The GOOD Parts of Growing Up Millennial

Welcome to #Millennial, the home of pretend adulting and real COFFEE talk! Spencer Mahoney of Atomic Coffee Roasters joins us to talk all things coffee business, blowing up on TikTok, craft coffee culture, and more! Whether you're a caffeine aficionado or a total newbie, Spender has recommendations for what and how you can order your next cup o' joe. Do we really need to go to a craft shop to get a solid brew, or can we make the magic happen at home? Do indie or "hipster" coffee shops intimidate everyone, or just us? Spencer makes recommendations to US based on our preferred flavor profiles! How do we prefer our coffee? On the scale of "black like my soul" to "dessert", we're closer to wanting our coffee to taste like coffee. With the lingo that Pam is throwing down, Spencer confirms that Pam is a real barista who truly knows her stuff. When we're not caffeinating, what drinks are we looking forward to in the summer? (Diet Coke counts as caffeination Laura, PICK SOMETHING ELSE!) Our summer alcoholic beverages of choice: Truly (watermelon or grapefruit), High Noon pineapple vodka soda, and Red Stripe (hooray beer!) We want to name you listeners. Stay tuned. In this week's recommendations Pam and Laura prepare you for summer and Andrew joins the 21st century: protect your pets from the heat (or else Laura will break your car windows to rescue your furry friends), Vacation Super Spritz face mist (Pam), and the GoveeLife Smart Electric Kettle (Andrew). And in this week's installment of After Dark, available on Patreon and Apple Podcasts: We had so much fun with our "Surprise Bitch!" revival last week, we decided to call a few more people and ask... "What's your problem with Andrew? We're making a list." "If Pam and Laura were drowning and you could only save one, who would it be?" "What do you hate about the show?" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to #Millennial, the home of pretend adulting and real talk! The internet had some real talk for Watcher Entertainment in the wake of its announcement it was leaving YouTube and paywalling its previously free content. The response from their fans was swift and harsh, leading to Watcher rolling back its new model. Laura's been a fan of the Watcher team for years, and was disappointed by their approach to pivot to a 100% paid subscription model. The lack of consideration for their paid supporters on Patreon and the push to put past and future content behind a paywall showed a disconnect with where their audience is at currently. What content are we looking for from our favorite parasocial relationships? We hear it again and again - authenticity is waaaaay more important than production value.  Reddit inspired us to take a more sunny approach towards the millennial experience by asking ourselves, "what are the best things about being a millennial?" The internet just hit different back in our day - we all hid behind weird screen names and avatars. Are millennials the most adaptable generation when it comes to technology? We (especially Andrew) count our blessings that our cringiest youth moments weren't documented to be judged for all eternity. #findandrewssimsgf Tbh we were feral as kids, roaming the neighborhood and getting into mischief until the street lights came on (and sometimes after). We've got entertainment recs for y'all this week! 'Gen V' on Amazon Prime (Laura), 'Pen15' on Hulu (Pam), and 'Challengers' (Andrew). And in this week's installment of After Dark, available on Patreon and Apple Podcasts: Remember the really rude "Surprise Bitch!" segment we used to do back in the day? We're resurrecting it for After Dark. We're randomly dialing up a few Patrons to ask them random questions like what basic thing they suck at, how they handle having a bad day, and what the last thing was they disagreed with us on. "Andrew has bad taste in movies." -A loyal listener giving it to Andrew straight. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to #Millennial, the home of pretend adulting and REAL ocean talk! We're joined this week by Benjamin Hamlington, a research scientist in the NASA Sea Level and Ice Group. Benjamin helps us to understand better how our oceans are impacted by climate change, and further how they're actually absorbing more of the impact than the public realizes. What do rising sea levels actually mean for coastal communities? The best thing individuals can do to contribute to moving the needle on this issue: spread the word and stay informed with reliable sources. We also cover some of the latest headlines in the "shit sandwich" format: perfectly toasted and flavorful on the outside to prepare your palette for the shit middle. Disney is adding channels to Disney+ - do we see ourselves using these? The US says that TikTok parent company ByteDance must sell TikTok within a year, otherwise we'll have to go somewhere else for all our silly little fyp trends. But ByteDance says 'lol pull the fucking trigger bitch.' Andrew can know no peace: not only is his Andrew in the Air account at risk of TikTok gets banned, the drone he uses to shoot beautiful landscapes and spy on neighbors may also get banned! As war wages on in Gaza, nationwide student-led anti-war protests have become a fixture at colleges and universities, resulting in a ton of confusing press and numerous arrests of peaceful protesters. The poopiest of all: Harvey Weinstein's sex crimes charges in New York overturned. There is still some good news at the end of the day: airlines must now issue automatic refunds for delayed and canceled flights. This week's recommendations will keep you entertained and give you a break from all this nonsense: The 6-episode series 'Knuckles' on Paramount+ (Laura), 'Degrees of Engagement' by Jennifer Hennessy (Pam), and 'The Boys' on Amazon Prime (Andrew). And in this week's installment of After Dark, available on Patreon and Apple Podcasts: Why you so awkward lol? How millennials have adopted 'lol' as a discourse marker to diffuse awkwardness and save face. We source real life examples of ourselves and others using 'lol' as a "I'm hanging on by a thread, but no biggie!" moment. But we can also be petty with it... Friendship icks: what are some potential red flags in knowing if someone is your people or not? