Love Hate Relationship

For our new two-pronged format, LHR now brings a full episode of relationship questions for the second half of the month.

We begin with Kevin and Vicky (American Pie), and the question of if it’s weird for him to be looking up instructions on how to do foreplay while right in the moment. Andy emphasizes the importance of communication and context-setting while Alex wonders if Kevin plays for his particular team of mental diagnoses.

On to Chaz Reinhold (Wedding Crashers), and their awful list of reasons why men and women (apparently) can’t be friends. Not too much advice here–more outright scorn. And swearing. Even more swearing than usual.

Next up is Radamus (Waiting), who writes to ask about what to do after posting a photo of a phallic-shaped potato, and their ex started going off on them. Andy and Alex both talk about the obvious insecurities displayed on this one, and highly recommend clicking the link to get a gander at this potato.

Finally, we have Kamala (Never Have I Ever), who laments that their PhD-pursuing boyfriend doesn’t seem to have enough time for them. Andy emphasizes that it’s okay to walk away from a relationship that is early in and bogged down this much, and Alex talks about being okay with meeting a partner where they are, or not and deciding that that’s the right move.

After a short break, we’re back with a slightly altered format! Short version (despite an in-no-way-shorter episode), we’re taking our first episode each month to focus on JUST a Love and Hate, and our second to JUST answer multiple Relationship questions. Will it work? Maybe! Will our listeners despise it? Not a clue! But let us know.

Andy uses his Love to talk up his love of the contemporary board game scene. He discusses its history, how it’s way beyond Snakes & Ladders and Scrabble, and the communal aspect. Alex, meanwhile, remembers that Clue and Risk existed on the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis, and nobody flips a Monopoly board.

Alex takes the Hate topic to discuss the career of writer, filmmaker, and actor, M Night Shyamalan. He gives a background, explains all of the reasons why the patented twist has been an albatross around his neck, and why his politics and directing are just sloppy. Andy, meanwhile, defends The Sixth Sense and Lady In the Water, and everyone agrees that it’s sad Mel Gibson sucks when Signs is actually decent.

To commemorate Love Hate Relationship’s 100th episode, Alex and Andy have eschewed the traditional format for something totally different: the Love Vs. Hate Special. One topic, two sides of it, and no real winner to speak of, except hopefully the beautiful audience that’s stuck with us for 100 total episodes.

Our topic is 2003’s Jerry Bruckheimer-produced, Gore Verbinski directed, Johnny Depp-starring Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Andy takes the side of the Love, doting on the film’s solid script, brilliant action sequences, non-stop pace, and swashbuckling charm. He gives a basic history before going into everything he loves about this 21st Century Classic Film, to paraphrase him.

Alex, meanwhile, takes the Hate side to chastise the film’s terrible script (yes, we know), wooden acting performances, selectively awful editing, and overall bloat. Along the way, Andy is willing to make concessions, such as its sloppy handling of POV, while Alex makes admissions for positive points, like the excellent score and Geoffrey Rush’s performance.

And at the end of it all is some heartfelt gratitude for everyone whose been along for any and all of our own journey. Here’s to 100 more.

Alex finally lines up and makes an attempt at talking about his favorite sport, Weightlifting. He says a little on its history, a lot on the misconceptions around it, and soft-pitches it as a spectator sport. Andy, meanwhile, finds the drama in the stories, and there is minimal snickering at the word “Snatch.”

Andy uses the Hate segment to talk about new horizons in AI Art. He discusses how it screws over actual human creators, the creepiness of some TikTok filters, and why we should maybe hesitate on them. Alex talks privacy issues, and comes up with a terrifying Mario/frog image idea.

This episode’s question sees an asker wondering if it’s wrong for him to use his partner’s expensive hair dryer on his testicles. Alex talks about deliberate communication, Andy talks about grace and Halo, and there are (of course) autism references.

For this episode, Andy takes some time to remember the late voice actor, and definitive Batman, Kevin Conroy. He talks about Conroy’s acting bona fides, his importance to 90’s kids, and his late-in-life decision to come out as a gay man. Alex meanwhile talks about his sobriety, and the best 9/11 story that ever there was.

Alex takes the Hate segment to discuss the universal awfulness that is gerrymandering. He talks about the origins of the terms, how ubiquitously it’s used by all sides of the political spectrum, and some proposed alternatives. Andy, meanwhile, marvels at the comical Tetris geometry of congressional mapping, and everyone walks away a little angrier.

The question for this episode sees an asker wondering if there’s some way in which they can make a contract to legally enforce no cheating to ease their partner’s insecurities. Alex makes an honest effort to answer with some degree of seriousness before both he and Andy lay into the toxicity of external trust measures.

