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Amarth was cool, but you could tell Brian was doing something he was very used to. Sometimes it almost felt like he was going on autopilot. With Damien, you can tell that Brian is going outside his comfort zone and enjoying the game in a way he hasn't before. He's definitely a lot more actively engaged as Damien than as Amarth. Brian has definitely been a lot more fun to listen to since the transition.

When we hear about how the monster feels, my heart really went out to it and I thought, "Aw, I hope they help it!" Then Brian announced he was going to kill it, and I was like "Oh yeah, DAMIEN is the one talking to it."

Were they really defending the bankers? All they're saying is, the financial crisis is based on the banks giving loans to people who couldn't pay the money back. The difference is in real life their motives were much more sinister. In the movies, Jimmy Stuart's character is just giving out risky loans because he's a nice guy and knows these are decent, hardworking folk who will make sure to pay it back. In the real-life situation, banks did this because anti-usury laws had become lenient enough that they could charge exorbitant rates, and while the real estate bubble was going on they could easily resell the homes at higher price. The reason this didn't work, of course, is that real estate couldn't keep skyrocketing forever, and the high interest rates they had gotten didn't even begin to make up for the huge losses they were taking on defaulted loans. I don't think anyone is saying that working class people were at fault for wanting to own a home, either. The point is that usually banks are making decisions on loans based on whether or not the person can pay it back. It's their job to say no to people trying to buy a home they can't afford. So giving out loans to people who don't qualify may seem like a kind-hearted thing to do at the time, but in the long run it just creates problems for everybody. While the real-life version was much more cold and sinister than the situation in It's a Wonderful Life, in the end it is essentially the same practice. And this kind of thinking is part of what allowed the banks to take things so far. "Let's make it easier for working-class Americans to own a home (by allowing banks to charge loan shark level rates)! Every American should be able to own their own house (even if they can't afford it)!" Banks were able to frame their terrible business practices as good-hearted acts that were helping the American people. THAT is the problem with movies like It's a Wonderful Life.

Yeah, now I think they're even cooler!

I've heard it too, but I don't remember where. I heard something along the lines of, before The Godfather mobsters wore slacks and golf shirts all the time. And speaking of Oliver Stone changing perceptions, people's perception of Jim Morrison and The Doors seems to have been pretty much defined by Oliver Stone.

It's not necessarily humiliation though. Like, it could be that he's into feeling sexually poweful and ultra-masculine, the way black men are fetishized and sexualized in porn. You want to talk about humiliation, it's white males who get off on humiliation that fuels the porn feeding into those stereotypes. So it might be that he's into being empowered in that way. Of course it's ultimately negative because those "positive" stereotypes are connected to the ones that say black men are aggressive, prone to violence and crime, and less "civilized" than whites. I think it's fucked up for sure no matter what the reasons he's doing it.

I HIGHLY recommend the Rifftrax for this movie. As for the movie itself, I feel like it was a decent teen movie that basically got ruined by having Britney Spears signed on to it. They probably had these three well-rounded characters with their own story arcs, and they just chopped off all the positive qualities and gave them to Britney. So her character is this smart, perfect honors student, who also gets to have the big emotional moment with her father AND win the singing competition. And then the other girls just have shit things like rape and teen pregnancy happen to them. I think there really is a good movie under there, but it got hacked apart because the studios were so afraid to do anything that might tarnish Britney's "girl next door" image.

Not only that, they'll require an extra $10,000 per day to replace all the broken windows!

Bob Sagurt.

I don't think any of us expected him to say that.

This topic is making me so glad I stopped watching these crime dramas over a decade ago.

Technically, you could say he's not new, because Michael Jackson's ghost did pay a visit to the show once before. The day after he died, no less! It was a different person doing it, though, so I would say it's more or less a new character.

SEX!!!! Now that I've got your attention, let's listen to this podcast about Sex Workers.

Simpsons at the time was some of the best TV, ever. Very few shows will live up to it. Dinosaurs was an okay show. I definitely wouldn't call it great, and i don't know if I'd even call it "good." I think the Simpsons is a good comparison in many ways. Both of them were based on the well-established blue collar 3 camera sitcom format, like the aforementioned Roseanne, and going through many shows like The Flintstones, The Honeymooners, etc. In The Simpsons you can see this in the first season especially. But very quickly they started taking it in new and novel directions--expanding the universe, adding more relatable characters, and doing stories that took the show to izarre places while still being dense with jokes and cultural references. The established blue-collar tropes acted as sort of a foundation to ground the show, making the characters likeable and relatable so the stories could be ridiculous and surreal but still carry emotional resonance. Dinosaurs laid down that foundation, and I would say they did have likeable characters for the most part. And the series showed hints that they wanted to take things in interesting directions. But they never really did. Whether it was because there was too much network interference, or because the writers just couldn't come up with creative enough ideas, I don't know. But with the possible exception of the final episode--which is quite jarring in the context of what the show had been up to that point--it never really did anything that novel or interesting.

