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0:00:20against humanity this month they invited
0:00:22the nerd logs to help me say hi to john
0:00:25[Music]
0:00:31John
0:00:33[Music]
0:00:38lo I John I'm Merlin how's it going
0:00:50ack ack it's my back those three letters
0:00:56made me laugh out loud I hate monday i
0:00:59hate mondays Irving oh em I'm facedown
0:01:05in lasagna Oh No
0:01:08so I was a sleeping in my box and cody
0:01:12came and danced on my head
0:01:14000 d 00 d like odious am i right
0:01:19mhm mhm my daughter likes Garfield
0:01:22because he's lazy
0:01:23oh really hmm she's that that's that's
0:01:26your spirit animal i think my daughter
0:01:28also likes Garfield unclear why doesn't
0:01:31get the jokes wants me to read Garfield
0:01:34to her i have the entire Garfield
0:01:36collection as you can imagine I mean not
0:01:39the entire one but every all those
0:01:42little those little like a rectangular
0:01:44yeah the solid color boxes that other
0:01:46one Jim Davis published from 78 to
0:01:49whatever 82 love Garfield on floor oh
0:01:52yeah it was amazing this he was for his
0:01:54time somewhat subversive shucky darn and
0:01:57slop the chickens Chucky Chucky darn and
0:02:03slop the chickens
0:02:05I just introduce my daughter to bloom
0:02:07county i read her one bloom county and
0:02:09she really liked it
0:02:11there's a lot going on in bloom county
0:02:13there are a lot of lot of messages now
0:02:16right yeah we had a very awkward age
0:02:18because I expose my daughter to a lot
0:02:20more media i gather then you do with
0:02:22yours but I'm we're getting to a point
0:02:24where this more stuff that she can watch
0:02:26but she's not going to get a lot of the
0:02:29jokes right like the jokes in The
0:02:32Godfather and godfather two are very
0:02:34very like they're not really played for
0:02:37laughs no that's true but yea 22 that I
0:02:40keep thinking about are there they're
0:02:43not entirely appropriate for kids her
0:02:44age but you know mainly main reason I
0:02:47old office that she won't get the jokes
0:02:48one is young frankenstein which is not
0:02:51fairly
0:02:52engage it's not entirely age-appropriate
0:02:54but it is it is still one of my favorite
0:02:57funny movie that's amazing but she does
0:02:59not unlike our generation she was not
0:03:02she is it has not been steeped in
0:03:04universal monster culture right or bore
0:03:07like classic black-and-white don't know
0:03:09your your daughter has more experience
0:03:11of like the the great at the Grand era
0:03:14of cinema but like the tropes that the
0:03:17tropes that movie was mocking right well
0:03:20yeah that definitely means I think she
0:03:22knows like what about what a Dracula is
0:03:23but she's not it wasn't like you know it
0:03:25was everywhere when we were kids but
0:03:27also like Shh like she loves Marx
0:03:29Brothers movies but she generally like
0:03:32most kids is with somethings
0:03:33black-and-white she's like what is what
0:03:35is this broken thing that we're watching
0:03:36this is weird but then the other one
0:03:38which I watched most of again last night
0:03:40is monty python and the holy grail i
0:03:42think i'm gonna give that one a couple
0:03:43more years yeah there's a lot going on
0:03:46there
0:03:46yeah and it goes by pretty quick but you
0:03:48know she has a flair for enjoying absurd
0:03:51humor but you know I think it's worth
0:03:53waiting
0:03:54I think the best practice to wait until
0:03:56your kids probably ready to to get why
0:03:58it's funny
0:03:59yeah there was I mean we were exposed to
0:04:02a lot of of movies and media from the
0:04:05forties fifties and sixties when we were
0:04:07kids because they're just wasn't that
0:04:09much media yes
0:04:12yeah and and one when they were
0:04:13searching around for something to put on
0:04:15the late show it was like well we've got
0:04:18we've got these movies and so we we
0:04:22watch them as though they were also part
0:04:26of our culture right i mean i even in
0:04:29the mid-seventies it still was it's that
0:04:33I watched a lot of fifties sitcoms as
0:04:37though they were I knew they were all
0:04:39like i love lucy type stuff well yeah
0:04:41and leave it to beaver I mean those were
0:04:43those were on in the afternoon but also
0:04:47like I got introduced to sixties
0:04:53editorial cartoonists by finding old
0:04:58playboys and old playboys had a lot of
0:05:04the lot of the people writing
0:05:06drawing the cartoons the one panel
0:05:07cartoons in those old playboys were also
0:05:11doing cartoons for The New Yorker you
0:05:15know they were they were at the time of
0:05:17course playboy was was a hat could
0:05:20attract the best writers so like
0:05:27what's-his-name kahile kahan oh yeah
0:05:30yeah i know he mean I'm out dammit the
0:05:33guy with the he drives the really crazy
0:05:34looking creatures that look abroad but I
0:05:38got an A and Wilson uh well you know
0:05:44this is the problem with being there
0:05:47someplace to look I'm going to say again
0:05:49Wilson Cahan Wilson right so he so like
0:05:54his cartoons were in Playboy's that I
0:05:56would find under a board in the forest
0:05:59which is where you used to find
0:06:02Playboy's help people don't remember the
0:06:03boards if you were out in the woods and
0:06:05there when you saw piece of plywood it
0:06:07was always part in the woods
0:06:09yeah you go lift up the plywood and
0:06:11maybe there'd be a playboy or maybe
0:06:12they're just cherry magazines which is
0:06:15grow in the woods that's right so then
0:06:17you get when you open it up and you know
0:06:19after you had seen the naked ladies then
0:06:21there was what else is there to do these
0:06:23were you would you would you would pour
0:06:26over these Playboy's trying to figure
0:06:27out trying to decode adult culture
0:06:31uh-huh and there were all these great
0:06:33cartoons and all these reviews for HiFi
0:06:37stereo systems and and and sophisticated
0:06:40political talk guys and swim trials just
0:06:43making kool cigarettes smoking kool
0:06:44cigarettes and swim trunks wrong thing
0:06:47outside on the deck and so much of that
0:06:49a lot of tax so I yes so so so by the
0:06:56time bloom county came around you know i
0:06:59had already read quite a bit of Nichols
0:07:04and May style sixties political
0:07:08commentary and I understood the language
0:07:11a little bit of the references you know
0:07:13because he blew counter is making a lot
0:07:14of references to Nixon and all the stuff
0:07:17even though that wasn't even
0:07:18his era I don't know era era mashing
0:07:22yeah i mean i-i think I I only feel the
0:07:26need to middle-aged explain this because
0:07:27there are people that may not but not
0:07:29they should care but the one thing to be
0:07:31aware of is there was there was a time
0:07:32when whatever was on TV is what was on
0:07:35TV you don't get to pick when it was on
0:07:37you didn't decide what it was gonna be
0:07:38so my daughter and I love that there are
0:07:42there are listeners who are like he
0:07:44never considered that you have to keep
0:07:46in mind you have to remember that there
0:07:48are there are people now who are 30
0:07:49years old that have never had a CD
0:07:52except as a gift that's the thing that's
0:07:55that's you know you've been people have
0:07:56not been buying a lot of cds for 10 to
0:07:5815 years and it's it's crazy anyhow but
0:08:01so all I'm saying is that in this case
0:08:02there the total catalog of what was
0:08:05available was much more narrow there's a
0:08:07lot more that long tail like old stuff
0:08:08like I mean I can't say how many times
0:08:10I've seen like you know Bob Hope and
0:08:12Bing Crosby movies right stopped at that
0:08:15time was 20 to 30 years old and is now
0:08:17what 60 to 70 years old
0:08:20think about it that way it's pretty
0:08:21crazy but like you just must remove all
0:08:23the time you have creature feature and
0:08:24all that kind of stuff or just all the
0:08:25Arthurian stuff that is the basis much
0:08:28of the basis for Holy Grail
0:08:31mmm I don't think she's steeped in that
0:08:33yeah well i don't know i don't i don't
0:08:36know if they ever if she will be or if
0:08:39my kid ever will be I had a really
0:08:40interesting conversation with the
0:08:42Millennial person who was a person of
0:08:45great intelligence and goodwill and I
0:08:49asked what I thought was kind of a
0:08:51simple question which was like what
0:08:53who are the who would you say where the
0:08:56handful of members of your generation
0:08:59who you admire the most or who you think
0:09:02are representative of your generation
0:09:05culturally and she said what do you mean
0:09:09and I was like well I mean exactly that
0:09:12like there are people of your generation
0:09:14who are doing cool things and and when I
0:09:18was 22 I knew a lot of I mean I could
0:09:21tell you who the the five prime movers
0:09:26were in establishing a beachhead of our
0:09:30voice in adult
0:09:32culture uh-huh who's doing that for you
0:09:34and she was like mm I don't know Jon
0:09:38Stewart and I was like no no I mean your
0:09:40people of your generation she was like
0:09:43well Jon Stewart is of our generation
0:09:45that's not sure he's older than me I
0:09:48think
0:09:49well right and when and what she what
0:09:52she meant was kind of I think she was
0:09:55describing it really was a language we
0:09:57had a language golf that we struggled to
0:10:00surmount because what she was saying i
0:10:07guess was that because now all media is
0:10:10everywhere all the time and everything
0:10:12is equally accessible several you only
0:10:15have the same term yeah it's almost like
0:10:18you asking asking her like what's your
0:10:19favorite Victrola or something she'd
0:10:22like I don't understand like the
0:10:23question there's not really a thing for
0:10:24that for from her standpoint as a smart
0:10:27twenty-two-year-old like I said well
0:10:30what about what about Taylor Swift and
0:10:32she was like well that's pop music that
0:10:34doesn't matter or or that some like she
0:10:41was laying claim to everything that was
0:10:44being made now regardless of who was
0:10:46making it and and so Stephen Colbert was
0:10:52contemporary and so therefore of her
0:10:56generation it was up now it's more like
0:10:59whoo
0:11:00it came out recently so it's part of my
0:11:02generation right right and you know and
0:11:06and in a sense like in 1986 like Peter
0:11:10Gabriel his record was really big and we
0:11:14would have said Peter Gabriel was
0:11:16popular music now but it but Peter
0:11:21Gabriel was not our he wasn't our
0:11:23generation we wouldn't have laid claim
0:11:25to him who will said I'm a peter gabriel
0:11:28fan but but it wasn't until people our
0:11:30age started making things that we have
0:11:33that sense of ownership like this is now
0:11:35this now belongs to us but she didn't
0:11:37she couldn't identify with that and I'm
