Recreational Thinking

(Note: That's a letter I, not a number 1)

Contestants: Ben Kitchen, Ewan Munro, Devin Rossiter

I recently recorded two new Recreational Thinking Lite episodes; the other (with Aaron Levine, Manas Sarma, and my Jeopardy! compatriot Andrew Whatley), will go up as a Patreon exclusive.  But as I'm working through my editing backlog — a lot of new material, much of it featuring J! superstars, is coming — enjoy some quick bites of snackable content!

https://www.patreon.com/recreationalthinking
https://ko-fi.com/recreationalthinking

Contestants: Jing Feng, Andy Greeley, Randall Eng, Ewan Munro

NOTE: This is a free preview.  Please subscribe to my Patreon to gain access to the rest of the alphabet.

Another little taste of my directors sets!  This set, covering I's and some leftover H's, is one of my hardest, but Randall & Ewan and company are more than up to the task.  Perhaps we'll hear these hardcore cinephiles on an all-cinema episode of Recreational Thinking in the not-so-distant future?

As always, if you like what you hear, consider donating via PayPal or Patreon and remember to leave a review and/or rating on iTunes!

Contestants: Frederic Bush, Chris Miller, Greg Weinstein, Tucker Warner, Dan Blim (whole time); Cliff Galiher, Charlie Fritz (part of the time)

NOTE: This is a free preview.  Please subscribe to my Patreon to gain access to the rest of the alphabet.

Welcome to my new series!  Written by a serious cinephile (me) for an audience of cinephiles, these questions also work as a starting point for anyone who wants to learn about film for quizzing purposes AND anyone looking to go, as Pauline Kael put it, deeper into movies.

Each game (of which there are four in this episode) consists of four rounds of play, Mimir-style, with 32 questions in all.  The answer to each question will be the name of a movie director, and all answers in the game will have a surname or mononym starting with the same letter.

My goal is to cover all types of cinema — mainstream, arthouse, foreign, experimental, documentary, and more — and all eras of cinema as well, with special emphasis on members of underrepresented groups (e.g. women, POC, LGBT) and underrepresented cinemas.  The questions are hard, but the games are fast-paced and filled with banter.  I hope you enjoy — and don't worry, new episodes in the usual Recreational Thinking format are on their way too!

As always, if you like what you hear, consider donating via PayPal or Patreon and remember to leave a review and/or rating on iTunes!

Contestants: Meredith MacVittie, Ben Rothenberg, Nikhil Soneja

From the semi-logical to the semiological, this episode examines the JAMES BOND phenomenon at all angles, turning a spyglass on the world's most famous spy.  As we celebrate the rich legacy of the Bond franchise while also reflecting on its many problematic aspects, we additionally draw connections to geography, politics, probability theory, radical feminism, horse racing, the Olympics, Willy Wonka, Orson Welles, and of course gambling and music.  Come to witness Ben's quest to become Recreational Thinking's first ever 3-time loser; stay for an abrupt downer ending that would be right at home in On Her Majesty's Secret Service or No Time to Die.

As always, if you like what you hear, consider donating via PayPal or Patreon and remember to leave a review and/or rating on iTunes!

Contestants: Randall Eng, Doug Behrend, Darren Munk

Play ball!  An episode recorded back in spring is ready just in time for the playoffs, and just like their favorite players, our baseball-loving contestants are all highly skilled contenders vying for a prestigious world championship!  Well, okay, maybe it's not that prestigious, and it's definitely not a world championship (but is the World Series?), but it sure is fun to listen to and — assuming you're a fan of our national pastime — play along with as well.  Oh, but is your favorite team or time period not represented?  Feel free to submit it as one of your own categories when you join me on this podcast!

As always: Like what you hear? Consider donating via PayPal or Patreon, and remember to leave a review and/or rating on iTunes!

