Love Hate Relationship

Andy takes his Love time this episode to discuss one of the under-appreciated gems of Bruce Timm’s DC animated universe, Batman Beyond. He talks about what makes it special and unique compared to most Batman and comic book character stories, his personal connection to its run, and the greatness of the Terry McGuiness character. Alex meanwhile talks up production fun facts, why Frank Miller sucks, and both of them agree that Return of the Joker has the best moment of the series.

Alex takes his Hate to discuss the bane of every online American’s life, Internet Service Provider Monopolies. He goes into the general chicanery of companies dividing up regions, why Charter Spectrum sucks in particular, and the way anti-trust laws are supposed (and fail) to work. Andy relays just how essential the Internet is to day-to-day life, reminds us all that Ajit Pai is a piece of crap, and everyone takes a moment to reflect on the awfulness of Burger King.

Shout out to John Oliver and Last Week Tonight for their reporting on the BS of ISPs.

Relationships.txt provides our question again this episode, with an asker looking for help after his girlfriend’s dad potentially found their sex tapes on an old phone. Alex discusses the value of not worrying what your partner’s parents think of you, especially when you’re both adults, and Andy advises the poster to think about being supportive of his partner in what’s likely an awkward, unfortunate time for her.

Alex gets uncharacteristically sentimental this episode to talk up one of his favorite genres of film, the Romantic Comedy. After some history and some definitions, he talks at length about the versatility of the Rom-Com formula, the value of both diverting from and embracing a formula, and why you should all go watch Music and Lyrics immediately. Andy meanwhile extolls the value of the “Male friendship” variation, and everyone agrees that no one needs to see New Years Eve or Valentine’s Day.

Andy takes his Hate time to list all the varied and awful ways that author, satirist, and edge-lord Bret Easton Ellis has wormed his way into the collective consciousness. He explains Ellis’s cavalier attitude towards everything from his own past to his sexuality to his treatment of women, and his terrible habit of trying to actively bait people on Twitter and defend Donald Trump. Alex, meanwhile, talks about Ellis’s friendship with fellow coke-addled over-writer, Jay McInerny and how Gen X cynicism hasn’t aged well, and everyone is reminded that American Psycho is a better movie than book.

A question from Relationships.txt this episode sees the writer looking for help with her ex who is breaking into her apartment complex to do his laundry. Andy states the obvious of absolutely not at all engaging in any way whatsoever while Alex talks up the value of guilting one’s landlord if for no other reason than liability.

Andy takes the Love segment this time to gush about one of his favorite recent comic book runs, Thor, as written by Jason Aaron. He discusses how the seven-year run successfully pulled off the long game of gradually taking years to pay off plot points, how it introduced characters (and character interpretations) that are being used for current comic events and the upcoming Thor movie, and all the ways it does comics right. Alex meanwhile talks about Aaron himself and the pitfalls of character longevity while everyone shakes their heads miserably at terrible comics bros who complain about Jane Foster Thor.

Alex uses the opportunity of his Hate to discuss everything wrong with abstinence-only sexual education, from the surprising places where it is and isn’t mandated, to its absolute inefficacy, to the inherent issue with comparing virginity to chewing gum. Andy gets to talk about the horrible things one overhears in a high school hallway, and everyone gets recommended a viewing of the wonderful musical, Spring Awakening.

A question from Relationships.txt has the asker looking for advice on salvaging a friendship after drunkenly queefing in front of a crush. Andy rightly points out that there are 100% worse things a person can do, Alex spends some time talking about self-medication, and there is somehow not a single reference to Canada in the entire segment.

Alex takes his Love this episode to discuss one of unsung heroes of music history, bassist Carol Kaye. He goes into her biography, her bad-assitude, and the controversial aspects of her career, from pick-playing to Motown. Andy gets forgiven for confusing her with Carol Kane, gets a much-needed reminder for how terrible a person Berry Gordy truly was. (And for those interested, here’s a link to a Spotify playlist with some of Carol Kaye’s biggest hits)

Andy uses his Hate time to discuss movie director, avowed charlatan, and general douchebag, Uwe Boll. He runs down Boll’s awful filmography, weird methods of financing his projects, and literal fistfights with his critics. Alex. meanwhile, finds a way to compare him to both Rogers Corman and Ebert (and in both cases, Boll looks the worse for it.

A writer to Relationships.txt looks for advice regarding her new husband, and the fact that he made stupid faces throughout almost all of their wedding photos, effectively ruining them. Alex focuses in on the offensiveness of acting that way unilaterally, and Andy takes a long view, contextualizing that a stunt like that has the capacity to cause pain for the rest of the marriage.

Andy brings the love this episode to discuss a Disney reboot that he actually enjoys, the 2017 Ducktales cartoon. He talks about the rich voiceover cast, the deep storylines and lengthened character work the creators brought to the franchise, and just how much it’s taken over his Disney Plus experience. Alex meanwhile talks about how kids are way smarter than anyone gives them credit for, and the weird brilliance of the Donald Duck comic books.

