Cortex

00:00:00 ◼   ► Record. I can confirm I am recording. Levels levels levels levels.

00:00:04 ◼   ► I'm also talking really close to the microphone. Thank you. To try to do it the way you want.

00:00:08 ◼   ► Like a professional you mean? Yeah yeah. I just want you happy with my microphone set up,

00:00:13 ◼   ► but I also want my microphone set up the way I want it to be.

00:00:17 ◼   ► There is not a consensus in the middle of those two things.

00:00:19 ◼   ► They are too very... it's like a rock and a hard place, you know.

00:00:28 ◼   ► Well look, we recorded today, we're connected, we're good. Levels, levels went perfect,

00:00:33 ◼   ► so we're all set.

00:00:34 ◼   ► [DING]

00:00:34 ◼   ► How's floating time zones working for you? I saw you tweet that you were very excited

00:00:39 ◼   ► that since our last episode the OmniFocus beta is now OmniFocus stable, and the most recent update

00:00:46 ◼   ► brought with it floating time zone support. Well, one, have you enabled it? Two, have you tested it?

00:00:50 ◼   ► Right. Well, you immediately put a little rain cloud on my happy parade by putting the idea in

00:00:58 ◼   ► in my head of, "Oh, I hope your database migration goes fine."

00:01:04 ◼   ► I was surprised.

00:01:05 ◼   ► I was trying to get a rise out of you, and I was surprised that you didn't say anything

00:01:10 ◼   ► back, but now I've achieved because you haven't got it out of your head clearly, which makes

00:01:15 ◼   ► me feel even better.

00:01:16 ◼   ► Right.

00:01:17 ◼   ► Well, what you should imagine is that when I tweeted something like, "Long have I waited

00:01:23 ◼   ► for this day and the smile on my face and then you said to me, "I hope that database migration goes

00:01:30 ◼   ► well." Just imagine the lids of my eyes slightly narrowing in annoyance at you. That was sort of my

00:01:37 ◼   ► reaction. Like, I'm not going to dignify this with a reply. I know what he wants. I'm not going to

00:01:44 ◼   ► give him what he wants. You know that like what you're doing right now, this is so much better

00:01:47 ◼   ► for me than any reply you could have given. I feel very pleased about this.

00:01:53 ◼   ► Good, I'm glad you're happy. It's not an unreasonable comment on your end. So I sort of waited a couple

00:02:00 ◼   ► of days until the release had worked its way through all of my various devices which have

00:02:05 ◼   ► different frequencies of being actually connected to the internet. And you get a little message from

00:02:10 ◼   ► Omni which says, "Hey, all your devices are ready. Would you like to upgrade your database?" And so

00:02:15 ◼   ► So it had been a few days, I felt relatively comfortable,

00:02:18 ◼   ► there was no emergency update.

00:02:20 ◼   ► So yes, I updated, and then a beauty for the eye to behold.

00:02:24 ◼   ► Now, below in OmniFocus where you select the date

00:02:29 ◼   ► or the deferred date, there's a little checkbox

00:02:32 ◼   ► that says use floating time zones.

00:02:35 ◼   ► - Just in time for all the travel.

00:02:37 ◼   ► (laughing)

00:02:38 ◼   ► - All right, well, so, this is like two weeks ago,

00:02:43 ◼   ► I immediately opened up OmniFocus to my perspective where I can see every single task that I have

00:02:49 ◼   ► currently available or at any time in the future.

00:02:52 ◼   ► I did a "Select All", very carefully checked the "Use Floating Timezones" button,

00:02:59 ◼   ► and as far as I can tell, everything went great.

00:03:03 ◼   ► But yes, it is a little bit of a "Gift of the Magi" situation because it was a week before I started getting concerned about coronavirus

00:03:12 ◼   ► and then two weeks before when everybody started getting concerned about

00:03:15 ◼   ► coronavirus. And so, you know,

00:03:18 ◼   ► because you've been trying to nail me down for Cortex scheduling times,

00:03:21 ◼   ► I had a Summer of Gray travel plan that

00:03:26 ◼   ► started in April and ended in maybe July.

00:03:30 ◼   ► Yeah. Of all of the time that I've known you,

00:03:32 ◼   ► this was the wildest Cortexmas season that you were about to embark

00:03:37 ◼   ► upon.

00:03:37 ◼   ► No, Summer of Gray is not Cortexmas, right?

00:03:39 ◼   ► Oh, you're finally saying this now? Because I thought there was summer

00:03:43 ◼   ► cortexmas. This is the line that you have always given me.

00:03:46 ◼   ► No, no, no, like, cortexmas is a relaxed time, right, where there's no work or anything.

00:03:52 ◼   ► Summer of grey is a travel time, and it's not cortexmas because it's extra stressful trying to

00:03:59 ◼   ► fit in when can cortex recordings happen. Cortexmas is a joyous time.

00:04:03 ◼   ► Right, right. A summer of grey, a summer of travel, is much more mixed, right?

00:04:09 ◼   ► The emotional resonance is much more mixed.

00:04:12 ◼   ► As is always the case, but there's a bunch of conferences or events

00:04:16 ◼   ► and you start committing to things and then

00:04:19 ◼   ► I never like to change time zones if I don't absolutely have to

00:04:22 ◼   ► and so I always end up combining a whole bunch of things together

00:04:26 ◼   ► where I say, "Well, if there's only five days between these two events,

00:04:29 ◼   ► I'm not going to go back to London and then return.

00:04:32 ◼   ► That's crazy. Let me figure out something else I can do."

00:04:35 ◼   ► So I had stuff that started on April 1st and was tentative to the end of June or July, depending on a few things.

00:04:44 ◼   ► And basically after the floating time zones got implemented, I was like, "Wow, I'm really gonna give this a workout this summer."

00:04:51 ◼   ► One by one, events started to cancel and I quickly was looking at a schedule that just didn't make sense anymore.

00:04:59 ◼   ► And so like, Summer of Grey is cancelled.

00:05:02 ◼   ► There is no Summer of Grey.

00:05:03 ◼   ► All of my summer travel plans have been cancelled.

00:05:06 ◼   ► This is not happening.

00:05:07 ◼   ► So while I do have floating time zones, I will not be in an environment to test their...

00:05:14 ◼   ► - Floatiness.

00:05:14 ◼   ► - Yeah, I will not be able to test their floatiness for...

00:05:18 ◼   ► I don't know, months?

00:05:20 ◼   ► September?

00:05:21 ◼   ► - Maybe.

00:05:21 ◼   ► - Maybe the earliest?

00:05:23 ◼   ► October?

00:05:23 ◼   ► I don't know.

00:05:24 ◼   ► Like, we're gonna have to see how this goes, but maybe not until 2021?

00:05:28 ◼   ► We'll see. So thank you, OmniFocus.

00:05:30 ◼   ► I'm really happy to have all those checkboxes checked,

00:05:33 ◼   ► but I will not actually be able to test them for maybe the rest of the year.

00:05:38 ◼   ► One of the things that's been canceled is WWDC.

00:05:40 ◼   ► Yes. Which I only really bring up at this point because it means

00:05:44 ◼   ► we will not be doing our much loved in-person WWDC reactions episode, I guess.

00:05:49 ◼   ► Yes. I have to say, though,

00:05:52 ◼   ► I've been waiting with bated breath for what is Apple going to do?

00:05:56 ◼   ► And there were two things I thought were going to happen.

00:05:59 ◼   ► And I love, I love the way that Apple has done this.

00:06:01 ◼   ► Their, their announcement is, "Coming this summer, WWDC 20 brings a completely new

00:06:10 ◼   ► online experience to millions of talented creative developers around the world.

00:06:14 ◼   ► Join us for a fully packed program, keynote and sessions, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah."

00:06:19 ◼   ► It's so Apple to be like, "Coronavirus?

00:06:22 ◼   ► Never heard of it.

00:06:23 ◼   ► I don't know what you're talking about."

00:06:24 ◼   ► They mention it in their press release kind of.

00:06:27 ◼   ► Oh do they?

00:06:28 ◼   ► In the press release they say due to the global health concern.

00:06:32 ◼   ► And then they had another press release that went up a couple of days later talking about

00:06:37 ◼   ► their coronavirus efforts and in that one they mentioned WWDC being online.

00:06:42 ◼   ► So it's like this reverse staged process that they went through.

00:06:47 ◼   ► But you know I kind of get it right?

00:06:49 ◼   ► Like in the WWDC thing you don't want to bring it down.

00:06:52 ◼   ► Like they want to make it like, don't worry,

00:06:54 ◼   ► it's still going to be good and fun and great.

00:06:58 ◼   ► You know, I get that.

00:06:59 ◼   ► Like if I was writing that message, that's what I would do.

00:07:01 ◼   ► - Oh, I agree.

00:07:02 ◼   ► Yeah, I agree 100%.

00:07:04 ◼   ► It's just, it's funny because it's so Apple, right?

00:07:08 ◼   ► - Yes. - This is 100%

00:07:11 ◼   ► what you would expect Apple to do.

00:07:13 ◼   ► It's not wrong, I'm not saying it's bad,

00:07:16 ◼   ► but it makes me laugh because it's just, it's perfect.

00:07:20 ◼   ► I am personally very frustrated about June.

00:07:23 ◼   ► - What do you mean? - There's no date.

00:07:24 ◼   ► - Oh, I didn't even realize that, right, this June.

00:07:27 ◼   ► - I have to plan my life around

00:07:29 ◼   ► when is WWDC going to be happening, right?

00:07:32 ◼   ► I have a lot of preparation to still do,

00:07:33 ◼   ► even though I'm gonna be at home now.

00:07:35 ◼   ► But in theory, this week may be busier in different ways

00:07:39 ◼   ► because I will actually be able to consume

00:07:41 ◼   ► all of the information, which I can't usually do

00:07:43 ◼   ► because there's other things going on

00:07:44 ◼   ► when we're at San Jose.

00:07:47 ◼   ► So I would really like to know

00:07:48 ◼   ► when exactly they're gonna do it.

00:07:49 ◼   ► My personal theory of why is because they still, I reckon,

00:07:53 ◼   ► would like to do a keynote where they invite press to come.

00:07:56 ◼   ► And so they don't want to announce a date yet

00:07:59 ◼   ► in case it's like, well, if we just did it a week later,

00:08:01 ◼   ► we can do that, right?

00:08:03 ◼   ► But depending on what the situation will actually be like

00:08:06 ◼   ► in June, because they don't have to have anybody

00:08:08 ◼   ► plan anything, they can choose the date

00:08:11 ◼   ► whenever is best for them.

00:08:12 ◼   ► So I get why they've done it,

00:08:13 ◼   ► but I would love to know when that date's gonna be

00:08:16 ◼   ► with a little bit of notice.

00:08:18 ◼   ► Yeah, that's an interesting point.

00:08:19 ◼   ► If your theory is right, you should assume that this is just like when Apple says,

00:08:24 ◼   ► "Oh, the new whatever coming out in fall."

00:08:27 ◼   ► And you just, you just say, "Okay, what is the last day that a reasonable

00:08:33 ◼   ► person could remotely consider fall?"

00:08:35 ◼   ► And that, that is when Apple is going to say, "It's the end of fall."

00:08:39 ◼   ► They need to give a bit of notice on this one, not just for people like me,

00:08:42 ◼   ► but for actual developers who need to plan that like there's, they're

00:08:46 ◼   ► going to be learning for a week, right?

00:08:48 ◼   ► They are planning around, like, okay, we've got to shut down a lot of our regular business

00:08:52 ◼   ► activities because I'll be consuming courses.

00:08:55 ◼   ► And hopefully, something we don't know yet, like, will there be any sessions, like interactive

00:08:59 ◼   ► things, that WWDC will allow between developers and Apple engineers?

00:09:05 ◼   ► We don't know if any of that stuff's going to happen.

00:09:07 ◼   ► And I'm sure they will.

00:09:08 ◼   ► I reckon sometime in May they will announce the dates of all of this stuff.

00:09:11 ◼   ► I know there could be a possibility.

00:09:12 ◼   ► We'll see how things go.

00:09:14 ◼   ► Maybe you could come to Mega Studio and we could record in person for funsies.

00:09:17 ◼   ► Don't plan on me to come.

00:09:19 ◼   ► The Grey household is in quarantine.

00:09:21 ◼   ► Yeah, yeah, I imagine.

00:09:22 ◼   ► It's not gonna happen.

00:09:23 ◼   ► But again, you know, I'm trying to stay optimistic, Grey.

00:09:24 ◼   ► Like June is a way away.

00:09:26 ◼   ► Yeah, no, June is a way away.

00:09:28 ◼   ► I'm looking at the calendar and I think Smart Money is June 22nd to 26th if they want to

00:09:34 ◼   ► do a whole like, look at all these events and try to have a period of time.

00:09:39 ◼   ► Yeah, and I've just three months.

00:09:41 ◼   ► Three months is a lot can happen in three months, you know?

00:09:43 ◼   ► Yeah, but I'm just saying like if you're if you're trying to make money on when is WWDC my top bet would be

00:09:48 ◼   ► 22 to 26th and my second bet would be 29th to the third or they can be like it started in June

00:09:54 ◼   ► It was that's totally June June 29th. That's when WWDC is

00:09:58 ◼   ► While we're on this subject, I have a couple of rumors I would like to share with you. Okay

00:10:03 ◼   ► One is that there is a smart keyboard with a trackpad in the works for release sometime soon

00:10:11 ◼   ► The original idea is that this was going to come sometime in March, but who knows now,

00:10:16 ◼   ► like everything's up in the air.

00:10:17 ◼   ► But with a new iPad Pro, which should be in theory debuted sometime before WWDC, there

00:10:23 ◼   ► is also a rumor of, and this has come from multiple sources now, a trackpad smart keyboard

00:10:30 ◼   ► in development.

00:10:31 ◼   ► So there will be a smart keyboard that integrates a trackpad inside of it.

00:10:39 ◼   ► This is where, sorry, it's like the Apple language

00:10:41 ◼   ► sometimes gets me.

00:10:43 ◼   ► I'm thinking like Magic Keyboard,

00:10:45 ◼   ► but no, Magic Keyboard is not Smart Keyboard.

00:10:46 ◼   ► - Smart Keyboard is the iPad keyboard, right?

00:10:48 ◼   ► - Right, right, yes.

00:10:49 ◼   ► - The one that goes on the iPad.

00:10:50 ◼   ► So like the Smart Folio or whatever you would call it

00:10:52 ◼   ► with a trackpad inside of it.

00:10:54 ◼   ► And then iOS 14 is expected to get full on cursor support.

00:10:59 ◼   ► - Where would the trackpad go?

00:11:03 ◼   ► - Well, this is it, right?

00:11:04 ◼   ► There is a lot of questions about how exactly

00:11:07 ◼   ► they would make it.

00:11:08 ◼   ► you could make a completely different product,

00:11:10 ◼   ► something more like bridge,

00:11:11 ◼   ► where you have an integrated hinge,

00:11:13 ◼   ► but that would make it a lot heavier,

00:11:15 ◼   ► or something I'd considered,

00:11:16 ◼   ► like you could maybe have an extra fold out portion,

00:11:19 ◼   ► which has a track pad.

00:11:20 ◼   ► You remember like the old smart keyboard

00:11:22 ◼   ► used to be this origami nonsense, right?

00:11:25 ◼   ► So they might move more towards something like that again,

00:11:28 ◼   ► to allow them to make that work.

00:11:31 ◼   ► That's kind of something that I was wondering.

00:11:33 ◼   ► But yeah, so then potentially,

00:11:35 ◼   ► let's imagine they release it before,

00:11:38 ◼   ► WWDC before iPad OS 14 and they like say, oh, it has limited support via this means or whatever.

00:11:44 ◼   ► But then with iOS 14 or iPad OS 14, it is expected now, according to some new rumors from 9to5Mac,

00:11:52 ◼   ► that there will be a full-on cursor

00:11:55 ◼   ► in iPad OS. I'm very excited about this.

00:11:59 ◼   ► So when you say full-on cursor, having now played with several times that accessibility feature,

00:12:05 ◼   ► What does that mean compared to the current functionality?

00:12:09 ◼   ► So this will apparently be pointers like you're used to, like on a Mac.

00:12:14 ◼   ► An arrow and a hand, those kinds of things.

00:12:17 ◼   ► I wouldn't be surprised if it is represented slightly differently,

00:12:21 ◼   ► but the idea is that it should look more like something you're used to.

00:12:25 ◼   ► So quoting them, this includes support for multiple pointers depending on what is being hovered over.

00:12:31 ◼   ► like switching from a standard arrow pointer to a pointing hand when hovering over links.

00:12:36 ◼   ► That's really interesting.

00:12:37 ◼   ► There is also gestures, right clicks, all that kind of stuff that's going to be coming,

00:12:41 ◼   ► in theory, as part of iPadOS 14.

00:12:43 ◼   ► That's very interesting. Are you excited?

00:12:45 ◼   ► I'm absolutely thrilled by it.

00:12:47 ◼   ► So like over the last week or so, I've pretty much just used my iPad in the stand with my

00:12:55 ◼   ► keyboard and the mouse. Like that's how I've been using it. I have been...

