I Just Don't See The Big Deal

The guys were in the same room! How did they pull this off?! Well...a plane ticket and an excuse for Burgess to visit sunny California, obviously. And it was perfect, since they probably needed to be together to settle one of their longest standing debates. It's especially timely since we are today celebrating (or bemoaning) the 10-year anniversary of one of the more contentious Oscar wins in recent memory--the 2006 Paul Haggis joint, Crash. Burgess has always maintained hatred for this. Von Sternberg always defended it. They watched it again and discuss how minds were changed or stayed the same. Come for Burgess' sensual description of steam baths, stay for von Sternberg going down a probably racist rabbit hole and calling Burgess a motherfucker.Thanks again to Creative Commons and the talents of these fine artists for allowing the use of their music: "Tainted Cloth" by Oelek, "The Cannery" by Kevin MacLeod, "Wagon Wheel" by Kevin MacLeod, and "The Troll of the Mountain Swing" by Underscore Orkestra.

In the eighth episode of the podcast, von Sternberg examines his smug assholery, Burgess puts on a tinfoil hat and rages about the 9/11 documents he has, and the boys both question the happiness they derive by always being online. Oh yes, and they discuss Making a Murderer (while Burgess manages to disparage yet another Midwestern state's entire population), The Central Park Five and their boi Ken Burns, as well as the ethics of lying to serve a possibly noble narrative.Thanks again to Creative Commons and the talents of these fine artists for allowing the use of their music: "Tainted Cloth" by Oelek, "The Cannery" by Kevin MacLeod, "Wagon Wheel" by Kevin MacLeod, and "The Troll of the Mountain Swing" by Underscore Orkestra.

In the seventh episode of the I Just Don't See The Big Deal Podcast, Burgess and von Sternberg dove headfirst into the fetid kiddie pool that is the #OscarsSoWhite controversy, got at the core of von Sternberg's conformist love of Leo DiCaprio's Annual Oscar Bid...I mean, The Revenant, and probed Burgess' feelings on Quentin Tarantino's eighth public masturbation in the town square (i.e. The Hateful Eight). A lot of ground was covered but in less than an hour-fifteen! Included is a potential spoiler for a future special episode of I Just Don't See The Big Deal and a return to Burgess' patented references to A Serbian Film.Thanks again to Creative Commons and the talents of these fine artists for allowing the use of their music: "Tainted Cloth" by Oelek, "The Cannery" by Kevin MacLeod, "Wagon Wheel" by Kevin MacLeod, and "The Troll of the Mountain Swing" by Underscore Orkestra.

Burgess and von Sternberg came close to long-distance blows in this episode of the "I Just Don't See The Big Deal" podcast. Well, not really. But Burgess truly was the "goddamn queer" to von Sternberg's "crypto-Nazi," in the parlance of the great Vidal/Buckley debate of 1968, as they went for each others' throats over the vastly misunderstood/overrated, masterpiece/C-average show Jessica Jones. Is this show a matured version of superhero tropes that shatters the shackles of rape culture? Or did it just pretending to be? Cue the pretentious references to old political debates with a surprising lack of "A Serbian Film" references for once.Thanks again to Creative Commons and the talents of these fine artists for allowing the use of their music: "Tainted Cloth" by Oelek, "The Cannery" by Kevin MacLeod, "Wagon Wheel" by Kevin MacLeod, and "The Troll of the Mountain Swing" by Underscore Orkestra.

After some frank discussion on Aziz Ansari's new show "Master of None" and just general millennial Buzzfeed Culture, Burgess and von Sternberg revisited one of their major points of contention: the effectiveness of the "White Bear" episode of Charlie Brooker's sublime series "Black Mirror." Burgess had been championing this episode as truly great for over a year and von Sternberg never really got why. Upon re-watching it, was there a change of heart? How do Burgess and von Sternberg differ on satire? Listen to find out.Thanks again to Creative Commons and the talents of these fine artists for allowing the use of their music: "Tainted Cloth" by Oelek, "The Cannery" by Kevin MacLeod, "Wagon Wheel" by Kevin MacLeod, and "The Troll of the Mountain Swing" by Underscore Orkestra.

In the fourth episode of "I Just Don't See The Big Deal", the guys take on Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. The ironic twist? It's still one of their favorite games of the year. As usual though, von Sternberg lambastes victim-worshiping and Burgess makes his fourth reference to A Serbian Film. Come for the Bernie Sanders tirade and stay for the pretentious analysis of a game about attaching balloons to sheep. And nuclear proliferation and child soldiers or something.Thanks again to Creative Commons and the talents of these fine artists for allowing the use of their music: "Tainted Cloth" by Oelek, "The Cannery" by Kevin MacLeod, "Wagon Wheel" by Kevin MacLeod, and "The Troll of the Mountain Swing" by Underscore Orkestra.

Burgess got it. Von Sternberg did not. Why did everyone hate the last season of True Detective so much? This and more were discussed in the triquel to the inaugural episode of the I Just Don't See The Big Deal Podcast. This one was a bit of a beast, but the boys got into it. Are there True Detective spoilers? Uh...I don't know, maybe? I guess you'll see.Thanks again to Creative Commons and the talents of these fine artists for allowing the use of their music: "Tainted Cloth" by Oelek, "The Cannery" by Kevin MacLeod, "Wagon Wheel" by Kevin MacLeod, and "The Troll of the Mountain Swing" by Underscore Orkestra.

In the sequel to the inaugural episode of the I Just Don't See The Big Deal Podcast, von Sternberg opened by shitting on every summer blockbuster except Mad Max: Fury Road for, I guess, being blockbusters. Then he and Burgess, lucky enough to be in the same city for recording, discussed the upcoming PS4/PC exclusive, No Man's Sky. Burgess didn't get it, von Sternberg tried to explain. Intoxicated hilarity ensued in which Burgess disparaged an entire state's population and pretty much gamers as a whole.Thanks again to Creative Commons and the talents of these fine artists for allowing the use of their music: "Tainted Cloth" by Oelek, "The Cannery" by Kevin MacLeod, "Wagon Wheel" by Kevin MacLeod, and "The Troll of the Mountain Swing" by Underscore Orkestra.

In the inaugural episode of the I Just Don't See The Big Deal Podcast, Burgess tried to explain his earlier "meh" feelings on what many consider to be the greatest show on television. Von Sternberg counted himself among that many. Burgess also got wrangled into a conversation at a bar-b-que he attended that took an unsettling turn.Thanks to Creative Commons and the talents of these fine artists for allowing the use of their music: "Tainted Cloth" by Oelek, "The Cannery" by Kevin MacLeod, "Wagon Wheel" by Kevin MacLeod, and "The Troll of the Mountain Swing" by Underscore Orkestra.