The Middle of Culture

Peter and Eden Jones
  • 5.0 (5)
  • Society & Culture
  • Updated Biweekly

The Middle of Culture is what happens when two siblings with too many opinions and not enough chill dive headfirst into movies, music, video games, and whatever else is rotting our brains this week. It’s part pop culture podcast, part sibling rivalry, and fully unfiltered. Expect passionate arguments, niche references, unsolicited rankings, and the occasional moment of unexpected insight. If you’ve ever wanted to eavesdrop on the kind of argument you’d hear at the family dinner table—only with better audio—this is your show.

  1. Sep 6

    Six Mt Rushmores, One Foley Catheter

    We open this week with the promise of an 18-day podcastathon — complete with a urologist's catheter and a rectal trumpet — before getting into what we've actually been consuming. Peter is working through The Iliad and saw Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, which we both agree is a fine three-hour movie saddled with a divisive "wet fart" of an ending. He also brings new albums from Mastodon (Marrow Deep, a grief-soaked triumph) and Russian Circles (Nine), while Eden counters with gloriously bad movies (Dracula 3000), style-over-substance manga, and Marvel's horror-flavored Midnight Universe. The centerpiece is our no-prep game: building Mount Rushmores for six categories and landing on Columbo, Batman, Sherlock Holmes, and Jessica Fletcher for the last one. Show Notes The Odyssey (2026): We both saw Christopher Nolan's Homer epic and think it a fine, overlong movie whose invented "wet fart" of an ending undercuts the text.The Iliad / The Aeneid: Peter is on a three-book run through the epics, starting with the one (not The Odyssey) that high school never assigned. The IliadThe Odyssey (1997 miniseries): Eden argues the Armand Assante version is the actually rewatchable take on Homer over Nolan's film.The Great Mental Models: Peter is chipping through Shane Parrish's series on thinking frameworks.Marrow Deep: Peter calls Mastodon's ninth album — recorded after Brent Hinds' death — a grief-processing triumph and their best since Crack the Skye.Nine: We both agree Russian Circles' ninth album cements them among the post-metal greats alongside Cult of Luna, Neurosis, and Isis.Dracula 3000: Eden breaks down the 2004 space-vampire disaster starring Casper Van Dien and Coolio, which ends on a startlingly abrupt sex-bot punchline.Spice and Wolf: Eden's mowing-and-audiobook companion about a traveling merchant and a shrewd wolf harvest goddess.Midnight Universe: Eden read early PDFs of Marvel's horror-themed line — Midnight X-Men, Midnight Fantastic Four, Midnight Spider-Man — ahead of its October 7 launch.Fields of Mistria: Eden is deep in the cozy farming sim and teases a possible second dragon in town.Mount Rushmore of sandwiches: PB&J, the deli Italian, BLT, and Reuben — international sandwiches disqualified.Mount Rushmore of doorstopper fantasy: Lord of the Rings, The Wheel of Time, A Song of Ice and Fire, and Dune (argued as much fantasy as sci-fi).Mount Rushmore of movie musicals: West Side Story, The Music Man, Singin' in the Rain, and Hello, Dolly!.Mount Rushmore of Western RPGs: Baldur's Gate II, Skyrim, Diablo II, and the first Mass Effect — janky and all.Mount Rushmore of pizza toppings: pepperoni, ham & pineapple, supreme, and plain cheese.Mount Rushmore of TV detectives: Columbo, Batman, Sherlock Holmes, and Jessica Fletcher as the Teddy Roosevelt fourth.

