Something Wicked This Way Comes!

Welcome back to The Monthly Hoot: Witch, Please Productions' Newsletter!

Hi lovely people!

Hope you’re all keeping warm and cozy as we head into these wintery months! This holiday season, we’re wishing you health and good tidings and maybe even a little joy, if you’re into that.

Speaking of joy, nothing made us happier this last month than having a very special guest on the show for an upcoming episode about this year’s zeitgeist-iest film. Scroll down to find out more and to see a sneak peek.

Love ya! Take care of yourselves!

xoxo,

Gaby, Hannah, Marcelle, Coach, and Zoe

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In our newest episode, friend of the pod and The Golden Girls super fan, Marshall Watson (he/him), joins Hannah and Marcelle to talk about the progressive politics of show, the social issues that were at the center of its stories, and the reason(s) many queer kids, Marshall included, found comedy, representation, and hope from "four old queens" in the late 80s and 90s.

Next up, it’s a new Material Concerns! In this episode, Marcelle and Hannah answer your questions. They talk Golden Girls, Friends, all-inclusive resorts, and Coach's birthday (she’s a Sag)! As a reminder, for just $5 USD/month you'll get part two, our extensive backlog, ad-free episodes, oh my!!

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A Message from Coach

(Please read this in a Scottish brogue as I am very deep into a romance novel — more on that in my rec — and I can confidently say that everything sounds better with one.)

Did you know you can gift Patreon Membership? Well you can! This holiday season, may I humbly recommend gifting Witch, Please Productions membership to your loved ones? Sure, I’m biased, but I genuinely think this is a brilliant gift for any number of people in your life. For example, a Patreon Membership could be:

1. A Secret Santa Gift for Your Coworker

   Nothing says “I know you a normal amount meaning I know you listen to podcasts and sometimes we like the same movies” like a gifted Patreon membership to a feminist media company with so many perks.

2. A White Elephant Gift That Isn’t Absolute Garbage

   You can gift one month for just $5! Or you can gift more if you have fancy friends/family!

3. A Gift for Your Cool Professor

   Picture this, you’re running around printing papers (do students still do this in 2024?), you’re bopping into holiday soirées at the English Department lounge, you’re dropping off gifts to that one professor who you think may like you the best of any of their students and then BAM you hit ‘em with this Patreon membership and they’re like “Oh wow, that student is exceptional after all!” Can you imagine the high?

4. A Thoughtful Gift for Your Best Friend Who Always Says They’ll Listen to Your Favorite Podcast (Material Girls) But Somehow Has Never Gotten Around to It

   Excerpt from your holiday card to them: “Guess what my guy, here’s a membership. What’s your excuse now? Do you even care about our friendship?”

The options are endless, the opportunities limitless! Plus, you’d be helping us start 2025 with the support we need to continue producing our shows. :)

If gifting is not in the cards, please consider leaving us a review for Material Girls on Apple Podcasts! That really helps others find our show!

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Wicked with Leena Norms

On Christmas Eve, we’re releasing our Wicked episode with the wonderful

Leena Norms

. Listen to it wherever you get your podcasts and, until then, be sure to follow us on Youtube to get preview clips from our conversation. Like this one.

Know that you’ll want to watch our bonuses with Leena (like In the Zeitgeist and Coach’s Corner)? Become a Patreon supporter today!

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It’s time for me to recommend some reads!

For Nancy: I am going to recommend a queer romance called Rules for Ghosting by Shelly Jay Shore. I may have recommended this before, and that’s because it’s wonderful. It features a trans protagonist who can see ghosts and works at his family’s funeral home—auspicious! It’s very gay and ever so slightly paranormal, but very cozy and comforting.

For Emma: I’m hearing really great things about The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year by Ally Carter, a cozy rom-com-mystery that’s being described as Knives Out with a holiday twist. It’s a locked room mystery with a romance at its center and personally that sounds fantastic.

