Ghosts of Bad Expectations

Links TK  🫡—The Management

Off Menu with Andi Osho — [00:02:29]Merlin’s latest Off Menu listening leads to Blue Lights, Gerry, and a Game of Thrones name that becomes its own joke. This is Osho’s November 4 episode.Blue Lights — BritBox Trailer — [00:02:29]Andi Osho’s Off Menu appearance prompts a detour through Blue Lights, Gerry, and Richard Dormer’s other familiar role.International Order of the Rainbow for Girls — [00:06:40]Remembering his mother’s Rainbow Girls involvement leads Merlin to measure the age of his own references.DeMolay International — [00:06:40]DeMolay joins Rainbow Girls in the conversation about old organizations and family memories.You Can See Everything — A24 — [00:08:04]The previous member show’s challenge is held for the aftershow so the hosts can discuss the film with spoilers.Steve Kornacki’s 2026 Election Livestream — [00:11:49]The central recommendation: the full 10-hour, 38-minute Kornacki Cam stream, including the production around the broadcast appearances. Merlin wants Kornacki and Adam back in the same room.Hanna-Barbera Sound Effects Library — Demonstration — [00:13:17]A misunderstood cartoon noise becomes a tour of familiar sound effects, including the quick entrances and exits Merlin recognizes in Portlandia.Hanna-Barbera Sound Effects Library — Sound Ideas — [00:13:26]The collection behind the sound-effects detour. Merlin recalls acquiring a CD of the familiar cartoon noises.Making a Murderer — [00:15:44]Wisconsin election geography reminds Merlin of the series, which concerns Manitowoc County.Shepard Fairey’s Barack Obama Portrait — National Portrait Gallery — [00:16:44]Alex recalls Grant Park in 2008; the Obama campaign imagery takes a darker turn in Merlin’s “Hope Drones” variation.Kurt Vonnegut — Slaughterhouse-Five — [00:21:53]Late vote counting brings Vonnegut’s “mopping up” description to Merlin’s mind.Instacart’s Carrot and Arrow — [00:26:15]Merlin explains the green arrow inside the carrot, while Alex’s difficulty spotting hidden arrows produces Arrow Blind.Paul Rand’s UPS Identity — [00:27:13]The old UPS package tied with string supplies the neighboring logo example. This page shows Rand’s actual identity work.The Man Behind the FedEx Logo — Lindon Leader Interview — [00:27:16]Alex’s difficulty seeing the hidden arrow supplies “Arrow Blind.” The logo’s designer explains how the arrow emerged between the E and x.Harry Nilsson — Me and My Arrow — [00:27:39]The logo conversation becomes a song through the word arrow.Harry Nilsson — Without You — [00:27:56]Merlin sings the refrain while asking Alex about Nilsson, before the Lennon anecdote.The Beatles — Penny Lane — [00:29:08]The Lennon and Nilsson story reaches a Beatles-song punch line.The Beatles — Yesterday — [00:29:16]The spoken Scrambled Eggs reference is taken as an allusion to Yesterday’s working title; the identification is an inference.Gus’s Community Market — Its History — [00:29:57]Merlin explains the Sunset grocery trip that supplied the election-night charcuterie board.John Mulaney — Long Victorian Nightgown — [00:30:56]The rushed grocery trip recalls Mulaney’s bit about being handed an enormous Billabong T-shirt.The Mountain Goats — The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton — [00:31:30]Denton is one of the places Merlin knows through songs, starting the Texas portion of the playlist.The Mountain Goats — All Hail West Texas — [00:32:20]Merlin names the album while the musical map of Texas moves from Denton to El Paso.Marty Robbins — El Paso — [00:32:21]Merlin’s musical map of Texas reaches Marty Robbins. This is the full-length recording.The Blues Brothers — Rawhide Scene — [00:32:49]The country-and-western exchange recalls the Blues Brothers playing behind chicken wire at Bob’s Country Bunker.Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys — San Antonio Rose — [00:33:07]A Bob Wills classic to accompany Merlin’s distinction between country and Western music.Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys — Take Me Back to Tulsa — [00:33:07]More Western swing from Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys.Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks — I Feel Like Singing — [00:33:08]Merlin follows Bob Wills with Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks, then names “I Feel Like Singing.”Do By Friday 473 — Songs Mentioned — [00:33:15]The episode’s musical detours, from Nilsson and the Beatles through Western swing, Fleetwood Mac, and the Rolling Stones.Savannah Guthrie’s Donald Trump Town Hall — NBC / Telemundo — [00:35:48]The hosts recall Guthrie questioning Trump in the 2020 town hall, including the staging with both of them on stools.The Newsroom — [00:36:45]Aaron Sorkin’s newsroom becomes a comparison for the election broadcast’s set and the people working around Kornacki.Fleetwood Mac — Rhiannon (The Midnight Special, 1976) — [00:43:53]Stevie Nicks introduces the song about an old Welsh witch in this 1976 Midnight Special performance.Fleetwood Mac — Gypsy — [00:44:00]Alex questions the song’s title, and Merlin answers with Honorable Roma.The Rolling Stones — She’s a Rainbow — [00:45:28]A colorful-Mac detour supplies the final identifiable song in the main recording.Patrick Stewart’s Circumcision Story — The Graham Norton Show — [00:47:20]The late conversation recalls Stewart learning that he had misunderstood his own circumcision status.

We talked about the film.Links TK

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