Bad Philosophy

Episode 112: Titles Don’t Really Matter

StephenTorrence — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 21:52:07 +0000

In fact, nothing does. Screw life. Screw death! Screw anyone and everyone you’ve ever cared about, including your precious self.

…

It’s hard not to come away from the movie Synecdoche: New York without similar feelings (or simply a lack of feeling whatsoever). Recently Kevin and I delved into this systematic deconstruction of reality, life, death, itself, people, relationships, identity, and well… pretty much everything. We spent a mere hour trying to make sense of it, which felt entirely inadequate and is, apparently, far less than some others have. If you haven’t seen the film, this episode will make far less sense than it already does even if you have. Listen, if you dare, as I try feebly to grasp any semblance of understanding about it, and Kevin unrelentingly questions whether such a grasp is even possible. F************K…

This Week’s Post-show Song Pimpage: “Dream is Collapsing” from Inception by Hans Zimmer

Episode 111: Gingercide

StephenTorrence — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 17:13:14 +0000

Every New Year’s on BF, we take a look back and see what the last 365-ish days have actually brought us. This year we’re varying it up a little bit thanks to my laziness. We decided post our 2011 prediction follow-ups as an upcoming blog post and spend the entirety of this AWESOME episode looking forward into 2012 with one of our best panels ever. Kevin Saunders cruised in over Skype, Dr. Mark Webb from Texas Tech signed on just in time, and my good friends Jacie Hood and Simon Ponder (who’s now published!) joined me in person to share our non-apocalypse predictions over some tasty beer. So put on your best day-glo, grab your cup of wine back from Jeff Goldblum, and minimize your instance of Avernum, it’s BF time!

This Week’s Post-Show Song Pimpage: “What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?” performed by Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Episode 110: Good Enough

StephenTorrence — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 14:28:02 +0000

It’s often been stated that video games, with their freedom to act without consequence, fly in the face of morality and teach our children to become cold-blooded murderers. The reality is far more subtle, with many modern video games integrating moral choices (in both a consequential and deontological sense) that shape the gameplay in a significant fashion. This episode we discuss a couple of recent RPGs, BioWare’s Star Wars: The Old Republic and Bethesda’s Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim with gaming review guru Britton Peele, BF stalwart Kevin Saunders, Level 90 Death Knight Kiki Canon, and the man with the worst taste in YouTube videos ever, Simon Ponder. So don your favorite dress, grab your… weapon, and try to avoid the Force zombies and witches on your way to the Spinagogue, it’s BF time!

This Week’s Post-show Song Pimpage: “Star Wars Chanukah Song” by The Fump

Episode 109: A Heifer Wheezin

StephenTorrence — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 02:26:11 +0000

We Bad Philosophers have a particular affinity for a certain sitcom called Community. This highly experimental, genre-busting adventure was recently put on hiatus by NBC, much to the chagrin of the fan base. So, as we always do in anticipation of great shows going the way of the Dodo, we decided to convene and discuss what we love about this show and where it fits in the context of modern television. Kevin joined me to offer his more in-tune perspective on the industry and blow my mind in a couple of unexpected ways. Do you know where your pen is? It’s BF time!

Audio:

Episode 108: The Ultimate Egotist

StephenTorrence — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 06:11:00 +0000

People change. Recently I made a video about how I’d like to change my approach to YouTube rather significantly. In hindsight, it’s one of the most egotistical videos I’ve ever made, and Kevin had no hesitation telling me this. He and Jacie Hood joined me to discuss and critique my latest endeavor, the changing nature of my ASL fame, and the YouTube community in general. Have a listen…

This Week’s Post-show Song Pimpage: “Stache” by Jonathan Coulton

Questions Answered in This Week’s FormSqueeze:

Best subject?

Descrates?

Rude kids? Give ‘em the Face!

Episode 107: Killer Hipstinct

StephenTorrence — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 04:38:38 +0000

Have you ever found yourself uttering anything like the following phrases? “Oh, I was totally into that band before they sold out” or “Forget polyester, tweed is where it’s at” or maybe “Gosh, I wish they’d bring back the phonograph cylinder; vinyl is so mainstream.” Well, I have some good news, my hipster friend — we recorded an episode just for you! On my first visit to Texas Tech University in over a year, I managed to rally some old stalwarts to tackle this topic: Shawn Brackett (of synesthesia fame), Matt Legler (who I swear will get carded at bars until he’s 40), and Bryan Mitchell (that guy who wore hats and wasn’t Kevin but now doesn’t wear hats anymore). Load this MP3 onto your iRiver H10 before your friends do, it’s BF time!

This Week’s Post-show Song Pimpage: “Too Soon” by Hey Ocean!

Question Answers in This Week’s Formsqueeze:

Babies?

Episode 106: Accident Alley

StephenTorrence — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 01:15:10 +0000

Chances are that even despite these rough economic times, you’ve probably got a job at the moment. But have you ever asked yourself why you work so hard to perpetuate the capitalist construct, condemning yourself and a significant portion of your hapless peers to a lifetime of wage slavery? This episode Kevin and I brainstormed some paradigm-shifting theories on the subject during our downtime. It was one of the most productive BF’s ever, IMHO ASAP… FYI.

No video this week, even though we did go live with it. I um… forgot to press the ‘record’ button.

This Week’s Post-show ‘Song’ Pimpage: “Chris Rock: Job vs. Career“

Episode 105: Down With the WORMHELPs!

StephenTorrence — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 04:36:59 +0000

Protesting is one of those most righteous and time-honored of human activities. Something about the simple act of getting angry, going somewhere, and shouting pithy phrases repeatedly with a group of people all holding signs appeals to our deep inner psyche. Is it the adrenaline rush of potentially getting busted by the authorities? Is it the sense of common purpose and participation in meaningful change? Is it the attention you get for doing all of the above? The world may never know.

In the mean time, you’ve got us to help you make even less sense of it all! This episode Kiki, Kevin, and I explored the Occupy X protests that are currently sweeping the disgruntled hipster communities in cities worldwide… oh, and that Wall Street thing too. Kevin even busted out his brand new plan for fixing our election system! Hint: if you hated the SAT, you’re gonna LOVE it. So grab your giant Sharpee, meet us in front of city hall, and prepare to get real cozy with the 99%, it’s BF time!

Audio:

Video:

Watch live streaming video from badphilosophy at livestream.com

This Week’s Post-Show Song Pimpage:

“Chimpanzee Riding On A Segway” (via YouTube)

Questions Answered in This Week’s Formsqueeze:

Why do people sing in the shower?

Ideal man/woman?

Secret crush?

Is there an animal heaven?

Episode 104: Thinking Different

StephenTorrence — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 23:11:48 +0000

The human race lost one of its finest this past Wednesday, as Steve Jobs passed away at the age of 56. All of us here at BF had opinions to share on the man in the black turtleneck, so Kevin, Jed, Simon, Kiki and I gathered together for our first live-streamed episode in quite some time. Glorify or vilify him, but Steve changed things. I’ve created every single episode of Bad Philosophy on a Mac using GarageBand, tools that never would have existed but for him and his passionate view of the future. We’re gonna miss him, but we’re also going to take inspiration from his drive to revitalize the show.

Part of that revitalization? We’re back LIVE streaming, baby! You can now watch us and chat with us live on the Interwebs again at our official Livestream page once a week. We’re still nailing down the exact schedule, so keep an eye on that page and our twitter stream for updates. In the meantime, you can watch this week’s episode from the archive below.

Audio:

Video:

This Week’s Post-show Song Pimpage: “The Times They Are A-Changin” by Bob Dylan

Episode 103: yhposolihP sdrawkcaB

StephenTorrence — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 22:14:58 +0000

Questions Answered in This Week’s FormSqueeze:

Who is your favorite YouTuber?

Do you guys believe in love?

Picturing people naked?

This Week’s Post-show Song Pimpage: “Artificial Heart” by Jonathan Coulton (reversed)

Reverse your expectations, everyone! It’s BF time. Hate to spoil it for you, but Kevin is officially a published scholar. This week we gathered to join with Kiki and discuss some good ol’ equivocation of the religious variety. Apparently having little more than a cross or uttering the world “Jesus” in your film automatically makes it Christian. Who’d have guessed? We certainly didn’t! It’s a backwards kind of world out there y’all, but in here, it’s all your glorious BF.

Episode 102: A.I. Troopers

StephenTorrence — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 03:44:08 +0000

For the last century or so, we have had a healthy little obsession with replicating the human ability to reason using machines. We here at BF are happy to announce that these efforts have finally brought us the holy grail of artificial intelligence: robot radio DJs! That’s right, now you can enjoy all your favorite radio banter distilled down to its bare, Cleverbot-on-Cleverbot essentials. This episode Kevin, Simon, Kiki and I put our connectomes together to discuss Stanford’s free A.I. class and marvel at the sheer 90′s gloriousness of VR Troopers. Let’s hope Watson adds some rabbit trails to its thought routines, ’cause we’re pretty sure he’ll be our guest someday. Until then, it’s BF time!

This Week’s Post-show Song Pimpage: “VR Troopers Intro” (via YouTube)

Episode 101: Senile Felines 101

StephenTorrence — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 04:01:21 +0000

Aging can be a trying process. One day you’re romping around the yard as a little kid. Then you wake up and you’re thirty. Of course lots of fun stuff happens in between, but you get the idea. Our good friend Kiki recently passed this milestone, so she and I got together with Bess and Katey (the former of whom you might remember from an episode many moons ago) to celebrate three decades of her existence with some hardcore anglophilia. Kevin even stopped by at the end to lend his answers to our FormSqueeze. So stock up for your next hurricane party, grab a bowl of sea plankton, and enjoy the stab-tastic new lead-in sequence, it’s BF time!

This Week’s Post-show Song Pimpage: “Bob” by Weird Al Yankovic

Questions answered in this week’s FormSqueeze:

Why do strippers exist?

What is the difference between an orange?

Hell: endothermic or exothermic?

Clone sex + time travel?

Episode 100: Three. Hundred!

