I can understand why you might not head over to Film Junk for enlightenment. Sure they run a great site and have the best film related podcast on the Internerd, so I understand that you might not realize they have a slumbering giant just beginning to awaken in Cantankerous. With only three episodes produced to date Cantankerous is a podcast still trying to discover just what it will cover, but what it has delved into is outstanding.

The duo behind Cantankerous is Jay Cheel, the sardonic film snob who just might be suffering from Munchausen syndrome, and Reed Farrington, the Star Trek uber-nerd who engages completism at warp factor 9. Apart they are capable of entertaining you, but together they form an intoxicating mix that will thrill and mystify you with each passing episode.

And while Jay typically dominates most of Film Junk’s podcast, it is Reed that makes Cantankerous destination radio. In episode one you discover his Kermit the Frog impression that only works when no one else is around, or marvel at his learning of the space shuttle Columbia disaster four years after it occurred.

But that would be outdone in episode two when Reed admits that his life is incomplete because he has never suffered from food poisoning. He then follows this up with a lecture on his disappointment at how people are not attempting to become more intelligent and uses his love of the film Soylent Green, which he views as a piece of high brow science fiction that will challenge people, as the basis for his argument.

But both episodes pale in comparison to the third, where we learn that the last hardcover book Reed purchased was the Joan Collins biography simply because she talks about her experiences guest starring on Star Trek. From there we learn about how Reed becomes confused at why white actors shouldn’t play other races in films, his short lived attempt at making his own cooking show entitled Cooking with Gerry, and Reed’s frustration with Dawson’s Creek inconsistent use of theme songs on the various DVD sets. But the true apex of the show is when we learn of Reed’s ongoing attempts to archive the Internet by using a video camera to tape it.

That Cantankerous continues to top its own style of unbridled brilliance in every show, drawing the listener ever closer to understanding the complex world Reed Farrington lives in, it quickly becomes evident that this podcast offers up the possibility of a window into a fantasy world that you never would have dreamed existed.

So go on, what are you waiting for?

Last week was a bit crazy. Like seemingly most of Netflix’s subscribers, my shipments were interrupted for several days. Unlike most subscriber’s my movies were delayed for an entire week, which lead me to a slight problem, in that I had no way of watching The Devil’s Rain. Thus putting me in a bit of a bind with what to write this week. Luckily here in Minneapolis there is an outstanding video store that would come to my aid, a video store by the name of Cinema Revolution.

Now Cinema Revolution is not your average ordinary video rental store. You won’t find any video games, or used DVD’s for sale, or even candy and soda carefully distributed near the counter to spur impulse buys. No, Cinema Revolution simply has movies to rent, and what great movies they are. Dedicated to carrying only foreign and independent films, Cinema Revolution is a cinephile’s dream store. Organized by country with subcategories for directors, Cinema Revolution is designed for those who both know and love film and I was confident I would find a suitable replacement to watch and review for Monday’s column.

Then I went and joined Andrew and Kurt from Row Three on their podcast Monday night.

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