This episode's CAKES and PIES (formerly (CHEERS and JEERS) CAKES to Scott for bringing back the beloved game "How you weigh?" PIES to Rob Delaney for pawning his lucrative breast milk business on CBB. Using a PODCAST as a venue to try and sell a product or service? Have you no shame? CAKES to Rob's publisher for recommending the current title over the one I tweeted to him. As much as I thought the title "Rob Delaney: Bad As I Wanna Be" had a nice ring to it, it turns out there is another memoir out there with a very similar title. CAKES to whoever did that SPOT ON Michael Jackson impersonation--I almost thought I was listening to the real MJ come back to life! PIES to me for spoiling the illusion for all the people who probably DID think it was the real MJ. Sorry guys! CAKES to Michael Jackson and his great recommendation for bedtime listening. From now on every night I am having "I want my milk..." soothing me to sleep from my earbuds. Insomnia: OVER. CAKES to MJ for specifying which Hitler he was talking about. I got really confused there for a second! PIES to Satan for not having all the demons of hell do a giant Thriller reenactment. Considering you have the real Michael Jackson. you guys could probably get almost as many youtube views as that one Philippine prison! PIES to Earwolf for making me hungry for buttery, juicy butthole when I've still got hours before my next lunch break. PIES to everyone who expressed fondness for George Michael even though he is KNOWN to be a SODOMIST who has sex with other men. I don't care how great his music was, how can you say something positive about someone with such terrible morals? As a Christian I am deeply offended. And finally, lots of delicious CAKES to Michael Jackson. We love you!

CHEERS to malaria no more punto org for taking care of that malaria thing. #thirdworldproblems JEERS to Zach Galifianakis for having a name that is so hard to spell. Why can't you just spell it ZACK? CHEERS to Wain for being so hip to the times! JEERS to Jack Fitzgerald because I know it will make him happy. CHEERS to Wain for his brilliant idea of an ipancake. Does that come with iOsyrup7? JEERS to whoever is responsible for the "plug bag theme" playing BEFORE the Hot Dog Memorial Plugs segment. I was so shocked, my monocle flew off my face. And one big CHEERS to everyone who donated one dollar to malaria no more.

I don't think it's automatically bad to participate in those sort of things, and I would even go with a YOR-style "on the balance it's good," statement on that one. But it can definitely veer into that well-meaning-but-patronizing liberal white racism. So while I think it's probably a positive thing overall for white people to participate in stuff like this, I think they need to be careful not to feel TOO highly of themselves.

I think I will go with the "Beef No Longer Existent" t-shirt.

Common misconception: being blind does NOT "heighten your other senses." Tests have shown that bind people's' heading, touch, etc. are no stronger than other people's. The only thing is they get used to using their other senses mute effectively.

CHEERS to the Earwolf community for their positive energy regarding the Halloween and Pete Holmes episodes. While I haven't seen the comments personally, I can tell based on Scott's reaction that people said very nice things. JEERS to Jon Daly for spoiling the illusion that Comedy Bang Bang is happening, live, as I listen to it. CHEERS to the writing staff and A/V guys for all the work they do, uncredited, behind the scenes. JEERS to the network for "never sending emails" to Scott. I mean, come on, not even on Christmas? Have a heart, Earwolf. CHEERS to Bill Cosby Bukowski for his beautiful Jelloems. JEERS to Bill Cosby Bukowski for not being a real person, and instead a figment of Jon Daly's imagination. CHEERS to Scott and the gang for closing with a great musical interlude. JEERS to Scott Aukerman for not mentioning iDon'tknowanymores in his Audible ads. And finally, MAJOR JEERS to everyone at Comedy Bang Bang for trying to take credit as "the first podcast to play tic-tac-toe." Fans of the wonderful Tic-Tac-Toe-Cast (or 3TC as we call it) know better.

I totally lost it when Pam said, "congratulations on getting a boner," in that British accent.

That's funny, because I was losing it pretty much every time he said it. Even funnier was Scott acting obviously annoyed by it, and interrupting him several times. Rust's character was my favorite part of the show--and I loved it overall.

They did go to the concert, that much is for sure. Paul mentioned it on Who Charted? this week, in fact. Let's hope they get the episode out soon!

I think this guy's question should have been posed to the "Yo, Is This Stupid?" podcast instead. SPOLIERS: Yes, it is.