Ian Punnett

[valdez]

    Ian filling in for George who's attending a dictionary burning rally.  He seems psyched about his Zombie show tomorrow.  Has he ever told us how he managed to break every bone in that foot?  He repeated something that I've heard a few people mention recently, about how some parts of Japan may be uninhabitable for thousands of years.  George actually made a good point a few weeks back concerning this when he asked, "wasn't Hiroshima rebuilt soon after the bomb?"  Eh, yeah.  What about that?  Not a leak, or some melting core thingy,  but an all out nuclear blast.  I'm sure there's some scientific explanation for this.
 

[JustOneFix]

I'm sick & tired of hearing about Zombies. If there is a thread here titled "Things everyone else cares about but me" I'd post this in that thread.

This hard on for everything Zombie is played out, ran into the ground, whatever the hell you want to call it. White/Rob Zombie ain't too bad however.

[Agent : Orange]

This hard on for everything Zombie is played out, ran into the ground, whatever the hell you want to call it. White/Rob Zombie ain't too bad however.

I prefer White Zombie to his newer stuff.

Anyway, Ian's show with Max Brooks on WWZ was really cool. I'll probably give the zombie show a shot tonight.

[valdez]

I'll probably give the zombie show a shot tonight.

I am not looking forward to the zombie show... 

I'm sick & tired of hearing about Zombies...

Legend has it that when George assumed command of c2c Art advised him to "make it your own".  George, not knowing what the hell he meant by that, proceeded to make it a circus.  Ian, however, has quietly, and almost consistently, taken those words to heart.  Yes, we are in the mist of a zombie plague, only they don't care about brains and flesh, and you don't have to barricade yourself in a farmhouse for safety.  Just ignore their last tweet and text, and politely decline their request of you to join the social network, and they will move on, leaving you to enjoy that book you been reading, or compose that thought that's a tad longer than a sentence, or gaze at the stars in wonder of the infinite.

[anagrammy]

Valdez, agree.  Several hundred of the nameless, brainless horde clamor around my house, beating at the windows, wanting to be my "friend."  Strangers with websites, deals, conspiracies, cures, announcements and pleas throw them aside and take their places pounding at the windows.  I peer out of the windows nervously, afraid to accept anyone's request lest I open the door and accidentally let them all in.

They want me to follow them so I can also partake of brain mush, but I see the result.

Internet zombies, some who lived once as humans and are now paradies, and some who never lived at all, but are virtual deceit robots designed to consume the defective brains of the gullible and infirm.

Orwell didn't see this one coming, good call Valdez.

Anagrammy

[b_dubb]

before i can give a crap about zombie politics, economics and foreign policy ... someone has to explain how zombies are even a possibility

[Eddie Coyle]

Ian and the guest made a really weak analogy comparing the impending Zombie outbreak to AIDS. Basically "Zombie-ism" wouldn't really affect the public until a famous person was inflicted. And they used Rock Hudson as an example.

   If you became aware/affected of AIDS because Rock Hudson was stricken with it...my God, then you were shallow and frighteningly sheltered. AIDS was on the front cover of Time in the summer of '83, Rock Hudson's trevails became public in July,1985. Maybe dummies became aware of AIDS in the summer of '85, but literate, sentient people knew about it long before.

   Then again...it is the "new" C2C audience we're dealing with here...maybe LCD pandering is necessary.

   

[Agent : Orange]

I liked the show, found it quite interesting and thought that many insightful angles I would never have considered were brought up. Ian once again did a good job, and it was clear he was a fan of the material.

Zombies were studied first, mainly in jest, in a way that took the subject seriously and with a large helping of verisimilitude by a math group in Ontario. The guest mentioned this initial study during the show. It can be found here: http://mysite.science.uottawa.ca/rsmith43/Zombies.pdf
But I should add a warning - not for those squeamish about doing some math!

This paper actually is quite interesting besides it's focus on zombies. What was posed as a question about a hollywood monster actually serves as a very simple model for transmission through a population and the statistical properties of that transition. It doesn't matter what is being transmitted - cultural practice, political ideals, a virus - but it has a very high communicability rate. Some will escape, but only a few. So the question is then how do these scenarios turn out when we start with X number of zombies? Is there any rate of conversion which will lead to global infection? The authors of the paper above find this critical transfer rate mathematically.

