The Brain Candy Podcast - podcast cover

The Brain Candy Podcast

Susie Meister PhD & Sarah Rice AMFTthebraincandypodcast.com

Laugh and learn with Susie Meister PhD & Sarah Rice MFT from MTV's The Challenge as they cover psychology, pop culture, human interest, and science, and make everything from The Kardashians to quantum physics accessible to all.

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Episodes

929: Bike Apocalypse, Customer Service Sludge, and 90s Summer

Sarah went camping with her family and it was predictably calamitous in the best way possible. We hear why kids don't ride bikes anymore, parents are chauffeurs, and why it matters. We talk about how much camp meant to Sarah growing up and then as a counselor, and we lament that tragedy in Texas at the Christian camp. Sarah explains why customer service is so bad now, why you shouldn't accept it, and what you can do about it. Plus, she describes a genius way we can band together and combat the "...

Jul 17, 202557 minEp. 929

928: Cool Factor, Dead Chatbots, & Bald Curious

7:40 - Table Of Content, Episode Topic Breakdown. - Sarah is feeling extra tough today because her testosterone levels are through the roof and people think Susie looks like a villain, so we're quite the pair. Hear what traits you need to be perceived as cool. We have a new catchphrase and we think it's super book (you heard us). People are getting AI Avatars of their family members to talk to them after they die, and we see a few issues with this form of grieving. We debate which animals are th...

Jul 14, 20251 hr 8 minEp. 928

927: Honk if You're Horny, Mushroom Coffins, & Steroid Free-For-All

4:54 - Today's table of contents. Susie's mom is seeing the world in a whole new way, but don't get too excited yet. We discuss the phrase "honk if you're horny," and debate whether you're actually supposed to honk or not. Sarah talks about "mushroom coffins," which claim to decompose human body in 45 days as compared to 30 years or more using other methods. We discuss cities that are overrun with tourists and the anger it provokes among residents, and we debate whether it's being handled proper...

Jul 10, 20251 hr 6 minEp. 927

926: Jayne Mansfield, Poop Cruise, & Sally Ride

3:18 - Today's Topic Breakdown - It's a Documentary Roundup on today's show, with Sooz Reviews of the My Mom Jayne, the latest installment of Trainwreck (Poop Cruise! Oh my!), and Sally Ride. We learn how Jayne Mansfield was a victim of a Hollywood system that objectifies women and society's decision to put women, especially beautiful women, into a very small box, and the ways secrets can tear families apart. We discuss the cruise that lost power and became a floating toilet in short order, and ...

Jul 07, 20251 hr 2 minEp. 926

925: Raccoon Infestation, Museum Mishaps, & Barbara Walters

Susie's mom has been ill, and now she's on the mend, but she seems to have a bigger problem on her hands--namely an infestation of raccoons INSIDE her house. We talk about the doofus who sat his buns down on a Swaroski crystal chair at a museum and destroyed it. We discuss Barbara Walters, her ambition, and why she was kind of a jerk to women despite being a trailblazer at the same time. We debate whether we should start a "chichi chat," and why showing your body off to other women can be empowe...

Jul 03, 20251 hr 9 minEp. 925

924: Club Creepers, Michelin Stars, & Astroworld

Susie has another new enemy this week and this time it's conflicting with her passion for oral hygiene. Sarah had to so sly vigilante justice this weekend when she saw some old creepers leering at women at the club. We discuss the Astroworld concert tragedy where ten people were crushed to death due to a lack of crowd control, poor planning, and too many people in the audience. We learn about the "right to repair" movement and how companies are being forced to provide information and parts to co...

Jun 30, 20251 hr 2 minEp. 924

923: Gym Rat, Airplane Survival, & Love at First Sight

Today we hear about an incident Susie had at the gym with a man claiming a machine she was using, and she wonders if other women have experienced something similar. We find out why young people are increasingly believing in love at first sight. And Susie explains why therapy culture might be leading to childlessness. Tons of great mental health content in this episode! Jump straight to the action you're looking for: 5:00 Susie's new worst enemy at the gym. 11:00 Plane crash with only one survivo...

