Surprise! Jen is visiting Boston, so we are podding in person, and we even watched a movie together to discuss (more on that later). We cover Trump's trip to China and his worrying comments on Taiwan, and transition to his domestic conflict with Thomas Massie and now Lauren Boebert. Will the Republican party become a Vancian Post-MAGA party or will Rubio symbolize some gradual retreat from maximalism? People are also still Big Mad about the Odyssey, so we talk some more about that, and about the anger that permeats pop culture debates. This leads us into What Are We Consuming, which was the new horror movie Obsession. We liked it a lot, and are happy that it is part of the trend of tapping horror YouTubers to make indie horror movies.

Jen and Noam make it back after Noam's illness (not hantavirus, just regular virus) to discuss Nick Kristof's stupid gullible toxic empathy, how it's not possible to train a dog to sexually assault anyone, how in the world could anyone question the word of 14 people, and where is all of this antisemitism coming from anyway.

We start out, however, talking about The Odyssey (the movie, that's not a pun) and the controversies about the casting announcements that were just made. Jen tries her best to explain to everyone that The Odyssey isn't real, and we both agree that Christopher Nolan knows what he's doing. We also get sidetracked into a discussion on translations and how they can go awry.

For our WAWC, Noam recommends the show From on MGM+. If you didn't know that MGM has a streaming service, you're not alone, but somehow this show is on its fourth season. We also discuss the current season of Euphoria some more, Noam explains what vorarephilia is, and Jen wonders if that means there are people watching Attack on Titan for different reasons.

Noam and Jen make fun of Richard Dawkins finding God in the machine. Ok, not God, but Claude(ia). This kicks off a rambling discussion of AI, consciousness, the Turing Test, if AI is the doom of all humanity, Sam Altman's house getting firebombed, people being way too het up over data centers, water usage for golfing courses and water features in shopping malls, and how Skynet will still send robots and it will probably be the Pentagon's fault.

On the Iran front, we discuss if it is still a front and what exactly the US Navy's role will be in guiding ships through said front. Meanwhile, the Trump administration fumbles around for a reason why they don't need to ask Congress to declare war. Nobody really knows what's going on still, but Iran seems perfectly happy to continue on as things are right now even though they are hurting financially. Speaking of Middle East financial news, the UAE is leaving OPEC and moving towards a formal relationship with Israel. As always, the Middle East is going through some changes.

For our What Are We Consuming, Noam has made it to season 3 of Euphoria and has a theory about how this season is one big subversive joke on conservative values. Jen just rambles on about Euphoria reaction videos, anime, and going shopping at yet another new Japanese life store in the DMV.