Garfield, The 24-Hour News Cycle, The Zack to Her Miri

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DISCLAIMER: Andy experienced catastrophic audio issues at about the 4:50 mark, after which his voice sounds more or less like an old-timey radio-show phone call-in. If you’re one of our die-hards, we sincerely apologize for the momentary drop in quality and promise you that we’ve rectified the issue and all will be back to normal next episode. And if you’re a new listener, for the love of god, don’t start with this one.

Love: Garfield

A not un-desperate at this point in the recording Andy brings in the Love with a discussion of everyone’s favorite lasagna-loving lazy cat, Garfield. He waxes nostalgic about reading the old comic strip, talks variations on the character ranging from the Garfield and Friends cartoon to Garfield’s Pet Force, and a discussion about the nihilistic implications of Garfield Minus Garfield gives way to Andy introducing Alex to another fan reinterpretation (if you feel brave, Google the words “I’m sorry Jon” with our warning that you probably shouldn’t do it at work or while eating–or just don’t and listen to Alex do it in real time).

Hate: The 24-Hour News Cycle

Alex takes his Hate time to get good and angry at the very existence of the 24-Hour News Cycle. After a brief history lesson on both how news reporting went down in the olden days and how the founding of CNN and its later imitators changed the industry, he and Andy discuss the fallout of profit-driven media companies trying to maximize viewership while cutting resources for actual reporting, how much time we’re spending watching the same poorly-informed takes on the same stories, and how the culture of crappy takes for the outrage and the views has infected non-TV news media (and the boring-but-important ways to cultivate a good media diet).

Relationship: The Zack to Her Miri

Today’s listener writes in with a question about how to approach a friend for whom he’s falling hard, but who is going off to college soon. Andy gives some kind words of encouragement to get out there and talk feelings, Alex offers up his own story dating a friend, doing long distance, and it working out pretty well, and everyone agrees that making a porno would probably be a pretty weird next step for a new couple, unless you’re into that, we guess.