Month: January 2019

Episode 32 – Diets

Posted on by Katherine Flores

Diets are a crock! The CrockCast explores dieting; from crazy stuff (like eating cotton balls) to the practical ways Michael currently keeps the pounds off.

Food Pyramid – a Diet?

The Food Pyramid of our Youth

Michael raises the question of a common practice in the United States government. On a regular basis they release a “Food Pyramid” and present it as a healthy guide for eating well. He deconstructs the pyramid of his youth, focusing especially on recommendations in the dairy and grains categories.

Current US Food Pyramid (mypyramid.gov)

According to Michael, this pyramid of our youth (circa 1980s) changed the diet of our country and rendered a wholly negative impact. On the other hand, he thinks diets have helped some careers. Whose? Why Gwen Stefani, of course.

Gwen Stefani roller skating live (video below) astonishes Michael and (he thinks) proves his point about her diet’s crucial relevance to her success.

Did dieting pave the way to all this wonder?

Crazy Funny Stupid Diets

Cotton balls fill you up without calories… also, that’s insane

The CrockCast continues at a silly clip with Katherine’s funny list of Crazy, Unsexy, Uncool diets. She raids a list from a Cosmo Article about the craziest diets out there.

Cosmo brought on consultant Dr. Seltzer to rate and rationalize (in some cases) these nutso diets. The fun part is, some are clearly crazier than others. Listen to the podcast to hear the insane examples. These include one that seems ultra-ludicrous AND gets a thumbs up from our dear Dr. Seltzer. Here’s a tantalizing hint about the diet in question: it involves cupcakes and breakfast.

The Biggest Loser = Diets

Michael explores cultural Crocks related to diets. This includes the TV show The Biggest Loser with sad news about how the winners are doing now. Of course, we all cheer for the contestants but the practices on the show just aren’t practical for real life. So what is?

Turns out, Michael knows something about this. In fact, he has lost a significant amount of weight (20+ lbs) and kept it off for more the past few years. He proceeds to discuss the article 10 Reasons You can’t Keep the Weight Off and breaks down how it’s also a crock. Sure some of it rings true. But like most diet-related media, it’s mostly crocktacular content.

Epic Diet Fails

The CrockCast winds down with Katherine’s examples of how terrible she is at dieting. She gave up years ago! Her recommendation? Don’t diet. The diet industry makes $66 Billion from desperate dieters on a yearly basis. Problem is, those profits aren’t helping consumers lose weight. The only thing they do is make those corporations richer while the country gets fatter.

Want to lose weight? Just get real with yourself. Burn more calories. Eat fewer. Find a way to do this that works for your tastes, your body, and your lifestyle long term. We know two things for sure:

#1 You can do it!

#2 Diets are a CROCK!

We love bringing you Such a Crock each week. If you’re having fun too please subscribe at Such a Crock – Apple Podcasts and follow us on Instagram. Thank you for supporting the CrockCast!

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Episode 31: Scams

Posted on by Katherine Flores

It comes as no surprise that scams are a crock. Still many scams are full of shockers. So, Michael and Katherine are psyched to share some especially stunning examples.

Heart healthy?

Heart Healthy or Scam Stealthy

Michael kicks off the Crockcast with a scam close to the heart – heart health, to be specific. It’s all about oatmeal. On many oatmeal packages and ads of all kinds, there’s a claim about heart health. But it turns out this claim is really just a scam. Many packaged oatmeals include added sugar and process out much of the fiber present in raw oats.

Funny how simply putting oats into packaging adds levels of BS to a formerly innocent product. Sure, packaging adds value to a product. But only in that it enhances the company sales pitch. It can actually decrease the value to the consumer. That’s because packaging often scams consumers with misleading claims.

Fyre Festival Fracas


Katherine packs the middle for the podcast this week with a topic that’s twice-the-size. She does double duty with the fascinating story of the ultimate millennial scam, the 2017 Fyre Festival. Creators, Billy McFarland and JaRule took about 10,000 millennials for a scam-soaked ride.

This video along with instagram posts and tweets from the models inviting fans to join them “at the Fyre Festival” was all it took to sell out the entire event in 48 hours. Impressive salesmanship on the part of Billy McFarland. He was, in fact, a brilliant salesman. Unfortunately, he’s also a bit too fond of booze, delusional lies, and blinding oneself to harsh realities with “positivity”.

This video portrays the potential Fyre Festival as a gorgeous, luxurious experience. But the festival reality manifested all these promises on the flip side – the dark side. We’re talking cheese sandwiches instead of sushi and hurricane survival tents rather than the promised villas. Listen to the CrockCast – Scams to hear the rest of this scintillating scam story.

Scam New Parents = Child’s Play!

New parents are notorious for neurotic tendencies. Blame it on lack of sleep, desperation, or even just the chaos of infancy, but new parents are suckers. They especially fall for products that claim to solve problems. Case in point, the wedge. Click here for a NY Times article all about it.

Turns out this piece of foam, often sold to new parents in the hospital when their baby is born and are most vulnerable, is a scam. Hospitals charge up to $150 for these useless wastes of money. Check out the CrockCast this week to hear all about it.

