One of the first episodes we ever wanted to record for the pod, Snakes on a Plane. We explore the brief 2006-era window of big budget B-movies. Check out our Patreon feed for the full episode : ( https://patreon.com/RememberShuffle?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink ) And make sure you sign up through the browser–not through the app, to save yourself 50%...
Jul 26, 2025•7 min•Ep. 83
We dive into the shiny, explosive world of 2008’s Iron Man, the film that launched the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Celebrated for Robert Downey Jr.’s charismatic performance and its slick visuals, it offers a surface level critique of the of the military-industrial complex. The ideology and methods that Iron Man embodies though, are identical to American exceptionalism. Not to mention that the cost of Stark’s redemption arc is the death of a thousand middle-budget dramas Give Remember Shuffle a f...
Jul 19, 2025•1 hr 22 min
This is a free demo--Full episode 90 minute episode can be found at: patreon.com/c/RememberShuffle It's a music episode! The Shuffle Bois turn to an early 2000s artist that NME Magazine called "The Saviour of Music" and Pitchfork Magazine called "A horseman of the apocalypse," Andrew WK. The Shuffle bois first trace the surprisingly interesting life of Andrew WK before the 2001/2002 release of his first album "I Get Wet." They review this seminal album of the 2000s before discussing some themes ...
Jul 12, 2025•11 min
The Shuffle bois turn to the pivotal years 2006-8 of the Iraq war, featuring the Iraqi Civil War, the US troop surge, and the military “genius” of treating Iraqis with basic human empathy. After tracing the history of this period - how the civilian leadership continued to bury its head in the sand, how the strategy began to slowly change towards sending more troops, and how Americans largely tuned out in 2008 - they zoom out and discuss the big ideas and questions around the surge. Was it a succ...
Jul 05, 2025•2 hr 5 min
Skip ahead to 9:30 for Robin Williams content. We dive headfirst into the lightning-fast, unfiltered mind of Robin Williams's 2002 stand-up special, Live on Broadway. After a 16-year hiatus from major touring, Williams stormed the stage like a human cyclone. Was it improvised? Was it structured? This episode dives into whether the sheer volume of material and the relentless pace overshadowed the strength of the jokes themselves. Was it a brilliant display of Robin’s unique mind, or did the "stre...
Jun 21, 2025•1 hr 28 min
This is a free Demo--Full episode can be found at: patreon.com/c/RememberShuffle The Shuffle Bois turn from the worst Classics adaptation of the 2000s (Troy) to what might be the best, the Coen Brothers' "O Brother Where Art Thou." After describing the source material - Homer's Odyssey - the bois give a plot summary of the Cohen brothers' southern folklore epic. They then discuss some themes of the film - the North's view of the South in 2000, the place of music in the film, and the various myth...
Jun 14, 2025•14 min
In part four of Remember Shuffle’s ongoing series on the Iraq War, Remember Shuffle is joined by guests Lyle Jeremy Rubin and Van Jackson, the hosts of the [Bang-Bang] podcast . We turn now to the ramping up of violence in the years 2004-2005, and the United States refusal to recognize the current battle space: one of counter insurgency. As always we end our discussion with a movie set during this period: American Sniper and Warfare. Follow Bang-Bang at: www.bangbangpod.com/ Van Jackson: x.com/r...
Jun 07, 2025•1 hr 29 min
In part three of Remember Shuffle’s ongoing series on the Iraq War, the Shuffle Bois turn their investigative eyes to the CPA and the first year of the occupation. They close out by reviewing The Green Zone, a very weak attempt to fictionalize the story of Green Zone: Imperial Life in the Emerald City. Baghdad Burning Blog: https://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/ Give Remember Shuffle a follow on Twitter And on Instagram @RememberShufflePod to interact with the show between episodes. I...
May 24, 2025•2 hr 12 min
The Wolfowitz of Wall Street--In part two of Remember Shuffle’s ongoing series on the Iraq War, the Shuffle Bois turn their investigative eyes to whose fault this war was. After digging down into the ideological tenets of Neoconservatism and describing the prime suspects of this mass murder case, they do a deep dive into the history of the lead-up to the war from 2001-2003. En route, they describe the stifling of any substantial debate on both the grounds for the war and its grand strategy, the ...
May 10, 2025•2 hr 7 min
Full episode can be found at: patreon.com/c/RememberShuffle In an episode that will echo through the millenia, the Shuffle Bois return to the world of sword and sandals flicks to review a film that got Ben Troygered, “Troy” (2004). Troy is a perfect example of the "grounded and realistic" period pieces that proliferated in the 2000s that somehow were neither grounded or realistic or fun. After doing a deep dive into the source material behind the film (the Greek epic poetry of Homer), they look ...
