The Grand Thunk

Rhiannon has been watching the BAFTAs, hosted by Richard Ayoade, while Alex has been tracing the history of the phrase ‘call me by your name’ and its importance in queer culture and music. Rhiannon read The Rosie Project and has been mulling over the swiftness with which people diagnose characters with neurodiversity based on stereotypes. Meanwhile, Alex loved an Italian novel called A Girl Returned, with its gritty and entrancing characters. Netflix’s documentary, Sherpa, captivated Rhiannon as it told the stories and difficulties faced by the mountain people of Everest and finally, Alex has been travelling down memory lane with Dorset-based, Thomas Hardy-inspired, Tamara Drewe.    

We are an accessible podcast so find transcripts on our linktree in our instagram bio @thegrandthunk. Follow us on social media @thegrandthunk or email us - [email protected]. We’d love to hear from you! Subscribe, rate, review and tell all your friends.

See below for a full list of what we discuss:

BAFTAs hosted by Richard Ayoade

Paul Mescal - Normal People

Amie - Sex Education

Montero (Call Me By Your Name) by Lil Naz X 

https://genius.com/videos/Lil-nas-x-breaks-down-the-meaning-of-montero-call-me-by-your-name

Call Me By Your Name

Mystery of Love by Sufjan Stevens

In Watermelon Sugar by Richard Brautigan

Watermelon Sugar by Harry Styles

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

Mad Girl by Bryony Gordon

A Girl Returned by Donatella Di Pietrantonio 

Sherpa on Netflix

Tamara Drewe on Netflix

Love Actually

We’re back with an nauseatingly nostalgic episode, starting with a few tips on Eurovision scoring systems and implement-free pineapple dining experiences. Rhiannon has been closely following Naomi Osaka stepping back from post-match press conferences, asking the question - are they now defunct? Alex has been indulging in her love of all things Dolly Alderton touches, reading Everything I Know About Love and reminiscing about the High Low. Rhiannon has been on a similarly nostalgic journey with the Friends Reunion, a couple of hours of pure, fuzzy joy. Alex has a few recommendations for reading around the politics and history of Palestine. And finally, Rhiannon has been delighting in the funny and relatable comedy, Motherland, starring Anna Maxwell Martin.

We are an accessible podcast so find transcripts on our linktree in our instagram bio @thegrandthunk. Follow us on social media @thegrandthunk or email us - [email protected]. We’d love to hear from you! Subscribe, rate, review and tell all your friends.

See below for a full list of what we discuss:

Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton

The Ex-Boyfriend Yard Sale by Haley McGee

Sentimental in the City with Dolly Alderton and Caroline O’Donoghue

All Our Hidden Gifts by Caroline O’Donoghue @czaronline

The High Low with Dolly Alderton and Pandora Sykes

Bella Mackie - How to Kill your Family

We’re Not the Good Guys. Osaka shows up Problems of Press Conferences by Jonathan Liew

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2021/may/31/were-not-the-good-guys-osaka-shows-up-problems-of-press-conferences

Naomi Osaka @naomiosaka

Friends Reunion, HBO

Courtney Cox’s Instagram

The Last Earth by Ramzy Baroud

On Palestine by Noam Chomsky and Ilan Pappé

Motherland, BBC

Anna Maxwell Martin in Line of Duty, BBC and Would I Lie to You

Hot Fuzz

The Grand Thunk, the podcast in which Alex Blanchard and Rhiannon Kearns discuss the books they've been reading, the films and TV shows they've been watching and the podcasts they've been listening to!

Alex has been exploring Camus’ surprisingly woke speeches, exploring the role the artist has to play in politics and understanding whilst Rhiannon has been facing her mortality in Atul Gawande’s book about standards of care for the elderly. Alex shares with us the importance of generalists and having hobbies in a world that prioritises hyper specialisation. Rhiannon has discovered Olivia Colman’s secrets for securing a partner in the National Theatre’s Life in Stages, whilst Alex has been confronting how little she knows about art with the Great Women Artists Podcast. And finally, the conversation moves to weddings, with Sara Pascoe’s dislike for weddings and Alex’s penchant for the occasional Say Yes to the Dress excerpt.

And apologies for Alex’s sound quality!

We are an accessible podcast so find transcripts on our linktree in our instagram bio @thegrandthunk. Follow us on social media @thegrandthunk or email us - [email protected]. We’d love to hear from you! Subscribe, rate, review and tell all your friends.

