Topic: Second Best Dessert!

Preheat the oven and gather your ingredients because we're talking desserts! Bobby channels his inner foodie, Ori sets up a crepe station and Sam should never be asked to bring something to a potluck.

Your hosts create the worse possible restaurant (on purpose) and also create the worst possible vacation resort (on accident). Bobby may or may not have seen a Bird fight club. Sam pulls the umbrage card early. Ori learns to reheat. Friend tip: don't rate your friends cooking.

Thanks to friend of the show Stephanie for this week's bracket racket challenge!

Show Links:

• Desserts That Travel
• Flan vs Creme Brulee

Galaxy Brain:

• Crepe vs Blintz
• Why Recipe Bloggers Write a Lot

Follow Up: Web | Twitter | Instagram

Topic: Second Best Group Dance Song!

Ok y'all I'm gonna need everyone out on the dance floor! Don't be shy, everyone get out here! No? No, okay. Alright.

Sam is all about the optics, Bobby is all about getting people off their asses, and Ori has some concerns about the Tootsie Roll. Your hosts briefly discuss their wedding food strategy. We're all concerned about a pile-up at the Bar Mitzvah. Easy dances and complicated dances, fun to watch and embarrassing to watch, it's all here as we discuss the second best group dance song.

Show Links:

• Boot Scootin' Boogie Official Video
• The Hokey Cokey!
• Rutger Hauer's Tears in Rain Speech

Galaxy Brain:

• Village People Tropes

Follow Us: Web | Twitter | Instagram

Topic: Second Best Movie Robot!

Ori goes on a road trip with a murderbot, Bobby has a singular purpose, and Sam gets fired up. Sassy robots, sexy robots, robots that ask questions about the nature of humanity. It's all here and more in this episode.

We try out a new segment, Bracket Racket, and it's a race against the clock. Your hosts finally address the elephant in the room and put on record our thoughts on individual vegetables.

Show Links:

• The Vision and the Ship of Theseus
• Ginger tries to get with a robot on Gilligan's Island. Really.
• America, specifically Philadelphia, decapitated the hitchhiking robot
• Robot Tropes in Films

Galaxy Brain:

• Fisher Stevens and his role in Short Circuit
• Aziz Ansari on Fisher Stevens and his role in Short Circuit

Follow Us: Web | Twitter | Instagram

Topic: Second Best Classic Mario Game!

Ori dodges detection to play on the family computer, Sam is a sleeper agent for a 1989 Fred Savage vehicle, and Bobby completes his prerequisites for Plumbing vocational school. Welcome to the Dream Factory! Heart Pounding Panic! fever dream.

Sam enjoys playing a game with Ori and Bobby aren't being team players, and we address feedback and corrections in great length. We jettison the bracket for this episode and try out a new format, tell us what you think!

Show Links:

• Tim and Geoff Follin
• Developer Interviews, including Shigeru Miyamoto, about Super Mario 64

Galaxy Brain:

• Endless loop: A brief history of chiptunes

Follow Us: Web | Twitter | Instagram

Topic: Second Best US National Holiday!

On this episode, ostensibly about US National Holidays, your hosts cover some serious ground - Birding, Donut Days, Grover Cleveland, Chicken Mike and Talladega Teddy, and eating the rich. New Years resolutions, laundering barbecue sauce, Jackie Gleason running for president, Staten Island Chuck and loving moms. Sam writes some executive orders, Bobby cosplays as Teddie Roosevelt, and Ori makes some compelling points.

Sam challenges Ori and Bobby to a game of lies and deception, and as always we address your feedback and corrections. Do you feel like Black Friday has lost all it's meaning?

Show Links:

• Famous Redwoods Y'all
• Cut for time, but an interesting (NSFW) tree phenomenon
• Black Eyes Peas on New Years Day

Galaxy Brain:

• Why we Labor Day
• Why we fail at New Years Resolutions
• Some great books by Native authors

Follow Us: Web | Twitter | Instagram

Topic: Second Best 90s Board Game!

