Podcasts about The Hunger Games

Donald Sutherland is one of the most respected and versatile actors in film history, with a career spanning over six decades. In this video, Chris and Gerry explore the life and career of Donald Sutherland, from his breakout role in MASH to unforgettable performances in films like Don't Look Now, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and The Hunger Games series. Discover how Sutherland became a master of character acting, working across genres including horror, drama, war films, and thrillers. We'll dive into his most iconic roles, his unique acting style, and why he remains a legendary figure in Hollywood. Whether you're a fan of classic cinema or modern blockbusters, Donald Sutherland's filmography offers something for everyone. Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more classic film and TV deep dives!

Adaptations. Sometimes we act like we don't like them. But sometimes we do. And sometimes each new version of a story—book to film or TV show—changes the original but adds something new and amazing. Today we explore the pros and cons of adaptations. Episode sponsors Firebreak by Kathy Tyers Realm Makers 2026 Conference & Expo The Hole-Man by Dan Daetz The Lorehaven Authorship Mission update New at Lorehaven: review of The Star-Blessed Subscribe free to get updates and join the Lorehaven Guild 1. When the film was better than the book(?) Zack believes The Lord of the Rings films are better than the books. He also finds The Hunger Games films better than the books. Both Dune films are more accessible than the novels, at least so far. 2. When film versions make changes yet win One Piece condenses/adapts a lot from the original, yet is beloved. The Three Body Problem series wonderfully adapts the book. Next week's Project Hail Mary is being hailed as a faithful version. 3. When remade versions beat earlier versions Avatar: The Last Airbender has flaws yet beats the 2010 film. 12 Monkeys the show is far better than 12 Monkeys the movie. Many of the DC and Marvel new versions beat earlier adaptations. Com station Top question for listeners Which of your favorite film versions beat or match original books? Next on Fantastical Truth “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.” That's what the Lord Jesus promised His disciples. How does His word, with support from fantastical fiction, help us prepare for armed conflicts across our real world?

On this episode of Currently Reading, Kaytee and Meredith are discussing: Bookish Moments: Book adaptations and giving out book recs IRL Current Reads: all the great, interesting, and/or terrible stuff we've been reading lately Deep Dive: How to audiobook Before We Go: our new segment featuring bookish friend posts and something Kaytee is curious about Show notes are time-stamped below for your convenience. Read the transcript of the episode (this link only works on the main site). . . . 1:21 - Bookish Moments of the Week 1:35 - The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas 1:41 - PBS app 2:31 - A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles 3:07 - The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins 3:46 - A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas 3:48 - Call Her Daddy podcast w/Sarah J. Maas 4:55 - A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas 6:55 - Crescent City by Sarah J. Maas 7:09 - @hollyslitmagic on Instagram 9:15 - All the Lonely People by Mike Gayle 9:31 - The Day the World Came To Town by Jim DeFede 9:48 - Search by Michele Huneven 10:16 - Current Reads 11:00 - The Night She Died by Dorothy Simpson (Meredith, ebook only) 16:52 - Courtroom Drama by Neely Tubati Alexander (Kaytee) 17:02 - Literally A Bookshop 21:30 - The Caretaker by Marcus Kliewer (Meredith) 22:51 - We Used To Live Here by Marcus Kliewer 26:23 - Small Wonder by Barbara Kingsolver (Kaytee) 29:04 - Partita by Barbara Kingsolver (pre-order releases Oct 6, 2026) 29:08 - Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver 29:44 - A Box Full of Darkness by Simone St. James (Meredith) 29:59 - The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James 34:02 - The Haunting of Maddy Clare by Simone St. James 35:46 - The Unselected Journals of Emma M Lion (vol. 1) by Beth Brower (Kaytee) 43:15 - How To Listen To Audiobooks 55:14 - Before We Go Kaytee highlights a bookish friend post 56:26 - Greenwood by Michael Christie  56:29 - The Great Alone by Kristen Hannah Meredith brings something she's curious about 57:20 - Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel 57:35 - Footnotes and Tangents   Support Us: Become a Bookish Friend | Grab Some Merch Shop Bookshop dot org | Shop Amazon Bookish Friends Receive: The Indie Press List with a curated list of five books hand sold by the indie of the month. March's IPL is brought by our lovely friends at An Unlikely Story in Plainville, MA. Love and Chili Peppers with Kaytee and Rebekah - romance lovers get their due with this special episode focused entirely on the best selling genre fiction in the business All Things Murderful with Meredith and Elizabeth - special content for the scary-lovers, brought to you with the behind-the-scenes insights of an independent bookseller From the Editor's Desk with Kaytee and Bunmi Ishola - a quarterly peek behind the curtain at the publishing industry The Bookish Friends Facebook Group - where you can build community with bookish friends from around the globe as well as our hosts Connect With Us: The Show: Instagram | Website | Email | Threads | Substack | Youtube The Hosts and Regulars: Meredith | Kaytee | Mary | Roxanna Production and Editing: Megan Phouthavong Evans Affiliate Disclosure: All affiliate links go to Bookshop unless otherwise noted. Shopping here helps keep the lights on and benefits indie bookstores. Thanks for your support!

