MFPblog

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:56:49 — 125.6MB)

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If you’re a dreamer, a wisher, a liar, a magic bean buyer, or you just hate doing dishes and taking the garbage out, you’ll surely find something to relate to in our episode on celebrated author, illustrator, poet, and all-around Renaissance Man Shel Silverstein.

Though WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS was first published in 1974, long before we were even born, Silverstein’s groundbreaking poetry collection was a staple in classrooms, on library shelves, and at bedtime throughout our childhoods, along with later volumes A LIGHT IN THE ATTIC and FALLING UP.

Award-winning author Elissa Brent Weissman joins us for a look at how writing for young readers has changed in the decades since we were young readers ourselves. Then we discuss Uncle Shelby’s salacious origins (far outside the realm of children’s fiction) and have a heated debate about what his massively popular children’s book THE GIVING TREE is really about. Finally, we dive back into Silverstein’s poetry to share which pieces still strike a chord with us.

Revisit Hungry Kid Island, get reacquainted with Ridiculous Rose, and fire up the Homework Machine one last time, because we’ve got some flax golden tales to spin in the latest episode of When We Were Young — the only podcast that 10 out of 10 tree stumps agree makes them happy.

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @WWWYshow, on Facebook at Facebook.com/WWWYShow and email episode suggestions to wwwyshow@gmail.com. Don’t forget to subscribe and review us on Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts so more folks check out the show!

Donate to help us defray the costs of creating this show, which include recording remotely, purchasing movies/shows/music to review, delivery food to eat our feelings, and producing & editing in-house at the MFP Studio in Los Angeles, California via our Patreon account at patreon.com/WhenWeWereYoung

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:38:53 — 94.9MB)

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If you’re nostalgic for the summers of your youth, there’s a chance you’re likely also pining for the first time you watched MY GIRL (1991) and MY GIRL 2 (1994). In When We Were Young’s Manic My Girl Monday episode, we discuss the surprising lack of child-friendly drama flicks and reflect on how we spent our summer breaks as kids before launching into our discussion of the movie that made children and adults everywhere break down in tears.

Does the coming-of-age story of Vada Sultenfuss (Anna Chlumsky) and her beloved bespectacled bee-inflicted best friend Thomas J. (Macaulay Culkin) still turn on the waterworks, or does it just not work? How many of you older millennials are crying right now just thinking of Vada bawling, “He can’t see without his glasses!”? Be honest!

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @WWWYshow, on Facebook at Facebook.com/WWWYShow and email episode suggestions to wwwyshow@gmail.com. Don’t forget to subscribe and review us on Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts so more folks check out the show!

PLEASE HELP US defray the costs of creating this show, which include recording remotely, purchasing movies/shows/music to review, delivery food to eat our feelings, and producing & editing in-house at the MFP Studio in Los Angeles, California, by donating to our Patreon account at patreon.com/WhenWeWereYoung

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:52:51 — 100.3MB)

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It’s Part Two of (deep breath) the When We Were Young Early Late Mid-to-Late 90s Summer Alien Invasion Spectacular, taking on the top alien flicks to invade 1997! In our latest episode, here come the MEN IN BLACK (clap clap), Barry Sonnenfeld’s massively successful action-comedy starring Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, and a slew of Oscar-worthy makeup effects.

We also take a look back at Robert Zemeckis’s metaphysical and emotional drama CONTACT, which launched Jodie Foster into space to meet a very different kind of alien. (Or did it?!) Despite being released at the peak of UFO mania in the 1990s, these films could not be more different.

Jump on our spaceship as we fly through a wormhole back to 1997 to decide if the Men in Black still make the summer blockbuster look good, or if we’d rather make contact with a movie adapted from an astrophysicist’s book.

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @WWWYshow, on Facebook at Facebook.com/WWWYShow and email episode suggestions to wwwyshow@gmail.com. Don’t forget to subscribe and review us on Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts so more folks check out the show!

Give us some sugar to defray the costs of creating this show, which include recording remotely, purchasing movies/shows/music to review, delivery food to eat our feelings, and producing & editing in-house at the MFP Studio in Los Angeles, California, by donating to our Patreon account at patreon.com/WhenWeWereYoung

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:13:04 — 140.7MB)

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In the mid-90s, multiplexes were invaded by an influx of movies centered on mankind’s first contact with extraterrestrials. And unlike the cute and friendly aliens we got to know in the 80s, like E.T. and ALF, the space invaders of the 90s mostly just wanted to annihilate us, starting with our favorite tourist destinations.

Part One of the When We Were Young Early Late Mid-To-Late 90s Summer Alien Invasion Spectacular looks at two of the deadliest interstellar assaults to ever breach the silver screen, both celebrating their 25th anniversaries this year.

First up, we celebrate the 4th of July in the most American way possible — with mass casualties, tons of military hardware, a bombastic presidential speech, and a stripper! Roland Emmerich’s record-smashing INDEPENDENCE DAY (1996) raised the bar for special effects-loaded summer entertainment, redefining the blockbuster with its cataclysmic destruction of U.S. landmarks (a popcorn movie hallmark ever since).

Next, we attempt to shield ourselves from Tim Burton’s outrageous sci-fi send-up MARS ATTACKS! (1996), with a cast so star-studded that it stars Jack Nicholson twice! The wacky comedy had just as much death and destruction as Independence Day, but came in for a crash landing when it opened in theaters, and has been largely forgotten since.

Which of these uncomfortably close encounters holds up better now that we’re viewing them from a distance? Do we prefer President Pullman to President Nicholson? A dog that outruns an explosion, or a chihuahua with Sarah Jessica Parker’s body? Will Smith’s fresh quips, or ack-ack-ack-ack? Get answers to these and other probing questions in a podcast that’s truly out of this world!

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @WWWYshow, on Facebook at Facebook.com/WWWYShow and email episode suggestions to wwwyshow@gmail.com. Don’t forget to subscribe and review us on Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts so more folks check out the show!

Help us defray the costs of creating this show, which include recording remotely, purchasing movies/shows/music to review, delivery food to eat our feelings, and producing & editing in-house at the MFP Studio in Los Angeles, California, by donating to our Patreon account at patreon.com/WhenWeWereYoung

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:28:05 — 81.5MB)

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If ever a movie earned its exclamation point, it’s MOULIN ROUGE! In Part 2 of our Baz Luhrmann Spectacular Spectacular, we revisit the scintillating (and over-stimulating) 2001 musical that saw the likes of Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor belting out pop music’s greatest love songs.

Though the film earned several Oscar nominations (and two wins), it was a divisive cinematic experience upon its release, and twenty years later not much has changed. Luhrmann’s gift is his song—or rather his version of Elton John’s song—but is it one you’d want to re-open?

Sling back some Absinthe and join us as we debate the beauty, freedom, truth and love of Moulin Rouge! Why? Because we can can-can, that’s why.

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @WWWYshow, on Facebook at Facebook.com/WWWYShow and email episode suggestions to wwwyshow@gmail.com. Don’t forget to subscribe and review us on Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts so more folks check out the show!

Help us defray the costs of creating this show, which include recording remotely, purchasing movies/shows/music to review, delivery food to eat our feelings, and producing & editing in-house at the MFP Studio in Los Angeles, California, by donating to our Patreon account at patreon.com/WhenWeWereYoung