELY: REDUX"In Violet Light" - The Tragically HipEpisode Show Notes——————————————————————————————————Fully & Completely: Redux | "In Violet Light" - The Tragically Hip (2002)——————————————————————————————————Hey, it's jD here.Some albums don't just meet you where you are - they find you exactly when you need them. **"In Violet Light" is that record.** Released in June 2002, it's the one that pulled jD hard back into The Tragically Hip after a stretch of distance. And if you listen closely, it makes total sense why. This isn't a band trying to hold on - it's a band that has let go of every obligation and is just making music for themselves. **The result is one of the most quietly assured records of The Hip's entire career.**This week on Fully & Completely: redux, jD and Greg LeGros go track by track through "In Violet Light" - the eighth studio album from The Tragically Hip, recorded in the Bahamas with legendary producer Hugh Padham - and make the case that this record has no business being this good, this far into a career.——————————————————————————————————EPISODE OVERVIEW"In Violet Light" landed in a 2002 music landscape that included Coldplay's "A Rush of Blood to the Head," Queens of the Stone Age's "Songs for the Deaf," Beck's "Sea Change," and Broken Social Scene's "You Forgot It in People." The indie pop explosion was just beginning to blow the roof off Canadian music. The Hip were eight albums deep, the mainstream had largely written them off, and **they responded by making one of their best records.** No fat. No filler. Eleven tracks of lean, confident, beautiful rock and roll.The album was recorded at Compass Point Studios in the Bahamas - the same studio where AC/DC recorded "Back in Black" and Bob Marley cut some of his most enduring work - with Hugh Padham, the producer behind the gated drum sound that defined the 1980s (Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight," Sting's solo catalogue, The Police's "Synchronicity"). **jD and Greg break down why that combination - this band, this producer, this place - produced something genuinely special.**——————————————————————————————————TRACK BY TRACK HIGHLIGHTS**'Are You Ready to Love'** - The opener sets the whole album's thesis. jD hears the first verse as a direct response to the critics and mainstream fans who had written The Hip off. **"They're pulling the plug. They've got our whole dug." And then - the chorus arrives like a shrug and a fist at the same time: are you ready for love?** A great rock and roll song that doubles as a mission statement.**'Use It Up'** - Built on a lyric attributed to the booklet of a Raymond Carver collection, this is a track about seizing everything, wasting nothing, and making music for the love of it. Greg hears Radiohead's "OK Computer" in the verses and the Georgia Satellites in the chorus - **and somehow The Tragically Hip pull both of those things off in the same song.** A slow burn that rewards headphones.**'The Darkest One'** - jD turns up whatever he's listening to every single time this song starts. **"The wild are strong and the strong are the darkest ones - and you're the darkest one."** Greg calls it a safe place. A song about freedom of expression, comfort, and the strange intimacy of being fully understood. Don't let the Trailer Park Boys video fool you - this song could have broken them wide open.**'It's a Good Life If You Don't Weaken'** - The centrepiece. The lead single. **Both jD and Greg pick this as their track of the record - the first time in the history of Fully & Completely that hosts have landed on the same song.** Named for a Canadian graphic novel by Seth and a phrase used by band staffer Molly Lorimer to describe life on the road, it's a song about mortality, aging, and the strange grace that comes when you stop fighting. Death is swirling all around it - and it's still one of the most uplifting things The Tragically Hip ever made.**'Silver Jet'** - The one that changes gears just right. Greg connects this song personally to the empty skies over the Danforth in the days after 9/11, and the feeling of the first plane cutting back through the silence. **A song about hope, fear, and the things that pull your gaze forward.** The wolves of Northumberland. An archipelago. A green star. Only Gord.**'Throwing Off Glass'** - Companion piece to 'Trick Rider' from "Phantom Power" - if that song is about his son, this one is about his daughter. A slow builder that rewards patience. **A soundscape that would fit comfortably on "Coke Machine Glow."****'All Tore Up'** - A great drinking rock and roll song. Dottie the bluegrass singer. Open concept. Getting a little happening with old friends. **No one else writes a lyric like this and makes it fit inside a song this well.** Turn it up.**'Leave'** - A waltz in 3/4 time. Beautiful backup vocals. A late-night phone call at three in the morning. **"You better be dying." And they were.** An emotional gut-punch that doubles as a permission slip - to leave a job, a relationship, a place that no longer fits.**'The Dire Wolf'** - A pseudo-history lesson disguised as a rock song. Tallulah Bankhead and Canada Lee, stars of Hitchcock's "The Lifeboat." Ann Harvey of Isle of Morts, Newfoundland, who rescued 163 shipwrecked souls in 1828. A poem called "Sea Surface Full of Clouds" by Wallace Stevens. **Greg pulls all of this from memory. It's an entire university lecture wrapped in six minutes of music that absolutely slaps.****'The Dark Canuck'** - The closer. Possibly the longest Tragically Hip song ever recorded at six and a half minutes. A time signature change halfway through. **Canadian soldiers as peacekeepers. Apple, Zippo, and Metronome as record labels. Jaws at the drive-in. The Dark Canuck playing second on the double bill.** Nobody at the drive-in is staying for it. And that's sort of the whole point.——————————————————————————————————WHY THIS EPISODE MATTERSThis is the album that brought jD back to The Hip in earnest - **the record that cracked open the second half of his relationship with this band.** It's also the episode where he and Greg pick the same song for the first time. And it's the one where jD, partway through discussing 'Leave,' pauses to talk about his mother. **Listen for that moment. It's what this podcast is for.**"In Violet Light" is a masterpiece with no business being this good eight albums in. And this episode earns every minute of its runtime.So there's that.——————————————————————————————————SOURCES & CREDITS• HipMuseum.com• This Is Our Life: The Tragically Hip in the 1990s (Michael Barclay)• "It's a Good Life If You Don't Weaken" - graphic novel by Seth• "Sea Surface Full of Clouds" - poem by Wallace Stevens• Ann Harvey of Isle of Morts, Newfoundland - historical record• Compass Point Studios, Nassau, Bahamas - production history• Raymond Carver - attributed quote in "Use It Up"——————————————————————————————————CONNECT WITH THE SHOW• Facebook: facebook.com/groups/tthpods• Instagram: @tthpods• YouTube: youtube.com/@tthpods• Email: tthpodcastseries@gmail.comThe Tragically Hip Podcast Series - Est. 2018#TheTragicallyHip #TheHip #InVioletLight #FullyCompletely #GordDownie #TragicallyHip #CanadianRock——————————————————————————————————Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/tthtop40/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Hey Slaycaters — time to combine three of our most common ingredients — boats, the Ocean and murder — as we cook up another Slaycation that will have you wondering WTF is wrong with people!!  It should've been a routine trip for the Miami-based charter boat The Joe Cool.  Instead, things were anything but cool on board for Captain Jake Branam, his wife Kelley and crew members Scott Gamble and Samuel Kairy as their well-armed passengers had more than fishing and a trip to nearby Bimini on their minds.  We'll spare you the details here — but just know, they would have been safer on Quint's boat in Jaws!  As always, thanks for listening and Slaycating with us — and please stay safe out there! SLAYCATION is Recorded at the Brooklyn Podcasting Studio by Josh Wilcox and Edited by Kelley Marcano MORE KIM!:  Subscribe to SLAYCATION PLUS and get weekly ‘More Kim' bonus episodes. SUBSCRIBE to SLAYCATION PLUS right in Apple Podcasts, or on our website: ⁠⁠https://plus.slaycation.wtf/supporters/pricing⁠⁠ FACEBOOK GROUP!:  Interact with the Hosts and get behind the scenes info, photos and more at SLAYCATERS ONLY FB Group: ⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/groups/394778366758281⁠⁠ INSTAGRAM:  https://www.instagram.com/slaycationwtf/ MERCH!  Top quality ‘Pack Your Body Bags" tote bags, as well as Slaycation T-shirts, towels, sandals, fanny packs, stickers and more available at:  ⁠⁠https://plus.slaycation.wtf/collections/all⁠⁠ MORE INFO:  to learn more about Slaycation, the Hosts go to: ⁠⁠www.slaycation.wtf⁠⁠ CONTACT US:  into@slaycation.wtf Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Well... howdy, Audie! This week, the fellas welcome back everyone's favourite war hero with To Hell and Back. In this movie, Audie Murphy takes on the role of a lifetime as... Audie Murphy. Despite being a proto-blockbuster whose Universal Pictures box office record wasn't shattered until Jaws, does this film also approach and challenge the idea of hyper-masculinity? Find out inside! Next week: All mine! Questions? Comments? Suggestions? You can always shoot us an e-mail at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠forscreenandcountry@gmail.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠   Full List: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/war-movies/the-100-greatest-war-movies-of-all-time⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/forscreenandcountry⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.twitter.com/fsacpo⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠d⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Our logo was designed by the wonderful Mariah Lirette (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://instagram.com/its.mariah.xo⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠) To Hell and Back stars Audie Murphy, Marshall Thompson, Charles Drake, Jack Kelly, Gregg Palmer, Paul Picemi and David Janssen; directed by Jesse Hibbs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

