Sunday has come around once again, so let’s enjoy some comic strips just like we used to back in the good old days. Welcome to The Strip Club, the place where we share strips created by you, the readers and fans of One of Us.

Welcome back to “I’m All Out Of Love”, in which I take a pop culture subject (film series, director, actor, television show, etc) and dissect how my ‘love’ of them from early on slowly dwindled and what my current stance on them is.

Saturday Night Live breeds and fosters many talents. In its near 40 year history, the NBC variety show has helped start the careers of many a comedic talent, no matter how short lived or spotty that career would end up being by the time they left 30 Rockerfeller Plaza. One of the more successful of those alumni is Adam Sandler, graduating from the same early 90s era that brought the likes of Norm Macdonald, Mike Myers and Chris Rock. Sandler’s days of sketch comedy eventually resulted in a film career that elevated him to superstardom, with a series of cartoonish yet surprisingly mainstream comedies that have entertained millions for nearly 20 years. He’s even managed to make the breakthrough into more dramatic works, working with the likes of Paul Thomas Anderson and James L. Brooks.

Yet, while Adam Sandler’s works have been big box office successes more times than not, not all have been the most accepted critically. Especially as of late, Sandler’s comedies have been panned as mindless drivel, crowded with bodily function jokes, sexist imagery and a slew of cameos from the more unsuccessful of SNL‘s alumni. And those who say such things are pretty spot on. Why, look no further than OneOfUs’ own Grown Ups 2 commentary (hooray for shameless synergistic website plug!) for a feature-length exploration of what Adam Sandler’s career has become. But if you want a lengthier analysis of one man’s personal journey with Sandler’s efforts, look no further than this article.

The Spark

I was far too young to enjoy Mr. Sandler’s initial rise to fame on SNL when it originally aired, so my first exposure to America’s 90s man child came from the first decade or so of his film career. As a child, Sandler’s antics were entertaining, melding together the more absurdist aspects of cartoons with the guilty charms of what a young boy would perceive as hysterically raunchy, like jokes about bodily functions. But upon reflection, there was also a heart that kept me watching. Sandler’s initial protagonists were the socially inept underdogs that people could sympathize with and root for throughout the film. Sure, he may have been playing a man child that was prone to violent outbursts, but he always stood up for the losers and fought against the uptight assholes who tried to persecute him for being different. It wasn’t the most grey or contemplative examination of morality, but those films served as enjoyable escapism and that’s what drove the young me to them.

In terms of specific films, the biggest ones of this era to highlight are Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore and The Waterboy. This initial trilogy of 90s comedies firmly established the tenants that many Sandler comedies would follow: an innocent child-like protagonist with little to no social skills and/or a speech impediment, a scenario where he must help save something precious to him (his father’s company, his childhood home, his first real friends on the lamest college football team in the state) from being beaten, taken over or demolished by an unapologetic prick of a villain, a love interest who’s inexplicably attracted to Sandler’s crass charms and a cast of fellow weirdo friends who were typically played by Sandler’s then up-and-coming SNL buddies… and Steve Buscemi. This formula continued well into the mid-2000s and the young me just couldn’t get enough of it, whether it be in the form of Big Daddy, The Wedding Singer or even Little Nicky. And while most of them haven’t remained that beloved to me upon re-watching (especially Little Nicky), I could at least still find some nuggets of charm in them, which is more than I can say for some of his more recent efforts. But we’ll get to that…

The Love Affair

"I don't know if there is anything wrong because I don't know how other people are." — *“I don’t know if there is anything wrong because I don’t know how other people are.”*

As I grew older, I gained more exposure to Adam Sandler’s work outside of film, including his SNL stuff, his comedy albums, and his early stand up performances. Each showcased something essential about Sandler’s comedic style: his commitment. No matter how thin or one dimensional the joke was, Sandler always committed to it. That may not be something to usually praise the man for, but it’s that kind of dedication that helped make Sandler’s occasional stretches into more dramatic fair all the more believable and engrossing. In his review for Punch Drunk Love, the late Roger Ebert stated that “Sandler, liberated from the constraints of formula, reveals unexpected depths as an actor. Watching this film, you can imagine him in Dennis Hopper roles. He has darkness, obsession and power.” I really couldn’t have said it better myself… but I’m going to try to.

Punch Drunk Love is my favorite Adam Sandler film. It’s also my favorite Paul Thomas Anderson film. And I discovered it completely by accident on television. Initially expecting another Sandler rom-com vehicle, I was shocked by how enthralled I was by it. He wasn’t just playing a buffoon who tries to do good. He was playing a grounded three dimensional character, one who had some of the recognizable quirks of a typical Sandler protagonist, but with an intensity that showed the quirks came from a very deep seeded case of loneliness. Paul Thomas Anderson once described Punch Drunk Love as an “arthouse Adam Sandler film,” and that’s astonishingly accurate. The film takes the conventional constraints of the films that made Sandler famous and deconstructs them, from the outcast loner protagonist archetype to the violent outbursts. Yet, Anderson adds these shades of depth and emotional honesty that give this romantic comedy something more. Ideas of loneliness, regret and isolation that give the relationship between Sandler and Emily Watson something oddly beautiful. Unlike Adam Sandler’s other more serious productions, this is the one that really was made to showcase his capabilities as a performer and will forever be, for me at least, the shining example of his career.

