Three Weeks of B-Fest: CatBusRuss & ThePoeticCritic & "There's Nothing Out There"

I Dig Crazy Flicks with @CatBusRuss

Episode 205: B-Fest 2025: #Beepfest with ThePoeticCritic

CatBusRuss⁠ and ⁠ThePoeticCritic⁠ discuss ⁠B-Fest 2025⁠. This is perhaps the best B-Fest line up CatBus has seen, and from the sound of it, the best his big sister has attended. And ⁠A&O Productions ⁠earned these accolades because the line up did not make it out to the public until at least an hour and a half before this 24-hour movie marathon kicked off. ⁠I Dig Crazy Flicks⁠ was able to be the last minute sponsor of B-Fest Traditions, "⁠Plan 9 from Outer Space⁠" and "⁠The Wizard of Speed and Time⁠", but with that being the case, our host had low expectations for the kids at Northwestern to high jump over. He did not know that they were going to bring a pole vault.

If a movie was bad like "⁠Truth or Dare? Critical Madness⁠", it was so bonkers that you could not help but enjoy it with the crowd. If a film was morally corrupt like the gory Christian-exploitation flick, "⁠If Footmen Tire You, What Will Horses Do?⁠", the audience bonded together with the insults and riffs that all fascists deserve. And B-Fest did not miss when it came to nostalgia movies to amuse the audience. We're talking about the animated, "⁠The Transformers: The Movie⁠", JCVD and Dennis Rodman teaming up to stop Mickey Rourke in "⁠Double Team⁠", and two movies featured devious characters portrayed by B-Movie royalty, ⁠Mary Woronov⁠.

It was a comedy of errors. A fire alarm went off as ⁠Pam Grier⁠ was smoldering. Sponsors were failing to show up when scheduled resulting in constant reshuffling of the line up. One of the DVDs refused to let the crew skip 20-minutes of no-budget movie trailers, resulting in them turning to YouTube to projecting it with pop-up ads. Honestly, when you are celebrating the best of the worst films ever made, this all seems quite appropriate.

Episode 207 - There's Nothing Out There...Except Nix Eclips

The primary audience for horror movies has been told to laugh at itself once ⁠Kevin Williamson⁠ penned "Scream" in 1996. But as ⁠L7⁠ wrote four years prior, "The Masses are Asses". Horror nerds were being treated to this message since the founding of ⁠Troma Films⁠, but never so directly as in the ⁠Rolfe Kanefsky⁠ horror comedy, "⁠There's Nothing Out There⁠".

Nix Eclips from the "Cinema Shitshow" podcast⁠ suggested that ⁠CatBusRuss⁠ give the 1991 film a watch. He felt it had that vibe of "Scream". Our host would disagree with that since the film's hero is essentially the Jamie Kennedy character from the Wes Craven feature. It is more along the lines of "Final Girls" or "Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon". We have a lead who knows this is a horror movie, but will anyone else believe him. The boom mic "Gymkata" suggests they should, but the feature needs a body count.

Aside from splitting hairs in regards to what "There's Nothing Out There" is trying to be, this episode is a first time meeting of two podcasters. We find out about Nix's experience in entertainment and his surprise on how wrestling and podcasting has taken ⁠CatBusRuss⁠ on a tour as far west as Rolla, MO, as far north as Milwaukee, WI, as far east as Jacksonville, FL, and as far south as New Orleans, LA. Give it a listen if you want to hear about similar trauma caused by PG Eddie Murphy cinema. There will be tangents, so prepare yourself.

 

Follow me on Twitter @catbusruss. If you want to be on the show, contact me on Twitter or send an email to russthebus07@gmail.com. All we need is a theme, movie, director, or actor and a focus on sub 100-minute material. As long as the credits start before the 1:39:59 mark on the runtime bar, the movie qualifies.

The Kurgan's Theme: The Disgruntled Wrestling Fan(s) and Their Prize(s)

 *This blog post started on September 5, 2024.

Well, at least trying to get myself some legitimate online credentials allowed me to use one of my favorite Queen song's title as a nomenclature for this post.

This means that I am not going to get too far inside my own head. I am going to try and focus on the just writing about who should be called the best professional wrestlers in the world. The best, at least in the West. To my credit, New Japan Pro-Wrestling World is a service that I subscribe to. Hence, a clue is something that I possess when it comes to the puroresu scene.

Let me up front, I am not a sports entertainment fan. WWE is trying to distance themselves from the term that the former owner coined (along side the former owner). I consider myself an under-employed professional wrestler, and I decided to pursue a career in the business based off of products like Extreme Championship Wrestling around the turn of the 21st century. What inspired me was the bell-to-bell drama, not Dwayne Johnson's catchphrases or the chance that Brian Pillman might possibly pull a gun on Stone Cold Steve Austin.

Yes, ECW had plenty of shock television (It was usually done better than WWF. If not better, than at least fearlessly.), but they had performers who wanted to give everything that they had (body and soul) in the ring to provide their fans the best show they could possibly ask for. When the cameras are not there to document the soap opera drama, the in ring product is all that there is.

