Men in Gorilla Suits

One of the many cries of Gen-X: "Remember when MTV used to play videos?"

Music videos were made for Gen-X, and for years, cable stations (and even some network shows) catered to playing music videos. Videos changed the face of music in the 80s, but to hear some people talk, you'd think they are a long-gone thing.

With YouTube and other ways of sharing content, clearly that's not true. We can now watch the videos we remember with a simple Google search, and new videos pop up every day. (Hell, you can now make your own videos and put them out there as easy as a podcast...)

So...the Gorillamen finally sat down to talk about music videos...specifically:

• What was the first music video you remember seeing?
• What impression did that video have?
• Did you watch a lot of music videos growing up?
• Do you watch a lot of them now?
• What was your first impression of MTV?
• Of VH1?
• What was the most non-mainstream way you watched music videos? (public access, late-night TV, etc)
• What's the best music video of all time?
• The worst?
• The most insane?
• How important were music videos to you when you were younger?
• If you had to make a music video for any song, which song, and what would the video concept be?
• Do you think music videos are important to the kids now?
• What's the future of music videos?

The Gorillamen have talked about movies, but this time around, it's all about movie theaters. Specifically:

• What is your first memory in a movie theater?
• What was your best movie theater experience?
• What was your worst movie theater experience?
• What do you love about movie theaters?
• What do you hate about movie theaters?
• Do you prefer going to a movie theater or watching things at home?
• I once heard someone say upscale movie theaters are ridiculous. What do you think about movie theaters where you can get food and drinks while kicked back in a massive chair?
• What's the last movie you've seen in a theater?
• What's your favorite movie theater concession?
• Are you eager to return to watching movies in theaters after COVID hit, or are you done with theaters?
• What other things do you think movie theaters can do to stay relevant in a time when many prefer their home theaters?
• What is the future of movie theaters?

A busy week after last week's busy week, but...the Gorillamen recorded a new episode.

This time around, it's all about vintage things...

• What was the first thing you heard described as vintage?
• What's the first vintage thing you ever owned?
• Do you like vintage stuff? Why/why not?
• Why are people — especially younger people — obsessed with vintage stuff?
• What's the coolest vintage thing you've seen?
• What's the lamest vintage thing you've seen?
• Coolest vintage thing you own?
• Cool vintage thing you wish you owned?
• What things from today will be the vintage obsessions of future generations?

Lots of life happened this week, so the new episode will come out next week. It's about vintage things, and it should be a lot of fun.

Do you follow recipes, or wing it and see what happens? Maybe you just love the look of cookbooks, with all those great photos. Some recipes are passed down for generations; others seem to come out of nowhere like a one-hit wonder and fade away. But it's clear that humans enjoy food...and the recipes that can make it even better...

The Gorillamen didn't even turn this one dark!

Here's what's discussed:

• What's the first recipe you remember seeing?
• How well do you follow recipes?
• What's the best recipe you've ever followed?
• What's the worst recipe you've ever followed?
• What's the strangest recipe you've ever made?
• Have you ever made your own recipes? If so: what?
• What's the last recipe you followed?
• Do you have any cherished family recipes?
• Cookbooks…are you a fan? (If so, how many do you have?)
• How has the Internet changed the ways we look at recipes and cookbooks?
• What do you think about the blog story recipe, where someone goes on (and sometimes on and on) with a story before sharing the recipe?
• What's the future of recipes?

It's funny how you can record a thing and, a week later, it's maybe not obsolete, but definitely shows how quickly things can change. Granted, we discussed the likelihood of what is happening again--climbing COVID-19 rates brought on by [mostly] unvaccinated people and the Delta variant--but we didn't expect that prediction to be so timely.

With many people getting out and about, though, we Gorillamen sat down and talked about how our lives have changed since being vaccinated and able to venture out not as concerned as we were before vaccinations.

This is what we discussed:

• When did you get vaccinated?
• What was that experience?
• What's the first thing you wanted to do when you were fully vaccinated?
• What's the first thing you actually did?
• What have you noticed is different in the world now than pre-COVID-vaccination?
• Do you feel like we've turned a corner on the pandemic?
• What's something you were sure you were going to do when vaccinated that you haven't?
• How has your social interaction been compared with pre-COVID?
• Have you noticed any problems or issues re-engaging with the world?
• What's the future of the pandemic?

Sometimes, life happens.

That's a rather ridiculous statement when you think about it. Life is always happening. If you're asleep, things are still happening that affect your life. So let's start over.

Because Gorilla Shawn was recently traveling and is currently feeling a little under the weather...and because Gorilla Christopher is redoing his office right now, we're skipping the scheduled episode of Men in Gorilla Suits this week.

It will likely be released next week. (At the latest, in two weeks on the usual schedule.)

Until then, we hope you're all chilling the fuck out...and making the damn thing!

A busy week, and Gorilla Shawn is traveling, so we'll get right to the talking points of this episode about YouTube:

• When did you first become aware of YouTube--and how did you stumble upon it?
• What are some of the earliest things you remember seeing on YouTube?
• What are some of the funniest things you've seen on YouTube.
• What are some of the coolest things you've learned on YouTube.
• Do you subscribe to any YouTube Channels? (If so, what are some of your favorite channels?)
• Do YOU have a YouTube channel? (What's it like?)
• What role do you think YouTube plays in politics (good, bad, or otherwise)?
• Are there aspects of YouTube you find problematic? If so, what?
• What do you think about YouTube when it comes to copyright? (i.e. movie clips, albums, and other things shared on the platform.)
• What do you think about "YouTube Celebrities" and how much money some people make on the platform? Do you think they are comparable to other celebrities?
• If there's one thing you could change or add to YouTube, what would it be?
• What is the future of YouTube?

We're back...and happy.

Sure, much of the country seems to be in a blast furnace, but...after skipping a release week, we're sure you're happy to have a new episode of Men in Gorilla Suits in your earholes.

This time around, it's one of those subjects we can't believe we've not already discussed: happiness! Specifically:

• What's your first memory of something that made you happy?
• What's your happiest memory?
• Do you think we actually have the right to the pursuit of happiness?
• What does your pursuit of happiness look like?
• Are you a happy person?
• What's something that keeps you from being happy?
• What's the happiest time in your life?
• Do you think America is a happy country?
• What's the happiest place on earth?
• What's the future of happiness?

It was a crazy-busy week for Gorilla Shawn. His dad turned 70 this weekend, so Shawn went to Florida to surprise him. On top of that, he had to double up on his radio show, Metal DNA -- as well as taking care of some work stuff and a sick dog.

Instead of stressing about it, we decided to just skip an episode release week and catch back up on June 9...when the topic for discussion is happiness!