Gowns, Groans, and Guillotines

In this episode, Harrison Fish and Kristen Becker move between the glamorous, the frustrating, and the unexpectedly historical, starting in the thick of modern chaos: the everyday realities of being a renter. They dig into the ongoing struggle for accountability from landlords, where basic maintenance can feel like a myth and “responsiveness” is more of a theoretical concept than a lived experience.From there, they pivot to the Met Gala, unpacking this year’s red carpet spectacle and asking whether the event lost some of its spark—especially with Jeff Bezos’s involvement hovering over the proceedings like an extremely expensive fog.Next up: Hollywood’s latest shake-up, as they break down the recent layoffs of Marvel’s visual development team and what it might signal about the future of blockbuster filmmaking, creativity, and the increasingly industrial nature of superhero storytelling.And to close the episode, they step back in time to explore the origins of the term “Luddites”—not as a punchline for tech skepticism, but as a misunderstood movement with a surprisingly relevant history that still echoes in today’s conversations about labor, automation, and control.It’s part housing crisis commentary, part culture critique, and part history lesson you didn’t know you needed.