Zen Pop

Episodios

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  Point Break -Episode #887 15.09.2026 1h 22m

  Cops & Robbers Month We rewatched and overanalyzed Point Break, and realized Bodhi was doing self-help before self-help was a thing, just with more bank robberies and extreme sports thrown in. An FBI agent goes undercover with a crew of surfers who rob banks in president masks to fund a life of chasing the perfect wave. But it's also a movie about a generation looking for meaning outside the usual institutions, and a new kind of masculinity starting to take shape. This week: Set the Scene, Remember When, Random Facts, WTF!, Hot Takes, Hidden Gems, and REEL Therapy. Rewatch. Overanalyze. Learn about yourself.
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  Summer School- Episode #886 08.09.2026 1h 3m

  Cathy and Todd close out their "Movies We Love (But Love to Make Fun Of)" series with 1987's Summer School, the comedy where Mark Harmon's laid-back gym teacher gets stuck teaching English after the assigned teacher wins the lottery and bails. It's full of '80s pop culture, and underneath all of it there's a genuinely sweet message about meeting struggling kids where they are.
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  Teen Wolf- Episode #885 01.09.2026 1h 13m

  Cathy and Todd discuss Teen Wolf for Movies We Love and Love to Make Fun Of month, the 1985 werewolf-basketball classic that turned a barely-known Michael J. Fox into a star just months after Back to the Future changed his life. They discuss the movie's best and strangest moments from Stiles's party-hosting mastery to Boof simply refusing to take no for an answer, and get into what the wolf actually represents: a metaphor for suddenly gaining power and having to learn how to handle it responsibly. They count down their 10 best Gen X high school party scenes in movie history and break down the infamous end-credits clip that wasn't even supposed to make it into the film.
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  St. Elmo’s Fire- Episode #884 25.08.2026 1h 33m

  Cathy and Todd discuss St. Elmo's Fire for Movies We LOVE and LOVE to Make Fun Of month, the 1985 classic that made $37.8 million on a $10 million budget despite critics disliking it. They get into the David Blum "Hollywood's Brat Pack" article that changed everyone's careers overnight, Andrew McCarthy's book and documentary about being labeled a Brat, and then go over the movie's genuinely alarming WTF moments like Kirby's rewarded stalking arc, Billy pushing past Jules's "no," and his "there was no St. Elmo's Fire, you're making it up" non-help speech — before landing on their red flags list for the movie's worst behavior and the quotes they still can't stop repeating ("Wasted Love!").
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  Cocktail – Episode #883 18.08.2026 1h 37m

  Cathy and Todd discuss Cocktail for Movies We Love and Love to Make Fun of Month. They revisit the 1988 Tom Cruise classic with its flair bartending, strange plot turns, and very serious ideas about money, masculinity, friendship, and success. They share their memories of seeing it when they were younger, explore the darker story hidden beneath the story, unpack Doug’s Coughlin’s Laws and Kerry’s missing backstory, and ask the important questions: Why does everyone make life-changing decisions based on barroom bets? And how did a critically despised Razzie winner become a movie we all still quote, rewatch, and love to make fun of? Subscribe to Cathy’s weekly Zen Moment and upgrade to hear a weekly Zen Moment podcast hosted by Cathy and Todd! Some Ways to Support Us Sign up for Cathy’s Substack Order Restoring our Girls Links shared in this episode: For the full show notes, visit zenpopparenting.com. This week’s sponsor(s): Avid Co DuPage County Area Decorating, Painting, Remodeling by Avid Co includes kitchens, basements, bathrooms, flooring, tiling, fire and flood restoration. MenLiving – A virtual and in-person community of guys connecting deeply and living fully. No requirements, no creeds, no gurus, no judgements Todd Adams Life & Leadership Coaching for Guys Other Ways to Support Us Follow us on social media Instagram YouTube Facebook Buy and leave a review for Cathy’s Book Zen Parenting: Caring for Ourselves and Our Children in an Unpredictable World
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  Top Gun Maverick- Episode #882 11.08.2026 1h 18m

