Baconsale: Hickory-smoked Pop Culture

It only took 400 episodes, but Baconsale is finally doing an episode all about The Beatles! Joel is riding on a Beatles high (NOT the kind that involves greener grass or fungus) and would happily talk Eight Days a Week about The Fab Four. Zack is Across the Universe on the opposite side of Beatlemania and was yelling “Help!” as he had to listen to all of their albums. Kent is Something in the middle, and prefers the darker, experimental side of John, Paul, George, and Ringo. However, despite our differences, We Can Work It Out as we take The Long and Winding Road of discussing the history of the band. Then we’ll Come Together to reveal our bottom five and top five songs from the best-selling music act of all time.   All you need is to press play to hear the biggest hits of Yesterday.

It’s time for Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 to face the music. Joel and Kent saw this delayed conclusion to the GotG trilogy and they’re ready to review it and talk about their feelings for Peter Quill, Gamora, Drax, Groot, Rocket, Nebula, Mantis, and James Gunn. We’ll start off with our spoiler-free thoughts, and then we’ll warn you before we enter the spoiler quadrant. Since this film is darker and heavier than the previous two, will that make Kent like it more, since he, too, dwells in darkness? Will Joel be completely turned off by this MCU movie’s “accomplishment”? Can this franchise stand on its own? And how’s the soundtrack?   You’ll hear all this and more by pressing play and listening to Baconsale’s review of Guardians 3.

Even though the weather might not agree, it seems that the summer season is upon us, and Baconsale is ready to guide you through the cinematic forecast. Joel and Kent have looked forward at Hollywood’s upcoming offerings and will let you know five movies they want to avoid followed by five films they would like to see. Although, to be honest, Kent is only really excited for three of his five picks. And while Joel hopes his choices will fail, Kent definitively knows his films are going to flop. Join us as we unleash our inner-dad hype and speak about sequels, rant about remakes, and babble about Barbie.   Now that release dates are somewhat reliable again (with the exception of the DCEU), it’s time for you press play!

Ladies and gentlemen, this is your podcast speaking. We’d like to thank you for joining Baconsale on this journey through the sometimes-friendly skies. Kent, Joel, and Zack are prepared to discuss proper behavior when arriving at the airport, waiting for your flight, boarding the plane, magically flying through the sky, and eventually deplaning. As we present both our proposed rules and the listener’s suggestions, we’ll decide whether they’re cleared for takeoff, experiencing some turbulence, or if they’re grounded. And as we set the ground rules for the air travel, we’ll reveal some shocking truths about ourselves, including the little-known fact that Kent is tall.   Please put your tray tables up, return your and seat backs to their full upright & locked position, and press play.

Now that Chad has The Listener victory trophy securely in his hands, it’s time for him, Taylor, and Briggs to see if they can go toe-to-toe with Baconsale’s Team JK, who are still undefeated (at a board game called Time’s Up). And since Joel and Kent weren’t able to answer any questions during the recent anniversary show episode, they’re itching to hit their buzzers as quickly as possible. However, for reasons only known to them, they have to hold a finger boop to give their official responses.   Press play to hear us guess translated movie titles, answer A.I.-generated questions, and accuse each other of cheating.

Look, if we would have waited for the 400th episode to do our anniversary show, it would have been pushed into mid-May, and we want to keep this annual event near Baconsale’s birthday in April. So we’re celebrating our beginnings on our 397th episode with a pop culture trivia contest that pits three contestants against each other: Chad, the returning Listener; Taylor, who tinkers with tools; and our youngest voluntary listener, Briggs. Zack will host this quirky quiz show and question our guests about casual dining menu items, boy bands, sporting team names, horror film franchises, and, of course, Gilmore Girls. Kent will do his best not to give away answers to our guests, Joel just keeps gasping at everything, and we hope you have a good time listening to this ridiculous competition.   Who will come out victorious? Don’t wait until Tim Burton passes away to find out, press play!

