Podcast appearances and mentions of James Earl Jones

My co-host Ken Suzan and I are welcoming you the episode 176 of the IP Fridays Podcast. Today's interview guest is returning guest Franklin Graves, who is a senior counsel at Linkedin and teaching IP law at Emerson College. With my co-host Ken Suzan he is discussing how the law for creators has dramatically changed in the past years. Franklin Graves is expressing his personal views and not the views of Linkedin or Microsoft. He is talking about the paper “Upload Complete” before he joined Linkedin. Bio: https://www.linkedin.com/in/franklingraves/ Paper: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5271442 Website: https://creatoreconomylaw.com/ But before we jump into this interview, I have news for you! Richard Meade, a judge on the UK High Court and one of the most prominent figures in European patent law, was appointed Lord Justice of Appeal at the British Court of Appeal on June 12, 2026. Meade played a key role in numerous landmark British patent decisions, particularly in the area of standard-essential patents (SEPs) and FRAND licenses. In Insulet Corp. v. EOFlow Co., No. 2025-1807, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit completely overturned the original $452 million judgment (which had already been reduced by the District Court to $59.4 million) in favor of Insulet. In its decision of June 2, 2026, in the case of Fujifilm v. Kodak, the UPC Board of Appeal provided comprehensive clarifications regarding so-called “long-arm jurisdiction”—that is, the question of whether the UPC can also rule on national patent claims outside the UPC territory (such as in the United Kingdom). In 14 guiding principles, the judges established specific procedural rules for various categories of cases. There is no automatic UPC jurisdiction over national patent claims outside the UPC territory. The Munich Regional Court has issued an arrest warrant against the managing director of Polytech Health & Aesthetics GmbH because he is alleged to have continued to exploit the Brazilian company Silimed's patent for breast implants despite a preliminary injunction. A number of IT and automotive industry associations—which are among the most frequent users of Inter Partes Reviews (IPR) at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office—have filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court, urging the Court to grant Google's certiorari petition. An attorney for a Las Vegas performer has asked a California federal judge to temporarily prohibit Taylor Swift from using “The Life of a Showgirl” as a trademark while the trademark lawsuit is pending. Swift's attorney called the lawsuit baseless. And now let's hear Ken discuss creator law with Franklin! AI, Platform Law, and the Creator Economy: What Businesses Need to Know Now Franklin Graves has spent his entire career watching digital content move through systems that most people never see. He started in marketing at a major music label right out of law school, then represented individual creators on YouTube in a pro bono capacity, then moved to the platform side at Eventbrite, and today works as Senior Product Counsel at LinkedIn, where he focuses on AI, data, and the regulatory questions that come with both. His recently published law review article, Upload Complete: An Introduction to Creator Economy Law, is the first academic paper to address the creator economy as a distinct legal field. In a recent episode of the IP Fridays podcast, he spoke with host Kenneth Suzan about responsible AI development, platform regulation, and what it actually means to own your audience in a world where the rules keep changing overnight. From Content Creator to Platform Lawyer The through-line in Graves’ career is a genuine understanding of how content moves from an idea in someone’s head to an audience on a screen. That experience, he argues, is precisely what in-house counsel needs right now. Lawyers working on AI and product development cannot afford to sit at a distance from the technology they are advising on. They need to use the tools, experience them as a creator or end user would, and understand the nuances of how a product actually operates before it reaches the public. Understanding the product first is the precondition for everything else. That philosophy translates directly into how he approaches responsible AI implementation. The landscape of AI standards is crowded: NIST frameworks, the EU AI Act, sector-specific guidance, and a growing body of industry-adopted best practices. The challenge for in-house counsel is not knowing that these standards exist. It is making them actionable for the engineering and product teams they support. Abstract principles need to become concrete controls and workflows. Graves offers one practical shortcut: most companies already have open source software review processes that involve the right stakeholders, the right sign-off levels, and the right security checks. Layering the specifics of generative AI or large language models onto those existing processes is far more efficient than building something new from scratch. A Fragmented Regulatory World The geopolitical dimension of AI regulation is something Graves thinks about constantly in his role at LinkedIn. The EU AI Act, shifting US executive orders, and country-specific approaches to data privacy have created a regulatory environment that can change the rules of the game without warning. His analogy is instructive: creators have long understood what it means to build a community on a platform they do not own. An algorithm change, a policy update, or a government ban can wipe out years of audience-building overnight. Businesses deploying AI tools globally now face a structurally similar problem. The response, for creators and for platforms alike, is to build resilience rather than rely on stability that may not last. TikTok is the clearest recent example. When the platform faced the prospect of being shut down in the United States on national security grounds, it triggered a broader conversation about platform dependence that had been building for years. Creators who had invested their entire business in one platform suddenly confronted the possibility that their audience could simply disappear. The lesson is not that platforms are bad. It is that concentration of any kind, whether it is your audience, your data pipeline, or your regulatory compliance strategy, creates fragility. What Is a Creator, Legally Speaking? One of the central contributions of Graves’ law review article is definitional. The terminology matters more than it might seem. When courts and regulators talk about creators without a shared understanding of what that word means, the resulting legal analysis tends to miss the mark. Graves draws a distinction between users who post content, creators who post with the intent to build an audience and eventually monetize it, and influencers, a subset of creators who are actively running a small business through their content. The difference is intent. A parent posting family photos on Facebook is a user. Someone building a subscription community around their professional expertise is running a business, and the legal framework that applies to them should reflect that. That distinction matters practically when it comes to liability. As more creators build their own platforms, whether through custom membership sites, open source tools like Ghost, or federated social networks, they take on obligations that previously fell to large platforms: content moderation policies, privacy notices, terms of service, and compliance with data regulations across multiple jurisdictions. A creator in Tennessee running a membership platform with subscribers in Germany is operating a global business, whether they think of themselves that way or not. Protecting Children Online: A Question Without a Clean Answer The tension between age verification and privacy is one of the more difficult problems in platform law right now. Australia, several European countries, and a growing number of US states have introduced or passed minimum age requirements for social media accounts. The technical challenge is real: verifying age online requires collecting identifying information, and collecting identifying information creates privacy risk, particularly for the young people the laws are designed to protect. Who should bear the responsibility for that verification is also unresolved. Is it the platform? The app store? The mobile operating system? Graves does not pretend there is a clean answer, but he points to the mobile layer as an underexplored option. The Apple App Store and Google Play Store already have significant leverage over which apps reach users on their devices. Whether that leverage should extend to age verification is a question that deserves more attention than it currently receives. The Right of Publicity in the Age of AI Voice cloning, digital replicas, and AI-generated synthetic media have pushed the right of publicity into territory that traditional IP law was not designed to cover. Trademark law, copyright law, and existing publicity rights each capture part of the problem but none of them covers it completely. The result, as Graves describes it, is a period of experimentation: lawyers filing trademarks on vocal sounds and phrases, states updating their publicity statutes to explicitly mention artificial intelligence, and entertainment unions negotiating over who controls a performance and any AI-generated iterations of it. Tennessee’s Elvis Act is a concrete example of the legislative response: the state updated its right of publicity law to include voice and to reference AI directly. Similar efforts are underway elsewhere. The underlying challenge is calibrating protection so that it gives creators and performers meaningful control over their likeness and voice without foreclosing the development of generative AI systems that depend on broad rights to process and learn from content. Somewhere between those two interests, a workable legal framework needs to emerge. The brand deal context may be where the issue becomes most immediately practical. When a brand partners with an influencer and the campaign involves generative AI in any form, the contract needs to address control explicitly. Who has final approval over how the influencer’s likeness or voice is used in AI-generated deliverables? What happens to those assets after the campaign ends? These are not hypothetical questions. They are contract drafting problems that any brand counsel or creator attorney should be addressing today. What Comes Next Graves is cautious about predictions, but his sense of direction is clear. The regulatory environment will continue to fragment before it converges. The right of publicity will be updated, imperfectly, in more jurisdictions. Creators will continue to move toward owning more of their infrastructure. And the lawyers who do this work best will be the ones who understand the technology well enough to translate it into practical, defensible decisions for the people they advise. Full Transcript: Ken Suzan: Thank you, Rolf. Our returning guest today is Franklin Graves. Franklin is the founder and editor of Creator Economy Law, a website and newsletter that educates creator economy professionals on the intersection of law and policy with the world of creators, brands, and platforms. Franklin also published the first law review article focused on the creator economy, Upload Complete, an introduction to creator economy law. He regularly appears across news and media outlets as a commentator and contributor with a focus on educating creators and raising awareness of all legal aspects of the creator economy. Franklin is based in Nashville, Tennessee. Ken Suzan: Franklin was invited to participate as one of the creators and creator economy professionals in the first ever White House creator economy conference. Franklin works full time as a product counsel at LinkedIn Corporation. As a member of the product and data team, he focuses on emerging issues in AI and data. Franklin previously held roles on the technology law group at HCA Healthcare, the commercial legal team at Eventbrite, and the business and legal affairs team at Naxos Music Group. Welcome back Franklin to the IP Fridays podcast. Franklin Graves: Thank you so much for having me. It is exciting to be back and reflecting over the last decade since I last joined and also the paper that I wrote that dives into this in more detail. So I really appreciate it. And yes, full disclosure, I currently work for LinkedIn, which is a subsidiary of Microsoft. I’m here in my personal capacity to talk about this, the paper I wrote before joining LinkedIn and all of that. So thank you so much for having me back. Ken Suzan: Excellent. So Franklin, since your last appearance on IP Fridays in 2017, your career has evolved significantly. You are now senior product counsel at LinkedIn focusing on AI and data. How has working inside a major tech platform changed your perspective on the legal frameworks governing digital content compared to when you were viewing it purely from the creator side? Franklin Graves: I appreciate that question because when I wrote the article, I did not work for LinkedIn. And I had been coming from a history in my career where I, right out of law school, worked for a record label like we talked about almost 10 years ago. And I was on the content creation side. I’ve represented a major distributor of classical music digitally at the time. And that was my first exposure to understanding how content was taken from the initial inception stage from creators and routed through all the various digital platforms that were at the time still evolving and even arguably still today continue to evolve. The early days of YouTube Music launching and then Apple Music launching, and then going through all the phases of high-res audio and everything that came after that. So that was an interesting perspective to start my career with. And then I went to Eventbrite, which is a ticketing platform, but was also focused on elevating event creators. They kind of took on that moniker of “Hey, we are event creators that we support.” And that was arguably my first exposure to the platform side, the tech platform side of it, because Eventbrite is a platform. And so then I evolved from there in my personal capacity, in a pro bono capacity representing individual creators across the YouTube space. And that’s what we talked about a little bit back when I first came on the podcast. Franklin Graves: Over the last decade, it’s been a chance to grow my own understanding of the creator economy. The terminology “creator economy” came around. And then now on the other side of it, having written the article and all that, and now being fully in-house at LinkedIn, I truly am experiencing a social media platform. LinkedIn is of course arguably way more than just the platform itself. There are so many different avenues to it, but it is a chance for me to understand what it is like working for a company that is operating the platform that people are distributing content on. There’s a user journey to content and all of that. So it’s definitely enhanced and given me a different perspective from a major tech platform side. And part of my role at LinkedIn is really heavily focused on understanding regulation and how that from an AI and data perspective impacts the company. And so I’ve been really leveling up my game over the last year and a half that I’ve been here, understanding mostly EU regulations, but also US regulations that are still in their infancy when it comes to AI. But really when it comes to privacy and data, those are pretty well established across the board. It’s been kind of a combination of what I learned at Eventbrite, because I went to Eventbrite when GDPR was going into effect. And so that was an eyes-wide-open moment of getting in the weeds with negotiating data processing agreements, understanding data transfers and cross-border data transfers and the like. So it’s been kind of an evolution as the laws and regulations have evolved. So has my career, so has my own understanding, so have the platforms’ responses to those laws and regulations. And I’m sure that probably resonates with a lot of your listeners who have also been growing their practice and their understanding as the laws and regulations in this realm have been evolving too. Ken Suzan: Yes, indeed. Now let’s switch gears and talk about AI. You advise on AI and data daily. As platforms integrate generative AI tools into their tech stacks, what are the most critical best practices in-house counsel should be adopting right now to embed responsible AI principles into product development? Franklin Graves: So as an attorney, one of my key roles is to understand the technology. Even representing creators and working for creator platforms, that’s something I’m constantly trying to do: put myself in the shoes of being a creator. And I think I talked about this last time I was on, but I come from a background where I was working for a major label doing marketing, video editing, social media work. And I was creating content. I understood the whole life cycle from the inception point of an idea to execution and then to the final delivery and distribution of that content to an audience within a major music label. And so part of that is the same thing that I think attorneys, especially in-house, should be doing: using the tools that the product and engineering teams are either developing in-house or partnering with third parties to develop, or a combination of the two. Using them, understanding them, using them as a creator would, using them as an end user or a client or customer would. And making sure that if you understand the product and understand the nuances of how it operates, and being a part of the iterations of that internally before it fully ramps, that really gives you a chance to understand: okay, we have a lot of responsible AI principles and standards and protocols that are in existence right now, whether it’s NIST, whether it’s based on the EU AI Act or anything and everything in between. It’s understanding how to apply those and bring those into a product and an engineering environment in a way that is practical and actionable for the people that you’re supporting, the stakeholders you’re supporting. So I think one of the critical best practices is, number one, understand the product or features that you’re supporting. Franklin Graves: And then understand how you as an attorney can use your expertise and understanding of responsible AI practices, whether it’s a regulatory standard or an industry-adopted standard or a hybrid of the two, to leverage those and implement those, break those down and make them into actionable controls and processes and flows that work within your existing infrastructure. That’s a lot of high-level talk, but that’s the general idea. One concrete example we talk about frequently is with open source AI. If you’re working with a product team or an engineering team that is taking an off-the-shelf open source model and bringing that in-house, a lot of times companies have pre-existing open source processes that cover the use of open source software or code. Piggyback on that. That’s the easiest quick win for attorneys: leveraging your existing open source processes to just build on top of that the AI flavor and layering. It’s not very much that you have to do, but the underlying process of the key stakeholders that need to be involved in the review, whether it’s security, whether it’s executive sign-off if it gets to that point, even export control considerations should already be part of your existing open source software process. So layering in on those existing processes the specifics of generative AI or large language models that you’re trying to bring in is a great way to put this into practice. Ken Suzan: Now looking at the geopolitical landscape that we currently have, we have the EU AI Act setting strict standards and shifting US executive orders. How should platforms and brands prepare for this fragmented regulatory environment when deploying AI tools to a global user base? Franklin Graves: It’s a great question. It’s something that is still evolving, I think is fair to say. I would equate it, as I do in the paper that I wrote, to how creators and arguably brands don’t own the platforms that they’re building their communities on. That spawned this concept of de-platforming or going into building your own platform, a decentralized platform of sorts, and owning your community. That gives you that control and takes away the level of instability that can come for creators trying to build a business on a platform they don’t own, they don’t control when certain updates happen, when algorithms change, when tools and functionalities either become available or go away completely. So it’s very similar to what we’ve been experiencing in a regulatory environment where we have geopolitical complexities, for lack of a better term, that can overnight seemingly disrupt the way in which a platform or even a multinational brand is able to connect and reach an audience or continue to leverage the user base that they’ve built. I think TikTok is a great example of that, where it became a national security concern and suddenly it was facing an executive order that required it to be effectively disabled in the US or completely owned and operated by a US entity. All the mechanics and technicalities of whether it’s actually possible and still have a global platform with a global user base is a whole different discussion. But that’s an example of very similar considerations that are now not just a discussion point at the creator level or the individual brand level, but also in a much broader context at a platform level as well. Ken Suzan: Franklin, let’s now shift gears and talk about your article. In your recently published journal article, Upload Complete, which we will have linked in our show notes, you advocate for a shift in terminology from internet creator law, a term used during our first podcast almost a decade ago, to creator economy law. Why is this distinction important and how does it change the way legal practitioners should view the ecosystem of creators, brands, and platforms? Franklin Graves: Oh yes, this is part of the reason why I wanted to write the article: to lay this foundation of understanding. Because at the time I’d written the article, the term creator economy and creator had really not appeared but for maybe once in an actual court decision. And it was kind of focused on influencers and this concept, and it was just not getting it right. And so it was also, as you mentioned, when we first spoke I was even using the term internet creators. And I think that was something that was common at the time. The “internet” portion as a qualifier has since dropped off. And now for purposes of the creator economy, the term creators refers to individuals, it can be small businesses, which is what we’ve seen from a regulatory standpoint, how these small businesses are being impacted by regulations. But essentially creators in the article I pin in the context of intent. What is the intent behind the person or the small business that is posting content, trying to build a community and form a community in a virtual environment? And then that can even spill over into real physical world environments. And so the intent is kind of what I look at. Franklin Graves: And I have a chart in the article that has a diagram showcasing the overlap of what I refer to as “users generating content.” It’s a play on the concept of user-generated content, UGC. Users generating content is that large bucket of anyone posting on a platform of some kind. And within that large bucket, that large circle, are smaller subsets. You have creators, you have brands. Those are really the two buckets you can put people into. Otherwise it’s like your grandmother or your parents posting content on Facebook or Instagram, and those are everyday users of a platform. The distinction to get into that subcategory of being a creator more so has been analyzing the intent behind the posting. Are you posting content to build an audience, to build a community, to eventually have a chance to monetize the following that you’re bringing in or sell services or something like that? Brands are posting for that reason. Creators are maybe posting for that same reason. But even within the creator category, there’s a subcategory of influencers that are trying to sell something, that are trying to build more than just an awareness of who they are, their influence. They are trying to do brand deals, partnership deals, upsells and all that, and start an actual small business aside from just the content itself that they’re creating. So that’s kind of the distinctions that I make in the paper. And that’s why it’s important to understand and lay that foundation, that anyone can post content online, but the intent, the why behind their posting that content, really does ultimately matter, especially when you’re looking at it from a court case or from a regulatory standpoint. Ken Suzan: Now, Franklin, we’re seeing unprecedented geopolitical activity around platform ownership. For example, the US legislation targeting TikTok and Brazil’s recent temporary ban of X. How do these macro-level battles impact the day-to-day livelihood of creators? And how can they legally and operationally protect themselves? Franklin Graves: So the shift that we’re seeing, and I alluded to this earlier in our conversation, is this concept of Web 3. And that term may or may not be really popular anymore, but that’s essentially what we’re looking at: a shift into a federated, decentralized operation of a platform. So instead of one owner, one company, one entity owning and operating the platform, it’s decentralized. Anyone can start up a server, and it’s interoperable, meaning anyone can plug and play and connect to that larger network. And it creates this unified social network experience. Within each operating node of that network, there can be your own decisions around content moderation, your own decisions around the hosting providers you use, where you’re operating out of, the terms and conditions that apply to that. But the flip side is that instead of creators posting and sharing in a closed environment run and controlled by a singular entity, you’re now experiencing a peer-to-peer type operation where your experience can change based on which server, which node, which user you’re engaging with. You might have content that’s acceptable in one area but not acceptable in another, and maybe it just doesn’t even show up in that other area. Franklin Graves: But from a liability standpoint, as creators start to build their own networks and communities, even outside of a concept like the fediverse, it’s even down to creators building their own communities through online courses, subscription membership-based platforms that they run on their own website. There’s open source software out there, even something called Ghost, where you have memberships. And that is a creator or a small business in the creator economy that is now taking on the obligations that would typically fall upon a platform. They need to take into consideration terms and conditions, privacy policies, legal aspects, and regulatory considerations for running a platform, especially in a global world. So it’s a lot of liability that then shifts over to those small businesses and even brands sometimes that are doing the same thing. Whether it is something as simple or complex as content moderation or all the way up to monetizing an audience, this new world where creators can spin up and run a platform all dovetails back to the concept of creators not feeling like they have control in reaching the audience and the community that they’re building on an individual platform. And so this really became more mainstream conversation with TikTok and the issues around it potentially being shut down in the US. That was kind of the mindset shift and eyes opening for many creators, especially within the influencer subset, of realizing: we need to make sure that we have a way to reach the audience we’ve built if the individual platform that we’ve committed to over the last year or three years or so is no longer available. We need a way to continue that relationship outside of that one platform controlling it. Ken Suzan: Franklin, we have a few minutes left and a number of topics. So I’m going to switch gears and talk about a few issues. First, a major emerging topic in your paper is the evolution of protecting kids online. With state-level age-gating laws like the CAADCA and the recent FTC updates to COPPA, how should platforms navigate the significant tension between strict age verification mandates and the privacy and First Amendment rights of their users? Franklin Graves: Man, that is a whole discussion to unravel. It is a consideration that we’re seeing happen again, going back to the geopolitical nature of everything. Countries like Australia and certain countries in Europe and now even individual states in the US are trying to look at ways, and some of them have already put into place minimum age requirements before you can even sign up for an account with a social media platform. One of the things I’d just highlight quickly here is that one of the tensions is around how you verify someone’s age online and still maintain the ability to be at least pseudonymous. How do you still have a level of privacy, autonomy, and protection when it comes to having to provide something like a driver’s license or have parental consent tied and connected to an account managed by a parent in a situation where maybe it’s not appropriate or not beneficial to the child in that manner? But then maybe there are counterbalancing factors that outweigh that. All of that comes down to the technicalities of how it’s actually implemented and maintaining the sense of openness and freedom that we’ve had on the internet to date. And then the other element there is, since a lot of the internet that we think of today is more so through mobile applications, is it something that the mobile operating system providers and app store providers should be thinking about? So whether that’s the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store, where does that initial age verification need to fall? Is it at the platform level? Is it the app store or mobile device management level or something else? Yeah, there’s a lot to discuss there. And a lot of the issues we’re seeing with how the internet is changing in terms of being able to browse a website without disclosing personal information that might not have been required before is largely stemming from a focus on protecting children online. Ken Suzan: It sounds like, Franklin, we could have another episode covering lots of issues connected with that one topic alone. Franklin Graves: I would absolutely agree with that. There’s a lot going on there. And again, it’s different across the world. And so I know you all have a global listener base. And so there’s a lot of nuances to that whole discussion too, that are worth exploring. Ken Suzan: Last question for today’s episode is regarding the right of publicity. With the explosion of AI-generated synthetic media, digital replicas, and voice cloning, the right of publicity is taking center stage. What are the biggest legal risks for brands partnering with influencers right now? And how can creators protect their most valuable asset, their likeness? Franklin Graves: That’s a great question. I think we’re seeing kind of a throwing-spaghetti-against-the-wall-to-see-what-sticks approach right now by a lot of different parties, whether it’s trademark attorneys, whether it’s general entertainment attorneys or whoever. For example, we’ve seen Taylor Swift filing trademarks to protect certain sounds of her voice and phrasing that she uses. It’s a difficult area because in the realm of generative AI with deep fakes and virtual avatars, that is where it gets tricky, because traditional IP laws are just not able to fully cover that spectrum. It’s a piecemeal approach, but even then it doesn’t fully cover it. So for example, I’m based in Tennessee and a couple of years ago we had the Elvis Act that updated our right of publicity law to add voice and to explicitly reference artificial intelligence. And so that’s the kind of effort we’re probably going to continue to see: efforts to develop some framework around protecting what is essentially a privacy right, in a manner that doesn’t restrict generative AI systems from continuing to develop and operate the way they’re operating now, while layering in those protections so that in the US at least a First Amendment right doesn’t necessarily get squashed, and those traditional well-recognized efforts to not overregulate a technology in its early stages are respected. Franklin Graves: And so I think a lot of what we’re seeing is just a need to update laws. The SAG-AFTRA debate and the strikes that happened around maintaining control of your performance and any iterations of that, or building upon that by a media company that might come later, it’s all on the table right now and still being discussed, still being worked out. I think in the short run, a lot of times if it’s in a brand deal, the key question is: if you are using generative AI to enhance in some way the final deliverable for the campaign, who has control over that? Who has final say and sign-off on how that likeness or that digital replica or that person’s voice is represented? And even outside of the brand space, we’ve seen actors like James Earl Jones signing over certain aspects like their voice and allowing it to continue to be used in these manners powered by generative AI as Darth Vader. And I think I saw something that Boy George was even starting up an AI company that allows musicians, the original recording artist, to rerecord new versions of their masters so that they don’t miss out on that revenue. It’s powered by generative AI, by taking their voice now, which is significantly different than it was back in the 80s, and using generative AI to make it sound closer to the original, but all based on their current performance. So I think it’s still an evolving area. And what’s interesting too is on the platform side, we’re seeing the early stages of platforms like Google starting to acknowledge and rely on the license grant contained in their terms of service for YouTube, which grants them broad rights to use the content to run their platform. So all that to be said, it’s still early stages. I’m very interested to see where we go from here in the future, especially from a global perspective as well. Ken Suzan: Franklin, I could spend hours talking to you about this. You’re such a knowledgeable person on these topics. Maybe in a few years, will we connect again and talk further on AI and all the things that are yet to be developed? Franklin Graves: Thank you. Yeah, it doesn’t have to be another decade. Maybe we can cut it to half a decade, given the pace at which technology is going now. Ken Suzan: Sounds good, Franklin. Thanks again for being on the IP Fridays podcast.

