GLoP Awesome

This week, the world’s most awesome podcast tackles ISIS, both the secret and not so secret varieties; ponder why Hollywood is slumping, dispense some thoughts on immigration, and debate whether or not Republicans can ride the Hobby Lobby horse all the way to the White House. Also. GLoP no like M*A*S*H, and finally (after much prodding by a certain Ricochet staffer) JPod ventures into the comments on Ricochet and finds the experience, well, less than awesome.

EJHill is…well, you know.

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There are 29 comments.

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  1. Hartmann von Aue Member
    Hartmann von Aue
    @HartmannvonAue

    Nice choice making Jpod the “Spaceship” guy. 

    • #1
  2. Western Chauvinist Member
    Western Chauvinist
    @WesternChauvinist

    and finally (after much prodding by a certain Ricochet staffer) JPod ventures into the comments on Ricochet and finds the experience, well, less than awesome.

    Okay… Jonah! Maybe Jonah would be awesome in the comments. ;-)

    /JPod in that thread makes it hilarious!

    • #2
  3. Foxfier Inactive
    Foxfier
    @Foxfier

    The “clicking a second page and there’s no content” thing– sorry, but the problem isn’t a lack of “inside information,” it’s seeing costs you don’t seem to recognize…..

    While the value per person is very low, it’s high enough for the pages to spend the extra bandwidth used by opening a page’s framework twice; having the second page (third, fourth, fifth….) for a single story is additional advertising, and that “second page” is an implicit promise to the consumer that they will be actual content.

    How strong of a promise?  I’ve heard of several folks who no longer visit websites precisely because they had a habit of breaking an article into several needless pages.

    The value of the individual reader is low; the value of the article to the reader, though, is also very low.  Annoy folks and they’ll leave.  Mildly annoy them, and they just won’t “share” the page– meaning you lose other possible viewers.

    Businesses switched to offering “free” product for the cost of downloading the advertising because that was the price people would pay.  
    They can’t all be Ricochet….

    • #3
  4. Ryan M Inactive
    Ryan M
    @RyanM

    Alright…  I’m mid-listen, but jPod just made me laugh out loud with his audible pick.  Fresh off of talking about hollywood egos (“this is the best mother-daughter movie …”), jPod proceeds to discuss the “best work of history” that he’s read (in a long time?):  a book that places New York City at the center of American History.  As a westerner (who has visited New York), I absolutely love that irony.

    [Edit:  oh, damn.  Rob, you nailed it with “you’re a new yorker.”  Spot on.  It is precisely why your “getting away from hollywood” time should actually involve a stint in some real American state like Montana or Wyoming.  Going from one coast to the other is just loon to loony.]

    [Edit 2: I would LOVE to have JPod to listen to Flyover Country and respond.  Terry actually does work in the oil field.  Just saying.]

    • #4
  5. Beowulf's accountant Member
    Beowulf's accountant
    @

    For Jonah: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAbU12nxxFg

    In the battle between the ersatzjew  and the fakewasp I give the nod to Rob.  And that page view thing annoys me too, John.

    • #5
  6. Laconicus Member
    Laconicus
    @

    I was at my most depressed a couple weeks ago when ISIS was first on the offensive. This is a group whose marketing materials closely resemble a Faces of Death video. It’s too much to take in large amounts.

    Good podcast, so much to comment on, but trying to keep it short.

    • #6
  7. Ryan M Inactive
    Ryan M
    @RyanM

    Hey John:  in answer to your question, it’s at least partially you.  But I’m really happy to have seen that argument.  Here’s why.  Every now and then, I snap at another ricochetti, or I get a bit sarcastic (as you very clearly did on that thread) or defensive or whatever else.  I kinda thought that disqualified me from being a professional.  In my business (I’m a lawyer), I am extremely self-conscious whenever I get personal with a peer…  I’ll apologize, etc…  then I kind of feel like I’m probably not cut out for interacting (in a level-headed manner, anyway) with people.  Of course, everyone is like that.  Quite frankly, the professional pundits sometimes take on an air of elitism – being willing and able to interact with “ordinary” folks is good; not seeing them as inferior is even better…  but seeing a professional pundit get snippy reminds us all that he’s not perfect, eh?

    • #7
  8. Karen Inactive
    Karen
    @Karen

    Just wanted to chime in to say how much I enjoy this podcast. And I’d love to have Jonah and JPod interact more on Ricochet. Don’t let the off-topic comments throw you, fellas. It’s perfectly fine to ignore commenters who’d rather air grievances than have a conversation. A friend shared this on FB, and it reminded me of so many Ricochet discussions I just had to share.

