Muse

If you've got a problem that you can't solve, if you're known for your drawings of ships that are tall, if you've got gripes, if you've got dreams, if you've got something to say, then call the TVTO voicemail line today. Just dial 206-414-8285 That's 206-414-8285 The voicemail's ready to record you And it's so easy To call Burbank and Waltz In the bass city

TBTL He's the handsome devil That came down from heaven To make some great songs And to dance

and give and dance forever you don't say much for him but when you do it's to the point and i salute

you for it listen i'm not one of those college types that's going to talk your ear off i bought a balloon and it doesn't mean i think i'm better than everybody else this is the real thing this

is the necessary art of our time this needs respect so let's keep the drinks full let's

keep the appetizers circulating but let's not get in anybody's face all right hello good morning and Welcome, everyone, to a Thursday edition of TBTL, the show that just might be too beautiful to live.

If God wanted us to listen to audiobooks, she wouldn't have given us eyes to watch TV.

My name is Luke Burbank. I am your host.

Me, me!

Coming to you from the Nest Broadcast Center, high in the sky above Portland, Oregon, where it's a, uh, looking like it might be a relatively dry day. A little update on the situation here from the Nest Broadcast Center. I have heard back from the apartment building regarding my strongly worded email that I read on the show yesterday. I have heard back from them, and I will tell you that their response regarding my dishwasher that has never worked and my frustration around that was unhelpful. And when he said that, that shocked me. I'd be very surprised to hear it was not particularly useful to me. But anyway, I'm going to put that behind me, and I'm going to look ahead, and what I see through the dashboard of this podcast is episode 3352 in a collector's series. Let the fun begin. That's going to be a humdinger. We are finally going to talk about this story that I've been alluding to for the last couple of shows about something called Revenge Bedtime Procrastination. Wow.

We're just blowing through nap time, aren't we?

And the reason I want to talk about it today is, well, A, because I think it's interesting. and I have been promoting it and then not getting to it. I had a bad case of it last night. Could not. I was so tired I was falling asleep looking at TikTok and tweeting at Dan Savage. But then I would wake up for a minute and then I would go back to the stupid phone screen. It was very weird. Anyway, there is some science that looks at why we tend to do that. Also, why would you do this? Lil Uzi Vert, one of the most successful and popular rappers out there right now, says that he has been making payments since 2017 on a diamond, a pink diamond, that I think retails for like $24 million or something. He's been paying for this diamond so that eventually he could take possession of it and pierce his forehead. Now you have a friend in the diamond business. which he has done he debuted it online and he's getting roasted pretty hard we'll tell you why coming up also amazon's new boss you know jeff bezos is stepping down and amazon's new boss uh is apparently a real fan of hot wings and hot wing eating contests it's going to be very hot going to be very uncomfortable for everybody what's funny is that this article about these wing-eating contest that Andy Jassy has been running over the years. It all unfolds at a place that Camaro Kevin and I used to go all the time back in my wing-eating days. A very humble little establishment on Greenwood Avenue, the Wing Dome. So, we will talk about that time permitting, and we'll definitely make time for this because it is a Thursday, a.k.a. Blur's Day. We will do the Blur's Day messages. We'll do all of that with the help of this guy, the longest joining co-bro of the show he may be best known for his drawings of tall ships and he's got a a simple easy four-step plan for making today an amazing episode of tbtl objective agenda umbrella release he is andrew walsh and he's joining me right now from the roosevelt neighborhood of seattle washington good morning my friend good morning that's actually exactly where i wanted to start the show today let's get our oars in the water luke let's do it objective now I'll do it.

Agenda, I love this. Agenda you've already given us with the Top of the Show Ford promo. That's a built-in agenda, and I love it. I mean, you're putting the A before the O, but that's fine. We're all new here. We'll get into a rhythm later. But what are our objectives today, would you say?

Objectives, let's see. To further alienate the management company of my apartment building. Okay, good. Ding. To mute the microphone when there are ambulances driving by.

Okay.

Which I just had to do while you were dinging that bell.

Yep, which was kind of a lame ding on my part. I would like to say, let's work on your dinging skills. Work on the dinging skills. Oh, Theo is not, Theo was all asleep, and now he's like, why is this bell going off? Wake up, Theo. For new listeners, Theo is Andrew's young son. Actually, he's my old son. He's 40 years old, actually, sleeping on the chair right next to me. He's always right here. If you ever are curious what our setup is like, Theo makes an accidental appearance in this week's Hey Dummies video, which I recorded yesterday, by the way.

Well, you were on it this week, buddy. You're really working ahead.

Yeah, yeah. I had some free time yesterday, so I thought I'd make my Thursday a little less crazy because Thursdays, I always just have all this stuff to do on Thursdays. So I took some things off my plate by getting some stuff done on Wednesday. But all right, we've got our objectives. We've got our agenda. I think we need to talk about our rules of engagement here. I think be pleasant towards each other. Talk with a smile on our faces at all times because that will come through. Those are some of the rules I'd like to throw out there Can we get that a little more smiley Andrew Always have a smile Smile on your face Luke when we talk about this stuff Can you hear Luke can you hear my smile I like it but I'd like to hear more smile

Luke can you hear my smile Now put a hat wobble in it

I'm okay

Alright there we go Rules and what is the last one

Whenever we talk about Whenever we talk about people giving sort of feedback or voiceover instruction, I am legally obligated to bring up the time when somebody did tell me to say something braver, which is to this day something I don't know how I would have achieved that. I'm sure that whatever client I was auditioning for or recording for was not able to discern more bravery in my voice.

Will you try it, though? I just went on a limb, and I just tried giving you the biggest smile. So if I gave you a line, can you give me this line brave? Here's the line. This is, by the way. I have to give the line like normal and then so there's somewhere to go with it in a more brave way. Now, don't try to cheat the system by doing a very weak, scared read at first, Luke, and then, you know, lowering the bar. So this is from the article I'm reading right now about getting oars in the water. starting meetings right by jw vote um and he is uh he runs a website for innovators and entrepreneurs and the first line of this article from may of 2012 is start your meetings right and they are more likely to end right luke that's your line start your meetings right and they are more likely to end right can we get a straight read on that sure meanwhile to buy it

Oh, come on, Ron Howard. What happened? I wanted to play. That was a very brave, me being mad but brave when I'm talking to Ron Howard. I wanted to play Tobias saying, first off, am I being brave?

Oh, right.

When he's auditioning for the fire sale. Right, right, right. But I, of course, was just trying to play that drop without previewing it, and it starts with Ron Howard narrating something, which really ruined my joke.

Okay, so give me the line again, please. Start your meetings right, and they are more likely to end right. Okay. Yeah, I can hear it. That's good foley right there.

Right. Comma. And they are more likely to end right. End right. Okay. So, okay, so what's the context? Am I like – is this some kind of like a DVD that shows up in the mail that you put in that has like how to run a better meeting with me as kind of like a business guy? Or who am I in this? What's my motivation?

Yeah, this is – it's not a DVD. It's actually a USB drive that you found in the parking lot and you came home and you just plugged it into your computer. And what's on there, but it's a training program for mid-level managers on how to run meetings effectively and how to get the most out of your team.

Okay.

So this would be the normal. Yeah, you're kind of the narrator here.

Okay. I'm surprisingly nervous to do this, but okay. Start your meetings right, and they're more likely to end right. That's normal? That's good. That's very scared. Yeah, very scared, though.

I heard some fear, fear in your voice. So we have some, you know, brave. This is great. Yeah. So now braver.

Braver, braver. Can I get some brave music or is that cheating? Oh, sure. Well, it's kind of cheating, you know. I mean, is there usually music underneath you when you're doing – you tell me. Like when you're in the booth, can you say put some music in my headphones? Is that a real thing?

Turn me up. Turn the bass. Brooklyn. That's me doing my Jay-Z impression. No, they don't usually play any kind of other audio. Let's see here. Okay, so braver. So that same line.

uh here we go can you count me in um sure i don't even really know what that means but i'm gonna go um in three two and one okay good how was that that was good i thought you were just pumping yourself up, getting ready for it, but that's actually a submission. No, that was me. I also

tweaked some of the copy.

