Tessa 0:15 Welcome to monkey off my backlog the podcast where we exercise our pop culture demons by tackling our media to do lists one week at a time. I'm your host, Tessa and with me are my co hosts, Andy. Hello. Andy is barely with us this week. And Sam. Hello. We're also joined by Jarrett of the wild pretty things podcast. Jarret 0:39 Hello, everyone. Tessa 0:41 So happy to have you with us today. This week. Sam is a dead ringer for love. And he scrolls and scrolls and scrolls. Jared records a podcast about a show based on a podcast about recording a podcast and I start to sit down and shut up. I mean, that's Sam 1:01 finally go to high school. And finally, your life. Tessa 1:04 Yeah. First off, we're going to talk about meatloaf. A food that I really enjoy. Sam 1:12 That's that's you know, Tessa 1:15 is it just meatloaf? Are we talking about mashed potatoes to test out some green beans? Sam 1:20 You know, I expect this from Andy. Tessa 1:23 Andy is having voice problems this week. So I have to step in. Andy 1:28 And basically like Tessa is my avatar this week. A test sitar if you will. Sam 1:34 I don't like that. It's nice. I don't know it's not. I get to. I don't like this at all. Tessa 1:41 I get to choose my unrestrained ID of this podcast. Sam 1:44 Oh, I you all three are on your own. I'm gonna leave. Tessa 1:49 So you like meatloaf? Why? And how? Sam 1:54 So being a person of a certain age. And what age is that? Well, let's see in 1993. I was this right? Yeah, depending on what part of 1993 you're talking about. I was either in eighth grade or ninth grade. So you can do that math on your own. 1993 is the year that bat out of hell two came out. I had no idea who meatloaf was prior to that I had not seen Rocky Horror Picture Show yet. Tessa 2:28 So my like 12. Sam 2:31 Well, yeah, but most of my friends apparently had seen it, which I found out a couple years later when we watched it at school. Tessa 2:40 At school, what kind of school did you go to? Yeah, Sam 2:43 this is a different conversation for later. But so my first introduction to meatloaf was the video for I would do anything for love, but I won't do that. So Wow. Wow. Right. How could you not like meatloaf if that's your first introduction? Right? Yeah, yeah. So that's why Tessa 3:03 now Jerry, are you a fan of meatloaf and anti fan of meatloaf? What's your experience with meatloaf? Jarret 3:11 Well, I will say hot patootie is my favorite Rocky Horror song. And I think I saw it around the same age that Sam did. Maybe a little later, like randomly on cable or something. I'm not sure. Anyways, I'm digressing. But uh, yeah, otherwise, I'm kind of whatever. Tessa 3:33 That's kind of how I feel. But I don't have any like nostalgia for meatloaf, either. Because I didn't see Rocky Horror until I was in my 20s. Sam 3:40 Yeah, so I mean, I love this album, bat out of hell, too. I got it. My dad. And this is funny for Tessa, who knows my dad is like, oh, meatloaf is like, you know, this is gonna be an experience for you. He doesn't like meatloaf. But he automatically knew this would be something I would like. It's nice to know that your dad thinks about things that way. His younger brother likes meatloaf. So you must like yeah, so did I understand. So this was you know, when I went to Japan a couple of years later, I had, you know, this is before the internet. So obviously before music streaming. So I had three Case Logic cases, you know, 12 CDs each. And this one made the cut. I've listened to it over and over and over again. It was actually years before I went back and heard the first bat out of hell. I bought bat out of hell three on release day. Which so just to back up really really quickly. Okay, I'll give you the rundown really fast. By the way. That is not his given name. meatloaves given name is Michael Lee a day I'm shocked. Tessa 4:47 I'm shocked that meatloaf is given name. Sam 4:50 Michael Lee a day so the bat out of hell trilogy. Right. So the first one comes out in 77. I love this. Talk about Jim Steinman and him A bat out of hell is largely based on a musical a musical that never happened called Neverland. Tessa 5:09 Like a Peter and Wendy situation Sam 5:11 Peter Pan. That's right, Peter. Adult Peter Pan is what Neverland was going to beat. Tessa 5:16 Isn't that not Peter Pan anymore? Sam 5:18 Well, yeah, be quiet. You're doing it again. I Andy 5:21 believe it's called the hook. Sam 5:23 Right so meatloaf is the voice Jim Steinman is the words big chunks of bat out of hell. One were produced by Todd Rundgren who is also super fun. Jimmy I have been and Phil resumo Irene does some producing resumo does that voice on Paradise by the dashboard light bat out of hell two comes out what 16 years later it's diamond and run grin are back. There's a bunch of good stuff that comes out of that album. I did not realize this but Tessa objects in the rearview mirror is a pathetic fallacy. It is it is Jim's diamond doing romantic stuff right because it's based around the seasons. Yeah, so anyway, that's fun. bat out of hell three comes out 13 years later after meatloaf and Steinman have settled a lawsuit because they do not get along except for when they do. There are some statement songs on the album he is not diamonds not a part of the album Desmond Child produces it instead. So basically bat out of hell threes. Unfortunately new metal it is missing from streaming it is difficult to find just like on a streaming service, you can hear it on YouTube. Rundgren felt like it was important more important to be involved than not so he was there for part of it. The most notable thing about bat out of hell three is when meatloaf takes. It's all coming back to me now, the Celine Dion song that you might be familiar with and turns it into a duet, which is great. Other than that, you could probably not. So I think really depending on who you talk to, I think most people would say bat out of hell one or bad at it. Hell two are their favorites. Tessa 7:15 You mentioned Jim Steinman a couple of times there and I know you well enough to know that every time you talk about meatloaf, you have to talk about Jim Steinmetz true. All I really know about Jim Steinman is two things he almost wrote the lyrics for Phantom of the Opera, which would have been amazing. Yep. And to I know that Total Eclipse of the Heart was originally envisioned as a song for a vampire musical and I will tell you more about both of those things, which sounds awesome, but why don't why don't you go ahead and tell us about Jim Steinman and his relationship with meatloaf. Sam 7:51 So Jim Steinman fun dude. He wrote, okay, yeah, so I don't know. I just Okay, so for a student project. He wrote an adaptation of ball by Bertold Brecht a musical version of it. This project involves the lyric turn around bright eyes. All right, so Andy 8:18 a reference to Conor Oberst clearly. Sure, Sam 8:21 yeah. Jim Steinman is also a time traveler. Which, I mean, if you told me it was real, I would believe you have all the people you could say. All the people Yeah, that's right. You know, he this is a guy who writes musicals. He's a musical theater person. This is this is who he is. When he hooks up with meatloaf and adapts Neverland into bat out of hell. That's when we get you know, rock and roll history. But I know Jim's diamond most because of Total Eclipse at the heart, which does of course incorporate turn around bright lights. This was originally called Total Eclipse was originally called vampires in love. It was written for a musical adaptation of Nosferatu. Instead, it was recorded by Bonnie Tyler and became a huge hit. He also wrote making love out of nothing at all for air supply. And Celine Dion covers his song. It's all coming back to me now. Andrew Lloyd Webber, meet Jim Steinman in the 80s right before Phantom of the Opera. So he, you know kind of asks Jim if he wants to, you know, take a swing at the book for it, or the lyrics of the book and union