Frank & Sense

Sometimes ordinary people get swept up into extraordinary events. This is one of those stories.

On October 7th, 2023, Liat Benin and her husband Aviv were kidnapped from their kibbutz in Israel and taken to Gaza. In the aftermath, Liat's family embarks on a mission to advocate for their release, while refusing to let their captivity be used to justify violence in Gaza.

Brandon and Lance Kramer are documentarians and the co-founders of Meridian Hill Pictures. They are also relatives of Liat. In the aftermath of her kidnapping, they traveled to Israel to document events as they unfolded and recorded over 400 hours of footage. The film that emerged is called Holding Liat, and it is screening across the country now.

Brandon and Lance sat down with Frank for an interview about the film and discussed having conversations around lines of difference, empathy and care, and processing grief through art.

Please visit their website for more information about the film and check out this website for tickets and showtimes.

Shhhh...it's our QUIETEST podcast ever. It's the final week of Jakeuary, and this week we're (very quietly) talking about a very quiet movie: the 2018 John Krasinski film A Quiet Place. It's also Jake's flu game episode! The boys talk about Krasinski, Emily Blunt, whether the monsters are just being cranky, sexual performance in the post-apocalypse, the use of sound and silence in the film, being gassy in the world of A Quiet Place, and much much more. Plus, we play a game of Name That Sound. Join us...if you dare!

He can fly, he can fight, and he can P-P-PODCAST! Join Frank, Jake, and Becca Barish for a bangarang good time as we fly away to Never Land and discuss the 1991 Steven Spielberg classic "Hook!" We discuss Spielberg, Robin Williams, Peter Pan, and oh so much more. Topics include movies vs film, green goo, how this movie changed Jake and Becca's lives, The Boo Box, Tinkerhell, mad dads, sexual awakenings, and oh so much more. RU-FI-O! RU-FI-O! RU-FI-O!

Jakeuary continues and this week the weather report is Cloudy with a Chance of PODCAST! This week, Frank, Jake, and special guest Jay Kasten join together to talk about a truly tasty little treat of a movie, the 2009 film "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs." We talk about the book, meatballs themselves, Jake's thoughts on hot food, plates vs. bowls, Lord & Miller, and much much more. It's a movie that genuinely impacted Jay's career and his life as a writer, and we get a chance to hear about that. We also ask the important questions, like: Would you eat the sky food? Grab a ratbird, a can of spray on shoes, and join the fun!

Our national nightmare is over - Jakeuary is back, everyone! Jake Frelick returns to the show with another batch of movies to discuss, and today we begin with the overlooked 2011 film "Hanna" starring Ladybird herself, Saoirse Ronan. It's a fun movie about a child super soldier on a quest for revenge. No, but it really is fun! Frank and Jake talk about the Chemical Brothers score, director Joe Wright (who mostly does costume dramas), great whistling movies, and, of course, Eric Bana. Grab some popcorn and join us for a Hanna bonanza!

Welcome to Podlatro: The Podcast About Balatro! For the final episode of 2025, Frank is joined by a couple of buffoons - Michael Saltzman, Jay Kasten, and Zach Latta - to discuss the 2024 video game Balatro. If you’ve never heard of it, you’ll learn alllllll about it on this episode. And it’ll give you a Balat-tro think about! It’s a card game with a twist, and it’s one of the most addicting and interesting stories in gaming recent memory. 

We talk about our history with video games, poker, give an overview of Balatro, and learn a bit about its history and development. In the second part, we actually play through a run of the game. We also talk Herbie Hancock, toxic traits, the rat race, PEMDAS, synergy, and so much more. It’s one of our stupidest and best episodes of all time. Now THIS is podcasting! Available with video on either Spotify or YouTube!

THANK GOODNESS!!! I couldn't be happier! Becca Ballinger and Rebecca Wahls join the show again to return to the land of Oz and talk about the 2025 film Wicked: For Good. We are obsessulated with this movie (which is a sequel to a movie of a musical of a book of a movie of a book). We discuss everything - female friendship, sex cardigans, the blue horsie, the decision to split the musical into two movies, and much more. Plus, we share a voice memo from my niece Addie, reviews from a few listeners, and play a game at the end. It's a podcast that can simply be described as...wonderful!

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Gobble gobble! It's our first ever Thanksgiving episode, and I'm thrilled to welcome Aaron Killian to the show. Aaron is a historian and the owner of Historic America, a business that does guided tours of historical places in DC and across the mid Atlantic. He’s also a self described conservative, in the classic, traditional sense. We discuss all sorts of things, including how conservatism is based on gratitude, how politicians will always let you down, and, of course, Warren G. Harding's penis.

Things Aaron mentions:

• The Dispatch
• American Covenant: How the Constitution Unified Our Nation - And Could Again by Yuval Levin
• A Place in Time

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Wootton High School Class of 2005 Vice President Scott Leighty joins the show and we have a LOT to talk about! Scott calls out "fan favorite" guests Sasha Felikson, Ross Godwin, and Mitch Lerner. We then talk senior superlatives, our upcoming 20 year reunion, and whether our lives turned out the way we imagined them when we graduated from high school. Plus, we talk about the Tony Kornheiser Show, and Scott's place in the mythology of that show. La Cheeserie!

Returning champion Ross Godwin is back on the show and we're here to try out (and discuss) some new ideas! We try out three new segment ideas for the show, and we have a whole bunch of laughs along the way. Topics include John Thune, Cool Girls for Capitalism, Donkey Kong, Star Trek (and the Tholians), and Revenge of the Sith. All of that, plus, Frank does another reading from his LiveJournal!