Synopsis
A weekly philosophical look at pop culture and life.
Episodes
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Men in Gorilla Suits Ep. 124: Last Seen…Setting Boundaries
18/06/2015 Duration: 01h05minIn 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
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Men in Gorilla Suits Ep. 123: Last Seen…Aging
10/06/2015 Duration: 01h10minAs 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 e
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Men in Gorilla Suits Ep. 122: Last Seen…Hacking Things
31/05/2015 Duration: 01h05minLast 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 w
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Men in Gorilla Suits Ep. 121: Last Seen…Joining Cults
27/05/2015 Duration: 01h03minOh, 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: cul
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Men in Gorilla Suits Ep. 120: Last Seen…Being Narcissistic
19/05/2015 Duration: 01h06minThe 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
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Men in Gorilla Suits Ep. 119: Last Seen…Being Disciplined
13/05/2015 Duration: 01h06minWhat 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 th
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Men in Gorilla Suits Ep. 118: Last Seen…Being Quotable
07/05/2015 Duration: 01h04minOdds 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 p
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Men in Gorilla Suits Ep. 117: Last Seen…Showing Respect
30/04/2015 Duration: 01h04minRespect means different things to people. For some, it is something to be demanded; others respect everyone until they are given reasons not to. Some people respect others so much that they have a hard time respecting themselves, while megalomaniacs often respect only the person they see in the mirror. It's a fascinating thing, respect -- so much so that it's the topic for this week's episode. We begin talking about when we first became aware of this thing called respect. After that, we discuss what people need to do to earn our respect...if anything at all. Next, we dedicate a bit of time to talking about whether or not we have self-respect before talking about how important respect is to a functioning society. If you've ever wondered what we most respect about ourselves, we cover that...and then move on to why we think so many people have a hard time respecting themselves. Find out if we've ever found ourselves in situations of conflicting respect before we get all sappy and share what we respect most about
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Men in Gorilla Suits Ep. 116: Last Seen…Becoming Obsolete
22/04/2015 Duration: 01h32minThe 5 1/4" floppy disk. Holding just over 1 megabyte of information, they were the proverbial shit. Until 3.5" floppies became all the rage! Somewhere in a closet, Christopher has an old tape drive...and even better: a Zip Drive. Yes, there was a time when you could hold 100 megabytes of information on single disk! Of course, all those storage methods are now obsolete. We can now access well over 100 gigabytes on a micro SD card that's a choking hazard to a two-year-old kid. (The past was such a safe place...never had to worry about a child choking on a copy of Zork!) This week, we talk all about obsolete things. We really had a great time with this episode! We begin by talking about the first thing we owned that ever went obsolete. After that, we jump to things that were around when we were younger -- that doesn't exist anymore...but we wish did. Consumer products come and go (and a few lucky ones stick around a long time). We discuss our favorite failed consumer products, as well as those we wish succeeded.
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Men in Gorilla Suits Ep. 115: Last Seen…Watching Series Television
16/04/2015 Duration: 01h08minBinge-watch. A few years ago, it meant nothing. Now, for many, it's a way of life: streaming television shows -- episode after episode. Last weekend, by lunch time, Christopher had watched all 13 episodes of Netflix's Daredevil. Shawn has watched time pass by in episodes of House of Cards. We both go back to different Star Trek series. Technology has changed the way people watch television, and with that, television itself has changed...and even changed us. Ongoing storylines hook people, bringing them back and keeping them talking about TV more than ever. That's what we're talking about this week. We begin by talking about the first series television shows we remember seeing, and then we jump to the biggest draw of ongoing storylines. After that, we talk about what kinds of stories seem more suited for series TV than others. Sometimes, shows move along great and then...fall apart. We talk about some of the problems series shows can face, and then we talk not only about our all-time favorite (and current favo
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Men in Gorilla Suits Ep. 114: Last Seen…Being Political
