Y - "You Can't Understand What They're Saying" (w/ Callum Price, Jack Kendrick, Mikey Stockdale & Tom Phillips)
You want an idea of where all this pent-up aggression of mine came from? My cynical nature, or my pessimistic views? Well a lot of it stems from my love of heavy music. Not so much the music itself (although some of it definitely didn't help), but more other people's reaction to it.
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Being a fan of alternative music - whether that means you're into emo, punk, deathcore, black metal, shoegaze, doom, avant-garde - means that you will inevitably be thrown some ludicrous comments just based on what you listen to. "Emo", "Satanist", "grebo", "the singer sounds like he wants to kill himself", "it's just noise", "that's not music", oh secondary school was so much fun.
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Joining me are Callum Price, Jack Kendrick, Mikey Stockdale and Tom Phillips, chums who all suffered as I did (which now just sounds kinda hilarious) as we dissect various heavy metal stereotypes including vocals, links to Satanism, hipster metal, what is and isn't emo (which, in 2020, I concede my arguments were pretty weak and have a much different opinion now), female inclusion in metal, and more!
Recorded 19th February 2018.
X - "xxx" (Couples) (w/ Kate Jackson)
Sitting comparable with Valentine's Day is the core concepts of couples themselves.
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Now before you start throwing "incel" my way, I'm not advocating celibacy at all. It's just the very image of people happy with other people makes me sick. Totally different.
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Kate Jackson joins me as we lament all the parts of couples and outward displays of affection, including snogging in queues, the use of social media, texts that end with SO MANY 'xxx's, third-wheeling, and more!
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Recorded 17th May 2017.
V - Valentine's Day (w/ Chantal Pallot & Michael Kirby)
Start feeling the pressure lads (both male and female lads), it's Valentine's Day! Have you got your sweetheart something special? Have they got you something better? Should you believe them when they say "I don't want anything babe"? Are they gonna do that special thing with their mouth that you like so much? Probably not.
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Sweat not because it isn't actually Valentine's Day, it's May for a start, this was recorded in a different May, and odds are you are currently apart from your loved one because of the Lockdown anyway. What fun!
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Of course I am cynical about Valentine's Day and what it represents, but much like celebrating the day itself, discussing it is hard to do on my own so joining me is Chantal Pallot and Michael Kirby as we talk about the 14th February as well as its connections with social media, finances, what it means to be single, Ann Summers, Pornhub, before moving on to other commercial holidays, such as Easter, Halloween and Christmas.
Recorded 22nd May 2017.
P - Pineapple on Pizza (Unpopular Food Opinions) (w/ Callum Price, Jack Kendrick, Jess Taylor & Tom Phillips)
Has anything split this world more than pineapple on pizza?
The battle between those who like the sweet, juicy fruit proudly adorning the world's greatest food item and children has been fought for years with neither side willing to submit.
Joining me in hopes of quelling the war are Callum Price, Jack Kendrick, Jess Taylor and Tom Phillips, as we also talk about our own food quirks, including Marmite, gherkins, milkshake and chips, and other controversial pizza toppings such as tuna and banana.
Recorded 19th February 2018.
O - Old People (w/ Rose Wilkinson & Selma Ari De Rossi)
Ah the previous generations, what a laugh they are.
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It is absolute pot-luck whether the older person you talk to is going to be a sane, normal human being, capable of conversation and holding interest in what you have to say without asking you why you haven't had kids yet, or whether they are going to be the absolute opposite of that and they flaunt their broken economy in front of us.
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Some of us are more forgiving of the older generation than others, so in an effort to find some middle ground, I am joined by Rose Wilkinson and Selma Ari De Rossi to discuss Karens, grandparents, older people in the modern world, and more!
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Recorded 9th January 2018.
H - Harry Potter (w/ Chantal Pallot)
No matter what side of the fence you sit on, it's impossible to argue the successes of the Harry Potter franchise.
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J.K. Rowling's young adult series chronicles a young wizard's life from the early days of abuse, being kidnapped, gosh everyone's trying to kill a child, all the way up to Normandy but with fairy lights and everything has a dark blue filter. It has lead to the franchise being seen as a cultural phenomenon, with cosplay, fan art/fiction, games, tributes and anything else you can think of dedicated to it. My personal favourite part is having everything you judged in accordance with whether or not you spirit animal is a conniving snake, an elegant bird, a proud lion, or a badger. Man people really don't give a shit about Hufflepuff do they?
