It’s time for another edition of What We’re Watching. This time around we’re watching George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road. This might surprise you but we’ve actually discussed this film quite a bit here before. Shocking, right? Hey, at least we’re consistent with what we like, right?
Mad Max: Fury Road came out in 2015 and since that time the movie’s status and popularity have only grown. It’s an action-packed, thrilling ride boasting beautiful cinematography, a pulse pounding score by Junkie XL and exceptional performances by Charlize Theron, Tom Hardy, Nicholas Hoult, Zoë Kravits, the late Hugh Keays-Byrne and the rest of the cast and stunt performers.
Is it a perfect movie? No. Nothing’s perfect. But it comes pretty damn close. And sure, some people don’t like it or criticize the characters or story, but that’s just the nature of things. Some people hate cool stuff. Oh well. You can’t please everyone.
Two versions of the film are available. The original cut, in glorious color, and the ‘Black & Chrome‘ version, which is in beautiful black & white. As much as we love the original, the black & white version is a visual and stylistic treat, even with the absence of color.
The ‘Black & Chrome’ version is especially great if you’ve already seen the original once (or, in our case, ten or fifteen times) and want to experience the film in a new and highly stylized way. The absence of color doesn’t detract in any way from the enjoyment of the film, at least for us. Your mileage may vary. But heck, why not give it a try? You may love it.
If you haven’t seen Mad Max: Fury Road, you can remedy that situation right now. It’s available on multiple streaming platforms, Blu-ray and in 4K. Until then, check out the trailer for this amazing film below.
Have you seen Mad Max: Fury Road? If so, what did you think of the film? What else are you watching these days?
We’re starting another new series here at The Flickcast. This time around it’s all about books with the first edition of What We’re Reading. So, what are we reading? Today, it’s some helpful D&D books from author Keith Ammann.
Moving on, you can probably guess these D&D books deal with various aspects of playing Dungeons & Dragons, especially combat. The first, targeted at Dungeon Masters . . .
“. . . lightens the DM’s burden by helping you understand your monsters’ abilities and develop battle plans before your fifth edition D&D game session begins. Just as soldiers don’t whip out their field manuals for the first time when they’re already under fire, a DM shouldn’t wait until the PCs have just encountered a dozen bullywugs to figure out how they advance, fight, and retreat.”
It really helps DM’s get inside the minds and motivations of NPC’s and creatures in the game. It also makes combat encounters more realistic and fun. Sounds great, right? We’ve used it during many of our games with great success.
The second book is targeted at players and deals with their mindset and tactics during combat. It’s . . .
“. . . an introduction to combat tactics for fifth-edition Dungeons & Dragons players, Live to Tell the Tale evens the score. It examines the fundamentals of D&D battles: combat roles, party composition, attacking combos, advantage and disadvantage, Stealth and Perception, and more…including the ever-important consideration of how to run away!”
It also offers several combat scenarios featuring character and monsters of increasingly higher level. This helps to better illustrate the tactics of each character class, abilities available at various levels, what to do with them during combat and the roles each class can play to help ensure combat success. It’s pretty cool.
If you’re a D&D player, Dungeon Master (or both) and you want to improve your games, especially during combat, give these books a try. You’ll definately learn something. We sure did.
You can find these books at Amazon, or your local bookstore. We get a lot of our books at Book People, which is one of our favorite local shops here in Austin. Please support local bookstores when you can.
It’s time for another new episode of The Flickcast. The pop culture podcast about stuff nerds love. This week it’s Episode 425: Living In a Society.
On the episode Chris and Joe are back on their bullshit and discussing a bunch of new topics. Some of these include the recent crisis in Texas, the latest episode of WandaVision, the new trailer for Zack Snyder’s Justice League, the reboot of Mortal Kombat, the great South Korean sci-fi epic Space Sweepers, DC’s “adult” version of Titans, proper measurements of things, living in a society (of course) and a whole lot more.
