Downers

#169 – Quarantine houses! We've all seen the memes, now we get to hear the episode. First, we take a quarantine house quiz. Then we make our own! Yes, that's right, the content practically generates itself.

Plugs this week:

• Samosas from Nuts.com (Jack)
• Baking banana bread (Kate)
• The episode number; nice (Hao)

https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co

#168 – Part of working with other humans is conflict. It's natural! How do YOU deal with conflict? In this episode, Jack and Hao take a quiz that Kate had to take at work. We find out how often, and to what degree, we use aggression, avoidance, and compromise to resolve conflicts at work.

Also, Mike Posner walked across America! Jack might walk across America, too?

Plugs this week:

• Dual-ended Tombow calligraphy pen (Kate)
• Walking (Jack)
• Blisters (Hao)

#167 – WHAT IF YOU HAD TWO BODIES INSTEAD OF ONE

Plugs this week:

• Air purifier (Kate)
• The new Pringles man (Jack)
• Sombra, the Overwatch character (Hao)

[email protected] /r/downersradio @downersradio

#166 – This is sort of a grab bag episode. First, we take a trip through the notes Kate took in her production notebook! Second, we do a Liquids Draft: Which liquids would you have on YOUR team? #LiquidsDraft Third, a coronavirus update. #StaringIntoTheVoid #LifeIsOffTheRails

Plugs this week:

• Aloe for burns on your décolletage (Kate)
• Overwatch League (Jack)
• Squat jumps (Hao)

Downers Makes Your Thighs Feel Alive™

[email protected] /r/downersradio @downersradio

#165 – Hao read Sharon Lerner's fantastic 2019 expose about the plastic industry's national push to make single-use plastic readily available to consumers, through municipal legislation and false-flag recycling PSAs, and he decided to himself: This would make a fantastic Downers episode. This hour, we talk about ways we think about plastic and they reconcile with the reality. From the commercial viability of recycling to the little number that gets stamped on the bottom of bottles, very little about plastic is what it seems on the surface. Let's. Fix. Plastic. By reducing on dependency on it, or by making content about it!!

Plugs this week:

• South Korea's TV drama ITAEWON CLASS (Jack)
• Brian Michael Firkus' drag personal TRIXIE MATTEL (Kate)
• Music (Hao)

[email protected] – /r/downersradio – @downersradio

#164 – The pandemic is on our minds again, as I'm sure it's on you. We wanted to devote the hour this week to talking about fun ways the pandemic might end. Meteor strike? A custom-made astronaut suit for everybody? Plus: the death of content! What are we going to do without television and movies? Is this the rise of Twitch??

Plugs this week:

• The Expanse (Jack)
• Banana bread (Kate)
• Getting older (Hao)

[email protected] – /r/downersradio – @downersradio

p.s. there's a high-frequency buzz on kate's audio track this week. we apologize!

#163 – This week, we read and react to Jeff Foster's poem "THE LIE OF HAPPINESS," which encourages us to engage in the full range of emotions that life has to offer, maybe. Plus: Jack's on a new microphone, and he's doing a lot of hand gestures. We also play a new game: Which emotion would you let take the wheel, at different parts of your life?

Plugs this week:

• Two perfect donuts (Kate)
• Jack's actual "What's Up" (Hao)
• Jack's actual "What's Up" (Jack)

[email protected] – /r/downersradio – @downersradio

#162 – Some people are just plain happier, on a day to day basis. What's that all about? How can we quantify happiness? Is the pursuit of happiness futile? Only a special after-dark episode of Downers can answer, or guess at, these questions.

Plugs this week:

• This episode (Hao)
• Talking to your friends (Kate)
• Looking at the moon (Jack)

[email protected] • /r/downersradio • @downersradio on twitter

(p.s. jack's audio is bad in this episode and the previous episode because we need to replace a hard-to-find component)

#161 – Two episodes ago we watched a video of a real animal crossing, and now it's time to talk about Nintendo's Animal Crossing (New Horizons). Yes, this family-friendly Japanese-made video game is is out, and Jack and Kate have been playing it, while Hao has been watching speedruns of it on YouTube. While relaxing, the game appears to have an interesting ideological philosophy about consumerism and capitalism underpinning it. Or maybe we're just insane???

Plugs this week:

• Doing laundry (Jack)
• Clean sheets tonight (Kate)
• Raisins (Jack)

[email protected] • /r/downersradio • @downersradio on twitter

(p.s. jack's audio is messed up this episode and the next episode because we need to replace a hard-to-find component)

#160 – Neighbors! We all have them, and now they matter more than ever. In this hour, we talk about the neighbors we have had and the neighbors we have currently. We rank our neighbors on a scale from one to five. The numbers may astound you! That's just the kind of content we have on Downers: astounding content.

Plugs this week:

• Bouncing light to your face with a white sheet of paper on your desk (Hao)
• Computer keyboards (Kate)

[email protected] • /r/downersradio • @downersradio on twitter