Arctic Wilderness Guide Natalie Gilles

From the Artic to the Antarctic, Natalie Gillis spends her time at the ends of the Earth. Photographing Narwhals, kayaking through treacherous Sea Ice, and guiding explorers and scientists through some of the most beautifully remote places. We talk listening to Humpback Whales, surviving 60 below and knowing the difference between friendly and unfriendly Polar Bears. Then, we countdown the Top 5 Yellow Things.

Natalie Gilles: 01:36

Pointless: 26:49

Top 5 Yellow Things: 48:59

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Natalie Gillis Website

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This is Where Atlantis Sank - Natalie Gillis Poetry

Interview with Artic Wilderness Guide and Pilot Natalie Gillis

Nick VinZant 0:10

Welcome to Profoundly Pointless. My name is Nick VinZant. Coming up in this episode, Arctic exploration, and yellow things

Natalie Gillis 0:20

I've done in about 12 seasons in the Arctic now and five down in Antarctica, just chasing the daylight back and forth. There's a higher concentration of wildlife than almost anywhere else on the planet. There's penguins, there's whales, there's so much color in the ice. It's actually like, just explosion of marine life that's happening in a really concentrated area. Sea ice is kind of particularly just because it can get blown around so much by the winds is currents. There's a unique set of skills that is involved with safely maneuvering through ca.

Nick VinZant 0:52

I want to thank you so much for joining us. If you get a chance, subscribe, leave us a rating or review. We really appreciate it. It really helps us out. If you're a new listener, welcome to the show. If you're a longtime listener, thank you so much for all of your support. So our first guest is an Arctic, an aunt Arctic guide, explore, pilot and photographer. We're going to talk about what it's really like at the extremes of our planet, the wildlife you find there, and how these areas are quickly changing. This is Arctic wilderness guide, Natalie Gillis, what's it like working up there?

Natalie Gillis 1:38

So I work in Antarctica and the Arctic kind of bipolar. I'll chase the 24 hours of daylight. So in the Austral summers will be down in Antarctica, and in the northern hemisphere summers, I'll be in the Arctic. I've done about 12 seasons in the Arctic now and five down in Antarctica, just chasing the daylight back and forth. And what's it like up there? I don't know. It's really beautiful, remote places very sparsely populated, just serene, quiet, like to think that it's like as far away on planet Earth as you can get from like, a busy shopping mall or traffic.

Nick VinZant 2:12

I always get confused as to which one's north and which one south? I mean, I know the North Pole is North and the South Pole is south. The Arctic is above us. And the

Natalie Gillis 2:21

Arctic is, is north. So North Pole is the Arctic and so full Antarctica.

Nick VinZant 2:26

So when you work up there, though, is there just it's just you in a tent, or like, what is the surroundings like?

Natalie Gillis 2:34

It depends, I guess what I'm doing up there. So I've done a variety of different things. I worked as an expedition guide. And while I've been guiding that self supported, so living in a tent cooking on a stove, depending on the trip, it could either be hiking, so with the hiking trips, you're dropped off by a charter aircraft, just with a backpack, and kind of everything that you'd need for like two weeks in your backpack, and you just go hiking around and you sleep in a tent, you just go wander around places that look interesting, it's just exploring, and then some trips idea would be canoeing, some would be sea kayaking. Others that aren't self supported would be snowmobile trips out to say the flow edge to check out narwhal or polar bears. And then when I'm working up there, as an aviator, we usually have a base that we stay at. So you go flying all day, and then come back to kind of like a dormitory style research base or tree house, every trip is different.

Nick VinZant 3:25

When I think about it, I'm just imagining kind of a barren, basically like a frozen desert is that essentially what it's like very much depends

Natalie Gillis 3:35

where you are. So I think there's a lot of misconceptions about the Arctic, and the Antarctic being very desolate, barren, kind of void of color wasteland like areas, but in some places they are in some places are very much not that. So if you go down to the Antarctic Peninsula, there's a higher concentration of wildlife than almost anywhere else on the planet. There's penguins, there's whales, there's so much color in the ice. It's it's actually like, just explosion of marine life that's happening in a really concentrated area. So there's a lot going on down there. And if you go up to the Arctic, there's beautiful colors and the rocks and the tundra is alive with wildflowers if you go at the right time of the year, and animals are beautiful, as well. So it depends very much where you're talking about because there's quite a big umbrella when you talk about the Arctic and the Antarctic, but there's so much underneath that umbrella. What drew you to it, I first fell in love with kayaking when I was kind of a teenager, I grew up in the city very much in a family of city people. And I just loved the idea of going north and I always had these stacks of National Geographic magazines, and I love the idea of exploring kind of what laid beyond the city. So I got really into sea kayaking, and if you're really into sea kayaking, going to the Arctic is kind of like going home. It's the place to go if you're really serious about sea kayaking. So I started off in the Arctic and then got some experience and then started leading trips down in Antarctica as well.

Nick VinZant 4:58

The thing that would obviously jump out me Right, it's like, okay, but does the cold steel steer people away? Or is that kind of a draw? For you?

Natalie Gillis 5:07

Yeah, the cold, the cold is definitely a big part of it. Um, I don't know, it's something, I think that you get used to a little bit over time, it makes certain things a little bit easier. For example, like food preservation, it's a lot easier to be keeping food fresh. If it's cold outside, things don't spoil as easily. So you can take fresher food with you and overall have a better experience if you're eating well. So that's a consideration, it's a lot easier to dress for the cold than it is to say, just for the cheap and have to like cool yourself down, it's always easier to layer up. So you have a little bit more control over your own personal climate, I'd say in the in the court, down on the Antarctic Peninsula, where I just was, it was really cold. So it was probably about negative 40 or so when we were up on the Antarctic Plateau, which was really cold, and then you throw the wind chill in there and it gets, you know, even colder. So it's a it's a consideration for sure. But it's something that you just kind of start to live with. And it becomes less and less scary, the more and more you're exposed to it.

Nick VinZant 6:07

Do you ever get used to the point where like, you don't worry about it,

Natalie Gillis 6:11

I think you always worry about it, it's always a consideration. When I'm working as a pilot, you have to think a little bit more about the airplane. So for example, you want the battery to start. So you always have to kind of be thinking about keeping the battery warm so that you know you can start your airplane to get to where you need to go.

Nick VinZant 6:28

Photographer, guide. Pilot, where do you Where are you landing?

Natalie Gillis 6:33

Where are we landing,

Nick VinZant 6:35

you just landing on ice?

Natalie Gillis 6:36

Yeah, um, so it also depends like Arctic and Antarctic can be very different. So in the Arctic, you can think of that as sort of a land that's surrounded by a lot of water. And most of our landings that we're doing up there on big tundra tires, so really, really big tires, low inflation, so you can kind of bounce down onto the tundra. So a lot of what we call off strip work. So landing in places where there isn't kind of conventional runway. And then any mix of stuff down in Antarctica, we're just landing on skis. So we've got these flat skis, and they pretty much let you land anywhere, it's relatively flat. So it's kind of nice, I

Nick VinZant 7:18

want to get into the photography aspect of it. So did you kind of set out initially to do the photography, or was that kind of a side effect of it like you felt you kind of develop that over time,

Natalie Gillis 7:30

the photography is definitely an afterthought. I'm very much drawn to the experiences of being out there. And photography is a way for me to help share and communicate the things that I find really beautiful and important about the places that I'm lucky enough to go to very much just a hobby thing, like when I'm working as a guide, first and foremost on guiding. And you know, the safety and the experience that my clients are having is first and foremost. And then if I can find some time in there to play with my camera, it's a bonus. But I also find that kind of enhances the experience a little bit like you can communicate to other people like hey, this is what I'm seeing, like, check out this composition. Hey, have you seen like, this whale that I saw using my telephoto? Like, let's go check it out kind of thing. So I think it it helps enhance the experience, but it's definitely not one where I'm going into places and doing these scenes, it just happens to be a way that I've developed to share Sure.

Nick VinZant 8:22

The thing that jumped out at me looking at your Instagram was the animal pictures, right like that. Just fascinating to me, what kind of animals are you generally encountering?

Natalie Gillis 8:31

When I'm down in Antarctica, things I love photographing most of the humpback whales. They're so cool. So usually I'm in my kayak, and that's got a telephoto lens. So sigma 150 to 600. And it kind of just leaves like right in between my legs while I'm paddling along. And then if I'm lucky enough to see some whales, it's just a matter of taking it up and, and trying to get some of the some of the whale shots, which are really fun. They're probably my favorite animal photograph. They're just so intelligent and sentient. Sometimes they come up to your like right up to your kayak and you've got a telephoto lens on and it's like, well this is useless because now the whale is too close for me for my lens. But uh, they're really cool to photograph because they're, they're an engaging whale. They're kind of goofy. They don't, they're not really scared of you like the builder more curious than anything. So they're kind of fun. I like shooting penguins while I'm down there as well as tons of them. Whenever the Arctic musk oxen are a really big one, they're just like such unique kind of prehistoric looking animals that isn't really an animal that you would see anywhere else really on the planet. I love photographing them. They've got this big wispy fear that comes off of them. It's just it's so beautiful, and the wind plays with it. And then obviously the polar bears are are pretty big ticket one they're fun to photograph, but they're also a little bit more challenging to photograph as well. So a little bit harder, but I don't know I like it all.

Nick VinZant 9:49

Are they how do they react to people I would imagine are they used to us are they not used?

Natalie Gillis 9:53

Very much depends where you are, what time of year. What else is going on around you? So my favorite On a photograph bears would be on the sea ice and springtime. So you get bears that they've come out of hibernation a long time ago, they're really, really well fed, there's a lot of seals and seal pops on the ice. So these bears are having like, a buffet of their favorite foods around at all times. So they're not really that concerned with humans being around, they're still curious and investigative, but they're not actively hunting you, which makes it kind of a nice time to be out there and engaging with the animals because you know, you're not as concerned you're, there's still always an element of risk. But it's a time of year where it is a very opportune time to be to be photographing them.

Nick VinZant 10:38

While the polar bears hunt, you,

Natalie Gillis 10:39

ah, there's always a chance, if you spend enough time around them, you get to learn their behavior. So you can tell the difference between a bear that's skittish and doesn't want to have anything to do with you versus a bear that's so protective of their cubs, if they have any around or you get like a big male bear that just as concerned with kind of being big and being in his territory. And then you get some of the curious juvenile bears that don't really know what humans are. And they're, they're more so just interested. I think animals are a lot like people, they have a lot of personality. And it's maybe not so accurate to like throw big generalizations out. Like all polar bears are like this. They're they're just kind of like people, sometimes you get people on good days, sometimes you get bad days, sometimes you get, like, really chilled out polar bears. And sometimes you get really angry ones. It's yeah, it just depends so much.

Nick VinZant 11:27

Now you generally like Are you purposely going out and saying like, Okay, today, I'm gonna go get a picture of this bear, I'm gonna go get a picture of this animal? Or do you kind of have to just take opportunities as they come?

Natalie Gillis 11:39

I'd say absolutely. I'm just taking opportunities as they come. I think I've learned pretty quickly that when you're in these places, it's not up to you. It's up to the weather, it's up to the conditions, it's up to the sea ice. And you're just there to experience it. Sometimes you don't get a single polar bear in two weeks. And sometimes you get like three or four a day. And it's just a matter of appreciating what you've got on that particular day with that set of surplus set of conditions that you have in front of you. And you know, sometimes you really want to go like check out a polar bear that's a couple of miles in that direction. But the sea ice is too thin. So you just can't. And yeah, very much the weather, the weather is King up there dictates what you're doing, and where you're going. So

Nick VinZant 12:19

are you ever ever in either of those places in winter? Or what seasons do you generally are you going to go?

Natalie Gillis 12:24

It does happen that I'm up there in the winter, I spent last winter working out of a small in a community called resolute Bay, which is on a Cornwallis island in Nunavut. So I was working as a pilot up there. I was there when the sun set below the horizon for the last time for the winter. So yeah, just dips below the horizon. And then there's 24 hours of darkness until it returns in the springtime. It's beautiful up there, you get some Northern Lights occasionally while you're flying. If there's a full moon out, it creates this like really beautiful silver light that just like blankets, the entire tundra, and it's covered in snow. It's super beautiful, but it is cold. It's different.

Nick VinZant 13:05

Do you have to when it's like that, you know, because of the temperatures and the conditions? Do you have to use any kind of specialized equipment? Or are you like, nope, got this Best Buy? This is gonna work.

Natalie Gillis 13:14

Right. So from a photography aspect, there isn't really anything that unique about my kit, that would be any different from anyone in, say the continental US would be using. So I use a pelican case, which is like a hardshell case to keep my photography equipment in. And that's just a product of being able to throw it around and bang, and I'm pretty hard on my gear. So having that case, I can kind of not think about keeping my lenses protected as much because they're in their case, and I can just throw the case around, it's fine. In terms of the cold and my equipment, I just keep a lot of batteries. And I always have some tucked into pockets that are really close to my body. And once one dies, another one goes in and they just get swapped out. And I'll usually have like six or eight of them on my body at any one time. So if one of them comes out on me, and there's like an amazing polar bear in front of me, it's just a matter of having to pull another one out and put it in. But other than that there's nothing else that's really specialized about my equipment. It's really actually kind of nice being out there because it's so dry, so there isn't a lot of moisture that can get into the lenses.

Nick VinZant 14:16

So when when you say guiding somebody, right, like okay, but are you guiding them? Because to a certain area because they don't know, I guess why are you guiding them in the sense that like, man, you really got to know what you're doing up here or no, this is how you get to this place.

Natalie Gillis 14:35

They're generally pretty specialized areas. So the average recreationalists wouldn't perhaps need a specialized set of skills in order to successfully achieve their goals. So if they want to kayak in the sea ice, sea ice is kind of particularly just because it can get blown around so much by the winds is currents. There's a unique set of skills that is involved with safely maneuvering through CI. So that's one a pretty easy example of why someone would hire a guide for that kind of trip, you get a lot of people signing up for sort of commercial tours, because financially, it makes a little bit more sense to split the overhead costs with a small group of people. So say you have someone that really wants to explore this national park. It's call it a $20,000 charter to take an aircraft up there. So they can split that with six people, and they get a guide, it makes a little bit more sense. And there's also the camaraderie as well. These trips tend to be small, like minded groups of people. So you get to know and have some companions for your adventure, which is always really good. Safety is a really big aspect of it. I'm a certified wilderness first responder, so kind of like medical in the field stuff, have those same skills that are really good to have in these places that are really, really remote that you might not be able to get a helicopter to if you needed to for a medical evacuation, for example. So lots of reasons.

Nick VinZant 15:59

Where are you generally going

Natalie Gillis 16:01

all over? It? Yeah, it's a it's a pretty big map. In the Arctic, I was doing a lot of expeditions on Ellesmere Island, which if you think of Canada has kind of like pointed like this on the map. It's it's the last island last big island before the North Pole. And then you've got Baffin Island and the eastern Arctic, was another really big focus of mine. Down in the Antarctic, I've spent quite a few seasons kayaking on the Antarctic Peninsula, which is that big piece of land that juts out towards South America. And then most recently was down there as taking people back and forth to the South Pole. A lot of climbers in and out of Mount Vincent, which is the highest mountain in Antarctica. So people that would want to climb that. Yeah, defense all over the place.

Nick VinZant 16:47

Are you ready for some harder slash listener submitted questions? Let's go. What would you say is your scariest experience? Oh, boy,

Natalie Gillis 16:54

I'd say being out on the sea ice in the springtime in the Canadian Arctic, overall, is probably the scariest experience. The sea ice is getting less and less predictable. Even in the short time that I've been guiding up in the Arctic, it's it's less and less predictable. And if it's less and less predictable, it's a little It's scarier and scarier, because, in my mind, things are scary if you don't understand them. And it's getting harder and harder to really understand what's going on with the sea ice because the conditions are changing so rapidly. So I'd say being out on the sea ice is probably one of the scariest you know, you've got like a set depth of ice that you're living on, you're sleeping on you're traveling on. Sometimes it gets thinner in certain areas, sometimes it gets thicker in certain areas, you don't really know it's not really a way of knowing exactly how deep the ice is underneath you without being able to actually product. So being out on the sea ice and traveling over it. It's probably one of the scariest things that I've been doing recently.

Nick VinZant 17:59

Okay, I'm going to reveal my ignorance. So I guess when you say sea ice, like I'm imagining, like just ice floating in the water, but this is more like frozen parts of the ocean that you're kind of basically living on?

Natalie Gillis 18:11

Yeah, exactly that so you get a areas of land. And in between those areas of land, the ocean, it's so cold in the in the winter that the ocean freezes over completely. And the goal of these trips is to go to where the frozen ocean ends, because it ends really, really abruptly. So you get frozen ocean to a point called the flow edge, which is where the ice ends and the open water begins. And that's a really interesting area because that's where you get the biggest concentration of wildlife. So you get narwhals. cruising along the flow edge, you get polar bears kind of walking along the edge seals everywhere. Lots of bird life. It's it's called the line of life. And it's where, like the coolest stuff is happening in the Arctic. So when I refer to being out on the ice, I'm kind of referring to going out over the sea is where all the cool animals are hanging out.

Nick VinZant 18:59

We just ended this question. Hardest animal to get a photograph of

Natalie Gillis 19:04

narwhal. That's, that's kind of an easy one. So when you're out on the sea ice, you're walking around on the ice. And whales are really, really sensitive to sound, they can hear what's going on on the surface above them. So unless you're like really, really quiet, they can hear your footsteps. And a lot of these times the narwhal don't like being around humans, so they try to avoid them. So trying to get a photograph of narwhal is very, very challenging. One thing that I've done is, if you stick around a PATA narwhal for a long time, you can kind of check out and start to understand their feeding habits. You notice that they'll go under the ice, they'll feed and then because they're holding their breath while they're under the ice, they'll have to come up for a breath of air. So if you think like a narwhal, you're under the ice you're feeding. You really, really want to have a breath, you're probably going to come up at the edge of the ice at a place where it's like the most convenient, like the first breath that you can take. So you try and find a spot on the CIS that kind of cuts out like a V. And the narwhal will typically come up at the, you know, angle of that V, which is the first place that they can have a breath. So I've done it before where you can get a group of people. And if you're really really still for like, half an hour, you can lay on your belly on the side of the sea ice kind of with your elbows like hanging over the edge and it's happened a couple times that I've had narwhal come straight up and almost blow like straight into your face because they just surface right there. It's really cool experience because you know, you're you're sitting there silent for like 2030 minutes hoping maybe you might get a narwhal. Maybe you won't. And then just like out of absolutely nowhere. They just, like brighten your face. It's really cool.

Nick VinZant 20:45

And then are they gone in an instant? Or do they like linger for a second?

Natalie Gillis 20:50

Gone? Gone? They might take like a breath or two and then they're really hard to photograph.

Nick VinZant 21:00

Have you ever like left the lens cap on? mean like, Oh crap.

Natalie Gillis 21:07

Have I left the lens cap on? I don't really use lens caps. Not really for a reason. I just lose them so often that I just don't have them. But I've done every stupid thing that you can think of. I've gone out without batteries. I've got it with memory cards. I've deleted whole memory cards, like full of incredible wonderful photographs just like oh, I that's gone now.

Nick VinZant 21:33

Which one? Do you like more? North Pole or South Pole?

Natalie Gillis 21:38

Which do I like better? It's they're so different for many, many different reasons. I'd say for wildlife. I like Antarctica and for landscape. I like the Arctic.

Nick VinZant 21:48

And just to confirm Antarctica is south and north. Are the Arctic is north. I really thought they were the same thing I honestly did. Right. It's amazing how you can go to college and you still don't know anything about the world.

Natalie Gillis 22:02

You're really not alone in that at all. Actually, what I find really funny is so polar bears there. They only live in the Arctic. There's no polar bears down in Antarctica. But it's amazing how many people you'll have on like a two week kayak trip in Antarctica. And at the end of the trip, we'll be like, yeah, everything was great, great food, great guiding wonderful, but like we didn't see any polar bears. That's like one of their key complaints and then be like, oh, yeah, it's

Nick VinZant 22:31

your head. Somebody like booked the trip specifically to see polar bears, and then realize like, Oh, crap, pick the wrong?

Natalie Gillis 22:39

I don't think I don't think specifically. But you definitely get some people who haven't done a great deal of research, which I mean, they just leave them an opportunity to go to the north and be able to compare the two and hopefully see a polar bear up there.

Nick VinZant 22:55

So on a more serious note, right, like you've been going up there, I think you said either 12 years or 12 seasons. Have you seen it change with the climate? Like have you seen the effects of climate change on those areas?

Natalie Gillis 23:09

Yeah, big time, is one hike that I used to love. It was like my first big hike that I ever did in the in the Arctic, is through this beautiful valley on Baffin Island called Ivy Tech. When I first went there, there were glaciers that would come down off of the penny ice cap, and they touch the valley floor. And just flying over them recently there, they're just not there anymore. They've almost completely disappeared from the Valley, which was like, one of the most beautiful parts of of that part of the world. So it's, it's, it's sad seeing them gone. But I think more so if you talk to the people who live up there year round, because like I said, I go up there seasonally, I might be able to see some changes over the seasons. But really the people you want to talk to are the people that live there that have spent their entire lives up there. And they're seeing a lot of changes and how things are happening with wildlife, with the seasons, overall climate and they're really the people that we should be listening to. And there's a lot of changes happening up there.

Nick VinZant 24:08

Is it oversaturated at all? Do you think like, wait a minute, there's too many people coming up here now.

Natalie Gillis 24:15

You know, I've always really thought that people care about beautiful places, and they care about the places that they've formed an attachment to So are there too many people going up there? I don't think so. Because I think that the people that are going up there are having an experience. So they're going to remember through the rest of their lives and they're gonna go home and they're gonna tell their friends all over the globe, Hey, I just had this really cool experience like seeing this iceberg like seeing these penguins, seeing these polar bears and their natural habitats. It's beautiful. I've talked to the local people and they're saying, you know, let like things are changing really, really rapidly up here. And and they're sharing those messages with people that who wouldn't be able to see or experience those places otherwise. So I don't think it's oversaturated up there because I think that the people that are going up there are having experiences that are meaningful So the more people are having more meaningful experiences and care about these really beautiful places, the more people will be caring about them and and maybe more willing to make changes. So I don't think so.

Nick VinZant 25:11

Um, that's really all the questions that we got what's kind of coming up next for you? How can people get some of your artwork if they want a guided trip? What should they do?

Natalie Gillis 25:22

So I'm heading back up to the Arctic to do some real ski work. So a lot of flying, potentially, like some field caching, just general aviation work up in the Arctic. I'm also hoping to do a little bit more photography while I'm up there, maybe Susan mascara, see some polar bears. I've also got a little project I'm working on right now. Or I've taken my photographs, and I've translated them into stickers that I have for sale. And I also have a book of poems that I wrote, actually during COVID. So while I was stuck at home, and people weren't traveling to the North Pole, and so cool are in the polar regions. I did a master's degree in poetry, and I came up with my book. It's called, this is where Atlanta sank. And it's a book of poetry and photography. So it's for sale on my website.

Nick VinZant 26:07

I want to thank Natalie so much for joining us if you want to connect with her, we have linked to her on our social media accounts were Profoundly Pointless on Tik Tok, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. And we have also included her information in the episode description, the pictures that she has taken, really showcase the beauty of this landscape. And I did not know that that is what the Arctic and the Antarctic look like, until I saw some of these pictures. They really are amazing, and give you an incredible window into this world. Okay, now let's bring in John Shaw, and get to the pointless part of this show. Do you know where Antarctica is?

John Shull 26:56

It's in the southern hemisphere. Ah,

Nick VinZant 27:00

I really always thought Antarctica was the one that was in the northern hemisphere.

John Shull 27:04

I mean, it's really not that difficult. The North Pole is the Arctic, and the South Pole is Antarctica.

Nick VinZant 27:12

Yeah, but I've always found that like, if you get something wrong in your head, there's no correcting it. I'm still 100% confused if the shower curtain goes inside the tub or outside the tub, and no amount of explaining or being yelled at by people has ever really solidified that answer in my head. I still don't I don't know. I still don't know.

John Shull 27:35

That's pretty absurd. It obviously goes inside the tub. Well, you have a liner that goes inside. And then the actual curtain is on the outside.

Nick VinZant 27:43

That's what confuses me. Which one is supposed to go inside because one is supposed to go inside and the other is supposed to go outside. And I can never remember if the liner goes inside the tub and the curtain goes outside. If they both go inside, if they both go outside.

John Shull 27:58

You're really thinking about this. It's not that hard.

Nick VinZant 28:01

But don't you have something that like for some reason? You can just never remember how this is supposed to work?

John Shull 28:07

No, not off the top of my head. I mean, for me, I'm not sure if it's actions that I that I do. But it's words that get me like, for instance, we have a chain of grocery stores in the Midwest called Meijer. But I say my ers, I add an s on to it. And it makes no sense. But I'll never change because to me, it will always be my ers not Meyer.

Nick VinZant 28:30

I'm a little upset already, to be honest with you.

John Shull 28:34

Why is that? Why is that this episode? Why are you upset now?

Nick VinZant 28:38

seems to be coming out around a certain date.

John Shull 28:44

Oh, right, right. I actually know what the date is. What is it? I just don't know what number it is for you.

Nick VinZant 28:57

I'm trying to forget personally. Here's my question about it, though. Besides the fact that you didn't wish me happy birthday. Do you feel younger in odd number do you feel younger? Do you feel younger or older? In odd numbered years or even numbered years? Because I'm gonna be in an odd number year. And I feel younger than when my birthday when my age is in, even numbered year. I always feel older and even numbered years.

John Shull 29:27

I don't know even I don't know how to answer that. I feel older. Looking back on and realizing that I'm going to have been on this earth for 36 years.

Nick VinZant 29:36

You haven't said to me 36 feels older than 3737 is like Oh, I'm young in my late 30s 36 is late in your mid 30s

John Shull 29:50

So you're what you're you're born in 184 right 82 8280 So I'll

Nick VinZant 29:56

be 40 I'll be 41 which feels yeah younger, which feels younger to me than 40. I feel younger, like I'm ready for 41 like, Man, I'm in my early 40s Last year was like, Oh, I'm turning 40 I feel younger now than I did last year.

John Shull 30:15

I mean, give give us something, give me something. What is a birthday wish that you hope to? to have happen to you this upcoming birthday year?

Nick VinZant 30:26

I have reached the age in for people who may turn 40. Soon. I have reached the age where pretty much you're just you start to wonder like, Man, am I going to die tomorrow?

John Shull 30:37

You heard you are not used.

Nick VinZant 30:39

When you hit mid life, you start to wonder like, Man, I hope I make it to there, you start to worry, you start to think about your death. So there's no longer it is no longer a certainty. You no longer feel like it is a certainty that you will be around.

John Shull 30:56

Here's something kind of crazy. They will this podcast has seen you literally go from one decade to the next. This podcast is that old as well.

Nick VinZant 31:06

From roughly 2018. So five years, the half of a decade. Yeah, I mean, both of us really?

John Shull 31:14

Yeah. But I mean, it's seen you go from your 30s young, vibrant hippie man. to Now you're wondering if you're gonna wake up the next morning.

Nick VinZant 31:23

It's weird. It's amazing how quickly life can change in just a short period of time. I think that your life fundamentally changes every three years. Every three years you are in a new phase of life. And you would say that you are completely different than you were three years before that.

John Shull 31:42

Most important question. What kind of birthday cake you're gonna have?

Nick VinZant 31:48

I get a thing called Chocolate Lush. It's not a cake. Oh, explain fuckin amazing. Chocolate. Lush is basically like, a match. I don't know how to explain it. It's basically like a chocolate pie. But served in a dish. I don't know. Just you gotta I can't. I am not. I realized this weekend, that I am not good at describing things. Like if my wife who I've been happily married to since 2014 was gone. Or was like missing. I wouldn't know. I can't describe people's faces. I cannot describe the way things look like if somebody even asked me like, What does John look like? It's got hair. He's two eyes. My nose. I can't describe people. I was trying to describe somebody there was telling my wife about it. It's like, what did they look like? I they have like a person. Can you just like, can you describe people?

John Shull 32:51

I think no, no, but I think the problem is with that most people will look generic. There are very few people that actually like you can pinpoint them like Hey, Suzy, you know, Suzy has blue hair? A nose ring and tattoos all over her body. Right? For you. It'd be it'd be Oh, hey, Nick is average size. Nice hair blue eyes.

Nick VinZant 33:19

Oh, he said nice here. Thank you. Appreciate that. Yeah, I can't describe people. Like if I was in front of a sketch artist, it would just look like we anybody else. I don't know.

John Shull 33:32

Moving on. I was told the other day that I have a nice singing voice. So take that for what it is.

Nick VinZant 33:40

Right? So go try out for American Idol. songbird. Is that still around? Yeah, it's

John Shull 33:46

it's I was actually I was flipping through channels. The other it was like Saturday night I too am in a replay of it was on I think it was a replay. And the guest like the panel is Katy Perry, Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie. Now that's the three judges they had on the panel and I was like,

Nick VinZant 34:08

Lionel Richie. Wow, man, they're scraping those shows have run their course. Any of those kinds of American Idol dancing is that's even still around like cool. You're running out of people.

John Shull 34:24

The fats gonna die. Who's the fats?

Nick VinZant 34:27

I don't know. What are you talking about?

John Shull 34:31

Didn't you just say the fats?

Nick VinZant 34:34

No. Dancing with the Stars.

John Shull 34:39

Wait, you Hunter you you didn't just say the fats.

Nick VinZant 34:43

No, I think you're hearing things.

John Shull 34:46

Oh, are you fucking with me, right? No,

Nick VinZant 34:49

no, what are you talking about?

John Shull 34:53

I swear to God, you were like talking and then you said oh in the in the fats. And then you kept talking I don't know, man, whatever.

Nick VinZant 35:01

I don't know what you're talking about, man.

John Shull 35:04

Maybe you just just added that out. I don't know. It sounds like a crazy person

Nick VinZant 35:07

maybe ease maybe ease up on the chemicals when you're redoing that basement man. I feel like like they're starting to get to you a little bit.

John Shull 35:16

Yeah. Right. I saw that right. There was a person behind you.

Nick VinZant 35:20

Right? Right. That's my son. He likes to come in here. He's, he's a cat recently.

John Shull 35:25

All right, good. Well,

Nick VinZant 35:26

he's not a cat. He's a pokimane. Various, what kind of pokimane as far as that's all. All right. Once, once a boy discovers farts, they'll never be the same.

John Shull 35:38

Oh man. No joke. Alright, let's give some shout outs. Let's see Milton MacDonald. Drew Kerber. Blake Nixdorf. Kyle got hard the second it's, it's probably actually it's probably actually Gothard. But it's probably got heard but it's got

Nick VinZant 36:01

God. How much? How much do you think they hate that? Yeah. God hard.

John Shull 36:08

Yeah. Yep. T Riona. Taylor. Aaron Wilhoit. Preston Bryant. Mad moans. John wretzky. And Pete O'Connell. And O'Connell has the apostrophe between the on the see obviously, I wanted to get your opinion on that. What do you think of names that have like, you know, John O'Malley, Pete O'Connell.

Nick VinZant 36:37

I think they're probably of Irish descent and that that's their name. Do you want me to save them all? round him up.

John Shull 36:49

No, round him up. No, that's, you know,

Nick VinZant 36:51

I can throw him in jail.

John Shull 36:53

Just whatever. They're all pieces of shit. Thank you. There you go.

Nick VinZant 37:01

Sorry. Welcome. Last one of them.

John Shull 37:03

Sorry. We're not talking about up. Not at all. Actually. Couple of bangers for you. What kind of sock guy are you? ankle socks? long socks. You like toe socks? Do you wear socks? Kind of sock diarrhea.

Nick VinZant 37:24

I always wear socks. I don't understand people who don't wear socks. I won't even walk around in my own house. without shoes on or something covering my feet. I really don't like it. But I wear no show socks. And they gotta be no show. They have to you cannot see them. I don't want the stuff that you can see it a little bit. Yeah, it's gotta be no show. So I have to wear socks. But I like to pretend like I'm not.

John Shull 37:52

So those are ankle socks. Right?

Nick VinZant 37:56

No, I believe that there's actually a difference between no show socks and ankle socks. ankle socks would cover the ankle or be at the ankle. a no show sock would not be able to be seen. Hence the different names, I believe. Do you

John Shull 38:09

ever find yourself having to readjust your no show sock because it slips off your foot? Because that's quite I do

Nick VinZant 38:17

not. I do not. Oh, well, because that's one thing that I will turn out pretty quickly. Like I'm gonna wear a t shirt until it is literally falling apart and has some good holes in it. But once that sock loses the elasticity elasticity, it's out of there. Um, one socks for a year tops, year tops and is gone.

John Shull 38:38

What would you say is more important? A good pair of socks? Or a good pair of underwear?

Nick VinZant 38:43

I don't wear underwear. So good socks. My wife actually got mad at me. She's like, You got to start wearing underwear. I took it as a compliment. That my little man is showing that people are seeing it. Oh boy. It's impressive.

John Shull 38:58

Probably Well, you know, at 41 You probably see no decline yet, but it's coming soon. I'm sure.

Nick VinZant 39:05

It's pretty hard to decline from a negative so

John Shull 39:09

that is absolutely true. And we all feel sorry for you. But not not not that sorry. All right. I I'm still thinking about how I should wish you a happy birthday. So I apologize.

Nick VinZant 39:26

You're usually pretty good about it only because it falls on it's 316 and John loves what's his name? Stone Cold Steve Austin. Oh yeah. Austin 316. That's the only reason you remember is because of Stone Cold Steve Austin.

John Shull 39:39

Well, I'm gonna switch it up. Now. I had another BS question. But I this question. I want to know what your favorite birthday gift you've ever received has been

Nick VinZant 39:49

this snowglobe of my two year old son it's fucking Yeah, it's pretty good. I mean, it literally makes a weird how Like the most important things in your life are sometimes the little tiny, small things. It's just a snow globe with a picture of my then two year old in it, and I love it. It's my most prized possession. There was a fire in my house, I wouldn't get my computer or my phone. I would just get this snow globe. Makes me happy.

John Shull 40:17

Wow, I feel like you're being honest there. Yeah.

Nick VinZant 40:20

Yeah, I like it. And it's a good time. Other than that, I would say that probably the time I got I have never gotten good gifts for any of my birthdays or Christmases. I'm not someone who is easy to buy things for.

John Shull 40:37

You are probably a shithead when it comes to gift giving. I think

Nick VinZant 40:41

I'm a decent gift giver. But I'm not a good gift getter. I'm not an easy person to buy things for mostly because I really don't want anything. I want nothing. If somebody got me, like a junk removal, a gift certificate to a junk removal company to come in and get shit out of here. I would appreciate that.

John Shull 41:03

No one buying that.

Nick VinZant 41:05

But he's getting that I want to know stuff. That's my birthday idea of a good birthday. Would you get you nothing? Save money, and we don't have to throw anything away.

John Shull 41:15

Perfect. Got him a lush cake. Yeah, that's all I want. Give me a snow globe. Snow Globe. Maybe I'll buy you a snow globe with a picture of me in it.

Nick VinZant 41:27

That'd be fine. I'll take a snow glow. Anybody wants to send me snowglobes or themselves. I'll take a man I'm gonna have me a snowglobe collection. Oh my all the people I like all my enemies. And when I put people I like on one side and enemies on the other.

John Shull 41:40

That's actually quite genius. Can we talk about something for a second?

Nick VinZant 41:45

Sure. This is a podcast.

John Shull 41:47

So you Yeah, I said I sent myself over. Um, you posted on our Twitter page. I did not post this you did two days ago. So you know, we record this on on Mondays usually.

Nick VinZant 42:05

So it was this is Friday or Saturday? Because if it's a post that comes Okay, I'm gonna have our audience who we love all of our social media followers. But if you're seeing a post on Friday or Saturday night, from either myself or the Profoundly Pointless social media account, I'm Hi.

John Shull 42:22

Yeah, well, that's what I'm getting at. First off, this isn't for me. This is definitely from you. But I kind of have an issue with this. So here it is. An orgasm for a man is the same feeling as getting into a hot tub is for a woman.

Nick VinZant 42:40

Yeah, I would agree with that. Because an orgasm for a man is kind of like, ah, ah, I felt good. I needed that. My wife and I had this conversation. And she was like, oh, yeah, that's how I feel when I get into a hot tub. Like, ah, or a massage. For a woman. It's like, you gotta get it out. For our female audience. Like men when they go, it's like a relief. It's like, ah, ah, I think women enjoy it for a man. It's like that had to be done. And I liked it. I felt good.

John Shull 43:21

Okay, okay. You really took that one and ran with it. I didn't think you were gonna

Nick VinZant 43:27

get you don't agree that an orgasm for a man is like a massage or getting into a hot tub for a woman.

John Shull 43:35

I mean, I don't know what it's like that needed to be done. I can tell you as a man I don't I don't think getting into a hot tub is the same as you know.

Nick VinZant 43:44

I don't like hot tubs. I've always hated hot tubs. It's too fucking hot.

John Shull 43:50

Well, that is the point of our Dubs. All right. Well, we'll move on from that. Let's see a couple of things here to talk about. Let's see. The banks failing was one of them. Welcome during the recession, just starting out. But that didn't when March Madness kicks off. But no one really wanted to hear us talk about that thing. God I thought this one was getting a win but it didn't cocaine Wildcat apparently and I'm just gonna go through this briefly. Apparently a Wildcat was found wandering the streets in Cincinnati. High on some kind of drug.

Nick VinZant 44:30

What kind of wild cat are we talking about, though? Like a wild cat like a domestic cat that was just out in the wild. And actual wild cat. Like there's an animal that's called a wild cat. No, this looks like a bobcat. What kind of animal is it?

John Shull 44:46

This was just a wild space cats. A wild cat.

Nick VinZant 44:53

So it was just a domestic cat. That was wild.

John Shull 44:56

Yes. Okay, I I wonder though,

Nick VinZant 45:01

well, so it doesn't happen more often how much cocaine Did it have?

John Shull 45:06

Didn't really didn't really say just said that the drug test on the animal show that it had cocaine in its system. And apparently, I know that's, that's one of the things I was wondering spending

Nick VinZant 45:19

that money to do like, Okay, I understand, look, I have animals I care about animals. Do we need to be drug testing cats? Like is that? Was that a key component of the animals care?

John Shull 45:32

Well, to be fair, I guess I guess maybe

Nick VinZant 45:35

I just need to know what's wrong with it. I guess he guess he would get attacked. Okay, that makes sense.

John Shull 45:39

Well, they were apparently police guy, you know, in fire departments got calls that it was a leopard. I guess the actual name for this animal is called a serval s e r v. So

Nick VinZant 45:50

that's a wild cat. That's not a wild cat. It's like a wild animal. But it looks a wild cat. But it looks like

John Shull 45:59

a wild cat to me. But they're apparently they're from Sub Saharan Africa.

Nick VinZant 46:06

Right? That's a servile? That's a type of cat.

John Shull 46:08

You don't know what a circle is? Yeah, I

Nick VinZant 46:11

do. I've been to the zoo before.

John Shull 46:12

You don't know where Antarctic is.

Nick VinZant 46:16

And they have there's no servals in Antarctica. Now. Is there?

John Shull 46:19

No, because there's no cocaine editor in Antarctica.

Nick VinZant 46:22

Yeah, it's a wild cat. That's actually like a wild cat. Not a wild cat. Like there's a thing that's like a wild dog. It's not a wild dog. with it. Oh, my God, we've got to stop. We got to move on.

John Shull 46:37

I mean, this I agree.

Nick VinZant 46:38

We're never solving this. We're never solving this issue. All right. Well,

John Shull 46:41

what one were the Oscars? And I was hoping this one wouldn't win. Because I really don't care that much about the Oscars.

Nick VinZant 46:51

Didn't even know they were on. Yeah, I

John Shull 46:53

don't. You know, I was gonna I had all these questions. I was thinking about asking you. But I think I'm just gonna end by saying I'm happy for Brendan Fraser. He's a

Nick VinZant 47:05

Oh, good for him. Yeah, that's one person that you'd like, like you'd like to see a good redemption story. Especially somebody who's a nice guy that seems like they had a hard time.

John Shull 47:14

And like, I the kid that was with Indiana Jones with Harrison Ford. Remember the little little Asian boy that I think was in Raiders of the Lost Ark? He like one best director.

Nick VinZant 47:32

Holy shit. He stuck with it that long. Good for him.

John Shull 47:35

Good for him. Jimmy Lee Curtis, one Best Supporting Actress so good for her. Yeah, I mean, my argument with the Oscars is half of the best pictures aren't even out. You know, they're not even in theaters or been released yet. So how are normal people supposed to make those those determinations? Like how are we supposed to watch them and play? You know, Monday morning quarterback? You can't

Nick VinZant 48:00

know. I mean, it's for celebrating for the best in film, I believe. So it's the things that people who work in movies think are good, not necessarily the things that people think are good. Well, I still think Caddyshack is one of the big greatest movies of all time, but that doesn't have an Oscar. It should

John Shull 48:18

now and I probably never will, but that's fine. That's one of

Nick VinZant 48:21

the movies that to me. If I look back on it, like movies that I think should have gotten Oscars, Caddyshack, airplane.

John Shull 48:30

Yeah, those are basically Planes, Trains and Automobiles.

Nick VinZant 48:33

Planes, Trains and Automobiles should have gotten an Oscar. You got mail should have an Oscar.

John Shull 48:39

Tom Hanks is not that good of an actor. Let it go.

Nick VinZant 48:42

Okay, well, he is he's America's treasurer. Basically. He's probably one of the greatest actors of all time. Other than that guy who the milkshake guy. You drink my milkshake. Whoever that guy is. I don't know what his name is Daniel

John Shull 48:54

Day Lewis. Daniel Day Lewis.

Nick VinZant 48:56

Okay, so our top five is top five yellow things. What's your number five.

John Shull 49:03

So let's see. I'm gonna start off here with my number five as a school bus. Hmm,

Nick VinZant 49:10

very recognizable, but I don't necessarily associated with a lot of good memories.

John Shull 49:18

I mean, it represents children and in innocence and fun and field trips and school and not being an adult and not having to pay taxes and all that other good stuff.

Nick VinZant 49:30

Yeah, I guess it does kind of represent a funner time in life. I just remember being like long rides to shit I didn't want to go to like, let's go to the Children's Museum like Fuck, man. I'm 16 I don't want to go to a kid's Museum. Well, it was 16 Going kids museum. Okay, my number five is bananas.

John Shull 49:53

Okay, that's a that's a that's a good one. We'll see if I have them on my list.

Nick VinZant 50:00

Okay, okay, we're sure number four

John Shull 50:04

cheese, specifically like American cheese.

Nick VinZant 50:09

Hmm, I think that's a little bit low for cheese. I think that she should be a little bit higher but I certainly agree with cheese being on the list of yellow things, specifically American cheese. I think that most cheese is actually white. Yeah, there's definitely a lot of cheese that I associate cheese in my mind is being yellow. Even though most cheeses white,

John Shull 50:30

for all of our international listeners come over to America and get you some yellow Kraft cheese slices. You're never really got

Nick VinZant 50:39

it. Right. And if you're listening internet listening internationally or really hear the cheaper you go on cheese, it can be better. Cheese is one of those things that gets better as it gets cheaper to a certain degree.

John Shull 50:54

Definitely taste more like wax, that's for sure.

Nick VinZant 50:57

Um, my number four, I'm gonna get a little sentimental. My number four is leaves in the fall. When some leaves turn yellow man, they look like Damn. That's pretty. Like that's cool.

John Shull 51:08

Yeah, that's I mean, that's a good one. I mean, the I don't know how that sentimental but yeah, that's that's a good one.

Nick VinZant 51:16

Makes them you know, just makes you take a brief little pause in life. Think about where you are. Just nicer is just enjoy nature. No, okay. You sneeze very loudly after that. That's good part of nature is allergies. Don't you have a bunch of allergies?

John Shull 51:34

I do. Actually. I just started my my allergy regiment last Wednesday, so working capital.

Nick VinZant 51:44

Wait a minute, you have a regiment? What's like a business prescribed by a doctor like a serious thing? Or have you developed like your own regimen?

John Shull 51:52

Yeah, well, I mean, I just start taking allergy pills now. You know, it's what middle of March? Pretty much so. I mean, it's gonna be spring at some point in the next two months. So

Nick VinZant 52:04

why don't you use the no spray? My dad who is a retired family physician says the no spray is actually much better for you. I do I

John Shull 52:11

use flow nice. Absolutely. Oh, all right. You can't go wrong with Flonase can knock around flies.

Nick VinZant 52:18

You can't Okay. What's your number? Three,

John Shull 52:22

three, man. So this is man this is where it gets tough. My number three I'm going to put the Simpsons as my number three because they are yellow.

Nick VinZant 52:37

Hmm, I would make fun of that if I didn't have Pikachu is my number three.

John Shull 52:43

Which Pikachu is probably the more recognizable yellow character. I don't think people look at the Simpsons and go oh yeah, they're yellow. But they are.

Nick VinZant 52:55

Okay, so definitely when Okay, at what point how many years ago? Do you think that Pikachu eclipsed the Simpsons in terms of fame?

John Shull 53:06

Oh, I mean. I mean, probably when if probably within a year or two after it came out. I mean, Pick it. Pick the Pikachu brand is Pokemon is around the world. Yeah, it's not. I'm not saying the Simpsons aren't worldwide, but I think the pokimane are by far more popular than the Simpsons are.

Nick VinZant 53:28

For our audience that's maybe in their 20s I wonder if they know who the Simpsons are. They were that was a really big deal. That show was really good when John and I were growing up. But I don't know if people in their 20s would even like if it means anything to them. If they know who like The Simpsons are.

John Shull 53:48

It's kind of like South Park to in our generation. Like it's still on now. But I just feel like it isn't. You know, it isn't what it was. And once again, maybe I don't watch it anymore. Maybe it is super popular, but

Nick VinZant 54:03

but I know people who still watch South Park I feel like South Park has fans that have stuck around and kind of grown with the show. And then it has it's like its own cultural niche. Whereas I feel like The Simpsons really dropped out of that. I love the Simpsons. I love classic Simpsons. I don't think I've seen a new episode in 10 years. Or even thought about watching it. Okay, what's your number two?

John Shull 54:31

The McDonald's arch on the McDonald's sign.

Nick VinZant 54:35

Oh, that's a good one. Yeah. I don't know if it's top five worthy. It's definitely like a yellow thing that you notice though. I mean, how many people

John Shull 54:47

when you're a kid, you know, or just an adult. See the McDonald's and you just get happy? You know you're getting good food into me for a low price. Yeah,

Nick VinZant 55:01

I would say that that kind of applies to what my number two is. Although I would say that my number two is, you know, a better is BS.

John Shull 55:12

But I mean, here's the thing. Here's the thing about insects that I'll argue is do people really like bees?

Nick VinZant 55:19

Yeah, they do. Everybody likes bees, man. Everybody knows. First of all, you like bees. It's one of the few movies, one of the few insects that movies have been made about and not in like a scary way. Everybody likes bees. And you know that like, man, don't kill the bees. We need those people are protective of bees, not taking

John Shull 55:39

anything away from their importance within the ecosystem. But I'm also saying they're just I don't I don't think people actually like insects. They'll tell you they do like you are saying right now. But I don't think you actually do like bees.

Nick VinZant 55:56

No, I'd like to see the bees though. Like it's like, oh, it's a bee. It's like seeing nature. You don't want it next to you. Like you get a little bit worried when the bee comes around. But you do like to see them you're like, oh, good thing. There's still bees around. Okay, I need bees. Ma'am. You need the bees. Okay. What's your number one?

John Shull 56:18

We probably have the same number one I would imagine. But okay, my number one is the sun.

Nick VinZant 56:24

Well, the sun is white.

John Shull 56:28

Got it? Well,

Nick VinZant 56:29

this the sun's not yellow. It's white.

John Shull 56:32

Well, in in popular culture, it's yellow goddamnit.

Nick VinZant 56:37

Well, that will be wrong. It's why the sun is actually because I looked this up because I was going to put this on too. And I was like, wait a minute, what color is this sun and I was like, well, the sun is actually white. It's technically all colors, which is then defined as white. Yellow. The sun is white. My number one is cheese.

John Shull 56:55

I would have put it higher on my list except kind of what you said. yellow cheese is a very small percentage of cheese, though. Delicious. Yeah, it's a small percentage.

Nick VinZant 57:07

I do forgot. I really think that went in my mind because I only consider American and cheddar to be the main cheeses or Don't come at me with your Provolone bullshit. Swiss. Get out of here.

John Shull 57:20

Those aren't even good, like different kinds of cheeses, but

Nick VinZant 57:24

that's okay, Cheez Whiz. Let's

John Shull 57:26

hear what you've got. Give me some Gouda. Give me some I mean if you want to go simple, but fancy go.

Nick VinZant 57:33

Let's use your let's hear your fans. What fancy cheese do you have in your refrigerator right now.

John Shull 57:41

See, Chef

Nick VinZant 57:43

Boyardee?

John Shull 57:44

I have some brie. Have some gorgonzola.

Nick VinZant 57:48

God, you're such a snob. You really are such a snob when it comes to food. And

John Shull 57:55

I mean, the hall. I like both. Why Why would I there's a place in time for $4 menu and you know, Highlife. But, you know at the other end, why wouldn't I want to have a nice, you know, blueberry parmesan crusted Gorgonzola in a nice chicken salad. You know what I mean?

Nick VinZant 58:19

Because this is America. Um, I do, I can kind of understand the sun a little bit because even though it may technically be white, most people would associate the sun with being yellow. And it looks yellow when you try not to look at it, but do see it does look yellow.

John Shull 58:36

I live in a part of the world where we get sun like for five months. So I fucking love it makes you feel good. It gives you just natural energy. I'm not I used to get really angry when the sun would wake me up right like you're laying in bed the sun comes through the window wakes you up, you know, then you're up. You can't go back to sleep. I love it. Now when you know I wake up and there's sunrise on my my face.

Nick VinZant 59:04

Some people may be like at home or wherever listening to this and wonder what we're talking about. But I live in Seattle. And when the sun comes out, man you do feel better. Yeah, like it's like Ah, son, like just being in it. You do feel better as a person. What's in your honorable mentioned? Do you have any honorable mentions for your yellow?

John Shull 59:23

Yeah, so I have bananas. Mustard,

Nick VinZant 59:27

because it reminds me like mustard is pretty good. Mustard,

John Shull 59:30

hot dog things like that. Hot dogs. Basically food from here on out. Butter, scrambled eggs.

Unknown Speaker 59:40

Corn. Yeah.

John Shull 59:43

I only put him on the list because I think he deserves a spot on the honorable mention. But Big Bird.

Nick VinZant 59:48

Yeah, I could see Big Bird. You know? And then I Okay,

John Shull 59:53

I have rubber duckies yellow rubber duckies on the list for some reason. Yeah,

Nick VinZant 59:58

I had smiley face on there. Okay, that's a good smiley faces. I could see that. Um, the only other things I had besides that which you mentioned sunflowers Fire, fire can be yellow.

John Shull 1:00:13

See, I thought fire was blue. But if you say it's yellow, that's fine.

Nick VinZant 1:00:17

Fire can be in many colors. Fire can be red, orange, blue, and even white in some cases. I don't know if the white part's true. I think it's kind of got I got carried away a little bit there but it can be like Blue. Orange, red and yellow that's pretty much it. I have gold but I don't actually have any gold like I've never been like, oh gold. I don't think Do you have any gold yellow? I

John Shull 1:00:43

don't think gold is yellow.

Nick VinZant 1:00:44

Well, it's gold. But I guess it's like a subset of yellow.

John Shull 1:00:49

No, I don't have any I don't like gold. I mean, I would like gold if I had gold. But I don't I don't have any gold. I don't have any gold either. If you want to send us some gold, send it to me not to nick.

Nick VinZant 1:01:02

I have silver from a aunt, like great, great aunt that has silver. And my mother used to always ask me like where's the silver and I never had the heart to tell her I have no idea. Somewhere on and that's where

John Shull 1:01:20

it is. Pond is long gone.

Nick VinZant 1:01:27

Okay, that's gonna go ahead and do it for this episode of Profoundly Pointless. I want to thank you so much for joining us. If you get a chance, leave us a rating or a review. Doesn't have to be some big paragraph can just be something quick. Like the show. John does have a fantastic swinging voice. Anything really helps us out and let us know what you think are some of the best yellow things. The sun is a little bit debatable to me. Because while it's not actually yellow, it is yellow. Like I get that it's white. But if I think and all of us think that it's yellow, doesn't that kind of make it yellow?


Bible Scholar and Translator Dr. Daniel McClellan

What does the Bible really say? Are the words we hear and read today the same as they were 2,000 years ago or have the been twisted by time and temptation. Bible Scholar Dr. Daniel McClellan specializes in translating ancient Biblical text. We talk what the Bible really says, how translations have changed over time and Bible conspiracy theories. Then, we countdown the Top 5 Movie Runners.

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Interview with Bible Scholar Dr. Daniel McCellan

Nick VinZant 0:00

Welcome to Profoundly Pointless. My name is Nick VinZant. Coming up in this episode, the Bible and movie running,

Dr. Daniel McClellan 0:09

we read it in ways that make it meaningful to us. And that frequently means departing from how the author's originally wanted it to be read far too frequently, negotiations with the text take place so that someone can use the Bible as a weapon or a wedge, or as a wall of separation, or to structure power in favor of their own identities. There are a lot of conspiracy theorists who suggest that the Nephilim are still around that giants still walk the earth and they're hiding out in caves in Afghanistan,

Nick VinZant 0:44

I want to thank you so much for joining us, if you get a chance, subscribe, leave us a rating or review, we really appreciate it really helps us out. If you're a new listener, welcome to the show. If you're a longtime listener, thank you so much for all of your support. So our first guest studies the Bible, translating ancient texts, to find out what the Bible really says, what it doesn't, and what that means for today. Religion isn't something that we usually talk about on this show. So I want to just say that the goal of this episode isn't to invalidate or validate anything that anybody believes about religion. It's just to take a look at a historically significant book, and find out how it came together, what it originally said, and how that meaning has changed over time. I think it's important when we're talking about something that may have deep personal significance to people to disclose any biases that I might have. I was raised Roman Catholic, but I'm no longer religious. And I don't honestly even really know what I believe. This is Bible scholar and Bible translator, Dr. Dan McClellan. Does the Bible say what we generally think it says, or have translations been lost throughout time,

Dr. Daniel McClellan 2:14

people's readings of the Bible have changed throughout time. And if we work hard, we can do our best to try to reconstruct the interpretive lenses that they would have brought to the text ancient light to try to say, we think this is most likely what this text originally meant. But because most people approach the Bible devotionally as an authoritative spiritual document, they want it to be relevant, they want it to be meaningful. And if everybody read the Bible, according to what it meant 2000 or 2500 years ago, it wouldn't be incredibly meaningful, because the world has changed so much. And so we read it in ways that make it meaningful to us. And that frequently means departing from how the author's originally wanted it to be read and to function and how the original audiences wanted it to be read and function. And so yes, it's, it's changed throughout time, that's an inevitability. And we do our best to try to figure out what it originally meant. But that usually doesn't serve the interests of people who are approaching it devotionally just because frequently, it complicates their understanding of the Bible's nature and function and makes it less meaningful, makes it less useful to them. And so a lot of people prefer whatever makes it more meaningful and more useful to them. Would we be

Nick VinZant 3:41

better served then I guess that if we just kind of forgot about the words and focused on the message.

Dr. Daniel McClellan 3:49

I think there's a there's a degree to which we do that already, unconsciously. People aren't usually are not knowingly saying we're gonna twist this around. We're gonna say what we want it to say. But I think we do that. But yeah, I think there would be value in at least consciously being aware that we're negotiating with the text. And I think if people if people believe that the text is inspired, if people believe that this is God's voice speaking through the text in one way or another, then hopefully they can recognize that its meaning is going to change. That's an inevitability. And that's not a bad thing. And so I would advocate for consciously negotiating with the text with a desire to try to approximate what one believes God's Will might be. And hopefully that means more unity with other people. That means advancing the interests of marginalized suppressed minoritized groups, far too frequently, negotiations with the text take place so that someone can use the Bible as a weapon or a wedge, or as a wall of separation or To structure power in favor of their own identities.

Nick VinZant 5:05

Is that has that always been the case, though? Or is that more of a recent thing?

Dr. Daniel McClellan 5:09

I think it has always been the case, we can look in the Bible, and we can see places where authors are saying what they're saying, in order to structure power in favor of their own ethnic identities, or ideological identities, or, you know, we have priestly texts that are trying to structure power in favor of priests over and against the common people. Then we have other texts where the prophets are saying, No, the kings and the priests are wrong, and we're going to restructure power in our favor and over against the kings in the pre so you have these two perspectives in the Bible, for instance, one that Israel shouldn't have a king, that God is Israel's King, and then you have the other perspective is that no, the king is good. The King is God's agent on Earth. And so yeah, it's going on even originally, in the very text themselves.

Nick VinZant 5:59

Okay, I'm a big numbers person, it's just kind of how like my brain works. If you were to say, all right, 100%. Is this is what was meant at the time, whatever the time is. We're 10% off from what that is now. 20%? Like, how close would you say that we are to? This was what, at the time, again, whatever the time is, what was originally conceived,

Dr. Daniel McClellan 6:30

I'd say on a good day, maybe we just get past halfway, just get past 50%. But I think it differs depending on what kind of texts we're looking at. Because there are a lot of historical narratives where the text is not incredibly difficult to understand, we can read these these historical narratives and say, Okay, so in so did X to so and so and then went from x place to y place. And that's not incredibly difficult to understand. But in terms of what the significance of this is why the authors were writing it the way they were, right, why the figures were doing what they were doing, I would say we're lucky, if half the time we understand precisely what they were getting at. And I mean, just the general audience, I think scholars get a little closer. But we can't approach being 100% positive about 100% of the text not even remotely

Nick VinZant 7:25

for the stuff that we kind of get wrong in that aspect. Is it big differences in the sense that like, Okay, well, they said one, and we interpreted as 10, or they said six, and we thought it was 6.5? Like, are we making big mistakes, or just kind of like s six, one half a dozen, the other kind of mistakes?