StephenTorrence — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 15:03:16 +0000

Every once in a blue moon, the stars align, the burritos are just *that* good, and the right people end up coming together somewhat consistently over a three-year period to make something truly special. Such it has been for the last one-hundred (or so) episodes of Bad Philosophy. Ever since that fateful evening at a Freebird’s in Lubbock, Texas, we have laughed, debated, and philosophized down so many rabbit trails with so many wonderful people that it truly blows my mind.

To celebrate Episode 100, we managed to gather the *original* squad of Bad Philosophers who were there at the beginning. Kevin and I trotted down to our local Freebird’s to join Matt Legler via Skype and David Ronderos via Google Chat (!) for a little continuation of our free speech discussion from all those years ago, reignited by the recent BART protests and censorship. Not only this, thanks to Kevin’s quick thinking we managed to record enough episodes to have Episode 100 record on EXACTLY the three-year anniversary of Episode Zero! How’s that for manufactured serendipity? I hope you’d expect nothing less from us after so long.

What was your favorite moment from the last 100 episodes of BF? Let us know in the comments!

This Week’s (Retro) Post-show Song Pimpage: “Pick Up” by Bonobo

Episode 099: Snarktacular

StephenTorrence — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 02:54:45 +0000

99 episodes of BF on the wall, 99 ep-i-sodes… Come on, sing it with me! We made it, people! Well… almost. For this last episode we decided to go TOTALLY RANDOM. Unencumbered by topicality and full of snark, Kiki, Kevin, and I had what might be the first all-rabbit-trail BF in a long time. There’s nothing on this whole cubic Earth that can stop us from hitting the century mark now. We’d invite you to drink 99 beers to celebrate, but alcohol poisoning is a dangerous lady with whom to flirt. Listen responsibly!

This Week’s Post-show Song Pimpage: “Jockey Full of Bourbon” by Moxy Fruvous

Randomlist:

“Analysis Crimes”

“Bogs Network”

“Crash Test Dummies Incorporated”

“Cutting Edge Holidays”

“Murder Helmets”

“New Age Kidnappers”

“University Nudes”

“Stripper Portals”

“Wild Labor”

“Pavilion Lolita”

“Trade Economies”

“Online Enforcement”

“Burn Down Companions”

“Pistons World”

“Humiliation Buddies”

“Railing Platform”

“Satellite Barn”

“Exciting Patios”

“Incorporated Paradise”

“Saggy Desserts”

“Illegal Wenches”

“Tests Etc.”

“Suck Killers”

“Mrs. Pearl Necklace”

“Ramps For Less”

“Drunk Transvestite”

“Arousing Road”

“Mexican Smash”

“Intensity Payoffs”

“Gun Nudists”

Episode 098: Eticat

StephenTorrence — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 15:14:29 +0000

When was the last time you held a door open for a stranger? Refrained from shaking hands with someone while you were sick? Cringed at dipping from that bleu cheese sauce your friend just dipped in after taking a bite from his chicken strip? Likely you don’t remember specific instances. Etiquette is just a part of what you do. But is there a deeper structure to the actions we take in the name of etiquette? Could there be a science to determine the ideal model for human interaction? In a recent article for Charlie’s Diary, Karl Schroeder poses this question and offers some interesting thoughts on how we might “re-wild etiquette.” Too tempting a topic to pass up, we decided to get the band back together, having Kevin Saunders, Eric Beutlich, and I all in the same place for the first time in years! Magic, beer, and some fresh baked cookies definitely went down. So grab your salad fork, put on your Sunday best, and prepare for some good ol’ fashioned BF! Have a listen…

This Week’s Post-show Song Pimpage: “Etiquette Song” by the Animaniacs

Question(s) Answered in This Week’s FormSqueeze:

Can you copyright the copyright sign?

Episode 097: Ewww!

StephenTorrence — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 04:48:15 +0000

Take a moment to picture something that truly, deeply disgusts you; that photo in the lobby of your doctor’s office, rubbing felt the wrong direction, your own face in the mirror every morning… y’know, that sorta stuff. As it turns out, people get disgusted by relatively similar things, at least according to a couple of researchers with an endless supply of eager survey victims and carte blanche from the IRB. This episode Julie Meadows made her triumphant return to the show alongside myself and Kevin. It was a pretty rank B-isode, but we did manage to throw in some zombies, Star Trek, and a completely unnecessary film adaptation of a decent board game. So grab a barf bag and check yourself for hagfish, it’s BF time!

This Episodes’s Post-show Song Pimpage: “Fish Heads” by Barnes & Barnes

Questions answered in this episode’s FormSqueeze:

Intro song? Technological civilizations?

The power of names?

What is the meaning of life?

Do people have free will?

If you were a pirate, what would your name be?

Episode 096: Bestial Anarchy

StephenTorrence — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 05:05:46 +0000

Ever get the urge to just go out with a few friends and completely wreck your entire neighborhood, steal some crap, and set it all on fire when you’re done? No? Congratulations! You may not be among the 11,000 feral, uneducated, illiterate, uncultured under-citizens of the U.K. who took part in the country’s worst riots in years this past week. Max Hastings still hates you though. So why did this happen anyway? Kevin and I threw in our 2 pence this episode with a few ideas. I also got to dust off my British accent for a dramatic reading of some classically classist bigotry. Tally ho, chaps! Have a listen…

This Week’s Post-Show Song Pimpage: “Anarchy in the U.K.” by The Sex Pistols

Episode 095: Con Artists

StephenTorrence — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 06:10:18 +0000

Conventions! In the geek world the idea of them is synonymous with sleepless nights, smelly hallways, and unforgettable times with friends and strangers. Recently a few of us got to experience such an adventure, Kevin Saunders at San Diego Comic Con and me, Britton Peele (of the Dallas Morning News), and Tim Poon (of Platform Nation) at QuakeCon in Dallas, Texas. We all had our fair share of awful thespians and awesome new releases. So get your Waldo costume ready, put a hamster on your piano, and jump on a pig, you monkey! It’s BF time…

Episode 094: Justice on Trial

StephenTorrence — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 03:17:07 +0000

To quote a tired but relevant saying, we like to believe that “our courts are the great levelers.” They exist to ensure that criminals be punished, that the innocent are heard, that justice be done for one and all. But every once in a while someone goes through our courts and gets away with murder. Yep, I’m referring to Casey Anthony of course. Why did this happen? And what light can it shed on the nature of law? Into this raging flame war we ventured this week, brave souls Matt Legler and newcomer Carson Cummings boldly throwing in their 2 cents. Serial killers? We got ‘em. Meth chefs? Them too. Tuxspeedos? Um… listen to find out!

This Week’s Post-show Song Pimpage: “Pink Houses” by John Mellencamp

Questions Answered in This Week’s FormSqueeze:

Post-show Music Selection

Epistemology Paradox

Hypothetical Question

Episode 093: Ironically Undignified

StephenTorrence — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 00:35:46 +0000

Picture this. You’re at a swingin’ house party, it’s 1 AM, and you are royally plastered. A witty, well-styled person ambles up and you two have a fantastic conversation. As the person walks away, you realize you have no clue as to the person’s gender or name. In a drunken haze that miraculously still leaves you conscious of controversial linguistic etiquette, you calmly turn to your nearest fellow party-goer and ask, “Excuse me, do you happen to know eirs name? E and I had a wonderful talk but I never got it.” Presuming this partygoer clearly understood your drunk ass over the Arcade Fire blaring through the smokey darkness, you just avoided an awkward social misstep through the cunning use of the Spivak pronoun. Congratulations!

This week we delve into the philosophy and linguistics of gender-neutral pronouns, with all (or most) of the social and political baggage that entails. Here to weigh in on the subject were BF veterans Matt Legler and Kevin Saunders alongside resident linguist Kiki Canon. So whether you believe that the moon is a flaming homosexual guy, that kids should be raised without others knowing eir sex, or that ICQ was the greatest means of communication the human race will ever invent, dust off that copy of Dreamsnake and come aboard for our trip into the gender-neutral wild…

This Week’s Post-show Song Pimpage: “Talkin Gender Neutral Blues” by Kristin Lems

Question Answered in This Week’s Formsqueeze: Best/Worst shows currently on TV?

Episode 092: LulzSec Flamebait

StephenTorrence — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 03:43:10 +0000

Since the dawn of computer networks, there have been those who push past the permissions, the boundaries, and the firewalls to penetrate deep within the forbidden corners of cyberspace. Recently, a group of these hackers calling themselves LulzSec has taken it upon themselves to bring some highly public meme-infused humor back into this practice. They’ve hacked Sony, PBS, the FBI, and most recently Bethesda, releasing internal server information, network maps, and many thousands of usernames, email addresses, and passwords in the name of exposing these companies’ poor security. But should we praise or prosecute these pirates of the pr0ntubes? Kevin and I tackle this and other cyber-morality questions in our latest episode. So grab your top hat and set sail for fail, it’s BF time!

This Week’s Post-show Song Pimpage: “Secrets from the Future” by MC Frontalot

Questions Answers in This Week’s Formsqueeze:

Governmental Artificial Intelligences

Episode 091: The Book of Wire

StephenTorrence — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 14:19:56 +0000

Theatre Alert! Trey Parker and Matt Stone (of South Park infamy) recently launched a Broadway musical that’s getting the exact opposite flavor of attention their work usually garners. Praise is sweeping across the play from all directions. However, we love our dirt here at BF, so in this episode we explored the ‘dark’ side of this happy-go-lucky romp into postcolonial issues. Here to explore this subject with us IN PERSON were BF mainstay Kevin Saunders and newly minted doctoral student Amy Guenther. So put on your best proselytizing tie and come with us through the war-torn race issues of Uganda all the way to the war-torn race issues of Baltimore and back again.

This Week’s Post-show Song Pimpage: “Way Down in the Hole” by The Neville Brothers

Questions Answered in this Week’s Formsqueeze:

Latin American Countries, Explaining Sound

We Have a Wiki!

