Episode #38 of the Close Encounters of the Nerd Kind podcast sees the team revisit Episode #31 and continue in our quest to identify the ultimate rebel in music. While #31 took a broader approach to the question and identified scenarios from NWA to the Dixie Chicks citing where artists went to war with other artists, audiences, record labels and political parties, this episode sees Imran, Tee-J and Dan each nominate the specific person whose rebellious nature solidified them as icons.

00:00 Hi and hello...
06:41 Rebel Rebel quiz
20:55 Trent Reznor
37:18 Madonna
55:33 Prince

eEpisode #37 of the Close Encounters of the Nerd Kind podcast sees Tee-J Sutherland and Imran Mirza discuss the complete series of The Falcon & The Winter Soldier.

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier premiered on March 19, 2021, and ran for six episodes until April 23. It is part of Phase Four of the MCU. A fourth Captain America film is in development as a continuation of the series.

Following the show's successful run, the Disney+ exclusive explores how Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes each move forward following the events of Endgame and, perhaps more specifically, explores Sam Wilson's journey to the Stars & Stripes.  The second of the MCU's incorporation of the streaming service as part of their overall narrative, Tee-J and Imran discuss their expectations of the show going in, how effective this form of series storytelling is compared with film's time restrictions, a look at the returning characters and an in-depth conversation about how impactful the discussion of race has been in progressing Sam's journey.  Plus, we take a look at what's coming next down the Marvel/Disney+ pipeline.

​00:00 Introduction
04:50 The serialised nature of Marvel's shows
10:27 Expectations of the show at the outset
14:10 Changing the perception of MCU's product through TV vs Film
20:55 First impressions
26:10 John Walker
36:28 Countess Valentina Allegra de Fontaine & The Thunderbolts
39:06 "Dancing" Daniel Bruehl and Baron Zemo
43:04 The Flagsmashers
46:25 Isaiah Bradley and addressing race within the MCU
56:27 Final thoughts: New Falcon?, Dora Milaje and 'Loki'

Welcome to episode #8 of the 90s State of Mind podcast - a collaborative project between 4ever in Electric Dreams and Blue-in-Green:RADIO. This podcast series sees Imran (London, UK) and Rhonda (California, USA) delve into some of their favourite releases from the 90s and this week, the pair revisit the debut album from Kelis, 'Kaleidoscope'.

Released in 1999, 'Kaleidoscope' was produced by Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo of The Neptunes making the album a breakout project for all three.  Despite underperforming in the US, the album was a moderate success overseas receiving a gold certification in the UK.  Spawning three singles including 'Caught Out There', 'Good Stuff' and 'Get Along With You', the album also held the distinction of ranking #391 in Rolling Stone's 2020 list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

Blue-in-Green:RADIO is a London-based online internet radio station which celebrates 21st century soul, jazz, funk, Latin & hip-hop music.

www.blueingreenradio.com
TuneIn: bit.ly/2LBK0BD 

As an accompaniment to Episode #36 of the Close Encounters of the Nerd Kind podcast - which saw the team delve into the nature of musical collaborations - we thought we'd supply you with a playlist of sorts featuring some of the tracks we spent the most time discussing throughout the episode.  As always, let us know if there's anything we talk about that you vehemently disagree with or anything you feel we should have included within either of our two lists...

​Episode #36 of the Close Encounters of the Nerd Kind podcast sees Tee-J Sutherland, Dan Collacott and Imran Mirza discuss the fine art of musical collaborations.

A musical meeting of the minds can be a wonderful thing - it can often feature two or more artists synonymous with a specific genre coming together to create something incredible or, even more inspiring, it can often result in the union of artists from vastly different genres coming together to create something magical.  But for every Run DMC & Aerosmith there's a Sting & Shaggy and this episode sees the team celebrate/commiserate these wonderous unions from each end of the spectrum.  We were very lucky to have had a huge contribution from our friends and listeners so feel free to check the episode out and let us know if there's anything we didn't address...

01:56 - What constitutes a musical collaboration?
19:49 - Music collaborations we like very much
43:52 - Unions that probably shouldn't have happened

As a bonus accompaniment to this episode, please click here to find the The 4ever Playlist article featuring audio/video clips of the songs we discuss.

Episode #35 of the Close Encounters of the Nerd Kind podcast sees Tee-J Sutherland, Dan Collacott and sitting in for Imran this week is friend of the show, Denis-Jose Francois, discuss the nature of the never-gets-old buddy cop movies.

What is it about that proverbial odd couple set-up in movies that keep audiences continually entertained - whether as a source of high-stakes drama or through fits of laughter.  This week's episode finds the gang look at some of their favourite police pairings across a variety of film and TV shows discussing both action and comedy.  Also, Dan tests your knowledge with some revered themes from various buddy cop movies so see how highly you score against Tee-J and Denis.

