March 1, 2025 • 50 mins
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Join us as we explore the nostalgia of 80s escapism through films, cartoons and personal stories. We laugh about our memories of past fantasy films, how they helped us survive adolescence and how they can bring us joy and hope now.
• Discuss the re-release of 'Purple Rain' March 5th
• Share thoughts on the current state of intimacy among couples
• Debate the return of jelly shoes and our fashion frustrations
• Reflect on nostalgic toys and their impact on childhood
• Dive into the escapism of 80s fantasy films
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Megan (00:00):
I'm Megan Bennett,
Lesley (00:01):
I'm Lesley Meier
Megan (00:02):
and this is Gen X.
Women Are Sick of this .
Lesley (00:10):
Hi Megan.
Megan (00:11):
How are you today?
Lesley (00:14):
I got a haircut.
Good for you, it looks pretty.
My bangs were going up my nose,they were so long.
They're so long they're curlingback up, so that feels like a
nice thing to have done.
I didn't shower, but I got myhair cut.
I love it.
Megan (00:29):
It's fair party, did you get?
Lesley (00:30):
color touched up too, not today.
End of March.
Nice, we'll get there it'sparty, so that's not really how
I am.
That is a thing that I did.
Megan (00:39):
It's what you am, but it is a potential mood enhancer.
Yeah, how are you?
I am okay, I'm all right.
Lesley (00:45):
Yeah, yeah, this month, this well, this year, so far
this year so far this year'sbeen a very long year One month
and 22 days, the longest year ofmy life, longest year ever.
Megan (01:01):
So far it's just been a lot, but it's okay, spring will
be here and that will makeeverything a little better.
Lesley (01:08):
Yes, agreed, because it won't be so fucking cold.
Right and the sun will be outand trees and flowers and leaves
and stuff and if you live inindianapolis, as we do, there
might be fewer holes in theroads.
Megan (01:25):
Yeah, good luck with that In a couple months.
Lesley (01:27):
Good luck with that as spring emerges, there'll be
fewer craters.
Megan (01:31):
Yeah, I know it's terrible, it's just the
freeze-thaw, freeze-thaw.
Lesley (01:35):
Oh, it's so bad.
Megan (01:36):
Anything about it, and this this year's been
particularly bad with that.
Lesley (01:39):
Oh yeah and the same spots year after year.
I call them driving on the moon.
When I reach these areas whereI have to like pause, to like
navigate and I really need likea massive suspension, I'm like,
ooh, I've arrived at the moon.
Megan (01:54):
Let's go.
My Mini Cooper has not been outof the garage because she will
fall in a hole.
Goodbye, we can't have thatDown underground.
Yes, anywho, yeah, it's uh ityou know it's fine, everything's
fine, everything's fine.
Lesley (02:08):
Are you holding your mini dumpster fire in your hand?
Megan (02:10):
right, I had a sweatshirt same time I had a
sweatshirt during covid thatsaid it's fine, I'm fine,
everything's fine.
I feel like that again it'sfine and you're just like dead
all, all dead inside.
Lesley (02:23):
It's fine On the ground.
Megan (02:27):
Let's do a show Cool beans.
That'll make things better.
It will.
So what are we going to talk?
Lesley (02:33):
about today?
Today we're going to talk aboutescapism.
I love it Escapism from the 80sbut we're not just going to go
right to the main topic.
We're going to start with ourtwo favorite segments.
We've got some bullshit and hotgoss.
We do have some bullshit andhot goss.
Talk to me, leslie.
(02:54):
What's our bullshit and our hotgoss today?
Our hot goss today is all aboutthe re-release of Prince Purple
Rain.
Megan (03:05):
In theaters no less right.
Lesley (03:07):
One day only, march 5th, warner Brothers, discovery and
Dolby will re-release PurpleRain for one night.
I'm reading this like I have novocal differentiation or
comprehension whatsoever.
Megan (03:24):
I am reading this.
Exc am exclusively in dolbycinemas.
Lesley (03:27):
The film will be presented in dolby vision high
dynamic range.
You don't need to know, thesethings absolutely friggin
nothing that and it's gonnasound great you're gonna feel
like you are right there in themiddle of some hot sexy magic
Sexy prince.
And live music.
Megan (03:46):
So that movie was smoky hot, smoky, smoky hot.
Fuck yeah, and it'll be reallyfun.
Lesley (03:53):
So I think that's AMC Theaters, right, you guys can
Google, right, you can look itup.
Megan (03:58):
I think it's AMC Theaters, but yeah, that sounds
good.
One night only, so you got toget your tickies while you can
get your tickies.
Lesley (04:04):
This is my favorite part , I think, of this very
technical description of there-release.
The picture and sound qualitywill exceed even the 40th
anniversary version 4K discreleased in May 2024, whose
transfer was restored digitallyfrom an 8K scan.
Megan (04:21):
I mean I must have picked the most technical
description to throw into mynotes ever, if you saw it on the
last re-released anniversaryedition prepare to hold on to
your butts, everybody.
It's going to be so much better.
Lesley (04:36):
All the sweat is going to like feel real.
It's actually going to be inlike 4D surround, like you're in
Disney.
The rain will actually bepurple and the movie theater is
falling on your head.
It'll be purple.
Megan (04:49):
You will get wet on this ride.
I mean, it is a sexy movie.
Lesley (04:55):
Speaking of sex, Megan, let's talk about sex.
Let's talk about sex, bullshitand hot goss.
We were giggling, not giggling.
We were questioning theveracity of a conversation that
was happening in the Facebookgroup about frequency of sexual
(05:15):
encounters amongst long-termcouples.
Megan (05:20):
So for married folks, when somebody put in the group
they wanted to know how manytimes a week the married couples
were getting it on and somepeople were getting it on a lot.
Lesley (05:33):
Yeah, like every night.
Megan (05:36):
And some people were like more than once a day.
I'm like damn Damn ladies.
Lesley (05:41):
Everybody working from home.
I guess Maybe that's had animpact.
Oh, I wonder if, like the pivotto more work from home jobs,
you just have more opportunitiesif you and your hubs are
walking, walking around youdon't have to be married.
You know just well.
Megan (05:58):
But in the case of this, when they were asking like oh
yeah, whether you were marriedbut I mean, you're walking
around and you're and yoursignificant significant other is
also working and youaccidentally bump into each
other in the kitchen and then,you bump into each other again.
Lesley (06:13):
And then again.
Megan (06:16):
And then again you get some mayonnaise on you.
Lesley (06:19):
I don't know, oops, how did my dick get in there?
Megan (06:22):
I don't know, I love it.
Lesley (06:25):
So that's sort of interesting because it's, I
think, in many ways, when folkstalk about in our age group,
talk about menopause, it doesimpact sex drive and I do think
that many folks experience areturn to or resurgence of their
(06:46):
sex drive.
It's also kind of true if youdon't use it, you're going to
lose it.
Yeah.
Megan (06:52):
I think, yeah, that's true, and I guess it depends on.
Lesley (06:55):
I mean it's all hormone related, Like your clitoris.
Megan (06:57):
Yeah, because that will fade away ladies, it will fade
away.
You got to use it.
The hormones obviously have alot to do with all of this,
right.
For sure, if you don't haveenough testosterone, then it's
really hard to be interested insex, yep, that's like the thing
that really makes you, you know,want to do it, yep, which is
(07:18):
why dudes apparently want to doit all the time because of the
testosterone.
That's what I've heard.
I agree.
So if you don't have thathormone, then that makes it
difficult, I think.
Also, if you are post-menopauseand you don't have to worry
about having no babies no more.
Lesley (07:34):
Yeah, there's an amazing freedom in that.
That's very freeing.
Megan (07:37):
Yeah, like condoms?
Lesley (07:39):
Yes, it can be the recreational activity.
Megan (07:41):
It always should have been Birth control pills be the
recreational activity it alwaysshould have been.
Control pills don't need thatanymore.
No, just go for go to town,have fun.
So apparently there are a lotof gen x women who are um having
a lot of sex.
There's a lot that aren't therewas a number of people who were
like you know, I haven't had itin a very long time and I get
it.
Personal preference, absolutelyyeah, whether circumstance?
Lesley (08:00):
Absolutely yeah, whether circumstance, health, choice.
You know tough relationships inthe past, not having positive
experiences.
There's so much that goes intothat and how you frame your
sexual experiences and like youhave a body that can experience
(08:24):
good sensations.
Megan (08:25):
Yeah, and some of us aren't built that way, so yeah,
sometimes.
But anyway, yeah, lots ofpeople having lots of sex.
Lesley (08:33):
So, prince, being back in movie theaters, maybe as a
harbinger for Gen X, it's goingto make him more sex.
Megan (08:39):
There you go.
Lesley (08:41):
Just buy that ticket One night, only Take that ride.
So there, yeah, that's prettygood.
We could talk about that more,but I'm sure it'll come up again
.
Uh, what shit are we sick oftoday with my long vocal pause?
Did you like that transition?
It was good what, what, uh.
Megan (09:00):
What did you pull out that we were sick of today?
Lesley (09:04):
uh plastic shoes.
Megan (09:06):
Oh, plastic shoes.
Lesley (09:08):
Mm-hmm.
Megan (09:08):
Those goddamn jellies.
Is that what we're talkingabout?
Those goddamn jellies.
Lesley (09:13):
Why are they back?
I don't know.
I don't understand.
It's an aesthetic.
They're not comfortable.
Megan (09:21):
No, there's zero.
I mean nothing gives youblisters as fast as a plastic
shoe, rubbing on your foot.
Why on your foot?
Why?
Lesley (09:29):
well, and it's not a style of shoe.
That's like coming back aroundwhere there have been massive
improvements made to like nothey're the same soul, freaking
shoe or the support or anything.
They are the same hunks ofrubber that we had on our feet
when I mean I think it wasprobably like 10, yeah 11, 12,
(09:49):
when I last wore jellies.
Your feet sweat, they smell,you get blisters.
They're very uncomfortable.
Yeah, they're flat.
Megan (10:00):
Do we have Crocs to thank for this?
Crocs are comfortable, at leastthey're foamy and poofy.
But I mean, was that thetransition back to like rubber
shoes.
Lesley (10:11):
Is this retro Crocs Like are?
Megan (10:13):
we going-.
Lesley (10:13):
Like Crocs for the new rubber shoe.
And then they're like oh mygosh, you guys.
I looked at one of my mom's oldphoto albums and I was like I
need those.
Look how cool those are.
Megan (10:23):
So I did see that Steve Madden has his own line of jelly
shoes and I'm like like I wantto get on the phone and call
steve madden and say mr stevemadden, you and I are normally
aligned in our shoe love, like Ilike what you put out.
I think they're fun.
But what the fuck, steve maddenwith plastic rubber, right?
(10:47):
See him so bad, they're so bad,they are colorful I just want
to share.
Lesley (10:54):
You all are being lied to and you're spending wait wait
, how much are those?
Megan (11:00):
oh, you are those 50 plastic shoes.
Lesley (11:03):
They're 50, those are 50 and these are just waterproof
birkenstocks.
So don't buy those, y'all, justgo buy the waterproof
birkenstocks.
So don't buy those, y'all, justgo buy the waterproof
Birkenstocks.
Megan (11:12):
Those are like look, they're blue, Look and they're
orange.
Lesley (11:15):
This is the height of consumerism.
You're being lied to.
Don't buy these.
