Talkin' Malaysian Airplane Conspiracy Theories on Malaysian Radio

The MH370 mystery.

Fringe

The missing Malaysian airplane has inspired a lot of conspiracy theories. Since I recently wrote a book about conspiracy theories, a Malaysian radio show called me last week for an interview. Our conversation was broadcast today, and you can listen to a podcast of it here. Besides the mystery of flight MH370, the topics discussed range from the TV show Fringe to the fabled seaside battles between the rockers and the mods.

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Fringe liked to crash jet airliners, that's for sure.

[sarcasmic]

Heartbreak for relatives as officials say they believe Malaysian Airlines flight DID come down in the southern Indian Ocean

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....liner.html

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Fringe was at least decent. Lost was TERRIBLE.

[sarcasmic]

So in addition to having no taste in music or beer, you have no taste in television.

[jesse.in.mb]

Look bro, he looked into the heart of the island and saw that Abrams had no fucking clue where he was going with the show.

[SugarFree]

This. I really liked the show until I realized they were content to tread water for episodes on end.

The Walking Dead is on the bubble for this reason as well. (Although I have liked this half-season more than most people.)

[Fist of Etiquette]

The Walking Dead doesn't really have an overarching storyline to sustain, does it? It just needs to be people surviving a zombie apocalypse. Lost had a mystery to explain, which it failed on every level to do.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Every contained piece of literature needs to tell a story. That's where TWD the comic is starting falter too. I have no idea if this thing is ever going to end in some way. AFAICT, they've already tried to re-establish society three or four times and failed every time, so you can't end with that. You can kill Rick, but at this point who cares. You can just have a few characters look wistfully into a sunset and talk about doing the best they can, but that would suck.

There are just no really good options left.

[sarcasmic]

It's like Randian is channeling Lionel Hutz:

This is the most blatant case of false advertising since my suit against the movie The Neverending Story.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

Care to join me in a belt of scotch?

[jesse.in.mb]

There are just no really good options left.

A cure.

Alien intervention.

Carl becomes an ascended being and retcons the entire story, stopping the zombie apocalypse before it starts.

Flash forward to 20 years later when everyone's dead except Carl and he kills himself by going too far with autoerotic asphyxiation.

[Swiss Servator, mehr Spr?ngli]

"and he kills himself by going too far with autoerotic asphyxiation."

Wait, he is a British Tory MP?

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

There are just no really good options left.

OBVIOUS:
Bob Newhart waking up in a bed next to Suzanne Pleshette saying it was all a dream.

[SugarFree]

The Walking Dead doesn't really have an overarching storyline to sustain, does it?

No, but it's clear they are afraid of running out of comic book to crib off of, so they pad and plod and circle back to things already worked out.

But, as NK talks about, the comic itself is having the same trouble. It might be a failing in Kirkman in general. His other long running series, Invincible, should have be brought to a graceful end 20 issues or so ago.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

I did not know that he had another series that suffered the same problem.

[SugarFree]

It does feature an interstellar tyrant-king with vast superpowers that looks exactly like Freddie Mercury, so it's got that going for it.

[R C Dean]

The Walking Dead doesn't really have an overarching storyline to sustain, does it?

That right there sounds like a problem to me.

[RBS]

The Walking Dead loves to meander for most of a season before cranking it up to 15 for the finale.

[kinnath]

Had a Meddler Oud Bruin on tap over the weekend. And a fine product it was.

https://odellbrewing.com/beer/the-meddler/

[jesse.in.mb]

The last episode I saw of TWD was the end of Season 2. I keep meaning to catch up, but never feel strongly enough to do so.

[Warty]

Same here, except that I haven't seen any of the show. I keep thinking I should start, and then...enh.

[SugarFree]

I think binge-watching them would be the preferred format for viewing. You need to be able to fast-forward through certain *ahem* repetitious scenes.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Like the entire "where's Sophia" storyline? That'd be a good place to start.

[Lord Humungus]

Season 2 was awkward - mostly the constant "Actor's Workshop" heart to hearts that didn't drive the plot anywhere.

[JW]

This season is what S2 should have been. It's OK to get back story to flesh out the characters, while a longer arc runs in the background. It's also good for bringing minor characters out, like they did with the very yummy Emily Kinney's Beth.

Last week's (not last night's) was fucking brutal and next week's is supposedly jacked up to 11 action-wise.

[jesse.in.mb]

I think binge-watching them would be the preferred format for viewing

That's what I figured. Maybe I'll put S2 on in the background while I go through my financial paperwork and do my taxes this week.

[Brett L]

I never really was a watcher, but I tuned in to 3 or 4 episodes in passing during the latest catchup marathon. I just don't understand. At this point they have killed several hundred thousand zombies in rural Georgia, and the zombies must eat as many as they convert. At some point, every goddamn zombie from Atlanta, Alabama, and South Carolina has decided that the best eating is their little corner of rural Georgia. Zombies dumb enough to fall into a pit trap en masse are dumb enough to fall into every open hole between them and you. There should be great piles of them too busted up to crawl all over the place.

