• Welcome to #Millennial, the home of pretend adulting and real talk!
• Off the top, we tune into the Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing on banned books and free speech, see the full clip HERE.
• We’ll love you forever if you take a few minutes to fill out our 2023 listener survey to help us improve the show!
• Rumors of an NSYNC reunion began swirling earlier in the year when the first trailer for ‘Trolls: Band Together’ seemingly made several references to iconic 90s boy bands. 
• Anticipation reached a fever pitch when all five members of NSYNC attended the MTV Video Music Awards to present the Best Pop Video award to Taylor Swift. A couple of other cryptic messages from the band culminated in NSYNC announcing their first single in over two decades… for the ‘Trolls 3’ movie.
• In a deep dive on Vulture, we learned that studios and publicists are able to successfully skew movie rating scores. 
• Do movie reviews mean anything to us? Are we easily influenced by the Tomatometer?
• Have we ever been influenced by reviews or even publicists trying to wine and dine us?
• Cancel culture in 2023 vs 2017: Lizzo sued by former backup dancers for creating a hostile work environment and Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis take heat for writing character letters for Danny Masterson in the wake of his rape convictions.
• What is the line between boss/friend for Lizzo’s backup dancers?
• Have inappropriate behaviors towards underage minors reduced, or just shifted and look different now?
• This week’s recommendations will keep you entertained, educated, and well-rested! ‘Hot Ones’ featuring NSYNC (coming Thursday) (Pam), scheduling “learning time” for yourself (Andrew), and establishing a good pre-sleep routine of journaling, meditating, and winding down (Laura).

And in this week’s installment of After Dark:

• Inspired by Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis, let’s get canceled for writing character defense letters for each others’ crimes against humanity.
• “Hey all he had to do was buy you a slice of pizza to avoid being axe murdered.”
• Pam is on her Vigilante Shit!

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• Welcome to #Millennial, the home of pretend adulting and real talk!
• Laura “wins” a longstanding “game,” and Andrew toasts to the end of an era.
• LendingTree and Credit Karma have conducted surveys of millennials and Gen Z’ers to look at reasons why our age groups may be incurring debt in the pursuit of love. 
• Younger generations are more likely to accrue “dating debt” than older generations. We get personal and share how much we’ve spent on dating.
• Even though it feels like we’re always spending, spending, spending, traditional shopping is dying. (Yet another thing to blame millennials for!)
• Believe it or not, the majority of consumers (54%) prefer shopping in-store, as opposed to online. (We could never.)
• If you think listening to podcasts helps combat loneliness, how do you think it helps podcast hosts? This show is our social lives!!
• If you lean on podcasts for companionship, check out this article in the Washington Post about how people use podcasts to fill this gap. 
• What is the relationship between arousal and focus? What content do we consume to help us focus?
• This week’s recommendations will empower and entertain: SHOOT YOUR SHOT (Andrew), ‘Once More with Feeling’ by Elissa Sussman, and Baldur’s Gate 3 (Laura).

And in this week’s installment of After Dark:

• Laura opens up about a crazy squatting situation her complex experienced last year. The reason police couldn’t do anything about it is WILD.
• Andrew provides a neighbor update, and may or may not be doing surveillance droning to learn more.

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• Welcome to #Millennial, the home of pretend adulting and real talk!
• We kick off the show on a somber note as another one of Andrew’s death predictions comes true. The hosts reminisce on the legacy of legendary ‘The Price Is Right’ host Bob Barker, as well as recently passed artists Jimmy Buffet, and Smash Mouth’s Steve Harwell.
• The drones are coming– at least in New York. The NYPD is officially using surveillance drones to monitor large, outdoor events.
• If you’re worried about how surveillance drones flying overhead might affect your privacy, you’re not the only one! The hosts weigh in on whether or not they trust law enforcement departments with this new surveillance technology.
• America is getting loud no matter where you live, and new research now proves that high levels of noise pollution could come with some pretty big health risks.
• Andrew shares his concerns over living in a developing neighborhood with frequent construction noise.
• Pam and Laura ruminate over whether or not they’re worried about hearing loss as they age.
• Home interest rates are high, so when should you buy? Unfortunately, the answer doesn’t seem so clear cut.
• If you’re feeling mortgage rate envy, you’re not alone! (But that doesn’t seem to be a problem for Andrew and Laura. Both are locked in to some pretty sexy interest rates!)
• Laura shares how having student loans affected her as a first time home buyer.
• This week’s recommendations are geared toward enriching your mind and body! CeeCee’s Closet sleep Bonnets (Pam), CeeCee’s Closet African exfoliation net (Laura), and ‘Fourth Wing’ by Rebecca Yarros (Andrew).