What makes a character so compelling that readers will forgive almost anything about the plot? How do you move beyond vague flaws and generic descriptions to create people who feel pulled from real life? In this solo episode, I share 15 actionable tips for writing deep characters, curated from past interviews on the podcast. In the intro, thoughts from London Book Fair [Instagram reel @jfpennauthor; Publishing Perspectives; Audible; Spotify]; Insights from a 7-figure author business [BookBub]. This show is supported by my Patrons. Join my Community and get articles, discounts, and extra audio and video tutorials on writing craft, author business, and AI tools, at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn This episode has been created from previous episodes of The Creative Penn Podcast, curated by Joanna Penn, as well as chapters from How to Write a Novel: From Idea to Book. Links to the individual episodes are included in the transcript below. In this episode: Master the ‘Believe, Care, Invest' trifecta, how to hook readers on the very first page Define the Dramatic Question: Who is your character when the chips are down? Absolute specificity. Why “she's controlling” isn't good enough Understand the Heroine's Journey, strength through connection, not solo action Use ‘Metaphor Families' to anchor dialogue and give every character a distinctive voice Find the Diagnostic Detail, the moments that prove a character is real Writing pain onto the page without writing memoir Write diverse characters as real people, not stereotypes or plot devices Give your protagonist a morally neutral ‘hero' status. Compelling beats likeable. Build vibrant side characters for series longevity and spin-off potential Use voice as a rhythmic tool Link character and plot until they're inseparable Why discovery writers can write out of order and still build deep character Find the sensory details that make characters live and breathe More help with how to write fiction here, or in my book, How to Write a Novel. Writing Characters: 15 Tips for Writing Deep Character in Your Fiction In today's episode, I'm sharing fifteen tips for writing deep characters, synthesised from some of the most insightful interviews on The Creative Penn Podcast over the past few years, combined with what I've learned across more than forty books of my own. I'll be referencing episodes with Matt Bird, Will Storr, Gail Carriger, Barbara Nickless, and Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer. I'll also draw on my own book, How to Write a Novel, which covers these fundamentals in detail. Whether you're writing your first novel or your fiftieth, whether you're a plotter or a discovery writer like me, these tips will help you create characters that readers believe in, care about, and invest in—and keep coming back for more. Let's get into it. 1. Master the ‘Believe, Care, Invest' Trifecta When I spoke with Matt Bird on episode 624, he laid out the three things you need to achieve on the very first page of your book or in the first ten minutes of a film. He calls it “Believe, Care, and Invest.” First, the reader must believe the character is a real person, somehow proving they are not a cardboard imitation of a human being, not just a generic type walking through a generic plot. Second, the reader must care about the character's circumstances. And third, the reader must invest in the character's ability to solve the story's central problem. Matt used The Hunger Games as his primary example, and it's brilliant. On the very first page, we believe Katniss's voice. Suzanne Collins writes in first person with a staccato rhythm—lots of periods, short declarative sentences—that immediately grounds us in a survivalist mentality. We care because Katniss is starving. She's protecting her little sister. And we invest because she is out there bow hunting, which Matt pointed out is one of the most badass things a character can do. She even kills a lynx two pages in and sells the pelt. We invest in her resourcefulness and grit before the plot has even begun. Matt was very clear that this has nothing to do with the character being “likable.” He said his subtitle, Writing a Hero Anyone Will Love, doesn't mean the character has to be a good person. He described “hero” as both gender-neutral and morally neutral. A hero can be totally evil or totally good. What matters is that we believe, care, and invest. He demonstrated this beautifully by breaking down the first ten minutes of WeCrashed, where the characters of Adam and Rebekah Neumann are absolutely not likable, but we are completely hooked. Adam steals his neighbour's Chinese food through a carefully orchestrated con involving an imaginary beer. It's not admirable behaviour, but the tradecraft involved, as Matt put it—using a term from spy movies—makes us invest in him. We see a character trying to solve the big problem of his life, which is that he's poor and wants to be rich, and we want to see if he can pull it off. Actionable step: Go to the first page of your current work in progress. Does it achieve all three? Does the reader believe this is a real person with a distinctive voice? Do they care about the character's circumstances? And do they invest in the character's ability to handle what's coming? If even one of those three is missing, that's your revision priority. 2. Define the Dramatic Question: Who Are They Really? Will Storr, author of The Science of Storytelling, came on episode 490 and gave one of the most powerful frameworks I've ever heard for character-driven fiction. He explained that the human brain evolved language primarily to swap social information—in other words, to gossip. We are wired to monitor other people, to ask the question: who is this person when the chips are down? That's what Will calls the Dramatic Question, and it's what he believes lies at the heart of all compelling storytelling. It's not a question about plot. It's a question about the character's soul. And every scene in your novel should force the character to answer it. His example of Lawrence of Arabia is unforgettable. The Dramatic Question for the entire film is: who are you, Lawrence? Are you ordinary or are you extraordinary? At the beginning, Lawrence is a cocky, rebellious young soldier who believes his rebelliousness makes him superior. Every iconic scene in that three-hour film tests that belief. Sometimes Lawrence acts as though he truly is extraordinary—leading the Arabs into battle, being hailed as a god—and sometimes the world strips him bare and he sees himself as ordinary. Because it's a tragedy, he never overcomes his flaw. He doubles down on his belief that he's extraordinary until he becomes monstrous, culminating in that iconic scene where he lifts a bloody dagger and sees his own reflection with horror. Will also used Jaws to demonstrate how this works in a pure action thriller. Brody's dramatic question is simple: are you going to be old Brody who is terrified of the water, or new Brody who can overcome that fear? Every scene where the shark appears is really asking that question. And the last moment of the film isn't the shark blowing up. It's Brody swimming back through the water, saying he used to be scared of the water and he can't imagine why. Actionable step: Write down the Dramatic Question for your protagonist in a single sentence. Is it “Are you ordinary or extraordinary?” or “Are you brave enough to love again?” or “Will you sacrifice your principles for survival?” If you can't answer this with specificity, your character might still be a sketch rather than a person. 3. Get rid of Vague Flaws, and use Absolute Specificity This was one of Will Storr's most important points. He said that vague thinking about characters is really the enemy. When he teaches workshops and asks writers to describe their character's flaw, most of them say something like “they're very controlling.” And Will's response is: that's not good enough. Everyone is controlling. How are they controlling? What's the specific mechanism? He gave the example of a profile he read of Theresa May during the UK's Brexit chaos. Someone who knew her said that Theresa May's problem was that she always thinks she's the only adult in every room she goes into. Will said that stopped him in his tracks because it's so precise. If you define a character with that level of specificity, you can take them and put them in any genre, any situation—a spaceship, a Victorian drawing room, a school playground—and you will know exactly how they're going to behave. The same applies to Arthur Miller's Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman, as Will described it: a man who believes absolutely in capitalistic success and the idea that when you die, you're going to be weighed on a scale, just as God weighs you for sin, but now you're weighed for success. That's not a vague flaw. That's a worldview you can drop into any story and watch it combust. Will made another counterintuitive point that I found really valuable: writers often think that piling on multiple traits will create a complex character, but the opposite is true. Starting with one highly specific flaw and running it through the demands of a relentless plot is what generates complexity. You end up with a far more nuanced, original character than if you'd started with a laundry list of vague attributes. Actionable step: Take your protagonist's flaw and pressure-test it. Is it specific enough that you could place this character in any situation and predict their behaviour? If you're stuck at “she's stubborn” or “he's insecure,” keep pushing. What kind of stubborn? What kind of insecure? Find the diagnostic sentence—the Theresa May level of precision. 4. Understand the Heroine's Journey: Strength Through Connection Gail Carriger came on episode 550 to discuss her nonfiction book, The Heroine's Journey, and it completely reframed how I think about some of my own fiction. Gail explained that the core difference between the Hero's Journey and the Heroine's Journey comes down to how strength and victory are defined. The Hero's Journey is about strength through solo action. The hero must be continually isolated to get stronger. He goes out of civilisation, faces strife alone, and achieves victory through physical prowess and self-actualisation. The Heroine's Journey is the opposite. The heroine achieves her goals by activating a network. She's a delegator, a general. She identifies where she can't do something alone, finds the people who can help, and portions out the work for mutual gain. Gail put it simply: the heroine is very good at asking for help, which our culture tends to devalue but which is actually a powerful form of strength. Crucially, Gail stressed that gender is irrelevant to which journey you're writing. Her go-to examples are striking: the recent Wonder Woman film is practically a beat-for-beat hero's journey—Gilgamesh on screen, as Gail described it. Meanwhile, Harry Potter, both the first book and the series as a whole, is a classic heroine's journey. Harry's power comes from his network—Dumbledore's Army, the Order of the Phoenix, his friendships with Ron and Hermione. He doesn't defeat Voldemort alone. He defeats Voldemort because of love and connection. This distinction has real practical consequences for writers. If you're writing a hero's journey and you hit writer's block, Gail said, the solution is usually to isolate your hero further and pile on more strife. But if you're writing a heroine's journey, the solution is probably to throw a new character into the scene—someone who has advice to offer or a skill the heroine lacks. The actual solutions to writer's block are different depending on which narrative you're writing. As I reflected on my own work, I realised that my ARKANE thriller protagonist, Morgan Sierra, follows a hero's journey—she's a solo operative, a lone wolf like Jack Reacher or James Bond. But my Mapwalker fantasy series follows a heroine's journey, with Sienna and her group of friends working together. I hadn't consciously chosen those paths; the stories led me there. But understanding the framework helps me write more intentionally now. Actionable step: Identify which journey your protagonist is on. Does your character gain strength by being alone (hero) or by building connections (heroine)? This will inform every plot decision you make, from how they face obstacles to how your story ends. 5. Use ‘Metaphor Families' to Anchor Dialogue and Voice One of the most practical techniques Matt Bird shared on episode 624 is the idea of assigning each character a “metaphor family”—a specific well of language that they draw from. This gives each character a distinctive voice that goes beyond accent or dialect. Matt explained how in The Wire, one of the most beloved TV shows of all time, every character has a different metaphor family. What struck him was that Omar, this iconic character, never utters a single curse word in the entire series. His metaphor family is pirate. He talks about parlays, uses language that feels like it belongs in Pirates of the Caribbean, and it creates this incredible ironic counterpoint against his urban setting. It tells us immediately that this is a character who sees himself in a tradition of people that doesn't match his immediate surroundings. Matt also referenced the UK version of The Office, where Gareth works at a paper company but aspires to the military. So all of his language is drawn from a military metaphor family. He doesn't talk about filing and photocopying; he talks about tactics and discipline and being on the front line. This tells us that the character has a life and dreams beyond the immediate scene—and it's the gap between aspiration and reality that makes him both funny and believable. He pointed out that a metaphor family sometimes comes from a character's background, but it's often more interesting when it comes from their aspirations. What does your character want to be? What world do they fantasise about inhabiting? That's where their language should come from. In Star Wars, Obi-Wan Kenobi is a spiritual hermit, but his metaphor family is military. He uses the language of generals and commanders, and that ironic counterpoint is part of what makes him feel so rich. Actionable step: Assign each of your main characters a metaphor family. It could be based on their job, their background, or—more interestingly—their secret aspirations. Then go through your dialogue and make sure each character is consistently drawing from that well of language. If two characters sound the same when you strip away the dialogue tags, this is the fix. 6. Find the Diagnostic Detail: The Diagonal Toast Avoid clichéd character tags—the random scar, the eye patch, the mysterious limp—unless they serve a deep narrative purpose. Matt Bird on episode 624 was very funny about this: he pointed out that Nick Fury, Odin, and eventually Thor all have eye patches in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Eye patches are done, he said. You cannot do eye patches anymore. Instead, look for what I'm calling the “diagonal toast” detail, after a scene Matt described from Captain Marvel. In the film, Captain Marvel is trying to determine whether Nick Fury is who he says he is. She asks him to prove he isn't a shapeshifting alien. Fury shares biographical details—his history, his mother—but then she pushes further and says, name one more thing you couldn't possibly have made up about yourself. And Fury says: if toast is cut diagonally, I can't eat it. Matt said that detail is gold for a writer because it feels pulled from a real life. You can pull it from your own life and gift it to your characters, and the reader can tell it's not manufactured. He gave another example from The Sopranos: Tony Soprano's mother won't answer the phone after dark. The show's creator, David Chase, confirmed on the DVD commentary that this came from his own mother, who genuinely would not answer the phone after dark and couldn't explain why. Matt's practical advice was to keep a journal. Write down the strange, specific things that people do or say. Mine your own life for those hyper-specific details. You just need one per book. In my own writing, I've used this approach. In my ARKANE thrillers, my character Morgan Sierra has always been Angelina Jolie in my mind—specifically Jolie in Lara Croft or Mr and Mrs Smith. And Blake Daniel in my crime thriller series was based on Jesse Williams from Grey's Anatomy. I paste pictures of actors into my Scrivener projects. It helps with visuals, but also with the sense of the character, their energy and physicality. But visual details only take you so far. It's the behavioural quirks—the diagonal toast moments—that make a character feel genuinely alive. That said, physical character tags can work brilliantly when they serve the story. As I discuss in How to Write a Novel, Robert Galbraith's Cormoran Strike is an amputee, and his pain and the physical challenges of his prosthesis are a key part of every story—it's not a cosmetic detail, it's woven into the action and the character's psychology. My character Blake Daniel always wears gloves to cover the scars on his hands, which provides an angle into his wounded past as well as a visual cue for the reader. And of course, Harry Potter's lightning-shaped scar isn't just a mark—it's a direct connection to his nemesis and the mythology of the entire series. The rule of thumb is: if the tag tells us something about the character's interior life or connects to the plot, it's earning its place. If it's just there to make the character visually distinctive, it's probably a crutch. Game of Thrones takes character tags further with the family houses, each with their own mottos and sigils. The Starks say “Winter is coming” and their sigil is a dire wolf. Those aren't just labels—they're worldview made visible. Actionable step: Start a “diagonal toast” notebook. Every time you notice something strange and specific about someone's behaviour—something that feels too real to be made up—write it down. Then gift it to a character who needs more texture. 7. Displace Your Own Trauma into the Work Barbara Nickless shared something deeply personal on episode 732 that fundamentally changed how I think about putting pain onto the page. While starting At First Light, the first book in her Dr. Evan Wilding series, she lost her son to epilepsy—something called SUDEP, Sudden Unexplained Death in Epilepsy. One day he was there, and the next day he was gone. Barbara said that writing helped her cope with the trauma, that doing a deep dive into Old English literature and the Viking Age for the book's research became a lifeline. But here's what's important: she didn't give Dr. Evan Wilding her exact trauma. Evan Wilding is four feet five inches, and Barbara described how he has to walk through a world that won't adjust to him. That's its own form of learning to cope when circumstances are beyond your control. She displaced her genuine grief into the character's different but parallel struggle. When I asked her about the difference between writing for therapy and writing for an audience, she drew on her experience teaching creative writing to veterans through a collaboration between the US Department of Defense and the National Endowment for the Arts. She said she's found that she can pour her heartache into her characters and process it through them, even when writing professionally, and that the genuine emotion is what touches readers. We've all been through our own losses and griefs, so seeing how a character copes can be deeply meaningful. I've always found that putting my own pain onto the page is the most direct way to connect with a reader's soul. My character Morgan Sierra's musings on religion and the supernatural are often my own. Her restlessness, her fascination with the darker edges of faith—those come from me. But her Krav Maga fighting skills and her ability to kill the bad guys are definitely her own. That gap between what's mine and what's hers is where the fiction lives. Barbara also said something on that episode that I wrote down and stuck on my wall. She said the act of producing itself is a balm to the soul. I've been thinking about that ever since. On my own wall, I have “Measure your life by what you create.” Different words, same truth. Actionable step: If you're carrying something heavy—grief, anger, fear, regret—consider how you might displace it into a character's different but emotionally parallel struggle. Don't copy your exact situation; transform it. The emotion will be genuine, and the reader will feel it. 8. Write Diverse Characters as Real People When I spoke with Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer on episode 673—Sarah is Choctaw and a historical fiction author honoured by the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian—she offered a perspective that every fiction writer needs to hear. The key message was to move away from stereotypes. Don't write your American Indian character as the “Wise Guide” who exists solely to dispense mystic wisdom to the white protagonist. Don't limit diverse characters to historical settings, as though they only exist in the past. Place them in normal, contemporary roles. Your spaceship captain, your forensic scientist, your small-town baker—any of them can be American Indian, or Nigerian, or Japanese, and their heritage should be a lived-in part of their identity, not the sole reason they exist in the story. I write international thrillers and dark fantasy, and my fiction is populated with characters from all over the world. I have a multi-cultural family and I've lived in many places and travelled widely, so I've met, worked with, and had relationships with people from different cultures. I find story ideas through travel, and if I set my books in a certain place, then the story is naturally populated with the people who live there. As I discuss in my book, How to Write a Novel, the world is a diverse place, so your fiction needs to be populated with all kinds of people. If I only populated my fiction with characters like me, they would be boring novels. There are many dimensions of difference—race, nationality, sex, age, body