The Real Brian Show

It's Friday! And we're one week closer to Christmas. It's all too easy this time of year to get sucked into the vortex of presents and shopping, so we encourage you to listen to this podcast while you're doing something non commercial-holiday related. Maybe it's time to vacuum the spare bedroom... or clean out that closet you said you would clean out last year. With Brian and Anna (aka Mangodroplet) at the helm, we're going to be talking about a pretty heavy, and very relevant, topic. Sexual harassment, and the "Me Too" phenom, is a vital conversation to have and I think you'll find that our hosts do it justice. In This Episode Welcome Mangodroplet! What do you nerd out about? Gaming community Overwatch Sexual Harassment Anna's "Me Too" story Andy Weir's new book "Artemis" HOLIDAY LIGHTS! Me Too Did you know #MeToo isn't all that new? It went viral in October of this year, but the phrase was actually adopted by a social activist on MySpace back in '06! Tarana Burke created the concept as part of her campaig

As we draw deeper into the season of giving, of love and good cheer, and, most importantly, of hope, our conversations lead to the heart of matters that affect our relationships and, as a result, affect our community. Here at The Real Brian Show we are advocates for having the difficult conversations, for breaking complex human actions down into smaller pieces in an attempt to understand them, and encouraging one another to be the best version of ourselves. So join us in welcoming Mad Scientist back to the show! We get serious with a talk about the value of sympathy vs empathy, have some fun talking about Stranger Things 2 and Destiny 2. In This Episode Tis the season... ...to buy, buy, buy! Just kidding. It's the season of love and good cheer Finding other things to do than get and give... DO! Mad Scientist and His Med School Applications Sympathy vs Empathy and when to wield them Sympathy vs Empathy Sympathy (compassion, pity for someone) and empathy (personally understand someone) are significant traits

Under commitment, over commitment. We see it all in modern society. Carl, Brian and Emilee take a whack at dissecting what it is getting in our way, why we make promises we don't intend to keep or why we hold back from making any promises at all. It's Superhero Friday, though! Which means we're going to have a blast talking about all our favorite things, including Justice League (we promise only minor spoilers). In This Episode Emilee (Miss Ice) and Carl (CJ Thunder) join Brian! Act your age, not your shoe size Christmastime....is coming. Peppermint mocha, anyone? Emilee has never had Eggnog?! Commitment: we over commit and under commit Being intentional about promises, about things we commit to Being willing to have uncomfortable conversations Honesty versus a perception of sparing someone's feelings (this can be done in a respectful way) Justice League! Just Quit Remember the adage, nobody likes a quitter? Sometimes when this is used, it takes an action completely out of context. As I thought more about i

Welcome back to The Real Brian Show! On this installment of the podcast, before a brief hiatus as we break for Thanksgiving, we welcome Shear Terror (Morgan) back to the show. Did you know that Brian is 13" taller than Morgan? Yeah. Seriously. But height makes no different on a podcast, right? Our differences make us unique and give us unique experiences and give us a variety that makes life so well rounded. But our differences also cause bias, division and derision. Why? Oh, let us count the ways. In This Episode CSU Basketball Guild Wars... and making money What Feminism really means Stop the hate! Communication is suffering Stop the Hate Morgan and Brian (not to be confused with USWNT superstar Morgan Brian) have a great discussion about how the claws of feminism have turned something that is intrinsically good - the fight for equality in the value of human life, regardless of differences - into something that hurts the people who the cause claims is hurting them. Equality embraces differences, looking b

Welcome back to The Real Brian Show! This week we've invited Lee Stephen and Andrea Deck to join the discussion. We last spoke with Lee in Episode 86 and were eager to get him back. To add some flavor, we also recruited Andrea Deck, who is a voice, film and stage actor currently living in Great Britain. Together we chat about video games,what it's like being an American and living in England, voice acting, and Type-1 diabetes. Ready for some fun? In This Episode Thanksgiving in England Questions about living in England Currently nerding out about.... Video Games: Ghost Recon: Wildlands, Alien: Isolation Voice acting Type 1 Diabetes Andrea Deck You may recognize Andrea's voice before her face... Though she is known for film and television roles, she's also voiced a couple characters on well known video games! On Alien: Isolation she voiced the character Amanda Ripley and Martha Wayne on Batman: Arkham VR, as well as characters in Strike Suit Zero, Carol, and Star Wars Battlefront. As a Type-1 Diabetic, Andre

