The Managing Expectations Podcast

Places you don’t want to visit, foods you don’t want to eat! 

MEP Supplemental - Wenger waxes solo on expatriate communities and how they got that way. He revisits a column he wrote in April 1997 about remembering the fall of Saigon.

Wenger and Jared talk about the Olympics again and also Nazi Sculpture 

Brian talks about the direct-to-streaming business model while Wenger tries to figure out who owns Warner and HBO. They talk Scarlett Johansson, Christopher Nolan, going to the movies vs sitting on your own sofa and watching a movie, The Bad News Bears, Loki and the MCU reset, and negotiating deals with an eye on the back end. 

Wenger and Brian discuss the coming eviction crisis, Anne Applebaum’s book Iron Curtain, journalist David Halberstam, the war in Vietnam, Maoism, Stalinism, the Olympics, Putin, and the new Match Game. Listen and judge for yourself which is the greatest scourge of mankind.

A public reading of Esquire’s Guide to Modern Etiquette, connecting Smokey & the Bandit and Annie Hall, and a thorough retrospective of Denver’s iconic Casa Bonita. Also we learn that it’s harder to pilot a helicopter than a plane!

Wenger and Brian celebrate Bobby Bonilla Day - or at least explain it. And then they talk (seriously) about Portland as Wenger digs out his old review of a Chuck Palahniuk book.

Paid By The Interruption - Wenger talks with Elena Vee, one of the Mystery Solving Grannies about Eastern Europe, Houston, education, and a crummy job market. If Lucille Ball knew how to make borscht, you’d have E.V.

Book Club #3 Bluebeard by Kurt Vonnegut — Wenger, Jared, & Tirzah explore the autobiography of Abstract Expressionist Rabo Karabekian, and the place of Vonnegut as satirist among the giants of American Letters. And at some point somebody says something funny.

Brian tells a bladderish story and the guys talk about Nordic happiness, picnics, and pasta salads.

EP 59 - Central Asian Goat Sports and the Map Story. Ways to tell who’s like us and who’s not like us.

  Wenger resolves to be a nicer guy. You won’t have to listen to the end to know how he does. A lot is time is spent on physical fitness and defense of nature by Brian and Jared. By the time that nonsense is over, Wenger recounts a visual tour of the British Museum and meeting a blonde on the steps of the physical British Museum. Wenger talks about being dead inside and Brian has to get real becau...

What happens when a sharp guy like Wenger undertakes a plumbing project? Two journeymen - Grimm und Reiser weigh in.

While Brain is away, Jared returns to catch up on life in college town high in the Rockies. That John Denver was full of soup!

Ep 55 - The beauty of Newman and Redford; Western vistas and men running on the top of trains to CGI world and the Iron Dome

A sports-heavy episode starts with obscure football, then old baseball, fat athletes, Paul Simon and the Yankees, Bob Costas, and that one guy who owns the Boston Red Sox isn’t the same guy who plays him in Moneyball.

 Plus: The Road Warrior and Hondo! Cameo messages! Galaxy Quest! And the battle between Lou Reed and Paul Simon for Wenger’s heart and soul! Ep 53 Introducing DJ Coco Smooth and Brown! Plus: The Road Warrior and Hondo! Cameo messages! Galaxy Quest! And the battle between Lou Reed and Paul Simon for Wenger’s heart and soul!

Brian and Jeff discuss the WeWork documentary and if you can really make the world a better place by renting desks.    As always we are happy to be sponsored by our following sponsors- Mrswenger.com, All In a Dream Comics, and our friends at the 5208 and Refresher Therapy Podcasts.

Where do you go? What do you do? After the Special Golden Anniversary episode? FILL! More than two dudes talking but less than a very special episode. Jeff and Brian discuss the passing scene, reading, viewing, and working in restaurants. Our sponsors: www.mrswenger.com   The maker of comfortable, effective, and stylish face coverings for epidemiologically uncertain times All In A Dream Comics & B...

Golden anniversary special! It’s on the spectrum between two dudes talking and My Dinner with Andre! And Jeff said it wouldn’t last!     Thanks too!  ================== Mrs. Wenger Masks As always we are happy to be brought to you by our friends at mrswenger.com -The maker of stylish, effective, and comfortable face coverings.

Jeff and Brian are joined by the Mystery Solving Grannies, Tirzah and Emily, to review Rex Stout’s Fer-de-Lance, the first of the Nero Wolfe mysteries. Join the book club for the snappy patter you expect for this principled period piece.    

Jeff and Brian welcome back a very special guest and friend Chris Levine of the 7208 Podcast and his new project, Refresher Podcast. They discuss what they are doing to keep a measure of sanity during the pandemic, some interesting facts about the vibra-slap, a little bit of music and more interesting things from interesting people. We are happy to be sponsored by our friends at mrswenger.com, the...

Ep 47: *Where were you when the lights - and heat - went out?* Unprecedented? Once in a century storm? Or only once in a decade? It just doesn’t matter because it was too cold! Jeff reports to Brian from the front lines of the Great Texas Freeze of ‘21.

Ep 46 — Not Just Dudes Talking — Jeff is joined by the Mystery Solving Grannies, returning guests Tirzah and Emily, along with Elena, while the One Man Recession Fighter Brian is away. They talk about fathers and daughters and the Hotel Cecil documentary and a bunch of other stuff that seemed important to them which Jeff allowed in a desperate play for a broader audience. Pun intended.   www.mrswe...

Show notes: Ep. 45 Book Club #1: John D. MacDonald’s Deep Blue Good-By On a very special episode, Jeff and Brian are joined by Tirzah and Emily, angry millennials who happen to be women, to talk about Travis McGee, boat-bum, swinger, and protagonist of our first book club episode. A product of his time or sexual predator? No one will agree! And Brian disappears into the hedges! Sponsors: Mrswenger...