They also manages to veer off-topic a few times, as happens with these two. So expect those tangents you know and love. Other than that, this episode is a bit shorter than the last few (thank goodness) but still manages to punch you right in the earholes.
Also, no formal picks this week except Chris’ reminder to watch and enjoy Space Sweepers. Oh, one more thing. Two more, really. If you get a moment and feel like it/can do it, consider rating or reviewing the show on Apple Podcasts and supporting the show on Patreon.
Thanks for listening!
As always, if you have comments, questions, critiques, offers of sponsorship or whatever, feel free to hit us up in the comments, on Twitter, Instagram or, yes, even Facebook. Or shoot us an email. We don’t mind.
Opening and end music by Kevin MacLeod under Creative Commons License Image: DC/Warner Bros.
Welcome to yet another new series here at The Flickcast. This time around we’re calling it Trailer Time. No, it won’t feature pics or vids of cool trailers being pulled behind trucks or vans. Although, that might be fun too.
Instead, we’re featuring the usual kinds of trailers we discuss here and on the podcast. Movies, television shows, games and things we’re interested in and potentially excited for.
It’s violent and people kick a lot of ass, as you’d expect from a trailer from a movies based on a video game that’s violent and people kick a lot of ass. But seeing it in a movie, instead of a game, is a bit different. It is the “Red Band” trailer, after all.
So, we’re gonna put the trailer after the break to protect our more “sensitive” readers and viewers. Sure, you can just click through to watch, but we hope you do so responsibly.
Mortal Kombat drops in theaters and on HBO Max April 16th. Let us know what you think about this trailer and be sure to check back for more cool trailers for movies, television shows, games and more!
It’s time for another edition of What We’re Playing. This week it’s a video game you might have heard of called Minecraft. Does that ring a bell?
We’re joking, of course. Everyone’s heard of Minecraft, right? It’s only one of the most popular and successful video games of all time with 126 million players around the world. Yep, that Minecraft.
Since some of us here at The Flickcast have kids, we’ve been trying to find ways to entertain them and distract from the monotony of quarantine. Fortunately, during the last year or so, we’ve discovered Minecraft . . . and, of course, we love it! Kids and adults alike!
If for some reason you’re not familiar with Minecraft, here’s a bit of info about the game from the Official Minecraft Wiki:
“Minecraft is a sandbox construction game created by Mojang Studios founder Markus “Notch” Persson, inspired by Infiniminer, Dwarf Fortress, Dungeon Keeper, and Notch’s past games Legend of the Chambered and RubyDung. Gameplay involves players interacting with the game world by placing and breaking various types of blocks in a three-dimensional environment. In this environment, players can build creative structures, creations, and artwork on multiplayer servers and singleplayer worlds across multiple game modes.”
We mostly play in “Creative” mode where you build amazing structures and contraptions out of various blocks in the game. However, if you’re looking for more of a challenge, switch to “Survival” mode where you’re forced to find or grow food, build shelters and fight off hordes of monsters including spiders, skeletons and zombies. Whatever you choose, it’s all fun . . . and you just might learn something too.
Time to kick off another new feature here at The Flickcast. This one is called What We’re Watching. You can probably guess what it’s gonna be about: movies, TV shows and other things we’re watching.
Not that hard to figure out, right? Good. Moving on.
For the first installment we go international with South Korean sci-fi/action film Space Sweepers. Part Star Wars, part Guardians of the Galaxy, this space epic features a rag-tag group of reluctant heroes who struggle against an oppressive corporation with less than benevolent motives.
They also fight to keep an adorable little girl safe because she just might be the key to the future survival of the human race. No pressure, though.
The movie boasts some impressive visual effects, captivating performances, heartfelt emotions and an international cast of actors including Song Joong-ki, Kim Tae-ri, Jin Seon-kyu, Yoo Hae-jin and Richard Armitage, of Hobbit fame, as the Elon Musk-ish tech billionaire who’s going to save humanity. Maybe. It’s written by Yoon Seung-min, Yoo-kang Seo-ae and Jo Sung-hee, who is also the director.