Happy Superhero Friday! In this installment of the podcast, I step out from behind the veil of the blog posts and co-host with Brian. We have a lot of fun with this discussion, including diving into one of my favorite topics... personality tests! There are several unmistakeable truths in this life: 1) the world is always changing, 2) sometimes things happen to us, and 3) we need to interact with people. Personality tests don't have an answer key, but they certainly produce tools for us to understand those 3 unmistakeable truths! In This Episode Wild Weather Animated movies Voice acting Personality Tests (Enneagram, MBTI) Learning to adjust with life changes Sci-Fi November! Stranger Things Season 2, Dark Matter Sometimes I Try To Be Normal Let's be honest, whenever we try to be normal... there's usually some colossal fallout. Right? Oh, maybe you can be successful at it, but whenever I try to be like everyone else all I end up doing is making people feel awkward! One of the reasons I love personality tests

Welcome to the Harry Potter episode of The Real Brian Show! From beginning to end, front to back, this is Harry Potter through and through We're drinking butterbeer, eating chocolate frogs (or nuance chocolate...), talking about our favorite (and least favorite) Harry Potter things. Basically, if you love Harry Potter, you're going to have a blast joining in this week. In This Episode Introductions all around! What does Harry Potter mean to you? Favorite characters! Least favorite characters! TRIVIA Taste testing Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans Harry Potter If there was ever a conversation I wish I could have been a part of, it was this one! Harry Potter is such a unique book series in how so many different people from so many walks of life can connect to it in different ways...at various stages of life. In one of the most powerful world-building series ever written, we can completely lose ourselves to a story of misfits, of outcasts, and of severe friendship. So because I want to join in on the fun, here a

When circumstances dominate us it is easier to notice how the things we think manifest in our lives. Let's talk about balance and how we can turn the negative outcomes into positive ones! Camron is back from the city that never sleeps, so he and Brian dive right into another fantastic Superhero Friday installment of The Real Brian Show. In This Episode Do you like Autumn? Hopefully more than the Nightfox... Guinness and Gouda Bread, courtesy of Great Harvest Will Smith's motivational sky diving speech What we think about ourselves and about our situations manifest Happiness is a choice Alien: Isolation and Overwatch comments Manifests “What you sow in thought, either useful or useless, manifests itself sooner or later in your circumstances.” Cogito ergo sum. I think, therefore I am. It's a phrase people toss around like candy at an Independence Day parade, thinking there is so much pride in thinking and, thus, being. The phrase, originally penned by Rene Descartes (philosopher from the 1600s), was fascina

Happy Superhero Friday! While the Nightfox is hittin' up the City that Never Sleeps, Brian recruits Lee Stephen to fill in his shoes. Great expectations is definitely a theme here, but we also venture into the traditional nerdy topics about video games and television. We talk about ways we relieve stress, pet peeves about storytelling, and inspirational health tips. In This Episode Fancy coffee is for GIRLS! Real men drink black coffee straight from the pot Stress relievers Pet peeves about storytelling Great Expectations (no, not the novel) When what we EXPECT is different from what happens Mastering expectations.... is tough Hugely impacted by Pain Reframed podcacst Expectations Did you ever listen to Dashboard Confessional? I can still sing along to every song on the album A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar. A couple of their songs are randomly integrated into a couple of my spotify playlist, so they're still relatively on my radar. Spotify does this thing where it creates a playlist for you based on

Kids these days! They have no idea. That is what we're talking about this Superhero Friday! That and so much more, like how important it is to stop and smell the colors...and take care of your health. In This Episode Stop and smell the colors! Star Trek: Discovery, The Orville Ad hoc TV viewing Staying healthy How Turmeric and Coconut Oil are good for us What the Health?! Fall Workouts I am the master of avoiding the gym. There is nothing appealing to me about getting on a machine and sweating it out inside... or lifting weights in front of a mirror. I will do everything I can to workout outdoors. For almost 15 years, my go-to was running! I ran 4-6 miles a day, 5x a week. I never needed anything else. But as many know, I have been unable to run much anymore because of bad knees. It took a little over two years to fully transition off of running to something else that I could really throw myself into the way I was able to with running, and I've finally discovered it: jumping rope. If you want to get a KILLE

