The Goatcheese Podcast

After 3 seasons and 34 episodes, my best friends Chanel and Eden join me on the final episode of The Goatcheese Podcast to talk all about us getting older. We talk about where we currently are in life, ideal jobs we’d love to have, the current state of affairs in the U.S., goals we now have as 40 year olds, and gripe about our bodies no longer being as spry as they used to be. We also get real about our mental health and mortality, list things we like to do to decompress, and l do something I’ve wanted to do for almost 30 years: I get Chanel to curse (in Spanish)! And finally, I contemplate just how much I’ve enjoyed doing this podcast and what it’s meant to me. Enjoy!

One of my best friends, Steven, joins me this week to talk about why we love movies. We talk about our early movie watching experiences at both the movie theater and at home and how different those experiences were in the early ‘90s, Disney’s insistence of scarring children with the death of parental figures in their movies, and movies so bad that they’re good. We also delve into remakes and sequels, “flavor of the week” celebrities being cast in movie roles, the subjectivity of enjoying movies, movie theater etiquette, the almost lost art of movies, some of our favorite movies of all time, and, ultimately, just exactly what movies mean to us both individually. Enjoy!

On this week's episode, my friend William and I talk all about action movies. We discuss the rules of action films, delve into specific sub genres such as action comedies and action horror, and compare the movies of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone. We also talk about the intricacies of movies like The Raid, John Wick and The Terminator franchise, dig into action movies and action stars from the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s such as Demolition Man, The Warriors, Rambo, True Lies, Rush Hour, Crank, Jackie Chan, and Jean Claude Van Damme (specifically his two year stretch of movies from 1993 to 1995), we list off our favorite action movies, and we debate endlessly over whether Speed can really be considered an action movie or not. Enjoy!

On this week's episode, my really good friend and producing partner, Relisa, joins me to talk all about filmmaking. We discuss our beginnings and how we met, when we first decided we wanted to make movies, and things we like and dislike about the filmmaking process. We also talk about our individual creative processes including where we draw our inspiration and ideas from, and we share some on-set stories. Enjoy!

This week, my cousin-in-law Chris joins me to talk all about Batman. We discuss the different iterations of Batman media including the animated TV series, the Gotham TV show, and the Burton, Schumacher, and Nolan movies. We also rank our favorite Batman movies, list off our favorite villains from the Rogue’s Gallery (not surprisingly, the Joker makes both of our lists), and we talk about our favorite portrayals including Kevin Conroy, Val Kilmer, and Christian Bale. Enjoy!

On this week's episode, I discuss urban legends with my cousin-in-law, Eddie. We talk about how we both got introduced to urban legends at an early age and share a few stories told to us by family, friends, and classmates. We delve into the importance of storytelling and how certain stories get passed down from generation to generation, especially as cautionary tales. We also dig deep into some classic legends such as "The Vanishing Hitchhiker", "Bloody Mary", "The Poltergeist Curse", "The Lechuza Bird", and "The Killer in the Back Seat" amongst others and some newer legends such as "Slenderman" and "The Momo Challenge" (our pick for the creepiest looking thing out there). We also journey into the world of cryptids and talk about such creatures as the Jersey Devil, Bigfoot, El Chupacabra, and the lesser known Dover Demon. Enjoy!

On this week's episode, my cousin Marco and I talk in depth about music in movies. We delve into the importance of how music (composed and/or licensed) plays an essential role during a movie as well as HOW it’s used using Halloween, Interstellar and Dune as specific examples, we compare the use of music in Sinners and Elvis in terms of period piece movies, we share our favorite movie composers (and it Marco’s case, his favorite compositions), a short conversation on horror movie scores, and we discuss some of our favorite movie song endings. Enjoy!

On this week's episode, my friend Anastasia and I talk all about comfort movies and TV shows. We define what comfort movies/shows mean to us specifically and talk about the shift where the kid movies we grew up watching as entertainment turned into something much more. We also discuss how the familiarity of certain media helps provide the much needed “escape” that we all need, we offer examples of our personal comfort movies/shows such as Coming To America, The Princess Bride, Gilmore Girls, and The Simpsons, and we delve into how our perspectives have changed on certain shows/movies now that we’ve gotten older and how we handle that balance. Enjoy!

This week, my cousin Tati and I decide to “poke the bear” and share some of our unpopular opinions. We offer our viewpoints on cancel culture, social media and influencers, and reality TV. We also discuss celebrities that we DO NOT find attractive (sorry Bad Bunny and Sydney Sweeney, you both made the list), the last best decade for music, our society’s over reliance on phones, whether alcohol consumption is necessary to have a good time, are dating apps even worth it, my dislike for selfies, and perhaps the most unpopular opinion of all: how the millennial generation is the best (haha). Enjoy!