According to Kevin Smith, Ben Affleck could play the shark in Jaws. Well, he hasn't done that yet but he has been in a number of films, both good and bad. This week, we look at the filmography of the 2014 Razzie Redeemer winner and make our Keep, Watch and Pass picks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Birthdays on The Rizzuto Show usually involve cake, sarcasm, and at least one questionable idea… and today checks every box.The gang kicks things off celebrating Riz while diving into a surprisingly deep conversation about the recent Nine Inch Nails tour. Lern gives her firsthand review of the show, complete with Trent Reznor theatrics, nostalgic industrial vibes, and a crowd full of 90s survivors dressed like they just walked out of a Hot Topic time machine. Doug's multi-page concert review somehow becomes required reading, and suddenly everyone's debating whether this could be the final NIN tour ever.Then things get weird.The crew discovers that the legendary Ace Ventura mechanical rhino prop — yes, the one from the infamous “butt birth” scene — is up for auction. Naturally, the discussion quickly escalates from “that's hilarious” to “should the show actually buy this thing?” Between shipping logistics, size estimates, and punishment ideas involving someone spending the night inside it, the conversation goes exactly where you'd expect from a morning show that probably shouldn't be trusted with large props.In Crap on Celebrities, the entertainment news gets equally chaotic. Sharon Osbourne hints at the possible return of Ozzfest, Courtney Love might be teasing a Hole reunion, and a suspicious backstage incident at a country concert sparks a serious security conversation. The crew also reacts to the end of Jersey Shore: Family Vacation, a bombshell Dr. Phil documentary, and some very concerning news about Andy Dick.But the weirdness doesn't stop there.The show debates the greatest dinosaur characters of all time (which turns into a heated argument about Barney, Littlefoot, and Denver the Last Dinosaur), and then things spiral even further when the team asks a surprisingly deep question: Which movie villains were actually right the whole time? From Ferris Bueller to Ghostbusters to Jaws, the crew flips classic movie narratives upside down.And of course, no episode is complete without games, birthdays, ridiculous debates, and the kind of off-the-rails humor that somehow keeps this comedy podcast rolling every single day.If you came for serious journalism… you're definitely in the wrong place.But if you want ridiculous conversations, music nostalgia, pop culture chaos, and a morning show that absolutely should not be trusted with a mechanical rhino… welcome to your new favorite comedy podcast.Follow The Rizzuto Show → linktr.ee/rizzshow for more from your favorite daily comedy show.Connect with The Rizzuto Show Comedy Podcast online → https://1057thepoint.com/RizzShowHear The Rizz Show daily on the radio at 105.7 The Point | Hubbard Radio in St. Louis, MO.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week, we discuss the primal thriller, Jaws, a masterclass in tension that turned a malfunctioning mechanical shark into cinema's most terrifying unseen predator.SPOILER ALERT We will be talking about this movie in its entirety, including the iconic third act aboard the Orca and the ultimate fate of the shark. If you haven't seen this classic, we strongly suggest you watch it before listening to our takes.A Universal Pictures production. Released on June 20, 1975. Directed by Steven Spielberg. Screenplay by Peter Benchley and Carl Gottlieb, based on the novel by Peter Benchley. Starring Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, and Richard Dreyfuss. Cinematography by Bill Butler. Edited by Verna Fields. Score by John Williams.