In this special interview installment of The Real Brian Show, we have the privilege of speaking with Dr. Daphne Scott. We know of Dr. Scott from her podcast, EIM's Inside Leadership Podcast, but there are a host of reasons she is this week's guest! From physical therapist to corporate coach, Dr. Scott brings two decades of experience to help her clients and listeners achieve success through relationship building and creativity! In This Episode Welcome, Daphne! Where have you come from, where did you go? Training with the Second City Improvisational Conservatory Program Bad at leadership led Daphne into a deep dive of the subject A coach is often cast as a hero Brain challenges standing in our way to ultimate success Character Traits When considering a job or a position with responsibilities, there are certain character traits that necessarily go along with it. Often, I think we confuse character traits and skills; where a character trait may be "resourceful", it's skill counterpart may be "proactive". Reall

Happy Fall Y'all! Brian and The Nightfox are back with another Superhero Friday installment to kick off what appears to be a glorious weekend ahead. It is only by listening that you'll truly understand the featured topic of discussion: HasBen and Jackwagons! But we've got a well-rounded discussion for you, ranging from Batfleck to Toys R Us to helping the homeless. In case you missed it, this Monday we released an awesome interview with Jonathan of Harbinger Coffee. If you love coffee, love passionate people, or love stories about growing a small business, this interview has a lot to offer and we highly recommend you check it out. In This Episode Fall is upon us! Allergies Arrow Squad MERCH! Toys R Us is filing for bankruptcy! Let's talk about the homeless HasBen and Jackwagons In the last week I, your TRBS commentator, found a couple things that I just can't keep to myself. I've been on a recipe-trying spree and finding a ton of great keepers, but every once in a while I try that overly-simple-but-just-can

Welcome to the Real Brian Show! In this installment of the podcast, Brian goes on location to Harbinger Coffee, a home-grown Fort Collins coffee roaster and cafe, to chat up founder Jonathan Jarrow about his passion and mission. We love passion here at The Real Brian Show. We love passion and we love coffee, which means we go bonkers for people who are passionate about coffee. Even if you aren't a coffee drinker, we think you will find this discussion fascinating because in it a lot of really common questions get answered about dark vs light roasts, what a lot of the coffee tasting jargon means, and how to know whether you're getting a good cup of coffee. In This Episode Intro to Jonathan Jarrow and Harbinger Coffee Jonathan's origin story Where did Harbinger begin? Let's talk ROASTING Cupping: say what? How to get some 'a that coffee we're tasting Harbinger Coffee Harbinger (n.): a person or thing that announces or signals the approach of another Coffee roasters are as common as breweries in some cities

Look no further! Within you will find 4 ways to be happier and more fulfilled. Plus, we get real about when it's OK to swear, how off base the critics are about The Orville, and everything we love about LIGHTS and The Script. The Real Brian and The Nightfox join forces once again to bring you an episode filled with serious craziness and crazy seriousness. In This Episode The Orville is Star Trek meets Galaxy Quest. Yes, we went there. Letter from Patty Spivot makes us ask... when is it OK to swear? Music: Derek Minor, LIGHTS, The Script A little advice from Jim Rohn on how to be happier and more fulfilled Be Happier From the mouth of Jim Rohn and through the filter of the Real Brian Show, we have for you four ways that can lead you toward being happier and experiencing fulfillment. If you change… everything will change for you. Change starts with YOU. If you want to have more _____, you have to become more _____. Success isn't something you pursue, it's something you attract. Don’t wish it were easier.  Wi

Being alone together! That's what pocket screens have done to our society. We can be together, have the world at our fingertips and also shut it out at the same time. For this Superhero Friday, this episode is best listened to blasting from a boombox held high above your head as you take a walk down a residential street. Bring the town together! Or, ya know, headphones and a dark room will do too. In This Episode Throwing litter in the bushes is not cool Getting up to Estes Park Healthy routine is BACK! Pocket screens are making social gathering anti-social. Travesty! New music! Check out ODESZA and Triton Hurricane Irma Links Tritonal: Painting with Dreams Tritonal: Only Mortal ODESZA: A Moment Apart