00:13:00 ◼   ► I had a little bit of a problem in my hand because of it, because I was only using a mouse,

00:13:04 ◼   ► right? Where like when I sit down at my iMac or if I use my iPad with not in the stand mode,

00:13:10 ◼   ► I'm using more input devices. So like I'm just being mindful of that. I wish I could connect

00:13:15 ◼   ► a trackpad to my iPad right now. So I had a way to separate between mouse and trackpad. But like

00:13:21 ◼   ► that's just a thing I have to, I have to just be a bit more smart about the way I'm doing that.

00:13:25 ◼   ► Like I might get two different mice, you know, one more ergonomic and one more regular as a way to

00:13:30 ◼   ► Just kind of, as we spoke about in the past, both me and Gray do this, we have multiple input devices that we just cycle through,

00:13:37 ◼   ► and it just reduces the repetitive strain in any area.

00:13:40 ◼   ► And that has been an absolute savior for me over the past years.

00:13:45 ◼   ► Yeah, on my desk right now, the things I constantly switch between is I have the, you know, the MX Master 3 ergonomic mouse,

00:13:52 ◼   ► but I also keep the MX Anywhere 2S just on the other side of my keyboard,

00:13:58 ◼   ► so that I can even just switch between the left and right hands in different devices.

00:14:02 ◼   ► It's such a lifesaver with RSI stuff, being able to switch between two different things.

00:14:06 ◼   ► So which MX are you using?

00:14:08 ◼   ► The latest one, MX Master 3.

00:14:10 ◼   ► I use that in my right hand because it's sculpted for the right hand.

00:14:12 ◼   ► Right, but that's not the ergonomic one though.

00:14:15 ◼   ► Oh, yeah, that is the other one.

00:14:17 ◼   ► So I cycle those two on my right hand, the trackball ergonomic one.

00:14:22 ◼   ► I'll swap between that trackball and the regular mouse from my right hand.

00:14:25 ◼   ► I haven't tried one of the trackball ones. Do you recommend I give that a go?

00:14:29 ◼   ► Wait, which one are you talking about then when you mean the ergonomic one?

00:14:32 ◼   ► Oh no, the vertical. I use the MX vertical.

00:14:35 ◼   ► Oh, the vertical one.

00:14:35 ◼   ► It's another one of their ergonomic knives.

00:14:37 ◼   ► Okay, yes. So I did get the vertical one and I tried it, but I found for me it wasn't helpful.

00:14:44 ◼   ► I felt like it was aggravating some stuff in my arm the way that it worked.

00:14:47 ◼   ► I actually do find that a little bit, so I don't use it all the time,

00:14:50 ◼   ► but if I use it too much, it can be a different thing.

00:14:53 ◼   ► God, which is the worst. I hate this. I hate this.

00:14:57 ◼   ► I know, I know.

00:14:58 ◼   ► It has become much more manageable in my life since I've known you, right?

00:15:02 ◼   ► But I still, it's just so much of a pain.

00:15:05 ◼   ► Yeah, and I know that this is a thing that we talk about on the show all the time,

00:15:09 ◼   ► but it really is, like, it's such a problem when your whole life revolves around making

00:15:16 ◼   ► things on computers and iPads and what are the input devices. And I've said it before,

00:15:22 ◼   ► but I always think of this science fiction story of like,

00:15:24 ◼   ► oh, these poor creatures that are made of sand

00:15:26 ◼   ► and they have to be very careful

00:15:28 ◼   ► about what they're eroding away.

00:15:30 ◼   ► And that's what it is,

00:15:31 ◼   ► like cycling between these different devices.

00:15:33 ◼   ► Like, well, am I eroding away the joints in my arm

00:15:36 ◼   ► or the joints in my wrist?

00:15:37 ◼   ► Like I have to pick one

00:15:39 ◼   ► and the question is just cycle evenly between them

00:15:43 ◼   ► to have the maximum amount of career that you possibly can.

00:15:46 ◼   ► But yeah, so when you talk about that vertical one,

00:15:50 ◼   ► I know people who love and live by vertical mice, and I ages ago did use to use one, but

00:15:57 ◼   ► that one and my current desk setup, I decided just not to use it.

00:16:02 ◼   ► But with my right hand, I mainly alternate between the MX Master 3, which is like a traditional

00:16:08 ◼   ► mouse that's sculpted to fit your hand, and I've always been a big, big proponent of the

00:16:14 ◼   ► trackball mice.

00:16:15 ◼   ► And Logitech, maybe two years ago, updated their very, very old trackball design.

00:16:21 ◼   ► And I love it.

00:16:22 ◼   ► Like, I think that thing is great.

00:16:23 ◼   ► And that's always the device that I travel with.

00:16:26 ◼   ► Okay.

00:16:27 ◼   ► Yeah, I've seen you use that.

00:16:28 ◼   ► I think I saw you use it at my bachelor party.

00:16:30 ◼   ► I think I stumbled upon you one day.

00:16:34 ◼   ► You were using it, which was a funny thing for me to see.

00:16:37 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:16:38 ◼   ► And it's also an insight into how exciting Myke's bachelor party is.

00:16:41 ◼   ► Hey, what's that?

00:16:42 ◼   ► What's that input device?

00:16:43 ◼   ► Bachelor party was great for the people that were there.

00:16:47 ◼   ► Let me tell you, I wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

00:16:49 ◼   ► No.

00:16:50 ◼   ► My brothers didn't get it, but everybody else had a great time.

00:16:54 ◼   ► We were just a big nerdy bachelor party.

00:16:58 ◼   ► And I think your brothers got a view into, "Oh, what is Myke's life and friends like?"

00:17:03 ◼   ► Yeah, they had to have, and they did kind of have their own bachelor party in the evenings,

00:17:08 ◼   ► and we just all went to bed.

00:17:10 ◼   ► This MXM ergo, have you used it with an iPad at all?

00:17:14 ◼   ► Have you tried?

00:17:15 ◼   ► The trackball one?

00:17:16 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:17:17 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:17:18 ◼   ► And it works?

00:17:19 ◼   ► That is actually when I was telling you last time about, oh, I tried it with the mouse.

00:17:21 ◼   ► That was actually the device that I was using, was using the ergo.

00:17:24 ◼   ► And I like it a lot.

00:17:25 ◼   ► So this one doesn't move.

00:17:27 ◼   ► Like you put it down and it stays where it is, right?

00:17:29 ◼   ► And then you move the trackball.

00:17:31 ◼   ► That's how it works.

00:17:32 ◼   ► Yes.

00:17:33 ◼   ► So in the decision of what am I eroding away?

00:17:38 ◼   ► This is the device that allows you to focus solely on eroding away your thumb joints.

00:17:43 ◼   ► So the reason I like to switch with that one is it completely takes your wrist out of the

00:17:50 ◼   ► whole situation.

00:17:51 ◼   ► And the reason I travel with it is because it is by far and away the best device to use

00:17:56 ◼   ► if you're in cramped quarters.

00:17:58 ◼   ► So if you're on an airplane or if you don't know what the hotel desk is going to be like,

00:18:04 ◼   ► you want a trackball because you don't have to move your hand.

00:18:07 ◼   ► I hadn't thought of that before. You could put it anywhere, right?

00:18:10 ◼   ► So one of the things I do on flights is I will often have it on my lap.

00:18:15 ◼   ► Yes.

00:18:16 ◼   ► Like I won't even try to put it on the tray table.

00:18:18 ◼   ► You just have it on your lap and you can use it that way.

00:18:20 ◼   ► So I highly recommend to anybody-

00:18:22 ◼   ► Oh, it's £22 off on Amazon right now.

00:18:25 ◼   ► Oh, great. There you go. Perfect. Pick one up.

00:18:27 ◼   ► [Laughter]

00:18:28 ◼   ► Anyone who travels a lot, you should seriously consider using a trackball as an input device when you're traveling.

00:18:33 ◼   ► It's a little weird to get used to at first in the same way that ages ago we talked about how

00:18:38 ◼   ► pen tablets are a little weird to get used to at first, but once you adapt to it, you'll really

00:18:44 ◼   ► like it as an alternate pointing device. Obviously lots of people are working from home at the moment.

00:18:49 ◼   ► This is the thing that is becoming a thing. If we can give you one piece of advice about your

00:18:54 ◼   ► working from home life, this is it. It's really watching the input devices that you're using

00:19:00 ◼   ► and being very careful of posture because office environments, they are built to try

00:19:07 ◼   ► and give you good posture because your bosses do not want you to ever have any kind of injury

00:19:13 ◼   ► that could stop you from producing the work that they need. I could get, when I was working

00:19:20 ◼   ► at the bank, any type of ergonomic support I needed, they would provide it. They had

00:19:25 ◼   ► assessments and all that kind of stuff.

00:19:27 ◼   ► That was like a thing.

00:19:28 ◼   ► It's like, please be careful of your posture and consider moving around.

00:19:33 ◼   ► Like if you start getting pains in your hands or risks, then think about different input

00:19:37 ◼   ► devices.

00:19:38 ◼   ► Because I bet a lot of people are working from laptops where they're used to working

00:19:40 ◼   ► at desktops.

00:19:41 ◼   ► I bet that's the thing that's happening right now.

00:19:43 ◼   ► Yeah, for sure.

00:19:45 ◼   ► I agree.

00:19:46 ◼   ► That's definitely a work at home tip.

00:19:48 ◼   ► I'm going to add to the other one, which is, um, I know that, I know that your

00:19:54 ◼   ► mega studio has some progress, which I'm, which I'm very interested to hear.

00:19:58 ◼   ► I was again, 10, 14 days ago, very excited because I, I finally had found someone

00:20:04 ◼   ► who was going to take me around to a few office options locally that I thought

00:20:08 ◼   ► like, okay, thank God I'm going to be able to get a, an office out of my house.

00:20:11 ◼   ► And then I was like, Oh, I need to cancel this because of coronavirus.

00:20:15 ◼   ► I was like, this is, you know, when I don't want to be touring a whole

00:20:18 ◼   ► bunch of office buildings and then immediately moving into dense

00:20:21 ◼   ► office buildings right now.

00:20:23 ◼   ► So I was like, Nope, canceled.

00:20:24 ◼   ► But my other main tip for, okay, the gray household is in quarantine.

00:20:29 ◼   ► I have to hunker down for a while is even in small spaces, I'm very, very

00:20:35 ◼   ► insistent on always trying to divide up.

00:20:38 ◼   ► If you have different kinds of work, do them in different places.

00:20:42 ◼   ► And so while I've been working at home, I caught myself being a little bit lazy about sometimes doing administrative work on my main,

00:20:49 ◼   ► like the main iMac computer that I have that I'm recording with you right now.

00:20:54 ◼   ► I was like, "Oh, sometimes I'll do email on this this machine." I'm like, "No, no, no.

00:20:57 ◼   ► Confine all administrative communication work to one laptop, and I'm just like, I'm just gonna sit at the kitchen table when I do administration work,

00:21:07 ◼   ► and to create that real little division of

00:21:11 ◼   ► productive work versus logistic and administrative work and now I'm being super serious since I know

00:21:18 ◼   ► that I'm working at home into making sure that I keep those two spaces clean and clear into what

00:21:25 ◼   ► they're used for and I think that stuff just helps if you're in the same environment over a long

00:21:30 ◼   ► period of time like define little areas and have specific activities for those areas.

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00:22:42 ◼   ► While we are in the coronavirus portion of the show,

00:22:46 ◼   ► I want to talk about the journals.

00:22:48 ◼   ► Oh yes, how are the journals doing?

00:22:50 ◼   ► I don't want to talk about this because it's sad to me,

00:22:54 ◼   ► but I have to address it because it's important.

00:22:56 ◼   ► So we had been working on having journals for sale again

00:23:01 ◼   ► in late March, early April to allow people

00:23:04 ◼   ► who had been using the system to make sure

00:23:06 ◼   ► they had their new book for a new quarter.

00:23:09 ◼   ► We got our order in before Lunar New Year.

00:23:11 ◼   ► We are now, of course, dealing with coronavirus.

00:23:14 ◼   ► We were supposed to have them in time.

00:23:15 ◼   ► The order was placed because I've learned

00:23:17 ◼   ► from the year previous that everything shuts down.

00:23:21 ◼   ► But if you had been following this,

00:23:23 ◼   ► coronavirus hit China during Lunar New Year.

00:23:27 ◼   ► So they extended it.

00:23:28 ◼   ► And then China was first and they have been dealing with it

00:23:31 ◼   ► and it seems like they're starting to come out of it.

00:23:35 ◼   ► But coronavirus is affecting manufacturing.

00:23:38 ◼   ► I actually want to put in the show notes

00:23:39 ◼   ► a video from Linus Tech Tips,

00:23:41 ◼   ► where Linus has a really good kind of overview

00:23:44 ◼   ► of the knock-on effects that can happen

00:23:47 ◼   ► due to these types of things in manufacturing.

00:23:50 ◼   ► And obviously he's mainly talking about computer parts,

00:23:54 ◼   ► but this affects all manufacture.

00:23:56 ◼   ► So I just want to put that in there.

00:23:57 ◼   ► I find it very interesting to see how these types of issues can affect manufacture.

00:24:02 ◼   ► Is he talking about the just-in-time manufacturing kind of stuff?

00:24:05 ◼   ► It's just in time, but also just like regular manufacturing.

00:24:10 ◼   ► You can be ready, you can have a stockpile of stuff,

00:24:12 ◼   ► but then there are problems about moving it.

00:24:14 ◼   ► So you may not be in just-in-time manufacturing,

00:24:18 ◼   ► you may be in a manufacturing process where you have warehouses full of stuff,

00:24:22 ◼   ► but now the trucks can't move it.

00:24:25 ◼   ► So it doesn't matter how much stuff you have if it can't be taken to the port.

00:24:30 ◼   ► Yeah, I find it kind of endlessly fascinating modern supply chain logistics

00:24:35 ◼   ► and it's because it is this weird combination of breathtakingly efficient

00:24:42 ◼   ► but also terrifyingly fragile.

00:24:45 ◼   ► It is a very incredibly well-made house of cards, but a house of cards it still is.

00:24:52 ◼   ► Yeah, that's a good way to put it. And it's like, "Oh hey, guess what? If Chinese factories shut

00:24:58 ◼   ► down for two weeks, that's not the same kind of thing like, 'Oh, you got two weeks of snow days

00:25:05 ◼   ► at your school.' Like, 'Oh yeah, there's disruption, but it's localized and contained.'" It's like,

00:25:10 ◼   ► "No, no, no. That will ripple out for a year." So as it stands right now, the most recent update

00:25:18 ◼   ► date we have had from our manufacturer is that the notebooks will be completed on April

00:25:22 ◼   ► 5th, but these timelines are incredibly hard to predict. Like that's what they have given

00:25:27 ◼   ► to us, they are working, we've been told, and we're going to get an update at the end

00:25:32 ◼   ► of March and then we're going to move from there. But even if they were ready on April

00:25:37 ◼   ► 5th, which I don't think will be the date, I think it will slip into sometime later in

00:25:41 ◼   ► April, this is just when the books are made, we still need to then have samples sent and

00:25:46 ◼   ► and we know what happened last time.

00:25:48 ◼   ► The samples just fall out of a box somewhere

00:25:51 ◼   ► and then they have to be shipped.

00:25:52 ◼   ► So honestly, I don't know when we're gonna have

00:25:55 ◼   ► journals back in stock and all I can do is apologize.

00:26:00 ◼   ► I'm sorry.

00:26:01 ◼   ► And it's causing me great anxiety because

00:26:03 ◼   ► I know there are a lot of people that have

00:26:06 ◼   ► bought into this idea because they believe in it like we do.

00:26:10 ◼   ► And it just makes me, I feel so upset about the fact

00:26:14 ◼   ► that we can't provide people with the notebooks

00:26:18 ◼   ► if they want them or need them.

00:26:20 ◼   ► - Yeah, it is a real bummer because we are in that position

00:26:24 ◼   ► of people who really like it want to get the next one

00:26:28 ◼   ► if they're using it every day, and it's like,

00:26:30 ◼   ► oh, we're coming up against that deadline,

00:26:32 ◼   ► but we're just not gonna be able to do that.

00:26:35 ◼   ► - So yeah, I take solace in the idea

00:26:37 ◼   ► that our system is simple enough that somebody could,

00:26:39 ◼   ► once they're into it, they could draw it out

00:26:41 ◼   ► for themselves in a notebook,

00:26:42 ◼   ► but I hope that you will then still buy another one

00:26:46 ◼   ► later down the line.

00:26:48 ◼   ► - Yeah, you can have a makeshift quarantine notebook

00:26:52 ◼   ► to get you through this difficult time.

00:26:54 ◼   ► But yeah, for those of you keeping score at home,

00:26:58 ◼   ► what can delay a physical product?

00:27:01 ◼   ► We have been through many things

00:27:03 ◼   ► and now you can add pandemic to that list.

00:27:07 ◼   ► - I hadn't realized that until you just said it.

00:27:10 ◼   ► Like, this was supposed to be the one where it's like,

00:27:14 ◼   ► okay, we've experienced everything now.

00:27:16 ◼   ► - Right, yeah, yeah.

00:27:17 ◼   ► - So we can plan, right?

00:27:18 ◼   ► So I had planned everything into this, like lead time-wise.

00:27:23 ◼   ► - We were very confident last time we spoke about it,

00:27:26 ◼   ► like, oh, we've been through a bunch of orders.

00:27:28 ◼   ► - What else could happen?

00:27:29 ◼   ► - Yeah, what else could happen?

00:27:31 ◼   ► Pandemic can happen.

