Nerdist Camp

Sometimes there's a film, a film that just chimes with you. Sometimes it's a low budget indie production, shot on a shoestring. Sometimes it's a triple A Hollywood production with a bigger marketing budget than it probably pulled back in release sales. Sometimes, just sometimes, it's that obscure film that you missed the first time around, but once you found it, you just can't live without it in your life. Yes, today we look at those films that are either so bad, that they're actually good, or are hidden or massively underrated gems, that have gained a cult following fire to their utterly unappreciated brilliance. Or, they’re just bad but we love them anyway - a celebration of those weird, awkwardly-shaped films that for some reason just stick with you. There will be honourable mentions, there might be disagreements. Either way it’s a Battle Royale at the Camp!This fortnight we are recommendingKris:Rainy Sunday Afternoon, the Divine Comedy.The Monster of Florence Among Us: Crewmate Edition.Andi:A Man On The Inside, season 2Obligatory Stranger Things mention. Not bothered, but I’ll probably enjoy it. Bit like that long planned event you know you have to go to.The Reunion - The Commitments - BBC SoundsWar Of The Worlds - The Concert TourLinksWizard of Oz at the Sphere

Some days, the news cycle alone makes a windowless concrete box 20 feet underground sound like a five-star spa. If I hear one more story about Putin's shirtless fishing trips, Trump’s latest bid to annex a golf course, or receive another passive-aggressive email from Heather in HR (“Just circling back”), I swear I’m digging a tunnel straight to my Cold War fallout bunker. Honestly, it’s starting to look like the only sane option. Give me 500 tins of baked beans, 300 cans of prunes in syrup (for that gourmet doom cuisine), a lifetime supply of toilet paper, and a hamster named Sir Whiskerstein powering my vintage record player. I’ll be down there listening to ABBA’s greatest hits while the surface world fights over the last Toblerone Dark, like it’s the Ring of Power. Call it escapism, call it nerdcore survivalism, call it time to actually get some peace and quiet, but whatever you call it, it’s time to crawl out through the fallout baby as today we look at cold war nuclear bunkers…This week we are recommendingKris:Once Upon A Time in SpaceDaisy May & Charlie Cooper's NightwatchMonster: The Ed Gein StoryEd Byrne Needs a New HobbyThreads BBCAlpaka Clutch - Daily CarryOlight Pens & TorchesAndi:Adam Savage's One Day Builds: Cylon Models with Battlestar Galactica's Aaron Douglas! - YouTubeFallout Season 2 Trailer: Lucy and Ghoul Prepare for War in New VegasMonarch: Legacy Of Monsters, season 2 teaserFUTURE MAN S1 Official TrailerSilo — Official Trailer | Apple TV - YouTubeGenesis - No admittance (1991) Remastered - YouTubeOnce We Were Spacemen - Podcast - Apple Podcasts28DaysLater Urban Exploring ForumsPlayPhrase.me: Site for cinema archaeologists.LinksKrisAlpaka - Zip ClutchOlight: Pens, Torches & EDC accessories

As Halloween approaches, and we leave behind the 50th Anniversary of Spielberg’s two-note themed horror epic Jaws, we look at another director, one with many iconic horror films under his belt, and one who is not shy of using the two-note theme tune. A Director who has become synonymous with this time of year , but who has also taken us to outer planets as well. A director who is as well known for also creating the soundtracks to his films, as the films themselves. So get ready for Halloween, look out to that Dark Star and hope that, if that Thing comes to get you, you’ll be able to Escape from New York. If you haven't guess already, in honour of Halloween, this week we take a deep dive into the career of John Carpenter.Tech newsAmazon glassesThis week we are recommendingKris:Dark Star (1974).The Penguin LessonsChrome: Dark Reader extension. Andi:Slow Horses, Apple TV+Love, Death + Robots - The Other Large Thing - NetflixThe Rise of the Synths - WikipediaSend your name around the Moon on Artemis II Send Your Name to SpaceHow to Beat ChatGPT: How to Not Say AI killed my job. eBook : Nicholas Bate  - Kindle StoreLinksMoontrap (1988) ORIGINAL TRAILER [HD 1080p] - YouTubeBanned in the 80s: Moments That Shook Music - BBC iPlayerJohn Carpenter on Live Concerts, Unreleased Projects and Love for Cinema

Welcome to Episode 15 of Nerdist Camp. Yes, we built this episode from scratch, it was a stream of consciousness, so crank up the handle as we take you for a spin on a voyage of disc-covery which you may like a bit if you can work out the algorithm. It’s gonna be a reel joy, but I won’t give you any spoolers just yet, so lets cue the tape and hit record…If you haven’t guessed it already, this episode we’re talking about all things music formats. Tech newsSpotify to add AIAll the gearElgato bought out a bigger prompter (Why?)This week we are recommendingKris:Monster: The Ed Gein StoryPSB Night Flight, The Last Flight remixesExcitedly awaiting the new Tron Ares soundtrackAndiDiscover. Track. Share. - TraktThe Orb - ‘Buddhist Hipsters” Tron AresWatch Drew: The Man Behind the Poster | Prime Video (Drew passed on 13th October)Celebrity Traitors on BBCMerlin’s Café Bar | Birmingham’s Alternative Bar & Restaurant – Cocktails, Food & Events LinksHow a Suzanne Vega Song Helped Create the MP3Suzanne Vega - Reverse MP3Spotify to add AI

