Underunderstood

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Channel • 2 Shows

Society & Culture

Society & Culture

Updated Weekly
Society & Culture

Society & Culture

Updated Weekly

04/05/2023

MTV Cribs or MTV Fibs?

Billy shares a new (old) segment, we examine how real MTV Cribs was, and an important update about the missing broccoli game! Want to support the show? Become a patron at ⁠⁠⁠https://patreon.com/underunderstood⁠⁠⁠. Have a mystery? Email hello@underunderstood.com or leave a voicemail at 212-994-4882‬. Show notes: (02:56) MTV Cribs Inside Travis Barker's Surprisingly Tranquil Calabasas Abode (Architectural Digest) 'I'm Into Cadillacs' Travis Barker's Home & Car Collection (MTV on YouTube) I Just Found Out That "Cribs" On MTV Was Kinda Fake And I Feel So USED (Buzzfeed) MTV Cribs Ja Rule (YouTube) Lawyer: Ja Rule Innocent in Club Clash (E! Online) Tony Hawk, JoJo & Ryan Nyquist (MTV on YouTube) Redman's Staten Island 'De La Casa' (MTV on YouTube) Redman | Drink Champs (YouTube) Redman: MTV Tried to Get Me to Rent a House for "Cribs" (YouTube) (35:44) Broccoli Game Follow-up FirestarterMethod’s comment (Reddit) ハゲパラ Let’s 育毛 (Appget) ハゲパラ〜おっさんの毛栽培ゲーム〜【育成・放置】 (APKPure)

04/05/2023

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48 min
05/10/2023

Even If It's Fake, It's Real

Sometimes the truth is stranger than the hoax. Want to support the show? Become a patron at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://patreon.com/underunderstood⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Have a mystery? Email hello@underunderstood.com or leave a voicemail at 212-994-4882‬. Show notes: even if it's fake it's real (sippey.com) Street View Birth (Andy Wyeth) turning random internet drama into songs, part 2 (Twitter) Lubalin on TikTok Meet The Musician Turning Random Internet Drama Into TikTok Bops (Buzzfeed News)

05/10/2023

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33 min
11/26/2019

What Happened To the McFlurry?

McFlurries aren't what they used to be. Why did McDonald's stop stirring them? Show notes: 2:29 - McFlurry demo (YouTube) 6:40 - Adrianne's McFlurry 8:40 - Why Is the McFlurry Machine Down Again? (WSJ) 9:07 - Ice Check 10:10 - Are McFlurry's supposed to be mixed? (Reddit) 12:08 - On the Clock: What Low-Wage Work Did to Me and How It Drives America Insane 15:06 - Whatever Happened to Pizza at McDonald's? 19:55 - VitaMix VM0804A - McFlurry Ice Cream Mixer (Used) 23:51 - I Tried To Get A Flurried McFlurry And This Is What Happened (Buzzfeed) 27:51 - Log your McFlurry at The Flurry Index

11/26/2019

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30 min
05/18/2023

Big Ideas Lost to Mini Rooms

Hollywood is stockpiling scripts for full seasons of unreleased television shows. Are they throwing them out or saving them for a rainy day? Want to support the show? Become a patron at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://patreon.com/underunderstood⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Have a mystery? Email hello@underunderstood.com or leave a voicemail at 212-994-4882‬. Show notes: Why Are TV Writers So Miserable? (The New Yorker) Hollywood Writers Strike (Democracy Now!) Film and TV writers are striking (CNN) Writers strike focuses on whether AI could take jobs from screenwriters (CBS News) Writers On Set (George R. R. Martin’s Not A Blog) Alex O’Keefe (Linktree) The Bear (Hulu) 2023 Writers Guild Award for Comedy Series (YouTube) Reed Hastings on Colbert (YouTube) Amazon? HBO? Netflix thinks its real competitor is… sleep (CNBC) We Watched It All | Netflix (YouTube) Writers Are Not Keeping Up (wgacontract2023.org) Reed Hastings on Building a Streaming Empire (YouTube) Hollywoodstrike.org wgacontract2023.org

05/18/2023

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47 min
03/02/2021

How Cool Ranch Doritos Got Cooler

John pieces together the definitive timeline of when Cool Ranch Doritos became Cooler Ranch Doritos. If you like the show, support us on Patreon and get access to our bonus show, Overunderstood. Show notes: 01:19 – Mandela Effect on Snopes 01:31 – Doritos on Wikipedia 02:51 – Doritos' Long, Slow Descent Into Madness 05:07 – John's bag 14:57 – SNAC International 16:00 – Doritos Nacho Cheesier commerical 22:30 – taquitos.net 24:58 – Jeremy's Cooler Ranch review 29:50 – Woman Recreates Engagement Shoot With A Bag Of Doritos 35:00 – George Foreman Doritos commercial

