Rick has a review of Disney/Pixar’s latest, WALL*E.   Review of WANTED up as soon as Rick sees it.

WALL*E is the latest effort from Pixar and from how good the movie is, you would think that their latest is effortless in its greatness.  That being said, I think it safe to say that we have another round of Oscars coming up for the wizards at Pixar.  The movie is absolute perfection.  Hard Sci-Fi with a gentle edge. 

I will try as much as possible to not delve too much into spoilers, but there are a couple of elements that might be spoiled.  That being said, stop reading this, get to a movie theater, and see this movie.  It’s that good.

WALL*E is the last of his kind.  Short for Waste Allocation Load Lifter, he has been tasked with the clean up of Planet Earth because we as humanity, have destroyed everything and essentially left the Earth a junkyard but on a planetary scale.  During this time, WALL*E has developed a personality and essentially lives his days doing work, and his evenings watch an old videotape of the musical ”Hello Dolly.”  All this changes when EVE arrives via spaceship.  WALL*E falls in love and is rocketed into an adventure that is life changing to all characters involved. 

It’s not just the animation that is good.  It’s not even just the story which can either be seen as a love story or as a cautionary tale of that could happen if we are not careful and continue mistreating the Earth.  Where this movie shines is with the magnificent sound work but Star Wars sound maestro, Ben Burtt.  The sounds are what truly give the movie’s characters their personality.  To the point that you know exactly what the characters are saying even if they aren’t saying anything.  There is one talking robotic character is even voiced by a computer but the fact that Burtt was able to get a convincing performance out of a machine is incredible. 

There has been a bit of unwarranted controversy with this movie.  The human characters depicted on this movie, have become so fat because of excess they now float around on what are basically futuristic strollers.  Humanity has de-evolved to a state that they resemble large babies.  It’s a chilling thought but the actions of WALL*E change things with certain human characters and it’s absolutely beautiful to watch these characters become aware of the world around them. 

WALL*E is fantastic.  I can’t recommend this movie enough.  There’s plenty for the sci-fi geek in all of us with this movie as well as great stuff for the kids.  Whatever you do, do NOT miss “Presto,” the Pixar animated short right before the movie as it’s one of their funniest short films ever made. 

WALL*E: 5 out of 5
PResto: 5 out of 5

List of VaderCast Affiliates as of:

VK Web Solutions - Web Design For Every Budget

DFW Sci-Fi/Fantasy and Fandom @ Rancom Meetup Group - DFW Sci-Fi and Fantasy Offline Meeting Group

All-Con - A Dallas/Fort Worth Multi-Platform Convention

APOTAC - A Piece of the Action Collectables

Amazing Comicast -  Weekly Comic Podcast

SciFi Updates - Sci-Fi News and Media Website

Fencon - Dallas/Fort Worth Science Fiction and Filk Literary Convention

Kennedy New Media - Affordable New Media Consulting for All

Fellowship of Fools - Geek/Fandom Podcasting

SyFy Portal - Sci-Fi Media/News Website

Fannish Inquisition -Sci-Fi News and Forums Website

Sci-Fi Expo - Local Dallas Sci-Fi Convention

So far we have confirmed four successful local conventions appearing on our show on Tuesday. The ones in attendance so far…

All-Con
Sci-Fi Expo/Dallas ComiCon
Fencon
Comic, Toy and Collectable Swap Meet

We’re shaping up for a great first live show! Don’t forget to check out our Sci-Fi Podcast LIVE on Tuesday on Talkshoe.com! It should be an exciting show and you shouldn’t miss it! If you register with Talkshoe.com (its FREE!) you can catch our show and other live shows all week long! Also, you can have reminder emails sent to you automatically if you chose to follow (read: subscribe) to our show!

Click this link to go our page on Talkshoe

We’re the newest Sci-Fi Podcast on Talkshoe!!

So yeah we’re back on a recording schedule and we don’t mess around. Next show is tentatively scheduled for next Tuesday at 8pm Central Time. I checked us in Google and we’re sitting pretty at #18. Not bad considering I just SEO’ed the new site 12 days ago for Sci-Fi Podcast. But we’re shooting for top 10 and so we’ve got some work ahead! We’re going weekly and live! Thanks to our good friends over at Fellowship of Fools, they helped us to use Talkshoe for the first time and I honestly was very impressed. It allows us to do two things:

1) Get shows up quicker as there’s little to no edit
2) Lets us go LIVE and have call-in shows.

Now we’re going with a bit of old news for ep 11, which will be OUR Fedcon USA wrap-up. Yeah I know we’re behind on it but we’ve got to get the next shows lined up for production and that doesn’t happen overnight. I’ve got some good guests in mind and I just have to nail them down for a show.

