Dork Matters

This week we dig deep into the saddest, most morose, most heartbreaking, terrifying and all around scarring flicks from our childhood. We also talk jujubes, cossacks, Garbage Pail Kids, IKEA commercials, brontosauruses vs. brachiosaurus, Mara Wilson, criminalized poverty, and more! Get ready to to relive that youthful trauma. FURTHER DORKSCUSSION: The Brave Little Toaster Honey, I Shrunk the Kids...

Start your engines! Lexi & Ben welcome guest host and Drag Race expert, Kai to the show! Dork out about soda pop, UK Hun, favourite queens, Drag Race controversies and more! Shante, you stay! FURTHER DORKSCUSSION: Graham Norton and RuPaul HireHeelsYYC: Book Drag performers for corporate events, birthdays, shows at your venue, etc. Drag Race's Monique Heart Opens Up About Conversion Therapy Experie...

Warp through the very best holodeck episodes that Star Trek has to offer as Lexi & Ben chat with guest and massive Trekkie Stephanie Gerk. Other topics include Hackers, swearing poorly, Toronto, Neelix, Reginald Barclay and a lot of other really dorky stuff. FURTHER DORKSCUSSION: Our holodeck picks! Our Man Bashir, DS9, Season 4; Episode 10: https://youtu.be/Rew0gHM_kuA   Ship in a Bottle, TNG, Se...

In the Muppet justice system, the Muppets are represented by two separate, yet equally important groups: the podcasters who investigate the crimes, and the other podcasters who prosecute the Muppet offenders. These are their stories.  FURTHER DORKSCUSSION: Before the court: Miss Finch : accused of criminal negligence Miss Piggy : accused of domestic violence Gonzo : accused of bestiality Animal :...

Canadian content warning: maple syrup, timbits, toques and nostalgia ahead! We’re talking the best of Canadian TV: The Odyssey, Heartland, The Raccoons, Fred Penner's Place, Road to Avonlea, The Urban Peasant, The Littlest Hobo, OWL/TV, Electric Circus, SCTV and like, so many more.  FURTHER DORKSCUSSION: Here are the Canadian TV shows we chatted about: Heartland Blizzard Island The Raccoons The Od...

Let’s dork out about comics! Lexi & Ben share their essential comic reads from monthlies, graphic novels, comic strips, and webcomics: Lynda Barry, Osamu Tezuka, Hergé, Trudy Cooper, Gary Larson, Bill Waterson, Randall Munroe, Scott McCloud, Matthew Inman, Junji Ito, Meredith Gran and just, like, so, so many more!   FURTHER DORKSCUSSION: Here are the comics we recommended: Louis Riel by Chester Br...

Hogwarts, Xavier's, Degrassi, Sunnydale: Lexi & Ben are giving the third degree to a few of the most notable schools from pop culture. We're also talking about sleep deprivation, aging, dog headaches, private vs. public education and the death of Dawson's dad from Dawson's Creek! Not everyone is getting a passing grade. FURTHER DORKSCUSSION: Schools we graded: Hogwarts Xavier's School for Gifted W...

Not all that gamers is good. Lexi & Ben dork out about the video games we all love to hate with their first ever guest host: Jordan Lane from the Holy Shit I Have ADHD podcast. We also have a very beautiful new logo and cover art from designer extraordinaire Adam Warner. Also: Schmexi & Sven  FURTHER DORKSCUSSION: Games We Love to Hate Darkwing Duck (GB) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES) Ecco The...

What's the very best Pixar film? Lexi & Ben are gunna sort it out all while dorking out about history, factoids and tangenitals related to the house that's now owned by the mouse.  FURTHER DORKSCUSSION: Shamrock Shake Why Should I Worry? Irish Slave Myth Buy Andy Weir's Project Hail Mary from Chapters Indigo Research Cotton Eyed Joe problematic Robin Hood & The Hampster Dance Buy Ed Catmull's Crea...

Author Ryan Estrada joins Lexi and Ben to discuss his experience working on Banned Book Club with his wife, Kim Hyun Sook , about her life and education during South Korea’s Fifth Republic , a military regime that entrenched its power through censorship, torture, and the murder of protesters.  We also talk infrastructure, censorship, banned books, hate speech, comics and our usual range of tangeni...

Making bacon. Making Kevin Bacon. In this episode we play Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon with random people sent in by our listeners. It's a weird one but we still like it. FURTHER DORKSCUSSION: (From Wikipedia) In a January 1994 interview, Kevin Bacon mentioned that "he had worked with everybody in Hollywood or someone who's worked with them." Later in 1994, three college students Craig Fass, Brian T...

Dork Matters is a podcast by dorks, for dorks and about dorks and all the things that matter to dorks. Hosted by dorks Lexi Hunt and Ben Rankel. Ever green episodes cover topics from Stardew Valley to banned books to the best Nintendo console to mental health. New episodes every other Wednesday.   Check out Dork Matters wherever you get your pods!  Apple Podcasts Simplecast SOCIALS: Here's where y...

