the "lot to unpack here" podcast

Malding at the Movies, part 2: King Charles III + Pain & Gain

In which Alice recounts the bizarre events of the alt-universe TV-movie King Charles III, which features a civil war, a Diana ghost, and kebab store style conversations about living in a society; Lee then yells about the ridiculously distasteful Michael Bay movie Pain & Gain, which is a low-brow comedy based on the crimes of a real life kidnapping-t*rture gang (spoilers: it's somehow in even worse taste than it sounds)   CONTENT WARNINGS: From 1:09:09 to 01:12:25, there is discussion of homophobic viol*nce.  From 01:22:25 to 01:27:40, there are descriptions of literal t*rture, which may be disturbing for some viewers.   Here's an archive of the original Pain & Gain articles, in case you want to read them: https://archive.vn/g9Oz5  Here's a link to the Patreon for Animate Tales, the game that Alex is beta testing: https://www.patreon.com/TheBetarians

Malding at the Movies, part 1: Into The Wild

In which Alex rants at their co-hosts about Into The Wild -- the true-ish story of fail-survivalist Chris McCandless. We talk about the movie’s faux-inspirational aesthetics and how they got at least 15 people killed, and we also explore the dark and baffling recesses of Sean Penn’s mind as we talk about the changes he made to the story. A lot to unpack, as always. CONTENT WARNING: There is non-detailed discussion of physical and sexual child abuse starting at 01:16:19 and ending at 01:22:49.

Norwegian Black Metal 2: Satanic Boogaloo

In which we dive back into the Norwegian black metal scene, and discuss the aftermath of the murders and arsons that swept Norway in the early nineties. We mostly focus on all the increasingly dumb schemes that Count Grishnackh came up with while imprisoned, but we also talk a bit about all the scandals Mayhem have gotten themselves into during the past 25 years. Lot to unpack, as always. CONTENT WARNING: There are a few mentions of self-harm and suicide in this episode, but they’re all quite mild compared to last episode’s.

even more statue drama [BONUS]

In which we discuss new developments in the Colston statue story, and also talk a little bit about Banksy. This is just a little update segment, a full-length episode of the Pod will be out later this week.  This is the Jen Reid statue, for the record: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/A_Surge_of_Power_%28Jen_Reid%29_15th_July_2020.jpg [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/A_Surge_of_Power_%28Jen_Reid%29_15th_July_2020.jpg]

Norwegian Black Metal, part 1

In which Lee introduces her co-hosts to the strange, strange world of Norwegian black metal. We talk about the dark yet dumb past of the band Mayhem, and find out how some teens hanging out in their mom’s basement ended in blood and flames. We also make fun of a detestable nerd called “Count Grishnackh”. CONTENT WARNING: Starting at 00:14:51, the subject of self-harm is discussed. At 00:34:28, it turns into discussion of a suicide; we avoid going into detail as to how said suicide was carried out, instead focusing on the immediate aftermath, but it may still be disturbing to some listeners. Discussion of self-harm and suicide ends at 00:42:08, but there may still be some references to the events throughout the rest of the episode. At 01:16:43 we discuss a murder potentially motivated by homophobia, and we talk about the extremely bigoted opinions of some members of the black metal scene. The discussion ends at 01:22:39, but there may still be a few references to the events throughout the rest of the episode. Here are all the pictures we talk about, for reference; we recommend you pull them up as they’re being discussed: Dead in corpse paint: https://imgur.com/a/MnZq5lF [https://imgur.com/a/MnZq5lF] Varg and Euronymous: https://imgur.com/a/NpbxM8j [https://imgur.com/a/NpbxM8j] Fantoft Stave Church: https://imgur.com/a/GDgklQ0 [https://imgur.com/a/GDgklQ0] The BT article cover: https://imgur.com/a/y8ak14s [https://imgur.com/a/y8ak14s] The Nidaros cathedral: https://imgur.com/a/8Vw1y4J [https://imgur.com/a/8Vw1y4J]