An EXCESSIVE amount of talent, an EXCESSIVE amount of twists, and an EXCESSIVE amount of roundhouse kicks fill the screen in 1992's Excessive Force! Thomas Ian Griffith writes, produces, and stars in this crime thriller alongside James Earl Jones, Tony Todd, and Lance Henriksen that entangles everyone in a war between the mob and crooked cops. The action gets brutal and intense with an EXCESSIVE amount of shootouts and mob hits, but you'll get the occasional chance to catch your breath before you're thrown back into the action! Don't just watch Action, B-Action!!!

Sup Cousin! It's Juneteenth. Let's gather some inspiration from those who walked before us. Show Notes: Frederick Douglas “What is the 4th of July to a slave” read by James Earl Jones. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZDcB1NhMfoFredrick Douglas “A slave becomes a man” https://youtu.be/U-RmmTYxiGc?si=BlkPDACiLDkJqOQ5Malcolm X “The Ballot or the Bullet” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ymPLDO0pOAWho was Malcom X https://youtu.be/ZaVIucxNeTY?si=y9y9eI1Sw5evmoVt The Lost tapes: Malcolm X https://youtu.be/k7MP_h3eQ1o?si=wqrydi9C8EmcaOBi

We have to imagine that the life of an NPR White House Correspondent does not consistently feel relaxed, homey, sentimental, and warm. But you know what does? Field of Dreams, the 1989 Kevin Costner movie about an Iowa farmer with a field overrun by baseball ghosts. Danielle Kurtzleben, a White House Correspondent for NPR, is from Titonka, Iowa (population 491) and has probably seen the movie eleventy squillion times. She can quote large portions of the dialogue and proved it in our interview by reciting James Earl Jones' “They will come” monologue in her most sonorous NPR voice. You'll be asleep soon. By the way, do baseball ghosts sleep? Are there bunk beds out in the corn fields? Am I overthinking this? Subscribe to Danielle Kurtzleben's Substack, Very Professional Journalizing, by going to daniellekurtzleben.substack.com. Hey Sleepy Heads, is there anyone whose voice you'd like to drift off to, or do you have suggestions on things we could do to aid your slumber? Email us at: sleepwithcelebs@maximumfun.org. Follow the Show on: Instagram @sleepwcelebs Bluesky @sleepwithcelebs TikTok @SleepWithCelebs John is on Bluesky @JohnMoe John's acclaimed, best-selling memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback. _________________________________________________________________________ Join | Maximum Fun If you like one or more shows on MaxFun, and you value independent artists being able to do their thing, you're the perfect person to become a MaxFun monthly member. Go to www.maximumfun.org/joinsleeping for our one-stop portal to becoming a member and supporter of Sleeping with Celebrities. Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinsleeping

You know, Shayne sprang this topic on Jay faster than Darth Vader force‑choking an admiral. One minute we're talking Star Wars prequels; the next we're knee‑deep in villains who could ruin your day, your planet, or your sleep schedule. Turns out we've got more favorite villains than we have working brain cells between us. And honestly, that tracks.In this round, we talk about:Darth Vader, the galaxy's top heavy breatherThe Joker and his purple‑suited chaosHannibal Lecter and his questionable dinner menuNorman Bates and the world's worst motelKillmonger, Dr. Evil, and other iconic baddiesRound 316 [Redux of round 34 from July 23, 2020!]~~~~~~~Support the show and unlock bonus shenanigans. The next 17 Patrons who join at the $10 Level get access to the secret Beer Thursday Facebook group. Join us at Beer Thursday Patreon.~~~~~~~ If you like villains, wait until you see the sinister glow of my whiskey glass. Follow Jay's drink and cigar photography at @BeerThursdayShow on Instagram! ~~~~~~~Subscribe to Beer Thursday and leave us a 5‑star review so we can continue our heroic quest to defeat the algorithm.~~~~~~~Here's what our house elf, Artie (not Archie), says about this round:Who's the greatest villain ever? Darth Vader. The Joker. Hannibal Lecter. Killmonger. Dr. Evil. Freddie Krueger. The Beer Thursday guys cracked open some whiskey and went full villain bracket.Shayne's picks: Darth Vader tops the list — cool suit, James Earl Jones voice, terrifying hallway scene in Rogue One. The Joker comes in close second — sometimes sinister, sometimes funny, always in purple.Jay's picks: Hannibal Lecter — so smart and charming you almost like him... until you remember the whole eating-people thing. Norman Bates — the original "something is very off about this guy" villain. And Dr. Evil — because sometimes evil just needs a Mini Me and a cat.The real debate: Are the best villains the ones who think they're the hero? Jay says yes. Killmonger had reasons. Darth Vader was pushed to it. Even the Joker had a rough go.They also briefly wondered if Elon Musk is secretly a supervillain and watched a Netflix movie about AI wiping out humanity (casual Tuesday stuff).Spoiler: they ran out of time before they ran out of villains. A sequel round is coming. OR, is not coming. We never know~~~~~~~Disclosure: I don't really have a house elf. Artie is AI. Get it? Artie‑ficial Intelligence!~~~~~~~Chapters00:00 Cold Open Banter 00:58 Prequels Spark Villains 02:02 Vader And Joker Picks 03:40 Rogue One And Solo 04:50 Jay Picks Hannibal 06:48 Sympathetic Villains Talk 09:34 Toast And Drinks 10:49 Lex Luthor, Elon Musk, and AI 12:21 Singularity Movie Detour 16:24 Time Is The Villain 17:44 Dr Evil And Shrek 19:04 Killmonger Spotlight 20:55 Horror Villains Rundown

James Earl Jones- John by RealCUF

James Earl Jones-Mark by RealCUF

James Earl Jones-Luke by RealCUF

This audio was taken from Macmedia off of YouTube

Episode 80: Part Two. This week we finalize our tale of the Robert E. Howard and John Milius epic, in Conan the Barbarian from 1982, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.           Conan the Barbarian Trailer.Make sure to join us again on the trail when we cover 1962's, The Tale of Zatoichi.Wanna support our other projects @KineticOnslotCircle of Jerks PodcastSwords in Stereo PodcastA Cut Above: Horror ReviewProps due to The Bird Beats for our theme!Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-cinemigos--6354096/support.

The Prime Cut boys kick off May's Month of Martial Arts Mania with the first installment, the uplifting and intense 1989 film "Best of the Best," starring Eric Roberts, James Earl Jones, Philip Rhee, and Chris Penn.E-mail Prime Cut Podcast at theprimecutpodcast@gmail.comPrime Cut is on TikTok @PrimeCutPodcastFollow and Subscribe to the Prime Cut Podcast on YouTube at - https://www.youtube.com/@ThePrimeCutPodcastFollow us on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/prime_cut_podcast/

Send us Fan MailOn one side, The Pirates! Band of Misfits — a chaotic, cheese-obsessed adventure packed with British humour, ridiculous inventions, and a crew that couldn't organise a raid if their lives depended on it.

We welcome back television and film writer, Andrew Sanford, for an in-depth discussion of the 1975 film, The UFO Incident, based on the real-life abduction case of Betty and Barney Hill. Regarded as one of the most compelling encounters on record, the case helped shape the modern narrative of alien abduction. The film stars James Earl Jones as Barney Hill and Estelle Parsons as Betty Hill, portraying an ordinary couple whose lives are forever changed after a mysterious UFO sighting in rural New Hampshire. Join us as we break down The UFO Incident, explore how accurately it depicts the Hill case, and examine its lasting impact on UFO history, alien abduction research, and pop culture. Follow Andrew Sanford on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/andrewsanford.bsky.social Use promo code: SOMEWHERE15 for 15% OFF Anomalous Cards: https://www.letsgetanomalous.com/ Send us a Voicemail with questions, comments, or topic suggestions: https://www.speakpipe.com/SomewhereSkiesPod Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/somewhereskies ByMeACoffee: http://www.buymeacoffee.com/UFxzyzHOaQ Substack: https://ryansprague.substack.com/ All Socials and Books: https://linktr.ee/somewhereskiespod Follow Suzanne on X: https://x.com/csuzannelanders Email: ryan.sprague51@gmail.com Opening Theme Song by Septembryo Closing Song by Per Kiilstofte Copyright © 2026 Ryan Sprague. All rights reserved. #AlienAbduction #Aliens #BettyandBarneyHill #UFOAbduction #UFOs #UAP #MovieReview #FilmReview #Cinema #Movies #SciFi #JamesEarlJones Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 80: This is the most epic journey the boys have taken yet. A tale so epic it needed to be chopped into two parts, as we cover John Milius's 1982 fantasy film Conan the Barbarian, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.Conan the Barbarian Trailer.Make sure to join us next week for part two of 1982's Conan the Barbarian.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-cinemigos--6354096/support.

