Films for the Void!
Welcome to Films for the Void!, where, every other week, co-hosts and decade-long friends Eric Spitz and Landon Defever take you on a journey through their recent cinematic ventures, as well as take a deep dive into their favorite movies of all-time.
Films for the Void!
Maura Weaver on Cincinnati Tourism, Returning to Japan, and Her New Album Strange Devotion
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Hello, and welcome to Films for the Void, episode #114! I am your host, Landon Defever, and my guest today is an indie/emo singer-songwriter based in Cincinnati, Ohio. For six years, she was the co-vocalist and guitarist for No Sleep Records pop-punk band Mixtapes, releasing three studio albums and touring with the likes of Bayside, Real Friends, and Masked Intruder. The band went on an indefinite hiatus in 2014, but she soldiered on with various projects, releasing her debut solo album I Was Due for a Heartbreak on Don Giovanni Records back in 2023. Now she’s back with her follow up studio album Strange Devotion, which came out this past Friday on Feel It Records, and you can catch her on the road with Future Teens and Adjy in late October through early November.
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Artwork by Annie Curle
Theme Music by Meghan Gove
Edited by Landon Defever
Evidentemente, Hello and welcome to Films for the Void, episode number 114. I am your host, Landon DeFever, and my guest today is an indie emo singer-songwriter based in Cincinnati, Ohio. For six years, she was the co-vocalist and guitarist for No Sleep Records pop punk band Mixtapes, releasing three studio albums and touring with the likes of Bayside, Real Friends, and Mast Intruder. The band went on an indefinite hiatus in 2014, but she soldiered on with various projects, releasing her debut studio album I Was Due for a Heartbreak on Don Giovanni Records back in 2023. Now she's back with her follow-up studio album Strange Devotion, which came out this past Friday on Feel It Records, and you can catch her on the road with future teens and Aggy in late October through early November. Please welcome to the Void Mara Weaver. Mara, thank you so much for joining me today.
SPEAKER_00Hey Landon, thanks for uh bringing me into the void.
SPEAKER_01Oh, absolutely. No, I'm happy to have you here. So, like, just for a little background too, um, as you know, I was a huge mixtapes fan from like 2011 to 2014 or so. Um, I saw the band nine.
SPEAKER_00I didn't know that. I did you say that in the email? I don't know. I didn't.
SPEAKER_01I did actually. No, that's fine. No, I sent it, I think I said that in the like Instagram message, and I couldn't remember if like you remembered me or not, but I saw the band like nine times before the hiatus occurred, which um were some of my like initial memories of like going to shows in this scene. So I'm pumped to get to catch up on everything we've been up to lately.
SPEAKER_00I love that. Yeah, no, that's that's amazing. Thanks for having me. Absolutely. I love talking about uh movies, so hell yeah.
SPEAKER_01Well, we will get into plenty of that a little later in the conversation. And uh um, so let's go ahead and get started. Um, so sometimes, admittedly, I it can be kind of difficult to just start a conversation when you're writing questions, but very conveniently, you just got back from an awesome vacation in Japan, and I would love to hear all about it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I did. I I just got back a couple days ago, and uh I'm very jet lagged, but yeah, doing okay, drinking a lot of coffee. But yeah, I went for like 10 days with my sibling, Caroline, and we have been before a couple times, but like 10 years ago. Um because uh well we wanted to just go to visit, so we went to Tokyo and Kyoto, but we also went to Okinawa, which is where my grandma is from. Okay. She's from a really small island called Ikema, which is it's about a square mile wide, and it's like it's really, really out there. It's like a remote island. And it's anyway, it's really cool because we've got to see our family out there. We have a ton of family there. She's the only one who came to the US. So um, it was like a combination trip of like going to mainland Japan, hanging out, and then going to Okinawa and like visiting with family and catching up and stuff. So it was amazing. I did not want to come back to the United States.
SPEAKER_01I don't blame you, honestly, given the state of everything. I completely get that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, there yeah, the way everything is, you know, also I don't know for what listeners, like where you've been or land in where you've been, but the toilets there all have bidets.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that I've heard that before. I've heard that's more of like an Eastern cultural thing in general, but yeah, I was gonna say I've I've not I I've not had the pleasure personally of uh of of being bidet, uh, whether that's a a verb or not, but yeah, I've I've heard that should be. I've heard I've I've I've I'm familiar. You've been bidet, yeah.
