Unramblings

This was originally a Patreon-exclusive episode, but we're now making it available to everyone as a sampling of what we do on our Patreon, and because we really loved this conversation! Get more content like this right now by signing up here! Before getting into our conversation on Stephen King's "Doctor Sleep," we took a few minutes to discuss "escapist fiction" as a term, how and why it's used in our society, and what we think about that.  

Charlyn and Fyx are back after a spring/early summer of gardening, isolation, and depression! We apologize for having such a long gap since our last podcast, and we hope you can bear with us as we try to get back on track. In this episode, we discuss the fun and cheeky Knives Out, its relationship to the mystery stories that have gone before, and the pointed conversations about class and racism the film definitely throws right at those tense, family-filled holiday dinner tables. Can you guess which Thrombey we think is the worst of the rotten bunch? You probably can!    Music is by Mike Bassington. You can find more of his work here: https://www.facebook.com/Mikebassingtonmusic and on SoundCloud, here: https://rb.gy/gskbce    Find us on Facebook and Instagram at Unramblings, on Twitter at @UnramblingsPod, on our website, and on YouTube by searching for “Unramblings.” Email us with feedback, questions, and suggestions at unramblingspodcast@gmail.com. Continue the conversation on social media with #Unramblings!     Please rate and review wherever you listen, as it helps more people to find the show. Recommendations and shares are good, too.       Show Notes:    Paolo Freire - Pedagogy of the Oppressed  Fast Company - We asked an expert if that stomach-turning condition in Knives Out actually exists  TV Tropes - Madonna-Whore Complex 

This week we watched and discussed Alice Wu’s acclaimed film The Half of It. We think you should watch it, too! We discuss the elegant way Wu has woven together some very relatable and sometimes uncomfortable lessons about growing up. Enjoy our discussion on the critical dividends of discomfort and taking risks, the intersectionality of characters, and why we were, ironically, originally not sure we wanted to willingly subject ourselves to the discomfort of secondhand embarrassment guaranteed by a film loosely retelling Cyrano de Bergerac.     Music is by Mike Bassington. You can find more of his work here: https://www.facebook.com/Mikebassingtonmusic and on SoundCloud, here: https://rb.gy/gskbce    Check out our videos at the Unramblings YouTube channel. Find us on Facebook and Instagram at Unramblings, on Twitter at @UnramblingsPod, and on our website at FaefyxCollington.com/Unramblings. Email us with feedback, questions, and suggestions at unramblingspodcast@gmail.com. Get Unramblings merch at Redbubble. Continue the conversation on social media with #Unramblings!      Please rate and review wherever you listen, as it helps more people to find the show. Recommendations and shares are good, too.       Show Notes:    The Origin Of Love [Hedwig and the Angry Inch] - YouTube What Alice Wu Wants To Say In 'The Half of It' - NPR In Quiverfull Movement, Birth Control is Shunned - NPR

We’re taking a break with this pre-recorded episode. In October 2020, we indulged in a re-watch and discussion of the comforting, but also emotionally complex Pixar film. Charlyn, in particular, loves this movie. We hope you enjoy our (mostly Charlyn’s) appreciative acknowledgement of the many references to real-life brain anatomy, neural processes, and childhood development, and reminiscences from our childhoods relevant to Inside Out.Music is by Mike Bassington. You can find more of his work here: https://www.facebook.com/Mikebassingtonmusic and on SoundCloud, here: https://rb.gy/gskbce  Check out our videos at the Unramblings YouTube channel. Find us on Facebook and Instagram at Unramblings, on Twitter at @UnramblingsPod, and on our website at FaefyxCollington.com/Unramblings. Email us with feedback, questions, and suggestions at unramblingspodcast@gmail.com. Get Unramblings merch at Redbubble. Continue the conversation on social media with #Unramblings!    Please rate and review wherever you listen, as it helps more people to find the show. Recommendations and shares are good, too.     Show Notes:   Inside Out's Take on the Brain: A Neuroscientist's Perspective - Dr. Blake Porter An excellent breakdown of the accuracy and artistic license regarding the brain and neuroscience in Inside Out.Universal Emotions - Paul Ekman Group Stages of Memory -  Simply PsychologyPopular Science - Your memories are less accurate than you thinkAn extreme case of healthy insomnia [Abstract] – Study of a woman who was perfectly fine on an average of 1 hour of sleep per nightThe Enchanted World of Sleep - Peretz Lavie – Excellent and entertaining book on sleepWhy do we dream - Very Well Mind – Breakdown of the different theories on why we dreamTime to rethink teeth - Sapiens – Article on tooth enamel, tooth formation, and human diversity; references the rings in teeth that are made around birth.  

We just can't wait for Season 3! For this episode, we explore the bizarre yet realistic family dynamics of The Umbrella Academy, dig into the opportunities seized by setting season two in the 1960s, and speculate on what might be coming next.   Music is by Mike Bassington. You can find more of his work here:  https://www.facebook.com/Mikebassingtonmusic and on SoundCloud, here: https://rb.gy/gskbce   Check out our videos at the Unramblings YouTube channel. Find us on Facebook and Instagram at Unramblings, on Twitter at @UnramblingsPod, and on our website at FaefyxCollington.com/Unramblings. Email us with feedback, questions, and suggestions at unramblingspodcast@gmail.com. Get Unramblings merch at Redbubble. Continue the conversation on social media with #Unramblings!    Please rate and review wherever you listen, as it helps more people to find the show.   Recommendations and shares are good, too.     Show Notes:   An experimental test of the Westermarck effect: sex differences in inbreeding avoidance - Behavioral Ecology March by John Lewis All our different types of memories - Australian Academy of Science Purves D, Augustine GJ, Fitzpatrick D, et al., editors. Neuroscience. 2nd edition. Sunderland (MA): Sinauer Associates; 2001. Brain Systems Underlying Declarative and Procedural Memories. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK10940/ (summary shown on linked page) 

