#millennial

Uncork the champagne: we have a Trump indictment just in time for this week's show! Time to CONFESS! Listeners write in for this week's episode using our anonymous Confessional to detail their deep, dark, dirty secrets! Is there a nuanced interpretation to the ongoing debate about the national security risks Tiktok presents? It's ok to not love everything about Joe Biden - we don't believe in turning politicians into our entire personality. How do the hosts approach diet and fitness from a sustainable, healthy perspective? Is it normal for our sex drive to reduce as we get older? Managing expectations with family can be hard, especially when coming out. Should people feel guilty about taking advantage of working from home to sneak in a quick nap? We receive an update about a previous Confessional submission! This week's recommendations are practical with a side of entertainment: 'Did you know' that alarm clocks only snooze for 9 minutes because original clocks mechanically couldn't snooze for 10? (An

Welcome to #Millennial, the home of pretend adulting and real cybersecurity talk! On this week's episode, we are joined by cybersecurity professional Voldimmoral! If you're looking for tips to remove your personal information from the internet, check out her Medium article! Your digital footprint can be left even if you're not intentionally disclosing information. Voldimmoral details how in her line of work, digital footprints have enabled her to help solve crimes! Even the most security conscious among us can be vulnerable to personal information getting out online: this is why it's particularly important to help the less web savvy in your life be protected online. On a related note, 2-factor authentication has been in the news a lot lately, with Twitter announcing they would no longer support SMS (text message) 2-factor. What are some more secure 2-factor authentication options? We recommend Google Authenticator or using a Yubikey. Voldimmoral also chats with us about the pros and cons of password man

Are the rumors of an impending Trump arrest fake news? Either way, we're ready to pop open the champagne! Here's some AI artwork of Trump being dragged away, in case you can't wait to see the real thing. Are Americans prepared for a potential national ban on TikTok? And could this actually happen?! Since Pam and Laura swipe so many of their hours away on TikTok, where will they turn if it's no longer available? Shameless plugs for our TikToks while they still exist: @AndrewInTheAir, @PamelaG, @BasilyBoy, and of course @MillennialPod! Are most of us fatalistic about our online privacy at this point? Is it valid to not care that the Chinese and U.S. governments are spying on us? Following the enormous success of HBO's 'Last of Us' video game to show adaptation, we explore other game titles and the opportunities for studios to cash in on more GOOD content. Accessibility in gaming is still an area where there is a ton of room for growth, and we argue that good adaptations make these stories more accessible

We unexpectedly had to take off from providing you with a full episode this week, so instead we're sharing this installment of After Dark! We discuss the popularity around the Stanley Quencher water bottle -- that thing is so big and ugly, yet people can't help but buy it. We use it's popularity to discuss brand loyalty, and the brands that we are hot and heavy for. Reminder: Stay hydrated! But maybe use a less ugly water bottle. Patrons and Apple Podcast subscribers have access to a new After Dark installment this week where Andrew and Pam answer questions from listeners about podcast drama. Visit Patreon.com/millennial to receive instant access to that and many more After Dark installments!

Welcome to #Millennial, the home of pretend adulting and real talk! In some airline news, the Justice Department is suing to stop the planned Jet Blue/Spirit Airlines merger, and multiple airlines are ditching fees charged for families trying to sit together. Seemingly inspired by Elon Musk's moves at Twitter, Meta will soon be offering "Meta Verified:" aka paying $15 a month for the coveted Blue Check. Why is the Blue Check so desirable for some? Are there any cases where wanting one is warranted? If everyone can pay a monthly fee to be verified, does being verified lose its meaning? It's time for some unpopular opinions: we're inspired by a (now deleted) tweet, which asserts that most nonfiction books are unreadable. We have some hot takes of our own: your phone should be silent most of the time, being an "empath" isn't a thing, and airlines should get rid of the reclining functionality on all economy seats. In light (lol) of Daylight Savings Time returning in a few short days, Laura delivers her yea