It's four years later...what does she remember? Spring Into Sequels month reaches it's conclusion with 1977's EXCORCIST II: THE HERETIC. As Regan attempts to live a normal life after her childhood ordeal, a psychiatrist and a priest use a controversial technique to probe her memories and monitor her mental health. What begins as therapy spirals into a far-reaching exploration of faith, shared visions, and an ancient force that spans continents. Also this week: The Pizza Hut Pazuzu is back, Ben and Lance action Figures, and bus drivers eating hoagies? All this--and a whole lot more--on this week's episode of NEON BRAINIACS!! "I was possessed by a demon. It's okay. He's gone!" ----- Check out our Patreon for tons of bonus content, exclusive goodies, and access to our Discord server! ----- Excorcist II: The Heretic (1977) Directed by John Boorman Written by William Goodhart Starring Linda Blair, Richard Burton, Louise Fletcher, Max von Sydow, Kitty Winn, James Earl Jones, and Ned Beatty ----- 00:00 - Intro & Opening Banter 32:30 - "The Shpiel" 58:36 - Film Breakdown 01:58:58 - Brain Bucket & Outro

On episode 151 of the Director Watch Podcast, co-hosts Ryan McQuade and Jay Ledbetter discuss the last film in their Charles Burnett series, The Annihilation of Fish (1999). Welcome back to Director Watch! On this AwardsWatch podcast, the boys attempt to break down, analyze, and ultimately, get inside the mind of some of cinema's greatest auteurs. In doing so, they will look at their filmographies, explore what drives them artistically and what makes their decision making process so fascinating. Add in a few silly tangents and a fun game at the end of the episode and you've got yourself a podcast we truly hope you love. After making a wild turn with The Glass Shield in 1994, Burnett went back to his roots, making a smaller indie drama about two people who are polar opposites that fall in love. The Annihilation of Fish is another gem from the director, exploring love at an older age, the effects of mental health on the lonely, and how hard it must feel to grow old alone; a thought too painful to even think about. Ryan and Jay break down their thoughts on the film, the performances of Lynn Redgrave and James Earl Jones, how The Annihilation of Fish fits within the themes of the series so far, give their rankings for the series, as well as tease what their next film series is going to be. You can listen to the Director Watch Podcast wherever you stream podcasts, from iTunes, iHeartRadio, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Spotify, Audible, Amazon Music and more. You can also listen on the AW YouTube page. This podcast runs 1h28m. The guys will be back next week to begin their series on the films of Christopher Nolan with a review of his film, Following. You can rent it via iTunes and Amazon Prime rental in preparation for the next episode of Director Watch. Till then, let's get into it. Music: MUSICALIFE, from Pond5 (intro) and "B-3" from BoxCat Games Nameless: The Hackers RPG Soundtrack (outro).

Harvard, Tishman Speyer, and a hotel called Atlas walk into a seven-acre plot in Allston. What they're building would make Kevin Costner and James Earl Jones quite happy

Lance Henriksen, James Earl Jones, Tony Todd, Burt Young and Connecticut's most famous movie star Thomas Ian Griffith. Need we say more...oh 90s action that bomb at box office. Pop that VHS in Mr. Terry Silver!   Excessive Force | 1983 Chicago policeman Terry McCain (Thomas Ian Griffith) is determined to put away mobster Sal DiMarco (Burt Young), who always gets acquitted on technicalities. While monitoring a drug sale, a shootout ensues, and one of Terry's fellow officers gets away with $3 million of Sal's money. Suspecting Terry took the cash, the mobster sends his men to kill Terry's brother, Dylan (Tom Hodges), and partner, Frankie Hawkins (Tony Todd). Furious, Terry sets out to take his revenge by any means necessary. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104215/   Want More or Less? Click Here: Simplistic.Reviews/links Site: www.Simplistic.Reviews Podcasts: https://simplistic.media/podcasts Spotify: https://goo.gl/pcBg5V Twitter: https://twitter.com/simpletweeters Facebook: http://facebook.com/SimplisticReviews Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simplygramming Apple: https://goo.gl/orhsR4   #ExcessiveForce #MovieCommentary #WatchAlong #90sAction #BadMovies #ThomasIanGriffith #CinemaCourt #RantCorner #commentary #podcast

Katie Wright returns to cover the episode we've all been waiting for: the rise and fall of Dibala! Yes, the late great James Earl Jones steals the show as the dictator of... let's say "Shmuganda"... causing Chase to have to make some tough decisions.Meanwhile we have some delightful miming from House and Foreman is the worst boyfriend ever. There are also some updates from my trip to Japan and important information if you have too much curvature down there. Listen now! It's important!

Marc Hochman joins Stugotz today, and how about the Miami Marlins? They’re 5-1 heading into a series with the Yankees that might determine who’s who this season. Taylor just watched My Cousin Vinny for the first time this past week, and Hoch says it’s a top 10 movie of all time. Hoch also breaks out his limited fake James Earl Jones. Hoch and Taylor have an idea to save the NBA: bank the tank. And finally, we have a Keep 3, Cut 5 of outfielders from the ’80s that make you smile.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Hollywood writer's unions, the WGA, is talking to the studios about their contract while IGNORING their own staff, which is now on strike. And SAG-AFTRA issued a statement about AI Val Kilmer, saying it's cool because the family gave their blessing. But they were idiots when it came to James Earl Jones' family selling his voice. So what's up here?Watch the podcast episodes on YouTube and all major podcast hosts including Spotify.CLOWNFISH TV is an independent, opinionated news and commentary podcast that covers Entertainment and Tech from a consumer's point of view. We talk about Gaming, Comics, Anime, TV, Movies, Animation and more. Hosted by Kneon and Geeky Sparkles.Get more news, views and reviews on Clownfish TV News - https://more.clownfishtv.com/On YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/ClownfishTVOn Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/4Tu83D1NcCmh7K1zHIedvgOn Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/clownfish-tv-audio-edition/id1726838629

Today we dive into the incredible 40-year journey of Dylan Walsh, a true veteran who embodies persistence in Hollywood. Dylan has worked with some of the industry's biggest legends and has the stories to prove it. He shares how a chance encounter with a then-unknown Julia Roberts helped launch his career. You'll hear jaw-dropping behind-the-scenes stories from film history, including his experience at the legendary table read for A Few Good Men with Jack Nicholson and Tom Cruise. He also shares the acting masterclass he received while playing opposite Paul Newman and James Earl Jones. Finally, we dive into his career-defining role as "Sean McNamara" on the hit series Nip/Tuck and of course that iconic moment in episode 5 of the global sensation Heated Rivalry. These are the unforgettable stories that landed Dylan Walsh right here. Credits: Heated Rivalry Nip/Tuck Blue Bloods Superman & Lois SEAL Team Life Sentence Nip/Tuck Longmire Revenge Castle NCIS: New Orleans Secretariat Congo Gabriel's Fire Guest Links: IMDB: Dylan Walsh, Actor, Writer THAT ONE AUDITION'S LINKS: For exclusive content surrounding this and all podcast episodes, sign up for our amazing newsletter at AlyshiaOchse.com. And don't forget to snap and post a photo while listening to the show and tag me: @alyshiaochse & @thatoneaudition THE BRIDGE FOR ACTORS: Become a WORKING ACTOR - 50% THE PRACTICE TRACK: Membership to Practice Weekly CONSULTING: Get 1-on-1 advice for your acting career from Alyshia Ochse COACHING: Get personalized coaching from Alyshia on your next audition or role INSTAGRAM: @alyshiaochse INSTAGRAM: @thatoneaudition WEBSITE: AlyshiaOchse.com APPLE PODCASTS: Subscribe to That One Audition on Apple Podcasts SPOTIFY: Subscribe to That One Audition on Spotify STITCHER: Subscribe to That One Audition on Stitcher EPISODE CREDITS: Host/Producer: Alyshia Ochse Writer: Maddie McCormick WEBSITE & GRAPHICS: Chase Jennings SOCIAL: Alara Cerikcioglu

In this week's episode, I look back at the movies and streaming shows I watched over winter 2025/2026 Instead of Coupon of the Week, you can get SILENT ORDER: OMNIBUS ONE for free at my Payhip store at this link until March 31st: https://payhip.com/b/lhCyU TRANSCRIPT 00:00:00 Introduction and Writing Updates Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 294 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is March the 13th, 2026 and today we are looking at my movie and streaming TV show reviews for Winter 2025 and 2026. We'll also have Coupon of the Week and an update on my current writing, publishing, and audiobook projects. Before we get into all that, let's start off with Coupon of the Week. Actually, we are not going to have Coupon of the Week this week because originally I scheduled a Coupon of the Week for Silent Order: Omnibus One to get you 25% off it. However, I was able to get a BookBub Featured Deal to give away Silent Order: Omnibus One for free on the 17th. So instead, the episode description will just have a link to where you can get Silent Order Omnibus One for free at my Payhip store. Next week, regular Coupon of the Week will return. Now for an update on my current writing, publishing and audiobook projects. As of this recording, I am about 51,000 words into Blade of Wraiths. I had hoped to be a little further at the end of this week, but there was quite a bit of real life stuff to do this week that took up a lot of time. I didn't make quite as much progress as I had hoped, but I did make some progress, so that's good. I'm still hoping to have the book out in April if all goes well, but we will see. I'm also 5,000 words into Dragon-Mage, which will be the sixth book in the Rivah Half-Elven Thief series (six of nine planned). That hopefully will be out in May if all goes well. In audiobook news, the main recording on Blade of Storms (as excellently narrated by Brad Wills) is finished. Just have some proofing to do yet and then get through processing. Then hopefully the audiobook should be available on all platforms by next month. Recording is also underway for Wizard-Assassin, the fifth book in the Rivah Half-Elven Thief series. So that is where I'm at with my current writing, publishing, and audiobook projects. 00:02:00 Main Topic: Movie/TV Show Review Roundup Now let's move on to our main topic this week, my movie roundup. Spring is near, so it's time for my Winter 2025/ 2026 Movie Review Roundup. I admit this is a bit shorter than my usual movie roundups because for a couple of months I didn't see anything I really felt like writing about. Not in a bad way or depressed sort of way, but I just didn't see anything I felt interested enough to write about, whether good or bad. The new year brought new movies to watch and now we have enough for a Movie Review Roundup. As always, the movies and shows are in order from my least favorite to my most favorite. The reviews are based on nothing objective, but only my own thoughts and opinions. First up is Operation Fortune, which came out in 2023. This is a Guy Richie action comedy with Jason Statham in the lead, which probably describes all you need to know about it. Like if you say the phrase "Guy Richie Action Comedy with Jason Statham in the Lead", this would be the movie that popped into your head. Statham plays Orson Fortune, an elite special forces operative. When a mysterious device is stolen by terrorists, the UK government sends Fortune to retrieve it. Fortune teams up with a group of specialists and then sets out to punch bad guys and save the day. Some good action sequences, some funny bits, and Hugh Grant was hilarious as the evil arms broker billionaire, but definitely a paint by number action movie. Enjoyable to watch, but nothing deep. Overall Grade: C Next up is Legend, which came out in 1985. This is a very weird movie told as sort of an '80s style dark fairy tale. The premise is that the Lord of Darkness wants to destroy all light (as lords of darkness are wont to do). But to do that, he needs to kill a pair of unicorns. He sends his goblin minions to do the deed. Meanwhile, Princess Lili is in love with Jack, a forest child who lives in harmony with various elves and dwarves and other natural creatures. When the goblins kill one of the unicorns and take the other back to Darkness's subterranean fortress, Jack and Lili have to team up to rescue the last unicorn and defeat Darkness. The creature work and all the puppets and suchlike look amazing. Poor Tim Curry delivered an excellent performance under that mountain of prosthetics he had to wear as Darkness. That said, I don't think Tom Cruise had quite learned how to act yet, and I'm afraid he kind of stood around with a blank expression most of the time. So I'd say Legend is an interesting fantasy classic, but definitely very niche. Overall Grade: B- Next up is Anaconda, which came out in 2025. This is a very meta, bonkers, and yet nonetheless entertaining comedy movie. It kind of went off the rails while shouting "WHEEEEEE" the entire time. College friends Doug, Griff, Claire, and Kenny are entering middle age and are all dissatisfied with how their lives have turned out. Doug wanted to be a director, but instead makes wedding videos. Griff is a struggling actor. Claire is a divorced lawyer and Kenny is a "Buffalo drunk (he only drinks beer and wine and just some, but not all of the hard liquors). When Griff acquires the rights to make the next movie in the Anaconda series, the four friends jump at the chance to make it as an indie film. Scraping together their savings, they set off for the Amazon to film their snake movie. However, they find themselves caught in the middle of a fight between illegal gold miners and the Brazilian government and there is an actual giant anaconda that is hunting both the gold miners and idealistic American filmmakers. This was very meta since the characters were making a movie in the Anaconda series…in a movie in the Anaconda series. Despite that, it was very funny and I enjoyed it, though it might be a bit too tongue in cheek for some viewers. Comedy, alas, is ever subjective. Overall Grade: B- Next up is Fackham Hall, which came out in 2025. Sometimes a movie is funny but dumb. Sometimes a movie is dumb but still funny, and sometimes a movie is just plain dumb. However, I'm pleased to report that Fackham Hall is the best of the three: funny, but dumb. It's a goofy but affectionate parody of Downton Abbey and the kind of movie that isn't afraid to make jokes simply for the sake of jokes. Interestingly, halfway through the movie takes the right hand turn and becomes a parody of an Agatha Christie novel. It was pretty funny in the vein of the Naked Gun or Airplane movies, though a few of the jokes might be too raunchy for some viewers. Overall Grade: B- Next up is Wrecking Crew, which came out in 2026. I would say this was one part buddy cop comedy, one part noir mystery, and one part John Wick style violence. When private investigator Walter Hale is killed by a hit and run in Hawaii, both his sons (by different mothers) conclude that it was murder. Straight laced James (played by Dave Bautista) is a Navy SEAL with a stable family life, while Maverick cop Johnny (played by Jason Momoa) is frequently drunk and on the outs and on the outs with his girlfriend. Nevertheless, both half-brothers independently realize that shady corporate interests killed their father and set out to find his killers. They must also deal with their complicated feelings with their father and overcome their deep seated resentment of each other. This was a pretty fun action movie, though the violence level is definitely John Wick level and might put off some viewers. Honestly, it made me wonder if there's a "Hawaiian Noir" mystery genre, the way that "Nordic Noir" novels were popular for a while. Overall Grade: B Next up is The Running Man, which came out in 2025. This is both very dark and very funny, and I think it was actually better than the original movie from the 1980s. It explores the same concept. Future America is a dystopia ruled by the Network megacorp and Glen Powell's character needs to get medicine for his daughter, but he can't afford it, so he tries out for the Network's cruel reality shows and lands a spot on the biggest one of all, The Running Man, where contestants have to stay alive and hidden for 30 days while they're hunted by mercenaries and the general public gets rewarded for informing on them. This definitely had strong Idiocracy vibes as well and the satire of contemporary American culture was very cutting and probably quite accurate. I do think this movie deserved better than to flop at the box office like it did, but perhaps it will have a long life on streaming. Overall Grade: B Next up is A Few Good Men, which came out in 1992. This is a high quality legal thriller carried by Tom Cruise's and Jack Nicholson's performances. Today, Tom Cruise is largely famous for extreme stunts like driving a motorcycle cycle off a cliff (it did make for a good movie) and various personal eccentricities, but both he and Nicholson really can act and their scenes together are great. Sometime between this and Legend (which we talked about earlier), Cruise really figured out how to act on screen. Anyway, when a Marine is killed during a hazing ritual, Lieutenant Kaffee (played by Tom Cruise), is called in to investigate, aided by Lieutenant Commander Galloway (played by Demi Moore). Colonel Jessup (who was played by Nicholson), the commander of the Marines in question, wants to cover up what really happened, and Kaffee and Galloway set out to prove that the Marines charged with murder were in fact following orders when the hazing ritual went wrong. Of course, the movie hinges around Kaffee's and Jessup's final confrontation in the courtroom. I have a theory that all genres are in fact variants of fantasy. Like romance is the fantasy of true love, thrillers are the fantasy of violence and so forth. This movie would be the fantasy of the legal thriller, where the bad guy cracks on the stand. In real life, of course, when generals screw up, the privates, the NCOs, and the junior officers get thrown under the bus while the generals go on to cushy gigs at the Rand Corporation or Lockheed Martin. The strength of the performances makes the fantasy and therefore the movie work. Overall Grade: A Next up is The Paper, which came out in 2025. I ended up with a month of the Peacock streaming service, so I decided to give The Paper a try. It is a spinoff of the classic The Office [US] sitcom from the 2000 to 2010s. The premise is that failing paper company Dunder Mifflin from The Office has been purchased by a large conglomerate called Enervate. Enervate 's core business is toilet paper and other paper bathroom products, but they also own the Toledo Truth Teller (we'll refer to that as TTT) newspaper, and they use paper pulp that isn't good enough for toilet paper to print the paper. TTT is a regrettably normal local American newspaper in that it's mostly AP Wire articles and ads, with one reporter who covers local sporting events. Things start to change when Ned Sampson takes over as the new editor of TTT. Ned was formally Enervate's best toilet paper salesman, but he has a romantic view of journalism and wants to be a reporter. As a favor to him, the CEO lets him take over TTT. There he meets Mare Pritti, an Army vet in charge of the paper's layout who also wants to be a real journalist, and the two of them hit it off despite their immediate attraction. Ned has to navigate his coworkers (who range from useless to insane and useless to even more insane), corporate politics, rival bloggers, and his growing attraction to Mare. It was a pretty funny first season and I enjoyed it. There's allegedly going to be a second season, so if that happens, I will definitely watch. Overall Grade: A Next up is Conan the Barbarian, which came out in 1982. I actually saw this before like 15 years ago, but I saw it again at the end of February, so it's time to write about it. This is a very specific movie that deserves its status as a cult classic, and I do think it is better than Legend. It wasn't particularly faithful to any of the Conan stories, but it somehow did a good job of capturing the essence of the character. This was one of Arnold Schwarzenegger's first movies. It might have even been his first one, though I'm not sure. He didn't quite have the whole acting thing down yet, so he played Conan as strong, stoic, and mostly silent, which worked quite well for the character. James Earl Jones was excellent as Thulsa Doom, the evil wizard and cult leader who is Conan's nemesis. I guess in the 1980s, if you wanted your fantasy or science fiction film to be successful, you needed your villain to be an armored figure either played by or voiced by James Earl Jones. The Riddle of Steel scene where Conan throws all Doom's atrocities into his face and Doom goes, "ah" in the sense that, "yeah, I get why you want to kill me," was great. The fight scenes and stunts are all the more impressive in hindsight because obviously they're all practical effects and efforts since CGI didn't exist yet, especially given the large number of horses in the movie, since no horses are notoriously very difficult to work with in film. I once heard an experienced rider say managing a horse is like managing a two year old, albeit a two year old that weighs a thousand pounds and is much stronger than you are. The soundtrack by Basil Poledouris is a classic and deservedly so. Like, modern day oligarchs come across less as dark lords and more like malevolent dorks because they travel by private jets and electric car and yachts and so forth. By contrast, Thulsa Doom thunders across the countryside with his Riders of Doom, accompanied by Basil Poledouris's score with trumpets, drums, and choral parts. If you really want to be an intimidating bad guy, your entourage needs to be armored cavalry riders and you need a Basil Poledouris light motif. Conan the character sometimes gets stereotyped or dismissed as a masculine power fantasy (erroneously in my opinion), but the female characters in the movie are pretty good. Conan's mother faces off against the Riders of Doom by herself and Thulsa Doom himself has to use his mental magic to kill her. Prince's Yasmina is kind of the McGuffin of the movie, but she has a character arc as well where she turns against Doom and helps Conan to fight him. Compared to many '70s and '80s film heroines, Valeria was very good. For example, Lois Lane in the 1978 and 1980 Superman movies screams a lot and basically causes Superman to make a lot of bad decisions while being dead weight. By contrast, Valeria kills a bunch of bad guys with her sword, fists fights some evil spirits to save Conan, and then literally comes back from the dead as a Valkyrie to help Conan in the final battle with Thulsa Doom's goons. So this is definitely worth watching as a cult classic of the fantasy genre, though it does have a lot of nudity even by the standards of '80s movies. Overall Grade: A Now for my favorite thing I saw in Winter 2025/ 2026, which was Wonder Man, which came out in 2026. I was surprised by how much I liked this. The main character is Simon Williams, who is a struggling actor in LA. He's a good actor, but he's also an enormous theater nerd with an encyclopedic knowledge of both film and theater, which means he tends to overthink his performances, to the exasperation of the director and crew, which gets him fired a lot. One day he meets Trevor Slattery, the highly eccentric British actor who unknowingly was recruited to play the fake Mandarin back in Iron Man 3. Trevor has since kicked drugs and alcohol and returned to his one true love, acting. He ends up taking Simon under his wing and together they set out to get auditions for Wonder Man, a remake of Simon's favorite superhero movie from when he was a kid. However, both Simon and Trevor have secrets. Simon is concealing actual superpowers since superpowered individuals are not allowed in major film and television productions for safety and legal reasons due to a hilarious side story involving Josh Gad. Trevor was actually recruited under the threat of returning to prison by the Department of Damage Control to spy on Simon since they suspect he has superpowers but can't prove it and they want to find enough evidence to arrest him. The tension of all these plot threads keeps ratcheting up until the final episode. Anyway, this was an excellent self-contained "ground level" Marvel story without a lot of callbacks or cameos or getting lost in the increasingly complex MCU continuity. The friendship between Simon and Trevor, two extremely eccentric actors, was both touching and hilarious. Overall Grade: A+ So those are the movies and streaming shows I watched in Winter 2025 and 2026. So that's it for this week. Thank you for watching The Pulp Writer Show. I hope you found the show enjoyable and interesting. A reminder that you can listen to all the back episodes with transcripts at https://thepulpwritershow.com. Stay safe, stay healthy, and see you all next week.