Contestants: Erin Portman, Vince Bacani, Jimmy Davoren

I love all my contestants equally, but the moment in this episode when one reasons out the *meter* of the correct answer using her knowledge of prosody is an all-time highlight.  Really, though, there are standout moments from everyone in an episode that covers the 4 C's — curling, Catholicism, cookies, and chess — plus everything from Neil Gaiman to '70s sitcoms to some reminders of the stirring majesty of Hawaiian culture ... and then I make a series of increasingly vulgar puns and stan Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (not at the same time).  So join four people who met while taping Jeopardy! as we reunite in a much more relaxed environment for some Recreational Thinking!

Enjoy what you hear?  Consider donating via PayPal or Patreon, and remember to leave a review and/or rating on iTunes!

Contestants: Michael Rankins, Dave Ross, Nikhil Soneja

Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-BATMAN!!!  And WONDER WOMAN!!!  And GREEN LANTERN, plus FLASH!!!  All your favorite DC superheroes and supervillains — okay, well, a decent selection of them — turn up in this topic-specific episode that spans the Golden, Silver, Bronze, and modern Ages of DC Comics.  Plus, we cover the ABCs of science fiction.  (I'm aware of their work.)  So tune in!  Come to find out how a magical Rick Springfield ties in to the Brady Bunch universe; stay to hear me pronounce ... "Schneitzhoeffer"?

Enjoy what you hear?  Consider donating via PayPal or Patreon, and remember to leave a review and/or rating on iTunes!

Contestants: Ben Bass, Matthew Marcus, Henry Stringer and "gate-crasher" Raghuveer Mukkamalla

Want to see more of dashing J! champion Matthew Marcus?  Join him and three other fans of Recreational Thinking in the first ever recorded episode of Recreational Thinking Lite!  These were intended as Patreon exclusives, and most of them are, but the public demands More Matthew Marcus!!!, and who am I to deny them?

Remember, sign up on Patreon to hear the other six bonus mini-episodes!  https://www.patreon.com/recreationalthinking

For the first time, my Patreon followers have something to show for their support other than just a warm, fuzzy feeling!  This past weekend, I quickly threw together seven episodes of what I'm calling Recreational Thinking lite, a fast-and-furious, unstructured, unedited format where everyone works together against my questions and we wrap things up in 40-50 minutes.  It was a total experiment, and the results are unpolished, but I think there's some diamonds in the rough.  So between now and Christmas, I'll be publishing all seven as Patreon exclusives!  Sign up for as little or as much as you want for full access.

Just to give you a taste, I'm releasing the sixth episode for free to everyone.  Join Benjamin Kitchen, Dargan Ware, and Chris White as we learn about the AOC of the '70s, find out what Cecil Chubb's wife turned down, and discover the unexpected pedigree that unites The Doors and Dolemite.

NOTE: I got my terminology a bit confused when discussing Rupert Mitford.  What I should have said is that he was the youngest life peer to sit in the House of Lords.

Remember, sign up on Patreon to hear the other six bonus mini-episodes!  https://www.patreon.com/recreationalthinking

Contestants: Henry Stringer, Akiva Fox, Nathan Crissey

What could be scarier than a "deranged cheese monster"?  Well, for quizzers, it would have to be forgetting the name of someone you've spent time with on multiple occasions, right when you're asked a question about them.  Yes, this episode's clever contestants hit highs and lows, mixing painfully close misses with one of the best "fraud" answers I've ever seen, as we traverse worlds as diverse as mathematics, Mario Kart, Shakespeare, cocktails, tuba, Pokémon, and competitive yo-yo'ing (really!).  Plus, just in time for Halloween, there's a deranged cheese monster.

Deranged cheese monster.

NOTE: Like E35, this one ends with ~15m of wrap-up chatter, including a fascinating callback to E32, a discussion of how to transport giant novelty checks, and some amazing yo-yo tricks that unfortunately don't translate to an audio format.

Enjoy what you hear? Consider donating via PayPal or Patreon, and remember to leave a review and/or rating on iTunes!