High Low Brow
We’re carving out space in the airwaves for deep dives and thoughtful convos about our beloved pop culture that is often overlooked, laughed at, trashed, and brushed aside. Join us (and some of our internet pals!) for hot, juicy, maybe controversh opinions and a few rounds of games inspired by the stuff you watched when you were home sick with an anxiety-induced stomachache in your formative years.
High Low Brow
Why the U.S Election is a Fever Dream and the Delight of Deadpool & Wolverine
In this week's episode, we discuss everything from Trump’s increasingly erratic behavior on the 2024 U.S. presidential campaign trail to Walz becoming the Midwest Princess. We talk about our favourite Internet moments from the week, including the "very demure, very mindful" TikTok trend and the incredible breakdancing skills of 36-year-old Ray Gunn at the Olympics.
Then we talk about our surprising love for "Deadpool and Wolverine," a film packed with playful vibes and star-studded cameos from Chris Evans as Johnny Storm to Wesley Snipes as Blade. We gush over the chemistry between Deadpool and Wolverine, especially during the hilarious Honda Odyssey scene, and obsess over the clever music choices.
Remember to tune in next week. Until then, feel free to leave us a voicemail or send us some fan mail to let us know what you thought of this week's episode.
Welcome to High Low Brow, the show with highbrow takes on lowbrow culture. I'm your one host, Amanda Scriver.
Speaker 2:And I've got your nose River Gilbert Aww.
Speaker 1:Are you trying to be the new Midwestern princess?
Speaker 2:Oh, because.
Speaker 1:Tim.
Speaker 2:Walsh is everybody's dad. Yeah, no, I'm just. I just got your nose, I just have it. No, that's not what I'm doing, but you know it's mine Alright, well, it's, I just have it.
Speaker 1:No, that's not what I'm doing, but you know it's mine All right.
Speaker 2:Well work. It's the number one rule of comedy Shut down anything and everything, yeah, no not that, no, but.
Speaker 1:No and Not yes and no and.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly, you got it.
Speaker 1:Well, I'm glad it has been a very walls week, it? And yeah, exactly, you got it. Well, I'm glad it has been a very walls week.
Speaker 2:It has been off the walls. Vans off the walls, yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean we are not in the US.
Speaker 2:We are not.
Speaker 1:We are in Canada, but I feel like the full news cycle is just going to be this for the next. What four months, three months, two months, however long it is to the US election?
Speaker 2:I feel like people are going to get bored of it because, like the thing is, trump is fully off the rails at this point.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I remember I was scrolling through TikTok and I was like why is Trump having a press conference right now? Tiktok, and I was like why is Trump having a press conference right now and then answer the reason why he was having a press conference was because he was spiraling more than he normally does.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, and you know this. This is what he does, and yeah, it's, uh, it's fine.
Speaker 1:That didn't. That didn't give me any vote of confidence.
Speaker 2:I mean we all know that Trump is insane. The issue is what happens around like transfer of power.
Speaker 1:Yeah, of course and I mean I there's been some scary things that have been reported and discussed discussed. I think I remember that you sent me a tiktok about how the trump administration, the republicans they're just planning to sort of contest whatever outcome happens yeah, well he's, he's going on record being like we don't need your votes and it's like, oh, he's planning on contesting, like.
Speaker 2:So I mean, you know, january 6th is just sort of I it's not good, it's bad, things are bad, things are bad even even if we have, you know, america, dad and mamala harris who's is? A cop who is a cop and district attorney and she's got some bad takes that have been really highlighted this past week.
Speaker 1:But hey, on a plus side. Hey, emma, what's making your brain go burr?
Speaker 2:What is making my brain go burr?
Speaker 1:It's been a hard week to make your brain go burr, hasn't it? I mean it has. It has been a hard week to make your brain go burr, hasn't it? I mean it, it has it has been a hard week. I would have to say something that I just discovered and probably that has stuck with me, is that new tiktok, uh, demure oh very demure yeah, very demure I. It's so random, it's so good though. Yeah, it's very good. If you don't know it, you should go and look. Yeah, it's good, we'll link.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's good. I almost didn't have one this week. I'm just like things are bad. But thankfully, from the depth of my despair emerged 36-year-old brink dancing icon, ray Gunn.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was like are you not going to say Ray Gunn? Of course I'm going to say Ray. Gunn Okay, Cause I was like wait a minute.
Speaker 2:No, ray Gunn is wonderful. Like we we'd seen clips of her performance, but we actually sat down and watched her whole routine.
