It’s 2026, we’re ten days in, and already debating whether being called a “podcaster” is a slur. Em + Cait unpack New Year identity crises, MILF discourse, and why softness might be the most terrifying resolution of all. From hockey romance TV debates and the rise of pegging (yes, really), to AI logos that all look like buttholes, tech gone feral, vaccine chaos, and genuinely hopeful science breakthroughs, this episode pinballs between horny, horrified, and cautiously optimistic. Plus: why you shouldn’t sit on the toilet too long, how to meet people IRL without apps, and proof that this podcast is officially no longer “just a hobby.”

The girls also address the sweetest mailbag question about building a community.

Shownotes:

• the boys want to get pegged
• logos look like butts
• Elon's grok is undressing girls
• tv smoothing
• bigandmini.org
• venezuela
• huntington's update
• lecanemab alzheimer
• man paralyzed on the potty
• pipeline updates
• movies ideas: long shot, game night, bugonia, one battle after another, wake up dead man, sinners
• tv to watch: the assembly

books:

• you exist too much
• my friends fredrik bachman
• everyone in my family has killed someone
• wild dark shore
• house on the cerulean sea

***

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• Your Weekly Breakdown on instagram: www.instagram.com/yourweeklybreakdown
• Your Weekly Breakdown on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@yourweeklybreakdownpod
• Caitlin on instagram: www.instagram.com/caitlinhowden
• Emily on instagram: www.instagram.com/emilykeyistyping

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This week on Your Weekly Breakdown, Em + Caitlin spiral (gently) from burnout and big-fat book stacks into airport empathy, 2-star Apple reviews, + the shocking discovery that Nantucket is absolutely ripping cocaine. Along the way: strippers save Xmas, a German Shepherd eats $100 underwear, and AI content is officially declared SLOP. There’s joy, grief, French girl crushes, rogue Turning Point USA Google Forms, accidental witchcraft, and a surprisingly moving reminder that most people are still trying to be decent. Cozy chaos, but make it smart.

Books:

• the correspondent
• my friends fredrik bachman
• emperor of gladness ocean vuong

Shownotes

• badass women of portland strip club community
• knix is great
• word of the year is slop
• times person of the year is the architects of AI
• jane austen's 250th birthday
• aryna's tennis story
• rob reiner latest
• turning point USA halftime show form
• rauhnacht
• goal setting for 2026
• New york fashion week no more fur, vegan leather is just plastic u guys
• lady crash test dummies
• louvre books ruined

***

Follow along:

• Your Weekly Breakdown on instagram: www.instagram.com/yourweeklybreakdown
• Your Weekly Breakdown on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@yourweeklybreakdownpod
• Caitlin on instagram: www.instagram.com/caitlinhowden
• Emily on instagram: www.instagram.com/emilykeyistyping

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Running on fumes, rage, and one ridiculously embarrassing story, this episode of Your Weekly Breakdown ricochets from feral morning energy to a surprisingly sharp cultural autopsy: Diddy documentaries, horny hockey romances, collapsing math skills, news from TikTok, AI deepfakes, banned words, trad-wife hypocrisy, digital detoxes, hockey canada, data centres, pipeline politics, and—mercifully—a horny left-coiled snail who finally found love.

It’s chaotic, funny, occasionally furious, and weirdly tender, with Em + Cait asking the big questions (wait what's your most embarrassing moment?!) while swearing slightly less than usual, and proving, once again, that the world is on fire but at least the conversation is good!

Shownotes:

• Diddy's docu
• heated rivalry
• kids can't do math anymore :(
• where college kids get their news (tiktok dear god)
• australia's social media ban
• PENN american's banned words
• let's kill our personal brands
• hockey canada case stoney creek
• ecole polytechnique expands scholarships
• jameela jamil on tradwives
• luigi mangione updates
• rolling stone expose on amazon data centres and cancer
• jeremy the left curling snail
• pipelines
• motherhood spending

***

Follow along:

• Your Weekly Breakdown on instagram: www.instagram.com/yourweeklybreakdown
• Your Weekly Breakdown on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@yourweeklybreakdownpod
• Caitlin on instagram: www.instagram.com/caitlinhowden
• Emily on instagram: www.instagram.com/emilykeyistyping

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Email anytime with questions: hey@hardcopy.online

Subscribe to the weekly newsletter at hardcopy.online/sign-up