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The Middle of Culture is what happens when two siblings with too many opinions and not enough chill dive headfirst into movies, music, video games, and whatever else is rotting our brains this week. It’s part pop culture podcast, part sibling rivalry, and fully unfiltered. Expect passionate arguments, niche references, unsolicited rankings, and the occasional moment of unexpected insight. If you’ve ever wanted to eavesdrop on the kind of argument you’d hear at the family dinner table—only with better audio—this is your show.
Peter
00:15
Welcome back to the Middle of Culture. I am one of your co-hosts, Peter.
Eden
00:19
And I am your other host, Eden. Let me pop this beer open now that we're recording.
Peter
00:23
Okay, uh I was gonna say what have we got today?
Eden
00:26
Hard root beer. New fashioned hard root beer it calls itself.
Peter
00:30
New fashion, not old fashioned
Eden
00:31
New fashioned Not old fashioned. Here's my favorite part though. The uh I I was looking at the back of this bottle the other day, and I was like, oh, I wonder what the ingredients are. The ingredients. Beer, sugar, caramel color. And it's like, you're not gonna tell me what's in the beer part though? You you're allowed to just be like, this is beer that we put a lot of sugar into. And some root beer flavor, but it's just a fucking beer, dog. And I'm like, I respect it. It's just beer.
Peter
01:02
I mean, you know, it's it's being accurate.
Eden
01:06
It's really good though. Tastes like root beer and then it gives you a buzz because it's quite alcoholic.
Peter
01:12
There you go. There you go.
Eden
01:13
Anyway, how you been?
Peter
01:15
I've been alright, you know, getting ready for the uh upcoming holiday. I I don't know. I'm gonna go on a mini little rant here. And uh for for subscribers to the Imperfect Practice newsletter, you will have heard about this already in the issue that got sent out today.
Eden
01:26
Please do
Peter
01:35
Uh anyway, I I it seems to me that Christmas decorations are going up earlier and earlier and earlier.
Eden
01:43
Oh, they are
Peter
01:44
And it it really feels like it has now just become de regard to move directly from Halloween to Christmas. And I think that that's a cry and shame.
Eden
01:54
If if that, if if you don't start doing Christmas uh in mid-October. I've started to see it in mid-October, and I've thought to myself, this is a mental illness.
Peter
02:00
True
Eden
02:04
You've got to stop this.
Peter
02:05
I don't disagree. I I feel like there's enough people around here who like to put up Halloween decorations that at least that is acting as a bit of a buffer to the too ear the even earlier encroachment. of of the Christmas season.
Eden
02:19
That's good.
Peter
02:20
But I I think that it's a damn shame. And I think that people, we need to give Thanksgiving its due. For a few reasons. Number one Um, I'll just I I like Thanksgiving. I think that the food's good. But and here's where I'm going to get a little quasi perhaps philosophical or whatever. I think that our world would be a better place if people would just slow down a scoche, pay attention to what's happening in the here and now, and then be grateful for what's going on and and recognize the things they have to be grateful for. And I feel like this acceleration to just move right from spooky season into Christmas and forget that hey there's a there's a holiday in November to actually encourage us to slow down and be grateful. And I think that we're losing that. And I think it sucks because I think gratitude is a pretty powerful thing, no matter how you look at it, whether you look at it from a spiritual standpoint, if you look at it from a mental health standpoint, if you look at it from a true biochemistry of the brain standpoint, there's ample evidence that spending time reflecting and expressing gratitude actually rewires your brain, lowers cortisol levels, and does some pretty powerful things to us.
Eden
03:45
Here's the thing. Here's what I think it is. Thanksgiving, while this is not necessarily true for the grocery store. It is true for all the other type of shopping. Thanksgiving's not commodified in the same way.
Peter
03:55
Oh, hundred percent. Correct.
Eden
03:58
Thanksgiving is not commodified because you're not giving gifts, you're not investing in a lot of decor. all those sorts of things which I think are what has helped propel Christmas closer, like further and further earlier in the year. because it is this focus on on consumerism and this focus on on the spending. Um, you know, Black Friday is coming up in a week. Which is followed by Small Business Saturday, which is followed by Cyber Monday, which is of course then followed by Giving Tuesday.
Peter
04:27
And I've been getting Black Friday emails for the last week.
Eden
04:31
Yeah. I mean it Email uh Amazon's been doing Black Friday deals for two weeks. And it's like, is it Black Friday or is it Black November?
Peter
04:37
Yeah. Yeah.
Eden
04:42
But it's just
Peter
04:42
No, you're spot on. You are one hundred percent correct.
Eden
04:45
And so I think that is part of the cultural move away from Thanksgiving, because I think that you are right. I mean, there is a lot of evidence that shows the power of gratefulness and gratitude. Um, I I won't lie. This is me divulging too much, but I don't think my in-laws listen to this podcast. My father-in-law is obsessed with talking about gratitude all the time. So personally, I'm like, yeah, I hear about it enough, dog. We're good. This there was this one year.
Peter
05:12
Sure.
Eden
05:14
There was this one year. Where in the family group chat in like WhatsApp or whatever, he was like, I just think our New Year's resolution should be every single day we all post one thing that we're grateful through for in the group chat. And every single one of his children ignored him. So him and his wife did it for li my mother and father-in-law. did it every day for like three or four days. And by the fifth, they were like, so I guess no one else wants to do this, huh? And they're like, we'll keep our gratitude to ourselves. Thank you very much.
Peter
05:47
I mean, I would just like to as an aside say that not only do I support that because I do think that I think expressing gratitude to people who for whom you are grateful in appropriate situations where it is not grandstanding or for any sort of recognition is a wonderful thing to do.
Eden
06:05
Mm-hmm.
Peter
06:07
But I agree that I think that that those reflections on gratitude are best accomplished in quiet, more private moments.
Eden
06:17
Yeah, it's felt a little performative.
Peter
06:17
And then uh-huh.
Eden
06:19
Not a little. It felt a lot performative. It felt like you were doing the gratitude for other people to see rather than, as you said, for that self-reflection and thinking about you know, y your own positionality in the world and and the way that you move through it, when you are so focused on telling everyone else what you are grateful for and it is not, as you just said, the things that they themselves are doing.
Peter
06:46
Mm-hmm.
Eden
06:46
It just feels performative.
Peter
06:48
Yeah, I agree. And then here's the other thing I'm just gonna say. Is that I think New Year's resolutions are bad and dumb and people who try and tell other people to do them should feel bad for trying to encourage a toxic uh system or uh a toxic setting of goal whatever. I think the way we've all been taught and talked about New Year's resolutions is is bad. and is ineffective and does more harm than good.
Eden
07:16
Yeah, I agree
Peter
07:20
That does not mean that I don't think that we can all and and should Make moves to improve ourselves as we individually see fit to become the best actualized versions of ourself. But New Year's resolutions are not the way to accomplish that because they are it is a terrible system that is established for to to fail and that is it
Eden
07:45
Let's be honest, there is one group of people that benefits from New Year's resolutions, and though that is the owner of gyms.
