Ruminations Episode XX: The EU

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Ruminations is back for the third and final episode of our Star Wars trilogy, and like the characters in Rogue One, we’re going out with a bang! Not only is Episode XX three hours long, but we have, for the first time ever, two guests! Our good friends Rob and John, possibly the biggest Star Wars fans we know, joined us to discuss the countless books and video games that comprised the Star Wars Expanded Universe for over 20 years, its transformation into “Star Wars Legends” after Disney’s purchase of Lucasfilm a decade ago, and the new Disney canon of cartoons, live-action shows, one-off movies, and more. Plus, we chat about collectables! Oh, and there’s lots of Knights of the Old Republic talk and even more Knights of the Old Republic II talk. This is a really fun one, guys!

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Ruminations Episode XIX: The Sequels

May 31, 2023Flipp Leave a comment

Somehow, Ruminations returned… for a second Star Wars episode! This time around, Chris and Steve are joined by their old friend Frank for a look back at a trio of root canals put to celluloid: the ill-planned and ill-executed Disney sequel trilogy. Who hates the trilogy the most? Which of the three is the best (of the worst)? Was Frank subjecting himself to nearly 9 hours of torture just to be a guest on this episode worth it? We know this is a long one, folks, but there is a surprise at the end if you can make it that far–we talk about an infamous Star Wars… thing… that has a higher pedigree than even Empire Strikes Back. We’ll leave it at that. [Note: when we recorded, Disney had not yet announced that its Galactic Star Cruiser dumpster fire of a hotel was closing. It’s definitely closing. Yub nub!]

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Ruminations Episode XVIII: The Prequels

March 11, 2023Flipp Leave a comment

A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one! In the first of (at least) three episodes focused on a certain long-running space opera franchise, Chris and Steven discuss the goofy, lovable Star Wars prequels with a very special guest star: Diana, Steve’s wife of 9 months. Why do they love these movies so much? Has the trilogy been redeemed in the last two decades? What color lightsaber does Chris yearn for? All this, and more, in Episode XVIII of Ruminations!

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Ruminations Episode XVII: House of Power, Rings of the Dragon

November 11, 2022Flipp Leave a comment

Ruminations is back for our seventeenth episode, this time to talk about the two prequels to juggernaut fantasy series that premiered in September, HBO’s Game of Thrones: House of the Dragon and Amazon Prime’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. For the second time this year, this is the second version of an episode that we, Chris and Steve, recorded. Before you ask, no, no one was too drunk this time! Back in August, we recorded a grab bag episode about our respective summer trips, interesting stuff we recently watched, a wedding and a 30th birthday, and ended with our varying degrees of apprehension towards HoD and RoP, but since each show finished its first season before we could edit the episode… we decided to re-record and focus on the shows in full. We hope you enjoy this episode as much as we each enjoyed one of the shows over the other.

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Ruminations Episode XVI: Apocalypse Now Redrunks

June 3, 2022Flipp Leave a comment

In an episode two months in the making, Chris and Steve delve into the heart of darkness to explore five of the most famous Vietnam War movies made in the aftermath of the war in the 1970s and 80s. Which version of Apocalypse Now is best? Why is The Deer Hunter so dull? Which of us grew up thinking Full Metal Jacket was a comedy? Why does Vietnam have such a visceral place in our pop culture and collective memory? Stay to the end for a game of “Would You Rather?” and a glimpse into the first time we recorded this episode–yes, we liked this topic so much, we talked about it twice! (But only Chris remembers that.) Episode 16 is messy, a bit overlong, and has a dubious history reminiscent of its subject matter, but what else do you expect from this duo?

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Ruminations Episode XV: Squidnight Mass

October 31, 2021Flipp Leave a comment

Happy Halloween from Ruminations! For the first half of our 15th episode, we chat about the latest movies we’ve seen in theaters, from the ground-shaking sounds of Dune to the earth-shattering disappointment of The Many Saints of Newark. Then, for the main portion of the episode (28:00 on), we break down our experiences watching two of Netflix’s recent shows, the stressful South Korean juggernaut Squid Game and Mike Flanagan’s latest horror slow-burn, Midnight Mass. Why was Matt Damon’s hair so silly in The Last Duel? Will Dune get a sequel (the answer’s yes, but we didn’t know that at the time of recording)? Was Squid Game better in Korean or in English? Was Midnight Mass a good Catholic show, as one Vox reporter lamented? Listen to find out!

