Men in Gorilla Suits
Men in Gorilla Suits Ep. 122: Last Seen…Hacking Things

Last week, friend of the Gorillamen, Rick Coste, had his site for the Evolution Talk podcast hacked. Rick half-joked that an upcoming episode of Men in Gorilla Suits should be about hacking and hackers, so...here it is!

We begin the episode by talking about the first instance of hacking -- whether real or fictional -- that we remember seeing. After that, it's confession time: find out if we've ever hacked anything (or known people who have).

There's a lot behind hackers and the reasons they do what they do. We take some time to discuss what makes someone become a hacker, and then devote time to chatting about why even people who despise hackers are often fascinated by stories about hacking things. Next, we ask if there's ever a good reason to hack something.

"Hack" has become a word applied to many other things. Find out what we think about lifehacking and other so-called types of hacks.

We've talked about technology at length before, and we return to tech talk for a moment when we talk about whether or not we're concerned about hacking as we begin creating computer-controlled implants, like some pacemakers. How secure is a controlled heartbeat in the big city? Keeping in the spirit of things very big to people that can be hacked, we know voting machines can be hacked -- we talk about whether or not we think we'll see a major election stolen from hacking...or if it's happened already.

Groups like Anonymous are sometimes praised and often scorned for their efforts. Find out where we stand on groups like that. Also find out if we've ever been hacked or had personal data compromised.

With so much national infrastructure relying on technology, how has hacking become a weapon for some nations? (Find out how we feel about this.)

There's no denying that technology will only get more complex, and that people will figure out ways to compromise the integrity of systems and items. Find out if we think we'll ever stop hackers.

As always, we'd love to know how you feel about anything from this week's episode on the comments section.

Direct download: migs122.mp3
Category:Pop Culture -- posted at: 10:34am CDT

Men in Gorilla Suits Ep. 121: Last Seen…Joining Cults

Oh, cults...you all so wacky! With your indoctrinating and control and all those other culty things. Which makes one wonder...where is the line drawn when it comes to cults?

With Josh Duggar in the news, recently , one must even question if even Christianity can have cultish sects. (Seen people defending him and molestation -- gah, people...what the fuck is wrong with you?! And should you be like, "It's liberals picking on conservatives!" instead of, "Holy shit, that's wrong," -- at least Christopher (and he's guessing, Shawn) would like to go on record as saying Roman Polanski (and those who'd work with him -- [probably] mostly liberals), [probably] Woody Allen, Jimmy Page, and a whole lotta other famous people are also vile and cannot be defended, so stop trying to defend a child molester, neo-cons! And also: we don't give atheists a free ride in this episode, so chill if you think we're picking on Christians. People in clusters can be the most awesome thing on the planet...and the scariest!)

The point: cults are probably much more common than many of us like to consider. So...it seemed a worthy topic for the week.

We begin by talking about the first time we ever heard of a cult, and then move on to why humans seem so fascinated by cults. After that, we discuss the most disturbing cult story we remember hearing or seeing. But it's not all doomsday and craziness -- we also talk about the silliest cults we've heard about.

But it's mostly doomsday and craziness because cults are dangerous things. We chat about the most dangerous cults we know of, and then talk about groups that aren't technically cults, but that we'd consider very cult-like. (If not full-blown cults in their own rights.)

The big question is what makes someone join a cult? We talk about that before talking about if we've ever known anyone who's actually been in a cult.

Is there a cult either of us even partially kind of agree with? And if we had to join a cult, find out which one we'd join.

We close out this episode talking about what kind of cult we'd start (what we'd call it, what the basic tenets would be...all kinds of nifty things like that) if we had to form a cult of our own devising.

If you're so inclined, join the Cult of a Divine Gorilla Suit by leaving a comment about this episode. We promise a ride on a comet, or something as equally far-fetched. (Although humans have landed a spacecraft on a comet, so maybe one day we can all don Nike space boots and one-up the Heaven's Gate cult with a groovy comet ride that doesn't kill us. Unless, you know...space mishap!)

Direct download: migs121.mp3
Category:Pop Culture -- posted at: 7:15pm CDT

Men in Gorilla Suits Ep. 120: Last Seen…Being Narcissistic

The problem with an audio podcast is you can't lay your mortal eyes on just how damn good looking we are! That might be to our advantage; we're such stunners that you all would do nothing but think about us all the time if you had to actually watch us speak. Really, just letting you hear our golden voices is a gift you should cherish.

