In our first episode of 2024, we discuss the Emmy Awards and why Ayo Edebiri rocks (...style, talent, and her/her dad’s Letterboxd reviews).

We talk about recent research that could improve women’s health and longevity and how shamefully little we know, learn, and talk about fertility and menopause as women. We also chat on population decline in China and how and why Sweden, in contrast, has a growing population.

We wrap up with a movie force-ranking from Kelly that no one asked for: Mean Girls vs. Oppenheimer vs. Saltburn; and Steph provides some stellar audiobook recos from Brené Brown.

Pop Culture:

‘That show deserved to be encased in gold!’ The biggest shocks from the Emmy awards by Stuart Heritage for The Guardian

It’s Ayo Season by Emily Leibert for The Cut

Letterboxd, App

Opinion: Nudity isn’t the same as objectification by Jill Filipovic for CNN

Kirk Douglas Award - Steve Carrell Speech for Ryan Gosling Santa Barbara Film Festival on Youtube

News:

The Secret to Living Longer Starts With Menopause by Kristen V. Brown for the BBC

Demographics and Foreign Trade: What Are the Effects of an Aging Population on the Current Account Balance of an Economy? by Thieß Petersen, Lizarazo López for GED

Can China Reverse Its Population Decline? Just Ask Sweden. by Andrew Jacobs and Francesca Paris for the NYT

Content: 

Saltburn, Movie on Prime

Mean Girls (2024), Movie

Oppenheimer, Movie on Prime

Fool Me Once, Series on Netflix

‘People judge me all the time’: Corrie’s Michelle Keegan on swapping soaps for hard-hitting dramas by Eva Wiseman for The Guardian

Guy Ritchie’s The Gentlemen Will Bring the Swagger This Spring by Ariana Romero for Netflix

Brooklyn 99, Series on Peacock

Daring Greatly & Dare to Lead, Books by Brene Brown

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Happy Holidays Friends! What a year! We hope you’re already horizontal on your couch shoveling holiday treats and binging your favorite seasonal content. In our final episode of the year, we reflect on 2023 and present our very best, unhinged predictions for 2024 (ie. Will Taylor Swift release a video game? Will the “bump” come back into hairstyle trends? *cue internal screams*). 

We have a sweeping talk about Ozempic and the obesity crisis more broadly, following Oprah’s announcement that she uses weight loss drugs, and chat on the role of purpose in feeling happier, according to science. Plus! We present a potpourri of topics: An Aussie woman stealing a truckload of donuts, George Santos’s bizarre and questionable transition to Cameo, finding your perfect brow shape, and a prankster of a seal, aptly named Neil.

Bits:

Neil the seal goes viral on TikTok after disturbing residents in Tasmanian town of Dunalley by Taylor Renouf for Perth Now

Neil the Seal, TikTok

Pop Culture:

Australian woman charged with stealing van carrying 10,000 doughnuts by Kelly Ng for BBC News, Singapore

A Guide to George Santos’s Pivot From Politics to Celebrity by Matt Stieb for Intelligencer

Google Year in Search, 2023

News:

How Ozempic could affect the health of the global economy in more ways than one by Ian Verrender for ABC AU

Ozempic Can’t Fix America’s Obesity Crisis by Fatima Cody Stanford and Simar Bajaj for Time

Gen Z and millennials powered a massive live-events comeback that will carry into more concerts and travel next year by Juliana Kaplan and Noah Sheidlower for Business Insider

Content: 

Perfect Brows Filter, TikTok

Ozark, Series on Netflix

American Symphony, Documentary on Netflix

The Happiness Lab, Podcast by Dr. Laurie Santos for Pushkin Industries

Stories by Arthur C. Brooks, The Atlantic

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In today’s episode, Steph treats us with a riveting story of a gaslighting platypus and Kelly basks in Taylor Swift’s Person of the Year title. We gush over Margot Robbie and Angelina Jolie, ponder what Cillian Murphy eats for dinner, discuss an ace tip from Dolly Alderton on how to recover from heartbreak, and go from a crime drama > top holiday films in content recs.