Today on the 5: Thanks to a recommendation from Len Kabasinski, I watched 1987's Dark Age. For a movie that was a total unknown to me and is often labeled as a "Jaws ripoff" or an "Ozploitation" movie, this film is much better than I ever expected it to be!

Send a textWould you call Jaws "father" if that's all he really wanted? Trav and Steve join forces to pull off yer another episode of Polykill. The Elite MYT kills the most polygons and the anonymous listeners carry the episode with hot seats and emails. Top 5 games from 1998!Tales from the Backlog Guest Appearance from Steve: Link to come!Games this episodePlanet of Lana II: Children of the Leaf (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, PC) – March 5Poker Night at the Inventory (Remaster) (PlayStation 4, Switch, PC) – March 5Crimson Desert (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC) – March 19John Carpenter's Toxic Commando (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC) – March 12Lost EdenHeart of DarknessA Bug's Life (N64)Reanimal (PS5)Animaniacs Ten Pin Alley (PS1)WCW/NWO Revenge (N64)Fatal Frame III (PS2)WCW/NWO Thunder (PS1)The 7th Guest (CDi)Divinity: Original Sin Enhanced EditionFinal Fantasy XFind more shows at polymedianetwork.com, BlueSky: Trav, Steve, Polykill, Polymedia twitch.tv/blinkoom, Send us an email polykillpodcast@gmail.com, Check out our patreon at Patreon.com/polykill How to be a Polykiller: Beat a game, take a screenshot, post it on BlueSky or Polymedia Discord, use #justbeatit, write a review and be sure to include @Polykill. Beat the most, become Polykiller. Beat any, have your Skeet potentially read on the show! Check out the Bonus Beats episodes on Patreon for more beat-skeet coverage!

Send a textThe third dimension is rank incompetence. We watched "Jaws 3" (or Jaws 3D to some of us old timers) and came away with a lot of questions around scope creep in an aquatic animal park.Look at us on InstagramFollow us on Twitter (or don't we're not really there - and you probably shouldn't be either. And yeah, we know, the dumb name changed)Hit us up with comments and suggestions at horrorcurious@gmail.comRate! Review! Recommend!

2025 Hit Sleeper Dud is here, and this year it's a solo pod.Whitey is on the road, the Academy Awards are looming, and the team is temporarily scattered, but the show must go on. So in true Born to Watch fashion, we break down the year in film the only way we know how, by calling it straight. The hits. The sleepers. The duds. No fence-sitting. No safe takes. Just movie love, movie rage, and a bit of chaos in between.First up, the HITS.Leading the charge is F1, starring the forever-sexy Brad Pitt. It's big, loud, formulaic and absolutely electric. Joseph Kosinski proves again he knows how to strap a camera inside a cockpit and make you feel every rev. Unreal cinema fun. That's what movies are supposed to be.Then comes Weapons, the horror surprise that had Whitey on edge from start to finish. Creepy premise, massive performances, and Amy Madigan absolutely crushing it. This one lingers.Stephen King's The Long Walk delivers bleak dystopia done right. Cooper Hoffman proves the talent runs in the bloodline, and Mark Hamill playing against type adds weight to a brutal premise.The Fantastic Four: First Steps lands better than expected, giving Marvel just enough oxygen to stay alive heading into Doomsday. Period setting, Galactus looming, and yes, Pedro Pascal everywhere.And yes, Jaws returning to cinemas for its 50th anniversary still rules the ocean. Some films do not age. They evolve.Now the SLEEPERS.Anaconda (2025) should not have worked. But it did. Jack Black, Paul Rudd, jungle chaos, midlife crisis energy. Low expectations. Big laughs.The Naked Gun reboot? Surprisingly hilarious. Liam Neeson leans into absurdity and Pamela Anderson brings the heat. It's not Leslie Nielsen, but it earns its laughs.Then Marvel's quiet comeback entry, Fantastic Four, sneaks in again as a sleeper-level win.Now the DUDS.Jurassic World Rebirth proves some DNA experiments should stay extinct.Superman should have soared. Instead, it stumbled. Strong casting, messy execution.And Captain America: Brave New World? Whitey turned it off. Enough said.Plus, we talk about the “meh” movies like Sinners and One Battle After Another, which were good but not great.Then we look forward. Spielberg. Nolan's The Odyssey. Michael. Masters of the Universe. Mandalorian and Grogu. Avengers Doomsday. Dune Messiah.Big year coming.JOIN THE CONVERSATIONWhat was YOUR 2025 Hit Sleeper Dud?Did Superman deserve better?Are we done with dinosaurs yet?Drop us a voicemail at https://www.borntowatch.com.au and be part of the show.Like. Subscribe. Share with your friends. Share with your enemies.Born to Watch. We don't take ourselves or the movies too seriously.#BornToWatch #MoviePodcast #2025Movies #FilmReview #HitSleeperDud #CinemaTalk #MovieDebate #Blockbusters #Marvel #FilmFans

It's Friday, which means 5-Star Movie Reviews with Andy Peth, joined by Luke Cashman and Ashly Carter — and this hour did not disappoint. At 11:07, Andy dives into K-Pops, starring Anderson .Paak. Is it a heartfelt father-son redemption story wrapped in vibrant K-pop spectacle… or an overlong vanity project? Andy praises the chemistry, cultural fusion, and music, but ultimately says weak writing and poor editing sink it. His verdict? Quality: 1½ stars | Political: 3 | Moral/Religious: 3. Would you spend your money on it — or stream something else? Then at 27:35, it's Scream 7. Can Neve Campbell's return as Sidney Prescott revive the franchise? Andy likes the aging “final girl” angle and the warning about AI deception — but says the second half collapses with laughable reveals and unrealistic kills. Final score: Quality: 1 star | Political: 3½ | Moral/Religious: 3. Is this horror sequel suspenseful… or unintentionally hilarious? If you love sharp takes, bold ratings, and zero sugarcoating, Andy Peth brings it. Want to know which film he says is actually worth your time? You'll have to listen. HOUR 2 Guest host Andy Peth, joined by Luke Cashman and Ashly Carter, turns Hour 2 into a fast-paced, laugh-out-loud showdown: movies with one-word titles. Sounds simple? Think again. From Taken and the debate over whether “fun” equals “good,” to rapid-fire classics like Casablanca, Jaws, Gladiator, Parasite, Titanic, Psycho, and Hereditary, the crew blends nostalgia, trivia, and sharp cultural commentary. Which trilogy would you binge back-to-back—Star Wars, Avatar, The Matrix, Nolan's Batman? And what makes a single word—Alien, Rebecca, Deliverance, Mulan, Ghostbusters—so powerful it defines a generation? Callers jump in with deep cuts and curveballs (Zardoz, Rollerball, Sharknado), while the hosts trade iconic quotes and debate horror films that are “tough watches.” Is Aliens better than Alien? Did Jaws change human behavior forever? And which movie moment still gives you chills? It's part trivia battle, part film school, part comedy roast—proving that sometimes one word is all you need.

