Monkey Off My Backlog: Recent Episodes
Andy Bowman, Tessa Swehla, Sam Morris
A Pop Culture Productivity Podcast! Every week Andy, Tessa, and Dr. Sam exorcise their personal pop culture demons by going through their media to-do lists one item at a time. Each week involves a spoiler-free discussion about the media they listened, watched, read, played, or experienced that week along with encouragement to continue tackling these backlogs.
This week, we're talking about season 5 episodes "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham," "Lafleur," and "Namaste."
For our last (for now) week of Noirvember, Jack joins us to discuss three neo-noir films of the 21st century: Drive, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, and Brick. 01:00 - 21st century noir 12:17 - Drive 34:30 - Before the Devil Knows You're Dead 47:22 - What do we want noir to look like in the future 57:10 - Brick
For Noirvember Week 3, Matt is with us to talk about the connections between film noir and erotic thrillers as well as to discuss three 1990s noir films: Basic Instinct, Devil in a Blue Dress, and Out of Sight. 3:52 - Noir in the 90s 19:00 - Basic Instinct 1:09:00 - Devil in a Blue Dress 1:38:47 - Elmore Leonard 1:45:30 - Out of Sight
Next up on our Noirvember series: Ryan joins us to discuss neo-noir and three 1980s noir films: Blood Simple, Body Double, and Blue Velvet. 3:20 - What is neo-noir? 14:21 - Blood Simple 31:16 - Neo-noir tropes and aesthetics 38:50 - Body Double 1:00:52 - Blue Velvet
Moving on from Spooktober, it's now Noirvember. Join us as we discuss three 1940s film noir classics: Double Indemnity, Laura, and The Lady from Shanghai. 1:30 - What is film noir? 19:36 - Double Indemnity 42:00 - 1940s noir tropes 52:58 - Laura 1:10:54 - The Lady from Shanghai
We're back to talk about Season 5! This week, we're talking about two-part premiere, "Because You Left" and "The Lie."
Tessa and Sam are joined by Emily of TVJawn to discuss Anne Rice and her legacy in vampire and horror fiction, including the Interview with The Vampire novel and AMC adaptation as well as the novel The Witching Hour. 3:40 - Anne Rice and her legacy in vampire and horror fiction 18:04 - Interview with the Vampire (novel) 41:46 - Interview with the Vampire (AMC series) 1:09:34 - The Witching Hour (first novel of the Mayfair Witches trilogy) 1:28:10 - How well has Anne Rice's works aged? Do we think that the AMC shows will eventually crossover?
Tessa and Sam are by former host Andy to talk about three TV shows that bring Spooktober to the small screen: Evil, The Vampire Diaries, and Scream. 2:15 - What is horror TV, anyway? 7:50 - The Vampire Diaries 31:06 - Big names in horror TV 40:32 - Scream 49:40 - Evil 1:30:43 - The Mummy (1959)
In episode 24 of Sam Watches Star Trek, Sam and Tessa discuss the TNG episode "Conspiracy" and the season 1 finale "The Neutral Zone." Plus, Lower Decks and the season 2 finale of Picard. Join us next week for Tessa Watches Lost: Tessa watches the first two episodes of season 5 of Lost.
Tessa and Sam are joined by Elyse of the Pod-wraiths podcast to talk the classic Hammer Horror team-ups of Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing: The Curse of Frankenstein, The Horror of Dracula, and The Mummy. 1:55 - Introduction to Hammer Horror 12:57 - The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) 44:31 - Universal v Hammer 52:02 - The Horror of Dracula (1958) 1:20:05 - The beautiful friendship of Lee and Cushing 1:30:43 - The Mummy (1959)
In episode 23 of Sam Watches Star Trek, Sam and Tessa discuss the TNG episodes "Skin of Evil" and "We'll Always Have Paris."
Tessa and Sam are joined by Melissa to talk about creatures--from the Black Lagoon (Creature from the Black Lagoon), from Outer Space (The Thing), and from...dusty formaldehyde bottles (The Host)? 2:30 - Intro to Creature Features and Universal Horror 14:08 - Creature from the Black Lagoon 42:15 - A Brief History of Creatures Features 47:38 - The Thing 1:09:19 - The Host (and a short discussion of kaijus)
In episode 22 of Sam Watches Star Trek, Sam and Tessa discuss the TNG episodes "Heart of Glory" and "Symbiosis."
Tessa and Sam are joined by former host Andy to talk about meta-horror, specifically works of meta-horror created by Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson: Wes Craven's The New Nightmare, The Faculty, and Scream. 1:53 - What is meta-horror? 8:31 - Wes Craven's New Nightmare 26:03 - Wes Craven and shock horror 31:31 - The Faculty 47:44 - Kevin Williamson and teen drama 54:36 - Scream and Scream 2
In episode 21 of Sam Watches Star Trek, Sam and Tessa discuss the TNG episodes "When the Bough Breaks" and "Home Soil."
This week, we're talking about pop culture we were told we should watch when we're feeling down. But we didn't...because you're not the boss of us. Tessa finally starts watching Maniac, Sam picks back up on White Collar, and Andy reads High Fidelity. We're also saying goodbye to Andy, one of the founders and original hosts of MoMBl. We wish him well on his dreams of dissertation completion and being his daughter's favorite father. 2:37 - Maniac 16:30 - White Collar 33:40 - High Fidelity
In episode 20 of Sam Watches Star Trek, Sam and Tessa discuss the TNG episodes "Datalore" and "11001001."
2:00 - Tessa Talks Fire Island 30:00 - Sam explains the origin story of the mosquito in amber 45:00 - Andy discusses the Afterparty
In episode 19 of Sam Watches Star Trek, Sam and Tessa discuss the TNG episodes "Hide and Q" and "Haven."
It's time for Elyse Assigns! Elyse assigns us three of their favorite films from their childhood: Holiday, One, Two, Three, and Time After Time. 1:43 - Holiday 30:51 - One, Two, Three 56:16 - Time After Time
In episode 18 of Sam Watches Star Trek, Sam and Tessa discuss the TNG episodes "The Naked Now" and "Where No One Has Gone Before."
In episode 17 of Sam Watches Star Trek, Tessa and Sam discuss the rest of the two-part TNG pilot, "Encounter at Farpoint."
Join Sam, Tessa, and Lozy as they run down this year's Hugo Awards nominees! In the final part of this series, we break down down the nominations for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form, Best Novella, and Best Novel. 00:00 - Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form 37:56 - Best Novella 48:40 - Best Novel
Join Sam, Tessa, and Lozy as they run down all of this year's Hugo Awards nominees! In part two of this series, we break down down the nominations for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form, the Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book, and Best Novelette. 00:00 - Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form 32:52 - the Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book 58:45 - Best Novelette Come back on Wednesday for the conclusion of our three part series on the Hugo Awards nominees!
Join Sam, Tessa, and Lozy as they run down all of this year's Hugo Awards nominees! Today, we'll begin breaking down the nominations for Best Graphic Story or Comic and Best Short Story. 2:41: Why accept this challenge to read more Hugo Awards nominees? 12:42 Best Graphic Story or Comic 36:07 Best Short Story Come back on Tuesday for the next part of our discussion!
In episode 16 of Sam Watches Star Trek, Tessa and Sam discuss Sam’s previous knowledge of Star Trek: The Next Generation and begin to discuss the two-part pilot, "Encounter at Farpoint."
Lozy joins Tessa and Sam to talk about three works of pop culture that just so happen to all feature James Van Der Beek. Why? Because we can! 8:00 - Dawson's Creek 48:04 - Varsity Blues 1:04:53 - Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23
This week, Tessa and Sam make each other watch some childhood favorites, including The Flight of the Navigator, Captain Blood, The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Seahawk, The Wizard. 2:04 - What is a childhood favorite? 16:24 - The Flight of the Navigator 31:44 - Nostalgia and its dangers 36:59 - Captain Blood 50:35 - The Adventures of Robin Hood 59:08 - The Seahawk 1:10:49 - How to introduce someone to a childhood favorite 1:15:36 - The Wizard
This week, we're talking about the finale of Season 4, "There's No Place Like Home, Parts 2 and 3."
This week, Melissa from Wild Pretty Things joins us to talk about all the films directed by the Wachowskis that don't have "Matrix" in the title: Bound, Speed Racer, Cloud Atlas, and Jupiter Ascending. Be sure to listen (and subscribe!) to Wild Pretty Things to hear more about the Wachowskis! 2:05 - Bound 30:40 - Speed Racer 45:00 - Cloud Atlas 1:01:50 - Jupiter Ascending
This week, we are joined by Matt to discuss camp. 2:17 - What is camp? 13:48 - Barbarella 35:56 - Camp icons 41:49 - The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert 59-36 - Is camp over? 1:06:17 - Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again
This week, we're talking about "The Shape of Things to Come" and "Something Nice Back Home."
2:10 - Sam talks about Selfie (#justiceforSelfie) 26:00 - Searching! Tessa watches Andy's 2018 top film Searching 41:00 - Andy talks about Cowboy Bebop - the one season wonder that has a corgi.