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Ruminations Episode XIV: On Her Majesty’s Secret Agent

October 16, 2021Flipp Leave a comment

For Episode XIV, Chris and Steve discuss the ins and outs of the 59-year-old James Bond franchise, which just saw its 25th movie, and the fifth and last of Daniel Craig’s run as 007, No Time to Die, premiere in theaters this month. Well, it’s less of a discussion and more of Steve talking about a series of movies and books near and dear to his heart while Chris feigns interest. (To Chris’s credit, he has a better grasp on Bond than Steve does many of his esoteric religious interests.) What’s the best Bond song? Who’s the worst Bond? Why did George Lazenby only do one movie and later intimidate a teenaged Steve at a nerdy movie convention? Who will the next Bond be? Most importantly–to Chris at least–what aspects of the franchise directly influenced Austin Powers? Ruminations will return!

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Ruminations Episode XIII: The Podcast of the Rings

April 18, 2021Flipp Leave a comment

For Episode XIII, Chris and Steve discuss … not Star Wars for the 4th episode in a row! Instead, due to recent AMC 4K re-releases, they talk about their favorite piece of popular culture ever, J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and Peter Jackson’s seminal film adaptations, the first of which will be celebrating its 20th anniversary later this year. For the episode’s first half, Steve, having watched 15 hours of behind-the-scenes footage and read a 560-page book on Jackson’s journey through Middle-Earth, focuses on the making of the trilogy and The Hobbit, its much, much worse prequel series. For the second half, Chris channels his inner Elrond and fields Steve’s questions on Tolkien’s themes, alleged plot-holes, and the Bible of Tolkien’s legendarium, The Silmarillion. Altogether, it amounts to 2 hours of Middle-Earth content! A day may come when Ruminations releases a short podcast … but it is not THIS day.

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Ruminations Episode XII: Christmas All the Way

December 24, 2020Flipp 1 Comment

Chris and Steve discuss a range of topics relating to Christmas movies with Lou, Ruminations’ second-ever guest host. Questions like: Is Die Hard a Christmas movie? Is Ron Howard’s Grinch movie worth its two-hour runtime? Why can’t Steve keep the Rankin/Bass movies straight? Will Mel Gibson’s Fatman become a perennial Christmas watch? How many times has Lou seen Jingle All the Way? How does it feel to spit up whiskey and/or to record half of a podcast with the hiccups? All of this and more in the messiest, most laugh-filled episode of Ruminations so far! Give us a listen, and merry Christmas to all of our listeners!

Episode XII Show Notes

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Ruminations Episode XI: Underrated Horror

October 30, 2020Flipp Leave a comment

Just in time for the strangest Halloween in memory, we’re back to talk about three underrated horror movies we seem to revisit every year around this time: Wes Craven’s Haiti-set The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988), the ’80s pastiche The House of the Devil (2009), and the Nicolas Cage mystery Pay the Ghost (2015). Along the way, we reminisce about Burger King’s Universal horror action figures from our childhood, 10th grade speeches, and our vastly different experiences watching The Texas Chainsaw Massacre for the first time. Chris is in his element discussing voodoo and Samhain, and Steve enjoys telling Chris off for not knowing directors by name. Lastly, we list our top moments in scary movies! Give us a listen. (We know you all have nothing better to do.)

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Ruminations Episode X: Onward and Up-ward!

June 12, 2020Flipp Leave a comment

Ruminations is finally back and, boy, did we miss a lot over the last 6 months! We start off Episode X with a discussion of our experiences during the COVID-19 lockdown and what we’ve been watching to pass the time as society crumbles around us, but the main event is much more fun. In a companion piece to our first-ever episode, we rank the best and worst of Pixar Animation Studios, once the baby of Apple’s Steve Jobs and now an integral part of Disney’s galactic empire. In a departure from our first episode, however, we stick to our own rankings, which means there are some fireworks!

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Ruminations Episode IX: The 2010s

December 31, 2019Flipp Leave a comment

Happy New Year from Ruminations! To celebrate the start of 2020 and the end of the 2010s, we talk* about 10 of our favorite movies from a decade that wasn’t all that great when it came to cinema. (At least in our opinions, but our opinions are Correct.) Stick around for some honorable mentions!

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Ruminations Episode VIII: What an Excellent Day for an Exorcism

October 31, 2019Flipp Leave a comment

For our Halloween-themed episode, the Ruminations team talks about the Catholic Rite of Exorcism and the movies that have made it famous. Learn the differences between demonic infestation, oppression, and possession, what it’s like to talk to a 90-year-old exorcist IRL, and why even modern Hollywood can sometimes treat Catholicism respectfully!

(In order to get Episode VIII out in time for, you know, Halloween, our show notes will be posted at a later date. Stay tuned!)