Peter
07:54
Yes, and they only benefit for like six weeks.
Eden
07:57
The o no.
Peter
07:57
Well, who knows? Maybe they collect the money for the rest of the year.
Eden
07:59
No, they they collect the money for the rest of the year because they make it as hard as possible to cancel your gym membership.
Peter
08:00
That's true.
Eden
08:06
So they keep getting it even though you're not going anymore.
Peter
08:10
It is true.
Eden
08:10
They're still charging you every month because you have to like go in and threaten them with bodily harm before they'll stop charging your card for that gym membership. So they love it. And they're the only people in the world who love who who actually profit from or benefit from uh New Year's resolutions.
Peter
08:21
Yet
Eden
08:28
That and planner planner companies.
Peter
08:28
Them and like planner, yeah, planner companies Um, yeah, I guess just another reason for me to be grateful, I've got a a home gym that I built in my basement. There we go.
Eden
08:41
There you go.
Peter
08:42
Maybe I should start charging people.
Eden
08:42
There you go.
Peter
08:45
It'll make Janu it'll make January a little crowded, but by February I'll just be, you know, making some uh sweet, sweet gym money, but nobody will be there.
Eden
08:45
In charge of yourself. That's it. That's it.
Peter
08:55
Well well, what have you been checking out, Eden? That was quite the little uh diversion for us to go on, but that's okay, that's okay.
Eden
09:00
It was a little yeah. Um You know, I I have not done as much stuff as I kinda wanted to have done in the last couple of weeks.
Peter
09:11
Okay.
Eden
09:11
There was a lot of, oh, I should do that, and then not doing any of it. Um, I'm trying to think of what I did do though. Um, I've been reading some still. I have gone back to I think I mentioned it on the podcast like probably two or three years ago. this point. I read the first couple volumes of the mag it's stupid long title, The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady. Um, I've gone back to that series because it's a pretty okay series and I've been reading those. I'm having fun with it. Um yeah, I'm further along than I was last time. It's uh there's nothing to say about it. it it they're inoffensive fun easy fast reads and that's really all you can say which is you know maybe damning with fame praise a little bit but it's been good Um I I've done so little. I'm so boring these days. It's been a rough it's been a rough couple of weeks. I've been working so much that I just come home and I just like stare at my computer and scroll. And then people say stupid things on Reddit and then I comment on it and then people downvote me and then I get mad.
Peter
10:12
Yeah.
Eden
10:17
I should stop doing that.
Peter
10:19
Yeah, it's it's not too healthy.
Eden
10:21
They uh and they downvote my objectively correct opinions. That's the worst part. It's one thing if it was subjective, but they uh downvote me when I'm objectively correct.
Peter
10:31
Oh, yeah, that's dumb.
Eden
10:31
And then I'm like, what am I doing here? What am I doing here? Why Reddit? The reason why Reddit is because it is the one place where you can find out about the news without having it shoved in your face all the time.
Peter
10:44
Yeah. Yeah.
Eden
10:46
Because if you go on blue sky, then you're just seeing people retweeting everything terrible that's happening on the planet, and you're like, I don't I don't want to see this right now. It's bad enough. I'm keeping myself informed. I don't need to see it 17 times.
Peter
11:00
Yeah.
Eden
11:00
Anyway, I don't know what else I've been doing. I've been playing the same video games I always play.
Peter
11:03
That's okay
Eden
11:06
I have a couple things that I have just started, so I don't feel comfortable talking about them yet. Um preview of coming attractions, hopefully for two weeks from now. I'm Wuja pilled, baby I am reading a Wuja novel. I am playing a Wuja video game. But I am like four chapters into the book and three hours into the game. So I don't want to talk about it yet. We'll see how I feel in a couple of weeks.
Peter
11:33
Okay, okay.
Eden
11:35
And that's like all I got. And you want to talk about digital accessibility? I can tell you all about the correct color contrast ratio. For WCAG 2. 1 double A, I can tell you all about that.
Peter
11:46
Okay.
Eden
11:47
Nobody cares.
Peter
11:47
You know?
Eden
11:48
Nobody cares.
Peter
11:49
No. All right.
Eden
11:51
That's not true.
Peter
11:51
Well, I
Eden
11:52
I care, but not here, because I'm not at work.
Peter
11:54
There you go. I I've got a few things that I can talk about before we get into uh our main event for the day. There's been uh some music releases recently that were definitely worth mentioning. Uh one that I will briefly mention because I haven't had enough time Uh a couple I haven't had enough time to spend with them to know. So these will be in maybe in a couple weeks. But I really love the band Shores of Null. I also love the band Convocation. Shores of Null is more of like a melodic death doom. In a lot of ways, they remind me of um like a November's Doom or something like that. But I like them a lot. They have a number of albums. Their most recent came out in 2023. Very cool. They have a split with the band Convocation. Convocation is a much more, I would probably say Convocation is like. . real death doom, which is much heavier on the death side of it, and in some ways almost borders on uh like funeral doom sort of situation. Uh but uh I do like I I have to give convocation a um uh a a win for the title of their most recent album, which I just it's great, it's fun. Uh there the album title is No Dawn for the Collagenous Night. I mean, come on, that's a cool title.
Eden
13:37
Collagenous definition, please.
Peter
13:38
Yep. I don't know. You have to look it up. I haven't even bothered to look it up.
Eden
13:45
Okay, what's the name of this band again?
Peter
13:47
A convocation, collagenous, dark and misty and gloomy
Eden
13:53
Oh, sure.
Peter
13:53
There you go.
Eden
13:54
Why not?
Peter
13:54
No dawn for the collagenus night. I mean, come on, that right there tells you what you're getting into.
Eden
13:58
Sure.
Peter
14:00
Anyway, they released they released a split called Latitudes of Sorrow.
Eden
14:01
It sure does.
Peter
14:06
Three songs from Shores of Null 2 from Convocation. Listen to it. It's great. Good stuff from both albums, but not enough that I'm really uh ready to weigh in. Another one, some more doom uh from the band Son of the Dying, a Throne of Ashes, uh that's another one that new new one that came out but two three three that I wanted to talk about that came out last week so I've had yes please
Eden
14:29
Before you go on to that, that last band, son like baby baby boy, or sun like oh no, a burn.
Peter
14:36
Uh Oh Noah Byrne, a son of the dying.
Eden
14:38
Okay.
Peter
14:41
So the three oh totally hundred percent Yeah definitely
Eden
14:42
I mean it could have gone either way there. You could it could have been baby baby boy. Okay.
Peter
14:49
Um the three albums that I do want to talk about, let me start with the one I've listened to the least. It is the new album Please by the band The Reticent The Reticent is mostly one guy. The first album of The Reticent that I became familiar with came out in, I think, 2016. It was called On the Eve of a Goodbye. It was him dealing with the suicide of a close friend. And that album has forever both marked and slightly scarred me.
Eden
15:20
Okay.