StephenTorrence — Thu, 19 May 2011 03:14:07 +0000

Attention, everyone! After careful deliberation over a leftover half-sub from Firehouse, I decided last night to buckle up and install MediaWiki on our server. That means we’ve now got a full-fledged, Wikipedia-style wiki right here just for our use. We invite you to use this wiki to help us create an ongoing catalog of information on the show, its people, its history, and much more. Adding this wiki is a logical move for the show, and honestly should have been done much sooner. We’ve long needed a platform for things like detailed show notes, crowd-sourced episode transcriptions, and in-depth etymologies for the many BF-isms.

Be warned though, not all the functionality you know and love from Wikipedia is quite ready to go yet. I’m still in the process of figuring out the whole infrastructure of MediaWiki pretty much from scratch. It’s all well-documented but… frak if there isn’t a crap-load of documentation to slog through. That’s why in addition to asking for your help in adding first-order content to the wiki on any and all topics BF, I’m requesting some help with the second-order structure and construction of the site. These include things like porting Wikipedia functionality, designing and implementing templates for episode show note pages, and so forth. If you’ve got chops in this arena, please shoot me an email and we’ll see about getting you some extra permissions.

For those of you who’d like to avoid the gobbledeegook code and just do some good old-fashioned content writing, head on over to the link below and get yourself registered. This is your chance to make a lasting and meaningful contribution to the show. I mean, we’ll still accept your money. We’re not that crazy. We’re just all about giving you the means to build something with us and with your fellow fans. We think that’s really special, and we’re excited to see what you decide to create, highlight, and expand upon. (I suggest starting with a list of Kevin-isms. The world needs to know!)

Knock yourselves out:

Enter the Official BFWiki

Episode 090: Squeezetravaganza

StephenTorrence — Tue, 17 May 2011 04:47:46 +0000

So in case you hadn’t heard, a few weeks ago we shot some guy in the eye and dumped him in the ocean, then cheered exuberantly about it for a few days. With this hefty moral conundrum we began our first ever all-Formsqueeze episode, answering a slew of YOUR questions from our Formspring account.We covered everything from Bin Laden to root beer, episode transcription to Oreo cookie innovations, and sci-fi TV to overindulgent restaurants. Yes, we’ve got answers GALORE, and we hope you enjoy them. After all that answering we could use a re-up though, so hit up that little white box on the right and submit your question(s) today!

This Week’s Post-show Song Pimpage: “Blowin’ in the Wind” (Punk Cover) by Me First and Gimme Gimmes

Episode 089: You Asked For It

StephenTorrence — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 17:43:10 +0000

At any given moment thousands of people around the world are praying (and since it’s Easter today you can probably tack a few more zeroes onto that estimate). Whether it’s praying for the destruction of sinful local businesses or just a little tsunami from God to show the world He’s still awake at the control board, people pray for stuff constantly. But there are a few philosophical problems with this practice, beyond the fact that it feels really, really good for some reason. Here to take us through these conundrums are the venerable Dr. Mark Webb from good ol’ Texas Tech University, alongside the indomitable Kiki Canon. Careful what you pray for! Have a listen…

This Week’s Post-show Song Pimpage: “Gambler’s Prayer” by Jonathan Coulton

Episode 088: Some People Talking About Bitcoin

StephenTorrence — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 21:55:59 +0000

Do you like money? Sure! Have you ever asked yourself why money is valuable? Maybe. Perhaps you’ve even asked yourself how you could make money better. Well, a few years ago a guy named Satoshi Nakamoto did that and more. He invented Bitcoin, the peer-to-peer digital currency that’s taking the Interwebs by storm. Here to discuss the economics and philosophy of value surrounding this revolutionary concept were BF regulars (or irregulars?) Kevin Saunders and Kiki Canon. We were also blessed to have Washington D.C. native and contact improvisation dancer Darrell Duane of BitcoinBonus and BitcoinCambio as our very special guest. So hop in the back seat, set your miners to Generate and come join us on a journey through cyberpunk economics, cryptographic currency, and squeeze-tastic sexual pairings. We so excited to have you along for the ride!

BONUS: Donate to BF using Bitcoin! Direct your donations to 14Lua9coLL5pEDfyMmeU8dRPT5uQSBTTs9

This Week’s Post-Show Song Pimpage: “Friday by Rebecca Black” Cover by Matt Mulholland

Episode 087: So Long, And Thanks for All the Wine (Coming Soon!)

StephenTorrence — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 14:44:43 +0000

(Coming Soon!)

(Due to some technical setbacks, we won’t be able to bring you our SXSW episode until after Episode 088. You can complain all you want, but them’s the facts right thar.)

Episode 086: Reeks of Humanity

StephenTorrence — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 15:52:57 +0000

In case you haven’t heard, Charlie Sheen has been #WINNING lately. Or so he claims, at least. For some people, “winning” is banging 7-gram rocks with porn stars in a hotel room. For others, it’s resurrecting an ancient brand with crazy new products through the power of pop music. For us on BF, it’s getting to talk about all of this while eating copious numbers of jelly babies. Kiki, Simon, and Kevin join me this episode to live the Sheen dream. So strap into your F-18, set your gear to GO, and prepare to get your face melted off… it’s BF time!

This Week’s Post-show Song Pimpage: “Songify This / Winning” by The Gregory Brothers

Episode 085: Three Long Pigs

StephenTorrence — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 03:55:53 +0000

Imagine yourself stuck in a mine. It’s just you and two other people, and the food runs out. One of the others pulls you aside and suggests the unthinkable. You’re mortified… but that third survivor’s thighs look as tasty as a 50-piece Nugget Meal from McDonald’s. What do you do? The prospect of cannibalism continues to fascinate humanity, and we here at BF are no exception. This episode Kiki, Kevin, and I dive deep into this forbidden dish and explore our boundaries on the issue. Where a couple of us draw the line may surprise you! So put on your best chain mail, grab some tasty insect munchies, and bring down that bottle of your best BBQ sauce, it’s time for BF…

This Week’s Post-show Song Pimpage: “Timothy” by The Buoys

Episode 084: Safe for Work

StephenTorrence — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 15:56:30 +0000

Ever get the feeling that society is holding you back? Like a ball and chain are just wrapped around your ankles, and if you could only break free and be your own person, the world would miraculously become your sandbox? Well according to Ayn Rand, that ball and chain are nothing more than your own inhibitions. Success is there for the taking! Oh, but just remember to bring a plow.

This week on BF we tackle quite possibly the most controversial piece of philosophical literature ever to spend 50 years in development hell before they finally made a crappy movie out of it: Atlas Shrugged. Joining me to bite into this tasty morsel were recent Rand reader Jed Cummins and reliable Rand resister Kiki Canon. Ready for some self-interested Objectivismania? Well get on board!

This Week’s Post-show Song Pimpage: “The Trees” by Rush (suggested by @treycaliva)

Episode 083: An Unexceptional Episode

StephenTorrence — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 05:01:11 +0000

President Obama’s State of the Union address? Meh. Practicing all your life one of two classical instruments because your mother says so? Snore. Ricky Gervais at the Golden Globes? F***ING AWESOME. Okay, so we couldn’t exactly hit the mediocrity hat trick. BUT on a week when Internets were down in Egypt and Chicago, sickness spread across the nation, and broom closets became our only refuge, we still managed to pull together a whopper of an episode for you peeps. Enjoy it while sitting by a warm fire, sipping some hot cocoa as you await your inevitable frozen fate this fine winter…

This Week’s Post-show Song Pimpage: Jascha Heifetz plays Ibert “Le Petit Âne Blanc”

Episode 082: Saunders on Saunders

StephenTorrence — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 05:51:57 +0000

Imagine if falling in love was as easy as taking a pill. Scary? Exciting? Kind of rad? Well, to make up for the distinct lack of anything resembling actual philosophy last week, we decided to delve straight into this and other hardcore questions, courtesy of George Saunders and his recent short story in The New Yorker. Don’t let the sub-par audio or the happy-go-lucky children chuckling in the background of Panera Bread fool you. We got REAL SERIOUS AND STUFF. You can tell by the caps lock. Drip on? Hell yeah!

This Week’s Post-show Song Pimpage: “I Feel Fantastic” by Jonathan Coulton

We’re a Thing?!

StephenTorrence — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 06:01:43 +0000

So kudos to Kevin for noticing that we are (and apparently have been) on the Guide to Online Schools‘ list of the “Top 50 Philosophy Podcasts.” Number TWO, to be precise. I have no idea what criteria these folks use, or even who is doing the criteria determination, so I have no clue who to thank or why, but… wow! On behalf of everyone here at BF, I’d like to say we’re flattered and honored and humbled and well… just downright grateful that someone’s actually listening.

Oh and rest assured, this doesn’t change a thing. We may be a Thing, but we’ll keep doing our thing just as long as you keep enjoying this thing. Pinky promise.

Episode 081: Totally Cuffless

StephenTorrence — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 04:51:35 +0000

2011 is here, everybody! That’s right, Twenty Eleven. Five syllables. The perfect length for pronouncing a year. Incidentally, it’s also the first of our many predictions for the upcoming year and observations regarding the last. This New Year’s Day we got a smashing smattering of smart and smarmy panelists together… plus Kiki! We had a grand ol’ time finding the ideal abandoned hotel conference center to have our show and an even grander time kissing 2010 goodbye, helping her move out her things while exuberantly texting 2011 to come on over as fast as annually possible. Enjoy the show, everyone!