type, ability, religion, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, class, culture, education level—and even then, don't assume that similar types of people think the same way. Some authors worry they will make mistakes. We live in a time of outrage, and some authors have been criticised for writing outside their own experience. So is it too dangerous to try? Of course not. The media amplifies outliers, and most authors include diverse characters in every book without causing offence because they work hard to get it right. It's about awareness, research, and intent. Actionable step: Audit the cast of your current work in progress. Have you written a mono-cultural perspective for all of them? If so, consider who could bring a different background, perspective, or set of cultural specifics to the story. Not as a token addition, but as a real person with a real life. 9. Respect Tribal and Cultural Specificity Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer on episode 673 was emphatic about one thing: never treat diverse groups as monolithic. If you're writing a Native American character, you must research the specific nation. Choctaw is not Navajo, just as British is not French. Sarah described the distinct cultural markers of the Choctaw people—the diamond pattern you'll see on traditional shirts and dresses, which represents the diamondback rattlesnake. They have distinct dances and songs. She said that if she saw someone in traditional dress at a distance, she would know whether they were Choctaw based on what they were wearing. She encouraged writers who want to write specifically about a nation to get to know those people. Go to events, go to a powwow, learn about the individual culture. She noted that a big misconception is that American Indians exist only in the past—she stressed that they are still here, still living their cultures, and fiction should reflect that present reality. I took a similar approach when writing Destroyer of Worlds, which is set mostly in India. I read books about Hindu myth, watched documentaries about the sadhus, and had one of my Indian readers from Mumbai check my cultural references. For Risen Gods, set in New Zealand with a young Maori protagonist, I studied books about Maori mythology and fiction by Maori authors, and had a male Maori reader check for cultural issues. Research is simply an act of empathy. The practical takeaway is this: if you're going to include a character from a specific cultural background, do the work. Use specific cultural details rather than generic signifiers. Sarah talked about how even she fell into stereotypes when she was first writing, until her mother pointed them out. If someone from within a culture can fall into those traps, the rest of us certainly can. Do the research, try your best, ask for help, and apologise if you need to. Actionable step: If you're writing a character from a specific culture, identify three to five sensory or behavioural details that are particular to that culture—not the generic version, but the real, researched, lived-in version. Consider hiring a sensitivity reader from that community to check your work. 10. Give Your Protagonist a Morally Neutral ‘Hero' Status Matt Bird was clear about this on episode 624: the word “hero” simply means the protagonist, the person we follow through the story. It's a functional role, not a moral label. We don't have to like them. We don't even have to root for their goals in a moral sense. We just have to find them compelling enough to invest our attention in their problem-solving. Think of Succession, where every member of the Roy family is varying degrees of awful, and yet the show was utterly compelling. Or WeCrashed, where Adam Neumann is a narcissistic con artist, but we can't look away because he's trying to solve the enormous problem of building an empire from nothing, and the tradecraft he employs is fascinating. As I wrote in How to Write a Novel, readers must want to spend time with your characters. They don't have to be lovable or even likable—that will depend on your genre and story choices—but they have to be captivating enough that we want to spend time with them. A character who is trying to solve a massive problem will naturally draw investment from the audience, even if we wouldn't want to have tea with them. Will Storr extended this idea by pointing out that the audience will actually root for a character to solve their problem even if the audience doesn't actually want the character's goal to be achieved in the real world. We don't really want more billionaires, but we invested in Adam Neumann's rise because that was the problem the story posed, and our brains are wired to invest in problem-solving. This connects to something deeper: what does your character want, and why? As I explore in How to Write a Novel, desire operates on multiple levels. Take a character like Phil, who joins the military during wartime. On the surface, she wants to serve her country. But she also wants to escape her dead-end town and learn new skills. Deeper still, her father and grandfather served, and by joining up, she hopes to finally earn their respect. And perhaps deepest of all, her father died on a mission under mysterious circumstances, and she wants to find out what happened from the inside. That layering of motivation is what turns a flat character into a three-dimensional one. The audience doesn't need to be told all of this explicitly. It can emerge through action, dialogue, and the choices the character makes under pressure. But you, the writer, need to know it. You need to know what your character really wants deep down, because that desire—more than any external plot device—is what drives the story forward. And your antagonist needs the same depth. They also want something, often diametrically opposed to your protagonist, and they need a reason that makes sense to them. In my ARKANE thriller Tree of Life, my antagonist is the heiress of a Brazilian mining empire who wants to restore the Earth to its original state to atone for the destruction caused by her father's company. She's part of a radical ecological group who believe the only way to restore Nature is to end all human life. It's extreme, but in an era of climate change, it's a motivation readers can understand—even if they disagree with the solution. Actionable step: If you're struggling to make a morally grey character work, make sure their problem is big enough and their methods are specific and interesting enough that we invest in the how, even if we're ambivalent about the what. 11. Build Vibrant Side Characters Gail Carriger made a point on episode 550 that was equal parts craft advice and business strategy. In a Heroine's Journey model, side characters aren't just fodder to be killed off to motivate the hero. They form a network. And because you don't have to kill them—unlike in a hero's journey, where allies are often betrayed or removed so the hero can be further isolated—you can pick up those side characters and give them their own books. Gail said this creates a really voracious reader base. You write one series with vivid side characters, and then readers fall in love with those side characters and want their stories. So you write spin-offs. The romance genre does this brilliantly—think of the Bridgerton books, where each sibling gets their own novel. The side character in one book becomes the protagonist in the next. Barbara Nickless experienced this firsthand with her Dr. Evan Wilding series. She has River Wilding, Evan's adventurous brother, and Diana, the axe-throwing research assistant, and her editor has already expressed interest in a spin-off series with those characters. Barbara described creating characters she wants to spend time with, or characters who give her nightmares but also intrigue her. That's the dual test: are they interesting enough for you to write, and interesting enough for readers to demand more? As I wrote in How to Write a Novel, characters that span series can deepen the reader's relationship with them as you expand their backstory into new plots. Readers will remember the character more than the plot or the book title, and look forward to the next instalment because they want more time with those people. British crime author Angela Marsons described it as readers feeling like returning to her characters is like putting on a pair of old slippers. Actionable step: Look at your supporting cast. Is there a side character who is vivid enough to carry their own story? If not, what could you add—a specific hobby, a distinct voice, a compelling backstory—that would make readers want more of them? 12. Use Voice as a Rhythmic Tool Voice is one of the most important elements of novel writing, and Matt Bird helped me think about it in a technical, mechanical way that I found really useful. He pointed out that the ratio of periods to commas defines a character's internal reality. A staccato rhythm—lots of periods, short sentences—suggests a character who is certain, grounded, or perhaps survivalist and traumatised. Katniss in The Hunger Games has a period-heavy voice. She's in survival mode. She doesn't have time for complexity or qualification. A flowing, comma-heavy style suggests someone more academic, more nuanced, or possibly more scattered and manipulative. The character who qualifies everything, who adds sub-clauses and digressions, is a different kind of person from the character who speaks in declarations. This is something you can actually measure. Pull up a passage of your character's dialogue or internal monologue and count the periods versus the commas. If the rhythm doesn't match who the character is supposed to be, you've found a mismatch you can fix. Sentence length is the heartbeat of your character's persona. And voice extends beyond rhythm to the words themselves. As I discussed in the metaphor families tip, each character should draw from a distinctive well of language. But voice also encompasses their relationship to silence. Some characters talk around the thing they mean; others say it straight. Some are self-deprecating; others are blunt to the point of rudeness. All of these choices are character choices, not just style choices. I find it useful to read my dialogue aloud—and not just to check for naturalness, but to hear whether each character sounds distinct. If you could swap dialogue lines between two characters and nobody would notice, you have a voice problem. One practical test: cover the dialogue tags and see if you can tell who's speaking from the words alone. Actionable step: Choose a key passage from your protagonist's point of view and read it aloud. Does the rhythm match the character? A soldier under fire should not sound like a philosophy professor at a wine tasting. Adjust the ratio of periods to commas until the voice feels right. 13. Link Character and Plot Until They're Inseparable Will Storr made the case on episode 490 that the number one problem he sees in the writing he encounters—in workshops, in submissions, even in published books—is that the characters and the plots are unconnected. There's a story happening, and there are people in it, but the story isn't a product of who those people are. He said a story should be like life. In our lives, the plots are intimately connected to who we are as characters. The goals we pursue, the obstacles we face, the same problems that keep recurring—these are products of our personalities, our flaws, our specific ways of being in the world. His framework is that your plot should be designed specifically to plot against your character. You've got a character with a particular flaw; the plot exists to test that flaw over and over until the character either transforms or doubles down and explodes. Jaws is the perfect example. Brody is afraid of water. A shark shows up in the coastal town he's responsible for protecting. The entire plot is engineered to force him to confront the one thing he cannot face. Will pointed out that the whole plot of Jaws is structured around Brody's flaw. It begins with the shark arriving, the midpoint is when Brody finally gets the courage to go into the water, and the very final scene isn't the shark blowing up—it's Brody swimming back through the water. Even a film that's ninety-eight percent action is, at its core, structured around a character with a character flaw. This is the standard I aspire to in my own work, even in my action-heavy thrillers. The external plot should be a mirror of the internal struggle. When those two are aligned, the story becomes irresistible. Will also made an important point about series fiction, which is where most commercial authors live. I asked him how this works when your character can't be transformed at the end of every book because there has to be a next book. His answer was elegant: you don't cure them. Episodic TV characters like Fleabag or David Brent or Basil Fawlty never truly change—and the fact that they don't change is actually the source of the comedy. But every episode throws a new story event at them that tests and exposes their flaw. You just keep throwing story events at them again and again. That's a soap opera, a sitcom, and a book series. As I wrote in How to Write a Novel, character flaws are aspects of personality that affect the person so much that facing and overcoming them becomes central to the plot. In Jaws, the protagonist Brody is afraid of the water, but he has to overcome that flaw to destroy the killer shark and save the town. But remember, your characters should feel like real people, so never define them purely by their flaws. The character addicted to painkillers might also be a brilliant and successful female lawyer who gets up at four in the morning to work out at the gym, likes eighties music, and volunteers at the local dog shelter at weekends. Character wounds are different from flaws. They're formed from life experience and are part of your character's backstory—traumatic events that happened before the events of your novel but shape the character's reactions in the present. In my ARKANE thrillers, Morgan Sierra's husband Elian died in her arms during a military operation. This happened before the series begins, but her memories of it recur when she faces a firefight, and she struggles to find happiness again for fear of losing someone she loves once more. And then there's the perennial advice: show, don't tell. Most writers have heard this so many times that it's easy to nod and then promptly write scenes that tell rather than show. Basically, you need to reveal your character through action and dialogue, rather than explanation. In my thriller Day of the Vikings, Morgan Sierra fights a Neo-Viking in the halls of the British Museum and brings him down with Krav Maga. That fight scene isn't just about showing action. It opens up questions about her backstory, demonstrates character, and moves the plot forward. Telling would be something like: “Morgan was an expert in Krav Maga.” Showing is the reader discovering it through the scene itself. Actionable step: Look at the main plot events of your novel. For each major turning point, ask: does this scene specifically test my protagonist's flaw? If not, can you redesign the scene so that it does? The tighter the connection between character and plot, the more powerful the story. 14. The ‘Maestra' Approach: Write Out of Order If you're a discovery writer like me, you may feel like the deep character work I've been describing sounds more suited to plotters. But Barbara Nickless gave me a beautiful metaphor on episode 732 that reframes it entirely. Barbara described her evolving writing process as being like a maestra standing in front of an orchestra. Sometimes you bring in the horns—a certain theme—and sometimes you bring in the strings—a certain character—and sometimes you turn to the soloist. It's a more organic and jumping-around process than linear writing, and Barbara said she's only recently given herself permission to work this way. When I told her that I use Scrivener to write in scenes out of order and then drag and drop them into a structure later, she was genuinely intrigued. And this is how I've always worked. I'll see the story in my mind like a movie trailer—flashes of the big emotional scenes, the pivotal confrontations, the moments of revelation—and I write those first. I don't know how they hang together until quite late in the process. Then I'll move scenes around, print the whole thing out, and figure out the connective tissue. The point is that discovery writers can absolutely build deep characters. Sometimes writing the big emotional scenes first is how you discover who the character is before you fill in the rest. You don't need a twenty-page character worksheet or a 200-page outline like Jeffery Deaver. You need to be willing to follow the character into the unknown and trust that the structure will emerge. As Barbara said, she writes to know what she's thinking. That's the discovery writer's credo. And I would add: I write to know who my characters are. Actionable step: If you're stuck on your current chapter, skip it. Write the scene that's burning in your imagination, even if it's from the middle or the end. That scene might be the key to unlocking who your character really is. 15. Use Research to Help with Empathy Research shouldn't just be about factual accuracy—it's a tool for finding the sensory details that create empathy. Barbara Nickless described research as almost an excuse to explore things that fascinate her, and I feel exactly the same way. I would go so far as to say that writing is an excuse for me to explore the things that interest me. Barbara and I both travel for our stories. For her Dr. Evan Wilding books, she did deep research into Old English literature and the Viking Age. For my thriller End of Days, I transcribed hours of video from Appalachian snake-handling churches on YouTube to understand the worldview of the worshippers, because my antagonist was brought up in that tradition. I couldn't just make that up. I had to hear their language, feel their conviction, understand why they would hold venomous serpents as an act of faith. Barbara also mentioned getting to Israel and the West Bank for research, and I've been to both places too. Finding that one specific sensory detail—the smell of a particular location, the specific way an expert handles a tool, the sound of a particular kind of music—makes the character's life feel lived-in. It's the difference between a character who is described as living in a place and a character who inhabits it. As I wrote in How to Write a Novel, don't write what you know. Write what you want to learn about. I love research. It's part of why I'm an author in the first place. I take any excuse to dive into a world different from my own. Research using books, films, podcasts, and travel, and focus particularly on sources produced by people from the worldview you want to understand. Actionable step: For your next piece of character research, go beyond reading. Watch a documentary, visit a location, talk to someone who lives the experience. Find one sensory detail—a smell, a sound, a texture—that you couldn't have invented. That detail will make your character feel real. Bonus: Measure Your Life by What You Create In an age of AI and a tsunami of content, your ultimate brand protection is the quality of your human creation. Barbara Nickless said that the act of producing itself is a balm to the soul, and I believe that with every fibre of my being. Don't be afraid to take that step back, like I did with my deadlifting. Take the time to master these deeper craft skills. It might feel like you're slowing down or going backwards by not chasing the latest marketing trend, but it's the only way to step forward into a sustainable, high-quality career. Your characters are your signature. No AI can replicate the specificity of your lived experience, the emotional truth of your displaced trauma, or the sensory details you've gathered from a life of curiosity and travel. Those are yours. Pour them into your characters, and they will resonate for years to come. Actionable Takeaway: Identify the Dramatic Question for your current protagonist. Can you state it in a single sentence with the kind of specificity Will Storr described? Is it as clear as “Are you ordinary or extraordinary?” or “Are you the only adult in the room?” If you can't answer it with that kind of precision, your character might still be a sketch. Give them a diagonal toast moment today. Find the one hyper-specific detail that proves they are not an imitation of life. And then ask yourself: does your plot test your character's flaw in every major scene? If you can align those two things—a precisely defined character and a plot that exists to test them—you will have a story that readers cannot put down. References and Deep Dives The episodes I've referenced today are all available with full transcripts at TheCreativePenn.com: Episode 732 — Facing Fears, and Writing Unique Characters with Barbara Nickless Episode 673 — Writing Choctaw Characters and Diversity in Fiction with Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer Episode 624 — Writing Characters with Matt Bird Episode 550 — The Heroine's Journey with Gail Carriger Episode 490 — How Character Flaws Shape Story with Will Storr Books mentioned: The Secrets of Character: Writing a Hero Anyone Will Love by Matt Bird The Science of Storytelling by Will Storr The Heroine's Journey by Gail Carriger How to Write a Novel: From Idea to Book by Joanna Penn You can find all my books for authors at CreativePennBooks.com and my fiction and memoir at JFPennBooks.com Happy writing! How was this episode created? This episode was initiated created by NotebookLM based on YouTube videos of the episodes linked above from YouTube/TheCreativePenn, plus my text chapters on character from How to Write a Novel. NotebookLM created a blog post from the material and then I expanded it and fact checked it with Claude.ai 4.6 Opus, and then I used my voice clone at ElevenLabs to narrate it. The post Writing Characters: 15 Actionable Tips For Writing Deep Character first appeared on The Creative Penn.

