Every week, Tessa and Sam exorcise their personal pop culture demons by going through their media to-do lists one item at a time. Each week involves a discussion about the media they listened, watched, read, played, or experienced that week along with encouragement to continue tackling these backlogs. Plus bonus weekly episodes where one of the hosts reacts to a TV show that the other has forced them to watch.
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Björk: Debut, Homogenic, Vespertine, Biophilia, Utopia, and More!
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Are you ready for this? I'm not sure we were! Sam, Tessa, and Jarret talk about the Icelandic treasure that is Björk. We talked about several of her albums: Debut, . All is full of love! 16:00 - Debut 25:08 - Homogenic 47:30 - Vespertine 1:11:14 - Biophilia 1:29:00 - Utopia Jarret's YouTube Björk Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6O8R1i…
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Elyse joins us to discuss what they read for the April book club prompt. 00:00 - Book challenge updates from MoMBl regulars and listeners The April Prompt: Read a book written by a comedian, fiction or non-fiction. 00:05:27 - Elyse talks about Just One More Thing: Stories from My Life 00:19:52 - Sam talks about Ten Steps to Nanette: A Memoir Situat…
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Verhoeven: Robocop, Showgirls, Starship Troopers, Elle
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We finally did it...we made an entire episode about four of Paul Verhoeven's films. Matt joins us as we talk through Robocop, 'Showgirls, Starship Troopers, and Elle. 08:40 - Robocop 38:00 - Showgirls 1:07:03 - Starship Troopers 1:32:00 - ElleBy Tessa Swehla and Sam Morris
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In episode 25 of Sam Watches Star Trek, Sam and Tessa discuss the TNG season 2 premiere "The Child" and "Where Silence Has Lease."By Tessa Swehla and Sam Morris
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Emily from TVJawn joins us to talk about the first two seasons of the science fiction series, The Expanse. 00:00:41 - What was our previous history/knowledge with The Expanse? 00:12:20 - Character run-down 00:48:13 - Major themes 01:10:49 - The state of TV production today Join our discord community here: https://t.co/VXKe87hY6g…
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In our final Retro MoMBl episode, we revisit the end of the 13 Days of X-Men with 'The New Mutants,' featuring the always delightful Melissa.By Tessa Swehla and Sam Morris
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Sam and Tessa are off again this week, so here's another retro MoMBl. This week, we're getting hyped for 'Fast X' by revisiting our episode on 'Fast Five,' which is the first to feature superfan Megan. 02:23 - Holiday Cheer! 12:53 - Tessa, Sam, and Megan talk about the film. 45:08 - Fast Facts and Furious Stats…
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Sam and Tessa are off the next three weeks, so they decided to bring you three of their favorite retro episodes. To get you hyped for our upcoming Verhoeven episode with Matt, here is our Camp episode from last year for a refresher course on the camp aesthetic. 3:18 - What is camp? 14:42 - Barbarella 36:50 - Camp icons 42:43 - The Adventures of Pri…
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In the second part of our conversation about the 2023 Academy Awards, our producer Ryan joins us to talk about three films that were snubbed: Decision to Leave, Nope, and The Woman King. 00:00 - What is a snub? The Academy Awards and snubs 11:09 - The rules for nominating the Best International Feature Film catagory 19:14 - Decision to Leave 40:22 …
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This week, we wrap up season 5 with the two part finale "The Incident."By Tessa Swehla and Sam Morris
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MoMBl goes back to Oscars! Our Academy Award correspondents, Jack and Megan, are back with us to talk about the nominees for the 2023 edition of the Academy Awards. 02:30: Initial thoughts about the nominee field this year 09:09: Triangle of Sadness and Avatar 20:54: Best Animated Feature 27:40: All Quiet on the Western Front and The Banshees of In…
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This week, we're talking about season 5 episodes "The Variable" and "Follow the Leader."By Tessa Swehla and Sam Morris
