It’s 2016, and most of the people I know are currently watching a sports event that I don’t really care about, so I decided to record a podcast episode.
Things I’m geeking out about:
- Colony
- Agent Carter
- DC’s Legends of Tomorrow
Star Wars The Force Awakens
- Saw it 3 times and read the book
- Erased the stench of the prequels
- Start of a new trilogy with new characters
- It’s broken nearly all the box-office records at this point, so there’s not much more I can say about it
- I will say, though, that the biggest critique I have heard is that it has the same basic story points as “A New Hope.” This may be true, but I think it makes sense, given the fact that JJ Abrams needed to make a movie to bring in a new generation of Star Wars fans. My guess is that the next film in the new trilogy will go into new territory.
David Bowie
- My “Ashes To Ashes” cover: https://soundcloud.com/michaeljjohnson/ashes-to-ashes-a-tribute-to-david-bowie
- 1st Bowie tune I ever heard: Fame
- Scary Monsters era
- Bowie was the type of artist you rarely see anymore. He was constantly changing, and never stuck with the same sound or style for more than a few records.
- He didn’t really become a superstar until “Let’s Dance,” and that was just another phase of his career.
- At the height of his fame, he released a record with a band called Tin Machine, without giving himself star billing.
- Work with Trent Reznor
- Bowie/9 Inch Nails Tour
- “Afraid of Americans”
- Final album “Blackstar” was basically about his death. It was musically adventurous, yet it reached back into his past as well, incorporating styles from some of his earlier periods.
- He was an uncompromising artist until the day he died.
X-Files
- New 6-episode miniseries tonight
- I’ve been a fan since the beginning
- The show basically created the template for the modern genre series, with an over-arching mythology that ran from beginning to end. Each season was a mix of mythology-heavy episodes and “Monster of the Week” episodes.
- Some people don’t necessarily like the mythology episodes, but I always did.
- At the same time, I had developed an interest in conspiracy theories, and it was fascinating to see them depicted in the show.
- This was the first show that got me interested in the showrunner as auteur
- Some great writers came out of this room, including Vince Gilligan and Frank Spotnitz
- Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny
- AD Skinner, The Cigarette Smoking Man, Alex Krychek, Max, the alien abductee from NICAP, the Lone Gunmen
- X-Files nights at Miami
- In the last couple of seasons, since they had tied up so much of the mythology, I think they started running out of ideas. But I am a fan of Agents Doggett and Reyes, especially since I think both actors were far superior to Duchovny.
My top 10 X-Files episodes, in chronological order:
- S1, episode 2: "Deep Throat"
- S1, ep 17: "EBE"
- S2, ep 25: “Anasazi”
- S3, ep 2: “Paper Clip”
- S3, ep 20: “Jose Chung’s From Outer Space.”
- S4 ep7: “Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man”
- S5 ep 3: “Unusual Suspects”
- S5 ep 12: “Bad Blood” -
- S6, ep 4&5, “Dreamland, parts 1 and 2”
- S6, ep 14: “Monday”