357. One Issue Johnny

This is Do By Friday, a weekly challenge podcast with Alex Cox and Merlin Mann. This week's challenge Watch Scott Pilgrim takes off. Mm-hmm. W Good after morning, Merlin Man. How are you? I am great. How are you? I'm well. It's been so long, so long. It has been so long. I am feeling uh really good. Really, really good. Oh dear. Oh Is that okay? Feeling too good? Are you on a train right now? With all respect? Oh no, no, that's me No, no. It's kind of a valid question, I think. Oh, uh f mm fair, but no. Um, and I apologize if you can hear the Not screaming children, but the loud children outside my own. I love the sound of screaming. I uh I and children. I I like when they're happy. I love when they're unhappy.

I like when justice is meted out toward children. Yeah, you know I like when they learn about the fact that there really is no consolation to life. Just in like teaspoons, little like droppers. Yeah, yeah. You you just slowly uh de deal out the like Yeah Just s every little scream. It's like one day you'll be screaming for something more. These aren't funny jokes. No. No, I think the the well no, it's it's I mean, let's be serious. It's important to always give kids just a little more than they can handle. Huh. That way you crush them. And they they develop the compensatory muscles to become angry. You I mean you need an excuse to pay for the therapy bills later, so if you're gonna have this.

If your kid's screaming, that's not a me problem. Little punk. I'm glad your ice cream fell. Oh Balloons will always float away, kids. That's true. It's true. That's what that's what that's how balloons do. You shouldn't have got something that floats if you didn't want it to go away. That's what Jesus said. What were you thinking? You know, I was watching the episode of The Simpsons yesterday called Marge Be Not Proud, and it's the one Where Bart tries to steal a video game. Uh like bows with a hilarious golfing game at the end. Yeah. You selected no. Does it death what is it like death death touch or something like that? Bone storm and then a reference to a golfing guy that I still don't know.

But they might have changed the name for legal reasons. That sounds familiar, but as a kid, that was one of the most stressful episodes of television I could have watched. Well, not ju it it wasn't even a Catholic thing, I think. I just saw a kid who I s really, really wanted something with like all of his b being. And I wasn't that familiar with The Simpsons yet, so I didn't really get like, ah, Bart's a little a scamp. But Seeing him steal that video game, it's like, oh gosh. And then though Seeing what Bart later calls the store detective, which is so fun didn't realize that was supposed to be funny, but the security card catching him and uh He is very strong. Oh my gosh. I I was not a shoplifting type, but no uh personally, but um yeah, I just I was always so afraid of getting in trouble.

Oh, absol absolutely. But and then he he gets in trouble and uh there's of course a number of comedic bits where I think that is an old one. That's that's like maybe from the Conan years. It it is, in fact. Because uh thanks to Call Cheat, I now know that. Thank you, Mr. Casey Liss. But uh I do really l love looking at uh writers from old episodes of TV now and It's probably my head, but I'm like, uh, that makes sense. But it uh the guard uh the store detective says, uh hey kid, if you ever come back here you're gonna end up in uh juvenile. Cap capiche? Yeah and Bart doesn't answer. He says, Yeah, you understand me? And he says everything but capiche. And I didn't I I didn't get any of those jokes At all.

And watching that episode now, seeing that Marge was of course you know that she's disappointed and you know, angry and disappointed, but Seeing it through an adult's eyes, it was very, very weird and like an uncanny adulthood sort of situation. It's like, oh yeah. Yeah, that that was a crushed, crushed child. Oh, that was a big thing. Oh my god. Oh my god. I was about to double check yeah. I just double checked a fact I was about to share, but I just found something even more interesting. Please do. Uh the writer of that episode is a guy named Mike Scully, whose name Go ahead. Oh no, go on, go on. Oh. Just that uh whose name I recognized, but then when I saw his face, I'm like, oh my god. Uh I know him best as one of the people who speaks up at several of the town meetings in Parks and Recreation.

Yes. I I forgot about that part. Oh man. Yeah. He's not the guy who says, I don't know, I'm just really scared. Um Um z you know what? I this is a really, really dull fact that will mean nothing to you, but I do remember the guy who does the who is the voice, the kabish. guy. Um do you ever see reservoir dogs? Yes I have. I am a good film student. Never mind. This is gonna be terrible. Never mind. Never mind. Oh, it's already that guy that guy rose to fame as the you're not gonna believe this. That guy rose to fame as the object of a famous series of recorded prank calls. That became you following me? That became the inspiration for Bart prank calling Mo. No. Okay, that's that is a fun fact. And and what's what's funny is like so that the if you ever heard 'em, I mean they're real they're real low resolution, but it's somebody calling in this I think it's a It's a bar.

He's a bartender at a place called like Red's Bar or something like that. I haven't listened to this in 20 years, over 20 years. But But somebody would they call and prank him and they were just they were aw people were just awful. They'd be like, whatever. You go, Well I find you I'm gonna cut your liver out and I'm gonna blah blah blah And the guy has like such a distinctive voice that then he ended up because and people who were insiders who had heard those old uh tapes people used to pass around. Uh uh that's how he ended up I think getting roles and stuff like so in Reservoir Dogs if anybody out there remembers he's Joe he's like the the bald guy who's like the head guy in the heist. Okay, it tells Mr.

Pink to throw in a buck. Mr. Pink doesn't tip. Haha. I need I know that. I know that also there's a suitcase oh no, that's Pulp Fiction, isn't it? Oh yeah. That's Marcellus Wallace's soul. Spoiler. M much like Now he does Arby's commercials. Oh, really? Yes, he's the one who lets you know that Arby's has the meats. I is that the one that There's like they got the beat, but they got the the meats. I I don't see commercials and it's always very exciting to me. I know that this there's no there's no go-go song in it. He just says what was he says, we have the meats. He's also the guy who's always seated in a few scenes in every uh Mission Impossible movie. Luckiest actor in Hollywood. Look at Is that a bit or Oh it's a I mean it's a it's a bit amongst people that like, oh my god, what does Ving Rames do in these movies?

You know, he's in every one of them, he's usually not with the rest of the the people and he's usually like sitting somewhere talking on a radio. He has to stand and move a little bit, uh, in that uh second to the last one. The I mean, it's I guess somewhat related to our mm spoilers challenge. Um, I wonder if you even remember what our challenge was, but I I do. I I I mean I remember what A Challenge was. It was let me just check checking two two and a half months ago was our last episode. Is it GPT? Make a GPT. No, this week's challenge challenge officially. Oh in that case, oh you win. You win this one, Cox. I know what's the challenge? S to watch s the new Scott Pilgrim series on Netflix.

