Podcasts about super mario brothers

How confident are you when your test suite goes green? If you're honest, probably not 100% confident - because most bugs come from scenarios we never thought to test. Traditional testing only catches the problems we anticipate, but the 3am pager alerts? Those come from the unexpected interactions, timing issues, and edge cases we never imagined.In this episode, Will Wilson from Antithesis takes us deep into the world of autonomous testing. They've built a deterministic hypervisor that can simulate entire distributed systems - complete with fake AWS services - and intelligently explore millions of possible states to find bugs before production. Think property-based testing, but for your entire infrastructure stack. The approach is so thorough they've even used it to find glitches in Super Mario Brothers (seriously).We explore how deterministic simulation works at the hypervisor level, why traditional integration tests are fundamentally limited, and how you can write maintainable tests that actually find the bugs that matter. If you've ever wished you could test "what happens when everything that can go wrong does go wrong," this conversation shows you how that's finally becoming possible.---Support Developer Voices on Patreon: https://patreon.com/DeveloperVoicesSupport Developer Voices on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DeveloperVoices/joinAntithesis: https://antithesis.com/Antithesis testing with Super Mario: https://antithesis.com/blog/sdtalk/...and with Metroid: https://antithesis.com/blog/2025/metroid/MongoDB: https://www.mongodb.com/etcd (Linux Foundation): https://etcd.io/Facebook Hermit: https://github.com/facebookexperimental/hermitRR (Record-Replay Debugger): https://rr-project.org/T-SAN (Thread Sanitizer): https://clang.llvm.org/docs/ThreadSanitizer.htmlToby Bell's Strange Loop Talk on JPL Testing: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=toby+bell+strange+loop+jplAndy Weir - Project Hail Mary: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54493401-project-hail-maryAndy Weir - The Martian: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18007564-the-martianAntithesis Blog (Nintendo Games Testing): https://antithesis.com/blog/Kris on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/krisajenkins.bsky.socialKris on Mastodon: http://mastodon.social/@krisajenkinsKris on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/krisjenkins/

Patrick McKenzie (patio11) is joined by Will Wilson, CEO of Antithesis, to discuss the evolution of software testing from traditional approaches to cutting-edge deterministic simulation. Will explains how his team built technology that creates "time machines" for distributed systems, enabling developers to find and debug complex failures that would be nearly impossible to reproduce in traditional testing environments. They explore how this approach scales from finding novel bugs in Super Mario Brothers to ensuring the reliability of critical financial and infrastructure systems, and discuss the implications for a future where AI writes increasingly more code.–Full transcript available here: www.complexsystemspodcast.com/software-testing-with-will-wilson/–Sponsor: This episode is brought to you by Mercury, the fintech trusted by 200K+ companies — from first milestones to running complex systems. Mercury offers banking that truly understands startups and scales with them. Start today at Mercury.com Mercury is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services provided by Choice Financial Group, Column N.A., and Evolve Bank & Trust; Members FDIC.–Recommended in this episode:Antithesis: https://antithesis.com/––Timestamps:(00:00) Intro(01:23) Database scaling and the CAP theorem(08:13) Abstraction layers and hardware reality(15:28) The problem with traditional testing(19:43) Sponsor: Mercury(23:16) The fuzzing revolution(30:35) Deterministic simulation testing(42:36) Real-world testing strategies(47:22) Introducing Antithesis(59:23) The CrowdStrike example(01:01:15) Finding bugs in Mario(01:07:37) Property-based vs conventional testing(01:09:51) The future of AI-assisted development(01:14:51) Wrap

