Make Me A Nerd with Mandy Kaplan Podcast Por TruStory FM arte de portada

Make Me A Nerd with Mandy Kaplan

Make Me A Nerd with Mandy Kaplan

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Hey folks. Mandy Kaplan here. I’d like to share a bit about my intentions and mission for MMAN if you’ll indulge me. You will? Huzzah!

Look, I am a lot of things. I’m a writer, actress, mother, and lover of musicals and cats, but NOT Cats, The Musical. Give me a little bit of credit, would ya? So...throughout my life, I’ve been surrounded (and intrigued) by all things nerd. A sister who plays D&D, a Star Wars-obsessed husband, friends who love anime, comic books, video games, and...well, you get the picture. Somehow, I have always held it all at arm's length. Not to get too deep, but maybe I never thought I was smart enough to follow it. Or maybe I have control issues and have never been able to embrace fantastical things like dragons and time travel. Until now!

So, with an open mind and heart, I am ready to join this massive (and beautifully inclusive) club and GEEK THE #%$ OUT! It’s time for all my wonderfully strange friends to baptize me into NERD-DOM. Please join me on this journey. Who knows? Maybe you’ll discover or remember a side of yourself along the way. Or at least make fun of me as I try!© TruStory FM Arte Ciencias Sociales
Episodios
  • The Big Lebowski with David Isser

    The Big Lebowski with David Isser
    Jan 12 2026
    Mandy Kaplan continues her slow, deliberate march into Nerd Territory by taking on one of the most sacred cows in cult-movie history: The Big Lebowski. Joining her is editor, bookstore owner, and self-described “hobbyist nerd” David Isser, who arrives armed with deep affection for the film, a working knowledge of Raymond Chandler, and a willingness to calmly explain why a movie that makes Mandy deeply uncomfortable has inspired conventions, philosophies, and a small but devoted bowling-industrial complex.What follows is less a review and more a thoughtful standoff. Mandy interrogates the film’s aggressively masculine energy, its simmering threat of violence, and its unapologetic embrace of pointlessness. David counters with rewatchability, linguistic rhythm, cinematography, and the Coen brothers’ fondness for rich worlds that don’t care whether you understand them. Along the way, they detour through David Mamet dialogue patterns, noir tropes, Busby Berkeley hallucinations, and Mandy’s firm belief that unwrapping a Russian nesting doll should eventually reveal something.This episode isn’t about convincing Mandy to love The Big Lebowski. It’s about understanding why some art invites obsessive devotion, why other art quietly asks you to leave, and why both reactions are completely valid—even if one of them involves licking a bowling ball.Make Me a Nerd:
    • Website: makemeanerd.com/join
    • Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens
    • TikTok & Bluesky: @mandymiscast

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    59 m
  • Xanadu with Jonas Vail

    Xanadu with Jonas Vail
    Jan 5 2026
    This week on Make Me A Nerd, Mandy Kaplan bravely roller-skates into the glittery fever dream that is Xanadu, joined by writer, brand strategist, and lifelong apologist for questionable cinema, Jonas Vail. Jonas has loved Xanadu since kindergarten.What follows is a spirited interrogation of how a movie with no functional script, no clear protagonist goals, and no apparent understanding of what a musical is managed to spawn multiple chart-topping hits, a Broadway redemption arc, and the literal invention of the Razzies. Mandy presses the case against the film with surgical precision: Olivia Newton-John as a confused hostage, Michael Beck as a charisma vacuum in roller skates, and a plot that appears to have been assembled by shuffling index cards in a wind tunnel.Jonas, to his credit, does not deny any of this. Instead, he offers nostalgia, vibes, and the radical proposition that Xanadu only works if you stop asking it to work. Together, they unpack the soundtrack’s undeniable greatness, Gene Kelly’s astonishing late-career charm, and the deeply suspicious decision to let Olivia sing entire numbers while not physically appearing anywhere near them.Along the way, they stumble into bigger questions: Is Xanadu secretly a proto-MTV artifact? Is the animated sequence the movie’s only sex scene? And how did a roller-disco fantasy with zero internal logic influence everything from Back to the Future to Janet Jackson choreography? It’s messy, affectionate, occasionally unhinged—and somehow ends with a sincere defense of dreams, disco, and donuts-for-dinner cinema.Make Me a Nerd:
    • Website: makemeanerd.com/join
    • Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens
    • TikTok & Bluesky: @mandymiscast

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    57 m
  • Veronica Mars with Sloan Just

    Veronica Mars with Sloan Just
    Dec 22 2025
    Mandy brings on longtime friend Sloan Just—former Broadway performer, professional quote-reciter, and unapologetic teen-drama connoisseur—to finally introduce her to Veronica Mars. Somehow, Mandy has made it through adulthood without seeing a single minute of the show, which feels as statistically likely as living in New York City and never seeing a pigeon.They start with the pilot and immediately collide with the thing Veronica Mars does better than most shows: it looks light, talks fast, and then suddenly gets very serious without asking permission. One minute you’re watching a snarky teenager rescue a kid from a flagpole; the next, you’re dealing with sexual assault, class warfare, and a town that runs on cruelty. Mandy and Sloan talk about how the show uses voiceover not as a gimmick, but as a survival tool—and why Kristen Bell is doing far more work here than the genre usually demands.From there, they hop around the series rather than marching through it, landing on episodes that show the show’s range: tight mystery-of-the-week plotting, long-game emotional damage, and a frankly impressive roster of guest stars who all seem to understand the assignment. Mandy struggles—loudly—with the Logan Eccles problem, while Sloan argues that the show’s greatest strength might be its refusal to make anyone simple or comfortable to root for.They spend time with the darker turns too: the way trauma is revisited rather than solved, the messiness of memory, and how often Veronica is wrong, scared, or in over her head.They wrap up with the movie, fan devotion, and the strange satisfaction of reunions—seeing who people became, who didn’t change, and who carried the same damage into adulthood. Along the way there are detours into noir tropes, aging brains, and the kind of pop-culture shorthand that only old friends can get away with. Mandy may not emerge a full marshmallow, but she absolutely gets why so many people still are.Make Me a Nerd:
    • Website: makemeanerd.com/join
    • Instagram: @mandy_kaplan_klavens
    • TikTok & Bluesky: @mandymiscast

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    Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.
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    1 h y 6 m
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