The Worst of All Possible Worlds

112 - Stop Making Sense

The lads interrupt their incessant flippy-floppy making with slippery people as they get a job trying to make sense of Jonathan Demme and Talking Heads’ landmark concert film: Stop Making Sense. Topics include the contentious history of Talking Heads, the empathetic filmmaking of Jonathan Demme, and the enduring power of this once in a lifetime Gen X party that ain’t no party and sure as hell ain’t no disco.

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Media Referenced in this Episode:

• Stop Making Sense. Dir. Jonathan Demme. 1984.
• Burning down the house by David Bowman. Salon, December 3rd, 2003.

TWOAPW theme by Brendan Dalton: Patreon // brendan-dalton.com // brendandalton.bandcamp.com

Commercial: “Building a Lifeline (To My Ancient Spider God)”

111 - Slender Man and Marble Hornets (feat. Anne Huston)

THIS IS A PREVIEW. FOR THE FULL EPISODE, GO TO Patreon.com/worstofall

Anne Huston (Caveat NYC) joins Brian and Josh to do battle with the Slender Man and other monsters from 2009’s viral YouTube horror series Marble Hornets. Their journey takes them from semi-incoherent college memories to the content cornucopia of the Something Awful Forums, Reddit, and early YouTube: reminders of an internet where people could create freely without extreme commercial pressure. They also talk a lot about something called Ong’s Hat. Hope you had a happy Halloween!

Anne Huston is the General Manager at Caveat, a cabaret comedy theatre located on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

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Media Referenced in this Episode:

• Marble Hornets Season 1 dir. Troy Wagner and Joseph DeLage (independent, 2009). Full playlist on YouTube
• The Blair Witch Project dir. Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez (Artisan Entertainment, 1999). BoxOfficeMojo // Letterboxd // TMDB
• Ted’s Caving Page on angelfire.com
• “Ong’s Hat: The Early Internet Conspiracy Game That Got Too Real” by Jed Oelbaum. Gizmodo, February 21, 2019.
• The Wyoming Incident Original Upload on YouTube
• The "Wyoming Incident" discussion thread on the Something Awful Forums
• Max Headroom 1987 Broadcast Signal Intrusion Incident on YouTube
• Create Paranormal Images thread on the Something Awful Forums

110 - William Gibson’s Neuromancer (feat. maia arson crimew)

Hacktivist/irl tiny kitten maia arson crimew (maia.crimew.gay) returns to discuss Neuromancer, the 1984 sci-fi novel that coined the term “cyberspace” and inspired a generation of hackers. Topics include breasting boobily up and down stairs, the parallels with 1995's Hackers, and how impressively William Gibson manages to capture the feeling of being perpetually on the run.

maia arson crimew (it/she): i am gay, mostly for girls, and i’m a tiny kitten :3. i know lot’s of things about cyber security, programming and far too little about music but i still try to do all those things at once. Twitter // Instagram // Tumblr // Bluesky

Want more TWOAPW? Get access to our full back catalogue of premium/bonus episodes and add your name to the masthead of our website by subscribing for $5/month at Patreon.com/worstofall!

Media Referenced in this Episode:

• Neuromancer by William Gibson (Ace; First Edition, 1984). Goodreads // Bookshop.org
• Hackers dir. Iain Softley (MGM/United Artists, 1995). Letterboxd // TMDB
• “Europe’s Richest Royal Family Builds $300 Billion Finance Empire” by Benjamin Stupples. Bloomberg, September 29, 2023.
• “’Trina’s Dorm” by icedCelery. Ao3.org

Commercial: “Case’s Dream” featuring Greg Foster as Case

109 - Gone with the Whit [Whit’s Endless Summer #29]

The lads return to Odyssey for more adventures in lawsuits, orthodontics, and, in the first Whit’s Endless Summer three-parter, the Underground Railroad. Topics include the right’s obsession with frivolous lawsuits, the conservative playbook for taking on school boards, and how to teach children about the atrocities of slavery.