  2. Aug 23

    Conan the Barbarian: The 1982 Masterpiece vs. the 2011 Disaster

    Peter and Eden compare the two Conan the Barbarian movies — the 1982 John Milius original that made Arnold Schwarzenegger a star, and the 2011 Jason Momoa remake. Peter, mid-outline on a new novel using Jessica Brody's Save the Cat beat sheet, finds the 1982 film fascinating but slow precisely because it ignores modern story beats in favor of a mythic, Wagnerian hero; the 2011 film follows every rule and lands soulless. They break down why the remake fails on nearly every front, geek out over James Earl Jones' Thulsa Doom and Basil Poledouris' score, and flag two upcoming projects: the Schwarzenegger/Christopher McQuarrie King Conan and the gender-swapped French curio She Is Conann. Before that, they catch up on Peter's 50th in Vegas — the Backstreet Boys at the Sphere and 20 laps in a Ferrari 296 GTB — and Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Show Notes The catch-up: Eden's intrusive thoughts won and they dyed their beard purple rather than shave it again, a look they're keeping until they get bored.Lis's new gig: Peter's wife is now voice faculty at Idaho State University, teaching voice lessons to music majors and sitting in on juries.Eden — Rebecca Black: New Rebecca Black songs keep dropping ahead of an album due in two weeks, and they think she's one of the most interesting people working in pop music right now.Eden — Roll Over and Die: They caught up to the current volumes of the gory, action-packed light novel series Roll Over and Die, even if they wish they'd drop the bloated subtitle.Eden — The Credits Roll Into the Sea: The manga about a 70-year-old widow who enrolls in a university film program after her husband dies had a quiet tenderness they loved. The Credits Roll into the SeaEden — games: They joined a monthly brothers-in-law co-op night playing Heroes of Hammerwatch, which they think the sequel improves on.Eden — Fields of Mistria: The farming sim Fields of Mistria is out of early access and is one of the better Stardew-likes they've played, on the strength of its character writing.Eden — Bad Movie Bros: Movie night returned with the gloriously bad Gor, a Conan knockoff based on John Norman's sword-and-planet novels, with the sequel already queued.Spider-Man: Brand New Day: The fourth Tom Holland Spider-Man is Peter's favorite of the four and Eden's best yet, both crediting Destin Daniel Cretton's direction.Spider-Man's Punisher: They argued the unusually light Punisher is deliberate — the first person Frank Castle has cared about since his family died, so he drops the grimness around Peter.Peter's 50th in Vegas: The whole family of eight came together in Las Vegas, and Peter correctly guessed the Backstreet Boys' Into the Millennium residency at the Sphere was the Saturday show.Ferrari at SpeedVegas: Lis bought him 20 laps in a Ferrari 296 GTB at SpeedVegas, where he hit about 137 mph on the 2,000-foot straightaway under relentless coaching from his instructor, Nico.Lucky: He's caught up through six episodes of Lucky, an Anya Taylor-Joy con-artist thriller that won't win awards but is a ton of fun.Ted Lasso returns: Season four follows Richmond's new women's team and is unapologetic about the shit women's sports has to put up with.Mortal Kombat: The 2021 Mortal Kombat was so flat Peter skipped the sequel, a midi-chlorian-style explanation for character powers that was completely unnecessary.The Expanse: He's halfway through Leviathan Wakes and enjoying the series so far.Beyond Grace: The UK band's Welcome to the New Dark Ages Part Three completes a heavy, ugly, socially conscious death-metal trilogy he's had on repeat.Death: Returning to Death reminded him what a spectacular discography Chuck Schuldiner left behind, with some eerie prescience on The Sound of Perseverance.Main topic: The episode's feature compares the 1982 and 2011 Conan the Barbarian movies.Why 1982 works: Peter, mid-outline using Save the Cat Writes a Novel's 15 beats, found the Milius film fascinating but slow — a mythic, Wagnerian hero with no B-story and no internal conflict.The 1982 details: Basil Poledouris' score, the Andalusia shoot, and James Earl Jones' scenery-chewing Thulsa Doom carry it, with the riddle-of-steel payoff landing.Why 2011 fails: The remake hits every beat on paper but is soulless — Momoa has no presence, Rose McGowan is the only interesting thing in it, and it's all cheap CGI.2011 plot holes: Breaking a magic mask into eight pieces instead of a million, elephants dragging a boat through a jungle, and instant travel between far-flung citadels.2011's politics: Eden flagged how the orcish peoples read as Native American and African while the white characters don't get the same treatment.Financial disaster: The $90 million remake grossed around $60 million, and Peter argues it deserved worse.Worst movies: It sits near the very bottom of everything they've watched, in the running with Knights of the Zodiac and Black Adam.King Conan: A long-in-development King Conan sequel with Schwarzenegger and Christopher McQuarrie is finally moving forward.She Is Conann: Eden discovered She Is Conann, a gender-swapped French take starring five actresses as Conan at different ages, and can't wait to watch it.