We also talk about how normal it is to think “what am I doing wrong” when it comes to money and why we feel hopeful paying attention to the UN Climate Conference happening this week.

Bits:

Penelope the Platypus

Pop Culture:

2023 Person of the Year: Taylor Swift by Sam Lansky for Time

Slang Term ‘Rizz’ Is the Oxford University Press Word of the Year by Armani Syed for Time 

Cillian Murphy & Margot Robbie | Actors on Actors by Variety

Angelina Jolie on Being a Punk and Styling Advice From Her Kids | by WSJ Magazine

Angelina Jolie Is Rebuilding Her Life by Elisa Lipsky-Karasz for WSJ Magazine

News:

Why millennials say they need $525,000 a year to be happy by Ayelet Sheffey for Business Insider

Fossil Fuels and Frustration at COP28 by David Gelles for the NYT

This Is What Has Been Agreed at COP28 So Far. What Happens Next? by BCG 

Content: 

Interview with Dolly Alderton, Changes with Annie MacManus, Podcast

The Sinner, Series on Netflix

Foile, Skincare

The Holiday, Love Actually, The Santa Clause, National Treasure, Little Women, Holiday-ish Movies

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Today, we’re talking presidential turkey pardons (Congratulations, Birds), birth order, and who on earth is signing up for Fyre Festival II.

We also discuss celebrity tax evasion, failures in New York’s social safety net, kids striking for climate change, tracking what’s going on at OpenAI through Kara Swisher on the Pivot Podcast, the timely docu on Maya Powalski, and BookTok's favorite smut: ACOTAR.

(sentimental close) You’ll hear us mention gratitude as we near the Thanksgiving holiday in the US. We’ve absolutely loved getting MTD started, and couldn’t be more grateful for the support and input of our family, friends, and new friends. Wishing everyone a happy holiday and sending you SO much love.

@muchtodiscusspodcast

Bits:

Biden grants turkey justice as Liberty and Bell ride the gravy train to the White House by Betsy Klein for CNN

Habit Tracker app

Pop Culture:

‘Fyre Festival 2’ kicks off with zero-gravity flights, no catastrophes by Adam Glyn for Page Six

Taylor Swift Postponed Eras Tour Concert Following Death of Fan by Ava Gilchrist for Grazia

Shakira strikes last-minute deal in Spanish tax fraud case by Anne Branigin for the Washington Post

Suki Waterhouse is Pregnant! By Angela Andaloro for People

News:

Behind 94 Acts of Shocking Violence, Years of Glaring Mistakes by Amy Julia Harris and Jan Ransom for the NYT

School Strike 4 Climate Gives Kids Permission to Take a Sick Day for a Sick Planet by Ricki Green for Campaign Brief

Ditching school to save the planet by Michael Slezak and Jess Davis for ABC AU

Content: 

Pivot Podcast, By Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway for New York Magazine

Taking Care of Maya, Documentary on Netflix

A Court of Thorns and Roses, Book by Sarah J. Maas

Remarkably Bright Creatures, Book by Shelby Van Pelt

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Buckle up for another mixed bag of content! Today, we chat about being direct in dating, if Karma is the guy on the Chiefs, why Google’s antitrust case is a big deal, the technology that could take over the iPhone, and some MINT content binges for your upcoming travel and time off - including a Taken-esque miniseries, a documentary on incarcerated Aboriginal artists, and a highly recommended podcast exploring if the CIA had a hand in writing the song that was the soundtrack to the end to the Cold War. This episode is full of lols to carry us through the weekend.