I did some of that. Okay. I'm I've been watching a lot of cartoons and just thinking about what kind of cartoons are you watching? Uh a lot of The Simpsons Anne, and then I watched a lot of uh Scott Pilgrim as well as the show did you watch that one on HBO um the one everybody talks about? Let me just go look. It's in Rectif's notes. Um you know that one that's like weird and like sci-fi and Uh Rick and Morty? Yes, that's the one I'm thinking of Rick and Morty. The one where he gets the he gets the DeLorean and has to save the clock tower, that one. Um it's called uh Scavenger's Rain. It looks like something you might want to look at. I uh s since seeing into the spider verse and then um Across.

Then yes, afterwards across. I uh there's this stereotype of a adult cartoons which either sounds like porn or something about Ralph Baksheath with boobs. Yeah. Yeah, yes. Cats with boobs. Uh and and when you say uh anime uh which uh j John Syracuse seems to be a fan of from from what I know, that's an uh Syrac Sarracusa oh Sear Sear Ooh, that would be a good way to pronoun uh not a good last uh not a good way to pronounce it, but good last name. Seer ecusa. I I like last names that are verbs. A lot of last names are nouns, but Thank you. Sometimes they're adjective. Sometimes they're adjectives. I heard it You know what I mean? Like Mo Green? You don't talk to a man like Mo Green like that. And I said nothing.

I said nothing. It was not about business. Ladies and gentlemen, my impersonation of Hyman Roth Hyman. You know, can I make an observation? Yes. Nah, it's a dumb observation, but um, you know, you shared something uh two and a half months ago about we talked about What? We talked about ARVR and you know, the way one sees oneself and stuff like that. I mean, is there like I mean one nice thing about animation when you're older than a little kid, I don't know if I'll say adult. But like when you're older than a little kid is appreciating like what's possible in animation. Do you ever wonder if that's part of what appeals to you? I'm not trying to make you a one issue Johnny title. But uh I don't think that one's gonna stick.

That's not very clever. One that's there, right? Say say it with a Mulaney with a Mullaney voice. Which one? Um whichever one you think is best. I'm sorry. There's someone in here. Gazebo. Once again, my baby. One issue, Johnny. Uh yeah, I don't know. I like it's funny. I was like, I think I um I have uh My kid's almost interested in this, but not quite, but I've got that wonderful big hardcover book by um I might be by Frank and Ollie at all, but it's like the old man of Disney. And like anyway, I just think it's really interesting to learn like all the things that we're so used to in animation. uh now as a result of a lot of people over time, especially people like Tex Avery, like why is it that when something falls from what comes from a ha high flight, it like m bounces, it makes like it looks like it compresses when it hits the ground.

There's all these r I I think you know this. There's like these like quote unquote rules of animation. And like how how you show things and like It's I don't know, it's just neat to get older and be able to reappreciate like the art that went into making all that stuff look real. And it's it's kind of fantastical in some ways. You know, you realize like I don't know a thing I like to say that's really obvious, but I I guys, film is a visual medium. Like it is f first and foremost a visual primarily a visual medium. Yeah, there's other parts to it. Absolutely. But like to me, film qua film in its most appealing sense is like primarily, first and foremost, you know, a visual medium. And I mean, I why would I say that?

Well, I think a lot of people don't always grok that. And They just it's it's and now I just sound like the every frame of a painting guy. But to just show a bunch of people talking to each other in shot reverse shot. It's fine. Like that's what most movies have been, but like I don't know, it's just really neat. And and to your point though, across the universe I think I liked um I liked the first spider first one m more. Uh I think the second one was the second one was a little scattered, but visually It was completely, depending on your POV, I guess, completely engrossing slash overwhelming to me. Like like 20 minutes of that movie, and I'm like, oh my god, I think I need a nap. This thing in a good way.

Like I just feel completely enveloped in whatever this movie is doing. And I could just watch what it's doing all day, even with no sound. It's just such an exciting medium. It seems like it might appeal to a person who's interested in the possibilities of the world and their own world. It's a pe it's a cartoon character, Alex is what I'm saying. in a fantastical or funny way. Well, um what kind of thing? It depends who you ask probably. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. It's like calling yourself a poet. I judge you did not even know it. Yeah. Funny. But your nose does cause it's a long fellow. And now I'm talking like Kenneth, because I've been watching a lot of 30 Rock. Oh, that shows really good. Well, un unlike a cartoon, uh Thirty Rock, very very visual medium.

Oh my god, it's a joke. You can't joke. I that's that's Spy uh it look across the Spider-Verse, 30 Rock, and uh closer, oh sorry, not closer, uh, the curse that I've been watching. If all of those And w what do all of these have in common? I feel like I've just run a marathon. Met metaphorically, I'm sorry for everyone who r has run a marathon. We have a friend who's a werewolf that runs. Yes. I Angela, I'm so sorry. I I don't uh uh yes, I I hit a wall, which is my uh I wasn't able to And now you have to say sorry sorry. So so sorry, uh Canadian. That is a little bit distractor. But the w just uh I don't I've been enjoying m Can TV and movies that feel like a marathon. And I don't mean a slog, but in just you can't look away.

I I just let thirty I mean like I I've been convalescing from some not feeling too good and uh been watching a lot of things like uh in the in that way and I'll just lay on the floor and just let 30 rock just run. Like I I guess I forget there's so much I love about that show, but the first season of that show is really bangin'. Like it's it's so good. You know what got me thinking though about what what you're saying, I guess by extension what I'm saying was um Oh, on Flop House. They had a Flop House mini. Uh, long story short, it was about the films of Val Kilmer. And they mentioned Top Secret. And then and um Uh Elliot was saying how like he always enjoyed the um naked, what was it called?

Uh from the positive Oh naked Not Nicked Gun. Is that what it's called? Yeah, the Leslie Nielsen. Yeah, yeah. And I mean I love I really enjoyed Airport. I it's pretty dated, but still Is this a bit Airport? Oh sorry, airplane. Airplane is a parody of the movie Airport. Um that I loved as a kid. Um Airplane. And um that was actually a movie starring Dean Martin and uh Jacqueline Bassett. And a cast of many, including Helen Hayes. Um but um I and so I'll propose nothing. I just I I popped popped up an HBO and and watched the first Naked Gun movie. Jesus Christ. It's so stupid. It's but it's so funny. And by the time you get to Top Secret, did you ever see Top Secret? No. Top Secret is was Val Kilmer's first movie.

And it's the It I think it precedes the Naked Gun movies, I'm pretty sure. But it is just so full of amazing, very stupid, but very clever. Um visual bits. And um and I was just I was just thinking about that. Like how much of the humor of this comes from this is this was true for community too. Like You don't notice until somebody points it out to you that for an entire season, you probably didn't notice Abed in the background getting ready to deliver a baby. That's been going on the whole time. Or Beetlejuice is in the background in one scene. And like on in in all of the Abrams, Zucker Abrams, Zucker Abrams, I forget how many there are of each. But in all of those movies there is a real primacy of that kind of jokes.