It’s really quite a fun ride and takes time to develop the characters so that you care about what happens to them. And yes, lots of stuff blows up too. We really enjoyed it. You might too. Give it a watch.
Until then, check out the trailer below. Space Sweepers is on Netflix right now.
It’s time for brand new episode of The Flickcast podcast. We promise it’s not quite as lengthy as last week, so don’t worry.
We realize some of you may have short attention spans. But when we’ve got something to say, we say it. Even if it takes an hour and a half to do it. That’s just how the world works sometimes.
This week’s episode of the podcast, however, is shorter, but still manages to pack in all kids of stuff. Some of the stuff include the recent Joss Whedon and Gina Carano controversies, more WandaVision including Chris’ new theory on what it’s all about, continuing discussion of how show business works, how most plots of TV series are derived from OG Star Trek episodes and the career of Nicholas Cage.
Speaking of Mr. Cage, Chris’s pick this week is a recent movie, starring the man himself, called Willy’s Wonderland. In it Cage players a drifter who must survive the night by doing battle with animatronic creatures at a Chuck-e-Cheese-like establishment. It’s pretty crazy.
Joe didn’t make a pick this week, but feel free to listen to a Marillion album in his honor. Thanks for listening.
As always, if you have comments, questions, critiques, offers of sponsorship or whatever, feel free to hit us up in the comments, on Twitter, Instagram or, yes, even Facebook. Or shoot us an email. We don’t mind.
Opening and end music by Kevin MacLeod under Creative Commons License
We’re spreading the love here at The Flickcast. This time around it means the debut of another new series: Things We Love.
To kick us off, we’re turning to one of the things we love the most: Art Supplies. They’re always great to have on hand, especially if you’ve got kids, need activities at home during a global health crisis, or just want to create something beautiful.
Whatever the reason, art supplies are a must. They promote creativity, help you spend quality time with friends, family or on your own. And when you’re done you have a beautiful piece of art to hang on the wall or post to social media. Or both!
But what do you need? Well, it depends on what you want to create. There’s a wide variety of supplies for artists to express themselves in lots of different mediums.
For the purposes of this post, though, we’re going to focus on supplies for sketching, drawing, coloring and painting. Of course, this is by no means an exhaustive list. It’s things we personally love and use.
You can always create in any way you want. But if you need help figuring out how to start or what you might need, we’ve got you covered.
Ok, let’s get to it!
Pencils
Many great things start with a pencil. Sketch an outline, make some project notes, write a story or draw an entire picture. Whatever you want to create, sometimes all you need is a pencil.
Blackwing 602 – A beautiful pencil for writing, drawing or sketching. Faber-Castell 9000 – A German brand offering a set with a variety of grades. These don’t break easily and sharpen well. Staedtler Mars Lumograph – Like the Faber-Castell, these pencils have a place at the drawing tables of many artists around the world. We go back and forth on which is our favorite. Caran d’Ache Graphite Line – Expensive? Yes. But these are the best drawing pencils you will even use. Although, the two above are no slouches either. Rotring RapidPro 600 – Mechanical pencils are great for sketching, layout and drawing too. This metal masterpiece is the top of the line and one we love. Pentel P205 – We also use this mechanical pencil quite a bit. It’s great and a good value.
It’s time for another edition of What We’re Watching. This time around we’re watching George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road. This might surprise you but we’ve actually discussed this film quite a bit here before. Shocking, right? Hey, at least we’re consistent with what we like, right?
It’s time for another new episode of 
Welcome to yet another new series here at The Flickcast. This time around we’re calling it Trailer Time. No, it won’t feature pics or vids of cool trailers being pulled behind trucks or vans. Although, that might be fun too.
It’s time for another edition of What We’re Playing. This week it’s a video game you might have heard of called Minecraft. Does that ring a bell?
It’s time for brand new episode of 
