gorillamen – Page 26

Men in Gorilla Suits Ep. 130: Last Seen…Talking about the 80s

July 29, 2015 by gorillamen 2 Comments

Twist away the gates of steel and step into the future…by taking a walk back to the 1980s. (The last decade Gen X was ever happy!)

Burn out your retinas on all that neon!

Hear synthesizers and drum machines in your sleep.

Remember how cool hanging out at the mall was? (We wonder what happened to that guy who mastered Dragon’s Lair at the mall arcade — what is he doing today?)

Oh yeah, don’t forget the shadow of complete planetary annihilation hanging over us all (“Damn, commies!”) during what many consider the happiest times America has ever seen…

We begin this episode by talking about our best — and worst — memories from the 80s. After that, we discuss some favorite things from the time: music, movies, and television in particular.

What did we think were the big news stories about the 80s? Find out before we discuss what we consider the technological events of the decade.

Then we imagine we have a time machine and the power to change the world. Find out what we would do if we could go back to the 80s and make one change about the decade. After that, we talk about our greatest accomplishments in the 80s.

We devote some time to the best and worst things to come out of the 80s, and then we wrap up the episode talking about the one word we’d use to describe the decade.

We know we have an audience spanning many decades; we’d love to hear your thoughts about the 80s in the comments.

* * *

Oh! And in honor of the 80s podcast, here’s a photo of Shawn and Mr. T…and Christopher juggling.

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Men in Gorilla Suits Ep. 129: Last Seen…Talking about the 70s

July 21, 2015 by gorillamen 3 Comments

Disco!

That’s what many people think about (or remember) when asked to recall anything about the 70s.

Others think about long, blocky cars and gritty movies. Obviously, Nixon and Watergate drop into the minds of others. Vietnam was still going on, and soon those long, blocky cars would be in winding lines waiting for gasoline.

The 70s were an interesting time — in a way, it was a decade that had a great affect on the decades that followed. (We were driving head-first into some big issues and didn’t turn or hit the brakes; some might even say we stepped on the gas and are reaping much of what we sowed in a decade that defined America.)

We begin this episode by talking about our best — and worst — memories from the 70s. After that, we discuss some favorite things from the time: music, movies, and television in particular.

For many, the big news story of the 70s was the end of the Vietnam War and Nixon’s impeachment following the Watergate scandal. But for us, other news stories bubbled up.

Near the end of the 70s was the beginning of a technological boom that would change the world forever. Find out what we consider the technological events of the decade.

Then we imagine we have a time machine and the power to change the world. Find out what we would do if we could go back to the 70s and make one change about the decade. (Don’t worry disco fans, we would not get rid of the music…) After that, we talk about our greatest accomplishments in the 70s. (Which is kind of funny, considering Shawn was born mid-way through 1978!)

We devote some time to the best and worst things to come out of the 70s, and then we wrap up the episode talking about the one word we’d use to describe the decade.

We know we have an audience spanning many decades; we’d love to hear your thoughts about the 70s in the comments.

(We’ll now return you to the funk…)

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Men in Gorilla Suits Ep. 128: Last Seen…Reading Children’s Literature

July 15, 2015 by gorillamen 1 Comment

Most of us have memories of the earliest stories read to us…or stories we read on our own. We often carry lessons from those stories into adulthood. Children’s literature kickstarts imagination, and reminds the adults reading to children that maybe they’d do well to slow down a little and let their imaginations run wild.

This week’s show is all about children’s literature.

We begin by talking about the first book we remember from childhood. Was it a work of children’s literature, or something else? After that, we move on to the first book we remember reading on our own. We wrap up the intro to the show listing some of our favorite children’s books. (Shawn just might win, were it a competition!)

At some point, books move on from pictures and simple tales to something more complex. We discuss what transitional books affected us when we were younger.

While we rarely plug our own books on the podcast, it’s not a big secret that we both write. Find out if we’ve ever had a desire to write children’s literature.

Fantasy worlds are often used in children’s literature. We discuss why we think that’s so common before we talk about our favorite — and least favorite — things about children’s literature.

Good stories feature good characters. Find out who our favorite characters are from children’s literature…and whether or not either of us have bought children’s literature or picture books as adults.

We close out this week’s show by talking about how children’s literature has affected us as adults — and what the future of children’s literature is in a digital age.

We’d love to hear what your favorite works from childhood are…chat away in the comments!

