Mike and Ryan After Dark Episodes

The third show on the Mike vs. The World podcast network is also the first video podcast! Check it out as my wife and I talk about whatever we want for 45 minutes or so. 

LATEST EPISODE

Episode 02: Better Than Swayze

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PAST EPISODES

Mike and Ryan After Dark Ep. 01 - The Zack Morris Effect

Top 10 Most Shocking Moments in Game of Thrones

On episode five of Mike vs. The World, we talked about the fifth season of Game of Thrones. We attempted to come up with a top five or even top three list of the most shocking moments, but had a tough time agreeing. So, I decided to look at the facts and come up with my personal top 10 most shocking moments of the show for your reading pleasure. 

~ ~ ~ ALL THE SPOILERS EVER FOLLOW ~ ~ ~

10. SANSA'S WEDDING NIGHT

Littlefinger (the most untrustworthy character ever created in all of literature) sets his beloved Sansa up with Ramsay Bolton, the sexual deviant, penis chopping, sociopath of the north to help unite the Kingdom. What could go wrong, right? Sansa’s wedding night was shocking, but not because it was out of character for Ramsay to do what he did, even making Theon (Reek) watch, but it was shocking because it was such a departure from the books. Many believe, myself included, there was no reason to use rape as a plot point here, Sansa had already suffered enough.

9. OH BLACKWATER, KEEP ON BURNIN'

Blackwater, season 2: episode 9, may be one of the best episodes in the history of television, period. Stannis and his huge navy sailing to King’s Landing and the battle that followed was so well done it’s scary. The shocking thing is that Stannis lost the battle he should have easily won. Due to the clever planning of Tyrion using the Wildfire to destroy half of Stannis’ ships, and his father Tywin showing up at the last minute with his army, they saved King’s Landing from capture and siege.

8. THE VIPER'S HEADACHE

Gruesome doesn’t do this moment justice. Oberyn “The Red Viper” Martell was seconds away from winning the trial by combat for Tyrion against Queen Cersei's champion “The Mountain" Ser Gregor Clegane. His speed and cunning were huge weapons against the lumbering Mountain … but in true Martell fashion, he got cocky, and then he literally got his head crushed by the Mountains bare hands. Oh yeah, and HBO showed it, in all it’s glory. WOW. This leads to a shocking moment not on the list, with Tyrion having to kill both his lover Shea and father Tywin in order to escape the city with the help of his brother Jaime and Varys the Spider.

7. STANNIS FIRES HIS DAUGHTER

It’s hard to find and stick with someone to root for in Game of Thrones (As upcoming entries on this list will show) … but Stannis seemed to be a decent choice. He had some honor, had a rightful claim to the throne, and seemed to be a “somewhat” ok guy. Then in season 5: episode 9 it all fell apart, quickly. With his army dieing in the blizzard-conditions of the north, awaiting to march on Winterfell, he felt he had to do something drastic. Convinced by the Red Lady Melisandre, Stannis burned his own daughter alive to sacrifice her to the Lord of Light to aid in their conquest of Westeros. Talk about your all time backfires. Half of Stannis’ army deserted him, his wife hang herself, and once the remaining men got to Winterfell, they were slaughtered by the much larger (and waiting) Bolton army. Stannis dies, and I'll bet he didn't see that one in the fire.

6. THEON, LORD AND MASTER OF WINTERFELL

In season two, Robb Stark sends his friend Theon back to his homeland of the Iron Islands to try and get the Greyjoys to join the northern army and fight under King Robb. When he gets there, Theon is instead shamed by his father and sister, and convinced to rebel instead. He betrays the Starks, successfully captures a vulnerable Winterfell, and does a really terrible job beheading Winterfell’s knight, Sir Muttonchops. It doesn’t last long, as Robb Stark sends the Boltons to retake Winterfell. The Boltons retake Winterfell and capture Theon without a fight, and Ramsay gets him as his own little play-thing. Also, make sure not to ask Theon Greyjoy how he pees these days.

