Wonderful! - Wonderful! 306: Helpful Jaws

Episode Date: December 20, 2023

Griffin and Rachel's favorite favorites of 2023! Music: “Money Won’t Pay” by bo en and Augustus – https://open.spotify.com/album/7n6zRzTrGPIHt0kRvmWoya Harmony House: https://harmonyhousewv.com/ MaxFunDrive ends on March 29, 2024! Support our show now by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

Hi, this is Rachel McElroy. Hello, this is Griffin McElroy. And this is Wonderful. Time for a look back. We're always looking in front of us for dangers. Always ready to defend ourselves and our home. And our troops. And our troops.

How many people do you think just turned the podcast off because they realized it was a recap episode? No, people love this shit. Okay, good. Because I don't know about you. Okay, good. Because I don't know about you, I have forgotten most of the stuff we talked about this year until I went back through our list in order to highlight some of our favorite shit of 2023.

And man, it's what a wild year for a lot of different media categories, I would say. I wanted to ask, when you said favorite, do you mean like this was a favorite thing then and it's still a favorite thing now? Or like this was the most fun to talk about? No, I mean, this is work. What we do here. I like doing the show with you a lot.

Oh, okay. I get to like, you know, shoot the shit. I'm your work wife. You're my work wife and I get to shoot the shit with like my best bud. But it is work, right? And so for for me it's all about just like pure quality interesting mine are a lot like most fun to talk about interesting okay it's good that we're sort of bringing different energies because for me it's like i don't and listeners probably have noticed this i don't always bring a topic that is like my favorite thing, but it has a good story behind it that I really like.

Yes. So it becomes a favorite just by the kind of origin of it. I like that. Yeah. Do you want to do a small wonder before we? Whoa, yeah. Yeah, we should. And then what would be wild is if we could incorporate that small wonder into the recap of just be like, I really liked when we talked about.

Oh, did you include small wonders? Sometimes. Oh, see, I didn't. Oh, OK. OK. We obviously didn't talk about this very much. I think it's fine. That's fine.

It's the spirit of the show. It's the spirit. I'm going to say small wonder. OK. honestly one of my top three christmas movies now oh i watched yesterday which was spirited brand new just came out last year on the apple tv platform it's a movie musical featuring will ferrell and ryan reynolds and octavia spencer and a bunch of incredible folks in that film. And it's just, it's fantastic. It really is.

I feel like by being on the Apple TV platform, there's probably a big chunk of people that haven't seen it. Yes. But it is, it is so funny and the music is good and the performances are great. The message of it is also good. It is, yeah. You think like there's not many more depths left to plumb in the like holiday movie like category. But I think that they do a very noble job of talking about changing a person through the lens of A Christmas Carol.

Just great. Just fantastic. Can't recommend it enough. I am going to say, for my small wonder, I'm going to say bath toys. Okay. For whatever reason, small son has become more resistant to taking a bath, which I don't totally get because it's not like we put him through some kind of rigorous cleansing process. Yes.

But it's been hard to get him in there. And so I went out and i got like a little bath toy that looks kind of like a water slide and all of a sudden he's taken two baths in like four days which is pretty good for us which is rare for him he's if you if you don't have kids or even if you do and that sounds like not a lot of baths kids don't make a lot of stink they know they don't like they don't sweat in a smelly way yet no not yet well they do i would say henry does um okay i don't know why you have to put ourselves like that well i'm just saying like gus i it's it's rare that like he has a funk but i feel like henry has had a funk before once or twice yes okay um but yes i

love playing with bath toys with gus it's very very good i don't know how he got so deeply he's really into water slides don't know why he's not i mean i guess he likes slides that's the thing right i think i think one of those videos came up and he's always been a big fan of slides and then when you add the water element the person goes very fast so fast some of these water slide technology has also come a long way yeah the little platform drops out well platform drops out that's fun there's the there's the like rings of light that you go through sometimes on some of these uh water slides that are like illuminated from within that's cool shit man can i ask you a question about water slides uh-huh um i i do not have a lot of water slide experience in that um i have