That's right...Sam hosted this episode! We're talking rockumentaries and concert films. Because 'The Song Remains the Same' was so terrible. This week, we're talking about films centered on Amy Winehouse, the Beastie Boys, and Bob Dylan. 3:00 - Amy 23:50 - Awesome; I F*' Shot That 41:00 - No Direction Home
In our second ever guest hosted episode, Jack assigns us three comfort films from his personal canon: Dick, Wet Hot American Summer, and Local Hero. 00:56: Dick 16:55: Wet Hot American Summer 30:34: Local Hero
This week, we are discussing a classic American genre: the western! 1:54 - What is a western? 13:22 - Ryan's experience with westerns 21:12 - Fort Apache 34:25 - Are westerns inherently problematic as a genre? 42:50 - A Bullet for the General 56:43 - Where did the westerns go? 1:06:31 - Yellowstone
This week, we're discussing three Netflix original films, Windfall, Night Teeth, and Gunpowder Milkshake. Why? Because Netflix has been in the news so much lately for epic fail reasons that we thought we'd give some of their actual content that each of us has been putting off for a while. 10:00 - Windfall 24:00 - Night Teeth 40:35 - Gunpowder Milkshake
We're back with for Season 4 of LOST! This week, we're talking about the first two episodes of the season, "The Beginning of the End" and "Confirmed Dead."
Tessa and Sam are back! Sam talks about the Led Zeppelin rock doc The Song Remains the Same, while Tessa discusses both film adaptations of Lillian Hellman's play The Children's Hour and Andy can't get enough of the Wheel with Robert Jordan's prequel New Spring. 1:46 - The Song Remains the Same 25:39 - New Spring 40:50 - These Three/The Children's Hour 48:38 - Coming Soon to Monkey off My Backlog!
00:00 - Introduction Who is ProbablyJacob? 10:00 - Jacob discusses the spiritual side of things and the possibility of an afterlife with Greg Taylor's Stop Worrying! There Probably is an Afterlife 33:02 - Jacob and Andy talk about the state of gaming which leads into loop hero.
1:30 - We talk about the anime rom-com HoriMiya (Elyse and Loz) 12:22 - Cosplay rom-com My Dressup Darling (Loz and Tessa) 26:34 - Anime Battle rom-com Kaguya-Sama Love is War (Tessa and Elyse) 36:45 - Everyone watched Kobayashi's Dragon Maid! Thanks to Loz and Elyse for volunteering!
2:00 - Joe Talks about Connections with James Burk 19:00 - Zero Escape 9 Persons, 9 Hours, 9 Doors 31:07 - Joe surprises me with a talk about Monster Prom and it's sequel Monster Camp.
1:40 - Toren watched Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance 26:16 - Andy talks about John Carpenter's In the Mouth of Madness 43:00 - Toren's amazingly catchy song Cabbage in The Garbage
It's our 100th episode! We look back on the past 99 episodes and talk about what's to come. Also, Andy gives us a spring anime rundown, Tessa watches Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, and Sam watches Inventing Anna and The Dropout. 5:00 - Andy's Top 5 Monkeys 8:34 - Andy's Spring Anime Rundown 25:25 - Tessa's Top 5 Monkeys 30:00 - Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance 41:15 - Inventing Anna and The Dropout 54:00 - Sam's Top 5 Monkeys 57:19 - Our future monkeys
In our first ever guest hosted episode, Nigel assigns each host pop culture content that is important to her: The Mountain Goats, Help! I'm a Fish, and Bridge of Clay by Markus Zuzak. 1:30 - The Mountain Goats: Zopilote Machine and Tallahassee 33:22 - Help! I'm a Fish 52:09 - Bridge of Clay 1:12:12 - why Nigel assigned these three things
1:30 - Sam talks about Marvel's Avengers and why she decided to play it after reading only "meh" reviews. 40:00 - Tessa explains details about Edgar Wright's Last Night, which she watched in Soho for some reason.. 1:04:00 - Andy talks about how to pronounce the Witch and gets lectured by two english majors about what constitutes "Olde English"
The Pod-wraiths, Matt and Elyse, take over Sam Watches Star Trek to discuss the 2016 film Star Trek Beyond. You can find more Matt and Elyse Star Trek content on their podcast The Pod-wraiths: A Star Trek Deep Space Nine Podcast. (https://podwraithsds9pod.castos.com/)
Sam and Tessa are joined by friend of the pod Jarret to break down Pitchfork's 200 Best Albums of the Last 25 Years. Turns out we're not through with vaporwave just yet! 3:23 - Jarret's initial thoughts on the Pitchfork list 10:05 - Frank Ocean 26:00 - Tame Impala 38:12 - The Strokes 45:31 - What should be on the list but isn't 58:19 - Sufjan Stevens 1:05:50 - Kendrick Lamar Check out the list here: https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/peoples-list-25th-anniversary/ Here's a list of all the music Jarret, Sam, and Tessa recommended during this conversation: Frank Ocean - Nostalgia, Ultra The Lonely Island (feat. Julian Casablancas) - "Boombox" Janelle Monae - Electric Lady Janelle Monae - Dirty Computer Tove Lo - Queen of the Clouds Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue Boygenius - S/T Billie Eilish - When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? Meg Myers - Sorry Watch the Throne The Weeknd - Beauty Behind the Madness The Weeknd - Trilogy The Weeknd - After Hours Refused - The Shape of At the Drive-In - Relationship of Command System of a Down - Mesmerize Isis - Oceanic The Blood Brothers - Crimes Baroness - Gold & Grey Boris - Heavy Rocks _ Liars - _Drum's Not Dead Have a Nice Life - The Unnatural World Brutus - Nest Draconian - Under a Godless Veil Lethian Dreams - Red Silence Lodge Divide & Dissolve - Gas Lit Big Brave - A Gaze Among Them Nachtmystium - Addicts: Black Meddle, Pt. II _ Lil Wayne - _The Carter III Pusha T - My Name Is My Name The Mountain Goats - Sunset Tree Peaches - Teaches of Peaches Le Tigre - Feminist Sweepstakes Cat Power - Moon Pix Cat Power - The Greatest Jose Gonzalez - Veneer The Decemberists - Castaways & Cutouts The Decemberists - The Crane Wife Kesha - Animal Radiohead - The King of Limbs Arca - KicK iii
Sam and Tessa are joined by friend of the pod Lozy to break down Pitchfork's 200 Best Albums of the Last 25 Years. Why do so many people hate joy? We were so excited to start this conversation that we didn't quite get it all recorded, so we join the conversation already in progress... 0:53 - Pop music (especially Taylor Swift) 18:05 - Fiona Apple 37:01 - Neutral Milk Hotel 47:59 - What should be on the list but isn't 1:12:33 - Madvillain 1:20:40 - Radiohead Check out the list here: https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/peoples-list-25th-anniversary/ Here's a list of all the music Lozy, Sam, and Tessa recommended during this conversation: Haim - Days Are Gone Girls Aloud - What Will the Neighbours Say? Sugababes - Taller in More Ways Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds - S/T Beady Eye - Different Gear, Still Speeding Hikaru Utada - First Love BLACKPINK - The Album Regina Spektor - Begin to Hope Regina Spektor - Soviet Kitsch Elliott Smith - From a Basement on the Hill Laura Marling - Once I Was an Eagle The Killers - Hot Fuss Lagwagon - Let's Talk about Feelings Waxahatchee - Out in the Storm St. Vincent - Masseduction Amanda Palmer - Who Killed Amanda Palmer _ St Germain - _Tourist The Pretty Reckless - Who You Selling For Lady Gaga - Born This Way Paramore - brand new eyes Paramore - After Laughter Foo Fighters - The Colour and the Shape Foo Fighters - Wasting Light Smashing Pumpkins - Adore Smashing Pumpkins - MACHINA Green Day - American Idiot Coldplay - Parachutes Coldplay A Rush of Blood to the Head Keane - Hopes and Fears Miranda Lambert - Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Miranda Lambert - Revolution Adele - 21 Florence and the Machine - Lungs Beastie Boys - Hello Nasty Garbage - Version 2.0 Kylie Minogue - Fever Kylie Minogue - X Maroon 5 - Songs about Jane Snow Patrol - Eyes Open Passion Pit - Manner Katy Perry - Teenage Dream Ellie Goulding - Lights Ariana Grande - thank u, next Muse - Origins of Symmetry Hamilton: An American Musical Sophie Ellis-Bextor (who I forgot to mention during the episode - Read My Lips and Trip the Light Fantastic
This week, Sam samples the 4k remaster of Star Trek: The Motion Picture and watches the 2013 film Star Trek: Into Darkness. 46.0 - brief discussion of the 4k remaster of Star Trek: The Motion Picture 6:43 - Star Trek: Into Darkness
5:00 - Tessa watches the great Taika Waititi play against handsome everyman Ryan Reynolds 45:00 - Sam watches The Flight Attendant 1:05:15 - Andy plays Blasphemous
Tessa and Sam are joined this week by Matt to discuss films from three different eras of the Master of Suspense: Sabotage (1936), Rear Window, and Family Plot. 4:49 - Sabotage (1936) 16:16 - interruption of discussion of Sabotage to discuss of Hitchcock's film-making aesthetic and problematic history 23:35 - discussion of Sabotage resumes 26:58 - Matt's prior experience with Hitchcock's body of work and a discussion of Hitchcock as a auteur and auteur theory 34:03 - Alma Reville and her contribution to Hitchcock's work 38:34 - Rear Window 55:16 - Matt's approach to list-making 1:03:33 - Family Plot
This week, Sam watches the final film with the entire TOS crew (excluding Majel Barrett), Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.