This week, my fiancée Jen and I talk all about the movies of 1994. We discuss how different the movie theater experience was back then compared to now, as well as our reliance of using Moviefone and newspaper listings for movie times. We delve into some great movies, some not so good movies and those “so bad they’re good” movies (as well as some that just didn’t hold up well) - among the movies were discuss are: Blank Check, True Lies, Camp Nowhere, The Mask, It’s Pat: The Movie, Blankman, Pulp Fiction, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Richie Rich, Priscilla: Queen of the Desert, Airheads, Reality Bites, and Little Giants. We also talk about how 1994 was both Jim Carrey and Macauley Culkin’s year at the movie, and we couldn’t talk about the year of 1994 in movies without highlighting Jean Claude Van Damme’s “masterpiece”, Street Fighter. Enjoy!

This week, my best friend Joseph and I talk all about our favorite zombie movies. We go into our introductions to the zombie genre, define what specifically makes a movie a ZOMBIE movie, highlight examples of zombie media outside the movie spectrum, we compare fast moving zombies to slow ones, discuss what it is about zombie movies that we like so much, and we end things by listing off our top ten favorite zombie movies which include Zombieland, Planet Terror, World War Z, Shaun of the Dead, both versions of Dawn of the Dead, and The Return of the Living Dead. Enjoy!

On this week's jam-packed super sized episode, my godson Isaiah and I talk all about the Scream film series. As we go through all six films, one by one, we reminisce about our first time watching the original, as well as discuss each film’s opening sequence and how effect they are. We also how relatable certain characters are and which ones are our favorites, which character deaths hit us the hardest, how great some of the casting choices were and we talk about what the Scream films mean to us, plus much more. Enjoy! Note: This episode does contain spoilers.

This week, I talk with a really good friend of mine, musician Johnny Ono, about why we love music. We reminisce about the start of our friendship back in middle school and how we reconnected last year, our individual introduction to music as little kids, and then how we both got into listening to and appreciating music as preteens. We also discuss my music playlist making routine, our first concerts and the importance of live shows, Johnny’s beginning as a live musician (and the origin of his stage name) and how it feels like to perform in front of a live crowd, he shares some memorable stories of being out on the road, and of course, we share what music means to both of us. Enjoy!

This week, my sister Elbi-Lorena and I talk about female representation in entertainment. We discuss The Substance and its take on how women in Hollywood are perceived, as well as society’s expectations for women and how social media plays a (negative) role. We also talk about the double standard that exists between male and female celebrities, current beauty trends compared to those from the ‘90s, my HUGE dislike for The Kardashians, powerful female entertainers and directors, examples of women led films and TV shows, social media influencers, and my old ass learns what an Instagram baddie is. Enjoy!

On the Season 3 premiere, my cousin Amy and I talk about growing up in the '90s. We reminisce about growing up in our respective neighborhoods (and its correlation to our musical tastes), the lost art of recording on a VCR, the death of Selena, how I self censored music to play in the car with my mom, watching Dumb and Dumber together, the “goofy/goffy” spelling debate we once had, the time Amy got her foot caught in the gate at her apartment, and we finally set the record straight on if she really pushed me off the roof when we were kids. Enjoy!

Spoilers abound on this bonus episode where I discuss the movies of 2024 with my girlfriend, Jen, along with one of my best friends, Eden. We rank our top ten favorite movies of the year along with our bottom five worst movies, and we also delve into a bunch of others that didn’t make either list; included in our discussion: A Complete Unknown, Joker 2, The Substance, Love Lies Bleeding, Sing Sing, Wicked, I Watched The TV Glow, Woman of the Hour, Anora, Nosferatu, The Wild Robot, Emilia Perez, Blink Twice, The First Omen, A Real Pain, Babygirl, and Late Night With The Devil amongst many others. So sit back, take a listen, and hopefully you might pick up a recommendation or two. Enjoy! Note: This episode was recorded on December 29, 2024.

This week, on the season two finale, I've got two guests who I'm super excited about having on here - my mom and my stepdad, and they're here to share some real life scary stories. We first discuss some of the creepy folklore stories they used to hear in El Salvador, specifically about La Siguanaba and El Cipitio, before my mom recounts a spooky story of when she was younger over there. They both then share their personal stories of ghostly old ladies and ghost children wandering deserted roads, examples of eerie phenomena happening at their church, and my mom’s strange encounter with a black cat. My mom also shares a ghostly incident involving my grandfather, as well as one particular story involving my dad and the haunted apartment that he was staying in that spooked him really bad. Enjoy!

