Remember Shuffle

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.

Ahoy hoy, shuffleheads! Today Remember Shuffle takes a look and 2003’s Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, the first entry in the best franchise that never was. To help us analyze this film, we are joined by Everett Rummage of the Age of Napoleon podcast. We discuss the uniqueness and out-of-place nature the film in the decade, how this film runs on vibes, the historical authenticity of the film, and why its failure to generate more than 200 million dollars in revenue doomed it to irrelevancy. 

We also discuss the a whole host of Napoleonic age topics ranging from the alcoholism of its political and military leaders, the contrast between wonder and enlightenment and the destruction of near-total war, and its totally alien views on masculinity--alright lads, Ship shape and Bristol Fashion!

Listen to the Age of Napoleon podcast here:

https://cms.megaphone.fm/channel/ADL5280986787?selected=ADL7401113285 

Follow Everett on Twitter here:

https://twitter.com/AgeofNapoleon  

See the gimbal here:

https://wordpress.com/post/remembershufflepod.wordpress.com/87

Remember the Iraq War? It’s back, in prestige cable miniseries form. To discuss Generation Kill, Ben and Jordano are joined by two experts in the David Simon cinematic universe: Matt Lieb and Vince Mancini from Pod Yourself a Gun. They review the show’s realism, its “fuck the bosses” ideology, its ability to emphasize the total asymmetry of the Iraq War, and the general lack of Iraq War media in the years since 2003.

Check out Vince Mancini’s substack page here: https://substack.com/@vincemancini.

Eleanor Janega and Luke Waters join us (!) for a review of 2010's Robin Hood in our favorite guest episode.

A day in the life of a true Folkloric Geezer. 

Wake up and meet the wife Marian. isn't she beau’iful?

Time to take Much to stoolball.

Rev up the Marrymen, ye!

Quick stop at the Hostelry and load up that plate.

Get a pint.

Forest lookin' lovely today lads.

Just a bit of banter.

The Fair makes a 38-nil loss be’’er.

Pop down local pride,

Good ol' pie! Look at that!

Marian made dinner, lovely!

Pop down have a couple pints with the lads,

And finish up in the fortress of dreams.

See the Truth…Behind the Legend…We chat about this movie’s egregious class politics, its place in the trend of sword-and-sandals films and origin stories, and how making a gritty reboot of a folk tale is a dumb idea. 

6:15 for discussion on Robin Hood (2010) start. Check out We’re Not So Different at https://www.patreon.com/wnsdpod , and Eleanor's book at

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61089456-the-once-and-future-sex.

Since we are now living in the era of the Sonic and Super Mario Bros movie, not to mention HBO’s The Last of Us, Remember Shuffle is taking a look at how the big-budget video game adaptation all began back in the 2000s. They review three films that, even if profitable, have been totally memory-holed by society: Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001), Max Payne (2008), and The Prince of Persia: the Sands of Time (2010). They also do some quick rapid-fire reviews of Resident Evil (2001), Doom (2005), and Hitman (2007).

En route, they analyze how movie studios fundamentally misunderstand videogame source material in every respect, from character, to visual style, to gaming’s generally lowbrow nature. They also discuss Hollywood’s neverending search for IP that began in the decade, the obsession with the War on Terror in the 2000s, and how we are heading towards a singularity of popular culture.

Remember Shuffle returns to the world of videogames and discusses one of the best-selling PC games of all time and a pillar of 2000s video gaming, The Sims franchise. They describe the most iconic features of The Sims (simlish, woo hoo, pool accidents), analyze what drew people to this consumerist capitalist dollhouse simulator, and debate the best and worst ways to play this game.

There is no Spoonfeeding in this absolutely flawless, perfect film from outside the purview of the dumb decade the Shuffle bois do a podcast about, The Matrix (1999). Sadly, they cannot say the same for the film's 2000s era sequels - movies so bad, they retroactively ruined a great movie. Ben and Jordano look at how The Matrix, an End of History era sci-fi action, hacker thriller, kung fu movie changed the game in so many ways both then and now: from parodies, to memes, to legacy sequels, to the disconcerting number of people who truly believe we are living in a simulation.

Themes discussion starts at 1:04:30

It’s the second entry in Remember Shuffle’s “type of guy” series, and in this episode we are turning away from the meatspace hipster culture we discussed in the first entry and looking to the online world of atheism, bacon, and, of course, posting. The Shuffle Bois look at a particular kind of posting culture, the Epic Bacon Reddit Guy, a culture that flourished on Reddit (naturally).