Have you ever watched a TV series or movie where they celebrated a fictional holiday and you wanted to join in on the fun? That’s what we’re talking about on this episode of Baconsale. Joel, Kent, and Zack are taking a look at holidays made up by screenwriters such as Festivus, Galentine’s Day, Purge Night, Life Day, Chrismukkah, Robanukah & Yak Shaving Day and deciding whether or not they should be celebrated in real life. We’ll also discuss their origins, some traditions, and how best to observe these imaginary celebrations. Press play to help Kent figure out who his best friend is!

Okay, here’s the situation: Zack just got a fancy Aston Martin and he’s getting ready to go on a road trip to the SPAM Museum in Austin, Minnesota (obviously). However, he’s only got room for one passenger in his car, so one of the other two Baconsale hosts will have to stay behind. And Zack is going to make his decision on who he’s taking with him based solely on the snacks they’re providing for the journey. We asked you, the listener, for suggestions of the worst road trip food out there, and now it’s up to Joel and Kent to pick the best of the bad and see if they can persuade Zack to let them ride shotgun.   Press play to learn the fanciest way to pronounce pistachios.

Don’t touch that dial, listener, because Baconsale is ready to repeatedly hit the nostalgia button for everyone who was born before Zack was. Our friend Casey is joining us to talk about television series from the 1980s, and pick answers for such categories as Best Cartoon, Biggest Crush, Most Annoying Character, and Family You’d Want to Be In. Considering how many TV shows aired at least 50% of their episodes in the 80s, you’d think that we’d have little to no overlap, but we’re all a little surprised by how much we match each other.   Press play to hear Kent make mildly inappropriate robot noises.

We’ve debated about songs with similar titles before on Baconsale, but what about tunes with the exact same lyrics? On this episode, Joel, Kent & Zack are comparing popular cover songs to the original versions and deciding which one is better. These matchups will include such hits as “I Will Always Love You,” “Live and Let Die,” “I’m A Believer,” “Hurt,” “Always on My Mind,” and “Landslide.” There are also some triple-twin rounds where we’ll be choosing between three different artists. Yes, our decisions are very subjective, and our arguments vary from round to round, but hey, that’s Baconsale.   Press play to hear Joel insult Kent and Zack in multiple languages.

The 95th Academy Awards did their best to avoid any drama this year, and therefore the ratings surged to make it the third-lowest viewed broadcast in the ceremony’s history! Zack watched the whole bland thing, Kent struggled to find a place to stream it, and Joel just looked up the winners on Twitter. On this BaconBit, we’ll be discussing the swanky gift bags, inconsiderate dresses, what made Zack cry, stripped down performances, suspenderography and, of course, the winners of each category. We’ll also see who did best on their ballot and announce the winner of our Oscars contest!   Press play, Short Stack!

Our name is Baconsale. Our world is fire and blood. Which is why we’ve decided to create a bracket to see which action/adventure movie is the greatest of them all. You submitted the adrenaline-fueled films for this tournament, and now it’s up to us to cut your heart out with a spoon as we say “Hasta la vista” to most of your favorite flicks. But Joel, Kent & Zack ain’t got time to bleed. They must go faster as they try to complete this competition in one shot. And even though we know some of our decisions will make you want to have your vengeance, in this life or the next, just know that there’s some good in this episode, listener, and it’s worth fighting for.   Welcome to the party, pal! Press play, and we’ll show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.   And visit Baconsale.com to print the official bracket for this action movie tournament.

Well, it’s Oscar season…again. The Academy is trying really hard to get people interested this year by nominating some huge box office successes, but do popcorn flicks & comedies really have a chance of winning? We’re going to speculate on that while making predictions for each of the 23 award categories on this episode of Baconsale. And with Golden Corral on the line for the winner of these golden statue forecasts, the stakes have never been higher. Zack plays the odds again, Joel tries to keep us sad (and not mad), Kent has fun with puns, and Angela Basset does the thing.   Will Elvis be king of the 95th Academy Awards? Will The Banshees of Inisherin make a lot of noise? Will it be All Quiet on the Western Front for epic war remakes? Will Everything Everywhere All At Once take it all? Press play to roll out the red carpet to your ears and find out.   And visit Baconsale.com to fill out our official ballot for the 2023 Oscars for your chance to win one of two prize options.

