Existential Shred

By Levi and Jordan

Discussing media that makes you feel sad, bad, and generally not rad.... more

· TV & Film

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FAQs about Existential Shred:

How many episodes does Existential Shred have?

The podcast currently has 14 episodes available.

Existential Shred episodes:

April 04, 2025 What’s Going On - I
On this episode of What’s Going On we decide to take a step away from examining some existential horrors and just talk about the existential horrors of our own lives.
Topics include:
Marvel Rivals, Pokemon Showdown, Captain America: Brave New World, will the MCU ever die, Companion, Stephen King’s The Monkey, Mickey 17, the nightmare of having to get up to use the bathroom in a movie theatre, the jubilation that is sneaking multiple ice cold Iron City beers into a movie theatre, progressive bluegrass (thanks Levi), jazz fusion (thanks Levi), the band Organ Freeman (3 for 3 there Levi…),the new Lady Gaga album, the new Russian Village Boys album, the new clipping album, Robert McCammon’s novel Stinger, Emily St. John Mandel’s novel The Lola Quartet, some other nerdy sci-fi books, and how America ruined Godzilla.
Phew… a lot of topics going on here.
Insta: @existentialshredcast
Theme Song: SWISS by D3adrum (Insta: @d3adrum)
Artwork by Garlic Hero (Insta: @thegarlichero)
...more
57min
March 21, 2025 Ep. 10 - You Were Never Really Here
Well he's gone and done it again, Levi has picked another topic that has given us polarizing views, maybe he really does hate doing the cast, maybe he just enjoys making Jordan sit through things he won't like. Who are we to really say?
Join us as we discuss Lynne Ramsay’s 2017 crime thriller “You Were Never Really Here” about a deeply disturbed veteran who saves girls from human trafficking rings. I know what you are thinking but no this isn't Taxi Driver
Insta: @existentialshredcast
Theme Song: SWISS by D3adrum (Insta: @d3adrum)
Artwork by Garlic Hero (Insta: @thegarlichero)
...more
58min
March 07, 2025 Our Top 5 Favorite Albums of All-Time
On this week's episode, we talk about our Top 5 Favorite Albums of All-Time, which should come as no surprise since you saw the episode title.
What should come as a surprise to you is that historians have almost unanimously agreed that the year 536 CE (or AD if you’re still into that) was the worst year in human history to be alive.
Let’s start off with the big dawg in this whole conversation, there was a volcanic eruption that caused a VOLCANIC WINTER. What kind of land before time type of disaster is that!? Turns out that the volcanic eruption was so bad that it actually caused the average temperature in Europe and China to fall to the point where they experienced crop failure and famine for over a year. It’s not like they could just order something on GrubHub either, I mean this era literally just figured out what static electricity was from rubbing amber with silk.
All the while, the Byzantine Empire was waging war on the Goths over in Italy-land because they were tired of listening to The Cure and being mandated by the government to wear Tripp pants and studded belts.
Don’t even get me started on the mutiny that was happening in Carthage (now Tunisia).
Also, I know what you’re thinking. “But Existential Shred, what about 1346 when the Black Plague was decimating Europe’s population?” Which is a valid question, but that volcano really messed things up for a while for a lot of people.
If you’re really curious check out the podcast “Oral Presentations” episode 47 “The Worst Year to Be Alive”. Unironically, it’s my favorite podcast of all time and you can say you listened to something educational today if you do.
Anyway… oh yeah, we talk about 5 albums that we would call “pretty great”.
Insta: @existentialshredcast
Theme Song: SWISS by D3adrum (Insta: @d3adrum)
Artwork by Garlic Hero (Insta: @thegarlichero)
...more
50min
February 21, 2025 Ep. 9 David Berman & Purple Mountains
“A second New York is being built
a little west of the old one.
Why another, no one asks,
just build it, and they do.
The city is still closed off
to all but the work crews
who claim it’s a perfect mirror image.
Truthfully, each man works on the replica
of the apartment building he lives in,
adding new touches,
like cologne dispensers, rock gardens,
and doorknobs marked for the grand hotels.
Improvements here and there, done secretly
and off the books. None of the supervisors
notice or mind. Everyone’s in a wonderful mood,
joking, taking walks through the side streets
that the single reporter allowed inside has described as
“unleavened with reminders of the old city’s complicated past,
but giving off some blue perfume from the early years of earth.”
The men grow to love the peaceful town.
It becomes more difficult to return home at night,
which sets the wives to worrying.
The yellow soups are cold, the sunsets quick.
The men take long breaks on the fire escapes,
waving across the quiet spaces to other workers
meditating on their perches.
Until one day…
The sky fills with charred clouds.
Toolbelts rattle in the rising wind.
Something is wrong.
A foreman stands in the avenue
pointing binoculars at a massive gray mark
moving towards us in the eastern sky.
Several voices, What, What is it?
Pigeons, he yells through the wind.”
“New York, New York” by David Berman
Insta: @existentialshredcast
Theme Song: SWISS by D3adrum (Insta: @d3adrum)
Artwork by Garlic Hero (Insta: @thegarlichero)
...more
55min
February 07, 2025 Ep. 8 - Princess Mononoke
どれだけ頑張っても
君は僕を押しのけ続ける
そして僕は突破できない
君と話すことはできない
君が去ってしまうのはとても悲しい
それを信じるのに時間がかかる
でも結局
君は孤独になるんだ、ああ
愛の後の人生を信じるか？
僕の心の中で何かが言っているのを感じる
君は本当に強くないと思う、いや
愛の後の人生を信じるか？
僕の心の中で何かが言っているのを感じる
君は本当に強くないと思う、いや
僕は何をすればいいの？
座って君を待つ？
そう、それはできない
そして後戻りはできない
前に進むには時間が必要だ
強くなるには愛が必要だ
なぜなら僕はそれをじっくり考える時間があったから
そして僕は君にはもったいないのかもしれない、ああ