This week, Sam goes back for more X-men by watching the 1992 animated series, Andy watches the "banime" Platinum End, and Tessa finally watches the Eddie Murphy classic Coming to America. Plus, pop culture coming out in 2022 that we are looking forward to putting on our lists. 1:17 X-men, the 1992 animated series 20:23 - The gang discusses what pop culture they are looking forward to 34:38 - Platinum End 51:16 - Coming to America
This week, Sam watches the film that almost killed the franchise: Star Trek V: The Final Frontier.
This week 1:00 - Andy talks Sucker Punch's Ghost of Tsushima (and it's many problems) 16:50 - What are Tessa and Sam looking to play on their Nintendo Switch 30:00 - Sam goes to HADES in Hades! 42:15 - Tessa plays Don't Starve!
In the final part of our Academy Award discussion, Sam, Tessa, Megan, and Jack take you through all of the remaining awards. 00:43 - International Feature Film 3:33 - Documentary Feature 5:56 - Original and Adapted Screenplay 13:56 - Animated Feature 19:52 - Original Song and Score 28:02 - Cinematography 31:29 - Editing and Visual Effects 37:37 - Production Design and Sound 42:14 - Costume Design and Hair/Makeup
Sam, Tessa, Megan, and Jack are back to take you through the four acting categories for this year's Academy Awards. 5:39 - Actor in a Supporting Role 16:33 - Actor in a Leading Role 26:31 - Actress in a Supporting Role 35:36 - Actress in a Leading Role
This week, Sam watches Leonard Nimoy's directorial debut: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.
Join Sam, Tessa, Megan, and Jack as they finish discussing this year's Academy Award nominees for Best Picture and Best Director. 00:45 - Dune 12:53 - King Richard 18:51 - Licorice Pizza 24:28 - Nightmare Alley 29:27 The Power of the Dog 39:11 West Side Story 50:10 - Best Director Come back next week for a rundown of all the other categories!
Join Sam, Tessa, Megan, and Jack as they run down all of this year's Academy Award nominees! 8:20 Belfast 18:34 CODA 27:41 - Don't Look Up 39:44 - Drive My Car Come back on Wednesday for the next part of our discussion!
This week, Sam watches what is widely considered to be the best Star Trek film: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
This week, Sam finally finishes Spider-man 3, Tessa reads X-men: Age of X-man, and Andy finishes The Lightbringer series. Plus, what franchises are always on our lists and which ones have we quit? 1:12 - Spider-man 3 24:46 - The gang discusses what franchises are always on their lists and which ones they have quit 35:43 - X-men: Age of X-man 50:15 The Lightbringer series by Brent Weeks (not the Nintendo game)
It is movie time! This week, Sam embarks on the Star Trek film franchise. First up, Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
1:45 - Tessa talks about the animated documentary Flee! 34:30 - Sam talks about Parallel Mothers 58:00 - Andy talks about Welsh film - The Feast!
It's the Season 3 finale! Find out what Tessa thought about "Through the Looking Glass." Join us next week for Sam Watches Star Trek!
This week, Sam listens to Dead Ringer by Meatloaf, special guest Jarret of the Wild Pretty Things podcast watches Limetown, Tessa watches AP Bio and Andy reads Solo Leveling. 1:07 - Dead Ringer, Meatloaf, and Jim Steinman 21:40 - Jarret talks about abandoning a list and making a new one 26:47 - Limetown 44:32 - AP Bio 1:01:05 - Solo Leveling
In this episode, Tessa talks about "The Brig," The Man Behind the Curtain," and "Greatest Hits."
This week, we're talking about 90s movies that have awesome soundtracks: The Bodyguard, Pump Up the Volume, and Empire Records. 1:05 - The Bodyguard 21:25 - The 90s and Original Motion Picture Soundtracks 45:53 - Pump Up the Volume 59:34 - Empire Records
In this episode, Tessa talks about "Left Behind," "One of Us," "Catch-22," and "D.O.C."
Our second romance themed episode! Tessa is joined by Elyse of the Podwraiths podcast and Melissa of the Wild Pretty Things podcast to talk favorite tropes, inappropriate grand gestures, and what romance novels they would like to see adapted. Elyse reads She Drives Me Crazy, Melissa watches The Broken Hearts Gallery, and Tessa reads A Promise of Fire. 1:11 - The Twitter contraversy surrounding the Washington Post's interview with Dana Schwartz about her new romance Anatomy: A Love Story 14:00 - She Drives Me Crazy 25:37 - Melissa talks about her introduction to romance as a genre 28:10 - The Broken Hearts Gallery 38:13 - Favorite tropes 46:26 - Favorite adaptations of romance novels/series 55:55 - A Promise of Fire
In this episode, Tessa talks about "Enter 77," "Par Avion," "The Man from Tallahassee," and "Expose."
This week, Tessa watches Golden Girls, Sam watches The Cure: Trilogy, and Andy watches The Howling. Plus, we talk about why we get so emotional about celebrity deaths. 1:00 - Golden Girls 22:00 - Why celebrity deaths hit us so hard 30:47 - The Cure: Trilogy 50:24 - The Howling We have new technology! And we're only sort of compotent at making it do stuff!
In this episode, Tessa talks about "Not in Portland," "Flashes Before Your Eyes," "Stranger in a Strange Land," and "Tricia Tanaka Is Dead."
1:15 - Andy talks about Nic Cage's Mandy 13:15 - What is Vaporwave (A Bad Take) 38:00 - Johnny Mnemonic - does Sam remember it? 45:15 - Tessa talks about everything she loved about the Neon Demon 45:16 - Tessa talks about The Neon Demon
We're back! Today, we're talking about the Season 3 "pod" (episodes 1-6): "A Tale of Two Cities" "The Glass Ballerina" "Further Instructions" "Every Man for Himself" "The Cost of Living" "I Do"
This week, Tessa plays the remake of the PS4 exclusive Marvel's Spider-Man, Andy plays the PS3 exclusive Demon's Souls, and Sam didn't get the memo--she listened to 90s band Veruca Salt. 1:08 - Marvel's Spider-Man 15:25 - More Spider-Man 22:35 - Demon's Souls 37:45 - Veruca Salt
1:00 - Introductions! 7:00 Joe is in too deep with Subnautica 22:30 - Toren is not going to eat the candy from Grave of the Fireflies 33:22 - Andy does his part in Starship Troopers 44:00 - General media talk, Encanto, Search Party, and Arcane among others!
In anticipation of (he promises) Avatar 2 this year--and to make good on a joke--Andy, Tessa, and Sam discuss the entirety of James Cameron's oeuvre, focusing on films they've never seen: True Lies, The Abyss, and Piranha 2. 1:25 - Why is James Camerson? 11:47 - True Lies 28:14 - The Abyss 41:54 - Piranha 2
3:00 Tessa talks The Simpsons 25:00 Sam talks TayLORE swift 43:30 Andy talks about . . . everything he didnt' cover (kinda) 58:00 Tessa guides us through the big Pop Culture list we didn't talk about this year. 1:04:03 Proudest Moment of the EYar 1:14:24 Disapointment of the year
It all comes down to this. It's Christmas Day, which must mean we're talking about The New Mutants. Friend of the pod Melissa joins us for the final episode of the 13 Days of X-Men. What will be talking about for our third holiday limited series? Listen to find out...
Tessa and Sam count down to Christmas Day with the X-Men franchise, spreading some holiday cheer along the way. It's Christmas Eve! Today, we're talking 2019's Dark Phoenix. Come back tomorrow for our final episode (in this holiday series) The New Mutants with special guest Melissa!
Tessa and Sam count down to Christmas Day with the X-Men franchise, spreading some holiday cheer along the way. We're almost to Christmas! Today, we're talking 2018's Deadpool 2 with special guest Jack! Come back tomorrow for Dark Phoenix!
Tessa and Sam count down to Christmas Day with the X-Men franchise, spreading some holiday cheer along the way. Nigel is with us to talk about the 2017 superhero western Logan. Come back tomorrow for Deadpool 2 with special guest Jack!
Tessa and Sam count down to Christmas Day with the X-Men franchise, spreading some holiday cheer along the way. Lozy is back with us to talk about the (apocalyptic) disaster that is 2016's X-Men: Apocalypse! Come back tomorrow for_ Logan_ with special guest Nigel!
Tessa and Sam count down to Christmas Day with the X-Men franchise, spreading some holiday cheer along the way. Next up, it's 2011's Deadpool. Come back tomorrow for X-men: Apocalypse with returning X-men superfan, Lozy!
