Pop Cultured

At patreon.com/popcultured, you can hear exclusive discussions breaking down each week's box office numbers and analyzing Hollywood in real time. Join us!

• What we've been Doing:
  • Peter went to New York City and experienced NYCC for the first time.
  • Jacob did his annual haunted house excursions.
• What we've been Reading:
  • Ben read Little Women.
  • Jacob read Barry Sonnenfeld's two memoirs, A Wizard of Earthsea, Incidents Around the House, and Clown Town.
• What we've been Watching:
  • Peter saw some plays on Broadway including Stranger Things: The First Shadow and Paranormal Activity. He also saw You Can See Everything when he got home.
  • Ben rewatched American Psycho and The Fog.
  • Jacob watched Lindsay Ellis' epic cruise line video on YouTube.
• What we've been Eating:
  • Peter went on a tour of the best pizza places in New York City.
• What we've been Playing:
  • Jacob built his first fully custom Magic: The Gathering decks.

Join us at patreon.com/popcultured to get access to everything we're doing, including exclusive weekly box office discussions and a rewatch podcast dedicated to The Simpsons!

• What we've been Doing:

  • Ben went to Austin, met Jacob in person, and visited the Texas Toy Museum

  • Brad has been customizing his physical media collection

  • HT's sister got married, and HT went outdoor rock climbing for the first time in 20 years! Also went to see BIGBANG in concert.

• What we've been Reading:

  • Ben read Welcome to the Family.

  • Jacob read Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein, Neuromancer by William Gibson, and The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones.

  • Brad just finished The Butcher's Masquerade, the fifth Dungeon Crawler Carl book

  • HT read Trust by Hernan Diaz

• What we've been Watching:

  • Ben rewatched Mulholland Dr and watched Action Jackson.

  • Jacob watched Resident Evil, Reacher season 4, and Buddy.

  • Brad also watched Resident Evil, and started watching a season of The Traitors.

  • HT saw Hope in 4DX, Primetime, Slow Horses Season 6, has started NYFF (Fjord, Club Kid), and can't talk about Digger

• What we've been Eating:

  • Ben ate some Texas BBQ.

  • Brad tried Burstin' Blueberry Uncrustables, A&W Ghost Energy, Fruit Creme Starburst, Pop-Tarts S'mores Buzzballs.

• What we've been Playing:

  • Jacob has gone and started playing Magic: The Gathering.

  • HT is planning a full replay of Kingdom Hearts, for now has been watching lots of playthroughs…

Head to patreon.com/popcultured to get access to ad-free and exclusive episodes, including weekly box office discussions and our Simpsons rewatch podcast!

• What we've been Doing:

  • Peter went to Comic-Con.

  • Brad went to North Carolina for the first time, has started adding a modification to his plain polo shirts.

  • HT is allowed to say she went to Portland and saw something cool in an embargo safe way

• What we've been Reading:

  • Ben read This Time Tomorrow.

  • Brad is in the middle of the fourth Dungeon Crawler Carl book

  • HT read Emily Wilson's translation of The Odyssey

• What we've been Watching:

  • Ben rewatched Fight Club for the first time in many years.

  • Peter watched Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

  • Brad also watched Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Practical Magic, Tony, and The Invite again

  • HT's plane watches were Michael, Romy and Michele's High School Reunion, and Point Break, has been watching The Prisoner, also watched The Samurai and the Prisoner, and is the only one who liked Her Private Hell

• What we've been Eating:

  • Peter ate the cinnamon stuffed croissant from Costco.

  • Brad had Bojangles for the first time, tried the new Devil Dogs flavors: Mochaccino, Salted Caramel, Golden Yellow.

Check out patreon.com/popcultured for the full, ad-free experience!

• What we've been Doing:

  • BJ performed at the Monrovia Pride Book Festival!

• What we've been Reading:

  • Ben read One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad.

  • Jacob read London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe, Checkmate by Ben Mezrich, Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid, and Angel Down by Daniel Kraus.

• What we've been Watching:

  • Ben rewatched Ocean's Twelve.

  • Jacob started watching Invincible, and saw The Furious.

  • HT watched Widow's Bay, The Other Bennett Sister, is pretty into The Vampire Lestat, and has been rewatching Fringe (where else, on Pluto TV).

  • BJ watched The Little Rascals, Get Real, Jackass 2, and Call Me By Your Name

We're making this episode free for everyone. We'd love for you to subscribe at patreon.com/popcultured and join us for regular box office discussions, our Simpsons rewatch podcast, and an ad-free experience.

Since the big new releases this week didn't spark any worthy ideas, Ben, Jacob, BJ, and Brad decided to provide some personalized recommendations for things that are streaming right now. Hopefully you find some things to add to your watch lists! (Update: Ben screwed up and said "Spy" is streaming on HBO Max. In fact, it's streaming on Disney+/Hulu. Sorry about that!)