Rich and callers discuss Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa and the NBA's tanking problem. Actor Blair Underwood joins Rich in-studio to promote his ‘Youngblood' reboot that starred Rob Lowe in the original 1980s hockey movie, his forth coming ‘A Soldier's Wife' biography about his mother, reveals how joining the cast of ‘L.A. Law' changed his life, and talks James Earl Jones, Sidney Poitier, ‘Sex & the City' and more (being a lion tamer???) in a round of ‘Celebrity True or False.' ‘No-Contest Wrestling' co-host O'Shea Jackson Jr, Rich, and Suzy Shuster discuss whether there truly is a rift between Lakers star Luka Doncic and Head Coach J.J. Redick. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

LARRY COHEN WAS A MADMAN and Madeleine Koestner is here to talk about one of his most unhinged films, 1990's The Ambulance. Eric Roberts! James Earl Jones! An ambulance that hands out in a nightclub! You've never seen anything like this one. We also complain about Geese. The band, not the animal - although too be honest I'm not a fan of either.

Hello and welcome to Handgun Radio! I'm your host Ryan Michad, Weerd Beard & Co from the wild woods of Central Maine and this is your home for all the news, information and discussion in the handgunning world!   This week, we talk the guns of James Earl Jones!   Please check out the Patriot […]

Hello and welcome to Handgun Radio! I'm your host Ryan Michad, Weerd Beard & Co from the wild woods of Central Maine and this is your home for all the news, information and discussion in the handgunning world!   This week, we talk the guns of James Earl Jones!   Please check out the Patriot Patch Company for their awesome patches and other high quality  items! Visit www.patriotpatch.co for more information! Cool artist “proof” rendition come along with the latest patch of the month patches!    We are proudly sponsored by VZ Grips! Please go check out all their fantastic products at their website! VZ Grips!  -KFrame Magna Grips   Thank you to all our patreons! Visit us at https://www.patreon.com/handgunradio    Week In Review:    Ryan: - HIRE SOMEONE TO CLEAN YOUR DRYER   Weerd:   Oddball:   Xander: Fixing machines, breaking machines, finally got a holster, grocery store sushi, finally warming up   Drink Segment: Canton Distillery Coopertown Football Bourbon   Main Topic: James Earl Jones Gun Collection & Auctions!   -Belgian Pinfire Revolver -Case Reeder Custom Commander 1911 -Colt 1902 .38 Rimless -Colt 1911 .38 AMU Competition -Colt Combat Elite 1911 in .460 Rowland -Dansk Schuboe 11mm “Wooden Bullet” -.38 Casull 1911 -Guncrafter Industry .50 GI -CLARK CUSTOM 50TH ANNIVERSARY MILLENNIUM MELTDOWN .45ACP -COLT 1911 COMBAT ELITE MKIV SERIES 80 .460 ROWLAND -COLT CAMP PERRY SINGLE SHOT .22LR TARGET -L.A.R. MANUFACTURING GRIZZLY MARK I .45 WIN MAG -L.A.R. MANUFACTURING GRIZZLY .50 ACTION EXPRESS MARK V -NIGHTHAWK CUSTOM TALON .357 SIG -REFORM PISTOLE BREVETE FOUR BARREL .25 ACP PISTOL -LILIPUT MODEL 1926 .25ACP -A target Webley?   https://checkpointcharlies.com/product/reform-pistole-brevete-four-barrel-25-acp-pistol-james-earl-jones-collection-rare-5-10909-pf/ https://checkpointcharlies.com/product/sharps-1859-22-short-4-barrel-pepperbox-pistol-james-earl-jones-collection-antique-5-10918-pf/   Wrap Up: Don't forget to shop Brownells using our affiliate link! Head to firearmsradio.net and click the affiliate link in the upper right hand corner! Be sure to go like Handgun Radio on facebook and share it with your friends! Leave us a review on iTunes! Check out VZ Grips!  Listen to all the great shows on the Firearms Radio Network! Check out the Patriot Patch Company!! www.patriotpatch.co   Weerd where can people find you? Assorted Calibers Podcast,  Weer'd World   Oddball gunscarstech.com Assorted Calibers Podcast ACP and HGR Facebook Play screechingtires.wav   David Blue Collar Prepping Brena Bock Author Page David Bock Author Page Team And More Claus of War: Santa's Battle Chronicles Xander: Assorted Calibers Podcast Here so Ryan doesn't do a bad impression of me   Until next week, have fun & safe shooting!  

For the second time in as many weeks, we find ourselves learning once more about young Jack Ryan. In the second reboot of the series, Chris Pine now helms the mantle of the analyst extraordinaire. We finally see the legendary helicopter crash that is pivotal to his backstory before we see him move to Wall Street to begin his work with the CIA. Trading in James Earl Jones and Morgan Freeman for Kevin Costner, we get another image of Ryan in another decade where franchise filmmaking has shifted significantly—we of course talk about the politics, the post-war on terror philosophies, the Hollywood Chrises, and much more! Join us now as we wrap up our You Don't Know Jack... Ryan marathon. 

It's been a busy week on Bravo, and Dylan is back for another Friday episode recapping all the action. We kick things off with the new about The Valley's upcoming third season, and how we're feeling about Tom Schwartz and Lala Kent joining the cast. Then, the biggest story of the week is Kyle and Amanda's cursed visit to Apology Dune on Summer House, and it seems like their marriage has truly reached its end point. After that, Dylan turns his focus to part one of the Real Housewives of Potomac reunion, featuring Wendy's post-arrest footage, and a hilarious James Earl Jones moment. Later in the episode, Dylan gets into Erika and Kyle's Amanda rehab project on RHOBH, and the Southern Charm cast's trip to Mexico. We finish things off with a recap of this week's Traitors episode, and some predictions for next week's finale. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A bitter sweet goodbye!We are so grateful to all our listeners over the last 5.5 years and 267 episodes! Life has taken us in a different direction but we cherish the memories and relationships made through the pod. Lotsa Love!Hot Topics: Nancy Guthrie update. Colbert goes toe to toe with CBS over FCC rules. Olympic curling scandal. Pedro Pascal may have a new boyfriend. Brandy has finally figured out what caused her facial parasite. Greg's Recs: Traitors. The Scream Murders. The Housemaid.Demetria's Recs: The Burbs. ANTM Doc. Tell Me Lies Finale.

In this week's episode, we dissect Claudine, a film released on April 22, 1974, starring James Earl Jones and Diahann Carroll. Join us as we discuss McCarthyism, cornflakes, pineapple juice, coast-to-coast murders, dish soap, resentment, the Welfare Man, “social work”, Frederick Douglass, dirty pants, and more!Notable Mentions + References in This Episode:James Earl Jones InterviewKeep Away from Me, Mr. Welfare Man: Claudine, Welfare, and Black Independent FilmThird World CinemaA History of Social Welfare in the U.S.Welfare Over Fathers (1967)Welfare and the Politics of Poverty (NY Times)How the “Child Welfare” System Destroys Black Families with Prof. Dorothy RobertsConnect with us:Instagram: @in_hindsight_podTwitter: @in_hindsightpod Thanks for listening!

Mitch Urban started off as a top forty radio D.J. and news broadcaster, and was a touring rock singer, opening for everyone from Quiet Riot to K.C. and the Sunshine Band.  His work as a voice actor includes Voicing three of the dogs in the Christmas classic feature film "Nine Dog Christmas" narrated by James Earl Jones.  Mitch has narrated shows for the History channel, voiced dozens of video game characters including the iconic "GhostRider" for Marvel Heroes, the voice of Steven Tyler's Skittles painting in the award-winning Super Bowl ad, and was the voice of JEEP for nearly ten years voicing literally thousands of radio and television commercials. Behind the camera, Mitch wrote and directed the award-winning cult horror film "Braineater".

How did a bunch of kids from the 60s become a team of legends? Nostalgia Critic takes a look at a nostalgic sports movie, The Sandlot. Join our YouTube Members - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiH828EtgQjTyNIMH6YiOSw/join Last weeks Nostalgia Critic - https://youtu.be/CEf_v8MJL5k Check out our store - https://channelawesome.myshopify.com/ Support this month's charity - https://solvecfs.org/ The Sandlot is a 1993 American coming-of-age sports comedy film written by David Mickey Evans and Robert Gunter. Evans also directed the film and served as a narrator. It tells the story of a group of young baseball players during the summer of 1962. It stars Tom Guiry, Mike Vitar, Karen Allen, Denis Leary, and James Earl Jones. The film is set in the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, California and the filming locations were in Midvale, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, Utah. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Double Hit - Managing the time continuum is risky business.Chris Morton's stories have been described as being in the genres of slacker lit, sci-fi lit, sci-fi psyche, magical realism, and avant-garde. He is the author of three novels, six novellas, and over thirty short stories. An English teacher for twenty years, Morton is also the author of the teaching guide: 'TEFL Flashcard Games for Young Learners.'Our wonderful Untold Tales Author Shamaan Casey was raised in Converse, TX. Growing up, he always watched a lot of animation, which gave him a deep appreciation for voice acting, which only grew as the years went on. Even from a young age, he had a voice that commanded the attention of others. Though not an attention seeker, he always noticed how heads would turn when he spoke, and he was often compared to James Earl Jones and Morgan Freeman, even in middle school. When he chose to pursue a career in culinary arts and work as a food salesman, everyday people would tell him that I should be in radio. With years of public speaking experience thanks to his religious ministry, he finally yielded to all of the advice he had received over the years and finally embraced getting into the world of voice-over by making audiobooks. Now, he combines my vocal talents with his love of reading to help bring stories to life. When he's not reading, he's cooking, baking, or gaming. Whatever he's doing, he's got a story to tell.

This week we watched the 1982 sword and sorcery film Conan the Barbarian. Directed by John Milius from a screenplay he co-wrote with Oliver Stone the epic film stars Arnold Schwarzenegger and James Earl Jones, and tells the story of a barbarian warrior named Conan who seeks to avenge his parents’ deaths at the hands of Thulsa Doom, the leader of a snake cult. Come join us!! Website : https://tortelliniatnoon.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tortelliniatnoonpodcast/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TortelliniAtNoon Twitter: https://twitter.com/PastaMoviePod

In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we take a deep look at Our Friend, Martin (1999), the powerful animated film that introduces young audiences to the life, leadership, and moral courage of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The film follows two middle school friends who are magically transported through time, meeting Dr. King at pivotal moments in his life. By blending animation with real historical events such as the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the March on Washington, Our Friend, Martin makes civil rights history accessible, personal, and deeply human. We discuss why this film still matters today, how it communicates the principles of nonviolence, equality, and compassion, and why its message extends far beyond the classroom. Featuring an extraordinary voice cast including Ed Asner, Angela Bassett, LeVar Burton, Whoopi Goldberg, Danny Glover, Samuel L. Jackson, James Earl Jones, Oprah Winfrey, and Dexter King as the voice of his father, the film stands as a rare and thoughtful piece of historical storytelling. This episode explores the lasting lessons of Dr. King's legacy and reminds us that progress is not just something we study from the past, but something we carry forward through our own actions every day. Enjoy and Support our Indie Podcast at www.mostlysuperheroes.com 

National Popeye day. Entertainment from 1963. Prohibition began 1920, US overthrew Hawaiin Queen, Desert Storm (Gulf War began). Todays birthdays - Ben Franklin, Betty White, Eartha Kitt, James Earl Jones, Andy Kaufman, Paul Young, Steve Harvey, Susanna Hoffs, Jim Carey, Kid Rock, Zooey Deschanel. Rutherford B Hayes died.Intro - God did good - Dianna Corcoran Dianna on SpotifyI'm Popeye the sailor man theme songGo away little girl - Steve LawrenceThe ballad of Jed Clampett - Lester Flatt  Earl ScruggsBirthdays - In da club - 50 Cent     http://50cent.com/Santa baby - Eartha KittEveryrtime you go away - Paul YoungManic Monday - The BanglesAll summer long - Kid RockIn the sun - She & HimExit - Anyone else - Donny Lee   https://www.donnyleemusic.com/countryundergroundradio.comHistory & Factoids about today webpagecooolmedia.com

Send us a textIf you stopped showing up to work tomorrow, what would actually happen? Would revenue dip, or would your work simply be quietly reassigned? In this episode, I ask the uncomfortable questions that every senior professional needs to sit with. We explore why the job market doesn't necessarily reward the most qualified person, but rather the person who solves the most urgent, painful, and expensive problems. I discuss the 'Candy, Vitamin, and Painkiller' framework and why so many overlooked achievers get stuck in the 'Vitamin' box—seen as helpful and reliable, but not essential. You will learn how to shift your positioning to become a 'Painkiller' and why this is critical for your career acceleration. I also share four powerful lessons from the late, iconic James Earl Jones (the voice of Darth Vader) on how to turn your weakest muscles into your strongest assets. Book a Game Plan Call: If you are ready to identify the specific pain you solve and position yourself as a painkiller, book a one-on-one session: superchargeyourself.com/gameplanKey TakeawaysThe Candy, Vitamin, Painkiller Framework: Investors and businesses view roles in three categories. 'Candy' is fun but dispensable; 'Vitamins' are helpful and steady but not urgent; 'Painkillers' solve expensive, risky, or urgent problems. To be indispensable, you must be a Painkiller. The Perception Gap: Many senior executives are already solving pain in reality, but they communicate like vitamins. If you describe your work as "supporting cross-functional teams" rather than "eliminating financial leakage," you are underselling your impact.The PPF Strategy: I introduce my Painkiller Positioning Framework. Step 1: Identify the pain you solve (financial, time, or risk). Step 2: Articulate outcomes, not activities. Step 3: Position yourself as someone whose absence would hurt the business. Lessons from Darth Vader: James Earl Jones had a severe stutter as a child and was not the first choice for Darth Vader. His journey teaches us that you don't need to be the first choice to be essential, and sometimes taking a step back (or a lower fee) can lead to a massive leap forward. Episode Highlights01:00 – The Uncomfortable Question: What would happen if you stopped showing up to work tomorrow?02:58 – The 'Candy, Vitamin, and Painkiller' Framework: A breakdown of how businesses value roles, from dispensable "candy" to essential "painkillers."04:53 – Real-World Painkiller Examples: How finance, supply chain, and product leaders solve urgent, expensive, or risky problems.07:02 – The Painkiller Positioning Framework (PPF): A three-step strategy to identify the pain you solve and articulate outcomes over activities.10:37 – Lessons from James Earl Jones: How the voice of Darth Vader turned a childhood stutter into his greatest strength.14:02 – Strategic Steps Back: Why a temporary dip in pay or title can set up a long-term career leap.Enjoyed this episode? Here are three ways to go deeper:Share and review the podcastIf this episode resonated, share it with a colleague who needs to hear it. And if you have 30 seconds, please leave a rating or review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It helps more high-achieving professionals discover the show.Get my weekly “Charge-Up” newsletterIf you like smart, no-fluff career insights, you will love Charge-Up. Each week I break down lessons from movies, TV, business and real executive career stories that I do not s

