Fainting Into Quicksand

Fainting Into Quicksand: Episode 11

Mark and Chris talk on-ramps, revisit Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and wander through another batch of random, ridiculous nonsense. You know the drill.

Fainting Into Quicksand: Episode 10

In this episode, Mark and Chris fully embrace the chaos and bounce from childhood memories and oddly specific games to cultural hot takes and the strange things that stick with us over time. They take a deep dive into the mechanics of a completely ridiculous tabletop game somehow turns into a full-blown philosophical discussion about language, nostalgia, and why certain experiences feel way more meaningful than they probably should. They question whether any of this even makes sense. The conversation drifts (intentionally) into stories about family, awkward social moments, and the kind of over-the-top reactions that only make sense in hindsight. Plus Tiddlywinks.

Fainting Into Quicksand: Episode 9

Language Parlor makes a triumphant return as Mark and Chris overthink words, pronunciation, and the ridiculous poetry of everyday speech. From Seinfeld references and the "information superhighway" to absurd Starbucks orders, first-world problems, and why a worm farm is absolutely not happening, Episode 9 leans hard into evolving bits and casual chaos. Less polish, more personality—just how it should be.

Fainting Into Quicksand: Episode 8

In this episode, Mark and Chris pinball through a wide-ranging mix of travel misadventures, childhood chaos, and the strange micro-moments that shape who we become. What starts as a debate about the "art of conversation" quickly spirals into stories of awkward haircuts, meeting people while traveling, and why surfing culture seemed cooler than anything the Midwest had to offer. From Costa Rica surf lessons to Chicago nostalgia, the guys compare friend groups, talk about how adults accidentally reinvent small talk, and revisit the eternal question: Beatles or Stones? There are frog stories (or the disappointment of not having enough of them), explosions involving childhood cherry bombs, misunderstood song lyrics, and the birth of a "new genre" of podcasting that no one asked for. It's loose, funny, reflective, and classic Mark-and-Chris chaos—an episode about trying new things, meeting weird people, and remembering why your teen haircut felt like a life-altering decision.

Fainting Into Quicksand: Episode 7

In this episode of Fainting Into Quicksand, Mark and Chris accidentally time-travel to the 1970s and 80s; a lawless era when "community porn" was hidden under trees, "free" phone numbers secretly connected you to New York, and the internet had to scream before it would let you in. They swap horror stories about phone cards, pagers that never paged, and the chaos of early dial-up life. The nostalgia spiral deepens with tales of answering machines that doubled as recording studios, beanbag chairs that qualified as furniture, and board games from the '70s apparently designed to cause minor injuries. A casual mention of tubas somehow becomes a full-blown brass symposium — complete with an ASU euphonium cameo and an impassioned defense of Rush. Things wrap up with a roast of The Shining conspiracy crowd, a pit stop in satanic backmasking panic, and a dramatic reading of one-star national-park reviews ("Too many rocks"). Give it a listen!