Nothing Lasts Forever

funnypeople-eminem — “I don’t know. Personally, I think you should have just let yourself die. Honestly man, what are – what are gonna do now? Make another bullshit movie?”

Adam Sandler’s best decision as a Hollywood mogul and worst decision as an artistic talent was founding of his production company Happy Madison. The worst of Sandler’s tendencies as a comedic star started to come to light around the time Happy Madison Productions’ output became quite successful. The first one where it really hit me was Click. In many ways a terribly awful Adam Sandler comedy, the film tacks on this half-assed message about family and what it means to nearly lose it during the ending. The whole movie is spent showing you how awful Sandler is as a person, but we support him because he makes a last minute change of heart that doesn’t feel earned. This would prove to continue further as time went on. Films like I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, Bedtime Stories, and Jack and Jill rang in a new era for Adam Sandler: his true “I don’t give a shit” phase of filmmaking. Even with the worst of his pre-mid 2000s work (*cough*Eight Crazy Nights*cough*) there still seemed to have some sort of effort put into them, even if it wasn’t directly from Sandler.

Once this new era started, noticeable changes to the typical Sandler formula started taking place; Sandler himself is now the ultra-successful higher functioning schlub, his far weirder and more pathetic friends (played by Sandler’s now failed SNL buddies, far worse comedic presences like Kevin James, Nick Swardson or Shaq, a random sports figure or the occasional still talented person who is struggling to find work… and Steve Buscemi), a wife who’s even more out of Sandler’s league than any of the ones in his earlier films (which includes the likes of Salma Hayek, Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel, Keri Russell and Katie Holmes), copious amounts of lazily displayed product placement and a location of some sort to shoot at that also doubles as a vacation spot. The “let’s save this thing I love” plot isn’t even a factor anymore. Hell, any sort of semblance of a real plot isn’t even a factor anymore, especially with the two Grown Ups films. It feels like Adam Sandler just slumped into creative bankruptcy, largely aiming to entertain his less successful friends with a vacation for each production rather than actually shoot a film. All of this really came to a head for me with Grown Ups 2, which may be a new low in terms of how transparent the laziness of Happy Madison really is at this point.

The problem with these Happy Madison Productions isn’t that they have immature humor or that they stretch the laws of reality. It’s that the lovable loser type character that had made Adam Sandler famous was gone, instead being replaced by this judgmental douchebag who made fun of others for being different, but still wanted to be perceived as another one of the lovable losers. Or, even worse, sometimes he was replaced by one of Sandler’s co-horts getting their own movie. *shivers* Basically, Adam Sandler had become the villain he spent the latter half of the 90s trying to fight against. The cartoon anarchist we knew and loved had become a part of the system he raged against, now using his crass humor and pension for friendship to scam good people out of money with the same exact garbage every time.

Final Thoughts

draft_lens17663790module148391311photo_1298358222happy-gilmore-original — “What are you doing Happy? Riding a bull? You’re acting like a damn fool!”

Adam Sandler as an artist is largely a hack. I don’t have any ill will towards Sandler himself when I say that. Based on what I’ve heard from him or seen of him in interviews, he seems like a very chill, laid back individual that treats his friends right and respects others. As an artist, however, he’s brought very little of worth to the table in the last decade or so of his career. The few things that I felt were of value (Spanglish, Reign Over Me, Funny People, Hotel Transylvania and, yes, even the Happy Madison Production You Don’t Mess With the Zohan) have usually been projects crafted by other filmmakers who might not have completely succeeded at their goal, but were at least striving to make an honest effort. The three comedies listed above should especially be noted, as they involved Adam Sandler collaborating with former writer buddies like Judd Apatow & Robert Smigel, who seemed to bring out the Adam Sandler we missed for so long. It seems that Sandler, true to his professionalism, actually puts his all into the visions of those who he surrounds himself with. But when those people are Happy Madison’s common dirge of uncreative directors like Dennis Dugan or Frank Coraci, it seems like they bring out the worst in Sandler.

There was a certain point where I thought Adam Sandler was just plain dumb, that he really did find the films he was making funny. Then I saw how willing he was to be self aware in Funny People and it hit me: he wasn’t dumb… he just didn’t care. It became clear that Sandler was fully aware of how awful 90% of his current career put out was and the fact that he went right back to doing the exact same type of failed comedies after decrying the entirety of them with fake posters and movie clips in Funny People instead of changing his style really did hurt my image of him substantially. Until Adam Sandler somehow changes up his style, I’ll still largely see him as a hack.

