216. Stop Gerunding

AlexThis is Do By Friday, a weekly challenge podcast. This week's challenge, find some great cover songs.

MerlinLet's see. What else is going on out there? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep.

AlexOh, so you can hear me.

MerlinYes. You cannot hear me?

AlexNo, I can. For some reason, my monitoring was not working for a second. I don't know what I did. Unplugged it and plugged it back in. Hooray. Work.

MerlinYeah, I have a HomeKit power strip, and that's more or less the official way to get, when you get like currently unavailable. I don't know if you've ever gotten that. You've probably never gotten that in HomeKit. But yeah, you just kind of unplug it and replug it. I have two different devices that do that. Fun. If you want your home automation to work, you just need to sometimes unplug it and replug it.

AlexWell, I have actually a little, turns out, IR sensor that just is like... Wait, isn't that what it's called?

MerlinNo, no, no. I'm sorry. That's stupid. IR sensor. EL fudge.

AlexIt's one of those things that you don't need a... I don't know. uh wi-fi uh there we go that's what the internet is sometimes called you you just push a little button it's like an old school garage door opener and voila it it turns everything on and off and

Merlinthen the smart stuff usually works what you mean in the house what are you talking about ir uh let me let me see if i can pull this up you're talking about like a blaster for your tv stuff yeah and

AlexBut in old school blaster. Hold on. I.R. Censor. Home.

Speaker AMm-hmm.

AlexIn case, you know, the whatchamadingus, you know, as it's known. The, oh, here we go. Oh, no. All right. Maybe not. I'll find it.

MerlinOur garage door opener stopped working today.

AlexOh, no. Oh, no.

MerlinYes. I'll figure it out. Well, the problem is that we are at the maximum number, I think, I don't even know how old our, I mean, we've been there 20 years, so it's at least 20 years old, and I imagine it was 10 years old when we moved in. But there is, on the brand, don't be creepy, the brand of garage door opener we have, there's a limit on the number of remotes that can be associated with it. and frankly i'm amazed that we're only it's a single digit number but we i'm amazed that it

took this long to get to the maximum amount it used to be we just add a new one you know like the way you treat oil you know like there are always more you know you assume and you find out you're at peak remote more than half of the remotes that can be gotten out of the ground

Alexcheaply has already been gotten out um you sound you sound a little little down me why how do i sound down down sound down yeah you're a little bit bassy oh you're basic i don't know yeah yeah

MerlinI are. You are. He or she is. They are.

AlexDo you know where you are in line to get a COVID vaccine? Did you take...

MerlinI do.

AlexOh, where are you at?

MerlinI did a screen grab because it's pretty darn funny. Why? Oh, well, I mean, like, I don't have a dog in this fight. I just popped in my information like everybody did. And I imagined I would be below 50th, maybe below 25th. I don't know. I thought maybe a person of my age, like I say, I don't really have a thought one way or another. I'm going to be wearing a mask for the rest of my life, God willing. But I am, let me pull it up. I think I'm like fourth or fifth to the last in line.

What we're talking about here is that we can find out for notes. There's a New York Times interactive where you can punch in some information about you. And based on the available information, it estimates where you fall. If America were a long line, if every citizen in America or every person living in America were in a big long line, where you would be in that line. Right. Is that the idea?

AlexI think so. Yep.

MerlinIt's pretty far back. I'm guessing you did this as well?

AlexI just did. I didn't realize how fast it was.

MerlinOh, my. One, two, three, four, five, six. I'm seventh from the last. Are you further back?

AlexOh, okay.

MerlinI'm just at that curve, the first curve. If this was chutes and ladders.

AlexOh, wow. I am at, I'm right at after 1.6 million young adults.

Speaker AOh, okay.

AlexBut I don't have, okay, I'm 30, live in Cook County, which is Chicago, basically. I am not a healthcare worker, essential worker, first responder, a teacher. You are to me. And I have no... Thank you.

I'm essential. I have no risks. Maybe it's because Chicago doesn't... Isn't good at stuff? I don't know.

MerlinSo, look, I just sent you mine. Where are you?

AlexYou said 1.6? Oh, my gosh. You are, I'm, I don't want to say I'm jealous, but, oh, all right. Can I get a big?

MerlinWas it New York Times? This is good radio.

AlexScreen gram.

MerlinOkay. Where am I in line? They like to push these things. Let's see. Oh, yeah. This is just a bad screen grab.

AlexIsn't that wild? Like I'm.

MerlinOh, wow. Yeah. You're pretty far ahead of me.

AlexI don't like this. I don't like this at all.

MerlinNo. You feel like you're unworthy? Why do you feel bad?

AlexBecause I'm happy to stay inside as long as necessary.

MerlinBut I guess, I mean, it must partially be, I can only speculate, but I imagine it's looking for, obviously, you're going to start with the people who are most vulnerable and exposed. And the people, I don't know, I'm guessing, again, guessing. But it's people who get the most exposure, who are getting the most load, as they say. There's a lot of virus out there, as they say. you don't want to get it on you you know and so uh the frontline people first responder whatever that means um people in nursing homes but it must also be like how but the thing i don't get is if

you're saying you don't have any conditions huh i don't know but also maybe you know i'm not i i don't say this to be disparaging but like you know maybe i'm not worth it i'm really squarely in that area of like the most non-trend.

AlexOh, God, I didn't even, ooh.

MerlinWell, because like, you know, it's, you know, John Mulaney bit about the New York Post and how there's bozos and angels and like the hierarchy of people in the New York Post. No. Oh, oh, he has a pretty funny bit just about, you know, beat it, bozo. And talking about how in the New York Post, you could have a tot. You have tots. a tot is just a a kid who's not an angel yet because they haven't died I think when you say oh my gosh that's so

Alextragic as in as in a tiny like well as

Merlinyou know as in like perverts you know grabbing tots kind of thing anyway but I think I'm I we if you try to imagine oh my gosh what a tragic death obviously the death of a child you know really terrible you know I think a 54 year old man in San

Alexfrancisco nobody's really super gonna miss you know i'm saying i would i i could think of at

Merlinleast five again like there's quote another stand-up comedian like patten oswald says you get how many birthdays you get in life you get like 20 birthdays parties in life i'm just gonna quote bits all day i bit my tongue also a little bit

Alexi'll be okay do you use the what's it called aura gel i don't is that for the herpes what's it i've

Merlinused dora gel yeah i used it back in the day when i would get canker sores i think the result of my

Alexanxiety was i'd sometimes get canker sores oh it burns i don't oh yeah it's um what is it i know

Merlinthis it's hydrogen peroxide and what's the stuff that makes it tangy bernie sauce bernie sauce that's what the brosy the bernie bernie brosy bernie sauce oh i don't like that at all uh it uh Yeah. Yeah. Hmm. Hmm.

AlexYou've been talking about age a lot. Why is that?

MerlinWhat?

AlexYou've been talking about age a lot. I've been catching up on some of your other programs.

