0:00:00so we watched six days to air which is
0:00:03documentary about how an episode of
0:00:06South Park is created and the reason
0:00:09this documentary exists and the reason
0:00:11it is interesting is that for the last
0:00:14number of years the team behind South
0:00:17Park they will come up with an idea for
0:00:20an episode right the episode animator
0:00:23and voice actor within six days and then
0:00:26it is played to the world on Comedy
0:00:28Central
0:00:29so that is why this documentary team
0:00:32decided to come and take a look at what
0:00:34that process is like because I this has
0:00:38never been done before this is the only
0:00:39animation to be done in this way at this
0:00:41scale for this long so they are wholly
0:00:46unique and it presents with it a bunch
0:00:49of very interesting challenges that the
0:00:53team goes through which is what we want
0:00:55to look at as a way to kind of do a mini
0:00:57I guess it's a kind of like a case study
0:00:59on how people work under pressure I can
0:01:02hardly think of other jobs that would be
0:01:05this kind of pressure mm-hmm you know
0:01:08running through the roster and I'm
0:01:09thinking uh air traffic controllers I
0:01:12know that's a lot of that's a lot of
0:01:14pressure but but producing creating from
0:01:17nothing and going to a completed show in
0:01:20the space of a week is insanity and for
0:01:24comparison they mentioned like The
0:01:25Simpsons which is the most comparable
0:01:27animated show to South Park in no small
0:01:30part because they have both been on the
0:01:31air forever and we're sort of started
0:01:34around the same ish era The Simpsons
0:01:37takes months to produce each episode so
0:01:41it's not just like oh they're doing it
0:01:43in six days and other other shows take
0:01:45two weeks I know it's a it's an it's an
0:01:48incredible difference between the the
0:01:52production cycle and other shows the
0:01:54creators of South Park Matt and Trey you
0:01:57know they are interesting guys they've
0:01:59done a lot of different projects over
0:02:01the years and when I was watching South
0:02:04Park when I was younger like the show
0:02:07has been on now for 20 plus years and
0:02:10I've seen a lot of the first ten
0:02:13years I haven't seen a lot of it in the
0:02:15most recent 10 years but when I watched
0:02:18it back in the sort of pre-internet days
0:02:21I remember noting how quickly things
0:02:26that happened in the world were able to
0:02:28work their way into the show and I
0:02:30always wondered like how is it that a
0:02:33show like South Park is able to respond
0:02:36to things in the world on such a such a
0:02:38short timeframe whereas everything else
0:02:41that's created for television it clearly
0:02:44is created that can have in a void of
0:02:47timelessness that it could it could
0:02:48occur at any point I always just found
0:02:50that notable and weird and it made South
0:02:53Park feel like a a special different
0:02:56show that it could react to something
0:02:58that happened last week and I always
0:02:59wondered and now I have the answer the
0:03:02way they were able to do that is with an
0:03:04insane working schedule that nobody else
0:03:08in the world would copy so the
0:03:10documentary begins and when set is March
0:03:132011 and for context the show we've been
0:03:17on a bit of a break a longer break man
0:03:19had ever taken before because Parker and
0:03:22stone had just debuted their musical the
0:03:25Book of Mormon and it was up for a bunch
0:03:28of Tony Awards and they just kind of got
0:03:30the first run or the first few shows out
0:03:33of the way before returning back to
0:03:35South Park so there had been a
0:03:37significant period of time where the
0:03:39show had not been on the air because
0:03:40without Parker and stone
0:03:42there is no South Park but they couldn't
0:03:44make it without them as you kind of come
0:03:45to learn over the course of the
0:03:47documentary so they took a break they
0:03:49took a long break and then they come
0:03:52back and episode one of this season also
0:03:54just completely lucky on the documentary
0:03:57makers parts ends up becoming one of the
0:04:00most infamous episodes that has ever
0:04:03been created it was an episode called
0:04:05humancentipad
0:04:07we don't need to go into it right like
0:04:10it is what it is it's one of the most
0:04:12infamous episodes that they ever made
0:04:13but it was just interesting to watch how
0:04:16that all came together over the course
0:04:18of this week it's an infamous episode
0:04:21because it is iPads crossed with the
0:04:24human centipede yes oh yeah
0:04:26yeah it's very South Park it is the most
0:04:29South Park it could be but because they
0:04:31taking this break one of the things that
0:04:34I was astounded by was how long it took
0:04:36them to come up with the concept of the
0:04:38episode it's like one or two days of the
0:04:41six days they're still working out what
0:04:43the episodes about and that seems wild
0:04:45to me right like I assume that as the
0:04:47seasons go by they have some ideas in
0:04:49the bank but they started on just like a
0:04:51completely blank slate trying to work
0:04:54out how to complete the episode right so
0:04:58it's like dead nothing can happen so
0:04:59everybody's kind of is so much hanging
0:05:01around like the rest of the team are
0:05:03just waiting like there's times later on
0:05:06in the episode where individuals are
0:05:09sleeping in the offices because the
0:05:12script might come at 3:30 in the morning
0:05:14and then they can get the work like
0:05:16there seems to be this just really wild
0:05:20work schedule that everybody goes
0:05:22through the way the show usually runs is
0:05:25that they're there they build up some
0:05:28kind of events that are occurring
0:05:30throughout the several episodes and so
0:05:33that there's they end up with ongoing
0:05:35stories that take place over the course
0:05:36of the season but because because like
0:05:39you said they're coming back into work
0:05:41it's the start of a brand new season
0:05:43it's also because they've been on such a
0:05:45big break that I found the same thing
0:05:47was astounding where it's I think is
0:05:49sort of like six people in the writers
0:05:51room you know Matt Matt and Trey are the
0:05:53two main guys obviously they have the
0:05:54producer there they have a couple other
0:05:56writers that they're people who are
0:05:58there
0:05:58but the beginning of the documentary is
0:06:00just all of these shots of them just
0:06:03sitting there I may stay in a room a lot
0:06:06of chasing looking up looking up at the
0:06:09ceiling and they're just they're just
0:06:13tossing out things that are zeitgeist II
0:06:16all right so they're like uh there's
0:06:18been a lot of there's been a lot of news
0:06:20about that tsunami that occurred our
0:06:22tsunamis funny alright they're looking
0:06:23around trying to think of tsunamis are
0:06:24funny and it I agree with you when you
0:06:27see that the premise of the documentary
0:06:28is okay it takes six days to make an
0:06:30episode of South Park and you realize
0:06:33that close to a third of that time at
0:06:36least on the first episode
0:06:38is just sitting around trying to think
0:06:42up what the show is going to be it makes
0:06:44it even more astounding and it's it
0:06:46really it's like the production is a lot
0:06:49closer to four days to air and and we we
0:06:53have the actual idea on the morning of
0:06:56the fourth day that that's what it
0:06:58that's when it starts to come together
0:06:59yeah there's a quote from one of the
0:07:01producers and this is like at the
0:07:03beginning of the six days there's a show
0:07:05on Wednesday we don't even know what it
0:07:07is there is it just an incredible
0:07:12pressure that goes to it and I mean
0:07:15there is a part of me that can
0:07:17sympathize in a very very small way so
0:07:21you know I produce a number of shows
0:07:23that are focused around news and
0:07:26sometimes you get to like two days
0:07:29before the episode and there's nothing
0:07:32but the episode is being recorded in two
0:07:35days so like what do you do and then
0:07:38there is that this do you come up with
0:07:41some kind of evergreen topic like
0:07:43something that isn't news based do you
0:07:45sit with your fingers crossed hoping
0:07:46that there will be news like is nowhere
0:07:49near the scale that this is at because
0:07:51it's like creating something wholly
0:07:53larger with many many dependencies but I
0:07:56can totally understand the feeling of
0:07:58like it being completely out of our
0:08:01hands like we don't know what it's gonna
0:08:04be and eventually there's gonna have to
0:08:06be an episode but as of right now no one
0:08:10knows what its gonna look like
0:08:12yeah and I've there are two moments with
0:08:17Trey Parker in particular where I felt
0:08:19like oh dude you have all of my sympathy
0:08:22in the world but but one of the scenes
0:08:25is he's trying to work on the script
0:08:27that's the McDonald's delivery I was
0:08:29wondering how I I specifically wrote
0:08:32down to ask you what you thought of Trey
0:08:34Pacha's script writing process there's a
0:08:37couple of things in here but it's like
0:08:39he's getting he's getting what looks
0:08:40like just the world's worst McDonald's
0:08:43meal delivered to him they say it makes
0:08:45me happy for five minutes yeah the
0:08:49documentary guy asks him about like this
0:08:51clear
0:08:52two bags of garbage he's about to pour
0:08:54into himself and yeah and that's that's
0:08:57a surprise like oh it makes me happy for
0:08:59five minutes
0:09:00and just talking about how at this at
0:09:05this point it's a little bit after they
0:09:06have come up with the actual idea but he
0:09:08still needs to sit down and turn it into
0:09:09a real script and I have a lot of
0:09:14sympathy for that behavior of like oh
0:09:16he's doing something that he knows is
0:09:17self-destructive but it's bringing him a
0:09:19little bit of joy in the middle of what
0:09:21is a miserable process because he
0:09:23clearly hates the scriptwriting thing
0:09:25and it's this unlike the writers room
0:09:27where they're trying to come up with the
0:09:29ideas and there's people and he's
0:09:30bouncing stuff off and you can see that
0:09:32he's much more lively there the script
0:09:34writing process is like well it's just
0:09:36Trey Parker sitting in a room with a
0:09:38computer with no one yeah it was wild to
0:09:42me that he writes it just him like they
0:09:47have writers but they're not writers in
0:09:49this in the sense of you know you know I
0:09:51don't know what the term is but like
0:09:52when I think of writers like are there
0:09:54write in the whole episode doesn't work
0:09:55like that they're coming up with the
0:09:56ideas and helping him flesh out some of
0:09:59the plot points but all of the dialogue
0:10:01is actually just written by Trey Parker
0:10:04yeah it's it's it's crazy I mean let
0:10:06alone the fact that they still to this
0:10:09day voice the vast majority of the cost
0:10:12as well yeah yeah I mean there's there's
0:10:14so much that they do it's it's
0:10:16unbelievable but the the the reason why
0:10:18I had this double sympathy for him was
0:10:20because it's like okay I get that like
0:10:22you're eating crap because you've just
0:10:24got a bunch of work to do and like
0:10:25that's a behavior that I have tried to
0:10:27breed out of myself over time and I've
0:10:28gotten way better about it but it's like
0:10:30when I was faster at producing videos
0:10:33it's like my health really suffered and
0:10:34it was like oh yeah this looks familiar
0:10:36I know this like yeah you happy for a
0:10:38minute but the other thing that to me is
0:10:42again in the smallest way but is also
0:10:45now much more my world than it was years
0:10:48ago is okay the one the one thing is no
0:10:50more but the new thing is where he talks
0:10:53about how he's sitting there writing the
0:10:54script and he just knows that the
0:10:58entirety of the staff of the production
0:11:01of South Park is waiting on him to
0:11:03finish this thing
0:11:05and he knows that
0:11:08how late of a night he's going to force
0:11:11on everybody who works on the show is
0:11:13entirely down to his ability to sit in
0:11:16this room and and write the script and
0:11:19just the the the pressure of that you
0:11:24know I I have things where's like oh I
0:11:26know people are waiting on me and it's
0:11:28like I hate that I hate being the
0:11:30bottleneck it makes me really unhappy
0:11:32and and him talking about like this
0:11:34entire team of animators and everybody
0:11:38else is just waiting for him to finish
0:11:40it I thought I can't I cannot believe
0:11:44that the two of them have done this for
0:11:47as long as they have and that they're
0:11:49and that they're alive that this that
0:11:51this has not killed them the production