5. JOFFREY GETS COLD "EVERYTHING" AT HIS WEDDING

The biggest “cock”roach of the story finally meets his maker at the beginning of season 4. Just when you think that King Joffrey will be the last person standing in Westeros, he is poisoned to death at his own wedding, seemingly by Lady Tyrell and Littlefinger. This event proves that not all shocking moments in Game of Thrones are bad, as we all let out a collective cheer watching good ol' Jeffy turn purple, bleed from his eyes and nose, and then croke. Good riddens to that bag of dicks.

4. FALLIN' (NOT RAISEN) BRAN

Little 10-year-old Bran climbed up to the wrong window in the wrong tower in the very first episode of the show. He got an eye-full of the Queen getting all sweaty with her own brother and member of the Kingsguard Jaime. And what does he get for seeing this? Well, a healthy shove from about 30 feet up by Jamie, who I’m assuming went right back to what he was doing to avoid the royal blueballs. Bran survived and didn’t remember what happened, but this act set the entire tone for the series as nothing, and no one, was deemed sacred.

3. YOU KNOW NOTHING JON SNOW

You could almost say the top 3 most shocking moments are interchangeable, as they essentially represent the same act carried out 3 ways. Jon Snow’s death at the very end of season 5 was particularly hard as he was one of the last people the fans of the show had their faith in. After losing nearly everyone else, Jon Snow was to be the Champion of Westeros. Instead, he was betrayed by his brothers of the Night’s Watch and repeatedly stabbed to death for allying with the Wildlings against the true threat to the world, the White Walkers. After this season, there are literally only a couple of people left to root for, and I truly fear for their lives.

2. IT'S A NICE DAY FOR A RED WEDDING

Holy crap, weddings in Game of Thrones end as well as weddings in the WWE. This was a tale of those who read the books and those who didn’t, and the reactions on Facebook and youtube were something to behold. Rob Stark was the King of the North, a moral compass to look to, and he was in love with a nurse who he met on the battlefield. Unfortunately, he was already betrothed to a daughter of Walder Frey in order to forge an alliance with his followers. This led to arguably the largest betrayal of the season (maybe ever) as The Freys, Boltons, and Lannisters collaborated to murder Rob Stark, his wife and unborn child, and his Mother Catelyn at the wedding of Roose Bolton and another of Walder Frey’s daughters. The event was known as “The Red Wedding,” and it turned the entire momentum of the war from the Stark’s favor to King Joffrey and Tywin Lannister’s. And to make it worse, all the murders were beyond gruesome, especially the repeated stabbing of Robb Stark’s pregnant wife’s belly. ::shudders::

1: THE EDDARDLY BEHEADING

“Ned” was the main character of the show, someone who everyone liked and could root for, and he made everyone around him better. He was freaking Captain Westeros for god’s sake. Loyal to a fault, Ned tried to unearth the truth about Jamie fathering Cersei’s children. If Joffrey wasn't King Robert's real son, he had no claim to the throne after Robert's death. While totally true and just, all this did was piss everyone off who already had power, and it landed him in jail and eventually on the executioner’s block for treason. 

And just when you thought that Queen Mother Cersei was going to let Eddard live and carry out his sentence of treason on the Wall as a member of the Night’s watch (To hopefully hold the peace of Westeros … you know, the smart move), King Joffrey makes the call to have him killed anyway. 

CHOP, no more head for Ned. This then sets the war of Five Kings into motion and sets the precedence for the show that NO ONE is safe. The most shocking moment of the series for me ...why? Because it dulls the shock of every moment that follows. If they can kill Freaking Ned Stark, they’ll freaking kill anyone. And they have.


Make sure to listen to episode 5 of Mike vs. the World
Mike vs. Game of Thrones

Top 5 Steven Spielberg Movies

On the 4th, and impromptu, episode of Mike vs the World ... I mentioned that I needed to do a top 5 list of Steven Spielberg movies in honor of Jurassic World. He is one of the icons in directing and has some amazing movies under his belt, so this was pretty easy for me to come out with my list. I do have to qualify something; if you notice a HUGE movie missing, it's because I've never seen Schindler's List. Sorry. 