MerlinWhat the fuck are you talking about? Stop noticing me.

AlexI apologize.

MerlinMy goodness. My goodness.

AlexYou're the one who looks at my Twitter sometimes. It's very upsetting.

MerlinWell, I mean, you're on Twitter and I have Twitter. So I see. Yeah.

AlexI thought you were off Twitter.

MerlinNo, I mean, maybe I have. I don't know. I don't know.

Speaker AUm, what was I going to say about that?

MerlinYeah, I feel a little bit off my game. I woke up kind of late. I'm a little off my game. I was trying to capture some bonus sleep and it didn't fully work out. I got just enough bonus sleep to make me a little more tired. So I got my iced tea here.

And I had my morning medicine. So who knows? We're all being an hour. You know what? The only way out is through. Let's just keep pushing.

Alexlast week's episode uh someone who's a friend of the show commented in the best way possible that it seemed as if both of us had either taken too much or too little of our uh respective medications so thanks thanks for the note buddy thanks there you suck too

Merlinyeah yeah yeah it's like when i poo again the comedy bit when i poo comes to homer's house and and like this i'm just come through use your use your bathroom rifle through your magazines see how you like it.

Let's see. Oh, I did have a little bit of follow-up. I forgot one of my favorite. Last week we talked about Christmas traditions, new and old, doing Christmas things. And I forgot one of my favorite ones. And I forget how it started, but we still do this every year.

I think this might have started with legitimately my wife saying, you know, when you say, what do you want for Christmas? Send me your wish list. And at one point she's like, I really want a new broom. And I was like, oh my God, I'm going to get eviscerated by, understandably, by everyone if I buy you a broom.

And then, like, it was real little at the time, but we kind of got in on it together. And we bought her a new broom. And, of course, what do you do? You wrap the broom. Go on. Well, and unless you're doing some kind of telescopic rifle situation, it's pretty obvious that that's a broom. So, and now the struggle is we have to keep trying to find brooms. she doesn't already own or hasn't already thrown out because it's mostly a bit. But yeah, we always give her Christmas morning. My wife's first present is usually an obviously broom-shaped package that's a broom.

AlexDo you have a decade's worth of brooms?

MerlinNo, because she's also a thrower away.

AlexOh, that's right. She threw away the shoes.

MerlinThe shoes that we met in. She said, those are dirty. Why would I keep those? I said, why don't you just throw our relationship on the pile? a relationship is like a shoe. And then what's another one? Oh, yeah, we usually in her stocking, she's really good at stocking stuff. Like she really loads it up, like too much. We get like, it's a whole Christmas on its own, a whole spread. We get like, there's usually like a magazine in there. There's all kinds of stuff. I get a lot of personal care products, usually hint, hint. Oh, ew.

Yeah.

AlexI mean, nice.

MerlinNo, no, nice, but nice stuff. But the thing, another dumb tradition of, wow, I guess maybe all of our traditions are about buying her mother things that she doesn't want or need. We usually include some kind of a toy in her stocking. Often something, an action figure from The Walking Dead or similar.

AlexOh, wait, wait. So this is what your lady friend gets a Walking Dead action figure?

MerlinSometimes. It could be a different franchise. But here's another thing. This is a secret. Now you might know this about moms. One thing to know about moms is, well, they do all the work. I mean, everybody can act like they're helping, you know? Sort of like, you know, Keely and Sassy, you know, smacking around. Oh, it's my wallet. I was just going to help pay for the bill. You know, I'm not really helping that much. But moms also get stuff for themselves. Oh, yes. You know, so mom will populate.

Now, that's a little bit, you know, a little bit of a little bit of a dance to figure out how the stockings get filled. But again, this is the beauty of the Christmas tradition is everybody knows it's kind of BS and you play along and that's part of the fun.

AlexOh, absolutely. Except my dad refuses to recognize this and always suggests something for my mom. Like this year, new car carpet covers, like the floor mats for cars.

MerlinOh, like from WeatherTech. Can you get one of those phone holders?

AlexYeah.

MerlinOnline shopping. Okay.

Speaker AYeah.

MerlinNo, I'm sorry. They advertise on MSNBC like all the time. And somebody's going to be really excited to get floor mats.

AlexWe're like, Dad, we already pitched in and got her one of the nice fruit products. But sure, we'll also get a floor mat.

MerlinWhat's a fruit project? You build it yourself? Is that a craft thing or a gustatory thing?

AlexOh, I don't know the bit playing around.

MerlinCraft. Craft project? What kind of project? Fruit project.

AlexFruit project, like a basket. Oh, fruit project. Oh, I like that. I like that. Inuyasha. Do you still? I'm sorry. I'm stuck on the Walking Dead action figure only because.

MerlinWell, she liked it before I did.

AlexOh, but she quit before you did, right?

MerlinWell, I mean, I don't want to speak ill of The Walking Dead, but I bounced a couple seasons ago. After getting super into it for a while. Oh, yeah. You know what? I feel like it was maybe even while we've been doing the show.

AlexI was into it until around, shall we say, the large jungle cat. And soon after that, I'm like, nope, nope, nope, nope.

MerlinOh, with the guy with the dreadlocks?

AlexYeah, yeah.

MerlinOkay, yeah. yeah i mean that's when things got a little bit silly i feel like but you know carol you know carol love carol if they you know dale dale would be fine except so he went and made a mud pie it's still so funny to me that he's in that show dale that's his name right isn't that his name i think so yeah yeah yeah yeah we're uh they

Alexthat's the thing they kept all the names of the characters and then changed everything else which normally I'm fine with until it just involves more brains being sprayed onto the asphalt. And when it's a child's brain, I just...

MerlinYeah, I mean, it's weird, though. I mean, it's so difficult because, I don't know. I mean, the stuff that happens in the first couple seasons are, I mean, there's something that involves a kid in the first couple seasons that's extremely effective and really sets the tone for like, wow, this show will go there. and the fact that it doesn't always exactly go there for a while you know is part of the power like you know you're going to lose beloved characters and stuff like that or like all the stuff with the prison like I love that season but I don't know

it just it's a little got a little Shonda like I think they became a little careless with our emotions

Alexit's also weird that it's a red state show Oh, we did talk about that.

MerlinThat's what they say. That's what they say. We did. I don't know if I 100% agree with that, but I get the philosophical idea that there are people in red states who are just looking for the opportunity to survive something.

AlexYeah, I'm pretty sure that's the correlation.

MerlinYeah. But then that also leads into these things about how much you can trust other people and that kind of thing. I mean, you know, all the sides have their different sorts of porn, I suppose.

AlexOh, yeah, that's true.

MerlinYeah. But that's ironic, though, because it's like the Pornhub maps that are shared with us every year of, like, who's diddling what in their fantasy world. There's also the, like, what's the most popular show. I don't know. I don't know about those kinds of things. Anyway, those are traditions. We just got a tree the other day, and it's amazing. We got a great tree. It looks really good. We're being a little bit pokey about getting it totally decorated. But we've got a great new tree stand that I'm very excited about. This tree stand was introduced to me.