0:11:54of this show because the the final
0:11:55scenes for this episode are delivered to
0:11:59the animators 24 hours before they air
0:12:03and this is not there's no dialogue so
0:12:06still what record the dialogue where you
0:12:07deliver the scenes I start animation go
0:12:09cord the dialogue good a match all the
0:12:10dialogue gonna put the whole thing
0:12:11together 24 hours like I love this this
0:12:15one moment like the 36 hour mark where
0:12:19this is the first time this has happened
0:12:20the producers are looking for Trey
0:12:24Parker they're like walking around the
0:12:27studio like where's Trey like they're
0:12:30trying to find him because they know
0:12:33just how horrific Lee late they are at
0:12:36this point because like it seemed like
0:12:37this one as being the first episode was
0:12:40particularly bad right like then they
0:12:42pushed it on particularly like late in
0:12:45the whole process and like another thing
0:12:47that I thought that you I want to see
0:12:49what you thought was when he's talking
0:12:51about the script and he still got like
0:12:53five scenes to go or whatever and he's
0:12:55like I have to cut so much of this mm-hm
0:12:58like he's like I've not finished but I
0:13:01know what I have here is a 40 page
0:13:03script which is like a 40-minute episode
0:13:05and we have to deliver a 25-minute
0:13:07episode and he's just like I have to
0:13:10take it all out and it's gonna suck and
0:13:12it is really interesting to watch as the
0:13:14week goes on to watch Trey's confidence
0:13:17start to fall
0:13:18mmm-hmm like by the end he's just like
0:13:21this is the worst episode we've ever
0:13:22done I'm like in he's being legit right
0:13:26like he it doesn't seem like he's joking
0:13:28now that's I mean but this is this is
0:13:31sort of legendary that the two of them
0:13:33but particularly Trey Parker always feel
0:13:34this way that's like oh this episode is
0:13:36terrible but I think it's also just like
0:13:38you've been so intensely involved in the
0:13:40thing in such a short period of time
0:13:41that all you can see are the gazillions
0:13:43of its flaws and I think this is pretty
0:13:47famously there's an episode of South
0:13:49Park that they did which is a crossover
0:13:52with World of Warcraft that was actually
0:13:55produced with the very people who
0:13:57animate that game and my understanding
0:14:00of it is that they thought that that
0:14:02episode was so terrible they came as
0:14:05close as they've ever come to actually
0:14:07pulling it to saying like we're not
0:14:09going to air it at the last minute and
0:14:10like we'll just have to run a like a
0:14:12rerun in the in the space and of course
0:14:14like that went on to be one of the most
0:14:16famous and acclaimed episodes that
0:14:19they've ever done is that episode but
0:14:21it's it's like you can see he is crushed
0:14:24every time at the end of these episodes
0:14:27but the thing that kills me here is this
0:14:30is just the start of the season I feel
0:14:32like I have I have watched two men live
0:14:36a year's worth of life in six days and
0:14:39it's not like oh it's over go take a
0:14:42break guys enjoy the weekend is another
0:14:44the next episode is starting up right
0:14:46now they get one day right which I
0:14:50assume is not a day off yeah not in any
0:14:53not in any normal sense yeah but the the
0:14:56other part where I just had such
0:14:58sympathy is when they're still in the
0:15:00coming up with the ideas phase in that
0:15:03in the first two days where they really
0:15:04just don't have anything and Trey
0:15:08mentions how he's like oh I'm gonna try
0:15:10to get away and just not think about
0:15:11this for a little bit so he goes home
0:15:12and turns on his xbox to just turn off
0:15:16his mind for a little bit but the ad on
0:15:18the Xbox is South Park coming this
0:15:20Wednesday right at this point it's
0:15:24Friday and he's like that was I love
0:15:28that it's like that's so just so cruel
0:15:31right like he escaped because everything
0:15:35cuz it's at the point it's at the size
0:15:37that it is that by this point it's
0:15:39everywhere right like and there's just
0:15:41if no escape from it oh yeah yeah and as
0:15:44mentioned I think this documentary
0:15:45happened at the exact magical right time
0:15:47yeah because there was probably no
0:15:50season of South Park promoted more than
0:15:52that one
0:15:53the we're returning after a break and
0:15:56also the episode where they've just
0:15:59produced this incredible musical that
0:16:02has received all this wide acclaim
0:16:03so that everywhere at this point because
0:16:05the book exactly you know it's wet you
0:16:07know it had like every Tony nomination
0:16:09which also happened in that week they
0:16:11got a time Tony nominations right like
0:16:14because the Book of Mormon was was huge
0:16:17it was huge right and so there's so much
0:16:20pressure on them they probably got more
0:16:23people that were wanting to see South
0:16:25Park then they have had in a while
0:16:27because they're not they're like hot and
0:16:29in the news again you know I can't even
0:16:32I can't even imagine
0:16:33I just can't yeah yeah but it is like
0:16:35the universe is so cruel like this poor
0:16:37guy is just trying to turn off his brain
0:16:39for a little bit and his lifestyle for
0:16:40coming this day like I just can't
0:16:43imagine what that feels like to be
0:16:44sitting there thinking like oh there's
0:16:46Wednesday I guess I need to come up with
0:16:48it you know I'm just forgot it's just
0:16:50awful this episode of cortex is brought
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0:17:22audio book to help you fill the time
0:17:24you'll be looking for excuses to wash
0:17:26some dishes if you've enjoyed listening
0:17:29to the working conditions at the South
0:17:32Park studios then I'm going to recommend
0:17:34a book I read recently to you which is
0:17:36called masters of doom how to guys
0:17:39created an empire and transformed pop
0:17:42culture by David Kushner I played a lot
0:17:45of do
0:17:45when I was a kid but I didn't really
0:17:47know anything about the development of
0:17:49it and this book covers how John Carmack
0:17:52and John romão came together to create a
0:17:55thing that sucked thousands of hours out
0:17:58of my childhood it's a very interesting
0:18:00look at what could be described as a
0:18:03troubled working environment you can't
0:18:06make more time but you can make the most
0:18:09out of it turn your chores into
0:18:11something more with a free trial at
0:18:13audible.com slash core-tex to find out
0:18:17more and start your trial today and
0:18:20maybe give masters of doom
0:18:22a listen thank you to audible for
0:18:24supporting the show the thing about this
0:18:27documentary that I find so fascinating
0:18:28is so many people talk about how they
0:18:33work better under deadlines and you know
0:18:37personally that is a thing that I have
0:18:38not found is is true for me I work worse
0:18:40under deadlines but obviously it does
0:18:43work for a lot of people and this feels
0:18:47like the most extreme version of that I
0:18:50have ever seen that not only do Trey
0:18:55Parker and Matt Stone work well under
0:18:57deadlines because they produce these
0:19:00very popular very funny shows but
0:19:04they've also created around them an
0:19:07entire team and production company that
0:19:11just has to be filled with people who
0:19:13work well under deadlines it has a quote
0:19:17from the animation director thing and he
0:19:20says if it takes you four days to get
0:19:23something done you can't contribute
0:19:25right like if you are slow they can't
0:19:29you can't work there and like they're
0:19:31saying that in usual animation houses
0:19:33you have teams of people that do the
0:19:35specific parts right storyboarding and
0:19:37then animating and that kind of stuff
0:19:38but the South Park team everybody does
0:19:43everything because they just don't have
0:19:46the affordances of time to have it go
0:19:49through a slow process you know you get
0:19:50a scene or whatever that you're working
0:19:52on and you will do it from scratch you
0:19:55know and there are things that they have
0:19:57obviously done over time right
0:19:59like their process has been optimized
0:20:01and in an animation style to allow for
0:20:05them to create something in that amount
0:20:07of time right like the the the
0:20:09well-known like what started with
0:20:12literal pieces of paper cut out and
0:20:14moved around in stop-motion I have no
0:20:16doubt that that style of animation helps
0:20:18them to work a little bit faster oh yeah
0:20:22oh yeah I mean there was this funny
0:20:24thing where you know now as an adult who
0:20:28has a tiny toe in the world of animation
0:20:31but from my perspective watching this
0:20:33documentary it's really interesting just
0:20:35a couple of little offhanded comments
0:20:36that the animators make I was like oh of
0:20:38course I can I can see exactly what this
0:20:40is where yeah that they they talked
0:20:43about how oh this this style is
0:20:46intentionally done because you don't
0:20:48have to actually draw every frame that
0:20:52in in animation there's this process
0:20:54where you you can have a static thing
0:20:56you can draw something and then you can
0:20:59just specify oh it has to move from here
0:21:02to here and the computer fills in that
0:21:05motion in between and as I'm listening
0:21:07to it like that's what I do like it's
0:21:09exactly my animation process like I
0:21:11don't draw every frame so you know every
0:21:14one of my videos is in a much simpler
0:21:16way but it's the same thing where I'm
0:21:18taking objects and specifying key frames
0:21:21of this needs to move from here to there
0:21:24in an arc and computer you just draw the
0:21:2760 frames in between that needs to make
0:21:29that happen
0:21:30but but I was also just so aware of that
0:21:33that you know their comparison to the
0:21:35Simpsons takes months to produce an
0:21:36episode it's like well yes but this the
0:21:40Simpsons
0:21:41even if they're using computers to help
0:21:43the the Simpsons is not composed
0:21:46fundamentally of geometric shapes that
0:21:50you're sliding around and because of the
0:21:54way the show is animated
0:21:55they're able to do this in a way that
0:21:59you couldn't possibly do with anything
0:22:00that even looks like hand animation and
0:22:02then the other thing that I did find
0:22:04that comment really interesting where
0:22:06the lead animator says oh yeah we don't
0:22:07have separate storyboarding and
0:22:09character design teams everybody just
0:22:12does everything
0:22:13and I have having had some peripheral
0:22:16experience with various teams of various
0:22:18sizes you know producing things for
0:22:19YouTube there there really is an
0:22:24interesting trade-off in size and scope
0:22:30that when you do have smaller teams of
0:22:35generalists if you are also able to
0:22:38limit your scope in the way that South
0:22:41Park does with what they're trying to do
0:22:42in animation their animation is quite
0:22:44limited it's like you can work very
0:22:46quickly with a bunch of generalists and
0:22:51then on the other end of that spectrum
0:22:52you have larger production houses you
0:22:55know what I would imagine like some
0:22:57place like Pixar where you might have
0:22:59three people who their whole specialist
0:23:01job is what does hair look like when
0:23:03it's wet you know how do you animate
0:23:05that and it's like well then then you
0:23:07can produce something that is incredibly
0:23:09beautiful that you know a team like the
0:23:12South Park team could never ever produce
0:23:14but it's also going to take 20 million
0:23:17man-hours to to bring into the world and
0:23:22again I just think like the South Park
0:23:24guys are so interesting because they've
0:23:27clearly chosen to be optimized on a
0:23:31particular end of that spectrum like
0:23:34they've chosen to keep that animation
0:23:36style the way it is so that they can
0:23:39keep themselves under constant deadlines
0:23:41so that they produce these shows that
0:23:45are relevant to the world around them as
0:23:48opposed to all other all other kinds of
0:23:49TV but you know I have seen and it's
0:23:52very easy for people to do where you
0:23:54want to expand the scope of what is
0:23:56possible and and then you have to keep
0:23:58adding like what but how long does it
0:24:00take and and that's the thing that they
0:24:02they've clearly designed everything to
0:24:05to stay nice and short and in fact
0:24:08there's a little part where they talk
0:24:10about as well about how they've
0:24:11shortened the process over time
0:24:13unlike kind of accidentally though right
0:24:15yeah yeah it was interesting that they
0:24:17returned with the the production of the
0:24:18technology that they're like oh we used
