Workplace Shenanigans
Hello Junkies!
Another week, another pod! This week we shared workplace stories, some good & some bad. Matty shared excerpts from a couple of books that he found fascinating in regards to “behind the scenes” at workplaces:
“Mouse Tales: A Behind-the-Ears Look at Disneyland” by David Koenig – David shares stories about Disneyland from those that worked there…
“Kitchen Confidential” by Anthony Bourdain – A somewhat autobiography of the culinary chef & TV personality, Anthony shares stories of the “underbelly” that is the restaurant business…
A few movies to check out in regards to working “behind the scenes” include:
“Waiting” – this movie still puts Matty on edge whenever he goes out to a “fast casual” sit down restaurant. THIS scene in particular creeps him out. (NSFW)
“Adventureland” – A little peek into the lives of those that work the rides & games at an amusement park. Stars Jesse Eisenberg & Kristen Stewart
“Office Space” – A look inside the inane world of corporate “cubicle farms”…
And the granddaddy of them all, “Clerks“, the movie that put Uncle Kev on the map… “This job would be great if it weren’t for the customers…” (NSFW)
Here’s that Beavis & Butthead clip making fun of the “Twilight” series
Post your favorite workplace stories in the comments or on our Facebook page! We’d love to read’em!
Until next week, Junkies!
My Strange Addictions
Welcome back, Junkies!
Interesting show this week (as always!) that encompassed the topic of addictions, from the strange to the “socially-acceptable”. Wikipedia has a good definition of addiction and all agreed that it was spot-on.
Matty shared one of his addictions that he will seek counseling for, as did Dan the Man & Jen. We touched on strange addictions and the more mainstream ones as well. There are addiction shows abounding on television and Matty questions as to whether or not they are helping or hurting.
Matty posed the question – why is the show “Hoarders” kind of seen as a bad thing when “Extreme Couponing” is seen as “socially acceptable” when both shows deal with the same addiction?
Finally, Matty found a “guilty pleasure” movie from his early teen years on YouTube. Check out “Hamburger the Movie” for some laughs (beware there is some nudity and sexual innuendo!)
Until next week!
Aliens or Bust
Greetings, Junkies! This week we had fun talking about aliens and other crazy topics such as the “Dave” craft beer sold by Hair of the Dog Brewery that costs $2,000 a bottle and the video Matty spoke about – “Artisanal Ice”
Matty also found an exhaustive list of alien species from the Star Wars universe on Wikipedia:
List of Star Wars species (A–E)
List of Star Wars species (F–J)
List of Star Wars species (K–O)
List of Star Wars species (P–T)
Back in the mid-1990’s (thanks to the Fox show “The X-Files“), aliens became a hot topic once again. It was so hot that Fox created a documentary revolving around a piece of “found footage” purported to be of an actual alien autopsy. Here in all its glory is the entire documentary hosted by Jonathan Frakes, “Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction?” It is a bit reminiscent of Geraldo Rivera’s “Al Capone’s Vault“…
Can’t forget about West Michigan’s brush with ALIENS back in 1994!
Fascinating Wikipedia page about “Ancient Astronauts“…
Until next week, Junkies!
Come on Down!
That’s right! Come on down for this week’s edition of Junkiosity – The Pod! We spoke about old and new game shows, highlights of some of our favorites, and even some controversies surrounding them!
Michael Larson was “busted” for supposedly cheating on the game show, Press Your Luck. In reality he basically spent months watching previous shows he taped on his VCR(!) and memorizing the boards during the “press your luck” portion of the show. He found a pattern that allowed him to hit the button at the precise moment to win the big prizes on the board. His appearance spanned 2 episodes and CBS initially refused to pay out his winnings. Eventually the relented since he didn’t do anything illegal according to the rules or the contract he signed. The winnings cap, however, was limited to a maximum of $125,000 until 2006 because of his appearance. New computer software was created to make sure that this NEVER happened again…
Arthur Chu has been nicknamed the “Jeopardy! Villain” because of his aggressive style of playing. He studied game theory, watched hours of previous shows, and ended up being the 3rd highest Jeopardy! winnings champion of all time. He would do what some would consider “unsportsmanlike” things such as hunt for the Daily Doubles and intentionally get the answer wrong so the other contestants couldn’t get them and wagered his Final Jeopardy amounts to tie with another player, forcing the show to have both on again.
Ken Jennings is probably the most famous game show winner of all time, winning 74 consecutive episodes of Jeopardy with a mind-numbing $3.2 million in cash & prizes. He noticed a few things that gave him an advantage (which were later changed) such as longer time getting familiar with the buzzer signaling system and the familiarity with the original manager of the buzzer system (continuing contestants got familiar with the consistency of the signaling). Ken has a Guinness World Record for most cash won on a game show.
Twenty One was one of the first game show scandals that revealed the entire show was rigged, it sounds more like it was the first “reality” show to hit the airwaves because contestants were basically acting, given direction of what to wear, what to say, what questions to miss, even when to mop their brow while in the “isolation booth”. It came to a head when good-looking professor Charles Van Doren beat reigning champion Herbert Stempel, with Stempel upset that he was told to “take a dive”. Federal authorities got involved and the entire show went down in flames. The controversy was made into 1994’s “Quiz Show” with Ralph Fiennes as Charles Van Doren and John Tuturro as Stempel…
Here is the Family Feud clip about passing a joint & Rick Harrison (from the show “Pawn Stars”) with hair in an Insomniac episode…
There have been some bloopers, one that had been denied by even the game show host. Bob Eubanks, host of the game show The Newlywed Game, denied for years that one woman’s answer to the question of “Where is the weirdest place where you have ever had the urge to make whoopee?” was “In the butt, Bob”. In reality, the contestant said “In the a*s” (the answer her husband gave was “In the car on the freeway”) and the clip was recovered…
Here are some other game show mistakes for a few giggles and forehead slaps…
Until next week, Junkies!
Vacation
So here we are, another week another pod!
Games, games, Facebook games started out the show, what games they’re playing and what annoys the crap out of Dan!
We got a little topical talking about Nick Cannon’s recent “white-face” photo promoting his new album. Matty recalled a skit by Eddie Murphy that kind of mirrored Nick’s stunt. All three concluded that there is a double-standard when it comes to stuff like this, white people would get blasted off the planet for attempting such…
The conversation also turned to children’s names and Matty spoke about a bit done by Lewis Black regarding a couple of names that written out are naughty words but are pronounced totally differently. This prompted talk about an SNL skit with Nicholas Cage from 1992…
We goofed on the stupid things tourists do on vacations to other countries and spit-balled a moneymaker we can do in our own hometown!
We talked a little about vacations, vacations taken when we were younger, the thought of what constitutes a vacation, and if you’re on Twitter – check out the Spotify playlist we’ve started on songs that remind us of vacations…
Matty shared an embarrassing story of his one (and ONLY!) visit to a strip club 20 years ago. You can actually hear the embarrassment in his voice as he tells the tale!
Lastly, we talked a little about weed and several stories that have been in the news regarding its legalization and problems that have arisen because of it…
Until next week, Junkies!
Junkiosity 