Episodes

Waiter? Fact-Check Please!

Hello and Happy Tuesday! Today’s episode is a veritable hot-topic pie. We revisit last week’s episode by talking even more about powerful women in history as well as women today making history. We discuss the merits of California’s anti-plastic straw law, gush about Daylight Saving Time, marvel over the migration of millions of monarch butterflies, and update our stories on Coco Chanel and Jane Fonda with facts. Gasp. Then we “rrrrrrrrrrrrrr” hard-right turn into a full rant and FREAKING rave over the Lori Laughlin/Felicity Huffman/college admissions scandal (so much so Kris runs out of air mid-sentence). Then we wrap it all up with a spoonful of St. Patrick’s Day trivia. All the while wondering about the large amount of construction taking place below us during the entire episode. Question of the day: IS the construction downstairs actually the cover-up of a murder scene? You’ll just have to listen to find out. But first? Kym quacks us up with a mom-joke.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com
These ducks are gonna drop a beat right here.

Links and more information about what we talk about in today’s episode:

  • Investigative journalist Hal Vaughan’s biography about Coco Chanel, Sleeping With The Enemy: Coco Chanel’s Secret War, can be found here and here. The New Yorker article interviewing Mr. Vaughn about the book can be found here. In that article, Mr. Vaughan states that Chanel was backed by the powerful Wertheimer family, which helped her reestablish her business in France after World War II.
  • The coffee Kris mentions is: Death Wish Coffee and we dare anybody to try it first and let us know what you think because Kris is a scaredy-cat (but may still have to try it anyway).
  • The Washington Post article about Jane Fonda can be found here and another article here and quotes from Ms. Fonda about those events here in a Snopes article.
  • A must-read Forbes article about the college admissions scandal with 30 facts that SHOULD highly disturb you can be found here. Some of the truly disgusting facts? Parents of high school students allegedly paid about $25 million total to help their children get admitted to various colleges and universities and the alleged scheme has been ongoing since 2011. Among those who have been charged: 33 are parents, 13 are coaches and associates of ring-leader William “Rick” Singer (based in Newport Beach, California) businesses, including two SAT and ACT test administrators. Schools impacted by the scandal are: Yale, Stanford, Georgetown, Boston University, Northeastern, UCLA, USC, University of Texas at Austin and Wake Forest. GRRRR with a capital GRRRRRR!
  • Greta Thunberg, the Swedish climate-change activist you should be watching, is 16 years old. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
  • Chloe-Mei Espinosa, the anti-plastic straw advocate from Southern California and another powerhouse you should be watching, is 12 years old. More information can be found here, here, and here.
  • Yes. Kris understands a spade on a deck of cards and a shamrock do NOT look alike. A club on a deck of cards and a shamrock do. #facepalm #hangheadlow.

Check out our “Waiter? Fact-Check Please!” episode on  iTunes/Apple Podcasts, SpotifyOvercast, Libsyn, Pocket CastStitcher or anywhere you listen to podcasts. Then all you need to do is 1) subscribe 2) download and 3) listen! AND!!! 4) If you enjoy what you hear, please leave a rating and a review (pretty please?). The more subscribers and reviews we get, the more opportunities we get to grow this podcast and bring you richer content.

And don’t forget to follow us here at themuglytruth.com (click that blue WordPress Follow button on the right side of your screen) so you get notifications every time we post an episode blog! You can also follow The Mugly Truth on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

© The Mugly Truth 2019 and © The Mugly Truth Podcast 2019. All rights reserved.
Intro and outro music, “Clever as a Fox”  by Espresso Music through premiumbeats.com.
Photos courtesy of WordPress free library.
Episodes

Grande Upside-down Catch-up Frap, No Whip!

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Greetings and happy Tuesday! Today’s episode is all about catching up over a cuppa of Kris’ Keurig coffee and Kym’s Medicine Ball elixir of life from Starbucks (10/10 recommended!). We talk celebrity podcasts, the most notorious cold case of the 20th century, how successful we were at being randomly kind, Kym tries to sing opera even though she has no voice, and in the end we try to come up with some ways to improve certain areas of our lives. Confused? Especially about Kym singing opera? Don’t be! Today’s episode is brought to you by caffeine-fueled stream of consciousness! LET’S GO!!

