Raymond and Andrew take a look at how the **** we wound up with certain taboo words in our languages that are either politically incorrect or grammatically incorrect. They try to trace back these words to their origins, examining how religious influences and even our physical instincts have basically created profanity as we know it. What do they find out? Basically that we can all sympathize with s**t!
In light of Disney’s new move in purchasing Marvel as well as the annual DragonCon taking place in Atlanta, Raymond and Andrew analyze America’s love for the “superhero” and all of the comics, stories, and movies based around them. While tracing the history of these superhuman icons, they make their way from their earliest roots in comics in the early 1900’s all the way up to some characters that we are familiar with now that you may not think would be considered superheroes!
As the vampire craze takes over the country (and possibly the world), Raymond and Andrew take a trip back in time and try to find out where the concept of vampires started and how vampires evolved into the creatures we have today in our books, movies, and television shows. Starting with the earliest traditions, they follow the timeline through famous vampires such as Dracula and Nosferatu, the popularization of them with the Anne Rice novels, and the latest attempts to humanize these characters even more.
This week, Raymond and Andrew take a look into the world of advertising and publicity, examining the way that such things as fear and sex have become the basic tactics in selling a product or service, how advertising focuses on competition rather than their own product itself, and how all of these same principles bleed into politics as well. They also talk about some sneaky techniques used by advertisers called weasel words, and they let you know exactly what to look for so you know when you’re being tricked into buying something.
Raymond and Andrew once again tackle another widely-accepted religious moniker - they try to find out where we came up with the idea of the devil himself. They trace the concept back to its origins and attempt to understand mankind’s need to personify good and evil and why certain “evils” are inherently our own human nature.
This week, Raymond and Andrew travel across the globe (virtually, of course) and look at the population growth/shrinkage in different areas, try to determine what could be the cause of these problems, and talk about a few ways that some countries are trying to combat these problems themselves. They also explore a theory that our society has become structured in a way that allows for our future generations to be less and less intelligent. Are overpopulation and dysgenics real threats to our way of life and our planet? Listen to find out!
Raymond and Andrew take a look at some of today’s most prevalent doomsday theories, including the Judeo-Christian apocalypse and the Mayan calendar-based 2012 theory, as well as a few of the most widely accepted ideas in the scientific community, including another global ice age, brought on surprisingly by an insufficient amount of carbon in the atmosphere, and the eventual degradation of our beloved sun. How is the world as we know it going to end? Listen to find out!
In a rather extensive podcast, Raymond and Andrew trace a handful of our biggest holidays to their roots, examining whether or not their true origins have anything to do with how we celebrate them today. With their findings, they discuss how most holidays line up with the changing of the seasons, how most of them have withstood the test of time almost completely because of commercialization and consumerism, and how when it boils down to it, people just want to celebrate and have a good time - and there’s nothing wrong with that!
Raymond and Andrew explore how our unique evolutionary advantages and differences gave us the ability to create our world today - and possibly the ability to destroy it! They explore the biological characteristics such as our opposable thumbs, our foot structure, and our tendency to cry, as well as our neurological differences and how our self-awareness has shaped our culture and our lifestyles throughout history.
Raymond and Andrew try to pin down what led up to our modern views of life after death, more specifically the concept of “hell,” and they find some very interesting things along the way. They also analyze Dante’s Inferno from his Divine Comedy and John Milton’s Paradise Lost, two very influential works of art to the concept.
