Ep. 1427: Where your secret's safe with us

-What's up everybody? It's Tuesday, February 18th, 2014. Welcome to The 404 Show. I'm Jeff Bakalar. -I'm Justin Yu. -I'm Ariel Nuñez. -Hope you guys and gals had a great three-day weekend if you had it, if not, I'm sorry that's terrible. But we're back on the show. Justin, what do we got plan for today? -We got some pretty great stories today. -Groovy stories. -Really groovy stories. We're gonna start by talking about some post-Valentine's Day apps and Valentine's is not the only time of the year that you can show your love to your S.O. but we're talking about some apps that'll help you do that. Then we're gonna talking about an app that lets you bet on your friend's relationships. -I like it. -A really scandalous social network that lets you anonymously post secrets to people in your contact list-- super shady. Then, we're gonna talk about some news about Beetlejuice 2. -Okay. -And why we may be less than an inch closer to actually seeing it happen. -Okay. -And then we're gonna sort of close the show with a bunch of really creepy urban legends and popular video games. I really like that stories so we're gonna end with that one. -All right. -Just to keep you freaked out. -Nice. I'm buckled in. I'm ready to play. -Yeah. -Let's get nasty. -Yeah. First though, I have an on-air retraction to make. We do this every Monday. It seems like it's becoming a trend where we just we-- oh, I'm sorry. It's Tuesday now. -Right. No, it's okay. -But the first show of the week we always spend sort of-- -Apologizing for the week before. -apologizing for we said before. -What kind of retraction? Did someone reached out to you? Did you-- how did you become made aware of this? -Well, I came back on Friday from work and Peony was pretty pissed off at me. -You came back to your house. -Yeah. -She was there. -She was not happy. -Arms folded-- -Yeah. -with a grimace on her face. -Yes. -What did you do? What did you say? -Well, you know how I told you guys that story about how she didn't know Careless Whisper? -Uh-hmm. -That part is definitely true. And then I also said something about how she didn't know the song Thriller-- -Which I refused to believe. -by Michael Jackson, which I'm pretty sure it's true. She-- making the claim that it was actually Smooth Criminal that she didn't know-- thought that which are pretty popular songs but-- -Wait-- no, but it's really unbelievable. -Thriller is-- yeah, Thriller is obviously the one that she should know. -Right. -So I think it was actually Smooth Criminal. -Wow. -And the reason she pointed this out was because when it happened at the time she was like, "Yeah, remember? I thought it was Alien Ant Farm that first created the original song and in this random guy covered it." -This random older guy-- -This random old guy. You know that-- that Alien Ant Farm version of it? -I do. -It was really popular when she was-- yeah. -It was. It was probably like 10 years ago maybe? -What would you classify that genre of music? -Just like-- -Don't call it punk. -shit rock? -Yeah, whatever that is. -Just-- it's almost like fratty rock maybe? -Yeah. Yeah, I guess so. Frock? -Frock rock? -I don't know how to describe it but you put like a bunch of those bands in that category. -Yeah. -Like you're-- you're like Papa Roach is. -Oh, right, yeah. -Your Alien Ant Farm's. -Almost wanna put the Offspring in there. -No, you son of a bitch. -I would almost put the Offspring now in there. -Now, I mean, come one, we're not talking about that. We're talking about-- -Regardless, she's not a fan of the frat rock, normally. -No. -But-- -But now-- man. -she knew that song. -I mean, I guess it's not the worse cover ever done. -There's a reason it got popular, that's all I'm saying. But I don't think it necessarily means it's good. But regardless, that's my retraction. It wasn't Thriller you guys. It was Smooth Criminal. -It's always like spousal-related retractions now. -Yeah. -It's not about like people getting upset from call-ins, it's one of us going home for the day and our significant other being like, the F did you say today. -Yeah. -And you were like, sorry. -I have no idea you even listen to the show. -Well hey, we can need all the listeners we can get. So-- -She also wanted me to correct myself and say that. Apparently she never cried on that last Memorial Day episode where I talked about how we got lost in the woods. She maintains that I dragged her name through the mud because she supposedly didn't cry. I thought I saw something wet on her face, maybe it was the rain that-- -Or the dirt or the awful things you-- -Yeah. -she followed you through. -But she maintained, she didn't cry, so-- -Either way, no one's gonna mock anyone for crying during that near-death experience. -Yeah, that's it. I got no other regrets besides that. That's my New Year's resolution. I'm clean. -All right, new dealer. Let's do it. -What about you guys? Anything you wanna say-- -No. -correct yourself, say sorry for- - -I don't-- I barely ever do that. Ariel? -No. Christine doesn't even watch the show so I'm good. -Lucky. -Christine's got the right idea. -Yeah. -But thank. -How's your solo Valentine's Day man? -It was cook, it was cool. Christine got home late later that night so I wasn't alone the whole time. It was cool. -Yeah. -I like-- but I like my alone time too, it's fun. Me and the dog. -I get home on Friday and she's like looking at me smiling. -Who? -Stay who? Stacie. -Oh, was it the dog? -And Marty is a dude man. And she's just looking at me and I'm like, "What's up?" And she has this-- like a flower and she brought them home and she's like, "I got you a gift." And I go, "Cool. That's really nice." I'm like, "You didn't have to do that. This is a nonsense holiday. But nevertheless it's thoughtful and thank you." She hands me this little box-- -Uh-hmm. -and like shake it and it rattles, doesn't really give away what it is. I opened it up, she got me a box of Pocky. -That's adorable. Was it Pocky for men? -Do you know-- what do you mean Pocky for men? -Yeah, they made Pocky for men. -There's Pocky for women? -Yeah, yeah, yeah. They make a bunch of different flavors of Pocky but-- Pocky for men. -Oh, I didn't realize they were gender specific. -Yeah, yeah. It's one of them. -So, if you don't know what Pocky is, is it Japanese? -Yeah, it's Japanese. -It's a Japanese like candy. They're like little skinny biscuits dipped in chocolate. -Yeah. -And I love Pocky, there it is. -They're delicious. -Oh, I didn't realize that's men's-- -That's men's Pocky. -No, no, no. I got the red box. -Oh, yeah. -That is absurd right there. I was like, "Thanks, Stace." -Those are great snacks though? -Oh, and I forgot and then she got me this-- she got me a pen. She's like, "Oh, I know." And she's like, "Here, you like pens. I found this cool pen." -Today, I learned your wife doesn't love you. -It's-- I mean, it's crazy. It's crazy. But you know what? You know what? The stuff like that is the goofy like little tchotchke stuff. -Right. -That's cool. That's better than like her-- me having to buy her like a $400 necklace or like-- her buy me a watch that I'm never gonna wear. -And when it