9to5.cc Podcasts: Including Go Plug Yourself (GPYS) & 9to5 Entertainment System (9ES)

When I think about things from my formative years that people will definitely think of as old time and quaint within a few years, “video store” is always near the top of my list.Video rental stores perhaps even more so.The idea of paying money and risking pretty exorbitant late fees to bring a video cassette to your home for a few days must seem incredibly foreign now to the youth of today. The library still exists but that’s the library, it’s basically free! And it certainly doesn’t smell of popcorn and have a big “Blockbuster” sign outside.Anyways, the vast majority of this episode pays homage to one of the great video rental traditions of yesteryear: the staff recommendations.Starting in my later high-school years and well into college the first stop at any trip to the video rental store was the staff recommendations. Doubly so if there was a staffer that you had hit it off with in the past whose tastes aligned with yours. These folks watched movies all day. I was only going to be watching one movie this weekend. Their picks, and by extension their expertise, were invaluable. Ideally these weren’t new releases or movies everyone has already seen a dozen times, these were diamonds in the rough that only the seasoned video rental employee had seen. And, if you trusted them enough perhaps you would find your new favorite movie that nobody else had seen before.So today we do the exercise: What are 9ES’ staff picks? This will likely become a recurring segment.Garbage Time starts off pretty firmly rooted in yet another nostalgic trip down memory lane: we half-remember the joys of Harvey Birdman: Attorney At Law. We also catch up on some of early feelings regarding Lanterns and Widow’s Bay. Then the old nostalgia monsters rears its head again and we close things off with some half baked memories of the 2000s run of Battlestar Galactica. If you would like to show your support and head over to Patreon and subscribe at the 9ES Deluxe tier to listen to this and all past episodes of Garbage Time that would be appreciated.Credit Where Credit is DueOur intro song is a brand new jam cooked up by OKU-DA just for us, do yourself a favour and check out his SoundCloud).

The Montreal arts & entertainment podcast that asks Dawn McSweeney: “What is the one place you recommend to someone you hate?” That question was asked by Sam Félix back in episode 341.I joke during this episode that Dawn McSweeney is joining Walter J. Lyng, Troy Stark and I to do a victory lap following this year’s amazing edition of the World’s Smallest Comedy Festival but the truth is the great producers of this town never rest on their laurels. Troy and Dawn are teaming up to co-host “Dumpster Fire” on September 25th at Cafe Cleopatra, a comedy show dedicated to the trash, the wild cards, the unhinged stories, and the lovable dirtbags who make life interesting, headlined by Go Plug Yourself’s very own Chris Venditto. Dawn joins the Go Plug Yourself crew to talk about Iron Maiden, reality television and so much more. Sit back, relax, head out to Dumpster Fire on September 25th and enjoy the show.Go Plug Yourself!Credit Where Credit is DueAs always, a big thank you to the providers of our theme song: Leighland Beckman and Aural Turpitude!Keith does all sorts of things here on 9to5.cc, he works with the other founders on 9to5 (illustrated), co-hosts our two podcasts: The 9to5 Entertainment System and Go Plug Yourself and sometimes blogs here as The Perspicacious Geek.Walter J. Lyng is a stand-up comedian based out of Montreal, you should follow him on Twitter @wallygoodtimes and on Facebook: Walter J. LyngTroy Stark is yet another amazing Montreal comedian and promoter who indulges me in co-hosting this wonderful little show of ours. You can catch him pretty often at the World’s Smallest Comedy Night and Cheap Laughs at Rustik Pub, both of which he produces.

I think historically I’ve probably been to the Vans Warped Tour more than Scott has but here we are in the year 2026 and I was sitting home and our boy Scott was out there at the Vans Warped Tour watching punk rock, skateboarding and pro-wrestling like it’s 1997.How much did tickets to the Warped Tour cost this year? I’m not even sure. Pretty sure it was more than $30 I paid when I was in high school though.Montreal has always been a city that has loved punk rock. You don’t even need to look that far back to see the two nights of sold out shows at Olympic Park for NOFX last year. Of course, that was 2024. Not last year at all. Time is a flat circle and also meaningless.Scott went to both days of Vans Warped Tour this year AND went to go see Chance the Rapper celebrate the 10th anniversary of Coloring Book in the span of two weeks. Big week for the big man with bad knees.Anyways, I saw Spiderman: Brand New Day and while it was definitely one of my favorite recent Marvel movies I have some strong opinions. Some of those opinions are definitely nits that I’ve picked but they are frustrating because it’s so close to being actually good and not just superhero good.If you want to check out Garbage Time Scott continues his discovery of modern video games and talks a little about his time playing No Man’s Sky. Jon watched Robert Eggers’ The Northman and shares his takes. Scott has also been watching some new TV starting off with the new season of Reacher and the first episode of Lanterns. Finally I get you up to date with what you’ve all been waiting for: Draft mode in Marvel Snap. If you would like to show your support and head over to Patreon and subscribe at the 9ES Deluxe tier to listen to this and all past episodes of Garbage Time that would be appreciated.Credit Where Credit is DueOur intro song is a brand new jam cooked up by OKU-DA just for us, do yourself a favour and check out his SoundCloud).