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Men in Gorilla Suits Ep. 127: Last Seen…Talking about Work/Life Balance

July 7, 2015 by gorillamen 1 Comment

The people of Dothan, Alabama are no-good slackers! But first…

At least in the United States of ‘Murica, many of us had a long weekend last weekend because of the 4th of July holiday. Oh, sure…many didn’t, but if they wanted it badly enough, they’d WORK for it, ’cause that’s what we do in America, right?! (Obviously, that’s sarcasm…but not so obvious, since we felt the need to call that out as sarcasm…)

Anyway…last weekend was a holiday for so many, a rare time when people who work hard got a little bit of a break.

America is full of people eating at their desks and answering email at 11:00 p.m. If you work in a warehouse or factory, you probably work weekends.

Work/Life balance is askew for many, so we decided to devote an entire episode to such an important thing…

We begin by talking about the first time we heard the term “work/life balance.” After that, we discuss our early years…specifically, when we were introduced to someone, how often was a job the first thing they mentioned about themselves? Find out how often that occurs now — and, when we introduce ourselves, how soon we bring up our day jobs.

Find out how much time we work each week, sleep each week, and have time to ourselves each week. (The answer to that last one might have some CEOs wishing they could pay us for free time.)

Also, find out how fluid our work schedules are before we discuss how available we make ourselves to coworkers outside of working hours. (Christopher is a right asshole, but he does not mind. Shawn is the coworker you want.)

After that, we talk about whether or not our work/life balance is in harmony, or if it is more weighed toward work or slack. Also find out, among people we know, if their work/life balances are healthy.

We wrap it all up with the future of work and life…and how they will balance…or fly apart.

We’d love to hear your thoughts about this important topic in the comments. And…we’d love to hear how you feel about Dothan, Alabama…

(Really, we LOVE Dothan, Alabama…)

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Men in Gorilla Suits Ep. 126: Last Seen…Talking about Change

July 1, 2015 by gorillamen 1 Comment

Last week was a week of change in America. The Affordable Healthcare Act stood up (again) in the Supreme Court, and marriage equality is now a thing in all 50 states. Some people are elated; others feel like the very foundation of all they know is crumbling down around them. No matter where you stand on any issue, it’s pretty clear that — given enough time — things change. So we decided to devote this week’s show to changes of all kinds…

We begin this week’s episode talking about how we feel about the Supreme Court of the United States overturning the ban on same-sex marriage. (It’s probably evident where we stand on this if you’ve listened to any of our past shows about social justice.) Some people, however, are anything but pleased that two people of the same sex now — finally — have the same legal protection that Shawn and Christopher have with their wives. We devote a bit of time discussing how people can change the hearts of those standing on the precipice of being buried by history.

Almost everybody has heard the saying, “The more that things change, the more they stay the same.” Find out if we think that’s true — and then hear us talk about the first big change we remember in our lives. After that, we chat about the proudest change made in our lives…and the one thing we still intend to change. Also, find out what we’d change about this podcast.

While summer in Texas seems to run from Cinco de Mayo to Halloween, seasons do occur, here. We not only discuss our favorite seasons, but why they are our favorites.

Tastes change over time; we talk about some personal changes in tastes before getting back to something more serious: how to deal with advances in technology affecting human industry and population.

Were the “good ol’ days” really better than things are today? How do we think the world will change in the next 50 years? And, if we could change one thing about the world, what would that be? Find out in the final part of this week’s show.

And the final final question of this week’s episode: if you had a time machine and could go back and make one change in our lives, find out what those changes would be…?

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Men in Gorilla Suits Ep. 125: Last Seen…Talking about [Gender] Equality

June 24, 2015 by gorillamen 2 Comments

Hey, we hit episode 125! In honor of that, we’ll get right to it: this week, we’re talking about gender equality!

We begin by talking about how old we were when we first realized that men and women were treated differently. After that, we move on to the event that made us think, “This imbalance in equality just isn’t right.” Next, we talk about why women generally make less than men at work.

We don’t cut ourselves slack in this episode — find out if either of us have ever made what could be deemed a sexist statement (and what those statements were). The flip-side of that: find out what feminist statements we’ve made. (Hell, Christopher once wrote this.)

We devote some time to whether or not anyone’s ever given us grief for our stances on gender equality before discussing the most enlightened — and unenlightened — people we know when it comes to gender issues.

We wrap up the episode as we often do: talking about the future of the week’s topic. In this case, we close with what we believe will be the solution to gender equality.

