Author: Ian Casselberry

The Podcass 0.5: C’mon, another podcast?

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Hello and welcome to The Podcass! Thank you for listening and downloading.

My name is Ian Casselberry, and I’m a writer, editor and podcaster. You might know me from such outlets as Awful Announcing, The Comeback, Big League Stew, MLive and Bless You Boys.

This is an audio version of my blog, with stories, rants, reviews and interviews.

Why “The Podcass”? It’s a name that occurred to me once upon a time, trying to come up with a play on my name like “The Casselbloggy.” (By the way, you can find my blog at casselbloggy.com.)

What can you expect from this podcast? Why should you listen? For one thing, I hope this becomes an audio version of my blog with stories, rants, reviews and interviews. I’ve seen people on social media say that they don’t read blogs anymore, but they listen to podcasts. So here I am. You can’t escape me. Unless, you know, you, like, ignore me.

Mostly, I just want to play with the form and see where I can go with it. Let me know if I’ve made a huge mistake at thepodcass@gmail.com. The show is also on Twitter @thepodcass.

Facebook? Eh, I’m not sure about that yet, though I’ve often gotten better engagement there. For now, you can find me on Facebook. I’m on Twitter @iancass and Instagram @iancass6873. I appreciate you stopping by and hope this is the beginning of something fun.

Overzealous Recycling 010: Scattered, smothered and covered

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Thanks to Pat Ryan and WISE Sports Radio (the Asheville station where I do baseball and movie segments each week), I got to attend the Southern Conference tournament final between Wofford and UNC Greensboro. Asheville has hosted the tournament for the past eight years and it seems to be more popular each year. It’s not just a fringe sporting event; it’s something the town takes pride in.

— If you missed the last Overzealous Recycling, you can read it here —

Maybe the surge of interest in mid-major college basketball has something to do with that. But like other small towns and cities, Asheville wants to feel like it matters and an event like the SoCon tourney, which gets broadcast on ESPN, contributes to that.

I don’t go to many live sporting events anymore, other than a baseball game or two over the summer. Being at the SoCon final reminded me of how much fun a big game can be. And sitting in the media section reminded me of how much I’ve wanted to make my living there. Maybe this was kind of a nudge to pursue and enjoy those things a bit more than I have in recent years.

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Overzealous Recycling 009: Higher, further, faster!

/ Ian Casselberry / 3 Comments

My movie calendar is probably way off, but it feels like 2019 is finally beginning at the movies. Oscars season ended almost two weeks ago and Captain Marvel represents the first big blockbuster release of the year. (Sorry, Alita: Battle Angel.) So there’s finally reason to be excited.

— If you missed the last Overzealous Recycling, you can read it here —

Plenty of other films have been released since Jan. 1, and I still need to catch up on a few of them. But it’s also time to write some movie reviews again. I’ve really fallen off during the past few months because I didn’t have an outlet — forgetting that I’ll always have this blog.

So I did write up a review for Captain Marvel, which you can read here. If you’d like an audio version, we also recorded some back-and-forth reaction for the Amusement Park Podcast. I’m hoping this helps me scrape off some rust and gets me back into regularly writing about movies again. More on that with some fun news after the first of this week’s links.

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Captain Marvel takes a while to click, but eventually comes together for a payoff

/ Ian Casselberry / 2 Comments

Carol Danvers has been a C-list character in Marvel Comics for most of her 50-year history. Only within the past seven years has she held the mantle of Captain Marvel that sells her as a pretty big addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Danvers has a convoluted comic book history, one that surely made her difficult to distill into something simpler for a movie. Yet like Tony Stark before her, the lack of a signature storyline made Danvers a blank slate for Marvel Studios and the five writers (including Guardians of the Galaxy‘s Nicole Perlman and Inside Out‘s Meg LaFauve) who took a crack at Captain Marvel‘s story.

A comic book overhaul in 2012 by writer Kelly Sue DeConnick (who appropriately has a quick cameo in the movie) made Danvers a tougher, more accessible character fueled by all of the doubts and obstacles encountered throughout her life. That perseverance is what pushed her into becoming an elite fighter pilot and gave her the edge to stand as an equal with Captain America, Iron Man, and the other Avengers.

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Amusement Park Podcast: Captain Marvel Special Episode! Non-Spoilers and Spoilers

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Captain Marvel has arrived! And with that, it feels like 2019 is finally beginning at the movies. The Oscars are done, people are seeing or have seen last year’s awards contenders, and wannabe blockbusters such as Alita: Battle Angel have fizzled out.

We do get into spoilers on our special episode of the Amusement Park Podcast. But that part of the discussion begins about halfway through the show, at the 21:40 mark. So be warned! And please come back and compare your thoughts on the movie after you’ve seen it.

Higher! Further! Faster!

— My review of Captain Marvel can be read here —

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