Andrew J Lucas has contributed to books published by FASA, Dream Pod Nine, White Wolf Games, Rebel Minis and Atlas Games among others. He has twelve solo books for various RPG publishers and while his creative output is often blunted by his day job and the enthusiasm of his young daughter for distracting him, he does manage to get produce a few prime works each year. The last few years he has had a number of short stories published in various anthologies for publishers such as Outland Entertainment, Battlefield Press, and B Cubed Press. He also is working on a number of comic and graphic novel projects, which he is optimistic will be produced in 2022. When not working or writing he paints his wargame armies and occasionally finds time to field them in battle.Our Untold Tales Narrator, Shamaan Casey was born and raised in TX. Growing up, he always watched a lot of animation, which gave him a deep appreciation for voice acting, which only grew as the years went on. Even from a young age, he had a voice that commanded the attention of others. Though not an attention seeker, he always noticed how heads would turn when he spoke, and he was often compared to James Earl Jones and Morgan Freeman, even in middle school. When he chose to pursue a career in culinary arts and work as a food salesman, everyday people would tell him that I should be in radio. With years of public speaking experience thanks to his religious ministry, he finally yielded to all of the advice he had received over the years and finally embraced getting into the world of voice-over by making audiobooks. Now, he combines my vocal talents with his love of reading to help bring stories to life. When he's not reading, he's cooking, baking, or gaming. Whatever he's doing, he's got a story to tell.Music by Leigh Robinson from Pixabay

This week, Dennis Robinson of Botched is back to talk about the 1990 film, The Hunt for Red October. Starring Sean Connery, Alec Baldwin, and a host of "Hey! That guy!!" actors including Sam Neill, James Earl Jones, Scott Glen and Tim Curry. Set during the cold war, when a new Russian submarine with a silent propulsion system goes rogue, both the US Navy and the Russian Navy are trying to find it. So, is this one an edge of your seat thriller? Or is it just a bunch of people talking in a submarine for over 2 hours? Let's find out...Check out Dennis as he DM's Botched: A D&D Podcast at https://www.botchedpodcast.com/Thanks go out to Audie Norman (@TheAudieNorman) for the album art. Outro music In Pursuit provided by Purple-Planet.comSupport the show by going to patreon.com/wyhsVisit tvstravis.com for more shows and projects from TVsTravis Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Did people really hate Jar Jar Binks?James Earl Jones is the most recognizable voice for white nationalists in the galaxy.unpacking accidental hatredDid mental deficiencies hold Kanye back?Did Kim make Kanye worse?Fan gets weird with AJ LeeA practical way to stop stalkers in 2025The line between what makes a creepAncient Chinese secret on how to get rid of your Boston accentJoe talks about the SouthMish breaks down the new ad-pocalypseWrap up. Shitbox next week for Cena's retirement.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/wrestling-soup--1425249/support.

Eddie Murphy plays Prince Akeem and, with the help of a whole lotta latex, several other supporting characters in the 1988 hit, "Coming to America." Back then, the movie charmed audiences and critics alike, and solidified Murphy as box office royalty. It also gave him an opportunity to be in a rom com. But now, decades later, is 80's Eddie still a King of Comedy? Should the barbershop scenes end up on the cutting room floor? And, are our two love interests following a rose-pedaled path to heartbreak? The Old Roommates head to Queens and give it all a revisit through their middle-aged lens. Smear on some Soul Glo and join them. Old Roommates can be reached via email at oldroommatespod@gmail.com. Follow Old Roommates on social media @OldRoommates for bonus content and please give us a rating or review!#JohnLandis #EddieMurphy #ArsenioHall #JohnAmos #JamesEarlJones

B-ACTION gets down to the fundamentals with a CLASSIC flick about heart, teamwork, and overcoming the odds! Derek from Bad Movies, Worse People joins us for 1989's Best of the Best starring Eric Roberts and James Earl Jones. This is a quintessential stop on every B-ACTION movie fan's journey. Bar fights and martial arts tournaments are just the icing on top of a fun movie full of montages, the importance of brotherhood, and… *sniff, sniff* Is somebody cutting onions in here?! We're not crying! It's just allergies!!! Don't just watch Action, B-Action!!!

Bob and Brad revisit one of the most beloved animated films of all time, Disney's The Lion King (1994). From its unforgettable soundtrack toBob and Brad revisit one of the most beloved animated films of all time, Disney's The Lion King (1994). From its unforgettable soundtrack to its Shakespearean themes, they explore why this movie remains a cultural juggernaut 30 years later. They discuss the film's stunning animation, powerhouse voice cast (including James Earl Jones, Jeremy Irons, and Matthew Broderick), and its deep-rooted themes of destiny, grief, and redemption.Then, they turn their attention to a whiskey widely regarded as one of the best values in bourbon: Henry McKenna 10-Year Single Barrel Bottled-in-Bond. This award-winning bourbon, known for its rich caramel and oak flavors, has been a fan favorite—but does it live up to the hype?(0:00) Intro (07:54) Brad Explains (10:28) Performances, Themes (40:00) Henry McKenna 10-Year Bourbon Review (52:46) Two Facts and a Falsehood & Final Analysis (1:10:08) Let's Make It a Double and Final Scores Film & Whiskey ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Film & Whiskey ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Film & Whiskey ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Email us⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join our Discord server!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠For more episodes and engaging content, visit Film & Whiskey's website at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.filmwhiskey.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