  3. Jul 26

    Serial Killers, Steam Decks, and Seven-String Guitars

    Eden and Peter talk about what they've been consuming lately — Peter is deep on Meshuggah's newly remastered catalog while Eden is watching way too much seasonal anime. The main event is a deep dive into Of the Devil, a stylish cyberpunk visual novel where you play a defense attorney who is also the serial killer. They also wrestle with the state of the games industry, why they're buying indie games over AAA behemoths, and why "shorter games with worse graphics" is a genuine consumer philosophy. Show Notes Of the Devil is a cyberpunk visual novel / Ace Attorney-style game where you play Morgan, a defense attorney who may be more than she first appears. Episodes  0, 1, and 2 are out now.Eden finished Long Awaited Feelings, a ~2,600-page web novel from the Feelings series — time loop, yuri romance, creatively titled author.Peter is playing Forza Horizon 4 and 5, catching up on Modern Family and cautiously warming to Community.Meshuggah released 30th and 20th anniversary remasters of Destroy Erase Improve and Catch Thirtythree — the former sounds so ahead of its time that the thin production is the only tell it came out in 1996.Haken released their first music since guitar/bass departures earlier this year — leaner, stripped-down British prog.Psycroptic dropped The Pulse of Annihilation, a tighter, leaner technical death metal follow-up to Divine Council.Protest the Hero released Within — a 30-minute tight blast of chaotic post-hardcore/prog.Science Saru's Ghost in the Shell (2026) adaptation leans into the manga's goofier, flirty tone — first episode looks like a bajillion dollars, episode three already showing budget strain (reminiscent of the Uzumaki adaptation's notorious one-episode budget collapse).Eden is also watching: Chainsmoker Cat (a gross-out comedy about addiction and poverty in Japan wrapped in a big-titty catgirl body), A Witch's Life in Mongol (historical fiction set in 12th-century Central Asia, animated by Science Saru), I Want to Love You Till Your Dying Day (dark fantasy about child soldiers who can't die), and original anime Goodbye, Lara (a Little Mermaid reincarnation story by Kinema Citrus).Eden visited Newbury Comics in Providence and was devastated to find it's no longer a real comic shop — four times as many Funko Pops as comics, no back issues, and a still-priced Thundercats Valentine Special from February.East Bay Comics was the opposite problem: all back issues, none of them organized, mostly vintage junk.The conversation on indie vs AAA gaming: Peter and Eden both bought Of the Devil episodes 1 and 2 sight-unseen to support small teams, echoing their broader philosophy that consumers should put money behind the kind of games they want to see made.PowerWash Simulator 2 Star Wars DLC dropped — Eden is currently cleaning an AT-AT on Hoth.