It's Friday, which means 5-Star Movie Reviews with Andy Peth, joined by Luke Cashman and Ashly Carter — and this hour did not disappoint. At 11:07, Andy dives into K-Pops, starring Anderson .Paak. Is it a heartfelt father-son redemption story wrapped in vibrant K-pop spectacle… or an overlong vanity project? Andy praises the chemistry, cultural fusion, and music, but ultimately says weak writing and poor editing sink it. His verdict? Quality: 1½ stars | Political: 3 | Moral/Religious: 3. Would you spend your money on it — or stream something else? Then at 27:35, it's Scream 7. Can Neve Campbell's return as Sidney Prescott revive the franchise? Andy likes the aging “final girl” angle and the warning about AI deception — but says the second half collapses with laughable reveals and unrealistic kills. Final score: Quality: 1 star | Political: 3½ | Moral/Religious: 3. Is this horror sequel suspenseful… or unintentionally hilarious? If you love sharp takes, bold ratings, and zero sugarcoating, Andy Peth brings it. Want to know which film he says is actually worth your time? You'll have to listen. HOUR 2 Guest host Andy Peth, joined by Luke Cashman and Ashly Carter, turns Hour 2 into a fast-paced, laugh-out-loud showdown: movies with one-word titles. Sounds simple? Think again. From Taken and the debate over whether “fun” equals “good,” to rapid-fire classics like Casablanca, Jaws, Gladiator, Parasite, Titanic, Psycho, and Hereditary, the crew blends nostalgia, trivia, and sharp cultural commentary. Which trilogy would you binge back-to-back—Star Wars, Avatar, The Matrix, Nolan's Batman? And what makes a single word—Alien, Rebecca, Deliverance, Mulan, Ghostbusters—so powerful it defines a generation? Callers jump in with deep cuts and curveballs (Zardoz, Rollerball, Sharknado), while the hosts trade iconic quotes and debate horror films that are “tough watches.” Is Aliens better than Alien? Did Jaws change human behavior forever? And which movie moment still gives you chills? It's part trivia battle, part film school, part comedy roast—proving that sometimes one word is all you need.

Episode 808 DC KO Episode 11 : The Flash 29, Justice League Unlimited 15, DC KO The Kids are All Fight Special Sean and Jim continue DC KO for the second phase as we begin a catch up and eventual wrap up to this game changing event. This episode we look at Titans 31, The Flash 29, Justice League Unlimited 15, DC KO The Kids are All Fight Special Speeding Bullets shout out to End of Life 1, music and comics, and a jazz band The Road to 20 years of Raging Bullets in March continues! Sean is a cohost on "Is it Jaws?" Check it out here : https://twotruefreaks.com/podcast/qt-series/is-it-jaws-movie-reviews/ Coming Up : DC KO Upcoming: Longest Halloween, Legends, Wonder Woman, JSA, Justice League, DC/Marvel Crossover, Absolute DC, and much more. Show Notes: 0:00 Show Topics: The Flash 29, Justice League Unlimited 15, DC KO The Kids are All Fight Special 3:12 DC KO Part 11 1:26:03 Closing Show Topic Request Form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe5l4gZgdGrNpLXAN4NdcAI0WF7fM7yhjHJ3upZ3azEc31zuw/viewform?usp=sharing Contact Info (Social Media and Gaming) Updated 9/23: https://ragingbullets.com/about/ Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/401332833597062/ Sponsors: http://www.DCBService.com, http://www.Instocktrades.com Favorite Organizations : http://www.heroinitiative.org, http://cbldf.org/ We'll be back in a week with more content.  Check our website, Twitter and our Facebook group for regular updates.

It's an all new Terrible Terror Podcast and I'm taking a look at the 1980 creature feature Alligator; a Jaws "inspired" film. Is this alligator really the "bad guy?" Who brought this terror into Chicago? Is it right to feed your brand new dog canned Corned Beef? Find out the answer to all this and more on a brand new podcast episode!Terrible Terror:Facebook: https://facebook.com/terriblet...Instagram: https://instagram.com/terrible...Twitter: https://twitter.com/T_T_Podcas...YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@terribleterrorpodcastTwitch: https://twitch.tv/terribleterr...Suno: https://suno.com/@terribleterrorsDiscord: https://discord.gg/vvKuCVNYCheck out the Terrible Terror Store On TeePublic! The new Corn Tree design is now available:http://tee.pub/lic/e7et5lQSSbwCheck out Dubby and use TerribeTerrors for 10% off your next order: https://www.dubby.gg/

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water, Mike and Christian (and Deren!) show up to talk about this classic sequel. And here's wikipedia with the SEOJaws 2 is a 1978 film directed by Jeannot Szwarc and written by Howard Sackler and Carl Gottlieb. It is the sequel to Steven Spielberg's Jaws (1975), and the second installment in the Jaws franchise. The film stars Roy Scheider as Police Chief Martin Brody, with Lorraine Gary, Murray Hamilton and Jeffrey Kramer reprising their respective roles as Martin's wife Ellen Brody, mayor Larry Vaughn and Deputy Hendricks.