comes to Valentine's Day chocolates too, I was talking to Peony about that this weekend and she said that she would rather prefer a gift out of irony rather than sadness. So I think like-- a thing like this like giving Pocky is a gift. It's funny. -Give Pocky. Give Pocky. Yeah. -It's like a little ironic thing. -Oh, for sure. And she knows how much I love it. I mean, she really wanna hit this sweet spot. She should have bought me a bulk package of Hi-Chews, let's be honest. -Oh, right. Next year. -Let's be honest. There's always next year sweetie. -But the way worst thing is to give sort of half-ass your Valentine's Day chocolate selection by buying one of those heart-shaped boxes from the Target. -Oh, yeah. Those are the worst. -God, we were in Target yesterday in Brooklyn. -And they're like 40 bucks, I feel like-- -Well, now they're like $5. -Yeah, of course. -'Cause the day after Valentine's they marked them down like crazy. But it's always the worst, saddest chocolates than they're always wrapped in like this shitty cellophane that's been half-torn-- I can't imagine being a husband or being a wife-- -A recipient of that. -Yeah, and giving that to someone and being like, "Hey, happy Valentine's Day honey, like I got you this $299 box of dove chocolates." -It's super disingenuous but-- -Don't go for the [unk] like if you're gonna buy a chocolate like, don't do it half-assed. Buy good chocolates. -They're like-- there are so many holidays like that where we would just go through the motions and do what we're expected to do like I've truly believe sending a greeting card to someone-- -It's the same thing. Yes. -it's among the least genuine things you could do as a human. -Right. -And we're all guilty of having done it. -Yeah. -Like who hasn't sent a greeting card to someone? -I mean it's something but it's not a lot. -I don't know. -Just don't insult someone by giving them a gift though. -I'm surprised the whole make-your-own-card thing really didn't take off. It had like a-- it had like a renaissance for like seven years, I feel like. -You're talking about the Kiosk make-your-own-card-- -No, no, no. Like make one in your own house. -Or the print-your-own-card at home. -Like, "Oh, I got print artist 4.0. I'm gonna make some cool west greeting card with a nice selection of clip art. -Yeah. -I'm gonna really show how I feel about someone-- -Do you know what really killed that off? I could give some insider perspective on this. -Being Mr. Printer? -Yeah. Is that printer companies actually started partnering with companies like Hallmark-- -Gotcha. -to make that software built into printers, which basically rendered the-- -Torpedo, the entire-- -The entire print-your-own-greeting card software business. -Right. -'Cause now it's all in actual desktop printers. -For sure. -So now you gotta pay $200 and then $500 extra in ink over the next year just to send a card. -If you get one now though from someone like a homemade greeting card, you almost think like, "Oh, how long have you been homeless?" -Yeah. -It was like when you associate that-- -Right, right. -which is sad. -Oh, it is sad. It's like a folded in half Red Robin menu and it was like colored with crayons. -It's all but the weight of that paper. -Yeah. Oh, that's true. -The second it's like, standard, you know, nonsense 20 pan paper you're like-- -Right. -"Oh, man. This is pathetic." -Yeah. -Only we just steal this paper from work or something, that sort of it. -But everyone go get your cheap chocolate from K-Mart or Target though, the sales are pretty good. -I mean you can buy literally 30,000 greeting hearts-- -Yeah. All those conversation hearts. -$1.55-- yeah, conversation hearts. -Also there's edible. I pretty those are made with choc. -They are choc. -Let's get to the first story of the day that sort of in the same vein. So we use technology for everything, right? And it sorta makes sense that we would use it as a third-party companion in our relationship. So I think we're all guilty of that, right? -Sure. -You can say just, you know, texting or posting stuff on each other's Facebook wall, etc. sort of using technology to strengthen your relationship. -Right. -And, you know, developers are actually catching in on the love market they call it with a bunch of apps that are designed to do exactly that, enhance your productivity as a couple. And the Wall Street Journal actually reported on that today and they sorta call out five popular apps that people used to do that. -Oh, please be Christian Mingle, please be Christian Mingle-- -Well, that's the thing. We're not talking about online dating 'cause that's for single people. -Right, right. -Right? So we talked about online dating a lot and all the weird sort of like Ashley Madison, you know, third-party dating. -It's God's match for you. -There are-- yeah. Or Christian Mingle. -It's-- -Jew it's Jingle. It's Jingle. Jew Mingle. -That was a Jew Date but then it's JDate. -No, it's JDate. Yeah. -You know, we're not talking about social networks. What I'm talking about apps that are basically designed for two people to use. -Right. -And most are-- most of them they do what you would think. You know, they allow for back and forth messaging. They allow it for password protected photos, joint calendars and to-do list. But the one thing that stood out to me, the app that I like the most was one called Avocado and I kinda want us all to try this because-- -With your lover? -you can either make or break a relationship. -Like with my lover? -Yes, with your lover. -Okay. -So it's free. First of all, you don't have to spend any money on it on Avocado. It lets you send personalized text messages. So I think the problem with using technology and especially text messages in relationship is a lot of stuff gets misconstrued because of how so sync you can be on text. -Yeah. -Right? Like there's a lot of subtext there and-- "Oh, how can he didn't put a period at the end of it or why did he put a period at the end of it? Is he mad at me?" you know, like all that stuff can be misinterpreted. But with, you know, Avocado, you can put a little smiley face next to your text message to let them know that you're being facetious or whatever. And this is something that I think is kinda cute. It automatically warns your partner when your phone's battery is about to die. -Oh, that's smart. -Which effectively gets rid of that misunderstanding like, "Oh, I didn't get you text, you know, I didn't respond because my phone went out of battery." -But it sounds like Avoca-- -Normally, a bullshit reason, but if you get this warning beforehand, you know, it's not an excuse. -But it sounds like Avocado is for not necessarily people who were like, I guess this is for people who are in intimate relationships. -Yeah, yeah. -And can you have Avocado with more than one person? -I mean, maybe if you're a Mormon. But I think this is designed only for single-- like monogamous relationship. -So-- right. I understand-- -You're like a group love? -Well, no. Well, it's the 90's. Look, I think it's like whether or not you are exclusive with someone, like I feel like-- -No-- yeah, yes. So this is definitely for your long-term