ACOFAE Podcast Presents: V for Vendetta: "It had to be now." Who knew that ACOFAE would be political this year?! Laura Marie and Jessica Marie had an inkling so they figured it's best to cover anything that may have slipped through the cracks growing up. Even if you've never seen the movie, you know the mask. You know Natalie Portman shaved her head. Join ACOFAE and find out why. PEOPLE SHOULD NOT BE AFRAID OF THEIR GOVERMENTS. TW / CW: none to our awareness For additional TW/CW information for your future reads, head to this site for more: https://triggerwarningdatabase.com/ Spoilers: V for Vendetta, Mockingjay: Part 1 Mentions: V for Vendetta, 1984 by George Orwell, The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins *Thank you for listening to us! Please subscribe and leave a 5-star review and follow us on Instagram at @ACOFAEpodcast and on our TikToks! TikTok: ACOFAELaura : Laura Marie ( https://www.tiktok.com/@acofaelaura) ACOFAEJessica : Jessica Marie (https://www.tiktok.com/@acofaejessica) Instagram: @ACOFAEpodcast https://www.instagram.com/acofaepodcast/ @ACOFAELaura https://www.instagram.com/acofaelaura/

Louis-Vincent Gave, founder and CEO of Gavekal Research, joins Julia to break down the three prices that drive every investment decision — the dollar, the 10-year treasury, and oil — and why right now all three are flashing red. With the Strait of Hormuz under threat, Louis explains why he sees oil heading toward $120 and why that number breaks the global economy. He makes the case that the traditional 60/40 portfolio is dead and should be replaced with 60% equities, 20% precious metals, and 20% energy. He reveals why the Chinese renminbi is the most undervalued asset on the planet, why China already won the trade war, and why the US is in greater danger of crushing its allies than itself. One of the most thought-provoking macro conversations you'll hear this year.Links: https://web.gavekal.com/https://x.com/gave_vincentTimestamps: 0:00 Intro and welcome 01:22 The 3 prices that drive everything: dollar, 10-year, oil 2:38 Oil went from $65 to $85 — but Louis fears $120-150 4:08 Why the oil futures curve isn't pricing in a prolonged crisis 5:06 Dollar bear market — why the rebound won't last 6:28 "If truth is the first casualty of war, bonds are a close second" 6:53 The binary outcome on Iran — both scenarios are bad for bonds 7:51 Regime change = Berlin Wall moment — but real rates explode 9:44 "Tails I lose, heads I don't win" — the bond market trap 11:33 $100 oil and Trump's political predicament 13:41 Trump wanted lower energy — "the road to hell is paved with good intentions" 14:06 Why $100 oil is "right pocket, left pocket" for the US 15:58 The real victims: Europe, Taiwan, Korea, Japan 17:23 90% of Hormuz oil heads east — not to the US 18:39 Missing 15 million barrels: prices skyrocket or demand collapses 20:28 Why energy is the best hedge for your portfolio right now 21:50 The new portfolio: 60% equities, 20% precious metals, 20% energy 22:07 The four quadrants framework explained 25:40 Why the 60/40 portfolio is officially dead 27:52 Gold is NOT an inflation hedge — what it actually is 28:37 Why central banks started buying gold after Russia asset seizure 30:08 Western retail has completely missed the gold bull market 31:32 The broken equation: US treasuries no longer equal commodities 32:59 The next shift — stockpiling physical commodities 33:15 "I'm bearish on the dollar and treasuries — but the US has pocket aces" 34:38 Four pillars: fundamentals, momentum, positioning, valuation 36:40 Where Louis sees opportunity: Chile, Brazil, China, South Africa 37:21 China for beginners — the biggest misconceptions 39:05 China's growth miracle — it wasn't central planning 42:06 The Hunger Games of capitalism 44:24 How China really views the Iran war — purely economic 46:46 The most underappreciated macro theme right now 48:19 "Stupidly, stupidly undervalued" — the renminbi slam dunk trade 50:41 Why China kept the RMB artificially low for 8 years 51:49 The weaponization of China's own savings52:35 "China went to the gym" — why it could stand up to Trump 54:18 Who won the trade war? 56:12 The one risk keeping Louis up at night 57:08 "$120 oil breaks stuff" — the number to watch

Send us a text! We'd love to hear your thoughts on the show.If you've ever wished someone could take all those slippery, hard-to-explain storytelling principles and turn them into something you could actually see, this episode is for you.In today's conversation on The Resilient Writers Radio Show, I'm joined by book coach and editor Lori Puma, and we dive into a topic that is both delightfully nerdy and wildly useful: story structure infographics.Lori came to this work in a fascinating way. With a PhD in epidemiology and a background as a Story Grid editor, she brings both analytical precision and deep story knowledge to the table. After working with writers and realizing that many of their biggest questions weren't fully answered by the craft systems already out there, Lori set out to build visual tools that could help writers better understand what's happening in a story—and how to manage multiple story elements at once.And truly, that's what makes this conversation so valuable.We start with Lori's action story diagram, which she explains is designed for any story where a hero must defeat a villain and save a victim. That includes action-adventure, crime thrillers, fantasy quests, and high-stakes “save the world” stories. Lori walks us through the eight major panels of this structure, from the moment harm is done, through complications, failed plans, rising stakes, and finally the one-on-one climax. Along the way, she introduces a set of “thermometers” that measure different types of danger—physical, social, environmental, and institutional—and explains how tracking those threats can help writers create stories that feel dynamic and escalating.What I especially loved is how practical Lori makes all of this. She talks about time pressure, resources, allies, and even compares the flow of an action novel to a video game, which honestly makes so much sense. Using examples from The Hunger Games, Killing Floor, and The Martian, she shows how structure isn't about formula for formula's sake—it's about helping the reader feel tension, momentum, and emotional investment.From there, we shift into the investigation rhythm, which I found especially juicy as someone working on a historical mystery. Lori introduces the idea of “lenses”—different ways an investigator might interpret clues, suspects, motives, or locations. She explains how mystery plots move through discovery, narrowing, stalls, plot-twisting clues, resets, and eventual solution. One of the most helpful takeaways here is her insight that a real plot twist should actually change the diagram. If the way the clues fit together doesn't fundamentally shift, it's probably not a true twist.We also touch on romance structure, including attraction, adhesion, connection, and the emotional vulnerability required for a satisfying happily-ever-after. Lori's concept of “adhesion”—the force that keeps love interests in each other's orbit even when things get hard—is especially smart and useful.This is such a rich episode for writers who love craft, structure, and understanding why stories work. If you enjoy seeing the bones beneath the book, you're going to love this one.***TAKE LORI'S BREAKOUT NOVEL QUIZ HERE!

228. Hold on to your handbasket! Every day, the headlines push our buttons of alarm, despair, and fury all at once. What's a thinking, feeling human to do, besides invest in a Hunger Games-style bow and arrow? This week, in an episode that originally ran in January 2019, Dr. Ellen Hendriksen offers 4 tips to be happy in a world that can feel like a Mad Max chase through the headlines. As true today as the day this episode first dropped! Find a transcript here.  Find Dr. Ellen Hendriksen on Substack. Have a mental health question? Email us at psychologist@quickanddirtytips.com Find Savvy Psychologist on Facebook and Twitter, or subscribe to the newsletter for more psychology tips. Savvy Psychologist is a part of Quick and Dirty Tips. Links:https://quickanddirtytips.com/savvy-psychologisthttps://www.facebook.com/savvypsychologisthttps://twitter.com/qdtsavvypsych

GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy are changing more than just waistlines—they're disrupting the grocery aisle. JMR Co-Editor Brett Gordon speaks with Sylvia Hristakeva (Cornell), Jura Liaukonyte (Cornell), and Leo Feller (Numerator) about their paper, "The No Hunger Games: How GLP-1 Medication Adoption is Changing Consumer Food Demand.” The study linked GLP-1 usage survey data to 150,000 households' purchase data, finding that grocery spending declines by approximately 5% within six months, concentrated in processed, calorie-dense categories. Spending reverts to pre-adoption levels upon stopping the medication. In the episode, you'll hear how quickly the project came together and the challenges of working on such a high-profile topic.Paper on SSRN: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5073929Paper at JMR: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00222437251412834

Compensation is one of the messiest parts of any organization. Pay becomes a proxy for belonging, validation, performance, identity, and status… which means it's almost guaranteed to feel unfair, confusing, and emotionally loaded. Layer on a capitalist “more is always better” mindset, and you get the hedonic treadmill of work: every raise increases expectations, which creates the next round of dissatisfaction. In Part 1 of this two-part series on compensation, Rodney Evans and Sam Spurlin dig into why comp is so psychologically charged, why most systems are overly complex, and why the “objective” company lens will never fully match the lived human experience of money. -------------------------------- Ready to change your organization? ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Let's talk.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Get our newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sign up here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow us: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ -------------------------------- Mentioned references: baby hyenas hedonic treadmill performance management episode: AWWTR Ep. 39 "authority field": The Ready's OS Canvas FAANG (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Google) aka "Big Tech" EOT (Employee-Owned Trust) 00:00 Intro + Check-In: What's the best animal you've seen recently? 04:07 The pattern: No level of compensation ever feels like enough. 10:17 Comp becomes a proxy for self-worth 14:16 Setting individual comp levels 23:23 Importance of real pay transparency, not “bands” 27:24 Comp “up and to the right” ignores market value 31:25 Setting team-level comp and rewards 36:04 Shared rewards vs Hunger Games for sales teams 38:29 Is equity a good thing…or a trap? 46:09 Wrap Up: Continued next time in part 2 Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Coupe Studios⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Send a textBilly Ray is an American screenwriter and film director. He began writing for television and movies in 1994 with Color of Night. He has written numerous successful films, including the first Hunger Games movie, Captain Phillips, and Richard Jewell, earning an Oscar nomination for the second film. AND somehow I am lucky enough to sit down with him. He just released his first novel and it's a big deal. When greatness comes to you like this, pay attention. Burn the Water is a new YA dystopian romance novel by Hunger Games screenwriter Billy Ray, released on March 3, 2026, by Scholastic Press. It is a "Romeo and Juliet" style story set in a submerged 2425 London, where two teenagers from rival, warring factions—the Rogues and the Crowns—fall in love.Find Billy's Brand New Book, Burn the Water- OUT NOW! _____________________________________________________________________________Then later,We welcome Tui Sutherland over to congratulate her on the release of her SIXTEENTH precious little dragon egg!! Thank you to our family of amazing sponsors! STATE FARM® INSURANCE AGENT Leigh Ann Arcuri https://ridewithla.com/ Ochsner Children's HospitalWww.ochsner.orgRouses MarkersWww.rousesmarkets.comSandpiper VacationsWww..sandpipervacations.comCafe Du Monde www.shop.cafedumonde.com The Law Firm of Forrest Cressy & James Www.forrestcressyjames.comComfort Cases Www.comfortcases.orgNew Orleans Ice Cream CompanyWww.neworleansicecream.comERA TOP REALTY: Pamela Breaux plbreaux@gmail.com

Think you can outsmart Victoria Ramires? In this episode of You vs Victoria on The Jubal Show, contestant Kendall takes on Victoria in a lightning-fast trivia battle for Hilary Duff concert tickets!