00:27:32 ◼   ► - So yeah, look, obviously it doesn't need to be said,

00:27:35 ◼   ► but we most first and foremost just want everybody

00:27:40 ◼   ► who is involved in our notebooks to be safe, right?

00:27:42 ◼   ► Like that is what we care about most.

00:27:44 ◼   ► And that's why we are just taking this on the chin.

00:27:48 ◼   ► But it still brings me great anxiety and sadness, right?

00:27:53 ◼   ► That we can't continue the way that we want.

00:27:57 ◼   ► But things are still moving ahead.

00:27:59 ◼   ► There will be books at some point.

00:28:01 ◼   ► We are still moving ahead with version two.

00:28:03 ◼   ► The design of version two is now finished

00:28:06 ◼   ► and we're currently getting quotes for that.

00:28:08 ◼   ► So my hope will be by the end of the year,

00:28:10 ◼   ► we will have a slightly revised version two,

00:28:13 ◼   ► and that's when the big order will come.

00:28:15 ◼   ► But who knows what's going to happen now?

00:28:16 ◼   ► Like it's it's all very up in the air, but.

00:28:18 ◼   ► Bear with us, I guess.

00:28:23 ◼   ► All right, so sad things, happy things.

00:28:25 ◼   ► How is mega studio progressing?

00:28:28 ◼   ► Well, I mean, how can a studio progress when you're quarantined?

00:28:31 ◼   ► Well, OK, so you're not going to mega studio?

00:28:35 ◼   ► Are you joining the ranks of everyone working at home?

00:28:38 ◼   ► Like what's the deal here?

00:28:40 ◼   ► 'Cause I thought stuff was still happening with Mega Studio.

00:28:42 ◼   ► - Well, yes and no.

00:28:44 ◼   ► So like I have been in self-isolation

00:28:47 ◼   ► for the last couple of weeks.

00:28:49 ◼   ► - Okay.

00:28:50 ◼   ► - But it's worked out fine anyway

00:28:51 ◼   ► 'cause we haven't really needed to be at the studio.

00:28:53 ◼   ► So I kind of took this as a time to do it.

00:28:55 ◼   ► - Okay.

00:28:56 ◼   ► - But we are going to be back in the studio next week

00:28:59 ◼   ► because we have a lot of deliveries coming.

00:29:01 ◼   ► This is mostly all to do with soundproofing

00:29:05 ◼   ► trying to get the audio environment right.

00:29:07 ◼   ► And it has been an ordeal over the last couple of weeks.

00:29:11 ◼   ► So I started to notice these loud dings coming

00:29:14 ◼   ► from the pipes in the room.

00:29:17 ◼   ► And we had a contractor come out and look at it.

00:29:20 ◼   ► And it's basically like, well, that's

00:29:22 ◼   ► just what these radiators are going to do.

00:29:23 ◼   ► So it's like, OK.

00:29:24 ◼   ► So it's like thermal expansion and contraction kind of stuff?

00:29:27 ◼   ► Yeah, or there's like sediment in the pipes.

00:29:32 ◼   ► Oh, OK.

00:29:33 ◼   ► Right?

00:29:34 ◼   ► just because it's like an old system.

00:29:35 ◼   ► - Right.

00:29:36 ◼   ► So there's rocks moving around in there.

00:29:39 ◼   ► - Probably.

00:29:40 ◼   ► And like, yeah, there is a thing you can do for this,

00:29:42 ◼   ► which is to run this like sludge through,

00:29:45 ◼   ► but we would need to do that on the entire building,

00:29:50 ◼   ► which is not going to happen.

00:29:51 ◼   ► We need to rule that one out.

00:29:52 ◼   ► There is no way we're going to be able to convince

00:29:55 ◼   ► the owner of the building to do this work.

00:29:58 ◼   ► And neither would I even bother,

00:30:00 ◼   ► because it's not important to anyone else except us.

00:30:04 ◼   ► All right, so it's like fine, whatever,

00:30:06 ◼   ► we'll find another way of doing it.

00:30:07 ◼   ► And so we're just gonna get some foam insulation

00:30:10 ◼   ► to put around the pipes, like actual pipe insulation.

00:30:12 ◼   ► It will dampen it a little bit,

00:30:14 ◼   ► and that's kind of all I need.

00:30:16 ◼   ► I've been doing audio tests,

00:30:18 ◼   ► and with a little bit of dampening, it won't be a problem.

00:30:21 ◼   ► - Okay, good.

00:30:22 ◼   ► - Plus, the more that we have spent in the office,

00:30:24 ◼   ► we're realizing that it is around temperature changes,

00:30:28 ◼   ► So just being smart about when the heating is on and off

00:30:31 ◼   ► in the office and how we heat the office

00:30:34 ◼   ► will allow us to reduce that a little bit.

00:30:36 ◼   ► But the soundproofing thing has just been,

00:30:39 ◼   ► it's so difficult.

00:30:41 ◼   ► Idina has been researching all of this.

00:30:43 ◼   ► And so really, there's two things going on here for me.

00:30:48 ◼   ► One, I do not want to build any structures.

00:30:52 ◼   ► Like I think I said this before,

00:30:53 ◼   ► but I am not interested in building a room

00:30:55 ◼   ► inside of the room.

00:30:56 ◼   ► - Right, you don't want a recording booth.

00:30:57 ◼   ► I do not want a booth because I don't want to install anything into the studio

00:31:02 ◼   ► that cannot be easily taken with us whenever we move studio in the future.

00:31:07 ◼   ► And I feel like a structure is built within the constraints of the room that it

00:31:12 ◼   ► is in and that won't be the same if we move, right?

00:31:17 ◼   ► Uh, and,

00:31:19 ◼   ► and I also can't imagine that a room that is built is as easy to break down as

00:31:25 ◼   ► you have some panels, you have some blankets,

00:31:28 ◼   ► you have some foam on the walls, right?

00:31:30 ◼   ► That stuff is more movable, more adjustable.

00:31:34 ◼   ► - Yeah, I mean, I get it that you don't wanna build

00:31:37 ◼   ► a structure inside the office.

00:31:39 ◼   ► I get it, because it's not easy to take with you.

00:31:42 ◼   ► I mean, my thought is, Myke, all of your work

00:31:46 ◼   ► depends on high quality audio.

00:31:47 ◼   ► - Okay, okay, okay, okay.

00:31:48 ◼   ► - So-- - Look, you are doing

00:31:50 ◼   ► what the Reddit is doing,

00:31:51 ◼   ► so allow me to finish my thought process.

00:31:53 ◼   ► No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no

00:32:23 ◼   ► that you say. So it is like plan D, right?

00:32:28 ◼   ► Yeah, the black monolith in my office, which even I disassembled because of being in this

00:32:36 ◼   ► office long term, it doesn't make sense if I'm here for a lot of time.

00:32:40 ◼   ► Oh, I didn't know that.

00:32:42 ◼   ► Yeah, I've disassembled it. Okay, so for the listeners, my home office is this little rectangular

00:32:50 ◼   ► room and the thing that I've referred to as the black monolith in the past is I took the

00:32:56 ◼   ► back 40% of the room and built like a completely self-contained soundproofing cube to do the

00:33:04 ◼   ► podcast recording in.

00:33:05 ◼   ► But yeah, several months ago around the time I got my standing desk when I knew like, oh,

00:33:09 ◼   ► I'm going to be in this home office a lot, I disassembled it and kind of spread the parts

00:33:15 ◼   ► all around the room.

00:33:16 ◼   ► Right, so you turned the booth into sound isolation, which is really all you needed in that room.

00:33:21 ◼   ► Like, you just needed some panels on the walls, but I understand you went a bit overkill, but that's fine.

00:33:26 ◼   ► Yeah, it does. It's less good this way, but it's fine, right? This is the thing of like, it's totally fine.

00:33:33 ◼   ► I would have kept the booth because if I had an additional space, but if I have to make decisions about the space,

00:33:38 ◼   ► like, that's a very different kind of decision. But for me, because I record podcasts so rarely,

00:33:46 ◼   ► that structure totally made sense.

00:33:48 ◼   ► But as you've seen in person,

00:33:50 ◼   ► people would go into that booth and they would just go,

00:33:53 ◼   ► "Oh, no, I don't want to be in this space."

00:33:56 ◼   ► I hate it in there. There's something about really good soundproof rooms

00:34:03 ◼   ► that feel very uncomfortable to be in.

00:34:06 ◼   ► Yeah. It's often like people usually describe it as a pressure on the ears,

00:34:11 ◼   ► or when people talk,

00:34:13 ◼   ► they're uncomfortable because they're just not getting the feedback they're used to hearing from their own voice.

00:34:19 ◼   ► And so, even just my office, if you weren't in the booth,

00:34:24 ◼   ► people didn't like being in the office because there was too much sound absorption in the space.

00:34:29 ◼   ► And so, it made sense for me, like, because I was doing so much less audio than you,

00:34:36 ◼   ► but I'm with you on this, like, you do not want to spend, with the number of shows that you do,

00:34:42 ◼   ► a significant amount of time in a sound coffin. Like that's brutal and if you have to live with

00:34:48 ◼   ► pipe dings, I fully support that and all the audio files who want their perfect wave files with no

00:34:57 ◼   ► reduction in sound quality and no dings, they're gonna have to accept that like, oh, maybe there's

00:35:02 ◼   ► a tiny bit of echo because Myke has to keep his sanity while recording all of these shows.

00:35:07 ◼   ► But that is plan D, right? Like if I can't do this then I will have to get something.

00:35:16 ◼   ► Plan E is hiring a professional because it is incredibly expensive. Like I don't want

00:35:24 ◼   ► to do it, it's incredibly expensive. We are currently working on plan B first.

00:35:32 ◼   ► So plan B is get some stuff that can provide an environment that will work but is not going

00:35:39 ◼   ► to be the permanent solution.

00:35:42 ◼   ► So Adina has been doing so much research and we found some products and they're kind of

00:35:46 ◼   ► all arriving over the next week.

00:35:49 ◼   ► And this includes these, I think I've mentioned these before, like there are these panels

00:35:54 ◼   ► that will go behind me, like they're freestanding.

00:35:57 ◼   ► And they are sound isolating, like they have stuff inside them, I don't know what it is,

00:36:02 ◼   ► like whatever, research.

00:36:04 ◼   ► But they are mainly so I have something behind me

00:36:08 ◼   ► 'cause I don't want to record with an open area behind me.

00:36:11 ◼   ► If anybody approaches me, I wanna be able to see them

00:36:15 ◼   ► from the sides, not from behind, right?

00:36:17 ◼   ► I just don't like that.

00:36:18 ◼   ► Then we found these soundproofing blankets.

00:36:22 ◼   ► And they're very heavy, it's like a five kilogram blanket.

00:36:27 ◼   ► They're massive.

00:36:28 ◼   ► And we bought one of them and I draped it over me

00:36:32 ◼   ► and it completely removed the echo.

00:36:34 ◼   ► - Okay, just to be clear here,

00:36:36 ◼   ► is this a blanket that you could cozy up on the couch with

00:36:41 ◼   ► in your relaxation area, or is this--

00:36:43 ◼   ► - I wouldn't recommend it, 'cause it is,

00:36:46 ◼   ► it's not like a weighted blanket.

00:36:49 ◼   ► Like it's not that idea. - Yeah, that's what

00:36:50 ◼   ► I'm wondering, okay. - It is a blanket

00:36:51 ◼   ► which is heavy, but it is made by a soundproofing company.

00:36:55 ◼   ► - I'd like, I don't know, sound blankets.

00:36:58 ◼   ► - Yeah, I know, right?

00:36:59 ◼   ► I'd never heard of such a thing until we found them.

00:37:00 ◼   ► I've never, I can't believe I haven't come across something like this.

00:37:04 ◼   ► So let me find you.

00:37:05 ◼   ► Sound blankets, heavy duty sound absorbing blankets.

00:37:08 ◼   ► They exist.

00:37:10 ◼   ► Currently unavailable.

00:37:11 ◼   ► Uh, last one purchased by Myke is what Amazon says.

00:37:14 ◼   ► Oh, no, no, no, no, no.

00:37:16 ◼   ► Not Amazon, not Amazon.

00:37:18 ◼   ► This is the company that we used.

00:37:20 ◼   ► I'll put this in the show notes so people can find it.

00:37:22 ◼   ► I'm just, I'm very curious.

00:37:23 ◼   ► Like, I feel like I too have spent a million hours looking at all the various

00:37:27 ◼   ► soundproofing options and this is a new thing I've just never come across.

00:37:30 ◼   ► I didn't have found it. She's very good at research, right?

00:37:32 ◼   ► Like this is something that she came across. And so we ordered,

00:37:35 ◼   ► you'll see them as the VB 76 G black on one side,

00:37:40 ◼   ► white on the other so that I will be looking at the white side,

00:37:43 ◼   ► which I feel will be nicer for me.

00:37:44 ◼   ► So the plan right now is two of these blankets on stands on either side of me,

00:37:50 ◼   ► the soundproofing panel behind,

00:37:54 ◼   ► and then possibly we're going to like build like we have that foam,

00:38:00 ◼   ► right? We're just going to build like a foam roof to go on top of it.

00:38:05 ◼   ► Right. Okay. Yeah.

00:38:06 ◼   ► And then we have good sound panels that are going to go on the wall behind the

00:38:11 ◼   ► desk.

00:38:12 ◼   ► And from the testing that we have done with these elements individually,

00:38:16 ◼   ► I think a combination of all of this will provide us with a good enough for now

00:38:21 ◼   ► solution. Right. Right. So then we can actually be in the studio,

00:38:28 ◼   ► I can record in the studio and then we will be slowly building plan A,

00:38:33 ◼   ► which is more of these panels on the walls, put in some bass traps in,

00:38:39 ◼   ► which are like these phone things that go in the corners and then maybe over my

00:38:44 ◼   ► desk eventually hanging something to stop the echo going into the ceiling.

00:38:49 ◼   ► All of that is more difficult,

00:38:52 ◼   ► more expensive and all of the stuff that we're buying we could use for other

00:38:57 ◼   ► stuff.

00:38:57 ◼   ► So like if I wanted to record video in the space,

00:39:01 ◼   ► I would then have these blankets

00:39:03 ◼   ► that could be placed behind cameras

00:39:05 ◼   ► on the stands that we're buying

00:39:07 ◼   ► and provide different sound isolation.

00:39:09 ◼   ► It can be more moved around, right?

00:39:11 ◼   ► - Oh, that's interesting.

00:39:12 ◼   ► What are you up to there with video mic?

00:39:13 ◼   ► What are you doing?

00:39:15 ◼   ► What little mic-y plans do you have?

00:39:17 ◼   ► - I have recently had the feeling again of video.

00:39:22 ◼   ► - I was like, are you getting back into vlogging?

00:39:24 ◼   ► I always really enjoyed your vlogs

00:39:25 ◼   ► and I was sad when you stopped.

00:39:27 ◼   ► I don't want to do vlogs.

00:39:28 ◼   ► You don't want to be a vlogger?

00:39:30 ◼   ► But I've just had a feeling again of like, the point is just like with all this space,

00:39:38 ◼   ► I have more flexibility again and it might allow for more technology-focused videos to

00:39:45 ◼   ► be produced, potentially.

00:39:47 ◼   ► But my point is just like I want to buy stuff now that can be used in the future.

00:39:53 ◼   ► I don't want to buy things that will just only be used for that one purpose.

00:39:58 ◼   ► So that's the plan.

00:39:59 ◼   ► Yeah, that makes sense.

00:40:00 ◼   ► And that is plan B with plan A of like, as we are continuing to fill the studio up,

00:40:06 ◼   ► then finding more panels to go in the areas where there's still echo.

00:40:10 ◼   ► Because like we still are missing most of our soft furnishings.

00:40:14 ◼   ► We're basically going to buy a massive rug.

00:40:17 ◼   ► A friend of the show, Jason Snow, recommended to me or gave me the phrase

00:40:21 ◼   ► carpet remnant? Have you ever heard of this before? No. So there are

00:40:26 ◼   ► companies that take large offcuts of carpets that we use in other places and

00:40:30 ◼   ► can make them into rugs for you. So you can get massive rugs cheaply. We have

00:40:37 ◼   ► our little rugs that we like for the areas but like for all of the concrete

00:40:40 ◼   ► floor, just a massive rug which is effectively a carpet but you can get

00:40:45 ◼   ► for way cheaper. So we're looking into that. There's still a lot of stuff to be

00:40:48 ◼   ► done but I'm kind of fed up now of not being able to use this studio for its purpose, right?

00:40:54 ◼   ► I've paid one and a half rent payments now and have not been there.

00:40:58 ◼   ► Now of course there is this other problem of like the self-isolation but our main thing is just we're

00:41:05 ◼   ► just going to get to the studio and then it's basically just like being at home because nobody

00:41:09 ◼   ► else comes in. Yeah, yeah. I think from the impression I've gotten about the physical setup

00:41:15 ◼   ► of the office and your entry there, you can much more easily than I could, you could maintain

00:41:20 ◼   ► a quarantine bubble that basically extends into that office and back.

00:41:26 ◼   ► Yeah, the week would be very in the studio, we don't have to leave it, we just gotta get

00:41:30 ◼   ► to it. So, you know, and so we're gonna be spending a bit more time there again next

00:41:36 ◼   ► week when things start arriving and we can start getting it more set up again. I have

00:41:42 ◼   ► I've been on an absolute emotional rollercoaster over the last month of like, "Oh crap, we

00:41:48 ◼   ► can't do this," to, "Oh, actually I think we can."

