I can't wait to hear how she does Darth Bane in.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Saturday, May 16, 2009
The Outer Channel Radio Show Episode 8001i
Opening Dialogue
Kurt and Greg open this impromptu episode by doing some Hip-Hop-apella in the style of Eminem's Lose Yourself. They then go on to discuss Hip-Hop, Beck and Moby and this leads to a discussion of Karaoke. Since it is an impromptu show and no topic was predetermined they decide to talk about the film Wolverine. They warn listeners that there will be film Spoilers and that anyone who has not yet seen the film should tune out.
Black Sabbath's Iron Man
Karaoke performance by Kurt Weller
Kurt and Greg discuss the film Wolverine. This becomes a discussion of the X-Men comic book series and some controversial [at least to comic book fans] decisions made by the creators of the film.
Kurt and Greg then discuss actors who become angry when they are not asked to reprise their roles in remade films especially in the case of the film Lost in Space. The discussion goes back to creative liberties taken in Super Hero films, most notably the replacement of Spiderman's web shooters with organic web production.
Since this is an impromptu show it runs just a bit over an hour rather than the usual two hour program.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
The All Time Most Super Terrific Episodes of Seinfeld Week [ as an introduction to the upcoming Season Ten Project]
'The Limo'
Six Feet Under fans may recognize an early appearance from Peter Krause.
Synopsis [from Wikipedia]
Jerry flies in from Chicago and George arrives to take him home. His car has broken down on the Belt Parkway and the two are stranded. Jerry points out a limousine chauffeur with a sign for someone named O'Brien. Jerry had seen an O'Brien in Chicago complaining to the airport staff that he had to reach Madison Square Garden. Since the real O'Brien's flight is overbooked and he will not be arriving in New York soon, George tells Jerry that since it is such a long wait to get a cab, they should pose as O'Brien and his colleague and take the limo home. George chooses the first name Colin and assumes the identity of O'Brien, as Jerry makes up the name Dylan Murphy. The chauffeur believes them and lets them into the limo. George asks the chauffeur where he is driving to, who says Madison Square Garden and that he has the four passes. George remembers the Knicks are playing Bulls that night at MSG, which must be why O'Brien wanted to get there. Jerry calls up Elaine and tells her to wait with Kramer for them to pick them up for the game, and also tells her to call him and George by their pseudonyms. Jerry and George congratulate each other, and George stumbles over a quotation: "I see things as they are, and I say no ..." (the quotation he is searching for belongs to George Bernard Shaw -- "There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask why? I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?"), finally asking Jerry, "what do you say when you see something?"
After the call, Jerry and George learn that two of the people the passes were intended for are still coming. The chauffeur stops and a man, Tim (Peter Krause), and a woman, Eva (Suzanne Snyder, who would later play Audrey in season 5's The Pie), get in with them. George feigns sleep and Jerry introduces himself. Eva and Tim tell Jerry that they are great fans of O'Brien's newsletter and book, The Big Game, neither of which has he heard of. Luckily, the two have never seen a picture of O'Brien and have no way of knowing who George really is.
As Kramer and Elaine wait outside the apartment building, Jerry mentions that they will probably miss the tip-off, and Tim wonders if he means "someone's been tipped off". George, interested about the book he supposedly wrote, asks Eva to describe her view of it. She and Tim cite the book's analysis of something called "the game", all its major players, and how the fate of the world depends on it. Eva mentions that O'Brien is making a speech that night, and George nervously reads a faxed copy of it for the first time. Kramer mentions it strange that George and Jerry took a limo when they had the former's car, and wonders why they insist on being called different names.
George reads O'Brien's speech and finds to his and Jerry's dismay that it consists of antisemitism, anti-Zionism and white supremacy. As he continues it, a loud bang is heard outside. Tim pulls out a pistol and exits the car. Eva tells George that she would do anything for him, even die. Tim comes back and says it was just a flat tire. He then adds if someone really were shooting at them, he would be prepared, and pulls out a briefcase of pistols. A news report reveals that Donald O'Brien, head of the regional chapter of the Aryan Union, a high-profile Neo-Nazi organization, is scheduled to make his first public appearance at the Paramount, adjacent to MSG, to deliver the speech at a rally. He is an outspoken Nazi, high admirer of Adolf Hitler, and passionate fascist to the extent of denouncement from David Duke. Crowd control officers have lined up several barricades to keep away hordes of protesters.
