On this episode of SlumberPod, Neel Ghosh, Shaunak Godkhindi, and Danish Maqbool spiral through movies, nostalgia, travel, politics, internet culture, and late-night intrusive thoughts with the energy of guys who absolutely should not be recording past midnight. The episode opens with a deep dive into Letterboxd Top Fours, debating The Matrix, Spy Kids, Space Jam, The Talented Mr. Ripley, poker movies, and the concept of “one-day movies.” From there, the guys passionately revisit Robert Rodriguez’s Spy Kids era, practical effects, early-2000s gadgets, DVD drops at Target, and the lost art of McDonald’s toys—eventually concluding that when corporations start giving away socks, something is deeply wrong with America. The conversation drifts into Sean Baker’s early films, New York authenticity, delivery workers, and stories that unfold over a single day before turning toward travel: crying on airplanes, being brown in transit, post‑9/11 paranoia, deplaning etiquette, and the moral corruption caused by airport lounges. There’s love for Amtrak, train drinking, smoking stops in forgotten towns, and the simple joy of moving walkways. Later, the pod veers into politics-as-spectator-sport, mayoral excitement, Obama-era optimism, and imagining presidents as streamers—culminating in a fully unhinged Fortnite scenario featuring Obama, Bill Clinton, Ariana Grande, and Goku. The episode closes in a swirl of childhood nostalgia, Madden 04, Pokémon designs, bootleg graphic tees, and the feeling of being spiritually faded by the internet. It’s a loose, absurd, half‑philosophical episode about movies, masculinity, race, consumer decay, airports, trains, American decline, and why Spy Kids still kind of rules.