0:24:20to use these incredibly expensive
0:24:21$30,000 machines
0:24:23and now it's just an office full of IMAX
0:24:27that the machines have gotten fast
0:24:29enough and the animation style has
0:24:31remained simple enough that that it's
0:24:34it's pulled down the amount of time even
0:24:38further and further that they need to
0:24:39produce one of those shows in terms of
0:24:41the animation and yeah it is it is crazy
0:24:43to think that the last 24 hours is when
0:24:45the vast majority of the animation
0:24:47actually occurs like it's it's just
0:24:49insanity
0:24:50so obviously me and you are very used to
0:24:54collaborate in all creative endeavors we
0:24:57work with people to have an output and
0:25:00that's what's happening with Trey Parker
0:25:02and Matt Stone they're collaborating and
0:25:04there's a moment where they sit down
0:25:07with Matt stone and do kind of a
0:25:09one-on-one because looking at the show
0:25:11you know he's obviously important but
0:25:13doesn't seem to have as many roles in
0:25:15the production right purely because of
0:25:17the fact that Parker is writing it and
0:25:20directing the show he does both and
0:25:22Parker is also the louder personality
0:25:24yes so host on camera like Parker takes
0:25:27up space on the screen right just just
0:25:30with his physical presence drawers he
0:25:32draws everything towards him mm-hmm and
0:25:34they're you know he's kind of met sounds
0:25:36kind of talking about the fact that they
0:25:37the way that they work together and they
0:25:39understand each other and they know
0:25:41which one is in control in that moment
0:25:44and that that has enabled them to
0:25:46continue to work it's understanding the
0:25:48way that each other works I'm just
0:25:50playing into that has allowed for their
0:25:52collaboration to last for 20 years
0:25:54now I thought that little moment where
0:25:57they talked to each of them about you
0:25:59know the roles they play and how the
0:26:00other fits into this this production I
0:26:03thought that was really interesting
0:26:04because I've always thought that there's
0:26:06this there's this very important meta
0:26:10skill which is knowing yourself like and
0:26:13recognizing what you're good at and what
0:26:14you're not good at that can be developed
0:26:17and even just in that little section I
0:26:20thought like man these are two guys who
0:26:21know really well where their strengths
0:26:25are and where their own weaknesses are
0:26:26and and how they work together with each
0:26:28other and you know it's like it's really
0:26:33interesting because Matt stone in
0:26:34particular is talking about a thing
0:26:36that's really hard to talk about on
0:26:38on camera where he's saying how Oh when
0:26:41South Park was becoming popular he was
0:26:43getting offered all these direct oral
0:26:45jobs yes and he turns them down and he
0:26:49turned it's like he turns them down
0:26:51because he knows that that is not his
0:26:53skill set
0:26:55even though to the outsiders it seems
0:26:57like oh the two of them are making South
0:26:59Park together and they must be dividing
0:27:00these things up equally and he
0:27:03recognizes like he might be able to make
0:27:05a few movies but ultimately it's not
0:27:07it's not where he's strong and it just
0:27:10it wouldn't really go anywhere I thought
0:27:11like man that is just that is like such
0:27:15an underappreciated skill in a person to
0:27:18recognize that what many people would
0:27:22think of is like oh this is an amazing
0:27:24opportunity is actually a mistake that
0:27:27that wouldn't be the thing to do and
0:27:30that his time and energy are better
0:27:32spent working with Trey on South Park
0:27:36you know and it's really interesting
0:27:37then they then they go talk to Trey like
0:27:39and there's these situations where like
0:27:41Trey is the louder personality but he's
0:27:44not not confrontational in situations
0:27:46where maybe he would need to be
0:27:48confrontational like and then that's
0:27:49where Matt stone steps up and you know I
0:27:52just like how they both talk about this
0:27:54this metaphor of like being the members
0:27:56of the band and it's like yeah there's
0:27:58there may be one person who looks like
0:27:59they're more the lead person in the band
0:28:03but the band is still the members like
0:28:06you know one person can be the band the
0:28:08band is the two of them I just thought
0:28:11that I thought that was really
0:28:12interesting and you could just see like
0:28:14these are guys who work together a lot
0:28:17and and really know where their
0:28:20strengths lie whilst also remaining
0:28:22friends like that cuz one of my favorite
0:28:24examples of this is the Mythbusters are
0:28:27you familiar with the story there no I'm
0:28:30but I'm not sure what you're talking
0:28:32about here so they especially Adam
0:28:35Savage it gives more interviews than
0:28:37this because he's more of a like a
0:28:38public person he is someone who has
0:28:40remained kind of in the spotlight since
0:28:42Mythbusters ended and he said this is
0:28:45fact they're not friends they seem to
0:28:48not particularly like each other very
0:28:49much one of the quote
0:28:52step adam savage mentions a lot is that
0:28:54they have never eaten a meal alone hmm
0:28:57and they worked together for 10-15 years
0:29:00something like that
0:29:01Mythbusters was on the air for a long
0:29:03time yeah and but before that Adam
0:29:05Savage worked for Jamie like that's how
0:29:07it started
0:29:08like who's an employee his prop shop and
0:29:12their part they just they can work
0:29:14together incredibly well they know what
0:29:16the other one is thinking they can have
0:29:19a kind of like a language between the
0:29:21two of them apparently they argued and
0:29:23debated about every single point but
0:29:25always at the end one of them knew that
0:29:27the other was right and that was the way
0:29:28that they work together and it's so
0:29:30interesting to me because I can't
0:29:31imagine that environment like I only
0:29:34work with people I consider friends I
0:29:37couldn't imagine being in that way but
0:29:41what's going on is the same thing right
0:29:43like they just know how the other one
0:29:45works so like whether they're friends
0:29:47like it doesn't matter because what you
0:29:48actually need to know is to understand
0:29:49yourself understand the other person and
0:29:52their needs and then you can work
0:29:53together over a long period of time that
0:29:56I think people assume that you should
0:29:57have to be friends with someone but I
0:29:59think that they are a good example of
0:30:02why you actually don't need to be you
0:30:05just have to have the fundamentals of
0:30:06what you'd consider a friendship but
0:30:08they don't actually have to result in
0:30:10being friends which I just find that
0:30:12comparing to these two is very
0:30:14interesting is that they it's all there
0:30:16it's the same thing as then they know
0:30:17the strengths and weaknesses and they
0:30:19play to that they don't overstep and
0:30:21they work within their boundaries it's
0:30:23the same thing I didn't know that about
0:30:25Mythbusters and I'm I'm willing to bet
0:30:28that that I know like I don't want to
0:30:31say it annoys but I bet I bet that's a
0:30:32thing that bothers a lot of people I
0:30:34think it does yeah when when you're
0:30:36watching a show is like you want to
0:30:39think that they're friends and that
0:30:42they're hanging out
0:30:43when I first found that out I was really
0:30:46bummed out about it cuz I love yo I love
0:30:49the show and they seem to work so great
0:30:50together and I just assumed that they
0:30:52were the best of friends so when you
0:30:54hear that you're like oh no like they're
0:30:56my buddies yeah I get I guess part of
0:31:00this is also I think that people might
0:31:02have a hard time a hard time
0:31:05understanding that kind of professional
0:31:06relationship or it's like are they
0:31:08friends they but they don't have to be
0:31:09friends but it doesn't mean that they
0:31:12hate each other right like they're just
0:31:14they're there they work together they
0:31:16know how to work with each other but
0:31:18that's that's interesting I could that's
0:31:20interesting you hear that that's your
0:31:21reaction because that's what I would
0:31:22think most people would feel that way
0:31:24where they're like oh I want to imagine
0:31:26that everybody's friends that like they
0:31:27and the whole crew sit down and have
0:31:29birthday cakes together at the end of
0:31:31each shoot I was like it but things
0:31:33don't need to work that way especially
0:31:34like in Hollywood right people don't
0:31:37need to be friends they just need to be
0:31:39able to work together but it is or at
0:31:43least it comes across in this
0:31:44documentary that that Trey Parker and
0:31:45Matt Stone are clearly friends and also
0:31:52you know thinking thinking of things
0:31:55structurally it certainly seems like
0:31:58South Park is able to be what South Park
0:32:01is because Trey Parker and Matt Stone
0:32:04are great friends and it seems like they
0:32:08might not have a lot of friends in the
0:32:10wider Hollywood world they reference
0:32:13that yeah it's you know when people say
0:32:17something like that in documentary I do
0:32:18always wonder like how much do you
0:32:20really mean it
0:32:20but I can really believe it from these
0:32:23two for everything that they have done
0:32:26over the course of their careers but
0:32:29it's like there's a there's an
0:32:30interesting moment here because it
0:32:31getting like South South Park will
0:32:34really make fun of celebrities and
0:32:37people in the public eye and in a way
0:32:39that very few other shows will go like
0:32:42as hard into it as South Park will but I
0:32:46do think like it that doesn't just
0:32:48happen it happens structurally because
0:32:51of the personality of these two and
0:32:53because they don't really have any
0:32:55connections
0:32:57with the wider Hollywood world that goes
0:32:59so far as to reject it but the thing
0:33:01that like really highlights that in the
0:33:03documentary is that one of the writers
0:33:05in the writers room works on Saturday
0:33:07Night Live and explicitly says how oh
0:33:10I'm sorry Night Live the the politics of
0:33:13making fun of public people comes into
0:33:16the writing of their skits and it's like
0:33:20yeah like I can see that and I would
0:33:22think like that's also probably one of
0:33:23the reasons why at least to my tastes
0:33:25South Park is way funnier than Saturday
0:33:28Night Live and it's because Saturday
0:33:30Night Live is structurally constrained
0:33:33by the kinds of jokes they can make
0:33:35because if they're making jokes about
0:33:37public figures they can bet they're not
0:33:39going to get that public figure to host
0:33:41the show or if they're making jokes
0:33:44about the public figure they have to be
0:33:45within a certain bounds they can't go
0:33:47too far in one direction or another but
0:33:51it just it hadn't really occurred to me
0:33:54until seeing that but it's like oh right
0:33:56that makes total sense that that this is
0:34:00structurally why the show is able to do
0:34:02this and other comedies play it much
0:34:04more safe when it comes to referencing
0:34:07specific people in the real world but
0:34:10South Park doesn't care because Matt and
0:34:12Trey have nothing to lose it's like
0:34:14they're not losing their friends they
0:34:15don't have any friends in that world you
0:34:18know they clearly thumbed their nose at
0:34:21that world like they did at the was the
0:34:23Oscars was that the party that they
0:34:26showed the dresses it's interesting on
0:34:29acid
0:34:30it's funny I remember seeing that when
0:34:34it happened and I was much younger and
0:34:36just thought like oh those kinds of just
0:34:37in dresses but watching the clip now as
0:34:39an adult
0:34:40particularly Trey Parker there's a
0:34:42moment it's like dude you are so clearly
0:34:44I and on drugs like I cannot believe
0:34:47you're just showing up to the Oscars
0:34:49like this but yeah that's that's how you
0:34:51don't make any friends in the
0:34:53professional world but yeah so I is very
0:34:56interesting to watch seeing that whole
0:34:59process seeing how long it takes to come
0:35:01up with the ideas just as someone who's
0:35:04watched the show it's also very
0:35:07interesting to watch the the writer
0:35:09process where
0:35:11you can see them start to play with the
0:35:13ideas and and they start to do the
0:35:16voices and you can see then like come
0:35:18together with the puzzle pieces of of
0:35:21what the show should be like I have to
0:35:23say it was very interesting to watch
0:35:25that develop over time but towards the
0:35:29very end the thing that I just could not
0:35:31believe is that this episode was in the
0:35:35end delivered five hours before the