Dr. Daniel McClellan 7:48

I think there are examples of both. And I think it, there is more of an incentive to be further off and to be okay with being further off, the more useful a text is for a given purpose that that we want it to serve. And so a lot of the hot button issues, I think, people are frequently far more off on by orders of magnitude, for instance, things that have to do with the LGBTQ plus community, things that have to do with abortion, things that have to do with slavery, things that have to do with the subjugation of women, these are these are things where people want certain ideologies to be present. And so they're more willing to, to be far away. Subconsciously, they're not knowingly being far away. But that's where I think the utility of the text pushes us further away from what was originally intended. And so I think the more prominent a text is, in debates going on today, the more likely we are pretty far off from from when it probably originally meant,

Nick VinZant 8:55

can we tell going back if it was supposed to be something that was followed to the letter or if it was always kind of more of you get the idea? Kind of a book?

Dr. Daniel McClellan 9:07

Yeah, I think for the Hebrew Bible, it was largely a, you get the idea. And a lot of these texts were written to be circulated within closed circles, like within the authoritative groups, and they probably weren't widely known, like the Torah was probably not widely known and widely followed until around the second or the first century BCE, which is, so the whole Hebrew Bible has been written by this period. And texts were still not functioning the way they function today at that time period. The kind of locus of authority was not in the text, but in the idea, and the text was just one iteration of it. It was just one version of it that has been materialized. And it's kind of the opposite. today. We place the authority in the physical text itself. And the idea that's behind it does not carry the same weight because that is malleable that has manipulable, that is changeable, whereas the text is the text and it's not changing. So there has been a shift in where we placed the authority between around the New Testament and today. And I think the the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the Enlightenment kind of played a significant role in the way we look at the authority of text today and thinking about the letter of the text rather than the spirit. But yeah, I would say for most of the Bible, it was really the spirit more than the letter.

Nick VinZant 10:34

Do you think that that shift that all has contributed to or caused kind of a shift away from religion that we have seen over the last decades or so that we're now taking a literal, literal interpretation of something that in times can be clearly wrong?

Dr. Daniel McClellan 10:57

I think that has contributed to some things that have accelerated that. When we come out of the Enlightenment, we've got these, these competing forces, this idea of a revealed religion, versus this idea of, of rational religion. And the revealed religion, in many ways adopted a lot of the hermeneutics, a lot of the epistemological framework. So how we know what we know, in order to try to prove to rational religion that revealed religion was rational and made sense. And so when we get into the 19th century, and we have debates about slavery, we have debates about evolution, and these kinds of things. This is where the idea of inerrancy is kind of ginned up within this debate, it's kind of a line drawn in the sand, as a way to distinguish the people who are really on our side versus the people who are not. But the problem is that is a very sharp, brittle line. And so I think a lot of people who are used to that kind of black and white conceptualization of biblical religion, because it's so brittle, it breaks so easily. And so as people come to understand the Bible better, as we are democratizing information about what the Bible says and what it originally meant using the Internet and other social media, that is snapping for a lot more people.

Nick VinZant 12:26

Like, when we look back at it, though, what would you say is kind of the big issue in translating, like this is what makes this difficult.

Dr. Daniel McClellan 12:35

For the longest time we think of translation as just kind of taking this set inherent meaning and then just spitting out a one to one correspondence to it in another language. And that's just not how language works. And so, I think that's in translation, now we're becoming aware that, you know, we have positionality, we are looking at these texts from perspective, even when we're translating them. And that influences how we translate them. And so we can really do our best to try to approximate what the original authors intended. But there's a degree to which we're always it's always just going to be a rough approximation. And one of the things that I usually say, when people talk about, oh, what translation is the closest to the original, what translation is the best is that's going to have a lot to do with how close you are to the source culture, and the source history and the source of language, as well as what you want to do with it. Because people will engage Bible translations for different reasons. And if you just want to understand what's being said, we can translate it one way to try to facilitate that. But we're gonna have to make a decision about how informed you are, or how informed we think you are about the text. So a metaphor, I may have to translate into something that's more native to the target audiences own society. So for instance, there's this famous story about Lamb of God being translated for some Inuit communities, where they don't know what a lamb is, and they don't know they so they have no concept that would not be a translation to render Lamb of God because they have no idea what that is. So they render seal of God because people are used to having and raising seals and eating seals for meat and using their skin and things like that. So that's a rough approximation. It doesn't match exactly how that metaphor is used in the New Testament. But it's a lot better than giving them a more literal translation that they have absolutely no concept of. And so, you know, a lot of that depends on on what they're approaching the text for. Is that a missionary tool? Is it an administrative tool? Is it supposed to help pastors? Is it supposed to help parents teach their children is it supposed to help children understand the text so we can have high quality translation? shins aimed at all of those functions, and they can all be very different. But yeah, it depends on who's reading it and why.

Nick VinZant 15:08

I know this is kind of a basic question. But as we've been talking about it, I've realized that like, I don't really know what the Bible is, in the sense that like, wait a minute, was written, like, when did we get the Bible? Was it a bunch of different books like what languages originally like? I don't know, where it came from, in that sense of like, alright, this is wasn't when it was put together, this is the language what was in, and this is who wrote it?

Dr. Daniel McClellan 15:36

Yeah, it's, it's phenomenally complex. And we don't have something we can call the Bible until around the fourth century CE II. So like after Nicaea, is when we first bring things together into a single text. And so everything before that is separate documents, that they could be grouped together, and they could circulate as a group. But that grouping could be different from time to time and from place to place. And so for the Hebrew Bible that's being written between around 1000, maybe a little earlier than 1000 BCE, all the way down to about 165 BCE, is probably the earliest to the latest layers of the text in there. And some of it is very early poetry being written by community leaders, some of it is legal texts that are being written by cultic and state authorities. Some of it is prophetic material being written by prophets. A lot of it is narrative historical narrative that's being written again by cultic. And state authorities in order to try to produce kind of a foundation myth about where we came from, that helps them kind of curate their own nation of what notion of what the state is. And so that comes together in a complex way, people are adding to it people are putting text together, people are editing the text, some of those texts are dropping off, some of those new texts are being added later. And around by around the end of the first century. See, so around the time the New Testament is being composed. The Hebrew Bible, as we understand it, today, was more or less settled, we see the last debates taking place, within rabbinic literature around the first century CE talking about mainly Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs as the only possible texts where they're like, we're not sure about these yet. But by 100 CE, that's pretty much settled. The New Testament is the earliest texts we have are the writings of Paul, and not all of the Pauline epistles were written by Paul, some of them were written decades after his death, but the earliest texts are First Thessalonians, Romans, things like that. And we have the Gospels being written after that we have other texts being written after that we probably have texts with a New Testament being composed into maybe getting close to 150 C. So in the second century, we still have some texts being composed. And then there are other texts that are being composed by other writers in the second century, particularly Gnostic authors that are kind of presenting an alternative perspective on on the Christian gospel. And we start to see debates about which of these texts are authoritative, which are not in the second century and then to the third century. And around the fourth century is when we see that debate kind of settling down and deciding on what's going to be in and around the end of the fourth century that we finally have the first kind of authoritative declaration of what's going to be in the Bible that more or less matches what we have today. But there are some interesting exceptions. For instance, the Ethiopian Orthodox towaco church has a canon that is significantly expanded, there are a lot more texts in that Canon than there are in most of the Christian canons. And that's because a version of the the Christian scriptures was brought down to what we now call Ethiopia at the time, that kingdom of ox zoom. And it was a Greek translation of the Septuagint. That included things like first Enoch, a very influential, famous text that most folks don't include in their Bible anymore. But yeah, it's it's complex, a lot of different people writing for a lot of different reasons. And it came together in a separate and complex manner. The Hebrew Bible came together in one way the Christian scriptures came together and another and then when we first can speak about a single Bible that's hundreds of years after the death of Jesus in the late fourth century CE. Do we know

Nick VinZant 19:51

why certain things were included and why certain things were left out?

Dr. Daniel McClellan 19:56

The so the idea that there were specific questions and specific criteria that determined what were in or out are actually kind of post hoc rationalizations. The driving factor was which texts were in the most widespread use within Christian congregations around Christendom. And a lot of that had to do with these debates about well, is this does this is this consistent with this? Is this likely authentic? Or is this not authentic? So I mentioned first Enoch, that was something that early Christian authors were like, Hey, this is really influential. However, it seems very unlikely that this text survived from before the flood. And it contradicts itself internally. And then it also contradicts some of the stuff we've got going on in the Gospels and elsewhere. And so that kind of fell out of favor because it couldn't really hang in, in those debates, and communities just stopped using it. And so what happens in the third and the fourth centuries is you have Christian leaders going around, and basically polling all the congregations to try to figure out what texts are considered authoritative, and are allowed to be read in our meetings and are considered divinely inspired. And then when that kind of started firming up, that's when you had people saying, Okay, well, let's identify what is shared between all these texts, oh, they're all have apostolic origins, or at least are based on apostolic authority, or, Oh, they all affirm this doctrine or something like that most of that was a leader rationalization. And it was really what was most in most widespread use. That was the driving factor in the canonization, at least of the New Testament.

Nick VinZant 21:38

I guess the way that I always think about it right in my imagination fills in all of the gaps is, I just imagined, like, there's 10 guys in a room at the Council of Nicaea. And they're like, alright, copy this part, put it over here, like copy and paste, like that's a this way, let's let's leave that part out. Right. Like that's, that. But that doesn't sound like that's really how it happened, necessarily.

Dr. Daniel McClellan 22:03

That's a that's a popular idea about how it happened. And one of the reasons is, because that serves a lot of structuring of power today, if we can frame what went on with the canonization of the Bible as basically an executive meeting that we might imagine taking place within some corporation today, then that allows us to kind of it to some degree vilify what was going on and say, we can, you know, their decisions were obviously corrupt, but that it's not really an accurate depiction of what went on. It was mainly Christian communities using these texts, and people going around and saying, Okay, well, it seems like these are the texts that most everybody's using. And then the council's basically said, approved. And so apart from the leadership, condemning certain authors and certain texts as heretical, and that was mainly the Gnostic literature. But there were other other texts as well. Apart from from that kind of explicit condemnation of those tax, everything else was was just what was most popular.

Nick VinZant 23:12

I keep thinking about like the NBA All Star game, like who the fans like, well, this is who they are. All right, well, let's put those ones in.

Dr. Daniel McClellan 23:21

And, and there's always debate at the margins as well, somebody's like, well, they shouldn't have made it in when we left this guy out. And it was very similar. The book of Revelation, for instance, was just kind of there. And everybody was like, Yeah, we love all these guys. And then there's revelation. And then it wasn't until around the time of the Reformation that the Roman Catholic Church finally said, Okay, we're formally making revelation canonical.

Nick VinZant 23:47

Are you ready for some harder slash listener submitted questions? Yeah, absolutely. What is Jesus's actual name?

Dr. Daniel McClellan 23:54

So here's another instance where we are the best we can do as a rough approximation. So the name in the Hebrew Bible, from which Jesus's name originates is Yahushua, which is Joshua. Now when we get into the Greco Roman period and into the Common Era, the period in which the New Testament is written, that name has kind of changed a little bit. And now it is this Aramaic name. That's was likely pronounced by a lot of people. Yeshua, or Yeshua. Now the interesting thing is there are dialectical differences between how these names are pronounced. For instance, my name is Daniel, that's how I pronounce it. But when I speak Spanish, it's not Daniel, is Danielle. And that's a that's a different way to pronounce my name and that has to do with language. But there are there are dialectical differences in how words were pronounced. anciently in the Shibboleth episode from the book of Judges is one example of that but people in Galilee pronounce ounces things differently and there is pretty good scholarship that indicates that they would not have pronounced the little a on the end. So whereas many people think it's Yeshua, Yeshua, they probably pronounced yay shoe. And so I think the best argument, the best closest approximation we can get right now is that somebody who grew up with Jesus, someone who lived in Nazareth probably would have referred to him as your shoe, or your shoe, or Yeshua, or something like that.

Nick VinZant 25:31

Was that a common name?

Dr. Daniel McClellan 25:34

It was a very common name. And we, it changes because as we go into different languages, we have to transliterate we use different ways of spelling things, so that people who are native in our language and not the language, the name is coming from know how to pronounce it. And so when it goes into Greek, it goes in as yay, Seuss. And that may represent the way it was pronounced in Galilee. But we also have that S on the end and then gets into Latin. It's EA Seuss. And then it was probably pronounced around the time that King James Version was translated probably something like yay, Seuss. And then the I pronunciation gave way to this J letter. And now we pronounced Jesus. And it is a transliteration of a transliteration of a transliteration of a transliteration. But it's still the same name, just like my name is the same whether someone can pronounce it the way I pronounce it, or was it whether they pronounce it as on yo, or some other way, because English is not their native language. Are there

Nick VinZant 26:41

any indications in any other kind of historical literature that mention him? Or is that too early for that time? You know, like, I can think of the example that I always think of is like, okay, back in the 1500s, or whatever, there was a huge volcanic eruption in India or wherever, somebody somewhere else may have also mentioned, like, hey, we saw these ash clouds in the sky. So is there any corroboration, I guess of, I'll use dramatic language, how big of a deal he was in any other kind of texts.

Dr. Daniel McClellan 27:19

There's nothing that's directly contemporaneous with his life. The closest we get to and outside at attestation of Jesus is probably Josephus, who is a Jewish writer wrote writing for a Roman audience at the very end of the first century CE, and he has two references to Jesus. And one of them has been significantly altered by later Christian writers where it's like praising Jesus as the Messiah, and as very clearly a corrupted text. But most scholars agree that it is probably expanding on an original reference to Jesus, who people called the Messiah. It doesn't really tell us much, except to say that he had a following, and the following is still around. So most of the corroborating data is going to come from 60 to 100 years after Jesus's life and really all at a test to is how quickly Christianity spread around the Roman Empire. How early Christians seem to have worshiped so we have this letter from a guy named plenty, who's writing home to Roman leadership saying, Hey, we found these Christians, I don't really know what to do with them, do I kill them? Do I just beat him a little bit and let him go? What's what kind of crime is Christianity? And we have the response, saying, you know, just smack him around a little bit, tell him that they're not allowed to, you know, they've got to worship the state gods and stuff like that, and then let them go. And if they do it again, then then you know, you've got to put them to death. But they plenty describes Christians gathering in the morning and singing hymns to Jesus as if to a god. So we can get a bit of a witness to how early Christianity was spreading and how it was functioning. But in terms of Jesus Himself, there's not really anything that's close to contemporary with his life.

Nick VinZant 29:17

Is that odd, though?

Dr. Daniel McClellan 29:20

Not really, this time and this place, we don't really have a ton of data. We don't have a ton of texts. The destruction of Jerusalem for one, around 70 ce between 60 and 70 ce destroyed a lot of a lot of records and people ran off and were in hiding for a long time. But we just don't have much to cover that period in that place. Anyway. There's a Jewish author named Philo and then Josephus are really our main sources of history for Judea in the first century. Philo is roughly contemporaneous with Jesus and Paul, and then Josephus is coming In decades after, but if we did not have those two authors, we would know next to nothing about the history of this period. So no, it's not incredibly unusual. People try to paint it as if, if this guy was real, we would know about it, we would have records we would have, you know, the Roman records of of crucifixion and stuff like that. And that's just not true.

Nick VinZant 30:21

Did he have any brothers or sisters? Was he married?

Dr. Daniel McClellan 30:24

regarding marriage, the text? Oddly, we would expect it to say something if he weren't married. And we also expect it to say something if he were married, based on the nature of the text, and it doesn't really say anything either way. And so yeah, we don't know for sure. I would say I personally, probably 55% to 45% think he probably would have been married. But at the same time, there are some parts of the gospels that seemed to prioritize celibacy. And and so maybe Jesus was like Paul, maybe Jesus was a celibate who swore off women and sexuality entirely? We don't know. And, yes, the indications are that Jesus had brothers and sisters, the texts indicate that and then Josephus refers to Jesus as the brother of this one, James, who was referred to in the New Testament. And so I think the preponderance of evidence indicates that Jesus did have brothers and sisters, you want to

Nick VinZant 31:29

do a fun one? Yeah. What's your favorite Bible conspiracy theory?

Dr. Daniel McClellan 31:37

My, I think the one that that baffles me the most, the one that I that just, I'm just amazed by it, is the idea that the Nephilim are giants that are that were discovered in Kandahar, in Afghanistan by US soldiers, and that are being hidden by the CIA. I think that's one that continues to amaze and astound me. That's a fun one. But yeah, there are. There are a lot of there are a lot of fun ones,

Nick VinZant 32:11

who are then the Nestle.

Dr. Daniel McClellan 32:14

So in, in Genesis six, we have this discussion of the Binay Elohim, the children of God who come down and marry the daughters of humanity and have children with them. And this is kind of set up as one of the reasons for the flood, why God is destroying humanity. But it says in that text, and there were Nephilim in the land in that day, and after, and Nephilim, that word only occurs one of the time in the book of Numbers, where the spies that Moses sent into the land, come back and say that their Nephilim and, and it is translated in the Septuagint. The ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible is giants. And so the Nephilim become giants. And then the Book of Enoch, it talks about the Nephilim is the offspring of the fallen angels and human women. And they're these grotesque giants who are basically the origin of evil in Greco Roman period Judaism, and so there's, there are a lot of conspiracy theorists who suggest that the Nephilim are still around that giants still walk the earth, and they're hiding out in caves in Afghanistan. And the US government is, is hiding knowledge of these giants. And we even had a couple of months ago, somebody in Canada took video driving down a road and they saw snow capped mountain top. And they saw what they thought was a giant at the top. And then they came back the next day. And they said they couldn't see it. And they said it was walking and it was really just a an antenna tower.

Nick VinZant 33:45

What does the Bible actually say about homosexuality?

Dr. Daniel McClellan 33:51

So homosexuality as a sexual orientation, is not addressed anywhere in the Bible, they had no concept of sexual orientation, as we understand it today. So the notion that someone would have this interior impulse in one of a few different directions across the spectrum, they had no understanding of that, that idea is something that developed in the 19th century. Now, they did know about same sex intercourse, but they accounted for it in different ways. So if if a man habitually wanted to have intercourse with other men, it was explained in different ways depending on whether they intended to be the active partner. Sometimes we refer euphemistically to the active partner as a way to refer to the insertive partner, the one doing the penetrating. And if someone habitually sought out the passive role, then that was explained in a different way as more of a pathological problem. So they had different ways to account for it, but in every place where it seems to be mentioned in the Bible, and that I'm mounts to about five places. Leviticus 1822, Leviticus 20, verse 13. And then we have Romans one verses 26 and 27. We have first Corinthians six. And we have a passage in First Timothy. It is condemned, but they're condemning specific acts. And they are limited acts, nobody is saying anytime anything like this happens, this is all bad. It's saying these guys over here, and these guys over here, and they're doing it for different reasons. In Leviticus, the idea is that these acts will pollute the land that this, like metaphysically generates contamination that will pollute the land, and so that must be accounted for. And when we look at the broader ancient southwest Asian worldview back then we can explain why they thought the way they did. And it largely had to do with social hierarchies of domination and penetration. Sex was primarily an act that a man did to a woman who was not considered an active autonomous partner in this mutual act, but was just considered the object of the man's sexual activity. And one of the one of the things that I point out as a way to illustrate that, particularly in Leviticus is that in Leviticus 18, and 20, you have a bunch of rules about appropriate and inappropriate sex. And every last rule is about who a man is allowed to have sex with. There's only one once in Leviticus 18, once in Leviticus 20, where it prohibits a woman from engaging in sexual activity with a specific partner. And that's with an animal, because an animal is the only not even person is the only entity on that hierarchy of domination, that the woman would be higher than. And so for everything, it's referring to what men are allowed to do, and the only time it refers to what women are allowed to do or not allowed to do. The partner has an animal. So this is about power. This is about domination. And it is associating the act of penetration with the power and the act of being penetrated with being subordinate, which was why men, for instance, at that time, were not supposed to be on the bottom. That was considered emasculating that was taking a passive or a submissive role. And so even if a man was having intercourse with his own wife, and everything else was totally copacetic, if he was on the bottom, that was a no, no. And we have ancient Mesopotamian Tet texts that say, you know, he'll be robbed of his masculine vitality for a month. And then we have a Talmudic text that says that, for a man to be on the bottom, we'll give him diarrhea. And so this, their sexual ethic was based on these concepts of domination and power asymmetries and things like that. So this is why same sex intercourse was considered problematic. And then we get into Paul. And Paul didn't like sex. Really, at all. Paul was a celibate he wanted everybody to be celebrated, recognizing that not everybody could hack it. And so he said, Look, you can get married if you need to, as long as you are only having enough sex to make you not want to have sex, and it was supposed to be passionless, he said that a man must possess his vessel. And that means possess his wife in honor and holiness, not with the desire of passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God. In other words, this was something that you did only so that you would not have a desire to do it more. So So Paul's sexual ethic was pretty bizarre to begin with. And it's not a surprise that he did not approve of same sex intercourse. But when we talk about negotiating with the text, which is something that everybody must do, I don't think that there's a great argument that we should hold on to that prohibition, while abandoning all the other aspects of the sexual ethics. Pretty much everybody who appeals to Romans one or two, First Corinthians six or those other texts to try to vilify or demonize same sex intercourse, is already rejecting other aspects of Paul's sexuality just because they don't care about it. But they care about this one. And so I think the only reason that people still use the Bible as a weapon against the LGBTQ plus community, is because they find some kind of value in doing so. As not because they're required by the Bible to because they're already rejecting other aspects of the Bible. So

Nick VinZant 39:52

was there was there a reason that they would have been against sex? Right, like maybe they fought it caused earthquakes or whatever, right? Was there some kind of reason that would have made sense at the time that they had these attitudes? Or was it just like, man, that's just there was just this guy he even like?

Dr. Daniel McClellan 40:16

I think the the idea is borrowed from a broader Greco Roman, philosophical ideas about sexual desire, and any kind of powerful sense of desire being something that could be corrosive. If it gets out of control, it can cause problems, because everybody recognized that, that there were ways that sex could be a problem. And so sexual desire was something that the philosopher suggested you had to keep under wraps. And depending on the philosophy, like Pythagoreans, thought it was, you know, everybody should be celibate. To some degree, the stoics felt the same way, but not as strictly and then platypus were a little different. But the idea was basically that sexual desire is something that we have to overcome, in order to overcome, you know, the vicissitudes of the flesh, the corruption of our corporeal world, so that we could transcend it spiritually and return to be with God. And so one of the things that developed from this idea was the ideal of celibacy. And that is a what's called a credibility enhancing display. It's a piece of costly signaling, it's a way to say, I care so much about our group's ideals, that I am going to incur this social cost, and in this case, abstaining from sex in order to put on display in order to signal to others how faithful I am to the group. And I think that's the world that Paul is in now, some people have mentioned that Paul may have been asexual himself, he may have not been he may have not been gender conforming, or something like that. And that's certainly perfectly plausible as well, but we won't really know for sure. But certainly celibacy had currency within certain groups as something that showed you are more committed to the group, the ideals and the philosophy.

Nick VinZant 42:17

Is there a Bible verse or a passage or a book or whatever that even among academics like what would you say is the most controversial aspect of the Bible? Aside from the controversial political hot button, stuff like that, that academics would be talking about?

Dr. Daniel McClellan 42:37

So there are a handful, and it depends on what field you're talking about, because there are a lot of different disciplines associated with the study of the Bible. So one that I think is interesting that I've talked about quite a few times on on my own channel is the idea of child sacrifice. In ancient Israel and the idea of Moloch as some kind of pagan deity to which people sacrifice their children. The debate is not as heated now as it was 1020 years ago, I think it's starting to settle down. But the position used to be that child sacrifice was only something that apostate Israelites did. But there's this passage, Exodus 2228, in the Hebrews, verse 29, in the English, but it seems to be God themselves, commanding Israel sacrifice their firstborn children. And a lot of people don't didn't like that interpretation. And now I would, I would say that the, the tide has kind of turned and most scholars now acknowledged or would acknowledge that yeah, this was probably a very early command of child sacrifice that was later renegotiated even anciently. And associated with that is this idea that people were offering children to Molek, some kind of pagan deity. And the tide has turned there as well toward understanding this word Molek, not to refer to a deity but just as a it's a noun that just refers to a specific type of sacrifice. And so rather than offering children to Molek, it is they're offering their children as a Moloch sacrifice. And one of the reasons that that's uncomfortable for a lot of folks is because the implication there is that the sacrifice is being offered to the God of Israel. So that's something that has been a big debate among Hebrew Bible, scholars of ancient Israelite religion that I think is starting to settle down now. And I think we're getting to the point where it's a consensus, although there will be people out there who would disagree with me. And then in the in the Christian scriptures, Paul was always a big deal. There was this idea about there's a new approach to Paul, where rather than seeing Paul as this Christian who is breaking from his earlier tradition, people wanted to understand, Paul within Judaism, how is Paul's Judaism informing Paul's? Presentation of Jesus and Jesus as gospel. But that was kind of appropriated for kind of a Protestant approach to understanding Paul and even had some anti semitic problems with it as well. So the new approach to Paul has been itself kind of controversial among scholars of the New Testament. But there are other ideas as well. One, there's one thing I'm working on a book right now on early Christology on how Jesus was understood to relate to the God of Israel, whether Jesus was understood to be God, during the composition of the New Testament, or if that was a later understanding that develop there are a lot of more conservative Christian authors who argue that Jesus was understood to be in some sense, God from the very beginning, and then there I am on the side of other scholars who would argue that the idea is something that developed in the second, third and fourth centuries. So Bart Ehrman wrote a book on this, for instance, called how Jesus became God. And then a handful of evangelical scholars got together and wrote a response called how God became Jesus. So that's, that's another debate that is kind of more in my wheelhouse that I'm actually participating in right now. And, and I've got a bunch of videos on that on my channel as well. And every time I post a video on that, I get a bunch of people upset with me. Yeah, I'm used to that.

Nick VinZant 46:24

Yeah, I would imagine this is gonna be a controversial field, people, people tend to take religion quite seriously. Yeah, what TV show or movie drives you nuts.

Dr. Daniel McClellan 46:39

I joke about the prince of Egypt. Because my, that was a movie that my, my wife really enjoys. And I enjoy the music and the prince of Egypt. But it was kind of a running joke for a long time that every time we watched the prince of Egypt, I was like, Ah, no, they got the, the wrong the wrong side of the river, and you know, all that kind of silly stuff. I think there's people are starting to do a better job of understanding the ancient world. The Davinci Code was awful. And that has, that has caused a lot of misunderstandings about a lot of things. So that's one that drives me nuts. But like moon night, did you watch moon night did? Yeah. So one of the funniest things about being in a academic community made up of a bunch of people who, you know, their Egyptologists and other things like that, in my social circles was the next day seeing them on Twitter saying, Here's what the hieroglyphs or the demotic text, or that inscription that they showed on moon night, last night, actually says, and there, and it's clear that they're actually starting to incorporate consultants who know what they're talking about as they design these things. So it's been fun to see. A lot of the, these creators of movies and television shows get better and better informed about the ancient world.

Nick VinZant 48:03

Oscar Isaac, Oh, fantastic job in that.

Dr. Daniel McClellan 48:06

Yeah, he's an incredible actor, I would say there is one Netflix special that just came out. And for the life of me, I can't remember what it's called. But I do remember hearing about it. And I know it's from someone who is not a reputable scholar, but it got a lot of attention.

Nick VinZant 48:21

I think I know which one you're talking about. Just save this one for last, this is the biggest question. What are the what are the chances we got this all wrong?

Dr. Daniel McClellan 48:33

Um, hi, I think there if we, if time travel became a reality, and we were able to go back into this into the world of the composition of the Hebrew Bible of the world, and the composition of the New Testament, and we were able to learn the language and communicate, I think we would be shocked at how different everything is from what we expect it to be. And I think if we brought people from the past to today, they would be shocked at what everything became. And and I think there was probably a lot more disagreement anciently that regarding you know how this is all supposed to work? I think many of the authors of the New Testament vehemently disagreed with each other. Fact, we talked about the Epistle of James, I think the Epistle of James is telling Paul, he's wrong, and is directly saying no, Paul, you're wrong. It is not faith, faith without works. It is, you know, it is by works that, that our faith is made whole. So I think there's a lot of disagreement, and I think it is would be very different from how it is today and how even scholars have reconstructed it. I wish that that would be a possibility at some point but but but yeah, that's always going to be a dream.

Nick VinZant 49:54

That's pretty much all the questions we got what's kind of coming up next for you. How can people find out more connect with you? that kind of stuff.

Dr. Daniel McClellan 50:01

Yeah, so I go by McLellan on all my social media channels. So that's a phonetic spelling of my last name that I used when I was living in South America. Because Spanish speakers aren't fond of last names that begin with four consonants in a row. So I spell it Ma k L, E, L, A N. So on YouTube, on Twitter, on Instagram on on tick tock. I'm going to be recording the first episode of a new podcast that I'm starting today. So I am hoping to see that launch the first week of March, it'll be called the data over dogma podcast. And we are hoping to have at least three or four episodes come out in March and and we'll be rolling, we'll be off to the races. So I'm very excited about that.

Nick VinZant 50:48

Cool, man. Congratulations. Yeah. I want to thank Dr. McClellan so much for joining us, if you want to connect with him, we have linked to him on our social media sites. We're Profoundly Pointless on Twitter, tick, tock, Instagram, and YouTube. And we have also included his information. In the episode description, he does a great job on some of his content, about breaking down biblical passages. And also, it can be really entertaining when he takes a look at some of the conspiracy theories that are out there. So if you want to hear more from him, like he mentioned, he's just launched a new podcast, and any of his social media channels are worth checking out if you're interested. Okay, now, let's bring in John Shaw, and get to the point was part of the show. Could you hold up what you consider to be your first finger? Yes, there. Okay. So for the record, you have held up your index finger Correct? Where you said my first finger, right? Yeah, but that's your index finger. Right? It should be because the thumb technically isn't counted as a finger. So and then how many fingers? Would you say that you have?

John Shull 52:03

So that's where it gets a little tricky. Because I'm pretty sure I would say five fingers. But you asked me to hold up my first finger. Right? I still think it's my first finger. But I definitely think I have five fingers. If that makes sense.

Nick VinZant 52:19

That's what I mean, right? Like you're holding up your index finger as your first finger, but it's not your first fifth, and you wouldn't have to only if you consider that to be your first finger, then you only have eight fingers. You don't have 10 fingers.

John Shull 52:33

So what if I held up my pinky first,

Nick VinZant 52:37

that throws the whole thing off, I just had to count on the fact that you wouldn't, no one considers the pinky to be their first finger. You would hold up either the thumb if you consider the thumb to be a finger or your index finger.

John Shull 52:52

What if you held up your middle finger as then you're really throwing the game off,

Nick VinZant 52:56

then you're just kind of then you're kind of like, Alright, then my response would be like, okay, but hold up what you really think is your first finger. I'm actually proud of you that you didn't hold up your middle finger. I generally don't. That's one of my pet peeves is people who flip off the camera in pictures.

John Shull 53:14

I mean, listen, I was an annoying picture taker for a long time, I would not take a picture without opening my mouth or you know, or sticking on my tongue. It just, it just ruins it. i Yeah, so I agree with you. I'm not a big fan of people who now like as I get older, but not a big fan of people who purposefully ruin photos.

Nick VinZant 53:32

Mm hmm. Yeah. But I am also a photo ruin, or I don't usually like to have my picture taken.

John Shull 53:39

You are an enigma. I'm not sure we have any photos together outside of wedding photos.

Nick VinZant 53:44

How many pictures of yourself? Do you have? I would I would make a strong argument that unless it revolves around somebody's job in a certain way. I wouldn't make an argument that most men have maybe five pictures of themselves. Not not with other people. Just a picture of them.

John Shull 54:08

I think it's less than that. I don't have any photos just of me like that are printed out. You're ready to go. I've zero I mean, why? Why? What I?

Nick VinZant 54:18

Yeah, I don't have any. I have a headshot photo that everybody gets right. Like when you start a new job. But other than that, I don't have a single picture of just myself.

John Shull 54:30

actually thinking of it. I'm pretty sure that I have more photos of other men than I do of myself.

Nick VinZant 54:39

Oh, yeah. I have way more pictures of other men than I do in myself.

John Shull 54:43

How if you take my baseball card collection alone, I have 1000s of photos of other men and I have zero have me. Do you have

Nick VinZant 54:49

1000s of baseball cards? You're going to trade that in one day for $6

John Shull 54:54

i I wish I could. What's the what's the phrase I'm going For I wish I could

Nick VinZant 55:01

get all that money back.

John Shull 55:03

Yeah, yeah, it is it is kind of a scam. I'm not gonna lie to you. Yeah, that's

Nick VinZant 55:07

a pretty big waste of money. Um, can we go back to the fingers thing. So you consider you believe that you have 10 fingers, even though you consider your first even though you don't count the thumb to be your finger.

John Shull 55:19

Yeah, but that doesn't make any sense when you say it like that because and I make no sense in saying that. So really, it's all me but I look at the thumb as a finger. But I know there's going to be educated people out there who are listening to this who are going to say you only have eight fingers and two thumbs,

Nick VinZant 55:37

the thumb is the first finger on your hand. That's what I'm gonna go ahead and write that on my tombstone I want I'm going to make a shirt that says the thumb is the first finger on your hand. If anybody would actually buy a shirt that says the thumb is the first finger on your hand, we'd make them. But I don't feel that way about toes. I think all my tests are the same. I don't look at the big toe as being any special.

John Shull 56:03

I have for a man, I've been told I have very nice feet. But I think it's because literally all of my toe like obviously I have a big toe and a little toe. But the three metal toes are literally the same. They look the same. They're the same length.

Nick VinZant 56:19

Who told you that you had nice feet?

John Shull 56:24

I mean, I've been told in multiple times by different women, some who were with me and some who were not that I have nice, nice toes and feet, then I think about like, does the rest of me look that bad that they have to look at my feet.

Nick VinZant 56:40

Hmm, yeah, they're going they're really sizing you up. So either they're completely sizing you up, like, Oh, I better check all of him out. Or they're like looking for the one ray of sunshine or otherwise dark day.

John Shull 56:54

Yeah, I think that they're trying to part the seas and try to get to the dock to go all the way to the foot. They're starting at the top and if they get that far down, that's the only compliment. That's Oof.

Nick VinZant 57:10

Have you ever been told by a man that you have nice feet?

John Shull 57:14

No, if ever I get an honest compliment from a man, it's usually about my hair. Or my eyebrows or something? Usually something to do with like, how much hair I have on my head.

Nick VinZant 57:27

Hmm. I have been complimented by other men about my calves and my eyes. Like oh, you do have nice eyes.

John Shull 57:38

You do you do have those European like Icelandic guys, that's for sure. Like a blue Gatorade bottle just echoing in the soft tail of an ocean just fly by

Nick VinZant 57:49

I appreciate the fact that you refer to Gatorade. I didn't I thought that you wouldn't do that, that you would refer to it by its actual name and not by the color, which is the accepted way to really refer to any kind of flavored drink.

John Shull 58:02

Well you refer to as though I think my name I think the name of these drinks are idiotic, but yes, I will call it blue Gatorade because that's what it is if it's Gatorade, so if you call it Gatorade is Gatorade is lemon lime, right lemon lime flavor, because that's the original data.

Nick VinZant 58:19

I know it's yellow flavors. Right, exactly. Looking at the color like a normal person. Yeah, I'm

John Shull 58:28

with you, man. Give me blue Cool raspberry all day.

Nick VinZant 58:32

See, but even there. Um, just give me the blue one.

John Shull 58:35

Give me the red one white glacier.

Nick VinZant 58:37

I do have actually I would say that the white cherry. I know it's called whites here because my wife likes and she's like, Oh get white cherry and I'm like what? What the hell is that? Is that the red one or the white one? She's like No, what's the white ones for now? I know that that's called White cherry.

John Shull 58:50

Yeah, why would the red one be called White cherry? Well,

Nick VinZant 58:53

it's got a cherry in it.

John Shull 58:55

You have a why would it be the red ones fruit punch

Nick VinZant 58:58

you ever seen a white peach? It's still peach colored?

John Shull 59:01

You think I've seen a white peach?

Nick VinZant 59:05

No think done look No. Like a man who spends a lot of time in the produce section of the grocery store.

John Shull 59:11

Unless vegetables and some fruit but even meet

Nick VinZant 59:15

me. I've actually started eating vegetables. It's not that bad.

John Shull 59:19

I went to a bocce this past weekend. I forgot how much I appreciate and love hibachi it's fantastic.

Nick VinZant 59:26

I don't actually know what it is. Is how Bochy, just the thing with the guys with all the knives and he's throwing stuff at you.

John Shull 59:34

It's not throwing it at you. It's basically they have a hot top and they cook you know they cook your food in front of you and they put on a little show. You know, we took our my daughters who had never been and they loved it and it was it was just a really good time.

Nick VinZant 59:48

Wait a minute, how expensive is hamachi cool.

John Shull 59:51

I don't want to I don't want to get into but I can tell you is over three digits.

Nick VinZant 59:57

I'm not taking my children anywhere where Are they can't eat for less than $6

John Shull 1:00:04

There's nowhere I can let you go fast food where they can eat for under $6 Yeah, that's

Nick VinZant 1:00:09

the only place I'm taking my children to go eat. I'm not taking them to fine dining over there moneybags.

John Shull 1:00:15

I mean, listen, you gotta you gotta you know, you play. You work hard and you play hard with your four year old and two year old at hibachi.

Nick VinZant 1:00:23

Right? I would imagine that. That sounds that sounds awful. Okay, my

John Shull 1:00:26

goddamn life is gone.

Nick VinZant 1:00:29

It's a sad ending for a man with such great toes.

John Shull 1:00:33

I do have pretty fantastic toes. All right, let's give some shout outs here. All right, Teresa white, Jennifer Finley, Brad Simpson. Ahmed bouquet, Thomas Frazier. Dylan Weaver. Chance brand. Chances are interesting name. I like that one.

Nick VinZant 1:00:55

It's good. It's rare, but it has to be rare. Can't have a lot of them can only have two chances.

John Shull 1:01:01

Michael Atkinson, Ben Bolton, and Jacob Walters. Y'all get the shout outs for the Okay. All right. What would you rather travel around in a yacht? A fancy bus. Or a fancy airplane?

Nick VinZant 1:01:25

Well, fancy airplane. Because I could go the most places. I understand the appeal of being on a fancy boat. Like that would be pretty nice. But ultimately, it takes kind of a while to get around. I'd rather much rather just travel around in a fancy airplane. Mostly simply because of the efficiency of the means of transportation.

John Shull 1:01:44

What would be worst, worse off to you falling out of an airplane? Drowning on a cruise ship? Or falling off a cruise ship rather than drowning? I should say. Or being in a, you know, in a bus accident. Just being a passenger in a gigantic bus accident.

Nick VinZant 1:02:01

Well, I mean, am I gonna die? Because in the first two circumstances, it sounds like I'm pretty much gonna die.

John Shull 1:02:06

Oh, yeah, you're dead? There's no way getting out of this one. Whoa,

Nick VinZant 1:02:11

where am I at on the bus? Am I gonna linger for a little bit? Or is it instant dead? Yeah.

John Shull 1:02:15

Yeah, you're gonna linger in all of them. Like you're gonna know what's happening.

Nick VinZant 1:02:22

There's no possibility of me being saved.

John Shull 1:02:25

No, not not in this scenario, because I don't want that to happen.

Nick VinZant 1:02:29

Huh? That's kind of tough man. Is my family with me? My mom, whoa, I

John Shull 1:02:36

don't want to be morbid. No, you're alone. So I'd say I'll be next to you. It's me and you going out together?

Nick VinZant 1:02:43

Oh, well, then falling out of an airplane.

John Shull 1:02:46

Why it was so easy to make that decision of I don't

Nick VinZant 1:02:49

know, it seems like if you're gonna die, and you know, you're going to die at least like, Hey, see some sights? On the way down? At least get a good view. Right? You could at least would? Here's the question. If you were falling to death out of an airplane, if you fell out of an airplane, would you look at the ground or look at the sky?

John Shull 1:03:08

Well, I don't think you're gonna really know, right? Because now making light of people who have perished in plane crashes, I'm pretty sure that you pass out before you get close enough to the ground before impact. So you're gonna pass out? At some point, I would think now if you're unfortunate and stay awake, I'd probably rather be looking at the ground. Because I mean, I wouldn't want to see my death. Like, I just would want it to come. You know what I mean? If that makes any sense.

Nick VinZant 1:03:37

So if you were looking at the ground, though, you would see it coming. I would want to be looking up at the sky and just being like, oh, and then boom, you wouldn't even know it. Me. And you could just be thinking about like, oh,

John Shull 1:03:51

no, I would you know, knowing it's gonna happen. I would just close my eyes and just wait, wait for the impact. I mean, there's nothing else to do. Like there's no, that has to be the worst one of the worst feelings you can ever possibly Oh, obviously you're gonna die. That's gonna be one of the worst feelings imaginable. It's just knowing there's no way out. Like is gonna happen.

Nick VinZant 1:04:10

I am Ryan. Ironically, I was reading a book. No, you weren't? No, I was I actually was reading a book. I don't remember the name of the body or something a guide for occupants. And the author was talking about there's actually been a surprising number of people who have fallen out of airplanes and lived. Like, like, okay, like more than say that? Well, I mean, he didn't provide statistics about it. But it has happened several times throughout the past. I would honestly make an argument that if you fell off of falling out of an airplane that if you were to compare falling out of an airplane and falling off of a cruise ship in the middle of the ocean. I bet you have better odds of surviving falling out of the airplane.

John Shull 1:04:57

I mean, woof wha I mean, I see of 0% Either way, but I guess, yeah, we give them a nudge to falling out of an airplane because you fall overboard and a cruise ship. I mean, yeah, I think less, they get you within 10 minutes. The ships gone. Your, your undercurrent plus, most of those chips are 10. You know, 12 stories up. If you follow that high into the water, you're probably going to break your back or your neck or whatever, or Oh, yeah, I

Nick VinZant 1:05:29

think you're done. I think you're done before you hit the water.

John Shull 1:05:32

So the choice is this week to talk about. Apparently you're going to be able to buy Narcan over the counter. That sounds like a great idea. Tom Sizemore Narcan, Naloxone, it's what they give the police and fire and EMTs give drug overdoses to bring them back.

Nick VinZant 1:05:53

Yeah, it's I mean, drug overdoses are a huge problem. I think the United States crossed like 110,000 in the last couple of months in the last year to be prompt probably sounds like a good idea to be giving people Narcan to be honest with you.

John Shull 1:06:05

Yeah, I mean, it's it's pretty powerful. But let's you know, whatever. I'm sure it'll be regulated. Tom Sizemore dying.

Nick VinZant 1:06:12

Who knows to Tom Sizemore? Jesus Have

John Shull 1:06:16

you ever seen Saving Private Ryan?

Nick VinZant 1:06:19

Yeah.

John Shull 1:06:21

So he was like Tom Hanks is like best friend or best you know, army buddy. Yeah, just terrible. Also a Detroit native. So

Nick VinZant 1:06:30

there we go. Is everybody from Detroit is more important than anybody else.

John Shull 1:06:35

last choice that did not win was creed three. Which, you know, apparently it's been getting good reviews and check it out. I guess I haven't seen it. I still haven't seen cocaine bear which I want to see. So.

Nick VinZant 1:06:48

Cocaine bear sounds amazing. I haven't seen any of the Rocky movies past rocky four. Right? If you see the height of civilization, you don't need to see the decline.

John Shull 1:06:57

I mean, listen, I think it's great what they did with the franchise. I mean, if they wanted to keep it going, this was the suitable way. And that brings it full circle because I tried doing the rocky Sun thing didn't work out at all. So why not give Apollo Creed the son of chance? And Michael B. Jordan, just amazing in general. So

Nick VinZant 1:07:16

the other dude in there who I think is also Kang is massive, like, Whoa, man. He's been lifted, and probably do some other stuff. But yeah, okay, so what actually one?

John Shull 1:07:29

So apparently, you can now live on a cruise ship for 30 grand a year.

Nick VinZant 1:07:39

Food included?

John Shull 1:07:41

Yeah, everything. Essentially, it's, it's a three year voyage. It's 101 130,000 miles that you travel cumulatively, for $30,000 per person. per year, you do not have to obviously, what's the word I'm looking for? Dedicate or say you're going to go for all three years. But if you want to go for one year, it's 30,000. And you visit 135 countries, 375 ports. And you go all around the world naturally. And yeah, everything's, everything's included just a regular cruise ship ticket, except it's for an entire year and you visit. Literally more than half of the world's countries

Nick VinZant 1:08:32

actually sounds fairly cheap for that. I would think that would be more expensive. I mean, $30,000 a year for food and lodging.

John Shull 1:08:42

Yeah, so it's the M V. Gemini. It's the Life at Sea cruises is the I guess the company that is responsible for the ship. Lesson I would do it. If I had 30 grand to spend. I would do it. I love cruising.

Nick VinZant 1:08:58

I had a bad experience. I didn't enjoy it. There's two kinds of cruising, there's cruising to go see places like you're taking a cruise to Alaska. You're taking a cruise around Europe. And then there's like getting on a Carnival Cruise and going to like the Bahamas and just basically, essentially it's the part. There's like, traveling, cruising. And then there's like, Hey, this is a party on a boat cruising. And I was not too big of a fan of the party on the boat cruising.

John Shull 1:09:23

Okay. I mean, I loved it all. I've been on multiple multiple cruises at least six and I love every second of it.

Nick VinZant 1:09:31

Wow. Are you ready?

John Shull 1:09:33

Are you ready for a tough? Yeah, I'm, I'm actually kind of I did some research on this. And not surprisingly, it wasn't difficult. So let's let's get to it.

Nick VinZant 1:09:42

So because we had kind of a fairly serious guest. We decided to come up with something a little bit ridiculous for our top five. So it's top five running actors.

John Shull 1:09:53

Alright, so I think I'm low balling this performance, but um, I want to put my number five as Robert We're Patrick as T two from the Terminator two.

Nick VinZant 1:10:03

Are you serious?

John Shull 1:10:05

I know, right? I know I. But I'm telling you, and maybe you have these but it's, it's a loaded top five in terms of runners. I mean, there was lots of actors that have had lots of good roles running and I didn't want to put him at five. But I'm confident in my other four.

Nick VinZant 1:10:25

Okay, I think that's a ridiculous place to place him. I have a much higher on the list. My number five is Johnny Depp. Really only for Jack Sparrow? Not a good runner. Obviously not a good runner, but it is a memorable run. The most the most memorable movie run since Jim Carrey as Ace Ventura pet detective as an unorthodox running says style.

John Shull 1:10:53

I will say I will agree with you that he that is known. He's actually all my honorable mention. But I I think there are other scenes and other runners that maybe don't get the acclaim that he got, but they are much. They're just much better scenes and runners. I think so. It's insane that unless you have something else to say,

Nick VinZant 1:11:16

Who do you think though is the better goofy runner? Johnny Depp or Jim Carrey?

John Shull 1:11:23

I mean, I don't really recall. Jim Carrey being like a wacky runner. You know, I but I recall Johnny Depp. So I'm gonna say Johnny Depp.

Nick VinZant 1:11:33

I think that really the Johnny Depp is the more recent one. But if you think back to the ACE venture or running, you can like oh, he was the original. He may have been the better weird runner. Anyway, what's your what's your number for?

John Shull 1:11:48

Harrison Ford from Raiders of the Lost Ark?

Nick VinZant 1:11:52

Oh, yeah. Okay.

John Shull 1:11:55

I mean, how can you forget that scene and he looks, he just looks. I mean, he was awesome as Indiana Jones. I mean, if you haven't seen those movies, specifically Raiders of the Lost Ark, which you should because they are amazing. They're fantastic. Okay,

Nick VinZant 1:12:09

I did not have Harrison Ford on any of those lists, but I can now that you think of it, I can make picture him running quite well. Um, my number four is all from one movie franchise. I think there's a lot of good candidates for it. But ultimately, my number four is Carl Weathers.

John Shull 1:12:26

Okay. Think of obviously I know, I know the one.

Nick VinZant 1:12:30

Right, but he he was an effortless runner. He had to try to like you could clearly tell that he was a much better rock runner than Rocky. The other one I could put from that franchise is Dolph Lundgren. Remember in Rocky four where he's running around the track, he's like, Oh, he's running. He looked like they both looked like Stallone looked like a guy trying to run. Carl Weathers and Dolph Lundgren look like athletes.

John Shull 1:12:59

Okay, well, I'll get to the Rocky series. I have it a little higher up on my list. So okay,

Nick VinZant 1:13:05

if you're going to put rocky up there, I'm going to have to shoot it down because Carl Weathers was clearly the better runner.

John Shull 1:13:11

All right. All right. Well, you're gonna hit you're not going to like this number three then for me, okay. Okay. Okay. My number three is Tom Hanks from Forrest Gump.

Nick VinZant 1:13:20

Okay. It's a good it's a very memorable scene. I didn't have it on my list, but I thought about it really hard.

John Shull 1:13:30

I, I think whether or not he looks like a good runner. He plays it well. And it's I mean, that's a large part of the movie and he doesn't he doesn't really well, I think he you know, I think Tom Hanks has said that he hates running. But he lost all the weight. He got into running and he looked he looked natural. I

Nick VinZant 1:13:49

think. Now which running scene though? Do you remember the most? Do you remember the one with him as a kid? The one with him as a football player? With the one with him running in the war? The one with him running across country?

John Shull 1:14:04

Yeah, so it's the one that I like if you were to ask me like you just did to pick out one scene. It would for sure be the word. He's running cross country. And it's raining and the person gives them the t shirt is muddy. And he I eat maybe a car splashes mud on him. I don't remember the finer details. His face off. And it's the smiley face Have a nice day slogan.

Nick VinZant 1:14:28

The one that stands out to me the most is where he finishes running. And he's like, I'm gonna go home now. But only because I lived in Arizona and people would always take pictures of that spot. So you always see it come across like your feet of people taking pictures in that spot. My number three is Tom Cruise.

John Shull 1:14:48

I didn't put him on my list. And I know I should have I didn't for the for the fact that he I don't think he looks like a cool runner. I I think kind of what you had said earlier about somebody like, looking like they don't run well. He just, he doesn't look like he runs. I mean, I would say this and this is also my honorable mention, but what's his face? From the Bourne Ultimatum? Matthew? meant Damon Damon, Matt Damon? Like, yeah, they are great action actors. And those scenes are fantastic, but they just don't look natural to me.

Nick VinZant 1:15:28

No, no one runs like that. Like, no one actually runs like that. There is a level of intensity or trying too hard that no one who's a good runner actually looks like that. Like, have you ever watched like an Olympic sprinter? Like, they don't look like they're really trying to run that hard. Good runners don't look like they're trying

John Shull 1:15:47

fucking insane. Usain Bolt that, you know, turns around during the 100 meter dash at the guy coming in second in the Olympic final. I mean, what are you doing?

Nick VinZant 1:15:56

Right? You got it? You got it. Okay. Are you Is it your number two are my number two.

John Shull 1:16:02

So I believe it's my number two. And I think I know this isn't going to make any sense. But I'm gonna stand by it. My number two is going to be Brad Pitt from Troy. Specifically, the fighting scene with him and Eric bhana, where they're running around each other, and doing all these cool jumps and runs. And I mean, come on, doesn't get any cooler than Brad Pitt. And he looked so natural doing doing it.

Nick VinZant 1:16:30

I don't remember it at all. And I've seen that movie, which to me automatically should signify that it shouldn't be on the list.

John Shull 1:16:37

Yeah, I wouldn't. I wouldn't necessarily say it's a running scene. It's more of an athletic scene. But he he's definitely running in it. And that'd be that's how he kills Eric Bonner at the end as he like, doesn't let it run thing and Toro, okay.

Nick VinZant 1:16:50

Spirit unusual, unusual choice. My number two is Chris Evans.

John Shull 1:16:55

Oh, I should have known. He's

Nick VinZant 1:16:57

a good runner. He makes it. That to me is like the gist of the running. Right? Were like, Oh, you're going pretty fast. You look like you're running pretty hard, but it doesn't look like you're running like okay. All right. Yeah, that's good running. I think Chris Evans has great running form.

John Shull 1:17:13

I mean, unless you didn't say the guy that plays in the New Jurassic Park's can't remember his name, the guy who was married to Anna Faris.

Nick VinZant 1:17:20

That's Chris Pratt. I

John Shull 1:17:21

think, yeah, thank God, you didn't say him.

Nick VinZant 1:17:23

Now. He's see now he's an example of what I think that Tom Cruise is, in which they're trying to convince you that they're athletic and a good runner. But not Tom Cruise runs, like a person who has been taught. Tom Cruise runs like a person acting like they can run. He doesn't run like someone who can actually run. It's why I can't be up high on the list. And he's only there because he's known for it. I don't think he's actually a good runner.

John Shull 1:17:50

I would I would be I mean, he's so little too. I would I don't really think he's much of an athlete, though. He's played predominantly masculine roles, his whole career.

Nick VinZant 1:17:58

They had a casting director that we had on very early on in this show, who said the irony about big time moving stars is that to be a big time male movie stars, you basically basically have to be a small man with a big head. That looks the best on TV is people who are like 545 with big heads.

John Shull 1:18:20

Well, you would No wonder you're doing so well.

Nick VinZant 1:18:23

I gotta get the head bigger, man. Gotta get some head big operations I've got I'm actually too big, too. So that's my problem. Who's your number one gonna be are you gonna say it's Rocky? Who's your number one gonna be? Rocky? Which movie

John Shull 1:18:41

The first the original montage the best running scene for him solo you know when he's running through the streets and a sweats and he runs up the steps and you know, starts punching at the air you know, blah, blah blah. But I will say that the the montage and rocky for with him and off. Lundgren is just as amazing as well. But I'm not giving any love to Dolph Lundgren. So goes all the semester, Simone.

Nick VinZant 1:19:09

My difficulty was putting Sylvester Stallone in that particular movie high is that when he walks out of the house, he jumps over the railing, which no person would actually do. You wouldn't jump over the railing. And that just sets the tone for the whole thing being like it's not that's not accurate. You're not jumping over the railing. You're gonna walk down the steps. You're gonna warm up a little bit. You got to watch your knees. You got to take care of your body so you're not taking care of his body.

John Shull 1:19:40

I I mean, I stand by I think it's a you have to at least admit, I mean, you have it on your list, that it's one of the top five iconic running roles in cinema history.

Nick VinZant 1:19:53

I don't think that he's the best runner in that series. I think Carl Weathers is a better runner than he is. And I think the dove Lundgren is a better writer than he is.

John Shull 1:20:02

I would have no problem giving the props to either of those guys, if they were the main characters, but obviously they weren't. They were great supportive characters. But they were not main characters.

Nick VinZant 1:20:13

My number one is Robert Patrick. I think the guy from Germany will be flip flop for minor. Yeah, I think the guy from t to the T 1000. Or whatever his number is. I think that he is hands down the best runner in movies. Because he looked like someone he looked like somebody who number one could run number two, he was gonna catch you

John Shull 1:20:37

mean, yeah, that was. That was pretty you know, the best part about Robert Patrick. Yeah. He grew up in Metro Detroit.

Nick VinZant 1:20:47

Course. Okay, who's in your honorable mention?

John Shull 1:20:52

Let's see. So like I said, Any anytime Cruise movie? Matthew Broderick from Ferris Bueller? The run that he did in that movie with

Nick VinZant 1:21:01

Oh, that's a good run.

John Shull 1:21:03

Yeah, look, I mean, look natural. Good. Brendan Fraser in the mummies. Yeah, pretty natural. He looked pretty cool. Looks like good. And then I have Daniel Craig from his James Bond movies that he did. He looked, you know, they always started the first scene very big. He was always running or something. Always looked awesome.

Nick VinZant 1:21:25

little stiff. But I think that that was also part of the character, right? Like he looked like somebody who could run. I would also say that he suffers from the same thing as Matthew Broderick does, where they're kind of, there's not just straight running. Like they're doing other stuff and things like that. So it really doesn't really allow you to focus on the running, as would like a Robert Patrick chasing down. Sarah Connor.

John Shull 1:21:47

I mean, I agree. I mean, Robert Patrick was amazing in that role. And then last but not least, he may not look the coolest, but he is the coolest. And that was John Travolta in Greece, where he's running track trying to impress Sandy.

Nick VinZant 1:22:02

Okay, and never seen that movie. No have any desire to see that movie? Um, I had Daniel Craig. I had Laura Dern running in Jurassic Park.

John Shull 1:22:13

Oh, man, I mean. That's fine, I guess. But I'd rather have Jeff Goldblum, I think,

Nick VinZant 1:22:21

yeah, Jeff Goldblum has a better scene. But I think that she is the better runner. Scarlett Johansson can run very well.

John Shull 1:22:30

Or even Sam O'Neill I think probably has the best running in that whole movie. I don't kids.

Nick VinZant 1:22:38

Oh, yeah, that's a pretty good, but he's too distracted. You can't really see the form. He's got other things that he has to be doing.

John Shull 1:22:45

We're checking elbows and knees. They gotta be lateral. You know, they gotta be 90 degrees. I get it. You has

Nick VinZant 1:22:50

good form, but I wouldn't consider them to be a great runner as Will Smith. He's got some good iconic running scenes. And you can see if you look at like one of the trailers or things for one of the scenes from bad boys. I think it's bad boys or maybe bad boys too. But he is juxtaposed running with Martin Lawrence. And then you can clearly see that Will Smith is like, oh, Martin Lawrence can't run and Will Smith. Clearly running well.