Insta: @existentialshredcast
Theme Song: SWISS by D3adrum (Insta: @d3adrum)
Artwork by Garlic Hero (Insta: @thegarlichero)
...more
1h 10min
January 24, 2025 Ep. 7 - Curse of the Man Who Sees UFOs
Today on “Ancient Aliens”, we discuss the curious case of Monterey Bay’s own Christo Roppolo and his extraordinary claims of mass Unidentified Flying Object activity in the idyllic California town.
You might be curious, what is it we’re dealing with here? The Grays? The Mantis’? Surely it can’t be the Venusians, can it?! Psh, what is this amateur hour… what we got is an outbreak of Stinkleberry’s, Eggmen, and Woowoos.
If we can get down to brass tacks though, the footage of our Alien Overlords isn’t even the best part of this here documentary. I know it sounds ridiculous, but the real selling point is an intimate dissection of a man with extraordinary claims and somehow an even more extraordinarily tragic life. Can he make his mark on the world with out of this world claims and overcome the unexpected left turns his life continued to make? I guess the only way to find out is to watch the documentary that was made about him then listen to 2 random guys talk about it for roughly 40 minutes. Which, if you think about it in a meta sort of way, can basically answer the question without even having to do either of those things.
Insta: @existentialshredcast
Theme Song: SWISS by D3adrum (Insta: @d3adrum)
Artwork by Garlic Hero (Insta: @thegarlichero)
...more
44min
January 10, 2025 Ep. 6 - Older (and Wiser) by Lizzie McAlpine
Well, it’s been a fun ride. After 5 Shred-pisode’s and 2 mini-shreds, our mighty media empire crumbles before our very eyes… and it’s all because we don’t enjoy Lizzy McAlpine’s “Older (and Wiser)” to the same magnitude. Why would Levi sabotage us like this? Did he want the cast to end? Is it because he hasn’t emotionally recovered from watching “The Whale”? I mean, if we don’t have the exact same opinions on what we talk about, what’s even the point?
Tune in to hear the vitriolic, venom filled back and forth about the merits of an artist who finally gets to create a piece of art that reflects the inner turmoil of a failing relationship and how her own sense of self changes throughout without the interference of a Record Label looking to pump out TikTok soundbites for kids to put behind planking photo montages or whatever those little idiots are doing.
Let our tombstone read:
RIP Existential Shred (2024 - 2025)
“In the path of righteousness is life, and in its pathway there is no death.”

