Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Show #102 - Health Stuff

Too much happened in the world last week for these two intellectual heavyweights to sit idly by and say nothing. This episode is a chronicling of their discussion. These two hours are their gift to you. Discussed: Apple's big 2014 announcement, iPhone6+, the Apple Watch, the iOS 8 download to watch for, Scotland's possible break with the UK, thoughts on the new Batmobile, CW's 'The Arrow' and its scandalous non-appearance on Netflix, a Word of the Week you'd enjoy if you were more cultured, the Ebola epidemic in Liberia and how it's really nothing to worry about, ISIS, beheadings and two dumb guys' understanding of Islam, the second season of Showtime's 'Masters of Sex', and an in-depth, spoileriffic discussion of Darren Aronofsky's 'Noah'.

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Show #101 - Sexier Falcons

Discussed: Monolith and the fam's visit to Disneyland and the possibility that Monolith and the fam may not have actually gone to Disneyland, an accidental home invasion at Mickey Mouse's house, the death of Robin Williams, George Takei, 'A Most Wanted Man's odd lack of incident, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bear Trap's discovery of Tom Waits, 'Noah', 'Captain America 2: Winter Soldier', a very special tweet from Bryan Fuller in which two worlds collide (Bear Trap's fanboy mind explodes), differences between the podcasters about Emmy-winner 'Breaking Bad's final season, a Game of Thrones-themed Word of the Week, a thought on George RR Martin's feelings about the show advancing beyond his books, the 30th anniversary re-release of 'Ghostbusters', and the thing they just don't talk about. A bit more than an hour. They thought you deserved a reprieve after the last epic-sized episode. Enjoy!

Show #101

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Show #100 - Space Gods and Ape Rape

The milestone has been reached. Monolith and Bear Trap have now officially stolen more than 100 hours of your precious lives with their uninformed talky talk. So to commemorate this occasion, they have 1) recorded the episode just ONE WEEK after the previous one, and 2) invited long-time listener and friend of the show Heath to join in and contribute his own blatherings for this episode of a Little Snack. It's a long one, but at this point what's another 2 and a half hours going to hurt? Enjoy! And thanks for listening! These dopes do this for you! Discussed: 'Wolf of Wall Street', Margot Robbie, the new Spider-Man films, best U.S. presidents of the last 50 years, NSA spying, HBO's 'Silicon Valley', Weird Al's new album, Bear Trap's doomed late-80s foray into the private detective business, Monolith's rapid aging and its effect on his with-it-ness (hint: it's been detrimental), statists, auto bailouts, demagoguery, banking coups, inflation, 'Better Call Saul', Ubisoft's 'Watch Dogs' for the PS4, 'Dawn of the Planet of the Apes', intermittent episodes of fake snoring, a brief and unexpected cameo by yet another listener, a Word of the Week segment of questionable value brought to you by none other than Heath, and then there's what Heath's been working on these days. And other stuff. There's a lot of podcast here. Should probably get started.

Show #100

Friday, July 11, 2014

Show #99 -- Kevin Spacey's Sex Dungeon

This is a monthly show now, right? It seems like it's a monthly show. Anyway, welcome back, long suffering fans of the Snack! A lot of stuff has gone down since the 'Lith and the Trap did their last show on June 4th, and do they ever discuss the hell out of it on this podcast. More than two hours! I might even skip this one myself, EXCEPT! for an earth-shaking announcement you will only hear in this episode of a Little Snack. It happens right in the middle of the episode and you know these guys do not do chapter marks, so you're just going to have to sit through it. And there's a lot of in-podcast Googling in this one, too. (Really though, it's long but it's not bad.) Enjoy! Discussed: 'The Wolf of Wall Street', 'Edge of Tomorrow', the new 'Gone Girl' trailer, cinematographers and David Fincher, the Medea-sized twist we can expect at the end of that film based on Tyler Perry's participation, 'Starship Troopers' the book versus the movie, 'Stranger in a Strange Land', what it means to 'grok', 'The Leftovers' episode 1 is reviewed, 'Fargo' the TV series, what's happened to our summer movies, big announcement, a Word of the Week that's kinda fugazi, Siri's new "capability", 'House of Cards' season 2 (spoilers), and season 4 of 'Game of Thrones' (many a spoiler).