My wife says a lot of people say this tree stand is a game changer. And I think it's a game changer.

AlexWhat is different about it, may I ask? Because we're artificial tree people.

MerlinWell, I'd be happy to share that with you. It's, we have been, long story short, we finally got rid of our kind of, not super nice, pre-lit artificial tree, which I never really quite bonded with.

I have asked directly to please be involved with the purchase of the next one, if that's a thing we decide to do. But no, it's like, hey, let's get a real tree. It'll be fun. You know, we got old-fashioned, like, you know, puffy lights. You know, like those big 50s lights. Those are fun.

Speaker AOh, do I ever. Yes.

MerlinYeah. They're really pretty. And they're really brilliant. They really pop. But so this stand. Now, almost every kind of stand I've ever dealt with, the last development in natural tree stands that we had was at the time considered very good, which is it's very big and broad. The problem with the old school stands is they're pretty spindly. You cheap out on them. Now, we had one for years, which was a very big, broad base. But it's still basically a hole with a spike and three screws.

So you're still under the tree going, huh, huh, huh. And then, like, it's definitely at least, I consider it a three-person operation. Because you need a screw manipulator. You need a tree holder. And you need a responsible third party to who understands axes. Right? Like, here's the thing. The bottom of the trunk is not what we're trying to have be even. It's the top of the tree. We want that to be perpendicular and erect, right? So somebody's on the ground manipulating the screws, and that gets to be a pain. Now, along comes this game changer of a tree stand,

and here's the thing. It also is big and has a big base. It's real heavy. It's really good, but it's got the spike. And then it's really clever. It's got five claws, not the Santa kind, but like like a dragon it's got five claws in a circle right and through each of the claws goes a cable a little bit like how do you describe it it's one of those like like a cable like you would see on like a um on a douchebag tech guy's staircase you know this kind of like uh high

Alextensile strength skinny wire things you know i'm talking about oh yeah like it it's in those Silicon Valley documentaries. Yeah.

MerlinYeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, now imagine you've got your five claws. Through that goes this cable or wire or whatever, and that is attached to a sort of step pump slash locking mechanism. So you unlock it. It opens all the way up. You drop your tree in. Now you're going to go chunka, chunka, chunka. You push down with your foot, and that wire draws the claws together in an even way. So you're not turning a screw here, a screw there.

Here you're doing a screw everywhere by virtue of the cable. Are you feeling me? I could find a photo of this, but then I'd have to look on the internet. It was the best. It's the best. It's like when you first get wheels on your luggage. You're like, my trip has not really changed fundamentally, but my God, not having to carry a suitcase. Why did I carry a suitcase for so long? Why didn't I just put wheels on it? Pride. pride pride whoa whoa whoa like i'm a real traveler oh pride goeth before destruction

Alexand a haughty spirit before a fall oh oh i i know i don't like that i know the exact kind of person you're talking about right right now who has a which one the person who quotes the bible when talking about tree stands uh i feel well no the that that's the kind of person that is you were clearly just project managing some orgy with the words that you were saying

Merlinthe only thing i understood i wouldn't have thought of it that way but i guess

Alexbut um does it make me a throuple what am i there's a lot of claws and you need three people and there's a hose of i think i don't know i blacked out a little bit claws and claws and

Merlina hose uh-huh talking about you're talking about the wire the tree stand or the lord

AlexYou need the... There's a lore. That's a myth, the trafficking. No trafficking of trees.

MerlinWhat do you mean? Talking about Wayfair, we got just what you need by a Matilda? What are you talking about? Talking about the Chokey? What are you talking about? Kroky? What are you talking about?

AlexNo, that's a Pokemon.

MerlinThat's a Pokemon. That's a Pokemon. That's a Pokemon. All right. You've been excited about Pokemon lately. The server was down and you were upset.

AlexI was very upset. Yeah, no, Pokemon Go. It gets you out of the house. What a tagline, basically. And it keeps you from reading Twitter. And by you, I mean me, because I found something very upsetting this morning, which I've been debating sharing with you. And now that I've said it, I know that I have to.

MerlinNo, you don't. Okay, all right. But you can. Anyway, the point is you've got claws, not the Santa kind. You've got the Silicon Valley wire going through it. You go chunk of, chunk of, chunk of. And then it locks. And here's the thing. If you're not satisfied with how it turned out, you don't need three people to fix it. If you say like, oh, now I wish it was more this way, you just loosen it and you start again. But you ever have to do that? You ever have to be the person on the ground manipulating the screws? You ever have to be that person? It's not fun.

AlexNot when it comes to trees, no. But I can imagine it's not.

MerlinYou have manipulated a screw, though, for Christmas, for the holidays, for the Lord.

AlexMm-hmm.

Speaker AMm-hmm.

AlexMm-hmm.

MerlinHottie spirit before a fall. See, now, a lot of people must quote that. they say pride goeth before a fall. That's not actually what it says. Actually, it doesn't say any of that because I'm speaking English. I'm pretty sure that's from the Old Testament, but I'm not sure. See, now I want to say Paul. I want to say something like Romans. It might be Romans. Romans is a baller book.

AlexIt's upsetting. It's very...

MerlinActs and Romans are very good, I think. I think we wouldn't have a church if we didn't have Acts and Romans.

AlexI mean, Acts is where the... Oh, fuck, no. That's where Paul wrote it in jail, I think.

MerlinOh, yeah. He ran into a little trouble with the law.

AlexMm-hmm. Yeah. How my foot became COVID.

MerlinOh, no. No. Is this what you found on Twitter?

AlexYeah. Oh, there we go. Yeah. I just need to look at it again. How my foot became

MerlinCOVID.

AlexYeah. Oh, have you? Okay.

MerlinIs this about COVID toes? No.

AlexOh, well. All right. If you click on this link you consent to seeing something oh no no oh no i just know the the preview uh it's it's just a picture of a nice lady who had something unfortunate she looks english she does look like jk rowling but i rolling whatever i wasn't gonna mention it because i'm in trouble when i mention her now but she does there's a little bit of donna in there too you know

MerlinDonna Meagle? Oh, Donna from The Doctor?

AlexUh-huh, uh-huh.

MerlinOh, I love her.

AlexA little bit of Keely. Oh, gosh.

MerlinA little bit of Keely. She's also, Donna is also on the last season or two of The Office.

AlexI know. I totally forgot about that.

MerlinI know. And she pops up. And she's in the Adipose. And she's in the Adipose episode. The fact just walks away.

AlexOh, gosh.

MerlinRemember how cute he is? She's so cute. And he walks away. So cute. My kid has an Adipose stuffy.

