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Misery
26 Plays3 days ago
Join Nick and Mercedes as they discuss the 1990 Stephen King adaption of Misery. Among other things.
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Transcript
Introduction and Film Focus: Misery
00:01:11
Speaker
What is up everyone? We are morbid curiosities back for our second episode with misery. I am Nicholas Yours and with me is Mercedes Martinez.
00:01:22
Speaker
Hell yeah, Mercedes, woo woo! Hell yeah, episode two coming in hot, coming in hot with misery detected by Rob Reiner. This was a Mercedes pick, so this one, was this one that was like near and dear to you? So we're gonna peek behind the curtain again. We recorded this episode once already.
00:01:45
Speaker
So, but I've forgotten almost everything we've talked about for that movie. I don't remember why. I remembered Psycho a bit better. I don't remember the Misery record, but, same um, was this one that was like near and dear to your heart was Misery a movie that was pretty important to you?
00:02:01
Speaker
Not exactly. It was just one scene was like super traumatic to me. And when we were going over a list of movies that like we were considering covering for the podcast, like that one stuck out to me because I was like, oh my God, that one scene and you haven't seen it. you You have to watch this movie now. So it got me really excited. um So spoilers for Misery going forward. But what scene are you talking about?
00:02:30
Speaker
the All right. We're just diving right in. Okay. So, uh, we got a, we got an hour. We got an hour. We got to get through this. Yeah. Oh yeah. True. Okay. So we got to dedicate like a half hour to talking about like corn or something, the band corn, not like the starch vegetable. I wasn't thinking about that. I was thinking about Jonathan Davis. Yeah. Our listeners though, that they and might not be up to speed with what we're about.
00:02:59
Speaker
That's very true. OK, sorry, guys.
Traumatic and Specific Scenes in Misery
00:03:01
Speaker
I forgot about you guys. But yeah, so the scene I was referring to was I always pronounce this guy's name wrong. Is it James Khan or James Can?
00:03:14
Speaker
Uh, Khan, I think? Khan, I think so too. Okay, so James Khan being the wonderful writer he is in here gets, you know, kind of abducted after he crashed and Kathy Bates is trying to, you know, bring him back to, you know,
00:03:32
Speaker
his normal self, but he's already injured and then she's essentially holding him hostage and then when she realizes he's trying to make an escape out of her house, she destroys his legs in the most painful way possible.
00:03:55
Speaker
you know i wouldn't have known that that was going to be in the movie if it weren't for the fucking poster of the movie and not the one not the cabin uh that the cabin poster that says misery with the snow on it that's a badass poster our version of it too for the episode you're listening to right now that's also badass arguably more badass than the misery poster yeah people have argued that oh but me I am people
00:04:33
Speaker
and but no so my voodoo account fandango at home whatever they're called now the poster on that is um the ankle with uh for the listeners i almost held up my ankle to the camera for Mercedes um i'm a visual learner guys i had to yeah It would have played very well for the podcast. It really would have. But yeah, like it's the ankle with like the block of wood and then a typewriter. And I'm like, well, that's like the whole last act of the movie just on the poster right there. Everything aside from like a pig statue smashing Kathy Bates in the face, you know, that's all the poster needs to fully spoil then. by the way if we didn't mention it spoils for misery yeah exactly we just told the whole ending um yeah i've never seen that poster though i've only seen the poster with the cabin in the woods so
00:05:35
Speaker
I'm going to pull it up for you and show it to you over. because
Spoiler Issues in Movie Marketing
00:05:40
Speaker
I want to see that. Like I would have been mad like going into this movie and seeing that because it's I don't know. It's kind of how I was introduced to Green Room. I told you I was watching it and then you sent me the poster of the arm and I I didn't know what to expect of that.
00:05:59
Speaker
what can you see yeah wow that that definitely does give the entire it has the sledgehammer too oh my god yeah what fucking asshole they're like oh people get it they know misery right right like I have ah I hate it now when like I movies they have the entire damn plot in like a trailer or on the poster but they're mainly in like the trailers now so when you see the movie it's like well what was missing that I haven't already seen already
00:06:35
Speaker
Abigail was a movie that felt victim of that. um yeah For me especially, I was like, why are we watching the first half hour if we already know spoilers for Abigail? Skip ahead 15 seconds if you don't want to know. ah The fucking little girl's a vampire. Yeah.
00:06:58
Speaker
Okay, so I would have enjoyed the movie like so much more if I didn't know that or even if her dad when he came in like had a bigger role like Why did they do that to us? Yeah, that's like, you know, and that's one of those things where ah People have argued like well, you can't blame the movie for the marketing but ah I mean, the world we live in, we're all victims of circumstance, you know, it just, it does affect the quality of your viewing, I guess, you know, at least for me. um Another movie, I was going to save it for when we, actually, no, I'll save it for when we cover the movie because I'll remember it, but, Nick, how are you going to always bring up something and then say you're not going to say it? Should I say it?