SPEAKER_00You know what? And they also play music if you don't want people to hear you shitting. Oh shit, okay. You literally go there's like a music note button, and then you can like everything's clean, people are nice, like fire trucks going down the street are like, oh they got to gazimas, which means thank you. Yeah, like they're literally just going down the street being like, I'm sorry, thank you, sorry, thank you. Like it's like kind of the I mean, you know, I love it here too, not the state of things or the government, but like, but people there are just like polite and things work. It's I'm you know, I was like telling my my sibling, I was like, it's gonna I'm used to like walking down the street and some guys like spitting and following me, you know?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, oh shit.
SPEAKER_00And like like, you know, and just like do you go to the bathroom and like every everything, everybody's pissed all over the toilet seat, like psychopaths. Um over there it's just not like that. People are really nice, the toilets are clean.
SPEAKER_01For sure.
SPEAKER_00And I think family lives there, there's cool stuff everywhere. I don't know.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, for sure. And I had no idea that you had family based in Japan. That's so sick. And now, like, um on with this trip compared to the previous trips that you've done, like, what was on your agenda? Like, did you have things that you like, specific places that you wanted to see things to do, or is it just a matter of just taking in the sites itself? Or uh like how to like how do you like plan for a trip like that big and monumental for a place you haven't been to in like a decade?
SPEAKER_00Oh, it's hard. That was really hard, honestly, because we didn't have that much time because I needed to be back before the album comes out and like practice for the release show and stuff, and then my sibling is moving across the country. So it's just like you know, we when we went before, we were in Tokyo. The first time we went, we were in Tokyo the whole time. And then the second time we went, we were in Okinawa the whole time. So I think this time Tokyo has so much that we definitely wanted to go back and explore there. Um, but we also went to Kyoto, which was really cool. We've always wanted to go to Kyoto. So we did that, and then we went to Okinawa, and there's a bunch of islands there, so we went to the main island, Naha, which was on the main island, and then we went to Miyako and Ikema, the tiny islands. Um, but you know, it was hard because we had like 10 days. My sibling was there longer, but like we it's really difficult to plan for a trip like that because they do have bullet trains there, which is amazing. Yeah, but we're trying to cram in as much as we possibly can in that amount of time. And like I thought we were gonna have so much time, and I explained to you this before we started that like my concept of time is really like flawed. Like, I thought that was so much time, and then like we were going, going, going the whole time. Like, I didn't have we barely had a minute, like we didn't really like chill at all, you know? So that was like the only negative, really, is that we were just were going the whole time.
SPEAKER_01Um for sure. And and uh another thing I wanted to ask you too, um, like were there any like big culture shocks or things you weren't expecting? I know you said that you've been to Japan before, but I was curious like if there was anything like you mentioned, uh you mentioned uh aside from bidets, like what was the was there anything that you like you weren't expecting uh like just in general, just being in Japan for the first time in a long time?
SPEAKER_00I think like I I feel like that initial culture shock I don't feel as much just because my family, I see they come to the US sometimes too, but there's some stuff that I forgot about, like okay, you're not supposed to like eat in public that much. Like, I mean you can obviously like a restaurant is different, but like say you go into a convenience store, I guess you're not supposed to just like eat on the street or anything.
SPEAKER_01Oh, interesting, okay.
SPEAKER_00Or like I I don't know how true that is. I just that's kind of like what Caroline told me, and then like also you can't oh dude, trash cans are a huge thing there. Like, there's no trash cans outside, which is wild because it's extremely clean. So you're like, how and you're you're it's frowned upon to bring your trash into another establishment to throw it away, yet there's no public trash cans on the street. It's super weird, but apparently that's mostly a thing in Tokyo, which I do make sense because they do have recycling in Tokyo and everything needs to be super separated, and they're like really serious about it. Whereas like I feel like in America, like we don't nobody tells you what's recyclable.
SPEAKER_01No, not at all.
SPEAKER_00And so people recycle things they can't, they think they're recycling things, but they're not. They're just creating more shit. You know, they're like, oh, here's my dirty microwave that blew up. Oh, just put it at recycling. Or like, this pizza box is covered in Greece. We can recycle. I'm like, no, you guys, look up the recycling laws.
SPEAKER_01Tell me about it. Oh my god, that's so funny.
SPEAKER_00But like, that's such an American thing, I feel like, you know.
SPEAKER_01100%. No, I totally get that. And the other thing I wanted to ask you too, um, since this is a movie podcast too, um, did you watch any movies on your way to or back from Japan, like on the plane, or um, or did you mostly sleep?