The Montreal podcast that asks Montreal actor and filmmaker Sam Félix: If you had could run your own festival, what would that festival be? That question asked by the boys of summer back in episode 340 talking about the World’s Smallest Comedy Festival 4.With festival season almost in our rear view it’s time to return to our regularly scheduled episodes of Go Plug Yourself – this week Lawrence Corber and I were back at Grumpy’s to sit down with one of Montreal’s many talented citizens. This time around we were talking with Sam Félix. Sam is an actor and director who’s been working on projects all over the city and most recently directed the short film “Skeleton Crew” written by Erin Ross that recently screened at the Fantasia International Film Festival which of course is one of our favourite Montreal festivals. We talk about acting, directing, film and so much more so sit back, relax and Go Plug Yourself.You can keep tabs on Sam over on Instagram at @sbelspring which should be getting more active in the near future as Sam will be sharing more and more of his creative endeavours.Enjoy the show!Credit Where Credit is DueAs always, a big thank you to the providers of our theme song: Leighland Beckman and Aural Turpitude!Keith does all sorts of things here on 9to5.cc, he works with the other founders on 9to5 (illustrated), co-hosts our two podcasts: The 9to5 Entertainment System and Go Plug Yourself and sometimes blogs here as The Perspicacious Geek.Lawrence Corber also produces some shows you may have heard of (you should probably check out the next Healthy Living show when you get a chance) and if you’re close with him you can call him Lully. The other way to call him “Lully” is to follow him on his socials. @Lully514 on Instagram.

So I’ve been with Sarah over 18 years. In that time we have watched probably hundreds of horror movies. We’ve both got a stomach for even some of the more “hardcore” films the like of High Tension and Martyrs. Heck – we watched A Serbian Film in theaters at Fantasia. But there was always one movie that was too horrific for her to ever consider watching. That film? Gremlins.Why?“Because they pop out of the toilet.”For years I have tried to tell her that first of all, that’s Gremlins 2: The New Batch and that second of all: she’s a grownup now and hard as that hit when she was a kid there is just no way that scene bothers her anymore. Well, it took 18 years but after listening to the “What Went Wrong” podcast episode of Gremlins she finally decided to watch it with me.Damn that movie is great. More unhinged puppets in films please.We also watched Backrooms but honestly there’s so much more to say about Gremlins if I’m being honest. I also went to Osheaga and we talk about that a little but you can listen to a whole episode of the show I do with Sarah if you want to know more about all that.Anyways, over on Garbage Time Scott has discovered modern video games. He played through Red Dead Redemption and his eyes were opened. Video games are a lot different now. Even a game that is 13 years old is still drastically more involved and has better storytelling than the games he was playing circa 2001. Remember Scott, 2001 was 25 years ago.If you would like to show your support and head over to Patreon and subscribe at the 9ES Deluxe tier to listen to this and all past episodes of Garbage Time that would be appreciated.Credit Where Credit is DueOur intro song is a brand new jam cooked up by OKU-DA just for us, do yourself a favour and check out his SoundCloud).

The Montreal podcast that asks the folks behind the World's Smallest Comedy Festival 4: Would you rather have $200 or $20 sunglasses? That question asked by Pat Guay back in episode 339.If you're a listener of the Go Plug Yourself podcast you really should already be a fan of the World's Smallest Comedy Night - and guess what? The fine folks behind the World's Smallest Comedy Night are back for the 4th edition of the World's Smallest Comedy Festival. Walter J. Lyng, Troy Stark and Dan Carin join me at the back of Grumpy's to talk about Prince Edward Island, the storied career of Weird Al Yankovic, live streaming comedy at a candy factory and of course the 4th Edition of the World's Smallest Comedy Festival which kicks off this Monday at Hurley's Irish Pub in the heart of downtown Montreal. For more information about the lineup and tickets head to worldssmallest.club now and in the meantime sit back, relax and Go Plug Yourself.Enjoy the show and head out to the World's Smallest Comedy Festival's 4 Edition![powerpress]Credit Where Credit is DueAs always, a big thank you to the providers of our theme song: Leighland Beckman and Aural Turpitude!Keith does all sorts of things here on 9to5.cc, he works with the other founders on 9to5 (illustrated), co-hosts our two podcasts: The 9to5 Entertainment System and Go Plug Yourself and sometimes blogs here as The Perspicacious Geek.Lawrence Corber also produces some shows you may have heard of (you should probably check out the next Healthy Living show when you get a chance) and if you’re close with him you can call him Lully. The other way to call him “Lully” is to follow him on his socials. @Lully514 on Instagram.Walter J. Lyng is a stand-up comedian based out of Montreal, you should follow him on Twitter @wallygoodtimes and on Facebook: Walter J. LyngSarah is somehow still @femalewalter on Instagram. Follow her for pictures of our dogs and sometimes she remembers to post about all the arts and entertainment we take in all year long.Troy Stark is yet another amazing Montreal comedian and promoter who indulges me in co-hosting this wonderful little show of ours. You can catch him pretty often at the World’s Smallest Comedy Night and Cheap Laughs at Rustik Pub, both of which he produces.