In this episode of Creating Richer Lives, Karl Eggerss uses a Jaws-style analogy to explain today's market—calm on the surface, but full of powerful forces moving underneath. While the major indexes appear to be treading water, real shifts are happening below the surface as money rotates between sectors amid changing interest rates, AI disruption, and geopolitical uncertainty. Karl breaks down how to separate real trends from noise and why resisting emotional, headline-driven decisions is critical. The takeaway: in a market like this, diversification, discipline, and strategy keep you from getting pulled under.   Show Topics Calm Surface, Hidden Risks Market Rotation Beneath Headlines Separating Noise From Trends AI Disruption And Valuations Discipline Over Emotional Investing

We're back watching James Bond, this time teaming up with a sexy Russian spy to take down a deranged Swedish shipping magnate who wants to blow up the world so that he can live under the sea. Also, we get the first appearance of the henchman Jaws. Honestly, it's pretty fun, and half the movie was filmed in Egypt. Starring Roger Moore, Barbara Bach, Curt Jurgens, and Richard Kiel. Written by Christopher Wood, Richard Maibaum, and Tom Manciewicz. DIrected by Lewis Gilbert.

Show Notes On this week's podcast, Dan and Kris take a whack at the February 2026 10 20 30 40 that's chock full of… well not a whole lot. It's looking like another lackluster month. But what's this? Dead heat competition between PlayStation, Saturn, and 3DO? An oddball GameCube classic? A PS4 exclusive to light up our hearts? Maybe there's hope yet! Then, in Week Old News, Sony shuts down yet another studio and draws the ire of their fanbase, David Jaffe has big feelings about the new God of War, new old Virtual Boy footage surfaces, and more! Finally, in the Checkpoint, Kris gets his octopus on with the Darwin's Paradox demo, Dan likes Sons of Sparta much more than David Jaffe, Kris spends some quality time with his favorite pinball machines at his local arcade, Dan loves the new Jaws, and more! Enjoy! See Our Faces!!! Stone Age Gamer YouTube Just Hear Our Voices Audio only version Useful Links Support us on Patreon StoneAgeGamer.com The Gratuitous Rainbow Spectrum Safe at Home Rescue Shoot the Moon Stitches Art of Angela Dean's Substack SAG's theme Song “Squared Roots” by Banjo Guy Ollie Social Stuff Join us on Discord! Twitch Geekade Facebook Stone Age Gamer Facebook Geekade Twitter Stone Age Gamer Twitter Geekade Instagram Stone Age Gamer Instagram YouTube Geekade Contact Us

This Opinions Matter Episode is like the Jeremy Kyle Show! A woman came on air to defend her extra marital affair that broke up a family...and was then upstaged by a man who's shagging his team-mates wife!!Plus: travel mug winners, and the next giveaway question at the end.

On this episode, we catch up with Otis Buckingham (@otisbuckingham), the young Maui waterman tearing it up in foiling, wingfoiling, prone, downwinding, and even big wave surfing at Jaws. Fresh off scoring epic downwind sessions on Oahu's North Shore with legends like John John Florence, Otis dives into the high-level world of multi-discipline riding, his journey with KT Foils, and the future of foiling from the heart of Hawaii's water sports scene.Episode Highlights:- Scoring dream downwind runs on the North Shore with John John Florence, Malat A, and friends—exploring new zones, glassy conditions, and the potential for massive Northeast swells with trade winds- Growing up in Maui's water sports mecca: boogie boarding at Sugar Cove, idolizing locals like Kai Lenny and Ridge Lenny from a young age, learning from Ho'okipa legends (Levi, Robbie, Keith, Jason Polakow), and getting mentored into the KT family early on- Big wave experiences at Jaws: rare no-wind sessions with a tight crew (Kai, Ian Walsh, Cash, Finn, Annie), the adrenaline of paddling into 40-foot barrels, the surreal drop feeling like a skyscraper, brutal wipeouts that build confidence, and the mental game of pushing through fear with friends' encouragement- How he joined KT: starting with windsurfing lessons from Levi, jumping ship from Ozone before they even had wings or foils, and now riding a versatile quiver like the well-rounded Nomad and Atlas series (cambered designs for low-end glide and pumping)- Loving the all-around performance of KT foils: one-foil versatility across downwinding, prone, winging, and tow; prototype downwind boards with insane stall speeds and pumpability; excitement for upcoming gear drops- Competing on the GWA tour: Maui crew dominance in Morocco and Cape Verde, podium finishes (2nd overall, 1st in prone), loving perfect reeling waves for big turns, airs, and slides—plus pushing windsurfing more in the future- Parawinging fun on mid-length prototypes for nimble, surf-like feels; Olympic aspirations in wing racing with American One Racing camps; sailing background helping with technical racing knowledge- Living in Laird Hamilton's old house for some extra "mana"; the unique Maui lifestyle where conditions dictate the day's sport (downwind, windsurf, kite, surf, prone); why water sports feel all-encompassing compared to land activities- Foiling's future: more global accessibility (even on flat lakes), exposure beyond hotspots like Hawaii/California/Europe, and embracing innovations like foil drive for no-wind days (with a healthy respect for the prop!)If you're into multi-discipline foiling, wingfoiling, downwind adventures, big wave stories from Jaws, growing up surrounded by legends, the evolution of brands like KT, or the pure stoke of island waterman life—this episode is packed with inspiration, real talk from the next generation, and serious foil geekery.Catch the full conversation and follow Otis Buckingham on Instagram @otisbuckingham for his latest sessions, big airs, tow foiling, and Maui adventures. Big thanks to Otis for the insights, and stay tuned for more from the foiling world in 2026. Listen now!

Recorded before a live Facebook (and YouTube) audience, Will, Kat and Jon discuss the following topics:0:00 - Introduction3:20 - Jaws 4: The Shark That Roared14:15 - The source of Jaw's roar23:00 - The Princess Bride musical31:00 - Review: Bigfoot! a New Musical40:50 - Animated Stranger Things: Tales from '8552:00 - Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots the movie 1:03:21 - Wrap Up and Thank YouFollow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/1980snow.Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@1980snowRead our new book Totally Bogus (But True) Tales from the 1980s!

