50: Barrel Week

This week, Merlin helps a friend and John disallows an awkward neologism. John wonders who refills the store-smell machine. John surprises Merlin by (finally) watching the film, _Les Misérables_, and shares his impressions. What works, what doesn’t, and why does the sewer need to be so sewery? In a surprisingly robust main topic, John recalls his youth spent playing handball and many other New York street games that Merlin had assumed were just made up. Dodgeball is debated, Merlin shares his very very sad homemade games, and John reluctantly learns about stolen valor and the people who pretend to be cops. Less surprisingly, there’s some important Follow-Up on…Follow-Up. John revisits the provenance of his invention and its legacy, and reveals a double-turns-out about the role Merlin’s bit may unintentionally play in ensuring its proper credit. Merlin just wishes everyone could be happy with how everybody already likes them, but John makes sure Merlin’s week in the barrel includes some candid feedback from listeners. Finding themselves suddenly short on time, your hosts talk about Merlin’s recent acquisition of a MacBook Adorable and why it can sometimes be so danged hard to recommend Apple products. John looks at the background of photos, star-effs with a showrunner, and explains why he documented his withdrawal of a very nice gift to The Original Peaches. (_Recorded on Tuesday, April 11, 2017._)