08/04/2015 Duration: 01h07minIt's still a long way off until the next American Presidential election, and already, wooden [and balls-out stupid] people [at least one from Texas] are standing up and proclaiming their intentions to run for office. Politics! We're told politics and religion are things we shouldn't discuss, but why is that? Why not discuss very broken things in the open, for all to see? That's what we're doing on this week's episode! We begin by talking about the first time we became aware of politics, followed by what political party -- if any -- we align ourselves with. Find out the first election we voted in...and who we voted for. After that, we discuss whether or not we've ever volunteered to work for a political campaign (and if we've ever given money to any campaigns). For many, political views are first formed by one's parents. Find out if we followed our parents' political views...and how we decide to vote for a candidate (if we decide to vote at all). After that, we talk about the current political system in Americ
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Men in Gorilla Suits Ep. 113: Last Seen…Pooping
31/03/2015 Duration: 01h26minWhile it is April first (at least somewhere in the world at the time of posting), this is no joke. We have speculated that we can talk about anything for an hour: even an hour dedicated to poop! We recently mentioned that ability again and got challenged to finally prove that we can keep a talk about feces interesting for an hour. We have accepted that challenge! In fact, we not only talk about poop for an hour...at 1:05:09 into this week's show, Christopher interviews his mom about pooping when he was a baby...and many other things. Yep, for the first time ever, there is another person featured on Men in Gorilla Suits -- the person who brought Gorilla Christopher into the world! (It's one of Christopher's favorite moments in any podcast he's ever done.) But before the chat with Christopher's mom, we begin with this important question: when is the last time you shit yourself? With one half of the podcast solidly into middle age and another climbing that direction, we chat about whether or not we're more conce
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Men in Gorilla Suits Ep. 112: Last Seen…Talking about Self-Image
26/03/2015 Duration: 01h06minHow do you feel about who you are? Are you pleased with the person you've become, or do you think there's so much room for improvement that it affects the way you look at yourself? How do others view you -- and how do those you meet shape who you are and how you look at yourself? There are just a few things we're talking about this week on Men in Gorilla Suits. We begin by talking about how the concept of self-image was introduced to us. (Shawn shares a particular devastating story, here.) After that, we discuss how accurate our perceptions of ourselves are. Next, we talk about how we arrived at our current self-images. Others shape who we are in so many ways. We chat about others making observations about us that, while true, went against the way we looked at ourselves. After that, we talk about who has the most accurate image of us: ourselves or our wives. Find out if we ever project images of ourselves that is different in any way of what we feel are our "true" selves. Then we move onto other people: if we
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Men in Gorilla Suits Ep. 111: Last Seen...Talking about White Privilege
19/03/2015 Duration: 01h02minWhy did two white guys from the suburbs decide to talk about white privilege for an hour? You'll have to listen to find out. Maybe you want a hint about what we talked about? Fair enough... We begin by talking about when we first heard the term white privilege. From there, we move on to discussing if either of us have been accused of being privileged in any way...and how we reacted to it. After that, we chat about if anyone's actually leveled the term "white privilege" at us...of if we've ever been told to check our privilege in any way. Then, the question that made Shawn think about this episode: does the idea of white privilege hold any weight for us? Next, we talk about where the idea of white privilege originated, before moving on to the last two questions: Do we think we are guilty of any sort of privilege? Is "white privilege" a subtle (or not-so-subtle) form of racism? If you're a regular listener, you've probably noticed this episode contains about half the usual talking points we shoot for. It's a
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Men in Gorilla Suits Ep. 110: Last Seen…Talking about Rap and Hip Hop
12/03/2015 Duration: 01h02min"Four and three and two and one, and when I'm on the mic, the suckas run..." Hip hop and rap -- styles of music that seem to be either loved or hated. We're on the love side, and it's entirely possible that if you're on the hate side, we might win you over by the end of this episode. We kick it off talking about the first rap or hip hop we remember hearing. After that, we move on to what we say to those who tell us they can't stand rap and hip hop (even going as far as saying it's inferior to all other music). Want to know what songs we play for those who say they hate all rap and hip hop? We tell ya! Rap gets a bad...rap for being sexist and homophobic. While it's not something exclusive to the style of music, it's definitely prevalent enough that we spend a little bit of time to talk about that. And while we're on that roll, we discuss the use of "nigger" and "nigga" in rap and hip hop. (Hint about our feelings: just typing that seems sooooooo wrong. This part of the show devolved into talking about the awk
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Men in Gorilla Suits Ep. 109: Last Seen…Committing Crimes