0:11:42not sure I mean it's a sample set of one
0:11:44this conversation but but it was very
0:11:48interesting to to see at least in this
0:11:52person that that even the idea that the
0:11:57first one or two people of your
0:11:59generation that made it into the
0:12:01mainstream were even if you didn't like
0:12:04them they still were your emissaries and
0:12:10maybe it's because people of her
0:12:12generation have been on TV her whole
0:12:14life for or there are there are too many
0:12:17to count sore or vine or I mean I i I'm
0:12:22it was but it was very hard for me to
0:12:24even because what she because she kind
0:12:28of turned the tables on me and was
0:12:29asking for clarification in the sense of
0:12:31what I like describe what it was like to
0:12:36have that feeling of your of a
0:12:41generational like what having four or
0:12:48five people that you felt were your
0:12:49generation in the media
0:12:52I was like yeah kinda I mean there was
0:12:54not just Tabitha Soren I mean how the
0:12:58first time that somebody that first time
0:13:00that I turn on the TV and saw someone
0:13:02that was my age on TV right now who
0:13:05wasn't a kid in a sitcom but was like a
0:13:08young person speaking in their own voice
0:13:10in mainstream media it was like wow look
0:13:15i I'm I'm consumed by a feeling of like
0:13:19total envy and fury at this young person
0:13:23for being more successful than me but
0:13:25also i'm so excited like it's one of us
0:13:30there's just you know on the news team
0:13:33yeah yeah i don't know i don't i'm
0:13:37trying to I I don't have enough
0:13:41knowledge reference or context for
0:13:44what's happening right now to even know
0:13:45what to compare em but I don't know for
0:13:48some reason is what sticks out of my
0:13:49head is what I now realize you know that
0:13:52we talk people talk a lot i was talking
0:13:53about like you know the whole meet music
0:13:55music thing the way that CDs were kind
0:13:57of
0:13:57an anomaly that it was extraordinary how
0:14:01many CDs sold up until 1999 and you know
0:14:04a lot of people into the music industry
0:14:05thought that was a trend that was gonna
0:14:06keep going
0:14:07various things happened but you know
0:14:09it's the truth is that you know music is
0:14:11always sold but never sold any way like
0:14:13the way music sort of the nineties so I
0:14:16mean now we look at go that was actually
0:14:18an anomaly in and now I think about the
0:14:20mid-eighties and also just me and my
0:14:22punk rock you know brain but like I
0:14:24remember feeling just so strangled by
0:14:28like six recording artists they're just
0:14:31everywhere like Madonna all the obvious
0:14:33ones right Donna michael jackson Prince
0:14:35I mean I like Prince but like out by you
0:14:39know 1985 I was I'd really had enough
0:14:41present at that point it was every
0:14:43whitney houston it was just everywhere I
0:14:45mean everyone Madonna was everywhere and
0:14:48I'm trying to save myself all is that
0:14:50kind of what it's like with taylor swift
0:14:51now because i don't know i'm not sure
0:14:53that it is no i don't know i don't worry
0:14:56the formula has changed because you know
0:14:58there were only three radio stations or
0:14:59whatever that we could listen to them
0:15:01and now if you want if you were a few
0:15:04routine who liked the Beatles the
0:15:05Rolling Stones you would never have to
0:15:08listen to anything else you could get
0:15:09into your mom's car and you could say
0:15:12plug in my my music and then you know if
0:15:17you were fewer bratty teen you could say
0:15:19mom only play my station when we're in
0:15:23the car on our way to and from school
0:15:25and you know you could just you could
0:15:26limit your exposure and it would feel
0:15:29like freedom and choice and feel like I
0:15:33feel like you're curating your own
0:15:37existence and you can just listen to the
0:15:38music you wanted to in the end and that
0:15:40is what the media companies not the not
0:15:45the not the record companies but like
0:15:49it's what Apple and the and that the
0:15:52tech media companies have been selling
0:15:54to us for a long time that it's that we
0:15:56are now liberated and we can we can
0:15:59curate our feed so that it only it it
0:16:03only contains things that give us
0:16:04pleasure and what your social graph and
0:16:07i'm going to curate your social graph
0:16:08curate your social graph
0:16:10but but the problem with that is of
0:16:13course that you and I and people in
0:16:16olden times in ye olden times were
0:16:19exposed to a lot of stuff involuntarily
0:16:24just because it was always on it was all
0:16:28but you know and and and that and that
0:16:31kind of like oh god I just want to watch
0:16:33TV and all that's on right now is
0:16:35twilight zone and so I'm gonna watch it
0:16:36and then you realize oh I wouldn't have
0:16:39chosen to watch this because it it
0:16:43didn't have anything that appear that
0:16:45that seems to appeal to me at first but
0:16:49now having watch it out of boredom and
0:16:52frustration having watched it out of the
0:16:54fact that it's the only thing on now I
0:16:55realize it's a it's brilliant and and
0:16:58it's open me up to all the stuff that I
0:17:01wouldn't have been exposed to who and
0:17:03now you don't have to do that nobody
0:17:05does and it's not it's not just young
0:17:06people like people my age can can and do
0:17:09and consider it a considerate of a gift
0:17:13and a prize to be able to never ever
0:17:16ever ever be exposed to something that
0:17:17they didn't choose in terms of music
0:17:21unless they you know unless they decide
0:17:24to spin the bottle one day and just put
0:17:27on the put on the the change the
0:17:31settings on their their music program so
0:17:34that it's no longer the the built to
0:17:37spill channel but now it's the the
0:17:40mariah carey channel just to see what
0:17:42happens
0:17:43I mean at-at and i think so i think that
0:17:46there are still just as many Jimi
0:17:47Hendrix fans there ever were
0:17:49but nobody's hearing about mountain
0:17:53because Matt nobody puts mountain in as
0:17:59the as the band on their Spotify you
0:18:03know nobody puts everybody puts jimi
0:18:05hendrix and nobody puts the James Gang
0:18:08in your jim-dandy or like like either of
0:18:11those bands you going oh that sounds a
0:18:12lot like stuff that I know this o.o
0:18:15that's who does that song so I you know
0:18:17I am I feel like
0:18:22I feel like the the the world is still
0:18:27the world still contains as much as many
0:18:30multitudes but unless it comes unless it
0:18:34comes up in the algorithm like yeah we
0:18:37we were we were stuck in a world where
0:18:40where Madonna and phil collins and peter
0:18:44gabriel and prints were all there were
0:18:46but i remember going to college and
0:18:48discovering really discovering Exile on
0:18:51Main Street which for whatever reason
0:18:53when i was in high school like I listen
0:18:57to sticky fingers but I hadn't gone down
0:19:00the stones rabbit hole quite like I did
0:19:04later because I would because my friends
0:19:06were mostly listening to metal and so
0:19:09the stones were a little Stones and the
0:19:11Beatles were thing that I and a couple
0:19:14of other guys kept as our secret little
0:19:19world in in a in our larger culture
0:19:22which was listening to accept let's be
0:19:26honest we were listening to triumph and
0:19:29accept and and and the forebears of that
0:19:34stuff like Steppenwolf you know likes
0:19:37Steppenwolf being being an earlier
0:19:40iteration of of except um I i don't
0:19:45disagree but uh but something like what
0:19:48likely get deep maybe deep purple purple
0:19:50tons of it with that was our party music
0:19:52whoo
0:19:53but the and the stones were separate
0:19:56from that and and that was kind of a
0:19:58secret world but anyway I but Exile on
0:20:00Main Street just didn't didn't make its
0:20:04way to me until my freshman year in
0:20:05college and I remember diving into that
0:20:07record and feeling like I had discovered
0:20:09a whole world and all my convos what
0:20:11have I been doing with my life been
0:20:13wasting my life not listening to this
0:20:14album
0:20:15and my roommate who grew up in San
0:20:20Francisco was like oh my God if I never
0:20:23hear that record again I will i would be
0:20:27fine and I was like what are you talking
0:20:28about he was like oh we just used to
0:20:30listen to that record every I mean we
0:20:32have listened to it a billion times
0:20:34growing up in San Francisco Exile on
0:20:37Main Street was just everywhere and so
0:20:40he was already
0:20:41I mean that record was 15 years old at
0:20:43the time and he was he had all he
0:20:45already felt like it was just used up
0:20:48and I and I couldn't believe that he and
0:20:51I could be so alike in so in such good
0:20:53pals but have that I was hearing this
0:20:56thing for the first time and and just
0:21:00wanted to you know I just wanted to sit
0:21:02there with inch and and share in it and
0:21:05he and it was dead to him he couldn't
0:21:07hear anything wonderful in it anymore
0:21:09because he'd been listening to it since
0:21:11he was ten not sure what my point is you
0:21:17know I've never said that on this
0:21:18program never having I don't believe
0:21:21I've ever seen anything this don't
0:21:22remember i'm i'm i am so groggy
0:21:27yeah do you even try even traveling a
0:21:30lot
0:21:30well I have been but the grogginess is I
0:21:34don't know what's going on when I came
0:21:35home from my trip I opened my front door
0:21:39and my house smelled funny oh yeah
0:21:41that's the thing that's it that's
0:21:42totally a thing i didn't know what it
0:21:44was you can't smell your own house
0:21:46what it really smells like unless you're
0:21:48away for a few days mm but it was an
0:21:50additional on top of normal smelly and
0:21:53you know my house smells like me but
0:21:54this was something else and it was just
0:21:57sickly sweet enough that it that the
0:22:01that the question did something die in
0:22:04the fireplace flue was in play but it
0:22:09also could have been that you know that
0:22:14my kid dropped an apricot and it rolled
0:22:17under the rolled into the heating vent
0:22:20or it could have it could have been that
0:22:23somebody spilled some cough syrup on the
0:22:28furnace
0:22:29always nice to have a little bit of milk
0:22:31between the couch cushions that's a
0:22:32favorite of mine right and but there's a
0:22:34it wasn't like a it wasn't like around
0:22:36milk smell it was something else and
0:22:39someone and I'm running around maybe
0:22:41somebody's making prison hooch while
0:22:42you're away
0:22:42well that would you know I didn't go
0:22:44check on under the crawl space but so I
0:22:48wandering around I'm like it smells
0:22:50equally like this smell in every room
0:22:53which is strange
0:22:56it didn't feel concentrated anywhere and
0:23:00then I asked my it was so weird that I