passes. We could have had Jim's diamond doing. We could have they did eventually work together on a show called Whistle Down the Wind. The another musical that he wrote, dance of the vampires is based on the Fearless Vampire Killers, which is a Polanski. them early Polanski film. So this is how we get the vampire lore and nearly Phantom and all that stuff. But this is a dude who is clearly the most dramatic person you'll ever meet. And then he wrote rock'n'roll music and had meatloaf sing it. And I don't know, if you don't like this. I don't understand how to communicate with you as a person. Tessa 10:21 It's a core part of your personality. Sam 10:23 I mean, it is it's for somebody who doesn't really like musical theater, but loves the idea of it. This is perfect. Tessa 10:29 So which album are you doing for us today? Sam 10:31 Oh, you want me to talk about the monkey today? Yes. Okay. So I'm actually here today to talk about one of their other collaborations Jim's diamond meatloaf, which is the album 1980 one's dead Bringer. Tessa 10:48 Okay, and you had never heard this album before. I Sam 10:50 had never you never heard this album. Why? There are three good reasons for this. Normally, I have two today I have three. Mm hmm. First good reason. I did not have access to music streaming. Until, you know, several years later, when music streaming became a thing. You know, back in the 90s. You really had to like pick and choose what you were going to listen to. When you have a limited budget, and you're constrained by physical media, you make choices. This did not make the cut. Later, when I did have access to it, I didn't listen to it because I was under the mistaken impression for a long, long time that Jim Steinman and meatloaf only collaborated on the bat out of hell albums. And if you've heard one meatloaf album without Jim Steinman, you know not to listen really to any of the others. This is this is a Tessa 11:54 Yeah, gotcha. Did you find out that this was a collaboration recently? Sam 11:59 No. Which leads me to my third reason. Okay. So I once had a Shakespeare professor. Tessa 12:07 It feels like the beginning of a joke, a Shakespeare professor, Jarret 12:10 that we all? Sam 12:12 Yeah, most of us do. I mean, it Tennessee, there were three of them. So I'm just going to talk about the one that I had. And so I asked him one time, and said to him, this is where all my Canadian jokes come from, by the way. This was this was the first like, Canadian person I'd interacted with for a long period of time. And so like, I'm sorry, guys, it's it, man. He was a trip. Anyway. I asked him, Have you really read all of Shakespeare's plays? You know, typical undergrad question. And he said no. So Oh, yeah. How many of you not ready, so only one? I haven't read King John. Why have you not read King John? Because after I've read King John, I've read them all. And he says it's theirs. It's nice to know that in the future, on some rainy day, I can curl up and read a Shakespeare play I've never read before. Which the longer life goes on, the more I realized that's really cool. It's really cool to be able to say, there's still a meatloaf and Jim Steinman album, for example, out there that I haven't listened to yet, except now I've listened to it. However, they did do one more, right before they both died. So I'm not finished yet, but that's why I had not until last week, listen to Dead Ringer. Tessa 13:39 This is how I feel about Octavia Butler, because I don't want to read all of it. That is Andy 13:44 such a foreign experience to me. Like if there's something that I might like out there, I want to experience it. Now. To be fair, this entire point of the podcast is because there's a lot of stuff out there that I might like Sam 13:58 Yeah, didn't you come up with this? Andy 14:03 But I don't I don't purposely hold off on some idea like yes, I want I want to save this for a rainy day some some day so I will. You no not have completed it. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I want to complete that. Tessa 14:18 Is your voice become a French accent? No, no, no. Jared, how do you feel about this method of encountering pop culture? Are there any people that you are saving something because you don't want to have read all of it or seen all of it or listened to all of it? Or you want to Andy's side? Jarret 14:38 No, but I'm wondering is this a stealth promo for Tessa watches last? Well, Sam 14:43 it's not anymore. Stealth anymore. It's just straight up. Listen to Tessa watch. Jarret 14:49 Sorry. Sorry, Sam 14:50 you episodes every Thursday. Except when we do say I'm watching Star Trek. But Jarret 14:55 no, I yeah, that's not something that I do Porsche. I'm more on Andy side of things of, especially if I get obsessed with someone, I will sometimes to a fault. digest their entire catalogue if I can feel like sad. No, no, no, cuz I obsessively rewatch things and stuff like that. So hey, Andy 15:19 Tessa, what's sadder, having experienced it, or having died, not having experienced something that could have been truthfully, life changing and meaningful to you for the last 10 minutes that you were alive? Sam 15:34 This is this is a trick. Tessa 15:36 In that case, there's tons of things I should just like, quit my job and just experience pop culture all of the time. Sam 15:42 I like your caveat at the end, because I would like the 10 minutes before you die, because, yeah, afterward, it doesn't matter anymore. Andy 15:51 But you have a good chance of having something buy from Octavia Butler that is meaningful to you that is out there. And is something you might like, Sam 16:01 alright, two things as usual. One, as we discussed last week. As a generation aksar I don't need you on my side. Don't Need You. I'm usually not so to write. So it doesn't matter. This doesn't hurt my feelings, too. And if it did, I certainly wouldn't tell you. That is real. We talked about last week. Yeah. And and to. So Jim's diamond died last year. Meatloaf died this year. There will never be another Jim's diamond and meatloaf collaboration. I however, you know, last week was able to listen to a new to me, collaboration, they're dead. It's never gonna happen again. But I was able to have something new to me. And, you know, we've talked about it we talked about a few weeks ago, like how we process these celebrity deaths and why they matter. This one mattered. But I had something for that. If you've exhausted all the possibilities, you have nothing, what you're saying Andy 17:07 is you should specifically keep someone's work away from you. So you can experience it and mourn them when they die instead of just doing what Jared does and re experiences it. Sam 17:20 Well, given the way the planet's going, it's not going to be delayed gratification very much longer. So all right, it is what it is. Let's Tessa 17:27 let's bring this back to the music that now that we've gotten all the way to that point. Was this album Good? Was it worth the weight delayed gratification? Sam 17:36 First of all, I'm holding this up because podcasting is a visual medium. I not only did not listen to this album for well over a decade, I've had it on vinyl. Like this I had I was able B plus grade vintage vinyl just cleaned ready. Never listened to it. So I have liner notes in my hand. Good time. You're not going to be surprised if I tell you the sound is not that good. Right? Right. Yeah, I mean, this is not a surprise, right? Really fun from reading the the best part was really reading the liner notes. Max Weinberg is the drummer for the entire album. And when I went back and looked it up, there is a connection between Jim's diamond meatloaf and the E Street Band. Much of this album was actually recorded in New Jersey. It's kind of interesting. I thought share is on the song. dead ringer for love. There is a duet with Cher on this album and it's it's fine. I'm just gonna I'm just gonna run you through some things real fast. So Mm