That all being said, the next time the man decides to stretch himself as an actor, I’ll gladly go see it. In fact, it looks like Sandler will be returning to his more respectable style of work, with two of his upcoming films being Jason Reitman’s Men, Women and Children and Thomas McCarthy’s The Cobbler. I honestly hope those films are successful enough for Adam Sandler to finally get out of his groove and have the sort of career renaissance he should have had post-Punch Drunk Love. Until then, I’ll have to deal with the next Happy Madison Production he’s starring in. How bad could it be?

… Damn it.

April, 2004 – The NFL Draft just ended and my phone rang. It was the Cincinnati Bengals. They were offering me a free agent contract and an invitation to mini camp.

Needless to say I was pumped as I headed for the Ohio Kentucky border. It was my goal to make it to the NFL since I was 12 years old, and here I was putting on the coolest helmet in the league and playing catch with Ocho Cinco. I did it, I made it to the NFL. Three day into camp my throwing shoulder (the same one that gave me trouble my senior season) started to hurt. Jogging off the field that day I asked then starting QB John Kitna if his arm ever hurt. He said, “no, why does yours?” I nodded and he replied, “Don’t tell anyone.”

I didn’t.

Instead I popped anti-inflammatories like the Wolf of Wall Street popped ludes and applied the horse liniment DMSO on my shoulder. DMSO is some nasty business and works by penetrating the skin and calming the inflamed joint. Sure it works, but it announces its presence through rancid breath and infection if not applied carefully.

The next day jogging out to practice I knew I was in trouble. Despite my anti-inflammatory ice party the night before I could barely lift my arm. I tried to suck it up in warmups but it was starting to be obvious. Our first drill was throwing deep outs. Of course. After I ballooned a few in there, QB coach Ken Zampese encouraged me to “go ahead and let it rip Ryan!” That next throw felt like I was stabbed in the back of the shoulder with a machete.That was it. Despite Kitna’s seasoned advice I couldn’t take it anymore. I had to say something. The next thing I knew I was in the office of player personnel signing my release papers.

They threw me into some interns cigarette stained 88 Buick to drop me off at the airport. The dream was over. I remember the red velvety seats and looking out the window taking in the sweeping emotions as this stranger drove me through the grey streets of Cincinnati. There was immense sadness, but strangely there was this equal feeling of relief. Relief that I didn’t have to worry about my shoulder holding up because it definitely wasn’t going to, and an unexpected relief that it was over.

I of course bottled up that last feeling and never told anyone how I really felt because that is how a quitter would have reacted. That, and I wasn’t prepared to destroy the dream for everyone that had supported me up to that point.

Back home I kept the dream alive and had surgery to repair the problem. I rehabbed and started training to prepare for a workout I had lined up with the 49ers. A week before my trip up to San Francisco my arm was feeling good, and after a throwing the ball around with a buddy of mine I came to the truth that my heart was no longer in it. I was done. I didn’t want to play football anymore. It was always my goal to make it to the NFL and that box had now been checked. Looking back I should have been more specific, like I want to sign a multi million dollar contact in the NFL. Either way I was now on to plan B. And if you ask anyone who has a shot to play in the NFL, you don’t have a plan B.

After many years of trying different things plan B finally announced itself and turned into plan A: to make great art. Wait, what? “You are a jock, you can’t be an artist.” Is what I heard in the subtext of those around me. The truth was I was always passionate about art but never fully perused it because of football. My mother was an avid photographer and my father was an actor and they encouraged my creativity, and I wanted to be creative. Any free time I had while working different jobs was spent in my makeshift art studio or in acting class. I had now found something that I loved to do and I wanted to do it well. Exploring this creativity never felt like work. It felt right, and my work improved. My exploration in the studio led to creating a technique where I use various blowtorches to burn images into wood.

The work got noticed and I had my first solo show at the Black Square Gallery in Miami in April, 2013, and was subsequently featured on the cover of Artvoices Magazine soon after. The acting got better too. I continued to study, got an agent, and started booking commercials and guest spots on shows like NCIS and Justified. I even teamed back up with my good friend and filmmaker from UCLA Jared Drake. Jared showed me a script he and his brother were working on titled Visioneers. They were fired up to make it and after I read it and loved it, I came on to produce. The script was well received and after attaching Judy Greer and Zach Galifanakis we were off to Seattle to shoot.

This is where I became an 80s action hero. Jared cast me as MACK LUSTER in the film, an action-hero transplant from the 1980s modeled after Rambo and Commando. Knowing I had to beef up, I hit the gym. Football was gone, but the work ethic learned on my way to the NFL was still there.

It was during this time that I realized I don’t have to abandon my identity as a jock in order to be an artist. I can just be me. All the pieces fell into place as I dove into my new Plan A. This proved successful as my character in Visioneers went on to develop a bit of a cult following.

So much so that Jared and I have teamed up again to give Mack Luster his own feature film. We recently launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for production. If we succeed, shooting this feature will be as great as any Superbowl I ever could have dreamed of.

If you would like to see more and support this project, click the image below!

Or click here to see more of Ryan’s art!