John Shull 1:23:18

Yeah, I mean, let's be honest, Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, they weren't put together as an acting duo. Because of their athletic similarities, I don't think

Nick VinZant 1:23:28

no, but it really showcases how much better of a runner Will Smith is. I have one that I can't remember the guys name. I keep wanting to say Leonard Nimoy but that's not his name. He played Spock in one of the recent Star Trek series like Oh, Zachary Quinto. He could run like oh, he's got some he's got some skills at running.

John Shull 1:23:56

I mean, we should have just put the guy that plays the flash and the guy from the boys that plays you know the fast character that can run like the speed of light. I forget his name now,

Nick VinZant 1:24:08

but yeah, but I feel like if there's power is actually running, it shouldn't count. It is Zachary Quinto good running. It's good runner.

John Shull 1:24:15

Also, I feel that need to give a shout out because we talked about Rocky, Michael B. Jordan and creed is also a very talented runner as well does not make my list because he's not an original. But still good runner. Good form. Good technique.

Nick VinZant 1:24:30

I like it. Who do you who can you imagine is the worst runner that you can think of? Like, oh my god, I can't run.

John Shull 1:24:37

I mean, Sylvester still or not. That's Steven Seagal is probably terrible. Oh yeah. Dwayne Johnson is probably terrible.

Nick VinZant 1:24:48

Which is ironic because he's, but he's too muscular now. Right? Pull off a good running even though he is one of the probably the more athletic Hollywood actors. He couldn't pull off a good run. Lean knee Mark Wahlberg. Oh yeah, that's like that fake athleticism. Right? Dude once said he could do 40 Pull Ups. No, you can't. You can No, Liam Neeson is a terrible runner. I like this. What's what's her name? I like this person as a musician. And as an actress, incredibly talented. Janelle Monae, there was a scene of her running and like the new knives out is like, Oh, she's a runner. Yeah,

John Shull 1:25:30

no. Okay, what about earlier? I mean, I mean, it's been Tara You know, Jim Carrey, but? Nah, not not even not close. Not good.

Nick VinZant 1:25:41

Okay, that's gonna go ahead and do it for this episode of Profoundly Pointless. I want to thank you so much for joining us. If you get a chance, subscribe, leave us a rating or review we really appreciate it really helps us out. Doesn't have to be anything big. Just like, Hey, I like to show Jon's toes really aren't that good. Anything at all really helps out with the algorithm. And you know that all of us are now subservient to the algorithm. Also, let us know what you think are some of the best running performances. I don't know how John could have Robert Patrick is number five. And Rocky is number one. I mean that come on now. But I think that there are some good running performances, maybe some that we've never even thought of. So if you've got some let us know.


Hollywood Animal Agent Joel Norton

From Dogs and Cats to Rabbits and Rats, Animal Trainer Joel Norton trains animals to appear in major movies and TV Shows. We talk animal casting calls, the unique training animals need to work in Hollywood and working with exotic animals. Then, we unveil a new Candle of the Month and countdown the Top 5 Animals in Movies.

Joel Norton: 01:45

Pointless: 38:59

Top 5 Animals in Movies: 01:10:55

Contact the Show

Hollywood Paws

Hollywood Paws Instagram

Interview with Hollywood Animal Agent/Trainer Joel Norton

Nick VinZant 0:11

Welcome to Profoundly Pointless. My name is Nick VinZant. Coming up in this episode animals and acting,

Joel Norton 0:19

sometimes they're very specific, you know, we want a Dalmatian, it has to be a Dalmatian. And sometimes they're extremely vague. We just want a dog, a lot of the behaviors that we train a dog to do to work on set, they don't really have any purpose in the real world. Very, very, very unique training that is required for an animal to work on that 20 years ago, this was a completely different industry. Before there was computers. Every animal was was a practical animal on set, there were tigers, there were elephants, there were bears.

Nick VinZant 0:50

I want to thank you so much for joining us. If you get a chance to subscribe, leave us a rating or review, we really appreciate it really helps us out. If you're a new listener, welcome to the show. If you're a longtime listener, thank you so much for all of your support. So our first guest does something that I think is just endlessly fascinating. His job is to train animals to act, not just dogs and cats, but exotic animals like snakes, rats, rabbits. What I think is really interesting, though, isn't just the unique training that animals have to have in order to work in Hollywood, but the business behind it, and why producers pick certain animals. This is Hollywood animal agent, Joel Norton, how big of an industry is this? Are there a couple of people doing it? Or is this a lot bigger than I would think?

Joel Norton 1:51

I would say there's probably 20 Animal rental companies that exist in America.

Nick VinZant 1:59

How does it kind of work? The studio comes to you, hey, we've got this. What do you got?

Joel Norton 2:04

Yeah, exactly. The studio comes to us with a project, a lot of times they'll have a script or a board or a breakdown. And they'll say, hey, look, there's a dog in the scene. Here's the Scriptures what the dog needs to do. And here's kind of what we're looking for. Sometimes they're very specific, you know, we want a Dalmatian, it has to be Dalmatian, it's for fire by house, whatever. Sometimes they're extremely vague. We just want a dog. And they don't give any other notes. Other than that, here's the dogs that we have that fit the look that you want, whether it be that Dalmatian or a family dog, or whatever the look is, and then we send that off to them. And then they make their decision based on that email. If they liked the dogs, and they liked the numbers. Then they booked that dog and we take the dog on set and work it and if they don't like any of the dogs, and then they move on and look at the bird other company is it

Nick VinZant 2:55

is kind of like a casting process like an actor. I mean, are they actually like,

Joel Norton 3:00

not? Over pictures, it's all it's all pictures and email. It's not the days of like, we all show up in one area, and they all look at it. But that that doesn't exist really anymore. Rarely will they still do a showing for a big project where they really want to get a feel for it. But that is exceedingly rare. I haven't done one personally in over a decade. Everything's just done on the web. You know, if they want to see more details, they'll say, Hey, can we get a quick video of of phyto? So we can kind of see how it works? Or can we see a project it's already done a finished product? And I'll send them a YouTube clip. And that's it. Why did

Nick VinZant 3:37

it kind of get like that? Was it just because like there's so many animals involved now that like we just gotta we gotta own this out?

Joel Norton 3:44

No, no, it's just convenience. It costs money and time and energy to load up dogs from from all the different companies and wherever they're located and drive to a central location and do that. And we would charge for that it costs money for us to drive and the load of animals there the and so as soon as email became a common thing that was gonna start fading itself out, almost immediately. Act even actors, I think do a lot of self tapes now where they record themselves sensitive, they don't go to a room when there's a little camera there. So everything has changed with technology

Nick VinZant 4:18

is now like for most of the projects, are we talking about like, Hey, we're shooting a commercial for blah, blah, blah, or are we talking about like, it's a new movie like Air Bud or something like

Joel Norton 4:29

yeah, it's all done the same? Really, you know, if it is a big big thing with air but and they really care about you know, actor chemistry or something like that. Those are the times that yeah, we might we'll still narrow though we'll still originally send you know, the pictures and the videos and all those other things and then they'll make their maybe final two. And then from there, they will Okay, well, we'll actually see these dogs in person and get a feel for which one we like best or whatever, and someone will make that decision but honestly Even for big projects, big TV shows big movies, it's all done over the web over the internet.

Nick VinZant 5:05

What are they generally kind of looking for?

Joel Norton 5:08

That's a good question. I don't know, oftentimes, I don't know exactly what they're looking for, I don't even think they know a lot of times what they're looking for, they just know they want a dog in the scene. And they have an idea of a look, you know, if it's, if it's a family scene, and it's a, you know, vacuum commercial or whatever, then they'll obviously want a dog would longer for or if it's a dog that's just blended with a family, they're going to pick up what most people would think of as a family looking dog. So, you know, when you see a German Shepherd, you don't think of a family dog, you think of a police dog, when you see you know, whatever, you know, that that is kind of what their main objective is, is to fill whatever look that they want. But as far as, you know, all the dogs come trained, all that kind of stuff. So it really just whenever that particular director of producer, art department, whatever they want, is what they, you know, I've had dogs hired because the director had that breed when he was a kid. And he just wanted to see it again, in person on set. And that was the sole reason that that breed was, I guess

Nick VinZant 6:09

I thought it would be more complicated than that. I thought that there would be somebody like, oh, no, no, this golden retrievers coat isn't quite what we really wanted. Can you get us right?

Joel Norton 6:18

Now that I mean, that do those that do those times exist? Sure, you know, there's always, but again, 99% of the time it is it is not that complicated. Honestly, over 95% of the time, a single picture is all that they they go off of a single picture. I mean, I'm attaching 25 pictures to an email. But from there, they will nail it down to the dog that they want based on a picture.

Nick VinZant 6:46

How does it kind of the business side of it unnecessarily work? I know you guys are a rental company, do you own? Who owns the dog?

Joel Norton 6:55

So are they great questions case? Yeah, so our company is is unique, our company Hollywood paws is is sort of one of a kind in that the vast majority of our working dogs, the dogs that we take on set, they are owned by people, their private party dogs, the other studio rental companies, they all own their own animal. So they have large ranches, and kennels and places, you know, in the high desert and stuff. And all those animals are housed and owned by them. And they will take the animals out on set and work them. But our company does things a little bit differently, we we keep the dogs with the pet owners. Sometimes we call the green agency for that for that reason. But you know, it just means that the dogs stay with an owner and then we pick them up from the owner, we take the dog on set, and then the owner gets the money rather than the money staying within the company. What we are sort of responsible for is making sure that that pet owner keeps up the very, very, very unique training that is required for an animal to work on. That's

Nick VinZant 7:55

how Okay, so a company that operates in a different way when they own it, like they'll own five, five animals are we how many?

Joel Norton 8:04

A lot, a lot more than a lot more than five, you know, the you because you have to have variety, you have to have the goal for sort of every rental company has to have like one of every look. And so I would say an average of that is like maybe 15 to 20 Minimum dogs. You know, we never know what job calls are going to come in tomorrow. We never know what looks are going to be requested. So a company wants to have a couple of small dogs, a couple of medium sized dogs, a couple of big dogs, they want to have a bunch of family dogs, they want to have some more aggressive looking dogs if they get you know, dogs but the garter junkyard you got to have a Rottweiler you know, you want to have a variety, otherwise you're not going to book anything.

Nick VinZant 8:43

You talked a little bit about like the training aspect of it. What kind of training would an animal that's going to work in Hollywood need?

Joel Norton 8:50

That's probably the most unique thing that people don't understand is studio work has a set of very unique challenges. So the easiest thing to compare it to is agility. Most people are familiar with agility. They've seen the dogs do the weave poles and the Kia totters and all those obstacles. A lot of the behaviors that we train a dog to do to work on set, they don't really have any purpose in the real world. So not many people know how to train them and don't train them because it's it's sort of pointless the same way that teaching your dog we fold if you're not going to compete and agility nobody teaches their dog how to do we fold because what's the point? We train, there's like 30 behaviors I would say that are required for us to be able to call a dog a studio dog there's, you know, all these different types of marks. There's like four different marks General Mark, come, Mark, go mark. There's these things called aim sticks, you know, back up and feed up some more common things that people are familiar with, on your side and head up and head down. And then things that most people would never even have heard of like a work away or a go to and a go with or an aim stick. And those are all behaviors. that aren't necessarily that hard or complicated to teach, although some of them can be. But they are just very unique. And they're their sole purpose is to overcome the challenges that we face on set, we face a lot of challenges on that, as far as having to work from really far away. You know, obviously, we as the trainer, we can't be in the shot, the dog is we're in the middle of a scene. And most people don't train their dogs like that most people don't put their dog in a position, move 20 feet away, and then start to train. But that's what we do, because we can't be in the shot. And so dog has to get used to not creeping forward and staying in one spot. If the production is running sound, let's say you know, and the actors talking, I can't be in the thing going, speak sets, say Good day, while the actor is talking, you know, I have to make the dog do everything silently. Otherwise, my dialog is going to step all over the actress dialog. So we teach our dogs do everything just on hand signals. A lot of times the dog can't see us on set. So the line of sight isn't very clear. So we teach dogs to, to do what's called a Workaway, where they look at something else. They look at the actor, they look at a property look at a green screen, but they are still listening to us, even though the dog can't see it. But there's all of these behaviors that we teach that are they're all geared to overcome, again, the challenges that we face on set, because there there's a lot of them on set as long days repetitive actions, they'll do the same thing. 20 times and the dog has to do it the exact same way on take one as on tick 20. Otherwise, it's not going to match.

Nick VinZant 11:41

That is interesting, right? Because I think like I have a dog, and I've taught him how to sit and how to rollover, but if I'm not within like a foot of her, she's not doing it.

Joel Norton 11:50

Right. Yeah, exactly. Because you haven't practiced and you haven't trained that, and you haven't made that a priority. And that's, that's most dogs. And so that's where like I was saying earlier, our challenge comes in is because we work with pet dogs, we work with dogs that are owned by people like yourself. But the challenge is, is what we do. And what the the owners that choose to do this do is they have to keep up on that training, they have to put in the work. A studio dog is is is really hired for its training ability. It can be the best looking dog, and it can match the dog they have in the script and all this other stuff. But if it can't do what's required on set, it's not going to work.

Nick VinZant 12:28

Have you seen instances where like, man, we hired this dog? And it's just, oh, we got to work in

Joel Norton 12:35

every rarely? Yes. And it's one of those things where I have been hired. They originally like, I hear about it when I'm hired to do reshoots, because, you know, some producer was like, Well, I've got a dog or you know, someone I've got a dog will save money. I don't want to pay 1000s of dollars to have a professional dog hear my dog can sit. And then. So they try it with their own dog or whatever the case, and the dog just can't do it. You know? It the dog literally just completely bombed and doesn't do it. And then they have to turn around. And I mean, it costs them. I can't even imagine how much it cost to do it. But then they learned their lesson the hard way. And then never again, will they ever not hire a professional one.

Nick VinZant 13:15

How much money are we generally talking about? And obviously, I know depends on the project. But like in terms of okay, the animal is going to get paid this much for like a commercial, major movie, small movie.

Joel Norton 13:28

Sure. So right there. That's another real common misconception is the price is the same. Whether it's a commercial or a feature film or students. None of the prices doesn't don't don't change. Right, so they're all the same. So nobody, no one makes any more back a lot of times. If there's a buyout or something like that, like we agreed, we agreed to hire your dog for the whole season. The price goes down, not up. But the dancer your question. Jog rental is about 500 bucks today. They're rented on a 24 hour period. Trainers, we have you know union rates and things like that that we go out on. And then we have transportation fees. Any job that is unique or special or something like that, we oftentimes will charge prep fees. So it can range from 1500 bucks a day. For a real basic simple shoe. What if there's multiple trainers on set, you know, the dog has to be released from a room and enter another room and then look up in the corner that takes two trainers one to release the dog one to pull the eye contact to make it look like they're looking up in the corner at an actor or whatever it is. And now your price goes up because now you have two trainers. So all these little factors will will affect the price. But I would say like a baseline minimum doesn't get really cheaper than is around 1500 bucks for the day.

Nick VinZant 14:47

It didn't doesn't depend on like if this is the next James Cameron or if this is a commercial for Bob's used cars.

Joel Norton 14:55

Nope, it does not but well one because we have we're a union animal trainers are in Union so Our rate doesn't really go up or down very much because that so that set transportation is based on mileage and gas prices. So that's that. And dog rental is sort of set by the industry.

Nick VinZant 15:11

That makes sense, right? And ultimately, you make your money by days booked? Not necessarily.

Joel Norton 15:16

Exactly, exactly. And the other thing is that, you know, there's a lot of dogs out there. I mean, there's kind of a famous story, but a lot of people know the dog that was in Modern Family. It was a different dog. They switched dogs halfway through the series, you can Google it, have fun with that. But yeah, it's a different dog. Because dogs are replaceable. You didn't notice. And it's a completely different dog. So if I was to, again, have this dog and say, Oh, my golden retriever has a prettier coat, it's gonna cost you 5000 a day, they'll just find another golden retriever.

Nick VinZant 15:48

How much will like Okay, so like, let's say a dog that's making, like it's working regularly. That dog would be in how many things a year

Joel Norton 15:58

that they're for, that totally varies, it totally depends on the dog. We have dogs that work one day a year, and we have dogs that work once a month minimum. And that's why you want to have a variety. We don't have one superhero dog that you know, because no watch TV, you don't see a golden retriever. In three out of five commercials, you just see dogs, you know, there's a huge variety of the dogs. So none of them are are, quote unquote, superstars or, you know, crazy, you know, insane. You know, this is our moneymaker. Because you that's not how productions work. In fact, if a dog becomes too famous, they're not going to choose it. They won't want a dog that you recognize from another commercial, because you'll be thinking about that other commercial.

Nick VinZant 16:43

Oh, that's true, right? Yeah. Yeah, it's true. So how did you find yourself in this?

Joel Norton 16:51

So I, that's a good question. I went to I studied animal science and regular four year college. And then I went to a school called Edom, which stands for exotic animal training and management. That's a two year school that kids go to adults go to, that teaches you how to work with animals in the animal industry. So it's everything from zoo keeping, to SeaWorld, I mean, any and literally almost anything in the animal field that school prepares you for, because it gives you have two years of hands on experience, which is what people really want. a four year degree was great, but I had zero experience, and nobody wanted to hire me. So and I was, again, out of my class of about 50 Kids, a handful of us went on to do studio work, because some people really like training, training, and it can be fun. But it can be challenging. And some people absolutely do not like to be trainers. And if you love animals, but don't want to train, a lot of times, you'll go to a zoo or to a rescue or to a rehab or do outreach, where you don't really have to train very much you're just caring for and working with the animal. But I really enjoyed training. When I was doing it, I just found I love the challenge, I got a great feeling after knowing that this scene, an animal, and I trained rats and birds and all kinds of different animals and in training the dogs Believe it or not when I was in school, but there was something very satisfying about taking an animal that couldn't do anything, right. It was just an animal. And after I put in time and energy, all of a sudden, I had an animal that was able to do things because of me. And that was a great feeling. I really enjoyed that.

Nick VinZant 18:28

Are there? Is it a pretty competitive industry in the sense that like, man, you're one of if you're applying for a new trainer job there, you're one of how many people going for this? Or is like, well, we can't find people?

Joel Norton 18:40

Yeah, I think you know, I don't know exactly what the industry is like right now. I don't I know it is, it's fairly competitive. Because this is an industry that that can be pretty financially rewarding. A lot of animal stuff tend to be pretty low pay. So you keeping animal care, they tend to not pay very much because so many people want to do the job. However, I think the industry as a whole can only support so much. There's only so many productions that have animals in them. And so that really limits the amount of trainers that can be hired by companies in a work at any given time. Especially, you know, 20 years ago, this was a completely different industry. Before there was computers. Every animal was was a practical animal on set. There were tigers, there were elephants, there were bears. There were things and now, aside from dogs, almost all exotics are computer generated in some way because you just have so it's a lot cheaper and you have a tremendous more amount of flexibility in what you can do. Yeah,

Nick VinZant 19:50

that I mean, that makes especially with some exotic animals, like quite frankly, I don't want a tiger. Right, like, let's ugi that.

Joel Norton 19:58

Right? I mean and that's the way it's gone. And CGI has gotten so good now that I can I can tell, I can tell as a trainer most of the time just by the action because oh no, there is no way that a real animal would have done that. Or that they would allow a real animal to do that thing. So what they'll do a lot now too, instead of firing an exotic for the entire production, they'll hire the exotic and do like some some in studio green screen work. And so motion capture work. And then they'll translate that and, you know, turn it into a whole film.

Nick VinZant 20:33

Do you guys work a lot with exotic exotic animals or our dogs cats?

Joel Norton 20:38

know our company, our company, Hollywood paws, we only do domestic animals. Just domestic, so no exotics. Our bread and butter is just dogs, we don't do cat. We do small animals and some other stuff as those jobs come up. Rabbits and birds and some stuff like that. But our bread and butter by far is dogs. They're the most used and watch, watch TV, watch movies, watch commercials, you'll see. You know, you'll see 10 Dogs before you see one snake or one mouse or one rat, they're just, you know, they're the most used domestic animals. So it's where you want to work. That's the animal you should have.

Nick VinZant 21:15

Yeah, I would think that dogs are probably the easiest to use.

Joel Norton 21:19

They are because they're the they're the ones that like to work. Right. All the other exotic animals don't work because their food motivated, though work because of their training everything else. Dogs want to please. You know, cats? Not not so much. You know? Yeah,

Nick VinZant 21:34

I guess how do the animals generally handle it? Right? Can you tell? Looking at it like this dog is all about it? And this dog is just Yeah, it's not half.

Joel Norton 21:43

So absolutely. So. So there are some definite prerequisites that that we tell people who are considering getting into this. The the main ones that we go to our competence and food drive, those those are the two absolute most important. Competence is pretty obvious and straightforward. Working on set, you're working with strangers and loud noises and new people in new environments. And if you've ever gone up to a dog, and you've gone to pet it, and it kind of pulls away, you know, does that shy thing? Nope, not a good not a good candidate at all. Because we never want to put a dog in a position where they're unhappy, where they're, they're scared where they're nervous, and that nothing you ever want to do. So confidence is number one. Second one is food drive. Everything that a dog does on set is voluntary. So if you picture a scene, you picture a dog, you picture freight the dog from Frasier, Eddie, that dog is in the middle of a scene, sitting in a chair. You know, being asked to do things by a trainer, there's nobody there to make that dog do anything. You know, that dog is supposed to bark at a certain line and then lay down and then go pick up a toy and get back in the chair. Whatever the action is. No one's there making that dog do that that dog is doing that on its own because it wants to and and dogs like to work but they they need something to make sure they're motivated and that

Nick VinZant 23:08

food. I feel like that's us too, though, when you get right down to it.

Joel Norton 23:12

Oh, yeah, exactly. Substitute food for a paycheck which equals food. Yeah, same. Same thing you're not going to dig a ditch for for $1 an hour in the hot sun. And a dog is not going to work on set for 12 hours for a tennis ball.

Nick VinZant 23:27

Has the industry changed in a way like what kind of protections are in place for the animals to make sure that people aren't

Joel Norton 23:35

the there are several productions, I like to think of first and foremost is us the trainers. It is not in our best interest or anyone's best interest to push a dog on set to a point where they no longer want to work because that doesn't benefit anybody. Right? Once a dog is scared or pushed to the point where it doesn't want to work anymore, nobody benefits from that we now have a dog that's not going to want to work on set. So that burns us for all future jobs for that dog. And our production it day is over with the dogs. Oh, we still have more scenes, well, it's too bad the dog doesn't want won't do it anymore. And like I said earlier, it's voluntary. So we can't make the dog do it. As far as other safeguards, there are companies like American Humane and math, which stands for moving animals protected. And their sole purpose is again to just be there on set. And to help us as trainers mediate any, any issues we may have or any any things that we may have may have not noticed or things that they can just help us with things like you know, making sure the asphalt isn't too hot and helping us you know, say okay, you know, we can only do this scene one more time because the you know, the sun is just getting too hot or, or whatever, there's not enough shade in this thing. And so they're there to help us. Make sure that no animals are harmed and everything else but again, it starts with the trainer. It starts with us And again, it's a no one's best interest to make a dog be scared or be hurt or beat, you know, it doesn't help anybody. I've never understood why people like think that working on set is, is some sort of an abusive industry because it's literally the opposite. It's one of the few industries that is all voluntary. You know, there's no leashes there's, you know, the dog does what it wants what it wants, and if it doesn't want it, it doesn't do it. It's as simple as that.

Nick VinZant 25:28

Has that always been the case? Or do you feel like that's kind of changed over the last whatever amount of time?

Joel Norton 25:34

As far as like exotic animals and some of those other ones? I think that there were probably some unfortunate things that were done earlier on. And I'm sure if people google it, they'll find things. But with domestic dogs, it's not really the case. And and with exotics again, it's just not that way anymore.

Nick VinZant 25:55

Boy, if you get that PR hit, somebody finds out that oh, yeah, she that'll crash and fast.

Joel Norton 26:01

Absolutely. And it happened with whatever movie that was a dog purpose, or a dog's life, whatever that was. And there was, there was some video that that was edited to look like the dog was, was really struggling to swim. And that was enough to absolutely dismantle that whole, you know, killed everything about that production. So again, it's in no one's best interest to even do things that are perceived.

Nick VinZant 26:28

Are you ready for some harder slash listener submitted questions? Absolutely. most in demand dog,

Joel Norton 26:34

family dogs. That that's the general set, golden lab, terrier mixes sort of that the generic dog that you can't really tell what it is. Those are by far the most in demand, by far, least least is a variety least right off the bat. solid black dog. If you've ever tried to dig up a cell phone video or picture of a solid black dog, what happens? Same thing happens with black shirt. You can't see anything. It all blends together. There's no definition there's no you can't see it. So solid black dogs and darker dogs are almost never picked. You can't ever say Never say never because there is a black dog in a movie but I mean, overall, very rarely pick. The other one is sort of the the white fluffy dogs. I'm sure you've seen lots of little white fluffy dogs in your life. For some reason they're almost never picked for studio work. I don't know why.

Nick VinZant 27:31

I would think that they would be picked it seems like the kind of like I feel like there's always I think of Jennifer Coolidge seems like you

Joel Norton 27:40

Yeah, I mean but watch TV and movies and we we have they have not they just typically are not picked you think maybe they would be but they are not I mean so same thing was like there are a purse dog we called purse dog or whatever productions out there where you know we we did like the African the advertising for illegally brought up Legally Blonde on Broadway and so we we brought Chihuahuas and things like that because that was a dog but that sort of an exception. You know those those dogs are not really highly sought after this because they they they portray a look that just for whatever reason I get I don't know why I'm not the one who picks the dogs or or decides what goes in what they just don't work very much.

Nick VinZant 28:25

Yeah, that's one of those things that even thinking about is like, Well, why wouldn't that dog work?

Joel Norton 28:29

Yeah, yeah, your guess is good might be John freeze A's and multis, mixes and all those things. We see them all the time people contact all the time, but they just don't work.

Nick VinZant 28:41

Most unique commands you've ever had to teach in a dog or an animal.

Joel Norton 28:47

That is a good grant a great question to come to mind. Our company was contacted by a reality show about it was called Guinness World Records unleashed. There was a TV show about people breaking Guinness World Records. And spoiler alert reality shows are often not real. Sorry, if I'm breaking hearts out there. It's it's more scripted than you would ever believe it is. And so we were hired as a as a studio company to train animals to break records. One of them was removing socks and shoes and so one of our trainers, Brianna Messerschmitt, she has two Guinness World Records and she was a trainer on the job for most Sox removed by a dog and 62nd and most shoes removed by dog and 60 seconds. And she was on the Katie Couric show and promoted it and everything else and it was but the thing we she was hired to do it and paid as a as a studio trainer to do it. So that's fairly unique.

Nick VinZant 29:47

How many? How many socks and shoes was it? Like I would be impressed to To be honest, right?

Joel Norton 29:52

Yeah, it was. It was a lot and it was we she ran out of people. I want to say it was like they were it was like 30 Teen People so, so 13 times two sets of socks and shoes, and she had at least 15 seconds left. But since there weren't any more people on there, she broke the record with that amount. They they set it up. So she broke the record, not that she set a new record. So once she broke the record with those 13 people on the Katie Couric show back when she used to have a talk show, that was that was it?

Nick VinZant 30:23

I can't believe reality TV.

Joel Norton 30:25

It just sorry, Bachelor nation.

Nick VinZant 30:31

Actor that seems to get along best with animals.

Joel Norton 30:35

Oh, most most of them almost because who doesn't love dogs? You know what I mean? Like when you show up on set, and you have an animal, you're you're the I'm oftentimes the, you know, the best person that people like to see on set purely because I have the dog that's there. So the only time that I've ever had an issue was we put, like I said earlier, we provide other animals and we have provided snakes and things like that. And that's where people start to, not like when we show up. And so I did an episode of The New Adventures of Old Christine with Julie was Dreyfus that show, Wanda Sykes was on that show. And she wanted abs. If I was in the studio, she did not want to be in the studio. And I tried not to take it personally. But it was because she was just absolutely terrified of snakes.

Nick VinZant 31:23

Yeah, everybody does, like dogs. Yeah. Especially when they're nice, right? Yeah. And

Joel Norton 31:28

we don't right. And we don't bring not nice dogs, anyone did dogs are supposed to look mean, or they're not really mean, you know, it's all it's all training, you know, like the barking and growling and snarling, or, you know, being afraid or whatever. That's not none of that's real. It's all it's all we it's all things we do to make it look real thing. They added sound, we use little devices and things like that. You know, some of the friendliest dogs, you know, can look really scary on set if you get them to bark just right.

Nick VinZant 31:56

Most famous TV dog, our most famous, I guess, who would you say is kind of like that was the most famous dog?

Joel Norton 32:03

Oh, it may have been because I already mentioned it, but the dog from Modern Family, despite there being two dogs, and then Eddie from Frasier, I think are the most two well known TV dogs. Because they, they did so many seasons, you know, season after season, and the dog was just sort of always in the background and reminded you was there. You know, and there's been other dogs and TV shows, but I think purely for the runtime of those series. Those dogs really stood out.

Nick VinZant 32:36

The one that jumps out to me, right, it's like a robot, right? Because they made a ton of them. Will that be the same animal the whole time?

Joel Norton 32:43

No. So for for movies like Air Bud will oftentimes will get doubles for things like that, like that. The classic case is like Marley and Me, you know, during the movie Marlene me with, you know, Owen Wilson, I think yeah, they were famously 22. yellow lab in that in that movie. So that's, that's a lot, you know. And it's because there was so many different actions that those dogs are doing the dog was mellow. The dog was old, the dog was young, the dog was destructive that I was pulling on leash, the dog was asleep. And it can be so difficult to get a dog that is just crazy energy to pretend to be asleep all the time, that they just got a bunch of they got a bunch of backup, they got a bunch of doubles. And yellow labs are easy because all yellow labs kind of look like if it was a button in that thing. That would have been impossible because you can't find that many that can double each other and you can be able to tell

Nick VinZant 33:41

and then how would they do that then they would just like anytime they really showed the face they would just like this is the face dog.

Joel Norton 33:48

It's more show more. So the action. This is the this is this is the hyper dog. This is the crazy high energy ball drive dog and this is the very low energy mellow fleets. You know the all the scenes where the dog is not doing things they use that dog and all the scenes where the dog is dragging Owen Wilson down the street and ripping up the sofa. That's the hyperdocs

Nick VinZant 34:14

Who would you say like could you say like, who's like the best acting? Dog like oh, man, that dog did the best job of like, yeah, cutting

Joel Norton 34:24

the dogs are all the dogs are doing is what the trainers have taught them to do. Right? So that's that's what the dogs are doing. They're not there's no. So in other words, we get a lot of times where the script will say the dog is sad or the dog is this dog is scared. We don't ever make a dog be scared on set. We don't actually make a dog scared on set. We do things like teach your dog to lower their head and back up. And on camera. All of a sudden that looks like a scared dog. That's Oh, that dog enter the room lowered its head made a whimper inside out and back out slowly. To me, that looks like a scared dog. You know, but that's not, that's not really what happened, there wasn't any fear involved at all, there was very, very specific training, that dog was probably loving every second of that. And a lot of times, we have to work to get the dog's tail to stop wagging. Because it's like, it's supposed to be scared, but the dog is so happy to be to work and to be on set and to be around people that has tails wagging. And so we have to work and make sure that tails like not wagging actively in the seat. So again, there's, there isn't any, you know, acting emotion that the dog is, is displaying, it's all, it's all training. And, and there, there are more, you know, examples of great trained dogs and I that I could even list you know, the the dogs that are in that, that that TV show the old man, here's a couple Rottweilers on that show, he's got those, those dogs are fantastic, you know, very well trained, they looked aggressive, they look scary. But at the same time, they also looked amazingly sweet there, Jeff Bridges, personal dogs that are loving and cuddling and doing all these things. So I think that's amazing acting, you know, those dogs are actively believably looking like they're ripping people to shreds. And then the next thing they're actively cuddling with, with actors.

Nick VinZant 36:15

This one might be out of the realm necessarily, but maybe you know the answer. Is there ever been an animal that was cast? And I think they probably mean an exotic animal who's like, we want this. But yeah, we just couldn't do it. The thing that would come to my mind, like, we want to make this movie with a koala bear, but just couldn't do it

Joel Norton 36:34

yourself. I don't know anyone who has a working panda. Nobody owns one, you know, companies can't get one. So if that was something that somebody wanted to do in a, in a writers room, hey, we want to show and we're gonna build it around this panda as a main character. I mean, it might be able to be done at someone who's willing to commit to it, but it's not something that a company has that we can then train and you know, it's just not really feasible. So, there may be a situation like that that's existed. But I don't know, because I probably stopped dead in its tracks. You know, somebody went, Oh, no, that's prohibitively expensive, just make it a make it a chinchilla, rather than a koala, and we'll go from there, and we never heard about it.

Nick VinZant 37:13

That's pretty much all the questions I got, man, is there anything else you think that we missed? Or, you know, how can people learn more about you about the company?

Joel Norton 37:21

Sure, I mean, I can do blurb about ourselves. So our company is Hollywood paws, you can go on our website, if people have a dog that they think would be a good fit, you know, it fits the criteria that I talked about, it's confidence, who driven it's got a look, that you know, as a family dog, or a terrier, make it look like something that, that you have seen on TV or you know, fit to look like you, you know, people can reach out, and we will be happy to give them honest feedback as far as their dogs potential and, and it's, you know, it's not required that anyone take our training or anything else, all that we require to be able to represent a dog and take them on set is that they just have to be studio trained. Where they get the training really doesn't matter to us, we have programs that we can help them because it is so unique, and most people don't know how to do it. But all they have to do is be trained, and we will happily take them on set and work them and the the owner will get the money that we charged for for the studio annual rental. So it's a great way to make money. And it's a really fun, fun way to to bond with your dog and do some unique training. And so, you know, to all the people who love agility and love doing all these extracurriculars. If you're looking for something that was fun to do, studio trading can be fun, regardless of whether your dog works or not. Because it's it's very unique stuff that's done in a unique way. That is unlike any other type of training that's out there.

Professional Mermaid Brandee Anthony

Brandee Anthony is best known as the Vero Beach Mermaid. But for her, being a Professional Mermaid isn't just a dream, it's a career. One that involves specialized dive training, expensive equipment and occasionally, thick skin. We talk becoming a Professional Mermaid, Mermaid diving courses, tails that can cost tens of thousands and why mermaids are soaring in popularity. Then, we countdown the Top 5 Mythical Creatures.

Brandee Anthony: 01:04

Pointless: 32:25

Top 5: 54:59

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Mermaid FreeDive

Interview with Professional Mermaid Brandee Anthony

Nick VinZant 0:11

Welcome to Profoundly Pointless. My name is Nick VinZant. Coming up in this episode mermaids and myths,

Professional Mermaid Brandee Anthony 0:19

I definitely did not grow up thinking I was going to be a professional mermaid, the silicone tail, which is like the top of the tiers of tails. Those range anywhere from two to $20,000. And to me, I tell people, it's like unlocking a superpower. Everyone will say,

Nick VinZant 0:39

I want to thank you so much for joining us. If you get a chance, subscribe, leave us a rating or review. We really appreciate it. It really helps out the show. If you're a new listener, welcome to the show. If you're a longtime listener, thank you so much for all of your support. I want to get right to our first guest. This is professional mermaid brandy Anthony. Professional mermaid sounds pretty self explanatory. But But what is this, like in reality, in actuality,

Professional Mermaid Brandee Anthony 1:11

I do a lot of different things. It can be anything from performing entertaining, conservation charity, I also have a dive school where I teach other people how to be a mermaid and how to freedive I photograph people in mermaid tails. I'm a content creator. So there's a lot that can go into what being a professional mermaid means.

Nick VinZant 1:34

Like, it's for me, I wouldn't have guessed this would be like a career. Did you kind of make this a career? Or was this

Professional Mermaid Brandee Anthony 1:43

I definitely did not grow up thinking I was going to be a professional mermaid. I fell into it. Almost seven years ago now. I was live streaming on an app called Periscope. I was doing that full time. And I'm like, how else can I kind of do something interesting and new with live streaming? And no one really goes live underwater. So I thought this would be so epic. Let me do a whole live stream underwater. But how can I make it interesting, and I don't really remember where I got it in my mind that I a mermaid would be an interesting like thing to do. But I decided I was gonna buy a mermaid tail and get the GoPro and rig it all up and do this beautiful mermaid performance underwater. And I had never swam in a tail before the live stream. And everything went really well. And I was just completely hooked as soon as I put that thing on. And then next thing I knew I started a little Facebook page, I created the name Vero Beach mermaid. And I started going viral pretty quickly realized that a lot of people loved seeing the mermaid stuff. And next thing I knew I had a full fledged mermaid company.

Nick VinZant 3:00

Were you surprised that people were so interested in it?

Professional Mermaid Brandee Anthony 3:06

I wouldn't say I was surprised. I know that we as humans have always been obsessed with the idea of Atlantis and you know, people being able to be half fish, half human. And you know all of the folklore that comes behind mermaids and the mythology of a mermaid has been around for such a long time. So we've always been fascinated with it. So I knew that with my own love for mermaids and mermaid art mermaid folklore that it's not surprising people would enjoy it. I just didn't think it would yield so much of a career success than just entertainment to people.

Nick VinZant 3:47

What is it about mermaids that kind of draws you to them?

Professional Mermaid Brandee Anthony 3:52

I think it's different for everyone. For me, it's it's the water aspect. It's that someone with human qualities to them can live in the underwater world, which for a lot of us who love to dive and love to swim. That's just kind of that dream state. So when you think about if you could be turned into anything, what would it be? It would be for me someone who could be underwater, which is the mermaid. So I've always loved just the lore of living underwater. I think that's my biggest draw to the mermaid stuff.

Nick VinZant 4:26

I'm not a huge water person. But I could see where people would enjoy it. I just get too scared. So like of the professional mermaid businesses, right? Like I know that you have courses do photography or scuba diving all kinds of different things. Which aspect of it would you say is the biggest

Professional Mermaid Brandee Anthony 4:44

right now? For me, it's the I own a company called mermaid freedive. So we do all inclusive retreats, and there are basically four days of Patty mermaid and Patty freedive. training to get your certifications. And then we infuse meditation, breath work yoga, acro yoga, all of these other modalities into the four day experience freediving is, is for everyone, but is not easy. So, you know, combining that mermaid thing with a true sport like freediving has become kind of a my greatest success in the mermaid Business Is everyone seeing these online videos and seeing the beautiful tails and wanting a little piece of that for themselves?

Nick VinZant 5:32

I want to ask you about the tails in a second because if people's ever seen him, like holy crap, that's a lot of work that looks like it goes into that. But so for the courses like are you teaching them? And it just happens to be mermaid? Are you like specifically No, like this is?

Professional Mermaid Brandee Anthony 5:47

So Patti, the dive organization has a program specifically designed to teach mermaid eating skills, which are you know, diving down to certain depths, learning how to hold your breath, learning how to do tricks and somersaults and how to blow bubble rings and do performance things. All while having good form and really honing in on safety. Because breath holding and diving in general, like there are some risks, especially when you put a mermaid tail on. So learning how to safely rescue a blackout or rescue and LMC or, you know, different scenarios that could happen out in the water, and just becoming a steward of the water and a safe one.

Nick VinZant 6:31

So is it mostly women? Who are professional mermaids are in the mermaid classes? Or is I guess what some? What's a mermaid Merman?

Professional Mermaid Brandee Anthony 6:40

Is there a merman man and merfolk you know, how you identify? I would say the industry is predominantly female. But in the pro space, there's a ton of different people, um, that are not all just females. But when it comes to my particular courses, I think I mostly attract women. I do have some men attend the retreats or the different courses. The freediving side attracts more of our male audience, and the mermaid side naturally attracts more of the female. We also do couples retreats so that people can come out and both learn the skills whether mermaid or freediving. My partner is a free dive instructor and he teaches a lot of the guys had a free dive. But we have a decent combination of people.

Nick VinZant 7:36

So how popular would you say this is right? And I know that's kind of halt hard to quantify but are you scrounging for customers are turning in the way to be dramatic.

Professional Mermaid Brandee Anthony 7:45

It is definitely becoming more mainstream. I'd seven years ago when I when I would say I'm a professional mermaid, everyone would look at me weird. And now when I say it, everyone knows somebody that has a tail or is a mermaid of some sorts. And Patty, which we certified through does a lot of certifications in mermaid now the program is fairly new, but in 2022 I did I think it was like 155 Mermaid certifications. So I'm not scrounging for clients. I always have room to have more people come out to this stuff. But it's it's an application process, usually for the retreats just to make sure that you're a good fit for that type of experience versus our courses. But yeah, I don't have to scrap for them. There's actually a lot of people out there that want to come to this experience. I call it the ultimate adult sleepover.

Nick VinZant 8:48

I always think of those things of like Rockstar camp, right? We're like people who wanted to be musicians, we go to rock star camp. It seems kind of like Princess camp in the water. Is that an unfair characterization or kind of fair.

Professional Mermaid Brandee Anthony 9:03

So I think it would depend on the mermaid that you talk to, I'm very much into the sport side of mermaid thing. So the breath holding the depth, the skills, the performance that you can create. Not the pretty aspect. So much. So I would definitely say it's not for princesses. It's for days of a lot of dive training in some semi chilly water. And we don't wear the tails for most of our training, we wear wetsuits and masks and we have on a full monofin and a weight belt and like the whole the whole freedive get up. We only put the tails on for like the fun day. But it's a lot of actual hard work

Nick VinZant 9:46

for people. The way that let's say the being dramatic here, right the outside world so to speak. Is it viewed as weird by people?

Professional Mermaid Brandee Anthony 9:57

Yeah, not as much now because it's become popular, and because you can go to a store and see a mermaid tail for sale. whereas years ago, you you, couldn't you no one knew of that. But I definitely still have my share of people who think like, Oh, she's delusional, maybe she wasn't loved enough as a child was one of the comments once. But for the most part, it's actually received really positively, especially when they see what kind of business I pull as a career move from this, and how many people it's helped them, you know, heal something or become a safe person in the water, or a lot of people were fearful of being underwater when they came to these retreats. And now they love the water, and they want to protect the water. And so I definitely get the that's the weird fish girl face. But it's not as common as you think it is.

Nick VinZant 11:00

But have you built it up more than other people?

Professional Mermaid Brandee Anthony 11:03

I'm up there. But there are, I wouldn't say quite a few I'd probably say make, there's maybe a couple of handfuls of other people who are at this level of pro mermaid. And then you have a lot of people who are more hobbyists, they might do a little bit of performing, it's a side job or something for fun. Versus the few of us were like this is an entire career. But the community itself is huge. The mermaid community and how many people are enthusiastic about all of the mermaid stuff is is pretty large,

Nick VinZant 11:36

I was really impressed by the tails. Like to me they look like they're heavy, or they have some weight to them. And they look expensive.

Professional Mermaid Brandee Anthony 11:45

Yes to all of that depends on the tail. So we have a few levels of tails. The base level is a fabric tail, it's just made of like kind of like swimsuit material. And then you have a mono fin that you can put inside of it. Those range anywhere from three to $800 with the mono fin, and they're pretty light, they're, you know, probably under 10 pounds, then the silicone tail, which is like the top of the tiers of tails. Those range anywhere from two to $20,000. And they can weigh anywhere from 25 to 50 pounds $20,000.

Nick VinZant 12:25

Like why is

Professional Mermaid Brandee Anthony 12:28

that pretty rare to come across one that's that expensive, but they do exist because they are so intricately created the normal standard price, I would say you're looking at like three to 6000 which is still, but you have to figure it, it takes an artist years of skill to get to the point of sculpting a mermaid tail, and then pouring silicone and pulling the mold and putting the whole tail together and then hand painting the tail. And it's all custom to each client, what they like their measurements. It's a very intricate process that takes weeks for one of them to be created. And then you have the materials on top of that the dragon silicone is pretty expensive, too. So it's an it's really a working piece of art. It's a usable, wearable piece of art.

Nick VinZant 13:23

When you look at the tails, like what are most people looking for? Are they using it to swim? Or is it more of like a photo I want to wear this at the beach kind of thing.

Professional Mermaid Brandee Anthony 13:35

I would say most people are interested in swimming in them. That's the allure, they see our videos diving in them, which is why they come to do the mermaid free dive training is so that they can learn to swim in them. And that our courses start from age six to there is no age limit. And a lot of people I think get the tails so they can swim. There's probably a few that don't want to swim, just like to you know, feel like a mermaid and take some cool photos. But I would say majority would like to swim in them.

Nick VinZant 14:08

So I'm sure you've heard this one before. Right? Like people conceptualize anything. Is there some aspect of that involved in this?

Professional Mermaid Brandee Anthony 14:19

Not for me, I mean, I don't involve that aspect into my work at all. And I really don't get any feedback online that is in that nature. I know that it exists, but it's not something that's ever been something that I've created in my work and it's not something that I've had to experience. We get the occasional the term is Mirvac segregates occasional mer vert, but other than that, no, I that hasn't been you know something that's been a part of what I do in the mermaid stuff, but it, it is society and society will literally sexualize anything, unfortunately. But I am lucky that that's never been something that I've had to deal with

Nick VinZant 15:11

is that though some is that it's not unreceived Darkside right, because whatever people are into, like do your thing I don't care. Um, but is that a known side of the industry amongst professional mermaids and like some people will Oh, and some people won't?

Professional Mermaid Brandee Anthony 15:30

I would say no, I would say, I don't know anybody that works in that space with mermaid stuff. I wouldn't be naive to think it exists. But among all of the professionals that I've been surrounded around, or I've worked with, that's not even something that like is a topic of discussion or something that's ever like brought up in a conversation. It's not something like we, I think that the most odd requests I ever got, was to be in my tail, like for a sushi party, and they wanted to put sushi all over me and I was like, it, thank you, but it is a hard no for me. Whereas there are, you know, other entertainers who, you know, might do that, but they're probably not pro mermaids. They're probably like a model or a performer putting a tail on to do something like that. Versus a professional mermaid. No, that wouldn't be a common thing

Nick VinZant 16:32

that makes sense, right? Like that. Probably side of things does exist, but maybe they target a different demographic, if that's what they're interested in. Um, are you ready for some harder slash listener submitted questions, because we have a bunch of them? Sure. Okay. Let's get that. Let's get this one out of the way. First, how long into a conversation with somebody before they bring up Ariel?

Professional Mermaid Brandee Anthony 16:57

That would be within. There's actually one thing Trump's Ariel, it's the wiki watching mermaids. I don't know if you've ever heard of them. But if there's a spring here in Florida called wiki watchI springs, and they've had a mermaid show, for I don't know when it started, but it goes way back, I think, like 50 years or so. And they're these amazing performers that you know, perform in the spring water and there's like a glass wall and you can sit and watch the performance. And that's the first thing everybody asks is Oh, you must be wiki watch your which you washy. They say it a different way every time. That's always first. So Ariel usually comes up second. And that's within a couple minutes of the conversation is you must want to be Ariel, you must be obsessed with the Little Mermaid. And then of course, I've had red hair for a long time. Not currently, but I do get pretty red. And I think people think I'm trying to cause play her but I'm not surprisingly enough. But it is definitely you know, I get pointed out a lot. That that that's Ariel walking around with her human legs. So I would say pretty. Pretty early on in a conversation

Nick VinZant 18:13

does it make your icon a twitch? Or is it just like, he just gotta you just gotta accept it right? Like, I'm, like Tom Hanks getting yelled, Run Forrest run, like you just, there's nothing you can do about it. And that's just gonna happen. Yeah,

Professional Mermaid Brandee Anthony 18:27

it doesn't bother me. I, I have blue eyes and red hair. So like, I'm asking for it. I feel like anyways. But no, it doesn't bother me at all.

Nick VinZant 18:39

Is this becoming more or less popular recently? And when do you think that change kind of seemed to happen? Was there something that just kicked it off? Or did it happen organically?

Professional Mermaid Brandee Anthony 18:51

That's a good question. I would say it rose in popularity in the last five years. I'm not sure why I know that. That's when I discovered it. And prior to that I had no idea there was pro mermaids and that tail makers existed. And I feel like most the people I know who work in this industry are also within the last seven years. So I don't know if it's just when tail makers started, like really, you know, started putting themselves out there. I know only a few people who've been doing this like more than 10 years. So I would definitely say it's just started in popularity. The live action Little Mermaid comes out soon. And that will definitely bring up the interest and then Black Panther and Avatar. The two second editions. Also both hugely helped the freedive industry, which is what Mermaid King is, so we've had a lot more interest in learning to freedive because both of those movies were so heavily based underwater, and all of the actors underwent freediving training to Do those movies. I think it was Sigourney Weaver. Got a six minute breath hold while training for Avatar two, which is insane. And I don't know when you know it might lose popularity I just know that mermaids have never lost popularity in our in our history of folklore and mythology. It's always been a fascination you see mermaids everywhere. And I don't see that, you know, kind of going away. And then I don't see kids ever not loving mermaids, so I think it's going to always stay. And then you know, when we see movies like a new Little Mermaid, it will just increase that interest during that time.

Nick VinZant 20:41

What's the appeal of like? Why free divers opposed to scuba diving like why? What's the

Professional Mermaid Brandee Anthony 20:47

that's a great question. As probably one of my favorite questions why free dive right? Like why hold your breath if you can be on air. Scuba diving is amazing. It has its place but it has so much gear. It is heavy, it's intrusive, it's just you know, it's you really have to put in time to go do a scuba dive. Whereas free diving, you can be 100%, gearless, you don't have to wear anything if you don't want to. And it's just learning how to connect your mind and body in a way where you can feel calm when you maybe feel like you shouldn't. And to me, I tell people, it's like unlocking a superpower. Everyone will say, Oh, I can't hold my breath more than 30 seconds. And most of those people when we work with them, we can get them to a two minute breath hold on their first or second try. And to see them like light up like wow, I can hold my breath for multiple minutes is such a superpower and then learning how to equalize on a single breath. So going deep without air is just such an incredible feeling. It's hard to describe. But when you're pulling down a line and you're just with yourself, and there's nothing else you can't hear anything, you really can't think about other things. It is an incredibly meditative experience. So not only is it just a fun challenge, but it's something that I think learning how to properly breathe and how to properly hold your breath can be applied to everything in your daily life, how to calm yourself down in any stressor starts with something like holding your breath. And the other thing is you can pop up and down in freediving. Whereas scuba, you have a lot more you know, things you need to adhere to time on the top, you know time to to do your stop. There's different risks with scuba diving and free diving is just a bit more natural and free but obviously you can't stay down as long so I think they both have their place if you enjoy being in the water.

Nick VinZant 22:56

Like this question that follows up to it. Does all this then make snorkeling? Lame?

Professional Mermaid Brandee Anthony 23:02

So scuba divers are kind of funny, right? They a lot of them don't get free diving because they're they scuba dive. They're like why wouldn't you want to breathe? So whenever we're on the scuba boats as free divers that they always say, oh, look out the extreme snorkelers are coming.

Nick VinZant 23:22

That's pretty good. And

Professional Mermaid Brandee Anthony 23:23

that is what it is. It is extreme snorkeling.

Nick VinZant 23:26

I don't know if that makes it more. I don't know what I don't know if I give me and if they were like a be testing that in marketing. I don't know like extreme snorkeling. I don't know if I might be a little more interested in extreme snorkeling than free diving. Free diving sounds

Professional Mermaid Brandee Anthony 23:43

like who would use the term Free diving but you know, that's that's what it is. You are snorkeling half the time and you're diving half the time.

Nick VinZant 23:52

Yeah. Best best mermaid in media fiction, that kind of stuff. Worst mermaid in media fiction.

Professional Mermaid Brandee Anthony 24:02

I am not that good with mermaids in the media. Everyone always has this misconception that like I probably have seen every mermaid movie and like no every mermaid character because I am a pro mermaid. I only just saw splash for the first time a couple of years ago because I was so tired of people giving me the you haven't seen splash face. So I would say I loved Daryl Hannah as a mermaid she is probably one of the few mermaids who had a real silicone mermaid tail made. So the process that she went through to have this tail made the extensive time she had to sit in this silicone tail is pretty impressive. So I would probably rate her number one just because she actually had to work really hard. Whereas a lot of mermaid stuff is CGI. And it's you know, I can't really appreciate appreciate a CGI me are made versus someone who put the whole get up on.

Nick VinZant 25:03

What if, though, okay, but what if this was reversed and it was fish, upper body, human lower body.

Professional Mermaid Brandee Anthony 25:13

So I had a moment on social media and I didn't catch it. But I did this, like I held on to the rope underwater, and I was a free divers, so I was in human form. And I like went to do a back stretch, and it's being filmed and a fish swam by. And if you pause, the moment that fish swims by in the video, it completely replaces my head, instead of a bunch of people have screenshotted it and sent it to me, and it's a fish's head with my freedive. And I was I was kind of here for it. I kind of like it.

Nick VinZant 25:46

Yeah. One way seems pretty practical. The other way seems like a huge pain in the ass. Right? Like,

Professional Mermaid Brandee Anthony 25:53

it seems impractical the other way, but I, I would still support it.

Nick VinZant 25:59

Um, how can people get involved in conservation, I know you do a lot for ocean conservation, water conservation in general.

Professional Mermaid Brandee Anthony 26:07

Yeah, I always tell everybody that the best way to get involved is to educate yourself first and foremost, to be aware of the issues that are out there to start raising more discussions about the issues that we have, obviously, water is our entire life force. And if we don't have good warm water, we're not going to survive. So when you know, people maybe don't take an interest in water and protecting it, it's interesting, because you know, we can't survive without it. And almost all waterways have something they're fighting against. Like, for instance, the Florida Springs is dealing with our aquifers are drying out, due to pumping too much water out of them. And they're also getting a lot of pollution from runoff from farms, fertilizers, sewage, things like that our oceans are facing, you know, the warming of the seas, the coral is dying at a rapid rate, there's a lot of different things, the Great Lakes, you know, the lakes have their own issues. So there's a lot out there and it can feel overwhelming. So I always just say, think of a body of water that is close to your heart, a stream, a lake, a river, the ocean, and then learn about the things that it's up against. And then from there, you can start to learn how you might be able to make an impact, whether that's using less water at home, ditching the plastic water bottles, you know, ditching organizations that are harmful to the waterways, things like that, because it's quite a rabbit hole of overwhelm. But there's a lot of ways we can kind of just actively get involved and start making more changes so that we have coral reefs for generations to come. And we have, you know, enough drinking water for the generations to come as well.

Nick VinZant 28:02

Do people seem to be more serious about it? lately? I mean, I think I know in the past, right, like, there was save everything, you know, and I think that people were kind of like, okay, all right. But do people seem like they're taking it more seriously now? Or is it still kind of like, okay, save the water.

Professional Mermaid Brandee Anthony 28:21

I think it's becoming more serious, like, like, for instance, the sunscreen, it's very easy to buy a product that's not harmful to fish and coral versus a product that is, and because everybody is like, Okay, if it's that simple of this one is going to kill the ocean. And this one isn't. Let me make the switch to the point where the brands are now having to make the switch as well, and take those harmful things out of the product. So as a consumer, if we just don't support something that is so blatantly harmful, when there is an alternative, it's going to make that entire company have to rearrange, we as the consumers are in control. Unfortunately, I think we just let the brands control us a lot of times. But if we really pick and choose what we consume, we can change the narrative. So something as simple as changing up your sunscreen when you're gonna get in a natural body of water. You know, it's a small thing I know, people will listen to be like, That's the least of our worries. But if that's the way you think of things, we're never gonna get anywhere. And if we bombard people with like, everything's terrible, that's not going to help people either. So just small adjustments and we call it being imperfectly sustainable, finding ways in our imperfect lives to help reduce and you know, use use less.

Nick VinZant 29:51

Is there like a hotbed of professional mermaids or mermaid activity for people? I imagine it's gotta be on the coast, but it's it's like it's Florida, bigger than Texas or Hawaii. Is there kind of like, Oh, you gotta go here.

Professional Mermaid Brandee Anthony 30:02

So China is the biggest. That is where a lot of mermaid eating originated. So like in the patty program, Patty, Asia is the ones that actually created the mermaid program. And then Patty Americas is now you know, bringing that on in the English language, but it actually was written over there. So China has has beat the world record for the most mermaids in a body of water. I know that the Marines over here are hoping to beat that record eventually, but it's massive there. It's a huge thing. I would say in America, Florida is definitely going to be your biggest because of the warm weather year round. And then California also is hugely popular with mermaids. The Florida springs definitely bring a lot of a lord summer meeting to our state, because it's crystal clear water that is perfect for a mermaid and everybody wants to come visit. And that's where everyone who wants to be a pro is kind of moving to is here in Florida.

Nick VinZant 31:10

That's pretty much all the questions that I have what's kind of coming up next for you? How can people learn more?

Professional Mermaid Brandee Anthony 31:17

So you can visit my website mermaid freedive.com. I also have Vero Beach mermaid Dotco depending on you know whether you want to be a mermaid, higher a mermaid, whatever it might be, that lures you into the mermaid world, we pretty much have something you know, for everyone. Not everyone, but almost everyone

Nick VinZant 31:39

yatta yatta. Not missing one

Professional Mermaid Brandee Anthony 31:43

key niche there, but it's a lot of fun. And if you just like to see what I'm talking about, just you know, going on social media and looking up Vero Beach mermaid or mermaid freedive. I have tons of diving videos just talking about and seeing everything that I've talked about in this in this chat. Yeah, either come get certified or just watch from afar.

Nick VinZant 32:08

I want to thank Brandi so much for joining us if you want to connect with her, we have linked to her on our social media sites. We're Profoundly Pointless on Twitter, Tiktok, and Instagram, and we've also included her information in the episode description. Okay, now let's bring in John Shaw, and get to the pointless part of his show. Do you believe in things like mermaids, Yeti, those kinds of stuff?