00:07:51
Speaker
I don't know now, because now I want to be surprised. I'll say it, because it might be a very long time. Well, not very. And I'll probably forget, realistically. like I have it's a terrible memory. It's a two movie series, so we might cover it soon. I'll just say it instead of dicking around everybody. um Sinister. That was a movie where the trailer gave away every single kill. And I like was so disappointed walking out of it because I was like,
00:08:21
Speaker
I saw all of this at home before I went into the movie theater and I was so bummed. so Sinister is going to be a real like test because I have distanced myself so much from that movie that I don't remember the trailer or the movie. so It'll be like a very clean like slate for me. I just remember Ooga Booga man with his corpse paint.
00:08:51
Speaker
<unk> boga Isn't that the the little mask from Crash Bandicoot? Oh, oh, that's a good pull. I think so. um Yeah, anyway, so
Rob Reiner's Stephen King Adaptations
00:09:05
Speaker
misery. Guys, if there is a weird pause for a second, guys, that's because i I cut out a whole bunch of shit because I just went off the rails and this episode is shorter than it it was supposed to be.
00:09:19
Speaker
and I was like so confused right now but I started talking about I was talking about Banjo Kazooie and I still don't know who that is it's better that we that we don't discuss it any further the less you know the better Yeah, oh my god. Okay, so, Misery, directed by Rob Reiner. um Since the time of our last recording, I still haven't seen any other Rob Reiner movies outside of When Harry Met Sally, and now Misery, you haven't seen that? You haven't seen, ah oh, and Stand By Me, what the fuck? I've seen that. Have you seen ah Stand By Me? I have not, actually.
00:10:08
Speaker
It's another Stephen King adaptation. This guy just fucking loves Stephen King or something. Stephen King has some some good some good things to bring to life in the
Misery's Wide Appeal and Humor
00:10:20
Speaker
and the big screen.
00:10:21
Speaker
Yeah, um this is Spinal Tap, that's another one. um Something I have to mention on this episode, because I said that I mentioned it on a different podcast, but it was from our other recording. um So now I'm obligated to say it on mic.
00:10:39
Speaker
ah I think Rob Reiner, I mean, he did an incredible job directing this, but I think the biggest compliment I could give him is he made maybe the two most like accessible or digestible Stephen King adaptations that are like out there.
00:11:04
Speaker
Granted, I haven't seen the Green Mile or the Shawshank Redemption, but Misery and Stand By Me seem like... I mean, they could probably play on TV relatively, like, uncensored and still... but I don't know, I feel like...
00:11:23
Speaker
anybody from any age range could reasonably watch these movies you know and you can't really say that about every Stephen King adaptation like that they're of this quality and that anybody and everybody could probably enjoy them.
00:11:41
Speaker
Yeah, like even with this one, um the part where um Paul Sheldon's character, he has Annie Wilkes read the draft of his new book and he was just asking like, oh, well, do you have any critiques? And she at first was trying to be a little like, you know, bashful, like, oh, who am I to critique you? But then she was just like,
00:12:08
Speaker
it's the swearing like it's you know it's too much you don't need to swear that much to get your point across and even with her she's not even swearing in the movie she just has a very colorful language palette but none of it is profanity so Yeah, I agree with you on that point. Yeah, I did like that moment you're talking about a lot because then when she was like, how would you like it if I was like this bitchly like soup or something? And I was like, bitchly. Like making it sound so weird, like using the wrong cuss words in like the wrong context. Like that was so awkward. And I think that's the point where Paul Sheldon was like, I don't think I'm safe here anymore.
00:12:56
Speaker
Yeah and this lady's just like spilling her weird gooey looking broth everywhere and then she's like look what you made me do and it's like yeah typical women can't accept accountability.
00:13:09
Speaker
um
00:13:12
Speaker
I agree.
00:13:17
Speaker
Like if I spill something, it's not my fault. It's whoever's next to me. It's their fault. It's always the dog's fault. You know, I'm feeling like you might be, you know, to blame for a lot of these dog shenanigans.
00:13:28
Speaker
Yeah, my dog, I can't stand her. If no one knew that, I can't stand my dog. Yeah, no. My dog definitely threw up on the floor before we started recording. That wasn't
Character Dynamics: Paul and Annie
00:13:38
Speaker
me. Rude, rude. So rude. They don't even care. Yeah, and then they eat it, you know? Ew. Yeah, that's ew.
00:13:48
Speaker
Oh my God. No, but if my dog does that, she just like stares at me because she knows I'm going to be mad. And then she acts like she's the most innocent creature ever. And it drives me crazy. Do you let your dog lick you?
00:14:03
Speaker
I let her lick my hand like she doesn't really like licking my face like giving me little kisses like she she's against that um but you know if anyone else wants like attention from her aka my husband she like licks his face off essentially I don't let any dog lick me. I'm like, nope. I've seen my dog go to town on her asshole. So I'm just like... Ew, ew. That reminded me of that movie, Talk to Me. Yeah, you saw Talk to Me. I love Talk to Me. I do too. But that one scene traumatized the hell out of me. All these movies that I've been like, yeah, this is a good ass movie. Why? It traumatized me like, yeah, that scene was. Wait, Terrifier didn't traumatize you? Terrifier has like, the prosthetics make it pretty easy to like handle, I think. Yeah. At least Terrifier 3, from what I said. Yeah, yeah, and like leading up to that I was watching a bunch of reviews on Terrifier because I
00:15:14
Speaker
had no interest in watching it. Um, so it's like, okay, I'm hearing this is what happens. This is what happens. I see like all of them are buddy, buddy off screen. So like, once I finally did watch them, I was like, Oh, that's so fake. Oh, it doesn't scare me. Oh, this part is probably gonna scar me. So I'm just gonna, you know, turn away and not be scarred for the foreseeable future.