Sometimes I feel like I’m constantly listening to the same music. I have a fairly substantial music library but I’ve only ever listened to a small percentage of it. I’d consider myself a music lover, but I often become overwhelmed with the idea of trying to find something new and exciting to listen to. After becoming stressed-out over the music that’s supposed to bring joy to my life, I either settle on NPR or mindlessly flipping through the Top 40 stations trying to find something I don’t hate.

For some reason I didn’t used to have this problem, but recently, finding new bands and music has become a lot of work. When I was in college, I was a DJ at the college radio station (shout out to WXJM!), and this proved to be a great asset for discovering new music. I had the entire radio station library at my disposal to search through and find things I enjoyed. And more importantly, I had other like-minded DJs that were eager to share new music with me.

After graduation, though, it became increasingly difficult to sate my musical appetite. I was approached by my good friend, and One of Us editor, Dimitry to write a post about how to find new music. My reaction was, “I have no idea how to find new music,” to which Dimitry replied, “That sounds like a pretty good place to start.” At first I got pretty bummed, being the music-lover that I am, that I didn’t know where to turn for new tunes. It was easy when I was in school, but actively working at it was something that I felt was unnatural and scary. But there’s no better time to figure it out than now, and as Dimitry was implying, there’s no better place to start than at the top.

I should probably preface this by saying that these are just suggestions. Obviously, there are other ways to discover new music; I’ve just compiled a short list.

Independent/College Radio – As I said earlier, having my own college radio show helped me build my library and discover some really great music. Maybe there’s a college near you with a killer radio station (second shout out to WXJM), but if not, many college radio stations have online streaming service available for those who are outside of the broadcasting range. In addition, the station’s website may keep a running list of recently played tracks, so if you hear something you like, you can head there and find out what it’s called. Other places might have an independent radio station that isn’t affiliated with any university that plays some great stuff. Be warned though: not all college radio is created equal. Some radio stations will be better than others.

*It takes a special station to be this cool.*

Festivals – I’m not much of a festival-goer. If I’m going to camp, then I’m going to go camping. If I’m going to go to a show, then I’m going to go to a show. They’re mutually exclusive. After a full day of standing around in the sun/mud do you really want to stand in line for a shower? My personal aversion to festivals aside, they are a great place to scope some new bands. Your favorite band isn’t playing until later? You might as well head over to another stage and see what everyone else has to offer. Don’t be like me and just look up the festival lineups and then YouTube the bands you’ve never heard of. That’s just lazy.

coachella07-b39bbd4b1b96b65912271620737687c38821780e-s6-c30 — *This is either a crowd waiting for a band or the bathroom. It’s impossible to tell.*

The Support Act for Your Favorite Band – Check out to see who is opening up for your favorite band on their most recent tour. A lot of times these bands are touring together for a reason, whether it’s because they are stylistically similar or because they share the same agent. Most of the time we suffer through the openers and clap politely, but we’re secretly glad when they leave the stage. Why don’t we just give them a chance? We’ve already paid for the ticket. Sure, sometimes the opener is actually really bad, but I’ve often been surprised with how much I actually enjoyed some of the supporting acts I’ve seen. And if you’re really digging the opener, go over to their merch table and pick up a CD.

TV Shows/Movies – Anyone remember the show called The OC? I guess it was a show about the struggles affluent white kids face growing up in Newport Beach. The show, however, had a really killer soundtrack. Wanna get a glimpse into what indie-music was up to between 2003 and 2007? Pick up The OC soundtracks. I’m not afraid to admit that a lot of those songs are really good. Anyway, the point is that some TV shows are really good about picking decent music. I know that How I Met Your Mother (last episode aside) would occasionally have a decent song in the background. Figuring these songs out can be a little tricky because sometimes they won’t be in the credits. I’ll let you get creative. Also, I know that movie soundtracks can often times be pretty lame, but sometimes they can be really awesome. You’ll notice, though, that some songs will show up in a trailer for a movie but it’s not actually in the soundtrack. I distinctively remember hearing “Sweet Disposition” by The Temper Trap on about 8 different movie trailers but never actually seeing it in the movie. You just have to keep your eyes and ears open.

What Are They Playing in Your Favorite Bars/Restaurants/Retail Store? – Have you ever been sitting at a bar or restaurant and thought “Hey this kinda sounds like a cool song” or “I’ve heard this song before I wonder who it is”? That’s the perfect opportunity to dig a little deeper. This is probably a situation where one of those “what-am-I-hearing-right-now?” apps comes in handy. You’re going to want to channel your inner Clint Eastwood and quick draw the Shazam app (or whichever music-matching app you use) like you’ve just taken your tenth step at a duel. For best results, have the app on the home screen of your phone in a place where you can tap it quickly. Nothing’s worse than fumbling around your phone’s application menus looking for Shazam, only to find it as the song ends.

You’re either my best friend or my worst enemy.