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to #Millennial, the home of pretend adulting and some real REAL talk this week. But first: Taylor interrupts Pam's nighttime routine with a late night drop of The Tortured Poets Department. Does it live up to the hype? Did Andrew just confess to murdering former members of the pod? A not-so-fun update in the name of resiliency: Laura shares that she has multiple sclerosis (MS), what her journey to diagnosis looked like, and how she's doing now. What it's like to move through the stages of grief and eventually reach a space of processing through humor. We cover questions from our Patrons to go a little more in depth on Laura's experiences living with a chronic illness. Most important of all, we talk about the representation of MS in The West Wing, Laura's favorite show. As we continue on this journey we call life, we'll face different hurdles that challenge our mental health. How are we all doing? The panel shares what outlets help us get a mental break from the tough shit, and what resources we use to work through it. Journaling, limiting distractions, mid-day walks, crossword puzzles are all things we here at the show use to break up our days and limit stress and anxiety. Pam shares the 4-7-8 Breathing Method as well as the 5-4-3-2-1 Coping Technique This week's recommendations are good for the soul: donate to the Shepherd Center for World MS Day (Laura), Brick to help limit screentime (Andrew), and attending the yearly Record Store Day (Pam). And in this week's installment of After Dark, available on Patreon and Apple Podcasts: "If your dog and a loved one were drowning and you could only save 1, who would it be?" "Umm which 'loved' one are we talking about?" Inspired by a NYT Ethics column, we'll be playing a classic game of 'Would You Rather...?' What's worse? Having legs as long as your fingers, or fingers as long as your legs? (We spend way to much time imagining how this would play out - absolute nightmare fuel.) Andrew hits us with a super secret surprise question... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to #Millennial, the home of pretend adulting and real talk! The juice is loose (in hell) and our buttholes are puckered as things in the Middle East teeter dangerously towards a regional conflict. We were all little when the OJ drama went down, but raise your hand if you remember the bronco chase on the news? We're struggling with being over the hill: "peak millennials" (aged 33-34) are shaping the economy. Where do we see ourselves living, and do we like our living situations now? "So are y'all good?" "Uh... emotionally?" Is homeownership really the American dream we were all sold? There are definitely some perks to renting after all. Andrew is going to shadow drop news of his nuptials, so don't expect a wedding invite sorry not sorry. Like our other milestones, will millennials just have kids later in life? We don't want kids, are we part of the problem? There is no common thread in this week's recommendations: 'Fallout' on Amazon Prime (Laura), investing in a walking pad (Pam), and using this tool to check the status of your tax refund (in the United States). And in this week's installment of After Dark, available on Patreon and Apple Podcasts: AMA part 2! We cover questions we didn't get to last week, as well as add some new ones to the mix! Do we still talk to former podcasting partners, and is there bad blood there? Andrew and Pam pique Laura's curiosity about freelancing, and Andrew gives some solid practical tips for success on Bumble BFF. Have we ever been recognized in public? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to #Millennial, the show whose name can't be spelled without three massive L's! It may have been a total eclipse of the heart in the path of totality, but Laura was underwhelmed by what 85% coverage during the solar eclipse looked like in Atlanta. Would you spend $949 to stay in a Super 8 motel to watch a major event like the eclipse? The moon ain't done slaying yet: the lunar queen is set to get her own timezone! We look at other examples of rare-ish events, and bucket list destinations and adventures! Who wore it better? Manhattanhenge or Andrew's Homehenge? Looks like most millennials have a 50-50 shot of seeing Halley's comet in 2061. Will Andrew re-evaluate his death age again in light of this knowledge? We share our own bucket list destination goals: Balloon fiesta, Devil's Pool at Victoria falls, and the Monarch Butterfly Migration. As 90's kids, it's impossible to not address 'Quiet On Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV,' which reveals the downright abusive environment of Nickelodeon live action shows through the 90's and early 2000s. In response to the popularity of this documentary, a 5th episode ("Breaking The Silence") aired this past weekend - do we feel it added anything to the documentary? And why was it arranged so... weird? What was it like to watch this as Nickelodeon kids ourselves? Does this completely taint our memories of the channel? We hope this week's recommendations inspire you to make things easier for yourself: Take a mental health day (Laura), TravelPro luggage (Pam), and signing up for a Spotify family plan in light of plan prices increasing (Andrew). And in this week's installment of After Dark, available on Patreon and Apple Podcasts: It's AMA time! We take our Patrons' burning questions about the BTS life of podcasting. Do we ever worry about someone we've talked shit on finding their way behind the paywall? Why have Andrew and Laura been saying no to a certain annual event? Some never before revealed MuggleSuck tea... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to #Millennial, the home of pretend adulting and real talk! Andrew recaps meeting Chloé and throwing her to the 'wolves' (Or as a normal people would call them, his friends) Vinyl records have outsold CDs for the second year running, and even cassette tapes are having a moment - what year is it?! Billie Eilish faces backlash for calling out artists who sell multiple variants of an album on vinyl, despite partaking in that practice herself. You don't want to see Pam angry: even Taylor's amount of vinyl variants have pushed her over the edge, and she's pissed! Pam provides a mini-review of Beyonce's Renaissance Act 2: Cowboy Carter and plugs her favorite tunes from the new album! Somehow Laura ended up on home surveillance footage Tiktok, and it's shocking how easy it is to go down THAT rabbit hole. What is it with people who have every single notification turned on? Let Pam water her flowers in peace! Andrew and Laura don't usually watch their live doorbell feeds, but when they do, it's because the neighbors are up to some shenanigans. Get the popcorn! PSA: You aren't obligated to hand over your home surveillance footage to law enforcement unless presented with a warrant or court order. This week's recommendations will keep you entertained and organized: X-Men '97 (Laura), Switched on Pop's podcast episode 'Beyoncé's Country' (Pam), and these custom vinyl dividers to keep your record collection nice and neat (Andrew). And in this week's installment of After Dark, available on Patreon and Apple Podcasts: Who's a petty bitch? raises hand It turns out many people self-identify as petty, so we indulge ourselves in our pettiness for a half hour. Break checking on the road, trolling online gamers, cold shouldering, and more! We've done and seen it all. We absolutely don't recommend sending your enemies exotic animal poop or gummy dicks to get petty revenge. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to #Millennial, the home of pretend adulting and REAL tech talk! With a heavy tech focus this week, we look at Meta's sneaky inclusion of a new content filter, the US Department of Justice's lawsuit against Apple, and the most horrifying revelation of all: the Facebook poke is having a resurgence. We're all fans of Apple products and have no plans to ditch our iPhones anytime soon, but we can definitely see how Apple makes switching to another smartphone brand difficult. The DOJ says this amounts to harming the competitive process and costing consumers more money. At this point, Smartphones are a public utility and probably do need some regulation - but to what extent? "We 'discovered' a revolutionary secure texting technology that no one has ever thought of integrating into iPhone (until we were legally forced)." Facebook "poke" usage is reportedly up by 13x after Meta increased the feature's prominence. Let your inner child cringe at the memories of flirt poking and creepy posting. Let. it. consume. you. What even IS poking? It's flirting, right? We visit our own poke pages and find some very stale pokes we left on read for 17 years. Sorry! This week's recommendations are a grab bag: 'Quiet On Set' (available on Max, Hulu, and Amazon Prime) (Pam), Balatro (Andrew), and the glow deep serum by Beauty of Joseon (Laura). And in this week's installment of After Dark, available on Patreon and Apple Podcasts: Are you a millennial who still cuts up the plastic rings that hold six packs together to save the turtles? This installment on compulsory habits instilled during childhood is for you! Close the fridge, turn off the water, and cut the lights: YOU'RE WASTING SO MUCH ENERGY, IT'S JUST FLOOOWWING OUT! Did D.A.R.E actually work on us as a generation? Probably with most things except weed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We're taking this week off from recording a regular episode, so we're releasing a recent installment of After Dark to the masses! In this chat (which was recorded after our Love Languages episode in February with Dr. Morgan Levy), our string of friendship-oriented discussions continue as we discuss the idea of "loud budgeting." How can you temper the expectations of friends when your spending habits are misaligned, but you still want to be their friend? We also discuss friendship boundaries more broadly. We record a new installment of After Dark every week! You can hear every episode by joining our Patreon or by signing up for Mega #Millennial through Apple Podcasts. By subscribing, you'll be helping us run and grow the show, so THANK YOU! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to #Millennial, the home of pretend adulting and real TikTok talk! Is a TikTok ban imminent? Where do we stand on whether or not it should be? FYI college applicants: words like "tapestry" and "beacon" are common tipoffs that you might have used ChatGPT to write your college admissions essay. We discuss how to use ChatGPT without revealing you did. We ask ChatGPT to write our hypothetical Harvard admissions essays, and the rumors are true: ChatGPT is really stuck on words like "tapestry" and "mosaic." How different is this latest trend from what has been happening since the dawn of time? People always look for ways to outsource work to save time. It's important to know how to use AI as a tool, not make it your entire strategy. This conversation reminds Pam (who is a stellar writer btw) of a college professor who really had it out for her and made her take remedial English. Critics were served some crow after months of criticism about Biden's age and cognitive sharpness when he showed up at the State of the Union and did okay. This political check in touches on all the fuckery: SCOTUS, Trump trials, and a foolish decision by the Fulton County DA. This week's recommendations will soothe and intrigue you: 'Jazz in the Rain' playlist on Spotify (Pam), Squishmallows (Andrew), and Neil DeGrasse Tyson's podcast Star Talk (Laura). And in this week's installment of After Dark: Let's go back to high school, specifically for the DANCES. How on earth did our schools think it was a good idea to include "Get Low" (a millennial fan favorite) in our middle school dances? And yes, there was bumping and grinding! "Con balls were my prom" "Come again?" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices