Try It, You'll Like It

We discuss Peter Jackson's "The Frighteners" and Elna Baker's memoir The New York Mormon Singles Halloween Dance.

Under discussion: QUEEN OF VERSAILLES and SCRUPLES. With guest host Diane Trap.

We're back! This week, with special guest Becca Gross, we talked about College. The movie was 2002's Drumline and the novel was Pamela Dean's. Also discussed: Amy's been enjoying NCIS, NCIS: LA and Person of Interest as part of her summer of procedurals. Joseph was really into the new movie Turbo Kid. Becca is into the return of Drunk History and Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries. Also mentioned this week: Brokenwood Mysteries, Centerstage and 106 & Park. Next episode: Conspicuous Consumption. The movie is The Queen Of Versailles, streaming on Netflix, Hulu Plus and Amazon and the novel is Judith Krantz's Scruples. Into Music: "Buckeye Battle Cry" Outro Music: "Tam Lin" by Fairport Convention, off of the album Liege & Lief

Joe befuddles Amy and Randy with questions about fictional towns and cities in movies, books and TV.

This week's show is "courtroom" dramas so we're watching THE LINCOLN LAWYER and reading Dominick Dunne's ANOTHER CITY, NOT MY OWN.

It's stories of mothers and daughters this week as we watched "The Joy Luck Club" (1993) and read "Where'd You Go, Bernadette?" (2012). Also discussed: "The Royal We," Alabama Shakes "Sound & Color," "Spring" (2014), TED Talks and "One For The Money". Opening music: Mr. T, "Treat Your Mother Right". Closing Music: Taylor Swift, "The Best Day".

If only they'd had a cell phone... From the horrors of ROOM by Emma Donoghue to the silliness of teen film "Can't Hardly Wait"

It's True Crime Week as we talk the Susan Orlean book "The Orchid Thief" and the 1988 movie "The Thin Blue Line." We also talk Mad Men, The Americans and superhero TV.

It's a grab bag of trivia relating, in one way or another, to Amy's birthday. (She made the quiz.) Sir Elton John, who shares Amy's birthday, is but one of the categories.

(That's not a typo. The plastic thing my grandmother always put on top of our cakes had lost both its "y"s, so that's how we say it in my family -- Amy) We're talking The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri and teen movie classic "Sixteen Candles.

It's Joe's turn to do the quiz this time, so in honor of St. Patrick's Day he came up with a quiz on all things green in books, movies and TV.

Joe asked for works of urban Ireland in honor of St. Patrick's Day! Amy chose Colin Bateman's Belfast thriller, Divorcing Jack. Randy selected the 1935 John Ford classic that won a Best Actor Oscar for Victor McLaglen and John Ford's first Best Director, The Informer. Show notes: Intro Music: "Tell Me Ma" by Gaelic Storm Outro Music: "James Connolly" by Black 47 Randy talks about The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and the new Madonna album, Rebel Heart. Joe's been watching The Last Five Years and is still working his way through Parks & Recreation. As for Irish politics, there was no Prime Minister of Ireland in 1995 so...hell, we have no idea. They haven't had one since 1972 when the Parliament was suspended (but they have a First Minister since 1998). The Nobel Prize Stearkey refers to in the novel would have been the one that Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan were awarded in 1976 for their work for a peaceful resolution to the violence in Northern Ireland. The Good Friday accords come three years l

Smutty aristocracy! Cops gone wild! It's Lady Chatterley's Lover and Dirty Harry this week. Show notes, as usual, at our blog: http://tryandlikeit.blogspot.com/2015/03/episode-38-controversy.html

It's all cats, all the time this week as we talk the Timothy FIndley novel "Not Wanted On The Voyage and the 1979 classic "Alien." Also discussed: Jupiter Ascending, The Last Five Years and Paddington. Opening music: "Wildcat" by Ratatat Closing Music: "The Cat Came Back" by The Countdown Kids

In which Amy quizzes Joe and Randy about the names behind the initials of some famous people. As always, show notes can be found on our blog: http://tryandlikeit.blogspot.com/2015/02/quiz-time-first-initials.html

Under discussion - Gillian Flynn's debut novel "Sharp Objects" and Nicole Holofcener's first directorial effort "Walking and Talking." Also discussed: "The Boy Next Door," "Galavant," and "Predestination."

Randy wanted a book and a movie that have been under discussion as being in the mix for best of 2014. We gave him "Boyhood" and The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters. Also under discussion: an AV Club article about Prestige vs Mid-Reputable television. AND, we each give you something from 2014 we loved and something from 2015 we're looking forward to. Is that enough content for you?

Amy wanted second place winners, so Joe picked MOCKINGBIRD by Walter Tevis and Randy chose "Fish Tank." Amy also rants a bit about TNT's "The Librarians." Because she can.

Can Randy and Joe guess the Christmas song based on lyrics from the THIRD verse?