Introduction: When my Father and I are in a good place… (Matthew 7:7–12) I ASK, knowing my Father's GENEROSITY. (Matt 7:7–8) James 4:2c – […] You do not have, because you do not ask. James 4:2c–3 – […] You do not have, because you do not ask. [3] You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. I TRUST, knowing my Father's CARE. (Matt 7:9–11) I LOVE, knowing my Father's LOVE. (Matt 7:12) Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANKHint: Highlight blanks above for answers! Small Group DiscussionRead Matthew 7:7-12What was your big take-away from this passage / message?What are you personally afraid to ask the Father right now?Share a time when you were disappointed in the moment, but now look back and praise God for not giving you what you wanted.What is your biggest challenge in treating others as you want to be treated?BreakoutPray for one another. AUDIO TRANSCRIPT Good morning.My name is Justin Cady. If we haven't met yet, I serve as one of the elders here at Harvest andas we prepare to get into God's word, I'm going to ask that you would pray for me toclearly and accurately communicate and I will pray for you to have hearts to receive. So let's pray.In Jesus' name, amen.If you have your Bibles, you can open them to Matthew chapter 7 andwe're continuing our journey this year through the Sermon on the Mount, but before we get there, I want to ask you.Can you remember a situation ever where you needed to call your dad for help?I'm blessed that by God's grace, I've always been able to go to my dad when I'm in a jam and in God's providence,He blessed my dad with a son who often got into jams.So I thought back, way back, to the first jam that I can remember. I was around five years old.I was playing Nintendo and I made it to the end of a Super Mario Brothers castle, but I couldn't defeat the boss.So I thought, I'll just ask my dad.But he was at work, so I paused the game andI closed the cabinet over the TV. In the 90s, we all put our TVs behind doors, right?And I thought what I was just going to leave it on all day and then when he got home, he could help me.But my mom found it. She didn't agree with my leave the TV on all day plan.So, but I know given the chance, I have complete confidence he would have delivered.Another jam later in life when I was a teenager with a driver's license.One year, we were just getting back from family vacation that very evening.And some of my friends were getting together for a back-to-school pool party.And my parents try to tell me, look, it's getting late, you're only going to be there for a little bit.Are you sure it's a good idea to go out there?But of course, I had to go.Now, not only am I old enough that I was playing the original Nintendo,I'm also old enough to have been operating a motor vehicle before the age of Google Maps.So as I was heading out to this party, I got lost.And while doing a three-point turn on some random street out in Murraysville, I slid my car over the curb.So I had to call my dad, who that day had packed us all up and drove us all home from the beachand explained that my car is now hanging halfway over the curb, stuck into somebody's downslope driveway.Dad, what do I do?Has anyone ever had to make a call like that?Or dads, have you ever received a call like that?At another decade or so, and I had to call my dad about a different car problem.Michelle and I were buying our first cars, a married couple, and I, knowing absolutely nothing about cars,I was totally panicked that we were going to buy a lemon or we're going to way overpay,or who knows what I'm going to get fleeced into.So in my panic, I called my dad.And I said, "Dad, could you come with me to negotiate on the car?"And he could have rightfully said, "You're on your own, son."But he came to help.And don't worry, that was a very long time ago, and since then I've purchased my vehicles all by myself.But I share those few examples to point out the reason that I always saw my dad's helpand the reason that he always gave it to me.Our relationship.The reason is our relationship.He is my father and I am his son.And my dad and I have always been in a good place.And I realize how blessed I am to be able to say that.And because of that relationship, I could always and did always ask my dad for whatever help I needed.I called to ask him for help yesterday.But for the moment, I want us to shift our view from earthly fathers to our relationship with our heavenly father.The Bible tells us that believers can address God as father because through Jesus we become children of God, amen?But if we didn't talk to our heavenly father for years, would our relationship be the same?And I'm not talking about a salvation issue.Once you are his child, that's that.I'm just saying, if you never spend time together or you never ask him for help, or you never trust anything he said,or you never listened to anything he tells you to do, what would that say about your relationship?You wouldn't say it's great, right?In that regard, how is your relationship with your heavenly father?Would you say that you're in a good place?Now, careful listeners this month might be wondering, our series the past few weeks has been about our heart towards the world.So in the last couple weeks we've talked about money, worry, judging others.What does my relationship with my father or asking of my father, what does that have to do with my heart towards the world?Well, it might seem like Jesus is taking a sudden turn at the start of this passage,but we're going to see how your relationship with your heavenly father, it absolutely affectsyour relationship and how you also ask him and approach him when you're in a jam.It absolutely affects your relationships with other people.So on your outline today, when my father and I are in a good place,number one, I ask, knowing my father's generosity.So in Pastor Jeff Sermon last week, if you were here, you know we saw a lot.We saw twigs and logs. We saw hogs and dogs.But primarily we saw Jesus telling us, do not do these things.This week we're going to see him telling us, do these things.And the week before last we studied Jesus speaking of the father's provision.If you remember him talking, Jesus talking about feeding the birds and clothing the flowers.We'll see some parallels to that today, but well, that section of Jesus teaching focused on worry.This passage starts out with a different focus. It's an invitation.So Matthew seven starting in verse seven, Jesus says, ask and it will be given to you.Seek and you will find knock and it will be open to you for everyone who asks receives and the one who seeks finds and to the one who knocks, it will be opened.Let's stop there.We see in verse seven, Jesus is inviting his followers to ask and we'll see in the following verses.He's talking about asking the father. So ask, seek, knock. All of these are referring to asking the father in prayer, asking continually according to the original language.And the repetition here emphasizes, we're not talking about half hearted by the way prayers.We're talking about passionate, all of me prayer.But you might be thinking, why does Jesus even tell us to ask?Because doesn't God already know what we need even before we ask him?And yes, he absolutely knows Matthew six, eight tells us that.But our heavenly father desires relationship.And here Jesus invites us into the same relationship he has with the father.Throughout Jesus ministry, we see him asking of the father, don't we?And again, through Jesus, we become children of God.And while inviting his followers to ask their father, Jesus gives encouragement that those who ask what receive verse eight for everyone who asks receives the one who seeks.Finds the one who knocks, it will be opened.But what does Jesus mean by that exactly?Because that might sound like Jesus is handing us a blank check, right?Ask for anything and it shows up like a supernatural prime day.And listen, sometimes it is like that. Amen.Sometimes God shows up and immediately answers prayer, just how we asked.And we stand there with our jaws on the floor like, what just happened?I've seen that as a church. We have seen that.But have you ever asked God for something and not received it?Or at least not yet.Yeah, that happens too.But if Jesus said everyone who asks receives, why does that happen?Now, we could spend a lot of time digging into that.Honestly, it's something we cannot fully understand this side of heaven.But scripture does give us some reasons that we do know.So why don't I get what I asked for?Number one, I don't ask.I don't ask.James four.Starting in verse two, the end of verse two tells us you do not have because you do not ask.Now it could be because you get so busy with other stuff.You don't spend time in prayer seeking the Lord wholeheartedly bringing your request before him.Or this is a big one.Sometimes we don't ask because of pride.I got this God. I'll let you know if I need you.Now, we probably don't say those words, but our actions do.We try to do whatever it is on our own without prayer.We try to fix it ourselves, whatever it is without seeking him.I mean, why does Jesus even have to tell us to ask?Pride because in our pride, we forget our need for God.And not just physical or material needs.We forget our spiritual needs.A struggle with a particular sin or an area where we need to grow like in patience or in wisdom, in joy.What about asking the Lord to equip us for all of Jesus instructions in this sermon?I don't mean today's sermon. I mean the whole sermon on the Mount.Do we ask our Father to help us be better disciples?Now, to clarify, physical and material needs are important.100% ask for them.Don't mishear me on that. It's a both and.But for all of the above, we don't ask.Another reason that we don't ask, we're afraid of the answer.We don't ask because we're afraid of being disappointed.So what are you afraid to ask God for right now?A health issue you've been dealing with for a long time?A lost family member that keeps making destructive decisions no matter how many times you try to help.A goal or a desire or something in your life that always seems like it's just out of reach.Think about it for a second.What are you afraid to ask God for right now?Now, we're going to get more into disappointment in a moment, but how would Jesus respond to you not asking out of fear?Based on this passage, he would say, ask whatever it is, bring it to your father.Why don't I get what I asked for?Number one, I don't ask. Number two, I ask wrongly.James continues, you do not have because you do not ask.You ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly to spend it on your passions.Okay, so first you don't ask, but when you do ask, do you ask wrongly?Now, in this context, wrongly means selfishly or sinfully.Like, Father, I'm asking for a Ferrari.I am seeking a Ferrari.I am knocking on the door of the Ferrari dealership.Now, God is certainly capable of that, but why?Is there any purpose beyond my passions?I hope you see what I mean.There's nothing wrong with owning that whip.It's about the heart.Is my request just for my glory?Instead of asking things so we can impress people or keep up with people,we should pray for God to get the glory in all things.God, will you bring healing to this person so that your name may be glorifiedbecause you're doing the healing?God, will you provide a new church building so that your name may be glorifiedbecause you're doing the providing?God, will you free my brother and sister, brother or sister from addictionso that your name may be glorified because only in you can they experience true freedom?Now, I'm not trying to prescribe exact words.I'm just saying our hearts should desire his glory instead of our own.Why don't I get what I asked for?Those are just two reasons.The point is we interpret Jesus' words here knowing he's not a Christian.Knowing he's not fully explaining all the details of God's provision in this passage.We understand from the rest of the New Testament that God is not a vending machine.If this was the only teaching in the whole Bible on prayer, then we might think he was,but Jesus is talking about one aspect of prayer.He's telling us we should have hearts that go to our Father and ask.He is inviting us to ask, knowing that there's no limit to our Father's generosity.Our Father wants to give to his children,but the answer we receive is not always the one that we expected.Why don't I get what I asked for?The hard truth is sometimes what we ask for is not what he wants for us.Our call is to maintain total confidence in our Father regardless of the answer,because point number two on your outline today,when my Father and I are in a good place, I trust knowing my Father's care.Let's continue looking at Jesus' words.We're going to pick it up in verse nine.It says,So Jesus paints a picture to help us understand more deeply.And there are some details we don't want to miss.Like in verse nine,if his son asks him for bread, we'll give him a stone.If you're hungry, what good is a stone?It's worthless.It does nothing.Or if you're verse 10,if he asks for a fish, we'll give him a serpent.If you're hungry, what good is a serpent?It's worse than worthless.It's harmful, right?Jesus is saying, and I'm paraphrasing,even you evil humans know these responses would be insane.So how will your Father in heaven, who is truly good in a way we never can be,how will he respond when we ask him?And that's the point.We can trust our Father because of who he is.He is a Father who cares for his children.Back in college, my friend Jesse and I would play pick-up hockey at the school ice rink.And hockey being a sport with a ton of equipment,they had lockers at the rink that you could rentso you didn't have to lug all of your stuff back and forth.So one day I was sitting in class and I got a text message from Jessewith these exact words,"Give me your hockey locker combination.Don't question me."Now, in that moment, I had a choicebecause college age males sometimes build friendship through destructive pranks.But I chose to trust, and I sent back the combo.And he did not prank me that time.As I later found out, as a birthday present, he grabbed my skates,took them to get sharpened, retaped my stick, stuff like that.It was very nice.But the point is, I responded to that textwithout knowing why he needed to get in the lockeror what he was going to do.I didn't know what to expect.But because of our friendship, I trusted him.Do we trust God like that?Do we trust our Father not because he tells us exactly what's going to happen,but because of who he is?Because our relationship is in a good place.Or let me ask in a different way.What do you expect from God?At times, especially around hard times,I think we expect stones and serpents.Again, we might not say it like that.We say things like, "Of course it would happen this way!That's how it always works out for me!"And that's because our expectations can be influenced by relationships with people.We don't trust God to give good gifts because we've been hurt by human relationships.Human fathers are not perfect fathers.Human friends are not perfect friends.Trust gets broken.You might say, "Justin, you don't get my situation.My life has been full of disappointment.Things have not turned out how I expected at all."And you're right.I have not walked in your shoes.I don't know your situation.And I cannot speak to your disappointment.But I know my Father.And He tells us to ask and to expect good things from Him.Because He cares for us as a Father cares for His children.So will hard times come?Oh yeah.Jesus tells us that elsewhere.And you won't always understand why.But here He tells you to trust your Heavenly Father.Trust Him regardless of what you expect and regardless of what you ask for.Because sometimes we ask for the wrong things and that's okay.What do I mean?We ask God for that house or that job or that anything.And we can and should freely ask for all of that because praise God,He does not always give us what we ask for.If my kids ask me to have dessert for all three meals,I'm not going to give them what they asked for.And I do that because I care for them, right?In the same way we can't see sometimes what that house or that jobor that whatever it is will ultimately do to us, but He can.So we trust Him to give good gifts.And we don't have to worry even about getting our request exactly right.So continually ask and totally trust.I know just continually ask and totally trust.It is incredibly difficult for us to do that.But do you trust Him?Is your relationship with Him in a good place?Because now we're going to see how that relationship affects our relationships on Earth too.When my father and I are in a good place,point number three, I love knowing my father's love.So we've been talking again about our heart towards the Father,but what about our heart towards the world?Let's read our last verse for today, Matthew chapter seven verse 12.It says, "So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them,for this is the law and the prophets."Now we know this as what rule?That's right.This is commonly labeled the golden rule, just like Grandma taught in Sunday school.This is how Jesus wants us to love, humbling ourselvesand doing what we would wish to others.Now verse 12 opens with a "so"and I believe this is another instance of Jesus' logical progressionthat we've seen in the Sermon on the Mount.He is connecting this verse to the verses that we just read.But how does Ask Seek Knock connect to Do unto Others?Again, our relationship with our Father influences our relationships with people.Jot down 1 John 419, it says, "We love because he first loved us."Understanding the Father's love for us is what motivates us to love.Now Jesus is also here pointing back to the entire Sermon on the Mount as in,so based on all of that, love others this way.I mean think back throughout the year, back in the Beatitudes,remember when we had all the congratulations balloons up here,to anger, adultery, retaliation,and on and on, so much of our study this year was about our relationships with others.And that all lands here.Verse 12 again, "So whatever you wish that others would do to you,do also to them for this is the law and the prophets."This verse summarizes Jesus' teaching on discipleship from the Sermon on the Mount,but as if that wasn't enough, Jesus says this statement is the law and the prophets.Now many might notice that the greatest commandment,"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind,"is not here because again Jesus is speaking of human to human interaction.But even limiting it to the scope of human relationships,think about how much is in the Old Testament law,how much is in the books of the prophets that were sent to Israel.Jesus is saying all of that is right here.How?Jesus is talking about the heart of the law rather than the letter of the law.The golden rule is the law and the prophets for one because Jesus says it is.That's enough, right?But if we want to totally lawyer it out,Jesus is saying this is the heart behind everything else in the law.It's the foundation.This is the ethics of Christianity compressed to a single statement.So the question to us is then, how do we do that?And I know what we're all thinking, "I already do that.I always treat others the way that I want to be treated."Let's think about that for a minute.When you're at work, do you always treat everyone with the attitude that you would like directed back at you?What about marriage?When there's a disagreement, do you handle yourself the way that you would want when you are wrong and you will be wrong?What about with family or our friend who just pushes your buttons every time you're together?Would your response be what you wanted if the roles were flipped?In church, I saved this one for last.When you are driving a car,do you consistently treat others with the same patience, understanding,and a benefit of the doubt that you want to receive as a driver?You're like, "What is this guy's deal with cars?"With just a little self-examination, we can see how far off we often are.And the standard is actually even higher than we might realize,because especially with the people that frustrate us, we set the bar at not hurting them.But look at what Jesus said, "Whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them."That is a higher bar than just not hurting.Jesus says, "Do. Take action. Actively put their needs ahead of yours."That is hard.It's also hard to come up with examples for something that affects basically everything we do,but we want to merge into traffic when we're behind schedule, right?So let others in when you see them trying to merge.I promise that's the last driving example.Or what would you want when you're in a stressful season?A card in the mail, meeting for coffee, bringing a meal or a tub of ice cream?When you know that someone is going through a stressful season of their own,take whatever it is to them.Or we want others to listen to us when we have something to say or just get off our chest, don't we?So listen to others instead of just waiting for your chance to say something.It's so difficult to live out things like that.So how can we love like Jesus commands?A few years ago, we had some people over for dinner, just low-key hanging out,and we were cleaning up afterwards and I was doing the dishes.And one guest asked me, "Why do you do the dishes?"I said, "I don't know, I just do the dishes to help out."And he asked, "Did your dad do the dishes?"And I thought back and answered, "Yeah, my dad did the dishes quite a bit growing up. He still does."And this guest said, "You do the dishes because your dad did the dishes."And that whole conversation was 20 seconds, but it's stuck with me ever since, because he's right.There are so many things in my life that I do as a father, as a husband, as a man, because that's what my dad did.So how can we love like Jesus commands?Because that's what our dad did.He loves us, and he proved that by sending his son.Jesus paid the penalty for our sin and gave us the right to become children of God.Through his death and resurrection, we can have a relationship with our father.God's love for us is not in question, yet so often our love for others is.But when we truly know the love of our father, how can we do anything else?Or in the language of this verse, in our hearts, we wish nothing more than to be loved, so we must do that unto others.So as we prepare to close for today, how is your relationship with God the Father?Maybe you're thinking, what if he and I are not in a good place?What if I don't have a relationship with God at all?If that's you, remember, God desires relationship, and Jesus made that possible.The Bible says if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart, that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.So repent, turn from your sin, and start a relationship with him today.And if you already have a relationship, but it's not in a good place, open the lines of communication to get it there.Now of course we cannot do any of this on our own, so we ask, seek, knock for help.Actually, let's go in reverse.We know we have to love, and we can't do it by ourselves, so do you trust in the care of your heavenly Father?Then he invites you to ask him.Let's pray together.Our heavenly Father, we come before you and follow Jesus' command to ask.We ask you for help, Lord God.We know that all of the things that we talked about today that we read from your Word, we can't do on our own power.We need you, God.We need you for the very breath we breathe.So I pray, God, that you would give us a renewed focus on deepening our relationship with you, Lord God.And I pray that as we are filled with your love, we would pour that out to others.God, in all the things that we ask, in all the things that we do in our lives as individuals and that we do as a church, Lord God, may you be glorified.We thank you and praise you in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Moises Alou peed on his hands. That is this week's Baseball Fact! Chuck I. Cheese and the 'i' is for insulin. Super Mario Brothers mushroom pasta. You get it? Mario eats a mushroom and becomes demonic! From the game! Like, subscribe, follow @gabbingwithbabish on instagram, gabbingwithbabish.bsky.social on Bluesky, and electronically mail us @ gabbingwithbabish@gmail.com!