SPEAKER_00I actually did it, and I was kind of bummed because they actually had like an amazing movie selection. There were a few movies I really wanted to watch, but honestly, I was just trying to sleep because it was such a long flight. Oh, sure. How long was that? It was kind of weird, like it okay, so it was like it's like 13 hours, but that's just one of the flights. So yeah, so I went like since because there's no direct flight from Cincinnati to Tokyo. So it was like Cincinnati to Toronto, Toronto to Tokyo, and then the way back, this was crazy. So this is what I did the other day. 25 hours of travel. It was with not very much sleep, because it was like, okay, we're on Miyako, which is a very small island. So we I fly from Miyako to Naha, which is on the main Okinawa Island, Naha to Tokyo, Tokyo to Montreal, Montreal to Cincinnati. And and because I booked these all in a crazy way, like because we planned the trip in a strange way, like I had to go through security three times.
SPEAKER_01Oh my god. That's that's almost the worst than just being on the flight. Oh my god.
SPEAKER_00It's way honestly, that was the worst part. The worst part was going out of the like airport basically and back through security with all my shit. And I bought a bunch of stuff there, so had tons of stuff.
SPEAKER_01Did you get through security okay? Like, did you have any hangups with that?
SPEAKER_00Uh, I was fine actually. I uh good. Yeah. But I was a little nervous because I I mean I shouldn't say the illegal things I do on a podcast, probably.
SPEAKER_01Understand. Fair. You know, the I'm gonna stop.
SPEAKER_00I'm gonna just gonna stop. I'm gonna let people there's gonna be mystery surrounding me, you know? Yeah, I'm very overshare, but mystery mystery.
SPEAKER_01You're gonna your name is your name is gonna be Laura L-O-R-E uh Weaver.
SPEAKER_00Yes, yes, exactly. Oh, that's good. I didn't even get that at first.
SPEAKER_01And uh I was gonna ask you too, what other international traveling have you done? Like are there and uh were there any other like favorite countries you've enjoyed? Like you've uh Canada, obviously, like you've mentioned. I know you've torn through Toronto a bunch.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, uh so I've been I've I've got to travel a lot. I'm really lucky. Um I well I've done, you know, mixtapes did a UK tour, um, and I've did a tour with pears in mainland Europe.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00And because I was like tour managing them, and we went all over. We were in like Scandinavia, we were all over the place, and then I also toured there with Beach Slang. Um got it, got it.
SPEAKER_01But uh Beach Slang, ugh, terrible It's kinda hard to be enthusiastic about that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, but uh, but like the we you know uh we got to go all over Europe, which is cool, and then but anyway, I'm just telling you tour stuff, but I I really like traveling in Europe, especially touring, because people generally are very like hospitable to bands from overseas. Like they'll feed you and give you a place to stay, and like they make it pretty pretty easy, you know? Um and I've got to go to Coast I've gone to Costa Rica, which was amazing. Oh hell yeah, okay. Did that in 2023. I've gotten to me I love Mexico. I've only been a couple places in Mexico, but it's great, very vegetarian friendly. Great. Uh I got to go to India once, actually, which was amazing.
SPEAKER_01Oh wow, okay.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I w when my dad my dad is like a business guy, I you know, I don't know, and he all kinds of business stuff, and he was doing uh work in India a lot with a lot of like Indian colleagues, and he was like, Do you want to go with me? This was when I was like 18, and I was like, Yeah, of course I do. So I would say no to that days. It was awesome. The food I love it. I love Indian food. I never I there's a huge Indian American community in Cincinnati, so I would eat like American, like Indian American food all the time, but it's way different over there, obviously, and it's amazing, and it's beautiful country. It's very beautiful.
SPEAKER_01That's awesome. That's so like you've gotten so many opportunities to do that, both in and outside of music. That's so cool.
SPEAKER_00I feel really lucky, yeah. Everybody in my family travels a lot, they live all over the place, actually. So so I've I started flying when I was like as a baby, basically, but I flew by myself for the first time when I was like nine, eight, or nine. It was right after nine-eleven.
SPEAKER_01So that's a fun way to remember it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, it I remember being so scared because like I thought the airport was fine before, and then like the first time I flew by myself was after 9-11, and I just remember there being like guys in fatigues with big machine guns everywhere, and I was like, what the fuck? Holy and then they like I remember then they they took my craft scissors away and I was like nine, and I was like, even at the time, I was like, really?
SPEAKER_01Don't worry, we got 'em.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, like I was like, yeah, you guys protecting. Protecting, you know? Get these craft scissors away, these non-sharp with something you couldn't even cut butter with style.
SPEAKER_01Jesus.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, like it's like the kind, it was probably the kind that, like, you know, when you cut, it makes like a wacky shape.
SPEAKER_01You know? Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I kind of miss those. Should probably get some.
SPEAKER_01I know. Can you imagine? Can you imagine like like that, like that's that's how someone takes a like holds a plane hostage with wacky design scissors?
