Contestants: Matt Amodio, Ben Chan, Adriana Harmeyer

Contestants: Jake DeArruda, Sean McShane, Juveria ZaheerThis is a preview of Episode 52 of Recreational Thinking.

Contestants: Randall Eng, Andy Greeley, Ewan Munro, Ajay Parasuraman, Jeffrey Seguritan, Jayanthi SrinivasanICE to see you tune in for this latest Directors Set, one so fiendishly challenging that not one but two contestants are seriously considering renouncing their citizenship by the end of it!  From a string of émigrés that causes one contestant to state "I'm all out of Hungarians" (incidentally the title of my second-favorite Air Supply song) to the multifaceted career of a fascinating polymath remembered today only for a (private) dick, this episode contains multiple intriguing factual journeys through the world of cinema.  And also LOTS of Jayanthi's puns.  Lots of 'em.Check out my Patreon for an alternative take on this set with contestants Akiva Fox, Joshua Kreitzer, Raghuveer Mukkamalla, and Jack Rousseau (aka TG Trivia on YouTube)!As always, if you like what you hear, consider donating via Ko-fi or Patreon and remember to leave a review and/or rating on iTunes!https://www.patreon.com/recreationalthinkinghttps://ko-fi.com/recreationalthinking

Contestants: Jonathan Mishory, Raghuveer Mukkamalla, Jack Rousseau, S. A. ShenoyJoin me and four brave playtesters — including one Zooming along the New Jersey Turnpike (not behind the wheel!) — who said "yes" to NO.  Learn about a dizzyingly wide variety of filmmakers, from a professional pickleball player to the mother of rapper-turned-politician "Young Cardamom" to the man who invented the notion that zombies eat brains AND learn about my favorite stupid joke, my favorite Jeopardy! compliment, my favorite mystery novel that is better than either of its movie adaptations, and the director whose marriage I shall never forgive.  All that, plus documentaries by Oppenheimer and about Barbie (sort of) and a final question in which I pronounce eight French names in a row!NOTE: I did use editing to fix a factual error within a question.  Try to figure out which one, and then listen to Ewan Munro et al play this set as a Patreon exclusive to see if you were correct!As always, if you like what you hear, consider donating via Ko-fi or Patreon and remember to leave a review and/or rating on iTunes!https://www.patreon.com/recreationalthinkinghttps://ko-fi.com/recreationalthinking

Contestants: Randall Eng, Jing Feng, Andy Greeley, Ewan Munro, Jeffrey Seguritan, Jayanthi SrinivasanWho needs Gukesh vs. Ding when you have Randall Eng and Ewan Munro duking it out for cinematic-quiz supremacy?  But even as we all compete to mispronounce French names that being with "M," it is Jayanthi who comes out on top with the worst pun--uh, I mean, funniest joke of all.  Sadly, those of you listening to this audio podcast won't get to see Ewan's dancing ... but that's all the more reason to join me in recording future episodes!Thanks to my playtesters Vince Bacani, Mike Cheyne, Charlie Fritz, Chris Grubb, Raghuveer Mukkamalla, Matt Pashby, Tucker Warner, and Emily White.  (Chris was the original source of my "Earwig and the Angry Witch" joke.)As always, if you like what you hear, consider donating via Ko-fi or Patreon and remember to leave a review and/or rating on iTunes!https://www.patreon.com/recreationalthinkinghttps://ko-fi.com/recreationalthinking

Contestants: Dan Blim, Randall Eng, Jayanthi Srinivasan, Ariel WatskyNOTE: This friendly includes 13 images that, for obvious technical reasons, cannot be included; therefore, this audio replay should not be considered a "pure" example of my work.  Keep in mind that the contestants are not big James Bond buffs.  If *you* are, and would like to play this friendly rather than listen to it, please contact me for the TSV and PDF files.As always, if you like what you hear, consider donating via Ko-fi or Patreon and remember to leave a review and/or rating on iTunes!https://www.patreon.com/recreationalthinkinghttps://ko-fi.com/recreationalthinking

Contestants: Kelsey Barcomb, Mike Cheyne, Greg Fanoe, Patrick Friel, Miranda Onnen, Tucker WarnerNOTE: This is a free preview.  Please subscribe to my Patreon to gain access to the rest of the alphabet.I've decided to release three bonus mini-sodes this Thanksgiving (of which this is the second).  Enjoy!Six cinephiles gather in one Zoom room to show off their knowledge of directors with surnames beginning with "H."  What happens next will educate and (hopefully) amuse you!As always, if you like what you hear, consider donating via Ko-fi or Patreon and remember to leave a review and/or rating on iTunes!https://www.patreon.com/recreationalthinkinghttps://ko-fi.com/recreationalthinking