This is one thing I think the guest and Ian should have stated more clearly. The interest in zombies on the show isn't as a literal threat (like many of the callers took it) but as a simplification of a transmission scenario, a mathematical model. This is where the real interest for me at least was. Of course it also connects to my favorite movie monster so that's also a neat connection.

The guests politics were very interesting and some of the situations he outlines had me laughing, like the world powers using the zombies  to expand their territory - ie, America taking Cuba to liberate them from the zombie menace. Again, replace "zombie" with "controversial philosophy" or "killer virus" and there's an interesting picture that he paints but it's too bad that was kind of buried or assumed to be implicit. Some of the other scenarios were neat too: the group who first becomes afflicted with zombism or have traditional methods that are uncommon will be blamed for the outbreak so the war will be between ethnic groups as well as these foreign invaders. Most of these reminded me of stories from World War Z which was a great and entertaining read.

I turned on the show at 1 am driving home from a friend's place and stayed up for the extra hour to get the part I missed. I was really happy I did, it kept my attention and Ian was again quite a good host. I have to say though - Art would have been my first choice for it. Too bad he never got the chance to do anything like this when he was on.

[anagrammy]

...

I turned on the show at 1 am driving home from a friend's place and stayed up for the extra hour to get the part I missed. I was really happy I did, it kept my attention and Ian was again quite a good host. I have to say though - Art would have been my first choice for it. Too bad he never got the chance to do anything like this when he was on.

Did he actually ever do a full show tongue-in-cheek?  Did he do one in layers like this Zombie-to-geometric-spread-of-anything?  I didn't listen, being NOT my favorite movie monster, and fearing that it would be "Introduction to Zombie Sociology" for fifth graders, i.e., the new audience. 

Speaking of that, the recent callers have been particularly inarticulate and I'm horrified to realize they were screened and chosen as the best of those calling at the time. From 3/25 when Ian was hosting:

(Anthony) I have a theory.  What if the person who said it (end of days) was May 11th was off and it was really March 11th and this (Japanese disaster) was it (end of days), and those people who disappeared were not tsunamied, but raptured instead.

(Ian) Oh, so we're left behind.  Only 10,000 were raptured and they were all Japanese?  Besides, it was May 21st, not May 11th.

And a previous caller, who would undoubtedly have been much more comfortable texting, said this:

"Hi, Ian, I'm calling 'cause I sure learned a lot from George Noory the other show with David Icke and learned about so much stuff in the world politics and saw a newslady on TV or something that was a shapeshifter. And once I saw a UFO and said to my friend, like Wow, George Noory should see this."

I'm sure she was chosen after assuring the screener that she would mention George Noory's name twice.

Anagrammy

[Agent : Orange]

Did he actually ever do a full show tongue-in-cheek?  Did he do one in layers like this Zombie-to-geometric-spread-of-anything?  I didn't listen, being NOT my favorite movie monster, and fearing that it would be "Introduction to Zombie Sociology" for fifth graders, i.e., the new audience. 

He did a one hour block with Max Brooks, the author of World War Z just before halloween 2010 or 2009 and it was a tongue-in-cheek interview about the first zombie war. It was a really great show and a standout for that year. There were shades of this in last nights show as well, Ian seemed to do his best to present it as a totally serious thing which was great. But as I say I kind of wish they had emphasized the other aspects of studying "zombies" which does introduce a deeper level to it all rather than just navel gazing.
As usual you are right on about the callers

Speaking of that, the recent callers have been particularly inarticulate and I'm horrified to realize they were screened and chosen as the best of those calling at the time. From 3/25 when Ian was hosting:

I've saved myself the heartache and listened to MV's stream for the past while. The examples you cited were particularly awful.

[b_dubb]

they should fire whoever is screening callers.  they've been really bad lately

[anagrammy]

What exactly is the screening procedure?  When we were talking about Art quitting somebody said it had to do with triple screening and Art not being allowed to have non-screened calls.  Does anybody know what they ask in these triple screenings? 

I'm wondering if Coast praising or GN ass-licking is required or optional...