  4. Jul 13

    The Rest is History, the Movies are not

    Peter and Eden catch up after the UK trip — The Rest Is History Festival at Hampton Court Palace, Westminster Abbey, Hadestown, and why walking London at night feels safer than any US city. Then the pop culture blitz: Peter power-watched Fast 8–10 and Tron: Ares on the plane (he has Opinions). Eden brings new music (Rebecca Black, Blackpink with Chris Martin), K-pop supergroup collabs, two weird indie games, and a defense of the new Masters of the Universe movie. Show Notes Rest is History Festival: Peter attended the inaugural festival at Hampton Court Palace with historians Mary Beard, Tracy Borman, and medieval combat demonstrations.London at night feels safer: Walking a mile from the theater district at 10:30 PM felt natural — dramatically different from any major US city Peter's experienced.America's shallow history: Westminster Abbey (Darwin, Handel, coronation chair used for a millennium) drove home how new the US is. Eden clarifies: referring to the dominant white culture, not the land itself.Renaissance babies are terrifying: Painters used adult proportions shrunk down instead of babies' actual big-head, short-limb proportions.Hadestown and La Bohème: Peter saw Hadestown ("good gut punch of a tragedy") and La Bohème at the Royal Opera House — the Mimi performer had the most stunning voice he's ever heard in person.Warning — Rituals of Shame: First album in 20 years from the British doom band. Classic mournful doom metal.Junius — Sotera: Boston post-metal band's first album in 9 years. "Depeche Mode if they wanted to be a post-metal band." LinkPrince of Failure: Daniel Tompkins (TesseracT) and Paul Ortiz (Chimp Spanner) collab via Kscope. Didn't stick past the first listen.Eden's K-pop: Blackpink's "Go" (co-written by Chris Martin, "way better than anything Coldplay ever did"), Meovv's "Hit Em," and a three-group collab (Illit, Le Sserafim, Katseye) on "Iconic by Mistake."How Do We Relationship?: Eden's favorite romance manga is getting a live-action series — filming this fall, cast announced.Fast & Furious 8–10 (plane ranking): F8 best of the three, F9 saved by Roman and Tej going to space in a Pontiac Fiero, Fast X just bad. Shared gripes: too many resurrections, the secret brother, Jason Momoa's inconsistent villain, zero stakes.Tron: Ares: Peter hated it — Jared Leto is a charisma void, Nine Inch Nails soundtrack forgettable, visuals nowhere near Tron: Legacy's light cycle sequence. Eden agrees.Masters of the Universe: Eden defends it — understood the assignment, leaned into the corny sincerity. Jared Leto's Skeletor is "the campy gay bitch we all know he is." LinkSupergirl bombs: Eden confirms the needle drop of a lo-fi "The Middle" cover in the climax burned through every ounce of goodwill.Peter's reading: Finished The Color of Magic, reading Willie, Willie, Harry and Stee and Rest is History books.