Peter
15:24
Uh there is a one of the final tracks is called Funeral for a Firefly, and it's after she has passed and It it starts out and it's mostly piano and some clean, very soft singing, and then it gets kind of distorted, and then it just comes in with these. Harsh, screamy vocals, why do you get to die while I have to go on? Over and over again. I was on a plane flying to Hawaii. listening to this album, dozing in and out, and then like again it starts and it's all quiet and pretty and piano and then this comes in and it literally shocked me awake in the airplane. So uh
Eden
16:04
Yeah, that sounds like a lot.
Peter
16:06
Been a fan ever since. The second album from The Reticent, The Oubliette, is about uh the main, it is a man's descent into Alzheimer's dementia. And so light, light subjects here. And the most recent album, please, is just a smorgasbord of different mental illnesses. And so there's a song. The first song is about suicide. And then the second song is about insomnia. And the third song is about panic attacks and panic disorder. And then there's a number of songs about depression. Uh and so yeah, real light stuff. But but it's really good.
Eden
16:45
Yeesh.
Peter
16:46
But it's really good. But it's very heavy. Gotta be in the right frame of mind for that. Hey, guess what?
Eden
16:50
I was gonna say, I'm gonna have to take your word for that one. I'm not gonna be listening to this one.
Peter
16:54
Um g guess what folks?
Eden
16:57
I'm good.
Peter
16:58
It it it only gets better and brighter from there. How about the most recent album, Veribus Unitus, by the band, the Ukrainian band 1914? 1914 is a blackened death metal band from Ukraine. whose every album of theirs is a concept album taking a main character through the horrors of World War One. Welcome. Enter their fourth album again, Varibus Unitas. It is a masterwork of black and death metal. It is absolutely astonishingly good. It is vicious, it is ugly, it is musically harrowing in a way that uh you would expect for something that deals with a story of somebody who luckily survives World War I and finally makes it back to his home in Ukraine. But it is incredibly good.
Eden
17:47
What the this and they do that for every album?
Peter
17:49
Very, very I mean they only have four albums so far, but yes, The Eschatology of War, their first album, and then The Blind Leading the Blind, and then When Fear and Weapons Meet. And now Viribus Unitas. Again, yeah, each one, they'll find some historical, uh, a small story of a historical figure in World War I and then write a whole concept album about that person.
Eden
18:10
All right, what I need them to do. They need to go on their Cohen Cambria arc. They need to put out an album about being a sad dad going on tour. Everyone needs to hate it. And then they'll be like We're back to the concept.
Peter
18:25
Except here's the thing, Coheen and Cambria writes, again, in my opinion, uh in their past albums, and I haven't listened to a Cohid and Cambria album in years. uh but at least through their first like three or four albums, it would be like a third really good songs, a third of kind of okay songs, and then a third of just absolute throwaway garbage. Uh 1914 writes, start to finish bangers.
Eden
18:47
Yeah.
Peter
18:52
Just bangers.
Eden
18:52
Okay.
Peter
18:54
But this one
Eden
18:54
But also, wouldn't it be funny if the sad boys writing songs about World War One put out an album about being a sad dad going on tour and your wife being like, please don't cheat on me when you go on tour?
Peter
19:02
It would be. Oh, it would be funny.
Eden
19:05
That'd be funny.
Peter
19:06
That would be funny. And all right, so now we get to the interestingly the lightest of the three albums that came out on the same day.
Eden
19:17
Okay.
Peter
19:18
And this would be Stygian Bow Volume 2 by the collaboration.
Eden
19:22
Digi and Bao is the lightest album that came out that Friday.
Peter
19:27
Correct. From the it is a it is the second collaboration between Funeral Doom Masters Bellwitch and neo folk uh solo dude uh known who goes by the moniker, Ariel Ruin. Stygium Bao Volume One came out a number of years ago. Uh it was great. It's got a little more acoustic guitar and a little more uh kind of the the folky clean singing that Ariel Ruin brings along with the slow plotting heaviness of Bell Witch. Uh Stygium Bao Part 2 or Volume 2 is even better in my opinion than the first. It is absolutely brilliant. And in in in its own way is actually a very beautiful record. It's just a a heavy, beautiful record. Not heavy as in like brutal death metal heavy, but heavy as in like every song is just oozing and dripping pathos and atmosphere and Uh the songs are hauntingly beautiful, but it is it is the one that I've listened to by far the most because it has just absolutely captured my attention and it is fantastic. I love it. So that's like I said, when Stygian Bao Volume 2 by A Funeral Doom Band is the lightest thematically of the three releases, you know we're getting into the dark time of the year, I suppose.
Eden
20:48
Yeah, uh you're like seasonal affective disorder? That's not what's causing the depression, baby. I'm doing it myself.
Peter
20:54
That is correct. I'm embracing it. Um, I'm gonna briefly mention I finished Murderbot all seven books. I finished book seven today.
Eden
21:02
Hot damn.
Peter
21:03
Uh I enjoyed them. I like them.
Eden
21:05
I mean they're quick they this a sh they go down real smooth.
Peter
21:05
I was
Eden
21:09
That's the thing about the murder bot books. They go down real smooth.
Peter
21:11
They do. Um, but I think one of the things that and I I I hesitate to use the word elevates, but I'm going to use it anyway. One of the things that I do think elevates MurderBot apart from some other fairly run-of-the-mill popular science fiction is It is evident to me that Martha Wells is using Murderbot as a cipher. And I think all of the best fiction has something to say about the real human condition and uses the setting to just tell a story, but but is reflective. And and that's the thing, Murderbot as a character, all of these books are essentially this sec unit trying to figure out where it belongs in the world. Who can it trust? Does it care about people? Does it not? And and even more so Especially as you get further on, it trying to grapple with the idea that yes, it does care about these people, and then trying to answer the question to itself. Why the fuck do I care about these people? You know? And I think it's a very human story told in an interesting and fun way.
Eden
22:15
Yeah
Peter
22:21
It's not heavy, it's not super deep. But I do think that she does a decent job of making sure that every one of the stories is grounded in that aspect. And that for me sets it apart from other just run-of-the-mill, you know, laser ships, whatever. But The real core of the story is this sec unit trying to identify and understand where does it feel like it fits in within this world that it finds itself?
Eden
22:48
Sure. Well cool. I keep meaning to go back and write I I keep going back to read more, but I don't. I read other things instead.
Peter
22:57
That's okay. That's quite all right.
Eden
22:59
You know, it's always other things to read.
Peter
22:59
Um finally, two games I want to mention. I'm just gonna mention that I've now that I've actually spent quite a bit of time playing Power Wash Simulator 2, it's great. I think, in my opinion, it improves in every way on the first Power Wash simulator.
Eden
23:16
In every way.
Peter
23:17
Well, okay, I didn't play a ton of the original, but I played enough that I Here's why I didn't play a ton of the original. You know what I got really tired of? I got really, really tired of getting to 99% and then running around and hitting the button to try and make some little teeny spot flash orange. Do you know what they did in Power Wash Simulator 2?
