This Thing Rules is a show where we celebrate our favorite things. What kind of things, exactly? All kinds of things! Movies, foods, cities, bands, shows, books...
In honor of the holidays (and us being pretty fried because of the holidays, and the entire year that preceded them) this week’s episode is even more laid back and conversational than normal, and we hit record without any specific topic in mind. After some muttering and grumbling about getting older, and also how we were friends with Dash Rendar without realizing it, the conversation turned to what we’ve been listening to this year, music-wise. So, something along the lines of Max and Brian’s Spotify Wrapped: The Radio Drama, but with some of our usual detours and tangents.
For anyone who prefers a more cohesive, less shoegaze-y audio product, don’t worry, This Thing Rules will return to its regularly scheduled programming in 2025. Thanks for bearing with us during these trying and festive holiday times.Here are the albums, artists and music-adjacent media we mentioned (or alluded to) in chronological order:
Alli Goertz - Peeled back
LL Cool - The FORCE
Rome Streetz - Hat & garden hold up
Griselda Records (Conway The Machine, Benny The Butcher, Westside Gunn, Daringer)
HEALTH - RAT WARS ULTRA EDITION
Pixel grip - ARENA / Stamina
Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross - Challengers [MIXED] by Boys Noize
NIN - Add Violence
NIN - The Fragile
The Sparks Brothers (2021 documentary)
Sparks - No. 1 in Heaven
Sparks - Exotic Creatures of the Deep
Abba - Gold (greatest hits record, but also 33 ⅓ book about said record)
Beastie Boys Book by Ad-Rock and Mike D (book and audiobook)
Beastie Boys - Hello Nasty
Madonna: Like an Icon by Lucy O’Brien (book)
The Prodigy - Fat of the Land (and its album art by JAKe Detonator)
Rage Against The Machine - Evil Empire
Rage Against The Machine - Renegades
Beck - Sea Change
Nirvana - Nevermind
Nirvana - In Utero
Nirvana - Unplugged
--------
58:04
Christmas Movies Rule!
‘Tis the season! From wholesome feel-good classics like “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “A Charlie Brown Christmas” to vaguely off-color classics like “National Lampoon’s Christmas” and “Love, Actually” to flat-out misanthropic filth like “Bad Santa” or “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York,” there are are a lot of movies about, or at least, involving Christmas. So, let’s talk about some favorites, some less favorite, and some movie franchises set in universes where Christmas doesn’t exist that we’ve somehow forced into our holiday rotation.
Intro includes clips from It’s a Wonderful Life, Bad Santa, Die Hard, A Christmas Story and Angels With Filthy Souls (the fake gangster movie from Home Alone, not to confused with Angels with Dirty Faces, which is an actual film)
--------
51:35
Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire Rules!
In 1996, Star Wars was in a weird spot. The Original Trilogy was a long time ago, and the Prequel Trilogy was still far, far away, but thanks to the rapidly expanding Expanded Universe in the form of books, comics and games, fans had plenty keeping them busy. So, to capitalize on this, and test the waters for interest in a new movie, Lucasfilm did the next best thing to making a movie: making everything BUT a movie, with Shadows of the Empire, a multimedia project that took the form of a novel, a comic series, a Nintendo 64 game, a score, multiple toy lines, scale model kits, and even a pop-up book. Filling in the blanks between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, it was the most coordinated assault Star Wars fans had seen since the Battle of Endor, and it arrived just as we were getting into that galaxy far, far away in a big way. So, let’s look back on why this was so special, what worked, what didn’t, and what’s made its way back into the official canon.
Intro contains clips from Clerks, a Kenner Shadows of the Empire action figure commercial (voiced by Mark Hammil), a promotional video for Shadows of the Empire and an Arakyd Viper Imperial Probe Droid.
--------
45:07
McDonaldland Rules! Featuring Scott Bromley
This week, we’re joined by our pal Scott Bromley to discuss one of the most beloved fantasy realms ever created by a fast food restaurant’s marketing teams: McDonaldland. Okay, so, maybe the food isn’t healthy, and the play structure is a deathtrap at best, and the Happy Meal toys and packaging are a blight on landfills, but at least Ronald McDonald, Grimace and The Hamburglar are pretty cool, right?
Intro contains clips from various creepy McDonald's commercials. In case it's not abundantly clear, this episode is in no way sponsored, affiliated, endorsed, or approved of by McDonald's in any way shape or form.
--------
1:04:56
Being a Dad Rules!
This week, we're tackling something that's probably too broad of a subject to fit in one episode, and which is something of a moving target, but which definitely rules. We share some personal anecdotes, as well as various trials, tribulations and existential dilemmas posed by creating another human being. (Sorry if this episode description is a little scatterbrained, while writing it, my kid needed help going to the bathroom, then insisted I let her brush my hair, and then wanted me to look up how to say "high five" in German. Apparently, it's "gib mir fünf," but also not really a thing people do in Germany. -Max)
Intro contains clips from The Empire Strikes Back, Kindergarten Cop and the trailer for Mr. Mom, which hasn't aged very well.
This Thing Rules is a show where we celebrate our favorite things. What kind of things, exactly? All kinds of things! Movies, foods, cities, bands, shows, books, albums, toys, pictures, moments. Each episode, join long-time collaborators and best pals Brian Altano and Max Scoville as they focus on a different subject, ask themselves what’s so great about it, share some anecdotes about how they grew to love it, unearth some trivia about it, and celebrate the fact that it exists.
New Zealand