Episode 14: Fly Solo

New episode....WAIT WHAT?!  Sam got bored and wanted to record an episode....weird I know.

Download Link
(click to listen over the internet or right click and save as)

Actually...

So I kind of went and got everyone's hopes up for really no reason. In all actuality there is no way we could do a show now, we have all gone to college and split up so we really can't do a podcast. Besides we don't really want to/don't have the time to do it anymore.

So for all you out there that have listened to us/are still listening to us, let me just say thank you for all the support, we would never have done it if it weren't for you. We're sorry that there will be no last show or formal farewell, this is it right here. So I just want to say that even though we may have never seen you before, we may have never met you, deep down we love each and every one of you.

Thanks for everything.

And here it is for the last time:

I'm Matt, and this is The Ani-Dictators signing off for the last time.

I hope all of you have nice lives.

There May Still Be Hope

Well any of you out there who may actually be listening to us somewhat frequently, we and by we I mean Matt, are thinking about doing maybe one or two last tie up shows because we felt that the last episode was far from the farewell that we needed. I will be talking to Sam to see if I can get him back onboard for one last show and Zach I know will be more than willing to do it.

We may also have a new co-host if we are lucky as well.

I'll keep you all posted.

Down and Out

If we have ANY faithful fans out there hoping for a new episode it's not going to happen.  Thank you for the support though.  Zach, Matt, and I (Sam) are all attending different colleges and real life is just more important right now.  If you still want to interact with Matt and I we both are fairly active on MAL along with our Real Man Club.  I mean Matt could go solo if he really wanted to but I'm not sure of his intentions.  I did leave him all admin rights so maybe there is hope. 

Anyway later and thanks everyone.  Sorry if I am letting anyone down. 

Darn it Man...........

Well, guys I fudged up......

All our older shows that came before the 1.1's and such can not be downloaded anymore. My fault (sam) entirely. About a month or so ago I deleted our account and page on mypodcast.net because we were now using achieve.com for storing all our content. I forgot I had uploaded the old episodes to mypodcast.net and not archieve yet before deleting it. My bad it will be corrected and resolved soon enough. New episodes will be recorded this Thursday night on New Years Eve so look forward to it!

So far so good....

(This originally was a post by Sam aka Sorrow on the Real Man Club blog but I thought I would post it up for him and clarify he (Sam) is a Kamen Rider fan and I'm (Matt) not.)
Since I am an avid watcher of Kamen Rider and Tokusatsu series in general I was looking for a new show to start. That show was the one and only Kamen Rider Blade. It ran from January 2004 to January 2005 and was proceeded by Kamen Rider 555. It's only been seven episodes so far and I'm already on the edge of my seat in every single episode. Before I go on I want to thank TV-Nihon for all their fan subbing over the years and making this review possible.

Ten thousand years ago, a massive battle known as the Battle Royal was fought by fifty-two Undead, each representing a species fighting for dominance over all others. The winner was the Human Undead, known as Category Two of Hearts, giving dominion of the Earth to humanity. In the present day, archaeologists discover the sealed Undead, and accidentally set them free. Thus, a new Battle Royal begins. Having developed the Rider System, based on the Joker's ability to copy sealed Undead, the organization BOARD equips two young men, who become Kamen Riders: Kazuma Kenzaki and Sakuya Tachibana fight together as Kamen Rider Blade and Kamen Rider Garren to protect humans from Undead and seal them. Also fighting Undead is the mysterious Chalice, a Kamen Rider whose purpose is unknown. In addition, a young man struggles to free himself from the control of the sealed Undead powering his own Undead-made Rider System, fighting as Kamen Rider Leangle. (Taken from Wikipedia)

This series is just plain fun. Kenzaki has one of the coolest henshins I've ever seen. Yet he seems so weak in the first two episodes and you start to have your doubts. Also, sealing the monsters in cards was kind of lame for me at first, yet it grew on me really quick.