Welcome to #Millennial, the home of pretend adulting and real talk! We are joined this week by Christine Riccio and Natasha Polis from Those Forking Fangirls to discuss the significant uptick in interest (and sales) of literary romance and YA novels. Today's conversation was inspired by this NPR article:From meet-cutes to happy endings, romance readers feel the love as sales heat up.  Christine and Natasha help us dig in on the pipeline from Young Adult to Romance, how the genres somewhat overlap, and how the culture has shifted to make open enjoyment of the Romance genre more socially accepted. Might some of the shifts in cover art portrayals have made the genre more comfortable and accessible to readers? Are there any cases where the cute, cartoony covers fail to communicate the spicy, smutty passages between the covers? Fan Fiction seems to have played a major role in these developments, with more people participating in online fan spaces to create new content. There are even recent examples of very

Welcome to #Millennial, the home of pretend adulting and real talk! After a few years of explosive growth, the podcast world seems to be cooling off. What does this mean for indie podcasters? As big corporations come to grips with the reality that podcasting isn't just an easy way to print money, layoffs, budget cuts, and canceled projects are making headlines. What do we look for in the podcasts we listen to as podcasters ourselves? If there's passion behind the project, it shows. Lucky Girl Syndrome is the new manifesting. Who knew when boomers were simping over 'The Secret' that the youths would revive the concept. Is there some validity to the idea of manifesting positivity? How has Andrew done this to keep himself from assuming the worst possible thing will happen? The Confessional makes its triumphant return this week with a listener who is playing hooky from work to get some much-needed self-care time. The hosts and listeners share some great tips for helping to carve out some time to prioritiz

Welcome to #Millennial, the home of pretend adulting and real talk! Happy Valentine's Day! The wine will be flowing this week! Just in time to prepare for your romantic activities around Love day, we're talking etiquette rules that we believe will help you avoid annoying friends and prospective romantic partners. See this article from The Cut for our inspiration to discuss etiquette rules. STFU and give your friends or partners a chance to talk, don't make splitting the bill so damn complicated, and strip the bed linens after staying at someone else's house! "You'll float too:" Forget Tiktok, surveillance balloons are all the rage for international spy activities! Why didn't the US military shoot down the balloon sooner? Cause it weighed over 2,000 pounds and was taller than the Statue of Liberty. Has anyone told Congressional Republicans this wasn't a Party City balloon? BUT ALSO: The U.S. shot down three additional unidentified flying objects, but assures us they definitely weren't aliens. Suuuuuure J

This week's episode opens with discussion of a rising trend: More people are turning to dollar stores to shop for food because of the guaranteed low prices and accessibility. To help us discuss this movement, we're joined by Rebecca of @DollarTreeDinners on TikTok, who's gained nearly 700k followers in under a year thanks to her videos in which she shares how to make great meals using ingredients from Dollar Tree! We ask Rebecca what the common misconceptions are about dollar store shopping, how she plans her meal ideas, if keeping ingredients and meals healthy is possible at a low-cost store like Dollar Tree, and what items to avoid at the dollar chains. How has Rebecca gotten so popular, so quick? She shares what resonates with her audience to help any other aspiring TikTokers. Over in TV land, Netflix is in hot water after the taping of their Squid Game reality show got a little too, uh, close to the fictional Squid Game. Shouldn't contestants have known what they were getting into?! Mr. Beast also go

Laura has an announcement: she has joined the ranks of Joe Biden, Mike Pence, and Donald Trump for having classified documents in her home. Who's next? Chat GPT, the new AI chatbot that has taken the internet by storm, is the subject of this week's show. Listen carefully -- some of what we say may be written by The Bots. Chat GPT can write letters, papers, and podcast dialogue when given specific requests. It can also answer everyday questions, convey emotion, write content, and even write code. Big tech has taken notice and some are reportedly shaking in their boots and in some cases even vying to use Chat GPT. Artists and creators alike are sounding the alarm over AI bots and their potential to steal from artists in order to generate content. There may still be a ways to go though: CNET was using AI to write articles until they realized there were some errors in the bot's reporting. Should people be worried about the machines taking their jobs? For today's episode, we prepared ad copy, existential