This week, we're taking a trip down memory lane as two of my best friends, Chanel and Eden, return to talk with me all about the year 1999. We go into some of the TV shows we were watching back then including Family Guy, The West Wing and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. We reminisce about the albums and songs we were listening to that year as well as delve into the topics of pop music, our guilty pleasure songs and the most overplayed songs on the radio that summer (“Smooth”, “Mambo No. 5” - we’re looking at you two). And we finish things off by having a big discussion on all the movies that were released in 1999 and talk about the good ones (The Green Mile, Toy Story 2, The Matrix), the bad ones (Star Wars, Episode I - The Phantom Menace), and the very very bad ones (Wild Wild West). Enjoy!

On this week's episode, I've got one of my best friends, Steven, and my cousin-in-law, Chris here to talk with me all about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. We recall some of our childhood memories and reminisce about all the toys we had as well as some other Ninja Turtle memorabilia. We also look back at the movies from the 90’s, detailing our collective love over the original and why it holds up to this day. We discuss the franchise’s comic book origins, the beloved 80’s cartoon series as well as the other iterations that followed, the numerous video game adaptations (yes, we talk about that damn dam level from the original NES game), why Michael Bay dropped the ball with his movies, the awesomeness of The Last Ronin comic, and we discuss why we continue to love this franchise 30+ years later. Enjoy!

This week, I’ve got my good friend William joining me to talk all about comedy movies. We reminisce about some of our earliest memories of watching comedy movies and talk about the kind of comedy we both enjoy and what exactly makes us laugh. We define and discuss different sub genres while name dropping a whole list of notable films (including well known classics like Dumb and Dumber, Airplane!, and Wayne’s World as well as lesser known films worth watching like Blankman, Stay Tuned and Dracula: Dead And Loving It); I shock William with my revelation that I may not be a Mel Brooks fan, and we talk about the importance and necessity of comedy movies as a whole and what it means for viewers. And finally, we cap things off with our individual top ten favorite comedy movies. Enjoy!

This week, in anticipation for the new Ghostbusters movie, Frozen Empire, coming out - my girlfriend Jen and I talk all things Ghostbusters. We go through and recap the original 1984 movie, the 1989 sequel, and 2021's Afterlife and talk about some of our favorite moments from each film, we explore the animated series, The Real Ghostbusters for a bit where I reminisce about my favorite episodes and just how dark the show was, we talk about our favorite members of the team, as well as praise the late Harold Ramis for his contributions to the franchise, we even briefly discuss the female-led 2016 incarnation, and we delve into what the Ghostbusters means to us and why we love them so much. Enjoy!

My brother from another mother, Jon, is back this week to talk with me about all things horror. We delve into our individual introductions into the genre, we talk about our favorite scary stories (some stemming from those creepy Alvin Schwartz's Scary Stories books), we talk about our favorite moments from our favorite horror films, we briefly discuss some horror television series as well as the need for Hollywood to make more original content, and we roll through different horror sub-genres and list off our favorite movies from each one. Enjoy!

This week, I have my two younger sisters, Elbi and Natalie, back to talk about the TV shows we grew up watching. Theme songs are sung, we discuss why TV watching was much better in the pre-streaming age, we name check a whole bunch of shows from the 90's and early 2000's with some I've never even heard of, I learn about my sisters auditioning to be on the Disney Channel and how it turned out to be a scam, and we dive deep when we compare current "teen" shows with those we watched when we were younger and the influence they've all had on viewers (my girlfriend even makes a guest appearance to discuss with us). Also, my sisters mention One Tree Hill... A LOT. Enjoy!

On this week's episode, my godson Isaiah joins me to talk about our two favorite horror icons: Jason Voorhees (mine) and Michael Myers (his). We talk about our introductions to both characters and their respective film series, delve into their back stories a bit (including unraveling the multiple Michael Myers time lines), what makes them both so intriguing, and discuss some of our favorite moments from each film series. We also pitch our ideas for a hypothetical Jason vs. Michael movie. Enjoy!

We kick off the second season of The Goatcheese Podcast with a SUPERSIZED episode where I, along with my cousins Candice and Amy, discuss and rate all nine movies in the Nightmare on Elm Street film series. We recall our first time watching the original and how much the film series reminds us of our childhood, I surprise my cousins with my take on Part 2 now that I’m older, we point out how much Candice looked like one of the characters from Part 4 when she was younger, and we all share our absolute disdain for the 2010 remake (it’s worse than Freddy’s Dead). Also included: we discuss our favorite death scenes and Freddy one-liners. Enjoy!