00:15:39
Speaker
Now, I feel like this is a good discussion point. A movie like Misery, because you mentioned scary, you know, the word scary on a horror podcast. Yes. Let's but's interrogate that word. No, but so scary. A movie like Misery, we would call it horror. I mean, this is a horror podcast, right? It's a Stephen King adaptation. Now, would you call this movie scary? Like, does this movie scare you in any way?
00:16:09
Speaker
It doesn't scare me. It's just a bit of a woman isn't, you know, she's the and one in power throughout most of this thing. You're like, hell, yeah, feminism.
00:16:21
Speaker
not even and no it's just like the i mean she she's a ah scary woman she's a little intimidating like i did mention this the first run of our recording with misery it um i remember just uh when kathy baits was in the movie delores claybourne um she was interviewing at this one woman's house to like be like a maid and she was telling her like you know this is a big house but i'm a big woman um so she basically would be able to take on that role of like ti tending to her house i just kept thinking of that when i watched this movie just seeing like her you know
00:17:11
Speaker
pulling Paul Sheldon around the house or around his bed, I should say, or just trying to pick him up off the ground. Yeah, that's a big woman. And then in their fight scenes- Yeah, because he's a big guy. Yeah, exactly. And him being pretty much paralyzed throughout the whole movie.
Sheriff's Investigation and Fate
00:17:31
Speaker
It's all dead, right?
00:17:32
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. And she's able to like pick him up, throw him on the bed, fight with the guy. It's like, I'd be intimidated by her. Like, but I wouldn't call this movie scary, just more like a suspenseful thriller type jazz thing deal.
00:17:50
Speaker
Yeah there's honestly a lot of this movie I find to be very sweet kind of like the time that you spend with the sheriff and his wife I think is very sweet. Yeah and even like a lot of the Kathy or the Annie and Paul moments when they're like you know even though some of them are fake and like Paul you know after things take a turn Paul is like faking it to survive basically until he can like pull one over on her but it's like even those fake moments do like feel pleasant and kind of sweet and I think because
00:18:32
Speaker
we are in a way in Annie's world so it's made to kind of feel that way you know it's Paul's perspective but in Annie's world so there is like a pleasant type of thing to ah a lot of these moments and it gets psychotic when she gets psychotic you know I could see where you're coming from on that cuz yeah they they do bring a little like Lightness to this film especially with the sheriff and his wife like I got a kick out of whenever they were on the screen um Just they're the best they they are they're funny, and it's like they're not even like trying um like one scene someone called like
00:19:20
Speaker
the shop or store office wherever they were at. And um the wife was like, I don't know where he is, he's probably off having an affair. And then the sheriff comes in and then she looks at him and she's like here, so and so is calling, he wants to know who you're having an affair with.
00:19:37
Speaker
And then after that phone call, he was like, you know, I'm flattered that you think I have that much energy because they're this little old couple. And I thought that was the cutest thing ever um just to see them like bickering around like that, like.
00:19:53
Speaker
They were funny, and then it just goes back to like the you know suspense going on in Annie Wilkes' house where she's holding this man hostage. Yeah, it's a good juxtaposition. you know A couple that actually wants to be around each other versus a couple that fucking just should not be anywhere near each other. Right. That toxic relationship there. Yeah. I can totally see that Sheriff dude cheating. You know, I can see it at that age. I can't. No, no, no. can't. No, maybe he's just too invested in his job. he He was a good guy. He was a good guy. He didn't deserve to meet the fate he did.
00:20:42
Speaker
I know. That sucks. Oh, it sucks so hard that he bites it. I know. Fucking Kathy Bates. It's all her fault. Yeah, I know. and That moment when the sheriff, his wife is driving and she's like, I'd rather be at home in bed with the sheriff. You know, that was so adorable. And then they like,
00:21:08
Speaker
um they like go down that snow path and he falls in and it's such a cute moment but then you just see like he was so close to finding the car it was yeah exactly right there and watch it on that rewatch I forgot that that happened I was like he finds the car here right and and because that's like I think like maybe 40 something minutes in I could be wrong but I was like he finds the car here right and when he doesn't I was like oh fuck like that sucks he was so close it like it's the way it's shot and the reveal of the tire rob Reiner like he does it very well because you're kind of convinced at a point like yeah maybe this isn't where the crash happened and yeah it turns out it was and then eventually they do find the car i don't remember if it was like a search team or something that ends up finding it yeah i think they were in a helicopter
00:22:02
Speaker
Yeah, they were in a helicopter and the sheriff like was able to, like I think it was the sheriff, um he was able to spot it like under the snow just seeing like the tires.
00:22:14
Speaker
Yeah, man. I was mostly looking forward to all the sheriff stuff on this rewatch and it paid off. you know i'm starting to real Even though a lot of these movies are going to be first time watches, I have a feeling I'm going to end up watching them twice before we record just because it is really beneficial getting them in that that getting in that second watch, you know really getting able to become familiar with these movies and and sit with them.
