When Banned Things Happen To Good People

Todd Sullivan and guest host Carlo Sia (Half-Cut Conspiracies) wrap up their look at This Book is Anti-Racist in this recording of their live episode. They discuss the important differences between being not racist and being anti-racist, why one is probably better than the other, and tackle the question of why the heck two very white dudes are even talking about racism. Email:  bannedthingshappen@...

This episode Todd and guest host Carlo Sia (Half-Cut Conspiracies) explore the second half of the controversial This Book is Anti-Racist which was led to a crackdown on certain books in the Southlake Texas school curriculum. This portion of the book is primarily focused on what you can do to be anti-racist. And that's something we should all want to be, we think. Email:  bannedthingshappen@gmail.c...

This Book is Anti Racist has inspired a touch of controversy in Southlake, Texas recently as a complaint from a mother about the title led the school district to stamp down on similar books, asking teachers to ensure that any controversial topics be treated neutrally, which makes one wonder, what is the neutral take on racism? That's what we talk about this week as Todd Sullivan is joined by guest...

Todd takes a crack at hosting the podcast solo with a look at the 1974 "video nasty" The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. This might be one of the most popular horror films of all time, but it's also, surprisingly, probably tamer than you realize or remember. Email:  bannedthingshappen@gmail.com Facebook:  https://facebook.com/bannedthingshappen Web:  https://blahblahblahmedia.com Patreon:  https://patre...

  It's a week late, but we're all relaxing for the summer anyway, right? This episode it's The Little Prince that Oren and Todd are discussing as they finish up their summer reading program of children's books. It's actually a novella rather than a children's book, so maybe the extra reading caused the delay? We'll never know. Email:  bannedthingshappen@gmail.com Facebook:  https://facebook.com/ba...

  Things get silly this week  when Todd invites his 10-year-old daughter to join the podcast to talk about The Paper Bag Princess, a book that was challenged in the 80s for promoting anti-family messages. So how do we feel about this Robert Munsch story about a boy, a girl, and a dragon? All we'll tell you is that at the end of the day, one of them is a bum. Email:  bannedthingshappen@gmail.com Fa...

Our hosts continue to kick back with some easy-to-read children's books, including the LGBTQ+ friendly Prince & Knight, an apparently simple fairy tale that features a prince and a knight falling in love and living happily ever after, which is apparently considered pornography now. Sure, it's a shorter episode than many, but Oren and Todd still get into a lively, entertaining discussion. mail:  ba...

Todd and Oren take a bit of a break from big, serious novels to spend a few weeks look at books intended for a younger audience -- that still somehow manage to get themselves banned. This week we look at the adventures of a man who runs around fighting crime in his tighty whities -- Captain Underpants. Email:  bannedthingshappen@gmail.com Facebook:  https://facebook.com/bannedthingshappen Web:  ht...

  Holy hell this podcast has been around for a year! Who saw that coming!? So Oren and Todd took some time too look back at where they've been, and to look to where they'd like to go. And along the way their share which moments they regretted and whether doing this podcast was the worst decision they ever made in their lives.  Email:  bannedthingshappen@gmail.com Facebook:  https://facebook.com/ba...

We wrap up our first year of podcasting with one of the most controversial films of all time, and a film that released during the year that Todd was gestating in his mother's womb -- Last Tango in Paris (no The). Is it "obscene content offensive to public decency, characterized by an exasperating pansexualism for its own end, presented with obsessive indulgence catering to the lower instincts of t...

This week Oren (accidentally) brings something nasty to the Banned Things table with the 1987 West German horror film Nekromantik. He said he thought it as a comedy. It definitely wasn't. Come along for the ride as our hosts try to process what might be the second most romantic film about necrophilia (the first, obviously, being Nekromantik 2). Email: bannedthingshappen@gmail.com Facebook: https:/...

  It's starting to look like Zombie Month with yet another zombie film in the Banned Things queue, this time the 1985 George Romero film Day of the Dead. Oren and Todd break down this very goopy, gory movie with their usual wit and insight, though they were both wrong about the accent being sported by performer Terry Alexander -- it was meant to be Caribbean. Email: bannedthingshappen@gmail.com Fa...

