S09.E05: Shining Examples

As competition in the Gizmonic Institute division ramps up, Ben, Mike and Matthew first have to journey to the Overlook hotel to see where other pop culture properties have appropriated elements of The Shining, then try to wrap their brains around what passes for children’s lit in another round all about Little Golden Books. But as it so often does, it really all comes down to the lightning round.

NOTES

⚠️ Inline notes below may be truncated due to podcast feed character limits. Full notes are always on the episode page.

🌫️ Matt Damon did, indeed, want the Bourne video games to be more like Myst.

🍍 The Psych episode in question is season 6, episode 11, “Heeeeere's Lassie.”

🥚 There are, of course, Easter eggs that everyone is looking for in Ready Player One.

🥁 The BGC-19 drum machine scorebreak. The BGC-19 drum machine: for when you have to fight the alien queen but want to lay down some beats while you’re at it. [6/10 I’ll buy the action figure, but marked down for Rocketship X-M]

🎢 There are shockingly few Little Golden Books based on Disney Rides. Get on that!

🪴 It’s not really clear from the movie, but ET was a botanist.

🤡 Ronald McDonald has a weird backstory, but nothing about a perm.

🤷‍♂️ The Johnny Long Torso - The Man Who Comes In Pieces scorebreak. Johnny Longtorso - The Man Who Comes In Pieces: He's long! [5/10 I probably made my parents buy this for me as a child]

🐻 Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey is a result of the original falling out of copyright protection.

🦈 The first question on Google about Big Shark is “What is Big Shark about?” which betrays a shocking lack of imagination.

🇩🇰 Hamlet is performed more in Germany than in England.

🐦 Ben is on Twitter

🇪🇺 Ben talks Eurovision on his podcast

💻 His website with all of his online stuff is at Good At Internet

🎞️ Matthew podcasts at Second Screening

🤔 Submit your At-Home Riddle or Harmonic Mean answer