Here at Fangirlish, the fangirling doesn’t stop at the site. We all fangirl in many different directions and with many different people. Fangirlish staff writer Ashley Thomas (aka The Nerdy Blogger) fangirls with her fanbros as a regular contributor to the Dearly Debated Podcast.
Dearly Debated is a show where you are entitled to your opinion, even if it’s wrong. Comprised of four friends that just don’t stop talking about film, TV, video games, comic books, and nerd stuff (especially Star Wars), Nathanael Levinson, Greg Prinz, moderator Jason Daniel, and regular podcast contributor Ashley Thomas spend the show debating these topics, while also loving each other dearly.
Ashley brings her expertise in the horror and science fiction genres, as well as an academic spin to the podcast as she has a Master’s Degree in Literature and Language, concentrating in Imaginative Literature from Signum University (bascially a M. A. in Science Fiction and Fantasy). Ashley spent her Master’s thesis writing about Stranger Things and its source material, which is effectively a crash course in horror and science fiction film. That research gets put to good use in the “Spooky Scary” episode, where the Dearly Debaters talk horror. Ashley also gets to break up the joke about the collective noun–“A group of white men is called a podcast.” Not any more.
Nathanael puts the science in science fiction when it comes Dearly Debated. He has bachelor’s degrees in Chemistry and Biology, as well as a Master’s in Biochemistry. Nathanael is a chemist by trade, putting his skills to good use teaching Chemistry and running his YouTube channel, The Kitchen Chemist, where he, teaches you how to science your way to a good meal and runs taste tests of different products with Greg so you know what NOT to put into your cart at the grocery store. Nathanael is able to pick apart the science in science fiction, but also leans hard into the ins and outs of the genre. Our “Tea, Earl Grey, Hot” episode highlights the deep love he has for Star Trek and its influence on science fiction.
Greg is the one member of our podcast who actually works in film. He runs his own video production company, Chapter One Films, where he helps people tell their stories. Greg brings his knowledge of video production and storytelling to the table in each show, highlighting technical aspects of filmmaking in our discussions. In our most debated episode of Dearly Debated, Greg and Ashley discuss their love and hate for Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and Greg zeroes in on some of the filmmaking side of the story. Love it or hate it, The Last Jedi (and debating The Last Jedi) solidified Ashley and Greg’s friendship and for that, we are grateful.
Moderator Jason has read more comic books, watched more cartoons, and played more video games than any of our hosts combined, which is no small feat in this crowd. Jason puts his comics knowledge to good use on his blog, Comic Exile, where he clues you in on some of his favorites, offers tips on special comic deals, and provides further thoughts on the comics industry. Jason’s love of video games and animation are really highlighted in our episode on video games and our BOATs episode, where we discuss our top 5 favorite films of all time.
Any of these topics sound good to you? Want to hear us dearly debate something? You can subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or listen to us online. You can also tweet us at @DearlyDebated or send us an e-mail at dearlydebated@gmail.com. We want to hear your opinion, even if it’s wrong.