Out on the street, Kramer and Elaine run into her friend Dan and his friends, who tell them they are going to the Nazi rally to protest O'Brien. He then mentions no one knows what O'Brien looks like. As George explains to Jerry that he is attracted to Eva, they plan to have the limo drive back to the Upper West Side and get out when they see Elaine and Kramer, who realizes that Jerry must be the O'Brien at the rally, which explains the limo. As it drives past them, Kramer sees Jerry and shouts, "O'Brien!" This attracts Dan, his friends, and other protestors across the street. As Kramer and Elaine dive through the door and they chase the limo down the street, the phone begins ringing. Kramer picks up and hands it to Eva. She listens for a few seconds and tells the others, "It's O'Brien." Tim pulls out his gun and demands that George and Jerry say who they really are, and Jerry and George, and later Elaine, all rapidly (and nervously) attempt to explain themselves at the same time. The car pulls up to the Paramount and the protesters begin rocking it. Dan notices Elaine as one of the passengers, and she awkwardly acknowledges him. George is ushered onto a podium for his speech, and the protesters horde around him as he frantically denies being O'Brien and shouts for Jerry.
Monday, March 9, 2009
The All Time Most Super Terrific Episodes of Seinfeld Week [ as an introduction to the upcoming Season Ten Project]
'The Cigar Store Indian'
Synopsis [from Wikipedia]
While Jerry helps George with a coffee table stain, Elaine must take the subway home; she takes Frank Costanza's TV Guide as reading material. George meets a woman at a furniture refinishing store and takes her to his parents' home, pretending that it is his. Jerry is interested in a Native American woman named Winona, but she is offended when he presents Elaine with a cigar store Indian as a peace offering. Having had sex with his furniture store quarry, George leaves a condom wrapper in his parents' bed; his parents discover not only the wrapper but also the absence of Frank's TV Guide (he is a collector) and punish him by grounding him. Kramer pitches his idea for a coffee table book about coffee tables to Elaine's boss.






*I am using my own episode numbering system. This system is similar to, but does not match, the official episode numbering system. My system is based on Season [first number] + episode [last three numbers]. I hope that this has not caused any confusion.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Episode 2001 - Concerning Cults [Synopsis & Notes]

Opening Dialogue
Kurt and Greg introduce Greg's news feature:
Greg talks about a new urine based soft drink being developed in India. There is an unidentified female caller [see notes below] that has some interesting facts concerning urine therapy. Rich Plummer calls in and adds his own thoughts on the subject.
Doe a Deer [Heaven's Gate]
by Greg Lester.
Kurt, Greg and Rich discuss the Heaven's Gate cult and play some excerpts of cult leader Do's final exit videotape.
Aum Shinrikyu Anime Theme Song
by Aum Shinrikyu
The discussion switches focus to Japanese cults, most notably Aum Shinrikyu, the documentary films A and A2 that describe the post gas attack life of the members, and the Panawave Laboratory.
Kurt, Greg and Rich speak about Alternative Religions in general and the works of Cult Deprogrammer Rick Ross and his Rick Ross Institute.
Greg and Rich discuss a group based in Texas that is searching for the legendary Bigfoot.
Kurt plays a preview of his new Meditations Through Situation Comedy Environments project.
An Introduction to Meditations Through Situation Comedy Environments
by Kurt Weller
Greg Lester discusses The Savage Dragon.
Kurt and Greg thank Rich for joining them this episode and sign off.
We would like to apologize to the female caller for not asking for her name when she first called. Due to the learning curve of this radio program we forgot our manners! She had a wealth of health related knowledge and we hope that she calls in again!
I was quite happy with my new Skype - USB mic setup. Greg stated that he will be switching over to that method in hopes of avoiding the hiccups that plagued him during this program.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Friday, February 20, 2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Hp Lovecraft and James Hetfield
As part of the twenty record thing that I did - I started listening to the albums I listed and as I got to track 3 on Master of Puppets it occurred to me that 'The Thing that Should Not Be' is a total Lovecraft tribute.
So it took me twenty two years to realize it - though I think it occurred to me once before a while ago - I must have let it slip - the mind is not what it once was.Fearless wretch
Insanity
He watches
Lurking beneath the sea
Great old one
Forbidden site
He searches
Hunter of the shadows is rising
Immortal
In madness you dwell
Crawling chaos, underground
Cult has summoned, twisted sound
I know, I know, obvious!
Anyway, the Encyclopedia Metallica has a much more fleshed out story:
The inspiration:
The song is based upon the short story "Shadow Over Innsmouth" by H.P. Lovecraft which has been written in 1936. "Shadow Over Innsmouth" was Lovecraft's sole story which has been released as a book when he was alive. His further short stories only appeared in his lifetime in a magazine called "Weird Tales".