Want more TWOAPW? Get access to the rest of this episode, our full back catalogue of premium and bonus episodes, and add your name to the masthead of our website by subscribing for $5/month at Patreon.com/worstofall!

Media Referenced in this Episode:

• Adventures in Odyssey

• #306: “A Victim of Circumstance”
• #308: “Subject Yourself”
• #314-316: “The Underground Railroad Parts 1-3"

TWOAPW theme by Brendan Dalton: Patreon // brendan-dalton.com // brendandalton.bandcamp.com

Commercial: “The Law Offices of Weasel, Weasel, and Weasel”

108 - DC Talk - Jesus Freak (feat. Tarence Ray)

Tarence Ray (Trillbilly Worker’s Party) and the lads jot down their devotionals and sing praises to the mid-90s as they cover DC Talk’s seminal 1995 grunge-as-worship album: Jesus Freak. Topics include the band’s Liberty University origins, the impressive sonic palette, and what it takes to make art in the world of corporate evangelicalism.

Tarence Ray - Twitter // Instagram // The Baffler // The Nation

Trillbilly Worker’s Party - Trillbilly Worker’s Party is a podcast about a town called Whitesburg, Kentucky. Apple Podcasts // Spotify // Patreon

Want more TWOAPW? Get access to our full back catalogue of premium/bonus episodes and add your name to the masthead of our website by subscribing for $5/month at Patreon.com/worstofall!

Media Referenced in this Episode:

• Jesus Freak by DC Talk - Spotify // Apple Music
• 33 1/3’s DC Talk’s Jesus Freak by Will Stockton and D. Gilson. Bloomsbury Press, 2018.
• DC Talk: Jesus Freak-The Pitchfork Review by Brad Shoup. Pitchfork.com. August 1st, 2021.
• “Finding Hip-Hop's Sacred Ground” by Natalie Hopkinson. The Washington Post, April 20th, 2003.
• intermission: a decade of dc Talk. PAX TV Special. November 17th, 2000.
• Michael Tait thanks President Trump
• President Trump gives Michael Tait (of #NewsboysUnited) a shout out!

TWOAPW theme by Brendan Dalton: Patreon // brendan-dalton.com // brendandalton.bandcamp.com

107 - Over the Garden Wall

The lads grab their potatoes and molasses, join the Adelaide Parade, and march into the Unknown as they cover the Emmy Award-winning 2014 Cartoon Network miniseries: Over the Garden Wall. Topics include the show’s many artistic inspirations, superlative storytelling, and the benefits of rock facts when you find yourself lost in the woods.

Want more TWOAPW? Get access to the rest of this episode, our full back catalogue of premium and bonus episodes, and add your name to the masthead of our website by subscribing for $5/month at Patreon.com/worstofall!

Media Referenced in this Episode:

• Over the Garden Wall
• The Art of Over the Garden Wall
• Dante’s Inferno: A New Verse Translation by Robert Pinsky

TWOAPW theme by Brendan Dalton: Patreon // brendan-dalton.com // brendandalton.bandcamp.com

Commercial: “A Message from Jason Funderberker”

106 - You Only Whit Twice (feat. Chas LiBretto) [Whit’s Endless Summer #28]

Playwright Chas LiBretto (Cyclops: A Rock Opera) joins the lads for some globe-trotting Odyssey adventures as Jason Whittaker and Jack Allen do battle with secret societies, synthetic viruses, and the return of the most evil child psychologist in all of radio drama: Dr. Regis Blackgaard. Topics include spy stories, adapting the Odyssey, and the limits of the imagination when seen through the evangelical lens.

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Chas LiBretto - Twitter // Instagram // Website

Cyclops: A Rock Opera at The Tank, October 20th-November 3rd

Media Referenced in this Episode:

• Adventures in Odyssey

• #42: The Last Great Adventure of the Summer
• #290: A Name, Not a Number, Part 1
• #291: A Name, Not a Number, Part 2
• #292: A Code of Honor
• Birds of a Feather - #1 by Jim Daly
• “Christian Broadcaster Will Focus on Families--in Russia: James Dobson will visit the Soviet Union in August and try to influence policy there with books and videos” by Mike Ward. LA Times, July 4th, 1991
• “Embracing God's Truth in a Hostile Culture” by Jim Daly
• “The Wild East” by Seymour M. Hersh. The Atlantic, 1994.