Hey Spooksters! This week is a feed drop from Social Seance Society! In this episode covering The Hunger Games, we will recap the book and movie, how this is relevant to society today, discuss our favorite parts, and more. Tune into the rest of our Panem universe deep dive on Social Seance Society! Follow Social Seance Society on social media⁠⁠⁠ https://beacons.ai/socialseancesociety   Do you want AD FREE episodes published a day EARLY? Join the Spookster Fam at www.patreon.com/3spookedgirls    Join our book club, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spookster Literary Society⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!   Check out the following link for our socials, Patreon, YouTube channel, & more ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/3spookedgirls⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Do you have a true crime story or paranormal encounter you'd like to share? Please send us an email over to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠3spookedgirls@gmail.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠ Thank you to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sarah Hester Ross⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for our intro music!   Thank you to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Edward October⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for our content warning! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to another episode of Death Don't Do Fiction, the AIPT Movies podcast! The podcast about the enduring legacy of our favorite movies! This February we're continuing our new “Fast February” series, where we cover the movies that made Vin Diesel a star and taught the world to live their lives one quarter mile at a time, The Fast & Furious franchise! In this week's episode, Alex, Tim, and returning guest Bill Mueller discuss 2003's awkward attempt to recapture the magic of the surprisingly successful first movie, 2 Fast 2 Furious! An incredible title! Those silly visor hats! Pepsi and NOS product placement! Trying to pick up girls during a dangerous undercover mission! A Sound Designer-approved audio mix! Loud, somewhat gaudy visuals thanks to that clumsy early thousands aesthetic! A possible influence on the Wachowskis' Speed Racer movie! A larger budget but a less tangible story with somehow even cringier lines! A third act you'll barely remember! The introduction of characters who would go on to be staples of the series! John Singleton trying his hand at directing a silly blockbuster! Race obstacles that would lead to expensive automotive repairs! A great car jump stunt that's wasted due to poor editing and unnecessary visual effects! A cast that includes a returning Paul Walker, James Remar, Eva Mendes, a pre-Yellowstone Cole Hauser, Mark Boone Junior, Devon Aoki, Ludacris, and Tyrese Gibson starting out as somewhat of a Dom Toretto wannabe before finding his character as the movie goes on! The entry of the series with possibly the least sense of "family," you never realized you could miss Vin Diesel so much! In addition, Alex shares his spoiler-free thoughts on Crime 101, Psycho Killer, and the original Hunger Games quadrilogy! You can find Death Don't Do Fiction on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. As always, if you enjoy the podcast, be sure to leave us a positive rating, subscribe to the show, and tell your friends! The Death Don't Do Fiction podcast brings you the latest in movie news, reviews, and more! Hosted by supposed “industry vets,” Alex Harris and Tim Gardiner, the show gives you a peek behind the scenes from two filmmakers with oddly nonexistent filmographies. You can find Alex on Twitter, Bluesky, or Letterboxd @actionharris. This episode's guest, Bill Mueller, can be found on Bluesky. Tim can't be found on social media because he doesn't exist. If you have any questions or suggestions for the Death Don't Do Fiction crew, they can be reached at aiptmoviespod@gmail.com, or you can find them on Twitter or Instagram @aiptmoviespod. Theme song is “We Got it Goin On” by Cobra Man.

Billy Ray is best-known for his work  as the Oscar-nominated and critically acclaimed screenwriter behind Captain Phillips, The Hunger Games, and the highly anticipated adaptation of Sunrise on the Reaping. In this first installment of an epic dystopian duology, Ray delivers a searing reimagining of Romeo and Juliet, set in a drowned London ravaged by climate change and centuries of war. BURN THE WATER marks his first transition to novel-writing. The year is 2425, and London is unrecognizable—a sea of decaying skyscrapers, submerged streets, and shattered remnants of a once-great city. Two armies—the Rogues and the Crowns—have waged war for generations, locked in a brutal battle over a world long lost to the sea. Rafe, the ruthless and magnetic leader of the Rogue army, and Jule, the fiercest warrior the Crown army has ever known, are sworn enemies by birth. Both destined to lead their factions to victory after centuries of bloodshed—until they fall for each other. Their love is forbidden, dangerous, and utterly consuming. As Rafe and Jule risk everything to protect one another amid the violence, a new and even greater threat emerges from the water, one that could destroy both armies, and what's left of their world. To survive, they must challenge everything they've been taught and convince their people that love is stronger than hate in a world where peace has always been impossible. Gritty, emotional, and sweeping, BURN THE WATER is a haunting exploration of generational conflict, sacrifice, and the belief that love is bigger than all of us.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/arroe-collins-like-it-s-live--4113802/support.

Andrew Schultz aka Mr. Goody Two Shoes and Joseph Huggins aka OldManHuggie Discuss Joseph's Vegas Craps Strategy, California Dispensaries In Their Golden Age, Therapy Questions, The United States and Israel War With Iran, Resurrecting The Wooly Mammoth, Texas Politics, and Much More!!Therapy Questions and Article Links BelowMusic: Break Me - Mr. Goody Two Shoes(Blake Whiten Cover)Therapy Questions:​You're entering the Hunger Games, but your mentor is a retired professional athlete. Who are you picking?​You have to name your baby after the animated character of your choice but in order to use that name, you have to defeat an 8 foot version of that character to the death, who are you choosing?​You're being hunted by 10 people for a 24 hour period your only ally is a 6 foot version of a cereal mascot of your choice, who are you choosing?​If you had to choose a Disney character to play on the CBS show Survivor in your place, so if they win you win $1 million dollars, what Disney character would you pick and you can't pick a character that is not a human and if they have magical powers they don't have magical powers for the show?Articles:Live updates: Senate rejects war powers bill to halt attacks against Iran | AP NewsColossal aims to bring woolly mammoths back from extinction | NPRHouse Ethics Committee will investigate allegations against Rep. Tony Gonzales | CNN PoliticsTrump teases GOP endorsement in Texas Senate race as Talarico advances for Democrats | NPR

"She had a marvelous time ruining everything" This week, we're doing a Show and Tell episode on one of literature's most enduring narrative structures: the Hero's Journey. We explore three songs through the Hero's Journey lens: Maansi unpacks the cross-generational dual hero's story in "The Last Great American Dynasty" (Folklore, 2020), Jenn applies the framework to "Down Bad" (The Tortured Poets Department, 2024),and Jodi walks us through how "The Life of a Showgirl" (The Life of a Showgirl, 2025) follows every classic beat, from the call to adventure to the triumphant (and pithy) return. Plus: the Hunger Games, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Hindu goddess Kali, The Traitors, and why Jodi thinks the bridge of "The Life of a Showgirl" might be Taylor's greatest bridge of all time.   Subscribe for free to get episode updates or upgrade to paid to get our After School premium content: aptaylorswift.substack.com/subscribe After School subscribers get monthly bonus episodes, exclusive content, and early access to help shape future topics!   aptaylorswift.com   Mentioned in This Episode: The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell The Hunger Games trilogy, Suzanne Collins The Lord of the Rings / The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien Star Wars (original trilogy) The Last Great American Dynasty (Folklore, 2020) — Taylor Swift & Aaron Dessner Down Bad (The Tortured Poets Department, 2024) — Taylor Swift & Jack Antonoff The Life of a Showgirl (The Life of a Showgirl, 2025) — Taylor Swift, Max Martin, Shellback & Mathias Bielandt   Episode Highlights 00:36 Welcome and intro — what is the Hero's Journey (the Monomyth)? 17:43 The Last Great American Dynasty: Multiple hero's journeys in one song 31:57 Down Bad: The Hero's Journey when you're sent home against your will 43:56 The Life of a Showgirl: A textbook Hero's Journey   Follow AP Taylor Swift Podcast on Social! TikTok → tiktok.com/@APTaylorSwift Instagram → instagram.com/APTaylorSwift YouTube → youtube.com/@APTaylorSwift Link Tree → linktr.ee/aptaylorswift Bookshop.org → bookshop.org/shop/apts Libro.fm → tinyurl.com/aptslibro   Email us at aptaylorswift@gmail.com   Affiliate Codes Krowned Krystals — krownedkrystals.com — use code APTS at checkout for 10% off! Libro.fm — Looking for an audiobook? Check out our Libro.fm playlist and use code APTS30 for 30% off books found here: tinyurl.com/aptslibro   This podcast is neither related to nor endorsed by Taylor Swift, her companies, or record labels. All opinions are our own. Intro music produced by Scott Zadig aka Scotty Z.

Is Trump using America's 250th anniversary to rebrand the USA in his own gaudy, aggressive, white nationalist image? There'll be a “Patriot Games” high school athletics tournament, quickly dubbed America's Hunger Games. Commemorative quarter coins have been scrubbed of any “woke” content. There'll be mixed martial arts on the White House lawn. And Trump's organisers of the celebrations are charging for access to the President. What would George Washington think? South Carolina political commentator, historical preservationist and navy veteran Mike Bedenbaugh is the author of a new book, Reviving Our Republic. He tells Andrew Harrison why the “Semiquincentennial” is a last-ditch chance for America to rediscover its purpose.  • This edition was recorded before America's attack on Iran.  www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Andrew Harrison. Producer: Liam Tait. Audio production by Robin Leeburn. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Amy talks with author of Burn the Water & award-winning screenwriter Billy Ray. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Megan Sailor joins the show fresh off a huge breakthrough at CIM, where she placed third in the national championship marathon and ran 2:25:17 in her debut. Megan runs for the B.A.A. High Performance Team and she walks through what it looked like to finally step up to the marathon after spending years focused on the track and shorter road races. Megan shares how pro running was not always the plan, why she considers herself more of a realist than a dreamer, and how the marathon move came at the right time after a stretch where training fitness was not translating to race results. We talk about learning to stop racing workouts, what changed when she began moving up in distance, and how a strong half marathon helped confirm she was heading the right direction. We also get into life outside racing, including the unique dynamic of being a twin and having a built-in training partner, the fact that Megan and her husband live with her twin sister and her husband in Boston, and what they actually do to unwind when they are not training. Megan wraps with a message that sticks: you do not always get to choose the timing or even the event, but patience and trust can lead to the breakthrough you were hoping for. Enjoy this episode with Megan! Topics Discussed: Megan's 2:25:17 marathon debut and 3rd at CIM (national championship) Joining and training with the B.A.A. High Performance Team Why the track was not clicking, and the shift away from racing workouts Building from half marathon success to marathon readiness Marathon training changes: mileage bump, longer workout volume, solo long runs CIM race strategy, pack decisions, and the late-race leg shutdown Fueling and bottle-grab chaos, plus her gel preferences Boston Marathon build: hills, strength on tired legs, and racing a stacked field Twin sister training dynamic, competitiveness, and support Boston winter stories and “space savers” street parking culture Life outside running: TV binges, baking, books, and future goals (dogs, international racing) Closing takeaway: patience, timing, and letting the right event find you Media Mentioned: Books Throne of Glass (series) Shield of Sparrows Harry Potter (series) Divergent (series) The Hunger Games (series) Twilight (series) ACOTAR TV shows Survivor Grey's Anatomy Schitt's Creek Love Is Blind Sponsors: Lagoon Sleep — If you're ready to upgrade your sleep, Lagoon pillows are truly a game changer. Their customizable pillows are designed to help you fall asleep faster, stay cool, and wake up without neck or shoulder pain. You can adjust the fill to make it perfect for you. Save 15% by going to https://lagoonsleep.com/lindsey and using the code LINDSEY at checkout. Geist Half Race Series Go to geisthalf.com and use the code “Another26” for $10 off any race distances.

