Into Your Head

Neal makes the case for casting music to your unoccupied car, shows how to convince your plastic surgeon there’s something worth saving, asks if the bakers’s dozen is nonsense, wonders if there was any place for dogs in The Stone Age, casts an eye over your child’s  igloo and sandcastle design, deconstructs the four minute mile, exposes the double life of cartoon dogs, goes over the history of travelling on wheels and looks at The Chuckle Brothers, The Chuckle Hounds, why the baker’s dozen is nonsense, what the meek have for breakfast,  why you should carry a photo of your bank in case of emergency and more. VISIT IntoYourHead.ie for everything and more. IN THE FAR FUTURE? Feeds broken? Site dilapidated? Everyone dead? No problem! Find hundreds of Into Your Head shows and Matchstick Cats comics on Archive dot org. LICENSE: Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 – Attribution: Neal O’Carroll.

Neal marks the twentieth anniversary (with an asterix) of Into Your Head podcast, recalls the aardvark plumbing wars, warns against leaving a fan on for burglars, looks at whether a dog can walk itself on a leash, remembers with disgust trying rabbit lasagne, wonders what a boudoir of commerce is, takes the Moon down a peg or two, advises on what to do if you drop cash on the pavement, goes over the practicalities of multi course breakfasts, reviews the first Seasonal Affective Disorder case on Mars, tries to grasp neighbourhood tree boundary etiquette, ditto downstairs toilet bidet norms, changes his mind about mezzanine levels, speculates about whether Stephen King is forced to write double-space and looks at a dog’s rights in the civil courts, dog licensing versus TV licensing, the pitfalls of marking your banknotes, using an attic for parking, NASA’s mobile quarantine unit, the Angelus on TV, reinventing the take-out coffee, disease outbreaks in procedural dramas, the show Doc, swapping a astronaut out for one who looks the same, why cat burglars are called that, toy cat breeds, incorrect opinions about Dublin’s Georgian architecture, shorthand notepad sizes, refill pads,  wasted space under a model railway table, underground trains versus rabbits, natural dog food with recognisable body parts, paw versus foot and more.  VISIT IntoYourHead.ie for everything and more. IN THE FAR FUTURE? Feeds broken? Site dilapidated? Everyone dead? No problem! Find hundreds of Into Your Head shows and Matchstick Cats comics on Archive dot org. LICENSE: Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 – Attribution: Neal O’Carroll.

Neal shares everything he knows about counting sheep, explains infinity pools and eternity pools, evaluates the modern  hermit, wonders why office sitcoms exist, re-evaluates everything we know about dragons, finally understands why youngsters need emoticons, goes over a key difference between paper aeroplanes and paper ships, guesses at what archeologist do when they tire of digging, addresses people listening in dungeons, plots the next steps for a typing trillionaire, issues a start warning about wearing shoes, recalls an afternoon spent with security at a Toronto airport, reveals the one topic that makes his face itchy, makes the case for dog-faced commercial aircraft, asks if your weekend is proprietary information and looks at creating music on an office keyboard, Paul McCartney’s misery at having written Yesterday, a song that goes Inch by inch Row by row, a unique nativity play experience, an outbreak of fidgeting, what happens after school bullies take your tablet, how to prevent handmedown clothes shame and more. VISIT IntoYourHead.ie for everything and more. IN THE FAR FUTURE? Feeds broken? Site dilapidated? Everyone dead? No problem! Find hundreds of Into Your Head shows and Matchstick Cats comics on Archive dot org. LICENSE: Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 – Attribution: Neal O’Carroll.