    • #8
  9. BuckeyeSam Inactive
    BuckeyeSam
    @BuckeyeSam

    Joanna Cameron was yummy in Isis back in the 1970s.

    • #9
  10. otherdeanplace@yahoo.com Member
    otherdeanplace@yahoo.com
    @EustaceCScrubb

    Jonah is too generous in saying M*A*S*H was good for the first five seasons. It was dead after season three when it lost Trapper and Blake. Cheers handled its character transitions so much better, which is why when Rob took the reins the show not only still had the ratings, it still had the laughs.

    • #10
  11. Rightfromthestart Coolidge
    Rightfromthestart
    @Rightfromthestart

    GOLD,  John, GOLD!

    • #11
  12. user_1938 Inactive
    user_1938
    @AaronMiller

    ISIS is also the name of the protagonist’s spy agency in the Archer series.

    Excellent analysis, Rob. The Obama Administration wanted Republicans to look mean for rejecting kids, and more kids came than they were ready for.

    They are constantly referred to as “kids”, but what are the age demographics? Pictures I’ve seen show mostly teens old enough to be generally self-sufficient (15+).

    Jonah’s right about controlling the public focus in part by refusing to talk about ridiculous subjects. I would make a quick, one- or two-line comment about why the topic is ridiculous (“All contraceptives are accessible. Democrats just think everything should be payed for by Republicans.”) and move on. Or refuse to come onto a show until you know the topics to be discussed.

    The apocalyptic fiction market is saturated. 

    • #12
  13. user_1030767 Inactive
    user_1030767
    @TheQuestion

    I don’t remember watching Isis when I was a kid, but when I rediscovered it a few years ago, I was stunned to find out that Linda Carter might not be the absolute most beautiful TV superheroine ever, or even in the 1970s.

    • #13
  14. user_473455 Inactive
    user_473455
    @BenjaminGlaser

    This was an excellent podcast.

    Also a question for Jonah….where did you pick up the unique Pittsburgh curse word jagoff?

    • #14
  15. user_653084 Inactive
    user_653084
    @SalvatorePadula

    So let me get this straight. John Podhoretz was upset that the discussion of his post was derailed by a dispute over a tangential issue? Has he ever visited the Ricochet website before? That’s standard operating procedure. 

    • #15
  16. user_1938 Inactive
    user_1938
    @AaronMiller

    I hope John continues to join the discussions here. Many members, including myself, tend to state their opinions rather boldly. But discussions rarely devolve into the venom so common everywhere else.

    And Jonah, complimenting the Members doesn’t excuse your absence from the forums. ;)

    • #16
  17. Big John Member
    Big John
    @AllanRutter

    Thank you, Mr. Podhoretz for sharing your shiny pearls of sparkling genius.  And please forgive me for buying a ticket this weekend to see the latest Transformers dreck, as it will only serve to encourage Mr. Bay to keep making the wretched things.

    • #17
  18. user_444739 Inactive
    user_444739
    @OmidMoghadam

    The Lego guy on the left looks just like the hockey stick noble prize winning Michael Mann!

    • #18
  19. Majestyk Member
    Majestyk
    @Majestyk

    On the issue of the bifurcation of the global movie market – is this not just part of the simple fact that people overseas aren’t saturated by movies with explosions and fighting robots?

    Americans have been getting treated to these things for generations, whereas this is still novel to people in China.  We are just further down the road by about 20 or 30 years than they are.  I would make a comparison to hispanic television which, whenever I tune into is populated by a bizarre pastiche of hammy acting in telenovelas, half-dressed girls on variety shows and Spanish-dubbed American action movies.

    What is the over-under on when those cultures reach saturation point with their current media as we have with theirs?  Obviously, Transformers 4 will probably survive financially due to overseas ticket sales – but will Transformers 5?  Or is that point 20 years down the road, which means that our media culture will limp along with international financial support until producers are ultimately forced into creating interesting content that can get buy-in from American media consumers?

    At what point do trashy Telenovelas on Univision give way to the Spanish-speaking equivalent of Breaking Bad? Never?

    • #19
  20. user_125733 Inactive
    user_125733
    @DebbieStevens

    So I haven’t been the only one remembering that Saturday morning show every time I hear the news about Iraq?  Another compelling reason I enjoy that podcast – thanks, guys!

