Episode 43: Our Shadows Taller Than Our Souls

The End of the World with Michael and Stu

#Comedy #The End of the World with Michael and Stu #The End of the World with Michael #Apocalypse #History #Literature #Film

18:09

HR is no longer just about managing people—it’s about shaping the future of work. Jens Baier, BCG’s HR transformation expert, discusses how AI and shifting employee expectations are forcing companies to rethink talent strategies. From re-recruiting to upskilling employees, HR must adapt to a rapidly changing landscape. Learn More: Jens Baier: https://on.bcg.com/41ca7Gv BCG on People Strategy: https://on.bcg.com/3QtAjro Decoding Global Talent: https://on.bcg.com/4gUC4IT…

大约1年之前 53:10

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This week we are discussing Cormac McCarthy's 2006 novel The Road. A bleak but simultaneously uplifting depiction of a journey through a world in which nature has been totally destroyed, the story offers glimmers of hope in spite of its incredibly grim setting. Themes of childhood, memory, dreaming, and perseverance even in the face of seemingly inevitable death mark this book, which is considered by many to be among the finest novels of the twenty-first century.
We also open up the conversation with some thoughts on recent presidential cabinet appointments, which are, as you might imagine...going just great!
This episode contains spoilers for The Road.
Send us a text

https://www.instagram.com/theendoftheworldwms/
https://youtube.com/@TheEndoftheWorldwMS?si=xmj-2e0s58JdN8-B
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57集单集

Episode 43: Our Shadows Taller Than Our Souls

The End of the World with Michael and Stu

published 大约1年之前

MP3•单集首页

https://www.instagram.com/theendoftheworldwms/
https://youtube.com/@TheEndoftheWorldwMS?si=xmj-2e0s58JdN8-B
https://linktr.ee/endoftheworldwithmichaelandstu

57集单集

#Comedy #The End of the World with Michael and Stu #The End of the World with Michael #Apocalypse #History #Literature #Film

所有剧集

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57: A Stronger Loving World to Die In 58:46

4天之前58:46

58:46

This week we are tackling one of Stu's all-time favorite comics, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons's Watchmen . We go through the main characters and discuss the apocalyptic ramifications of this extremely well-wrought tale of a society on the edge of destruction. We also tease out the implications of costumed vigilantism suggested by Moore's text, considering how it is these figures which have such a large place in popular culture have no purchase at all in reality. Would a Watchmen -esque scheme to unite the world work in our current reality, or have things like Covid-19 and climate change proven the folly of this premise in our extremely jaded, partisan, too-online world? We also cover the rise in flu cases across the country and how recent actions by the CDC are not helping with this issue at all. This episode contains spoilers for the graphic novel Watchmen . Send us a text https://www.instagram.com/theendoftheworldwms/ https://youtube.com/@TheEndoftheWorldwMS?si=xmj-2e0s58JdN8-B https://linktr.ee/endoftheworldwithmichaelandstu…

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56: As Parasites Might in your Blood 53:57

11天之前53:57

53:57

This week we are discussing all things CANADA! Specifically, why does President Trump claim it is a "great contender" to become the 51st state? What is it about the US's northern neighbor that is so attractive to the would-be empire builder president? How is this issue playing out in Canada itself? Would a military conquest of Canada result in a brutal insurgency that might destroy the United States itself? All these questions and more are tackled in this episode. We also discuss the recent USA vs Canada Four Nations hockey match and its attendant, immediate fights, as well as the breaking news of a plane crash in Toronto. Articles mentioned in the episode: The New York Times on Trump's Desire for Canada Aisha Ahmad on what a Canadian Insurgency might look like Financial Times on Whether Trump is Serious about annexing Canada The CBC on the potential electoral fallout of Trump's tariff threats Politico on what Trump "really wants" from Canada Send us a text https://www.instagram.com/theendoftheworldwms/ https://youtube.com/@TheEndoftheWorldwMS?si=xmj-2e0s58JdN8-B https://linktr.ee/endoftheworldwithmichaelandstu…

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55: The Ocean at your Door 56:25