Ori comes down with seasonal mall sadness, Bobby loves swiping that credit card, and don't get Sam started on co-op games. How many Mouse Trap game pieces can you lose and still be able to play? Dad's going to be mad when he steps on a Sorry! game piece in the hallway.

Your hosts consider some alternate versions of classic games. Theres problems in the cards for Bobby. Somehow we avoided avoiding the noid. Finally, join us in the time machine to buy some fossils and gems at the mall.

As always we address your feedback. Keep it coming!

Show Links:

• Magic the Gathering Arena
• The Crossfire Commercial
• The Broken Token
• Bobby's custom MTG cards!

Galaxy Brain:

• Mall Madness through the years
• How to win Clue without technically cheating

Follow Us: Web | Twitter | Instagram

Topic: Second Best Creepy Brand Mascots!

Your hosts wrap up spooky month with survey of capitalism's most unhinged mascots. Ori takes apart a peanut, Bobby is menaced by the Duke of Doubt and the Wizard of Fries, and Sam finds out what a double-reverse Mrs Doubtfire would be. The boys see the appeal of Mr Clean. How long can you listen to Mack the Knife before you choose Option B.

Who's showing up to a peanut's funeral and what are their intentions? Finally, your hosts go deep on a celestial being who loves piano jazz. It's almost too sinister to consider.

Show Links:

• Mack The Knife by Bobby Darin
• Michelin Man
• Mr Peanut
• Jolly Green Giant
• Mr Clean
• The Burger King
• Mr Six
• Mac Tonight
• Sprite Boy

Galaxy Brain:

• A Review of Sneak King, the Burger King game

Follow Us: Web | Twitter | Instagram

Topic: Second Best Cryptid!

This week your hosts attempt to settle several mysteries as we continue our dive into spooky month. Why are Bobby and Sam terrified of lil things? What does Ori have against bloodthirsty koalas? What goes into a second best last name? Hop on Nessie and join us as we decide the second best Cryptid!

Mothman is just trying to help and nobody will listen. Your hosts try their best to fill in Slenderman's backstory. Bobby defends the mob (only for a moment), Ori suspects foul play in the bracket, and Sam tells a tale of horror in South Jersey!

Ori tests Sam and Bobby's knowledge of obscure and important comic book characters, and dear listener I'm not sure we'll ever look at ice cream the same.

And as always we consider your feedback and corrections. Keep it coming!

Show Links:

• John Goodenough describes the beast
• The worst photo of the Jersey Devil ever

Galaxy Brain:

• Some very very local cryptids

Follow Us: Web | Twitter | Instagram

Topic: Second Best Horror Movie Villain!

It's October! Bobby contemplates the xenomorph, Ori talks to a goat that is Satan or Satan-adjacent, and Sam wants nothing to do with this. Let's get spooky and fight some monsters as we decide the second best horror movie villain!

Freddy Krueger as a person is super messed up. If Jason Voorhees can go to space, then you can believe in yourself. Dear listener if you find yourself in the fog of war with a leprechaun or a possessed doll, you keep them in your sightline.

Kermit mourns the loss of gonzo's chickens. Wouldst thou like to live deliciously?

Show Links:

• Children of the Corn 4: The Gathering
• Anatomy of a Xenomorph
• Chestburster in Spaceballs

Galaxy Brain:

• Leprechaun vs Chucky

Follow Us: Web | Twitter | Instagram

Topic: Second Best Movie-Song Tie-In!

In this episode, Celine floors it and your hosts are along for the ride. You won't want to miss a thing as we decide the second best movie-song tie-in!

Ori brought receipts, Bobby laments what could have been for the ninja turtles, and Sam is assaulted by a simple question: who's Johnny? We are once again haunted by Ben Affleck. Rod Stewart asks for separate checks.

Their highnesses Prince and Queens won't be told what to do and we're all thankful for it.

Show Links:

• Episode playlist on Spotify
• Episode playlist on Apple Music
• Youtube Playlist of all these videos

Galaxy Brain:

• Will Smith and Biz Markie in MIB 2
• The Number Ones: Batdance

Follow Us: Web | Twitter | Instagram