John Shull 32:36

I do not. And I have a valid reason as to why I don't. We've been around and there's been media for what at least 150 years pictures video. I mean, has there ever been a Loch Ness Monster actually caught on tape? Or actually been a Sasquatch proven? No,

Nick VinZant 32:58

I would believe it more in the past. And I would now especially just because everybody basically has a phone with him or a camera with him at all times. And we have like trail cameras that are set up. So I don't the only there's only one or two that I would be like, Okay, maybe someday that we would actually find one. Like anything in the ocean. I could see one day that like, oh, that might actually be true. I will say

John Shull 33:25

this is that I kind of know obviously neither of us grew up in the 40s 50s 60s. But I think there is a sense of creativity that goes along with these things that has gone now.

Nick VinZant 33:37

You feel like something's been lost. I do the miss the old days.

John Shull 33:43

I mean, I don't miss the old days, but I miss the ability to what I say I miss it, I miss the thought of being able to, to start something like that, and then have it go on through through decades. I think some of our creativity and imagination is is gone because of things like that.

Nick VinZant 34:05

I don't know if we've lost any of it or not. But I do think that we need to have some of that in the world. Like I think that there has to be a certain amount of magic. What do you do though? Have you ever dealt with somebody who like really believes in something that you think is absolutely crazy? Like, what's your approach for handling that? Like if you're talking to somebody and they're like, You know what? Aliens visited me yesterday?

John Shull 34:30

I know somebody in my life that when 100% thinks they're visited by ghosts every week,

Nick VinZant 34:36

every week. Is it in their house? Wait, do they believe that they have a haunted house? Or do they just think that they're like being visited by ghosts while walking around? Like during their daily lives?

John Shull 34:49

I mean, all of it, all of it in between. I'm not gonna even waste any time on that other than to say that this person, even when there's a draft in the room With and you can clearly see where the draft is coming from, will say, you know, there's a spirit in the house.

Nick VinZant 35:06

I tried to not acknowledge it in any way. Because I feel like any sort of acknowledgment whether I agree with that person's beliefs, or if I kind of disagree and be like, No, it's just gonna make the situation worse. Like, I just, if somebody's talking about stuff like that with me, I just want that situation to end as quickly as possible.

John Shull 35:27

The best way I've actually had this discussion before, but other people think of it along the lines of politics, right? Everyone takes aside, and they fight that side to the bitter end without hearing each other or wanting to think of facts. As I started this conversation off, if there was, I mean, throw anything out there. If there was a Bigfoot, it would have been proven by now. It just would have been.

Nick VinZant 35:56

Yeah, I think so. And I think the problem is, like we've talked about with conspiracy theories, it's always the aspect of logistics, because it can't just be one big foot, right? Like big foots got to be getting busy with other big foots. And there's got to be a lot of big foot. So there can't just be one there has to be. I'm not an animal expert, there probably has to be hundreds, if not 1000s, in order to maintain that population of Bigfoot. So there shouldn't be tons of them just up there. That's the difficulty I see it. That's that right? The only reason why I couldn't believe it in the water, where we can't really see him. We don't know what's going on down there.

John Shull 36:33

But if there's a squid the size of a school, a school building, I mean, you're you're gonna see it at some point.

Nick VinZant 36:41

It has to be it's interesting to me that right? Like if you think about other kinds of animals, there's always like other kinds of animals that are kind of like those animals. Like whales have sharks, like there's big sharks. People are the only things without like other people. There's not like a subset of us another intelligent creature.

John Shull 37:01

Okay, here's a question for you out of out of these, these these three things, a primal creature. And we'll say like that, that can be a caveman. Humans now. Or a robot? Which one would you pick? If you if you had a choice to be?

Nick VinZant 37:17

Am I a robot? Or am I a cyborg? No, fuck, because if I'm a robot, I don't really exist. But am I like a cyborg? Like, I've just got my brain. But I've got robotic parts.

John Shull 37:28

Yeah, you're like Robocop?

Nick VinZant 37:31

Well, that would be the best. I would actually if somebody I would sign up for that immediately. If we had that down, and somebody's like, look, we can replace some of your body parts. With cybernetics, I would absolutely do that. I would go both legs in a heartbeat. Mostly because I've gotten to the age where my knees are starting to hurt, like for no reason. So I would replace both my legs and it's not like I would miss my, you know, no, I miss feeling the breeze on my thigh. Right. So I would do both legs in a heartbeat. I probably do one arm real quick, too.

John Shull 38:05

I'm probably in the minority of this. But I think I would love to go back to like the primal stages.

Nick VinZant 38:12

I then die at 20 That's the

John Shull 38:14

thing, right? You know, maybe if I could be guaranteed to live to 50 or 60, or something I don't know to have a full life. But we both know I've fallen over a cliff at like age seven. So

Nick VinZant 38:25

yeah, that's the problem. You would go back, teleported back or teleported back into that time, and you'd have no idea what to do. I bet that was hard as shit, honestly.

John Shull 38:35

I mean, but But once again, that's human evolution. And I'm not saying that's bad or good or and I don't want to get in that debate. But I'm just saying, if they if those people hadn't flipped over cliffs, then we'd still be doing it. And sometimes we still do it as as where we're at now as humans. It's kind of like you can apply that to the mythical creature arguments. You know, a Loch Ness Monster may have started, you know, with the cavemen. And it has gone until now, but it's not it's not anywhere near what it was. Because it's been. It's been proven several times that it's just a log, right. Like it's not an actual monster floating in, you know, in Scotland, or Ireland, wherever the hell it is.

Nick VinZant 39:19

I can't remember it's the locks it's up there somewhere might be Wales for all we know. I'm always fascinated by how we figured out certain things would kill you. Like how did we accidentally find that out? Like, I don't think this will kill you. But just as an example, like mixing Mentos and Coca Cola, right, we've all seen those videos like how did we figure out that certain things would like oh, that's gonna kill you. Like somebody had to die that way. And like, whoa, and probably multiple people had to die like that before we figured out that we shouldn't do that.

John Shull 39:51

I mean, well, like don't go outside

Nick VinZant 39:53

during a lightning storm. Like how many people had to get killed by lightning before we as a civilization figured out like hey, Gotta get low. I don't

John Shull 40:01

want to make the argument that we are dumber now than when we were cavemen just based upon the either that or humans have run out of trial and error things to do. So we're trying Mentos and Coke imploding our stomachs.

Nick VinZant 40:18

Well, we've evolved to the state of boredom. That's the difficulty. We our lives are now so easy that we become bored with them. And now we have to make things more difficult. But I don't think that you would really want to go back to those times, I think it'd be really hard. I think you can make an argument that you know what, maybe we aren't designed as people to be working in computers and sitting around all day, that we have lost a certain amount of ourselves, but I still don't think that you would want to go back to living like that, and how difficult it really was like, wait a minute, we don't have air conditioning. I gotta go find food.

John Shull 40:54

That that would be the toughest part, I think and I, if we were to poll 100 people, I bet you like sleeping outside or under very little shelter. And food would be the number one, number one and two concerns.

Nick VinZant 41:07

I think that if we polled people, there would be a certain percentage of people that would say like, yeah, I would actually absolutely want to go back to living like that. But then I bet if we polled people like a year after living like that, they'd be like, hell no, I don't want to do that again. Like even the most outdoorsy person that's like I lived in the woods for six months, would probably be like, You know what? I really don't want to go back to that. Okay, are you ready for a shout out yet?

John Shull 41:36

I am I listened. We were we were having a great conversation about Bigfoot and King Kong and cavemen. It's awesome. I forgot about King Kong. I wonder if people looked at us who they would think was more primal just by looking at you and I?

Nick VinZant 41:52

Probably you.

John Shull 41:53

Yeah. Yeah, you look much more refined and polished, which is a good thing.

Nick VinZant 41:57

Yeah. Yeah, I'm much more like kind of city boy. Well, not even city boy. I mean, you look like a city boy, which oddly enough is that I probably have. Just because of where I grew up much more wilderness skills.

John Shull 42:10

Yeah, I mean, you grew up in Kansas money and we're gonna go eat marshmallows out of a taste. I had a that's not how they talked about Kansas. And I apologize to all the Kansas Kansas kids.

Nick VinZant 42:22

People are very offended.

John Shull 42:23

Well, Michigan's governor doesn't even know what she calls her own people. So let's that's fantastic. It's Michigander for God's sakes. Gretchen. All right. Let's give some shout outs here.

Nick VinZant 42:34

What do you call him? A Michigander? Yeah,

John Shull 42:37

Michiganders?

Nick VinZant 42:39

Well, that's just dumb, though. I mean, what a terrible way of referring to it.

John Shull 42:43

I mean, well, how else are you supposed to? I mean, people who live

Nick VinZant 42:47

in Michigan, right? Like that's one of those things where like, the, whatever that word is supposed to be right? Whatever the name of that is that you refer to people. Right? Like, they should just skip that for Michigan. Like, oh, well, it would be Michiganders. Now let's just call them people who live in Michigan. That's better. Like Kansas, Kansas. Washingtonians. That's another bad one. Some states should just leave that aspect out of it. That's just all on people who live here.

John Shull 43:18

I should be a top five at some point. State nicknames are like you know how they identify residents as like Texans. As much as

Nick VinZant 43:26

Texans is fine. Yeah, Californians. New Yorkers is okay. Iowans Illinoisans, like that one Nope. leaving that alone. Illinois, what would you even say?

John Shull 43:42

South Dakota Waianae South Dakotans North Dakotans, I have no idea

Nick VinZant 43:46

that's not too bad. Wyoming, Wyoming years.

John Shull 43:50

Hawaiian wines is pretty simple. That's fine. That's fine. It's got to be short.

Nick VinZant 43:54

It's got to be Kansas, Hawaiians, Texans Californians. If you got to think about like no way we can't say it that way. Then you guys got to go with people who live here. Vermonters New Hampshire writes, New Hampshire is awful New Hampshire fronts

John Shull 44:13

Oregonians? Is that Is that what they say out there?

Nick VinZant 44:15

That's pushing it that's about as far as you can go and still be acceptable. Oregonians always wonder why

John Shull 44:21

Oregon's even a state but it's fine.

Nick VinZant 44:25

I mean, the Oregon Trail because of the video game Oregon Trail. That's why and wow, people who are not of John and I's generation. Probably the greatest thing you missed out on is Oregon Trail playing Oregon Trail and school getting dysentery and dying.

John Shull 44:42

It was fun. I think there's a lot though from our generation that the now generations miss out on like 15 tacos at Taco Bell.

Nick VinZant 44:50

Man I remember getting like six verse. Oh, man, I remember getting like 12 tacos for $6. Yeah, who?

John Shull 44:58

I remember going to McDonald's Two for three fillet of fishes. Let's go.

Nick VinZant 45:03

Oh man, five for five at Arby's. Oh my god. That's still to me is probably the best food deal of all time five for five at Arby's.

John Shull 45:13

Yeah, they didn't they didn't do that for too long you realize that because they realized they were getting boned on cost probably.

Nick VinZant 45:20

Right that was that was borderline we might be we might be losing money here but that was the best food food deal was five for five at Arby's.

John Shull 45:29

Somebody brought this up the other day that there is no such thing as fast food anymore. It's all luxury, fast food because everything is expensive, that even the dollar menus are like $1.50 now or $1.75.

Nick VinZant 45:44

I don't know man, if you honestly get I learned this if you go and you get kids stuff, which is generally fine. Like I can feed myself and my two kids for eight bucks. You can go to Wendy's we get three burgers, a fry, and two Frosties and you're good to go. That's $8 you can still live pretty cheaply, if you want to like food is still fairly cheap. You just got to kind of be willing to not really get what you want. Like okay, well that will work.

John Shull 46:11

I went to Wendy's a week ago, I spent $64 on myself.

Nick VinZant 46:16

That's an I don't know what you're doing. How do you even do?

John Shull 46:19

I'm kidding. That's that's a lie. I don't know how you do that as a as one person spending, like if you're actually eating for real. I don't know how you get $64 of anything fast food wise. All right. All right. All right. Let's give some shout outs here to the people that matter. We'll start with Tony downs. James sokos Marco Cruz show vich Nick Galluzzo Liam Gannon, Nika schnitzel, Sam Malone, Paul bass, Grant Gustafson and Richard Cal Cydia. I like that name Paul bass. Like that's I don't know why that is when I was looking up, you know, people who have interacted with us the last week or so. I just saw Paul bass. I'm like, That's a strong name.

Nick VinZant 47:07

Paul band. Yeah. That is a strong name Paul bass. Like. Yeah, yes. Like if he was in a fishing show, or was a NASCAR driver, or something along those lines? That's a name that's didn't like Paul bass. Paul by Dale Earnhardt, right. Like those are

John Shull 47:31

good names. He's probably not even like from the Midwest at all. He's probably like New York call bias.

Nick VinZant 47:38

Right. That's a name that catches people's attention, though. Paul bass.

John Shull 47:42

Yeah, Paul Paul bass bus in that ass,

Nick VinZant 47:45

bust his ass Paul bass.

John Shull 47:47

So got a couple of heard or what is less of an athletic feat to you, or sport will go sport, golf, bowling, or cheerleading?

Nick VinZant 48:04

Cheerleading is a very athletic sport. I think that you have to have a certain degree of coordination, power and strength. That doesn't look easy at all. So I think cheerleading is absolutely an athletic sport. Probably second would be golf. I think it does take a certain degree of like coordination to be able to do that. And body control. Bowling is kind of like, all right. Bowling is not that difficult. To me bowling and golf are probably not that different in terms of athletic ability. But what puts golf ahead is that the the situation changes much more than it does in bowling. So you have to have I think more physical ability to adapt to those changes. Do you think

John Shull 48:50

go I agree with you the cheerleading, well throw cheerleading outside, I just wanted to see if I could bait you into saying something nonsensical about cheerleading. So congratulations, man, as

Nick VinZant 49:00

people get hurt, that's tough to get let that stuff is hard and those people get hurt.

John Shull 49:04

Do you think golf and bowling should be classified as professional sports?

Nick VinZant 49:10

I think people I don't know how, what is the technical definition of a sport?

John Shull 49:15

Sport because listed as a dictionary.com is an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment.

Nick VinZant 49:32

Then there would be sports, right? I don't necessarily understand how NASCAR though or racing then would qualify as a sport. Because to me, even though that might be something that's physically difficult. Well, chess is physically difficult to write like, you've got to be paying attention. You've got to be focused, you've got to have all this mental stuff that's going on. So if NASCAR is a sport then chess would be a sport as well.

John Shull 49:59

I think both are Technically, this is sports I don't the problem is you can't have one subset of the of the of our almost a genre of the activity. Not listen sport and the other like Formula One is a sport. NASCAR maybe not so much. Chess

Nick VinZant 50:18

Zack, same thing to me.

John Shull 50:22

Chess might be a sport checkers probably not backgammon. Probably not shuffleboard. That's probably a sport.

Nick VinZant 50:29

I don't think that anything in which something else is doing a majority of the work that is involved, like Naskh like car racing, or riding horses, or jet skis. If something else is doing most of the work, then that shouldn't qualify as a sport. In my opinion. The car is really doing that the horse is doing most of this.

John Shull 50:52

I mean, that's that's that's fair. All right. Well, we'll we'll live to fight another day. I'm curious if anyone has any opinions out there. Second question for you. Would you rather have I don't I shouldn't have left. Uh huh. All right, let's start this one over. Second question for you. Would you rather have no eyes? No hearing or no teeth?

Nick VinZant 51:18

Well, no teeth. You can get dentures. You're not really replacing your eyes or your ears.

John Shull 51:26

Now let me let me rephrase it. Let me let me add us if you can't get any, any replacements you can't get eye replacements will still no teeth. But that means that's gonna be really tough to eat the rest of your life, then. It's gonna be

Nick VinZant 51:39

really tough not being able to see or hear. I fought with Luke enough to have a milkshake.

John Shull 51:46

I think. I think I don't think you thought this through. I think I'd rather have teeth than hearing.

Nick VinZant 51:53

No, you wouldn't.

John Shull 51:56

I like food, man. Food is good.

Nick VinZant 51:58

Right? I'm sure you like food, but you're probably not gonna like getting hit by that car.

John Shull 52:02

I mean, I'll learn braille. I'll be I'll have you know, I'll be fine. But

Nick VinZant 52:06

not everybody knows it. Right? It's not the fact that you don't know it. It's that like, well, how are you going to communicate with other people? Most people don't know sign language.

John Shull 52:15

I think having no teeth. This is a lot worse than you think it is. I'm not saying that being deaf.

Nick VinZant 52:21

I'm saying that it's not bad. But that's like a pretty easy choice. Like, yeah, I'd much rather be able to hear and see then I have to

John Shull 52:30

stick me in a room with my steak every day in a book and I'm fine.

Nick VinZant 52:37

I think that you would probably change your opinion there very quickly, because you could still eat the steak. Chop it up. You just have to have hard gums. You got to think this through man, that's easy. One got to have hard gums. As someone who lacks a sense, I do not have a sense of smell. You don't realize how much that you're missing out on how much

John Shull 53:03

that has to be the most used phrase on this podcast from you. My lack of smell my lack

Nick VinZant 53:10

lack of smell? Well, because that's what I'm saying though. You don't realize all the times that things like that come up. You take it for granted. Somebody who doesn't have it realizes all the things that they are missing out on.

John Shull 53:22

I don't realize I've shipped myself till I feel a little little pressure and then it starts to roll down my leg.

Nick VinZant 53:29

I've actually pooped on my hand and not known it because I couldn't smell it. Think about that. That's I didn't poop on my hand. But I got some like on my hand like sometimes you know you wipe and it's a little bit dangerous back there. And then you got some on your hand, but I just didn't know. I was actually playing Nintendo and I looked down I was like, oh my God got poop on my hand.

John Shull 53:50

It's very dangerous pooping. It's a it's a dangerous finish that

Nick VinZant 53:53

I finished the game is what I did. I'm ready for a beer right now.

John Shull 53:57

I am. It's a mid day in the east. Or midwest.

Nick VinZant 54:03

I can't really start drinking. Unless I'm going to a game. I can't really. I mean, let me know. I really can't start drinking it until like, even even like seven I can't wait till seven o'clock.

John Shull 54:17

This is the champagne of beer. So I mean, it's not really like you're drinking beer. It's the champagne.

Nick VinZant 54:22

But Did you are you drinking Miller High Life out of a bottle? I am sure why? Because it's probably why did they even make that in a bottle. There's no reason to make that in a bottle at all.

John Shull 54:37

Somebody left the room, my house, you know, like four or five of them. And I actually kind of enjoyed them now. I forgot.

Nick VinZant 54:43

I liked cheap beer. I'd much rather I think cheap beer. I like a good swill. I want something that lets you know that you're drinking it.

John Shull 54:52

Yeah, you always have their chicken wings shots. Now. I'm ready for a top five. Let's get into it.

Nick VinZant 54:58

Okay, so our top five is Top Five mythical creatures. I don't know if these are necessarily mythical creatures, but like, I can't think of what the actual name for them would be. I think it's actually like cryptids, like cryptozoology or something like that. But we're just going to call them top five mythical creatures. What's your number five?

John Shull 55:16

I put a fairy as my number five. Fairies.

Nick VinZant 55:21

Okay. Um, all right, with fairies that's about I couldn't go any higher than five. Because, like, all right,

John Shull 55:29

kind of like, our our part of this podcast. You've never seen the two we know the tooth fairy is not real. We know it because we're the fucking Tooth Fairy. In that being parents. Yeah, fairies are they deserve to be on a top five mythical creatures list because of how famous they are in media, but we know they don't exist.

Nick VinZant 55:52

My number five is to macabre. Mainly just because I like the way that it sounds like Tupac Cobra. I just like to say it. Chupacabra may not be that high on this list, but it's one of the best ones to say. Chub macabre mean like,

John Shull 56:10

what? What is even at Uberconference? It's just like an overgrown rats or rodent or something?

Nick VinZant 56:16

unclear, but I think it drinks goats blood kills small animals. Oh, yeah, but chupacabra. Fun to say I like it,

John Shull 56:29

too, but Kabra Alright, my number four is a is a Yeti.

Nick VinZant 56:36

I think that's a little bit high for a Yeti. Okay, all right. Do you? Do you consider the Yeti and the abominable snowman to be the same thing or different things?

John Shull 56:48

I mean, I'm gonna classify them all as the same kind of creature like Sasquatch, Bigfoot, Yeti, the Abominable Snowman. So yeah, so there, I guess those are all my number fours, but I'll stick with Yeti like officially as my number four. And the reason why I even have it on the list is because not one of those creatures. No matter how many people think they've taken photographs of them have been proven to be true. So they're still mythical.

Nick VinZant 57:18

I broke those up. I think that there's a little bit different. I think that the Abominable Snowman is a yeti but he's like, the most famous Yeti think he gets his own slight like, oh, but no, that's not just any Yeti. That's the Abominable Snowman.

John Shull 57:35

We may differ on what you classify a mythical creature because I think my top three are pretty solid in terms of mythical beings. So

Nick VinZant 57:45

okay, my number four is Megalodon. giant shark. I think it actually existed at some point. But there's a lot of people who apparently still think that it exists.

John Shull 57:55

Yeah, so yeah, we're gonna differ on this. I think our last three. So I think Megalodon is it was an actual dinosaur. I don't think it's like, I guess it's mythical. But I, I don't really think it's, I don't think it's in this category. And I'm surprised that you've left off so many other mythical creatures and put a megalodon on there.

Nick VinZant 58:20

I think it's sweet.

John Shull 58:22

So my number three it's a Thai, werewolves and vampires.

Nick VinZant 58:26

Yeah, but those aren't like mythical creature. Those aren't cryptids.

John Shull 58:30

But that's what I. But they're, they're considered mythical creatures, because they're not real.

Nick VinZant 58:37

Yeah, but I don't put them in the same category

John Shull 58:40

they're made. And, like, I

Nick VinZant 58:42

don't think that anybody really thinks that there's, I don't think anybody really thinks that there's werewolves out there.

John Shull 58:48

I mean, I'm not gonna lie out of my entire list. That's probably the one thing I would maybe consider being real. There's a lot of hairy people out there men and women alike.

Nick VinZant 58:57

There's a lot of hairy people. But even if you saw like something strangely moving, and there was like a big controversy of it. I don't think that anybody would be like, That's a werewolf and have people believe them? They're like, it's not a werewolf. But if you said that same picture was like a Sasquatch or a Yeti. I think people might believe that but nobody would believe that it's a werewolf.

John Shull 59:18

Well, I will say this that my wanting to probably go back to how your list is so I don't think I've done fucked it up too much.

Nick VinZant 59:28

My number three is a Bigfoot.

John Shull 59:31

Okay. Yeah, that's.

Nick VinZant 59:35

And I think that Bigfoot should probably actually be higher on the list. But I live in the Pacific Northwest where people talk about Bigfoot a lot, and their shirts with Bigfoot on them. And it's annoyed me too much. Okay, number two,

John Shull 59:50

a lot. The Loch Ness Monster?

Nick VinZant 59:53

Hmm. Okay,

John Shull 59:56

so I'm okay.

Nick VinZant 59:57

I'm gonna give my two and one then my number two Who is Yeti? Just because I do think the Yeti is different enough from Bigfoot that it warrants its own thing but nine number one is the Loch Ness monster. I think that has like the most mystery around it, like, oh, that could be because it's the water and it is possible in my mind that like something might be down there that we don't know about. That's why I have Loch Ness Monster is number one.

John Shull 1:00:21

So my number one is, and I kind of left a pretty broad, but it also deals with the water. And if I had to narrow we'll say like a giant squid, but really like any large underwater mythical creature that we think may exist, like the 80 foot octopus or the 400 foot whale, only because from kind of what you said throughout our our time here. I mean, we don't know we haven't been to the deepest part of the ocean. So who knows? Maybe Maybe it is out there. But I'm gonna guess that a properly isn't.

Nick VinZant 1:00:58

I think it probably isn't either. I don't think the Loch Ness Monster probably exists. But if something will one day like something turned up, like oh, yeah, well, not entirely surprised by that. Watching your honorable mention.

John Shull 1:01:12

So I wanted like I said, I kind of created two lists. Because I had a feeling you probably wouldn't agree if I had like a dragon on on my list, but I feel like dragons. I have King Kong. Mermaids. Griffin's sphinxes are the Sphinx, I guess maybe keep it Oh, I

Nick VinZant 1:01:34

know what you're talking about. Yeah, I feel like those kinds of things fall into the category though. People know that. Like, oh, what was that thing? What was the Sphinx? No, it wasn't

John Shull 1:01:45

like, it was really hard. Like, I almost asked you in a text before this. If I could put ghosts as my number one. But you know, I don't know. I mean, because to be honest, ghosts would be easily my number one

Nick VinZant 1:02:02

ghosts would be number one, but I feel like it has to be more specific than that. Like Bigfoot.

John Shull 1:02:09

Yeah. And that's fine. I just like that kind of wraps. Mermaid rounds me up.

Nick VinZant 1:02:16

I have mermaid. And I have moth man. I remember watching the movie The Mothman prophecy. I don't remember anything about it. I don't remember what math man is supposed to be. But I remember like, oh, man, this scary. Okay, that's gonna go ahead and do it for this episode of Profoundly Pointless. I want to thank you so much for joining us. If you get a chance to subscribe, leave us a rating or review. We really appreciate it. It really does help us out. New episodes go live every Wednesday morning. And then we have started putting up full episodes on YouTube on Thursdays usually around like 430 Seattle time 730 Eastern. I don't know what that is if you're listening internationally, but basically by like late Thursday, we've put those episodes up on YouTube. And I think that it really does add something being able to see different parts of this conversation. So our YouTube channel is up now we started putting up full episodes like I just mentioned, it's Profoundly Pointless on YouTube. Check it out if you get a chance and let us know what you think. I just think the Loch Ness Monster because it has that mystery makes it more interesting. Like Bigfoot All right, you know that's not real Loch Ness monster that might be


Goals and Motivation Researcher Dr. Gabriele Oettingen

Why do we fail to achieve our goals? Why do we lose motivation? Psychologist Dr. Gabriele Oettingen has spent decades researching those two questions. She says there’s an easy trick to help you stay motivated and achieve your goals. We talk creating achievable goals, staying motivated, the dangers of positive thinking and W.O.O.P. Then, we countdown the Top 5 Toms.

Dr. Gabriele Oettingen: 01:38

Pointless: 26:14

Top 5 Toms:: 47:45

Contact the Show

WOOP Information

Interview with Dr. Gabriele Oettingen

Nick VinZant 0:11

Welcome to Profoundly Pointless. My name is Nick VinZant Coming up in this episode goals, failure, and Tom's

Dr. Gabriele Oettingen 0:20

a when it comes to actually implementing these possibilities to fulfilling our wishes, then these positive fantasies and daydreams are a problem, you need to let them come up with the obstacle of reality that stands in the way. And we did so many studies show that this exercise helps people, set priorities, set preferences, and achieve.

Nick VinZant 0:54

I want to thank you so much for joining us. If you get a chance, subscribe, leave us a rating or review, we really appreciate it really helps us out. If you're a new listener, welcome to the show. If you're a longtime listener, thank you so much for all of your support. So our first guest is a psychologist who specifically studies goals and motivation, why we set goals, why we fail to achieve them, and how we can stay motivated. She's also developed a unique method to help people achieve their goals called whoop, wish, outcome, obstacle plan. This is Dr. Gabrielle Orton yen. I'll jump right into it. Why do I consistently fail at my goals? Actually,

Dr. Gabriele Oettingen 1:45

there are many reasons. But one reason is that we tend to positively fantasize about the success of reaching the goal. And that lowers us into feeling already there. And then we don't do anything anymore.

Nick VinZant 2:10

So like if I want to lose weight, I think about like, man, all right, what am I going to look like when I lose 10 pounds. And then I've basically already achieved it in my mind. So my brain gives up?

Dr. Gabriele Oettingen 2:20

Well, in our short sentence, that's what sometimes happens, and often happens, because in my brain, in my mind, I already achieved it. Why would

Nick VinZant 2:32

we do that, though? Why would we kind of defeat ourselves? I guess,

Dr. Gabriele Oettingen 2:37

first of all, we have all learned that positive thinking is the way to be happy, no. And we saying okay, we just need to think positively and then we might actually be successful. And in a way that might be true. So positive fantasies and daydreams about the future. They're pleasant. So no wonder that our mood improves if we have these positive fantasies and daydreams about achieving our wishes. And also, his positive fantasies and daydreams are good because we can explore all the possibilities of the future. But when it comes to actually implementing these possibilities, to fulfilling our wishes, then these positive fantasies and daydreams are a problem. So we find for example, the more positively people enrolled in a weight reduction program, fantasize about the success in the program, the less pounds they shed, or take university graduates, the more positively they're fantasize about an easy transition into workplace. The fewer dollars they earn two years later, and the fewer job offers they had gotten. Take students, the more positively they think and fantasize about doing well in school, the worst grades. And even in interpersonal relationships. The more positively students fantasize about getting together with their crushy with a person to have a crush on, the less likely it is that they actually get into a romantic relationship. It's yeah, why is that? That's when we asked ourselves to when we got all this data. And what we found is that the people in the positive fantasy will have been induced these positive fantasies about the future that they actually felt already a con Pitch, tell ready, they're in their mind. The fantasies are so strong and vivid, that you already feel accomplished. And what happens then you relax. So the blood pressure goes down. And people report less energy for the wish fulfilled, and that then translates into actual less behavior, less effort and less success.

Nick VinZant 5:33

I feel like kind of exercise, maybe not it, at least in my mind, it's like the easiest one to kind of quantify, right? So let's say my dream is to lose weight, I work out four times a week, but then I start positively thinking about like, Oh, I'm gonna lose weight, then suddenly, oh, I am losing weight. In my mind. Now I'm working out three times a week. Now I'm working out two times a week. But can you still have those positive thoughts about it? And still continue to do what you were doing to get there in the first place? Right? Like, does the positive, this thinking positively in and of itself automatically kind of like crushed the dream so to speak? Or can you think positively about it, but continue to do exactly what you were doing, and then still move forward?

Dr. Gabriele Oettingen 6:19

That's exactly what we asked ourselves to. We said, Why do we have these positive fantasies and daydreams may we only need to think negatively, everything's fine. But that's not solution, either. Because these positive sentences and daydreams, they are very important. Why are they're important? Because, as we showed, they are an expression of our needs. They are an expression of what we don't. So these wishes come in our mind as a sign that we don't have certainty. And that gives action the direction. So what do we do in order to show that these positive fantasies and daydreams are an expression of our needs. For example, we did a study where we invited people to come into the lab, and we asked them not to drink any liquids for hours before the experiment. And then we fed them a lot of salty pretzels, so they were really, really thirsty. One group were kept thirsty, the other group, were given a lot of really good fresh water so they could quench their thirst. And then we simply measured the positivity of their fantasies about the future. And surely, the people who were thirsty, had positive thoughts about going to the water fountain, drinking water, and drawing the water. The people in the control group, were not thirsty anymore. They didn't have these kinds of thoughts. They have thoughts, positive fantasies and daydreams about all sorts of things. And you can do the same study with psychological needs. So you deprive people of meaning, they suddenly positively fantasize about getting a more meaningful job. Or think about the pandemic. we deprive people of interpersonal relationships, they positively fantasize about getting together with family and friends. So these positive fantasies and daydreams are very important, they're an expression of our needs. And therefore, as I said before, that gets action that direction. So we cannot just sort of say, you know, relinquish them. But the problem is that they SAP our energy to actually realize this positive fantasies. Now, if they SAP our energy, then the question is, and that's where we are asked, what can you do? So that people with these positive fantasies, get enough energy to follow through to put in the effort and to actually get to wish fulfillment. And then we reasoned, what do we need to do? You need to give them a healthy dose of reality. Meaning, you need to let them come up with the obstacle of reality that stands in the way of fulfilling your wishes and enjoying the wishes outcome and In, by facing the obstacle, looking the obstacle in the eye, you will understand what you need to do in order to surmount. And that's important. You need to mentally contrast the positive desire teacher with the obstacle in myself that might stop me that might impede that I really go and fulfilling my wishes. And this mental contrasting is the way to get the energy to overcome that obstacle. And then you'll have an integrated solution that you can only find, if you really identify what is it, that it is in you in the way

Nick VinZant 11:00

is it is that an easier said, than done thing for a lot of people though.

Dr. Gabriele Oettingen 11:05

So it takes mental effort. But it takes only five minutes of mental effort to actually switch from the positive fantasies to the obstacle of reality that is in my way. And that's when we kind of phrased for using it every day, as wish, identify a wish, that is dear to my heart. That is also feasible for me. But challenging outcome, imagine the outcome, imagine the outcomes you imagined the best in the future. And then instead of going ahead and indulging in the positive future, you switch gears. And you say, actually, what is it in me that hinders me of tackling that wish and experiencing that outcome? What is it in me? What stops me very often, you will suddenly discover, oh, this is what I could do to overcome whatever it is my anxiety, my resentment, my tiredness. And by imagining that obstacle and discovering the behavior that you can do in order to overcome that obstacle, you are now much better equipped to actually go for the wish and actually act. So this mental contrasting, or what we call oops, wish, outcome, obstacle. And then the plan I was talking about that exercise will actually help you to set priorities. So to go for some wishes, or to let go from others. So you will leave. And now you imagined ADA to overcome obstacles. And that's then the P. So the whole thing is a whoop, wish, outcome, obstacle plan.

Nick VinZant 13:35

I feel motivated. Where do people go in that method? Where do they generally kind of like, alright, this is where they usually fail. This is where they usually not realize that it's too big, not realize that it's not what they really want. What part of the WOOT method are usually see people kind of get bogged down in

Dr. Gabriele Oettingen 14:00

what they are bogged down, is if they don't take these five minutes for themselves,

Nick VinZant 14:08

right? It's amazing when you actually stop and kind of think he realized that like, oh, maybe I'm really not doing this. Maybe I really don't want this thing that I thought that I wanted. When you kind of look at motivation and goal setting and goal achievement and people are there certain types of personalities or people or backgrounds or locations, genders, etc, etc, etc. That seemed to be better at it than others.

Dr. Gabriele Oettingen 14:36

Actually, we never found big differences and wherever you have demographic variables or you know, age doesn't make a difference. So, as long as you fill in your wish and not have other people tell you what your wish is you good?

I think what people sometimes mistakenly do. Parents tell the children what their wishes are. Or bosses, tell the employees what their wishes are. No, ask people listen. And then once people understand how they get in touch with their own wishes, they already have done the first step.

Nick VinZant 15:39

You know, it seems basic, in the sense that right, like control what you can control, be risk, be realistic and set achievable goals, but keep making them harder. But yet, it's so difficult. At the same time,

Unknown Speaker 15:53

yes, because we never really look at the obstacles. And because we have learned that look, negative thinking should go out of the window. And the interesting thing is, if you will look at war, and mental contrasting, if you only think positively. No behavior change, if you only think about the obstacles, no behavior change. If you think about the obstacles first and then about the positive future, no behavior change, it is actually the specific mental exercise with the imagery, because if you don't have the imagery, no. It is this specific exercise of understanding what is my wish, feasible, but challenging? Identifying the outcome and imagining the outcome, and then going for the interest. What is it in me? Because what are the obstacles in me? I can control my boss, I cannot. And we did so many studies show that this exercise helps people set priorities, set preferences, and achieve the wishes by overcoming the obstacles. But on the other side, also letting go from wishes, which just sort of take the energy?

Nick VinZant 17:32

What do you think of those kinds of like society seems to at least to me have shifted more into like, well, let's just think positive about everything. And that's how you get started.

Unknown Speaker 17:42

it saps the energy of actually going on that way. And actually, we find that these positive fantasies and daydreams for the moment. They're linked to lower depression for the moment. But on the long run, you getting more depressed? And why do you get more depressed, because you invested less effort, and then eventually you had less success. So it is dangerous. It is dangerous to be indulging in these positive fantasies and daydreams and just sort of getting disconnected. And then we think for other people, the positive thinking works, but for us, it doesn't. And that's not a good thing. Because then we attribute the failure to only us. And that's dangerous.

Nick VinZant 18:36

Are you ready for some harder slash listeners submitted questions? Sure. So this one just says, Why am I sometimes on the struggle bus and other times on a tear? And I think what they mean by that is like, why are there some days where man I'm just getting stuff done, left and right, knocking stuff out? And then other days, man, I can't get out of bed. You know, like I can, nothing seems to work. Why do we seem to go through phases, we're like, doing everything, doing nothing.

Unknown Speaker 19:08

Sometimes reality is less bumpy. Then, other times that lies in the nature of just randomness. Sometimes, our physiology, our context,

Unknown Speaker 19:25

our lives is influencing us into more energy. So we feel we have more energy, we get things done.

Unknown Speaker 19:42

And these things happen, very often ran. But we're certainly noticing when it's not getting good. We've noticed we tend to notice that more when things go really well. We think we often take it for granted. When things go bad. We often say, but what I would say to the people who sort of suffer from sometimes it doesn't go, well just do a walk for the day, say, what do I really want? Okay? Things didn't work out today. What do I want?

Nick VinZant 20:34

When when you look at kind of procrastination, right? Like, what's the, usually the reason why people are procrastinating about something?

Unknown Speaker 20:45

Procrastination is one of the most interesting phenomena it can be, because they actually get benefits out of it. It can be anxiety, it can be that there have some beliefs that procrastination is linked to being super good. When pressure builds up, it can be that people want to get into flow. Because once you have real high pressure, you don't think anymore. So there are many, many reasons. And what Brooke does, is it helps you to understand what you really want.

Nick VinZant 21:36

Yeah, that's what I would be worried about, right? That you come to some dangerous, not dangerous, but like, crushing self discovery, like, I've wasted my life or something like that?

Unknown Speaker 21:49

No, because it's not evaluated. It's when you understand what the obstacles in the way you accept the reality. But you will always have the possibility of acting within the reality. So it's not evaluated. And that's reason why it is not crashing.

Nick VinZant 22:15

So like when you kind of break down the statistics of how people approach things? Who does what, like what percentage of people hit the obstacle first? How does that all work?

Unknown Speaker 22:27

Right, most people just go on in damaging on the positive future. It's the most pleasant. Some people go on the obstacles only. And some people start with the obstacle and then go to the future. And all these don't do anything in terms of thing that change. Now, if we look at who is doing spontaneous mental contrast, it's only about between 10 and maybe 20 25%, depending on the study. And that's really interesting. Because that means that we need to do interventions, we need to learn it, we need to learn it as a skill if we want to benefit from setting priorities, and fulfilling our wishes. So it seems it's not the default, that we do mental contrasting the default is that people just sort of positively fantasize about the future. Now, when you give people a specific task, then mental contrasting goes a little higher, but not much. So we do it a little or more people do it when they get a very concrete task to solve an exam or math task or things like that. But still, the proportion of people who do mental contrast is

Nick VinZant 24:16

probably where we fail so much goal. Absolutely.

Unknown Speaker 24:20

That's true. That's exactly right. That's the reason.

Nick VinZant 24:25

That's pretty much all the questions that we have, is there anything that you think we missed or what's kind of coming up next for you?

Unknown Speaker 24:34

Practice, practice, practice. Do it every day at a certain point in time, then it will help you to really put the stress down. Because by setting these priorities, you're much less Loden you're much less kind of irritated and busy and play with it, and always think it's not evaluative. You shouldn't have to evaluate yourself. You look out in the world, what is my wish for the world. And that's fun, and enjoy whooping. Because it's not only the process, the imagery process, which is a discovery tour, but the consequences too. And you will see we're discovering new things.

Pro Remote Control Car Racer Austin “Joker” Snyder

Remote Control Car Racing has exploded in popularity and Austin “Joker” Snyder is becoming one of the sports’ most recognizable names. We talk getting started in RC, the sports’ growing popularity and 200 MPH cars. Then, we countdown the Top 5 Things You Don’t Want to Lose.

Austin “Joker” Snyder: 01:30

Pointless: 32:06

Top 5: 49:56

Contact the Show

Austin's TikTok

Austin's Instagram

Interview with Professional RC Racer Austin “Joker” Snyder

Nick VinZant 0:11

Welcome to Profoundly Pointless. My name is Nick VinZant. Coming up in this episode racing and stuff you don't want to lose,

Austin "Joker" Snyder 0:20

be a kid again, really, we're just grown ass men and women playing with toy cars from start to finish after I bought the kit, the engine, the tires, Starbucks, the remote, the receivers, that's $2,200, they have one and people have taken it. And I've seen like GPS speeds of over 200 miles an hour.

Nick VinZant 0:44

I want to thank you so much for joining us. If you get a chance, subscribe, leave us a rating or review, we really appreciate it really helps us out. If you're a new listener, welcome to the show. If you're a longtime listener, thank you so much for all of your support. So our first guest is one of the most recognizable faces of a sport that has exploded in popularity over the last couple of years. What I find so interesting is that it's something that I think a lot of us did as kids. But when you do it on a professional level, it gets intense. This is RC racer, Austin Joker Snyder. So when we look at these kinds of cars, right? Are they the kind of cars that like everybody played with as a kid? Or are these completely different kinds of cars that we're talking about?

Austin "Joker" Snyder 1:39

Oh, no, these are leaps and bounds different. For instance, this one, this one's a pain car doesn't have any electronics or motor or anything in it right now. But I mean, it's metal chassis, all carbon fiber parts, spec tires, change gearing. With the cars that we raised, if you break something, you have a whole box of spare parts, you take it, take it apart, put it back together, fix it and, and get back on track and keep race like it's nothing whereas you break your Walmart car you throw trash to go buy another one.

Nick VinZant 2:13

I think the biggest thing that would jump out to people is like cost difference, right? I'm used to kind of RC cars like okay, 30 to 50 You got sent in this lease gonna work these kinds of cars are gonna cost you what

Austin "Joker" Snyder 2:26

so much cheapest car and and it's what I push a lot of people towards when they want to get into racing, because I do a lot more off road stuff than anything else. But I also do oval and on road racing. And a lot of times people will show up. They're like, hey, you know, I this this is really cool. I want to get into this and then I put up my natural buggy and I'm like, yeah, that's, that's $2,200 Like from start to finish after I bought the kit, the engine, the tires, started box, the remote receivers, fuel servos all this stuff. It's like you're probably looking at about at least two grand, my ye buggies probably 1500. And so it pushes a lot of people away because they're like, Oh, I can't afford that. But you know, that's that's me. That's what I spent all my stuff because I do spend the extra money to get the really good remotes, the really good electronics and all that stuff. And I do have sponsorships that helped me. But a lot of this I pay out of pocket. But with the oval classes, we have one class or cheapest one is about $250 to buy the car, and you buy it and you have the exact same thing that me who's been raised for 22 years has the exact same thing as our local pro drivers. It's a spec class, you buy this car, you take it out of the box, you put it on the track and everybody's running the exact same thing.

Nick VinZant 3:56

What What would you say is kind of the appeal of it to most people kind of get into it as kids and then just stick with it or people come to it later in life.

Austin "Joker" Snyder 4:06

We've seen a little bit of both. I started I started when I was about five or six years old. I started the same time my dad started, we were actually in a local park and saw this weird, like just bunch of dirt and stuff and we didn't know what it was at the time. And then we had shown up and saw that they were racing and started asking questions. We got into it. And that was 22 years ago. So I got into as a kid and stuck with it. My dad got into it and stay doing it for for this whole time. We actually both we both run a track now in South Carolina.

Nick VinZant 4:46

What do you like about the

Austin "Joker" Snyder 4:49

competition the community? I mean, it's one of the first questions we always get is Oh, do you make any money off that you can go to races where you might win some money. But realistically, if I go to a race, I win $500, that doesn't pay off a 10th of what I have in RC stuff. It's just, it's something to get out of the house, on a weekend, go somewhere. And that would just be a good again, really, you're not, you're not focusing on your work, you're not focusing on work, you're not focusing on, you know, what you have to do Monday morning, or all the chores to have, the only thing you're focusing on is sitting here. And, you know, being a kid playing with, we say a lot when people ask us stuff about it, because there are people that take it really seriously. But most of us we've taken it as we're just grown as men and women playing with toy cars,

Nick VinZant 5:49

like everything, I think that once you get into it, there's a massive variety of everything and all kinds of classes. But what would you say are like, okay, these are the main kinds of RC racing. These are the main categories, that kind of stuff.

Austin "Joker" Snyder 6:05

I mean, every every category falls under a main category. But the easiest way is, you've got onroad, oval, drag racing, off road, and then you have crawlers. I'm probably there's probably going to be somebody that listens to listens to this, as Michael Hayden mentioned, Matt Eden mentioned by kind of racing, I'm probably forgetting one, but you probably have five major major works.

Nick VinZant 6:36

Is there one that's like that dominates of those five ones like alright, but this is the big one, right? Like I think of Olympic sports. There's a lot of Olympic sports. But in the summer, it's like it's track and field.

Austin "Joker" Snyder 6:50

Not really, it's just everyone has one that dominates for themselves. Like for me, it's off road racing. I competitively race one eight scale off road. And I, I do other racing. Like I said, I also do dirt oval. I do carpet oval, and I do carpet on rope.

Nick VinZant 7:11

How popular is this?

Austin "Joker" Snyder 7:14

It's a lot more popular than people think. Like I mean, it's a it is a worldwide hobby. We have like we have world champions, we have governing bodies that govern rules and ethics involving involving racing, just like just like f1 does, just like NASCAR, motocross, whatever, whatever you're into. The biggest thing that holds us back and why we don't have this big worldwide following is, nothing is televised. And it is but you have to know where to find it. And to know where to find it, you have to know what RC racing is,

Nick VinZant 7:57

does it work like any other kind of racing like fastest car

Austin "Joker" Snyder 8:02

at time. So we do that a lot of times in with oval racing, where we'll say, hey, it's a 35 black race. But with how we work with this with the constant equipment failures, and everything else. If you went by laps, your leader might get 35 laps, and the next guy might get 32. Because he's done that three times. So we do it with oval racing. I'm going to mount but the main way we do it is based off time. So say for qualifying, hey, you have five, your five minute clock starts when you cross the line. So like if I'm the fifth one to go. My five minute clock doesn't start until I cross the line. So we always say hey, you're racing the clock, you're not racing each other when you're in qualifying. Because just because I pass somebody on the track doesn't mean I'm ahead of them in in the positions. It's all about what pace you're setting. The best example is like if I finished add a we would call it a 10 506. So if I finished at 10 laps in five minutes and six seconds, and you finished at 10 508 which would be 10 laps and five await if five minutes, eight seconds, then I will be ahead of you but two seconds on the clock. The heads up racing doesn't come along until the main events

Nick VinZant 9:25

the winner is it the driver or is it because they have the better car.

Austin "Joker" Snyder 9:30

I've seen people take substandard equipment that have bearings locked up engine that barely runs and beat the field by two laps. I've been beat by people with substandard equipment. I mean it's it's all about the driver their knowledge of setup because I mean, I wish I had an offer car with me that I could show you. You know we have four full aluminum shocks. We can change spring rates oils pistons inside the sharks, did foils, there's anything you can change on natural racecar, you can change on an RC car a lot easier. So having the knowledge of hey, this is how my car is driving, it's doing this I don't like that I'm going to do, I'm going to make this change, it's going to fix that oversteer issue. Little things like that, having that knowledge of setup. And then also, the consistency in your driving is what's going to help you when it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if you're you spent $500 on a car or $1,500 on a car.

Nick VinZant 10:40

Like where would you rank yourself put all humbleness aside, right in terms of like drivers? Are you at the top? Get into the top? Middle? Just a guy having fun? Like, where would you say that you are.

Austin "Joker" Snyder 10:53

I'm a guy having fun. But it all depends on how my race days villain I mean, I've gone to the biggest race in the world and made the a main, which is the head pain. And in my electric truck class, which is the best one of the best classes that I run, and then finish seventh or eighth overall. And then I went to the same race the next year. At a I think we have like 60 Something trucks and I finished seventh grade. So and then I went back the next year, and I didn't get out of the beaming. So it all depends on you know, who else are competing with but for the most part, I'm a local mid pack Pro. And that's about that's about the best I can expect. I'm about as fast now as I've ever get beat.

Nick VinZant 11:42

How come? I guess why can't you get faster? Do you feel like you know, that's just about the level of my ability, or this is the time that I've got to put into it or it a lot of it is time

Austin "Joker" Snyder 11:53

that I've got put into it. The guys that you see be the fastest in the world. They're their kids that have been, you know, like me racisms, six years old, but had the ability, like parents had the finances and sponsorships and everything, to get them all of the best equipment and everything. And I didn't necessarily have that. So I had that when it came to life. I did not have that when it came to RC racing because RC was not the priority. It was not where we needed to where my family wanted to put off all of its money. So even though I've been racing for a long time, the guys that are at the top have had access to the best equipment and access to pro level drivers their entire career. Whereas you know, I was started racing. 22 years ago, there was a seven year break in the middle came back to it, everything was different had to relearn it. And you know, now being an adult, I work a full time job RC racing, it's my, it's my hobby, it's not my job. That's to work a full time job. It's just, I don't have all the time and effort and everything to put into it. I could get a little bit faster. But realistically, I've accepted that. Barring any other circumstances, I'm as fast as I'm ever going to be content with just going out and having fun.

Nick VinZant 13:22

I mean, you sound like you're pretty damn good at it to be honest. Like if somebody from the outside like, I mean, I've seen some I looked at your Instagram like you got you won some races, like you're selling yourself short, man.

Austin "Joker" Snyder 13:34

I've won some but I mean, like I said, that's that's where I'm at as a local mid pack Pro.

Nick VinZant 13:41

How nice. So somebody that does didn't like professional, full time for a living? Are they making a lot of money? Are they just kind of like, No, I can do this for a living.

Austin "Joker" Snyder 13:53

I've seen some bad houses there. They're making a good amount.

Nick VinZant 13:56

How is there that much money in this?

Austin "Joker" Snyder 14:01

You got to think I'm one person and I probably have 20 grand with our stuff. And that's just in my possession. How much I've spent on it is probably more because you know, we buy and sell cars constantly. But you know, between sponsorships, and this, this other stuff you've got like with one company, they sell their cars all over the world. So you could have two entrepass People buy in your $700 kit. And that's not counting them buying parts than buying tools and all the other stuff that they need. So you're looking at him making a couple billion a year on the companies and then they're passing that down to their top drivers.

Nick VinZant 14:51

Yeah, that makes sense, right? I guess the thing that I would kind of compare it to is like we interviewed a while ago, professional disc golf player A He was getting, I think it might have been 4 million a year. It was in the millions. And that's for a sport that's also not on TV. That sounds like a much cheaper sport. So there you can see were like, Oh, wow, that can add up.

Austin "Joker" Snyder 15:18

It sounds like a cheaper sport. But I've had some friends that have done it as like you spent $130 on a couple Frisbees. Like they're not Frisbees, they're flying discs and Frisbee. Went through the whole spiel of frisbees were made by the Hasbro company. This one isn't by Hasbro, so it's not a Frisbee. Okay, all right, whatever. It's like, you know, I I can't judge on stuff like that. Because how I look at Disc Golf. That's how people look at RC racing.

Nick VinZant 15:53

Do people who do it? Do they fit a kind of certain demographic, they live in this part of the country, mainly men, mainly women, mainly this age,

Austin "Joker" Snyder 16:03

primarily, you're gonna see mostly mostly men. But there's no age. I mean, we have a good friend of mine, Katie Carmody, she runs the race like girl program. And her whole focus with this race, like a girl event is to go around and find the girls and the women that are that are racing racing competitively. I mean, there's a girl in her early teens, that is way faster that like, I can't beat her a home. And then you know, Katie is is our speeds of if I'm on it, our speeds are very competitive with each other. You know, you have girls, right? Like, my daughter is four years old and loves coming with a track, she can drive a car, just don't let her race one yet, because I don't want to pay a lot of money to fix it. But, uh, you know, you've got kids as young as four or five, six years old, racing boys and girls. And then you have I mean, those guys that are still racing, they're in their 80s. Like, when when you talk about this, you think, okay, it's childish men playing with toy cars, when people think about it, and then they show it to a race. And I mean, everyone, it's, it's so we're very inclusive bunch of people. And doesn't matter what part of the country you're in. What part of the world I mean, we, we just had a World Championships in South Africa. We've had World Championships in China. We have one coming up in Brazil, America, the UK, there's no one set demographic,

Nick VinZant 17:50

when you do like a race, is it just one continuous thing? Or do you have to do pitstops and that kind of stuff.

Austin "Joker" Snyder 17:57

Um, so we have electric and we have nitro classes. And it all depends on on distance. So most people can get seven to seven and a half minutes on an on a tank of fuel in in an actual class. Some people can push I mean, I've seen people get 12 minutes on a single tank of fuel. If you had seen any of like my videos on Tiktok or anything like that. It's all a lot of my more popular videos are people hitting RC cars.

Nick VinZant 18:30

Yeah, I saw some of those, like, what did they do? And it looks like they're injecting, I guess, what are they doing?

Austin "Joker" Snyder 18:36

So our fuel tanks are 125 CCS, so you're not going to see somebody with a giant gas can come in. Like fuel bottles. It's a bottle with a metal spout. And some people use that but most of us have gone to fuel guts that companies have actually put 1000s of dollars of r&d into to figure out the best way to get it to work. And we fill it up we have a measurement on fuel. So filled fuel gun, we open the tank and all it is is a pool and the tank is exposed. So we'll pull the tank open set, put it down, pull the trigger on it, fuel drop out into the tank, and then while they're doing that, the drivers up on the driver staying keeping it running, they're keeping the revs up and then as soon as we drop the tank we've been cleared out for a second and then we throw it out. So

Nick VinZant 19:32

it looks intense, right like it's much when I first saw some of those videos I was like gods are see racing like I was expecting like a bunch of people in lawn chairs. Like no that looks like people aren't like nobody's messing around.

Austin "Joker" Snyder 19:46

Yeah, I mean we have a whole driver stand to stand above and be able to see the entire track. Our drivers day in is a Konnex with special wooden building ups. up, but there's, yeah, it's, I, I'm with you, a lot of people think, you know, they're gonna think of people in the backyard playing around. And then they come up to a race. And like I didn't think that any of this was, was what it was. I mean, most people show up to the track if we're not there, and they think it's a BMX track. They just think it's a small BMX track. Because that's all they can wrap their heads around, and then they come out and see us racing, they're like, Oh, this is what y'all do.

Nick VinZant 20:31

That's what I assumed is that it was just like a converted BMX track.

Austin "Joker" Snyder 20:36

Now that there is a purpose built track that's specifically made for RC racing. How much does it cost to build a track? We did the rough estimate, couple months ago on how many loads of dirt we have. Because it you don't just like, dig up the dirt around. Gotta get shipped in? Yeah. So we use where we are, we use South Carolina red clay, because it packs in really well like grooves up, you can lay rubber down. So constantly running around the track will lay rubber over the surface and bring traction up. So we have roughly somewhere between 60 and 80 truckloads of dirt. Dam. And you're talking anywhere between 250 to $500. A load?

Nick VinZant 21:32

I can't do that math.

Austin "Joker" Snyder 21:34

Call it 100 grand. Right? Yeah, at least.

Nick VinZant 21:37

Are you ready for some harder slash listener submitted questions? Go for it. What would you say is the best track in the country,

Austin "Joker" Snyder 21:48

even though I'm biased, and I would love to say, you know, my personal home track. When you're talking about best track in the country, you're probably going to have to go to California. And there's two that come to mind. It's Thunder Alley raceway at Palm Desert, I believe. And then the dirt, which is a Paris, California, there's two of the biggest races in the worlds not counting the World Championship. One is the dirt nitro challenge in California. And the other one is psycho nitrile. Blast in Tennessee, white pine, Tennessee,

Nick VinZant 22:30

fastest our RC car.

Austin "Joker" Snyder 22:32

I think the current speed record is held by the armor. Our armor makes their bashing company. So they make cars that are specifically just to you by and you take to your backyard you take to field somewhere and just go fast, hit jump stuff like that. They don't make race, you could race their cars. But that's not what their cars are made for. They have one and people have taken it. And I've seen like GPS speeds of over 200 miles an hour.

Nick VinZant 23:11

With an RC car.

Austin "Joker" Snyder 23:14

Yeah. Over 200 miles. These are guys that messed with weight gearing. bigger motors. I think one of them actually had don't they put dual electric motors in it. And yeah, there's over 200 miles an hour is somewhere around like 212

Nick VinZant 23:33

feet, like you should need some kind of like, license or training to take any Cournot fast, you know, a concrete wall like yeah,

Austin "Joker" Snyder 23:41

probably Yeah.

Nick VinZant 23:42

Yeah, that can be a little bit dangerous, right? I mean, anything going 200 miles an hour is generally like you got to be kind of careful with that. So then what part of the car would you say is the most important? Is it the obvious one of the engine? Or would you say like, No, this is really the most important part of the car,

Austin "Joker" Snyder 24:03

the servo. What steers the car, I think it has a lot more importance of what people think. Because a lot of people are like, Oh, it turns my wheels, which is what it's supposed to do. So I'm good back yet, but this one is going to turn my wheels faster, it's going to be more responsive to my remote, it's going to do what I want to do when I wanted to do it. There's no lag. There's no fade in a longer run. So I would say that the servo has more has a lot of a lot more importance than what some newer drivers think. But I mean it's between your motor, your speed control servo remote receiver, that's an important thing as well. Your battery which battery you're running, if batteries put out different amounts of power. So,

Nick VinZant 24:55

um, who's kind of the Michael Jordan LeBron James of it? Who would you says like, oh, that's the best,

Austin "Joker" Snyder 25:01

Masami Yasaka, the Japanese driver, who? I can't remember the exact era, but I think it wasn't. It was like right when they started actually having like, a world ranking system and a world championship race. He dominated for years in everything from off road racing to on road racing. I don't know if he did oval, but he did a lot of on road and off road racing. And the I think he won everything that there was to win at that time. Why was in the US? Yeah, Bill, friends, Adam. Great. Probably Adam Drake is one of the ones most people are going to know best at between Adam Drake and Ryan lots.

Nick VinZant 25:51

So the the Japanese competitor, what why were they so good?

