Tag: Westworld

Frak That! Podcast

Frak That! Ep. 88: ‘Kiss-of-Death Casting’

Randall Kennedy gets serious in Episode 88 by discussing “a very disturbing trend for me”. He tells Joe Wilcox: “Kiss-of-death casting”—an actor or actress “who is notorious for being part of a series, and it being doomed”. He also observes that this victim series also tends to have a “loyal fanbase”. Randall uses as example: Summer Glau, whose appearance, coincidently or not, on several procedurals preceded their demise.

“Firefly” is first among them, and Randall is rather stunned that Joe has not ever seen the show. “Do yourself a favor” and watch the first episode, Randall says. “It’s one of the best scifi series ever produced”.

“Hold on”, Joe interrupts. “So as a friendly gesture, you’re telling me that I should watch something that’s really good—that’s going to frustrate the frak out of me because it’s over too soon?” (Randall laughs.) “That’s your idea of friendship?”  … Frak That! Ep. 88: ‘Kiss-of-Death Casting’

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Frak That! Ep. 86: ‘Good and Evil’

Mauritius is “an island where people love to go to die”, Randall Kennedy tells Joe Wilcox, who is taken aback by concept “suicide tourism”. Randall is an American expat living in the country located about 700 miles off the coast of Madagascar. During Episode 86, he describes new trend “tourists who come here for the explicit purpose of ending their lives in paradise”. It’s mainly a European-resident thing, among people who visited the island, returned to their dark, gloomy countries, and were depressed by the contrast. They come back to Mauritius to never leave—alive. “It’s frustrating, because the hotels have to deal with the bodies!” Randall extols. For the staff, it’s “‘not another stiff who stiffed us on the bill!’”

Speaking of going to paradise to die, the podcasters spend time discussing the season finale of HBO’s “Westworld”. For Joe, Dr. Robert Ford’s exit is inconsistent with his being God over the robots. “He’d rather die than lose control of this thing”, Randall rebuts, calling the move a “big middle finger to the board of directors”.  … Frak That! Ep. 86: ‘Good and Evil’

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Frak That! Ep. 76: ‘Trick or Treat’

Joe Wilcox kicks off the Episode 76 Halloween Edition by spotlighting tricksters—for example, FBI director James Comey tricking Hillary Clinton into thinking the e-mail investigation was over, “while treating Donald Trump to an October surprise”. In a change of pace, that’s about all the political talk between Joe and cohost Randall Kennedy.

From there the discussion bounces through an eclectic range of topics, including: favorite comedians; best horror movies; classic scary scifi films; styles of collecting Halloween candy; declining NFL viewership; dental hygiene; and why germs are your friends.

Both men are big fans of Danny Boyle-directed “Sunshine”, which released in 2007. But Randall says it’s a “great movie ruined by a bad third act”—referring to the out-of-nowhere character who “for 7 years I have spoken with God”.

Randall obsesses about the new Westworld episode’s now-infamous “epic orgy scene”. He predicts that “after this week’s episode, it’s never gonna have a problem attracting viewers again because there’s going to be a line of people waiting for the next episode to see how far they will go this time”.

Joe repeatedly baffles Randall by the number of films or TV shows he has never seen, and to which there is no interest—like “Conan the Barbarian”, “The Matrix”, or “Seven”.

Photo Credit: Jeffrey Dixon

Frak That! Podcast

Frak That! Ep. 75: ‘Cocktober Surprise’

Joe Wilcox is rather stunned by the number of hashtag/meme-worthy phrases that Randall Kennedy uses to describe Hillary Clinton’s renewed email scandal: Cocktober Surprise, DickiLeaks, SchlongerTogether, and StrokingGun, among others. Randall is giddy that the FBI’s publicly-disclosed, renewed investigation is so potentially good for his man Trump.

Prepared for a long diatribe, Joe purposely starts Episode 75 by discussing other things: “I’m holding back my cohost Randall Kennedy, who is like a rabid dog waiting to rip into political topics today…We’re going to hold him back, so he gets angrier, more ferocious, so that when the attack comes later in the podcast, it will be devastating”. The political discussion begins at 15:00.  … Frak That! Ep. 75: ‘Cocktober Surprise’

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Frak That! Ep. 71: ‘It’s About Time’

Joe Wilcox presents Randall Kennedy with a poser: Would you go back in time and kill baby Hitler? He offers thoughtful answer about the unintended consequences and what they could be. “World War II never happens. Then maybe the atomic bomb is never invented. Maybe nuclear power is never created, or it’s created by the Brits, or a different Germany, or the Russians do it and they dominate the world…Israel probably never would have been formed as a nation…You pull one thread, and you unravel so many others”.

Joe’s take is simpler: “You can’t go back in time to kill baby Hitler, because if he never existed you wouldn’t go back to kill him”.

Time is a unifying theme in Episode 71, whether or not traveling through it. Joe talks about time and money wasted by terrorists buying Galaxy Note 7 to use as “weapons of mass destruction”. What he calls the “ISIS Crisis” now that the potentially exploding phones are banned by major airlines.  … Frak That! Ep. 71: ‘It’s About Time’

Frak That! Podcast

Frak That! Ep. 69: ‘American Apocalypse’

Joe Wilcox would rather vote for alien subjugators than either presidential candidate—hence Episode 69 title “American Apocalypse” for one of our funniest podcasts to date. Joe starts the episode by stepping back from the political arena and going to the musical/cultural stage: DesertTrip music festival, or as he tells Randall Kennedy, “Geezerpalooza”. The two-weekend, Indio, Calif. event—headlined by Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, and The Who—is meant for the over-50 set. But many attendees, and the performers, are in their Seventies.

“There’s nothing worse than a mosh pit full of people with colostomy bags”, Randall interjects. “That’s got to be the most disgusting thought in the world”. He envisions a fleet of ambulances, with emergency doctors and heart surgeons onsite and on call.  … Frak That! Ep. 69: ‘American Apocalypse’