NinetyForChill: The #Podcast - ”Mad God” = Expletives & Nutty Podcasters with Gregory Gathmann

NinetyForChill.com: The #Podcast

Episode 75: ”Mad God” = Expletives & Nutty Podcasters with Gregory Gathmann (The Case of Cinema Versus Art).

”Mad God” = Expletives & Nutty Podcasters with Gregory Gathmann

July 5, 2022

NinetyForChill.com's Guide to Shudder, "The Mudshow's" Gregory Gathmann needed five beers and someone to chat about Phil Tippett's magnum opus "Mad God", so he came to Cool Movies Darth. The two were impressed with this dialogue-free, stop-motion, animated feature that took 30 years to make, but what does it mean? Is it good cinema or merely superb visual art? These two podcasters try to make sense of this feature and perhaps even their lives.

Allow me to get out of third-person. Happy Prof. Shurtleff of Illinois Central College? I (CM Darth) will try not to make so much light of violent death in this summation. This is my declaration of changing perspective. 

So...the scheduling of how I am handling my podcast blogs is changing. This may only be temporary. Last weekend, I had ended up drinking three of four nights.

Night one was the monthly Bat Factory Goth Night by The Darkness Underground at the Rose Bowl in Urbana, IL. My therapist wants me to take on any social interaction I can get regardless of the 10-hour retail shift to follow. Night 2 was made up of trying to stay conscious enough to watch this film. Night 3 was for drinking and recording this podcast's episode. I also had to try and stay up after the recording (and 7-hour shift) to watch 1967's "The Producers" in preparation for another recording. Night 4 had me finishing off the $2 frozen July 4th cocktails (with added vodka) and recording that episode with Michael Dubois (this after an 8-hour shift).

Of course, I had to work the July 4th holiday. My exhaustion had not been this bad since I was starting my weekends on Thursday nights to exploit VIP room discounts at Big Al's, drudging through a copywriting shift and two hotel concierge shifts only to end up drinking on Saturday nights. At least that was a time where I would never allow myself to work seven days in a row. Remember the Sabbath I suppose.

The first week of July was going to conclude with my trip to all four days of Fan Expo Chicago. This meant at least two more long nights. I may have been sober for them, but I am really backed up when it comes to nerd culture. I have yet to start up season three of "The Boys" or season four of "Westworld". With Kevin Smith being my primary draw to the convention, it seemed necessary to complete his filmography with "Jay & Silent Bob Reboot". One thing for certain, binging "Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi" was a must. Thus, two more nights of little rest.

In the end, I knew I was not going to have the energy to edit this episode of the podcast or write up this blog post last week. Recovering from Fan Expo meant that I did not have the energy to write a blog post for my experiences at the con (which will be the subject of next week's episode). My plans are to leave Podbean once my contract ends because they only seem to promote hate speech on their network (Glenn Beck, Steve Bannon, Ben Shapiro, Joe Rogen, Right Side Patriots), but their distribution is great when it comes to Twitter updates about the pod. Hence, the blogs for these episodes will come the week after I exploit that system while I can.

As for this podcast, "Mad God" is a stunning piece of work that demands multiple viewings to understand. I first heard of this feature from listening to the "Screen Drafts: Adult Animation Draft". The drafters reason for not including this in the top seven was that it took 31 years to make. It was seen as much as an experiment as it was a feature. With no dialogue and nightmarish imagery from Oscar-Winning stop motion effects legend Phil Tippett, I can see why it would be tough for people to strongly suggest this feature to friends.

But I must have the right kind friends. Gregory Carl is fascinated my almost everything on Shudder. He once suggested "The Baby" which I kind of thought was too creepy. Of course, I had not had a guest for the show in weeks and this sounded cool, so who was I to deny him or the "Mad God". It is a violent nightmare with a sense of humor.

For some, that may sound like hell, but does the actual Lucifer have a sense of humor. "Mad God" is like a Rube Goldberg device of mayhem, so if you love Warner Bros. cartoons, you owe it to yourself to check this out. You may want to do that first and then let me and Greg try to make sense of it all.

Follow me on Twitter @catbusruss. If you want to be on the show, contact me on Twitter or send an email to russthebus07@gmail.com. All we need is a theme, movie, director, or actor and a focus on sub 100-minute material. As long as the credits start before the 1:39:59 mark on the runtime bar, the movie qualifies.