In this week’s installment of After Dark, available on Patreon and Apple Podcasts:

• School’s back in session for students all across the country, so we’re hitting you with our very own Back to School special!
• The hosts reminisce on their old school days.
• What silly traditions did each of our schools have?
• Will we be hitting up our respective high school reunions?

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• Welcome to #Millennial, the home of pretend adulting and real talk!
• Spotify has a $38 million white noise problem. They’re paying ad dollars for their own algorithm to direct listeners to independent white noise podcasts instead of Spotify’s own white noise music.
• Some white noise podcasts are raking in $18k per month – we clearly got into the wrong podcasting business.
• Still, we try our hand at #Millennial branded white noise. Would you sub??
• More steamer price hikes: Disney+ has announced a 27% price increase, which Hulu promising a 20% increase. Take one well-educated guess about which streamers are on the chopping block for our panel.
• Hurricane Hilary gave something unexpected to the US Southwest, and we look at the up and coming hurricane names for the 2023 forecast. Watch out for Hurricane Gert!
• It was not until the year of our Lord 2023 that menstrual products’ absorbency was tested with blood, not water. #Tampongate strikes again.
• ‘TikTok Music’ is in beta mode in Brazil, Indonesia, Australia, Mexico, and Singapore. Is this the future of learning about new music??
• How do we find new music?
• We’ve got hot recommendations fresh off the press this week! NOAA’s National Hurricane Center (Laura), VPNs (Andrew), and ‘Never Say Never with Jeff Jenkins

And in this week’s installment of After Dark:

• An Illinois law forcing parents to share part of their revenue with their children is going into effect in 2024.
• What aspects of this law would have helped us when we were unpaid minor workers?
• Another MuggleSuck entry: Andrew recounts a time when a certain someone wanted to pay him in experience and exposure, not cold hard cash.

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• Welcome to #Millennial, the home of pretend adulting and real friendship and romance talk!
• The Hot Indictment Summer hits just keep coming: TRUMP. IS. INDICTED. FOR. A. FOURTH. TIME!
• This week’s episode is a mailbag show, so we’re covering as many confessionals and pieces of feedback as we can (*in 90 minutes, Andrew is flying the night of our recording, and he’ll kill us if we give him another 2 hour edit).
• Uh oh, we influenced too close to the sun: using ChatGPT to write cover letters.
• The Adventures of Ronald the SAG President and Nancy the Throat Goat.
• Ugh Chrissy, stop inviting yourself to your coworkers’ weddings. No one invited you!
• A confessional writer grapples with supporting their child’s preferences while also protecting them from a family of Trumpers.
• We’re all inspired by a confessional writer who did a boudoir photoshoot for her husband-to-be. Free those titties!
• Is it possible to say “I love you” too soon? What’s the right amount of time?
• Why is being unfollowed on social channels by people we personally know so hurtful? Do we spite unfollow people?
• Honestly, there’s no thread to connect this week’s recommendations: The TWA Hotel at JFK International Airport (Laura), Pluto TV (Andrew), and Beauty of Joseon sunscreen (Pam).

And in this week’s installment of After Dark:

• Instead of breaking a celebrity death, TMZ recently broke news of a death HOAX!
• We reflect on the celebrity deaths that shook the culture, and look at why TMZ isn’t following the same rules of journalistic ethics as more mainstream outlets. Does that somehow make them better at breaking news?
• Hide your nudes – a member of the panel has sold footage to TMZ before!

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• Welcome to #Millennial, the home conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership! 
• If you have federal student loans that will go into repayment this fall, be sure to check out the SAVE plan and enroll before interest resumes 9/1!
• Andrew might start a side hustle filming reaction vids. His latest: reacting to a baby bear in Yosemite National Park.
• Spotify users who support us on Patreon can now get our exclusive audio content right within the Spotify app! Woohoo!
• Tired of dating apps? Some are kicking it old school with Date-Me Docs (think personal ads in newspapers). Here’s one directory
• Would we connect with someone through a Date-Me doc? We analyze a real life example of one and try to play matchmaker for Pam (she’s not having it).
• Our inbox is open: send us your dating docs, OkCupid profiles, etc, and we’ll give anonymous, on-air reviews!
• ‘Try That in a Small (Sundown) Town:’ we dig into the controversy behind this chart-topping song from Jason Aldean, and why the tune and its music video are proving so divisive.
• Laura grew up in Forsyth County, Georgia, which not-so-long-ago had sundown laws in place. For a taste, check out this early episode of Oprah where she visited the belly of the sundown beast (warning: offensive, frequent use of racial slurs).
• The lyrics and imagery of ‘Try That In A Small Town’ serve as a racist dogwhistle, harkening for the days of Jim Crow and sundown policies. Laura shares her perspective growing up in a place where the echoes of history are still resounding to this day.
• You know we always come with the best recommendations: ‘Blood at the Root: A Racial Cleansing in America’ by Patrick Phillips (Laura), 8Sleep Pod Cover (Andrew – click the link for $200 off!), and Tyler Childers as a palette cleanse for all the Jason Aldean talk (Pam).