See below for a full list of what we discuss:

Create Dangerously by Albert Camus

Being Mortal by Atul Gawande

Sentimental in the City with Caroline O’Donahue and Dolly Alderton

Atul Gawande TEDTalk

Range by David Epstein

Give Birth like a Feminist by Milli Hill

Life in Stages by National Theatre

Great Women Artists Podcast with Katy Hessel and Ali Smith

How to be Both by Ali Smith

Barbara Hepsworth, Pauline Boty, Tacita Dean and Lorenza Mazzetti

The Panic Years by Nell Frizzell Podcast with Sara Pascoe

The Panic Years by Nell Frizzell Book

Out of Her Mind by Sara Pascoe

Say Yes to the Dress - Gok Wan

The Grand Thunk, the podcast in which Alex Blanchard and Rhiannon Kearns discuss the books they've been reading, the films and TV shows they've been watching and the podcasts they've been listening to!

A packed episode this week! Rhiannon has started falling in love with Netflix’s new fantasy show, ‘Shadow and Bone’ and Alex is still getting to grips with motherhood through Candice Brathwaite’s ‘I Am Not Your Baby Mother’, a memoir/manifesto about being a black British mother.  Rhiannon has been digging into the frank and opinionated world of Katherine Ryan with her podcast ‘Telling Everyone Everything’. It was Eurovision this week and in celebration, Rhiannon watched ‘The Story of Fire Saga’, the hilarious tale of two Icelandic singers performing at Eurovision with the help of some elves and the intervention of the gloriously camp Dan Stevens. Alex has been struggling with the tragedy of ‘The Pursuit of Love’ whilst Rhiannon has been delighting in the authentic portrayal of a woman working hard in ‘Mare of Easttown’. And finally, Alex has been discovering the secrets to success with Grace Beverley!

We are an accessible podcast so find transcripts on our linktree in our instagram bio @thegrandthunk. Follow us on social media @thegrandthunk or email us - [email protected]. We’d love to hear from you! Subscribe, rate, review and tell all your friends.

See below for a full list of what we discuss:

Smooth My Balls

Shadow and Bone, Leigh Bardugo Netflix

Ben Barnes’ Instagram

I Am Not Your Baby Mother by Candice Brathwaite

The Duchess - Katherine Ryan

Telling Everyone Everything with Katherine Ryan

Ready to Mingle - Katherine Ryan

Eurovision Song Contest - The Story of Fire Saga

The Pursuit of Love - BBC and book by Nancy Mitford

Mare of Easttown - HBO

Line of Duty - BBC iplayer

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey

The Fall - BBC iplayer

Ctrl Alt Delete by Emma Gannon and Grace Beverley

Olive by Emma Gannon

Working Hard or Hardly Working by Grace Beverley

The Grand Thunk, the podcast in which Alex Blanchard and Rhiannon Kearns discuss the books they've been reading, the films and TV shows they've been watching and the podcasts they've been listening to!

Rhiannon has truly embraced moving to the countryside and is brimming with tall tales of grass growing and cheeky pigeons. Alex has been admiring Billie Eilish’s new look and they discuss the controversy surrounding this transition from iconic look to iconic look. Alex has also been deep-diving into notions of a separate genius and what that means for the conscious mind, but more importantly, what does this mean for Philip Pullman’s work? Rhiannon has been reading the beautiful book ‘Where the Crawdads Sing’ and has fallen in love with the use of the natural world in Delia Owen’s writing. Alex has immersed herself in the world of fantasy with ‘Shadow and Bone’, a new and thrilling universe filled with darkness, magic and Ben Barnes’ eyes. Rhiannon discusses a beloved podcast by siblings Jessie and Bebe Cave whilst Alex has been unsettling herself with the beautiful novel ‘Starve Acre’.

We are an accessible podcast so find transcripts on our linktree in our instagram bio @thegrandthunk. Follow us on social media @thegrandthunk or email us - [email protected]. We’d love to hear from you! Subscribe, rate, review and tell all your friends.

See below for a full list of what we discuss:

Billie Eilish - Your Power, Vogue - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzeWc3zh01g

TedTalk by Elizabeth Gilbert

His Dark Materials (The Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass)  by Philip Pullman

The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind by Julian Jaynes

Daemon Voices by Philip Pullman

Adam Buxton Podcast with Philip Pullman

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens, starring Daisy Edgar Jones

Shadow and Bone, Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo - Netflix

Rocketman, Sir Elton John, starring Taron Egerton, Richard Madden, Jamie Bell  - Netflix

Starve Acre by Andrew Michael Hurley,

The House of Silence by Thomas Hardy, poem

The Hare, a folk song

We Can’t Talk About That Right Now by Jessie and Bebe Cave

Sunrise by Jessie Cave (play)

Sunset by Jessie Cave (book)

Fleabag by Phoebe Waller-Bridge

The High Low Podcast

The Grand Thunk, the podcast in which Alex Blanchard and Rhiannon Kearns discuss the books they've been reading, the films and TV shows they've been watching and the podcasts they've been listening to!