Megan (11:19):
This is ridiculous.
They also come up a littlehigher than previous.
There's some, but like, look,there's little like the ones
that the Like the ballerina flapyeah they look exactly the same
.
I have no idea.
Lesley (11:33):
I'll be curious if somebody ever writes a history
of the jelly and explains to usthe thinking.
Maybe if you've done yourthesis on the jelly, we would
(11:53):
like to it a copy of that thesis.
What if what really happened issomebody thoroughly combed all
of the landfills and just pulledout jellies from when we were
kids and they've just been likerecycled.
I mean you could just dust themoff because you know that
they're there.
Megan (12:03):
Those are different, so the steve madden ones do come up
higher why do they have sockswith them?
Because you get fuckingblisters.
I don't know, but this model,yes, has socks on with their
jellies.
Lesley (12:16):
And look at the shorts.
Megan (12:17):
And you know what?
Lesley (12:21):
Those socks are going to get dirty.
There's the big gapey holes.
Anywho, certain things can comearound and I can go.
Megan (12:29):
Oh yeah, I could see why people might be into that Gee,
I kind of missed that.
Lesley (12:32):
Yeah, you know that was fun.
I don't know that I'd put itback on now, but I love that,
like the 20s or the teens arewearing them.
Megan (12:40):
You could bring shoulder pads back a little bit, and
that's okay.
I think they are.
Lesley (12:44):
I think there's like a little resurgence of shoulder
pads, that's okay.
Megan (12:51):
That shoulder pads, that's okay.
That gives structure to your.
Lesley (12:53):
You know your clothes, yeah, but the jelly shoes can
just stay in the past.
Yeah, we're sorry, steve madden, we need to talk you've been
brainwashed, lied to youshouldn't be there you don't,
and it's okay, you don't have to, it won't last long it'll
probably like a year, yeah,maybe two, yeah, and then
they'll be gone again back inthe landfill.
We'll just recycle them again.
So that's what we're sick oftoday, maybe it's all supposed
(13:14):
to sell Band-Aids, maybe it'slike a.
Megan (13:19):
That's a conspiracy theory I can get behind Jelly
shoes are just a Band-Aid brandconspiracy.
Like they want you to buy thoseshoes, so you have to then buy
band-aids.
I'll buy that, okay.
Gen X Women Are Sick of theShit is supported by Lylas Love
you like a sis, a Gen X Women'ssocial club.
(13:39):
What's Lylas Megan books offaces off all of the other
traditional social media.
It is our space and place forGen X women to come together,
have conversations, meet eachother.
Lesley (13:57):
It's a social club.
It is a social club.
It's a membership-based club.
Memberships are $10 a month.
That does help support us ingrowing the platform.
We purchased a platform thatwould host a network of women so
that you could come togetherand meet each other in real time
(14:17):
.
Megan (14:18):
In a safer space than a traditional social media
platform and a much morepersonal space.
So what do we do there, Leslie?
Lesley (14:27):
We host movie nights where we live stream some of our
favorites as they are availableto us for group watches of
films from the 70s, 80s and 90s.
We host a space for a monthlybook club.
We host trivia nights once amonth.
Megan (14:49):
We have a live text chat Four prizes, even Four prizes,
even Four prizes.
Lesley (14:53):
That's true, the space is able to host like weekly text
chats so that you can kind ofcheck in in real time with
people.
I would say the criticaldifference between kind of what
this space is and any othersocial media space that I've
experienced is that it is active.
You will have to engage in itor be engaged in it by other
(15:17):
people, so it's not like apassive consumption thing.
Megan (15:21):
It's like making connections, yep, and if that's
what you're looking for theopportunity to meet other people
, to find people who are maybein the same similar spaces as
you are.
Lesley (15:30):
Like-minded, same time, phase of life, navigating all of
those transitions, then thismight be the right place for you
.
Megan (15:39):
So check out Lylas.
You can learn more about it atgenxwomenpodcom toys here
pretend I had all of them I hadthe pegasus and the pegasus had
(16:01):
like rubbery wings and theypopped off so you could pop off
a little and you can pop themback on and so you could bend
them, so you could actually likehold the horse and make it look
like it was flying, make it fly.
The only problem was it had oneleg that was outstretched like
one of its plastic legs and itbroke off.
And I was so sad Because after awhile it gets a little brittle.
(16:25):
So I had to take scotch tapeand tape its little leg back on
To go to the first aid.
I tried everything.
I tried glue this is pre, youknow, Gorilla Glue and stuff
like that Pre-fancy glue.
So I had to just use scotchtape and then he would fly and
then it would kind of dangle.
Lesley (16:42):
It was really sad.
And for our listening audience.
Megan, what exactly are youtalking about?
What were these action figuresfrom?
Megan (16:52):
So these action figures were from the fantastic movie
Clash of the Titans the original, not the new one, but the
original Clash of the Titansfrom the 80s.
Lesley (17:02):
Clash of the Titans came out in 1983.
I've read this note a milliontimes and I will forget it every
single time.
Is that true?
Probably not, 81.
There we go.
You were close.
I was going to like keeptalking until I got to my note.
Megan (17:16):
I was 10 years old when that fabulous piece of cinematic
perfection came out.
Lesley (17:21):
That's amazing Clash of the Titans very famous Ray
Harryhausen film because of thestop motion.
Megan (17:31):
Yeah, like the claymation stop motion stuff,
claymation creatures that werein it, yep, and we're talking
about this today because we justneed something to talk about
that is distracting and fun.
Yeah, and so we're going totalk about the idea of, well,
the love that we had for kind ofthose science fantasy movies.
Lesley (17:53):
Mm-hmm the sword and sorcery films of the 80s.
Yeah.
Megan (17:57):
The true escapism of something as foreign to our
little child brains as possible,and yeah, we loved that stuff.
Distraction and imagination,yes, like thoughts about what is
possible if we kind kind ofjust use your imagination, you
(18:19):
can come up with all kinds ofcool magically about it?
Lesley (18:22):
uh, where and when?
Do you have a specific memoryof when you saw clash of the?
Megan (18:27):
titans.
I'm pretty sure I saw it in thetheaters, I'm okay sure, but I
couldn't.
I couldn't say for sure.
And part of the problem is I'veseen it so many times on tv.
Yes, that I, you know, I.
I.
You mentioned that you and Timwatched it last night.
Yes, and it had some differentthings in it than I remembered
(18:49):
because I was watching the tvversion for so long, so if I
watched the movie version in thetheaters.
It was I was 10 right so and youprobably would not have
registered certain things, yeah,no but I feel like I did watch
it because I I mean, I had theaction figures, I had all the
toys and I was upset.
Did you have the kraken?
(19:09):
I did not have the krakenreally, he's the kraken he was
huge, he was like a.
If you can find the, find thekraken on, like if you google it
, it's like it's like two feettall, that's it's like a big,
big toy I love it I do rememberthose toys.
Lesley (19:25):
They were magnificent, so good I think.
I know I did not see it in themovie theaters.
I saw it first as a vhs rentalat my home.
Megan (19:36):
Uh, yeah, oh 1981 I was probably eight years old, so oh
yeah, that's awesome big krakentoy very freaking cool.
Lesley (19:47):
Look at his huge he was a well, you know.
Megan (19:51):
Just to, just to flash back to talking about sex.
He was the 1980.
Lesley (19:56):
Mattel.
Megan (19:56):
Clash of the Titans 12-inch Kraken.
Lesley (20:00):
So there's a website you can release the Kraken.
My friend shows me a websiteupon occasion that has toys for
certain things that are modeledafter certain creatures.
I am certain that there is aKraken toy on there somewhere
(20:21):
there's a Kraken toy.
Megan (20:22):
If there's not, that's a big missed opportunity.
Lesley (20:26):
We'll send a suggestion.
Big missed opportunity.
There's a wide variety ofthings on that website.
It's fascinating.
This is a fantastic film withfilm with.
Really we should start with thecast.
The cast in this movie is soimpressive.
Megan (20:43):
It's epic like when you think about this film like it.
I mean, did they know it wasgoing to be a cult hit?
Probably not probably.
Lesley (20:54):
Well, I working with ray harryhausen, I think that that
definitely like they knew, likepeople like who.
Megan (21:00):
I want to be part of this.
That was significant.
Lesley (21:02):
Yeah, um, just because of the special effects and it
was post star wars okay therewas like a resurgence of
interest in science, fantasy,sword and sorcery films.
There was an escapism in the80s that I mean the 80s sword
(21:23):
and sorcery films are.
There is a long list.
Plenty, plenty we have done adeep dive on all of them.
I don't know that we'll getinto all of them today, but this
cast, I mean Laurence Olivier,laurence Olivier.
Megan (21:34):
Laurence Olivier.
I mean, somebody went to himand said, hey, sir Laurence
Olivier, we've got a role foryou.
And he was you know, I'm justprojecting.
He was probably like, hmm, I'mnot sure, I don't think I want
to be in this.
And they said but wait, you getto play Zeus.
And he's probably like, okay,yeah, that's cool.
Oh, I get to play a god.
(21:59):
Yeah, the god, the big numberone, god, dude, I'm in.
So, yeah, lawrence olivier,fantastic maggie smith maggie
friggin smith.
Aesthetics dame.
Maggie smith, amazing, amazinggorgeous.
And then the fabulous harryhamlin yes, yes, indeed.
Lesley (22:17):
I mean he was pretty hot .
Megan (22:19):
He has magnificent hair in this movie he does, and he's
got that little butt, chinthat's like, so perfect yes yeah
, and he looked good in a littletoga also in this film burgess
meredith is Ammon, so the voiceof Winnie the Pooh.
Lesley (22:38):
Oh.
If you were wondering, he'salso the voice of Winnie the
Pooh, burgess, meredith alsoRocky films, right, yeah, yeah.
Megan (22:50):
And he was the penguin from the 60s, batman.
He was that's right Amazing,but I.
Every time I hear he was that'sright Amazing, but every time I
hear his voice, it's justWinnie the Pooh.
It's Winnie the Pooh coachingRocky.
It's very weird to me, butthat's where my brain goes.
Lesley (23:06):
The cast was incredible.
I have to say that this movie100% influenced my eighth grade
Halloween costume.
Oh, what did you go with?
That was the last year that wewent trick-or-treating, okay, so
this is like a core memory andI don't have a lot of memory.
(23:28):
Yeah, that's pretty accurate,but this is a core memory.
We all went as differentgoddesses Nice, but this is a
core memory.
We all went as differentgoddesses Nice and we like,
bought really cheap, like satinat the I don't know fabrics or
like.
Franks or something like FranksNursery and Crafts and we had
ribbons and like pearls and likevintage jewelry.
Megan (23:51):
Love it.
Lesley (23:51):
We dressed up as goddesses and went
trick-or-treating in somesubdivision, like in the
Southport area.
We thought we were just sofucking magnificent.
Megan (24:01):
Who were you?
Lesley (24:02):
I don't remember my specific goddess.
Come on.
But I do remember I think therewere three of us and we would
go like ring the bell and wewere like trick-or-treat and
they were like oh, who are you?
And we're like-or-treat andthey're like oh, who are you?
We're like we're goddesses andI'm like explaining reward me,
yeah, basically.
(24:23):
So we got our yeah and that wasthe last of trick-or-treating
as I'm saying this another movieis brought to my.
Okay, yeah, this makes even moresense Xanadu, another goddess
movie, 1980.