Eden
23:37
Mm-hmm. What's that?
Peter
23:40
It is so much more forgiving of giving you that last hundred percent.
Eden
23:43
Hello.
Peter
23:46
And so if there's like if there's like a sizable chunk that you're still missing, yeah, you'll need to go around and look for it.
Eden
23:46
Okay, that's a good move.
Peter
23:54
But there's and maybe you could do this in the old one, but it was trivial for me to pop open the settings, change the color of the unwashed place to a very bright red, and then make it last for like five to ten seconds. So I hit the button and then I can run around and look. Oh, here's the other thing it does. When you're getting to the end, it will actually put an orange target over the piece of the thing you need to go and clean. So you can just go and look at that and then hit the hit cue and see, oh, okay, here's a spot I need to clean. And again, it gets you to 100% much more forgiving. So it's a lot more fun. It recognizes I'm not doing this as a brain teaser. I'm doing this to just chill out and wash shit.
Eden
24:33
Sure.
Peter
24:34
The other thing I really liked is, you know, I did not very often use the soap because it was a I was cheap and I didn't want to waste my money buying soap.
Eden
24:35
That sounds good. Yeah, me neither.
Peter
24:47
Hey, guess what? You don't have to buy. You don't have to buy soap.
Eden
24:51
Cool.
Peter
24:52
You switch to the soap attachment and you just spray with abandon and then you can switch back to your Power wash and set it at the widest spray pattern and all of this stuff just flows away.
Eden
25:06
I've I've got it on my uh wish list. Next time it's on sale for a little percent off, I'll probably bite the bullet.
Peter
25:13
I think that it's worth it. I've found it really enjoyable because I don't ever feel frustrated. Yeah, sometimes I still need to go and look, okay, where's a spot I missed, but I don't ever I don't ever get that experience that I have with the original where I really am. I'm just I'm spamming that button again and again and again, trying to see where can I catch that little glint of orange. And like I say, I've made it super, super aggressively red, so it's easy to see. And I made it so that it lasts longer.
Eden
25:39
Okay.
Peter
25:40
So it's it's much easier. Uh good game, fun. Final one I've been playing is Eden, have you heard of Ball Pit?
Eden
25:44
Nice.
Peter
25:48
Or the it is titled Ball X Pit.
Eden
25:52
No
Peter
25:53
Fun game. Highly recommend it. It's published by Devolver Digital. I think Devolver Digital has a real good eye for fun indie games in that, you know, $10 to $20 range. This is $14. 99. think it's a little mix it's a roguelike it is a city builder and it is a a super breakout arcanoid style game Uh the idea is the big city was crushed in a meteor, there's a huge pit, and a bunch of adventurers have come to d descend into the pit to find the treasures of the city. And so each run you go down into the pit, you've got a bunch of little blocks that get dropped down. Each one of those is an enemy. Some of them are like bigger and they're gonna be harder and take more hits. And then your character is walking and shooting out the balls. And so you're directing the angle that they're shooting at to try and get them to bounce around and all this stuff. While you're walking, so the things are getting closer to you. If you get too close to one of the enemies, it will attack you for damage. If it gets to the bottom of the screen. Without being defeated, they jump over and attack you for damage. Periodically bigger boss type things will drop down and they take a lot more hits. kind of like a vampire survivors thing in that you're you know, as you defeat, you're getting XP, you're leveling up, you can get up to four different balls that each have different abilities that are big balls and then you have your small balls. You get four passives that do different things. Uh and you go through and once you die on a run, you've collected some gold, you've collected maybe some stone, some wood, some blueprints, whatever, you go back up to the top of the pit and you have a little city that you're gradually building that then You will also launch a person and it kind of bounces around and as it bounces off or goes through one of these things, then you'll collect resources and you're using that to again build new buildings that give you more abilities or the unlock new characters. So, you know, a little vampire survivors-esque, some super breakout, um you get that, and then a little bit of a town kind of management sort of resource thing. Really fun game. Good music too so far. I've really enjoyed the music. I've had a lot of fun playing ball pit and uh I highly recommend it. So another good game.
Eden
28:09
That sounds really good
Peter
28:11
Yeah, it is. It is. Well, anything else before we jump into our main topic of the day?
Eden
28:19
No, it was just one of those things where as you were listing off all of the like very somber and sad music you've been listening to, I was like What have I even been listening to lately? And then I popped open my my uh music app and I realized, oh yeah, that's right. I've been spending literally the entire um The last two weeks. I'm I'm working on a project and I want to put myself in like a nineteen eighties mood. I've been thinking a lot about the eighties.
Peter
28:47
Okay
Eden
28:49
So what are you gonna listen to? You're gonna listen to City Pop. You gotta. It's the sound of the 80s. And so, you know, I'm over here listening to Maria Takeuchi and uh uh and uh Onri and Miki Matsubara and that's you know That's what I've been listening to. Great stuff.
Peter
29:05
There you go.
Eden
29:05
Fly Day Chinatown by Yaspa.
Peter
29:07
There you go.
Eden
29:08
So, you know, everyone go listen to some city pop
Peter
29:12
There you go. All right.
Eden
29:14
It won't make you as depressed as any of those things Peter talked about.
Peter
29:15
Well Oh no, mine are very heavy, very heavy.
Eden
29:22
You know it's not heavy plastic love, but it is one of the greatest songs ever written.
Peter
29:23
Um Okay. So so let's get to our topic for the week and You know, sometimes, and I'm sure it's the same for you, sometimes I've got ideas and it's like, oh, here's something that we can do. And this is gonna be, you know, the next number of things. And and other times it's like, well, what the hell are we gonna talk about? And here's what I will say is about oh gosh, a week after, you know, a week into the two weeks in between recording.
Eden
29:49
Mm-hmm
Peter
30:00
I had this thought and I'd been kind of thinking about it. And I sent a text to Eden and I said, what do you think about this? And Eden responded with a, oh yes, you have a friend, Darren, correct?
Eden
30:11
Yes, Darren, listener to the pod.
Peter
30:12
You had your listener to the pod, Darren. Darren, thanks for listening and thanks for your encouragement. Uh, Darren had been apparently requesting that we do what we are about to do. And that is.
Eden
30:23
He has been, and I've been putting it off.
Peter
30:27
You know, we we call our podcast the middle of culture. We ostensibly talk about pop culture things. Folks, it was time for the Middle of Culture to tackle the pop culture phenomenon of 2025 K-pop demon hunters. So
Eden
30:42
Hey, we did it.
Peter
30:43
We watched K-pop Demon Hunters. Eden, what did you think about K-pop Demon Hunters?
Eden
30:49
That's a big sigh. Um The thing about K pop demon hunters
Peter
30:52
It is a big sigh. It is a big sigh. I'm very curious to hear your thoughts.
Eden
30:59
Is it's better than I feared it was gonna be, but I don't understand the outsized reaction to it.
Peter
31:10
Okay.
Eden
31:11
How do you feel about it?
Peter
31:11
Okay. I thought it was a lot more fun than I was expecting. And I thought to myself, the faces are great.