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As you can tell, I am not a big fan of the Potter. But Madame Lady Chantal is and tries her very best to lure me to the ways of Harry Potter as we discuss Harry Potter's place in British representation, the character development of Ron Weasley and Snape, the comparisons between the books and the movies, the comparisons between the franchise and the Nazis, and more!
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Recorded 11th January 2018.
G - General Public (w/ Chantal Pallot, George Gaunt, Jess Greaves, Michael Kirby & Vicky Kuhn)
Ah the general public... Pretty shit eh?
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We're all affected by the public in some way or another, for some, the isolated hot spot of a commute followed by a Saturday stroll around town is all they have to deal with, but for some of us, we rely on the general public as a source of income. The mantra that we're taught as children of "treat others as you wish to be treated" is used in varying capacity with each new soul you encounter, even I will concede that some of the general public I have met are at least halfway decent, by most, eugh...
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Joining me in a Battle Royale for the honour (or lack thereof) of the British public are future dog mum Chantal Pallot, the power couple of George Gaunt and Jess Greaves, the sultry Michael Kirby and illustrator Vicky Kuhn. Between us, we've had more than our fair share of experience with the general public, so that definitely makes us qualified to chat about public dramas. drunk people, general rudeness, working in retail, and much more.
Recorded 28th July 2017.
E - EA (Bad Gaming Tropes) (w/ Callum Price & Josh Martin)
The impact video games had on me as a young boy is sizeable to say the least.
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Being an annoying little shit, making friends was kinda difficult, but video games helped pass the time, building worlds and stories that (for me) surpass most that are found in film and books.
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The industry has changed dramatically since those days. The tried-and-tested routine of insert game-play game has been left behind for a far more complicated affair of downloads, DLCs, loot packs, the internet, IP right distribution, it's all a bit of a faff now.
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To help me discuss all the worst tropes of the modern gaming industry, I am joined by Callum Price and Josh Martin as we take aim at season passes, story-dependent DLC, Peter Molyneux, Ubisoft, and of course, the arbiter of all things evil in gaming; EA.
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Recorded 17th February 2018.
C - Camping (w/ Ben Higgott)
Ah, the fine art of camping. Isolating yourself (for the most part) for the chance to be out in the great outdoors and to get in touch with nature, rekindle the inner caveman inside, cook things on open fires, etc, etc.
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It's a load of old cack.
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Serial camper Ben Higgott returns to defend the blessed sanctity of camping while I tell him he's wrong. We politely and professionally discuss various camping mishaps we've both suffered, the times I camped in his back garden, the subsequent injuries I suffered, and what I should be doing to properly enjoy the beauty of leaving my warm, beloved bed to eat twigs.
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Recorded 3rd January 2018
B - The Big Bang Theory (w/ Jess Taylor & Reid Drummond)
If Comedy Central had Two and a Half Men, and E4 had Friends, Channel 4 had The Big Bang Theory. The 'aren't nerds just so wacky?' sitcom aired from 2007-2019, accruing a loyal fanbase that were devoted to the shenanigans of Leonard, Sheldon, Raj, Howard, Penny, and later, Amy and Bernadette.
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I was not a member of this loyal fanbase. Nor was I ever going to be.
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Defending TBBT's honour is our fun-noise-generator Jess Taylor and to play peacekeeper/Devil's advocate (I feel like he likes to play both) is Reid Drummond via Skype. We look at the actual comedy in the show, the relationships that build across the show's duration, characters and the idea that the geek gets the girl.
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Recorded 30th December 2017.
A - After Uni Life (w/ Ben Higgott & Josh Martin)
At university we were promised a future much akin to a utopia, a paradise of adult life which would make the numerous sleepless night, unhealthy amounts of stress and thousands of pounds of debt worth it. For some, they achieved the dream; the stable job, the healthy relationship, a substantial hairline, but for some; less so...
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Joining me in discussing what life was like after university are two gents who went through it with me in Ben Higgott and Josh Martin. We look at various aspects of actual grown up adult life, such as housing, taxes, responsibilities and furniture.
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Recorded 16th July 2017.