18天之前56:25

56:25

This week we are joined by comedian, actress and writer Maggie Crane to discuss Bo Burnham's divisive comedy special Inside from 2021. We get into some of the critiques of the special, while also noting the things about it which we really like. Is Inside "our King Lear " or are we still waiting for the definitive covid-era great work to emerge? If you are in Los Angeles, catch Maggie's half hour standup set at the Lyric Hyperion on March 19, 2025. This episode contains spoilers for Bo Burnham's Inside . Send us a text https://www.instagram.com/theendoftheworldwms/ https://youtube.com/@TheEndoftheWorldwMS?si=xmj-2e0s58JdN8-B https://linktr.ee/endoftheworldwithmichaelandstu…

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54: The Birds of Leaving Call to Us 1:03:04

25天之前1:03:04

1:03:04

This week we're talking about the first season of the hit Apple TV+ show Severance . We examine the ways the show functions as a reflection of our current, corporation-dominated world, exploring questions of work/life balance as well as the potential abuses inherent in a severance-like procedure. We also ask the all important question: what if severance could go even further? Is the severance procedure merely the first step in a Frankensteinian process moving humanity ever closer to the dreaded singularity? We open the episode with a discussion of recent article by Seymour Hersh regarding the first Trump administration's initial response to the Covid-19 outbreak in late 2019. This episode contains spoilers for Severance Season 1. Link to Seymour Hersh's piece on Substack: Trump's First Covid Mistake Send us a text https://www.instagram.com/theendoftheworldwms/ https://youtube.com/@TheEndoftheWorldwMS?si=xmj-2e0s58JdN8-B https://linktr.ee/endoftheworldwithmichaelandstu…

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53: If I Could Turn Back Time 47:34

大约1年之前47:34

47:34

This week we are devoting a full episode to news, recapping the first week of Donald Trump's second term as president. We discuss the myriad executive orders the president has issued, ranging from his pardons, to his crackdown at the border, to his taking the United States out of the World Health Organization and the Paris Climate Agreement. What are the long term implications of these moves, and is there a light at the end of the tunnel? Is there a tunnel? Are we just now in a cave at the center of the earth? In order to find out, you must listen. Send us a text https://www.instagram.com/theendoftheworldwms/ https://youtube.com/@TheEndoftheWorldwMS?si=xmj-2e0s58JdN8-B https://linktr.ee/endoftheworldwithmichaelandstu…

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52: A Duel of Personalities 49:29

大约1年之前49:29

49:29

This week we are discussing Coralie Fargeat's 2024 film The Substance , a movie that imagines what it might be like if you could recapture your youth. We get into the implications of the film for our culture, particularly as it relates to aging and finding meaning in an increasingly youth-centric, substance-less world. Making references to Oscar Wilde and Mary Shelley, we also take a look at some of the spiritual antecedents to this brilliant (if horrifying) concept-driven picture. We open up with a somewhat extended conversation about the second inauguration of Donald J. Trump as president. How have our predictions been panning out so far? Is the new tech oligarchy really as bad as we feared? To find out...you must listen. This episode contains spoilers for The Substance . Send us a text https://www.instagram.com/theendoftheworldwms/ https://youtube.com/@TheEndoftheWorldwMS?si=xmj-2e0s58JdN8-B https://linktr.ee/endoftheworldwithmichaelandstu…

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51: Tryin' to Run from the Destruction 49:33

大约1年之前49:33

49:33

This week we are discussing the "Y2K computer bug," the great potential apocalypse of the turn of the millennium that...did not live up to the hype. But rather than being another "when prophecy fails" situation, the reason this apocalypse was averted was because of concerted and organized work across many different areas. Programmers worked for years in advance to remediate the code of software used in applications from air traffic control to power grids and beyond. The Y2K problem therefore stands as one of the (few) genuine threats to our society that was successfully identified and fixed before it was able to cause real harm. We then spend a bit of time talking about Y2K , the recent nostalgic horror film from A24. In he first part of the episode we consider the catastrophic fires that have ravaged Los Angeles during the opening weeks of 2025, with Michael offering some first hand experience from LA. We connect this back to some apocalyptic fiction we have covered in previous episodes, in particular Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower . Links about the LA Fires and the attendant controversies: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/california-wildfires-los-angeles-fire-chief-budget-cuts/ https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/12/who-is-kristin-crowley-la-fire-chief Links to articles mentioned about the Y2K problem: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/31/insider/y2k-crisis.html?smid=tw-share https://www.npr.org/2024/12/28/nx-s1-5116271/y2k-year-2000-preparations https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/31/millennium-bug-face-fears-y2k-it-systems Send us a text https://www.instagram.com/theendoftheworldwms/ https://youtube.com/@TheEndoftheWorldwMS?si=xmj-2e0s58JdN8-B https://linktr.ee/endoftheworldwithmichaelandstu…