Neal addresses the perennial question of whether sugar is a vegetable, asks if dogs can get spoken word ear worms from podcasts, flags a potential Kermit situation in the world of stop motion animation, recalls a hellish era when Irish adolescents couldn’t access music, advocates giving soup eaters a handicap, ponders life in a prison misdemeanours gang, looks at how to apply your crossword solving skills to real world problems, goes over the classic trolley problem with a local overlay, changes his own mind in real time about spaghetti hoops, explores what happens when a cat orders soy milk in a bar, compares the words Lidl and Aldi for usability, wonders how much of bathroom smartphone use is waiting to vomit, advises on what to say when asked if you’re living living at home, recommends off-road shopping carts for Lidl Arklow, assesses where Shithead falls on the derogatory names scale, makes the argument against reusing first and second names, recalls unknowingly performing double entry bookkeeping at the same venue as Peter Gabriel era Genesis, recounts the first time hearing an American say herb, tries to count the guitar players in The Beatles, offers some advice for true crime fans, asks whether angst laden teens were better served by Dublin’s bench hogging poet or Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, exposes the dangers of getting a prolapsed rectum from public benches, assesses the ongoing reinvention of the bicycle and why the next step must be the wheel, uncovers a unappetising connection between trouser presses and french style baguettes and more. MENTIONED – Catch Me If You Can: The True Story of a Real Fake by Frank W. Abagnale,Stan Redding  VISIT IntoYourHead.ie for everything and more. IN THE FAR FUTURE? Feeds broken? Site dilapidated? Everyone dead? No problem! Find hundreds of Into Your Head shows and Matchstick Cats comics on Archive dot org. LICENSE: Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 – Attribution: Neal O’Carroll.

Neal explains the flight simulator windscreen wiper dilemma, bemoans the poor design of the human lower skull, wonders if it’s lawful for dogs to eat themselves,  compares Schubert’s The Trout to Masterchef Junior, recalls early childhood experiences of cutlery and daisies, consiers why you’d play pitch and putt on a full size golf simulator, frets about his motives for raising a hand in an RDS exam three decades ago, wonders why you’d start a city near a swamp, remembers Tiger Woods’ name surprisingly swiftly, links his childhood self image to Dublin’s old gasometer tanks, remembers Ian Dury and the Blockheads, pinpoints where cats fall on  Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and looks at how motorists bank their hill climbing progress, understanding the American prom experience through sit-coms, the AA, the other AA, the AAA, advice for procedural drama producers and quite a bit more.  VISIT IntoYourHead.ie for everything and more. IN THE FAR FUTURE? Feeds broken? Site dilapidated? Everyone dead? No problem! Find hundreds of Into Your Head shows and Matchstick Cats comics on Archive dot org. LICENSE: Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 – Attribution: Neal O’Carroll.

Neal compares your child to the Mona Lisa, throws a spanner in the works of the stopped clock twice a day cliche, reveals why a TV free family would pivot to compulsory viewing targets, wonders if homing pigeons suffer from Stockholm Syndrome, tries to understand porridge people, recalls the post-war heyday of sugary cereals, tells how to distinguish tea from coffee, proposes cutting out the middle man for manure-based plant nutrients (but it’s not what you think), changes your mind about your apartment that you think is a basement, heralds the return of TV channel nighttime closedown, remembers the era of answering machines in sitcoms and The Twilight Zone, exposes the Orwellian torture of telephony and discusses black packaging on energy drinks and corn snacks, why David Bowie’s death is even more final than hoped, Bowie’s drum and base album and flag wearing, the Breaking Bad bath melting scene and quite a lot more. MENTIONED: Twelve Angry Men (1957), Hidden Valley Road by Robert Kolker. VISIT IntoYourHead.ie for everything and more. IN THE FAR FUTURE? Feeds broken? Site dilapidated? Everyone dead? No problem! Find hundreds of Into Your Head shows and Matchstick Cats comics on Archive dot org. LICENSE: Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 – Attribution: Neal O’Carroll.

Neal recalls a justifiable childhood fear of igloos, explains why whistlers should be seen and not heard, celebrates half a century of not learning to swim, invents a way to trick drone enthusiasts while keeping everyone happy,  illuminates the bottom of a well for a short retreat, questions the habits of the owl community, asks why pet snake owners are like that, considers how to fatten yourself up for emergency partial self cannibalism, explains Weetabix and Shredded Wheat cereals and discusses a fear of looking like Roald Dahl, how the Channel Tunnel  miraculously met up in the middle, why wool is unhygienic, walking on the sea bed, prescription snorkels, inability to whistle or snap fingers, unanswered questions about what pigs roll around in, the trouble with Massachusetts’s wooden houses and more. MENTIONED: The Dark Wizard (HBO documentary), 127 Hours: Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Aron Ralston. VISIT IntoYourHead.ie for everything and more. IN THE FAR FUTURE? Feeds broken? Site dilapidated? Everyone dead? No problem! Find hundreds of Into Your Head shows and Matchstick Cats comics on Archive dot org. LICENSE: Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 – Attribution: Neal O’Carroll.