What does it take to keep your voice—and your purpose—strong through every season of life? In this episode of Unstoppable Mindset, I sit down with my friend Bill Ratner, one of Hollywood's most recognized voice actors, best known as Flint from GI Joe. Bill's voice has carried him through radio, animation, and narration, but what stands out most is how he's used that same voice to serve others through storytelling, teaching, and grief counseling. Together, we explore the heart behind his work—from bringing animated heroes to life to standing on The Moth stage and helping people find healing through poetry. Bill shares lessons from his own journey, including losing both parents early, finding family in unexpected places, and discovering how creative expression can rebuild what life breaks down. We also reflect on 9/11, preparedness, and the quiet confidence that comes from trusting your training—whether you're a first responder, a performer, or just navigating the unknown. This conversation isn't just about performance; it's about presence. It's about using your story, your craft, and your compassion to keep moving forward—unstoppable, one voice at a time. Highlights: 00:31 – Hear the Flint voice and what it takes to bring animated characters to life. 06:57 – Learn why an uneven college path still led to a lifelong acting career. 11:50 – Understand how GI Joe became a team and a toy phenomenon that shaped culture. 15:58 – See how comics and cartoons boosted classroom literacy when used well. 17:06 – Pick up simple ways parents can spark reading through shared stories. 19:29 – Discover how early, honest conversations about death can model resilience. 24:09 – Learn to critique ads and media like a pro to sharpen your own performance. 36:19 – Follow the pivot from radio to voiceover and why specialization pays. 47:48 – Hear practical editing approaches and accessible tools that keep shows tight. 49:38 – Learn how The Moth builds storytelling chops through timed, judged practice. 55:21 – See how poetry—and poetry therapy—support grief work with students. 59:39 – Take notes on memoir writing, emotional management, and one-person shows. About the Guest: Bill Ratner is one of America's best known voice actors and author of poetry collections Lamenting While Doing Laps in the Lake (Slow Lightning Lit 2024,) Fear of Fish (Alien Buddha Press 2021,) To Decorate a Casket (Finishing Line Press 2021,) and the non-fiction book Parenting For The Digital Age: The Truth Behind Media's Effect On Children and What To Do About It (Familius Books 2014.) He is a 9-time winner of the Moth StorySLAM, 2-time winner of Best of The Hollywood Fringe Extension Award for Solo Performance, Best of the Net Poetry Nominee 2023 (Lascaux Review,) and New Millennium "America One Year From Now" Writing Award Finalist. His writing appears in Best Small Fictions 2021 (Sonder Press,) Missouri Review (audio,) Baltimore Review, Chiron Review, Feminine Collective, and other journals. He is the voice of "Flint" in the TV cartoon G.I. Joe, "Donnell Udina" in the computer game Mass Effect, the voice of Air Disasters on Smithsonian Channel, NewsNation, and network TV affiliates across the country. He is a committee chair for his union, SAG-AFTRA, teaches Voiceovers for SAG-AFTRA Foundation, Media Awareness for Los Angeles Unified School District, and is a trained grief counsellor. Member: Actors Equity Association, Screen Actors Guild-AFTRA, National Storytelling Network • https://billratner.com • @billratner Ways to connect with Bill: https://soundcloud.com/bill-ratner https://www.instagram.com/billratner/ https://twitter.com/billratner https://www.threads.net/@billratner https://billratner.tumblr.com https://www.youtube.com/@billratner/videos https://www.facebook.com/billratner.voiceover.author https://bsky.app/profile/bilorat.bsky.social About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset . Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes: Michael Hingson ** 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us.   Michael Hingson ** 01:21 Well on a gracious hello to you, wherever you may be, I am your host. Mike hingson, and you are listening to unstoppable mindset. Today, we get to have a voice actor, person, Bill Ratner, who you want to know who Bill Radnor is, go back and watch the old GI Joe cartoons and listen to the voice of Flint.   Bill Ratner ** 01:42 All right. Lady Jay, you better get your battle gear on, because Cobra is on their way. And I can't bring up the Lacher threat weapon system. We got to get out of here. Yo, Joe,   Michael Hingson ** 01:52 there you go. I rest my case Well, Bill, welcome to unstoppable mindset.   Bill Ratner ** 02:00 We can't rest now. Michael, we've just begun. No, we've just begun.   Michael Hingson ** 02:04 We got to keep going here. Well, I'm really glad that you're here. Bill is another person who we inveigled to get on unstoppable mindset with the help of Walden Hughes. And so that means we can talk about Walden all we want today. Bill just saying, oh goodness. And I got a lot to say. Let me tell you perfect, perfect. Bring it on. So we are really grateful to Walden, although I hope he's not listening. We don't want to give him a big head. But no, seriously, we're really grateful. Ah, good point.   Bill Ratner ** 02:38 But his posture, oddly enough, is perfect.   Michael Hingson ** 02:40 Well, there you go. What do you do? He practiced. Well, anyway, we're glad you're here. Tell us about the early bill, growing up and all that stuff. It's always fun to start a good beginning.   Bill Ratner ** 02:54 Well, I was a very lucky little boy. I was born in Des Moines, Iowa in 1947 to two lovely people, professionals, both with master's degree out at University of Chicago. My mother was a social worker. My father had an MBA in business. He was managing editor of Better Homes and Gardens magazine. So I had the joy of living in a better home and living in a garden.   Michael Hingson ** 03:21 My mother. How long were you in Des Moines?   Bill Ratner ** 03:24 Five and a half years left before my sixth birthday. My dad got a fancy job at an ad agency in Minneapolis, and had a big brother named Pete and big handsome, curly haired boy with green eyes. And moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and was was brought up there.   Michael Hingson ** 03:45 Wow. So you went to school there and and chased the girls and all that stuff.   Bill Ratner ** 03:54 I went to school there at Blake School for Boys in Hopkins, Minnesota. Couldn't chase the girls day school, but the girls we are allowed to dance with certainly not chase. Michael was at woodhue dancing school, the Northrop girls from Northrop girls school and the Blake boys were put together in eighth grade and taught the Cha Cha Cha, the waltz, the Charleston, and we danced together, and the girls wore white gloves, and we sniffed their perfume, and we all learned how to be lovers when we were 45   Michael Hingson ** 04:37 There you are. Well, as long as you learned at some point, that's a good start.   Bill Ratner ** 04:44 It's a weird generation. Michael,   Michael Hingson ** 04:46 I've been to Des Moines before. I was born in Chicago, but moved out to California when I was five, but I did some work with the National Federation of the Blind in the mid 19. 1970s 1976 into 1978 so spent time at the Iowa Commission for the Blind in Des Moines, which became a top agency for the Blind in well, the late 50s into the to the 60s and so on. So   Bill Ratner ** 05:15 both my parents are from Chicago. My father from the south side of Chicago, 44th and Kenzie, which was a Irish, Polish, Italian, Jewish, Ukrainian neighborhood. And my mother from Glencoe, which was a middle class suburb above Northwestern University in Evanston.   Michael Hingson ** 05:34 I Where were you born? 57th and union, north, south side, no, South   Bill Ratner ** 05:42 57th union is that? Is that west of Kenzie?   Michael Hingson ** 05:46 You know, I don't remember the geography well enough to know, but I know that it was, I think, Mount Sinai Hospital where I was born. But it was, it's, it's, it's a pretty tough neighborhood today. So I understand,   Bill Ratner ** 06:00 yeah, yeah, my it was tough, then it's tough now,   Michael Hingson ** 06:03 yeah, I think it's tougher, supposedly, than it was. But we lived there for five years, and then we we moved to California, and I remember some things about Chicago. I remember walking down to the local candy store most days, and had no problem doing that. My parents were told they should shut me away at a home somewhere, because no blind child could ever grow up to amount to anything. And my parents said, You guys are you're totally wrong. And they brought me up with that attitude. So, you   Bill Ratner ** 06:32 know who said that the school says school so that   Michael Hingson ** 06:35 doctors doctors when they discovered I was blind with the   Bill Ratner ** 06:38 kid, goodness gracious, horrified.   Michael Hingson ** 06:44 Well, my parents said absolutely not, and they brought me up, and they actually worked with other parents of premature kids who became blind, and when kindergarten started in for us in in the age of four, they actually had a special kindergarten class for blind kids at the Perry School, which is where I went. And so I did that for a year, learn braille and some other things. Then we moved to California, but yeah, and I go back to Chicago every so often. And when I do nowadays, they I one of my favorite places to migrate in Chicago is Garrett Popcorn.   Bill Ratner ** 07:21 Ah, yes, with caramel corn, regular corn, the   Michael Hingson ** 07:25 Chicago blend, which is a mixture, yeah, the Chicago blend is cheese corn, well, as it is with caramel corn, and they put much other mozzarella on it as well. It's really good.   Bill Ratner ** 07:39 Yeah, so we're on the air. Michael, what do you call your what do you call your program? Here I am your new friend, and I can't even announce your program because I don't know   Michael Hingson ** 07:48 the name, unstoppable mindset. This   Bill Ratner ** 07:51 is unstoppable mindset.   Michael Hingson ** 07:56 We're back. Well, we're back already. We're fast. So you, you, you moved off elsewhere, out of Des Moines and all that. And where did you go to college?   Bill Ratner ** 08:09 Well, this is like, why did you this is, this is a bit like talking about the Vietnam War. Looking back on my college career is like looking back on the Vietnam War series, a series of delusions and defeats. By the time I the time i for college, by the time I was applying for college, I was an orphan, orphan, having been born to fabulous parents who died too young of natural causes. So my grades in high school were my mediocre. I couldn't get into the Ivy Leagues. I got into the big 10 schools. My stepmother said, you're going to Michigan State in East Lansing because your cousin Eddie became a successful realtor. And Michigan State was known as mu u it was the most successful, largest agriculture college and university in the country. Kids from South Asia, China, Northern Europe, Southern Europe, South America all over the world came to Michigan State to study agricultural sciences, children of rich farmers all over the world and middle class farmers all over the world, and a huge police science department. Part of the campus was fenced off, and the young cadets, 1819, 20 years old, would practice on the rest of the student body, uniformed with hats and all right, excuse me, young man, we're just going to get some pizza at eight o'clock on Friday night. Stand against your car. Hands in your car. I said, Are you guys practicing again? Shut up and spread your legs. So that was that was Michigan State, and even though both my parents had master's degrees, I just found all the diversions available in the 1960s to be too interesting, and was not invited. Return after my sophomore year, and in order to flunk out of a big 10 University, and they're fine universities, all of them, you have to be either really determined or not so smart, not really capable of doing that level of study in undergraduate school. And I'd like to think that I was determined. I used to show up for my exams with a little blue book, and the only thing I would write is due to lack of knowledge, I am unable to complete this exam, sign Bill ranter and get up early and hand it in and go off. And so what was, what was left for a young man like that was the theater I'd seen the great Zero Mostel when I was 14 years old and on stage live, he looked just like my father, and he was funny, and if I Were a rich man, and that's the grade zero must tell. Yeah, and it took about five, no, it took about six, seven years to percolate inside my bread and my brain. In high school, I didn't want to do theater. The cheerleaders and guys who I had didn't happen to be friends with or doing theater. I took my girlfriends to see plays, but when I was 21 I started acting, and I've been an actor ever since. I'm a committee chair on the screen actors guild in Hollywood and Screen Actors Guild AFTRA, and work as a voice actor and collect my pensions and God bless the union.   Michael Hingson ** 11:44 Well, hey, as long as it works and you're making progress, you know you're still with it, right?   Bill Ratner ** 11:53 That's the that's the point. There's no accounting for taste in my business. Michael, you work for a few different broadcast entities at my age. And it's, you know, it's younger people. It's 18 to 3418 years to 34 years old is the ideal demographic for advertisers, Ford, Motor Company, Dove soap, Betty, Crocker, cake mixes and cereals, every conceivable product that sold online or sold on television and radio. This is my this is my meat, and I don't work for religion. However, if a religious organization calls, I call and say, I I'm not, not qualified or not have my divinity degree in order to sell your church to the public?   Michael Hingson ** 12:46 Yeah, yeah. Well, I, I can understand that. But you, you obviously do a lot, and as we talked about, you were Flint and GI Joe, which is kind of cool.   Bill Ratner ** 13:01 Flynn GI Joe was very cool. Hasbro Corporation, which was based in Providence, Rhode Island, had a huge success with GI Joe, the figure. The figure was about 11 and a half inches tall, like a Barbie, and was at first, was introduced to the public after the Korean War. There is a comic book that was that was also published about GI Joe. He was an individual figure. He was a figure, a sort of mythic cartoon figure during World War Two, GI Joe, generic American soldier, fighting man and but the Vietnam war dragged on for a long time, and the American buying public or buying kids toys got tired of GI Joe, got tired of a military figure in their household and stopped buying. And when Nixon ended the Vietnam War, or allotted to finish in 1974 Hasbro was in the tank. It's got its stock was cheap, and executives are getting nervous. And then came the Great George Lucas in Star Wars, who shrank all these action figures down from 11 and a half inches to three and a half inches, and went to China and had Chinese game and toy makers make Star Wars toys, and began to earn billions and billions dollars. And so Hasbro said, let's turn GI Joe into into a team. And the team began with flint and Lady J and Scarlett and Duke and Destro and cover commander, and grew to 85 different characters, because Hasbro and the toy maker partners could create 85 different sets of toys and action figures. So I was actor in this show and had a good time, and also a purveyor of a billion dollar industry of American toys. And the good news about these toys is I was at a conference where we signed autographs the voice actors, and we have supper with fans and so on. And I was sitting next to a 30 year old kid and his parents. And this kid was so knowledgeable about pop culture and every conceivable children's show and animated show that had ever been on the screen or on television. I turned to his mother and sort of being a wise acre, said, So ma'am, how do you feel about your 30 year old still playing with GI Joe action figures? And she said, Well, he and I both teach English in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania school system, and last year, the literacy level of my ninth graders was 50% 50% of those kids could not read in ninth grade. So I asked the principal if I could borrow my son's GI Joe, action figures, comic books and VHS tapes, recordings of the shows from TV. And he said, Sure, whatever you want to try. And so she did, and she played the video tapes, and these kids were thrilled. They'd never seen a GI Joe cartoon in class before. Passed out the comic books, let him read comics. And then she said, Okay, you guys. And passed out notebooks and pens and pencils, and said, I want you guys to make up some some shows, some GI Joe shows. And so they said, Yeah, we're ready. All right, Cobra, you better get into the barber shop, because the barber bill is no longer there and the fire engines are in the way. And wait a minute, there's a dog in the street. And so they're making this up, using their imagination, doing their schoolwork, by coming up with scenarios, imaginary fam fan fiction for GI Joe and she raised the literacy level in her classroom by 50% that year, by the end of that year, so, so that was the only story that I've ever heard about the sort of the efficacy of GI Joe, other than, you know, kids play with them. Do they? Are they shooting each other all the time? I certainly hope not. I hope not. Are they using the action figures? Do they strip their guns off and put them in a little, you know, stub over by the side and and have them do physical battle with each other, or have them hump the woods, or have them climb the stairs, or have them search the trees. Who knows what kids do? Same with same with girls and and Barbies. Barbie has been a source of fun and creativity for lots of girls, and the source of of worry and bother to a lot of parents as   Michael Hingson ** 17:54 well. Well, at the same time, though, when kids start to react and relate to some of these things. It's, it's pretty cool. I mean, look what's happened with the whole Harry Potter movement and craze. Harry Potter has probably done more in the last 20 or 25 years to promote reading for kids than most anything else, and   Bill Ratner ** 18:17 that's because it's such a good series of books. I read them to my daughters, yeah. And the quality of writing. She was a brilliant writer, not only just the stories and the storytelling, which is fun to watch in the movies, and you know, it's great for a parent to read. If there are any parents listening, I don't care how old your kids are. I don't care if they're 15. Offer to read to them. The 15 year old might, of course, say mom, but anybody younger than that might say either, all right, fine, which is, which means you better do it or read, read a book. To me, sure, it's fun for the parent, fun for the kid, and it makes the child a completely different kind of thinker and worker and earner.   Michael Hingson ** 19:05 Well, also the people who they got to read the books for the recordings Stephen Fry and in the US here, Jim Dale did such an incredible job as well. I've, I've read the whole Harry Potter series more than once, because I just enjoy them, and I enjoy listening to the the voices. They do such a good job. Yeah. And of course, for me, one of the interesting stories that I know about Jim Dale reading Harry Potter was since it was published by Scholastic he was actually scheduled to do a reading from one of the Harry from the new Harry Potter book that was coming out in 2001 on September 11, he was going to be at Scholastic reading. And of course, that didn't happen because of of everything that did occur. So I don't know whether I'm. I'm assuming at some point a little bit later, he did, but still he was scheduled to be there and read. But it they are there. They've done so much to help promote reading, and a lot of those kinds of cartoons and so on. Have done some of that, which is, which is pretty good. So it's good to, you know, to see that continue to happen. Well, so you've written several books on poetry and so on, and I know that you you've mentioned more than once grief and loss. How come those words keep coming up?   Bill Ratner ** 20:40 Well, I had an unusual childhood. Again. I mentioned earlier how, what a lucky kid I was. My parents were happy, educated, good people, not abusers. You know, I don't have a I don't have horror stories to tell about my mother or my father, until my mother grew sick with breast cancer and and it took about a year and a half or two years to die when I was seven years old. The good news is, because she was a sensitive, educated social worker, as she was actually dying, she arranged a death counseling session with me and my older brother and the Unitarian minister who was also a death counselor, and whom she was seeing to talk about, you know, what it was like to be dying of breast cancer with two young kids. And at this session, which was sort of surprised me, I was second grade, came home from school. In the living room was my mother and my brother looking a little nervous, and Dr Carl storm from the Unitarian Church, and she said, you know, Dr storm from church, but he's also my therapist. And we talk about my illness and how I feel, and we talk about how much I love you boys, and talk about how I worry about Daddy. And this is what one does when one is in crisis. That was a moment that was not traumatic for me. It's a moment I recalled hundreds of times, and one that has been a guiding light through my life. My mother's death was very difficult for my older brother, who was 13 who grew up in World War Two without without my father, it was just him and my mother when he was off in the Pacific fighting in World War Two. And then I was born after the war. And the loss of a mother in a family is like the bottom dropping out of a family. But luckily, my dad met a woman he worked with a highly placed advertising executive, which was unusual for a female in the 1950s and she became our stepmother a year later, and we had some very lovely, warm family years with her extended family and our extended family and all of us together until my brother got sick, came down with kidney disease a couple of years before kidney dialysis was invented, and a couple of years before kidney transplants were done, died at 19. Had been the captain of the swimming team at our high school, but did a year in college out in California and died on Halloween of 1960 my father was 51 years old. His eldest son had died. He had lost his wife six years earlier. He was working too hard in the advertising industry, successful man and dropped out of a heart attack 14th birthday. Gosh, I found him unconscious on the floor of our master bathroom in our house. So my life changed. I My life has taught me many, many things. It's taught me how the defense system works in trauma. It's taught me the resilience of a child. It's taught me the kindness of strangers. It's taught me the sadness of loss.   Michael Hingson ** 24:09 Well, you, you seem to come through all of it pretty well. Well, thank you. A question behind that, just an observation, but, but you do seem to, you know, obviously, cope with all of it and do pretty well. So you, you've always liked to be involved in acting and so on. How did you actually end up deciding to be a voice actor?   Bill Ratner ** 24:39 Well, my dad, after he was managing editor of Better Homes and Gardens magazine in Des Moines for Meredith publishing, got offered a fancy job as executive vice president of the flower and mix division for Campbell within advertising and later at General Mills Corporation. From Betty Crocker brand, and would bring me to work all the time, and would sit with me, and we'd watch the wonderful old westerns that were on prime time television, rawhide and Gunsmoke and the Virginian and sure   Michael Hingson ** 25:15 and all those. Yeah, during   Bill Ratner ** 25:17 the commercials, my father would make fun of the commercials. Oh, look at that guy. And number one, son, that's lousy acting. Number two, listen to that copy. It's the dumbest ad copy I've ever seen. The jingles and and then he would say, No, that's a good commercial, right there. And he wasn't always negative. He would he was just a good critic of advertising. So at a very young age, starting, you know, when we watch television, I think the first television ever, he bought us when I was five years old, I was around one of the most educated, active, funny, animated television critics I could hope to have in my life as a 56789, 1011, 12 year old. And so when I was 12, I became one of the founding members of the Brotherhood of radio stations with my friends John Waterhouse and John Barstow and Steve gray and Bill Connors in South Minneapolis. I named my five watt night kit am transmitter after my sixth grade teacher, Bob close this is wclo stereo radio. And when I was in sixth grade, I built myself a switch box, and I had a turntable and I had an intercom, and I wired my house for sound, as did all the other boys in the in the B, O, R, S, and that's brotherhood of radio stations. And we were guests on each other's shows, and we were obsessed, and we would go to the shopping malls whenever a local DJ was making an appearance and torture him and ask him dumb questions and listen obsessively to American am radio. And at the time for am radio, not FM like today, or internet on your little radio tuner, all the big old grandma and grandpa radios, the wooden ones, were AM, for amplitude modulated. You could get stations at night, once the sun went down and the later it got, the ionosphere would lift and the am radio signals would bounce higher and farther. And in Minneapolis, at age six and seven, I was able to to listen to stations out of Mexico and Texas and Chicago, and was absolutely fascinated with with what was being put out. And I would, I would switch my brother when I was about eight years old, gave me a transistor radio, which I hid under my bed covers. And at night, would turn on and listen for, who knows, hours at a time, and just tuning the dial and tuning the dial from country to rock and roll to hit parade to news to commercials to to agric agriculture reports to cow crossings in Kansas and grain harvesting and cheese making in Wisconsin, and on and on and on that made up the great medium of radio that was handing its power and its business over to television, just as I was growing As a child. Fast, fascinating transition   Michael Hingson ** 28:18 and well, but as it was transitioning, how did that affect you?   Bill Ratner ** 28:26 It made television the romantic, exciting, dynamic medium. It made radio seem a little limited and antiquated, and although I listened for environment and wasn't able to drag a television set under my covers. Yeah, and television became memorable with with everything from actual world war two battle footage being shown because there wasn't enough programming to 1930s Warner Brothers gangster movies with James Cagney, Edward G   Michael Hingson ** 29:01 Robinson and yeah   Bill Ratner ** 29:02 to all the sitcoms, Leave It to Beaver and television cartoons and on and on and on. And the most memorable elements to me were the personalities, and some of whom were invisible. Five years old, I was watching a Kids program after school, after kindergarten. We'll be back with more funny puppets, marionettes after this message and the first words that came on from an invisible voice of this D baritone voice, this commercial message will be 60 seconds long, Chrysler Dodge for 1954 blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I watched hypnotized, hypnotized as a 1953 dodge drove across the screen with a happy family of four waving out the window. And at the end of the commercial, I ran into the kitchen said, Mom, mom, I know what a minute. Is, and it was said, it had suddenly come into my brain in one of those very rare and memorable moments in a person's life where your brain actually speaks to you in its own private language and says, Here is something very new and very true, that 60 seconds is in fact a minute. When someone says, See you in five minutes, they mean five times that, five times as long as that. Chrysler commercial, five times 60. That's 300 seconds. And she said, Did you learn it that that on T in kindergarten? And I said, No, I learned it from kangaroo Bob on TV, his announcer, oh, kangaroo Bob, no, but this guy was invisible. And so at five years of age, I was aware of the existence of the practice of the sound, of the magic of the seemingly unlimited access to facts, figures, products, brand names that these voices had and would say on the air in This sort of majestic, patriarchal way,   Michael Hingson ** 31:21 and just think 20 years later, then you had James Earl Jones,   Bill Ratner ** 31:26 the great dame. James Earl Jones, father was a star on stage at that time the 1950s James Earl Jones came of age in the 60s and became Broadway and off Broadway star.   Michael Hingson ** 31:38 I got to see him in Othello. He was playing Othello. What a powerful performance. It was   Bill Ratner ** 31:43 wonderful performer. Yeah, yeah. I got to see him as Big Daddy in Canada, Hot Tin Roof, ah, live and in person, he got front row seats for me and my family.   Michael Hingson ** 31:53 Yeah, we weren't in the front row, but we saw it. We saw it on on Broadway,   Bill Ratner ** 31:58 the closest I ever got to James Earl Jones. He and I had the same voice over agent, woman named Rita vinari of southern Barth and benare company. And I came into the agency to audition for Doritos, and I hear this magnificent voice coming from behind a closed voiceover booth, saying, with a with a Spanish accent, Doritos. I thought that's James Earl Jones. Why is he saying burritos? And he came out, and he bowed to me, nodded and smiled, and I said, hello and and the agent probably in the booth and shut the door. And she said, I said, that was James Earl Jones. What a voice. What she said, Oh, he's such a nice man. And she said, but I couldn't. I was too embarrassed. I was too afraid to stop him from saying, Doritos. And it turns out he didn't get the gig. So it is some other voice actor got it because he didn't say, had he said Doritos with the agent froze it froze up. That was as close as I ever got to did you get the gig? Oh goodness no,   Michael Hingson ** 33:01 no, you didn't, huh? Oh, well, well, yeah. I mean, it was a very, it was, it was wonderful. It was James Earl Jones and Christopher Plummer played Iago. Oh, goodness, oh, I know. What a what a combination. Well, so you, you did a lot of voiceover stuff. What did you do regarding radio moving forward? Or did you just go completely out of that and you were in TV? Or did you have any opportunity   Bill Ratner ** 33:33 for me to go back at age 15, my brother and father, who were big supporters of my radio. My dad would read my W, C, l, o, newsletter and need an initial, an excellent journalism son and my brother would bring his teenage friends up. He'd play the elderly brothers, man, you got an Elvis record, and I did. And you know, they were, they were big supporters for me as a 13 year old, but when I turned 14, and had lost my brother and my father, I lost my enthusiasm and put all of my radio equipment in a box intended to play with it later. Never, ever, ever did again. And when I was about 30 years old and I'd done years of acting in the theater, having a great time doing fun plays and small theaters in Minneapolis and South Dakota and and Oakland, California and San Francisco. I needed money, so I looked in the want ads and saw a job for telephone sales, and I thought, Well, I used to love the telephone. I used to make phony phone calls to people all the time. Used to call funeral homes. Hi Carson, funeral I help you. Yes, I'm calling to tell you that you have a you have a dark green slate tile. Roof, isn't that correct? Yes. Well, there's, there's a corpse on your roof. Lady for goodness sake, bring it down and we laugh and we record it and and so I thought, Well, gee, I used to have a lot of fun with the phone. And so I called the number of telephone sales and got hired to sell magazine subscriptions and dinner tickets to Union dinners and all kinds of things. And then I saw a new job at a radio station, suburban radio station out in Walnut Creek, California, a lovely Metro BART train ride. And so I got on the BART train, rode out there and walked in for the interview, and was told I was going to be selling small advertising packages on radio for the station on the phone. And so I called barber shops and beauty shops and gas stations in the area, and one guy picked up the phone and said, Wait a minute, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Are you on the radio right now? And I said, No, I'm just I'm in the sales room. Well, maybe you should be. And he slams the phone on me. He didn't want to talk to me anymore. It wasn't interested in buying advertising. I thought, gee. And I told somebody at the station, and they said, Well, you want to be in the radio? And he went, Yeah, I was on the radio when I was 13. And it just so happened that an older fellow was retiring from the 10am to 2pm slot. K I S King, kiss 99 and KD FM, Pittsburgh, California. And it was a beautiful music station. It was a music station. Remember, old enough will remember music that used to play in elevators that was like violin music, the Percy faith orchestra playing a Rolling Stone song here in the elevator. Yes, well, that's exactly what we played. And it would have been harder to get a job at the local rock stations because, you know, they were popular places. And so I applied for the job, and   Michael Hingson ** 37:06 could have lost your voice a lot sooner, and it would have been a lot harder if you had had to do Wolfman Jack. But that's another story.   Bill Ratner ** 37:13 Yeah, I used to listen to Wolf Man Jack. I worked in a studio in Hollywood. He became a studio. Yeah, big time.   Michael Hingson ** 37:22 Anyway, so you you got to work at the muzack station, got   Bill Ratner ** 37:27 to work at the muzack station, and I was moving to Los Angeles to go to a bigger market, to attempt to penetrate a bigger broadcast market. And one of the sales guys, a very nice guy named Ralph pizzella said, Well, when you get to La you should study with a friend of mine down to pie Troy, he teaches voiceovers. I said, What are voice overs? He said, You know that CVS Pharmacy commercial just carted up and did 75 tags, available in San Fernando, available in San Clemente, available in Los Angeles, available in Pasadena. And I said, Yeah. He said, Well, you didn't get paid any extra. You got paid your $165 a week. The guy who did that commercial for the ad agency got paid probably 300 bucks, plus extra for the tags, that's voiceovers. And I thought, why? There's an idea, what a concept. So he gave me the name and number of old friend acquaintance of his who he'd known in radio, named Don DiPietro, alias Johnny rabbit, who worked for the Dick Clark organization, had a big rock and roll station there. He'd come to LA was doing voiceovers and teaching voiceover classes in a little second story storefront out of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles. So I signed up for his class, and he was an experienced guy, and he liked me, and we all had fun, and I realized I was beginning to study like an actor at 1818, who goes to New York or goes to Los Angeles or Chicago or Atlanta or St Louis to act in the big theaters, and starts acting classes and realizes, oh my goodness, these people are truly professionals. I don't know how to do what they do. And so for six years, I took voice over classes, probably 4050, nights a year, and from disc jockeys, from ex show hosts, from actors, from animated cartoon voices, and put enough time in to get a degree in neurology in medical school. And worked my way up in radio in Los Angeles and had a morning show, a lovely show with a wonderful news man named Phil Reed, and we talked about things and reviewed movies and and played a lot of music. And then I realized, wait a minute, I'm earning three times the money in voiceovers as I am on the radio, and I have to get up at 430 in the morning to be on the radio. Uh, and a wonderful guy who was Johnny Carson's staff announcer named Jack angel said, You're not still on radio, are you? And I said, Well, yeah, I'm working in the morning. And Ka big, get out of there. Man, quit. Quit. And I thought, well, how can I quit? I've always wanted to be a radio announcer. And then there was another wonderful guy on the old am station, kmpc, sweet Dick Whittington. Whittington, right? And he said at a seminar that I went to at a union voice over training class, when you wake up at four in the morning and you swing your legs over the bed and your shoes hit the floor, and you put your head in your hands, and you say to yourself, I don't want to do this anymore. That's when you quit radio. Well, that hadn't happened to me. I was just getting up early to write some comedy segments and on and on and on, and then I was driving around town all day doing auditions and rented an ex girlfriend's second bedroom so that I could nap by myself during the day, when I had an hour in and I would as I would fall asleep, I'd picture myself every single day I'm in a dark voiceover studio, a microphone Is before me, a music stand is before the microphone, and on it is a piece of paper with advertising copy on it. On the other side of the large piece of glass of the recording booth are three individuals, my employers, I begin to read, and somehow the text leaps off the page, streams into my eyes, letter for letter, word for word, into a part of my back brain that I don't understand and can't describe. It is processed in my semi conscious mind with the help of voice over training and hope and faith, and comes out my mouth, goes into the microphone, is recorded in the digital recorder, and those three men, like little monkeys, lean forward and say, Wow, how do you do that? That was my daily creative visualization. Michael, that was my daily fantasy. And I had learned that from from Dale Carnegie, and I had learned that from Olympic athletes on NBC TV in the 60s and 70s, when the announcer would say, this young man you're seeing practicing his high jump is actually standing there. He's standing stationary, and the bouncing of the head is he's actually rehearsing in his mind running and running and leaping over the seven feet two inch bar and falling into the sawdust. And now he's doing it again, and you could just barely see the man nodding his head on camera at the exact rhythm that he would be running the 25 yards toward the high bar and leaping, and he raised his head up during the imaginary lead that he was visualizing, and then he actually jumped the seven foot two inches. That's how I learned about creative visualization from NBC sports on TV.   Michael Hingson ** 43:23 Channel Four in Los Angeles. There you go. Well, so you you broke into voice over, and that's what you did.   Bill Ratner ** 43:38 That's what I did, darn it, I ain't stopping now, there's a wonderful old actor named Bill Irwin. There two Bill Irwin's one is a younger actor in his 50s or 60s, a brilliant actor from Broadway to film and TV. There's an older William Irwin. They also named Bill Irwin, who's probably in his 90s now. And I went to a premiere of a film, and he was always showing up in these films as The senile stock broker who answers the phone upside down, or the senile board member who always asks inappropriate questions. And I went up to him and I said, you know, I see you in everything, man. I'm 85 years old. Some friends and associates of mine tell me I should slow down. I only got cast in movies and TV when I was 65 I ain't slowing down. If I tried to slow down at 85 I'd have to stop That's my philosophy. My hero is the great Don Pardo, the late great   Michael Hingson ** 44:42 for Saturday Night Live and Jeopardy   Bill Ratner ** 44:45 lives starring Bill Murray, Gilder Radner, and   Michael Hingson ** 44:49 he died for Jeopardy before that,   Bill Ratner ** 44:52 yeah, died at 92 with I picture him, whether it probably not, with a microphone and. His hand in his in his soundproof booth, in his in his garage, and I believe he lived in Arizona, although the show was aired and taped in New York, New York, right where he worked for for decades as a successful announcer. So that's the story.   Michael Hingson ** 45:16 Michael. Well, you know, I miss, very frankly, some of the the the days of radio back in the 60s and 70s and so on. We had, in LA what you mentioned, Dick Whittington, Dick whittinghill on kmpc, Gary Owens, you know, so many people who were such wonderful announcers and doing some wonderful things, and radio just isn't the same anymore. It's gone. It's   Bill Ratner ** 45:47 gone to Tiktok and YouTube. And the truth is, I'm not gonna whine about Tiktok or YouTube, because some of the most creative moments on camera are being done on Tiktok and YouTube by young quote influencers who hire themselves out to advertisers, everything from lipstick. You know,   Speaker 1 ** 46:09 when I went to a party last night was just wild and but this makeup look, watch me apply this lip remover and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, no, I have no lip.   Bill Ratner ** 46:20 You know, these are the people with the voices. These are the new voices. And then, of course, the faces. And so I would really advise before, before people who, in fact, use the internet. If you use the internet, you can't complain if you use the internet, if you go to Facebook or Instagram, or you get collect your email or Google, this or that, which most of us do, it's handy. You can't complain about tick tock, tick tock, tick tock. You can't complain about tick tock or YouTube, because it's what the younger generation is using, and it's what the younger generation advertisers and advertising executives and creators and musicians and actors are using to parade before us, as Gary Owens did, as Marlon Brando did, as Sarah Bernhardt did in the 19 so as all as you do, Michael, you're a parader. You're the head of the parade. You've been in on your own float for years. I read your your bio. I don't even know why you want to waste a minute talking to me for goodness sakes.   Michael Hingson ** 47:26 You know, the one thing about podcasts that I like over radio, and I did radio at kuci for seven years when I was in school, what I really like about podcasts is they're not and this is also would be true for Tiktok and YouTube. Primarily Tiktok, I would would say it isn't as structured. So if we don't finish in 60 minutes, and we finish in 61 minutes, no one's gonna shoot us.   Bill Ratner ** 47:53 Well, I beg to differ with you. Now. I'm gonna start a fight with you. Michael, yeah, we need conflict in this script. Is that it The Tick Tock is very structured. Six. No,   Michael Hingson ** 48:03 no, I understand that. I'm talking about podcasts,   Bill Ratner ** 48:07 though, but there's a problem. We gotta Tone It Up. We gotta pick it up. We gotta there's a lot of and I listen to what are otherwise really bright, wonderful personalities on screen, celebrities who have podcasts and the car sucks, and then I had meatballs for dinner, haha. And you know what my wife said? Why? You know? And there's just too much of that. And,   Michael Hingson ** 48:32 oh, I understand, yeah. I mean, it's like, like anything, but I'm just saying that's one of the reasons I love podcasting. So it's my way of continuing what I used to do in radio and having a lot of fun doing it   Bill Ratner ** 48:43 all right, let me ask you. Let me ask you a technical and editorial question. Let me ask you an artistic question. An artist, can you edit this podcast? Yeah. Are you? Do you plan to Nope.   Michael Hingson ** 48:56 I think conversations are conversations, but there is a but, I mean,   Bill Ratner ** 49:01 there have been starts and stops and I answer a question, and there's a long pause, and then, yeah, we can do you edit that stuff   Michael Hingson ** 49:08 out. We do, we do, edit some of that out. And I have somebody that that that does a lot of it, because I'm doing more podcasts, and also I travel and speak, but I can edit. There's a program called Reaper, which is really a very sophisticated   Bill Ratner ** 49:26 close up spaces. You   Michael Hingson ** 49:28 can close up spaces with it, yes, but the neat thing about Reaper is that somebody has written scripts to make it incredibly accessible for blind people using screen readers.   Bill Ratner ** 49:40 What does it do? What does it do? Give me the elevator pitch.   Michael Hingson ** 49:46 You've seen some of the the programs that people use, like computer vision and other things to do editing of videos and so on. Yeah.   Bill Ratner ** 49:55 Yeah. Even Apple. Apple edit. What is it called? Apple? Garage Band. No, that's audio. What's that   Michael Hingson ** 50:03 audio? Oh,   Bill Ratner ** 50:06 quick time is quick   Michael Hingson ** 50:07 time. But whether it's video or audio, the point is that Reaper allows me to do all of that. I can edit audio. I can insert, I can remove pauses. I can do anything with Reaper that anyone else can do editing audio, because it's been made completely accessible.   Bill Ratner ** 50:27 That's great. That's good. That's nice. Oh, it is. It's cool.   Michael Hingson ** 50:31 So so if I want, I can edit this and just have my questions and then silence when you're talking.   Bill Ratner ** 50:38 That might be best. Ladies and gentlemen, here's Bill Ratner,   Michael Hingson ** 50:46 yep, exactly, exactly. Now you have won the moth stories. Slam, what? Tell me about my story. Slam, you've won it nine times.   Bill Ratner ** 51:00 The Moth was started by a writer, a novelist who had lived in the South and moved to New York City, successful novelist named George Dawes green. And the inception of the moth, which many people listening are familiar with from the Moth Radio Hour. It was, I believe, either late 90s or early 2000s when he'd been in New York for a while and was was publishing as a fiction writer, and threw a party, and decided, instead of going to one of these dumb, boring parties or the same drinks being served and same cigarettes being smoked out in the veranda and the same orders. I'm going to ask people to bring a five minute story, a personal story, nature, a true story. You don't have to have one to get into the party, but I encourage you to. And so you know, the 3040, 50 people showed up, many of whom had stories, and they had a few drinks, and they had hors d'oeuvres. And then he said, Okay, ladies and gentlemen, take your seats. It's time for and then I picked names out of a hat, and person after person after person stood up in a very unusual setting, which was almost never done at parties. You How often do you see that happen? Suddenly, the room falls silent, and someone with permission being having been asked by the host to tell a personal story, some funny, some tragic, some complex, some embarrassing, some racy, some wild, some action filled. And afterward, the feedback he got from his friends was, this is the most amazing experience I've ever had in my life. And someone said, you need to do this. And he said, Well, you people left a lot of cigarette butts and beer cans around my apartment. And they said, well, let's do it at a coffee shop. Let's do it at a church basement. So slowly but surely, the moth storytelling, story slams, which were designed after the old poetry slams in the 50s and 60s, where they were judged contests like, like a dance contest. Everybody's familiar with dance contests? Well, there were, then came poetry contests with people singing and, you know, and singing and really energetically, really reading. There then came storytelling contests with people standing on a stage before a silent audience, telling a hopefully interesting, riveting story, beginning middle, end in five minutes. And so a coffee house was found. A monthly calendar was set up. Then came the internet. Then it was so popular standing room only that they had to open yet another and another, and today, some 20 years later, 20 some years later, from Austin, Texas to San Francisco, California to Minneapolis, Minnesota to New York City to Los Angeles. There are moth story slams available on online for you to schedule yourself to go live and in person at the moth.org as in the moth with wings. Friend of mine, I was in New York. He said, You can't believe it. This writer guy, a writer friend of mine who I had read, kind of an avant garde, strange, funny writer was was hosting something called the moth in New York, and we were texting each other. He said, Well, I want to go. The theme was show business. I was going to talk to my Uncle Bobby, who was the bell boy. And I Love Lucy. I'll tell a story. And I texted him that day. He said, Oh man, I'm so sorry. I had the day wrong. It's next week. Next week, I'm going to be back home. And so he said, Well, I think there's a moth in Los Angeles. So about 15 years ago, I searched it down and what? Went to a small Korean barbecue that had a tiny little stage that originally was for Korean musicians, and it was now being used for everything from stand up comedy to evenings of rock and roll to now moth storytelling once a month. And I think the theme was first time. And so I got up and told a silly story and didn't win first prize. They have judges that volunteer judges a table of three judges scoring, you like, at a swim meet or a track beat or, you know, and our gymnastics meet. So this is all sort of familiar territory for everybody, except it's storytelling and not high jumping or pull ups. And I kept going back. I was addicted to it. I would write a story and I'd memorize it, and I'd show up and try to make it four minutes and 50 seconds and try to make it sound like I was really telling a story and not reading from a script. And wish I wasn't, because I would throw the script away, and I knew the stories well enough. And then they created a radio show. And then I began to win slams and compete in the grand slams. And then I started submitting these 750 word, you know, two and a half page stories. Literary magazines got a few published and found a whole new way to spend my time and not make much   Michael Hingson ** 56:25 money. Then you went into poetry.   Bill Ratner ** 56:29 Then I got so bored with my prose writing that I took a poetry course from a wonderful guy in LA called Jack grapes, who had been an actor and a football player and come to Hollywood and did some TV, episodics and and some some episodic TV, and taught poetry. It was a poet in the schools, and I took his class of adults and got a poem published. And thought, wait a minute, these aren't even 750 words. They're like 75 words. I mean, you could write a 10,000 word poem if you want, but some people have, yeah, and it was complex, and there was so much to read and so much to learn and so much that was interesting and odd. And a daughter of a friend of mine is a poet, said, Mommy, are you going to read me one of those little word movies before I go to sleep?   Michael Hingson ** 57:23 A little word movie, word movie out of the   Bill Ratner ** 57:27 mouths of babes. Yeah, and so, so and I perform. You know, last night, I was in Orange County at a organization called ugly mug Cafe, and a bunch of us poets read from an anthology that was published, and we sold our books, and heard other young poets who were absolutely marvelous and and it's, you know, it's not for everybody, but it's one of the things I do.   Michael Hingson ** 57:54 Well, you sent me pictures of book covers, so they're going to be in the show notes. And I hope people will will go out and get them   Bill Ratner ** 58:01 cool. One of the one of the things that I did with poetry, in addition to wanting to get published and wanting to read before people, is wanting to see if there is a way. Because poetry was, was very satisfying, emotionally to me, intellectually very challenging and satisfying at times. And emotionally challenging and very satisfying at times, writing about things personal, writing about nature, writing about friends, writing about stories that I received some training from the National Association for poetry therapy. Poetry therapy is being used like art therapy, right? And have conducted some sessions and and participated in many and ended up working with eighth graders of kids who had lost someone to death in the past year of their lives. This is before covid in the public schools in Los Angeles. And so there's a lot of that kind of work that is being done by constable people, by writers, by poets, by playwrights,   Michael Hingson ** 59:09 and you became a grief counselor,   Bill Ratner ** 59:13 yes, and don't do that full time, because I do voiceovers full time, right? Write poetry and a grand. Am an active grandparent, but I do the occasional poetry session around around grief poetry.   Michael Hingson ** 59:31 So you're a grandparent, so you've had kids and all that. Yes, sir, well, that's is your wife still with us? Yes?   Bill Ratner ** 59:40 Oh, great, yeah, she's an artist and an art educator. Well, that   Michael Hingson ** 59:46 so the two of you can criticize each other's works, then, just   Bill Ratner ** 59:52 saying, we're actually pretty kind to each other. I Yeah, we have a lot of we have a lot of outside criticism. Them. So, yeah, you don't need to do it internally. We don't rely on it. What do you think of this although, although, more than occasionally, each of us will say, What do you think of this poem, honey? Or what do you think of this painting, honey? And my the favorite, favorite thing that my wife says that always thrills me and makes me very happy to be with her is, I'll come down and she's beginning a new work of a new piece of art for an exhibition somewhere. I'll say, what? Tell me about what's, what's going on with that, and she'll go, you know, I have no idea, but it'll tell me what to do.   Michael Hingson ** 1:00:33 Yeah, it's, it's like a lot of authors talk about the fact that their characters write the stories right, which, which makes a lot of sense. So with all that you've done, are you writing a memoir? By any chance, I   Bill Ratner ** 1:00:46 am writing a memoir, and writing has been interesting. I've been doing it for many years. I got it was my graduate thesis from University of California Riverside Palm Desert.   Michael Hingson ** 1:00:57 My wife was a UC Riverside graduate. Oh, hi. Well, they   Bill Ratner ** 1:01:01 have a low residency program where you go for 10 days in January, 10 days in June. The rest of it's online, which a lot of universities are doing, low residency programs for people who work and I got an MFA in creative writing nonfiction, had a book called parenting for the digital age, the truth about media's effect on children. And was halfway through it, the publisher liked it, but they said you got to double the length. So I went back to school to try to figure out how to double the length. And was was able to do it, and decided to move on to personal memoir and personal storytelling, such as goes on at the moth but a little more personal than that. Some of the material that I was reading in the memoir section of a bookstore was very, very personal and was very helpful to read about people who've gone through particular issues in their childhood. Mine not being physical abuse or sexual abuse, mine being death and loss, which is different. And so that became a focus of my graduate thesis, and many people were urging me to write a memoir. Someone said, you need to do a one man show. So I entered the Hollywood fringe and did a one man show and got good reviews and had a good time and did another one man show the next year and and so on. So But writing memoir as anybody knows, and they're probably listeners who are either taking memoir courses online or who may be actively writing memoirs or short memoir pieces, as everybody knows it, can put you through moods from absolutely ecstatic, oh my gosh, I got this done. I got this story told, and someone liked it, to oh my gosh, I'm so depressed I don't understand why. Oh, wait a minute, I was writing about such and such today. Yeah. So that's the challenge for the memoir is for the personal storyteller, it's also, you know, and it's more of a challenge than it is for the reader, unless it's bad writing and the reader can't stand that. For me as a reader, I'm fascinated by people's difficult stories, if they're well   Michael Hingson ** 1:03:24 told well, I know that when in 2002 I was advised to write a book about the World Trade Center experiences and all, and it took eight years to kind of pull it all together. And then I met a woman who actually I collaborated with, Susie Florey, and we wrote thunder dog. And her agent became my agent, who loved the proposal that we sent and actually got a contract within a week. So thunder dog came out in 2011 was a New York Times bestseller, and very blessed by that, and we're working toward the day that it will become a movie still, but it'll happen. And then I wrote a children's version of it, well, not a children's version of the book, but a children's book about me growing up in Roselle, growing up the guide dog who was with me in the World Trade Center, and that's been on Amazon. We self published it. Then last year, we published a new book called Live like a guide dog, which is all about controlling fear and teaching people lessons that I learned prior to September 11. That helped me focus and remain calm.   Bill Ratner ** 1:04:23 What happened to you on September 11,   Michael Hingson ** 1:04:27 I was in the World Trade Center. I worked on the 78th floor of Tower One.   Bill Ratner ** 1:04:32 And what happened? I mean, what happened to you?   Michael Hingson ** 1:04:36 Um, nothing that day. I mean, well, I got out. How did you get out? Down the stairs? That was the only way to go. So, so the real story is not doing it, but why it worked. And the real issue is that I spent a lot of time when I first went into the World Trade Center, learning all I could about what to do in an emergency, talking to police, port authorities. Security people, emergency preparedness people, and also just walking around the world trade center and learning the whole place, because I ran an office for a company, and I wasn't going to rely on someone else to, like, lead me around if we're going to go to lunch somewhere and take people out before we negotiated contracts. So I needed to know all of that, and I learned all I could, also realizing that if there ever was an emergency, I might be the only one in the office, or we might be in an area where people couldn't read the signs to know what to do anyway. And so I had to take the responsibility of learning all that, which I did. And then when the planes hit 18 floors above us on the other side of the building, we get we had some guests in the office. Got them out, and then another colleague, who was in from our corporate office, and I and my guide dog, Roselle, went to the stairs, and we started down. And   Bill Ratner ** 1:05:54 so, so what floor did the plane strike?   Michael Hingson ** 1:05:58 It struck and the NOR and the North Tower, between floors 93 and 99 so I just say 96 okay, and you were 20 floors down, 78 floors 78 so we were 18 floors below, and   Bill Ratner ** 1:06:09 at the moment of impact, what did you think?   Michael Hingson ** 1:06:13 Had no idea we heard a muffled kind of explosion, because the plane hit on the other side of the building, 18 floors above us. There was no way to know what was going on. Did you feel? Did you feel? Oh, the building literally tipped, probably about 20 feet. It kept tipping. And then we actually said goodbye to each other, and then the building came back upright. And then we went,   Bill Ratner ** 1:06:34 really you so you thought you were going to die?   Michael Hingson ** 1:06:38 David, my colleague who was with me, as I said, he was from our California office, and he was there to help with some seminars we were going to be doing. We actually were saying goodbye to each other because we thought we were about to take a 78 floor plunge to the street, when the building stopped tipping and it came back. Designed to do that by the architect. It was designed to do that, which is the point, the point.   Bill Ratner ** 1:07:02 Goodness, gracious. And then did you know how to get to the stairway?   Michael Hingson ** 1:07:04 Oh, absolutely. And did you do it with your friend? Yeah, the first thing we did, the first thing we did is I got him to get we had some guests, and I said, get him to the stairs. Don't let him take the elevators, because I knew he had seen fire above us, but that's all we knew. And but I said, don't take the elevators. Don't let them take elevators. Get them to the stairs and then come back and we'll leave. So he did all that, and then he came back, and we went to the stairs and started down.   Bill Ratner ** 1:07:33 Wow. Could you smell anything?   Michael Hingson ** 1:07:36 We smelled burning jet fuel fumes on the way down. And that's how we figured out an airplane must have hit the building, but we had no idea what happened. We didn't know what happened until the until both towers had collapsed, and I actually talked to my wife, and she's the one who told us how to aircraft have been crashed into the towers, one into the Pentagon, and a fourth, at that time, was still missing over Pennsylvania. Wow. So you'll have to go pick up a copy of thunder dog. Goodness. Good. Thunder dog. The name of the book is Thunder dog, and the book I wrote last year is called Live like a guide dog. It's le