Podcast Tangents and Editing Challenges
00:22:43
Speaker
um I'm really enjoying it between psycho, this, and green room. Yeah, bad green room. I know you guys will hear that next week.
00:22:54
Speaker
the mess that i forgot about everything on there so okay that's a wild episode we got a lot of tangents yeah it was oh my god nick sucks like let's just leave it at that i suck okay yes you suck i i'm sorry nicolas sucks yeah i did make fun of your cousin I told you that today I got to hang out with her and she just was like laughing like what the hell I'm like yeah we just talk about like random shit we're supposed to be talking about movies but then will you like trail off like it's a good time give us a listen yeah it is pretty fun at it's fun to edit like you know I'm happy you edited though I can't listen to myself
00:23:44
Speaker
It takes a while. I'm really starting to hate my laugh. I feel like I sound like a dying seal or something. I mean, I don't like my laugh either, which is why I don't listen. Your laugh is like so normal. I don't understand you not liking your laugh. No, I hate my laugh. like I've had...
00:24:06
Speaker
guys in the past, like make fun of my laugh. And then you just misery those guys. you know I know. But I didn't. Well, did I see the movie at the time? I did probably. And I just didn't think of it. I know. Fuck. You see, my memory is trash. If I remembered this, this, uh, the way she like brutalizes Paul Sheldon, I probably would have done that to my, my enemies back then. Damn it. Terrible memory.
00:24:35
Speaker
Would they have deserved it? this is No hesitation. Yes. We had a conversation like this in another episode, one of our last two, where I was like, can they deserve it? I don't know. I was wondering if somebody deserves something. Yes, they deserve it. Like how far is too far? The the Midsomer is going to be, that's the episode for a did they deserve it conversation. um I don't know if Christian deserved it, so we're going to have to wait for our Midsomer episode. I don't have an opinion yet.
00:25:15
Speaker
What I'm going to do, I'm going to let you borrow. I have the like three and a half hour director's cutter, however long it is that like, it's not streaming anywhere. You can only watch it if you own the physical copy or illegally, I think, but we should do that one whenever we do Midsomer. I'll let you borrow it and we can just take turns watching it.
00:25:36
Speaker
Dope. Dope. Yeah. Hell yeah. But misery. um We've covered a good chunk of the movie so far, but um are there any key points or anything that stuck out to you? Anything you want to talk about? You got any notes? Just like.
00:25:53
Speaker
When when did you feel like? If you did, like the part where. Okay, this guy is really like in for it with her. She's a lunatic and she's pretty much fucking lying to this guy. um Unfortunately for Misery, I kind of knew the whole thing going in. um I don't even know how I knew. You're telling me to go into these movies blindly, and I am, and you're not even going in blindly. How fair is that?
00:26:29
Speaker
i didn't like so i rude it's not like you picked misery and i was like all right time to start looking it up you know probably did i didn't know how is that fair Just through the cultural zeitgeist, I mean, I'm very familiar with movies and I'm, but Kathy Bates won an Academy Award for this. And like, just because of that, I feel like I'm very familiar with her role in the movie. And so I just, I had a general familiarity with ah the movie going into it.
00:27:07
Speaker
But that didn't make it any, uh, less of an enjoyable experience. It's just one of those movies that I don't think, like Carrie, you know, I knew Carrie going in, you know, we got to cover Carrie. We'll cover care. We could cover all the carries. We could do like three Carrie thing. Fuck yeah. Sorry. That'll be pretty cool. That's awesome.
00:27:30
Speaker
Yeah, put it on the books. Anything we talk about becomes canon.
Predicting Movie Plots: Skill or Spoiler?
00:27:35
Speaker
We have to have to put it on the books. Seasons later, Carrie. Speaking of Carrie, I'm going to leave it at that. and You'll see in a couple of days. Okay. All right. Anyway. um There he goes again.
00:27:55
Speaker
yeah sorry to disappoint you though um i i like i swear i know almost nothing about chucky like ah because we're gonna be i don't we i don't know if we said it's a killer doll yeah Well, no, I assume, how does he get the bride? How do they have the kid? How does he get the stitches on his face? What happens to his face between Child's Play 3 and Bride of Chucky? I don't have answers to these questions.
00:28:30
Speaker
You know, what is the child play reboot? What is that? Is it good? You know, cult of Chucky kind of is it like a sex cult? Like a Scientology type of deal. um Curse of Chucky voodoo curse, you know, like witchcraft curse. I don't know if that's the same as voodoo. I don't think so. um You know,
00:28:57
Speaker
OK, but like with your I think I'm just mad because I feel like pretty much everyone else in the world, they can watch a movie and.
00:29:10
Speaker
Realistically, like predict the ending or who the villain is or what the plot is, and I'm just sitting there like I don't even know what's going to happen in the next two seconds. I don't if I'm watching a movie blind or like.
00:29:25
Speaker
I try not to get ahead of the movie. If I'm ahead of the movie, then the movie then either like I'm naturally piecing it together and I'm just falling into place like under some weird circumstances, or the movie is just not doing its job if I'm getting ahead of it. um I don't try to guess twists. i I try to be as along for the ride as I possibly can. I try not to watch trailers. Misery is also a very old movie.