Tessa and Sam count down to Christmas Day with the X-Men franchise, spreading some holiday cheer along the way. Next up, it's 2011's X-Men: Days of Future Past (The Rogue Cut) with special guest Elyse! I'm going to talk about time travel--and thermodynamics? Come back tomorrow for Deadpool! We have things to say!
Tessa and Sam count down to Christmas Day with the X-Men franchise, spreading some holiday cheer along the way. Next up, it's 2013's The Wolverine with MoMBl cohost, Andy! Come back tomorrow for X-Men: The Days of Future Past with special guest Elyse!
Tessa and Sam count down to Christmas Day with the X-Men franchise, spreading some holiday cheer along the way. Next up, it's 2011's X-Men: First Class with special guest Colby! Come back tomorrow for The Wolverine! We have things to say! (Yes, I said Days of Future Past on the podcast. Yes, I was wrong. No, I didn't fix it. The transition was too good--and who lets facts get in the way of a good transition?) There's some static-y audio in this episode--sorry about that.
Tessa and Sam count down to Christmas Day with the X-Men franchise, spreading some holiday cheer along the way. Next up, it's 2009's X-men Origins: Wolverine. Come back tomorrow for X-Men: First Class with special guest Colby!
Tessa and Sam count down to Christmas Day with the X-Men franchise, spreading some holiday cheer along the way. Next up, it's 2006's X-Men: The Last Stand with special guest Lozy! Come back tomorrow for_ X-Men Origins: Wolverine_! We have things to say!
In episode 6, Sam wraps up his TOS watch with "Requiem for Methuselah" and "All Our Yesterdays."
Tessa and Sam count down to Christmas Day with the X-Men' franchise, spreading some holiday cheer along the way. In the second episode of the 13 Days of X-men, the hosts are joined by special guest Megan to discuss 2003's X2. We have holiday cheer! We have film and character discussion! We have Astonishing Facts, Uncanny Stats, and All-New All-Different recommendations! We also have jokes--so many jokes. Join us tomorrow as we discuss X-men: The Last Stand w Lozy!
Tessa and Sam count down to Christmas Day with the X-Men franchise, spreading some holiday cheer along the way. Up first is the film that started it all, 2000's X-Men. We have holiday cheer! We have film and character discussion! We have Astonishing Facts, Uncanny Stats, and All-New All-Different recommendations! We also have jokes--so many jokes. Join us tomorrow as we discuss X2: X-Men United w Megan!
In episode 5 of Sam Watches Star Trek, Tessa asks Sam questions about the next two episodes of TOS: "The Mark of Gideon" "That Which Survives"
Sam assigns three movies directed by Paul Thomas Anderson: Magnolia, Punch-Drunk Love, and The Master. 4:36 - Magnolia 29:15 - Punch-Drunk Love 51:14 - The Master 1:03:42 - Rank that List! Note: Some of Andy's audio for this episode was tragically lost (by Andy).
In episode 4 of Sam Watches Star Trek, Tessa asks Sam questions about the next two episodes of TOS: "Whom Gods Destroy" "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield"
This week, we're joined by new friend of the pod, Jaret, for an episode of #monkeyfails, which is what happens when you intend to take one thing off your backlog but end up taking off something else. Jarret talks David Lynch's The Straight Story, Sam goes old-school teen soap with One Tree Hill, Andy and his dog Bard watch The Haunting of Hill House, and Tessa plays The Outer Worlds. 1:47 - The Straight Story 18:41 - Jarret on pop culture and listmaking 21:00 - One Tree Hill 39:51 - The Haunting of Hill House 50:47 - The Outer Worlds
In episode 3 of Sam Watches Star Trek, Tessa asks Sam questions about the next two episodes of TOS: "The Tholian Web" "Plato's Stepchildren"
It's Tessa turn to tell Andy and Sam watch to watch and read this week: This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone, Janelle Monae's Dirty Computer [Emotion Picture], and Castlevania! 2:15 - This Is How You Lose the Time War 24:57 - Janelle Monae's Dirty Computer [Emotion Picture] 50:34 - Castlevania
In episode 2 of Sam Watches Star Trek, Tessa asks Sam questions about the next two episodes of TOS: "Day of the Dove" "For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky"
This week, Sam talks about two quintessential episodes of The Twilight Zone; Tessa watches ER, the anchor of NBC's 90s Thursday Night "Must See TV" lineup; and Andy talks about...a bunch of shows. And, yes, Sam has something to say about Taylor Swift. 1:00 - The Twilight Zone 20:30 - Our favorite pop culture franchises 29:14 - Andy's Small Screen Smorgasbord Spectacular! 40:08 - ER
In our first ever episode of Sam watches Star Trek, Tessa and Sam discuss Sam’s history with Star Trek and briefly discuss the first two seasons of The Original Series before diving into our first two episodes of season 3. "The Enterprise Incident” “The Children Shall Lead”
Andy Assigns! This is the episode where Andy coerces his two WONDERFUL cohosts into obeying his whims like the puppets they are! 2:10 - Odd Taxi (known to some as ODDTAXI) the Japanese Hyperlink anime that should be required watching for everyone. 26:45 - The box office destroying heart warming story Your Name 1:04:00 - One Piece, the best selling manga of all time
This is it! What will Tessa think about the season two finale? We're talking about... "?" "Three Minutes" "Live Together, Die Alone" Join us next week for "Sam Watches Star Trek"! Our theme song is “Hotshot” by Scott Holmes and can be found on scottholmesmusic.com.
Surprise! Bonus Spooktober episode! This week, Tessa watches Aliens, Sam watches Resident Evil, and Andy watches Jennifer's Body. 1:07 - Aliens 19:10 - Sam's latest pop culture complaint 32:44 - Resident Evil 44:17 - Jennifer's Body
This week, we are talking about the next set of four episodes from Season Two: "Lockdown" "Dave" "S.O.S" "Two for the Road" Our theme song is “Hotshot” by Scott Holmes and can be found on scottholmesmusic.com.
This week, we're joined by new friend of the pod, Melissa, who checks The Shining off of her list. Tessa watches The Ring; Sam watches the episode of Black Mirror, "Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too"; and Andy watches Goodnight Mommy. 4:44 - The Shining 19:10 - Melissa talks pop culture 21:48 - The Ring 40:28 - "Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too" 52:26 - Goodnight Mommy We also talk about James Wan's new film Malignant
Bonus Bond! Elyse, Tessa, and Sam reunite to review and discuss the most recent addition to the James Bond franchise: No Time to Die. They also update their Bond rankings and predict what they see for the future of Bond. Contains spoilers for No Time to Die.
This week, we are talking about the next set of four episodes from Season Two: "The Long Con" "One of Them "Maternity Leave" "The Whole Truth." Our theme song is “Hotshot” by Scott Holmes and can be found on scottholmesmusic.com.
2:50 - Sam talks about Corpse Bride 16:35 - "What type of Horror does it for you?" 26:27 - Andy talks about Pee Mak (and Sam shows him proper respect) 37:20 - Tessa talks with herself about The Good House!
This week, we are talking about the next set of four episodes from Season Two: "What Kate Did," "The 23rd Psalm" "The Hunting Party" "Fire + Water" Our theme song is “Hotshot” by Scott Holmes and can be found on scottholmesmusic.com.
It's the beginning of Spooktober! This week, we're doing vampires, things that go bump in the night, and invisibility! 03:35 - The Lost Boys 23:20 - What's on monkeyoffmybacklog.com 27:29 - Something Is Killing the Children 34:43 - The Invisible Man
It’s Bond week! And it's time for the Top 5 00:35 Discussing films 15-11 50:41 What Bond means to us Monkey off My Backlog will return...
It’s Bond week! No Time to Die has had the widest premiere in the U.K. ever! Meanwhile, here in the US, we are still a few agonizing days away from seeing the end of Daniel Craig’s tenure as Bond. (Or is it? It probably is…but what if it wasn’t?) Today, we’re counting down Bond films 10-6 and arguing over which actor is the best Bond. 00:35 Discussing films 15-11 43:00 Best Bond Come back on Thursday for Part 5!
This week, we are talking about the next set of four episodes from Season Two: “…And Found” “Abandoned” “The Other 48 Days” “Collision” Our theme song is “Hotshot” by Scott Holmes and can be found on scottholmesmusic.com.
It’s Bond week! No Time to Die has had the widest premiere in the U.K. ever! Meanwhile, here in the US, we are still a few agonizing days away from seeing the end of Daniel Craig’s tenure as Bond. (Or is it? It probably is…but what if it wasn’t?) Today, we’re counting down Bond films 15-11 and the legacy of the Bond Girl. 00:35 Discussing films 15-11 36:35 Bond Girls Come back on Wednesday for Part 4!
Sam, Tessa, Nigel, and Elyse are back with part two of their five-part journey toward objectively deciding which James Bond film is the best James Bond film. Nobody does it better than us! 00:38 Discussing films 20 through 16 43:36 Best Bond jokes Sam, Tessa, Nigel, and Elyse will return...
This week, we are briefly discussing the first season of LOST and then diving right in to the first four episodes of Season Two: "Man of Science, Man of Faith" "Adrift" "Orientation" "Everybody Hates Hugo" Our theme song is “Hotshot” by Scott Holmes and can be found on scottholmesmusic.com.