Speaker 1:Versus, uh, sissy from France, yes, and I think the first thing I said is because, like, sissy is like 16 and Raygun is like 36. Yeah, and I'm like this whole grown-ass adult going up against a teenager.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, I mean, like that's been happening with the new sports, like there was that a 51 year old who was in Vert yeah, yeah who did not place.
Speaker 1:But you know, father vert yeah, and I think he came 18th.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but it was doubles partner with tony hawk previously like he's I'm sure he's been at the x games, like vert was, so underground until tony hawk yes, although the kid that did win oh, fucking unreal. From uh, was it australia, australia, 21 year old. The air that he got on his like 93 plus first run unreal yeah, I think we were both like holy shit yeah, it was wild yeah, so like no disrespect to the 51 year old.
Speaker 2:No like ray gun, I think I was like it feels like she teaches like intro to b-boy breakdancing okay, so we we saw the clips yeah, and I remember you were I I like I had seen the clips and I was like, okay, yeah.
Speaker 1:and then you told me that you watched the full performance and they got zeros on everything. And I was like, oh, it must have been really bad. And I've seen everyone on the internet talking about it. I watched it with you and I was like I mean, this isn't good, but it's also not like the worst I've ever seen.
Speaker 2:So things we've learned about breakdancing because this is new this year is it's scored, it's like 1v1, and then it's scored by a panel of judges to like general vibes. So it was less that she got zero and more that nobody thought she did a better job than Sissy.
Speaker 1:Which obviously yeah which I was like 100%, was like 100. Agree, yeah, like there is no question about that. However, I do think the vibe it was giving. The vibe I got was that ray gun was more of like I just started learning to break dance. I have only been doing this for like a year or two, whereas sissy is like I'm 16 and I did this out of the womb yeah, well, I thought it was very funny, like, do you remember the episode of bob's burgers where bob and teddy attend a hip-hop dance class?
Speaker 2:no, it was like very the instructor of like see how I'm dragging one of my feet. That's hip hop. So yeah, no, I love Ray Gunn. I love all the memes that have come out of this performance. I love how baby girl she was while Sissy was doing hers, With the yawning and the shaking the finger.
Speaker 1:Which is very like 80s.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Like be boy, be girl.
Speaker 2:I love that they call it b-girl because they be girl. Yeah, yeah, no, I. I had a lot of fun with ray gun, and do you know? What ray gun's performance reminded me of what the it's tricky video oh, hell yeah yeah, which like it's tricky yeah yeah, yeah, the song that is about how hard it is to rap. Yeah, no, no, I remember.
Speaker 1:I remember it was also the theme song to ssx tricky yeah, and they and they have a little break dance like yeah, yeah well, the one of the comments I saw was australia.
Speaker 2:It has a short, one of the victims of the shortage of cardboard and I'm like, yeah, it's rough. Oh shout, gunn, if you want to join us on the podcast we'd love to have you?
Speaker 1:I mean I'm sure Ray Gunn would come on what else?
Speaker 2:Oh my God, she's a professor, she's got a PhD, yeah, but like that's Pretty huge dick.
Speaker 1:With that energy. Yeah, but I mean that's even more reason why Ray Gunn would want to come on the podcast. Energy, yeah, but I mean, that's even more reason why Ray Gunn would want to come on the podcast.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:To share the knowledge of B-Boy Energy and B-Girl.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thank you for listening, as always. A fan of the podcast, ray Gunn.
Speaker 1:We'll make sure this gets to Paris.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. What are we talking about this week?
Speaker 1:Well, I mean, we went and saw Deadpool versus Wolverine, deadpool and Wolverine uh, what are we talking about this week? Well, I mean, we went and saw deadpool versus wolverine deadpool and wolverine, not versus whatever they did fight and it was very gay yeah, we went and saw that, which is very funny, because I think we might have even said it on a previous episode last episode that we had no interest no interest.
Speaker 2:We were like, yeah, whatever. And the red letter media review came out and they were like it's actually really good.
Speaker 1:And then we went and saw it and it was pretty good yeah, it was. It was a lot of fun yeah, I think this is going to be a controversial, yet brave statement.
Speaker 2:I think I enjoyed it more than long legs oh no, I don't think this is controversial, yet brave like it's broken a billion dollars. The box office.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean it's a different kind of film, but I also think that, like, oh, it's orders of magnitude better than Long Legs.