  Cathy and Todd discuss Top Gun: Maverick to complete their summer blockbuster series, the 2022 legacy sequel that brought Tom Cruise back to the role that made him famous, three decades (and a pandemic delay) later. They talk about Val Kilmer’s real battle with throat cancer and how it shaped his return as Iceman, discuss the film’s themes of grief, legacy, and mentorship, debate why Jon Hamm’s character is such a dick, and share Cathy’s deeply conflicted feelings about Tom Cruise, who happens to look a lot like Todd. They also discussed the original Top Gun (1986) earlier in the summer, click here to listen: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/top-gun-episode-871/id414414318?i=1000770790944 Subscribe to Cathy’s weekly Zen Moment and upgrade to hear a weekly Zen Moment podcast hosted by Cathy and Todd! Some Ways to Support Us Sign up for Cathy’s Substack Order Restoring our Girls Links shared in this episode: For the full show notes, visit zenpopparenting.com. This week’s sponsor(s): Avid Co DuPage County Area Decorating, Painting, Remodeling by Avid Co includes kitchens, basements, bathrooms, flooring, tiling, fire and flood restoration. MenLiving – A virtual and in-person community of guys connecting deeply and living fully. No requirements, no creeds, no gurus, no judgements Todd Adams Life & Leadership Coaching for Guys Other Ways to Support Us Follow us on social media Instagram YouTube Facebook Buy and leave a review for Cathy’s Book Zen Parenting: Caring for Ourselves and Our Children in an Unpredictable World
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  Wedding Crashers- Episode #881 04.08.2026 1h 5m

  Cathy and Todd continue their summer blockbuster series and discuss Wedding Crashers, the 2005 comedy starring Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson that grossed $288.5 million on a $40 million budget. They cover the cast including Rachel McAdams, Isla Fisher, Christopher Walken, Bradley Cooper, and Jane Seymour, plus behind-the-scenes trivia like the almost-cast Justin Long, the scrapped Daniel Craig sequel, and Owen Wilson’s improvised “Rules” of wedding crashing. They count down the movie’s best quotes and talk through the film’s male friendship theme. Subscribe to Cathy’s weekly Zen Moment and upgrade to hear a weekly Zen Moment podcast hosted by Cathy and Todd! Some Ways to Support Us Sign up for Cathy’s Substack Order Restoring our Girls Links shared in this episode: For the full show notes, visit zenpopparenting.com. This week’s sponsor(s): Avid Co DuPage County Area Decorating, Painting, Remodeling by Avid Co includes kitchens, basements, bathrooms, flooring, tiling, fire and flood restoration. MenLiving – A virtual and in-person community of guys connecting deeply and living fully. No requirements, no creeds, no gurus, no judgements Todd Adams Life & Leadership Coaching for Guys Other Ways to Support Us Follow us on social media Instagram YouTube Facebook Buy and leave a review for Cathy’s Book Zen Parenting: Caring for Ourselves and Our Children in an Unpredictable World
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  The Odyssey- Episode #880 28.07.2026 1h 13m

  Cathy and Todd discuss the most recent summer blockbuster, The Odyssey, Christopher Nolan’s take on Homer’s epic and why a 2,700-year-old story about identity, home, and longing still hits just as hard today. From the Cyclops to the Sirens to Circe, they trace the myths and monsters and what those stories still reveal about who we are, and why the humanities matter to a thriving culture. It’s also a conversation about disguise and belonging, and why it’s so hard to come home when the choices of war change the world and leave shame behind. Subscribe to Cathy’s weekly Zen Moment and upgrade to hear a weekly Zen Moment podcast hosted by Cathy and Todd! Some Ways to Support Us Sign up for Cathy’s Substack Order Restoring our Girls Links shared in this episode: For the full show notes, visit zenpopparenting.com. This week’s sponsor(s): Avid Co DuPage County Area Decorating, Painting, Remodeling by Avid Co includes kitchens, basements, bathrooms, flooring, tiling, fire and flood restoration. MenLiving – A virtual and in-person community of guys connecting deeply and living fully. No requirements, no creeds, no gurus, no judgements Todd Adams Life & Leadership Coaching for Guys Other Ways to Support Us Follow us on social media Instagram YouTube Facebook Buy and leave a review for Cathy’s Book Zen Parenting: Caring for Ourselves and Our Children in an Unpredictable World
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  Animal House- Episode #879 21.07.2026 1h 9m

  Cathy and Todd continue their summer blockbusters series with National Lampoon’s Animal House (1978), John Landis’s frat-house classic that launched the college-comedy genre. They discuss the cast, behind-the-scenes trivia, the film’s most WTF scenes, and their own experiences in the Greek system. They also list the top 15 fraternity party songs of the early ’90s, plus the top ten things Animal House gave us that are still discussed, used, or homaged today. Subscribe to Cathy’s weekly Zen Moment and upgrade to hear a weekly Zen Moment podcast hosted by Cathy and Todd! Some Ways to Support Us Sign up for Cathy’s Substack Order Restoring our Girls Links shared in this episode: For the full show notes, visit zenpopparenting.com. This week’s sponsor(s): Avid Co DuPage County Area Decorating, Painting, Remodeling by Avid Co includes kitchens, basements, bathrooms, flooring, tiling, fire and flood restoration. MenLiving – A virtual and in-person community of guys connecting deeply and living fully. No requirements, no creeds, no gurus, no judgements Todd Adams Life & Leadership Coaching for Guys Other Ways to Support Us Follow us on social media Instagram YouTube Facebook Buy and leave a review for Cathy’s Book Zen Parenting: Caring for Ourselves and Our Children in an Unpredictable World
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  Back to the Future- Episode #878 14.07.2026 1h 14m

  Cathy and Todd discuss Back to the Future for their summer blockbuster series, Robert Zemeckis’s 1985 time-travel classic that took nearly 40 rejections to get made before Steven Spielberg got involved. They discuss how Eric Stoltz was originally cast as Marty McFly and shot for five weeks before being replaced by Michael J. Fox, who then secretly filmed the movie at night while shooting Family Ties by day. On a $19 million budget, the film grossed nearly $400 million and became a cultural touchstone, complete with an uncredited Huey Lewis cameo and a Crispin Glover lawsuit that changed how Hollywood handles an actor’s likeness. They dig into why it still resonates including the butterfly-effect plot, the idea of meeting your parents as flawed kids just like you, and Doc’s closing line — “your future hasn’t been written yet” — as the real heart of the film. Subscribe to Cathy’s weekly Zen Moment and upgrade to hear a weekly Zen Moment podcast hosted by Cathy and Todd! Some Ways to Support Us Sign up for Cathy’s Substack Order Restoring our Girls Links shared in this episode: For the full show notes, visit zenpopparenting.com. This week’s sponsor(s): Avid Co DuPage County Area Decorating, Painting, Remodeling by Avid Co includes kitchens, basements, bathrooms, flooring, tiling, fire and flood restoration. MenLiving – A virtual and in-person community of guys connecting deeply and living fully. No requirements, no creeds, no gurus, no judgements Todd Adams Life & Leadership Coaching for Guys Other Ways to Support Us Follow us on social media Instagram YouTube Facebook Buy and leave a review for Cathy’s Book Zen Parenting: Caring for Ourselves and Our Children in an Unpredictable World
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  Widows Bay Episode #877 07.07.2026 57m

  Cathy and Todd discuss Apple TV's Widow's Bay, the 10-episode horror-comedy that has a 98% on Rotten Tomatoes and an early season two renewal. They discuss its "Parks and Rec meets Stephen King" premise and its numerous horror movie homages including Carrie, The Wicker Man, The Shining, Jaws, Halloween, and more. It's small-town bureaucracy, ancient sea-gods, a resurrected Boogeyman, and sunset cocktails all in one, and they knew they needed to discuss this one-of-a-kind show.
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  Family Movie Draft Part 2- Episode #876 01.07.2026 1h 15m

  Cathy, Todd, Jacey, Camryn, and Skylar draft their way through 10 movie categories: horror/thriller, rom-com, animated, 80s, since 2020, based on a book, sports, most rewatched, holiday, and honorable mention. Snake draft order, 10 rounds, everyone answers every category exactly once.
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  Family Movie Draft Part 1- Episode #875 30.06.2026 1h 16m

  Cathy, Todd, Jacey, Camryn, and Skylar draft their way through 10 movie categories: horror/thriller, rom-com, animated, 80s, since 2020, based on a book, sports, most rewatched, holiday, and honorable mention. Snake draft order, 10 rounds, everyone answers every category exactly once.
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  Terminator 2- Episode #874 23.06.2026 1h 16m

