John Walker's Electronic House

Rum Doings Episode 44

by on Oct.08, 2010, under Rum Doings, The Rest

In the fourtiforth episode of Rum Doings we don’t discuss the recovery of the ozone layer. But we do discuss the share value of Stephen Fry. And the peculiarity of Hugh Laurie’s history.

Chatting briefly about Nurse Jackie brings us to United States Of Tara, and thus dissociative identity disorder. And Dexter. The TV show.

There’s comments on Formspring, Homicide: Life On The Streets, and suddenly why does John live in Britain? Is he proud or something?! We turn into the world’s oldest men and complain about cinema prices, and then the horror of plastic packaging.

Somehow chat about films takes us to Nick telling John off for Vince Cable. And then scientific funding. Next, we ask those big impossible questions, like… oh, they’re really simple. Find out why the sky’s blue. And what we’d take from our burning houses.

But the main reason for listening to today’s episode is to find out whether Nick can get into the plastic packaging with only his fingers and teeth.

OMG SPOILERS

Tweet it, Facebook it, as strangers on Formspring about it. Do whatever it is that makes the internet work. And writing a review on iTunes makes us happy in our tummies.

If you want to email us, you can do that here. If you want to be a “fan” of ours on Facebook, sigh, you can do that here.

To get this episode directly, right click and save here. To subscribe to Rum Doings click here, or you can find it in iTunes here.

Or you can listen to it right here!

[audio: http://rumdoings.jellycast.com/files/audio/rumdoings_e44.mp3]
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15 Comments for this entry

  • Lewie Procter

    Fincher’s serial killer film was Zodiac, and pretty good, although I agree it’s a while since any of his films have really grabbed me.

    Benjamin Button was pretty awful.

  • James Campbell

    Dakota Fanning didn’t write Juno, you mean Diablo Cody.
    Two silly names so easily confused.

    Dexter is too icky for me too which is a shame because I own the first series on DVD and I really like John Lithgow.

    I’m also very upset about being mocked on this podcast. :D

  • John Walker

    We love you James!

  • Arthur

    Welcome to Marketplace from NPR and Public Radio International.

    Stocks of Stephen Fry took a dip in after market trading after an official report from the Rum Doings financial advisory firm released a public statement identifying his total value as trending downward.

    SOUND CLIP

    John Walker: I did have a moment of thinking: will I look incredibly plebeian reading his new autobiography.

    Nick Mailer: Yes.

    END SOUND CLIP

    Stephen Fry analysts hope to raise the total share value in the year with overseas sales of A Bit of Fry and Laurie Box sets. Stephen Fry himself stated he remains confident that his shares will continue to be of value to investors, and that he isn’t sure who John Walker is but quite likes his crisps.

  • Joe Entwistle

    Was the serial-killer film Zodiac? I quite enjoyed it as I found it shockingly cerebral. I assumed it would be some slasher nonsense with some office based plot exposition inbetween.

    I haven’t seen Panic Room or Home Alone, sadly my life was Macaulay Culkin-less up until he started dating my teen crush Ms. Kunis, so I can’t say whether I share your opinion on this or not. Love the podcast, keep up the good work.

    Cheerio.

  • Alex B

    Fun fact – the girl in Panic Room is Kristen Stewart, the lead in Twilight.

  • Gassalasca

    I quite like Jesse Eisenberg, but I’m not at all fond of Michael Cera. That aside, I would really like to hear in what way did you fin Juno unpleasant, John?

    I mean, if anything, I would think that some people would find it too pleasant. Come to think of it, I know some who did.

  • Alex

    Those packages are so tough because they don’t use any glue- they’re sealed by ultrasonic waves that weld the plastic to itself. The reason they’re so bulky and unperforated is also probably to deter shoplifters. It’s easy to slip a USB drive up your sleeve, but if it comes in a bulky box that needs a few minutes’ work to open, would-be theives might not even try.

  • Nick

    So, Alex, what you’re saying is that this is another case of DRM (digital here relating, appropriately, to fingers) trampling over legitimate user expectations and convenience.

  • Alex

    That’s it, exactly. Someone who buys a counterfeit version or a copy that fell off the back of the truck is happy, but the honest microphone purchaser is sitting there with loosened teeth and a cut lip!

  • Xercies

    I have liked most of David Finchers movies I do think he is one of the better directors working out there at the moment. Curious Case was actually pretty damn good i have to say.

    Micheal Cera i do think has had a bad rap lately to be honest I like both jesse Eisenburg and Micheal Cera. I mean Cera was actually really really good in Scott Pilgrim.

    Also I do think the finance of cinema really has to change, The cinemas are being screwed by the studios it seems. Not just because of how much the Reel costs but because how much everything else costs, like just being able to play it.

    Also if I have read rightly, the cinemas only get the profits on the tickets after a certain amount of weeks. So the crucial weekend where the new film comes out they get no money out of it. Though I could be worng about that n this country and its only an American thing.

  • Mrs Trellis

    A phone shop on my high street sells memory cards from a box under the till that the staff have pre-released from their plastic bonds.

  • Alex Bakke

    I find the best way to open the plastic cases, is to use scissors to cut through, and then pliers to open the gap.

  • laddy_gaga

    Good packaging commentary. I noticed that packaging has become increasingly more unfriendly over the years – milk cartons here now contain a tiny sliver of plastic attached to the cap to provide an optimistic “handle” for ease of opening – however it without falls off on first yank, necessitating grit-encrusted fingernail clawing at the cap. Contrast this to the foil milkbottle tops of yore which could be levered open by with minimal effort by small birds or passing insects. At this rate of innovation it will not be long before packaging scientists will perfect their art in the form of the entirely unopenable container.

  • TSA

    Yes, the indestructible packaging is an anti-shoplifting measure.

    I remember buying a computer mouse back when they still came in cardboard boxes. The re-sealable nature of that type of packaging had its own problems; this mouse had been used as a display model in the store, and someone had decided to cut its cord as an antitheft measure, then forgotten about it and put it back in its box.

    The shop did replace it, but it cost me an extra trip. Stupid ARM-infested physical world, grrr!