hmm. There's a there's the the the requisite required vehicular metaphor of a song peel out. Followed by the song I'm gonna love her for both of us. I'll let her shine like a jewel in the crown of a holy son. You turned her into a ghost but she'll be burning when the night is done. Tessa 19:09 Man Gen Xers really do like sincerity don't Sam 19:11 it's it's it's Well, I mean I like this of course these are these are boomers. This takes more than you deserve. But there's a song on the song called I'll kill you if you don't come back. I'll kill you if I don't if you don't come back. Tessa 19:28 What does this look so browning up? Yeah, Sam 19:32 you gave me nothing at all. Now let me give it to you. You taught me how to be cruel. Now let me try it on you. Tessa 19:39 Wow. Yeah. Sounds like Jim Steinman and meatloaf. Went through some stuff. Sam 19:42 Yeah, read him and weep dead ringer for love. I mean, that's a great song. That's the song to listen to clearly. The last song on here is called everything is permitted. And unlike Is this the theme song for Assassin's Creed is Jim Steinman a time traveler. It's a terrible song. There is always just one absolutely piece of trash song on every meatloaf Jim's diamond collaboration and this is that it's fine. It's fine. It's, it's it is, every if I gave you if I made a list of all the things I expected the sound to have on it, I would check off literally everything on the list. But it is nowhere near as good as bad out of hell. Now somebody like la-z who has said, this is like a top five meatloaf thing. Probably has some sort of, I would imagine some sort of younger person connection to this, whereas I have none of that. Right. I'll defend bat out of hell part two, because right? Yeah. Tessa 20:47 Is it the same style of music? Yes. Okay. Oh, yeah. That's what I want to know. Yeah, for sure. Sam 20:52 So, how long wait, I have been talking. I don't know how much you've cut this down. I've been talking about meatloaf for over 20 minutes. Which is just to say that this was a great experience, because it existed. The album itself is met. Tessa 21:09 It was good because it existed but the album itself was Sam 21:11 right. Okay. Right. So So So So to close. Yeah. It was a meatloaf album I'd never heard. It was a way to celebrate to memorialize him. The album itself wasn't great. So what I'm gonna say to you is don't be sad. Because two out of three ain't bad. Tessa 21:30 Alright, that's the end of the class. That's it, everybody. That's it. Andy 21:34 Let's continue on the new metal rundown and go to segment two. Tessa 21:40 All right. So before we talk about your monkey for this week, Jarrett, you told me via discord message that since the last time you have been on this podcast, you've actually abandoned a list, which is not something that we've talked about all that much on the show, which is ostensibly about list making and pop culture productivity. Tell us about that experience. Why did you abandon the list? And how did that go for you? Jarret 22:08 I don't know if I said last time, but the primary list I was working off of was one I had started and continued to add on to and check off of stuff off of and had subheadings and whatnot in the app Google Keep which is mainly a phone app, you can access those notes online to we don't Andy 22:31 bust market Apple products here on this podcast. Well, good thing, Jarret 22:35 it's not an Apple product. He Andy 22:36 just said Apple keep Google Keep I'm pretty certain that Apple has hijacked my earphones and Sam 22:46 I was gonna say Andy is Android because he has a find and replace script. actually tried to say Google this whole time. Tessa 22:57 Alright, Google, keep Sterrett Jarret 22:59 which is not a method I would recommend for keeping a list that complicated in like multiple pages. And again, the problem was that it went from just being like a list of movies to I just want to watch these movies into like, well, here's a category for movies, I want to watch with my partner, here's a category for just horror movies. And it was just not, it got an unwieldy, let's say that and I still have multiple, I've got even more obsessive about planning for my podcasts with recent and past guests, Melissa, but the list that I'm actually working off of, I'm a real champion of the, you know, thing better things are created with through limitations, like working within limitations. So my list is a is a literal, small sheet of notepad paper. So that I cannot expand. And I don't know I'm again holding up things for the visual medium of podcasting. But if you guys can tell they like certain things are in different handwriting. Because I've added, like between because I kind of spaced out the original list, not intentionally. And so I've been adding things in between other things, but it's I haven't used the back yet. So I'm still limiting myself in some form. And I have checked some things off of it. I've added more things though, which is normal for me. Tessa 24:41 What have you been prioritizing for this limited list? Jarret 24:45 I haven't really, other than so when I made the list originally, I was kind of going off the same sort of the same thing we were just talking about which is movies by directors that I like But who I haven't seen all of their films. And then I didn't keep with that theme. Or at least something kind of in that sort of line, like maybe a movie in a sub genre that I love that haven't watched it or a movie connected to a movie. I love something like that. I haven't kept with that. I've added some other things. But that was the original theme of the list. Tessa 25:25 Gotcha. And was your monkey for this week on the small list? Jarret 25:31 Well, it was after you said, Do you want to come on the show and talk? I keep this list by my remotes. So I don't get option paralysis? Andy 25:44 Are we not going to talk about what happens to us when we abandon and edit our lists? Tessa 25:49 Oh, do you want to talk about the sandy Do you Have you ever abandoned or? No? See, I didn't think so. I didn't think so. You you Sam. Sam 26:00 I have an Excel spreadsheet. Probably in the in the in the recesses of a hard drive that has like a Hitchcock list and smother classic film director lists, actors and stuff. So yeah, it's safe to say it's abandoned. Tessa 26:20 I'm Team chaos, as we all know. So my whole method is abandoning lists, I still find lists that I've left around my house that have been there for a while I find lists that are in Evernote, I find lists that are in random Google Docs. So you know, abandoning things is part of my process. I understand that's not everybody's process. But Jared, why don't you tell us about your monkey for this week. Jarret 26:47 Alright, so I watched a this term is kind of dated, but I think it's appropriate here a web series adapted from a podcast that is a I'm trying to think of the term but it's in the the, the original podcast is in the format of an investigative podcast. But it's not it's fiction. It's a fictional podcast. But in its format, it's presented as a nonfiction. Yeah. Yeah, this show kind of doesn't exist. The podcast pretty much does, but they're not making new episodes. It's a radio show. So yeah, right. And and the the TV show actually makes it into a radio show. Specifically, they don't even I don't think they even use the word podcast on the show. But we're talking about Lyme town, as in the fruit although it's actually within as in the stone as in limestone, not the Andy 28:00 way you can't eat limestone. I need to do a doctor right Jarret 28:03 now. Maybe that's what's wrong with you. Andy 28:08 This limestone look right that I've been Jarret 28:14 that's, that's why yours has that cola taste you were talking about last week? Tessa 28:26 Well, tell us a little bit about what Lyme town the web series is about. Jarret 28:30 So like I said, it was originally a podcast, it was picked up to be adapted into a TV show. And I talked about