[Mike A.]

Well if we want to get stupid about it, maggots would eat all the zombies to nothing but bones in a few months.

The must-have accessory for the zombie apocalypse is plenty of insect netting.

[Lord Humungus]

I tried to re-watch the Walking Dead - both Season 2 and 3 - and found that without the "what's going to happen next" suspense, the show is really weak.

short version: it doesn't hold up to repeated views. Season 1, oddly enough, did - since it's more like a long horror movie with some character driven drama.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Look bro, he looked into the heart of the island and saw that Abrams had no fucking clue where he was going with the show.

Seriously so obvious.

Time travel, space travel, resurrections...it was a like a four-year-old telling a story. "And then there were DINOSAURS but the dinosaurs had rockets and the cavemen had spaceships and pew pew pew"

[jesse.in.mb]

What was funny was a friend of mine was already pissed at Abrams for making the plot of Alias an un-navigable mess. She swore up and down she wasn't going to let him do it to her again with Lost.

She got caught up with Lost just around the time he started randomly picking up and discarding plot lines with reckless abandon. She's a wellspring of Abrams hate now.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

I never watched an episode of Lost. Abrams cannot resist the temptation to throw extraneous crap in to make up for the lack of plot.

[JW]

She's a wellspring of Abrams hate now.

As should any sane person should be, by now.

Is there nothing he can't royally fuck up?

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

I was going to try to find something he did that was decent, but nope. Like I said, I'll give mild kudos to Fringe but that's about it and even that went off the rails at the end.

[JW]

I slogged through Fringe in a 5 week marathon, but even then, I had to go back to refresh my memory. It wasn't horrible, as tee-vee sci-fi goes. Still, I felt that I had to wash the Orci/Kurtzman stink off of me after watching it.

It was a good idea that took on a life of it's own, and they probably could have ended it after 3 seasons. Too much in there that didn't add anything to the arc. But at least they had the good sense to kill it before it became too incoherent.

[sarcasmic]

It's the journey, not the destination.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

The Lost finale was terrible. So was BSG's. But in their totality both were outstanding, well-acted and groundbreaking dramas.

[Rhywun]

Except with BSG, I didn't feel cheated out of three years like I did with Lost.

I have also noticed that I have no desire to ever rewatch an episode of Lost. Unlike BSG.

[Another David]

I guess an AIRPLANE scenario was always too optimistic.

[Fist of Etiquette]

I just want to tell you good luck. We're all counting on you.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Surely you can't be serious.

[gimmeasammich]

Doctor, you're wanted on the phone.

[Rhywun]

The white zone is for loading and unloading only.

[gimmeasammich]

Don't start with your white zone shit again.

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

Good thing CNN is still on this case.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

The latest conspiracy theory is that CNN hid the plane to boost its ratings.

[SugarFree]

Considering the Olympics were over and March Madness hadn't yet begun, the timing was more than a little suspicious.

[Francisco d'Anconia]

That one is actually believable.

[BakedPenguin]

...a Malaysian radio show called me last week for an interview.

"Wish I was in,
Hilil Parak,
eating barbequed mamak..."

[Swiss Servator, mehr Spr?ngli]

+1 I hear the talking of the DJ
Can't understand just what does he say?

[Francisco d'Anconia]

You wrote a book, Jesse?

[Swiss Servator, mehr Spr?ngli]

Huh...wonder what it was about?

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

And Ted apparently has a blog. I don't know why he doesn't ever mention it.

[Francisco d'Anconia]

Oh, you were being sarcastic the other day...

I almost said something.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

I like Ted, but he once have me a "cool story, bro", so now he's on the list.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

I'm sorry but I still think that response is hilarious.

[SugarFree]

cool story, bro

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Irrelevant. You were already on the list.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

I swear to God I did not know Ted had a blog until people started ripping on him for mentioning it.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Over a few weeks, he mentioned at least 6 times that
a) he has a blog and
b) Mary stalks him on it.

He's actually knows quite a lot about movies.

[BakedPenguin]

I mentioned the game 2048, and he asked for a hat tip (apparently he'd previously mentioned it). So I linked to this. I haven't been here as much recently, so I hadn't noticed him posting about his blog any more frequently, and therefore, also wasn't in on Playa's thin-skinned crusade.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Not a crusade, it's all in good fun.

Or, he started it!

[DJF]

I am betting the plane is still at the airport waiting takeoff clearance because the tower forgot about them.

[Swiss Servator, mehr Spr?ngli]

At O'Hare then?

[Cdr Lytton]

Fringe but not Millennium?

(movie not the TV series)