5. JAWS

 

"I think we're going to need a bigger boat." I still quote this movie all the time, even nearly 40 years later. It's still one of the best animal disaster movies all time, but ironically not the best one on this list. The shark was not scary, but the John William's Jaws theme still gives me goosebumps to this day. 

4. CATCH ME IF YOU CAN

This movie took me by surprise because I didn't have huge expectations for it. I was, of course a huge fan of Tom Hanks, but wasn't sold on this Leonardo DiCaprio kid yet. I was sold on him by the end of this movie, it is the role that made me love Leo for now and forever. I also love the fact you're rooting for the bad guy them entire movie. 

3. INDIANA JONES AND THE RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK

The first of the Indiana Jones movies is still my favorite. I'm a sucker for origin stories as you know. This movie is two hours of charm and face-melting awesomeness. Also bringing a knife to a gun fight is one of my favorite scenes in movie history, Harrison Ford is a B-A-Double D, A-Double S. 

2. SAVING PRIVATE RYAN

Even as a teenager who grew up watching bloody horror movies, the first 20 minutes of this movie is a little tough to watch, probably because all of it could have easily happened. Probably Tom Hanks best role of all time besides Forrest Gump, his leading of the squad hunting for Matt Damon is nearly the perfect cinematic search and rescue mission ever. 

1. JURASSIC PARK

I will admit some nostalgia for this movie on my part, but I think any 11-year-olds watching this movie in the theater for the first time would agree that Jurassic Park just freaking rocks. I love the way the dinosaurs became a part of our world and the T-Rex Jeep scene has become one of the most iconic in movie history. This movie also began my obsession with velociraptors, that even today, I have a hard time escaping. 

Also Make sure to listen to Episode 4 of Mike vs. The World

Mike vs the Highways of South Carolina

AWESOME MIX: VOL. 2

There's no doubt that one of the things that makes Guardians of the Galaxy such an awesome movie is the amazing soundtrack that fits the film perfectly. While it would be impossible to create the perfect accompaniment to the Guardians sequel, we attempted to do just that. I posed the topic on the Mike vs the World facebook page and got a decent response, and a freaking awesome track list. Turns out we have some good taste in tunes...

So here is the list of songs we came up with

(Range 1969-1981)

 1.   Radar Love - Golden Earring

2.   Play That Funky Music - Wild Cherry

3.   Let it Whip - Dazz Band

4.   Sympathy For The Devil - The Rolling Stones

5.   Let's Get it On - Marvin Gaye

6.   Brandi (What a Fine Girl) - Looking Glass

7.   Mr. Big Stuff - Jean Knight

8.   Love Rollercoaster - Ohio Players

9.   Jailbreak - Thin Lizzy

10.   Baker Street - Gerry Rafferty

11.   Baby Come Back - Player

12.   Hold On Loosely - .38 Special

13.   20th Century Boy - T.Rex

EDIT

Since I was digging this playlist so much, I decided to comb through my wealth of 70s music knowledge and come up with a 2nd playlist of "Awesome Mix: Vol. 2 B-Sides."

1. I Will Survive - Gloria Gainer

2. I'm Your Boogyman - K.C. and the Sunshine Band

3. The Logical Song - Supertramp

4. Keep on Rockin' Me - Steve Miller Band

5. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road - Elton John

6. Do It Again - Steely Dan

7. My Sharona - The Knack

8. Have You Ever Seen The Rain - Creedence Clearwater Revival

9. Night Moves - Bob Segar

10. Rock With You - Michael Jackson

11. No Matter What - Badfinger

12. I Saw The Light - Tod Rundgren

13. Do You Love Me - The Contours

TOP 5 MARVEL CHARACTERS THAT NEED A NETFLIX SHOW

On episode 2 of Mike vs. the World, we talked about Netflix’s Daredevil and the amazing job they did with the show. It got me thinking about some other Marvel characters that I’d love to see get a 12-episode or so treatment on Netflix. I don’t think I could come up with a convincing ten, but I think a top five list will suffice here.

