358 | The Original Atomic Geeks Episode – Monkey, Robot, or Michael Caine

Following up on our C2E2 conversation about things that could be improved by monkeys, robots, or Michael Caine, please enjoy this special rerun of the first time that topic appeared on the Atomic Geeks podcast. With special thanks to Carlin Trammel for the idea and Christian Nielsen for the audio and permission.

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357 | C2E2 Special – Monkey, Robot, Michael Caine

You don't put Christian Nielsen, Michael DiGiovanni, Carlin Trammel, Shawn Robare, William Bruce West, Rob Graham, Michael May, Jeeg, and Paxton Holley in a room together and not record a podcast. While at C2E2, the group (minus Jeff Somogyi who sadly was not feeling well that evening) gathered in Christian and DiGio's hotel room to revive the classic Atomic Geeks topic: "Monkey, Robot, Michael Caine." Each person suggests a movie, TV show, event, etc. and discuss what would best improve it: a monkey, a robot, or... well, you'll see.

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356 | Podcast Pals C2E2 Meetup Diary

In 2015, the Nerd Lunch crew met up with most of the Atomic Geeks and assorted members of the Fourth Chair Army at C2E2 in Chicago. Ten years later, it's time to get together again with even more friends. The group this time included Carlin Trammel, William Bruce West, Jeeg, Paxton Holley, Jeff Somogyi, Shawn Robare, Michael May, Rob Graham, Christian Nielsen, and Michael DiGiovanni. In this audio diary, we learn about how the trip came together, check in with the attendees at various points of the weekend, and tease a very special podcast episode that we recorded there and will be Coming Soon.

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355 | Recasting Silverado

Michael and Rob invite Michael DiGiovanni, Christian Nielsen, and Paxton Holley to help cast an imaginary remake of Silverado. Each of our five casting directors have scoured Hollywood for the perfect actors to update the roles of Emmett, Paden, Mal, Jake, Rae, and Cobb, plus other characters we wanted to think about. We've brought our top candidates to the conference room to make final decisions, but also to discuss possible tweaks to the script and even suggest a director.

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334 | Christmas Songs Sweet 16

Merry Christmas! As our very special gift to you, Michael, Rob, Michael DiGiovanni, and Jody Collins don't just talk about our favorite Christmas songs. We put them into brackets and vote on them until we determine the Greatest Christmas Song of All Time!

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291 | Movie Tie-In Glasses

Michael and Rob are joined by Carlin Trammel and Michael DiGiovanni to talk about collectible movie tie-in glasses. They discuss various ones they've collected over the years, including recent ones. But the highlight of the episode is when each panelist creates a whole line of four glasses for a movie that never got them. Carlin even created mock-ups of his line, which you can see below (click to enlarge).

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250 | Movie & TV Santas Sweet 16

Merry Christmas! On this 25th day of December, we're sharing our 250th episode of After Lunch and it's a jolly one. Michael and Rob are joined by Pop Culture Retrofitters Michael DiGiovanni and Christian Nielsen to nominate and vote on their favorite movie and TV Santas. We've made our lists and checked them twice; it's time to decide who is the best representation of Santa Claus. 

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241 | Christmas Vacation 2: Cousin Eddie's Island Adventure (2003)

Yesterday, Michael DiGiovanni and Michael May talked about Christmas Vacation and how - during their prep for that conversation - they discovered the existence of a weird sequel called Christmas Vacation 2: Cousin Eddie's Island Adventure. Of course they had to come back and talk about it. And they invited Paxton Holley to do that with them.

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240 | National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)

We’re re-running a stretch of silly comedies from the Sleigh Bell Cinema podcast, so of course we can’t get too far into that without talking about National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. That’s exactly what Michael May and Michael DiGiovanni did and Michael May's opinion of the movie changed as a result.

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190 | After Dinner Lounge – This Changes a Man

Michael, Rob, and Michael DiGiovanni talk about The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Star Wars Visions Season 2, Ted Lasso Season 3, Unicorn: Warriors Eternal, the Our Man Flint movies, Hammer's Frankenstein movies, Peter Pan and Wendy (2023), streaming service avatars, Fast X, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Silo, Disney’s Stan Lee documentary, how our buying and reading of comics has changed, aging and wisdom, budgeting entertainment time, and other things they've been watching and thinking about.

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189 | After Dinner Lounge – Flintstones Calisthenics

As Pax recovers from vacation, Evan returns to the Lounge for a bit with Michael, Rob, and guest-lounger Michael DiGiovanni. In this first half of the discussion, the conversation includes butt tattoos, underwear preferences, Joe Hill, nepotism, how horror works in books vs film, jazz trombone, William T Riker, Fourth Chair Carryover Questions, the difference between the book and movie versions of Prisoner of Azkaban, The New Classic Film Jerks, the Off Panel comic book interview podcast, the Purple Stuff podcast, letting your kids introduce you to new music, celebrity podcasts, Action Comics, Dawn of DC, Star Trek: Double Double by Michael Jan Friedman, Cassandra Cain as Batgirl, and X-Men comics.

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182 | License to MCU

Michael and Rob are joined by Michael DiGiovanni and William Bruce West to imagine a Marvel Cinematic Universe movie that includes characters from the wide array of toys, movies, and TV series that Marvel Comics has licensed over the years.

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147 | Christmas Movie Menus

In a completely original idea - Nerd Lunch definitely did not do this exact same topic on Episode 320 of their show - Michael and Rob welcome Evan Hanson, Paxton Holley, and Michael DiGiovanni to help a few restaurants create special menus inspired by Christmas movies.

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16 | Lost Christmas Specials

Mike Westfall and Michael DiGiovanni join Michael May and Rob Graham to create Rankin-Bass stop-motion Christmas specials that never existed, but should have. Lots of holiday spirit AND SINGING in this episode, so gather the family, get some hot chocolate, and enjoy!

Download or listen to the episode here.

8 | Ultimate Triple Features 3

Michael and Rob welcome Michael DiGiovanni and Kay to revisit a classic Nerd Lunch topic. We put together movie triple-features around the themes of witches, soundtracks, walking away from explosions, and movies that make us feel alive. 

Download or listen to the episode here.

7 | Pandemic Palliates

A palliate is something that reduces or eases the symptoms of something horrible. In this special episode of AfterLUNCH, Rob Graham talks to AfterLUNCH guests and listeners to learn what has brought them joy or relief during the uncertainty and isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic. Tune in and find out what movies, TV, video games, creative activities, and other things your podcast friends have been into to get them through. 

Download or listen to the episode here.

FCA Invasion 19 | Turning Movies into TV Shows 3

Mike Westfall, Michael DiGiovanni, Annaliese Trammel, and Paxton Holley join Michael May for another round of the classic Nerd Lunch feature: "Turning Movies into TV Shows." After a discussion of what movie-based TV shows have worked (and which haven't), the panel pitches TV shows based on A League of Their Own, Gremlins, Xanadu, Tomorrowland, and Pretty in Pink. 

Download or listen to the episode here.

Fourth Chair Army Invasion 3 | Mike Drop

It’s an all-Mike episode when Michael DiGiovanni, Mike Downs, Mike Westfall, and Michael May discuss their favorite pop culture Mikes, then drop said characters onto a Battle-Royale-style island to fight to the death. Who is the ultimate Mike? Only one way to find out!

Download or listen to the episode here.