The Middle of Culture Podcast By Peter and Eden Jones cover art

The Middle of Culture

The Middle of Culture

By: Peter and Eden Jones
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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.© 2026 Peter and Eden Jones Music Social Sciences
Episodes
  • 64 Games, One Winner, and F&$! Settlers of Catan

    64 Games, One Winner, and F&$! Settlers of Catan
    Mar 18 2026

    Peter and Eden kick off with Eden's very dramatic Iowa snowstorm (back of the house: buried; front of the house: a dusting) and a quick check-in before diving into their respective "what have you been checking out" updates — Eden on two gloriously bad movies from March Badness, plus a deep dive into obscure 80s/90s indie comics; Peter on the new Lamb of God album, Dungeon Crawler Carl Book 4, and the news that he scored VIP tickets to the Rest Is History Festival in London. The main event is a 64-entry tabletop/board/card game bracket that Peter built himself, working through matchups fast and loose until Uno improbably but correctly takes the whole thing.

    SHOW NOTES

    • Eden's snowstorm saga — A dramatic morning shoveling reveal: six inches of heavy, shovel-sticking snow piled against the back door; the front walkway needed about five seconds of clearing. Wind had blown everything to one side of the house.
    • March Badness — Eden attended a bracket-format bad movie night with friends. The event has been running since 2022 and involves voting down from 32 trailers to four films, then watching two. This year's picks: Oblivion (1990s sci-fi western featuring the very tall man from Twin Peaks in a towering top hat — "boring bad") and Hell Squad (1986 exploitation film about Vegas dancers recruited as mercenary commandos — "the second worst movie I've ever seen," edged out only by the 2025 War of the Worlds with Ice Cube).
    • Defiant Comics / Warriors of Plasm / Ms. Mystic — Eden acquired Issue Zero of Warriors of Plasm, which was released as a series of trading cards you assemble into comic pages. This spiraled into a rabbit hole of obscure 80s/90s indie publishers, including Continuity Comics (founded by Neal Adams), and Eden declaring that Ms. Mystic — a character with 15 issues total — is now her favorite superhero on the strength of her zipatone-gradient costume alone.
    • Lamb of God — Into Oblivion — Peter's been on repeat with the new Lamb of God album (released Friday). Highlight: the single "Sepsis," which opens as an unexpectedly sludgy, slow-burn bass groove before shifting into more traditional territory. Peter calls it his favorite LOG album since Resolution (2012). Ten songs, 39 minutes — "comes in, punches you in the nuts, and leaves."
    • Dungeon Crawler Carl — Peter finished Book 4 on the drive back from Boise and is into Book 5. The epilogue of Book 4 opens up the surface-level lore in a meaningful way.
    • Rest Is History Festival — Peter won a lottery for VIP tickets to the inaugural Rest Is History Festival, July 4–5 at Hampton Court Palace (Henry VIII's palace) in London. He and his wife are planning a 10-day trip around it. He notes the podcast pulls ~45,000 paying subscribers and around a million YouTube streams per episode.
    • The Board Game Bracket — The main segment: Peter built a custom bracket website (following his tier list site) and ran a 64-entry tabletop/card/board game tournament with Eden. Notable moments: near-unanimous hatred of Monopoly (Eden explains the original Quaker socialist two-part design that Milton Bradley gutted), Cards Against Humanity deemed fun exactly twice before becoming "the Edgelord game," and genuine anguish over Little Flower Shop vs. Carcassonne in the Final Four ("Sophie's Choice").
    • The Winner: Uno — Uno defeated Little Flower Shop in the final. Both agree it's the rare game that works straight out of the box, with house rules, and across weird spin-off versions. Eden: "Maybe the quintessential card game."
    • Notable early exits: Settlers of Catan (Eden: "Fuck Settlers of Catan" — Cassie concurs), Ticket to Ride (fun twice, then "okay"), Munchkin (Eden used to own five versions; now owns zero).
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    54 mins
  • Raised in Hell, Built for Compassion: Absolute Wonder Woman