Jun 26, 20251 hr 3 minEp. 923

922: Pride & Prejudice, Grand Theft Flower, & Moon Real Estate

Sarah went to Vail Pride and is getting very emotional about her LGBTQ journey, the self-doubt she's grappled with, and her goal of self-acceptance. We explore why we're often hardest on ourselves and more accepting of others. Sarah talks about a study on rule followers, and we speculate about why people follow rules even when no one would know if they broke it. We discuss why procrastination can be about avoiding feelings that make us uncomfortable rather than the task itself. Sarah's plant ste...

Jun 23, 20251 hr 7 minEp. 922

921: Honest Plants, Amelia Earhart Scam, & Macabre Mortician

Sarah had a run-in at Home Depot where she was offered free plants, and she said no! And now she has regrets for being so honest and having integrity. Susie gives a tribute to her beloved Brian Wilson. We find out why Amelia Earhart wasn't actually a great pilot (seems like the disappearance should've tipped us off), but instead was just ahead of her time in...influencing. Susie explains how Amelia's famous flight has disturbing similarities to the Titan submersible tragedy. We learn about a wom...

Jun 19, 202559 minEp. 921

920: Moana Flight, Baseball Boycott, & Covid Lessons

Susie and Sarah had a little reunion and they're still riding that sweet high. We're happy Susie wasn't on the flight where a little girl was allowed to take over the intercom and sing a Moana song to a non-consensual audience. Sarah tells us about a company that raised millions of dollars from investors posing as an AI tech company when really they had hundreds of people working behind the scenes manually performing tasks instead. A fan is suing the Colorado Rockies after he got hit with a ball...

Jun 16, 202551 minEp. 920

919: Smelly Brain, Pee Wee as Himself, & The Rehearsal

Susie and Sarah are headed to a baseball game, but first Susie needs to explain the importance of safety and the precariousness of Buc Fever after a man recently fell at a game. We disuss the P Diddy sketch artist who appears to have the same talent as the recent caricaturist Sarah had, and why Sarah thinks he doesn't know how to draw people of color. We talk about the Pee Wee Herman documentary, how he came to resent the character he created, and how creativity can be a burden. Susie describes ...

Jun 09, 20251 hr 4 minEp. 919

918: Cheers to Norm, Vigilante Justice, & Dances w/ Cranes

Sarah got mixed up in a felony and for a second was going to take matters into her own hands and try to apprehend the bandit because she "loves justice." Thankfully she realized Ann Taylor Loft's Loss Prevention isn't worth fighting for. Scientists turned a spider web red, and while we want to be excited we can't figure out why we should care. We discuss our least favorite creatures and we realize Susie's hatred of stink bugs is the insect equivalent of Sarah's fear of things that scurry. We lea...

Jun 05, 20251 hr 1 minEp. 918

917: Tick Fiasco, Pigeon Bandit, & Parrot Video Calls

Sarah had a "tick fiasco" in the wilderness, and she'll never be the same. We get some updates from Susie about Pete Rose's eligibility for the Baseball Hall of Fame since his death and we hear the scandal involving the Napalm Girl image we discussed recently, and how the wrong photographer may have taken credit for the last fifty years. We hear actually useful happiness tips that are more fun than the usual ones we already know. We learn about scientists who trained parrots to video call each o...

Jun 02, 20251 hrEp. 917

916: Eyeball Privacy, Cicada B-holes, & Therapy Breakthroughs

Sarah thought she was being frugal and industrious, but now she has a stained sink and a broken olive oil dispenser. We learn why an AI tech bro wants to see your eyeballs, and Susie's mad about it. We hear cicadas play Pachelbel's Canon in D on their abdomen (or buttholes?). Sarah says an adult star got a billboard to advertise her OnlyFans, but Christians are defacing it for Jesus. We find out what causes someone to have a breakthrough in therapy. And we hear how the whale equivalent of acne a...

May 29, 202553 minEp. 916

915: Happiness Hacks, Cartwheel Blindness, & Things in Holes

Sarah is getting into birding and Susie is getting into the Elks. What we're saying is we're old. But we're happy. Unfortunately a lot of people aren't happy, but don't worry, we have the data on what can solve that problem, and it turns out it's not that hard. We share our own ideas of what hell is, and basically it's us being bad at literally anything. We find out how one woman went blind doing something we've all done! Susie shares a list of things people have gotten stuck in their bodies, an...