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Show #98 - Grok

In this the most current installment of the podcast entitled 'A Little Snack', the one known as Monolith and the other known as Bear Trap share their thoughts and opinions on cultural ephemera. Discussed: Richard Dawkins, the religion most hostile to the theory of evolution, a brief review of the companion novel to 'Ender's Game' entitled 'Ender's Shadow', the long-awaited return of Apple News, Apple's $3B purchase of Beats, Beats' shady origins and poor reputation, new Apple OSs announced at the Worldwide Developers Conference, Monolith revisits Netflix's 'Derek' and takes Mrs. Monolith along for the ride, Bear Trap talks about his recent plunge into low-budget avant garde filmmaking with reviews of 'Godzilla' and 'X-Men: Days of Future Past', the prospects for 'Edge of Tomorrow' based on its latest TV spots, one way Bear Trap thinks he can sell this Tom Cruise movie to his Tom Cruise-hating wife, thoughts on Damon Lindelof, HBO's upcoming new show "The Leftovers', the next book Monolith plans to listen to, a Word of the Week that can be exchanged for goods or services, a business-y Monolith Moment that ends with a quote from an unexpected source, and a whole lot of Thrones-chat. With a running time close to two hours, you should probably get comfortable for this one. Click play and have fun, you guys.

Show #98

Thursday, May 8, 2014

Show #97 - King Bam-Bam

In the pre-show discussion, or the "topic roundup" as Monolith always calls it, was not going well. Bear Trap was sure number 97 was going to be a bum episode: lots of ums and ahs and dead air and stone-faced listeners reaching for the pause button. But Monolith disagreed. He thought the chattin' would, like Ian Malcolm says about life in 'Jurassic Park", "find a way". As it turned out, Monolith was right. Click the play button on this episode of A Little Snack and feast your earholes on a wide-ranging talky-talk about many a thing some listeners may find diverting. Some may still reach for those pause buttons. Enjoy, friends! Discussed: Hollywood's creative bankruptcy, China's new primacy in studio decision-making, the recently announced reboots of 'The Flintstones' and 'Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers' and what these errors mean for the film industry, Stephen Colbert's move to CBS, Craig Ferguson's next move and the reasons behind it, the art of beatbox and its best practitioner, Pharrell and Cee-Lo's versions of "Happy" and how that part of the business works (hint: the podcasters have no idea), a discussion on comedy referencing Louis CK, Jim Gaffigan, Steven Wright, Mitch Hedberg, and Ellen Degeneres, whose material only "technically" qualifies as comedy, the correctOR becomes the correctED in a lovely bit of turnabout, a triply surprising Word of the Week segment which Monolith crushes, a crazy thing happens to Monolith on the subject of Star Wars in the Monolith Moment thanks to Bear Trap, and a discussion of episode 5 of Game of Thrones to close out the episode.

Show #97

Friday, April 11, 2014

Show #95 - Bossy

It was supposed to be a short one. Less than an hour. There was even talk of breaking their record for shortest episode ever. The worry was the energy was too low to sustain an entire Little Snack-length podcast so they actually added a disclaimer to say this was going to be a "short one". But the energy went up, and the time went on, and it went on, and it went on some more. So prepare yourselves for two hours of the usual mumblecore podcasting. Discussed: Sheryl Sandburg attempts to remove a word from the English language, Ivan Reitman gives up the director's chair for a new 'Ghostbusters' movie, a WoW you're going to start seeing everywhere, a WoW pop quiz, the missing Malaysian Air flight and why we care, Monolith's Village/Island theory, atheism vs "post-atheism", what's good about religion, how Bible stories stack up against the stories told in the annals of astrophysics, a detailed discussion about the new "Common Core" education standards for English and History, the various levels of Batman-fandom, and a bunch of other stuff in a wide-ranging and, at times, fairly unstructured podcast. Enjoy, friends!

Show #96 - Angels Made Your Philtrum

Even though the Little Snack is only available via a kind of Dropbox purgatory at the moment, (thanks iTunes!) MonoTrap (BearLith?) recorded another episode anyway. This is that episode. Discussed: Two wildly differing (and SPOILER-filled) opinions on the Oscar non-contender from last year, 'Finding Mr. Banks', some comments regarding a forgotten Jared Leto film entitled 'Mr. Nobody', the 'TMNT' reboot and some thoughts on the original film, the latest 'Captain America' movie, a frightening Word of the Week from an unexpected source, and a mind-blowing Monolith Moment that's also not a Monolith Moment. And, finally, the episode closes out with a discussion of Game of Thrones Season Four premiere. Spoilers abound so this section is only for those who've watched. Enjoy! 

Show #96

Friday, March 14, 2014

Show #94 - The Light is Winning

In this week's episode of A Little Snack, Monolith and Bear Trap get real and rap about the meaning of life and our place in the universe. Is there a purpose to this existence? They ask and answer that question, and others even more consequential, definitively. And they also laugh at that fat joke Obama made about Zach Galifianakis. Discussed: The Seth MacFarlane-produced "Cosmos", Monolith's religion, memories of Carl Sagan, a momentous meeting in Santa Fe between the author of 'Song of Ice and Fire' and the men adapting his work for television, a second chance for Mel Gibson, a simple WoW, the president's important moment spent between two ferns, a re-watching of the second installment of the Adventures of Katniss, a ratings decline for Bryan Fuller's evolving network television masterpiece, a Monolith Moment, and a discussion of 'True Detective' with SPOILERS (but it comes at the end, so most of the podcast can be "enjoyed" by those who have not yet witnessed the splendor of that show's first season). Enjoy, friends!

