Fuel Your Fandom

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It wasn't your family doctor that got you through being sick as a kid. It wasn't even the bed rest. Anyone who ever sat home sick from school with saltines, 7•UP and soup knows it was the Price is Right, Press Your Luck and The Pyramid that got ultimately us back on our feet. Game shows — once relegated to morning TV and syndicated UHF programming — have become a huge part of the American pop-culture fabric. And whether it's feeling smart because you can answer a question the contestants couldn't, or living vicariously when someone you're rooting for wins the Showcase Showdown, it's clear there are countless reasons why household names like Pat Sajak, Wink Martindale and Alex Trebek got to be household names in the first place. So let's go to the board with Saint and Jim, and see what the survey says.

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Saint and Jim may be committed to doing the work to defying the evils of toxic masculinity, patriarchy and gun culture, but even so — some old habits die hard. Like being fans of "Die Hard". And "John Wick". And "Predator". And countless other action movies staring monosyllabic, muscle-bound turbo-bros who defy death as effortlessly as they deal it. So, maybe it's a guilty pleasure, but it's still a helluva lot of fun to watch. In this episode, the boys take a look at some of their favorite action heroes, and the landmark movies that introduced them to the cinemascape.

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Your intrepid co-hosts decided to do something pretty special this week. Fate (and some pretty cool stuff they can't talk about yet) has seen fit to bring them together for their second in-person episode of the year! This time, Saint is in Jim's neck of the woods, mere moments from Milwaukee, WI. And that means beer, cheese, and debauchery are mandatory pursuits. Since there are so many (*burp*) unique delicacies that can only be had regionally, Jim takes it upon himself to stuff Saint silly, and then quiz him about his reactions to such hyper-local specialties as New Glarus beer, Blue Moon ice cream, fried cheese curds and more. So, so much more. So join them as they indulge in their second-favorite deadly sin all over Brew City.

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There's been humorous music almost as long as there's been music. So when combining the power of song to entertain and the punch of comedy to amuse, the result is often just as memorable as it is hilarious. From the earliest days of tunes by Spike Jones, Tom Lehrer and Allan Sherman, right up through contemporary work from the likes of Tenacious D, Garfunkel and Oates, and the undisputed parody king himself "Weird Al" Yankovic, fans of funny music have been spoiled for choice for decades. On this installment of FYF, Saint and Jim do a deep dive into some of the funniest artists ever to make us laugh with their melodic mirth.

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Hey, folks. Been a rocky couple of weeks in Fandom-Land as intrepid FYF founder Saint spent a bit of time, effort and no small amount of resolve fighting off some not-insignificant health bullshit. But fear not! He is VERY much on the mend, so he and Jim are back with another installment of full frontal nerdery. No real central subject this week, since they wanted to go a little easy on the dude — but SO much went on during the ol' mandatory medical leave that it had to get covered nevertheless. So stuff your earholes with this bite-sized (for them, anyway) toe-dip of an installment, and...thanks for sicking around.

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After tackling their favorite cartoons last week, it occurred to your intrepid co-hosts that an integral part of the animation experience was the music. Every episode of Saturday morning TV not only had action, humor and engaging characters — it also had a theme song. And, let's be frank: some of them absolutely SLAPPED. So even though the music was PART of the experience, the opening themes to our favorite cartoons took on a life of their own over the decades. Think about it: you stop any rando on the street and ask them to sing a few bars of "The Flintstones" theme, and eight times outta ten, it's going to happen. So it's time once again to dive into the colorful world of cartoons. But this time, Saint and Jim are playing the hits. CONTENT WARNING: there are some sensitive subjects covered in the news segment. So nobody will be hurt if you skip ahead to the bouncy part.

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Sometimes, a story takes more than one movie to tell properly. Or maybe the first one was so good, the audience demands more of the same. So, we get sequels. And a lot of the time, they can be great! But then there are the times when they just...aren't. Whether audiences are faced with uninspired writing, lazy acting, or obvious cash-grab-over-creativity motivations, we've all had the experience of grabbing tickets to see a subsequent installment of a film we love, only to sit in solemn silence while raw disappointment unspools on the screen in front of us. On this episode, Saint and Jim take a look at Hollywood sequels that were at least inessential, and at worst, soul-suckingly horrendous. Plus: nerd news and tangents aplenty. You know how they do.

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We waited all week for it. Planned a complicated schedule of channel-hopping based on the proto-spreadsheets of the TV Guide. And even though it usually meant getting up earlier than we would have if we were going to (ugh) school, Saturday mornings were OUR time. Time to sit criss-cross applesauce on the floor with a bowl of cereal or three, right smack-dab in front of the television. And why? Because that was when what KIDS wanted ruled the airwaves. It was time for cartoons, baby. From the zany hijinks of classic Looney Tunes, to the fantasy adventures of He-Man, to the cutesy fun of the Smurfs, there was a little something on the tube for everyone. In this edition of the Fuel Your Fandom podcast, Saint and Jim take a trip back in time to those magical weekend mornings, and get a little misty about some of our most treasured childhood cartoon memories.

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It's one of the only pieces of trite, bumper-sticker BS that's always true — the times, they are a-changin'. And nowhere this this more evident than in our entertainment. We've all had the same experience: we're re-watching a movie we love from a bygone era. And then it happens. There's a plot twist, a line, a joke, or a character that pops up on the screen, and our jaws drop open...because what's happening in the narrative is obviously casually misogynist. Racist. Homophobic. Or otherwise starkly bigoted in a way that may have been waved off at the time, but is nonetheless glaringly unacceptable within the hindsight-colored zeitgeist of a more-enlightened era. So what do we do? Shrug? Cringe? Feel good that we've evolved enough to be able to cast a gimlet eye on it now? There's no real right answer as a responsible fan. So, in this episode, Saint and Jim take a look at movies of old (and of alarmingly not-so-old) that included jokes, themes or material that are best left in the past — and try to unpack how best to deal with their problematic nature in retrospect.

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What if we told you that every story — and we mean EVERY story — shared the same underlying structure, and only the surface details changed? If you're new to the idea of the Monomyth, have never heard the name "Joseph Campbell", or don't know why you should always Save The Cat, then prepare to have your mind blown.  Because when it comes to storytelling (whether in film, TV, literature, video games and even prehistoric cave paintings), there's really only one tale; albeit one we've heard told countless different ways. On today's episode, Saint and Jim break down the building blocks for nearly every story in existence, and outline the reasoning behind why we cheerfully line up to hear it over and over and over. Get ready for the ultimate spoiler alert for all of pop culture as we know it.