Turning This Car Around

We start with a discussion of hygiene and then move into more game talk. The Armstrong kids (and Jon) enjoy a nice game of Tripoley or Apples to Apples. The Friedmans like Blokus and Jishaku and the Moltzes like Risk and Sushi Go. We also reminisce about Green Stamps. Jon and Moltz do, anyway. Jon likes The Last of Us which is decidedly not for the kids. Pee-Wee's Playhouse on the other hand, is great for all ages. As is The Tick animated series. For some reason we also discuss Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. Our thanks this week to Loot Crate, a monthly subscription box service for epic geek items. For less than $20 a month you get 6-8 items that include licensed gear, apparel and collectible items. And they are awesome. Go to LootCrate.com/TTCA and enter code "TTCA" to save 10 percent on any subscription. Follow us: @ttcashow. Lex Friedman can be found @lexfri, John Moltz can be found @Moltz and Jon Armstrong is @blurb.

First we review our respective holidays. Lex has seen and recommends Boyhood. Jon has some choice words for the people who took down the Playstation Network on Christmas. So instead of playing Minecraft, they played the LEGO Movie game. Lex talks about some troubles playing Minecraft on the Kano. The Friedmans also watched Home Alone. Moltz considered watching Die Hard with his son but then thought better of it. Our real subject today is how we play with our kids. Lex does projects with the kids (Snap Circuits are pretty cool, by the way). Moltz used to run obstacle courses with his son. There were not American Ninja Warrior caliber. Or even Wipeout caliber. Jon's girl got the LEGO Rapunzel castle and Moltz's son got the LEGO Minecraft cave. Moltz's family plays a lot of Monopoly and poker. Trouble can be a fun game to try to extract vengeance on someone. And as you do on a parenting podcast, we talk about The Deer Hunter. Lex likes to beat his daughter at Typeracer. Follow us: @ttcashow. Lex Friedman can be found @lexfri, John Moltz can be found @Moltz and Jon Armstrong is @blurb.

In this episode we catch up with Lex and discuss our holiday plans. You know what? You've been great this year. You should buy yourself a Drobo 5D like Jon did. And you should totally use that affiliate link to do it. Win-win. Happy holidays to all our listeners! Follow us: @ttcashow. Lex Friedman can be found @lexfri, John Moltz can be found @Moltz and Jon Armstrong is @blurb.

Lex was traveling this week so we have a guest, one John Gruber. He's apparently some guy in the Internet. Not coincidentally, this is our longest episode ever. What was the deal with bearer bonds back in the 1980s movies? They were basically what every villain was after. In the upcoming SPECTRE, it's probably something else. Don't take the kids to see American Sniper for the holidays. We talk again about our Frozen experiences. A holiday trip to FAO Schwarz seems dicey but if you're in Manhattan how can you not? Also, Dylan's Candy Bar. Oh, man. Playmobil has some great robbery sets that Gruber and Moltz speak highly of. Their kids might, too. Not sure. Moltz's kid is getting a PC laptop for Christmas and Moltz is already having trouble with it. Moltz wants to know if Jon's and Gruber's kids are getting his Minecraft book for Christmas. Gruber's kid might be getting a Playstation 4 with LEGO Batman 3 and FIFA Soccer. Jon's kids might be getting Minecraft for Playstation. One wants an Easy-Bake oven. If you don't follow the Grubers on Twitter, they had an interesting time setting up their Christmas tree this year. Moltz's tree contribution is putting up his Star Trek ornaments. He doesn't have this one but it's on his wish list. Follow us: @ttcashow. Lex Friedman can be found @lexfri, John Moltz can be found @Moltz and Jon Armstrong is @blurb. You can also follow John Gruber here: @gruber or @daringfireball