AlexI have, mm, mm. Okay. did I steal your stuffy valor because I always called them stuffed animals

Merlinthat's what I did too now they call them plush I don't like saying plushes it's like saying breasts

Alexno no no

Merlinoh gosh oh that was an upsetting conversation oh no did you listen to that

AlexI had to stop

MerlinI recorded two podcasts yesterday I recorded one podcast that was just under an hour and then the other one was let me check two hours and 43 minutes

Alexoh that's not a podcast that's an event and I've done three hour podcasts

Merlinthat's an encounter group my friend

Alexyeah that's a oh my god is it oh god it's so

MerlinI mean I don't know how much of it made it out but yeah but my recording time was two hours and 43 minutes I don't want to is this kind of a picture of a foot I got a feeling if I click this I'm going to see a foot

Alexit's not just a picture of a foot there's things

Merlinon the foot

Alexthat's really you know what I think

MerlinI'll just enjoy the photo of this lady

Alexyep yep so what I've sent Merlin that he's not going to click on which I think is a wise choice is a story about a woman's foot that became anti-vaccine propaganda it says here in the

Merlinthumbnail uh it says here or the thing it says covid colon and then it quotes how a picture of

Alexmy foot became anti-vaccine propaganda yeah this this poor woman uh who is in a covid vaccine trial and so she got the placebo and but at the time but she she didn't know that and because uh we know now about covid toes she didn't get uh covid toes but what appears to be like covid heel but on on some trump pills basically it's it's uh heels on trump pills that's terrific

guided by voice's ep it's like it's the one of the most disgusting things i've ever seen it's a yeah yeah i don't don't look at it if you've seen covet toes it's 10 times worse so so she

Merlinphotographed it for her own purposes put it on the internet and then somebody somebody hijacked that for anti-vaccine talk this is what happens when you take the vaccine but even no no even

Alexworse. It's much more sad because she was like, okay, this is happening, but she didn't have insurance.

MerlinSo a friend of... Wait, she's English. She doesn't need insurance.

AlexNo, no. She's just our fantasy English girl.

MerlinSo it's a BBC story about an American with a COVID heel. Yes, because

Alexwe don't have healthcare for everybody here. I'm sorry, just real

Merlinquick, real quick. Anybody who's listening to this, I'm so sorry. do not use this as a gauge for whether or not you're having a neurological episode right now because I definitely am I'm pretty sure but like it's the not knowing that makes it fun you know it's like a pregnancy test you know

Alexanyway

Merlindoesn't matter if I take it you know what I mean you give me that whole week of pills and nothing would change as far as we know and why don't they come in a Pez dispenser that's very strange when my mom got pregnant they wanted to put her on the pill she wouldn't hear it

Alexwait like post

Merlinconception? Because, because, because, because it's more than just, so we call that that sort of pill that one can get starting in the 60s, we call that a birth control pill. But that's not precisely what it is. What it is in some ways is, as my understanding, is like it's a scientific ovulation control device that just happens to be useful for birth control. Yes. But you could also use it apparently to keep someone pregnant. It's not an abortion pill. It's an ovulation control device, correct?

AlexI know that there are kinds that are like that, but there's a number of them.

MerlinBut try explaining that to a conservative lady in Ohio who's had a couple bad incidents with trying to have a kid. And the doctor's like, hey, here's what we're going to do. Have you heard about the crazy birth control pill? We're going to put you on that. Now, I can't tell if that was more Dr. Nick or Doofenshmirtz. I think that was more Doofenshmirtz.

AlexI was going to say it was more of a hi, everybody. birth control.

MerlinIt controls your birth. No, that's what I thought. I was going for Dr. Nick, but it came out doofenshirt.

Speaker APerry the Plaza Post.

MerlinDid you ever watch that program?

AlexNo, no, no, no. I was going to say The Simpsons. Yes. Recently is an hour ago.

Merlinthat's a good show too. That's a very good show. I watched one of my favorite episodes over the weekend. I watched the one with, what's his name, Hank Scorpio. You Only Moved Twice.

AlexYes. Oh my gosh.

MerlinI wasn't even wearing a jacket. Nope, nope, Marge, no Marge. I was afraid we'd get the bums rush. Nope, we don't have bums in this town, Marge, and if we did, they could leave at their own pace.

I love Albert Brooks. American Lady, British TV, COVID Heal,

Alexand how did her foot get on the internet well she didn't have health care her friend started a go fund me to uh pay for the treatment of this covid heal but the doctors so she got into the trial after she already was sick no she developed this heal infection situation after she was in the vaccine trial and they don't tell you whether or not um you know they they don't tell you seems

Merlinlike they should give you free coverage like that's what i thought to say double secret trick oh by the way uh you know secret rule you didn't know guy you we were gonna give you covid and not

Alexhelp you yeah uh pretty much well they they were able to say oh you like this the details again are still fuzzy, but you know, you can't like prepare copy for your GoFundMe page that is saying, yes, I was a part of a COVID vaccine trial. However, I didn't get the vaccine. I

Merlinjust got a placebo. Oh, that's pretty subtle to explain above the fold.

AlexRight. And then they had to edit it because they were like, actually, no, this has nothing to do with COVID, but hey, please still help me pay for this increasingly disgusting sore.

Speaker AThat sucks.

AlexIt really does. I believe she has met her goal in then some, but didn't want to become the face of an anti-vaxxer movement, but here we are. Oh, goodness gracious.

MerlinWhy has everything got to be the way it is?

AlexHmm. We don't have enough time for that. I mean, you might, maybe a Twitch show, but not this.

MerlinThat's true. That's a very good point. We got to talk about music today. We got to save ourselves lots of time to talk about music. This is another one of those that we're like, for this challenge this week, if I'd had not even a ton more time, a little more time, I feel like there's a real lack of subtlety to my response to the challenge. And if I had a little more time, like I said to you, I probably would have made like four or five different lists. Because I had criteria. We'll come back to that. We'll get to that, as they say. Oh, did you listen to EPM?

AlexOh, yes.

MerlinOh, my God.

AlexOh, goodness gracious.

MerlinHeartbreaking. So we really love this podcast called Election Profit Makers. And one of the three hosts of the show, John Kimball, both of his parents have COVID and his dad is in ICU.

AlexYeah. Sucks. They recorded an episode. I don't know when they recorded it, but they released it yesterday.

MerlinRight after he – and, yeah, they had recorded last week's, like, just after he found out. But understandably, he didn't want to say anything. Yeah. I thought – it was sad. It was sad and it was sweet and I knew it complete. No, I thought it was a sad, sweet episode, though. It was really nice to hear David and Starley, you know, talk about that. I have a helicopter Tony shirt. I bought one.

AlexOh, I've got an all cucumbers are bountiful shirt. It's one of my few shirts.

MerlinYou know who loves cucumbers is the president. He's the only person who likes cucumbers.

AlexGosh. I mean. Oh, hang on.

MerlinDid you watch the How to Cover Your Furniture episode?

AlexI did not.

MerlinNo.

AlexNo, that wasn't the challenge. I was making playlists.

Speaker AI know, but I'm just asking. I'm going to see if you saw the dog. Oh, no, I didn't.

