This week on Make Me a Nerd, Mandy Kaplan asks the big, baffling question: how does a grown man in his forties, with a child, a career, and a functioning brain, become obsessed with Twilight? Enter Ben Raffle—software executive by day, nerd savant by night, and unapologetic devotee of sparkly vampires. What follows is a gloriously chaotic conversation about Stephanie Meyer’s cultural juggernaut, the film that launched a thousand “Team Edward vs. Team Jacob” T-shirts, and the angsty blue-filtered fever dream that made Forks, Washington, a tourist destination.Mandy and Ben cover it all: Robert Pattinson’s “did he just poop his pants?” acting choices, Kristen Stewart’s mayonnaise-adjacent performance as Bella, and why Jasper—yes, Jasper!—is the true hero of the saga. They dissect why teenage girls everywhere believed they could “fix” the bad boy who wants to murder them, how Catherine Hardwicke’s low-budget direction gave the film its signature mood, and why vampire baseball is somehow the franchise’s high point. Along the way, they veer into bison make-outs in Port Angeles, Grease 2 supremacy, and the existential question of whether anyone, anywhere, would actually choose Forks as a vacation spot.It’s silly, it’s biting, it’s surprisingly affectionate—and by the end, you may find yourself agreeing with Ben that Twilight is the Sour Patch Kids of cinema: nutritionally worthless, wildly addictive, and impossible not to binge. ---Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.

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