00:29:57
Speaker
You know, the green room is like eight years old or whatever and you've like never heard of it. yeah Yeah, true. Like, no, it just frustrates me because literally every fucking movie, like whoever I'm watching it with or if I talk to someone about the movie, they end up telling me, oh, yeah, I knew that was going to happen. Or like, this was like a dead giveaway that this guy was a killer. I'm like.
00:30:21
Speaker
How the fuck do you know that? like I'm over here watching it like a lot, but like my first time around, I can't make any of these predictions. So it's like, is it me? Am I the problem? Probably.
00:30:35
Speaker
I'm bad at that sometimes too sometimes I'm a very dumb film watcher I don't believe that I'll just like so I'll like overlook shit completely and then sometimes I'll overthink things where I'll be like that's too obvious so it must be this thing and then I'm not even close or like you know anytime there's any got we're not gonna talk about Marvel on this podcast but anytime there's any Marvel like movie thing coming out and I'm like I think they're gonna do this they never do it I'm never right so I'm like you know I don't even know if I'm good at watching movies
00:31:20
Speaker
You are. Shut up. But no, I think I think, too, for me, when I'm watching a movie, like I just like I'm taking the story as it is, like what's being presented to me at that moment where everyone else, I think, I don't know, at least the people that I've seen movies with, they kind of like can piece things together and then they try to tell me like, oh, well, then this is going to happen.
00:31:44
Speaker
Okay, well, I didn't know that. Why did you have to ruin it for me? Because then that actually ends up happening. It sounds like they've all seen the movies before, and they're pretending like they haven't, and they're being mean to you. I don't know. It could be... I've never watched movies with people like this who are just almost passive-aggressively calling out events before they happen.
00:32:07
Speaker
I know ones around one one girl did that in high school one girl did that in high school a few times and yeah there's my husband like we'll be in the movie and he's like oh well this happened or this is what's gonna happen i'm like i didn't know that why did you ruin it for me and he hasn't watched it at least i don't think but um Yeah. I don't know. I think I'm just like really bad at like piecing things together. I've kind of gotten better at it. Like, like example, the scream franchise. Like I never knew who the damn killer was once they did the reveal and. Isn't it like one of the Wayne's brothers? It's scary movie. and you've Right. Right. I have those on the list too. For real? Okay, cool. Wait, scream or scary movie?
00:33:04
Speaker
both okay cool i'm excited for that um oh crap i lost my train of thought oh yeah i never knew the killers um who they were gonna be uh when they were revealed in scream like the first three those are the movies that i do like um like the last two they were decent um only because Jenna Ortega was in him but um yeah those three like the first three I had no idea who they were gonna reveal but then you know as I watch reviews of the movie or other people watch it they were like oh yeah I'm like you can tell this person was gonna be the killer or like you have all these hints leading to that and I'm like
00:33:49
Speaker
Where was I at when all these hints were being presented to me? like What movie was I watching? Exactly. like Am I in the same theater? like What's going on here? That's funny. I'm probably just like bitter about that, but I think that makes it funner for me or more fun to watch movies because I'm not trying to predict the ending. like I'm just going along with it.
00:34:14
Speaker
I do now kind of hope that your husband has a bit that he likes to do where he likes to look up every plot detail of the movie. that you Only movies you guys are going to see together.
00:34:29
Speaker
and and Then just knows everything before it happens. Like he's on Wikipedia. Yeah, he will because he happens to know more movies that are coming out than I do. And it's like.
00:34:47
Speaker
How the hell do you know about this movie coming out? And I don't. And he'll want to watch it. I'm like, OK, but then when we're watching it, he's like, yeah, this this happened or I knew this was going to happen. It's like, how? So, yeah, maybe you know how. We have every bit of information at the touch of our fingertips. I held up my phone for the listener.
00:35:12
Speaker
He held it up just to throw it in my face so that apparently I suck. okay No, thank you don't suck. You you don't thank you nicholas you don't suck. Everybody hates me. to like main name ah can't call you by your full name. Nicholas, you don't have to call me Nicholas.
00:35:28
Speaker
I'm still trying to figure out what to call you. Like I just, I usually do Nicholas on the podcast cause I'm Nicholas Evers on letterbox. Give me a follow. Um, yeah. And I'm Nicholas Evers on like all social media. So I just go by that. I mean, you can call me whatever. But when you introduce yourself, do you say I am Nicholas or I'm Nick?
00:35:49
Speaker
I usually say Nick, but I don't know. I like whatever people, like my buddy Ed calls me Nicky. He's the only one who calls me Nicky. Well, one of the only people and I, you know, like, I like that. I like seeing whatever people are comfortable with, whatever they come to. Um, it's very nice seeing what other people come to naturally. When you get a cool nickname and like you're, you're comfortable with it, it does feel nice. It feels, it's a good feeling. It's like, wow, people know me by like,
00:36:20
Speaker
I don't know, a different personality maybe, or maybe I'm just thinking too much into that. I don't know. Like 80s Mercedes, you like when people call you that? I don't like it when a certain person calls me that. I don't call you that out of respect, but, um, cause I didn't come up with that nickname, but I've been told that's your favorite nickname. So if you're listening like Mercedes, you know, that's what I've heard. You know,
00:36:50
Speaker
I will only let certain people call me certain nicknames. So the person who started calling me that. It's from the song. So so we all know who gave me that nickname here. um It's it's funny to it's funny to like.