0:23:04asked my mom to come out to the house
0:23:06and walk around and smell and she walked
0:23:09I was like I don't smell anything really
0:23:10so it's faint but having woken up this
0:23:15morning
0:23:16you know I slept in the house last night
0:23:18we will have this morning and I just
0:23:19feel a little drugged
0:23:22don't get me started i think about it
0:23:24all the time oh well first of all like
0:23:26our house is old and I don't realize
0:23:29that our house smells old
0:23:31unless I'm Way away for like three or
0:23:33four days or like there's nobody in the
0:23:34house you haven't any window activity
0:23:36there's no walking around there's been
0:23:37no cooking and I think that i'm guessing
0:23:40every house settles into a certain smell
0:23:43you know when it's just left still me
0:23:47and I'm saying like you're taking out
0:23:48the trash you can have done all this
0:23:49normal stop there's no Aaron apricots
0:23:51that you're aware of but like I think
0:23:53how settles into a certain smell and
0:23:55that smell is nigh on impossible to
0:23:58detect unless unless you've been away
0:23:59when I can't put my finger on it it's
0:24:01not exactly Musti it's not exactly gassy
0:24:04but I know I I oh gosh i live in fear
0:24:08that the apricot or whatever is going
0:24:10down the heating vent or like that i'm
0:24:12constantly checking the pilot lights
0:24:13because they go out really easy and it's
0:24:15like I just I don't want to be I just I
0:24:19don't have a freak accident especially
0:24:20if it was avoidable freak acts all those
0:24:22the word freak accidents the worst right
0:24:25i mean there's only so much preparation
0:24:27you can do for a freak accident and
0:24:28that's what makes it a freak accident
0:24:30yeah exactly exactly i think about i
0:24:31think about freak accidents now in a way
0:24:33that I that I never thought about them
0:24:35before freak accidents like in uh you
0:24:39know like in I could the Roman remember
0:24:41was in the old man with a guy
0:24:42goes back either amendment me ghetto or
0:24:45whatever and he goes back to get the
0:24:46knives
0:24:47I'll never forget that scene with the
0:24:48giant sheet of glass a member this come
0:24:52swinging through the air something
0:24:54happens something happens it hits the
0:24:56thing that break moves this thing ships
0:24:57just a little bit and really totally cut
0:24:59his head off and his head rolls down the
0:25:01glass that's like a canonical freak
0:25:03accidents and me totally free access
0:25:05except that one was actually staged by
0:25:07Satan yeah now we know we know now
0:25:10mm just leave believe the knives you
0:25:12leave the knives that's right don't go
0:25:14back for the for the steely knives those
0:25:16when I don't want I just can't kill the
0:25:18Beast 100 go ahead and when when I would
0:25:22hear that song I still always think of
0:25:24the knives from the omen
0:25:25oh interesting now i will just like
0:25:28remembering your friendly drink from the
0:25:29water phone
0:25:30yeah that's right that's it's the
0:25:31stealing those are the steely knives of
0:25:33hotel california love that drum fill
0:25:35this is people who do the stealing items
0:25:38from the moment I i made that connection
0:25:39i think the first time I heard heard the
0:25:42song and listen to it would be the song
0:25:44hotel california by the eagles by the
0:25:46visuals which is 40 years old making a
0:25:49making our OTL playlist right now I
0:25:52again are a tlr iyl recommended if you
0:25:56like 40 year old songs huh that's the
0:25:59part that's amazing to me and like you
0:26:00know I like when I think about something
0:26:02like watching The Flintstones as a kid
0:26:03which i think most people our age did
0:26:05because it was just it was on a lot yeah
0:26:07but do you have a definite do and the
0:26:09front steps would be on and it I it
0:26:13seemed hopelessly hopelessly old it just
0:26:16seemed like that cartoon style was so
0:26:18weird and but the so then I got to do
0:26:21that thing that I do and I need a name
0:26:23for what this is called but that are you
0:26:26know that lines on this to that is yes
0:26:28exactly right there is there no but we
0:26:30do that so much is there no term of art
0:26:32for it
0:26:33I don't I don't I don't know the answer
0:26:36when stones was as far away from me in
0:26:381975 as as X is from okay now I want a
0:26:43name for that I want a website for that
0:26:45but in this instance i'm saying what i'm
0:26:46saying is that i was watching The
0:26:49Flintstones when it's only been 10 years
0:26:51since it came on it's incredible and now
0:26:54it's been over 40 years
0:26:56that happened is the thing right hand
0:26:58and so I mean 10 years it seems like a
0:27:00lot maybe not i mean nevermind was 20
0:27:03what 25 years ago
0:27:06mmm 24 24 years ago so that's the kind
0:27:13of thing yeah I used to think that like
0:27:14what's so what is it like for example
0:27:16you take synchronicity is 1983 now so
0:27:19that's 30 32 years right all right ma'am
0:27:24yeah and so 32 years for that was the
0:27:26Korean War I synchronous city
0:27:32yeah that is that is that is bonkers but
0:27:37it does but it's not help it
0:27:39this is this is the conversation i had
0:27:40with it with the girl it
0:27:43we were so that that that protraction
0:27:50right that like a generational geometry
0:27:54really meant a lot to us at the time and
0:27:59partly it was because a lot of what we
0:28:01were consuming in the eighties was
0:28:03through the eyes of baby boomers who
0:28:06were reflecting on there who are
0:28:08nostalgic for their own youth right i
0:28:10don't think there was ever a generation
0:28:12that was more nostalgic for their youth
0:28:14then baby boomers in middle age they had
0:28:17a lot to be not not not good reasons
0:28:19necessarily but at least a large tonnage
0:28:21of things to be nostalgic about because
0:28:22they were also the one of the first
0:28:24generations that we say what say what is
0:28:26it they say in America being a teenager
0:28:28didn't really exist until like the
0:28:30revolutionary war wasn't really a thing
0:28:32to the 20th century and it wasn't a
0:28:33market until the forties and fifties
0:28:34right so people were making a lot of
0:28:37things for them that were cool toys that
0:28:39were TV shows that were movies right and
0:28:42it was all happening at the editor at
0:28:44somewhat of a dawning age of technology
0:28:48so a lot of like my older brother who
0:28:52was a full-on baby boomer you know he
0:28:55was there he remembers his first TV he
0:28:58was there to see how duty and Roy Rogers
0:29:01and and black-and-white television and
0:29:05so all of that stuff
0:29:08and whether or not he felt his childhood
0:29:10was innocent
0:29:12it certainly was was more innocent than
0:29:15his then his teen years right i mean
0:29:18that was that was a time when you didn't
0:29:20question the government still so forth
0:29:22and so they were it when we were teens
0:29:25those people were in their thirties and
0:29:27forties and they were they were
0:29:30ironically in some ways but also just as
0:29:32pureness nostalgically consuming their
0:29:36their youth media and so we were too and
0:29:42there was a real sense even at the time
0:29:45for me that like the adults are this far
0:29:49away from their childhood and one day I
0:29:51will be that far away from my childhood
0:29:53except my childhood i will be consuming
0:29:57not only scooby-doo which was the which
0:30:00was the scooby-doo even was it was kind
0:30:04of a rerun
0:30:05but what the hell was the media of our
0:30:09childhood it was all reruns
0:30:11but you know no like eight is enough for
0:30:13something not only will i be remembering
0:30:15that but i will also be remembering my
0:30:17childhood through the media of this
0:30:19generation before me and we were so we
0:30:22we were conscious of that architecture
0:30:24and now we really want to think about
0:30:25the young people today through that same
0:30:27lens and they don't and that
0:30:30architectures gone for them so here we
0:30:32are like that was 30 years ago and this
0:30:35is 30 years from now and that was 30
0:30:36years from then and the 24 year olds
0:30:39just like I don't with they don't even
0:30:42they can't picture what's inside our
0:30:43minds because they don't have the same
0:30:47the basic building blocks and and so
0:30:54we're just left like and the thing is
0:30:56when I when I play that game with baby
0:30:58boomers they're like kind of not
0:31:01interested either because they see
0:31:03themselves as the beginning right in
0:31:07nineteen in 1955 when they were sitting
0:31:09down to watch Howdy duty they weren't
0:31:13they were there were Errol Flynn movies
0:31:16on TV or if there were that was very
0:31:20much like
0:31:21there there dad but there's a whole new
0:31:25there was media being created for them
0:31:26on an hourly basis and it belonged to
0:31:29them right
0:31:30uh-huh so yeah we're just here we are
0:31:34just at sea again
0:31:36Merlin are our whole conversation just
0:31:39always ends up depositing us back on
0:31:40this strange lily pad of like Generation
0:31:44X nobody cares about it except
0:31:47Generation X and we care about it so
0:31:50passionately and no we can't get anybody
0:31:53to share with us
0:31:56well I think I'm making this up right
0:31:58now but i think part of it is that uh I
0:32:01don't know if this is exactly exactly
0:32:02generational or just coincidence but I
0:32:04think I i have a feeling that people who
0:32:07were around our age grew up at a time
0:32:09when we realized it was important that
0:32:12in order to understand what we can
0:32:14potentially call our story or to
0:32:16understand about ourselves we have to
0:32:18find other people who who see that
0:32:21there's a story and kind of agree on
0:32:22what the story is don't know that was
0:32:24always the case i'm not sure that's
0:32:25entirely true today I mean it's easy
0:32:27enough probably to find somebody who can
0:32:29get on board with whatever your thing is
0:32:30nowadays and I just think you know what
0:32:32part of it is that you know wonderful
0:32:34lot of us missed certain windows by not
0:32:36having having found people where we
0:32:38could agree on what the story was what
0:32:41if that's been easier or more difficult
0:32:42overtime or even if it's a thing but and
0:32:44yeah I don't know either and I and I and
0:32:47I don't know how much more fruitful the
0:32:51wandering is going to be I had any I had
0:32:54a terrible dream last night
0:32:56not really terrible but I was I was with
0:32:58a group of people members of my family
0:33:01friends we were we're walking when I was
0:33:06engaged in some business to business
0:33:09it was it was nighttime I have a map in
0:33:12my head of the of where we were it was
0:33:14maybe in the future and someone said to
0:33:21me that I was 82 years old and I said