As we were building this episode, it took a while to find all the pieces. We knew what the finished thing should look like, but we had to lay all the components on the table and figure out if any pieces were missing. As we assembled the episode, it slowly snapped together. We may have been bricking it at one point, but eventually we could see it coming together and were glad we paid the price. Now everything is awesome. If you haven't guessed already, today we're talking about Denmark’s biggest export, no it's not Sandi Toksvig, it's Lego!Tech newsAmazon announcementsSora by OpenAIGrainger ThingsAll the gearDo I need another e-ink tablet? (Yes, yes I do). I’ve never (confessions)Kris: Seen Hackers, oops!Andi: This week we are recommendingKris:reMarkable Paper Pro Move Anker chargersDead Man Running (BBC Sounds)Tron 4K remasters. Andi:The Morning Show (The Morning Show Season 1 Trailer)Nick Warren’s new album ‘Turbulence’ - Inside 'Turbulence': Nick Warren’s first solo flight - Electronic GrooveSlow Horses — Official Trailer | Apple TV+ - YouTubeExtreme E (3 minute highlight Grand Final Highlights | R.01 2024 Desert X Prix | Extreme E - YouTube)Desert Island Discs - Michael Sheen, actor - BBC SoundsMaking a Vogon spaceship from Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy out of toys and junk - YouTubeLinks⛓️🔗🖇️Tom's Guide - Amazon Event

Today, we’re planning a score of our own. Every good heist story starts with assembling the team — and lucky for you, we’ve got just the right mix of brains, charm, and ok, maybe a touch of chaos. We’ll walk through the meticulous rehearsal, the nail-biting nerves before the job, and that perfect moment when everything clicks like clockwork… until it doesn’t. Because in every great heist film, there’s always a spanner in the works. Will we get away clean, sipping cocktails on a beach somewhere? Or will we be telling this story from behind bars? Stick around — because in this episode, we’re cracking open the vaults of the greatest heist movies.This week we are recommendingKris:Only Murders in the Building Season 5The Last of Us (late to the party with this one)FalloutDavid Gilmour at Circus Maximus. Andi:MusicBox: Save Music for Later on iOS/macOS. ‎Watch Pilot - Acapulco (Series 1, Episode 1) - Apple TV+ (UK)Epic Ride review | Epic Universe docuseries on PeacockGoldenEye 30th AnniversaryFilmumentaries – Podcasts * Documentaries * BooksMark Ronson has a new book out - Mark Ronson on being a night person - and Lady Gaga trashing his car - BBC NewsLinksArticle on Huntington's Treatment

Today Andi takes a deep dive into the discovery of the world's most famous shipwreck, so grab your first class tickets and get ready to join us on a voyage of discovery as we plunge the depths of our knowledge to mark 40 years since the discovery of the wreck on the 1st of September…Titanic (launched 1912) was the second of 3 Olympic class ships - she had two sisters, the Olympic (launched first in 1911) and Britannic (1915)We take a deep dive into the projects to try and find and observe her, some successful, some disasterous, some so close, but no cigar. We discuss the technologies developed for the search and the films that have been inspired by the most famous of all shipping disasters. This week we are recommendingKris:Thursday Murder Club (Netflix)Resident Alien (Netflix)The Staedtler Norris Digital Jumbo Stylus (Amazon: also available as a thinner, longer version, without the eraser)The Odessa File, blu ray (Amazon)Black Sunday, blu ray (Amazon)Andi:Lee - Sky Movies/NowTells the life story of war photographer Lee Miller (played by Kate Winslet)The Jezabels, “Prisoner” (album, 2011)BBC Radio 4 - Forest 404Forest 404 was a science fiction podcast produced by the BBC that starred Pearl Mackie. The series debuted in 2019 on BBC Sounds and was later broadcast on BBC Radio 4. The 27-part show was composed of nine narrative episodes, each accompanied by a soundscape and a discussion on the show's themes. The story was written by Timothy X Atak, and the theme music was by Bonobo.The narrative of the show follows a data analyst named Pan who lives in a dystopian 24th century. Pan is tasked with cataloguing and deleting the remaining audio from before a global catastrophe. While reviewing the audio, she discovers recordings of the natural world and finds that they have a profound effect on whoever listens to them. LinksGoliath Awaits - Wikipedia

The War of The WorldsWelcome back to Nerdist Camp. This week Andi and Kris discuss the H.G. Wells' classic, The War of The Worlds. We'll look at how we first encountered it and the many adaptations, both good and bad, that have followed.Some of the topics:"Why has there never been a good version set in the original time period? Doesn't seem to be a problem with Charles Dickens".HG Wells novella, to Orson Welles’ radio drama that scared a nation, to movie, to Spielberg movie, to 1970s concept album, and countless tv remakes, the War of the Worlds has undergone numerous adaptations and continues to inspire and perplex us today.No one would have believed, in the last years of the 1970s, that a TV composer who wrote arrangements for David Essex would put together a cast including Richard Burton, Justin Hayward, David Essex, Phil Lynott, Julie Covington and Chris Thompson. Few men even considered the possibilities of trying to sync up two analogue 24 track machines, and then getting the mix of the second half accidently shredded, and using synthesisers, a string section, electric musicians and a saucepan, and turning what was meant to be a single, into an LP, then a double album. And yet, at Advision Studios and Abbey Road, a mind immeasurably superior to ours, regarded this task as something in his stride, and slowly, and surely, he fueled our imaginations.This week we are recommending:Kris:Stolen: Heist of the Century, Netflix.These Wires Are Live: A Celebration of Electricity Pylons (2024) (Mark Campbell with music by Jeremy Wahab) on Talking Pictures TVs encore service, Freeview channel 82.Every Good Boy Deserves Favour - The Moody Blues.Storm Corrosion (Steve Wilson & MIKAEL AKERFELDT). Andi:The Cure, ‘Mixes Of A Lost World’ Preorder of Hackers (30th anniversary 4k rescan, Iain Softley and Mark Kermode commentaries)Missions - BBC Four. French sci-fi, very cool.