Episode 807 DC KO Episode 10 : Titans 31, Green Lantern Galactic Slam 1, Superman 34 Sean and Jim return to DC KO for the second phase as we begin a catch up and eventual wrap up to this game changing event. This episode we look at Titans 31, Green Lantern Galactic Slam 1, and Superman 34. Speeding Bullets shout out to End of Life 1, music and comics, and a jazz band The Road to 20 years of Raging Bullets in March continues! Sean is a cohost on "Is it Jaws?" Check it out here : https://twotruefreaks.com/podcast/qt-series/is-it-jaws-movie-reviews/ Coming Up : DC KO Upcoming: Longest Halloween, Legends, Wonder Woman, JSA, Justice League, DC/Marvel Crossover, Absolute DC, and much more. Show Notes: 0:00 Show Topics: Titans 31, Green Lantern Galactic Slam 1, Superman 34 and shout outs to End of Life 1 and music and comics 3:20 DC KO Part 10 1:16:05 Closing Show Topic Request Form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe5l4gZgdGrNpLXAN4NdcAI0WF7fM7yhjHJ3upZ3azEc31zuw/viewform?usp=sharing Contact Info (Social Media and Gaming) Updated 9/23: https://ragingbullets.com/about/ Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/401332833597062/ Sponsors: http://www.DCBService.com, http://www.Instocktrades.com Favorite Organizations : http://www.heroinitiative.org, http://cbldf.org/ We'll be back in a week with more content.  Check our website, Twitter and our Facebook group for regular updates.

Discover how Speaky AI and JAWS for Kiosk Payment Terminals are transforming accessibility for blind users. Learn how AI-driven screen reading, secure touchscreen payments, and even future robotic guide dogs could redefine independence. In this episode of Double Tap, Steven Scott and Shaun Preece explore the cutting edge of accessible technology from the Zero Project Conference. They share a hands-on demo of JAWS-enabled payment terminals that allow blind users to securely navigate touchscreen card readers with audio guidance, ensuring privacy and independence during transactions. The conversation then shifts to Speaky AI, an innovative “meta-app” offering conversational screen reading for Android, with iOS support coming soon. It allows blind users to access otherwise inaccessible apps—such as banking or public services—through voice-driven AI, combining symbolic and generative AI to overcome the limits of traditional screen readers. The team also discusses Speaky AI's ambitious roadmap: smart glasses for hands-free smartphone access and the development of robotic guide dogs and humanoid assistants for outdoor mobility by 2027. This forward-looking episode highlights how AI and assistive tech are converging to empower blind users with greater autonomy. Relevant Links Zero Project Conference: https://zeroproject.org Find Double Tap online: YouTube, Double Tap Website---Follow on:YouTube: https://www.doubletaponair.com/youtubeX (formerly Twitter): https://www.doubletaponair.com/xInstagram: https://www.doubletaponair.com/instagramTikTok: https://www.doubletaponair.com/tiktokThreads: https://www.doubletaponair.com/threadsFacebook: https://www.doubletaponair.com/facebookLinkedIn: https://www.doubletaponair.com/linkedin Subscribe to the Podcast:Apple: https://www.doubletaponair.com/appleSpotify: https://www.doubletaponair.com/spotifyRSS: https://www.doubletaponair.com/podcastiHeadRadio: https://www.doubletaponair.com/iheart About Double TapHosted by the insightful duo, Steven Scott and Shaun Preece, Double Tap is a treasure trove of information for anyone who's blind or partially sighted and has a passion for tech. Steven and Shaun not only demystify tech, but they also regularly feature interviews and welcome guests from the community, fostering an interactive and engaging environment. Tune in every day of the week, and you'll discover how technology can seamlessly integrate into your life, enhancing daily tasks and experiences, even if your sight is limited. "Double Tap" is a registered trademark of Double Tap Productions Inc. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Bringing a corpse as proof of death, Pam Bondi in Jaws, the one-pitch career, drunk at the Olympics, the most expensive Pokemon card, Harry Caray memories, and a tribute to Jesse Jackson. [Ep421]

Send Us an Email to Chat!This week to celebrate our 251st episode we watch the treasure that is 1990's Cult Classic Troll 2! Holy cow what a good time! We go to Great Wolf Lodge and not kill Jaws 3! We try to figure out why we love this movie so much! Plus, Gary is planning a biopic of Captain Lou Albano!Follow us on Instagram:@Gaspatchojones@Homewreckingwhore@The_Miseducation_of_DandG_Pod@QualityHoegramming@MullhollanddazeSupport the show

In 1944, two Austrian mountaineers fled into the forbidden land of Tibet to escape from a prisoner-of-war camp in India.Heinrich Harrer and his friend Peter Aufschnaiter spent seven years there.Harrer became a tutor to the young Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader.He later wrote a famous account of his visit called Seven Years in Tibet.Simon Watts presented and produced this episode in 2016, using interviews with Harrer from the BBC Archive.Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from the death of Adolf Hitler, the first spacewalk and the making of the movie Jaws, to celebrity tortoise Lonesome George, the Kobe earthquake and the invention of superglue. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: Eva Peron – Argentina's Evita; President Ronald Reagan and his famous ‘tear down this wall' speech; Thomas Keneally on why he wrote Schindler's List; and Jacques Derrida, France's ‘rock star' philosopher. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the civil rights swimming protest; the disastrous D-Day rehearsal; and the death of one of the world's oldest languages.(Photo: Portrait of the young Dalai Lama. Credit: Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images)

RIP Robert Duvall.  He came on the Opie and Anthony show and was so down to earth, humble and appreciative.  We talked about the Godfather movies, why he turned down Jaws, behind the scenes of Apocolypse Now. Also, a great MArlon Brando story and much more.  Enjoy!