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Episode 50: Strewn with Time's Dead Flowers 52:49

大约1年之前52:49

52:49

This week we're discussing Robert Eggers' 2024 adaptation of FW Murnau's classic Nosferatu . Is it a poignant and disturbing meditation on the idea of forbidden love, recasting a classic story for our troubled times, or is it merely an empty reboot of well-loved IP for our empty and soulless era? The hosts are somewhat divided on the answer to this all-important question! We also consider the original film, as well as Werner Herzog's 1979 adaptation starring Klaus Kinski and Bruno Ganz. We open the episode discussing the recent terror attack in New Orleans as well as the detonation of a cyber truck in front of Trump's Las Vegas Hotel and what these events augur for our conspiracy obsessed moment. This episode contains spoilers for all versions of Nosferatu as well as Bram Stoker's novel, Dracula . Send us a text https://www.instagram.com/theendoftheworldwms/ https://youtube.com/@TheEndoftheWorldwMS?si=xmj-2e0s58JdN8-B https://linktr.ee/endoftheworldwithmichaelandstu…

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Episode 49: A World in White Gets Underway 49:26

大约1年之前49:26

49:26

It's our 2024 recap episode in which we go over all things apocalypse from the year we are concluding. Topics discussed include: the return of Trump, the continued disintegration of the Democratic party, the rise of a new oligarchy, the continued impotence of the media in the face of horrors at home and abroad, and the potential for AI to immiserate creative people the world over. It's a very optimistic episode! We close out our look back by looking forward, attempting to divine what the best possible outcomes for 2025 might look like. This episode contains spoilers for the year 2024. Send us a text https://www.instagram.com/theendoftheworldwms/ https://youtube.com/@TheEndoftheWorldwMS?si=xmj-2e0s58JdN8-B https://linktr.ee/endoftheworldwithmichaelandstu…

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Episode 48: Five Golden Rings 49:44

大约1年之前49:44

49:44

It's Christmastime and in celebration we are covering a brilliant Christmas movie, namely The 12 Disasters of Christmas . This film is...a disaster. A Christian allegory mixed with a Mayan Apocalypse 2012 tale that is somehow also based on the popular Christmas carol, The 12 Days of Christmas ...it is...very, very bad. But our conversation about it? That is good...very, very good. We also discuss Donald Trump's "imperialist turn" as expressed in his recently stated desire to purchase Greenland, reacquire the Panama Canal (by force if necessary?!), and annex Canada as the 51st state. It's going to be a wonderful next four years! This episode contains spoilers for The 12 Disasters of Christmas , easily the worst movie we have covered...so far. Send us a text https://www.instagram.com/theendoftheworldwms/ https://youtube.com/@TheEndoftheWorldwMS?si=xmj-2e0s58JdN8-B https://linktr.ee/endoftheworldwithmichaelandstu…

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Episode 47: There's a Madman Living in Waco 1:04:37

大约1年之前1:04:37

1:04:37

This week we're covering the siege of the Branch Davidian compound by federal authorities in 1993, paying particular attention to the group's leader, the enigmatical rock musician turned would-be messiah, David Koresh. We go through the history of the Branch Davidians, tracing their roots back to the "Great Disappointment" of William Miller and the history of schismatic Adventism before diving into the history of Koresh's sect. Towards the end of the episode Michael gives his account of his 2018 visit to the site of the Mount Carmel compound and his meeting with one of the surviving members of the Branch Davidians. We open the episode up by discussing the recent drone sightings in and around Northern New Jersey. Michael thinks they are up to something, while, as usual, Stu is "skeptical" that this means anything ominous. Send us a text https://www.instagram.com/theendoftheworldwms/ https://youtube.com/@TheEndoftheWorldwMS?si=xmj-2e0s58JdN8-B https://linktr.ee/endoftheworldwithmichaelandstu…