SPEAKER_00Holy shit. That actually would be so cool. That's probably bad to say. I would if somebody tried to cut me with a pair of wacky scissors, I'd be like, you can take me. You you can cut me, it's fine.
SPEAKER_01That wouldn't even leave like an indentation in the skin.
SPEAKER_00That's what I'm saying. Like it would be, but if it did, it'd be the most hilarious indentation. Like you'd be like, I was wounded by a wacky scissors terrorist.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, instead of like the Z for Zorro, you get like a wacky indentation in your skin, essentially.
SPEAKER_00That would be so cool, honestly.
SPEAKER_01That'd be a crazy calling card. But um, on that note, let's go ahead and shift into the new record a little bit. So going in Yeah, so going into the making and writing of Strange Devotion, awesome record, by the way. I I listened to it all yesterday and I really loved it. Yep, yep. Um, as a follow-up to I was due for a heartbreak, um, how did you want to build off your debut like as like your next impression of your of your solo career?
SPEAKER_00Um, so I think I wasn't even I you know it was hard because the the first album I really thought about a lot. Um, because I I it happened during COVID, and I had been kind of building up in my mind putting out solo music for so long, and like kind of not right not finishing songs for a long time. Um so during COVID, I just was like, oh well, I don't have any other distractions, so I just started writing songs all the time. Um, but I I really thought about what I wanted my like artistic whatever identity to be, I guess. But with the new one, I I don't know. I kind of just was like having more fun with it this time around. I know that sounds like silly maybe, but I I just like I did also want to, with the first record, we had brought a lot of people in, and like they were playing the guitar solos, and like like I played a lot of the instruments too, but sure um it was more that kind of vibe. And this new one, it was mostly just me and John Hoffman, who also recorded the first record with me, and we've played in a bunch of bands together. Um, but it was mostly just me and John like writing like I would take him like the skeleton of a song, or maybe like an unfinished song, and then we would like flesh it out in the studio together. And there's a lot of experimentation and a lot of like we redid songs a bunch until they felt interesting or right, you know? And but this time around, I was very much like standing up for my ideas and being like, and it's not like before other people were like, don't do that or something about my ideas. It's just that like sometimes in the studio it's easy to just go with whatever someone else is saying, you know, and like if other people like it.
SPEAKER_01Like, trust me, I know what I'm talking about, sort of thing.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, and and I think especially as like a woman, it can be hard sometimes to be like, no, actually, I want to do it like this. And and I definitely with the new one it was more intentional, like we had more fun, but it was also a lot more intentional, where like I was thinking more about the key of the song like before we would record it, like what's best for my voice, and like if the vibe felt off, I'd be like, no, I wanna we need to figure this out, instead of just being like, Yeah, sure, it's good, you know. Um, so I don't know. I don't even know if that answers your question, but no, definitely, yeah. Yeah, we were just experimenting more. Um we experimented more in the studio sonically, I guess, but songwriting-wise and like guitar playing wise, I was really like, it needs to it was very much just like a a very solid collaboration between me and John, basically.
SPEAKER_01Um I'm glad you I'm glad you brought John up as well, too, because that was actually one of my questions. Like, like you said, um you uh wrote and uh recorded the record uh with your longtime collaborator, John Hoffman. He plays bass and drums on the record as well. Um how did the two of you initially meet, and and what do you feel he's brought to the table with your music, like uh like your solo music specifically?
SPEAKER_00So I've known him since we were like 18. We're the same age.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_00And we met, we maybe I think we met at this like DIY venue in Cincinnati called Bike House ages ago. So long ago. Uh I don't know if you like know the dopamines and you know, vacation and stuff like that, but all those bands played there.
SPEAKER_01I heard of dopamines. I haven't uh I haven't dived into them like super uh deeply though.
SPEAKER_00Okay, but uh so I met him there and I also and then I went to college for like two semesters for audio, and he went to school for audio, and we were in the same freshman class at Yet UC University of Cincinnati. So we just became friends, and then we like worked at the same pizza place, like just him and I, and like would nearly get into fights with people all the time. Like one time some guy tried to throw like the glass tip jar at John's face, and I like chased him out of the restaurant, and normally I'm like a pretty like happy-go-lucky person, but like I remember John was like, I've never seen you get like mad before. Like, that was really scary, and I was like, Yeah, don't fuck with me, John.
SPEAKER_01But uh it's so funny between what you told me about your neighbor uh in the pre recording of this and that story, like this is a great uh tourism ad for Cincinnati.
