This week Eden and Peter dive into William Friedkin’s gritty 1977 thriller Sorcerer, a tense and sweat-soaked remake of The Wages of Fear. They talk through the film’s nihilistic worldview, Friedkin’s unrelenting direction, and Tangerine Dream’s eerie score that pushes the movie into fever-dream territory. Along the way, they share personal stories of how the film lingered in memory for decades, debate whether Sorcerer deserved its original flop status, and marvel at the sheer intensity of the bridge sequence. They also connect the film to broader cultural legacies—from the shadow of Star Wars to the way cult classics find redemption years later.

Show Notes
Opening catch-up

• Summer weather updates and life events.
• Peter finishes Donkey Kong Bonanza and shares thoughts on Taskmaster series 7 vs 8.
• Music chat: new Deftones (Private Music), Testament’s upcoming Parabellum, and the death of Mastodon’s Brett Hinds.

Work & reading tangents

• Eden’s deep dive into accessibility struggles with LaTeX, Pandoc, and PDFs (“the world’s worst file format”).
• Reading The Apothecary Diaries and Azumanga Daioh; comparisons with Nichijo and City.
• Listening to Tangerine Dream’s catalog and soundtrack prep for the film.

Imperfect Practice launch

• Peter introduces his new blog and YouTube channel, “Imperfect Practice,” focused on experiments with productivity, journaling, and workflows.

Main Event: Sorcerer

• Eden’s blind pick, Peter’s buried childhood memory of the Tangerine Dream LP, and initial impressions.
• Full plot breakdown with detailed discussion of:
  • The four opening vignettes.
  • Building the trucks and loading unstable dynamite.
  • The infamous 12-minute bridge sequence.
  • The brutal downer ending and themes of fate and nihilism.
• Discussion of the title Sorcerer (why it’s terrible, Friedkin’s explanation).
• Behind-the-scenes misery, budget overruns, and authenticity (actors did most of their own stunts).
• The soundtrack’s role in creating alienation and tension.
• Release woes: arriving weeks after Star Wars and being critically panned before decades-later reevaluation into cult-classic canon.

Wrap-up

• Reflections on its heavy but unforgettable impact.

Links
Imperfect Practice
Imperfect Practice on YouTube

What starts as a simple dive into media tracking apps quickly spirals into tangents about puzzles from hell, glamping with bison and mustangs, fistfights with Satan in Pittsburgh, and the glory days of scrobbling music. Along the way, Peter and Eden hash out their very different relationships with games, books, music, and movies—and why, at the end of the day, “the juice is not worth the squeeze” when it comes to tracking everything we consume.

Opening catch-up:

• Eden returns from travel and vents about the oppressive Midwestern humidity.
• Eden recounts a cursed puzzle vacation and a surreal HipCamp adventure that included glamping in a bus, staying at a mustang ranch, and hearing a wild coma story involving battling Satan.
• A detour into mobile gaming: Eden introduces the absurd yet addictive horse girl racing game Uma Musume.
• Peter shares his ongoing love for Taskmaster, Donkey Kong Bonanza on the Switch 2, and recent reading progress (Wind and Truth, Tiny Experiments).
• Music talk:
  • New releases from Carbomb, Abigail Williams, and Blackbraid.
  • Remembering Eric Wunder of Cobalt, with Peter realizing Slow Forever might be his true desert island album.

Main Topic: Media tracking apps and services.

• Video games: Eden dabbled with Backloggd but finds it too much work; Peter doesn’t see the appeal beyond Steam’s built-in history.
• Books: Eden logs reads in a notebook; Peter wrestles with StoryGraph, Hardcover, and Goodreads but finds the friction too high. Notion experiments fail; AI-summarized notes for nonfiction survive.
• Music: Nostalgia for scrobbling and Last.fm; frustrations with Spotify, Apple Music, and Plex setups. Peter praises Plexamp and Rune; Eden experiments with Cloud Beats and dreams of a NAS.
• Movies/TV: Eden dislikes fragmented platforms; Peter mentions using Sequel lightly but relies most on Call Sheet, an IMDb alternative. Eden uses League of Comic Geeks only to track physical comics in his collection.

Closing thoughts: both agree that while tracking can be tempting, talking to people and communities is a far more rewarding way to discover new media.

In this episode, Eden and Peter dive into Fantastic Four: First Steps, a surprisingly hopeful and aesthetically stunning addition to the MCU. They unpack the film’s utopian vision, its fresh take on superhero storytelling, and why it might be one of Marvel’s most emotionally resonant efforts to date. From retrofuturist aesthetics to character depth and non-violent resolutions, they explore how this movie dares to imagine a better world—and why that makes it so special.

Episode Show Notes:

Catching up: Peter’s travel chaos, shaving disasters, and reading Tiny Experiments by Anne-Laure Le Cunff
Reflections on creativity, late-stage capitalism, and the need for exploration and failure
Eden breaks down the odd digital logic of Japanese fantasy novels and the legacy of Dragon Quest
A detour into Star Wars Galaxies Restoration and its refreshing take on MMO life and Jedi origins

Main topic: Fantastic Four: First Steps

• Both hosts loved the movie and were surprised by how well it worked
• The mid-century retrofuturist aesthetic is a standout success
• The characters feel fully-formed and lived-in—no drawn-out origin story
• Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby) emerges as the true heart and leader of the team
• Emphasis on creativity and intelligence over brute force
• A rare example of superheroes making the world better, not just protecting the status quo
• The story’s utopian tone sets it apart from typical superhero narratives
• Franklin Richards’ birth and future teased with major power implications
• Galactus and the Silver Surfer are compelling and visually stunning additions
• A shared sense of optimism and trust among the characters and the world
• Some minor nitpicks (Ben Grimm’s beard?) but overall glowing praise
• Post-credits Doom tease? Who cares.
• Nervousness about Avengers: Doomsday expectations
• Final thoughts: a hopeful, human, and character-driven superhero film that stands out