00:41:52 ◼   ► What do you mean you can't do this?

00:41:54 ◼   ► Like you can't set up the office?

00:41:55 ◼   ► What is the—

00:41:56 ◼   ► As in like, "I'm never gonna get this place non-echoing."

00:41:59 ◼   ► Oh, okay.

00:42:00 ◼   ► Or at least, "Cannot do this without spending tens of thousands of pounds."

00:42:04 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:42:05 ◼   ► Right?

00:42:06 ◼   ► Like that is—I've been going on this emotional rollercoaster, but luckily we are now at a

00:42:11 ◼   ► where I feel like it's never going to be perfect, but it's going to be more than sufficient.

00:42:18 ◼   ► Yeah, and I think that's just a side effect of you bring in the one sound isolating thing

00:42:23 ◼   ► and you think, "Oh, this hasn't made any difference at all."

00:42:27 ◼   ► But the whole game of trying to reduce sound is lots of things.

00:42:31 ◼   ► I can see why maybe you would be upset, you're like, "Oh, this blanket isn't doing anything

00:42:35 ◼   ► unless I wrap it around my head."

00:42:37 ◼   ► It was like, "But yes, it's just another thing in the room plus the carpet plus the

00:42:40 ◼   ► the soft furnishing, it's like, yeah, you're gonna get there, you'll be fine, I think.

00:42:43 ◼   ► - We are.

00:42:44 ◼   ► I feel like now I feel confident that we're gonna get there, but it was just like, I was

00:42:49 ◼   ► doing all these things and it was making no difference, like at all.

00:42:53 ◼   ► But then when we found this blanket, like, again, draping over me in a way that I wouldn't

00:42:58 ◼   ► want to work, but it made a, it was the first thing that made a noticeable difference.

00:43:04 ◼   ► - You might not want to work that way, but I'm going to forever imagine that you are

00:43:08 ◼   ► wrapped up in a cozy sound isolating blanket fort when I know that you're recording in

00:43:15 ◼   ► the Mega Studio.

00:43:16 ◼   ► That's just how I'm going to picture it.

00:43:18 ◼   ► But yeah, so I feel like now there is a path again, which is good.

00:43:26 ◼   ► Not the next time we record, but in a couple of episodes' time, maybe in April, we'll

00:43:33 ◼   ► be the first Cortex from Mega Studio.

00:43:36 ◼   ► Oh, exciting.

00:43:37 ◼   ► Yeah, so we'll see.

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00:45:15 ◼   ► Very into VESA arms right now.

00:45:17 ◼   ► So I have two desks, they both have two arms on them.

00:45:21 ◼   ► I'm very excited about this.

00:45:23 ◼   ► Okay, I need to know, okay, so for listeners who want to wear VESA arms are the little

00:45:28 ◼   ► arms that can hold up computer monitors.

00:45:31 ◼   ► So, yeah, if you're in an office environment, you'll often see that they don't use the regular stands that the computers come with,

00:45:38 ◼   ► they're attached to an arm that can move the screen around.

00:45:41 ◼   ► So, I've tried various VESA arms, but I feel like I have never found one that I like.

00:45:49 ◼   ► That hits the nice balance between, you can move the monitor,

00:45:54 ◼   ► and also the monitor will stay in position when you stop touching it.

00:45:59 ◼   ► and it won't slowly droop like a sad flower in the sunlight over time.

00:46:03 ◼   ► I can't tell you that I've found that yet because I don't have a monitor on any of the arms.

00:46:08 ◼   ► Okay, well, okay, but then that might be what you're going to experience in the future.

00:46:13 ◼   ► So the arms that I have, it's one arm and then the other arm has a laptop stand on it?

00:46:20 ◼   ► Right, yes, yes, I know that title.

00:46:21 ◼   ► And I've been putting laptops and iPads on them and they've been perfectly fine.

00:46:25 ◼   ► They're very adjustable.

00:46:26 ◼   ► Yeah, the laptop stuff has always been fine. I just, my experience has been, like, I tried to mount my iMac Pro on a VESA arm and eventually came to the conclusion of I didn't want to live life on the edge like this because it's like this really expensive computer and I just never found an arm that felt secure or was mobile enough. So I've, yeah.

00:46:49 ◼   ► Well, we'll find out.

00:46:50 ◼   ► Interesting.

00:46:50 ◼   ► I know people that do it like it is possible. Yeah. Yeah, and the arms that I have they are very

00:46:55 ◼   ► They feel very sturdy and so we'll see right like I will report back on that one

00:47:01 ◼   ► Please do we move in to the studio like actually moved in I'm gonna be putting my iMac on that arm

00:47:07 ◼   ► But also in the meantime, so when I'm recording I am going to at some point

00:47:12 ◼   ► I think liberate your LG 5k ultra fine that you've been trying to palm off on me for a while

00:47:19 ◼   ► Well, if we can make a drop, I don't know how we're gonna do it.

00:47:23 ◼   ► Here's the thing. I've been living with the burden of this monitor for so long,

00:47:28 ◼   ► and standing out in the streets going, "Hey, LG 5K? LG 5K? Anybody want it? Good working condition."

00:47:35 ◼   ► And everyone's like, "No, those monitors are gross. We all know that. No one's gonna take them."

00:47:38 ◼   ► And finally, Myke, you messaged me, and I was like, "Hey, do you still have that 5K LG monitor?"

00:47:46 ◼   ► monitor, like I do, boy, do I have it for you.

00:47:51 ◼   ► And then the gray household went into total quarantine

00:47:54 ◼   ► and I'm not exactly sure how we're going to transfer this

00:47:58 ◼   ► because I will not see you in person.

00:48:02 ◼   ► Like maybe I can leave it on a street corner

00:48:04 ◼   ► and you can do a drive by and pick it up really quick

00:48:06 ◼   ► or something. - Yeah, we can do that.

00:48:07 ◼   ► - But yeah, yeah.

00:48:09 ◼   ► We will need to figure out a system for how the monitor

00:48:11 ◼   ► will actually get transferred to you.

00:48:12 ◼   ► - We'll exchange hands, yeah.

00:48:13 ◼   ► but at some point I will be liberating that monitor from you.

00:48:17 ◼   ► - Yeah, and I will be so happy to know

00:48:20 ◼   ► that you're getting use out of it,

00:48:23 ◼   ► that it's found a good home.

00:48:24 ◼   ► - Yeah, it will be, you know, I'm gonna need monitors.

00:48:27 ◼   ► Like I need a monitor on my recording desk,

00:48:29 ◼   ► and I need a monitor on the hot desk

00:48:32 ◼   ► that I'm gonna be setting up too.

00:48:33 ◼   ► So it will find a home, like even if I end up not liking it,

00:48:36 ◼   ► it will still find a home.

00:48:38 ◼   ► - Yeah, and it's perfect for that kind of thing.

00:48:39 ◼   ► Like you need some monitors,

00:48:41 ◼   ► where can you get some monitors?

00:48:43 ◼   ► Grey's got a monitor for you.

00:48:44 ◼   ► - Yeah, so I might as well take it.

00:48:46 ◼   ► Like it's needed and you're not using it.

00:48:47 ◼   ► And finally we can get to tie a bow on this long standing.

00:48:51 ◼   ► (laughing)

00:48:53 ◼   ► I will take it from you.

00:48:54 ◼   ► - Yeah, it feels like the conclusion

00:48:56 ◼   ► of an epic story arc somehow.

00:48:58 ◼   ► - It's super difficult to try and work out

00:49:00 ◼   ► what a desk needs when you're not actually

00:49:02 ◼   ► working on the desk.

00:49:04 ◼   ► - Yeah.

00:49:05 ◼   ► - Right, so like I've been trying to work out at home,

00:49:07 ◼   ► like what is each desk going to need?

00:49:09 ◼   ► 'Cause just to recap, like I will have two desks.

00:49:11 ◼   ► So I have my desk where I record and then my desk where I do my editing and all my other

00:49:16 ◼   ► work.

00:49:17 ◼   ► So it's going to be set up for both an iPad and iMac Pro.

00:49:21 ◼   ► So like there will be two setups there.

00:49:22 ◼   ► I do like the idea of you sitting on the couch at home, fantasizing about Mega Studio and

00:49:28 ◼   ► making little drawings about, "Ooh, which desk is going to go there?"

00:49:32 ◼   ► I've been mind mapping.

00:49:33 ◼   ► Oh yeah?

00:49:34 ◼   ► That's the way that it made sense to me.

00:49:36 ◼   ► So like I have each desk and then each piece of equipment and what each piece of equipment

00:49:40 ◼   ► needs from it. Like I've been trying to mind map that out. I still found it incredibly

00:49:46 ◼   ► difficult to actually work out what pieces of equipment I'm going to need to purchase,

00:49:50 ◼   ► but that's fine because I have enough mobile gear that I can jerry-rig everything together

00:49:57 ◼   ► until I work out what fixed gear I'm going to need on each desk. Because as we have established,

00:50:06 ◼   ► mobile gear and fixed gear, different.

00:50:09 ◼   ► But also the same. Yeah.

00:50:10 ◼   ► Sure. Different, but the same.

00:50:12 ◼   ► Mm-hmm.

00:50:13 ◼   ► So yeah, I'm still working that out, but I am so excited to be able to actually get the

00:50:19 ◼   ► desks out. I have the desks and they're amazing. I'm so happy with my desks, Gray. I have two

00:50:25 ◼   ► desks. One is absolutely massive and one is regular size, small.

00:50:30 ◼   ► Are they standing desks?

00:50:32 ◼   ► Both standing desks, yep.

00:50:33 ◼   ► Ooh, very exciting.

00:50:34 ◼   ► Yeah, I just figured that... Well, it's just the same as the desk I have here. I want to

00:50:39 ◼   ► have the flexibility. In the desk that I was looking at, there wasn't like a wild price

00:50:43 ◼   ► difference between having standing and not standing. And it's, I've really come around

00:50:48 ◼   ► to, especially when looking at stuff in the studio and I've been trying to instill this

00:50:52 ◼   ► idea into Adina as she's been helping me plan all this stuff out. I don't want to buy lots

00:50:58 ◼   ► of things many times. I want to spend a little bit more money and buy it once.

00:51:02 ◼   ► Yep, yep, that makes sense.

00:51:04 ◼   ► I've learned this over time, which is just like,

00:51:07 ◼   ► you can try and save money,

00:51:10 ◼   ► but you eventually end up replacing.

00:51:13 ◼   ► One thing that I've really learned this in is chairs.

00:51:16 ◼   ► So I use Herman Miller chairs now.

00:51:20 ◼   ► I use the M-body chair after it being recommended to me

00:51:22 ◼   ► by everybody that I know, basically.

00:51:24 ◼   ► Because I had, prior to buying one of these chairs,

00:51:29 ◼   ► maybe three years ago, I had gone through like

00:51:31 ◼   ► two or three chairs from Amazon that were between

00:51:35 ◼   ► 150 and 200 pounds each.

00:51:36 ◼   ► Like something broke on them, something stopped working.

00:51:39 ◼   ► Now these Herman Miller chairs,

00:51:40 ◼   ► they cost like 900 or 1,000 pounds,

00:51:43 ◼   ► but they come with a 10 year warranty.

00:51:45 ◼   ► So what I learned is I was spending 150 to 200 pounds

00:51:50 ◼   ► basically every year buying a new chair

00:51:52 ◼   ► because something would fail in my chair.

00:51:54 ◼   ► So now I extrapolated that out.

00:51:56 ◼   ► I spend 900 pounds on a chair,

00:51:58 ◼   ► but I get it guaranteed for 10 years.

00:52:01 ◼   ► So this is kind of like a thing that I've learned now that my business is a place where

00:52:07 ◼   ► I can afford these things, which I treat as assets now.

00:52:10 ◼   ► They're things my company owns, right?

00:52:13 ◼   ► Just actually just buy them once rather than buying three desks.

00:52:17 ◼   ► So I have an IKEA desk here, right?

00:52:19 ◼   ► The IKEA desk that I bought was cheaper than the desks that I'm buying now, but the stand

00:52:25 ◼   ► mechanism was broken.

00:52:28 ◼   ► So now I'm, again, spending more money on a desk that has a guarantee on it and that

00:52:35 ◼   ► is better made.

00:52:36 ◼   ► So that's kind of the route that I'm going down.

00:52:39 ◼   ► Yeah, yeah, and this is also this big difference between - and I think it's tricky for a lot

00:52:47 ◼   ► of people when you become self-employed or you start to run your own business - of having

00:52:54 ◼   ► to shift the way you think about spending money on purchases and it can be very hard to do but this

00:53:02 ◼   ► is this is a really important part of this and you know on top of just the straight up financial

00:53:09 ◼   ► calculation there's also I mean I think the listeners can hear that setting up your office

00:53:14 ◼   ► is a big deal like it's a big project that's going to take a long time and what you don't want is to

00:53:20 ◼   ► to get a bunch of equipment in there, which then,

00:53:23 ◼   ► because you have a lot of things,

00:53:26 ◼   ► each part might slowly need to be replaced.

00:53:29 ◼   ► You wanna do this once

00:53:32 ◼   ► and never have to think about it again.

00:53:34 ◼   ► - Yeah, the initial setup that I'm doing here,

00:53:36 ◼   ► which is taking way longer than I want it to,

00:53:39 ◼   ► is this should be the setup that lasts me another 10 years.

00:53:43 ◼   ► So even if we move office, we move like you move your home.

00:53:47 ◼   ► We're not gonna start again with new desks and new chairs

00:53:50 ◼   ► and all that stuff.

00:53:52 ◼   ► - Yeah, yeah.

00:53:53 ◼   ► So it makes sense to get stuff that's gonna last

00:53:56 ◼   ► at this point and to not in two years

00:53:59 ◼   ► have to redo one of the desk setups

00:54:01 ◼   ► because that desk was flaky or it's bending

00:54:04 ◼   ► or it's wobbling and it doesn't work anymore.

00:54:05 ◼   ► It's like, no, no, no, that's not the way to handle this.

00:54:08 ◼   ► Like this is, you have an office

00:54:11 ◼   ► like for all of the company work that you do,

00:54:14 ◼   ► like set it up properly and do it right the first time

00:54:19 ◼   ► as best you can.

00:54:19 ◼   ► So the desks that I bought these desks was the Jarvis desk and I bought them from a company

00:54:26 ◼   ► called Fully who is going to be a sponsor on other shows that I do and I had never heard

00:54:32 ◼   ► of them but then as soon as I found them I then bought two desks with my own money from

00:54:37 ◼   ► this company.

00:54:38 ◼   ► Right, so like I just want to make that all very clear, right, like they haven't, we haven't

00:54:42 ◼   ► actually done any sponsorship stuff with them yet.

00:54:45 ◼   ► Right.

00:54:46 ◼   ► But I found this company at just the right time and bought two desks from them out of

00:54:48 ◼   ► own money because what I really liked is the Jarvis frame I've heard lots of good things about in the

00:54:55 ◼   ► past like this isn't their frame they sell this frame but then also make their own desktops right

00:55:01 ◼   ► and what I liked is the desks are very customizable. Oh I you know it's funny I came across when I was

00:55:08 ◼   ► looking for my standing desk I came across this company because I like their um this thing here

00:55:14 ◼   ► They have this little like jigsaw, my first standing desk for kids, which I think is adorable.

00:55:20 ◼   ► Oh my god, I've not seen this. Wait, where is this?

00:55:22 ◼   ► Myke, how did you not know about the standing desk for children?

00:55:26 ◼   ► I have never heard of this.

00:55:28 ◼   ► I'll send it to you.

00:55:30 ◼   ► Oh my god, this is amazing.

00:55:32 ◼   ► Right, isn't it? It's adorable.

00:55:33 ◼   ► It's called the jazz wig. It's not jigsaw.

00:55:35 ◼   ► Oh, sorry. I must have been looking at the wrong thing.

00:55:38 ◼   ► No, no, I think it's meant to trick you because it's all the same letters.

00:55:41 ◼   ► Oh, I see. Right. Yeah, you're right. Yeah, jazz wig. Yeah.

00:55:44 ◼   ► But yeah, no, standing desk for kids. I came across that. I can't remember whatever it was. Anyway, like,

00:55:48 ◼   ► yeah, they were one of the things that I was looking at. And also, it is on my list to get from them.

00:55:56 ◼   ► They have these kneeling chairs,

00:55:58 ◼   ► which I totally forgot that a long time ago I used to use and really love and then kind of forgot about existing.

00:56:04 ◼   ► I've been looking at them, but thought that they would be horrible.

00:56:08 ◼   ► I can say I've used them in

00:56:12 ◼   ► college like I had one in my dorm room and

00:56:15 ◼   ► It was interesting because so I've got like the same Herman Miller chair that you do because it's the same Herman Miller chair that everybody has

00:56:24 ◼   ► and I

00:56:26 ◼   ► Like it

00:56:27 ◼   ► but one of the things I am aware of it is a little too easy to start slouching sometimes and

00:56:33 ◼   ► like slide down the chair a little bit and

00:56:36 ◼   ► It's been on my mind to

00:56:40 ◼   ► have one of the kneeling chairs as an alternate because the thing that I really liked about it

00:56:44 ◼   ► Was that those chairs?