TWOAPW theme by Brendan Dalton: Patreon // brendan-dalton.com // brendandalton.bandcamp.com

Commercial: “A Public Service Announcement from the ESA”

105 - Assassins

THIS IS A PREVIEW. FOR THE FULL EPISODE, GO TO Patreon.com/worstofall

The lads grab their Iver-Johnson .32s and make their way to the head of the line as they cover Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman’s 1990 murderous musical: Assassins. Topics include the show’s initial negative reception, the inevitable critical reappraisal, and the dissonant, violent chords lurking just beneath the promise of the American Dream.

Want more TWOAPW? Get access to the rest of this episode, our full back catalogue of premium and bonus episodes, and add your name to the masthead of our website by subscribing for $5/month at Patreon.com/worstofall!

Media Referenced in this Episode:

• Assassins by Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman

• Original Off-Broadway Cast Recording
• 2004 Broadway Revival Recording
• 2022 Off-Broadway Revival Recording
• The 2009 Korean Cast
• The 2013 Swedish Cast
• Look, I Made a Hat: Collected Lyrics (1981-2011) with Attendant Comments, Amplifications, Dogmas, Harangues, Digressions, Anecdotes and Miscellany by Stephen Sondheim.

TWOAPW theme by Brendan Dalton: Patreon // brendan-dalton.com // brendandalton.bandcamp.com

Commercial: “The Ballad of Sam Bultch”-Music by Stephen Sondheim, Lyrics by Dr. Samuel Bultch, D.D.S. Featuring David Armstrong as “Horny Fairgoer/Stephen Sondheim” and Eleanor Philips as “Gossipy Fairgoer”.

104 - Death Stranding (ft. Drew Toothpaste)

Drew Toothpaste (@drewtoothpaste) and the lads gulp down some cryptobiotes with a Monster energy chaser as they strap on their packages and unite the United Cities of America in Hideo Kojima’s 2019 mail-delivery simulator: Death Stranding. Topics include the wonders of nature, the terrors of the afterlife, and what it means to build community in a post-apocalyptic world inhabited by malevolent ghost babies.

Want more TWOAPW? Get access to our full back catalogue of premium/bonus episodes and add your name to the masthead of our website by subscribing for $5/month at Patreon.com/worstofall!

Drew Toothpaste - Twitter // Bluesky // Patreon // Instagram

Everything is Real - In Everything Is Real, Natalie Dee & Drew Toothpaste investigate the conspiracies and strange happenings that peel back the edge of reality. Join Drew (a research chemist) and Natalie (a Ph.D in Metaphysics) as they study the fringes of society.

Media Referenced in this Episode:

• Death Stranding Available on PS4, PS5, and PC.
• P.T. by 7780s Studios
• Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes
• Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

TWOAPW theme by Brendan Dalton: Patreon // brendan-dalton.com // brendandalton.bandcamp.com

Commercial: “Graham Sorter Brücken: A Life of Great Import(er)”

GRUBESCAST

The lads sat down live and in person with our friends from the band Hans Gruber and the Die Hards, currently on their national tour! We enjoyed a wide-ranging conversation about what it’s like working as a touring musician in 2023, including topics like selling out, the joys of performing, the difficulties of touring, and the value of merch.

Over the next couple weeks, the band will be making stops in Asbury Park, Baltimore, Washington DC, Virginia, Birmingham, New Orleans, and of course their hometown of Austin. Check out the links for more info and buy your tickets now!

• TOUR DATES AND VENUES
• Twitter: @Gruberites
• Instagram: @hansgruberandthediehards
• Bandcamp: With a Vengeance
• Youtube: Hans Gruber
• Merch: Grube Shop
• Ska Punk International

Want more TWOAPW? Get access to our full back catalogue of premium and bonus episodes and add your name to the masthead of our website by subscribing for $5/month at Patreon.com/worstofall!