Oh. I didn't even notice. Is there a copy change in there? Where is that? Oh, yeah. You just said freedom Yeah. But the line is actually start your meetings right and they're more likely to end right. Oh, that's what we're still working with that one. Yeah. See, now that I put them back

to back. I didn't know. I was looking at the latest version Or if you had the latest version I thought it was written more I thought we had changed it to be Mel Gibson At the end of Braveheart yelling freedom

Okay, we're going to work on this We still haven't heard your brave take But that's okay, we can get that I feel a little nervous, it's okay

But you know what That's just, this is me Pushing my own sort of envelope Of being comfortable So let me see, being brave Starting your means right, they're more likely to end right Okay, here we go, all judging aside I'm legitimately going to try to think Like, if I was being more brave when I did this line, what would that sound like? How would that even manifest? And maybe it's just like just a state of mind. So here we go. See, the problem is all I want to do is like a Don LaFontaine or something.

I mean, it is.

I'm taking this very seriously. I know. I know. I will say it more with a more brave tone. But I. OK. So what's happened is, basically, I have been called in by our supervisor, and what's happened is they said, Luke, we want you to start running the meetings. You famously love meetings. You show up for all of them. You're usually early. We noticed that you are so keen on these APM meetings that we would like you to actually be in charge of them. And I'm like, oh, that's great. So I run the first meeting, and it goes terribly because I didn't show up. and so they call me back in and they say what are your they go this went really badly in fact you're kind of hanging by a thread here do you have any kind of theory or strategy about meetings that will help us you know basically can you save your job through giving us some little gem of wisdom related to meetings so that's a scary thing because now i'm looking at losing my job but i'm going to very bravely say you start your meetings right and they are more likely to end

right that's pretty good that's pretty good that's strong i mean that's definitely a confidence i heard a confidence in your voice there that very few middle-aged white men can accomplish that that confidence in their voice yeah when they walk into a business setting so that's especially that's that's bonus points for you right there i like that i appreciate you taking it seriously too because i heard it i know that you were really trying there you don't want to embarrass yourself

You know what I was also confident about, Andrew? The fact that the management company of this apartment building would send me an email at some point that would be extremely unhelpful. And I won't read it word for word, but suffice it to say, they responded yesterday. They said, thank you for reaching out. They did exactly what they always do, which is they respond in a way that sounds like they're being very polite and helpful, but which is offering zero help. Like one of the things I had mentioned in my message to them was I didn't really understand how the relationship between COVID and having someone come look at my dishwasher, if I was willing to, which I was, just leave the apartment. like a person in a mask coming into this physical space looking at a dishwasher and then leaving and then me a different person coming back into the space later that just doesn't seem like a huge vector so that was one of the things i mentioned and of course the response was since 11 18 2020 multnomah county has been labeled to be in the extreme risk category and our maintenance team has only been completing work orders that are emergencies essential services or habitability concerns i mean the thing is that's not part of the like that's not something that the government Governor here in this state, Kate Brown, said, OK, we need to close down the bars, the restaurants. We need to keep people apart. And also no one fixing any dishwashers, please. Like that was just that's not a legal thing. That was just purely a decision by this company. And I would argue it's because they just don't want to spend the money. It gives them a break for a little while of paying to have things fixed, which I'm sure is, you know, helps their bottom line for a couple of months. Anyway, do you mind if I interject there?

Because you sent this to me yesterday, and I don't want to turn – I mean, nowhere in our oars did it say that we're going to bicker. In fact, one of the rules was don't bicker. Say everything with a smile on your face. But I actually felt like the – you sent me this email yesterday, by the way, and so I read it. And while I agree with you, like this doesn't immediately solve all of your issues, I thought the specificity in that sentence – and yes, they are in that sentence saying two different things that are only sort of related, which is number one, what the county has put in place, and then number two, how their company has reacted to it, sort of making it seem like their hands are tied when it's not. But it's also clear, if you can read, that those are two different things. And I sort of felt like the specificity there did add a little bit more than what they were telling you at the front desk before. Like at least it's kind of like this is the system we had in place, good or bad, this is why we were following it, And also kind of prioritizing actual habitability issues does sort of make sense to me. I understand why this doesn't solve all your problems, but you don't soften a little bit there?

No, I don't. In fact, I only become braver in my – I'm going to go down to the offices, which are, of course, closed. You can't physically go in them, and I'm just going to yell freedom for 12 solid seconds. Give them any lane, too. Just tap on the glass and give them any lane. um you're not wrong in that it's this is certainly not the worst email i could have gotten and it's an attempt i think to uh sort of um address my concerns in a way that maybe i'll feel heard but without really budging on anything they're not moving the appointment up they're not going they're not finding a different company that doesn't have a two additional week wait like because i'm just telling you that if i was just going to pay for this out of my own pocket i am extremely confident I could get an appliance repair company in this apartment before like the time when this other company, the I'm going to start calling them the appliance wambulance before that company can get out here. In other words, like I just what I had said in my previous email to them was, hey, it's really bumming me out that this hasn't been fixed. It feels like it's been a low priority. And also, you know, if the company that you're using to fix stuff can't, you know, they're on this like three month delay. then maybe we find another company and the response and also i said i would like to talk about prorating my rent and the response from the company which was not the worst was just basically like hey did you know there's a thing called covid so our company decided that we weren't going to send people into apartments um which again i don't even totally disagree with that but i feel like the policy should have been we need to take really extreme steps to keep people say what they didn't do is say hey you know what we're not going to send people in to fix your apartment so if you have something broken in your apartment we're going to discount your rent by 100 bucks for that month that's what they didn't say so what they're doing is they're saying covid means we can't come in and fix your apartment but it doesn't mean you don't have to pay your full rent and that's where that's to me where the sort of breakdown is but the the basic takeaway from this was covid and then it was your appointment is still on the 19th of february and then it was if you want to talk about rent later after the dishwasher is fixed we can talk about that then which i take as a mild win the fact that they even said we can discuss that now what comes from that discussion is tbd but i also find it weird that it's like the dishwasher needs to be fixed first i guess that kind of makes sense because honestly if it takes another six months then then i want to have that conversation you know like maybe maybe we do need to get the problem solved and then go back and figure out what was the sort of financial harm to me but I guess I took it as a positive that it was at least something we could discuss but I did find it slightly odd that it was like but not until we have done the thing to fix the dishwasher did you on the show yesterday I

literally do not know if I dreamt this did you say you went and looked at the Yelp reviews for this place already or did a listener figure out what building you live in and did they write in say that they were looking at the Yelp reviews?

I don't think I said that yesterday, and I do believe that any listener who wants to spend five minutes on the internet can figure out where I live now, because also I keep saying the name of the building, which is sort of a giveaway.

I didn't notice. I thought we were still...

I have started because... Well, people have started mailing me things, which made me think this was a very figureoutable thing. I mean, I've just given so many details. It's pretty... It's pretty clear where I live. I don't think I have been on the – it must have been a listener. And I'd be very curious, though, at what the reviews were. There is – well, you know what? There is a kind of a – somebody that you and I both know outside of the show who is also a listener to the show who has actually done some really – some great things for our show over the years, help us out with a project that was involved the – or was related to the THON. Anyway, that person used to live here on a couple of different occasions while they were working in Portland, and she is, like, so with me on every petty gripe that I have because she also lived here. So it makes me feel like I'm not totally crazy. That being said, the actual physical structure of the building is totally fine, and I really like my little apartment. Like, so that's all fine. It's just this kind of knowing that the answer is always going to be no when you need anything from the management company and also this other person who lived here saying, yeah, that was exactly my experience.

