Guillermo del Toro, The Bench Press, Sailor Uranus

Love Hate Relationship

Love: Guillermo Del Toro

Andy kicks off this episode with the first director to make an LHR appearance, the Mexican master of monsters, Guillermo del Toro. He discusses del Toro’s work including his early Spanish-language pieces (The Devil’s Backbone, Pan’s Labyrinth) to horror-fantasy blockbusters (Hellboy, Pacific Rim), to straight-up Oscar-winner The Shape of Water. Alex tries to summarize the thesis of del Toro’s catalog while also mentioning the other artists he’s repeatedly worked with while Andy gushes over everything from the visual style to the aesthetic to political undertones, and even some about the man’s non-film work.

Hate: The Bench Press

Alex comes in strong (pun unfortunately intended) to rail on his hatred of the Bench Press, arguably the single most popular weighted exercise in both gyms and popular culture around the world and, he argues, the stupidest. After a quick lesson on the Bench Press’s surprisingly short history, he details all of the danger and relative uselessness of the exercise, Andy is horrified to learn about how grisly the injuries involved can be, and everyone comes away with plenty of science to throw at the gym-bro who won’t stop asking how much you bench.

Relationship: Sailor Uranus

In a query that once again illustrates how under-qualified either of Alex or Andy are at this stuff (seriously, we can’t stress this enough), a listener writes in for advice on how she can halt the advances of a close older male friend. While Andy tries to consider the feelings of all parties involved, stressing over-communication and (hopefully) safety, Alex repeatedly interrogates the reasoning behind even keeping a friendship where situations like this occur. Stay safe and listen to peoples’ No‘s, y’all.