The Antimatter Hour

We're all familiar with restaurants, they're where you go to spend a bundle on food you can't be bothered to make at home, but what is it that truly identifies a restaurant? There are fine dining restaurants and fast food restaurants, themed restaurants and generic restaurants, franchise restaurants and little mom-and-pop style restaurants. The list goes on and on, in fact, here are some more. You've got cafes, pizzerias, food trucks, diners, coffee shops, cafeterias, pubs, automats, bakeries, ghost kitchens, buffets, pop-ups, bistros... wait what was my point again? Oh yeah, restaurants are neat so listen to us talk about some of them.

Where was the sport of bowling invented? Most people think it was aliens who unleashed this distraction upon the world in preparation for an invasion. However, has anybody investigated the possibility that it was actually developed in the city of Sheboygan, Wisconsin, USA? Some might think that a town with the nickname "Malibu of the Midwest" would be better known for its surfing culture or is that just a front for something more sinister? In this episode we tactfully dodge that question and talk about weirder things.

We all know the story of Chicken Little who ran around screaming that the sky was falling. Apparently the moral of that story is to have courage even in the face of cataclysmic disaster. Well I say that's a load of nonsense! If you think the sky is falling then what better time is there to experience sheer and utter terror? I mean, it's the sky after all. It's kind of a big deal. I guess what I'm really trying to say is that it's raining in our neck of the woods and maybe that too is reason enough for a bit of terror?

Ah yes, the sweet combination of chocolate and blood. You know it well don't you? Sure you do! That deep, dark color. The heady notes reminiscent of rich mahogany. The weighty feel of a quality drink in your hands. What's that? It's not blood? It's not even chocolate? Really? You're telling me that this is an imperial barrel-aged beer and not a drink made from the blood of my enemies? Next you'll be telling me you're not real and I'm imagining this whole conversation. Ha ha ha ha! Oh how we laugh!

Let me just interrupt you at the last minute before you almost kill the big bad guy of the story. What's that? The big bad guy wants to say something to me that makes me want to kill them? Good thing you, in-turn, stopped me at the last minute from killing the big bad guy. Now the big bad guy is being held unsupervised in an improvised prison somewhere. I certainly hope the big bad guy doesn't escape during the middle of some unforeseen conflict. What's that? They did escape? What a surprise! Good thing we have the McGuffin the big bad guy was trying to steal this whole time. Yep, nothing could possibly go wrong!

Look, we've all had these type of fantasies. Some sort of heroic figure encounters another figure with an equally magnetic presence. The next thing you know all you can think about is these two intriguing characters interacting. What if they interacted in a way unscripted in whatever genre they're presented in? What if they wanted to interact in ways certain directors and/or actors don't seem to want them to interact in? What if only you know what's best for these characters and anything else simply isn't satisfying enough? Let your imaginations fly as you listen to us completely miss the point in this episode on stuff we've seen.

Are you getting on in years? Starting to feel pains in areas regularly? Feel like ranting about them for an hour or so? Well, not us! We're a trio of young and vibrant guys so you can be assured that when we express our opinions on things they're worth listening to. No rants here, that's for sure! Nothing but insightful commentary on the most current of current events going on here! As long as "current events" includes almost exclusively the latest in fantasy-oriented television viewing then you have nothing to complain about!

Has there ever been anything more divisive in human history than a fantastical work of fiction? Could there be any greater threat to the sanctity of human life than the portrayal of a fantasy world were elves lives thousands of years and little folk mind their own business, and dwarves dig in the ground all the time? Oh the horror! Whatever shall we do to save ourselves from this madness? Well talking about it over some beers was the first thing that came to us and so that's what we did. You're welcome!

Woah! What happened just now? Was that a two-year gap in the space-time continuum? Naw, couldn't be. It must have been something you did. Maybe there were other matters that consumed all of your time? Maybe you forgot that podcasts were a thing? Whatever the case, all is forgiven. Now where were we? Something about beer and movies and tv shows? That sounds about right? Here we go!

Blockchain! Cryptocurrency! Non-fungible tokens! The economy has never been more complicated thanks to all of these fancy new words. These days you can purchase a moment of an athlete's career like a kind of ethereal trading card. Listen to us dodge the philosophical considerations of owning a piece of someone's life and instead laugh at the word "fungible" several times.

There's snow on the ground and you know what that means? It means we're going to complain about it, that's what it means. Why can't snow stay in the mountains and on Christmas day where it belongs?