And obviously stupid word humor or like language humor, you know, stop calling me Shirley. But like I don't I wouldn't spoil it for you on the off chance you ever see it, but like there's just some stuff in Top Secret that's just hilarious. One that comes to mind that's right in the trailer is This Nazi guy has to go the phone's ringing. He has to walk up and answer the phone. The phone is in the the very close foreground. He's in the fairly deep background. And as he walks up and picks up the phone, you realize it's a comically large phone. the fo for with forced perspective or Peter Cushing holds a magnifying glass up to his you you enter on Peter Cushing with a magnifying glass to his eye with this huge eye.

And he takes the magnifying glass down and he still has the upsetting huge eye. Like stuff like that is just it's funny to me. I I said this the other day about um Mitchell and Webb, like to me, there's like few things more delightful than extremely dumb comedy done by very smart people. I mean, yeah, that's I what I I I guess other types of comedy i I just find un appealing because Really? Why would you say that? Hmm, because uh anything th a lot of st I think a lot of comedy uh now lacks a confidence and the the self awareness that's off the charts sh maybe because i uh during large g gaps of time during some days I've lacked literal self-awareness, but I I w I I I I don't know. It like that's another part of c cartoons that I find uh uh appealing is that they're able to uh hide uh things i i intentionally uh like podcasts.

It's like, all right, there's a little visual gag. Um, not necessarily in things like airplane or m naked gun, but Uh I don't know. There there's I like the idea of just special little thing. Yeah. Yeah. I I I I like the smart things too. Yeah, but not uh necessarily straightforward comedy such as I I I I guess uh I I'm I'm finding stand up more off putting. Oh, I wasn't even gonna go there, but ooh ooh. But that kind of thing, right? Like that kinda like Network T V, you know, laugh track kind of stuff. Yeah, no, I'm not. I'm I'm maybe. I mean it's it's comfort food. Hmm. Well, what do you tend to watch when you're under the w weather like uh you sa you sound a little bit you're I don't know.

I don't want to make any presumptions about your voice. No, I'll tell you I'll tell you about it later. No, I'm fine. I'm fine, but uh I'm not sick or anything that I'm aware of, but um like in that way. But um Um uh it depends. I mean, for example, at night sometimes when the family's like kids taking a shower getting you know, and we'll I'll say like you guys just want to watch something easy. And that could very much just be a Mike Scher show. I think that's an axis we don't always take into account is how much attention and challenge you would like to have right now. And and well before we leave it though, I I do want to say something about the curse, which is like going into it, I obviously like anybody I guess I didn't really know quite what to expect.

Obviously it was interesting and funny to me. that Nathan Fielder and the guy from uh Uncut Gems were gonna do a TV show co-starring Emma Stone, like wow, okay, I'm super interested. I love her and stuff. But I have to say I I we I even knew going in, I thought going in. I bet I'm like I oughtn't look at this as You know, an extension of Nathan Fre you know, the I shouldn't look at this as the completion of a uh whatever the word is, a um Oh my brain is just fudge right now. I shouldn't look at this as Nathan for you leads to the rehearsal leads to this. Right. And I knew that. I knew that I thought that going in. But even partway, even up to the point of like the hundred dollar bill, I was still kind of thinking, oh, it's gonna be awkward.

And it's like or even when you see the dongus, the cherry tomato boys. You know, all that stuff. Like the thing is I had to I think Madeline agrees, you have to fully let go of what you think this is gonna be and take it on its own terms. And it is a very special show. It's not as funny as Nathan for you by a long shot, but think about how speaking of a visual medium, I guess, like you're saying, like there are shots that almost seem like you're spying on somebody. And they're very, very long shots in some cases, or the shot of Benny Safty like just starting to cry. It's a very um it's it's a very engrossing, very disquieting show. Yeah, it's the first time in a while that I've kind of like gone frame by frame to see like okay has the camera started moving yet and just trying to d I don't know, uh dissect why I'm I'm feeling the discomfort because it is not, as you said, Nathan for you or the rehearsal where it's the cringe Comedy.

It it it it offers too, like cringe as it is, um, which is a noun, as I would say as cringey or cringe worthy as it is, it draws you into its well like so the other Nathan stuff draws you in. And says, hey, you get to be over here on the side of people who know this is all pretty crazy. Whether that's talking to the guy who drinks his grandson's urine. Or, you know, or the s uh one of my favorites, the smoking smokers allowed. Which is which is again like something out of Borges as far as I'm concerned. Um, but you know, it draws you in, you kind of go, you can choose to like say, okay, I'm gonna skip this part. I I I just can't handle him dealing with the judge again or whatever. But it does draw you in in that way.

I I feel like this is just off the dome. I feel like um I feel like the curse has much more distance. There's distance between each of those people. There's distance that we feel as the audience, we're like watching something happen and I guess I half expected it to be kind of a baggy pants fish out of water. thing like oh these doofuses are coming into this community and you know kind of a reverse Green Acres or something. But Or Green Acres. I'm not sure. It's one of those. But um yeah, but I I uh I'm up two two three or four. Um but I I don't feel the need to like down them fast. It's tt it it it feels like a uh an a marathon for me where I need to take breaks because It doesn't it's not easy.

Well, uh unless you're really, really bad at it, like like I am. And you're like, at this point you're more break than marathon title. Yeah. It was lying on the road. That's that is another show that invites Hewitt Bob uh Bob's Burgers and another cartoon I like. But but Unlike all of the comedy that I've enjoyed lately, the uh g the curse is I guess to just if I were gonna be in my second semester of college, I would say it's probably a black comedy if it's a comedy. But like to me it has the feel more of maybe not a horror movie, but you know, like sort of like you know in the Bob in the Bobado, which I adore, you don't actually see the titular thing very much. And it's all just, you know, that classic genre of like it's what you're not seeing or you you can't see or can't hear that gets you.

I I find this show that show Oh not quite a again, horror is way too strong a word, but do you know what I mean? I would call it for myself, I would call it a horror show because it is a whole lot scarier to me than most stuff I uh watch and it very much feels like a black comedy in the And it's got the Captain Phillips guy which is kind of nice I don't know who Oh yes the the squatter guy yes that's that's the Well the father of the two girls he's the captain now And put it on the buns. And that is an episode of the the curse. Um and it the Oh, I haven't gotten to that, I guess. I but you know what's so one thing I love though also is d okay, here's a here's a here's a weird tangent. I think that show feels almost um like a European film.

Um where like you you know, there's that thing and Syracuse and I have talked about this with like British comedy where you're not sure if you're laughing at it. You're not you you know you know it's funny, but sometimes you're not sure exactly why it's funny. Um, and like with this, I feel like it's um you're you you're peering into this world where these all there's all these people who are not who they think they are or who they say they are or you know, they're they're and the the the impact of their actions is negative in a way they're having trouble even understanding. And when they do understand it, they don't do much to like make it better. But but I also say that because it's almost it's got an element of not da-da or surrealism exactly, but like I kept I kept saying the matter I'm like am I getting this right?