Alex takes his Hate to talk out all of the reasons that he hates the famous 27 Club of musicians and artists who all tragically died at the age of 27. He details its origins and the very real psychological damage that it has done to the people like Amy Winehouse and Kurt Cobain. Andy learns how deep the bench runs (RIP, Anton Yelchin), and we all get a reminder that if it can be sold on a t-shirt, it’s probably evil.

A Relationships.txt question so awful, we won’t even link to it (and we promise, it’s not just because we forgot to write it down), a writer claims that due to an accidental pavlovian training regimen, he defecates when he orgasms, and it happened with his girlfriend. Andy and Alex agree that ownership and acceptance that the relationship likely will not continue is smart, as is therapy. And there is more than a little wondering if these are real after all.

Alex starts this episode with a food that he very much enjoys despite every negative association thrown at it: Tofu. He discusses a little of its history and a lot of its misunderstood nature, particularly in the pop culture landscape, and debunks a couple of myths. Andy is reminded of the importance of seasoning and reminds everyone that carrots are not as good as hotdogs, and everyone remembers that great episode of The Simpsons where Lisa becomes a vegetarian.

Andy takes his Hate portion to discuss one of the great annoyances of contemporary American life, Daylight Savings Time. He talks about its weird origins and how they relate to a bug-enthusiast in New Zealand, why it’s pointless in the age of contemporary technology, and how no one really seems to like it. Alex chimes in to explain how it actually, literally kills people, and all of us agree that seasonal depression absolutely sucks.

A Relationships.txt writer asks if it was cheating on her boyfriend when she and a(n older) male friend got tipsy and she allowed him to run and kiss her feet. Andy takes the kind and loving tract of emphasizing the importance of communication and responsibility in a committed relationship while Alex takes the chance to opine the weirdness of dudes in their mid-thirties creeping on women in their early twenties.

Andy opens this episode with another nostalgia point, bringing everyone into the world of collectable card games. He details the history of the nerd niche, both generally and his own, Alex owns up to being both a Pokémon and a Yu-Gi-Oh! kid, and both of them take entirely too much time talking about a Christian CCG called “Redemption,” because of course they did.

Alex uses his time to discuss his personal loathing for the larger community, both in real life and online, who obsess and revel in fantasies about the end of the world. He goes on at length about how these groups downplay real-life threats to society for the sake of ego-stroking nonsense (his own past with doing so included), Andy defends “Alien Invasion” as both the coolest and most inspiring end-of-the-world, and time is made to recommend George Romero’s Diary of the Dead for no particular reason other than it’s great.

A real life question rolls in this time as an actual listener asks for advice on dealing with feelings of isolation as one of the lone left-leaning members of his extremely conservative family and workplace. Andy commiserates from a deep and personal level, Alex suggests ways to find community beyond the day-to-day, face-to-face world, and everyone agrees that some people just aren’t worth arguing with.

For the latest Triple Love Special, Andy and Alex explore everyone’s favorite long-running Super Spy franchise, James Bond.

Alex starts in with a primer on the origins of the character, specifically as a literary entity, and the formulaic approach used by most of the stories, and its influence on every spy story to come after. Andy follows up with a breakdown of the various actors and portrayals of the character throughout five decades of the movies.

He and Alex then debate the merits of the James Bond Codename theory, and sweet Andy gets his heart broken by the revelation of who was supposed to play the groundskeeper/mentor character in “Skyfall.”

Because it wouldn’t be LHR if they didn’t, Alex and Andy take some time to go through the more problematic aspects of the character, including the rampant misogyny, racism, homophobia, and colonialism that’s pervaded all of Bond media from the very first of Fleming’s stories.

Finally, they conclude with talk of their favorite Bond everything, from ancillary characters to gadgets to villains to movies to everything in between, how they adore the series, flaws and all, and what it’s meant to them over the course of their lives. Special shoutout to Mr. Sunday Movies: check out their videos on all things Bond, Mission Impossible, and everything else.

Alex kicks off this triumphant return to the podcast with an episode that was recorded before the hiatus even started, and he’s talking Blues Music in it. He gives a brief history and characterization of the Mother of All Music genres, complete with a recommendation for one of its finest new artists (seriously, y’all, listen to Christone “Kingfish” Ingram). Andy meanewhile doesn’t make too many Blues Brothers references and does his best to answer how you know Blues when you hear it.

Andy takes his Hate time to point out one of the biggest douchebags working in comics today, plagiarist/artist Greg Land. He and Alex discuss Land’s many instances of tracing sports mags and pornography, his largely uncreative style even when trying to be original, and his oldest and newest bouts of straight stealing from other artists. Also, they’re a little bit nice to Rob Liefeld on this one.

This episode’s Relationships.txt question comes from someone looking for help dealing with his partner’s depressive need to consume and spend money they don’t have on Bionicle stuff following some COVID depression. Alex reminds him that it’s shitty to couch these matters in terms of attractiveness, Andy recs hard talk about reassessing home life, and nobody does a very good job of explaining what a Bionicle is.

A brief statement from Andy to let you all know that we’ll be taking the month of October off to play some catch up. COVID’s a thing, work stress is a thing, balance and rest are a thing. We know you’ll understand. See you all in November!