This week's episode runs the gamet. Buckle up. Jon's in the New York area which blew up this week over a grand jury failing to indict police officers over the death of Eric Garner. We share the New York Time's opinion. If you're not one, you can read what it's like to be a black man in the U.S. and watching Do The Right Thing. After that we spend some time on white privilege, particularly the car Moltz just bought, the Acura ILX. And Lex weighs with more on his Nissan Leaf. Our thanks to Brick Builders Club for sponsoring this week's episode. BrickSwag from the Brick Builders Club is the Ultimate Gift for LEGO Fans young and old. Each month a box of LEGO-themed merchandise is delivered right to your door, including shirts, parts packs and more. Go to BrickBuildersClub.com and use the discount dode "TTCA" for 20% off your membership! Follow us: @ttcashow. Lex Friedman can be found @lexfri, John Moltz can be found @Moltz and Jon Armstrong is @blurb.

This week's discussion centers around gender. Which leads us to presents, comic book movies and farting. It all makes sense, trust us. We're professional podcasters. Moltz's son got a Little Tykes kitchen for his first Christmas. One year Jon's girls got a Barbie car. Lex and Jon are big fans of Big Hero 6. Moltz hasn't seen it yet because he's at home watching Guardians of the Galaxy over and over. Moltz discusses Marvel's recent moves with Captain Marvel, Captain America and Thor. Lex recommends the My Teacher Is an Alien, I Was a Sixth Grade Alien and Carl Hiaasen books. Moltz recommends The Day My Butt Went Psycho. Really. Our thanks to Brick Builders Club for sponsoring this week's episode. BrickSwag from the Brick Builders Club is the Ultimate Gift for LEGO Fans young and old. Each month a box of LEGO-themed merchandise is delivered right to your door, including shirts, parts packs and more. Go to BrickBuildersClub.com and use the discount dode "TTCA" for 20% off your membership! Follow us: @ttcashow. Lex Friedman can be found @lexfri, John Moltz can be found @Moltz and Jon Armstrong is @blurb.

[Note: There's a brief glitch in Lex's audio about half way through. Unfortunately, it was a problem in the source file. We regret the problem.] It seems like the holiday podcasts start earlier every year. In this episode, Jon and Moltz explain their Christmas traditions and Lex explains his family's Chanukah traditions. First, though, we talk about Lex's penis-shaped microphone. Don't buy anyone that. You're better off buying all your loved ones one of those instead of participating in the horror show of Black Friday. Moltz grew up listening to White Christmas. Some of those songs were written by Jews. Jewish kids might like an Adam Sandler CD. Kids love "CDs". They have nothing to put them in, but they love them. Or something about Jewish super hero, Ben Grimm. Jon's girls like LEGO Friends and it's understandable because the dolphin cruiser looks awwwwwwwsooooooome. Or you can get the kids a Lexbox One. Moltz is forced to explain the McConaughssance. If you're looking for a present for Moltz's dad, he's the guy who actually still likes fruit cake. If you're looking for a present for Moltz, oh, god, get him this Star Trek ornament Follow us: @ttcashow. Lex Friedman can be found @lexfri, John Moltz can be found @Moltz and Jon Armstrong is @blurb.

Lex talks about his Disney cruise this week. They're apparently pretty cool. Slides and food and entertainment and characters. If you like that kind of thing. He did not end up in a Gilligan's Island situation, so even better. Speaking of characters, if you go to Universal you can meet the Minions. We speculate on who's inside those costumes. Some follow-up discussion involves Ferberizing, because parents will never stop talking about getting their kids to sleep. Then a shout-out to Moltz's mom, Mrs. Moltz, who may be folding laundry right now. The other Mrs. Moltz, John's wife, does not listen to the show on his advice. Finally, Thanksgiving is coming up, turkeys! Get Lex something for his birthday which is on Black Friday. This episode is sponsored by Cards Against Humanity's 10 Days of Holiday Bullshit. You give Cards Against Humanity $15 and they'll send you 10 mystery gifts for the 10 days. Space is limited so go to the web site and sign up. Follow us: @ttcashow. Lex Friedman can be found @lexfri, John Moltz can be found @Moltz and Jon Armstrong is @blurb.