Sometimes, you can opt to ditch the app and employ a personal touch. I specifically remember standing in some department store, holding my girlfriend’s purse (because that’s your duty as a boyfriend) and thinking “this store is playing some really awesome tunes. I need to talk to whoever made this playlist.” I accept that most restaurants/bars/retail stores are probably just playing Pandora (which isn’t really a bad suggestion to find new music. It just felt a little obvious for this list), but you should at least make friends with whoever picked the station.

Radio Shows & Podcasts – Have you ever heard Marketplace on NPR? You might think that a show that’s all about dissecting the financial news of the day would have a pretty dull soundtrack, but you’d be absolutely wrong. Whoever picks the tracks that play between that show’s segments has incredible taste. On one episode of Marketplace, you can hear Dr. Dre, Chromeo, Count Basie, The Mountain Goats, Pete Rock, The Roots, and other fantastic recording artists of the past and present. Marketplace also compiles the songs played on the show and links you to sites where you can listen to and purchase them. Another public radio show, Snap Judgment (which is basically This American Life with better music), features some great tunes from smaller, independent artists. The people who create the radio shows and podcasts we love are surrounded by audio all day, so of course they’re more likely to develop good taste. If you like the music on a show, do some digging to find out what they’re playing.

Untitled — *NPR: The only place where you can learn about the economy and find great music.*

Dig Deep Into a Discography – Is there a band that you enjoy but you only have one of their albums? Go ahead and listen to the rest of them. A few years ago I decided I needed to listen to Wilco. The Wilco bandwagon had completely passed me over, but I felt like they were a band I needed to be familiar with, and I thought I would enjoy their music. What was holding me back, though, was how daunting their discography was. I had no idea where to start, which albums “represented” them the most, etc. The only thing I could do was jump straight in. I just sat down and listened to as many of their albums as I could get my hands on.

It’s pretty easy to fall into a musical rut and, like me, just flip radio stations all day. It’s also pretty easy to get discouraged with the amount of music that’s being offered to you currently. Sometimes it feels like being a music-lover is like being in a relationship: it can be a lot of work, but if you’re willing to do it, you’ll be rewarded handsomely. You just have to keep your eyes and ears open, and be willing to take a few chances. Sure, not everything is going to work out, and you’ll end up listening to a few things you might not like. The only thing you have to lose is your time, and if it’s time spent listening to music, it’s not really time lost.

How often do you find yourself fatigued with your music library? What are some methods you use to find new music? Share your ideas in the comments!

Salutations dear reader, and welcome back to Big Finishing Move, where I take a look at the Doctor Who-themed output of the audio powerhouse, Big Finish, and see if their stuff is worth your blood, sweat, and tears. Today, we’re rejoining the Sixth Doctor and Evelyn as they bite off more than they can chew on the seedy streets of London in Project: Twilight.

TARDIS Team: Sixth Doctor and Evelyn Smythe

We find the Doctor and Evelyn in southeast London, just off the river Thames. The Doctor has come for some Chinese take-out (or should I say take-away) from a local joint he considers to have the finest food in the universe. On their way back to the TARDIS, they come across the ravaged corpses of animals and decide to investigate. This one decision opens up a huge can of worms, because of course it does. There are real monsters in the shadows of London, they are tired of hiding, and they refuse to do so for much longer.

The first thing you’ll wonder as you listen to this episode is if the Doctor and Evelyn took a bunch of stupid pills before getting out of the TARDIS. When confronted by a malicious group led by a madwoman performing horrible deadly experiments on people against their will, the Doctor simply demands that they stop killing people and he will help them with their goals. Even the sight of someone exploding in a burst of guts and blood across the room and themselves, the Doctor and Evelyn seem to take the situation in stride and get back to the tasks at hand.

The bad guys are so obviously bad guys and make little effort to hide their nefarious nature. Their motives are so poorly hidden that you can’t help but facepalm as the Doctor continues to miss the boat and not figure out what is going on until it is explained to him in no uncertain terms. Classic Who fans will remember that these creatures are well known to Time Lords and they have a standing order to stop these monsters whenever they come across them. This directive is one of the few things in Time Lord society the Doctor takes seriously. Hell, even if you didn’t know, we have the Doctor go on about it once the truth is revealed to him. So what does the Doctor do then, you ask? Why, go back to helping the same monsters who were tricking him of course!

Do they trick him again?

Yup.

The overall production is lackluster as well, as both the score and the actors come off flat. Everyone seems to be either not trying or not given anything to work with in terms of material. Some of the actors are hamming it up, but not in any way that makes me care. Passionate and interesting performances couldn’t have saved this sucker, but it may have at least gotten me to invest something in these characters.

Like Storm Warning (which I reviewed last year), this story is one of the most important stories in the Big Finish canon. Many dominoes were set in motion beginning with this story, the ramifications of which stretch over the course of years of releases and even multiple incarnations of the Doctor. While both stories are severely flawed, Storm Warning had enough charm and fun to still be worth your time on its own. Project:Twilight, on the other hand, only has redeeming value in that it allowed for years of better stories to be told. Thankfully, enough of the plot for this story is covered in those other good entries that you never need waste your cash on Project: Twilight. It is a mound of wasted potential topped with insulting and lazy production and writing. It isn’t even bad in an interesting or funny way, it is simply the tedious and boring type of bad. Seriously folks, save your money. Read a quick synopsis of the story online if you must, but don’t go wasting your cash on this mess. It just isn’t worth it.

