On this award-winning show, we dive into our recent road-trip adventures. You will learn about the dangers of mail delivery, Etsy shop sourcing, recent television shows and a few other topics. Tell everyone you know about the Have Coffee Will Travel Podcast!

Marc Maron's current comedy tour has been a major focus for Shawn over the last year. Last Spring, he bought tickets to a nearby comedy show. This show was supposed to occur in October, but due to scheduling, Marc had to postpone. Well, the makeup date for the show finally came. This past weekend, Shawn and Leah were able to see Marc Maron live. After listening to Marc's podcast for 10 years, Shawn was able to enjoy the entertainment in person. What did Leah think? That's in this episode.

To get to the show, Shawn and Leah had to travel to the USA. Everyone and everything in the media said this would be a hellish experience. Was it? Find out on this episode of HCWT. Because your hosts were traveling, it was a perfect opportunity to source stock for their Etsy shops. Wally's Castle is a favourite antique shop in Grand Rapids. GoodWill is also another popular place to stop and check for stock!

Leah was especially excited about the estate sale she found. This house had some amazing Disney items. Leah loves Walt Disney, Mickey Mouse and the overall flavour of Disney. She found a lot of amazing items at this sale.

Also on this episode: Shawn's dog bite, action figure and plush finds, and recent TV. This episode is called tv, travel and Marc Maron comedy for a reason. All of that and more are topics in this episode. A new segment is our Etsy sales.

Leah's etsy shop is https://www.etsy.com/shop/Collectandcaston

Shawn's etsy shop is https://rustedrobottoys.etsy.com

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A brief history of cats! This week we take a break from movie reviews to discuss something a little closer to home. Many people consider their cats to be a significant part of their family. We are no different. Because we love our cats so much, we decided to talk about the origin of cats, their history, and their place in the popular culture.

The domestication of cats began in the Middle East around 12,000 years ago, with early evidence suggesting a close relationship between humans and cats in the Fertile Crescent. Cats, likely descended from the African wildcat, were valued for their pest control abilities and gradually became companions to humans, eventually spreading across the globe.

The process of domestication is thought to have begun in the Middle East, specifically in the Fertile Crescent, around 12,000 years ago. As humans settled and began farming, they created environments that attracted both rodents and wildcats, leading to a symbiotic relationship where cats controlled pests and humans provided food and shelter. Archaeological evidence, including a burial site in Cyprus dating back 9,500 years, suggests an intentional relationship between humans and cats, with cats being brought to the island by humans.

In ancient Egypt, cats were revered and even deified, with the goddess Bastet often depicted with a cat's head. Cats were mummified and buried with great care, indicating their importance in Egyptian culture. Cats were considered sacred animals, and harming them could lead to severe punishments. Cats traveled with the Romans, becoming widespread in Europe by the 4th century AD. 

In addition to a brief history of cats, we discuss their popularity in culture. Disney uses and houses cats to control pests. They are a huge part of the population in Istanbul. Cartoon cats abound!

Entertainment Weekly has a list of the 26 most iconic cats in cinema. You can read their entire list at https://ew.com/movies/cats-of-cinema/

Leave us a review in your favourite podcast app and have it read on the show.

Find our Etsy shops at collectandcaston and rustedrobottoys

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Porky's is a 1981 sex comedy directed by Bob Clark.

In 1954, each boy in a group of Florida Angel Beach High School students plans to lose his virginity. They go to Porky's, a strip club in the Everglades, believing that they can hire a prostitute to satisfy their sexual desires. The club's proprietor, Porky, takes their money but humiliates the boys by dumping them into the swamp. When the group demands their money back, the sheriff, Porky's brother, drives them away but not before he extorts them for the rest of their money, further embarrassing them.

In a subplot, the boys peep on female students in the girl's locker room shower. Tommy, Billy, and Pee Wee see several girls showering. Pee Wee gives them away when he shouts at an obese girl, who has been blocking his view, to move so that he can see. While a few girls run out, most stay, finding the situation funny.

Although there is more to this story, we find the main theme to be one of coming of age. There are many movies and television shows that embrace a similar theme. In Porky's, the boys are attempting to become men. In holding a mirror up to reality, this film does a poor job. People just don't act like these boys in real life. There are perhaps moments where similar events may occur, but nothing can be sustained for this long (outside of movie reality).

This week in the movie closet, we chat about the film's qualities. We were impressed by the actor's abilities to inhabit their roles. The classic cars were another highlight. The plot did not hold up. Our overall rating for this film is 1.25 stars out of 5.

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Welcome back to the movie closet. In this series, we review a movie one of the co-hosts has not seen. Then, we dissect the film for its underlying theme and talk about it. This week we are reviewing the classic film Cherry 2000 from the year 1987. The underlying theme is unexpected love.

