Men in Gorilla Suits
Men in Gorilla Suits Ep. 95: Last Seen…Surviving Apocalypses

That's great it starts with an earthquake, zombies, nukes, and climate change -- and meteor strikes make some afraid...

FOOM!!!

In honor of Thanksgiving in the states, we're talking about the end of the world (as we know it). Hell, some people may rather face the end times than tip toe around the rantings of racist uncles and doting parents asking when you're finally going to settle down and get married as you gather with family. Dogs (and people) will eat themselves ill, and when the evening is done, carcasses will be strewn about tabletops. Cranberry sauce will make it look like plates were used in a cannibal feast. And you? You'll find yourself in the front room, away from the piles of gurgling bodies in the den, Tweeting to anyone who will listen in the hope of some sign of life you can commune with.

Putting it that way, Thanksgiving is not entirely unlike the apocalypse. But we're not talking about dysfunctional families this week...we're talking serious end times!

We begin this episode talking about the first time we became aware of an end-of-the world scenario...and if there was ever a time we believed the world was going to end (and why).

Tales of the end come in all varieties...and some of those tales are pretty strange. We take time to discuss the craziest end-times scenario before leaping to the coolest eschatological myth. (Eschatological myth = religious end-of-the-world story. Don't feel bad if you don't know that...Christopher had to look it up, and he's fairly bright.)

Some are so convinced the world is close to collapsing in on itself that there are industries built around these people. It's even entertaining, reflected in shows like Doomsday Preppers. We talk about why we think doomsday prepping is such a big thing right now and then discuss how we'd survive the collapse of nations.

There are always survivors in stories and myths (and even theories) about the world ending. Find out which fictional post-apocalyptic tales are our favorites...as well as the best post-apocalyptic story we've read or watched lately. (And Christopher leaps in with a recent post-apocalyptic tale that fell flat in his eyes.) While on the subject of post-apocalyptic stories, we also talk about our all-time faves.

Rounding out this episode, we get back to reality, discussing whether or not we believe we are heading for the end of the world. And the last thing we talked about before a zombie-encrusted meteor slammed into Earth is how we think the world will end.

As always, we'd love to hear your thoughts about any of this week's talking points...or anything else you want to talk about. (In honor of the day, feel free to even share a favorite Thanksgiving recipe! By the time you listen to this, Shawn might be packed full of turkey, while Christopher will be packed full of veggie Thanksgiving eats!)

Direct download: migs95.mp3
Category:Pop Culture -- posted at: 11:27pm CDT

Men in Gorilla Suits Ep. 94: Last Seen…Organizing

We know some very organized podcasters, people who have almost completely automated their workflows. They have synced calendars and can tell you what they will be doing in 7 months. These are podcasters who have studios where everything is in its right place, and often -- when you look at other aspects of their lives -- things are equally regimented.

We are not those podcasters, but this week...we are talking about organization.

We begin this episode by discussing how organized we consider ourselves overall. Next, we talk about how we keep all our writing organized.

By this point in the episode, it will probably be clear that we are organized enough...or at least have methods that work for us. We know people more organized than us...and and we devote some time to talking about the most organized people we know before moving on to how important organization is to our everyday lives.

This episode came to be on a day Christopher did some organizing in his office. We talk about how often we purge old things and do a massive organizing spree...and whether or not we find it difficult to get rid of old things. Also, we share tactics for what stays and what goes when we decide to go through old things.

It is now possibly to store so much more digitally than we can physically. Find out how we keep our digital lives organized, and see if affordable digital storage means we have less clutter in life overall.

Whether it's at work or home, chances are we've all met people with very different methods of organizing things. We talk about how we deal with those people and then ask if a person can be too organized.

We wrap up this week's episode with this question: Is there organization in chaos?

We'd love to hear what methods for keeping things in order you use, or any other tales of organization (or chaos) you feel like sharing in the comments below.

Direct download: migs94.mp3
Category:Pop Culture -- posted at: 8:30am CDT

Men in Gorilla Suits Ep. 93: Last Seen…Stereotyping

A guy in a pickup truck drove up to Christopher and a couple friends at their high school in the 80s. This is what he said:

Y'all got any blacks on your football team?

Everyone shook their head.

Then how can your team be any good?

Everyone was stunned by the stereotype, and the guy drove off.

Whether it's a drunken Irishman, a pasta-slinging Italian, or a cartoonish Native American mascot, stereotypes continue to live on. And that's what we're talking about this week.

We kick off the episode with the first stereotypes we ever remember hearing. From there, we jump to the most damaging stereotypes we've ever heard, before talking about if we've ever heard a stereotype that was proven right.

Next, we talk about where stereotypes come from, and why many have a need or compulsion to stereotype certain people. We also spend a couple minutes discussing if we've ever found stereotypes to be useful, and then pick a few groups we could be safely classified into and talk about how well we conform to the stereotypes of those groups.

Find out what the oddest stereotypes we've ever heard are -- and if there was any merit to them.

In the final stretch of this week's episode, we talk about how damaging stereotypes are...and why they continue to endure. Then we finish by talking about if we consider ourselves stereotypical in any way.

We'd love to hear your tales of stereotypes: the strangest stereotypes you've heard, whether you've found certain stereotypes to be true...anything you want to discuss down below in the comments.

Direct download: migs_93.mp3
Category:Pop Culture -- posted at: 9:07pm CDT

Men in Gorilla Suits Ep. 92: Last Seen…Talking about Death

Guess what? One day, you will die.

Shawn will die; Christopher will die.

Everybody dies.

It's such a cheery little topic, we decided to talk about death this week!

We begin by talking about our earliest memories that life one day ends -- and what caused that realization for us. Then we jump to discussing if we've ever been present when somebody has dies...and how it affected us.

Death can come slowly or instantly, and the way it hits people can vary. We dedicate some time to that before moving on to a short question: are you afraid to die?

Next, we take on the roll of a psychic and predict the ways we think we will die. Keeping the snowball of happiness rolling, we ask each other if we've ever thought about taking our own lives and...if we could find out when and how we will die, would we want to know?

As serious as death is, sometimes the way people die is strange...even funny. We talk about some of the stranger and humorous ways we've heard about people dying and then talk about movies.

Death is often the focal point of stories because we've all experienced someone dying. We talk about the best movies deaths we've seen. (We'd love to hear your answers in the comments below.)

There are usually rituals after someone's passing. We ask each other if there's a proper way to mourn one's death, and then talk about what we believe happens to us after we die.

We close out this week's episode by talking about what we would do differently with our lives if we found out we only had a year to live.

As always, we'd love to hear your thoughts about death and this episode in the comments.

* * *

 Well, with that death talk out of the way, something more lighthearted...

This episode is a Skype episode because...Shawn is in London.

Why is Shawn in London?

Look at the photo below...

Shawn Being Knighted by the Queen
"Photoshop? Sir Kupfer has never heard of Photoshop..."

Cheers!

Direct download: migs92.mp3
Category:Pop Culture -- posted at: 6:11pm CDT

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