Unlocking The Room with Mario Lanza

The Room defies all explanantion, but that won't stop us trying. We decided not to leave our stupid comments in our pockets this time as we invited comedy writer and official staff pick Mario Lanza on a journey into The Room and through the mysterious mind of Tommy Wiseau. Dom has a Wiseau-esque struggle with the English language to find words to convey the majesty of watching the film with the man himself and dozens of spoon-bearing superfans. Get the results of your test back below, here, or on iTunes here.

Squaring the Survivor Circle with Quack Wabbit, Part 3: Character Studies

(This is Part 3 of a three-part episode on all/some/many things Survivor with writer, amateur anthropologist, and Abi-Maria apologist Taylor, better known to many as Quack Wabbit; shift your gestalt by reading his work here, here, or everywhere)

Any story is only as good as its stars, and Survivor has given us a deep well of compelling and confusing characters to chew over in our minds. We may all be water hyacinth plants, but who grows and flourishes while others wilt on the vine? We take a deep dive into the social dynamics that make the show so appealing and illustrate those with a deconstruction of Dawn Meehan's disintegration. Taylor then wraps up this marathon by conclusively settling the Michele vs Aubry debate as a final gift to the fanbase.

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Squaring the Survivor Circle with Quack Wabbit, Part 2: Survivor Storytelling

(This is Part 2 of a three-part episode on all/some/many things Survivor with writer, amateur anthropologist, and Abi-Maria apologist Taylor, better known to many as Quack Wabbit; shift your gestalt by reading his work here, here, or everywhere)

At its best, Survivor has as much to enjoy and analyze as any classic work of art or literature; and if you can't handle it at its worst, it's probably because you've experienced it at its best and hold out hope that it can recapture that glory. In this segment, we discuss which stories the show is trying to tell, how it tells them, and how well it tells them, and track the changes in all of those over its 18-year run.

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Squaring the Survivor Circle with Quack Wabbit, Part 1: Writing + Internet Fandom

(This is Part 1 of a three-part episode on all/some/many things Survivor with writer, amateur anthropologist, and Abi-Maria apologist Taylor, better known to many as Quack Wabbit; shift your gestalt by reading his work here, here, or everywhere)

In a time when there are more podcasts about any show than hours in the day, the hive mind's judgment is meted out in 140 280 character fragments, and nobody has an attention span any more, what place is there for long-form writing? Are blogs and forum posts relics of a bygone era or the last refuge of communal, thoughtful discussion? And, with the internet fandom evolving and proliferating every day, how do you engage in and encourage those conversations while keeping the trolls from doing yoga in your rock garden? Taylor weighs in with thoughts that all authors - whether of their own fate or of delightfully trenchant screeds on trashy television - will find valuable.

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Consulting Ghost Island Management with James Lim

Channeling our inner Tony Robbins, we're harnessing the universe's positive energy by reliving one of the most popular pre-merges in history as Ghost Island blindsider/blindsee James Lim joins us for a deep dive that will hopefully go better than his dive in Fiji. As always, listen below, here, or on iTunes here.

International Survivor with Pooya: South Africa

The Survivor off-season is quickly becoming an outdated concept as New Zealand prepares to hand the baton to Australia and South Africa continues at a brisk pace. This week we have a global Survivor celebration as former Dubaite and current Canadian Pooya Zand Vakili makes the trip over from Big Brother and RHAP to join British stereotype and wannabe Canadian Dom in breaking down the seasons trying to show the Yanks how it's done. Part 2 covering Survivor South Africa can be found here, or on iTunes here. 

International Survivor with Pooya: New Zealand

The Survivor off-season is quickly becoming an outdated concept as New Zealand prepares to hand the baton to Australia and South Africa continues at a brisk pace. This week we have a global Survivor celebration as former Dubaite and current Canadian Pooya Zand Vakili makes the trip over from Big Brother and RHAP to join British stereotype and wannabe Canadian Dom in breaking down the seasons trying to show the Yanks how it's done. Part 1 covering Survivor New Zealand can be found here, or on iTunes here. 

Deep Dives and Degeneracy with Domenick Abbate

As the dust settles from the dramatic finish to Survivor: Ghost Island, we dial up Domenick Abbate to hear his reflections on his unique Survivor experience. The ins-and-outs of his game are well-documented already, and today he fills out the rest of his journey and its larger meaning in his life. What did he expect his own absence to mean for his family and does it match his wife Kristin's account, which she shared with us as she stole the stage in her own interview? How did he mature on Long Island from a young thrill-seeker to the driven and chiseled family man the world saw on Survivor, and how has the show changed his trajectory? And, if you need to escape the law or dig a grave, what's the way to go? Prepare to take many sips of coffee during this episode, available below, here, or on iTunes here.