This week we talk about gear. Eventually. We start by talking about underwear, which is not exactly gear but we'll get to it. ThinkGeek has some underwear for the child in every dad. Then we talk about Frozen which is also not gear but is very popular with the kids these days, as is the LEGO Movie. Jon recommends Bullfrog sunscreen spray for applying to wiggling children (we're getting closer to gear). Lex recommends stick sunscreen for their precious faces that are screaming at you because you're trying to save them from skin cancer. Finally, we start talking about gear. Moltz and his wife had their car seats checked out by a local hospital so look around, there should be someone who can help you make sure you've got them in correctly. Jon recommends the Nissan Xterra (sadly, there's no Amazon affiliate link for that), even though it's not great for carseats. Dads with more than one kid recommend a membership to Sam's Club, BJ's or Costco. Parents of one kid are less enthusiastic but still supportive. The dads, naturally, recommend a diaper genie, unless you're an animal. You could also get a diaper vest. I guess. If that's not cool enough for you then check this out. Now we're talkin'. The Moltzes got their diaper bag at REI. Sponsors: Our thanks to Care.com for sponsoring this episode. Care.com helps you find any kind of care help you need: babysitters, nannies, dog walkers and elder care. Care.com provides detailed references and reviews and takes the uncertainty out of the process. Click this special link and you'll get 25 percent off a premium membership. Jon is even a satisfied user. Follow us: @ttcashow. Lex Friedman can be found @lexfri, John Moltz can be found @Moltz and Jon Armstrong is @blurb.

First, some follow up from last episode. The artist who did the covers of the Gor books was Boris Vallejo, not Frank Frazetta. We spend about half the episode talking about his art. And sort of how it relates to parenting. Kind of. A little. Here's the centaur picture, which is totally relevant to parenting, as is the hawkman picture. As it turns out, the author of the Gor series wrote a book about sex. Then we talk about Mario Kart. What is this episode about? Jon and Moltz continue to talk about Boris Vallejo until Lex tells the story of how he stole a Playboy. Speaking of porn, Moltz uses OpenDNS to filter his son's devices. Jon tells the story of how his daughter overcame her fear and touched White Snake. Oh, sorry, a white snake. And we end still not knowing what this episode was about. Which is a metaphor for life. Please take a few minutes to complete a short survey that will help keep this podcast and other podcasts you might enjoy running and might win you a $100 Amazon gift card. Follow us: @ttcashow. Lex Friedman can be found @lexfri, John Moltz can be found @Moltz and Jon Armstrong is @blurb.

We continue our discussion of summertime. Lex and Moltz do an impromptu review of the current summer blockbuster movie Godzilla (mild on the spoilers) which has the guy from Breaking Bad in it. There's a little confusion between Godzilla 2000 and the Matthew Broderick Godzilla. Jon and Moltz both recommend The Way, Way Back, a great summer movie appropriate for teens and up. Jon's summer travel growing up involved a styrofoam cooler while Moltz's involved Mad Libs. Lex's family trips were saved by the Walkman. Jon's summer reading was the Gorean Saga which causes Jon and Moltz to school Lex in the magic of Frank Frazetta who sadly passed away in 2010. We close with a discussion on how to use fireworks which Jon is very passionate about. Sponsors: Our thanks to Care.com for sponsoring this episode. Care.com helps you find any kind of care help you need: babysitters, nannies, dog walkers and elder care. Care.com provides detailed references and reviews and takes the uncertainty out of the process. Click this special link and you'll get 25 percent off a premium membership. Jon is even a satisfied user. Our thanks also go out to Audible. Audible has books you can download and listen to on your iPhone, Kindle or Android device. Lex recommends You Can Date Boys When You're Forty and Moltz recommends The Longest Day. Use this special link and you can get a free audio book of your choice and a free 30-day membership.