This was originally a Patreon-exclusive episode, but we're now making it available to everyone as a sampling of what we do on our Patreon, and because we really loved this conversation! Get more content like this right now by signing up here!Before delving into our conversation on Warm Bodies, we took some time to discuss the movie Solo. We touch on how it was received by the fandom, how it fits into the over all Han Solo narrative, and issues with the droids in the Star Wars universe. [Originally released Oct. 18th 2020] Guest appearance from Misty! Thank you to our patrons for making this bonus episode possible!  Music is by Mike Bassington. You can find more of his work here: https://www.facebook.com/Mikebassingtonmusic and on SoundCloud, here: https://rb.gy/gskbce Find us on Facebook and Instagram at Unramblings, on Twitter at @UnramblingsPod, at Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/Unramblings, and on our website at FaefyxCollington.com/Unramblings. Email us with feedback, questions, and suggestions at unramblingspodcast@gmail.com. Get Unramblings merch at Redbubble. Continue the conversation on social media with #Unramblings! #Solo #Podcast

This week, Faefyx and Charlyn revisit The Mandalorian after watching Season 2. We discuss the different ways the identity of 'Mandalorian' is claimed and attributed in this season, as well as implications of those identities on what it means to be Mandalorian. We also delve into the relationship between this story and the larger Star Wars Universe and the ways that other narratives in the shared universe affect the way this story is told.  Music is by Mike Bassington. You can find more of his work here: https://www.facebook.com/Mikebassingtonmusic and on SoundCloud, here: https://rb.gy/gskbce  Check out our videos at the Unramblings YouTube channel. Find us on Facebook and Instagram at Unramblings, on Twitter at @UnramblingsPod, and on our website at FaefyxCollington.com/Unramblings. Email us with feedback, questions, and suggestions at unramblingspodcast@gmail.com. Get Unramblings merch at Redbubble. Continue the conversation on social media with #Unramblings!    Please rate and review wherever you listen, as it helps more people to find the show. Recommendations and shares are good, too.     Show Notes:   Film Theory - Star Wars, How the Mandalorian PROVES the Empire was Right!SuperCarlinBrothers - Top 7 Unanswered Questions From The Mandalorian  

It’s another seasonal episode! This time we delve into a holiday classic: the slapstick-heavy, and yet surprisingly sad Macaulay Culkin vehicle, Home Alone. This one bears revisiting as an adult; we get into why this film hits us completely differently as grown-ups with its effective representation of what a child believes it’s like to be an adult. Music is by Mike Bassington. You can find more of his work here: https://www.facebook.com/Mikebassingtonmusic and on SoundCloud, here: https://rb.gy/gskbce  Check out our videos at the Unramblings YouTube channel. Find us on Facebook and Instagram at Unramblings, on Twitter at @UnramblingsPod, at Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/Unramblings, and on our website at FaefyxCollington.com/Unramblings. Email us with feedback, questions, and suggestions at unramblingspodcast@gmail.com. Get Unramblings merch at Redbubble. Continue the conversation on social media with #Unramblings!    Please rate and review wherever you listen, as it helps more people to find the show. Recommendations and shares are good, too.     Show Notes:   Home Alone Google Assistant Parody – Macaulay Culkin recreates scenes from Home Alone as an adult using Google Assistant.

We’re getting into the holiday spirit with the record-breaking, LGBTQ-centered holiday rom-com Happiest Season! Enjoy an exploration of the nuanced depiction of the sometimes-messy coming-out process, our thoughts on some of the story elements used to bring this story to life, and what we think about this as a holiday romantic comedy.  Music is by Mike Bassington. You can find more of his work here: https://www.facebook.com/Mikebassingtonmusic and on SoundCloud, here: https://rb.gy/gskbce  Find us on Facebook and Instagram at Unramblings, on Twitter at @UnramblingsPod, and on our website at FaefyxCollington.com/Unramblings. Email us with feedback, questions, and suggestions at unramblingspodcast@gmail.com. Get Unramblings merch at Redbubble. Continue the conversation on social media with #Unramblings!    Please rate and review wherever you listen, as it helps more people to find the show. Recommendations and shares are good, too.     Show Notes:   Variety - 'Happiest Season' Director Clea Duvall Interview  

In a follow-up to our episode on Avatar: The Last Airbender, we discuss Korra as a protagonist, the show’s relationship with the status quo, and the use of the spirit world as a storytelling medium. We also question whether some arcs really earn the emotional payoff they’re going for.   Music is by Mike Bassington. You can find more of his work here: https://www.facebook.com/Mikebassingtonmusic and on SoundCloud, here: https://rb.gy/gskbce   Find us on Facebook and Instagram at Unramblings, on Twitter at @UnramblingsPod, and on our website at FaefyxCollington.com/Unramblings. Email us with feedback, questions, and suggestions at unramblingspodcast@gmail.com. Get Unramblings merch at Redbubble. Continue the conversation on social media with #Unramblings!    Please rate and review wherever you listen, as it helps more people to find the show. Recommendations and shares are good, too.     Show Notes:https://xkcd.com/282/  

It's been one year since the very first episode of Unramblings, where we embarked on our journey to The Overlook Hotel with Stephen King's The Shining. For this anniversary episode, we're visiting with Dan Torrance again with Stephen King's Doctor Sleep, the sequel to his classic novel. We discuss intergenerational patterns, the role of alcohol in the story, and the final message of the book. We also take a look at the 2019 movie adaptation starring Ewan McGregor. Maybe we'll be kinder to it than we were to Kubrick's adaptation of the original. Maybe...  Music is by Mike Bassington. You can find more of his work here: https://www.facebook.com/Mikebassingtonmusic and on SoundCloud, here: https://rb.gy/gskbce  Find us on Facebook and Instagram at Unramblings, on Twitter at @UnramblingsPod, and on our website at FaefyxCollington.com/Unramblings. Email us with feedback, questions, and suggestions at unramblingspodcast@gmail.com. Get Unramblings merch at Redbubble. Continue the conversation on social media with #Unramblings!    Please rate and review wherever you listen, as it helps more people to find the show. Recommendations and shares are good, too.    

