Midday Movies

Today we’re talking about the art of joy — where it comes from, how to find it, and whether or not it’s connected to outcome. We’re given scripts to follow and conventions to uphold, but is that recipe one that leads to joy? Will buying everything society tells you to buy make you happy? Did comic book heroes lie to you about what is achievable in the first twenty-five years of your life? And is the culturally-enforced narrative of joy just a complex game meant to pass the time while you toil away creating maximum value for shareholders? Stay tuned to find out! Join us for an earnest discussion of the art of joy from your favorite positivity podcasters.

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Today we’re discussing the new top 10 Netflix miniseries, “Eric,” starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Gaby Hoffmann, McKinley Blecher III, and Dan Fogler (of “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”). Created by Abi Morgan, this is a detective noir that takes place in gritty 1980s-era New York City. Featuring a plot-critical puppet and creeping madness, this family drama is sure to make you go, “Jeeeeezzzz 😬”. We talk family dynamics, broken window theory, and the backdrop of New York’s uniquely apocalyptic 1980s AIDS crisis. Join us!

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Today we’re discussing summer in the Pacific Northwest — we’ve got boats, boards, and buckets of festivals. It’s three long months of joy, togetherness, and not thinking about general elections. What’s your favorite PNW summer activity? How will you and the gang of your choice be taking advantage of the sun madness? Is death or an indeterminate period of suffering the more terrifying prospect? Like the Marvel series, this period of time is marvelous. No Seattle Freeze, every day is a beach day, and the forests boldly beckon. Shoutout to “Welcome to Nightvale” for influencing the tone of this particular podcast episode. Get into the summer swing of things with us — let’s get into it!

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Today we’re talking about the new top 10 Netflix animated series, “Jurassic World: Chaos Theory.” Following the events of “Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous,” this dinosaur action series is a mystery-slash-roadtrip adventure that brings together the campers of Camp Cretaceous who are being potential pursued by the nefarious forces of InGen. Additionally, we share our favorite prehistoric megafauna and megaflora — with thought to the possible applications of modern dinosaur technology, whether for the benefit of the climate or for entertainment venues. Whether you want a world of CO2-sucking megaferns to cool the planet or the organization of an all-Ankylosaurus soccer team, the possibilities presented in Jurassic World: Chaos Theory are endless. Join us!

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Today we’re discussing soup, social systems, and StrengthsFinder 2.0 (by Don Clifton). Do you have favorite recipes that you return to again and again? Is it easy or difficult for you to connect to new people on the first meeting? What is your top strength according to the corporate-approved personality test StrengthsFinder from Gallup? We discuss breakfast (which can contain protein or a good book), air fryer recipes, and the best food in the world (TM). Nutritional content and how you can use one recipe to cook everything are topics. What’s one skill that you have that you can use to accomplish any task? Are you better at systems or people? Where are your strengths in social situations? Let’s discuss. Join us!

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Today we’re discussing the Netflix top 10 docuseries, “Dancing for the Devil: The 7M TikTok Cult” (2024, dir. Derek Doneen). In this too-strange-to-be-fiction documentary, TikTok dancers join a management firm (7M) tied to a church (Shekinah church), uncovering disturbing truths about the founder’s (Robert Shinn) sinister agenda. Impacting the families of several viral TikTokers, including the Wilking Sisters, this docuseries takes you through the disturbing 20-year story of serial predator Pastor Robert Shinn and the ongoing legal battle to liberate his clients & adherents. We provide context for Los Angeles entertainment culture and that region’s long history of cults, as well as walking you through some highlights of this remarkable story. If you love TikTok dance videos or are fascinated by LA cult culture, you’ll be riveted by this podcast episode and this Netflix documentary. Join us!

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Today we are discussing a video game that has been the obsession of the Midday Musings household for over a month, “Voices of the Void.” A free pre-Alpha game available for download on the itch.io PC gaming platform, this SETI simulator/slow horror survival game is created and maintained by one developer, EternityDev (aka Mr.Dr.Nose) and inspired by Signal Simulator, SETI, and the SCP Foundation. With over 23k fans on the “Voices of the Void” Reddit platform, we think it’s worthy of introduction to the wider world. Engrossing, explicitly indie, and reminiscent of so many well-loved internet entities from the current and proto-internet, we are excited to tell you all about the isolated Switzerland SETI station whose weird happenings have had us on the edge of our seats. Available on itch.io, forever in our hearts, join us!

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Today we’re discussing the current top 10 Netflix show, “Bodkin,” a many-layered mystery/offbeat comedy starring Will Forte and Siobhan Cullen. Taking place in the small hamlet of Bodkin in modern day Ireland, this series follows an embattled Guardian journalist, young researcher, and American podcaster in pursuit of a cold case mystery surrounding the Samhain festival 20 years earlier. Unique Bodkin personalities, a sinister town culture, and the off-screen unraveling of the main characters’ lives come together to create a show where nothing is as it seems. Our cohosts share their personal impressions of Ireland as well as marking how far the little island (now Europe’s internet capital) has come since 2012. Join us!

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Today we are doing part 2 of 2 on the Netflix’s docuseries, “Ashley Madison: Sex, Lies, and Scandal.” We will be concluding our Ashley Madison series with a discussion of an unconventional couple featured in the docuseries, the supposed discretion of user data on the site, the fallout of the 2015 hack, and what influences people to cheat. We discuss the possible reasons that so many Christian couples were impacted by the Ashley Madison hack. We share issues we’ve encountered as a couple in a decade together and advice we’ve received for managing conflict and dissatisfaction. What are the common pitfalls of conventional marriage? How do you confront issues and can this confrontation head infidelity off at the pass? Or is an unconventional type of coupling the answer? Join us for part 2 of 2 on Netflix’s “Ashley Madison” documentary!

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Today we’re discussing episode 1 of Netflix’s docuseries, “Ashley Madison: Sex, Lies, and Scandal.” This is part 1 of 2, where we will be covering the founding of the site (during the 2000s-era dot-com boom), the marketing and monetization model of the product, and two of the most famous people impacted by the 2015 Ashley Madison leak (Nia and Sam Rader). We’re discussing infidelity as a married couple and the pitfalls of traditional marriage that can lead to affair ideation. Join us for the drama, the digital marketing, and a light-hearted reflection of the Ashley Madison phenomenon! Stay for part 2!!!

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