  5. Jun 21

    Hot Take Factory

    Peter and Eden run through a rapid-fire list of pop culture hot takes covering movies, TV, music, books, and games. The Star Wars watch order debate kicks things off (original trilogy only for Peter, release order for Eden), Eden defends Batman & Robin and F-Boy Island as unironically great, both agree the Beatles are played out, and they end on a shared appreciation for Alpha Centauri as the peak of the Civilization franchise. Show Notes What Eden's Been Into K-pop roundup: LE SSERAFIM's new album, aespa's Lemonade LP, and ITZY's Motto EP (featuring solo tracks from each member)Reading: The web novel Long Awaited Feelings (1,900 pages about a woman who time-travels after her death) and rereading How Do We Relationship? (completed 14-volume yuri romance manga — "the best romance comic I've ever read")Games: Finished PowerWash Simulator (excited for the Star Wars DLC), played Loddlenaut (cute 5-hour pixel-art ocean cleanup game), and the Wuthering Waves x Cyberpunk: Edgerunners crossover eventWhat Peter's Been Into Diablo 4: Finished the Vessel of Hatred campaign as a Warlock ("killing demons by summoning your own demons is a good time")Reading: 82% through Anji Kills a King by Evan Leikam (BookTuber debut from Tor) — enjoying it but struggling with the prickly protagonistMusic: New Khemmis self-titled album (Denver doom metal), Cult of Luna's new single "In the Shadow of Your Shadow" (album out November), and The Ocean's "Light Pollution" from upcoming Solaris — allaying fears after the post-Holocene lineup changeHot Takes — Movies Star Wars watch order: Peter says 4, 5, 6 + maybe Rogue One, skip everything else. Eden says release order (4, 5, 6, 1, 2, 3, Rogue One) to preserve cultural/historical contextEden defends Batman & Robin: "It's the second best Batman movie. George Clooney's a bad Batman, he's got nipples on the Batsuit, he's got the Bat credit card — it's great."Eden declares Saving Private Ryan a bad movie to the horror of everyone at the comic book shopBest Pixar: Eden picks Ratatouille (doesn't like most Pixar). Peter picks The IncrediblesCorrect max runtime: 90 minutes (Eden) vs 120 minutes (Peter) — anything longer needs to earn itSequel that's better: Peter says Captain America: Winter Soldier > First Avenger. Eden says Tokyo Drift is the best Fast & Furious movieCitizen Kane: Eden concedes it's the rare masterpiece that actually earns its reputation — a bunch of first-time filmmakers who didn't know the rulesHot Takes — TV Shows that stayed too long: The Simpsons (Peter). Nearly every comedy past season 3 (Eden)Best series finale: M*A*S*H's "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen" and Babylon 5 (Eden). Brooklyn 99 (Peter)Worst series finale: Battlestar Galactica (new) — "the most incomprehensible finale you'll ever watch" (Eden). Seinfeld (Peter)Reality TV worth defending: F-Boy Island — 24 guys, half are "nice guys" and half are f******s, the women pick, and the f******s can steal the $100k at the end. Nice guys get a villa; f******s get a literal prison camp on the beachAdult animation vs prestige drama: Eden says Bob's Burgers is the only good adult animation show right now. Prestige TV is in a nadir of expensive Game of Thrones clonesHot Takes — Music Never need to hear again: The entire Beatles discography (both agree)Best decade by genre: 80s for rock/pop, 90s for alt, aughts for indie, right now for K-pop (Eden). 2010s for metal — the genre found its stride again after a grim 90s (Peter)Bands that should have stopped: Dream Theater after Awake (Eden). Opeth's last 15 years are all misses (Eden). Peter agrees on bothGreatest live album: Rush — Exit...Stage Left (Peter). The Bang on a Can recording of Terry Riley's In C (Eden — "the finest version I've ever seen")Albums > playlists: Both firmly team albums. Eden has a 16-hour "K-pop Brain Rot" playlist for shuffling, but that's the exceptionHot Takes — Books Audiobooks = reading? Leans yes from both, but acknowledges the research is contradictory (small sample sizes, brain scan studies on both sides)E-readers vs physical: Peter goes digital 9 times out of 10 (lighter, portable, side-lit). Eden does physical for comics, e-books for prose (form factor matters less for text, but hates reading comics on a screen)Hot Takes — Games Favorite game of all time: Mass Effect 2 (Peter — tighter gameplay than ME1, loyalty missions, assembling the crew). Doom (1993) (Eden — infinitely replayable with new WADs every day, nothing feels as fluid)Best console generation: Xbox 360 / PS3 era (both) — Halo 3 LAN parties, Gears of War couch co-op, Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Fallout 3/NV, Viva Piñata, and yes, Sneak KingOpen world vs linear: Both prefer a tight 20-hour experience over a 100-hour open worldFranchise that peaked early: Age of Empires II (Peter — nothing since comes close). And Eden's shitpost answer of the day: Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri is better than every Civilization game that came...

  6. Jun 8

    You're Under Arrest (Zero Arrests)