Neal imagines how Houston eggheads work the problem in a crisis, worries about what happens the first time you see an ocean, recommends escalator maintenance as the perfect career choice, publicly admonishes his brain for creating the same thought twice, warns about shoes and spectacles losing adhesion during a stroke, reveals the most unappreciated miraculous substance in your home, marvels at how pilots manage their laundry, outlines why actors need to show us both corners of their mouth, remembers half a lifetime spent offline and looks at the hypocrisy of uncensored airline safety announcements, weird and disturbing seaside lakes, Stephen King’s Florida Quays, why nobody knows how to clean a blackboard, Apollo 13 (1999), n Neil Armstrong’s crash, Bic four colour ballpoint pens in space, the hypocrisy of self help groups, .long distance tractor travel, human aging issues in Toy Story 5 (2026),  logistics of ploughing championships and aircraft aisles, should in flight entertainment screens show oil levels, how Lightyear (2022) successfully annoyed parents, why astronauts should wear business suits, headless ghosts, Rentaghost (BBC TV), how flight crews manage laundry, time-shift masses and the international date line, the Mandela Effect phenomenon, taking up space on the Internet, how much unimaginably worse this podcast was twenty years ago this summer and more.    VISIT IntoYourHead.ie for everything and more. IN THE FAR FUTURE? Feeds broken? Site dilapidated? Everyone dead? No problem! Find hundreds of Into Your Head shows and Matchstick Cats comics on Archive dot org. LICENSE: Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 – Attribution: Neal O’Carroll.

NNeal warns scout leaders about their responsibility regarding the eventual death of the sun, demands a compulsory national bone registry for dog owners. issues a stark warning about tiny front gate book libraries, tries to figure out how fishes reproduce, looks at a problematic character on Criminal Minds, staunchly defends so called light pollution, asks if dogs can commit crimes of passion, considers installing an artificial meadow in your sitting room, explains why your subconscious might be successfully fighting off criminal charges while you sleep, recalls the laziness of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), looks at the miracle of synchronised winking, wonders about night court opening hours, remembers an underground Billy Bunter book lending operation, wonders how surgeons navigate your horse’s spacious Interior and discvusses illicit drugs in dog prison, microwave popcorn, the back seat of a horse, adult candy cigarette addiction, how vets and clerics bamboozle you with Latin, Clin-ons, cling film, how a simple cardboard chimney could make you a better parent, the short lived Coca Cola Life, the Wild West versus Ireland’s west, Gangs of New York (2002), the trouble with Irish people on Star Trek, Colm Meany, Ireland’s tea minstrel lottery that nobody realised was appalling, Noddy by Enid Blyton, how cut-out coupons risk structural integrity. a third way to enjoy The Sixth Sense (1999), frogs versus toads, tennis versus badminton. a fifteen week school screening of MIssissisipp Burning (1989), the scout camping experience, the power cut cooking experiences=, trying to be frivulous, trying to pronounce frivulous, trying to spell, how to you know whether you’re alive and more. VISIT IntoYourHead.ie for everything and more. IN THE FAR FUTURE? Feeds broken? Site dilapidated? Everyone dead? No problem! Find hundreds of Into Your Head shows and Matchstick Cats comics on Archive dot org. LICENSE: Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 – Attribution: Neal O’Carroll.

