Silver Screen Queens 152: Eye in the Sky

Published 13 April 2016 • 35 minutes, 11 seconds

A thoughtful film that gives us the last live action performance of the great Alan Rickman, EYE IN THE SKY takes a well-researched deep-dive into the ethics of drone warfare. Helen Mirren is the bellicose British colonel in charge, Aaron Paul pilots a drone from the Nevada desert and Rickman’s General tries to convince his political overlords of the merits of a military solution. Meanwhile, newcomer Aisha Takow humanises the people in the collateral damage radius.

Topical 57: User Experience vs. the Bottom Line

Published 8 April 2016 • 24 minutes, 59 seconds

Apple’s caught flak for both not innovating enough, and also not spending enough time nailing the bugs in their software. But are these two issues contradictory? Russell and Jelly look at their experiences as product developers, why hard calls have to be made, and how all this relates to the issues Apple faces with their software.

Silver Screen Queens 151: Fruitvale Station

Published 6 April 2016 • 29 minutes, 46 seconds

We go back and look at the first film of hot young director Ryan Coogler, and his first team-up with Michael B. Jordan. Fruitvale Station tells the story of the last day of Oscar Grant, who was shot and killed by police in Oakland in the first hours of 2009. The film is affecting, charming, humanising and real, and should be compulsory viewing for law enforcement and in classrooms everywhere.

Mobile Couch 80: Just Like Everything in Programming

Published 4 April 2016 • 47 minutes, 30 seconds

Many developers work with things like views and view controllers, but might not have any idea about how these things all fit together. Ben introduces Jelly to the Model-View-Controller pattern, and explains what each part of this concept is and how they come together to make an app work.

Topical 56: April Fools

Published 1 April 2016 • 22 minutes, 8 seconds

The first day of April is loved and reviled by people all over the world for it’s practical jokes. From joke features in our favourite websites and apps, to joke articles and press releases from blogs and news sites. Every year, the April Fools phenomenon gets larger and larger, and idiots that think they’re big comedians record hilarious podcasts about random nonsen… UGH. I give up, this episode is a flippin’ joke, and not in a haha funny way, it’s just SAD. Why do these two losers even bother? COPY WRITER OUT.

Silver Screen Queens 150: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

Published 30 March 2016 • 39 minutes, 48 seconds

The feel-bad flop of the summer has arrived. Zack Snyder’s follow-up to the also not-well-liked MAN OF STEEL tries to atone for that film’s mistakes, not altogether successfully. Some good actors struggle with mediocre material and uncharacteristic characterisation as DC makes yet another misstep in its attempts to counter-program the Marvel juggernaut.

Topical 55: Retail

Published 25 March 2016 • 23 minutes, 8 seconds

Shopping can be fun, and it can be excruciating, but we all have our preferred approach when it comes to buying things. Russell and Jelly take a look at Retail based on their experience on both sides of the counter, sharing stories and techniques on how to make it through the sale.

Silver Screen Queens 149: Daredevil Season 2

Published 23 March 2016 • 1 hour, 37 minutes

A long listen for your long weekend. We had so much fun talking Jessica Jones, that we decided to do another TV episode, this time reviewing the second season of Marvel’s Daredevil on Netflix. We invited our friend Mathew Groom from the Ranger Danger podcast to join us to discuss the good and bad of the new season and why Katie is just so mad at Matt Murdock.

Mobile Couch 79: The Rubber Duck Hat

Published 21 March 2016 • 43 minutes, 12 seconds

In any given project, you’ll find that there are a number of different “hats” that you have to wear, such as making the hard decisions, being a user, writing code, or designing assets. Ben and Jelly take look at some of them, discussing not only how they come into play, but also how some of the common misconceptions about them.

Topical 54: Homeschool

Published 18 March 2016 • 23 minutes, 50 seconds

Russell has some pretty specific ideas about homeschool, and given that Jelly spent a good most of his teens actually getting homeschooled, he’s on a mission to find out how it all really works. Is it different to normal school? How do grades work? Do you have to be chained to a desk in a cellar somewhere?