Ruin My Life

Jason leads Kelsey on a guided tour through the life and career of innovator/educator/human meme Kanye West. Notes: Listen to the playlist Jason made here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrgeWoAUk1H1-BKYvVtCH4cyp2ss3oaAs&disable_polymer=true Read the New York Times interview here: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/16/arts/music/kanye-west-talks-about-his-career-and-album-yeezus.html And just for fun, here's "Amazing" from Kanye's episode of VH1 Storytellers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuzQ3gcQy-0

On today's episode of Ruin My Life, we're bringing you the first episode of Andrew, Ninja Warrior, a new podcast by friends of the show Sarah Sheppard and Andrew Favaloro. Sarah and Andrew are spending the entire year training together in hopes of getting Andrew onto the hit NBC show American Ninja Warrior. Gee, I wonder where they got that idea? Just kidding! They got it from us. But it's a good podcast and we think you should hear it.

Kelsey introduces Jason to the fantastical, feminist and fashion-forward world of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries. Also: Jason finally figures out why people enjoy Law & Order and Kelsey stays one step ahead of the authorities.

In their (legitimately) annual holiday spectacular, Jason and Kelsey participate in a festive but non-denominational exchange of pop-culture gifts: Kelsey introduces Jason to the Irving Berlin's "White Christmas"--the movie, not the song, because that wouldn't be much of a thing, now would it--while Jason shows Kelsey her first ever episode of the Twilight Zone, the yuletide-themed "Night Of The Meek."

In part two of their journey through the Matrix series, Jason introduces Kelsey to The Matrix: Reloaded and The Matrix: Revolutions, two movies that killed almost every bit of goodwill built up by their predecessor. Together our brave and stalwart hosts will face their most challenging question yet: are the Matrix sequels REALLY that bad? Read: Bootlegging the Matrix by Dr. Eleanor Lockhart: https://medium.com/@BootlegGirl/bootlegging-the-matrix-ccb8d6442778

If we lived in a sane and just world, this is where we would make some dumb reference like 'this week Jason gives Kelsey the red pill,' or something like that, but since we exist in a perpetual nightmare of suffering where that turn of phrase has been co-opted by the worst possible people, we'll just say that Jason and Kelsey talk about the first Matrix movie and then they talk about the 2003 anthology film 'The Animatrix.'

Jason and Kelsey re-discover the life-changing power of pop music when Kaitlin Higgins schools them on One Direction. Also: Kelsey questions the logistics a familiar boy-band trope and Jason investigates the intersection of the 1D and Morgan Spurlock fandoms. You can listen to the playlist that Kaitlin made for us here: https://open.spotify.com/user/kaitlinhiggins/playlist/3CEglzFMgdOIKenJMMQIsO

Kelsey ruins Jason's life with the 1985 film adaptation of the board game 'Clue' -- or, as the ridiculous and unsophisticated Brits call it, 'Cluedo.' Also, Jason and Kelsey discuss the most terrifying ride in Disney World history and workshop their pitch for the Clue Cinematic Universe.

Friend of the podcast Andrew Favaloro makes his first canonical appearance to ruin Jason and Kelsey's lives with American Ninja Warrior, the nationally beloved game show/sports competition/reality TV hybrid. Also: Kelsey makes her debut as Anxiety Ninja and Jason devises the ultimate obstacle.

Sarah Sheppard returns to the podcast and leads Jason and Kelsey on a magical adventure into the fairy-tale world of The 10th Kingdom. Also: Kelsey makes her pitch for The 11th Kingdom and Jason spins a tale of youthful infatuation.

To celebrate the first year of Ruin My Life, Jason and Kelsey flash back to how it all began (again) and explore how their shared love of Carly Rae Jepsen helped forge an unbreakable bond.

Jason takes Kelsey on a tour of Randy Newman's long and varied career, with an emphasis on his brilliant and troubling 1974 album, 'Good Old Boys.' Listen to Jason's playlist here: https://open.spotify.com/user/1213136479/playlist/0BKASeDFpg8hdWFw6i3yHa

Julie Goldman (a.k.a. "Kelsey's Mom") visits our digital space to spread the gospel of the UK Wildcats. Also: Kelsey makes an unsettling discovery about her co-host and Jason finally learns what a basketball is.

Kelsey puts her love of art history to good use and explains why Jason should care about 'The Raft Of The Medusa' by the French Romantic painter Théodore Géricault. Jason sits down, is humble. 'The Raft Of The Medusa': https://d32dm0rphc51dk.cloudfront.net/bzu8zL8aWfe_lIdZmcB5TQ/larger.jpg 'Liberty Leading The People' by Eugène Delacroix: http://www.eugene-delacroix.com/images/paintings/liberty-leading-the-people.jpg 'The Death Of Socrates' by Jacques Louis David: http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/images/hb/hb_31.45.jpg

In a Very Special Episode of Ruin My Life, Jason and Kelsey examine the ongoing dadaist art collective surrounding Please Retweet, a web series about censorship, creativity, and one very good picture of Mario's friend, Toad. Experience Please Retweet, Join Us on this journey: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaDrN74SfdT7oyDiebtdh7NGkUyDHQW20

Jason's father-in-law Charlie Sheppard shares his lifelong love for the films of John Wayne, focusing on The Quiet Man, Chisum and The Cowboys. Also: a boy dies and Kelsey cries.

Jason's Journal. June 23rd, 2017: Dog carcass in alley this morning, tire tread on burst stomach. Totally gross, major bummer. Almost threw up right there on the street. This city is afraid of me. I have seen its true face. The streets are like nose of the face and the gutters are like the eyes. No, wait, maybe the manhole covers are the eyes, and the subway is the mouth. But then what are the buildings? Are they, like, hair? What was I talking about? Oh, right. The accumulated filth of sex and murder. Well, ANYWAY, to make a long story short, eventually it's all gonna foam up about their waists and all the whores and politicians will look up and shout, "save us," and I'll ... I'll ... ... okay, I'll be honest. I did throw up earlier, when I saw that dead dog. And I cried a little, too.

Kelsey ruins Jason's life with the emo-piano-pop-punk-alt-rock stylings of Andrew McMahon and his many musical projects. Also: Jason process some feelings about a recent Coheed & Cambria concert and Kelsey offers up a full-throated defense of Smash: The Musical: The TV Show. You can listen to the Andrew McMahon playlist here: https://open.spotify.com/user/125972916/playlist/1RIFETIySi32BpoFsH8vCP

Alicia Harder visits the podcast to discuss D.E.B.S., an early-2000's spy-movie spoof/delightfully queer love story. Also: Jason makes a bold statement of inclusion re: weird sex anime, Kelsey explains the difference between textual and canonical bisexuality, and the original #DEButantes lead a movement to jump-start the D.E.B.C.U.

or, "Life Is A Hallway (I'm Gonna Raid It [All Night Long])" Professional funny-man Daniel Dockery kicks and punches his way into the podcast to introduce Jason and Kelsey to the Indonesian martial-arts masterpiece The Raid: Redemption. Also: Jason reveals the emotionally-draining truth about recording a podcast and Kelsey fights an uphill battle to keep the episode on track.