Austin "Joker" Snyder 25:59

They just did that. That was before my time. He's, he's still alive. He's still around. But and he still goes great ages. I don't know if he races anymore. I think he just kind of shows up for support. He's a, he's one of the big developers for the car company he'll show. But I don't know what made him tick. I think. I mean, he was a smart guy. I mean, he works for the development of a an actual car company like he builds and designs. They're the improvements that they put on their cars. So I mean, he had to have been a really smart guy and have been able to work out the, the mechanical engineering aspect of these cars and figure out what makes them tick and what makes them better. So

Nick VinZant 26:49

just knew how to do it, right.

Austin "Joker" Snyder 26:52

I'm just have the knowledge. Now, do people cheat? Is there cheating? Oh, yeah. Yeah, but it's to be cheating. I mean, it's, you see it more in oval and on road than you do with off road racing, because of off road racing. So not really a lot of rules. I mean, we have a mod class, which means Hey, as long as it's a 10 scale, to drive buggy, run it, you can run whatever motor you want, whatever battery tires, it doesn't matter, you can, you can run it, whereas the stock class, it's like, okay, it's got to be a 75 turn motor. But it can be any of them. Like, the rules and offroad are so laxed that people who are caught cheating, it's not even cheating, it's just not conforming to the rules. A lot of times, their battery might be taxed at slightly above voltage, the IR rating might be a little bit off their motor, although it's not even the fastest motor that's there, it's not on the approved list. So it's not allowed to be run like, It's little things like that, I don't go to those races where I have to, like my car gets disassembled to be making sure it's under the the it's following the rules. And I don't go to those races, because that bothered me. But you see a lot more of the rules with onroad and oval racing, because it's a lot more specific, but it has to be this motor, you have to run this tire your weight, like I mean, we have a minimum weight, for on road race, your car has to meet this weight requirement. So if you're below that weight requirement, you don't get the race because you had to go back, put weights on your car reweigh. So you do see cheating, but even then it's you, you do have some people that blatantly cheat. But then a lot of times the people that quote unquote, aren't conforming to the rules are guys that are pushing the envelope trying to get their car, you know, their motor is close to that resistance levels, they're allowed to have it and then it just goes a ticket. People are trying to get their batteries as close to that, you know, 8.44 rating, and it goes 8.45. So, you know, it's very marginal, and nobody's trying to break the rules. They're trying to conform to the rules. To The Max extent,

Nick VinZant 29:21

yeah. So I get that right. Like you want to push it, there's a line and people push it right up to the line, and then sometimes they go over.

Austin "Joker" Snyder 29:29

I've seen it with over racing, where the way people do tech, you know, it's like you have to run this battery, you have to run this motor. But they only check that before the race weekend. And at the end of the a mate. So people would put they would get a legal motor attacked, but then they wouldn't run a legal motor all through qualifying because they weren't checking. So they would run an illegal motor to get in da main. And then before the a main, they would swap back to a legal motor. So that if they went when they went to tech after the main that if they won they could pass so they're running illegal cars to get into the a main and then making them legal once they were in the AMA, but I told a buddy of mine what they were doing. He's like, No, I don't believe that they're doing that. I was like, watch the lap times that they like if they're running, you know, five sixes in in qualifiers. What they might break, they might get to like six twos in the main. Yeah, like that sounds kind of blatant. I mean, in an end it happens and when it's happening everyone like it's not a secret

Nick VinZant 30:41

is this the last one we got? Is their trash talk.

Austin "Joker" Snyder 30:46

Oh, all the time. But it's most of the time it's just friendly banter between between friends.

Nick VinZant 30:55

That's pretty much all the questions I got me anything anything you think that we missed or anything like that?

Austin "Joker" Snyder 31:01

Um nothing that I can think of. If if anybody wants information on, you know, helping find their local racing racetrack either I know somebody either have the answer. I know somebody that does. And you know, they can reach out to me on on Instagram. I don't know if they can message me on Tik Tok. But it's, it's Joker Snyder racing. It's on Instagram. And on Tik Tok, I can be reached. If anybody has any questions, shoot me a message and I can do the best that I can to try to find out some information if somebody's interested in getting into.


Card Magician Jason Ladanye

Jason Ladanye is reinventing magic. Performing mindboggling card tricks that sellout venues and entertain millions online. We talk becoming a magician, the hidden secrets behind his best tricks and why he owns over 12,000 decks of cards. Then, we countdown the Top 5 Jennifers.

Jason Ladanye: 02:00

Pointless: 36:10

Top 5 Jennifers: 01:05:33

Contact the Show

Jason Ladanye Website

Jason Ladanye YouTube

Jason Ladanye Instagram

Jason Ladanye TikTok

Interview with Card Magician Jason Ladanye

Nick VinZant 0:12

Welcome to Profoundly Pointless. My name is Nick VinZant Coming up in this episode magic, and Jennifer's,

Jason Ladanye 0:19

so something clicked in my brain. And I said that I want this power, you know, this is this is what I want. And I started learning from magic books. The point was, I was trying to fool my brother, that was my main goal, he got me, and I need to learn something I can get him back with. And that took about 15 years. Well, because there's subjects there, the subtext is I know something that you don't. And there's this, this word Wonderman. So if I put a card in your hand facedown, and then you name any card, and I say, look at it. And it is that card, there's, there's mystery, this one, like that's not possible, you're breaking the everyday rules, and that no other art form has that there are tricks that I have practiced for literally three, four years before actually doing them in front of people.

Nick VinZant 1:07

I want to thank you so much for joining us, if you get a chance, subscribe, leave us a rating or review, we really appreciate it really helps us out. If you're a new listener, welcome to the show. If you're a longtime listener, thank you so much for all of your support. So our first guest is doing things in the world of magic that have never been done, inventing new tricks, selling out venues and entertaining millions of people worldwide. What I think is really interesting about this conversation, though, is not just how the tricks are learned, or how the tricks are performed. And he does share some secrets about how he does it. But what it takes to become a professional magician, and what the business is really like. This is card magician, Jason le Danny. So do you remember your first trick?

Jason Ladanye 2:02

Well, yes, I do remember the first trick that was shown to me. And that's why I'm here today, actually. So my older brother, who was a much older, he's 11 years older than me. So he wasn't the rivalry. He was like the hero, you know, he did that trick where there's four jacks that go into different apartment levels. This jack, this is the robber goes into the first floor, the second floor, the third floor, and then one Jack stays on the roof as the lookout. And then when the police come you knock on the on the deck, and all the jacks come off the top. And my brain just, you know, at seven years old, you're just learning how the world you know, there's rules to the world. And he put those jacks in four different spots in the deck. And there's no way that they could just end up on top like that. So something clicked in my brain. And I said that I want this power. You know, this is this is what I want. And I started learning from magic books. And I don't my first tricks weren't anything even to write home about. But the point was, I was trying to fool my brother. That was my main goal. He got me and I need to learn something I can get him back with. And that took about 15 years. I'm not even exaggerating. For 15 years, I showed him tricks. And he would always just say value. That's how I saw it. That's how you you put on that card or show me show me the rest of the deck kind of you know, that kind of thing. And I was like, in my early 20s When I showed him a trick once and he just stopped. He didn't say anything.

Nick VinZant 3:33

It finally got it

Jason Ladanye 3:34

was dead silent. And afterwards, I was like, Yes. And then the side effect of that was I ended up becoming a professional magician.

Nick VinZant 3:43

How hard is it to become a professional magician?

Jason Ladanye 3:46

Well, I think I'm built like other people, I have this desire to, to just be the best to work as hard as I possibly can read as many books hang out with the world's best other magicians that have already done. The you know, Darwin Ortiz is my mentor, considered one of the best in the world becoming a professional magician is about creating good material that people can't figure out having a character that people like and going out there and sharing and performing and putting yourself out there advertising so people know, I will come entertain, and I'm going to be damn good at it. You know, you word of mouth, do a gig, have people come back and up business cards and just build that up. I did all sorts of things to help get myself out there. This is even pre internet really, you know what I mean? This is this is doing events calling up event places and saying hey, I offer this service do you have events that I can do would come entertain it? So you call up a convention center and talk to the person that does the events and that way when someone is holding an event? And he said oh by the way, would you like some entertainment for this event? I have a great guy in town, you know, that kind of thing. So word of mouth, honestly, that's what it was. And then in 2013 I published my first book And that really helps that put me on the map for some credibility. And then in 2018, I published my second book, but I went full pro in about 2009 or so.

Nick VinZant 5:10

Is it? Okay? Let me ask these questions, get it out of the way you closer to ramen noodles or mansions?

Jason Ladanye 5:17

Well, I make a very good living. Now when I started out, you have to climb the ladder, you have to climb the ladder, when my first corporate gigs were like 500 bucks back in the day. But now I do gigs for anywhere from five to $10,000 even more sometimes. So yeah, celebrities. It's, it's just again, getting your getting your word out there. Getting your content out there. Hitting a million followers on social media certainly helps. And like I said, celebrity endorsements, things like that. That's all credibility that helps a client want to hire you.

Nick VinZant 5:53

How do you learn the tricks? That's the thing that

Jason Ladanye 5:56

books and from other people, there's other magicians out there that release books that teach this stuff. And we all have a kind of a community that we share ideas, and then it's for me anyway, I like to put my own spin. I take what that person wrote in a book and say, How can I do this? How can I change this to fit to fit me. So that's an A very important thing, when you're authentic, instead of just taking someone else's material doing it. note for note, you know,

Nick VinZant 6:23

that that seems like such a, that people are so fascinated by it, but yet they never just read the book,

Jason Ladanye 6:29

you have to put in a lot of time to it. So it's kind of like nucular physics, we're all fan. We all wonder how does the Galaxy work? But do we buy all the books on it and read everything about deep space, you know, so it's a very similar concept. It's all it's all out there. But to put the time and energy into doing that is another thing.

Nick VinZant 6:48

What makes you good at it well makes a good,

Jason Ladanye 6:51

big difference between someone that just does cheap material, easy to figure out what goes on a magic website and buy some stupid little gimmick that does it for you, or someone that puts in the time, the hours stolen sleight of hand. So everything I'm doing, it's just a regular deck of cards, and I'm moving my hands faster than you can see. And I'm fooling you in that way. But in order to do it that way, it takes years and years decades to learn how to do that. So a good analogy is do you want to go to the gym every day and eat clean for years, or you just want to buy the t shirt that has an AB six pack printed on it. People are obviously going to have more respect for the guy that put the time in to do that. And no one is going to go wow, look at that T shirt. Where'd you get that? I mean, so online people can see that when I'm doing these videos. If I say the casino wash can't be beat. It's impossible. That's why casinos use it the casino shuffling procedure, and then I proceed to do the wash, do the same shuffle and then show the deck and complete new deck order. There is no gimmick that does that. You bet you can't buy that at a store. You have to learn how to do that over decades worth of practice, you know, so that's that's the difference. And I think people recognize that. And when they watch the videos,

Nick VinZant 8:04

you know, just because we're in it right now we'll do some like tricks, stuff like that later. But when sleight of hand, is there something that you could show me real quick? That's like, Okay, this is a basic sleight of hand.

Jason Ladanye 8:15

Is this a quick demonstration of sleight of hand a deck of cards, you can see that I'm shuffling. There's no doubt that these cards are changing because they're correct. Right, right. And so that's what your eye sees, but I'm pulling your eye. That's all looks like I'm really shuffling. But you see I can find an ace. Now let me do that. Again. I'm not even looking at that font. Yeah, I'll give the cards a cut just like the way they do in Vegas, you can see that that's a real cut cards come up top to bottom as a secondary. And again, two people are gonna say, oh, it's some sort of trick deck or something. No, you can buy my books and see that this is all done with sleight of hand. So I'll give the cards I'm gonna cut let me finish. Because there's a third one. There's only one more ace in the deck. So you know that this is the most difficult one of all. It's going to be the most difficult but I'll give the cards a card because I do believe the last ace is right about there. So that's an example of sleight of hands. There's no other races in the deck. That's an example of sleight of hand it looked like I was shuffling the cards. It looked like I was cutting the cards but in reality, I was doing something behind the scenes. Another way to look at it is live special effects. Right? I'm doing special effects for you right in person. So in a movie, you see them they they intrigue you. They're amazing. We saw Harrison Ford drive a truck and it blew up right. Yeah. But what's really happening is some movie magic to make it look that way because Harrison Ford really didn't get into a truck and drive it into a gas tank and have it explode. But it certainly looks that way. So that's a decent analogy for it looks like I shuffled the deck. It looks like I gave the car to cut and it looks like I found most Four aces do you have

Nick VinZant 10:01

to have for those kinds of card tricks or sleight of hand tricks? Right? Is there something that you need a physical characteristic? Right? Like, I've got to be able to move my hands fast? Yeah. Yeah,

Jason Ladanye 10:11

yeah, it's called independence and fingers. And a piano player, same thing. Anybody can play the piano, you just have to sit down and are willing to put in the time to learning finger exercises, scales, stay with it, the patients that continue to work at it, but unless you don't practice, it's going to take a long, much longer time to learn how to do that stuff. But any student that sits down and practice it's like learning another language. We all have that ability, you just have to sit down and do it.

Nick VinZant 10:38

I know, this is a big, broad, general question. But in that sense, like, Are most of the tricks that are being done? Are they super complicated? Or are they really just like,

Jason Ladanye 10:47

it's a mix, and I'll prove it at the end of our interview? I'll show you something very cool. And yeah, it will fool you. I'm sure. Well, will you be oh my god, that's amazing. And then I'll show you what happened. And you're gonna go, that's it. So you can but it's, they're not all that way. They're not all created equal. Just because a song is very good. Doesn't mean that it's complicated. You can have very good songs that are still simple to play.

Nick VinZant 11:10

Now is that is the job entail? A lot of traveling a lot of like, what kind of what is what is it like on a not a day to day, but like on a on a basis as a job? Sure. So

Jason Ladanye 11:21

any good business plan means multiple sources of income. So I keep my social media accounts cooking card magic by Jason is the handle for any of them. YouTube, Instagram, Tik Tok are my three big ones. So you have to make content to keep those things alive. And that gets you more work because people see that stuff. And in the videos, I'm saying you can hire me live. So that's a huge advertisement, these videos get millions, there's one of mine that has 36 million views or something that is an advertisement. So hire me for your event that goes up to 36 million bucks that cost me what? Zero, it's a free platform. So that's a constant source of advertising your event. I also have two books out I have DVDs, I have downloads, I have all sorts of content for specifically for magicians, so you can teacher of mine told me years ago, if you can make learn how to make money when you sleeping, you'll be fine. So he's covered that for me there. So I can not do anything for a month and I still have income waiting for me. But the fun ones, for me, I don't care about getting up in the morning and making videos here, too. That's not the living I want. I want to go out and perform for real people. So that's, that's where I focus my energy. And what will happen is a client will reach out to me and say, Hey, we're doing XYZ event in in the Bahamas was the last fun one that I did on some cruise, you can come down and do Can you will fly down can you do an hour's worth of material for our guests. For that to my manager, my manager handles all the bookings, all the flights and all that. And next thing you know, I'm flying out of the country to do an event. And then that you just repeat that process. And that old school method I told you about at the beginning of word of mouth is still best still works today. That's not like it doesn't work anymore. So those people know people that have parties, and then you get another gig out of that. So my busiest season is October through like January or so that's where most companies are having parties and things like that. So I will just be constantly flying around and doing events. During those are all private events. During the summer months, I like to do public shows. We get a venue, we go to a theater and we say, um, Jason, well, Danny, here's my social media. Let's do a show. Look at this following. I'm gonna pitch my show at your venue. Let's get him here. And we do that. And last year we did la in Chicago, we sold out shows for two months or less, but four months, three and a half months. Bout two months in Chicago about two months in LA. And we sold out 80 tickets tonight. Two shows a week it was fantastic.

Nick VinZant 14:02

For people who kind of tried to make it and don't in the industry, where do they usually get bogged down.

Jason Ladanye 14:08

They are just not doing that they are I don't want to say copying. But they're not being authentic. They're just doing what other people do. And you need to find your own thing, your own personality and just do that. So if I just had a social media account of me just cutting to four aces every day in different ways to hip hop, Lo Fi Hip Hop track, who cares? You need to get out there and show people who you are. And my whole thing is look at me. I'm the best are pretty bold statement, right? But then I then I put content out there that proves it. Me. Like I'm gonna say I'm good because I know I'm good and it triggers people and they love it. But if I were just to do that stupid thing I did with you where I cut to the ACES by shuffling the deck. Okay, yeah. So you got to wrap it up in a You know, in a good way, you got to find a way to, to deliver that in a way that people like. And that's where people go wrong in this business copycat material and not moving the bar forward. I'm doing things that no one's ever done in in card magic.

Nick VinZant 15:15

Just just kind of from my perspective, right? If you were to say when you look at either yourself or another person that's kind of on your level, in terms of original stuff that you're doing, how much of how much like, what percentage of your show is that

Jason Ladanye 15:30

I have this, the name of my second book is called game changer for a reason. Because card magic has not moved in hunt in like 100 years. It's just people doing the same stuff. And magicians as a whole 90% 95% of magicians just keep doing the same thing. It's just this this was invented 100 years ago, and I'm gonna do it now. And the opening line is, this is the oldest trick and magic oh my god, leave it alone. Leave it alone move. Let's let's change it up. So I came into this industry and said, What's the new spin? You can? What is the new way to do this? And I've proved it in two books that are both there. Actually, the first book is going to be in its third printing soon, believe it or not, the second book is going to be in a second printing already. So that's why it's called Game Changer. This has been done a million years. But now let's up it and do it this way. And so when I do a show, 90 95% of it is is my is my ideas.

Nick VinZant 16:34

What Why is cards so why are cards in the most prevalent? Are they just the easiest to genuinely do sleight of hand? It's not

Jason Ladanye 16:41

enough for me. I'm a card guy. So for me, it's all I do in magic. There's lots of fields, there's lots of fields. But there's an accessibility to cards. I can go to CVS and buy this deck. But I can't go to CVS and buy a box that cuts a woman in half, you know, and so, so get the card magic. And anyone with $4 has access to becoming a card magician on the internet. Yeah.

Nick VinZant 17:06

Are you ready for some harder slash listener submitted questions?

Jason Ladanye 17:09

Wait, are we allowed to swear? You can swear? Yeah, I

Nick VinZant 17:12

just it's

Jason Ladanye 17:13

the first question is why is this guy such a dick? Because I just my character, I play a character. I'm an actor, you know. So people think that I'm really this fool of myself. And it's just like saying, going finding Daniel Craig in a Whole Foods dance in Kingston. He lives in like an hour from here, magic going into a whole foods in Kingston and running into Daniel Craig and saying, you know, you killed that person in that movie. And you are a terrible person, because he had a fan. You know, like, he's an actor, like, let it go. So when I'm up there saying, in case you ever wondering, you know, like, what's the point of me trying to be so humble when I'm so good at everything. That's a humorous line that I say that? Yeah, right. But people, some people think that I'm a person that just says I am the best in the world, and everyone else is trash. And that's all they see in my content, every single video. So there'll be some people that don't understand that and write in like, you can't say that you're the best in the world. You're not allowed to do that. And it's like they're policing the internet. So that's why I was curious to see what kind of questions that you may have.

Nick VinZant 18:23

One of them may have been around that like God, good. I love it. Alright, you did you try out different personas first, though, before you kind of went through?

Jason Ladanye 18:31

Yeah, if you look at my material, from 10 years ago, very dry, I'm still doing strong card magic, the magic was most prevalent like that, that's my main focus. But the scripting around it was a little bit weaker, it was not weaker. It's just not as comp not as boasting my own ego and things like that a little bit, but not as much. And then once I realized the audience's really enjoyed that, I started to crank that up a little bit and have more fun. So in other words, the real me started to kind of come out where I just kind of say what I want. And I also my mentor, Darwin Ortiz, when you're learning it's okay to walk through the footsteps of your mentor. So I was doing things similar to him. But I grew out of his. So that's normal. If you're going to learn how to play piano, your piano teacher gives you Beethoven, you're not copying Beethoven to beat the next Beethoven, you're just playing a simple song that is already written for you. So I would do Darwin's material, Darwin scripts and act similar to him. But I grew out of that within a couple of years because I wanted to be me. I could see why

Nick VinZant 19:37

that that persona would work right though, because people would either accept it like yeah, that's the best man or it would piss him off. And either

Jason Ladanye 19:44

way is good. Yeah, online people get pissed off and have the right to do that at my shows. People love it. They're paying to come see me so that there's no at a live show. I never have anyone that's like, you know, do it with the cards face up or but you can't do this or, you know, it's like you're watching it live. If so you know it's real. And people just accept when I say, I'm the best in the world name any cards, you want to cut it out of the deck instantly and someone from the crowd says the Queen of Hearts and I cut it out instantly. What are you going to what are you gonna say? Well, you're right, I just proved what you wanted me to do. So you can sit down now, or someone in the middle of a trick will say, Let me shuffle. Now that's not an a heckler. That's someone asking a question. So I say, Sure. And they shuffle and then I do the trick anyway. What are you gonna say? So that's that Pete, the audience loves that. And it all boils down to this, I know, I'm good. I'm allowed to say that. And audiences love that when I do that stuff, and then prove it. They just they just love that. Here's a guy that's devoted his life to it. He's good. And no one's gonna get in his way. And there's something about that, that people really enjoy. What

Nick VinZant 20:54

do you think it is about magic that people really dislike have that visceral reaction?

Jason Ladanye 21:00

Well, because there's subtext there. The subtext is I know something that you don't. And there's this, this word wonderment. How did you do that? How is that even possible? So if I put a card in your hand facedown, and then you name any card? And I say, look at it, and it is that card, there's this mystery, this one like, that's not possible, you're breaking the everyday rules, and that are no other art form has that we can look at a painting and say, Wow, that's amazing. We can go listen to an amazing band. That's amazing. But it doesn't have the same feeling of wonderment when you when you're just completely lost. And how is that possible? That's a unique experience that magic offers.

Nick VinZant 21:40

What would you say? Like, is it more popular than it was?

Jason Ladanye 21:44

Every 10 years we do a valley in a peak, it goes away. No one cares about it. And then David Copperfield brought it back. And then it disappeared. Just went away. Nobody cared anymore. And then David Blaine brought it back. Remember the ABC specials? Yeah, yeah. And then it disappeared again. And then America's Got Talent. People started magician started winning, and they want over and over and over again. So it's just back. It's just, it's just like anything else? Remember the big poker boom in 2008? Yeah. Oh, yeah. It was on. We were watching ESPN six, our shows of poker, you know, had this big boat. Now. It's just dissolved with no one cares anymore. But it will it so those things just kind of come and go. Where would you say in

Nick VinZant 22:23

terms of the magic hierarchy, right. And I don't even know what that means. But where is kind of sleight of hand card magic? You know, like I think of, is it below cutting people in half in the box above.

Jason Ladanye 22:36

These are just different genres did very different genres. You can say sports, whereas golf, whereas football, you know, it's hard to it's apples and oranges. So in magic, there's stage illusion. Right? That's the David Copperfield. That's the Siegfried and Roy that's making lines appear unlimited halfway. I don't do any of that stuff. That's not my thing at all. There is parlor magic, where you're standing on stage. And there's 100 people and you prefer 50 people or whatever. And you perform things with silks and doves and birdcage. That's not my thing, either. And then with their there's close up magic, and that means that you're sitting right there, like my perfect shows 20 people, you know, we're all just I have a table and there's 20 people sitting around me. And that's close up magic. And you can still do coins and cups and balls and things. But then a subset of that is card magic close up card magic. So that's exclusively just cards. So there's all these different genres of magic, and I just happen to be one of those. And it's difficult to rate, which ones on top, because they're all They're all different. You know what I mean?

Nick VinZant 23:42

Yeah, that makes sense. It's not kind of the situation of like, hey, I want to be the richest musician or the richest magician in the world. And your mentor would say, Jason, well, you got to do this.

Jason Ladanye 23:53

Yeah. What's funny is other magicians will preach. This is why I ended up doing what I'm doing. Other magicians will preach it. You can't make it as a card magician. In order to make money. You need to do all sorts of variety of things. I heard that one for decades, decades. But magicians love to put other magicians down, it's very big, any niche will have that. So I felt it was very rewarding to to shut them up and do what I do. In just cards and having a following this big, hitting 1 million followers doing just card tricks. I mean, that's unheard of. So but if you're good, you're good.

Nick VinZant 24:31

How many decks of cards do you have?

Jason Ladanye 24:33

I have about 12,000 decks that behind these only about 320-500-3000 decks. There is a particular brand of cards that is casino quality. They're perfectly made. They're the same ones that you would find in a casino. So there's no the quality control is great. There's no bad edges or miss cut cards and cards that don't lie. The finish isn't messed up and on and there's One particular maker of those cards, and they were made once and never to be made again. And I went and bought them all up, because I want to make sure that I continue to use that brand. And I'm comfortable with bicycle rider backs, they're, they're these, they're just really well made. And then some other companies are just poorly, they're just, they don't have the same quality control, which means you can get a defective deck or things like that. So that's why I honed in on one brand and just bought them all up.

Nick VinZant 25:31

Well, but will you run into situations where like, oh, man, if it's an old deck, or if it's not a well made deck, can it throw

Jason Ladanye 25:38

because I practice with those as well. So on that shelf is a variety of everything you're talking about? Behind me. The very top is like collected decks under that is semi used new but kind of used underneath that is moderately, like pretty worn in and then underneath that is completely destroyed decks of cards. And I practice with all of those so that I'm never in a situation where somebody hands me an old deck and I say, Oh, I can't perform it, then I've got experience practicing with older decks.

Nick VinZant 26:06

But if you only did one type of deck, like I only work with brand new if somebody gave you an old one would that could that throw a magician? Oh, no,

Jason Ladanye 26:13

no, well, most probably, but no, not because I just said I practice with all decks. I do my whole show with an old deck just to make sure that I can do it.

Nick VinZant 26:21

I'm assuming this has happened. So I'll ask this question in this way. But last time somebody figured it out.

Jason Ladanye 26:26

I can tell you it was June of 2009 was the last time somebody caught me red handed. I was performing for two women at an event. And I turned to this woman and I did something amazing. I made a card appear in your hands, you know. And I turned to this woman and started to do the second half of the trick. And in the middle of that this woman over here said something I won't repeat. Because I don't I just won't repeat it. It's not that it can be bleeped. She just said something sexual in nature. And it caught me off guard because she went over over the line quite a bit and I just turned back to her in disbelief. I said what? And the woman on my left reached up and said, What is this?

So palling is a thing you want guards. Palming is a magic secret, you see can secretly hide cards in your hand. And if you think about the design, I'm supposed to talk to this woman. And if I'm, if I'm turned this way, nobody can see the thing. There's nobody behind me is my body's nobody can see this card. But because I turned back to address, oh, I just want to get that out. Uh, yeah, no hesitation, she reached in and said, What is this? And it was great. It's I mean, I mean, what am I going to do get mad? You know, we all laughed, and it's hilarious. So that was the last time that I got really busted. Hard, like there's I have. But moving forward, people can say things. I think you did it this way. But that doesn't mean they're right. That's just a myth. That's just in their mind. So I don't have to worry about shutting people down. Like when I put a deck back into order people's always switch decks. Well, they can think that, but the rest of the audience is smart enough to know that those cards never went out of you. So it's it. It's very difficult for the audience to say, I figured that out. Because it's just a it's a theory in their minds. That's all. Yeah, if you don't acknowledge it, right, it's kind of the other thing, too, is it's reliably This is my favorite part reliably. When someone says that in the audience, the person sitting next to them or around them will always remind them of a condition that I had had done. They'll say, Oh, well, you had those cards in order, you set those cards up. And the husband says that and the wife says, But Bill, you shuffled them before you started. And then Bill got the job, whatever. He did my shelf. Yeah, like so. I when I told you about what the avenues I'm putting things in place that will ultimately prove this is impossible. That's my job. That's what I do. So when you try to reconstruct it, I've already taken care of all of that. And that's why you won't be able to figure it out.

Nick VinZant 29:21

Last time somebody thought you were really doing magic, like supernatural powers

Jason Ladanye 29:26

match. There's been a few depending on how much alcohol they've had in them. I've had a few people that just are saucer ride after the trick and put the cards down and say I'm not I don't want to watch whatever the hell you don't understand and they walk away that to me that is just great.

Nick VinZant 29:41

Man never had somebody like the devil get the devil.

Jason Ladanye 29:45

Oh my god, I have a YouTube com one of my favorite YouTube comments. Yeah, clearly you've sold your soul to be able to do the things you've done and I have pity on you and I will pray for you and all this and it's in the comments like this long. So I need they're going to pray at their church for me and all that because obviously Have I've, I've done in some sort of dark deal with the devil and because no one should be able to possess these kinds of skills. I mean, or it could be practice.

Nick VinZant 30:10

What's your personal favorite trick?

Jason Ladanye 30:13

That changes? It's kind of like, what's your favorite song? Or what's your favorite movie impossible to to answer that, because there's so many I probably know two 300 tricks total. It's about the tricks that get the best reactions. That's how I judge my tricks. I may love it for a particular reason, because it has a move in it or because it has concept or because it has rewarding sleight of hand to be able to pull something off in front of a person and get away with it feels like a heist, like you robbed the bank, you got away with it, it's very rewarding feeling. However, how I grade tricks is the reactions when people just flip out. And when I perform, I'm constantly bringing in new material and getting rid of old material or bringing back old material, like things I used to do 10 years ago, bringing them back, because I like those reactions. So I have plenty of performances on YouTube, that my Magic Castle set is on YouTube, you can watch a full uncut, it's all one take a full set 20 minutes where you're gonna watch me do tricks there. And the very last one in that Magic Castle set. So if you search YouTube search for Danny, Magic Castle, you'll find it and that last trick is just so much fun to do when it gets great reactions.

Nick VinZant 31:23

And love Danny is La DANYE. For anybody who's just listening to the audio version of it. Um, what's the easiest trick to do? What's the hardest trick?

Jason Ladanye 31:36

So the easiest trick I'll show you at the end when we get into the demo, so I'll show you something very easy. That's effective. And then, like I said, if you want to know the hardest, that YouTube clip at the magic castle at the last 10 minutes, they're easily the most difficult trick that I've got to do.

Nick VinZant 31:51

How much will you generally have to practice a trick? Like how many hours would you say that you put into it? It's

Jason Ladanye 31:57

terrifying. But there are tricks that I have practiced for literally three, four years before actually doing them in front of people that I can't mess up, my character doesn't allow for me to make mistakes, which means that it has to be it has to be perfect before it comes out in front of people. So I typically practice to for six hours a day, sometimes more. I take some days off from time to time, but it's a full time job, I sit there and go over old tricks moves. I constantly putting things online content, which means that I have to practice for that stuff as well. And then also I can watch my own content and see what do I need to improve like I could have done that better or things like that. So I'm always fine tuning that stuff. So that's for the last 35 years, it's been four to six hours a day.

Nick VinZant 32:51

Last question before we kind of get into some demonstrations. If some what would advice would you give to the next you

Jason Ladanye 33:00

mean miss things that I've kind of didn't get right, that kind of thing.

Nick VinZant 33:03

Things are like advice to somebody who wants to kind of get into the business like it, men

Jason Ladanye 33:08

rezones the don't, you don't have to share your ideas with everybody, I have a very tight circle of people that I share those secrets with that learn that I saw all the things that I'm doing on tick tock that are full of people, there's five people that know how that stuff's done. And earlier back in even 2015 2017 and that neck of the woods, I was sharing some of that material with outside people, I do a magic convention or something and share some of those ideas. And those ideas just ended up on their YouTube channels or their social media accounts without credit, that kind of stuff. So you don't have to this is a classic thing. If I invent the new car that runs on water, I don't have to go out and tell everybody and then pitch 10 years later that now everyone's driving a car that runs on water. You know, it's it's not. I think it's my ego, almost the gut that made that that made that happen. So that's what I would say once you start creating your own content, your own concepts, your own things, just keep to yourself.

Nick VinZant 34:14

But can you figure out any other magician's tricks? Like can you look at it and be like, Oh, that's how they're doing

Jason Ladanye 34:18

most of the time? Yeah, I can. There's only a handful of people that could fool me and their names are Mike Vincent, Tony coverall, Andrew Lyndhurst, Jack Carpenter, Darwin Ortiz. Those guys will cost constantly forming and I love it. That's my inner circle. Those are the guys that I share all my ideas with.

Nick VinZant 34:37

Is there somebody that you would say that that magicians is a hole right? You know, the Lebron Michael Jordan conversation they would say that's the best.

Jason Ladanye 34:45

Well, me obviously

Nick VinZant 34:49

was besides yourself, somebody that people would look at and be like, you know, there are there are

Jason Ladanye 34:53

a few names in our industry Mario Lopez and Danny D or D Ortiz. Fantastic. Fantastic. elastic performers that are constantly racking everybody's brains. And me included. Sometimes I see things that those guys do. And I'm just like, I don't know how what he's doing.

Celebrity Groomer Marissa Machado

Nick Jonas, Michael Keaton, Rami Malek, her clients are some of the biggest names in movies and music. But what does it take to to keep leading men looking good. Go behind the scenes with Celebrity Groomer Marissa Machado. We talk breaking into the industry, working with celebrities and how to look your best. Then, it’s a fierce competition between water and the sky as we countdown the Top 5 Blue Things.

Marissa Machado: 02:03

Pointless: 38:18

Top 5: 58:02

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Marissa's Portfolio and Work

Art Department LA

Hollywood Groomer of the Year Vote (Closes February 10)

Celebrity Groomer Marissa Machado

Nick VinZant 0:11

Welcome to Profoundly Pointless. My name is Nick VinZant Coming up in this episode looking like a celebrity, and the best blue things,

Marissa Machado 0:22

I just want them to look their best to where when they hit the stage, the carpet, whatever. Everyone's looking at him and just thinking, man, he looks good. I just did whatever I could to be part of it. Because I just thought one day, it'll be my big break, and it took about five years, you have to really love it because there are ups and downs. And when you're riding that wave really high, it is fantastic. But when you're in that, when you're riding that wave low, it can be really dark. And you have to remember those highs to keep yourself balanced for the lows. I think for a man to look good, you should do these things. These things are,

Nick VinZant 1:00

I want to thank you so much for joining us. If you get a chance to subscribe, leave us a rating or review we really appreciate it really helps us out. If you're a new listener, welcome to the show. If you're a longtime listener, thank you so much for all of your support. So our first guest specializes in getting Hollywood's leading men to look their best. Nick Jonas Michael Keaton, Remy Malick, her clients are a who's who have movies and music. But what I think is really interesting is not just the behind the scenes working of celebrity, but the tips that she has, that everybody else can use in their life to look their best. And her her story about persevering and figuring out what it is that you want to do. And just going after it, no matter what challenges are in your way. This is celebrity men's groomer Marissa Machado. When you started out, like did you specifically want to work with celebrities or was this kind of something that just happened?

Marissa Machado 2:09

I specifically set out to work with celebrities. I I grew up in Bakersfield, California, my family's all in agriculture. But my mother was an avid Entertainment Tonight, watcher and she made clothing. So she always had an eye for fashion. And that was something we enjoyed together. i From a young age loved. I would always cut my Barbies hair, cut my daughter's hair, which transpired into school dances of doing friends hair and makeup. You know, when I was in high school, young girls, we didn't hire makeup artists, there wasn't such thing. So we just did it ourselves. So I just became the girl that people would come to and I loved. I loved watching the red carpet. And I wanted to just I want it to be the reason why they looked so good. We didn't know anything about Hollywood. It's only an hour and a half away. But it's a vastly different world. So I didn't have those connections. And it was just sort of one step at a time as to how I was going to get to Hollywood and how I was going to get my foot in the door.

Nick VinZant 3:11

How difficult was it to kind of get your foot in the door. I mean, how competitive of an industry is this?

Marissa Machado 3:16

It's extremely competitive. And the difference is I moved here in 2003 I moved to Los Angeles in 2003. And when I started I was working at a makeup counter for Steelo cosmetics. I got that job. When I finished cosmetology school. My passion was more in makeup at the time, even though I always loved hair. So I got a job at the makeup counter. And when I went to work every day I would meet you know different people that were I don't know getting married or so you know, I started doing weddings. There was no such thing as social media. You couldn't I mean, there was no direct into these agents, photographers, other makeup artists to assist to get my foot in the door that way. So it was really about meeting people at the makeup counter. And I slowly you know, I started working in Barney's in Beverly Hills and I would go in there and work at the steel counter. And I would just meet different people and from there I met a makeup artist who led me to his agent and I started assisting and and then that got your foot in the door. But if you didn't come with any celebrities, they didn't want to take you so it was a real catch. 22 it was it was difficult. I took every single job that came my way whether there was money or not I assisted stylist and fashion. I assisted hairdressers, I assisted makeup artists. I just did whatever I could to be part of it. Because I just thought one day it'll be my big break. And it took about five years.

Nick VinZant 4:51

Is that normal? I guess for getting into the industry in terms of like that's how people usually get in. This is how it usually takes or would you say that you're kind of an aberration one way or another.

Marissa Machado 5:03

I think that's how it used to happen. I know now I have people direct messaged me saying, you know, I'd love to assist you, if you ever need an extra set of hands, I would have loved that opportunity to reach out to these people and say, Hey, I'm willing to work, you know, because I was. So I think I don't know what the appropriate time to break in is. I know, people that assisted a lot longer than me before they got their big break. I know people that are still doing the type of jobs I was doing when I was assisting and they're, they're completely happy. For me, I just, I just kept thinking there was there was, it was going to happen. And there there was going to be something more I don't know, I set. Like I said, from age 14, I said, this is what I was going to do. And it's like, there was just something in my mind that I knew I was going to do it. And I also had that thing in my mind that was like, I have to prove to everybody that I really did it.

Nick VinZant 5:57

Earlier this morning, interviewed someone who's a gold and motivation researcher, she's like, the most successful people are people with slight chips on their shoulder. Gotta have a slight chip and the sense that like, I'm gonna show him, show him I'm going to show them all.

Marissa Machado 6:14

Yeah, it was like family members, high school counselors, all those people, you know, I had to prove to them because when I went to my high school, college counseling meetings, and they asked me what I wanted to do, I told them, I was gonna go to Santa Barbara to do your city college and have a college experience. But I was gonna move to Hollywood. And I was going to do you know, hair and makeup for celebrities? And I said, I'm going to travel the world. And their response would say, well, you should have a backup plan, what's your backup plan? And I just said, there is no backup plan. This is what I will do. So yeah, I definitely had something to prove, I suppose. Good for you. Some clients take you everywhere around the world with them, you're their only person, some clients hire you, just when they're in LA, and then maybe they have their person in New York or you know, Europe or whatever. So but usually, once you're established with those clients, if they're around in town, and they have things going on, you're going to be that person, there's not going to be that sort of competition. However, yes, when you're starting out, it is. It's one of those things that it is not for the faint of heart. It's, it's not an easy job. You really don't. It's like, okay, I don't know how to explain this, you really don't get a lot of praise. And even if you do want a lot of praise, you're going to kind of have to find it within yourself. Because in the men's grooming world. We're not celebrated, I suppose as much as maybe hairdressers or makeup artists that are working with females, because we're celebrating the makeup, right? We're celebrating the look, the thing about a man grooming a man is that you want to just present them as a good looking man. Right? So it's not about what they have on it's, it's just, they should just walk in and look good. And nobody's asking what they have on or why they look so good. They just do. So you really don't, you really don't get that sort of shine. So you have to you have to find it within within yourself and which maybe isn't for everybody, but it works for me. It works for me, because I'm not somebody who likes to be center stage or any of those sorts of things.

Nick VinZant 8:27

I that makes sense, right? Like, I want to be on the winning team. But I don't care if I'm the player I get. Yeah. And it almost reminds me to continue this sports analogy of kind of like the kicker. If you make the kick, you are supposed to make the kick the whole time, right. Like you're only acknowledged if you've done something wrong, essentially.

Marissa Machado 8:44

You're right. You're right. Yeah.

Nick VinZant 8:47

How so? How is working with a celebrity different than like working with another high end client?

Marissa Machado 8:52

Yes, every job varies. And every salon celebrity varies, you know, and I think that one of the most important things about my job is understanding how to be around people not just being good at what you do. But understanding how to read people, maybe what mood they're in, just sort of feeling the energy in the room and understanding when it's when it's time to speak, when it's not time to speak how much you should be saying, you know, what kind of space are they in an understanding that also, maybe they're going out to do an appearance on let's say, Jimmy Fallon. And maybe it's one of their first big, you know, late night appearances. They might be in their head about it, they're nervous about it, you know, but you can't take that on and take it personally. You have to understand the space that they're in, and respect, respect that you know, so. And some celebrities, you know, maybe you're gonna go in and you know, that we're not going to speak it's going to be it's going to be 20 to 30 minutes, where I'm going to just do what I need to do work around them and then get in and get out. Other people. I'm going to walk in the door. They're going to ask me, How am I Family is what's been going on. You know, it's, it's, it's different between between everybody, but I do have a client that I work with often who is a CEO of a company. And he just, he likes to be groomed for his zoom meetings and such. And, yeah, that's just like, I don't know, that's just having a normal conversation with anyone, it kind of, it takes the pressure off. But at the same time, I want to do equally as good a job, you know, I want to make that man feel as important as if he were on the red carpet.

Nick VinZant 10:29

I know, this is kind of a super broad question, right? But say you're getting somebody ready for a red carpet event or to go on Jimmy Kimmel, or any of those kinds of things. Like what is that? What do you do? When do you show up? What's that process like?

Marissa Machado 10:42

Those are, I'll be honest, my favorite kind of days, my favorite day. I mean, this is just as I've gotten older, my favorite days are the days where you just the job is like a couple hours. And so I get to have like my morning to myself on those kind of days. They don't, as you said, Jimmy Kimmel. So when I'm doing Jimmy Kimmel, I have the whole morning to myself, then I get all my stuff ready, which is my kit, which is basically like a 40 pound suitcase. It's a carry on sized suitcase that has everything that I know I need for that person. Plus anything that could just possibly come up that you you need, because Murphy's Law, like I always have a client asked me for that one thing that I just don't have, or I just took out of my kit for some reason. So you want to make sure you have everything. And then I arrive usually around 3pm 3:30pm 30 minutes before the client, I get there. And I get set up, which I'm, as you mentioned, in the beginning, you have an OCD brain. I do too, I like my setup to be very clean and very specific in the sense of, I'm only putting out what's necessary, I don't like to be veered off track for any reason. So everything is laid out in a specific order of use. And it varies per person, what products those will be, from face products to hair products. And then usually the client will get there, you know, the publicist greets them, they come in, they say hello to everybody, they get a little briefing, and then they sit down with me. So that's where I mentioned earlier, that's that time where I've had a few moments to sort of read their energy and where they are as to how that session between us is going to go if we're going to chit chat about whatever they're promoting, you know, but for the most part, they sit down and if anything's changed within within the way they look, I'll ask, you know, what are you using in your hair? Now maybe I haven't seen them for a couple of months, and the hairstyle is different. And I'll say, Oh, what are you using in your hair now something along those lines or anything different you want me to do. But for the most part, I just do my thing. Because as I say, at this point, I have a group of men that I work with. So that is sort of the luxury of them hiring him is hiring me is that I don't have to ask them questions or say anything I already know what to do. It's this, this very, you know, it's a dance, it's I kind of do my thing. I finish them up, I at the end of my grooming, I always hand them their chapstick as I hand them their chapstick that I take off the cape, and then they're off to the stylist and then they get dressed. And right before they go on, I like to do a last look, check them out, you know, and then they're off to the show. And after that, that's really all you can do. Some shows like The James Corden show, The Late Late Show, some shows have segments where you can actually go out in the commercial break and adjust. But some of the shows if they're just on for one segment, you know, it's like, once they're out there, they're out there. So then you just then as they're out there, I watch them on the monitor, I enjoy what they say. I always listen because I know they're gonna come back and maybe want feedback on how they did. As I pack up my stuff, then they come back we all laugh about or talk about the appearance. And then I'm back home, back to cook dinner, whatever it is,

Nick VinZant 13:57

when you're dealing with kind of celebrity clients, like how nitpicky slash whatever word you want to use, do you have to be in the sense of like, look, that left? Hey, there's a hair on my left ear that was out of place? Like are you checking every single thing that's got to be imperfect position? Or is it kind of like, Alright, you're good to go.

Marissa Machado 14:15

When they're in my chair, I'm checking every single thing. But then there's gonna, and we're talking men, right? So like, I would think that women are more particular more careful, more worried about it, like, I could finish grooming a guy and he could be like, You know what, I have a little bit of downtime. I'm just going to go do a quick workout. And I could stress about it. I think everything I just did is I'm gonna have to redo it. Or I just have to say like, this is what it is. He's a guy he wants to get those push ups in or whatever, I get it, you know, so or they're gonna go change and just pull their shirt over their head and not even think about it, you know? But once they're on set, I become their mirror because they can't see themselves. So then I have to I have to seek for them. So yes, that's okay. If the cameras just face to face with somebody and I saw hair out of place in the back of their head that nobody else is going to see, I'm not going to jump in and ruin their flow of whatever it is to fix this one hair, I'm going to look from the camera angle and see what everybody's seeing. And then worry about that. Because I don't like to, I don't like to step in for touch ups unless it's necessary, because I think it just breaks the flow of everything, and it slows down production. So I like to make sure that they're good when they're go out, I like to take a look at the camera, from what I'm seeing, make sure that everything's in place, and then only have to step in accordingly. But if I have a guy with long hair, which I do have guys with longer hair, and they're moving around, I'm gonna have to go in more often, because there's going to be hair falling in the face covering an eye creating a shadow, whatever, whatever it may be. So yeah, it's delicate.

Nick VinZant 15:55

Are you ready for some harder slash listener submitted questions? Sure. Do you have the juice? And I think what they mean by that is like, they're not asking you to share the juice. But do you generally have the juice?

Marissa Machado 16:06

Oh, like the juice doesn't like the gossip? Like the gossip, I

Nick VinZant 16:10

think is what they mean. Yeah,

Marissa Machado 16:12

I do hear a lot. And I think that the reason that I've been able to keep my job is because I don't repeat the juice. It's one of those things, you kind of just put it in the vault, you know it, and then you see different things on social media or on TV or in magazines said about people. And you just think they've got it all wrong, or Oh, my God, they've got it totally right. But you can't ever say anything, because you won't work. You won't work.

Nick VinZant 16:40

Yeah, that's a pretty fast way to burn your reputation, which is why I think they didn't ask any specifics more just like do you?

Marissa Machado 16:46

I do?

Nick VinZant 16:48

I would imagine so right? There's something about sitting in that chair, where you just like, you start to open up to people a little bit, or you hear things. Yeah. And

Marissa Machado 16:57

you also you overhear conversations around you. And for the most part, I like to leave the room when I know that it's conversation that I shouldn't be hearing, because I don't even want to be placed in the situation of well, Marissa hurt that or Marissa was around when that was said, it's like, if I'm not part of this, I'm just going to excuse myself, because I don't actually want to be part of it.

Nick VinZant 17:19

How much are you really doing? And they mean this in a nice way, in the sense that like, are these fundamentally good looking people in the beginning? Like are you turning sevens into nines are you turned in like threes and eights,

Marissa Machado 17:31

you can certainly take a look at my work. I work with men from you know, their 20s to their 70s. So, as far as fundable fundamentally good looking, I guess that depends on your scale, have a good looking as I find them all attractive, I think they're all good looking men. Okay, I don't really think I'm turning anyone in from like a low number to a high number. My goal always is to walk in and make that man be the best version of himself. Because everybody's scale of what good looking is going to be different. So everyone's scale of a number is going to be different. But I just want them to look their best to where when they hit the stage, the carpet, whatever. Everyone's looking at him and just thinking, man, he looks good. Whoever it is.

Nick VinZant 18:18

Would you say that there's a commonality, though, in the sense of like getting a man to look good. You should do these things.

Marissa Machado 18:25

Yes. I think for a man to look good, you should do these things. These things are checking your ears, making sure you don't have your hair growing, checking your nose, making sure you don't have wild nose hair. Your facial hair thinking about the structure of your face and how that facial hair is actually changing your face structure. Is it making your face look fuller wider? Is it Do you have a beard that's bringing your face down? All these type of things, I think make the difference in a man and my number one thing and a guy that like when I'm on the street or anywhere that I just can't help but notice is how many men let their neck lines just overgrow and never clean it up. And I just think it's one of those things in life. If you have a significant other, they could really help a guy out by doing that whoever that is even a family member, whatever, who if you have someone around you, it's like so many men just let that neckline overgrowth straight into their back and it just crushes my eyes.

Nick VinZant 19:26

Yeah, I would imagine that makes your eyes twitch. But can you Okay, can you go like walk down the street without just being like, oh, you know if you did this if you did that. Do you find yourself constantly judging people's hair?

Marissa Machado 19:39

No. Okay, I only I typically only judge people or look at them in that way if they asked me to because you know, it's one of when you when I was younger and I wanted to do makeup, right? It was fun to play makeup. But as I'm older and this is my job. When I'm not in my job, I try not to be in my job. Have any more, even though it's a fun job, and I love it, when I'm not doing it, I'm not thinking it necessarily. So I'm not always walking down the street thinking, oh blah, blah, blah. Now if somebody showed me a picture of a guy, right? Oh, this is so and so or oh, I'm dating him or whatever, then I'm going to look at that man. And think to myself, Oh, if he just did this, or if he grew his hair this way, whatever. I do think those things for sure.

Nick VinZant 20:26

Do most people have a generally right are kind of generally wrong.

Marissa Machado 20:30

I think that I mean, again, it's Where are you living? I live in Los Angeles. So I think that most people generally have it right in the sense that we are a little consumed with how we look in, in Los Angeles, we do live in this world of Hollywood and celebrity and plastic surgery and fitness and all of those things. So I think that people here genuinely, genuinely, you know, do have it right. I think I don't want to name a state. But I think if I go to somewhere in middle America, I'm going to say Not really. Also even when I go to my hometown, when I went to Bakersfield recently like my, my dad started going to my my brother's barber because his hairdresser retired. He had an old school hairdresser that I used to watch in the salon as a little girl. And you know, he's older, he retired and he used to cut my dad's hair scissor over comb this beautiful hair cut. And now my dad's go into this Barber. And though the guy's a great Barber, he's cutting my dad's hair, like he's cutting my brother's hair. And my dad doesn't need high and tight. You know, he's, he's 70 years old. So, you know, it's where are you as to how they're getting it.

Nick VinZant 21:44

As a person from Kansas, I can say I understand. You can sometimes go back in time a little bit. Um, what celebrity do you ultimately think has the best haircut?

Marissa Machado 21:57

Okay, I'm gonna say this. There's one celebrity that I think always has it right, as far as haircuts. And it's not one specific haircut. It's many. And that's Brad Pitt. I think that Brad Pitt is ever changing his hairstyles, and they're always right. We always love them along the way. You can ask any person about Brad Pitt, and they're going to name a time when they loved Brad Pitt. And it's going to be a different look from the time that the other person loved Brad Pitt. So it's like, even with all these different haircuts and hairstyles, he's always getting it right.

Nick VinZant 22:31

I completely agree. Like I'm married with two children, I would completely agree like Brad Pitt always has good hair, like it looks no matter what he does, it always looks like yeah, he never looks bad in any haircut. And you can't say that about a lot of people.

Marissa Machado 22:48

Not a lot of people the other person. So the reason I bring up bring up Brad Pitt is because whenever I have clients that will start discussing like a new look. And it's more on the music side of things that I feel like people go for new looks more my music clients. I think it's just you have more freedom to have new looks versus actors, because they're playing characters. So I always love to reference Brad Pitt, because we've had so many different looks along the way. And the other one that I reference a lot is David Beckham because David Beckham is another man who has had so many looks along the way. And though I might not think they're all right, I think that we could go through and again, people are gonna, at some point, love all of them. But I like I like men that can change up their look. And people, people all people in general are still attracted to it.

Nick VinZant 23:37

What is your favorite trend haircut? What is your least favorite trend haircut and we can go all time,

Marissa Machado 23:44

most recently, the one that I could not wait to end was the super faded sides. I was just so tired of seeing every guy with the same look just that really, really faded, like almost almost, you know, on a zero, you know, like, just at the scalp, you know, and then rising up above the ear and then the top kind of just being messy. I was I was just so tired of seeing it. I missed it the days of Nick Minh, who's Nick of men having natural necklines, and so I I'm liking seeing more of that kind of come about I think that we're having more length on men's hair and you're seeing actors like Bruce just most recently hitting the carpet so often like Austin Butler, you know who just finished this whole Elvis campaign his longer hair I just didn't we've got Timothy Chanel Chanel, I

Nick VinZant 24:39

can never say his I can never do that when he I think it's like anyway, he's got the long

Marissa Machado 24:43

curls and I I'm really enjoying that we're seeing longer hair come about one I know I mentioned another style that I want to go away but actually this just came to me the one style that I really really want to go away currently that hasn't gone away is this tick tock hairstyle that all the young boys have. And it's all shaved up on the sides. And then the top kind of swoops forward and then back. It's like it comes forward sweeps back and then it kind of flips up all around the edges. And all the tick tock, guys like the Tick Tock stars have this haircut, leading my nieces in high school, and every single boy has the same hairstyle. And I just, I can't understand it. Because when I was in school, the guys didn't have the same hairstyle. Everybody kind of had their own thing, which could have just been more like yours like crew cut style, but it wasn't like a specific look that everyone had to have at the same time.

Nick VinZant 25:41

For I remember it was called the standard boys haircut, which is like what I have and what most people that I grew up with men my age all have the standard boys haircut. Right? It wasn't a style. It was just like, right kid's hair cut. And that's how you cut it. Yes.

Marissa Machado 25:54

Yes, exactly. There's sort of a lack of individuality right now that I see in this in a younger generation and, and everyone wanting to they they find one celebrity or one person that they idolize, and then everyone tries to tries to look that exact way. It's like I just, you know, I think it's better when people go with what, what they feel, you know, that they want to do or what they think looks best on them, but not based on because somebody else did it.

Nick VinZant 26:24

What should I do about back hair.

Marissa Machado 26:27

Okay, couple options. I'm assuming this is a man. But if it's not, even if it's a woman, you could do the same thing. A quick fix is to always just shave it. I know that can become a process if you don't have somebody to help you because you can't get back there. The second option is to get it waxed, you could once a month go into your waxer. And you know, the thing about waxing is it doesn't grow, you know, eventually over time the hair will die, it gets tired of being ripped out of the skin. So it will die over time and you will get lesser hair, it's not going to go away permanently, it's going to be something you have to continue to do. The permanent option is laser. There are a couple of things with laser though. It works best on people with light skin, but dark hair, because it has to pick up on the skin. So it's like if you had light skin Bud Light hair, the laser isn't going to pick up the hair follicle. So the darker the hair, the better it is, but the skin needs to be lighter. So it's one of those things that you want to do when you're out of the sun. Maybe in the winter. You're not. Yeah, we should all be out of the sun at this point, but we're not. And so it's those type of things. It doesn't always work on people with darker skin as well. They might have to go through more sessions also. The skin can scar you know, so it's there's pros and cons to all of those. I'll be honest,

Nick VinZant 27:50

bowl cut, man bun, or what's the Mohawk? Oh no, the mullet that's what they that that's what they Oh, they literally just put bowl cut man bun or mullet.

Marissa Machado 28:04

If I'm gonna pick a favorite out of those three. I'm gonna go with the mullet. And I know that sounds ridiculous. But a mullet could either look really trashy, or it could also look really cool. Just depending on how you style them all. I have a client that I've worked with for like 10 years now his name is Travis femoral and he was on the show Vikings, which he had these crazy haircuts and braids and stuff. And one night he had a premiere and right before the premiere. He took my face trimmer because he also has this long beard. He took my face drummer and he just kind of went up the side of his head, thinking it was funny right before his prayers like, oh shit, you know, so I kind of just had to roll with it. And I ended up shaving the sides into this kind of cool mullet. And then I don't know it just it really worked on him. It looked really cool. I've also seen a revival of mullets and the last few months to be honest, like even like some reality people and different people going for this look. I saw a stylist the other day kind of growing his back out a little bit but keeping you know, so I think a mole it could be cool. I think a bowl cut just takes me back to my childhood. My brother had a bowl cut for a while. And it was very cute in the late 80s, early 90s. Bullet mold cut and man bun man bun. You got to be a real man. I don't know. That's like, I think it only works on types like Jason Momoa. If that makes sense. Yeah,

Nick VinZant 29:34

you've got to be like six five to 15 It'd

Marissa Machado 29:37

be like grizzly. You know what I mean? Like, you got to have some grit to you. Because otherwise you go too pretty. And then it's not my thing.

Nick VinZant 29:48

That's what it is. That's what annoyed me about that trend. People went pretty with it and it didn't work like you've got to be I just finished chopping down lumber and fighting off a bear and Yes, and I feel like that works. Yeah. Yeah.

Marissa Machado 30:03

My hair was like so sweaty that I just had to throw it back in this messy bod. You know, right.

Nick VinZant 30:09

Like, I had to pull that child from the river and this hair was way so I put it in a bond, they just can't be wet. Yeah. What's trendy? Like what trends do you kind of see common?

Marissa Machado 30:20

The the more natural hair lines coming back sort of more of a 90s effort? Like think like, I know this is gonna sound so boring. But like the the Richard Gere types of the 90s Right, the Dennis Quaid types of the 90s, sort of just these more gentleman's haircuts, not the super shape sides. But I just think we're going to start seeing more length all around. And yeah, I just more length all around not, I think that the barber shops were really, really busy for a while. And that was a specific look. And I think we're kind of we're going back to a scissor haircut.

Nick VinZant 31:00

So you were nominated for Hollywood Beauty Awards groomer of the year, when did you find out? What was that kind of like?

Marissa Machado 31:07

I found out, I guess, just about a month ago, I found out that I was that I was being nominated. And I'll be honest, my first reaction is to think Thank you, my, my real reaction is to think that's not really something I want to participate in. Because as I mentioned, at the very beginning of this, I don't like a lot of attention, but I like to win. So it's a lose lose, in my opinion, it's one of those things that I would hate to lose. But I don't want the attention if I win. So I think it's a real honor. It's it's very nice of my peers or, you know, people to recognize me. For my work. I think it's it's really nice. But again, I'm just so uncomfortable in talking about myself in that way. It's one thing to answer questions when you ask me questions. Yeah. Yeah, I have. It's really nice. It's an honor. It is an honor.