0:35:40broadcast time that that's that's when
0:35:43they got the final render out of the
0:35:45animation and it's like they hand a they
0:35:49had to tape to a guy who brings it to
0:35:50the the machine that's going to
0:35:52broadcast it across Comedy Central and
0:35:54it's like with a five hour five hours to
0:35:57spare it's it's unbelievable that they
0:36:00do it there's some guy in his car and
0:36:03tries to over it's that way you know
0:36:10just put it on a DVD and taking it there
0:36:11I mean the thing that is worth mention
0:36:14as well cuz I can imagine like if you're
0:36:15not seeing this documentary they're like
0:36:17how is that possible right because it's
0:36:19such a racy edgy show like how can
0:36:21Comedy Central allow it
0:36:23well it seems like that they have
0:36:24developed a system and a process where
0:36:26the executive producer will have
0:36:28multiple calls with the standards bodies
0:36:30and of Comedy Central
0:36:34all of the cuss words they're allowed to
0:36:35use how many they're allowed to use
0:36:37which ones they can replace for
0:36:38something else what they complete what
0:36:40they can't bleep and it ends up in just
0:36:43this wild these wild phone calls that
0:36:46you over here with and the the executive
0:36:48producers name is and Gary Fino and it's
0:36:51so funny to just watch her reading these
0:36:54lines in like a totally deadpan way
0:36:56she's using a boring corporate voice
0:36:59discuss the details of exactly how
0:37:01graphic they can be with their Human
0:37:03Centipede and then it's just like well
0:37:06you know happy Easter Bob right and
0:37:07click something like that right is it
0:37:12happy is it something like that yeah
0:37:14just wishes them like a great afternoon
0:37:15or it's just so strange but you can
0:37:18imagine after 20 years there is no trust
0:37:21bill up yeah right they kids they're not
0:37:24gonna
0:37:24do something so crazy that they would
0:37:26get shut down like at that point they're
0:37:28well enough no identity and I guess this
0:37:31is like another sign of collaboration
0:37:33that we don't get to see a lot of but
0:37:34like how they work with Comedy Central
0:37:36it's kind of is kind of strange so I
0:37:38have a question for you right and I
0:37:39think I know the answer to this but I
0:37:40want to ask you anyway
0:37:41could you work in this environment oh my
0:37:44god now I'm kind of you know it's again
0:37:49there's a thing there's a thing that I
0:37:52sometimes think is underappreciated in
0:37:55the world but that some people who are
0:37:58very successful it is not obvious to
0:38:03outsiders just how much of their life
0:38:08they are burning on the thing that they
0:38:10are successful with and I think this
0:38:12documentary is a is a great view into
0:38:17that of of just what these guys are
0:38:23putting into this is just inhuman and
0:38:27then when you add on top of it like
0:38:29other side projects that they do you
0:38:32know successful musicals other movies
0:38:35the video games like like all of this
0:38:37other stuff it's it's just crazy but it
0:38:42gets them such an amazing level of
0:38:46success and I know we were discussing
0:38:50last time about the question a little
0:38:51bit about oh just because you put in the
0:38:53hours doesn't doesn't mean you're
0:38:55successful even if someone even if a
0:38:57genie could come along and could say to
0:38:59me like oh if you put in the hours
0:39:02you could be as successful as these - is
0:39:04that something you would want to do I
0:39:05would say no because I just this is a
0:39:09place where I do know myself and I I
0:39:12don't work well under deadlines I
0:39:14couldn't possibly dedicate as much in
0:39:20human time and energy as they do into
0:39:23this so I feel like I know myself and
0:39:26that I am much happier with a much
0:39:29diminished relatively level of success
0:39:31for for not having to produce
0:39:36episodes within six days and having to
0:39:39stay up until 5:00 in the morning and
0:39:41pulling these all-nighters and eating
0:39:42sad McDonald's and all the rest of it
0:39:44it's just I couldn't I couldn't possibly
0:39:47even if it meant it came with all the
0:39:49rewards that it does would you Mike
0:39:51which you took would you take that deal
0:39:54contrary to almost everything else about
0:39:56my personality and my disposition is a
0:39:59human being
0:40:00I have always worked and thrived in
0:40:04crisis situations so especially when I
0:40:08was working at the bank if something
0:40:10went terribly wrong if there was
0:40:11something that was going wrong I could
0:40:14and always did work very well in those
0:40:16environments like everything's crumbling
0:40:18down how do you fix it
0:40:21to the point that like if a team member
0:40:23was having a crisis I would want to be
0:40:27involved in it to help because I kind of
0:40:30thrived on that pressure and the kind of
0:40:33impending disaster it's very strange
0:40:35because there is nothing else than what
0:40:37my personality which would indicate that
0:40:38I would enjoy this but I did yeah but I
0:40:41think this is a trait that some people
0:40:42just have yeah I and and I think you
0:40:44have it and you know it doesn't it
0:40:47doesn't it really doesn't gel with
0:40:48anything else about the way that I work
0:40:49because you know I could be a nervous
0:40:51person I can be a warrior like it's very
0:40:53strange that I have those two parts of
0:40:54me but there they are so I don't think I
0:40:58could work there for very long but I
0:41:01think I could do it for a not tiny
0:41:03period of time I think for a few years I
0:41:06could I could work in that environment
0:41:08and would enjoy the last 24 hours and
0:41:12that's why I would keep coming why keep
0:41:14putting it myself through it would be
0:41:16for the last 24 hours
0:41:17mm-hmm but I think I would burn out
0:41:20often maybe two or three years of it
0:41:22like I don't think I could do it for
0:41:23long but I think it's something that I
0:41:25could enjoy not that I ever want to work
0:41:27in an environment like that necessarily
0:41:30I'm not gonna seek it out but if I was
0:41:32in it I think I would enjoy it but you
0:41:34don't think you could do it for 20 plus
0:41:36years
0:41:36most definitely not I it's wild people
0:41:41doing anything for that period of time
0:41:43the same thing is astounding to me you
0:41:46know I used to work with people that
0:41:47have been in the same jobs in the same
0:41:49places for 30 years
0:41:50and I think it's an unbelievable thing
0:41:52cuz I couldn't do that like I wouldn't
0:41:55be able to stay just doing the same
0:41:57thing and I find it astounding that they
0:42:00have kept the same roles that they've
0:42:01had for 20 years and like basically
0:42:03uninterrupted that is a commitment that
0:42:07I don't think I could have to something
0:42:09like that I agree with you there I agree
0:42:12with you there but I've got to say Mike
0:42:14I'm glad you mentioned this a while back
0:42:16as a thing that we should watch I feel
0:42:18like I'm really happy that I saw it
0:42:19mm-hmm
0:42:20I hope for the people who did watch it
0:42:21that they found it interesting even if
0:42:24you're not necessarily a fan of South
0:42:26Park and I would I would be curious if
0:42:29the listeners out there do know of any
0:42:33other documentaries in this kind of
0:42:35genre of following people at work or
0:42:40people who work on interesting things I
0:42:41would love to hear some recommendation
0:42:43yeah because I just I can't think of
0:42:46anything else that's like this off the
0:42:49top of my head and I'd be very curious
0:42:50to see some more we could just do a
0:42:52rewatch of the office looking for
0:43:01something that's real wait I have bad
0:43:06news for you my British office is not
0:43:07real they're very different things yeah
0:43:12the American office is more my style of
0:43:14comedy in the British office today's
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0:43:57monogram and much more it's so easy you
0:43:59just pick your fabrics submit your
0:44:01measurements place your order and three
0:44:03weeks later or less
0:44:04you'll have your new custom-made suit
0:44:06but let me tell you about this you think
0:44:07but Mike how how can I order a suit with
0:44:11my custom measurements on the internet
0:44:13was very easy just go to Indo Chino comm
0:44:15they'll send you if you want a little
0:44:17tape measure out in the post then all
0:44:20you do is you follow their guide which
0:44:21has some really helpful videos it shows
0:44:23you exactly how to measure each part of
0:44:26your body and then so you submit the
0:44:28measurements to them they check it all
0:44:30to make sure that they will seem logical
0:44:31when I put my measurements in I think I
0:44:34measure myself incorrect in a couple of
0:44:35places and the system was like hey you
0:44:37should check this area because I think
0:44:39you got that wrong I redid it and they
0:44:40were right I did get it wrong a few
0:44:42weeks later my suit arrived in the mail
0:44:44and it's fantastic it is now my super
0:44:47formal suit that I wear if I have to go
0:44:49and do something really nice and fancy
0:44:50I'll wear my endogenous suit
0:44:52it is fantastic especially when you look
0:44:55at the prices so endo Chino they are
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0:45:01three hundred and fifty nine dollars to
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0:45:09if you go to Indochina comm which is IND
0:45:12OCH ino calm and use the code cortex at
0:45:16checkout you can get any premium suit
0:45:18for three hundred and fifty nine dollars
0:45:21you can shop online
0:45:23Indochina calm or visit any of their
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0:45:27want so they can even size you up in one
0:45:28of their stores if you want so you can
0:45:30get a 50% off the regular price of a
0:45:32premium made-to-measure suit plus the
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0:45:37with the promo code cortex to get any of
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0:45:42shipping head there now and get an
0:45:44incredible deal on a perfectly tailored
0:45:45suit
0:45:46our thanks to enter Chino for their
0:45:48support of this show okay Mike I have
0:45:51another little little update for the
0:45:54year of order order no no Mike it's just
0:45:57that don't say it like that so I said it
0:46:04in a totally normal way which is the
0:46:06year of order right that's that's the we
0:46:08have a little update for that so my my
0:46:13home office at this
0:46:15moment is empty everything needs to be
0:46:18redone
0:46:19there's packages that have been
0:46:20delivered to my glass cube all of that
0:46:23is underway I want to get that stuff
0:46:25finished are you up to three desks and
0:46:28the cube now or we still did two there's
0:46:31the two desks
0:46:32why do you man
0:46:36I just make a silly joke but it ends up
0:46:41turning into like there's actually
0:46:42something really going on yeah well do
0:46:48really me already
0:46:49now there's two desks in the glass cube
0:46:51and I I think that they are going to end
0:46:55up being two desks in the Home Office
0:46:57but I need to I need to settle on that a
0:47:00little bit more but more that happens we
0:47:05spent so much time talking about like
0:47:07the specifics of the one purpose of the
0:47:12Home Office if it has two desks there's
0:47:16two purposes no we can't get into this
0:47:20now Mike we can't I refused to be
0:47:23derailed on this because I still I still
0:47:25have thoughts okay and and you cut me
0:47:29off last time anyway with with
0:47:31discussing the Home Office glass cube
0:47:34situation I had so much important to
0:47:36talk about what we have to bring that so
0:47:37I I wondered if you notice ya know I'm
0:47:46no fool I know exactly what you were
0:47:48doing there was there was much more to
0:47:49be discussed you have touched upon it
0:47:51now but you know what I'm refusing to
0:47:53talk about it I'm gonna I'm gonna let it
0:47:55percolate I tried to write you out of
0:47:57that right that was that being the
0:47:59director so very subtle very subtle
0:48:03thing Mike I didn't notice at all so
0:48:05anyway we're just gonna skip that we're
0:48:07just gonna Sherman
0:48:09yeah so I don't I don't have a long
0:48:11topic on the year of order but I did I
0:48:13did just want to mention something
0:48:15because I know something people are
0:48:16interested in which is my eventual
0:48:22return to full-on use of task managers
0:48:26this year
0:48:28this is a thing that's going to happen
0:48:30at some point but I did just want to to
0:48:33mention that I have been using things a
0:48:40lot this year so this is things three is
0:48:43the name as always with TAS managers and
0:48:45timers you have to have these names that