Like always you have your henshin heroes that ride their badass motorcycles and OF COURSE transform (henshin) when they are riding. The beginning isn't as cool as the first couple episodes of Kabuto with Souji Tendou aka the motherfucking man, but it will get you to keep watching. It's good to start watching all these series since I watched all Decade and probably missed something when Tsukasa went to all the different worlds.

Now let me move onto the cons of this fun to watch series. You have to understand that Kamen Rider is usually made for younger audiences so sometimes you just have to ignore the cheesy lines or guys becoming friends but sound really homo when they are talking about it. Then again TV-Nihon's subs make up for it all by having the characters curse. I'm pretty sure their favorite phrase has got to be, "Don't fuck with me!!!"

If you have never seen Kamen Rider then I wouldn't start with this series because even though it's a great watch so far it doesn't capture that true Kamen Rider sense at first like W, Decade, or Kabuto will. I mean you can start with this series, don't get me wrong but I would recommend Kabuto because of its epicness. Just remember kids if you're ever in trouble yell HENSHIN and something cool might happen!

'I told you he couldn't tell she was made of plastic...' (Buried Treasure)

Yeah, that's pretty much the opener for the extremely hard to classify into a genre film called Love Object. I guess if I had to call it something, I'd call it a dark drama/horror/romance/dark comedy. Sounds kind of strange doesn't it? Well, try and keep up with me.

It's the story about a regular working stiff named Kenneth who works for a company that publishes those little instruction manuals that you always throw away as soon as you purchase whatever. He's sexually awkward and almost ludicrously awkward around women at the start of the film, which is when he learns about a company which sells extremely lifelike sex dolls named Nikkis. He purchases one, for 10 grand, and morphs it to look like his new co-worker Lisa.

As you can probably guess he has a good amount of not school appropriate fun with his new lifeless companion but he also has some sweet moments with the thing, like when they watch the English Patient together or when he teaches himself how to waltz by using the love doll. (And some kinky equipment...) But as he's doing all this, his love life begins to blossom with Lisa and he begins to notice that Nikki is getting jealous, that's right kiddos, Nikki is not as lifeless as she appears.

That's all I'm going to tell you about the plot, any more would spoil it, but I will tell you this, the first hour is absolutely wonderful. It's a sweet offbeat, and oddly touching, romance about an awkward man, his sexy co-worker, and his love doll. (I know that sounds anti-touching but stay with me) I've always been a fan of strange romance movies from Edward Scissorhands to The Dead Girl. (Yes, I liked that movie) However this movie resembles neither, it's more of a Makeout with Violence type romance, bittersweet and yet misunderstood. (And for any of you who have had the privelage of seeing that terrific movie, props goes to you, I'm still awaiting the DVD release, if it gets one.) Just watching the first hour of the movie made me say 'Awwww...' a couple of times, I mean it just has some parts that are really the sweet.

But I also have to add that the movie is an hour and a half long, so what about the last half an hour? That's the part that, although it didn't ruin the movie, it made me drop my rating of it. The movie transforms itself, very abruptly and somewhat unrealisticly, from a disturbing romance into an almost Saw-like horror/torture film. So if you're queasy you might just want to watch the first hour and then stop, it's a wonderful first hour, and the ending isn't bad but it somehow doesn't feel right to me. I'm sure some will like it, and I know I got a bit of a chuckle out of it, but I also think a lot of people will be turned off, like I almost was.

All in all though, it's a terrific movie that's well-above average and well-worth checking out. It's kind of hard to find, hence the buried treasure status, but if you do manage to find it, it's relatively cheap since it's now over 5 years old. (My copy was less that $10 new) But if you like strange romances or watching movies about fetishes, like The Dead Girl, check this one out. If nothing else, it's something good to have your girlfriend watch. 'Honey, you will not believe the great romance movie I got, you'll love it. Just love it...'

Truer words were never spoken.

Although I think your girlfriend might be a little creeped out ... unless she's cool.

Anyway 7.5 out of 10 (It was on the road to getting a 10 out of 10 but the ending really knocked it off track, like I said though, the ending doesn't ruin it but it certainly doesn't make it better or even stay at the same level.)