Today we fall prey to a wee bit of celebrity podcast listener envy. Yep. We whine just a little about how all these famous people with millions of fans start podcasting and are top of the charts within two days. Waaaah. That’s ok. WE’LL GET THERE!! Just you watch. AND listen. And subscribe, download, rate and review…

We go on to discuss our escapades from Valentine’s day and just how successful we were during Random Acts of Kindness week, even in the face of adversity. As for VD (Valentine’s Day) Kym got some sweet kicks, while Kris just waited the day out. Good news, everyone survived.

But then we get into the real weeds about our latest favorites on tv and in the podcast world…including The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Kris went from “meh” to “BINGED BOTH SEASONS!” in no-time flat), Kym is all about the new Dirty John filmed documentary, and we’re both interested in a new podcast from Australia called “Who the Hell is Hamish” (introduced through the Teacher’s Pet podcast out of Australia). And we mention a few of  those danged, uber-popular (and TBH, really good) celebrity podcasts: Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend, The Monday Morning Podcast with Bill Burr, and SuperSoul Conversations with Oprah Winfrey. We REALLY do love them and don’t begrudge them their success. REALLY.

Unlike our coffee, we’re not bitter.

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“I Am the Night”. Photo courtesy of TNT.

But wait! The discussion gets juicier! And by juicy we mean downright gruesome, so honestly if you’re not really into discussing mutilated bodies, skip ahead, because we blithely chatter along, not paying much mind to the details of our subject. Some people might not be so immune to the subject as we seem to be. Of course we are talking about true crime, and our latest obsession being the limited series “I Am The Night” starring Chris Pine.

The show chronicles the life of American author Fauna Hodel, granddaughter of the infamous and disturbed (our words) Los Angeles physician George Hodel – who is suspected by his Los Angeles Police Department homicide detective son (and author) Steve Hodel of being the Black Dahlia murderer!

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Elizabeth short, forever known as the Black Dahlia, brutally murdered in 1947.

Ahem. How horrible do you have to be as a parent (and a person) to have your child grow up and write a book outlining their theory that you’re the perpetrator of the 20th century’s most notorious cold case ever?

The limited series is fantastic. If you didn’t know the truth behind it, you might not believe it was based on real life events because when we say it’s fantastic we mean in the “unfathomable” sense of the word.

Luckily there’s our new favorite podcast called “Root of Evil“, which is hosted by Fauna Hodel’s daughters Yvette and Rasha, with audio recordings of their mom and grandmother Tamar, as well as input by other members of the Hodel family, including their great-uncle Steve.

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THIS PODCAST! This is the album art for the Root of Evil: The True Story of the Hodel Family and the Black Dahlia. IT IS A MUST-LISTEN! Go! Now! LISTEN!

The family members reflect on growing up behind the closed doors of Hollywood’s Sowden House (a Lloyd Wright architectural icon at the corner of Franklin and Normandie) and in the process they reveal the dark secrets and not-so-secret dastardly exploits of the family patriarch, Dr. H.

We top the episode with some pretty good ideas about things we’d like to be better at. Like being funny. (FunnIER.) And better at art. And emotional maturity. You know, typical goals. And just like that, we call it a day. Done and done. Because honestly, Kym is still REALLY sick in this episode and even though she made a valiant effort, it’s just clear as can be that all she really needed to do better was to go home and take care of her poor self.

OH and before we sign off, it’s imperative to shout out HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO SAMANTHA!!!!!!!! TODAY is Sam’s birthday and I (Kris) couldn’t be prouder of her. (I love you to the moon, the deathstar, and to infinity and beyond Sami…so proud to be your momma, and so lucky).