They break down the Epic Bacon Reddit Guy’s sense of humour, analyze and trace their love of bacon, and deconstruct their political views and collective political actions, such as they were. They also discuss 2000s-era New Atheism, the pre-gamergate gender ideologies of Reddit, and realize that one of the last Epic Bacon Guy’s left on this earth is none other than the Poster in Chief of Twitter himself, Elon Musk.

Cold Open used is from College Humor.

Baconator: https://remembershufflepod.wordpress.com/2023/04/22/epic-bacon-reddit-guy-e23-tips-fedora-mlistners/

Remember Shuffle is going international. On this episode, the Shuffle Bois and a couple cosmopolitan guests take a look at the 21st century’s Most American Book and Film™: Eat, Pray, Love. They analyze Elizabeth Gilbert’s autobiographical memoir about a Karen finding herself in Italy, India, and Indonesia, and en route discuss the author’s selfishness and narcissism, her hilarious orientalizing portrayal of Italy, and her specific version of American protestantism in which you get to become God.

This week, the Remember Shuffle returns to the world of the sitcom to discuss everyone’s favo[u]rite show about a mid-level paper company, The Office. They discuss the show’s unforgettable characters including Michael Scott, the well-intentioned moron with a heart of gold, Dwight, the “white trash bushido” paper salesman, and Andy, the downwardly mobile failson.

En route, they discuss the changing setting of the sitcom from the domestic space to the workplace, the phenomenon of the Bullshit Job and how The Office identified it before it was common knowledge, and how small victories can turn even a boring office into a kind of utopian pastoral arcadia. They also discuss the decline of the show from one critical of meaningless work and office culture to one that embraced finding meaning in the workplace.

Our guest this week, Del Maticic, can be found on Twitter @maticiceronian. He’s the co-editor of a forthcoming book on work called “Working Lives in Ancient Rome,” co-edited with Jordan Rogers.

I only like Remember Shuffle’s earlier stuff. On this episode, the Remember Shuffle crew put on their armchair sociologist hats and do a new kind of episode. Rather than discussing a movie, book, or album, they cover a countercultural figure that rebelled against the mainstream in the 2000s, The Hipster. The first entry in our “type of guy” series, the Shuffle Bois discuss why The Hipster emerged in the 2000s, their philosophies of irony, nostalgia, and a priorism. Also, What are the 3 types of hipster? How brands tried to use hipster culture to wallpaper over their unethical business practices, mainstream culture’s appropriation of hipster culture, and why countercultures as whole are dead.

Pictures:

• https://remembershufflepod.wordpress.com/2023/02/24/the-hipster-e19-caring-is-creepy/

The Shuffle bois are joined by two of their favo[u]rite podcasters, whom you may know from Chapo Trap House, Hell of Presidents, or the recently-released Hell on Earth podcast, Matt Christman and Chris Wade. They discuss one of the candidates for G.O.A.T. 2000s sitcom, Arrested Development. They discuss its portrayal of both the “failson” and the media-career desperate American, walk through the show’s commentary on everything from the Iraq War to Southern California land development fraud, and ask the question, “why can’t streaming services seem to make sitcoms anymore?” They close out by discussing the historical rhyming between certain Arrested Development characters and certain historical figures from the 30-years war.

Special thanks to our guests, Matt Christman and Chris Wade. You can listen to their excellent Hell on Earth podcast here:

https://www.patreon.com/chapotraphouse

Some Remember Shuffle episodes are about influential, fundamental pieces of pop culture that help explain the pop culture landscape that we find ourselves in today. This is not one of those episodes. On this episode, the Shuffle Bois unpack and analyze Spike TV, the 2000s TV network for men, and one of its original brogram, The Deadliest Warrior.

After walking through Spike TV’s unhinged manifesto, the Shufle Bois scientifically deconstruct every aspect of the Deadliest Warrior: its three milquetoast hosts, its comically unscientific methodology, its most egregious robberies, its cavalier relationship to history, and its lasting impact on culture today, mostly through gun YouTube.