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Matt joins us to discuss what he read for the February book club prompt. 00:00 - Book challenge updates from MoMBl regulars and listeners The February Prompt: Read a book about filmmaking of film history. 00: 9:56 - Matt talks about Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-and-Rock 'N Roll Generation Saved Hollywood. 00:45: 18 - Sam talks about…
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This week, we're talking about season 5 episodes "Dead Is Dead" and "Some Like It Hoth."By Tessa Swehla and Sam Morris
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Tessa and Sam are here to talk about the nominees (and winners) for the 2023 Grammy Awards. We listened to a lot of music this week, and Jarret, Ryan, and Melissa all popped in to help us out. 00:52 - Do the Grammys matter? Was Beyoncé robbed? 11:10 - ABBA, Adele, and Best New Artist 30:52 - Best Rock Categories 48:33 - Bad Bunny, Beyoncé, Mary J…
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Ryan joins us again to talk about the one of the all-time great directors: Spike Lee. We discuss three of his early films: Do the Right Thing, Crooklyn, and Clockers. 00:00:00 - Spike Lee and our history with his films 00:17:19 - Do the Right Thing 00:53:50 - Unofficial Delroy Lindo appreciation segment 00:59:56 - Crooklyn 01:33:21 - Clockers Join …
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Colby returns to talk with us about The Last of Us--the video game and the HBO adaptation starring Pedro Pascal! 01:06 - Catching up with Colby 07:37 - What kinds of video games we like to play 16:38 - Video game difficulty and gameplay styles 27:40 - The Last of Us (the game, but also the show, but also the zombie horror/survival genre and other t…
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01:10 - Why a book challenge? 06:30 - Things we've learned during the first month of the challenge The January Prompt: Read a book you've been meaning to read for a long time. 10:30 - January picks from Melissa (Bloody Jack by L.A. Meyer), Elyse (Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn), Jack (Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets by David Simon), and…
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If you wanna be our lover...then you gotta get with our friends. Lozy joins Tessa and Sam to talk '90s British girl groups as well as to dissect the stigma of "manufactured" pop. 00:02:19 - Our history with '90s British girl groups 00:06:47 - What are the characteristics of a '90s British girl group? 00:14:10 - Why do ppl look down on manufactured …
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To continue our mob duology, Elyse joins Sam and Tessa to talk about the HBO drama The Sopranos. Also, we test our new explicit content rating. 00:00 - Previous history with The Sopranos 19:51 - Premise and themes 59:25 - Characters 01:42:29 - Is Tony Soprano a bad person? 01:47:07 - Final thoughts Join our discord community here: https://t.co/VXKe…
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Call it The Godfather Trilogy. Call it a saga. Call it a duology plus a coda. Call it whatever you want, Melissa is here to talk with Sam and Tessa about Francis Ford Coppola's epic mob saga. 3:52 - First Impressions 19:00 - The Godfather 55:00 - The Godfather Part II 1:15:30 - The Godfather Part III 1:53:30 - Last Thoughts Join our discord communi…
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Welcome to Monkey off my Backlog, the podcast where we expand our pop culture horizons by exploring movies, music, television, and books that are new to us. Today’s episode is a preview of what’s to come on Monkey off My Backlog. Or as we’re calling it, MoMBl version 2.0. Don’t worry—we’re still tackling backlogs and exorcizing pop culture demons—b…
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11 Days of Star Wars: 'The Rise of Skywalker'
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It's that time of year where Sam and Tessa tackle one of their favorite franchises for the holiday season! Ryan is back to talk with us about the infamous final film in the Skywalker Saga, The Rise of Skywalker. Plus, find out what next year's holiday limited series will be about! 00:00:59 - Holidays in the After Times 00:25:15 - Is The Rise of Sky…
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11 Days of Star Wars: 'The Last Jedi'
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It's that time of year where Sam and Tessa tackle one of their favorite franchises for the holiday season! Join them this year as they watch all eleven of the 'Star Wars' films. In this episode, Jarret joins us to discuss why The Last Jedi is a sci-fi classic. 00:00:00 - Holidays in the After Times 00:04:59 - Is The Last Jedi good? First impression…
