Remember Shuffle

Scarface is the ultimate, right? THE ULTIMATE. ⁠Give Remember Shuffle a follow on Twitter⁠⁠ And on Instagram⁠ ⁠@RememberShufflePod⁠⁠ to interact with the show between episodes. It also makes it easier to book guests.

Once again we are getting Ziti pilled in this return to our series on The Sopranos. David Chase has said he wanted to make a show about trying to find happiness in an American context and Season 2 has a clear through-line of themes of American Existentialism. Tony’s adventures with ennui, religion, and consumerism as a gangster at the End of History. No worries if you haven't seen in a while, Season 2’s plot arcs are summarized: Sibling issues with Janice and Richie, Big Pussy is a big rat, and a lot of money making schemes. Give Remember Shuffle a follow on Twitter⁠ And on Instagram ⁠@RememberShufflePod⁠ to interact with the show between episodes. It also makes it easier to book guests. Andrea is @andreapozzana on instagram Link to Elvis Country map and Bust Out Math: https://remembershufflepod.wordpress.com/2024/04/20/the-sopranos-season-2-e48-pod-is-dead/

Chris Wade, of the excellent Hell on Earth and goated pod Chapo Trap House podcasts brings his expertise in the field of early 200s adult animation to Remember Shuffle. On this episode, the Shuffle Bois and Chris discuss the history of niche cable networks, the comic geniuses Mike Lazzo and Adam Reed, and the highly scientific field of generationology (Gen X content for the millennial baby boom echo).  They then turn to reviewing four iconic Adult Swim shows from the time - Space Ghost Coast to Coast, Sealab 2021, Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law, and the Venture Bros.

Holy Colab it’s a Craporation. Those Good Old Fashioned Values join us to help sum up the hundreds of hours of Seth MacFarlane content that exists.  We take a wide angle, 40,000 foot view of Family Guy - its structure and style of comedy, cancellation and revival in the 2000s, and how it changed over time - before turning to three themes that we feel define Family Guy: postmodernism, media technology, and transgressiveness.  Follow those Good Old Fashion Values: Ty’s instagram: @Seltzer_Flower , and twitter @bobo_circus Andy’s Twitch Link is AnonKaiju Spencer is bugman_spencer on Discord if you have an alto saxophone Give Remember Shuffle a follow on Twitter⁠ And on Instagram ⁠@RememberShufflePod⁠ to interact with the show between episodes  Please leave a rating for our show wherever you listen (especially Spotify, it’s ridiculous the impact it has)

The 2nd part of our 3 part series on the Lord of the Rings–one of the 2000s most beloved franchises. We get into the themes of the movie including Tokien’s own politics on Anarchy, Environmentalism and Class Politics.  Give us a follow on Twitter And on Instagram @RememberShufflePod to interact with the show between episodes

Do you believe in spells? In our 3rd “Type of Guy” episode, we look into one of the 2000s most annoying villains: The Pickup Artist. We give a synopsis of the book ‘The Game’, try in vain to defend their techniques, and explain why this particular villain emerged at this point in history. We are joined by dating coach and podcaster Sabrina Zohar of the ‘Do The Work Podcast’, which you can find on instagram @do.the.work.podcast  And the Do The Work Podcast here TIMESTAMPS 51:30 Shift to traditional Remember Shuffle episode format 1:04:35 The Cube

*Vocal fry* this is hot. @Thank_U_for_Shopping joins the Shuffle Bois and turn to a major figure of 2000s pop culture: the socialite, reality TV star, and boss business bitch Paris Hilton. They trace her early life and experiences in the troubled teen industry, her reality TV stint in Arkansas, and her metamorphosis into the first instagram influencer. Along with tracing the ark of Paris’ life, they also discuss influencer culture, it girls, loud 2000s fashion, and Paris Hilton’s role as pop culture heel. Follow @thank_u_for_shopping⁠ here:⁠ https://www.instagram.com/thank_u_for_shopping/ Follow @RememberShufflePod on Instagram: https://tr.ee/cHmJbidwJ1

