Crime, Conspiracy, Cults, and Murder Review

This is my 48th podcast. It is currently ranked number 43. The episode I listened to is titled, "The Plot Twist Murders That Shocked The Country. Banfield Ryan Murders." It was released April 1. The podcast is hosted by Kris Collins. This episode was about a guy named Brendon Banfield who murdered his wife and another man in Herndon, Virginia on February 24, 2023. She went over the crime scene, plotting the crime, and the investigation. Brendon had an affair with an au pair who was living with them from Brazil. He plotted with her to kill his wife. He decided to stage a home invasion. He impersonated his wife online and got a guy to come to their house. He made the guy think his wife had some weird sexual fantasy about being attacked in her sleep. He told him to bring a knife and zip ties. When the guy came over his au pair shot the guy and then Brendon stabbed his wife multiple times. He tried to stage the crime scene to make it look like the guy killed his wife and that he killed the guy. He transfered his wives blood from his wife to the guy's hands. Investigators could tell it was staged based on how the blood was on the guy's hands. They could tell it was put there by fingers. Another thing that gave Brendon away was how he was using his wife's computer to contact the guy. He made sure he used his wife's computer so the investigation would show it coming from her device. But they found the account posing as his wife was active when he was home and not used at all when he went out of town. Which is the opposite of what you'd expect if it were her. The au pair was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Brendon gets sentenced next month. I liked the host of this podcast. She was a good storyteller, she was appropriately angry at Brendon and his au pair during the story. I liked that she cared. I do need to take one point off for profanity as per the rules and I give this podcast 4/5.

Anything Goes with Emma Chamberlain Review

This is the 47th podcast. It is currently ranked number 46. The episode is titled, "friendship breakups and boundaries, advice session." It was released on March 26. This episode Emma Chamberlain talks about friendships breaking up. I really got the sense that she didn't know what she was talking about. I am definitely not the target audience for this. I think it is directed to single women in their 20s. As she was talking I just thought the women thinking about friendship this way are being way too dramatic. Friendship shouldn't be so serious and you don't need to have a big talk to stop being friends. People can just stop doing things with each other. Happens all the time. She responded to questions. One of the people asked her about what she should do with a friend who has sensitive information about her that she wants to stop being friends with. She went on and on on this. I don't want to get too much into this. It wasn't my cup of tea. It's possible some people might have found some advice she gave useful. I give this podcast 2/5. I would give it a 3 due to me thinking it wasn't useful advice but maybe some people would think it was useful and then minus one point for profanity.

Mr. Ballen Podcast Review

This is my 46th podcast. It is currently ranked number 40. The episode title is, "As Seen on TV." It was released on March 30. This was an interesting telling of a crime told in story mode. A guy named Patrick Isoird in France was lured to a cave by a woman who was acting romantically interested in him but was really just wanting to get him murdered by this other guy. The murder was a revenge murder becaus Patrick got involved with another guys wife and when he found out she killed herself. The case remained unsolved though both of the murderers were suspects, but they were not suspected of acting together. The case was finally solved when the woman who lured him into the cave watched Patrick's brother plead for help on TV and she felt bad. This had good storytelling of this crime and I rate this podcast 5/5.

House Guest Review

This is my 45th podcast. This podcast is currently ranked 74. The episode was titled, "Kyla Pratt Shows Why She's Everyone's Favorite Cousin." The episode aired March 21. I didn't know who Kyla Pratt was before listening to this. She used to be a child actress. She was in Doctor Doolittle with Eddie Murphy. I never watched Doctor Doolittle movies. The one Eddie Murphy movie I really liked back in the day was Bowfinger. Highly recommend to watch Bowfinger. This is the most memorable scene for me in that movie:

She talked about how she learned how to act on set with him. She said he would be fun but when it was time to be serious, he would be serious. She says she tries to be the same way to have fun but be serious at the right times. They talked some about a show she is in now called, "Animal Control." I wondered if I should check this show out as it has Joel McHale in it who I found funny back in the day. Kyla mentioned a Gwenyth Paltrow quote where she said, "I wish you well" after winning a lawsuit against her in a Park City skiing accident. I remember following this story because it was in Park City. I liked how Paltrow didn't just pay off the guy so she didn't have to deal with it but stood up for herself. Overall, I thought this podcast had some interesting moments and some moments not as interesting. I give it 3/5. One point off for profanity and one point off for the not interesting moments.