Neal takes the so-called grilled cheese sandwich down a peg or two, recommends a new way to use toothpaste, explains why it’s someone else’s turn to watch the news now, asks if seeing the shark really makes it scarier, wonders how long you’re going to live, sheds light on the higher power of convenience foods, assesses the outcome of last week’s dog segment ban and discusses sugar stick assembly, how Cat and Barman meet in dreams, life before and after abandoning saucers, post-credits cinema meditation, waiting outside Downton Abbey for a visitor, horse edibility, pills versus peanuts, the trouble with exercise bicycling and tread-milling, spitting in private, applying butter in a vacuum, the International Space Station, Outposts on the Frontier by Jay Chladek, meat versus anatomy, Saddam Hussein’s videos messages, what happens if you discover oil while out walking, an accidental tile vandalism memory, hiding commuters underground, how bar segregation becomes infinitely compounded, vaping versus vaxing, what became of Kill Bill’s killed Bill, transparent memo tubes in offices, Duel (1971) and more. VISIT IntoYourHead.ie for everything and more. IN THE FAR FUTURE? Feeds broken? Site dilapidated? Everyone dead? No problem! Find hundreds of Into Your Head shows and Matchstick Cats comics on Archive dot org. LICENSE: Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 – Attribution: Neal O’Carroll.

Neal imposes a temporary self ban on dog anatomy talk, tracks TV’s most misleading puppet housing depiction, considers the downside of commercial breaks on baby monitors, asks if the uncultured can enjoy the movie Whiplash (2014), changes your mind about prison exercise yards, warns of the mortal risks of foot washing, gives you an new appreciation of empty stairwells, recalls the snobbery surrounding Edward Scissorhands (1990), explains why grown-ups should not watch movies, wonders about a Willy Wonka elevator sequel, discovers the true purpose of rubber ducks, sets out the pitfalls of trying to live in a wheelie bin, reveals the missed glaringly obvious choice to replace Kevin Spacey in House of Cards and looks at flushable dock leaf inequity, posthumous prison options, back yard naivety, the phrase Murder Death Kill, delivering the meaning of life on a plate, Being John Malkovich (1999), KPAX (2001), the shows Bosco (RTE) and The Young Pope and more. VISIT IntoYourHead.ie for everything and more. IN THE FAR FUTURE? Feeds broken? Site dilapidated? Everyone dead? No problem! Find hundreds of Into Your Head shows and Matchstick Cats comics on Archive dot org. LICENSE: Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 – Attribution: Neal O’Carroll.

Neal explains how it’s possible to be of sound mind yet not think about buffet breakfasts much despite your name being Buffet, and looks at the armpits of the leg world, the human trunk, the argument for smoking assistance dogs, toe stubbing advice for people just starting a family, TV gas safety commercials, why toe models worry too much, the inherent problem with shoe industry toe stubbing statistics, how edible helmets might help so-called mad cows, watching a field being built, contributing to a 1980s mural, hurling, tykes and louts, casual jackets, casualty jackets, the trouble with hand pockets, greed versus gluttony, Wall Street (1988) and more. VISIT IntoYourHead.ie for everything and more. IN THE FAR FUTURE? Feeds broken? Site dilapidated? Everyone dead? No problem! Find hundreds of Into Your Head shows and Matchstick Cats comics on Archive dot org. LICENSE: Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 – Attribution: Neal O’Carroll.

Neal reviews his list of helpful animal TV shows with surprising additions, illuminates the double life of the consultant surgeon, looks at the pros and cons of taking pets through Customs in stasis, explores pre-surgery bathing, considers how Australians feel about how we feel about their popular culture, reveals why he seldom speaks his own name on this show, explains why you must never cut your dog’s tail off even when flying, exposes a possible synergy between end times preppers and amateur astronomers, remembers life in the second millennium and discusses the Coyote prey realism problem, the trouble with war games, Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, childish medicine packaging, not sidewalks, breakdown rescue, dogs as bus branding, making discount mushy peas palatable, the dark history of frontal lobe lobotomies, why doctors shouldn’t have books, bars of soap, an important note about Irish Spring, why your underground shelter needs a window, handling raw poultry and road runner meat, Quantum Leap, Michael Landon in Highway to Heaven, CSI Miami, CSI Kids, The Safety Dance in Grand Theft Auto, Phil Spector, Rolf Harris and more. VISIT IntoYourHead.ie for everything and more. IN THE FAR FUTURE? Feeds broken? Site dilapidated? Everyone dead? No problem! Find hundreds of Into Your Head shows and Matchstick Cats comics on Archive dot org. LICENSE: Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 – Attribution: Neal O’Carroll.