Cherry 2000 Synopsis:

• Need a bounty hunter? She's your man! In the future, a man travels to the ends of the earth to find the perfect woman. In this fun, futuristic sci-fi adventure, Melanie Griffith (Something Wild) is delightful and unflappable as a futuristic bounty hunter on a mission to find a robot replicant of a rich man's short-circuited wife. When successful businessman Sam Treadwell (David Andrews, Fight Club) finds that his android wife, Cherry model 2000 (Pamela Gidley, The Blue Iguana), has blown a fuse, he hires sexy renegade tracker E. Johnson (Griffith) to find her exact duplicate. But as their journey to replace his perfect mate leads them into the treacherous and lawless region of The Zone.

Join Shawn and Leah as they discuss unexpected love. From depictions of love and romance in Cherry 2000, to Get Over It, and Spike Jonze's Her, the hosts tackle many aspects of surprise love. You will enjoy their personal story, as well as some of their memories from previous relationships. Get ready for robot sex, trackers, and an adventure through a futuristic wasteland.

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This time on the Have Coffee Will Travel Podcast, we begin our movie closet series. When we moved into this house, there were no convenient spots to store our DVD collection. However, there was a spare closet. We tossed all of our films into the closet and our storage problem had a solution. Now, Shawn and Leah are diving into the movies looking for those films that the other might not have seen. After viewing the film, they review it, find the theme and that becomes the topic for the podcast. This time, we are discussing the 1999 film Dogma, directed by Kevin Smith.

Synopsis:

Two mischievous angels (played by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck) who were kicked out of heaven, have figured out a way to get back in. Restoring ones soul by entering a new church is a part of the Catholic Dogma, and by restoring their souls, the angels could re-enter heaven thus revealing a loophole. However, their plan would prove God's imperfection thus erasing everything God had ever created. Jesus' last descendant Bethany (played by Linda Fiorentino) is enlisted by Rufus the unknown 13th Apostle to stop the fugitive angels. Along the way, she is aided by two prophets, Jay and Silent Bob.

The entire point of the movie is faith. Bethany is suffering from a crisis of faith. More than one crisis if we are honest. The film tracks her evolution of faith and belief. This is the jumping off point for our new series-- The movie closet: Dogma! Shawn and Leah share the basis of their own belief systems. They share stories from their childhoods, and discuss how those experiences shaped them as people. Do you have faith? Do you need it?

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A taste of Japan is our first episode of the soon to be ongoing World Taste series. Our plan is to purchase various food items from around our great planet. These will be things that are very often not available locally. Using the powers of the internet, we will acquire a pile of random items and we will taste them. Our lucky listeners will be able to follow along as we discover the tastes of the world. Planet Earth is a buffet and we plan to eat it up!

The first stop on our taste tour is Japan. While shopping on Amazon for some blankets, Leah accidently also purchased the Ninjapo snack box. Hence, a new series for Have Coffee Will Travel was born. Join us on this episode for a taste of Japan!

The exact title of the listing on Amazon is:Japanese Snacks Assortment 30pcs "TONO SNACK" Excellent Variety and Delicious Selection of Japanese Dagashi

Our snacks arrived in a cute pink box with anime characters, a mountain scene and a temple. The words are in both English and Japanese. 30 different snacks are included. Some of these items are similar in nature, but each individual item is different. The flavours offer a wide range of experiences, and the textures are quite unique.

Product description

Suitable for yourself, share with friends and families, party, gift and so on.

Contents may be different from pictures.

According to the AI generated amalgamation of reviews: Customers find the snack mix enjoyable and interesting. They appreciate the variety of treats and flavors. The snacks have a good selection and appearance. However, some customers feel it's not worth the money, with small snacks and a small amount for the price. There are also complaints about smell and mixed opinions on taste and staleness.

Overall, this is a fun experimental episode. If you enjoy ASMR, and listening to people experience things for the first time, this is the episode for you.

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2025 Movie Preview

Join us as we dive into the genre films that are coming to a theatre near you in 2025. We are going month by month to tell you what to keep an eye open for. This is not an exhaustive list. The hours would crawl by as we tried to tell you everything that will be in a cinema over the next 12 months. Instead, we are looking at specific types of movies. Our main focus is on those films that should be seen on the big screen. These include such genres as science fiction, horror, fantasy, action and the ever-present comic book based films.

The way this episode is set up is very specific. Co-host Shawn tells co-host Leah what movie is coming out. Each month offers a film in the above mentioned categories. Leah has not looked ahead, and she must rely on Shawn's decription on each particular film. Shawn has seen many of the trailers, but his descriptions are not always completely on point. If you, our listener is interested in a particular movie, we suggest you watch the trailers for a greater understanding than what we provide here. As such, this is the 2025 movie preview -- not a complete summary of all movies.

Some of the films we are excited for include: Captain America: Brave New World, A Minecraft Movie, ThunderBolts, Ballerina, 28 Years Later, Megan 2.0, Superman, Fantastic 4: First Steps, and 5 Nights at Freddy's 2.

There are many other films which we discuss on this episode. Several trailers are also heard during the course of this production.