Each Week on The Best Idea Yet, Nick Martell and Jack Crivici-Kramer (hosts of the award-winning daily pop-business podcast, The Best One Yet aka TBOY) identify the most viral products of all time and reveal their untold origin stories — plus the bold risk-takers who brought them to life. From the Pokémon to LEGO, to Super Mario Brothers, learn how your favorite things got made. Follow The Best Idea Yet on the wherever you get your podcasts: Wondery.fm/TBIY_IPSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Resident Evil. Super Mario Brothers. The Last of Us. The Legend of Zelda. Grand Theft Auto.Video games have brought gamers some of the most creative and immersive universes. But what happens if "Joe" or "Jane" Doe is thrust into any one of these.In this episode, Teebs and KidPhoenix explore these video game universes and which ones they would choose to live in.Follow and subscribe to our YouTube page as well as our other social media pages⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!

We have a new podcast! Our new show is called Only 2 Movies, where we celebrate the death of media literacy by pretending we've never seen a movie before. We're bringing you the first episode of Only 2 Movies direct to your Adapt or Die feed. If you enjoy this episode, be sure to follow the Only 2 Movies feed for more! - tinyurl.com/o2mspotify Website: https://adaptordiepod.wixsite.com/only2movies Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/adaptordiepod Cover art by Jess Rubio. Music by Ben Kieda.