We invite you to post YOUR bad philosophical predictions for 2011 in the comments. Be raunchy, be clever, and most importantly… be prescient! (It makes us look good)

This Week’s Post-show Song Pimpage: “New Year’s Resolution Song” by Rhett and Link

Episode 080: Bullet-Ridden Candy

StephenTorrence — Sat, 25 Dec 2010 06:00:57 +0000

It’s that time of year, everyone! Considering we’re probably already in Santa’s “Don’t bother checking this year, I already know the answer” filter for the Naughty/Nice List, we decided to kick the raunch into overdrive this fine Christmas morning. Elves taking dumps? We’ve got ‘em! Dominatrix Claus? Him too! The most delicious cumshot cookie you’ve ever tasted? Oh yeah, SO got it. Kevin, Kiki, Simon and I, along with the whole gang here at Bad Philosophy would all like to wish you a very Merry Christmas. Why, we even made you a BRAND NEW INTRO SEQUENCE! Sadly, we were unable to pick a suitable gift wrapping in time. Use your imagination…

This Week’s Post-Show Song Pimpage: “Chiron Beta Prime” by Jonathan Coulton

A Quick Little Review of A Book of Comics

KevSaund — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 20:57:27 +0000

I don’t normally use this forum to review products, but I’m making an exception based on a tweet by Gordon McAlpin (@gmcalpin.) He was lamenting the number of review copies sent out of his recent book release of the first collection of strips for his webcomic Multiplex (www.multiplexcomic.com) The book is called Multiplex: Enjoy your Show.

I’ll get to a review of the book itself in a bit, but I want to give some background info first.

I don’t remember exactly how I found Multiplex, but I’m really glad I did. Because I found Multiplex, I also found Joe Loves Crappy Movies and Theater Hopper, two other webcomics that relate to movies. The three writers of those comics used to do a weekly movie review podcast, and even though it is now over, I still hold out hope for a revival, or at least a reunion show. Another only tangentially related fact to this discussion is that once McAlpin tweeted about playing Left 4 Dead online, and asked if anybody wanted to join him. I volunteered and we played a few games together. This is something that is awesome about the world we live in. I got to kill virtual zombies with the creator of one of my favorite webcomics ever. Yeah, Multiplex is one of my favorite comics, easily top three. I have been reading webcomics for seven or eight years now and whenever one of the creators would come out with a book, the frugal side of me popped up and said “why pay for something you can get for free on the internet?” Usually I listened. But when McAlpin announced he was setting up a kickstarter account for the first Multiplex book, it was only a matter of time before I jumped on. I won’t say exactly how much I contributed to the fund, but let’s just say it was enough to get the T-shirt. Multiplex is the kind of story that I wanted to have on the shelf next to Preacher, Fables and my other graphic novel collections.

I’ve often compared the comic strip to the movie Clerks, except set in a movie theater, and that might be a start, but it doesn’t nearly convey how awesome it is, or how much I like it. McAlpin has created an incredibly strong cast of characters in the world of his comic and that is by far the strongest draw.

The “lead dudes” as I’ve decided to call them are Jason and Kurt who start off the strip as box office jockeys and over the course of the series (a few years now) have risen to slightly more important positions. But their jobs are only a small part of who these characters are. Each character is well developed, and that extends from Kurt and Jason to their close friends to even the people standing in the background. He manages to tell some really interesting stories, while generally staying funny, and for the most part staying within the confines of the fictional movie theater. Readers who aren’t carful may start to think that all the stories about relationships (particularly Jason) make everything too soap-operaish, but I think McAlpin handles it all with a deft hand and an eye toward the funny.

The book itself is gorgeous. McAlpin creates the strip in Illustrator (I think) and so it has a really clean look to begin with, but everything looks even better on the printed page: colors, lines everything. It starts off with a 12 page prequel dealing with the release of Star Wars Episode III, which is some of McAlpin’s best work; you can really feel his enthusiasm for Star Wars shining through. This makes it only slightly jarring when you reach the first strips proper. Like most webcomics there was a growing period toward the beginning where McAlpin was finding his feet both in regards to writing and art. That being said, his style was still very clear early on, and there is a running commentary along with the strips where McAlpin points out flaws I didn’t even notice. But soon enough the book really gets going and it is easy enough to fly on through. Online the series is in its “fifth book” so getting back to where these characters were such a long time ago is really really fun, and because of the serial structure and that McAlpin doesn’t rely on ending each joke with a punchline (something more serial webcomics should do) reading them in a collection like this makes all the great things better. It’s worth mentioning that wile there isn’t aclear arc for the strips in this book, a lot of seeds are sewn for what happens later. McAlpin is really good at planning things ahead, so that once everything comes to a boil it’s nice to go back and see where everything came from. The rest of this paragraph has some minor spoilers so skip to the next paragraph to avoid them (which I recommended.) The stuff that eventually happens with Brian (first introduced as the asker of the dumbest question of the year: “All of a sudden it’s Fox News” (makes sense in context)) was super awesome what the conclusion.

Also sprinkled thoughout the book are bonus strips that were added because McAlpin didn’t initially pace the strips out with a print book in mind. He filled the blank space with new scenes that just further flesh out the world of the Multiplex 10 without seeming like filler.

Overall I highly recommend the book, even though this review started as a Take That to people who were jerky enough to request a review copy and not actually review the book. If you enjoy interesting characters in well told stories, Multiplex is worth a look.

Episode 079: Twelve Inch Razor Blades

StephenTorrence — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 21:31:17 +0000

Always one news cycle behind, we here at BF have decided to tackle the TSA groping/scanning debacle with our own flavor of punditry. This week Kevin, Simon, and Kiki joined me to figure out how the system is broken, how to make it better, and how droids might become involved in the process. Oh, and Kevin shaved. For art.

This Week’s Post-show Song Pimpage: “Psycho Killer” by Talking Heads

Episode 078: Big Bad TV Daddy

StephenTorrence — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 03:26:04 +0000

As I hope many of you are already aware thanks to various sources around the Internet, FOX recently announced that the best sci-fi series currently on television, Fringe, will be moving to the “Friday Night Death Slot” when American Idol returns. Obviously, we here at BF are upset about this, so we assembled a panel of crack commentators to dig into the broken TV ratings system that led to its demise. Kevin and Simon played devil’s advocates, Matt Legler played his 78, and I drank a little too much mead. Have a listen! And don’t forget to record this in your Nielsen journal.

This Week’s Post-show Song Pimpage: Theme from “The Honeymooners”

Episode 077: The Untimely Death of Stephen

StephenTorrence — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 04:16:59 +0000

Imagine having an army of workers ready to do your bidding, no matter how menial and trivial, as long as you pay them some semblance of a decent wage. That’s Amazon Mechanical Turk in a nutshell, with which people are doing strange and wonderful things. To discuss this and other randomness, we had the pleasure of bringing back Numero Uno Fanboy turned Bad Philosopher Jed Cummins, alongside newly-minted Clear Channel savant / amateur foley artist Simon Ponder. Oh yeah, and Kevin Saunders got to host half the episode. How the hell did that come about? Well, have a listen!

This Week’s Post-show Song Pimpage: “F*** You” by Cee-LO, sung by William Shatner

Episode 076: Dalai Lama For Realz

StephenTorrence — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 04:10:51 +0000

As we approach Halloween and the cool weather starts to move in, the Bad Philosophers reconvene for yet another intellectual foray into this excitingly dynamic world. Recently Kevin had a chance to see His Holiness, the Dalai Lama in person. We discussed his newfound insights into the human condition, religion, and crowd control, as well as Facebook’s latest ploy to take over your social life and Google’s prototype of the Johnny Cab. Have a listen!

This Week’s Post-show Song Pimpage: “We’re All Gonna Die” – featuring Kiki Canon, Devo Spice and Schaffer the Darklord

Episode 075: A Minor Detail

StephenTorrence — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 15:52:01 +0000

This past weekend, the Facebook movie (aka. “The Social Network”) premiered in US theaters, racking up a cool $22 million at the box office. Even before the film launched, This Week in Google discussed the film’s “anti-geek” tone and Jeff Jarvis slammed it in his review. Copyright reform advocate Lawrence Lessig also critiqued the film on a number of counts. Before all this controversy, The New Yorker wrote a long and revealing piece about “the real” Mark Zuckerberg, contrasting him with Aaron Sorkin’s character in the movie. Over the weekend Kevin, Kiki, and I all watched the film, and we had a few rebuttals to make on its behalf, partially inspired by webcomic author and blogger Tom Brazelton. Have a listen!

This Week’s Post-show Song Pimpage: “Baby, You’re a Rich Man” by The Beatles

Episode 074: Trabbit Rails

StephenTorrence — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 03:44:25 +0000

Aaaaaand, we’re back! For those of y’all who were keeping track, our 2-year anniversary was last month. That means BF has been around for… well… yeah, you can do the math. ANYWHO. Kevin and Kiki joined me to discuss brain damage, Neal Stephenson’s writing experiment, and a little ol’ movie about Facebook. No news stories this time, just a good old-fashioned F-isode. Enjoy!

This Week’s Post-show Song Pimpage: “Creep” Cover by the Scala and Kolacny Brothers

Episode 073: The Royal We

StephenTorrence — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 03:40:04 +0000

Yep, we’re back. It may be a week late, and these stories are probably completely irrelevant by now, but just pretend we’ve brought you a time machine and taken you back to last week for a look at the news! Yeah, it may be last week’s news, but… TIME MACHINE. Anyways, Kiki joined me for this episode to shoot to the proverbial shiz about the following stories. Check ‘em out and enjoy the show!

1. Duke Nukem Forever Makes Comeback

2. Hate the iTunes 10 Icon? Think You Can Do Better?

3. The Museum of Soviet Arcade Games

4. Craigslist Adult Services Section Shut Down

5. Language and Memes

6. The largest whorfian study EVER! (and why it matters)

This Week’s Post-show Song Pimpage: “Craig’s List” by Schaffer the Darklord

Episode 072: Rule of Some Number Around 70

StephenTorrence — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 04:35:20 +0000

In these tough economic times, it’s always nice to be able to take a break from all the chaos and watch the demented apparition of a shark tear through the souls of Peter Jackson’s brethren. Not sure what the hell we’re talking about? Well, here’s the dealio. Kevin and I reconvened for another romp into the new and the strange in the headlines this week. Once again there was beer involved, but we pushed ourselves and did *one whole article* more than last time! So pop your favorite beverage into a brown paper bag and smoke ‘em if ya got ‘em. It’s time for some BF!