This is a bonus episode. We will be returning with a regular episode 1 week from now We are joined by filmmaker Christopher James Bell (@UpdateTheGrids) to discuss the George W Bush presidency as well as Chris’ documentary on Means TV, “Miss Me Yet.”. We go a little rapid-fire, scatter-shot of the major events, wars, and crimes of the GeorgE W. Bush administration before asking Chris some questions about what it was like to make his excellent documentary about politics, war, finance, consumerism, marketing, and culture.   You can find Chris on Twitter/X at https://twitter.com/UpdateTheGrids, as well as his link tree here with links to all his projects, https://linktr.ee/christopherjasonbell Link to Chris’s doc on Means TV: https://means.tv/programs/missmeyet?cid=3337806&permalink=miss-me-yet-ep1

Get it now before the episode is inevitably taken down out of cowardice. A movie episode (in name only!) in which we use Kathryn Bigelow’s “Zero Dark Thirty” as a springboard to discuss the Bush administration’s torture program during the global War on Terror, the attempt to use both girl-bossing and identity politics to whitewash the crimes of empire, and the rise of the contemptible and irritating “bearded operator” subculture.  While this movie might not be as popular or well-remembered as some of the other films we have done, it perfectly encapsulates the brain-melting feeling you got when you first saw the woke CIA ad. Follow ⁠@RememberShufflePod on Instagram:⁠ https://tr.ee/cHmJbidwJ1

To make someone a martyr is to strip them of their humanity. Yet sometimes Pat Tillman is more than human, and becomes the greatest personification of the Global War on Terror. In Remember Shuffle’s first “very special episode” we cover “The Odyssey of Pat Tillman,” in biographer John Krakauer’s words. We trace his life from his childhood in California, through his enlistment, to his eventual death in a friendly fire incident and the ensuing cover-up. En route, we discuss the conflict between cynicism and idealism, the U.S. military as Kafkaesque bureaucracy run by Armando Ianucci-style incompetents, and the parallels between Pat’s value system and those of another group of warriors in Afghanistan.   Trigger Warning: this episode will make you sad and make your tummy hurt.

It’s our Holiday bonus episode. Christmas is the time to tell podcasters the truth. A time to show up outside their window with criticisms of how their voices sound the same. We look at some of the cultural trends of Christmas in the 2000s, including The War on Christmas, Elf, Love Actually, and some TV episodes. 

Hello there! Welcome to The Shuffle Galaxy and our exploration of one of the worst franchise trilogies from the 2000s. Forget everything you know about storytelling fundamentals: characters, acts, arcs, emotions, and nuance—throw it right in the trash compactor– because in the child-like mind of George Lucas, what makes a movie great is an over-the-top third act CGI battle scene on whatever backdrop most resembles your childhood living room floor. George Lucas’s nine-hour monstrosity has so much wrong with it and we do our best to add to the  immense collection of existing criticism. En route, we discuss the trilogy’s lack of real characters, the films’ idiosyncratic style, and the total lack of any interesting themes. We also discuss the trilogy’s Pandora’s Box-like effect on movie making for the next twenty years and the toy and video-game tie-in products that were, honestly, pretty sick.

As a follow up the 2008 election, we return to late 2000s, early 2010s political culture to discuss the 2008 financial crisis, the government’s intervention in the economy, and the mass movement against it: The Tea Party Movement. A Mass Movement of Free Market ideologue’s who believe that the financial crash didn’t happen because of deregulation–but because we actually didn’t do the free market enough. A reading series of Glenn Beck explores their monstrous, dogmatic worldview, followed by the real world impacts of this mass movement. Shout out to Thomas Frank’s ‘Pity the Billionaire’ as it was used often as a source. Alternate titles for this episode included: ‘Spend it like Beck-am’, ‘A Promised Rand’, and ‘Ayn’t Life Rand’