00:56:47 ◼   ► It's very hard to slouch like they force you much more into a correct posture

00:56:53 ◼   ► Which sounds like torture, but I mean it in a good way

00:56:57 ◼   ► This different chair. I've been seeing this different chair design popping up in places

00:57:03 ◼   ► And again, this company sells it. It's called the capisco chair and it's like a super weird

00:57:09 ◼   ► looking chair? Like it doesn't look like a regular chair, but like you look at the pictures of it and the thinking is that like

00:57:15 ◼   ► It allows you to sit in a lot of different positions

00:57:20 ◼   ► Huh. I've been seeing this chair more and more recently. I

00:57:24 ◼   ► I don't know that that looks very that looks very weird to me. Yep, isn't it? I feel

00:57:30 ◼   ► Significantly less sold on this idea as an idea for a chair that I would want

00:57:37 ◼   ► Yeah, I don't think I want it either but like I've been seeing more and more people use it

00:57:41 ◼   ► That feels like a chair. I would want to drive before buying. Yes. Yep

00:57:47 ◼   ► Like like I need that to be in some co-working space where I am for a day and you can just give it a go

00:57:54 ◼   ► Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so I don't know about that. I don't know about that

00:57:57 ◼   ► Yeah, I'm not sure about that one either but I say I've been seeing it more and more recently

00:58:00 ◼   ► Yeah, but I give my full thumbs up to kneeling chairs. So they have one called the Balan

00:58:07 ◼   ► one's kneeling chair, which actually looks like one that they make. But I don't know.

00:58:12 ◼   ► Yeah. Yeah. It's on my mind as a thing to try. But yeah, so standing desks for children,

00:58:17 ◼   ► which is adorable. And kneeling chairs. And also this is Myke's current standing desk.

00:58:25 ◼   ► What I like about it is that they, you can basically just make your own specification.

00:58:30 ◼   ► So I have one which is I think the smallest that they make. And then also the largest

00:58:36 ◼   ► that they make. And the smallest one is the recording desk and then the largest one is

00:58:40 ◼   ► my regular desk. And it's massive. It's 180 centimeters by 80 centimeters. That's the

00:58:47 ◼   ► big one.

00:58:48 ◼   ► Oh, that's pretty big.

00:58:49 ◼   ► Yeah, it's massive. It's great.

00:58:51 ◼   ► That's nice to have though. Now, you've got me distracted looking at office furniture.

00:58:55 ◼   ► Yep.

00:58:56 ◼   ► Like, oh, do I need a stool?

00:58:58 ◼   ► Maybe.

00:58:59 ◼   ► No, not really.

00:59:00 ◼   ► Maybe.

00:59:01 ◼   ► But maybe I do. I don't know. Maybe that can go in my kitchen where I do my administrative

00:59:04 ◼   ► work now. Would you get a kneeling chair with a back on it or no back on it? So the one I used

00:59:11 ◼   ► had no back on it. See when I look at those chairs I just imagine myself falling off them.

00:59:19 ◼   ► I feel like I would fall off it a lot. You think you're going to but you don't. Like yeah I get it.

00:59:24 ◼   ► Is the falling offness what keeps you from slouching? Because you're constantly scared

00:59:28 ◼   ► you're gonna fall off it? No that's not... I'm trying to think of how to explain it. So

00:59:34 ◼   ► The reason that the kneeling chair works is I feel like it puts you in a position where

00:59:42 ◼   ► like your gravity is just going straight down. Because your legs are sort of underneath you,

00:59:48 ◼   ► it feels very much like, "Oh, I am a stable stack of bricks here, each one on top of the other."

00:59:54 ◼   ► And they're all pushing down in the same direction. So you don't lean forward and you don't

00:59:59 ◼   ► lean back. It's not because of a fear of falling, though it is very weird to get into one for the

01:00:05 ◼   ► first time because you're like, "This is not chairs. This is not how chairs chairs. I don't

01:00:08 ◼   ► like this at all." I don't know if I like the phrase "get into the chair." That doesn't make

01:00:14 ◼   ► me feel good. Look, it's like getting on a horse, right? It's weird the first time and you're like,

01:00:19 ◼   ► "Why is it so high? I don't understand." Why do you keep talking about horses so much?

01:00:25 ◼   ► Is this your new hobby? Are you horse riding now?

01:00:28 ◼   ► Look, I'm just trying to throw out metaphors that you might be familiar with, right?

01:00:33 ◼   ► You know I don't know how to ride a horse. I barely know how to ride a bike.

01:00:39 ◼   ► Everybody knows how to ride a horse. That just seems like a thing everyone knows. But anyway,

01:00:42 ◼   ► look, so you get into the chair and it is weird the first time and it takes a little while to get

01:00:47 ◼   ► used to. But my feeling is it's very stable and it's very slouch resistant. Which that's my one

01:00:55 ◼   ► complaint with the chair that I have, which I do love, but I want the chair to be less forgiving

01:01:01 ◼   ► of my slow ability to sit in a non-optimal position. So that's why the kneeling chairs

01:01:07 ◼   ► have been on my mind. Anyway, try a kneeling chair. Get one for Mega Studio. It can be a fun

01:01:14 ◼   ► talking point anyway.

01:01:15 ◼   ► Yeah, I'll add it to my Apple note where I add things that are inspiring to me, you

01:01:21 ◼   ► know?

01:01:22 ◼   ► Right, good.

01:01:23 ◼   ► Sounds good.

01:01:24 ◼   ► Oh, I wanted to provide a piece of follow-up for you about my internet.

01:01:26 ◼   ► Okay.

01:01:27 ◼   ► So I was super mad about it if you remember the price of everything.

01:01:30 ◼   ► Yes, very expensive internet.

01:01:31 ◼   ► The deposit, which I will never be happy about, and I had to pay it, and I was so mad about

01:01:40 ◼   ► it, right?

01:01:41 ◼   ► Like, just so mad.

01:01:42 ◼   ► because right you know they say it's for the equipment they didn't even need any

01:01:46 ◼   ► equipment the equipment was already in there the engineer came and there was a

01:01:49 ◼   ► box of equipment that was delivered he's like oh I don't need any of this it's

01:01:52 ◼   ► already in there right yeah no of course I'll just take it away for you it's like

01:01:55 ◼   ► okay there goes my deposit I suppose I'm just here to take your deposit away yeah

01:02:00 ◼   ► yeah it's like oh you see that thing you paid all that money for I'm just gonna

01:02:03 ◼   ► take that great thank you bye engineer but gray I said it was slow my internet

01:02:09 ◼   ► I was wrong my friend. Oh my god.

01:02:12 ◼   ► Is this again where you're just gonna flex all over me about how fast your internet is?

01:02:17 ◼   ► 900 up and down.

01:02:19 ◼   ► God damn you.

01:02:21 ◼   ► Up and down.

01:02:24 ◼   ► God damn it.

01:02:26 ◼   ► On wifi. That's my wifi speed.

01:02:28 ◼   ► I'm very happy for you.

01:02:30 ◼   ► Oh I'm so happy.

01:02:31 ◼   ► Let me run a speed test while we're recording a podcast right now.

01:02:34 ◼   ► I have been doing speed tests of the studio while at home because I'm so happy about it.

01:02:42 ◼   ► I will run a speed test for you right now for the studio so I can tell you because I

01:02:47 ◼   ► can do that now.

01:02:48 ◼   ► Yeah good I'm very happy for you.

01:02:51 ◼   ► I'm sitting here with my 19 up and 17 down like a peasant.

01:02:55 ◼   ► Oh my god Gray.

01:02:56 ◼   ► How do you do anything?

01:02:58 ◼   ► I don't know.

01:02:59 ◼   ► I don't know how we're even able to talk to each other.

01:03:01 ◼   ► Because this was one of the things where I was like oh because I have really good internet

01:03:03 ◼   ► at home too, right?

01:03:04 ◼   ► So I was like, oh man.

01:03:05 ◼   ► - You know, I'm very aware

01:03:06 ◼   ► that you have great internet at home, Myke.

01:03:08 ◼   ► Yes.

01:03:09 ◼   ► - Every time I get called over, I'm like,

01:03:10 ◼   ► "Hey, just do this feed test, see what you get."

01:03:12 ◼   ► - I'm very aware, you don't need to tell me

01:03:14 ◼   ► that you have great internet at home.

01:03:16 ◼   ► - So I just got 889 down and 874 up.

01:03:20 ◼   ► That is of my office speed test.

01:03:23 ◼   ► - Great, I'm very happy for you.

01:03:25 ◼   ► - It's great, right?

01:03:26 ◼   ► - Yeah, that's very good.

01:03:27 ◼   ► - Isn't that fast?

01:03:29 ◼   ► Oh, no, wait, the speed test wasn't complete.

01:03:31 ◼   ► 916 down, 917 up.

01:03:33 ◼   ► Great. Even better. Even better.

01:03:35 ◼   ► It's better.

01:03:36 ◼   ► Yeah.

01:03:37 ◼   ► That is better. You were right.

01:03:38 ◼   ► That was 100 better each way.

01:03:39 ◼   ► Right. It's your your margin

01:03:43 ◼   ► of error is five times faster

01:03:45 ◼   ► than my absolute speed.

01:03:46 ◼   ► Yeah.

01:03:47 ◼   ► Yep. So, you know, it's still really

01:03:51 ◼   ► expensive. It's still more money than

01:03:53 ◼   ► I want to pay for Internet, but at

01:03:54 ◼   ► least I have really good Internet.

01:03:56 ◼   ► OK, good.

01:03:57 ◼   ► I'm happy for you.

01:03:58 ◼   ► I also wanted to share one last thing

01:04:00 ◼   ► about like being at Mega Studio.

01:04:02 ◼   ► Well, I actually have a bunch of stuff, but I'm going to talk about that later.

01:04:05 ◼   ► Because this changed a lot about my work, right?

01:04:07 ◼   ► But a couple of weeks ago, I was spending some time there while waiting for some

01:04:11 ◼   ► deliveries and stuff, and I felt much more productive than when I'm at home.

01:04:16 ◼   ► It reminded me of when I would co-work because in a working environment, I found

01:04:21 ◼   ► myself getting a lot of little tasks done I otherwise would procrastinate over

01:04:26 ◼   ► because it was kind of like, "But while I'm here, I might as well just do this

01:04:32 ◼   ► thing instead of where I'm at home where I'm like oh well I'll just do this thing

01:04:37 ◼   ► and it's a home related thing you know right well you know I'll just watch this

01:04:41 ◼   ► or I'll go wash the dishes or I'll just go take a shower or like whatever you

01:04:45 ◼   ► know like that type of procrastinating now I am work procrastinating right

01:04:50 ◼   ► actually finding other work things to do it's how I feel when I take my early

01:04:54 ◼   ► days as well right you know like the great creation idea where it's just like

01:04:57 ◼   ► well I'm here so I may as well do this thing so I'm feeling pretty confident

01:05:02 ◼   ► about my long-term productivity with the studio

01:05:05 ◼   ► that I will actually be getting more done when I'm there,

01:05:09 ◼   ► which is what I wanted.

01:05:10 ◼   ► So I'm feeling enthused about that, right?

01:05:14 ◼   ► Like that feels really good to me.

01:05:16 ◼   ► - Yeah, that's great.

01:05:17 ◼   ► And like that's one of the main advantages

01:05:19 ◼   ► of having an office outside of the house

01:05:21 ◼   ► is like you constrain the activities,

01:05:24 ◼   ► it increases the kind of focus you now have

01:05:28 ◼   ► with your new mega studio, you have more space.

01:05:32 ◼   ► So you're already, your brain is already turning

01:05:35 ◼   ► towards like other projects that you could possibly do.

01:05:38 ◼   ► Ooh, video, maybe I'll get back into that.

01:05:40 ◼   ► And I think it's, I think that's like,

01:05:43 ◼   ► that's really great and I'm happy to hear that,

01:05:46 ◼   ► I'm happy to hear that your internet is so fast.

01:05:48 ◼   ► But also I'm very happy to hear that,

01:05:51 ◼   ► even though you have been quarantined from it

01:05:54 ◼   ► for a little while, that the,

01:05:56 ◼   ► like the mega studio is turning into what you want it to be.

01:05:59 ◼   ► That it's like,

01:06:01 ◼   ► it's a productive environment that is ultimately going to be like better for you

01:06:05 ◼   ► and better for your work.

01:06:06 ◼   ► Yeah, it is a slow process. I'm enjoying documenting it here,

01:06:11 ◼   ► especially because you know, we don't record every week. Right.

01:06:14 ◼   ► So like a lot happens in between our recordings. So, which is good.

01:06:18 ◼   ► Are there going to be Instagram photos to update?

01:06:20 ◼   ► Like are we going to have more Instagram photos? I want to,

01:06:23 ◼   ► I want to see like half, cause here's the thing.

01:06:26 ◼   ► You're going to be tempted on the grams to just show the shiny final office.

01:06:30 ◼   ► But I want to see updates of the "here's what it looks like halfway through" process.

01:06:36 ◼   ► Okay.

01:06:37 ◼   ► I don't have any now, but I'll take some.

01:06:38 ◼   ► I'll put some up and I'll share them with you.

01:06:41 ◼   ► But I don't have anything at the moment.

01:06:44 ◼   ► Because there's been the last voters that I do have, that I think I may have sent you

01:06:48 ◼   ► one of them, there's been more progress in the space since then.

01:06:52 ◼   ► So I'll make sure to put some up so that I'll have them to put in the show notes.

01:06:57 ◼   ► But it's good because this type, having longer periods of time is good because otherwise

01:07:03 ◼   ► you would have got two weeks of despair, right?

01:07:06 ◼   ► So it's good to not have to have those.

01:07:10 ◼   ► We missed the despair period.

01:07:11 ◼   ► Yeah, the despair phase has passed for now.

01:07:15 ◼   ► Maybe next time there will be more despair if the plan doesn't work.

01:07:19 ◼   ► there was a plan which was abandoned and then there was no plan and now we have a better plan

01:07:25 ◼   ► in place again about the sound stuff. Right, well I think in this time of global health situation

01:07:32 ◼   ► we did we didn't need a despairful update from Myke. I'm happy we skipped right over that

01:07:38 ◼   ► and got to the happy update about what's going on with Mega Studio. Today's episode is brought to

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01:09:47 ◼   ► Let's talk about tumbleweeds. Tumbleweeds. Who would want to talk about such a boring

01:09:52 ◼   ► topic? You would. And I was genuinely surprised at the reception to that video. It seems to

01:10:00 ◼   ► have done very well. Like, this isn't, I don't mean this negatively, but like it was, it's

01:10:07 ◼   ► It's a very, it's just much smaller video and like it feels to me like less zeitgeisty

01:10:13 ◼   ► than some other stuff, you know?

01:10:15 ◼   ► Like, so I was, I was, it's done, it's got like over 2 million views, like it has performed

01:10:19 ◼   ► very well.

01:10:20 ◼   ► So I'm just curious, I'm curious because this is sort of like a, this video for me is an

01:10:24 ◼   ► interesting example of a bunch of things, but I'm curious, what do you mean by the word

01:10:28 ◼   ► like smaller?

01:10:29 ◼   ► When you say it's a smaller video, what does that, what does that mean to you?

01:10:33 ◼   ► Okay, so well.

01:10:35 ◼   ► Well…

01:10:36 ◼   ► Because it's not short, right?

01:10:38 ◼   ► No.

01:10:39 ◼   ► It's almost eight minutes or so.

01:10:41 ◼   ► Yeah, okay.

01:10:42 ◼   ► But I know…

01:10:43 ◼   ► Well, this comes from my knowledge of your work.

01:10:47 ◼   ► And some videos that you are working on now, I know you've been working on for years.

01:10:53 ◼   ► And have required, like, spanning the globe, which I am very confident you didn't do

01:11:00 ◼   ► for this video.

01:11:01 ◼   ► Now, I know you have.

01:11:03 ◼   ► No, no.

01:11:04 ◼   ► you jump in. I know you have footage of tumbleweeds, but I know that that tumbleweed footage was

01:11:11 ◼   ► not for this video. Like, my expectation is, because I know what you were doing when you

01:11:16 ◼   ► encountered tumbleweeds, that that gave you the idea to make the video, but you weren't

01:11:20 ◼   ► making like a tumbleweed video and went to find tumbleweeds. Right?

01:11:25 ◼   ► Well, I mean, yeah, sort of.

01:11:30 ◼   ► Sort of, yeah.

01:11:31 ◼   ► - You didn't go in search of tumbleweeds for,

01:11:34 ◼   ► like you didn't travel across from England

01:11:36 ◼   ► to somewhere in America to shoot video of tumbleweeds, right?

01:11:40 ◼   ► Like that didn't happen.

01:11:41 ◼   ► - Look, 'cause I've got something else

01:11:43 ◼   ► that's coming out hopefully soon.

01:11:45 ◼   ► So I cannot confirm or deny whether I did or did not travel,

01:11:49 ◼   ► but I did travel as part of this tumbleweed project

01:11:52 ◼   ► explicitly for tumbleweeds.

01:11:54 ◼   ► So you're actually wrong about that.

01:11:56 ◼   ► - No, I know, see I don't buy this great.

01:11:58 ◼   ► I don't buy this.

01:12:00 ◼   ► Like you didn't go, you weren't in London,

01:12:02 ◼   ► and were like, I need to go to America to film tumbleweeds.

01:12:06 ◼   ► - You're trying to like, you're trying to get me

01:12:08 ◼   ► to talk about a future project.