Join Sam, Tessa, Nigel, and Elyse as they begin their epic, five-part journey toward objectively deciding which James Bond film is the best James Bond film. Nobody does it better than us! 02:43 Discussing films 24 through 21 31:32 Best Bond themes Come back on Thursday for Part 2!
Welcome to Nanny Ogg's Book Club: A Discworld Podcast! Join us as we read through all 41 of the fantastical and outrageous Discworld novels! In this, our introduction episode, Episode 0, we discuss Terry Pratchett's Discworld series and the method to our madness when it comes to reading or re-reading his books. Monkey listeners, subscribe to Nanny Ogg's Book Club at https://nannyoggsbookclub.fireside.fm/. Episode 1: Mort comes out on September 29! Start reading. Theme: Call to Adventure by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3470-call-to-adventure License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
1:55 Tessa talks about the old movie The Philadelphia Story (Not the Tom Hanks/ Neverending Story Crossover) 26: 30 Sam talks about deep breath High School Musical: The Musical: The Series _ 42:13 Andy discusses the difficult to describe beauty of Miyazaki's _Castle in the Sky
Longtime friend of the pod but first-time guest Jack is with us as we dedicate an entire episode to the brilliant and unconventional Wong Kar Wai, a master of Hong Kong cinema. 01:31 - As Tears Go By 17:30 - How were you introduced to WKW? 20:06 - In the Mood for Love 30:42 - Favorite WKW tropes 36:33 - 2046 46:50 - WKW ranking
Things get real today as Sam talks about The Sparks Brothers, Tessa reflects on Whip It, and Andy tells us about Mother 3 and (EarthBound). Remember, this podcast is a judgment-free zone, Andy. 00:59 - Sam talks about The Sparks Brothers 11:08 - Pop culture that you wish you were more into 22:36 - Tessa reflects on Whip It 38:24 - Andy tells us about Mother 3 and (EarthBound)
It's Hoisted by Your Own Petard Week! Andy discusses Casablanca, Sam talks about Otis Redding and Marvin Gaye, and Tessa reveals what The Prisoner is. 01:41 - Andy discusses Casablanca 19:42 - Spooktober II: Bride of Spooktober 31:29 - Sam talks about Otis Redding and Marvin Gaye 52:09 - Tessa reveals what The Prisoner is
1:00 - Tessa watched 11 out of 19 episodes of teen dramedy My So-Called Life 17:30 - What's in a title? What appeals to us as far as titles go 26:15 - Sam read the classic children's novel Holes 32:00 - Andy watched the new video game based movie Werewovles Within (and loved it)
This week, Tessa is joined by Megan and Elyse to talk about the romance genre--what it is, why it's so popular, and what they like about it. 01:24 - Romance: What is it? 14:16 - Series vs. Standalone stories 19:20 - Elyse talks about the romance genre 23:22 - Contemporary romance 43:37 - Favorite romance tropes 48:49 - Megan talks about the romance genre 52:17 - Fantasy romance and fanfiction 1:04:03 - Least favorite romance tropes 1:10:30 - Tessa talks about the romance genre 1:13:00 - Historical romance (and Regency romance)
This week, Sam and Tessa discuss counterculture with Easy Rider and Dark Side of the Moon, and Andy talks about Final Fantasy III. 01:16 - Sam talks about Easy Rider 15:25 - Pop culture from "before your time" that people insist are essential 26:33 - Tessa listens to Dark Side of the Moon 41:28 - Andy plays Final Fantasy III
Since these are best-of segments and we all love just a little bit of mystery, the timestamps won't reveal what this is. 00:50 - Sam's pick 14:00 - Tessa's pick 26:00 - Andy's pick Can you dive into our minds and figure out why we chose what we chose?
00:53 - Sam delves into the many films of master of mood and cinema, Wong Kar-wai specificaly Chungking Express and Fallen Angels. 21:50 - WE NEED HELP! Give us your suggestions and claim a super special prize! 31:43 - Tessa delves into the history and nostalgia of Disney's animated film Wreck-It Ralph and what that means to her - someone who did not go to arcades growing up (or play any video games) 42:05 - Andy tries to make Tessa look bad and also delves into the amazingly funny zombie film One Cut of the Dead There's some bloopers at the end folks, so make sure you pay attention
This week, we're doing an MCU 2021 roundup! Spoiler alert: We do not feel the same way about WandaVision, The Falcon and Winter Soldier, Black Widow, and Loki. 04:49 - WandaVision 12:43 - The Falcon and Winter Soldier 22:36 - Black Widow 37:43 - Loki
Andy's back...just in time to hear Tessa talk about the first season of LOST! Plus, Andy and Sam talk video games with Final Fantasy XV and Quantum Break. 01:50 - Tessa talks about LOST 24:29 - Andy recounts the experience of playing Final Fantasy XV 37:00 - Sam combines both with Quantum Break And, yes, for the record, Andy is correct that Brad Bird directed Tomorrowland. Bird, Damon Lindelof, and Jeff Jensen all have writing credits on the film.
Nigel joins us for a supersized Rank that List! Today, we're ranking seasons of Supernatural, Jane Austen novels, and the best albums from 1984. 01:20 - Nigel ranks seasons of Supernatural 29:33 - Tessa ranks Jane Austen novels 44:02 - Sam ranks the best albums from 1984
This week, we're joined by Elyse from Podwraiths, who discusses the 2020 film Shirley. Sam talks about The Problem with Apu, and Tessa watches the classic Robin Williams film Good Morning, Vietnam. 01:20 - Sam talks about The Problem with Apu 16:14 - Elyse talks about her approach to consuming pop culture--and Murder, She Wrote 27:26 - Elyse discusses the 2020 film Shirley 38:56 - Tessa watches the classic Robin Williams film Good Morning, Vietnam
This week, we're joined by friend of the podcast Megan Spell to get psyched for F9 by talking about the films Pitch Black, The Last Witch Hunter, and Girlfight. 01:31 - Sam talks about Pitch Black 12:18 - Hopes and dreams for F9 20:40 - Megan talks about The Last Witch Hunter 28:29 - Tessa talks about Girlfight
This week, we're joined by once again by friend of the podcast James to talk about the Young Horses' game Bugsnax. Tessa catches up with Station 19, and Sam watches the George Lazenby biopicdoc Becoming Bond. 01:17 - Tessa catches up with Station 19 19:49 - James talks a bit about Irish pop culture 32:19 - James talks about the Young Horses' game Bugsnax 45:18 - Sam watches the George Lazenby biopicdoc Becoming Bond We had some audio issues this week, but hilarity and hijinks ensue on the episode nonetheless!
This week, we're joined by Colby Waddell to talk Mass Effect, sports, and anime. Tessa is welcomed to the Space Jam, and Sam gets acquainted with Lucifer. 01:28 - Tessa is welcomed to the Space Jam 20:26 - Colby talks sports and anime 31:20 - Colby discusses his Mass Effect adventures (spoilers!) 44:25 - Sam gets acquainted with Lucifer
This week, Sam and Tessa take your calls and tweets and provide pop culture recommendations. They also react to their first ever Eurovision and preview their summer film festival. 01:11 - Call-In Segment #1 08:23 - Tessa and Sam's Summer Film Festival Preview 25:16 - Call-In Segment #2 31:15 - Eurovision 50:18 - Call-In Segment #3
This week, Sam listens to How I'm Feeling Now by Charlie XCX and Chromatica by Lady Gaga, Andy reads the graphic novel 4 Kids Walk into a Bank, and Tessa watches the Nora Ephron classic You've Got Mail. We also play After Monkey, the game where we check in on some ongoing monkeys. 01:20 - Sam listens to How I'm Feeling Now by Charlie XCX and Chromatica by Lady Gaga 13:51 - After Monkey 17:57 - Andy reads the graphic novel 4 Kids Walk into a Bank 26:36 - Tessa watches the Nora Ephron classic You've Got Mail
This week, Sam watches the cult classic Josie and the Pussycats, Tessa gets her vampire on with Bit, and Andy confuses us all with Fate/stay night: Heaven's Feel I. presage flower. 01:09 - Sam watches the cult classic Josie and the Pussycats 12:39 - Convoluted plots 18:22 - Tessa gets her vampire on with Bit 27:01 - Andy confuses us all with Fate/stay night: Heaven's Feel I. presage flower
This week, Tessa watches Superman (the 1978 film directed by Richard Donner); Andy revisits early Green Day; and Sam goes under the sea with Atlantis: The Lost Empire. 01:02 - Tessa watches Superman 16:48 - We want you to call in! 27:24 - Andy listens to 1,039 Smoothed Out/Slappy Hours 45:26 - Sam goes under the sea with Atlantis: The Lost Empire
This week, Tessa watches Kevin Smith's first film, Clerks; Sam talks about Phineas and Ferb; and Andy plays murder jumanji with Beyond the Gates. 01:13 - Tessa watches Kevin Smith's first film, Clerks 13:19 - Our Oscar "reactions" 20:43 - Sam talks about Phineas and Ferb 29:04 - Andy plays murder jumanji with Beyond the Gates
This week, Sam finally watches season 1 of Star Trek: The Original Series. Tessa reads If I Was Your Girl, a young adult novel about a trans girl coming of age in the South, and Andy tells us all about Gankutsuou, an anime adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo. 00:56 - Sam finally watches season 1 of Star Trek: The Original Series 15:36 - Learning the wrong lessons from pop culture 30:48 - Tessa reads If I Was Your Girl, 45:31 - Andy tells us all about Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo
This week, Tessa plays Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, Andy continues his anime binge with The Quintessential Quintuplets, and Sam watches two U2 shows he's never seen as part of the band's The Virtual Road series. We also share our thoughts about recent pop culture with Invincible, Captain Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and Godzilla vs. Kong. 02:42 - Tessa plays Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel 15:38 - Invincible 17:42 - Captain Falcon and the Winter Soldier 21:42 - Godzilla vs. Kong 24:12 - Andy continues his anime binge with The Quintessential Quintuplets 34:49 - Sam watches two U2 shows he's never seen as part of the band's The Virtual Road series.