AlexThe dog. I don't want to talk about the dog that I'm excited about. But did you see that the dog is, I don't, spoiler horn for Marvel. Spoiler goose.

MerlinSpoiler goose. Oh, yeah, I did see that. I did. Yes. Yes. I think so. One of my all time favorite comic books is getting made into a movie. and everything about it except the most important part is awesome. The most important part is, please, stop hiring Jeremy Renner for that role, please. Please, please, can we do something where we, you know what, we should do a Cate Blanchett in Hot Fuzz. We should do a thing where we go, oh, it's not Ryan Reynolds, it's Shmian Shmennels. But Ryan Reynolds needs to be Hawkeye. Wouldn't he be the perfect Hawkeye?

AlexYes.

MerlinHaley Stanfield, such a great Cate. Oh, my God, I love that idea. Pizza dog, adorable. He's so cute. Isn't he a good boy? Can't you tell?

AlexYou can. You can.

MerlinHe calls him Lucky, but his original name when he was with the mobsters was Arrow. But he thought that was a little on the nose.

AlexWhat were they called?

MerlinThe casual tracksuit? The tracksuit Draculas?

AlexYeah.

MerlinBro, bro, bro, bro, bro, bro, bro. I love it so much. But, you know, I mean, I don't know. Jeremy Renner, we've been through this a little bit here on the program. Like when he got his Amazon store and was doing his folk record or whatever. and I don't know, man. I don't like the energy. That's a quote, Griffin. I don't like the energy we've created in the room right now. I don't like the energy that Jeremy Renner brings to that role. I thought he was very good in some ways, emotionally, in the last Purple Man movie.

But, man, Hawkeye's so specific. Hawkeye, the Clint of the Matt Fraction comic is so specific. You know what I mean?

AlexYeah. Yeah, and there isn't a lot of nuance.

MerlinCan you just see Ryan Reynolds drinking coffee, drinking coffee out of the pot like that? Oh, coffee. Oh, gosh.

AlexHe can do anything. He can do anything. He can literally be a Pokemon.

MerlinI have one of his SD cards in one of my iOS devices.

AlexExcuse me?

MerlinMint Mobile. He's Mint Mobile. Did you know that? He's Mint Mobile.

AlexI did not know he was Mint Mobile.

MerlinWhen he first appears on screen, you point and you go, that's Mint Mobile. Anyway, I hope that'll be good. But Jeremy Renner, like he's in a different movie.

AlexHe's in a different everything in life.

MerlinI don't think he would be nice. Not that it matters, but he doesn't seem nice.

AlexI put the link in for notes. but the renner files is a podcast i'm listening to all just about jeremy renner and the story of

Merlinthe workout app he made oh by the way by the way i've lost my privilege my hashtag privilege i now get promoted tweets on twitter did i tell you this oh no no go on even us blue checks get them now right and so what did i get oh my god they sucked i can't and my my my family's like wait a minute You've never been getting ads until now? I'm like, no. Like, I know I've been real lucky. I get special treatment. You're on the list. I'm on the list. I got some really, really sweet Tropicana fake orange juice ads.

Those are great. But you know what I got? I almost screenshotted it just for you. I got a giant ad for Joe Rogan's podcast. Oh, boy. And it was like, Joe Rogan asks the important questions or something like that.

Anyway, you've moved on. You've sucked all the juice you can out of Joe Rogan. And now you're on the renter train.

AlexWell, someone, I forget. It was just the perfect tweet of like, Joe Rogan is basically goop for masculinity.

MerlinOh, that's pretty good. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He's a jade egg.

AlexYeah, okay.

MerlinGoo goo goo joob, yeah.

AlexYeah, so now I guess I'm torturing. I don't know. It's a funny, silly thing. Seth Rogen came on and talked about how he and Jeremy Renner were in a reality show together, which is not something I knew about or expected. And he just seems like an odd person. I don't know.

MerlinYeah, yeah. It's a whole podcast about Jeremy Renner that Jeremy Renner's not on.

AlexThe podcast is the saga of the app. Do you not remember the Renner app? Yeah, and how it was hacked.

MerlinI do. It was part of a whole thing. I mean, it was like his Amazon store thing. That's just some regular plug-and-play bullshit. There's this whole industry of C-minus influencers and celebrities where they can just punch their information into something and get a fan-marketable product out of it. I think that's becoming a whole industry, isn't it?

AlexYeah, they're like the electron of mobile apps, I guess, because, you know, they're... Oh, wow. Listen, I think I'm Merlin-ing a little bit right now. You're giving off not bad vibes.

MerlinI am not a gerund. I am not a gerund. Don't misgerund me. You'll get it later. It's funny. I love gerunds. I love Gerald's. stop jaron ding

Speaker Ahey it's me

Merlinit's me jaron the gender guy words sound like other words I think we should talk about our challenge

Alexyes yes yes yes this week's challenge um it was my my challenge to you was to make a playlist of cover songs and i wanted you to

Merlininterpret that however you would yeah yeah i mean and i instantly i mean i think while you were talking about while we were talking about i was instantly like oh yeah this is right in my wheelhouse i i mean i and like i say what i came up with time permitting is really white and male and not particularly super interesting. But, you know, it is what it is, as they say. These are songs I like. If I'd had more time, I would have broken it out. Can I talk about what I would have done or what I want to do?

Yes, please. Again, this is the sort of taxonomy that really only probably, almost certainly matters to me. But there were some where I was like, okay, I want to do a list of a few covers that, how can I put this? like an unusual approach to interpreting a song it's not that it's better it's not that it's worse but it's very different you know and not just in that cute like we're gonna make a plinky piano radiohead song for our movie trailer like more in in the sense of like oh what a deep cut okay

but you ever seen that the how to make the generic movie trailer you ever seen that yes yeah uh uh

Alexand the opening of bully i believe right it's very bad i'm sorry for interrupting you're not

Merlininterrupting there's also the um i kind of feel like a lot of that goes back to um gyllenhaal rabbit movie donnie darko with what they did with like mad world oh oh you know i didn't know that was a cover interesting cool oh yeah the original um tears for fear song is

Alexit's still very gothic but oh i i retract it i had just i guess suppressed that it was a cover

Merlinsong. Oh, I mean, you're not obligated to know that. That's before your time. I was in high school when that came out. But anyhow, so one idea was I really wanted ones where I felt like, oh, this is even if you're very familiar with this song, you can really appreciate some differences in arrangement. And it's not just the like, take it and play it like the Ramones, ironically. Like, you know, not just that kind of transformation, but there's a few of those. The one that I was really excited, if I had more time, would be take a terrific song, cover it, and actually, to my taste, improve on the original.

I mean, obviously, there's a ton of those in the wild right now, where we don't know the original, but we know the cover way better. Anyway, I had a whole bunch, but instead I just put together a list of, in each instance, I did the original song, and then I did the cover version, and they're all pretty straightforward. How did you do?

AlexI made a couple. The first one is, as many would say, basic, but it's just a whole bunch of versions of Carol of the Bells, which is one of the few I would call classic Christmas songs that is not in the public domain.

