Could Be Worse

We're back in the realm of YA with MATCHED by Ally Condie! We talk horse girls, classic tropes, and eminently reasonable teens, and Bridget flabberghasts Caitlin to an unprecedented level.

It's time to dig into READY PLAYER ONE! We discuss gatekeeping, fighting with Ernest, and Wade deeply missing the point. Bridget brings additional literature from the Cline canon to the table, and Caitlin loses her mind.

YOU READY TO GET WEIRD? This week, your devoted hosts grapple with the bizarre and wonderful Finnish book THE CORE OF THE SUN by Johanna Sinisalo. Will this be the most contentious Sweetie ever crowned? How much do you know about the history and language of Finland? What's the worst thing a dude's ever said to you? It's time to get SPICY.

It’s time for H.G. WELLS’ THE TIME MACHINE, and with this Very Special Episode, we have gently lost the plot. Join us as we create our dream cast for a Time Machine film, learn new vocabulary from the olden times, and draw out the recondite name origins of the biggest boy band in recent memory from this literary classic.

We’re back in the land of teens with Scott Westerfeld’s UGLIES! Wicked stunts, crazy pranks, compulsory surgery, and brain lesions. What’s not to love? Also, explore the world of classic high school doodle habits, experience Bridget’s DEEPLY upsetting in-depth knowledge of the world of surgical media, and hear what Caitlin would sound like as a teetotaler mouse. Jiminy!

An unexpected run-in with a short story instead of a novel has produced our most film-centric episode yet! Embrace the early 2000s in all their high-contrast, blue-tinted filmic glory as we supplement Phillip K. Dick's THE MINORITY REPORT with Tom Cruise's performance in the film of the (roughly) same name. Puke batons! Performative Catholicism! The ravenous kisses of elderly botanists! It's got the hot cinematic accoutrement you crave.

Also, what does Vicki Lawrence look like, again? It's Could Be Worse!

Hello, and welcome to the episode with the most heinous introduction I hope we ever do. Who's your new dad? What's inside your dog? Do they LIKE it? Let's never speak of this again! We'll talk about this week's book instead - Suzanne Young's teen suicide dystopian, THE PROGRAM, or How Not To Relate To Teens! We talk about how our teachers related to us, high school experiences of lascivious scenes in classroom films, and some classic lit crit about THE MANY WAYS THIS BOOK REALLY COULDA DONE SOMETHING ELSE.

Woah baby, a late one! Technical difficulties lead us to a summer camp world of literary analysis, replete with crackling fire and raucous cricket chorus. Join us as we revel in the incredible world of Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde, berate this beloved author far too much, and take a strong stance on AI: Artificial Intelligence, Secondhand Lions, and Opus the Penguin, in the sweetest lil’ media daisy chain you’ve ever heard recorded.

Deck the halls with human folly! It’s a very merry krangle from Bridget and Caitlin! In celebration of Bridget’s return to the greatest land on earth, Washington State, we go on a special bonus journey of wine, marzipan, and human despair with a comparative study of the graphic novel Snowpiercer and its movie adaptation. Caitlin’s fairytale outlook, Bridget’s insatiable bloodlust, and a general understanding that babies taste best. Escape the overstimulation of your holiday party and get swept away in a winter nightmarescape.

This week, we're chewing into M.T. Anderson’s Feed, in perhaps our most harrowing future yet because WE ARE SO CLOSE TO LIVING IT. Foregoing personal updates in favor of exploring and rectifying Caitlin’s total lack of understanding about video games and Bridget’s affection for Spyro, we then delve deep into the meat of Anderson’s richly developed world. Only we almost immediately get distracted by other books we’ve read and tales of schoolday horrors from yesteryear. This one is a forest of tangents, guys, but I promise we cover the best of the book under that ol’ canopy. Plus, a more robust definition of our weekly sweetie and a deep dive into integrated tech in the research section. Join us, won’t you?

Research Resources:

https://www.npr.org/programs/invisibilia/385792677/our-computers-ourselves

https://www.nbcnews.com/think/amp/ncna816886

https://techcrunch.com/2017/09/08/meet-the-tech-company-that-wants-to-make-you-even-more-addicted-to-your-phone/

https://www.1843magazine.com/features/the-scientists-who-make-apps-addictive