Yeah, I swear I didn't. I don't think I dreamt this because I'm seeing that because I'm now remembering that somebody wrote in, I think, to say I was looking at the Yelp reviews and they seem to either be all like good five stars or all like one star, which I think is kind of a typical thing in rating things because people will only go there if you loved something or if you're really mad about. Right, exactly. And then I do remember that person now saying, and you could see that the management company responded to every single like negative complaint. But anyway, I just wanted to click over there now because I wanted, when you're, when you have bad service like this, like when I, you know, was, what was the word we were using? When I was cheated out of my Thanksgiving dinner, only we didn't use the word cheat. It was flim flammed when I was flim flammed out of my Thanksgiving. special dinner. Did you ever get your money back on that? We did get the money back on it, yeah. And of course, the reputation renovation has already begun. You can tell he's getting everybody to write better reviews to bury the other ones. He's still got his special show on Hulu, The Chef Who Flim Flammed Us. That made you so mad. Rightfully so, by the way. So mad. So mad. He was the face of that series on Hulu. When you saw the advertisement for it, you saw was stupid face um anyway i'm just the good news is i am in a more mature place now than i was a couple of months ago when that was happening anyway it does make you feel better when you see other people kind of saying i had the same experience and this was terrible now i'm reading the one star reviews now they are saying the management sucks but nobody seems to have exactly your issue with the management which is a bummer like a lot of people are saying that the elevators are constantly dirty these are from a few years ago these are like 2019 does that jibe with your

experience no the elevators seem fine to me yeah i mean they have they're they're a little thread bare if an elevator can be threadbare you know they they look like they've been used but they're not like you know noticeably dirty i mean again everything around the physical sort of uh component of this building is is totally works for me like i like it here yeah that i didn't get the impression

from you that there are any kind of physical issues like this person is complaining about the dirtiness of the grill and the dog run and all these things. A lot of people are mentioning though that there used to be a different management company and then the management team shifted and nobody likes the new management team, at least the one star reviewers. According to this bullet pointed list, I know you're into bullet points from Mike who now lives in La Mesa, California staff, no one ever says hi when I enter the building. I don't think that's one of your That's not one of your complaints. The person who I've been told is the assistant manager has never acknowledged me once or even looked up from her computer as I walk in. The building manager is always glued to her computer and doesn't acknowledge other people either. There's always a new temp every other day, and they are even more approachable. Oh, I see. The temps are more approachable. So I feel like Mike in La Mesa, California, I think that he might have some other issues. Well, that's actually the – I have the opposite experience.

And then we can move on because I know the listeners are extremely bored of this whole line of conversation. But I have the opposite experience. Everyone is very nice. I mean all the people that work here are very friendly. And if you're somewhere in the building and they are there, they will say hi. They will make small talk. They're all incredibly pleasant people. But what I said, I think yesterday or the day before was it's like some kind of a Marvel show where the people are all very nice. But if their face fell off, it would just be circuitry because it all just where it all ends up is an unhelpful response when you need something. But they're very good at following up eventually. I'm not surprised to hear that they've gone on to Yelp and they've written probably some very like parsed, careful language. Oh, I'm so sorry that you had a poor experience with this. without sort of full admitting guilt but but making the people you know trying to trying to telegraph to other people reading the reviews that this is a good place like they're it's it's a in a weird way it's a very professionally run operation but the problem is that the official like the if they like you know my nike's uh it is nike or mikey i've never been clear on that i'm pretty sure the shoe

company yeah it's it's um mick you see me okay like kind of like oh that's why i keep that's

why i've been getting confused like nike's you know whatever their catchphrase their slogan is just do it it's like the slogan here internally is just don't do it like whatever it is just very nicely tell people no that's your job it's like there's never been one thing that i've ever asked for that they've been like hey the answer to that is yes like when they charged me more in rent than

the person told me it was going to be right that is i've been thinking about that like kind of low level during all of these conversations this isn't just about this service during covid times this is that they gave you a bit of i don't know if bait and switch is too strong of a word but like they they muddled exactly what this deal was and they say the first three months free and that's not even really true it's spread across a year like it's bullshit well what happened with the

rent thing is the person who showed me the place who was very friendly but was i believe very new in their job also told me during the walkthrough that they're going to be leaving because this is not their calling which i don't think i knew that that's funny which is kind of an interesting piece of info as you're walking around looking at various apartments but anyway they were very nice very helpful and very responsive when i was looking to to look at units etc the only thing was it was it was sort of obvious that this person didn't have a really super solid grasp on all of the details of the apartments here and so when i would say well how much is this apartment they would kind of give me like a they would sort of hem and haw and they would like look at this piece of paper that had like a whole bunch of different listings on it and then they would try to figure it out now one thing is the apartment that i'm in was the showroom apartment so that was part of it i don't think it was being listed actively but they were like yeah we can let you so there you go there's a yes yeah true they they they um they tricked me by seeming very helpful at first by saying yeah you can actually rent this one but the point is that what nobody did anything intentionally but this person who i was working with told me that it was going to be a certain price verbally a bunch of times and i kept checking in on the phone being like this much right yes then they sent me the contract and this is where it becomes my fault i didn't read the fine print because it was like 30 pages long and i was probably driving to portland or something And so I signed off on it, and so later when I said in an email, hey, you know, I was kind of confused as to why the rent is different than what I was told, Thomas very helpfully pointed out that in the contract it states what the amount is. And he's not wrong about that. So it was really my fault for not reading it. But what I wanted to hear was, hey, that was a mess up by us because we shouldn't have people just quoting prices that are actually not the real price. That's kind of not great on our part. And I never got that sort of satisfaction, which made me, you know, that's where the frustration began.

OK, so I really I know you I got the impression you want to move on from this, but I really do. If you'll allow it, I have two things I'd like to get to here. One just small thing, another Yelp thing, if you don't mind. But then a really a question that I have for you that is really going to put a button on this, I think. But anyway, the one Yelp review here, two stars from Abby C, who's still in Portland. And management was immediately notified when I lost hot water. I haven't had hot water in five days, she wrote back in 2018. This is pre-COVID time for those who are trying to pay attention. Management was immediately notified. They had a MRSA policy, though, where they were also not fixing things. Nothing was done. No updates. No alternative accommodations despite multiple calls and emails. I'm understanding that these things cannot be resolved immediately, although I find the lack of communication and the amount of time it's taking. to be resolved ridiculous, then Abby goes on to write from there. And again, you can you can cherry pick anything from the Internet. But I just sure. But I do at least want you to hear that, that other people share your pain. But more specifically to you, Luke, when you moved into this apartment, I had mentioned to you like this will be an interesting kind of experiment because I love the idea of having. I've always wanted, you know, an apartment in the sky in a metropolitan area. Right. Like to me, that what you're living right now is really cool. But I was a little bit concerned because you're not somebody who's rented in a long time. And as you describe yourself as sort of a what do you say, like a power owner, not a power owner. But like you're somebody who like you like to you like to when you see something, you like it and you like to buy it. You like it to be super possessor, super possessor, not not somebody who necessarily wants to kind of rent, but you're going to go all in. And I think that there's something about homeownership. and car ownership and boat ownership for you that is, like, this sense of, like, this is mine. This is my domain, and I'm in charge of it. And there's freedom that goes along with that. Oh, you mean freedom? Is that what you're thinking? Braver? Just a little braver? Can you do that quieter? Could you do that less? No. Anyway, you see where I'm going with this question. So not only are you now a renter, but like I'm a renter, too. But I deal with like one company downstairs who were very kind of familiar with them. And while I've had my frustrations, it's kind of a one on one relationship. Like, you've really thrown yourself into the maws of, like, a corporate management system that is going to create a bunch of rules. Then they say we can't break our own rules just because it's in their best interest not to break their own rules. Like, you really threw yourself into one of the kind of least powerful positions that you can be in.

And also least flexible situations. Yes, exactly. Like, if I was living in a duplex and the person who owned the entire thing just lived in the adjacent, you know, part of the duplex, I could just, like, call them and say, hey, can we, like, figure this out? This is much more corporate, much more hierarchical.

Right, exactly. And there are some good things that go along with where you're living, so I'm not trying to talk you out of your place. But I'm curious where you are right now. Like, moving is a huge pain in the ass. But also, bad customer service is such a trigger for me and clearly to a degree to you as well. Do you see yourself just kind of gutting this out or, like, are you just disenchanted?