Dan and Rich return to talk about one of the most mind-bendingly surreal adult animations to have ever graced the Netflix airwaves. Bojack Horsemen somehow combines black comedy, emotional, hard hitting drama, whilst playfully deconstructing modern celebrity culture. With some of the most incredible characters and voice actors, Bojack Horseman is one of the all time classic and unique animations ever to reach the mainstream.

In episode 35 of the Close Encounters of the Nerd Cast, TeeJ, Denis and Dan focused on the topic of the best (and worst) buddy cops films and TV shows, especially because Falcon & The Winter Soldier has been breathing new life into the genre. With that in mind here are our list of some of the Top 5 Buddy Cop films for you to check out!

Hard to believe that Brett Ratner's buddy cop trilogy is over 20 years old! The first film dropped in 1998, the second 2001 and the final entry in 2007, with the entire franchise grossing over 1 billion dollars worldwide (so far). 

Starring an on screen combo of wise cracking L.A. cop, Agent Carter (Chris Tucker) and fish out of water Hong Kong cop, Lee (Jackie Chan). Tucker's Carter takes very obvious fast comedic beats from Eddie Murphy's Axel F (Beverly Hill's Cop) as well as some of the reckless rule breaking tropes from Mel Gibson's Martin Rigg's (Lethal Weapon). Unsurprisingly the similarities between Tucker and Murphy wasn't lost on Ratner, as Murphy was his first choice to play Carter. But fortunately for Tucker, Murphy turned down the role, Martin Lawrence and Will Smith were also rumoured to have been in the running.

Tucker was fresh off his breakthrough role in The Fifth Element and carried his famous stand up motormouth comedic style into the Rush Hour films. As for the legend that is Jackie Chan, let's be honest he plays the same character in every US film, i.e. a fish out of water, honourable, rule abiding action hero. Chan's signature death defying stunts, slap stick action style and incredible martial arts skills help elevate Rush Hour above most Hollywood action films at that time. He even took a near identical version of his Rush Hour character into the Shanghai Noon films, swapping LA for the wild west and Tucker for Owen Wilson.

The on screen chemistry of Tucker and Chan helped turn the Rush Hour franchise into an absolute storming hit, whilst pushing the perfect blend of martial arts, cop drama and hi-octane action comedy to the masses. A 4th film in the franchise has yet to go into production, but it's only a matter of time.

Arnie has an Austrian accent right? That's kind of Russian, let's make him a Russian super cop and partner him with a cocky Chicago cop played by Jim Belushi.  

You can already see a pattern forming when it comes to what makes a good buddy cop film. Partner two complete opposites together, give them some good on screen banter and an enemies to friends story arc, throw in a bit of redemption and your set. Red Heat writer/director Walter Hill (The Warriors) was no stranger to the buddy cops having arguably introduced the genre to the mainstream with the film 48hrs in 1982 (and the sequel Another 48hrs in 1990).

The on screen barbs and quips of Belushi and Arnie, mostly hit the mark, riffing on the classic East meets West culture clash. But the ultra violent script makes this feel more like a Arnie 'bad future' vehicle than a buddy cop escapade. Oddly enough Red Heat helped introduce the concept of taking the burnt out, out of shape, coffee drinking, casual alcoholic, divorced or broken US cop stereotype and pitting it against the disciplined straight edged outsider/foreigner.

Fun fact, a year later Belushi replaced Arnie with a large Alsatian for the buddy dog movie K9! Whilst Arnie's next film was Total Recall!

The third film in the Frost, Pegg and Wright Cornetto triology sees Simon Pegg star as high calibre London City cop Nick Angel, banished to the West country for being too good at his job. There he is forced to work with Danny Butterfield (Nick Frost) a lazy underachieving, action film obsessed village policeman and son of the local Police Chief. This mismatched duo uncover an unlikely village conspiracy and are forced to work together to take down this newly discovered sinister local underworld.

Hot Fuzz playfully bounces off every US action and buddy cop film trope, with Pegg playing the fish out of water rule abiding square and Frost his comedy foil. The film also mines every possible, backwards, rural, 'local village' gag possible and although heavily derivative of every action cop film before it, the local setting and very English humour helps set it apart.

This one is a collector's item purely for the unlikely on screen collaboration of Sly Stallone and Kurt Russell, both at the top of the game at the time of release. Tango & Cash doesn't have the fish out of water, out of town/foreigner template of most buddy cop films as both characters are LA narcotics cops. But they are clear opposites, with Stallone playing Ray Tango the stylish, middle class, Armani suit wearing cop. The antithesis of the scruffy, long haired, working class Gabe Cash, played by Russell. When a drug's bust goes wrong the two are set up and falsely jailed for murdering an FBI officer.