SPEAKER_00Uh oh, yeah. I mean, Cincinnati, I you know, people have been moving here a lot lately, and that's nice and all. You know, we've got a really great art scene and blah blah blah. But guess what? We got the highest rent. Increase in the nation. So if you're thinking about it, maybe don't. I'm just kidding. No, uh, no. Columbus is right next door. People can come here. I love Cincinnati. It's great. I I I do want people to appreciate it because it's it's a great place. Um the rent, you know. But for sure.
SPEAKER_01I uh I was gonna say, I actually like uh because I I've been to Cincinnati twice before. Once was for uh I saw Paramore and we literally like drove in, drove out the next day.
SPEAKER_00I love that.
SPEAKER_01So that was really sick. And then I actually was in Cincinnati last month, actually. I was there for uh my my girlfriend was doing an urban sketching event, uh, which she like we drove down together for, stayed the night. It's very basically like they take you to different locations within the city and then you like sketch it and paint it on site and stuff like that.
SPEAKER_00That's cute. I love it.
SPEAKER_01It was very it was very sick, and while she was doing that, I went to the zoo, so that was really cool.
SPEAKER_00Oh, nice. We have a good zoo.
SPEAKER_01Love that zoo. I was actually like really impressed. Like, I haven't been to a zoo, I don't think, since I was maybe like seven years old, and I was like, okay, if I'm going to Cincinnati, I am like going to like the crown jewel of zoos, essentially.
SPEAKER_00We do. We have an amazing zoo here, you know. I haven't been in a while, but it's a great, it's great. Also, great for urban sketching because the architecture here is amazing. That's one of the things I really love about Cincinnati. It's it it is kind of like you know, a hidden gem of sorts, just because like when I was younger, I don't know, people are always like, Cincinnati fucking sucks, like Ohio's stupid, you know, and and I kind of felt like that for a while too, but I was like, literally, when I moved other places, I realized what was so cool about Cincinnati, and a lot of that is we have all different styles of historic architecture. Oh, yeah, pretty much. And we have a lot of like, you know, uh Frank Lloyd Wright houses, and we have a lot of like sorry, I'm being like a nerd for a second, but like, you know, like Italian it and like uh like you know, Victorian houses and like all all these like different kinds of styles of architecture and amazing art deco buildings, and people think of Ohio as flat, but Cincinnati's in a river valley, so it's actually extremely hilly. Yeah. And it's full of these old, really beautiful buildings. Um, but that's its own thing. I could talk about that for a long time.
SPEAKER_01But it it's funny you mentioned that too, because when I was there, like after I was done with the zoo, I took a lift to the Cincinnati Museum of Art, like on that giant hill, too. Like it was.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah, Eden Park. It's so pretty.
SPEAKER_01It's so cool. It was like on top of a hill, and like I'm glad you mentioned that about the architecture too, because like all of the Cincinnati-specific uh paintings that I saw inside were like very prominently featuring the architecture, whether it was specific buildings or the skyline in general. Like, I like it was something that I like really noticed about it. So ironically enough, this did actually in the last five minutes, this did turn into a like a good uh Cincinnati.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's I was like, hey, don't come here. And then I was like, just kidding, you should come here.
SPEAKER_01Maybe you should come here.
SPEAKER_00It's actually kind of cool. But just I don't know. It's nobody's fault that the it's not the people coming in's fault the rent's raising. I don't know, maybe it is. I don't know. We don't need to get into this right now. We're not gonna solve the Cincinnati rent problem on the. Yeah, yeah, we're not gonna solve it on the films from the void for the void uh podcast.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but maybe maybe another day, but today will not be that day. And um the the other thing I wanted to ask you before we get into movie conversation. Um, in reading about the recording of the record, I saw that you recorded the album in a northern Kentucky studio that, and I quote, may or may not be haunted. I'm curious what the lore is on that.
