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Final Forum Podcast

@finalforumpod.bsky.social

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A podcast for the discussion of all things Dragon Ball! Uncovering the culture and hidden history behind Akira Toriyama's seminal franchise.

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Final Forum Podcast @finalforumpod.bsky.social · Nov 7

Looking for your next favorite podcast? Interested in Dragon Ball....or NOT interested in Dragon Ball but wondering why you should be or interested in learning about Eastern culture? Want to just have some dang ole fun?

Subscribe: www.podbean.com/site/podcatc...

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Final Forum Podcast @finalforumpod.bsky.social · 8h

No Thursday Thread today. Vacation time so I don’t feel like fighting through the haze of booze to try to make a g thread. Mote Dragon Ball facts in the future, or something!

Final Forum Podcast @finalforumpod.bsky.social · 14h

The final segment is the true standout, but the whole thing is pretty enjoyable.

It’s not explicitly CREEPSHOW, but it’s screenplay by Romero, based on a Stephen King story, and effects by Savini, so it’s “getting the band back together”

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Final Forum Podcast @finalforumpod.bsky.social · 19h

🎃31 Days of Anthology Horror Movies🎃
💀Day 9: Tales from the Darkside (1990)💀
According to Tom Savini, this is Creepshow 3. It’s a bit uneven, but it ends on a super strong note (that Ive mentioned on the podcast on our end of Dragon Ball filler episode, S3E18) ⭐️⭐️⭐️🌓
#spookyseason #Halloween

The poster for Tales from the Darkside: The Movie
The crew involved with this consider it "Creepshow 3"....

1 - Lot 249 - This is no frills and pretty fun. 3.5/5
2 - The Cat from Hell - Perfectly cromulent good time. 3/5
3 - Lover's Vow - The highlight here with a great mix of heart and horror. 4/5

Overall - The wraparound is pretty fun too. It hasn't aged very well and it struggles to maintain a tone or feel much elevated from an anthology TV show, but it's a pure bit of anthology comfort food for me.

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Final Forum Podcast @finalforumpod.bsky.social · 1d

Big Trouble in Little China is the bee's knees.

Final Forum Podcast @finalforumpod.bsky.social · 1d

We didn't have the time to do the museum sadly. We spent just one night in Hiroshima and wanted tosee Miyajima, which is a fairly long commute (over an hour) from where we stayed, right near Peace Park.

I'm hoping a return trip to Japan will happen some day and we can get to the museum then.

Final Forum Podcast @finalforumpod.bsky.social · 1d

🎃31 Days of Anthology Horror Movies🎃
💀Day 8: Body Bags (1993)💀
John Carpenter is a favorite filmmaker of mine & I tend to enjoy even his more maligned movies more than most...and this is no exception. It's fun, stylish, funny (not in the intended way) and I dig it. ⭐⭐⭐🌓
#spookyseason #halloween

The poster for Body Bags (1993)

One of Carpenter's more maligned films, it took me a long time to finally get around to this one because for the MOST part, the movies of his that people say are bad, are in fact, quite bad.

1 - The Gas Station - This is mostly just winking at the camera about John Carpenter movies and then a little violence. It's fun enough but kind of forgettable 3/5
2 - Hair - This is like The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verril from Creepshow, but that's fun. 3.5/5
3 - Eye - Mark Hammill being great and a pretty fun story. It's kind of derivative of other similar stories, but it's anchored in a good fun performance. 3.5/5

Overall - I liked it. More than I thought I would. It's fun and funny, a lot of times because it's NOT that funny. The tone was up my alley as was the style. It just worked for me. 3.5/5

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Final Forum Podcast @finalforumpod.bsky.social · 1d

Boss: You're always so calm under pressure

Me to My Boss: We always figure it out
Me to Me: (It helps that I genuinely don't care if the company doesn't meet its arbitrary financial goals that don't benefit me personally in any way)

Final Forum Podcast @finalforumpod.bsky.social · 1d

I've seen some recent stuff, and it was actually good...but it doesn't scratch that "I wanna watch THE SIMPSONS" itch. The humor has changed, and the pacing of the show in general. It's not really anyone's FAULT, but when I want The Simpsons, I don't go later than season 12.

Final Forum Podcast @finalforumpod.bsky.social · 1d

Yeah. When you bust out those Dragon Ball facts to impress women you wanna pretend like you just KNOW 'em and didn't get them from someone else. I get it. I'd do the same thing.

Final Forum Podcast @finalforumpod.bsky.social · 1d

Because for Toriyama it wasn't "the start of DBZ," it was the 195th chapter of Dragon Ball. The DBZ delineation came about six months after Toriyama first wrote Raditz into the manga, and was a purely marketing move.

Final Forum Podcast @finalforumpod.bsky.social · 1d

What Up Wednesday?
Day 10: Hiroshima (and Miyajima). This was an emotional, but beautiful day. Peace Park is breathtaking; the weight of the atomic bombing feels palpable, and every monument and statue brings home the horror of nuclear weapons and the grim reality of nuclear proliferation.

The entrance to Peace Park in Hiroshima features a fountain and a statue of a woman attempting to protect her children from the atomic bomb. The fountain is meant to evoke the tears of people who died of dehydration in the aftermath of the bombing.

The atomic bomb dome seen from the entrance to peace park in Hiroshima. The stone arch covers a stone vault, inside which is a register of all the names of the victims of the atomic bombings

The atomic bomb dome in Hiroshima. The building was at nearly ground zero, and therefore the force of the explosion was almost entirely downward, rather than shear, which left most of the structure standing.

