On Adam Ruins Hollywood, Adam shattered the facade of awards shows, red carpets, and reality TV. So now that we're steeped in the awards show season, we brought Rachel Bloom onto the podcast, who appeared on the TV show, and is a red carpet expert! She is the Star and Co-Creator of the fantastic CW show, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, which actually won her a Golden Globe last year. Rachel tells us what really goes on at the Golden Globes and Academy Awards - how red carpets are really a marketing strategy for fashion designers and how campaigning for awards is integral to the awards show process.

Adam is on Twitter @AdamConover and you can find past episodes and bonus content from the TruTV show at AdamRuinsEverything.com.

Produced by Shara Morris for MaximumFun.org.

On the Adam Ruins Everything podcast, Adam typically brings experts who appeared on the TV show to further expand on the arguments they make on the show. But during the off-season of the TV show, we thought we'd try something new. We are going to start bringing guests onto the show who may or may not have appeared on the show, but who are just as thoughtful and groundbreaking in their work.

 

Today's guest is Jonathan Blow, the indie game developer who is best known as the creator of Braid and The Witness. In The Witness, which was released last year to rave reviews, a player walks around a picturesque island solving complex puzzles. The puzzles themselves are not only incredibly challenging and quite philosophical, but they're almost a glimpse into the highly intelligent mind of Jonathan himself. Jonathan attended the University of California at Berkeley, and worked several jobs including Game Developer Magazine, before releasing Braid in 2008.On the podcast, Jonathan and Adam discuss The Witness at length... including, SPOILER ALERT, the solutions to puzzles and the game's ending! (Don't worry, spoilers will be clearly marked, so you have time to pause.) Within the game, they discuss architecture's role in gaming, how the game raises questions about religion and the self, and much more. If you're planning on playing the game, we encourage you to pause the episode before it gets spoilery and play the game yourself before finishing the episode.

On the season finale of Adam Ruins Everything, Adam ruins 'going green', the idea that individual choices such as recycling, driving hybrid cars, or reusing plastic bags are not enough to combat climate change. Today's podcast guest, Dale Jamieson, who appeared on Adam Ruins Going Green, says those choices on their own will not stop global warming and instead we need to make larger, systemic changes and work together with other countries to curb our carbon emissions.

 

Dale is a Professor of Environmental Studies and Philosophy and Chair of the Environmental Studies Department at New York University. On the podcast, he and Adam discuss why individual choices of going green are ineffective, the actual science of the global temperature increases and its implications, and what the incoming administration means for the United States' role in fighting climate change.

 

Adam is on Twitter @AdamConover and you can find past episodes and bonus content from the TruTV show at AdamRuinsEverything.com.

Produced by Shara Morris for MaximumFun.org.