Before we release our anniversary episode on Doctor Sleep, we wanted to move our first episode, The Shining, back up in the queue with a fresh intro for those who might have missed our debut. If you have the time, it's relevant for the Doctor Sleep episode, and it's a nice reminder of how far we've come, especially as far as audio quality. In the first episode of Unramblings, Charlyn and Faefyx discuss Stephen King's novel "The Shining," the adaptation to film by Stanley Kubrick, and Hallorann's snowcat delivery service.   Thank you for joining us for this especially long first episode. If you found this tolerable, please rate and subscribe!   Music is by Mike Bassington. You can find more of his work here: https://www.facebook.com/Mikebassingtonmusic and on SoundCloud, here: https://rb.gy/gskbce   Find us on Facebook and Instagram at Unramblings, on Twitter at @UnramblingsPod, and on our website at FaefyxCollington.com/Unramblings. Email us with feedback, questions, and suggestions at unramblingspodcast@gmail.com. Get Unramblings merch at Redbubble. Continue the conversation on social media with #Unramblings!    Please rate and review wherever you listen, as it helps more people to find the show. Recommendations and shares are good, too.    

Just in time for Halloween, we’ve made an Addams Family episode! We discuss the overarching Addams Family conceit and how it's been adapted for different decades and mediums, and get into why we think this kooky family continues to capture our imaginations after 90 years. Plus, our thoughts on which iterations are the best and why! Music is by Mike Bassington. You can find more of his work here: https://www.facebook.com/Mikebassingtonmusic and on SoundCloud, here: https://rb.gy/gskbce  Find us on Facebook and Instagram at Unramblings, on Twitter at @UnramblingsPod, and on our website at FaefyxCollington.com/Unramblings. Email us with feedback, questions, and suggestions at unramblingspodcast@gmail.com. Get Unramblings merch at Redbubble. Continue the conversation on social media with #Unramblings!    Please rate and review wherever you listen, as it helps more people to find the show. Recommendations and shares are good, too.    

It’s spooky season, so we’re immersing ourselves in appropriately weird and dark media, like the 2013 dark comedy/teen rom-com/zombie movie – yes, you read all those categories correctly – Warm Bodies! We delve into the messages of this film – but not too far, because this movie is not shy with what it wants to say. Enjoy our breakdown of how the movie conveys some of the subtler nuances of its super on-the-surface ideas about communication and hope, how the visual choices aid in the storytelling, and the effects of eating someone’s brain. For bonus content related to this episode, check out our Patreon at Patreon.com/Unramblings!  Music is by Mike Bassington. You can find more of his work here: https://www.facebook.com/Mikebassingtonmusic and on SoundCloud, here: https://rb.gy/gskbce  Find us on Facebook and Instagram at Unramblings, on Twitter at @UnramblingsPod, and on our website at FaefyxCollington.com/Unramblings. Email us with feedback, questions, and suggestions at unramblingspodcast@gmail.com. Continue the conversation on social media with #Unramblings!    Please rate and review wherever you listen, as it helps more people to find the show. Recommendations and shares are good, too.     Show Notes:   IMDB - Warm Bodies 

This week, Charlyn and Fyx delve into the mind-bending TV series Legion. We examine what the narrative and the storytelling have to say about our perceptions of reality, whether “good” and “bad” are too simplistic when looking at character growth here, and speculate on whether the plot was devised merely to justify including the songs they wanted to use.  Music is by Mike Bassington. You can find more of his work here: https://www.facebook.com/Mikebassingtonmusic and on SoundCloud, here: https://rb.gy/gskbce  Find us on Facebook and Instagram at Unramblings, on Twitter at @UnramblingsPod, on our website at FaefyxCollington.com/Unramblings, and on YouTube by searching for “Unramblings.” Email us with feedback, questions, and suggestions at unramblingspodcast@gmail.com. Continue the conversation on social media with #Unramblings!   Please rate and review wherever you listen, as it helps more people to find the show. Recommendations and shares are good, too.     Show Notes:   Medium - The Hollywood Production Code of 1930 and LGBT Characters New Scientist – Boléro: Beautiful Symptom of a Terrible Disease Radiolab - Unraveling Boléro 

This is a nice light episode that just deals with trauma, isolation, and issues of institutional indoctrination and conformity! Okay, so it isn’t light at all, but we throw a couple of jokes in there, and the source material makes the heaviness sort of unavoidable. Ultimately, we thought that talking about fascism and feeling isolated from everyone was important at the moment… for reasons. Join us as we make our way through Pink Floyd’s musical storytelling in The Wall, including both the standalone album and the bizarre 1982 film. Find us on Facebook and Instagram at Unramblings, on Twitter at @UnramblingsPod, on our website at FaefyxCollington.com/Unramblings, and on YouTube by searching for “Unramblings.” Email us with feedback, questions, and suggestions at unramblingspodcast@gmail.com. Continue the conversation on social media with #Unramblings! Please rate and review wherever you listen, as it helps more people to find the show. Recommendations and shares are good, too.