Contestants: Kelsey Barcomb, Paige Feldman, Charlie Fritz, Cari Milowicki, Lindsay Sobczak, Tucker WarnerNOTE: This is a free preview.  Please subscribe to my Patreon to gain access to the rest of the alphabet.Happy Thanksgiving!  This free preview is what you get, as our six cinephile contestants test their knowledge of Radiohead's "Karma Police," Pretty Little Liars, Mission: Impossible, and even Unhappily Ever After in addition to every stripe of feature film imaginable, from the silent era to Bollywood to abstract British art movies that somehow influence How I Met Your Mother.  As I say at one point, "I was thinking of doing an all-normal-movies packet, but then I was like, nah."As always, if you like what you hear, consider donating via Ko-fi or Patreon and remember to leave a review and/or rating on iTunes!https://www.patreon.com/recreationalthinkinghttps://ko-fi.com/recreationalthinking

Contestants: Dan Burgess, Randall Eng, Ewan Munro, Jayanthi Srinivasan, Anupama SriranganNOTE: This is a free preview.  Please subscribe to my Patreon to gain access to the rest of the alphabet.Five cinephiles gather in one Zoom room to show off their knowledge of directors with surnames beginning with "L."  What happens next will shock and amuse you!  (But mostly amuse.)As always, if you like what you hear, consider donating via Ko-fi or Patreon and remember to leave a review and/or rating on iTunes!https://www.patreon.com/recreationalthinkinghttps://ko-fi.com/recreationalthinking

Contestants: Charlie Fritz, Andy Greeley, Lindsay Sobczak, Tucker WarnerNOTE: This is a free preview.  Please subscribe to my Patreon to gain access to the rest of the alphabet.Four cinephiles (including our current OQL commissioner!) compete to show off knowledge of directors with "K" names.  A "From the Vault" cut of these questions, featuring yet another Randall Eng vs. Ewan Munro showdown, will soon be released on my Patreon — along with a few more Directors Sets and a couple of Recreational Thinking Lite episodes!As always, if you like what you hear, consider donating via Ko-fi or Patreon and remember to leave a review and/or rating on iTunes!https://www.patreon.com/recreationalthinkinghttps://ko-fi.com/recreationalthinking

(Note: That's a letter I, not a number 1)Contestants: Ben Kitchen, Ewan Munro, Devin RossiterI recently recorded two new Recreational Thinking Lite episodes; the other (with Aaron Levine, Manas Sarma, and my Jeopardy! compatriot Andrew Whatley), will go up as a Patreon exclusive.  But as I'm working through my editing backlog — a lot of new material, much of it featuring J! superstars, is coming — enjoy some quick bites of snackable content!https://www.patreon.com/recreationalthinkinghttps://ko-fi.com/recreationalthinking

Contestants: Jing Feng, Andy Greeley, Randall Eng, Ewan MunroNOTE: This is a free preview.  Please subscribe to my Patreon to gain access to the rest of the alphabet.Another little taste of my directors sets!  This set, covering I's and some leftover H's, is one of my hardest, but Randall & Ewan and company are more than up to the task.  Perhaps we'll hear these hardcore cinephiles on an all-cinema episode of Recreational Thinking in the not-so-distant future?As always, if you like what you hear, consider donating via PayPal or Patreon and remember to leave a review and/or rating on iTunes!

Contestants: Frederic Bush, Chris Miller, Greg Weinstein, Tucker Warner, Dan Blim (whole time); Cliff Galiher, Charlie Fritz (part of the time)NOTE: This is a free preview.  Please subscribe to my Patreon to gain access to the rest of the alphabet.Welcome to my new series!  Written by a serious cinephile (me) for an audience of cinephiles, these questions also work as a starting point for anyone who wants to learn about film for quizzing purposes AND anyone looking to go, as Pauline Kael put it, deeper into movies.Each game (of which there are four in this episode) consists of four rounds of play, Mimir-style, with 32 questions in all.  The answer to each question will be the name of a movie director, and all answers in the game will have a surname or mononym starting with the same letter.My goal is to cover all types of cinema — mainstream, arthouse, foreign, experimental, documentary, and more — and all eras of cinema as well, with special emphasis on members of underrepresented groups (e.g. women, POC, LGBT) and underrepresented cinemas.  The questions are hard, but the games are fast-paced and filled with banter.  I hope you enjoy — and don't worry, new episodes in the usual Recreational Thinking format are on their way too!As always, if you like what you hear, consider donating via PayPal or Patreon and remember to leave a review and/or rating on iTunes!

Contestants: Meredith MacVittie, Ben Rothenberg, Nikhil SonejaFrom the semi-logical to the semiological, this episode examines the JAMES BOND phenomenon at all angles, turning a spyglass on the world's most famous spy.  As we celebrate the rich legacy of the Bond franchise while also reflecting on its many problematic aspects, we additionally draw connections to geography, politics, probability theory, radical feminism, horse racing, the Olympics, Willy Wonka, Orson Welles, and of course gambling and music.  Come to witness Ben's quest to become Recreational Thinking's first ever 3-time loser; stay for an abrupt downer ending that would be right at home in On Her Majesty's Secret Service or No Time to Die.As always, if you like what you hear, consider donating via PayPal or Patreon and remember to leave a review and/or rating on iTunes!