In this week's episode, I take a look at the movies and streaming shows I watched in Winter and Spring 2025. This week's coupon code will get you 25% off the ebook versions of my anthologies at my Payhip store: JUNE25 The coupon code is valid through June 17, 2025. So if you need a new ebook this summer, we've got you covered! TRANSCRIPT 00:00:00 Introduction and Writing Updates   Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 252 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is May 23rd, 2025, and today we are looking at the movies and streaming shows I watched in Winter and Spring 2025. We missed doing an episode last week for the simple reason that the day before I wanted to record, we had a bad thunderstorm that knocked down large portions of my fence, so my recording time was instead spent on emergency fence repair. However, the situation is under control, so hopefully we'll be back to weekly episodes for the immediate future. And now before we get to our main topics, let's have Coupon of the Week and then a progress update on my current writing projects.   So first up, Coupon of the Week. This week's coupon code will get you 25% off the ebook version of all my short story anthologies at my Payhip store and that is JUNE25. As always, the coupon code and links will be available in the show notes. This coupon code is valid through June the 17th, 2025, so if you need a new ebook for this summer, we have got you covered.   And now an update on my current writing projects. Ghost in the Corruption is finished. It is publishing right now. In fact, I paused the publishing process to record this and so by the time this episode goes live, hopefully Ghost in the Corruption should be available at all ebook stores. My next main project now that Ghost in the Corruption is done will be Shield of Power and as of this recording I am 15,000 words into it. My secondary projects will be Stealth and Spells Online: Final Quest and I'm 97,000 words into that, so hopefully that will come out very shortly after Shield of Power and I'll also be starting Ghost in the Siege, the final book in the Ghost Armor series as another secondary project and I'm currently zero words into that. So that is where I'm at with my current writing projects.   In audiobook news, Ghost in the Assembly (as excellently narrated by Hollis McCarthy) is now out and should be available at all the usual audiobook stores so you can listen to that if you are traveling for the summer. Recording of Shield of Battle (as excellently narrated by Brad Wills) is underway soon. I believe he's starting it this week, so hopefully we will have another audiobook in the Shield War series for you before too much longer. So that's where I'm at with my current writing projects.   00:02:17 Main Topic: Winter/Spring 2025 Movie Roundup   And now let's move on, without any further ado, to our main topic. Summer is almost upon us, which means it's time for my Winter/Spring 2025 Movie Roundup. As usual, the movies and streaming shows are listed in order for my least favorite to my most favorite. The grades are based upon my own thoughts and opinions and are therefore wholly subjective. With all of that said, let's get to the movies and our first entry is MacGruber, which came out in 2010 and in all honesty, this might be objectively the worst movie I have ever seen. The Saturday Night Live MacGruber sketches are a parody of the old MacGyver action show from the ‘80s. And so the movie is essentially the sketch stretched out to make a parody of an ‘80s action movie. It is aggressively dumb and crude. Its only redeeming feature is that the movie knows it's quite stupid and so leans into the stupidity hard. I'll say this in its favor, MacGruber has no pretensions that is a good movie and does not take itself seriously and then runs away hard with that fact. For that he gets a plus, but nothing else. Overall grade: F+   Next up is Down Periscope, which came out in 1996. Now the fundamental question of any movie is the one Russell Crowe shouted at the audience in Gladiator: “Are you not entertained?” Sadly, I was not entertained with Down Periscope. This wanted to be a parody of Cold War era submarine thrillers like The Hunt for Red October, I say wanted because it didn't really succeed. Kelsey Grammer plays Lieutenant Commander Thomas Dodge, an unorthodox US Navy officer who wants command of his own nuclear sub, but he's alienated a few admirals, which is not traditionally a path to career advancement in the military. Dodge gets his chance in a Navy wargame where he has to command a diesel sub against nuclear subs. Sometimes parodies are so good that they become an example of the thing they are parodying (Hot Fuzz and Star Trek: Lower Decks are excellent examples of this phenomenon). The trouble is that the movie takes itself too seriously and just isn't all that funny. A few funny bits, true, but not enough of them. In the end, this was dumb funny but didn't resonate with me the way other dumb funny movies like Dodgeball and Tropic Thunder did. Overall grade: D   Next up is Deadpool and Wolverine, which came out in 2024. Unlike Down Periscope, I was entertained with this movie, though both movies reside on the dumb funny spectrum. Deadpool and Wolverine is basically one long meta in-joke/love letter for the last 30 years of superhero movies. If you've seen enough of those movies, you'll find those movies funny, if occasionally rather tasteless. If you haven't seen enough of those movies, Deadpool and Wolverine will just be incomprehensible. The plot is that Wade Wilson AKA Deadpool gets pulled into some Marvel style multiverse nonsense. To save his universe from destruction, he needs to recruit a Wolverine since in his universe, Wolverine died heroically.   In the process, Deadpool stumbles across the worst Wolverine in the multiverse. Together they have to overcome their mutual dislike and attempt to save Deadpool's universe from destruction at the hands of a rogue branch of the Time Variance Authority. This means the movie can bring in a lot of cameos from past Marvel films. Hugh Jackman's performance really carries the movie on its back. Like I said, this movie is essentially one very long Marvel in-joke. I thought it was funny. I definitely think it can't stand on its own without having seen a sufficient number of the other Marvel movies. Overall grade: C   Our next movie is the Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, which came out in 2024. This is very loosely (with an emphasis on “very”) based on Operation Postmaster during World War II, when British Special Forces seized some Italian ships that had been supplying parts for German U-boats. It was entertaining to watch but it couldn't quite make up its mind tonally if it was a war thriller or a heist movie about Western desperados recruited into a crew. It kind of tried to do both at the same time, which killed the momentum. Like, the first parts of the movie where the protagonists take out a Nazi patrol boat and then free a prisoner from a base were good thriller stuff, but then the plot fused with the heist stuff and really slowed down through the middle forty percent or so. It was also oddly stylized with a lot of spaghetti western-style music that seemed out of place and some stuff just didn't make sense, like at the end after pulling off the mission, the protagonists were all arrested. That just seems bizarre since if anything, Winston Churchill and a lot of the British wartime leadership were enthusiastic about special operations and probably had too much confidence in the effectiveness of covert operations. So I did enjoy watching this, but I can see why it didn't make a lot of money at the box office. Overall Grade: C   Next up is The Gorge, which came out in 2025. This was a peculiar mix of science fiction, romance, and horror. For the romance part, perhaps shooting zombies together is a good idea for a first date. Before I dig into the movie, a brief rant. In one scene, a character is using a chainsaw with no protective gear whatsoever and she's not fighting zombies or anything in a situation where she has to pick up a chainsaw without preparing first. She's trimming branches to pass time. If you're using a chainsaw, at a minimum you want protective eyewear and headphones. Ideally you'd want chainsaw pants as well to reduce the chance of serious injury if you slip and swing the saw into your leg. Since I became a homeowner, I've used a chainsaw a number of times and believe me, you definitely want good eye and ear protection. This has been your public safety announcement for this movie review.   Anyway, loner former sniper Levi is approached by a high ranking intelligence officer giving him a mysterious job. He needs to guard a tower overlooking a mysterious mist-filled gorge for one year. On the other side of the gorge is another tower, guarded by an elite Lithuanian sniper named Drasa. Like Levi, Drasa has a fair bit of emotional damage and they're officially forbidden to communicate. However, they're both lonely and they soon start communicating over the gorge using telescopes and whiteboard messages. Eventually Levi gets emotionally close enough to Drasa to rig a zipline to cross the gorge and speak with her in person.   Unfortunately, it turns out the gorge is full of twisted creatures that storm out and attack and the job of the two snipers is to keep them contained. If Levi and Drasa want to save their lives, they'll need to unravel the dark secret within the gorge. This movie was interesting and I enjoyed watching it, but it falls apart if you think about it too much (or at all). Like the chainsaw thing I ranted about above. The entire movie runs on that sort of logic. That said, I appreciate how the filmmakers were trying something new instead of something like Deadpool and Wolverine. Additionally, this was an Apple+ movie and it's interesting how Apple's approach to streaming is to just make a whole bunch of random stuff that's totally distinct, from Ted Lasso to Mythic Quest to Severance to The Gorge. It's like, “we have more money than most countries, so we're going to make Ted Lasso because we feel like it.” Then again, Apple+ is apparently losing a billion dollars every year, so maybe they'll eventually change their minds about that approach. Overall Grade: B-   Next up is Click, which came out in 2006. Cross It's a Wonderful Life with A Christmas Carol and the comedic style of Adam Sandler and you end up with Click. Basically Sandler plays Michael Newman, a workaholic architect with a demanding boss and increasingly strained relationship with his wife and children due to his workload. In a fit of exasperation with his situation, he goes to Bed Bath and Beyond, where he encounters an eccentric employee named Morty (played entertainingly by Christopher Walken). Morty gives him a remote control that lets him fast forward through time, which Michael then uses to skip the boring and tedious parts of his life, but he overuses the remote and goes too far into the future and sees the disastrous results of his current life choices. Definitely a story used in A Christmas Carol and It's a Wonderful Life but effectively told and I was entertained (rather on the crude side, though). Overall Grade: B- Next up is Mr. Deeds, which came out in 2002. This was actually one of Adam Sandler's better movies, in my opinion. It was a remake of the ‘30s movie Mr. Deeds Goes To Town. In this new version, Sandler plays Longfellow Deeds, a popular pizzeria owner in a small New Hampshire town. Unbeknownst to Deeds, his uncle is the owner of a major media mega corporation and when he dies, Deeds is his legal heir. When the company's CEO and chief lawyer arrive at the pizzeria to inform him of this fact, Deeds goes to New York and soon finds himself involved in the CEO's sinister machinations. Yet he happens to rescue an attractive woman from a mugger, but there is more to her than meets the eye. The movie was funny and not as crude, well, not quite as crude as some of Sandler's other stuff. It had good story structure and several great lines, my favorite of which was “he was weak and cowardly and wore far too much cologne.”   Sandler's movies, in a strange way, are often very medieval. Like various medieval fables had a savvy peasant outwitting pompous lords, greedy merchants, and corrupt clergymen. The best Adam Sandler protagonist tends to be a good natured everyman who defeats the modern equivalent of medieval authority figures- evil CEOs, arrogant star athletes, sinister bureaucrats and so forth. Overall Grade: B     Next up is House of David, which came out in 2025 and this is basically the story of King David from the Bible told in the format of an epic fantasy TV series. Like if someone wanted to do an epic fantasy series about Conan the Barbarian, it could follow the same stylistic format as this show. And of course Conan and David followed a similar path from adventurer to king. Anyway, if one were to pick a part of the Bible from which to make a movie or TV series, the story of David would be an excellent choice because David's life was so dramatic that it would hardly require any embellishments in the adaptation. The story is in the Books of First and Second Samuel. King Saul is ruling over the Israelites around 1000 BC or so, but has grown arrogant. Consequently, God instructs the prophet Samuel to inform Saul that the kingdom will be taken away from him and given to another. God then dispatches Samuel to anoint David as the new king of Israel. David is a humble shepherd but then enters Saul's service and undertakes feats of daring, starting with defeating the giant Goliath and leading Saul's troops to victory and battle against Israel's numerous enemies. (The Iron Age Middle East was even less peaceful than it is now.) Eventually, Saul's paranoia and madness gets the best of him and he turns on David, who flees into exile. After Saul and his sons are killed in battle with the Philistines. David returns and becomes the acknowledged king after a short civil war with Saul's surviving sons and followers.   If Saul's fatal flaw was his arrogance of pride, David's seems to have been women. While the story of David and Bathsheba is well known, David nonetheless had eight wives (most of them at the same time) and an unknown but undoubtedly large number of concubines. Naturally David's children from his various wives and concubines did not get along and David was almost deposed due to the conflicts between his children. Unlike Saul and later David's son Solomon, David was willing to repent when a prophet of God informed him of wrongdoing and to be fair to David, monogamy was generally not practiced among Early Iron Age Middle Eastern monarchies and dynastic struggles between brothers from different mothers to seize their father's kingdoms were quite common, but enough historical digression.   Back to the show, which covered David's life up to the death of Goliath. I thought it was quite well done. Good performances, good cinematography, excellent battles, good set design and costuming, and a strong soundtrack. All the actors were good, but I really think the standout performances were Stephen Lang as Samuel, Ali Sulaman is King Saul, Ayelet Zurer as Saul's wife Queen Ahinoam, and Davood Ghadami as David's jerkish (but exasperated and well-intentioned) eldest brother Eliab. Martyn Ford just looks extremely formidable as Goliath. You definitely believe no one in their right mind want to fight this guy.   Making fiction of any kind based on sacred religious texts is often tricky because no matter what you do, someone's going to get mad at you. The show has an extensive disclaimer at the beginning of each episode saying that it is fiction inspired by the Bible. That said, House of David doesn't really alter or deviate from the Biblical account, though it expands upon some things for the sake of storytelling. Queen Ahinoam is only mentioned once in the Bible as the wife of Saul, but she has an expanded role in the show and is shown as the one who essentially introduces Saul to the Witch of Endor. Goliath also gets backstory as one of the “Anakim,” a race of giants that lived in Canaan in ancient times, which is something that is only mentioned in passing in the Old Testament. Overall, I enjoyed the show and I hope it gets a second season.   What's interesting, from a larger perspective, is to see how the wheel of history keeps turning. In the 1950s and the 1960s, Biblical epics were a major film genre. The 10 Commandments and Ben Hur with Charlton Heston are probably the ones best remembered today. Eventually, the genre just sort of ran out of gas, much the way superhero movies were in vogue for about 20 years and began running out of steam around 2023 or so. Like, I enjoyed Thunderbolts (which we're going to talk about in a little bit), but it's not going to make a billion dollars the way Marvel stuff often did in the 2010s. The wheel just keeps turning and perhaps has come back around to the popularity of Biblical epics once more. Overall Grade: A   Next up is Chef, which came out in 2014. I actually saw this back in 2021, but I watched it again recently to refresh my memory and here are my thoughts. I quite liked it. It's about a chef named Carl Casper, who's increasingly unhappy with his work after he gets fired over a Twitter war with a writer who criticized his cooking. Carl is out of options and so he starts a food truck and has to both rediscover his love of cooking and reconnect with his ex-wife and 10-year-old son. In Storytelling: How to Write a Novel (my book about writing), I talked about different kinds of conflict. Carl's conflict is an excellent example of an entirely internal conflict. The critic is an external enemy, but he's basically the inciting incident.   Carl's real enemy is his own internal conflict about art versus commerce and a strained relationship with his son. I recommend the movie. It was rated R for bad language, but there's no nudity or explicit sexual content and honestly, if you've ever worked in a restaurant kitchen or a warehouse, you've heard much worse in terms of language. The movie also has an extremely valuable lesson: stay off social media when you're angry. Overall Grade: A     Next up is Thunderbolts, which came out in 2025 and I thought this was pretty good, both very dark and yet with quite a lot of humor to balance the darkness. Former assassin Yelena Belova has been working as a mercenary for the sinister director of the CIA, Valentina de Fontaine (now there's a villain name if there ever was one). Yelena has grown disillusioned with her life and career and is suffering from increasing depression since she never really dealt with the death of her sister. Valentina promises her one last job, only for Yelena to realize that Valentina decided to dispose of all her freelance contractors at once, which includes US Agent and Ghost (previously seen in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Antman and the Wasp). In the process of escaping Valentina's trap, Yelena stumbles across a mysterious man who identifies himself as Bob, who has no memory of how he got there, but shows increasingly unusual abilities. Yelena wants to deal with Valentina's betrayal, but it turns out one of Valentina's science projects has gotten out of control and is threatening the world. The movie was well constructed enough that it didn't rely too heavily on previous Marvel continuity. It was there, but you probably wouldn't be lost without it. It almost feels like Marvel looked at the stuff they did the last couple of years and said, okay, a lot of this didn't work, but makes great raw material for new things. It helped that the central conflict was in the end, very human and about the characters, not stopping a generic villain from getting a generic doomsday device. Overall Grade: A   Next up is The Hound of the Baskervilles, which came out in 1988. This is a movie length episode of The Return of Sherlock Holmes television series, which had Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes and Edward Hardwicke as Dr. Watson. The plot deals with Sir Henry Baskerville, the American heir to an English manor set in the Windswept moors of Dartmoor. Apparently there's an ancestral curse laid over the Baskerville estate that manifests in the form of a spectral hound. Local rumors hold that the previous holder of the manor, Sir Charles Baskerville, was killed by the ghostly hound and many of the local people fear it. The local physician, Dr. Mortimer, is so worried about the hound that he comes to Sherlock Holmes for help. Holmes, of course, is skeptical of any supernatural explanation and soon becomes worried that an extremely subtle and sinister murderer is stalking Sir Henry.   Jeremy Brett's version of Holmes is, in my opinion, the best portrayal of the character and Edward Hardwicke's version of Watson is a calm, reliable man of action who sensibly takes a very large revolver with him when going into danger. Definitely worth watching, Overall grade: A   Next up is Sonic the Hedgehog 3, which came out in 2024. The 2020s have been a downer of a decade in many ways, but on the plus side, between Super Mario Brothers and Sonic the Hedgehog, people have finally figured out how to make good video game movies, so we've got that going for us. Sonic 3 was an excellent kids movie, as were the first two in the trilogy. In this one Sonic is living with Knuckles and Tails under the care of their human friends Tom and Maddy, but then a dark secret emerges. The government has been keeping a Superpowered hedgehog named Shadow in stasis and Shadow has broken out. It's up to Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails to save the day.   Meanwhile, Dr. Robotnik is in a funk after his defeat at Sonic's hands in the last movie, but then his long lost grandfather, Gerald Robotnik returns seeking the younger Dr. Robotnik's help in his own sinister plans. Keanu Reeves was great as Shadow (think John Wick if he was a superpowered space hedgehog in a kid's movie). Jim Carrey famously said he would retire from acting unless a golden script came along and apparently that golden script was playing Dr. Ivo Robotnik and his evil grandfather Gerald. To be fair, both the Robotniks were hilarious.   It is amusing that Sonic only exists because in the 1990s, Sega wanted a flagship video game character that won't get them sued by either Nintendo or Disney. It is also amusing that the overall message of the Sonic movies seems to be not to trust the government. Overall Grade: A   Next up is Paddington in Peru, which came out in 2024. This is also an excellent kids' movie. In this installment, Paddington has settled into London with the Brown family and officially become a UK citizen. However, he receives a letter from Peru that his Aunt Lucy has mysteriously disappeared into the jungle. Distraught, Paddington and the Browns set off for Peru at once. Adventures ensue involving mysterious lost treasure, a crazy boat captain, and an order of singing nuns who might not quite be what they appear. Anyway, it's a good kids' movie. I think Paddington 2 was only slightly better because Hugh Grant as the chief villain, crazy actor Phoenix Buchanan, was one of those lightning in the bottle things like Heath Ledger as the Joker in the Dark Knight. Overall Grade: A   Now for the two best things I saw in Winter/Spring 2025. The first of them is Andor Season Two, which came out in 2025. Star Wars kind of has an age range the way Marvel stuff does now. What do I mean by that? In the Marvel comics and some of the TV series like Jessica Jones, they get into some really dark and heavy stuff, very mature themes. The MCU movies can have some darkness to them, but not as much because they're aiming at sort of escapist adventures for the general audience. Then there are kid shows like Spidey and Friends that a relative of mine just loved when he was three. You wouldn't at all feel comfortable showing a 3-year-old Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, but Spidey and Friends is just fine.   Star Wars now kind of has that age range to its stuff and there's nothing wrong with that. Sometimes you want to see a dark meditation upon human nature. Sometimes you need something kid friendly to occupy the kids you're babysitting and sometimes you just want to relax and watch Mando and Baby Yoda mow down some space pirates or something. All that said, Andor Season Two is some of the darkest and the best stuff that Star Wars has ever done. It successfully shifts genres from Escapist Pulp Space Fantasy to a gritty Political/Espionage Thriller. We in the audience know that the emperor is a Sith Lord who can use Evil Space Magic and wants to make himself immortal, but that fact is totally irrelevant to the characters. Even though some of the characters are high ranking in their respective organizations, this is essentially a “ground's eye” view of the Rebellion and life under the Empire.   In some ways, this is like Star Wars' version of Wolf Hall (which we're going to talk about shortly), in that we know how it ends already, but the dramatic tension comes from the harrowing emotional journey the characters undertake on the way to their inevitable destinations. Cassian Andor is now working for the nascent Rebellion under the direction of ruthless spymaster Luthen Rael. Mon Mothma is in the Imperial Senate, covertly funneling money to the Rebellion and realizing just how much the Rebellion will require of her before the end. Syril Karn, the ineffective corporate cop from Season One, has fallen in love with the ruthless secret police supervisor Dedra Meero, but he's unaware that Director Krennic has ordered Meero to manufacture a false flag incident on the planet Gorman so the planet can be strip-mined for resources to build the Death Star and Dedra has decided to use Syril to help accomplish it. All the actors do amazing jobs with their roles. Seriously, this series as actors really should get at least one Emmy. Speaking of Director Krennic, Ben Mendelson returns as Orson Krennic, who is one of my favorite least favorite characters, if you get my drift. Krennic is the oily, treacherous middle manager we've all had to deal with or work for at some point in our lives, and Mendelson plays him excellently. He's a great villain, the sort who is ruthless to his underlings and thinks he can manipulate his superiors right up until Darth Vader starts telekinetically choking him. By contrast, the villain Major Partagaz (played by Anton Lesser) is the middle manager we wish we all had - stern but entirely fair, reasonable, and prizes efficiency and good work while despising office drama. Unfortunately, he works for the Empire's secret police, so all those good qualities are in the service of evil and therefore come to naught. Finally, Episode Eight is one of the most astonishing episodes of TV I've ever seen. It successfully captures the horror of an episode of mass violence and simultaneously has several character arcs reach their tumultuous climax and manages to be shockingly graphic without showing in a lot of actual blood. Andor was originally supposed to be five seasons, but then Peak Streaming collapsed, and so the remaining four seasons were compressed down to one. I think that was actually to the show's benefit because it generates some amazing tension and there's not a wasted moment. Overall Grade: A+   Now for the second of my two favorite things I saw, and that would be Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light, which came out in 2024, but I actually saw it in 2025. This is a dramatization of Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall novels about the rise and fall of Thomas Cromwell, who is King Henry VIII's chief lieutenant during the key years of the English Reformation. The first series came out in 2015, but the nine year gap between this and between the second series and the first series actually works quite well since Thomas Cromwell looks like he ages nine years in a single year (which may be what actually happened given how stressful working for someone like Henry VIII must have been). Anyway, in The Mirror and the Light, Cromwell has successfully arranged the downfall and execution of Anne Boleyn, Henry's previous queen. Though Cromwell is haunted by his actions, Henry still needs a queen to give him a male heir, so he marries Jane Seymour. Cromwell must navigate the deadly politics of the Tudor Court while trying to push his Protestant views of religion, serve his capricious master Henry, fend off rivals for the King's favor, and keep his own head attached to his shoulders in the process. Since Cromwell's mental state is deteriorating due to guilt over Anne's death and the downfall of his former master Cardinal Wolsey and Henry's a fickle and dangerous master at the best of times, this is an enterprise that is doomed to fail. Of course, if you're at all familiar with the history of Henry's reign and the English reformation, you know that Cromwell's story does not have a happy ending. Rather, Wolf Hall is a tragedy about a talented man who didn't walk away from his power until it was too late and he was trapped. Anyway, in my opinion, Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light was just excellent. All the performances were superb. Mark Rylance is great as Cromwell and has some excellent “WTF/I'm SO screwed” expressions as Cromwell's situation grows worse and worse. Bernard Hill played the Duke of Norfolk in the first series, but sadly died before Series Two, so Timothy Spall steps in and he does an excellent job of channeling Hill's portrayal of the Duke as an ambitious, crude-humored thug.   Damien Lewis is amazing as Henry VIII and his performance captures Henry's mixture of charisma, extreme vindictiveness, and astonishing self-absorption. The real Henry was known for being extremely charming even to the end of his life, but the charm was mixed with a volcanic temper that worsened as Henry aged and may have been exacerbated by a severe head injury. Lewis's performance can shift from that charm to the deadly fury in a heartbeat. The show rather cleverly portrays Henry's growing obesity and deteriorating health by having Lewis wear a lot of big puffy coats and limp with an impressively regal walking stick.   Overall, I would say this and Andor were the best thing I saw in Winter/Spring 2025. I wouldn't say that Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light is an accurate historical reputation. In real life, Cromwell was rather more thuggish and grasping (though far more competent than his rivals and his master) and of necessity the plot simplifies historical events, but it's just a superb historical drama. Overall Grade: A+ As a final note, I should say that of all the 2024 and 2025 movies mentioned here, the only one that actually saw in the theater was Thunderbolts, and I hadn't actually planned to see it in theaters, but a family member unexpectedly bought tickets for it, so I went along. Which I suppose is the movie industry's biggest problem right now. The home viewing experience is often vastly superior to going to the theater. The theater has the big screen and snacks, but at home you can have a pretty nice setup and you can pause whatever you want, go to the bathroom, and you can get snacks for much more cheaply. That's just much more comfortable than the movie theater.   Additionally, going to the theater has the same serious problem as booking a flight in that you're an enclosed space with complete strangers for several hours, which means you're potentially in a trust fall with idiots. All it takes is one person behaving badly or trying to bring their fake service dog to ruin or even cancel a flight, and the theater experience has much of the same problem, especially since the standards for acceptable public behavior have dropped so much from a combination of widespread smartphone adoption and COVID. The difference between the movie industry and the airline industry is that if you absolutely have to get from New York to Los Angeles in a single day, you have no choice but to book a flight and hope for the best. But if you want to see a movie and are willing to exercise some patience, you just have to wait a few months for it to turn up on streaming. I'm not sure how the movie industry can battle that, but sadly, it is much easier to identify problems than to solve them.   So that is it for this week. Thank you for listening to The Pulp Writer Show. I hope you found the show useful. A reminder that you can listen to all the back episodes at https://thepulpwritershow.com. If you enjoyed the podcast, please leave a review on your podcasting platform of choice. Stay safe, stay healthy, and see you all next week.