May 26, 20251 hr 2 minEp. 915

914: Frog Survival, Pop Star Pals, & Karma

Sarah is getting old all of a sudden, and she is not happy about it. She claims she has an old lady body now, and we talk about how humans age in two big bursts at 44 and 60. Sarah saw a man taking pics of young girls at the beach so we debate whether she should've confronted him. Frogs have been croaking (get it?) at alarming numbers due to storm drains, so someone created the cutest solution you ever heard of. We discuss the old classic the tortoise and the hare, and we admit that that story i...

May 22, 20251 hr 3 minEp. 914

913: Elderspeak, Napalm Girl, & Snakebite Savior

Susie went to a Micky Dolenz of the Monkees concert, and the next day a stranger stopped her at the grocery store to make a comment about something Susie did at the show. We learn why medical professionals and workers at senior facilities are being trained to stop using "elderspeak" with their patients. They say that the baby talk and cutesy language infantilizes older folks and causes greater resistance to care and more anti-psychotic prescriptions. We discuss the Carter family documentary and ...

May 19, 20251 hr 2 minEp. 913

912: Climber Catastrophe, Tennis Odor, and Hornet Attack

Scientists think they might have found a planet that is "brimming with life," and we're pretty sure whoever lives there is way smarter than earthlings. We learn about a climber who had to be rescued twice in one week because he forgot his phone on the mountain. And we discuss a vintage story about a hiker who was lost and couldn't be rescued because when first responders called him he didn't pick up because he didn't recognize the number. We debate whether it was appropriate for a tennis player ...

May 15, 20251 hr 8 minEp. 912

911: Caricature Creep, Rabid Seals, & Racing for the Crown

Sarah and her gf got a caricature, and it is truly the stuff of nightmares. We debate whether the "artist" was intentionally making it awful, why he wanted to give her gigantic boobs, and what message he was trying to send. Sarah watched a new series on Netflix and now she is fascinated by equine social culture, but is simultaneously against horse racing. We do have some questions about horse transportation--not when you ride a horse, but when the horse takes a road trip to get to the next race....

May 12, 20251 hr 7 minEp. 911

910: Flow State, Sperm Racing, & Balloon Boy

Susie is sharing a tragic tale of why her dancing at the gay wedding was cut short. They also had a peek at each other's sacral dimples and will update you about their size, scope, and scale. Is bigger better? Find out. Susie watched a documentary about songwriting and they discuss the mystery and wonder of the "flow state," what we think causes inspiration, and why it's so curious. We learn about an unhoused person who won the California lottery, and while we're happy for him, Susie is a little...

May 08, 20251 hr 4 minEp. 910

909: Fair Play, Space Lies, & NFT Nonsense

We are still riding the high of officiating a gay wedding because it was EPIC! We'll never top it. Congrats to Tyler and Timmi! Sarah is super into Crypto all of a sudden, well, not really, but she is understanding why artists saw potential in the NFT trend. We discuss the new Academy Award rule that mandates people watch the movies before voting, which, uh duh, but also Susie gets crabby about how actors think they're doing way more important work than they are, and we go off on one about how t...

May 05, 202558 minEp. 909

908: Animal Sounds, Ladies in Space, & Alien Abduction

We hear why Sarah is starting to get messages from people from "beyond the grave." We discuss animal sounds and how people around the world imitate animals through onomatopoeia, and why they're all different. We're mad about the ladies that went to space and acted like morons. We debate whether a man who got stolen casino chips should be able to cash them out. We get an update on the family who accidentally ended up with 52 octopuses, and it offers insight about the dangers of virality. We think...

Apr 28, 202556 minEp. 908

907: Pop the Balloon, Greed & Gold, & Sock Sniffer

Johnny Bananas is up to his old tricks (and we do mean OLD) on the Netflix *live* dating game, Pop the Balloon, where he may or may not have been accused of racism, but either way he was giving extreme creepy uncle cringe vibes. We follow-up on our discussion on the Gold & Greed documentary on the treasure hunt that cost some people their lives and caused many controversies over a decade. Sarah describes the Bad Influence docuseries about a group of child influencers, the parent who exploite...