So between 80 and 81 the likeGreek mythology oh yeah, goddess
(24:44):
, olivia and John is vibes yeah,she was beautiful and all of
the um yeah, the outfits and allof that good stuff.
So that definitely was hardcorelike big time memory.
Megan (24:58):
So, when you watched Clash of the Titans last night,
what came to mind?
Like what did anything surpriseyou?
Lesley (25:07):
Titties, titties, lots of titties, greek titties, well,
and what was so interesting islike we were talking about
earlier, just kind of wheremovies were in the 80s and, as a
(25:35):
kid like I probably scene wheredan and I and baby perseus are
like walking down the beacheverybody's naked.
So there's lots of butts andlots of boobs, both genders not
a big deal, yep not a big dealand it was totally post.
Oh my gosh, I just said this,tipper gore oh yeah with all of
the um censorship stuff and likeoh save our children.
(25:58):
I can promise you, your kidsreally weren't thinking about it
in the 80s, when they werewatching movies.
No, so it's like almost asensitivity or sensibility
that's kind of been created asthe result of drawing so much
attention to it.
Yeah, and it wasn't muchattention to it.
(26:20):
Yeah, and it wasn't compared tolike gratuitous nude nudity in
films today.
It was just like part of thestory, right?
Nobody was going oh, look atthose boobs.
You know whatever.
We can have all kinds ofthoughts about it, but I
certainly wasn't thinking aboutit as a kid, well, and as a I I
don't remember that scene, whichI just don't.
Megan (26:35):
But I mean, if you watched it on TV over, and, over
and over again, you wouldn'tsee that.
Lesley (26:42):
No, absolutely.
Megan (26:43):
I'm sure I saw it in the movies and probably didn't
think anything of it, and thensaw it on TV and it wasn't there
, so obviously I didn't thinkanything of it, like oh, where's
all the boobies?
Lesley (26:52):
Yes, you know Absolutely .
Megan (26:53):
It just wasn't a thing.
Lesley (26:54):
It just wasn't a thing, it just wasn't a thing, but I
was just reminded of all of that.
Megan (26:59):
I was like, oh, I watched this movie, so many
times, and it was just notsomething that I paid any
attention to Immediately drawnto, just like the effects are
incredible.
Lesley (27:07):
All of the mythology so fun.
I think my favorite kind ofdevice in that movie is the clay
figures.
You know, zeus, they has thisroom that kind of looks like the
parthenon and they've got thelittle people that they move
into the arena.
It's almost like a legominifigure collection but they
just, like the gods, are justliterally moving physical people
(27:29):
and you just wake up, likeperseus wakes up and he's in the
arena and joppa, and he's justlike oh dang, how did I get here
?
Megan (27:37):
they lay him on his side like he's sleeping.
Lesley (27:39):
He's just laying there, yeah burgess meredith comes out
and he's like what are?
You doing here and he's like Idon't know, I was looking at the
moon oh well, you were lookingat the moon.
That's the problem.
Don't look at the moon.
Boy the gods they're gonnatotally fuck with you there,
right?
Megan (27:53):
so that was it.
Here's a sword, oh a sword.
Lesley (27:56):
By the way, here are your gifts, here's a here's a
helmet.
Megan (28:00):
Yes, that'll make you invisible, and here is your
quest yep, now you gotta go dosome stuff to, yeah, save the
town from the dragon.
Lesley (28:09):
What do you remember about that story like, what are
the elements that kind of stickin your own mind?
Megan (28:15):
so I thought I was terrified by calabas oh, yeah,
like just scared the bejesus outof me.
But now as a you know, as agrown ass woman, I'm like that
is such a cool character.
Yeah, like that whole story andhow tragic that particular
story is.
Yes, so like he doesn't scareme anymore, but as a kid he did
(28:35):
and I loved the witches yeah,the stygian witches were great,
freaking, terrifying soterrifying and their eye and how
, like the kind of the comicsilliness that happened in there
.
It was serious, right, yes,perseus needed to get that eye
and he didn't ask his questions,but but it was uh, yeah, that
the kind of silliness that Ialways like too nope, I love
(28:58):
that I was watching the cut,just the makeup that was used to
like blind the witches and it'sso very heavy-handed.
Lesley (29:06):
You know it's very obvious.
Yeah, yeah, but just thosescenes and the look and the feel
of them, it was really reallygood.
Yeah, they were pretty great.
The whole device of Pegasus.
Yeah, because you got to beable to get places right.
Megan (29:22):
You got to be able to move around and you need a good,
steady steed to take you.
Lesley (29:28):
Flying horse Need that.
And oh the reason this all cameup when we got to talking about
Clash of the Titans anyway.
Megan (29:43):
And oh the reason this all came up when we got to
talking about Clash of theTitans.
Anyway, you had sharedsomething about Mary,
harryhausen and props in thatmovie, so somebody found or made
their own life-size replica ofBubo the owl.
Lesley (29:51):
Yes.
Megan (29:51):
And I was like God, that is so cool.
I really would like a full-sizereplica of bubo the owl and
that could be mine and I wouldhave it forever and I would love
it.
So of course, I went to googleto try to find one, and you
can't find one somebody.
But somebody made it and thatwould it triggered all the
memories of this particularmovie and how much I loved it.
That's fantastic.
Lesley (30:12):
I was looking to see which goddess had bubo, and it
was athena.
Megan (30:15):
Yeah yeah, she gave.
She was ordered by zeus, Ithink, in the movie to give bubo
to perseus to help.
Yeah, and she was like I'm notgiving you my owl, so she had
the uh, mechanical bubo made doyou want to hear like a captain?
Lesley (30:33):
obvious, trivia, trivia, tidbit that I just saw, hell.
Yeah, the genus name Bubo isLatin for owl, so it's called
owl, Owl owl.
So there you go.
Megan (30:49):
There you go.
They didn't have to go real farto find a name for that owl.
Nope, they didn't.
Lesley (30:54):
But that.
Latin word will be knownforever it's bubo, because of.
Megan (31:01):
If that comes up on Jeopardy, you are going to be
unstoppable.
I will know that.
Lesley (31:05):
So Clash of the Titans not the only sword and sorcery
film, by a long shot From the80s.
Megan (31:11):
Not even close to the only one.
There are so many.
Not even close to the only one,there are so many.
It's like we had a huge, justplethora of cool, cool sci-fi
and fantasy films in our youth.
Any other faves for you thatstand out?
(31:37):
We have a list of about 25, butmany of them I did not know.
But there are some that werekind of iconic.
Well, I know you and I are bothfans of crawl.
Yes, which terrible name.
Awesome movie, like just kindof a name, great great movie.
Lesley (31:46):
The props and crawl are pretty epic yeah, now does that
one remind me.
Megan (31:51):
Is that one with james amos?
Was he in that one?
Lesley (31:56):
We're going to look and see.
I don't think he was.
Megan (31:59):
No, he was in Was it.
Lesley (32:02):
Ken Marshall, freddie Jones Okay, liam Neeson is in
that movie.
Liam Neeson is in Krull Plays.
Keegan Cyclops is in that movie.
Oh, I love that character,robbie Coltrane.
I have not only moly watchedcrawl from beginning to end for
a very long time, so it might beworth a re-watch and then maybe
(32:22):
a debrief.
Yeah, that's a good one.
When we uh need to work our waythrough, you know, any sort of
um need to dissociate fromreality.
We could just do a play-by-playof that one.
That was kind of up the moviesthat I remember all together,
crawl, definitely one.
Megan (32:41):
Lady hawk is one lady hawk is so good time bandits was
in that space.
Lesley (32:48):
You had talked about the conan movies yeah, those were
not like.
Megan (32:53):
I remember when those came out and I I don't know if
it was because I was just, I wasa little girl, you know and
Conan didn't really click withme there was something very boy
oriented about that particularmovie, so I never really got
into it until, like I think, Iwatched it much, much, much
later.
Okay was, do you?
(33:13):
Do you remember like as a kiddid you watch it?
Lesley (33:15):
I remember when those came out I feel like that was
more of a timing thing.
Okay, I'd have to look.
Come on, there we go, 1982.
Interesting.
I also wonder if they were, Iwould have to sit down and watch
it again.
I don't know, though, dude, Iwas going to say I wonder if
(33:37):
they were a little more sexual,but that didn't matter, because
I still talked my mom intoletting me watch Excalibur, but
she would pause it during thesuper hot sex scene oh, like no,
leslie Because.
I was so in love with, like theKing Arthur story and knew
everything about that.
Megan (33:52):
Like the.
Lesley (33:52):
King Arthur story and knew everything about that, and
I had watched the musicalCamelot which is very different
from the movie.
Excalibur, but I wanted to seeit so bad.
So I just remember her likesending me out, basically like
we had that on the VCR, theremote control plugged in to the
(34:16):
VCR, yes, and it was just aplay pause remote.
So when it got to the like hotsex scene, she just like paused
it and sent me into my room andof course I'm like standing
right in the frame of thedoorway like listening as hard
as I can because I'm like whatis going on?
Megan (34:34):
That's actually probably worse, Mom.
Lesley (34:38):
I think she turned it all down, I mean, and then she
called me back in like in acouple of minutes so we got to
watch the rest of the movie.
But I was just so into thosestories and films and I read a
ton of fantasy and sciencefiction, kids or books as a kid
Fantasy, kids Fantasy kids.
Megan (34:54):
There you go.
No, I loved that movie too.
That was a great win it was soamazing.
Lesley (34:59):
Also a phenomenal cast.
Yeah, in excalibur.
Megan (35:01):
Yeah well, we watched lady hawk in my house last week
oh yeah, talk about thisexperience my daughter and her
boyfriend were in town and so Iwas like, oh, and he had never
seen lady hawk.
And I was like, oh my god, youknow, you've got to see this
movie yes, and sat down to watchit and it, it's, it hold to me
(35:22):
totally holds up.
Lesley (35:23):
Okay, the soundtrack did not hold up for them
interesting it was what was itabout the lady hawk soundtrack
that threw them off so the musicjust didn't hit for them.
Megan (35:36):
Okay, because it's alan parsons.
Oh, and it's so, cynthy, andit's over the top, cynthy sure
it doesn't make any sense.
Cynthy, like it's supposed tobe, epic and and sweeping and
everything but, like it justdoesn't jive with the background
of what's happening.
So it's music of the time,right like it's 80s music on a
(35:59):
movie that was set in like the13th century right like it just
doesn't jive.
Got you, so it's really weirdand they couldn't get past that
and I watched.
I'm like watching it, totallyengrossed.
I'm like, yes, lady hog, she'sgonna turn into a hawk.
It's so cool and it's gotmatthew broderick, it's so good,
(36:23):
and I'm geeking out, right.
And they're like what the fuckis this music?
What is happening?
This is dreadful and I'm like,I'm like, but can you just get
past the music and just keepwatching, yeah.
So they firmly believe if youcould just like cut out the
(36:43):
music or like put other justgeneric or you know soundtrack
behind it, they would like themovie.
But they couldn't get past it.
It was very sad.
Oh, that's unfortunate, butthat I mean that movie.
You got Matthew Broderick, yougot Michelle Pfeiffer at her
utterly stunning-est-est.
Lesley (36:57):
Yes, she's always gorgeous, gorgeous, so young, so
beautiful.
So beautiful.
Megan (37:02):
And then Rucker Howard.