1. Ghost Shark 2: Urban Jaws is the ultimate sharksploitation flick

2. Internet may phase out printed Oxford dictionary

3. Pirate Bay documentary raising money on Kickstarter

4. More students feel lunchtime crunch

5. Paper Bag Monologue from The Wire (Kinetic Typography)

This Week’s Post-Show Song Pimpage: “Just as Long as Me” by Jonathan Coulton (stretched to the length of the episode using Paulstretch)

Watch Kevin Read Ulysses LIVE

StephenTorrence — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 21:09:36 +0000

Tomorrow our intrepid theater grad student Kevin Saunders will undertake a feat unparalleled in his existence. He will stream himself reading ALL of James Joyce’s adaptation of The Odyssey, “Ulysses” live on the Internet. Check out the link below for more details on the event and how you can become a part of it!

Ustream – Kevin Reads Ulysses

Episode 071: What’s in the News, Robin?

StephenTorrence — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 22:04:38 +0000

For no particular reason we’ve decided to try something *BRAND NEW* on this week’s episode of Bad Philosophy. Kevin and I pulled a few articles and a comic out of the news, grabbed a couple of beers, and dove in to the stories for an hour. What came was something of a nice balance between F-isode and B-isode. We hope you agree! Here are the articles if you’d like to read them first:

1. Neil Patrick Harris expecting twins
2. SubNormality – “Do Something”
3. Beware of fake Facebook ‘dislike’ button
4. Man tries living on coupons for a year

Now that you’re prepared, have a listen!

This Week’s Post-show Song Pimpage: “The Princess Who Saved Herself” by Jonathan Coulton, part of the Many Hands album for Haiti relief. Buy this song or hell, buy the whole album. Haiti might not be in the news cycle anymore, but they still need help rebuilding. Do your part!

Episode 070: The Internet Says No

StephenTorrence — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 12:27:32 +0000

For the past couple of decades the indomitable Kevin Smith has proudly distinguished himself as a maker of funny, poignant, and outrageously vulgar cinema. We at BF are huge fans of Smith’s work and felt that it was high time to devote an episode of our show to discussing the facets of his genius. Appropriately enough, Kevin Saunders and Kiki Canon joined me for a delightfully self-indulgent frolic through the philosophy of the Askewniverse. So grab a Mooby burger, lean against your local Quick Stop, and have a listen!

This Week’s Post-show Song Pimpage: “Jungle Love” by Morris Day and The Time

Episode 069: Insert Sexual Innuendo Here

StephenTorrence — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 02:34:38 +0000

Recently the wild and brilliant imagination of Christopher Nolan brought forth a true gem of a movie, Inception. It’s been making good money and getting rave reviews all around, and for good reason. It’s a heady and philosophical and hence right up our rabbit trail. This time Kevin Saunders and Kiki Canon joined me to discuss the film, reality, dreams, and the finer points of top physics. Have a listen to this F-isode for the ages! Oh, and insert some sexual innuendo here. Seriously.

This Week’s Post-show Song Pimpage: “Dream Police” by Cheap Trick

Episode 068: Unfortunate Convenience

StephenTorrence — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 19:53:16 +0000

After another long and completely unnecessary hiatus, we’re back for another rip-roaring episode! Last week Kevin joined me after returning from his whirlwind theatrical tour of the Czech Republic and greater Eastern Europe. This got us talking about language, culture, music and of course Homestar Runner. Have a listen!

This Week’s Post-show Song Pimpage: 4 Renditions of the Czech National Anthem

Episode 067: We Love You, Torgo!

StephenTorrence — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 03:11:20 +0000

Howdy, folks! Yes, you may throw tomatoes at me now. I really thought that graduating and coming home for the summer would leave me with more time. Sadly, this has not been the case. BUT we are back now, with an episode that’s almost a month old but still delightfully entertaining. Kiki and her friend Bess joined me for a quintessentially BF drive along the fringe of Twilight. I hear Kevin is back in town, an AWESOME fan donated enough money for us to buy an HD camera, and aside from building a vacuum table this weekend, I am FREE! So expect new episodes right around the corner. Thanks for sticking with us and enjoy the episode!

Oh, and if you’re wondering who the heck Torgo is, go check the cool cat out. He works for RiffTrax. We love him.

This Week’s Post-show Song Pimpage: “Cody Monkey (Frugal Glucose Mix)” by Jonathan Coulton and emerson

Episode 066: 6 Years and It’s Over

StephenTorrence — Thu, 27 May 2010 02:20:02 +0000

Tragedy struck the podcast this past week. As Kevin Saunders departed for his trip to Prague, the plane encountered unusually heavy turbulance over a remote region of the South Pacific (why the pilot was flying over the Pacific to get to Eastern Europe is perhaps an even greater mystery). Kevin’s plane and all aboard crash landed in the water, but many washed ashore in relative safety. Now Kevin has been forced to survive as supernatural events and interpersonal intrigue threaten to…

OH! Sorry, I was getting that confused with something else. You see, LOST has sorta been on our minds recently, having wrapped up it’s sixth and final season this past weekend. In case you haven’t had enough post-show commentary already, we decided to throw in our two cents. Lostie Britton Peele joins us in this episode for his first appearance on BF as we discuss religious undertones, shoddy writing, and the occasional double-back over the course of this epic prime time show’s run. So sit back and come sail away with us on this totally LOST episode of BF…

*SUPER DUPER SPOILER ALERT*

(Don’t say we didn’t warn you)

This week’s post-show song pimpage: “Theme from Gilligan’s Island”

Episode 065: Whoa…

StephenTorrence — Tue, 25 May 2010 16:02:48 +0000

It should come as no surprise to y’all out there that a great percentage of the world indulges in the wily wonders of psychotropic drugs. Whether it’s that requisite pot of coffee in the morning or just… pot, lots of folks like to take a walk on the wild side of the mind every now and then. In this episode of BF Kevin Saunders, Bryan Mitchell and I explore some of the philosophical and political issues behind psychotropics in a solid B-isode. Oh, and we get TOTALLY BAKED at the end. Really. Listen all the way through. It’s hilarious.

This week’s post-show song pimpage: “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds” by William Shatner (seriously, Kirk singing a drug song, it’s awful)

Episode 064: Foremanslaw

StephenTorrence — Thu, 20 May 2010 05:18:46 +0000

Oh my… *cough* …wow, I had no idea dust built up that quickly …on the Internet. ANYWHO. We’re back, yes indeed. And we brought along a classic F-isode just for y’all! Yeah it may be last week’s news, but apparently Iron Man 2 dropped in theaters. Oh, and apparently Stephen Hawking said something about aliens. So what did Kevin Saunders, Matt Legler, Kiki Grover, Jed Cummins, and I talk about? Why, what NOT to do when the UFO’s abduct your sorry ass, that’s what! So pull on your Cosa Nostra t-shirt, strap into your Mark IV armor, and slap some ‘slaw on your George Foreman grill… it’s BF time!

This week’s post-show song pimpage: “Pomp and Circumstance (Heavy Metal Version)” by Wolf Hoffman

Episode 063: A Big Shiny Piece of Paper

StephenTorrence — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 01:41:05 +0000

Here at Texas Tech things were shaken up a bit recently with the resignation of Dr. Gary Bell, someone beloved to all of us in the Honors College. Dr. Bell basically built the Honors College over the past 17 years into a mainstay of the university. However, he came into conflict with the upper administration over the past few months on their goal to expand Texas Tech to 40,000 students by 2020 and bring it to to Tier One status. Bell felt that the administration was sacrificing quality education to make this happen. This time on BF we had Kevin Saunders and newcomer Levi Schlegel on to discuss the story and the general issue of research versus teaching in academia. It was a good one, folks. Have a listen!

This Week’s Post-show Song Pimpage: “Another Brick in the Wall Part 2″ by Pink Floyd

Episode 062: iKevin2.0.net@blogspot.com

StephenTorrence — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 03:25:50 +0000

Every once in a while we here at BF like to have a gratuitously self-indulgent show that focuses purely on our own half-baked accomplishments and personal history. This time it was all about the K-man, mister Kevin Saunders himself. We had live Skype callers on the show once again, talked a little history, and answered questions about Kevin and the show. It was a jolly good time. Oh, and apologies for taking so long to upload this one. I was abducted by aliens.

This Week’s Post-show Song Pimpage: “I Wanna Talk About Me” by Toby Keith

Episode 061: Newspaper Zombies

StephenTorrence — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 07:57:10 +0000

When was the last time you read a newspaper? Oh… you’re reading one now. Well um… I guess I’ll just let you finish then. No, it’s cool, take your time. … Done? Okay, awesome. So… wow, this is a bit awkward. Our topic this week is actually the “death” of newspapers, which probably sounds a lot less interested to you now in light of… yeah. Turns out the news of their death might be a bit exaggerated. On the show to tell us why were print journalism gurus Simon Ponder and Ashley Liles. Back on the show to give them hell was the one and only Kevin Saunders. We do hope you enjoy this romp into the subject… right after you finish the Sports section.