Honestly, like, no, I really like this place. And in fact, part of why I've been, I may really live to regret airing my grievances on the show so much because if it did get back to them and if they were annoyed, I mean, they can't do anything to me. But what they could do is make it harder for me when I want to – if I were to want to re-sign up for another year or there's apparently some other discount that they're offering to people now if you – like when you re-sign up. I don't know if that will be the case eight months from now, but it's like – I don't know. I don't really want to – I actually don't want to alienate them because I do like it here and I don't want them to like – I don't want to be – I don't want there to be like a picture of me that's like tacked up sort of like behind the counter in the leasing office. And they're like, if you see this guy, just like avoid him. He's like the problem tenant. Because I like it here. Like, I'm not going to move over this stuff, which I also shouldn't say on the show because it's not helping my leverage. It's just – and I don't feel like the rules – the other thing is this place is great. Like in terms of no one's ever said, hey, you were playing your music too loud. Although I don't play the music that loud anyway. I did this crazy sound. It's also Enya. Sound. I mean, and can you really – honestly, can you play Enya too loud? I mean, play it, you know, shout it from the rooftops, okay? I did this crazy sound tuning thing The other day I have a couple of Sonos speakers that I brought down And they're very old They're like the first generation of Sonos I didn't even know if they were going to work They were the ones that were going to brick them But they do still work But one of them went out the other day And so it's like a stereo pair Each one can operate as an independent speaker But you can put them at either end Of a living room and make them kind of interact and andrew like someday when the pandemic's over if you ever come down and visit me i literally want to do this like procedure and just have you watch it it's so fascinating i don't know if it makes any difference at all but they were like do you want to um whatever it was like tune there they have some proprietary trademarked like name for it on the app but it's basically making the speakers highly highly tuned to each other and what they do is you hit a button you you walk around with your phone and you hit a button and both of these speakers start playing the craziest sound you have ever heard of these low rumbling bass notes and then higher things and it's and you just walk around with the phone and it uses the microphone on your phone as a way of figuring out the sonic kind of architecture in the room and then it like supposedly just like completely dials them in but the actual sound of the tuning process was the most it was something from star Trek it was so trippy I want to hear it why are we not doing that on TBTL I guess what I'd have to do is run maybe we'll do this tomorrow also they're all tuned up now I guess I just have to I'll just redo it but I mean what I could yeah I think well maybe next time you do it or we could

pre-record something maybe in the post-pandemic I'll come down I want you to be in the room though

this isn't even about the listeners I want you to be just sitting on the couch just with your mind-blown like a unicorn that my dad would tweet. By the way, my sister Hannah did change the Hawk Squad family icon from a shamrock to a unicorn with an exploding ring. I thought you were going to say to Chrome. I was like, oh, wow, I'm really being seen.

Okay, let's take a quick break halfway through the show, and then when we come back, we'll talk about Lil Uzi Vert and Revenge Bedtime Procrastination and even do some Blur's Days. Stay with us. Let's thank some donors of the day who are making the program possible. Generous people like Taylor Haas Or Taylor Haas Of Everett, Washington I know slightly different spelling I believe than the last name Of your partner Yeah, could it be Haas-y actually? It could be Haas-y And you know, one of the big streets in Everett I believe is Broadway, right? Which would mean, are Haas-y's on Broadway?

Is that even true? Is there a Broadway in Everett? There actually is, yes, there really is

That's a big street, that's kind of like the big street in Everett, I believe That's pretty good Jessica Haley is in Mattapan, Massachusetts So much fun to say, Mattapan Yeah, very kind of alliterative, flows Snaps Yeah, you know what else snaps? Lake Taps, Washington, where Jennifer Justice is checking in

Yes, Jennifer Justice, a former 10 of the week And she posed with her motorcycle It's one of the most badass photos that a 10 of the week has submitted.

Morella Alejandrino is in Kenmore, Washington. Or maybe Mireya. We've got two L's in there. Mireya Alejandrino. Thank you, Mireya, for checking in. Todd Canfora is in Albany, Oregon. Hmm, twist. Mm-hmm. Albany, Oregon. Yep. You didn't say that. It's like when you think there's one more step. or it's just one inch shorter than the rest or is it Albany, Oregon I could never, when I lived in New York and the state capital of New York is Albany or it's Albany it's all right I'm always saying it incorrectly and the more I thought about it the more I got confused in my own head Todd is in Albany, Oregon, thank you then Mary Cheval is in Tustin, California Thank you so much.

What's that? I don't know. Why did I say who loves you, baby, with Chaval? Oh, because Telly Chaval-esque? I don't know.

Telly Chaval-esque?

I don't know why that came out.

Who loves you, baby, Duluth. Thank you, babies. Thanks for the donation. We wouldn't be here without you. hello and welcome to top story when i saw this article andrew i thought of you because i know that andy times are very important to you and i wondered if there was i don't even know if you would be aware of this or if this would be sort of pushed down into the deeper subconscious but this was an article that was actually in glamour magazine jenny singer writing about something called revenge bedtime procrastination and the the sort of upshot is they think scientists think that even when we're really really tired if we sometimes want to stay up it's basically because we want to have control over some part of our day and if our day has felt and I can only imagine our listeners that have you know young children must feel this way a lot and that's a lot of the people they cite in this article you know particularly women with young children who feel like most of the day they don't have a ton of control over what's going on and so when it's late at night they're very tired but they can't go to sleep because they're sort of trying to take back some of the power in their life by by not going to sleep that makes a lot of sense to

me i like that's kind of what goes on with you uh yeah um from time to time yeah i think that for me it's definitely the alone time that you mentioned and again not that it's so funny because Genevieve and I, I mean, for the first time ever, we have two televisions in two different rooms. We have two televisions, but they're in the same room, and we they're over each of our shoulders, and we just stare kind of at each other, but over each other's shoulders while we watch different programs. No, but for the first time ever, we actually have two TVs in two different rooms, as we have for the past couple of years since we've lived in this apartment, and I don't know if it's actually the best thing in the world, but I find myself kind of, you know, I'll play a video game, then I'll stop the video game, and then I'll start watching Seinfeld in the other room, while Genevieve's watching something else in the other room. Maybe that doesn't sound like the best scenario for a couple, but it's also like month 11 of the pandemic. We see a lot of each other. We talk a lot. We have a lot of quality time together, but there's still something in me. This has nothing to do with Genevieve at all, but there's still.

something on the occasion that she goes to bed before me which isn't always the case it feels like oh party time sort of just like in a tiny tiny bit in the back of my brain somewhere and that doesn't mean that I do anything differently right literally nothing it just means that I don't know I don't know what it means but there's just something about like oh this is my alone time this

is my special time i i saw a tweet that actually before i had seen this phrase or this description of it i had seen a tweet or heard about it from someone where basically the person uh was uh was talking about the middle of the night and said i like staying up in the middle of the night because there are no expectations of me and that for some reason really related to me because uh or really resonated with me because for me it's that and i'm not a crazy nighttime stayer upper generally Although last night I was, it was so weird. I just, I was like, wanted to go to bed at like 8 PM. I just felt very tired. And then between 8 PM and 1230 AM, Andrew, I was just like, I should go to bed. And then I was like, I got up, went, brushed my teeth, got in bed. And I was like, about to go to sleep. And I was like, yeah, but maybe just a little, a little tick tock time. And then it was, you know, suddenly it was 1230. But during the day, and I'm sure many of our listeners can relate, you get emails, people, like, you have meetings. I have, like, three meetings today outside of this, you know, and scripts that I'm getting back to CBS. Just a lot of things and a lot of people saying, oh, hey, just moving this back to the top of your inbox. Like, that's pretty typical in the daytime for me. And what's really nice about 1230 at night when you're looking at TikTok is nobody's emailing you. Nobody has any expectations of you in the middle of the night. And that is a very freeing feeling.