Lesley (37:03):
Yes, we were talking about Rucker Howard earlier
Deadly deadly guy.
Megan (37:08):
So great movie, that one I love it.
Lesley (37:12):
I love the role of insane prisoner.
Yeah, I just saw that in thecast list Insane prisoner Insane
prisoner there is.
There's a guy Good luck, insaneprisoner, and he rhymes, if I
recall correctly.
So yeah, so Ladyhawk's greatand yes you mentioned
Beastmaster, BeastmasterStarring oh Mark Singer, Mark
(37:35):
Singer Of later V.
Megan (37:38):
V, not V for Vendetta, not V for Vendetta, not V for
Vendetta, but V.
Lesley (37:41):
Phenomenal film the lizard alien people thing.
Megan (37:45):
Alien invasion so good.
So Beastmaster TV show right itwas.
I think it was a TV show on top.
It was like a TV show spinoffof the movie.
Lesley (37:56):
Oh, I believe you.
Yeah, yeah, sure, you soundlike you're an expert.
Are you a gen expert, not anexpert?
Megan (38:03):
I am in this, yes.
Lesley (38:05):
I love it.
Megan (38:05):
Beastmaster.
He had ferrets.
Lesley (38:08):
Oh, I do remember the ferrets.
Megan (38:09):
He had a hawk, he had a nemesis, he should have gotten
together with Mighty Isis.
She also controlled a lot ofbeasts they could have hung out.
Wow, john Amos is in it, aslike his bud, so like the dad
from Good Times, oh.
Lesley (38:29):
In case you need a reference Right.
Yes, there you go, my golly.
Look at that.
Megan (38:36):
And Mark Singer really wasn't wearing much in that
movie.
Lesley (38:40):
No, you know, we talk about women being objectified.
It must have been really achallenge to act in that belt.
Megan (38:48):
It was breezy that he had on there it was probably a
little breezy and he's fullygrabbing ass.
Yeah, he is, we romanticizebizarre things in our culture.
Lesley (38:58):
I freaking love that movie, though it is yeah, we
really we romanticize bizarrethings in our culture.
I freaking love that movie,though it is so good and it's
not about reality, it is fullyabout the fantasy Absolutely.
Megan (39:11):
And the fact that his nemesis in this movie was Rip
Torn just absolutely kills me.
Well, he's super evil.
Freaking Rip Torn.
There's Max who went later onin in uh, men in black the names
were not complex dar kiri max,max the bad guy was the bad guy.
Lesley (39:34):
We're gonna keep this simple.
Yeah, fantastic, so there werethese.
All of these are live action,right?
Yes, actors, yeah, real humanbeings doing things.
But we had cartoons runningaround stuff too.
We did what cartoons do youremember?
Megan (39:53):
I remember um the herculoids, do you remember them
?
So they were originally in the60s.
I think it was like the mid tolate 60s were the Herculoids Got
you.
Lesley (40:06):
Oh yeah, oh yeah, for sure, yeah I had to pull up a
picture.
I do remember them.
Megan (40:10):
And so it was a family and they had like a these little
dudes.
Lesley (40:14):
These little-.
Megan (40:14):
Smoo-sh, smoo-sh, I think they're called smooth.
Lesley (40:18):
The names of the Herculoids on a planet Amzat,
renamed Quasar in the revivalbecause Amzat had been
trademarked.
I don't know that that's true.
Megan (40:47):
their giant pets, laser, dragon, zok, space rhinoceros,
tundra, yep rock, ape, igoo andthe shape-shifting duo gloop and
gleep to keep their planet safefrom invaders.
Yep so they were theyoriginally like mid-60s and then
they did have a reboot which Ithink was aired kind of at the
same time as space ghost.
Oh, I think they were all likein the same era, yeah, okay so
(41:11):
yeah, so you had the herculoids,then you had thundar, the
barbarian, do you?
Lesley (41:15):
remember thundar, I do remember, and he had his like
lightning sword um.
Thundar was freaking awesome asa cartoon yep, there is a space
ghost herculoids fandom, yep,uh, and a whole wiki.
It's pretty awesome.
Man, this is like a we'rescraping the memory banks here,
(41:36):
ready, ready for some dumbtrivia I am always ready for
dumb trivia.
All right, bring it.
Megan (41:41):
Thundar the Barbarian.
The cartoon yes, ma'am.
Was canceled, even though itwas super popular and people
loved it.
It was canceled to make roomfor wait for it.
Lesley (41:54):
Laverne and Shirley oh, I have really mixed feelings
about that.
Megan (42:00):
I know, I know you shit can Thundar, thunder the
barbarian for laverne andshirley, I know I don't know how
it tracks fair I know, I don'teven know how like in a in your
tv lineup that makes any sense.
That's what I was wondering,but it, yeah.
I read that last night and Iwas like wait, what now?
Lesley (42:18):
dumb trivia but under the barbarian, laverne and sh
Barbarian Laverne and Shirley.
What if Laverne and Shirleywere the Herculoids Like that?
Megan (42:28):
mashup.
Lesley (42:29):
I don't even know they're like running with Lenny
and Squeaky on a planet in space.
Megan (42:34):
Gleep and glip.
Yeah, lenny and Squeaky.
Lesley (42:37):
Bottling beer and trying to escape from alien invaders
in Milwaukee Could happen.
Megan (42:49):
You missed a good one.
Lesley (42:51):
What did we forget?
Megan (42:52):
I mean many things Dragon.
Lesley (42:53):
Slayer oh fuck yeah.
Yes, of course my Christ.
Megan (42:59):
Dragon Slayer.
Okay, let's bring this one up,so also a 1981 film.
Oh okay, yeah, so this moviedragon slayer is a 1981 american
dark fantasy film.
Yes, okay, yeah, directed bymatthew robbins from a
screenplay he co-wrote.
Yes.
(43:20):
They're going to get likemunched on.
So Dragon Slayer.
The special effects for thatparticular movie were created at
Industrial Light and Magic.
Lesley (43:32):
So the Star Wars in the Star Wars world Nice.
Megan (43:36):
Yeah, um yeah.
The plot basically a?
Uh, urland, a sixth centurykingdom near the river ur, is
being terrorized by viramvirithrax prorogative, a 400
year old dragon.
And to appease him, the kingoffers its virgin girls,
(43:57):
selected by lottery twice a year.
Lesley (43:59):
That's what I remember.
They're like tied to the rock.
Megan (44:01):
Mm-hmm.
Lesley (44:02):
And he has to like, rescue them.
They're going to get munched.
Megan (44:05):
Yeah, yeah.
So an expedition led by thehero, a young man seeking help
and who seeks help from the lastsorcerer, ulrich.
Lesley (44:16):
Yeah, this one we might have to watch again.
Megan (44:18):
Yeah, I feel like this is Pretty fantastic.
Yeah, this one you might haveto watch again.
Lesley (44:20):
Yeah, I feel like this is pretty fantastic.
Megan (44:21):
There's some great dragon action in this one, isn't
there?
Lesley (44:25):
there is great great dragon action so you think about
these dragons compared to likeuh, all the words are gone out
of my brain house of dragonsyeah, very different, thank you
very different.
We've come a bit, a bit of away.
Yes, I remember this.
There you go.
She's not on rock, she's tiedto a post, she's gonna be dinner
(44:48):
do you remember?
Megan (44:51):
this is a later movie, okay, but speaking of dragons, I
had this just moment of likewait.
There was a movie with dragonsand sean connery and it was
dragon heart and it came out in1996.
So I had to google that realfast and I just googled dragon,
sean connery and it popped rightup.
Lesley (45:11):
I don't remember that one.
I didn't watch it.
That doesn't mean anything youshould.
Megan (45:14):
You should watch that.
I should go back.
Lesley (45:16):
Yeah, I would watch dragon heart so what do we think
is important about this genre-ofilm?
Megan (45:22):
Well, I think it really does boil down to this need for
escapism, even as a kid, thisinterest at least for me, it was
this interest in something thatwas so fantastical, absolutely.
It's not something that you sawevery day.
And as a little girl I wasn'tinto cars, I wasn't into stuff
(45:44):
like that.
I was into heroes and fantasyand dragons and flying horses
and all of this magic and stuffthat still to this day I hang on
to, absolutely hang on to thefantastic role nature of it.
How about you?
Lesley (46:03):
Probably similar.
I mean there's the hero story.
You know, often these storiesare someone who comes from
nothing or is like unsuspectingor not necessarily kind of the
anti-hero that rises to theoccasion and then overcomes
great evil.
Right, we all need a lot ofthat in our lives.
And then just the fancy, themagic mythology, anything that
(46:25):
kind of ties us back to storiesthat give us kind of meaning and
agency in our lives in the faceof you know, inescapable odds
or overwhelming evil.
I mean, the story arcs aresimilarly reflected, like in all
the star wars films, right, so,and we, we need that, you know
(46:48):
something to hang on in thatparticular way.
Yeah, um, and then the effects.
Separately from that, I think,the development of being able to
see creatures and mythology outof books that we would have
read as kids or read in school.
To see that play out on thescreen right with live actors is
(47:10):
, I mean, that's movie magicright it brings it to life and
you're like oh wait, you know ifmark singer can have two pet
ferrets that he controls?
right you know, can't, I can't I, if harry hamlin can fly on a
pegasus, can't I do that youknow and that movie magic and
the willing suspension ofdisbelief when we enter into
(47:32):
contract with watching a film iswhat makes it so.
Yeah, it's fun important fun Ithink fun, fun, and your
daughter was not able to engagein a willing suspension of
disbelief because of the musicbecause of the music yeah, she
was, and that's okay.
Megan (47:54):
and alan parsons, to be fair, has its place, fuck yeah.
Lesley (47:59):
Absolutely Of a generation.
Yeah, I mean, he is the eye inthe sky Looking at you.
Megan (48:05):
That's right.
Lesley (48:09):
You have been listening to Gen X.
Women Are Sick of this Shit.
Hey Megan, hey Leslie, what dopeople do if they want to find
us?
Megan (48:18):
Well, we have a website that people can find us on, and
that is GenXWomenPodcom.
We also have a Facebook page.
We have an Instagram account aswell.
We have a YouTube account,where we put YouTube shorts and
other little tidbits up there.
We have a TikTok account.
Lesley (48:39):
I don't talk the dick or tick the tock.
Megan (48:41):
You don't tick the tock, I barely talk the tick.
But I did put a TikTok up.
We're explaining the internetto people again.
That's okay though.
Lesley (48:50):
It's great.
We need to know how theinternet works.
Megan (48:53):
Can people buy merch?
They absolutely can.
We have a merch store on thewebsite itself, and we also have
an Etsy store too, which ispretty easy to find.
It's just Gen X Women on Etsy.
Lesley (49:06):
And if you are listening to this podcast, presumably you
found it somewhere.
And while you're there, give usa review.
Yeah.
Megan (49:15):
Let us know what you think.
Throw some stars at us, that'dbe great.
We'll take one, two, three,four or five, ooh, five, maybe
ten.
And also make sure that you arehitting subscribe so that
you're notified whenever a newepisode drops.
Lesley (49:29):
Most important.
Megan (49:30):
We also have a five minutes of fame that I think we
should tell people about too.
Lesley (49:34):
Hell, yes, we want to know your stories, your five
minutes of fame stories.
