It’s episode 2 of The Greatest Thing About Podcast... and we are showing off the flexibility of the concept by reviewing a video game; Stray. Stray is an indie release on Playstation and Steam and is a short, but fun, adventure into the mind of a cat. Well, sort of. You definitely get to be a cat, and do many cat things (napping, please), but the game itself is a mystery platformer that has some pretty distinct level design across it’s post-apocalyptic robotic setting. All of us enjoyed the game to varying degrees, which leads to some good discussion about what makes this game work as well as it does.

Download. Listen. Enjoy!

General Thoughts... (0:01:00)
Star Ratings
Spoilers for Stray (0:09:30)

Categories:
The Impressive Thing About… (0:09:30)
The Frustrating Thing About... (0:19:00)
The Weirdest Thing About... (0:22:20)

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The Greatest Thing About...

The Greatest Thing About... Stray

The week we are discussing The Greatest Thing About... Prey! This Predator prequel has nothing to do with previous films outside a couple nods and a Predator showing up, but it’s a fresh take on the format that is overcoming the stink of its previous entry. Taking the film back to the 18th century and giving the film a female lead are a great start, while director Dan Trachtenberg gets to show off his action chops outside of a bunker. Amber Midthunder is going to be a star and Predators are little B’s. We all agree on that.

Download. Listen. Enjoy!

General Thoughts (0:01:00)
Star Ratings/Spoilers (0:26:00)

Categories:
The Uncomfortable Thing About... (0:26:30)
The Satisfying Thing About... (0:34:00)
The Weirdest Thing About... (0:40:20)
Ben Comes Up With Predator Sequels (0:47:00)

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The Greatest Thing About... Prey

We head back to Netflix to review Jamie Foxx’s latest, Day Shift! No one is terribly bowled over by this vampire flick/John Wick mashup, but we had quite a bit of fun picking it apart. Come for the praise of the fight choreography, stay longer as we try and figure out if this movie makes any damn sense.

Download. Listen. Enjoy!

The General Thoughts (01:00)

Categories:
The Draining Thing About... (11:30)

Star Ratings/Spoilers (17:30)

Back to Categories:
The Impressive Thing About... & The Confounding Thing About... (19:45)

Anything we missed?

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The Greatest Thing About... Day Shift

Today I am talking with Aisha Sultan. Aisha is a syndicated columnist based at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, where they’ve been writing for more than 20 years. Her work focusing on education and parenting has appeared in publications such as The Guardian, CNN, and The Washington Post.

"Education, Interrupted" is her second documentary, and follows the experience of a mother of three young children navigating virtual school during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. It premieres at the Saint Louis International Film Festival on Saturday, November 3rd.

Film Synopsis: Witness the devastating disruption of schooling through the eyes of an unforgettable family. Tyra Johnson is a devoted and determined mother fighting to maintain her children's education in one of the country's most poverty-stricken ZIP codes, which was hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Find more from Aisha Sultan on her website, Twitter, Instagram, or STLToday.
Find more about the St. Louis International Film Festival including the schedule of films here.
Follow me on Twitter@anotherRahulJ.

Middle of the Dial

Middle of the Dial: Episode 12 - Aisha Sultan (Education Interrupted)

What’s this, it’s our podcast! Starting off 2023 (shut up, it’s still January!) Trying to make this a regular thing again (we have been recording), and I’m trying to find the time to get these out. But, as we say goodbye to 2022, it’s time for our Time Capsule episode! Let’s throw some stuff into the dirt for the future...

Our Picks!
Ben: Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (3:30)
Lauren: A Plague Tale: Requiem (13:40)
Zac: Station Eleven (26:00)
Random Discussion and Predictions (32:00)

Predictions for 23!
Game: 
Ben: Dead Space (Remake)
Zac: Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Lauren: Assassin’s Creed Mirage

Movie:
Ben: Guardians of the Galaxy 3
Zac: Asteroid City
Lauren: Barbie

TV: 
Ben: The Last of Us
Zac: The Last of Us
Lauren: The Last of Us

Random:
Ben: Trigun Stampede
Lauren: Alecto: The Ninth
Zac: Killers of the Flower Moon

Middle of the Row: The Podcast

Middle of the Row - The Podcast - Time Capsule 2022

One of many from the archives, essentially, even though this is the first release of the podcast! The Black Phone, I thought was a bad movie, and I think I brought Lauren and Ben down with me along the way? Take a listen for yourself, as we ask a lot of questions about this quite weird, silly and not that scary movie!