Okay, so we're average looking guys with average voices, but for some people, the self-love-fest is in constant effect! From Narcissus admiring his reflection in a pool of water to Kim Kardashian releasing a book of carefully composed selfies, narcissists are around us all. It's a fascinating topic, so...we of course decided to make it the topic of this week's episode.

We begin by talking about when we first became aware of narcissism -- and quickly move on to what causes some people to become narcissists. After that, we discuss whether of not we consider ourselves narcissistic...and if others might.

Most of us at least have one feature or thing about ourselves that we love. We talk about the closest we lean toward narcissism before talking about why some are so quick to label others narcissists.

There's no denying that social media can feed into a narcissistic routine. We discuss how social media has affected narcissism and even devote some time to discussing the rise of the selfie.

If you've ever been around a truly narcissistic person, you know it can be tough dealing with the constant self-love-fest. We talk about the hardest aspect of narcissism to deal with, and then devote some time to chatting about the most narcissistic person we know.

Narcissists can make great characters. We talk about our favorite narcissists from film, television, or literature for a bit. After that, we discuss if there are any benefits to being a narcissist.

We wrap up this week's episode pondering this: will there always be narcissism in the world?

If you can tear yourself free from the looking glass long enough, we'd love to hear your thoughts about this week's episode in the comments below.

Direct download: migs120.mp3
Category:Pop Culture -- posted at: 4:02pm CDT

Men in Gorilla Suits Ep. 119: Last Seen…Being Disciplined

What do you think of when you hear the word discipline? Here at Men in Gorilla Suits, we hope it makes you think of mental and physical focus -- not spankings and other forms of control. While that would make for an interesting show (and possibly a sad one, evoking memories from Christopher about a messed-up woman he once worked with who seriously once said, "I miss Daddy and the days when he brought out the brush or belt..."), this week, we're talking about the kind of discipline that drives people to do bigger things.

We begin by discussing what we think of when we hear the word discipline. After that, we talk about how old we were when the concept of mental or physical discipline was introduced to us...and which kind of discipline we first experienced.

If you've ever wondered what the hardest things we've trained our minds to do, we talk about that -- and then move on to the hardest things we've ever trained our bodies to do. Next, we talk about the areas in our lives where we are most disciplined...and the least disciplined.

Find out how we feel we compare to the average person when it comes to being disciplined (hint: Christopher will have this episode online before he begins his work day (with time to spare), and we've never missed a week of Men in Gorilla Suits in 119 weeks so far); and then find out who are the most disciplined people we know.

We wrap up this week's show by talking about the one thing we wish we had trained ourselves to do and then discuss if discipline is going away or still in abundance in modern society.

As always, free to chime in with your thoughts about discipline in the comments below.

Direct download: migs119.mp3
Category:Pop Culture -- posted at: 7:09am CDT

Men in Gorilla Suits Ep. 118: Last Seen…Being Quotable

Odds are, if you've looked at Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media platform in the past week, you've seen a quote of some kind. People seem to love quotes over pretty photos even more than they once loved books containing quotes before the Internet was really much of a thing. There was a time when it was hard to not see a motivational quote on a middle manager's wall meant to inspire all those who entered, no matter the reason. Some people even quote themselves.

So...we decided to do an episode about quotes.
- Christopher and Shawn

We begin with the first quote we remember reading or seeing, and then talk about whether or not we're fans of quotes.

Most quotes are attributed to famous people, but must that always be the case? And speaking of managers with the dreaded Successories motivational poster in a frame on the wall, how does business speak differ from quotes...if they even differ at all?

No matter where you stand on the quote fandom spectrum, at some point, quotes can become little more than platitudes. We discuss where that point occurs before discussing the worst platitude we've experienced or seen. We take it even further and discuss whether or not motivational quotes can be damaging.

After that, we talk about social media's affect on the popularity of quotes; then: are people who dislike motivational quotes inherently negative people? And...who decides that a quote is worthy of sticking around?

We close out this week's show with the funniest quotes we've ever heard and our all-time favorite quotes.

Feel free to quote yourself and reply about this episode in the comments below.

Direct download: migs118.mp3
Category:Pop Culture -- posted at: 9:17pm CDT

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