0:33:26like what
0:33:27no and I started counting on my fingers
0:33:30the decade
0:33:32and I was like an 82 I i'm still I'm
0:33:40still young i have lots to do and look
0:33:45at you and I'm then I can dance and I
0:33:47can I can jump and everybody was like no
0:33:55you're I mean you're 82 and I was
0:33:57counting and I counted up on my fingers
0:33:59282 and I was like oh I am 82 story
0:34:03checks out but i but i was but i
0:34:08resisted it resisted being 82 and then I
0:34:12counted up on my fingers again and I got
0:34:1562 and I was like 62 alright i can live
0:34:23with 62 but then I wasn't confident that
0:34:25i had counted right and there was a lot
0:34:28of question about how old I was and none
0:34:30of it was very encouraging
0:34:36well okay so what did it feel like
0:34:38that's that's become my question when
0:34:40people are telling a dream because in
0:34:41the telling of a dream as we talked
0:34:43about when you're reciting the facts of
0:34:44the dreamer what you remember about the
0:34:45dream it's still it's difficult to me to
0:34:47communicate how you felt
0:34:49we can guess how you felt because we
0:34:50know the story you're telling but in the
0:34:52dream
0:34:53how did you feel when you recount wait
0:34:55first of all the disbelief that you're
0:34:5682 then when you're counting got 82 and
0:34:59then when you can dictate how are you
0:35:00feeling in the dream
0:35:01well I was checking with my physical
0:35:03plant was checking my body is desisted
0:35:07is abated two-year-olds body
0:35:09no no it's not i'm still limber I'm
0:35:13still you know I so I was so i was
0:35:18confused at this information because
0:35:21didn't comport with what I knew about
0:35:22myself and you know but I had that I had
0:35:27that brief feeling of like am I dressed
0:35:30appropriately for an 82 year old like
0:35:33please God don't let me be actually 82
0:35:37and wearing some kind of clown outfit
0:35:41that would be appropriate on that would
0:35:44already probably not be appropriate
0:35:45thirty-five-year-old on the weigh-in
0:35:47today the methadone clinic was pretty it
0:35:50was pretty calm
0:35:51not a lot going on but I did pass a guy
0:35:54who was my age and was dressed like
0:35:59weiland from Stone Temple Pilots he had
0:36:03his hair was kind of spiked out
0:36:05yeah yeah that's that's a look at street
0:36:06rat look yeah it had a like frog it
0:36:08frosted tips he was wearing some tight
0:36:13pants that were like that had a kind of
0:36:16that wet quality wet wax equality that
0:36:21that rock and rollers prefer to their to
0:36:25their denim yeah when waxing who lived
0:36:28in that lived in very very tailored he
0:36:31and and and it was unclear whether he
0:36:36belonged in the delta sky lounge at SFO
0:36:41Airport because it was actually a
0:36:42millionaire rock entrepreneur or whether
0:36:45he was sort of a 48 year old guy who was
0:36:50trying to get his band going
0:36:54yeah and was it's easier than ever to to
0:36:58have a mix up like that
0:36:59yeah right and maybe he was living in
0:37:01interest in a chevy nova somewhere it
0:37:03was not clear but I did have the feeling
0:37:05of like okay this guy's is in Middle
0:37:08Ages rocking a look but I but it does
0:37:11feel authentic to him it feels like
0:37:13top-to-bottom he's been in this look and
0:37:15inhabiting this look for a long long
0:37:17time and so it's not so it looks
0:37:22appropriate and what that means is that
0:37:24we are now living in an age where there
0:37:26are going to be just as there is a Keith
0:37:29Richards right now who is what 70 who
0:37:34still is tying ribbons and feathers in
0:37:36his hair and is not and he and he is
0:37:40also a millionaire 7171 we are now
0:37:44entering into the era where they're
0:37:46going to be people in their seventies
0:37:48and eighties who have been rock and roll
0:37:51their whole lives and are going to be
0:37:53rock and roll all the way to the end
0:37:55right and so they're never going to ever
0:37:58put on a cardigan sweater and a pair of
0:38:00loafers they are going to be lacing up
0:38:03there doc martens all the way until they
0:38:07have to pay someone to help them lace-up
0:38:10the doc martens a brother and so or
0:38:15someone appointed by the state is going
0:38:16to be lacing up their dog cart and that
0:38:19is to get a shoelace erad litem i think
0:38:23i think it's gonna end up being part of
0:38:26that because you know the old people
0:38:28traditionally handled that transition to
0:38:31hold this by starting to wear loafers
0:38:32and eventually white loafers so they can
0:38:35see them in the in the dim lights also
0:38:38why they do that
0:38:39yeah the dim light of the early morning
0:38:40when they when they wake up it's an
0:38:41adaptation uh-huh
0:38:43they're like I wear my shoes are there
0:38:45they are white patent leather loafers or
0:38:50whatever that that all old people ended
0:38:52up in but but now we have now we are we
0:38:55have old rock and rollers
0:38:57uh-huh and they're never gonna do that
0:38:58unless I mean weiland I could see and
0:39:01white loafers because here that's it
0:39:04because he's one of those guys that like
0:39:06kind of maybe a little bit of the my own
0:39:07private idaho can look right Road yeah
0:39:10so but in my dream I still have that
0:39:16feeling of like it is it inappropriate
0:39:20for me to be to rock and roll now that
0:39:24I'm 82 right and i was checking myself
0:39:27feeling still pretty rock and roll and
0:39:32but feeling like that was evidence that
0:39:36i wasn't 82 so against my feelings were
0:39:39a little incredulity a little panic at
0:39:46you know and maybe have maybe a rip van
0:39:49winkle situation where what what
0:39:52happened to like I don't mind one day
0:39:55being 82 but what happened to the 27
0:39:58years in the middle there where I was
0:39:59still going to do stuff you keep
0:40:01thinking those will go slow but i bet
0:40:02they'll go just as fast if and when you
0:40:04are got you know God willing if you make
0:40:06it to 82 you're going to be eat
0:40:08the gas and running out of fingers I bet
0:40:10just like what the what
0:40:12yeah yeah yeah so maybe it was a little
0:40:14bit of time travel
0:40:16maybe some dreams time travel and when
0:40:19I'm 82 i will have an experience of
0:40:23walking with my family through it
0:40:24through some charted terrain and I want
0:40:28dejavu at the time and be like this
0:40:30really feels familiar
0:40:31i'm so lost right now this is this is
0:40:33really overwhelming
0:40:35oh my goodness I i dreamed i lived in a
0:40:37storage sports stadium like a football
0:40:38stadium in an apartment with the
0:40:41landlord for my office the just last
0:40:43night
0:40:44oh yeah yeah yeahs and emma stone was
0:40:47there from the from the from the movies
0:40:49Emma Stone I think that's her name Emma
0:40:52Stone was there at nor actually Susan is
0:40:56that the Iranian hurt the stadium at
0:40:58your sports stadium where you lived in
0:40:59an apartment with you want with my men
0:41:01middle-aged landlord for my honest was
0:41:03nice he showed me how to open the
0:41:04windows
0:41:05how did you feel in a dream state
0:41:09I think I felt a slightly anxious like I
0:41:14do a lot of my dreams thing is i'm
0:41:16developing this new pro skill when I'm
0:41:17getting really good at being able to
0:41:19slide back into a dream and getting a
0:41:21little better i won't call lucid
0:41:23dreaming but I'm getting better at like
0:41:25after my child has welcomed me at 6am
0:41:27being able to like slide back into it
0:41:30and I've got a whole methodology I've
0:41:32been working on that is is really paying
0:41:34off
0:41:35Emma Stone born in 1988 yeah she's cool
0:41:40she's really funny she's funny she's
0:41:41cool on yeah yeah I make myself really
0:41:45slow down because I really is if i wake
0:41:47up his first thing I think when you wake
0:41:49up from a dream and you're getting
0:41:50panicky about trying to remember the
0:41:51dream and I think when you get to
0:41:53panicky and think too fast about a dream
0:41:55is when you start losing blocks the
0:41:56stuff starts getting erased right slow
0:41:58your roll slow down slow it way way down
0:42:03and think about if you can force
0:42:05yourself to think that about one-third
0:42:07or one-fourth of your usual speed you'll
0:42:10start remembering more things than just
0:42:11start scanning blindly over everything
0:42:13right you gotta get beyond ease back you
0:42:15gotta catch yourself you catch yourself
0:42:16and go away
0:42:17need a minute sing yourself a little
0:42:20song and lyrics are kidding Shh the
0:42:22lyrics and sing a little song in your
0:42:24head that the lyrics start getting
0:42:25filled in it comes back it's just making
0:42:28yourself walking backwards at half speed
0:42:29and also oh I do that a lot
0:42:33imagine has to be oh well you just well
0:42:35not doing it but imagining oh man it's
0:42:37iic differently i'm starting yeah so
0:42:40this is a different topic but like I
0:42:42started really wonder about my
0:42:44concentration because I find I've
0:42:46noticed that is many things in life if I
0:42:48slow way the fuck down
0:42:50what I'm doing a given thing it's a
0:42:52completely different experience for me
0:42:54really oh yeah yeah i mean i'm really
0:42:56really noticing and I'm wondering how
0:42:58much stuff I just don't see because my
0:42:59I'm moving so fast or I'm causing my
0:43:02brain to move so fast but it's an
0:43:03obvious example is eating eating slowly
0:43:05is fundamentally different from eating
0:43:07any other way haha I try I try
0:43:11well cannot eat slowly I just I feel
0:43:13like it I've will very easily just slip
0:43:16into an automatic way of doing things
0:43:18riding slowly I talk about something
0:43:19other show with Dan but if i'm doing
0:43:21more handwriting stuff started using a
0:43:23notebook again for stuff if i make
0:43:24myself right like cause myself to write
0:43:27at half of the normal speed and normally
0:43:29right I'm not only write a lot more
0:43:31neatly I end up i think my brain has a
0:43:34little more time to come up with stuff
0:43:35if I could just gonna try this try this
0:43:37right neatly and at about half speed and
0:43:41you get a really different quality of
0:43:42stuff coming out of your fingers so I
0:43:44was thinking about was the whole new
0:43:45thought technology for me John this is
0:43:47the major thought technology to and I
0:43:49and I think you're really onto something
0:43:50up you know i was i did a thing the
0:43:54other day of wikipedia dive on Hemingway
0:43:57and was reading some having waycross
0:43:59reading it to while I was reading about
0:44:01him and and you know what I have mixed
0:44:05feelings about Hemingway like any
0:44:06thoughtful person water but what I
0:44:09learned was although there is this image
0:44:13of Hemingway sitting at a typewriter he