04/03/2015 Duration: 01h04minAs you read this, we're stealing your wallet or purse. Now...we're breaking into your car. Shawn just might assault you for the sheer joy of committing a crime. Christopher just stole your identity... Okay, so we're not criminals, but crime is a fascinating topic to us; we're surprised it took us 109 weeks to finally get to it. We begin the episode talking about the first time we remember hearing about crime; then we jump to whether or not we've been victims of violent crimes or any property crimes. We couldn't do a show about crime without coming clean and talking about anything we've done that can be deemed criminal activity...or things we've done that -- without a doubt -- were criminal. After that, we talk about the worst crimes we've committed (at least, according to the law). It's easy to jump online and convince yourself that you will be a victim of crime on any given day, but...is crime more or less of a problem today than when we were young? And what do we think contributes to the perception that cri
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Men in Gorilla Suits Ep. 108: Last Seen…Being Apathetic
25/02/2015 Duration: 01h05minMeh... Yawn... We almost didn't do this episode because we just didn't care... We were feeling rather...apathetic. But then we remembered that apathy sometimes gets a bad rap, so we decided to stand tall and defend it. Sort of... We begin by discussing what we think the average person thinks of when you ask them what apathy is. After that, we talk about the first things we remember being apathetic about. Why do some people become apathetic in the first place? We chat about that before asking if we've seen people use apathy as a defense. If you listen to the show, you know there's a facet of apathy we embrace. We talk about the power of controlled apathy a bit, and then move on to when apathy can become a problem. Find out if we've ever seen apathy damage someone. Another popular form of apathy is voter apathy. Are people who don't vote because they don't care part of the problem, or are there reasons some people don't vote that go beyond simply not wanting to go through the motions? Next, we talk about how to
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Men in Gorilla Suits Ep. 107: Last Seen…Being Corrupt
18/02/2015 Duration: 01h03minIt seems everywhere you turn -- government, corporations, religion, education -- there's corruption. So much so that many people seem to think that honesty is a thing of the past. (These people often forget that the past was full of just as much corruption...maybe even more.) Are we all doomed to live in a world where the little guy is crushed beneath the boots of those cheating their way to the top, or is that view of the world not really justified? That's what we're talking about on this week's episode of Men in Gorilla Suits. We begin the episode talking about the first example of corruption we can remember (hint: Christopher was born in Chicago and raised in the area). After that, we discuss the first time we were on either side of something corrupt (as the victim or the one actually being corrupt). We get a little bogged down in semantics when we talk about whether or not absolute power corrupts absolutely -- and then we talk about how big a problem corruption is where we live. When most people think abo
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Men in Gorilla Suits Ep. 106: Last Seen…Talking about Family
11/02/2015 Duration: 01h11minIf you're reading this -- whether you like it or not -- you have [at some point in your life] been part of a family. Chances are you're still part of a family. (We have met very few loners in life who have eschewed or lost all family.) It's something we all have in common, but what constitutes a family can be very different depending on who you ask. That's what we're talking about on this week's episode of Men in Gorilla Suits. We begin by talking about our earliest family memories and then jump to how large our immediate families were (and are). There are those who say, "My friends are family!" Does that hold true to us, or can only actual relatives be family? The Brady Bunch introduced many people to step families at a time when it wasn't as common as it is today. We discuss our experiences with step families -- and then talk about in-laws...are they as bad as sitcoms and movies make them out to be? Find out if family is the most important thing in our lives; then we talk about our best -- and worst -- fami
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Men in Gorilla Suits Ep. 105: Last Seen…Podcasting about Podcasting
04/02/2015 Duration: 01h08minThis coming Saturday marks a fairly big day for the Men in Gorilla Suits podcast. On February 7, 2013, we loaded our first episode. Over a hundred episodes later, we're still going strong. What better way to celebrate this milestone by podcasting...about podcasting! We begin with the first podcasts we remember listening to and then jump to how we describe podcasts to those not familiar with them. Most people into podcasts are familiar with Serial. It's one of the only podcasts we can think of that people at work talk about, but has it really gone mainstream (as many podcasters claim)? Regardless of Serial's standing, there's no doubt that it has opened people's eyes to podcasting and influenced people. Find out how we feel the success of Serial has influenced podcasts. Find out if either of us did any podcasting before Men in Gorilla Suits -- as well as what made us want to podcast. Within podcasting, some argue that content is the most important thing while others say production matters so much that they wil