Festival season is wrapping up and we're finishing off our Fantasia coverage with three more movies.Sarah checked out the world premiere of The Last Footage, Myanmar’s found-footage horror from writer-director-editor Arkar Soe Oo. It’s shot entirely in first-person through a pair of camera glasses, plays out in near-real time, and follows a group of friends heading to an inherited rubber plantation that turns out to be significantly more haunted than expected. Classic horror tropes, not much gore, no score leads to almost documentary-style tension. Perfect Friday-night watch if you’re into that Blair Witch-adjacent vibe and don’t mind a little cheese.I caught the Canadian premiere of The Peril at Pincer Point from Jake Kuhn and Noah Stratton-Twine. Grainy black-and-white, early-2000s energy, and the entire thing is basically an elaborate inside joke about sound recording and indie film-making. A London sound designer gets sent to a crab-infested island to capture the perfect audio for some pretentious indie horror and ends up mind chasing ghost noises and angelic vocals. The actual sound design is excellent (as it better be), the runtime is breezy, and it feels like watching your friends make a movie that only they find hilarious. Hardcore Fantasia weirdos only.Then we both watched the Canadian premiere of The Galactic Ghoul, Simon Harrisson’s gloriously low-budget space-opera goof starring Vincent Hoss-Desmarais in two roles and Ginger Snaps legend Katharine Isabelle as evil intergalactic royalty. Hardware-store costumes, over-the-top camp acting, and the kind of cheesy practical effects that only work when the entire movie is committed to the bit. Best experienced with a group of people who refuse to take anything seriously for 85 minutes. Sarah was less convinced. The rest of us had a blast.See you next year at Fantasia International Film Festival![powerpress]The Fantasia International Film Festival runs from July 16th to August 2nd 2026 at Concordia University.The song during our intro and outro is “Until I Sleep” by Henry Homesweet and is licensed under a Attribution 2.0 UK: England License.

Sarah and I are still at it for the 30th edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal. Healing is pain, as Sarah keeps reminding me, but we’re still getting out to movies.On July 29th we actually split up because two interesting films were screening at the same time. Sarah decided to go full intellectual and catch the documentary. I went for the zombies-in-a-mall option. Both were worth talking about.First up is Colony, the latest from Yeon Sang-ho (Train to Busan). A bioterrorist unleashes a fungal-style zombie virus inside a big Seoul office-mall complex that gets locked down. The infected have a hive mind and keep evolving, which gives the usual siege setup some fresh wrinkles. Gianna Jun plays a sharp professor who’s basically the Ripley of the piece — competent, figuring things out on the fly, holding it together. It’s action-packed, loaded with practical effects, and looks more expensive than it likely was. At just over two hours it does throw in a few extra speed bumps that maybe weren’t needed, but if you like high-octane zombie movies in the 28 Days Later vein, this is an easy recommendation.Sarah, meanwhile, saw Black Zombie, a Canadian-Haitian co-production documentary about the actual origins of the zombie. It starts with Haitian voodoo culture and the plantation history, then tracks how the concept mutated through early cinema (White Zombie), Romero, and into the modern biochemical versions we know today. It also digs into how Western pop culture has pretty thoroughly misrepresented and vilified voodoo along the way. Slash from Guns N’ Roses even shows up as one of the talking heads. Educational, well-made, and especially interesting if you’ve ever wondered why “zombie” can mean so many different things depending on the movie. Bilingual and an easy watch for anyone who likes docs about horror genres.Two very different films about zombies, both solid. We’ll keep going as long as the festival (and Sarah’s leg) allows.Go see some Fantasia.The Fantasia International Film Festival runs from July 16th to August 2nd 2026 at Concordia University.The song during our intro and outro is “Until I Sleep” by Henry Homesweet and is licensed under a Attribution 2.0 UK: England License.