01:12:10 ◼   ► - I'm not trying to get, you started this.

01:12:13 ◼   ► You knew what I meant.

01:12:14 ◼   ► But like so anyway. - No, no, okay.

01:12:16 ◼   ► - The tumbleweed video. - Okay, so listen to it.

01:12:18 ◼   ► So listen to it, it's like, okay,

01:12:20 ◼   ► there's so many things that have happened here,

01:12:21 ◼   ► but Myke is confused because Myke does know some of my future stuff here.

01:12:26 ◼   ► And I know what Myke thinks he thinks he's talking about,

01:12:28 ◼   ► but he's not talking about what I think he's talking about.

01:12:30 ◼   ► Oh my God.

01:12:32 ◼   ► All I'm saying is when I say this is a smaller video,

01:12:36 ◼   ► I am not aware of you having been working on this Tumbleweed video for a long

01:12:41 ◼   ► time.

01:12:41 ◼   ► Now it feels to me like it's more like a typical work length,

01:12:46 ◼   ► which has not been what has been happening to you more recently,

01:12:50 ◼   ► which is why you've shifted your business model

01:12:53 ◼   ► a bit with focusing on the Patreon of like

01:12:55 ◼   ► these really long spanning videos,

01:12:57 ◼   ► which takes you going to places

01:12:59 ◼   ► and understanding how things work.

01:13:02 ◼   ► And like, so the tumbleweed video

01:13:04 ◼   ► feels more like a typical idea

01:13:06 ◼   ► where like something happened to you

01:13:08 ◼   ► and you were like, this is interesting,

01:13:09 ◼   ► let me look into it.

01:13:10 ◼   ► - Okay. - Which is so like,

01:13:11 ◼   ► there was an inciting event made you create the video,

01:13:14 ◼   ► which is different to like,

01:13:15 ◼   ► I'm going to investigate the entire history of people.

01:13:20 ◼   ► Right, and travel all over America looking at this stuff and finding out like it's very different.

01:13:27 ◼   ► So when I say smaller, I mean more like regular.

01:13:32 ◼   ► Right, okay.

01:13:34 ◼   ► That's fine. I'm just kind of curious about your perception of it.

01:13:40 ◼   ► It's been really interesting because I keep thinking about the year of clarity stuff,

01:13:47 ◼   ► And I think particularly because this is the most unactionable, non-specific theme I've had on the show,

01:13:58 ◼   ► I find myself sometimes thinking like, "How can I explain what this means to me?"

01:14:02 ◼   ► Or like, "Why this also feels like one of the most important themes that I've ever done?"

01:14:07 ◼   ► And you're not wrong in pegging something about like,

01:14:13 ◼   ► "Oh, this tumbleweed project feels kind of different and feels kind of small."

01:14:17 ◼   ► And you're mostly right in that I was thinking about the thing I said last time, and I don't

01:14:30 ◼   ► think I explained really well, but one of these ideas that has come out of locking in topics

01:14:41 ◼   ► is this ability that I feel like I have really figured out for me

01:14:46 ◼   ► how it works best to explore potential future topics and how to stay focused but also flexible.

01:14:59 ◼   ► - Right. - And so this is where,

01:15:03 ◼   ► so like Myke is obviously referencing like, oh, the American Indian project has been this enormous

01:15:08 ◼   ► project that I've been working on for a really long period of time.

01:15:11 ◼   ► And I said in the in I think the previous episode of Cortex like oh I'm going to have an animated video

01:15:16 ◼   ► that sort of relates to this main thing and I keep thinking of this as like the as this phrase

01:15:26 ◼   ► of fractal creativity of you know a fractal is an object that you can zoom into infinitely and

01:15:37 ◼   ► And it's always sort of interesting and different.

01:15:39 ◼   ► Like, that's the fundamental feature of what a fractal is.

01:15:42 ◼   ► You can magnify it a million times and you still have an interesting pattern.

01:15:46 ◼   ► Whereas with most stuff, you magnify it a million times and that doesn't happen.

01:15:51 ◼   ► Like, it still looks the same.

01:15:53 ◼   ► You know, it just becomes uninteresting when you magnify it too much.

01:15:56 ◼   ► And so, Indians has been topic locked for a long time of like,

01:16:02 ◼   ► "Okay, I've got three things that I'm locked in on.

01:16:05 ◼   ► American Indian project is one of them.

01:16:08 ◼   ► But I'm also aware of like, I think one of the things

01:16:13 ◼   ► that I got...

01:16:16 ◼   ► that I used to get more tripped up on and I feel like I've kind of solved now

01:16:20 ◼   ► is I used to get kind of stuck behind bigger projects.

01:16:27 ◼   ► And like, Statue of Liberty is an example of this,

01:16:31 ◼   ► where it's like, the Statue of Liberty video took a long time to make

01:16:34 ◼   ► and it's partly because I was a little bit confused about like what is this is what parts

01:16:38 ◼   ► of this is Billup and various things but like it was easy to get kind of stuck behind a big project

01:16:43 ◼   ► but now I've kind of figured out it's perfectly fine to while you're working on a big project

01:16:53 ◼   ► zoom into parts that are interesting for whatever reason as long as for me it has this feeling of

01:17:04 ◼   ► of, like, down further into the fractal is perfectly fine, as opposed to getting distracted

01:17:14 ◼   ► by lateral topic exploration. So I think of this as like, you get like lost on Wikipedia,

01:17:21 ◼   ► you go "oh, I'm gonna look up something on Wikipedia!" and you start to read, and in

01:17:26 ◼   ► several clicks you can be in a whole different world of things.

01:17:30 ◼   ► I hear this a lot. I know people do this. This has never happened to me.

01:17:34 ◼   ► Really? Interesting. Okay.

01:17:36 ◼   ► Well, you know, it is very rare that I will decide to go and read a bunch of stuff, right?

01:17:42 ◼   ► You don't go on a Wikipedia wander?

01:17:44 ◼   ► This happens to me more with YouTube than Wikipedia.

01:17:47 ◼   ► Okay, yeah, but YouTube is the same thing. I think it's the same phenomenon expressing itself in different ways.

01:17:53 ◼   ► where you're on YouTube and you're investigating something in particular

01:17:58 ◼   ► and instead of continually diving deeper into that topic, depending on what you're clicking on in the related fields,

01:18:06 ◼   ► you can easily, an hour later, end up in a totally unrelated field, right?

01:18:11 ◼   ► Like, "Oh, I started out looking up how to fix my sink and now I'm watching a video about how lipstick is made."

01:18:18 ◼   ► Right? It's like, "I don't even know. How did I get here?" Right? Like, I don't know. There was some connection.

01:18:22 ◼   ► Are we just using Wikipedia as an example because Wikipedia isn't algorithmically

01:18:27 ◼   ► trying to keep you on the site for as long as possible, you can actually draw a line

01:18:31 ◼   ► of like, "How are all of these topics related to each other?"

01:18:33 ◼   ► Or "Are they?"

01:18:35 ◼   ► Oh god, I really hope Wikipedia doesn't introduce algorithmic suggestions in a sidebar

01:18:43 ◼   ► at some point.

01:18:44 ◼   ► Although, now, as soon as you say that, it feels inevitable.

01:18:47 ◼   ► What if it's an algorithm that's making the edits to link to other pages to just keep

01:18:53 ◼   ► you in there?

01:18:54 ◼   ► BHARTH: Right, maybe.

01:18:55 ◼   ► Although I know they do have a lot of bots already that do a lot of the maintenance work

01:18:58 ◼   ► on Wikipedia.

01:19:00 ◼   ► And if any internet project is going to become self-aware, maybe Wikipedia is it.

01:19:04 ◼   ► MARTIN ANDERSON-MILLER-BROWNING>> All the knowledge.

01:19:05 ◼   ► BHARTH>> All the knowledge.

01:19:06 ◼   ► MARTIN ANDERSON-MILLER-BROWNING>> That's wrong.

01:19:07 ◼   ► We shouldn't be plugging bots into all the knowledge.

01:19:09 ◼   ► Someone needs to take care of that.

01:19:11 ◼   ► Stop that.

01:19:12 ◼   ► BHARTH>> Yeah.

01:19:13 ◼   ► I've heard many an AI researcher say something like, "Well, you know, we started designing

01:19:16 ◼   ► an algorithm and we just downloaded all of Wikipedia and gave it to them.

01:19:20 ◼   ► Maybe don't start with that.

01:19:23 ◼   ► Don't give it all of the knowledge we've amassed as humanity.

01:19:26 ◼   ► Could you pick a different training set to just be like, "Oh, I happen to give it something."

01:19:31 ◼   ► Here's the whole history of humans, everything they're good at and bad at.

01:19:36 ◼   ► Give that to the robot.

01:19:38 ◼   ► This is the starting point for learning.

01:19:41 ◼   ► Then we'll give it all of Google Images.

01:19:45 ◼   ► No problem.

01:19:46 ◼   ► Yeah, yeah. And then the bot is going from Wikipedia article to Wikipedia article going,

01:19:50 ◼   ► "Ooh, this is interesting. Ooh, that's interesting."

01:19:54 ◼   ► But so one of the things I've become very aware of is the topic lock provides a kind

01:20:02 ◼   ► of framework for me to think about what is not inside this boundary. And so I know it

01:20:10 ◼   ► will seem crazy to people when I say, "Oh, this Tumbleweed video came out of the Indians

01:20:15 ◼   ► project. Like, I don't think that that's going to be clear to people, like, how this process is.

01:20:23 ◼   ► But to me, I have really been able to refine this kind of thinking in my own mind of

01:20:30 ◼   ► tumbleweeds is further down the fractal of the Indian topic. It is related to this. There's

01:20:39 ◼   ► steps where it goes from the big topic down to the smaller topic.

01:20:44 ◼   ► And yeah, when you say like, "Oh, it's a smaller video,"

01:20:48 ◼   ► that was also my perception of it.

01:20:51 ◼   ► What you said there about the fractals is a much more eloquent way of what I was trying to explain.

01:20:58 ◼   ► Which was like, I could see that this video was not a self-contained thing.

01:21:02 ◼   ► Like, it wasn't just a project you decided to embark upon,

01:21:08 ◼   ► like some of your other videos are. It reminded me more about the planet video,

01:21:13 ◼   ► which was like you were doing something and then something popped out of it.

01:21:19 ◼   ► BRIAN KARDELL-SMITH Yeah, yeah. And the planet video is another one of these perfect fractal

01:21:23 ◼   ► videos. There was a bigger project. I ended up homing in on this fact about Mercury's orbit. And

01:21:31 ◼   ► that bigger project has is now when I was reassessing like which topics are locked

01:21:38 ◼   ► that bigger project got kind of bumped out to I'll consider it at a later point of like I'm still

01:21:45 ◼   ► interested in that project but I'm not going to give it one of these three locked slots like I've

01:21:50 ◼   ► picked something interesting out of it and that one's temporarily on pause but the Indian one has

01:21:55 ◼   ► has been topic locked for a long time.

01:21:57 ◼   ► And one of the things that, I like to do this kind of stuff

01:22:02 ◼   ► because I know it's the sort of thing

01:22:03 ◼   ► that I as a viewer appreciate.

01:22:05 ◼   ► But if you go back and you look at all of the videos

01:22:09 ◼   ► I've released since the Statue of Liberty video,

01:22:13 ◼   ► you can see how many times I use

01:22:17 ◼   ► the little cartoon American Indian girl,

01:22:19 ◼   ► when it's not really necessary for her to be there,

01:22:22 ◼   ► but she's like, she pops up.

01:22:24 ◼   ► And that's kind of an indication of, look at all of these videos that have come out

01:22:31 ◼   ► of this project in one way or another.

01:22:34 ◼   ► And it's why in the Tumbleweed video, like the American Indian girl, she's there for

01:22:37 ◼   ► two seconds.

01:22:38 ◼   ► Does she need to be there?

01:22:41 ◼   ► Not really.

01:22:42 ◼   ► But this is part of the thing that I like to do with making videos over long periods

01:22:48 ◼   ► of time is you can put these fun little connections between them.

01:22:52 ◼   ► And that's one of the things I've been kind of laying down for people who are really attentive

01:22:58 ◼   ► viewers to see.

01:22:59 ◼   ► Like, "Oh, here's all these Indians."

01:23:00 ◼   ► Is this the beginning of the GCU?

01:23:03 ◼   ► Like the Grey Cinematic Universe?

01:23:05 ◼   ► Like all of these things are connected?

01:23:08 ◼   ► In a weird way, it kind of is.

01:23:10 ◼   ► Yeah, it is.

01:23:11 ◼   ► That's the Grey Cinematic Universe you're building there.

01:23:13 ◼   ► You know, like different types of people make different kinds of things.

01:23:18 ◼   ► And I think you always have to take advantage of what makes you different.

01:23:25 ◼   ► And so I as a YouTube channel - I think it will come as news to no one - am not the fastest

01:23:31 ◼   ► producer of videos.

01:23:32 ◼   ► Like they take a long time.

01:23:35 ◼   ► But what that means and what I feel like I've really sorted out over the past year or so

01:23:42 ◼   ► is this ability through topic lock and through some other things related to Year of Clarity

01:23:46 ◼   ► of how do I have parallel projects but also keep forward motion on all of these things.

01:23:57 ◼   ► And it's just really interesting to me because I think if you go back and listen to Cortex,

01:24:01 ◼   ► like this has always been something I've struggled with of how many projects am I working on

01:24:06 ◼   ► at once. And it's like I've always had a really hard time with this and it finally feels like

01:24:12 ◼   ► something I really locked down. But one of the big advantages is, okay, if you're a channel

01:24:18 ◼   ► that doesn't produce stuff quickly, and you're producing a couple of parallel things over

01:24:23 ◼   ► a long period of time, there are totally ways in which you can make them connect to each

01:24:29 ◼   ► other. Or you can show kind of like a wink at the viewer to see like this thing is related

01:24:36 ◼   ► to that thing. And I really enjoy doing that because I really like that as a viewer. And

01:24:43 ◼   ► it's why I really wanted to try to work in the American Indian Girl to the Tumbleweed

01:24:47 ◼   ► video because it's less clear now, but I think in a few months, viewers will be able to really

01:24:59 ◼   ► clearly draw the connection between three videos of like, "Oh, here is the exact path.

01:25:07 ◼   ► Grey started here, this thing happened, this thing happened, and then he made the Tumbleweed

01:25:13 ◼   ► video."

01:25:14 ◼   ► And so it sort of goes back to like a thing we mentioned forever ago about this really

01:25:17 ◼   ► non-linear life, but one of the ways I feel like I figured out how to keep forward motion

01:25:24 ◼   ► is sometimes working on things in this reverse order of work from the bottom of the fractal

01:25:31 ◼   ► up to the higher layers of the fractal. The Tumbleweed one is just a perfect example of

01:25:38 ◼   ► this. This is the bottom of the bottom of anything that can be considered to be an American

01:25:43 ◼   ► Indians video. Two videos from now in this little series, it'll be much clearer like,

01:25:50 ◼   ► how did I get here? But it isn't right now. And part of the reason I feel so confident about,

01:25:57 ◼   ► I've kind of figured out this process, is like for the first time in my nine-year career of working

01:26:07 ◼   ► on YouTube, I have a video that is completely finished ahead of time. Like it is edited,

01:26:17 ◼   ► it is done, it is uploaded to my channel, and I'm just waiting to release it because I want to finish

01:26:25 ◼   ► something else before that video goes up. Congratulations to you on many fronts there,

01:26:31 ◼   ► and I mean that seriously and sincerely because not only have you done it, which has proven that

01:26:36 ◼   ► your method has worked, that you are restraining yourself. Because I know how difficult that can

01:26:41 ◼   ► be. Like you have a thing that's made and someone else can make it, right? Like that's always the

01:26:45 ◼   ► the fear. But yeah, I think this is the combination of the year of clarity, but also your time

01:26:53 ◼   ► away from the internet, right? Project Cyclops.

01:26:55 ◼   ► Yeah, it is.

01:26:56 ◼   ► I think it has allowed you to not be so terrified about somebody scooping you basically. That

01:27:03 ◼   ► you are confident in your work now that even if that happens, it doesn't matter because

01:27:08 ◼   ► it's your work and people want to see your work, no matter if it's been done a million

01:27:12 ◼   ► times before because you have your process, you have your outlook, you have your opinion,

01:27:19 ◼   ► and people like that. So I think that that is an example of your growth over the last few years

01:27:27 ◼   ► with these elements that you've been focusing on. That one, you've been able to do it, and two,

01:27:31 ◼   ► that you're comfortable with it just not being visible to people.

01:27:37 ◼   ► Yeah, yeah, I mean, there's a couple of things here like why was that able to happen. One of

01:27:44 ◼   ► the reasons is it's a real life video, so it's not an animated video that's done and complete,

01:27:50 ◼   ► but it is on a thing that is totally scoopable. It's not like my Tesla road trip, right, where

01:27:57 ◼   ► someone can't scoop that because like, "Hey, here's a thing I did," right? It's, you know, so

01:28:03 ◼   ► I have a real life thing and it is theoretically scoopable, but I'm happy to leave it the way

01:28:09 ◼   ► that it is. I don't want to leave it forever because I do still have that little bit of

01:28:14 ◼   ► concern. But this is where I'm talking about this idea of what's the order in the fractal,

01:28:21 ◼   ► and it's like, okay, tumbleweed is first, this thing is done, and in theory I could upload it,

01:28:27 ◼   ► but I want to make sure I have another layer up done first before I release this.