We discuss the upcoming Super Mario Brothers movie sequel, "Super Mario World," and potential future titles for any sequels. Nintendo's updated EULA, allowing them to render devices unusable for cheating or using ROMs, causes some debate. We question the implications of "bricking" and the risk of false positives. And if Nintendo is even thinking about that. We talk about expensive boats, like the pirate ship in Elder Scrolls Online, and some additional talk about digital ownership and fake scarcity. “The Legend of Zelda” themed Dear Martha. Let's talk about “Doom: The Dark Ages,” comparing it to the last two. And LOADS more!GAMES PLAYEDSHAREDDOOM: The Dark AgesSCOTTThe Elder Scrolls OnlineGhost of TsushimaSkin DeepSpell Rogue is 1.0JON100% clear of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33BEAUKingdom Come: Deliverence 2 Save system taking some getting used to. Drop DuchyClair Obscur: Expedition 33Blue PrinceUntil Then Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We discuss the upcoming Super Mario Brothers movie sequel, "Super Mario World," and potential future titles for any sequels. Nintendo's updated EULA, allowing them to render devices unusable for cheating or using ROMs, causes some debate. We question the implications of "bricking" and the risk of false positives. And if Nintendo is even thinking about that. We talk about expensive boats, like the pirate ship in Elder Scrolls Online, and some additional talk about digital ownership and fake scarcity. “The Legend of Zelda” themed Dear Martha. Let's talk about “Doom: The Dark Ages,” comparing it to the last two. And LOADS more!GAMES PLAYEDSHAREDDOOM: The Dark AgesSCOTTThe Elder Scrolls OnlineGhost of TsushimaSkin DeepSpell Rogue is 1.0JON100% clear of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33BEAUKingdom Come: Deliverence 2 Save system taking some getting used to. Drop DuchyClair Obscur: Expedition 33Blue PrinceUntil Then Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Adam is back from The Barrett Jackson collector car auction. He met Jerome Bettis, he got 2 IV bags and thinks he needs a root canal.   Award winning writer for SNL and the Tonight Show Mike Drucker stops by and tells us about being left at  bookstores as a kid and wearing a homemade Super Mario Brothers costume to impress his childhood crush, it didn't go well.      ADAM”S TOUR DATES  May 4th Clinton Forge VA May 9 & 10 Albany Funny Bone  May 16 & 17 Grand Comedy Club Escondido CA  Ticket Links https://www.adamferrara.com/tourdates 