SPEAKER_00There's a lot of lore about that. Okay. So I think you would enjoy this. I I think you'll enjoy this lore. So the place that we that we recorded it, and which we also did the first record there, but um it's called The Lodge, and it's in northern Kentucky, in Dayton, Kentucky, and it is an old Masonic Lodge that's huge, um, a really historic building that my friend Scott Besler bought a long time ago and converted into basically a really, really amazing recording studio, but also all these artist spaces. So there's like an event space and a stage, and like in this gymnasium, and then upstairs where the Masons used to have plays and stuff, there's all their seats still are there, and they have all their names, their like name plaques on the seats, and it's like already kind of a creepy building, but Scott and John both collect clowns. So they have filled and they love creepy art. So they have filled this building with like clowns and creepy art and like suits of armor, and it's already full of weird stuff because it's a Masonic lodge with Masons are freaky and weird. And but anyway, the Masons used to do a lot of weird shit in this building, and they there's actually a closet that John Mike's amps in that apparently was their like hazing closet for new Freemasons, newly appointed Freemasons, and they would low-key kind of torture them in there because they put them in there with a human skeleton, and they for I don't know how long, but you can see like handprints on the walls still up high and like blood, and you know, there's there's a lot of um every person pretty much who has been in this building for a significant amount of time, like they either work there or they do stuff there, has had like a haunted experience. So like John has had a lot of like things turning on and off, like like um lights and things flushing and water turning on when nobody else was there, and he's like talked to the ghost. Oh my god, okay. Apparently. And I there's all kind I don't even I like don't even have the real lore, but it's basically just like a crazy haunted building that's really cool. You know what's cool too is that like Jack it has a Jack White connection too. Like I don't know if you like the white stripes, but I do, yeah. One of his best friends, Johnny Walker, also like owns the building or partially owns it. And they like it, so it has like a weird Jack White instrument in it. It's like this bench that he converted into like a amplifier, and there's like it's just like a weird fun house, you know.
SPEAKER_01Okay, cool. I was gonna say, I'm actually it's really I was gonna say, I'm actually I'm actually seeing Jack White on Saturday at Riot Fest. So if I happen to run into him, I have a talking point, so that's perfect.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, ask him about the lodge. He actually brought it up on some late night thing recently. I don't remember which one, but we were all like, the lodge.
SPEAKER_01That's awesome. Okay, cool. No, I just I read that in the in the press notes for the for the record, and I was like, okay, that that's a that's a conversation I need to have.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I even I have more stories about it, but it's too long to tell. I sold a haunted mirror in inside that building to someone on Facebook Marketplace. Oh, nice that I believe to be haunted that I had in my house, and I was having very strange experiences, and I can't tell the whole story right now. Trying to, like I was saying, trying to be a little bit more mysterious, not just tell you everything.
SPEAKER_01Oh, sure. No, not who am I to rob the mystique of a very cool building in northern Kentucky?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, just you gotta just come experience it, you know?
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. I'll make sure to do that. And the um the last thing I wanted to ask you, um bringing it back into film discussion a little bit, um, is essentially a letterbox question. Um, if you could pick your Mount Rushmore of your four favorite movies, what would they be?
SPEAKER_00Oh, that's so hard because I like hate the top four anyway. Sure. Because I can't choose. So, but I can try.
SPEAKER_01If it goes into six or seven, I we're not I'm not going to punish you by any means. Like you, you go right ahead.
SPEAKER_00Okay, I can try. So I love definitely Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
SPEAKER_01Hell yeah.
SPEAKER_00That's like one of my first favorite movies, and I feel like it's responsible for a lot of the way that I am. Um I don't know, my dad was like obsessed with it, and he listens to It in the Car. Like the, you know, a lot of the like monologues and stuff.
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah, like the actual skits and stuff, yeah.
SPEAKER_00When I'm really drunk, I recite the uh holy hand grenade monologue. Oh, okay, okay. Like when I'm blackout drunk, I've been known to do that.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00Um, okay. That's one. Probably oh maybe probably the fifth element.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00That that's a movie that is a childhood one for me too. And I'm just like, I really like sci-fi stuff. I grew up with a lot of sci-fi, and I love campy. I love camp. Um, so I also love Alien.
SPEAKER_01Oh, hell yeah.
SPEAKER_00It's one of the best movies ever made. The atmosphere. Um God, I love Battle Royale.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Have you seen Battle Royale? I have. I watched it for the first time last year. I thought it was really cool.
SPEAKER_00It's so good. There's just something it's such a gory, kind of like dark movie, but the whole like Lord of the Flies type thing, but like set in Japan, I just think is like really beautiful, especially knowing like the director made that after experiencing like war. So yeah. So it has like I think it's cool because it's just like a fun watch, even though it's like heavy, but it there's like layer, there's many layers to it, you know.
SPEAKER_01Definitely. It's funny you say that because I literally just saw the long walk with my girlfriend last weekend, the the Stephen King adaptation that just came out. I and uh seen that.
SPEAKER_00I haven't seen it.
