The Grand Thunk

We kick the episode off with Abi Daré’s The Girl with the Louding Voice, an inspiring and informative book with a phenomenal and surprising use of language that has completely invigorated Alex. Both of us watched The Dig and we revel in the beauty of its subtle and artful pace, as well as the astonishing acting of Ralph Fiennes and Carey Mulligan. Alex tries not to cry as she discusses How We Disappeared, the story of Wang Di, a comfort woman during World War 2. Rhiannon has been exploring all things unusual in David Attenborough’s Perfect Planet, including the surprising mating patterns of Fig Wasps and their wigs. And we announce that this is our final episode of Season 1. We’re so happy to have so many of you listening along and we will be back shortly, brimming with new recommendations and Who’d a Thunk it moments!

CW - from 25 minutes, discussion of rape.

We are an accessible podcast, you can find transcripts in 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 Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Daré

The Dig by Moira Buffini on Netflix

How We Disappeared by Jing-Jing Lee

Because We Were Beautiful

https://thediplomat.com/2018/01/confronting-koreas-censored-discourse-on-comfort-women/

Perfect Planet, David Attenborough

My Octopus Teacher

Steve Irwin

The Bee Movie

A packed episode begins with musical delights as both Bridgerton and the infamous Handforth Parish Council meeting have been put to music. Rhiannon looks at weddings from a hilarious new angle with the podcast Who Shat on the Floor at My Wedding and we both reminisce about the first sex scene we ever read in Malorie Blackman’s Noughts and Crosses. Alex tells us about Bernadine Evaristo’s Blonde Roots, a world of slavery inverted whilst Rhiannon has been reading Lustre by Raven Leilani.

We are an accessible podcast so find transcripts in our linktree on 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:

Genghis Khan - https://thetyee.ca/Books/2010/07/26/GenghisFeminist/

Catastrophe, Channel 4, Merman Productions

Bridgerton Musical, Abigail Barlow & Emily Bear

Handforth Parish Council Meeting - Andrew Lloyd Webber song

Flo and Joan - Handforth Parish Council, the Musical

Who Shat on the Floor at My Wedding podcast

Blonde Roots by Bernadine Evaristo

Girl Woman Other by Bernadine Evaristo

Noughts and Crosses trilogy by Malorie Blackman

Liza of Lambeth by W. Somerset Maugham

Atonement by Ian McEwan

Lustre by Raven Leilani

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!

Happy Valentine’s Day! We’ve got an episode full of goodies here for you today! This week’s podcast heralds a new segment, ‘Well, Who’d a Thunk?’, for those all those eye-catching and sometimes eye-watering stories that just confirm that the madness of humanity isn’t going anywhere. We catch up on It’s A Sin, raving about the joy and heart-break of this brilliant show. Alex shares her thoughts on Promising Young Woman, a toxic revenge story of magnificent proportions, whilst Rhiannon opens our eyes to the remarkably smooth app, Borrow Box, your local library made digital. Rhiannon has been listening to The Midnight Library, a story that explores the potential lives that spiral out from every choice made. Alex has been reading the astonishing debut novel of Rebecca Watson, little scratch, which presents totally dynamic formatting exploring the inner monologue of a banal day at work - a Mrs Dalloway for the modern era. Our thoughts on inner monologues spiral tangentially before Rhiannon brings us back to stark reality, recalling the comedy of Daniel Sloss. To date, his comedy routine has broken up 34,000 relationships. The question for this Valentine’s Day is whether your relationship is strong enough to last the show.

Content Warnings: This episode includes discussions of a film that includes rape, and discussions of a book that contains sexual assault and self harm.

We are an accessible podcast, you can find transcripts in 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:

It’s A Sin, Channel 4, Red Production Company

Promising Young Woman, written and directed by Emerald Fennell

The Great Gatsby

Birds of Prey, produced by LuckyChap Entertainment

BorrowBox app

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig, audiobook read by Carey Mulligan

About Time, written and directed by Richard Curtis

little scratch by Rebecca Watson

Chaos Walking by Patrick Ness

Daniel Sloss' Dark and Jigsaw on Netflix

Books That Matter

This week we dive into the TV masterpiece, It’s a Sin, that has swept the nation and has been recommended to us on multiple occasions (thank you listeners!). It’s A Sin arrives in all its glory and we are in love. 
Synchronicity emerged in our reading this week, as Alex was consumed by Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters and Rhiannon sank into She Wants It by Joey Soloway. Both books offered incredible insight into the journeys and pluralities within transitioning.