    Eden makes Peter watch the 1994–95 OVA You're Under Arrest, a four-episode anime about two traffic cops in Tokyo. Peter goes in skeptical but comes out admitting it was fun, charming, and visually stunning. The siblings unpack what makes 90s hand-drawn animation special, how the direct-to-video OVA format enabled lavish production values, and why the 2017 revival is a cautionary tale in digital downgrades. Plus: Peter wraps up Dungeon Crawler Carl book 8, Eden makes a pilgrimage to giant troll sculptures in Iowa, a hotel bed that doesn't suck, and Peter's genuine enthusiasm for the new I Built the Sky album. Show Notes You're Under Arrest OVA (1994–95): A four-episode direct-to-video anime about traffic cops Natsumi Tsujimoto and Miyuki Kobayakawa at Bokuto Station in Tokyo. Despite the title, zero arrests occur across all four episodes — the show is closer to a workplace slice-of-life comedy. Created by Kōsuke Fujishima.The OVA format explained: Original Video Animation — direct-to-video releases that bypassed broadcast TV. In the 90s, OVAs were often more lavish than TV anime because VHS tapes sold for $40–$70 per episode, guaranteeing ROI. OVAs also had fewer content restrictions than broadcast — though You're Under Arrest stays remarkably tame.Kōsuke Fujishima's broader work: Beyond You're Under Arrest, Fujishima created Oh My Goddess! and served as lead character designer for multiple Tales games, including Tales of Phantasia, Symphonia, Abyss, Vesperia, and Berseria.The infamous "silly goose" meme: Eden discovered that a reaction image she's been seeing online for 20 years — a character sticking out her tongue with hands on her head — originates from You're Under Arrest (character Yoriko in episode 3).English dub vs. subtitles: Peter found the English dub surprisingly good — the dialogue was looser and more entertaining than the literal subtitle translations. Eden watched subbed. Peter says the dub actually improved the experience for a light show like this.The 2017 revival: Eden showed Peter the opening to the 2017 You're Under Arrest series — cheap digital animation, worse music, and gratuitous bikini volleyball shots. A textbook example of how 90s hand-drawn cel animation aged better than early digipaint.Dungeon Crawler Carl Book 8: A Parade of Horribles: Peter finished it. Covers floors 10 and 11 — down to 23 crawlers alive from an initial ~2 million. Bleak but sets up the final book. Peter's verdict: good, but he mainlined too many DCC books in a row and needs a break.Anji Kills a King by Evan Leikam: Peter's next read — a debut fantasy novel from a book influencer he follows. A one-off palate cleanser before diving into Discworld.Forza Horizon 6: Set in Japan, released May 2026. Peter earned his legendary gold wristband. Won the Titan (14.4-mile cross-country race) in a Koenigsegg but hasn't cracked the 54-mile Goliath loop yet.I Built the Sky — Promise Me You'll Thrive: Solo guitarist Rohan Stevenson's latest. Instrumental, joyful, heavy in places. Peter's been listening on repeat since it came out and calls it "next level" — it made him love guitar-centric instrumental music again.Evergrey — Architects of a New Weave: The Swedish progressive metal band's 15th album, out June 5, 2026 via Napalm Records. Peter describes them as melancholy progressive power metal — never cheesy. Tom Englund's voice "could sing the Hallelujah chorus and you'd still be like, this is so sad."Godthrymm — Projections (2026): British doom metal, third album via Profound Lore. Pulls from the My Dying Bride vein — former MDB vocalist Aaron Stainthorpe guests on a track. (Peter refers to their 2020 debut Reflections and 2023 follow-up Distortions.)The Apothecary Diaries Vol. 16: Eden devoured it in a day and a half. Their endorsement: "You want something fun and simple and light and still intriguing? Apothecary Diaries is it."Thomas Dambo trolls in Clinton, Iowa: Danish artist Thomas Dambo builds giant recycled-material troll sculptures worldwide. Clinton has three prominent trolls plus a fourth hidden in a park — the extra one exists because locals were so helpful Dambo had spare time.Moxy Hotels: Marriott's quirky sub-brand. No check-in counter — the bartender handles it with a complimentary drink. Rooms include a guitar and amp. Bedtime stories available by phone. Eden declares the bed the most comfortable hotel bed they've ever slept in.The Lodi Pencil Sharpening: The 5th annual sharpening of a giant pencil at Lake of the Isles in Minneapolis. Happened Saturday, June 6, 2026. Eden and Cassi attended for the second year.PowerWash Simulator 2: Eden's catharsis game of choice. Currently 71% through a very large barn.The Batman (2022): Eden rewatched it at the hotel. Still great, still too long — three hours, with "a whole fifth act that didn't need to be there." Cassi fell asleep. The bed was comfortable, so it balanced out.