Anagrammy

[Agent : Orange]

What exactly is the screening procedure?  When we were talking about Art quitting somebody said it had to do with triple screening and Art not being allowed to have non-screened calls.  Does anybody know what they ask in these triple screenings? 

I'm wondering if Coast praising or GN ass-licking is required or optional...

Anagrammy

I'm skeptical of that reason for his departure. After Ramona passed away, all of Art's calls were screened as well and there didn't seem to be a problem at that point. Maybe something changed on or before the Halloween show.

[anagrammy]

I'm skeptical of that reason for his departure. After Ramona passed away, all of Art's calls were screened as well and there didn't seem to be a problem at that point. Maybe something changed on or before the Halloween show.

A mystery! Since I don't want to hijack the Ian Punnett thread, let's go over with this to Art Bell Quits.....

Anagrammy

[onan]

before i can give a crap about zombie politics, economics and foreign policy ... someone has to explain how zombies are even a possibility

Go to walmart... anytime of day or night... zombies... everywhere. How they became zombies... dunno but there they are.

[Scully]

Did he actually ever do a full show tongue-in-cheek?  Did he do one in layers like this Zombie-to-geometric-spread-of-anything?

Anagrammy

He did a one hour block with Max Brooks, the author of World War Z just before halloween 2010 or 2009 and it was a tongue-in-cheek interview about the first zombie war. It was a really great show and a standout for that year. There were shades of this in last nights show as well, Ian seemed to do his best to present it as a totally serious thing which was great

Was Anagrammy asking if Art Bell had ever done this, rather than if Ian Punnett had?  I thought she meant Art, and I believe Agent Orange is speaking of Ian's previous Zombie Escapades. 

Since I deem the zombie shows to be beneath Art's dignity, I hope he has never so dabbled.

[anagrammy]

Was Anagrammy asking if Art Bell had ever done this, rather than if Ian Punnett had?  I thought she meant Art, and I believe Agent Orange is speaking of Ian's previous Zombie Escapades. 

Since I deem the zombie shows to be beneath Art's dignity, I hope he has never so dabbled.

Hey, woo-woo sister, you have named it.  I didn't have a single such show in my recollection--it just wasn't Art's style.  He would say why bother when the world is full of real weird stuff--so much we hardly have time to track it all.  Why dally with fiction? 

Having said that, I certainly could see him being totally willing to go with a zombie geometric progression exercise as an example of, say, a phony pandemic.

Anagrammy

[SnapT]

I was disappointed when a caller asked about how vampires would react to a zombie invasion, and neither Ian or the guest put two and two together and realized that zombies were the #1 threat to the vampire food source and clearly vampires would NOT "team up" with zombies, as I think Ian suggested.  There's a whole graphic novel on this subject (http://lastblood.net), but apparently the guest studied MARVEL ZOMBIES instead.

[valdez]

     I had never heard of this "Source Code" movie that Ian and neuroscientist Dr. Charles Higgings were raving about, with it's quantum physical implications, but I just checked out the trailer, and it seems ok, but I rarely get excited about upcoming non-star trek/wars/xfiles/paul newman films.  Higgins, who sounded like a super nerd (almost robotic) saw it twice and will probably see it again, so I guess it must be deep.  Egyptologist David Elkington on the 70 metal books found in Jordan that may rock the christian world, and just might be the "seven sealed book" mentioned in Revelations.  Great.  More end of the world stuff.  It sure is piling up.

[Eddie Coyle]

 Ian covering the 1973 assasination of Yosef Alon tonight. It's an interesting subject...but again, this topic is a million miles removed from what C2C was and should be.

[valdez]

Ian covering the 1973 assassination of Yosef Alon tonight. It's an interesting subject...but again, this topic is a million miles removed from what C2C was and should be.

Perhaps, but if you believe that c2c should be relevant, well done, and thought provoking, then Ian is still carrying the torch.  Chupacabra alien abductions are fine, but there are events that actually happened, and things that really exist that are just as fascinating.  Unfolding the story slowly, of a murder of an Israeli diplomat in 1973, keeping the bumper music to songs that streamed out of the radio that year, revealing how even good, moral governments can, in the shadows of darkness, committ acts that give us pause, and wake us up to the realities of a complex, brutal world.
     Paul Simon's Kodachome sure sounded good. Fred Burton was the guest.
   