And in this week’s installment of After Dark, available on Patreon and Apple Podcasts:

• We’re life pathing. What we mean by that is, we’re discovering what our life path numbers are!
• Some of our life path results resonate, some make us feel attacked tho.
• What’s the best way to use tools like this? Is there one “right” way?

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• Welcome to #Millennial, the home of pretend adulting and REAL talk!
• In breaking Trumpdates: Orange Julius has had four new indictments dropped against him, this time, out of a Washington D.C. court. Read the full indictment here. Hot indictment summer is still hot y’all!
• Glitch McConnell and the Congressional Geritocracy: give term limits a chance!
• We review some of our oldest senators and representatives: basically, if you’ve existed longer than the chocolate chip cookie recipe, please consider retiring. Kplzthx.
• Are age limits ethical for elected positions of leadership?
• FYI, aliens aren’t called UFOs anymore – the 2023 approved term is UAPs (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena).
• In a recent congressional hearing, former military officials auditioned for lead roles in an upcoming X-Files spinoff series.
• The US has possession of “non-human” bodies of UAP pilots?!
• Is Andrew’s biggest 2023 prediction coming true?
• Bonus rec from Andrew: Find Starlink – this is a free app that lets you see when you’ll be able to view Starlink satellites flying over your area!
• It’s getting hot in here, so turn on all your fans. Heat waves across the globe are cause for concern and discomfort as we navigate some of the hottest months on record. Is there any cause to be optimistic?
• Our friend Micah provides an official statement of his experience flying out of Las Vegas on a day with record heat, straight from the MuggleCast news room.
• National outlets tend to lead with the most deadly news updates for engagement, but you’ll likely be able to find more positive updates in your local news.
• Consider composting, recycling, voting, making home efficiency improvements, and more to help “paint your corner of the sky a little bluer.”
• Check out this episode of #Millennial in which one of our listeners helped us understand best recycling practices.
• This week’s recommendations will keep you entertained and clean?! The newest season of ‘Black Mirror’ on Netflix (Laura), using bar soap instead of body wash to stick it to Big Bath (Andrew), and ‘What We Do in the Shadows’ on Hulu (Pam).

And in this week’s installment of After Dark:

• Concert etiquette: what happened to it? In recent months, trends of hurling objects directly at performers have picked up. Did we go feral during the pandemic?
• We share our biggest pet peeves re: bad behavior at concerts. PUT YOUR FUCKING SIGNS DOWN.
• Why spend $500 on concert tickets just to spend the entire show watching it through your iPhone?

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• Welcome to #Millennial, the home of pretend adulting and real BARBIE talk!
• Our resident Barbie expert and social media manager Chloé educates us on the history of Barbie, and delves into how her legacy is represented on the silver screen. Follow her on Instagram and TikTok.
• Barbie was originally based on a German escort doll?!
• The real life Barbie and Ken were brother and sister?!
• Justice for Allan and Midge!!!
• Is the message of this movie that men are stupid? We don’t think the haters are aware Ken-ough to understand the layers of Barbie.
• With the success of ‘Barbie,’ Mattel has some major tailwinds to help project it towards future motion pictures adaptations of their other properties: think magic 8 ball, Doug, and American Girl dolls!
• Wtf is girl dinner? If you’re anything like us, you’ve been eating girl dinner for years not knowing it was a “thing.”
• Girl dinner isn’t a prescribed menu, it’s a #lifestyle. For some of us, the center of girl dinner is cheese. For others, it’s diet coke and a blunt.
• Popeyes was prepared: they rolled out their girl dinner menu when the trend went viral.
• This week’s recommendations are mostly fun with one notable super responsible exception! ‘They Cloned Tyrone’ on Netflix (Laura), Figo Pet Insurance (Andrew), ‘Fourth Wing’ by Rebecca Yarros, and princessmovies.to for a super legitimate, totally legal way to watch all the Barbie movies for free (Chloé over here trying to get us sued).