We've launched a Patreon! Find all the details and sign up at www.Patreon.com/Unramblings

We get to a ‘Big Question’ in each episode, but we’re really tackling the *BIG questions* with A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr. this week. This one’s heavy, folks. Even for us. Expect conversation on whether humans are doomed to bring about their own suffering, whether knowledge always leads to our destruction, and if there is a case for forgiving, and thus blaming, God for making people suck. But also, you know, what relics people would venerate if we were up for canonization, so that’s fun! Find us on Facebook and Instagram at Unramblings, on Twitter at @UnramblingsPod, and on our website at MarkCollington.com/Unramblings. Email us with feedback, questions, and suggestions at unramblingspodcast@gmail.com. Continue the conversation on social media with #Unramblings!    Please rate and review wherever you listen, as it helps more people to find the show. Recommendations and shares are good, too.     Show Notes:   Washington State University - Study Guide for A Canticle For Liebowitz 

Since every day is exactly the same these days, we’re leaning in and talking about time loops! This episode is mostly about Palm Springs, a Lonely Island Production, but also somewhat about Groundhog Day and Russian Doll. We talk about why it feels like Palm Springs is responding to Groundhog Day in particular, and why time loops are such a thing in the first (and second, and third…) place. For extra fun, check out our live-tweeting of Charlyn’s first watch of Groundhog Day! Spoiler alert: It has not aged well!   Find us on Facebook and Instagram at Unramblings, on Twitter at @UnramblingsPod, and on our website at MarkCollington.com/Unramblings. Email us with feedback, questions, and suggestions at unramblingspodcast@gmail.com. Continue the conversation on social media with #Unramblings!    Please rate and review wherever you listen, as it helps more people to find the show.  Recommendations and shares are good, too.    

Charlyn and Faefyx take on the first book in Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn series, “The Final Empire” (originally published as “Mistborn”), in the first of an ongoing series. Tune in for discussions on classism tied to racism, the use of religions and an intriguing magic system in storytelling, and hear Faefyx make probably incorrect predictions for book 2 (they haven’t read it yet).  Find us on Facebook and Instagram at Unramblings, on Twitter at @UnramblingsPod, and on our website at MarkCollington.com/Unramblings. Email us with feedback, questions, and suggestions at unramblingspodcast@gmail.com. Continue the conversation on social media with #Unramblings!    Please rate and review wherever you listen, as it helps more people to find the show. Recommendations and shares are good, too.     Show Notes:    Paolo Freire - Pedagogy of the Oppressed Great book, and really short! One of the foundational texts of critical pedagogy; we refer to his description of how an individual oppressor achieves true solidarity with the oppressed, as well as Freire’s description of false generosity, or charity that targets the symptoms of an unjust society, which supports the oppressive system and fails to address the underlying cause of social problems – the oppressive system itself.   Snopes - LBJ Quote on Race "If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you." – Lyndon B. Johnson   NPR - Is a Placebo a Sham If You Know It's Fake and It Still Works?  Washington Post - Five myths about placebos  Late Thoughts: Avatar  Wikipedia - White Lotus – Apparently, the White Lotus Society was an actual secret society that inspired multiple rebellions in imperial China   Late Thoughts: Hamilton[Video] Bernadette Banner - Unpacking the Hamilton Costumes: Historical Accuracy?  Late Thoughts: Birds of PreyTor - On the Significance of Harley Quinn's Split Lip in Birds of Prey 

This week we tackle the Broadway sensation Hamilton. We discuss the way that seeing the live production (on streaming) changed how we perceived certain parts of the narrative, how the staging and blocking adds to the storytelling, and the nature of Burr as an antagonist. We also question what the musical says about ego and legacy, push back against the implicit messages around Hamilton’s affair, and gush over Daveed Diggs. Find us on Facebook and Instagram at Unramblings, on Twitter at @UnramblingsPod, and on our website at MarkCollington.com/Unramblings. Email us with feedback, questions, and suggestions at unramblingspodcast@gmail.com. Continue the conversation on social media with #Unramblings!    Please rate and review wherever you listen, as it helps more people to find the show. Recommendations and shares are good, too.     Show Notes:   Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow The biography that inspired the playWashington Post - Yes, any kid can wear a Black Panther costume, say creators who helped shape the character  Today I Found Out - Thomas Jefferson, the "First Foodie" of America   Time - Forget Hamilton, Burr is the Real HeroThe Federalist - The Real Hero of Hamilton Is Aaron BurrNY Times - Decision Fatigue Article summarizing research and impacts of decision fatigue on decision-making and willpowerMedium - Stop Buying Into 'Decision Fatigue' Article summarizing the evidence that the strength of decision fatigue is mediated by a person’s belief in decision fatigue and that those that view willpower instead as a muscle that strengthens with use experience much less decision fatigue.NBC News - Historians Uncover Slave Quarters of Sally Hemings at Thomas Jefferson's MonticelloBlack Youth Project - Sally Hemings, Thomas Jefferson, and the Normalization of Slave Rape NarrativesMonticello - Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: A Brief AccountPopular Science - Your memories are less accurate than you think[Video] 8 Mile - Rabbit Battles Papa Doc The rap battle from 8 Mile referenced during the podcast

We’re jumping on the bandwagon! This week we’re talking about Avatar: The Last Airbender. And it is actually a lighter episode this time, finally… We talk about the show’s messages around the value of diverse perspectives, the cost of divorcing yourself from the world, and Fire Nation exceptionalism. And of course, it wouldn’t be an episode of Unramblings without conversations about sexism and intergenerational dysfunction!   Find us on Facebook and Instagram at Unramblings, on Twitter at @UnramblingsPod, and on our website at MarkCollington.com/Unramblings. Email us with feedback, questions, and suggestions at unramblingspodcast@gmail.com. Continue the conversation on social media with #Unramblings!    Please rate and review wherever you listen, as it helps more people to find the show. Recommendations and shares are good, too.     Show Notes:   Soka Gakkai International (SGI) - Bodhisattva Fire nation/USA meme Wikipedia - White Lotus – Apparently, the White Lotus Society was an actual secret society that inspired multiple rebellions in imperial China Behavioral Scientist - How Couples Share Cognitive Load and Why It Matters Harper's Bazaar - Women Aren't Nags, We're Just Fed Up – Emotional labor is the unpaid job men still don’t understand 