Eden
31:20
The faces are great. That's what I'll say. The animation, the faces are great.
Peter
31:23
The faces are great. Yes.
Eden
31:26
I put down my phone more than once because I was like, I need to see these faces.
Peter
31:31
But but at the same time, given its power In 2025. Again, I saw countless girls on Halloween night dressed up as Rumi.
Eden
31:44
As Rumi. Yeah, my our Cassie's Cassie's niece, my niece-in-law, whatever you call it.
Peter
31:47
And
Eden
31:53
My niece. She was my niece. She was Rumi.
Peter
31:55
Yeah.
Eden
31:55
And that was why, you know, last night I was like, I gotta watch this movie. And Kess was like, I'll watch it with you. You know, my niece really likes it. All the kids are singing these songs all the time. I guess we should inform ourselves about the culture. And then we watched it and both of us looked at each other and was like, that that's it.
Peter
32:10
Yeah, I was because of its immense popularity, I perhaps foolishly expected more.
Eden
32:21
Yeah Yeah, I kind of felt the same way.
Peter
32:23
So right
Eden
32:24
I I didn't have a bad time, but I don't feel the compunction to ever watch it again.
Peter
32:30
Yeah. I'm gonna give a really quick plot summary. And and by really quick, I do mean quick because there's not a lot here.
Eden
32:38
It's not a whole lot of plot.
Peter
32:44
There's not a whole lot, but okay, so the story follows Hunterx A world-famous K-pop girl group with Murumi, Mira, and Zoe. Secretly, they're demon hunters. They're protecting humanity from supernatural threats. Uh long time ago demons fed on human souls under their ruler Kema or Quima. It sounds like they're saying Kima, but it's G-U-I-M-A, is how it is spelled. So I'm gonna go with Kema because that's what I kept hearing. Until three women became demon hunters and used their singing voices to create the magical barrier called the Hunmoon. The trios, new trios each generation kind of emerged and they maintained the strength of the barrier with the ultimate goal of creating the golden hunmun, the final seal that's going to banish the demons permanently. So you've got Kima, he creates the Saja Boys, a rival K-pop boy band composed of demons. They're in disguise as a boy band. With the idea being, because this demon comes to Kema and says, hey, I've got this idea. Send us up there. We're going to steal their fans away. And if I do that, he says to Kima, you take away Juni, the main guy, uh says, you're gonna take away my memories. So they uh they appear as Huntrix is getting ready for the idol something or other. That they think 'cause 'cause it starts out and they've got this big performance and Rumi sees hints of a golden hoon moon. And so she's like, oh my gosh, we can get it. We can finally get there. We can get the golden humoon. We create the golden humoon at the idol competition thing. Let's get ready for that. They're going to write the perfect song for that. And then all of a sudden the Saja boys appear. And Rumi is having a little bit of a trouble with her voice because come to find out that Rumi is part demon. Uh this was known only by their mentor, Celine, and she's trying to hurry and seal the Hoon Moon before her demon. Nature consumes her. And the demons all have these like sigils, kind of lines and stuff on their skin. She's got it on part of her shoulders. And it's like starting to creep up to her throat, which is maybe why we get the idea. Maybe that's why her voice is failing at certain parts of of this song. Anyway, she has a few run-ins with Ginu, uh, who's kind of the lead from the Saja Boys. And Uh he was a human 400 years ago. He figures out Rumi's secret. They kind of sort of have this and again we'll get into it but this in my opinion unearned little love story between the two of them and then we get to the the the get to the idol competition thing and the Saja boys aren't coming on so all of a sudden Hunterx needs to go out. Hunterx goes out Rumi's out there. Uh Mari and or Mira and Zoe are off because they think something bad's happening. And then all of a sudden two demons step out on stage looking like Mira and Zoe. And they reveal the demon marks on Rumi's shoulders to everybody. Things ensue. Saja boys show up and they manage to convince everybody they're gonna go to some big tower, they're gonna have a big show where Basically, they're going to sacrifice all the souls to Kima. As Saja Boy's popularity has been growing, souls have been slowly being fed to Kema. Huntryx's popularity has been waning. They try and come up with a new song and all they're coming up with is a diss track and Rumi keeps telling them no, we can't do that. Anyway. Rumi gets exposed as a demon, Mira and Zoe are like, oh, you didn't tell us and there's a split. And then at the final R conflagration we have Rumi shows up Zoe and Mira have been sort of brainwashed like everybody else. They followed up there to the performance of the Saja Boys. Kima's there starting to get ready to start harvesting souls and Rumi shows up and there's kind of a a both physical battle and then a sing-off battle and At the very end, while Kima's like trying to blast Rumi, Ginu jumps in front of the blast and gets vaporized by it, and he's like, Oh, thank you for giving me my soul back. And then Mira and Zoe have snapped out of it and then boom they defeat Kima and then Hun Moon re-establishes itself and everybody's happy and and saved and and and then we're done.
Eden
37:13
But it's not Golden Hunman, so it might fail again, aka Room for a sequel.
Peter
37:15
It's not a golden hunman yet. It's not a golden hunman. I mean, what I've heard is it's room for sequels and prequels and like the plan is to go multimedia empire with this. But first of all, let's talk about what were the things you did like. I mean we mentioned the faces. But then I do want us to explore a little bit why, I don't know. I I'm just, I found it so curious.
Eden
37:42
What is the cultural phenomenon?
Peter
37:44
Yes.
Eden
37:44
What is it? Yeah, let's talk about it. So let's talk about the film before we go into the cultural ramifications of its popularity. Things that it does. It is a musical ass musical. And I say that in the most complimentary and derogatory ways possible. It is a musical ass musical. And do you know what I don't really care for?
Peter
38:07
Musicals.
Eden
38:08
Musical ass musicals. So I was primed, like I and I even like K-pop a little bit. Like I'm not a hater. I uh Jenny's new album is very good. But like that's the kind of K-pop I like. It's gotta have a little more edge to it than these gals were giving me, but that's because this is a show for six-year-olds. Um but it was it's the music's pretty okay. It's catchy.
Peter
38:33
It's catchy.
Eden
38:33
It's very catchy music
Peter
38:34
I mean, one of the things I discovered is, and I wasn't surprised at this, but correct.
Eden
38:38
You heard all these songs all the time for the last six months.
Peter
38:42
Even though I had no
Eden
38:42
Every single song started, and you were like, oh fuck, that's this movie too?
Peter
38:46
Yes. I had no idea.
Eden
38:47
And then the next move song starts and you go, Oh fuck, that's this movie too. Yep.
Peter
38:52
Yes, absolutely. So uh we will turn I I will use the term these songs are ubiquitous, you know?
Eden
38:59
They truly, truly, in the most plenary way of understanding that word, these songs have been ubiquitous in 2025. They are literally everywhere.
Peter
39:10
I mean, y we have to understand a
Eden
39:11
Because I didn't know any of them. I didn't know a single one of them was from this song movie. I didn't know anything about this movie. I was like, I've heard the K-pop is good. And then every single song that would start, I would be like, oh shit, I heard that on social media.
