NinetyForChill: The #Podcast with @CatBusRuss: "The Truman Show" with ThePoeticCritic

 NinetyForChill.com: The #Podcast...with @CatBusRuss

Episode 121: "The Truman Show" with ThePoeticCritic

The Truman Show with ThePoeticCritic

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"The Truman Show" was a feature that some would say has aged like a fine wine, but there seems to be many who still have a bitter taste in their mouth. What would Hollywood be like if this feature received its roses back in 1998 instead of 2022 at Cannes? Would Jim Carrey have become the post-modern Tom Hanks? Is he American enough to usurp the two-time Oscar winner's greatest title of "America's Dad"?

Before this podcast recording, CatBusRuss had only seen the third act of this Peter Weir classic. He was thoroughly impressed by the direction and could tell that Carrey was providing the performance of his lifetime. The first chance he found a discount on the digital release, our host knew it was a must buy. Finding the time, and perhaps the motivation, to watch it was the challenge.

His living situation the past seven years could be to blame. Perhaps he did not want to break the initial rules of the "NinetyForChill: The #Podcast". This feature is officially three minutes too long. More than likely though, it may have been the thought of further enduring ThePoeticCritic's obsession with everything that was late nineties Jim Carrey. This week, CatBus faces all of those challenges with a 130 minute conversation with his big sister about what may be one of her favorite features of all time.

As for Ani-May, CatBus watched the return of Studio Ghibli with Goro Miyazaki's "Earwig and the Witch", another tale of strange adoption.

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

It is just after 5 pm on Tuesday the 23rd, and I am, of course, exhausted. My last actual day off between both jobs was Mother's Day, and even that one was a rough one. With less than six hours in this evening to use, actually getting motivated to write this blog post is tough.

I am currently at war with all of Popeye's Chicken after the wasted a half hour of Mother's Day. They did not just screw up my order, but forgot about it twice during the half hour of waiting. Shitty customer service is something I cannot stand for and being made to feel like I was wrong for not being empathetic to the understaffed's plight further enraged me.

All I wanted was a refund for the food I was never going to get. They offered me food that was not my order to make up for it, which I declined. Why would you want to open your mouth if it is not to apologize when you have a seething customer?

I did not ask any follow up stories. My conditions were being met. Telling me that I had to allow it because one person had been working seven hours (7 am to 2 pm) was going to piss me off further. You just apologize and ask if there is anyway to further resolve your fuck up(s). Asking me to be calmed because only three people showed up will result in me responding with, "Why are you even open if you do not have the staff?".

After dealing with their online customer service, ignoring and insulting customers must be their standard operating practice. I have aired my grievances with them after saying that I had to download their app to receive any compensation for potentially ruining Mom's Day for me. The Twitter thread had been posted, and I have jumped in to their timeline as well. Their social media team responded shortly after that, but it was before I went to bed last night. They invited me to message them, which I have, but am still waiting on their response.

I am still determined to keep up the podcast, but the past week was tough. Unless guests want to stay up late, Sundays are the only day that I am certain can be made for podcasting. With that said, if you have a movie or topic that you want to chat about, send an email to russthebus07@gmail.com.

I guess I should get out of my current feuds and skip the tales of lousy therapy sessions. That is because Mother's Day was not totally ruined. There was an interesting visit to the Peoria location of my most recent job. Pizza was had. And this podcast was recorded.

After the feedback from her friend(s) about her last appearance on the podcast (Gold Diggers of 1933 and Nintendo 2023), ThePoeticCritic was insistent on having total control of the podcast. Her big deal was wanting to record an audio commentary for the movie. This left me with less than ideal recording conditions (The recorder was just left on her bed which we were sitting on.) and I thought the idea was ill advised since I had written notes. Access to my notes was provided to her before hand.

The conversation actually had moments where she rambled and felt entitled to do so. Interrupting her was something she would not tolerate because her friends said that I would not let her finish her points on the last episode. As I write this, I am stuck thinking about what we could possibly do for the next episode. If there is a hint of disagreement between us, I do not think it will work out.

Obviously, when I approach her, I do it with features that I think she will like. But, she is out to make it her platform, so I do not know if it will work out next time. Is a podcast suppose to be a platform for the guest or to be an expression of the host? Since she love rerunning Carrey interviews from late night shows, she is in the camp of the latter. My purpose is to just promote the movie...and myself...I have a pro-wrestling zombie comedy screenplay to sell.

Like my continuation of integrating Ani-May into this month's episodes. "Redline" from Netflix DVD had yet to arrive in the mail by the time I produced the episode, so I followed up on my curiosity about the similarly "drawn" Studio Ghibli feature, "Earwig and the Witch".

It is similarly drawn to Studio Ponoc's "Mary and the Witch's Flower" which I reviewed last week. I actually thought they may have been the same title after Earwig's release. There stories are similar as well being adaptations of British tales. Earwig is not as good as Mary, but that is just because the narrative is not as deep and the voice cast not as strong. Okay, good looking, computer-generated anime is years away, but at least now the mouths are capable of multiple movements.

Look, you give me a fun cat character, I am in. If you like "My Neighbors the Yamadas", you will enjoy "Earwig and the Witch".

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.