In a pod, in the cloud, the Shuffle Bois and special guest BillBurr Baggins leave the POW camp of life and talk about a hopeful, optimistic, escapist fantasy, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. The first entry in Peter Jackson’s masterpiece trilogy, so many things make it great: its fundamentally sincere and positive message, the spectacular worldbuilding and execution of Peter Jackson’s vision, and its perfect pacing (despite its extended runtime).

We also trace the behind-the-scenes making of the film, muse on what the movie would look and sound like if other directors had made it, and discuss the film’s long-lasting impact on culture, whether that be through memes, the attempted cash cow that was the Hobbit trilogy, or the absolute trainwreck debacle that was Amazon’s “The Rings of Power.”

00:00 Intro 

04:16 Actual Topic Intro 

16:00 Plot Walkthrough 

34:00 Themes of LoTR 

41:13 How did the movie get made? 

1:02:00 Echoes in the culture 

1:09:50 It's reception in 2000s Culture

Of the three presidential elections that happened in the Y2K decade, 2008 was, without a doubt, the most entertaining. It features a fascinating cast of characters: alien body-snatcher Hillary Clinton, sex rascal Bill Clinton, legend-icon-moment Barack Obama, foreign policy war psycho John McCain, and the ineffable Sarah Palin. She’s ineffable in that she can’t talk right. Put all these people on the national stage, and you’re guaranteed a spectacle only rivaled by 2016.

We walk through the marathon democratic primary between Hillary and Barack Obama, move on to the general election between Obama and McCain, and wrap up with the collapse of the economy in the Fall of 2008 and the ongoing aftermath of the election. En route, we discuss Hillary Clinton’s myriad weaknesses, Bill Clinton’s sex crimes, the media’s shameless support of Obama, John McCain’s total self-immolation of his reputation, Joe Biden’s failing upwards, and Sarah Palin’s inability to produce a thought or recall memories.

The Strokes rock. Period. Full stop. End of discussion. Here’s a 1:12:51 long discussion on how cool they are.

The Shuffle Bois discuss how bad rock music was in the late 90s and early Y2K era, which made what the Strokes pulled off all the more impressive. They discuss why the indie garage rock scene in NY blew up, the hilariously privileged background of the Strokes, and dissect some songs from their first three albums and why they’re great. They also have some connections to the 2020 Bernie Sanders’ primary campaign, which genre of Y2K rock you can have sex to, and the general uselessness of the UK and the blood debt they owe the world for giving us Adele.

Nowadays, the content mill churns out superhero fare at maximum capacity. Whether that’s the endless multicoloured sludge of the interconnected MCU across platforms, or the Justice league being released twice - with viewers being able to see both the soy Whedon and self-serious Snyder cuts, but what if we told you that there was a time before society took seriously movies based on baby brained picture books? And these two films from the Y2K era, more than anything else, changed that.

Today the Shuffle Bois are looking at Christopher Nolan’s “Batman Begins” and “The Dark Knight.” the two films most responsible for the legitimising of superhero content as “art.” While the hosts acknowledge that these films undoubtedly rock, they also discuss the half-baked Y2K politics of the films, the exponentially increasing gaping plot holes across all three films, and why Christopher Nolan is in fact a neo-feudalist.

On this episode of Remember Shuffle, the Shuffle bois return to the world of… well I wouldn’t call it “literature,” but maybe books? We’re talking about the ultimate mormon edging fanfic book: Twilight. We discuss how to write around sex and temptation through vampire metaphors (so as to maintain your mormon sensibilities), the attraction to danger and mystery that may or may not be universal, and the many, many toxic aspects of the Edward-Bella relationship. We also discuss the horrendous movie adaptation and its problematic casting choices, Donald Trump’s Twitter feud with one of the stars, and Twilight’s lasting impact on the publication of fan fiction.

What’s the worst you’ve ever screwed up at work? Whatever it was, we promise you it’s not as bad as today’s topic. In this episode’s Reading Series, we discuss the media’s influence on and culpability in the lead-up to the Iraq War. We focus on two commentators who, despite being hilariously, comically, aggressively wrong, failed upwards to prestigious positions in the liberal media sphere: Joe Scarborough and Megan McArdle. When it comes to holding people accountable, the Shuffle Bois can proudly say: “Mission Accomplished.”