    Raised in Hell, Built for Compassion: Absolute Wonder Woman
    Mar 3 2026
    This week, we dive headfirst into Absolute Wonder Woman — a reimagining of Diana raised in hell by Circe — and we can’t stop talking about how good this book is. We break down why this version finally captures the heart of Wonder Woman, why compassion is her real superpower, and why this heavy-metal redesign absolutely works. Along the way, we detour through Conan, grindhouse cinema, crocodile cult horror, and Peter’s descent into AI-powered app building. It’s a wild one — but mostly, we’re here to say: go read this comic.Show NotesOpening Catch-Up🌦 Weather & Fire SeasonIdaho dryness vs East Coast snow extremesBrush fire near town, melted vinyl fences “like a Salvador Dalí painting”The looming dread of wildfire seasonWhat We’ve Been Checking Out🎵 Peter’s Music PicksNew album The New Flesh from Sylosis — melodic death metal with thrashy energyRevisiting Wrath and Ruin from WarbringerWhy thrash metal continues to be politically and socially consciousVocalists that require an “acquired taste”📚 Dungeon Crawler CarlPeter finally reads Dungeon Crawler CarlWhy it’s perfect “palate cleanser” reading after heavier sci-fiAudiobook praise — standout voice actingThe joy of litRPG that “goes down smooth”🤖 Peter’s AI Dashboard & App Rabbit HoleFrustration with task management tools fot creative projectsBuilding a custom creative dashboard using Claude Code, GitHub, Vercel, SupabaseCreating a personal album art app (“Cover Hunter”) to replace Windows-only toolsEden’s extremely justified skepticism about giving LLMs terminal accessWhy all AI logos look like buttholes🎬 Movie Nights & Schlock Adventures🎥 Grindhouse PlansSeeing The Thing at late-night cinemaUpcoming screening of Red Sonja🗡 Conan Double FeatureHosting Conan the Barbarian and Conan the DestroyerDivisive reactions from friends and spousesThe eternal question: Is Conan high art or just schlock perfection?🐊 The Most Unhinged Double Feature EverThe Devil’s SwordThe Boxer’s OmenCrocodile goddesses, tantric monks, cursed boxersPossibly the grossest wizard ritual ever filmed“I’m not recommending it… but what a show.”🦸 Main Event: Absolute Wonder WomanContext: The Absolute UniverseDarkseid infects a parallel DC universeCore heroes reimagined from the ground upWorking-class BatmanKrypton-raised SupermanA more mythic, more brutal, but emotionally sharper universeThis Diana Is DifferentRaised in Hell by CirceNot shaped by Themyscira — shaped by survival and magicStill fundamentally compassionateThree lassosHeavy metal redesignAquiline nose stays consistent (important!)The robot arm forged by HephaestusBig Buster Sword energyWhat Makes This Version Work❤️ Compassion as Core“Do not harm who you can disarm.”Diana constantly tries mercy firstLabyrinth arc: befriending the MinotaurOffering enemies a chance before destroying them🔁 Flashback StructureFlashbacks to her upbringing used elegantlyNot cheap exposition — emotionally earned contextCirce’s influence woven into present-day decisions💀 The Tetracide & The LabyrinthMuting an entire city to stop mass hysteriaSacrificing her arm to save Steve TrevorPunching holes through reality to send enemies homeGaia acknowledging the world is already brokenArt & DesignHayden Sherman’s definitive redesignArmor that feels functional, not fetishizedSize and presence emphasized — she’s physically imposingStrong character consistency across rotating artistsPainterly and sketch-heavy guest styles that still fit toneWhy This MattersThis is why Wonder Woman belongs in the TrinityA corrective to bad portrayals (looking at you, Injustice)A great entry point for new comic readersAbsolute line is bringing new readers into shops
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    1 hr and 2 mins
  • S-Tier or Cultural Crime? The 80s Sitcom Ranking

    S-Tier or Cultural Crime? The 80s Sitcom Ranking
    Feb 16 2026

    This week, we did something a little different — we built our own tier list website just so we could rank 80s sitcoms without fighting pop-ups and autoplay ads. Totally normal behavior.


    But here’s the twist: we’re not ranking them based on how “important” they were at the time. We’re asking a much more dangerous question:


    Would we actually rewatch this in 2026?


    That framework leads to some very strong opinions.


    🏆 The S-Tier Is Earned


    A handful of shows prove they’re more than nostalgia. The writing still lands. The characters still feel alive. The cultural relevance hasn’t completely evaporated.


    We talk about why certain series:

    • Hold up surprisingly well
    • Feel sharper now than they did then
    • Or still manage to feel relevant without being preachy

    There’s one in particular that we both immediately elevate without debate.


    🚫 The Hall of Shame


    There’s one show we don’t even rank.


    We talk about:

    • When “separating the art from the artist” stops being possible
    • How cultural legacy changes over time
    • And why historical importance doesn’t automatically equal rewatchability

    It’s a sobering but necessary conversation.


    🤔 The Middle Tier Dilemmas


    This is where things get interesting.


    We wrestle with:

    • Working-class representation vs. caricature
    • “Very Special Episode” overload
    • Sitcom dads getting infinite second chances while sitcom moms don’t
    • When a breakout character slowly destroys their own show

    We also revisit the strange cultural phenomenon of:

    • Every sitcom family in the 80s somehow living in a house they absolutely could not afford.

    🔻 The Ones That Don’t Survive Rewatch


    Some shows are huge in memory… and rough in reality.


    We talk about:

    • Nostalgia for actors vs. nostalgia for writing
    • How certain catchphrases aged like milk
    • Boomer sentimentality as a genre
    • And why some “beloved” shows just don’t work outside their original era

    🎧 What Else We’ve Been Into


    Before the tier list chaos:

    • Eden talks about a wildly violent light novel series featuring a sociopathic child adventurer who refuses to follow the script of her own destiny.
    • Peter shares recent music discoveries, a disappointing Tool take, and why The Dark Forest might require an emotional recovery period.
    • There’s also a brief detour into why everyone in Cheers looks 20 years older than we do right now.

    🖥️ Bonus: DIY Internet Energy


    Peter casually mentions:

    • Taking a screenshot of a tier list site
    • Feeding it to Claude
    • Coding a cleaner version
    • And deploying it live via GitHub Pages

    Because apparently that’s what we do now.
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    59 mins
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