The Cracked Podcast

If you're afraid big corporations will one day try to beam ideas directly into your mind, too late. They've been doing this for years and you haven't even noticed it. Think about your grocery store. Right after you walk in, there's probably fresh flowers and produce. That's because supermarkets know that if you see fresh stuff when you walk in, you'll want to buy more food. There are subtle design features built into almost every facet of day-to-day life that are specifically engineered to get you to think a certain way, behave a certain way, and buy more stuff. This might sound like the ravings of someone whose car is covered in conspiracy theory bumper stickers, but once you start to notice the patterns and the reasoning, you'll see it everywhere.This week Jack O'Brien and Jason Pargin (aka David Wong) discuss how supermarkets, car companies, local governments and more use mind control every day without you even realizing it.Footnotes:Magazine Covers With Obscured Wedding Rings:  http://goo.gl/NP4SVz Slate: "It Ain't Easy Being Green":  http://goo.gl/w6TdNN 5 Ways Stores Use Science To Trick You Into Buying Crap:  http://goo.gl/2Qz0O 8 Gadgets That Lie To You Every Day:  http://goo.gl/5H265 The 5 Most Hilariously Drug-Fueled Celebrity Interviews Ever:  https://goo.gl/hKv3pc Snopes: Instant Cake Mixes and Eggs:  http://goo.gl/Ima0d 5 Creepy Forms of Mind Control You're Exposed to Daily:  http://goo.gl/cx2Nr 5 Creepy Ways Your Town Is Designed to Control Your Mind:  http://goo.gl/4x6IL7 Vote for Cracked at the Webby Awards!Best Online Film & Video Entertainment Channel:  https://goo.gl/4v4ZrH Best Humor Website:  https://goo.gl/9bPgYE

On this special BONUS episode of The Cracked Podcast, we've got no mind-blowing views on social anthropology or insane fan-theories about how many Martys died for 'Back to the Future' to make sense. Instead of dissecting the movies this week, we thought we should go straight to the source and talk to directors themselves about how their films are inspired and made. Recorded in Austin, Jack O'Brien sits down with three filmmakers for intimate conversations about their respective SXSW premiere films. First, Jack musters up the courage to talk to one of his favorite directors, Jeff Nichols, about the Southern and Speilbergian influences in his new sci-fi film 'Midnight Special'. Jack is then joined by writer/director/actor Linas Phillips for a wide-ranging conversation about his film 'Rainbow Time', and how it truthfully depicts the mentally challenged, family, and sex. Finally, Jack, along with Cracked's Soren Bowie and Daniel O'Brien, sit down for a hilarious conversation with comedian/writer Henry Phillips about his movie 'And Punching the Clown' and how it farcically weaves together elements of his stand-up, his music and his real life. Buy tickets to our next live episode taping this Saturday, April 9th at 7pm at the UCB Sunset Theatre in Los Angeles:  https://goo.gl/VeEDmF

On this special BONUS episode of The Cracked Podcast, we've got no mind-blowing views on social anthropology or insane fan-theories about how many Martys died for 'Back to the Future' to make sense. Instead of dissecting the movies this week, we thought we should go straight to the source and talk to directors themselves about how their films are inspired and made. Recorded in Austin, Jack O'Brien sits down with three filmmakers for intimate conversations about their respective SXSW premiere films. First, Jack musters up the courage to talk to one of his favorite directors, Jeff Nichols, about the Southern and Speilbergian influences in his new sci-fi film 'Midnight Special'. Jack is then joined by writer/director/actor Linas Phillips for a wide-ranging conversation about his film 'Rainbow Time', and how it truthfully depicts the mentally challenged, family, and sex. Finally, Jack, along with Cracked's Soren Bowie and Daniel O'Brien, sit down for a hilarious conversation with comedian/writer Henry Phillips about his movie 'And Punching the Clown' and how it farcically weaves together elements of his stand-up, his music and his real life. Buy tickets to our next live episode taping this Saturday, April 9th at 7pm at the UCB Sunset Theatre in Los Angeles:  https://goo.gl/VeEDmF