0:48:46are very difficult to talk about and
0:48:48things is one of those it isn't as bad
0:48:49as do you though a do is do is the worst
0:48:53to do is close oh I saw another one I
0:48:58saw another one there's something well
0:49:00it was called like do but it was like do
0:49:01oh I was like all your dooms you do a
0:49:03start task manager one of my favorite
0:49:06studies Ted you seen that right I don't
0:49:09think I don't think I've seen that one
0:49:10no te ux de UX oh yes I have seen that
0:49:16you said yeah it's not yes but it's the
0:49:21problem is there's so many task managers
0:49:22right if you're trying to come up with a
0:49:23name you're limited for things but it's
0:49:27they all end up being relatively
0:49:29ambiguous but hmm I did just want to
0:49:31mention things because I've been using
0:49:35it just just a little bit sort of very
0:49:38informally to keep a record of some of
0:49:40the projects that I have active but I
0:49:43wouldn't say that I'm like I'm all in on
0:49:45using it as a task manager I've just
0:49:46been using it as kind of like a
0:49:47placeholder like where do I write down
0:49:49the things that I'm currently working on
0:49:51but I have to say I just I'm really
0:49:54impressed by it as a task manager I
0:49:57think the the things three redesign like
0:50:00for a long time I didn't touch things to
0:50:03because it seemed like it was not
0:50:04actively under development it hadn't
0:50:07been updated in a really long time but
0:50:08things three is just a really really
0:50:10great update and I know on the show
0:50:14previously I have said that my sort of
0:50:16default task manager recommendation if I
0:50:18don't know anything about a person is to
0:50:21just use clear and said let go just just
0:50:23run with clear but since I know they
0:50:26have a new one in development but it
0:50:27isn't available yet but right now I
0:50:30think I would have to switch that to
0:50:32things as if you want to get started
0:50:36with the task manager and you don't know
0:50:38where to begin
0:50:39I really have to recommend things 3 as
0:50:41the
0:50:42to start it's just it's very simple it's
0:50:46very beautiful and it has a couple of
0:50:49really clever features in it that are
0:50:53things that I originally thought like oh
0:50:54I don't know about this but I have have
0:50:57come to love and wish that other task
0:50:59managers do like this there's the one
0:51:02thing that is just so simple but when
0:51:04you're laying out a project things gives
0:51:06you this option to create little
0:51:09subheadings and those subheadings aren't
0:51:12tasks they're not anything they're just
0:51:15a way that you can group something into
0:51:18different areas and say like oh all of
0:51:19these tasks go under this heading and
0:51:22all of these tasks you under this
0:51:23heading and it's it's so nice and
0:51:26freeing to have a visual distinction
0:51:31between things that doesn't also have a
0:51:33meaning right like these things are not
0:51:35sub projects or anything like that it's
0:51:38just
0:51:38oh here's here's some visual separation
0:51:40between these different tasks what does
0:51:42this visual separation mean nothing it
0:51:44means nothing at all and they have a
0:51:46very simple way to specify tasks that
0:51:49you should be doing today which a lot of
0:51:51task managers have but everybody have an
0:51:53additional nice feature which is you can
0:51:55specify oh this task is for this evening
0:51:59and it just moves it down to the bottom
0:52:02of the list just a lot of really really
0:52:04nice touches and have to say I'm very
0:52:06impressed with it and I like it a lot as
0:52:08a simple task manager that isn't
0:52:12completely stripped back I don't know
0:52:16have you played with it at all Mike or
0:52:18are you totally unfamiliar with things
0:52:20no enough of my friends have been
0:52:22gushing over it that I decided to give
0:52:26it a try
0:52:27I know titi likes it a lot were talking
0:52:29about things yes and that's why I
0:52:31decided to give it a go just because of
0:52:33how much she's been enjoying it and I
0:52:35know that Steven tried it and he liked
0:52:37it but it ultimately didn't work for him
0:52:39and I've played around a bit very little
0:52:42but I know it's not the right app for me
0:52:45just for a couple of reasons the main
0:52:49one being the way in which you select
0:52:52dates and alerts is so cumbersome
0:52:55it's it feels very clunky to me after
0:52:58having used to doest loop for so long
0:53:01because todoist
0:53:02it's all natural language and once you
0:53:07get used to typing in take-out-the-trash
0:53:09at 4 p.m. pound sign personal and then
0:53:13what that does is takes the task puts a
0:53:15reminder in and an alert for 4 o'clock
0:53:17and it puts it in my personal project
0:53:19group that's wonderful and all of that
0:53:21in things you're hitting a bunch of
0:53:23buttons in here a bunch of dropdowns and
0:53:25they're repeating tasks UI is not good
0:53:29yeah I loved the design and some of the
0:53:34thoughts behind it I mean it is a
0:53:36beautiful iPhone app in which to duyst
0:53:39is kind of like just a decent-looking
0:53:41cross-platform application right like
0:53:43that's how even decent there I'm I feel
0:53:46like that's it's fine right like it's
0:53:49not offensive because it's so plain I'm
0:53:51not saying it's offensive but it's not
0:53:53great it's not great but ultimately what
0:53:55I'm looking for my task manager is the
0:53:58functionality either I want as opposed
0:54:00to do with the design and whilst things
0:54:03design is wonderful they're missing a
0:54:06bunch of things I mean and also like
0:54:08whilst I don't use a ton ton of it like
0:54:10having the Web API stuff is important to
0:54:12me now because I like to have things go
0:54:14in on their own and just as an option
0:54:16for the future I don't really show that
0:54:18sort of stuff off but I've tried things
0:54:19I don't know if it would be my
0:54:21recommendation for people but I but I
0:54:24can see why it would be somebody's if
0:54:27that makes sense like what's not what I
0:54:28would give I would still recommend
0:54:29todoist especially because to-do list
0:54:32you can try for free I don't even think
0:54:34things has a subscription plan and it is
0:54:37a in the world of applications a
0:54:39relatively expensive application and you
0:54:42have to buy it on all platforms
0:54:43individually but it is beautiful and if
0:54:48you are if you really care about design
0:54:50in your applications like you really
0:54:51really care then this is probably the
0:54:53one you should try I agree that I would
0:54:57have a hard time if I had to use that as
0:55:00my main and only task manager forever
0:55:03that the limitations I would find really
0:55:05frustrating but there's two things here
0:55:07I find I always find it an inch
0:55:09a thought experiment about if you had to
0:55:12make a recommendation and you didn't
0:55:14know anything about the person like what
0:55:16would you recommend if you knew someone
0:55:19was going to buy Mac but you didn't know
0:55:21anything about them like what would you
0:55:23recommend is the default knife I guess
0:55:24this is an interesting thought
0:55:25experiment and I feel like things is my
0:55:28task manager' recommendation if I didn't
0:55:30know anything about the person what
0:55:32would I do what would do that but also I
0:55:34just want to recommend it because I have
0:55:36really enjoyed it because I think that
0:55:39there are times when the limitations are
0:55:41helpful it's the very fact that things
0:55:44is lacking some of the more complicated
0:55:47features that has while I'm still
0:55:49feeling out the edges of what does the
0:55:52year of order mean it's forcing me to be
0:55:56more limited in what I'm actually
0:55:59keeping track of right now and it's the
0:56:01same reason why if someone has no
0:56:03experience with task managers whatsoever
0:56:05I always recommend someone just starts
0:56:07with paper like just get a notebook and
0:56:09paper and write things down because you
0:56:12don't even know where you want to begin
0:56:13and like force yourself with the
0:56:15simplicity of that before we move on
0:56:17from this topic do you have any thoughts
0:56:20about OmniFocus 3 like the upcoming
0:56:23announcements and stuff of OmniFocus 3
0:56:25yeah well well this is this is one of
0:56:28the questions right if I can't stick
0:56:30with things for forever where am I gonna
0:56:33go and then and we see on the horizon
0:56:35there how many focus and the thing I
0:56:39love about OmniFocus they're their
0:56:40strongest suit as always is hiding from
0:56:44you the things that you can do nothing
0:56:47about right now that to me is such a
0:56:49killer feature it's why I always I
0:56:52always come back to OmniFocus and I'm
0:56:55always happy when they publish their
0:56:57roadmap at the beginning of the year
0:56:59because of course I'm intensely
0:57:01interested in what they're doing and
0:57:02especially having been away from task
0:57:05managers for so long I feel like I'm
0:57:07coming back to it with different eyes
0:57:09one of the things I'm really really glad
0:57:12to see that OmniFocus is doing they are
0:57:15finally getting rid of the concept of
0:57:19contexts and replacing them
0:57:22with tags I feel like that is there is a
0:57:24huge improvement so that you can have a
0:57:27task and you can put an arbitrary number
0:57:29of tags associated with it rather than
0:57:33having to pick a single context which
0:57:36they discuss on their blog post that
0:57:38this is this is a thing that as time has
0:57:41gone on that people who are unfamiliar
0:57:43with getting things done have a hard
0:57:45time understanding like this concept of
0:57:47what is a context supposed to be and
0:57:49I've always argued that I think in as
0:57:52time has gone on one of the ways that
0:57:54getting things done has not held up is
0:57:57this idea that your work is so clearly
0:58:01defined by the physical world and like
0:58:03that just and that was what context grow
0:58:05out of is this idea of these physical
0:58:07constraints it's like we just kind of
0:58:09don't live in that world anymore I think
0:58:12this doesn't make sense for most people
0:58:14the way it used to so I got to say I am
0:58:16really really glad that they're bringing
0:58:18in tags and they're ditching contexts
0:58:21I'm super happy about that there's a
0:58:24bunch of other great features I like it
0:58:25it looks like they're improving
0:58:26notifications they're changing around
0:58:28the design which I think can be improved
0:58:31they're working on automation of course
0:58:33I always love automation there is one
0:58:35question though that I have from reading
0:58:38this blog post I was reading a section
0:58:40real close as I can't quite figure out
0:58:43what do you mean by this omni group and
0:58:46it is their section on how dates are
0:58:51managed with OmniFocus because I love
0:58:54OmniFocus but the one thing that really
0:58:57kills me sometimes is the way that at
0:59:00least currently they handled dates where
0:59:03there's this strange thing where if you
0:59:05have a task and you assign a due date to
0:59:08it it remembers what time zone you're in
0:59:12when you assign that due date but
0:59:15there's no way to modify or change that
0:59:17time zone and I think had I been using
0:59:22OmniFocus over the previous year with
0:59:24the amount of travel that I have have
0:59:26been doing that would have driven me
0:59:28crazy because I was just constantly in
0:59:31different time zones or working with
0:59:33different things I'd like to have
0:59:35that have this invisible time zone
0:59:37associated with them would be madness
0:59:40and my whole system revolves around the
0:59:43idea of gray master time that almost
0:59:47every single one of my tasks is due or
0:59:52needs to be done relative to me and my
0:59:56time not relative to like what is the
0:59:56time not relative to like what is the
1:00:00time in California right now or what is
1:00:01the time in New York and this is one of
1:00:03the reasons that I love and used to do
1:00:05list because if you do this when you
1:00:07arrive in a new place it asks you do you
1:00:09want to change to this your task to this
1:00:11time zone and if you say yes if you add
1:00:14a task it was going off at 12 o'clock in
1:00:16London it will go off at 12 o'clock in
1:00:18New York right like just full it just
1:00:21changes all of your task times for you
1:00:23to do it is great because it asks the
1:00:26vast majority of task manager systems
1:00:29don't even ask they just assume that the
1:00:33time is relative to wherever you are so
1:00:36like if you said if you set a reminder
1:00:38and Apple say like go remind me about a
1:00:39thing at 2:00 p.m. and you get on a
1:00:41flight and change time zones in the mean
1:00:43time it'll remind you at 2:00 p.m.