This week, we hold an intervention for the DCEU and talk the Snyder Cut. Sam continues musical globetrotting with Blackpink, Tessa watches The Good Wife, and Andy agonizes his way through source and adaptation of The Promised Neverland. We also have thoughts about Oscar snubs. 00:59 - Sam talk music with Blackpink 18:10 - Intervention for the DCEU 27:15 - Thoughts on the Snyder Cut (spoilers!) 30:37 - Tessa watches The Good Wife 41:00 - Andy tortures himself with The Promised Neverland
This week, Sam talks music with the film adaptation of the ABBA musical Mamma Mia!, Tessa goes silent with Fritz Lang's Metropolis, and Andy agonizes his way through Attack on Titan. We also have thoughts about Oscar snubs. 01:02 - Sam talk music with Mamma Mia! 12:34 - Oscar snubs 19:10 - Tessa watches Metropolis 30:20 - Andy tortures himself with Attack on Titan
Kaiju Fight! Tessa and Andy are joined by Ariel Rada to talk kaiju movies they've crossed of their backlog as well as some of their favorite kaiju movies in anticipation of Godzilla vs. Kong. 02:00 - Shin Godzilla 09:45 - Ariel's kaiju origin story 13:50 - Colossal 22:15 - Kong: Skull Island (spoilers!); What is a kaiju movie, anyway? 31:56 - Andy's kaiju origin story 33:57 - Godzilla: King of the Monsters (spoilers!) 41:14 - Tessa's kaiju origin story (and Pacific Rim) 47:43 - Gamera, the Giant Monster 53:49 - Predictions for Godzilla vs Kong
This week, Sam plays the classic puzzle platformer Portal, Tessa watches Mystic Pizza, and Andy watches Little Evil. We're also talking Academy Award Best Picture nominees. 01:16 - Sam plays Portal 12:24 - Academy Award Best Picture nominees 32:24 - Tessa watches Mystic Pizza 40:09 - Andy defines the horror comedy genre while discussing Little Evil
Nigel is back! This week we discuss Donald Glover's Atlanta, Alex Garland's FX/Hulu series Devs, English rock band Arctic Monkeys, and Prince's Purple Rain. 1:53 - Nigel discusses Alex Garland's FX/Hulu series Devs 15:04 - Pop culture that you should love...but don't 20:22 - Tessa reviews Donald Glover's Atlanta 30:41 - Sam talks Prince's Purple Rain 40:22 - Andy "reviews" Arctic Monkey's discography
This week, we're using Sam's discussion of the final season of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. to reflect on the strange history of Marvel Television and its connection to Marvel Comics an the MCU. We also play a Marvel Television edition of "Would You Rather?" Then, Andy talks about the podcast My Brother, My Brother, and Me, and Tessa watches the film Cat People. 01:16 - Marvel Television 10:38 - Marvel Television "Would You Rather? 14:43 - Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 36:21 - Andy talks about the podcast My Brother, My Brother, and Me 43:15 - Tessa watches the film Cat People
This week, we're joined by Tasia from the Act YA Age podcast. She's talking Deadwood while Sam discusses Mary Poppins Returns. Tessa's reading Octavia E. Butler's final novel Fledgling, and Andy watches Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan. 01:22 - Tasia talks 'Deadwood' 09:18 - Tasia on all things listmaking and pop culture 17:20 - Sam doesn't like 'Mary Poppins Returns' 24:42 - Tessa has thoughts on Octavia E. Butler and 'Fledgling' 39:37 - Andy takes us through the weird world of 'Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan'
1:25 Tessa talks about the first season of the delectable Hannibal. 20:15 The gang discusses the recent Joss Whedon/Buffy the Vampire Slayer _revelations. 25:43 Sam talks about the last Roger Moore outting as James Bond, _A View to a Kill. 46:47 Andy reviews the amazing and weirdly titled Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai.
It's the 30th anniversary of the release of The Silence of the Lambs! Did Tessa enjoy it? Also, Sam reads the YA fantasy novel Caraval, and Andy watches My Next Life as a Villainess: All Roads Lead to Doom! 00:56 - All things Hannibal Lecter (part 1) 19:26 - A quick word about the person who created Buffy and directed the theatrical cut of Justice League. 20:22 - Guess that Pop Culture Icon! 33:06 - Andy watches something that is actually called My Next Life as a Villainess: All Roads Lead to Doom! 44:16 - Sam reads another YA fantasy! Stephanie Garber's Caraval
This week, Sam watches Green Lantern, Tessa checks out Frasier, and Andy talk about Death Parade. We also recast the lead of our upcoming streaming hit, Monkey Heist. 01:02 - Green Lantern is not a good movie. 17:37 - Monkey Heist recast! 22:58 - Tessa is listening. (That's a Frasier joke.) 37:27 - Welcome to the Death Parade.
15:11 Tessa watched classic Who Framed Roger Rabbit 31:17 Sam watched the first season of Netflix's overly pompous British drama The Crown 40:50 Andy "watched" "Thunder Road" and talks about video games for a ten minutes instead. . . for some reason.
This week, Sam reads Leigh Bardugo's Shadow and Bone and Tessa reads Zadie Smith's White Teeth. Meanwhile, Andy gets weird with the 2017 Nicolas Cage film Mom and Dad. 00:50 - Fandoms! 13:00 - Andy keep the Nicolas Cage fun going with Mom and Dad. 20:12 - Sam gets ready for the upcoming Netflix series Shadow and Bone with Leigh Bardugo's original novel 29:14 - Tessa reads Zadie Smith's debut novel White Teeth.
All movies this week: Justin Benson and Aaron Moorehead's The Endless, Richard Linklater's Before Midnight, and Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver. 00:42 - After Monkey: Have Andy, Tessa, and Sam continued any of the pop culture series they began in episodes 1-10? 11:14 - Andy discusses Justin Benson and Aaron Moorehead's The Endless 18:55 - Tessa finishes Richard Linklater's Before trilogy with Before Midnight 31:36 - Sam begins his final push to finish the AFI 100 list with Martin Scorsese's 1976 "classic" Taxi Driver.
This week we have special guest Jordan Morris - creator of the hit podcast and upcoming graphic novel 'Bubble' 9:10 - Jordan talks The Sopranos 26:00 - Tessa talks about The X-Files: Fight the Future 40:30 - Sam talks about his first Werewolf Vampire war in Underworld 53:00 - Andy talks about Kumail Nanjiani and Zoey Kazan's movie The Big Sick
This week we talk about 7:25 Square Enix's mix of Disney and Final Fantasy with Kingdom Hearts 16:45 idSoftware's masterpiece DOOM from 1993 25:00 Satoshi Kon's beautiful anime movie Tokyo Godfathers
Christmas Day releases! We're talking 'Wonder Woman 1984,' 'Bridgerton,' and 'Soul.' Warner Bros. caved...er, acknowledged reality...I mean, graciously gifted fans with Wonder Woman 1984 on HBO Max this Christmas Day. Is Christopher Nolan right? Is film ruined forever? Oh yeah, how does this sequel compare to the original? Also, who wins the Christmas Day streaming wars--HBO Max, Disney+, or Netflix? 01:55 - Soul 11:54 - Bridgerton 20:02 - Wonder Woman 1984
It's time for Tessa and Sam's Annual Movie Marathon: 90s Action Movie Edition. Sam forces Tessa and Andy to watch and unironically appreciate six classic action movies from the 90s IN ONE DAY. (Note, Sam could only get Andy to watch two of the films.) 01:35 - Andy's New Game: Nu Metal Album or Straight-to-Video 90s Action Movie 11:00 - Point Break 16:45 - Die Hard with a Vengeance 20:05 - The Rock 26:00 - Mission: Impossible 31:43 - Con Air 40:01 - Face/Off
It's Christmas Day, and Sam, Tessa, and Megan are back with one more chat about the 'Fast & Furious' franchise. Merry Christmas!