Apr 24, 20251 hr 2 minEp. 907

906: Treasure Hunt, Lucky Lady, & the Tyranny of Whistling

Susie is pumped about a new documentary about a treasure hunt, and we realize we've been on the air so long that we've covered this hunt's beginning, its controversies, the treasure's discovery (???), and now the doc. We learn why it tells us a lot about human psychology, passion, addiction, celebrity, risk-taking, and more. We discuss scholarship on luck, and why sociologists tend to ignore it. We debate whether there even is "luck," why Sarah thinks she's lucky, and how a lot of it is perspect...

Apr 21, 20251 hr 8 minEp. 906

905: Sarah on the Spectrum, Cancelling Einstein, & Dire Wolves

Nobody ever tells you that aging is mostly just getting weird things on your body that you may or may not have to worry about. And this is officially an old lady podcast. Sarah is obsessed with Love on the Spectrum and she explains why the people on the show are so adorable and why we wish neurotypical dating was this good. Susie thinks Sarah might be on the spectrum, so we're considering whether she fits the bill. We think we might want to cancel Einstein, which is a real bummer because he was ...

Apr 17, 20251 hr 7 minEp. 905

904: Bed Monster, Hooters Hypocrisy, & Paddington Bear Assault

Susie shares a horrifying story about a babysitter who had to fight off a real monster. We talk about why kids should never be the butt of any joke and we want anyone who is mean to a kid to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Susie is mourning the death of Hooters, but Sarah is not sad one bit. We discuss the history of the franchise, why they ended up failing despite the ironclad business model (boobs), and where we think their employees should work instead. We discuss the Gilgo Beach...

Apr 14, 20251 hr 3 minEp. 904

903: Walk of Fame, Dance Psychology, & Ikea Furniture

We recorded on April Fool's Day, so we had to complain about pranks and prankers who commit them. But Susie thinks Sarah is a prank enabler. We discuss a large cluster of people in a small town who contracted ALS, and we learn what might be causing it. Sarah explains how a person gets a star on the Walk of Fame and why it's not on merit alone. But we are enraged about one particular star, and how it desecrates the whole Walk. We learn why women are always marrying "down" these days at least on o...

Apr 10, 20251 hr 3 minEp. 903

902: OCD Miracle, Hot Old People, & Box Demon

Susie had a crazy celebrity encounter in LA, and it made her year. We learn how one man's OCD was cured through a violent act, and what it can teach us about the disorder. We find out whether old people find other old people attractive, and Susie thinks it says something about self-esteem. We talk about how language is changing because of the internet, why we all speak more similarly now, but the changes happen more rapidly. We discuss a man who was "terrorizing" a town, but really it was probab...

Apr 07, 20251 hrEp. 902

901: Goose Poop Discovery, Gorilla Food Dance, & Farts on a Plane

We have a very special guest with us today! We brought in our old pal, Tiffany who was Kathy Griffin's assistant and star of "My Life on the D List!" We were psyched! We found out if she's a saccral sister too. We learn how a little girl completed a science project and made a wild discovery about goose poop. We find out why an art gallery got raided recently, and we're annoyed. Sarah explains why the more we access a memory the older the memory seems. We learn why some people like to do a little...

Apr 03, 20251 hr 2 minEp. 901

900: Cheeto Charizard, Gene Hackman, Munchausen by Internet

Sarah's under the weather, but we can't let it get in the way of our 900th episode celebration! Susie tells us that a rare Charizard hit the market, and it's a Cheeto. We're pretty psyched about it, but not as psyched as whatever fool paid $90K for it. There's still time to bid on the Cheeto that looks like the Air Jordan logo though, so don't sleep on that. Susie is obsessed with the Gene Hackman death mystery and how it had the wildest ending imaginable--perfect for a movie...just saying. Sara...

Mar 27, 20251 hr 8 minEp. 900
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