With all this hubbub about TikTok possibly getting banned, we're revisiting three of our episodes about social media platforms that burned bright and burned out fast. And up first - MySpace!

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Friendster, SixDegrees, Makeoutclub - if you're a 90s kid, then you probably remember at least some of those websites (and may they all rest in peace). But there could only be one top dog, and MySpace was it. Hillary Duff, Harry Styles, Kim Kardashian - everyone had a MySpace page, and you better pray your friends put you in their Top 8. So with all the hype, how did the site go from being a 12-billion-dollar gorilla to an Internet has-been?

Rob teaches Ray about how this small, music-centric social site evolved into a global behemoth; why "the honor system" isn't exactly an enforceable privacy policy; the tragic betrayal of Tila Tequila; and why we could all use a little more Tom in our lives.

If you like what we are doing, please support us on Patreon.

Ray Hebel

Robert W Schneider

Mark Schroeder

Billy Recce

Daniel Schwartzberg

Gabe Crawford

Natalie DeSavia

Tom Anderson's Instagram

Episode Clips

Tom Anderson Interview

SNL MySpace Sketch

"Leave Britney Alone" Video

Music & Sound Effects

Additional Sound Effects from Final Cut Pro, iLife, and Logic Pro

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It's Earth Day and we want to celebrate one of the finest gifts that this pretty planet has to offer. No, not Fred Silverman - everyone's best bud, cannabis! But things haven't always looked as bright for MJ as they do nowadays with modern legalization efforts, and so we're looking back at a time when the hype around marijuana was more about the insanity it caused than its many benefits. And that insanity had a special name - Reefer Madness!

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REEFER MADNESS! It’s taken over this fine country, so we decided it was time to cover it! Run for your life, marijuana is polluting the minds of America’s youths!

“Reefer Madness”, originally titled “Tell Your Children”, was an exploitation and propaganda film released in 1936, 1938, or 1939…. Seriously, they didn’t keep an accurate record of the film’s release. It was meant to teach about the dangers of grass, dope, ganja, that sticky icky icky icky… And the film worked! People were terrified!

What’s even more interesting than the film is The Marihuana Act of 1937. (Yes, that’s how it was spelt.) Passed by the government and backed by William Randolph Hearst, it was the first step in making cannabis as illegal as illegal could be!

This week Ray teaches Rob all about the history of hemp and its many uses, how this film fell into public domain, which ultimately led to some of the first midnight screenings and opened the door for showings of movies like “Rocky Horror Picture Show” and “The Room”

…and how that wacky tabacky could make you go insane and beat your acquaintance with a stick. (It’s in the movie.) Be careful out there, folks.

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TEAM

Ray Hebel

Robert W Schneider

Mark Schroeder

Billy Recce

Daniel Schwartzberg

Gabe Crawford

Natalie DeSavia

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