And that is why I created the "Disgruntled's Real Championship Wrestling" series of blogs. It is a means to honor those who know what is truly important to the business. Not the likes of online influencers like Logan Paul, who are athletic, but are performing only to further sell their brand to those who will not follow their YouTube videos.

The Disgruntled's Real World Champions of Pro-Wrestling:

Title Histories from June 25, 2024 to September 26, 2024.

The 106th and Current Disgruntled's Real World Champion:
AEW World Champion Bryan Danielson (5).

His fifth reign began when he defeated DRCW Real World Champion/AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland on August 25.

Strickland won this title from Samoa Joe. The other champions at the time were/are:

• IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Tetsuya Naito who had traded that championship with Jon Moxley.
• (WWE) World Heavyweight Champion Gunther who won it from Money in the Bank Winner Damian Priest (A man who cashed in his anytime title shot on a worn down Drew McIntyre)
• WWE Undisputed Universal Champion Cody Rhodes, a man who can never challenge for the AEW World Championship.

Rhodes is a bitter soul who was not good enough to win the championship of a promotion he started. Naito's reign should have been uninterrupted, but New Japan Pro-Wrestling decided to pull some shock booking. Gunther defeated an unworthy champion, one who needed to be a scavenger to claim his championship. AEW President Tony Khan knows how to book his championship. The only person who could ruin his booking was CM Punk, and that is a man whom he fired.

The 49th and Current Modern Poser Champion:
WWE Undisputed Universal Champion: Cody Rhodes

His reign began when he defeated Roman Reigns on April 7.

Roman Reigns is the epitome of a sports entertainer. Cody Rhodes was trained to be a sports entertainer. A sports entertainer will always be second to a pro-wrestler.

The 54th and Current Disgruntled's Real Women's World Champion:
AEW Women's World Champion: "The Glamour" Mariah May

Her reign began when she defeated DRCW Real World Women's Champion/AEW Women's World Champion "Timeless" Toni Storm on August 25.

Toni Storm became champion when Rhea Ripley vacated her (WWE) Women's World Championship due to injury. DRCW championships were designed to not have vacancies, so Becky Lynch's Battle Royal win to fill Ripley's title was not needed.

WWE Women's Champion Bayley's title win at WrestleMania was over a Iyo Sky, a champion who cashed in Money in the Bank to become "the best". Storm won her championship by defeating the first three-time, and longest reigning AEW Women's World Champion, Hikaru Shida. Again, AEW has the strongest title lineages.

The 159th and Current Disgruntled's Real World Tag Team Champions:
AEW World Tag Team Champions: Nicholas & Matthew Jackson: The Young Bucks (4)

Their reign began when the Awesome Truth were defeated for the World Tag Team Championship on June 24.

I don't like that the AEW titles were claimed after Sting & Darby Allin vacated them, but you cannot support the Judgement Day B-Team (Finn Balor and JD McDonaugh) as the best tag team in the world. Perchance, they will be the men's duos champions.

If only DIY could have beaten A-Town Down before JD Mc "Don't Google Me" and the former Prince Devitt won their titles.

The 175th and Current Disgruntled's Unified Gnarly Men's Doubles Champions:
World Tag Team Champions (WWE): JD McDonagh & Finn Balor (3)

Their reign began when The System lost the TNA World Tag Team Championship on July 20.

ABC (Ace Austin & Chris Bey) have established themselves as the new Beer Money of TNA. They are too strong to be a Duo.

The 163rd and Current OCHO: The Disgruntled's Secondary Champion:
(Intercontinental, United States, Global, Television, TNT, North American, X-Division, National Champion)
WWE Intercontinental Champion: Jey Uso

His reign began when he defeated Sami Zayn for the championship on September 23, 2024.

The 162nd OCHO: The Disgruntled's Secondary Champion: WWE Intercontinental Champion: Bronn Breaker

His reign began when he defeated Sami Zayn for the championship on August 3, 2024.

Who has a fun title for ninth** title being added to the OCHO lineage? AEW's International Championship is looking like a secondary title.

I suppose when I comeback to this blog to report on my success or lack there of, I have to finally investigate the tertiary championship. Maybe I can determine the secondary championship in Western Women's Wrestling. A chance to further bury the WWE, how can I resist.

**The OCHO is comprised of the:

• WWF/WWE Intercontinental Championship (1)
• WCW/WWE United States Championship (2)
• ECW World Television Championship (3)
• TNA/Impact X-Division Championship (4)
• ROH World Television Championship
• IWGP United States/Global Championship (5)
• NXT North American Championship (6)
• NWA National Championship (7)
• AEW TNT Championship (8)

Podcasts at Fan Expo New Orleans & Clerks from Chambana

Ninety For Chill: The #Podcast with @CatBusRuss

Episode 202: Ninety For Chill X NOLA Film Scene: Fan Expo New Orleans 2025

CatBusRuss⁠ ventures to ⁠Fan Expo New Orleans 2025⁠ to host his first podcast panel of the new year, and he could not have asked for better guests than local podcasters ⁠TJ & Plaideau from NOLA Film Scene⁠. This was the first panel these hometown actors have starred in and this was the first in person roundtable discussion Russ has been able to post on this podcast. It was a learning experience for all, but more importantly, a fun conversation about why 100 minutes is the ideal maximum movie runtime. But the NOLA boys do help our host figure out how you can grab for a few extra minutes.