The 2000s were such an apolitical decade that even the folk music and abortion movies lacked any social commentary. Remember Shuffle takes a look at 2007’s “Juno” and asks some Very Important Questions™: is Juno an indie film darling that struck gold, or a cynical cashing-in on the twee craze of the aughts? Is it a sweet film about an independent and self-sufficient teenager maturing and embracing vulnerability, or is it a coded message to the working class that the bourgeoisie is fracturing and through class solidarity there is a world to win?  Is Juno single-handedly responsible for the Dobbs decision stripping away reproductive rights in most of America, or can movies not do that?

Links to Jordan’s Book:

Booktopia:

https://www.booktopia.com.au/ugly-paul-fenech/book/9781761043727.html

Penguin website:

https://www.penguin.com.au/books/ugly-9781761043727

Remember Shuffle’s second music episode turns away from the mainstream to look at two bands who represent the sub-genre of emo music: Brand New and Taking Back Sunday. The shuffle bois review both bands’ first two albums, discuss their histories, and look at emo music’s impact on culture today. Have you ever wondered why millennials can’t seem to ever stop crying? Listen to this episode to maybe understand why.

Are you a right-wing chug who’s tired of the Lib woke media ramming its PC content down your throat? Are you a lib who worships the ground Obama walks on, and wants to watch some of the former president’s favo(u)rite shows? Are you dissatisfied with your life and want to escape to a world in which bad things don’t happen? Are you illiterate? Today Remember Shuffle is discussing Entourage, a show that would satisfy all four of those hypothetical viewers. The Shuffle Bois discuss how Entourage was the ultimate post 9-11, wish fulfillment, dudes rock show, how it ran for 8 seasons despite nothing fundamentally changing or happening after early season 3, and how it may, totally on accident, be the greatest criticism of Hollywood ever created.

In hono(u)r of the recent marriage of Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck, Remember Shuffle is looking back at how their fairy tale love story began: with full-page ads in the press, intense paparazzi attention, and what is likely the most offensive and terrible film of either of their careers, Gigli. After discussing the power couple, the Shuffle Bois go beat by beat through Gigli, so that you don’t have to.

You can find Tessa and her standup at tessamfleming.com and on IG @TessaFleming

On this episode, the “Music Heads” of Remember Shuffle discuss Green Day’s American Idiot: the 2000s’ quintessential protest album, a zeitgeist-capturing punk rock opera about suburban angst, and the source material for a superfluous and unnecessary Broadway musical about sitting on couches. We break down what makes this album an incredible 2000s time capsule, investigate how Green Day wrote an apolitical protest album that no one will cancel you for, and bafflingly wonder why this got the musical treatment.

Grab your Doritos, Xbox controllers, and Mountain Dew Gamer Fuel and buckle up for a tight 57-minute conversation about the Halo franchise-- a formative video game series of the childhoods and adolescences of millennials everywhere. Along the way, we attempt to discuss the surprisingly deep lore of the Halo universe, talk about the rise of “The Operator” in both politics and culture, and Cortana's slow creep into being a strange sex symbol.
Nota bene: Dan Carlin does not appear in this episode, we just riff on his distinctive voice and speech patterns at 34:30 mins in.

Hi, we’re Remember Shuffle, and this is our Jackass episode. In this episode we discuss the absolute masterclass of early 2000s reality TV that is MTV’s Jackass. We analyze the pure, anarchic, joyful chaos of the 2000s reincarnation of Diogenes' cynicism, look at how the Jackass energy has been diffused throughout our pop-culture, and touch on why the nostalgia cycle of reboots seems to be shortening.

This week, the public intellectuals of Remember Shuffle are a literature podcast. We discuss the absolute masterpiece that is the Robert Langdon's Literary-Crypto Universe, unpacking the dense symbology Dan Brown’s Magnum Opus. Along the way, we discuss the gradual mainstreaming of conspiracy theories starting in the early 2000s, the laziest movie adaptations Hollywood has ever crapped out, and produce our own Dan Brown plot. Few People Realize Real Lies.

Finally, they made a movie just for the fellas. You have made it to the end of the rainbow, and awaiting you is a triple feature of a discussion of the 2000s cult classic, The Boondock Saints; Overnight, a documentary about its director; and The Boondock Saints 2, maybe the worst film ever made.

Remember How I Met Your Mother? HIMYM had HEAT in the 2000s--more viewers than The Office,  more episodes, more catchphrases, and even a Hilary Duff spinoff that launched this year! And yet it feels like this show is never talked about today. Even though it ended only it passed right through our culture like a 2000's Tiger King. We examine why.