The Xennial Man

It's Election Day, and the polls say Democrats could take both the House and the Senate — but without two-thirds in each chamber, presidential vetoes still stand. So today's show starts with the obvious question: is this really what we want? We go back to first principles — what is the point of government, anyway? — and find that even countries as different as the US and China agree on the main jobs: defend the country, keep the peace at home, rule of law, make people's lives materially better, and hold the country together. Then the harder questions: how do midterm elections actually help with any of that? Is the President too powerful in the US system? Why not hold presidential elections every two years too? And how the media and the money for ads turn the whole thing into a mess.

Then the news of the day: Election Day voting disrupted by weather, with flooding moving 21 polling places across eight Florida counties, Utah and Colorado letting flood-cut-off voters return ballots electronically, and a tornado damaging an Oklahoma polling place — plus the DOJ's largest-ever poll-monitoring effort. The Bears look genuinely good after Jeffery Simmons' debut — so can they actually make it to the Super Bowl? US strikes on Iran's Qeshm Island whipsawed the diplomacy trade, sending oil back up after Monday's 7% plunge. And the Nasdaq 100 bounced off its 200-day moving average for a small tech lift, despite post-earnings drops from Apple and Palantir.

Topics covered: Election Day, midterms, Democrats, House, Senate, presidential veto, purpose of government, US China comparison, rule of law, general welfare, form a more perfect union, midterm elections, presidential power, election ads, campaign money, media, flooding, polling places, Florida, DOJ poll monitoring, Chicago Bears, Jeffery Simmons, Super Bowl, Iran, Qeshm Island, oil prices, Nasdaq 100, 200-day moving average, Apple earnings, Palantir

#ElectionDay #Midterms #Government #Bears #JefferySimmons #SuperBowl #Iran #Oil #Nasdaq #Apple #Palantir #Podcast

Brazil's market just lived through every investor's nightmare: the polls, the prediction markets, and the smart money all bet on one winner, and got the other one. The Ibovespa cratered 14% in a day, the real had its worst day in decades, and the selloff kept rolling all week. So the question for today's show: could the same thing happen here? With tomorrow's midterms about as telegraphed as an election gets, we dig into whether a blue wave is already priced in — and what actually moves markets when everyone already knows the outcome.

Then it's the staff picks walkthrough: the pitch-black comedy of *In Bruges* and the raw, restless new Geese album *Getting Killed*. Plus the news of the day: the Vikings lose, and suddenly there are no unbeaten teams left in the NFL, the wild week-to-week variance in quarterback play, and tonight's Bears at Seahawks Monday night matchup. The Golden State Valkyries win a WNBA title in just their second season. In the Premier League, Arsenal sit top while Manchester City lose to Brighton — a club sitting third, having beaten both teams above them, on a wage bill roughly a quarter of City's. Oil plunged and stocks whipsawed up then down, the Marvell-Lumentum merger somehow sent both stocks lower, and Phantom Blade Zero sold 4 million copies in 72 hours — 65% of them in China, but still a huge number in North America and Europe, good for a top-10 debut of the year even if it trails Black Myth: Wukong's 10 million. And in a slow box office weekend, the Elizabeth Holmes documentary *You Can See Everything* took the top spot, with *Clayface* a close second.

Topics covered: Brazil market crash, Lula, Ibovespa, US midterm elections, blue wave, priced in, stock market, crypto, cannabis stocks, In Bruges, Geese Getting Killed, NFL, Minnesota Vikings, QB performance, Chicago Bears, Seattle Seahawks, Monday Night Football, WNBA, Golden State Valkyries, Premier League, Arsenal, Manchester City, Brighton and Hove Albion, oil prices, Marvell, Lumentum, Phantom Blade Zero, Black Myth Wukong, box office, You Can See Everything, Clayface

#BrazilCrash #Midterms #USElection #StockMarket #NFL #Bears #Seahawks #WNBA #PremierLeague #PhantomBladeZero #BoxOffice #Podcast