Contestants: Randall Eng, Doug Behrend, Darren MunkPlay ball!  An episode recorded back in spring is ready just in time for the playoffs, and just like their favorite players, our baseball-loving contestants are all highly skilled contenders vying for a prestigious world championship!  Well, okay, maybe it's not that prestigious, and it's definitely not a world championship (but is the World Series?), but it sure is fun to listen to and — assuming you're a fan of our national pastime — play along with as well.  Oh, but is your favorite team or time period not represented?  Feel free to submit it as one of your own categories when you join me on this podcast!As always: Like what you hear? Consider donating via PayPal or Patreon, and remember to leave a review and/or rating on iTunes!

Contestants: Erin Portman, Vince Bacani, Jimmy DavorenI love all my contestants equally, but the moment in this episode when one reasons out the *meter* of the correct answer using her knowledge of prosody is an all-time highlight.  Really, though, there are standout moments from everyone in an episode that covers the 4 C's — curling, Catholicism, cookies, and chess — plus everything from Neil Gaiman to '70s sitcoms to some reminders of the stirring majesty of Hawaiian culture ... and then I make a series of increasingly vulgar puns and stan Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (not at the same time).  So join four people who met while taping Jeopardy! as we reunite in a much more relaxed environment for some Recreational Thinking!Enjoy what you hear?  Consider donating via PayPal or Patreon, and remember to leave a review and/or rating on iTunes!

Contestants: Michael Rankins, Dave Ross, Nikhil SonejaNa-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-BATMAN!!!  And WONDER WOMAN!!!  And GREEN LANTERN, plus FLASH!!!  All your favorite DC superheroes and supervillains — okay, well, a decent selection of them — turn up in this topic-specific episode that spans the Golden, Silver, Bronze, and modern Ages of DC Comics.  Plus, we cover the ABCs of science fiction.  (I'm aware of their work.)  So tune in!  Come to find out how a magical Rick Springfield ties in to the Brady Bunch universe; stay to hear me pronounce ... "Schneitzhoeffer"?Enjoy what you hear?  Consider donating via PayPal or Patreon, and remember to leave a review and/or rating on iTunes!

Contestants: Ben Bass, Matthew Marcus, Henry Stringer and "gate-crasher" Raghuveer MukkamallaWant to see more of dashing J! champion Matthew Marcus?  Join him and three other fans of Recreational Thinking in the first ever recorded episode of Recreational Thinking Lite!  These were intended as Patreon exclusives, and most of them are, but the public demands More Matthew Marcus!!!, and who am I to deny them?Remember, sign up on Patreon to hear the other six bonus mini-episodes!  https://www.patreon.com/recreationalthinking

For the first time, my Patreon followers have something to show for their support other than just a warm, fuzzy feeling!  This past weekend, I quickly threw together seven episodes of what I'm calling Recreational Thinking lite, a fast-and-furious, unstructured, unedited format where everyone works together against my questions and we wrap things up in 40-50 minutes.  It was a total experiment, and the results are unpolished, but I think there's some diamonds in the rough.  So between now and Christmas, I'll be publishing all seven as Patreon exclusives!  Sign up for as little or as much as you want for full access.Just to give you a taste, I'm releasing the sixth episode for free to everyone.  Join Benjamin Kitchen, Dargan Ware, and Chris White as we learn about the AOC of the '70s, find out what Cecil Chubb's wife turned down, and discover the unexpected pedigree that unites The Doors and Dolemite.NOTE: I got my terminology a bit confused when discussing Rupert Mitford.  What I should have said is that he was the youngest life peer to sit in the House of Lords.Remember, sign up on Patreon to hear the other six bonus mini-episodes!  https://www.patreon.com/recreationalthinking

Contestants: Henry Stringer, Akiva Fox, Nathan CrisseyWhat could be scarier than a "deranged cheese monster"?  Well, for quizzers, it would have to be forgetting the name of someone you've spent time with on multiple occasions, right when you're asked a question about them.  Yes, this episode's clever contestants hit highs and lows, mixing painfully close misses with one of the best "fraud" answers I've ever seen, as we traverse worlds as diverse as mathematics, Mario Kart, Shakespeare, cocktails, tuba, Pokémon, and competitive yo-yo'ing (really!).  Plus, just in time for Halloween, there's a deranged cheese monster.Deranged cheese monster.NOTE: Like E35, this one ends with ~15m of wrap-up chatter, including a fascinating callback to E32, a discussion of how to transport giant novelty checks, and some amazing yo-yo tricks that unfortunately don't translate to an audio format.Enjoy what you hear? Consider donating via PayPal or Patreon, and remember to leave a review and/or rating on iTunes!