It's the football! With the running and the throwing and the plays and the scores and whatnot. And don't forget the commercials! What's that? You already have? Don't worry we'll recap a few of them for you because that's the sort of thing we do.

Few history books are willing to tell the tale of the Bubble Gum Wars, but they say that those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. As much as we'd like to forget those horrific times come with us as we reminisce about bubbles and some other stuff too.

The year 2020 is almost over! While none of us are sorry to see this year end there are still some highlights that we'd like to talk about. Join us as we end this year and prepare ourselves for the next one which has to be an improvement right? Right?

ATTENTION: This podcast is meant to be listened to while watching the 1990 movie Die Hard 2. We all know what the best holiday movie of all time is, but did you know that its sequel is pretty good too? Yes its time again to watch John McClane save the day in a violent and kind of festive way.

We've all been watching a lot of tv over the past few months. I mean A LOT of tv. What's the quintessential tv experience during these times? Can you even cope with things without watching the right shows?

ATTENTION: This podcast is meant to be listened to while watching the 2020 movie Borat Subsequent Moviefilm. Who's in the mood for a politically-charged, "real world", mockumentary comedy? Silly question, I mean who isn't?

ATTENTION: This podcast is meant to be listened to while watching the 2020 movie Hubie Halloween. There's a new Halloween movie to watch and Adam Sandler made it. Will it become a Halloween classic or a horrific dud? Watch it along with us and find out!

DC vs Marvel? Too many HBO services? Mystery beer? It's time for another crazy bunch of adventures with the Antimatter crew!

Woah! It sure has been a while since we recorded a podcast episode. I sure hope we don't encounter any technical difficulties due to each of us recording remotely in our own homes with our own hardware. What could possibly go wrong?

ATTENTION: This podcast is meant to be listened to while watching the 1989 movie Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. This comedic time travel adventure stars Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter, and George Carlin. Please listen along for when to start the movie yourself so that you can enjoy it with us! Here we go again with another movie party. This time we're watching Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure because... well do we really need a reason to watch such a classic comedy? Besides, with everything going on in the world its nice to distract ourselves with a movie featuring an optimistic vision for the future. If only we could all just be excellent to each other and party on dudes!

ATTENTION: This podcast is meant to be listened to while watching the 1985 movie Clue featuring (among others) the great Tim Curry. Please listen along for when to start the movie yourself so that you can enjoy it with us! This coronavirus pandemic has been going on for a while and frankly we're tired of not getting together to share our lives with the world. For our first fully remote podcast recording we decided to make things harder on ourselves by watching a movie together at the same time. We think we figured out most of the technical issues so watch along with us while we enjoy Clue and a terrific ensemble comedic cast. Oh, and introducing our friend Aaron who also enjoys a good comedy.

Intro song: Vehicle by Ides of March

Intro song: Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Is In) by Kenny Rogers and The First Edition

This week we're all about Picard. The man, the myth, the legend. We discuss his impact on the Star Trek universe, how he abandoned the ideals of Starfleet, and whether he gives a damn about children. If you're excited by the first Star Trek series to be set in a post Next Generation timeline then you really should have a listen. Make it so!

Sound investing is a good idea, but what about buying tickets for the latest Rage Against the Machine concert? What about other concerts happening nearby? What about buying the latest electric vehicle? Where should you invest your money? Well there's always beer. Beer is a common denominator.

What's the connection between learning how to drive and the latest lego-based show? Why Saturday Night Live sketches of course. That may not make much sense now, but after listening to our discussion I think you'll agree that it does indeed not make much sense.

The big sporting event has come and gone and the world keeps on turning. What does this world have to offer now? Well, Star Trek, of course! The new Picard show continues on The Next Generation and who doesn't want to learn what happens to the Federation and their most outspoken advocate?

Sports, sports, sports! America's greatest sporting event is happening soon so why wouldn't we talk about sports? Balls, fouls, stats, advertisements, wagers, everything about sports is apparently great! Despite all the intense sports action we manage to fit in some nerdy talk about Star Wars and Star Trek and beer. Wait, are there sports in Star Trek or Star Wars? Do people drink beer while watching them? Is this the best idea ever?

James has been on vacation, but he's back now so we can all resume focusing on what's important: Jeopardy, Goop, and a lack of active opium dens in the Portland area. While we're at it let's listen to James regale us about his recent running adventures at The Most Magical Place on Earth.