A close similarity:
"That is not dead which can eternal lie, And with strange aeons even death may die."
- H.P. Lovecraft
"Not dead which eternal lie stranger eons death may die"
- Metallica (The Thing That Should Not Be)
Yes, I checked this after my realization.
"Top 20 Most Important Albums/ Music of my life
Let There Be Rock - AC/DC
Abby Road - Beatles
Sea Change - Beck
Rebel Yell - Billy Idol
Left of Self-Centered - Butch Walker
Bloodletting - Concrete Blonde
Love - The Cult
Violator - Depeche Mode (drum sequencing still sounds amazing)
The Real Thing - Faith No More
On The Foor At The Boutique - Fatboy Slim
Rumours - Fleetwood Mac
Time (The Revelator) - Gillian Welch
Screaming For Vengeance - Judas Priest
II - Led Zeppelin
Mama Said - Lenny Kravitz
Too Fast For Love - Motley Crue
Dark Side Of The Moon - Pink Floyd
Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea - PJ Harvey
Grease - Soundtrack
Wow, so tough to pick just 20, I kept adding and had to delete quite a few.

The Buggles - Adventures in Modern Recording
Metallica - Master of Puppets
Devo - Shout
Devo - Hardcore Devo Volume 2
Producers for Bob - Bob's Media Ecology Squared
Blue Oyster Cult - Club Ninja
Greg Lester - The Brother Tapes
Rush - Permanent Waves
David Lee Roth - Your Filthy Little Mouth
Mark Mothersbaugh - Music for Insomniaks Vol 1
Vanessa Daou - Slow to Burn
Rush - A Farewell to Kings
Queensryche - Operation Mindcrime
World Entertainment War - World Entertainment War
Public Image Limited - 9
The Rolling Stones - Sucking in the Seventies
Sarah Brightman - Dive
Andrew Dice Clay - The Day the Laughter Died II
Heavy Metal - The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Monday, February 16, 2009
Red Week - Supplemental
A red-haired family claims to have been driven from their Newcastle home because of abuse. Why is the harassment of redheads dismissed as just harmless fun? "What's the difference between a terrorist and a redhead?" Here's the punchline. "You can negotiate with a terrorist." In adult life, women get stereotyped and red-haired men take much of the worst abuse. Treatment of red-haired children in school ranges from mild taunts to grim persecution.
For those who claim their workplace taunts are just harmless banter, it could be stress rather than an anthropological aversion to red hair. I think red haired men are gorgeous and sexy! If we only had more where we live... export them to the south of Europe, we would welcome them all! |
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Epidsode 1001 - The Pilot [Synopsis & Notes]

Opening Dialogue
Kurt and Greg introduce the show with a brief overview of the Outer Channel concept. They then begin a discussion concerning Star Wars Episode 1: the Phantom Menace. The first part of the discussion concerns the love/hate that many feel for George Lucas while the next part speaks about Spectator's Cuts of the films.
Little Desert Creature
by Greg Lester.
The third part of the Star Wars discussion focuses on plot changes that Kurt and Greg would have made were they given that oppurtunity. They then discuss some of George Lucas' inspirations, including Count Dracula and the Incredible Shrinking Man.
Kurt and Greg speak about the short lived radio show Dave TV.
Canada [Let's Defect To]
by Kurt Weller
The Outer Channel receives a call from Sasha, a fan of Greg Lester's musical works. Greg invites Sasha to send in a picture to fanakinskywalker@hotmail.com.
Her call is followed by a call from John Kaczanowski. John speaks about his own Star Wars memories and then discusses his Bockheim web presence.
Greg Lester discusses Butch Walker.
Kurt Weller discusses Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 2 - Innocent Sin.
An Introduction to Deriva_K Ultra
by Deriva_K Laboratories
Kurt and Greg sign off.
My voice for the first ten or fifteen minutes of this show were very quiet due to the quality of the telephone that I have and the fact that I tend to speak away from the mic when I am on the phone.
I think for the next program I am going to shift from my landline to Skype. I am testing it out now and I believe the sound quality will be much better, as I will be using my Blue Snowball USB mic rather than talking into the telephone.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Coming Soon! The Outer Channel finds a voice!
Kurt Weller and Greg Lester on the Outer Channel sign!
Greg Lester and I will be commencing the broadcast of our Outer Channel radio show this coming Saturday! We hope that you will catch our pilot episode.