0:44:16actually wrote all those books longhand
0:44:18you had a little lap desk and then they
0:44:22were typed for him but you know you've
0:44:24got these you have these pictures of
0:44:25Hemingway sitting in an Underwood
0:44:27never but there but that but it really
0:44:30was writing longhand and when I i wrote
0:44:35everything longhand until the let's say
0:44:39the mid-2000s like I had a computer and
0:44:47i wrote school reports let's say on the
0:44:50computer but like all my creative
0:44:52writing it was all with ballpoint pen in
0:44:56spiral-bound notebook and so you know
0:45:02you have that experience of like you
0:45:03enter into a sentence you are riding
0:45:06along you realize halfway through the
0:45:08sentence that you have gone somewhere
0:45:12now you have to pivot in your thought
0:45:16you need you need to be able to land
0:45:19this sentence and you have to you have
0:45:22to change somewhere along the line and
0:45:25you know like your tech utensils
0:45:27changing you can go back and and cross
0:45:30stuff out but you know but it's much
0:45:32it's much more acrobatic 22 to enter
0:45:38into a thought and then have that
0:45:41thought morph as you are creating it and
0:45:44then try and land that that that
0:45:48acrobatic move huh
0:45:50and so it was a it was not just it was
0:45:55absolutely a different art form then
0:45:57writing on a on a keyboard you know
0:46:00completely different exercise because of
0:46:03the keyboard get halfway through a
0:46:04sentence and you just got your just
0:46:05deleting like nope nope that's not what
0:46:08I'm trying to say but it didn't open up
0:46:10delete let's go back to blue and then
0:46:12the the final product shows no it shows
0:46:17no record of what of the three or four
0:46:20different ways you tried to get into it
0:46:22but you're also never obligated to just
0:46:25try and finish that thought you know our
0:46:28or contort in midair to to include what
0:46:34you've already written and still make
0:46:36the point you're trying to get to
0:46:38and I so but but adding the idea of than
0:46:44riding slowly and neatly to that 22 that
0:46:50with that which i already know and have
0:46:53just described
0:46:54yeah I feel like that is a major thought
0:46:56technology like the creative hack even I
0:47:00i think it might be well actually I i
0:47:04bet that everybody has things like this
0:47:07that are different things i'm tossing
0:47:09out a general macro thought technology
0:47:11is try doing stuffs more slowly
0:47:14o.o not just limited to handwrite oh no
0:47:17I mean I am in particular saying that
0:47:19that's that's a great example of what
0:47:20i'm talking about the ink slower it's
0:47:22hard to do but I you know what it is I
0:47:23mean I there's a lot of things where
0:47:26like I am a little bit of a grumpy old
0:47:27man but not as much as I as I scene I
0:47:30mean I don't have I don't have too much
0:47:33objection to how other people talk to
0:47:35other people like that's not my business
0:47:37right
0:47:38I'm not here to be the police officer it
0:47:40tells you whether and when you should
0:47:42use emojis and whether when you should
0:47:44use you know paragraphs and periods and
0:47:48stuff like that i will say that for
0:47:49myself I still I I still treasure the
0:47:54moment of struggling to say the thing
0:47:57that I want to say and just typing LMAO
0:48:00is not a thing i want to start doing
0:48:02with me means first of all the first
0:48:04time you do that are I mean are you
0:48:06literally laughing your ass off perhaps
0:48:07you are perhaps yards in which case
0:48:09that's a terrific sense you could write
0:48:11that was very funny I'm laughing my ass
0:48:13off right now but it comes awfully easy
0:48:17to just type those little letters and
0:48:19again I i'm speaking just here for
0:48:20myself I'm not trying to advocate for
0:48:22this but i like when i write to you or
0:48:25write to my wife or whatever even just
0:48:26in attacks i still find myself saying
0:48:28how am I gonna say this uh and and how
0:48:32do i how do I compact Lee and elegantly
0:48:36Sing se the thing that I want to say and
0:48:38have it go the way that I wanted to go
0:48:40and i feel myself being drawn this
0:48:44gravitational pull of drawing everybody
0:48:46into this really spazzy like over the
0:48:50top ! culture
0:48:52that I I'm not saying I'm against it but
0:48:54I want to be aware of it and i want to
0:48:56start making sure that i really want to
0:48:58be exclaiming that many things that i
0:49:00really want to actually has a 50 fucking
0:49:02year old man become that ejaculatory
0:49:04about saying i'll see you in five
0:49:06minutes
0:49:06hmm because maybe that doesn't matter
0:49:08what I think it might matter i'll leave
0:49:11it to other cultural commentators to
0:49:12decide whether that's a good or bad
0:49:13thing for people to grow up at that
0:49:15entirely but you know I want to I want
0:49:17to make myself be a little starchy
0:49:19sometimes I want to make myself go slow
0:49:21i want to make myself think about what
0:49:23I'm about to say because if we all just
0:49:26ejaculate the first thing that occurs to
0:49:28us all the time from now on that does
0:49:30not feel like a fun future to me
0:49:32mm so kind of pushback on that is that
0:49:35alright I I think that's I think that's
0:49:37wonderful and well put i have you
0:49:40discovered that LOL law in your own
0:49:44personal lexicon has has already morphed
0:49:47into haha yeah like yeah I noticed I
0:49:51noticed that with well I've never been a
0:49:53fan of LOL the i would much more
0:49:55frequently especially talking to you
0:49:57said the syllables LOL or-or-or long
0:50:01ruffle ruffle ruffle ruffle I just I've
0:50:04always thought that's so like you don't
0:50:06even have you don't even have time to
0:50:07laugh but they've they've come it's
0:50:10gonna if they morphed into at least at
0:50:13everyone I know and certainly the way i
0:50:15use them is just like not funny like not
0:50:19laughing out loud night when i see haha
0:50:22whose voice am i doing I'm kind of maybe
0:50:25doing the voices somebody that chick
0:50:26publication or maybe like a monkey on
0:50:29Pleasure Island in Pinocchio he better
0:50:31not when I say haha areas haha sounds
0:50:35like you know it's the sound of like a
0:50:38practical joke on wrong and I poke you
0:50:40in the eye
0:50:41haha like about bringing a plastic
0:50:46donkey that the chick publication is
0:50:48great because those were always felt
0:50:50hwhw I know he'll Charley Conners haha
0:50:55always having a heart attack that's just
0:50:57don't know his ghost is leaving the body
0:50:59and children
0:51:01oh he's sitting in front of a faceless
0:51:03judgment day jesus oh they could be that
0:51:07they would be the the the tribes would
0:51:09be so specific and like toms of finland
0:51:12at the beginning and then by the end it
0:51:14got real the get real degraded into just
0:51:16some kind of cloak Doctor Who character
0:51:17standing in flames
0:51:18yeah standing flame saying you are
0:51:20headed dad George and charley Conners I
0:51:25and what that does that gives me faith
0:51:29that that even the like that that there
0:51:34is that sort
0:51:35Donna scizzum wins out right that even
0:51:39even something as like dull-witted as
0:51:43law can be converted into into a way of
0:51:51conveying some of the degradation of
0:51:54reading reading against the grain a
0:51:56little bit yeah and a but it seems like
0:51:58they're surely there are people and I
0:52:00think they are probably all like
0:52:02Facebook moms who still use law ! as
0:52:08like I'm laughing out loud right now
0:52:10right now I feel like it has to it has
0:52:12turned almost entirely into like the
0:52:16thing that you just sent me isn't that
0:52:18funny trihard out like well there's
0:52:21something I I you know again it's like
0:52:23it's like the Eddie Eddie Vetter noise
0:52:24or the paul stanley screen
0:52:26don't start doing it ironically because
0:52:28within a week it won't be ironic anymore
0:52:30and now you just do that
0:52:31come on aaron has ever done ball or
0:52:34alright like don't start doing that and
0:52:36I spent 15 years ago wow alright
0:52:39like I don't know why but I started
0:52:41doing that on this is a friend of the
0:52:43family is a very very sweet woman she
0:52:44works she's probably maybe maybe 50
0:52:47something she work she's she works at a
0:52:48school and she's always my like canary
0:52:51in the coal mine for whatever phrase it
0:52:54is about to become very noice some for
0:52:57me
0:52:57alright well yeah did she say that no no
0:53:01no no but she's she's always because
0:53:03she's got a teenage kids and she works
0:53:05in school and she picks up a lot of the
0:53:07Osher
0:53:08and but like I don't know maybe stuff
0:53:09I'm just hearing about for the first
0:53:11time the kids now are all are all doing
0:53:13David Lee rough haha wow
0:53:15but you're back now but for example one
0:53:21that now you and I use ironically she
0:53:23was the one of the first ones i heard
0:53:24who would say thank you
0:53:28paris hilton LOL thank you
0:53:32and then there's like there's like a
0:53:34whole Thank You culture like a whole
0:53:35like when you can sit around you have
0:53:37your white wine and talk about stuff
0:53:38just got a gal Thank You arm i love you
0:53:46i love you i sent you a couple panels
0:53:49from my all-time favorite chick
0:53:51publication called Wounded children
0:53:54wounded children wanted children
0:53:57I really it's a hell of a piece of work
0:54:00because he basically get from like
0:54:03there's there is a porno mag in the
0:54:05house the little boy finds its eight
0:54:07shows it to him
0:54:08oh my god it's not letting me see it I
0:54:11need to its I'm talking to you on skype
0:54:13right now
0:54:14uh-huh but there's this new button you
0:54:17see link address where you send me the
0:54:19link and then skype says sign into skype
0:54:21with your and it's just like what I'm
0:54:23i'm using skype you ding-a-ling
0:54:25centurylink see if that works better but
0:54:26Satan is showing him the book and little
0:54:29boy season he's obviously very upset
0:54:30within a few pages he's a young man in a
0:54:34leather bar with gay men hahaha
0:54:39did you hear the one about the traveling
0:54:40cells open the big drawer David and look
0:54:43at the pretty books as Satan that's your
0:54:45daddy's book
0:54:46yes Satan looks very hot in this i have
0:54:50to say is very muscley East Harrison
0:54:53this is a page we should probably
0:54:55acknowledged enter the Jabberwock calm
0:54:57if your daddy enjoys this book
0:55:00yeah it has to be okay and where's him
0:55:03in the bar looking in the bar
0:55:05I'm so high I'm flying tiny amyl nitrate
0:55:07sure get a rush
0:55:09wow this is where it's at yeah FML
0:55:11nitrate is where it's at
0:55:13whoa yeah yeah I remember that seen them
0:55:17in the fabulous furry freak brothers fat
