Episodes

  • Episode #41 - Not Sponsored By

    Episode #41 - Not Sponsored By
    Dec 31 2021
    It's our Not About The Weather 2021 retrospective, and we are going all-in with our biggest pop culture hype and gripe of the year. Ariana, Brittany, Natalie and Karen are all here to decompress. Ted Lasso and Mythic Quest are both heavily featured, with a shout out to Dickinson as well. No, we are not shills for Apple, yes we will become so if ever they want us to be. That platform is creating a lot of great work right now. Ariana takes us through her hype regarding this year's wonderful coming of age portrayals for teenage girls, and Brittany rekindles her long-lost experience with live music. In terms of gripes, we have a powerful and wide ranging slate of things to complain about. Brittany is concerned that America's sweetheart Steve Kornacki is being used and abused as a gimmick (Let Steve Be Steve!) and Karen is disappointed by the Melissa McCarthy movie Thunder Force, which should have been brilliant but just... wasn't. Natalie feels that while the final season of Brooklyn 99 was, in many ways, very meaningful and very conscious, it betrayed Jake Peralta at the close, and Ariana simply feels that the way people engage in fandom just isn't fun any more. As well as our year-end hypes and gripes, the group reflects on their experience of 2021 at work and at home, and assesses whether this year was, at the end of the day, a good or bad one for them personally. Results are mixed. And a great Question of the Day sparks a fantastic discussion about all the performers who shone for us this year like never before. Be sure to stay tuned for the post credits addition. ("Nooooooooowen Wilson.") Congrats to COVID-19 on its season 3 renewal and we'll see you next year! #ANA - Ask NATW Anything: “What established actor/writer/creator most surprised you this year with their new work?” Resources/Recommendations: Explaining Subjectify on Not About The Weather Episode 37 Natalie's interview with James Lance, aka Trent Crimm, The Independent Natalie's Throwback Review of Brett Goldstein's movie 'SuperBob' Brett Goldstein's extra nice tweet about the review Films to be Buried With on Spotify and Apple The Killers Instagram Live videos - saved on YouTube 'The Lost City' - Official Trailer subjectifymedia.com @subjectifymedia on Twitter Subjectify Media on Instagram Subjectify Media on Facebook Subjectify Media on Tumblr This episode’s hosts are: Brittany Lovely, Natalie Fisher, Karen Rought, and Ariana Quiñónez. Not About The Weather skips the small talk to engage audiences with passionate, personal, in-depth discussion regarding the world of storytelling and entertainment. Featuring conversation, commentary and interviews with the Not About The Weather team and our special guests from all walks of life about whatever’s got us fired up this week, be it movies, music, memes, TV, theatre, books, baked goods or bad days at the office. This podcast is the first general-interest, personality-based discussion show from a group of podcast hosts formerly dedicated to covering specific properties with a singular focus. In each episode, our Not About The Weather hosts and their guests will bring an obsession to share and a grievance to air from the their experiences in the world of pop culture, fandom, or sometimes, just plain old life. Follow Us: Twitter // Instagram // Tumblr // Facebook Listen and Subscribe: Audioboom // Apple // Spotify // Stitcher // Google // Amazon Feel free to leave us your questions or comments through any of these mediums! You can also email us at notabouttheweather@gmail.com or visit our homepage for archives and more information about our show.  Not About The Weather is a Subjectify Media podcast production. Visit Subjectify Media for more shows, including Prophecy Radio, Not Another Teen Wolf Podcast , and ReWatchable, and for all our latest articles about the stories we're passionate about.
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    3 hrs and 11 mins
  • Episode #39 - Spiritually, We Might Still Be There