This week, Paul, Jason, and June, welcome Zack Pearlman to discuss the 1983 film, Sleepaway Camp. The crew tries their hardest to figure out this movie, from the who's-who of it all to trying to make sense of the geography and economics of the camp, to Robert Earl Jones (father to James Earl Jones) appearance in this film. • L.A. listeners! Register to attend a free special HDTGM show on 10/15 at www.siriusxm.com/podcastsmonth• New live shows 11/7 in NYC & 11/8 in Philly! Go to hdtgm.com for tix, merch, and more• Have a Last Looks correction or omission? Call 619-PAULASK to leave us a voicemail!• Submit your Last Looks theme song to us here• Join the HDTGM conversation on Discord: discord.gg/hdtgm• Buy merch at howdidthisgetmade.dashery.com/• Order Paul's book about his childhood: Joyful Recollections of Trauma• Shop our new hat collection at podswag.com• Paul's Discord: discord.gg/paulscheer• Paul's YouTube page: youtube.com/paulscheer• Follow Paul on Letterboxd: letterboxd.com/paulscheer• Subscribe to Enter The Dark Web w/ Paul & Rob Huebel: youtube.com/@enterthedarkweb• Listen to Unspooled with Paul & Amy Nicholson: unspooledpodcast.com• Listen to The Deep Dive with June & Jessica St. Clair: thedeepdiveacademy.com/podcast• Instagram: @hdtgm, @paulscheer, & @junediane• Twitter: @hdtgm, @paulscheer, & msjunediane • Jason is not on social media• Episode transcripts available at how-did-this-get-made.simplecast.com/episodesGet access to all the podcasts you love, music channels and radio shows with the SiriusXM App! Get 3 months free using the link: siriusxm.com/hdtgm Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It's Mighty Monday, and Ryan is here to take us back to the diamond with one of our favorite films: The Sandlot.ABOUT THE SANDLOTIn the summer of 1962, a new kid in town is taken under the wing of a young baseball prodigy and his rowdy team, resulting in many adventures.AIR DATE & PLATFORM FOR THE SANDLOTApril 7, 1993 | Theatrical ReleaseCAST & CREW OF THE SANDLOTTom Guiry as Scott “Scotty” SmallsMike Vitar as Benjamin “Benny the Jet” RodriguezPatrick Renna as Hamilton “Ham” PorterChauncey Leopardi as Michael “Squints” PalledorousMarty York as Alan “Yeah-Yeah” McClennanBrandon Quintin Adams as Kenny “The Heater” DeNunezGrant Gelt as Bertram Grover WeeksShane Obedzinski as Tommy “Repeat” TimmonsVictor DiMattia as Timmy TimmonsJames Earl Jones as Mr. Mertle (and “the Beast” guardian)Directed & written by David Mickey EvansBRAN'S THE SANDLOT SYNOPSISThe movie kicks off with a narrator telling us about Babe Ruth calling his shot as an announcer gets ready to call a baseball game.Flash back to that guy as a kid. Scotty Smalls moves to the San Fernando Valley with his mom and stepdad, Bill. He doesn't have any friends, so he asks Bill to teach him how to play baseball. Bill puts his prized possession on the mantel—a signed Babe Ruth baseball.The next day, Scotty runs to the nearby baseball field to see if he can make some friends. A fly ball comes right to him, and it doesn't go well. As he fumbles for the ball, he's terrified by this… Beast… on the other side of the fence. The kids give him a hard time for not knowing how to throw or catch. Scotty goes home, asks Bill to teach him again, and ends up with a black eye.The next day, despite the other kids not wanting him to play, the team's best player, Benny, says they should give him a shot because they need a full team. Benny teaches him to throw and catch, and soon Scotty starts to fit in.One day, Ham smacks a home run into the Beast's yard. When Smalls asks about the Beast, the boys hold a sleepover and share the legend of the terrifying dog who lives beyond the fence.The boys become best friends and do best friend stuff—like hanging out at the pool and celebrating the Fourth of July. But at the end of the day, it all comes back to baseball.One afternoon, Benny absolutely crushes their only ball. With Bill out of town, Smalls thinks he's got the solution: he'll grab the one from the mantel. What Smalls doesn't realize is that the ball is signed by Babe Ruth. When he hits his first home run with it, he proudly tells the guys it was signed by “some girl named Ruth.” They freak out once they realize what he's done.The boys quickly forge Babe Ruth's signature on a new ball as a temporary replacement while they try to get the real one back. But the Beast doesn't make it easy.After a dream where Babe Ruth himself tells Benny about being a legend, Benny decides to take matters into his own hands. He hops the fence. The dog—who turns out to just be a big, playful pup—chases Benny all around town. Eventually, Benny makes it back, but the Beast crashes through the fence and gets stuck. Scotty and Benny free him, and the dog gratefully licks Smalls' face before leading them to his stash of baseballs.The boys meet Mr. Mertle, the Beast's owner, and are shocked to learn that he knew Babe Ruth personally. Mr. Mertle gives Smalls a ball signed by the entire 1927 Yankees in exchange for weekly baseball chats.The gang eventually grows up and goes their separate ways. Smalls? He's revealed to be the sports commentator from the beginning, still best friends with Benny, who goes on to play for the Dodgers. Watch the show on Youtube - www.deckthehallmark.com/youtubeInterested in advertising on the show? Email bran@deckthehallmark.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Send us a textA horrible toxic accident transforms an alien Kryptonian into a downtrodden janitor. When this new toxic version of him is exposed to Earth's selfish, inconsiderate ways he turns into a new evolution of a hero: Incel Space Jesus! On Episode 688 of Trick or Treat Radio we are joined by the Vegan Prince of Wales, Linus for his Patreon Takeover! Linus has selected an unlikely duo of Superhero films, The Toxic Avenger (2025) and Superman (2025) for us to discuss! We also talk about; the Frankenstein sequel the world needs now, well known actors who started out in Troma films, and how bad marketing can impact a film's release! So grab your toxic mop, save all the dogs and squirrels you can, and strap on your Kryptonian Bum Bag for the world's most dangerous podcast!Stuff we talk about: Remembering 1990, MC Hammer, The Curse of Frankenstein, Hammer Films, UK theatrical cuts, Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Brexit, BST, Patreon Takeover, Linus, Atomsk, Wulf Gas, noise shows, basement shows, Xiphoid Dimentia, The Brute Man, The Abominable Snowman, Macabre, Attack of the Giant Leeches, Night of the Living Dead, Night of the Strangler, House on Skull Mountain, The Stranger Within, Mansion of the Doomed, Prey, Patrick, The Slayer, My Best Friend is a Vampire, Open House, Dark Carnival, Things, Night Terror, Jacquelin Hyde, Night of the Flesh Eaters, The Dead, 90210 Shark Attack, Cracoon, Insidious, Rupert Friend, Curse of Chucky, The Taking of Deborah Logan, Jeremy Holm, The Ranger, Brooklyn 45, Michelle Bauer, Demon Warp, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Granny, The Manitou, Peeping Tom, Guillermo del Toro, Frankenstein, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, The Toxic Avenger, Peter Dinklage, Macon Blair, David Prowse, James Earl Jones, Sebastian Shaw, Billy Bob Thornton, Samuel L. Jackson, Oliver Stone, Kevin Costner, Vanna White, Graduation Day, Marisa Tomei, Chopper Chicks in Zombie Town, David Boreanaz, Terror Firmer, Paul Sorvino, John G. Avildsen, Troma Films, Lloyd Kaufman, Father's Day, Cannibal: The Music, Roger Corman, Blue Ruin, The Shitheads, Buttcrack, Elijah Wood, Avator, The Crow without Eric Draven, Alan Scott and Hal Jordan, Brian Michael Bendis, Slimetime, The Toxic Crusaders, CHUDHaven, Swamp Thing, Evil Dead, Fede Alvarez, The Mighty Crabjoys, Savatage, Hall of the Mountain King, Night on Bald Mountain, Ernest Borgnine, Jesus Lizard, James Gunn, Superman, Krypto, Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster, David Corenswet, Nicholas Hoult, Rachel Brosnahan, Alan Tudyk, Edi Gathegi, Nathan Fillion, Guy Gardner, John Byrne, The New Gods, Mr. Terrific, Brainiac, Jimmy and Stiggs, Joe Begos, Sam Raimi's Spider-Man, mate rate, RobertRodriguezMusic, RIP Renato Casaro, Space Jesus for Incels, Kryptonian Bum Bag, and The Four Swordsmen of the Girthening!Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/trickortreatradioJoin our Discord Community: discord.trickortreatradio.comSend Email/Voicemail: mailto:podcast@trickortreatradio.comVisit our website: http://trickortreatradio.comStart your own podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=386Use our Amazon link: http://amzn.to/2CTdZzKFB Group: http://www.facebook.com/groups/trickortreatradioTwitter: http://twitter.com/TrickTreatRadioFacebookSupport the show