MerlinIt's definitely the sound of madness.

AlexI think the very first time I heard that song, or at least the very first time I remember hearing that song, was in Home Alone, where the robbers are just about to come, which is terrifying. uh yeah i'm not finish arrive and they it was just very frightening but i don't know something stuck uh and and in doing this i actually came across a couple of what i think are fake spotify

artists because you know they've got like carol of the bells chill music carol of the bells dub

Merlinstuff sometimes you'll disappear sort of like with the podcast challenge we did like finding self-help podcast you disappear down this rabbit hole and you're like oh my god there's this entire or the app stores like this you'll just realize oh my god there's this whole underworld i never see and it isn't until you like drill through on one particular like developer or in this case an artist where you're like oh my god all your shit's so busted everything in here is fake it's all just like the same like you know sounds of ocean hypnosis or whatever it's so weird yeah alex i still get so i bet you know i didn't listen to my release radar yet but i'm gonna go look and i'll

bet you there will be at least two artists in there that are totally fake. Oh wait, I did listen. Oh yeah, I knew Beach Bunny. Oh! It's really good. It's really

Alexgood. I've been, I think I broke Spotify. Oh, good for you. Fine. Well, if you listen to one of those generic lo-fi playlists for long enough, those are the only recommendations you get. So I don't have any cool Beach Bunny stuff anymore. I mean, it still suggests Lady in Red to me. And I'm like, no, I understand why you're doing this. But no, I've heard this song. I don't know.

MerlinDid you read the story about what happened with that one Pavement song? No. Oh, it's pretty interesting. Let's see if I can find it for notes. Well, if you go and search for Pavement, you'll see that Pavement's number... It's so strange.

Speaker Astrange. Oops, does this turn on? Yes.

MerlinPavement's number one song right now. Well, how can I put this? So, you go to Pavement, right? And let's just put it this way. Their number three most popular song, well, really, like, three of their four tops are from Cooked Rain, Cooked Rain. So, Cut Your Hair, which was their first, like, and only really legitimate hit. Gold Sounds, 17 million. Range Life, I want a range life, 21 million. Harness Your Hopes, which is a B-side from right in the corners. 31 million. Anyway, you can go read about this. Basically, there are songs.

This happened to, I think it's happened to Galaxy 500, but there are songs that like end up like somehow slotting into an algorithm that gets played for a lot of people. And like the story goes, like now you walk into like, I don't know, like a thrift store or something and you're very likely to hear Harness Your Hopes, which is not at all a well-known pavement song. But that's all algo, pure algo, baby.

AlexPure algo.

MerlinMm-hmm. Young cut shit.

AlexSee, that's a Pokemon Go item, if I've ever heard of it.

MerlinAre we going to restrict ourselves? How many songs will we be restricting ourselves to in the interest of not having to? I would say let's not do like 10. I mean, the forms we require, we could talk about it. But like, I don't know. I don't want to be bossy. But I feel like we should not have millions because that's very time consuming.

AlexOh, indeed. Well, the other thing that I started to put together But also didn't have enough time Is one I think you should listen to At least the beginning of

MerlinOh, yeah, sure Should we send these to each other?

AlexI have just sent you My Chemical Romance But it's My Heart Will Go On

MerlinWhat? Oh, my God, that's so funny It says here, it's My Chemical Romance It's Helena, that's the Digga, digga, digga, digga, digga, the grandmother song with the dancing at the funeral, right?

Speaker AMm-hmm, mm-hmm. Digga, digga, digga, digga. I love that song.

MerlinIt says Helena, but it's My Heart Will Go On by Celine Dion.

AlexYeah, there's a lot of great songs out there that are just Celine Dion mashups.

MerlinOkay, should we listen to it?

AlexI adore them. Oh, wait, you've sent something to me.

MerlinI did send something to you.

AlexOh, oh, is this your list?

MerlinYeah, is that all right?

AlexYes, yes. Some favorite covers. All right. Tell me what I should. Wow.

MerlinSo what am I doing? Am I listening to this My Chemical Romance?

AlexSure. Yes. Yes.

MerlinOkay. Three, two, one. Click.

Speaker AYou're so stupid.

MerlinThat sound is a meme in our house. The Irish penny whistle. The generic, I need you to feel wistful right now.

Speaker AMm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Is that actually him? Yeah.

MerlinOh my God.

Speaker ARight?

MerlinOh my God.

AlexThis is amazing. Even if it's not very good or some of it's a little bit fudged. It's just.

MerlinYeah, yeah, yeah. Well, you got to do what you got to do. That's amazing. It's worth it. Well done.

AlexAnd I'll just put these in notes, but a song that I enjoy almost every version of, which was featured at the end of Ted Lasso, is You'll Never Walk Alone. And do you know the origin story around that, right?

MerlinI know it's from a musical. I'm of course most familiar with the Jerry Lewis version that he would sing at the end of the telethon every year. But I know it's the they mentioned on that podcast. It's the Liverpool. It's even like on their seal. Right. Yes. Liverpool. Yeah. And that Brene Brown interview, which I highly recommend, which we talked about here, I think already. They talk about how Marcus Mumford had come up with that and was like, hey, you know, we should put this in.

AlexThey they I guess all three of them or sorry, the co-creators.

MerlinCoach, coach and the music guy.

AlexYes, Coach Coach and Mumford Dad were like, oh, we need to write this song in somehow, which was fine with me. I thought it worked. And I just love it.

MerlinWhat a wonderful ending.

AlexRight? Oh, how do people not like? It's OK. People are allowed to like what they like.

MerlinI get it. I saw your tweet. I saw the subtweet.

AlexThat was mean.

MerlinI figured I knew what you meant.

AlexI'm going to delete it.

MerlinWhat did you say? You said that anybody who's.

Alexwho's who doesn't uh who's lukewarm on ted lasso is uh perhaps a sociopath sociopath well it's not so much it it's it's the lukewarm part it's okay to hate it you should love it but it's okay to

Merlinhate it but it's it's strange to have a a middle feeling right right i don't know i i i don't know

Alexi mean it's a little weird it's just a tiny bit weird it's also just okay to not have an opinion

Merlinabout something um so i like my chemical romance a lot um how am i gonna do this i've got some of my favorites are on youtube but some of my other favorites are in the spotify list i wonder what

Alexi'll do what do you want to play one of yours uh all right this is a oh oh all right i'm gonna do what i think is my favorite version of carol oh yeah of course oh i hate sharing links and spotify come on don't you want don't you want me to sell your service for you for free come on yeah come on help me help you all right three two one

Merlinthis is lindsey sterling with warmer and the winner her album uh carolyn the bells

AlexShe, most people will know her as the YouTube violin lady who dances around in ice caves Don't like her videos but really like her covers It's twinkly

MerlinOh, this is beautiful I'm just trying to follow everything you were describing about skating while playing violin It'll surprise you to know I haven't seen it

Speaker AOh, this is lovely

AlexOh, this is lovely and not maniacal Oh, yeah. Maybe that's why.