relationships. -Because I want something that does this that I can share with Stacie but also allows us to like track money-spending together-- -Oh, right, right. -or something like that. -Yeah. -See, that's smart. -And like photos that will never be seen by anyone else, if you know what I mean. -Right. Yeah, so Avocado has that. A couple of the other ones have that too where you can start of password protect your photo albums that you wanna share with each other. -Right. -You could do that or there's to-do list. I'm not sure if there's an excel, spreadsheet type thing but you can use Google Docs for them. Me and Peony actually have one set up. Do you guys-- what kind of weird back-end technology sort of powers your relationship? -Well, I mean I have a viber chat with Stacie-- -Just for the two of you guys? -just for us two. -Is that-- so you don't have to use text message data? -No, I do-- well, it's just quicker than texting but it's-- I feel like it would be cool if I had like an app just devoted to her. -Yeah. -Yeah. -I think aside from this using an app because there's like a degree of privacy and you have to worry about that there. -This Couple one sounds good. -Couple sounds kinda cool. Yeah, so Couple has this weird gimmick-- and they all have gimmicks that entice you to download it. But Couple has this gimmick called the thumb kiss. And basically, yeah-- -I know where this started. -I know it starts the eye roll now by the time I finished read them. -Jesus. -So you both put your thumbs on the screen and when your fingertips line up, then the whole screen turns red on both sides and the phone starts vibrating so you can sort of hold heads and touch each other that way. -I can't say if I wanna like cry from joy or sadness. -Yeah. A lot of corny gimmicks. -That stuff were like-- what I-- I don't wanna think about that. -Yeah. Other ones let you sort of like press your phone against your heart and that sense them like, "I'm thinking of you." -Kidding me. -Oh, sweet. -Where's the bag that I throw up in to? Is that come with-- -Don't ever let anyone else especially your dude friends let you-- don't let them see you. -You gotta hide that in like 30 folders. -Yeah. -Bury that bad boy deep. -Yeah, put that in the old system folder. Can you do that in your phone? Don't do things like this. Me and Peony used our Google Docs for a lot of things, so we basically just have one and then we have a bunch of sheets at the bottom for like restaurants we wanna try and like movies we wanna see. -Oh, that's cool. -And then we kinda like color-blocked them out every time. -Nerdiest relationship ever. -I know, both of us are kinda like in about that. -Yeah. -But we also have like a financial tracker, which is weird, you know, like-- -What do you mean-- like. -Well, see, this is what I wanna talk to you guys about. It's like-- -Well, you're not married. -That's what I was gonna say. -We're on a different level though. -How do people that aren't married but in a long-term relationships sort of handle money? -We did it in the Google Doc. -Yeah. -'Cause it was like, before we got married and we really, you know, attached ourselves to one another. -Yeah. -It was like, "Oh, rent is due." -Right. -"These things are due." Yeah. -But you guys have like shared expenses before you guys got married? -We lived together for a really long time. -So you guys have like a joint bank account? -No. -Just separate. Okay, so that's where the ledger-- -That's why we needed like a ledger. -Right. Yeah, I think for us, whenever we're out to dinner or someone who doesn't have cash or whatever, we kind of like enter our finances into this doc to make sure that neither one of us ends up like spending too much on the relationship. -Oh, you're supposed to be buying dinner every night. -Me? -Yes, that's it. That's a Yu problem. -I'm dating a very liberal feminist. -Right. -So-- -So she would not have any of that. -So she doesn't have to worry about-- yeah. She doesn't want any of that. -That's good news for you. -Right? High five man. -Nice. -Nice. -Yeah. -What about you Ariel? Do you guys have anything like a Google doc to sort or organize-- -No. Not really. -You just do it. -Yeah, kind of. We were kinda just winging it. But the way we have right now 'cause we have combined a lot of debt so-- -Yeah. -her income is being used to just take care of the debt and I just pay all the other bills basically. -Yeah, okay. -So it's fair I think. -Yeah, I like that. See, every couple sort of has to like find their own way to-- -Yeah, of course. -make it work for them, right? -And they're married now too, makes them easier. -Yeah, true, true. -You know-- just like put everything under her name. -Yeah. -Yeah. -Like all the credit, all the debt. -Yeah. -Yeah. -So you save yourself, just in case, it don't work out, you know, you just-- -Just cut that foundation. -go out the escape hatch. -Yeah. -Well, what's up? I don't have any debt attached to my name. -I might be gonna ask about your pre-nups. -I wanted to do a joint account. You're the one telling me you're gonna take care of it. Look where we are now. Sayonara. -And you're alone. Yeah. -Yup. -I think, you know, stuff like Avocado and all these other apps, you can check them out, we'll post them and the links. -I wanna try them up. -I think what technology can help us as much as it takes away from relationships sometimes with misunderstandings and, you know, using your phone too much when you're together. I also think that, man, long distance relationships must be made so much easier using technology now. -Yeah, like many I would imagine it's that much easier but-- -Yeah, for like people that or spouses that are deployed or whatever. -Nothing beats-- sure. -That Skype chat up. -Nothing beats face to face though, right? -No. But if you can't for whatever reason, man, do you guys ever do the LDR? -What's that? -The Long Distance Relationship? -Oh, I did. I did it the first year-- -Yeah, Ariel did it forever. -All right. -Yeah, I did that. -Yeah. -And, yeah, I got it to-- I mean, FaceTime and iMessage, that helped a lot. I was imagining doing it without that-- -Yeah. -I don't know. I probably go crazy. -Yeah. I mean, I have a lot of friends that are in a long distance relationships right now and a lot of them complain that because of the time differences, you know, like the coastal time differences. -Yeah. -A lot of times they'll be out when the other person is at home ready to do a video chat. But they all say like, yeah, now that you can be on video chat wherever with FaceTime, doesn't matter. You don't have to be in front of a computer, which is, you know, formally has. -Yeah, exactly. Yeah. -Very nice. -That's nice. -What do we have next? -Well, let's talk next about another love apps that's a little bit more insidious, sort of offensive almost. But, do you guys have any friends, and I won't make you out their names, but do you guys have any friends that are in relationships that you don't necessarily approve of? -Yes. -Okay. -Well, there's a new app out that basically lets you bet on how long your friend's relationships are gonna last. -Oh, man. -That money? -Not money. But, you know, everyone