May 08, 2025•9 min
It’s “Anarchy” in the UK as we celebrate the 20th anniversary of V for Vendetta by metaphorically blowing up the veneration for this very mid movie. Alan Moore himself disassociated himself from this movie after complaining that they had made the movie about “current American Neoconservatism vs current american liberalism” rather than ANARCHY VS FACISM. Totalitarianism, Reddit Guy-ness, and SYMBOLOGY–enjoy our Guy Thoughts with your favorite Guy Thots. Give Remember Shuffle a follow on Twitter...
Apr 26, 2025•1 hr 21 min
A fun slice-of-life indie movie from the 2000s, which teaches the exact opposite lesson to The Bear Check out our Patreon feed for the full episode : ( https://patreon.com/RememberShuffle?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink ) And make sure you sign up through the browser–not through the app, to save yourself 50%...
Apr 19, 2025•8 min
Remember Shuffle finally turns to the biggest geopolitical catastrophe of the 2000s, the Iraq War. On this table-setting episode, tThe Shuffle Bois trace the long history of American collaboration with Saddam Hussein’s regime, the souring of that productive relationship in the 1990s, and the obsessive fixation America developped for regime change in Iraq, both on the Neoconservative and Liberal Interventionist sides of the divide. They then look at some of the Themes and Big Ideas of American Mi...
Apr 12, 2025•1 hr 59 min
In part two of the Shuffle Bois’ two-part series on Burger, they turn to the goliath-pioneer of fast food: McDonalds. They trace the company’s flailing attempts to rebrand itself in the 2000s, some of the lasting innovations that they implemented in the decade, and outline some of the reasons that McDonalds’ revenue peaked in the 2000s before starting to decline. They pair this brief corpo-history with a film review of the 2000s documentary “Super Size Me,” which had some influence on the fall o...
Mar 29, 2025•1 hr 22 min
I want to go to there. The Shuffle Boys are joined by Chris Wade of Chapo Trap House to discuss what might be the greatest sitcom of the 2000s, 30 Rock. After describing the viewpoints and games of this character driven show, the boys analyze the show’s big ideas around the degeneration of broadcast media, the intersection of race, gender, and class, and 2000s era politics. As always, they close with the echoes in the culture of this supremely unique and self-confident show. Be sure to give Chri...
Mar 15, 2025•1 hr 15 min
The Shuffle Bois return to you with another fun one, taking a look at three cultural products from the 2000s centered around where our food comes from - the muckraking non-fiction book Fast Food Nation, its dramatic film adaptation by Richard Linklater, and the lib documentary Food Inc. They trace food production from factory farm to bolted-down McDonalds table and analyze how these 2000s era works identified problems and offered neoliberal, consumer-based solutions. Huge thanks to Isaac Eger fo...
Mar 01, 2025•1 hr 47 min
Remember Comedies? Remember Shuffle looks back at a now-dead art form and examines the mechanics of the 90 minute feature film comedy. Comedies typically age very poorly, but the simple grounded premise of Meet the Parents allows it to be immortal. We talk about what makes Meet the Parents funny and how it differs fundamentally from a movie like Jerry Seinfeld’s Unfrosted. And because it’s Remember Shuffle, we’ll talk about class and the CIA. Give Remember Shuffle a follow on Twitter And on I...
Feb 15, 2025•1 hr
Loiterers will not be prosecuted. Another ‘very special episode’ from Remember Shuffle, looking at the largest disruptor of military orthodoxy in the 2000s: Predator Drones. Predators give the ability to watch targets endlessly–before, during, and after strikes from hellfire missiles or operator raids. Obama ramps up the drone program significantly after his election as drones offer a technocratic solution to war that appeals perfectly to Obama’s liberal sensibilities. Give Remember Shuffle a fo...
Feb 01, 2025•1 hr 29 min
It’s Satrap! Leonidas and 299 of his closest platonic friends make the ultimate sacrifice for western civilization by beating back Globo Homo. One of the 2000s most famous graphic novel adaptations features a not-so-implicit reference to our war in the middle east to fight for freedom. When analyzing this very dumb movie, The Shuffle Bois discuss the various binaries underlying the Clash of Civilization narrative (freedom vs slavery, democracy vs autocracy, East vs West, sexual degeneracy vs pro...
Jan 18, 2025•1 hr 25 min
Let’s fall into a Y2K-Hole. The Shuffle bois turn to the world of pop culture and consumer aesthetics with expert guest Colette Shade, author of “Y2K: How the 2000’s Became Everything.” Colette walks us through what the defining features of the Y2K era were, the history of the dot com bubble, some of the period’s most iconic styles and movements (Y2K Futurism, Frutiger Aero, Blobject, 2K1, Techno-orientalism, McBling), as well as various manifestations of the intense sexism of the time. Follow C...