[cwarner]

A lot of Ian's shows definitely aren't coast in the traditional sense, but I think they're excellent radio more often than not.

Actually, he had a flaky, more coast-appropriate guest on a couple months ago talking about the history of the bible and it was absolutely painful. You'd think he wouldn't be able to interview the more out there guests because he'd be too quick to call them out on their BS, but he let this person get a way with a lot. He'd interject once in awhile and say "you know, you're expressing your opinion, but there are others who could disagree with what you're saying" and then let her pompously go on for the next 20 minutes about how everything that she was saying is a proven fact.

Man I did not like that guest. Does anyone know the show I'm talking about? It was a female guest talking about how she knew what different people in the bible did like 2,000 years ago.

[Eddie Coyle]

     Perhaps, but if you believe that c2c should be relevant, well done, and thought provoking, then Ian is still carrying the torch.  Chupacabra alien abductions are fine, but there are events that actually happened, and things that really exist that are just as fascinating.  Unfolding the story slowly, of a murder of an Israeli diplomat in 1973, keeping the bumper music to songs that streamed out of the radio that year, revealing how even good, moral governments can, in the shadows of darkness, committ acts that give us pause, and wake us up to the realities of a complex, brutal world.
     Paul Simon's Kodachome sure sounded good. Fred Burton was the guest.
   

   It was a good show and I listened for the duration...but my main gripe is that the topic was sensationalized somewhat by Burton's speculation of why Alon was killed, the "he was going to blow the whistle and prevent the Yom Kippur War" angle I found to be patently absurd. Perfect for a Glenn Beck show..

      I've read about this case for nearly 30 years-it's not new to me. I know Burton is trying to sell a book and spice things up, but the Alon assassination(7/1/73) was almost certainly a bit of tit for tat in the widespread Mossad vs PLO/splinter groups game of death that was at fever pitch in the summer of '73.

[Harmness]

Loved Ian's response to the caller who brought up (yet again) "the rapture's a-comin on May 21st...."

"Nope, ain't gonna happen, nope, I'll be here that evening waiting for you to call and say you're wrong."

So much better than mollycoddling these delusional pricks.

[b_dubb]

Loved Ian's response to the caller who brought up (yet again) "the rapture's a-comin on May 21st...."

"Nope, ain't gonna happen, nope, I'll be here that evening waiting for you to call and say you're wrong."

So much better than mollycoddling these delusional pricks.

i completely agree. i love the way he handled that call

[The General]

Loved Ian's response to the caller who brought up (yet again) "the rapture's a-comin on May 21st...."

"Nope, ain't gonna happen, nope, I'll be here that evening waiting for you to call and say you're wrong."

So much better than mollycoddling these delusional pricks.

That's why I like Ian.  He doesn't suffer horse-shit from fools.  He's a good interviewer too.

[b_dubb]

That's why I like Ian.  He doesn't suffer horse-shit from fools.  He's a good interviewer too.

agreed. wholeheartedly

[aldousburbank]

That's why I like Ian.  He doesn't suffer horse-shit from fools. 

Jason the Horse being the exception.

[anagrammy]

A lot of Ian's shows definitely aren't coast in the traditional sense, but I think they're excellent radio more often than not.

Actually, he had a flaky, more coast-appropriate guest on a couple months ago talking about the history of the bible and it was absolutely painful. You'd think he wouldn't be able to interview the more out there guests because he'd be too quick to call them out on their BS, but he let this person get a way with a lot. He'd interject once in awhile and say "you know, you're expressing your opinion, but there are others who could disagree with what you're saying" and then let her pompously go on for the next 20 minutes about how everything that she was saying is a proven fact.

Man I did not like that guest. Does anyone know the show I'm talking about? It was a female guest talking about how she knew what different people in the bible did like 2,000 years ago.

Dr Joy Pugh?  She claims Prince William is the Anti-Christ and can prove it.  Wouldn't you love to go to a party with her and Alex Jones?  They don't make enough popcorn....Anagrammy

[Agent : Orange]

Wow awesome, Ian had George Hardy from Troll 2 on in the first hour tonight.

That's an awesome movie