Secret Histories of Nerd Mysteries

In 1964 award winning animator Richard Williams set out with a simple goal:  to make an animated feature film that showed off everything the medium of animation was capable of.  However, between rights disputes, the failure of a Raggedy Ann and Andy movie, and Richard William's severe mismanagement of time and money, The Thief and the Cobbler would become one of the most infamous animated films in history due to its decades long production cycle.  

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Today in this special episode of Secret Histories, Host Austin welcomes Brea Grant and Mallory O'Meara from the hit podcasts Reading Glasses and Reading Smut.  The topic for today?  Why do books release on Tuesdays?  

https://maximumfun.org/podcasts/reading-glasses/

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In 1976, disgraced wallstreet investor Eugene Mullvihill opened the infamous Action Park in Vernon New Jersey.  It would turn out to be a lawless place full of drunken poorly trained teens, a deadly wave pool, and the world's first, and last, looping waterslide.  

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If you're reading this, chances are, you know what a podcast is.  But, do you know how podcasting got started?  What is considered the first podcast?   Where did the name come from?  And how does Maximum Fun play into all this?  

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Before a lot of our modern tech was mainstream, homes of the future walkthroughs were there to show us a glimpse into a supposedly better and brighter future.  But did these homes of the future, now several decades old, manage to predict how houses are built now?  Is there anything practical about building houses out of foam and balloons?  

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In the 90's, summer family comedy Life with Mikey released in theaters...and was a terrible flop. Despite having a star studded cast like Michael J. Fox, Cyndi Lauper, and Nathan Lane, the movie was panned by movie-goers and critics alike. But why? What lead up to this disaster, and does it really deserve to be forgotten?

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Despite being one of the leading chains of theme parks in the united states, Six Flags has sure made some awful business decisions over the years.  From running a wax museum, to opening an entertainment venue inside an old power plant (with no rides), it's a wonder that there's still any Six Flags parks left at all.  

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Studio Ghibli films had a rough start to being distributed in the west, with early dubs that made a lot of changes,  the inclusion of pop songs, and cats that aren't supposed to talk,  However, in the mid 90's, Disney stepped in, hoping that supporting Ghibli would give them a stronger foothold in Japan.  They also hoped that Japanese animation legend Hayao Miyazaki would continue to make them kids movies like Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service, not gory historical epics like Princes Mononoke, or somber films like Spirited Away.   Would you believe that a katakana mailed to Harvey Weinstein was just the beginning?  

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Note:  The decision to rerun this episode was made several days before the unfortunate passing of actor Johnathan Joss.  

It’s Austin’s week to pick a topic, and they’ve chosen “King of the Hill”, their all-time favorite show.  This episode has it all.

Bonus:  Brand new audio from Austin about the King of the Hill Revival!  

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What's better than getting food at a nice restaurant?  How about getting food inside the rainforest?  Or in the stands of a medieval arena?  Or how about...a prison?  

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