Pop Culture:

Swifties Agree: You ‘Can’t Help but Root’ for Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce by Tomás Mier for Rolling Stone

What Kim Kardashian Learned from Her Father by Sean Manning for GQ

The Biggest Snubs and Surprises of the 2024 Grammy Nominations by Moises Mendez II for Time Magazine

News:

What Google Argued to Defend Itself in Landmark Antitrust Trial by Nico Grant and David McCabe for the NYT

In Its First Monopoly Trial of Modern Internet Era, U.S. Sets Sights on Google by David McCabe and Cecilia Kang for the NYT

What Google’s trial means for the company — and your web browsing by Sara Morrison for Vox

How Google’s Antitrust Trial Could Change Internet Search by Solcyre Burga for Time

Humane Website

Silicon Valley’s Big, Bold Sci-Fi Bet on the Device That Comes After the Smartphone by Erin Griffith, Tripp Mickle, Kelsey McClellan

Content: 

Safe, Netflix Series

Art of incarceration, Netflix Documentary

Wind of Change, Podcast by Pineapple Street Studios, Crooked Media, and Spotify

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kelly’s found her spirit animal in a lonely British sheep named Fiona and Steph gifts us with her impression of an American accent (teaser: doting Southern gran who bakes apple pies).

In pop culture, we talk hot celebrities young and old, the MET Gala theme for 2024, and redoing the movies that built us a la Mean Girls. In deeper topics, we discuss the new ChatGPT functionality and some surprising stats around the loneliness epidemic as well as our personal experiences around feeling lonely and finding connectedness. We finish off with content, going through some easy watches, a fun new cookbook (Molly Baz <3 IYKYK), and how reading books on grief can help you tap into more empathy and understanding.

Bits:

After Two Years in Solitude, ‘Britain’s Loneliest Sheep’ Finds a Home by Claire Moses for the NYT https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/06/world/europe/britain-loneliest-sheep-rescued.html

Pop Culture:

Patrick Dempsey Is (Finally!) PEOPLE's 2023 Sexiest Man Alive by Julie Jordan for People https://people.com/patrick-dempsey-people-sexiest-man-alive-2023-exclusive-8391684

“Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion” Is The Costume Institute’s Spring 2024 Exhibition by Luke Leitch for Vogue https://www.vogue.com/article/spring-2024-costume-institute-exhibition-sleeping-beauties-reawakening-fashion

Mean Girls Official Trailer (2024 Movie) https://youtu.be/fFtdbEgnUOk?si=tfB4wTm1mQyDjpi3

News:

The loneliness epidemic: Nearly 1 in 4 adults feel lonely, new survey finds by Taylor Nicioli for CNN https://edition.cnn.com/2023/10/24/health/lonely-adults-gallup-poll-wellness/index.html

Social isolation and loneliness from the AIHW https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-welfare/social-isolation-and-loneliness

Associations between social media use and loneliness in a cross-national population: do motives for social media use matter? From the National Library of Medicine https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9817115/

Introducing GPTs from OpenAI https://openai.com/blog/introducing-gpts

Content: 

The Fall of the House of Usher, Netflix series

Taskmaster, https://taskmaster.tv/

More is More, by Molly Baz, Cookbook

A Heart that Works, by Rob Delaney, Book

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome! In our (self-proclaimed) highly anticipated return, Steph’s got a new puppy and Kelly can’t say the word “aristocrat”. 

We’ll be coming to you weekly to deliver our classic format: pop culture, news and topics we’re taking in, and content we’re loving. This week’s episode covers a lot of ground - Halloween, Matthew Perry, gun violence, AI, Britney Spears’ memoir, and some bingeable TV recs.

Pop Culture:

Heidi Klum Transforms Into a Multi-Person Peacock for Halloween by Genevieve Cepeda and Angel Saunders for People https://people.com/heidi-klum-dresses-as-peacock-for-halloween-2023-8369259

Matthew Perry, Star of ‘Friends,’ Is Dead at 54 by Alex Traub and Matt Stevens for the NYT https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/29/arts/television/matthew-perry-dead.html

Who’s This Aristocrat Kissing Sophie Turner? By Danielle Cohen for The Cut https://www.thecut.com/2023/11/sophie-turner-peregrine-pearson-aristocrat-kiss.html

Kim Kardashian Is Fighting Climate Change With Nipples by Asia Milia Ware for The Cut https://www.thecut.com/2023/10/skims-is-releasing-a-bra-with-faux-nipples.html

News & Topics:

America’s Rifle Fetish Is Destroying Its Sense of Freedom by Jamelle Bouie for the NYT https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/31/opinion/maine-mass-shooting-rifles-freedom.html

On gun violence, the United States is an outlier by Katherine Leach-Kemon and & Rebecca Sirull for IHME https://www.healthdata.org/news-events/insights-blog/acting-data/gun-violence-united-states-outlier

Australia confiscated 650,000 guns. Murders and suicides plummeted by Zack Beauchamp for Vox https://www.vox.com/2015/8/27/9212725/australia-buyback

Global Leaders Warn A.I. Could Cause ‘Catastrophic’ Harm by Adam Satariano and Megan Specia for the NYT https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/01/world/europe/uk-ai-summit-sunak.html?smid=url-share

Rishi Sunak’s AI safety summit appears slick – but look closer and alarm bells start ringing by Chris Stokel-Walker for the Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/oct/31/rishi-sunak-ai-safety-summit-tech-challenges

Content Recos:

Beckham, Docuseries, Netflix

The Fall of the House of Usher, Series, Netflix

The Woman in Me, by Britney Spears, book

Justin “Falling Upwards” Timberlake, podcast by Cancelled https://open.spotify.com/episode/20Ok0l1o6NL064rMaCIGKs?si=tipirfNvTJ6u60lOWbo6CQ

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kelly and Steph recap a series of unfortunate events in France - from a wine tour that was more of a wine bore to capsizing their boat rental. Steph is blown away by Kelly’s attempt at an Aussie accent - in a good or bad way, listen to hear!

They also discuss Barbenheimer, Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites, term limits in American government amidst Mitch McConnell’s long pause, and some content recs - a breathtaking free-diving documentary, a lol-worthy gossip podcast, and a sharp topical podcast with Kara Swisher and Scott Gallaway that... j’adore (can take the girls out of Paris but can’t take Paris out of the girls).

Ariana Grande Dating ‘Wicked’ Costar by TMZ https://www.tmz.com/2023/07/20/ariana-grande-dating-wicked-costar-ethan-slater-split-husband-dalton-gomez/

LeBron James shares first video of son Bronny following health scare by Francesca Gariano for Today https://www.today.com/parents/lebron-james-shares-first-video-bronny-health-scare-rcna97064

Greta Gerwig makes history as Barbie has biggest opening weekend for film directed by a woman by The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/jul/24/barbie-movie-box-office-greta-gerwig-records-highest-grossing-woman

Barbie & Oppenheimer & Strikes, Oh My, by On with Kara Swisher Podcast for NYMag https://open.spotify.com/episode/2yLCoYcwu1JMbtpALGljAp?si=PAPZh-4NTl2WduF6a962UA

Elon Musk’s Unmatched Power in the Stars by By Adam Satariano, Scott Reinhard, Cade Metz, Sheera Frenkel and Malika Khurana for the NYT https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/07/28/business/starlink.html

Starlink Website https://www.starlink.com/business

Mitch McConnell Suffers an Episode at the Capitol, Freezing Midsentence by Carl Hulse for the NYT https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/26/us/politics/mitch-mcconnell-freezes-news-conference.html

The Deepest Breath, documentary on Netflix

Normal Gossip, Podcast by Kelsey McKinney for Radiotopia https://open.spotify.com/show/0KVZ16mLZ1bbNlnKemYTzm?si=6de97fcabdf64640

Big Tech Earnings, College Admissions Controversies, and UFOs by Pivot, Podcast by Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway for NYMag https://open.spotify.com/episode/1oFPX95Z39Vn0pCCGjAb0B?si=nfAyvyIMSlOJScasvb3pQg

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week’s episode, Kelly and Steph start off with a big catch-up from Paris on travel, personal growth, and the pick-up line of the future. 