Speaker 2:Yeah, if Long Legs is our metric out of six, I think Deadpool and Wolverine was probably an eight, eight and a half.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I would agree with that. Yeah, Like it just felt like one of those popcorn fun films that you go and watch and you're like this isn't like an exceptional film, but it's a good film. Yeah, it's fun.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because you haven't. Neither of us have really kept up with the MCU. Yeah, I haven't seen. Neither of us have seen Logan. Did you watch all the Bryan Singer movies? No, okay, so I grew up with those.
Speaker 1:So I was like very I know that Bryan Singer is very problematic, oh yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean Stephen Peck from the Nickelodeon documentary was on the director's commentary of the first X-Men movie, which is If you hang out with convicted child sex abusers, maybe we should do a little bit of digging.
Speaker 1:Yeah, wasn't Bryan Singer queer or gay?
Speaker 2:I have no idea.
Speaker 1:I thought so. I could be mistaken, but I seem to remember that Bryan Singer's whole thing is that he was queer and that he would have, like there was, these sex parties that you would be involved in at mansions and inviting men and promising them.
Speaker 2:Wild. Yeah, okay, no, I have no idea about the person. I just knew that David Hayter, voice of Solid Snake, wrote the first screenplay for the X-Men movies. Got it.
Speaker 1:If I recall, I believe that was his. Yeah, he's. He's more akin to what's that guy from house of cards kevin spacey yeah I don't know.
Speaker 2:Back to deadpool and wolverine um so you didn't really get a bunch of the references and the cameos. I'm guessing.
Speaker 1:I mean, I knew they were from Marvel films, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah. But that's, it. I wasn't like oh, there's a tie-in here.
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh my god, they got the guy who actually played Toad in the original movies and the guy who played Blob in the original movies and the guy who played Pyro from the original movies. I thought it was we're going to be spoiling basically everything, but, like I thought it was unbelievably funny that they got what's his name, who played cap in the captain america movies, but they had him as johnny storm chris evans, who's one of the chrises there's so so many chrises, so many chrises, and they're all generic white men, yeah and because he also played johnny storm in the original fantastic four movie.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they had him as johnny storm instead of captain america, which was wonderful. Yeah, I thought wolverine and deadpool so flirtatious, the entire movie and the Honda Odyssey scene.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you sent me that TikTok afterwards. That was like they were fucking in that Honda Odyssey.
Speaker 2:Of course they were fucking in that Honda Odyssey Like yeah, no, absolutely I have to rewatch it, cause, like it's not a memory that stuck for me, I wasn't like Hmm. Yes, yeah, oh no, that was exactly where my head was at.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I did not go there.
Speaker 2:I mean, that's fair.
Speaker 1:Maybe because I'm not horny for Deadpool and Wolverine. I was just like here I am watching a film. Yeah, I mean yeah, If I get to rewatch that scene, I will be observing it, for through the lens of baby fucking. Yeah, but for now I can't give you a qualified critique on that.
Speaker 2:Yep, uh, I thought it was great that they got fucking Wesley Snipes is blade. Yes, and Electra and Channing Tatum as Gambit From the defunct Gambit film.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I still remember I leaned over to you and I was like is that Magic Mike? Is that Magic Mike? Also, I had no idea that he was playing Gambit. Oh really, yeah, I mean again, I'm just like I figured it had to be someone yeah, yeah didn't catch on at first, and then I got it when they started fighting. I was like, ah, okay, I I know who he is ah, yes, the the louisiana accent it wasn't the louisiana accent that got. It was when he like held up the car oh, that's fair.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but the Louisiana accent got me Because I was like what is this? What is this accent? It just sounds like he's got marbles in his mouth.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I do want to know if he actually got a vocal coach for that or if he just was like. I saw the X-Men cartoon series in the 90s. I know how he kind of talks.
Speaker 1:Or because it never happened and he knew it was just going to be for this just kind of riffed it, just went with it. He was just like we're just going to do this on vibes Just ran with it. Yeah, which honestly, I would pay to see that movie.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. I do wonder what they're going to do with it after.
Speaker 1:Yeah same. I wonder what they're gonna do with it after. Yeah same, I'm like, I think. I think what I really liked about this is that because it reintroduced some of these characters from the mcu, because a lot of the, a lot of the what, what? What the story was about was that there was such a long hiatus. Because of what did? They called it the, the, not the perfect timeline, or oh, the sacred timeline, sacred timeline.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah and so you know they had to preserve it and so they were kind of making a joke, without actually saying it, about how fox and all like that partnership kind of crumbled and now they're all under Disney.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly yeah, it's together again for the first time. Yeah, I had to dust off all of my boy knowledge where it was like, oh yeah, no, I know all about the licensing rights for Marvel. For some reason.