Nick VinZant 32:07

Congratulations. I think it's great. Yeah.

Marissa Machado 32:10

Thank you. Because I'm like getting red.

Nick VinZant 32:14

Men are men easier? Are they harder?

Marissa Machado 32:17

This is a common question. And it's not easier as far as the job goes. Because there are some difficult men, there are some really particular men. And I always say it's easier for me because I have two brothers, I was raised around a lot of men. And I don't know, I think I'm a bit of a tomboy. I think that I can relate to them in a way and understand I don't know, I understand the process with them. I'm not somebody who looks in the mirror all the time and is obsessed with how I look. So therefore I don't become obsessed with the way other people look to where I get really nitpicky on their face. And I feel that's more the way women go. So it just, it works for me, because it's like you do the job. You have a nice bond. You tell them they look handsome, and then they feel good about their day. You know, just like most men in general, not one specific man. But most men, you know,

Nick VinZant 33:09

we're a lot easier, right? Like, I can speak for me specifically, as long as my hair is still there. I'm not gonna say anything bad about it. Like,

Marissa Machado 33:17

honestly, that is the number one concern, I will tell you with men and hair is losing it and it thinning. And I always anybody that always anybody that ever makes a joke about a man's hair thinning or losing their hair. I'm always like, no, no, that's off bound. Like that's out of bounds. Because I think that is men's number one insecurity is losing their hair. And it's a sensitive topic. So I really I don't joke about it. But yeah, that is very, something that's very common.

Nick VinZant 33:47

You can always tell when a guy starts wearing hats and a lot of at like, Oh, he's noticed it's going

Marissa Machado 33:52

or they start styling the hair where it kind of goes forward a little bit on the sides, you know?

Nick VinZant 33:57

Yeah. Is there anything that meant like, you're going bald? Well, it's time to get it over with like, what should men do in those last days before?

Marissa Machado 34:07

Yeah, I think that if you've gotten to the place where you're just holding on to the few strands, then you've basically been going about your life being bald anyway. Right? So you might as well just shave it. But I think that if you're especially like in your early 20s, and you're starting to notice your hair thinning, and you have the financial means, I think that you should absolutely look into getting hair transplants because they've come an incredibly long way to where people are growing back full heads of hair, and if you do it early on before it gets really bad and noticeable. You can really change the trajectory of what your hair is going to be like in your 40s and 50s. So I think that if you're looking around your family and you're noticing maybe your your mom's dad is bald, you know, and maybe your hairline is starting to recede in that way. And and you have the financial means It's definitely something to look into. Because I've, I've had some incredible results on on people that I know that I've recommended a doctor to in LA. And you would never know ever know. So that's the route I would go. But if you're already going around, basically bald with your couple hairs on the top that you're pulling over, yeah, just shave it.

Nick VinZant 35:21

Can you say which of your clients has the best hair? Not hair cut, but like, oh, they have the nicest hair? Probably? Like that's the easiest one to work with.

Marissa Machado 35:33

Okay, interesting question. Because the best hair doesn't necessarily mean the easiest to work with. I, gosh, it's so hard to say I'm I have somehow fallen into this world of curly haired clients. It's like I started with the Jonas Brothers. And then from there, people would say, Oh, she's good with curls. So I have a lot of clients that have a lot of curly, nice hair. But I do think I think that Joe Jonas has really beautiful hair that's really easy to style. He's one of those clients that his hair is ever changing, we always kind of go back and bounce ideas off each other for the next look, or the next thing or where he wants it to go. And it's always really fun. And he's his hair. He's got the kind of hair that will do whatever I want. However, I want it to look, it's going to do that. So he I would say, yeah, he could. There's other ones, but I can go with that one easily.

Nick VinZant 36:31

That makes sense. Um, last question for me, what would advice would you give to the next you somebody coming into the business?

Marissa Machado 36:41

I joke with my niece, I tell her, she should come down and she's got my same last name come take over. But the next me? Well, I'm just gonna give the advice that Catherine gave me. And the advice is that you never know who's in the room and who's listening. So everything you say can be repeated. You never want to get yourself into a situation where you're talking too much. So it's it's knowing your place, it's knowing how to be in the room, it's reading the room understanding when to be and where, and why. You know, it's it's knowing how it's being good at your job, but also being really good at reading people. I would say that, you know, it is a struggle. Like I said before, it's not for the faint of heart, you have to really want it, it has to be your dream. This can't just be something that you think, Oh, that looks fun, I'll go do that. You have to really love it. Because there are ups and downs. And when you're riding that wave really high, it is fantastic. But when you're in that when you're riding that wave low, it can be really dark. And you have to remember those highs to keep yourself balanced for the lows.

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After-Death Researcher Dr. J. Kim Penberthy

What happens after we die? Psychiatrist Dr. J. Kim Penberthy studies near-death experiences and after-death communications. We talk afterlife experiences, the psychology of death, and the latest science on what’s next. Then, we countdown the Top 5 Michaels.

Dr. J. Kim Penberthy: 01:53

Pointless: 46:54

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Interview with After-Death Researcher Dr. J. Kim Penberthy

Nick VinZant 0:11

Welcome to Profoundly Pointless. My name is Nick VinZant. Coming up in this episode, the afterlife. And the best

Dr. J. Kim Penberthy 0:19

Michael's, when you look at after people who report after death communications, it's universal. And it's most often seen and people who've had someone they love pass away within the year. For some of these we can look at some time sometimes information is past, the location of missing items or some information. What the research shows people fear most is the pain of dying, the process of dying,

Nick VinZant 0:53

I want to thank you so much for joining us. If you get a chance, subscribe, leave us a rating or review, we really appreciate it really helps us out if you're a new listener. Welcome to the show. If you're a longtime listener, thank you so much for all of your support. So our first guest studies what happens after we die? So our first guest studies one of if not the biggest question that we all face. What happens after we die? She researches near death experiences and after death communications, to find out what's real, what's not. And what all of this says about us. Because when you look at all of these different experiences, there is a commonality in it that we all share. This is after death researcher, Dr. J, Kim Penberthy. So kind of getting started off with the basics. How common would you say are after death or near death experiences for people

Dr. J. Kim Penberthy 2:02

they are probably more common than people might realize. And you have to remember, we're talking about two different things, when we're talking about a near death experience. This is a very well defined concept that we have, that is specifically referring to an experience someone has when they die or nearly die, and the subsequent sort of experiences that they have and recall. And in an after death communication, this is just exactly what it sounds like this is having been contacted spontaneously by someone who has died in some way. And so when someone reports and after death communication, it is literally someone that they knew or had knowledge of who passed away. And now they perceive they are being contacted by this person.

Nick VinZant 3:03

If we were to put I'm a big numbers person, right and approximating 25% of people, 50% of people 75 Like what would you say is the reported number? And then what do you think is like okay, but I think actually this many people have this happen?

Dr. J. Kim Penberthy 3:22

Obviously with near death experiences. It's it's smaller, because it's constricted to people who have near death experiences who almost die. And of those people. It's it's a fairly small percentage who actually remember and can describe what happened to them when they died for after death communications. So in that area, we see when we ask people sort of go out and do random research and find out, you know, just asking them if they've had these experiences, it's it's all over the place, it can be between about 25% of the population up to 60%. So you have to remember, not everyone is going to endorse this, they might experience it, but not share with other people. And when we've done research explicitly asking people, if they've had any kind of communication like this, they will say yes, and share their story, and then disclose that they've never told anybody, certainly not a doctor or a psychologist. And you can imagine why they think that someone's going to think they're crazy or that they're making it up or hallucinating. So my hunch to answer the last part of your question is that people experienced this at higher rates than we then we probably know so I think in reality, it's it's the majority of people. That's my honest feeling. If you really ask things like people saying Well, I saw this Cardinal, and Mom always said, you know, she loved Cardinals and I feel I believe this Cardinal was mom coming back to check on me. If you include things like that, and after death communications, which we do, you know, you can begin, you start thinking about your own life, the people, you know, your relatives, your friends, many of them endorse experiences like this and don't think it's weird.

Nick VinZant 5:26

That's, that would be, you know, the question that would jump out at me. And I'll use an example from from my personal life. My mother passed, I go on this hike to kind of clear my head, long hike, I get up to the central point of the hike cloudy all the time, I get up to the top and the sun comes out. And I guess you could read that, depending on how you believe two ways, right? Like this is a sign my mother is wherever? Or like, it's just a complete coincidence? Like, how do you kind of separate between those two?

Dr. J. Kim Penberthy 5:59

You know, that's a really good question. And it can be tough. And a lot of it boils down to the interpretations and beliefs of the individual. So there might be someone who believes it was just pure coincidence, and thinks nothing of it. Oh, you know, this, the clouds burned off. It's that time of day. And this makes sense to me. And that's what they'll go with. And others, you know, again, it depends on the timing, it depends on the belief. May I say, Yes, you know, that's, that's my mother telling me she's here with me. And in some ways, you know, again, it does depend on what people report how they interpret it. As a clinical psychologist, which, which is what I am in my background, I'm way more interested in how it impacts people. Because the reality is, it could be both, you know, and we've often lost the sight of of, okay, you know, maybe it's ambiguous, maybe it's both, maybe, yeah, this, the clouds burned off and the sun came up, because time passed. And who knows, maybe it's some sort of communication from the other side to reassure you. And, to me, the important thing, is the impact it has on you. Does that make you feel better? Does it help you cope with your grief? Does it make you feel like you're not alone? Those are important things. And if it helps to do that, then, you know, I'm less worried about whether you can you call it a real after death communication or not.

Nick VinZant 7:44

That makes sense, right? Because I'm not a religious person. I'm not a spiritual person. But it does make me happy, in a way, right. And so I guess, kind of, but is there a, is there a, I just use the phrase dark side to that kind of thing, right? Like, okay, it makes somebody happy. So what leave them alone? But can this go negative where people obsess? Or it, it weighs down on them rather than lifting them up?

Dr. J. Kim Penberthy 8:12

Well, I mean, I think you can ask that of any kind of belief system. You know, you think about any structured religion, can it go sideways? Oh, yeah. You've seen that we've seen that. Yeah, it can be used against people, it can be manipulated. So yes, that's definitely a possibility. And that's, you know, that would be an interesting line of research to look at. We do know, that in the after death communication research, when we've explored that there are people who feel like they've been contacted and had experiences, and they were sort of, you know, not real positive for them. So it might have been sort of alarming or negative in some way with you know, their effect is impacted in a negative way. However, what we do find in the literature in the research is that for the majority of people, and I'm talking about 75% or higher, maybe 85%, even, it is genuinely a genuine dren. generally seen as a positive thing. So they feel that it is demonstrating to them that there is something beyond that someone is still connected to them sort of that continuation of the connection. And for many of them, they decrease their fear of death and dying, which can be very beneficial for folks. We also found in a recent study that looked at about almost 1000 people, that people who have after death communications Generally become more spiritual, not religious, necessarily. So we looked at that difference between religiosity, which is practicing in a more formal religion, whether or not you go to church or synagogue or something, versus spirituality, which was a little more, a little more personalized, if you will.

Nick VinZant 10:21

So your research is focused more on the idea that people have this, not necessarily trying to prove that these things are really exist or not. It's more the idea of like, this is a commonality that people have.

Dr. J. Kim Penberthy 10:36

Yes, because in my in my role as a clinical psychologist, you know, I'm not an astrophysicist. I'm not a theoretical physicist, I'm not, I am not that smart. I tell you what, so I work with people. And a lot of my work is with people who have very serious illness, I work with oncology patients, people who are really facing their own death, and many of them have significant fear of death and dying, this is very problematic. I've seen many very bad deaths, which are just heartbreaking, it's hard enough to work with someone who is actively dying, and then to work with someone who's dying and denying it or fighting it. Because of fear. So I look to this work as a way to help improve the quality of life for people as as one of the objectives so really, how it's the sort of so what question these happens, so what, you know, we can go the route of looking at the, the, the science of it, the physics of it, or the, you know, the theology of it, or we can look at what's the impact right here, right now, whether or not we know much more about these. So in some ways, you know, it's interesting to look at all of that, as a clinician with my clinician hat on, I'm really looking at the impact. How does this impact people? How does it make their lives better? How does it make their death? A better death, so to speak? So that's sort of where I'm at with the after death communication research?

Nick VinZant 12:21

Is there like people who report after death experiences near death experience after death communications? Do they fit into a kind of a category? Right? Like, are they? Is it mostly men, mostly women, mostly religious people, mostly spiritual people? Like do they ultimately kind of trend in a certain direction?

Dr. J. Kim Penberthy 12:39

Well, here's what's interesting when when you look at after people who report after death communications, it is global, there are people around the world that report this. So it is, it's universal. And we see it most commonly, obviously, in people who have someone who passed away fairly recently. So it's most often seen in people who've had someone they love passed away within the year, it is more common in women. There again, we don't really know if that's a true statistic, or if it's just that women tend to endorse these things more than men. In general, they sort of self report things like this more psychological components, emotions, that sort of thing. So the answer is really it it happens universally. And across time, I mean, you can find reports of these in you know, as far back to the Bible, and earlier Greek writings and things like that. So it seems to be something that humans have experienced since the beginning of humanity, you specialize

Nick VinZant 13:55

in after death communication. So an after death communication is text message, I'm assuming is not not a text message from Uncle Bob. Right. But

Dr. J. Kim Penberthy 14:06

you know, um, so typically, the we think about the various categories and obviously, you can be contacted in different ways visually, what we might think of is an apparition or, like we were talking about the sun coming out or a cardinal, you know, something that's significant signifies the loved one who's passed away. It can be a voice hearing words, and that includes, you know, some people will get phone calls that are like sort of staticky or happen and they attribute it again, this is all what they attribute it to. This is my mother calling some feel a presence so they just feel the sense that someone's in that person's in the room with them. They smell aromas, you might smell their perfume. Touch, you can also feel that you know, the hand on the face or a hand on your shoulder. So all of these ways can be ways that we experienced and after death communication.

Nick VinZant 15:13

I think the thing that jumps out to you, right for skeptical people, they could just be like, Okay, it's just a missed phone call, right? Like, is that difficult from a research perspective to kind of be like, well, you know, what, maybe you like, I got a phone call from my mother after I've been drinking all night like, Well, maybe it's because you're drinking all night, right? Like, is it difficult to kind of? Do you have to? How do you take into account those things where that maybe jump out, like, well, maybe this was happening?

Dr. J. Kim Penberthy 15:50

Well, it's interesting, you bring this up, because we don't, you know, we don't typically have people knocking down our doors to tell us about these experiences. So you do have to consider the source, obviously. And many people are sort of hesitant and a little reluctant and take a little bit of feeling safe and being invited to share these things. So I think that's one thing to keep in mind. There's a bit of a hurdle to get over for these folks. And of course, you're right. There can be people who tell us these things, and we may think it's a different kind of attribution, you know, like, that seems more like a missed phone call to me. Again, I'm going to go back to what does this individual believe in? Why might it be important? And how could it be helpful. You also have to distinguish, you know, between people with true thought disorders. So there are people who have thought disorders, like people with schizophrenia, who have delusions or psychotic thoughts. And what we found in the research is that the people who report after death communications are not psychotic, they do not have thought disorders. So there is a big difference there. And we do look at that research. So we're talking about people who don't, they may be grieving, they might have some anxiety or other sort of symptoms, like many of us do. When we've lost someone, however, they don't have a thought disorder. So I think it is important to clarify that.

Nick VinZant 17:34

When you look at the I believe, if I looked at there was like 12 kinds of 12 main categories of after death communications, is there one or two that are much more prevalent than other ones?

Dr. J. Kim Penberthy 17:46

Yeah, I would say, you know, you, you can look at the research sort of varies depending on the sample that you look at. I think it's very common for people to sense a presence of someone. And I think part of that maybe, because it's sort of general enough that, you know, it's, it's, it seems more accessible. Maybe

Nick VinZant 18:10

it's both specific enough and vague enough, that kind of can categorize as anything, or like, yeah, you just kind of feel like somebody's there with you.

Dr. J. Kim Penberthy 18:19

Yeah. And we all know what that feels like, which is also interesting. So

Nick VinZant 18:26

is, is there any research, though, that would suggest that you know, what, like, this is just a brain coping mechanism?

Dr. J. Kim Penberthy 18:33

Yeah. And there are people who who argue that? I don't know, again, that's not my specific area of expertise. And I'm not very aware of any research that has said yes, this is where you know, where that happens in the brain. And that's what's going on. It's certainly a hypothesis more. What's more common is a hypothesis that these are just sort of wishes. And, as you sort of alluded to, like, I want to, I want to believe this. So then I imbue it with this attribution. I say that, yes, this is what it is. And again, that's sort of challenging to, to sort of tease apart well, then what does that mean? Is this real, is it not it's real to the individual person. One of the things we can do and this may be, what you're sort of trying to get at is for some of these, we can look at, sometimes information is past the location of missing items or some information. And if that is reported to us through this after death communication from that individual who had it, we could go back and then look at at verifying this information. So there are some cases of that where you look at the information and determine if it's true or not. And some of them have been shown to be valid. So at that point, you know, again, that's a little bit more proof. You still have naysayers who say, well, it could be luck it could be. So you could still argue against that as proof. However, we do know that we've seen those instances, it takes some information is passed,

Nick VinZant 20:22

it does seem like something that like no matter what you could pick holes apart, there's how did you kind of get into it? What made you focus on this area?

Dr. J. Kim Penberthy 20:32

Well, I'm, I've always been very open to, you know, all kinds of ideas. As a young person, I was very curious. And I had wonderful parents that really encouraged that. And, and I had, you know, a strong sense of science. My father was a surgeon, my mother, a nurse, and she probably would have been, I don't know, some, some mystic leader if she knew about that. She was very, into nature. And, and in sort of this open spirituality and growing up, I would ask them both things, because their, their, their, their answers. were so different. It was so fun. You know, I asked my dad, what is the purpose of life as a little kid, because I just had these ideas. Oh, you know, I wanted to find out. He said, Well, that's easy. And was like, wow, okay, great. I didn't expect that. He said, it's to reproduce. Because as a scientist, yeah. Right. Okay. And I asked my mom the same question separately. And she said, overhead is so easy. Again, I'm like, Yes. She said, It's love. And so I then asked them, well, what happens when you die? And my dad proceeded to say, again, this is easy, here you go, you're ready, starts to tell me all about how the system is shut down, and the decomposition of the body or six year old, and I asked my mom the same, and she said, Oh, that's easy. You reunite with love. It's eternal love. And so I grew up with these thoughts. And, and that they, they are compatible, that they're totally compatible. And so I went into psychology because I thought people were fascinating, I loved how we can hold multiple thoughts in our head. And, you know, in the creativity, we have the genius we have the kindness we have, as well as the darker side of that, and very fascinated in what impacts that how that develops, how it can change what you can do for people to help them and became a clinical psychologist. And I think it was also informed by experiences I had as a young person, and even in my 20s that's when I had an experience that really impacted me and made me realize that I don't have all the answers and there are things going on that I don't understand in and there may be may be pretty positive things. So if you'll indulge me I'll share my mother and I love the beach. I did not grow up at the beach but we always went to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. And would were there one summer was just my mother and I and I was probably in my late teens or early 20s I don't know why was just the two of us. And she went in for a swim we had been sort of laying in the sand and I just laid I had to towel over my face just to protect it and dozed off, I'm pretty sure and woke up to sort of a you know, the noise of a crowd on the beach and so got up on my elbows to look and I saw a big crowd at the water's edge. And I saw that the lifeguard and this other man were bringing my mother in from the ocean. And she looked okay, she was standing up and everything. So I I just felt like okay, I don't need to rush over there. There's plenty of people she looks fine. But it was curious to me I noticed that the the man the one not the lifeguard, the other man looked older and he was like in regular clothes, not beach clothes, like a short sleeve button down shirt and, and khaki pants and I didn't recognize them. And so then she came up to the to the blanket and lay down she said she was fine, don't worry. And so after we both lay down, we're both there with our eyes closed. And I said Well, Mom I'm, who was that other guy? Who was he? And she said, Oh, that was my grandfather. And to this day, I still get chills. She had grown up in a sort of a challenging home environment, and was raised primarily by her grandfather, who just adored her and really cherished her. And I never met him. I didn't even know what he looked like. But then, when we returned home, I happened. We never really talked about it again. I mean, it was just not a big deal to her. It was like, Well, that happened. Okay. And I just followed her cues.

Nick VinZant 25:44

Like, yeah, like, I mean, that's, that's what you do you know, that age, right? Yeah.

Dr. J. Kim Penberthy 25:51

When I came home, I, you know, start digging around. And sure enough, I found a picture of him. It was him. And I was like, oh, that's the man I saw. I couldn't believe it. So, again, I didn't go telling everybody, I just really sort of kept it here. And it opened up this part of me that was thinking, you know, there's so much more than we know, how can I explain that, especially in my science mind, you know, I'm in, I'm getting ready to go to college and, you know, study science and biology. And so, I've always, that's, that's really driven me great, a great deal. And in you, you know, is that an after death communication? Sort of? Is it a ghost? I guess, you know, I, I didn't call it that. I still don't I really think of it as some you know, we know that in in times of crisis, things like this can happen, our sense of our consciousness can become altered. I mean, you can think of this as sort of an altered state of consciousness, that I'm now accessing some other piece of reality, you know, where this is now sort of apparent to me or evident to me, in a way. So I guess I sort of conceptualized it like that, and kept it with me and have have thought more and more about it as I've gone into this work. And maybe it impacted me in going into this direction more than I realize. I'm not sure.

Nick VinZant 27:36

That's kind of my personal opinion about, I would say I'll use the word stuff like this, right, is that it doesn't matter if it's real or not, it's real to you. And it does. I mean, obviously, it's an incredibly powerful experience. Does it change people's lives? Would you say? Like,

Dr. J. Kim Penberthy 27:53

like, Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, so people, definitely, you know, and this includes things like near death experiences, and out of body experiences, which often come with near death experiences, I mean, we can have out of body experiences. Anytime we can do that through meditation, or some people sort of spontaneously do some people do in a time of crisis. All of these sort of the hypothesis is number one, they they do impact you, they change your outlook, they often people endorse it, they are more spiritual with all that. That means to them, maybe they're, they feel more connected to people, they feel like there is something bigger than themselves. They feel like there's a purpose. Many people experience a very intense positive aspects, some sort of some knowledge that everything is okay, that it's all the way it should be sort of this profound equanimity. That is obviously very, very helpful in living your life, when you feel connected, supported, that you're supposed to be here, that your life is moving the way it should. Those all help people feel much more safe, more connected, more productive. And also, interestingly, simultaneously reduce the fear of death. So I can be engaged in my life fully and really embrace it and also accept that that there is this other phase of it called death. And it's, it doesn't have to be terrifying.

Nick VinZant 29:37

Are you ready for some harder slash listener submitted questions? I'm one of those people like I don't transition well, I just do it. Let's get right into one of the hard ones. What do you think we fear more death or not knowing what happens next, or if something happens next.

Dr. J. Kim Penberthy 29:58

So I Interestingly, for that question, it's a really good question, I'm going to add a third choice in there. What the research shows people fear most is the pain of dying. The process of dying. You know, think about it a prolonged, agonizing death. When we've done research, this is the thing that most people fear the most.

Nick VinZant 30:25

That is the exact opposite of what I want. My dream is to be eaten by a bear. I want to experience I want to experience the whole thing. Like every second of it.

Dr. J. Kim Penberthy 30:36

I have never heard anyone say that. That's, that's impressive. I don't I don't know what to make with that, though.

Nick VinZant 30:45

I want to know what it's like, right? It's the last thing you were like me, and that was pretty bad. But this is the way I've always thought about it. Like, if everybody's in the afterlife, and they're all sitting around the table, like I went in my sleep, I had this I had that. I got eaten by bear. That's the person like, that's a good story. Okay, there's my personal thing is that, um, do you think like, Okay, if there is an afterlife, would it then make our lives less valuable?

Dr. J. Kim Penberthy 31:13

Well, in, you know, I think afterlife is sort of an interesting term. different belief systems, think of it differently. So, you know, yes, sort of Christians, sort of the Abrahamic religions, some of them have this sort of sense of an afterlife, not all of them, but that, you know, we go to heaven, or we do something, there's another phase. And there's also a sense of, Well, what if this is a sort of a reconnection with something larger? So we sort of, you know, our individual selves, we're so used to thinking of that in our culture, but that we're really just part of this larger thing. And a little piece has come into this body for this period of time, and then reunites with this larger consciousness. There's a way of looking at that, as well. Um, I think it's an interesting question, you know, does it make this life less? What was the word valuable, valuable,

Nick VinZant 32:18

or pressing or whatever, right? This, I'll use the word be overly dramatic, like, cheapen this life, like, alright, well, I'm just doing this until I do this thing.

Dr. J. Kim Penberthy 32:29

And I think there is a risk for for that, you know, you do see people and again, certain very extreme religions where this life is all about just getting to the next. And those are often in in sort of these religions where, where we are sort of waiting for the next big thing, so to speak, you know, and there can be a risk of that. That's where you get people who are willing to, you know, commit suicide and do things to move on to that next level. So I think that's more of a risk, and then thinking about this as sort of a cheapened version. Because, again, it's interesting that many, if you think about it, many people that that have these experiences, actually value this life more. So the research would seem to contradict that. Even though it is a risk, you know, that we could sort of diminish this life and think of this as less important. Interestingly, the research would show people who have near death experiences who have after death communications or even out of body experiences, find that they value this life more that this is the you know, that they have more positive aspect. And part of it is that we suspect is that they understand some sort of shift happens in their consciousness that they understand they're not alone, they are connected, that, that they're already that way. You know,

Nick VinZant 33:57

yeah, I could see more, I could see where people who are more spiritual more nature re would feel that way more, right. Because the idea like if you're super into nature, you know, that the trees are connected to the grass to the animals. Right, and

Dr. J. Kim Penberthy 34:15

a lot of collective societies. Also that, you know, that I think we're so used to thinking of being independent of our own, you know, in America, it's all about the individual and our rights and our and there's nothing wrong with that, except there are cultures we forget where it is all about the collective. And where people's minds just much more naturally go to that, that it's we not me. And that's a we as in my community, my society, my country, but this is another level of we, as in, you know, all of consciousness, all of creation.

Nick VinZant 34:55

That's the one thing that I want to happen when I die. I just want somebody to be like, Hey, you This is what happens. Like, this isn't here, you know, like, this is what happens. They should give you like a pamphlet. I feel like you should get a brochure explaining how this all works.

Dr. J. Kim Penberthy 35:10

I agree. I just hope that you know, being eaten by a bear doesn't mean you become the bear that gets to heaven. I don't know, I wondered about that. If you're zoomed by another creature? Do you go as the bear? Or do you go as Nick? That

Nick VinZant 35:27

is a good question. Either way, though, I feel okay with it. Right? Like, I could be half bear half person would make you know, guy, you could have some that would be an interesting time. Yeah, that would be interesting to think about, like all the possibilities, like what could happen. The other thing that I would like to happen is like somebody to say like, you know, what, if you would have made this decision here, this is where you would have been, like a life review. If you would have mowed the lawn at one o'clock instead of 12 o'clock, you would have won the lottery that day? Like what? Those things? Yes. So cool. Um, do you personally believe in an afterlife?

Dr. J. Kim Penberthy 36:12

I mean, you know, I have had, I have had experiences that have allowed me to perceive that there is more out there than we currently think about in our modern day science. I would say that, you know, modern day science is pretty materialistic, where you're in your body, your brain is what produces all the stuff. And then when your brain dies, and your body dies, you're gone. I don't know if I buy that. I will say that. What what is the alternative? I'm still exploring, I think there are other possibilities. And that, to some extent, we can research them. I'm very interested in how we can research what these beliefs mean to people and how they impact the quality of their life, how they treat other people, how they treat the earth, that sort of thing. So for me, I guess it's less important to find the ultimate answer. And maybe more important to think about, well, what are the implications here and now, for our world? And for individuals?

Nick VinZant 37:31

Do you think, Okay, what do you think would impact the world more? If we found out absolutely with like, 100% proof that yes, there is or 100% proof that No, there isn't?

Dr. J. Kim Penberthy 37:44

I think, first of all, not everyone's going to believe everything. But if we go hypothetically, personally, I think it would be far more tragic to put out there, that that idea that this is all it is that it were just material. And when we die, that's it. We had no sort of consequence. We're not connected to anything larger, there was really no meaning in our life. I think that would be really hard. I think it would probably have a much more negative impact.

Nick VinZant 38:17

Yeah, I feel like we would start destroying the world. Really? Yeah. Don't accidentally prove it the other way. Yeah, that's one of those things like we like each probably keep that to yourself. If you accidentally discovered that, like, let's just go ahead and not put that out there was like, How do other How do you? You know, other researchers view it? Is it like, if you go to the convention, are they kind of like, oh, boy, here comes the near death people? Are they like, how do they view? How do they view that research?

Dr. J. Kim Penberthy 38:54

Well, I have not been shunned. I will tell you that. So that's number one. There are a couple of answers to that. So yes, I do I do mainstream research as well, what we would call mainstream research. Coming up through my career, I did a lot of research in chronic depression and addiction. And then working, of course, with oncology patients, and in really started doing meditation research early on when it was fringe, and have seen that become more mainstream. And yes, sometimes she would have the people eye rolling or whatever. The the key really is to do very good science, you know, do good research. Make a quality so that people can look at the research and say yes, I see how you did this. This is standard operating procedure type of thing. And then it's it's more difficult for people to dispute. The other thing is, you know, as more people do this research and I'm invested in training people and spreading the word, then then becomes validated. So more people in different labs are doing it and finding out answers. And we also have developed conferences that are, you know, like many things, you develop specialty conferences. So when it was not always well received in maybe other conference centers, you could go to one that focused on after death studies or palliative care, things like that, where you're looking at people who run into this all the time, who literally see this in their work. And it's important to them. So I think that as we do more, and do quality research, it, it may, it may go the way of meditation where it becomes more and more mainstream, and people see the value. Not so much, you know, with with meditation, it's, it's, it was really developed from some of the ancient work, not to be so much like, here's a way of life, here's the spiritual path, you have to take, like Buddhism or something. It was It was developed in a way to say, how can we help people. And that may be part of why it became accepted, because people did quality research and saw the positive impact, initially, really working with chronic pain patients and, and people like that, where there was nothing else to help. So so we may see this developing the similar way, how can we help people with severe fear of death and dying? Having some exposure to thoughts about you know, after death, communication, or out of body experiences, can help reduce that we know from the research, so we may see it continue to grow.

Nick VinZant 41:53

It does seem like the kind of thing that I could see somebody's like, the most skeptical person in the world at the same time being like, this is the absolute blah, blah, blah, and then pulling you aside and being like, hey, this thing happened to me the other day, that does

Dr. J. Kim Penberthy 42:05

happen. So people have disclosed their own experiences and how profoundly impacted them, they still usually report that they can't come public with it because of the fear of, you know, a stigma attached to it. Or they're early in their career, and they need to, you know, build up their career before they move into that area. So, yeah,

Nick VinZant 42:35

this would be the last question that we got, what after death communication or near death experience stands out to you the most besides your own? Obviously,

Dr. J. Kim Penberthy 42:45

there are so many there are so many. One really amazing one to me, was interesting, because it was the first one I heard where it was, it was a sort of a more harsh version, that we often think of loving and supportive, and, you know, very touching type of encounters. And this was a gentleman who was struggling with alcohol addiction. And we'd been working a long time, and he was not making much progress. And I was I had taught him meditation. And, you know, early on, when I was doing the meditation work, a lot of these experiences came from people learning to meditate and practicing their meditation. And then they would report some of these unusual experiences. He had an, an, what he considered he called it some sort of communication from someone that he felt connected to, but he he didn't really know who they were, but he felt a sense that they were connected. And it was this voice, this very harsh, female voice, who was telling him to get his shit together, and stop being you know, a baby and just get on board and he needed to quit drinking or he was going to die. So it was clearly not him. It was not his own thoughts. He said, No, it's I've had those thoughts. I know that stuff. This was someone else coming to me and I heard them playing his day. This is what they told me. Now he was not psychotic, he did not have a thought disorder. He was not actively drinking excessively, where he would have had some sort of delusion. He changed overnight. Because he said that that that communication knew him got him and that it resonated with him and I you know, I've not heard many stories like that, where someone comes back and scold you so harshly and says pretty harsh things to you. And you attribute it to someone that that is invested in you but you don't know them. So that was that was a little odd and bizarre. What I was most impressed With was the impact. I mean, it worked. And I can tell you, I swear, we had worked for so long to help him reduce his intake, and he just quit just right. And didn't pick it up again, the last communication I had with him, he was still not drinking. And, you know, so what was that? I may never know. It was important to him, it came through His act of work on, on his meditation on altering his consciousness on sort of expanding, and I suspect it was some sort of contact with some awareness. Maybe that was within him maybe from external. And it was just some point he had to get to, and maybe some, some point he had to get to in his work with me, in addition to some opening up with some, maybe some increased awareness or availability to accept this. And we see sort of similar things with psychedelic drugs, you know, not to get too off topic. But this idea of, of expanding this consciousness having some sort of experience where it's almost like everything shifts, and it can do so really quickly. Because it's like some light bulb going off, like, Ah, now I get it. And what that is for each person is a little bit different. It is, however, really profoundly focused on on connection on something larger than themselves some insight into, I'm not alone. And this all has meaning.

Turkey Calling Champion Dave Owens

Turkey calling is more than what it seems. It’s not just making sounds, it’s having a conversation with an animal. Speaking their language in order to convince a turkey that you are a turkey. Dave Owens is one of the best turkey callers in the world. We talk turkey calling, turkey hunting and being an advocate for conservation and wildlife. Then, we countdown the Top 5 Best Birds

Dave Owens: 01:44

Pointless: 42:49

Top 5: 01:07:07

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nickvinzant@gmail.com (Show Email)

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https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/turkey-calling-champion-dave-owens/id1410461576?i=1000593688050


Interview with Dave Owens of the Pinhoti Project

Nick VinZant 0:11

Welcome to Profoundly Pointless. My name is Nick VinZant Coming up in this episode, The Art of turkey calling and the best birds.

Dave Owens 0:25

But that's your yield. That's the essentially like a people saying, Hi, you have basically fooled the ears of some of the most critical judges, and you're on the other side of that curtain a mere feet away often, and you're folding them to thinking that you're a turkey. I started this stuff when I was a college kid, you don't get much broker than college, I did that to Gulf Coast to country living out of the back of my truck sleeping on a cottage is funny as it sounds, Turkeys themselves have put me in places that I would have never seen had it not been for Turkey. So I've done things in my life that I never thought was obtainable. And it's all due to Turkeys,

Nick VinZant 1:02

I want to thank you so much for joining us. If you get a chance, subscribe, leave us a rating or review, we really appreciate it really helps us out. If you're a new listener, welcome to the show. If you're a longtime listener, thank you so much for all of your support. So our first guest is one of the best Turkey callers in the world. And what's so interesting to me about turkey calling, it's not just making some sounds trying to get the attention to the turkey. It's having a conversation with the turkey. It's fascinating. This is turkey call champion, Dave Owens, what is the importance of having like a turkey call where Why do you need this? Where does this come from?

Dave Owens 1:50

Well, the calling aspect of turkey hunting is is kind of the defining factor. That's what kind of makes it different because we have a communication with our prey, we are able to carry on a conversation carry on a dialogue, what we're essentially trying to do is is enter their flock convince them that we are one of the flock and convince them to come investigate for one reason or another. So the culling aspect is is what makes it different is extremely important because without it turkey hunting would just blend with any other type of spot and stalk or the sit and wait kind of games that you get in with with often oftentimes with big game hunting. The calling is very important because it sets it apart and kind of what gives turkey hunting in itself a different feel. And I think that's what is the big fascination for most of us that are just obsessed with it. That's kind of what gives it that that drawl.

Nick VinZant 2:43

So like when you're doing the call, you're not just like, hey, Turkeys come here, like you're going back and forth with them.

Dave Owens 2:51

It's like any other conversation like the one that we're having here. Now. I mean, there's, they have a whole vocabulary, I mean, you can get excited, you can do subtle stuff. It's no different than saying, Hey, how you doing Nick? Hey, Nick, how's it going? Like you just learned over time, how to the dialects and the different, you know, the excitement levels, and what to say, I mean, they have a couple off the top, like, the most standard Turkey sound as a Yelp is what everything else is kind of developed around and kind of builds off of you have cutting, which is a very excited sound, which typically means aggression or excitement of some level, you have purring, which is can be a contented call, which is what they do when they're just, you know, just kind of subtle talk, because, you know, like you would do if you were, you know, in your office chatting with a co worker while you were you know, doing something else. But that same purring sound can also get aggressive because that's what they do when they're fighting. You know, it's almost like when you're fighting, you're grunting and growling and whatever. You know, it can be, you know, to that level. So as you can quickly probably gather the calling is that there's a big part in it. A lot of layers do

Nick VinZant 4:04

it. Could you give us an example of like those, what the calls sound like I got one

Dave Owens 4:09

right here. Oh, this is what I'd use a lot. There's a lot of different kinds of calls but this is what you call a mouth call or a Yelper diaphragm call. It's essentially an aluminum frame that's below this tape this tape is kind of like to explain it, it would be kind of like medical tape that you would you know wrap a bandage or something with and it's got an aluminum frame in it and this is latex that stretch between that aluminum frame and you blow air across it and you get vibrations off the ends. There's a lot of different cut configurations that you can use to get different sounds and probably the most universal call you can use the mouth calls to do little bit everything and but there's also pot and peg top calls or pots call I was gonna see if I had one of those laying around here. No don't um But basically, it's just different instruments just like musical instruments, you got horns and guitars and drums. I mean, it's the same thing with turkey calls, you got different things that can kind of make the same sounds but they all have their strengths and weaknesses. The mouth collies, you can obviously tail it's very small, you put it in your mouth, you can still hold your firearm or whatever else you may have in your hands that you may not have available. If you're having to run like a box call, which is another instrument, you can use deer and turkey. Calling that I'll demonstrate it, but you caught me off guard here. So let me

Nick VinZant 5:32

Yeah, yeah, I didn't give him a chance to really do something. So like,

Dave Owens 5:37

like anything else, you got to loosen it up. It's like a guitar player that's gonna, you know, strum the strings and in a set tune his guitar and everything and nothing's different with turkey calls. And we're gonna try to rush this. But the yield just just explained or just kind of hinted to

I don't know how that comes across with audio when these earbuds in the machine here, but that's your yield. That's the essentially like a people saying hi, or hey, or where are you, you can take that to so many different levels, it can be a curiosity deal, it can be a demanding deal. And it's all going to be with the personality that you want to put behind that hand, the voice that you want to give the hand that you're trying to portray some more. It's gonna be hard to do cutting, it's going to pick the audio, but we can do clucking is more or less, it's a dress up word in the turkey world that kind of it can be contended. It's kind of one of those things that turkeys are going to be doing all the time. And so you do the clucking, kind of dresses it up, it's almost like a, I'll explain it as larvae, kind of like an adjective in human vocabulary, it's going to help add personality, it's going to help detail the nail and that you're trying to explain the point you're trying to get across other sounds that would just send it to like the purr, which can be very contented. It's the sound that turkeys are going to make when they're congregated, and feeding. There just being content.

And all these sales are just made by putting air across this litex. And these reads, and vibrations that you make with your throat with your tongue and causing those sounds to come across there. To mimic a turkey.

Nick VinZant 7:50

I can't believe how do people figure this out? Like to me looking at it from the outside of it. I assume that like all right, you make a couple of sounds and turkeys come down and take him out. I didn't realize that that was that in depth.

Dave Owens 8:06

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it isn't. There's turkey calling competitions. We do it competitively. I mean, you're obviously judged by me. And so you know, not judged by Turkey, per se. But it's all on the realism realism that we can put into turkey calling and how realistic we can be using these devices, who can sound the best. There is so many layers and so I mean, you can get so deep on trying to be perfect. Just like anything else. You just work and work and work and try to polish your sounds to be as realistic as possible. And when it you know that's going to obviously be good when you're competing against others. But once you take those talents into the woods when you're you're actually hunting turkeys, the more realistic you can sound, the more you're going to be able to obviously mimic what you're trying to try to replicate in the wild and full more turkeys.

Nick VinZant 9:05

But will you like blow a hunt because you messed up a sound right? Like I had them right where I wanted. And then I made the clock when I should have made the cut and the turkeys were gone.

Dave Owens 9:19

No, it's not a hard and fast situation like that. Just like we have in human vocabulary. I mean, if you and I are talking and I say a word, it's out of place, or my voice cracks, or I'm happy to get a drink of water because I get cotton mouth. Same thing happens with turkeys. So it's I won't say it's impossible. But I will say it's quite difficult if you've got a turkeys attention and you're having a conversation to really just say something out of place. Now, you know, if you flip a read, which is something that we refer to in the turkey calling world like you have these latex reads that I just talked about, and they do have a tendency of one of the tongues flipping backwards. sticking onto itself, like so. That just comes out as squeaks. I mean, as you can, it's like popping a guitar string. You obviously can't strum the guitar when the guitar strings are going the same way. So if something like that happens, yeah, sure, you could run one off because it's going to sound like you got something caught in the trap. You know, it's kind of squirrel and squirrel. And, and, yeah, you could run them off that way. But fortunately, just like with people, turkeys have different voices, they have different enunciations. So there's a lot of flexibility when it comes to creating Turkey sales.

Nick VinZant 10:34

But why so then what are you doing on the other end of it in the sense that like, eventually, even if you making all these great sounds right, like, doesn't the turkey expect to see another turkey?

Dave Owens 10:43

Absolutely. And you're hunting turkeys which are hunted by everything, 365 days a year, you're hunting the most paranoid critters out there. I mean, they are hunted from the air, they're hunted from the ground, they're hunted all the time. So what you're trying to do is convince them to trust their second most important, since they live and die by their eyes. That is how they stay safe is their eyesight is incredible. So what you're trying to do is get them to trust their ears enough to second guess their eyesight. That's the whole drawl to turkey hunting, you are really trying to put a turkey in a position to where he is so convinced that you have convinced him by his ears through auditory effects that he almost second guess is his asset, you know, he's going to put his main line of defense that he has lived with, and it has trusted his whole life. And he's going to put that on the shelf because you've convinced him to, to trust his ears. So that's, that's the big draw. That's the big poll, to me, is kind of taking something that has absolutely, and you're hunting turkeys which are hunted by everything, 365 days a year as you're hunting the most paranoid critters out there. I mean, they are hunted from the air, they're hunted from the ground, they're hunted all the time. So live in the wild, you know, and been hunted by everything and in convincing it to, to that you're one of them. So

Nick VinZant 12:22

So now are you female Turkey, trying to lure a male, male Turkey trying to lure a female like, or how does that usually?

Dave Owens 12:32

Typically, I mean, just to be the stereotypical thing is yes, you're a hand you're a female Turkey, you're trying to replicate like, you know, a turkey wanting company is breeding season. That's why we are most often hunting deer in the spring. And is Yeah, exactly. You're just trying to lower the gobbler, which is the male turkey into into shotgun Ranger archery range by mimicking, you know, his his desire to breed So,

Nick VinZant 12:58

so the range that you would be looking at to try to get them close? I obviously it depends on the the firearm right, but like, what's the ideal? I want to get in within 500 yards? I want to get five feet?

Dave Owens 13:11

Yeah, I mean, the standard answer here is going to be typically most people are hunting them with shotguns, which is you know, more of a shorter range weapon. Because turkeys you typically shoot him in the head and neck area, because that's what's most lethal. It's most ethical. And, and that's something that's very seldom steel, if you've watched a turkey, their pay is always moving because they rely on their ass out there constantly tilting their head to get a better view, they can see like 320 degrees around them. So unless you're directly behind them, they can still see you moving. So we're shooting with shotguns at close range. Typically, that's going to be 40, orbs and en, which is kind of that standard. Advancements in shot and things of that nature may extend that range a little bit. But you will find that in the turkey hunting crowd, there's a lot of ethics that are self imposed. I mean, there's a lot of us out there in the community, that although we may have the ability to take a turkey at extreme ranges or something, maybe, quote unquote, legal, you might get in trouble for you're not breaking any laws. But we kind of just put things into place because we want to play this game that we are essentially play and we want to want to self impose some restrictions so that we can get the most enjoyment out of the out of the resources possible. You know,

Nick VinZant 14:31

that's one thing I think we should jump into fairly quickly, right, like some people. I grew up in Kansas and my general experience has been there's very few people who are as good as stewards of the land as hunters are. Do you ever get a lot of pushback? Is there pushback in the hunting community that like why are you doing this? That kind of thing?

Dave Owens 14:53

I'm not in the hunting community. I mean, we we know we're brothers in arms. I think we're all on the same team and we understand And that we have to be because we are a minority in the human population. I mean, we're hunters, like a fragment of the population. But while I will say the wildlife populations that we're all able to enjoy, whether you're a hunter or not, is because of hunters, hood hunters and shooters, were the ones that fit the veal. And we're happy to do so we have self imposed taxes that we put into place. You know, we enjoy the populations. And we're the first ones like right now, for instance, a lot of your turkey populations have seen reintroductions, and starting in about 2000, a lot of the areas that turkeys were reintroduced, they basically fulfilled all the carrying capacity of the land. So basically, their populations were just climbing exponentially there for a while. And now they're we're starting to see a plateau, maybe even dip a little bit before they plateau, which is pretty standard, when you introduce a spacey in a lot of turkey hunters, louder than anybody else is on the horn saying, hey, you know, our turkey populations aren't where they were 10 years ago, it's time to put some additional regulation into place, it's time to kind of dial back to make sure that we have this resource for many generations, hunters are the people that are doing that hundreds of people who are excited about making sure that these these animals are here for for years to come. So

Nick VinZant 16:24

when you go to the competition aspect of it, what makes one call better than another, like how competitive is that, that arena?

Dave Owens 16:35

It's very competitive, you have different divisions, because like the calls that I was explaining earlier, you have the mouth calls like this. And that's an air operated call, it's, you know, obviously operated with air, you have a certain number of calls that are operated through friction, and that's the pot and pig calls that have like a slight surface or glass surface. And you have a wooden peg that you scrape against that surface. And it makes a sound that replicates a turkey and that's a friction call. So you have a division devoted strictly to friction, you have an open division, which is open to anything. But essentially, regardless of what kind of instrument you're using, the whole idea is to be as realistic as possible. You're judged by a panel of judges who are behind the curtain or under the stage. So they don't know who's calling in most situations, and their judging strictly off what they're listening to and what what is most closely resembles the sounds of a hand turkey.

Nick VinZant 17:36

So is it a hard thing to do? Or is that a hard thing to do? Well,

Dave Owens 17:40

making the sounds of a turkey are not a very difficult thing to do to make the sounds of a turkey that are extremely realistic can be very difficult. I mean, it's like with anything else, you know, we can you know, with with a little bit of practice, you can teach an eight year old to toss the ball up in the air and hit it with a bat to go to the big leagues and get into the Hall of Fame. It takes a considerable amount of practice and effort to become that skilled at that. So same way with turkey calling I mean as far as picking up a call and and making a sound that can sound somewhat like a turkey and probably fool a turkey. not difficult at all to get on the big stage and full human ears and you know, consistently full turkeys. It's considerably more difficult.

Nick VinZant 18:27

So, okay, correct me if I'm wrong here. You got second place in the most recent national competition?

Dave Owens 18:35

Yeah. There's a lot of turkey calling competitions across the country. We're trying to get the popularity of that built back up. It's not quite what it was in the early 90s When the turkey populations were peaking. As matter of fact, it was popular. Everybody was doing it turkey calling competitions got popular. And they're coming back. We're seeing a lot more involvement than we used to. But yes, the big one, I guess you would call it the Super Bowl of turkey calling is the grand nationals. It's held at the National Wild Turkey Federation, their national convention in Nashville, Tennessee. And they have the big grand national turkey calling competition. And yes, last year placed second and the year prior play second. And then the year prior. I mean, yeah, it's it's been. It's been a fun little run. But yeah, that's the most recent finishes.

Nick VinZant 19:23

So putting kind of all humbleness aside, I guess, for you like, why did you play second? In the sense that like, what are you doing that makes you better than other people? But what did the person who won do that like you didn't? It's

Dave Owens 19:41

all when you get to that stage. You have basically they cut down all of the colors in the country, down to 13. There's 13 callers to go across the finals stage. Just making that stage is a huge accomplishment. Basically, you're one of the best. You have been Basically fooled the ears of some of the most critical judges, some judges that are behind the curtain that know turkeys that have 2030 4050 years of turkey hunting experience. So they know what a turkey sounds like, and you're on the other side of that curtain a mere feet away often, and you're folding them to thinking that you're a turkey. So basically, they scale, they judge you on a scale from one to 20. And if they think if they basically think that there was a turkey on the other side of that curtain, they're gonna give you a 20 if they think you were almost a turkey, but there was a few things in there that, you know, they'll give you 1819, you know, so basically, they're all judged. And there's anywhere from five to seven judges, and they'll total the total of the points and they claim the winner. But as far as what I'm doing, it's, it's, it's once you get to that stage, everybody up there is so good and so polished. It's splitting hairs, you know what I mean? It's, it's really competitive, you always try to do something that's a little bit unique, that may hurt the ears of the judges, that maybe the guy next to you is not. And of course, you're just trying to have a clean run, you're not you're trying not to slip up and make one of those unrealistic Saionji try not to flip wreaths on your car, you try not let us peg slip on your surface, you're trying to be as much a wild turkey as you possibly can.

Nick VinZant 21:26

So is it more for kind of personal competition reasons or necessarily or is this like something like you can make some money doing this?

Dave Owens 21:35

Who it's hard to make money in this. I mean, it's definitely out of passion, it's definitely out of an obsession with turkey hunting, turkey hunting is what got me to wanting to do competition calling, because it's gonna make you a better turkey hunter, it makes you practice on your call more and makes you more proficient on your call. And all of that is going to translate into being able to communicate with turkeys better,

Nick VinZant 21:57

how often a day, or how many hours a day, or a week or whatever, like, how much will you practice,

Dave Owens 22:04

that's all going to be dependent on the collar themselves. A lot of these guys practice a number of hours a day, a lot of folks have jobs that they can practice when they're on the clock, so to speak, and I got a good friend who operates heavy machinery and he's up there. And he said he keeps a mouth collar on his mouth all the time. He's up there by itself. So he's just, you know, practicing and getting new sounds and working. For me personally, I practice quite a bit when I was trying to kind of find my sound and kind of figure out what I wanted to do. But once I have I have found a lot of practice doesn't exactly do favors for me because I pick up bad habits like anything else. So I don't practice that much. Now. I don't practice you know, it's more just making sure I have the right equipment making sure I have the right call. And because we make a ton of calls because no two calls are the same. You got to find just that rat, you know, everybody has their favorite you know everybody has their favorite guitar if you're if you're a musician and just Turkey callers we have our favorite calls and typically everybody builds their own calls. And so now the practice for me now is usually breaking in new calls and trying to find that that rap call to have on game day.

Nick VinZant 23:18

So I googled some stuff right and you were described as the best turkey hunter alive

Dave Owens 23:27

now it's it's it's pretty subjective considering that you don't keep score at this game, you know. So yeah, that's you know, that I've never and I don't think anybody that turkey hunts and considers themselves a big turkey hunter or whatever. Like be gunning for that accolade. I don't think anybody will really want that title because the guys who really love this stuff I would much rather be known as like a an ambassador for the sport somebody that wanted to see turkey hunting popular wanted to say turkey hunting done in the right way and wanted to be a champion for the resource wanted to see that tomorrow there's more turkey hunters than there was I mean turkey hunters and turkeys is there was yesterday so that's what I'm I hoped that when when I'm getting going and when the Pinhoti projects you know, seen its final sunset I hope that people can look back on and go the guy look turkeys and he wanted more turkeys and he wanted everybody to enjoy what he enjoyed because as funny as it sounds, Turkeys themselves have put me in places that I would have never seen had it not been for Turkey so I've done things in my life that I never thought was obtainable. And it's all due to turkeys and I just had the fear I'll just always hear these you always hear when I retire or one day I'm going to do that when I retire. I'm going to do this and I just had a fear much younger hearing horror stories that man you don't ever know if that day is going to come. So I've always looked at you know, man if I can if I can make it If it was possible, then I was gonna try to obtain it. And that's kind of the way I learned early on with this turkey hunting thing. That's what I love to do is what I wanted to be good at. And I'll work and just add a passion. It's not like when when you say you work, it's not like a professional sport where you got to go run wind sprints is not, you know, it's not it's almost involuntary, your passion is so strong that you're gonna get out there and do it either way, you're gonna get out there and do it because you love it. And that's kind of what I've fallen into is just strictly a passion that's caused me to love this stuff as much as I do. And it's, like I said, has provided me with so much that I just thought Man, if there's somebody that never is exposed to this, this could potentially have such a profound effect on them as it just as it did me. But if they're never exposed to it, how would they ever know? So that's why I thought it was a really good idea to start making it available for folks you know, putting out content that they could find and see how it had affected me and how more fulfilled I am as a person in life just because of wild turkeys and wild things wild places and getting to go I've traveled to all 49 states that have a huntable turkey population I find it turkeys in all 49 states there's no way I would have ever went to Rhode Island or Delaware or you know Nevada I mean these places are just I mean managed to get from southeast I'm happy being in the southeast you know I'm a majority of Florida Alabama that's that's kind of where I like to do my thing but this attraction to want to experience wild turkeys and and all over the country has put me in these places and I've seen things and had experiences that man I'm just every time I do I think there's somebody out there that they won't ever see this and you know, exposing them to wild turkeys. Maybe they will so that's that's my that's my place.

Nick VinZant 26:57

What's the Hawaii is the one state that doesn't I'm assuming it's gotta be Hawaii, right?

Dave Owens 27:01

No, it's Alaska. Hawaii actually has a lot of turkeys. Really? Absolutely. Yep.

Nick VinZant 27:07

How the hell they get to a Hawaii not to Alaska.

Dave Owens 27:11

They don't? Well, Alaska. See turkeys function on a photo period like length of day. That's how they know when it's time to breed. That's how they know when it's not you know, this the length of day and if you're aware of Alaska has this point of time, whether it's daylight all time and dark. So turkeys can't deal with that they function off the photoperiods Hawaii's actually got a ton of Turkeys because they don't have any natural predators like we do in the continental US. You know, the turkeys have a lot of predators here. Like I mentioned earlier, they're hunted by everything. Everything needs to Turkey. But in Hawaii, there's very few I think they have like a weasel or something that's a predator. And and that's about the only thing so their turkeys out there are plentiful.

Nick VinZant 27:52

Man. Those are great. That was a great sentiment that you put before I asked that dumb question about. But that's all I could think of is like, man, which state is it? I had to be Hawaii? But like, do you when you go out there? Do you have an overall strategy? Or is it just kind of whatever nature gives you?

Dave Owens 28:11

Yeah, I mean, hunting turkeys whether you're doing it from South Florida to you know, Washington, I mean, from sea to shining sea gets pretty similar. You're doing the whole dialogue. It's the whole conversation thing and you're trying to replicate Oh, he in Turkey most of the time and trying to look to fool the turkey into thinking that he's coming up there to breed. So all of that is pretty, pretty much the same. It's just the topography, the terrain changes. You know, and that's what makes it attractive to battle the turkeys across the country because you never know what's around the next corner when you're on unfamiliar ground and I think that's the that's the drawl to a lot of us that travel to turkey hunt like I do is wanting to experience something familiar in an unfamiliar place. And turkeys gives you the ability to do this somewhat on a budget. You know, if you're an elk Hunter, or even a deer hunter. The cost of entry is pretty steep. A lot of times I mean, your tag cost is five $800 over $1,000 Sometimes the access to property that may have these animals is pretty limited sometimes turkeys are pretty affordable. I've kind of prided myself and kind of built a reputation on doing everything on a budget just trying to be in a you know, I started this stuff when I was a college kid you don't get much broker than college kids. You know what I mean? eat ramen noodles and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I did that took off across the country living out of the back of my truck sleeping on a cot and just living out of a cooler, you know we would take off and the only thing we would have in the whole trip was the cost of tags you can typically get Turkey tags for around 200 bucks or less. And you can go out there and hunt and you live out of the back of your truck eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and have the experiences of a life and you know you have less than $1,000 in this thing and this hard to find any, it's hard to find that much fine for that path little bit of money.

Nick VinZant 30:08

Now, where does turkey hunting rank Mike okay, this in terms of like, alright, this is the most popular, this is second like where's turkey hunting kind of in the, in the pecking order, like

Dave Owens 30:19

it's all gonna depend on your region. You know turret county is not nearly as popular out on the west side, you know, on the west side is big game. It's elk, antelope, mule deer, whitetail mountain line, you know, that kind of stuffs really big out west. And then across the country, white tailed deer going to be keen, I mean, white tailed deer, the amount of people that hunt whitetail deer, the, the amount of money it generates for the states is huge. In the southeast, it's probably still gonna be white tailed deer. But in the southeast, turkeys are a very close second, it's almost a religion down here, turkey hunting is pretty sacred down here. I mean, we have a, you'll come down here and you'll find a lot of literature and you don't find that as much on white tails, you know, even though they're as popular, they generate more or less revenue than turkey hunting down here, but you get to look at the just just the, the amount of people that put more effort into the game, you know, the the hunting of the turkey and you'll find people trying to put words to the to the interaction and put words to the connection they feel with their with the, you know, in the challenge that they experienced with their, with the game that they're pursuing. And you see a lot of literature around turkeys, because I believe people are constantly trying to put a description that that does it justice, and I'm not sure anybody ever has, that you look at people that are, you know, Colonel Tom Kelly, you know, Jean nun, or you got some authors out there that have done a really good job of trying and putting pen to paper to kind of document the feelings and the emotions that this stuff evokes. And you don't find that with anything else. So the SE I guess is your short answer is there's turkeys are is close to Second of all in the pecking orders is anywhere in the country.