Peter
39:23
Yeah.
Eden
39:23
Oh shit, I've seen that on social media. Oh shit, I've seen a dance to that.
Peter
39:25
Yes. Yeah, and again, that's the thing is is I am someone clearly folks, you just heard my music recommendations a little bit ago. I'm not listening to K-pop. I have no experience with K-pop. It's just, it's just not my jam. That's fine.
Eden
39:40
Yeah.
Peter
39:40
But I too, every single song, I was like, just like you said, oh shit.
Eden
39:44
Everyone.
Peter
39:47
Oh shit. Yeah.
Eden
39:49
Everyone.
Peter
39:50
Catchy, catchy as hell.
Eden
39:51
It's wild. Cultural penetration, the way that and here's the funniest part.
Peter
39:53
But
Eden
39:57
I this is worth mentioning just because I think it is the absolute funniest thing in the world. Wicked 2 came out last week. By all accounts, it's fine, not as good as the first one, because it's a musical. It's a stage musical. And everybody knows, with like two exceptions in the history of stage musicals. The back half is always worse. This is the way musicals work. You front load all the good songs, and then the back half is the part where people aren't paying attention anymore. They went and they got drinks at the bar during intermission. The music doesn't have to be as good. This is the way every stage musical works. So I was like, when they said they were gonna do Wicked in two pieces, I was like, oh, that's a mistake, because the back half of Wicked is considerably worse and has none of the good songs. So what did they do for the new version of Wicked? They were like, we're gonna compose a brand new song because we want to win Best Original Song at the Oscars. You know what's not gonna win best original song if the Oscars is anything for fucking wicked. K-pop Demon, any of these seven songs from K-pop Demon Hunters Will win. I don't know which one. Whatever one they nominate is gonna win.
Peter
41:05
Yeah, right.
Eden
41:06
Because they're catchy as hell
Peter
41:07
Yeah, nope, I agree. What else? Anything else you liked? You mentioned the faces. I thought the animation was fun and the reaction faces, as is a thing I've seen in scant other You know, whether it's like anime or even in some manga you'll see that, but the the the over-the-top faces were a ton of fun.
Eden
41:24
Mm-hmm. Yes, the the faces they were making and and like It started strong with that, when they're on the plane eating their pre uh pre show meal, and Rumi is deep throating that Kimbop is one of the funniest faces I've ever seen in a movie.
Peter
41:46
Oh yeah, they're really good.
Eden
41:46
I was like, you're taking your your ostensible heroine, your your main character, and letting her be this goofy? Okay, you're doing something that is uh feels a little out of the norm from what I expect from these types of film. Um the other thing I really loved, the fat tiger.
Peter
42:07
Yes.
Eden
42:08
I love the fat tiger.
Peter
42:08
And the and the the crow with six eyes and the the little hat.
Eden
42:10
I loved the the six-eyed crow and I loved when Rumi asked Ginu about the little hat and said why does the crow wear the little hat? That he was like, the little hat was actually for the tiger, but the crow keeps stealing it. That was my favorite part of the movie.
Peter
42:26
Deliver and I I loved the the tiger delivering the the letters slopper slob with all the slobber and and stuff slobberingly from its mouth.
Eden
42:26
I love the little, I love the fat cat. Flubberingly, yes. I did I liked that guy. Um yeah. Uh it's uh yeah Uh catchy songs. I'm thinking about them the day after. Here's the thing. I watched it last night. I'm thinking about the music the day after. So you you got me there, K-pop demon hunters.
Peter
42:47
Yeah.
Eden
42:51
You got me with some hooks.
Peter
42:52
But here's what I'm gonna say about that. I was the same, I watched it Wednesday. I felt that way on Thursday. By Sunday, I don't remember them.
Eden
43:03
Well, that's cause it's pop music.
Peter
43:03
I'd have to hear them again.
Eden
43:05
That's cause it's pop music, baby. It ain't supposed to last like that. It's ephemeral.
Peter
43:09
It is, it is
Eden
43:09
It's like it's like sea foam and it's beautiful and you enjoy it while it's there and then it's gone from your mind forever. until you listen to it again. So it wouldn't surprise me if by Monday or Tuesday it's also gone from my mind.
Peter
43:19
Yeah.
Eden
43:23
But it is catchy.
Peter
43:23
Yeah. It is it's very catchy, very catchy.
Eden
43:25
Um I thought that it was funny that all of the Saja boys but Ginu were ugly as fuck. And I don't know if they were supposed to be, but Cassie and I kept talking about the two that had the terrible hair. And we were like, how are you how the one with the guy the covering his eyes, the other one who just had like the huge like s like 50s uh lady hair?
Peter
43:40
That you could that was covering their eyes and everything. Yes, yes.
Eden
43:51
And then one of them was just named Baby and just like acted like a baby. And the other one was named Abby and he had abs and made the ug and made the girl's eyes turn to popcorn. And I was like, okay, sure. Make the girls' eyes turn to popcorn. Why not?
Peter
44:06
Yeah.
Eden
44:06
I don't know. What did you think about this movie? What did you like about this movie?
Peter
44:08
Yeah. Uh I liked I liked the animation. I thought the animation was fun and they did a lot of fun things with it. It was reminiscent and I don't know if Here's the thing we do know about this, that at some point in there, while it's a Netflix film, this was a Sony animation film.
Eden
44:28
It is a Sony Pictures animation.
Peter
44:30
And so I think you're seeing some of the things they learned in things like, oh, hey, the Spider-Verse movies.
Eden
44:37
Uh-huh.
Peter
44:38
And so the the animation instantly.
Eden
44:40
That's the last that's the last film that Sony Pictures Animation put out was Spider-Verse 2.
Peter
44:46
Yeah.
Eden
44:46
They have not put out a movie in two years.
Peter
44:48
Yeah. So I think I instantly recognized that and was like, okay, I like that. I like a lot of the animation aspects. I enjoyed that it was a very bright, colorful film. You know, we talked about that, I think, when we were talking about Fantastic Four and Superman. So many movies these days, action ones, and even some animated stuff. It just If if it's an action-y movie, it's like it's gotta be gritty and dark. And I loved that this was bright and very colorful.
Eden
45:13
Mm-hmm. And it's it's worth mentioning that the fight choreography is pretty fun.
Peter
45:20
Yeah, and that's what I was gonna say is I enjoyed the fights. I thought that the fights were fun. I thought that it them each having a different style of weapon and their and and that that carried over into them having kind of a different fighting style when they're fighting the demons. I appreciated that aspect of it.
Eden
45:37
For sure
Peter
45:37
Um, like you said, I thought the music was fun and catchy. Uh it's pop music, it was very forgettable. Again, catchy at first and then gone within a couple of days. And I think uh it was a fun movie. I had fun watching it.
Eden
45:53
Yeah, I'm I'm not gonna be out here saying it wasn't a fun movie.