It's the season one finale of The Goatcheese Podcast this week and as the year 2023 winds down to a close, my buddy Eden and I are counting down our top ten favorite movies of the year! Come listen and see if any of your favorites made the list (or perhaps find a recommendation or two), we also do a quick recap of some of our runner ups as well as our lists of our five least favorite films of the year. Enjoy!

I've decided to change things up a bit on this week's episode and do something a little bit different. I've got two of my best friends on here, Chanel and Eden, and instead of us deep diving and talking about a designated topic - we are instead just talking about ourselves. Just three friends, letting the mics record us as we talk about our 25+ year friendship, what we had hoped to accomplish back in high school and where we're at now, careers, and strangely enough, we talk a lot about New York. Enjoy!

This week, I've got another one of my best friends here, Chanel, to talk with me about our three favorite rock bands - Korn, Static-X, and Slipknot. We talk about our "origin stories" with these three bands and why we gravitate towards this kind of music. We also offer our own personal hot takes on all three bands, as well as discuss our favorite (and least favorite) albums and songs and we reminisce about our favorite concert memories. We also list out a few song recommendations for anybody who wants to give any of these bands a listen. Enjoy!

On this week's episode, we're talking all about The Simpsons! I've got one of my best friends here, Steven (a self proclaimed Simpsons nerd just like I am), to discuss with me the greatest animated show of all time. We do a major deep dive and talk about the history of The Simpsons, as well as our first time watching the show and how much the show influenced us both growing up. We go through some of our favorite moments throughout the 35 seasons the show has been on the air, we also discuss why the show holds up better than Family Guy, how it has introduced new words into the English language ("embiggens is a perfectly cromulent word..."), the controversy over Apu, and we go into why the Lady Gaga episode ranks as both of our least favorite out of 750+ episodes. This one is definitely jam packed, but it's a fun one! Also, just a heads up - we definitely nerd out on this episode and throw out a WHOLE bunch of random Simpsons quotes throughout our conversation. You have been warned. Enjoy!

On this week's episode, my Star Wars loving brother from another mother, Jon, joins me to talk all things Sci-Fi. He breaks down what the genre means to him, we discuss the parallels between both sci-fi and horror and how they are intertwined in the classic films, The Terminator and Alien, we talk about the different iterations of Star Trek and no conversation about Sci-Fi would be complete without talking about Star Wars - we have a very in depth conversation about the good, the bad, and the REALLY bad about the franchise. Enjoy!

On this week's episode, my girlfriend Jen and I talk all things Goosebumps! We list off our favorite books, book cover art, and even our favorite book titles. We discuss our most hated books (Chicken Chicken can burn in hell...), our first time reading a Goosebumps book when we were younger, how we bonded over these books on our first date and why they continue to resonate not just with us, but with people all over the world. Enjoy!

On this week's episode, I talk with my two younger sisters, Elbi and Natalie, about the movies we grew up watching. We discuss the first movies we remember watching, we quickly realize that our mom let us watch a bunch of stuff we probably should not have been watching (we turned out fine, I think), I surprise my sisters with the revelation that I have never since the movie Clueless, and we name check a WHOLE bunch of movies that you all should see (or maybe not see) as well. We go all over the place with this one, but it was a lot of fun. Enjoy!

On this week’s episode, my brothers from another mother (Joseph, Jon, and Michael) and I sit down and talk about the best holiday ever, Halloween. Over the course of our conversation, we offer our reasons why we love Halloween so much, as well as recall some of our most memorable moments, we discuss the correlation between the holiday and creativity, we talk about what makes a good haunted house and we share some of our favorite movies, TV shows and music picks to get in the Halloween mood. Enjoy!

This week, on the second episode of The Goatcheese Podcast - my cousin Amy, her husband Chris, and I continue our discussion from last week on the remaining six Friday the 13th films (Parts 7 - 10, Freddy vs Jason, and the remake). Amy gets Chris to do his best trailer narration for Jason Takes Manhattan, I talk a little bit about my absolute HATE for Jason Goes To Hell, and we have ourselves a quick little geography lesson on where Jason, Freddy, Michael, Chucky and Candyman all reside. Enjoy!

On the premiere episode of The Goatcheese Podcast, I talk to my cousin, Amy and her husband, Chris, about the first six movies in the Friday the 13th film series. We get nostalgic about watching these movies as kids, briefly wonder why our parents didn't allow us to to see nudity on screen but horror violence was perfectly fine, and it wouldn't be a conversation about the Friday the 13th movies unless we talked about our favorite death scenes... so we do. Enjoy!