We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

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Men in Gorilla Suits Ep. 124: Last Seen…Setting Boundaries

June 17, 2015 by gorillamen 2 Comments

In honor of this episode, when Shawn went to Christopher’s place to record, the gate at the apartment complex where Christopher lives was closed.

Shawn could not get in… (The horror!!!)

He faced…a boundary…that lasted all of a moment when another vehicle came in, opened the gate, and Shawn followed them in…where he then parked in Christopher’s spot under a carport.

That spot belongs to Christopher and his wife. Anyone not supposed to be parking there can be towed at their command…although Christopher and his wife have never exerted that power.

Boundaries are strange things. Some people require a 10-foot invisible bubble of personal space, while others are fine packed together tightly with strangers. Some people hide who they are deep down inside, while others are open to the point of some finding those people uncomfortable. (If you listen to this podcast, we’re guessing you’re fine with open people because we will talk about anything…even devoting an hour, once, to talking about poo.) Some people think it’s money well spent to build a wall between America and Mexico, while others (i.e. not racist douchenozzles) can think of a bazillion better uses for that much money.

This week, we’re all about boundaries…

We begin by talking about the first boundary in life we each remember, and then…we drop a [philosophy] bomb on y’all by talking about what seems more limiting to us: physical or mental boundaries. (While Christopher often writes these show notes in third person, he has never used “y’all” in an entry. That he knows of. After almost 125 episodes — and some aging — it all gets hazy…)

Personal space. Barring those with dragon breath, we discuss whether or not we have problems with people getting all up in our personal space. Next, we leap to how important boundaries are in our lives…and also: how important national boundaries are to us. (i.e. how utterly fucking stupid is the proposed wall with Mexico? Which probably gives away our answer…and might stir up the bile of some neo-cons, which — let’s be honest — is not difficult at all. Shit, they are really more sensitive and easily offended as extreme liberals…which is really saying something. But we [Christopher] digress…)

Then we get all techie…and talk about digital rights management, software keycodes, and boundaries like that. Then…we talk not only about boundaries we are comfortable breaking, but we also share our favorite trespassing stories (where you learn that Shawn was a good boy in that regard, and Christopher really was a little shit-monkey! Like a bonafide bolt-cutter trespasser…)

Find out what we feel is the worst breach of a boundary, and then find out what boundary we would eradicate from the world if we had the power. (Another bit leaning more toward the philosophical, rather than some stupid, physical thing in the world.)

But let’s pretend we’re in Colorado and totally toasty and talking about space and time…which is funny, ’cause even if a life like this were legal, neither Christopher or Shawn would partake in the herb…even though we are all for legalization.

Anyway…assuming we colonize other planets, how will boundaries factor in to human development in space?

And then we close it out with this question: as we move forward as a species, do you think boundaries will become more or less important…or the same as it ever was? (Same as it ever was… Same as it ever was…)

ANYWAY…feel free to break down that boundary of the Internet and have your say in the comments. And, as always, thanks for taking time out of all you could have done with this hour of your life and listening to us instead of myriad other things. We really do appreciate it.

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Men in Gorilla Suits Ep. 123: Last Seen…Aging

June 10, 2015 by gorillamen Leave a Comment

As you read this sentence, you’re getting older. Now you’re even older than when you started reading this entry. You can step away and turn your head, hoping to not be reminded that you are aging, but time marches on.

Forward…

Always…

This week, we’re talking about aging!

We begin by talking about the first time we realized that childhood was temporary — that one day we would become adults. But aging is not all bad…we discuss the first time we were aware of our bodies aging in positive ways. After that, though, we talk about some negative things we’re felt or experienced as we’ve aged. We also talk about age-related problems we’ve noticed…and age-related problems that scare us.

Hundreds of years ago, we’d probably be dead by now. We devote some time to the positive and negative effects of longer lifespans in modern times — and then talk about how old we want to live to be.

We also chat about some benefits of getting older and whether we consider ourselves old, middle aged, young, or something else entirely.

We wrap up this episode on the front lawn (chasing off those damn kids!) to discuss whether or not we are, indeed, getting “too old for this shit!”

As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts about aging in the comments.

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

June 3, 2015 by gorillamen 6 Comments

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.

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

May 26, 2015 by gorillamen 5 Comments

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?

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!)

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

May 19, 2015 by gorillamen 5 Comments

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.

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