Alex shares another comedy song contribution, which is happening so frequently that it’s almost ready to become a feature. Rhiannon drastically shifts the tone of the podcast by discussing cricket - we’re as surprised as you are - and won Alex over with the drama of the Australian cricket team’s journey to redemption, in the Amazon Prime series The Test. Finally, Alex shares her podcast hot tips, after listening to a fascinating discussion on Good Ancestor about white supremacy and erasure in yoga. 

We are an accessible podcast, you can find transcripts in 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:

It’s a Sin, Channel 4 

Russel T Davies for The Guardian - https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2021/jan/03/russell-t-davies-i-looked-away-for-years-finally-i-have-put-aids-at-the-centre-of-a-drama 

Years and Years, BBC and HBO 

A Very English Scandal, BBC One

Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters

She Wants It by Joey Soloway 

Government Consultation on toilet provision - https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/toilet-provision-for-men-and-women-call-for-evidence/toilet-provision-for-men-and-women-call-for-evidence

We Exist London Email Template - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cZ4Vw4rfVV2GqF4y3cToIHApxGhpoop38x8FTwkGj0c/edit 

Taylor Swift, Willow (+John Mulaney) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWWE1Pt_iEk

The Test, Amazon Prime

Layla Saad & Susanna Barkataki on Good Ancestor podcast 

Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad

This week’s podcast saw an unexpected turn to economics, as Alex does her best to explain what is being lauded as the democratisation of finance, the ongoing battle between Reditters and the hedgefund giant, Melvin Capital. We’ve attached some links below for those of you who are still confused and need Trevor Noah pretending to be Margot Robbie to explain. Rhiannon has been reading the memoir of Jean-Dominique Bauby, written with the blinking of his eye, as he chronicles life with locked-in syndrome and we discuss the nuances of transcription. Alex has been reading Maggie O’Farrell tell her life story, beautifully and tangentially, through 17 brushes with death. It reminds us, just as the moribund awareness of death that Covid has brought to the world, of the importance of living life fully. Alex has also been reading Ann Patchett’s The Dutch House and discusses how the injustices of fairy tales - of evil stepmothers and privilege ripped away from youth - still leave her seething with anger. Meanwhile, Rhiannon’s book, What Red Was, provokes another kind of rage as it details the impact of rape on the life of a young woman and the ramifications of silence and speaking out. Finally, we discuss Meghan and Harry’s baffling new podcast, featuring a delightful debut from their young son, Archie. Their podcast features snippets of celebrities detailing their lockdown lives and who doesn’t want to know what Elton John and Brené Brown have been up to!

Content Warning: rape and sexual assault. To avoid, skip from 34 to 44 minutes.

We are an accessible podcast so find transcripts in 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:

Gamestop Explained:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fD3wtQOBE_A

https://thedeepdive.ca/gamestop-the-gme-short-squeeze-explained/

https://www.ft.com/content/4f76d769-4460-450f-9373-1e54f7da6c19?shareType=nongift

The Big Short

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby

What Writers and Editors Do by Karl Ove Knausgaard, Paris Review

I Am, I Am, I Am by Maggie O’Farrell

Intimations by Zadie Smith

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett

Matilda by Roald Dahl

What Red Was by Rosie Price

Archewell Audio, Harry and Meghan’s 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!

Who hasn’t seen Bridgerton? Well, we have and we delve into all the scandalous details of this period drama with a modern twist, including that scene (Content Warning), the costumes and the colour conscious casting. Rhiannon rhapsodies about the highlight of the inauguration, Amanda Gorman’s The Hill We Climb. Meanwhile, Alex has been finding out the salacious secrets of S&M spiders from the New Scientist. Rhiannon is back to tell us her final thoughts on Hanya Yanagihara’s A Little Life whilst Alex has been researching the Ethiopian struggle against Mussolini during her reading of Maaza Mengiste’s The Shadow King. We have a big discussion about fat protagonists in This Is Us and James Corden’s discussion of fat shaming; long story short, fat shaming doesn’t work. And finally, Alex has watched a number of documentaries on the Obamas and has the audacity to compare young Barry to a ‘Lit Fuck Boi’. Let us know your thoughts on that!

We are an accessible podcast so find transcripts in our linktree bio on our instagram @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.

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!