A passive house is basically a house that is sealed. It has one door and no windows and it's sealed. And then they did a tour and like here's the fireplace and all this stuff and that part of it felt more familiar familiarly Nathan Fielder to me, but to me it just enhances. The fact that, you know, like for for example, like after Nathan goes off on the newscaster and then Emma Stone is still like smiling and like through gritted teeth is like, you know, why were you why were you like that with her? Why were you so hostile? You know? There's like Just I don't know. It's watching I don't know if they're terrible people, but they're they're not terrible people. But I mean I I somebody was remarking, I was talking about nice guys.

And Big Lebowski and I was just saying, like, I think I really have a thing um for movies like I like LA, I like noirs. And I like LA LA Noirs, but like especially I like movies like the Cohn Brothers, where people are not as smart as they think they are. And the self-knowledge that they have is either incomplete or incorrect in many cases. And watching them try to bumble through and find a way to success amidst not being able to mend their most uh glaring flaws is good that's just good theater. That's just good everything. Well, ab absolutely, but I think that's why watching the curse is uh is surreal, because you're watching those same types of people, but I I don't wanna say that no, I do wanna say.

It's like the way it is shot i is that uh also the filmmakers aren't quite sure what they are observing or what is happening. And it's like, should should we be w watching them in the car? This this I oh you haven't you probably haven't gotten this Well I mean let's here's one there's a shot that I have now seen three times for variety of reasons, which is the opening shot of the show. Which when the opening shot of the show fades in the I think it is. Like I I I've I had the thought initially, well wait, did I hit the wrong thing? Yeah. And it's like a shot of a window. on somebody's modest home and you see people inside and you hear that woman or I guess her s her son talking. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Guy who works with the Australians at the coffee place. But like that shot and then slowly what, Dolly An, whatever push in. Like and and you're like, wait a minute, is this the Nathan Fielder show? Like what this this f that from that opening shot, it's talking about a horror vibe, like it's giving you this feeling of like, oh, this is not gonna be people trying to get discounts on gas. There's something different going on here. I thought that I'd put on another episode of uh Love Wins, which you mentioned, did you watch it? Or yeah, oh, I did and watched the whole thing? I did? Oh my god, I want so much more of that show. So, so blue. Um Blue? That uh because of the colloidal silver, or as they say, collidal.

Oh my god. And do you did you get what I think I said this to you? Do you get what I mean about the way they're shot in the I hate that phrase confessionals. But like in the like, you know, talking heads parts where it really looks like an Errol Morris movie, like the way that it's lit. And all those people are still super into it. Yes. I would never go to a 3D hospital. I Never and they're all everybody forgive my saying. But like that one that one cute girl, you know, the one who looks like my type, like she um uh she she's not dumb. I mean they're not like dumb people, but you're are you're like, oh my god, what part of and this now now you can also appreciate well you don't f re probably don't watch as many of the these things as I do, but like I mean, when I was watching Twin Flames, Twin Flame, I was like, oh my god, everybody in this is ten times stupider than everybody in the Keith Rainier cult and then I watched Love Has Won and I'm like it on you I would not it was a part of me that would not be surprised if you just said this is entirely staged.

Especially given how quickly they flipped it around. Oh, I would love to talk to you about this. Yeah. How'd they get access? How did they flip this around so fast? But incredibly talented interviewer. And she's so stupid. It's it's Mother of God or whatever. Uh I w these k these came out like at the same time. I wouldn't even say an A. Would you agree that she's Manson Family Pretty? Like a Leslie Van Houten kind of look. No. Nice. Go look her up. She was cute. Oh no. Oh. So does life. Life is prison. Dig Dig Doug, I I really wanna w talk about those two documentaries because I dis I think I disagree with you a lot on the Twin Flames or the How much do you hate that fucking guy? I I think he is one of the people that I can accurately say, like he as a person, I feel like I would hate him.

Not just if he does, but as a person. And his dingling his dingling um But I uh his wife is awful. Like I but so you watched that. Did you get to the part where they resolve The gender disparity, the way that they Oh yes I did. I did not see that coming. Oh man. You're so lucky to be Did you? I had known about that in advance. Did you know that they were gonna f Yep. Holy shit. That was pretty fucked up, Alex. Sorry you guys. Instead of listening. No, instead of listening I just I hate giving dissected that. Well no, but then they'll watch it, but like I just I hate giving people six hours of homework. No, but that's like a that's that is just a big part that uh had been dissected online and not with a lot of care.

Or I didn't know anything about I I guess maybe I heard the name, but and just yet another one because I don't seek this stuff out, Alex. Like, but then, you know. Uh which is fun for me because then when I watched it I'm like, What? Like, huh? It's not so much just seeking stuff out in that uh It is though. You if you had better judgment you would never see things like that. Well, okay, if I better be a little bit more than a little bit more than that. It's like me and this Taylor Swift and her football friend. I can't tell the internet and internet enough that I bear no ill will be the first thing. toward Travis Kels and and and Taylor Swift at all. I'm glad people enjoy Hakuna Matada. I just I feel like I'm los even the most minimal amount of feeling like I'm up to date on what's happening nationally.

I have to hear things about whether they kissed and how the birthday party that he's gonna throw her. And it just it makes it actually does make me despair for the world. how difficult it is to avoid that because I really I block it all. I do it and but like if you're not me, how much of that do you see? And it's it's just it's all so It just makes you so fucking stupid to look at that stuff. I don't think it makes you stup Okay. Okay. It does make me, I would say, uh probably Mm-hmm. I just don't need to know about somebody's boyfriend. I really super don't. Uh no, no no no. And I just subscribe to too many wondery uh podcasts and then they do the feed drop where then oh th there's a new episode of uh or there's a new season of cult wondery what's the best known wondery podcast Um probably you you listen to it.

The um crap, what's it called? I don't I didn't enjoy the scene. Yeah. And they're all kind of professional podcasting. Not just that terrible, terrible way this season has been conducted. But the like I there are times where I'm sitting there and I'm I'm in my repose and I'm like, I am actually gonna fucking open this up in um Uh not airfoil. God, I'm sorry, Alex. I apologize. My brain is dumb. No, I'm gonna open this up in in my audio app and I'm gonna go. Keep having uh fucking uh the football player shoved in your face. I'm going to I think to myself, I'm going to actually identify how much of this was blah blah at the top. Was there a pre-roll? how often they cut to a surprising number of ads, sometimes three times in like a, I feel like, in like a 30-minute episode.

And I'm like, this is real bottom of the barrel shit. it. Especially as we watch this woman who's either lying or has m m MDD. Yeah. It's I mean don't you think she needs like help? Yes. And I Not not an ex who encourages her to Yeah. Yeah. It's like it's that's the problem. Like pick one. Pick Elaine. Either this is complete bullshit and we can all laugh along, or this is a a fucking travesty and it's irresponsible to put it out. That woman is not well. I'm I'm not saying she's like afflicted and unfixable, but doing a podcast uh whilst you're in the midst of what feels like a fairly profound depression. And then saying, well, yeah, and I thought the best thing to do would be to go and get a coach.