this a little bit on our podcast, when it was first announced or released or something. Because and I don't know if it was the first one but it was the first and only thing that I knew of that was on Facebook watch. Which I kind of thought didn't exist anymore, but I guess it still does. Tessa 29:04 Who knows what's going on with Facebook? Yeah. Isn't it called like meadow? No. Andy 29:11 company that owns Facebook is called meta. That yes, that's all that's all it is. Sam 29:19 One of these days I'm going to look and sorry for your loss is going to be up to like season 27. I know. Which like, poor Elizabeth Olsen has so much to be sad for and Kelly Marie Tran. Oh, yeah, she's she's not sad. Right in the show. Tessa 29:34 That's true. So did you listen to the podcast before you watch the show? Jarret 29:38 I did. I did. I don't remember if I finished it, because season two. I wouldn't say it was not as good but like, it kind of like refocused and I just wasn't as interested. So I don't remember if I actually finished it, but I did. Listen, definitely listen to all of season one. Andy 29:58 Oh, Kitt Let's go on a little side bar here because lime town started out great. Then pigs were mentioned. And it just just plummeted in quality in, in suspension of disbelief in anything fun. It is the podcast that prove the rule to me that any fictional podcast that goes beyond season one will never be able to continue itself and I listened to a lot of fiction podcasts. Jarret 30:33 Well, then this is relevant because watching this adaptation was what prompted me to finally check out Lyme town. Did you listen to archive 81? No, no, I did not. Because that's the podcast I would say gets better with every season partially because it like changes, characters that changes focus, and in many ways, I would say sometimes changes genre. Andy 31:02 Alright, I have I have my list of fictional podcasts that I do in Google Keep. No, this is just in Pocket Casts. Okay, I have Dexter Guf is smarter than you, which was wonderful. Definitely give that a listen, if you want a fake, fake self help guru trying to keep his life together. via his self help show. I have a very fatal murder, which is also wonderful. It was done by the onion. Jarret 31:34 I think I did listen to part of the maybe. Andy 31:37 Let's see here. I have the horror of Dolores Roach, which was pretty good, pretty high. High concept. I have the Black Tapes, which oh man jumped the shark so hard. Jarret 31:50 I couldn't get into that it was a little too. The voice acting was too amateurish for me. Andy 31:56 Well, it was a very amateurish show when it started. I have the carrier which also jumped the shark. I have the control group, which also jumped the shark. I have the white bowl, which also jumped the shark. So yeah, we've got a lot of jumping the shark here. And I have a few listen to homecoming. I did not, but I am super interested in anything Sam Esmail does. And Jarret 32:22 I think that's probably the only example of the podcast is solid throughout. And I would say the TV show is solid throughout. Andy 32:32 It's just always fun to get to the point in a fiction podcast where it's like, oh, no, they're coming up with Gods Oh. Fully work is is really bad and most of us Tessa 32:46 so how to transitioning this material from the podcast to the TV show work for you, Jarrett. Jarret 32:53 So listen to podcast before this was even announced in the TV show is already a couple years old. So there was quite a gap between my listening to it and watching it. I did remember, you know, as the show went on, I'm like, Okay, I remember that plot point. I remember how that was on the show. But I didn't I don't have a like I'm not precious about Lyme town as a podcast. It was just something I listen to and enjoyed, but didn't really, you know, latch on to it personally. Tessa 33:23 If it's not, so we haven't Sam and I haven't listened to a lot of fiction podcasts. That's just not really like something that we've ever really gotten into. But we did really enjoy only murders in the building. So what Sam 33:38 I mean, I've listened to homecoming. Yeah, I mean, the first you have good times. Tessa 33:43 Yeah, I guess you have I really haven't. But Jarrett, how did was this likey only murders in the building style show? Because it kind of sounds like if it's based on like, true crime, nonfiction podcasts that it kind of would have that bent to it, or is it something different? Jarret 34:00 Well, it does, I would say in a visual way in the sense that either I think both people who don't know anything about audio production, and people who do we'll both get distracted by visual elements of the show much like so only murders in the building uses the visual aspect of audio production for comic for comedic value. Tessa 34:28 Martin Short running around with that boom mic is one of my favorite visual gags, right? Jarret 34:32 And just the sheer amount of equipment that he buys. Line town is smart in that it's more consistent in the equipment she uses. Like she's pretty much always using the same Zoom recorder. It's a little especially towards the end it gets a little soft on like specifics. But for example, I can't think have many other TVs shows, I can think of a of a movie or two that I love partially for this reason, but I can't think of many things that have scenes of people editing audio. And like that editing of audio being a plot point in a cliffhanger and a plot point and the point of conflict that leads to I don't know how far to go with spoilers, but it leads to a death, at least one death. Tessa 35:30 That's hilarious, but also kind of fascinating, because you're right. I don't think that a lot of television writers necessarily know how a podcast gets made. Because a lot of times they'll treat it like it's a live show. The you just record things and then you Sam 35:47 write this is this is brought to you by the same TV writers who have never been a teacher. Tessa 35:53 Right? Yeah, I think because a lot of people who, even if they do make their own podcast, because it seems like everybody makes podcasts now, a lot of people who are like higher level TV writers or something like that. They have editors, so they don't necessarily do that work on their own. Andy 36:10 And this comment brought to you by the newest season of Dexter, which, while beautiful also has a true crime podcast that is also a super invest super hardcore investigative podcast while being a historic serial killer podcast at the same time. Tessa 36:27 Yeah, so I'm not sure they always understand how podcasts work conscious. So Jarrett, what did you think about Lyme town as a show? Jarret 36:38 It's fine. I don't think I can recommend it, other than for two things. One is that Jessica Biel has kind of like, made a little second act for herself, starring in one season of like, really dramatic TV shows. The first one was, she's one of the protagonists in the she's the she's the character at the center of the first season of the center, which I think airs on USA or something, but it's on Netflix, I think it's still on Netflix, which she has said in interviews was like her most challenging performance at that point. And her her character in this show, share some DNA with that character. I think, you know, it's someone who's dealing with trauma and trying to investigate the past, although in very different ways. Tessa 37:42 Is she the main podcaster, right, she's Jarret 37:45 the stars. I mean, she is the center of the story. They have some flashbacks to the thing that she's investigating Lyme town. But other than that, there's maybe only one or two scenes that she's not in. So what is she investigating? Okay, so the premise is, and this is not really a sport, because this is like how the both the podcast and the TV show began is that this manufactured community that is kind of mysterious and why it existed, who started it and stuff, but it's sort of an analogue for a