There exists places in which we collect and create experiences that prey on our base fears and curiosities. Why do we cross their threshold, intentionally and essentially inflicting harm  trauma upon ourselves? What within compels us to strive to experience fear? We also talk about porn in this one!  Mentioned material this week Jacob Geller. Control, Anatomy and the Legacy of the Haunted House: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mexs39y0Imw   Stay up-to-speed with the podcast and DM us your gratitude crystals on Instagram @theempressandthehermit Connect with The Empress: http://instagram.com/kati.vanloo on Instagram Connect with The Hermit: https://linktr.ee/chknfoot

Mental, physical and emotional health can take a runny nose dive. What are the good memories about our favorite diseases? In a society that champions wealth before health, what can we do to maintain ours? Also, remember daytime tv in the 90's? Good times.   Stay up-to-speed with the podcast and DM us your gratitude crystals on Instagram @theempressandthehermit Connect with The Empress: http://instagram.com/kati.vanloo on Instagram Connect with The Hermit: https://linktr.ee/chknfoot

Mascots, thrill rides, bodily functions caused by these things and perhaps undercooked poultry; we're talking theme parks on this episode. Turns out Kati is a something of a daredevil while Andrew might be the most frightened child in the land.   Mentioned material this week TPMvids: https://www.youtube.com/@TPMvids    Stay up-to-speed with the podcast and DM us your gratitude crystals on Instagram @theempressandthehermit Connect with The Empress: http://instagram.com/kati.vanloo on Instagram Connect with The Hermit: https://linktr.ee/chknfoot

Life is a beautiful thing, doubly so when you've got your little buddies with you. We're talking about pets!   Stay up-to-speed with the podcast and DM us your gratitude crystals on Instagram @theempressandthehermit Connect with The Empress: http://instagram.com/kati.vanloo on Instagram Connect with The Hermit: https://linktr.ee/chknfoot

P.E., sports, recess...Remember these things? Did you do these things? Were you "supposed to do these things" but you hung out under the bleachers and made out with Donna Sullivan (not a real person)? A lot of our formative memories came about as a result of the things we did on and off the gym floor as youngsters. Mile runs, weird games, good memories...the Presidential Fitness Test also happened. Woof.   Mentioned material this week Ice Cream Sandwich my thoughts on school: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pd6ctfNsveg&t=9s   Stay up-to-speed with the podcast and DM us your gratitude crystals on Instagram @theempressandthehermit Connect with The Empress: http://instagram.com/kati.vanloo on Instagram Connect with The Hermit: https://linktr.ee/chknfoot

It can be a simple thing, a roll of the dice, or a complicated, sprawling role playing experience or something in between. Games, and playing are important, and something Kati and I hold dear. To us, games represent family, bonding, even greater delving into our deeper selves. Unless it's Monopoly! Monopoly sucks.   Mentioned material this week No Rolls Barred: 15 Most INSANELY Expensive Board Games Ever Made: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxnWLaIZ0wI  10 Most Beautiful Board Games Ever Made: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJrJAhLuSnw  10 Reasons Why Monopoly Sucks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LYqAgxLhXo&t=421s    Stay up-to-speed with the podcast and DM us your gratitude crystals on Instagram @theempressandthehermit Connect with The Empress: http://instagram.com/kati.vanloo on Instagram Connect with The Hermit: https://linktr.ee/chknfoot

Many, MANY things changed for many, MANY people pre and post pandemic. What were your plans? What were your dreams, goals, fears etc and what are they now? We talk about ours.   Stay up-to-speed with the podcast and DM us your gratitude crystals on Instagram @theempressandthehermit Connect with The Empress: http://instagram.com/kati.vanloo on Instagram Connect with The Hermit: https://linktr.ee/chknfoot

We're talkin' sweet, delicious and certainly not nutritious snacks. Candy is one of those very nostalgic things for us, evoking times gone by with loved ones and even the beginnings of our own relationship with each other. This topic came about because of an unholy collaboration: mac and cheese and candy canes, and moves through our ranking of some of our favorite (and least favorite) treats.   Mentioned material this week How Tootsie Rolls Saved the Troops: https://youtu.be/gDIv-byz7cQ Weird History Food: https://www.youtube.com/@weirdhistoryfood   Stay up-to-speed with the podcast and DM us your gratitude crystals on Instagram @theempressandthehermit Connect with The Empress: http://instagram.com/kati.vanloo on Instagram Connect with The Hermit: https://linktr.ee/chknfoot

