Secret Histories of Nerd Mysteries Maximum Fun
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- Sociedad y cultura
Two friends, Austin and Brenda, delve into the rich history of secret nerd mysteries near and dear to their hearts in their own loose, light-hearted way. If you've ever wondered "Why Saturday morning for cartoons?" or "How come Chuck E. Cheese cares so much about other people's birthdays?", this is the show for you!
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Michigan's Abandoned Jurassic Park: Prehistoric Forest
Irish Hills Michigan is nowadays mostly known for its lush forests, plentiful outdoor activities, and an abundance of Irish Americans, however, in the 60's, it had a booming tourism industry with many colorful and exciting attractions that drew in visitors from all over Michigan. One of these attractions was Prehistoric Forest, a theme park mostly known for its dozens of dinosaur statues made of fiberglass and styrofoam. When the park closed in 1999, the statues were all left to rot where they stood, but this would ultimately lead to Prehistoric Forest's second life as a dream location for urban explorers.
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The Lasting Legacy of "Wizardry"
What do "Delicious in Dungeon", "Final Fantasy", and "Dragon Quest" all have in common? They all owe their inspiration to one american DDOS computer game from the 80's, "Wizardry". While Wizardry has fallen into obscurity in its home country of the USA, in Japan, Wizardry would go on to inspire decades of fantasy works. But, how did this influential computer game even get made in a time before computer games were mainstream?
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The Folly of Cereal City USA
The Kellogg's company shut down their cereal factory tours in the 1980's, replacing it with a new, high tech indoor theme park experience called Cereal City USA in 1998. Located in Battle Creek, MI, Cereal City USA shared the story of Kellogg's and their cereal, but couldn't live up to lofty attendance projections, competition from other cereal based theme parks, and negative audience response to their fabricated factory tour.
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Rerun - Goosebumps
Brenda's on vacation this week, so we're here to present a slightly truncated version of one of our favorite episodes: episode 87, Goosebumps!
This week your host Brenda takes you on a deep dive into the history of the second highest selling children’s book franchises in history: Goosebumps, the brainchild of writer RL Stein. This episode features haunted masks, childhood traumas, lost media, and yes, another heated legal battle. Listener beware, you’re in for a scare! -
The Early Days of Adult Swim
It's hard to imagine a time without the wild experimental shows on Cartoon Networks infamous nighttime block, Adult Swim, but in the early 2000's, a couple cartoon network employees would take a chunk of the channel's advertising budget and get to work (potentially in a closet) on creating a subversive, modern take on adult animation that would unknowingly change the genre forever.
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The Tragic Fate of the Real Life Simpson's House
In 1997, Fox launched an advertising campaign for the Simpsons that involved giving away a real life recreation of the Simpsons house. However, building a fictional house in real life isn't as easy as it might seem, and this would be just the beginning of the project's troubles.