Frankie Faison is more than just a familiar face from Coming to America, The Wire, and Banshee. With over 200 plays, 200 commercials, 200 television episodes, and 200 films under his belt, he proudly calls himself the “Quadruple 200 Man.” But his story is about more than numbers — it's about perseverance, faith, and determination. In this conversation, Frankie opens up about: -His 15-year journey of training and preparation before landing his first major roles. -Why true success comes from refining your craft daily, not chasing shortcuts. -Stories from Coming to America, The Wire, and Broadway's Fences with James Earl Jones. -His powerful new film Killing Castro, premiering at TIFF — a little-known piece of history about Fidel Castro, Malcolm X, and Harlem. -His most personal and important film to date, The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain, a heart-wrenching story tied to race, policing, and mental health. -His recent role in Beyond the Rush and why films that address child abuse and mental health matter now more than ever. -Why he believes versatility is the secret to longevity in Hollywood — and in life. Plus: his newest passion project, Frankie's Fabulous Granola, inspired by decades of gifting thousands of bags to family and friends. Frankie embodies what it means to stay determined, stay grounded, and keep working toward something bigger than yourself. His story is one of resilience, legacy, and creativity that refuses to quit. Connect with me : https://link.me/theshawnfrench?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAaY2s9TipS1cPaEZZ9h692pnV-rlsO-lzvK6LSFGtkKZ53WvtCAYTKY7lmQ_aem_OY08g381oa759QqTr7iPGA Frankie Faison https://www.instagram.com/faison.frankie/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Rebel Scum Con fun continues! In this episode, we're serving up double Wedge and a dash of Watto for your Star Wars enjoyment.   First up, we're honored to be joined by Denis Lawson, the legendary actor who portrayed Wedge Antilles in the original trilogy and returned in The Rise of Skywalker. He shares stories from set and reflects on Mark Hamill's hug in the galaxy far, far away.   But wait—there's more Wedge to go around! We're also joined by David Ankrum, the voice of Wedge in A New Hope, who helped bring the iconic pilot to life. And did you know Wedge makes a subtle appearance in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story? We'll reveal exactly where to hear him.   And it wouldn't be a proper celebration without a visit from one of the galaxy's most unforgettable hustlers—Watto himself! Andy Secombe, who voiced the junk dealer in The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones, stops by for a spirited game of Chance. And no surprise, there's a bit of funny business going on. Sorry, Watto!   Rebel Scum Con, held August 8-10, 2025 is a fan-run event which means the organizers knew exactly what we wanted! Throughout the next month we are sharing ALL that content, so look up episode 525 to and 526 for more interviews.   TODAY in Star Wars History 8/25/1977   48 years ago today... Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia, and Chewbacca graced the cover of Rolling Stone—Star Wars had officially gone mainstream.   Inside, the feature article “The Force Behind George Lucas” gave fans a behind-the-scenes look. For the first time, Lucas dropped a bombshell: Darth Vader once lost a duel with Ben Kenobi and was knocked into a volcanic pit. (Sound familiar, prequel fans?)   And in another first, Lucas revealed the voice behind the Dark Lord himself—James Earl Jones.   A legendary moment in Star Wars history, captured in print!   Here's our Skywalking episode all about it.   SPONSORS   Small World Vacations is an official sponsor of Skywalking Through Neverland. Contact them for a no obligation price quote at www.smallworldvacations.com. Tell them Skywalking Through Neverland sent you.   SUPPORT THE SHOW   Find out how you can become a part of the Skywalking Force and unlock bonus content.   CONTACT US   Instagram: http://instagram.com/skywalkingpod   Twitter: https://twitter.com/SkywalkingPod   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/skywalkingthroughneverland   Send emails to share@skywalkingthroughneverland.com and follow us on Facebook.   If you dug this episode, click over to iTunes | Stitcher | YouTube and leave us a review!   Never Land on Alderaan!