0:55:19fries cat comic
0:55:20when now when no freewheeling Franklin
0:55:24freak has a bunch of amyl nitrate
0:55:28capsules in his front pocket of his
0:55:30shirt and some cop jumps jumps on him as
0:55:35cops were want to do at the time and he
0:55:38breaks all the amyl nitrate in in
0:55:40freewheeling Franklin's shirt pocket and
0:55:43free one Franklin inhales like 10 amyl
0:55:48nitrate capsules all at once and then he
0:55:50gets up and he kicks the cops ass while
0:55:53like a pie with spinach very funny i
0:55:55wish i could send you a link to that but
0:55:57you know they're not signed in and I
0:55:59wouldn't know I'm not signed it
0:56:00this episode of Roderick on the line is
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0:57:26and for supporting rod on the lines
0:57:29oh yeah I used to collect these
0:57:33informally and in the fullness of time i
0:57:36actually started I cheated and I started
0:57:38buying them
0:57:39why did you can coordinate of course
0:57:42that what you think that come from it's
0:57:43not spontaneous generation bootstrap
0:57:44paradox they start somewhere and that's
0:57:46at the jack chick publications
0:57:47organization and you can order a bunch
0:57:49of these how do you think the end up in
0:57:50America's urinals you I've told you
0:57:53before haven't I about my flirtation
0:57:55with evangelical Christianity i-i-i
0:57:59don't think you have that hmm if you
0:58:02have I don't remember it but i would
0:58:04like to hear about that
0:58:05well during during that era in the
0:58:07eighties when most moral majority yeah
0:58:10yeah there was no there was it was
0:58:12really the the splintering of the
0:58:14factions the the even evangelicalism was
0:58:19coming was leaving the leading the
0:58:25Southern Baptist tradition and leaving
0:58:26the Midwestern sort of farm church
0:58:30culture and it was becoming Southern
0:58:33Californian and it was it was the mega
0:58:36churches were developing it was it was
0:58:38it was blowing up in our nation and
0:58:42there were chick publications it seems
0:58:44like everywhere and people were people
0:58:48were really getting into this this vocal
0:58:52muscular prosperity Christianity in a
0:58:58way that was was new and exciting and
0:59:02and you know I'm not a guy that wants to
0:59:05see a trend happen where is not he
0:59:09doesn't at least dip his toe in the
0:59:11water
0:59:11no you got you get your research you
0:59:13like you like to know what's going on
0:59:14you get to make your own decision
0:59:16hold your own counsel about these things
0:59:17but you know you don't want to just
0:59:18arrived something you didn't even know
0:59:19what that was going on for years exactly
0:59:21right so i started watching the PTL Club
0:59:23to see what was going on and I was I'm
0:59:25not somebody who consumes media
0:59:27ironically in particular they were good
0:59:30for you
0:59:30there were people think there were
0:59:31people out of a of our time the church
0:59:35of the bob dobbs crowd
0:59:37who watched PTL ironically but you know
0:59:42i was watching it just earnestly like
0:59:43let's see what's going on I didn't like
0:59:45it but i but i wanted i didn't want to
0:59:47be blind to what was happening and I
0:59:51always loved a chick comic because i
0:59:54love comics and you could put any kind
0:59:58of insanity into
0:59:58of insanity into
1:00:00comic book form and i would read it i
1:00:02would grab it and read it happily and i
1:00:06have read some alignment I've read a ton
1:00:08of insanity because it was in comic book
1:00:10form
1:00:11yeah but i remember when i was younger
1:00:15and we would be walking through airports
1:00:18and the hare krishna would come up and
1:00:19try and pick a flower on my dad and my
1:00:22dad would somehow like he would
1:00:25materialize a cricket bat out of his
1:00:27jacket and just like no get the fuck
1:00:31away from me hippie or what you know he
1:00:32would just like he would send those
1:00:34people packing and i remember at eight
1:00:37nine ten years old kind of wistful leave
1:00:40wishing that my dad would stop and
1:00:42engage them because I was very curious
1:00:44about them and my dad when he did engage
1:00:47people it was we learned a lot you know
1:00:49I learned a lot just by dad stopping and
1:00:51talking to people on the street so why
1:00:53wasn't he talking to these fascinating
1:00:55hairy Christmas in the airport who all
1:00:58they wanted to do was give him a free
1:00:59flour
1:01:00oh and he ok so serious that usually he
1:01:02would have a conversation you would
1:01:03learn something something smelled weird
1:01:05about this because he wasn't even given
1:01:06him the time of day he just didn't even
1:01:08want you just gave him he gave him the
1:01:10heisman and I was like you know my dad
1:01:13will stop and talk to anybody you know
1:01:15they're Heisman and a straight arm as
1:01:17right back to get through
1:01:19yeah that's good okay um you know he's
1:01:21like there would be people would walk up
1:01:23to us on the sidewalk all the time guys
1:01:25in in like deerstalker hats that had
1:01:28flowers all over their hat and they
1:01:30wanted to talk to my dad about some
1:01:31strange you know some like public policy
1:01:34in my dad sit and talk to him for 45
1:01:36minutes but these guys with the top knot
1:01:39and and the row but the airport he
1:01:41doesn't want to talk so I made it a
1:01:43policy to always stop and talk to Harry
1:01:45Krishna's when I got to be 18 and was
1:01:47moving through airports on my own if
1:01:50somebody came up and tried to put a
1:01:51flower on me i would stop and talk to
1:01:52them about Harry krishna for a for
1:01:55enough time until they started to repeat
1:01:58themselves and I learned a lot about
1:02:00Harry krishna but then they all went
1:02:03away like they stopped being airports
1:02:06all of a sudden it just disappeared they
1:02:08just disappeared one day they were in
1:02:10every Airport ever
1:02:11we're and then I don't know what
1:02:12happened every fish nuts but it just
1:02:16hey professionals dimples hurt hurt
1:02:18their pickles for every fish nuts haha
1:02:21that's not Lou county especially my
1:02:23daughter is the one she thought it was
1:02:25hilarious
1:02:25what the hell she can't know anything
1:02:27about is no idea purpose for Harry
1:02:29fishing pole opus just off of some domak
1:02:33it's just he just misheard things so
1:02:36seriously
1:02:37well because early opus did that a lot
1:02:40earlier long-nosed opus before was
1:02:42really like a puffin yeah before he
1:02:44turned into fat nose opus when he was
1:02:46long nose opus he was always he was
1:02:48always garbling things what is the term
1:02:50of art for that the like a spoonerism
1:02:52more tourism and yeah but anyway so then
1:02:56then the her Christmas went away but the
1:02:59evangelical missionaries started to
1:03:04appear with their chick tracts and then
1:03:05you know the college college church
1:03:08people
1:03:09uh-huh and I would sit and talk to them
1:03:11for endless hours
1:03:13oh my goodness and part of it was I was
1:03:16genuinely curious and i genuinely wanted
1:03:18to get to the bottom of the logical
1:03:20proper their logical process like okay
1:03:24explain it explain that again like
1:03:26because I not being raised in a
1:03:28Christian tradition like I didn't even
1:03:30fully understand the transubstantiation
1:03:32of ground that's that doesn't even apply
1:03:35and even jealous ilysm but like I didn't
1:03:38get the logic of dying for someone
1:03:42else's sins even I mean that was all
1:03:43stuff that i needed explain to me and
1:03:46would sit and listen to it and and I
1:03:48wasn't really even debating I was just
1:03:50absorbing and I would sit legs crossed
1:03:54and also I didn't want to be rude but
1:03:56like I would I in an airport I would put
1:03:59my bag down and go sit over and it in
1:04:01set of chairs with them and they would
1:04:03get very excited because you know that's
1:04:05a problem they got a live one
1:04:06yeah that's right it's probably a
1:04:07thankless job and when they hook a
1:04:08bigmouth bass like me and sit down and
1:04:12start talking to him about that stuff
1:04:14it's we would i would have some lively
1:04:17conversations with some real well
1:04:19well many people and for a while I would
1:04:24time between 18 and 19 years old I
1:04:27walked around wondering about the
1:04:30process that i would have to undergo in
1:04:34order to in order to become an
1:04:38evangelical person because I also
1:04:41believed in magic or miracles or I
1:04:47believed in transformation I believed in
1:04:49epiphany and so I was very open multiple
1:04:54times in my life I've been very open to
1:04:56epiphany and island in the same way that
1:05:00you would try to conjure an orb try to
1:05:03conjure nor but her butt but very open
1:05:05to in in particular the possibility of
1:05:09Christian epiphany when I was walking
1:05:12across europe i was a don't know if I
1:05:16ever told you the story but i was
1:05:17walking along the danube outside of
1:05:20Vienna and i'm walking along the dike
1:05:24right the the Danube is diked for much
1:05:27of its length and so it's an enormous
1:05:32river and these are enormous dykes on
1:05:34either side and i'm walking on this dike
1:05:36and I hear this voice shout out
1:05:40launderer von der ER and I turn around
1:05:43and there's this little sort of a
1:05:45leprechaun who is resting in the shade
1:05:49of a of like am the utility box like a
1:05:53like a big metal some kind of water
1:05:57maintenance box and he stands up and he
1:06:00is he has almost a bindle wanna stick
1:06:05right he's got a he's got a he's got a
1:06:08little bag and got his little hiking
1:06:10boots and a long red beard and kind of
1:06:13longer share and he's not a very talk I
1:06:15five and a half feet tall and he comes
1:06:19over he starts hammering me in German
1:06:21and I'm like I don't speak German and he
1:06:22and he speaks some English and he says
1:06:24what are you doing you're clearly a
1:06:25wonderer I'd like I am a wanderer you
1:06:29are right sir you have you have you have
1:06:32identified me correctly and he said I
1:06:33too am a wanderer
1:06:34where are you going and I said I'm going
1:06:37at the time I wouldn't tell people I was
1:06:40going to Istanbul because i had a policy
1:06:42in my heart that you do not say you are
1:06:45walking to Istanbul because it's too
1:06:47crazy sounding and you'll never make it
1:06:49if you say you'll curse yourself but I
1:06:52said I'm walking to Romania and he said
1:06:54I am also walking to Romania let us walk
1:06:58together and for three days
1:07:02Bernard and I walked together toward
1:07:06romania and we walked into slovakia
1:07:10together and we walked into hungry
1:07:12together and Bernard was amazing meeting
1:07:15a wonderful man who had formerly owned
1:07:19he was a ship captain who had owned a