See below for a full list of what we discuss:

Bridgerton - Netflix

The Hill We Climb - Amanda Gorman

New Scientist - Lenka Sentenská

Lifelines by Al Smith - Radio 4

A Little Life - Hanya Yanagihara

James Corden - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ax1U04c4gaw

This is Us - NBC & Amazon Prime

The Shadow King - Maaza Mengiste

Barry - biopic about Barack Obama

Becoming Documentary - Michelle Obama - Netflix

Prepare to have the solid foundations of your world rocked as Alex shares her antipathy for Normal People’s protagonist, Connell, excellently played by Paul Mescal.  Daisy Edgar Jones’ bangs prompt Alex and Rhiannon to discuss how their lockdown fringes are faring. Rhiannon sings The Wheel theme tune for us after hearing an inspiring poem from Nobel Laureate poet, Louise Gluck. We deliberate no-platforming and cancel culture as allegations have emerged concerning one of the actors in a show we review. Rhiannon tells us about politician Jess Phillips’ punchy guide to change whilst Alex has been reading about the transformative capacity of education and the multiple perspectives of history in Tara Westover’s memoir Educated. We discuss Elif Shafak’s latest novel as well as Industry, the rollicking exploration of sex and drugs in the finance world. We talk about male nudity and sex scenes as well the importance of loving your work and not depending overly on productivity for validation.

We are an accessible podcast so find transcripts in our linktree bio on our instagram @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.

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!

See below for a full list of what we discuss:

Normal People - BBC iPlayer

The Wild Iris - Lousie Gluck 

The Wheel - BBC iPlayer 

Actors on Actors - Variety - YouTube

Truth to Power: 7 Ways to Call Time on BS - Jess Phillips 

Educated - Tara Westover - Memoir

10 minutes and 38 seconds in This Strange World  - Elif Shafak 

Industry - HBO, viewed on BBC iPlayer

How to Fail with Elizabeth Day - Elizabeth Gilbert

The Guilty Feminist

What a pithy week, with plenty of startling tonal changes! Both of us watched the first released episode of The Great and we discuss the role of coarse humour in period dramas. Maggie Nelson’s The Argonauts has us thinking about auto-theory and non-normative motherhood, as well as the representation of motherhood and disability in popular culture. Rhiannon recommends a couple of podcasts, including Nadyia Hussain on How to Fail with Elizabeth Day discussing parenthood and speaking out. (CW: sexual assault). We discuss the beautiful footage of the documentary My Octopus Teacher as well as delving into Rhiannon’s first hand experience with an octopus (or two)! And finally, Rhiannon tells us about A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara and its presentation of the complexity of male friendships.

Find a transcript of this podcast in our linktree on our instagram. Follow us on social media @thegrandthunk or email us - [email protected]. See below for a full list of what we discuss:

The Great - Channel 4

The Argonauts - Maggie Nelson

100 tampons - Marcia Belsky: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHqvA4Is0Aw

The Undoing - HBO

Michaela Coel on Grounded with Louis Theroux

Nadiya Hussain on How to Fail with Elizabeth Day

My Octopus Teacher - Netflix

A Little Life - Hanya Yanagihara

We dive straight into a hilarious clip from Aisling Bea’s This Way Up, followed by the guiltiest of pleasures, Outlander, and a debate about its portrayal of sexual violence. Rhiannon discusses the documentary Rising Phoenix, which looks at the history of the Paralympics and the empowering beauty of high level sports. In Alex’s reading of Zadie Smith’s Intimations, we talk about carving meaning out of time, particularly during lockdown where we have so much of it. We finish by nattering about Vaginismus and the nuances of female health, as well as the data biases against women and People of Colour, specifically in the medical sphere.

Find a transcript of this podcast in our linktree on our instagram. Follow us on social media @thegrandthunk or email us - [email protected]. See below for a full list of what we discuss:

This Way Up

Outlander

His Dark Materials

Rising Phoenix directed by Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui, on Netflix.

Intimations by Zadie Smith

Skin a Cat by Isley Lynn

Invisible Women: Exposing Data Biases in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez

Mary Ventura and the Ninth Kingdom by Sylvia Plath

Episode 3 extends the discussion of the fallibility of journalism through Clarissa Ward’s autobiography as well as the importance of believing in the trivialities of life in order to avoid getting lost in the existential. We discuss the lyrical letter from a son to his mother On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong as well as exploring the healing nature of poetry with the Poetry Pharmacy.  We also both talk about books we’ve struggled to get into and we debate when it is right to give up on a book.

CW: Suicide, domestic violence, war.

Find a transcript of this podcast in our linktree on our instagram. Follow us on social media @thegrandthunk or email us - [email protected]. See below for a full list of what we discuss:

The Queen’s Gambit

On All Fronts: The Education of a Journalist by Clarissa Ward

Official Secrets

The Trial of the Chicago 7

Forensic Architecture

The Crown

Junkyard by Headlong Theatre

The Poetry Pharmacy by William Sieghart

Milkman by Anna Burns

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

Poor by Caleb Femi

If On A Winter’s Night A Traveller by Italo Calvino

The Fall, BBC 2

This Way Up - Channel 4, written and starring Ailsing Bea

The Adam Buxton Podcast