The Best Thing Ever

Do you wish the crypt keeper was bangable? Is your CRT desktop overflowing with Riker fan fic? Do you long for a time when fringe ideas didn't incite national chaos? Then you might just love "Beyond Belief: Fact, or Fiction." This '90s anthology lovingly preserved in its native SD, features Jonathan Frakes, dozens of visual metaphors, and acting that makes you say, "Wow. Just wow."

Fan-favorite Caitlyn Gill is here for all the puns, faux-spookiness, and wholesome Canadian production vibes. Liked it? The RIAWlgorithm also recommends: 🚀Lower Decks ✍️Murder She Wrote 🌌Caitlyn's Joshua Tree Astronomy Tours! 🎭 Good Bad Movies like Next Recorded on 5/9/25 (in case you're wondering what specific world craziness we were experiencing) Editing by Zach Hahn Music by @mitrxxx

What do you get when you mix: 🤖A rogue SecUnit who was programmed to kill, but just wants to binge-watch its soaps. 🧑‍🔬 Team of scientists on an alien planet overcoming their prejudices, surviving, and making bot friends and 👾 An evil survey team here to kill anyone who gets between them and their sweet, sweet alien remnant tech? It's Martha Wells's hit novella, All Systems Red, #1 of the Murderbot Diaries, now a hit Apple TV+ show with infinity more Skarsgård!

The book's a fast, shooty romp with our sarcastic murderbot who longs to dip out of reality and watch its shows. Girl, same. Liked it? The RIAWlgorithm also recommends: 🍵 The Monk & Robot books by Becky Chambers (Amanda) 🕹️ NieR: Automata (Anthony)

🥇Golden Girls

🐸Amphibia

🦉The Owl House

✨ The Stars Now Unclaimed by Drew Williams.

📞Calling congress, protesting, and helping how you can. Recorded on 4/25/25 (in case you're wondering what specific world craziness we were experiencing) Editing by Zach Hahn Music by @mitrxxx

Why do we slay all day? Why do we serve? Why is it giving? It's all thanks to drag ballroom culture, and drag's permeation of mainstream is in large part thanks to Paris is Burning (1990). Across the board, we loved this legendary documentary by Jennie Livingston, with its executive realness, vintage 80s b-roll, and giant trophies. Also: 🌳Tree fan Bri Pruett is back and saw another good tree!😪Anthony's suffering through sleep regression. 🦋Hunter's gotta watch out for moths

So if you're looking for some podcast realness and the origin for pretty much all of today's slang, you might just love Paris is Burning.

Liked it? The RIAWlgorthim says may also enjoy:

👀How Do I Look a Paris is Burning spiritual sequel

👑The Queen (1968) a Paris is Burning spiritual prequel

🌹 Funeral Parade of Roses (Hunter's pick)

🏁RuPaul's Drag Race (Bri's Pick)

👏Pose (Bri's Pick)

📺 I Saw the TV Glow (Anthony's Pick)

Other Recs: 🎲Molly House, the board game by Jo Kelly with additional design from Cole Wehrle & Ricky Royal with illustrations by Rachel Ford.(Hunter's pick)

🎲Hunter's hosting a tournament at Guardian Games in Portland 6/27-29 and doing shows!

🤩Bri's in an award-winning short film, " Relationship to Patient" with H. Jon Benjamin! (Bri's Pick) 🤩Also Bri's doing improv and standup in LA!

🌆 Pre-Giuliani, New York (Anthony's) 🛏️Sleep. Always sleep.

Recorded on 4/11/25 (in case you're wondering what specific world craziness we were experiencing) Editing by Zach Hahn Music by @mitrxxx

Feeling like a dive into the ultra-bleak world of politics... in 2003? Welcome to The Thick of It! Before he saved the universe as The Doctor, Peter Capaldi starred as a foul-mouthed fixer in Armando Iannucci's proto-Veep set in the UK. Shaky cams! Old cell phones! Resignations! It's got it all! Also: The Cat in the Hat is no angel. OSHA in the Mushroom Kingdom. So if you like your escapism to be nearly as depressing as reality, you might just find yourself in The Thick of It.

Liked it? The RIAWlgorthim says may also enjoy: 📰 The news 💀 Working a dead end job.

Other Recs: 😴 Sleep 🏋️🥦 Lifting weights and eating vegetables

Recorded on 2/11/25 (in case you're wondering what specific world craziness we were experiencing) Editing by Zach Hahn Music by @mitrxxx

While Best Thing Ever is on break, we checked in with Anthony about being a new dad including lack of sleep, low expectations, and declawing babies. Parenting is fun and not that hard!

Alex Falcone and Ezra Fox accidentally became mummy romance experts when they wrote their best-selling young adult novel (http://unwrapmyheart.com). For Spooktober they're reviewing three classic pieces of mummy pop culture and analyzing how good the mummies are if they can get it. Today they dive into a young-adult romance that is close to mummies but crucially different: zombies. With Warm Bodies (2016) we find out why zombies bit the love bug before mummies did. It's the gooshy bois vs the bony bois on the finale of the Mummy Minute.

Part two of our mini-series about mummies for spooky month. This time we talked about the most famous mummy romance novel (besides ours): The Mummy or Ramses the Damses by Anne Rice.

Next week we'll wrap things up (sorry) with a slant rhyme on mummies, zombie romance.