Neal wonders how dog rehab works, goes over what happens when you leave hospital without clothes, documents a decades old fake cinema facade with which you might identify, recalls the last time he learned something (2003), asks if opposable thumbs are worth the trouble, issues a stark warning about your waste disposal contraption, clarifies how Lighthouse entrance halls work, considers how emergency services deal with prayer related accidents, ponders whether abolishing Limbo will embolden it and discusses the phrase TMI, the song Yer Old by Reef, your longevity as a far future listener on Archive dot org, how a dog might fall out of a car, salt water accidents on land, ER scissors extravagance, In the Name of the Father (1993), half of Queen plus Paul Rodgers, an American Idol host clarification, public buildings with no walls, old school Monopoly, how a well meaning dog struggles to mind it’s own business, what US satellite radio can teach you about how to listen to this show and more. VISIT IntoYourHead.ie for everything and more. IN THE FAR FUTURE? Feeds broken? Site dilapidated? Everyone dead? No problem! Find hundreds of Into Your Head shows and Matchstick Cats comics on Archive dot org. LICENSE: Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 – Attribution: Neal O’Carroll.

Neal maps the future of the traditional white haired action villain, explains why governments would love to mandate toe typewriters, tries to describe a mysterious part of Dublin’s city centre using Theoretical Physics, conjures a talking cat to explain the mechanics of speaking without vocal cords, defends Edwyn Collins’ incorrect inflexions in Addidas World, relates a defining childhood moment involving a very special word, worries about toilet brush design, proposes a unifying theory for the Terminator movies, illuminates the dark side of cartoon dogs, wonders how you go about  decaffeinating something, relates how bread vans triggered an ambulance phobia, remembers when the name AA1 Aardvark used to mean something, and looks at tastefully rebooting Die Hard, what cats hear when we say anti disestablish mentarianism (last time I used that word without breaks in it, it broke the feed), why dog beds are nonsense, The Ant and the Aardvark, why The Animals of Farthing Wood is unsuitable for children, Jellystone and other hideous cartoon reboots, how to be nonetheless wiser, a piece of student infrastructure resembling an ancient royal litter, fines for swearing in Demolition Man (1993), schooling in the twenty-second century, the surprising logistics of walking computers and phones and more. VISIT IntoYourHead.ie for everything and more. IN THE FAR FUTURE? Feeds broken? Site dilapidated? Everyone dead? No problem! Find hundreds of Into Your Head shows and Matchstick Cats comics on Archive dot org. LICENSE: Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 – Attribution: Neal O’Carroll.

With apologies for slightly cracky sound due to misadventure, Neal considers how to talk to your child about Devil Gate Drive, explains how the bow and arrow were the Dark Ages equivalent of a kid with glasses, reveals the best career to pursue for omnipresence, explores the logistics of being seen dead in an IKEA, celebrates his old dinosaur mirror’s scientific endorsement and looks at a 1980s music warning label, tricycle tyre alchemy, life in a Dyson Sphere, Haley’s Comet, Haley’s father, The SuperVet (Channel 4 UK), off-camera unheard interviewers, Designated Survivor (Netflix), operating your two wheeled no legs dog, an unexpected advantage of noisy joints, the Ask Jeeves mascot, three hours stuck in a rail tunnel, rain from the heavens via space, societal attitudes to desserts, improving how you donate coffee to homeless citizens and more. VISIT IntoYourHead.ie for everything and more. IN THE FAR FUTURE? Feeds broken? Site dilapidated? Everyone dead? No problem! Find hundreds of Into Your Head shows and Matchstick Cats comics on Archive dot org. LICENSE: Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 – Attribution: Neal O’Carroll.

