Category: Episodes

Episode 06: A Tale of Two Christmas Carols

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Title page: "A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas."

What’s this? A chill in the air? Jingle bells off in the distance? The scent of snow (or rain or some kind of weather)? That can only mean one thing: it’s holiday story time! More specifically, A Christmas Carol, arguably the quintessential Christmas tale.

Such Christmas, such cheer. This pocket copy of Dickens’ Christmas stories actually fit in Adri’s pocket. ~Magical~

First, we talk about the original story (novella?) by Charles Dickens. A Christmas Carol is so ingrained in the pop culture consciousness that Pay and Adri were both very familiar with the morality tale about Ebenezer Scrooge and his four spirit visitors, yet had never actually read it. But does the original hold up? Why is it that we all know about humbug and Christmas goose? Why does it get adapted over and over again?

One of the oldest surviving adaptations. Gotta respect those effects.

Speaking of adaptations, Pay had never seen A Muppet Christmas Carol. Never! It is such a regular in Adri’s holiday viewings and another movie with great songs by Paul Williams, so it was very important for Pay to see it. Sure, you can’t force people to like things, but thankfully Pay liked the movie, so friendship may endure.

This DVD doesn’t include Belle’s song. Shame!

One of the surprising things was how close the Muppet adaptation really stuck to the original material. Most of the dialogue matched word for word, and even a few lines Adri thought were Gonzo-isms turned out to be straight from Dickens pen. A true sign that Gonzo is a genius.

Another holiday, another solid set of entertainment we’ve suggested. We should become party planners at this point.

Episode Highlights

  • What did we think about the latest season of British Bake-off?
  • What is the source of the duo’s patriotism?
  • Where does Charles Dickens end and Gonzo begin?
  • What are our other essential Christmas movies?
  • What vintage commercials did the Muppet Christmas Carol DVD have?

Further Reading/Watching

Episode 05: Bite Off

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It’s October, y’all. And you know what that means: time for all things spooky. This episode, we aimed for spooky and accidentally got very specifically spooky. Our penchant for an unintended Double Theme struck again, and we picked not one, but two vampire movies. Apparently the vampire craze is far from over for the two of us.

First, we chat about A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014), an American, Persian-language, vampire western. (Bet you’ve never seen that combo in a movie description before.) Written and directed by Ana Lily Amapour, this modern black and white film tells the story of a lonely vampire, the titular Girl, who stalks Bad City at night.

This one caught Adri’s eye in a magazine write-up a few years ago, but she hadn’t quite gotten around to seeing it yet. A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night was creepy, atmospheric and moody, with a few moments of solid dark humor. This is one to have on in the background at your next pumpkin carving party, for sure.

Next up, we take a trip to New Zealand with What We Do in the Shadows (2014), co-written and directed by Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement. This comedic mockumentary introduces us to Viago, Vlad, Deacon and their everyday (everynight?) after-lives as vampires sharing a flat.

It turns out Adri was already quite familiar with What We Do in the Shadows (she owns it), but this is one Pay had been meaning to see for a while. She first learned of Taika Waititi with his 2016 film, Hunt for the Wilderpeople and had been meaning to watch some of his older projects ever since. This movie is very hilarious and super fun and would also be good for your next pumpkin carving party.

Look guys, not to toot our own horns, but we just gave you two solid selections for your pumpkin carving party movie playlist. We’re not saying you should thank us… but it wouldn’t hurt if you thanked us.

Episode Highlights

  • What shows do we need subtitles to watch?
  • What was Adri’s favorite shot in A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night?
  • What was Pay’s favorite scene in What We Do in the Shadows? Was it this one? Or maybe even this one?
  • Guess what? That show we said we’d watch actually exists!
  • Why did we start talking about Chris Hemsworth?
  • What kind of horror movies are we into?

Episode 04: 50 Shades of Huh?