cult in a way, a techno cult maybe, if you will, Andy 38:30 I always thought of it more akin to the Manhattan Project. Jarret 38:34 They they all disappear. And the general public doesn't know what happened to them. So it's the unraveling of that mystery. And that is true again, true, but the podcast in the show. Tessa 38:48 Alright, so it's kind of like a Roanoke mystery. Except for right, Roanoke isn't actually a mystery, but in popular consciousness, it's a mystery. So yeah, really interesting, actually. So well acted, well paced. Jarret 39:04 Well, yeah. Especially at least for Jessica Biel. I think her performance is good. And most of the other performances are fine to some of the performances, I think are hurt by just poor writing for the character that's self. It's kind of a it turns into an I don't if you guys know any other examples of this, I would be curious, but it kind of turns into a shitty guy of the Week show. Where it's like whoever she's interviewing, she interviews like one person per episode, and that person is like, it's a basically about finding out how their shitty Tessa 39:41 like, sort of monster of the week it's monster of the week. Jarret 39:44 Yeah, but in sometimes it's people she works with, but usually it's people that she is interviewing. All the way up until the final scene of the show is like basically based around that premise. Like, here's the big bad, the person that she's interviewing And then also I, I do think the directing overall, is strong, although I think this may be a director who's good at visual things, and those aspects of storytelling, but maybe not so much good at getting performances out of people. I heard recently that, you know, you know, a director is good if they get good performances out of everyone in the cast. So maybe they're not good at that. But they're also a young director. So but this is directed by Rebecca Thomas. Appropriately, she had a Kwibi show that exists on the Roku, the Roku network now, which by the way, Lyme town is on peacock. That's also why I watched it because I keep having peacock subscription for random thing. And I really, I, it's popped up on a list on there something and I'm like, Oh, now that I don't have to try to figure out how to watch this on Facebook. I'll actually watch this Tessa 41:08 show. Accessibility does change your lists. Yes, yes. Jarret 41:15 But she did the movie electric children, which is also about a call. So I think maybe that's part of the reason she was picked for this or maybe why she was interested in it. I don't know. Tessa 41:25 What vehicles. Jarret 41:27 Good. Yeah. Well, in much in the same way, it's it's interesting, you know, again, you guys know this. I don't know if listeners know or care. But one of the primary things that interests me in popular media to the extent that if I ever got up enough interest to get my doctorate, my dissertation would probably be about meta cinema. You could certainly read Lyme town, the TV show as a meta cinematic symbol for investigating a failed movie or a failed TV show. Or a failed short form content network. Much in the same way the the characters of Lyme town who go missing show up in weird places under assumed names, not what really wanting attention. That also happened to all the shows that were on Kwibi. And some of the ones that run Facebook watch. Tessa 42:38 So would you recommend this to any of our listeners? Or would you recommend that they go listen to the podcast? Should they skip the podcast and only watch the show? Jarret 42:49 If you're if you're interested specifically in Lyme town based on this synopsis, definitely start with the podcast. Unless you're just you know, not a podcast, person or net, obviously, your podcast person, you're listening to this. If you're not a narrative, podcast person, fix fictionalized narrative podcasting, audio dramas, if you will, then maybe skip that. I do think if that's a world you're interested in, Homecoming is a good place to start homecoming in every way, is a better example of lime town. So I would say if you're interested in that part of it, start with homecoming, both the podcast and the show. If you're interested in Jessica Biel, and you haven't watched the center yet, watch that. Because I think that's a much more that shows is deeper and more well written and more well crafted. I think overall, there's just more there than then with Lyme town. But if you're interested in this director, I haven't seen electric children yet. So maybe this is good. But if you're just looking for more things that can potentially be read as meta fiction, then, you know, add this to your list at some point. It's certainly not the worst podcast adaptation I've watched in 2022. Tessa 44:17 Or you've watched a bad podcast adaptation already in February. Jarret 44:22 Yeah, we talked about archive 81 on our podcast, which is it's not bad, but I didn't like it. Tessa 44:28 Alright, so that's wild, pretty thick. So if you're interested in in that discussion, Sam 44:33 yep. Jared mentioned our second weekly podcast earlier, the logline for which is where one of us reacts to a TV show that the other has forced us to watch. So the next segment of today's podcast, I think, would qualify as a bonus episode. Because Tessa is here to talk about a show. I convinced her to watch Tessa 45:00 Yeah, so AP Bio, falls into this weird category of shows that Sam started watching first and then kept trying to convince me to watch them. I had reservations about the show, which I'll talk about here in a minute. But then when I first eventually started watching it, I was like, Oh, why wasn't I watching this the whole time? So that's, that is the type of show that this is Andy 45:22 despite me also trying to get you to watch it. Let's, let's be clear here. Tessa 45:26 Yes, I do vaguely remember that you have also tried to get me to watch AP Bio. That is correct. All right. Sam 45:33 So I don't know how nice the show is, I imagine kind of to a lot somewhere on that spectrum. So what is the premise of the show? And I think maybe did you have some trepidation or problems with the premise of the show initially? Tessa 45:54 Yeah. So the basic premise of the show is, at least the way it's explained in the first season, is that Dr. Jack Griffin, who's played by Glenn Howerton, who most people know from, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. He is a Harvard philosophy professor who doesn't make tenure, and it basically has a meltdown and is fired from Hartford. And so He returns to his hometown, in the middle of nowhere, and gets a job teaching Sam 46:25 for the purposes of this premise description. Nowhere is Ohio. Tessa 46:29 Nowhere is Ohio. Toledo, Ohio is not nowhere, but to him. It's nowhere he does not have a great opinion of Toledo, Ohio. But he returns just leave Ohio. He's living in his mother's house. And he gets a job teaching AP Bio from his friend, a principal at a local high school, Ralph Durbin, who's played by patent Oswald. And basically, he just sees this as a holding pattern to teach one class until he can figure out how to get his job back at Harvard, or to get like a tenure track job at another facility. That's the basic premise of this show. The reason I was very hesitant to watch this originally is that I am not a It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia fan. I haven't watched a lot of it. But what I have seen I just don't find that funny. I know that that might like shock some people. Like if that's your brand of humor, cool. Like, I'm glad you love that show. I just for some reason, there's just something about it that I just don't, I recognize all the actors are really good at what they're doing. It's just not really my brand of humor and Glenn Howerton ins character, especially on that is very strange to me. And that is basically what his character isn't this, he's playing a very similar character. But in this other show, which is about an AP Bio