Episode VIII Show Notes

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Ruminations Episode VII: A Pirate’s Life for Us

September 10, 2019Flipp Leave a comment

After what seems like an eternity, Rum-inations is back with our seventh episode! As promised at the end of Episode VI, this one is all about pirates and rum. To prepare for such an undertaking…we bought a whole bunch of rum and rewatched all 5 Pirates of the Caribbean movies with our friend Ruben, who now joins us as our first guest!

In addition to our episode, check out our show notes full of movie and musical clips, historical tidbits, and mucho rum recommendations!

Episode VII Show Notes

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ancient-rome-catholic

Ruminations Episode VI: Urbs Aeterna

July 4, 2019Flipp Leave a comment

Ruminations is back with its most historical episode yet! In Episode VI, Chris and Steve recount their April trip to Rome, the Eternal City, highlighting the history and splendor of St. Peter’s Basilica, the glory witnessing the Capitoline Wolf and Augustus of Prima Porta statues in person, an unexpected visit to an actual medieval castle, and more. This episode is a bit on the long side, folks–if you make it through the first 45 minutes, you’ll at least be rewarded by two superb anecdotes that practically had the hosts in tears!

Stick around until the end and check out our show notes full of historical tidbits, book recommendations, and lots of pictures!

Episode VI Show Notes

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Ruminations Episode V: Disappointment

May 31, 2019Flipp Leave a comment

Everything is Terrible in Episode V of Ruminations! When writing about our last episode, I quoted T.S. Eliot since cruel, cruel April brought us the ending of two of our favorite franchises. Little did I know how cruel it would actually be! Another Eliot quote is appropriate now (this one the conclusion to The Hollow Men):

This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but with a whimper.

Whimper to its conclusion Game of Thrones did–and its lackluster finale takes up the full first half of our episode–but it wasn’t alone in its dullness. The live action Aladdin remake and the much-hyped John Wick Chapter 3 – Parabellum, released in back-to-back weekends, were also quite lame, to put it mildly. To top off this whirlwind of recent mediocrity, a bit of (potentially) soul-crushing Star Wars news also leaked this week. When will the suffering end?

Avenger: Endgame was pop culture’s only saving grace and we gladly left it out of our lamentations (until, ya know, the end of our episode, when we decided to actually talk about it. Oops?)

Listen and complain along with us! And, as always, SPOILERS!

Episode V Show Notes

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Ruminations Episode IV: Endgame of Thrones

April 18, 2019Flipp Leave a comment

For the fourth episode of the Ruminations Podcast, we discuss the long-awaited endings of our beloved Game of Thrones and The Avengers. (“April is the cruelest month,” as Eliot said.) We recorded hours before the premiere of GoT’s 8th season, but we spend more time talking about the past 7 seasons anyway, so it’s not outdated yet! (One of Chris’s predictions has already come true! Psst. It involves dragons.) For both our GoT and MCU discussions, SPOILERS GALORE!

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Ruminations Episode III: Catholic Films Through the Ages

March 11, 2019Flipp Leave a comment

In honor of Lent, we are back to discuss three Catholic themed movies for our third episode. (Well, not all of them are movies, and not all of them are Catholic, but we explain what we mean by that in the podcast.) We tried to think outside the box on this one, focusing our discussion on three ages of Catholicism: antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times.

Below are show notes with a bunch of clips, and they’re all worth checking out. Seriously. We hope you enjoy!

Episode III Show Notes

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Ruminations Episode II: The Blah-scars

February 23, 2019Flipp 1 Comment

We were planning on letting the Disney episode sit for a while before recording a second episode. However, we decided at the last minute to rant a little bit about the 8 Best Picture nominees before the 2019 Oscars this Sunday renders them moot. Apart from one movie that the both of us really enjoyed, the nominees are overall quite blah. Hopefully, the ceremony will make up for their mediocrity. (HA! Couldn’t keep a straight face there!) Of course it won’t!

The 8 nominations are (in order of discussion):

A Star is Born
BlackkKlansman
Roma
The Favourite
Vice
Bohemian Rhapsody
Black Panther
Green Book

2019 Oscar Predictions

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Ruminations Episode I: The Best and Worst of Disney

February 19, 2019Flipp 4 Comments

Welcome to the debut episode of “Ruminations,” a podcast on movies, politics, and religion, discussed over a glass–or three–of some type of adult beverage. In this inaugural episode, co-hosts Chris and Steve (previously known on this site as Flipp) discuss the 57 animated films produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. This conversation has been 5 years in the making, as it was the summer of 2014 when Chris and Steve began a chronological journey through Disney’s official filmography, starting with 1937’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. This endeavor finally came to its conclusion last fall (December 2018, to be exact) with the release of Disney’s most recent movie, Ralph Breaks the Internet.