The two fierce rivals are forced to work together to prove their innocence and take down the criminals that set them up. Tango & Cash is one of the early buddy cop action comedies, with a solid script and trade mark Harold Faltermeyer sound track.

Dropping in 1987, director Richard Donner's Lethal Weapon has to be considered one of the daddies of buddy cop films. The franchise spawned three more films, with the fourth in the series hitting cinemas in 1998.

Fresh from the Mad Max films a young, chiseled Mel Gibson took on the character of of Martin Riggs, former special forces turned hot headed cop with a death wish. Haunted by his wife's death, a broken Riggs is forced to partner with Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover). An embittered, ageing cop and family man who is just days from retirement. The unlikely duo combine to form a formidable crime fighting team, Murtaugh helps give Riggs a reason to live, whilst Riggs breathes new lease of life into Murtaugh.

Lethal Weapon is unquestionably the best buddy cop film out there, it is the yard stick for all others to be measured by. Even though it flexes its comedic chops heavily (especially when Joe Pesci joins the cast) it has quite a serious tone helped along by a melancholic, sax laden sound track. Lethal Weapon is also famous for its outrageous action sequences, it practically invented the jumping off buildings into pool's gimmick and never ending car chases that cause millions in damage.

A fifth film seems unlikely as Gibson and Glover are seriously getting on these days (65 and 74 respectively), but hey if Harrison Ford can still play Indiana Jones you can never say never! A recent TV series did a decent job of recreating the bromance and mayhem of the originals. Until that is brilliant actor Clayne Crawford (Martin Riggs) went a little to method and is rumoured to have self destructed on set, leading to him being fired. He was briefly replaced by Sean William Scott (playing a new but very similar partner character) before the series was cancelled at the end of season 3.

Why no Beverly Hill's Cop in the list I hear you rightfully scream? There is no doubting the pedigree of that franchise, the performances of Eddie Murphy and iconic soundtrack make the first film (less so the second and third) a stonewall action classic. But the clue is in the title, the singular 'cop,' yes he does partner with other cops such as Billy (Judge Reinhold) in the third film, but largely the franchise is a vehicle for Murphy alone. As mentioned already, 48hrs helped create the buddy cop pairing, the sequel Another 48hrs proved that the unlikely duo of fast talkin' Murphy and gruff burnt out Nick Nolte were standard bearers for the genre. A genre which also saw other excellent pairings hit the screen in the form of Bad Boys, The Nice Guys, 2 Guns, Training Day, The Other Guys, Money Train and many others. With a special nod to TV shows like Starsky & Hutch and Chips that really helped give birth to the whole buddy cop genre.

Worth noting that for every ten successful cop pairings in film and TV there were also a string of over worked movie execs desperate to recreate that success with ever more strange and weird pairings. Not just human ones, soon people were being paired with dogs, aliens, robots and finally Whoopi Goldberg and a dinosaur! Proving that it over the years it wasn't just about cop pairings!

Welcome to episode #7 of the 90s State of Mind podcast - a collaborative project between 4ever in Electric Dreams and Blue-in-Green:RADIO. This podcast sees Imran Mirza celebrate incredible albums from the 1990s alongside a variety of Blue-in-Green:RADIO presenters. This episode sees Imran and Rhonda from San Jose, California - and host of Ride The Vibe - delve into the sophomore album release of revered vocalist, Aaliyah.

Released in 1996, 'One in a Million' proved to be a huge hit for the vocalist along with the project's chief collaborators, Timbaland and Missy Elliott - marking the beginning of their musical union which would garner several notable collaborations over the years.  'One in a Million' has sold over three million copies in the US and eight million copies worldwide.

The album produced six singles, 'If Your Girl Only Knew', 'One in a Million', 'Got to Give It Up', '4 Page Letter', 'Hot Like Fire', and 'The One I Gave My Heart To', with the last becoming the album's highest-charting single, peaking at nine on the US Billboard Hot 100.

www.blueingreenradio.com
TuneIn: bit.ly/2LBK0BD

Blue-in-Green:RADIO is a London-based online internet radio station which celebrates 21st century soul, jazz, funk, Latin & hip-hop music.

Episode #34 of the Close Encounters of the Nerd Kind podcast sees Tee-J Sutherland, Imran Mirza and sitting in for Dan this week is friend of the show, Denis-Jose Francois, delve in to series #1 of Disney+'s WandaVision.

The first of a new slate of shows, exclusive to the Disney streaming site, which this year will feature contributions from Falcon & The Winter Soldier, Loki and Hawkeye - WandaVision picks up days after the events of Endgame continuing the story of Wanda Maximoff and Vision in a run up to the second instalment of the Dr Strange series.

As well as looking at the key events through the show's nine episode run, we look at how television has played its part within the wider MCU catalogue and how telling stories over these interconnected mediums impacts their overall accessibility to the general public.