One of the first episodes we ever wanted to record for the pod, Snakes on a Plane. We explore the brief 2006-era window of big budget B-movies.

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We dive into the shiny, explosive world of 2008’s Iron Man, the film that launched the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Celebrated for Robert Downey Jr.’s charismatic performance and its slick visuals, it offers a surface level critique of the of the military-industrial complex.

The ideology and methods that Iron Man embodies though, are identical to American exceptionalism. Not to mention that the cost of Stark’s redemption arc is the death of a thousand middle-budget dramas

Give Remember Shuffle a follow on Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠ And on Instagram⁠⁠⁠ ⁠@RememberShufflePod⁠⁠⁠⁠ to interact with the show between episodes. It also makes it easier to book guests.  Join the patreon to support the shuffle bois and for an extra episode per month at ⁠https://www.patreon.com/c/RememberShuffle

This is a free demo--Full episode 90 minute episode can be found at: patreon.com/c/RememberShuffle

It's a music episode! The Shuffle Bois turn to an early 2000s artist that NME Magazine called "The Saviour of Music" and Pitchfork Magazine called "A horseman of the apocalypse," Andrew WK. The Shuffle bois first trace the surprisingly interesting life of Andrew WK before the 2001/2002 release of his first album "I Get Wet." They review this seminal album of the 2000s before discussing some themes and big ideas: irony and artifice for performers, the role of technology in music production in the early 2000s, and Andrew WK as modern-day Dionysus. En route, they discuss Andrew WK's afterlife as a meme, explore the conspiracy theories around his identity, and describe the sound of "Jackpot Rock" that he exemplified.

The Shuffle bois turn to the pivotal years 2006-8 of the Iraq war, featuring the Iraqi Civil War, the US troop surge, and the military “genius” of treating Iraqis with basic human empathy. After tracing the history of this period - how the civilian leadership continued to bury its head in the sand, how the strategy began to slowly change towards sending more troops, and how Americans largely tuned out in 2008 - they zoom out and discuss the big ideas and questions around the surge. Was it a success? Did America learn anything from it? Why did we never get a big budget Hollywood surge movie? The carnival of horrors continues in Part 5 of Remember Shuffle’s Iraq War series.

Give Remember Shuffle a follow on Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠ And on Instagram⁠⁠⁠ ⁠@RememberShufflePod⁠⁠⁠⁠ to interact with the show between episodes. It also makes it easier to book guests.  Join the patreon to support the shuffle bois and for an extra episode per month at ⁠https://www.patreon.com/c/RememberShuffle

Skip ahead to 9:30 for Robin Williams content. 

We dive headfirst into the lightning-fast, unfiltered mind of Robin Williams's 2002 stand-up special, Live on Broadway. After a 16-year hiatus from major touring, Williams stormed the stage like a human cyclone. 

Was it improvised? Was it structured? This episode dives into whether the sheer volume of material and the relentless pace overshadowed the strength of the jokes themselves. Was it a brilliant display of Robin’s unique mind, or did the "stream of consciousness" become a bit more of a facile chaotic torrent?

So grab your water bottles, prepare for rapid-fire associations, and listen in as we try to keep up with the one, the only, Robin Williams.

Give Remember Shuffle a follow on Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠ And on Instagram⁠⁠⁠ ⁠@RememberShufflePod⁠⁠⁠⁠ to interact with the show between episodes. It also makes it easier to book guests.  Join the patreon to support the shuffle bois and for an extra episode per month at ⁠https://www.patreon.com/c/RememberShuffle

This is a free Demo--Full episode can be found at: patreon.com/c/RememberShuffle

The Shuffle Bois turn from the worst Classics adaptation of the 2000s (Troy) to what might be the best, the Coen Brothers' "O Brother Where Art Thou." After describing the source material - Homer's Odyssey - the bois give a plot summary of the Cohen brothers' southern folklore epic. They then discuss some themes of the film - the North's view of the South in 2000, the place of music in the film, and the various mythologies of the film. They close out, as always, with the echoes in the culture, looking forward to Christopher Nolan's 2026 Odyssey adaptation.

In part four of Remember Shuffle’s ongoing series on the Iraq War, Remember Shuffle is joined by guests Lyle Jeremy Rubin and Van Jackson, the hosts of the [Bang-Bang] podcast. We turn now to the ramping up of violence in the years 2004-2005, and the United States refusal to recognize the current battle space: one of counter insurgency. As always we end our discussion with a movie set during this period: American Sniper and Warfare.

Follow Bang-Bang at: www.bangbangpod.com/

Van Jackson: x.com/realvanjackson

Lyle Jeremy Rubin at: lylejeremyrubin.com/

For more on Counter Insurgency as “conservative, high-modern utopianism”, see Van’s conversation on his other podcast, Un-Diplomatic: www.un-diplomatic.com/p/the-reactionary-worldmaking-of-counter

Give Remember Shuffle a follow on Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠ And on Instagram⁠⁠⁠ ⁠@RememberShufflePod⁠⁠⁠⁠ to interact with the show between episodes. It also makes it easier to book guests.  Join the patreon to support the shuffle bois and for an extra episode per month at ⁠https://www.patreon.com/c/RememberShuffl

In part three of Remember Shuffle’s ongoing series on the Iraq War, the Shuffle Bois turn their investigative eyes to the CPA and the first year of the occupation. They close out by reviewing The Green Zone, a very weak attempt to fictionalize the story of Green Zone: Imperial Life in the Emerald City.

Baghdad Burning Blog: https://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/

Give Remember Shuffle a follow on Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠ And on Instagram⁠⁠⁠ ⁠@RememberShufflePod⁠⁠⁠⁠ to interact with the show between episodes. It also makes it easier to book guests.  Join the patreon to support the shuffle bois and for an extra episode per month at ⁠https://www.patreon.com/c/RememberShuffle

The Wolfowitz of Wall Street--In part two of Remember Shuffle’s ongoing series on the Iraq War, the Shuffle Bois turn their investigative eyes to whose fault this war was. After digging down into the ideological tenets of Neoconservatism and describing the prime suspects of this mass murder case, they do a deep dive into the history of the lead-up to the war from 2001-2003. En route, they describe the stifling of any substantial debate on both the grounds for the war and its grand strategy, the fabrication and misrepresentation of flawed intelligence, and the bureaucratic machinations that led to the worst possible outcome. They close out by reviewing a brilliant British satire of this period of history, Armando Ianucci’s “In the Loop” (2009).

Give Remember Shuffle a follow on Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠ And on Instagram⁠⁠⁠ ⁠@RememberShufflePod⁠⁠⁠⁠ to interact with the show between episodes. It also makes it easier to book guests.  Join the patreon to support the shuffle bois and for an extra episode per month at ⁠https://www.patreon.com/c/RememberShuffle

Big thank you to S.E. Doyen for sending us the excellent episode art

Full episode can be found at: patreon.com/c/RememberShuffle

In an episode that will echo through the millenia, the Shuffle Bois return to the world of sword and sandals flicks to review a film that got Ben Troygered, “Troy” (2004). Troy is a perfect example of the "grounded and realistic" period pieces that proliferated in the 2000s that somehow were neither grounded or realistic or fun. After doing a deep dive into the source material behind the film (the Greek epic poetry of Homer), they look at the film's flat characters, first-draft quality script, and phoned-in performances before turning to themes and a short pedant's corner.