Ever heard of Missing 411? We hadn’t—that is, until friend-of-the-show Alexis Mooney ruined our night with five tales of mystery, disappearance, and the occasional preventable death.
Read MoreOur famed copywriter, Brooke, is currently spending a leisurely weekend in the state of [redacted]. Therefore, the blogpost will be postponed until her well-awaited return.
Read MoreHow had we never heard of this movie before?
Just kidding, we know how. Probably for the same reasons we hadn’t heard of Melvin Van Peebles, a keen-eyed director and master of saying exactly what he wants to say.
Read MoreFolks, it’s rough out there. We’re not going to sugar coat it. That’s why we decided to take a break from the big stuff and spend some time finding the sparks of light in humanity while we wait for Olivia to obliterate us with a dissection of Ayn Rand.
Read MoreFriends, what is there to say about Gwyneth Paltrow and her “self-help empire,” goop, that hasn’t already been said?
Nothin’. But we said an hour and a half of stuff anyway.
Read MoreUpon a second viewing with seven years of growth under our belts, this “documentary” is a technically mediocre attempt at a propaganda piece. It’s dishonestly framed (there’s no way the documentarian, Cassie Jaye, stumbled on Paul Elam’s anti-feminism site by searching “rape culture” in Google, folks), staged to the point of being comical, and manipulatively edited and arranged to coerce the viewer into drawing a very specific conclusion.
Read MoreAfter weeks of learning about everything from child development to criminology to sociology, I’ve finally closed the book on child beauty pageants. We covered child beauty pageant origins, rules, and practices, child physical, cognitive, and sexual development from infancy to teens, the effects of pageantry on developing brains, and now we wrap it all up by asking the big societal question: Why are we still doing these pageants?
Read MoreListen, man. There’s nothing I can say to sum up the glorious disaster that is From Justin to Kelly.
Read More…we’ve actually seen both of the movies (Monster in Law and My Big Fat Greek Wedding) before. Olivia and I both have seen MBFGW at least half a dozen times and love it to pieces, and we both also saw MIL once when we were like thirteen. Needless to say, our memories of the latter were hazy.
Read MoreWith such a long episode, I can’t really get into the details in a blog post, but this one was an exercise in finding out that, sometimes, you can do a bunch of nuanced research and the conclusion could still come out as un-nuanced as can be… If the question is whether pageants are good for kids, the answer is clear regardless of the number of peer-reviewed studies: Absolutely not.
Read MoreThis movie is one of the biggest artistic fuckups we’ve ever seen. It can’t be the worst movie we’ve ever seen because 1) we’ve seen My Boss’s Daughter and 2) too much money was poured into this for it to be aesthetically ugly. But despite that mountain of cash spent on dolling up this mid-90s blockbuster, it still manages to be one of the most insufferable film experiences we’ve ever had. Hilarious, but completely inexcusable.
Read MoreI watched Toddlers & Tiaras when I was 13 or 14, and it did exactly what it set out to. I sat with my mom and watched wide-eyed at the families I didn’t yet know were being exploited, both judgmental and thankful I didn’t have to go through what I saw on the screen. I’m now (much) older, and I can clock TLC’s formula for what it is: finding people with fringe beliefs or practices, spicing their lives up with editing and scripted drama, and setting it forth for the “normies” to laugh at.
Read MoreI’m going to keep this short and sweet: From the moment of writing this, Olivia is getting married tomorrow and I’m in Boston to celebrate! We figured we’d give you all a fun spooky movie review to get into the spirit of things while you wait for my heavy hitter.
Read MoreKiller Bean Forever isn’t the kind of movie you’d be able to watch in a theater. It was borne of that wild wild west age of the Internet when everyone was just futzing with whatever tools they could get their hands on to make their masterpieces.
Read MoreFinally. FINALLY. The finale of the first (and hopefully last) three-parter. Olivia finishes up her series on adoption and fostering with an entire two-and-a-half-hour episode on international adoption. Strap in and prepare for an episode that literally kept Olivia up at night.
Read MoreIt’s another movie review as a palette cleanser before Olivia’s final episode on the adoption and foster industry - this time a mid-90s romantic comedy that has been a staple in Olivia’s family since she was a kid. Incidentally, I had never heard of it, making for a fabulously surreal film experience.
Read MoreThe modern foster care system was inspired by Dickensian workhouses in England but with an American™ twist. Olivia takes a different approach to examining the child welfare system. Instead of organizing the narrative chronologically, she uses historical events and data to establish a pattern of behavior.
Read MoreWe've finally returned to the internet – against our better judgment (just kidding…unless). Olivia welcomes us by kicking off our first three-parter on the US adoption and foster care systems. Episode one revolves around the history of adoption in the US.
Read MoreIt’s the last episode of the season! While we’re out for the next few months, our task for you (should you choose to accept it) is to tell your friends to listen to our cool podcast and to write a review - it’s the second best way to support us other than straight up giving us money, and it makes us feel all warm and fuzzy. Do it, I double dog dare you.
Read MoreI honestly considered just copying and pasting my notes from this episode because I’m so tired of reading and thinking about war and death, but my notes are 16 single-spaced pages long. This has been one of the most viscerally unpleasant episodes I’ve ever had to write, but I do feel something akin to enriched. I’ve learned more about this than I ever thought possible (especially considering how dismally our public schools handle teaching it).
Read More