ridden in tubes but i've never like put my body flat on a water slide before doesn't a whole bunch of water get in your head like ears nose mouth not especially not a whole it just seems like laying down in the water and then going very fast into more water would just send a bunch of fluid into your orifices so what my issue is on a very fast water slide uh-huh um where the centrifugal forces are considerable um the fluid that reaches my head is my blood and it makes me go to sleep have a little nap have a little inside the water slide slidey nap that has to happen like every day someone just goes to sleep on a water slide because of how much blood gets in their head because of this the g-force i have to assume yeah it can't just have been you it happened to me one time and i

i didn't didn't ride uh water slides for a while of course how scary i can't imagine the experience of being a parent and your child arrives at the bottom passed out just a seepy boy that's terrible Enough about me. 2023. Let's do it. Okay. Let's get wild. All right. I want to, I have a pretty huge like bucket of stuff this year. Do you want me to share the stats? Oh, I'd love to hear the stats.

Yes. Let's start with the stats. Okay. So this is all from wonderful.fyi. It looks like we did exactly 100 topics. That's wild. I mean, right? Because there's 52 weeks in a year.

Yeah, I guess we're two weeks short. We probably skipped two weeks. We do two an episode. Okay. Again, I didn't count Small Wonders. That's fine. The top category I saw, there was a tie. It has to be poetry, right?

No. Oh, wow. category i saw there was a tie it has to be poetry right no oh wow uh i i lumped any kind of game together if it was like a video game or a board game okay i see so there were 10 games and then 10 food and beverage items wow uh-huh see i didn't pull a lot of food and beverage items off my off of my uh my calculations i guess we did talk about games i guess i did bring like the resident evil series and jrpg you did zelda you did risk you uh i did twister yes um the jrpg of um nine poets so close so pretty yeah pretty pretty close some great freaking poets in there this year man yeah i thought about picking a favorite and i just couldn't do it like i i would say of the nine poets seven of them were new to me this yeah sure like only two had i heard of

before we started this year's uh episodes so they're all so fresh i feel like i can't i think the poem about the the mom flushing the fish down the toilet yeah that's recent that's like coins that's carrie fountain carrie fountain that was a that was a fucking banger you also like the franny choi uh like what is it called the um here i can tell you because I have it pulled up unrequited love song for the panopticon oh yeah remember she wrote a poem to like AI yes and then I have

five music group slash artists okay so I did pull this okay because I want to say this year I was I was going through the list and I saw PD on there and I was like that's list and I saw Petey on there and I was like that's a huge one for me I got real into Petey

Justin sent me a link to Don't Tell the Boys which is a powerful anthem of male friendship and I found that very empowering and wonderful and then I got to see Petey when he came to the 930 Club here in DC last month and it was a fucking kick-ass show I haven't been to a concert in forever, and it was really nice.

However, I think you brought my favorite music of the year. Oh, the Beths? The Beths. That was like the only artist I brought this year. Well, babe, you got it in one. The Beths. Yeah. What a tremendous band.

Yeah. I have been listening to them so, so much this year. If our kids had not completely destroyed my Spotify algorithm, I feel like the Beths would have gotten my number one spot with a bullet. You know, maybe on our drive to Huntington, we'll actually be able to listen to music we like. I would love that. I would love that. It would be incredible. be able to listen to music we like.

I would love that. I would love that. It would be incredible. But yeah, man, there is a music video for one of their songs called Knees Deep where they all, I don't know if you've seen that one. You may have brought it. Is it where they bungee jump? Where they all go bungee jumping. That is like good move food for me, man.

If I'm ever not feeling great, I watch that music video and it just puts a little spring in my step. They did a Tiny Desk concert. That was really good. I just, I'm wild about the best. So thank you. Yeah. Thank you for that.

Was that it for music? Yeah. Those are the two sort of big highlights for me. We also did three songs, like three discreet songs. Yes. You may remember Turn Down for What. Turn Down for What, yes. I love it.

I also love Turn Down for What. Turn Down for What, yes. I love it. I also love Turn Down for What. It's like my really good one. That was also a song you brought. Oh, okay. What was the third one? Oh, and Stay, Lisa Loeb's Stay. Were all three of those mine? Yes.

Oh, wow, okay. I can never pick a song because I don't typically have enough to say about it to make it like a segment, you know? Yeah, I think all of those have like a fun story either behind their creation or the music video. Yeah. Each one of those I feel like there was a lot to talk about, which is why I felt empowered to discuss them. We kind of jumped over food.