This will fulfill yet another life long dream for me: To be the host of my own radio show in much the same way as Wolfman Jack or Glenn Gould!
Care to participate?
Date / Time: 2/14/2009 8:00 PM Pacific
Call-in Number: (917) 388-4076
Bald Week [Conclusion]
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Friday, February 6, 2009
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Monday, February 2, 2009
Bald Week [Inspired by Greg Lester's Red Week - note there may be some overlap between our two weeks]
Friday, January 30, 2009
Al Yeganeh
Al Yeganeh
Larry Thomas as Yev KasemAl Yeganeh, who served as the basis for Seinfeld episode 7116*'s Soup Nazi, set forth the following rules for potential interviewers on his website:
1. No Tabloids
2. NO "N" WORD
3. NO FOLLOW UP QUESTIONS
4. Only Some of the questions emailed may be answered
5. METHOD & TIMING OF INTERVIEWS BY MY Discretion
*7116 is from my own Seinfeld episode numbering system and not the official production code.
Here are resources if you wish to contact Mr. Yeganeh:
email address: yeganeh1@aol.com
websites :
http://www.originalsoupman.com/
&
http://www.soupkitchenintl.com/default.htm
Thursday, January 22, 2009
.















|
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Kichiku Dai Enkai
I have slowly become aware of a type of Japanese film that I am lucky to stumble across from time to time. These films, which are best exemplified by Charsima and Mike Yokohama: A Forest with No Name , usually center around vague intentional communities set up within the deep woods. Kichiku Dai Enkai is a more graphically violent example of this sort of sub-genre, [as if the aforementioned films were married to a more traditional horror film like Evil Dead Trap], but despite its intense imagery, it captures the distinct mood that I have come to enjoy.Kichiku Dai Enkai follows the downward spiral of a group of young political agitators brought about by the imprisonment of their leader. As they struggle with how to move on several crises come to pass, due in a large part by the inexperience of their new leader and her rather manipulative manner of control.
I found two of the characters to be worthy of note as they seemed so close to the young men that I grew up with that a palatable sense of discomfort descended upon me as I watched their fates play out. Sugihara is recruited by a current member of the group and at first he seems quite taken by his new friend and the bizarre new kinship he has become a part of. He has a great deal of fun listening to his friend strum on his acoustic guitar and even has a heartbreaking telephone conversation with his mother where he gives her vague descriptions of his new room mate.
At the first Enkai Party, where the new female leader of the group dons an Oni mask and dances around in a trance, he enjoys himself in the exuberant manner of an over protected young man who is finally beginning to see what his life might look like if he could just exert some sort of control over it. This soon sours as in-fighting rips the group apart.
The rest of the film becomes an exercise in intestinal fortitude as the actions of the characters become more and more violent and they grotesquely spray all manner of gore onto the screen. I have to admit I must be getting more squeemish as I grow older yet the graphic nature of the film did not ruin it for me. Of course, I wouldn't recommend the film to anyone without warning them of its intensity, but I will stand behind the fact that it fits into that group of work that I want to fall asleep to.
-Kurt Weller
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
. .
Osaka Performance Doll (大阪パフォーマンスドール) or O.P.D was a sister group of Tokyo Performance Doll, an all girl dance and idol group. Osaka Performance Doll was formed as a sister group of Tokyo Performance Doll by Yoshimoto Kogyo Co., Ltd. in 1993. In April 1993, about 800 Osaka applicants auditioned to get into the group. Throughout its duration, OPD had an average age of 16 years old and an average of 19 members in the group |
Your Boring May Just Be My Exciting Mr Bradbury
TV miniseries
In 1979 NBC commissioned a miniseries adaptation in partnership with the BBC, The Martian Chronicles. The adaptation was written by Richard Matheson and was directed by Michael Anderson. The series star was Rock Hudson as 'Wilder', with Darren McGavin as 'Parkhill', Bernadette Peters as 'Genevieve Selsor', Bernie Casey as 'Jeff Spender', Roddy McDowall as 'Father Stone', and Barry Morse as 'Hathaway', and Fritz Weaver. Bradbury found the miniseries "just boring."[5]
The mini-series, first shown in 1980, is divided into three episodes with a total running time of just over four hours (nearly five hours on the DVD version). The first starts with two failed expeditions, where Martians kill the human spacemen. A third expedition follows where Spender goes insane and is killed by Colonel Wilder.