    Episode #39 - Spiritually, We Might Still Be There
    Nov 18 2021
    It’s the Supernatural Finale Anniversary Special! Natalie and Cass are joined by Liliana, host of the Supernatural podcast St Alphonso's Academy of Squee and recent guest contributor here on Subjectify, to talk about the Supernatural series finale, and what the hell has happened since, a year after it all ended. Join us for a very special and very long celebration slash mourning slash something as we hype and gripe the demise of the show, air our worries about what’s become of the fandom, and beg the cast and crew to just be normal about gay people. These shownotes are going to have a bit of a different structure to our usual here on Not About The Weather, for three reasons: a) this is an extremely long episode, b) it's probably going to be listened to by people other than our normal audience, and c) there may be parts that you want to hear and parts that you don't. So for the first time ever, we're including a detailed list of time stamps. We respect that some fans do not want to engage with any positivity about the Supernatural finale, however Not About The Weather is always structured to include both a "Hype" and "Gripe" from each host about their topic of choice, and, although no one here loves the finale, all the hosts on this episode have tried to take it in good faith. If you don't want to listen to our finale-related hypes - especially if you are triggered by Dean's death - that is all good. We don't really talk about it in detail, but everyone on this episode does accept that plot point as well as the Heaven endgame. We'd appreciate it if you keep things civil and don't come for our throats about the fact we don't have a moral objection to it. Just feel free to skip straight to 1 hour 30 mins to hear our grievances - that's where stuff starts getting really passionate, particularly the 45 minute segment griping about the attitude shift to "interpret" Castiel's queerness away. Good times. Here's the detailed breakdown by time stamp: 0m 30s - Introduction of hosts. 6m 53s - We recap the plot of the Supernatural finale in the off chance any listeners haven't seen it. 11m 40s - Most people we know hate the finale very badly, and wanted or were expecting a happier ending where everyone lives a good life finally free of Chuck. We agree this was a very desirable ending, however, we do not hate the finale as much as some people do - in part because we were anticipated something much worse. We check in on how Liliana is feeling about it these days. 15m 21s - We get the aim of Dean's death, but we don't have to like it. But we all agree that Sam's ending was possibly the worst of them all, just in terms of what it implied about his character's personality and growth and decency and all that. Even though they died, Dean and Cas both felt landed and whole, as characters. Sam's ending was just depressing. 20m 55s - Even though that she didn't expect it to happen, Natalie believes that after 15 years, the show definitely could have gotten away with a happier ending while still remaining authentic to the Winchesters' journey, but we suspect that, for whatever reason, the powers that be just did not see a happier ending as truthful to what Supernatural is all about, despite the characters having earned it. 24m 59s But surprisingly, the finale was still a happier ending than Cass and Natalie expected. Regarding Castiel in particular, the bar was on the floor - we believed Misha wasn't coming back, and we were expecting a cruel, tragic utter lack of resolution that implied he would be stuck in the Empty having trauma dreams forever. Hypes 28m 50s - The overall Chuck as the writer villain plot and how it has recolored the whole show from the very beginning. The best thing about the Chuck twist was that it gave us, as viewers, a whole new show. Supernatural, from day one, is a brand new experience, knowing the truth about Chuck, and it makes the whole thing that much better. Is there a chance that Ben Edlund had this idea in mind way back in the day? 46m 30s - The redux, repair and freeing of Heaven as seen in the finale. Over the years, we weren't sure if the show was aware of how messed up their version of Heaven was, but setting it right or changing what happens to human souls after they die was a huge priority for us as fans, because no matter whether we saw the boys die or not in the finale, they are human and will one day eventually die. We support that the finale showed us this, and feel we wouldn't have trusted it if it wasn't via Dean. We really hope that fandom will get interested in exploring more Heaven-based fic sometime soon. 1hr 11m 25s - The fact that so many former SPN cast members and writers are killing it in their careers - it’s been a joy to watch because of course it’s a huge group after 15 years, but a lot of them are reaching new heights (Kathryn & Shoshannah with Marvel, J2’s shows, Misha’s many pursuits, Ruthie & Mark S on Doom Patrol, ...
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    3 hrs and 31 mins
  • Episode #38 - Bon Appétit