I did pull one food thing on my favorites list. Yes. And it sort of really, I don't know, characterized the year for me. And that was Chupa Chups. Yeah. I'm eating my weight in chupa chups this year um do you have a secret stash again i don't what happened to the minis i don't know they've got to be in the pantry somewhere we we got a bunch of like the little tiny tiny ones they don't do it for me that's not no i need to eat four or five of those in order to even feel anything at all they Okay. They're so small.

I talked about the size of the Chupa Chup being a perfect lollipop size. Yeah. See, it's too much for me. See, that's where you and I get from. I get real impatient with lollipops. I like a Dum Dum, actually. Kind of like that size for me is good. Dum Dums are all right.

Tiny Chupa Chups are just a fraction of a hair smaller than a Dum Dum. I guess because neither of our sons have really ever finished a lollipop. Like the smaller, the better. That's a great point. The number of 10% eaten Chupa Chups that are- Yeah. Oh, that must break your heart. Every time.

Every time. Especially when it's one of the good flavors like the strawberries and cream or the soda flavor. Oh, heartbreaking every time. But thank you, Chupa Chups. Got really into you this year. Yeah. We got, it is wild to me that we haven't done TV.

Yeah, so the next topic I have, like the next leaderboard is five TV shows. I could do a whole episode about the TV this year. I think this was a strong year for a few different types of things. I think it's a great year for games. Talking about small wonders and games, I brought Baldur's Gate 3, which was phenomenal. The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom, which was phenomenal. We are going to be weighing those two when we record the Besties Game of the Year special.

And I have no fucking idea which one is going to go down. Was this the year you got into Stardew? Or was that last year? Oh, man. I think it was this year. No. No. That must have been last year.

No, it must have been last year. Anyway. Anyway. Anyway. TV was good have been last year. No, it must have been last year. Anyway. Anyway. TV was good as hell this year. It was so good this year. I have five scripted series on my list, including Small Wonders. And that is Our Flag Means Death Season 2. Absolutely incredible.

The Bear Season 2. Absolutely incredible. Poker Face. Oh, yeah. Berry Season 4. Yeah. absolutely incredible the bear season two absolutely incredible poker face uh berry berry season four yeah and scavenger's reign which is one that i got into uh and and you did not but is one of my favorite shows ever that's crazy then when we get into the unscripted yes specifically Yes. Specifically from our friends in South Korea and Japan. It was a absolutely phenomenal year. Yeah. The staples hit hard.

Survivor, both seasons, fucking great. Yeah. Amazing Race, fantastic. Great season, great characters, great times, great oldies. But then like Physical 100. Yeah. So good. They are making a season two of that i was good all of these yesterday it seems hard i wonder if there'll be repeats because it seems hard to

continue to find 100 strong people there's got to be some return returning members on that one i like that i like that i hope that they like super glue their shattered torso statues back together. Oh, that's fun. That's fun. I like that. Love Village. Yes. Love Village.

A fun twist on the sort of Terrace House format where a bunch of older folks find love while living in and remodeling a house together. I was crazy about that show. I was so wild about that show. It had everything. It was just like, it was, there was romance, there was just kind of reality living together stuff. There was like home renovation stuff.

It was like, it was a bunch of genres like smushed together. I loved it. The panel, the two people, Becky and, I can't remember the guy's name, but they were so, so good. Yeah. Love Village.

Love that one. Another season of that one. On my desk. Pronto. Similar vein. Love After Divorce. Divorces. Yeah.

Living together. Loving together. Laughing together. Did we? We finished that bad boy. We did finish. Did we? We did.

Yes. Yeah. Because didn't. I'm trying to remember the outcome. Wasn't it like. I'm not going to spoil the outcome. Yeah. Because didn't. I'm trying to remember the outcome. Wasn't it like. I'm not going to spoil the outcome. Yeah. I don't want to spoil it.

But I think there was a period of time where we kind of fell off. Like after they leave their little vacation, they like go out and live in the real world. And the show. It slows down a little bit. The show was a little bit slower. So we kind of were slow on the ending. But we did. You're right.