Nick VinZant 32:18

Are you ready for some harder slash listener submitted questions? Sure. Hardest call to do easiest call to do.

Dave Owens 32:29

That's all going to be do it's going to be up to the individual. But the most difficult call for most people is glycolic o'clock. And per it takes a fluttering of the tongue or a gargling of the throat when a mouth call that causes that little bubbly sound. And that's typically harder for people to accomplish. The easiest call is the easiest and the hardest. And I'll explain what I mean by that. A Yelp is probably the one that people start off with. Typically, they'll pick up a boss call or a pot call and they can mimic that call well enough easier. But in my opinion, when it comes to judging a turkey sound, it's harder to fool my ears with a turkey yield. Like very few people in the country can Yelp on a call and me hear it and go that's that's a turkey and it not be a turkey. So it's the easiest to kind of come you know to make. But it's the most difficult in my opinion to actually be realistic.

Nick VinZant 33:23

Has anyone ever entered an actual turkey into a turkey haul turkey calling competition? And where do you think the actual Turkey would place?

Dave Owens 33:33

If the turkey didn't win? You've got a problem with judges. Because no matter how hard we try, and how much we practice and all the little knickknacks that we gather to try to replicate the sounds. We still have so far to go. I mean, if we still have so far to go, I mean, you can listen to the most accomplished Polish callers in the country. And you can put them beside a wild turkey and man we all we don't even it's not even close. So there's a lot of room for improvement there. So yes, what a wild turkey when he better or she better. But no, I don't know if anybody's ever done that. Is this gonna be hard to get your hands on one and make them talk when you want them spoke? You know, speak when they're spoken to?

Nick VinZant 34:19

Yeah, that's true. I'm always reminded of the things that Groucho Marx that famous comedian took third and a Groucho Marx and lookalike competition. It's always made me laugh. Um, all right, man. feet to the fire. You got to pick a state best place for hunting. Best place for turkey hunting

Dave Owens 34:37

best place for turkey hunting it's gotta it's gotta be hard to beat Georgia and Alabama because opportunity or bag limits are available here I think you can still kill for in an Alabama even though it's went through a reduction used to be out to kill three in Georgia they went to a reduction you can only kill two now because like I mentioned earlier hunters are the first He wants to start pulling back on the reins when it's necessary. But we have long seasons, seasons or, you know, 40 days, 45 days. So the opportunity to get out there for that amount of time, I don't think you can find that anywhere else in the country.

Nick VinZant 35:13

Can you do other calls? Right? Like, are you good? Could you just go into Duck Calling and knock it out like a pro?

Dave Owens 35:19

Yeah, well, maybe not like a pro. But the app spin when I was, even when I was young, I was just one of those kids that could hear a sound and replicate it and get pretty doggone close with just a little bit of practice. So Duck Calling goose calling elk. Even though I've only hunted elk a handful of times, it's a lot of it goes hand in hand with the mouth reads the diaphragms that you that you use in turkey calling. But yeah, I've always been one of those guys, and they can just hear something and replicate it pretty quickly.

Nick VinZant 35:49

Is there a rivalry, rivalry between Turkey and duck collars?

Dave Owens 35:55

Now know, I don't think so it's such a different, such a different avenue, I guess. I mean, because with Duck Calling competitions, they're there to typically showcase the ability to be able to call as much as they are the ability of the caller, where turkey hunting, in turkey calling it's all about, you know, being the turkey, they're there to replicate the sounds of the intended animal. So they're not thinking about the call, they're not there to showcase the call, they don't care what kind of call it is. So that's kind of two totally different. Totally different deals their

Nick VinZant 36:34

best Turkey haul, best turkey call to start out with best like second turkey call, like

Dave Owens 36:41

the easiest. That typically your your when you start out, this is going to be with like something like a push pin, or a box call, which is a friction top call, typically made out of wood, it's very easy to get a sound out of. And with just a little bit of practice and even some instructions off the off the paper that comes with the call, you can usually get something that's going to somewhat replicate a turkey quickly encouraged and most people do, they'll pick up a mouth diaphragm pretty quickly, just because of the necessity. Like I say a turkeys live and die with their eyes. So if you can imagine trying to get a turkey into 40 yards or less running something that you have to actually move to make the sounds can be a conflict, you can't sit there and call to the turkey with him looking at you and making the movements because he's going to know that it's not a real Turkey and he's going to flee. So that's why you use the mouth diaphragms, you can you know you have your you have a face mask on. So you have it pulled up to here. So you can still call with a mouth diaphragm in your mouth and the turkey can't see it. So typically, that's the second call everybody's going to pick up just due to the necessity of being able to continue to coax the turkey into that close range and him not be able to see any movement.

Nick VinZant 37:56

So tell me about the Pinhoti project. When did you start that what's kind of the mission

Dave Owens 38:01

Pinhoti project started in 2018. It was just to produce turkey hunting content it was to give turkey hunters like myself something that to watch that they could relate to. We all get kind of amped about this time of year when Turkey seasons are knocking on the door, everybody wants to kind of live through somebody else live vicariously relive haunts and that kind of thing. And with the popularity of like digital media and YouTube and these different streaming platforms, we saw the opportunity to hop in there and provide something that we felt like was was tasteful, and kind of you know, illustrated how we Turkey hunted and just the cool factor of turkey hunting making it popular again, making people care about Turkeys just saw the opportunity to make all of that something so that's kind of why we hopped in and here we are.

Nick VinZant 38:56

White meat or dark meat.

Dave Owens 38:59

Oh man, it's it's hard to choose you can't beat turkey breasts. Everybody likes turkey breast rot. But if you know how to prepare turkey legs and thighs, they are extremely good. We make turkey tacos and Turkey pot pie we make we actually had Turkey enchiladas not before last make a lot of stuff with the turkey legs and the dark meat. So it's it's hard to be you shouldn't throw any other way. I promise you.

Nick VinZant 39:28

That's pretty much all the questions I got manage anything else you think we missed? Or what's kind of coming up next for you?

Dave Owens 39:35

Oh, next for me. It sits the busy season for me. It's essentially turkey season. We're planning where we're going this next spring. I have turkey content I still have we typically I typically turkey hunt in the neighborhood of 90 to 95 days a year. And everything's videoed if I'm awake unfortunately, when I signed up for the Pinhoti project, I might promise that I was going to video and document every single thing and I'm it's kind of What I'm doing now is we produce and I try to get that as much of that content out there real time. Typically, that's only about 1517 episodes during the spring season. Because as you can imagine trying to document everything, hunt, if it's daylight we're hunting, if we're legally allowed to and then also having time to edit which is an extremely strenuous and and time consuming process. You can only do so much of that when you're doing it all at the same time. So we have a ton of footage that after the season is over that we're just sitting at home and all offseason I am cleaning that footage up coming out with episode so the year before the season, like I mentioned, when everybody's ramping up and getting excited wanting to live through live some hunts from last year, I have a lot of that content available. And that's what we're doing now. I had about two months of content that I had to clean up and I've been nose to the grindstone now for gosh, next to two months to get this stuff cleaned up. So we're we're down to about three weeks left footage, and so I had to power it down to get on this call with you. So it's it's busy.

Bellydancer Valerick Molinary

Bellydancing is more than just a dance. It’s an art form that is both sacred and scandalous. Award-winning Bellydancer Valerick Molinary has performed all over the world. We talk Bellydancing basics, the stigma of seduction and more. Then, we countdown the Top 5 Georges.

Valerick Molinary: 01:43

Pointless: 35:37

Top 5: 54:57

nickvinzant@gmail.com (Contact the Show)

http://www.valerickmolinary.com (Valerick’s Website)

https://www.instagram.com/valerick23 (Valerick’s Instagram)

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063834995015 (Valerick’s Facebook)

http://www.bellydancestories.com (Belly Dance Stories Website)

https://www.instagram.com/bellydance_stories (Bellydance Stories Instagram)

Interview with Bellydancer Valerick Molinary

Nick VinZant 0:12

Welcome to Profoundly Pointless. My name is Nick VinZant. Coming up in this episode, belly dancing, and George's

Valerick Molinary 0:20

there's a lot of stigma about the dance. There's this idea that it's a seduction, dance the relationship between culture and religion. And then dancing can get a little messy. Sometimes in Arabic music, there's something called Terra, which is like the dance produce the music produce this type of like ecstasy is experience. And that's part of the magic of it, and that slowly, graceful movements, even though they look very easy, they're not.

Nick VinZant 0:56

I want to thank you so much for joining us. If you get a chance, subscribe, leave us a rating or review, we really appreciate it, it really helps out the show. If you're a new listener, welcome. If you're a longtime listener, thank you so much for all of the support. So our first guest is an award winning belly dancer who has performed all over the world. What's really interesting, I think about this, though, is not just the history of the dance or how you do it, but the culture that surrounds it, because it is both sought after and stigmatized at the same time. This is belly dancer, Valerie Molinari. So his belly dancing, is it fundamentally different than other kinds of dancing?

Valerick Molinary 1:47

There's a lot of things that makes it very particular and unique, starting by the history of the name and the label of bellydancing. Okay, so the name, the title, the word bellydancing, is a colonial term that doesn't necessarily translate or refers to a specific geographic region where this dance coming from comes from. So when you say belly dance people, specially in the western, social imaginary and right in the West here, in America, we kind of like don't have a clearer perspective of where's this dancing coming from? Okay, compare to ballet, and other Western disciplines that were more popular. In ballet, there's more use of the extensions of the body, right arms legs. The French call it belly dancing, because they started invading the North of Africa, they started seeing awasi and Gypsies dancers. And they noticed that there was a lot of focus in the middle part of the body, which in ballet, that's totally forbidden, right? Because in ballet, you dance with a very rigid torso. So that's how they call it belly dancing, because for them for the colonizers, they could see this constant movie of the belly. And that's something that we have that is very particular and unique, compared to other styles of dancing is a focus on the movement in the middle part of the body, between the hips, and the belly area,

Nick VinZant 3:28

the name belly dancing, then does that irritate people who had

Valerick Molinary 3:33

question? For some people, especially for Middle Eastern people can be a term that they don't necessarily like it because it really doesn't bring any type of visibility to them or their culture, or in this case, their dance. And for other people, they're just like, okay, you know, this is part of like, the history it is what it is, but honestly, for marketing purposes is very difficult. Because if I use FRAC Sharky, which would be like a correct Arabic term, people have no idea what I'm referring to.

Nick VinZant 4:12

It's become so pervasive that you can't get around it.

Valerick Molinary 4:15

Exactly. So now what I do is I use it. And once people come to my class, or people asked me, let's say in a platform like a podcast like this about the term, then I use it as a more gray moment to kind of like educate people about it.

Nick VinZant 4:30

You mentioned it very briefly, but what's the traditional name of it? Where does it originate from?

Valerick Molinary 4:35

Mostly, let's say in the Arab world, the term will be racks which mean that's our Charkie which means that's from the east. Okay? And when we talk about dance from the east, we're talking more about the style of dance that it's a little bit more theatrical. Then we have the term racks Baladi, that racks means dance, that LSD means from the people or belonging to a certain area, that it's what we term, the term that we use to describe more casual and social dancing. Meaning that if I go to an Arabic party, and they have Arabic music playing, and I see people gathering and dancing for each other, they're just doing Rex vanity, meaning using this beautiful hip work in a very social context. When I do production, Sharky means when I do it all by myself in a more theatrical way with a two piece costume and the way Hollywood has kind of like frame it and make it more popular for us.

Nick VinZant 5:41

When I think about other styles of dance that I know, right, that all seem to be more focused on the whole body or the extremities, big kind of movements. Why is his belly dancing different than that?

Valerick Molinary 5:55

Well, there's more focus in the middle part of the body. And if you really pay attention to many folklore, dancers dances in a global scale, even me that I come from the Caribbean, you know that there's a lot of folklore dances that include hip work, Polynesian dance, salsa, Afro Brazilian, you name it, there's a lot of folklore dances, that includes really nice torso and, and hip work. But they haven't become I want to say so commercialise. As the way we see belly. And so we tend to identify only belly there's with hip work, but let's say pull dimension. There's, it's the use a lot of in fact, very similar hip work.

Nick VinZant 6:52

Is it harder than other kinds of dancing? In

Valerick Molinary 6:55

a way? Yes. It's a very different idea of moving also, for me that I come from Puerto Rico, like social dance, it's a partner's dance. And I feel these dance even though in a casual context, yes, you can be dancing, but it's all about you. It's a solo type of performance. It's more difficult in that sense, because you're generating everything. You're generating the musicality, when you're dancing with a partner. There's this constant communication of information, right, the partner is telling you to turn, whatever. So there's this constant information happening from body to body. For me, when I do belly dance all by myself, it's all about me. It's my body guiding that energy. And connecting to the audience. Yes, there's, there's gonna be communication between the audience and the dancer. But it's totally different. When you are a solo dancer, a soloist that you're dancing completely by

Nick VinZant 8:02

yourself, it seems very flowy

Valerick Molinary 8:05

it is. And that's part of the magic of it. And that slowly, graceful movements, even though they look very easy. They're not requires a lot of control, because you want the movement to be flowing. But you don't want it to look like it's lacking energy. So we use your muscles in a certain way to create those undulations and those movements, circular, very flowy. But at the same time that you see it and you're like, kind of like immediately drawn or kind of like hypnotized.

Nick VinZant 8:42

So you know, the thing that I always see in like the media necessarily, right, like TVs and movies, it's one belly dancer up on a stage. Is that kind of like the traditional way that it's done?

Valerick Molinary 8:53

Yes, since the 1920s. There was this lady in Cairo. She opened a casino obrera because she wanted it to present to Western audience that were in Cairo right now at the moment. Our show that it was similar to the Moulin Rouge, so she what she did was like, Okay, I'm gonna take certain indigenous dancing or dances, right? But I'm gonna have to refine them. I'm gonna have to sanitize them, to bring them to the stage so they can actually be related to Western audience. And also, our local native audience can also enjoy it. So she started integrating the veil, she started integrating the two piece costume, which she literally took it from the Moulin Rouge in Paris. So that idea of the two piece costume is something that we got from burlesque. It was not the authentic costume that you will see let's say there was a dancers or bedwin Dancers wearing Is it

Nick VinZant 10:00

a though in those cultures though, where it seems to be practiced the most is there a kind of irritation, I guess that like, to me, at least what seems like the bastardized version of it is now the thing that everybody knows?

Valerick Molinary 10:16

Well, there's a lot of stigma about the dance in the Middle East. Even though it's a folklore, dance is not well seen. Generally,

Nick VinZant 10:28

I'm not going to choose the right words for this necessarily, but I think of that culture as being much more kind of religious and more cover up women. And then belly dance seems like a very sexualized dance like, those two things don't seem like they go together very

Valerick Molinary 10:45

well. So it's been a problem, because I feel the dance has been very sexualized. But I think it has to do a lot with the way in general in a global scale, we tend to also sexualized women in entertainment businesses, like it's very common this type of practice. And definitely the the relationship between culture and religion. And then dancing can get a little messy sometimes. And on the other half, I also have to say that these days also, in historical practice, it has been related to sex work. So in the social imaginary, there's this idea that the dancer, it's still kind of like some type of sex worker. But it's really interesting, also this dynamic, because, for example, in the Middle East is an example that they use a lot. It's like, they will want a dancer for the wedding. You know, they will go crazy for the dancer, everybody loves the dancer, as long as she can marry any member of the family. I, for me, it's easy and more accepted. Let's say if I would decide to go to Egypt and become a dancer, for me to do it, then for an Egyptian woman to do it herself. She has to confront other challenges that I don't have to confront. Because I'm an outsider of the of the culture. I go there, I dance and like, they're like, oh, yeah, you know, she said, answer. But, you know, she's American, you know, it's, you know, I don't get that. So harsh judge, they would see me as an artist, but it's different. When an Egyptian woman that society has other type of expectations from her. When she decides to dance, it's she has to comfort her family. Rarely members of her family would not like it, probably, you know, it's it could be even difficult for them to find a place where to live. Because there's a stigma, also the dancer. So those are some of the situations and challenges that these dance has. It's it's interesting, because I just recently came from Egypt. And Egypt we consider kind of like a mecca of the dance like the dancer la dance is very present in the nightlife. Meaning that you go out and you see men and women, belly dancing in nightclubs, cabaret and everywhere. There's a belly dancer everywhere. But still, when you talk to the dancers, you realize that they are, you're constantly going through the struggle and dealing with this thickness

Nick VinZant 13:48

for you know, for for dancers, then that are from that part of the world that you know, is that a big struggle with them? We're like, I like to do this thing. But in my society, even though it's adored, it's also discriminated again.

Valerick Molinary 14:04

Yes, yes. And also, I will say, Nick, there's not too many differences between the stigmas that I also have to come from here in the West, that what they have to confront. So that's why I have a lot of, and I think that's in the beginning, probably I didn't notice or didn't know. That's why I felt so so attracted for Arab woman dancing, because I noticed that they dance differently. Like I noticed that they danced with a different type of power and passion. You know, when I say to people in America that I'm a belly dancer, yes, it's easier for me a question that I always get a lot that I know in the moment people ask me this is that they have no idea what type of work I do. When they asked me do you do passion or it's parties? Is that

Nick VinZant 14:53

from the like, I'll say this, right? Like whenever I see it in movies, there's always the implication that Right, the belly dancer is going to perform and then maybe she's going to do something else afterwards. Yes,

Valerick Molinary 15:04

there's this idea that is a seduction dance. That is a dance to. That's the main idea. Everybody like, the dancer comes, especially in films, she's coming to seduce to distract somebody very faithful, because she's trying to obtain something. Okay. So yeah, there's this expectation, with I feel, in general with exotic dance that if a woman is doing some type of sensual dance right there, there's going to have, there's going to be an after performance that we don't get to see, right? Or it's leading to that place. So people can be more religious, and they can be like, hey, you know what, I'm not gonna even rent you this apartment, because I don't want a belly dancer to be leaving in my property. But But yeah, there's, there's this huge stigma about a dancer, that it's very common. Where you can have the dancer entertaining, basically, the most important events of your life, like birthday parties, like she's the life of the party. But then if, if a member of the family decides to record a video of them belly dancing on teeth, or whatever, that that can be a big deal.

Nick VinZant 16:17

It almost sounds like in the United States, kind of like like a stripper.

Valerick Molinary 16:21

Yeah, yes, it is consumed, it's in certain context. And that's the thing also, like, where is the dad presented, the context will tell you a lot on how it's people consuming this. So for example, if I'm dancing in a wedding, where I'm calming, and the responsibility of the dancer in the wedding, is to kind of like symbolize that type of sensual energy. And like, you're there to kind of like, celebrate love, but symbolically, you are kind of like a representation of Venus, you know, and that the the dancer calm that she says it with the bride and the room, and it's like, this beautiful energy and atmosphere, and everybody's dancing perfectly with it as her everybody's enjoying the performance, then you can also go to the cat barrette, which the camera is a more private context. It's a place where you cannot record it's a place for people who can can go like really wild, they're very fun. You know, people can have all type of, you know, farm get on this day shaky, get crazy, even religious people. But in that type of venue, there are sex workers, there could be some dancers, that could also be sex workers. So you know, that's a place where if I immerse myself there, I know people are going to be consuming my dad's kind of like some type of soft.

Nick VinZant 18:08

Last question kind of in this regard, right? But then how come belly dancing got viewed like that? Where I don't look at other types of dancing like that? It seems to be only specifically belly dancing.

Valerick Molinary 18:19

Yeah. And that you're correct about that. Many people will say to you that this is like the story of colonization, that since the beginning since the 1001 Nights, there's the West has this idea of portraying the Arab world as a place full of sensuality, and made them very, you know, exotic, and there's a movement on artistic movement called Orientalism at the ending of the 19th centuries, where they started to paint and even photograph some of these women in the Turkish bath, but sexualizing them and I think that stereotype of like, like you say, that is such an accurate observation, like, you don't see ballet dancers the same way that you see a belly dancer at all right? But I think the West has been very obsessed with portraying these types of dances, seduction dance, because it's new. It makes sense. And the fact that many of the movements were very focused in the area of the pelvis, I think we immediately want to like super sexualized them.

Nick VinZant 19:45

Welcome in. i What got you into it. What drew you to it?

Valerick Molinary 19:49

Well, I was I was in doing ballet, jazz and acrobatics. When I was very young. I started when I was eight years old. By that time that I was 13. I was in a dance camp, and they offer belly dance class. And my body was changing there at that time that I was becoming a teenager. And puberty was like, really not like, nice to me.

Nick VinZant 20:18

It's a tough time for a lot of tough.

Valerick Molinary 20:21

Yeah. Tough time. And I love the class. Because then at the time, I was getting, you know, I was growing, I did not have the skinny body for ballet, or for jazz. So I was developing a lot of body issues. And then suddenly, I took billions. And I was like, Oh my God, you know, this is a dance where it's all about the curves. This is like difficult, it's new. It looks good on my body. I feel like I can do it. And like it was it was it was the best hobby that I could ask life to have it when I was a teenager.

Nick VinZant 21:07

The correct me if I'm wrong here right now. Have you won international awards are performed internationally are Philip kind of fill in the resume?

Valerick Molinary 21:15

Yes, I did. I competed for four years. My first competition I wanted to tell said nine was the Miami Bellydance Convention, which was an event here. That's how I actually finished in Miami because I won that competition and they offered me a job here. Then I did another one here in Miami called Rockstar that I got second place and people show it somewhere. Then I did another one called queen of rec Sharkey in Texas that had a full the judges were all Egyptian. And then 2014 or 13. I do now group festival that that was an art competition that I did in a festival in Egypt in Cairo. And I got the first place professional category.

Nick VinZant 22:04

That must have been a really big deal. Oh, feel like that would be a big deal.

Valerick Molinary 22:09

Yeah, no, that was like to be able to measure myself in that scale. It was very majestic, beautiful and empowering and difficult at the same time.

Nick VinZant 22:26

How is the kind of atmosphere in terms of like how much people like it different over there than it is in the United States?

Valerick Molinary 22:34

First of all, it's part of their culture. So everybody dances like naturally and even men. This is something that people have this idea of constantly framing this dance as only for women. But it's incredible. When you go there in the nightlife and you see the amount of guys doing hip work.

Nick VinZant 22:52

Like what would you compare it to there that something that you would compare it to here, okay?

Valerick Molinary 22:58

The audiences are looking for different things. Here in the West, they're looking for entertainment. So I have to bring swords, I have to really candle Dre, I have to give them more elements of showmanship. Okay. They're they're just looking for an answer that it's more connected to the music,

Nick VinZant 23:20

a shell versus a performer.

Valerick Molinary 23:22

Exactly. Yeah. So they're the dancer. It's really connecting with the music, the musicians and the audience. She's kind of like, in Arabic music, there's something called Terra, which is like the dance. The music produced this type of like ecstasies experience. And in terrible music, the music tends to repeat a lot. So it kind of like takes you to that moment, you know, when you like that song a lot. And you put it and you put it and every time you put it, it sounds better, better, better, better. Some of the musical structures over the songs in the Arab world are meant like that to take up the audience into that tap experience to the ecstasy says three years, we'll do it just like in this enjoying music into a different level. And the dancer has to amplify that experience. The dancer, it's kind of like being a visual representation of that. And here in the West, we don't have that type of communication with the audience.

Nick VinZant 24:23

It seems like Western dancing is more paint by numbers, right? Like you're doing specific movements. Like there's an instructional seat. mm sheet for it. Exactly. And that kind of music is more like just flowing with it.

Valerick Molinary 24:36

Exactly. It's drastically different.

Nick VinZant 24:40

Are there certain kinds of traditional movements to it like,

Valerick Molinary 24:43

yeah, for sure steps are going to be very basic. What makes it different is actually the dancer each dancer, their goal is to create their own style, and that's what people will like about you. That's why people will enjoy to see one Our of our show of yours because you will get you move in a very particular way. And that means that you your musicality, it's very particular the way that you hear the music is very particular. The way you execute the movement are very particular. But we're basically sharing the same set of steps. But they can be done in drastically different ways. And the shape and the body of the dancer can make the also the movement look totally different.

Nick VinZant 25:30

Are you ready for some harder slash listener submitted? Question? Yes. Best place to perform

Valerick Molinary 25:37

that the classroom the dance classroom?

Nick VinZant 25:41

Is there a country though?

Valerick Molinary 25:43

Oh, you want me play culturally? Okay, I country, a country a country, best place to perform? I'll have like, God, this is so difficult. I have to pick three Puerto Rico because of course I'm very attached to my land, like the few times that I get to have performing opportunities there. Like I really, like I'm back home. Second one, I have to say Egypt. For sure. Egypt. Yeah, that's it. I say Brother regarding Egypt.

Nick VinZant 26:18

Who's the best celebrity belly dancer.

Valerick Molinary 26:20

Ah, oh, there's a lot of them. There's, well, one of my favorites. It's Fifi Abdu, which was a very famous dancer in the 80s and 90s. She has super strong personality. She became also like a TV personality. And she's already older, but she looks super good. And she put videos of her dancing the entire time. In her Instagram. The entire time she's always putting videos of her dancing, so I love her what she represents. I love that. She eats profanity like, easy her 60s And like she just make herself super glamorous and dance with so much confidence. And you can tell she loves her body. So I want to say Fie, fie, fie. Fie. Fie is my favorite belly dance personality.

Nick VinZant 27:25

The one I always think of is Shakira.

Valerick Molinary 27:27

Oh Shaq, Kira, chalky, has Lebanese background. But Shakira, what she does is a lot of like, we couldn't like isolating movements and accents. I haven't seen a performance of her what I say okay, you know, she's really, really, really belly dancing. Like, what'd she do with the robe and everything? It's still too westernized for me.

Nick VinZant 27:58

It's, it's got it's like derived from it exactly why

Valerick Molinary 28:02

I can't tell the jazz teacher was there telling her all work here. And then we'll combine it with this. And that's it.

Nick VinZant 28:12

Who is there somebody that's like I always use Michael Jordan. Is there somebody that would be like, Oh, that's the best Jelly Belly Dancer of all time.

Valerick Molinary 28:19

Right now in Egypt. I like a dancer a lot that is called Oksana. And Oksana is a Russian dancer that has incredible flexibility and she can do things with her body that have never seen anybody doing. I like a Brazilian dancer a lot called Sariah. Yet, that for me, she was one of the best entertainers of all time, she will finish her. Her show playing that our Buka and like she would do all type of variety of folklore dancers dances, like you will see her show and it was like, show, show all her all her and she's like 411 She's super small. And she's this giant heels. So I like her a lot. Her hip work is ridiculous. She's Brazilian, also. So she incorporates some of Brazilian dancing in her belly dancing. And it looks so good. And yeah, I want to say like those two are basically some of my favorite dancers nowadays that I like other words,

Nick VinZant 29:33

does belly dancing, expose or cover up a bad dancer? Like if you're a bad dancer? Does belly dancing really showcase that or can you be like, Oh, you can kind of hide it a little bit with this.

Valerick Molinary 29:47

Not really if you're a bad dancer, you know and also what represents to be a bad dancer. I think that there's certain things that are different, difficult to kind of like cut verb with values, for example, the musicality of a person. If you're a person that doesn't have musicality, this is the type of dance that will definitely highlight it.

Nick VinZant 30:13

That makes sense. Now, are you a good dancer and other things? Yes. Our most but our most good belly dancers, probably good dancers and other things not

Valerick Molinary 30:21

I mean, I think it's good to like, explore other than styles. But for me, I had a training before get into belly dance, like I used to do ballet, jazz, modern dance, so I'm okay.

Nick VinZant 30:39

Best belly dancing scene in a movie, or a TV show.

Valerick Molinary 30:49

My Favorite Dancer is from an Indian movie. I don't remember the name, but it's Nadia Jamal, if I'm mistaking it's from the 1970s 80s poem, read GRE from GRE. But yeah, it's a very iconic that scene where she's dancing on the stage. And like, there's a thing, these investigators that arrive and she's dancing, and they're like, totally mesmerized by her dancing, and there's a little bit of comedy involved. But and yeah, and she's one of my favorite dancers. Also nadie Jamal. She was a famous Egyptian dancer, she moved to Lebanon did her career in Lebanon, and was one of the first dancers that came here to the US, from the Middle East to train dancers in the 90s. And yeah, she has that iconic, that scene, and she asked me the kinas Flora work there.

Nick VinZant 31:55

What tip would you give to somebody just starting out? Tip you would give to somebody that's like, Ah, I'm struggling with this aspect of it. Like, I just can't get this down.

Valerick Molinary 32:05

For somebody that is starting out. Okay? Be patient. It takes time, and enjoy the journey. Okay, because people take the first classes and they find that that is very difficult it is oh my god. Yeah, like everything, it takes time. You know, you just have to like, go later by later, find a really good teacher with good credentials. This is very important. Now, because somebody is a Zumba teacher doesn't mean that they have the preparation to teach this dance with the cultural sensibility that it requires us to teach us something correct and authentic. And for people that are struggling with their challenges in today's it could be something technical, it could be like starting improvisation. Give it a time, give it a time. Be very have compassion with yourself. And understand also that discipline is not necessarily like this, they simply can't be like this. So as long as you can keep those commitments, it's okay. It's then suddenly you take a month that you couldn't make it to class, or you could have practiced this. Okay, and then next month is coming and you're gonna continue at so try to be as close system as you can. I will say that that will be my main advice.

Nick VinZant 33:31

That's pretty much all the questions that I had. Is there anything that you think we missed or what's kind of not next for you? Well, I

Valerick Molinary 33:38

have lots of future projects. I am organizing the first Miami Bellydance retreat in Miami, happening August 24, to the 28th. And we're combining Bellydance with other wellness alternatives. So that's something that I think is going to be majestic next year. And I have a theatrical production, also called Bellydance stories with Alexandra Molina, which is another dancer here from Miami, where we actually we combine creative writing and dancing. And in this production, the dancers, which are some of our students and people from our community. Tell a little bit about their story, what their dancing and what their performance represents. And then they perform it so we we did the the the first show this year, in August, I think we did it and it was very majestic because we have we have pieces in the show talking about fatphobia depression, body positivity. You name it, and all these ladies basically talk about how the Belizeans journey how to them. That's good with all those challenges. So yeah, basically my platform is just to continue helping women and empowering them to dance and rebellious and. And that's it. That's what makes me very happy.



Economic Futurist Andrew Busch

What does the New Year have in store for 2023? Economic Futurist Andrew Busch specializes in predicting what’s next for the economy and what that means for you. We talk inflation, recession fears, new technologies that will change the world and where to invest your money in 2023. Then, we unveil our Candle of the Year and countdown the Top 5 Trends that Should Stay in 2022.

Andrew Busch: 01:43

Pointless: 44:42

Top 5: 01:06:30

nickvinzant@gmail.com (Contact the Show)

www.andrewbusch.com (Andrew Busch Website)

https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewbusch/ (Andrew Busch Linkedin)

https://mobile.twitter.com/abusch (Andrew Busch Twitter)

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1mkulYlOw6HREXdPpSHEng (Andrew Busch YouTube)

Interview with Economic Futurist Andrew Busch

Nick VinZant 0:10

Welcome to Profoundly Pointless. My name is Nick VinZant Coming up in this episode, our economic future, and things that should stay in the past,

Andrew Busch 0:21

there are massive changes that are going on things that are just kind of hard to get your head around, and they're occurring so rapidly, this generation is going to experience more change in the next five years than we've had. And over the last 50. I know there's a lot of people who are against things like GMO, but I will tell you that the synthetic biology that's going on right now, is amazing. In agriculture, there's three areas that I like, going forward, if you've noticed in the recent sell off of the stock market, defense stocks have held up extraordinarily well. Like if you think you have any income inequality now, just wait, because who's going to be able to do that? The wealthy,

Nick VinZant 1:00

I want to thank you so much for joining us, if you get a chance, subscribe, leave us a rating or review, we really appreciate it really helps us out. If you're a new listener, welcome to the show. If you're a longtime listener, thank you so much for all of your support. So our first guest is an economic futurist who specializes in looking at what's ahead, and how that is going to affect the life today, especially when we're talking about business and the economy. He has worked at the highest levels of both government and in the private sector. This is economic futurists, Andrew Bush, what do you think is ahead in 2023?

Andrew Busch 1:46

So my big thing is context. Too often. People want to know what what's coming next. And I say, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, that's good to know. But unless you understand the context, like where we've been, so you understand where we are, so you can see where we're going unless you have those three together? Like you don't know what you don't know. So I think what's really salient for your audience is to say, Well, look, what happened to get us to where we are, right. So just really quickly, obviously, COVID, and the Ukraine war combined to make probably the largest disruption to our lifetimes of the economy, I mean, it just everything else. So with that in mind, you know, the reaction of governments around the world to deal with that also was extraordinarily disruptive, not only from, you know, our central banks, creating zero interest rates, but also from the government spending just massive amounts of money, like we've never seen before, in such a short period of time. So that's the context for understanding what is going on. And if you think about the US economy, just really quickly, prior to the COVID, like 70% of it was about consumer spending, right on services, and about 30% Were on goods, well, if you couldn't spend money on services, like going to a bar, restaurant, hotel, travel, all that kind of fun stuff. You know, you kind of held on to that money, but then you you know, if you're working from home, or you had to stay at home, then you start looking around you go, you know, I need a new computer, I need a desk, I need, you know, I'm kind of sick in the bed, I'm sleeping it, you know, all of those goods, you know, that spending got jacked up. And so that's why like, if you ordered a sofa in like 2021, and it never showed up, that's why there was just like, huge demand for all of these different goods, you know, durable goods, things that are physical, along with the technology. So that created a lot of inflation, it created a lot of supply chain disruptions, all of those kinds of things were occurring, at the same time that a lot of money was sloshing in in creating some some dislocations. And then you had a lot of people drop out. I mean, there was a lot, first of all, sadly, there was like half a million people died. So you lost a lot of people in the workforce from that. The next thing is, is you had over 2 million more people retire. And then the next thing was you had a much smaller cohort of the 20 to 28 year olds of people coming into the labor force all of those well, and then we shut our borders too. So all that wrapped into a labor shortage situation. So those are all the things that like combined into this year of 2022. They created the conditions where, you know, the authorities, central banks around the world said, We got to deal with this, like 10% inflation. And so that's when they began raising interest rates and they continue to raise interest rates to this day, and will likely continue to raise interest rates into 2023. So that's that's the backdrop of what we have going on as we go into 2023. So when you say what's ahead, here's what's ahead. We're going to have probably a mild recession and sometime in the US The sometime during 2023, I don't want to put exact, you know, first quarter second quarter in and that kind of stuff because I don't know what I don't know when it comes to that Ukraine war is not likely to get resolved, that's going to continue going forward. So that's going to create all sorts of, you know, problems when it comes to energy. And that translates in kicks into every aspect of the economy, food, you know, goods, all of those things. And then finally, there are things that are going on that, that I like to think of, that nobody talks about, that are just amazing things like synthetic biology. And I see so many positive things that are happening there. So as we look into 2023, and going beyond, I mean, there's all sorts of really cool things that are happening, that if you're only looking at the news, or only looking at your your Google feed or your Twitter feed, you're thinking, Oh, my God, the world is coming to an end. Where I see things, there's just amazing developments that are happening, that are going to make our world so much better. And I know it doesn't feel that way right now, especially with climate change and the storms that are happening and, and greenhouse gas emissions. But there are serious people at work, doing fantastic things that we're going to see the fruition of that shortly over the next two to three to five years. So what's coming, I would say some really good things, as we're getting through all of these bad things.

Nick VinZant 6:28

When you know, going through the last two years, we're recording this in 2022. It was always a question in my mind, like, has the shoe dropped yet? I feel like we're recovering from the pandemic. But then every time we start to recover, like something else happens that pushes us back. Do you feel like we're headed more towards? Are we headed more towards more instability or more stability?

Andrew Busch 6:53

That is a great question. And I would frame it this way for millennials, they've come into the job market and what happened to him, I mean, the global financial crisis, so that was bad, especially if you'd bought a house, I mean, in you know, anywhere in 2000, or even a condo or whatever. So you feel pretty bad about that, then you're slowly recovering, right? And then all of a sudden, COVID hits, and then everybody's knocked backwards. And then the Ukraine war hits. So um, so from that standpoint, I can totally understand your your question about the next shoe to drop? And what I would say is like, look, yes, these are terrible things that have happened, for sure. But I'd like to use a reference to men and black when it comes to this, right. And at the end of the movie, the first one, which was the best one, the Tommy Lee Jones character, and the Will Smith character have this conversation. And Tommy Jones says, you know, I want to go back to where I was before, you know, I want to I don't want to know all about this, all these bad things that have happened. And Will Smith says, Yeah, but this crisis that's going on right now, you know, what are we going to do about it, and this is the thing that I always tell people, it's like, Tommy Jones says, there's always somebody coming to invade Earth, right to destroy it. And, and that's the way I look at the world. Like, there's always bad things going on. It's it's, it's where the good things are going on that you don't hear a lot about that you really have to start to think forward about those because they're very positive. They're very directional in in a good way. And I would say this, like, there are massive changes that are going on things that are just kind of hard to get your head around. And they're occurring so rapidly, that it can feel like when they cascade downward, that they're just like, everything's falling apart. And I understand that, but I don't see the world coming to an end. I don't see another alien force invading our, our Earth, I'd see positive things that are happening. And I don't want to belabor the point, but it's just it's so easy to go down that path to do scroll and feel terrible about the world.

Nick VinZant 9:14

Yeah, I mean, I'm a former news reporter. And I always say like, the world is always ending. It's always, you know, it needs it leans baby. It does. It does. There seems to be like this disconnect, though, between corporations and the people that they employ. That is, you know, are people getting burned out? Like, who do you think has the power moving forward? The employers or the employees?

Andrew Busch 9:42

Well, right now we're seeing a big shift. Obviously, we're seeing a big shift with labor unions. Pilots union getting a 30% increase over two years is a fine example of that. The real world workers getting a 25% increase there over a short period of time, that shows you a shift shift from where we were, as far as the way that we looked at employees, and what they were being paid. Maybe it all goes back to, you know, minimum wage at 15. You know, trying to get that to $15. So I would say these are forces that have been at work in, in really now, because of the shortage of labor, it's put, if you would power back into the hands of employees in the sense that they're demanding things that they want. And were not able to get those previously worked from home is a great example that higher pay higher pays is great. But really flexibility and schedule, I think that's really important. More focus on work life balance, more focus on mental health issues, those things are great, and will actually lead to more productivity, I believe. So from that standpoint, I think it's really your question is great, because there is this shift going on. I wouldn't say necessarily power but a better focus back on employees to get not only get them what they want, but actually to help them be more productive.

Nick VinZant 11:11

Is that going to be the case moving forward? Because I keep hearing all these things that basically like the labor force is dwindling. And once all the boomers retire, this idea of growth all the time, but we just don't have the population to sustain that anymore.

Andrew Busch 11:27

Yeah, I mean, you know, really, I mean, what is growth was GDP growth, it's productivity times the number of workers. And so if productivity is flat, and your number of workers is flat, your economy is flat. So then you get into this question of, hey, can we get more workers? If we can't, then can we increase productivity? And the answer is yes, you can actually get both. Right now, there's a real problem in the United States, because of the immigration issue. There's actually it's so acute right now, I don't need to go granular on this, but we just don't have a legal immigration program, right. Now, we need to fix that. But the productivity side of things, if we have less workers, I guarantee you the direction that companies are going in, and everyone else is going in as well, is how do we make workers more efficient? How do we get more out of them for the time that they put in, there's a lot of things that do that, you know, different types of software, CRM is a great example of that. But AI is another thing that's that is going to assist workers, and AI is not something that's down the road, it's happening right now. Stitch Fix is a great example of utilities utilizing AI, you know, and the way that they, you know, can take a picture of you, but also how AI works with the designers. And you know, the people that are designing the clothes and picking out the clothes for you that you can have disagreements between AI and the sticks, stitch, fix people, but generally, they make each other better over time. So that's where I think things will go as far as being able to increase productivity to increase output. Even with fewer workers,

Nick VinZant 13:15

you obviously work in a lot of different sectors, agriculture, etc. Where do you think is going to be like, Oh, this is going to be where we're going to see a lot of changes. Like if you jumped in a time machine, so to speak, and fast forwarded? This sector would look totally different than it did in years past?

Andrew Busch 13:36

Yeah, I mean, I know people maybe look askance at agriculture and think, oh, you know, why would you spend so much time there? Again, context is king here, these people are selling a commodity. So what does that mean? They have to be the most efficient producers of that commodity, because everybody knows what the price is. It's not, you know, like everybody knows what the price of corn is. It's not like you can be Microsoft selling a specific product that nobody else sells. So you can, you know, have really big margins. That's not the way it works. So these are the people that are at the forefront of using technology in any way, shape, or form that they can to be more efficient, more productive. So I do spend a lot of time there. I see amazing things happening in that space. I know there's a lot of people who are against things like GMO, but I will tell you that the synthetic biology that's going on right now, is amazing in agriculture, that can really help agriculture feed the world, which is really important, but also overcome the problems with climate change that we're going to experience. Whether we stop greenhouse gas emissions today, we're still going to have problems for some time on that and the volatile weather that we have, whether it's droughts or storms or you name it, heat, all of those things. We need to be better at producing crops that can survive in those things. In in those environments, and then also increase yields. So I see just amazing things that are going on there that are using technology. Like if you were wowed by mRNA, that was came about because of CRISPR technology, the CRISPR technology that is used in agriculture is amazing. I mean, they're taking viruses as an example, using CRISPR, to, to turn off the bad component of the virus, and then modify it so that that virus can go on wheat, that kills a bacteria that grows on the on the way that kills the weed head, right. So like, it's kind of mind blowing of what you can do in synthetic biology. And then the use of AI is just amazing, and how they hook up all the different pieces of equipment. Now, that's, I mean, that's just a minor example of what's going on with it. I mean, every financial services firm, who's got their act together is using AI in a lot of different ways. So just a couple of examples. But I really think agriculture is such an important one for the planet overall. And I'm just blown away at the advances in it. I know that's gonna scare a lot of people. But there are really good things that are going on, especially with synthetic biology in that space. They're somewhere so much further past the scares of GMO. The other thing too, is, here's here's the thing about again, I'm gonna go back to agriculture, but they're developing plants that can they can absorb greenhouse gas emissions, and hold them in their roots, like a 30% increase over what they could do before. That is just amazing stuff. And so I get excited by this, as you can tell, because I think there's again, there's some really good things that are happening, that you're not hearing about unless you do your homework on this. So I think Agriculture remains for me just one of the most exciting areas that's that's rapidly developing positive things that are going to help out in the future.

Nick VinZant 17:05

This is kind of a rant for me, but I feel like COVID was a small showing of nature's power. And I feel like climate change is going to PAMP pound us into the ground. Are we ready for that? Right? Is that? What's gonna happen? Cuz I'm worried?

Andrew Busch 17:28

Yes, climate change is brutal right now, um, even the storms that just moved through the United States right now where we had just a ton of rain, bad tornadoes, and then you get this incredible cold wave that came in. These things are more persistent in their patterns. And so what I would say is, this is like, look, there's a lot of smart people working on this. As an example, in the last government spending bill, a lot of people don't realize this, this is the inflation Reduction Act. There, they're spending $369 billion on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, this is the largest spend by the US government ever to address climate change. Now, within that, there's a ton of money going into research. Here's an example. And this is what really gets me excited. So the Department of Energy, had a fund that invested in companies had about a $30 billion fund that invested in companies, you can make loans or grants or whatever, to develop technologies that are going to address things like greenhouse gas emission. Under this last bill, the amount of money they have now is $250 billion. And that goes into a ton of research. So I guess what I'm saying is like, look, yes, things are terrible now. And the storms are bad. And, you know, rising sea levels will create additional problems, for sure. But I would say this, I'm always blown away at the entrepreneurial zeal that is in the United States. It's why people like to invest in this country. It's like why people want to continue to come into this country. And I'm blown away by the amount of money that's flowing into specifically this space to address these issues. So I would say yes, things are bad now, but things change rapidly, just over the next two to three years, not like five and 10 years down the road. I'd see solutions coming to deal with greenhouse gas emissions. You know, just as an example. Now, it's not applicable yet, but I mean, they actually had a breakthrough in Fusion nuclear fusion technology, that they got gained by the reaction. In other words, they got more energy out of the procedure, and then they put into it. Now, we're probably a decade away from that. And that's not even the most salient technology for what's going on in fusion. But let's say we come up with something that's pretty decent over the next five years, all of a sudden, this whole thing about greenhouse gas emissions really changes in its tone, we can develop something that is more efficient and creating energy, then you don't burn greenhouse gas emissions. So like that to me, like, I don't want to be pollyannish. But like, please, don't just focus on the negative, there's great things that are happening.

Nick VinZant 20:27

As a millennial, that is not how they are. Right? It's so is. So as a millennial, right? Like, we basically went from one crisis to another from 911 to 2008 2000. Right, etc, etc. Is there a generation that you would say, though, that like, you know, what, they're really going to benefit over the next couple of years and this generation, you might, you might kind of get left out of this.

Andrew Busch 20:58

Now, this generation is going to experience more change in the next five years than we've had. And over the last 50 things build, they take time to build, I mean, you think about I mean, just to use the iPhone as an example, like, just even to get the glue that you have to use for the screens that they have just to develop that took decades. And so yes, you're standing on the shoulders of the people who went before you to create that product, it took forever. I mean, all of those things had to lead to the development of, of the iPhone. Same thing with CRISPR. Same thing with AI. I mean, you couldn't do AI with without cloud, we had to get cloud computing, right, you had to have the data storage, otherwise, you couldn't create a GPT general purpose technology like AI, without it. So we're at the very beginning stages of taking all of this incredible technology and applying it in a very useful way to our lives. It just doesn't feel like it because we're still dealing with a lot of the past that are bad things that, you know, a lot of boomers get blamed for I get it. Right. But honestly, there's a lot of really things that are like that are that we're on the cusp of right now. So I would say I'm more excited about the next 510 years than I about anything that's happened over the next over the last 50 years. I mean, there's just great things coming. That's all I can say.

Nick VinZant 22:31

I'm gonna butcher this acronym. So Correct. Correct. The resume, you were the chief, the first chief market in an I O some intelligence officer. So what was that? What do you think of the situation now? I guess is the Yeah. So uneducated way to ask you that question.

Andrew Busch 22:55

Yes. So I was very fortunate. I was very first chief marketing intelligence officer for the US government. So my job was to take all of the research all the I had a team of 40 researchers looking at the economy in the markets, what was going on, we had the best data on the planet better than anyone else. And I literally mean that better than any hedge fund, because we could see the position changes of all the major players in the futures market of every product that's out there. So what does that mean? That means like, if I saw a piece of news come out, and I saw, let's say Exxon Mobil change their position in oil futures, for whatever reason, I'd be like, Huh, that's important to them. So let me dive into whatever that piece of news was, that changed what we call the market narrative. So that just informed me to make much better decisions Overall, about how the world worked. So it was the coolest position. I worked for a friend of mine, and not a friend of mine, but somebody I'd known who became a chairman of an agency, the CFTC. And we, we jointly created this position. So it was really like, nobody does that. Nobody does that in US government. So very unusual. But with that, I got exposure to Nobel Prize winners, to you know, people in the industry in the financial industry that are smarter than I'll get out. So I can glean from all of these people and understand the world much better. And then in turn, my job was to communicate that to Congress, to the Senate, to the house to, to the White House, all of these different groups and to be external as well. So that Job was just amazing. I did that from 2017 to the end of 2019. And that really helped me understand how the world worked. We we looked at a wide range of things, not only AI but you know, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. And my view on them hasn't changed since they've collapsed and the collapse of FTX and everything else that's going on in that space. it. So it was a fascinating experience. And here's the thing that just blew me away about this experience in your left. There are really smart people working at the top levels of government. I know

Nick VinZant 25:21

that, that runs counterintuitive to all my

Andrew Busch 25:27

work. So what I want to provide some comfort to people like when the world starts falling apart, there are brilliant people who really stepped in to try to help out, come up with solutions. Now Congress is a different animal, they do crazy things all the time. They're politicians. But that's the one comforting thing that I really want to impress upon everybody. That surprised me. I did not expect that. And so that made me feel a lot better about what was going on in the world overall.

Nick VinZant 25:54

Are you ready for some harder slash listener submitted questions? Oh, yeah, bring them on, give you one of the easier like maybe one of the easier ones? Where should I put my money?

Andrew Busch 26:05

So yeah, I just did an interview on this, you can go to Andrew bush.com, and watch it there. But there's three areas that I like, going forward. I already mentioned synthetic biology, like I'm not going to tell you like exactly what to do. That's not my job. That's for you to work with a wealth manager or whoever you want to work with. Do your own homework, what's your risk tolerance? I don't know any of those things. What I do know is there's three areas I like a lot. One is synthetic biology. Two is the development of AI and three is and this is terrible. But I'm a money flow guy. So I'm being honest here is defense. If you've noticed in the recent sell off of the stock market, defense stocks have held up extraordinarily well. Now, there's a reason for that, because the world is becoming somewhat bifurcated between autocratic regimes regimes like Russia, like China, and democratic regimes like the United States, and like EU, and that leads to conflict. And because Europe's had an existential threat to them, namely Russia being on their doorstep with Ukraine, they've woken up to the fact that that's a big risk. So they have to say, you know, maybe we ought to step up our defense spending. And that's exactly what we've seen. Japan just made a huge change in the way that they approach defense, and they're going to spend a lot more money on it. Now, overall, how does that fit with my optimistic world? Well, when people aren't weak, it's less likely that they get attacked. So I would say we're a little bit going back into the Cold War. But we're also hopefully in a situation where we're mad, right, Mutual Assured Destruction if people try to engage in what Russia is doing right now in the Ukraine. So those are the three areas that I like, with the caveat that one of them's not necessarily super positive. But, you know, if you're looking to place money, where money flows are going, which is my big thing, when I help clients, I think those three areas you'll do well with.

Nick VinZant 28:17

So this may be more of a societal question, right? And if it's not your area, let me know it's not your area. But it seems to be like this juxtaposition between power to the people on one side and power to the dictators on another. Right, like we seem to be going back and forth. Why do you think that is? Is this normal? Who wins? I guess, like, what do you is that even a correct assumption that there's this like Power to the People, on the other hand, like, let's get the one strong leader, there seems to be like a battle between those two opposing philosophies.

Andrew Busch 28:56

I think that's more interesting in the democratic countries, the United States, Brazil are great examples of that. And I'll say this, like because of the January 6 event that occurred in the United States and the severe test of our Constitution at that point. The good news is, and the great news that everybody should take a lot of comfort, as is that it held our institutions held the theories behind those institutions held. That's fantastic news. You don't know if something really works until it gets tested in a really difficult manner. That's what we just experienced. So while it may feel terrible, and this would probably add to the list of things that millennials feel terrible about, right? There's that very difficult transition. But the fact is that people did speak. They brought in a different president. And so our constitution held and that's what elections are all about. The same thing just happened in Brazil. And you You saw the the peaceful transfer of power that's so critical for any democracy. So I would say it seems like democracies have tilted towards stronger rulers and, and become a little bit more Latin American and their structure like of what people voted for. But I would say we have really experienced that. And now we're moving back the other way, I think more than ever, we want people in this country who can produce results, to really solve the problems that we have today, and not fight the problems of the past. And I think that's the direction we're heading in. Yes. It seems like that we've gone through that period of time. We're, you know, people gravitated towards strong man rulers. I think we're moving away from those now.

Nick VinZant 30:55

Yeah, I never really thought of it until you mentioned that that way that that was like such an such a lynchpin moment, but it seems so bad. But then at the same time, it's like, Well, we did actually kind of get through it. Yeah, it did, like the bridge did hold, in a way. Okay.

Andrew Busch 31:15

But on the other side of that is, the autocratic regimes that are out there now are even more autocratic. China is a perfect example of that with President Xi, you know, eliminating the two term limit on how long somebody can stay in power. And then obviously, Vladimir Putin is another example of that. So, like I said, there's this bifurcating world that we're we're going to experience going forward. That makes things challenging. So I sorry, I didn't interrupt your question. But I just think it's important that, that we've moved through that process from a democratic standpoint, from a democracy standpoint, or a representative government standpoint, but other countries have actually gone further in that direction. And that is destabilizing overall, you make better decisions when you involve more people, right? That's the concept of diversity. You get different ideas that can really enhance wherever you're going on a decision. That's not happening in Russia. And that's not necessarily happening in China,

Nick VinZant 32:18

and follow it up with this brilliant question. What movie do you think has the most accurate depiction of what the future will be like?

Andrew Busch 32:28

Oh, my gosh. Actually, you know what, here's the book that you should read. It's called ai 2041. Now, this was written by two ex Google executives. What's over cool about this, and I love this book is that it's science fiction, there's science fiction, short stories. And so those are really fun. And at the end of each one of these short stories, they do about three or four, maybe even five pages describing the technology that's in the short story and how it is today and where it's going in the future. To me, that's just gold. I love that. Like, if you're if you're a futurist, if you're really interested in where things are going, take a read on that book, it's super easy. You can just read a chapter at a time. And it's, it's just a blast. From a science fiction, nut standpoint, I really dig stuff like that.

Nick VinZant 33:23

Is there a technology or a thing happening in society, though, that maybe from a perspective of like, okay, we can do this? Should we do this? Yeah. Is there something that you're like, wait a minute, maybe we shouldn't do that?

Andrew Busch 33:39

Yeah, I think we need to get into synthetic biology. That's where some weirdness can come in. Not to get too deep into this, but cells have a trigger called senescence. senescence, which is basically they grow old and they stop reproducing, right? I mean, to make it simple. We could theoretically in the future, stop that. So that people could live a lot longer than they do now. And, and you can even go further with that, probably down the road where you could actually rebuild different parts of your body and the cells that are in there. The question is, do we want to do that? What kind of problems would we have because of that? You think people like if you think you'd have any income inequality now, just wait, because who's going to be able to do that? The wealthy for sure. And the longer you live, the wealthier you become? You know, you create assets that you're hold on to and they don't pass them to generations, then it makes the problem worse. So you'll really get a sectioning off of of different income levels across different countries because has that. So that's those things really bother me. Currently, I would say, there's really not enough being regulated as far as live biology right now. There's crazy stuff that's going on that could get outside of a lab that worries me. There's something called gain of function, when it comes to testing viruses that could have produced COVID. There's a lot of theories about that in Wuhan, and China. But the study of gain of function is a disturbing one, because you could take measles and you could modify it. And then if it gets out, like modified to make it more virulent, to see if it would change or adapt in a new environment to understand it better. But if that got out, you kill 1000s of people, hundreds of 1000s of people, like what keeps me up at night, some of this kind of stuff. While I'm very, very positive about it, there are aspects of it that are disturbing from a societal standpoint, and risks that are out there. From a pandemic simple standpoint.

Nick VinZant 36:03

What is something that you think like, Oh, hey, we used to do this, this is a commonplace thing, but like, we're not gonna do that anymore. What goes away kind of like?

Andrew Busch 36:16

So we're laughing about this the other day. So I went in to open up a checking account right? Now, this is hilarious, because you physically have to go in, right? And so when I'm sitting there, the person asked me, they go, Well, do you want checks? And I was like, Well, of course I want to so you have to get and she said, You don't understand. Like, if I ask a millennial that they'll go, what's the use case of a check? It's, so in other words, like, it depends on your framework of like, okay, like, Now, are we going to move to a cashless society, right, where we don't use cheques or cash at all. And so we're heading in that direction overall. But there's certain things for cash that we will continue to use, that has big implications for all sorts of financial services that are out there has big implications for things like ATM machines, but it also has big societal implications for people who don't have checking accounts. Now, it sounds crazy, but there's a lot of people that aren't banked, that are poor, that get cards for, you know, food credits, that they can go. And they use those just like a credit card, they don't have a checking account. And so those are the people that got sent cards for the STEMI checks that came in actually as a card for them. So, you know, thinking some kind of an interesting topic to get into. But, you know, when people are saying, Oh, we're gonna get, we're gonna get rid of, you know, checks, and also cash. That's something that you'd have to think long and hard about, there's a lot more to that than what you realize and the people that are going to be impacted by that. So just something to think about. As we go forward, I do think it'll become less and less. But, you know, we have to be careful, because you can end up hurting people that you don't want to hurt.

Nick VinZant 38:20

This is the last last question that we got. Okay. What is your words? Two questions, actually. So this is this is a completely safe space, there is no, there's no judgment of any of the theories. What is your absolute boldest prediction for the future? Like if you're at your futurist buddies, you couldn't even say it to them? They would be like, what? That's ridiculous. What would you say is your boldest prediction for the future, your safest prediction for the future?

Andrew Busch 38:52

Well, there's two different things. Usually, I do try to let the data tell me where things are going.

I would say because of the movement into electric vehicles, and the demand that that's going to generate for the grid, we have to generate a massive amount of power. And so I'm not like I'm not in the camp that we're going to need fossil fuels forever. I'm in the camp that we need power for everything for, for we need so much power, it's hard to comprehend right now. So my boldest prediction is this is that we're going to run into some severe problems. If we get as many people as we think we do. If we get up to 50% EVs, we got a massive problem in a short period of time, because we can't generate the amount of power for the grid. So I would say my boldest prediction is we got a big power problem that we got to solve fast. And that leads me to believe, of course that we will solve it. So I'm like, That's my big thing is like, I think we're going to transition faster off of greenhouse gas. Fossil fuels, I should say, and reduce down the amount of greenhouse gas emissions, I think it's going to happen faster because we have to do it, we don't have enough energy right now. And so there's positive things that are moving forward as far as that goes, but that, to me, is going to happen in a shorter period of time, that will move more rapidly. Because we need to, because we have to ignore the choice about it. And then positive things will come out of reduction of volatility, eventually, from climate change, because of that. So that's my boldest prediction. It sounds kind of like, whatever everybody talks about alternative fuels and stuff like that. But to me, it's like, yes, there's a reason why we're talking about it. Because like, this is really cool. There's so many things that are happening, there's so many people that are want to buy electric vehicles, all you have to do is look at the top 10 automakers out there and see where they're shifting their production to. And places like California saying, you know, by 2035, there's no ice engines, or I think it's 2030. There's no internal combustion engines that can be sold in the state of New cars. So there's an acceleration coming on that front, that's going to be challenging. But again, that's why I say this transition is going to happen a lot faster than most people realize.