Alex has a surprise for Rhiannon as she finally watches the Great British Bake Off and she revels in James McAvoy’s baking charisma. Alex has also been deep-diving into the world of childbirth whilst reading the incredibly rousing ‘Give Birth Like a Feminist' by Milli Hill. Meanwhile, Rhiannon discusses the importance of mutuality in eliminating the racism in our systems through her reading of ‘What White People Can Do Next’, a provoking and explorative book by Emma Dabiri. Whilst Alex has been exploring the languid characters of Françiose Sagan’s novels, Rhiannon watched the powerful and stirring film ‘Ma Rainey's Black Bottom’, starring Viola Davis and the late Chadwick Boseman. ‘Who’d a Thunk?!’ makes a stunning comeback and we discuss the impact of Greta Thunburg’s youth in a documentary tracking her Year to Change the World.

We are an accessible podcast so find transcripts on our linktree in our instagram bio @thegrandthunk. Follow us on social media @thegrandthunk or email us - [email protected]. We’d love to hear from you! Subscribe, rate, review and tell all your friends.

See below for a full list of what we discuss:

The Great British Bake Off

Give Birth Like a Feminist by Milli Hill

What White People Can Do Next by Emma Dabiri

Don't Touch My Hair by Emma Dabiri

Those Without Shadows by Françoise Sagan

Bonjour Tristesse by Françoise Sagan

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Netflix

Nomadland, directed by Chloe Zhao

Promising Young Woman, written and directed by Emerald Fennell

Greta Thunberg - A Year to Change the World, BBC 1

The Grand Thunk, the podcast in which Alex Blanchard and Rhiannon Kearns discuss the books they've been reading, the films and TV shows they've been watching and the podcasts they've been listening to!

Welcome to our first 'Grand Guest' with the captivating Haley McGee. Haley is an actor, podcast host, playwright and most recently, an author. Her funny and vulnerable memoir explores the cost of love as Haley struggles to get out of debt. The only items she has to sell to get out of debt have been given to her by her exes but how much should they be sold for? Haley pose some challenging questions, ‘Is the mixtape from your first love worth more than the vintage typewriter from a philanderer? Do the lies you told the guy who gave you a jewellery box dock its price?’ All these questions culminate in a one-women show that Haley writes, revolving around creating a Formula for Love. This book is thought-provoking, touching, funny and, at times, shocking. This book is for your friends that like romance, your friends that like maths, your creative friends and we reckon, pretty much all your friends. We loved it and we loved talking to Haley about it and the process of writing it! We fused the Grand Thunk with the Ex-Boyfriend Yard Sale and asked Haley for recommendations that are old loves and new loves and she didn’t disappoint.

Haley McGee - @yeshaleymcgee - https://linktr.ee/yeshaleymcgee

The Ex-Boyfriend Yard Sale - Haley McGee

https://linktr.ee/exboyfriendyardsale?mc_cid=da27e39817&mc_eid=a303f7c606

The Cost of Love - Podcast - Haley McGee

The Value of Everything - Mariana Mazzucato

Haley’s Course - http://www.haleymcgee.ca/creative-quarantine-challenge

Martha Graham’s letter to Agnes DeMille

Elizabeth Gilbert TED Talk

How to Fail with Elizabeth Day - Elizabeth Gilbert

The Runaway by Alice Munro

The Great British Bake Off - Channel 4

My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante

It’s Episode 15 and we’re adoring the sunshine! Alex tells us about a sentimental and charming novel about moving past grief while Rhiannon has been exploring Roisin Conaty’s comedy, GameFace. Alex has taken one for the team and watched Seaspiracy and divulges all the dirty secrets of the sea. Rhiannon, however, has been reading critique of Seaspiracy (see below), giving context to this dramatic documentary. Rhiannon regales us with a story about Rosamund Pike with her thumb up the bum of a pineapple, before telling us about Pike’s new film, I Care a Lot, featuring a sketchy legal system and a very sharp bob. And finally, Alex has been re-discovering beauty and pretending it’s not pretentious with the music of Aurora.

We are an accessible podcast so find transcripts on our linktree in our instagram bio @thegrandthunk. Follow us on social media @thegrandthunk or email us - [email protected]. We’d love to hear from you! Subscribe, rate, review and tell all your friends.