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For ease of discussion, each co-host compiled an individual ranking from best to worst; a combined average was then taken to create a single master list. The master list’s Bottom 10 and Top 10 will be highlighted specifically in this episode. For additional notes, and movie clips, follow the show notes link below. For now, please listen and enjoy!

Rank	Master	Chris	Steven
1	Aladdin (1992)	Aladdin	Aladdin
2	The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)	The Hunchback of Notre Dame	The Hunchback of Notre Dame
3	Beauty and the Beast (1991)	The Lion King	Beauty and the Beast
4	The Lion King (1994)	Beauty and the Beast	Pinocchio
5	Cinderella (1950)	The Little Mermaid	Alice in Wonderland
6	The Little Mermaid (1989)	Sleeping Beauty	The Lion King
7	Sleeping Beauty (1959)	The Black Cauldron	Cinderella
8	Pinocchio (1940)	Cinderella	Emperor’s New Groove
9	Hercules (1997)	Hercules	Hercules
10	Mulan (1998)	Mulan	Sleeping Beauty
11	Alice in Wonderland (1951)	Tarzan	The Little Mermaid
12	Tarzan (1999)	The Princess and the Frog	Mulan
13	The Black Cauldron (1985)	Pocahontas	Pocahontas
14	Pocahontas (1995)	Pinocchio	Tarzan
15	Emperor’s New Groove (2000)	Robin Hood	Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
16	The Princess and the Frog (2009)	Lilo and Stitch	The Princess and the Frog
17	Robin Hood (1973)	Dinosaur	The Great Mouse Detective
18	Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)	Emperor’s New Groove	The Black Cauldron
19	Lilo and Stitch (2002)	Alice in Wonderland	Robin Hood
20	The Great Mouse Detective (1986)	Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs	Lilo and Stitch
21	Zootopia (2016)	The Fox and the Hound	Wreck It Ralph
22	Peter Pan (1953)	Peter Pan	Zootopia
23	The Fox and the Hound (1981)	The Jungle Book	Ralph Breaks the Internet
24	Wreck It Ralph (2012)	Zootopia	Bolt
25	Dinosaur (2000)	101 Dalmatians	Tangled
26	Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018)	Oliver and Company	Peter Pan
27	Bolt (2008)	The Great Mouse Detective	The Fox and the Hound
28	101 Dalmatians (1961)	Wreck It Ralph	Fantasia
29	Tangled (2010)	Ralph Breaks the Internet	Dumbo
30	Dumbo (1941)	Bolt	Atlantis: The Lost Empire
31	Fantasia (1940)	Dumbo	Frozen
32	The Jungle Book (1967)	Brother Bear	101 Dalmatians
33	Brother Bear (2003)	The Rescuers	Dinosaur
34	Frozen (2013)	Fantasia	Brother Bear
35	Oliver and Company (1988)	Tangled	Meet the Robinsons
36	The Rescuers (1977)	Frozen	The Rescuers
37	Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)	Lady and the Tramp	Fantasia 2000
38	Lady and the Tramp (1955)	Fantasia 2000	Lady and the Tramp
39	Fantasia 2000 (1999)	The Aristocats	The Jungle Book
40	Meet the Robinsons (2007)	Bambi	The Aristocats
41	The Aristocats (1970)	Meet the Robinsons	Moana
42	Bambi (1942)	Moana	Oliver and Company
43	Moana (2016)	Atlantis: The Lost Empire	Bambi
44	Home on the Range (2004)	The Sword in the Stone	Big Hero Six
45	The Rescuers Down Under (1990)	Home on the Range	Home on the Range
46	Big Hero Six (2014)	The Rescuers Down Under	The Rescuers Down Under
47	Treasure Planet (2002)	Treasure Planet	Treasure Planet
48	The Sword in the Stone (1963)	The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh	The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad
49	The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949)	The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad	The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
50	The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977)	Big Hero Six	Winnie the Pooh
51	Winnie the Pooh (2011)	Winnie the Pooh	The Sword in the Stone
52	The Three Caballeros (1944)	The Three Caballeros	The Three Caballeros
53	Saludos Amigos (1942)	Saludos Amigos	Saludos Amigos
54	Make Mine Music (1946)	Melody Time	Make Mine Music
55	Melody Time (1948)	Make Mine Music	Fun and Fancy Free
56	Fun and Fancy Free (1947)	Fun and Fancy Free	Melody Time
57	Chicken Little (2005)	Chicken Little	Chicken Little

Episode I Show Notes

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