1:00:44wherever you landed and it's same thing
1:00:47with things
1:00:47same thing with almost every single task
1:00:49manager I've ever used it's just
1:00:50OmniFocus has this one this like weird
1:00:53feature and they they do discuss in
1:00:55their article talking about how the
1:00:56dates are going to change that
1:00:58currently there are five different times
1:01:00that are tracked with each task but the
1:01:04user only has access to two of them and
1:01:05I'm wondering like what the heck are
1:01:07those other two I don't understand but
1:01:10so anyway I am deeply deeply hoping that
1:01:14this is addressed that OmniFocus that
1:01:18you can set a task to be a floating task
1:01:21that it does not have a time zone again
1:01:24not not least because I'm still looking
1:01:26at this year where there's going to be a
1:01:27lot of travel ahead and if if this
1:01:33hasn't been addressed I'm going to need
1:01:35to figure out what is it that I'm going
1:01:38to do with my task management system but
1:01:41if it has been addressed and I feel like
1:01:43almost almost certainly a couple months
1:01:45from now I'll be telling you about like
1:01:47oh this this system that I've set up in
1:01:48OmniFocus but in general though
1:01:51OmniFocus like it looks really great the
1:01:53roadmap and the things that they're
1:01:55doing I hope to god that they fix the
1:01:57time zone thing they're doing a really
1:01:59interesting idea with collaborations I'm
1:02:01just I'm very curious to see where it
1:02:04goes and I think it's I think it's just
1:02:05a great piece of software although I
1:02:08think also a custom icon wouldn't go
1:02:09astray
1:02:10yeah custom icons huh how are those
1:02:13working for you well you know Mike I
1:02:16think the thing is a custom icon you
1:02:18need custom icons all apps should offer
1:02:21custom icon colors because when you're
1:02:25trying to arrange a home screen colors
1:02:27are very important can't have too many
1:02:29of the same colors near each other or if
1:02:31their color is that you don't like you
1:02:32don't want them on your home screen so
1:02:34custom icons very important for home
1:02:36screen arrangement today's episode of
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1:04:24real problem is I don't know what I lost
1:04:26that's way worse than knowing what you
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1:04:31I don't know what they are don't be a
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1:05:07supporting this show and real afm client
1:05:10just mention it mention why not just
1:05:12throw home screen arrangement around as
1:05:15a phrase you know you have to give it up
1:05:18let's see what you got we have not
1:05:20exchanged our home screens since we
1:05:22moved to the iPhone 10 it feels like we
1:05:24do home screens every week I help you do
1:05:27this all the time this already once a
1:05:30year we do this and I want to see if the
1:05:35iPhone 10 has changed things for you I
1:05:37will mention that the the wallpaper the
1:05:41core-tex wallpaper that the wonderful
1:05:44designer forgotten tale put together for
1:05:46us was painstakingly updated for the
1:05:49iPhone 10 like I was helping him out
1:05:54with it and we were trying to get it to
1:05:56just work just right it has been
1:05:58painstakingly updated so it aligns
1:06:00properly so you know I know a lot of
1:06:03people like that wallpaper and it's
1:06:05still available and there is now a true
1:06:07black version ooh nice on the OLED
1:06:10screens it is black it's not blue or
1:06:13gray anymore so that's the thing that is
1:06:16available there are a couple of options
1:06:17and that's still available for free and
1:06:20I'll put a link in our show notes if you
1:06:22want to grab that but it has been
1:06:23updated so if you have an iPhone 10 then
1:06:26you may want to you may want to check it
1:06:28out so okay let's exchange home screens
1:06:31here okay Mike I've sent you I've shown
1:06:33you my home screen it's time for you to
1:06:34show me yours oh you've done a whole bit
1:06:36thing again oh my gosh I haven't done a
1:06:40whole big thing I have not done the
1:06:42whole big thing again and what you have
1:06:44just sent me you have no right to talk
1:06:46about ugly yeah I don't know no no I'm
1:06:53like I feel like we're starting all over
1:06:55again this is like the first time we
1:06:57exchanged home screens my home screen
1:07:00looks like how people's home screens
1:07:02look it's a wallpaper and there's a
1:07:05bunch of apps yours is like oh here's a
1:07:08grid of 12 smack bang in the middle of
1:07:11the phone yeah your home screen looks
1:07:13like people's home screens look like
1:07:14which is what garbage looks like and
1:07:16it's not the comparison you're like oh
1:07:18my screen looks like most people's
1:07:19because I always peer over everybody's
1:07:22shoulders to see what their home screens
1:07:23look like and most people's home screens
1:07:25make me want to vomit and this is this
1:07:31very busy mic this is a real real busy
1:07:33screen just a full screen it's it's very
1:07:36it's very colorful so yeah this is a
1:07:40special members-only really I found
1:07:43wallpaper that I have so if you want to
1:07:46get that wallpaper you have to be a real
1:07:48AFN member we have a whole pack of
1:07:49wallpapers and this is one from the
1:07:51remaster podcast that I do and I love it
1:07:53very much it's nice and bright I spent a
1:07:56long time trying to get it aligned it's
1:07:57not perfect but it's as close as I can
1:07:59make it happen yeah I think I like the
1:08:03remaster artwork retro video game fan
1:08:07globe it's sort of Trani and also Epcot
1:08:11Center II it's the remaster artwork one
1:08:14of the best artworks on the whole of the
1:08:16relay Network I don't like that you've
1:08:19just zoomed in on the central part so
1:08:23that it's it's just this is how gross is
1:08:26horrible look this is just a wallpaper
1:08:29you you know you've chosen this and it's
1:08:35I'm not a fan not a fan at all I think
1:08:37it's it's really ugly I never expected
1:08:40you to be a fan but I think that you are
1:08:42working with some grotesquerie right now
1:08:44with this situation you've got going on
1:08:46why is everything in the middle okay
1:08:50can can I wait before before we get that
1:08:52can I can we just we need to focus on
1:08:54you from huh okay it's ugly
1:08:58we can just get past that make sure um I
1:09:02mean I mean look at Mike it's like
1:09:04you're trying to pick all of the colors
1:09:06in the world because you've also gone
1:09:07with a custom P calc icon which has the
1:09:09rainbows around it yeah you've chosen
1:09:11icons to make more colors all over the
1:09:14place oh my color again it's clown vomit
1:09:19the only one you've actually gone the
1:09:20other way with is the bear icon you've
1:09:22chosen the the black black and white
1:09:24bear you don't choose the argument I
1:09:27choose the theme Michael I wish they
1:09:29would separate those two things because
1:09:32right there developers if you're
1:09:34listening that the fact that you have to
1:09:36choose your theme and your icon at the
1:09:38same time and they have to match is
1:09:39crazy I want I want a big bear icon and
1:09:43the true black theme in the inside the
1:09:46application that's one yeah I have
1:09:50definitely moved back towards all color
1:09:52again I'm in an old color season for
1:09:55whatever reason it's the reason for the
1:09:57colored season that's where I am right
1:09:59now I can't explain why very Wonka here
1:10:03okay it's Bru it's the season for colors
1:10:05okay why is it so full like what why
1:10:12have you just why have you felt the need
1:10:14to use them every single space a lot of
1:10:18things to think about I need access to
1:10:20stuff immediately yes there will be
1:10:22there I mean there are a couple of
1:10:24applications that I don't necessarily
1:10:26need on the home screen but then it's
1:10:27gonna throw it out of whack balance wise
1:10:29right I have like maybe one or two that
1:10:31I would move away but then yeah there's
1:10:33always a bit of balance you know so
1:10:35there are a couple in there in here that
1:10:37I probably don't need to be there but I
1:10:39look at my home screen every now and
1:10:41then and I evaluate and there is nothing
1:10:43I would take off that screen right now
1:10:45okay and we have covered many of these
1:10:49apps many times but I also feel that
1:10:51this is there's a few on here that I
1:10:56have no idea what these things are
1:10:58what is pipedrive Oh pipe drive is a
1:11:00sales management CRM tool uh-huh
1:11:04right okay yes that's my that's my big
1:11:06my big grown up adult application right
1:11:09my discussed that my corporate sales app
1:11:12right with the mandatory lowercase
1:11:14letter logo okay great yeah
1:11:16what is anchor okay so anchor is audio
1:11:21social network they respond sir and
1:11:24relay FM and I've been playing around
1:11:26with their application so okay alright
1:11:29too much but yeah there is a cool app I
1:11:32like it okay and canary
1:11:35I don't know canary canary is my home
1:11:37security system oh right okay right so
1:11:40that's that that's the home security
1:11:41camera little bus that we call him
1:11:44you're right that makes sense yeah I
1:11:46bust the criminals I'm calling Busta
1:11:48little name right he's busting busting
1:11:50criminals all day it's crime crime
1:11:51busting she's just me walking around
1:11:53though honestly like 1:30 in the morning
1:11:56fussing you tell me again I see you're
1:11:59also a cool guy who's on not one not two
1:12:01but three test flights with these apps
1:12:04you see that City Instagram want up
1:12:06there look at me now I'm super fancy no
1:12:08I know that's that's the thing it's like
1:12:09ooh you're on the histogram test why
1:12:11isn't somebody fancy I know these people
1:12:15just need my good opinions you know they
1:12:20certainly don't need your good designed
1:12:21opinions though that's that's for sure
1:12:23oh yeah okay yeah this just expansive
1:12:27disgusting just darkness with these I
1:12:30just I couldn't I couldn't I couldn't
1:12:33possibly look at this purple monstrosity
1:12:35all the folders with one application in
1:12:38them and a bunch of dots great it
1:12:44doesn't scream and his it's barely such
1:12:48a missed balance of color as well like
1:12:50the three molt like green applications
1:12:53and there will kind of spread out
1:12:54weirdly and then there's green in the
1:12:57maps icon yeah yeah I'll give you that
1:12:59the green the green is a thing that
1:13:01needs to be worked on but that is partly
1:13:03bears fault
1:13:04like I can't choose the color bear icon
1:13:06that I want which has like knock-on
1:13:07effects so yeah I agree this this screen
1:13:11is not what I want the final version of
1:13:13it to be but I think it is clearly way
1:13:15better than your
1:13:16disgusting homescreen disagree what what
1:13:18are you using filmic perfil okay well
1:13:20let me let me let me paint it let me
1:13:22paint a word picture for the people Mike
1:13:23no people no no cuz you're gonna paint
1:13:26it nicely people need to just go to AA
1:13:28showing us and open this horrific image
1:13:30that I've been put in front of my eyes
1:13:32with just this weirdo square or
1:13:35applications sitting in the middle of
1:13:37this screen it's such a waste
1:13:39such a waste yeah so rather than junk up
1:13:42my home screen and take every available
1:13:45slot like I'm some kind of app hoarder I
1:13:48have I have chosen instead to do a
1:13:52little bit of a four by four grid of
1:13:55apps on my phone I don't need all of
1:13:57those slots occupied hmm space is a
1:14:00luxury Mike and so I have luxurious
1:14:03space on my phone how are you doing this
1:14:06by the way well what you are about what
1:14:09you're asking here is I have the grid
1:14:11centered on the phone because with the
1:14:16iPhone 10 and with the OLED screen black
1:14:20backgrounds just look fantastic like the
1:14:23black levels are great it makes
1:14:25everything else pop and that's always a
1:14:27thing I've really liked about the
1:14:28backgrounds that I choose is trying to
1:14:30pick backgrounds that highlight the
1:14:33applications that don't detract and I
1:14:36don't know if I'm going to stick with it
1:14:38indefinitely but I have been enjoying
1:14:41the pure black background as a novelty
1:14:43with iPhone X and because it's pure
1:14:49black it now allows me to use that trick
1:14:53where you can put fake icons above the
1:14:58actual apps so all I did was I made a
1:15:01fake icon in workflow where it's just
1:15:05purely black color and then I added that
1:15:08to the homescreen so there's there's
1:15:09four like dummy apps with invisible
1:15:12names that are taking up the top row
1:15:15just to move the grid down so that it's
1:15:19centered on the screen if you can have