sort of has that friendship and that relationship. -Right. -You know, one of your friends is with a girl that's maybe not treating him right, vice versa. -Sure. -And, you can have really say anything until you hear those golden words that they broken up and then you sort of unleash-- -Dude, I hated her. -Yeah, exactly. -She was the worst. -Yeah. -She smelled like onions. -Yeah, well that's bad. -That is bad. -Forever I Not, it is called. And you can download it. It's for free. And it basically sort of works like Tinder. This is what it looks like. I'm sorry, it's called Forever Not. -I think it's called Forever Not. -Yeah. That's-- so this is what it looks like. It sort of resembles Tinder, that dating app. It's a really simple thing. It basically scans all your Facebook friends and that's how it tells which of your buddies are in relationships. And they sort of bring them up on the screen side by side. -Interesting. -And then it's your job to either swipe right if you think that they're not gonna stay together for a very long. And then if you swipe left, it'll give them a Forever rating. -I would much rather be other things up for debate. -What do you mean? -It's like, well, how long will this person keep a job? -Oh, right. You wanted to open up for everything. -Everything. -Yeah. How long will this person live? -Yeah. Whatever you wanna bet. -Yeah, you can do that. -You know. -Let's open that up. -Right on. Get on that. -This is kinda like shady but if you sign up for it, you basically enable yourself to be included as well. So if you do get voted on by your friends, you can see what your friends have said about you and whether or not your relationship is gonna last. But you can't see which friends and how they voted. -It's so hard when you're friends with someone who is in such an obviously terrible relationship. -Yeah. -Except it's not obvious to them. -Right. -And I don't know what to do about that. I wish we could talk to somebody about that because I all-- I'm trying to do is like connive and manipulate and like hopefully little things I do with undoubtedly lead to these people's breakup. I can only do so much. I have a full time job. -Yeah, what is the opposite of being a wingman? It's gotta be a good word-- -I don't know. -for that. -A serial killer? -But that's what you are. Yes, sociopath. -I'm just a relationship sniper. -Yeah. -I'm trying. I'm trying my damn this with like three couples. -Yeah. -Isn't that-- is that weird? It's bad, right? -How are you doing it? -I should stop that right? -Yeah. You know, I've been in situations like that before too. But even if they're in the worst relationship, if you tell your friend, they're not gonna be friends with you anymore. -Right, well-- -You know what I mean? -I've actually, one relationship someone had to say something and we're still friends. -Uh-hmm. -But I just gotta make a few calls right now, that's what I gotta do. Tell people to stand down. -Well, honestly, I don't always think that you're getting both sides of the story too. -Sure. -Right? I mean, most of the time you're just hearing it from whoever you're closer to. -And it's-- and obviously, I'm having a laugh. I'm joking around. -Right. -But like-- -I just never to judge people by how they act to me in a relationship. -Right. -How they appear to be acting to me-- -About their relationship? -about their relationship 'cause you have no idea how it's been going behind doors. -Of course not. But when you see two people and every time you see them they're fighting, it's not gonna be good at all. -Yeah. -Right, maybe. But some couples, that's how they communicate. You have no idea how, what the degree of their fight is, you know. -Sure. -If it's really, really bad, then yeah, it's unhealthy. -Yeah. -But some couples like bickering. They thrive on it because they-- I don't know, maybe their sadist. Maybe they get a kick out of it. -I was gonna say they're just-- they're-- that's crazy. -Yeah, it could be. I don't know. But-- -But no, obviously, I'm talking about people who you have overexposure with, who were like-- -Right. -I've spent like, like if you go away with some-- with a couple. -Uh-hmm. -And I'm not saying this happened to me but if you go away with a couple and four out of five days you're away with them, they like don't even talked to each other 'cause they're in such a bad fight. -Right. -It's pretty telling. -And that makes it uncomfortable for everybody. -It's super selfish. -Yeah. But don't-- it's not always good to say something immediately after they break up. -No. -Maybe you should wait 'til like it's confirmed after like 30 days, maybe even a few months. -I would say 10 to 15 minutes and then you can probably get in there and then just go nuts. High fives all around like, "Yeah, she was the worst." -"Yeah, she's a bitch." Just to bring those stuff. -Oh, he was so stupid. -Yeah, yeah. -"I can't believe he wore that." -Yeah. -"He was so stupid." -"He cheated on you." -Yeah. With me, with me. -Yeah. -With the whole team. -Or started to tell you all this time. But I made a promise, whatever. -So good. Okay-- -I'm going out with her now. -Speaking of secrets, you know, I've read somewhere once that, you know, social networks are basically an answer for people that feel like nobody is listening to them, which is a very sad way to describe what we all use every day. -It's a way for people to express themselves. -Yeah, definitely. I think the problem is that-- -It's a public journal. -not everything that people think should be broadcasted. -No. That's for Twitter. -Yeah, or podcast. -Right. -And, you know, none of that really matters on the internet 'cause you could do whatever you want there and people will listen to your B.S. but there's a new app out that basically represents the worst of social networks, which is the anonymous element. And that something of a theme on today's show. But, you know, that's the worst part about social networks, right? And any time you have unanimity, ultimately gossip, conjecture and just general shit-talking also comes with it. So that's all culminates in a new app that we're talking about right now called Secret. I actually downloaded it on my phone. I checked it out this morning. It kinda messed up. -I've seen this. I think it's awesome. It's just like that Post Secret guy. -Yeah. It's just like-- explain what Post Secret is. -Post Secret was a social experiment conducted by a gentleman named, I forget, Miller or something Miller was is name? We actually have the guy on our show. It was a social experiment done where he solicited postcards from anonymous people confessing something. -Right. -So, someone would send in a postcard and be like, you know, I killed a guy or whatever-- not that crazy but it was very morbid and dark and sometimes happy. -Yeah. -But mostly, you know, really regretful bad things. -Yeah, true. I think like-- definitely I've checked out that site before and there some really horrible stuff. -Right. -A lot of it is like about maternity and paternity like about their kids and, "Oh, the person that I've told my kid is their father really isn't-- -Frank Warren is the guy's name. -Right, right. -I