For Lisa: I’m recommending So Late in the Day by Claire Keegan, which is one of her short story collections. Listen, everyone’s always talking about Small Things Like These, which is great!, but I think Keegan SHINES in her short story collections. There’s three stories in this one and you can probably finish the entire book in less than an hour, but it’s easy to take a break in between stories.

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Happy Spotify Wrappedmas! For the first time in years, Bo Burnham did not make Gaby’s top artists—she’s healing, folks! The team put together some of their top songs into a playlist just for you. Get it on Spotify or Apple Music here.

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For the past five years, I have been on the lookout for a natural deodorant that actually works. I spent a solid few decades of my life committed to rubbing aluminum into my armpits because YES I knew it was unhealthy but I really really really didn't want to be the fat smelly kid. Anxiety about body odour is real, especially for those of us whose bodies are already perceived as problematic! But a few years ago my body began to decisively reject anti-perspirant, and so began the quest for a natural deodorant that actually worked for me and didn't cost a million dollars. And friends, I have finally found it! It's cheap, it's natural, it doesn't coat my clothes in weird white crud, and it smells lightly of sage and lemon and not much else! (While you're on the Element Botanicals website, I also recommend their Quick Fix aromatherapy mist, which you can spray in your room or on your body and is particularly pleasant in summer because the peppermint is cooling, but it's more than $10 so ignore this part.)

It's winter and you know what that means: colds! Flus! Hangovers! Sub-zero temperatures! Freezing rain! Oof yikes. Ok, but it ALSO means: cozy! Hygge! Big meals! Get-togethers! Leftovers! Whether you are healing yourself or feasting with friends, allow me to recommend one of the most versatile and inexpensive foods I can think of: potato leek soup. This is a recipe I've cobbled together from a variety of internet sources and trial & error. It's vegan and gluten-free!

You can tell things are only going very okay in my corner of the world because I'm about to recommend the only thing that has been the perfect balance of 1) engaging enough to drown out ‘the horrors' and 2) simple enough that I can fully zone out and focus back in at any time and not miss a thing. AND THAT IS: Under Loch and Key, a romance novel by Lana Ferguson. If you are looking for something a little more hearty, allow me to also recommend this essay about children and childcare from Hitman that include so many great lines, I have to include an excerpt: "In order to be alive, with some success, you must have a sense of humor. It changes the day from something strange and terrifying into something that is ours. Teach a kid there is power in navigating through life with lightness. If you don’t know this power yet, they will teach it to you. I’ll be at some kid’s house and the kid will say something like, 'Do the fruit fruit!' and the parent will look at me and say, 'This is embarrassing but I’m about to break into a character that loves bananas and is also a banana. It’s the only way he eats fruit.' I give them a thumb’s up and silently observe a 43 year old hedge fund manager morph into a banana named 'fruit fruit' that loves to eat itself. We all carry a dictionary of inside jokes with ourselves and the people in our world to stay afloat. Kids need to learn that, too." I am not a parent but I am concerned with the future, and reflection like this makes me feel whole and hopeful.

In preparation for the December episode of Making Worlds I have been listening to the Original Cast Recording of Phantom of the Opera. You’ll have to watch the full episode when it comes out to learn more, but just know that I was a major Phantom head in my tween and teen years. Phantom is what made me want to be an opera singer and it has been so special to revisit this influential piece as an adult who has been singing classically for almost 20 years now. Sarah Brightman will always be my Christine <3

I’m rewatching Gilmore Girls, which maybe I mentioned last month (I am always finding ways to cheat the system and get two recs in one)! My partner is watching it for the first time, I am watching it for the millionth. We are about midway through season 3, which is my favorite season for Jess Mariano-related reasons. If you are Team Dean, I do not fuck with you! If you are Team Logan, I fuck with you begrudgingly. I guess all this is to say that I recommend rewatching a comfort show, especially if that comfort show is Gilmore Girls!

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Have a topic you want us to tackle? Feel free to submit to this form!

Something else you want us to know? You can always email us at ohwitchplease@gmail.com.

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You can also leave us a review for Material Girls or Gender Playground on Apple Podcasts! We love that. They make us happy.

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Okay, bye! xoxo