    Episode #38 - Bon Appétit
    Nov 5 2021
    You all saw that video of Daniel Radcliffe, right? Ariana is in love with the man due to the unusual anthology series Miracle Workers, and tells us all about the potential link between each unrelated season. Having fallen down a DanRad hole, the only issue is that he hasn’t yet claimed his throne as a romcom prince. If you’re in the mood for a cozy mystery, Natalie can't recommend Only Murders in the Building highly enough as a major hype of fall TV, and Only Murders was Brittany’s hype too, until she got some big news about her favorite musical of all time.  That's right, it's time for Brittany to scream about Groundhog Day, and if you haven't ever heard her do this before, you're in for a real treat. Her gripe, however, is a pretty serious one, as she shares some personal work-life balance issues that have made her turn pleasurable hobbies into a form of work, creating guilt for taking time out to watch or read literally anything. On a lighter note, Natalie is griping about both her consistent hyperfixation with every show's brattiest, nastiest sad boy (some of the greatest hits include Thomas Barrow from Downton Abbey, Jackson Whittemore from Teen Wolf, Yuri Plisetsky from Yuri on Ice, Ben Gross from Never Have I Ever, and, most recently and powerfully, Jamie Tartt from Ted Lasso) and others' inability to understand that this trope exists for a reason and the reason is ~growth. Brittany gives us two truths and a lie about her history seeing her beloved Groundhog Day, and our question of the day reveals a secret hobby that she's been keeping and a discussion about the value of adults continuing to try activities for fun without necessarily needing to be good at it. #ANA - Ask NATW Anything: “What *thing* have you become obsessed with since the pandemic began?” Resources/Recommendations: Explaining Subjectify on Not About The Weather Episode 37 Tim Minchin says Groundhog Day is coming back to London Groundhog Day The Musical Original Broadway Cast Recording on Spotify Brittany and Tim Minchin on Instagram Only Murders In The Building - Official Trailer Miracle Workers - Official Trailer Daniel Radcliffe's Miracle Workers season 3 dance scene What If - Official Trailer James Acaster having a breakdown on The Great British Bake-Off subjectifymedia.com @subjectifymedia on Twitter Subjectify Media on Instagram Subjectify Media on Facebook Subjectify Media on Tumblr This episode’s hosts are: Brittany Lovely, Natalie Fisher and Ariana Quiñónez. Not About The Weather skips the small talk to engage audiences with passionate, personal, in-depth discussion regarding the world of storytelling and entertainment. Featuring conversation, commentary and interviews with the Not About The Weather team and our special guests from all walks of life about whatever’s got us fired up this week, be it movies, music, memes, TV, theatre, books, baked goods or bad days at the office. This podcast is the first general-interest, personality-based discussion show from a group of podcast hosts formerly dedicated to covering specific properties with a singular focus. In each episode, our Not About The Weather hosts and their guests will bring an obsession to share and a grievance to air from the their experiences in the world of pop culture, fandom, or sometimes, just plain old life. Follow Us: Twitter // Instagram // Tumblr // Facebook Listen and Subscribe: Audioboom // Apple // Spotify // Stitcher // Google // Amazon Feel free to leave us your questions or comments through any of these mediums! You can also email us at notabouttheweather@gmail.com or visit our homepage for archives and more information about our show.  Not About The Weather is a Subjectify Media podcast production. Visit Subjectify Media for more shows, including Prophecy Radio, Not Another Teen Wolf Podcast , and ReWatchable, and for all our latest articles about the stories we're passionate about.
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    2 hrs and 8 mins
  • Episode #37 - Actively Bawling