think it's-- there's a lot of things like that. There's a lot of things-- when people have baby, when women give birth. -Yeah. -A lot of things go on with them psychologically and I think it was like a really popular outlet for someone. -Yeah. There's a lot of "I regret having kids." -Yes. -Or "I had an abortion and didn't tell my husband." -Right. Or like my three-year-old doesn't know that her dad isn't her dad or something like that. -Right. Right, right, right. -It's crazy, but it's anonymous. That's the big point. -Yeah. And I think like, you know, the reason why that site maybe didn't take off for a lot of people is because it didn't have that personalized element. It's like, "Why do I care about some person abroad that's posting something anonymously in the internet?" Right? You can only read so many of those. You know, so the idea of Secret is that it really takes that pool of people and narrows it down to the micro level. So, now you're looking at your circle of friends. So this is how Secret works. It was developed by an ex-Googler named David Byttow. He's the programmer behind it. And it's basically a social network that automatically creates a contact list out of the contacts you have in your phone. So it doesn't do it by Facebook or you can't select it. It automatically pulls the numbers from your phone and matches that up with other people that have signed up for the app that list you as a contact. -Right. -So it sort of mutual thing as long as you both list each other in your address book, you're now friends. And from there it's basically the same thing I supposed Secret. It just lets you anonymously upload either photos or texts that just say whatever you wanted to say. -But now it-- -But now you have this sort of guess about which person in your circle-- -Right. -that may have your contact list. -This is a ticking freaking time off. -I know. It's really dangerous. -I mean, think about it people. You are essentially entering anonymous, you know, most likely mean-spirited comments or whatever it is. There's nothing good will come to this when you're just sort of like releasing that information to a select group of people that you actually know. -Right. I mean, obviously, you wanna make sure you have a pretty good amount of contacts in your address book before you sign up for this. Because chances are, if somebody else has a really small one too, they could probably figure it out of who you are if you're posting bunch of secrets. -I mean, we jumped to conclusions and we're like, "Oh, well someone is only gonna, you know-- -Yeah, it's not all really terrible stuff. -Not only to be mean but I mean, it's obviously going to devolve into that. -Yeah. Yeah, actually like I downloaded this morning 'cause I was, you know, just sort of curious. And a lot of it was like, "Oh, me and my partner have like sex in public the other day." -Oh, that's pretty cool. -Yeah, a lot of it is that. And then-- -I think that's gonna add productively to the world positively to the world. -Yeah. One person said that they regret moving to New York from San Francisco, so that really narrows down the amount of people. Is that you Ariel? -It was Justin. -I just signed up. -Yeah. -It was Justin. Yeah. No, I mean, I don't know anyone has ever said that so I don't believe it. -Maybe it's just, you know, you don't have to verify. It could be all B.S. -Right. It could be. That's the beauty of unanimity. -So that's Secret. You guys should download it. I mean, if you really feel like it can be like a catharsis for you to sort of let it all out in the internet anonymously, you can do that. -I'm staying so freaking far away. -But you're gambling here. Why would you want something like this is sort of like, you know, just posting it randomly online? Why wouldn't you just create a fake Twitter handle? -You're just playing with fire. -Yeah, like-- -Like why even do this? -Why give up the possibility that you couldn't be found out? -It's like you have the option to juggle tennis balls or chainsaws. -Yeah. -And you go right to the chainsaws and you're like, "That looks easy and fun. I wanna do that." -Yeah. -You're crazy. I'm staying so far away from this app. -Yeah, it's bad. -Maybe I'll download it but I'm gonna really not use it that's what I'm saying. -How many secrets that you wanna give out into the show? It doesn't have to be insane. -Did we just get finished talking how I'm just simply gonna do that? -No secrets whatsoever? -Just simply not-- I have-- I don't really. -Anything weird that you do at home that you don't want anyone else to know about? Were you not looking or you have weird hobbies? -I don't know. Not really. -And collect weird stuff? No secrets? What about you Ariel? -I'll post it in that. -Yeah. I mean, what-- okay. What about you lead inquisitor? What about you? -Oh, I got a good one. -Head interrogator? -So the other day I was at the grocery store and I was buying coffee. And-- -Like beans? -Uh-hmm. -Yeah. -Selecting which beans that I wanted and while I was there, they had a huge barrel full of beans or what it look like a giant barrel. I guess it wasn't filled all the way. -Go on. -But, I had to do it man. I couldn't resist that urge. I just put my what? -You stuck your-- -Hand. -I mean like-- -Hand. -What? The hand's not band. -In the beans. -I don't care. -Okay, yeah. It was a light-hearted confession you weirdo. -I mean, no. -Yeah, I straddle the barrel. -Imagine you left on there like-- sort of like, man, this and you like, I'm gonna lower my undercarriage to do this right now. -Yeah. -In front of everybody in the supermarket. -And then someone who walks in to the aisle-- -Yeah. -No one will ever believe you. -Yes. -Straight back into the aisle. -No, I put my hand in there and kinda like-- you know, grip the beans a little bit. -Good for you. -It was so gratifying. I freaking loved it. -I don't know where the fetish comes from. -But you're not supposed to do that and I'm sure if somebody came in and found me elbow deep in the coffee beans, they probably look at me weird. But I did it anyway and that's my confession. -That's not that bad. It's coffee beans. -I know 'cause I'm not giving up any like crazy lies here. -If it was like a jar or if it was like a barrel of pickles that's a little stranger. -Yeah. -You know? -Did you ever eat stuff in the grocery store and then pay for it? -I used to when I was a kid, not anymore. -Yeah, like what would you eat? -I just eat an apple. -Eat but some fruit snacks. -Eat an apple? -What? That's how I know the story is B.S. no kid takes an apple out. They would head straight for the candy aisle. -No, I don't like open packaging. -You just like to bite out of the apple? -No. I would-- and put it back. No, I was like, you know, I take the apple, maybe open a bottle of water and you just leave it on the shelf. -Yeah. -That's what it's there for. You can't just go into a grocery store and be like, "Oh, no one will ever eat anything in the store." It'll all make its way safely out the door into their kitchens respectively and be opened and consumed in the appropriate location. No. I'm opening it up, you know, whatever. -Dude. -I won't open like a