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If we’re honest, it was only a matter of time until we read Fifty Shades of Grey for the podcast. How could we not though? It was (is?) a cultural sensation, which feels like such an oddity for books these days, especially an erotic romance novel.

Cover of Fifty Shades of Grey audio book
Print, e-book, audio. We came at this book from all directions.

We both read the first Twilight novel in college, and so were curious to see how Fifty Shades’ origin as a Twilight fan fiction influenced the experience of reading it. We also go into the different influences that made it break through to the mainstream.

In the end though, we wouldn’t recommend giving it a read. People like what they like, but alas, this just wasn’t our cup of tea. We sure had fun discussing it together, though!

Sixty-nine times in less than two hours? Well that’s not a good sign, is it?
Also, heh, 69. Nice.

Episode Highlights

  • What do we think of the current run of Disney remakes?
  • Which one of us actually got to the end of the book? Is this a trick question?
  • Which excerpts do we read aloud?

Further Reading

Here are a few links to some of the things we mentioned in the post and a kink-related resource we are fans of. Give ’em a look!

Episode 03: Rate! That! Skate!

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Y’know, we’ve been sitting around watching Things, but sometimes you want to get up and Do a Thing. That means we actually left the house for this episode. It required physical exertion. What a world we saw!

Two skateboards
Adri and her partner have some heckin’ cute boards.

Our starting point for this episode is something Adri has wanted to do since she was a kid: go to a skate park. Skateboarding is one of those things that she wanted to do but thanks to the awfulness that is being a teenager, she convinced herself she was too fat/uncool/some other insecurity to actually do it. Thankfully, the older she gets, the fewer fucks she gives. Sure, learning to skateboard in your twenties might seem like a bad idea, but thanks to the internet, there has been an increase in visibility of girls and women becoming bad ass skateboarders at different stages of their lives. How could it not inspire someone to finally do something they always wanted to do?

One day Adri shall hippie jump. One day…

Next, Pay did something she hadn’t done since she was a kid: go to a roller rink. Roller skating at a rink was such a birthday party staple when we were kids, but it died down as a go-to activity. Considering roller skates have been around since the 19th century, it’s no surprise its popularity comes and goes. Seems like we are in the upswing in popularity, we guess in part helped by the comeback of roller derby. And now that Beyonce has been spotted checking out a roller rink, skating is definitely cool. Though Roll Bounce certainly tried to get it going again.

Honestly, the skating in this video looks pretty rad. Also love how they advertise Bow Wow’s tour at the end.

A few highlights:

  • What tips do we have so you can watch Netflix at work?
  • How can we have a very important discussion about oatmeal and not mention that the Quaker Dino Eggs packet is clearly the best kind?
  • Did we fall on our butts??
  • What lesson do we have for our younger, more insecure selves?
  • Did the presence of children ruin our adventures?
  • What bonus Thing did Pay do?

The lesson of this episode is really the lesson of our podcast: If you want to do a Thing, do it! It’s never too late!

There is a bunch of rad skate-related stuff out there, so here’s a little link round-up of a lot of the stuff we like.

Episode 02 : Seven Deadly Gone Girls

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Episode 02? Well, would you look at that follow-through! We’re pretty darn proud of ourselves.

When it takes a long time to finally get around to a movie, it’s pretty tough to avoid spoilers. So for this episode we picked two movies where we had already heard the twist or ending. By chance, the movies we picked were both directed by David Fincher, so we’ve got a Double Theme episode, y’all. [Insert Jamaican Air Horn here]

First up we have Seven, a classic tale of an ol’ retiring cop/young cop stuck with a crazy ass case. At this point, everyone knows what’s in the box, but no one ever really talks about how it gets there so the spoilers weren’t too much of an issue for this one. That being said, we’re pretty sure neither of us will watch this one again. Zodiac is a better option.

Ah, murder in the name of teaching people humans are disgusting.

