The Bachelor S24E01: The Flight Reasons

January 8, 2020 Susan & Emily

Security check: Who let Hannah Beast in? (We’re ok with it.)

New year, same airplane puns. We’re back to recap Hannah Brown’s – er, I mean Pilot Peter’s – season of The Bachelor! We’ve picked our teams, and we’re ready to rack up the points for crying, kissing, screaming, and of course, windmilling. And since ABC gave us a three hour premiere, the competition between Team The Book Club (Emily’s team) and Team Risk It for the Biscuit (Susan’s team) starts NOW. Let’s go.

Charli XCX Starter Pack

January 3, 2020 Todd & Mary

Mary: Following in Susan and Kelli’s footsteps, we present to you another important artist you should be listening to on repeat. Every day. In all stages of life.

We present, Charli XCX.

Chances are, like CRJ, you probably already know some of Charli’s work, but you may not know you’re familiar with her. We’re here to reintroduce you to some of those older songs you may know while also exploring her more experimental pop bangers.

Todd: Truly, Charli XCX (aka Charlotte Aitchison) is one of the most influential pop artists of the last decade, and while she is not necessarily a household name, she has still had a hand in shaping the sound of pop music.

His Dark Materials S1E8: Parents Are More Trouble Than They're Worth

January 2, 2020 Emily

His Dark Materials picked a hell of a time to air its final episode of the season.

I mean… the week of Christmas? They expected me to go to this dark place when I was already having to deal with my relatives and traveling and food comas? Well. I didn’t watch this episode last week because of all of the aforementioned reasons, so I apologize that this final recap of the final episode is coming a week late. This one is going to be less of a recap of this episode and more of a reflection of this first season. With, yes, many thoughts about the final episode. Our journey has been a long one. Let’s wrap up season 1.

BSG #36: All Poets On Deck / Nature Poem

December 31, 2019 The Squad

Click through for summary, table of contents, and show notes!

Susan's #PodSquad: The Last Days of August

December 30, 2019 Susan

August Ames and her husband, Kevin Moore, an adult film producer. Photograph: Ethan Miller / Getty Images — August Ames and her husband, Kevin Moore, an adult film producer.
Photograph: Ethan Miller / Getty Images

The inner workings of the porn industry are largely misunderstood or unknown to outsiders, despite the ubiquity of porn itself. Jon Ronson's latest project — the second of his about the porn industry — is a podcast that uncovers tough truths about the porn world as he investigates the circumstances surrounding the tragic death of 23-year-old porn star August Ames. My final #PodSquad post of the year is about one of my favorite podcasts of 2019. The Last Days of August is an outstanding podcast that tackles difficult issues in a unique industry and humanizes the people who work in it.

Late to the Game: Mutazione

December 28, 2019 Mary

IT’S BEEN A WHILE, BUT I’M BACK. The holidays are usually a perfect time to take a break and play some video games, but this year it didn’t work out that way for me. I’m stretched between two states and three cities for celebrations, I have tons of work to do on my dissertation, and lugging around a game console (even the Switch) is not my idea of fun.

12 Days of Christmas Movies, Day 12: Die Hard

December 27, 2019 Emily

Christmas ain’t over ‘til the Nakatomi Plaza Christmas Party goes down, am I right?

Look up the 1988 movie Die Hard, and you’ll quickly discover that the Internet is filled with articles asking the age-old question: Is Die Hard a Christmas movie? Yes or no? Well, I, Emily Martin, having never watched Die Hard previously before embarking on this 12 Days of Christmas Movies project, knew I had to end the series with a bang. And here it is: today, on the blog, for our final installation of 12 Days of Christmas Movies, we’ll be definitively answering the question once and for all.

And by we, I mean me. I’m alone.

So… is Die Hard a Christmas movie? Let’s take the film through our (my) patented Christmas movie scoring system to find out.

The Bachelor First Impressions: It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

December 26, 2019 The Squad

We’re less than two weeks away from Peter Weber’s Bachelor season premiere, which means it’s time to judge some women based on their badly written bios!

While we here at #BookSquadGoals were all very vocally in support of a Mike Johnson-led season, we’re not gonna lie. At least 3/4 of us will be watching this season nevertheless. Even though Peter Weber does, at first, second, third, and fourth glance, definitely feel like more of the same. Another white dude. Another pilot. At least we know he’s not a virgin this time. And… At least the cast pictures are a little more flattering this year?

Let’s put on our judging goggles and get this party started.

12 Days of Christmas Movies, Day 11: A Christmas Carol

December 22, 2019 Emily

Is A Muppet Christmas Carol still the best adaptation of Charles Dickens’ popular Christmas novella? Or will the new BBC/FX adaptation take its place?

I cannot keep this charade up for long. It won’t. This latest of many adaptations of A Christmas Carol, written by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight, leans heavily into the ghost story elements of this classic Christmas tale. The number one goal of this adaptation is to be as dark as humanly possible. The second goal is to be as long as humanly possible. I believe we were almost an hour into the movie before we even meet any of the ghosts.

Because of this, I would honestly consider this film a retelling rather than an adaptation. To add length and grit and darkness, this version reimagines many of the major plot points of the story. There’s a whole back story for Jacob Marley’s ghost and his motivations, which is something NO ONE ASKED FOR EVER. There’s a subplot for Martha Cratchit, which is… fine, I guess. Scrooge’s backstory is fleshed out a lot more. For instance, did you know he’s a One Thousand and One Nights fanboy? Well. He is now.

Anyway, let’s just run this thing through the handy dandy Christmas movie scoring system and be done with it.

Survivor S39 Finale Recap

December 21, 2019 Todd & Mary

We made it to the end of this god-forsaken season. We are wounded, both physically and emotionally, and we mostly want it all to end. The night before the finale, CBS announced new procedures for dealing with all of this, but it is a little too late for this season’s cast and the crewmember who was also the subject of Dan’s unwanted and inappropriate touching. Dan offered a half-hearted “sorry if you were offended” not-apology, and while I am sure we will have plenty to say about all of this, first we must get through this finale (and...sigh...reunion show). Here we go!

Tags

Archive

Follow us on Instagram!