New Years is a great time to reflect upon one's life and resolve to achieve higher standards in the year to come. Maybe we should resolve to aim for a higher class of humor on this podcast and raise the bar for dialog and meaningful conversation. On the other hand that bar is big and hard and getting it up might be more than we can handle...

On New Years Eve as you party the night away with your fancy hats and your "2020" glasses and your obnoxious noise makers why not take a break from making resolutions that won't last a week to listen to the three of us look back on the year and ramble on about what happened in the past twelve months? Also we spend an inordinately large amount of time talking about various configurations of horse and soldier, as one does.

We could keep talking about Star Wars movies until the banthas come home, but there's an important tv series that needs our attention. The Mandalorian gave us a slower-paced and touching story with some new characters and locations to the Star Wars universe. It also gave us the cutest character ever created in Baby Yoda (aka: The Child). Eat your heart out Babu Frik!

There's been a lot of Star Wars happening recently and, of course, we need to add our two cents into the conversation. In this first of a two-part episode we discuss Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker which was released in theaters recently. Do we love this wrapping up of a saga or do we mourn the loss of what could have been? Listen in to find out!

Many of us enjoy watching a nice Christmas movie this time of year and what better Christmas movie can there be other than Die Hard? Tell that to Joash who has managed to never see Die Hard despite it being released over 30 years ago. Don't worry, we've remedied the situation, so pull up a chair and listen to us discuss the quintessential Christmas movie.

With the holidays fast approaching we must discuss random 80's movies and the finer points of streaming services. I guess we can quickly mention the recent holiday ale festival, but seriously, these streaming services won't discuss themselves.

The Mandalorian is still the hot new show and there's lots of other Star Wars to discuss as well. But first, have you ever had a difficult time dealing with car repairs or getting your cable tv setup? Well, we've got some advice for you. You can trust us because we're drinking fancy beer.

Jesse waxes nostalgic about his childhood Thanksgivings, James criticizes the Star Wars universe, and Joash has to take a dump. All this and more on tonight's episode!

We don't always look to organized beer-based events for our socializing. Sometimes, we throw our own parties. Yes, of course there's beer available at such parties, but there are games as well. Listen to James talk about his recent party before we regress into discussing television and other things.

October has been a busy month for us and so we need to sit down and reminisce about what's happened over the last few weeks. Or maybe we could talk about the current shows we're watching. Oh, and Halloween is coming up soon so we could talk about that too. Its all good!

Have you heard of an early 80's movie featuring Henry Winkler, Michael Keaton, and Shelley Long directed by Ron Howard and featuring music from Burt Bacharach and Rod Stewart? Well until recently neither had we. We're not sure how this movie escaped our notice for so long, but we've just watched it for the first time and we're ready to discuss this hidden gem.

As Autumn begins and the weather begins to cool what can help ease the transition toward the end of the year? Why, an unlimited supply of pasta of course! If carbs aren't to your liking do not fret as we have plenty of other topics to discuss this week and only some of them involve beer.

The Good Place is a funny show and worthy of a themed trivia night. We've been binging episodes for the past few days and so many quotes from the show on our minds. See how many we blurt out while talking about beer and basketball on tonight's episode!

We all had a great night on the town over the weekend so let us tell you about it! Also, what's that I smell in the air? Is that a whiff of Oktoberfest I detect? Better start talking about our plans for one of the best times of the year for beer lovers.

You can't attend a Weird Al concert without talking about it afterwards. At least, James can't. While he gushes about his favorite musician Joash talks about board games and Jesse talks Rick and Morty.

Are you a yuppie yacht owner who enjoys some smooth music while sailing around the bay? Well we're discussing the music genre for you! We also talk about some other music topics that may or may not be for you.

Lots of beer festivals are happening this time of year, but what is with all the cider? Is this part of some conspiracy to draw attention away from the struggling beer industry? We'd better drink more beer just to be safe.

We admire each others' steins while discussing crazy wrestling moves and home brewing equipment.

We all like beer so lets all talk about beer! We like beer so much we painted our own steins! It's safe to say this is a beer-centric episode.

Isn't VR great? I don't know, but it sure seems like it. What's the name of that one game again? Oh well, I'm sure we'll figure it out. Also, there's a ton of beer events coming up so we'd better talk about them.

There's some pretty great shows out there, but could they be better? We discuss at least one method by which shows can be improved. Also, wouldn't it be fun to checkout the definitions of our names in Urban Dictionary? Let's hope so.