Cheese is MIA, so Chad bring the ladies in to take over, and chaos follows: StepStone celebrates record applications… during record job desperation. Spin level: Olympic gold. AI agent harassment enters the chat. IBM's COBOL cash cow meets AI with a chainsaw. Google's “CareerDreamer” Copy prompt → paste → profit? Kombo vs. Humand at 2 am Tech layoffs are giving Hunger Games energy. CEOs call unemployment “momentum.” Workers call it “rent's due.” AI in hiring: helpful assistant or reputation wrecking hallucination machine? Stay tuned.

Send a textThis Daily Drop is all movement, no filler.The Army is doubling down on its auction-style warrant officer retention bonus experiment. Market-driven talent management? Maybe. Hunger Games for CW5s? Also maybe. At the same time, lessons from Ukraine are reshaping armored warfare training, drone integration, and electronic warfare acquisition speed.The Navy installs a new Submarine Force Atlantic commander and rehearses an anti-ship strike with a B-2 off California. Targeting ships at sea isn't the same as dropping bombs on dirt—and that joint integration matters.The Air Force mobility enterprise is waving red flags. Aging tankers and airlift fleets aren't getting replaced fast enough, and timelines stretching into the 2030s aren't comforting. Meanwhile, Reserve and Guard leaders are pushing for equal benefits when serving identical missions.Space Force pauses Vulcan rocket launches over an anomaly—national security missions now in holding.And at the policy level, legal tension continues over military speech and disciplinary authority.A lot moving. A lot worth watching.⏱️ Timestamps: 00:00 Intro and sponsor 02:00 Warrant officer retention bonus auction system 04:30 Ukraine armored warfare lessons 06:30 Electronic warfare acquisition overhaul 08:30 New Submarine Force Atlantic commander 10:00 B-2 and Navy anti-ship strike rehearsal 12:30 Mobility fleet modernization concerns 15:00 Equal benefits push for Guard and Reserve 17:30 Space Force Vulcan rocket launch pause 19:00 Legal dispute over military speech limits

Strap on your heels and practice your fake smiles, and join Chapter 135 on the interview stage! Join Sophie, Sam, and Hannah as they discuss healing workplace injuries as an adult, the horrifying canonical timeline for the first Hunger Games, and the best discontinued recipes of Newfoundland eateries.

On this episode of Currently Reading, Kaytee and Meredith are discussing: Bookish Moments: A new bookish metaphor and book moms in the wild Current Reads: all the great, interesting, and/or terrible stuff we've been reading lately Deep Dive: Explaining a Currently Reading literary society Before We Go: our new segment featuring bookish friend posts and a sleeper hit you should read. Show notes are time-stamped below for your convenience. Read the transcript of the episode (this link only works on the main site). . . . 1:44 - Bookish Moments of the Week 1:52 - Currently Reading Website 1:56 - Books We Want To Press Into Your Hands 3:03 - Best Books for Babies and Kids 3:42 - Castle of Water by Dane Huckelbridge 5:55 - A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms on HBO Max 7:12 - Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin 7:16 - A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms by George R. R. Martin (all 3 Dunk and Egg novellas) 7:55 - Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid 8:33 - Current Reads 8:41 - The Secret Library by Kekla Magoon (Kaytee) 11:47 - The Book Wanderers by Anna James 11:50 - The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon 11:54 - The Midnight Library by Matt Haig 13:08 - Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman (Meredith) 15:10 - The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins 15:11 - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams 15:45 - Chain Gang All Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah 22:27 - Ready Player One by Ernest Cline 24:10 - Six Feet Over by Mary Roach (Kaytee) 27:20 - Gulp by Mary Roach 27:21 - Bonk by Mary Roach 27:22 - Stiff by Mary Roach 28:51 - Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie (Meredith) 32:06 - Agatha Christie's Marple by Mark Aldridge 34:18 - The Safekeep by Yael Van Der Wouden (Kaytee) 34:33 - Charter Books 39:00 - Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (Meredith) 42:28 - Dracula by Bram Stoker 45:21 - Turning Instagram into Bookstagram 47:25 - Sign up for the newsletter on our website 47:26 - Currently Reading Substack 50:48 - Currently Reading Instagram 50:54 - @HelloSunshine on Instagram 50:58 - @BookRiot on Instagram  51:00 - @NYTBooks on Instagram 51:40 - @Iamblackharry on Instagram 52:10 - Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak 52:28 - The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas 52:42 - The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion by Beth Brower 53:42 - The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides 53:48 - God of the Woods by Liz Moore 54:03 - Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir 56:13 - Sarah's Bookshelves Live 58:44 - Before We Go Meredith highlights a bookish friend post 59:34 - The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver 59:54 - The Correspondent by Virginia Evans Kaytee's Book She DNF'd: 1:01:22 - The Complete Stories by Flannery O'Connor 1:01:28 - Bookshelf Thomasville 1:02:57 - From the Front Porch podcast Support Us: Become a Bookish Friend | Grab Some Merch Shop Bookshop dot org | Shop Amazon Bookish Friends Receive: The Indie Press List with a curated list of five books hand sold by the indie of the month. February's list is a special romance curated list from Open Door Romance, The Novel Neighbor's Romance adjacent bookstore in Plainville, MA. Love and Chili Peppers with Kaytee and Rebekah - romance lovers get their due with this special episode focused entirely on the best selling genre fiction in the business All Things Murderful with Meredith and Elizabeth - special content for the scary-lovers, brought to you with the behind-the-scenes insights of an independent bookseller From the Editor's Desk with Kaytee and Bunmi Ishola - a quarterly peek behind the curtain at the publishing industry The Bookish Friends Facebook Group - where you can build community with bookish friends from around the globe as well as our hosts Connect With Us: The Show: Instagram | Website | Email | Threads | Substack | Youtube The Hosts and Regulars: Meredith | Kaytee | Mary | Roxanna Production and Editing: Megan Phouthavong Evans Affiliate Disclosure: All affiliate links go to Bookshop unless otherwise noted. Shopping here helps keep the lights on and benefits indie bookstores. Thanks for your support!

In today's Daily Fix:Incoming Xbox CEO Asha Sharma was active on social media following last week's bombshell announcement that she would be replacing Phil Spencer. She listed a few gaming bona fides such as her three favorites being Halo, Valheim, and GoldenEye. When pressed if her accounts were being run by artificial intelligence (she was head of Microsoft's CoreAI before joining Xbox), she responded with 'Beep Boop Beep Boop.' In other news, movie producer Roy Lee confirmed that the BioShock movie is still happening, and it will be the next project for director Francis Lawrence once he's done with the next Hunger Games movie. Interestingly, Lee revealed that publisher Take-Two wants the movie's release to coincide with the next BioShock game. And finally, take a peek at the five immersive worlds of the all-new Universal Epic Universe, and one of its featured attractions – Stardust Racers, all at Universal Orlando Resort.Presented by Universal Orlando Resort.

February 20, 2026 ~ Jamie Edmonds and Lloyd Jackson speak with attorney Michael Jaafar. He discusses abuse allegations at Vista Maria, a residential treatment facility. Over 50 women claim abuse there. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It was announced yesterday that a stage play based on the stories by George RR Martin, a prequel to Game of Thrones, would receive its world premiere this Summer at the Royal Shakespeare Company.The play, titled Game of Thrones: The Mad King, will debut in Stratford Upon Avon, with full details to be confirmed, and will be written by Duncan Macmillan and directed by Dominic Cooke.Check out Mickey-Jo's thoughts on this announcement as well as how the play is likely to fare alongside other IP adaptations such as Stranger Things: The First Shadow, or The Hunger Games.•00:00 | introduction03:22 | details09:50 | creatives14:43 | expectations21:17 | conclusionAbout Mickey-Jo:As one of the leading voices in theatre criticism on a social platform, Mickey-Jo is pioneering a new medium for a dwindling field. His YouTube channel: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠MickeyJoTheatre⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ is the largest worldwide in terms of dedicated theatre criticism, where he also share features, news and interviews as well as lifestyle content for over 95,000 subscribers. With a viewership that is largely split between the US and the UK he has been fortunate enough to be able to work with PR, Marketing, and Social Media representatives for shows in New York, London, Edinburgh, Hamburg, Toronto, Sao Pãolo, and Paris. His reviews and features have also been published by WhatsOnStage, for whom he was a panelist to help curate nominees for their 2023 and 2024 Awards as well as BroadwayWorldUK, Musicals Magazine and LondonTheatre.co.uk. Instagram/TikTok/X: @MickeyJoTheatre Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this exclusive preseason interview, Big Brother winner Josh Martinez joins host Sharon Tharp just days before handing over his phone and entering Telemundo's La Casa de los Famosos. Josh opens up about why he turned down major projects like The Challenge 42 to pursue his dream of breaking into the Latin market, his strategy for the high-stakes public vote, and the anxiety of returning to 24/7 live feeds for a grueling 17-week Spanish-language version of what he calls "The Hunger Games."

This episode of The Rizzuto Show is what happens when airline etiquette, panic disorders, frozen ponds, dirty airport bathrooms, and relationship ultimatums all get shoved into one chaotic blender.We kick things off with a full-blown airplane armrest showdown — because apparently the middle seat is still the Hunger Games of air travel. Then things escalate when the crew dives into a lawsuit against Southwest Airlines involving a stranded passenger and a debate that somehow turns into a mental health, personal responsibility, and assigned seating spiral.From there? It gets worse. (In the best way.)Would you yell at teenagers walking on melting ice? Would you report an Uber driver with a kid riding shotgun? Would you wash your hands after touching what Lern lovingly described as “a KFC Famous Bowl situation”? These are the hard-hitting questions only a daily comedy show like this one dares to ask.And then… the real drama hits.A listener is forced to choose between his lifelong best friend's bachelor party and his girlfriend's reception invite to a wedding he doesn't even care about. The crew debates loyalty, RSVPs, testosterone levels, scorekeeping in relationships, and whether Riz would absolutely ruin a wedding out of spite.(It's yes. The answer is yes.)This episode of the daily comedy show swings from hilarious to heated to “someone check Riz's T levels” in record time. It's everything you expect from The Rizz Show — sarcastic humor, weird news, relatable life chaos, and the kind of arguments that somehow end with someone threatening to give a speech at a wedding just to make a point.If you like your comedy podcast unfiltered, slightly unhinged, and rooted in real-life situations that spiral fast — this daily comedy show delivers.Welcome to the chaos. We live here now.Follow The Rizzuto Show → https://linktr.ee/rizzshow for more from your favorite daily comedy show.Connect with The Rizzuto Show Comedy Podcast online → https://1057thepoint.com/RizzShow.Hear The Rizz Show daily on the radio at 105.7 The Point | Hubbard Radio in St. Louis, MO.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Spoilers, profanity, Jaime x Brienne. Egg has to watch this age-inappropriate trial, but Guile would never have watched The Hunger Games. Humfrey Beesbury got a honey mustache instead of an introduction, but what a mustache it is. We all love Ser Duncan the Tall's pre-teen backstory, but we don't love the extra unexpected pain. Maekar continues to be a fav, but we all have to admit this battle wouldn't have worked without Finn Bennett's efforts as Aerion. Raymun stans unite as the green apple comes through battle unfazed, or should we say unbruised. Farewell Baelor Breakhearts, maybe we should spin you off into a Blackfyre Rebellion prequel? We're happy with this episode as it is, but we also want the extended cut. AKotSK. A Song of Ice and Fire. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms - 1x05 - In the Name of the Mother. Close The Door And Come Here - Episode 622

ACOFAE Podcast Presents: Mockingjay Part 1 - The movie: "Everything old can be new again...like democracy." Remember when watching this movie was a form of escapism? Remember when the concept of the Hunger Games was horrifying and parents were up in arms? Remember all that? Good. Watch it again. ACOFAE is continuing the watch of The Hunger Games series with the third movie, Mockingjay: Part 1. Filled with a cast that is beyond talented, Katniss is struggling with her new life in District 13, after she was rescued from the Games. Peeta is a hostage of the Capital, and is not doing well and Katniss has to rally the people for revolution. With propos. That she isn't very good at. What follows is Katniss' journey of working through the scheming and the politics of 13, dealing with Snow and his cruelty, and figuring out her place in this new district. Hoorah? "Not one to waste it in rehearsal."