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11 Days of Star Wars: 'The Force Awakens'
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It's that time of year where Sam and Tessa tackle one of their favorite franchises for the holiday season! Join them this year as they watch all eleven of the 'Star Wars' films. In this episode, Lozy is back to tell us what he likes so much about The Force Awakens. 00:01:00 - Holidays in the After Times 00:07:06 - Is The Force Awakens good? First i…
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11 Days of Star Wars: 'Return of the Jedi'
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It's that time of year where Sam and Tessa tackle one of their favorite franchises for the holiday season! Join them this year as they watch all eleven of the 'Star Wars' films. In this episode, Elyse returns (get it?) to discuss the final installment of the original trilogy, Return of the Jedi. 00:02:00 - Holidays in the After Times 00:07:33 - Is …
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11 Days of Star Wars: 'The Empire Strikes Back'
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It's that time of year where Sam and Tessa tackle one of their favorite franchises for the holiday season! Join them this year as they watch all eleven of the 'Star Wars' films. In this episode, Melissa joins us to tell us why The Empire Strikes Back is a pretty good movie. Oh, and we're going to talk about The Star Wars Holiday Special as well. 00…
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It's that time of year where Sam and Tessa tackle one of their favorite franchises for the holiday season! Join them this year as they watch all eleven of the Star Wars films. In this episode, Lozy joins the gang to talk about the film that started it all: Star Wars. 00:01:42 - Holidays in the After Times 00:11:34 - Is Star Wars good? First impress…
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It's that time of year where Sam and Tessa tackle one of their favorite franchises for the holiday season! Join them this year as they watch all eleven of the 'Star Wars' films. Today, Jack joins us to talk all things Rogue One. 01:30 - Holidays in the After Times 3:32 - Is Rogue One: A Star Wars Story good? 15:47 - But really, is it good? Deep Div…
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It's that time of year where Sam and Tessa tackle one of their favorite franchises for the holiday season! Join them this year as they watch all eleven films of Star Wars. It's time for Solo with our Christmas elf Megan! 00:00 - Holidays in the After Times 8:11 - Is Solo: A Star Wars Story good? 18:48 - But really, is it good? Deep Dive into Solo 0…
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11 Days of Star Wars: 'Revenge of the Sith'
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It's that time of year where Sam and Tessa tackle one of their favorite franchises for the holiday season! Join them this year as they watch all eleven films of Star Wars. It's time for Revenge of the Sith with podcast regular and silent producer Ryan. 1:00 - Holidays in the After Times 5:26 - Is Episode III: Revenge of the Sith good? 19:25 - But r…
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11 Days of Star Wars: 'Attack of the Clones'
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On the second day of the 11 Days of Star Wars, Elyse is with us to talk about 'Attack of the Clones.' Plus 'The Clone Wars' and 'From Puppets to Pixels.' 1:20 - Holidays in the After Times 6:07 - Is Episode II: Attack of the Clones good? 15:40 - But really, is it good? Deep Dive into Attack of the Clones 1:19:36 - Meanwhile, Somewhere that Isn't Ta…
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11 Days of Star Wars: 'The Phantom Menace'
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It's that time of year where Sam and Tessa tackle one of their favorite franchises for the holiday season! Join them this year as they watch all eleven films of Star Wars. First film up is Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Plus Tales of the Jedi and The Beginning. 3:44 - Holidays in the After Times 8:18 - Is Episode I: The Phantom Menace good? 28:24 -…
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This week, we're talking about season 5 episodes "He's Our You" and "Whatever Happened, Happened."By Tessa Swehla and Sam Morris
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A Very Special MoMBl Christmas LIVE!