Hey, we actually broadcast this one live, too! Check it out:

This week’s post-show song pimpage: “Hard Times” from Newsies

Episode 060: Rooftop Skinny Dipping SXSW

StephenTorrence — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 20:15:14 +0000

There is a place where, once a year, every geek worth his or her salt comes together in the magically weird city of Austin. For five days we mingle, bond, network, and bring our alcohol consumption up to par with our 3G bandwidth consumption. We call this beer- and bandwidth-infused tribal gathering SXSW Interactive, and this year a couple of us from BF got the privilege of attending it. BF mainstay Jediah Cummins, photoblogger and Rackspace contractor Simon Ponder, and yours truly gathered in the Austin Hilton to reflect on our experiences, share some thoughts on location-based gaming, and forget to talk about robots. We even managed to match the sucky audio quality of our first episode with our 60th! How is that NOT worth your time? Have a listen…

This Week’s Post-Show Song Pimpage: “Safety Dance” by Men Without Hats

Weekly Why 008: Kevin Reads the Paper

StephenTorrence — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 22:09:33 +0000

So Kevin Saunders decided to send in this little gem of a throwback episode for this week. It’s raw, live, and mostly uncut–in other words, classic BF. So sit back, relax, and listen as Kevin reads the news of the week…

This Week’s Post-show Song Pimpage: “That’s the News of the Week” by Paul and Storm

Episode 059: Cheap Chocolate Eve

StephenTorrence — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 16:34:16 +0000

Another Valentine’s Day has come and gone. Love was in the air. Some relationships soared, others crashed and burned. For those of us on the sidelines, it was quite a sight to behold and discuss. Here at BF we gathered a completely new panel of guests for our most estrogen-infused episode ever. Single ladies Kiki Canon, Megan Brase, and Ivy Filbin came on to discuss holidays, singularity, and commercialized sexism, among many other things. So cook yourself a bloody steak, get some chocolate on the side, and enjoy the show…

This Week’s Post-show Song Pimpage: “Single and Famous” by MC Lars and K Flay

Episode 058: Banana Pancakes

StephenTorrence — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 19:31:16 +0000

For most folks fame comes rarely, if ever. Only a few people ever rise above the sea of obscurity, either from their own effort or by the grace of others (or some combination of the two). In the Internet age, this process of fame-making has taken on a whole new dimension, with the advent of alternative paths to fame such as YouTube. Still, culture remains transfixed by mainstream shows such as American Idol and America’s Got Talent. What are we to think of this? Thankfully, we at BF are here to give you some ideas. This episode we were joined by BF newcomer Margaret Kammer alongside mainstay Kevin Saunders. Apologies on the delay! School waits for no one. Enjoy the episode…

This Week’s Post-Show Song Pimpage: “Kenesaw Mountain Landis” by Jonathan Coulton

Episode 057: Philocalypse How?

StephenTorrence — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 04:43:02 +0000

Quick! There’s an asteroid barreling toward your corner of the earth and you have no chance of escape. The world as you know it ends in 4 hours. What do you do?! Listen to the latest BF, that’s what! On this show we tackled that ever-present subject of the apocalypse. Kevin Saunders joined me alongside the recently crippled Jediah Cummins. We also had our FIRST EVER “caller” on BF, the lovely and entertaining vlogger Margaret Kammer. So sit down, relax, and enjoy your pending doom the BF way!

This week’s post-show song pimpage: “It’s the End of the World As We Know It” by R.E.M.

Episode 056: I Miss D’n'D

StephenTorrence — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 21:58:16 +0000

Remember back when Bad Philosophy was good? Man, that show had some great moments. Recording in taco joints on a single microphone, losing episodes right and left, and always having the same people on week after week. Boy I tell ya, those were the days…

Hmm? Oh yeah, description! This week we decided to talk about nostalgia. Remember? That warm, fuzzy feeling you get when you dust off your old Nintendo 64 that your mom was about to throw out, blow the chunks of cat hair out of a cartridge, and remember how frustrating that last level of Starfox was? Yep, that. Nostalgia expert and BF mainstay Kevin Saunders joined me, alongside friend of the show and chiptune guru Bryan Mitchell. Together we reminisced, analyzed, and speculated our way through one of our most F episodes in a while. Enjoy! We hope you remember the experience fondly.

This Week’s Post-show Song Pimpage: “Those Were the Days” from All in the Family

Episode 055: Twenty, Not Two Thousand

StephenTorrence — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 04:15:14 +0000

I know, I know… I was horribly late with the editing on this one, but I swear that two weeks ago we recorded a new BF on the first day of the new decade! This one was a pretty straightforward retrospective, but the first time we actually had an episode one year ago that we could pull our predictions from. That’s right folks! BF’s run now straddles two new years! The venerable Kevin Saunders joined me, alongside Matt Legler, fulfilling his BF-imposed new years’ resolution… one year later. There was reflection, prediction, and a solid dose of classic BF. Have a listen! And have a most excellent decade, everybody.

This Week’s Post-Show Song Pimpage: “Days Aren’t Long Enough” by Steve Earle

Episode 054: Eywa Ex Machina

StephenTorrence — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 21:07:20 +0000

Unless you’ve been living under a diamond the size of Manhattan recently, you’ve no doubt noticed the release of the much-hyped movie Avatar, James Cameron‘s latest bulldozer-full of eye candy. It’s got noble savages, heavy-handed environmentalism, and more stunning CGI visuals than anything George Lucas could ever hope to conjure forth. Shortly after BF newcomer and certified geek Kristin DeGroot watched the film, we sat down with Kevin Saunders over Skype to banter and bash on it. Aside from a huge recording fail on my part, we had a darn good episode. Have a listen!

This weeks post-show song pimpage: “DotA” by Basshunter

Episode 053: Kevin Squared

StephenTorrence — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 05:46:04 +0000

First off, I would like to express my apologies for the lack of WIN here recently on BF. We are college students after all, with all the lack of sleep, homework, and other rigmarole that entails. BUT we’re back for another episode, though the relevance is about a week late. If you’ve been following Dollhouse, you’ll know it has been rather full of WIN lately, so full in fact that we needed to get an additional Kevin to talk about it all. BF fan and fellow podcaster Kevin Miller joined me and Kevin Saunders to discuss our pet show a bit. There were SPOILERS GALORE, so if you’re averse to that… tough. Suck it up and listen anyway.

This week’s post-show song pimpage: “Barbie Girl” by Aqua

Episode 052: A Fictional Pair of Ducks

StephenTorrence — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 17:11:29 +0000

Have you ever been sitting in a horror movie and right after that moment when the bad guy leaps out and you spring about four inches off your seat, turned to yourself and gone “Why did I do that? I know this isn’t real.” If so, then you’ve most definitely experienced the Paradox of Fiction. The Texas Tech Philosophy Department‘s own visiting professor Dr. Darren Hick recently joined us on BF to discuss this crazy conundrum in the world of aesthetics. The indomitable Kevin Saunders also dropped by to pitch in his two cents on the subject. So please, suspend your disbelief, go irrational, and remember that Batman is most certainly not Clark Kent as you enjoy this episode of BF…

This week’s post-show song pimpage: “My Baby Loves a Bunch of Authors” by Moxy Fruvous

Episode 051: Reading Rainbow

StephenTorrence — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 02:31:55 +0000

It’s easy to take our perceptions for granted. Colors, shapes, smells, and so forth are for the most part universal. But some people have this kickass condition called synesthesia, where their wires get crossed and their perceptions get… interesting. BF was privileged to get a man who sees letters and numbers as colors on the show, Shawn Brackett. Never one to miss out on a good freak show, Damn Good Philosopher of Religion Dr. Mark Webb also decided drop by, with Numero Uno Fanboy Jed Cummins and the Uke-tastic Kevin Saunders. Best f***ing believe, it was the trippiest BF ever. Take a look…

This week’s post-show song pimpage: “Roy G. Biv” by They Might Be Giants

Episode 050: Includes Teeth

StephenTorrence — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 06:24:55 +0000

Can you believe it? Fifty episodes! FIVE OH! Well… that is if you sorta count Episode Zero, don’t count the Lost Episode, count Episode 21b as Episode 21, count Episode 42b as Episode 42, count Episodes 46 and 49 even though they’re video only and… aw, screw it, just humor us, okay?

So in homage to our very first gathering, Kevin, Jed, Bryan, David, Matt, Michael Atellano, and I all gathered at the Freebird’s in Lubbock where it all started over a year ago and recorded the downright s***tiest episode since that fateful day (audio-wise, at least). Plenty of B, sprinkled with a little F, all wrapped up in a FAILtilla – just like you like it. Have a listen (and please, for the love of God, buy something from us). We love you!!!

This week’s post-show song pimpage: “Title of the Song” by Da Vinci’s Notebook

Episode 049: Frozen Philosophy [Video Only]

StephenTorrence — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 06:03:46 +0000

As you long-time listeners no doubt know, we here at BF are prone to technical issues like a pigeon is prone to relieving himself on cars – we do it randomly, completely without intention, and ultimately everyone ends up various degrees of pissed. Well… that happened a couple of weeks ago when Jed, Kevin, and I attempted to record an episode about social engineering. Feel free to watch what there is of this episode and try to imagine how it could’ve ended…

Episode 048: Full of WINtegrity

StephenTorrence — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 02:16:21 +0000

We hear a lot of talk these days about “Integrity,” and how it’s all good to have and such. But what does it even mean to have integrity? In this episode BF took a trip to Curzertown (the realm of Texas Tech philosophy professor Dr. Howard Curzer) to find out the answer. Ad-hoc philosopher Michael Hayslip also joined us for another appearance, and sadly we did without the presence of the good Kevin Saunders. Somehow we survived though, and came up with quite the F-isode in the process. Check it out!

This week’s post-show song pimpage: “A Talk With George” by Jonathan Coulton

Episode 047: A Big To Do About WOO

StephenTorrence — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 18:06:35 +0000

Input, Achiever, Restorative, Deliberative… to many these are but a few odd-sounding words, but to those of us here at BF they are the vocabulary of success and self-knowledge itself. They are Strengths, as defined by the Gallup Organization’s StrengthsFinder assessment. This past weekend Jay Killough of Texas Tech University Career Services joined us to discuss the assessment, its philosophy of success, and his own WOO-nature. Kevin Saunders and Jed Cummins also came along for the ride, with Bryan Mitchell providing camera support. We had a grand old time. Enjoy!