Goodbye to the captain, a crypto heist for the record books, and a rant about a lost art. Bruce opens with the death of Patrick Stewart at 86 — Picard, Professor X, and the moral center of a generation's childhood. Then the biggest crypto theft ever: hackers drain $6.3 billion from Binance in about 20 minutes, with North Korea's TraderTraitor unit blamed and investigators now finding more breach points than first thought. And the earnings bloodbath continues, with a twist: Intel cratered nearly 29% in its worst session since 1974, while Amazon mostly held. Plus the rant: whatever happened to the narrated TV intro? From Star Trek's "Space: the final frontier" to The A-Team, Knight Rider, and Quantum Leap, Bruce makes the case for the lost art of telling you the whole premise before the theme song even finishes — and why the skip-intro button killed it.

Topics covered: Patrick Stewart death, Star Trek The Next Generation, Picard, Professor X, Binance hack, crypto heist, North Korea TraderTraitor, Intel earnings crash, Amazon earnings, AWS, AI spending, narrated TV intros, A-Team, Knight Rider, Quantum Leap, classic television themes

#PatrickStewart #StarTrek #Picard #Binance #Crypto #Intel #Amazon #Earnings #TVHistory #Podcast

Thursday, October 29, 2026 — The AI trade just got its report card, and the grades came back split. Alphabet plunged about 10% after missing earnings and posting negative $9.07 billion in free cash flow, while Microsoft jumped on 48% Azure growth and $92.28 billion in revenue. Same theme, opposite reception — and the rest of the earnings parade piled on: Amazon missed on EPS despite AWS growing 39%, Intel beat on Q3 profit then got crushed on weak Q4 guidance, and ServiceNow posted its first-ever tracked miss. Plus quick hits: the Brewers are world champions with the parade tomorrow, the Bears went all in trading two first-round picks for Jeffery Simmons, and Phantom Blade Zero topped 700,000 concurrent players on Steam.

Topics covered: Alphabet earnings, Microsoft earnings, Azure, AI spending, Amazon earnings, AWS, Intel earnings, ServiceNow earnings, Big Tech earnings, Brewers World Series champions, Milwaukee parade, Jeffery Simmons trade, Chicago Bears, Phantom Blade Zero, Steam.

#Alphabet #Microsoft #Amazon #Intel #AI #Earnings #Brewers #Bears #PhantomBladeZero #Podcast

Wednesday, October 28, 2026 — We recap VisionQuest episodes 5 and 6, then get into the big one: the Fed rant. Here's what nobody says when they talk about the Fed raising rates — the mechanism they're actually rooting for is job loss and wage stagnation. That's how rate hikes cool inflation: by making people poorer and paychecks flatter. Nobody puts it that plainly, so we did. Plus: the Rays staved off the sweep with a 12-inning walk-off in Game 4, so the Brewers take a 3-1 lead into Game 5 tonight, and Israel's election still has no winner, with Netanyahu's bloc narrowly ahead in a count that leaves nobody near a governing majority.

Topics covered: Vision Quest episodes 5 and 6, Vision Quest recap, Federal Reserve, Fed rate hikes, inflation, job loss, wage stagnation, World Series 2026, Brewers vs Rays, Israel election, Netanyahu, Eisenkot.

#VisionQuest #FederalReserve #Fed #Inflation #WorldSeries #Brewers #Israel #Podcast

Tuesday, October 27, 2026 — A shorter episode today, built around a replay. With GTA 6 less than a month out, we've been going back through GTA 5 and sharing some impressions on how it holds up — and whether the hype for the sequel is earned. Then the news that stopped us cold: GTA 6's PS5 download is reportedly 210GB, nearly a third of the original console's usable storage, with pre-load starting November 12 and even the boxed edition being just a download code. Plus: the Milwaukee Brewers are one win from their first World Series title after routing Tampa Bay 10-1 in Game 3, Israel votes in a knife-edge Knesset election pitting Benjamin Netanyahu against Gadi Eisenkot with record turnout, and we look ahead to tomorrow's Fed decision plus Microsoft and Alphabet earnings.

