Deep Thoughts About Stupid Sh*t: A Pop-Culture Comedy Podcast

Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. Don’t you…forget about misogyny…Don’t Don’t Don’t Don’t! On today’s episode of Deep Thoughts, Tracie takes another look at the 1985 John Hughes film The Breakfast Club . Though this classic Gen X teen movie passes the Bechdel test and explicitly names the prude-or-slut trap of female sexuality, it also treats Claire and Allison li...

Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. AS IF! This week on Deep Thoughts , Emily re-examines her favorite movie from high school: Clueless . Not only did this film kickstart Emily’s Paul Rudd appreciation, but it also provided her with some lovely examples of teen girl friendship, healthy father/daughter relationship dynamics, and how to apologize.  But it’s not all su...

Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. That [imperialist, whip-wielding archeologist] belongs in a museum! On today’s Deep Thoughts , Tracie takes on a pillar of her and Emily’s childhood: Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark . The sisters talk about what’s great (the soundtrack, the cinematography, Marion Ravenwood’s badassery), what’s not so great (the imper...

Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. Come with me and you’ll be in a world of pure imagination…and capitalism This week, Emily shares her deep thoughts about the 1971 classic film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. She loves Gene Wilder’s funny and menacing portrayal of Wonka that still manages an undercurrent of sweetness, and the cinematography is a masterclass...

Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. It takes a special person to impress a dragon. In this bonus episode, Tracie shares deep thoughts about the science fiction and fantasy novel series the Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey. From her early exhilaration of discovering fantasy novels with female protagonists to her current discomfort upon realizing the essentialis...

Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. Slay it with me: other girls are awesome! For this week’s episode of Deep Thoughts, Tracie and Emily welcome Kate Moody, aka The Money Librarian , to share her analysis of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Kate introduces Emily (a Buffy virgin) to the world of vampires, Hellmouths, and why all librarians love Giles. With Kate’s analysis,...

Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. It’s like Sputnik! Spherical, but quite pointy at parts! On this week’s episode of Deep Thoughts About Stupid Sh*t, Tracie unpacks the good, the bad, the poorly aged, and the likely-to-make-a-vegan-queasy about the underrated 1993 comedy So I Married an Axe Murderer. The sisters discuss how important changes in gender politics and...

Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. You’ll shoot your eye out! On this very special holiday episode of Deep Thoughts, Emily and Tracie take a deeper look at the 1983 classic, A Christmas Story. The sisters discuss what is relatable in the sweet, funny tale of 9-year-old Ralphie’s quest for the coveted Red Ryder carbine-action, 200-shot range model air rifle, but the...

Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. You remind me of the babe…the babe with the power… Join us this week as Emily shares her deep thoughts about the 1986 film Labyrinth. She and Tracie talk about the myriad and surprising sexual metaphors throughout the movie, how the film may not pass the Bechdel test, but still offers a feminist response to dealing with an abuser,...

Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. Epic space battles + philosophy and ethics + human drama + Cylons = KICKASS TELEVISION On this week’s episode, Tracie shares her Deep Thoughts about the 2004-2009 reboot of Battlestar Galactica. She tells Emily how she got sucked into the show and resurfaced weeks later, a la Portlandia, how the story undercut its own feminist bon...

Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. The Nothing, depressed horses, and dead moms–The Neverending Story! (Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh…) For this week’s episode, Emily shares her deep thoughts with Tracie about the 1984 film The Neverending Story, a childhood favorite with seriously dark undertones. She talks about how the original story was written as an anti-authoritaria...

Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. Crime solving devil–it makes sense! Don’t overthink it… This week’s episode was supposed to be recorded at LuciCon in sunny Schaumberg, IL, but Covid put a damper on our plans. (Sad trombone sound). Instead, Tracie and Emily talk all things Lucifer together, from how Emily discovered the show because of her appreciation for Tom El...

Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. The Trash Heap has spoken! NYEAH! This week, Tracie takes a deep dive into Fraggle Rock, the 1980s children’s TV show that Jim Henson hoped would bring about the end to war (really!). The Fraggles, Doozers, Gorgs, and Silly Creatures of Outer Space (not to mention an anthropomorphic pile of trash) taught children how to resolve co...

Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. From Dragon Ball Z to Sailor Moon, Studio Ghibli to Death Note, anime is a major hole in Emily and Tracie’s pop culture knowledge. So they were delighted to welcome writer, spiritual director, mental health peer advocate, and self-professed Blerd (Black nerd) Lynette Davis on the show to share her experience of being an anime fan...

Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. Hello, everybodeee! There’s no monster at the end of this bonus episode–just a lot of overthinking about a beloved children’s book. Listen as Emily and Tracie take a deep dive into the charming and oddly subversive 1973 classic The Monster at the End of this Book, starring lovable, furry old Grover. Emily explains how Grover taugh...

Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. The truth (about casual sexism and gendered violence) is out there!  In today’s episode, Emily grapples with the troubling implications of her first fandom. She shares with Tracie how writing, directorial, and payment decisions on the The X-Files did Gillian Anderson and Dana Scully dirty, why her head-canon is that Mulder and Scu...

Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. Odelaly and Criminitly! The 1973 animated Robin Hood (with the foxes) is as familiar as matzo-ball soup, but what’s lurking in the comfort? From treatment of gender (not only a lack of representation but also the performance of gender) to the surprisingly (or maybe not-so-suprisingly?) anti-anti-authoritarian message to the quietl...

Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. It’s Wadsworth in the lounge with the red herring! The 1985 film Clue was a flop when it came out. There were three endings, no clear murderer, and everyone thought making a film based on a board game was just crass. In this episode, Emily explains how a box-office bomb became a beloved cult favorite, and how this deeply silly lit...

Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. Suffering Sappho! Wonder Woman’s role in our culture is far more complex than Tracie’s childhood love for Lynda Carter (and Wonder Woman underoos) prepared her for. In this more-meta-than-usual episode, Tracie dives into the history of the world’s most famous Amazonian Nazi-fighter. From Wonder Woman’s comic book origins–she spran...

Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. The Bechdel Test. Mary Sue. Born Sexy Yesterday. When thinking deep thoughts about media, patterns emerge. Patterns and litmus tests and tropes. It can be useful to have some shared language to allow us to get deeper, quicker (intellectually speaking).  In this bonus episode, we define and provide examples of some useful tools tha...

Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. Tale as old as time? It’s old, alright. True as it can be? Hmm, about that... Beauty and the Beast is an old and not-so-necessary model for romantic love.  Hiding in the remarkable Howard Ashman score is a not-like-other-girls feminism and a reified classism that isolates poor Belle and gives her no choice but to fall for her capt...

Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. CW: Abstract discussion of rape. What if being a muggle actually isn’t a bad thing? J.K. Rowling’s wizarding world of the Harry Potter franchise changed the way we think and talk. But was it for the better? Professor Julian Wamble joins Tracie and Emily for a fascinating deep dive into the ways the Harry Potter universe and charac...

Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. We tried to think of the most harmless thing. Something we loved from our childhood. Something that could never ever possibly destroy us. Ghostbusters! Tracie brings a beloved “comfort food” movie to the analyzing table, and the sisters dig in. From the banality of the anti-heroism of Peter Venkman (Bill Murray) to the regressive...

Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. The Princess Bride does not mean what you think it means? INCONCEIVABLE! In today’s episode, Emily has some deep thoughts about the most quotable fairy tale ever written: The Princess Bride. Emily shares her theory that the film is both neurodivergent-friendly and a masterclass in brilliant storytelling–even though it miserably fa...

Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response. It's time to play the music! It's time to light the lights! It's time to talk about Muppets From Space tonight! In today’s episode, Tracie thinks deeply about the underrated 1999 gem, Muppets From Space, which sees Gonzo finally meeting his alien brethren and learning why he loves getting shot out of cannon. While t...