Below The Belt Show (www.belowthebeltshow.com) presents exclusive on-location interviews from Philadelphia Fan Expo fanexpohq.com/fanexpophiladelphia/ with actor and voice actor legend Charles Martinet the voice of the iconic Mario and Luigi from the Super Mario Brothers video game franchise! BTB's own Chachi McFly talks to the voice icon on how he landed the role as Mario, his first Mario project, what inspired his Mario voice, and whether he plays the video games! Don't miss this interview Super Mario fans! (NOTE: Per Charles request, we did not ask questions related to the Super Mario Brothers 2024 film where he voiced Mario's Dad Giuseppe)

Trump paused most tariffs, except for 1: USA vs China… Who will win the isolation game?The Masters golf tourney begins today… but the real strategy is in the $1.50 sandwiches.Harry's Razors filed to IPO as “Mammoth”... because Harry's is really a startup studio.Plus, scammers moved from email, to text, to… job apps? 25% of interviewees will be fake humans.$SPY $PG $EPCWant more business storytelling from us? Check out the latest episode of our new weekly deepdive show: The untold origin story of…Peeps

Colossal brought the Dire Wolf back from extinction… by using a strategy from Hollywood.The #1 winner of the Trade War? ThredUp… The second-hand clothing stock has doubled this year.Shopify is requiring everyone at the company to use AI every day… AI is part of the dress code.Plus, introducing “Tasteful Tariffs” — Things that should be tariffed. Think Cargo pants, small talk, QR code menus…$TDUP $REAL $SHOP $NDAQWant more business storytelling from us? Check out the latest episode of our new weekly deepdive show: The untold origin story of Peeps

It was T-Day: Tariffs, Tesla, & Trump… We got an update on all of ‘em (and why it'll cost you $3,600/year).Tinder launched a Flirt-bot… Because AI's most powerful use is training pickup lines (seriously).Nintendo's Switch 2 is its biggest launch in 8 years… and Mario Kart is getting social.Plus, we found a Skier's Arbitrage: It's cheaper to fly to Japan for a weekend of shredding than staying here in the states…$NTDOY $TSLA $SPYWant more business storytelling from us? Check out the latest episode of our new weekly deepdive show: The untold origin story of…

Today: It's one day until COURAGE takes the stage (tomorrow night at 7pm at Misdemeanor Meadows!), don't put nail drops in your eyeballs, Super Mario Brothers and expensive desserts, and Greg wants to show you his new dance moves tomorrow! :) Have a great day all!

Mattel is launching their own version of LEGO bricks… What will win, brand or price?Utah will make you show an ID to download Instagram… It's a Social Media Bouncer (aka “The McLovin Rule”).The economics of stuffed crust pizza are wild… so why'd Domino's take 30 years to make one?Plus, we're dropping a Snooze Pod… We read 1 shareholder letter to help you fall asleep for Daylight Savings.$PZZA $DOM $MAT $METAWant more business storytelling from us? Check out the latest episode of our new weekly deepdive show: The untold origin story of… The Doritos Locos Taco

Four Loko is the #1 malt liquor in America… thanks to the Japanese philosophy of Misogi.European stocks are shockingly beating American stocks this year… because Europe's building a military.Warren Buffett just revealed his favorite CEO ever… It's an RV guy who didn't have a computer.Plus, Monopoly just launched a fintech version of the game (no more cash money)$BRK.B $LMT $SPYWant more business storytelling from us? Check out the latest episode of our new weekly deepdive show: The untold origin story of… The Doritos Locos Taco

ESPN just launched a Gen Z SportsCenter on Disney+… “SC+” is a playbook for youth content.The US is now in a trade war with Canada and Mexico… the Chevy Silverado explains it all.The world's biggest fast food chain just IPO'd… China's Mixue is bigger than McD's.Plus, the untold origin story of Taco Bell's Doritos Locos Taco.$DIS $GM $MIXUEWant more business storytelling from us? Check out the latest episode of our new weekly deepdive show: The untold origin story of… The Doritos Locos Taco

Energy drink Alani Nu sold to Celsius for $1.8B… so we explain how to pick an acquisition price.Alibaba is the Amazon of China & its stock has doubled… because AI is its new religion.We just found the ROI on the IRS… For every $1 we put into the IRS, we get $12 back.Plus, Birkenstock just argued to a judge that its sandals should legally be art…$CELH $BABA $BIRKWant more business storytelling from us? Check out the latest episode of our new weekly deepdive show: The untold origin story of… the Patagonia Fleece

James Bond's creative control was just acquired by Amazon… so we need to talk about “Infinite Scarcity.”Microsoft just defied physics… it's a quantum creation that's not a solid, liquid, or gas.OpenTable has overtaken Resy for America's coolest restaurants… all thanks to 1 move.Plus, Google searches for “Is it safe to fly” are up 20x… so we ran the numbers.$AXP $GOOG $MSFT $AMZNWant more business storytelling from us? Check out the latest episode of our new weekly deepdive show: The untold origin story of… the Patagonia Fleece

Venmo & Cash App are getting crushed by Zelle… The boringest app disrupted the disruptors.The NBA has a problem: Too many 3-pointers… but there's an economic reason for them.Jamie Dimon just went on an expletive-laced rant about Work From Home… and we got the tapes.Plus, the untold origin story of… The Patagonia Fleece.$XYZ $JPM $BACWant more business storytelling from us? Check out the latest episode of our new weekly deepdive show about the Patagonia Fleece

Poppi & Olipop's rival sodas are the biggest drama in biz… because of $25K vending machines.Texas gets its 2nd new stock exchange in a year… The New York Stock Exchange is goin' South-By-Southwest.Netflix is looking into launching podcasts… because there's nothing hotter than a habit.Plus, Ikea just got into dating… it's “Mattress Matchmaking.”$NFLX $SPOT $NYSEWant more business storytelling from us? Check out the latest episode of our new weekly deepdive show: The untold origin story of Ben & Jerry's Phish Food ice cream

The 1 alcohol surging right now? Local Light Beer… driven by Millennial dads #Dadlennials.BuzzFeed's launching a new social media app… because it's fighting “S.N.A.R.F.”Elf Beauty says there are “So Many Dicks”... and it's a lesson on customer engagement.Plus, Donut Bouquets? Sushi Bouquets? Lego Bouquets? The big new Valentine's trend is “Faux-quets.”$ELF $BZFD $BUDWant more business storytelling from us? Check out the latest episode of our new weekly deepdive show: The untold origin story of