Topics covered: GTA 5 replay, GTA 6, GTA 6 file size, Rockstar Games, PS5 storage, World Series 2026, Brewers vs Rays, Israel election, Netanyahu, Eisenkot, Fed meeting, Microsoft earnings, Alphabet earnings, Google earnings.

#GTA6 #GTA5 #Rockstar #WorldSeries #Brewers #Israel #Fed #Microsoft #Alphabet #Podcast

Monday, October 26, 2026 — Our main topic is the Elizabeth Holmes documentary *You Can See Everything*, and here's the thing: don't believe the narrative around it. The movie is exactly what we expected it to be (if you know Nathan Fielder's work).

Plus: the Milwaukee Brewers take a 3-0 World Series lead and the ratings aren't that bad and really good in Milwaukee, the NFL's Week 7 shakeup leaves Minnesota as the league's only unbeaten team, the Justice Department hypocritically sues to block Alaska's Senate certification over two Dan Sullivans on the ballot, Anthropic files for a Nasdaq IPO targeting up to $2 trillion while warning its own AI could pose "catastrophic" risks which the market liked, and Lula pulls off a historic fourth-term comeback in Brazil, which the market hated. And in a moment of pure irony, we remembered the old Nintendo DS game Brain Age — by forgetting we ever owned a Nintendo DS.

Topics covered: You Can See Everything documentary, Elizabeth Holmes, Theranos, World Series 2026, Brewers vs Rays, NFL Week 7, Minnesota Vikings, DOJ Alaska lawsuit, Dan Sullivan, Anthropic IPO, Claude AI, Lula, Brazil election, Brain Age, Nintendo DS, retro gaming nostalgia.

#YouCanSeeEverything #ElizabethHolmes #WorldSeries #NFL #Anthropic #Brazil #BrainAge #Podcast

Friday, October 23, 2026 — Remembering back to 1993 when I first discovered Bjork and musing about her first two albums.

Also it's World Series Game 1 day. The Tampa Bay Rays visit the Milwaukee Brewers with a first-time champion guaranteed. Plus: the Chicago Bears edge the Patriots 30-24 on Thursday Night Football behind Caleb Williams' second straight 300-yard game and Cairo Santos' career-long 58-yard field goal on Mike Ditka tribute night.

The Dow drops on AI spending fears while oil spikes past $114 on Houthi attacks in Saudi Arabia.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 launches, DC's horror gamble Clayface hits theaters against A24's Elizabeth Holmes documentary, and Chuwi's new album 'Libertad' is great!

Topics covered: 1990's Bjork, World Series 2026, Brewers vs Rays Game 1, Chicago Bears vs Patriots, Caleb Williams, Cairo Santos, stock market selloff, oil prices, Call of Duty Modern Warfare 4, Clayface movie, Chuwi's Libertad

#Bjork #90s #WorldSeries #ChicagoBears #NFL #MLB #Chuwi #CallOfDuty #Clayface #Podcast

Is corporate greed to blame for Bioware's demise or some weird James Cameron like insistence on only making new cutting edge games? Why can't we get a new GTA and Mass Effect every 5 years?

Also the market drops on the news that Meta is spending money it doesn't have and Coreweave's drop continues.

Good drama is often putting a characters needs up against their wants. But in VisionQuest neither is super clear for Vision. Big rant recap here.

Spoilers on VisionQuest!

I can't take off my Data Scientist hat when watching VisionQuest and I have notes for the writers.

Coreweave went red again today and their business model seems suspect, but the rest of the market reversed Friday's losses.

I didn't get to see You Can See Everything yet but the buzz is good!

Marvel's latest Disneyplus show is here and I have more than a few thoughts. Then we switch gears into a moment of Financial Zen and consider the latest news from the markets.

Yep! Just talking about a 30 year old movie for almost 30 minutes. Primal Fear was a banger in 1996. Come take a nostalgia trip with me.

Taking a look at what happened recently in sports and TV. Looking ahead to Visionquest. A moment of financial Zen. AI is a bubble but so were the railroads and ultimately that was a good thing.