Check out our Grande Upside-down Catch-up Frap, No Whip! episode on  iTunes/Apple Podcasts, SpotifyOvercast, Libsyn, Pocket CastStitcher or anywhere you listen to podcasts. Then all you need to do is 1) subscribe 2) download and 3) listen! AND!!! 4) If you enjoy what you hear, please leave a rating and a review (pretty please?). The more subscribers and reviews we get, the more opportunities we get to grow this podcast and bring you richer content.

And don’t forget to follow us here at themuglytruth.com (click that blue WordPress Follow button on the right side of your screen) so you get notifications every time we post an episode blog! You can also follow The Mugly Truth on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

© The Mugly Truth 2019 and © The Mugly Truth Podcast 2019. All rights reserved.
Intro and outro music, “Clever as a Fox”  by Espresso Music through premiumbeats.com
Photos courtesy Wikipedia commons and public domain, Steve Hodel, and Kimberly Sickel @riverdeer.
Episodes

Big Scare

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Kris and Kym enjoy coffee to the LAST DROP! Photo by Kimberly Sickel, @riverdeer at 500px.

Kym and Kris take the podcast to new heights when they hang out in Big Bear, CA, for the weekend in search of epic history (some tragic) and haunted happenings.

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Kym bundled up for recording outside on a deck in Big Bear.

We started off visiting the small and poignant Big Bear Cemetery. The cemetery opened in the late 1980s and unfortunately has had some financial difficulties over the years. It is under new management and by all accounts, seems to be the only cemetery in Big Bear.

We spent quite a bit of time walking through and viewing some of the lovingly decorated gravesites.

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Throughout the cemetery were homages and tributes to the heart and soul of loved ones who have passed on, including some who must have had quite a sense of humor in life.

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Humor is forever.

Afterwards, we went into Big Bear Village and visited the Knickerbocker Mansion (or, at least, the chained fence surrounding it). Couldn’t discover if the mansion is haunted, but it is a lovely compound and apparently has the oldest still-standing vertical-log cabin in the area (if not the state, or the country…or perhaps…even…THE WORLD!!) It’s currently closed but we couldn’t figure out if it’s because of renovations or for sale. There was no sale sign, but there was a box full of flyers espousing the virtues of the property.

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The Knickerbocker Mansion, Big Bear Lake

We then visited the Captains Anchorage restaurant (once the Sportsmans Tavern, owned by actor Andy Devine) just up the street. We were too early to go inside, so had to be content with just walking around the building while the kitchen crew eyed us through the window. Not creepy at all. Something weird happened to Kym’s camera phone as she tried to take a photo of one of the upstairs windows. Now. There is a story about a man named George who was found dead in his office on the second floor, whether by murder or by suicide no one really knows. But his ghost is said to haunt the restaurant. So. Ghost? iPhone glitch? Hmmm…..we may never know. There was nothing untoward in the photo, but we are planning to go back and next time…go inside! So bring it on George!

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Captains Anchorage steakhouse, Big Bear Lake

Our Tour Guide to Macabre Big Bear (Kym’s mom) pointed out a home in her neighborhood and a couple businesses in the village with tragic histories, and at one point we did stop near the condo where Christopher Dorner holed up during a manhunt that ended in a fatal shootout with police. During his vengeful spree, he ruthlessly murdered Monica Quan, Keith Lawrence, Officer Michael Crain and Officer Jeremiah MacKay, and caused injury to many others before dying in a fire in a cabin off Highway 38. It’s a tragic addition to the otherwise rich and beautiful history of Big Bear.

To lighten the mood, we end up by touching on the relationship Big Bear has with Hollywood. This has nothing to do with Halloween, or hauntings, or spookiness. Nope. This is alllll about the “make us feel better please” after spending a day talking about death.

In the early 1900s, the mountains, valleys and lake were discovered to be as much a goldmine for filmmaking as the actual gold mining industry had been in building up the town in the 1800s. Aside from a laundry list of classic westerns made in the early first half of the 20th century, scenes in notable movies including “Gone With The Wind,” “Paint Your Wagon,” “Kissin’ Cousins,” “Old Yeller,” and “Davy Crockett” and television shows including “Lassie” and “The FBI” were filmed in the area.