Really? Is that really what you thought was the best thing to do? Because I kind of don't believe any of that. Here's some ads. Norm normally I am all for the n nuance of things and giving, you know, uh not equal time to something, but that's that is like a weird thing that you th that I probably would do. Like, oh, I should reach out to like Sure, let me just see what a life coach has to say. But very quickly, even I would be like, oh no, no, no, no, no, no. Like this is but that is My problem is I can't get a good enough uh psychic. Yes. I need somebody who really understands th this world and the other worlds. I just need a better psychic and I'll be fine. I need a nicer astrologer. I finally had to block the Chicago uh Tribune because there's this one photo of this woman who looks like my grandmother look looking like she is just gacked out on something, laughing and smiling, whatever your local astrologer is, she is all over my Google News and I keep saying less like this, less like this, less like this.

It's my understanding that at this point Google News is not really hooked up to anything in particular, so that's not totally surprising. But like uh w what what about me makes you think I want to know about astrology? You know what I mean? Yeah, I uh Apple News has become the same. Oh my god! So Oh my god I pick pairs of shoes for a living and these are seven items that I can't live without. I'm someone who paints walls seven hours a day, and this is this is the capacious bag I can't live without. These are seven cozy boot trends for fuck you. It's new Apple News Plus is Fucking garbage. And I've tried. I said, you know what? I'm trying to find a use for this. I want to learn what it's good at telling me about.

And so I actively would prune. and actively boost. Like if it was something that was goes, hey, it's a boy genius story. More like that. Or like, you know, but like, and then and then the next day I I open it up and it's like there's three different sections about uh a Kardashian. Sounds uh pretentious and and weird. The hip hop magazine. Uh pretentious and weird? The hi the Riza. Um No, no, no, the source. Oh um no just Hunter Source Awards that Tracy Jordan has to host. I'm gonna take it behind the what is I'm taking behind the playground and get it pregnant. Anyway, continue. I didn't sleep on the book. No, it's alright. Ooh, I you I I uh used the Rise appearance. Did you see did you see I put some tech topics in there?

Uh uh did n it's not a little bit. No, no, I definitely did not because I tried to pay something from from my uh a phone and it was difficult. Uh but I I'm on a Mac now. My Mac got fixed. It's almost it's very exciting. You had it near uh The um Is that what we say? You can't say that anymore can't. No, it is just uh it You had it de-sexed. Mm-mm. Uh touch ID was broken and yikes. Oh geez, I would not like that. No, it was unpleasant. But uh oh look. Wasn't it your keyboard? It was your Mac oh because it's on a laptop. Yeah. Yep. I'm one of I'm one of those I was unhappy with the size of my tiny car, so I bought a slightly larger tiny car. What? No. Yeah. That's not that is a d that's not an apt comparison.

What were you talking about? Keep talking. We drink this water while you talk. I was uh talking about how I've just given up on Google News and Apple News and just really gone uh m kind of m back balls deep into RSS because Again uh unfortunately th you know I will still find you news Uh wa w what do you m mean? What are you? You implied, I thought, that you aren't using Google News. 'Cause it's not providing you something nutritional, I'm guessing. And you said you're back into RSS, which like Max being almost all the way off Twitter, you're always talking about how much how gay bones you are for RSS. What kind of news stuff? What are good news sources you get in RSS? Uh I uh d like hmm, let me open it up.

I mean the typical stuff Daily uh uh beast, the verge, Atlantic, stuff that I'm not um. I just do bottom of the daily beast. I let my let my subscription drop. And like it is that even like fucking New Republic, a magazine I used to love, I can't believe how horseshit if it's not obvious, Alex, I think I really have finally gotten a snootful. Like in this post Twitter era, I've gotten my snoot full at this point and I'm like, I I just I need to be checking all of this so much less. What what s small haystack no needles? Uh yeah, well that's th that's why I enjoy a good skim. Because there's no no commentary and when I So you're talking about the glass and I'm asking you about the water. Like what's what's a good source of uh updated things you need to know about?

Do you have any favorite ones? Will you share them with me later? Because I'm always looking. I never have enough stuff to read. Um uh mmm are you joking? I don't know. No, I'm not joking at all. If I want to know anything, like if I want to like I'm the kind of idiot that owned A book uh of Esquire's best articles from the 60s. I think it was called Dancing Through the Apocalypse. So I'm I'm like, I'm I'm not I'm being completely unfair here. Where's the gay Talise? for our time. Like, is Gia Tolentino the only person publishing anything decent anymore? Like I I wanna read something good and even when I see a decent looking, like funny headline or like an interesting headline, which is like, you know I I frequently really enjoy things like uh oh oh oh oh like a headline didn't bother clicking because I knew there was no point, but it was an intriguing headline, even though it's not relevant to me.

Which was like, hey, you don't want to pack bags for your trip? Have you thought about just like sending them another way? We tried four different ways. And I was like, you know? That's interesting. And I even though it's not relevant to me, I'd still like to know what the results were. Like I have a friend who who got his taxes done by three different people one time just to see how different they were. Spoiler, very like I'm very interested in stuff like that. It's like my thing of like I want to go into a an eye doctor and say, no, you can't look at my glasses. No, you can't look at my prescription. I want you to start from zero. like it's the day I was born and give me a decent prescription because I think all of you people are fucking hucksters.

But y you know what I mean? But like I didn't even bother because I could already see when I got there. It's that time of year where we're blah blah bit and it's just uh You'll just do anything to get up to three hundred words. Where you can get the um no on YouTube it's YouTube. YouTube. I'm not sure. Two minutes or twelve minutes. When uh we don't see this uh because we have YouTube premium or red or whatever, but Correct. There's less money I spend each month, way better than what I spend, pound for pound, dollar for dollar, way more value than I get out of Hulu. Yes, I I agree. Uh because you m y you know how some the the content you love, like hitting the bell and Talking about the giveaways and and all that stuff.

All right, just finding Oh just like finding good news sources, if you have a new Carly Seuss kind of thing. Where where where would you go to publish some uh a video online if you uh if that was y you know, like your medium of choice was video. There's Yeah, and it it it sucks and I think all the YouTubers I like are most are like way more reliant. Well, I can't tell because I don't see ads. Like I again I don't know what it costs. If it's fifty bucks a month it's worth it because I watch so much YouTube and then I I feel so bad because I'll post a link to something which already messed it on kind of mangles. like you can't look at it in the thing. But like I I've I I've now I realize like how many people have to go and watch a pre-roll and all that kind of stuff.

