SYMP Watch: Episode 88 – Podcast (Not-so) Confidential

B.S. Rating:

Josh wipes spit from his eye while Doug checks for it in his Pepsi

Listening intently. We were. Then, um…the, uh, sun…shine – no, it was a noise – yes, a noise…

Okay, so we were distracted by the wires and gizmos on the table, and Griff’s cool rip-off shirt, and the way Fields’ head shines in the lights, and why Jana has so many keys, and wondering if she has bigger arms than Matt, and if Andy were a girl, would he have a really deep man-laugh…

So, we might not have heard everything that was said on this attempt by the SYMP crew at podcasting greatness. We don’t have many notes. But perhaps that was because of the brevity of the show, rather than a breakdown of our observation.

(No, we have no soda machines near our TV to distract us.)

At just over 41 minutes, this episode was, by SYMP Standards, hasty. And yet, tasty.

In our virgin banana daquiri haze, we recollect hearing something about McGill being gone and Brazelton going and how Griffin is writing a book, and Andy once read a book, Jake didn’t pull his weight, and Josh dreams of Michael Phelps in his leg Speedos, and Jana used to dream about Matt…

But then that’s when we woke up and realized that Josh was leaving the room before the podcast was over, so perhaps we should send him prank emails that will end up on the floor of Doug’s car.

And so we might.

But – shh – don’t tell anyone.

SYMP Watch: Episode 87 – Sunk by the Dinghy

BS Rating:

Sarcasm is a tough thing for some people to handle. On the one hand, if done well, it can be very funny. But the essence of sarcasm is that it is communicating a deeper truth in an opposite way and, usually, there is some amount of hostility involved.

Those without a real sense of humor, or those that tend to be overly sensitive or insecure don’t usually like sarcasm. They tend to be more concerned with the underlying hostility than the communicated truth.

On the other hand, there are those that love sarcasm too much. This would be in the same way, we imagine, that someone could love bananas too much. Is that really possible? No, not really. But there are some people that love the humor of sarcasm too much, and they also forget the truth that is being transmitted.

That said, this episode was sarcasm-filled, from the opening box-bop by Jana to the closing bye-byes by the SYMP Four. Whether you like this episode will probably be largely dependent on how you respond to sarcasm.

Of course, we like it.

The Four Amigoes returned to the Purpose Driven Conference Room for Episode 87 in the series, feeling frisky and perhaps a little dinghy. (But we’ll leave that story for Josh to tell.) Armed with cell phones for Matt and Jana, an empty VitaWater for Josh, notes for Doug, a cup of ice to get McGill in trouble, a Snowball for everyone, and a punching box/Love Out Loud set for Sarti, Doug and the Paid-Less-Than-Andy Three flew through 50 minutes of podcast yumminess.

Did we say yumminess? Perhaps in a Kashi sort of way. When it was over, we all felt that, like Matt, we were left with copious amounts of air in our large colon. But satisfied.

Our favorite sound bites from this episode:

• Doug: (talking about Jake, to Jana) “He couldn’t fill your shoes.” (We’re assuming that either Jake has small feet, or Jana has duck-sized flippers.)
• Letter to the SYM gang: “to my four favorite people on a Monday morning”
• Matt (to “poor” Andy): “a shadow makes more than a substance” (Bitter, thy name is McGill)
• Doug (to Matt): “we know you don’t have a legitimate ministry”
• M&M (in a moment of profound clarity): “My attitude towards food is really mentally weak.” (AH! The emperor has no clothes!)
• Fields: “We used to be award-winning” (Don’t despair, Dougie. You’re still getting two banana slugs from us on this one.)
• McGill (describing the effect of denominations): “…innovation squeezed out of you, drop by drop.” (Which is why we declined the invitation to join the United Episcopal Freewill Monkeys of America.)
• McGill, again: “I decided I was being rude.” (And…?)

We could go on and on…much like this episode…but we’re behind again and must catch up…on our sleep…and monkey hygeine…

Episode 88 is right in front of us…