Overthinking It Podcast

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Overthinking It Podcast episodes

May 29, 2017Episode 465: Who Watches the Baywatchmen?
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather tackle aspects of unfocused storytelling, incoherent theme, and inconsistent characterization in Baywatch colon the movie. It’s a good first draft, and we can’t wait to see what it’s like when they finish it.
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Further Reading
“False Equivalence” from Short Packed
“I Tried Zac Efron’s ”Baywatch“ Diet And Workout For Two Months And This Is What Happened” from Buzzfeed
“Male Stars Are Too Buff Now” from Vulture
Episode 465: Who Watches the Baywatchmen? 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)]
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May 22, 2017 Episode 464: E.T.: I Learned It from You, Alien Dad!
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather were never going to see Alien: Covenant. So they decided to do something we’ve bizarrely never done on Overthinking It before: Talk about E.T.
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Further Reading

Jan C. Verhas, The Broken Flower Pot (1876)
E.T. on Wikipedia
Jackie Cooper
Episode 464: E.T.: I Learned It from You, Alien Dad! 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)]
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May 15, 2017Episode 463: The Emotional Transportation Business
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather cannot believe what is going on in their Facebook feeds. Why are people saying such awful things about Guardians of the Glaaxy, Vol. 2?! They ask whether sentimentality is a sufficient condition for a movie, and they wonder what makes a great wedding reception playlist, with detours into literary criticism, acting technique, and music theory.
(This episode was pre-taped.)
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Further Reading
Does the Dog Die dot com
Movies Where You Will Cry Your Eyes Out
Jodie Foster on Inside the Actor’s Studio
“Get in the emotional transportation business!” by Peter Guber
“bathos” defined on Dictionary.com
Episode 463: The Emotional Transportation Business 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)]
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May 08, 2017Episode 462: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: Whistle While You Work
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather form a small podcast family to fight endlessly about Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, which we read primarily as a movie about parents and children, growth and care, learning and development. Special reference to the developmental psychology of Erik Erikson.
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Further Reading
Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2
Erik Erikson
The 2017 Eurovision Song Contest Watch Party
France’s choice of a centrist president isn’t the only reason Europe has to party this week—the finals of the Eurovision Song Contest are being held in Kiev! As in years past, Overthinking It will be throwing the greatest Eurovision party in New York, and you are all invited to join us!
Watch our videos
Come to the party
The Overthinking It Book Club: George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four
The Overthinking It Book Club returns with a look at George Orwell’s classic novel of authoritarianism and political dystopia, Nineteen Eighty-Four. In four episodes of downloadable audio, the OTI crew dives deep into the strangely familiar world of the story and follows our everyman hero Winston as he navigates the murky waters of loyalty, individuality, doublethink, and thought crime. It’s the perfect counterpart—or corrective to—The Circle.
Get The OTI Book Club Now!
Episode 462: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: Whistle While You Work 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)]
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May 01, 2017 Episode 461: Goodbye Cruel World. Please Remember to Like and Subscribe.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather try to make sense of the frankly incoherent—in both project and tone—film The Circle, an adaptation of Dave Eggers’s satirical novel of the same name.
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The Overthinking It Book Club: George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four
The Overthinking It Book Club returns with a look at George Orwell’s classic novel of authoritarianism and political dystopia, Nineteen Eighty-Four. In four episodes of downloadable audio, the OTI crew dives deep into the strangely familiar world of the story and follows our everyman hero Winston as he navigates the murky waters of loyalty, individuality, doublethink, and thought crime. It’s the perfect counterpart—or corrective to—The Circle.
Get The OTI Book Club Now!
Episode 461: Goodbye Cruel World. Please Remember to Like and Subscribe. 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)]
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April 24, 2017Episode 460: Let Us Unloose the Juice
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matt Wrather squeeze mightily at the bag of discourse surrounding the Juicero.
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Further Reading
The Juicero
Vox’s Juicero Explainer
Silicon Valley’s $400 Juicer May Be Feeling the Squeeze
The “But For”: “Is Your Startup Idea Already Taken?” from Buzzfeed
Episode 460: Let Us Unloose the Juice 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)]
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April 17, 2017Episode 459: The Fate of the Furious: Having a Kid Isn’t a Ten Second Race
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather roar to the finish line of Family Week with this podcast on The Fate of the Furious, the latest entry in the Fastiverse. In talking about the film’s over-arching themes, we finally answer the age-old question: “Which matters more, the car or the driver?”
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Further Reading
Miss Saigon
Into the Woods
Subaru BRZ
Subaru WRX
Episode 459: The Fate of the Furious: Having a Kid Isn’t a Ten Second Race 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)]
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April 10, 2017Episode 458: The Shared Lived Experience of Being Fast and Furious
Pete Fenzel and Matt Wrather talk over contributions from listeners Levi, Jesse, Howard, and Nathan, and try not to remember that it’s not about us, it’s about the family.
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Further Reading
Bar Rescue with John Taffer
“The Death of the Hired Man” by Robert Frost
Episode 458: The Shared Lived Experience of Being Fast and Furious 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)]
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April 03, 2017Episode 457: How Can We Not Talk about Family When Family’s All That We Got?
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Pete and Matt join forces for one of their Storied® two-handers, and they can barely contain their excitement the F8 that is coming for all of us.
In an episode that considers the idea of family from many angles, the guys issue a challenge: Let’s serve up next week’s podcast family style.
Send an email or a voice memo to [email protected] or use (203) 285–6401 to text or leave a voicemail (nobody will answer!) and answer one of these questions:
What does family even mean in the FF universe anymore?
What does the Overthinking It Family mean to you? What does it mean that you’re a part of it?
What is an unusual family that you happent to be a part of?
What is one ritual or practice you’ve been involved in that cements family membership or continuity?
We’ll include at least some of your contributions on Episode 458.
And don’t forget: Pick up a copy of The Overview: The Fast and the Furious to revisit where it all began.
Episode 457: How Can We Not Talk about Family When Family’s All That We Got? 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)]
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March 27, 2017Episode 456: Fighter Pilot, Space Commander, Mass- Murdering Plumber
Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather examine the phonological and prosodic implications of the title Everyone Poops, share the mobile games they’ve been playing on their phones, and discuss how competing interests have designed our wasted time. And remember:
Your bathroom time is not uniquely crappy
Everyone poops and pooping makes them happy
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Your Panel
Peter Fenzel: @fenzelian
Mark Lee: @goestotwelve
Matthew Wrather: @mwrather
Further Reading
Everyone Poops
Everybody Poops 410 Pounds a Year: An Illustrated Bathroom Companion for Grown-Ups
Iambic Pentameter
Rhyme’s Reason by John Hollander
Book Size
iOS Links: Clash Royale, NARUTO SHIPPUDEN: Ultimate Ninja Blazing, Egg, Inc. – Auxbrain, Inc., Threes!
“Why Strong Female Characters Are Bad for Women” from Overthinking It
“Towards a Theory of Television Snackability” from Overthinking It
Fake It To Make It online game
Episode 456: Fighter Pilot, Space Commander, Mass- Murdering Plumber 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)]
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