This week at Geek Girl Soup, we’re starting a new theme: The Seven Deadly Sins. For seven months, we’ll be covering a different sin: Greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, sloth, and pride. We start out with an intro to all seven by watching “Se7en” (Hulu) and “The Seven Deadly Sins” (Netflix).

You’ve seen “Se7en,” of course. “What’s in the box?” Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman. I’m not going to name John Doe, just in case you haven’t seen it. (Go watch it already!) 

“Se7en” follows Detectives Mills (Pitt) and Somerset (Freeman) as they try to solve a murder that turns into the first of what will turn into seven murders, each based on one of the seven deadly sins, and each one pretty gruesome. Mills, his first week on the job in the City, thinks that the killer is a whack job, while Somerset sees the killer as methodical and organized.

David Fincher’s direction is excellent, and Darius Khondji’s cinematography combined with a score by Howard Shore creates the perfect atmosphere. Add in opening-credit music by Nine Inch Nails and closing-credit music by David Bowie and you have a film that surely would be up for a Best Picture Oscar today. It did get a nomination for Best Film Editing in 1996 for Richard Francis-Bruce. Just the perfect introduction to our new theme.

“The Seven Deadly Sins” is a 7-episode limited docu-series featuring Morgan Spurlock of “Supersize Me” fame. The cheese factor is pretty high. But the stories are interesting. Each episode covers a different sin, of course. 

Now, many of the stories don’t actually encompass a sin. For example, one of the stories features a family on Long Island that makes FemSkin—a silicone catsuit of the female form. The company is “recognized as the innovative leader in the application and advancement of silicone prostheses for the transgender community worldwide.” This story appears in the envy episode. We find this product pretty cool and really awesome for people who want to feel like they have a female body without gong through surgery.

On the other hand, in the gluttony episode, we visit the Heart Attack Grill—in Las Vegas, of course. The owner, a former personal trainer, serves up burgers that ranger from a single 1/2-pound patty to a whopping (pardon the pun) 2-pound, 4-patty option—all with chili, cheese, and bacon. As of the filming of this episode (2014), two people actually had heart attacks in… the… restaurant. So, who’s the sinner in this situation?

Next week, we’re talking about the Singularity—that is, Artificial Intelligence and sentience. It’s been a while since we did a podcast about this topic. We’re forgoing the obvious choices for this topic and are instead watching “Free Guy” (HBO Max and Disney+ as of Feb 23), “AlphaGo” (documentary on YouTube), and “BigBug” (Netflix).

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Follow Cort’s podcast with Brad at PureFandom.com

Check out Susan’s movie stats on Letterboxd https://letterboxd.com/barbisu/stats/

Listen to Kelly’s podcast at Brand + Design Scoop

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