  Cathy and Todd continue their summer blockbusters series with Terminator 2: Judgment Day, James Cameron's 1991 sci-fi action landmark that grossed $519 million on a then-record $102 million budget and won four Academy Awards. They cover the best behind-the-scenes stories, including how Billy Idol was originally cast as the T-1000 before a motorcycle accident took him out, how Edward Furlong was discovered at a Pasadena Boys and Girls Club with zero acting experience, and why Robert Patrick trained so relentlessly that he outran the insert car on the very first take of the mall chase scene.
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  Gladiator Episode #873 16.06.2026 1h 21m

  Cathy and Todd discuss Gladiator, released in 2000 and directed by Ridley Scott, it stars Russell Crowe as Maximus, a Roman general betrayed by the Emperor's son Commodus, who murders his own father Marcus Aurelius to seize power, then orders the execution of Maximus and his entire family. Sold into slavery and forced into the arena, Maximus fights his way back to Rome for one purpose: vengeance. With a box office of $466 million, five Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Actor for Crowe, and a Hans Zimmer score that became one of the bestselling soundtracks of all time, the film didn't just succeed, it reinvented an entire genre and inspired everything from HBO's Rome to The Hunger Games. It's filled with unforgettable lines like, "What we do in life echoes in eternity" and "Are you not entertained?”, and it happens to be one of Cathy's all-time favorite movies.
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  Raiders of the Lost Ark- Episode # 872 09.06.2026 1h 7m

  Cathy and Todd continue their summer blockbusters series with Raiders of the Lost Ark, the George Lucas and Steven Spielberg collaboration born from a beach conversation in Hawaii, diving into the film's origins, iconic casting (Tom Selleck almost got the role), and the chaotic Tunisia shoot where nearly the entire cast and crew got food poisoning. They rank history's oddest movie titles, wrestle with the film's deeply uncomfortable Marion subplot, and close out with why Raiders still holds up as a masterclass in humble heroism and why Indy wins in the end by simply closing his eyes.
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  Top Gun- Episode #871 02.06.2026 1h 13m

  Cathy and Todd kick off their summer blockbuster series with Top Gun (1986), directed by Tony Scott and produced by Simpson and Bruckheimer, which turned a $15 million budget into $357 million worldwide and made Tom Cruise a superstar. The episode covers the Scott brothers' contrasting Hollywood legacies, the Navy's behind-the-scenes script approval that reshaped the story, plus fun trivia like Cruise's height-correcting boots and Meg Ryan secretly dating Anthony Edwards on set all while debating whether Iceman was the better pilot and whether Quentin Tarantino’s theory about the subtext is correct.  
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  Spaceballs Episode #870 26.05.2026 40m

  Cathy and Todd discuss Mel Brooks' Spaceballs for Zen Pop’s space month, a 1987 Star Wars parody following Lone Starr and his half-man half-dog sidekick Barf as they rescue Princess Vespa from Dark Helmet and the incompetent President Skroob (whose name is literally an anagram of Brooks). The cast includes Bill Pullman, John Candy, Rick Moranis, Daphne Zuniga, Joan Rivers, and Dom DeLuise as Pizza the Hutt. They discuss the WTF moments, the lines they quote at home, and the news that a sequel, Spaceballs: The New One, arrives April 23, 2027 with most of the original cast returning.
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  Interstellar Episode #869 20.05.2026 1h 1m

  Cathy and Todd discuss Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar for Space Month - the dying Earth, the wormhole near Saturn, the black hole that swallows decades of a man's life while his daughter grows old without him. They get into Matt Damon showing up two-thirds through as a villain nobody knew was in the movie, why Anne Hathaway's love speech is the whole point of the film, the fact that Nolan grew 500 acres of real corn for the opening scenes, and the science behind the black hole Gargantua that was so accurate it accidentally produced two peer-reviewed papers. Plus the bigger question the movie keeps circling: what if love isn't just a feeling, but something woven into the actual structure of the universe?
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  Apollo 13 Episode #868 12.05.2026 1h 4m

  Cathy and Todd discuss Apollo 13 (1995) for Space Month, Ron Howard’s docudrama starring Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton, Gary Sinise, and Ed Harris, based on the true story of NASA's near-disastrous 1970 lunar mission. The film was nominated for nine Academy Awards and grossed over $355 million worldwide, cementing its place as one of the great survival stories ever put on screen. They discuss the complicated legacies of the astronauts, the emotional devastation of the wives left behind, and why the most famous line in the film isn't what anyone actually said.