god, i wish i had fiber internet, i live in the middle of fuck dick nowhere and get 2 megabits per second TOPS

Twilight/Midnight Sun chapter: Carlisle

It's another no news week so far for us (knock on wood) so we spend our time at the anchor's desk goofing off and talking about private planes, Star Trek: Voyager, pricing errors, and movie lengths. Our chapters this week were incredibly short (Twilight's was 10 pages!) and maybe the most pointless content in both Twilight and Midnight Sun so far, but we have a good time dissecting what little there is to this gripping story about a guy who won't stop telling his new girlfriend how cool his dad is. Then, in the third segment, we consult several of the most popular online quizzes to determine something very important: what kind of vampire are we?

(mild content warning--we don't dwell on any specifics for too long, but Edward has another Sickos monologue this week and it's just as CSI/Law and Order SVU as last time. If you don't want to bother with this, skip ahead 15 minutes or so after Liz gives her content warning to bypass the whole discussion)

Twilight/Midnight Sun chapter: Carlisle

It's another no news week so far for us (knock on wood) so we spend our time at the anchor's desk goofing off and talking about private planes, Star Trek: Voyager, pricing errors, and movie lengths. Our chapters this week were incredibly short (Twilight's was 10 pages!) and maybe the most pointless content in both Twilight and Midnight Sun so far, but we have a good time dissecting what little there is to this gripping story about a guy who won't stop telling his new girlfriend how cool his dad is. Then, in the third segment, we consult several of the most popular online quizzes to determine something very important: what kind of vampire are we?

(mild content warning--we don't dwell on any specifics for too long, but Edward has another Sickos monologue this week and it's just as CSI/Law and Order SVU as last time. If you don't want to bother with this, skip ahead 15 minutes or so after Liz gives her content warning to bypass the whole discussion)

Episode 179: The Peacock Box

Twilight chapters 'Phone Call' and 'Hide-and-Seek'/Midnight Sun chapter 'Race'

On this week's episode we've got an exciting follow-up to last episode's amazing K-pop-related discovery, but first we have to catch up with the thousand page monstrosity that's been analyzed in more detail since last week. Then we have some really fun--dare we say, good?!--chapters of Twilight and Midnight Sun to discuss. We're in the home stretch, and things are finally happening: evil guys on the phone! Daring escape plans! Hot-wiring cars and doing sick stunts! There's high-octane action all of a sudden in this story, and we discuss what works, what doesn't, and what makes a good genre crossover tick.

Episode 184: NOSferatu

Twilight chapter 'An Impasse'/Midnight Sun chapters 'Chores', 'Three Conversations', 'Inevitability'

We've got a mystery on our hands! We open this week's episode with a discussion of the theory circulating on book blogs that a newly released novel--teased as being written under a pseudonym by a "New York Times bestselling author"--might be an undercover Meyer novel. After that, we have a lot of chapters to get through. Technically, the end of the books, since the next chapters are epilogues? But not really, those look like they're just real chapters. Anyway, these chapters are a real roller-coaster ride, and feature some of the most striking differences and additions in Midnight Sun for better and worse. We've got reverse heist movie antics, bizarre deep lore reveals, and Bella entering her most toxic era yet!

Episode 186: Here's What You're Gonna Do

Twilight/Midnight Sun epilogues (which are really chapters)

We did it! We made it all the way through the first Twilight novel and its companion, and we have over two hours of discussion about what a weird ending it all has. First, though, we touch briefly on the (developing; I'm sure we'll be back on this soon) story about Jo inserting herself into a library's Twitter controversy. Then it's onward to chatting about 2004 dance hits, vampire krumping, fantasy football, and much more!

Episode 187: History of Dance (Vampire)

Twilight (the movie)

I have a confession to make: I've been listening to the soundtrack all week. 

Now that we've finished reading Twilight and Midnight Sun, it's time to talk about the crown jewel of the franchise: the movie! This film launched several acting careers and catapulted the series into unimaginable popularity, and is also responsible for an unbelievable amount of songs tailor-made for breakup playlists, AIM away statuses, and AMVs. So, how does it hold up? We were very pleasantly surprised. Join us for a traditional longer-than-the-movie episode where we walk through its myriad plot improvements, hilarious acting fumbles, and banger needle-drops. And of course... Why movie look like that?


[Correction: Kristen Stewart was nowhere near as unknown as Pattinson when Twilight started! I've seen Panic Room, even!]

