Should’ve Sent a Poet

Your eyes do not deceive you, this extra episode does belong in your feed. To celebrate the launch of our Patreon, we're releasing our first bonus episode for free! Beyond the paywall, anything is possible. That includes Natalie Epstein-Hogue writing the synopsis, and Natalie Bickelhaupt being subjected to cruel experiments!   In this episode, Natalie leads Natalie through the bizarre world of rea...

Well folks, it was bound to happen. Three episodes in and we’ve already doubled a movie’s runtime. I can’t say I’m surprised that the ceaselessly surreal Signs (2002), directed by M. Night Shyamalan, was the culprit. Despite not being very good, Signs manages to use First Contact as a jumping off point to explore grief and faith in some deeply compelling ways. Bad movies with interesting ideas alw...

Join Natalie and Natalie as they explore this touchstone of the Alien genre: Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1997), directed by Steven Spielberg. This seminal work enshrined many of the tropes and themes that permeate the rest of the genre, and is an essential science fiction watch. Accompanying such an iconic piece is an iconic Tin-Foil segment, as we explore both the narratives and cold hard...

In this inaugural episode of Should’ve Sent a Poet, co-hosts Natalie “Bea” Bickelhaupt and Natalie Epstein-Hogue discuss the podcast’s namesake, 1997’s Contact. Directed by Robert Zemeckis, starring Jodie Foster, and based on Carl Sagan’s novel of the same name, Contact is the perfect place to start our long journey through the stars. It follows radio astronomer Dr. Ellie Arroway as she makes firs...