1:07:22Danube boat a longboat that transacted
1:07:28and he was from lengths in Austria and
1:07:30he was a boat captain on the Danny but
1:07:32he had given it all away
1:07:34given the boat away given his house away
1:07:38in order to go on a pilgrimage to
1:07:40Romania to discover what God had in
1:07:48store for him
1:07:51wow he was a one it was wonderful man
1:07:54and after three days of walking together
1:07:57i realized that i was honest I was on a
1:08:02journey to Romania and he was on a
1:08:04journey to Romania but those were
1:08:05separate journeys because Bernard like
1:08:07to camp burner did not understand not to
1:08:10camp in a mosquito blog but there are a
1:08:14lot of things Bernard was learning first
1:08:16and he was older than I was right he was
1:08:1810 years older than I was but he didn't
1:08:20know not to camp in a mosquito ballgame
1:08:22that was the thing that I have learned
1:08:23at a young age so we agreed at a certain
1:08:26point along the road
1:08:27let's meet up again you go your way I'll
1:08:31go mine but we'll rendezvous again in
1:08:35Romania
1:08:37and he left he wrote likes a little map
1:08:40on a on the back of a business card and
1:08:43said when you get to Romania follow this
1:08:45map anyway I'm got it's a long story i'm
1:08:49giving away too much but I did run away
1:08:53with him in Romania and we went on a
1:08:55pilgrimage a romanian orthodox
1:08:58pilgrimage to a to a place in
1:09:03Transylvania where there was an icon of
1:09:07the Virgin who had the icon had appeared
1:09:13magically on a mountaintop it was not it
1:09:17was not painted by a by a living person
1:09:19it appeared and the Romanians built a
1:09:23church around it because it commanded
1:09:26them to and now the icon hung in the
1:09:30church and people came on a pilgrimage
1:09:34to this place and they walked around the
1:09:35church i'm sorry they crawled around the
1:09:38church on their hands and knees like
1:09:42hundreds and hundreds of times it was
1:09:44part of the pilgrimage that you get
1:09:46there and then you crawl around this
1:09:48church on your hands and knees until
1:09:50your hands and knees are bloody because
1:09:53the icon commanded it somehow and not so
1:09:59I went on this Adventure and I was so I
1:10:03was so vulnerable at that moment in my
1:10:07life and susceptible in that moment of
1:10:09my life that I that I was like okay
1:10:12God you work in miraculous ways and I am
1:10:16utterly open to the possibility that
1:10:20this which seems bananas is a is
1:10:25potentially a doorway to you that I
1:10:29hadn't considered before
1:10:31not that i am not that i believe that
1:10:33this icon appeared on a mountaintop but
1:10:35that this is clearly animating people
1:10:39your spirit is clearly animating people
1:10:42here to do these remarkable things what
1:10:46seem remarkable to me
1:10:47[Music]
1:10:48I am newly awakened to you like ready
1:10:55ready for the lightning bolt and anna
1:10:57and i know that they're been there have
1:11:00been hundreds of thousands of bees in
1:11:02history who stand on a on a windswept
1:11:05mount up and say I'm ready for the
1:11:07lightning bolt God and God rarely
1:11:10produces lightning bolts in those
1:11:12situations that's not how many rolls
1:11:14it's not how he rolls he does not burn
1:11:16bushes for everybody right uh-huh
1:11:19but over the years I have suspended
1:11:24disbelief multiple times and said i
1:11:28believe in epiphany and and like let it
1:11:33roll and it and not even like God you
1:11:37have until noon tomorrow to hit me with
1:11:40with some bells like not at all i'm like
1:11:44i'm just here i am an empty vessel and
1:11:48so yeah that that was a that was
1:11:53probably the most recent time
1:11:56well and you you're justyou're you're
1:11:58there and you're available I was there
1:11:59and I was available and Bernard was very
1:12:02available we neither of us had an
1:12:08epiphany but Bernard after i left
1:12:13Romania Bernard state and he fell in
1:12:18love with the romanian girl and he
1:12:22started some kind of church himself
1:12:29ok where the doctors at church to the
1:12:34like was it from Malaga a ground-up you
1:12:38know like an edifice or without
1:12:41technology
1:12:42I thought technology Bernard was very
1:12:44interested in helping people and he got
1:12:47into he developed a practice of helping
1:12:50people he went back to arad which is
1:12:54close to timish wara and he started a
1:12:59group of
1:13:00they started to help group which morphed
1:13:06into a kind of church like edifice
1:13:13notnot building but like it like a
1:13:15thought edifice and now i'm not sure
1:13:19exactly what the doctrine of his group
1:13:22is my Romanian is pretty rusty
1:13:25yeah but it does have a it does have a
1:13:28complete up like a like a turn the
1:13:32loaves and two fishes quality to it i
1:13:36mean there's something to ecstatic
1:13:38Christianity though it's a little bit
1:13:40like punk rock where it's one thing to
1:13:42really like somebody else's band but you
1:13:44but you ultimately really want to start
1:13:45your own people idea
1:13:46mhm like you want that to be your
1:13:48ecstasy and exactly and and and the and
1:13:51because he has a sort of Central
1:13:53European you know central Eastern
1:13:57European take on things but he is
1:14:00Austrian ultimately let that let that
1:14:03sink in his ecstatic is exactly the word
1:14:08he is his new church that he runs with
1:14:14his wife which is also like a feed the
1:14:16people kind of organization like i don't
1:14:20know i don't know what what they're
1:14:22doing and he occasionally reaches out to
1:14:25me and says send us american money
1:14:29because we are building a pump to pump
1:14:35Satan out of the water or something and
1:14:39i go i bernard I could send you fifty
1:14:43dollars American that would help you
1:14:45build that pump but I'm temp I'm timid
1:14:48about that i want to i want to continue
1:14:51let me continue the conversation we've
1:14:53been having for 15 years about about God
1:14:55but I don't know if I'm ready to invest
1:14:58in pump
1:14:59yeah I'm sure you do the same for you
1:15:01well that's you know the kind of person
1:15:04last report money but you know just
1:15:06saying maybe one way street
1:15:08well that's the thing with me what we
1:15:10are we we are people of resource
1:15:12here in America but I up money we don't
1:15:16have as much Satan in the water here
1:15:18that's more good point or if we do it's
1:15:21being filtered somewhere way upstream by
1:15:23the municipality just in front
1:15:25yeah so I don't know did were you ever
1:15:29were you ever like how vulnerable were
1:15:32you toward not vulnerable but that that
1:15:34implies a that implies some predation
1:15:37but like how how open were you to be
1:15:41evangelized well I talked about this in
1:15:43other places but I was a very devout add
1:15:47a couple times in my life but that's not
1:15:49even the part that interests me as much
1:15:51right here
1:15:51I mean we have to talk about that talked
1:15:53about a lot on some other shit but what
1:15:55are these other shows are you getting on
1:15:57with you on your podcast for living John
1:15:59you into you are on other podcasts
1:16:01besides the show
1:16:02turns out and so here's the thing i
1:16:03think is interesting now and as is that
1:16:06it does eh i wonder how many people come
1:16:10to religion or faith that the strongest
1:16:12point in their life because I i have a
1:16:15feeling i mean feel free to answer my
1:16:18guess is not at night so many I think
1:16:20they come to religion at that the less
1:16:21strong points in their life you know
1:16:23people don't don't go out and learn
1:16:25self-defense when they're winning a lot
1:16:26of fights and people aren't looking for
1:16:29an answer to life's giant questions when
1:16:31everything is going their way and
1:16:32everything's coming up milhouse so you
1:16:34know it's interesting to me though how
1:16:36and you know no matter what you say
1:16:38about religion you're going to yell that
1:16:40I in the last two weeks I've I've I've
1:16:41said things that are that are a fairly
1:16:44strong defense of people of faith and I
1:16:47got yelled at about that last week we
1:16:49said I thought I bracketed it really
1:16:52carefully to say I'm not really talking
1:16:53about religion a really good
1:16:54relationship i'm talking about really
1:16:55just traditions in the past still there
1:16:58wasn't sure because you enjoy religion
1:17:00now let's not what I said but in this
1:17:02instance I think it's interesting how at
1:17:05the time when you are most open to the
1:17:08idea of faith it's also because little
1:17:11bit desperate because you're kind of
1:17:12like sitting there waiting for God to
1:17:13call you're waiting for the thundering
1:17:15and you're going mhm I sure would love
1:17:18to know that this thing that I'm hoping
1:17:21turns out the way I want to go that way
1:17:23that becomes extend to like I hope
1:17:24somebody's list
1:17:25something I hope there's something out
1:17:27there because I've got this days and for
1:17:30the state to really work you know
1:17:33come on do something said bush on fire
1:17:35or something
1:17:36it's just interesting though because
1:17:37like uh if god were listening and God
1:17:41would probably unlikely to do that
1:17:42because then it would really be faith
1:17:43anymore now it's a magic show right
1:17:46magical the problem is like you know it
1:17:48isn't like you're having your greatest
1:17:49moment of scientific introspection and
1:17:51asking for a lightning bolt to prove
1:17:52that you're doing science right that
1:17:54would make sense but just in the same
1:17:56way I don't know how much sense it makes
1:17:57to it and I mean it makes sense I've
1:17:59done it I've gone like I've done that
1:18:01whole like cartoon character think about
1:18:02going like I will be the most devout
1:18:04follower in the world as long as you let
1:18:06me win this contest or whatever so I
1:18:08don't know I i do think it's interesting
1:18:09now the the state of mind that brings
1:18:13people to an act of faith or it's a leap
1:18:16of faith is a term of art but what
1:18:18brings you to like being open and
1:18:19vulnerable
1:18:21however you are you know however you
1:18:23want to think of it and then like what
1:18:25keeps you there if things stay the same
1:18:28or do in fact get better right
1:18:31I don't know I don't know I think it's
1:18:32very interesting because i think almost
1:18:33everybody if they were honest with
1:18:34themselves would admit at some point
1:18:36they felt desperate enough about
1:18:37something to ask whatever to just make
1:18:40it better for ya go away I think anybody
1:18:43who doesn't say that either has had a
1:18:44very fortunate life for his lying
1:18:46because we've all done it
1:18:48did you ever read more are you familiar