Purchase Doctor Who: Project: Twilight Here:

Keep in mind ladies and gents, that Big Finish aren’t the only folks across the web doing audio dramas, in fact One Of Us has its very own by the name of Infinite Variations. Give it a look thenext time you have a chance! As for this series, we are just going to keep on rolling as next time we’re back with Tom Banker and Louise Jameson in:

Check out my previous reviews of Doctor Who releases from Big Finish:

Phantasmagoria

The Fearmonger

The Light At The End

The Spectre of Lanyon Moor

Storm Warning

Blood of the Daleks

The Chimes of Midnight

Sunday has come around once again, so let’s enjoy some comic strips just like we used to back in the good old days. Welcome to The Strip Club, the place where we share strips created by you, the readers and fans of One of Us.

No holiday is complete without a hearty helping of corny dad jokes, as I’m sure many of you are finding out today. This week’s edition of The Strip Club comes to you courtesy of Zach Martin, who has illustrated one of the jokes his dad loved to tell on Easter.

We’d love for you to start submitting comics for our Sunday “Strip Club” feature. If you’re interested, please contact us at oneofusnet@gmail.com.

Greetings all to the latest edition of the Pre-Weekend Recap! As you might expect, the One of Us crew was fantastically productive this week. There were plenty of articles, blog posts, and podcasts featured for your entertainment. That’s right, this stuff was created with you in mind, dear friend, but in between your classes/job/hobbies/children/whatever, it’s possible that you didn’t have a chance to get to everything. Don’t worry, all hope is not lost! This is the place where you can start catching up on the material that you missed. Below you’ll find a few of the features that debuted this week, with descriptions and links right there. All you have to do is enjoy the content. Let’s get started, shall we?

Return of The Original Gentlemen!

Chris, Martin, Beau, and Ashley have returned with several surprises in tow on this episode of The Original Gentlemen. First, Jason Neulander, the creator of The Intergalactic Nemesis, is a featured guest and he has some big news of his own. Second, they’ve committed to a bi-weekly schedule! That’s right everyone, you’ll be getting your THEOG fix on a regular basis. To mark this joyous occasion, kick back and listen to the crew engage in a spoiler-heavy Captain America: The Winter Soldier discussion, share their thoughts on the Game of Thrones season four opener, and of course, take your questions. What more could you want?

The Top Ten Starship Captains of the Small Screen

Science-fiction television shows have introduced a number of legendary starship captains to the public consciousness. However, if you were given the herculean task of whittling down the entire list of captains down to the top ten, who would make the cut? John Eckes was brave enough to answer the call and crafted his lineup of the best leaders of space crews ever to grace the small screen? Who is the best captain of all? Do you agree with John’s reasoning? The only way to be sure is to check out his list, so do it!

Watch A Movie With Us: The Worst Films of 2013

A short while ago, we asked you, the distinguished voting public of One of Us, to pick the three worst films of 2013. This was no simple poll for curiosity’s sake, of course. Brian and Chris promised to record Watch A Movie With Us audio commentaries for the worst of the worst and giving you the audio for the third and second place losers free of charge. This week, the promise is nearly fulfilled. Behold, the audio commentaries for Grown Ups 2 and R.I.P.D. are yours, no strings attached. Well, there is the matter of having to watch two horrible movies, but at least you’ll have your favorite internet personalities alongside you for this hellish ride. And keep your eyes open for #1 worst film of 2013, as voted by you, which you’ll be able to purchase for the incredibly low price of $1.99!

The Die Cast: Let’s Go To Space Jail

The Chairman of the Board, Jacob Hall, is back with another tabletop adventure for you board gaming fanatics! The name of the game is Durance and it’s all about colonialism in deep space. To quote Mr. Hall, “What happens when uber-Capitalism, an underground alien drug trade, petty vengeance, wanton violence, and terrorist activity collide in a shabby dome built on a planet where oxygen is a luxury?” Well, you get a pretty insane podcast, that’s for sure! Give it a listen and experience the wonders of space Australia!

Ash & Fern: You’ve Got Me Feeling Emotions

In this new golden age of television, it is increasingly common for viewers to become deeply attached to a show’s characters and heavily invested in a show’s story. Our beloved Fern is no exception to this growing trend. The latest entry of the Ash & Fern blog is all about how television can take you on a wild emotional ride, from idyllic bliss to ferocious anger to profound sadness and everything in between. Check out which shows have Fern bouncing around the emotional spectrum these days and be sure to share which shows have a hold on your emotions in the comments!

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If you like what you’ve seen here, please be sure to share our stuff with others who might enjoy it. There’s always more internet to conquer, so help us on our quest to unite the internet under one banner! Have a great weekend!