The depressing subject matter train keeps on rolling! Instead of talking about toxic, extractive, colonial-feudal systems, we’re talking about the toxicity of a world in which all the messaging says you have to be either a perpetrator of violence or a victim of it. Yay? The Last of Us is dark in a different way; a great, character-driven story that makes skillful use of the videogame medium to tell a familiar story in a novel way. We go a bit into the weeds on how Naughty Dog leverages standard and innovative videogame mechanics to control the tension and move the story forward and speculate on what the evolution of Cordyceps might look like in the sequel. And we only briefly mention toxic masculinity!  Find us on Facebook and Instagram at Unramblings, on Twitter at @UnramblingsPod, and on our website at MarkCollington.com/Unramblings. Email us with feedback, questions, and suggestions at unramblingspodcast@gmail.com. Continue the conversation on social media with #Unramblings!    Please rate and review wherever you listen, as it helps more people to find the show. Recommendations and shares are good, too.     Show Notes:   NY Times - Decision Fatigue – Article that references the parole study and the effect of blood sugar on decision fatigue Yale News - Warm Coffee, Warm Heart Design Practices and Uncertainty - need login or abstract-only ASCE News - What COVID-19 Has Taught Us About Our Infrastructure Urban Parks Survey – How have you been using urban green space during COVID-19? BBC - The hidden biases that drive anti-vegan hatred  Grey’s Anatomy 14x10 – Ben and Miranda Give Tuck ‘The Talk’ About Surviving Contact with Police Get Home Safely - 10 Rules of Contact with Police Movement for Black Lives – Learn about the movement from the movement leaders! M4BL has an array of amazing resources, including policy platforms, toolkits, and ways to help the movement. They even have a great Q&A section on what ‘Defund the Police’ really means and what it could look like. Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) – Excellent site to start educating yourself on the history of racial terror in the U.S., as well as about the forms in which racial injustice persists today. If you are able to visit the Memorial or the Museum, we highly recommend it. It is a truly powerful and humbling experience. EJI Community Remembrance Project – If your area has a freshly vacated spot for a statue or monument, or even if it doesn’t, encourage your local officials and community to partner with EJI to install a historical marker at the site of racial terror lynchings.   Rolling Stone - Here’s Where You Can Donate to Help Protests Against Police Brutality Push Square - The Last of Us 2 May Be the Most Accessible Action Game Ever Made 

We’re back and tackling more depressing subject matter than ever! Last time you joined us, we talked about the surprising themes and messages around the toxicity of extractive, colonial-feudal systems contained within a delightful and progressive children’s cartoon; this time we’re still talking about the toxicity of those systems, but in the significantly gloomier David Mamet play-turned-film Glengarry Glen Ross. We break down the way that Mamet uses constrained locations to evoke a sense of how trapped we all are by capitalism and the influence of the work as a play on the work as a film. We also hope you enjoy our attempts to define just who, exactly, is the most punchable character in this work (hint: the actor who plays him is also quite punchable!).   Find us on Facebook and Instagram at Unramblings, on Twitter at @UnramblingsPod, and on our website at MarkCollington.com/Unramblings. Email us with feedback, questions, and suggestions at unramblingspodcast@gmail.com. Continue the conversation on social media with #Unramblings!   Please rate and review wherever you listen, as it helps more people to find the show. Recommendations and shares are good, too.     Show Notes: The Correspondent - The neoliberal era is ending. What comes next?Tinbergen Institute - Socially Useless Jobs Study by two Dutch economists examining responses from over 100,000 workers in 47 countries regarding the perceived value of their jobs to society, referenced in the article from The Correspondent listed above.  David Graeber - Bullshit Jobs Essay from 2013, also referenced in the articles listed above, about why instead of massively shorter work-weeks, we have a bloat of pointless jobs that produce little-to-no social good and a population that resents and exploits the section of workers who do produce social good.  Economic Policy Institute - Let’s not give up on the American Dream Testimony before the Economic Policy Subcommittee of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs; provides data on the current state of economic opportunity, mobility, and inequality in the U.S. and a policy agenda to restore the American Dream.   State of the Nation 2018-19: Social Mobility in Great Britain States that social mobility in the UK has been stagnant for four years. Key findings for the Assessment of Social Mobility (which indicate that social mobility is low) are on page 1; the Executive Summary on pp. vii – xi provides recommendations for government departments, employers, education chiefs, local councils, and communities to use in addressing the lack of social mobility and equal opportunity in the UK.  World Bank - Fair Progress? The State of Economic Mobility Across Generations Around the World Summary of the report, which is essentially an entire book on this topic; lists key findings and, surprise, surprise, the PUBLIC INVESTMENTS and POLICIES related to ensuring access to opportunity that affect social/economic mobility.   Paolo Freire - Pedagogy of the Oppressed Great book, and really short! One of the foundational texts of critical pedagogy; his analysis of class relationships in colonial systems is particularly relevant.  