TJ and Brian were gracious in providing their Southern Hospitality to a shy Yankee. And fortunately both their wives approved their efforts (despite birthdays) or attended (and helped produce). It shows that there were witnesses to that this moment in history happened. The cast of "Back to the Future" cannot take that away from them.

Episode 204 - Clerks on "Clerks" with CouchManBakes

The host of ⁠"Baking While Baked", Andrew "Couchman" Tiede⁠, returns to the show to discuss the feature that put ⁠Kevin Smith⁠ on the map, "⁠Clerks⁠". ⁠CatBusRuss⁠ and his guest determine this is a feature about trying to find one's own identity. And, since these two make a living as customer agents, how this film serves to remind them not to take life too seriously, and always have a true hustle too focus on. Unless slacking is something you find comfort in. Thus, this podcast may have been better titled, "The Book of Randle".

The conversation the two have serves as a chance to share their own war stories about customers and expectations set on them. It is interesting because Smith's film only seems crazy to those who have not been employed in the retail space. Every scene triggers trauma our two podcasters have endured, and they love the story for that. Smith made a film that shows the clerk is not alone, despite what the customers want us to think. Damn, more people need to see this movie so they know what kind of douches they choose to be.

And since craziness was brought up, Couchman and CatBus review how "⁠Ninety For Chill⁠" has evolved into "⁠I Dig Crazy Flicks⁠". They look back on some of the films they have discussed, and which ones are truly bonkers. An argument can be made for all of them after they stopped and determined that Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday from "⁠Tombstone⁠" are parallels to Joliet Jake and Elwood from "⁠The Blues Brothers⁠".

 

Follow me on Twitter @catbusruss. If you want to be on the show, contact me on Twitter or send an email to russthebus07@gmail.com. All we need is a theme, movie, director, or actor and a focus on sub 100-minute material. As long as the credits start before the 1:39:59 mark on the runtime bar, the movie qualifies.

Fan Expo New Orleans Warm Up for "Ninety For Chill: The Panel"

Ninety For Chill: The #Podcast with @CatBusRuss

Bonus: Fan Expo NOLA: Day 1 - Frustrations (& Valhalla Rising)

CatBusRuss⁠ made the 17-hour train ride to New Orleans to try and outshine the "40th Anniversary: Back To the Future" cast reunion panel. With the backing of TJ and Plaideau from the ⁠NOLA Film Scene⁠ podcast, surely there would be an audience despite the stiff 7 pm panel competition at ⁠Fan Expo New Orleans⁠. No one can deny the "⁠I Dig Crazy Flicks⁠" fighting spirit. But, most of our host's friends can recall what his role in the pro-wrestling ring was. Which won out? Lets just give a participation trophy for Russ's effort.

⁠That maybe overly melodramatic. CatBus had fun meeting and hanging out with his panel guests, and appreciates them forcing him to be a little more social. A lot of promotional buttons were given out, and no one told him to jog off, so it is a winning day for this podcast. It is definitely a winner when compared to the Danish English language viking film "⁠Valhalla Rising⁠", the feature Russ watched to unwind the night prior.

Fan Expo NOLA: Day 2 - Bootleggers, Arial Artistry, & Renounced Jedi

Not a perfect day in New Orleans for ⁠CatBusRuss⁠. He did not set his alarm early enough to catch the ⁠Anthony Daniels⁠panel and convention center food is not how he wanted to sample Cajun/Creole cuisine. But he was a little more social thus providing more potential for "⁠I Dig Crazy Flicks⁠" in the future. Thank ⁠Brian Plaideau⁠ for the shove there. He is still a little shy when it comes to approaching attractive arial artists, but he will always be a work in progress.

CatBus did make it to some fun panels. It was not C3-P0, but the humble ⁠Ashely Eckstein⁠ provided ⁠Fan Expo⁠ a fun "Star Wars" love fest. He was not there for a long time, but it was a good time checking out the "⁠Fave Five From Fans⁠" podcast. So far, you can never go wrong with a "⁠Bootleg Safari⁠" panel. 

Perhaps his biggest score of the day was getting a ⁠Husk ⁠cat plushie and having the nerve to hit up some "⁠Hazbin Hotel⁠" cosplayers for a pic. It makes up for him not talking to the ⁠Arial Space Squad⁠ after their performance. Social baby steps.

 

Follow me on Twitter @catbusruss. If you want to be on the show, contact me on Twitter or send an email to russthebus07@gmail.com. All we need is a theme, movie, director, or actor and a focus on sub 100-minute material. As long as the credits start before the 1:39:59 mark on the runtime bar, the movie qualifies.