We did finish it. The Traitors, I believe, debuted this year. Fucking great. Great. Alan Cumming just bringing everything. Everything I needed and didn't know that I needed. A clever game of deception. And it was the mole sort of reboot that I always wanted.

Because the mole reboot that came out last year was pretty god awful. Yeah, it was like the, it was the mole sort of reboot that I always wanted because the mole reboot that came out last year was pretty god awful. Yeah, it was bad. Then we get Siren Survive the Island. Wow, yeah. That was the Capture the Flag survival game featuring teams of women from six different professions. That one absolutely slaps ass. Then we get New World, which is probably my favorite of the set.

It's probably one of my favorite reality shows I've ever watched with the six Korean sort of variety show performers living on an island together. Reality shows, maybe specifically in this country, follow kind of a formula in that usually by episode two, you know everything they're going to do. Yes. And that show, every episode was just like a complete surprise.

Just super fun games. Yeah. Super funny people. People really committed. Like there's a bunch of fantastical elements and they all just went with it, you know? Yeah. Like there's a bunch of fantastical elements and they all just went with it, you know? Yeah, it is. It is a I think it represents a new genre of show. And I think you could probably say that about a couple of the shows on this list. Like Physical 100, I think, did the sort of battle royale style thing better and maybe even a bit more ethically than other uh reality shows

have attempted to do in the post squid games uh era uh we did not watch the well we watched one challenge of the episode of the challenge squid game didn't we and it was not didn't necessarily yeah yeah um but physical 100 was absolutely dope like that. Sirens Survive the Island was so ambitious and impeccably made. And The New World was just entertaining. Every moment of it was just nonstop entertainment that you and I, I think, are pretty well versed in at this point. Yeah. No, you know what? It's not common for us to see a lot of movies, just having children like we do. But I don't think we really saw that many movies this year. No, we sure didn't.

I'm trying to remember. We just went and saw trolls three we saw the barbie movie we saw the barbie movie i saw oppenheimer by myself yeah uh barbie was great didn't care for oppenheimer too terrible much didn't you see something with your family when you were on tour probably okay i definitely had a 4dx theater going experience this year was it a fast movie i don't think it was a fast movie no experience this year. Was it a fast movie? I don't think it was a fast movie, no. But it couldn't have been a slow movie.

So I'm not sure. But yeah, I feel like movies, we fell off of movies. We had to take a break from movies because TV's was so good. It was very good. I think TV was so good this year. The Barry finale? Fucking Forks. Unreal.

Episode 8, Season 2 of The Bear Forks. The best maybe television episode ever. Yeah. Feast of Seven Fishes episode. There's so much good TV out there, man. So yeah, that was TV for me. The only other category I have where i lumped a bunch of things together uh i have four characters oh okay uh we talked about mc scat cat oh my god which that that's

what i'm talking about when i say like it's not your favorite thing no like i love mc scat cat but that was fun to talk about that was the world's first marketing based oc that was the world's first oh i guess you could say that about like the mascot right like was the noid the world's first marketing based oc but this was the first i think transmedia cross-platform full court press marketing original character and um i'm absolutely obsessed with his lineage and history. You talked about Grimace. Yeah. Grimace really blew up this year.

He did in a lot of ways that I don't really appreciate, if I'm being completely honest. Yeah, the whole evil Grimace thing, it feels strange to me. It feels strange to me. It's one thing if TikTok wants to get his hands on Grimace and make him to be a scary killer guy. It's another thing for Grimace to then show up in a bunch of kids YouTube videos as a scary monster and in Roblox as a scary killer named Grimace. I hate that because the youths must be protected and be able to make their own decisions about Grimace. Yeah, I like that.

No, I agree with you. Don't tell me that he's evil. Let me decide. Let me decide if Grimace is evil. Of all the McDonaldland characters, I think he's the least evil of them. Wow, interesting. If I turn a corner in a dark alley...

What did Fry Girl ever do to you? Fry Girl, who, I don't know who Fry Girl is. It was like a bird. Birdie, I think was. Oh, was that her name? Yeah, not Fry Girl. They were Fry Guys. Those were little koosh ball looking fellas.