This week’s post-show song pimpage: “Handlebars” by Flobots

Weekly Why 007: The Kevin Show

StephenTorrence — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 17:11:12 +0000

Yes, we’re back! I apologize for our lack of prompt, punctual posts as of late. College is back in full swing and as a good student that means I’ve got less and less time to devote to BF lately. Thankfully Kevin (who ironically has even less time than I do) took up the slack last week and produced a very special Weekly Why installment. This one’s a web-exclusive, so enjoy the videos (courtesy of Stickam) below…

Part 1

Part 2

Episode 045: Bach in Business

StephenTorrence — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 05:33:39 +0000

Stop me if you’ve heard this one… a pianist, a mathematician, and a crab walk into a bar. No wait… I forget how the rest goes. Anyway, this week Julie Meadows, now back from the future, joined me alongside sneezing philosopher Michael Hayslip and spaghetti extraordinaire Kevin Saunders to talk about some music. I think it’s safe to call this one a solid F-isode, people. So grab yourself a bowl of Raisin Brahms, hang onto your mobius strip, and enjoy this aurally stimulating installment of BF…

(No embedded video, but you can check out the archived clips here)

This week’s post-show song pimpage: “Hurt” by Johnny Cash

Episode 044: BYOBF

StephenTorrence — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 17:25:51 +0000

Beer. That oh-so-ubiquitous alcoholic beverage. It has been the bane and boon of many a man’s life over the centuries, and now it has finally arrived (officially) here at Bad Philosophy. Local Texas Tech physics student Catherine Chesnutt kindly hosted the show in her back yard shack, where Eric Beutlich, Josh Clemmons, Kevin Saunders and I came together in splendid inebriation to talk causation, epistemology, and much more over some delicious Planters Peanuts. So grab a cold one, settle in, and enjoy some authentic beer philosophy…

This week’s post-show song pimpage: “Galaxy Song” by Monty Python

Episode 043: Endless Meltdown

StephenTorrence — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 00:06:36 +0000

It should be no surprise to you that we here are, for the most part, poor college students doing this for a hobby. Nevertheless, in this exciting world of new media opportunities and inexplicable successes, we cannot help but hold a glimmer of hope for a future in which we roll around in big piles money for BF-ing all day long. This week Kevin, Jed, and I discuss merchandise, cultural shifts, and the future of the show. Got an idea that we didn’t cover? Leave us a comment! We promise we’ll listen.

This week’s post-show song pimpage: “Money Song” by Monty Python

We’ve got merch

StephenTorrence — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 23:01:03 +0000

Along with giving our header and other official logos a nice high-resolution facelift, I’ve also created an official merchandise store for BF at PrintFection.com. You can buy T-Shirts in both men’s and women’s styles, as well as a snazzy mousepad. PrintFection doesn’t do much more than apparel, but they do apparel better than anyone else. So if you’d like to support the snow by putting our logo between the world and an unobstructed view of your naked body, head on over and buy yourself some BF gear!

How My ASL Songs Work

StephenTorrence — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 16:52:18 +0000

Unless you’ve been living under a rock so heavy that not even God could lift it, you most likely know that I like to sing with my hands on occasion, and that Kevin and I have sung with our hands on stage with Jonathan Coulton. Well, if you’ve ever wanted to know more about my ASL videos, today’s your lucky day.

Recently Tracy Wilson from HowStuffWorks.com‘s interviewed me for her FanStuff blog. The interview is in two parts and includes some video clips of yours truly interspersed with the best account of my ASL song hobby that’s ever graced the Interwebs.

Head on over and read it now!

Episode 042b: Plato’s Movie Theater

StephenTorrence — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 02:34:16 +0000

Imagine yourself in a movie theater. It is the only place you’ve ever known. The smell of popcorn, the sticky floors, and of course the endless projected movies on the screen are your reality. What would you believe about “the real world” if this was all you knew? Would you even believe there was one if someone told you?

Plato asked questions like this over 2000 years ago in his infamous “Allegory of the Cave” from The Republic. On this historic episode, Kevin Saunders and I read and discuss the dialogue itself… in character (yes, we are that awesome). You can read along with us if you’d like (trust us, the wording can get pretty thick).

On a side note, we’re also ONE YEAR OLD as of a few days ago! Please wish us a happy birthday if you’d like, and then go listen to Episode Zero while shedding a nostalgic tear.

Stickam version below of course:

This week’s post-show song pimpage: “Bruce’s Philosophers’ Song” by Monty Python

Episode 041: How the West Was Mu

StephenTorrence — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 15:34:51 +0000

Eastern thought has been a curiosity for Western culture ever since Marco Polo made his epic journey to Asia in the 1200s. The legacy of this curiosity lives on, and so Bad Philosophy has decided to undertake the momentous task of reconciling Eastern and Western philosophy in a single episode (because we’re just awesome like that). Joining me for his first episode ever is mechanical engineering graduate student Sean Mullen, alongside an uncharacteristically in-person Kevin Saunders. NUF (Numero Uno Fanboy) Jed Cummins worked the camera (sort of) and despite many technical difficulties we actually managed some good conversation. So grab a fortune cookie, sit down on your tatami, and have a listen…

You can also watch the live *UNCENSORED* Stickam recording below.

This week’s post-show song pimpage: “I Like Chinese” by Monty Python

Episode 040: Meta-Mathic Smackdown

StephenTorrence — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 03:36:37 +0000

In a world, divided by history, separate but equal, teetering on the brink of the cosmos, one podcast dares to defy the axioms and go where no podcast has gone bef… well you get the idea. This week we’re talking Anathem! Neal Stephenson‘s latest work of spec-fic awesomery is ripe with headiness, so we decided to bring on couple of powerhouses in the brain department. Former-KTXT and current Llano Idea DJ Benjamin Brown returns to duke it out in a literary smackdown for the ages with veteran Bad Philosopher and aspiring YouTube reviewer Kevin Saunders. If this were a book, it’d be a genuine page-turner. But you read with your ears, right? Of course you do. So have a listen…

You also have the option to watch our live Stickam recording below. Join us next Sunday at 12pm CST for Episode 41!

This week’s post-show song pimpage: “Mandelbrot Set” by Jonathan Coulton

Episode 039: What’s the Right Thing Again?

StephenTorrence — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 20:06:35 +0000

Ethics is a tricky subject. For some, it’s subjective; anything goes. For others, it can be quite objective; right and wrong can be determined. Here at Texas Tech, ethics has become a full-blown initiative, though perhaps not as full-blown as some would like. Joining us to shine some light on the subject from the inside is Tech philosopher Dr. Daniel Nathan, alongside myself and jelly baby-munching mainstay Kevin Saunders. Do the right thing, folks: have a listen…

This week’s post-show song pimpage: “Do the Right Thing” by George Strait

Episode 038: Incremental Hope

StephenTorrence — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 04:53:12 +0000

After a completely unintended hiatus brought on by the super-unfortunate necessity to re-edit this episode, it’s finally here! And it’s a good one, folks. Dr. Mark Webb, now chairman of the Texas Tech philosophy department joins me for his third appearance on the show, alongside Numero Uno Fanboy Jed Cummins and national traveler Kevin Saunders. We discuss charity, education, and the Turkish movement that’s sweeping the world. Also, trolleys. Enjoy!

This week’s post-show song pimpage: “Birdhouse in Your Soul” by They Might be Giants

Episode 037: Back Seat Philosophy

StephenTorrence — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 23:17:27 +0000

Over the last couple of weeks we’ve lost a lot of celebrities–Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, even Billy Mays. It’s been tragic, but it got us here at BF thinking… what will happen to our social graphs when we pass on? We decided to answer this pressing question in possibly our most daring setup ever; inside a car going 70 MPH down a freeway. Why? Because, y’know… we could. Intrepid driver Matt Legler, Numero Uno co-pilot Jed Cummins, official iPhone 3G Sexy videographer Aaron Baxter and I were joined by Kevin Saunders via Skype over Jed’s tethered iPhone. Check out Aaron’s short video of the craziness, get your will in order, and enjoy this week’s totally road-trippin’ BF…

Episode 036: Eight Buffalos in a Row

StephenTorrence — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 00:16:18 +0000

Why did the chicken cross the road? To listen to BF, of course! Throughout the centuries, comedy has been an integral part of human society. This week on BF, we tackle what it really means to be funny, which comedians have the best style, and whether jumping the shark should become an Olympic sport. Joining me on the show are Numero Uno funny man Jed Cummins and comedic stalwart Kevin Saunders, alongside special from-beyond-the-grave comedy expert, Mitch Hedberg. So sit back, get your funny bone ready, and prepare to buffalo some Buffalo buffalo… it’s BF time!

Episode 035: Intellectual Hedonism

StephenTorrence — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 04:53:47 +0000

Why are we here? What’s this all about? What is my purpose? What is yours? Is there even one at all? These are easy questions to ask, but answering them is a whole different story. Wolfram Alpha has one idea. We’ve got some others. Composing my party in an epic aural quest for the meaning of life, the universe, and everything this week were BF newcomer, veteran philosophy major, and budding teleologist Joshua Clemmons, Numero Uno Fanboy Jed Cummins, and electricity-less Kevin Saunders via Skype. This one’s deep folks. We’re talking Edward Norton in Fight Club deep. Have a listen…

This week’s post-show song pimpage: “Purpose” from Avenue Q. Puppets with life lessons? Yes, please!

Episode 034: A Squishy Affricate

StephenTorrence — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 14:01:57 +0000

You’d think that after 50 years, the nations of North and South Korea would have kissed and made up. But these days as we light up our barbecues and relish the summer heat, the Korean peninsula is once again on the brink of war. From across the seas in Ulsan, South Korea, Julie Meadows joins to compare the cultural, political, and linguistic quirks of her locale alongside me, Kevin and his former roommate Jordan Mueller (first heard in the background some time ago). So as you reflect on Memorial Day this summer, remember the lost, have a nice heaping helping of mother hand tasty blue director of a bureau, and enjoy this week’s BF…

This week’s post-show song pimpage: “Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue” by Toby Keith. Buy it on iTunes, or we’ll put a boot in your ass.

Episode 033: Zombocalypse Now

StephenTorrence — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 04:37:20 +0000

Imagine you wake up tomorrow, turn on the TV as usual, and find that all the networks have turned to static. Out your window, you see a hoard of staggering, droopy-eyed zombies ambling toward you, groaning ominously for your cerebral contents. What’s your next move? Thankfully, we explore this very scenario and much more in great detail this week on BF. Kevin, Jed, and the ever-baby-loving Danielle join me to talk zombies, zombie movies, and planetary repopulation. So grab a shotgun, barricade yourself in a well-fortified building, and break open a can of Chunky, it’s zombocalypse time!