But like I told you that guy I like a lot, like stories of old and he recently posted his favorite movies of twenty twenty three. And it's just it's wonderful. It's delightful. It's so when I say grown up, I don't mean fancy. I mean like it he takes his audience seriously. And he had a really nice message like thank you for your support on Patreon to my patrons and stuff like that. And there's just a lot of people who either bounce for Nebula. I mean there you you just there's a lot of people that are just scarce now on YouTube. for all the reasons I think you've illuminated here. But uh I'm sorry, now I'm just being a uh Holden Caulfield. I I but I do not just mean eyes. I mean that literally Vimeo is too expensive for most people.

There is peer two, but which is YouTube in some ways kind of Walmart everybody out of it in in b in both senses of like, you know, ch charging less making easy, good workflow, that kind of stuff. But you know, also again, like if you're Amazon and you don't need to make money for twenty years, you can price everybody out of it until you're all that's left. Yeah. But now the dollar stores are taking them over. Ha ha ha Oh, ah, dammit, that is a video that's still in my The Wendover dollar store. Yeah. That's a good one. Do you do you do Nebula? Are you a Nebula person? I think you are. I am, yes. Yeah. Mm mostly because um it's m more more t tolerable because I they're uh they kind of have an algorithm, but Yeah, it's fine.

I finally watched a video by that legal guy, the guy I think of, you know, you know, George Dow. Uh and I don't know why I think of both they must be part of the same Rat King, but that Legal Eagle guy. And the thing is he's actually really smart and cool. Yeah. But he always makes YouTube face. So like I never watched his videos. Yeah. And I realize I'm not in the target audience for people who will just watch whatever the shovel dropped. Mm-hmm. That sounds like a British sitcom. Shovel see I know that is a great that's a great reality show like mmm shovel drop and some sort of Ooh, n construction shovel drop. Make it a challenge. We'll reverse engineer a reality show out of that And and figure out what it is.

Um That's how folks m I mean that's how folks make YouTube videos now. They rever they think of a title or of a thumbnail. Uh am I how badly am I interrupting you right now? No, not that badly. You're you're holding coffee, Zang, but Yeah, but it's not directed at you. No, exac exactly. You are not interrupting me. I get louder. That's okay. Um I found one of those So there's this there's this dude, I don't know anything about him, but I look forward to the end of every year because he posts a thing called 52 Things I Learned This Year. And I guess just through the year he like keeps track of stuff. Yeah, that he's that he's learned. And it's just uh and they I I've re I read 'em every year and then each year when I read the new one I go back and reread all the old ones.

Um fifty to this year. Um, wait, why is it not working? What happened to my stuff? Whoa, what's going on? Did it reset my inbox and reader? Oh, there we are. Okay. Um okay, so I won't find the actual quote. I might find these to read you a few good facts I highlighted, but Mr Beast has a a team Mr Beast, that person, you know? Yes. Um Mr Beast has like a team of people and did you know the first thing they do is design the thumbnail? Yes. That's wild to me. I find it fascinating. Uh oh, absolutely. Um if you watch interviews of him, it is I super don't I it is similar to watching uh uh an interview with someone who is in a cult and I'm not trying to be l like It's so like he's a member of the cult?

Oh he's the leader. Yes, he is he is father. Like not uh and he he's full on father god. Yeah. Oh that fucking guy. Poor guy. Does he not own a shirt? I don't think so. Um, but uh Mr. Beast literally has a has a compound and uh Mr. Beast film Call me sweaty. But uh the but this guy is so dedicated to his craft. A craft that I find uh it's Yeah. And but it is what I said sweaty ridiculously sweaty. Oh he but he embro he He doesn't have sweat though. Like he embraces Mr. Senor Beast. It's it's like I I I think that's my new like true crime almost. Like I find the way that people who work on uh I I guess who still work in like our pr current Twitter or or X World, like people who I guess work for the algorithm.

Basically the algorithm is their boss, whether it be YouTube or Google News or or whatever, because it's just so foreign to me and that that is indeed a uh check your problem link, but like it i it is a privilege. But it's a privilege to be here with you. It's the oh it's a privilege to And the rest of the year to you. Like uh Scott Pilgrim mm uh ch challenge, not built for an algorithm in any sense of the same thing. Yes. Uh whereas, you know, those uh Minecraft I I don't I don't know because I don't under I don't know what stage the little lord is in in terms of like Uh his video game plan is super down right now because he's become very involved in schoolwork and anytime he's not doing school schoolwork, he's just reading a book.

Oh, he's he's a book boy. Oh, that makes me so happy. Come on now. Shouldn't you be on there breaking windows or something? Yeah. Oh, I see. No, y mmm, mm, you know, I did. I I I don't regret it. But I I think it was no, I know, but wouldn't it be cool? Wouldn't it be cool if you br All at once. You so you do sound like my dad. He used to come next to my bedside uh uh like my bedside table. But like we'll buy a buy a like I bought him for his birthday, I got him the Shadow and Bone. He's like very specifically wants the existing Shadow and Bone books. It's like, you know, a six of dicks or something like that title. Some Game of Thrones bullshit. Still crestfallen, the Jasper's gone. But but like and he's like, Oh yeah, I just I read both of those.

I finished that one yesterday. It's like now he's reading Foundation. Oh my god, that's so exciting. That is so exciting! Have has he he watched the show yet? I'm I might I might uh you know take Is it true that is the text and wisdom correct? The first season is good, but a lot of world building, and then the second season is when it picks up. Is that right? That's where I that's what I've heard from people in the Super Secret Slack channel, like whose opinions I respect. So I might actually Do the thing where I'm like, alright, I'll watch the first season. I know. It's funny, it's the exception that proves the rule for me. Like, I'd like to give it a try. And it's so nicely desaturated like everything on Apple TV.

T V plus not a color insight. I know that they say that. Just because you're in a silo doesn't mean there's no color. Yeah, like it's very strange to to me. It's weird. It's almost like a house style. It exactly, I was gonna say they they say they don't uh like get involved with the content, but it's it's the I don't know, like how you watch something and it's like, ah, this is an A24 movie. It's like, ah, this is an Apple TV show. And like, oh, is this the morning? Show or is this uh uh shrink or or whatever. Last horses, I'm I I don't know. Um I'm um What do you say? The bonefucker? The sh the the Oh the six of dicks six of dicks. A knave a knave of cunt. Um, can I read you some facts and then we'll do the challenge?

Yes, please. Sorry, I'm turboing a little bit here. So this guy's name, he's called Tom Whitwell. And he's on medium. And just, you know, you'll see that I saw this usually via Waxi. I think I learn about it. Um he's got a medium. com thing. Um this is just a few that I highlighted in Reader. Can I read you a few of these to give you a flavor for why I like these? Please. Yeah, little like little like nuggets. Oh shit, dog. Number eight. This is the 52 things that Tom Whitwell learned in 2023. Number eight, a specialness spiral. A specialness spiral is when you wait for the perfect time to use something, then end up never using it at all. An item that started out very ordinary through repeated lack of use eventually becomes seen more as a treasure.