Yeah, you know, there is there are a lot of people who enjoy their alone time in the morning. People who have way more healthy lifestyles than me and they get up early and that's their alone time. I think a lot of people, maybe people who are very successful, probably, and also have, you know, kids and a family life. But they get up early and maybe they get on their their walking desk is that we call the treadmill that's attached to a desk and they get their alone time in and they, you know, whatever. To them, they cherish that time, but I don't know if it's because I'm a degenerate or what, but that doesn't appeal to me at all. Get up early for alone time? No way, Jose. I like my alone time late at night after everybody else has gone to bed.

I love the idea of that, and I was sort of doing that for a while, getting up on the earlier side. Once I'm up and I'm fully awake and stuff, it feels really good to be up early. But I have to say maybe just because I live alone now and all that, it's like I've slipped into sleeping in a little bit more and kind of not doing that. But I kind of want to get back to that at some point because for me, and maybe this is where we're different, like I used to really hate getting up early and I used to work in morning radio, which was the worst. Even when we did those shows at Cairo, that felt early to me even though I really – I could have just gotten up as late as 6 a.m., which is – if you go to bed at 10, 6 a.m. is a reasonable time to wake up. but in my dotage, I have started to hate getting up early less. Like I've, which I think is also kind of just getting older. Like the older you get, it seems the earlier you wake up. Like, you know, my parents are, my dad's probably awake at 6 a.m. on Saturday for no reason. He's just, he's awake, he's making coffee, he's staring out the window. Like I feel that happening to me a little bit. But I think I need to sort of be more intentional about my sleep hygiene and try to get back on like a good schedule where I'm getting up a little bit earlier. and not trying to get – I don't know who I'm trying to get revenge on with my procrastination because that's the problem. I don't even have that excuse. I mean my days are fairly busy with work, but I don't have little kids that need me. I don't have – I am very lucky in that I have a ton of agency in my life. And most of the time when people say, hey, just moving this to the top of your inbox, I have the ability to wait an hour to respond if I need to or if I want to. So I'm not even a person who has a lack of control during their waking hours.

Yeah. Yeah. You know, there's another thing. I don't have any excuse. There's another thing, though, that I'm having a little bit of trouble relating to. And I think this is on me. And I don't know if we've talked about this before, but you mentioned that last night you're having trouble falling asleep, but you were in bed and you were watching your ticky talkies. And for me, like once I'm in bed, like I'm going to go to sleep, like I don't enjoy just like hanging out in bed. Like for me, like the alone times, if we're going with this kind of like nighttime, this is me time thing, it does not pay off for me if I go to bed and lay down and start flipping through any kind of social media or read my book or whatever. like that's bedtime like there's a very like when we were um in arizona at the grand canyon like i had a i had a chair i'm such a weird old man but like i had a chair that that I would sit on. Genevieve was in bed, like watching TV. We're just watching dumb old movies and the nature channel and what have you. Um, but I didn't want to sit in bed and play my games on my iPad and watch TV. Like I was fully clothed. I set up a chair so I could sit in my chair and then we watched TV. And then when it was time to go to bed, then I went to bed. Like for me, there's a very, there's a very, um, distinct line between staying up and going to bed.

um i actually like being in bed like the idea of maybe if it's like a rainy saturday just being and there and there are no expectations of me the idea of just like hanging out in bed and just like you know reading on my phone or whatever is very appealing but i don't do it that much by the way in this article they say that this is getting worse for people during the pandemic which is not super surprising and also they said that one of the ways to try to fix it if you find yourself staying up super late even though you're tired is to optimize the time you do spend on your nighttime uh this is one of the experts quote-unquote revenge that often when we get free time we flop down and watch tv or scroll through social media these leisure activities don't really give us the well-being bump that we assume we're going to get and maybe that sounds judgy or maybe you know everyone's allowed to relax however they want but i guess they're saying like try to make your your nighttime rituals slightly more fulfilling because then you will feel like you got some time to yourself because what happens is I'm scrolling TikTok feeling like no there are no expectations of me and I'm like getting to have total control of this moment of my life but then it doesn't really give me the whatever the endorphins that I think I'm going to get from it so I wake up the next day and that the cycle is even more pronounced yeah I mean I

definitely find myself in a cycle of like you stay up too late and then um yeah there you'd think that you stay up late one night and then the next night you're going to be so tired that you'll go to bed at a reasonable hour but that's just not the way it works uh another way to deal

with the ennui of a pandemic i guess is to pierce your forehead with a 24 million dollar diamond um which the rapper lil uzi vert did recently uh this is like an 11 carat diamond uh he said he's been paying for this diamond since 2017 and it's cost him 24 million dollars and he now has it he pierced his forehead and the diamond is now resting sort of in the middle of his forehead but what the internet immediately pointed out was it's kind of off center and so then little uzi vert had to go on to the internet and say and i quote y'all keep talking about it's off It still has a long bar in it So it can move because of the swelling When it goes down It's going to be right there In other words, he is saying this is just because He only recently had his forehead pierced with a $24 million diamond And once the swelling goes down, he will move it to the exact Perfect midpoint of Between his eyebrows I'm assuming you've now looked at a picture of this What do you make of this, Andrew? Would you consider getting this procedure done yourself? It's too big

Losey As far as diamonds Yeah, I mean, I know as far as forehead diamonds go, you think this is a little gaudy because you sent me the link this morning. I didn't have a chance to look at it. You're doing the well, you're setting the agenda for our meeting at the beginning of the show. And you mentioned this again. And then I'm like, oh, it's time for me to look at this the whole time. I'm picturing. I know that you said a 24 million. So I know it must be a diamond of some size. But in my head, I'm still picturing just a small, you know, diamond like you might see like a, you know, somebody might have a stud. in their cheek or or even their nose or something and i'm just picturing like a small little diamond in the middle of his forehead it's too big it doesn't look good it doesn't i don't think it looks good everybody do your own thing if you want to put a 24 million diamond in the middle of your forehead i'm not telling you not to but like i don't it's not an aesthetic that i um

think works for him i don't understand the economics of of the music business because Because, like, I don't, I mean, I know Lil Uzi Vert is very popular, but I guess I just don't understand how he has, he obviously has to live in a house. He has to have a couple cars that work. I don't understand how he has 24 extra million dollars for this one thing.

Yeah. Well, I mean, I think the interesting thing is you keep mentioning that he's talked about his payment plan. Yeah, that's interesting. It's a rent-to-own diamond.

I mean, that's a very intentional thing. That's like, you know, three or maybe four years ago he said, okay, I got this idea. i want to have this giant diamond in the middle also get costume jewelry no one's gonna know it's a pink diamond yeah like you you i mean if you want to go for this look if you're a little uzi vert again it's not really my look either but i could see it being considered cool and outside the you know box and whatever but i promise you nobody would have known if you just had like a hundred dollar i mean i guess now the world knows it was worth 24 million so whatever sort of whatever he's trying to project out to the world it's it's working we're talking about it but i just feel like you could have gone with a less expensive it doesn't need to literally cost you 24 million dollars yeah by the way you're making payments on i'm in a weird article and i'm gonna

ask you a question i don't know if i was familiar with this language so i'm uh you you sent an article from i think new york magazine but i'm out of clicks on that i've reached my limit so i'm looking around other places and i'm on the bbc news now and i was just looking at the photo of it but now i'm looking at it and i didn't recognize this language i'm like oh at first i thought i thought it was a mixture of english and something else i'm on a i'm on a pigeon language site p-i-d-g-i-n you know how bbc they reach the world so they release stuff in all different languages i wasn't familiar with pigeon i'm not joking here american rapper and so on well i guess i won't i won't try to read it phonetically but are you familiar with this yeah pigeon english i think um i do let's

see i do think i've heard of i want to double check before i make a random guess and um pigeon english is a non-specific name used to refer to any of the many pigeon languages derived from english um and so there's like west african pigeon english chinese pigeon english japanese pigeon english i guess it's just it's a grammatically simplified means of communicating it develops between two or more groups that do not have a language in common. Typically, its vocabulary and grammar are limited and often drawn from several languages. So I could see that just being, I don't know which languages are being, which language along with English is being pigeoned in in this article that we're looking at.