If you customize a Ferrari, they won't let you buy another… even if you're Justin Beiber.Coca-Cola's biggest acquisition ever is Fairlife… because milk is having a moment.DOGE is targeting the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau… so we're look at trim-cuts vs buzz-cuts.Plus, we wrote a heartbroken love poem ahead of Valentine's Day… to Peloton.$RACE $KO $PTONWant more business storytelling from us? Check out the latest episode of our new weekly deepdive show: The untold origin story of… Ben & Jerry's Phish Food

Trump is canceling the US penny… because our cheapest coin is our most expensive.The biggest diss track in the SB wasn't Kendrick Lamar… it was from advertisers.SpaceX and T-Mobile just shockingly teamed up… to kill the cell phone dead-zone.Plus, the untold origin story of Ben & Jerry's… and their most disruptive flavor: Phish Food.$SBUX $TMUS $TWant more business storytelling from us? Check out the latest episode of our new weekly deepdive show: The untold origin story of… Ben & Jerry's

TED Talks needs a new CEO… but TED is actually the deepest media biz we've ever seen.Elon's mission to disrupt the government hit a new level, that requires a new term… “Musking.”Costco is now paying workers 2x the average… it's the cost that pays for itself.Plus, a record 22M Americans called in sick today (got a case of the Super Bowl Mondays).$COST $WMT $SPYWant more business storytelling from us? Check out the latest episode of our new weekly deepdive show: The untold origin story of… Monopoly

Dirty secret of the Super Bowl halftime show… The show costs $50M, but the performer gets paid $0.Wilson makes all of the NFL's football's… and their factory in Ohio is freaky.The Curse of the Super Bowl Commercial is real… and it's coming for AI.Plus, one basketball coach trademarked the term “Three-peat”... and could make millions if the Chiefs win.$AAPL $AS $SPOTWant more business storytelling from us? Check out the latest episode of our new weekly deepdive show: The untold origin story of… Monopoly

The #1 Super Bowl ad? Snickers in 2010… because Snickers acted like a Freudian therapist.Waffle House is charging a 50-cent-per-egg fee… but we tell ya who to blame for Egg-flation is.New tariffs just hit Shein and Temu… hand it can all be explained with Barbie dolls.Plus, the newest job in America is “TikTok Coach”... because there is an “i” in “viral.”$CALM $MAT $SPYWant more business storytelling from us? Check out the latest episode of our new weekly deepdive show: “The Best Idea Yet” — The untold origin stories of the products you're obsessed with. From the McDonald's Happy Meal to Birkenstock's sandal to Nintendo's Super Mario Brothers to Sriracha. New 45-minute episodes drop weekly.Subscribe to The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinks to listen.—-----------------------------------------------------Subscribe to our new (2nd) show… The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinksEpisodes drop weekly. It's The Best Idea Yet.GET ON THE POD: Submit a shoutout or fact: https://tboypod.com/shoutouts FOR MORE NICK & JACK: Newsletter: https://tboypod.com/newsletter Connect with Nick: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolas-martell/ Connect with Jack: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-crivici-kramer/ SOCIALS:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tboypod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tboypodYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tboypod Anything else: https://tboypod.com/ Subscribe to our new (2nd) show… The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinksEpisodes drop weekly. It's The Best Idea Yet.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

“No Buy 2025” is like “Dry January”… But instead of no alcohol, it's no shopping.Spotify hit all-time high after its 1st full-year profit… because it found musical monopoly.Chick-fil-A's drive-thru is #1 thanks to military-like precision... Drones, game-tape, & champagne.Plus, the Philadelphia Eagles linemen are the largest in history… and the most profitable.$SPOT $AAPLWant more business storytelling from us? Check out the latest episode of our new weekly deepdive show: The untold origin story of… Monopoly

The first 24 hours of Trade War II were wild… We're breaking down the surprise tariff deals with Mexico and Canada.Robinhood is the top stock since Election Day... and now you can bet on the Super Bowl.How did Levi identify the baggy daddy jeans trend before anyone?... A secret deal with Google.$LEVI $GOOG $SPY $HOODMonopoly

Trump's 2nd trade war begins tonight with tariff's for Canada, China, & Mexico… but Trump tariffs differ in 1 huge way.Yahoo just turned 30… but @yahoo.com emails are having a midlife revival.Hans Zimmer is worth $200M with movie music composing… we found his creativity hack.Plus, the next fashion trend? Yak hair… because yak is the new cashmere.$DIS $HD $YHOOWant more business storytelling from us? Check out our new deep-dive show…“The Best Idea Yet”: The untold origin stories of the products you're obsessed with — From the McDonald's Happy Meal to Birkenstock's sandal to Nintendo's Super Mario Brothers.New episode every week. 45-minutes. Listen here: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinks —-----------------------------------------------------Subscribe to our new (2nd) show… The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinksEpisodes drop weekly. It's The Best Idea Yet.GET ON THE POD: Submit a shoutout or fact: https://tboypod.com/shoutouts FOR MORE NICK & JACK: Newsletter: https://tboypod.com/newsletter Connect with Nick: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolas-martell/ Connect with Jack: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-crivici-kramer/ SOCIALS:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tboypod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tboypodYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tboypod Anything else: https://tboypod.com/ Subscribe to our new (2nd) show… The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinksEpisodes drop weekly. It's The Best Idea Yet.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Description: “White Lotus Season 3” is about to debut… and it'll boost Thailand's economy by 20%.The biggest IPO of 2025 is a bacon biz… so we devoured the first pureplay pork stock.We now know how DeepSeek caught up to ChatGPT… the ol' “copy/paste.”Plus, the Utah Hockey Club is choosing a new name… but the fans at the rink decide tonight.$WBD $SFD $MSFTWant more business storytelling from us? Check out the latest episode of our new weekly deepdive show: The untold origin story of… Red Bull ⚡Subscribe to The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinks to listen.“The Best Idea Yet”: The untold origin stories of the products you're obsessed with — From the McDonald's Happy Meal to Birkenstock's sandal to Nintendo's Super Mario Brothers to Sriracha. New 45-minute episodes drop weekly.—-----------------------------------------------------Subscribe to our new (2nd) show… The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinksEpisodes drop weekly. It's The Best Idea Yet.GET ON THE POD: Submit a shoutout or fact: https://tboypod.com/shoutouts FOR MORE NICK & JACK: Newsletter: https://tboypod.com/newsletter Connect with Nick: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolas-martell/ Connect with Jack: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-crivici-kramer/ SOCIALS:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tboypod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tboypodYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tboypod Anything else: https://tboypod.com/ Subscribe to our new (2nd) show… The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinksEpisodes drop weekly. It's The Best Idea Yet.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Does the perfect 850 credit score exist?... It does, one man just got it, and we'll tell ya how.Tesla has become a $45K MAGA hat… so we'll explain the biggest pivot in branding.Chili's restaurant stock surged 300% in the last year… thanks to its Great White Shark strategy.Plus, it's the Lunar New Year… so we found wild data on stocks during the Year of the Snake (spoiler: It's bad).$TSLA $EAT $AMEXLA Tech Community Cares Fund: https://www.pledge.to/the-la-tech-community-cares-fund?tpcc=NL_MarketingWant more business storytelling from us? Check out the latest episode of our new weekly deepdive show: The untold origin story of… Red Bull ⚡Subscribe to The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinks to listen.“The Best Idea Yet”: The untold origin stories of the products you're obsessed with — From the McDonald's Happy Meal to Birkenstock's sandal to Nintendo's Super Mario Brothers to Sriracha. New 45-minute episodes drop weekly.—-----------------------------------------------------Subscribe to our new (2nd) show… The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinksEpisodes drop weekly. It's The Best Idea Yet.GET ON THE POD: Submit a shoutout or fact: https://tboypod.com/shoutouts FOR MORE NICK & JACK: Newsletter: https://tboypod.com/newsletter Connect with Nick: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolas-martell/ Connect with Jack: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-crivici-kramer/ SOCIALS:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tboypod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tboypodYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tboypod Anything else: https://tboypod.com/ Subscribe to our new (2nd) show… The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinksEpisodes drop weekly. It's The Best Idea Yet.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Space stocks surged as Trump pledged to reach Mars… so we're introducing the 4 Final Frontiers.X announced a Venmo-like deal with Visa… but it all comes down to the Beyonce of Banking.Royal Caribbean is up 8x since 2022… because cruises are the value meals of vacation.Plus, if you're sick, Progressive Soup just invented the first chicken noodle cough drop…$RCL $V $RDWWant more business storytelling from us? Check out the latest episode of our new weekly deepdive show: The untold origin story of… Red Bull ⚡Subscribe to The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinks to listen. Subscribe to The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinks to listen.“The Best Idea Yet”: The untold origin stories of the products you're obsessed with — From the McDonald's Happy Meal to Birkenstock's sandal to Nintendo's Super Mario Brothers to Sriracha. New 45-minute episodes drop weekly.—-----------------------------------------------------Subscribe to our new (2nd) show… The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinksEpisodes drop weekly. It's The Best Idea Yet.GET ON THE POD: Submit a shoutout or fact: https://tboypod.com/shoutouts FOR MORE NICK & JACK: Newsletter: https://tboypod.com/newsletter Connect with Nick: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolas-martell/ Connect with Jack: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-crivici-kramer/ SOCIALS:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tboypod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tboypodYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tboypod Anything else: https://tboypod.com/ Subscribe to our new (2nd) show… The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinksEpisodes drop weekly. It's The Best Idea Yet.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