To be a professional creative person is hard work, though many would have you believe it's a singularly blissful thing, a mystified and otherwise difficult to attain state of being. Nope. I mean...kind of? It's complicated.   Stay up-to-speed with the podcast and DM us your gratitude crystals on Instagram @theempressandthehermit Connect with The Empress: http://instagram.com/kati.vanloo on Instagram Connect with The Hermit: https://linktr.ee/chknfoot

A good cookbook, like anything created, should be a throughline to the tangible from the heart of the artist. We collect cookbooks for many reasons deeper than that deep dish pan you never use.   Mentioned material this week Alison Roman Home Movies: https://www.youtube.com/@alisoneroman  The Babish Culinary Universe: https://www.youtube.com/@babishculinaryuniverse Feeding The Frasers: https://feedingthefrasers.com/    Stay up-to-speed with the podcast and DM us your gratitude crystals on Instagram @theempressandthehermit Connect with The Empress: http://instagram.com/kati.vanloo on Instagram Connect with The Hermit: https://linktr.ee/chknfoot

It's funny when the things we find to be our personal niche become part of the mainstream, yet we might still be afraid to share our passion for them. Is it fear of rejection? Something deeper? Selfishness? We talk about that.   Mentioned material this week Extra Credits: https://www.youtube.com/@extracredits/featured   Stay up-to-speed with the podcast and DM us your gratitude crystals on Instagram @theempressandthehermit Connect with The Empress: http://instagram.com/kati.vanloo on Instagram Connect with The Hermit: https://linktr.ee/chknfoot

The greatest art can transport us to another reality, regardless of budget or scale. As performers, it is our job to sell a fantasy.    Go Chiefs.    Mentioned material this week TPMvids Top 5 Failed & Successful Disney Ride Overlays: https://youtu.be/_HYjR6qdAr0 How Sesame Street is Made: https://youtu.be/uUzRgDcMVKw Shakira & J. Lo's FULL Pepsi Super Bowl LIV Halftime Show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pILCn6VO_RU   Stay up-to-speed with the podcast and DM us your gratitude crystals on Instagram @theempressandthehermit Connect with The Empress: http://instagram.com/kati.vanloo on Instagram Connect with The Hermit: https://linktr.ee/chknfoot

Often thought a thing to create clutter, collecting is perhaps a misunderstood method of finding one self...with like...toys and stuff. Mentioned material this week The Pez Outlaw documentary trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZInOvqvygrk The Pez Outlaw Diary: http://pezoutlaw.blogspot.com/   Stay up-to-speed with the podcast and DM us your gratitude crystals on Instagram @theempressandthehermit Connect with The Empress: @kati.vanloo on Instagram Connect with The Hermit: https://linktr.ee/chknfoot

Our obsession this week takes us on a journey into the wilderness adjacent! We talk camping, our favorite outdoors-person, ASMR, and the inherent human need for simplicity.    Mentioned material this week Hike Camp Climb: https://www.youtube.com/@HikeCampClimb TheOdd1sOut ASMR: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1EXJoIntlk   Stay up-to-speed with the podcast and DM us your gratitudes on Instagram @theempressandthehermit Connect with The Empress: @kati.vanloo on Instagram Connect with The Hermit: https://linktr.ee/chknfoot

We're talking escape rooms, escapism, adventure and the inherent human need for community, primal experience and more.   Stay up-to-speed with the podcast and DM us your gratitudes on Instagram @theempressandthehermit Connect with The Empress: @kati.vanloo on Instagram Connect with The Hermit: https://linktr.ee/chknfoot

It's the pilot! Get to know us, Kati and Andrew, The Empress and The Hermit, a real life couple who talks like...a lot.    Want more? Buy Andrew's book, The Death and Life of Tom Valentine, available on Amazon: https://a.co/d/6OsYx0v To work with Kati, and to stay up to date on her projects head to Instagram www.instagram.com/kati.vanloo