e206. Return of the Oscars Preview – 2022

If you’re a movie fan then you might know that the Oscars are coming up next weekend. In fact, you probably even know if you’re not a movie fan. The Oscars are weird. Every year they’re a big deal for Hollywood… except really, does anyone care? The Oscars have been bleeding viewers lately, with last…

Call for Comments: Unintentional Group Synchrony and the Madness of Crowds

From Wayne: I’ve had several conversations with people about their experience in crowds at various events. For me this was primarily a function of my experience at concerts. I can verily easily just get caught up in the music and the moment, losing a certain amount of a sense of self and ‟becoming one with…

Call For Comments: Why do we fill out Oscar ballots?

Dune, West Side Story, The Power of the Dog, and Belfast are all nominees for the 2022 Academy Award for Best Picture From Monica: The 2022 Oscars are upcoming on March 27th, so we’re doing a good old-fashioned predictions episode. But as I sat down to fill out my ballot, I also found myself in…

e205. Why Do We Love Batman?

If you’re a regular listener of this show then you no doubt are aware that the Batman was released in cinemas last week. At the current moment, it is in fact the number one movie at the box office worldwide. And of course, that was to be expected. Everyone knew that it would be a…

Call for Comments: Hey, Are Y’all Talking About Batman?

From Hannah: How have we gone over two hundred episodes without dedicating an episode to talking about Batman? (Indeed, the Eternals of all superheroes got their own episode before we decided to focus on Batman.) From Mav: I mean, we didn’t. Episode 54 was totally all talking about Batman! Just none of you were on…

e202. To Kill a Mockingbird… and a Maus — Censorship & Book Banning

Every once in a while the world of weekly pop culture and the world of literary academia collide so totally that the world notices even outside of our show. Last week was one of those weeks. A school board in Tennessee voted to remove Maus, the critically acclaimed, Pulitzer Prize winning Holocaust memoir graphic novel,…

CFC: Why Even Really Care About Banned Books Anyway?

From Mav: So, I guess we need to talk about “the Maus situation.” If you live in my world then it’s pretty impossible to escape the news from last week that Art Spiegelman’s Maus was “banned.” Between the fact that it’s a comic, that it was a politically motivated book banning, that there are issues…

Call For Comments: 🤔How do you use your Emojis?

From Monica: My co-hosts and I have a very active group chat in which we plan future episodes, we recommend content, we razz each other about the current Box Office Game leaderboard, etc etc., and part of our conversational style frequently includes the utilization of emojis. I’m partial to the upside-down smiley face for its…

Call for Comments: What is Luxury Fashion, Really?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zw4zlvTlaI0 From Monica: What do Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Moet, Hennessy, Fendi, Givenchy, Marc Jacobs, Loewe, Celine, Bulgari, Tiffany and Co., and Sephora all have in common? They’re all owned by LVMH, the world’s largest corporate conglomerate specializing in luxury goods. What about Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta, Gucci, Alexander McQueen and Yves Saint Laurent? They’re all…

Call for Comments: Breaking Down The Romance Genre

From Hannah: Way back on Episode 24, we talked about the concept of genre in general: Why is genre occasionally a dirty word? What are the rules a piece of fiction has to follow to be considered a member of a particular genre? How useful is this concept in understanding a work? So I want…