This week’s post-show audio pimpage: “Re: Your Brains” by Jonathan Coulton

Weekly Why 006: Live on Stage

StephenTorrence — Mon, 25 May 2009 19:28:33 +0000

Every once in a while you get to do something truly extraordinary. You make a video, a rock star picks it up, one thing leads to another and the next thing you know you’re on stage with said rock star. In this special BF Kevin, his sister Kat and I discuss our thoughts on getting to perform live with Jonathan Coulton. Check out the crazy awesome video itself below the podcast…

Episode 032: We Love the Future

StephenTorrence — Mon, 25 May 2009 18:16:02 +0000

After a long and completely unnecessary haitus, BF is back. And we’re going back, WAY back to a simpler time, a more optimistic time, to the days of the Virtual Boy and its ilk. That’s right, Kevin, pre-Facebook Jed, Matt and I are talking virtual reality, ladies and gentlemen! It was supposed to be the wave of the future, so what happened? Why aren’t we all living in holodecks already? And where’s my virtual haircut? We’ll try to answer all this and more before the singularity hits, so strap in and have a listen!

This week’s postshow audio pimpage: “The Future Soon” by Jonathan Coulton

Hang in there, peeps!

StephenTorrence — Thu, 21 May 2009 20:00:56 +0000

I’m sure many of y’all are wondering anxiously where our latest episode is. Believe me, we’d love to bring it to you, but recently we’ve been having some serious issues with our web host. They were recently *acquired* by another company and the transition has been… rough. We lost our database briefly last week and then got our storage space slashed down to an unusable 750mb.

Since we’re going to have to pay more for additional hosting anyway, we figured we’d use this chance to transition over to a better web host. At this point we’re weighing the comparative benefits of GoDaddy and Squarespace. The former is cheap, ubiquitous, and would allow us to continue using WordPress. The latter is fast and flexible but would require a site redesign since they do not support WordPress directly.

Whichever way we go, rest assured we should have Episodes 32 and 33 up here shortly. We’d like to remind y’all that a collection of clips from all shows is still up in the BF Soundboard. Feel free to listen and remix to your heart’s desire.

Thanks again for sticking with us, peeps! Through the F times and the B, we love having you with us.

Episode 031: Farewell to a Legend

StephenTorrence — Wed, 06 May 2009 21:01:13 +0000

Seasons come and seasons go, but here at Bad Philosophy one thing has never really changed: the utter ubiquity of one Kevin Saunders. Fortunately for him but unfortunately for us, the big man himself has jumped through his last hoop of fire and is graduating our fair university. But fear not! He will be participating in episodes still, albeit via the wonders of Skype rather than in person.

Joining us for Kevin’s last live episode was Bryan Mitchell and Numero Uno Fanboy Jed Cummins. We had some audio woes (read: Bryan turned his microphone off) and video stream woes that ruined the opening bit, but through the magic of GarageBand I have made all right with the world. We talked Dollhouse, philosophy of mind, and Swine Flu, leading Kevin to do a classic rant on politics. Relish this episode, everyone, it’s special…

This week’s outro song pimpage: “I’m Your Moon” by Jonathan Coulton (yeah, we love him dearly for very good reasons)

Episode 030: It’s a Ponzi Scheme

StephenTorrence — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 20:40:35 +0000

We’ve got a great deal to tell you about today. You can reduce your carbon emissions, save the planet from swine flu, and get an education without leaving home… everything you’ve ever wanted! All you have to do is listen to BF once a week and get five friends to do the same! For every friend you recruit we’ll give you one of the aforementioned rewards at a predetermined time in the near future!

Yeah, we talked about ponzi schemes on the show… you got us. Kevin returned with an homage to This Week at Texas Tech, his own short-lived but much beloved podcast. We also revamped our intro and streamed the editing process live on Stickam. Miss out on that? Don’t worry, we’ll be making it a thing. For now, sit back and take a bite out of your carbon footprint chocolate bar, it’s BF time!

This week’s post-show song pimpage: “Gambler’s Prayer” by Jonathan Coulton

Episode 029: A BF Orange

StephenTorrence — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 15:31:02 +0000

Easter time is here again, and what better way to celebrate than with some ultraviolence, m’droogs? That’s right, this week BF took a dive down the proverbial rabbit hole into the dark dystopian future of Stanley Kubrick’s 1972 masterpiece A Clockwork Orange, examining the moral, psychological, and cinematographical facets of the film. Numero Uno Fanboy and BF Cameraman Jed Cummins joined us for his third episode alongside newcomer Greg “Bob” Briley. Sex, murder, and prison await you! Have a listen…

This week’s featured track: “The Easter Song” by Paul and Storm

Episode 028: But Is It Science?

StephenTorrence — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 22:29:31 +0000

Since the dawn of time, man has peered out humbly at the world through his eyeballs and tried to make sense of it all in some systematic fashion. Aristotle famously set this ship of science on its way when he remarked casually one fine Grecian day, “You know, studies show that women have fewer teeth than men.” Of course, he was full of s***, but that’s beside the point! The A-man set a precedent of discourse that has continued to this very day, according to some experts.

On this episode BF embarked on the adventure of video once again, trying and failing to broadcast via Justin.tv and then returning to our loyal stalwart, Stickam. We had Eric Beutlich back on for his second appearance since co-founding the podcast, and numero uno fanboy Jed Cummins once again operated our camera. It wasn’t scientific, it wasn’t pretty, but it was most definitely BF. Have a listen!

This week’s post-roll music: “That Spells DNA” by Jonathan Coulton. Buy it! Download it! Whatever! We love the man and his music, and so should you.

Episode 027: It’s Gonna Be a Shaving Thing

StephenTorrence — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 16:26:20 +0000

Progress is a tricky thing. It doesn’t always go like you think it should. Sometimes the days are Blue and Sunny, sometimes things blow up in your face, and sometimes you just have to put yourself out there and let it happen. What I’m trying to say is, of course, that BF had an AWESOME time doing our first live recording in a while, and we promise this will be the first of many. Be sure to follow us on Twitter for all the juicy updates.

On this episode we talked about the meaning of live, Kevin’s source of power, and even experimented with musicality. It was live, it was random, it was totally BF. Have a listen…

Change for the Betterment of Mankind

StephenTorrence — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 17:11:22 +0000

We’ve got some exciting things happening here at Bad Philosophy. I know this non-podcast post is totally blowing your mind on its own, but try to keep your brains intact for a little longer! Check it out after the break…

1) If you’re not already, start following BF on Twitter. There we post episode releases, insider secrets, and cool announcements like…

2) LIVE SHOWS! Yes, that’s right, BF is back experimenting with the wonderful world of video. We’ve got some groovy new lapel mics and some snazzy new threads to show off. This Sunday at 12:00 PM CST tune in to our spiffy Ustream Stickam page and watch as we dish out a heaping helping of visual vivacity. Be sure to join the live chat room and tell us how much we suck/rock.

3) Last but not least, you might have noticed the ads over there on the right-hand side. This is part of our new effort to show our support for the services and products we love and share their awesomeness with you. (Shout out to Blubrry.com for their most excellent affiliate program!) By clicking these banners you’ll be doing your part to support us too. Isn’t that cool? Everybody wins!

We’ll likely have some additional announcments in the near future, so keep an eye out. In the meantime, watch us live on Sunday!

Episode 026: Digg Phallusophy

StephenTorrence — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 15:03:03 +0000

Have you ever actually rubbed elbows with a celebrity? Everyone talks about doing that, but seriously, have you ever actually gone up to a star and asked “can I rub my elbow against your elbow?” Hmm…

Well, in any case, we got to do something akin to that this past weekend at the Bigg Digg Shindigg during SXSW in Austin, Texas. Matt and I got to watch Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht record a live DiggNation at Stubb’s BBQ and then meet both them plus a bunch of other web celebrities in the crowd afterward. Yeah, we geeked out to the MAX, but it was totally and completely worth it! Oh yeah, and among all the hoopla we managed to record a new BF. Check out the links below for Facebook pictures of us waiting in line and of the show itself. It was AWESOME.

Gallery One – Waiting in line, recording, posing, other shenanigans

Gallery Two – Live recording, celebrity mingling

Episode 025: Squidalien

StephenTorrence — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 18:58:18 +0000

Fear not, good mortals! Bad Philosophy is not gone. There’s just, y’know, this thing called “college.” Maybe you’ve heard of it? Well, in any case, it tends to take priority over this show (at least for now), and that’s why this episode has taken so long to come out. You’ve probably all seen Watchmen by now, but in any case we’ve got our own take on the movie after seeing it at a drive-in theater (yes, you read that right). Satisfying your grit quota since 2008, it’s time for some BF…

Episode 024: Slumming With Destiny

StephenTorrence — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 17:31:11 +0000

We’re back! Pardon the week off. We had to deal with a rather unexpected chainsaw-wielding polar bear invasion, but all is good now… except for Kevin’s leg … Anyway! This week BF took a trip to the movies, grilling Hollywood’s latest Oscar fetish, Slumdog Millionaire with first-time guest Eric Braden. We also delved deep into the realm of free will vs. determinism, where Eric and I pulled no punches in our quest to disprove the other. Oh, and the audio was FRAKKING AMAZING if I do say so myself. Enjoy, peeps!

Episode 023: The Birds and the Babies

StephenTorrence — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 16:47:58 +0000

When a man and a woman love each other very much… they listen to Bad Philosophy together! This week neither panelist woes nor audio troubles nor the relentless Lubbock wind could keep us from recording BF. Numero Uno fanboy Jed brought Danielle, a [female] friend from Colorado, onto the show to talk about BABIES. You know… those cute, pink little flesh-wads that scream and crap a lot? Of course, we took some very BF detours, and we swear we didn’t let Kevin talk the whole time (really). So put on a diaper, slam an adrenaline shot into your heart, and crank up the Barry Manilow. It’s time to BF!