We’re keeping things positive on this episode as we revisit a well from five years ago and, once again, discuss underrated things. Some of the categories mirror our last overrated episode (e.g., condiment & sitcom character), some are Baconsale staples (movie villain & video game hero), and other ones are completely random (doughnut & over-the-counter drug). Joel, Kent, and Zack have a little difficulty distinguishing underrated from dated, we’ve got some hot takes to offer, and we’ll do our best to keep things entertaining as we question and sometimes mock each other’s undervalued answers.   Don’t take medical advice from Baconsale, but please press play!

To all who listen to this happy episode; welcome. Baconsale is your podcast. How do you do? Say it when you're meetin' Joel, Kent, and Zack. They’re going to tier 24 rides at Disneyland, going chronologically from opening day in 1955 to Indiana Jones in 1995. And it’s a small world after all, because these foolish mortals are joined by our friend Josh, a self-proclaimed Disneynerd. We’ve got a lot of magical memories comin’ down the track as we discuss our personal experiences with each ride at the park. We’ll also offer a peek at the backside of water as we share some interesting trivia about the attractions, expose Disney World snobbery, and showcase amazing Donald Duck impersonations.   Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho! Then press play.

Now that the third installment of Ant-Man is beginning the fifth phase of the MCU, we’re going to review it during our second BaconBit of the ninth season of Baconsale. Zack isn’t here, unfortunately, but Kent & Joel are ready to share their thoughts about Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Kent has been a little bitter about Ant-Man since Edgar Wright left the project, and this series hasn’t been one of Joel’s favorites, either, but will they be the tiniest bit impressed by the Quantum Realm? Listen to find out. And don’t worry, the first part of this review is free of spoilers.   Press play to discover who “he” is.

Will they? Won’t they? Yes, it looks like Baconsale is going to do an episode about love triangles. We’ve taken 14 of the most popular romances from film & TV to discuss whether the characters made the right decisions, if they should have chosen the one that got away, or if they should have ended up alone. There are going to be a few spoilers as we talk about older television shows and movies, but we hope you enjoy our arguments about age differences, our sentiments about stalkers, and our reactions to relationships. Prepare yourself for a lot of emotional gear shifting as we go from silly romantic comedies to dark dramas to sitcoms, but remember that the one constant in all this madness is love.   Don’t be a puppy kicker. Press play!

Listen, listener, it’s too difficult to decide what our top five favorite albums are, and a top 10 would just take too long. Therefore, on this episode of Baconsale, we’re each picking seven albums that we love. These aren’t songs that we put on shuffle, we enjoy these musical collections track by track, in the order they were intended to play. Kent is ready to showcase his hipster side, but he’s including some self-proclaimed bangers. Meanwhile, Zack & Joel are largely giving stage crew picks—Zack’s are in chronological order, and Joel’s are largely influenced by his sister. We hope you enjoy hearing our memories of music as much as we enjoyed sharing them.   Press play to hear our sneaky honorable mentions.

Get those noses high in the air, listener, because we’re talking Sundance again. Our friend, Emily, is joining us to talk about the record number of movies she and Kent watched this year. And guess what? Almost 30% of them were good this season! Listen to Kent & Emily’s hive-mind thoughts as they talk to you about Talk to Me, relate the story of Flora and Son, reminisce about Past Lives, condemn Bad Behavior, and civilly discuss Polite Society.   Press play to be the first people to hear this BaconBit about being the first people to see these films.

It’s been a few years since we last asked, "What Would Baconsale Do?" However, we’ve decided to enter the realm of random mental insights again, this time with Zack at the helm. He’s going to ask Kent & Joel a series of questions about genies, aliens, shopping carts, and more. Zack is also going to present some serious moral quandaries, some of which were generated by artificial intelligence. We hope you enjoy this bizarre episode as we discuss Return of Jafar, the destruction of Portland, purring when we’re happy, losing fingers, knives & duct tape, and a handful of positive affirmations.   Aunt Celery says press play!