Episode 530 : Kevin Burns

YouTube link here. See the pauses in real time!

This week, we skip the shallow garbage like billionaires, and focus on what really matters — lemon lime sodas! Also bizarre short films, Tony’s drinking problem (singular), William being bullied at school (by the website), and more. Enjoy!

QUESTIONS:

Dear Soda Jerks, Why is it that 7up is the only clear lemon lime soda that doesn’t suck these days? –Azuretalon Cola

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13 Responses to Episode 530 : Kevin Burns

  1. Azuretalon says:

    Undeserved confidence of a mediocre, cishet white Man? Sure. Joe Rogan? You finally said something that hurt me.

    If we expand the discussion to green and yellow lemon lime soda, Green River is the winner and Surge is a nice second. Green River makes a killer float. But I was thinking of the clear liquid hospitals allow and Sierra Mist is terrible and whatever makes it bad has drifted into Sprite.

    We do get inconsistent around the end of the school due to my cohost’s occupation.

    • themagicaltalkinghat says:

      Let me be clear: I was saying that the particular trait, which I share, is something that is best exemplified by, and therefore should be named for, Joe Rogan.

      I did not, and do not, claim any larger similarities between yourself and said Rogan, nor do I claim that your tendency toward said trait is even remotely as intense as his.

      Also, I forgot about Surge. I freaking *lived* on Surge in college.

  2. Cawfee says:

    Lemon-lime bubblies choices….such a polarizing idea!
    I grew up with 7-Up and prefer 7-Up when I have no other option to drink something fun when presented with Sierra Mist/Sprite/Other lemon-lime bubblies. 7-Up’s got the crispest, non-overly syrupy experience among the lemon-lime bubblies. Sprite drinks like a mixer (same with Mt. Dew…terrible on its own, but delightful when mixed with bourbon), and coats the tongue is a repellent manner. Ew. Sierra Mist is trying to be something between Sprite and 7-Up, and has a tinny aftertaste. Slice was alright, but 7-Up was better tasting. P.S. Billionaires can suck it and die slowly from untreated prostate cancer all alone without any healthcare on one of their precious private islands.

  3. jas says:

    The reasons I didn’t comment on Billionaires last week were:

    1) trying to find something about the social mechanism where over-accumulation of wealth gets checked in certain cultures. I think there’s a name for this, but I can’t remember. It’s the sort of thing where the person with a lot of wealth has a big party and gives things away.
    2) my work life has been very stressful recently–for which I can, yes, blame billionaires. In the kind of college that I work for where a lot of the students are the first generation of their family in college the humanities are under attack. To give one example–state legislatures are considering tying financial aid to proof that the student is in a major that will lead directly to employment. Basically, colleges that are for the working-class are going to be turned into factories to turn out well-behaved and skilled workers, without the kind of humanities training which might make them skeptical of authority.

    I was also looking up info about how much people like Bezos make. Yes, most of this is from investment and not salary. But the bottom line is that he makes so much money that it is physically impossible for him to spend the amount that he makes. He will always be accumulating. Aside from the ethical implications of that, what does it mean for us as a species that we have developed systems which allow that much inequity of resource allocation. It is completely unsustainable.

    I read that first Becky Chambers novel and really loved it. I had trouble getting into the second one because I missed the characters from the first one so much and wanted more about them. Maybe I’ll try again now that I have more spare time.

    The third episode of Shadow and Bone was terrible, especially the scene Tony was mentioning. Really one reason that I decided to watch the show was that I had read some reviews that praised it for representation, and what I’m finding instead is that there is less representation than in the books, and on top of that, there are certain aspects of the presentation that are quite misogynistic. Plus, the main character is essentially a Mary Jane, and by the fourth episode, represented (in contrast to the saintly male half of the romantic pair) as kind of a jerk.

    I do like the side story involving the heist characters except that it’s pretty surfacy compared with the books. All three of those characters are much more complex in the books. You get introduced to them with that complexity already there, and then eventually you learn what caused it. Because they are just side characters here, the complexity isn’t really there and I assume we aren’t going to get the back story.

    • themagicaltalkinghat says:

      Yes! Smush all the billionaires!

      I was skeptical about the second Wayfarer book, for the same reasons you mentioned. Waiting a bit helped, I think, I wasn’t AS tied to the original crew. Having just finished the second one, I can tell you it gives you a new group to fall in love with again, and I think the themes are a bit more complex and interesting as well. Not saying I like it better than the first… but I like it a lot.

      I’ll finish out Shadow & Bone, at least this season, but… yeah… it’s not… great…

      • jas says:

        I forgot to mention that I also watched “Suited” and really liked it.

        I’m currently reading the duology after the Six of Crows. It only has one of the characters from Six of Crows, but am still liking it a lot, and it’s again reminding me that there’s a lot more representation in the novels.

  4. Beth says:

    Saying “Be Best” out of context sounds to my ear like “Be Beth” which seems an odd thing to tell someone to do.

    jas, I think #1 is called a slightly special episode of Oprah

    Do you recall 50/50? I think it was supposed to be lemon-lime. It was ok in a glass, but in a can I found it undrinkable due to the tinny taste.
    I will occasionally drink either sprite or 7-up, but would not order either at a restaurant. I rarely order soda of any variety at a restaurant, but, if I’m in the mood for it. If I’m at a restaurant that serves Pepsi products, I will get Mountain Dew; there’s nothing else in the Pepsi arsenal that I’m interested in. Coke products, I’ll occasionally order Coke, or Diet Coke (or diet coke with chocolate syrup in it!). I like A&W, Sprecher, and Culver’s root beers, but pretty much no others (Barq’s, Dad’s, and Mug are all terrible, imho). I grew up with Coke – but only when it was on sale for $5/24 pack or cheaper, so it was a bit of a special treat. One of my parents liked 50/50, or liked it enough that we often purchased it when company was coming over and then there were leftovers, so that was often available, and I’d prefer no soda to drinking that.

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