And in this week’s installment of After Dark, available to Patrons and Apple Podcast subscribers:

• Comparing our millennial and gen z experiences of diet culture in the 90s and 2010s.
• Chloé has some tea about the perception that gen z is more body inclusive and positive (they’re not).
• We take a a walk down memory lane and reminisce (or cringe) about our public school lunchroom experiences. California out here with the bougie cafeteria set ups, we were totally robbed out East!

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• Welcome to #Millennial, the home of pretend adulting and real STRIKE talk!
• We ain’t crossing the picket line: why we support the WGA and SAG strikes.
• Writers, actors, directors, and other creators are receiving PENNIES on their streaming residuals, meanwhile corporate execs are yachting and complaining about not having money.
• Studios are hoping background actors will agree to one day of shooting and granting the studio perpetual ownership of their likeness with no further compensation.
• Other industries, like airlines and parcel shipment services, are also staring down the barrel of looming strikes. Are we at a cultural turning point in the push for workers’ rights?
• Shoutout to unions, who got us weekends, paid sick leave, higher wages, and safer working conditions to name a few of their accomplishments.
• We explore some examples of historical strikes, and examine what caused them to be successful vs what caused them to fail: Flint United Auto Workers Sit-in, Memphis Sanitation Workers’ strike, Postal Workers’ Strike, Air traffic controllers walk-out, Hornel Minnesota Meatpackers, UPS Workers’ Strike (1997), and General Motors Workers’ strike (2019).
• AI is a hot topic across the board, but it is no stranger to controversy in the writing world: G/O Media, who owns sites like Gizmodo, A/V Club, Jezebel, io9, and Kotaku, announced that they would start testing AI-written content, a controversial announcement made days after laying off several writers. 
• The AI articles were simply published with by an author named “Gizmodo Bot,” and one of the first ones published at the entertainment site io9 went really badly.
• Where is the line with using AI to streamline work? How are we continuing to use Chat GPT? 
• This week’s recommendations will literally make you cool for the summer: Glossier’s  Universal Pro-Retinol (Laura), after sun gel with aloe and lidocaine (Pam), and Spotify’s AI DJ (Andrew).

And in this week’s installment of After Dark, available on Patreon and Apple Podcasts: 

• We can’t talk about AI without talking about the AI face filters that are triggering us on Tiktok. 
• Tiktok’s ‘Aged’ filter is either making you look like a hot granny or a melting crypt keeper. 
• The slippery slope of using face filters on social media and on Zoom: you forget that having smooth, textureless skin isn’t reality.  

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• Welcome to #Millennial, the home of pretend adulting and real THREADS talk!
• But first, Laura gives a 30 second blitz update about our fucked up student loan situation.
• Last week, Meta launched its Twitter competitor, Threads, and we were among the early adopters. #influencers
• We provide a full review of Threads: the good, the bad, the missing features. Will Threads steal our hearts, or can we just not quit Twitter?
• Personal threads wishlists: following tab (for n00ds), hashtags (for n00ds), and close friends list (for n00ds).
• With a number of recent and upcoming adaptations of popular toys and brands, we take a trip down memory lane to the 90s and give some recommendations we believe would KILL with millennial audiences.
• Dark Side of Barney: “I always say I love you, but you never say it back so now I’m on Lexapro.”
• With Furby making a comeback, could we see attempts for a Furby movie? It might sound like a stretch, but don’t forget they made an Angry Birds movie.
• Tfw you realize popular 90s board games could be adapted into horror films. :eyes:
• We’ve got a bone to pick with major brands ditching their rewards and birthday perks programs! Don’t y’all have enough money? Stop taking my free birthday coffee away!
• Pam breaks some bad news to Laura about Sephora’s birthday gift. :'(
• Do brands really think eliminating these loyalty perks will save them substantial money? How can they evolve to meet shoppers’ preference for online purchasing habits?
• This week’s recommendations are FUN and FUNDAMENTAL: Read about the Biden administrations proposed SAVE income-based repayment plan (Laura), ‘Won’t You Be My Neighbor?’ on Netflix (Pam), and ‘The Diplomat’ on Netflix (Andrew).

And in this week’s installment of After Dark, available to Patrons and Apple Podcast subscribers:

• Every high school as an “incident,” and we spill the tea on each of our high schools’ most remembered mishaps and events.
• Pam tells a story with a twist that you WON’T see coming – we’re clutching our pearls.
• “Yeah, totally no problem that the gym coach has a window looking directly in the girls’ locker room. This is fine!”
• Would we go to a high school reunion for revenge?

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