If I saw one of those in a dark alley, no thanks. If I saw Birdie, no thanks. If I saw Ronald in a dark alley, no thanks. But Grimace is just like oh hey yeah okay but then he kills people with his milkshake fucking grow up america um i brought the shaman bears which was very contentious was it got a lot of backlash on that well because people found that you know it was kind of like i discussed earlier in that nobody really believed that i loved these bears um which you know i i don't i don't have like a little picture of the

bears on my fridge you know i think it's i think but i enjoyed the fact that they exist and that somebody used them for this purpose yes i enjoy the story of the bears. I think that your inclusion of the Charmin Bears and their great works in this program really speaks to your growth as a mother of two. No, that's true. Poop and butt focused boys. Yes. Yes. It is a, you know uh a gross stereotype if you got little boys they're going to talk about poops and butts and farts a lot yeah but it's that for a reason because it is true

that's exactly what they do pretty much around the clock and i do i think that rachel i think that 2015 rachel never would even think twice about the shark and pears. That's true. So that's growth, you think? I think that's growth. Okay. Good. Growth doesn't have to mean good, right?

No, I like that. You're right. Like black mold grows. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. Let's take a brief break and then we'll wrap up the year. Well, no.

Remember what we say? Yeah, forget it. Let's steal you away. Let's steal you out of here. Let's steal a brief break and then we'll wrap up the year. Well, no, remember what we say? Yeah, forget it. Let's steal you away. Let's steal you out of here. Let's steal you out of here. Last week, The Greatest Generation, the comedy podcast about old Star Trek TV shows like Star Trek The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager, just had its 500th episode. And Greatest Trek, the podcast about the new Star Trek shows like Strange New Worlds, Lower Decks, and Discovery, just had its 250th episode.

So whether you have a task that's roughly 750 hours long, or you want to learn about some of the production techniques that go into making one of the greatest franchises in television history you should give us a try either way the greatest generation and greatest trek the best reviewed most listened to star trek podcasts in the world they're on maximum fun cameron esposito here comedian and host of Queery. Every week I get to interview someone amazing from the LGBTQIA plus community. Some Queeros. I chat with them about their lives, loves, careers, and more. I've talked to, you know, giant celebs.

Trixie Mattel, Lena Waithe, Tegan, and Sarah Quinn. But also astronauts, reverends, nurses. It's funny, it gets deep, and hopefully it makes you feel like you're part of something. Join me every Monday on Maximum Fun to listen to Query with Cameron Esposito. So the fourth one, we're talking about characters okay and i felt like you might bristle at this but i was trying to decide whether or not the mothman could be called a character okay and so far as like bigfoot is a character or you know um yeah i don't know i mean it's it is mythology he has been a character in things including the hit richard gear movie the mothman prophecies um although i don't think you ever actually see the mothman in the mothman prophecies

which is pretty strange if you ask me pretty iconic looking well it's like jaws right you just you're waiting to see you're waiting to see it yeah except that the mothman is not quite jaws because this would be like if jaws popped up from the water and was like, Your boat's extended warranty is expiring! And then went back down. There's some rocks up ahead! That would be very useful. That would be cool.

Helpful Jaws. Uh-huh. So then everything else we talked about is just kind of like grab bag. Like the science-y stuff I really liked. I talked about olfactometers. Yes. You know that like smell device? Yeah, sure.

I talked about smell dating. You had a very stink-focused year. I had a stink-heavy year. Yeah. What do you think that's about? I think when you get to a certain point in recording a podcast about things you like. Yes. You start thinking about like, what do I like to look at?

And what do I like to do? What do I taste? What do I like to listen to? Yeah. What do I like to eat? Yeah. What do I like to touch? What do I like to touch?

What do I like to smell? But you don't do stink that much, do you? Now I do. Now you do stink. That's where I'm at. I imagine, I can't even, actually, no, do you? Now I do. Now you do stank. That's where I'm at. I imagine, I can't even, actually, no, I can't even imagine what we will be talking about a year from now. What are we talking about?