Wilder then becomes director of the colonization effort of Mars. By this time, all the Martians have been killed off by a strain of chickenpox; only Martian ghosts and the "Old Ones" non-corporeal Martians from millions of years ago, remain. The series ends after World War III occurs on Earth, and Mars is evacuated shortly before. Only a few scattered humans remain on Mars with the Martians appearing as either illusions, now long dead. Whether the Martians are ghosts or shadows of the past is not made clear.
In the final scene, Wilder, now alone with his family, meets a Martian ghost from thousands of years before. He then takes his family into the ruins of a Martian city, saying they will live there and learn the Martian way. He then points into a pool of water at the family's reflection and states, "Those are the Martians", indicating that the humans will be the new citizens of Mars.
The television series employs the concept of suspension of disbelief in that, apart from the obvious science fiction aspects of living Martians, the series was filmed in an Earth desert and has very noticeable blue sky with white clouds. Mars is also said to have a "thin atmosphere" which humans can breathe and there are canals of water and desert type vegetation.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
SPM - Baby Beesh - DJ Screw
|
Monday, January 12, 2009
Six Feet Under
Last June some friends made me watch the Pilot episode of Six Feet Under. I had heard of the show as it had been quite popular in the early years of the new millennium but got it confused with other shows with provocative titles that I assumed I would never see. Today I finished the series and I felt the same sort of loss that one feels when a long term house guest finally heads back to their home. Six Feet Under was an exception to me in that it dealt with social issues and did so in a way that did not leave me feeling preached to in the same way that the television shows of my teenage years used to.
Six Feet Under was an imperfect series in that it made strange leaps in odd directions but it never felt inorganic. Rather, it felt as though the characters sort of led the show astray, they often made decisions that made me cringe but I cringed in the same way I would if I were watching my own friends.
I was especially moved by the fact that the show could so completely overturn some of my own preconceptions in real socially pertinent issues such as gay marriage and adoption. I felt myself both repulsed and enamored with many of the characters on the show [Billy and Maggie both come to mind] and felt my already strong adoration for Kathy Bates grow even stronger.
My friend had described the last episode of the series as being 'Mind Blowing' and his appraisal did not disappoint. I was moved to a comfortably melancholy mistiness by the singular conclusion of the story.
I feel that Six Feet Under will be remembered as a sort of strange metaphor for this new millennium that seems to have had a difficult time defining itself in a positive manner. Almost all of the the last eight years have been taken up by a saturation of pessimism spurred on by a presidential administration that was unable to communicate itself in any sort of palpable way. Similarly, many of the films and television programs of the era have sort of had to run in place in much the same manner. They seem to have difficulty deciding which direction they should take: sure, they hate the way things are at the moment but any of their alternatives present themselves as equally suspect.
Six Feet Under kind of side stepped that and never really said anything yet at the same time said everything.

- Kurt Weller
Saturday, January 10, 2009
. .
|
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Macross Frontier
I suppose I need to preface this by saying that I have been an avid Macross fan since the old Robotech days, which were only a year or two behind the original Japanese release of the series, and which allows me to feel as a part of it as I could possibly be having grown up in North America prior to the mainstream success of anime. I had to watch a fourth generation VHS of Love, Do You Remember unsubtitled, the image so bad I could not make out what was going on so I just kind of soaked in the colors and the music. I have followed all of the films and series that have come since, Macross II, Macross Plus, Macross 7 and Macross Zero. I have a small collection of the toy Valkyries and a Lynn Minmei model kit that I bought at Anime Expo 98 that I have yet to put together and paint. Now I am not recounting all of these tiresome things because I am trying to prove my street cred. I am not assuming that Macross is anything that my readers would be vaguely interested in.
It's just that Macross makes me feel young like few things do. It makes me feel young in a very sweet naieve way. It reminds me of winter and snow and the smell of model glue and my buddy Rich giving me grief for painting my Valkyrie gloss yellow [which only goes to show that even at a young age I was a visionary - refer to Basara's valkyrie from Macross 7 - gloss red.]
I have loved the sequels in an almost unconditional manner. But Macross Frontier, it really deserves unconditional love, it is perfect. As a twenty-fifth anniversary celebration it often does shot for shot recreations of key scenes from the original program but then pulls the rug out and changes everything around. It references all of the prior series [except for Macross II which has never really been included in the official canon] expands them, twists them up and puts them back down faster and flashier than ever.
The show once again deals with how basic misunderstanding can become tragic on both a personal level as well as a cosmic one but how the yearning for culture can overcome everything.It is truly beautiful.
I was in tears by the final episode.
-Kurt Weller
Love From Alt.Slack
|

