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The sports nerds of Inside the Locker engage in the long-awaited Sports Movie Tournament; a feat that required two entire rounds of fan voting to narrow the field from 64 to 16. The reason we enjoy doing these tournaments is that, by function of how the match-ups are settled, it is impossible to predict which film will reign supreme. This week’s tournament CERTAINLY exemplifies that. You will not believe which film takes the top spot.

And boy howdy did we have a special guest to referee this week’s tourney. Ryan McCann is a former UCLA quarterback who was briefly a member of the Cincinnati Bengals.

Ryan traded in his helmet for a career as an artist and actor. You might recognize him as Mack Luster, the parody of 80s low-budget action heroes that appeared in the 2008 Zack Galifianakis film Visioneers. Here’s a clip…

We’ll be hearing more from Ryan here at OneOfUs in the coming days, but for now, sit back and enjoy a rousing discussion of some of the week’s biggest sports stories followed by the knock-down, drag-out scrum that provides the perfect sendoff (for now) for our Totally Accurate, Desperately Necessary Movie Elimination Tournaments!

Show Breakdown…

Scores and Stories (2:52)

Topics Discussed: NFL draft goes meta with Any Given Sunday reference, Moronic 49ers linebacker screams “bomb” at an aiport, Ochocinco might need to change his name to Huitcinq, NCAA amends meal plan for athletes, Twitter says John Calipari will take Lakers job, NBA playoff picture breakdown

Sports Movie Elimination Tournament (49:45)

The starting bracket is pictured below. If you want to see the results (and spoil the fun before you even listen to the show…for shame), click on the image to reveal a filled-in version of the bracket.

Make sure to follow us on Twitter. Failure to do so could result in getting punched thousands of times by Mack Luster.

The Show Account–@ITLCast
Brian–@BriguySalisbury
J.C.–@jcdeleon1
Elliott–@ITLElliott
Adam–@the_beef
Tyler-@tylermager

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Dom Hemingway is not a reference to great literature, nor is he a purveyor of fine champagne, he is in fact the world’s foremost safe-cracker and a man who for all of his criminal enterprising and connections to the most powerful people on the planet, can’t seem to stop cocking up his life.

We meet Dom (Jude Law) right as he’s about to be paroled from a twelve-year prison sentence, and follow him as he tries to put the pieces of his life back together; or should we say the pieces of both his lives back together. Dropping F-Bombs and C-Bombs and all over forms of explosive expletive, Law defies audiences to ever again pigeonhole him as an actor with a performance as vulgar as it is strangely compelling.

But a great performance does not necessarily a great movie make, and The Unusual Suspects are here to crack open the titanium core of Dom Hemingway to see if all its moving parts are properly assembled. Brian, J.C., Ashley, and Beau may be four of the dodgiest reprobates west of the East End, but if there’s one thing they know…it’s how to make dick jokes. But if there’s a second thing they know, it’s film.

Don’t be a c***, give a listen to the review!

First off, if you are not watching Rick and Morty, you need to make that one of your top priorities in life. What is this show about? Well, we have a super genius alcoholic scientist by the name of Rick, and his grandson who may or may not have a slight mental disability (according to his dad). Together, they go on “high concept sci-fi” adventures that range from trans-dimensional escapades, to an Inception parody involving dogs acquiring sentience, creating mech-suits, and trying to bring an end to the dominion of mankind. You know, standard stuff.

One of my favorite episodes involves a species called the Meeseeks, a group of strange blue beings created via a Meeseeks box. Their very purpose in life is to complete the single task you give them. After they complete that task, they cease to exist. What happens when they can’t complete that task? Well, they start losing their minds because existence is pain to them, and all they want to do is die.

*“Meeseeks aren’t suppose to exist this long! It’s getting weird…”*

The show parodies everything from M. Night Shyamalan twists to Jurassic Park. There are no limits to the creativity and cleverness of this show. Some are claiming that this show is potentially the next Futurama, and I’m inclined to agree with that. Imagine if the spawn of Doctor Who and Adventure Time was traveling at the speed of cocaine. Yeah, it’s pretty awesome.

When watching this show, you might say that the dynamic between the main characters have a striking resemblance to Doc Brown and Marty McFly from Back to the Future. Hell, Rick even looks like Doc, and Morty spelled backwards is Marty (I didn’t get very far in the 5th grade spelling bee). Interestingly enough, co-creator Justin Roiland actually made a short back in 2006 called The Real Animated Adventures of Doc and Mharti:

Warning. This video contains graphic depictions of cartoon sexual content. Viewer discretion is advised.

Great things come from humble beginnings eh?

Despite it’s crudeness, what you get here is the seed of an underdeveloped idea. Structurally, it is every bit Rick and Morty. By that, I mean we have Doc/Rick coercing Marty/Morty into doing something that is insane and beyond his comprehension. However, it is an essential task for them to overcome an obstacle. The repercussions of overcoming that obstacle leads to another problem in the original timeline/dimension, and they need to overcome that and so on. The bones are clearly there, but it wasn’t fleshed out.