Tessa and Sam count down to Christmas Day with the Fast & Furious franchise and spread some holiday cheer. Megan Spell is back! We're talking Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw. 01:25 - Holiday Cheer! 07:35 - Tessa, Sam, and Megan talk about the film. 34:15 - Fast Facts and Furious Stats Surprise! We needed more time to put the entire series into perspective, so Tessa, Sam, and Megan will be back for a TENTH day of Fast & Furious...ON CHRISTMAS DAY!
An iconic duo returns to the Star Wars Universe...oh, and a bunch of other things happened during season 2 of 'The Mandalorian.'
Tessa and Sam count down to Christmas Day with the Fast & Furious franchise and spread some holiday cheer. Today they're talking about the eighth film in the franchise, The Fate of the Furious. 00:40 - Holiday Cheer! 06:27 - Tessa and Sam talk about the film. 27:09 - Fast Facts and Furious Stats Join us tomorrow as we discuss Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw!
Tessa and Sam count down to Christmas Day with the Fast & Furious franchise and spread some holiday cheer. Friend of the podcast Steve Guntli stops by to help discuss the seventh film in the franchise, Furious 7. 01:02 - Holiday Cheer! 08:00 - Tessa, Sam, and Steve talk about the film. 41:45 - Fast Facts and Furious Stats Join us tomorrow as we discuss The Fate of the Furious!
Tessa and Sam count down to Christmas Day with the Fast & Furious franchise and spread some holiday cheer. Today they're talking about the sixth film in the franchise, Fast & Furious 6. 00:42 - Holiday Cheer! 03:15 - Tessa and Sam talk about the film. 24:33 - Fast Facts and Furious Stats Join us tomorrow as we discuss Furious 7!
Tessa and Sam count down to Christmas Day with the Fast & Furious franchise and spread some holiday cheer. Friend of the podcast Megan Spell stops by to help discuss the fifth film in the franchise, Fast Five. 01:06 - Holiday Cheer! 11:36 - Tessa, Sam, and Megan talk about the film. 43:51 - Fast Facts and Furious Stats Join us tomorrow as we discuss Fast & Furious 6!
Tessa and Sam count down to Christmas Day with the Fast & Furious franchise and spread some holiday cheer. Today they're talking about the fourth film in the franchise, Fast & Furious. 00:48 - Holiday Cheer! 04:45 - Tessa and Sam talk about the film. 30:19 - Fast Facts and Furious Stats Join us tomorrow as we discuss Fast 5!
Tessa and Sam count down to Christmas Day with the Fast & Furious franchise and spread some holiday cheer. Friend of the podcast Martha Pietruszewski stops by to help discuss the third film in the franchise, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. 00:34 - Holiday Cheer! 08:05 - Tessa, Sam, and Martha talk about the film (with a special appearance from Andy). 29:00 - Fast Facts and Furious Stats Join us tomorrow as we discuss Fast & Furious!
Tessa and Sam count down to Christmas Day with the Fast & Furious franchise and spread some holiday cheer. Today they're talking about 2 Fast 2 Furious. 00:35 - Holiday Cheer! 03:55 - Tessa and Sam talk about the film. 22:38 - Fast Facts and Furious Stats Join us tomorrow as we discuss The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift!
Tessa and Sam count down to Christmas Day with the Fast & Furious franchise, spreading some holiday cheer along the way. Friend of the podcast Colby Waddell stops by to help discuss the first film in the franchise, The Fast and the Furious. 00:45 - Holiday Cheer! 10:00 - Why are we doing this limited series? 17:40 - Tessa, Sam, and Colby talk about the film. 37:30 - Fast Facts and Furious Stats Join us tomorrow as we discuss 2 Fast 2 Furious!
The first episode of our new spin-off series, Monkey: Nights! Today we're talking about the long-delayed film, The New Mutants. Is it the disaster we expected? Could this film be...good?
The classic 1995 adaptation of Emma, Clueless; Hulu's unjustly cancelled series High Fidelity; holiday episodes of The Great British Bake Off. 00:56 - The gang discusses how Sam forgot to hit record, the classic No Doubt album Tragic Kingdom, and other pop culture from 1995. 06:54 - Tessa comes in with the hottest of hot takes: Clueless is better than Emma. 18:21 - Sam talks about how well the remix of Nick Hornby's novel High Fidelity stands up both to the original and to the 2000 film adaptation. 33:47 - Andy catches up with literally everyone else and sees what all the fuss about The Great British Bake Off is. Join us for 9 Days of Fast & Furious, our first limited series, beginning this Wednesday, December 16th! Note: In our next regular episode, Tessa and Sam will not be discussing DOOM and Kingdom Hearts.
Neil Gaiman's Marvel 1602, Fullbright's Gone Home, and Brandon Sanderson's The Reckoners trilogy. Plus, previews of new content coming to MoMBl ('Monkey off My Backlog') soon! 00:52 - Andy, Tessa, and Sam preview Monkey: Nights, The 9 Days of _the Fast & the Furious, and the 3rd Annual _Stupid Long Movie Marathon: Stupid 90s Action Movie Edition. 10:08 - Tessa plays the story exploration video game Gone Home. 18:00 - Andy talks about Brandon Sanderson's YA trilogy The Reckoners. 27:23 - Sam reads Neil Gaiman's entry into Marvel Comics, 1602.
While Andy is spending time with his new baby, Tessa and Sam are joined by James McKeon of the 'Les Bi Honest' podcast. 11:27 James talks about his reactions to season one of Mr. Robot. 22:41 Sam finally gets around to the film adaptation of the musical Fiddler on the Roof. 35:08 Tessa continues her Monkees' journey with their 1968 feature film Head.
Note: Our discussion of Buffy the Vampire Slayer is in no way representative of our thoughts or feelings about Joss Whedon. New father Andy wanted to do a "Rank that List" episode, so we did. 01:50 - Tessa ranks the seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. 17:53 - Andy judges every use of "I've got a bad feeling about this" in the Star Wars movies. 27:54 - Sam takes everyone through the Beatles catalog, and chaos ensues.
We're joined by Heinrich Arnold of the melodic death metal band Aether Realm!
04:59 Heinrich talks about the documentary The Social Dilemma.
17:27 Tessa reflects on watching the 1960s TV show The Monkees.
28:22 Sam discusses the 50th anniversary edition of The Fab Four's White Album.
49:43 Andy talks about being a ride-or-die Swiftie while reviewing Miss Americana.
Audio issues abound this week--apologies!
Welcome to Heist Week!
01:22 What makes a movie or a TV show a heist movie/show?
11:10 - We argue about the definition of "heist-adjacent" as we discuss The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.
24:03 - Did you know that MoviePass made a movie? Andy talks about American Animals.
34:15 - Tessa argues that A Fish Called Wanda is, in fact, a heist-adjacent movie. (Andy thinks it's a straight-up crime film.)
42:20 - Sam watches something that is undoubtedly about a heist because it has heist in the title: Money Heist.
Call us, John Stamos!
Full Transcript
00:55 - Choosing what pop culture to consume when you have limited emotional energy.
11:00 - Andy reads Andy Weir's new novel Artemis.
22:05 - Sam keeps the Keanussaince going with Gus Van Sant's My Own Private Idaho.
36:00 - Tessa jumps back into Philip Pullman's His Dark Materialseries (currently being adapted by HBO/BBC) with The Golden Compass.
Full Transcript
We talk with Colby from The Four Nations Report! Andy reveals an embarrassing story.
11:00 Colby talks about Kipo and the Wonderbeasts
19:45 Tessa talks about Miyazaki's Spirited Away
32:35 Sam talks about Cobra Kai (and The Karate Kid)
45:08 Andy talks about the best version of Richard III
Full Transcript
Is pop culture okay?
That was the question on my mind, and it ended up being a forty-minute discussion about TV, movies, and music. So we decided to present it to you as a bonus episode!
What's bugging us about pop culture right now? What are we looking forward to? How does Andy really feel about theatrical release date delays? Will this podcast be studied academically years from now?
I feel like we learned a lot about ourselves this week.
Full Transcript
Spooktober IV: Ghost Protocol! All month, we're talking about pop culture associated with Halloween. We recorded for nearly two hours this week, so watch out for a bonus episode later this week!
2:33 - Finding time for pop culture when life is difficult.
10:40 - Tessa finallywatches the first season of American Horror Story.
32:42 - Andy checks in on Nicolas Cage in Color Out of Space.
45:15 - Sam plays Resident Evil.
Full Transcript
Spooktober III: Son of Spooktober! All month, we're talking about pop culture associated with Halloween. This week we're talking the Spanish-language horror film The Orphanageand two novels by the first family of horror.
01:20 - Our favorite Halloween movies and television (especially The Simpsons'"Treehouse of Horror.")
07:00 - Andy tells us about The Orphanage.
14:50 - Sam reads Stephen King's The Institute.
32:15 - Tessa read Joe Hill's Horns.
Full Transcript
Spooktober continues with even more horror related films and TV Shows.
With this weeks discussion question we talk about whether or not we start with a series at the beginning or jump in wherever (if you live in chaos, like ONE of our hosts).
13:20 - Sam talks about the best episodes of Black Mirror and which episodes you should watch to enjoy Halloween!