MerlinThis song wants to be maniacal.

AlexHuh. It does.

MerlinI know. I think most of the versions I grew up with all sounded like Bernard Harriman, like, psycho stuff.

AlexMm-hmm. I mean, even the Trans-Siberian Orchestra version of it is just, like, I don't know, threatening in some way. Yeah, menacing. Yeah. I just like it. I don't know why.

MerlinNo, this is lovely. This is a good pick.

AlexOh, all right. You have a long, long list.

MerlinWe could pick ones that you're curious about or don't know.

AlexOkay, so at first I'm like, hold on. Tiny Dancer isn't by Elton John. But no, you've included the original.

MerlinI thought, I didn't know. Some people, when they do these kinds of things, put the cover first. But that's not how I roll. what's really good in here some of this is really basic well what would you consider a basic cover

Alexjust just one that doesn't have a lot of um what did you say just really no interpretation of it

Merlinjust straight up well i mean it's not that it's just that in retrospect so when super chunk did that sebado cover brand new love in 1990 or whatever i mean it's a pretty big deal because First of all, Subby Doe is a pretty hip band to like at that time. And it sounds so much like a Super Chunk song. But if you've ever heard the original Brand New Love, the one that's just acoustic guitar, and you hear crickets in the background and stuff. The brand new love I put in here is the also very good rockin' version from Smash Your Head on the Punk Rock.

But Super Chunk, I mean, that's a little bit basic. Now, you could even say head on, the Pixies covering Jesus and Mary Chain is a little basic, but I just, I love the energy of that cover. The Florence and the Machine Tiny Dancer is, I think, a revelation. I think it's really, really lovely. You've heard that before, right?

AlexNo, let's do that one.

MerlinOkay, great. The part I asked Quinn to drop in, because there's so much wind up in Tiny Dancer, but still just to get the feel, I want to just give it a throw right now. Tiny Dancer, Florence and the Machine, 601. Ready?

Speaker AYes.

MerlinThree. Two, one, click. And at some point, I'll give you a time stamp to jump forward.

AlexI forgot how much I love her voice.

MerlinI know. So try jumping forward. Let me say, too, like around 135, because obviously I'm guessing you're pretty familiar with the original. So 135 or so?

AlexYep, I'm at 135.

MerlinThree, two, one.

AlexOh, shit.

MerlinI want you to get to a little bit of chorus somewhere here. Okay, let's go to 215. Oh, wow. 215.

Alex215? Oh, my God.

Wow. Wow, that's more reserved than I thought it would be in a, well, vocally reserved than I expected, because she's such a belter. But damn.

MerlinI know, it gives me shivers every time.

AlexThe machine in Florence and the Machine, I feel like doesn't get enough credit. I don't know.

MerlinWhat's the machine?

AlexFlorence and the Machine, I don't know, the band?

MerlinYeah. I confuse them with the tap dancing lady band. What are they called? of Tilly and the Wall. That's the name of that band. John, Syracuse, I hope to God you're listening right now because I know you're going to be having so much fun with these names. You've heard Tilly and the Wall, where the drummer's a tap dancer?

AlexNo. A tap dancer and a drummer?

MerlinAre you serious? Oh, my God. They're so funny. They're delightful. This adorable girl in tap shoes. It's an all-girl band, and it's this girl in tap shoes standing on basically an Apple box. She looks a little bit like Jen, just very enthusiastic. enthusiastically tap dancing and she's the drummer for the band.

AlexI might need to show that for the actor show. Oh, yes. Yes, please.

MerlinOkay. So we just listened to Florence the Machine doing Tiny Dancer. I mean, I don't know if it's like a full reinterpretation, but like it's that to me, the bones of that song are so strong that like also just the way it's not over embellished, but it's very lovely and very lush and dense. I think it's a beautiful cover.

Throw me one ears.

AlexAll right. I am sure I'm nearly positive that I've shared this with you before. But Androgynous, which was originally by. The replacements from Let It Be. Yeah, but then eventually Joan Jett kind of appropriated it, and I think that's the one that most people have heard of. But then Joan Jett, Laura Jane Grace, and Miley Cyrus just did a little cover together.

MerlinWho can really super sing.

AlexYeah.

MerlinI love the True Trans Soul Rebel they do from this session.

AlexOh, yeah, it's really good.

MerlinOkay, I can go when you ever want to go.

AlexAll right. Three, two, one, go. I love Miley Cyrus.

MerlinI know. She's adorable. That's a big tattoo.

Speaker AYep.

MerlinWhat a voice.

AlexWe can stop it whenever.

MerlinOh, I love it.

AlexAll three of their voices are so distinct. And like, it's not an original, a super original interpretation of the song musically. No, but it's the worst. I don't know. It does.

Speaker AI really, really like it.

AlexAnd then I just have a playlist, a YouTube playlist of Jonathan Larson. I guess you would call them B-sides. It's actually called the Jonathan Larson Project.

MerlinIs it like Songs from Red?

AlexNo, no. songs that never made it into any of his shows.

MerlinOh, I see. B-sides. I apologize. Okay. I see. I see. Okay. Oh, that's cool. All right. Are you going to send that to me?

AlexYes. Let, uh, uh, give me one more of yours.

MerlinOkay. If we're going to do replacements, we could play this really fun replacements cover.

AlexI noticed. You know what, though?

MerlinI mean, like, okay, so, uh, anyway, my favorite replacement song is, um, Can't Hardly Wait, but not the version on Pleased to Meet Me. I included the version on Pleased to Meet Me. I have a whole playlist that's just versions of Can't Hardly Wait. But like the version that's called the Tim version, the version that was recorded around the time of Tim is a way better version. But Justin Towns Earl, Steve Earl's son who passed away not long ago, does a really good mandolini cover of Can't Hardly Wait. Trying to think of one that you'd, have you ever heard the song

Paris 1919 by John Kale?

AlexNope.

MerlinHmm. That's a very good one. I'm trying to think what would delight you of these.

AlexWhat is, hmm, hmm. You have a cover of Oops, I Did It Again in here.

MerlinYeah, by Richard Thompson. He did a, what was it called? He did a thing in the early 2000s called something like, something like the A Thousand Years of Music or something like that. And he did songs and interpretations of songs that go way, way, way, way, way back. And then all the way up to Britney Spears.

Alexi was gonna say britney spears is way way back well no i mean he's like he you know he plays a

Merlinlot of you know british house folk music to begin with and uh but then he goes back to like you know the child ballads and of course and further back back to like you know when music was simpler when

Alexwe had fewer notes a better time oh these are all really boring and lame they're not they're not at all all right what you said that you had a playlist of uh just can't hardly wait covers

Merlinlike that that is super cool well covers and i have one of those for oh speaking of ceremony i have one of those just for ceremony there's a whole album where people it's just people covering new orders uh ceremony um i but i think there's several things like i posted this last night several things i couldn't find on spotify or were difficult to find both versions of uh where I can only find it on YouTube. In that case, Radiohead covering The Smiths and New Order, absolutely one of my all-time favorite covers.