Kill Tony Review

This is my 44th podcast. It is currently ranked number 36. This was the most horrendous podcast. This podcast was an alleged comedy show in front of an audience. It was crude and not funny at all. "Comedians" would have sixty seconds to tell their unfunny jokes and then it would be followed by an unfunny interview with the unfunny hosts. The audience would have to be drunk to find this entertaining. It reminded me of the Army experiencing how unfunny drunk people are as they tell each other their unfunny jokes. 0/5.

Rotten Mango Review

This is my 43rd podcast. It is currently ranked number 34. The title of this episode was, "Everything Bill & Hillary Said in 8 Hour Long Epstein Deposition Tape." This episode was recorded March 22. This podcast had so much stuff. I was very interested the entire time and thought the host Stephanie Soo was very good at telling a massive amount of information in an engaging way. Mark Middleton, who worked for Bill Clinton allegedly killed himself in 2022 by shooting himself in the chest and hanging himself. The shotgun was found about 30 feet away from him. Pretty suspicious. Middleton dealt with Clinton's donors including Epstein. Epstein's prison guard Googled his name shortly before his death and she had some deposits to her bank account flagged for being suspicious. Soo mentions that Hillary keeps telling them to ask Bill with the questions about Epstein. Bill Clinton was asked if he had ever lied under oath during a deposition and he said no even though it is well documented that he lied under oath about Monica Lewinsky. Bill said he met Epstein through Larry Summers who told him Epstein gave Harvard $10 million toward brain research and Clinton was trying to raise money for the Clinton Foundation. Trump's Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick publicly stated that he had cut of Epstein in 2015 for being creepy but then the Epstein files show them meeting together after that. Soo criticizes Clinton for saying that he thought the young girls on Epstein's plane were flight attendants. Soo did not find that believable. Virginia Dufres, an Epstein victim who has since committed suicide wrote in her diary Bill Clinton was on the island two times with two girls. Bill Clinton denied this and asked if she said that in her book. The questioner didn't know about the book. Clinton said I think she ultimately reached a different conclusion although I had no contact with her. Soo thought this was suspicious and I agree. Saying he had no contact with her out of nowhere makes it sound like he really did and got her to change what she said in her diary to what she said in her book. She could easily have been threatened with lawsuits about her book. Virginia Dufres also said Bill Clinton told Vanity Fair not to write articles about his good friend Jeffrey Epstein. Soo then talks about Trump in the Epstein files. A 13 year old accused Donald Trump of rape. She goes over some other rape allegations against Trump. The FBI illegally withheld FBI interviews with a Trump accuser. I listened to this podcast a week ago while driving a car so my summary is rough. But I do know I really liked this podcast because it was very informative, entertaining, and this is an important issue. Soo did an excellent job. In all the podcasts I have listened to this year I don't think I have heard someone give so much information in an understandable way. She does use some profanity, so unfortunately per my rules I do have to minus one point for that. I give this podcast 4/5 though if there were a time I regret making me minus points for profanity it would be this one as this podcast was really good.

The Toast Review

This is my 42nd podcast. It is currently ranked number 27. The episode I listened to was titled, "Dishin' With Lish with Ben Soffer." It was recorded March 23. One of the hosts here was the husband of the regular host because she was out sick. They talked about Justin Timberlake's video of him getting a DWI. I am not a fan of hearing about all the bad stuff celebrities do. If someone is running for office or is in office, I think it is important, but for a celebrity, it's none of my business. That being said, these guys were way too soft on Justin Timberlake and made it sound like a DWI is not a big deal. The guy said something about how Justin Timberlake had no excuse because he has the money to get a driver, but a regular person may be stranded and need to drive to get home. Horrible thing to say on a podcast. First of all drinking is dumb, but if you do drink, you should have a plan to get home. You don't just get magically stranded. I get that Justin Timberlake has more of a means to easily get a driver, but it is dangerous to tell a large number of listeners that it's not that big of a deal if you drive drunk if you need to get home. Other thing that was annoying was just talking about the "Mormon Wives" show as that show bothers me even though I have never seen it. I am going to give this podcast 1/5. Low score for talking too much boring celebrity gossip and the bad takes on DWIs.