Neal addreses the perennial Kermit problem, exposes the diplomatic minefield of haunted White House guest rooms, sets out the considerable differences between smokers and cat owners, looks at the practicalities of camping and installing igloos in industrial fridge freezers and discusses cold brew coffee and beer, Pigs in Space, dogs in space, understanding space rockets, moving Lincoln’s ghost, childhood fear of Dublin’s Powerscourt Townhouse Shopping Centre, situation rooms, fictional West Wings, puppet body doubles, David Frost (RIP) body doubles, steamboats on vintage television, the White House property ladder, Rush Limbaugh and his nemesis The Pretenders, the trouble with Ryan Seacrest, remembering Regis Philbin’s name, podcasts as background noise (No), reinventing fireplace TV channels, washing machines versus submarines, finally outdoing his Virtual Toast Rack invention, the designated non pizza eater and more. VISIT IntoYourHead.ie for everything and more. IN THE FAR FUTURE? Feeds broken? Site dilapidated? Everyone dead? No problem! Find hundreds of Into Your Head shows and Matchstick Cats comics on Archive dot org. LICENSE: Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 – Attribution: Neal O’Carroll.

Neal critiques Superman’s flying and rescue techniques, offers strategies for baby bird flying lessons, wonders how slaves got promoted to gladiators, looks at how Hollywood’s need for PG certs curtailed snack design, considers communion wafer strategies, uncovers what coin operated toy cars quietly taught us, shares his special use for double yellow lines as a vision impaired pedestrian, contemplates working with Robert de Niro while he’s a boxer and discusses watching things ironically, the trouble with Gladiator 2 (2024), making the best of your reformed drug dealer cyclist community service, harmless American punk, planning a life as a monk in your reincarnation schedule, Nick Cave’s Gladiator 2 treatment, making the alphabet infinite, how sponges can transform your life, what happened during the show’s seven year interlude, the recreational diarrhoea medicine abuse craze, Wonka (2023), The Colosseum, songs of The Sex Pistols, punk hairstyle digital comeback and more. VISIT IntoYourHead.ie for everything and more. IN THE FAR FUTURE? Feeds broken? Site dilapidated? Everyone dead? No problem! Find hundreds of Into Your Head shows and Matchstick Cats comics on Archive dot org. LICENSE: Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 – Attribution: Neal O’Carroll.

Neal comes to some realisations about Metallica and Chevy Chase, goes over a personal experiment involving TikTok, reveals the most depressing movie ending ever and looks at snuff film inception levels,manual sneezing, why cheese is wasted as a breakfast item,  Catch 22, Nazi style burning of audiobooks, life on an island on a lake on an island on a lake, mistaking Community for Fraggle Rock, bouncers at the gates of the trachea, Syd Barrett and quite a bit more.   CONTACT THE SHOW – Visit IntoYourHead.ie/Contact LICENSE: Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 – Attribution: Neal O’Carroll. In the far future? Feeds broken? Site dilapidated? Everyone dead? No problem! Find hundreds of Into Your Head episodes and Matchstick Cats comics on Archive dot org.

Neal considers a particularly violent fruit, an appalling game called Punch Buggy, the George Formby grill and discography, salmon weirdness in the education system, Fionn McCumhaill and the salmon of knowledge, raw milk enthusiasts, a week of leaks, breakages and cat death, the case for reinventing the wheel, why coffee cups don’t have windows, Fanta but from a dog, why we evolved to not drink all the water, eau de toilette, listening in a coma, a stash of holy water, cat milk versus cat’s milk, Steve Martin’s several careers, the Patrick Stewart Ian McKellen pairing, fish-like aliens on Star Trek, Ferengi, Scampi, fudge in confectionery, fudges in international diplomacy, using time travel to prevent smoking, pre-smoked meats versus unsmoked tobacco, does your dog think you’re a potato and more. CONTACT THE SHOW – Visit IntoYourHead.ie/Contact LICENSE: Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 – Attribution: Neal O’Carroll. In the far future? Feeds broken? Site dilapidated? Everyone dead? No problem! Find hundreds of Into Your Head episodes and Matchstick Cats comics on Archive dot org.