00:37:11
Speaker
Yeah, whatever. um But no, the only nickname that I was cool with for like the longest part of my life and it's still slightly continuing on right now is Mercy, which is funny because growing up,
00:37:28
Speaker
anyone who talked to me they just acknowledged me but by my full name um but i remember one day in school i was gonna save this for the halloween episodes but um one day in school there was this kid michael and and i went up to him i'm like can i call you mikey myers and he was like only if i can call you mercy and i was like ew Why the hell would you call me that? Where did that come from? And I'm like- And now it's your aesthetics line. I know. Yes, everyone. Come follow me on my Instagram page, Mercyless Aesthetics, spelled M-E-R-C-Y-L-E-S-S, aesthetics. That's your origin story.
00:38:14
Speaker
Pretty much. Yeah, it was just funny because like little by little like people were starting to call me it like it was
Personal Stories and Nicknames
00:38:22
Speaker
bothering me like mercy. ah And after a while I was just like, yeah, OK, it's catchy, whatever. So then that's just what I started introducing myself as. And it kind of stuck. So then when people started like saying Mercedes, I'm like, what did I do? Why are you calling me by my government name? What the hell?
00:38:45
Speaker
i'm a I'm a full name type of person, usually. Same. Danny, I'll do a Daniel, you know. Dave, I'll do David. My younger brother, burn ah he's Jacob. like Everyone calls him Jake, it's so weird to me. Shout out to Jacob.
00:39:04
Speaker
i Like calm Jacob at at work sometimes and people because we work together and people be like who? Jake mr. Jake um But I don't know like sometimes I like to use full names too like sometimes um I thought I like to use full names more so than I do but apparently I don't since I want to call you by your nickname so I like your partial name and Yeah, it is. It's a literal nickname. Okay. So nickname. So yeah, it's, it's weird. I almost don't like it. It's almost like the origin for nickname is Nicholas being made Nick. Yeah, probably.
00:39:48
Speaker
yeah who knows I don't know I'm just so original or not original at all who knows but um you know who isn't original um Kathy Bates no not yeah exactly Annie Wilkes Annie Wilkes yeah no I was gonna say Kathy Bates too but I know she's so synonymous with the character She is. You immediately go to Kathy bate because it's always like Kathy Bates performance and misery. yeah That's like yeah the thing you always want to talk about. yes She named her her pig misery. She was so obsessed with that book, with this character, with this writer. Like every aspect of her life was that book.
00:40:34
Speaker
Those misery books look like fucking trash too just by looking at the cover. like That looks awful. but Yeah, that pig is appropriate because the pig eats fucking slop. That book looks like slop. I didn't even see the cover of the books. What were on the cover?
00:40:51
Speaker
It was just some like generic, like, I don't know, like so a lady or whatever. Not saying she looked like shit, but it was like, it didn't seem that thought out at all. You know, it wasn't like a thoughtful, well done cover. I need to rewatch those parts. They show the books. Cause now I want to see the horrific artwork or the generic artwork on this.
00:41:14
Speaker
I like that his publicist kind of gets the investigation going. like hey He just called me and was like, I'm done with the book. ah He has a book coming out and he's just gone. like can you Can you find him? It like it feels very like believable the way it was handled. and Then Annie making him burn his book.
00:41:40
Speaker
I would've just been like, kill me, just kill me. That's so much work. I know. Have you ever lost anything like that deer to you where you were like, I would rather lose a finger than this? Have I? Like either something you've worked so hard on or something that you just care about. Non-living. I think it was like,
00:42:11
Speaker
more so.
00:42:15
Speaker
So I had like um a journal that I would write like. all my like negative thoughts in, and they weren't towards like any other people, they were just towards myself. like I have um had a lot of ah insecurities, like a lot of self-doubt in myself in high school, and I would just scribble in that a lot, and like I had that for years. um like I would even stab the book when I was mad. like I put in like so much like bad emotion into it,
00:42:50
Speaker
to where I was like, if I want to be in more of a happy happy or a healthier state of mind, like I don't think I can have this book in my possession anymore. um And there were times that I wouldn't even like write in it, I would just hold it kind of like my little security blanket. um And it took me a while to throw it away, but it it was just like,
00:43:16
Speaker
I felt if i if I had it with me, then I wouldn't like fully be invested in like trying to like move on from that type of mindset. So yeah, thats like throwing that away, that's kind of the only thing that I could relate to that question. Tim, that's a beautiful story. Thank you. I was a i was really scared to say it.