box of cereal and start eating it. -You just put it down wherever you-- -I won't do that. But I'll eat a banana. Hell yeah, I'll eat a banana. -You just open a quart of milk and drink a little bit out of it. -And drink-- I remember like looking at the guys like, "Sir." And I'm like, "What? You know, I'm testing it out." -Peony told me that when she was young, her and her stupid friends would go around in the middle school. -In our country? -In our country. -Yeah. -She would go around in middle school and she would like, you know, go to Target or whatever drugstores and stuff-- Seven Eleven. -Yeah. -And she would go and schmoosed the candy bars. She would just like, gulp 'til like the Whatchamacallit and just schmoosed all the Whatchamacallit. -Put up the nine and crime. -Yeah, but like just mean. -Yeah. -Because [unk] anything that's like schmoosed kids aren't gonna check for that kind of thing. So she would go around like just basically making a thumb print into the Snickers bars. -Oh, really gonna get this guys now. -Yeah, it was like. What jerks? Not even funny. That's just mean. -That sucks. That is such a like-- -Or like the Milky Ways, imagine like buying-- $0.69 or whatever for a Milky Way and then opening it up and let's got like schmoosed, it's like halfway schmoosed. -I guess, I mean-- -All the caramels all over the package. -It wouldn't even ruin my day. -I would go back to that 7-Eleven. -That is such white collar crime man. -Yeah. -Jesus. -That's what middle school kids have to do to keep themselves-- -I remember though, there are kids that used to do real like you talked about that that is so on the bottom of this-- -Oh, very is, yeah. -of the [unk]. I remember kids in the middle school who would like-- they were like ripped mail up. Like they would go in the neighborhood, open up everyone's mailboxes and just be like ripping it all up and throw it back in the mailbox. And it would just be like, "Why?" -Yeah. -Like it's-- like, why? -That's kind of funny. -It was like, I guess, like what important stuff are you getting in the mail anyway? -Yeah, yeah. -But it was like why? It was just so mindless. -Why did all of the pranks, the kid pranks always end up with the mailbox just 'cause it was really accessible like I knew a lot of people that will just open their mailbox and fart into it and then close it. -Which did nothing-- -Which they would never did anything 'cause it's not like those things were hermitically sealed. -Did I tell you what happened to my mailbox when I was growing up? -Someone took a dump in it. -No, someone lit it on fire. Someone exploded it. -That's pretty funny. Was it like a cherry bomb or something? -No. It was like a can of lighter fluid. -And then someone had a cigarette and was like, okay. This is happening now. No more mail for you effers. -Yeah. -And that was it. -Probably they did just favors some bills in there or something. -I guess. -Like you did that shit anyway. -It's weird like the destructive mentality of young people. -Oh, man. My friends and I used to like make spit balls, you know, like going to the bathroom and like, lot of bunch of paper towels and throw them at whoever was sitting inside the stall. Do you guys ever do stuffs like that? -They used to have it on my high school all the time. -Yeah, yeah. -A lot of bathroom pranks. -Yeah. -So weird. -Terrible. And then your history teacher comes out of the bathroom all wet like, "Oops, who did that?" Oh, man. Anyway, let's move on to the story. -So strange. -BeetleJuice, everyone's favorite movie. -Oh, boy. -What did that come out? Has it been 30? -Oh, I wanna say '89, I wanna say. -Eighty something. Late 80's? Okay. -We have internet here. -Oh, we do. We have that thing. -Hold on, there is the internet. -Yeah, that old thing. -Eighty-eight. -Eighty-eight. Okay. Well, it's been a while regardless, and sort of talk about this every once in a while. These rumors sort of bubble up, sort of intermittently-- the last time we talked about it was in November when Winona Ryder sort of talked about how BeetleJuice 2 is in the works. -Right, yes. -And today, we're getting another update, just a few months later. Michael Keaton is now confirming both his involvement and "talks" with Tim Burton about what the potential sequel be about. -Right. So here's the deal, and I'm sure everyone is hearing this so don't-- like for me, obviously, I don't want this to happen just because I, you know, I'm just gonna be like the old man crying about them ruining the original, right? -Well, it's not gonna be a remake. It's not like a Robocop. -Right. It will be a sequel. It's gonna be a sequel. -It's gonna be a sequel, yeah. -But here's a thing like, don't-- there's nothing to get upset about just yet. This is just a confirmation from Michael Keaton, the gentleman who is actually in Robocop I think. -Oh, no. He's in-- -Yeah, Michael Keaton is in Robocop, yeah. -And he's in like the Need for Speed movie and apparently he just won't say no to anything anymore now. It's fine. They're just talking. They're just talking about it. -Uh-hmm. -So I don't think there's any real, you know, reason to consider this a green-lit operation. I'm sure if everyone gets the okay and they have the scrip that they really like-- -Yeah. -there's not a studio that would say no. But I mean, that's really like the only takeaway. I think it's just-- I mean, how do you honestly and truly feel about a BeetleJuice 2? -I think it can work. Yeah, I think it can work because, you know, if you took Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin out of the picture. -Why? -Because they wouldn't be in the movie. -Why? -'Cause they would look so much different. You'd have to do it in no time. -No. What do you mean? -You have to say 30 years have passed since the last movie. -Yeah, of course. -So that's one option or you could just keep Michael Keaton in the same makeup which wouldn't really show his age. -Well, he's been dead. -But he's so caked with makeup. -Yeah, so-- -If you could just focus more on, I would prefer to see a story about BeetleJuice and Lydia. -But Winona Ryder has aged 30 years as well. -She has aged too, yeah. So I would rather have those two be in the movie 'cause, Michael Keaton really wasn't in the movie that much. -He's BeetleJuice. -He is BeetleJuice. He's the title character. But in terms of the scenes-- -He's not that much. -he's really not in it that much. -Right. -He's outside with maybe 20 minutes total. -Sure. -So I wanna see some more of his back history maybe him dealing with like a new couple or getting his number called. They never called his number. -Like that's how the movie starts to get that long tapered like wild thing. -Right. Yeah, it's been 30 years has been finally-- -It's been 30 years. But what that-- immediately piss me off. -Why? -Because he's been waiting in purgatory for 27 years. -Yeah. But he's already dead so it doesn't matter anyway. -I don't know. I guess I'd be okay with that. It's tough man. -Yeah, I think-- -You know what it is? It's not even the fact that like it would be a good story or it would be a bad story. I think it's just, you know, the sort of like emotional attachment. I