Dork out with us about the worst characters Star Wars has to offer. We also disagree on Solo and Rogue One, ponder John Williams' scores, continue to stan Paul Sun-Hyung Lee and go off on many more tangents about a galaxy far, far away. FURTHER DORKSCUSSION: Kitty IBS Billy Mays Free drinks on flights VIA Rail Passenger Service Dick rocket John Williams' scores all sound the same Jeff Goldblum Why...

We're talking all about our very favourite indie games and what makes them special. Sprinkle on some chatter about bare handed bear fighting, policing, gun control and tarot cards and you've just been served up one special podcast pizza. Don't hold the anchovies.   FURTHER DORKSCUSSION: The best of the best indie game: STARDEW VALLEY (Click this giant link to listen to our episode all about Starde...

Do Pokemon poop? What's up with capitalism? And what exactly is an ice-type Italian soda Jesus? The answers may surprise you!   FURTHER DORKSCUSSION: r/antiwork Pokerap Spoony Bard   BONUS MATERIAL: Our fantastic producer Jess shares here top Pokemon: TRAINER TYPE: fire starters, mix as balanced as I can get it after that FAVE STARTER: Cyndaquil FAVE POKEMON: Togepi (Haunter is a close second) LEA...

Everyone's scared of something but some of those things are kind of dumb. Bandages, mould, clumps of hair, hot drinks that have gone cold: this time on Dork Matters, Lexi and Ben are sharing silly fears held by themselves and their listeners.  FURTHER DORKSCUSSION: Baby Geniuses Coca-Cola Zero/Coca-Cola Zero Sugar Ditto Frank by Ben Rankel Haunted Calgary BONUS CONTENT: Globophobia – The fear of b...

Welcome! Please come in! ...come in! Lexi & Ben are back and talking about Animal Crossing. Covering all the most important topics: Brewster's milk (ick), Pietro's murderous disposition, Kapp'n's demonic origins, K.K.'s nudist bent and much, much more. Don't miss it! ...miss it! Sing along at home! Skrilla Heeeeeeeeeere's BREWSTER! Bonus Brewster Pigeon milking Kapp'n is a kappa P I E T R O SOCIAL...

Lexi & Ben dork out about some of their fave magic users and abusers, pull a big reveal on Lexi's true feelings about stage magic, debate the magical status of some surprising figures and perform the sickest podcast magic trick ever! Think of a number now and listen to them guess your number at the very end of the show notes. Do you believe in magic? SHOW NOTES: Wizards we talked about:  Ice King...

In this super special episode of Dorkmatters, we connect with Mike Keady. Mike is a Counsellor and Member of the Australian Counselling Association. You might already be aware of Mike and his work around counselling through the use of games and pop culture. Check out the show notes for more information to learn about the amazing work Mike is doing in Australia. Ben and Lexi have a quick chat to fi...

Ben and Lexi reminisce about the quintessential coming of age movies of our youth - kind of. Dork You Forget About Me find Ben and Lexi looking back at classic 80's teen movies. Both Lexi and Ben struggled to fit in with humans and had to turn to movies to learn how to be a teen, which means watching copious amounts of John Hughes! In this episode, Ben and Lexi dork out about classic John Hughes m...

Ben and Lexi are dorking out about all things food! What gross food combinations bring you the most comfort? If you had one last meal before the great beyond - what would you eat? What does a latch key eat when they are too afraid to use the stove? Listen in as they dork out with their forks out.  SHOW NOTES: We are talking food BUT safety first - here is a helpful video on how to save yourself fr...

Lexi & Ben get literary AF with their first ever book club episode! Dork book club? Book dork club? Whatever. Listen in as they dork out about some of the formative books that made them the dorks they are today. SHOW NOTES: Books we talked about: The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas  (Lexi) Catacombs by Paul McCusker (Ben) It Happened in Boston? by Russell H. Greenan (Lexi) The Lord of the...

It’s the end of the world as we know it and not at all content with the reality of our slow, steady steps toward climate disaster, Lexi & Ben go searching for the most interesting apocalypses possible. We feel fine. SHOW NOTES (Thanks Jess!): Seth Rogan: pls watch this video Rules on duel citizenship for U.S. Citizens CANCON definition CHEUGY. Now use it in  sentence. The safe place in our version...

This week Lexi & Ben objectify their favourite sexy Final Fantasy characters and pit them against each other. The prize? Being crowned the Undisputed Sexiest Final Fantasy Character Ever! Spend your gil on a phoenix down cause this fira spell on this sexy episode may make you KO. THE CONTESTANTS: Yuffie Kisaragi Vincent Valentine Zell Dincht Lulu Kimahri Ronso Fran Balthier Tifa Lockhart Rinoa Hea...

Lexi and Ben boldly go where no podcast has gone before: STAR TREK! We rank the aired and airing TV series from BEST to WORST (or, you know, from our FAVOURITE FAVES to our slightly less FAVES). This episode is sure to be our most contentious to date!  SHOW NOTES: Get checked out with Dr. Beverly Crusher's podcast: Gates McFadden Investigates We're not even a little embarrassed to say that Benjami...