See below for a full list of what we discuss:

Where We Belong by Anstey Harris

GameFace - Channel 4

Thanks a Million by Angela Scanlon with guest Roisin Conaty

Seaspiracy -  Netflix

Article on Seaspiracy - https://www.vox.com/2021/4/13/22380637/seaspiracy-netflix-fact-check-fishing-ocean-plastic-veganism-vegetarianism

I Care a Lot - Netflix

Rosamund Pike Pineapple video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIo-x9atAls

It Happened Quiet by Aurora  - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9U-N6LqzdIM

A couple of technical issues have meant the sound quality of this episode isn't to the standard we'd like it to be (but luckily this has been resolved going forwards). So please bear with us for this episode and we'll be back with super smooth silky audio next week.

The Grand Thunk, the podcast in which Alex Blanchard and Rhiannon Kearns discuss the books they've been reading, the films and TV shows they've been watching and the podcasts they've been listening to!

Alex has been reading up on the origins of the feminist term Bluestocking, originally used to describe a man - typical - before telling us about the charming instagram-famous novel 'Hamnet'. Rhiannon delves into a new Tom Hanks film, tracing the history of news readers and translating that to today’s news sources. Alex has been reading ‘The Ungrateful Refugee’ and postulates on what it means to be a refugee. Meanwhile, Rhiannon has been reading ‘Cilka’s Journey’, diving into a passionate discussion about the lack of consent in imprisoned sex work but despite this, the blame that is attributed to women in these situations. We end with a few podcast recommendations to charm your ears.

We are an accessible podcast so find transcripts on our linktree in our instagram bio @thegrandthunk. Follow us on social media @thegrandthunk or email us - [email protected]. We’d love to hear from you! Subscribe, rate, review and tell all your friends.

Content Warning: rape and sexual violence during the discussion on 'Cilka's Journey' from 30 minutes.

See below for a full list of what we discuss:

Blue Stockings by Jessica Swale

Brilliant Women: 18th-Century Bluestockings by Elizabeth Eger and Lucy Peltz

Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

News of the World

The Ungrateful Refugee: What Immigrants Never Tell You by Dina Nayeri

The Good Immigrant edited by Nikesh Shukla

Cilka’s Journey by Heather Morris

The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris

Tom Allen on The Adam Buxton Podcast

Strippers in the Attic podcast

The Grand Thunk, the podcast in which Alex Blanchard and Rhiannon Kearns discuss the books they've been reading, the films and TV shows they've been watching and the podcasts they've been listening to!

Welcome back! We’re so happy to be back and regaling you with all sorts of nonsense as well as a few recommendations! Rhiannon tells us about the fight for uni degrees for women in the play ‘Blue Stockings’ in a tangential discussion of her recent move. Alex divulges her obsession with the charming and sentimental ‘Anne with an ‘E’’ after Rhiannon entertains us with Dawn French’s warming novel ‘Because of You’. We touch on the Women’s Prize and firmly assert that trans women are women in the wake of a recent and abhorrent open letter. We both talk about some of the cozy fiction we’ve been enjoying and we discuss the shame that can sometimes creep up when talking about comfort reads. Alex has been reaffirming her love for Dolly Alderton and ‘Sex in the City’ in a new podcast whilst Rhiannon has been immersed in the true crime drama, ‘The Serpent’. Alex finishes on the brilliant essays of ‘The Good Immigrant’, particularly focussing on essays by Darren Chetty, Vera Chok, Wei Ming Kam and Nish Kumar.

We are an accessible podcast so find transcripts on our linktree in our instagram bio @thegrandthunk. Follow us on social media @thegrandthunk or email us - [email protected]. We’d love to hear from you! Subscribe, rate, review and tell all your friends.

See below for a full list of what we discuss:

Blue Stockings by Jessica Swale

Because of You by Dawn French

Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters

Luster by Raven Leilani

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

Anne with an E, Netflix

Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery

Sentimental Garbage podcast Caroline O’Donoghue

Sentimental in the City, Dolly Alderton and Caroline O’Donoghue

Thanks a Million podcast by Angela Scanlon

I Weigh, Jameela Jamil

The Multi Hyphen Method by Emma Gannon

The Serpent, BBC and Netflix

The Good Immigrant, edited by Nikesh Shukla

The Grand Thunk, the podcast in which Alex Blanchard and Rhiannon Kearns discuss the books they've been reading, the films and TV shows they've been watching and the podcasts they've been listening to!