We also discuss celebrity breakups

‘The Golden Bachelor’ by Elizabeth Wagmeister for Variety https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/the-golden-bachelor-abc-first-look-1235671462/

Joe Manganiello Files for Divorce from Sofía Vergara 2 Days After Split Announcement by JP Mangalindan and Stephanie Wenger for People https://people.com/joe-manganiello-files-for-divorce-from-sofia-vergara-7562790

Ariana Grande, Dalton Gomez Separated, Filing for Divorce by TMZ https://www.tmz.com/2023/07/17/ariana-grande-dalton-gomez-separated-divorce-ring-seperated/

Actors Join Writers on Strike, Bringing Hollywood to a Standstill by By Brooks Barnes, John Koblin and Nicole Sperling for the NYT https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/13/business/media/sag-aftra-writers-strike.html

What to Know About Heat Waves by Adeel Hassan and Derrick Bryson for the NYT https://www.nytimes.com/article/heat-wave-cause.html?smid=url-share

For Europe’s Older Population, Heat Is the New Covid by Gaia Pianigiani for the NYT https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/20/world/europe/heat-elderly.html

Why Heat Waves Are Deepening China’s Addiction to Coal by Keith Bradsher for the NYT https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/20/business/china-coal-climate-change.html

A Year of Upheaval on Abortion’s Front Lines by Kate Kelly and Marisa Schwartz Taylor for the NYT 

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/07/20/us/roe-dobbs-abortion-networks-services.html

Medical abortion pill: What is MS-2 Step and how can you access it under new changes? By Jessica Bahr for SBS News https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/medical-abortion-pill-what-is-ms-2-step-and-how-can-you-access-it/wgxdy5bzy

Frustrated by Biden, China Courts ‘Old Friends’ Like Kissinger by David Pierson, Vivian Wang and Edward Wong for the NYT https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/20/world/asia/china-kissinger-visit-us.html

Old People’s Home For 4 Year Olds, TV Show by Australian Broadcasting Corporation

The People Who Knew Me, Podcast by BBC Sounds

Good for a Girl, Book by Lauren Fleshman

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Steph and Kelly talk confidence - from whether they could land a commercial airplane to being inspired by Rick Rubin in knowing and trusting what you like and feeling confident putting that in the world.

We discuss the power of female friendships, the shocking Shiny Happy People, the Trump indictment, Ukraine’s potential NATO membership, a life-altering clothes planning app for fellow Type-A Stephians, and more.

Tony Awards telecast makes inclusive history and puts on quite a show despite Hollywood strike by Mark Kennedy for AP News https://apnews.com/article/tony-awards-2023-15e055d8168bd032c77bc586646ca638

Paul McCartney Used AI to Get Back John Lennon’s Voice by Jason P. Frank for Vulture https://www.vulture.com/2023/06/paul-mccartney-john-lennon-ai-beatles.html

SpaceX hires boy, 14, who became youngest graduate at California university by Ramon Antonio Vargas for the Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/jun/13/spacex-starlink-hire-child-college-graduate

Trump Is Arraigned on Documents and Obstruction Charges by Glenn Thrush, Nicholas Nehamas and Eileen Sullivan for the NYT https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/13/us/politics/trump-arraignment-documents.html

A Simple Test; What if Donald Trump were someone else? By David Leonhardt for the NYT https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/14/briefing/trump-arraignment-documents-case.html

Trump Thrives in a Broken System. He’ll Get Us There Soon by Thomas L. Friedman for the NYT https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/13/opinion/trump-indictment-presidency.html

The Weaponization of National Belonging, from Nazi Germany to Trump by Masha Gessen for the New Yorker https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-weaponization-of-national-belonging-from-nazi-germany-to-trump

Allies Pressure Biden to Hasten NATO Membership for Ukraine by David E. Sanger and Steven Erlanger for the NYT https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/14/us/politics/biden-nato-ukraine.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

The Big Secret to Female Friendship, Podcast by No Filter with Mia Freeman https://open.spotify.com/episode/5C4JgLEMthqcIABe8VP7Oi?si=VP-nst4nQsGGK7ii3dRLWA&context=spotify%3Ashow%3A6N445ZpBx2fDe5ecA1ztzn

OpenWardrobe, app

Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets, Prime

The Creative Act: A Way of Being, by Rick Rubin, Book

Rick Rubin, 60 Minutes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUbUn9FnrME

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