In the second of our Steven Universe episodes, we zoom out and get into how the show tackles ideas of colonialism, oppression, and the dehumanizing effects of living in a society that only values you to the extent that it values your job. Not that we would know anything about that… The references on economic and social mobility, Citizens United, and critical pedagogy in the show notes are totally relevant to our discussion, we promise! And if that sounds like a bit of a downer, we also theorize about fusion between diamonds and whether a fusion with gems for eyes can see.   Find us on Facebook and Instagram at Unramblings, on Twitter at @UnramblingsPod, and on our website at MarkCollington.com/Unramblings. Email us with feedback, questions, and suggestions at unramblingspodcast@gmail.com. Continue the conversation on social media with #Unramblings!   Please rate and review wherever you listen, as it helps more people to find the show. Recommendations and shares are good, too.   Show Notes: Polygon - Steven Universe Future: Rebecca Sugar Interview Economic Policy Institute - Let’s not give up on the American Dream Testimony before the Economic Policy Subcommittee of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs; provides data on the current state of economic opportunity, mobility, and inequality in the U.S. and a policy agenda to restore the American Dream State of the Nation 2018-19: Social Mobility in Great Britain States that social mobility in the UK has been stagnant for four years. Key findings for the Assessment of Social Mobility (which indicate that social mobility is low) are on page 1; the Executive Summary on pp. vii – xi provides recommendations for government departments, employers, education chiefs, local councils, and communities to use in addressing the lack of social mobility and equal opportunity in the UK. World Bank - Fair Progress? The State of Economic Mobility Across Generations Around the World Summary of the report, which is essentially an entire book on this topic; lists key findings and, surprise, surprise, the PUBLIC INVESTMENTS and POLICIES related to ensuring access to opportunity that affect social/economic mobility. The Brennan Center - Citizens United Explained Explanation of how the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court Ruling Citizens United v. FEC “reversed century-old campaign finance restrictions and enabled corporations and other outside groups to spend unlimited funds on elections,” giving the wealthiest people and, especially, corporations, even more influence in U.S. elections.  Paolo Freire - Pedagogy of the Oppressed Great book, and really short! One of the foundational texts of critical pedagogy; we refer to some of his analysis of class relationships in colonial systems, particularly the trap of becoming the oppressor instead of achieving true freedom. 

In the first episode in this two-part series, Charlyn and Mark delve into issues of identity raised in the Steven Universe world. We get into how the show conveys healthy messages for kids and adults alike through its relatable alien-rock-based creatures from another world, we discuss how music is used in the show, ask why some of the episodes are so horrifyingly terrifying for these two grown-ass adults, and talk about how even turning into a giant monster and trying to destroy your friends can be a form of communication.   Find us on Facebook and Instagram at Unramblings, on Twitter at @UnramblingsPod, and on our website at MarkCollington.com/Unramblings. Email us with feedback, questions, and suggestions at unramblingspodcast@gmail.com. Continue the conversation on social media with #Unramblings!   Please rate and review wherever you listen, as it helps more people to find the show. Recommendations and shares are good, too.  

Charlyn & Mark try to lighten things up for you with a fun-filled discussion of Onward, Disney-Pixar’s recent film about two grieving brothers desperately trying to find an artifact that will let them spend a day with their father, who tragically died years before…Wait… That sounds sad and emotional, doesn’t it? Well, we tried! It’s a kid’s movie…about death. But still. A kid’s movie. Some of the discussion is silly! We promise! Listen to us debate about whether Ian is a wizard or a sorcerer, and how the real dad is the dad we made along the way!   Find us on Facebook and Instagram at Unramblings, on Twitter at @UnramblingsPod, and on our website at MarkCollington.com/Unramblings. Email us with feedback, questions, and suggestions at unramblingspodcast@gmail.com. Continue the conversation on social media with #Unramblings!   Please rate and review wherever you listen, as it helps more people to find the show. Recommendations and shares are good, too.   Show Notes:  SuperCarlinBrothers - How Onward Fits into the Pixar Theory  

Charlyn & Mark discuss Angela Carter’s 1979 short story collection, The Bloody Chamber. Highlights include very unsexy sex, terrible people, why that ‘nice guy’ is a werewolf, and why our culture has been on a fairytale subversion kick for the last 50+ years.  Find us on Facebook and Instagram at Unramblings, on Twitter at @UnramblingsPod, and on our website at MarkCollington.com/Unramblings. Email us with feedback, questions, and suggestions at unramblingspodcast@gmail.com. Continue the conversation on social media with #Unramblings!  Please rate and review wherever you listen, as it helps more people to find the show. Recommendations and shares are good, too.   Show Notes:  GQ - The Strange and Curious Tale of the Last True Hermit  Reddit - Robin Hood is corrupting children and also the poor  

In this episode, Charlyn & Mark discuss Pixar’s adorable WALL-E. We hope you enjoy this ramble about capitalism (of course!), storytelling with mute protagonists (again!), and messaging for two different audiences as we pull at the loose plot threads of the metaphorical sweater that is Pixar’s delightful WALL-E.  Find us on Facebook and Instagram at Unramblings, on Twitter at @UnramblingsPod, and on our website at MarkCollington.com/Unramblings. Email us with feedback, questions, and suggestions at unramblingspodcast@gmail.com. Continue the conversation on social media with #Unramblings!Please rate and review wherever you listen, as it helps more people to find the show. Recommendations and shares are good, too. Show Notes: The Pixar TheoryWALL-E As Sociological Storytelling - Pop Culture Detective [Video]Not so subtle joke - Animaniacs [Video]

In this episode, Charlyn & Mark review and then ramble about Birds of Prey, which you should definitely check out while it’s still in theatres (not a sponsor)—do your part to combat sexist narratives about female-fronted films in the movie industry! We get into what we think this film has to say about the female experience, masculinity as neocolonial, badass choreography, and the best breakfast sandwich.   Find us on Facebook and Instagram at Unramblings, on Twitter at @UnramblingsPod, and on our website at MarkCollington.com/Unramblings. Email us with feedback, questions, and suggestions at unramblingspodcast@gmail.com. Continue the conversation on social media with #Unramblings!   Please rate and review wherever you listen, as it helps more people to find the show. Recommendations and shares are good, too.   Show Notes:  BookRiot - Birds of Prey, Trauma, and the Female GazeGQ - Birds of Prey Carnival BattleHot Ones with Margot RobbieE-Online - Why Margot Robbie Has Hung Up Her Tattoo Gun