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Episode 46: Shadow on the Things You Know 54:56

大约1年之前54:56

54:56

This week we are discussing avian flu and the possibility that it might be the next pandemic ahead of us, just over the horizon. We get into the history of influenza outbreaks originating in domesticated animals, such as, most famously, the so-called "Spanish flu" of 1918 in order to calibrate how potentially worrying such an outbreak could be should it arise, particularly in the post-COVID political context in which we now live. We also discuss the recent assassination of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson (we mistakenly call him Brian Johnson in the episode, apologies), the sudden fall of the Assad regime in Syria, as well as a worrying new disease which has recently emerged in Congo. Reuters story on the Congo mystery illness: https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/who-sends-experts-help-congo-diagnose-mystery-disease-2024-12-06/ ABC News story on early human cases of avian flu: https://www.abc15.com/news/state/arizona-sees-first-case-of-human-bird-flu-in-pinal-county-health-officials-report#google_vignette LA Times story on another early human case: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-12-07/possible-h5n1-case-in-marin-co-child-source-of-infection-unknown Scientific American story about the dangers of this influenza strain: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/bird-flu-virus-is-one-mutation-away-from-adapting-to-human-cells/ NPR story on raw milk and bird flu: https://www.npr.org/2024/12/06/nx-s1-5220272/testing-usda-bird-flu-raw-milk-california Send us a text https://www.instagram.com/theendoftheworldwms/ https://youtube.com/@TheEndoftheWorldwMS?si=xmj-2e0s58JdN8-B https://linktr.ee/endoftheworldwithmichaelandstu…

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Episode 45: It's a Godawful Small Affair 53:53

大约1年之前53:53

53:53

This week we are covering the 2005 Spielberg/Cruise film War of the Worlds . Made in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, the film attempts to make some kind of connection between the H.G. Wells's classic story of alien invasion and the events that had so recently shaken the foundations of America...and it fails to do so, at least in a manner that we found at all convincing or philosophically interesting. But fear not! In this episode you also get to hear the "legendary" story of Stu's IRL encounter with Mr. Spielberg, as well as how Michael once saw Dave Matthews open for Barack Obama. We also get into a bit of the history of the story, briefly discussing Wells's novel as well as Orson Welles's famous 1938 radio adaptation, which allegedly set off a panic across the United States. What is it about this tale that causes it to return in moments of cultural uncertainty? We open the episode with a brief conversation about the news of Joe Biden's pardoning of his son Hunter. Would we have done the same? To find out, you must listen. This episode contains spoilers for War of the Worlds . Send us a text https://www.instagram.com/theendoftheworldwms/ https://youtube.com/@TheEndoftheWorldwMS?si=xmj-2e0s58JdN8-B https://linktr.ee/endoftheworldwithmichaelandstu…

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Episode 44: Turn and Face the Strain 49:01

大约1年之前49:01

49:01

This week we are covering the COP29 climate conference which took place over the last two weeks in Baku, Azerbaijan. Have they solved the issue? Was this climate conference in actuality a "meet up" for lobbyists in the fossil fuel industry? What is the connection between climate change and social justice, and is this connection one of the reasons the conference has been largely ignored in the American media, particularly in the wake of Trump's 2024 reelection? We answer all of these questions and more! Additionally the episode opens with a brief discussion of...some news...regarding the subject of our last episode, Cormac McCarthy. And we also get into the details that have been revealed about Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy's Department of Government Efficiency or DOGE...and fear not, the details are..."great." Links to stories cited in the episode: From Democracy Now! : https://www.democracynow.org/2024/11/18/cop29_azerbaijan https://www.democracynow.org/2024/11/22/protest_cop29_deal https://www.democracynow.org/2024/11/22/cop29_deal Greta Thunberg's statement: https://x.com/GretaThunberg/status/1860042876081893802 From The Guardian : https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/nov/23/cop29-agrees-13tn-climate-finance-deal-but-campaigners-brand-it-a-betrayal Send us a text https://www.instagram.com/theendoftheworldwms/ https://youtube.com/@TheEndoftheWorldwMS?si=xmj-2e0s58JdN8-B https://linktr.ee/endoftheworldwithmichaelandstu…

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Episode 43: Our Shadows Taller Than Our Souls 53:10

大约1年之前53:10