It's spooky season! As October comes to a close, we reflect on some of Brandon's favorite spooky movies, and Nick's (a scared boy) favorite anti-spooky movies. Newton's first law of spookiness: for every spooky movie, there will be an equal and opposite anti-spooky movie. For every bloody slasher, there's a wholesome musical. For every ghosty, there's an adorable animated fish girl. All is fair and balanced in this spooky season recap. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/happytears/message

A Chinese & Taiwanese fusion episode. An anniversary episode. A great, great movie episode. In The Mood For Love from director Wong Kar-Wai is a seductive visual masterpiece about the painful beauty of longing and heartbreak. Edward Yang's Yi Yi is a generational family story about the under-appreciated beauty of our ordinary, messy lives. Both are visionary works of art released 20 years ago and they are two of cinema's greatest achievements from master filmmakers.  Through some technical difficulties on this episode, we have some fun discussion and Nick achieves possibly the ultimate happy tear? What does that even mean? In the Mood For Love starts at 6:45 Yi Yi starts at 32:15 --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/happytears/message

This week on the pod we revisit Stillwater and the Band-aids for the 20th anniversary of Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous. Come sing "Tiny Dancer" with us as we cry happy tears and remain uncool. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/happytears/message

We finish our deep dive of the career of the incomparable Fiona Apple with an exploration of her albums Extraordinary Machine, The Idler Wheel, and Fetch The Bolt Cutters. Drinking game: take a shot any time you hear the words: genius, stunning, striking, or "she's just SO GOOD!" Extraordinary Machine starts at 1:55 The Idler Wheel starts at 27:40 Fetch The Bolt Cutters starts at 51:30 --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/happytears/message

The release of Fiona Apple's stunning 2020 album, Fetch the Bolt Cutters inspired us to take a look at the career of the incomparable Fiona Apple. In this episode we examine the state of the mid-90s music industry that Fiona exploded onto, as well as her first two albums Tidal and When the Pawn... Music Industry background starts at 8:46 Tidal starts at 10:50 When the Pawn... starts at 30:30 --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/happytears/message

On this episode, we discuss the comic book sensation, Saga. This sprawling space opera is one of the most celebrated comic books of the last decade. From its incredibly imaginative character design, to it's detail-rich worlds, and it's incredibly charming ensemble, this universe has captured the hearts of millions of readers and just might belong among the greatest sci-fi stories of all time...(?) --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/happytears/message

Despite being an ongoing, seemingly never-ending train wreck in every other sense, 2020 has been an incredible year for music. We go through our favorite albums, month by month from January to June. We discuss such artists as Andy Shauf and Fiona Apple and SAULT and Denzel Curry and Jeff Rosenstock and Phoebe Bridgers and many, many, (maybe too many?) more!  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/happytears/message

Bed-Stuy, do or die! We're spending some time in pre-gentrified Brooklyn this episode to discuss James McBride's new novel Deacon King Kong and Spike Lee's legendary film Do The Right Thing. These works both feature wacky ensembles, uproarious humor, love, hate, a lot of light, a little bit of darkness, and they're both really, really good. WAKE UP! Deacon King Kong starts at 4:35. Do The Right Thing starts at 19:05. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/happytears/message

026: March by John Lewis // SAULT Congressman John Lewis was a civil rights activist and an American hero. We honor him in this episode as we discuss the comic book series MARCH (written by Congressman Lewis, Andrew Aydin, illustrate by Nate Powell) which is a three-part graphic novel about the civil rights movement of the 1960's. Then, we explore the incredible, afrocentric, new album UNTITLED (BLACK IS) by the UK collective SAULT.  As a work of revolutionary art that explores the black experience, often as it relates to police and the establishment, this album may have arrived precisely at the moment that it was most needed. Rest in peace, John Lewis. March starts at 6:30. SAULT starts at 26:15. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/happytears/message

On this episode, we revisit two great albums released 10 years ago. First, we get down and dirty with The Black Keys breakthrough album Brothers. Then, we go on an abstract sci-fi, indefinable, dystopian adventure with Janelle Monáe's The ArchAndroid. Two albums that have virtually nothing in common besides the fact that they were landmark moments for each artist both released on the same date in 2010 and they are super super good. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/happytears/message