*“I need you to take these seeds Morty… and put them up your ass! I need you need to put them WAAY up there! I need them for my research, and they won’t go through interdimensional customs.”*

Had I seen this first, and was told that this was what Rick and Morty was based on, I would have turned my nose up and walked away. I was confused when I first saw this, and wondered how such a juvenile short would get its own series. In my curiosity, I retreated into the woods, and decided to hone my skills in the ways of Google-Fu. What I found out was that this short was created by Roiland in an attempt to annoy Universal’s lawyers. Why? Revenge perhaps? Was he one of the writers for Back to the Future but was unjustly cut from the project? Well, he was born in 1980, meaning he was 5 years old at the time of release. So that is unlikely… unless… he had a DeLorean. But let’s not open that can of worm holes.

The truth is… I don’t know. That’s the only thing I could find on why he made that short. If he wanted to piss off Universal’s lawyers just for funsies, then that’s awesome. The last bit of information I could find, was that he submitted Doc and Mharti to Channel 101, which is a non-profit short film festival, in where submissions need to be in the form of a pilot in just under 5 minutes of length. The festival was created by Rob Schrab (who wrote the comic Scud: The Disposable Assassin and co-wrote Monster House) and none other than Dan Harmon, the showrunner of the much beloved NBC sitcom Community. Obviously, Mr. Harmon saw some great potential in this material and voila, we now have the greatness that is Rick and Morty.

So what did the Us nation think about this short? Do you have anymore information you can tell Us about Roiland’s vendetta against Universal? What’s your favorite episode? Whatever your thoughts, comment below and discuss with the Us.

Channel101/Doc and Mharti

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Let’s face it, at some point, we will all live inside the internet. We want to pilot our own Flappy Bird, we want to be able to throat-punch certain people on Facebook, and I’m not even gonna touch upon the revolutions this would represent for the internet porn industry.

In Transcendence, Johnny Depp plays a scientist who uploads his consciousness into a computer. No, he’s not playing Arnim Zola…although it is funny that The Winter Soldier JUST beat Transcendence to the punch. Given the fact that Transcendence is the directorial debut of cinematographer Wally Pfister (longtime Christopher Nolan collaborator), anticipation was running high. Would the film be able to handle the anticipation bandwidth or would it crash, forcing us to reboot our expectations?

The Unusual Suspects are here to help! Just consider Brian, J.C., and Ashley your filmic IT department, and we won’t even make you turn the review off and on again. Listen as the crew breaks down all the bits and bytes, arriving at a final system report.

If nothing else, now we know why Johnny Depp wears all those funny hats in his movies: because he’s got plugs! Acid. Burn.

I’m All Out Of Love #3: Adam Sandler

How an NFL QB became an 80s Action Hero

If you would like to see more and support this project, click the image below!

Or click here to see more of Ryan’s art!

Music, Music, Everywhere, & Not a Beat to Bump: Finding New Music

Big Finishing Move: ‘Doctor Who: Project: Twilight’

The Strip Club: 4/20/2014

Sunday has come around once again, so let’s enjoy some comic strips just like we used to back in the good old days. Welcome to The Strip Club, the place where we share strips created by you, the readers and fans of One of Us.

No holiday is complete without a hearty helping of corny dad jokes, as I’m sure many of you are finding out today. This week’s edition of The Strip Club comes to you courtesy of Zach Martin, who has illustrated one of the jokes his dad loved to tell on Easter.

We’d love for you to start submitting comics for our Sunday “Strip Club” feature. If you’re interested, please contact us at oneofusnet@gmail.com.

The Pre-Weekend Recap: April 18, 2014

ITL Tournament Edition: Sports Movies

The Show Account–@ITLCast
Brian–@BriguySalisbury
J.C.–@jcdeleon1
Elliott–@ITLElliott
Adam–@the_beef
Tyler-@tylermager

Movie Review: ‘Dom Hemingway’

The Humble Origins of ‘Rick and Morty’

Movie Review: ‘Transcendence’

If you would like to see more and support this project, click the image below!

Sunday has come around once again, so let’s enjoy some comic strips just like we used to back in the good old days. Welcome to The Strip Club, the place where we share strips created by you, the readers and fans of One of Us.

No holiday is complete without a hearty helping of corny dad jokes, as I’m sure many of you are finding out today. This week’s edition of The Strip Club comes to you courtesy of Zach Martin, who has illustrated one of the jokes his dad loved to tell on Easter.

We’d love for you to start submitting comics for our Sunday “Strip Club” feature. If you’re interested, please contact us at oneofusnet@gmail.com.

The Show Account–@ITLCast Brian–@BriguySalisbury J.C.–@jcdeleon1 Elliott–@ITLElliott Adam–@the_beef Tyler-@tylermager

The Show Account–@ITLCast
Brian–@BriguySalisbury
J.C.–@jcdeleon1
Elliott–@ITLElliott
Adam–@the_beef
Tyler-@tylermager