01:28:33 ◼   ► And so...

01:28:34 ◼   ► So do you have a video that's coming before it or you just want to get

01:28:38 ◼   ► to a point in the video that's coming after it before you release this one?

01:28:42 ◼   ► I just want to make sure I understand that.

01:28:43 ◼   ► I want to get to a point in the video after before I release this next one.

01:28:48 ◼   ► Because for whatever reason, you don't want to leave too long a gap between the two, right?

01:28:54 ◼   ► Yeah, the two things are connected and I just want to make sure I'm far enough along in this

01:28:59 ◼   ► in the next related thing before I release this one.

01:29:03 ◼   ► So you don't end up in a Summer of Grey scenario, right? Where it's like this is part two and part

01:29:10 ◼   ► one and three will come in like two years.

01:29:12 ◼   ► Yes, that's exactly correct. It could... it's less clear than that, but that's the same idea of...

01:29:18 ◼   ► Oh, here's the thing. I also have something that's related. It'll be out in two years. Goodbye.

01:29:23 ◼   ► So that's why I'm kind of holding on it.

01:29:26 ◼   ► Yeah, it is really shocking to me that I have a video that's done, even if it's not an animated

01:29:32 ◼   ► video, like I cannot believe that I have something ahead of time in this way.

01:29:36 ◼   ► And also with the topic lock, it's like, okay, tumbleweeds is this thing, but I also have

01:29:41 ◼   ► another sort of fun, small, totally isolated, not connected to anything, little animated video

01:29:50 ◼   ► that's in the works that's topic locked and is like, "Is going along really well?"

01:29:54 ◼   ► And you were bugging me about "Did I travel for tumbleweeds?" and the answer is yes, but

01:29:58 ◼   ► I also have a video for that coming along really well and hopefully should be done reasonably

01:30:05 ◼   ► soon.

01:30:06 ◼   ► MADDIE No, see, I just… you didn't go for the

01:30:08 ◼   ► tumbleweeds though, did you?

01:30:10 ◼   ► Like I know the other thing.

01:30:13 ◼   ► You didn't go for the tumbleweeds and then go to the other thing.

01:30:16 ◼   ► You did to the other thing and there were tumbleweeds.

01:30:19 ◼   ► I won't believe this is true.

01:30:21 ◼   ► You don't-- like, Myke, do I have to whisper to you what the thing is and you have to bleep it?

01:30:26 ◼   ► Because I don't know what you're thinking about.

01:30:28 ◼   ► But I went to-- like, Myke, I went to the c**t.

01:30:33 ◼   ► Do you know that? Do you know this thing?

01:30:34 ◼   ► No.

01:30:35 ◼   ► Okay, right. Well, that's the thing that I did.

01:30:39 ◼   ► No, that has nothing to do with this thing. You don't know what I'm talking about.

01:30:42 ◼   ► Do you see why I'm in this situation?

01:30:45 ◼   ► Yeah, that's why.

01:30:46 ◼   ► Wait, what is it? Wait, is the, is it ****?

01:30:49 ◼   ► It's, look, look, there's going to be so many bleeps in this section, I can't explain it to you.

01:30:52 ◼   ► Not like, it's hard that I'm going to cut out because it's too much bleeping.

01:30:55 ◼   ► No, no, it's funnier if it's bleeping.

01:30:57 ◼   ► Okay, no, is it, wait, what are we talking about now?

01:31:00 ◼   ► We're talking about tumble ****ing weeds, that's what we're talking about.

01:31:03 ◼   ► Okay, you understand why I got to this point?

01:31:08 ◼   ► I totally understand.

01:31:09 ◼   ► But now at this point I will say fine, right?

01:31:13 ◼   ► You win on that point.

01:31:16 ◼   ► Thank you.

01:31:17 ◼   ► But now I understand a little bit more about the link between this video and the next video.

01:31:21 ◼   ► Right, yeah.

01:31:21 ◼   ► Because I've seen the next one, I think.

01:31:23 ◼   ► Right, yes.

01:31:25 ◼   ► Yeah, you have seen the thing that is done and is up on my channel and is just waiting.

01:31:29 ◼   ► Right.

01:31:30 ◼   ► So I think the thing we can say is, as annoying as all that censoring is,

01:31:34 ◼   ► one, Gray said I had to censor it, it wasn't my choice.

01:31:37 ◼   ► And two, it isn't going to be six years until you find out what we were talking about.

01:31:42 ◼   ► So that's good advice.

01:31:43 ◼   ► Yeah, I mean, I hope it's going to be something like a couple of weeks at most.

01:31:48 ◼   ► So yeah, it'll be pretty fast.

01:31:50 ◼   ► But look, for me, editing something that's like a vlog in under three weeks is like lightning

01:31:59 ◼   ► fast, right?

01:32:00 ◼   ► So that's my perspective.

01:32:01 ◼   ► Oh, I'm not criticizing that.

01:32:02 ◼   ► I'm not criticizing that.

01:32:03 ◼   ► There is no criticism here.

01:32:05 ◼   ► I don't know.

01:32:09 ◼   ► It's been a really interesting year so far.

01:32:14 ◼   ► I was talking last time about the month of unexpected urgency, which has become a lot

01:32:19 ◼   ► more like the two months of unexpected urgency.

01:32:22 ◼   ► But even through all of this, what you said about some of the long run byproducts of my

01:32:30 ◼   ► year away from the internet, that totally works into it.

01:32:34 ◼   ► It's why Year of Clarity to me feels very much like there's a lot of threads over the

01:32:41 ◼   ► past few years that have all come together right around the same time and are working

01:32:49 ◼   ► to help each other.

01:32:51 ◼   ► And one of those things is just recognizing in my own work process that I am just a person

01:33:02 ◼   ► who works really well in isolation. Like, just on my own, focused on projects for long

01:33:12 ◼   ► periods of time with as little of the outside world as I can manage to get by without. And

01:33:20 ◼   ► I know that I've always been crazy about this stuff, like managing my notifications and

01:33:24 ◼   ► trying to clamp all that stuff down and I feel like I'm just really leaning into that

01:33:34 ◼   ► because it's also the thing that makes my video work so clearly much better of, you

01:33:42 ◼   ► know, I'm just gonna get up in the mornings and I'm gonna try to be isolated on this work

01:33:49 ◼   ► And if a day is going really well, like I'm just gonna stay isolated and I'm just gonna keep working on this thing and

01:33:56 ◼   ► there's something about it that I, it's hard to put my finger on, but it feels like something has, has changed and it's just more

01:34:04 ◼   ► satisfying.

01:34:07 ◼   ► And it's, it's part of the way as well, like even during what, what would have been in past years,

01:34:13 ◼   ► an incredibly disruptive outside environment that would have completely destroyed my ability to make videos.

01:34:20 ◼   ► I've ended up in a situation where it's like,

01:34:23 ◼   ► "Tumbleweed video came out. Boy, do I love it and it's great.

01:34:26 ◼   ► Oh, by the way, I also have another video that's like ready and waiting to go."

01:34:30 ◼   ► And there's like two more in the chamber that are coming along really well.

01:34:35 ◼   ► And part of this is just

01:34:37 ◼   ► some hard to articulate thoughts about how am I selecting topics

01:34:43 ◼   ► and some more practical stuff about,

01:34:46 ◼   ► "Hey, your temperament is like to work on your own,

01:34:52 ◼   ► on projects, sort of in this isolated way."

01:34:56 ◼   ► In the way that people for all of time who did work

01:35:00 ◼   ► that revolved around reading and writing always would have,

01:35:04 ◼   ► and like, just lean into that.

01:35:06 ◼   ► And I don't know, like, you're really happy

01:35:09 ◼   ► about Mega Studio, and I feel like I'm really happy

01:35:12 ◼   ► about the way my video production process is going now.

01:35:17 ◼   ► And I think like,

01:35:19 ◼   ► Year of Clarity is really the correct focusing thought

01:35:23 ◼   ► around a bunch of decisions related to all of this stuff.

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01:36:31 ◼   ► show and Relay FM. You did something a little different this time you did a

01:36:35 ◼   ► the directors commentary stream for your Patreon backers?

01:36:39 ◼   ► Yes.

01:36:40 ◼   ► Oh.

01:36:41 ◼   ► Live streaming, Myke.

01:36:43 ◼   ► Live streaming.

01:36:44 ◼   ► Now, I wanna just ask, how did you do the live streaming?

01:36:48 ◼   ► Badly, I guess, is the answer.

01:36:52 ◼   ► I don't know.

01:36:53 ◼   ► I've seen most of the video, and the video begins, like the Patreon video begins, with

01:37:00 ◼   ► you basically saying, "Oh, finally an hour later!"

01:37:03 ◼   ► I was like, "Oh boy, you had a lot of trouble over there."

01:37:06 ◼   ► - Yeah, what am I, Wave, Wirecast?

01:37:10 ◼   ► Yeah, Wirecast.

01:37:12 ◼   ► - I sent you a text message.

01:37:14 ◼   ► - Okay.

01:37:15 ◼   ► - Did you not see my text message that I sent you?

01:37:17 ◼   ► - What, just now?

01:37:18 ◼   ► - No, no, like on the day you announced the live stream.

01:37:22 ◼   ► You announced I'm gonna live stream today,

01:37:24 ◼   ► and then I sent you an iMessage, didn't I?

01:37:27 ◼   ► - Look, Myke, I was having a hell of a day

01:37:31 ◼   ► making anything work. - No, this was before.

01:37:32 ◼   ► This was before, this was hours before,

01:37:34 ◼   ► this was when you announced you were gonna do it.

01:37:36 ◼   ► And I sent you a message.

01:37:38 ◼   ► - Okay, yeah, this thing about like,

01:37:40 ◼   ► Ecamm Live, powerful Mac streaming.

01:37:43 ◼   ► Yes, no, look, I understand that when I announced

01:37:46 ◼   ► that there was gonna be a director's commentary,

01:37:47 ◼   ► you sent me a thing about a brand new piece of software

01:37:50 ◼   ► that I immediately put out of my mind,

01:37:52 ◼   ► 'cause I thought, you know what I'm not gonna do,

01:37:53 ◼   ► at the 11th hour here, swap out what I think is gonna be.

01:37:56 ◼   ► - This software is so easy to use.

01:37:58 ◼   ► I feel like this is the one I used and didn't like.

01:38:02 ◼   ► Do you like this?

01:38:03 ◼   ► - It only came out like eight months ago.

01:38:06 ◼   ► I've tried lots of things for the Mac.

01:38:10 ◼   ► This is the easiest Mac live streaming software

01:38:13 ◼   ► that I've used, yeah.

01:38:15 ◼   ► This is the one you should be using.

01:38:16 ◼   ► - Okay, I'm clicking--

01:38:17 ◼   ► - Or you should just get a PC and it's just the thing to do.

01:38:22 ◼   ► And you get Streamlabs and then you're fine.

01:38:24 ◼   ► But if you're not gonna do that,

01:38:26 ◼   ► this is what you should use.

01:38:27 ◼   ► Like me and Steven used it for a bunch of stuff leading up to the Podcastathon.

01:38:31 ◼   ► Okay.

01:38:32 ◼   ► Okay.

01:38:33 ◼   ► I've downloaded it.

01:38:34 ◼   ► It's on my desktop.

01:38:35 ◼   ► This is what you should use if you're going to do these again, which I think you will.

01:38:39 ◼   ► Cause I've, it seemed like it went really well and it's a good little

01:38:42 ◼   ► perk for your Patreon backers.

01:38:44 ◼   ► Look, I use Wirecasts and it only, it only took me an hour to close

01:38:50 ◼   ► to 90 minutes to get it to work.

01:38:51 ◼   ► You used one of the absolutely most complicated pieces of

01:38:56 ◼   ► software I've ever come across.

01:38:58 ◼   ► Okay, look, that's the one, the roulette wheel of me looking online to find software, like

01:39:05 ◼   ► that's what that landed on.

01:39:06 ◼   ► Yeah, Ecamm is a new kid on the block with this, so like it's not very well known.

01:39:11 ◼   ► I will give it a try because I could never quite figure out what it was, but there was

01:39:14 ◼   ► some audio button I would press in Wirecast that would start a self-feedback loop of the

01:39:19 ◼   ► audio that would immediately spiral into the maximum volume that someone's computer could

01:39:25 ◼   ► [laughter]

01:39:27 ◼   ► And that was, that was, like, that's not what I want to be doing.

01:39:32 ◼   ► Like, literally injuring the ears of the people who were, who were,

01:39:35 ◼   ► who are being very kind and are there for the pre-stream trying to help me set up the stream.

01:39:40 ◼   ► They are giving you both time and money.

01:39:44 ◼   ► [laughter]

01:39:45 ◼   ► Right? And then you're blowing out their eardrums.

01:39:47 ◼   ► It was bad, but there was a very dedicated group of people who were trying to help me fumble through

01:39:51 ◼   ► setting up a live stream. But doing something like a director's commentary is something that's been

01:40:00 ◼   ► on my mind for a while as a thing to do. And it's one of the reasons why when we talked a few months

01:40:08 ◼   ► ago about how I switched the Patreon model, this was one of the things in the back of my mind of...

01:40:19 ◼   ► Because, I mean, Patreon is a company that's been around for a while,

01:40:23 ◼   ► and when they started, you had the option of like, "Oh, per thing or per month?"

01:40:28 ◼   ► And those things were sort of treated equally, but as time has gone on,

01:40:33 ◼   ► the features and the way Patreon works are really all lean towards the monthly system.

01:40:41 ◼   ► There wasn't a good way to be able to do something like, "Oh hey, I have this video.

01:40:47 ◼   ► if you want to watch it, you can just pay the five dollars, watch the video, and then

01:40:53 ◼   ► cancel the next month's payment, right? Like, there wasn't... there was no way to do that under

01:40:58 ◼   ► the old system of, like, per thing. Yeah, because you would have had to get people to sign up

01:41:04 ◼   ► before you did the thing, so then when the thing happened, a payment would be triggered,

01:41:09 ◼   ► which is, like, a terrible way to... Yeah, it was really frustrating, and there are a number of

01:41:15 ◼   ► of things that I was thinking about with like, I'm fighting the system here and

01:41:20 ◼   ► it's causing me problems with just trying to think about stuff.

01:41:23 ◼   ► So the director's commentary had been on my mind for a long time.

01:41:27 ◼   ► And it's partly because we've discussed on the show.

01:41:30 ◼   ► It's hard sometimes to think about, you know, when you, when you have an audience

01:41:36 ◼   ► like, like we have with this show, you will have people ask for things that

01:41:42 ◼   ► don't necessarily make sense or you think you wouldn't actually like it if we gave it to you.

01:41:46 ◼   ► And that's what we've discussed many times with an unedited version of this show, for example.

01:41:50 ◼   ► Exactly. Yes, the people who support the show, they're like,

01:41:53 ◼   ► "Hey, I'd love an unedited version." And the answer is no, you wouldn't.

01:41:57 ◼   ► Right? You just don't want that.

01:41:58 ◼   ► The thing I was saying is you may enjoy it if you already enjoy the show, maybe,

01:42:02 ◼   ► but like this isn't the show you want.

01:42:04 ◼   ► Right.

01:42:05 ◼   ► One of the reasons you enjoy the show is because of how hard we edit it.

01:42:08 ◼   ► Like, please trust me on that one.

01:42:10 ◼   ► Yeah, always show a screenshot of like the hundreds and hundreds of edits you do.

01:42:13 ◼   ► Yeah, I will put a screenshot in the show notes of the edit of this episode,

01:42:18 ◼   ► and then you will see how much was taken out. So if you even at this point in the show,

01:42:21 ◼   ► you're like, "Oh, this is a good episode so far. It's because of everything I cut."

01:42:24 ◼   ► [laughs]

01:42:25 ◼   ► Yeah, yeah. It really is true. And so I've always had the same thing with the YouTube

01:42:32 ◼   ► channel where people are asking for stuff, things like, "Show us the deleted scenes."

01:42:36 ◼   ► And the way I make videos, if I have a deleted scene, it's because I've done something terribly wrong.

01:42:43 ◼   ► Like, it should never get to the state.

01:42:44 ◼   ► You should never have gotten to animation.

01:42:46 ◼   ► Yes, exactly. Like, it should never have gotten to the state where I recorded something and it was animated.

01:42:51 ◼   ► In the entire time I've done this, I've only ever once had a deleted scene,

01:42:57 ◼   ► which was from the Fable of the Dragon Tyrant,

01:43:00 ◼   ► where much later I realized there was a little section that could be cut and nothing would be lost.

01:43:05 ◼   ► But it's like that just shouldn't happen with the tightly animated videos.

01:43:10 ◼   ► And so people would ask for like deleted scenes or people would ask for a bunch of the behind the scenes stuff and

01:43:16 ◼   ► I always just like I had a hard time trying to think about what is a way that this makes sense to

01:43:24 ◼   ► show people.

01:43:26 ◼   ► So like people would ask sometimes for "Oh show us your notes on this thing"

01:43:31 ◼   ► Like I'd love to see more of the details that that went out.

01:43:34 ◼   ► It's like, it's not really a thing that makes sense to just show or like it totally loses all

01:43:42 ◼   ► of the context. So it was part of my previous summer when I was driving around in America,

01:43:48 ◼   ► that it dawned on me that something like a director's commentary would make sense. And

01:43:52 ◼   ► I was waiting to be able to change the business model so it could actually support that. And I

01:44:00 ◼   ► I was also waiting for what felt like the right video to start it with.