03/02/2021

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44 min
03/29/2022

One More Thing… Deodorant

Billy investigates a theory that Apple products are packaged with a signature fragrance. Want to join us for "the world's largest trivia contest"? Visit https://underunderstood.com/trivia to sign up. Support Underunderstood and get our bonus podcast by joining our Patreon! Show notes: 02:00 – Kevin Purdy 02:10 – iFixit 02:22 – Carbon Switch 02:26 – ImportYeti 02:39 – #importyeti on TikTok 04:14 – Apple on ImportYeti 04:34 – GrandPerspective 09:50 – H.S. Code: 330720 Personal Deodorants - ImportYeti 11:50 – Does Apple intentionally make its products' packaging smell compelling? - Quora 15:23 – 90FM Trivia 15:40 – A video we worked on about the trivia contest 16:17 – Join our trivia team by signing up here! 18:20 – Joanna Stern 20:46 – Joanna tweeting about the new MacBook smell in in 2012 and 2014 21:28 – New Mac Candle - Twelve South (archive.org) 22:10 – New Mac Candle Hands-on - 9to5Mac 25:25 – Dave Applegate - LinkedIn 26:54 – Copy of Apple CSV file 27:36 – Google results for ASA Apple Inc. 29:32 – Similar data on Zauba 30:17 – How Do We Get This Data? - ImportYeti (YouTube) 31:48 – Apple Has Increased Use of Cargo Ships - MacRumors 33:00 – Items under code 330720 with "personal effects" in the description - Zauba 35:52 – Why do Apple stores all smell the way they do? - Quora 36:35 – What is a fact that you know about Apple products that most people don't know? - Quora 38:48 – Packaging PD team job listing - Apple 45:46 – Monkeys Spinning Monkeys by Kevin MacLeod

03/29/2022

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47 min
11/23/2021

Lou Pearlman Tried to Send a Boy Band to Space

These pop singers thought they were going to be the first band in space. What happened? Support the show and listen to over 50 episodes of our bonus podcast by joining our Patreon! Show notes: 02:50 – NASA on mission to planet pop (New Scientist) 04:57 – Put Your Arms Around Me (Natural/YouTube) 06:32 – I Love the USA (Weezer/YouTube) 11:45 – Steve Kipner 15:35 – Claire's press release 19:48 – Journalism about Lou Pearlman from The New Yorker, Tyler Gray, and Lance Bass Productions 25:29 – Veit Renn 35:27 – Danny O'Donoghue (Wikipedia) 40:25 – Columbia Disaster: What happened and what NASA learned 47:25 – Jon Fuller's website / Spotify / Apple Music

11/23/2021

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48 min
05/03/2023

The Other Masked Magician

John revisits a wild pitch about a mysterious television performer. Want to support the show? Become a patron at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://patreon.com/underunderstood⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Have a mystery? Email hello@underunderstood.com or leave a voicemail at 212-994-4882‬. Show notes: The first special (YouTube) 2002 thread on The Magic Cafe It's No Secret (Chicago Tribune, 1998) The unmasking (YouTube) The Masked Magician on Diagnosis Murder (YouTube) Virginia Magicians Sue Fox TV To Stop Revelation of Secrets (Washington Post, 1998) Street Magic Finally Revealed (YouTube) A trick from the fifth special (YouTube)

05/03/2023

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32 min
04/26/2023

What's the Deal With Airport Food?

There’s a formula that dictates restaurant prices in New York City airports. Adrianne digs into what does — and doesn’t — add up. Want to support the show? Become a patron at ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://patreon.com/underunderstood⁠⁠⁠⁠ Have a mystery? Email hello@underunderstood.com or leave a voicemail at 212-994-4882‬. Show notes: Cooper Lund's tweet Concessionaire Street Pricing Manual (PDF) The Cibo Express website Why Does a Plastic-Wrapped Turkey Sandwich Cost $15 at the Airport? (Hell Gate)