Miyajima Island (off the coast of Hiroshima) features a famous "floating" tori gate, which looks like it is floating in the water during high tide. At low tide, visitors can actually walk underneath the gate. The island is also home to many deer, who walk among the tourists and locals.

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Final Forum Podcast @finalforumpod.bsky.social · 1d

Yeah, it’s already happening and nobody is doing anything about it.

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Final Forum Podcast @finalforumpod.bsky.social · 2d

Halloween III so underrated. Glad it's finally finding an audience after being relegated to "the one that doesn't even have Michael Myers" (as if that ALONE makes it unworthy of a look) for decades. I never even saw it until I was more initiated and went out of my way. It doesn't get ignored anymore

Final Forum Podcast @finalforumpod.bsky.social · 2d

I lived in the Northeast for 25 years and while Winter can cram it (except for the 2-3 weeks around Christmas), Fall has always been my favorite time of year, and sweltering on a 90+ degree day in the south in October makes me miss actual Fall weather BAD.

Final Forum Podcast @finalforumpod.bsky.social · 2d

a black and white dog are looking at each other .

ALT: a black and white dog are looking at each other .

media.tenor.com

Final Forum Podcast @finalforumpod.bsky.social · 2d

Modern-day Heathcliff is delightfully abstract.

Final Forum Podcast @finalforumpod.bsky.social · 2d

The manga is incredible, for sure. For people who haven't already gotten into it, it's how I recommend the franchise to people now. The anime can be slow, despite having some MASSIVE high peaks, but the manga is a breezy read, and if someone likes it, they're more likely to dig the anime.

Final Forum Podcast @finalforumpod.bsky.social · 2d

Given how much Toriyama LOVED Drunken Master, and borrowed a lot of other elements of it for visual cues or gags, this seems super likely. Good eye!

Final Forum Podcast @finalforumpod.bsky.social · 2d

In Japanese he says "wan" which is the Japanese onomatopoeia for "woof," and a homophone for the Japanese way to say the English "one" so it's a layered joke: a dog is barking, but also saying time for match number "wan" but also ALSO saying this tournament will determine number "wan"
Cue pratfall

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Final Forum Podcast @finalforumpod.bsky.social · 2d

Hopefully some people take you up on this. I have the game, but not an online account any more (I don't play anywhere near enough) and will be traveling this weekend. Happy early birthday!

Final Forum Podcast @finalforumpod.bsky.social · 2d

It certainly doesn't help that the narrative around him really changed a lot during Shazam, driven in no small part by his own actions. He's reaping what he's sown.

Final Forum Podcast @finalforumpod.bsky.social · 2d

hulk and captain america are standing next to each other with the words time travel behind them

ALT: hulk and captain america are standing next to each other with the words time travel behind them

media.tenor.com

Final Forum Podcast @finalforumpod.bsky.social · 2d

🎃31 Days of Anthology Horror Movies🎃
💀Day 7: Nightmares (1983)💀
I saw this as a kid and the giant rat segment was always in the back of my mind until I rediscovered it YEARS later. It's a pretty fun-all-the-way-through anthology that's got a good amount of 80s charm. ⭐⭐⭐🌓
#spookyseason #halloween

Poster for Nightmares (1983)

After much googling about the end segment of this movie, unrelated to me watching horror anthologies, I came across this movie, realized it was an anthology and put it on my watchlist for Halloween back in 2021.

1 - Terror in Topanga - It's simple and straigthforward, but pretty short and establishes a solid atmosphere. It's good. 3/5
2 - The Bishop of Battle - It wears its influences on its sleeves for sure, and it's DATED as all hell, but man it's just wild 80s fun. Not super scary but definitely werid and kinda dreamlike. 4/5
3 - The Benediction - Lance Henriksen vs the devil...and the devil is a pickup truck. There's a good bit of unintentional laughter to be had here. 3.5/5
4 - Night of the Rat - This one got burned into my brain as a child, but also, not quite burned in there correctly. I remembered it being a giant rat puppet rather than compositing, but still, it's got a decent atmosphere to it, and it's okay. Not as good as my memory. The ending is kinda lol. 3/5

Overall - It's a fun, solid all the way through anthology that I have seen before and is decently memorable. It's got some fun performances from some good actors and is charmingly 80s. I like it quite a bit.

Final Forum Podcast @finalforumpod.bsky.social · 2d

A BRAND-NEW Final Forum podcast sees us take a look at one of the most endearing (& enduring) adaptations of Journey to the West, the story that inspired Dragon Ball, as unveil some interesting things about making entertainment in China in the 1980s.

finalforumpodcast.podbean.com/e/journey-to...

Promotional poster for Journey to the West 1986.

In this episode:
We discuss why we chose to look at the 1986 television event Journey to the West
The life of Wu Cheng'en, novelist, poet, and politician who is the most likely author of Journey to the West
Why the authorship of Journey to the West is up for debate and assertion from Anthony Christopher Yu, scholar, theologian, sinologist, and professor who translated JTTW that Cheng'en did in fact write the novel originally
The production history of the show and how that ties into Mao Zedong, the Cultural Revolution, and China's moves towards embracing its traditions
The struggles that Yang Jie, director, showrunner, producer, writer, editor, location scouter, casting director, and budget overseer had while making the show, including a single camera and accusations of theft
The cast being largely derived from Peking Opera backgrounds and how that helped bring Sun Wukong to life.
Liu Xiao Ling Tong's performance as Sun Wukong
The dangers of the show
The reception of the show and its legacy