SPEAKER_01It's really good, it's really good. I haven't read the book, but um the movie was very, very good. I wrote about it on my Substack, I loved it. And um, like I in my research of that movie, like I read that that was a uh like Stephen King wrote that as like an allegory for the Vietnam War, which I found like super interesting and it made it made a lot of sense like with that added context. So I I totally get that. I love stories like that that can play on the idea of like real life events and how they like um extrapolate into like and can relate to these other narrative circumstances.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, there's something about movies like that. Like when I whenever Pan's Labyrinth came out, that was like a huge movie for me. I think because it the time that it came out I had never seen anything like it, and it made me interested in movies in a more critical way. Oh yeah. Like even though I I'm somebody where like I love talking about movies, and I love movies, but there's a lot of movies I haven't seen because I like went through a period where I wasn't watching that many. Um but you know, that was I've always been interested in like talking about and just like reading about movies and like what they mean, and blah blah blah. And like, you know, I loved English class growing up and shit like that. So but Pan's Labyrinth is another one that was like an allegory for like I think it was like the Spanish Civil War, maybe. Um it was, yeah. But but it was like done in such a creative way, with I I love like magic realism and like surreal kind of stuff and campy stuff. Like I really like shit like that.
SPEAKER_01Um yeah, I was gonna say it's such a fascinating perspective for Del Toro to take with that movie, too. Like, I've seen it like three times, and I feel like I always get something new out of it, no matter like what perspective I watch it in, if it's with a group of friends or by myself. Like, no, I totally get that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and also, sorry, I'm just talking about more movies, but I love Fantastic Planet. That's more that I love. Like, also a beautiful kind of surreal movie that has kind of like a weird message underneath. Um, I don't know, I could keep talking about for comedy. You know, this is like a really weird one, but I love Zulander. It's not even weird. Zoolander is one of my favorite movies.
SPEAKER_01Interesting. Okay, and that's the thing. Like, that's like I was gonna say, like, it I saw it like way later in life. It came out when I was eight years old, so it it it missed me like upon release, and then I went to re-watch it, it didn't click with me. But like I always love talking to people that really connect with that movie because it feels like there are like movies like that that connect with different people. Like, I love Anchorman. Some people just don't vibe with it, and I think it's one of those.
SPEAKER_00It's one of those, like, it's yeah, you need to see it at a certain point in your life.
SPEAKER_01I think you're right, yeah. Because like Anchor Man, especially, like everyone I talk to um that doesn't like it, I watch I asked them like when did you see it? And like, oh, I watched it like two years ago by myself. It's like eh, I don't know if you were there, sort of thing.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's like telling someone to watch like Borat now. You know what I mean? Who is like critical, like someone who's like an adult, like 34, and be like, go watch Borat for the first time. Like maybe they'll think it's funny, but like so like Zoolander's definitely, even though I love it, it's it's not that I think it's like the best movie. It just clicked it. It mattered a lot to me. Yeah. When I was young in a silly way. Like, it's just so much that I like. Like, I love the aesthetic of like early 2000s, late 90s kind of movies, and it has that, and then it's like making fun of like the fashion industry, but it's also just like super dumb, you know?
SPEAKER_01Oh my god, yeah, like every character is as dumb as a box of rocks, but you just kind of roll with it, sort of thing.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I I But I don't I yeah, sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off.
SPEAKER_01No, please do, you're good.
SPEAKER_00I was just gonna say, I don't think if I watched that like now that it would like resonate with me. It's just that like I saw it when it came out. Like I was like a little kid. Because I don't know how old you are. I'm good, I'm gonna be 34 this year.
SPEAKER_01I'm 31, so yeah, we're close.
SPEAKER_00Okay, so like, yeah, so I was like two, three, I was like three years older than you, probably two, three, and I so I was like 10 when I saw it. So for me, I was like, this is the funniest thing I've ever seen. Like, you know what I mean? Like when they're trying to pull their underwear out of their pants when they're going down the runway and like David Bowie appears. Yeah. When I was like 10, I was like, oh my god, what? You know?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, exactly. Um, yeah, I think there is like a sort of right place, right time context that comes with like especially comedies of that era for sure. Because like I don't feel like we get a ton of those anymore, and it kind of shows in a way.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I know. I that's a thing I miss. That's the thing I love about Anchorman too, is like there's not that many just like kind of irreverent slapstick comedies that come out like box box office that come out like with a big release, you know?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. It's one of those things. That's why I'm like so happy we've seen movies like Friendship and the Naked Gun reader this year.
SPEAKER_00I love friendship. Oh my god.
SPEAKER_01Friendship rocked. Yeah, it's it's in my like top 20 of the year so far, and I just still like think about it all the time. It's so fucking funny.
SPEAKER_00Friendship and weapons for me are probably my favorite.
SPEAKER_01Weapons is my favorite movie of the year right now, so hell yeah.
SPEAKER_00It was so I was I'm obsessed with that. It was so good.