  7. May 25

    The Worst Covers in History

    Peter and Eden kick off with a leisurely check-in — outdoor Godzilla screenings, Eden's miniature laundry room diorama with a 1/12-scale mahjong set, Peter's Amon Amarth/Dethklok concert recap, and new releases from Periphery and LE SSERAFIM. Then, with an assist from ChatGPT's Codex, Peter has assembled roughly 45 of the internet's most-agreed-upon worst album covers for a tier list ranking — S being the most catastrophically bad. The resulting hour-ish is essentially an appreciation of outsider art, deeply cursed Photoshop, and the specific chaos that was '90s rap cover design. Key revelation: the Rednecks, who made Sex and Violins, are Swedish, and that is the Cotton Eye Joe. SHOW NOTES Outdoor Movie Night Gone Right: Eden's projector plan collapsed due to daylight, so they wheeled the TV outside and screened the 1998 Godzilla with Matthew Broderick — which Eden argues holds up better than its reputation suggests. Friend L contributed an observation about American Godzilla's gender presentation that Peter and Eden both find compelling.Daikon 3 & 4 / Studio Gainax Origin Story: Eden showed friends the legendary fan animations made for the early-'80s Daikon convention circuit — blatant copyright-violating anime crossovers that nonetheless launched the careers of the people who would go on to found Gainax (Neon Genesis Evangelion) and later Trigger (Delicious in Dungeon, Season 2).Roombox 3 Progress: Eden's current miniature diorama project is a laundry room featuring a vending machine, an arcade cabinet, and a complete 1/112-scale Chinese mahjong set (all 144 tiles). Models are being dressed in fabric soft clothing rather than left as bare plastic.LE SSERAFIM New Album: Eden's favorite K-pop act has a new record out. The second track samples La Macarena, which prompted a mild generational crisis at the comic shop when the younger staff noted it predates them.Dungeon Crawler Carl / Discworld Detour: Peter is finishing Book 8 of Dungeon Crawler Carl (narrated by Jeff Hayes, whose per-character voice work Peter genuinely enjoys despite usually disliking that approach) and has resolved to go into Terry Pratchett's Discworld next as a pressure valve from heavy genre fiction.Amon Amarth / Dethklok Concert: Peter drove to Salt Lake for the Amon Amarth/Dethklok tour. Amon Amarth was a highlight — Johan Hegg commanding a full audience Viking rowing session — while Dethklok left Peter cold; the Metalocalypse spectacle on screen keeps the audience at arm's length from the music. Castle Rat opened and was a solid short set.Forza Horizon 6: Peter is ~15 hours in on the Japan-set new installment and finding it an ideal low-commitment diversion. Fits easily into 20-minute sessions or longer stretches.Periphery — A Pale White Dot: New album from the djent-adjacent prog-metal band. Peter's read: fewer peaks but also fewer low points than usual — more consistent, somewhat more middling. Flagged as interesting rather than essential.Bad Album Art Tier List: The main event. Peter used Codex to compile ~45 covers from various internet "worst of" lists into a tier list app, with S = truly worst. Notable rankings: The Faith Tones' Jesus Use Me nearly got its own tier above S; Rednex' Sex and Violins landed S upon discovering the band is Swedish and responsible for the definitive Cotton Eye Joe; Iron Maiden's Dance of Death — described as looking like "Baby's first Blender" — is an A despite being one of their best 21st-century albums; Badfinger's Ass (donkey with headphones, hand holding a carrot) closed the list as a deserved S.Creed Sidebar: Human Clay cover triggers a genuine conversation about Creed's arc — good debut, one-and-a-half good albums, then nothing. Peter credits Alter Bridge as the redemptive outcome.