Welcome to #Millennial, the home of pretend adulting and real talk! Should we have anxiety about the current egg shortage? "Classic" digital cameras are big with Gen Z - are we feeling old yet? Something about that classic, grainy, blurry look is appealing to the kids these days, UFO reports have skyrocketed since 2021 - are they legitimate? While we're hoping to have an expert on in the coming months to discuss aliens, we want to share our decidedly un-expert opinions: are aliens real, have they been to Earth, would the government even tell us, and would humanity band together against an extraterrestrial threat? (no). Throw back time: Pam gives us a mini-hype roundup of the latest pop culture stories. Should Alec Baldwin be found guilty for the accidental shooting of Halyna Hutchins? Actor Sebastian Croft recently faced backlash for voicing a character in the upcoming "Hogwarts Legacy" - why aren't any other actors being attacked online for doing the same? Cringiest cringe of the week: US Senators q

Welcome to #Millennial, the home of pretend adulting and real FIRE talk! Stoves are apparently a hot button (lol) issue, and President Biden continues coming under scrutiny for his classified documents faux pas. Do we believe everything we read in memoirs? Some details in Prince Harry's memoir "Spare" have been determined to be inaccurate. Since human memory is subject to flaws when recalling events, how much stock can we put in any memoir's ability to represent reality? Time to get nerdy: Pam and Laura cover an ongoing story in the Dungeons & Dragons community. Once again, corporations are getting greedy and attempting to screw over their fan base. Swift backlash from the DnD community led to Wizards of the Coast backtracking its new proposed Open Gaming License (OGL), but fans are still wary of what is to come. The Missouri State House of Representatives has adopted stricter dress code guidelines for its female members. Apparently bare arms and shoulders are too scandalous for Missouri.  The United S

New year same us! Welcome to #Millennial the home of pretend adulting and real talk. Get ready for some new laws y'all: decriminalization of jaywalking and cannabis cafés potentially coming near you soon! During the holiday break House Republicans proved the 15th time is a charm, Brasil had its own January 6th, and Biden had his own classified documents snafu. 2023 is just *glowing* NEW ON PATREON! Executive Producer tier, which includes all other Patreon benefits in addition to joining us for episode planning meetings, a personalized thank-you video, and a dedicated space to pitch your ideas to the show. Southwest Airlines capped off a year rife with airline drama with the crowning jewel of clusterfucks: mass cancellations that left tens of thousands of Americans stranded at the height of winter holidays. US airlines received around $50 billion in taxpayer funded bailouts during the pandemic to avoid layoffs and furloughs. If the bailout was meant to keep airline workers employed, why did the airlines

Special release! #Millennial will return January 11th with new episodes, but for now we're releasing the latest installment of After Dark to everyone! In this installment -- which also features Mark and Pat -- we look at the types of porn each generation and state were watching in 2022 via PornHub's Year in Review. Their report on the year in porn viewing was breathtakingly detailed, so we try to discern why different types of people watched what they did. For a new installment of After Dark every week, pledge to our Patreon today at Patreon.com/millennial! We can't do this show without listener support, so thank you!

Welcome to #Millennial, the home of pretend adulting and real holiday gift exchanges! Chloé, Marc, and Pat join us to make the gift giving experience more chaotic. Cookie flavored lube, onesies, and marijuana paraphernalia are among the gifts given this year... Our top themes that define 2022: Midterm Elections, Queen Elizabeth II's passing, social media shifts, Ash finally becoming the best like no one ever was, Try Guys drama, and the Johnny Depp/Amber Heard trial. We recap our 2022 predictions from last year: who was wrong, who was right, and who killed The Queen? And don't worry, we're sure some of our 2023 predictions are wrong: SCOTUS to rule student loan forgiveness program legal, 'Speak Now' TV coming in spring or summer, Bob Barker will die, Nintendo to announce an updated Switch model, Miley Cyrus and Pete Davidson will date, and Trump won't be allowed to run. Final words for 2022? Ehhhh And in this week's installment of After Dark, which is available now to Patreon / Apple Podcasts subscribe

