Pop Culture Junkie®

7:23

PCJ Pop #2

Pop Culture Junkie® ·

2025/05/06

In PCJ Pops, the Pop Culture Junkies share their recommendations on what to experience in pop culture, today and yesterday. This week, Shauna breaks down the Cobra Kai finale and Olivia describes everyone’s shock at The Last of Us, season 2, episode 2.

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54:41

PCJ Book Club: 'Sunrise on the Reaping' by Suzanne...

Pop Culture Junkie® ·

2025/05/01

Olivia and Shauna take a deep dive into Suzanne Collins' new book Sunrise on the Reaping. Set before the events of her Hunger Games trilogy, Sunrise on the Reaping is the story of young Haymitch Abernathy. The Junkies look at the book's origins, the philosophers who inspired the author, and how its themes of resistance, individual agency, controlling the narrative, and the use of propaganda inform the author's message. There will be some spoilers in the second segment of the show, if you haven't

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8:35

PCJ Pop #1

Pop Culture Junkie® ·

2025/04/22

In PCJ Pops, the Pop Culture Junkies share their recommendations on what to experience in pop culture, today and yesterday. In this episode, Olivia continues her 2024 binge read with Spiral by Bal Khabra (among others!) and anime fan Shauna finally watches the 1988 film Akira.Watch the full video version up to one week early on Patreon: patreon.com/PopCultureJunkiePodcast

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44:05

Cats, Canines, Killer Whales and Other Pop Culture...

Pop Culture Junkie® ·

2025/04/17

This week, the Junkies talk about the best pets in pop culture: the goodest boys, the bestest girls, the finest...fish? Whether furry, feathery or finned, animal characters in the media are often the most lovable and memorable. Shauna and Olivia discuss what makes a great on-screen critter. Cats, dogs or other? Animated or animatronic? Talking or mute? They list their favorites, including Garfield, who happens to both Junkies' spirit animal, and the pets they definitely wouldn't cuddle with, ever

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54:42

Living in the Simulation

Pop Culture Junkie® ·

2025/04/03

Olivia and Shauna get pixelated this week with a look at The Sims, the long running game that allows - even encourages - murder and other virtual, victimless vices. They delve into the game lore, highlighting the oddball characters that appear in every version of the game, and discuss the various ways they make the game their own. The Junkies also talk about the Sims movie being produced by Margot Robbie, and answer the important question: does playing the Sims make us akin to the Old Testament God,

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47:47

Looking at 'V' with Michael E. Cullen II

Pop Culture Junkie® ·

2025/03/20

Shauna and Olivia welcome special guest Michael E. Cullen, award-winning filmmaker and host of the All2ReelToopodcast. Michael has directed films like the horror comedy Pi Day Die Day (available on Tubi!), the Christmas horror film Shelved, and co-hosts the podcast All 2 Reel Too, a look at the "wild and wacky realm of pop culture". Michael joins the Junkies to talk about the 1983 NBC miniseries V, about a large-scale invasion of seemingly friendly, seemingly humanoid aliens. Michael and the Junkies

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41:21

Celebrity Besties

Pop Culture Junkie® ·

2025/03/06

Pulling an Uno Reverse from their last episode about celebrity feuds, Olivia and Shauna take on celebrity best buds, looking at famous people who genuinely like each other a lot. To figure out what makes a great friendship, the Junkies examine their own iconic pop culture friendship, and determine it's down to being annoying in the same way. Are celeb BFFs like Gayle and Oprah, Snoop and Martha, Cameron and Drew, Brad and George, Jennifer and Courteney, Ben and Matt, etc. also compatibly irritating

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58:02

Got Beef?

Pop Culture Junkie® ·

2025/02/20

Celebrities are not like us: when they bicker amongst themselves, it's all over the news, and maybe even the Super Bowl half-time show. Shauna and Olivia break down why celebrities feud publicly - and why we like it so much. Olivia thinks maybe it's a way to satisfy our deep-seated need for interpersonal conflict in ways we mere mortals can't achieve in our petty office spats, while Shauna thinks we just really enjoy laughing at the rich, famous, and ridiculous. And both agree, these beefs can be

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40:27

Mayhem and Unicorns: Looking Ahead at 2025

Pop Culture Junkie® ·

2025/02/06

Olivia and Shauna are working on their long-distance relationship, but they're always together in spirit, especially when it comes to talking about pop culture. 2025 is going to be a monumental year, for better or worse, and in order to have something to look forward to, The Junkies discuss the pop culture they most want to put in their veins this year. Olivia tries to convince Shauna to keep watching White Lotus, and Shauna makes Olivia promise to go see the new Fantastic Four movie with her

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42:41

A Wicked Holiday Romance

Pop Culture Junkie® ·

2024/12/19

Olivia and Shauna find themselves on the Naughty List (again) this holiday season, so this episode is all about those holiday romance movies - the kind where big-city girls visit their hometowns and fall for a hunky carpenter/baker/farmer (or whatever) and learn the true meaning of Christmas. These movies are often associated with the Hallmark Channel, but can be seen everywhere, really. Netflix in particular, is doing their best to put their own stamp on the genre, peopling the films with male