And just because they were so danged cute, here’s some parting shots of just some of the critters who kept us company during the recording.

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Eat up little Chip!!

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He wants a peanut mom!

To hear our BIG SCARE episode, go to iTunes/Apple Podcasts, SpotifyOvercast, Libsyn, Pocket CastsStitcher or anywhere you listen to podcasts, and then subscribe, download and listen! If you enjoy what you hear, please leave a rating and a review! The more subscribers and reviews we get, the more opportunities we get to grow this podcast and bring you richer content.

And don’t forget to follow us here at themuglytruth.com (click that blue WordPress Follow button on the right side of your screen) so you get notifications every time we post an episode blog! You can also follow The Mugly Truth on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

© The Mugly Truth 2018 and © The Mugly Truth Podcast 2018. All rights reserved.
Intro and outro music, “Clever as a Fox”  by Espresso Music through premiumbeats.com
Location photo by Kimberly Sickel, @riverdeer at 500px

 

 

Episodes

Episode 06: Only Brats

Yep. Kris and Kym…are only brats. There are plenty of pros and cons with Only Child Syndrome. We had everything we needed, most of what we wanted. We never had to fight for the last cupcake, always got to ride shotgun (unless both parents were in the car) and we were the center of the Universe (we like to believe. And maybe still do…*sideeye*). And yet there were a lot of lonely days, and when things went south at home (because, you know, even in the very healthiest and happiest of households that happens) there was no one to turn to, to share the fear or the sadness with. There wasn’t a brother to feel safe with, there wasn’t a sister to whisper and giggle with. There was just…ourselves. And not all experiences for only children are like this, in fact, our experiences are quite different from each other although we both expressed that similar overall feeling of loneliness.  A lot depends on the parents and Kym is proof one parent can more than compensate for one not so great BioPU (Biological Parental Unit…pronounced bio-poo for good reason). When both parents are trying to get their lives together and rebuild and work and cope…sometimes the child gets a bit lost in the mix (Kris). And while we’re not going to outright say, “hey, that’s ok really, we ended up fine,” because it’s really NOT totally ok…there is an element of peace in that statement. Because we both did. And here we are, one raising two girls, one having raised a daughter…and all the offspring are doing a-ok. Because even though we’re only children, we really did learn how to share (I always say the ultimate and supreme sacrifice of love is letting the one you love have that last bite of cake) and we took the things we didn’t want to carry into our motherhood and made a real effort to do things differently for our children. Even better, we took the things we DID love and learn from our parents to be pretty decent parents ourselves. We think. We have expressly forbidden said offspring to indicate otherwise in any fashion verbal, body language, Snapchat, texting, YouTube rants, tweeting videos, IG IMs, etc., etc., etc., et al, legal verbiage infinity.

Just kidding. Titter teehee laugh laugh.

A bit selfish? Check.

Confident with being alone? Check check.

Center of the Universe? CHECK CHECK CHE….

Just kidding. AHHGAIN.

…maaayyyyyybe…

Well-adjusted and loving life? Definitely maybe could be possible Check.

Working on the above? For sure CHECK.

There’s lots of good in being an only child, and a lot of wishful thinking…

So go on, JOIN US…pleaaaase. Indulge our Pretty Princess Podcast again today by going to iTunes, SpotifyOvercast, Libsyn or any podcast player you use to subscribe, download and listen! If you enjoy what you hear, go ahead and leave a 5-star review! The more listeners we get, the more opportunities we will have to bring you richer content!

And don’t forget to follow us here (click that WordPress button on the right side of your screen) so you get notifications every time we post an episode blog! You can also follow also us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Just search for The Mugly Truth in all those social media sites.

For those who enjoy listening here on our website, here is the Libsyn player link, like always. We may be eliminating the link from the site for future episodes. Let us know what you want!

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© The Mugly Truth 2018 and © The Mugly Truth Podcast 2018. All rights reserved.
Intro and outro music, “Clever as a Fox”  by Espresso Music through premiumbeats.com