Oren and Todd do their first episode looking at a banned piece of music, with guest coast Dave Coalmine along for the ride. Just how nasty was the album Nasty As They Wanna Be? Well, you'll have to tune in to find out, but it's probably pretty nasty. Also, be sure to stick around until the very end for a special surprise. Email: bannedthingshappen@gmail.com Facebook: https://facebook.com/bannedthi...

This week Oren and Todd settle in with a film that reaches new heights of gore that's from the director of The Lord of The Rings Trilogy, Peter Jackson. Brain Dead (or, as it was known in North America, Deadalive) it's been banned in places like Germany and South Korea. Also ... it's kind of funny? Email: bannedthingshappen@gmail.com Facebook: https://facebook.com/bannedthingshappen Website: https...

We've had a few weeks off and now Oren and Todd are back with something a bit more mellow -- a look at the Disney XD show Gravity Falls. What, that's been banned!? Well, no, but it's been censored, and that's close enough for us this week. Plus, Oren takes the lead this week, guiding us through a look at just what it takes to get censored in South Korea. Facebook: https://facebook.com/bannedthings...

We completed our epic Easter cross-over event with a live episode featuring Todd, Oren, and Carlo Sia from Half-Cut Conspiracies to discuss a film that probably shouldn't have been that controversial but actually was, Monty Python's The Life of Brian from 1979. Hope you all had a great holiday!

Here it is, part one of our special Easter Crossover Event, with special guest Carlo Sia of Half-Cut Conspiracies here to help us take a look at Martin Scorsese's most controversial film, The Last Temptation of Christ. Is it a film about a man's struggle to be good despite the temptation to do otherwise, or is it a film about Jesus banging Mary Magdalene? Maybe it's both! Facebook: https://faceboo...

Wait, has Dr. Seuss been cancelled!? Well, no, not really, but Todd and Oren decided to take a look at five of the six books that are being removed from publication by Dr. Seuss Enterprises. And while there are a few images here that are somewhat problematic, this episode still proved to be a pleasant departure after the last three weeks of intense racism. Email: bannedthingshappen@gmail.com Faceb...

Did you miss the live wrap-up of The Turner Diaries? Don't fret! We've got the recorded version of it right here! It's exactly the same as the live version, except you can't phone in anymore. We talk about racism. We make some announces. There are special guests. It's a good time. Except for when we're talking about The Turner Diaries which is a very, very bad book. Email: bannedthingshappen@gmail...

It's over. They've done it. Oren and Todd have made it to the end of The Turner Diaries which, they hope, is the worst thing they'll ever have to experience as part of this podcast. And boy, did this part of the book give them a lot to dig through, including the "heroic" destruction of every race on the planet except the white one. If you've followed along this far, come along for the final entry...

Todd and Oren survive another week with the "Bible of the Racist Right" and continue to follow Earl Turner on his exciting adventures in attempting to overthrow The System. Here there be N-words and Nazi sympathy and a couple of hosts are mostly just eager for this to be over with. Email: bannedthingshappen@gmail.com Facebook: https://facebook.com/bannedthingshappen Patreon: https://patreon.com/bl...

Join Todd and Oren as they dig into the first nine chapters of what will hopefully be the worst thing they ever read on this podcast, a book that has been called the "Bible of the Racist Right" -- The Turner Diaries. This is an ugly book filled to the brim with racism, so consider this a content warning before diving into this one. Email: bannedthingshappen@gmail.com Facebook: https://facebook.com...

Oren and Todd once again went live to wrap up their look at A Clockwork Orange, a dicussion that included both the novel by Anthony Burgess and Stanley Kubrick's film. Also, a caller gave our hosts a quiz on some Nadsat words, and oh my brothers, they did not do well at all. Email: bannedthingshappen@gmail.com Facebook: https://facebook.com/bannedthingshappen Patreon: https://patreon.com/blahblahb...

A Clockwork Orange has the rare distinction of being a work that has been banned as not only a novel but a film as well, so Oren and Todd decided to take look at the 1971 Stanley Kubrick adaptation alongside their discussion of the novel. What they find is an adaptation that's impressively true to the source material (until the very end) and also a surprise appearance from someone best known from...

  Todd and Oren reach the final part of the novel A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, including the infamous Chapter 21 that was not originally included in the U.S. release of the book. Spoiler Alert: Things do not turn out well for your humble narrator, Alex.  Facebook: https://facebook.com/bannedthingshappen Email: bannedthingshappen@gmail.com Website: https://blahblahblahmedia.com Patreon: h...