1:15:21the invisible names why do you have the
1:15:22dots there for the folders I have the
1:15:27dots there for the folders because
1:15:29I think it looks visually on like if I
1:15:33could if I could I wish I could add an
1:15:36accessibility feature on iPhone called
1:15:40your app names are dumb and I don't want
1:15:42to see them especially because they
1:15:44turned off the names of the apps in the
1:15:46dock I know if it's it drives me crazy
1:15:49like again every time I see that the app
1:15:53names I just I feel like those app name
1:15:55czar there for idiots and and it's like
1:15:56yeah anyone who uses their phone any
1:15:58amount of time knows what the icons are
1:16:01nobody is reading it and going like me
1:16:02hmm
1:16:03where did my calendar go it's so stupid
1:16:13it's so stupid and I hate it I hate it
1:16:16so much I've hated it since the dawn of
1:16:19the iPhone having the stupid words
1:16:21especially when some of them don't fit
1:16:23and they like do the little dot that is
1:16:25a problem of being with so many cool guy
1:16:27betas is that sometimes they're little
1:16:29yeah you run out of space don't squish
1:16:31is the name up you know that can be a
1:16:33real problem it is if but it really is
1:16:35it really is a real problem so while in
1:16:38theory you would think oh you hate these
1:16:41words so you wouldn't want to have
1:16:43anything below the folders the four
1:16:44folders on the top I find that I tried
1:16:47it by putting invisible names in those
1:16:49folders but then it just looks visually
1:16:51unbalanced because all of the icons have
1:16:53something below them these stupid words
1:16:57so I feel like I need something below
1:16:59the folders otherwise it just looks like
1:17:01there's too much space between the top
1:17:03row and the next row so I put the dots
1:17:05there because I find them the least
1:17:07visually intrusive and that that's why
1:17:09they're there it's just as visual
1:17:10balance but they don't have any real
1:17:12function you ever tried emoji I tried it
1:17:16once but there's a problem that I don't
1:17:19I'm not a fan of the design of the Apple
1:17:21emojis I think they look dumb and I
1:17:23found them just more distracting to have
1:17:27on the home screen there are places
1:17:29where I use emojis actually do use
1:17:31emojis a lot in my time tracking system
1:17:32with toggle so that I can
1:17:35like visually identify stuff faster than
1:17:37reading but it works there but I don't
1:17:40like them on the home screen I just
1:17:41don't like the look of them there -
1:17:43there - 3d for my liking and so that's
1:17:46that's why I don't have them there even
1:17:48even though I think that it would kind
1:17:50of make more sense to have an emoji that
1:17:52represents what each of these folders
1:17:53are but rather instead I'm trying to
1:17:56pick the one icon that you see in the
1:17:59folder to be representative of what that
1:18:01folder is that that's kind of how I'm
1:18:03labeling these folders but yeah so I
1:18:06have the the top four folders which are
1:18:09there simply to act as categories to
1:18:11sort all of the apps that I don't want
1:18:14on my home screen into and so those
1:18:18categories are the first one has the
1:18:20Settings app in there and that is the
1:18:22miscellaneous category everything that
1:18:25doesn't fit anywhere else just goes in
1:18:26there the next one over has caret
1:18:29weather and that contains all of the
1:18:32apps that are I don't know a good way to
1:18:35describe this but in my head I think of
1:18:36them as location-based so they have
1:18:41something to do with where I currently
1:18:43am so these are like flight tracking
1:18:46apps or ride-sharing apps or I put the
1:18:49wallet app in there or if a conference
1:18:51I'm going to has an app like I put that
1:18:53app in there or food delivery services
1:18:56or train ticket apps like all of that
1:19:00kind of stuff is sort of location-based
1:19:01do you ever do like a time-sensitive
1:19:04promotion of an application to the front
1:19:06page at the folder one of the reasons I
1:19:08like to have space is so that I can have
1:19:12that bottom row available to put stuff
1:19:15down and normally when I'm traveling
1:19:18there'll be two apps that will go in
1:19:21that bottom row and it's mainly on the
1:19:24main screen on the main screen yeah
1:19:25it'll usually usually be the flight
1:19:28tracker and I'm still using flight log
1:19:30or as my main one for that okay I'll
1:19:32need a recommendation I did give up in
1:19:34the air a try it's interesting but I'm
1:19:36still sticking with flight logger as my
1:19:38main one it's pretty heavy-handed but I
1:19:40do like it
1:19:41it is also definitely better than it
1:19:43used to be like if I had to use it I
1:19:45wouldn't be upset but I'll put flight
1:19:48logger
1:19:49that bottom row and then the other thing
1:19:51I'll put in the bottom row which I sort
1:19:54of silly but I'll put the wallet app
1:19:55down there because like if I don't know
1:20:00I find when I'm traveling I'm always
1:20:02real panicky about how long will it take
1:20:04me to access whatever ticket I have in
1:20:06my Apple wallet for whatever it is that
1:20:07I need and so I have the wallet
1:20:10available everywhere like I have it in
1:20:12the in the control center and then I'll
1:20:14put it on the home screen and then some
1:20:17tickets but not all tickets
1:20:18frustratingly will show up as
1:20:20notifications on the lock so like I want
1:20:22every way to be able to open up that
1:20:24wallet immediately because I'm oh it's
1:20:26just like real panicking when the guy
1:20:27comes over it's like tickets please like
1:20:28I don't know what second I'm the idiot
1:20:30with my phone right yeah yeah I feel
1:20:32that like there's a there's a train line
1:20:36in London called the Docklands Light
1:20:37Railway the DLR and unlike any other of
1:20:41the tube lines or the kind of DF of rail
1:20:45lines there's no barriers for this train
1:20:49and there's no drivers for the Train
1:20:51there's no drivers but there's a
1:20:52conductor or you could come up and down
1:20:55and check the tickets because instead of
1:20:56doing the barriers where like you have
1:20:58to have the Buried presser to get
1:21:00through you kind of work on an honor
1:21:02system if I'm gonna touch my Oyster card
1:21:04or my iPhone to the to the scanner and
1:21:07I'm gonna get on the train so because
1:21:09they have that kind of honor system they
1:21:11have a conductor periodically who may
1:21:12come and check and I feel like such a
1:21:15tool when I double tap my watch and hold
1:21:18my wrist up for this person to scan my
1:21:20wrist to make sure that I touched in on
1:21:23the the pad correctly I feel like such
1:21:25an idiot in those moments I have to
1:21:28agree while a lot of the ticket stuff
1:21:30will show up on the watch I feel
1:21:32socially reluctant to use the watch as
1:21:35as a ticket yeah
1:21:37I'd never do it it's just cuz it's Apple
1:21:39pay and I use it an Apple pay all the
1:21:41time but for like tickets for planes and
1:21:43stuff I would honestly typically still
1:21:46use the paper one if they give it to me
1:21:49but other than that I will always use my
1:21:51phone I like a paper ticket just in case
1:21:54you in such a high-pressure situation
1:21:57right when you're in the airports it's
1:22:00like if they're gonna give me a paper
1:22:01ticket I'll take it because I
1:22:02ever back up I don't print out the paper
1:22:05tickets but I'll say this I have never
1:22:07regretted it when someone gives me a
1:22:09ticket I give a thing comes up and I
1:22:11need to go to the gate a yeah never
1:22:13print it but if they if they offer to
1:22:15give me or they give me at the check-in
1:22:17desk that's what I'll use for the rest I
1:22:19will I will always take it and there is
1:22:22one real disadvantage which I think is a
1:22:24real structural disadvantage in an
1:22:26airport
1:22:27especially when lots of people are using
1:22:28a tickets which I'm just aware of a huge
1:22:31proportion of people are using the
1:22:33tickets on their phone like that has
1:22:34really skyrocketed in airports and the
1:22:37big disadvantage is everyone is real
1:22:40gentle with your phone and a lot of the
1:22:43scanners are built so that you just you
1:22:45have to give the person your phone to
1:22:48scan in the tickets yeah yeah and
1:22:50there's there's this weird like people
1:22:52are holding it just on the top side like
1:22:54nobody wants to really grab anybody
1:22:56else's phone and you really do think
1:22:59that that slows things down so and but
1:23:04it's also why that's in many situations
1:23:06like using the watch it's like oh come
1:23:08on you know I need to take your whole
1:23:09arm yes like it weirdly
1:23:11pushed your arm around and yeah it's
1:23:13never it's never gonna work
1:23:15but again I'm always like I'm very
1:23:16nervous on the lines about having my
1:23:18iPhone ticket ready because I just I
1:23:22don't want to be the person who's
1:23:23holding it up and every once in a while
1:23:25I've been like I've been so anxious
1:23:26about having the ticket ready that I'm
1:23:28fiddling around with it so much that
1:23:30I'll like lock the phone yeah right
1:23:31before them and I'm like oh now right
1:23:33and now now Here I am like now I'm a guy
1:23:35then you become the British person
1:23:39fumbling around making little noises
1:23:41yeah it's terrible but so that that's
1:23:43why I'll put the wallet in that bottom
1:23:45space because like any any button no
1:23:47matter where I can be to get to the
1:23:49wallet to get to the ticket is what I
1:23:50want as fast as possible so that that's
1:23:53the one folder the next folder over
1:23:55which has the toggle timer in it that's
1:23:57representative of a bunch of apps that I
1:23:59just use for work stuff in one form or
1:24:01another so I toggle that still kind of
1:24:04sucks right yeah it's not great and it's
1:24:09probably not very long-lived
1:24:11on my phone either because
1:24:13I can't I can't trace it exactly but
1:24:15somewhere in my system something isn't
1:24:18ending timers correctly and so I end up
1:24:22with these weird super long recorded
1:24:26times that problem is me I woke up this
1:24:32morning to a 19-hour invoicing timer ya
1:24:37see I'm always I'm always firing off
1:24:39timers so I don't have that problem but
1:24:41every once in a while there's some timer
1:24:42where it like it weirdly thinks that
1:24:45even though I have launched 20 timers in
1:24:47the day there was one timer from the
1:24:48morning and has also been going on all
1:24:50day long and I'm I think it's the iOS
1:24:53app that's doing it but but either way I
1:24:55just I have it there as a label that
1:24:58this is the folder for work stuff I
1:25:00don't use it a lot and I'm probably
1:25:02going to take it off my phone relatively
1:25:04soon and then the next one over has the
1:25:06Apple watch in it and then that just has
1:25:08a bunch of health-related apps in there
1:25:10so I have those four folders on the top
1:25:13for these sorting purposes so it does
1:25:15make it easier when I need to manually
1:25:17find an app I have an idea of where it
1:25:19probably is and also frankly it is like
1:25:23you were saying while with filling up
1:25:24the slots on your phone that you do run
1:25:28into these balance problems of I
1:25:29actually don't have a ton of apps that I
1:25:31really would want on the home screen
1:25:33there's lots of stuff that I'm happy to
1:25:35search for and so the four on the top is
1:25:38is again a kind of visual balance the
1:25:41thing I could get away with one folder
1:25:42but one folder looked really ugly and
1:25:44four is fine and I'm I'm looking for
1:25:48more spaces on the home screen anyway so
1:25:50I don't I don't mind putting those four
1:25:51across there but yes I will acknowledge
1:25:55that the color arrangement an exact
1:25:57location of some of these apps is not
1:26:00the best but this is partly coming off
1:26:02of the gray keishon and not having
1:26:06settled entirely on what the new phone
1:26:07will be that's partly why the the
1:26:10screenshot that I gave you is taken
1:26:12filmic Pro is on there which is the
1:26:15camera that I can use for some vlogging
1:26:17stuff because I was in a place where I
1:26:18was doing some vlogging recording but
1:26:21that's that's not an app that needs to
1:26:24live on the home screen under normal
1:26:25circumstances
1:26:26that's gonna get out how many plugs are
1:26:28you gonna record before you release one
1:26:33just I've vlog every day
1:26:35I just never put them out the question
1:26:39is Mike what is a vlog I can say that I
1:26:44have made several short vlogs that I've
1:26:47realized this is boring as all hell and
1:26:50I just got rid of it
1:26:51so like that that has happened a number
1:26:52of times log falls in the woods and