This week Charlyn & Mark discuss The Good Place! We hope you enjoy our rambling thoughts on why this show is such a phenomenon, whose parents are the worst, and philosophy as an unconventional storytelling device.  Find us on Facebook and Instagram at Unramblings, on Twitter at @UnramblingsPod, and on our website at MarkCollington.com/Unramblings. Email us with feedback, questions, and suggestions at unramblingspodcast@gmail.com. Continue the conversation on social media with #Unramblings! Please rate and review wherever you listen, as it helps more people to find the show. Recommendations and shares are good, too. Show Notes: Why Nestle is one of the most hated companies in the world

This week Charlyn & Mark talk about the first video game of the show, Guerrilla Games’ Horizon Zero Dawn! Hear all about how one nihilistic, entitled asshole screws over humanity, why being smart isn’t good enough, and our hot takes on the ships teased in the gameplay.   Find us on Facebook and Instagram at Unramblings, on Twitter at @UnramblingsPod, and on our website at MarkCollington.com/Unramblings. Email us with feedback, questions, and suggestions at unramblingspodcast@gmail.com. Continue the conversation on social media with #Unramblings!   Please rate and review wherever you listen, as it helps more people to find the show. Recommendations and shares are good, too.   Show Notes: End scene - Referenced conversation at 3:00Polygon - Why the Bow in Horizon Zero Dawn Feels SO Good

This week Charlyn & Mark discuss Seveneves by Neal Stephenson! We focus on human adaption and resilience for survival, the power of the individual/the individual as representation of a group, and the relationship between social media and cannibalism. Find us on Facebook and Instagram at Unramblings, on Twitter at @UnramblingsPod, and on our website at MarkCollington.com/Unramblings. Email us with feedback, questions, and suggestions at unramblingspodcast@gmail.com. Continue the conversation on social media with #Unramblings! Please rate and review wherever you listen, as it helps more people to find the show. Recommendations and shares are good, too. Show Notes: Bill Nye Video

This week Charlyn & Mark discuss season 1 of Russian Doll! We get in way over our heads discussing the time, relativity, and the many-worlds theory, we unpack the heaps of baggage carried through the show, and we judge Alan for not knowing his girlfriend’s thesis subject. Find us on Facebook and Instagram at Unramblings, on Twitter at @UnramblingsPod, and on our website at MarkCollington.com/Unramblings. Email us with feedback, questions, and suggestions at unramblingspodcast@gmail.com. Continue the conversation on social media with #Unramblings! Please rate and review wherever you listen, as it helps more people to find the show. Recommendations and shares are good, too. Show Notes: The end of the episode may sound a little different from the rest. This is because we ended up recording in two sessions again. The transition is not perfect, but we hope it is not too jarring.   The Four Agreements – Don Miguel RuizHollywood Reporter Article Many Worlds Theory – 1  Many Worlds Theory – 2  

We hope you enjoy our rambling about why The Mandalorian is basically an escort quest, storytelling with a faceless protagonist, and what it means to be a Mandalorian. If you’ve been missing our chats about toxic masculinity and colonialism, you’re in luck!   Find us on Facebook and Instagram at Unramblings, on Twitter at @UnramblingsPod, and on our website at MarkCollington.com/Unramblings. Email us with feedback and questions at unramblingspodcast@gmail.com. Continue the conversation on social media with #Unramblings!   If you enjoy our show, please rate and subscribe wherever you listen (especially if that place is Apple Podcasts).   Show Notes:  There are a couple of places in this episode that sound different from the rest. This is because we ended up recording in two sessions and then cutting some of our later conversation into places earlier in the episode where they made more sense. The transitions are not perfect, but we hope they are not too jarring.  The Joker - Steve Miller BandSophie's World by Jostein GaarderAbstract of Mehrabian & Ferris' 1967 articleCommunication is 93% Nonverbal: An Urban Legend ProliferatesTL; DR: Essentially, the results of a 1967 study by Dr. Mehrabian at UCLA has been oversimplified and misrepresented in later articles, textbooks, and media. The study focused on communication of emotions and feelings, and was not in any way stating that word choice only conveys 7% of a message’s meaning.  The Five Love Languages by Chapman (Wikipedia)Speaking the Language of Relational Maintenance: A Validity Test of Chapman's (1992) Five Love LanguagesResults of this 2019 study suggest that the love languages in Chapman’s book match human behaviors used to maintain relationships.   There Are Only Two Shakers Left in the WorldThe celibate religious group referenced is the Shakers. They are not Anabaptists, as was erroneously implied in the podcast; they just have a decent amount in common with Anabaptists.   Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn Speciesism in Star Wars Men Can Stop RapeNonprofit organization behind the (now phased-out) ‘My Strength’ campaign, who continue to work on ending gender-based violence by promoting healthy masculinity with public education campaigns, mentoring programs, and youth development.   What we know about the mysterious new lightsaber in The Mandalorian (Polygon)Explains the history of the Darksaber.   [Video] The Great Star Wars Ice Cream Conspiracy (SuperCarlinBrothers)Explains the whole ‘camtono’ thing.   The Mandalorian episode 3 answers one of Star Wars fans’ oldest questions (Polygon)Explains the whole ‘camtono’ thing.   Hamilton Beach 68330N Automatic Ice Cream Maker, 4 quart, WhiteMake your own camtono prop. Or ice cream. You decide!  