mean I'm not sure there are many other movies that have affected me the way BeetleJuice did. -Right. -So you put like, the original Batman-- -Yeah. -Back to the Future, maybe like, you know, five to ten others and BeetleJuice is in that category as well. And for me it's like a personal exploitation of my youth that I'm just organically resistive of against. -There is I think what BeetleJuice, the original. There was no campiness or irony involved with it because at the time, there was CGI but it wasn't really an option to use it in this movie like it still had a lot of those Tim Burton in the elements, you know, like that [unk]. -I mean this is 27 years ago Tim Burton. -Yeah. -This is like his-- I don't know. I think-- -It wasn't like a campy-- -it was like a [unk] and like right after this. -Batman Forever-- oh, and Batman Returns after this. -No, no, no. I'm pretty sure Batman 1 is '89. -Was it after? -Yeah. -Okay. -He had done Pee-Wee. -Right. -So that was like the only film he had done and then was this. -Yeah. -I mean it's like, man, you know-- -But if you went back and use Stop Motion again, I think it would fee-- -It would be awesome. It would be great. -It will be cool but it would feel gimmicky in a way that the original didn't. -I would be-- -And I think that might they want it-- -I mean if they could emulate the exact aesthetic-- -Yeah. -with the sandworms and with the masks. -Right. And the dance sequence. -I don't know man. Ariel, you've been quite. Have you've seen BeetleJuice? -I have but I don't remember it like you guys remember it, so I'm not to attest to it like you are. -Okay. So you won't live or die about what happened? -No. I actually wanna see a sequel. -Oh, you do? Okay. -I was like, yeah, yeah. -Well, I'm glad, you know, to hear that. -Yeah. -Just no damn CGI. Let's do it make up and stop motion only. -The scene-- I mean you've seen-- -I know. And it's a lot of-- -Tim Burton's films lately. -I know. -He seems to be inexplicably in love with it-- -Yeah. -which blows my mind. -He's so cool. -A guy whose altruism has been developed by the absence of such a technique. -He's never going back is he? -I mean, did you-- -Someone said they should call the sequel BeetleJuice BeetleJuice, just pretty good. -That's not bad. -Last story of the day. -Alec Baldwin is gotta be in it. I love Alec Baldwin. -Oh, he's bigger than life right now though. -He's a main-- I know. He is sort of like a mega, mega celebrity, right? -No. I mean, well, I guess-- metaphorically and physically he's huge compare to how he was. -It's the voice and it's the hair and this is-- -Yeah. -I just wanna like hug him maybe a little bit. -Yeah. -Anyway, we [unk]. -It may happen, it may happen. Last story of the day. Jeff, do you wanna lead us into this one? -So Justin found the story and I was intrigued by the title. It's called the creepiest urban legends in the history of gaming. I was unaware that there were even urban legends associated with any games let alone, a list of ten. So we went through this list and I'd only really heard of maybe half the games on this list. But I-- or maybe more than that rather. But the crazy sort of urban legends within them, I had never heard of. -Yeah, there's a lot of weird folklore. -So this is just, you know, myths about games, some modern, some not so modern. So let me-- -I can feel people typing snopes into their urls. And don't do that 'cause that's gonna ruin the surprise. -Yeah, this is more just like suspension of disbelief. I guess a little bit. I'm gonna start with one that I saw regarding one of my favorite games of all time Fall Out 3. Fall Out 3, for anyone who's unaware of the game. It takes place in a post-apocalyptic Washington DC, where everything is gone to hell and you play someone who survived by living in a vault after the bomb was dropped. And you go out-- the game starts, you go out and you basically, you know, do what you gotta do. What this list claims is that there are cryptic messages being broadcast within the game's internal radio station. So, in the game, you have access to a little device that can receive radio stations. Some of them are playing music. Some of them are playing distress signals. This list claims that there are phrases, whether be a Morse code or whether it would be whispered at a very low level. They claim that the Queen has died today is one of the motorings in this cryptic radio broadcast. They also say that I can't believe Britney is actually won an Oscar bury deep within the Morse code. Yes. So I don't know. It's really kind of crazy. But, nevertheless, the [unk] the company that developed the game denies that any of this is in fact built into the narrative. -Interesting. -Let's go to another role-playing game from the same publisher. The Elder Scrolls 3 Morrowind which I'm sure, PC gamers were very familiar with. Apparently, there was a mod of this game that supposedly made its players insane. They made them crazy. This is weird. So there's a lot of-- a mod-- so if you play a game on PC, you can download a mod that modifies the makeup of the original game and then play it. They do it for GTA. They do it for pretty much every popular PC game has a mod you can download and install. They're not done by the original developers. This is something that someone takes into their own hands, re-codes the game and offers something else. -Right. -So one of the games mods was called. I don't know if there's an actual-- oh, the mod is sort of unnamed. But it's a mod that-- it's a very strange name. It's like a serial number. The mods supposedly kills everyone in the game right away. -Okay. -And all it is, is like people standing blankly at you. And you just-- you think you see like an assassin crawling around everywhere you go. -Uh-huh. -There is a room called the hall of portraits that is lined with pictures inside you're My Pictures folder, which is creepy. -What? It accesses your folders. -Yes, it does that. -That is creepy. -And there's a lock door at the end of the hall that no one knows how to open. Some people have gone crazy trying to figure how to open it. -Jesus. -It sounds a lot like ready player one. It's like that sort of stuff. -Uh-hmm. -Where the mod is so demented and evil. It's evil that apparently if you play it long enough, you begin to see assassins scurrying around corners and climbing up walls. IRL, which obviously drives you crazy and you wind up in Bellevue. -Right. -But those are the two mods that-- two urban legends that I found the most compelling out of this list. -Yeah. These stories also aren't helping the accusation that what people see in video games, they mirror in real life. -I-- 100 percent that is a true thing. -Yeah, yeah, definitely. Everything people do in video games, they believe can happen in real life. -No, no, no. -It will. -That was a blanket statement I've ever heard one. No, no, no. During the Tony Hawk days, right? -Yeah. -Like I was-- I felt like I was always moving. I felt like I was always sort of like parkouring everywhere I went. -Right, right. -I would-- wherever I went, I was like, man this would be a great Tony Hawk level. -Yeah, for sure. -You know, like you-- that