We unexpectedly had to take off from providing you with a full episode this week, so instead we're sharing this installment of After Dark! We discuss the popularity around the Stanley Quencher water bottle -- that thing is so big and ugly, yet people can't help but buy it. We use it's popularity to discuss brand loyalty, and the brands that we are hot and heavy for. Reminder: Stay hydrated! But maybe use a less ugly water bottle. Patrons and Apple Podcast subscribers have access to a new After Dark installment this week where Andrew and Pam answer questions from listeners about podcast drama ..read more

Welcome to #Millennial, the home of pretend adulting and real talk! In some airline news, the Justice Department is suing to stop the planned Jet Blue/Spirit Airlines merger, and multiple airlines are ditching fees charged for families trying to sit together. Seemingly inspired by Elon Musk's moves at Twitter, Meta will soon be offering "Meta Verified:" aka paying $15 a month for the coveted Blue Check. Why is the Blue Check so desirable for some? Are there any cases where wanting one is warranted? If everyone can pay a monthly fee to be verified, does being verified lose its meaning? It's ti ..read more

Welcome to #Millennial, the home of pretend adulting and real talk! We are joined this week by Christine Riccio and Natasha Polis from Those Forking Fangirls to discuss the significant uptick in interest (and sales) of literary romance and YA novels. Today's conversation was inspired by this NPR article:From meet-cutes to happy endings, romance readers feel the love as sales heat up.  Christine and Natasha help us dig in on the pipeline from Young Adult to Romance, how the genres somewhat overlap, and how the culture has shifted to make open enjoyment of the Romance genre more socially a ..read more

Welcome to #Millennial, the home of pretend adulting and real talk! After a few years of explosive growth, the podcast world seems to be cooling off. What does this mean for indie podcasters? As big corporations come to grips with the reality that podcasting isn't just an easy way to print money, layoffs, budget cuts, and canceled projects are making headlines. What do we look for in the podcasts we listen to as podcasters ourselves? If there's passion behind the project, it shows. Lucky Girl Syndrome is the new manifesting. Who knew when boomers were simping over 'The Secret' that the youths ..read more

Welcome to #Millennial, the home of pretend adulting and real talk! Happy Valentine's Day! The wine will be flowing this week! Just in time to prepare for your romantic activities around Love day, we're talking etiquette rules that we believe will help you avoid annoying friends and prospective romantic partners. See this article from The Cut for our inspiration to discuss etiquette rules. STFU and give your friends or partners a chance to talk, don't make splitting the bill so damn complicated, and strip the bed linens after staying at someone else's house! "You'll float too:" Forget Tiktok ..read more

This week's episode opens with discussion of a rising trend: More people are turning to dollar stores to shop for food because of the guaranteed low prices and accessibility. To help us discuss this movement, we're joined by Rebecca of @DollarTreeDinners on TikTok, who's gained nearly 700k followers in under a year thanks to her videos in which she shares how to make great meals using ingredients from Dollar Tree! We ask Rebecca what the common misconceptions are about dollar store shopping, how she plans her meal ideas, if keeping ingredients and meals healthy is possible at a low-cost store ..read more

Laura has an announcement: she has joined the ranks of Joe Biden, Mike Pence, and Donald Trump for having classified documents in her home. Who's next? Chat GPT, the new AI chatbot that has taken the internet by storm, is the subject of this week's show. Listen carefully -- some of what we say may be written by The Bots. Chat GPT can write letters, papers, and podcast dialogue when given specific requests. It can also answer everyday questions, convey emotion, write content, and even write code. Big tech has taken notice and some are reportedly shaking in their boots and in some cases even vy ..read more

Welcome to #Millennial, the home of pretend adulting and real talk! Should we have anxiety about the current egg shortage? "Classic" digital cameras are big with Gen Z - are we feeling old yet? Something about that classic, grainy, blurry look is appealing to the kids these days, UFO reports have skyrocketed since 2021 - are they legitimate? While we're hoping to have an expert on in the coming months to discuss aliens, we want to share our decidedly un-expert opinions: are aliens real, have they been to Earth, would the government even tell us, and would humanity band together against an ext ..read more

Welcome to #Millennial, the home of pretend adulting and real FIRE talk! Stoves are apparently a hot button (lol) issue, and President Biden continues coming under scrutiny for his classified documents faux pas. Do we believe everything we read in memoirs? Some details in Prince Harry's memoir "Spare" have been determined to be inaccurate. Since human memory is subject to flaws when recalling events, how much stock can we put in any memoir's ability to represent reality? Time to get nerdy: Pam and Laura cover an ongoing story in the Dungeons & Dragons community. Once again, corporations a ..read more

New year same us! Welcome to #Millennial the home of pretend adulting and real talk. Get ready for some new laws y'all: decriminalization of jaywalking and cannabis cafés potentially coming near you soon! During the holiday break House Republicans proved the 15th time is a charm, Brasil had its own January 6th, and Biden had his own classified documents snafu. 2023 is just *glowing* NEW ON PATREON! Executive Producer tier, which includes all other Patreon benefits in addition to joining us for episode planning meetings, a personalized thank-you video, and a dedicated space to pitch your ideas ..read more