teacher. Sam 47:51 Right. And I just want to specify for the record, that there's no such thing, as a teacher who teaches one AP class, there are, in fact, two types of AP teachers. type one, which is what I was, was you get an AP class, and then you must pay for your sins the rest of the day, or two, the Chosen One who teaches all the fun AP classes, but but both are full time people. This is this is not based in reality, Tessa 48:21 nothing about their show is based in reality. We're supposed to believe that all four seasons of the show happened over the course of one semester. Sam 48:28 Right? So go a little bit more into that what makes this show different than any show, you know, the asks, you know, an actor to do something, you know, like Glenn Howerton is doing what you just said, you don't like, or you know something else about, you know, the comedy in high school, which actually, we have another good example of recently with Avid Elementary, but for everyone that succeeds, you have 17 that don't, Tessa 48:53 right, right. Well, and we've seen this before, right? We've seen bad teacher, which has, you know, kind of a similar vibe of somebody who comes in and who just like, is actively antagonistic towards the students. We have School of Rock, which is kind of has a similar concept of someone who doesn't understand why they're there and doesn't really care about what they're doing until they do care about what they're doing his bed Sam 49:13 teacher, the one with Jason Segel. Yes. I do want to point out that when the preview for that movie came up, I had kids at school came in and said, we've had that conversation where we've screamed at each other about Michael Jordan and Kobe and LeBron, and I'm like, Yeah, we have, you're still wrong. Tessa 49:31 Yeah. So again, like this premise. Jarret 49:34 That's the is that the Cameron Diaz movie, or is that it's Cameron Tessa 49:37 Diaz. Yeah. Again, the premise of it also kind of turned me off. Because I've never taught high school. I've only taught at a collegiate level. So I didn't think I was going to get some of the satire that's going on of high school teaching. I didn't really connect with Glenn Howerton in his other show, and I thought this premise had been done before and so I wasn't really sure where they were going to go with it. So that That was kind of why it took me a while to get into this. Andy 50:02 Okay, question, Tessa. I just I think you were homeschooled, correct? Yes. I Tessa 50:09 also didn't go to a traditional high school because because most people go through at least one version of high school. I did go through a version of high school, I did have classes that I went to, I wasn't completely homeschooled in high school, but I go to a traditional high end. Sam 50:24 Do you know what homeschooling is? Andy 50:30 No, by what I, Sam 50:32 I went to public school. So right public school, so therefore you don't know anything? I got it. Move on. Alright, great. Tessa 50:39 So I was pleasantly surprised to find that I actually really enjoyed the show it despite all of my initial reservations going into it. Sam 50:51 Were you like me? Did you like the show more as time went on? Tessa 50:55 Yes, this show does have a first season problem. What's that problem. So the first season problem is that it leans a little too hard into its premise, for the first at least the first few episodes, and the the reviews of the first season of the show were a lot more mixed than the subsequent seasons. So it leans a little bit too hard into this, like, he's a bad teacher, and he doesn't care about them. And he's trying to get revenge on his ex girlfriend, and, and, and Harvard. And he's sort of using these kids as like, ways to bounce off these ideas, like he tells them on the very first day of school that he's not going to teach them biology, and that he actually sees it as a way to like basically nap through class, which really infuriates some of the students because as we know, AP tends to be this place where you get some overachievers. And so that like really irritates them a lot. The problem is, is that I fundamentally don't care about the Harvard storyline. And I don't care about the ex girlfriend storyline. Fortunately, those two things are abandoned, like pretty early on. So once you get past that, it becomes a lot more interesting as a show, when he actually becomes invested in his life in Toledo. Sam 52:04 So what does that look like? What are your favorite parts of this show? And to clarify, I know this, but you know, for funsies, we are talking about a show you have finished watching the entire run up, I have Tessa 52:19 seen all four seasons of the show. So it was sold. So that that's it. That's all there is for four seasons. So the best part of the show are the students, which I didn't think was actually going to be a thing. And I was worried after watching the first episode that they were going to be a bunch of stereotypes of students a bunch of tropes, because you kind of have like the cool kid who's a bully, and you have a bunch of nerds and you have the like overachieving Indian kid and like all of these different things. But what's really great about this show is that these students get their characters builds up, and they become more complex and more interesting, and honestly, hilarious, these actors are doing some of their best character comedy work in this. And there's actually not a lot of conflict between the students after the first couple of episodes, because there's this great moment. Like I think it's the third or fourth episode where they are sort of trapped in a basement together, and they resolve all of their differences, like all of their click differences and all of their like interpersonal conflicts and become friends. Their friendship is very sweet and sincere and they then sort of develop that as the series goes on. And so you get a lot of really good comedy work from them. I'll just read you a couple of the student, the recurring students who are my favorite, you get a part of Brielle as Serega Sokar, who is like an over achieving teacher's pet who just like is furious with Jack the entire run of the show because she really wants to learn biology. She's constantly trying to trick him into teaching them biology. And he throws her textbook out of the window at one point. It's really really quite great. Nick Pine as Marcus Kasperek who is the student council president who's in this class, and he's Jack's least favorite student and a lot of the jokes around him are him saying something like giving him an idea and then Jack telling him to shut up. There's my personal favorite Allison Ashley arm is Heather Wilmore, who you think at first, she's like this mousy shy girl who sits in the corner she's got these giant like coke bottle glasses, but the more you find out about her, the funnier she is because she's like a true weirdo and in the best way and she also goes all in on Jack as a character. So literally anytime Jack comes up with a harebrained scheme. She's like, I got your back boss. She starts calling him boss and it's just like a very great ongoing show. Who's she in love with and she's in love with Dan Decker, who is the cool kid who also goes all in on Jack at some point. Um, because he's like constantly got Jack's back whenever something like physical happens. It's it's really, really great. There's also a character Oh God, what is her name? I'm trying to find the actress Sam 55:10 grace. Grace, Grace. Tessa 55:14 So Grace is a character who may or may not be possessed by Sam 55:19 I think, CLI or is possessing the girl. Tessa 55:23 Yeah, I don't know if she's being possessed by the girl in the closet or she's possessing the girl in the closet. Sam 55:27 I think it's the second one. She Tessa 55:28 has really big supernatural, like horror energy vibes, but it exists in the background. So it never takes over the narrative of the show. It's just like she is like, clearly something