The nanomachine. Well, we talked 14 different nanomachine discussions that was in there. We're going to talk about our new hologram butler. Yeah. Yeah. That would be ineffective. I don't know what a hologram butler would be. Well, he would

tell us when our warranty was expiring yeah but it would be like all the social discomfort of having a sort of stranger in your home with you with with none of the like actual like services that and the boys would just punch him all the time they would try they would pass right through him do you know what i mean like he's a hologram yeah that's true why pass right through him. Do you know what I mean? Like he's a hologram. Yeah, that's true. Why would they punch him? Why do you think our beautiful, precious boys would punch? I mean, you've seen what they do with stuffed animals. Yeah, but this would be a man.

They don't punch men. But it's a hologram. So that, so it, yeah, I guess. They would know it's not real and there are no repercussions. And so they would go for it is what I'm saying. Okay. Yeah. Should we do that that just to get some

no because you need the impact as an adult you need the impact for satisfaction and he wouldn't like is he able to react to us would he be like ha ha ha excellent hey maker master henry maybe in the same way that like siri does you know, like I'm not going to play your game. I don't think I want to punch the hollow butler. I'm not trying to want anyone to punch the hollow butler. I'm not making you. Okay, thank you. You don't have to.

You know what? I also talked about scratch and sniff. Jeez, Rach. I know. Or you did. No. I don't think that's possible. I don't.

Okay. I think that was you. Okay. That feels like a Rachel topic. Okay. Although, gosh, who knows? It's been so long. I don't think that's possible I don't I think that was you okay that feels like a Rachel topic okay um although gosh who knows it's been so long

I think that's all we have prepared anything else about 2023 in in review I know you didn't do the small wonders

but is there is there anything else we discussed that that sticks out that didn't make the uh the list wait that we didn't discuss or we did discuss?

I guess that we didn't discuss. Oh, I mean, I would have brought it. Yeah, that's a fair point. You left no stone unturned. What am I thinking? If you had a pearl, you would present it to the audience. Yes. That's a good point.

That's a good point. Well, here's looking forward to 2024. Hopefully we will get even more good TV, new Chupa Chupa varieties, a new Beth's album maybe, more poets, more characters. Yeah. I will say a lot of what you and I do is return to favorites of our youth too. That is true. So we don't need 2024 to do all the work for us. No, no, no.

Although maybe 2024 will be a Hamburglar year. Maybe 2024 will be a Hamburglar year. I think it's going to be hard to say Hamburglar over and over again. Hamburglar. Hamburglar. Hamburglar. Hamburglar. Anyway, thanks so much for for for listening do you have any any listener submissions or i don't i didn't pull any for this uh for this one um but uh again we do yeah that's something

i can talk about actually i am glad for the return of listener submissions. Yes, me too. Wonderfulpodcast at gmail.com. Still not getting a ton of submissions in. So if you want to shoot us an email with a one or two sentence description of what your wonderful thing is. And then when we come back next year, because we are not going to have a new episode out next week, then we will consider it. Maybe put it at the end of the show. Yeah. Thank you so much for listening. Thank you to Bowen and Augustus

for the use of our theme song, Money Won't Pay. You can find a link to that in the episode description. Thank you to Maximum Fun for having us on the network. Go to MaximumFun.org. Check out all the great shows

that they have over there. You're going to find something you love. I guarantee it. You can still watch the Candle Nights video on demand. I was going to say, I wonder if you can still get in there. Yes.

For the next week and a half, you can do so. If you go to bit.ly slash Candle Nights video on demand. Oh, you can? I was gonna say. I wonder if you can still get in there. Yes, for the next week and a half you can do so. If you go to bit.ly slash Candle Nights 2023 you can watch it on demand. It's almost two hours long. There's a bunch of funny bits from pretty much the whole fam in there.

And it was a true delight and joy to watch it with everyone else and sort of chat about it. And it always gets me in the Christmas spirit. Me too. I think that's it, though. Please have a good rest of your year. Good holiday.

Or if you already had your holiday, I hope it was good. Yes. Hopefully you have some time off of whatever your life demands of you to recharge and rejuvenate and and renew and renew and we will see you rejuvenated and renewed and recharged and recharged and replaced and replaced like the ship of thesis next year in 2024. So long. Farewell. Working on it. Money won't pay. Working on it.

Money won't pay. Working on it. Money won't pay. Working on it. Money won't pay. Maximum Fun. A worker-owned network of artist-owned shows. Supported directly by you.