Jan 08, 2025•1 hr 1 min
Joined once more by Sam of @Thank_u_for_shopping (Follow her here: instagram.com/thank_u_for_shopping ) Our 5th entry in our ‘type of guy’ series. The Manic Pixie Dream Girl archetype and real life people are examined in our breakdown of Elizabethtown, The Garden State, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, 500 Days of Summer, and Scott Pilgrim vs the World. We break the criticism into 2 different qualities that we have opposing feelings about: A woman that helps a man not be depressed anymore ...
Dec 29, 2024•1 hr 4 min
We finally turn to the Boy Who Lived and discuss the Harry Potter franchise. The shuffle bois remind you of the plot of each of these seven books/films before turning to discuss their strength (their whimsical world) and their many weaknesses (their politics, their flat characters, and their complete lack of internal logic). En route, they discuss neoliberalism, racism, the corporatization of media, and most the lasting legacy of these books, turning an entire generation of people annoying. Give...
Dec 14, 2024•1 hr 21 min
The shuffle boys return to the world of geopolitics and war with an episode on the most traumatic and devastating war of the 2000s: The War on Christmas. This label was a shorthand for a frenzy within the right wing media sphere around the changing nature of the Christmas season in the 2000s. They walk through some primary source documents from the time, explain what exactly this conflict was all about, and have some fun at the expense of the most histrionic voices of the right. Then they zoom o...
Dec 02, 2024•1 hr 13 min
I hear you mon. The Shuffle Bois turn to the world of Azeroth (and their own adolescences, before their Twink Death) to discuss the one MMORPG to rule them all, World of Warcraft. They trace Blizzard’s rise from a much beloved small private company that went on a historic, untouchable, Michael-Jordan-in-the-90s-style run to a much maligned publicly traded subsidiary of another videogame company. En route, they discuss the mechanics of World of Warcraft, the corporate ownership structures that do...
Nov 16, 2024•1 hr 29 min
The Shuffle Bois are joined by Luke Savage ( https://x.com/LukewSavage ) and Will Sloan ( https://x.com/WillSloanEsq ) of Michael and Us to describe the least important election of the 2000s. Given that it’s the only presidential election since 1988 in which a Republican candidate won the popular vote, much of the episode is dedicated to the analysis of the greatest Democratic Party loser of all time, John Kerry. They also discuss some of the big themes of the election, including the pathetic lo...
Nov 02, 2024•1 hr 16 min
Huge shoutout to @treedar_ on IG for this listener topic suggestion! . Thank you to all those who send us recs. Remember Shuffle turns to the internet folklore and its most famous cultural output: the Slendered man. We talk about his origins, characteristics and some academic reviews of folkloric study. 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. Liminal Space example:...
Oct 19, 2024•1 hr 5 min
NOTE: SORRY--we had to reupload this one due to an audio issue--THIS EPISODE IS OLD AND FROM Jan 2024. Remember Shuffle turns to the world of stand-up comedy and does a career retrospective of Dane Cook and and album review of his 2005 album “Retaliation.” En route, they break down the internal logic of his jokes, catalogue Dane Cook’s style, and do a bit of armchair psychiatry on everyone’s favourite man-child comedian.
Oct 19, 2024•1 hr 15 min
Remember Shuffle turns to the greatest dystopian film of the 2000s, and quite possibly the best film of the decade as a whole: Alfonso Cuarón's “Children of Men.” This text is so abundant that the Shuffle Bois do their first ever seven-theme episode. En route, they discuss hope and despair, capitalist realism, the treatment of migrants, the place of art in our world, what makes this film so prescient, as well as great in its own historical moment. Our apologies to Alfonso "The Fonz" Cuarón if we...
Oct 05, 2024•1 hr 47 min
Are you not entertained? Old faithful, we return once more to The Sopranos to discuss the best cultural product of the decade. The season has 4 serialized plots, as well as a unifying theme that ties each episode together. We do a specific deep dive on Fortunate Son, Amour Fou (A Mofo), and one of the top 2 episodes of The Sopranos: UNIVERSITY. Give Remember Shuffle a follow on Twitter And on Instagram @RememberShufflePod to interact with the show between episodes. It also makes it eas...
Sep 21, 2024•1 hr 14 min
Howdy pardners. Remember Shuffle returns to the beautiful mind of Elizabeth Gilbert to discuss Coyote Ugly - the original article that inspired the film, the rather forgettable 2000 Rom Com adaptation, and the actual business that still exists in New York City. The shuffle boys also interview a subject matter expert (@LukeRallo on IG) in tabletop dancing. En route through the history of these kinds of bars, they also discuss 2000s era lipstick feminism, gentrification, and the carnivalesque. Our...
Sep 07, 2024•1 hr 13 min
