Chris and Steve are back for Ruminations Episode XXIV to talk about… things? After a very busy second half of 2025, we felt it would be good to reconnect with our listeners (multiple, according to Chris!) and discuss some of the media we consumed during the year, though, of course, without planning for our conversation in the slightest. What concert did Steve feel FOMO for before realizing he was better off skipping out? Which horror audiobook had Chris lowering his radio as he drove through the suburbs with his window down? Was a certain 7-minute “AI slop” video the best piece of pop culture we saw all year? Should Chris get a tattoo? What topics do you want us to record episodes on in 2026? Happy new year, dear listeners!

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Credits

Intro & Outro:
“Sanctuary of the Sky Gods” by Nathaniel Wyvern, CC BY 4.0 via freemusicarchive.org

Intro quotes:
The Big Lebowski (Gramercy Pictures)
Inglourious Basterds (The Weinstein Company)
Goldfinger (United Artists)
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (Buena Vista Pictures)
The Shining (Warner Bros)
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (New Line Cinema)
Game of Thrones (Warner Bros/HBO)

Featured Image credit:
Composite, featuring personal photo and images of Mike Myers as Dr. Evil, Jim Carrey as the Grinch, Seinfeld LittlePeople, August Caesar, Ghost-on-a-Shelf, and the Balrog and Sauron from WickedAI’s “Lord of the Rings Disco: One Funk to Rule Them All“