That image up above? It was taken on the day we recorded the first episode of Men in Gorilla Suits. It wasn’t taken while doing the podcast, because we were a little nervous, trying to see how it was all going to work out. After the first recording session was done and Shawn was on his way home, Christopher took the photo. We’ve learned a lot since that first episode!

Now we are 25! If episodes were years and the podcast were a person, we’d finally be getting lower auto insurance rates. We’d have enough years of adulthood beneath us to have the confidence to do bigger things. We might still get goofy on the weekends, but we’d have a better idea of what we wanted out of life. While the podcast isn’t a person, it’s a good analogy: we have enough experience working together to now look forward and know what we want out of the show. We’ll always be goofy, but we’re more confident and ready to focus on more than simply producing weekly episodes. We know we can do that — now it’s time to make things even better!

The episode isn’t quite like a “looking back” episode of a sitcom, but it’s all about the show: our favorite episodes and our favorite things about doing a weekly show. Our least favorite things about Men in Gorilla Suits. Things we’d change, and things we’re proud of. The prevailing sentiment of this episode is just doing the things you want to do! So many times, we talk ourselves out of the things that stick around in our heads and later regret never doing them. In its own way, this episode has some inspirational moments. Along the way, we talk about our process for producing shows and how we decided who does what. (Hint: we let it all happen naturally — we have never so much as had even a short meeting about the show.) We talk about all our mistakes and successes. In the end, this episode is a celebration of friendship and the benefits of making something on a regular basis.

So…Thank you to everybody who’s listened to the first 25 episodes. We’d love to hear your hopes for the next 25 in the comments!

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Number one reason you want to listen to this week’s podcast? Christopher figures out how much he’d have to weigh to have Godzilla’s body mass index (BMI). From there, we talk about how food and shopping has changed and ask if it’s possible to eat healthy on a budget any more. Is health what we see in magazines, or is it possible to be small and strong? Really, what is healthy? What can we learn about health from other countries?

From there, a bit about whether or not there’s a conscious effort to keep people unhealthy for profit. (Can that even be something done by design?) Are bad health habits really that bad, or can what some deem as unhealthy actually be healthy? Holistic health management: bunch of BS or is there something to it? And finally, as a society with a large percentage of people who work while sitting, what are some of the best things a desk-bound jockey can do for better health?

If you’ve been listening and enjoy the podcast, consider going to iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you find the show an leave a rating or review. We’re two episodes away from #25! Thanks to everybody who’s been listening!

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This week, we’re all about failure! We kick off talking about our first failures in life and move on to how some people take failure so personally that they become terrified to try anything. (That’s called failing at life!) We devote a bit of time to self sabotage as a ridiculous form of “defense” from the possibility of failure and why some people deal with failure better than others. For those who have a tough time with failing, we talk about how failure can lead to better things and offer some ways to not be so afraid of failing at something. What differentiates those who give up easily and those who stick with things? We talk about that…as well as devoting some time to if there are times one should give up on something. Along the way, we talk about The Cult of Fail: people who seem almost excited to get out and fail…and how that’s good and bad. We close out the show by discussing our funniest failures because we believe it’s important to be reminded that it’s important to see humor in failure.

We’d love to hear stories of some of your first or funniest failures–feel free to share in the comments.

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This week’s podcast may be loaded late. Christopher is traveling to Burlington, Vermont–land of flying monkeys–for a training thing with his job. He won’t be back until late Thursday evening, so this week’s show (all about criticism–with a heavy emphasis on taking criticism as a writer) will be loaded then, or Friday morning.

In addition to statues of flying monkeys on some of the buildings in downtown Burlington, the city is also home to the world’s tallest filing cabinet and a sea monster statue. (And quite a few more oddities.) Hopefully Christopher will be able to get around and see some sites while in the Northeast.

You probably didn’t know this, but Shawn was once a reserve “mathlete” as well as a benchwarmer for his school’s classical music team. (Those nutty Germans!) Christopher was good friends with the first kid on the block with an Apple II in his house. But that’s all in the past…

This week we’re talking about…THE FUTURE!!! More specifically, we’re talking about fiction’s importance on the future. From cyberpunk to warp drives (even penises drawn on the surface of Mars), we have it covered. Along the way, we discuss stories that got the future right — and those that got it very wrong (including the movie that made Shawn almost fashion a noose from Red Vines and hang himself in the theater.)

While much of this episode is about the future as it pertains to science fiction, we also talk about predictions we got right, and what we think will happen to the world in the next 10 and 20 years. (Clearly, we are seers!) Also, our hopes for the future of fiction and for the real world of tomorrow.

We’d love to hear what you think will happen in the next 20 years; feel free to tell us in the comments. (We expect CMStewart to put us to shame!)

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BOOOOOooOOoOoOOOOOooooOOOO!!!

This week, it’s all about fear! Find out what things from childhood still creep us out–and what our greatest fears are today. Listen to us talk about how we’ve overcome many of the fears we’ve faced. Learn about how anger and fear are related. We all have a phobia or two, but what happens when we give in to irrational fears? We talk about how statistically, most of us are safer than ever, and yet many people we talk to have never seemed more afraid. Many of these people watch a lot of “news”; we discuss how the media, in a race for ratings, benefits when it can play to our fears and keep us on edge.

Fear isn’t just about things that go bump in the night–the stresses of working in a time when layoffs are not uncommon leads to fear at work. We talk about how to break those fears, and most other fears you have (including how to use fear to overcome fear). Finally, sometimes we love being scared. We close this episode talking about why some scary things bother us, but yet we gravitate toward amusement parks, scary movies, and haunted houses.

Beta listeners have said this is one of their favorite episodes, and we won’t argue with them. We haven’t had this much fun doing the podcast…

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Ah, to live the life as a National Hockey League rover, or to entertain the cigar-rolling masses as a Lector. To pump gas or serve as the director of photography on pornographic movies. To open your own Blockbuster Video store franchise or manufacture cassette tapes. These are jobs…some totally obsolete, some on their way out…

This week, it’s all about jobs that no longer exist: some long gone, and some we’ve seen die in our own time. We talk about jobs that are fading, many jobs shoved into one catch-all job, and even discuss why outsourcing may not be the evil many believe it to be. (We might not be in the majority on this one.) We discuss how the “Good ol’ days,” were only good for some, and why our jobs these days is to simply figure things out. Of course, Shawn works Star Trek into the discussion, and Christopher entertains what a future in which computers write novels might be like. (Smash Gerbils reference goes to Deacon McClendon.)

We wrap it up by discussing how the Internet and nostalgia have brought some obsolete or dying jobs back — kind of a grudging praise for…the Hipster! Also, wanna be a blacksmith? It’s still a better option than many jobs that are on the way out! Don’t believe us? Then give this episode a listen!

Note: This episode was recorded under the influence of copious amounts of caffeine (Shawn) and a couple Martinis (Chris). It’s a bit frantic and wacky, and that, dear listeners = fun!

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