A Bit Much

Stardust weaves a beautiful and complex story drawing on fairytale lore, but also incorporates mature concepts. Jenna complains about some dollar-store plastic flowers. Megan is cheated by Jeff Bezos. We are both suckers for a good love story and an adorable young Charlie Cox.

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Music:

Happy Rock by BENSOUND
http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music
Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported— CC BY 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Up In My Jam (All Of A Sudden) by Kubbi
https://soundcloud.com/kubbi
Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported— CC BY-SA 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Music provided by Audio Library https://youtu.be/tDexBj46oNI

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Danish Girl is a fictionalized retelling of the life of Lili Elbe, a trans woman in 1920's Europe, and one of the first people to undergo sex reassignment surgeries. We talk a lot about identity and gender, what is biographical versus what is imagined, and how vehemently we disagree on the importance of setting. Jenna highlights the worst visual metaphor she has ever seen, and Megan explains the joy of being part of the queer community.

Content warnings: surgery, reproductive organs, transphobia and homophobia, violence against trans people, death.

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Music:

Happy Rock by BENSOUND
http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music
Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported— CC BY 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Up In My Jam (All Of A Sudden) by Kubbi
https://soundcloud.com/kubbi
Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported— CC BY-SA 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Music provided by Audio Library https://youtu.be/tDexBj46oNI

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode we dip back into Jane Austen's oeuvre and discuss Sense and Sensibility. Topics include How to Tell a Man is a Scoundrel, the romantic power of locks of hair, and medical practices of the early 19th century.

Music:

Happy Rock by BENSOUND
http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music
Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported— CC BY 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Up In My Jam (All Of A Sudden) by Kubbi
https://soundcloud.com/kubbi
Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported— CC BY-SA 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Music provided by Audio Library https://youtu.be/tDexBj46oNI

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, we discuss Roald Dahl's Fantastic Mr Fox, and Wes Anderson's more expansive take on the story. Megan points out that even humans are animals. Jenna praises some incredible lines from the movie. We discuss the fascinating complexity of many characters, and question just how fantastic Mr. Fox is.

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Music:

Happy Rock by BENSOUND
http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music
Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported— CC BY 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Up In My Jam (All Of A Sudden) by Kubbi
https://soundcloud.com/kubbi
Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported— CC BY-SA 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Music provided by Audio Library https://youtu.be/tDexBj46oNI

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is about four teenage friends who go their separate ways for the summer, each experiencing their own trials and triumphs, and remaining connected by a pair of potentially-magic jeans. Jenna finds some linguistic issues to get upset about. Megan feels called out by how passive-aggressive one character is. Neither of us can remember exactly what species of rodent played a pivotal role in the novel.

Content Warning: This story includes topics such as terminal illness, depression and suicide, and sex between a 19-year-old and an underage teenager.

Music:

Happy Rock by BENSOUND
http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music
Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported— CC BY 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Up In My Jam (All Of A Sudden) by Kubbi
https://soundcloud.com/kubbi
Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported— CC BY-SA 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Music provided by Audio Library https://youtu.be/tDexBj46oNI

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For our Halloween episode, we discuss Shutter Island, a psychological thriller about an investigation at a psychiatric facility where something is not quite right. We cover subjects like the power of love, cycles of violence, and interpretations of reality. Ultimately, trauma might have been the true villain all along.

Content warning: It's a horror story with a lot of of heavy topics, such as - a lot of death, including the death of children; mentions of World War II and concentration camps; suicidal tendencies; mental illness and the dehumanization of the mentally ill.

Jenna's recall of historical events she knows almost nothing about is less than perfect - here's the Wikipedia page for the Dachau liberation reprisals for more comprehensive, accurate info.

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Music:

Happy Rock by BENSOUND
http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music
Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported— CC BY 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Up In My Jam (All Of A Sudden) by Kubbi
https://soundcloud.com/kubbi
Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported— CC BY-SA 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Music provided by Audio Library https://youtu.be/tDexBj46oNI

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nightflyers is a sci-fi novella written by George R. R. Martin, adapted into a movie in 1987. We discuss Martin's masterful world-building, get into some ethical conundrums involving clones, and try to determine how space works, armed only with the knowledge that pop culture has given us.

Music:

Happy Rock by BENSOUND
http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music
Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported— CC BY 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Up In My Jam (All Of A Sudden) by Kubbi
https://soundcloud.com/kubbi
Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported— CC BY-SA 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Music provided by Audio Library https://youtu.be/tDexBj46oNI

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Brokeback Mountain was a critically acclaimed and groundbreaking movie that was ruthlessly ridiculed by many middle schoolers. It's a story about two men who fall in love, and the deep dissatisfaction that their relationship will always evoke due to their circumstances. We discuss the inability to identify as something you have no concept of, the motivating power of fear, and how romantic tending to a wound can be. Megan forgets the word "visible." Jenna recounts the terribly awkward way in which she viewed the movie.

Music:

Happy Rock by BENSOUND
http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music
Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported— CC BY 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Up In My Jam (All Of A Sudden) by Kubbi
https://soundcloud.com/kubbi
Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported— CC BY-SA 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Music provided by Audio Library https://youtu.be/tDexBj46oNI

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this anniversarial episode of A Bit Much, we take on the joy and terror of The Lightning Thief. This first entry in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series is an excellent book for all ages, with a movie adaptation that, except for a single humorous line, is pretty painful to watch. Jenna appreciates the narrative use of prophesy. Megan gets upset by an excessively convenient map.

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Music: 

Happy Rock by BENSOUND
http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music
Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported— CC BY 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Up In My Jam (All Of A Sudden) by Kubbi
https://soundcloud.com/kubbi
Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported— CC BY-SA 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Music provided by Audio Library https://youtu.be/tDexBj46oNI

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Wild is a memoir that tells of Cheryl Strayed hiking the Pacific Crest Trail in order to fix her mess of a life. It's a story about resilience, forgiveness, and blisters. Like, a lot of blisters, and a variety of other physical ailments. Jenna reminds us of some sad scenes. Megan longs for Snapple lemonade. We consider whether this kind of venture will always result in personal epiphany.

Content warning: this story deals with heavy themes that we discuss throughout, including drug use, death (of people and animals), and the potential threat of sexual assault.

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Music:

Happy Rock by BENSOUND
http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music
Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported— CC BY 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Up In My Jam (All Of A Sudden) by Kubbi
https://soundcloud.com/kubbi
Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported— CC BY-SA 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Music provided by Audio Library https://youtu.be/tDexBj46oNI

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.