“Sometimes your battles choose you.”

Join Ian, Liam & Kevdog, alongside BFF of the BFE: Hermes Auslander, for our 294th episode as we head into the Rust Belt for gritty drama, family duty, and some Woody Harrelson menace with Out of the Furnace (2013). Megs? She’s away this week on a last-minute trip to Sweden after answering a classified ad for ABBA’s long-lost fifth member—working title: Mamma Mia 3: Megs Strikes Again.

This week we discuss:

• It’s a Hermes pick, so you know what that means—another therapy session on the pod.
• Find out when each of us stopped supporting Woody Harrelson (and for one of us, it’s much later than you’d think).
• What’s the difference between simply stating your opinion and actively trying to sway someone else’s opinion?
• Someone forgets how time zones work in this one (and no, it’s not just Hermes).
• What’s the real measure of being a man: flashy success or the daily grind of quietly providing for your family?
• Is Zoe Saldana a much better actress than we gave her credit for—and is this her most underrated performance?
• Which scene impressed Ian the most with its cinematography—even though it was one of the hardest to watch.
• What exactly was going on with Willem Dafoe’s character—and why can none of us pronounce the name correctly?
• What is the definition of working a double shift, and why do we all seem to have different answers?
• And finally, whether Out of the Furnace is the Best Film Ever—or just a quietly powerful entry in the blue-collar tragedy canon.

Become a Patron of this podcast and support the BFE at https://www.patreon.com/BFE.

Catch so much more of Hermes Auslander on The Scuttlebutt Podcast at https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-scuttlebutt-podcast/id1503504933 (Apple) or https://open.spotify.com/show/2n9CNB9X6QXnmvn78HBEoJ?si=1bf26c4a13cd4234 (Spotify)

We are extremely thankful to our following Patrons for their most generous support:

• Juleen from It Goes Down In The PM
• Hermes Auslander
• James DeGuzman
• Synthia
• Shai Bergerfroind
• Ariannah Who Loves BFE The Most
• Andy Dickson
• Chris Pedersen
• Duane Smith (Duane Smith!)
• Randal Silva
• Nate The Great
• Rev Bruce
• Cheezy (with a fish on a bike)
• Richard
• Ryan Kuketz
• Dirk Diggler
• Stew from the Stew World Order podcast
• NorfolkDomus
• John Humphrey's Right Foot
• Timmy Tim Tim
• Aashrey

Buy some BFE merch at https://my-store-b4e4d4.creator-spring.com/.

Massive thanks to Lex Van Den Berghe for the use of Mistake by Luckydog. Catch more from Lex's new band, The Maids of Honor, at https://soundcloud.com/themaidsofhonor.

Also, massive thanks to Moonlight Social for our age game theme song. You can catch more from them at https://www.moonlightsocialmusic.com/.