    Episode #37 - Actively Bawling
    Oct 7 2021
    This right here is the Subjectify Media Special. In this episode, we let you know all about the founding of our new home, Subjectify Media, and look back together on the decade of podcasting and journalism on Hypable that brought us here. We've all shared a lot, working together, and we reflect on all the best things about that - the friendship, collaboration, travel, special events, skills gained, experiences, fandoms, the lot, while explaining what the plan and inspiration is for the new website. It's a wild ride through our sense of identity and accomplishment, and a huge introduction to what comes next. If you have followed our writing and want to know what happened - this is the episode for you. We talk about the closure of Hypable, how the news made us all feel, and how we pulled ourselves out of the depths of despair in order to create something new and great! The key to all of this is how much we love fandom communities and the platform for engagement and discussion that Hypable provided, and Subjectify will continue to provide. Speaking of, Karen introduces her new podcast (another one!) that will focus on one of her lifelong loves, Percy Jackson. In terms of gripes, Natalie tells us all about Subjectify brand name and ethos while highlighting the irony about "bias" in entertainment journalism. (Art is subjective. Critics are meant to be subjective! That being said, we don't plan to be negative, we just aren't going to apologise for our personal slant about what elements are important to us.) Karen lets people know just how tough, financially, being a freelance writer is these days, and how COVID has made it worse, and Kendra expresses contempt at exploitative clickbait headlines - which we never did on Hypable and won't be doing on Subjectify. Natalie gives us two truths and a lie about some of the most ridiculous reader hate she's ever gotten, and our question of the day throws back to some of our most memorable work over the last few years. #ANA - Ask NATW Anything: “Fave Hypable article OR one you now disagree with/want to change?” Resources/Recommendations: subjectifymedia.com @subjectifymedia on Twitter Subjectify Media on Instagram Subjectify Media on Facebook Subjectify Media on Tumblr Nico di Angelo and 8 other ‘Percy Jackson’ characters who deserve standalone novels From ‘Iron Man’ to ‘Far From Home’: Exploring Tony Stark’s legacy within the MCU Dear ‘The Vampire Diaries’: A love letter to Mystic Falls Is Star Wars setting up Poe Dameron as its first queer protagonist? Dean Winchester and the study of death in ‘Supernatural’ season 13 How the healing power of ‘Schitt’s Creek’ helped me to find my paddle This episode’s hosts are: Karen Rought, Natalie Fisher and Kendra Cleary. Not About The Weather skips the small talk to engage audiences with passionate, personal, in-depth discussion regarding the world of storytelling and entertainment. Featuring conversation, commentary and interviews with the Not About The Weather team and our special guests from all walks of life about whatever’s got us fired up this week, be it movies, music, memes, TV, theatre, books, baked goods or bad days at the office. This podcast is the first general-interest, personality-based discussion show from a group of podcast hosts formerly dedicated to covering specific properties with a singular focus. In each episode, our Not About The Weather hosts and their guests will bring an obsession to share and a grievance to air from the their experiences in the world of pop culture, fandom, or sometimes, just plain old life. Follow Us: Twitter // Instagram // Tumblr // Facebook Listen and Subscribe: Audioboom // Apple // Spotify // Stitcher // Google // Amazon Feel free to leave us your questions or comments through any of these mediums! You can also email us at notabouttheweather@gmail.com or visit our homepage for archives and more information about our show.  Not About The Weather is a Subjectify Media podcast production. Visit Subjectify Media for more shows, including Prophecy Radio, Not Another Teen Wolf Podcast , and ReWatchable, and for all our latest articles about the stories we're passionate about.
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    2 hrs and 33 mins
  • Episode #36 - Sad Little Rich Boy

    Episode #36 - Sad Little Rich Boy
    Jul 13 2021

    Never Have I Ever... left an unaired podcast episode in drafts for over a year due to a global pandemic! What we have here is a throwback episode** that includes a long discussion of the excellent first season of Never Have I Ever, inspired by the topic of well-executed love triangles. With the second season coming out in a matter of days, catch up with us to find out if we are Team Ben or Team Paxton as we reflect on all the things that make this show fantastic.

    Since Ariana picked love triangles as both her hype AND her gripe, we also learned about all the things wrong with the love triangles in Gossip Girl, Jane the Virgin and To All The Boys: PS I Still Love You. We also reminisce over our Rewatchable season about Pitch, coo over the bromance between Tom Holland and Jake Gyllenhaal and sing the praises of Prodigal Son season 1. Little did we know that our time with that masterpiece was limited. 

    On a trickier note, Natalie is struggling with the pressure of expectation to like a piece of media that friends recommend due to their emotional attachment to it, a situation that can be difficult as both the pusher and the pushee, and Brittany brings to light the sad reality that we're all struggling with our reading speeds these days. 