01:44:07 ◼   ► Tumbleweeds just happened to be the right video at the right time.

01:44:12 ◼   ► Like I love it as a topic, and it's a topic that is weirdly infinite.

01:44:19 ◼   ► Like you can just… there's so much detail that ended up being part of this, and I often

01:44:25 ◼   ► think of the natural discussion size or the natural discussion length for topics. And

01:44:34 ◼   ► so, you can make a five-minute video about tumbleweed. And if you make a five-minute

01:44:39 ◼   ► video about tumbleweed, then you have to limit what you talk about, but it also can spread

01:44:46 ◼   ► further because what people don't want is a university-length course on tumbleweed management,

01:44:56 ◼   ► right? People don't want to sit through all of that. But then there's, like, on this podcast,

01:45:02 ◼   ► we can talk about how is this video made? And that's sort of a longer conversation about

01:45:09 ◼   ► the production of the video or like, how did this come to be or why was I thinking about it in this

01:45:13 ◼   ► way and that's like a podcast's natural length of discussion. Or, maybe as I did, you can

01:45:21 ◼   ► go talk to experts and spend eight hours discussing tumbleweed with people. And that's a very

01:45:28 ◼   ► different kind of thing. And the director's commentary concept made me realize, "Oh, here

01:45:38 ◼   ► is a natural size of discussion that hits a bunch of bullet points.

01:45:46 ◼   ► Bullet point number one is it doesn't have to be a thing that takes up hours and hours

01:45:53 ◼   ► and hours of my time to prepare for because when I'm doing the discussion about the

01:45:58 ◼   ► behind the scenes production commentary of the video, I will have just finished thinking

01:46:05 ◼   ► about this for six to eight weeks in a row in a very intense way. So like, it is all in my head.

01:46:11 ◼   ► And for the people who are asking about more behind the scenes stuff,

01:46:18 ◼   ► it can have the details that don't make sense to talk about like on a podcast or to upload as a

01:46:27 ◼   ► separate video. So for example, Myke, I would not make you sit through on this show, "Hey,

01:46:35 ◼   ► let me run through my favorite highlights that I made in this 1890 Department of Agriculture

01:46:42 ◼   ► report on the situation in Tumbleweed out in the Midwest."

01:46:46 ◼   ► MATT: I think that conversation as well, it just doesn't work as well in this setting.

01:46:52 ◼   ► It does work better when there is a visual component too.

01:46:56 ◼   ► Yeah, it works better with a visual component and it just, it's this thing about different

01:47:03 ◼   ► sized discussions are better in different formats or better in different places.

01:47:09 ◼   ► And I just sort of felt like, okay, this is a thing that makes sense.

01:47:14 ◼   ► I think it kind of answers the question of what a lot of the people who crowdfund the

01:47:20 ◼   ► video are looking for.

01:47:22 ◼   ► Like, hey, tell me more about this.

01:47:24 ◼   ► Well, you've kind of opened yourself up to it.

01:47:27 ◼   ► Like, if you came to this episode and then we start talking about Tumbleweed in, like,

01:47:31 ◼   ► a lot of detail, it probably wasn't what you were expecting and maybe it'd be a bit

01:47:37 ◼   ► like, "I don't know why I'm being subjected to this conversation."

01:47:42 ◼   ► Yes, yeah.

01:47:43 ◼   ► Right?

01:47:44 ◼   ► Well, that's the other thing is that it's a very self-selecting audience of who wants

01:47:48 ◼   ► to listen to this much detail, right?

01:47:50 ◼   ► cortex is a much broader audience than the like, "Who really wants to know all the details?"

01:47:56 ◼   ► Like, it's a self-selection effect as well. It is a thing that had been on my mind. I've

01:48:00 ◼   ► been, again, with Year of Clarity feeling like a lot of stuff is coming together. I

01:48:04 ◼   ► was at the point where I had set it up so that it could make sense and it could work.

01:48:08 ◼   ► I'd also played around with streaming on my other channels and like, okay, I had an

01:48:13 ◼   ► idea of how to do this at least barely competently, so that came together and yeah, I think it

01:48:22 ◼   ► went well. It was very interesting to do. I'm still regarding it as experimental at

01:48:27 ◼   ► this point in time, but it's something that, at least for the animated videos, I think

01:48:34 ◼   ► I'm going to continue to do going forward. I don't think it makes sense for the live

01:48:39 ◼   ► action stuff because that's just way less dense, it's much less intense of a project.

01:48:47 ◼   ► But yeah, so anyway, it's just like us talking about our businesses and like, what can we

01:48:51 ◼   ► do and this was an experiment that is initially promising and that I think fills a space of

01:48:59 ◼   ► people are interested and it's a right discussion size for a certain kind of thing.

01:49:05 ◼   ► I think I found a bag for you.

01:49:07 ◼   ► Okay.

01:49:08 ◼   ► So, I heard about this on one of my favourite podcasts, Dubai Friday.

01:49:15 ◼   ► Company Tom Bihn.

01:49:16 ◼   ► Can I click the link?

01:49:17 ◼   ► Yeah, click the link.

01:49:18 ◼   ► They make a thing called the handy little thing pouch.

01:49:22 ◼   ► It's like the fertility bag that you always dreamed of, I think.

01:49:25 ◼   ► It's a little bag and you can put it on a sling or on a strap that goes around your

01:49:30 ◼   ► waist.

01:49:31 ◼   ► it in different sizes and it's got a bunch of pockets inside.

01:49:34 ◼   ► No. No? Okay, tell me why. Okay. I want to know why.

01:49:49 ◼   ► Too big. Too big? Yeah. Okay. I'm looking at the small one. It's too big. It's too...

01:49:57 ◼   ► I think it's a good product.

01:49:59 ◼   ► - The small one's too big?

01:50:00 ◼   ► - Yes, the small one's too big.

01:50:02 ◼   ► It's a good product.

01:50:03 ◼   ► I like this idea of a little bag

01:50:06 ◼   ► that you can have some vital items in for travel.

01:50:09 ◼   ► Like I might use that actually.

01:50:12 ◼   ► But if you're thinking this is the

01:50:15 ◼   ► fertility bag that I want, this is not the thing.

01:50:19 ◼   ► Like I want something, yeah,

01:50:22 ◼   ► that's just like an additional pocket, right?

01:50:25 ◼   ► that's small or I can put some additional things.

01:50:29 ◼   ► - It's basically a clip-on pocket

01:50:31 ◼   ► is what you're looking for.

01:50:32 ◼   ► - Kind of, yeah, I'm kind of looking for something

01:50:34 ◼   ► like a clip-on pocket, so this is too much.

01:50:37 ◼   ► I appreciate what you're trying to do here,

01:50:39 ◼   ► but I'm going to veto this as a satisfactory bag.

01:50:43 ◼   ► - All right, and keep looking out for you then.

01:50:45 ◼   ► - Yeah, thank you, I appreciate that.

01:50:47 ◼   ► - It did make me think about bags in general though,

01:50:49 ◼   ► like I'm thinking about bags again,

01:50:51 ◼   ► because I'm probably gonna need a daily bag now,

01:50:54 ◼   ► which I haven't needed in a long time.

01:50:56 ◼   ► - Why?

01:50:57 ◼   ► - For moving from home to studio.

01:51:00 ◼   ► - No, no.

01:51:01 ◼   ► - No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

01:51:02 ◼   ► There will be little things that I will wanna bring with me.

01:51:05 ◼   ► - What things? - Frequently.

01:51:05 ◼   ► Not every day.

01:51:06 ◼   ► Stuff like pens, coffee stuff, maybe food.

01:51:11 ◼   ► There might be a time where I will wanna take an iPad

01:51:15 ◼   ► there and back, like stuff like that.

01:51:19 ◼   ► Right, and it's not gonna be every day,

01:51:20 ◼   ► but it's gonna be frequently enough

01:51:21 ◼   ► that I'm thinking I will wanna have a more

01:51:24 ◼   ► daily bag again.

01:51:25 ◼   ► No, no, don't do this.

01:51:27 ◼   ► Don't do this, Myke.

01:51:27 ◼   ► Just double up, double up, double up everything that you can ever conceive of at the office.

01:51:31 ◼   ► Everything.

01:51:32 ◼   ► Right.

01:51:33 ◼   ► Okay.

01:51:33 ◼   ► Okay.

01:51:33 ◼   ► Sandwiches.

01:51:34 ◼   ► No, but sandwiches.

01:51:36 ◼   ► You can, you can bring in a little brown paper bag like you're going to school, but no pens.

01:51:42 ◼   ► No iPads.

01:51:43 ◼   ► No, you should have redundant equipment in mega studio so that you're packing.

01:51:49 ◼   ► That's crazy making like I'm just, no, no, don't do this.

01:51:53 ◼   ► Don't do this, Myke.

01:51:54 ◼   ► Just get redundant equipment, please.

01:51:56 ◼   ► I'm begging you.

01:51:57 ◼   ► (laughs)

01:51:58 ◼   ► I can't, I don't think I can live with the idea

01:52:00 ◼   ► that you have a whole mega studio

01:52:02 ◼   ► and then you have a bag full of junk

01:52:04 ◼   ► that you're bringing back and forth frequently.

01:52:07 ◼   ► So when you had the glass cube,

01:52:09 ◼   ► you had no bag that you took with you?

01:52:12 ◼   ► I had no, I had literally no bag.

01:52:16 ◼   ► And it was like being a leaf on the wind, right?

01:52:20 ◼   ► It was just freedom.

01:52:21 ◼   ► It was great.

01:52:22 ◼   ► everything I could conceive of, there was a redundant version of it in the glass cube.

01:52:28 ◼   ► This is how you should live life, Myke.

01:52:31 ◼   ► Don't start schlepping a bag, please.

01:52:35 ◼   ► For your own sake.

01:52:36 ◼   ► I see I found a bag that I like though.

01:52:40 ◼   ► No, okay.

01:52:41 ◼   ► Now, if you want to buy a bag because you like the bag, that's a totally different

01:52:45 ◼   ► thing.

01:52:46 ◼   ► Right, but this bag would only be useful to me in this situation because it's not big

01:52:49 ◼   ► enough I don't think like for like traveling. It's more like a daily bag.

01:52:54 ◼   ► Okay. But okay no I'm gonna I'm gonna take your advice and I'm not gonna buy the bag.

01:52:59 ◼   ► I'm looking at this thing it's a million times too big don't do this I think I think you

01:53:04 ◼   ► should seriously consider this as a constraint to focus you on realizing

01:53:10 ◼   ► what do you want to have in mega office. Alright so what I'm gonna do is I'm

01:53:16 ◼   ► I'm going to postpone bag buying.

01:53:18 ◼   ► Okay.

01:53:19 ◼   ► I'm not going to buy this bag now.

01:53:22 ◼   ► Right.

01:53:22 ◼   ► Like, and I will do what you are suggesting.

01:53:24 ◼   ► Like, cause I have bags right now, which I am using to take stuff to the office,

01:53:28 ◼   ► but then the most of the stuff is staying there or it's stuff that has to come back

01:53:32 ◼   ► home because I don't have it set up yet.

01:53:34 ◼   ► But I think I, I think I am on board with this idea that you're setting out, right.

01:53:39 ◼   ► Where like maybe the things that I'm mentioning, I could just have a tote bag,

01:53:45 ◼   ► right, to put my coffee cup and my sandwich box in, right?

01:53:49 ◼   ► Like, and that's like a different situation.

01:53:51 ◼   ► That's like basically a carrier bag.

01:53:53 ◼   ► Like it's not a gear bag of any kind, right?

01:53:57 ◼   ► You know, like a regular tote bag,

01:53:58 ◼   ► not this tote backpack that I'm showing you.

01:54:01 ◼   ► You know what I mean?

01:54:01 ◼   ► Like a canvas tote bag,

01:54:03 ◼   ► if I want to take a sandwich to the office.

01:54:05 ◼   ► - Okay, sandwich, yes.

01:54:07 ◼   ► Coffee cup, what do you mean by coffee cup?

01:54:09 ◼   ► - One of those travel coffee mugs.

01:54:11 ◼   ► Like I'm planning on making coffee at home before I leave

01:54:13 ◼   ► 'cause I have really good equipment here.

01:54:16 ◼   ► - Okay. - Right?

01:54:17 ◼   ► And putting it in like a flask cup thing

01:54:19 ◼   ► and taking it with me to the office to have on the go.

01:54:23 ◼   ► This is like not necessarily a thing I'm gonna do,

01:54:25 ◼   ► but like a thing I'll get to sometimes.

01:54:28 ◼   ► - Okay, all right, all right.

01:54:29 ◼   ► I have to also just reframe my brain

01:54:32 ◼   ► for the way that you use coffee.

01:54:33 ◼   ► So you just wanna have coffee on your way to the office.

01:54:37 ◼   ► That's fine. - Maybe.

01:54:38 ◼   ► - That's fine. - Maybe.

01:54:39 ◼   ► Like that isn't necessarily something I'm gonna do,

01:54:41 ◼   ► but it might be something that I do sometimes.

01:54:43 ◼   ► Like if I'm in a rush.

01:54:44 ◼   ► - Right, but what you're not doing is you're not

01:54:46 ◼   ► bringing a cup, which is your favorite coffee cup

01:54:50 ◼   ► to the office to drink. - No, I will have a coffee cup

01:54:52 ◼   ► at the office.

01:54:53 ◼   ► - Okay, okay.

01:54:54 ◼   ► - Probably. - Right.

01:54:55 ◼   ► - Right, because I'm not-- - Yes, yes.

01:54:56 ◼   ► - No, no, no, like 'cause I'm not,

01:54:57 ◼   ► 'cause there's also like, I might just go to the cafe

01:55:01 ◼   ► which is like next to the place, right?

01:55:03 ◼   ► Like just down the street. - Yeah, but what are you

01:55:04 ◼   ► gonna do when people come visit,

01:55:05 ◼   ► when they're at the hot desk and they're like,

01:55:07 ◼   ► "Oh, where's the coffee?"

01:55:08 ◼   ► - Oh, we're gonna have like glasses and water and stuff,

01:55:10 ◼   ► but like coffee, I don't know if we're gonna have,

01:55:12 ◼   ► We don't have a sink in the studio.

01:55:14 ◼   ► Who's going to, who's going to visit you if there's no coffee in your studio?

01:55:18 ◼   ► Not me.

01:55:19 ◼   ► There is a, I can just get you a coffee from the coffee shop.

01:55:21 ◼   ► How far is that coffee shop?

01:55:23 ◼   ► Like that's super close.

01:55:25 ◼   ► Like you would be there in 20 seconds.

01:55:26 ◼   ► Okay.

01:55:27 ◼   ► Maybe that's satisfying.

01:55:27 ◼   ► There's actually like three.

01:55:29 ◼   ► There's like lots of options, right?

01:55:31 ◼   ► It's like a, we're in a town here and we're in a city.

01:55:33 ◼   ► Okay.

01:55:34 ◼   ► Anyway, like I just haven't worked out the, if there's going to be an in studio

01:55:37 ◼   ► coffee solution yet, because it will require effort, right?

01:55:41 ◼   ► because we don't have a sink, so you'd have to go to the communal sink to deal with that.

01:55:45 ◼   ► And I just haven't worked out how or if that's gonna work.

01:55:50 ◼   ► - Then. - Alright. No bag.

01:55:52 ◼   ► - Okay. - Great.

01:55:53 ◼   ► - Phew! - For now.

01:55:55 ◼   ► - I'll take it. I'll take it. - Alright.

01:55:58 ◼   ► I feel like I've saved a life today. That's how relieved I feel.

01:56:01 ◼   ► Wow. Alright.

01:56:02 ◼   ► - Cortex Movie Club next time! - Movie Club!

01:56:05 ◼   ► We're gonna be watching Inside Bill's Brain.

01:56:08 ◼   ► This is a three-part series on Netflix.

01:56:11 ◼   ► We've watched the whole thing.

01:56:12 ◼   ► It's not going to just be one episode, all three episodes.

01:56:15 ◼   ► It's basically one big three hour documentary that they cut up into three

01:56:19 ◼   ► parts. It doesn't really need to be three episodes specifically, but it's

01:56:22 ◼   ► structured that way.

01:56:23 ◼   ► This is pretty relevant right now.

01:56:25 ◼   ► It's kind of funny. Bill Gates just stepped down from Microsoft's board to

01:56:30 ◼   ► focus on his philanthropy and it is mostly about his, well, it's kind of like

01:56:35 ◼   ► the documentary focuses on mostly the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, but

01:56:41 ◼   ► then looks back at his history and how it applies to the things that he's now doing

01:56:45 ◼   ► as a philanthropist. The reason that I, well you will understand the reasons when you've

01:56:50 ◼   ► watched this as to why I think this is relevant for the show, but like it does focus a lot

01:56:54 ◼   ► on the type of person Bill Gates is and as his leader and also how he thinks and works.

01:57:01 ◼   ► And this is now the second time that I've seen it because I watched it a few months

01:57:04 ◼   ► ago and I put it on the list because it was like felt so prime to talk about on the show.

01:57:11 ◼   ► So go and watch it. It's on Netflix. It's great and we're going to talk about it on

01:57:15 ◼   ► the next episode.