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47:24

Road Trippin'

Pop Culture Junkie® ·

2024/12/05

This week, Olivia and Shauna give their book reports - how many books they've read this year above and beyond their goal, and not to brag, but we know two people who'll get coupons for a personal pan pizza this year. In other news, it's the holiday season, and for a lot of us, that means traveling, whether to get to or get away from family. And the perfect marriage of pop culture and traveling is the road trip movie. The Junkies talk about what makes a great road trip movie, and name some of the

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46:52

Our Favorite 'F' Word

Pop Culture Junkie® ·

2024/11/21

The Junkies gather together to mourn some hopes, but also to celebrate an important victory. And while the future looks uncertain, Shauna and Olivia vow that we'll all get through whatever comes next together, and pop culture is going to help us do just that. Speaking of girl power and pop culture (and we were!), this week the Junkies take a good look at the history of feminism and how it was represented by pop culture. The Junkies recount the history, starting over a hundred years ago with the

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58:08

Psychological Political Thriller

Pop Culture Junkie® ·

2024/11/07

Olivia recently spent some time in San Francisco, giving her time to think about her proximity to the Zodiac Killer's turf (and to binge watch both Princess Diaries movies.) Shauna continues to brush up against the cool and the famous in her quest to save Arizona from itself by getting out the vote. Speaking of propositions, the Junkies (and everyone) are nervous about the upcoming election, so what better way to cope than by...talking about politics? Specifically the intersection between pop

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57:05

The Descent Into Horror

Pop Culture Junkie® ·

2024/10/24

Olivia is back from the Big Apple, where she took a tour through Jimmy Fallon's "Tonightmares" - a haunted house based on the late night host's own personal night terrors. Shauna is continuing to fight the good fight politically here in AZ, and as a reward got to meet a certain 'Electra-fying' star. The Junkies then discuss the perfect pairing of Halloween and pop culture, specifically in the multifaceted horror movie genre. From slashers to monster movies to psychological horror, this genre is so

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43:21

Tripping Through Uncanny Valley

Pop Culture Junkie® ·

2024/10/10

Shauna details her busy week getting interviewed by the national press (and the advocacy work that got their attention, and Olivia describes her slightly less fun adventures (though she did get a chance to consume a LOT of pop culture.) Then Shauna tells us about being a mathlete until Olivia challenges her to a bit of mental arithmetic and...BUSTED! Speaking of mental stuff, this week The Junkies look at the Uncanny Valley phenomenon, that eerie feeling we all get when we see something that is

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46:33

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

Pop Culture Junkie® ·

2024/09/26

Don't say it three times! Shauna details her recent encounter with a celebrity. Who was it? You'll have to listen to find out, but he's super cool, has gorgeous eyes, and is a great tipper. Olivia had an encounter with...Utah, thanks to The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, a Hulu series about one of the naughtiest Mormon momfluencers on television now. Then the Junkies segue into a look at Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, a sequel 36 years in the making. Fans of this podcast know we covered the first

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35:55

What a Twist!

Pop Culture Junkie® ·

2024/09/12

Olivia and Shauna start talking about bangs – the kind that you choose deliberately, not trauma bangs, and then…plot twist! No, that’s this week’s show topic: twist endings – the epic and the awful. While they do happen on television (usually ruining several years of storytelling), the most memorable twist endings are in movies. But why do filmmakers (including the patron saint of twists, M. Night Shyamalan) use them? What makes a good twist as opposed to a maddening one? The Junkies list their own

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49:09

Keeping Up with Keeping Up with the Kardashians

Pop Culture Junkie® ·

2024/09/05

Olivia and Shauna face an inconvenient truth: no family gets more airtime on Pop Culture Junkie than the Kardashians. And that’s odd, especially since Shauna could at one time claim to never have seen an episode. But she can’t be an anti-Kardashian pick-me any more, because ‘Keeping Up with the Kardashians’ is the subject of this episode. The Junkies look at the family’s entry into the zeitgeist and how the so-called reality show (and its many spinoffs) that made the whole family famous turned into

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55:29

Soundtrack to a Recession

Pop Culture Junkie® ·

2024/08/29

Shauna is obsessed with getting through this journey we call life, and what better way to do that than with a little bit of pop culture? She has controversial takes on the finales of both House of the Dragon and The Bear, and watching the Love Island reunion makes her wonder if she should catch the U.K. episodes. Olivia speaks out in defense of Blake Lively, who got roasted about stuff her hubby didn’t when his new movie came out. And a new documentary about the murder of Laci Peterson has her

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37:20

Passionate Hate Watching

Pop Culture Junkie® ·

2024/08/08

Olivia complains about how Shauna "Elle Woodsed" her at her recent pool party, but Shauna tells her that her costume was perfection, even if she was the only one who showed up in one. Olivia's on a documentary kick right now, so if you want some amazing true crime reccs, she's got you. Shauna is still giddy from Deadpool & Wolverine, but manages to not spoil any of it for you (or Olivia.) She's also watching Love Island, which leaves her less than giddy, which makes her think of a recent

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