Once again we ask our listeners to complete a short survey that will help keep this podcast and other podcasts you might enjoy running. And you could win a $100 Amazon gift card. What other reason do you need than self interest? Not to disagree with Game of Thrones, but summer is coming. Do you have a plan? You could send your kids to YMCA camp. But swim camp is maybe a better option if you can find one. Lex, however, does not recommend owning a pool. When the dads were kids, during the summer Jon did Boy Scouts, Moltz went to gymnastic camp and Lex went to "learning about sex and drugs" camp where he eventually worked as a counselor. You can learn a lot at camp. For example, Moltz learned that you can light a fart on fire. Jon then explains the term "blue darting". Lex learned about blow jobs. Just about them. Jon learned about killing a rabbit which, sadly, is not a euphemism for blow jobs. Follow us: @ttcashow. Lex Friedman can be found @lexfri, John Moltz can be found @Moltz and Jon Armstrong is @blurb.

In honor of Mothers Day, this week we talk about moms. First we ask our listeners to complete a short survey that will help keep this podcast and other podcasts you might enjoy running. Moltz tells the story of how he met Lex's mom on Twitter. Jon speaks fondly of the Nikon D70 You should totally buy one using that link. Jon has mentioned that you should actually take a look at a DSLR that's not over 10 years old, like this Nikon D7100. And yes, you should totally buy one using that link. Mr. Lex tells us about his vanity plates. Sponsor: Once again, our thanks to DayOne for sponsoring this episode. DayOne is the place to record your daily events, feelings, pictures and more. Get it. Follow us: @ttcashow. Lex Friedman can be found @lexfri, John Moltz can be found @Moltz and Jon Armstrong is @blurb.

Sex, Part Deux! For an episode about sex we talk a lot about movies for some reason. There's not much sex in The Avengers, Man Of Steel or Thor but Jon learned everything he knows about women's underwear from the original Superman. Lex gets his information about women's underwear from Shark Tank. Grease is a great movie for learning about sex. Lots of direct references to sex facts that your kid won't understand. "Any questions?" The Godfather is good for teaching your kids about violence. Ace Ventura would be a good movie to teach kids about homophobia. Jacqueline Bissett in The Deep was Intro to Female Anatomy 101 for many a boy during the '70s. Although, Benny Hill is how Moltz learned about female anatomy. If you don't believe that Lex took his kids to a mob-themed restaurant that showed The Godfather movies on repeat, here are some pictures. Sponsors: Our thanks to Shari's Berries for sponsoring this episode. Shari's Berries sells unbelievable strawberries dipped in all kinds of chocolate. Go to their web site and click on the microphone and type in TTCA for a listener discount (deal expires Friday, May 9th). And, once again, our thanks to DayOne for sponsoring this episode. DayOne makes recording daily events, memories, data and pictures a joy. Get it here.

Speaking of sex, which we are on this episode, check out these cringe-inducing ads for HBO Go. Jon recommends Where Did I Come From? which features adorable images of people doing it. As for parts, Lex and Moltz mostly use clinical names but Jon's kids use euphemisms. Many a young lad learned the term "naughty bits" thanks to Monty Python's reference to those of Prime Minister Edward Heath. If you're interested in learning more about Jon's vasectomy -- and, really, who isn't? -- here's everything you wanted to know but were afraid to ask. If you're curious about masturbation, please watch this informative video brought to you by the Mormon Church. It's apparently like flipping your boat over in the rapids. Get it? Boat? Rapids? (We have no idea.) Sponsor: Once again, our thanks to DayOne for sponsoring this episode. DayOne is the place to record your daily events, feelings, pictures and more. Get it. Follow us: @ttcashow. Lex Friedman can be found @lexfri, John Moltz can be found @Moltz and Jon Armstrong is @blurb.