04/26/2023

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42 min
11/24/2020

Closing the Loop on China's Mystery Seeds

What ever happened with those mysterious seeds that were showing up in U.S. mailboxes? 00:33 - Michigan Department of Agriculture tweet 03:10 - USDA answers frequently asked questions about the mystery seeds, including “What should I do if I already planted the seeds?” 02:30 - Facebook post from the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development 03:52 - Invasive species are no joke!!!! 04:50 - As of this writing, Snopes said there was no motive determined for the seed shipments: Are Americans Receiving Unsolicited Mailings of Seeds from China? (Snopes) 09:32 - USDA still hasn’t found anything to cause major concern, but it has now identified more species and some viruses. This is an updated comment as of Nov. 18: “Altogether, we have identified approximately 460 taxa of seeds. We have detected 2 quarantine insect pests using x-ray and 28 Federal Noxious weeds based on identifications by APHIS botanists. We have also identified 6 quarantine significant viruses or viroids using molecular testing.” Also, here are some photos of U.S.D.A. investigating the seeds with microscopes. 14:29 - Jason Koebler and Emanuel Maiberg of Motherboard. The last story Underunderstood collaborated on with Motherboard was this one. 15:05 - Hundreds of Americans Planted 'Chinese Mystery Seeds' (Motherboard) 19:16 - Zack Franklin in action 22:44 - Amazon explains fulfilled by Amazon and a little bit about fulfilled by merchant. 30:55 - ”The mysterious seed is back! Shenzhen cross-border seller actually sends parcels here” (forum post) 31:31 - Moss’s website for Amazon sellers and Moss on Zhihu. 34:07 - Honest Buyers Club on Facebook is an example of one of these groups. Once you get involved, you’ll start to get one-on-one messages from sellers. To clarify, I (Adrianne) have never actually ordered anything, I just lurk and try to harass people into doing an interview (100% failure rate). I’m definitely not endorsing giving your address out to strangers on the internet, but I think these guys are mostly legit. So, maybe you could give them, like, a PO box? 36:06 - ”Evaluation blacklist” — a crowdsourced list of people who accept free gifts without providing the requisite review

11/24/2020

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43 min

03/18/2021 • SUBSCRIBERS ONLY

The Bunny Agreement

Something is amiss in the world of battery brand mascots.

03/18/2021

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33 min
03/11/2021 • SUBSCRIBERS ONLY

Hibernation and Sleep Paralysis

Regina finds a TikTok about hibernation.

03/11/2021

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35 min
04/15/2021 • SUBSCRIBERS ONLY

A Trivia Test-Run

Some sample questions to get us in the mood for this weekend's trivia contest!

04/15/2021

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37 min
04/08/2021 • SUBSCRIBERS ONLY

Censoring 6teen

Who dubbed over this episode of a mid-2000s cartoon?

04/08/2021

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28 min
03/25/2021 • SUBSCRIBERS ONLY

Piccolini Cuscino

What kind of pasta was Robert Pattinson talking about?

03/25/2021

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30 min
04/01/2021 • SUBSCRIBERS ONLY

The Burger King Kids Club’s Secret Member

What happened to Jazz?

04/01/2021

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32 min
02/25/2021 • SUBSCRIBERS ONLY

Webdriver Torso

John takes us back to 2014 to revisit a solved internet mystery.

02/25/2021

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32 min
02/11/2021 • SUBSCRIBERS ONLY

[Insert episode title here]

(*Regina, drop the episode description here)

02/11/2021

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36 min
12/24/2020 • SUBSCRIBERS ONLY

Xanadu/American Dream

A megamall in New Jersey took almost 18 years to open. When it did, it was missing one of the most unique aspects of the original plans.

12/24/2020

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48 min
02/18/2021 • SUBSCRIBERS ONLY

Media Cruises

A trip through media company-affiliated vacations.

02/18/2021

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42 min

The internet doesn't have all the answers. But that doesn't mean we can't find them.

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Underunderstood

Support the podcast, get the weekly bonus show

Top Shows

MTV Cribs or MTV Fibs?

Even If It's Fake, It's Real

What Happened To the McFlurry?

Big Ideas Lost to Mini Rooms

How Cool Ranch Doritos Got Cooler

One More Thing… Deodorant

Lou Pearlman Tried to Send a Boy Band to Space

The Other Masked Magician

What's the Deal With Airport Food?

Closing the Loop on China's Mystery Seeds

The Bunny Agreement

Hibernation and Sleep Paralysis

A Trivia Test-Run

Censoring 6teen

Piccolini Cuscino

The Burger King Kids Club’s Secret Member

Webdriver Torso

[Insert episode title here]

Xanadu/American Dream

Media Cruises

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Underunderstood

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