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Episode 30 – Originality

Posted on by Katherine Flores

May seem like a light saber …but it’s actually the sound of vaginal juices evaporating you hear in this CrockCast about Originality.

Originality Sure Ruined Star Wars

Luke Skywalker’s blue lightsaber sold for $450K to Ripley’s Believe it or Not in 2017

What? Them’s fighting words! But Michael’s got a point. He’s as much a Star Wars fan as any nerd – and proud of it. Thing is, he also thinks deeply about these matters. When MichaelJ saw the prequel movies, they left him pondering what many simply shrugged off with their popcorn crumbs, What the heck happened?

Michael delves the Star Wars canon in this Crockcast edition. In doing so, he makes many controversial declarations. George Lucas was really just trying to make another Flash Gordon movie. Along with many others that may astonish those of us less attuned to the Star Wars legacy.

Listen to the podcast to hear why Michael thinks accommodations made to the original Star Wars trilogy may be responsible for the lack of magic in the subsequent iterations. He also shares intriguing details about the rereleases and challenges therein.

The First Rule of Originality Is…

Actual book jacket of Katherine’s Fight Club

Turns out Michael’s not the only nerd in town. Katherine jumps into the CrockCast with her reading glasses perched at the ready. It’s all about books for her this week, specifically Fight Club, one of her favorites. However, as exceptional as Palahniuk’s work is among contemporaries, the popular claim that it’s “utterly original” doesn’t ring true to Katherine.

She references the well-worn and beloved classics The Stranger by Albert Camus and the novella The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde to show obvious parallels to Fight Club. This is how Katherine reveals that Palahniuk’s work, though excellent and fun, is not particularly original in theme, content, or even characterizations.

“Apple’s a Dead Company,” Michael in ’08

user % for these cellphones may surprise you

Michael then introduces some tantalizing tidbits of data to show how Apple’s glorified originality can only take it so far in the business world. It’s the ultimate paradox, a failing winner in the money game. He shocks and amazes Katherine with the numbers. Check it out to see if you feel the same awe as the war between Android and Apple gets real.

Basic Bitches Kick Originality Curbside


Natasha Rothwell’s hilarious video shows BASIC can be beautiful

The CrockCast winds down with a feisty swirl. Katherine suggests that we all need to back off basic bitches. Give ’em a break! Life’s chaotic enough without judging people for their simple pleasures. Live and let live, bitches.

We love bringing you Such a Crock each week. So, if you dig it too please subscribe at Such a Crock – Apple Podcasts and follow us on Instagram. Thank you for supporting the CrockCast!

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Episode 29 – Wine

Posted on by Katherine Flores

Here at Such a Crock we know you love your wine… but it doesn’t love you back, baby. Turns out bottles are pricey, inconsistently rated, and lots of whack facts about them will surprise you!

Wine Rankings Kinda Reek

A three step process to a wrong answer

Michael excitedly shares his wine tasting research, relevant videos and personal stories. Turns out sommelier training means little. That’s because a single alleged “expert” will often give the exact same bottle of wine a completely different ranking between glasses.

Although sommeliers are pretty inconsistent when it comes to handing out medals, they do get some things right. For instance, a good sommelier can often pick out which bottle is priciest by the taste.

But humans also have a tendency to like a wine simply because it costs more. We’re a buncha suckers when it comes to pretentious labels – surprise! Learn more about Michael’s declaration that “Pricey wine is a crock!” with a listen to this week’s wine-soaked CrockCast.

Is Wine Actually Healthy?

Many facts can be found in this wonderful book

Then Katherine explores the health benefit claims pouring like a cabernet waterfall out of media mouths. She’s not surprised to find lots are a crock. Thanks to the terrific book Wine Folly, Katherine unpacks this complex conundrum.

How can it be that all this research quoted on morning shows is wrong? Well, these benefits are conditional for one. In other words, sure you can get all these health perks drinking vino. In fact, Katherine lays out three of the best ones. They’re yours for the taking. BUT you have to drink a specific amount of wine within a precise amount of time in order to get these benefits. Check out this week’s Wine Episode to find out the details.

Statistics Can Save Your Life

This podcast gives great stats

A few years ago Michael heard scary alcohol statistics on the Freakonomics podcast. They made such an impact that he’s still talking about them today. Not only that, these facts and numbers continue to affect how Michael lives his life.

One great thing about life is that we get to pick which facts to live by. It’s admirable that Michael chooses to live by some scary booze facts, especially given his Soju shot record from a Korean bar about twenty years ago.

Katherine also shares some whack facts. Many of which go against common knowledge and may even make you question some assumptions you make about vino. What makes one wine better for you than another? Does a bottle really improve with age? The answers to these basic queries may surprise you. Luckily you can hear all about these whack facts and more on the CrockCast.

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Thanks for listening to Such a Crock podcasts!  Click this link to Subscribe at Such a Crock – Apple Podcasts. It helps us out a lot. Then if you’re really into it, follow us on Instagram. But no matter what, we appreciate that you listen. Thank you for the encouragement, feedback, and kind words. We’re grateful for you!

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