Zen Pop

Cathy and Todd discuss Gladiator, released in 2000 and directed by Ridley Scott, it stars Russell Crowe as Maximus, a Roman general betrayed by the Emperor’s son Commodus, who murders his own father Marcus Aurelius to seize power, then orders the execution of Maximus and his entire family. Sold into slavery and forced into the arena, Maximus fights his way back to Rome for one purpose: vengeance. With a box office of $466 million, five Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Actor for Crowe, and a Hans Zimmer score that became one of the bestselling soundtracks of all time, the film didn’t just succeed, it reinvented an entire genre and inspired everything from HBO’s Rome to The Hunger Games. It’s filled with unforgettable lines like, “What we do in life echoes in eternity” and “Are you not entertained?”, and it happens to be one of Cathy’s all-time favorite movies.

Subscribe to Cathy’s weekly Zen Moment and upgrade to hear a weekly Zen Moment podcast hosted by Cathy and Todd!

Some Ways to Support Us

Sign up for Cathy’s Substack

Order Restoring our Girls

Links shared in this episode:

For the full show notes, visit zenpopparenting.com.

This week’s sponsor(s):

Avid Co DuPage County Area Decorating, Painting, Remodeling by Avid Co includes kitchens, basements, bathrooms, flooring, tiling, fire and flood restoration.

MenLiving – A virtual and in-person community of guys connecting deeply and living fully. No requirements, no creeds, no gurus, no judgements

Todd Adams Life & Leadership Coaching for Guys

Other Ways to Support Us

Follow us on social media

Instagram

YouTube

Facebook

Buy and leave a review for Cathy’s Book Zen Parenting: Caring for Ourselves and Our Children in an Unpredictable World

Cathy and Todd continue their summer blockbusters series with Raiders of the Lost Ark, the George Lucas and Steven Spielberg collaboration born from a beach conversation in Hawaii, diving into the film’s origins, iconic casting (Tom Selleck almost got the role), and the chaotic Tunisia shoot where nearly the entire cast and crew got food poisoning. They rank history’s oddest movie titles, wrestle with the film’s deeply uncomfortable Marion subplot, and close out with why Raiders still holds up as a masterclass in humble heroism and why Indy wins in the end by simply closing his eyes.

Subscribe to Cathy’s weekly Zen Moment and upgrade to hear a weekly Zen Moment podcast hosted by Cathy and Todd!

Some Ways to Support Us

Sign up for Cathy’s Substack

Order Restoring our Girls

Links shared in this episode:

For the full show notes, visit zenpopparenting.com.

This week’s sponsor(s):

Avid Co DuPage County Area Decorating, Painting, Remodeling by Avid Co includes kitchens, basements, bathrooms, flooring, tiling, fire and flood restoration.

MenLiving – A virtual and in-person community of guys connecting deeply and living fully. No requirements, no creeds, no gurus, no judgements

Todd Adams Life & Leadership Coaching for Guys

Other Ways to Support Us

Follow us on social media

Instagram

YouTube

Facebook

Buy and leave a review for Cathy’s Book Zen Parenting: Caring for Ourselves and Our Children in an Unpredictable World

Cathy and Todd kick off their summer blockbuster series with Top Gun (1986), directed by Tony Scott and produced by Simpson and Bruckheimer, which turned a $15 million budget into $357 million worldwide and made Tom Cruise a superstar. The episode covers the Scott brothers’ contrasting Hollywood legacies, the Navy’s behind-the-scenes script approval that reshaped the story, plus fun trivia like Cruise’s height-correcting boots and Meg Ryan secretly dating Anthony Edwards on set all while debating whether Iceman was the better pilot and whether Quentin Tarantino’s theory about the subtext is correct.  

Some Ways to Support Us

Sign up for Cathy’s Substack

Order Restoring our Girls

Links shared in this episode:

For the full show notes, visit zenpopparenting.com.

This week’s sponsor(s):

Avid Co DuPage County Area Decorating, Painting, Remodeling by Avid Co includes kitchens, basements, bathrooms, flooring, tiling, fire and flood restoration.

MenLiving – A virtual and in-person community of guys connecting deeply and living fully. No requirements, no creeds, no gurus, no judgements

Todd Adams Life & Leadership Coaching for Guys

Other Ways to Support Us

Follow us on social media

Instagram

YouTube

Facebook

Buy and leave a review for Cathy’s Book Zen Parenting: Caring for Ourselves and Our Children in an Unpredictable World

Cathy and Todd kick off their summer blockbuster series with Top Gun (1986), directed by Tony Scott and produced by Simpson and Bruckheimer, which turned a $15 million budget into $357 million worldwide and made Tom Cruise a superstar. The episode covers the Scott brothers’ contrasting Hollywood legacies, the Navy’s behind-the-scenes script approval that reshaped the story, plus fun trivia like Cruise’s height-correcting boots and Meg Ryan secretly dating Anthony Edwards on set all while debating whether Iceman was the better pilot and whether Quentin Tarantino’s theory about the subtext is correct.  

Some Ways to Support Us

Sign up for Cathy’s Substack

Order Restoring our Girls

Links shared in this episode:

For the full show notes, visit zenpopparenting.com.

This week’s sponsor(s):

Avid Co DuPage County Area Decorating, Painting, Remodeling by Avid Co includes kitchens, basements, bathrooms, flooring, tiling, fire and flood restoration.

MenLiving – A virtual and in-person community of guys connecting deeply and living fully. No requirements, no creeds, no gurus, no judgements

Todd Adams Life & Leadership Coaching for Guys

Other Ways to Support Us

Follow us on social media

Instagram

YouTube

Facebook

Buy and leave a review for Cathy’s Book Zen Parenting: Caring for Ourselves and Our Children in an Unpredictable World

Cathy and Todd discuss Mel Brooks’ Spaceballs for Zen Pop’s space month, a 1987 Star Wars parody following Lone Starr and his half-man half-dog sidekick Barf as they rescue Princess Vespa from Dark Helmet and the incompetent President Skroob (whose name is literally an anagram of Brooks). The cast includes Bill Pullman, John Candy, Rick Moranis, Daphne Zuniga, Joan Rivers, and Dom DeLuise as Pizza the Hutt. They discuss the WTF moments, the lines they quote at home, and the news that a sequel, Spaceballs: The New One, arrives April 23, 2027 with most of the original cast returning.

Some Ways to Support Us

Sign up for Cathy’s Substack

Order Restoring our Girls

Join Team Zen

Links shared in this episode:

For the full show notes, visit zenpopparenting.com.

This week’s sponsor(s):

Avid Co DuPage County Area Decorating, Painting, Remodeling by Avid Co includes kitchens, basements, bathrooms, flooring, tiling, fire and flood restoration.

David Serrano- Certified Financial Planner- 815-370-3780

MenLiving – A virtual and in-person community of guys connecting deeply and living fully. No requirements, no creeds, no gurus, no judgements

Todd Adams Life & Leadership Coaching for Guys

Other Ways to Support Us

Follow us on social media

Instagram

YouTube

Facebook

Buy and leave a review for Cathy’s Book Zen Parenting: Caring for Ourselves and Our Children in an Unpredictable World

Find everything ZPR on our Resources Page

Guys- Complete a MenLiving Connect profile