In the grand scheme of human history, awareness of mental health issues is a relatively recent development. It wasn't even until the 60s and 70s that therapy, medication and other modern treatments became mainstream. Before that we would just throw people in the looney bin, give them electro-shock therapy or pull out all their teeth if they were schizophrenic or suffering from depression. So it goes without saying that there were multitudes of people throughout history who were suffering from autism, addiction, bipolar disorder, ADHD and so on who were never treated. Many of these people went on to do great things– sometimes because of and sometimes in spite of their mental conditions. They were our Beethovens, our Lincolns, our Jeffersons and our Einsteins. This week we're taking a look into the past and shining a light on the famous historical figures you may not know were suffering from major mental illnesses. Cracked editor-in-chief Jack O'Brien first speaks with Claudia Kalb, a medical and science journalist who literally wrote the book on the subject, about Abraham Lincoln, Andy Warhol, Marilyn Monroe and whether modern treatments are medicating away the next generation of greats like these. Jack then speaks with Cracked editor Robert Evans about how many of these diseases may have evolved and benefitted prehistoric society, and the surprising way Syphilis ties into all of this.Footnotes:Claudia Kalb's 'Andy Warhol Was a Hoarder':  http://goo.gl/ROcX2E 5 Insane Celebrity Conspiracies That Make Sense (#3 Thomas Jefferson Had Asperger's):   http://goo.gl/u2BwC Michel Foucault's 'Madness and Civilization':  https://goo.gl/AqBts4 Robert Sapolsky's Lecture on OCD and Religion:  https://goo.gl/UJl7So 'Eating Christmas in the Kalihari':  http://goo.gl/ZZAW5R Buy tickets to our next live episode taping on April 9th at 7pm at the UCB Sunset Theatre in Los Angeles:  https://goo.gl/VeEDmF

In the grand scheme of human history, awareness of mental health issues is a relatively recent development. It wasn't even until the 60s and 70s that therapy, medication and other modern treatments became mainstream. Before that we would just throw people in the looney bin, give them electro-shock therapy or pull out all their teeth if they were schizophrenic or suffering from depression. So it goes without saying that there were multitudes of people throughout history who were suffering from autism, addiction, bipolar disorder, ADHD and so on who were never treated. Many of these people went on to do great things– sometimes because of and sometimes in spite of their mental conditions. They were our Beethovens, our Lincolns, our Jeffersons and our Einsteins. This week we're taking a look into the past and shining a light on the famous historical figures you may not know were suffering from major mental illnesses. Cracked editor-in-chief Jack O'Brien first speaks with Claudia Kalb, a medical and science journalist who literally wrote the book on the subject, about Abraham Lincoln, Andy Warhol, Marilyn Monroe and whether modern treatments are medicating away the next generation of greats like these. Jack then speaks with Cracked editor Robert Evans about how many of these diseases may have evolved and benefitted prehistoric society, and the surprising way Syphilis ties into all of this.Footnotes:Claudia Kalb's 'Andy Warhol Was a Hoarder':  http://goo.gl/ROcX2E 5 Insane Celebrity Conspiracies That Make Sense (#3 Thomas Jefferson Had Asperger's):   http://goo.gl/u2BwC Michel Foucault's 'Madness and Civilization':  https://goo.gl/AqBts4 Robert Sapolsky's Lecture on OCD and Religion:  https://goo.gl/UJl7So 'Eating Christmas in the Kalihari':  http://goo.gl/ZZAW5R Buy tickets to our next live episode taping on April 9th at 7pm at the UCB Sunset Theatre in Los Angeles:  https://goo.gl/VeEDmF

We tend to think of the class system as money thing. Rich people are high-class, poor people are of a lower class, and those things can change with the purchase of a lottery ticket or one bad financial investment. But that common understanding of class in America is not really how things work.Think of how many lottery winners are bankrupt within years because they overspend on frivolous things that would seem impressive to their own class. That explains Donald Trump's rise to political power. He's basically the lower class idea of wealth: he owns golf courses and casinos, has his name on everything, and is obsessed with gold. To your Vanderbilts or Rockefellers, he's a clown, but to lower class people, his lifestyle is something to strive for.On this week's episode Jack O'Brien and Jason Pargin (aka David Wong) take a deep dive into how we perceive class in America, what most people get wrong about it, and the surprising ways class is confused with race.Footnotes:Siderea on Economic and Social Class in America:  http://goo.gl/tlmX4S Slate Star Codex's Entry Summarizing Siderea's Piece:  http://goo.gl/2eYdF6 Slate Star Codex: I Can Tolerate Anything Except the Outgroup: http://goo.gl/ZrwgcS The Atlantic's Review of 'Class: A Guide Through The American Status System':  http://goo.gl/G04Jzg Buy tickets to our next live episode taping on April 9th at 7pm at the UCB Sunset Theatre in Los Angeles:  https://goo.gl/VeEDmF