Peter
45:58
But at the same time, I have no reason to ever watch this movie again
Eden
46:04
No. Well, and and I think like the music I feel about the film in its entirety the same way. It's fun to think about. I had a fun time. I'll never think about it again in a couple of days. Like it is not it's not a movie that's gonna have any staying power, like you know, psychologically in my brain. And so that is part of why I find it s its popularity so perplexing. Because it did go down real smooth. It's fun. I can see how if if you uh I I think its popularity is for the same reason things like Bluey or Pixar movies are popular. Because if you are an adult who is around a kid and they watch a show that doesn't suck, it's a miracle to you.
Peter
46:51
Yes.
Eden
46:51
You know, we were talking about that we went to breakfast this morning with some friends, and we were talking about how K-pop Demon Hunters is pretty okay. Like it was it was an extremely watchable film. Um and that, you know, again, this niece of ours was really into it dressed up like Rumi. We were like, but her you know, taste is in the toilet because last summer when we were out for the family reunion, she was watching Shimmer and Shine every day. And I think I complained about it on this podcast. But Shimmer and Shine is one of the most god-awful television shows I've ever seen in my life.
Peter
47:21
I think you did.
Eden
47:29
It was so cheap. It was so rote. There was nothing. And so if your kid is watching Shimmer and Shine every day. And then they watch K-pop Demon Hunters, you're like, oh my god, the cinema.
Peter
47:44
Like this is a this is a significant step up.
Eden
47:44
Oh my god.
Peter
47:47
We'll take it
Eden
47:48
This is f I'm this is like fucking watching a Scorsese baby like compared to Shimmer and Shine, this is the finest cinema I've ever partaken in.
Peter
47:56
Well, and you know
Eden
47:56
So I can see how that that I'm sure is a part of it. If the kids who are watching Peppa Pig and Shimmer and Shine and all this garbage watch K-pop demon hunters and you're like, well, that was pretty good actually in comparison to the stuff they normally watch.
Peter
48:11
And that's a that's an excellent point that I can attest to firsthand. You know, I I really like the movie Cars, even though it's not one of Pixar's best movies, but it's
Eden
48:26
No, it's not
Peter
48:27
A decent movie and my boys loved the movie Cars. And so it was one of those where, hey, if you're gonna watch, like you just said, if you're gonna watch something over and over again, watch cars. Love it.
Eden
48:40
At least it's a movie I don't want to pluck my eyeballs out of my face when you turn it on again.
Peter
48:40
I'm not gonna be correct. And I could see that being the same with this where Yeah, if I walk into the room and I had a kid or, you know, somebody was watching this, I'd be like, oh fun. And I'd probably stand there for a minute or two and see what was going on. And then I'd go on. I tell you what it wouldn't do though is it wouldn't be like when my kids would watch The Incredibles. And I'd walk into the room and then I'd sit down and I'd watch the rest of the movie with them. But you can't over I mean there is so much just incredibly banal and empty and and even in some cases actively offensive kids programming out there that anything that isn't that instantly as an adult you're like oh I'm gonna If you're gonna say, hey, do you want to watch?
Eden
49:34
I'm gonna encourage my children to watch this.
Peter
49:37
Yeah, you're gonna say if you if you need your kid to to watch something, and let we're not gonna make any judgments about parenting and needing your kid to watch something, because anybody who says they didn't do it is a liar.
Eden
49:45
Now
Peter
49:48
Sometimes you need your kid to watch something. And this is one of those where I'd be like, hey, do you want to watch K-pop Beaman Hunters? And I'd be much more okay with that than some of the other stuff that they could watch.
Eden
50:00
For sure.
Peter
50:01
Yeah.
Eden
50:02
But why?
Peter
50:02
I think I don't know.
Eden
50:03
Why is it so popular? I outside of that.
Peter
50:07
I don't I mean I think that there I think K-pop has to be part of it. I think that there is
Eden
50:12
I mean, K-pop has has been in a moment for a de I mean I mean when did Blackpink first get big? Like Blackpink was a decade ago at this point. When Blackpink got popular in the States.
Peter
50:20
Yeah. Yeah.
Eden
50:24
I mean, those girls are all in their thirties now.
Peter
50:24
And
Eden
50:26
They're all too old to be K-pop stars. August 2016 is when Black Pop Blackpink started.
Peter
50:32
Yeah.
Eden
50:33
So nine years ago. And that is forever ago. Especially in pop in pop in pop music. Jenny turns 30 next year. I'm sorry, Jenny. Your career is probably over, babe. That's too bad.
Peter
50:46
Yeah.
Eden
50:47
I liked your last album.
Peter
50:49
So I think that's gotta have something to do with it because I mean we've seen this with other things where Yeah, I I think that that's part of it. I think that it I think that it is the fact that the songs are catchy and they were smart enough to realize it was going to
Eden
51:00
I think so too.
Peter
51:06
it was doing popular and I know they did the sing along in the theater brief run for it, which in I think giving it that extra power of, hey, we can have a communal experience with this.
Eden
51:11
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Peter
51:21
made people like it more oh and and gravitate towards it more because now maybe they want to go back and watch it remembering the fun time they had. Doing that.
Eden
51:33
For sure.
Peter
51:33
But I don't know because that was the thing, is the morning after I remember just sitting there kind of going, okay, well, what about this though? I mean, you know, one of the things I heard and and read uh why theories at least why Black Panther, the original Black Panther movie, did as well as it did, besides the fact that it's a pretty good movie, is was the idea of of representation.
Eden
51:51
It's fine. Whoa, this is one of the worst action sequences I've ever seen in a film.
Peter
51:56
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, that's real rough.
Eden
51:59
What did you do, Ryan?
Peter
52:01
That's that's real rough But you know, I I'll I I hear and and I I recognize everything I'm saying right now is coming from a point of look, I'm a white dude in America. So I I get that, right?
Eden
52:12
Yeah.
Peter
52:13
I'm just saying I know where I'm coming from. But I heard a lot of people talk about, well, okay, there's a representation aspect. You know, it was like people of color, especially black kids, could look at Black Panther and be like, okay, cool.
Eden
52:21
Sure
Peter
52:26
I got a I got a superhero who's pretty awesome. And is finally in some ways like me where these other folks aren't. And so I was like, okay, is that part of it where it is?
Eden
52:34
Sure
Peter
52:38
a a group of, you know, pretty cool, you know, fun girls with attitude who are kicking ass. And maybe that's part of it. You know, I think that there is a shortage of Of s I think a lot of times Hollywood or whatever just really does have those stupid, idiotic ideas that it's like Well, if it's gotta be for girls, then it has to be like a Regent Sierra romance, because that's all they care about. You know? And I think that maybe that there is this is proof that no, there's something else there and it tied into that. And again, these are all assumptions because I'm a white dude in America, and so every movie just about I can identify with the main character in to some degree. But so I wonder if part of it is that. Is it that because there are rep are there res you know, sort of In comparison, so few movies or properties of any sort where a woman, and in this case younger women are the heroes that is that just a void that this is slipping into and filling in an outsized way because that void is so much larger.
