Overthinking It Podcast

By Overthinking ItComedy TV & Film Society & Culture Education Arts

Overthinking It Podcast episodes

May 16, 2022Episode 724: HeadSpike+
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Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather haven’t been to see the newest Marvel blockbuster, so they report back from their own corners of the multiverse to overthink what they’ve been doing. Pete is revisiting our industrial past; Mark is celebrating the return of the American musical but for people with short attention spans; and Matt is having an art film marathon.
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Further Reading
Little Shop of Horrors: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert
The Lost City and Dog
NetHack
Episode 724: HeadSpike+ originally appeared on Overthinking It, the site subjecting the popular culture to a level of scrutiny it probably doesn't deserve. [Latest Posts | Podcast (iTunes Link)]
1 hr 8 min
May 09, 2022 Episode 723: Reality Breaks
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Matthew Belinkie and Mark Lee overthink the multiversal masterpiece, Everything Everywhere All At Once.
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Supplementary Materials
The Mystery of Indy’s Sub Ride Solved
Community Season 3 Episode 4: “Remedial Chaos Theory”
The Rick and Morty Multiverse
The New Yorker review of Everything Everywhere All At Once
Episode 723: Reality Breaks originally appeared on Overthinking It, the site subjecting the popular culture to a level of scrutiny it probably doesn't deserve. [Latest Posts | Podcast (iTunes Link)]
1 hr 12 min
May 02, 2022 Episode 722: When It’s Bad, It’s Awful. When It’s Good, It’s So Good.
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Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather use the occasion of Mark’s long bike ride through New York City to talk about their experiences of traveling on two wheels. It ends up in a discussion of the thorny topics around transportation policy, which is always where it ends up, amirite?!
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Supplementary Materials
Larry Crowne, The 40 Year Old Virgin, and American Transportation Policy

Episode 722: When It’s Bad, It’s Awful. When It’s Good, It’s So Good. originally appeared on Overthinking It, the site subjecting the popular culture to a level of scrutiny it probably doesn't deserve. [Latest Posts | Podcast (iTunes Link)]
1 hr 18 min
April 25, 2022Episode 721: Must Have Been My Imagination. It’s Probably Just the Wind.
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Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather consider the rotoscoped animations of Joel Haver, and take the opportunity to talk about how comedy operates dynamics or dialectics of expectation and discovery in order to arrive at a realization of…something.
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Joel Haver’s Animations
Further Reading
“Rotoscoping” on Wikipedia
Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud
The Lord of the Rings dir. Ralph Bakshi: IMDb
Episode 721: Must Have Been My Imagination. It’s Probably Just the Wind. originally appeared on Overthinking It, the site subjecting the popular culture to a level of scrutiny it probably doesn't deserve. [Latest Posts | Podcast (iTunes Link)]
1 hr 8 min
April 18, 2022Episode 720: Dumbledore’s TENET
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Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather join forces to overthink Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore. Spoiler alert: The secret is the plot.
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Further Reading
Dekyons
Episode 720: Dumbledore’s TENET originally appeared on Overthinking It, the site subjecting the popular culture to a level of scrutiny it probably doesn't deserve. [Latest Posts | Podcast (iTunes Link)]
1 hr 23 min
April 11, 2022Episode 719: Straining for Sublimity
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Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather use the occasion of a New York Times think piece to overthink the phenomenon of the guitar solo. Where does it come from, what are its types, what (if anything!) does it accomplish?
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Further Reading
Nabil Ayers, “Why We Can’t Quit The Guitar Solo” (NY Times)
Twisted Sister, “We’re Not Gonna Take It”
Dio, “Holy Diver”
Isaac Butler, The Method: How The Twentieth Century Learned to Act
Episode 719: Straining for Sublimity originally appeared on Overthinking It, the site subjecting the popular culture to a level of scrutiny it probably doesn't deserve. [Latest Posts | Podcast (iTunes Link)]
1 hr 8 min
April 04, 2022 Episode 718: I Made the Salt Waffles, and I Wanted Revenge
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Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather turn from their usual grandiose topics to the mundane and domestic: how to cook a pot of rice. In the process, they learn valuable lessons about life, about each other, and about cereal grains.
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Zojirushi NS-LGC05XB Micom Rice Cooker & Warmer
Episode 718: I Made the Salt Waffles, and I Wanted Revenge originally appeared on Overthinking It, the site subjecting the popular culture to a level of scrutiny it probably doesn't deserve. [Latest Posts | Podcast (iTunes Link)]
1 hr 13 min
March 28, 2022 Episode 717: What Would Being Good Even Be For?
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Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, and Mark Lee managed to get together this week and play Back 4 Blood together. They overthink the experience with Socratic interlocutor Matthew Wrather, thinking through aspects of game design and difficulty, the social barriers to bromance, and the intended or unintended externalities of conducting your social life online. Bottom line, remember “Zoom Happy Hours”? This was a lot better.
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Episode 717: What Would Being Good Even Be For? originally appeared on Overthinking It, the site subjecting the popular culture to a level of scrutiny it probably doesn't deserve. [Latest Posts | Podcast (iTunes Link)]
1 hr 13 min
March 21, 2022Episode 716: Big Panda Energy
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Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, and Matthew Wrather overthink Pixar’s new film Turning Red, a coming of age story about a Chinese-Canadian girl growing up in Toronto in 2002. They find in it echoes of the movies of their own childhoods, from Teen Wolf to Labrynth, and examine how the filmmakers rewrite the story for the modern viewer looking back at 2002.
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Further Reading
Teen Wolf
Labyrinth
Women Who Run with the Wolves
Video Essay by TheBridgetWalker which Pete recommends
Episode 716: Big Panda Energy originally appeared on Overthinking It, the site subjecting the popular culture to a level of scrutiny it probably doesn't deserve. [Latest Posts | Podcast (iTunes Link)]
1 hr 10 min
March 14, 2022 Episode 715: An Open World Video Game where the Main Character Refuses to Do the Quest
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Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather answer the OTI-signal and take on The Batman, Matt Reeves’s unrelentingly grim installment in the franchise, starring Robert Pattinson as the caped crusader. We discuss this film’s distinctive tone, it’s monochromatic character, its villain and his plan, the “fourth act,” which is either superfluous or crucial, and play a few rounds of armchair director, offering alternative plot or character twists to the film.
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Episode 715: An Open World Video Game where the Main Character Refuses to Do the Quest originally appeared on Overthinking It, the site subjecting the popular culture to a level of scrutiny it probably doesn't deserve. [Latest Posts | Podcast (iTunes Link)]
1 hr 18 min