23:47 - Andy talks about the reboot/sequel (see-boot) directed by David Gordon Green's Halloween (2018)
35:00 - Tessa talks about the beautiful film directed by Anna Biller, The Love Witch
Full Transcript
Spooktober! All month, we're talking about pop culture associated with Halloween. This week we're talking about scary movies from four different decades. This week's guest is David Bax of Battleship Pretension.
11:30 - David talks about The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.
20:00 - Sam resurrects The Mummy(1932).
28:00 - Andy goes to the mall with Romero's Dawn of the Dead.
39:30 - Tessa stays awake for A Nightmare on Elm Street.
Full Transcript
Our first bonus episode! We're playing "Rank that List!" with Kent from the Next up on Next Door podcast.
00:00 Kent ranks Lil Wayne's Carter albums.
12:06 Andy returns to the Arrowverse.
18:25 Sam puts Taylor Swift's catalogue in order.
29:25 Tessa takes us through the the X-Men movies.
Full Transcript
Kent Peterson from the Next Up On Nextdoor podcast joins us!
5:51 Kent talks about the first season of Peaky Blinders
15:18 Andy overcomes the hardest challenges in Team Ninja's Nioh
23:26 Sam reads Nnedi Okorafor's novella Binti
34:20 Tessa reads Nic Stone's Dear Martin!
Full Transcript
Special Drop! Our website Popculturist is live! Visit and read our stuff at www.popculturisthub.com
10:43 The first communal monkey is discussed with Chadwick Boseman's 21 Bridges
20:25 Tessa talks about the old Adam West Batman TV Show
33:20 Andy discusses the weird Un Chien Andalou
41:00 Sam finally catches up with Final Fantasy 7
Full Transcript
This episode ended up being an accidental theme episode! We all had very dark item to cover this week! And we had a guest! Megan Spell of the On The Download podcast
4:05 - Megan talks about Ridley Scott's 1979 sci-fi slasher in space classic Alien (she even talks a little bit about the more action oriented sequel, Aliens)
14:38 - Sam talks about the gen-x crime drama about angst, violence, and teenage drama directed by Tim Hunter and featuring a few notable young faces (Keanu Reeves) - River's Edge
25:46 - Tessa talks about one of the bigger books on her list with the sci-fi classic by Samuel R. Delany - Dhalgren.
37:11 - Andy airs his own frustrations about not being able to accurately describe a comic that is amazingly beautiful and incredibly dark with Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda's Monstress!
Full Transcript
The Emmy Awards are this Sunday (9/20), so we're getting ready by talking about some of the nominated shows. This week's guest is Martha Pietruszewski, host of Martha and Colby Grow Up and the Four Nations Report.
08:30 - 19:20 - "The Pandemic-Delayed Pop Culture Fantasy Draft"
19:20 - 22:00 - Why we like awards shows.
22:00 - 29:50 - Martha talks about What We Do in the Shadows.
29:50 - 38:40 - Andy figures out what Killing Eve is all about
38:40 - 47:05 - Tessa feels a little Insecure
47:05 - 55:30 - Sam really doesn't like Succession
Full Transcript
00:00-09:00 How to make a good pop culture recommendation. 09:00-18:55 Andy watches the cinematic tour de force that is Hot Shots!. 18:55-32:50 Sam talks the Academy Awards, Brokeback Mountain, and Heath Ledger. 32:50-48:07 Tessa jumps back into Neil Gaiman's Sandman Universe. 48:07-end DC Fandome. Full Transcript (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cwklSNx_tgbyOd2KiUts9kiHZWd2CxLp/view?usp=sharing)
This week on our backlog we all get together and talk about the important things in life and the methods of doing a little bit of clean up on our lists. 11:44 Sam discusses the Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed series (the entirety of the 3rd generation). 22:24 Tessa talks about interesting almost bottle esque murder thriller by Alfred Hitchcock Dial M For Murder. 33:03 Andy talks about the darkest show he's ever seen, Comedy Central's Corporate. Full Transcript (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HaT1DY59aNqgebhVfrtlxi3s5GK4la76/view?usp=sharing)
It's our first ever theme week! To prepare for the new HBO series Lovecraft Country, we're facing our dread and checking some cosmic horror off of our lists.
00:58 - 05:15 - But first we talk about what Disney is up to with Mulan. 05:15 - 10:00 - What is cosmic horror? 10:00 - 20:38 - Andy talks about Matt Ruff's novel Lovecraft Country, the source material for the new HBO series. 20:38 - 32:25 - Tessa shares her reaction to N.K. Jemisin's newest novel, The City We Became. 32:25 - 45:42 - Sam shares his opinion about whether Netflix's Locke & Key is a successful adaptation. Full Transcript (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1njD1xySkzxClQ9tjJBy8czUYaTZvsHqZ/view?usp=sharing)
This week's guest is Matthias Roberts, host of the Queerology podcast and author of Beyond Shame.
Matthias experiences the joy that is Avatar: The Last Airbender. (NOT THE MOVIE!) Sam discusses Hard Boiled, the classic Hong Kong action movie directed by John Woo. Andy and Tessa talk about some great indie video games: Secret Little Haven and Never Alone. (As an extra special bonus feature this week, Sam experiences his first epic audio failure as a podcaster. Apologies for any audio quality issues.) Full Transcript (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1itQpzM3NYmUq_ZTqV4fEtNrCot67q5zg/view?usp=sharing)
This week, we discuss two of our favorite genres, heist and time travel. Tessa talks about the BBC and HBO joint production Gentleman Jack. Sam read Seanan McGuire's urban fantasy novel Rosemary and Rue. Andy watches the first season of oft-requested anime Re:Zero - Starting Life In Another World. Full Transcript (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PbFGQNAzU_ksc5L6hpFufz0FOhSiGqKb/view?usp=sharing)
This week, Tessa reads Brian K. Vaughan's series Paper Girls. Andy watches BoJack Horseman. Sam revisits The Matrix _Trilogy--and, bonus, _The Animatrix!
Sam discusses his rewatch of some Grey's Anatomy. (Spoilers from the first five seasons!) Andy talks about the greatest film ever made: CItizen Kane. Tessa discusses forcing herself to watch the 2017 Ghost in the Shell live-action adaptation. Full Transcript
This week, Sam talks about Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and the highs and lows of living in West Covina. Tessa discusses Steven Universe--and the Crystal Gems. Andy gets into how much he loves Avatar: The Last Airbender and how much he hates the M. Night Shyamalan adaptation. Full Transcript (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nR8JbW7nc-uJpUwC0uSuc-iqUHgMYadA/view?usp=sharing)
This week, Andy shares his reactions to the first season of Happy Endings. Tessa talks time travel with the film Primer. Sam discusses the Canadian feel-good show Kim's Convenience. Full Transcript (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WtXyJce_ObJyTjB8QU_jiUItBBj3roAo/view?usp=sharing)
This week Tessa, Sam, and Andy talk about the role that upcoming adaptations play in list management. Sam reads The Eye of the World, the first novel in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. Andy watches the film adaptation of Artemis Fowl. Tessa plays BioWare's Knights of the Old Republic. Full Transcript (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1b9gRvo0MIi81QesnMC-eAAsKoJEGdMRQ/view?usp=sharing)
This week, we are joined by our very first guest, Steve Guntli of the Ultra 64 podcast Steve talks about his long-forgotten monkey, Sucker Punch's Playstation 3 classic Infamous. Tessa talks about experiencing Beyonce's Lemonade (The Visual Album). Sam watches Ava DuVernay's 2016 documentary 13th. Andy reads a little of Jonathan Hickman's East of West. Steve Guntli can be found on twitter @ultra64podcast. Full Transcript (https://drive.google.com/file/d/19P2BkerLB1bEJJtNwd7_K14g456s1mgH/view?usp=sharing)
This week the crew talks about the phenomena known as "Netflix Cheating" because we all do it. Andy discusses reading Frank Herbert's Dune. Tessa watches SyFy's The Expanse (Season 1). Sam plays Remedy Entertainment's Alan Wake. Full Transcript (https://drive.google.com/file/d/12Sm63vq-IYn43ehD-v-FzsadalzD1vo3/view?usp=sharing)
This week, Andy plays Ocelot Society's HAL 3000 simulation Event [0]. Sam listens to the remastered version of Smashing Pumpkin's 1991 hit album Gish. Tessa finally watches the original blockbuster: Steven Spielberg's 1975 Jaws. Full Transcript (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IoQ5amv15WEuUwjC4RM7zbehdSsSj4Ov/view?usp=sharing)
The Primer. The prologue to this podcast. We'll be introducing ourselves and talking about the rules of this podcast, why we are doing it and why you should listen. Full Transcript (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1o-MRXMHbpw6eglOoVPrqutCB54xRhb6E/view?usp=sharing)
In the first real episode of Monkey Off My Backlog: Tessa reads Rick Riordan's The Lightning Thief. Sam discusses the British miniseries A Very English Scandal. Andy watches his first Akira Kurosawa film, High and Low. Full Transcript (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OHflkIzXjKITCFbE-0IebUu5k0or7oYh/view?usp=sharing)