  8. May 10

    Music Palooza Episode

    Peter and Eden kick off a chaotic week — Eden's dealing with the Shiny Hunters ransomware attack on Canvas (the university LMS that runs basically everything, currently being held hostage for the second time) while Peter is just weary from step counts. The bulk of the episode is a genre-spanning music deep dive: Eden assigns four critic-darling albums neither of them would normally reach for (Robyn, Ella Langley, Wendy Eisenberg, and Mandy Indiana), Peter assigns one desert-island pick Eden hasn't heard yet. Between the new releases, a Diablo 4 expansion, Cobalt lore, and the Dungeon Crawler Carl comic selling out on Free Comic Book Day, it's a very full episode. SHOW NOTES Canvas Ransomware Crisis — Eden, who works in university IT, breaks down the Shiny Hunters attack on Canvas, the dominant learning management system used by ~54% of schools. The attackers took the platform down twice, demanded ransom, and threatened to release data from 9,000+ schools by May 12th. Eden spent Free Comic Book Day week in Zoom calls, prepping faculty for a likely third outage.New Metal Releases — Peter covers recent drops: new Sevendust (pretty okay, Lajon Witherspoon sounds great), Draconian's Insomnolent Ruin (gothic death-doom, better than their 2020 album), and a Testament remaster of Practice What You Preach — which apparently had notoriously bad 80s mastering on every prior version.What Else Peter's Been Into — Currently watching The Good Place (season two, laughing out loud), reading the new MurderBot novella System Collapse (more existential ennui, building toward a Preservation vs. Barishastranza showdown), and very much hooked on Vampire Crawlers, a $10 roguelike deck-builder with a dungeon crawl structure that he calls at least as good as Slay the Spire.Free Comic Book Day at Eden's Shop — The comic shop where Eden works had its best day ever — beating last year's record by ~$3K. The Dungeon Crawler Carl issue zero sold out by 11:15 AM and was flipping on eBay for $30+. Eden's boss is now planning to order ten copies of the forthcoming OGN.Eden's Media Check-In — Went back to Wuthering Waves (best combat of any free-to-play open world; Cyberpunk Edgerunners crossover incoming), read They Were Eleven by Moto Hagio (70s shoujo sci-fi, recently translated, thoroughly recommended), and briefly installed/uninstalled Neverness to Everness after the devs were caught using AI-generated assets and their "replacement" assets were also AI-generated.The Music Listening Project — Robyn, Sexistential — Eden's clear favorite of the four assigned albums. Robyn's first album in eight years sounds like Body Talk Part 4, which is exactly what she apparently aimed for. Both hosts agree it goes down smooth and does exactly what dance-pop is supposed to do. Peter's pick of the bunch.Ella Langley, Dandelion — Peter's least favorite ("I f*****g hated every note on this s****y ass shit album"), not softened much by the 19-song runtime. Eden also wanted to like it more than they did. Peter's wife, who has a master's in vocal performance, concurred on the voice. Both prefer Kacey Musgraves's Middle of Nowhere, which dropped right after Eden finalized the listening list.Wendy Eisenberg, self-titled — A folk/chamber-folk record Eden found genuinely enjoyable, especially in quieter guitar-forward moments. Peter couldn't get past what he describes as chronically unsupported vocals (no diaphragm engagement). Mid-episode, Eden Googles and discovers Wendy uses they/them pronouns — quick correction mid-stream.Mandy Indiana, URGH — Noise rock with French lyrics; alienating by design, and for once that assessment is meant charitably. Peter could see putting it on if he just wants sound, not music. Eden started strong but felt bludgeoned by the end. Album art apparently smears skulls and faces across the screen in real time — which tracks.Cobalt, Slow Forever (2016) — Peter's desert island pick, his most-listened album of the last two years. Eden had never heard it and came away genuinely impressed. Peter gives a brief history: Cobalt's Gin (2009) as foundational American black metal, the band's turmoil around the previous vocalist's behavior, Charlie Fell (of Lord Mantis) stepping in, Eric Wunder doing all instruments himself, and the resulting pivot from black metal to progressive sludge with blackened overtones. Peter closes with a passage from "King Rust." Eric Wunder passed away earlier this year — Slow Forever as a final statement.

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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
5 Ratings

About

The Middle of Culture is what happens when two siblings with too many opinions and not enough chill dive headfirst into movies, music, video games, and whatever else is rotting our brains this week. It’s part pop culture podcast, part sibling rivalry, and fully unfiltered. Expect passionate arguments, niche references, unsolicited rankings, and the occasional moment of unexpected insight. If you’ve ever wanted to eavesdrop on the kind of argument you’d hear at the family dinner table—only with better audio—this is your show.

Information

  • Creator
    Peter and Eden Jones
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    118
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Peter and Eden Jones
  • Show Website
    The Middle of Culture