Eden
53:53
It could be. It could be. I feel like you're hitting on something there.
Peter
53:59
You know?
Eden
54:00
And then you're not going to be able to do that.
Peter
54:00
It's like it it's I don't I it was the only thing I could come up with. And I think you see the last time I remember something being similar to this was the original Frozen. And I think that that was, I think that you had some of the same sort of thing going on where it was a, yeah, there's dudes in it, but the dudes aren't the main characters and the dudes aren't the heroes.
Eden
54:16
Short Absolutely not.
Peter
54:26
And and so perhaps that was again, I was trying to find some comparison. And frozen was the only other thing I could go. I'm familiar enough with to say, here's the last time I remember a huge cultural phenomenon that truly did center in younger girls. And and I think that that's a a portion of it, which makes me all the more disappointed that the way they're finally able to defeat Kemo was because the boy gets in the way of the blast.
Eden
54:50
I think I could be
Peter
55:01
That made me sad.
Eden
55:02
Yeah I mean, it does it it does put a nice capper to the relationship between Rumi and Ginu. But yeah, it does feel a little like um it steals a little of the thunder.
Peter
55:17
It does a little bit. Again, not a huge deal, but I I don't know. I did have a couple complaints, and that was The speed with which two things happened. Number one, the relationship/slash romance between Ginu and Rumi didn't really feel that earned.
Eden
55:36
Yeah.
Peter
55:38
Like
Eden
55:38
I mean, does it here's the thing. Does it ever in these kind of movies
Peter
55:42
Yeah. Yeah, probably not. But I don't know, something about it
Eden
55:46
Like about think about Disney romances. Have any of those actually felt earned
Peter
55:51
Yeah, no.
Eden
55:53
That's just part of the I think that's just that's just the milieu.
Peter
55:54
No, they're not
Eden
55:57
That's just animated movies for kids where you're like, you kissed a corpse and now she's leaving with you? Bro, Prince Charming? What do you do? You kissed a corpse, dog
Peter
56:08
Yes, no, you are right. Very problematic things in some of those. And and so that was actually the lesser of the two. The second one is, and and it feels like we didn't need that much. We just needed a little something, but the reconciliation between Rumi and Mira and Zoe, like they they go from
Eden
56:26
Uh-huh. I'm with you there. It's too fast.
Peter
56:32
Yeah, they're like, ah, you're a you're half demon and you didn't tell us, get away from us to all of a sudden, boom, arms around each other, hugging, singing, kicking butt. And
Eden
56:42
I do feel like I I feel like the the pacing is an issue with the film as a whole, but it's also 95 minutes.
Peter
56:47
Yes.
Eden
56:50
And this is a kid's movie, so you don't want to go longer than that.
Peter
56:51
It n cannot be longer than that.
Eden
56:54
But I do feel like there is I do feel like there is a better cut that sells worse that's 15 minutes longer.
Peter
57:02
Yes, I was thinking the same thing.
Eden
57:03
Like, there's no uh and to be fair, uh sequels.
Peter
57:04
Just two hours.
Eden
57:08
Tell me this in the sequel. You get this uh why why is Rumi half demon? We can infer since her mother was one of the demon hunters that her father was there for a demon, how'd that go down? How come like how why did her mom die so young? Is it because her she had a baby with a demon? Is it for some other reason? There was like a whole subplot with their mentor slash Rumi's adoptive mom that is not paid off whatsoever.
Peter
57:31
With Celine and None at nothing at all.
Eden
57:37
Nothing is there
Peter
57:40
Yeah.
Eden
57:40
There's nothing there. And I feel like there's a 15-minute longer cut where it tells you all that stuff. And again, I think it does worst. I think it I think it's a less popular film if you have that in there. But I think it tells the story better. But that's what the that's what the multimedia explosion of K-pop demon hunters is gonna take care of.
Peter
57:58
Yeah. Well, any final thoughts before we wrap it up?
Eden
58:02
I'm glad we watched it. Uh even if it's six months after the Cultural Zeitgeist got on it. I do feel like I only have two options when it comes to cultural zeitgeist things. I either find out about it before it goes big or I finally endure it months after it. The fact and then I'm like, oh, I I should have watched it when it was popular. Because that's how I feel about K-pop demon hunters.
Peter
58:24
Yeah.
Eden
58:25
How about you?
Peter
58:26
I'm about the same. Um I I it is one of those movies that I knew I was never going to watch it without some reason, which was kind of why I
Eden
58:36
This is exactly my situation.
Peter
58:39
Yep, which was where it was like, okay, I've been curious, basically I've been curious to know why is it so popular?
Eden
58:48
Mm-hmm.
Peter
58:48
So here's a good reason for for me to to sit down and watch it. Like you said, it goes down pretty easy. It's it was a fairly I mean it moves fast, again, perhaps too fast.
Eden
59:00
Live real fast
Peter
59:02
But was enjoyable and I don't know that I'm gonna think about it again after I hit publish on this episode.
Eden
59:11
Yeah, what else have these people made?
Peter
59:14
I don't know.
Eden
59:14
Cause maybe okay, um the Lego Ninjago movie
Peter
59:20
Okay, yep. Didn't uh didn't see that Lego movie.
Eden
59:22
I'm sure that's fine. And the other guy, the other director made a movie called Wish Dragon Which is a 2021 animated fantasy comedy film. It looks terrible. Just from the uh just from the trailer. Or not the trailer, the poster. Doesn't look good. So, okay, yeah. Whatever. Maybe they'll make a better movie the second time. Who's to know?
Peter
59:50
There we go.
Eden
59:50
Who's to know?
Peter
59:51
Who's to know? But it was fun, but again, I really do. I kind of feel bad saying it, but I don't know that I'm gonna think about it anymore.
Eden
01:00:00
I don't know. I'll keep I don't know that I'll keep it on the Plex server. It was very funny. We sat down to watch it last night. This was one of those times where it was like, wow, 2025, what a time to pirate. Because I sat down to watch it last night and I booted up my Plex and I was like, oh, I wonder if Peter put it on the Plex server And you did not have it on yours. And I was like, oh, I bet he just has a Netflix subscription.
Peter
01:00:19
Oh no. I do, because I have
Eden
01:00:22
And Cassie was already sitting on the couch. She was already sitting on the couch, like snuggled in with the dogs, because she was gonna watch it with me. And I was like Give me 10 minutes. So I like walked over to my computer, popped online, downloaded a 1080p rip of this bad boy, threw it on the Plex server, came back and sat down, and she was like, Oh, you already done it. I was like, Yeah, it's 2025, baby.
Peter
01:00:43
It's true. It's true. All right, well, we appreciate everybody for listening and uh like, subscribe, leave a review, all that fun stuff.
Eden
01:00:55
If you if you think we're full of shit and we should reevaluate our thoughts about K-pop demon hunters, please tell us.
Peter
01:01:02
Do uh do let us know. Let us know. Uh otherwise we'll be back in another couple weeks. And until then, bye.