The Macademia Nuts

This week, Alec and David are forced to record sans Lindsey due to Lindsey’s service commitments, though Alec makes an accusation involving Mardi Gras. This leads to a discussion of class attendance policies and changes to the classroom after COVID-19. The Nuts dissect how Zoom was able to become the dominant streaming meeting brand over Skype. The weekly media consumption discussion focuses on Only Murders in the Building and the ...

The NFL championship was this week, and without fail the Macademia Nuts have opinions. Everything was fair game, including the halftime show, the game itself, and – of course – the commercials. The Nuts imagine who would be involved in the greatest halftime show ever. David argues Alec’s and Lindsey’s tastes when recommending the series Legend of Vox Machina. A discussion of the fate of Rick and Morty turns into a more serious disc...

This week, the Nuts talk about the Oscar nomination controversy surrounding Andrea Riseborough, which leads to a larger conversation about how technology rules typically trail technology innovation. David watched the much-maligned series Velma so the rest of us don’t have to. Other topics include the streaming show Poker Face, streaming movies You People and Vengeance, and the debate over whether or not a hot dog is a sandwich. The...

The Oscar nominations are out, and the Macademia Nuts have opinions. The Nuts discuss the frontrunners, and Alec proposes a theory based on the success of last year’s best picture winner and Apple TV’s new commercial starring Timothy Chalamet. David provides his parameters for eating crow on Avatar 2’s box office success. Weekly viewing discussions include Willow, Mayfair Witches, The Last of Us, and the critical and popular failur...

The new season and new year of the Macademia Nuts podcast begins! The Nuts discuss their holiday adventures and the pending semester. Other topics include the Golden Globes, David’s Avatar 2 prediction, and the challenges faced by movie theaters. Will the end of the superhero fad signal the end of moviegoing as we know it? This leads David to discuss his obsession with a terrible network television show.  The team discusses holiday...

Alec proposes a new podcast introduction as written by ChatGPT, a new AI writing tool. The Nuts discuss the implications of AI for college assignments and writing, in general. The Nuts evaluate their weekly viewing, including Andor and Wednesday, which somehow devolves into a discussion of the War of 1812. The Nuts rely on ChatGPT to resolve all conflicts in the episode. A discussion of the new Christmas movie Spirited becomes live...

This week, the Macademia Nuts make bets on whether or not Avatar 2 will recoup its outlandish budget, and its potential impact on the recent replacement of Disney C.E.O. Bob Chapek by former C.E.O. Robert Iger. The Nuts dissect a flurry of recently available movie trailers, with too much attention given to Cocaine Bear. Other topics include Timothy Chalamet in cannibalism movies, and Kanye West’s bizarre interview with Alex Jones.

A discussion of professorly expectations and schedules around the holidays somehow leads the Macademia Nuts to defend Nickelback, for some reason. This leads to a larger discussion of 90s music and the “post-grunge” era. The Nuts consider which artists are the Nickelback of other genres. Highlights of the episode include the Eddie Vedder impressions. Finally, the conversation turns to Twitter, and projections for the future of the ...

Somehow, Lindsey and Alec’s overeagerness for the Christmas season dominates the conversation, despite the fact that we have not yet reached Thanksgiving. David reveals his distaste for Christmas due to growing up on a Christmas Tree farm. This leads to a fantastic brainstorm of a Hallmark-style Christmas movie based on David’s childhood. Favorite Christmas movies are discussed, and Die Hard’s status as a Christmas movie is now aca...

The Nuts begin the episode with brief discussions of Lindsey’s collegiate sports alliances, Kanye’s collapse, and the fresh reality of Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter. A discussion of the Lord of the Rings franchise leads to some unique ideas regarding adult versions of children’s properties. Finally, the Nuts break down the streaming landscape and the challenges of finding an audience, before being interrupted by the breaking news...

A headline about the Disney+ release of Hocus Pocus 2 prompts the nuts to dive head-first into the argument that movies released on streaming are the same as videos that went straight to VHS in the 1990s. This leads to a larger conversation about the future of video formats, and how many of the differences are industry-defined, not audience defined. Naturally, the Air Bud Cinematic Universe is proposed. Finally, David and Lindsey h...

This week the Nuts discuss the passing of the United Kingdom’s Queen Elizabeth, and its implications for the media, diplomacy, and global politics. David shares a recent academic nightmare, which leads to a discussion of academic loyalties when you have too many institutional affiliations. Finally a discussion of adult animation and the recent moral panic surrounding the FX show “Little Demon” leads the Nuts down a rabbit hole of a...

Lindsey is unable to join the podcast, which prompts many apologies from David and Alec, who somehow spend an hour talking about subjects they admit would be better discussed were Lindsey available. David professes his love for space, and Alec promises an exciting future episode that will probably never happen. The conversation turns to the new Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power series on Amazon Prime, which leads to an analysis...

Alec begins the podcast by announcing he will now be known as “Bear” in honor of the Hulu show. The Nuts discuss the new Games of Thrones prequel, House of the Dragon, and then move on to less controversial topics, like student loan forgiveness. Professorial approaches to the first week of class are examined, as is the wildfire that is the DC Universe at Warner Bros. Discovery. The Nuts return to the discussion of college conferenc...

This week the Nuts discuss all that happened at this year’s AEJMC conference, including just a little bit of what actually happened at the conference. Topics included Detroit and its cuisine, the GM Renaissance Center, the Netflix shows consumed while at the conference, including the new Woodstock ‘99 documentary, and finally, what actually happened at the conference itself. David introduces the three questions that tell you all yo...

This week’s episode covers a lot of ground, including anticipation of the new Lord of the Rings series among other Comic Con revelations and controversies. The Nuts dissect concerns over Rated R content on Disney+, with a lot of amazing parenting advice. A discussion of deceased entertainment figures becomes emotional. Finally, the Nuts inventory their streaming subscriptions as they come face-to-face with the overwhelming volume o...