Speaker 1:I feel like that's just a lot of information.
Speaker 2:People who are really into the comic book type things knew for whatever reason, yeah, but see, I was a DC girlie, not a Marvel girlie, so like.
Speaker 1:And what's weird is that I did read comics, but you were your image like you read spawn, yeah, so like I went for like the most the angsty, yeah and yeah that's very on brand.
Speaker 2:For me that's very on brand for you. What did you? Why wasn't this a 10 for you?
Speaker 1:I mean, I think a film has got to really do something in order to get a 10. And again, this is just a summer popcorn blockbuster kind of film, which doesn't mean it's not good, it just means it's a different kind of classification of film.
Speaker 1:It's not giving me high art it's just giving me like it's giving me what it is. There was good laughs, there was good action, there was good like acting, but it's just it's giving me what it is. Yeah, there was, there was good laughs, there was good action, there was good like acting, but it's like it is what it is that's so fair because, yeah, I was of the same mind.
Speaker 2:I was like, if we judge, if we judge this in a vacuum against all the other summer blockbuster movies, I think this is one of the better, possibly best summer blockbuster movies, but at the end of the day, it's still just a summer blockbuster, totally. It's a good summer blockbuster.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a great summer blockbuster. Like I'm not. I'm not saying that you shouldn't go and see it no. I'm just saying like is this going to win any Oscars?
Speaker 2:Oh no, is this going to win any?
Speaker 1:like awards. No, Does that mean I shouldn't give it a 10? I mean, I'm just saying it's on a different scale?
Speaker 2:I think so too. We have to talk about the Mr Paradox performance from Matthew McFadden. Yeah, from Succession, Succession.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was actually very excited to see him because one he doesn't have an American accent.
Speaker 2:Yeah, which I didn't know? Oh, you didn't know Until I saw the commercials where he was doing something for like a luxury car.
Speaker 1:I think it was like an Audi or something, something like that, and I was like is he putting on a British accent?
Speaker 2:You're like, no, he's actually British, yeah, yeah. He puts on an American accent, I'm like, oh, he's a Hugh Laurie type.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so that was really fun to just see him acting like a shitty British person Spoiler. All British people have a little bit of shit.
Speaker 2:All Brits are bastards. My favorite part involving him in the entire film was at the very end, where he's talking to his boss and being like they bravely sacrificed themselves and it's going to be up to me to put everything back together. And deadpool comes out yelling. He is risen, he goes fuck the delivery into the goo goo dolls yeah unreal I mean, that's the one thing, having watched all the other deadpool films.
Speaker 1:They do like such a good job with the music and oh yeah the music sort of fits with those moments. It's just like chef's kiss. There's not a lot of films that you see where it's like the music and the scene go so perfectly hand-in-hand well, the throwback to the Honda Odyssey scene they were playing.
Speaker 2:You're the one that I want from.
Speaker 1:Greece. Yes, like.
Speaker 2:it is a. The first one had wham Yep Like. Compared to the first two movies, I think this is the best one. Yeah, I'm worried about what this means for the future, though.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Because I feel like this was an undeniable success. This is like the top grossing marvel film. Since what endgame I, which I also have not seen? But, I feel like the only reason that it worked was because there was so much time between deadpool 2 and this one. Because, like the distance between deadpool 1 and deadpool 2 was like what a year, two years. And like Deadpool 2 did not hit as hard as Deadpool 1 yeah, I still enjoyed it, oh for sure it was fun yeah, but yes, it's been what?
Speaker 1:six years it's been six years yeah, so there's. There's been some time, it's been a minute yeah, which I think you're, you're, I mean, and also kind of like, where do we go from here?
Speaker 2:Kinda because, like they did the dead core in this one, they had the old boy shot where they're like panoramic long form single shot where they're like just killing all the Deadpools. I love that. Speaking of which, I love that Headpool was voiced by I think it was Nathan Fillion, and there was another one. Oh, what was it?
Speaker 1:Well, ladypool was Blake Lively.
Speaker 2:Ryan Reynolds' wife.
Speaker 1:Yeah, another one. Oh, was it well lady pool was blake lively, yes, ryan reynolds wife. Yeah, apparently blake lively and ryan reynolds. Their kids also played two of the dead really yeah, that's oh probably the kid pool yeah that makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 2:Uh, dog pool. We have to talk about dog pool dog pool was great dog pool was my favorite.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 2:Of all time.
