Welcome, children. Today we will read from the 47th Psalm of Gorilla. Please open your study bibles to page 3.14159, and have a blessed day.

When two guys like Christopher and Shawn talk about religion and don't immediately burst into flames, they've either done something very wrong or very right. As this is one of our most listened-to episodes of all time, we're going to bet on the latter, though that flame-bursting could be around any corner...

Enjoy this classic episode!

On the Men in Gorilla Suits website, we have a behind-the-scenes look at our old process for putting the show together. It's a bit dated -- we now have mixers, different recording gear, and a few other things -- but we've been told it helped some people take that first step and record something of their own...

There was a time when seeing how things were made was a mystery, but today documentaries, DVD and streaming movie extras, and myriad websites give people a peek behind the curtains of how things are done.

But it's not just entertainment -- humans want to know what governments and others are doing behind the scenes. So...we decided this week's show should be about all those things [and more]...

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We start in the past, with our first memories of information we were originally not privy to, but eventually saw. After that, we talk about how much we enjoy looking behind the scenes of things...and what we think the appeal of those peeks is.

If you've listened to a few episodes, you've probably heard us talk about documentaries. We chat about some of our favorite peeks behind the scenes...going as far as if we've taken tours to get a different look at things.

Privacy and secrecy naturally get our attention. We discuss if we've ever been privy to information very few are aware of -- and what we've revealed about ourselves and the processes we follow. We also tackle this: is it better to be open and share information, or protect it and keep things to yourselves?

In recent years, highly visible cases of whistleblowers and people leaking government secrets has made the news. Find out how we feel about those sharing behind-the-scenes information with the masses -- as well as how much transparency governments and other large groups should have with your average person.

We get back to light-hearted information and chat about something we'd love to see behind the scenes...and we wrap up this week's show talking about if we think we'll see more -- or fewer -- looks behind the scenes of things in the future.

Oh, hello there. Didn't see you come in. You're looking mighty fine in that polyester lesiure suit.

Some might say you're out of date or obsolete, but we would never say that. The Gorillamen invite you to come inside, crack open a Zima, and experience the best -- and the worst -- of things that have gone obsolete in this classic episode.

Also, Shawn used to vomit Two Dogs Malt Beverage. In spades. Real talk.

Hello, friend, and welcome to your place online where we understand what you're feeling. At Men in Gorilla Suits, we consider why you are the person you are -- even if you're an evil super-villain with a swelling brain ready to wreak telekinetic havok on the masses. We're not saying it's right that you want to act out against society because you were never hugged, but some humans who never had a bit of support in life don't know how to be. There, there, Swelling Itching Brain -- come on in for a group hug and all will be right again...

This week, we're talking about empathy...

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We start as we often do, back when we were younger. Find out the first time we felt something for someone else -- as well as if we consider ourselves empathetic individuals. Also: have we gotten more or less empathetic as we've gotten older?

After that, we talk about whether or not the world is harder for empathetic people...before moving on to what the opposite of empathy looks like.

Has the Internet made us more [or less] empathetic? We talk about that -- as well as how the current political climate has affected empathy.

Find out who the most -- and least -- empathetic people we know are. We also cat about the best -- and worst -- examples of empathy in popular culture.

And, as we often do, we look to the future at the end of the show...this time, what the future looks like for empathy.

If you're feeling this episode, let us know in the comments...

You really piss me off, Jim. Human life is far to precious to waste on crazy stunts!

This week's classic episode is all about things that piss Christopher and Shawn off, but, you know, not that much. We're talking about Pet Peeves this week (OK, we talked about them many weeks in the past, whatever). Enjoy this classic episode from the early days of Men in Gorilla Suits, and we'll be back with a new episode next week!

There is design to this page. There is design in most things you interacted with today...probably without your recognition.

Whether it's advertising or truly functional user experience; the place you live, or even your thoughts...many people put great effort into influencing others with design.

Hell, some people do it all simply for the sake of design.

This week, we're all about the D!

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We begin with our earliest memories of people putting in an extra effort into this thing called design. After that, we chat about how aware we were of the effort put into everyday design. (Shawn's epiphany in and Arby's is rather beautiful!)

We chat about whether or not we've designed cool things...and what those things might be.

How does design affect mood? We talk about that...as well as how environment and upbringing affect design.

We get all hypothetical and chat about if we could be a designer of any sort...what we'd make. Then we talk about our favorite designers and what they've done.

How important is technology to design -- we chat about that! We also chat about how important design is to advertising. (Spoiler: it DRIVES advertising in every way!)

Some people love what they know. Are some designs so sacred that we should never alter them? We talk about that before wrapping it all up with the future of design...

These show notes are designed to filter down to driving people to a call to action in the comments. We understand that there's enough going on in our lives that commenting on a podcast blog is a thing of the past, but if you are so inclined...we will listen!

I know what really keeps you up at night. You're wondering, most of all, what two middle-aged white guys think about hip-hop and rap music.

There, there. It's all right. Your brilliant and not unattractive gorillamen are here to help, yo. Christopher and Shawn, the two whitest men on the planet, got together to talk about hip-hop, and now you get to hear it all over again. So pour yourself a gin and juice and enjoy this classic Men in Gorilla Suits Episode.

Word to your mother.

For the past couple years, Gorillaman Shawn has done another show -- a weekly look at metal bands and their influences called Metal DNA. While Christopher doesn't listen to much music these days, he was once rumored to rock out to Twisted Sister opening for Iron Maiden on Maiden's Powerslave tour in the mid-ish 80s. So it's a bit surprising that it took 220 episodes to talk about METAL!!!

And, because it must be shared whenever metal is mentioned, there's this:

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We kick it off with the first metal songs we ever heard...as well as how we heard the tune (i.e. who got us into metal). After that, we talk about the best -- and worst -- genres and eras of metal for us.

We devote a bit of time to our all-time favorite metal bands, and then we jump into our fave metal tunes of all time.

Metal fans are a dedicated breed of all kinds of people, but there's definitely a stereotype for metalheads. Do they live up to that stereotype? We chat about that before discussing some metal shows we've seen live. (As well as a story about Christopher's one and only sad blind date.)

We like talking about time machines on Men in Gorilla Suits. Find out what metal concert we'd see if we could go back in time. And in the present, we talk about the most recent metal we've heard.

As [almost] always, we wrap up this episode with a look to the future, discussing what the coming years look like for metal and its fans.

Feel free to rock out in the comments if that's your kinda thing \m/

In this classic episode, we revisit the far-off land of April 2014, when Shawn was a drone at Microsoft and Christopher was a responsible adult holding down a real job. We get to hear the massive number of jobs the gorillamen have had, revisit their worst jobs, and hear them plug their writing, because that's what they did in the past.

Sho' Nuff!

This classic Men in Gorilla Suits episode is 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.