Episode 188: paramore_decode.mp3

What would socialism look like in the United States—the richest country ever known yet 38 million people are hungry? Socialism would use that wealth and our development for the needs of the people, stop endless wars, and crush racism, sexism, and all forms of bigotry. A new book, "Socialist Reconstruction: A Better Future for the United States," demonstrates what this could look like in detail, starting in “the first decade of socialism in the United States."

Brian is joined by Dr. Jodi Dean, Professor of Political Science at Hobart and William Smith Colleges & author of several books. She and Brian were part of the collective effort to produce the just-released book “Socialist Reconstruction: A Better Future for the United States."

Please make an urgently-needed contribution to The Socialist Program by joining our Patreon community at patreon.com/thesocialistprogram. We rely on the generous support of our listeners to keep bringing you consistent, high-quality shows. All Patreon donors of $5 a month or more are invited to join the monthly Q&A seminar with Brian.

Get the book here: https://www.liberationstore.org/products/socialist-reconstruction-a-better-future-for-the-united-states

Socialism in the US Can Happen, and Here's What It Can Look Like

The right-wing loves yelling, “We’re a republic, not a democracy!” Now they have a Supreme Court that agrees with them. The Court is about to hear Moore v. Harper, a gerrymandering case that will also take up the Electors Clause of the Constitution. The Republican legal argument, made famous by Trump’s 2020 legal team, is that state legislatures can send their own choice of electors to the Electoral College, rather than abiding by the vote of the people. The implications of this are huge — the end of ‘one person, one vote.’

Brian is joined by Steven Donziger, an advocate, writer and public speaker on human rights and corporate accountability. His most recent piece is The most terrifying case of all is about to be heard by the US Supreme Court. He also filed a class-action lawsuit with others against Chevron for environmental damage – including dumping 17 million gallons of crude oil in the Ecuadorian rainforest – and won a historic $9.5 billion judgment. Chevon then fled Ecuador and launched a campaign against Donziger that resulted in him being disbarred, serving 45 days behind bars, and under home confinement for 993 days. For more on his story, watch his interview on The Freedom Side and Rania Khalek Dispatches here on BreakThrough.

Please make an urgently-needed contribution to The Socialist Program by joining our Patreon community at patreon.com/thesocialistprogram. We rely on the generous support of our listeners to keep bringing you consistent, high-quality shows. All Patreon donors of $5 a month or more are invited to join the monthly Q&A seminar with Brian.

Supreme Court Plots to End ‘One Person, One Vote’ & the Hidden Hand of Big Oil

The Da Vinci Code, pt. 2

We're back to wrap up our discussion of Dan Brown's novel and we brought cards! We explore the Da Vinci Code Top Trumps deck to refresh our memories on some of the facts of the story before we walk through some of the Facts of the novel, and end up falling down a rabbit hole trying to piece together the game's design through context clues. Come for our delight at the weird card game, stay for my bad explanation of Catharism--Either way, you'll never hear the number 3 the same way again!

(I really gotta draw some new episode art! I'll get on that when I can)

Episode 191: Three

The Hunger Games chapters 14-18 (concluding act II)

We've got Mario on the mind! Specifically Mario RPG, the game with the fakest sounding name ever that we have a lot of fond memories of. This leads us through a whole tangent about retro gaming setups, but we can't talk about that for long--we've got a lot of book to talk about! This week we finish out the second act of the novel, which sees Katniss getting her first kill(s), teaming up with Rue, and clearing an enemy camp Far Cry style. There's a lot that works (action! thrills! character dynamics!) and a lot that works less (mid-game patch notes! Peeta!) but one thing is for sure: we want Katniss to win now no duos.

P.S Apologies for my sort of crunchy audio this week! My perfect angelic cat who has never done anything wrong sat on my audio interface the other day and I only noticed how out of place the settings were after recording, so my mic was picking up a bunch of chair/room noises.

SHHG! Episode 8: Physics Puzzle

The Hunger Games chapters 23-25

How did both of us manage to go 15 years without learning what the big twist of this book was?

SHHG! Episode 11: Island Builder City Simulator Game

Catching Fire chapters 1-2

Onward to book two! We started the next installment of the trilogy, and we might have had more fun with these two chapters than we had with the entire last book. Who knew that what this series needed was a Bond villain? These chapters are a little short, but they introduce an irresistibly fun bad guy and get us incredibly excited for a road trip through the districts of Panem. Plus, we have some official Hunger Games trading cards from 2012 to crack open...

SHHG! Episode 13: Hello Katniss

Two lapsed Harry Potter fans on a journey back through the books they (used to) love so much. Updates every Friday!

Episode 187: History of Dance (Vampire)

The Shrieking Shack

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