Second up we have Gone Girl, the movie that garbage men use as evidence that all women in the real world are manipulative bitches. Why can’t we just enjoy a sociopath villain who uses the fact that she’s a woman to her benefit? Why can’t we have nice things?

Shout out to the cinematographer and art director, because dang, that’s a good-lookin’ movie.

This was an interesting one to discuss. Pay knew the twist because she had read the book, while Adri had received the spoiler second-hand, a difference which definitely affected the viewing experience. Either way, this is one where we felt knowing the end did make a difference. Also, Nick is a total dum-dum. How is he such a dummy? Just at every turn doing the dumbest shit. It’s baffling.

A few highlights:

  • What tips does Pay have for getting a free movie ticket?
  • How many times can we say “ugh” in reaction to women being treated terribly?
  • Which murder disturbed us the most?
  • What would our theme be if we were serial killers?
  • Who does Adri mix up with David Fincher every dang time?

We also briefly discuss the pleasure of watching crafting videos, and everyone should check out Crafsman. That dude rules.

Cabachon? Papa John? Cabachon.

Episode 01 – Phantom of the Kissing Booth

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Oh, boy! What a way to start!

Pay’s Thing this episode is Phantom of the Paradise, a movie she just hadn’t seen yet. This was genuinely surprising since Adri fucking.loves.this.movie.

Phantom of the Paradise poster, French DVD, Blu-Ray, vinyl soundtrack
Not pictured are the VHS and CD, or Adri’s Phantom-inspired tattoo. Also not pictured is an original theater poster this replica is based on because someone outbid Adri for it in 2007. She’s totally not bitter.

In fact, her love of this movie has existed almost as long as this friendship. She just never brought it to a dang movie sleepover. (Those were mostly saved for DCOMs and Degrassi: the Next Generation.) Long overdue, Adri was excited to hear what Pay thought.

A few highlights:

  • One time, Adri met Paul Williams and managed not to freak out. (Bonus fact: Paul wanted to take a selfie, but Adri didn’t have a phone capable of such a thing.)
  • Could there ever be a remake that would actually be good? Who is the perfect Phantom? Who would be the best Swan?
  • Is there a person on this earth who is as powerful as Swan? (Yes, she exists.)

There is so much more we could’ve discussed about the history of this movie, but we just couldn’t get to it all. And we probably got a couple facts wrong, so we highly recommend The Swan Archives if you’re interested in more about the movie. (Adri has certainly spent countless hours on that site over the years…)

Elle is caught between the two most important men in her life: a hot maniac who needs therapy and a floppy-haired, DDR knock-off expert.

Adri’s Thing this episode is The Kissing Booth, a teen romantic comedy that Netflix surprisingly didn’t suggest for her. Luckily Pay had seen it and knew there was plenty to say about this dang movie.

As it turns out, there are only a few movies that Pay likes enough to force others to watch… and Adri’s seen them all. Boo. So, what’s almost as fun as movies that are good and enjoyable to watch? Movies that are bad and enjoyable to watch, of course. In came The Kissing Booth, a delightfully mediocre movie that gave Pay’s eyeballs such a good workout that she just had to share.

A few highlights:

  • Check out the trailer and experience the majority of this movie’s “plot” in less than 3 minutes!
  • Please help us solve this episode’s biggest mystery: Are Lee and Noah’s parents Hollywood’s most prolific porn producers?
  • Below, Pay actually solves this episode’s second biggest mystery: Just how long does it take for two teens to get from their mansions in the Hollywood Hills to an arcade on the Santa Monica pier?

Episode 0 – Preview, intro, or whatever!

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In this preview (Intro? Sneak peek?) episode, we give you a little overview on why we finally started a podcast, and a taste of the random tangents we’ll inevitably have every episode.

Check out ohyeahthatthing.com to find out how to recommend a Thing for a future episode!

Logo illustrated and designed by Rola (Instagram: @rol.a)
Music by Kate (margotsmokes.com and Twitter: @margotsmokes)