terrible. Sam 55:39 Rodrigo is crazy eyes were a fully fleshed out character on a TV show. Tessa 55:44 Yes. That's the grace. Yeah. So there's just some really great character where, and again, like Jack is, is funny, but he's almost not the draw of this show. He's just sort of when he is a character becomes the most normal person in the school. That's when the show becomes really, really fun. There's also Patton Oswald, who I wasn't expecting a lot out of I do like Patton, Oswald. But you know, he's Patton Oswald. He just plays himself in like most of the movies or television that I've seen him in, but he actually does really well as Ralph Durbin. I know that Andy connects with his character, because a big part of his characterization is that he was in a ska band in the 90s. So there you go. That's what Andy's initial draw, Andy 56:26 versus being in a ska band in the in the early 2010s. Tessa 56:30 There's also Apollo pal plays Helen Marcus, who is his secretary who's also perhaps like his lesbian love of his life, like, they like love each other so much. And like the the shenanigans they get into in the front office are great. There's also a set of teachers, Mary, Michelle, and Steph, who are they go on their own, like side quests are also on the show. They're also on the show. They're not my favorite, but Sam 56:57 I usually enjoy the story. Tessa 56:59 Yeah, they're usually the beast story. And I do enjoy them. And it's really fun when they like actually intersect with Jack story as well, because part of this thing, too, is Jack sort of realizing that he needs friends. And part of it is creating this community within his class. But the other part of it is creating this community with his adult peers as well. And they may not learn a lot of biology, but they learn a lot about life. So it's, it's a great show, I highly recommend it, especially if you're into character based comedy. Or if you're just into things that start out really bizarre, get more bizarre, and then get really sweet at the end, Sam 57:35 this television show. So AP Bio wins the Good Place Memorial Award, previous winners of which are Brooklyn nine, nine for TV show, I forced you to watch that you were happy to have done. Yeah. I also think I have an undefeated record too. I don't think I've ever forced you to watch a show you haven't like Tessa 57:58 yeah, I don't think there's the show that you actually said I recommend this and I've been watching it that you should watch it too, that I haven't liked. I dislike plenty of shows we've started together. Right? But not one that you're like this is really good and you would like it Sam 58:12 and a quick shout out as well to Abbott elementary that maybe taking AP BIOS crown in a more relevant, popular important way. Tessa 58:21 Yeah. So I do really love Abbott Elementary, which we've been watching recently, it is a lot more sincere and a lot more. It's trying to engage with actual problems in school, like public schools than AP Bio is AP Bio is not what I would call a straight up satire, like it's not really trying to say anything about public schools. It's just sort of using a really interesting version of this as a setting. I haven't even gotten through all the great student names. Best part of the whole show, though is whenever he comes in the classroom and throws his apple which inevitably misses the the trash can and says settle down and start to shut up. So like that is that is one of my favorite gags in the show. So highly recommend AP Bio, if you are into anything that I just said. Jarret 59:05 Real quick. I wanted to add that AP Bio is one of those shows like community that yeah, people watching it in the future I assume on peacock is or inlet or VOD are going to be a little bit thrown off by a shift that happens between a couple of seasons. Well, community I'm thinking about how when they went to YouTube and like or not YouTube, sorry, Yahoo and half like half the cast left and they had to get like half replace half of the cast and change kind of change what the show is about which is sort of normal for that show. But of course there's a season without Dan Harmon and stuff like that too. But AP Bio Of course, got cancelled by NBC and then picked up by peacock Tessa 59:54 a midseason replacement in 2018 and then it got canceled and then I'm cancelled by The same corporate overlords. Yeah, there is a shift between seasons where some of the original members of the class get replaced, but most of the ones that you think people know like recognize are they stay Sam 1:00:15 bright and the there's a tonal shift but the episode count goes down the first two seasons have many more episodes the season three and four only have eight episodes. They also get a lot wackier not unlike community but I think in a good way. I think that the latter seasons of AP Bio do some things that the first two couldn't whereas I don't know man this last that last season or two communities not bad. It's not gas leak quality, but the glory days were behind. Oh, Andy 1:00:52 I am I am of the opinion that season six that community is way better than pretty much Tessa 1:00:59 all of it once they weren't so fixated on the premise. I feel like they became a lot better of a show. Alright, Andy, what did you do this week? I honestly have no idea what you did this week because you just wrote it down right before we started shooting. Sam 1:01:11 It's an anime or an indie horror movie. Oh, is it? Is it? Tessa 1:01:16 No, I think it's a video game. Sam 1:01:17 Is it? What is it? Andy 1:01:18 Okay, we're playing the classic the the classic game of anime or indie horror movie. Sam 1:01:25 I'm almost always right when we play this game. I mean, solo leveling, which is what you have in the notes feels more like an anime title to me like if it if it if it's one of the two. That's what it Andy 1:01:38 is. So leveling is a man Wha What's a mon? Wha it is a Korean comic. Tessa 1:01:46 Oh. Sam 1:01:48 Very close. Tessa 1:01:49 You were very close. Sam 1:01:50 Very close. Andy 1:01:51 Anyway, what is it? So leveling is a Korean comic. And by the way, Manoir are mostly what makes them separate and different from other things that might be like the Japanese manga, or I forgot the word for the Chinese version of these. It's designed to be read on phones. So it's designed to for you just to scroll down to read instead of turning pages, so everything is designed to flow that way. It's it's pretty important but so little leveling is a a Manuel where the premise is that some Jammu who it is living in Seoul, and in this version of our world, portals opened up and monsters came out of them. And humans were about one in 100 humans or one and 1000 Humans were given abilities to fight them video game style, and they're called hunters. In this world, the hunters guilds go go into these portals when they open up, shut them down. So monsters can't come out and kill people. That is that is the basic premise of solo leveling. Anyway, the the thing about so leveling the, the twist is all these you know, people get their standard superpowers or whatever, but whenever you get when you what they call, awaken, you know, get your powers, you never get stronger than that. So you are stuck at that, at that, at that strength level. So you have like, you know, super Superman going around, like you have the entire range of, of skills and abilities. And really, it's video game rules, but you never get stronger. And the main character is known as the weakest, because he is literally the weakest part person who still doesn't technically qualify as being a normal human. Tessa 1:03:44 So it's kind of like a reverse One Punch Man. Yeah, Andy 1:03:48 yeah. Except, then it becomes One Punch Man, when he gets the when he unlocks his special ability after an amazingly well done, Dungeon Crawl gone wrong, where he gets the ability to level up. Now, okay, keep that in mind, he gets the ability to literally level up like you