Anytime Minutes

Griffin's iPhone 5C has been dying a slow, slow death for the past year, and last week it finally crumbled completely into dust. We'll eulogize that phone this week before talking about Blondie's rendition of "Hanging on the Telephone." Also: Our holiday fundraiser for Tubman has begun! You can learn more about them here and donate at our PayPal. Thanks to Makenzie Flom for suggesting this week's song and, of course, for the art. Alex Brodsky made our theme music

This week we're diving deep on maybe the most famous phone song of all time: Tommy Tutone's awkwardly titled "867-5309/Jenny." Is Jenny a real lady? Why do they seem to have constantly lied about the writing of this 1982 hit? Are they direct descendants of the Big Bopper? Or just indirect descendants? Plus: what movie is Griffin's family going to see this Thanksgiving? Thanks as always to Alex Brodsky for making our theme music and Makenzie Flom for the art.

This week we take a moment to recognize the years of service and sacrifice from Soulja Boy Tell 'Em. His immortal hit "Kiss Me Thru The Phone" is turning 10 and there's so much to unpack: What happens when you call that number? Is Soulja the most influential rapper-producer of his generation, or merely the king of ringtone rap? Should you actually kiss your phone? We'll talk about all of it!!! Thanks as always to Alex Brodsky for making our theme music and Makenzie Flom for the art.

This week the pod is coming from inside the house!!!! It's Halloween, we watched the original 1979 When a Stranger Calls, and the 2006 remake, and talk about the classic phone call therein, and why in both cases, it could not sustain a whole movie. Thanks as always to Alex Brodsky for making our theme music and Makenzie Flom for the art.

The Netflix true crime parody/peerless teen drama American Vandal has returned for a new season and folks, this thing's lousy with phones. Spoilers from about 29 minutes on. Thanks as always to Alex Brodsky for making our theme music and Makenzie Flom for the art.

This week we're celebrating the 10th anniversary of Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, a film and soundtrack rooted deeply in the era of peak mainstream indie, and in our hearts. Why has it aged better than other relics from this time, why is Nick so hung up on his ex, why is Ari Graynor not a household name? We attempt to answer these questions.  Thanks as always to Alex Brodsky for making our theme music and Makenzie Flom for the art.

Summer is over and we're returning to phone songs with the 2005 hit "Lips of Angel." Hinder was inspired by the debauchery of '80s hair metal, but their lead singer dresses like an emo boy, and they produce butt rock that was covered by a country singer. It all adds up to a very confusing phone call! Thanks as always to Alex Brodsky for making our theme music and Makenzie Flom for the art.

The finale of our summer action movie series is here, and it's the wildly phone-centric 2003 thriller "Phone Booth," starring Colin Farrell and Forest Whitaker. A greedy, seedy publicist is held hostage in a phone booth by a sniper on the other end of the call.  Thanks as always to Alex Brodsky for making our theme music and Makenzie Flom for the art.

We had some technical difficulties with this weeks episode, but we HAD to convene this emergency pod to talk about Mark Wahlberg and his insane daily schedule. It's Oops! All Who's Ripped This Week. A little Rob McElhenney and Eminem talk too. It's better than that makes it sound. Thanks as always to Alex Brodsky for making our theme music and Makenzie Flom for the art.

This week's entry in our summer action movie series is "The Bourne Supremacy," written by Tony Gilroy, directed by Paul Greengrass, starring a couple of classic phone calls that have inspired us to give Jason Bourne the title of Biggest Lil Stinker. Thanks as always to Alex Brodsky for making our theme music and Makenzie Flom for the art.

"Taken" is a pretty bad movie with an excellent phone call that launched a billion-dollar franchise and a whole second career for Liam Neeson. We'll use our set of skills to pick it apart, along with a couple other calls this movie has to offer. Thanks as always to Alex Brodsky for making our theme music and Makenzie Flom for the art.

Another edition of our summer action movie series: "The Dark Knight" just celebrated its 10th anniversary, and has way more phone calls than we remembered it having.  Thanks as always to Alex Brodsky for making our theme music and Makenzie Flom for the art.

We're finally talking about all things Mission: Impossible this week, from the phones Ethan Hunt gets his missions from, to the calls Tom Cruise gets whenever he sends someone a cake. Plus, a wild phone scene in "Ghost Protocol" that no one talks about. Thanks as always to Alex Brodsky for making our theme music and Makenzie Flom for the art.

We're kicking off our summer action movie series with the Wachowskis' 1999 classic, "The Matrix." They use landlines to move from the real world to the fake one, are tracked via cell phones, turning them into dramatic, symbolic devices. All while being extremely '90s.  Thanks as always to Alex Brodsky for making our theme music and Makenzie Flom for the art.

Boot's Riley's film debut "Sorry to Bother You" adapts the style and politics of his music with The Coup to the big screen, to really stunning results. It's also all about telemarketing! So that's what we're talking about today. Thanks as always to Alex Brodsky for making our theme music and Makenzie Flom for the art.

For the first time ever (somehow), we're talking about Ben Folds. Specifically, his 1999 song "Your Most Valuable Possession," which features a voicemail from his dad. That leads us to the majesty of space, his experiments with William Shatner, and other things.  Thanks as always to Alex Brodsky for making our theme music and Makenzie Flom for the art.

It's a listener request this week: Labi Siffre's "Bless the Telephone." It's one of the most beautiful songs we've ever talked about on the pod, so of course we had to mix it in with a mediocre Drake track. We can't resist comparing the way these two men see the phone. Thanks as always to Alex Brodsky for making our theme music and Makenzie Flom for the art.

Last week we discussed the Song of Summer 2012 champion "Call Me Maybe," this week we're on to one of the runners up that same summer. We talk about Maroon 5's song "Payphone," how it represents a low point as well as a turning point for the band, how cool is Adam Levine, what are the names of the other Maroon 4, etc. Thanks as always to Alex Brodsky for making our theme music and Makenzie Flom for the art.

It was always leading up to this. We're talking about all the exchanging numbers and asking for a call (maybe) in Carly Rae Jepsen's breakout hit "Call Me Maybe." Thanks as always to Alex Brodsky for making our theme music and Makenzie Flom for the art. Don't forget to check out Billy Sunday's new album on Bandcamp.

This week we're talking about the Kanye West song "30 Hours," which features a phone call from his longtime publicist Gabe, and using it as a way into his new album "ye". How does Kanye's morning routine compare to ours? How is Gabe holding up under all the stress of  Kanye's horrible year? Has this song curdled? Thanks as always to Alex Brodsky for making our theme music and Makenzie Flom for the art. Don't forget to check out Billy Sunday's new album on Bandcamp.