If you want to respond to anything we've said, offer any feedback, suggest topics of conversation, or just say hello, you can reach us at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, and we'll talk to you soon.

Since this is only the free feed, we encourage you to visit patreon.com/popcultured to get access to the huge pile of other episodes you're missing out on!

• What we've been Doing:

  • Ben went to Walt Disney World to interview some Muppets and saw a Muppet concert.

  • Jacob attended Universal's one-year Epic Universe victory lap.

  • BJ has been in junket city and went to the CCA LGBTQ+ Celebration

  • Brad has gotten into stickers

• What we've been Reading:

  • Jacob read A Parade of Horribles by Matt Dinniman, This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone, Cornelius: The Merry Life of a Wretched Dog by Marc Torices, and Blacksad by Juan Diaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido.

  • Brad listened to Dungeon Crawler Carl and is in the middle of Carl's Doomsday Scenario.

• What we've been Watching:

  • Ben watched Spider-Noir and Affection.

  • Jacob watched Masters of the Universe, Backrooms, Widow's Bay, and The Righteous Gemstones.

  • BJ watched Carolina Caroline, I Am Frankelda, The Incredibly True Story of Two Girls in Love, and Strip Law

  • Brad watched Doc Meets World, The Sheep Detectives, and Masters of the Universe.

• What we've been Eating:

  • BJ had the Supergirl x KFC collaboration meal

  • Brad tried the Blue Berry Typhoon Hawaiian Punch C4, Sour Strips Ghost Energy, Dot's Snack Mix, Hawaiian BBQ Pringles, Banana Mudslide Cutwater, wants to recommend Kinder's Founder's Reserve BBQ Sauce

• What we've been Playing:

  • Brad started playing LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight

Hey everyone. There are going to be some changes to the podcast(s) coming soon. The audio explains everything. Thanks for listening, and we'll talk to you soon!

Subscribe at patreon.com/popcultured to hear every episode of this show, plus two others — a weekly box office discussion, and a Simpsons rewatch podcast!

• What we've been Doing:

  • BJ went Bowling and got to show Diane Franklin her TerrorVision cosplay!

• What we've been Reading:

  • Brad listened to Project Hail Mary

  • BJ started Amy Spaulding's "Out in Hollywood" series of sapphic romance novels (finished - For Her Consideration)

• What we've been Watching:

  • Ben watched The Punisher: One Last Kill and wants to follow up about Titanic.

  • Brad watched The Breadwinner

  • BJ's watching Half Man, The Mandalorian and Grogu, and revisited 2GE+HER and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider

• What we've been Eating:

  • Brad went to the National Restaurant Association Show and tried a breakfast gyro, his own ketchup flavor, and Dr. Pepper Dippin Dots. He also tried Root Beer Float Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Blackberry Boom Uncrustables, and Strawberry Cheesecake Pop-Tarts

  • BJ tried Banana Mudslide Cutwater (oh my god good but please be careful)

If you're only listening in this feed, you're missing out on more than half of what we're releasing. We recently came up with our own cast for the next X-Men movie, talked about some of our favorite cinematic outfits, and broke down several directors who made their feature directorial debuts at age 30 or younger. Plus, we have weekly episodes analyzing the latest box office numbers, and two episodes per month of our rewatch podcast dedicated to The Simpsons. Join us at patreon.com/popcultured to hear it all!

• What we've been Reading:

  • Ben read part of The Odyssey, but gave up.

  • Jacob is still plugging away at the Red Rising series, but is also reading North American Lake Monsters and There is No Antimemetics Division.

• What we've been Watching:

  • Ben is watching Widow's Bay, and saw Master and Commander: Far Side of the World and Only Angels Have Wings.

  • Jacob started watching Hacks and Long Story Short, and saw The Sheep Detectives.

• What we've been Doing:
• Jacob accidentally stumbled into a small Texas town festival.
• BJ went to an Adult Swim FYC event
• What we've been Reading:
• Jacob read Red Rising and Golden Son by Pierce Brown, and Mister Magic by Kiersten White.
• BJ read Rachel Reid's non-Game Changer hockey romance books – Time to Shine and The Shots You Take
• What we've been Watching:
• Ben watched Caught Stealing, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, and The Firm.
• Jacob is catching up on For All Mankind, is currently bingeing My Adventures With Superman, and saw Hokum.
• BJ saw Devil Wears Prada 2, The Warriors (on the big screen!), The Saviors, and the L.A. premiere of Blue Film.
• What we've been Playing:
• BJ joined the Filmcast for the Summer Movie Wager