do in a video game. In a world where no one else can Tessa 1:04:10 would this fall under? What Jarrett was talking about earlier in terms of like meta fiction, because it seems like they're sort of aware of video game mechanics within a different genre. Andy 1:04:22 He literally gets video game mechanics like he literally gets like an inventory, he gets skill sets. It it turns into a thing where there's a God called the administrator and you know, maybe this isn't a real world maybe this is a video game that people are playing and jacking into, you know, like, it's kind of more like a free guy thing. Anyway, that's that's the story and it does. The world building is decent. It does a good job of like being like, oh, what would happen if you know these, literally like heroes came out of nowhere and could protect countries from from damage, you know, how would countries reward them? How would the power structures change, and then all of a sudden, you've got this kid who literally can level up. And as, as such, he insists on doing everything by himself because he gets stronger and stronger, the more experience he gets, hence the title civil leveling. Tessa 1:05:20 So have you read a lot of Madhwa? Andy 1:05:22 Not really, not really. I don't have many people telling me which ones are good and which ones are bad. This one is one of the bigger, more popular ones. So that's why I read it. It's also finished, which is a plus for me. Always a plus, it's fine. It is it is a power fantasy. There's really not much more to say than that. You know, it's the fantasy trope of like, Oh, he's the strongest people underestimate him. He gets stronger. He uses video game knowledge to get better. It's, it's a pretty standard trope in, in Asian storytelling, and even YA fiction, I think, Tessa 1:05:57 I guess my question is, like, how is this? Did it have any advantages over something like One Punch Man, or any other comics that are like this, or Andy 1:06:06 No One Punch Man is, is really good. This is just like, a, it's a condensation of like, the pleasure, you know, it just hits those pleasure sensors that you get from reading something like a power fantasy, it just check. It just checks the list off, you know, and goes through keeps it's able to keep raising the stakes, but also making it so Oh, yeah, there, there's no way that this character is gonna lose, you know, basically like mainlining that, right? Like, it's mainlining those feelings. It's, it's, it's like the Doom version of that it is just pure, condensed pleasure. Jarret 1:06:43 The video game or the musical genre? Andy 1:06:47 The Video Game musical genre that No, no, I don't even know what that musical genre is. Well, Jarret 1:06:54 I mean, it's the same analogy, because the musical genre is, if you like, distorted guitars, loud music, lots of low end, and the speakers like vibrating your skin cells, then Doom is often mainlining. That feeling sometimes with notes being held out for multiple seconds. So yeah, that that's why I asked because the analogy fits. Well, yeah, Andy 1:07:27 that that's the thing is this, just the condensed version of this, so it's fine. doesn't really have a satisfying ending. And I think it's really dumb. But that's me. Mine was kind of cool. Just the scrolling thing, like like it. When things are done. Well, and you're using the layout correctly, in a way to like, be creative. It's really cool. Tessa 1:07:55 Yeah, I noticed that when I cuz I've read a couple of I didn't know they were called Manuel, but I've read a couple of Korean comics. And the scrolling thing is really interesting. It is very different than any other comic layout I've experienced before. So I'm glad that you brought that up. All right, Andy, do you want to tell our listeners what next week's theme is? Andy 1:08:17 foreign films, foreign language films, foreign or international, or whatever you want to call it in? ones that aren't in English. Tessa 1:08:25 Fun, fun. I know. I'm going to be doing flee. Do you have a film picked out yet? Sam? Sam, Sam, using the visual medium of podcasting just gave a big shrug. Sam 1:08:39 Sam is gonna wait to see if Net Flix follows through on what it said it would do before I commit to anything Tessa 1:08:46 I see. Andy 1:08:47 Okay, so So let me understand you guys are just going to be doing the Oscar films and not you know, dialing in. So really scratching the itch of the Bergman movie that you haven't been watching it. Sam 1:09:00 So Andy, one of the monkeys that Tessa and I have that comes around every year is watching more of the International Film category, more of the documentary film category. You know, these are things that every year we want to do. So we are going to make our best attempt this year at getting the monkey off of our back of completing those prior to the Oscars. Andy 1:09:30 But when do you want to save one you know for that rainy day when you don't have a when you get 22 Oscars? Yeah, you didn't say out of the 2022 Oscars. It only Tessa 1:09:41 applies to things that are your favorite things and not to everything. Sam 1:09:46 And by the way, I keep I keep saying I haven't seen Monsters Ball. I am clearly keeping a big time Oscar buzzworthy movie from that one year. Andy 1:09:59 Monster Sam 1:10:00 I was totally going to enjoy that movie. Wait. Tessa 1:10:07 All right. Where can people find it? Where can people find you online and in their headphones? Jarret 1:10:14 So I will say our upcoming wild, pretty things podcast actually ties into this well, because we're doing Pan's Labyrinth, a Oscar film that is not in English, that I've been trying to get Melissa to watch for a long time. Tessa 1:10:32 I feel like the unspoken theme of wild pretty things is Jarrett tries to get Melissa to watch things. Jarret 1:10:41 Yeah, that's a lot of it. Because I'm much more proactive in the planning and stuff. But sometimes it's the other way around. It's sometimes it's just things that we're both interested in. But yeah, that happens a lot. But yeah, you can so while pretty things you can just Google that or get on your podcast feed or you can go to my website, which is ger noise, calm, that's g RR noise. You can see whatever I'm doing writing, whatever and also just click on podcast and it'll take you to wild pretty things. Tessa 1:11:17 All right, where can people find you online? Andy? Andy 1:11:20 You can find me online on Twitter at Andy noted and I have abandoned my letterbox. So I'm a big fat liar about that previous segment too. So, Tessa 1:11:28 Pam, and Sam, where can people find you online? Sam 1:11:33 You can find me online on Twitter at Sam underscore Morris nine and my letter box is currently being resuscitated. So we'll talk about that some other time. Tessa 1:11:44 You can find me on Twitter at suela. Tessa Swehla is spelled SW II HLA. Sam 1:11:51 Her letter box is active and up to date. That is Tessa 1:11:54 correct. I have been keeping up with my letterboxed. You can also find me on my other podcast in any ox book club where Nigel and I are reading through all 41 of Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels, which is abroad I believe, just came out when this episode airs. You can find that at nannies book club on Twitter and at nanny ox book club on Instagram. You can also listen to Tessa watches last which we are completing hopefully the third season by the time the same week that this particular episode airs. You please send us your thoughts about the monkeys we've talked about today? What pop culture you've crossed off your list lately, what you'd like for us to talk about on future episodes or anything else that comes to mind. Find us on Twitter and Instagram at monkey backlog. Email us at monkey off my backlog@gmail.com Please rate review and subscribe on iTunes and Spotify. Follow us on Stitcher, Amazon podcasts, Google podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. Get that monkey off your back Transcribed by https://otter.ai