Welcome to #Millennial, the home of pretend adulting and real talk! Who else forgot that 'Avatar' was the biggest box office earner in history? Oops. Will we see the 3+ hour sequel? There may already be some Oscar buzz about movies coming out this holiday season, but we've got some old favorites we revisit every year. Having last minute gift shopping trouble? Look no further - we've got you covered with some tips and tricks to help your holiday shopping along. Why are dads so hard to buy for? Seriously, why is that such a common trope? How do we feel about being asked for Christmas lists as adults? Brittney Griner came home last week after nearly 10 months in a Russian penal colony for possession of THC cartridges. Why are Americans so split on the Biden Administration deal to get Griner home? If you're interested in learning more about the history of prisoner swaps between the US and Russia, we recommend checking out the following resources: Here are some prisoner swaps that have freed Americans, Trev

Welcome to #Millennial, the home of fake adulting and real talk! Polls closed for the Georgia Senate runoff shortly before we began this recording, and Raphael Warnock was declared the winner after we wrapped. However, you can still experience Laura's stress and anxiety throughout the recording! #fun Should Kanye's music be removed from streaming services like Spotify in light of his continued hatred towards Jewish people? It's a very sticky situation. Spotify's 2022 Wrapped is here with a new feature: your music personality. Merriam-Webster and Oxford Dictionary have chosen appropriate words of the year for 2022: "Gaslighting" and "Goblin Mode." Who among us hasn't activated goblin mode after being gaslit the last three years? NEW: #Millennial's word of the year is... PEOPLE. Plus, Andrew takes us through dozens more of #Millennial's most-used words, and the words he thinks we should've used more often in 2022. As we get deeper into the holiday season, we ask ourselves and our listeners how to deal wit

Welcome to #Millennial, the home of pretend adulting and real talk! Of course Elon couldn't resist amping up Twitter drama during the Thanksgiving holiday, and we reminisce about the Twitter apocalypse that wasn't. On this week's episode we're doing a deep dive on Ticketmaster, Live Nation, Antitrust laws, and the Biden Justice Department working to address the issue of monopolies. First, all due credit to Taylor Swift, whose Ticketmaster debacle inspired this conversation. We don't know for sure if Biden and Garland are Swifties, but we do know the Department of Justice had already launched an antitrust inquiry into Live Nation Entertainment before Ticketmaster shit the bed on presale tickets for Swift's tour. The Justice Department allowed the merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster in 2010, despite cries from the music world and consumers that a monopoly would result. And they were right.  Artists like Ed Sheeran and Garth Brooks have tried to fight back against price gouging and scalping, but with t

Welcome to #Millennial, the home of pretend adulting and (maybe) good inflation news? We look towards what we can expect from Democratic Senate and Republican House controlled chambers following last week's midterm elections. What does the Georgia Senate runoff mean for a Senate majority? Orange Julius announced his 2024 Presidential run during this recording, and we are gagging. Will Gen Z save American democracy? We're in their corner! What is "queerbaiting," and how are certain celebs and media using it to attract audiences? How can we tell if someone is queerbaiting? And when does it do more harm than good to call it out? Kit Connor of 'Heartstopper' fame was forced out of the closet due to excessive accusations of queerbaiting. Should there be limits on straight artists using queer themes in their work? Andrew (aka resident conservationist daddy) provides an update on the mega drought out West, and what those states are doing to become less dependent on the Colorado river. In addition to the ph

Welcome to #Millennial, the home of pretend adulting and real election talk! An unpleasant reality seems to be setting in for Republicans: while they will likely take control of the House, it seems to be a much smaller majority than expected. We cover our home states of California, Georgia, and Nevada: the heartbreak, the victories, and everything in between. Why does Laura have a freedom boner over ranked choice voting?? The economy and abortion were top areas of concern this cycle - what do these results tell us about public opinion? Is Trump being rejected at the ballot box? His endorsed midterm candidates are seeing mixed results. Gen Z saves the day: the newest voting-age generation turned out overwhelmingly for Democrats, and Maxwell Frost was the first Gen Zer elected to Congress! While the balance of Congressional control is still in question, Republicans ultimately underperformed. How will they react in 2024? Are we ready for the inevitable DeSantis/Trump boxing match? This week's recommendat