    **Here's the deal, folks. Back in the first lockdown, we recorded two episodes back to back - one specifically focusing on the growing issues of COVID and one escapist one, completely avoiding talking about COVID. Due to the State of Things in 2020, the Coronavirus special quickly - as in, within a few days - became dated and not appropriate to air any more, so we canned the two-part special. However THIS part, the "No-rona" partner half, is, upon re-listening, actually fine and relatively evergreen, aside from the part where Prodigal Son has since been rudely and cruelly cancelled. Given the return of Never Have I Ever, this seemed like the perfect moment to publish it.

    Spoiler Warning: Part of this episode involves massive spoilers for season 1 cliffhanger of Prodigal Son. Although the show is now complete, if you plan to watch, you should skip this spoiler. The BIG spoiler discussion begins at around 1 hour 18 min and finishes at around 1 hr 27min. Feel free to skip it if needed.

    Each episode, our Not About The Weather hosts and their guests will bring an obsession to share and a grievance to air from the their experiences in the world of pop culture, fandom, or sometimes, just plain old life.

    Follow Us: Twitter // Facebook // Instagram // Tumblr

    Listen and Subscribe: iTunes // Stitcher // Spotify

    Visit natwpodcast.com or email natwpodcast@gmail.com for more information about our shows. Feel free to leave us your questions or comments through any of these mediums!

    This episode’s hosts are:  Brittany Lovely, Ariana Quiñónez and Natalie Fisher.
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    2 hrs and 5 mins
  • Episode #35 - In This 'Til I Die

    Episode #35 - In This 'Til I Die
    Mar 31 2021

    It's the Supernatural Special Series that absolutely no one asked for!

    During 2021, Natalie is forcing forever-newbie Brittany to watch Supernatural in its entirety - an episode a day, taking us all the way to the end of the year to cover 15 seasons and 327 episodes.

    Although this rewatch is merely a social event taking place within a group chat "book club" of about ten good friends, we couldn't help share some of our thoughts in podcast form, so you're getting one episode per season, and we'll be joined each season by another member of our Winchester Gospels Book Club. This time it's Maria Greig, perhaps better known to fic readers as aeli_kindara on AO3.

    And so this is season 1, in which we meet Sam and Dean, fall in love, and consider the implications of the story from day 1 with the retroactive knowledge of both Chuck's twisted endgame and the series finale. Natalie struggles with the show's intention for Sam as a protagonist, Maria creates the John Winchester's A+ Parenting Spreadsheet to end all spreadsheets, and Brittany deems John The Worst Person She's Ever Had The Pleasure Of Watching On TV. Chinhandsing over Dean from all parties is to be expected, but we are fascinated by the reminders that the Dean we've grown to expect wasn't always like that - that the trauma that hardens him happens to him over the course of the series, and that the Dean we first meet is the Dean we're always wanting him to get back to.

    You can expect a hype and gripe from each of us about a general premise or concept of the season, as well as a bit of a chat about favorite and least favorite episodes. By the way, Brittany's top episode of season 1 was Bugs.

    This podcast is NOT spoiler free for the rest of the series.

    Follow Us: Twitter // Facebook // Instagram // Tumblr

    Listen and Subscribe: iTunes // Stitcher // Spotify

    Visit natwpodcast.com or email natwpodcast@gmail.com for more information about our shows. Feel free to leave us your questions or comments through any of these mediums!

    This episode’s hosts are:  Brittany Lovely and Natalie Fisher.

    Our special guest is: Maria Greig

    Resources/Recommendations:

    Maria on Archive of Our Own
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    2 hrs and 5 mins
  • Episode #34 - Goodbye Horses

    Episode #34 - Goodbye Horses
    Feb 3 2021

    Season 2 of Not About The Weather is here! There's a new Presidential Administration and we feel like it's finally safe to come out of our holes. We explain the reason for our longer hiatus and attempt to get back into the swing of things.

    On the agenda today: it's trashy romance novel time for Brittany in both her hype and her gripe, Natalie takes issue with the lack of brand-new stories finding their place on television but hypocritically has plenty of praise for a new show that's tied very heavily to some hugely prominent intellectual property, and Karen simply has too many books, as well as too many feelings about Mortal Kombat. Classic Karen.

    Before we get into our hypes and gripes, we interview our very own published author Karen Rought, about her Cassie Quinn series, co-authored with L.T. Ryan. Book #2, Whisper of Bones, is out now!