1:26:54there's no one around blog vlog has
1:26:57uploaded to YouTube and nobody likes it
1:26:59did it exist who knows but so anyway
1:27:02filmic Pro is gonna go off and then of
1:27:04course that has huge knock-on effects of
1:27:05everything else but and also the the
1:27:08arrangement of to do tasks on the bottom
1:27:12row like that is ultimately going to
1:27:13change but you just happen to be seeing
1:27:15it where it is right now are there any
1:27:19other questions about this particular
1:27:20set of Evernote man Evernote it's just
1:27:23never gonna go away is it Evernote it's
1:27:26here's the thing though this is actually
1:27:29it's been a long time since Evernote has
1:27:31been on the home screen of my phone and
1:27:34part of this was part of this was just
1:27:39accepting as part of the year of order
1:27:41like every notes just gonna be with you
1:27:43man
1:27:43right it's just gonna be here there's no
1:27:45way you're ever walking away from that
1:27:47embrace it and I've put Evernote on the
1:27:52homescreen specifically so that and it's
1:27:55worked so far I engage in a particular
1:27:57behavior which is I often have a thought
1:28:00for some video and in the past I would
1:28:05open up a note and I would write it down
1:28:07and then at some later point I would
1:28:09cycle that note into the appropriate
1:28:12place in Evernote and I've decided like
1:28:14well just just skip that step why not
1:28:16just accept that ever notes here put it
1:28:18on the home screen and put the note
1:28:21right where it belongs immediately and
1:28:23save yourself the effort later of
1:28:25sorting and categorizing it so that
1:28:27actually has worked pretty well and I'm
1:28:29liking the way that is how is the
1:28:31Evernote app now it's fine
1:28:34it's fine cuz I I haven't used it and in
1:28:37a very long time at this point just
1:28:40because Apple notes is it gives me
1:28:43everything I need like I don't need
1:28:45anymore from it like on the phone what I
1:28:48would say it's fine for putting stuff in
1:28:51it's fine from looking stuff up but if
1:28:55you're gonna do any organization you
1:28:56better be sitting at a computer or
1:28:58you're gonna hate your life so if I need
1:29:01to do any serious Evernote reorganizing
1:29:04that that'll happen on a computer that
1:29:06won't happen on the phone Apple Maps use
1:29:10Apple Maps I have a very particular use
1:29:12for Apple maps mmm
1:29:13this is gonna sound I'm pretty sure I've
1:29:15told you this before I'm not sure I've
1:29:17said it on the podcast but well you know
1:29:21what's going here I have a I've
1:29:25increasingly had a lot of problems with
1:29:26motion sickness and it's very strange
1:29:30but when I'm in a car it's is very often
1:29:33like I can get motion sickness if I'm
1:29:36not looking out the windows or I'm not
1:29:38like yeah I just this is this is a
1:29:41sensitivity that has increased over time
1:29:42and do you just get it and caused you
1:29:45get it in planes luckily I have not
1:29:47gotten it in planes oh that would be bad
1:29:50I hope that ever happens to you
1:29:52yeah I'm a little worried just because I
1:29:54used to never get it in cars either and
1:29:56now I do and so I feel like uh oh
1:29:58there's some dial of sensitivity that is
1:30:00getting turned up over time but if I get
1:30:03motion sickness on planes like well I
1:30:04guess I'm just gonna restructure an
1:30:05amazing portion of my life like that's
1:30:07what's going to happen because I'm not
1:30:08gonna put up with that anyway I have
1:30:10Apple Maps there because I mean
1:30:12genuinely Apple Maps is is it is reach
1:30:15the point where it's fine for day-to-day
1:30:16use but the thing that is surprisingly
1:30:19helpful is if I'm in a car and I'm not
1:30:23driving I put the destination into Apple
1:30:27maps and it does the haptic feedback on
1:30:29my wrist and it is really helpful to
1:30:33actually have a little indicator of
1:30:36which way you're going to turn before
1:30:37you turn and so I find that is actually
1:30:42helpful with the car sickness sales
1:30:44thing so it's it's it's pre preparing
1:30:47your brain for the
1:30:48yeah like I will always leave the
1:30:51navigation on on on my phone but it's
1:30:53useful because if I don't want to look
1:30:55at the phone I can just get the haptic
1:30:57feedback on the watch and yeah it's like
1:30:59my brain is is ready for the turns and
1:31:02people always ask like oh but what
1:31:04happens if the person doesn't make the
1:31:05turn where Apple Maps thinks it should
1:31:06make the try it doesn't seem to matter
1:31:08it just seems to know that like
1:31:10anticipation of a turn maybe upcoming is
1:31:13actually the only information that I
1:31:15really want and it it helps but I do
1:31:18have to say if you are doing any kind of
1:31:21actual serious strike like if I'm in
1:31:23America and I am driving to a place that
1:31:24I don't know
1:31:26I will almost always use Google Maps
1:31:28instead for the actual driving
1:31:30directions like Google Maps is a serious
1:31:32like you're doing a road trip in America
1:31:35you're crazy not to use Google Maps not
1:31:38least because they have some features
1:31:39like saving offline maps for when you
1:31:40get out of cell phone acts like they
1:31:42have a lot of really great features but
1:31:44I'm not really using Apple maps for my
1:31:47own navigation 99% of the time right I'm
1:31:50using it as like navigational awareness
1:31:53but it's there on the home screen
1:31:54because it when it's needed is needed
1:31:56urgently right there's no fussing it's
1:31:59good yeah there's no fussing and and
1:32:01also I do use the maps often enough and
1:32:03like I said it's fine it's fine for
1:32:05purpose when I'm looking for things so I
1:32:07just I just leave it on the home screen
1:32:09there in London Google Maps is so much
1:32:11better than Apple maps like the point of
1:32:13interest data is better they have like
1:32:15what time is this place busy day - it's
1:32:18it really is just excellent oh yeah no
1:32:20yeah I mean that is the thing if I want
1:32:22to know when a place is busy I always
1:32:23open up the Google Maps and I want to go
1:32:26to a place when nobody's there tell me
1:32:27Google Maps sites that that is one of
1:32:29the best features I love that feature
1:32:32and you're still using the start and
1:32:35stop time is there in the bottom what is
1:32:37it what is that one in the middle is
1:32:38that open like a log of your toggle
1:32:40activities or something okay so this
1:32:42this is a little bit different this was
1:32:44part of my effort to increase the amount
1:32:47of time captured I was trying think
1:32:49about like what time or do I hit the
1:32:51most and I've I've set up a timer I mean
1:32:55is months ago but I set up a timer which
1:32:56is called loading which I think of is
1:32:58like the loading screen in a videogame
1:33:00you know when you're trans
1:33:01from one area to another as realizing
1:33:04that there's a lot of my time in life
1:33:06which I can categorize as like loading
1:33:10screen behavior that I finished activity
1:33:131 I've sort of like oh I'm gonna go get
1:33:17a coffee now and I'm like in that
1:33:18transition period of deciding what am I
1:33:21going to do next and so I've mentally
1:33:25trained myself that if I don't know what
1:33:29timer I'm going to hit for the next task
1:33:32I just automatically hit the loading
1:33:34timer and what that does is it stops
1:33:37whatever timer was previously running
1:33:39and begins this just generic you are in
1:33:42a transitional state timer which I
1:33:45really like because it helps me cut down
1:33:48on that transitional state it helps cut
1:33:50down on not deciding what's going to
1:33:54happen next because again I'm aware that
1:33:55there is this timer in existence but so
1:33:58that is by far my most frequently hit
1:34:00single timer is that one so I thought
1:34:03might as well put it right right in the
1:34:04center on the home screen in a in a
1:34:07prominent location so that's what I hit
1:34:08most of the time now Mike I know you
1:34:10don't I don't you don't like the home
1:34:12screen but here's here's a question that
1:34:14I want to know what you think of here is
1:34:16my lock screen oh look at that that's
1:34:20surprising surprising that would even
1:34:22come up what does that Mike is that one
1:34:25of these dynamic cool papers yes it is
1:34:29it is one of the dynamic wallpapers that
1:34:31Apple introduced years ago and has never
1:34:34updated ever but it's just the the blue
1:34:38little color blobs and what do you do
1:34:41you 3d touch on it and they move or
1:34:43something all that I just move around on
1:34:44their own they move automatically so
1:34:46whenever I pick up the phone the little
1:34:47blobs come into existence and they move
1:34:50around with the way the phone moves and
1:34:52I always hated those animated wallpapers
1:34:55I didn't think they look great but I'll
1:34:56tell you again with the black levels of
1:34:58the of the iPhone X it looks gorgeous
1:35:01and I always just kind of like having a
1:35:05little bit of a little bit of whimsy a
1:35:08little bit of difference when you switch
1:35:10devices and so this is again a thing
1:35:14like I don't know
1:35:15if I'm going to keep this but I like it
1:35:18and it's it's fun for having the new
1:35:21device but yeah I like it I like it a
1:35:23lot and I was just curious if this was
1:35:27going to get Mike approval or
1:35:28disapproval I think that there are there
1:35:33are better options for what you're doing
1:35:36but I like that there's something going
1:35:38on so like with the with the infant and
1:35:41they added a bunch of these 3d touchable
1:35:44dynamic wallpapers like shifting sands
1:35:47shifting coloured sands and stuff like
1:35:49that they're pretty interesting I don't
1:35:52use them but they're fun yeah but the
1:35:55problem is they require an action on
1:35:57your part that's true like you have to
1:35:59like oh I'm gonna now 3d press my lock
1:36:01screen to see a thing move how many
1:36:03times you're gonna do that I like that
1:36:05this just happens automatically that
1:36:06they just show up and they move around
1:36:08and they've made them very reactive to
1:36:12subtle motions in the phone oh yeah I
1:36:14like I've just I'm trying to out now and
1:36:17you move it around then it all goes wild
1:36:20I don't think I would like that I
1:36:21originally thought I was gonna try it
1:36:23for this and the home screen and there
1:36:26is a nice there is a nice touch that
1:36:27when you unlock the phone and you swipe
1:36:28up it'll keep the bubbles in the same
1:36:30spot when you go to the home screen but
1:36:32turns out that I hate that icon small
1:36:37about it yes yeah oh I tried it I tried
1:36:40it for maybe a day and I was like what
1:36:41am i doing it's like horrible there's a
1:36:43Mines clan moment they're like clown
1:36:45trials us yeah it's it would be no good
1:36:48there was also a multicolored one which
1:36:49I was trying for a while and then I
1:36:50eventually settled on the blue as my
1:36:52personal favorite so i like that i think
1:36:55i think it's it's interesting to do and
1:36:57it looks great on the new phone for the
1:36:59lockscreen
1:36:59but i have one more thing to show you
1:37:02but i just need to grab something from
1:37:03the other room so I'll be back in just a
1:37:04second okay
1:37:07[Music]
1:37:14I was realizing that we've discussed
1:37:18home screens now for a while having done
1:37:20this show and I don't think I've
1:37:23mentioned one thing that I particularly
1:37:25like to do so I'm going to show you I
1:37:27can't show it on my phone because I
1:37:29don't have it set up right now but I'm
1:37:31gonna show you how I set up my iPad when
1:37:35I was on my winter vacation what are you
1:37:41laughing at Mike before you say anything
1:37:48I want you to realize that when I was on
1:37:51my gradation I did this on my iPad and
1:37:53on my phone for the lock screen and the
1:37:56home screen it's it's a snowy landscape
1:38:03of a forest but in this hylia cartoon
1:38:07aesthetic it's just a flat design
1:38:10aesthetic you have a little forests and
1:38:12some snow mm-hmm I'm a big believer in
1:38:17changing your homescreen and your
1:38:20lockscreen
1:38:20for when you're on a holiday I think it
1:38:23helps make the time psychologically
1:38:25different so when I go on my gradations
1:38:28are my corporate retreats I often try to
1:38:30find a nice a nice little wallpaper
1:38:32which is not a wallpaper I would use
1:38:34normally but something that feels like
1:38:35it fits the matically in wherever
1:38:38wherever I am so I had this beautiful
1:38:41beautiful wallpaper on my iPad and on my
1:38:44home screen for my winter vacation time
1:38:47and it was lovely and I think it's a
1:38:49thing that everybody should do and they
1:38:51say you're a robot