Send a textA rye cube, a lemon twist, and a splash of absinthe set the night in motion. We open with the Sazerac, swapping notes between Boatwright's at Port Orleans and our own New Orleans–style build, then take that same love of craft into a wild thought experiment: which non‑Disney characters and worlds would thrive under Disney's storytelling?We start with the legends. Bugs Bunny and the Looney Tunes spark a debate about timeless comedy, park characters, and the kind of physical gags that make queues feel alive. From there, we slide into Scooby‑Doo hijinks, SpongeBob's Bikini Bottom, and Bedrock's bronto‑size charm—proof that retro IP can still deliver modern magic. Gaming and anime icons raise the stakes: Mario's jump‑happy momentum, Pikachu's collect‑and‑trade culture, Sonic's speed run energy, and Hello Kitty's soft‑power merch. Each brings interactivity, replay value, and social fun that match how guests actually play parks today.We push beyond cartoons into cinematic sandboxes. Imagine a mid‑century Mad Men lounge with proper cocktails and impeccable woodwork. Picture Ghostbusters as a show‑driven effects playground, a Die Hard‑inspired tower drop with narrative beats, and a Jurassic World zone that sells scale without screen fatigue. Then we go epic: Middle‑earth as a multi‑land dream with the Shire's warmth, Rivendell's serenity, and Mordor's percussion and heat; Wizard of Oz for technicolor wonder and storm‑tossed transitions; Willy Wonka for edible illusions, fizzy‑lifting laughs, and music that hums through the pathways. Along the way we weigh Transformers, King Kong's Monarch universe, Hunger Games, Smurfs, Popeye, Garfield, Jetsons, and G.I. Joe—asking where Disney's “story per minute” advantage can turn good IP into unforgettable place.It's part cocktail hour, part imagineering session, and all heart for the details that make parks sing: scent, light, texture, music, and a wink of humor. Tap play, then tell us your top three non‑Disney IPs you'd hand to Disney and why. If you're vibing with the show, subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a quick review—it helps more Disney lovers find our little corner of magic. Cheers!

American's just love not paying for labor. Today we are talking about a time when coal miners of Tennessee fought back against the government after being denied literally the bare minimum requests. Who would have guessed that paying your employees fake money and deciding how much they make in a secret process was going to lead to armed rebellion? Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/book-cult--5718878/support.

Jake & Ben Full Show from February 9, 2026 Hour 1 Jeremiah Jensen joined Ben Live from San Francisco to recap Super Bowl 60.  Top 3 Stories of the Day: Jazz at Miami Heat Tonight, It's Official: Sam Darnold Doesn't Suck, Team USA Hockey has landed in Milan.  Did you watch the Bad Bunny Super Bowl Halftime Show? Hour 2 College Basketball Writer Kevin Sweeney joined the show to talk about BYU's recent struggles & AJ Dybantsa vs Darryn Peterson.  Next year's starting lineup looks set for the Utah Jazz, but what are they going to do with  guys like Kyle Filipowski, Brice Sensabaugh and Isaiah Collier?  Will the Seattle Seahawks winning the Super Bowl change the way NFL teams build their rosters? 

If you love The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe, then I have great news for you! Today we are talking about the latest book in the Hunger Games series, Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins. It's just as heartbreaking as all the other ones but this time our protagonist only gets a semi happy ending and it takes over 25 years. Oh to be a Ryan in a world of Urchin's and Heartwood's. WARNING: Child abuse, murder, loss of a child, animal attacksBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/book-cult--5718878/support.

It was an interesting weekend at the box office. The big discourse was all around Melania, but we don't really care about that. What was interesting to us was the battle for the top spot between an old favorite and a YouTuber. We also talk about an exorcism movie in the White House and an upcoming movie we reviewed years ago.Teacher's Pet sounds like it is an erotic thriller. The story centers around a new high school teacher who notices and wants to help a student in his class. Naturally, things are not what they seem. Instead of a sultry suspense, the film is much more frightening.Horror taught us long ago that a great villain can take a movie a long way. Think of all the fan favorite killers that lead very popular franchises. Teacher's Pet has a strong villain that carries its basic plot. (The story may be paint-by-numbers, but it is very well written.) There are some noticeable flaws, but it is worth watching.Whistle has one of the strongest casts seen in an indie horror movie. Dafnee Keen and Nick Frost are the big names, but it also includes stars from Yellowjackets, Rebel Moon, and the upcoming Hunger Games movies. Even better, no one phones in their performances. There may not be much to the characters, but they are fun.The film is a typical high school slasher filled with corny lines, unrequited love, and infighting. The kills are amazing and how the killer commits their acts is a cool idea. But after a very strong first two acts, the story relies on a very familiar crutch and almost ruins everything. Adventures in Movies! is a part of the Morbidly Beautiful Podcast Network. Morbidly Beautiful is your one stop shop for all your horror needs. From the latest news and reviews to interviews and old favorites, it can be found at Morbidly Beautiful.Adventures in Movies! is hosted by Nathaniel and Blake. You can find Nathaniel on Instagram at nathaninpoortaste. Blake can be found on Twitter @foureyedhorror and on Instagram at foureyedhorror. You can reach us personally or on Twitter @AdventuresinMo1.Music in the background from https://www.FesliyanStudios.com

In this episode, we welcome Skip Lievsay, CAS. Skip is an Oscar-winning Sound Editor and Re-Recording Mixer who has worked on films including Blood Simple, The Color of Money, Raising Arizona, Goodfellas, The Silence of the Lambs, Cape Fear, Malcolm X, Casino, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, No Country for Old Men, I Am Legend, Gravity, The Hunger Games, Birdman, Roma, Uncut Gems, A Quiet Place: Day One, and Marty Supreme. In our chat, he shares on his early days, about working with the Coen Brothers, and his creative approach to crafting sound in post. In March, Skip is being honored with the Cinema Audio Society Career Achievement Award in Los Angeles, CA. The Making Of is presented by AJA:From cinema to proAV: gaining a competitive edge with streaming knowledgeThe worlds of cinema production and proAV are converging. Cinema-grade equipment is making its way into more stadiums, houses of worship, and concert venues. Because of this, professionals that understand the tools and disciplines powering both will stand out. Get ahead of the curve with the latest streaming insights and gear from AJA.Sony's Breakthrough Audio, Imaging and Sports Technologies Raise the Bar for the NFL's Super Bowl LX in San FranciscoSony's New Coach's Headsets, 175+ Cameras and Hawk-Eye Tracking and Video Technologies Capture Every Angle, Split‑Second Decision and High‑Speed Moment of the NFL's Biggest GameSony, an official technology partner of the NFL, announced today that its technology ecosystem will play an expanded role in Super Bowl LX, marking the company's most advanced presence at the NFL's championship game to date.Read more hereNow with Massive 8TB Capacity—Thunderbolt 5 SpeedThe OWC Envoy Pro Ultra now comes in a new 8TB capacity, pairing enormous space with next‑generation Thunderbolt 5 performance. With real‑world speeds over 6000 MB/s and a rugged, bus‑powered design, it's perfect for 4K/8K workflows, on‑location shoots, and fast media offloads. High‑speed, high‑capacity, and ready for serious creative work.Browse hereDonate to Help The Digital Cinema Society SurviveDCS, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to keeping filmmakers current on motion picture technology is currently in dire financial straights. We are trying to make the best of a tough situation and asking those who can afford it to help keep us afloat.Please consider donating to DCS hereMeet LiveU Solo PRO:Deliver an outstanding live video experience with the LiveU Solo PRO. Designed for creators and professionals alike, the Solo PRO video encoder provides one-touch, wireless live streaming directly from your camera to popular online platforms and any web destination. Stream with confidence using bonded 4G/5G connectivity and enjoy superior reliability and image quality up to 4K resolution. To learn more, contact Videoguys at 800-323-2325.Learn more herePodcast Rewind:Feb. 2026 - Ep. 116.Feature your products or services in this newsletter and reach 250K+ film and TV industry professionals. To learn more, please email mvalinsky@me.com Get full access to The Making Of at themakingof.substack.com/subscribe

We're opening the Love is Blind Vault from Minneapolis in preparation for next week's new season. This is a megalodoon of an episode. Timestamps are below Episode 1: "I Have a Husband" It's chilly in Minneapolis, but the pods are heating up. A few singles make strong first impressions, while others are already caught in love triangles. Episode 2: (01:13:43) "Open Hearts, Open Minds, Can't Lose" Potential couples learn how they're alike - and how they're not. As some participants juggle multiple suitors, one lovestruck pair makes it official. Episode 3:(02:39:20) "Hunger Games of Love" Heartbreak hangs in the balance as some singles face a tough question: Who is their No. 1 choice? Later, things get awkward in the women's quarters. Episode 4: (03:41:34) "So Your Girlfriend Has a Boyfriend" Dating in the pods gets serious: One couple talks politics, a flirty relationship fizzles out and a frustrated participant gives her suitor an ultimatum. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-Rob tries to follow the hearings on Capitol Hill as Scott Bessent fends off yelling Democrats who treat hearings like open-mic night for filibusters. -Erin Van Natta of the Daily Caller joins the show on the Newsmax Hotline, helping Rob roast Hollywood, Seattle's mayor, and the entertainment industry's ongoing audition to become The Hunger Games. Today's podcast is sponsored by : RELIEF FACTOR - You don't need to live with aches & pains! Reduce muscle & joint inflammation and live a pain-free life by visiting http://ReliefFactor.com  BIRCH GOLD - Protect and grow your retirement savings with gold. Text ROB to 98 98 98 for your FREE information kit! To call in and speak with Rob Carson live on the show, dial 1-800-922-6680 between the hours of 12 Noon and 3:00 pm Eastern Time Monday through Friday…E-mail Rob Carson at : RobCarsonShow@gmail.com Musical parodies provided by Jim Gossett (http://patreon.com/JimGossettComedy) Listen to Newsmax LIVE and see our entire podcast lineup at http://Newsmax.com/Listen Make the switch to NEWSMAX today! Get your 15 day free trial of NEWSMAX+ at http://NewsmaxPlus.com Looking for NEWSMAX caps, tees, mugs & more? Check out the Newsmax merchandise shop at : http://nws.mx/shop Follow NEWSMAX on Social Media:  -Facebook: http://nws.mx/FB  -X/Twitter: http://nws.mx/twitter -Instagram: http://nws.mx/IG -YouTube: https://youtube.com/NewsmaxTV -Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/NewsmaxTV -TRUTH Social: https://truthsocial.com/@NEWSMAX -GETTR: https://gettr.com/user/newsmax -Threads: http://threads.net/@NEWSMAX  -Telegram: http://t.me/newsmax  -BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/newsmax.com -Parler: http://app.parler.com/newsmax Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's the future but they are dressed like it's the past and all their cars are old timey??? Today we are talking about the movie adaptation of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. The cast is star studded, the movie had to make lots of changes because the book is long, and Lucy Gray maybe shouldn't sing ballads without some instruments. Also, if your boyfriend has a shaved head maybe don't sing a song about him being white and pure even if his last name is snow, it's just giving Nazi.WARNING: murder, child abuse, gun violenceBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/book-cult--5718878/support.

Send us a textConference Championship Weekend is here. Two games. Two very different pressure cookers.Patriots vs BroncosWith Bo Nix sidelined, Denver turns to Jarrett Stidham while the Patriots roll forward with Drake Maye.Rams vs SeahawksA true rivalry rematch.These teams split the regular season, both games decided by razor-thin margins.Beyond the games:• Baltimore finds its next head coach in Jesse Minter• FBI investigation surrounding Jim Irsay's death• NFL Awards finalists announced• Retirement rumors continue to swirl around some of the league's biggest namesWe're breaking it all down and making our picks... no hedging, no safety nets.No scripts.No filters.Just real reactions and real football talk.

Jared is back for Ticked Off Tuesday, begging people to keep weed smoke out of restaurant entrances and to stop treating the front of the coffee line like storytime. Then he spirals over Threads being less “fun alternative” and more “comics loudly arguing in public for sport.” A listener points out that one little snowstorm turns grocery stores into pre Hunger Games chaos, which… fair. Another vents about a networking call getting flaky canceled, and a newlywed discovers name changes make TSA PreCheck a bureaucratic nightmare. But the funniest rage is a brand new mom who's running on fumes while her husband randomly starts logging baby feedings in military time, sir, read the room!Jared is on tour!