00:43:38
Speaker
deep and personal and i like it was very it had a beginning middle and end too it was like well constructed you know i was sitting there like should i even like go into this like oh my god no but it like it had a like positive outcome and that's like awesome good for you for being able to like let go of that that's pretty cool you know thank you awesome thank you yeah yeah um what about you same question goes to you man my my answer is gonna suck now i i was gonna say my base my hey that that's good
00:44:23
Speaker
I mean, originally I was going to say because it's the most expensive thing I own. it's like I'm just proud to own it. it like um It's the same base that one of my favorite bassists, Ryan Martini from Mudvane plays. It's a Warwick Thumb five string. It's handmade in Germany. I spent over two grand on it. These bases are worth like over three grand now since COVID. like I don't know if it's like international shipping or what happened. but their prices have gone way up but uh and it's like you know i got it for like what was my favorite band i'd been in at the time and wrote some of my favorite music on it and really like put my all into this bass specifically and uh
00:45:10
Speaker
it and yeah it would just be tragic if i'd lost this thing i don't think i would ever be able to financially replace it um so it would just be a total last um and It also just has such a unique and specific sound that no other bass, ah aside from like the thumb, can get. And it just, I don't know, I love it. It feels like it was a bass that was made for me. If I look at it and I see me, it's the bass I feel most comfortable holding and playing. and It's a part of you.
00:45:47
Speaker
It feels like an an extension of me to an extent, even though I haven't been playing bass much at all in the past couple of years. It's like, I see it and I'm like, you're still my friend, you know? You're still my favorite. It's sitting right here within arm reach. Yeah, it is. You know, I've got a bunch of other instruments. Show it to those bases show it to our viewers.
00:46:09
Speaker
Just pull it on screen. Show it to our viewers. They won't be able to see it. are Do you want to see it? Yeah, I kind of do. Okay, here, vamp for a little bit while I reach for it. Okay, cool. So, yeah. um I mean, that's, that's a valid answer. Like an instrument is a vital part of your life. Ooh, that's nice. Yeah, I love it. For all the people that can't see, he's holding up a nice ass bass. If you want a good example of it, just look up a
00:46:42
Speaker
the mud vane dig video that's like everybody's favorite thing have you seen like the parody of that video it's like the most brutal stream and like yeah you have the intro like oh my god that was the greatest thing ever that is uh yeah i man I almost started learning every Mudvane song last year. That was a commitment I made yeah to do a Mudvane tribute just because I wanted to just play the craziest bass parts ever. And man, that would have been an undertaking. i
00:47:24
Speaker
like I'm kind of glad I didn't pursue I might still do it I don't know that's fucking a lot though ah but I'm capable I just slapping is not my strong suit I'd have to get a lot better at it there's always time Yeah. I was a jump back fighting a burp the whole time I was saying that. I wonder if it comes through on mic. I didn't hear anything. So you should be good. Maybe. What do you guys think? Yeah. Listeners write in, rate us five stars and tell us what you thought. Could you hear the burp?
00:48:05
Speaker
You know, tweet at Mercedes hashtag. I could hear the burp.
00:48:12
Speaker
truly i think I don't even know if you have a Twitter account. Yeah, I was about to say, I think I'm the only person that doesn't have a Twitter. I've been telling you to tweet or people to tweet at you across two episodes now. Oh, shit. What are they coming out? I don't know. They're just like tagging someone and whoever has the same name as me, they they're going to see it like, what the fuck are these people?
00:48:39
Speaker
Yeah, just um tag Guy Fieri and everything you want to direct at Mercedes. I don't know. That was the only celebrity that wasn't Kanye West that came into my mind first.
00:48:50
Speaker
l yeah Okay, anyway, back to misery. Yeah, I think so. He hasn't done anything terrible as far as I know. So, ah yeah. Yeah. Any thoughts on misery or should we go off the rails the last couple of minutes of this episode?
00:49:12
Speaker
Let's go off the rails. Let's go off the rails. All right. Final thoughts on Misery for me. I love it. Great movie masterpiece. Um, five stars out of five. Uh, thank you for bringing into my life Mercedes. This podcast forced me to watch a movie I should have watched years ago. Fuck yeah. Misery. Um, you got any final thoughts on Misery?
00:49:35
Speaker
Uh, it's a good classic movie. Everyone should at least see it once. Nick already had some prior knowledge going into it. So everyone else probably will too. And you know, I was just on my boat by myself not knowing what the fuck was going on, but yeah, good movie. Good time.
00:49:51
Speaker
horrible, horrible thing that happens to ah Paul Sheldon's character. So yeah, just brace yourself for that. If you haven't seen the poster or heard this entire episode where Nick was also talking about the poster. So yeah, good times. So, um, I know we got to wrap up soon, but I wanted to, we have a little bit to go off the rails, right? Yeah. Yeah.
00:50:17
Speaker
ah Okay, so Mercedes has a hard out, you know, she's She has important stuff going on guys. Okay, so this do you don't understand how valuable it is to Get us here for this, you know You say that as if I have like this really Hectic life when I say these guys are you bringing Politics Mercedes
00:50:48
Speaker
Why are you throwing me under the bus? I'm just saying the job you have. What dare you? That doesn't say your political alignment. We we made a deal not to s*** out of... s*** doesn't determine Mercedes s*** if you guys haven't picked up on it.
00:51:08
Speaker
If I go missing, it's because Nick is throwing out all my damn secrets, so like, you guys know I didn't do anything to myself on purpose. If I go missing, it's his fault. just Just letting the world know out there. At Mercyless Aesthetics on Instagram. Yes, thank you. Anyway,
00:51:30
Speaker
um what's it called? ah So, I had a thought, kind of, Misery is about obsession. I know I said we were going to get off misery, but the going off the rails kind of unless I don't know if you had something else in mind to talk about. actually No, that actually reminded me of a story that I had told you on the first recording of Misery that I forgot to bring up here, but finish your thought first and then I'll go into
Obsession Themes in Music and Misery
00:51:55
Speaker
it.