Adriana Lestido, an Argentinian newspaper photographer, captured a mother and her young daughter raising their arms in protest in 1982. With clenched fists and anguished faces, they were wearing white handkerchiefs tied around their heads representing the struggle for justice for the disappeared during Argentina's military dictatorship.The photo became a symbol of the resistance and is still used today. It embodies the spirit of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo who would meet once a week demanding the return of their loved ones. Adriana Lestido speaks to Reena Stanton-Sharma about capturing that iconic black and white picture. Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from the death of Adolf Hitler, the first spacewalk and the making of the movie Jaws, to celebrity tortoise Lonesome George, the Kobe earthquake and the invention of superglue. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: Eva Peron – Argentina's Evita; President Ronald Reagan and his famous ‘tear down this wall' speech; Thomas Keneally on why he wrote Schindler's List; and Jacques Derrida, France's ‘rock star' philosopher. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the civil rights swimming protest; the disastrous D-Day rehearsal; and the death of one of the world's oldest languages.(Photo: Adriana Lestido's Madre y Hija from 1982. Credit: Adriana Lestido)

In 1980, toxic shock syndrome (TSS) emerged as a public health crisis among women who used tampons. There were hundreds of cases, and The Centers for Disease Control linked deaths from TSS to super-absorbent tampons.The Food and Drug Administration responded by assembling a ‘Tampon Task Force' in 1982 to develop safety standards. A researcher called Nancy King Reame was recruited to run the independent laboratory testing. Her work helped establish the first national absorbency standards for tampons. Golda Arthur speaks to Nancy King Reame. Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from the death of Adolf Hitler, the first spacewalk and the making of the movie Jaws, to celebrity tortoise Lonesome George, the Kobe earthquake and the invention of superglue. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: Eva Peron – Argentina's Evita; President Ronald Reagan and his famous ‘tear down this wall' speech; Thomas Keneally on why he wrote Schindler's List; and Jacques Derrida, France's ‘rock star' philosopher. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the civil rights swimming protest; the disastrous D-Day rehearsal; and the death of one of the world's oldest languages.(Photo: Tampons. Credit: Getty Images)

Sean and Jim return to DC KO for the second phase as we begin a catch up and eventual wrap up to this game changing event. This episode we look at Batman Knightfight 3, DC KO 3, and Aquaman 13. Speeding Bullets shout out to Bleeding Hearts #1 and DC X AEW 1 The Road to 20 years of Raging Bullets in March continues! Sean is a cohost on "Is it Jaws?" Check it out here : https://twotruefreaks.com/podcast/qt-series/is-it-jaws-movie-reviews/ Coming Up : DC KO Upcoming: Longest Halloween, Legends, Wonder Woman, JSA, Justice League, DC/Marvel Crossover, Absolute DC, and much more. Show Notes: 0:00 Show Topics: Batman Knightfight 3, DC KO 3, Aquaman 13 and shout outs to Bleeding Hearts #1 and DC X AEW 1 3:40 DC KO Part 9 1:53:30 Closing Show Topic Request Form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe5l4gZgdGrNpLXAN4NdcAI0WF7fM7yhjHJ3upZ3azEc31zuw/viewform?usp=sharing Contact Info (Social Media and Gaming) Updated 9/23: https://ragingbullets.com/about/ Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/401332833597062/ Sponsors: http://www.DCBService.com, http://www.Instocktrades.com Favorite Organizations : http://www.heroinitiative.org, http://cbldf.org/ We'll be back in a week with more content.  Check our website, Twitter and our Facebook group for regular updates.

During World War Two, whilst Norway was occupied by Nazi Germany, a group of Norwegian sailors set up a base on the Shetland Islands and began aiding their country's resistance. Named “The Shetland Bus” they made perilous journeys across the North Sea in fishing boats - smuggling agents, equipment and ammunition into Norway. Their most famous skipper was Leif Larsen. He made more than 50 journeys to and from occupied Norway during the war and became one of the highest decorated naval officers of World War Two. Tim O'Callaghan tells his story using archive interviews Leif gave to the BBC in 1981 and 1985. Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from the death of Adolf Hitler, the first spacewalk and the making of the movie Jaws, to celebrity tortoise Lonesome George, the Kobe earthquake and the invention of superglue. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: Eva Peron – Argentina's Evita; President Ronald Reagan and his famous ‘tear down this wall' speech; Thomas Keneally on why he wrote Schindler's List; and Jacques Derrida, France's ‘rock star' philosopher. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the civil rights swimming protest; the disastrous D-Day rehearsal; and the death of one of the world's oldest languages.(Photo: The Shetland Bus crew, Leif Larsen second from left next to agent in white coat. Credit: David Howarth)

In November, 1966, Florence suffered one of the worst floods in its history after heavy rainfall caused the River Arno to burst.The Italian city was submerged under tons of mud, rubble and sewage, leaving thousands homeless and destroying around 14,000 art treasures, and millions of books and manuscripts.Among those who came to the rescue were the so-called ‘mud angels' – young people from around the world who wanted to help in the clean-up.Antonina Bargellini, then the 22-year-old daughter of the city's mayor, recalls days of deep mud and stinking streets. She tells Jane Wilkinson about what happened.Archive from BBC, British Pathe and Associated Press, plus Florence: Days of Destruction, directed by Franco Zeffirelli in 1966.Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from the death of Adolf Hitler, the first spacewalk and the making of the movie Jaws, to celebrity tortoise Lonesome George, the Kobe earthquake and the invention of superglue. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: Eva Peron – Argentina's Evita; President Ronald Reagan and his famous ‘tear down this wall' speech; Thomas Keneally on why he wrote Schindler's List; and Jacques Derrida, France's ‘rock star' philosopher. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the civil rights swimming protest; the disastrous D-Day rehearsal; and the death of one of the world's oldest languages.(Photo: Flooded street in Florence, 1966. Credit: Giorgio Lotti/Mondadori via Getty Image)