You can send those stories inon the website or you can call
1-888 GEN-X-POD and leave yourstory for us and we will play it
live in our next episode.
Megan (49:51):
We'll listen to it on a little red phone, just like
Batman.
Lesley (49:55):
That'd be cool.
Let's get a bad phone A badphone.
I think that's it.
I think you're right.
I'm Megan Bennett,
Lesley (00:01):
I'm Lesley Meier
Megan (00:02):
and this is Gen X.
Women Are Sick of this .
Lesley (00:10):
Hi Megan.
Megan (00:11):
How are you today?
Lesley (00:14):
I got a haircut.
Good for you, it looks pretty.
My bangs were going up my nose,they were so long.
They're so long they're curlingback up, so that feels like a
nice thing to have done.
I didn't shower, but I got myhair cut.
I love it.
Megan (00:29):
It's fair party, did you get?
Lesley (00:30):
color touched up too, not today.
End of March.
Nice, we'll get there it'sparty, so that's not really how
I am.
That is a thing that I did.
Megan (00:39):
It's what you am, but it is a potential mood enhancer.
Yeah, how are you?
I am okay, I'm all right.
Lesley (00:45):
Yeah, yeah, this month, this well, this year, so far
this year so far this year'sbeen a very long year One month
and 22 days, the longest year ofmy life, longest year ever.
Megan (01:01):
So far it's just been a lot, but it's okay, spring will
be here and that will makeeverything a little better.
Lesley (01:08):
Yes, agreed, because it won't be so fucking cold.
Right and the sun will be outand trees and flowers and leaves
and stuff and if you live inindianapolis, as we do, there
might be fewer holes in theroads.
Megan (01:25):
Yeah, good luck with that In a couple months.
Lesley (01:27):
Good luck with that as spring emerges, there'll be
fewer craters.
Megan (01:31):
Yeah, I know it's terrible, it's just the
freeze-thaw, freeze-thaw.
Lesley (01:35):
Oh, it's so bad.
Megan (01:36):
Anything about it, and this this year's been
particularly bad with that.
Lesley (01:39):
Oh yeah and the same spots year after year.
I call them driving on the moon.
When I reach these areas whereI have to like pause, to like
navigate and I really need likea massive suspension, I'm like,
ooh, I've arrived at the moon.
Megan (01:54):
Let's go.
My Mini Cooper has not been outof the garage because she will
fall in a hole.
Goodbye, we can't have thatDown underground.
Yes, anywho, yeah, it's uh ityou know it's fine, everything's
fine, everything's fine.
Lesley (02:08):
Are you holding your mini dumpster fire in your hand?
Megan (02:10):
right, I had a sweatshirt same time I had a
sweatshirt during covid thatsaid it's fine, I'm fine,
everything's fine.
I feel like that again it'sfine and you're just like dead
all, all dead inside.
Lesley (02:23):
It's fine On the ground.
Megan (02:27):
Let's do a show Cool beans.
That'll make things better.
It will.
So what are we going to talk?
Lesley (02:33):
about today?
Today we're going to talk aboutescapism.
I love it Escapism from the 80sbut we're not just going to go
right to the main topic.
We're going to start with ourtwo favorite segments.
We've got some bullshit and hotgoss.
We do have some bullshit andhot goss.
Talk to me, leslie.
(02:54):
What's our bullshit and our hotgoss today?
Our hot goss today is all aboutthe re-release of Prince Purple
Rain.
Megan (03:05):
In theaters no less right.
Lesley (03:07):
One day only, march 5th, warner Brothers, discovery and
Dolby will re-release PurpleRain for one night.
I'm reading this like I have novocal differentiation or
comprehension whatsoever.
Megan (03:24):
I am reading this.
Exc am exclusively in dolbycinemas.
Lesley (03:27):
The film will be presented in dolby vision high
dynamic range.
You don't need to know, thesethings absolutely friggin
nothing that and it's gonnasound great you're gonna feel
like you are right there in themiddle of some hot sexy magic
Sexy prince.
And live music.
Megan (03:46):
So that movie was smoky hot, smoky, smoky hot.
Fuck yeah, and it'll be reallyfun.
Lesley (03:53):
So I think that's AMC Theaters, right, you guys can
Google, right, you can look itup.
Megan (03:58):
I think it's AMC Theaters, but yeah, that sounds
good.
One night only, so you got toget your tickies while you can
get your tickies.
Lesley (04:04):
This is my favorite part , I think, of this very
technical description of there-release.
The picture and sound qualitywill exceed even the 40th
anniversary version 4K discreleased in May 2024, whose
transfer was restored digitallyfrom an 8K scan.
Megan (04:21):
I mean I must have picked the most technical
description to throw into mynotes ever, if you saw it on the
last re-released anniversaryedition prepare to hold on to
your butts, everybody.
It's going to be so much better.
Lesley (04:36):
All the sweat is going to like feel real.
It's actually going to be inlike 4D surround, like you're in
Disney.
The rain will actually bepurple and the movie theater is
falling on your head.
It'll be purple.
Megan (04:49):
You will get wet on this ride.
I mean, it is a sexy movie.
Lesley (04:55):
Speaking of sex, Megan, let's talk about sex.
Let's talk about sex, bullshitand hot goss.
We were giggling, not giggling.
We were questioning theveracity of a conversation that
was happening in the Facebookgroup about frequency of sexual
(05:15):
encounters amongst long-termcouples.
Megan (05:20):
So for married folks, when somebody put in the group
they wanted to know how manytimes a week the married couples
were getting it on and somepeople were getting it on a lot.
Lesley (05:33):
Yeah, like every night.
Megan (05:36):
And some people were like more than once a day.
I'm like damn Damn ladies.
Lesley (05:41):
Everybody working from home.
I guess Maybe that's had animpact.
Oh, I wonder if, like the pivotto more work from home jobs,
you just have more opportunitiesif you and your hubs are
walking, walking around youdon't have to be married.
You know just well.
Megan (05:58):
But in the case of this, when they were asking like oh
yeah, whether you were marriedbut I mean, you're walking
around and you're and yoursignificant significant other is
also working and youaccidentally bump into each
other in the kitchen and then,you bump into each other again.
Lesley (06:13):
And then again.
Megan (06:16):
And then again you get some mayonnaise on you.
Lesley (06:19):
I don't know, oops, how did my dick get in there?
Megan (06:22):
I don't know, I love it.
Lesley (06:25):
So that's sort of interesting because it's, I
think, in many ways, when folkstalk about in our age group,
talk about menopause, it doesimpact sex drive and I do think
that many folks experience areturn to or resurgence of their
(06:46):
sex drive.
It's also kind of true if youdon't use it, you're going to
lose it.
Yeah.
Megan (06:52):
I think, yeah, that's true, and I guess it depends on.
Lesley (06:55):
I mean it's all hormone related, Like your clitoris.
Megan (06:57):
Yeah, because that will fade away ladies, it will fade
away.
You got to use it.
The hormones obviously have alot to do with all of this,
right.
For sure, if you don't haveenough testosterone, then it's
really hard to be interested insex, yep, that's like the thing
that really makes you, you know,want to do it, yep, which is
(07:18):
why dudes apparently want to doit all the time because of the
testosterone.
That's what I've heard.
I agree.
So if you don't have thathormone, then that makes it
difficult, I think.
Also, if you are post-menopauseand you don't have to worry
about having no babies no more.
Lesley (07:34):
Yeah, there's an amazing freedom in that.
That's very freeing.
Megan (07:37):
Yeah, like condoms?
Lesley (07:39):
Yes, it can be the recreational activity.
Megan (07:41):
It always should have been Birth control pills be the
recreational activity it alwaysshould have been.
Control pills don't need thatanymore.
No, just go for go to town,have fun.
So apparently there are a lotof gen x women who are um having
a lot of sex.
There's a lot that aren't therewas a number of people who were
like you know, I haven't had itin a very long time and I get
it.
Personal preference, absolutelyyeah, whether circumstance?
Lesley (08:00):
Absolutely yeah, whether circumstance, health, choice.
You know tough relationships inthe past, not having positive
experiences.
There's so much that goes intothat and how you frame your
sexual experiences and like youhave a body that can experience
(08:24):
good sensations.
Megan (08:25):
Yeah, and some of us aren't built that way, so yeah,
sometimes.
But anyway, yeah, lots ofpeople having lots of sex.
Lesley (08:33):
So, prince, being back in movie theaters, maybe as a
harbinger for Gen X, it's goingto make him more sex.
Megan (08:39):
There you go.
Lesley (08:41):
Just buy that ticket One night, only Take that ride.
So there, yeah, that's prettygood.
We could talk about that more,but I'm sure it'll come up again
.
Uh, what shit are we sick oftoday with my long vocal pause?
Did you like that transition?
It was good what, what, uh.
Megan (09:00):
What did you pull out that we were sick of today?
Lesley (09:04):
uh plastic shoes.
Megan (09:06):
Oh, plastic shoes.
Lesley (09:08):
Mm-hmm.
Megan (09:08):
Those goddamn jellies.
Is that what we're talkingabout?
Those goddamn jellies.
Lesley (09:13):
Why are they back?
I don't know.
I don't understand.
It's an aesthetic.
They're not comfortable.
Megan (09:21):
No, there's zero.
I mean nothing gives youblisters as fast as a plastic
shoe, rubbing on your foot.
Why on your foot?
Why?
Lesley (09:29):
well, and it's not a style of shoe.
That's like coming back aroundwhere there have been massive
improvements made to like nothey're the same soul, freaking
shoe or the support or anything.
They are the same hunks ofrubber that we had on our feet
when I mean I think it wasprobably like 10, yeah 11, 12,
(09:49):
when I last wore jellies.
Your feet sweat, they smell,you get blisters.
They're very uncomfortable.
Yeah, they're flat.
Megan (10:00):
Do we have Crocs to thank for this?
Crocs are comfortable, at leastthey're foamy and poofy.
But I mean, was that thetransition back to like rubber
shoes.
Lesley (10:11):
Is this retro Crocs Like are?
Megan (10:13):
we going-.
Lesley (10:13):
Like Crocs for the new rubber shoe.
And then they're like oh mygosh, you guys.
I looked at one of my mom's oldphoto albums and I was like I
need those.
Look how cool those are.
Megan (10:23):
So I did see that Steve Madden has his own line of jelly
shoes and I'm like like I wantto get on the phone and call
steve madden and say mr stevemadden, you and I are normally
aligned in our shoe love, like Ilike what you put out.
I think they're fun.
But what the fuck, steve maddenwith plastic rubber, right?
(10:47):
See him so bad, they're so bad,they are colorful I just want
to share.
Lesley (10:54):
You all are being lied to and you're spending wait wait
, how much are those?
Megan (11:00):
oh, you are those 50 plastic shoes.
Lesley (11:03):
They're 50, those are 50 and these are just waterproof
birkenstocks.
So don't buy those, y'all, justgo buy the waterproof
birkenstocks.
So don't buy those, y'all, justgo buy the waterproof
Birkenstocks.
Megan (11:12):
Those are like look, they're blue, Look and they're
orange.
Lesley (11:15):
This is the height of consumerism.
You're being lied to.
Don't buy these.
Megan (11:19):
This is ridiculous.
They also come up a littlehigher than previous.
There's some, but like, look,there's little like the ones
that the Like the ballerina flapyeah they look exactly the same
.
I have no idea.