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New year, new me? Not this time folks! Our first episode of the new year, and our 16th episode overall, is a guideline for the future. The turning of the calendar brings with it a certain kind of perspective. Looking at what has come before, and what we wish to come next. 2025 is here. We are ready for whatever it may bring. And yet, along with that uncertainly, we are creating a framework or roadmap to help us along.

As your hosts, we find it important that you (the listener) know what to expect from the Have Coffee Will Travel podcast. We want HCWT to be entertaining, informative, thought-provoking, and consistent. Consistency is key in any type of relationship. You can expect us to be consistent in our opening and closing statements. And you can expect us to be here for you every 2 weeks. However, don't be surprised by the occasional bonus episode.

This episode is called 2025 Plans and Resolutions. To know where we are going, we must see where we have been. That's why we start off with a recap and highlight reel of the past year. We got married in 2024. And we bought our first home together. Shawn went on his first cruise. Leah finally got to see the Trans Siberian Orchestra and go to a Disney after hours party. We both went to Las Vegas for the first time, and we each lost loved ones.

Where are we going? What do we have planned? We are going to focus on the future, by paying off the past. Paying down our debt is our major resolution for 2025. By sweeping away what is owing, we can breathe easier knowing future travel is possible. We had our first real budget meeting this week. This means we sat down and looked at all of our bills, what we owe, and what we make. Now we know what we can afford. We also want to write our wills and figure out our power of attorney situation. Several mini road trips are planned for the year, and the only major expense is a cruise for the end of the year.

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On our 15th episode, we chat about the recent strike/lockout at Canada Post. Shawn is a Letter Carrier, so this issue is immediate and personal. Leah and Shawn talk about the strike itself, as well as Shawn's own experience working for the post office. You will also learn a few surprises along the way.

More than 55,000 postal workers went on strike on Nov. 15. The Canadian Union of Postal Workers was seeking wage increases, better pensions and improved health benefits. The Union insists that wage increases must be kept in line with inflation, with cost-of-living adjustment payments rolled into the basic wage rate. Weekend delivery was one of the main sticking points during negotiations. Canada Post has pitched seven-day-a-week delivery as a way to boost revenue and "secure the future of the company" as it struggles to compete with other delivery companies.

The Crown corporation says it would staff weekend delivery shifts with a mix of new permanent part-time positions and some full-time, which would "create flexibility while not adding significant long-term fixed costs." But the union characterizes Canada Post's proposals as "attacks on full-time work," accusing the Crown corporation of wanting to increase the part-time mix to more than 50 per cent of the workforce. It says it is concerned some part-timers could be scheduled for as few as eight hours per week and wouldn’t be eligible for benefits until they reach 1,000 hours.

Essentially, the Union and the Corporation do not see eye to eye on a number of factors. The Canada Post strike has been hard on workers, customers and the economy. The goodish news is that we are back to work and the government has set a few things in motion to try to help. Only time will tell what that means for the workers.

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Our 2024 Orlando and Grand Rapids vacation. Every day is an adventure. Join us as we break down each day's events into small, bite-size chunks.What did we do? Where did we go? Who did we see?

Day 1: Crazy weather travel day. Our 4 hour drive took us 6 hours. Our Allegiant flight was delayed. We made it to Orlando, had dinner and went for a walk around our resort neighbourhood.

Day 2. Sunday shopping. Picked up groceries for the week at Walmart. Went for breakfast at IHOP. The coffee was gross. The food was just OK. Thrifting in Kissimmee is lackluster. The flea markets are sad and all the same. We finished the day with a bath, drinking wine and reading.

Day 3. Monday adventures. Orlando's Vineland outlets. Batmobile Crocs. Disney Springs desserts and the Earl of Sandwich. Jollywood Nights was awesome. We got on Rise of the Resistance without any waiting. And we finally got to ride Slinky Dog. The fireworks were great the the good was fantastic.

Day 4. We went to the Lakeland Antique Mall. Lots of fun stuff to see. The time flew by. The layout and upkeep was awful. Too expensive for most things. The dessert we bought in Disney Springs yesterday from Amorette's Patisserie was delicious.

Day 5. Wednesday was a shopping day. Davey's Toys was a highlight. The Mercantile was a surprise find that we enjoyed. Acme Toy Warehouse was huge and had lots of vintage, but overpriced stuff. The Lindor store had the best Lindt chocolate. We got some bears at Goodwill and a few things from the Disney Character Warehouse.

Day 6. Orlando Beer Spa. Thursday was mainly about relaxation.

Day 7. Bishop's birthday. A paddle boat ride. Visiting with Jarman and Jolie and having a few games, drinks and laughs.

Final Entry. Wrapping up the weekend. Saturday was travel from Orlando to Grand Rapids. We checked out some antiques. Sunday was more antiques, the Lush store and TSO. The Trans Siberian Orchestra put on an amazing show. Staying at Spark by Hilton was something else. Not the worst hotel, but definitely could have been better.

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