I think it's really fascinating. Sorry for that, Hugh, but I was just like looking at it and then I just didn't, I like recognized some words but not all the words and I wasn't sure if I was looking at something that wasn't supposed to be published, no disrespect, But now I'm in this whole world of Pidgin. Interesting. Yeah.

I like the idea of the BBC, like the regular BBC, covering Lil Uzi Vert. Yeah, right. Because it's just so like, you know, I'm Julian Marshall. It's 800 Greenwich Mean Time. The American rapper Lil Uzi Vert.

I've heard the name Julian Marshall, I feel like, my entire adult life, yet I wouldn't have been able to pull that. That's such a good pull.

well uh then there's the the main guy now that i hear i think down here in portland and also in uh in seattle which he must just be the person hosting you know when the time zones work out it's like james uh now i'm i showed off with my julian marshall but it's like james kurasami not kurasami but he says it very fast but um it's weird how you you develop a bit of a relationship with the person who's hosting the bbc during the hour that it happens to be played on the public radio station that you're listening to.

Yeah, right, yeah. I'm not a huge fan of the BBC Radio Hour, which I shouldn't say. I believe it's distributed by our company. Yeah, I just have. It's coming out. Wait, do you have anything to say about The Daily? Because I'm about to go into a big riff. No, I think my attitude is changing on it a little bit. I listen to the BBC. I think I used to be a much bigger fan because I would listen to the BBC in the very early hours as I was driving into my job as a morning edition producer. So I would be hearing the BBC around like between the hours of 2 a.m. and like 3.30 a.m. Like that was my getting ready time. And they would have their like storybook segment in there. They just like read serialized stories on the air. So you'd hear like a five-minute installment of somebody's novel, I think, or story. Like it just got – it felt so bizarre and kind of otherworldly to me and kind of breaking traditional public radio rules, I felt, that I was fascinated by it but like when it's the middle of the day and I'm kind of like you know jamming along to some here and now and what and the daily and what have you and then all of sudden it's like the BBC I feel like it's always a bit of a speed bump in the programming and I said that to Genevieve and she you know sort of uh chastised me for having such an American focus yeah American centric uh of you know view of the news and it's like oh you don't care what's happening in the world which is I think a legit argument but there's something about the programming that it just starts to sound like white noise in the background to me which I feel terrible about

I'm with you it's it's hard because the challenge is you're typically depending on on where they're reporting from you may have as a listener I often have no context for the thing so it starts with let's say if it's a five-minute story about something that's happening in a community somewhere I don't necessarily know anything about that community so I have to like it's not like if they're talking about something that's happening in the U.S. involving a group of people that I've already got some kind of like run-up on like if it's the argument between Mitch McConnell and you know Nancy Pelosi it's like I've already invested somewhat in the characters in this story and so when it's a story that's being reported out of some far-flung part of the world that I

don't know anything about it takes me about half the story probably to even start caring which again is bad that I don't just have some innate deep thoughts for people who I have never met and will never meet I mean I wish I was more like just seeing understanding instinctively the the humanity of everyone like I think I I think of that intellectually but I'm less likely to listen to a story from the Beeb about a place I've never heard of unless it's some like really truly interesting super compelling story but then there's also that the accent thing the way the the sort of that's where i think the white noise part comes in because when i started doing that julian marshall impression it immediately because it was so good obviously so spot on so that wasn't tape that you were playing that was no that was me oh okay what about the freedom that i heard before the second freedom was also me the first one that wasn't julian marshall saying freedom No, that was Ron Howard doing the voiceover intro to the movie. Do you have Julian Marshall yelling, bebed him?

Could that be a show title? Bebed him, maybe. Yeah, I definitely think that you're getting at something, though. For me, I think you're right about maybe there's an assumption of us knowing the narrative going in. But I also just think it's the production style, which I think I used to like more. that seemed a little bit more I can't I don't know how to say this without sounding insulting but I prized this about it that it almost was a more disposable style of reporting whereas I feel like NPR can be a little too precious sometimes right and the BBC is just cranking it out right

like sort of the CNN of radio in that they're just doing the stories they're pretty short they're not like going crazy with a bunch of like tape that's you know ambi ambi that's being carefully ducked under things it's just kind of information that's being churned out rapidly yeah and they do i mean

and they definitely have you know they they there are definitely feature stories that they do obviously we hear those as well but somehow like yeah they're they also just cover the world and they're doing really important stuff i'm not just saying that to backtrack on what i'm saying or because i'm embarrassed about it but there's something about the production style of it when it hits me just in the middle of the day like listening to the bbc at night feels more exotic Like, listening to it in the middle of the day feels like kind of a speed bump in the programming. And I think it does have to do with this sort of distance. Or, yeah, like if NPR in the middle of the day was going to do the same exact story on a different part of the world where I don't already know the narrative, they're going to bring me into it as an American a little bit more because they know they're producing this for an American audience. Maybe that's part of it, too. Is part of it, I don't understand what 0800 Greenwich Mean Time means.

I know, that's the other thing. Like, we're idiots. That's the problem. We're dummies.

There's a right way to rock and a wrong way to roll. You can't just listen to your soul. Just remember that life is number one. You can't be having so much fun. Just remember that life is this fun. You can be nothing but me

All right, here we go with some Blur's Days. I'm going to handle them from my end today because there are not too many of them. Luke, I'm not trying to cut you out of the process, though.

Another week, another Blur's Days where I'm not invited to be part of the reading of the Blur's Days. I find that kind of curious, my friend.

Well, I mean, I think it's kind of curious that I've been doing it pretty successfully for years and years, kind of the founding host of this segment. And then suddenly we decided that we're going to bring a co-host in it. Brought back memories of having a show called The Andrew Walsh Show on Cairo Radio that for some reason became the John Curley Show with Andrew Walsh. You know, it used to be the Blur's Days with Andrew Walsh. And then it was Luke Burbank's Blur's Days featuring producer Andy, which it just seemed like a pretty big change.

Wait until I tell you that John Curley is going to start doing the Blur's Days with you. You're like, hey, man, you're just making up Blur's Days at this point, aren't you?

Luke, that would be the best prank of all time. If before we had this conversation, if you just straight faced told me and like actually set it up and said, we're going to bring John Curley in to spice up the Blur's Days. That would have been just amazing.

Andrew, I've been getting a lot of, it's a really, I have to be honest with you. I did not expect this, but because of your time on Cairo, a lot of the listeners who've come to TVTL were fans of that show, but they particularly liked your dynamic with John Curley. Good, good. I love it. And they like to hear the sound in your voice as you're slowly being eviscerated.

It's just like the light in my soul just dims more and more.

Oddly enough, it made for great radio.

And so I was just thinking, you know, because our bosses here at APM are always asking us to think about ways to expand the brand and get more listeners. Maybe we could. I mean, since it was so successful on Kyra Radio, maybe we can get John to do the Blurs. Just like a once a week hit, we'll do the Blurs Days. You and John do the Blurs Days.

I actually, and this is the truth, I think John is an incredibly talented broadcaster. And I think he would improve the Blurs Days. However, the problem is I think he would also make up some Blurs Days. Of course. And that's what the problem would be.

I have a friend, Andrew, who's having a Blur's Day today, and he works in the King County Sheriff's Department.

Oh, Luke, wait, hold on. Is he also black? Is it John Curley's black friend who works for the police so that he has a real insight on the community?

Yeah, but the thing is, Andrew, some of the things that he tells me are not what you would expect. Uh-huh.

Wow.

Tell me more.

But they do weirdly support the point that I'm trying to make in this moment.

John Curley would.

And I'd like to wish a happy Blur's Day to that imaginary person. Oh, it's fun to laugh again.