Insta: @existentialshredcast
Theme Song: SWISS by D3adrum (Insta: @d3adrum)
Artwork by Garlic Hero (Insta: @thegarlichero)
...more
58min
January 03, 2025 Our Favorite Music Releases of 2024
It’s that time of the year again where in order to safely complete the last leg of our rotation around the Sun, we must lull the Sun into a state of unassuming bliss by compiling lists of all of our favorite things that happened during this rotation. Which, of course, we know is what has kept it from initiating the “Red Giant Phase” of its life cycle and completely destroying every last trace that we ever were and ensuring that we will never be again.
We’re doing our part here at Existential Shred by offering up another off week episode dedicated to our favorite musical releases of 2024 to the almighty Sun deity.
About halfway through Levi’s dogs Molly and Ruby also start chiming in from the yard outside, so apologies for that. They don’t understand that out of the almost 7,000 languages spoken here on Earth, the Sun doesn’t quite understand dog.
Insta: @existentialshredcast
Theme Song: SWISS by D3adrum (Insta: @d3adrum)
Artwork by Garlic Hero (Insta: @thegarlichero)
...more
27min
December 27, 2024 Ep. 5 - The Whale
Strap in Ishmael, on today’s episode we talk about “The Whale or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love The Bird” which is the latest entry in Darren Aronofsky’s long line of films that are known, for various reasons, to elicit extremely visceral reactions from the audience.
Charlie, our main character and a recluse college writing instructor, is likely living the last week of his life. Before it’s over he is visited by an End Time’s religious missionary, a pizza delivery man named Dan, and his estranged teenage daughter. Tragedy, mystery, and redemption are the main drivers of this unfortunate slice of life we are given the opportunity to take a look into.
From its beginnings as a single set stage play to its 10 year transformation into a single set movie we’ll discuss how this movie came to be, some technical aspects of the filmmaking process, and even dive into some symbolic analysis of the movie’s most interesting character… a bird.
Insta: @existentialshredcast
Theme Song: SWISS by D3adrum (Insta: @d3adrum)
Artwork by Garlic Hero (Insta: @thegarlichero)
...more
1h
December 24, 2024 Seasonal Shred - Christmas Music & More
Scene: It’s late November.
Establishing Shot, Internal: A person walking into Target.
Close Up Shot of protagonists: We see their eyes darting back and forth, pupils widening in what the audience understands as fear.
Dutch Angle Shot: The Starbucks employee removing the sign for Pumpkin Spice Lattes to quickly replace it with a sign promoting the seasonal Peppermint Mocha.
Our protagonist begins to sweat, we follow a single bead of sweat rolling from their forehead to their temple. They know the season is upon them.
They retrieve a shopping cart and begin walking when over the loud speaker, a familiar sound begins to play. It’s reminiscent of a musical box, but instead of lulling them to sleep it signals the beginning of the end.
That’s when we hear the all too familiar “I don’t want a lot for Christmas…”
Our protagonist falls to their knees in utter defeat and anguish, it’s over. The end times are here. Christmas music is upon us and there’s nothing we can do but accept our fate as the captive audience for Mariah Carey’s annual vampiric ritual of stealing all of our collective psychic energy through the prevalence of her siren song in every facet of our lives.
Insta: @existentialshredcast
Theme Song: SWISS by D3adrum (Insta: @d3adrum)
Artwork by Garlic Hero (Insta: @thegarlichero)
...more
38min

FAQs about Existential Shred:

How many episodes does Existential Shred have?

The podcast currently has 14 episodes available.