5. GHOST RIDER

I’m putting Johnny Blaze at number 5 because he's the most unlikely character on my list to get a show, due to the whole flaming head thing. I’m sure they could come up with SOME way to do it, but it might be tough on a budget. I think he could easily fit into the more-focused streets of New York setting that has already been established in Daredevil, and could fight the obscure villains in the Marvel universe without being outmatched. They may just need to take a few powers away from him as he is WAY overpowered for normal criminals.

4. LONGSHOT

Longshot may be owned by FOX, but they could always just make him an inhuman, or the like, to skirt that issue. A season of Longshot would be a season of action comedy, as he has the ability to change probabilities, has superhuman agility, and a healing factor. That means he could get into absolutely crazy situations, but would somehow find a way out of it. The only issue is that he is an artificial being created by aliens, but they could totally retcon that and just make him an "enhanced" being from Earth.

3. BLACK CAT

A Black Cat season would be the perfect way to continue ease Spider-Man into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Now, the season would work best if Peter Parker could make a cameo once in awhile, but Felicia Hardy’s underground life as a cat burglar would be solid without him. In order to make her not a complete villain, some creative license would have to be taken with her motivations for stealing, but it should be easy enough to come up with a compelling storyline.

2. BLADE

I’m one of the rare people who loved all of the Blade movies, even the third one. However, even I can’t deny that the character rebooted as a Netflix series would be absolutely sweet. Being part of a culture that loves vampires and other supernatural beings, having a bad-ass, half-breed vampire hero who kills other vampires would be an amazing thing to experience for a season on Netflix.

1. THE PUNISHER

Frank Castle’s story of vengeance is absolutely perfect for a Netflix season. He’s dark, morally grey, and his anger for those who killed his family burns white hot. The best thing about the Punisher is that he’s such a wildcard with his tactics, that it opens the doors for other “heroes” to step in to take him down if he goes a little off the rails … which he will.

Also, Make sure to check out Episode 2 of Mike vs. The World

Mike vs. Marvel's Daredevil

TOP 10 STEPHEN KING WORKS

On the first episode of Mike vs. the World, we discussed the amazing world of Stephen King's The Dark Tower. I thought about where I would place the books in comparison to the rest of King's works, and my top 10 would have been half tower books. So instead, I made two top 5 lists (one for novels and one for movies) and lumped all of the Dark Tower books together in the former. 

TOP 5 STEPHEN KING NOVELS

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Hearts in Atlantis, IT

Hearts in Atlantis wasn’t actually a novel, but a series of interconnected novellas and short stories … but it is easily one of my favorites (especially the 2nd part). It is one of those timeless King stories he will forever be associated with. It’s great, albeit very long and at times extremely bizarre.

5. THE TALISMAN

The Dark Tower series has enhanced my love of a few of King’s other works, and the Talisman was the biggest example of that. The cross-country (and dimension) travels of Jack and Wolf had a awesome old-school fantasy-adventure feel to it along with King’s normal style. It’s the closest thing to an unofficial Dark Tower spin-off there is, as it takes place in the world next door.

4. SALEM'S LOT

I read Salem’s Lot about 30 years after it was first published, and it still holds up as my favorite vampire story of all time. The Father Callahan tie-in to the Dark Tower is what got me in the door, but the overall story of a small town’s battle with an ancient vampire kept me hooked.

3. NEEDFUL THINGS

Needful Things blew me away, mostly because I had didn’t have very high expectations for it. This story of a mysterious shop-owner who sets up in Castle Rock and seems to have the exact thing that every patron wants was so well written and put together that I wished it wouldn’t end. And at 691 pages long, that’s a pretty crazy statement.

2. THE STAND

What can you say about the Stand that hasn’t been said before? It’s the one book that you hand anyone that shows any interest in Stephen King, because it’s the gauge. If you don’t like The Stand, there’s no hope for you. It still serves as one of my favorite tales of good vs. evil, and will probably be so until the day I die.