SPEAKER_01Like unreal. Like, I have full faith in Zach Krager to do whatever he wants now. Like, I like I didn't I wasn't like immediately on the barbarian train when it first came out, but now but after I saw weapons, I was like, oh, this is much this clicked with me like so much better. And then I literally the next day rewatch Barbarian. I'm like, oh yeah, this this is good. I just was in a bad mood that day.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, which that happens.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I I I thought it was genius. Like, I am very like I love horror movies, but I'm really picky about them. Like, I don't just want to watch any be horror movie, like, because I if I'm going to have like a scared or bad time, there needs to be some other element to it that's interesting to me. You know? Oh, 100%. Yeah, like I tend to like like horror comedy or like horror campy horror, like funny, or or if it's like fucked up, I want it to be like actually scary. Which like weapons made me laugh. It had somewhat of like a message, it was clever, and the story was told in an interesting way, and it also scared the fuck out of me. Like, not like, oh, I'm like worried that somebody's gonna get me kind of scared, but like when when the action was ramping up, I was like fucking terrified.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's like it's an effective sense of tension like that you feel within yourself during it. And like, not to mention, like, I love how like winding the narrative is. I know Krager said that he was like really inspired by like Magnolia, which is an awesome PTA movie, and uh reminding me a lot of that and pulp fiction and just how it jumps all over the place and has all these individual character moments. Like I just I love that. I honestly think it's like a new classic. That movie's just me too.
SPEAKER_00Me too. I'm glad you liked it too. I like I know some people who did like hated it, and I was like, what's wrong with you?
SPEAKER_01Seriously, what are you looking for? Like, Jesus.
SPEAKER_00I just some people's tastes in movies, I it's fine. They can like whatever they like. You know, there's all kinds of movies, but I just like was like, what? Like, so confused. Like, I was like, are we friends?
SPEAKER_01Like seriously, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Oh, I just thought of one more movie I want to talk about for one second. It's the movie House from House. Oh, Haosu, the um Japanese horror.
SPEAKER_01Oh, that movie rocks.
SPEAKER_00I love I mean everyone's a lot of people have seen that movie, but like that's another one where it's like, oh my god, the like weird animation elements and practical effects are so like beautiful. I really like movies with interesting practical effects too. Like that to me goes such a long way. Like, I don't know, like I for that reason, like I love a lot of like Jim Henson stuff. Like, I love like Dark Crystal and like Labyrinth and shit. Like, I Labyrinth was an early favorite movie of mine when I was a kid, and it also scared the shit out of me when I was a kid too.
SPEAKER_01Oh, sure, understandably.
SPEAKER_00It's like kind of terrifying, honestly.
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah. I was gonna say, like, those are two other films that I really wish I had watched when I was nine or ten instead of like waiting until college to finally check them out because I feel like they would like they would have like permanently altered my DNA as far as like what I would have been interested in.
SPEAKER_00I totally agree. I totally agree. Because yeah, that one I I can't imagine seeing it like later, just because it felt like such a it did kind of like define my childhood in a way, you know? Absolutely that's how it felt. Like the first time I saw it, I was like, whoa. Like I've never seen anything like it before.
SPEAKER_01It's so cool to be given, it's just so cool to be like given such a unique experience like that. It's just incredible.
SPEAKER_00That's why that's why we go to the movies, you know, movie magic.
SPEAKER_01I know. I was gonna say, I'm gonna start turning into Nicole Kidman if you continue that.
SPEAKER_00Oh my god, the Nicole Kidman shit, I'm obsessed. I'm obsessed.
SPEAKER_01Oh my god, that if you're talking about camp at camp at the movies, that is just a chef's kiss. I love it.
SPEAKER_00I know a clap every time she starts talking about movie magic.
SPEAKER_01It's like I've seen I've seen people like doing like full military salutes whenever she comes on.
SPEAKER_00I love that. Yeah, I'll all regress in fatigues for Nicole. Oh, it's so big. I'll do a backflip.
unknownI'll do a backflip for her.
SPEAKER_01Well, Mara, that wraps up our conversation and everyone out there listening. Thank you so much for joining us. Make sure to subscribe wherever you're streaming this episode. You can follow me, Landon, on Twitter at I GotToFeverman, on Instagram at duhfeverduhfever, and on letterbox that landon to fever. Maura, thank you again for your time and congrats on the new record. I'm so excited.
SPEAKER_00Thanks, Landon. Thanks for having me. It was very fun.
SPEAKER_01Hell yeah.
SPEAKER_00Well, fun interview.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. It was gl it was great having you. Well, thank you all so much for listening, and we will see you in the next episode. Take care.
SPEAKER_00Bye.