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In this very special Christmas episode, Elyse joins us to talk about 'Christmas in Connecticut,' 'The Muppet Christmas Carol,' and 'Little Women' (1994). 3:30 - The enduring popularity of Christmas movies 11:21 - Christmas in Connecticut 35:15 - What makes a movie a Christmas movie? 46:00 - The Muppet Christmas Carol 1:10:20 - Our favorite Christma…
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This week, we're talking about season 5 episodes "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham," "Lafleur," and "Namaste."By Tessa Swehla and Sam Morris
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For our last (for now) week of Noirvember, Jack joins us to discuss three neo-noir films of the 21st century: Drive, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, and Brick. 01:00 - 21st century noir 12:17 - Drive 34:30 - Before the Devil Knows You're Dead 47:22 - What do we want noir to look like in the future 57:10 - Brick…
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For Noirvember Week 3, Matt is with us to talk about the connections between film noir and erotic thrillers as well as to discuss three 1990s noir films: Basic Instinct, Devil in a Blue Dress, and Out of Sight. 3:52 - Noir in the 90s 19:00 - Basic Instinct 1:09:00 - Devil in a Blue Dress 1:38:47 - Elmore Leonard 1:45:30 - Out of Sight…
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This week, we're talking about season 5 episodes "This Place Is Death" and "316."By Tessa Swehla and Sam Morris
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Next up on our Noirvember series: Ryan joins us to discuss neo-noir and three 1980s noir films: Blood Simple, Body Double, and Blue Velvet. 3:20 - What is neo-noir? 14:21 - Blood Simple 31:16 - Neo-noir tropes and aesthetics 38:50 - Body Double 1:00:52 - Blue VelvetBy Tessa Swehla and Sam Morris
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This week, we're talking about season 5 episodes "Jughead" and "The Little Prince."By Tessa Swehla and Sam Morris
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Moving on from Spooktober, it's now Noirvember. Join us as we discuss three 1940s film noir classics: Double Indemnity, Laura, and The Lady from Shanghai. 1:30 - What is film noir? 19:36 - Double Indemnity 42:00 - 1940s noir tropes 52:58 - Laura 1:10:54 - The Lady from ShanghaiBy Tessa Swehla and Sam Morris
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We're back to talk about Season 5! This week, we're talking about two-part premiere, "Because You Left" and "The Lie."By Tessa Swehla and Sam Morris
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Tessa and Sam are joined by Emily of TVJawn to discuss Anne Rice and her legacy in vampire and horror fiction, including the Interview with The Vampire novel and AMC adaptation as well as the novel The Witching Hour. 3:40 - Anne Rice and her legacy in vampire and horror fiction 18:04 - Interview with the Vampire (novel) 41:46 - Interview with the V…
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Tessa and Sam are by former host Andy to talk about three TV shows that bring Spooktober to the small screen: Evil, The Vampire Diaries, and Scream. 2:15 - What is horror TV, anyway? 7:50 - The Vampire Diaries 31:06 - Big names in horror TV 40:32 - Scream 49:40 - Evil 1:30:43 - The Mummy (1959)By Tessa Swehla and Sam Morris
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In episode 24 of Sam Watches Star Trek, Sam and Tessa discuss the TNG episode "Conspiracy" and the season 1 finale "The Neutral Zone." Plus, Lower Decks and the season 2 finale of Picard. Join us next week for Tessa Watches Lost: Tessa watches the first two episodes of season 5 of Lost.By Tessa Swehla and Sam Morris
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Tessa and Sam are joined by Elyse of the Pod-wraiths podcast to talk the classic Hammer Horror team-ups of Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing: The Curse of Frankenstein, The Horror of Dracula, and The Mummy. 1:55 - Introduction to Hammer Horror 12:57 - The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) 44:31 - Universal v Hammer 52:02 - The Horror of Dracula (1958) 1…
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In episode 23 of Sam Watches Star Trek, Sam and Tessa discuss the TNG episodes "Skin of Evil" and "We'll Always Have Paris."By Tessa Swehla and Sam Morris
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Son of Spooktober: Creature Features
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Tessa and Sam are joined by Melissa to talk about creatures--from the Black Lagoon (Creature from the Black Lagoon), from Outer Space (The Thing), and from...dusty formaldehyde bottles (The Host)? 2:30 - Intro to Creature Features and Universal Horror 14:08 - Creature from the Black Lagoon 42:15 - A Brief History of Creatures Features 47:38 - The T…
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In episode 22 of Sam Watches Star Trek, Sam and Tessa discuss the TNG episodes "Heart of Glory" and "Symbiosis."By Tessa Swehla and Sam Morris
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