1:18:50with the book a walk across America know
1:18:52so somebody gave that book to me back in
1:18:56the old blue highways zen and the art of
1:19:00motorcycle maintenance days when i was
1:19:02doing a lot of cross country traveling
1:19:04you know the freight hopping and the
1:19:06hitchhiking and so forth and so there's
1:19:08this subculture of books about traveling
1:19:11across America as a young open-minded
1:19:14vagabond and a walk across America is
1:19:16one of those books and I i would say it
1:19:20was hungry for it because it was because
1:19:24I you know I was doing this searching
1:19:26traveling and this was even a dimension
1:19:30beyond write like this guy wasn't
1:19:32popping phrase across America he was
1:19:34fucking walking across
1:19:35America am I and I and I and I think
1:19:39that this planted a seed in me that many
1:19:42years later produced my walk across
1:19:44Europe but this guy started in New
1:19:49England somewhere east coast and he was
1:19:51a young hippie and he didn't know what
1:19:54was going on in the world and couldn't
1:19:56make sense of it also he and his
1:19:59Siberian Husky we're gonna walk together
1:20:02across America and he was a he was a
1:20:06pretty like son
1:20:08sunny disposition person and he started
1:20:14to walk across America and rather than
1:20:16head west which is what you are what you
1:20:21should do if you're gonna walk across
1:20:22America he headed south because he was
1:20:25gonna walk through the south and then
1:20:27turn and walk across America which is
1:20:30like okay whatever you know you you you
1:20:32make your paths
1:20:33I'll make mine and he walked down to
1:20:36Appalachia and the first half of the
1:20:40book is very interesting in that it's I
1:20:47think I think contemporary readers would
1:20:50feel like he was he had a colonialist
1:20:55mindset and had not checked his
1:20:56privilege but at the time he was just a
1:20:59young white guy who was walking through
1:21:01the poor south which was still has a
1:21:05separate Island from the rest of America
1:21:07like a lot of undiscovered world down
1:21:11there
1:21:11sure and he was having all these
1:21:14experiences where he's being taken into
1:21:18people's homes and it's just a tarpaper
1:21:21Shack but they give him hospitality like
1:21:23he's never had before and he's marveling
1:21:26at the at how wonderful people are and
1:21:29this is in the at a time when there's a
1:21:32lot of unrest in our country and a lot
1:21:34of racial tension in our country but he
1:21:37sees that everyone is wonderful and
1:21:40beautiful and so forth and i'm reading
1:21:41this book and at the time right I'm I'm
1:21:4518 and I'm traveling
1:21:47and so it's very compelling to me not
1:21:52his experiences but the possibility of
1:21:55of having similar experiences myself but
1:21:58about three quarters of the way through
1:22:00the book he's still in Appalachia
1:22:04somewhere and I'm as a reader I'm saying
1:22:09you know this is a 400-page book more on
1:22:12page three hundred he's he's only in
1:22:16Virginia is he gonna walk really fast
1:22:21across the rest of America how is he
1:22:24going to get across America in 100 pages
1:22:26not only right right
1:22:27he's only been 25 states and so what
1:22:32happens to him as he gets down into the
1:22:35south and he has met all these southern
1:22:41people who he perceives to be much more
1:22:43genuine and authentic than his dumb
1:22:47middle-class white neighbors from New
1:22:51Hampshire wherever he's from
1:22:53he's had that experience that a lot of
1:22:56young people do in their first traveling
1:22:58where there is like wait a minute
1:23:01these poor people are fun and beautiful
1:23:04what was I you know like the world is
1:23:06all upside down right but then he's
1:23:09sitting in a church somewhere with his
1:23:11with the with this friends that have
1:23:13been helping him up on his trip he goes
1:23:17to church with them and a light comes in
1:23:20the stained-glass window and hits him
1:23:23and he has a conversion experience and
1:23:27no I it's I think it's even in a tent i
1:23:29think it a light comes in through a
1:23:32plastic stained glass window in a tent
1:23:36and he has a tent revival conversion and
1:23:41becomes a passionate evangelical and
1:23:45what's amazing about this book is he
1:23:46never referred to religion in the first
1:23:50three quarters of the book or barely did
1:23:53and at one point is dog dies and he's
1:23:55very sad and now he's now is confronted
1:23:58with the idea of
1:24:00walking across America all by himself
1:24:01without even the companionship of his
1:24:03dog and then the the light hits him and
1:24:07the book ends a book called a walk
1:24:10across America ends with him in Georgia
1:24:17that's strange having been hit by the
1:24:20lightning bolt and then he decides that
1:24:23he is he's with the geez now huh and
1:24:29turns out that's what he was looking for
1:24:31the end it seems unsatisfying on many
1:24:35levels it was deeply unsatisfying I felt
1:24:38totally betrayed by this book but but he
1:24:42became kind of a that then he continued
1:24:47his walk across America in subsequent
1:24:49book or books but now spread the word
1:24:53now he was spreading the word now he was
1:24:54spreading the gospel and and I don't
1:24:58think that those books old as well or
1:25:00maybe maybe they sold millions but only
1:25:03in christian bookstores right but that
1:25:06was you know he had the added experience
1:25:09that I I felt like maybe I was a little
1:25:13less credulous but but there were many
1:25:20many many many many hours out on the
1:25:22trail where if a snake had talked to me
1:25:25I i would have said you are false god
1:25:30snake
1:25:32I will not eat that Apple i am i'm in
1:25:38service of something higher but I think
1:25:43God decided that I he didn't need me he
1:25:45was looking for out he was looking for
1:25:47people with other skills good we're good
1:25:49thanks
1:25:50haha he was looking for people that
1:25:52understood
1:25:53SEO optimization john i'm going to keep
1:25:56your resume on file here if anything
1:25:58comes up we'll gosh which will be sure
1:26:01to let me leave your number with
1:26:03whatever doesn't wanna a but he did the
1:26:09Lord stands and kind of an awkward
1:26:11moment generally kind of gesturing
1:26:13toward the
1:26:13blowing door haha handshakes handshakes
1:26:17all around the option of yourself to
1:26:19free water as soon as everybody shaking
1:26:22hands there's a palpable sense of relief
1:26:24like okay alright interviews so so what
1:26:28do you think is your biggest weakness
1:26:31God doesn't like me
1:26:36mm well boy that's rough
1:26:40imagine that can interviewed by the geez
1:26:41that's rough
1:26:43well getting interviewed by the jesus
1:26:45and like the Jesus who feels he feels in
1:26:48the popular culture like he's
1:26:49represented as somebody who is very
1:26:52hungry for volunteers looking for people
1:26:55with a wide set of skills and I would
1:26:59seem to be somebody that you know i have
1:27:01a big a big voice who I like to talk to
1:27:04people i can even convince people of
1:27:05some pretty you know some pretty
1:27:08questionable your fast learner
1:27:10self-starter you know you can self
1:27:12motivate you would think he would say
1:27:14you know what you are exactly the kind
1:27:18of people were looking for to expand
1:27:20this franchise expanding expanding the
1:27:23base I mean you're not the typical the
1:27:25employee like you you're you're you know
1:27:27I think you would you would bring a lot
1:27:28of interesting new people
1:27:30that's a discussion that's exactly right
1:27:31i have the connections I you know I'm I
1:27:33people might say I've tried this
1:27:37I've tried the hamburger over there and
1:27:40it i didn't find it to my liking but boy
1:27:42if you if you say it's a good hamburger
1:27:45huh huh maybe i'll give it another try
1:27:47but in fact no in fact I I screwed up
1:27:53the interview somehow managed to shame
1:27:55maybe I maybe I I you know what it was
1:27:59they gave me that thing they gave me
1:28:01that exam if you see an employee
1:28:04stealing paper clips you a tell your
1:28:09manager he ignore it because it's just
1:28:12paper clips see still paper clips
1:28:16yourself d call the police and I didn't
1:28:20I didn't
1:28:21not one of those was what i would do and
1:28:23so I you know I just picked the closest
1:28:25thing but I feel like I'm feel like I
1:28:28came by whatever it was I that the test
1:28:32indicated about me it wasn't what they
1:28:34were like a question like that it's all
1:28:35i can do that just go really just
1:28:37fucking what do you want to know like
1:28:39what are you what are you trying to
1:28:40trick me into saying at this point am I
1:28:42supposed to come up with you the actual
1:28:44answers either man innovate or am I
1:28:46supposed to like check your grammar on I
1:28:48hate it when i get home work for my kids
1:28:49school that has grammatical errors it
1:28:51just sends me down down a an emotional
1:28:53flight of stairs
1:28:54you're telling me people at your
1:28:55daughter's school send you stuff home
1:28:57and it has grammatical errors
1:28:59my wife and I disagree on this I think
1:29:01they get a lot of stuff off the internet
1:29:02and just print it so it's not like the
1:29:05other day my daughter is about to start
1:29:06homework and you know the type of graph
1:29:09goal mark where you do a two-handed
1:29:11arrow to say switch these words around
1:29:12who she had already copy-edited that my
1:29:18daughter a seven-year-old daughter got a
1:29:20typo in headline and fixed it
1:29:21haha like that'll do pig that'll that'll
1:29:26do
1:29:28yeah yeah I can't get my kids read the
1:29:32instructions
1:29:33I'm a big instruction reader I'm a
1:29:35manual reader i will never play i was
1:29:37very rarely play a game even my plate
1:29:39before without going back and reading
1:29:41the instructions i forgot i told us
1:29:43about a year ago when i was playing
1:29:44chess with my kid i forgot about all
1:29:45kinds of shit with Chester forgot about
1:29:46our Poisson I forgot about you no
1:29:48queening i forgot about the the rookie
1:29:51move i forgot all that stuff then play
1:29:52chess and I was a kid and we don't you
1:29:54know all that stuff by those names at
1:29:56the time
1:29:57well I mean I knew when you play chess
1:29:59with anybody who plays chess they
1:30:01eventually tell you this stuff after
1:30:02they give this was true and they go and
1:30:04they do the trick on you know you hate
1:30:05how do you move your castle with your
1:30:06dude how'd you do that you go
1:30:08it's called the the rocks which or
1:30:10whatever captain said castling cooking
1:30:12these are some things you get a
1:30:14whorehouse you get together looking get
1:30:17a good look and you get an office on i'd
1:30:19like i'd like to get castle
1:30:23it's called docking
1:30:25[Music]