Look we prepped for a different show and then Bass got drunk and couldn’t make it so the rest of us just talked for an hour ok…… so apologies and stuff but here’s that.
Shout Out To Our Patreon Supporters! Every penny brings us one step closer to destroying the moon. ASAP from NY, Dan the Man from Chicago, Vikram aka Addam aka Lil’ Squire from the Hood from Narnia, and Gomez, son of Gomez, from Chicago , Flashy Brett Javier from MoonBase Alpha, The MamaBear herself, and Tim.
We go deep into the world of food porn and legal issues in this weeks all new episode of The Geek Cast Live Podcast! Cartoon Joe’s Do/Review is some Bingin with Babish , no not the White House Chief Counsel, which segues perfectly into our main discussion with Geek Lawyer extreme Josh Gilliland host of The Legal Geeks Podcast. Like I said earlier…we go deep.
Shout Out To Our Patreon Supporters! Every penny brings us one step closer to destroying the moon. ASAP from NY, Dan the Man from Chicago, Vikram aka Addam aka Lil’ Squire from the Hood from Narnia, and Gomez, son of Gomez, from Chicago , Flashy Brett Javier from MoonBase Alpha, The MamaBear herself, and Tim.
So each generation inevitably falls into some form of “kids today are_____”. We can’t help it, it is the joy/curse of selective retention that allows us to all forget what dumb ass nonsense passed for our youth while shaking our head at the dumbasses of today. Only they have cooler gear. Just as you have cooler gear that whatever your parents had. And with the exception of the WWII generation—they get a pass because they were badass and we’ll never see their kind again—all the subsequent generations have brought roughly the same amount of good and bad at the end. Part of the problem now is that we get to name these groups. ‘Baby Boomers’—that post WWII group, comprising some 77 million living Americans, represented THE generation of consumers and social drivers. The generation of “solid American values”, stable blue and white collar jobs, and conservative consistency. I guess. But now a new animal threatens their powerful legacy. Chances are you have seen one of these feral creatures if you’ve been to concert lately; they’re the ones on their phone/holding up their phone the entire show. Or if you’ve been at a Vegan solar-powered microbrewery; he/she’s the one who ordered “the hoppiest IPA you’ve got” and then paid for it through some app on their phone. No, tablet…because they probably brought in a tablet. Or if your job is in upper management, you may have seen one during the interview process; they’re the one who asked “how many years until I make VP?” and “define ’40 hour’ work week”, emails you directly with their pedantic thoughts on ‘personal development’, and then quit 16 months in to go take a job with a start-up.
This group used to be cutely referred to as Generation Y…like, “those darn kids” with a rueful smile and shake of your head. This refers to the generation of people born roughly between 1980-2000 (or 2002, depending on your source material). I refer to a Goldman-Sachs report published last year, and a fantastic article by Joel Stein in TIME (http://time.com/247/millennials-the-me-me-me-generation/). But now those hipster little upstarts number 92 MILLION Americans—the largest in history—and represent the largest financial leverage of any demographic. And for that, they got a new designation…”Millennials”. Just the sound of it comes with a ‘fun.’ song in the background. According to Goldman-Sachs, 44% of these dreamers in skinny jeans use text as their preferred/main form of communication. Experiment: If you know one, call them. They will not answer. Most of the ones I know break out in the meat sweats at just the thought of having to call and talk to a stranger. Hot pockets and basement jokes aside, just under 30% of this entire group still live at home with their parents. They are the most in debt generation in history, with less income to spend, and predictably the old-timers hate them. Millennials shun the traditional workplace, don’t embrace owning large assets, and are much slower to “settle down” domestically. They are basically the Antichrist disguised as Panic! At the Disco. But people in glass Elvis Pressley’s should not throw Elvis Pressley’s. Millennials are also the most socially accepting, heath & fitness oriented, and environmentally friendly generation in history. They are digital natives, they are social and connected, and they are less functionally “rebellious”. They are innovative. They are savvy consumers. To say nothing of the fact that the largest percentage of that debt they carry is from our insanely out of whack collegiate loan expense (a rant for another time). Millennials include such financial icons as Evan Spiegel, Mark Zuckerberg, Beyoncé, and LeBron James. They are narcissistic, entitled, self-promoting, and annoying as hell (not to mention they birthed “YouTube personalities”). They are tech-reliant to the point of crippling some social/emotional development. But they are changing the world for the better. Now get off my lawn you damn Millennials, and take your fancy tablet with you.
*’The Nic of Time’ is produced by Geek Cast Live, as a topical de jour to inform and entertain. It is not intended to treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Feel free to submit your fave outlandish topic, and we’ll do our best to make it sound interesting
The return of GCR brings about a Do/Review that doesn’t fully materialize. Instead banter happens right up until the return of David Ewalt! We talk with him about Stranger Things season 2 and decide that he is in fact the King of the Geeks.
Shout Out To Our Patreon Supporters! Every penny brings us one step closer to destroying the moon. ASAP from NY, Dan the Man from Chicago, Vikram aka Addam aka Lil’ Squire from the Hood from Narnia, and Gomez, son of Gomez, from Chicago , Flashy Brett Javier from MoonBase Alpha, and Tim.
When it comes to America’s latest and most fervent {guilty?} pleasure, there are basically two camps: hardcore ‘book enthusiasts’, and show-only mouth breathers. You know what I’m talking about. And if you don’t, you are one of those 3%-ers of American adults who shun popular culture just to be difficult. Chances are you own a Smart car, drink Michelob Ultra, and voted for Jill Stein. But we digress.