General Thoughts, Star Ratings, crapping on Peacock (it’s gotten better) (0:01:00)
Spoilers for The Black Phone (0:18:00)

The Categories:
The Confounding Thing About… (0:19:00)
The Ridiculous Thing About... (0:23:00)
The Confusing Thing About... (0:27:45)
The Uncomfortable Thing About... (0:32:00)

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The Greatest Thing About... The Black Phone

Another Flashback episode from the time when we still did those on the OG feed. Catching up with Fright Night from 2011, a movie I soured on since I last saw it, but the rest of the pod is standing up for it! Is Charlie a shitty lead character, is Colin Farrell the dreamiest vampire ever, where is the justice for Poots?

Download. Listen. Enjoy.

The Categories: (Time:Stamp)
8 Words or Less, The Elevator Pitch, Why So & So, General Thoughts, Star Ratings (0:00:30)
You Gotta See This, Let’s Talk About That Ending..., Performance Piece (0:15:40)
Repeat After Me, But, Why?, The Hot Take Theater, Expert Opinions, The Upgradeables, To Infinity & Beyond?, Bonus Rounds/Catch All, One Last Pitch... (0:25:00)

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Welcome To Fright Night

Hello. We are still a podcast. And this is yet another attempt to get these things out of the pipeline again. We have Middle of the Row & The Greatest Thing About... for days, and I hope this fall to get more to you all. This release is for The Mitchells vs. The Machines, which I’m timing with TMNT: Mutant Mayhem, as they share a director/writer in this film’s co-director/writer Jeff Rowe. Let’s call it a good excuse. The Middle of the Row: The Podcast will still have counting numbers, but won’t be in order, fyi. Anyways, cross those figures.

Download. Listen. Enjoy.

The Categories: (Time:Stamp)
8 Words or Less, The Elevator Pitch, Why So & So, General Thoughts, (1:00)
Spoiler! You Gotta See This, Let’s Talk About That Ending..., Performance Piece (20:00)
Repeat After Me, But, Why?, The Hot Take Theater, Expert Opinions, The Upgradeables, To Infinity & Beyond?, Bonus Rounds/Catch All, One Last Pitch..., Star Ratings (34:00)

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MOTR vs. The Mitchells vs. The Machines

Song Trader, Episode 2
featuring: Caleb, Lindsay, and Meg

Follow Caleb on Twitter: @CKPNW

Follow Lindsay on Twitter: @lindsayfickas

Follow Meg on Twitter: @megannnkoontz

Follow me on Twitter: @anotherRahulJ

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Middle of the Dial: Ep 12 - Song Trader 2024

Hello everyone and welcome to The Greatest Thing About Poor Things… The podcast might be coming back? IDK, we have tons of backlog, and hopefully this is the first of many more episodes to start rolling back onto this feed. We are back with Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things, his latest film and one of the better films of 2023 from where I’m sitting. We discuss Emma Stone and Mark Ruffalo greatness, the ethics of brain transplants and all things Willem Dafoe.

Download. Listen. Enjoy!

Show Notes: (Time:Stamp)
General Thoughts… (0:01:00)
Star Ratings/Spoilers (0:20:00)

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Want some more Middle of the Row in your life? Follow the site @MiddleofRow, Zac @ZacOldenburg, Lauren @BewareOfTrees, & Ben @WeirdestWizard.

The Greatest Thing About... Poor Things

The Official Podcast of Middle of the Row - @middleofrow

MOTR vs. The Mitchells vs. The Machines

Middle of the Row

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