From hurricanes to forest fires, the U S of A is being ravaged by Mother Nature. She can bring beautiful gifts, like introverts, in one moment, and then the next she's reminding you why They call her Mama. Returning in this Superhero Friday installment are The Nightfox and Shear Terror, where we talk about so so much. Not just natural disasters, but also introverts (it won't surprise you that I, your fearless blog post author, match about 95% of the facts about introverts), and the Pumpkin Spice Latte, and about aggressive drivers. In This Episode Forest Fires (The Western U.S. is on fire) Pumpkin Spice Latte is back. Already. The Introvert video... and 10 facts about introverts. Where do you fall? Snakes, spiders, scorpions, oh my. Forest Fires The northern border of the USA has been rather smokey for several months now, but in the last week more fires in the Pacific Northwest began popping up and contributing to the seemingly endless haze. Here in Minnesota we get a small taste of that fire, appearing lik

Thank God it's Friday! The Nightfox is back from his trip to Las Vegas and while he waits to hear updates on his niece, he joined Brian behind the mic for this week's Superhero Friday installment. If you've been looking for a Monday episode recently, you're not alone. Due to busy summer schedules and real life stuff, Monday episodes have been on a little hiatus. In This Episode Hurricane Harvey & how to help The Nightfox got a mattress recommendation... Casper Wave Reading about healthy living... and the advantages of drinking water Marvel's Defenders: We like it Star Wars Clone Wars: Finally finished! The trip to Vegas Know how much Brian likes country music? Like a Hurricane by Luke Combs Like a Hurricane Hurricane Harvey left billions of dollars in damages in his enormous wake. There are relief efforts going on all across the nation and there are many, many ways for you to contribute. On Monday (August 28), JJ Watt (DE for the Houston Texans) started a relief fund to help the community he serves a

While The Nightfox tends to a family emergency in the city that never sleeps, Captain Influence joins The Real Brian for this installment of The Real Brian Show! That means... Happy Superhero Friday! Lots happened in the world this week, including the eclipse which stretched across the United States and Netflix's release of Marvel's Defenders. Also on the agenda are some tidbits about healthy eating, the data backup software Crashplan, and talking about how annoying it is when gaming feels like work. In This Episode The Eclipse happened Gaming: fun vs work TV: Marvel's Defenders Movies: The Dark Tower Crashplan (data backup) is going away Coffee roaster is toast Out of Coffee Since Brian's coffee roaster died, I received a nice big bag of coffee beans from a local Colorado roaster called Beagle, which I must say is quite fantastic. The building in which the company I work for rents space is also home to a coffee roaster, here in Minnesota, and  that process is a quite deceiving. Based on the end result, you

We're glad you're joining us on this glorious Superhero Friday! As the historical lunar eclipse approaches, we won't squander the opportunity to talk about it. Have you heard that it's supposed to be the most photographed, most Tweeted, most Facebooked event in history? I suppose it's not all that surprising, given Moore's Law, and yet there is no greater time for such an event to take place. As people flood to the 70 mile strip of land that stretches from Oregon to South Carolina to witness the Great American Eclipse, the first one to touch the U.S. since 1979, those of us who do not fall right within its path are eager and hungry for what will inevitably be a inducing sight. In This Episode The Terran Eclipse Camron's reaction to Monday's episode August 21 Eclipse Got some incredible feedback from Monday's episode, THANK YOU! Minimalism Documentary The Bolt Backpack! Movies: Dark Tower, B Movies on Netflix The Eclipse If you fall within the ideal line of the solar eclipse, please send in your photos! I'd

After a short hiatus, the Real Brian Show crew is back to explain why beard nets are all the rage, among your other favorite conversations. Brian and his wife traveled through Seattle on their way to Alaska (scroll down for a photo gallery!). We'll review Dunkirk and Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. Then, as such things are always on our minds... we'll talk about our favorite delectables. Links Awesome trip to Seattle & Alaska! Pike Market and Starbucks Reserve among the highlights. Movies: Dunkirk & Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets Vietnamese Coffee. What is it? Dive a little deeper. New expansion for Guild Wars 2