1. THE DARK TOWER SERIES

The Dark Tower is epic. It’s interwoven into most of King’s other works. It’s Stephen King on the grandest stage, it’s his Lord of the Rings … only way better. The story of Roland’s journey to the Dark Tower takes every turn imaginable, and the people along his path are some of the most interesting characters I’ve ever read. The choice between this story and The Stand was a tough one, but won out for me on it’s sheer scope.

TOP 5 STEPHEN KING MOVIES

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Pet Sematary and The Shining, Storm of the Century

Pet Sematary is easily the most disturbing of King’s stories and one of the only movies that ever scared me as a kid. It does have a few problems, which is what left it off my top 5. The Shining was one of the best and probably the most mainstream of his “horror” movies, but Kubrick's take on the movie changed it enough to keep it off my list. Storm of the Century has to be mentioned as well as one of King’s best as well, but at times suffers from being a little slow.

5. THE GREEN MILE

The Green Mile was an amazing movie, and most agree seeing as though it was an Academy Award nominated movie for best picture. Tom Hanks and Michael Clark Duncan’s performances in this movie alone make it worthy of the top 5 list, and the story of a special inmate on death row and his warden is both heartwarming and extremely sad. (Heartwarming isn’t exactly what King is normally known for)

4. THE MIST

The Mist is a story of a small town that is right next door to a dimensional tear in the fabric of reality that allows some seriously nasty stuff through into our world. Also, The Mist is one of the 1% of movies that doesn’t have a happy ending, and I love it for that. It was a ballsy choice, and not one that everyone likes, but it stands as one of my favorite endings to a horror movie I’ve ever seen.

3. STAND BY ME

Stand By My is easily the King movie I’ve watched the most, seeing as it was a staple in my childhood. I wore my old VHS copy of it out. Based off of King’s novella ‘The Body,’ this story of four kids trying to find the body of a kid who was killed by a train is one of the best written and acted movies starring young actors I’ve ever seen. While not scary in the least, it’s picture proof that King’s greatest strength is writing characters.

2. THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION

I can recognize that The Shawshank Redemption is the best King movie of all time, even if it isn’t my favorite. Wrongfully accused and imprisoned Andy’s journey to escape Shawshank prison is one of the best movies of the past 30 years. Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman’s performances are absolutely incredible, and the scene where Andy takes the prison intercom system hostage is one of favorite of all time.

1. THE STAND

The Stand (while actually a mini-series rather than a movie) is my favorite example of King’s book to screen works. Gary Sinise and Rob Lowe both put in amazing performances and everything about the movie has personality. About 6-hours long, the movie never gets too slow and I loved the struggle between Randall Flagg (one of the best villains of all time) and Mother Abigail. Even though the Stand isn’t too frightening, the scene where Larry Underwood and Nadine Cross have to walk through the Lincoln tunnel when filled with cars of dead people is one of the most intense scenes I’ve ever watched.  

Make sure you go back and listen to Episode 1 of Mike Vs. The World

Mike vs. The Dark Tower and Stephen King

NERD BATTLE: MARVEL CIVIL WAR

On episode 3 of Mike vs. The World, we held an old-fashioned pick'em in the spirit of the next Captain America: Civil War

I pitted Nerd Mode's Spacebuck Chuck against The B.S. Chronicles and Snake Oil Comics' Big Dev

The rules were whoever picked first, chose either Iron Man or Captain America as their team captains, and then opposite person got the other guy and got to choose the next person. Dev elected to defer and Chuck took Captain America, which left Dev with Iron Man.

These are the teams they chose. You chose who is the winner!

TEAM SPACEBUCK CHUCK

Captain America, The Vision, Scarlet Witch, War Machine, Black Widow


VS


TEAM BIG DEV

Iron Man, The Winter Soldier, Spider-Man, Black Panther, Ant-Man

WHO WINS?
VOTE HERE