That one hit me close to the core. And is what leads to me now saying always use the good scissors, you know what I'm saying? I I feel attacked as they say. Oh I know. Number eighteen, a quote unquote non-attitude is a weekly held belief entirely invented in response to a question in an opinion poll. Oh, repeat that, repeat that. Oh my god. A non-attitude is a weakly held belief entirely invented in response to a question in an opinion poll. That's pretty good, right? That's very good. Get ready for twenty-five. The top ten percent of US motorists use more petrol, more gas than the bottom sixty percent. Mm-hmm. Yeah. It's it's a shock, not a surprise. Ugh. Yeah. Oh, and there's a lot more here.

I I I've highlighted a lot. But yeah, check it out. I love stuff like that. And and because I don't bother to track down whether or not it's true, you know, I mean it's even better. Yeah. Turns out. Um I f found this on Kotke uh or the fifty-two things from twenty twenty-two and Oh do you follow this too? The uh I've I mean I follow Khaki's uh and I haven't s seen uh but I I have not caught up on his stuff, but I remember seeing uh it was in my uh r instapaper. Um and l last year is when he uh shared the Mr. Beast oh god uh Mr Beast Uh YouTuber Mr. Beast employs a team of six people to make thumbnails for his videos. Oh no shit. Yeah. Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. And like like y you said and mm like I jumped into new, thumbnails are planned before the video is shot.

uh which is so b bl bleak and uh it does make sense. It's like it's the work. You know what I mean? Sc it's very it's very smart to The average US refrigerator and I I can't fact check this and I refuse to try. The the average US refrigerator uses three to five times more electricity than an entire human being consumes in Nigeria. Oh, don't like that. 41% of all children attending University of Chicago Burns Center for scalding injuries were hurt by instant noodles. 31%. Well I'm shocked I was not one of those people at some point. Uh-huh. Just just a little bit. You know, uh when you put in uh y you know you're supposed to add water to instant mac and cheese, that it's not literally instant.

You're supposed to put water in first, but they don't really tell you that They do in the instructions, I feel like. Um well m but they shouldn't be able to say instant if you have to add anything. Yeah, exactly. I mean like where's my instant water? Mm-hmm. That's gotta be a Stephen Wright joke from the eighties. I don't know. Some corrup number fourteen, some corrupt Mexican police are now using card terminals to make collecting bribes at traffic stops more convenient. I I uh so once again, I don't admire it, but it that's pretty smart. You got you know, don't hate the uh person who plays the game, you know, object to the content of the game. A payola guitar. You're familiar with the idea of Paola.

It's a term that came about in the night, early sixties, where there was this huge scandal where it was revealed for the first of many times it would keep happening. for years. Payola was a thing where you would basically pay a DJ to play a record to like promote it. Which is, you know. Um number four, a payola guitar is an electric guitar with four pickups. and four output sockets so that 1950 session players could get paid four times while playing one so All right, that's I don't know if it's true, but that's pretty great. No, I mean like I said, I think I said earlier Uh without regard to your feelings about the people who participate in some kind of a contest, do not criticize them if your criticism is ultimately about the game that they are playing.

Is that a funny joke? It's not really, is it? It's it's remember when people used to say hate the hate the game, not the player? Yes, yes. If you come at the king, best not not missing. Uh but Yes and that was Oh the guy. What's his name? He's that guy. What's his name from the wire? No, it's not Omar. It's the guy who was um at the Low Rises. Uh Andre, the one who isn't Idris Elba. Ticket, ticket, ticket, ticket, ticket challenge. Dig challenge. This week's challenge Alex, take it away. Which is I don't even want to say based on the film or the graphic novel series, but inspired. Oh, it it's v I started rereading th them because they're on Kindle Unlimited and I've never write. Yeah. W Kindle Unlimited is really, really good.

And I did a presence of mind to check in occasionally and see what's there. It's great. I mean I just watched that ten dollar charge or whatever go by each month and I'm like it again. If you, you know, ha have a freak like your little lord, but use an e-reader, it is uh f well worth it. Like I gave I gave the little lord my old uh Kindle because he finally has capitulated and now that like he realizes well, I'm sorry, I'm putting this in a really condescending way just 'cause we're being silly on a show but you know he really does enjoy reading. reading a lot. Like that's like his one of his favorite things to do is just reading 'cause it's fun. And um but finally, you know, I gave him my old one, which I haven't been using hardly at all.

All I do is charge it and let it die and charge it and let it die. Stick it in a backpack for a trip and don't use it. Let it die. Charge it. Let it die. And I was finally just transfer this to yours. You know how to do it. And uh, yeah, so he did that. It I I was the person who who w I didn't want to to enjoy the Kindle un until it was probably Andy Anako who it said often be because that you know it's ahead of his time on so many things. Yeah, and and he said something uh similar to People who or maybe maybe it was Snow. Like people who like books m won't like the Kindle, but people who like reading will love the Kindle. Yeah, and that's kind of how just like getting words into your face, there's lots of ways to do that.

Yes. And I uh I I mean g yeah, I I was like Syracuse and Sarkozy. It's it it is fun to read comics on a twelve inch I haven't done it in years, but uh on a on the twelve point n niner uh Yeah, yeah, yeah for sure. That's true. Uh with a good screen? Wow. Mmm man, I like books. And I like Scott Pilgrim. And I enjoy the Scott Pilgrim. Hey, well done. Way to bring it back around. Yeah. And so when this was announced, it was Very exciting to me because I adore well QED. I love Edgar Wright. And I love um Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. It's just It's one of those movies I could put on anytime, drop the needle, basically at any place in the movie. And I just I I Yeah, again, something Griffin and David said about Zodiac, uh, and also maybe was it Leslie, what's her head, but saying like there's so many nooks and crannies in Zodiac that you can just go like disappear into.

Leslie was talking about how there's a point in her life where she was watching Zodiac every day until her housemates were getting concerned. Um all the nooks and crannies. That's how I feel about Scott Pilgrim. I just there's it's just endlessly rewatchable and delightful to me. But what was exciting was, well, first of all, you know, that Brian, Brian Leo Malley, you know, is involved. with it. But the exciting news, just for folks who don't know, and so Scott Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, if you haven't seen it, is a is a terrific fun movie that's, I don't know, like a very interesting mashup of like kind of like uh sort of comic culture, but also like very much about video games. Mm-hmm. And like old video games and like any there's references I had to like look up and learn over time.

But um but then they announced they were gonna do the Edgar Wright I think was on board as a pr pr the producer, right? The like person making it happen, Brian O'Malley was working on it, and that they were gonna get, I think, every original cast member except Bill Hader. is in it. Oh, I didn't wait, who's Bill Hader? Believe it or not, he's the narrator. It doesn't sound like him at all. Oh right. Uh 'cause I mean late spoiler, there isn't uh Uh uh there's not a narrator in the traditional uh You mean in the in the an in the cartoon one? Yes Yeah. Is there? Remember it opens like you hear the music, you see, and it's a dolly shot or uh tracking shot or whatever down. It looks like the first panel.