The movie-to-comic path doesn't always work out, but IDW Publishing is quickly proving itself to be the place to run to with your adaptation. Their latest cinematic comic book sidequel, A Quiet Place: Storm Warning, features script and layouts by industry veteran Phil Hester and pencils and inks by Ryan Kelly. Hester comes from that Alex Toth/Harvey Kurtzman tradition, embracing visuals and having faith that silence can carry as much story as 200 word balloons. A Quiet Place stakes its narrative on silence. If you caught the first film in a theater, you undoubtedly remember the awkwardness of attempting popcorn consumption while Emily Blunt on screen quiveringly descends the basement stairs before OWWWWW! The nail in the foot! One may think removing audible sound from the equation would ruin the experience; however, Phil Hester did just that when he pitched his take to editors, adapting that scene specifically. The stairway nail bit, told as a comic by Phil Hester, proved undeniable. He got the gig, and then he got to work formulating his spin-off characters and plot. As the first film took inspiration from Steven Spielberg's Jaws, so does his arc, pitting a small town politician against the local fire chief. This time, they're also sister and brother, adding a dramatic sharpness that can only cut when family is involved. Of course, what does familial pride matter when creatures are raining from the sky? Phil Hester joins the podcast for the first time this week. We discuss the challenges of adapting a cinematic concept to the comic book page, how he always embraces silence, and why Jaws is just the best damn movie ever made. A Quiet Place: Storm Warning #1 arrives in comic book shops from IDW Publishing on March 11th. It's written by Phil Hester, illustrated by Ryan Kelly, colored by Lee Loughridge, lettered and designed by Nathan Widick, and edited by Heather Antos. Make sure you're following Phil Hester on Bluesky. This Week's Sponsors The Future is Calling! 2000 AD is the Galaxy's Greatest Comic, with new issues published every single week! Every 32-page issue of 2000 AD brings you the best in sci-fi and horror, featuring characters like Judge Dredd, Rogue Trooper, and more. Get a print subscription to 2000 AD and it'll arrive to your mailbox every week - and your first issue is free! Or subscribe digitally, and you can download DRM-free copies of each issue for only $9 a month. That's 128 pages of incredible comics every month for less than $10! Head to 2000AD.com and click on ‘subscribe' now – or download the 2000 AD app and start reading today! This February, Dave Stevens's The Rocketeer soars again in a brand-new story written by John Layman, the genius behind the foodie cannibal detective series Chew, and illustrated by Jacob Edgar, who drew Plastic Man: No More and has a very cool J. Bone/Darwyn Cooke style. The new series is called The Rocketeer: The Island. Our skybound hero, Cliff Secord, leads a dangerous search and rescue mission. Who's he looking for? None other than Amelia Earhart! The first issue crashes into comic book shops on February 25th, courtesy of IDW Publishing. Other Relevant Links to This Week's Episode: Subscribe to the Comic Book Couples Counseling YouTube Channel Watch The Stacks, Comic Creators Name Their Favorite Comics CBCC on the Comics Matter Podcast AIPT reports on The Stacks Support Your Local Comic Shop: Secret Identity Comics in Chester, England Comic Book Club: Batman: The Court of Owls at Meanwhile...Coffee in Herndon, Virginia, on 2/1 at 3:30 PM Comic Book Film Club: Blade at the Alamo Drafthouse Winchester on 2/15 Final Round of Plugs (PHEW): Support the Podcast by Joining OUR PATREON COMMUNITY. And, of course, follow Comic Book Couples Counseling on Facebook, on Instagram, and on Bluesky @CBCCPodcast, and you can follow hosts Brad Gullickson @MouthDork & Lisa Gullickson @sidewalksiren. Send us your Words of Affirmation by leaving us a 5-star Review on Apple Podcasts. Continue your conversation with CBCC by hopping over to our website, where we have reviews, essays, and numerous interviews with comic book creators. Podcast logo by Jesse Lonergan and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou.

In July 1965, a 12km tunnel dug deep beneath the Alps was opened to traffic, making it the longest vehicular tunnel in the world. Linking France and Italy, the Mont Blanc Tunnel was a remarkable feat of engineering. Franco Cuaz, a consultant on the project and the tunnel's first operations manager, spoke to Mike Lanchin in 2017 about the risks and challenges of the ambitious project.Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from the death of Adolf Hitler, the first spacewalk and the making of the movie Jaws, to celebrity tortoise Lonesome George, the Kobe earthquake and the invention of superglue. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: Eva Peron – Argentina's Evita; President Ronald Reagan and his famous ‘tear down this wall' speech; Thomas Keneally on why he wrote Schindler's List; and Jacques Derrida, France's ‘rock star' philosopher. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the civil rights swimming protest; the disastrous D-Day rehearsal; and the death of one of the world's oldest languages.(Photo: The Mont Blanc Tunnel. Credit: AFP via Getty Images)

Gina Lollobrigida was one of the biggest stars of European cinema in the 1950s and 1960s. Often described as "the most beautiful woman in the world", her films included Beat the Devil, the Hunchback of Notre Dame and Crossed Swords. She was fawned over by Howard Hughes, one of the world's richest men, and co-starred alongside the likes of Humphrey Bogart, Frank Sinatra, Rock Hudson and Errol Flynn. But later in life, she reinvented herself as an artist and photographer. In 1974, she secured an exclusive photo shoot and interview with Cuban leader Fidel Castro, during which he gave her his watch as a gift. Ben Henderson tells her story using BBC archive.Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from the death of Adolf Hitler, the first spacewalk and the making of the movie Jaws, to celebrity tortoise Lonesome George, the Kobe earthquake and the invention of superglue. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: Eva Peron – Argentina's Evita; President Ronald Reagan and his famous ‘tear down this wall' speech; Thomas Keneally on why he wrote Schindler's List; and Jacques Derrida, France's ‘rock star' philosopher. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the civil rights swimming protest; the disastrous D-Day rehearsal; and the death of one of the world's oldest languages.(Photo: Gina Lollobrigida in 2008. Credit: Marco Di Lauro/Getty Images)

In July 1989, Pink Floyd played a free concert to 200,000 people in Venice, Italy. The British rock band took to a stage made of floating barges as crowds of fans watched from boats, gondolas and rooftops. The show was also broadcast worldwide to an estimated 100 million viewers in over 20 countries. But, behind the scenes, the gig was marred by controversy. Concerns about crowd numbers and the potential damage the noise could do to the city's historical buildings nearly saw the show called off. But no one could have predicted it would bring down the city's politicians. Italian music promoter, Fran Tomasi, who worked with the band and came up with the idea for the show, talks to Emma Forde.Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from the death of Adolf Hitler, the first spacewalk and the making of the movie Jaws, to celebrity tortoise Lonesome George, the Kobe earthquake and the invention of superglue. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: Eva Peron – Argentina's Evita; President Ronald Reagan and his famous ‘tear down this wall' speech; Thomas Keneally on why he wrote Schindler's List; and Jacques Derrida, France's ‘rock star' philosopher. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the civil rights swimming protest; the disastrous D-Day rehearsal; and the death of one of the world's oldest languages.Thanks to Granada International /RaiUno/Promoproductions, Inc.(Photo: Pink Floyd performing in Venice. Credit: Andrea Pattaro)