One Chinese AI app, DeepSeek, just shocked the world… and the entire US tech market.Costco is swapping Pepsi for Coke in the food court… here's how Coke's beating Pepsi.7% of workers have Unlimited Paid Time Off… but people only take 16 days in practice.$KO $PEP $COSTWant more business storytelling from us? Check out the latest episode of our new weekly deepdive show: The untold origin story of… Red Bull ⚡Subscribe to The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinks to listen.“The Best Idea Yet”: The untold origin stories of the products you're obsessed with — From the McDonald's Happy Meal to Birkenstock's sandal to Nintendo's Super Mario Brothers to Sriracha. New 45-minute episodes drop weekly.—-----------------------------------------------------Subscribe to our new (2nd) show… The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinksEpisodes drop weekly. It's The Best Idea Yet.GET ON THE POD: Submit a shoutout or fact: https://tboypod.com/shoutouts FOR MORE NICK & JACK: Newsletter: https://tboypod.com/newsletter Connect with Nick: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolas-martell/ Connect with Jack: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-crivici-kramer/ SOCIALS:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tboypod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tboypodYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tboypod Anything else: https://tboypod.com/ Subscribe to our new (2nd) show… The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinksEpisodes drop weekly. It's The Best Idea Yet.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Kidz Bop is making $50M on cover music… not by creating, by re-creating.If you shop online too much or scroll Instagram too much, the new cure may be… Ozempic.CNN is overhauling its entire business for the Trump presidency… A media plastic surgery.Plus, guess who's driving luxury home sales these days?... Single ladies (it's a Beyonce Bump)$NVO $WBD $SPOTWant more business storytelling from us? Check out the latest episode of our new weekly deepdive show: The untold origin story of…

Trump pardoned the crypto founder of Silk Road… after launching his own Fartcoin. We'll explain.Spotify's CEO co-founded a body-scanning startup to save your life… and it just hit $2B.EA's video game stock had its worst day in 17 years… because of 1 huge graphics mistake.Plus, the hot new Dry January trend is Cannabis Cocktails (replace ABV with THC).$EA $SPOT $BTCWant more business storytelling from us? Check out the latest episode of our new weekly deepdive show: The untold origin story of…

Zuck's reportedly launching smart Oakleys this year… and a smart watch and airpods next year.PopUp Bagels is the fastest-growing bagel chain in America… and they prioritize inconvenience.“Stargate” is Sam Altman's new $500B AI project… it would be the most expensive thing we'd ever build.Plus, the medals handed out at the Paris Olympics? They're losing their gold. $DNUT $META $MSFTWant more business storytelling from us? Check out the latest episode of our new weekly deepdive show: The untold origin story of…

The theme of Trump's cabinet? Venture Capital guys… so we put together a LinkedIn on it.Netflix's biggest pivot in a decade is to live sports… and we just got the results.The White House issued a record number of executive orders… Energy stocks explain ‘em all.Plus, the “5-Second Rule” of food was just proven wrong (no fallen sandwich is safe).$AMZN $AAPL $META $NFLX $SPYWant more business storytelling from us? Check out the latest episode of our new weekly deepdive show: The untold origin story of…

On Trump's 1st day back in the White House… We'll tell you his most important economic number.Bumble's founder is returning as CEO… So we found the stock performance of Boomerang CEOs.Gmail and Microsoft are forcing everyone to buy their AI… because AI has an innovator problem.Plus, Jimi Hendrix once lit a guitar on fire… and it became the best-selling guitar of all-time: The Fender Stratocaster.$BMBL $GOOG $MSFTCheck out the latest episode of our new weekly deepdive show: The untold origin story of… The Fender Stratocaster: The Guitar that Created Rock ‘N' Roll

TikTok is scheduled to shut down Sunday morning… but there are still 3 possible outcomes.The Bourbon Bubble just burst, so we have a solution for Jack Daniels… Whiskey World.For the next 4 years, business leaders will speak different… and we see it in Anduril, a drone startup.Plus, Chick-fil-A just built an entire factory of robots with one purpose… Lemonade.$BF $STZ $METAWant more business storytelling from us? Check out the latest episode of our new weekly deepdive show: The untold origin story of… Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

From Pop-Tarts to Peeps, Red #3 artificial food coloring is now banned… 40 years too late.JPMorgan just had its best quarter in 200 years… so it's time to kill the most hated fee in banking.There's a hot new side-hustle that can make you $30k/year… Job Referrals as a service.Plus, male and female Instacart shoppers pick out food differently… so should you be able to choose the gender?$KO $GIS $K $JPM $CARTWant more? Check out the latest episode of our weekly deep dive show, The Best One Yet. This week's episode is on Reese's Peanut Butter Cups: “From Frog Salesman to Candy Mogul”

Starbucks' is trying to save “the 3rd place”... by ending their open doors bathroom policy.Greedy LA landlords are jacking up rents 100%... but there could be a housing market silver lining.Planet Fitness stock hit an all-time high… but its greatest risk is “a run on the gym”.Plus, Philadelphia Eagles WR AJ Brown read a book during a playoff game… now it's #1 on Amazon.$SBUX $PLNTWant more business storytelling from us? Check out the latest episode of our new weekly deepdive show: The untold origin story of… Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

TikTok will be banned in 5 days… but its replacement is Whatnot: It's Instagram + eBay + MTV.Sonos is known for its fancy sounds systems… but the CEO just quit because of 1 big mistake.Nvidia chips have export restrictions… because in the AI arms race, chips are the new uranium.Plus, the #1 candy in America was invented by a frog salesman… It's Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, and it's the next episode of our weekly deepdive show The Best Idea Yet

Chuck E. Cheese is back from bankruptcy… with a brand new babysitter strategy.Pools, massages, bars… Offices are getting “hotelified” for the 2025 Return-to-Office push.Disney, Fox, and Warner's joint sports app, Venu, just shut down… and the NBA tells us why.Plus, it's Planuary… Our New Year's resolution is to plan the whole year this month (we'll tell ya how). $FUN $DIS $WBDSubscribe to our new (2nd) show… The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinksEpisodes drop weekly. It's The Best Idea Yet.“The Best Idea Yet”: The untold origin stories of the products you're obsessed with — From the McDonald's Happy Meal to Birkenstock's sandal to Nintendo's Super Mario Brothers to Sriracha. New 45-minute episodes drop weekly.—-----------------------------------------------------GET ON THE POD: Submit a shoutout or fact: https://tboypod.com/shoutouts FOR MORE NICK & JACK: Newsletter: https://tboypod.com/newsletter Connect with Nick: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolas-martell/ Connect with Jack: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-crivici-kramer/ SOCIALS:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tboypod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tboypodYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tboypod Anything else: https://tboypod.com/ Subscribe to our new (2nd) show… The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinksEpisodes drop weekly. It's The Best Idea Yet.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The #1 in the whole App Store is Watch Duty… a hero saving lives in LA's wildfires.Rolls-Royce now sells 100% top-to-bottom custom cars… it's commissioned art, like Picasso.17% of Christmas gifts get returned… so we invented a solution: “Reverse Logistics”This Sunday is the biggest day of the year for dating apps… Swiping is about to surge 70%.$BMWKY $AAPL $LULUWant more? Check out the latest episode of our weekly deep dive show, The Best One Yet. This week's episode is on The Oregon Trail: “Tricking Kids Into Liking School Since 1971”

Trump proposed buying Greenland… so we looked into how/if/when it's possible.John Deere's big tech update at CES?... a robo-self-driving tractor to cut your grocery bill.Starface has become a $100M startup… by putting star stickers on pimples.Plus, we're living in the Panda-conomy… because when Pandas are out, sales surge.$DEER $NVDA $SPYWant more business storytelling from us? Check out the latest episode of our new weekly deepdive show: “The Best Idea Yet”: The untold origin stories of the products you're obsessed with — From the McDonald's Happy Meal to Birkenstock's sandal to Nintendo's Super Mario Brothers to Sriracha. New 45-minute episodes drop weekly. Subscribe here Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinks to listen.—-----------------------------------------------------GET ON THE POD: Submit a shoutout or fact: https://tboypod.com/shoutouts FOR MORE NICK & JACK: Newsletter: https://tboypod.com/newsletter Connect with Nick: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolas-martell/ Connect with Jack: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-crivici-kramer/ SOCIALS:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tboypod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tboypodYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tboypod Anything else: https://tboypod.com/ Subscribe to our new (2nd) show… The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinksEpisodes drop weekly. It's The Best Idea Yet.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The biggest strike in ski history hit during the busiest ski week of the year… and Vail lost $400M.A brand new generation is being born in 2025: Gen Beta… And we found its 1 defining trait.NYC launched America's largest traffic experiment: Congestion Pricing… And every city is watching.$MTN $SPY $BTCWant more? Check out the latest episode of our weekly deep dive show, The Best One Yet. This week's episode is on The Oregon Trail: “Tricking Kids Into Liking School Since 1971”

#1. Wells Fargo launched a credit card you can pay rent with… but they underestimated how Savvy Millennials would use it. (6/24/2024)#2. An Olympic gold medal winner has a day job — as an investment banker… so we'll tell you the secret to a successful side hustle. (8/7/2024)#3. Legendary Wall Street investor Larry Fink wrote a whole letter about DINKs… so we need to talk about your retirement plan already. (3/27/2024)Share this episode with your financially savviest buddy… actually, send it to the one who still owes you $50 for brunch.We'll be back on Monday, January 6th, with our regular TBOY podcasts. But look out for more bonus pods from us dropping over the holidays.And if you crave more business storytelling from us? Check out our weekly deepdive show: “The Best Idea Yet”: The untold origin stories of the products you're obsessed with. From the McDonald's Happy Meal to Birkenstock's sandal to Nintendo's Super Mario Brothers to Sriracha. New 45-minute episodes drop weekly. Subscribe to The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinks to listen.—-----------------------------------------------------Subscribe to our new (2nd) show… The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinksEpisodes drop weekly. It's The Best Idea Yet.GET ON THE POD: Submit a shoutout or fact: https://tboypod.com/shoutouts FOR MORE NICK & JACK: Newsletter: https://tboypod.com/newsletter Connect with Nick: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolas-martell/ Connect with Jack: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-crivici-kramer/ SOCIALS:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tboypod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tboypodYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tboypod Anything else: https://tboypod.com/ Subscribe to our new (2nd) show… The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinksEpisodes drop weekly. It's The Best Idea Yet.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.