Charlyn and Mark get into what they love and what they hate about the Veronica Mars TV series. Highlights include: why you shouldn’t want to be Veronica; praising a character arc that goes from “shitbag homme fatal” to decent human being; Mark throwing some shade, and Charlyn providing our most extensive content warning to date!   Find us on Facebook and Instagram at Unramblings, and on Twitter at @UnramblingsPod. Email us with feedback and questions at unramblingspodcast@gmail.com. Continue the conversation on social media with #Unramblings!   If you enjoy our show, please rate and subscribe wherever you listen (especially if that place is Apple Podcasts).   Show Notes:  TV Tropes - Veronica MarsDen of Geek – How Veronica Mars Transcended Its Many Genres

Charlyn and Mark talk through Raymond Chandler’s “The Big Sleep” and the birth of the hardboiled detective. Here they dwell on corruption, moral vs. ethical vs. legal, the power of wealth, and forgetting to have all of your corpses properly accounted for. Find us on Facebook and Instagram at Unramblings, and on Twitter at @UnramblingsPod. Email us with feedback and questions at unramblingspodcast@gmail.com. If you enjoy our show, please rate and subscribe wherever you listen (especially if that place is Apple Podcasts). Show Notes:Brain Imaging Study Sheds Light On Moral Decision-MakingNeural Basis of RationalizationRaymond Chandler’s Ten Commandments for Writing a Detective Novel

In this week’s episode, Charlyn and Mark discuss the hazy cosmic jive of David Bowie’s “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.” Topics include alien language barriers, the nature of celebrity, and why you shouldn’t drink before a public toast.  If you enjoy our show, please rate and subscribe wherever you listen (especially if that place is Apple Podcasts).  Find us on Facebook and Instagram at Unramblings, and on Twitter at @UnramblingsPod. Email us with feedback and questions at unramblingspodcast@gmail.com.   Show Notes:  No Notes this week.

In this seasonal episode. Charlyn and Mark discuss othering, bad neighbors, and the Whos' sun-cult. Show notes:This article talks about some of the issues with Dr. Seuss that we touch on at the beginning of the episode.We do talk about Santa in this episode, so it may not be best for certain young listeners. 

Charlyn and Mark discuss capitalism, empathy, and spontaneous deliveries of unreasonably-sized turkeys in Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" and "The Muppets Christmas Carol." Show notes:You can read the entirety of "A Christmas Carol" here: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/46/46-h/46-h.htm 

Charlyn & Mark discuss Ursula Le Guin's "The Left Hand of Darkness," touching on gender, patriotism, and folktales.  If you enjoy the show, please rate and subscribe wherever you listen (especially if that place is Apple Podcasts).  Find us on Facebook and Instagram at Unramblings, and on Twitter at @UnramblingsPod. Email us with feedback, questions, and fun limericks at unramblingspodcast@gmail.com.  Show notes: Ursula Le Guin's essay "Is Gender Necessary? Redux" can be found in her collection "Dancing at the Edge of the World: Thoughts on Words, Women, Places" - Here's a link to Amazon for your reference, but support your local bookstore where possible: https://www.amazon.com/Dancing-Edge-World-Ursula-Guin/dp/0802135293/We discuss prisoner sentences related to birth control, here is some more information on that program: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/11/21/tenn-judge-reprimanded-for-offering-reduced-jail-time-in-exchange-for-sterilization/An interview with Ursula Le Guin from The Paris Review: https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/6253/ursula-k-le-guin-the-art-of-fiction-no-221-ursula-k-le-guin

This week, Charlyn & Mark talk about the perfect mid-holiday season movie: Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas. Highlights include discussion of leadership in Halloween Town, cultural appropriation, and musical storytelling. If you enjoy our show, please rate and subscribe wherever you listen (especially if that place is Apple Podcasts). Find us on Facebook and Instagram at Unramblings, and on Twitter at @UnramblingsPod. Email us with feedback and questions at unramblingspodcast@gmail.com. Show notes:No notes this week.

In this episode, Charlyn and Mark discuss the storytelling elements, trends, and implications of several murder ballads. Highlights include murder, folktales, and a dulcitone solo! (We’ll do something a little lighter next week).You can find a Spotify playlist of the songs we discuss in this episode here:https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3ScrFrTpIILTLmVhn0QygD And an expanded playlist, including songs we listened to in preparation, but didn’t discuss here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4TWLwwV3rWdhHMFHFFxILj  Show notes: Toxic Masculinity - https://www.tolerance.org/magazine/what-we-mean-when-we-say-toxic-masculinity  Memorial to Truth and Justice - https://museumandmemorial.eji.org/memorial

In this episode, Charlyn and Mark discuss American Gods by Neil Gaiman alongside Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. Meddling divine beings abound!  Next week (November 27th, 2019) we'll be discussing murder ballads! As promised in the episode, here are the links to the Spotify playlists we put together in advance of the episode:  Unramblings - Murder Ballads: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3ScrFrTpIILTLmVhn0QygD?si=b9SADs5sRNCZCTob3cRZDQ This playlist only contains the songs that we discuss in the episode   Unramblings - Murder Ballads (Expanded): https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4TWLwwV3rWdhHMFHFFxILj?si=_qxFtiadRtiaIIU6JwGQag This playlist contains all the songs that we listened to in selecting tracks to discuss for the episode. Show notes: Ricky Whittle plays Shadow Moon in the American Gods TV adaptation. Mark forgot this in the spur of the moment, and adding it in later seemed like a lot of effort. Charlyn refreshed her memory on these books with TV Tropes, here are the links in case you would like to do the same: tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/literature/goodomenstvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/literature/americangods 

In the first episode of Unramblings, Charlyn and Mark discuss Stephen King's novel "The Shining," the adaptation to film by Stanley Kubrick, and Hallorann's snowcat delivery service. Thank you for joining us for this especially long first episode. If you found this tolerable, please rate and subscribe!   You can also find us here: - Facebook & Instagram: Unramblings - Twitter @UnramblingsPod   - E-mail us with questions, comments, and feedback at unramblingspodcast@gmail.com   Show Notes: And That's Why We Drink - https://www.andthatswhywedrink.com/