    • #20
  21. Z in MT Member
    Z in MT
    @ZinMT

    Majestyk:

    At what point do trashy Telenovelas on Univision give way to the Spanish-speaking equivalent of Breaking Bad? Never?

     Too late!  Univision is remaking Breaking Bad in Spanish.  Same story, almost same dialog, different actors and set, etc.

    • #21
  22. kylez Member
    kylez
    @kylez

    Debbie Stevens:

    So I haven’t been the only one remembering that Saturday morning show every time I hear the news about Iraq? Another compelling reason I enjoy that podcast – thanks, guys!

        I guess you had to be there. I’ve never heard of it or that actress, who is only ordinarily pretty, by the way. 
       I just keep thinking of the irony that this Muslim group should have a pagan Egyptian goddess as it’s acronym, though I am assuming it is originally in Arabic, and the English translation of it is coincidental.    

    • #22
  23. Whiskey Sam Inactive
    Whiskey Sam
    @WhiskeySam

    Eustace C. Scrubb:

    Jonah is too generous in saying M*A*S*H was good for the first five seasons. It was dead after season three when it lost Trapper and Blake. Cheers handled its character transitions so much better, which is why when Rob took the reins the show not only still had the ratings, it still had the laughs.

     This nails it.  Losing Blake and Trapper completely changed the dynamic of the show.  They got away from flat-out silliness like Tuttle and 5 O’clock Charlie and wallowed in melodrama when BJ and Winchester showed up.  Hawkeye could be smug on his own and still be tolerable, but all of them becoming smug was a turn-off.   

    • #23
  24. Indaba Member
    Indaba
    @

    Super podcast complete with Jonah and Rob laughing at John’s huourous comments.

    • #24
  25. user_477123 Inactive
    user_477123
    @Wolverine

    JPod was spot on about Leftovers. The show accomplishes rare feat of being mysterious and uninteresting. Can’t remember a show where I disliked the characters this much or had less interest in them.

    • #25
  26. Timothy Coleen Inactive
    Timothy Coleen
    @TimothyColeen

    I hate to say it … but Rob is right. Hollywood can keep rolling out pathetic (to American audiences) action reboots because folks in Asia go absolutely insane for all things American action/superhero.

    In my husband’s Taiwanese masters-level class, a professor once spent the first hour of a class talking with the students about Iron Man 3 on the Monday morning after its Friday Taiwan debut. My husband (the only non Asian in his class) was one of only three students in 25 who hadn’t seen it.

    And we’ve learned to stay clear of the ubiquitous malls on opening weekend for superhero/action flicks — the crowds of Taiwanese young people lined up to see one of the 50+ showings at the multiplex are overwhelming. From our travels, the same is certainly true of Japan, Korea, and mainland China.

    This past weekend, we traveled to a remote island of a few thousand residents, most  members of the small Tao tribe. Our B&B host was soon to fly to “mainland” Taiwan so that he could shop, get a haircut, and see Transformers 4.

    Sorry JPod. Hollywood doesn’t have to make movies for Americans.

    • #26
  27. Howellis Inactive
    Howellis
    @ManWiththeAxe

    My impression of 3rd world movie-goers of all ages, an impression admittedly formed during a year abroad in the 1970s, is that they are not the least bit jaded by the miracle of the movies. They are so impressed by special effects that they don’t need much of a story to justify the price of a ticket. The same story they have seen in tens of previous films won’t bore them if there is action. Also, this might be a slight over-generalization, but they love a revenge story. They can’t get enough of it.

    • #27
  28. Majestyk Member
    Majestyk
    @Majestyk

    Z in MT:

    Majestyk:

    At what point do trashy Telenovelas on Univision give way to the Spanish-speaking equivalent of Breaking Bad? Never?

    Too late! Univision is remaking Breaking Bad in Spanish. Same story, almost same dialog, different actors and set, etc.

     I have do a better job of not allowing such thoughts to escape out into the universe, lest they become reality.  

    • #28
  29. Doc Gee Inactive
    Doc Gee
    @DocGee

    Way late to the party – so probably just writing to myself!  But I wanted to note that J-Pod was way off in interpreting Rob’s “New York” comment as code for “Jew” (although the Larchmont Lockjaw was amusing enough in its own right).  In that instance, Rob was referring to New Yorkers’ edginess, impatience, non-fool-suffering-in-your-faciness, or something like that – the stuff that causes them to start an enduring “you should hit it with your wallet” chant the very first time George Foster goes o for 3.  This “stuff” is far more prevalent in the Irish and Italians than the Jews.  So lighten up J-Pod!

    • #29
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