Lesley (11:33):
I'll be curious if somebody ever writes a history
of the jelly and explains to usthe thinking.
Maybe if you've done yourthesis on the jelly, we would
(11:53):
like to it a copy of that thesis.
What if what really happened issomebody thoroughly combed all
of the landfills and just pulledout jellies from when we were
kids and they've just been likerecycled.
I mean you could just dust themoff because you know that
they're there.
Megan (12:03):
Those are different, so the steve madden ones do come up
higher why do they have sockswith them?
Because you get fuckingblisters.
I don't know, but this model,yes, has socks on with their
jellies.
Lesley (12:16):
And look at the shorts.
Megan (12:17):
And you know what?
Lesley (12:21):
Those socks are going to get dirty.
There's the big gapey holes.
Anywho, certain things can comearound and I can go.
Megan (12:29):
Oh yeah, I could see why people might be into that Gee,
I kind of missed that.
Lesley (12:32):
Yeah, you know that was fun.
I don't know that I'd put itback on now, but I love that,
like the 20s or the teens arewearing them.
Megan (12:40):
You could bring shoulder pads back a little bit, and
that's okay.
I think they are.
Lesley (12:44):
I think there's like a little resurgence of shoulder
pads, that's okay.
Megan (12:51):
That shoulder pads, that's okay.
That gives structure to your.
Lesley (12:53):
You know your clothes, yeah, but the jelly shoes can
just stay in the past.
Yeah, we're sorry, steve madden, we need to talk you've been
brainwashed, lied to youshouldn't be there you don't,
and it's okay, you don't have to, it won't last long it'll
probably like a year, yeah,maybe two, yeah, and then
they'll be gone again back inthe landfill.
We'll just recycle them again.
So that's what we're sick oftoday, maybe it's all supposed
(13:14):
to sell Band-Aids, maybe it'slike a.
Megan (13:19):
That's a conspiracy theory I can get behind Jelly
shoes are just a Band-Aid brandconspiracy.
Like they want you to buy thoseshoes, so you have to then buy
band-aids.
I'll buy that, okay.
Gen X Women Are Sick of theShit is supported by Lylas Love
you like a sis, a Gen X Women'ssocial club.
(13:39):
What's Lylas Megan books offaces off all of the other
traditional social media.
It is our space and place forGen X women to come together,
have conversations, meet eachother.
Lesley (13:57):
It's a social club.
It is a social club.
It's a membership-based club.
Memberships are $10 a month.
That does help support us ingrowing the platform.
We purchased a platform thatwould host a network of women so
that you could come togetherand meet each other in real time
(14:17):
.
Megan (14:18):
In a safer space than a traditional social media
platform and a much morepersonal space.
So what do we do there, Leslie?
Lesley (14:27):
We host movie nights where we live stream some of our
favorites as they are availableto us for group watches of
films from the 70s, 80s and 90s.
We host a space for a monthlybook club.
We host trivia nights once amonth.
Megan (14:49):
We have a live text chat Four prizes, even Four prizes,
even Four prizes.
Lesley (14:53):
That's true, the space is able to host like weekly text
chats so that you can kind ofcheck in in real time with
people.
I would say the criticaldifference between kind of what
this space is and any othersocial media space that I've
experienced is that it is active.
You will have to engage in itor be engaged in it by other
(15:17):
people, so it's not like apassive consumption thing.
Megan (15:21):
It's like making connections, yep, and if that's
what you're looking for theopportunity to meet other people
, to find people who are maybein the same similar spaces as
you are.
Lesley (15:30):
Like-minded, same time, phase of life, navigating all of
those transitions, then thismight be the right place for you
.
Megan (15:39):
So check out Lylas.
You can learn more about it atgenxwomenpodcom toys here
pretend I had all of them I hadthe pegasus and the pegasus had
(16:01):
like rubbery wings and theypopped off so you could pop off
a little and you can pop themback on and so you could bend
them, so you could actually likehold the horse and make it look
like it was flying, make it fly.
The only problem was it had oneleg that was outstretched like
one of its plastic legs and itbroke off.
And I was so sad Because after awhile it gets a little brittle.
(16:25):
So I had to take scotch tapeand tape its little leg back on
To go to the first aid.
I tried everything.
I tried glue this is pre, youknow, Gorilla Glue and stuff
like that Pre-fancy glue.
So I had to just use scotchtape and then he would fly and
then it would kind of dangle.
Lesley (16:42):
It was really sad.
And for our listening audience.
Megan, what exactly are youtalking about?
What were these action figuresfrom?
Megan (16:52):
So these action figures were from the fantastic movie
Clash of the Titans the original, not the new one, but the
original Clash of the Titansfrom the 80s.
Lesley (17:02):
Clash of the Titans came out in 1983.
I've read this note a milliontimes and I will forget it every
single time.
Is that true?
Probably not, 81.
There we go.
You were close.
I was going to like keeptalking until I got to my note.
Megan (17:16):
I was 10 years old when that fabulous piece of cinematic
perfection came out.
Lesley (17:21):
That's amazing Clash of the Titans very famous Ray
Harryhausen film because of thestop motion.
Megan (17:31):
Yeah, like the claymation stop motion stuff,
claymation creatures that werein it, yep, and we're talking
about this today because we justneed something to talk about
that is distracting and fun.
Yeah, and so we're going totalk about the idea of, well,
the love that we had for kind ofthose science fantasy movies.
Lesley (17:53):
Mm-hmm the sword and sorcery films of the 80s.
Yeah.
Megan (17:57):
The true escapism of something as foreign to our
little child brains as possible,and yeah, we loved that stuff.
Distraction and imagination,yes, like thoughts about what is
possible if we kind kind ofjust use your imagination, you
(18:19):
can come up with all kinds ofcool magically about it?
Lesley (18:22):
uh, where and when?
Do you have a specific memoryof when you saw clash of the?
Megan (18:27):
titans.
I'm pretty sure I saw it in thetheaters, I'm okay sure, but I
couldn't.
I couldn't say for sure.
And part of the problem is I'veseen it so many times on tv.
Yes, that I, you know, I.
I.
You mentioned that you and Timwatched it last night.
Yes, and it had some differentthings in it than I remembered
(18:49):
because I was watching the tvversion for so long, so if I
watched the movie version in thetheaters.
It was I was 10 right so and youprobably would not have
registered certain things, yeah,no but I feel like I did watch
it because I I mean, I had theaction figures, I had all the
toys and I was upset.
Did you have the kraken?
(19:09):
I did not have the krakenreally, he's the kraken he was
huge, he was like a.
If you can find the, find thekraken on, like if you google it
, it's like it's like two feettall, that's it's like a big,
big toy I love it I do rememberthose toys.
Lesley (19:25):
They were magnificent, so good I think.
I know I did not see it in themovie theaters.
I saw it first as a vhs rentalat my home.
Megan (19:36):
Uh, yeah, oh 1981 I was probably eight years old, so oh
yeah, that's awesome big krakentoy very freaking cool.
Lesley (19:47):
Look at his huge he was a well, you know.
Megan (19:51):
Just to, just to flash back to talking about sex.
He was the 1980.
Lesley (19:56):
Mattel.
Megan (19:56):
Clash of the Titans 12-inch Kraken.
Lesley (20:00):
So there's a website you can release the Kraken.
My friend shows me a websiteupon occasion that has toys for
certain things that are modeledafter certain creatures.
I am certain that there is aKraken toy on there somewhere
(20:21):
there's a Kraken toy.
Megan (20:22):
If there's not, that's a big missed opportunity.
Lesley (20:26):
We'll send a suggestion.
Big missed opportunity.
There's a wide variety ofthings on that website.
It's fascinating.
This is a fantastic film withfilm with.
Really we should start with thecast.
The cast in this movie is soimpressive.
Megan (20:43):
It's epic like when you think about this film like it.
I mean, did they know it wasgoing to be a cult hit?
Probably not probably.
Lesley (20:54):
Well, I working with ray harryhausen, I think that that
definitely like they knew, likepeople like who.
Megan (21:00):
I want to be part of this.
That was significant.
Lesley (21:02):
Yeah, um, just because of the special effects and it
was post star wars okay therewas like a resurgence of
interest in science, fantasy,sword and sorcery films.
There was an escapism in the80s that I mean the 80s sword
(21:23):
and sorcery films are.
There is a long list.
Plenty, plenty we have done adeep dive on all of them.
I don't know that we'll getinto all of them today, but this
cast, I mean Laurence Olivier,laurence Olivier.
Megan (21:34):
Laurence Olivier.
I mean, somebody went to himand said, hey, sir Laurence
Olivier, we've got a role foryou.
And he was you know, I'm justprojecting.
He was probably like, hmm, I'mnot sure, I don't think I want
to be in this.
And they said but wait, you getto play Zeus.
And he's probably like, okay,yeah, that's cool.
Oh, I get to play a god.
(21:59):
Yeah, the god, the big numberone, god, dude, I'm in.
So, yeah, lawrence olivier,fantastic maggie smith maggie
friggin smith.
Aesthetics dame.
Maggie smith, amazing, amazinggorgeous.
And then the fabulous harryhamlin yes, yes, indeed.
Lesley (22:17):
I mean he was pretty hot .
Megan (22:19):
He has magnificent hair in this movie he does, and he's
got that little butt, chinthat's like, so perfect yes yeah
, and he looked good in a littletoga also in this film burgess
meredith is Ammon, so the voiceof Winnie the Pooh.
Lesley (22:38):
Oh.
If you were wondering, he'salso the voice of Winnie the
Pooh, burgess, meredith alsoRocky films, right, yeah, yeah.
Megan (22:50):
And he was the penguin from the 60s, batman.
He was that's right Amazing,but I.
Every time I hear he was that'sright Amazing, but every time I
hear his voice, it's justWinnie the Pooh.
It's Winnie the Pooh coachingRocky.
It's very weird to me, butthat's where my brain goes.
Lesley (23:06):
The cast was incredible.
I have to say that this movie100% influenced my eighth grade
Halloween costume.
Oh, what did you go with?
That was the last year that wewent trick-or-treating, okay, so
this is like a core memory andI don't have a lot of memory.
(23:28):
Yeah, that's pretty accurate,but this is a core memory.
We all went as differentgoddesses Nice, but this is a
core memory.
We all went as differentgoddesses Nice and we like,
bought really cheap, like satinat the I don't know fabrics or
like.
Franks or something like FranksNursery and Crafts and we had
ribbons and like pearls and likevintage jewelry.
Megan (23:51):
Love it.
Lesley (23:51):
We dressed up as goddesses and went
trick-or-treating in somesubdivision, like in the
Southport area.
We thought we were just sofucking magnificent.
Megan (24:01):
Who were you?
Lesley (24:02):
I don't remember my specific goddess.
Come on.
But I do remember I think therewere three of us and we would
go like ring the bell and wewere like trick-or-treat and
they were like oh, who are you?
And we're like-or-treat andthey're like oh, who are you?
We're like we're goddesses andI'm like explaining reward me,
yeah, basically.
(24:23):
So we got our yeah and that wasthe last of trick-or-treating
as I'm saying this another movieis brought to my.
Okay, yeah, this makes even moresense Xanadu, another goddess
movie, 1980.
So between 80 and 81 the likeGreek mythology oh yeah, goddess
(24:44):
, olivia and John is vibes yeah,she was beautiful and all of
the um yeah, the outfits and allof that good stuff.
So that definitely was hardcorelike big time memory.