Show #94

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Show #93 - Hugh Grant is a Savage

In honor of this Sunday's Academy Awards it's time for some Top Ten Films of 2013 lists! It's almost March, what better time to discuss the films of the previous year? So Bear Trap shares his Top Ten in this episode of A Little Snack; Monolith abstains. Kind of like how the dude abides. Hope you enjoy this one. We're hopeful all the sound issues have been fixed so you might be able to listen to this one without riding the volume dial. Discussed: Oscar picks for Best Picture, Bear Trap's pick for Worst Movie of 2013, Monolith surprises himself with how many of the top ten he's actually seen.. in a theater!, the Stay-Pufts remember the comedy writer and film director Harold Ramis, the life of paranormal investigator and particle accelerator system (or proton pack) inventor Egon Spengler is also discussed, David Mitchell's novel "Cloud Atlas" is compared with the Twyker/Wachowski adaptation and found to be superior, Bear Trap offers up a programming note for season two of a great show starting this Friday (hint: it's about a doctor who eats people), completely NON-SPOILER-Y discussions of both 'True Detective' and season 2 of 'House of Cards' that are okay to listen to for those who haven't yet but plan to watch, how "Ender's Game" is like 'Breaking Bad', the state of the digital effects industry in southern California, how (and perhaps why) filmmaker interviews like the ones that follow 'True Detective' have become unbearable, the Word of the Week is a smoking gun, the camera operator who died on a film set in South Georgia and how she's being honored by film professionals all over the world, and a Monolith Moment Darwin himself might have appreciated.

Show #93

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Show #92 - Mercy

They did one last week, and here they've gone and done another one this week. Either you're being spoiled or punished, it's not clear which. Okay, yes, it's obvious you're being punished. Now here's a detailed rundown of how this week's punishment will be administered. Discussed: Last week's sup-par Word of the Week segment, season one of Netflix's 'House of Cards' and expectations for tomorrow's release of season two [SPOILERS!], the most recent manifestations of Stephen King's two big problems (graphomania and foot-in-mouth disease) are described, why the Olympics just aren't as interesting this go-round, Schwarzenegger's 'Escape Plan' and what happens at the end of that movie [SPOILERS!], Richard Curtis's 'About Time', a Word of the Week that could (should?) be the title of this podcast, a long overdue Apple News segment, and a sweet Monolith Moment that features an undertone of existential dread, and then a bunch of discursive chatting here and there. You know, like a podcast. Enjoy!

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Show #91 -- The Cruz Administration (or Cliff Almighty)

Join Monolith and Bear Trap for their apparently now bi-annual podcast, A Little Snack! There's no better cure for the Winter Doldrums and no, I don't know what those are. Please listen and enjoy. Discussed: what Monolith's been up to, the new Facebook videos everyone's been posting, Bear Trap's pathological overuse of the word 'dumb', Jesse Eisenberg as Luthor and Jeremy Irons as Alfred in the new Batman v Superman film, thoughts on the number of villains in the new Spider Man movie, Paul Verhoeven's insightful thoughts on the modern remakes of his films including the impending Robocop, Tom Shadyac's epiphany and, unrelated, inability to make good movies, Arnold's Super Bowl commercial wig, Philip Seymour Hoffman's legacy, Veronica Mars' appeal, the bad things that Verizon is doing now that Net Neutrality is over, Bear Trap's second attempt to make Monolith worried about the NSA, a Monolith Moment that will have you running out to your cars, and a Word of the Week that's really going to let you know what time it is! Hope you like it.

Friday, January 3, 2014

Show #90 - Deaf Kids for Every Programmer: The Video Game Episode

The 'Lith and the Trap felt bad about their extended hiatus so, to make up for it, they've recorded a podcast that probably three of you will be interested in. Okay, two. But for those two listeners, super-sized show# 90 is going to be so awesome as Little Snack welcomes honest-to-God video game industry insider Paul Z to the podcast for a wide-ranging discussion about the current state of video games. Discussed: An inside account of the tragedy and triumph of "Superman Returns" (the game), XBox One versus PS4, "franchise fatigue", "Assassin's Creed", Sony's elite "Ice" team and which upcoming PS4 title will benefit from their ninja ways, Paul's favorite game of 2013 and of the last five years, the different stages of a pissing contest, a lightning round rundown of notable titles from the last few years including GTA 5, some big titles to look for in 2014, mobile gaming as a possible threat to Sony and Microsoft, long-term trends, and then Bear Trap takes a moment to spread some misinformation.

Show# 90