Essex 'splains
Welcome to the Essex 'splains podcast where Erin the Musical Muse and Essex the Artist Analyst review and analyze stories to help you overcome your false beliefs and live your happily ever after.
We believe stories are not just for entertainment, but for teaching us, through characterization, how to make better choices. And since economics is the study of choice, who better than a writer and economic analyst to evaluate how choice architecture in story can be applied to the real world.
If you love stories, want to make better life choices, or just want to see what you're looking at...welcome friend. You've come to the write place.
Episodes
61 episodes
EP60 - The Platonic Love Corner
In this freeform episode, we go on wild tangents (surprising no one). We discuss everything from the settling of the Americas to social media's impact on business to space exploration before finally settling on archetypal masculine and femine s...
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Season 1
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Episode 60
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1:38:27
Ep59 - Strip Mined Heroes
I've been thinking thoughts. So instead of reviewing a movie, Erin & I wax philosophical about the entertainment business.What decisions lead to poor quality productions?How does a publication decide on their target audience?
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Season 1
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Episode 59
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1:25:40
Ep58 - Bad Boys 4: The Black & The Furious
We watched Bad Boys 4 and it was great! Dad TV at it's finest. It out fasted & out furioused the Fast & the Furious....and if you've been listening, we love the Fast & the Furious...Join us on the caper....
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Season 1
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Episode 58
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1:24:49
Ep57 - Yes Man: The Cure for Loneliness
Don't be a no man, be a yes man...but don't yes too hard.In this episode, we discuss the grimdark comedy, Yes! Man. And in so doing, we uncover the way this movie is thematically well constructed. Hidden beneath it all, thi...
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Season 1
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Episode 57
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1:31:23
Ep56 - Spiderman: A Grimdark Tragedy
Yes, you read that right. Your friendly neighborhood Spiderman is a tale of woe, worse even than Romiette and Julio.We continue down our grimdark path as we analyze the 2002 Spiderman movie in all its tragic detail.
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Season 1
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Episode 56
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1:21:38
Ep55 - Jimdark w Northern Viking Obsidian
Northern Viking joins us again for our darkest podcast yet!What is grimdark? Who is grimdark? Why is grimdark?All of your burning questions and more, answered in this episode!
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Season 1
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Episode 55
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1:44:44
Ep54 - Minding Your Minotaur
Picking up where we left off with the discussion of theme in EP53, we examine the core determinate of quality: rhetoric. But Essex, you flippy floppy fop, didn’t you just say theme was the core quality metric? Yes! But new understa...
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Season 1
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Episode 54
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1:29:10
Ep53 - Theme Work Makes the Dream Work
Instead of our usual story analysis, we’re diving into the core element we have identified for a story’s quality: theme.Essex reads an essay and fixes broken films with minor adjustments to the articulation and illustration of theme....
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Season 1
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Episode 53
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1:52:34
Ep52 - Eternal Issues
Spoilers for The Eternals.Let's be honest, coming off the Endgame hype, it was pretty spoiled already. We analyze this movie that really could have been great, but man were there a lotta cooks in that tiny Bangkok kitchen.
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Season 1
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Episode 52
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2:12:28
Ep51 - Empire of Silence: Hush Hush
We analyzed a book this time! Erin and I are reading the Sun Eater series by Christopher Ruocchio (good luck finding the accurate pronounciation of his name). We really like a lot of things about the series, but it's not for the faint of ...
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Season 1
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Episode 51
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1:56:21
Ep50 - Dune: Une
Spoilers for Dune part1.We analyzed the movie as a stand alone, though we do make some comments on the book too. I make lots of singing of the tribal war cry from the score.
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Season 1
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Episode 50
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1:16:12
Ep49 - Uncharted: Honesty Among Thieves
We analyze "Uncharted".If you haven't seen the movie, watch before listening. As always I spoil everything.
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Season 1
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Episode 49
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1:37:33
Ep48 - Last Knights
In this episode we review "Last Knights" with Clive Owen and Morgan Freeman. I love this movie so there will be much gushing in the episode. If you haven't seen the movie, watch before listening. As always I spoil everything (must be a Si...
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Season 1
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Episode 48
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1:33:59
Ep47 - Eragon: Inclusive Alagaesia
Going to spend more time discussing story structure. Today we're looking at Eragon. We recently finished re-reading the series and watching the movie. On this episode, we pass the first book in the Inheritance Cycle through my favo...
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Season 1
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Episode 47
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1:08:35