definitely happens. -It's that easy. -Playing a lot of first-person shooter gives you this sort of weird tunnel vision also. -Uh-hmm. -When you play first-person shooter. Obviously, you only see a certain degree of your whole periphery and then when you go out in the real world after that, it sort of just like-- -I don't have to-- -I don't need to turn this much as I do. -Yeah. That sort of stuff. -And you're making hard right angles all the time and stuff too. -Yeah. I'm just like walking in the walls and just move around. It's pretty fun. -All right, so two of my favorite ones and I wanna start with this last one. These are really insane. So in 1981, the story dates back all the way in 1981. There were a series of arcade gaming cabinets that started showing up in Portland suburbs, right? And the bore-- a very weird, very strange appearance. So they were all black. They had no markings on the side. -Cool. -Like you would normally see in the arcade cabinet. -Cool. -And the only thing that was in color was this bright green title on top, this label that said Polybius, sort of a weird name for a video game, right? Doesn't really-- no one really knows what that means. It's sort of dubious. But the game got really popular. It sort of played a lot like Pacman in the early 80's, so it wasn't that advanced. But, you know, the game got really popular but then it also started having strange side effects on people. -What? -And so some of the players started reporting things like amnesia, insomnia, nightmares, night tears too, which could all be, now that we know what video game addiction is. It could all just be them playing the game too much and not going to sleep. -But a seizure? -But a seizure is a completely different story, right? So, the problem with this is that a lot of people same story as you did, you reportedly earlier, lot of players are going crazy. Lot of people started having suicidal-- -Where? thoughts. Don't worry about the details just people. Some people man like buddy of my uncle actually played this game. -Yeah, buddy of my uncle. Yeah, I know that guy. -And then jumped off of the bridge screaming Polybius. -Polybius-- -So the story came to a head in 2006 when a man named Steven Roach started to posted things on an online forum called Coinop.org. -Cool. -And he claimed to be one of the original programmers that was contracted by the gaming company. -Like who put it out? -Some Czechoslovakian company. It's no longer in existence. -What's up with the Czechs? -Don't try to trace it back because they're not in business anymore. So they developed-- they were trying to develop this new approach to displaying computer graphics. -By melting people's brains. -And it turned out that these computer graphics were so frantic, so frenetic that the graphics started prompting epileptic seizures, and that may be part of the reason that explains the sort of witch hunt, this game went through. And that something with the visuals right? But another-- that's the urban legend with Polybius. The second one that I wanted to talk about has to do with Pokemon. And I remember hearing about something similar to this story where kids that were watching Pokemon on screen, they had such quick scene changes in the cartoon that, you know, the eye movements that these kids had to sort of go through were causing seizures. Did you ever hear about that? This is like in Japan I think. -Pokemon? -Pokemon. But this is the different story than that. So according to this article in 1996, the Pokemon red and green video game came out for a Game Boy. Do you remember that? What was sort of about the time that we were playing Game Boy. -Yeah-- it killed like three million kids. -Yeah. So, the red and green came out for Game Boy and it was hugely popular especially in Japan where it first debuted. And as time progressed, parents soon started to notice their kids acting differently. Their speech patterns were a little bit different. They're feeling nauseous and illnesses rose and this is fact, child suicides started getting more popular. -Yeah, 'cause you just-- they were-- when you weren't playing, you were too depressed? -Could be. -Sure. -But soon, the parents started sort of tracing back to, you know, the timeline of their kids playing this. And they realized that the suicidal thoughts started occurring and all the weirdness started occurring when they reached a certain level in Pokemon. That level was called Lavender town in the game. And they led a bunch of audiologists and psychologists sort of go through the game and track down this level, turned out the Lavender level had a really weird theme song to it. A very [unk] theme song that sort of like chipped away at your brain, if you played it long enough, you would eventually go crazy. And actually have the YouTube video of Lavender town the sound track, do you wanna hear it? Don't listen to it for too long because if you do you might go insane and kill the person next to you. -We are gonna be very liable. -That's my disclaimer. So the buffer is there. -Okay. -Don't do anything crazy. -I can hear it anyway, I just realize it. -All right. Well, here it is. It's playing right now. You can Google. -Is there a disclaimer? -Lavender town. We just gave this. -No, I mean like in the video. -No. -Oh, God. I'm just imagining why the 404 listeners dropping dead right now. -Can you hear it over there Ariel? -Oh, man. I'm going crazy right now. It's loud in my headphone. -Imagining he just started flopping around-- -You're drooling buddy. Oh, man, it does sound kinda creepy though. -It's creepy. -It's like-- -Yeah, it's eerie. -Yeah. It's all like polyphonic and stuff. -Yeah. -It's more annoying and creepy though. -You should have saved this story for freaking Halloween man. -Yeah. -It's a Halloween story. -We'll table that for eight months. Just be careful what video games you play 'cause they're not all fun. -I'm not even gonna say that. -Okay. Just go crazy. -Don't play too much. There's always room for taking a break. -Yeah. You do anything too much and you'll go crazy. -Good reporting there sir, thank you. Excellent job. That's gonna do it for us today. Thanks for listening or watching The 404 Show. You can e-mail us at the404@cnet.com. We're pretty much closing the door on all of the submissions for our buddy Dr. Josh King who would be coming in hopefully by the end of the month to talk about all things addiction. Again, from our bottom of our hearts, thank you to each and every one of you that has opened up and let yourself out and sort of talked about these serious issues that some of our listeners are going through. We really appreciate that transparency. So thanks for doing that. We have a lot of people coming in, in the next couple of weeks so stay tune for the very latest. Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and our sub Reddit for the absolute latest and we're back here tomorrow with a brand new show that you can really, really just sort of sink your teeth into. All right. Until then, we'll see you. I'm Jeff Bakalar. -I'm Justin Yu. -I'm Ariel Nuñez. -This has been The 404 Show, high tech lowbrow. Have an awesome Tuesday. We'll see you tomorrow.