    Content Warning: Part of this episode involves discussion of the act of sexual assault that takes place in Bridgerton season 1 episode 6. The discussion begins at around 59 min and finishes at around 1 hr 15min. Feel free to skip it if needed.

    Each episode, our Not About The Weather hosts and their guests will bring an obsession to share and a grievance to air from the their experiences in the world of pop culture, fandom, or sometimes, just plain old life.

    #ANA - Ask NATW Anything: "What is your favorite piece of media you're glad they haven't adapted?"

    Follow Us: Twitter // Facebook // Instagram // Tumblr

    Listen and Subscribe: iTunes // Stitcher // Spotify

    Visit natwpodcast.com or email natwpodcast@gmail.com for more information about our shows. Feel free to leave us your questions or comments through any of these mediums!

    This episode’s hosts are:  Brittany Lovely, Karen Rought and Natalie Fisher.

    Resources/Recommendations:

    K.M. Rought's Author Page on Amazon

    Path of Bones - Cassie Quinn #1

    Whisper of Bones - Cassie Quinn #2 (OUT TODAY!)

    Symphony of Bones - Cassie Quinn #3 (Pre-order now for May 4)

    There's a Horse In The Hospital -- John Mulaney

    How Bridgerton Handles the Book’s Wildly Controversial Scene -- Vanity Fair

    Michael Green on Kings promo getting pulled by NBC

    Mortal Kombat First Look -- Entertainment Weekly

    WandaVision Trailer #1 -- Disney+

    WandaVision Trailer #2 -- Disney+

    Saeed Jones on WandaVision

    The Like Us series by Krista & Becca Ritchie

    Karen's Book Collection Giveaway
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    2 hrs and 17 mins
  • Episode #33 - Aragorn's Tax Policy

    Episode #33 - Aragorn's Tax Policy
    Apr 4 2019

    A SPECIAL OF ICE AND FIRE: As winter approaches and Game of Thrones will soon provide answers regarding the conclusion of George R.R. Martin's as yet unfinished Song of Ice and Fire novels, we wanted to talk about that entire situation and how the TV show outstripping the books may affect the story of the series in general.

    Ariana and Natalie - both book readers and show watchers - are joined by ASOIAF superfan (and wordsmith for another of the great genre television epics of our time) Meredith Glynn to traverse the Seven Kingdoms and consider some of the book-to-screen moments that we loved and loathed. From Dorne to the Iron Islands, we delve deep but barely scratch the surface of this massive feat of worldbuilding, but one thing unites us: we've always got our Sansa ships to get all weird about.

    Also, Jon/Dany is the worst, goodbye.

    Each episode, our Not About The Weather hosts and their guests will bring an obsession to share and a grievance to air from the their experiences in the world of pop culture, fandom, or sometimes, just plain old life.

    #ANA - Ask NATW Anything: "If given choice of any Castle in Westeros, where do you live?"

    Follow Us: Twitter // Facebook // Instagram // Tumblr

    Listen and Subscribe: iTunes // Stitcher // Spotify

    Visit natwpodcast.com or email natwpodcast@gmail.com for more information about our shows. Feel free to leave us your questions or comments through any of these mediums!

    This episode’s hosts are: Ariana Quiñónez and Natalie Fisher

    Our special guest is: Meredith Glynn

    Resources/Recommendations:

    Not A Podcast ASOIAF Re-Read Podcast

    Girls Gone Canon Podcast

    Nobody Suspects The Butterfly

    Race For The Iron Throne - Historical and Political Analysis by Steven Attewell

    Joanna Robinson - Which scene from the series do you think MOST MOST MOST gets the books?

    Tower of Joy scenes

    Ariana's Articles:

    How the feminist representation of Arianne Martell could have improved ‘Game of Thrones’

    ‘Game of Thrones’ is underserving Dorne and Westeros’ people of color

    Jaime Lannister is a feminist: Why the ‘Game of Thrones’ rape scene matters

    Is ‘Game of Thrones’ foreshadowing a Jon and Sansa marriage?
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    1 hr and 41 mins