Speaker 1:I liked the Deadpool in the other dimension with the long flowing hair. Nice pool, nice pool, yeah.
Speaker 2:Oh no, it was like going in neither of us on top of where they are with the MCU. We still had so much fun with it. Yeah, I really don't think I have much more to say about it besides like it was fun.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean again. I think, coming out of this, I think that they were also testing the waters. Do you know what I mean?
Speaker 2:I agree.
Speaker 1:Like what do audience, what was the sort of like temperature for what audience react? Acted and reacted to like? I seem to remember people felt that, like the electro films, didn't get the love oh, like it was terrible yeah. So, like you know, maybe there will be a remake of that, and I don't know. Or, like you know, blade has become such an underground classic. Maybe you know they will do something with that or like, maybe they will.
Speaker 1:Finally, make the Gambit movie it felt like you know it was Ryan Reynolds created sort of this like a universe within a universe, where it was also like they were just coming together and having fun.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:But it was also like hey, let's, let's test this and sort of like, give back to the fandom who loves and like really sort of supports these characters. Yeah, loves and like really sort of supports these characters yeah, I think the other thing I said to you when we were leaving was uh, hugh jackman is looking old hugh jackman is looking old and like I don't mean that in a bad way it's just like people age and that's fine absolutely, but I also did like the henry cavill as as wolverine.
Speaker 2:yeah, I liked the comic book accurate Wolverine. That was like five foot nothing. Yeah, he was my favorite yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. It was just like oh you're, like you're aging, I don't know. Like this is probably, we should probably just retire Wolverine.
Speaker 2:Well, they make a joke about it when they're like you're going to be doing this until you're 90. Yeah, Also also the fact that they were like we're done with this after Logan. And then the entire first scene is Deadpool literally desecrating the corpse of Logan. Yeah, To the tune of Bye, Bye, Bye.
Speaker 1:Yeah Again, music.
Speaker 2:Yeah like perfect for a scene yeah, and again I am like they call attention to the fact that it's not like Marvel has had a bad time for these past few years so, yeah, maybe maybe I'm to say something controversial.
Speaker 1:Maybe they just need better writers in the room.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, all Disney movies, like all the like franchises for Disney, are all just like. Written by committee. Yeah, they're not good anymore. Well, here's the thing. Okay, here's the thing. Yeah, star Wars is a movie for kids. Yeah, that I loved. But in my 30s I can now be like, yeah, it was a movie for kids. Yeah, and I don't know, maybe nostalgia's done, maybe we're done with nostalgia, it's over, it might be, over. Did you know? Nostalgia does not mean pain of an old wound.
Speaker 1:I didn't know that to begin with.
Speaker 2:Yeah, people were like, yeah, that's what it means. And apparently it is not what it means. Well, misinformation.
Speaker 1:Am I right, yeah?
Speaker 2:But it would be very nice if it was what it meant.
Speaker 1:Well, Do we have anything more to say about Deadpool? No, I think we should just tell people to go and see it and make their own decisions.
Speaker 2:Yeah like let us know what you think of it. I was thinking about like when I asked why isn't it a 10? And I'm like thinking about what I gave 10s to being like Exuma. And I saw the TV glue and I'm like, oh, this was like not on the same plane as those.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly that's what I was kind of trying to say yeah, Like it's good, it's good, it's just not. Yeah, it's not on the same vibe.
Speaker 2:And fun's important. It is fun to do fun things.
Speaker 1:We need fun in a world right now.
Speaker 2:F is for friends that do things together. U is for you and me. N is for anything and anywhere at all down here in the deep blue sea.
Speaker 1:Love that.
Speaker 2:It's from Spongebob.
Speaker 1:Well, there you go. Tell the people where they can find us, you can find us pretty much everywhere at high low brow pod.
Speaker 2:That's H I G, hg-h-l-o-w browpod. We're on Instagram threads and TikTok. Please go follow us on there. It's a fun time. You can see our faces.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and we talk.
Speaker 2:We do talk, we are talking heads.
Speaker 1:We are yapping.
Speaker 2:Yapping heads the sequel to Talking Heads, Yapping Heads. Yapping Heads the sequel to talking heads yapping heads yapping heads. I think that's it until until next you're not gonna tell the folks about our website. No, you just did I?
Speaker 1:I told them about our social?
Speaker 2:yeah, but it's. We also have a website hi, lowbrowpodcom, it's the same it's the same, yeah you, you should visit it.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay, bye, bye.