00:51:55
Speaker
Okay, so obsession. um I, in my playlist, ah two Slipknot songs have been coming up a lot. Vermilion and Vermilion part two. And I don't know, those songs were really kind of like getting me like in the mood for this misery record a lot because those songs are both about like ah this is a guy not a girl but like from my understanding it's like a guy like ah envisioning like
00:52:31
Speaker
this like he sees like this perfect girl in his head or like in real life and he wants to find her or create her so he starts obsessing over and like kidnapping women killing them and chopping off parts of their bodies and like sewing them together to like make the perfect woman and it's like so dark and weird and creepy, the first one where he's like, cheesy dress, you know, and like, it's like fucking, it's great, you know, it's one of my favorite like slipknot songs, even though I'm not like a big slipknot fan, it's like so like artsy and cool, like conceptually. And
00:53:15
Speaker
Then vermilion part two is almost like this like beautiful like sad like realization like you know it's almost like sympathetic towards the monster and it's just like you know vermilion is almost like from the outside looking in like this person is a monster in part two is almost like no this is Monster is like a victim of his own delusions, and it's it's kind of beautiful. um I don't know, i I really enjoyed it. It's like one of the best parts of Slipknot's career, I think, are Vermilion and Vermilion Part 2.
00:53:52
Speaker
um Yeah, I don't know. I kind of wanted to talk about that, like just drop that in there at some point. I'm glad I remembered that though, but yeah, I don't know. I don't know if you have any thoughts on that, but you can go into like what you wanted to say if you don't have any thoughts on that, but. There's nothing more to add to that. That was like beautifully scripted. Like I don't even want to share my story. ah No, so you're sorry oh wow I'm trying to recover from that.
00:54:20
Speaker
but like Wow, that was beautiful people. No, beautiful people is Marilyn Manson. No, that's not what I fucking meant. I know that. That was vermilion. That's not what I fucking meant. Anyway, I'm trying to give you a compliment. I'm trying to give you a compliment and you're just pissing me off now. Shut up. I know, I don't accept compliments well.
00:54:43
Speaker
i don't either but I don't either, but still, except this one, because it had to do with Slipknot. Thank you. Anyway. um so now A band that's hard for me to respect nowadays, um I will give them that, though. like Their first three albums, like I give them a lot of credit for the shit that they were able to create. I feel that. I can respect that.
00:55:09
Speaker
um Yeah, i I really don't even want to follow up with what I was going to say, because that was just like, just because that was just a cool, like, ending. Like, what else can I top with that? But, um, no, the first time we, psy you know, yeah, we'll have a nice calm ending. we't We don't need me ramping up the levels to end everyone's podcast experience.
00:55:39
Speaker
It's just gonna, I don't know, it'll be lame by comparison. But ah no, when we first recorded the episode ah for Misery, I remembered um a time when the local venues, are we allowed to say the venues that we would go to? Oh, yeah. Oh, OK. So especially if you're going to trash them. No, I'm kidding. Oh, no. um What was it? ah One was um another hole in the wall. And I remember ah this one guy I had met in college. He his band, they were touring around and they were actually going to that venue. And I was like,
00:56:19
Speaker
really like I know that venue like oh my god that'd be cool so me and my friend went there and you know watch the show they were good and then talking to him after he was just like he's all hyped because he's like wow I never really have fans come to the shows for me they're normally here for and he was a bass player um he's like they're normally here for you know the vocalist the the guitarist whatever um except um you're like I can really Yeah. um But he he was just like, except this one girl, like, I don't know how they met or whatever, but I guess she had seen their band at one of the shows and she became like a die hard fan of theirs. She would like travel to all of their shows.
00:57:09
Speaker
um by their merch you know whatever but she had a really big crush on him and um he was just like you know and I'm not really into you but you know thanks for supporting the band whatever um I guess they had one show where either something happened or they needed to stay overnight somewhere but Apparently, he I don't know how true or valid like his story was, but he I just remember on my Facebook the next day, I saw a picture of him posted from his profile and he was sleeping.
00:57:51
Speaker
And I was like, am I supposed to be saying that? Like, who who took that? um And then a few minutes later, it was taken down. And then we were talking about it later. And he was like, she like we had to share a room together. So maybe that part was the lie or something. I don't know.
00:58:11
Speaker
But he was like, yeah, I was sleeping and she had grabbed my phone and like took a picture and was like, Oh, he looks so sweet sleeping. And I was like, you need to take that down because now people are gonna think something. So it's like,
00:58:27
Speaker
That's so weird. That's weird behavior. He also might have been leading her on in ways that he wasn't being fully honest about. There's two sides to every story. Exactly, because it's like, how were they in the same room? like What happened there? There had to have been more to that story. Oh, we had to sleep together. You had to?
00:58:44
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. So that's what I was saying. I don't know how valid this story was, but it was a little weird. Like, yeah. Yeah. Listeners, just keep this in mind. There's two sides to every story. Yeah, pretty much. So is there any lesson we can leave you with here at morbid curiosities? so There's two sides to every story.
00:59:24
Speaker
Yeah.