No matter your camp, chances are you are at least mildly ‘irritated’ with the brain trust of our little cult; George R.R. Martin. Who am I to question the creative process of a literary genius, but WTSF George? This isn’t quite Star Wars yet, and momentum matters. I’m admittedly selfish; I love this stuff and I need the satisfaction of finality. Our hero is now 15 months over deadline for ‘Winds of Winter’, and that’s with another book to follow to conclude the saga. And since it doesn’t appear that P90X or a salad are parts of George’s ‘creative process’, it’s not just a given that we can wait this thing out. I get that his editors are held hostage to his cash cow genius, but that doesn’t mean we laypersons can’t ask the tough questions. Do you want ‘A Dream of Spring’ patched together by Pauly R.R. Martin and a team of flunkies—or whatever the hell happened with the rest of the Tolkien catalog? And if the HBO show writers post-Dance of Dragons script are any indicator, awkward flop sweat ensues and ‘Dorne happens’. Incidentally ‘Dorne happens’ is a bumper sticker I would buy.
Perhaps we are all smitten by the venerable George’s Santa-with-an-odd-Nautical fetish appearance, but damn it all already. As my grandma would say, at a certain point one must defecate or exit the commode. Whatever Arya-arc twist or six-syllable pronoun you are wringing your hands over, it doesn’t change the fact that Jon and Dany are going to get it on. And that tens of millions will consume it. So let’s get it on. I’ve got $24.99 burning a hole in my pocket and a long flight to San Francisco to kill. *’The Nic of Time’ is produced by Geek Cast Live, as a topical de jour to inform and entertain. It is not intended to treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Feel free to submit your fave outlandish topic, and we’ll do our best to make it sound interesting
After sacrificing Ry to the Lovecraftian podcast elder gods, the rest of the Geek Cast crew come together to review the latest in Geek. Discussions are had about Netflix’s “Series of Unfortunate Events,” more podcasts Nic like, and Joe tries to teach us the difference between a fox and a hen. Spoilers, they aren’t the same animal in different stages of it’s life cycle. Now we know, and that’s, like, half the battle or something.
Shout Out To Our Patreon Supporters! Every penny brings us one step closer to destroying the moon. ASAP from NY, Dan the Man from Chicago, Vikram aka Addam aka Lil’ Squire from the Hood from Narnia, and Gomez, son of Gomez, from Chicago , Flashy Brett Javier from MoonBase Alpha, and Tim.
Eggs are bad for you. Eggs are good for you. Swap out the red meat for fish; wait there might be a mercury issue. Marijuana is the evil gateway drug.
Now hit the bong for your glaucoma/anxiety/Tourette’s. It’s the confusing flow of medical and health advice that has come to be a part of American culture. To say nothing of the bloated bureaucratic mercenary outfit that is the FDA. But if you want to find a case where the message was clear, and not even the FDA could bungle it: Olestra was a really fugly idea. Wait, what’s Olestra you ask? If you weren’t eating solid foods yet in the late 90’s…well, fortune favors the young.
The byproduct of accidental lab work by two Proctor & Gamble stooges named Matteson and Volpenhein in 1968, and jealousy of Kellog’s claiming their fibrous cereals could diminish risk of cancer. Throw in some capital greed and public health low-fat fear mongering, and by 1996 you get Olestra as an ingredient on shelves everywhere as a fat-substitute. By 1999 it was used in hundreds of P&G products, with sales topping $400 million. What could be wrong with a fat free, cholesterol-free cooking supplement created in a lab you ask? As with so many sugar-free/low fat/”heathy” food fads, folks think they can just eat as much of that product as they want. You know, because it’s healthier. Buuuuut as the tiny disclaimer on every can of Fat-Free Pringles predicted, “This Product Contains Olestra. Olestra may cause abdominalcramping and loose stools (anal leakage)”. WTSF? Hidden culinary easter eggs are only fun if they win you a free trip to a certain mythical chocolate factory. But if mom has jumped on the low-fat bandwagon, and if they’re the only chips in the house….
If you’ve never enjoyed a bout of anal leakage, let your imagination run wild. Now double it. They even tried to doll it up by branding it ‘Olean’. Get it, “lean”? Only the getting lean isn’t from cutting calories or eliminating fat. It’s from the water weight out of your anus. And the chips tasted like salted dick wafers to boot. So if you’ve been suppressing a memory (or are suddenly having Vietnam-style flashbacks upon reading this) of an all-night D&D session in someone’s basement circa 1998, where you and/or every member of your quest were befouling the air, cramping up, and wrecking the shitter, well…now you know. It was the naughty-chips. And I’m not above enjoying some gastrointestinal chicanery, either in the name of game-night humor or for the greater good of humanity. But nobody asked if we wanted this, and it certainly wasn’t vetted properly. And like so many botched plans, Olean is just swept under the dirty rug of history. Olean products went virtually out of existence by 2013. Forgive, never forget.
In case you think this is critical hyperbole, a couple parting facts: as of this writing P&G is marketing its Olestra products under the brand “Sefose” for use as an industrial lubricant and paint additive. Oh, and Olestra is banned from sale in Canada and the European Union.
*’The Nic of Time’ is produced by Geek Cast Live, as a topical de jour to inform and entertain. It is not intended to treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Feel free to submit your fave outlandish topic, and we’ll do our best to make it sound interesting.