In this message from At the Movies, Pastor David Hughes uses The Hunger Games as a backdrop to point to a greater story—the love of Christ given for the ungodly. Teaching from Romans 5 and throughout Scripture, this sermon reminds us that salvation is not earned through works, but received by grace through faith, leading us to peace with God and a transformed life.

Send a textThe storm didn't just drop ice; it dropped a hard stop on our calendars and a rare chance to breathe. We went from cabin fever to quiet focus, turning a shut-in week into a string of small wins: movie marathons with the kids, a first Lego build that doubled as stress therapy, and a YouTube deep dive into collecting that sparked a bigger conversation about value, memory, and why some objects become investments.We talk about staying sane when the driveway is a glacier, the kids want to brave the cold, and your only outing is shoveling a trampoline before it snaps. There's gratitude here too—road crews grinding through the night, utility teams keeping the lights steady, and store staff rebuilding shelves while short-handed. That behind-the-scenes work deserves more than a nod, so we gave it one. In between, we tackled home projects, sorted tools, prepped sermons, and set up livestream gear in a sprint against the weather. The house felt smaller, but time felt larger, and that shift made room for better conversations and shared screens that actually brought us closer.We also geek out with purpose: restarting the MCU with Iron Man, savoring that first Avengers tease, and plotting marathons from Hunger Games to Star Wars. A cracked TV can't stop the plan to game with the kids, because the point isn't high fidelity—it's showing up. On the collector side, we unpack why sealed games, retro consoles, and cards sometimes beat the market, and what that says about patience, scarcity, and storytelling. By week's end, routines return—school bells, sports, a new job start—but we carry forward the reset: more presence, less noise, and a fresh respect for the people who keep a town moving when the weather won't.If this resonates, tap follow, share it with a friend who needs a reset, and leave a quick review to help more listeners find the show. What's your go-to move when you're snowed in?Support the showPlease share and SUBSCRIBE!!!If you are able ... would you help us in becoming a subscriber and helping us get the word out. https://www.buzzsprout.com/1133780/supportThinking about starting a podcast. Check out our affiliate link here.Listen on apple hereFacebook Listen on Spotify here

On this episode of Currently Reading, Meredith and Kaytee are discussing: Bookish Moments: reviving the book space and recs from bookish friends Current Reads: all the great, interesting, and/or terrible stuff we've been reading lately Deep Dive: all things special editions The Fountain: we visit our perfect fountain to make wishes about our reading lives Show notes are time-stamped below for your convenience. Read the transcript of the episode (this link only works on the main site). .  .  .  1:39 - Our Bookish Moments Of The Week 2:35 - Currently Reading Patreon 4:16 - Currently Reading website to find your readerly type 5:03 - Sidedoor podcast 5:29 - Sidedoor Season 11 - Poison and Poisonability  6:50 - Our Current Reads 6:58 - Aftertaste by Daria Lavelle (Kaytee) 7:13 - @booksbybrady on instagram 11:02 - Voices in the Snow by Darcy Coates (Meredith) 14:51 - Gallows Hill by Darcy Coates 16:17 - Democracy Awakening by Heather Cox Richardson (Kaytee) 17:41 - These Truths by Jill Lapore 19:37 - Two Cures for Love by Wendy Cope (Meredith, amazon link) 23:58 - The Last Animal by Ramona Ausubel (Kaytee) 26:23 - Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton 26:54 - Bear by Julia Phillips 28:02 - For Whom the Belle Tolls by Jaysea Lynn (Meredith) 35:26 - Deep Dive: All About Special Editions 35:41 - Special Edition reel by Docofthedarkarts 36:16 - Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros (special edition) 36:33 - OwlCrate 36:34 - Fairyloot 36:38 - Satisfiction 37:40 - Foyles 38:47 - Still Life by Louise Penny (special edition) 41:01 - Eye of the World by Robert Jordan (leatherbound edition, pre-order out Feb 26, 2026) 41:45 - Hunger Games special edition box set 42:20 - The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas 42:24 - The Home-Maker by Dorothy Canfield Fisher 44:29 - The Poet Empress by Shen Tao (deluxe special edition) 46:42 - Meet Us At The Fountain 47:14 - I wish to press Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots (Kaytee) 47:15 - Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots 49:01 - For Whom the Belle Tolls by Jaysea Lynn 49:25 - Villain by Natalie Zina Walschots (pre-order, releases May 19, 2026) 50:25 - If you are feeling slumpy in your reading, I wish for you to get your eyes checked! (Meredith) Support Us: Become a Bookish Friend | Grab Some Merch Shop Bookshop dot org | Shop Amazon Bookish Friends Receive: The Indie Press List with a curated list of five books hand sold by the indie of the month. January's IPL is our annual visit to Fabled Bookshop in Waco, Texas. Love and Chili Peppers with Kaytee and Rebekah - romance lovers get their due with this special episode focused entirely on the best selling genre fiction in the business.  All Things Murderful with Meredith and Elizabeth - special content for the scary-lovers, brought to you with the behind-the-scenes insights of an independent bookseller From the Editor's Desk with Kaytee and Bunmi Ishola - a quarterly peek behind the curtain at the publishing industry The Bookish Friends Facebook Group - where you can build community with bookish friends from around the globe as well as our hosts Connect With Us: The Show: Instagram | Website | Email | Threads The Hosts and Regulars: Meredith | Kaytee | Mary | Roxanna Production and Editing: Megan Phouthavong Evans Affiliate Disclosure: All affiliate links go to Bookshop unless otherwise noted. Shopping here helps keep the lights on and benefits indie bookstores. Thanks for your support!

-Trump is portrayed storming Davos “like a boss,” leaving NATO elites looking like Hunger Games spectators who forgot their tribute had tariffs. Greenland stays in focus as the world's iciest real-estate power move. -Daniel Lipman of Politico joins via the Newsmax Hotline, gamely debating Greenland, tariffs, NATO, Gaza redevelopment, the Trump “sphere” planned for D.C., and — most combatively of all — the definition of real pizza. Today's podcast is sponsored by : RELIEF FACTOR - You don't need to live with aches & pains! Reduce muscle & joint inflammation and live a pain-free life by visiting http://ReliefFactor.com SHOPIFY - Stop waiting and start selling! Sign up now for your $1/month trial at http://shopify.com/newsmax BIRCH GOLD - Protect and grow your retirement savings with gold. Text ROB to 98 98 98 for your FREE information kit! To call in and speak with Rob Carson live on the show, dial 1-800-922-6680 between the hours of 12 Noon and 3:00 pm Eastern Time Monday through Friday…E-mail Rob Carson at : RobCarsonShow@gmail.com Musical parodies provided by Jim Gossett (http://patreon.com/JimGossettComedy) Listen to Newsmax LIVE and see our entire podcast lineup at http://Newsmax.com/Listen Make the switch to NEWSMAX today! Get your 15 day free trial of NEWSMAX+ at http://NewsmaxPlus.com Looking for NEWSMAX caps, tees, mugs & more? Check out the Newsmax merchandise shop at : http://nws.mx/shop Follow NEWSMAX on Social Media:  -Facebook: http://nws.mx/FB  -X/Twitter: http://nws.mx/twitter -Instagram: http://nws.mx/IG -YouTube: https://youtube.com/NewsmaxTV -Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/NewsmaxTV -TRUTH Social: https://truthsocial.com/@NEWSMAX -GETTR: https://gettr.com/user/newsmax -Threads: http://threads.net/@NEWSMAX  -Telegram: http://t.me/newsmax  -BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/newsmax.com -Parler: http://app.parler.com/newsmax Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode of Currently Reading, Meredith and Kaytee are discussing: Bookish Moments: experimenting with our reading and taking on choker books Current Reads: all the great, interesting, and/or terrible stuff we've been reading lately Deep Dive: answering the questions of how or why we rate our books The Fountain: we visit our perfect fountain to make wishes about our reading lives Show notes are time-stamped below for your convenience. Read the transcript of the episode (this link only works on the main site). .  .  .  2:39 - Our Bookish Moments of the Week 3:01- The Complete Stories by Flannery O'Connor 3:05 - Bookshelf Thomasville 3:07 - From the Front Porch podcast 3:31 - It by Stephen King 4:53 - Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (#1 in the Cromwell series) 5:30 - Footnotes and Tangents on Instagram 6:45 - The Stand by Stephen King 6:47 - Laura Tremaine on Substack 8:52 - Our Current Reads 9:00 - Matched by Ally Condie (Kaytee) 9:32 - The Giver by Lois Lowry 11:26 - The Selection by Kiera Cass 11:30 - The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins 13:04 - Turns of Fate by Anne Bishop (Meredith) 14:45 - The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett 18:15 - Cultish by Amanda Montell (Kaytee) 18:21 - Wordslut by Amanda Montell 21:52 - Creative Visualization by Shakti Gawain (Meredith) 23:00 - The Secret by Rhonda Byrne 23:35 - The Painted Porch 23:40 - The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holliday 26:05 - The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron 27:37 - When the Tides Held the Moon by Vanessa Vida Kelley (Kaytee) 30:43 - CAWPILE 31:38 - The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark (Meredith) 35:51 - The God of the Woods by Liz Moore 36:28 - The Last Flight by Julie Clark 36:50 - Deep Dive: How And Why We Rate Our Reads 37:53 - A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson 37:59 - Dante and Aristotle Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz 38:04 - Wives Like Us by Plum Sykes 38:14 - Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito  49:41 - CAWPILE system 51:53 - Meet Us At The Fountain 52:41 - I wish that we would all pick one small way to challenge our reading this year. (Kaytee) 54:23 - I wish you would sign up for our newsletter! (Meredith) 54:25 - Sign up for the newsletter on our website  Support Us: Become a Bookish Friend | Grab Some Merch Shop Bookshop dot org | Shop Amazon Bookish Friends Receive: The Indie Press List with a curated list of five books hand sold by the indie of the month. January's IPL is our annual visit to Fabled Bookshop in Waco, Texas. Love and Chili Peppers with Kaytee and Rebekah - romance lovers get their due with this special episode focused entirely on the best selling genre fiction in the business.  All Things Murderful with Meredith and Elizabeth - special content for the scary-lovers, brought to you with the behind-the-scenes insights of an independent bookseller From the Editor's Desk with Kaytee and Bunmi Ishola - a quarterly peek behind the curtain at the publishing industry The Bookish Friends Facebook Group - where you can build community with bookish friends from around the globe as well as our hosts Connect With Us: The Show: Instagram | Website | Email | Threads The Hosts and Regulars: Meredith | Kaytee | Mary | Roxanna Production and Editing: Megan Phouthavong Evans Affiliate Disclosure: All affiliate links go to Bookshop unless otherwise noted. Shopping here helps keep the lights on and benefits indie bookstores. Thanks for your support!

Jennifer Lawrence exploded onto the scene 15 years ago with an Oscar nomination for WINTER'S BONE. An Oscar win for SILVER'S LINING PLAYBOOK and an iconic role in THE HUNGER GAMES soon came after and there's been no looking back since. She joins Josh to reflect on it all and talk about her acclaimed new film DIE MY LOVE, now available on MUBI. Recorded at the 92nd Street Y. Check out the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Happy Sad Confused patreon here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! We've got discount codes to live events, merch, early access, exclusive episodes, video versions of the podcast, and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nicole and Sasheer are back with another extra-special episode of Best Friends! Our favorite duo gets into how they'd handle an extra-terrestrial encounter, what pirates are talking about when they say "shiver me timbers", and how everyone seems to be cutting corners lately except for Dave Thomas.Watch this full video on YouTube and follow below!Follow Nicole: Twitter, Instagram, TikTokFollow Sasheer: Instagram, TikTokLike the show? Rate Best Friends 5 stars on Spotify and Apple Podcasts!Have a friendship question for Nicole and Sasheer to solve? Leave us a voicemail at (323) 238-6554‬ or write in at nicoleandsasheer@gmail.com.Best Friends is a production of Headgum Studios. Our producer is Allie Kahan. Our executive producer is Anya Kanevskaya. The show is edited, mixed, and engineered by Richelle Chen.This is a Headgum podcast. Follow Headgum on Twitter, Instagram, and Tiktok. Advertise on Best Friends via Gumball.fm.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.