We can watch that. That's really good. Have you watched that yet? Are you familiar with that? Nope. Really? Okay, cool. All right, excellent. All right, give me a sec. So the list is here somewhere. Boy, this is a real ramshackle episode.

AlexIs that on your Twitter? Oh, The Hair Odyssey. is on your timeline. Oh, boy.

MerlinYeah. Here we go. Here's my list. Okay. And I need to give you probably a timestamp for this to make any sense. Give me a second here. Oh, okay. This is the one that's a little more edited. Okay, so here's a timestamp at... So you're probably not super familiar with New Order, I'm guessing, or Joy Division?

AlexI mean...

MerlinDo you know the song ceremony?

AlexWell, Joy Division, yes, but not...

MerlinDo you know the song ceremony? This is why events unnerved me. They're all the same. Okay, here's this time stamp for this. And I don't know why. They cover this and they cover the Headmaster Ritual by the Smiths. And in both cases, I just feel like I really believe that these are songs they loved as kids or teens. And the enthusiasm they have for playing these just makes me so happy. So are you at second 14?

AlexYes.

MerlinOkay, ready? Mm-hmm. Three, two, one. Go. Check out this drumming.

AlexI'm unironically loving those camera angles, honestly.

MerlinWell, this is a live feed they did a few years ago.

AlexOh!

MerlinThis guy's such a good drummer. Everybody in this band is so goddamn good.

AlexDickerson might, too.

MerlinI want to play in this band so much. Radiohead, hire me. I just want to play covers with Radiohead all day.

AlexI forgot how attractive that man is.

MerlinJust a little more.

Speaker BThis is why events are early. They find it all a different story. Notice who the wheels are turning. Turn again towards this.

MerlinPretty good, huh? Pretty, pretty good. Have you ever heard Jason Faulkner's cover of Both Sides Now?

AlexNo, I don't know any of those words.

MerlinOkay, so you know this is a Joni Mitchell song? You know, moons and junes and parallels and ice cream castle. You know that song?

AlexNo, no. I just listened to Green Day for two decades.

MerlinOh, well, okay. So, oh, and that one might get a ton of stuff. Both Sides Now is made famous, I think, most by Judy Collins. Did a cover in the 70s. But, you know, hang on.

Speaker AI've looked at clouds from both sides now.

MerlinOh, there we go. That song, you know that song?

AlexI mean, that has definitely been in a coming of age movie I have seen.

MerlinOkay, but this is Jason Faulkner, who was somewhat disastrously in the wonderful band Jellyfish. Mainly, he's an awesome solo artist. He was in The Greys, did that song, Very Good Years. You like power pop, right? Mm-hmm. Check this shit out whenever you're writing.

AlexThree, two, one. Ooh, right off the bat.

MerlinYep. The last verse is Transcendent.

Speaker AWe'll be right back. Okay, let me get you to where it just really pops.

MerlinIt's going to be around... Oh my God, I fucking love this. Okay, go to somewhere around like 1.35. I can't believe how much he's accomplished in a minute and 35 seconds to get to this... moment. Okay, ready? Yes. Three, two, one, go.

Speaker AOh, fuck.

MerlinIt's all him.

AlexWait, seriously?

MerlinI'm pretty sure, yeah.

Speaker AAs you've been educating me about power pop,

AlexI've realized it's basically early aughts emo, except better. Say again? It's early aughts emo, except they know how to play guitar.

MerlinWell, I mean, like the 90s, I knew this at the time, but I appreciate it now more than ever as I learn about bands I somehow missed in the 90s. But my God, there was a 90s just revival of power pop, baroque pop, chamber pop, like just just amazing stuff that like I somehow missed the first time around.

AlexBaroque pop was my number three most listened to on Spotify this year. Yeah. And I also had or I had to be like, what? What is that? And it was a lot of ones that overlapped with pop punk and folk punk, weirdly.

MerlinYeah. Well, I feel like on the Venn diagram, this is extremely reductive.

AlexPeople are either very much enjoying this or something.

MerlinIf it's got a harpsichord, it's probably either chamber. That's so fake. Chamber pop or baroque pop. If it's like the left bank, you know, like walk away Renee and stuff like that.

AlexOh, that's the algorithm right there.

Merlinhave you ever heard um the left bank they do um they do uh their most famous song is um um what's oh damn it oh walk away renee no pretty ballerina and i think their classic is uh she may call you up tonight do you like that kind of shit do you like the kind of baroque bullshit yeah apparently okay okay last one oh now i'm playing dj i'm being that guy it's like making

Alexlisten to my tape no no i would i would there's there's nothing worse than that guy except for the the guy who is like let me show you this youtube video wait wait wait one more let me show you

Merlinno that's me and i don't show you the whole thing all right last one last one really last one this is um um i uh this i learned about this on a compilation the left bank best known for of course walk away renee one of the great songs i think this this is their enduring actual kind a power pop classic whenever you're ready.

AlexAll right. I'm ready.

MerlinThree, two, one, go.

1967.

AlexI was going to say, what is...

MerlinListen to this chorus.

Speaker AAnd what could I say that would sound right? Jimmy, he was. Let's mix it up. Second verse. Oh my God. All the chances there Should we walk fast She may call you up tonight And walk

AlexHoly shit.

MerlinWhat do you think?

AlexI think that James Eatworld is a time-traveling entity that I guess has slowly gotten a little bit less talented, maybe.

MerlinIs it James E-Ha?

AlexJimmy Eatworld.

MerlinOh, James Eatworld, I see.

AlexIt just takes some time. You're in the middle after a while.

MerlinThis was a tremendous, this is really a tremendous time. Obviously, they are very allied to sounds like the Creed's old man, the grassroots, very much the association. Bands like that. Huh?

AlexNo.

MerlinI love Creed. I love him so much. It smells like death. Sprouting mung beans. I love that he never remembers anyone's name.

Alexyou got any more for me no no it just i'm i'm glad that power pop and television seems to be

Merlinbringing you joy right now would you please you you and matt worry about me too much and it's upsetting don't worry about me i'm fine i don't worry about what i i i don't worry I like TV.

AlexWhat's wrong with liking TV?

MerlinI like TV. I was watching Mindhunter the other night. It's a good show.

AlexOh, I don't like it when King George smokes weed. I don't know why.

MerlinIt's weird that he's, it's like the more longer I've been around King George, the weird it seems to me that he's on that show and that he's so good at it. God, his little girlfriend in those first few episodes. She is cute.

AlexShe's very, very small and very high.

MerlinShe's very small. I'm not much of a body person, usually.

AlexWhat type of a person? Ear person? Feet person? What's not part of a body?

MerlinWe're into Powerpuff. Nipples.

AlexNo.

Thank you.

Show notes

Transcript

216. Stop Gerunding

Show notes

Transcript

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