Megan (24:58):
So, when you watched Clash of the Titans last night,
what came to mind?
Like what did anything surpriseyou?
Lesley (25:07):
Titties, titties, lots of titties, greek titties, well,
and what was so interesting islike we were talking about
earlier, just kind of wheremovies were in the 80s and, as a
(25:35):
kid like I probably scene wheredan and I and baby perseus are
like walking down the beacheverybody's naked.
So there's lots of butts andlots of boobs, both genders not
a big deal, yep not a big dealand it was totally post.
Oh my gosh, I just said this,tipper gore oh yeah with all of
the um censorship stuff and likeoh save our children.
(25:58):
I can promise you, your kidsreally weren't thinking about it
in the 80s, when they werewatching movies.
No, so it's like almost asensitivity or sensibility
that's kind of been created asthe result of drawing so much
attention to it.
Yeah, and it wasn't muchattention to it.
(26:20):
Yeah, and it wasn't compared tolike gratuitous nude nudity in
films today.
It was just like part of thestory, right?
Nobody was going oh, look atthose boobs.
You know whatever.
We can have all kinds ofthoughts about it, but I
certainly wasn't thinking aboutit as a kid, well, and as a I I
don't remember that scene, whichI just don't.
Megan (26:35):
But I mean, if you watched it on TV over, and, over
and over again, you wouldn'tsee that.
Lesley (26:42):
No, absolutely.
Megan (26:43):
I'm sure I saw it in the movies and probably didn't
think anything of it, and thensaw it on TV and it wasn't there
, so obviously I didn't thinkanything of it, like oh, where's
all the boobies?
Lesley (26:52):
Yes, you know Absolutely .
Megan (26:53):
It just wasn't a thing.
Lesley (26:54):
It just wasn't a thing, it just wasn't a thing, but I
was just reminded of all of that.
Megan (26:59):
I was like, oh, I watched this movie, so many
times, and it was just notsomething that I paid any
attention to Immediately drawnto, just like the effects are
incredible.
Lesley (27:07):
All of the mythology so fun.
I think my favorite kind ofdevice in that movie is the clay
figures.
You know, zeus, they has thisroom that kind of looks like the
parthenon and they've got thelittle people that they move
into the arena.
It's almost like a legominifigure collection but they
just, like the gods, are justliterally moving physical people
(27:29):
and you just wake up, likeperseus wakes up and he's in the
arena and joppa, and he's justlike oh dang, how did I get here
?
Megan (27:37):
they lay him on his side like he's sleeping.
Lesley (27:39):
He's just laying there, yeah burgess meredith comes out
and he's like what are?
You doing here and he's like Idon't know, I was looking at the
moon oh well, you were lookingat the moon.
That's the problem.
Don't look at the moon.
Boy the gods they're gonnatotally fuck with you there,
right?
Megan (27:53):
so that was it.
Here's a sword, oh a sword.
Lesley (27:56):
By the way, here are your gifts, here's a here's a
helmet.
Megan (28:00):
Yes, that'll make you invisible, and here is your
quest yep, now you gotta go dosome stuff to, yeah, save the
town from the dragon.
Lesley (28:09):
What do you remember about that story like, what are
the elements that kind of stickin your own mind?
Megan (28:15):
so I thought I was terrified by calabas oh, yeah,
like just scared the bejesus outof me.
But now as a you know, as agrown ass woman, I'm like that
is such a cool character.
Yeah, like that whole story andhow tragic that particular
story is.
Yes, so like he doesn't scareme anymore, but as a kid he did
(28:35):
and I loved the witches yeah,the stygian witches were great,
freaking, terrifying soterrifying and their eye and how
, like the kind of the comicsilliness that happened in there
.
It was serious, right, yes,perseus needed to get that eye
and he didn't ask his questions,but but it was uh, yeah, that
the kind of silliness that Ialways like too nope, I love
(28:58):
that I was watching the cut,just the makeup that was used to
like blind the witches and it'sso very heavy-handed.
Lesley (29:06):
You know it's very obvious.
Yeah, yeah, but just thosescenes and the look and the feel
of them, it was really reallygood.
Yeah, they were pretty great.
The whole device of Pegasus.
Yeah, because you got to beable to get places right.
Megan (29:22):
You got to be able to move around and you need a good,
steady steed to take you.
Lesley (29:28):
Flying horse Need that.
And oh the reason this all cameup when we got to talking about
Clash of the Titans anyway.
Megan (29:43):
And oh the reason this all came up when we got to
talking about Clash of theTitans.
Anyway, you had sharedsomething about Mary,
harryhausen and props in thatmovie, so somebody found or made
their own life-size replica ofBubo the owl.
Lesley (29:51):
Yes.
Megan (29:51):
And I was like God, that is so cool.
I really would like a full-sizereplica of bubo the owl and
that could be mine and I wouldhave it forever and I would love
it.
So of course, I went to googleto try to find one, and you
can't find one somebody.
But somebody made it and thatwould it triggered all the
memories of this particularmovie and how much I loved it.
That's fantastic.
Lesley (30:12):
I was looking to see which goddess had bubo, and it
was athena.
Megan (30:15):
Yeah yeah, she gave.
She was ordered by zeus, Ithink, in the movie to give bubo
to perseus to help.
Yeah, and she was like I'm notgiving you my owl, so she had
the uh, mechanical bubo made doyou want to hear like a captain?
Lesley (30:33):
obvious, trivia, trivia, tidbit that I just saw, hell.
Yeah, the genus name Bubo isLatin for owl, so it's called
owl, Owl owl.
So there you go.
Megan (30:49):
There you go.
They didn't have to go real farto find a name for that owl.
Nope, they didn't.
Lesley (30:54):
But that.
Latin word will be knownforever it's bubo, because of.
Megan (31:01):
If that comes up on Jeopardy, you are going to be
unstoppable.
I will know that.
Lesley (31:05):
So Clash of the Titans not the only sword and sorcery
film, by a long shot From the80s.
Megan (31:11):
Not even close to the only one.
There are so many.
Not even close to the only one,there are so many.
It's like we had a huge, justplethora of cool, cool sci-fi
and fantasy films in our youth.
Any other faves for you thatstand out?
(31:37):
We have a list of about 25, butmany of them I did not know.
But there are some that werekind of iconic.
Well, I know you and I are bothfans of crawl.
Yes, which terrible name.
Awesome movie, like just kindof a name, great great movie.
Lesley (31:46):
The props and crawl are pretty epic yeah, now does that
one remind me.
Megan (31:51):
Is that one with james amos?
Was he in that one?
Lesley (31:56):
We're going to look and see.
I don't think he was.
Megan (31:59):
No, he was in Was it.
Lesley (32:02):
Ken Marshall, freddie Jones Okay, liam Neeson is in
that movie.
Liam Neeson is in Krull Plays.
Keegan Cyclops is in that movie.
Oh, I love that character,robbie Coltrane.
I have not only moly watchedcrawl from beginning to end for
a very long time, so it might beworth a re-watch and then maybe
(32:22):
a debrief.
Yeah, that's a good one.
When we uh need to work our waythrough, you know, any sort of
um need to dissociate fromreality.
We could just do a play-by-playof that one.
That was kind of up the moviesthat I remember all together,
crawl, definitely one.
Megan (32:41):
Lady hawk is one lady hawk is so good time bandits was
in that space.
Lesley (32:48):
You had talked about the conan movies yeah, those were
not like.
Megan (32:53):
I remember when those came out and I I don't know if
it was because I was just, I wasa little girl, you know and
Conan didn't really click withme there was something very boy
oriented about that particularmovie, so I never really got
into it until, like I think, Iwatched it much, much, much
later.
Okay was, do you?
(33:13):
Do you remember like as a kiddid you watch it?
Lesley (33:15):
I remember when those came out I feel like that was
more of a timing thing.
Okay, I'd have to look.
Come on, there we go, 1982.
Interesting.
I also wonder if they were, Iwould have to sit down and watch
it again.
I don't know, though, dude, Iwas going to say I wonder if
(33:37):
they were a little more sexual,but that didn't matter, because
I still talked my mom intoletting me watch Excalibur, but
she would pause it during thesuper hot sex scene oh, like no,
leslie Because.
I was so in love with, like theKing Arthur story and knew
everything about that.
Megan (33:52):
Like the.
Lesley (33:52):
King Arthur story and knew everything about that, and
I had watched the musicalCamelot which is very different
from the movie.
Excalibur, but I wanted to seeit so bad.
So I just remember her likesending me out, basically like
we had that on the VCR, theremote control plugged in to the
(34:16):
VCR, yes, and it was just aplay pause remote.
So when it got to the like hotsex scene, she just like paused
it and sent me into my room andof course I'm like standing
right in the frame of thedoorway like listening as hard
as I can because I'm like whatis going on?
Megan (34:34):
That's actually probably worse, Mom.
Lesley (34:38):
I think she turned it all down, I mean, and then she
called me back in like in acouple of minutes so we got to
watch the rest of the movie.
But I was just so into thosestories and films and I read a
ton of fantasy and sciencefiction, kids or books as a kid
Fantasy, kids Fantasy kids.
Megan (34:54):
There you go.
No, I loved that movie too.
That was a great win it was soamazing.
Lesley (34:59):
Also a phenomenal cast.
Yeah, in excalibur.
Megan (35:01):
Yeah well, we watched lady hawk in my house last week
oh yeah, talk about thisexperience my daughter and her
boyfriend were in town and so Iwas like, oh, and he had never
seen lady hawk.
And I was like, oh my god, youknow, you've got to see this
movie yes, and sat down to watchit and it, it's, it hold to me
(35:22):
totally holds up.
Lesley (35:23):
Okay, the soundtrack did not hold up for them
interesting it was what was itabout the lady hawk soundtrack
that threw them off so the musicjust didn't hit for them.
Megan (35:36):
Okay, because it's alan parsons.
Oh, and it's so, cynthy, andit's over the top, cynthy sure
it doesn't make any sense.
Cynthy, like it's supposed tobe, epic and and sweeping and
everything but, like it justdoesn't jive with the background
of what's happening.
So it's music of the time,right like it's 80s music on a
(35:59):
movie that was set in like the13th century right like it just
doesn't jive.
Got you, so it's really weirdand they couldn't get past that
and I watched.
I'm like watching it, totallyengrossed.
I'm like, yes, lady hog, she'sgonna turn into a hawk.
It's so cool and it's gotmatthew broderick, it's so good,
(36:23):
and I'm geeking out, right.
And they're like what the fuckis this music?
What is happening?
This is dreadful and I'm like,I'm like, but can you just get
past the music and just keepwatching, yeah.
So they firmly believe if youcould just like cut out the
(36:43):
music or like put other justgeneric or you know soundtrack
behind it, they would like themovie.
But they couldn't get past it.
It was very sad.
Oh, that's unfortunate, butthat I mean that movie.
You got Matthew Broderick, yougot Michelle Pfeiffer at her
utterly stunning-est-est.
Lesley (36:57):
Yes, she's always gorgeous, gorgeous, so young, so
beautiful.
So beautiful.
Megan (37:02):
And then Rucker Howard.
Lesley (37:03):
Yes, we were talking about Rucker Howard earlier
Deadly deadly guy.
Megan (37:08):
So great movie, that one I love it.
Lesley (37:12):
I love the role of insane prisoner.