Make sure to come out and support our first live show! We’ll be sending the notices around the usual places to try and rustle up some listeners so use word-of-mouth and lets pack the house!

In a very honest interview Tim Brazeal finally speaks and tells us what happened on the road to Fedcon USA’s downfall. Listen to our exclusive as this is the ONLY interview that Tim Brazeal will be doing. We were happy to ask the questions we felt that the people would want to know. We cover everything from why Fedcon Germany pulled out to why the con was cancelled to how comitted is Brazeal to give everyone their money back. Also, part 4 is our final release regarding Fedcon USA at this time. We have some ideas brewing that may come to fruitition later on but we’ll let you all know when they become a reality. Thanks so much everyone for all the support they’ve shown of our releases. We greatly appreciate your support.

We also hope that this can put some people’s minds and hearts at ease as Tim gives the first details on how people will begin getting their refunds.

As always, please feel free to email us to let us know what you think! Now, sit back, relax and enjoy our conclusion to this Fedcon USA saga.

 

 Fedcon USA: A Cautionary Tale - Part 4 - Brazeal Speaks [59:43m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Rick has posted a tribute to Mr. Carlin.  You ahould know where it is already.  If not, it’s in the editorials page.

This has been a rough month for me so far.  First Stan Winston and now, one of the funniest men in comedy, George Carlin has passed away.  I heard the news last night but this was such a shock to me that I needed some extra time to sit on it and think about what I needed to say to pay tribute to my favorite dirty old man.

I didn’t know who George Carlin was until one day my grandmother lent my mom a vhs tape called George Carlin: What am I doing in New Jersey?  The first rant right out of the box was a classic.  It was a list of people that this grumpy old man could do without.  It was angry, it was bitter, it was frackin’ hilarious.  Especially his rant about “baby on board.”  I think it was that point that my mom turned off the video and sent my brother and I to bed.  Needless to say, I did eventually see the show in its entirety and I had no idea that his brand of humor would be a major influence in my life.  That brand of humor was social commentary and the man knew his stuff. 

A few years went by and I went to see “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure” in the theater.  George played Rufus in the movie, the sagely character who travels back in time to send Bill (Alex Winter) and Ted (Keanu Reeves) on their journey.  I immediately became a fan of all things Carlin.  I have owned several of his albums in my time.  I think he was a voice in comedy that even in death will not be silenced.  Proof of that is with his books “Brain Droppings” and “Napalm and Silly Putty” among his other titles.  He is best known for his social commentary which really began to take form with the previously mentioned album “What am I Doing in New Jersey” his portrayal of the “Hippy Dippy Weatherman,” his memorable movies roles, (yes, even “Jersey Girl”, which, say what you want, I loved if nothing else for his role in the flick) and his seven words that you can never say on television.  Well, I have seven words for Mr. Carlin. 

We all love you and miss you.

Rest in peace George.

5/12/1937 - 6/22/2008

Some random trivia about Mr. Carlin…

Carlin provided the voice of Fillmore, a character in the Disney/Pixar animated feature “Cars”, which opened in theaters on June 9, 2006. The character Fillmore is a VW Microbus with a psychedelic paint job, whose front license plate reads “51237″ — Carlin’s birthday. 

Although raised in the Roman Catholic faith, Carlin often denounced the idea of God in interviews and performances, most notably with his “Invisible Man in the Sky” and “There Is No God” routines. In mockery, he invented the parody religion Frisbeetarianism for a newspaper contest. He defined it as the belief that when a person dies “his soul gets flung onto a roof, and just stays there”, and cannot be retrieved. Carlin also joked that he worshipped the Sun, because he could actually see it, but prayed to Joe Pesci (a good friend of his in real life) because “he’s a good actor”, and “looks like a guy who can get things done!” Carlin also introduced the “Two Commandments”, a revised “pocket-sized” list of the Ten Commandments in his HBO special “Complaints and Grievances”, ending with the additional commandment of “Thou shalt keep thy religion to thyself.”

In the early to mid-1960’s George Carlin appeared in advertising as a spokesman for Ozark Airlines.

George Carlin appeared in the “Simpsons” episode “D’oh-in In the Wind” as a former hippie.

In “Homie the Clown,” Krusty the Clown is told he’s being sued by Carlin for plagiarizing the Seven Words You Cannot Say On TV. Krusty tries to defend himself by claiming that his seven dirty words were “entirely different” from Carlin’s.

I’m pretty much constantly adding more content and such to the site. I’m in the process of adding some more links and since we’ve had quite a few new shows and sites contacting us for link exchanges. Also, we’ve added some information on how to advertise with VaderCast on the left. Just to be clear, this is separate from our Convention coverage which is set up differently.

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