I like John. Deborah says, oh, by the way, I'm doing something different with the Blur's Day today, Luke. I am mixing things up. This is not a spoof. Well, maybe it's spoofy, but it's a real thing I'm doing. Because we only had a few Blur's Days, I'm mixing in some other short emails in here that are not Blur's Day related. I'm going to mix them all up. You tell me if you think it's a Blur's Day or just try to spot the ones that are not Blur's Days, okay? Okay. This is from Debra who says, Would you kindly wish Cousin Caroline or Carolyn... This is a Blur's Day. Yes, this is a Blur's Day. I think it's Carolyn, right? With a Y there. Would you kindly wish Cousin Carolyn a happy Blur's Day? I might be a week behind, but she'll understand. She is one of the nicest, funniest, smartest scientists you'll ever meet. And I'm wishing her the very best day in Southern California she can manage in COVID times. Lots of love from your cousin abroad. Cute. Now, that's from Debra again to Carolyn. Debra's living abroad. Where is she living, you might ask? Well, we also got a note from Carolyn Luke, the Blur's Day recipient, who says, Happy Blur's Day to my dear cousin Debra, a former Seattle 10 who is now a long-time Wellington in New Zealand. Her birthday is the day after mine, and I miss co-celebrating with her and her mom's weirdly delicious rice flour birthday cakes from our childhood. So there you go. This is also a Blur's Day message. This is also a Blur's Day message. Exactly. Two for two. It's like a reservoir dogs of Blur's Days. Everybody's pointing Blur's Days at each other. I love it. Okay, honey bunny.

Wait, that's Pulp Fiction, sorry.

Anna says, I, 29 years old, have been so confused every time you've mentioned the Bloodhound Gang. For me, this is a band from the 90s, known best for their song The Bad Touch, which feature the lyrics, You and me, baby, ain't nothing but mammals, so let's do it like they do on the Discovery Channel. Anna says, these are very different gangs. That one's not a Blur's Day. That's not a Blur's Day. You are so good. Three for three. So good at this.

Yeah, I'm assuming, obviously, the Bloodhound Gang, the band, was named for the Bloodhound Gang, the mystery-solving outfit. But was that last week we did the You and Me, Baby, Ain't Nothing But Mammals song for music for your weekend? Because I've been meaning to bring that back.

I don't know. Maybe that could be your music for tomorrow's weekend.

Sure.

Music for tomorrow's weekend. Olivia in Michigan says, please wish my mom, Gretchen in Seattle, a very happy Blur's Day. Oh, okay. That's a Blur's Day. Yes, it is. I haven't been able to visit home lately, but we bond over TBTL from afar. You may remember her as the caller who worked at the Everett Skate Deck back in the day. Yes, remember? We had Gretchen on the show, although I think she was anonymous then, so maybe I wasn't supposed to read that part. That was actually a PS in the note. But anyway, you busted Gretchen. Sorry. Nobody's going to connect the dots. She now has a custom mug that says I was on TBTL that I had made for her. Anyway, she's a super fan and a super mom and deserves a very special Blur's Day and no doxing. Oh, well. Wait. Did you add the no doxing?

I did because I totally just doxed Gretchen. Sorry, Gretchen. In the most loving way. You know, I have been thinking that when the pandemic is over, I want to go roller skating again. Oh, my dude.

Well, then let's do it to it. I got I don't know if you know this. I never talk about it, but I do have a pair of rollerblades. I'd love to strap on and we could skate around to baby shark songs.

Yeah.

Sure.

I was thinking, you know, go to like whatever Linwood Rollaway or one of those. There's actually down. here i haven't been to it yet but i've heard it's legend there's a roller rink at oaks park which is kind of this amusement park it's actually where i went to the drive-thru haunted houses with my little nephews um who haven't spoken to me since being featured on national television interesting i guess i know who my friends are wait that's not true maddie and marion i thought

he was just at your house the other day and he said you're his favorite that's little luke he

wasn't allowed in the car because we thought it'd be too scary oh yeah that's true little luke and i are cool maddie and mary and i are cool ian and i are cool jack and abe i don't know just saying they used me to get on tv at oaks park and then it's just like radio silence just because they

live in the woods with no cell coverage in a yurt well anyway they sound like they've got that level of fame where they're just like wearing big floppy hats and they're going to like want to totally

unplug fire festival but that's it um anyway that oaks uh amusement park roller rink apparently has among other things, Andrew, a section of it where it is, how do I describe it? It's like gentle rolling hills of roller skating, of like the wood that you would, like there is a track that you can skate on where you go up and down these little hills, but the track is made of like roller rink wood. Wow, that sounds intimidating, but fun. That sounds so fun. I'm sure it's pretty, it must be pretty safe because like on the website, it's, you know, families and kids doing it. But apparently that roller rink is just, like, legendary here in Portland. And so maybe when you come down and visit and we tune the speakers. Yes. And we could go to – you bring your blades and we can go to Oaks Park and do some roller skating. I love it.

This is from Jen who says, I heard your conversation with Stu about the caveman monolith art installation in Minnesota called Zug Zug. By the way, Luke, Stu sent us a photo of it later, and I understand more why he considered it a monolith. He called it a frozen caveman. I said, that's not a monolith, though. That's just a statue. I was being thick there. The statue, it's like a big fake block of ice. So it is monolith-esque with the caveman, like, in this block. So I understand why he called it a monolith. Did you see the photo?

You know what? I don't think I looked at it. I think I saw the link. I do that far too often where I'm in the middle of something. I see that somebody sends something and said, oh, here's some clarification. And then I'm like, oh, I'll go back and look at that when I have a moment. And then I never go back and look at it. That's most of the things in my life that I don't watch or read or interact with.

Well, anyway, Jen heard us talking about Zug Zug and wanted to point out that there's a 1981 movie called Caveman starring Ringo Starr. Oh, peace and love. G. Shelley Long, famous A-lister Dennis Quaid. I added the famous A-lister. By the way, I brought that argument to this show, right? The Dennis Quaid argument I was having with Genevieve, whether or not he's an A-lister. We got into another argument the other day regarding this because Genevieve referred to Martha Stewart as an A-lister. And I said, hold the phone. You're saying that, oh, because Martha Stewart's in a terrible, terrible Super Bowl commercial that's just, like, stacked with a bunch of, like, I consider B celebrities for, like, Scott lawn care. You'll see it. You'll hate it. But anyway, I said, well, no, these are B celebrities. And she said, no, no, Martha Stewart's not a B-level celebrity. So that would say that Martha Stewart is A-list and Dennis Quaid is B-list. Do you agree with that?

I don't agree with that. Thank you. I think we agree that Dennis Quaid is – A-list is like Harry Styles is A-list. A-list is you are basically the most famous kind of obsessed over person. You're in the top 20 of famous obsessed over people. I guess we – did we decide last time that it isn't necessarily about box office? Because Harry Styles I don't think is really particularly noted for his acting. I mean it's his singing. But like he just is one of the more famous people in the world right now. Dennis Quaid is a very well compensated Very famous actor But not, he's not Brad Pitt

Do you think it would help if I found a 2017 Business Insider article That listed that year's top A-list celebrities? I don't know where you'd even find Something like that. Okay, listen I'm in the middle of a non-Blursday Blurs here. So Jen says There's this movie, a 1981 Flick, Caveman, stars Ringo Starr, Shelley Long, Dennis Quaid Other notables. In this movie they refer to mommy and daddy times as Zug Zug. I think it was supposed to be a primitive caveman language. I was 11 when this came out. This is a serious message. My dad thought this movie was hilarious. Anyway, I thought maybe that's the origin of the name of the art installation, Zug Zug. Don't they call it Zug Zug also in an episode of Futurama? Does that ring any bells to you?

No, it doesn't. Is it a caveman? Is it some prehistoric type person? I feel like they're calling sex.

I feel like there's an episode of Futurama, which, of course, takes place in the future. And I believe it's like an alien planet. And they call it Zug Zug on the planet.

I'm getting obsessed with the Super Bowl ads now, Andrew. You know, honestly, I just watched Super Bowl for the ads. I think you know that. There's one that came out yesterday that I actually think is a – it strikes me as an actually funny ad. It's Will Ferrell and Kenan Thompson and – oh, who else is in it? There's a bunch of other folks.

Oh, this is great. I did a big roundup the other day, but this did not – this escaped my radar.

