The Secret Lair

Due to an unfortunate accident, The Secret Lair’s official stenographer was eaten by a crocodile last week.¹ While our search for a replacement continues, it has fallen to me to provide show notes for The Secret Lair Episode 0009.² Unfortunately, I’m a very busy overlord lately and rather than delay release of the episode and further,³ I’m going to post the scraps⁴ I’ve got now and fill in the rest once I get an hour or so to myself.

April Fool’s Day

• Economic Stimulation Package. Did American Public Radio’s Marketplace play an April Fool’s Day joke on Chris?
• YouTube rickrolled everyone.
• So did Mahalo Daily.
• The Electronic Frontier Foundation is moving their headquarters.
• Twatr is an interesting new Twitter-clone…for your genitals.

WordPress 2.5

• …has a new administrator interface. Chris isn’t a fan.
• …has a new image/media management system…which doesn’t seem to work on The Secret Lair.
• …has a redesigned Write Post screen. We don’t much care for it.
• Kris has more to say about WordPress 2.5 on his blog.

Unquiet Desperation

• Unquiet Desperation is an online poetry ‘zine.
• It is also Chris’ blog and podcast.
• Awkward!

Minion Recruiting Board

• Thanks to P.G. Holyfield and Scott Sigler, we have a number of job openings at the Lair.
• Fill out our super-secret minion application form, if you can find it.

The Secret Library

• Our current novel is The Sky People by S.M. Stirling.
• Our current graphic novel is Shooting War by Anthony Lappé and Dan Goldman .
• NEW! At the request of our minions, we have decided to add a podiobook section to The Secret Library. Our first selection is The Pocket and the Pendant by Mark Jeffrey. Subscribe at Podiobooks.com.

RPGs

• The Dresden Files RPG bleeding edge beta continues.
• Gunnar scored some WarHammer RPG 2nd Edition sourcebooks and Half-Price Books recently.

Movies and Television

• Kris saw Spider-Man 3 and wishes he hadn’t.
• Chris says it was worse than Batman and Robin.
• Check out How It Should Have Ended. (YouTube)
• The Spectacular Spider-Man is on the Kids’ WB and is far more entertaining.

Housekeeping

• We have a feedback address, where you may send us feedback. At The Secret Lair. Dot Com.
• There’s also a contact form, which no one has used yet. Will you be the first?
• It is entirely possible to join our official community, should you be so inclined.
• Our theme music is “Skullcrusher Mountain” by Intertroubadour extraordinaire, Jonathan Coulton.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 44:03 — 40.3MB)

1. Let’s not be concerned with who may or may not have forgotten to engage the magnetic couplers in the holding environment. Pointing fingers isn’t going to get us a new stenographer and playing The Blame Game isn’t helping morale. [↩]
2. Writing the show notes is not punishment. As co-overlord, I’m above punishment, even if you could prove conclusively that it was me. Which you can’t. [↩]
3. What’s that? Maybe I should have delayed release of the crocodile? Oh, great. That’s very mature. How about this: maybe you should think twice before you go hiring your relatives, okay? People get eaten, gassed, disintegrated, mutated and shunted to other dimensions around here all the time, but when it’s your cousin it’s suddenly a big deal. [↩]
4. Shut up. Just shut up! [↩]

Due to a problem with the security system, the Overlords are trapped inside the Secret Lair’s kitchen.

Show notes will be posted as soon as the laserdrill breaks through the vibranium doors.

- Minion #34720/B

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 54:34 — 50.0MB)

Flowing like so much liquid hot magma through the Intertubes, it’s the inaugural episode of The Secret Lair podcast. This episode, hosted by evil masterminds Chris Miller and Kris Johnson, was recorded in one or more undisclosed locations near another undisclosed location near Cleveland, Ohio.

Prepare yourself: these are The Official Show Notes.

The Secret Lair is officially open for business, and business is evil (or, at the very least, mildly nefarious).

J.C. Hutchins tried to sell us a gently-used array of Q-CRAYs with some minor flood and fire damage, but we ultimately went with another supercomputer vendor for The Secret Lair.

Chris and Kris have both (with varying degrees of triumph) returned from their self-imposed, month-long Internet hiatus, also known as the Great Information Detoxification.

Chris recently read Don’t Know Much About History by Kenneth C. Davis. Next on his reading list is Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation by Joseph J. Ellis.

Chris is also enjoying flash fiction from the online magazine, Hub, and 365 Tomorrows (In particular, Chris recommends Baby, oh baby).

Kris is reading Skein of Shadows by The Wandering Men and The Guns of the South by Harry Turtledove. Chris recommends another alternative history novel by Turtledove: How Few Remain.

Chris saw Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and enjoyed it quite a lot.
Kris saw Alien vs. Predator: Requiem and enjoyed it, but for entirely different reasons.

Minion Alert! Minion Alert! The Secret Lair needs a book/movie/music/deathtrap rating system! All suggestions should be submitted in the comments for the show notes. Minions not submitting suggestions will be designated test subjects for animal-human hybrid experiments in the Genetics Lab (currently located on level SB7, E Corridor, just past the gift shop; if you reach the daycare center, you’ve gone too far).

Be sure to check out our Community.

Kris got some new DVDs for Christmas:

• Planet Terror starring Rose McGowan. Directed by Robert Rodriguez.
• Death Proof starring Kurt Russell. Directed by Quentin Tarantino.
• Blade Runner: The Final Cut starring Harrison Ford, Sean Young and Rutger Hauer. Directed by Ridley Scott.

Kris totally forgot to talk about the third (Ultimate) edition of the new Blade Runner release. Here’s a ridiculously-detailed description of all three sets:

Two-Disc Special Edition

• Disc 1: Blade Runner: The Final Cut (2007) is Ridley Scott’s “preferred” version of the film. As with the 1992 Director’s Cut, Deckard’s voiceover has been removed, as has the “happy” ending. This version is a restored print with enhanced audio and some new effects.
• Disc 2: Dangerous Days: Making Blade Runner is a 3.5-hour documentary that tracks the making of Blade Runner from the original screenplay through theatrical release and beyond.

Four-Disc Collector’s Edition

Contains everything in the 2-disc set, plus:

• Disc 3: 1982 Theatrical Release, 1982 International Release, 1992 Director’s Cut.
• Disc 4: Enhancement Archive. Deleted scenes, outtakes and featurettes.

Ultimate Collector’s Edition

Packaged in a replica of Rick Deckard’s briefcase, this limited edition contains everything in the 4-disc set plus:

• Disc 5: Workprint Edition. This previously-unreleased version is apparently the most far-removed from the original theatrical release.
• Spinner model.
• Signed letter from Ridley Scott.
• Collector’s photographs.
• Lenticular motion film clip from the original feature. Yes, we know what “lenticular” is. Do you?
• Origami unicorn.

Coming up in future episodes: interviews, field trips and, as always, the well-informed opinions of your hosts.

Can’t get enough of your hosts? Minions can (and should) also listen to Kris on Volcanicast, the weekly podcast discussing hot Google search topics, and Chris on Shadowdance, the alternative spirituality podcast he hosts with Michelle Belanger.

Our theme song is “Skullcrusher Mountain” by Jonathan Coulton, used with his kind permission.

The Secret Lair is not ISO 9000 certified. One day, however, we will require that the International Organization for Standardization be certified by The Secret Lair!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 53:42 — 49.2MB)