We tend to think of the class system as money thing. Rich people are high-class, poor people are of a lower class, and those things can change with the purchase of a lottery ticket or one bad financial investment. But that common understanding of class in America is not really how things work.Think of how many lottery winners are bankrupt within years because they overspend on frivolous things that would seem impressive to their own class. That explains Donald Trump's rise to political power. He's basically the lower class idea of wealth: he owns golf courses and casinos, has his name on everything, and is obsessed with gold. To your Vanderbilts or Rockefellers, he's a clown, but to lower class people, his lifestyle is something to strive for.On this week's episode Jack O'Brien and Jason Pargin (aka David Wong) take a deep dive into how we perceive class in America, what most people get wrong about it, and the surprising ways class is confused with race.Footnotes:Siderea on Economic and Social Class in America:  http://goo.gl/tlmX4S Slate Star Codex's Entry Summarizing Siderea's Piece:  http://goo.gl/2eYdF6 Slate Star Codex: I Can Tolerate Anything Except the Outgroup: http://goo.gl/ZrwgcS The Atlantic's Review of 'Class: A Guide Through The American Status System':  http://goo.gl/G04Jzg Buy tickets to our next live episode taping on April 9th at 7pm at the UCB Sunset Theatre in Los Angeles:  https://goo.gl/VeEDmF

Last week on the site, Daniel O'Brien told us why Pinocchio was a  secretly terrifying tale  about a monster-boy thrust into existence by a bumbling old man who probably shouldn't be anyone's legal guardian.  To become a real boy, he's expected to prove himself brave, truthful and unselfish. But he's like, 30 seconds old, how would he know anything about that? None of us have these virtues and we're not wooden little puppet-devils.Inspired by last week's video, Jack O'Brien, Daniel O'Brien and Soren Bowie sit down for a conversation about the ways children's entertainment was either secretly horrifying, or simply giving us awful life-lessons. They talk about how the Nickelodeon shows of the 90s led to a generation of depressed loners, JK Rowling's subtle misanthropy, how the early Disney princesses were awful representations of women, and how Winnie the Pooh set back how we deal with mental health.

Last week on the site, Daniel O'Brien told us why Pinocchio was a  secretly terrifying tale  about a monster-boy thrust into existence by a bumbling old man who probably shouldn't be anyone's legal guardian.  To become a real boy, he's expected to prove himself brave, truthful and unselfish. But he's like, 30 seconds old, how would he know anything about that? None of us have these virtues and we're not wooden little puppet-devils.Inspired by last week's video, Jack O'Brien, Daniel O'Brien and Soren Bowie sit down for a conversation about the ways children's entertainment was either secretly horrifying, or simply giving us awful life-lessons. They talk about how the Nickelodeon shows of the 90s led to a generation of depressed loners, JK Rowling's subtle misanthropy, how the early Disney princesses were awful representations of women, and how Winnie the Pooh set back how we deal with mental health.

Ever since we started letting friendly wolves and tiny tigers into our homes a few thousand years ago, society has been split into two camps: dog people and cat people. Sometimes the battle lines are drawn across gender lines; the term cat-lady evokes an image in your head in a way cat-man doesn't. We use the word dog to colloquialize a sly, rakish man. Often we choose sides purely based on what our parents allowed in the house when we were kids. But rarely we stop to consider all the crazy superpowers our pets have: like how dogs can read human emotions better than other humans can, and how a cat's purr can improve your bone density. Recorded live at the UCB Sunset Theatre in Los Angeles, Team Dog (Jack O'Brien, Dan O'Brien, Cody Johnston), Team Cat (Carmen Angelica, Jake Weisman) and Team Turtle (Alex Schmidt) go back and forth with rarely-known facts about the pets we keep at home to decide who is the ultimate victor in this war that has been waged for millennia. Team Cat will blow up the way you think about the gender binary, and we may decide after it all that the best pet to have is a pig.Footnotes:Proof that Cats Destroy the Ecosystem: http://goo.gl/6UB35 Cats' Purring Improves Bone Density: http://goo.gl/B4Dr0e Pigs Have Higher IQs than Dogs, Chimps: http://goo.gl/92xdEr Why Dogs Look at the Right Side of Your Face: http://goo.gl/VN3p3J Cat Owners More Likely to Have Advanced Degree: https://goo.gl/PirgYj Toxoplasma Gondii's Effect on Humans: http://goo.gl/Cg0TX5