Yeah, I just saw that in thecast list Insane prisoner Insane
prisoner there is.
There's a guy Good luck, insaneprisoner, and he rhymes, if I
recall correctly.
So yeah, so Ladyhawk's greatand yes you mentioned
Beastmaster, BeastmasterStarring oh Mark Singer, Mark
(37:35):
Singer Of later V.
Megan (37:38):
V, not V for Vendetta, not V for Vendetta, not V for
Vendetta, but V.
Lesley (37:41):
Phenomenal film the lizard alien people thing.
Megan (37:45):
Alien invasion so good.
So Beastmaster TV show right itwas.
I think it was a TV show on top.
It was like a TV show spinoffof the movie.
Lesley (37:56):
Oh, I believe you.
Yeah, yeah, sure, you soundlike you're an expert.
Are you a gen expert, not anexpert?
Megan (38:03):
I am in this, yes.
Lesley (38:05):
I love it.
Megan (38:05):
Beastmaster.
He had ferrets.
Lesley (38:08):
Oh, I do remember the ferrets.
Megan (38:09):
He had a hawk, he had a nemesis, he should have gotten
together with Mighty Isis.
She also controlled a lot ofbeasts they could have hung out.
Wow, john Amos is in it, aslike his bud, so like the dad
from Good Times, oh.
Lesley (38:29):
In case you need a reference Right.
Yes, there you go, my golly.
Look at that.
Megan (38:36):
And Mark Singer really wasn't wearing much in that
movie.
Lesley (38:40):
No, you know, we talk about women being objectified.
It must have been really achallenge to act in that belt.
Megan (38:48):
It was breezy that he had on there it was probably a
little breezy and he's fullygrabbing ass.
Yeah, he is, we romanticizebizarre things in our culture.
Lesley (38:58):
I freaking love that movie, though it is yeah, we
really we romanticize bizarrethings in our culture.
I freaking love that movie,though it is so good and it's
not about reality, it is fullyabout the fantasy Absolutely.
Megan (39:11):
And the fact that his nemesis in this movie was Rip
Torn just absolutely kills me.
Well, he's super evil.
Freaking Rip Torn.
There's Max who went later onin in uh, men in black the names
were not complex dar kiri max,max the bad guy was the bad guy.
Lesley (39:34):
We're gonna keep this simple.
Yeah, fantastic, so there werethese.
All of these are live action,right?
Yes, actors, yeah, real humanbeings doing things.
But we had cartoons runningaround stuff too.
We did what cartoons do youremember?
Megan (39:53):
I remember um the herculoids, do you remember them
?
So they were originally in the60s.
I think it was like the mid tolate 60s were the Herculoids Got
you.
Lesley (40:06):
Oh yeah, oh yeah, for sure, yeah I had to pull up a
picture.
I do remember them.
Megan (40:10):
And so it was a family and they had like a these little
dudes.
Lesley (40:14):
These little-.
Megan (40:14):
Smoo-sh, smoo-sh, I think they're called smooth.
Lesley (40:18):
The names of the Herculoids on a planet Amzat,
renamed Quasar in the revivalbecause Amzat had been
trademarked.
I don't know that that's true.
Megan (40:47):
their giant pets, laser, dragon, zok, space rhinoceros,
tundra, yep rock, ape, igoo andthe shape-shifting duo gloop and
gleep to keep their planet safefrom invaders.
Yep so they were theyoriginally like mid-60s and then
they did have a reboot which Ithink was aired kind of at the
same time as space ghost.
Oh, I think they were all likein the same era, yeah, okay so
(41:11):
yeah, so you had the herculoids,then you had thundar, the
barbarian, do you?
Lesley (41:15):
remember thundar, I do remember, and he had his like
lightning sword um.
Thundar was freaking awesome asa cartoon yep, there is a space
ghost herculoids fandom, yep,uh, and a whole wiki.
It's pretty awesome.
Man, this is like a we'rescraping the memory banks here,
(41:36):
ready, ready for some dumbtrivia I am always ready for
dumb trivia.
All right, bring it.
Megan (41:41):
Thundar the Barbarian.
The cartoon yes, ma'am.
Was canceled, even though itwas super popular and people
loved it.
It was canceled to make roomfor wait for it.
Lesley (41:54):
Laverne and Shirley oh, I have really mixed feelings
about that.
Megan (42:00):
I know, I know you shit can Thundar, thunder the
barbarian for laverne andshirley, I know I don't know how
it tracks fair I know, I don'teven know how like in a in your
tv lineup that makes any sense.
That's what I was wondering,but it, yeah.
I read that last night and Iwas like wait, what now?
Lesley (42:18):
dumb trivia but under the barbarian, laverne and sh
Barbarian Laverne and Shirley.
What if Laverne and Shirleywere the Herculoids Like that?
Megan (42:28):
mashup.
Lesley (42:29):
I don't even know they're like running with Lenny
and Squeaky on a planet in space.
Megan (42:34):
Gleep and glip.
Yeah, lenny and Squeaky.
Lesley (42:37):
Bottling beer and trying to escape from alien invaders
in Milwaukee Could happen.
Megan (42:49):
You missed a good one.
Lesley (42:51):
What did we forget?
Megan (42:52):
I mean many things Dragon.
Lesley (42:53):
Slayer oh fuck yeah.
Yes, of course my Christ.
Megan (42:59):
Dragon Slayer.
Okay, let's bring this one up,so also a 1981 film.
Oh okay, yeah, so this moviedragon slayer is a 1981 american
dark fantasy film.
Yes, okay, yeah, directed bymatthew robbins from a
screenplay he co-wrote.
Yes.
(43:20):
They're going to get likemunched on.
So Dragon Slayer.
The special effects for thatparticular movie were created at
Industrial Light and Magic.
Lesley (43:32):
So the Star Wars in the Star Wars world Nice.
Megan (43:36):
Yeah, um yeah.
The plot basically a?
Uh, urland, a sixth centurykingdom near the river ur, is
being terrorized by viramvirithrax prorogative, a 400
year old dragon.
And to appease him, the kingoffers its virgin girls,
(43:57):
selected by lottery twice a year.
Lesley (43:59):
That's what I remember.
They're like tied to the rock.
Megan (44:01):
Mm-hmm.
Lesley (44:02):
And he has to like, rescue them.
They're going to get munched.
Megan (44:05):
Yeah, yeah.
So an expedition led by thehero, a young man seeking help
and who seeks help from the lastsorcerer, ulrich.
Lesley (44:16):
Yeah, this one we might have to watch again.
Megan (44:18):
Yeah, I feel like this is Pretty fantastic.
Yeah, this one you might haveto watch again.
Lesley (44:20):
Yeah, I feel like this is pretty fantastic.
Megan (44:21):
There's some great dragon action in this one, isn't
there?
Lesley (44:25):
there is great great dragon action so you think about
these dragons compared to likeuh, all the words are gone out
of my brain house of dragonsyeah, very different, thank you
very different.
We've come a bit, a bit of away.
Yes, I remember this.
There you go.
She's not on rock, she's tiedto a post, she's gonna be dinner
(44:48):
do you remember?
Megan (44:51):
this is a later movie, okay, but speaking of dragons, I
had this just moment of likewait.
There was a movie with dragonsand sean connery and it was
dragon heart and it came out in1996.
So I had to google that realfast and I just googled dragon,
sean connery and it popped rightup.
Lesley (45:11):
I don't remember that one.
I didn't watch it.
That doesn't mean anything youshould.
Megan (45:14):
You should watch that.
I should go back.
Lesley (45:16):
Yeah, I would watch dragon heart so what do we think
is important about this genre-ofilm?
Megan (45:22):
Well, I think it really does boil down to this need for
escapism, even as a kid, thisinterest at least for me, it was
this interest in something thatwas so fantastical, absolutely.
It's not something that you sawevery day.
And as a little girl I wasn'tinto cars, I wasn't into stuff
(45:44):
like that.
I was into heroes and fantasyand dragons and flying horses
and all of this magic and stuffthat still to this day I hang on
to, absolutely hang on to thefantastic role nature of it.
How about you?
Lesley (46:03):
Probably similar.
I mean there's the hero story.
You know, often these storiesare someone who comes from
nothing or is like unsuspectingor not necessarily kind of the
anti-hero that rises to theoccasion and then overcomes
great evil.
Right, we all need a lot ofthat in our lives.
And then just the fancy, themagic mythology, anything that
(46:25):
kind of ties us back to storiesthat give us kind of meaning and
agency in our lives in the faceof you know, inescapable odds
or overwhelming evil.
I mean, the story arcs aresimilarly reflected, like in all
the star wars films, right, so,and we, we need that, you know
(46:48):
something to hang on in thatparticular way.
Yeah, um, and then the effects.
Separately from that, I think,the development of being able to
see creatures and mythology outof books that we would have
read as kids or read in school.
To see that play out on thescreen right with live actors is
(47:10):
, I mean, that's movie magicright it brings it to life and
you're like oh wait, you know ifmark singer can have two pet
ferrets that he controls?
right you know, can't, I can't I, if harry hamlin can fly on a
pegasus, can't I do that youknow and that movie magic and
the willing suspension ofdisbelief when we enter into
(47:32):
contract with watching a film iswhat makes it so.
Yeah, it's fun important fun Ithink fun, fun, and your
daughter was not able to engagein a willing suspension of
disbelief because of the musicbecause of the music yeah, she
was, and that's okay.
Megan (47:54):
and alan parsons, to be fair, has its place, fuck yeah.
Lesley (47:59):
Absolutely Of a generation.
Yeah, I mean, he is the eye inthe sky Looking at you.
Megan (48:05):
That's right.
Lesley (48:09):
You have been listening to Gen X.
Women Are Sick of this Shit.
Hey Megan, hey Leslie, what dopeople do if they want to find
us?
Megan (48:18):
Well, we have a website that people can find us on, and
that is GenXWomenPodcom.
We also have a Facebook page.
We have an Instagram account aswell.
We have a YouTube account,where we put YouTube shorts and
other little tidbits up there.
We have a TikTok account.
Lesley (48:39):
I don't talk the dick or tick the tock.
Megan (48:41):
You don't tick the tock, I barely talk the tick.
But I did put a TikTok up.
We're explaining the internetto people again.
That's okay though.
Lesley (48:50):
It's great.
We need to know how theinternet works.
Megan (48:53):
Can people buy merch?
They absolutely can.
We have a merch store on thewebsite itself, and we also have
an Etsy store too, which ispretty easy to find.
It's just Gen X Women on Etsy.
Lesley (49:06):
And if you are listening to this podcast, presumably you
found it somewhere.
And while you're there, give usa review.
Yeah.
Megan (49:15):
Let us know what you think.
Throw some stars at us, that'dbe great.
We'll take one, two, three,four or five, ooh, five, maybe
ten.
And also make sure that you arehitting subscribe so that
you're notified whenever a newepisode drops.
Lesley (49:29):
Most important.
Megan (49:30):
We also have a five minutes of fame that I think we
should tell people about too.
Lesley (49:34):
Hell, yes, we want to know your stories, your five
minutes of fame stories.
You can send those stories inon the website or you can call
1-888 GEN-X-POD and leave yourstory for us and we will play it
live in our next episode.
Megan (49:51):
We'll listen to it on a little red phone, just like
Batman.
Lesley (49:55):
That'd be cool.
Let's get a bad phone A badphone.
I think that's it.
I think you're right.
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