Whoa, yeah. It's basically like the premise is – and it's oddly – it's for like I think GM batteries. so the batteries that will be used in electric cars I don't think it's for a specific model of electric car but the premise is that Will Ferrell realizes that per capita Norwegians have more electric cars than the US and he's not going to take that so he decides to go over to Norway and basically just assert US dominance hilarity ensues and I watched it yesterday and I was legitimately laughing I mean I watched the like extra long one for the internet so I don't think I don't maybe they bought out two minutes of Super Bowl time, but it's basically

like a short film. Oh, wow. That's great. Yeah, my favorite one, well, we don't have to get into it now. My favorite one, for what it's worth, surprisingly, is for the Amazon Echo, which in the past several years, I feel like they've just been working way too hard on those commercials for not a very good payoff, but this year features Michael B. Jordan, and it's dirty. It's dirty. It's sexy. I saw a clip of that. It's really funny.

I don't know how the woman is summoning Michael B. Jordan, but he keeps showing up and she keeps being really excited and her husband keeps trying to shut it down. It's really funny

that basically the premise is what if the Echo wasn't just a device that, you know, what if it was in a different body and what if that body was, you know, Michael B. Jordan's body and it is legitimately laugh out loud. Anyway, that one was not a Blur's day. Last one here, Anthony says, I'd like to wish the merriest of Blur's days to a brand new five and one week old river i look forward to meeting the new baby cousin as soon as possible so i can check it out welcome to the world river that was a birthday from your cousin anthony you know it was a blurs day because he said it right there i know that's that's you figured out the trick and it's where we are how did you like that how did you like the mixing of blurs days with short emails is that something i liked it in there consider going forward to get

I think it was no I think it was fun I like it was a little here and maybe also for the people that are kind of like not the biggest fans of the blurs days although I don't know what kind of monsters wouldn't enjoy hearing their fellow tens of listeners being honored and celebrated but for folks who have said they're not super into that segment you add a little there's a little value add there there's a little some other stuff that's not the blurs days oh we could start giving away

stuff you know how we are kind of famous for our tbtl giveaways we should do giveaways in the middle

of blurs days to force people to listen to him i'm glad that you hate that martha stewart commercial because it reminds me of something which is i've been avoiding it they've been popping that thing up on digital all over already and it starts with the non-celebrity person and is a comedian and not that it matters but i'll just leave their name out oh i didn't know that so he's

he's only there as the spokesperson he's not supposed to be a name but you just recognize him

yeah he's been on live wire and he was such an asshole oh really well the problem was we asked him we asked him we were like hey can you we did like a stand-up comedy special we're like okay here are the things can you try to keep it like not don't swear please don't swear so much that we can't use the tape for the radio show and i was like yeah totally and then got out there and just proceeded to do a set that a like insulted us as a show because he was just riffing and b you mean it literally he was like kind of roasting the show kind of roasting the show like oh man what is this show and like oh here we are in this particular venue and he's like i sell this venue out all the time when i'm here and it's not sold out right now and then he was like just swearing so much we couldn't use any of the stuff and i was just like that guy's on my list wow he's in that ad and i was just like you know and then somebody had bumped into him and said and he was like oh yeah liveware i'm on that show all the time or something and it was like no you're not ever again i promise interesting so the thing is it's carl weathers by the way who's also with

he isn't that um that's an interesting thing though so your experience is like you know like he's roasting the show and he's coming off as quote unquote an asshole but if somebody later on bumps into him and says you know mentions live wire and he associates himself with it Thank you.

Do you think that he really was oblivious to the fact? Do you think that he was just like kind of teasing too hard and he thinks that everything went really well and he was just like kind of just not aware? He just wasn't reading the room?

I don't think he was intentionally doing anything he thought was harmful to the show. But what it showed was a such such a lack of respect for what we're trying to do. Like if you know that we're trying to use this as a radio program and then you go up and your set is unusable for the radio because it's full of profanity and sexual references and things that any logical any reasonable person would understand are not going to work on public radio. like basically what happens he got up there and then he just started riffing and reading the room and being very selfish like about wanting to just like get the reaction he wanted from the crowd and not factoring in is this something that's going to help this radio show like have something usable by the end of it and and and the kidding too hard thing that's just more personal to me because i'm insecure and very thin-skinned at times so that part i just didn't love but but that's that that's fine that is what it is but the other stuff was just i don't think any of it was intentional but it's like saying you know i mean it just was a it was a it was a lack of thinking about the people who have brought you here and asked you to do this thing yeah that struck me as very disrespectful yeah no kidding that's really interesting i mean that's a big get for that guy he's in a super bowl ad right so i was like i i wanted to check and see if these were all the same campaign and they are so interesting but i don't actually know who's in it and i will When I'm watching the Super Bowl on Sunday I will turn my back to the television

Oh, you're going to miss it though Travolta and his daughter Are making a TikTok video in the commercial Luke, it's so good and it's so of the moment How do they come up with this stuff?

Now let me mention Or let me remind the listeners of my Quite embarrassing lapse in memory From a few weeks ago When I forgot about the fact that John Travolta's wife Kelly Preston had passed away Which is obviously a very sad thing And because I was noting that John Travolta Was in this commercial with Samuel L. Jackson I'm just like I'm wondering does John Travolta owe someone money Why is he suddenly In every TV commercial

Right well that's where I realized calling that commercial A commercial filled with B-list actors Doesn't really make sense because I don't think Travolta Could be called a B-lister ever Right

I don't know do you mean when you make A-list status Are you permanently A-list Well I don't think so because I think there was a time that Dennis Quaid

Definitely was A-list

Yeah inner space right I think we I think we've established that in this previous conversation is John Travolta a list at this point he's certainly very famous but I mean maybe he's also just not doing movies because it's a big time commitment and he's rich and he's been dealing with tragedy in his own family but it's like could you do a movie starring John Travolta where he's the main star and it does it feel like he's moving into that thing where he's going to mostly be the voice of an animated frog sure yeah you know yeah and like a little sarcastic frog that kind of stuff like it's like where he's i don't know if if if you can like build an entire film like you're trying to do a blockbuster film and build it around john travolta the way you could around say will smith like will smith is still an a-list actor definitely in my mind definitely yes yeah

travolta i feel like yeah he's as genevieve says could can he open a movie can he like can he be like the main the main draw of a hollywood premiere um yeah it feels on the bubble to me yeah all right well what are we going out with we can't go out with that bloodhound gang song

right it's too too filthy no i don't even i hate that song i don't i don't i think i've heard it before i don't know it's like it it's it's like north of a serious song but south of a weird owl song like it's somehow in this range of like i mean oh boy don't do it burbs don't do it it's gonna start i was gonna start naming nuts i was gonna start naming other bands that do what i think of as novelty music that i don't really enjoy but some of those bands are near and dear to the hearts of our yeah let's like oh i didn't realize it yet all of the every every album cover

is like some sort of like a boob joke or like yeah right it's all just like extremely puerile

like i know to me it's the lowest hanging fruit uh as far as humor goes it's not this is not

early for me okay let's not keep it highbrow like we do on this show yes exactly have you heard this um well maybe i'll save it for music for your weekend never mind you know what i have to get

together before tomorrow andrew i have to figure out our friday motivation oh fun you know i wanted

to help you out with that this week i'll try to i'll try to think about that too i'll see if i have any kind of good motivating things in my uh in my bucket of ideas too i'll give curly a call We'll see what he's got.

Ask him about that one friend of his who works at a gym that's been closed because of the pandemic, but has some thoughts that would really surprise you about the pandemic. Why did I? The plandemic. I don't know that I've heard that. Is that what the conspiracy theories call it?

Yes, it's been thrown about a bit. So maybe we'll just do words by doves unless you had a more specific idea. All right. Well, listen, thanks, everyone, for hanging out with us. We will do this again tomorrow morning. More imaginary radio for you, so please do join us for that. Until then, have a great Thursday. Stay safe. Take care of yourselves. Please do mask up. And remember, no mountain too tall. And good luck to all.

We'll be right back.

Power out.