Like if memory serves, the very first panel of Scott Pilgrim is just the top of a tree and a speech balloon that says, Scott Pilgrim is dating a high schooler. Yep. And it goes boo, you know Something like one day in Toronto. What an amazing first page of Som Anything. But like, yes, this is this is a little indie Oni Press comic book that is going to be released mostly in Canada. Scott, if your life had a face, I would punch it. I love Kim. Oh man. Oh, did you get to the Kim episode? I I I I I'll I'll disclose. Um I started watching it. I was excited. It was happening. Um, and even by the end of the first episode, I kinda found m found myself drifting a little bit. And so I've watched two of them, I think.

I don't hate it, but like it wasn't um You know, honestly, I I've read at least the first three. Like I've got the box set of the five, you know, um like Cheapie, not even trades, whatever that, uh, mass market uh books. Um and I really enjoyed it. I would read them when I go on trips, I'd bring one with me and read it. Um, but uh I lo I like the comic a lot, but really honestly on basic. I really d I think it's the movie that I really like It is completely a bait and switch, I think. It is What is the anime one? The new one? Yeah. The the uh show is very much, again, inspired by, but So different than the sevens. That's so wild. Yeah, but but it's there are uh like references to to the movie and stuff, but as other than the first episode, things like go off on uh are you enjoying it?

Yeah, yeah. It is not for everybody, even not for everyone who enjoyed uh Scott Pilgrim, the movie or the books. Uh it's uh really aspirating. Yeah. It's awesome, and that's really nice to hear. Yeah, in fact, uh you I think th you, uh theoretical listener, wouldn't need to have seen or r read or even enjoyed necessarily the other Scott Pilgrim stories to possibly enjoy this. The animation is S inspired by uh like well w when I say classic anime I only I almost mean like um Oh, I guess um between uh n like Neon Genesis, Evangelian, and like Naruto era, but mixed with what if it had uh the uh film like the the not not film, but like the lenses of a camera that had, you know, d depth and uh lens na natural lens flares.

Like they really do a lot of strange things with how it is shot but uh versus how it's animated. Yeah, it's yeah it it is In there are there are a lot of uh uh g like the movie and the books, uh in fact even more so, like hardcore video game-based to the point where I mean you'll definitely enjoy it more if you're aware of, you know, like 2D fighting stuff. No, no, never mind. I was one of Monster Factory. But a law Monster Factory, it might surprise people knowing as little as I know about video games how much I love that movie. I might rec quest or give you homework to just watch one episode. Like you don't even need to watch uh other ones. I would totally do that. Oh really? Uh yeah, yeah, there is an episode with uh w um with Kim and uh the uh evil ex played by egg uh her.

Uh-huh um and So it's I one thing that jumps out immediately if memory serves is that Matthew Patel has a much bigger role than in the movie. Yes. And bigger even than in in the books. In his demon hipster chicks. Yes. Well and that movie too much. Oh and it it gave me uh I I rewatched the movie again and it that's Do you remember what number episodes always uh uh four I believe. Send it to me if you uh Yes. It's um i i it's I I I think the one that is most uh ambitious with its n not necessarily storytelling, but it is it's filmmaking and not animation. Like it's i i they they are G it l they they are exploring uh the films in a video store and get s sucked into uh like a series of VHS tapes.

Animat animation fun. Yeah, it it's uh but it also got me jazzed about uh not necess It I don't know, got me excited again about reboots and adaptations and it like it it doesn't need to be bad. Like we can have good uh We can have good things. Uh like nothing. Right, right. There's nothing there's nothing innately wrong. There's nothing innately wrong about sequels or remakes or any of that stuff. And there's nothing really even innately wrong about fan service. But like sometimes you get that s that little stink of, you know, nick a cash grab that kind of bums you out. But it's so nice when people do take a swing with what they're doing. Yeah, that it it's a it was a pleasant surprise and a bit of a sh uh uh a shock in uh the b uh both of those things.

So if uh I'm I'm surprised I'm saying that, but y uh yeah, I suggest it to folks who enjoy uh even if you don't enjoy Scott Pilgrim, um, spoilers, he's not necessarily in the whole series. Um Right. And and and like everything I hear as it goes forward is that like, you know I mean if you've seen the movie you know he's not the nicest guy, but in this one they don't really shy away from the fact that he's n not a particularly nice guy, right? Yeah. Not not at all. There's much more nuance between the characters and especially the evil exes and even Gideon, which I enjoyed. And I don't know, it it I uh This is we talked about this at the beginning of uh th m my long ramble, but the just this uh filmmaking as a uh visual uh m uh medium like this yeah right really leans into a different a type of um it it it leans more into a mix of anime and film versus television if if that makes sense.

Like it doesn't feel like you're watching a sh And very, very r refreshing. Not not necessarily a um what do you would call it some not necessarily something easy, which isn't something often think ab you you know, think about cartoons. So absolutely. And I mean that's the thing about the medium is like, you know, you can do I I guess especially now, technically Literally you you can you can make anything you can imagine now. Um with some combination of different effects. But like, you know, seeing something like those Spider-Man movies you're like, oh man. It's I I don't want to be negative, but you do kind of walk away sometimes going like, yeah, I realize this out of budget and really talented people and so forth.

But like like even in shorts, like I feel like the 80s were a more exciting time for animation. You know what I mean? Like just the stuff that you would see, like where people would like be able to be like so creative with things and The kinds like say like for example like a psychedelic experience. For most people, uh trying to portray a psychedelic experience is like, oh, somebody in a floppy hat looks at Paisley's and dances. All right, I uh I get that. But like, you know, what if you made it really feel like what that feels like? Like which is more like Lisa Simpson uh drinking the water on the boat ride at you know Duff Gardens. But it's really more the what she sees with all the oogly people.

But like you that's all that's all part of your palate. That's all part of your ability to to tell a story, you know? But like I even think of stuff like, you know, um like Charlie Kaufman. And um because it's a precious movie, I won't spoil it. In Senecty, New York, like there's a character that you may not initially realize is standing around in the background of a lot of scenes. And you kinda notice that guy and then like he becomes a character. And like I think of stuff like that where like if you're paying attention and You know, this is gonna be a they made this for somebody who pays attention. And I love stuff like that. You you feel so rewarded for your attention when those payoffs do come along.

Sounds like it's a positive experience for you. Yeah. And one one more uh thing I suppose. Yeah, yeah. Which is uh reach route Excuse me? Oh, reach around. Um that was dumb. Um there's a sense of unreality in a way that it's um not just it isn't like a d drug trip type of thing, but um in in stuff like that. Where like there's stuff happening that you can tell there's something un that's not ordinary happening. Uh yeah, yeah. It's it's not quite um drop dicks six six dic dicks. God, it was so funny, I keep forgetting what you said. Oh, you're talking about the Jack of Anus? raw transcript