Welcome to the program, we got a great show for you today, Isaac Eger (@gluten_daddy) is joining us to discuss The Daily Show with Jon Stewart! Remember Shuffle takes a look at one of the most influential TV shows from the 2000s, responsible (for good and ill) for the current state of desk comedy. The Shuffle Bois break down the four distinct eras of the daily show: the leather jacket, 90s alt-comic era, the righteous anger era, the lecture series era, and everyone’s favourite: the dogshit era. En route, they discuss the historical moments in which the show aired - the late 90s, Gen X end of history; the right wing war fervor cancel culture of the Bush years; the smarmy lib media navel gazing atmosphere of the Obama years; and the Trump Derangement Syndrome era. They close with discussions on satire, civility, and class politics. Isaac's podcast, COEXIST INC. (as well as our follow up once Jon Stewart returned) can be found here : https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/coexistinc/episodes/Ep--67--The-Daily-Show-Is-a-Flat-Circle-w-Remember-Shuffle-e2g2p97

Remember Shuffle goes indie this week for its obligatory “Spooky Season” episode and takes a look at 2001’s Donnie Darko. This indie film became a cult classic, spawning countless hours of internet sleuthing analysis, and is probably the biggest “cult” film of the decade. We break down the incredibly straightforward and simple plot of the film, discuss its themes of teen angst, alienation, fate vs predeterminism, madness, and creative destruction, and finally close with a discussion of the place of the 80s in 2000s cultural memory. 

Bryan Quinby of Street Fight Radio and Guys joins to cover one of the ultimate types of 'Guy': Guy Ritchie--and specifically his 2000s masterpieces Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch. We cover the type of guy who loves this movie, petty criminals, and how none of the crimes in these movies are even illegal anymore. check out more Bryan at patreon.com/murderxbryan Jason Statham's wig: https://remembershufflepod.wordpress.com/2023/10/17/lock-stock-and-snatch-e34-guys-ritchie-with-bryan-quinby/

We turn, finally, to the greatest pop-cultural artefact of the 2000s—77 minutes of laying out exactly why Googling “what is the greatest show of all time” will return “The Sopranos”. We go over the Sopranos' greatest features, including the internal continuity that each episode has with its small details and imagery, like Curb Your Enthusiasm’s interweaving plots, but for drama. The episode is a first pass at explaining why the Sopranos is a 6 tool player at: plot, setting, characters, style, technique and themes–specifically of American decline, generational divide, toxic masculinity and class in The Sopranos.

This week we are once again joined by Mike Duncan as we turn to our favourite all-frills movie from the 2000s, Sophia Coppola’s “Marie Antoinette.” We review this film that had mixed reviews at the time, but in retrospect is a masterpiece of ennui, decadence, and style. En route, we discuss different approaches to the historical biopic, malign the double standard of “style-over-substance” discourse, and muse on what different countries’ dogs say about them.  Listen to Mike Duncan’s podcasts here: https://thehistoryofrome.typepad.com/revolutions_podcast/

We came, we saw, we podcasted. Huge thanks to @Mike Duncan for coming on the pod to review HBO’s Rome with us. The most expensive TV show ever made at its time, and a beautiful show which actually put its budget to good use (unlike, a certain LoTR series). The show gets the Julius Cesar story so right (with a few funny anachronisms), and adds on a Forrest Gump like historical fiction. It immerses you in the values and morals of classical Rome and we love the voodoo magic of day-to-day Roman life. Find Mike's podcasts at: https://thehistoryofrome.typepad.com/revolutions_podcast/ And get check out 'A Hero of Two Worlds' the story of Lafayette, and 'The Storm Before the Storm' for more classical history https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34184069-the-storm-before-the-storm Ben's show notes: https://remembershufflepod.wordpress.com/2023/08/19/hbos-rome-with-mike-duncan-e31-lend-us-your-ears/

The Remember Shuffle crew turns the nostalgia dial up to 11 and talks about the rise and fall of Blockbuster. Every millennial’s favourite corporate monopoly, they talk about how Blockbuster’s business morons killed it in the 2000s, by white knuckling the company through 25 years of unprecedented American growth. They examine how Netflix supplanting Blockbuster is a fitting allegory for the ways the world has changed since the 2000s. Specifically, with respect to the almighty Algorithm, the loss of physical media, and how tech companies make our art now.