Alex gets weird and niche this episode as he discusses his Love and appreciation of ubiquitous Digital Audio Workstations. He gives an explanation and a history of the technology, the impact that it had (for better and worse) in changing music and media, and why it’s so cool that everyone with an Apple device has access to it. Andy, meanwhile, gets way too many drop notes for this segment, and even learns about a Rihanna hit.

Andy takes the episode somewhere a little harder, and discusses the absolutely tragic experience of the actor Brendan Fraser. He gets into the details of his rise, the traumatic assault that he endured, and the blackballing from the industry that followed. Alex talks way too much about both George of the Jungle and Crash, and once again, old powerful white dudes are the true villains.

For this episode, our question comes from Relationships.txt, and sees the asker wondering how to handle it when his girlfriend asks to pursue a kink of being ignored during sex, and he does a little too good of a job. Alex discusses mindful communication of expectation in kink, Andy reassures that Schmidt is not the asshole (despite this not being the source), and everyone gets a crash course in sexual ego-dropping.

For this episode, Andy talks about one of his favorite genres in all of film, the Slasher. Alex maybe gives him a good way to look at the “What is the first Slasher?” question, they talk their favorites, past and present, and somehow, Halloween only gets mentioned a couple of times.

Alex takes his Hate period to talk out everything wrong with the US Constitution. He mentions how much the country’s founders would hate what it looks like now, Andy doesn’t do so hot on a civics pop quiz, and everyone feels a little dumber for the experience.

This episode’s question sees an asker looking for advice with her husband’s odd need to sniff glue in order to get off sexually. Alex gives a PSA on huffing, Andy talks about listening to and caring about your partners, and no one walks away feeling particularly good about this one.

For the latest Triple Love Special , Alex and Andy dive into the arguably GOAT of adult animation, The Simpsons.

They start off with a rundown of the show’s origins, before Alex dives into an explanation of what he considers the three eras of the show. Highlights include discussions of how the first season is just…not that great, some ridiculous nerd-talk about individual writers, and why “The Principal and the Pauper” may not actually be the flashpoint of awfulness the Internet seems to think it is.

Andy offers some rebuttals before launching into some personal stories of the show–how it helped him through more than one difficult transition in his life and became something of a lynchpin. Alex tells his own personal stories, from mooning and mourning, and Sideshow Bob of all characters takes a surprising amount of airtime.

Finally, the discussion devolves into favorite characters, favorite moments and quotes and everything buried into our brains as we reminisce through and ruminate on one of the greatest pieces of television of all time.

For this episode, Alex dives into his favorite of the liquor-type liquids, whiskey. He talks about the history, types, and jams in why he hates on the Canadian variants, Andy tells stories of Fireball, asks about why so damn many are named after random dudes, and everyone agrees that Grey Goose is an incredible grift.

Andy comes back to one of the show’s pet topics, streaming services, and discusses the recent merger of HBO and Discovery Plus. He discusses the frustration of the diverse and interesting shows they decided to cancel (for tax reasons), the douchebaggery of Warner head David Zaslav, and the backlash. Alex reminisces about when Netflix and Hulu were the only games in town, and everyone agrees that the Game of Thrones prequel probably isn’t worth it.

This episode’s question comes from Reddit, and has since been deleted, but sees an asker who is a 25-year-old virgin wondering how she can explore her sexuality without also involving her somewhat nosy mother. Andy reminds her that there is nothing wrong with not having had sex at any point in life, Alex talks up the virtues of boundaries instead of lying, and everyone remembers that most sex ed is really terrible.

Andy gets wonderfully nostalgic this episode as he takes his Love segment to talk about Theme Restaurants. He discusses his own definitions (shorthand: Casa Bonita is a “yes,” Red Lobster is a “no”), his personal connection to some weird and interesting examples, and even tells the story of almost crashing a Star Trek wedding. Alex, meanwhile, talks way too much about the Hard Rock Café, and everyone discovers that there’s a restaurant shaped like a hat.

Alex dusts off his fitness rage to discuss the grossness that is the Fitspo community. He talks about its history, the awkwardness of its rise as opposed to the even worse “thinspo” movement, and even shoehorns in reference to his favorite weightlifter. Andy, meanwhile, discovers way too many thirst traps and has his Instagram algorithm ruined.

Returning to Am I the Asshole?, this episode’s question sees an asker wondering if it’s wrong to lacrosse-yeet the dog crap that his neighbor leaves on his front lawn back at their house. Andy appreciates the chaos of this encounter while Alex, for once, tries to be the adult on the room (before recommending an alternative that is way less illegal and way more passive aggressive).