Nick VinZant 41:33

Yeah, that's definitely one of those things. We're like, Alright, let's do this. Oh, shit. Oh, yeah. It's always the thing you don't see. Right, right. It's like always like, oh, yeah, we need to do. And I think that's about that part. For me, that's

Andrew Busch 41:53

the fun part is getting people to think like that, and go, Hey, you know, these rare earths that we have right now, in the batteries, you know, we need lithium, we need cobalt. That's not going to get us there. We need a different type of battery, we need a different type of storage system for electricity. We'll get there. I don't know what it will be, you know, what, could we use hydrogen? Yeah, sure. I mean, that's another power source, for sure. But can we get a lot more efficient at those kinds of things? So it's, it's, it's like, it's like seeing where we're going, and then going, and then backing it up going? What do we need to get there? Like, what has to change to really get these changes going forward, like the you know, to, to really enact that trend, and get that outcome that we want? Oh, batteries are one part of it? You know, cars are another part of it, you know, what else can we do? Where else can we solve this problem? So that's, that's really the fun part. When when you're looking at these bigger trends,

Nick VinZant 42:58

we do have we are resilient. You know, I would say that about humanity, like we do tend to, we take bad steps, right? Oh, yeah, tend to kind of move in generally in the right direction.

Andrew Busch 43:15

It is, we're resilient, I think is the best way of putting it. Human beings throughout history have have been that way. It's how we've survived. It's truly a miracle that we're still alive, kicking it to this day that we were wiped out by something. But our immune systems are amazing. Adaptation. Our big brains are very helpful. opposable thumbs are really helpful. Those are all adaptations over time. But yeah, I think that's, and that's what I would hope for, for millennials is a look out into the world and see things that are bad, you kinda have to step back and go. Yeah, but what was it like, you know, 50 years ago, without a polio vaccine, or 70 years ago, without a polio vaccine? You know, that that was life changing for so many people. So that's the thing, you know, context is king, you know, where have you been? To understand where you are to see where you're going? And I think that's really helpful. I know, there's a lot of bad things, but I think, you know, and they've happened at some frequency, but yeah, like your line, you know, we're resilient. I like that. That's great.


Beatboxing Champion Pono Akiona

Pono Akina is one of the best beatboxers in the world. He creates unique sounds and songs with nothing but his voice. We talk beatboxing, winning the American Beatboxing Championships, the hardest sounds to make and taking beatboxing mainstream. Then, we countdown a special “Christmas Movie” Top 5.

Pono Akiona: 01:46

Pointless: 33:19

Top 5: 57:48

Sponsor: Go to BetterHelp.com/POINTLESS for 10% off your first month of therapy

nickvinzant@gmail.com (Show Email)

https://youtube.com/@ponobeatbox (Pono Akiona YouTube)

https://www.instagram.com/ponobeatbox (Pono Akiona Instagram)

Pono Akiona Interview: Beatboxing Champion

Nick VinZant 0:11

Welcome to Profoundly Pointless. My name is Nick VinZant Coming up in this episode beatboxing and bad Christmas movies.

Pono Akiona 0:21

It's like saying the letter K, like, you kind of say in Word

you know, it is a battle. So it kind of has that, that more aggressive, kind of head to head mentality where you can kind of call them out, you're like, Hey, bro, like, you know, that's cool, but you keep spamming the same thing, you know, like you're doing anything, and people can't see in the calendar standard, right? Don't let that discourage you, especially if you can see, you know, the light at the end of the tunnel, you can understand and grasp for yourself, you should should do for you. I want to thank you so much for joining us. If you get a chance to subscribe, leave us a rating or review. We really appreciate it. It really helps us out. If you're a new listener, welcome to the show. If you're a longtime listener, thank you so much for all of your support. So our first guest is one of the best beat boxers in the world. And I think the best way to introduce him is just to let you hear it

Nick VinZant 1:41

this is beatboxing champion, porno. Aki, ona I have an idea of what beatboxing is. But how do you define beatboxing? What do you consider it to be? More

Pono Akiona 1:53

or less? It's creating musical tracks with different body parts mostly like your mouth or your nose, your throat? Your tongue? Like that general region?

Nick VinZant 2:05

How did you get into this?

Pono Akiona 2:07

In 2016, I started beat boxing because I saw a video of another beat boxers name was zealous. And for some reason, that was the one that that stuck with me. Because before that, I've seen a couple of other beatbox videos. But for some reason, hearing him I really thought like wow, like, I really want to try that. I really think I could, I could do that. And from there, I remember just trying to do like the fundamental sounds. And I picked those up really quick. Like I could just do them like after hearing them. I could do the fundamentals. Those okay, maybe there's something here. And then from there, you know, I just practiced every day and I went down this rabbit hole and then it was stuck, then I could never get

Nick VinZant 2:56

no was other music like that for you? Or was it just this specifically?

Pono Akiona 3:02

Mainly this one. Before that I had some musical experience, but nothing, nothing really, you know, scratch that itch for me like, like beatboxing this.

Nick VinZant 3:14

So what kind of defines it as being music versus noise?

Pono Akiona 3:20

I would say what makes it music is the fact that you can turn into like an entire, like, a piece, you know, it's a whole track. There's like, There's rhythm to it. There's a flow there's, it's a whole it's structured, like a song. And then there's there's certain meat boxes that have even made careers out of it, where they perform for a living.

Nick VinZant 3:43

When you mentioned before, like the basic sounds, what are some of the like, the basic sounds? Could you give us examples of of those.

Pono Akiona 3:51

So the basic or fundamental sounds are your typical drum kit. So you've got like, the kick drum, right? Or the hi hat, or like a snare. So like if you put them together, just simply it's something like that.

Nick VinZant 4:18

I'm fucking shocked. I can't believe that sound comes out of your mouth. And that's a compliment, right? Like, that was so clean and clear and sounded like the instrument that you were imitating that my mouth just dropped was like holy, how the hell do you do that?

Pono Akiona 4:36

Well, for one, lots of lots of work. I practice you know, every day pretty much. But to give a quick breakdown of the those simpler sounds for your kick. You just want to It's like saying the letter B so B, B and then you push really hard with your lips. So instead of B pull out pressure Pee Pee, pee and then remove your vocals from it. So not the kick, and then your hi hat similar with the letter T. So T T

and then the last one would be the hardest one is your snare. So, for the K snare, it's like saying the letter K, like, you kind of say in Word your fundamental sounds

Nick VinZant 5:42

okay. Is it that hard to learn how to do it? Or is it maybe just me that like I have, I have no musical talent? So to me, you might as well be inventing a rocket ship, right? Like AI? Is it that hard to do? Or is it just like, man, you got it, or you kind of don't?

Pono Akiona 6:03

I think anybody can learn those. Those sounds, it might take a lot of work. Because for some people, you know, it clicks more than others, like, just like anything else, right? Words. For some people, they just, they, they, their brain understands it easier, and they're able to pick up pick it up quicker. But I believe those those beginning sounds are sounds that everybody is like physically capable of doing. Like you can, you can eventually do it with enough practice. Um, there are certain sounds that I feel like, like, you know, there's just like, some only don't like only, like, randomly just some people can just do it. And some people can't, because like, only a small number of people in the community know how to do those sounds, but I think more or less people can anybody can learn.

Nick VinZant 6:59

You can figure it out, right? Like, if you did it enough, you're eventually going to be able to do it. Is it generally kind of harder to figure out how to make the sound? Or is it harder to figure out how to Alright, make this into a musical flow?

Pono Akiona 7:15

I feel like that's, it really depends. Because some sounds will be really difficult for me to, to figure out and understand, like, to wrap my brain around it, you know, it's like, why can't I do this one specific sound, but then sometimes I'll get a sound and it's like, really, really difficult for me to do. So if it's really hard to do, it's hard to put it together into like a beat. Right? So it's, it kind of varies, but I think once you get the sound, and you just practice it enough more often you can, you can put it into a beat. But that's not always the case. You know, there's, I still have some songs that I'm not comfortable yet using in a beat because I don't feel like it's a it's a certain quality for me to put in a beat.

Nick VinZant 8:05

You mentioned before like making a sound with your nose. I don't even know how to do that. Like, what's the sound that you would make with your no

Pono Akiona 8:13

one that you would, uh, I Okay, actually, maybe, maybe, not all of them, like, are generated from your nose, but but it'll like it'll come through your nose. Like, you know, for example, like coming home. Let's just come for you notice without your mouth, right?

Nick VinZant 8:31

I never even thought about it as becoming through through my nose. I was I was coming through my mouth. I guess it is

Pono Akiona 8:40

passing through your nose very, but even even though um, it's your voice, right? So it starts. So, there's a few sounds that are like that. And then there's actually a couple of sounds that are like, through your nose. Like, you know, like, you know, when you snore, some people use that sound and a beat like, you know, like, I don't I don't really use that sound. But that's, that's a sound that people use. That comes from your nose.

Nick VinZant 9:06

There's definitely a ton of sounds that you can make, but I wouldn't say that. A lot of them are necessarily like musical or good sound like I make this weird sound with my throat itching the back of my throat and pretty much everybody who knows me in real life hates it. But like I wouldn't say that's a musical sound. Are there ones where you're like, Oh, that's a new sound like Oh, that's terrible. I can't use that at all.

Pono Akiona 9:32

Yeah, definitely. There's there's times where I'm like wow, that like it's more so like a joke you know, when I did it, I'm like, wow, that's not good. But it's kind of funny. Um, but for the most part if you like, there are a lot of sounds that are at the surface you might not think much of or might not think there's a lot of potential for but if you explored enough because sometimes you can, we can layer sounds together you can You know, combine it with the sound, the sound or, or do a, a combo of like, going from one sound to another sound. And sometimes they work better when they're when they're, you know, paired with something else or layered on something else.

Nick VinZant 10:15

So like when you got started doing this, right, like, obviously, it's cool. It's impressive. It's unique. Were you ever kind of discouraged? Because I can hear like my grandpa and my like, hey, that's really cool, Nick, maybe play guitar? Right? Was Is there ever that kind of stigma around it?

Pono Akiona 10:33

You know, for me, that wasn't something super huge. I remember, maybe started hearing that maybe not directly, but people were on when people heard about this or, you know, saw me doing it, they might have thought, or they vocally said like, wow, that's, that's kind of dumb. It's kind of silly or whatever, right? But I never had anyone directly like telling me like, you should stop. You should not do this anymore. Like something like that, right? Like that. That never really happened in my when, when I was first starting out. My parents and my family been really supportive. Because, you know, at first, I'm sure they were just like, kinda like, metaphor, like, you know, it's a kind of, it's a party trick or something, right? It's a lot of people think of me in the beginning, but what you can really do with this, and what you can really explore is a there's a lot, there's a lot to it, you know, there's the rabbit hole is very deep, and you can do a ton of things. And people just often seem to not not see that. And they just barely scratched the surface of what can be done in the public. A point of view, so if there, anyone out there, you know, you're doing anything, and people can't see in the calendar standard, right? Don't let that discourage you, especially if you can see, you know, the light at the end of the tunnel, you can you can understand it and grasp for yourself, you know, you should do it for you.

Nick VinZant 12:06

We had an Ice Climber on here one time, and he said something that always stuck with me in that regard. He was like, everybody's stupid. Everybody's crazy. Until they're not. And it's all a matter of when is it not? Right? Um, so How popular is this? Right? Like, is it going up in popularity? Is it down? Is it about the same? What would you say it is?

Pono Akiona 12:28

I think it's definitely growing. Maybe not as fast of a rate as it was a couple years ago, even. But it's it's definitely growing. And at least the interest of it not maybe not one like, like the community of the boxers. But definitely the people that support the boxing I think is getting a lot bigger, because a lot of the competitions are going viral. And a lot of posts on like Tik Tok or Instagram have viral videos of boxers, people that I know, people that I consider friends even, are blown up. And I think that's awesome, because it's getting some representation of what you know, actually is beat boxing, you know, like, yeah, one of the best crews. So like, it's four people make up this beat box crew. They did, America's Got Talent. And I think they're, like one of the top five most viewed videos on on America's Got Talent channel. And they're real beatboxes they're all like, really well respected within the community as well. So they're really like, showing what, you know, what we are really capable of, you know, instead of just, you know, putting lives whenever it's depicted, like a TV show, or like, you know, a movie or something. It's just like, kind of like, a kind of a joke, right? It's not really ever taken, like too serious.

Nick VinZant 14:01

Can it move past? I'll just say like, sick, you know, the 62nd mentality, right? We're like, Oh, that's really cool. Can I listen to a whole album of this? Do you think it can do that? Or is it kind of arts? It is what it is?

Pono Akiona 14:17

I personally do. I think it definitely can, there's, there's a lot of variety in what you can actually do with it. Because like I said, people just, you know, have been given that chance to see that, but I know, um, I know multiple people who've released albums have just beat boxing, and they've done pretty decent for themselves. And there's also certain people that that also, you know, incorporate the boxing sounds into like produced songs, you know, so that they'll sample like, a sound from beatboxing and things like that.

Nick VinZant 14:55

So correct me here, right fill in the resume. Yeah, you just won the American championships.

Pono Akiona 15:00

Yeah, the 2022 American beatbox championship. And the title specifically was for solos for the solo category. So it's just like one one versus one

Nick VinZant 15:12

array like, okay, in a competition. What are you being judged on? Like, how does that whole process work?

Pono Akiona 15:19

The first stage is the video submissions. So everybody records a two minute video, or no, one minute 30 video, and they selected the best 32 competitors to perform live, and the live competition took place in in Atlantic City. So the judges pick their top 32. And from that top 32, everybody, they all performed live. And then then from there, they they chose to top 16 to move on to the battles. The way the battles work, is they're bracketed off. So one versus 16, two versus 15. And so on.

Nick VinZant 16:01

Yeah, like a sports tournament, basically. Yeah. Yeah.

Pono Akiona 16:03

Right. And then, from there, both, you know, both, both the boxers have 2/92 rounds, and they go back and forth, each twice. So like, let's say, you know, you mean, we're battling, they flip a coin, one of us use heads or tails. Alright, you know, it's lands on heads, and I cheese, you know, to go first I go, you go, and I would go, and then you go, and then that's it, that's time to look to the judges, the judges will make their decision, you know, the vote either one way or another. Whoever has more votes goes on, that process is repeated until the final and then the final once they declare a winner. But the things they're specifically judging, there's really a lot to take into consideration. But it's like your originality, your cleanliness, how well structured it is, how cohesive how coherent everything is, like put together to make like a full like, track versus like, if it's like, a segmented and stuff doesn't really like, flow together and work together. And then there's like, objective thing. So is your timing. Good? You know, are you keeping up in time? You know, are you out of key? Things like that?

Nick VinZant 17:18

Are you playing the competition or playing the man so to speak, right? Like, are you going to do your thing? Or like, Oh, my opponent went all hi hat, I better go snare? Like, how do you approach it?

Pono Akiona 17:29

That's interesting that you bring that up? It sort of both, because for one. A lot of people including myself, they'll come to the competition prepared with set routines and set for like, sets, right? So like, the you have your songs ready. So because because that gives you the best chance of, of like performing your best, right? Because if you go and you freestyle, it's kind of a gamble, right? Like he could like, fall off, or you could, you know, just read be really like on it right there in the moment. So it's kind of up in the air. So having a set like, you know, a set you're more it's more like, solidified, you know, you've refined this over like months even. And, Bob, what you're saying, like, you know, if they do something, does that impact what you do? Sometimes it does, because you can, either, you'll, I'll pick my sets. Specifically, like who I'm going against, because, you know, that that does play a play a factor in, you know, you know, if you win or not sometimes, but in addition to that, some people also like to counter, which is when you do their beat, or sometimes you can counter like their style. And it's just basically showing, like, you know, oh, yeah, it's easy. Like, I can do it. Right. But sometimes people will do that, just to like, shut them down, especially if it's like something that they like, it's like, they're really big highlight moments, like, Oh, look at this, it's so crazy. And you're just like, I can do to like, so what you know, so it's sometimes it's some people do that sort of thing. And then there's also some, like, kind of trash talk that goes into to, you know, nothing too insane. But, you know, it is a battle. So it kind of has that, that more aggressive, kind of head to head mentality where you can kind of call them out, you're like, Hey, bro, like, you know, that's cool, but you keep spamming the same thing. You know, like, it's kind of like just calling them out on like, whatever their you know, whatever you're doing. That's, you know, what, yeah, yeah, just calling them out. Really?

Nick VinZant 19:44

That's just kind of part of the culture. Right? It's back and forth.

Pono Akiona 19:47

Yeah. Because you're going back and forth. You know, they're doing their rounds, and then you're gonna do your rounds. So you only have two rounds, so you really got to make it make it count.

Nick VinZant 19:56

Okay, but you're the American champ. Where does that kind of place in the world though, right is like is is united. You and I are both based in the States. United States like oh man, the American champ is probably better than everybody or like the Americans don't worry about them. I don't

Pono Akiona 20:12

have to be like humble about this. But I feel like in the in the comparing country to country like America's at least number two, he could make an argument for number one, but the three heaviest hitters are probably France, which is probably surprising, right? But you don't think France? France is very, like, really good. France. Us. And then a third one is kind of a debate for but I think it's South Korea. South Korea is really good.

Nick VinZant 20:47

Are you ready for some harder slash listener submitted questions? Yeah, what's the hardest sound to make easiest sound to make?

Pono Akiona 20:59

Artists now, let's see if I can do right now. That one's pretty hard. Cuz sometimes doesn't doesn't land to like that easy song to make? Hi Hat.

Nick VinZant 21:12

Are you always working on new ones like, Man, I got this new sound.

Pono Akiona 21:17

I'm not always because you kind of develop a kit that you're comfortable with. And then you you just go really deep into what you can do with those sounds, you know, instead of learning different sounds all the time, you're staying at, like the surface, right? It's like, if you're growing like, you know, if your roots, it's like going out versus if it's going down, right? If you just rooted in like your style?

Nick VinZant 21:41

Is it harder to to conceptualize it, right? Like how many sounds will you go through and be like, that's not it harder to come up with it are harder to do it, I guess,

Pono Akiona 21:50

probably harder to do, because I'm sorry, harder to come up with it. Because coming up with sounds is not something that's like, you know, you don't make them alive, so to speak, you don't like put on your hand. I want to make any sound right. But it's more like you accidentally kind of stumble into it or find it. You know, it's like, well, natural, or you'll hear somebody else do a sound. And you're like, Okay, that's, you know, now that's brought into the game. Right? And that's like, Okay, some people are gonna learn it, some people are not gonna learn

Nick VinZant 22:19

it is do you have a signature sound? Yeah.

Pono Akiona 22:23

It was probably the one I did earlier. Like, yeah, probably that one.

Nick VinZant 22:31

Is it? Is it an open secret? Or is it very secretive? Like how how you make those sounds?

Pono Akiona 22:38

I mean, I could tell you, but I don't know, if you didn't really understand everything. But I could, I could

Nick VinZant 22:42

like to hear the explanation just to see how much I don't understand it almost.

Pono Akiona 22:47

So the first sound, it's a it's a combination of, like, 333 layers, basically. So the first sound underneath, all of it is inward base, which is a base created by breathing in, that's why it's called an ER B. So it's like, you know, ah, ah, that's the, that's the sound. So it's like, kind of like, you breathing in and you kind of getting this this sort of, you know, vibration in your throat. But that's the first answer. Yeah. And then on top of that, it's vocalized. So, you know, if you went, you know, if you just home, right? If you do that, like inward so. So, that on top of it, so. And then on top of that, there's another sound called siren. So if you put your mouth and like kind of a V shaped like you're about to say the letter V

and then so that, again, is you're also layered on top of all those so ah yeah, that would be that sound as the name really,

Nick VinZant 24:20

but you might as well be sneaky speaking, like clinging on to me. Right? Like, breathe in, like, how to make a sound. Besides just being like, out of breath. But were you like it that were you like that at the beginning?

Pono Akiona 24:35

For me? A lot of this stuff was really like, intuitive. Like, I'm not sure. Yeah, I mean, I remember the first sound. I was like, really stumbled on was, was the sound that a guy who inspired me it was zealous he's to use it like that was like one of his main sounds and how's he doing that? Man? I remember sitting down watching the his like tutorial on it and I I got it pretty quick. So I don't know, for me, a lot of these sounds just, I'm really able to just pick it up pretty pretty quick.

Nick VinZant 25:09

Yeah, you get it or you don't, right. Like, I think you and I could sit here for hours and I'd still just be like, Okay, I can make that set. I can Whistle. Whistle, I can do that. Um, who's and if it's you, man say it's you, who's kind of the Michael Jordan LeBron James, of beat boxing.

Pono Akiona 25:31

It's, it's not me. But that's tough. And I remember actually, I was watching, I was watching a another segment that you did, where you asked that. And it was defined answer. But for beatboxing it's really tough because I don't feel like there's anybody who's had that legacy or had that, like, it's too young. You know what I mean?

Nick VinZant 26:01

Well, yeah, that makes sense, right?

Pono Akiona 26:03

It's really young words. Like, there's a lot of really, really, there's a lot of people like kind of contending that spot, but there's no one who's just like, just just has it right. There's no one that's like, like, you know, that's, like, ascended ahead of like everybody else, and they're just like, This guy's like, go for sure. Like, set in stone.

Nick VinZant 26:21

Now, can anyone make this their full time living?

Pono Akiona 26:25

Um, I think it's really difficult. Because I feel like in terms of like, the mainstream in terms of like, how, how much recognition beatboxing gets. It's, it's tough. I mean, it can be done. I know certain people who who've done it. But, and certain people we're trying, we're trying to do it currently. But it's, it's really tough. You know, like, like, I'm not trying to, like, I don't want I'm not trying to brag, right, ya know, like, like, I won the American Championship, like, you know, I want the title of like, you know, ranked number one in the US and, um, you know, I'm still not doing it. So, you know, I feel like that, that kind of speaks to something, you know,

Nick VinZant 27:15

now, will, I'll say, like, established artists, or in, you know, genres of music, will they ever contact beatboxers and be like, hey, I need you to come lay down this sound for me? Like, is it ever in the kind of music that I would hear on the Spotify top 40 or whatever?

Pono Akiona 27:33

Sometimes, sometimes, I can't remember the artists name. But I remember somebody pretty big reached out to somebody that I knew. And he did, like a he did a beat for one of their songs, but I can't remember off the top of my head. His name, but yeah, they're I mean, I think it's, it's getting there more so was maybe not the top 40. But like, you know, that certain certain certain songs that you might not expect it from for sure. We'll have it but I don't think it's there yet. I think the just the general recognition from like, you know, the media and like, the, just the public. Isn't isn't fully there yet. Because there aren't a ton of B boxes that are just, like, just performing just just be boxing, like all the time and aren't like, you know, touring, but I think it will be for sure. I think it's growing pretty rapidly. So, by the time you know, I'd say like, 10 years. Five, five to like, 10. Maybe

Nick VinZant 28:40

take this is gonna date me a little bit. Right, but I don't know if you've ever seen the guy from like, police academy. Can you Oh, yeah. Can you like mimic other sounds? Or is it mainly just around beatboxing? Right, like, you hear a car alarm and you can we can figure out how to do it or something like that.

Pono Akiona 29:00

Sort of, because I can do certain sounds that sound like other things. But they're not. Not like, with the, I can't just pick up like a you know, if you do a random sign, I can't really just, I can't I mean, I could try to like figure it out. But I could just like, you know, just like that just like, oh, I can I can do it. Right. But there's certain sounds that like, for example, this is this one that I used, like, in beats actually, but it's like, it sounds like like a bird. Like Oh. Kinda sounds like a, like a chick or something.

Nick VinZant 29:36

Yeah, it does sound like a bird. It's

Pono Akiona 29:39

but yeah, I mean, just a couple songs like that. Um, yeah. So as you know, you know, or as I stated, I don't know. I think off air, right? Yes. But that's where I was from. And I'm from boy, right. And for me, that's a really big thing that I'm super proud of, you know, because I'm also a toyon so it's something that, you know, there's not a lot of representation on top of that, right? It's like, even less like, you know, of like the Hawaiian representation, but also the Hawaiian, be boxers and be boxes from void. So for me, it's, it's really important to just like, at a state it and like represent that, you know, that's where I'm from, because I want to inspire more of the community here to, you know, get into so if there's anybody listening out there, and you're from, you know, in the front there from here, feel free to contact me, I would love to get in contact. Because I'm all about growing the scene here. I organize the state championship, and put that all together and yeah, just wanted to briefly mention that,

Nick VinZant 30:50

you know, you mentioned about forming, trying to, you know, forming a community and getting community in Hawaii going, is there a place in the United States where like, that's, that is the hub of beatboxing?

Pono Akiona 31:02

Yeah, actually, it's the East Coast. The east coast is really like, where it's at. There's they have competitions out there, like super regularly, there's just the sheer amount of people is just, there's a, there's a lot of people like, that's, that's really that's where it's at. A lot of so if you're on the East Coast, and you're beatboxer is a ton. There's a ton of you have access to a lot of things. But as far as competing, I'm not fully sure yet. I might do the World Championship. We'll see. I don't know yet.

Olympic Bobsled Pilot Christopher Spring

Racing down the track at nearly 100mph, Bobsled Olympian Christopher Spring knows that the difference between winning and crashing is measured in fractions. We talk piloting a bobsled/bobsleigh, being a 4x Olympian and sitting really close together. Then, we unveil a new Candle of the Month and countdown the Top 5 Winter Sports Movies.

Christopher Spring: 01:38

Pointless: 46:42

Top 5: 01:12:36

Sponsor: Go to BetterHelp.com/POINTLESS for 10% off your first month of therapy

nickvinzant@gmail.com (Show Email)

https://www.instagram.com/spring.chris (Chris Spring Instagram)

https://twitter.com/spring_chris_ (Chris Spring Twitter)

Christopher Spring: Olympic Bobsled Pilot Interview

Nick VinZant 0:12

Welcome to Profoundly Pointless. My name is Nick VinZant Coming up in this episode, bobsledding and winter movies.

Christopher Spring 0:21

This sleeds are very difficult to drive. They're finicky they, they have like personality you have to. And you're not so much driving this slide like you would drive a car, you're just trying to guide the sled down the track. But if you miss guide it, you'll end up on your head. The secret is more about timing, not so much on how much you're steering, you got to hold on and you can tell the difficulty of a track by how much noise is in the the warm up hot.

Nick VinZant 0:57

I want to thank you so much for joining us. If you get a chance, subscribe, leave us a rating or review, we really appreciate it really helps us out. If you're a new listener, welcome to the show. If you're a longtime listener, thank you so much for all of your support. So our first guest is a four time Olympian in one of the fastest and most dangerous sports out there. It's a sport, where the difference between crashing and winning is just a fraction of an image. This is Olympian bobsledder, or Bob slay Christopher spring, how does this compare in real life? To what I see on TV? Is it anything like that? Or is the track just wildly different and faster?

Christopher Spring 1:47

I don't think TV gives it any justice, to be honest. And they're really trying these days with, like G force monitors and accelerometers inside of this slide to give the audience like some sort of feedback so that they're like, oh, like, That's how fast they're going, Oh, that's how much G force they're producing. But you know, when you watch sleds go down the track, especially like, most people just watch our sport at the Olympic Games. They'll see the slide look exactly, you know, one sled to the next, it all looks pretty similar. But the truth is, when you're when you're learning or when you go to a new track, and you don't know how to drive it. It's crazy man, people are, people are crashing, and the rounds are just not that smooth. And it takes years and years and years of experience to like get to that point where it's just like, where, where the public look at it. And they're like, well, I could do that.

Nick VinZant 2:45

It definitely like right to me looking at it from the outside. I'm like, All right. So it's four dudes, they start running, they jump in the sled and they just go down the track,

Christopher Spring 2:55

this was a very difficult to drive. That's just the easiest way to put it there. They're finicky, they, they have like a personality you have to and you know, so much driving this slide, like you would drive a car, you're just trying to guide the sled down the track, but if you miss guide it, you'll end up on your head, and it can hurt. And so I think that I think that most people, you know, they see they see the sled, you know, not making many errors, a couple of taps here, maybe a skid there. But for the most part, it looks quite easy, but But what we're actually doing in there's just these finite movements the whole way down the track to obtain that perfect block. How do you even get

Nick VinZant 3:43

to your level in the sense that it seems like something that like, you don't do it, unless you're really good at it? Like it doesn't seem like something that would be very conducive to like, alright, it's my first time and then you crash and you crash and you crash like how it doesn't seem like there's a beginner stage,

Christopher Spring 4:02

the beginner stage is wild. And excuse me, it's it's one of the few sports that actually get safer, the better you get because I look at sports like you know like your traditional sports especially here in cow like hockey or football. And when you start off playing those sports, you know, you got lots of pads on you. It's very slow the game is slowed down a lot for you. You started at a very young age, there's lots of coaches and reps on the on the field or on the ice or whatever helping you pass and all this kind of stuff, right? And the the the better you get at it the more your skills develop and in my eyes the safer the sport gets in in bossley There's no way to slow the sled down that much. And sort of when you're when you're starting to learn how to drive you. You we give you some theory or you know when I first learned Next, you know, I walked down the track with a coach, I try and memorize which way that the curves go. That way I don't get lost down the track. And then I'm trying to memorize what steers I need to do in each corner. Because the way I drive now is very based off feeling feeling of pressure in my body, the feeling of what this lead is doing. But when you're first learning, you don't have that feeling in your body. So you're just steering based on on a program that someone gives you come in at about this point in the track, you steer the slide here, you release that steer, you come around, you steer here and where you go. And so it's it's very rudimentary or very mechanical way of learning how to drive. But it really is the only way to learn until you get that feeling. And when you first start, you're just, you're just hoping that what you're learning, you're actually applying that to the track. And most times, those those first couple years, people are crashing a lot. And it hurts. And it's hard to find people to jump in the back because they're like, Oh, screw that I want to get in with the bad like, I saw what happened last time. And so yeah, it's a really difficult sport to develop in, until you get to a point where you're ready, good. And then people actually want to, to race with you and be competitive with you. That's that learning curve, it's very difficult. And we see a lot of athletes come into the sport. But it's really difficult for athletes to stay in the sport.

Nick VinZant 6:36

That makes a lot of sense, right? It's not like you can there's no bunny slopes or practice runs, it's like, right, you just gotta go,

Christopher Spring 6:44

we can start a little further down the track each each bobsled track around the world has these kind of junior stops that you can start at where you can put the sled in at like let's say, instead of instead of starting at, at the very first corner, you start down at corner four, or corner six or something like that. And then you can yield a slight goes a little bit slower and you don't get the full track. But then you graduate up the track to the top and you know where you go. But it's, it's still a very difficult sport to learn. Because it's so hard to you know, I talk to people, I've done a little coaching in my, in my career and I, you know, tell people about like when you feel the pressure in your hand. And they're like, they're looking at me, like I'm speaking a different language like, What do you mean, feel this pressure in my hand? I can't feel anything.

Nick VinZant 7:36

So when we talk about like driving a bobsled, I don't actually know what that means. Like, I have no idea what you're doing for all I know, like you're putting your hands on the ice and just like pushing it like I don't know what that actually means. Driving like, what do you how do you drive it, I have no idea.

Christopher Spring 7:56

So inside the slide, like at the very front, that's where I sit in a way I can see what's going on. I have they used to have a steering wheel actually back in the day. Yeah, just this little tiny steering wheel just like in a car, maybe people were driving down the sled like this. But they found that that, you know, if you turn left with the steering wheel, and then you needed to turn right, this takes a lot of time to like go from turning left attending right and some of the steers we have to do a very, very quick. And so they graduated from a steering wheel to two handles just like this. And basically these handles are connected to the front axle of the sled. And if you pull right, the front, runner blades will turn to the right. And if you pull left they they turn to the left and and then we can be a lot quicker on our steers to go from right to left because they're independent of each other. And we don't have to turn a wheel this way or that way. Right. And there's also some, some bungees in there that will help return the sled back return the steering back to neutral we call it or or the starting point that way we always are returning it back to go straight down the track. But we're not really like cranking stairs so much like you would in a car. If you think like we're going quite fast, right? So if you're if you're driving down the highway 120 kilometers an hour 100 or snob tracks 150 kilometers out, which is over 90 miles an hour. If you're driving down the highway at those speeds, you're not going to be you know, making some severe turns right. So it's all very kind of soft and smooth turns that we're making and the secret is more about timing, not so much on how much you're staring at But on the like the point in which you're staring in the track. And so timing is very important, more so than the amount that you're stealing,

Nick VinZant 10:08

are you anticipating the turns kind of like, okay, I need to go a little bit this way, a little bit that way.

Christopher Spring 10:15

Like I have a perfect run and every every ball sidetrack in the world have a perfect round laid out in my mind. I don't know if anyone has ever done the perfect, perfect round, ever, in a bobsled, they might think that they have. But there's always something where you could have been like, hi, you know, if I was like two more inches this way, and this corner, a little bit higher in this corner. And so what we're actually trying to do down the track is, is execute this perfect run. But the reality is, we're, we're just making corrections all the way down the track. So I'll come out of let's say, I'm here in Whistler right now. And it's the fastest track in the world. And if I come out of corner one, ideally, I want to be on the middle right hand side, going into corner to that maybe I'm like, you know, a few inches to the left. And the speed that corner two's coming out, you can't just change that in between, in between the two corners. So that's what I that's what I've given myself. And so I'm just going to make a slight correction in the entrance of two, because there was going to be a little bit more pressure, because my, my entry into the corner isn't as ideal, and hopefully I'll get back on track. But if I don't, it's no big deal, because I'm only just a little bit off. And so when I exit to maybe, you know, I ideally would like to be early into three with a sled angle pointed up into the curve, but maybe I'm a bit more parallel, so then I have to just fix it a little bit. And that's all we're doing the whole way down the track is we're looking ahead at what we've given ourselves from the last corner, and what we have to achieve in the next corner and trying to adjust as we go. And basically, it's what you're hoping for is that you don't have to adjust too much. Because every time you're steering you're, you're creating friction in the sled and slowing down the acceleration. And so the less we steer, the faster we'll go.

Nick VinZant 12:27

Just for kind of my understanding, right? Like if you didn't steer it at all, is this thing just like bouncing off the sides the whole way down?

Christopher Spring 12:34

Yeah, it's like it's sliding off of corn. It's hitting the roof. It's it's bang in the if you're skidding you're banging walls, you're gonna end up on your head, somewhere down

Nick VinZant 12:47

the track. Seems like it would really hurt.

Christopher Spring 12:51

You're not It's not allowed to when it when you crash. It's loud. And

Nick VinZant 12:59

what are you doing you crash you just like, Fuck, yeah, you hide? Hope the guy in front of you or behind you is taller, I guess.

Christopher Spring 13:08

Yeah, basically, informatics it's very difficult to hide because there's, like, if you ever get the chance to look inside a bobsled, there's not a whole lot of room. And there's some cool pictures that you can see on the internet, from, you know, Olympics or World championship races of water format slide looks like with the athletes in it from above. And it's like what crammed in there, it's just like, it's small, and there's no room. And so, you know, when I'm when I'm driving down the track, I've got my teammate behind me. And he's kind of squished up you know, behind me here and then I've got the cowling in front of me. And so if we crash, I'm just like, you know, the best I can do is go from from here to to here. And then it's not very much you know, my head is gonna get that it's gonna get hit a couple times and my shoulders gonna get get burnt maybe a little bit because there's quite a lot of friction on the on the ice and people get can get severe burns to their skin to the point where I've I know people that have had to get skin grafts from other parts of that body because that because that burnt the skin off of their, of their shoulders.

Nick VinZant 14:23

But then if you crash right as the pilot did the other three guys are they just like Way to go, man. Because it's basically what's, how does that conversation in the bobsled go after? Because it's basically it's not like the guy in the back is the reason that you crash. Like how does that conversation go?

Christopher Spring 14:40

Yeah, it's tough. It's, it's like hey, sorry, sorry, guys. But that was my mistake. You know what I mean? Like and typically, you know, at the at the level that we're at, you know, at a Olympic or world level. You're there because you you trust in your pilot you believe in, in the team and that ability of the team to win medals and, you know, shit happens, right? And sometimes you crash it's the better you get the the less you're crashing you know in the last 10 years I think I've had five crashes maybe. And so it doesn't happen very often the better you get. And you know when it when it does happen, you know, I buy the guys some beers later that week to say sorry, and but they're but they're also very trusting in me as well and they're ready to get back in the sled and encouraging me and being like, Hey, man, it was, you know, don't worry about it. You're a great driver, you've you've driven this track well, before we've won medals here, let's, let's get out there on the race and let's, you know, let's do our thing. And, and most of the time, you know, crashes are just the kind of just sneak up on you.

Nick VinZant 15:55

So how did you get started, right, like bobsled doesn't seem to be necessarily the kind of, unless you're kind of born into it like a family tradition. Like, it doesn't seem like the sport you're like, you know what? bobsledding?

Christopher Spring 16:08

Oh, yeah, 100%. And you know what, most people, I would say that, again, the 95% of people in the world aren't even thinking about bobsled at the time that they're 20 years old. They even they might not even know what a bobsled is. And yet they become Olympic and world champion some of these people. It's, it's pretty cool how the transitions happen. So for me, actually, so I was born in Australia as well. I have like kind of a weird one. I think I have like a hybrid accent. And I was living in Canada on a one year work visa. And while I was in Calgary, which is in Alberta, they hosted the 1988 Winter Olympic Games. There's a bobsled track there. And you know, I grew up in ad I was born in the 80s. And I remember this movie Cool Runnings, and I'm like, this is where this is when the movie like this is it, this is where the movie was. And so I'm like, Well, I'm gonna go to this, Bob. So check it like, go see some Cool Runnings memorabilia or something, you know, like, go just check it out. And so you know, and I was athletic, too. It wasn't like I was a guy on the couch, just like, you know, what is this? So I went there. And I was running track at the time, and just was talking to people like, hey, like, because there was a race on at the time, I didn't even know there was those people racing like Canadian championships. And I'm like, wow, this is cool. Like, what does that person do? Or what is that thing on a sled? Or, like, how does that work? And just ask him questions with people. And this one guy was like, why just learn how to drive like, you want to jump in with me. And, you know, I'm this Ozzie guy traveling around, so of course, I'm like, Heck, yeah, let's go Where do I sign up. And it kind of just all fell, fell into my lap from there. And, you know, turns out that I didn't particularly like being in the back of his sled, I wanted to learn how to drive the sled and you take what's called a driving school, where you learn like these fundamentals of how to drive a sled, basically, it's like, you have no idea what's going on, you're just sitting in this seat, and, you know, trying to make it down the track. And, yeah, kind of just, it just went from there. But I would say most people, most people get into the sport through like, a recruitment drive. I know here in Canada, we we have like an online submission that you can do if you're interested in the sport, you can submit like it's kind of like doing a combine online, you send it in and then if you have you put up some good numbers and we invite you out to do some testing and you know, kind of the ball rolls from there and it's very similar in the in the US as well. There's a few hubs that they have across the country and you can submit your your testing results online and then you know, there are some amazing athletes out there that do this and that's like, where did you come from?

Nick VinZant 19:20

They everybody looks like a running back. Is there a reason that everybody kind of looks like that?

Christopher Spring 19:26

Yeah, like we've got to get the sled moving fast and they say those three things to be successful. In the sport of bobsled, you need to push fast, drive good and have good equipment like good sled. And you know, the first part of it is pushing fast because if you if when by the time everyone jumps in the sled if if you're already in last position, you can't, you can't No matter how good your equipment is or how good of a driver you are, you just can't pick up those places. down the track, you can pick up a few spots, but definitely not from last first. And so you have to be pushing fast. The slideways Forman sled weighs 210 kilograms, so

Nick VinZant 20:14

Oh, that's under pounds. Yeah. Yeah.

Christopher Spring 20:19

And so we want to get that sled moving as fast as possible. And most of the time, like a stereotypical Bob's letter is around. Yes, six foot one 225 30 pounds. And there's some exceptions. There are some guys that that are, you know, 63642 4245. And there are some smaller guys that are 510 200. And, you know, because we do have a weight limit that we have to stay under. And so you kind of juggle that with with the different guys that you have. But yeah, typically big, strong, powerful guys and girls, like the girls are incredible. The way that the sport is evolved in both men's and women's bobsled, the athleticism and both in all the athletes. It's just every year, another level gets you think that oh, there's no way people can push faster than this. And then it just keeps going up and up and up. From my

Nick VinZant 21:28

perspective, right? Like I base everything like alright, explosive power on like the 40 yard dash or the vertical leap? Like, what would what would most people be doing in those kinds of tests?

Christopher Spring 21:42

Hmm, I'm from watching NFL Combine, if you run like a four, three, or a four, four, these are like crazy numbers, right? Yeah, I would say that, that some of the best guys are running like, like four or 546. But they're also 225 to 30 pounds.

Nick VinZant 22:05

So how different are our most tracks generally the same? Or are can tracks kind of vary pretty wildly?

Christopher Spring 22:15

Yeah, there is a lot of variance to be honest, some tracks are similar. But they all have their own personality as well. When, when a track is built, there is a regulations or there's some rules that they have to build within, there has to you know, can't be too long or too short, it can't be too steep. There has to be certain amount of turns and, and certain types of turns as well. But for the most part, but those those regulations are quite open and you can make it you can make a track, like totally, totally different. So the track in Park City, Utah, is typically quite an easier track, it's still, it's still pretty fast, we'll do like 130 kilometers an hour. To get down the track, it's it's usually quite easy. Same with a track in Austria, in, in this place called eagles in Austria, it's there, those are typically like easier tracks. And then, you know, you get to a track like Lake Placid in upstate New York. And it's wild. Like that track is, like hold on, you get to the bottom after a good run. And you're beat up. The guys in the back are like, bad. I know it was a good run, but I'm feeling it back here. You know, like it's, you got to hold on and you can tell the difficulty of a track by how much noise is in the, the warm up pot at the, at the top of the track where all the athletes, just that's where we are before we go and drive outside down the track. Like all international athletes were in this one. It's like a locker room but less fancy. And we're all in there together. And if it's a difficult track, nobody's talking. It's very serious in there. There's a lot of concentration. You know, people are like, looking at each other and giving them a like, you know, like hey, all the best kind of thing. But if it's an easy track, people are joking around and people are playing games and laugh and carrying on and you know planning while they're doing this weekend and all this kind of stuff. So it's hilarious to see that the difference? You know, just in the in the stock house or in that warm up pot of how difficult to track is by the level of volume of noises up there.

Nick VinZant 24:52

What's the hardest track?

Christopher Spring 24:55

I would it depends who you ask because is practice makes perfect. So a lot of people think that the track right here in Whistler is the hardest track. For me, I don't personally think so because, you know, we train here all the time. So I'm, I'm quite used to it in saying that I still respect to the track. And there's still some of that quietness that goes on, even for me before I go down the track. But typically, there's three tracks that everyone talks about in the world that are the hottest tracks. It's here in Whistler, BC, Lake Placid, in New York, and Oldenburg. In Germany, which is in Saxony. It's like the state over there in Germany, it's in East Germany, right next to the Czech border. Those are the three most difficult tracks in the world in my eyes, and I would say and 99% of people that eyes, too, and even the break, but no, they're like, oh, man, we're going Altenburg next week.

Nick VinZant 25:58

So what are the other people in the ER, they just basically they push and then they're just hanging out, are you kind of telling them like, Hey, guys, lean left, mean, right? Or they just like I pushed now I just hold on for the rest of the

Christopher Spring 26:14

year, you got it, they push and they get in. And that's it. I don't want to dumb it down too much like that, because their job is extremely important. Pushing that sled, like I was saying, if you don't, if you don't push past, then you have no chance of being successful in the race. So we have to push fast. So their job already is, like I'm so very grateful when we when we have a fast Bush, because then it gives us as a team way more chance of success. And then getting into the sled. There's not a lot of room in there, right. So getting four big guys to get inside this sled, this tiny little sled and sit in a good aerodynamic shape is a lot harder than then you would, then you would think and practice does make perfect. But he's got to practice a lot to get in to do that. So to not only push the sled fast, but to then load with speed so that you're not slowing the sled down as you're getting into the sled. And then to sit in a position that creates, you know, this really nice aerodynamic position in the slide where everything is like, it's trailing down. So it's, it's, you know, you don't get in any of this dirty air at the back. And no one's heads higher than the person in front of them's had things like that shoulders aren't up. And it's it's a science and like the teams that do it really well. are usually the teams that are very successful as well.

Nick VinZant 27:54

So how do they decide like who gets in? Second, third, fourth? Is it just based on height?

Christopher Spring 28:01

No, not always based on height. It's usually based on your physical attributes as an athlete. So if you're, you know, the person that gets in last, has to be running the longest. So typically, they're the fastest athlete as well. Because they're the one that they're the one that is continuing to run while everyone's getting in there still running. And if they're not that fast, and they're going to be slowing the sled down, right. So typically, the bigger, stronger athletes that aren't as fast are helping get the sled moving. And like breaking that inertia, so to speak. And then getting in and the faster athletes are the ones that are getting in last.

Nick VinZant 28:46

How okay, how far is it from like, once you start to once you get into the sled?

Christopher Spring 28:54

It's roughly around 50 meters.

Nick VinZant 28:58

Give or take that's farther than I thought it was?

Christopher Spring 29:01

Yeah, it depends on how steep the track is. Right? So some, some tracks are very flat. And so you push for longer. Because you don't ever reach that speed where you're like, Well, I can't keep up anymore. And some tracks are really steep where it's like you gotta push and just get in. And so I don't know how far I run but I have this like built in head ometer in my brain that just a number pops up when I get in the sled and I know how many steps I took. And in a in a track that's really steep. informat I'm taking 12 or 14 steps. And in a track that's very flat. I'll take 20 steps. And so, you know, if you think I think when, when most sprinters run 100 meters, they're running like 45 Steps. Yeah. And so, you know, if I'm taking 20 steps, I'm probably running 40 meters, somewhere around that.

Nick VinZant 30:07

Is that how, like everybody in the sled does it right? Like just throwing out numbers. The first guy takes 12, the second guy takes 16 other guy takes two, right is like, is everybody counting like I take this many steps, then I get in,

Christopher Spring 30:21

no one's usually counting, it's it. It's based off of when the pilot gets in, basically. So if I get in, then the guy that's sitting number two behind me usually takes like, he'll see me get in, and then he'll react to that. Okay, now, on my next cycle, I'm gonna get in. And then the number three guy will be like, Oh, I saw the number two guy get in. So on my next cycle, I'm gonna get in. And then it usually is two or four steps later. So if I take 12, it's like 14 or 16 steps for the guy behind me. And then 16 or 18 for the next guy, and so on and so forth. Are you

Nick VinZant 30:57

ready for some harder slash listener submitted questions? Yeah, let's

Christopher Spring 31:01

do it. Let's start

Nick VinZant 31:03

with the easy one. How do you feel about Cool Runnings, his Cool Runnings, the only bobsled movie that exists?

Christopher Spring 31:10

While there's more bobsled movies are actually in the documentary. It's kind of like a bob slay lifestyle documentary. And so it's not the only Bob slay movie. But for the most part, and I can't even cringed when I said, like, Oh, I was, you know, that's how I got into sport is because I have watched Cool Runnings. It's because at times, it can devalue our sport, because the athletes that are in the sport are there so freaky. And it's crazy how, how athletic they are. And then, you know, when we get a reference towards Cool Runnings, which is a great film, and it's really brought a lot of attention to the sport and it continues to do so over the years. Sometimes it can just devalue the the level of competition that we have in the sport.

Nick VinZant 32:07

It's a love hate relationship. I get it. Yeah, um, yeah. Your favorite track your least favorite track, not that it's a bad track. Just that like, that's, that's not my cup of tea.

Christopher Spring 32:20

Pretty good track. And I think everyone will say this. It's in Switzerland, in a town called St. Moritz. And it's because that's the birthplace of our sport. That's where our sport began. That's where they first started bobsledding. So there's a lot of history there. And it's what's called a natural track. So they actually build the track out of snow and ice every single year, like a huge ice sculpture. And it has personality behind the track. It's so smooth to slide on, it's quiet. And like I said, there's so much tradition there. And it's the only natural track left in the world. And so every time we go on slide there, it's magic. I'd probably say eagles in Austria, because it's such an easy track. And if you don't push fast, you have no chance of winning. And so it kind of takes my skill out of it. My driving skill out of it, so, but the towel is beautiful. So there's a plus

Nick VinZant 33:21

favorite piece of bobsledder lingo.

Christopher Spring 33:25

Oh, there's lots of there's lots of lingo in the in the balsley world, and we have a lot we have, like our own language here in Canada that we we use a lot. And I would say that we use this word rents. We used to use it all the time. And you could just interchange it with whatever you want. Like, man, I rent to that run, as in. I was a good run for I just got rinsed on that run as in I had a bad run. Yeah,

Nick VinZant 34:02

context, right. It's all in the context.

Christopher Spring 34:04

Exactly. I don't even know how this word even came about or got involved or you know, I could be sitting at dinner I'd be like, Yo, can you rinse me one of those brownies

Nick VinZant 34:14

just applies for everything. It's contact? Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Is there trash talking bobsled you ever like

Christopher Spring 34:24

the Yeah, you guys so it's all fun. And games too, though. Like there is trash talk. But it's it's all within good fun. Like we're, we're very small sport. And so we travel a lot together with all the nations we stay in the same hotels a lot of the time. And you know, at the end of the season, we're all we're all party and together to write and so there is some trash talk, but it's it's all in good in good faith and good humor.

Nick VinZant 34:49

Like what would you say to like what would be an example of bobsled trash talk?

Christopher Spring 34:58

Like what Yesterday I was on the track, helping coach a little bit. And the number one driver in the world from Germany was walking by and he says, Hey, Chris, you don't start and the World Cup race? And I said, Nah, I'm still rehabbing an injury. And he's like, Ha, you're like, vacation slider. Oh, I don't know if it's trash talk it up. But yeah, it's just

Nick VinZant 35:26

yeah, things. Worst crash.

Christopher Spring 35:30

You. Yeah, I had a really bad crash in 10 years ago, in 2012. In on this difficult track in East Germany and Altenburg, where I went through the roof of the track, like I crashed my sled and we're upside down, and we hit the roof, which is, you know, the roofs there just to keep sleds inside the track. And yeah, we hit it. And we actually, like, pierced through the roof at 120 kilometers an hour. And we kind of got stuck in the metal structure of the roof. And it like it basically, like can open the sled. And there was a, there's a lot of wood up in there and a two by four impaled me. And I'm saying this with like, like a smile on my face. Jokingly and I look at your face, and you're like, What the heck. It definitely was worse than what I'm portraying it to be. But I feel like that's the only way I can talk about it without you know, getting into the moment too much. And yeah, it was a really bad crack. And I was out for for many months. And so when my teammates and typically that never happens that that was kind of like one of those freak accidents that happen. But yeah, I was. I was impaled. I broke my nose and was impaled by a piece of wood through my butt and into my back and made a full recovery, though. And three of us out of the four in that sled. Two years later, competed at the Olympic Games. So pretty pumped about that.

Nick VinZant 37:10

Damn. Yeah. Run like then after. Like, after that. Were you? Like, holy shit. Am I gonna do this again? I'm sure 10 Yeah, I just think about talking about it. But

Christopher Spring 37:26

not particularly but but my first round back, I did it at a very easy track with my coach who jumped in the back. And it was just the two of us there on Valentine's Day, actually. And we ripped down the track and I was like, Oh, it's just like riding the bike, no problems. But definitely for four years after I, I struggled a lot with with some anxiety around it and PTSD and stuff like that. It was just things that to overcome with my coaches and support stuff. And even going back to that track, every time I go back there to races. There's always some of those feelings there. And it's always brought up to you know, and I do my best to, you know, put those feelings aside until after I'm done. But, you know, inevitably they're going to creep in. But we've had some great results on that track since then. And every time I go there, I'm really excited to race it. Because generally we do pretty well there now.

Nick VinZant 38:25

The so like what country would you say that bobsled is the biggest in Germany hands down? Anybody even close?

Christopher Spring 38:39

In terms of like tradition, maybe Switzerland. But that that that would be the over that? No, no one's close. There's the top country in the world for the last, I don't know, decades and decades and decades, has always been Germany. There. They're winning a lot of battles. There's a rich history within within the sliding sports lose skeleton and bobsled. It's very well funded. The crowds there are amazing. And there's huge supporters and fans and it's cool vibe to race there because people are into it.

Nick VinZant 39:16

Not to bring it up again. But like who's got the best chance? Because I know of the chant from Cool Runnings. Like does everybody have a chat? Or do you guys Oh, yeah.

Christopher Spring 39:26

No, people have a chat. You know, like, you know, everyone, yeah, sometimes there's like some, some slabs like this, and fist pumps, you know, like, people put their hands in and it's like 123, or whatever it is. The chant that I that I had for the last few years, is we put our hands together. And I'd say, I'd say kind of kind of quiet and say what time and then the guys would say game time, and then I'd say what time game time. And that's what that's what we would do. Um, but I would say the best chat. Actually, I saw this Austrian skeleton girl racing last week here in Whistler, and it's just her and her coach. And she like, like, punches him. I know, that slaps his head like this, and it's this little girl, she's probably like five foot five, 120 pounds or something. And he's just standing there, like, big guy, he's a Olympic silver medalist. And, you know, he's, she's like, she's kind of shaken on the block. She's like, ready to go? The lights on a screen and boom, slaps put the sled down it goes, and I'm like, Whoa, this girl is fired up.

Nick VinZant 40:47

Oh, who has the hardest time getting in the slide? Like, is there a position where like, oh, that's the hardest one.

Christopher Spring 40:55

I would say it's the pilot. You know, we have this smallest amount of room to get in there. And I think I'm pretty good at getting into Slack. Like, I pride myself on how fast I can get into Slack. But some of my teammates, you know, like, there's been a couple times where I've, like, tripped getting in or like, you know, had some trouble getting in. And they're like, Wow, it's like, watching Santa Claus trying to get down that chimney. Man. You're like, really struggling to get in there to squeeze your body into this into this sled, you know. But typically, if you if you watch like, like bobsled fails, at the start, push start. It's the guys on the side. They have the hardest time getting in and it like, it looks easy when it's done. Right? But it's not like it's really difficult to do it properly. And to do it really well.

Nick VinZant 41:52

I'll end on this one. It's kind of funny. So when you go out to eat, or you go hang out with the other guys on the team, how close do you guys sit together at restaurants like are you so used to just be in bunched up that you're all like, Oh, why are those four guys on one side of the booth? Like, oh, that's the bobsled team.

Christopher Spring 42:14

You know, I want to I want to achieve the this fairy tale going and I'll say, Yeah, we sit right next to each other. You know, we've been stripped down to make sure we're in our lycra, you know, in that span that we just sit down next to each other because we love it. We love it. We use it ourselves. And it's not unusual, like when we're in the car, you know, and if there's the back seats open, and there's only two guys sitting back there. Now we sit together. We don't sit on either side. We're gonna sit together. All four in the front, right? That's it. Yeah, we got that bench seat. We just sit.

Nick VinZant 42:57

Here comes the bobsled team. We get three teams 21 car. Man, you got a young 2024 or too early

Christopher Spring 43:07

2026. We just added games. This year did it. So we got 26 Yeah, the Summer Games in Paris. 24.

Nick VinZant 43:17

Right. That's right. Well,

Christopher Spring 43:21

yeah, I just had knee surgery in the earlier this year, just to clean up a dodgy knee I've had for many years and so just rehabbing with trying to come back and you know, make a decision next year when I'm healthy. And I would like to. I am my nickname is old man spring. Because I'm the old guy. So, you know, people are probably like, Man, when is this guy gonna retire? He's so old. But you know, I love it. And we're still successful. So why not keep going if I can just if my body can hold up? That's the biggest, biggest challenge.

Nick VinZant 44:01

That's all the questions I got me Is there anything else we missed? Or kinda what's coming up next for you?

Christopher Spring 44:08

Well, the World Cup is next week here in Whistler. And unfortunately, it's the first time I went race a World Cup at home here and like over 10 years, and you know, it'll be sad not to race but also, like needed as well. Like, I can't just keep beating my body up now. Like, I gotta give it a rest sometimes, too, right? So yeah, and then I took a coaching job here this winter, while I rehab and I'm going to be taking care of these like younger kids trying to teach them how to drive a bobsled and hopefully get them to the Youth Olympic Games next year. So that's kind of like a cool new challenge for me. Whilst also trying to fit in like my next career after sport is on my commercial pilot's license, so I'm flying a bunch and try to Trying to get hours widen. And, you know, see where that takes me as well.


Fantasy Video Creator Terra Mizu

Foxy Boxing, Mouth Tours, Tickling, Armpit Smothering: Adult Content Creator Terra Mizu creates videos for every kink imaginable. We talk fetish videos, private sessions and creating nearly 10,000 videos. Then, we countdown the Top 5 Bodies of Water.

Terra Mizu: 01:47

Pointless: 45:40

Top 5: 58:42

nickvinzant@gmail.com (Show Email)

http://allmylinks.com/terramizu (Terra Mizu all links)

https://twitter.com/TerraMizu (Terra Mizu Twitter)

https://www.instagram.com/t.e.r.r.a.m.i.z.u (Terra Mizu Instagram)

https://www.tiktok.com/@terra.mizu (Terra Mizu TikTok)

www.sessiongirls.com/terramizu (Booking website for Terra Mizu)

Terra Mizu Interview

Nick VinZant 0:11

Welcome to Profoundly Pointless. My name is Nick VinZant Coming up in this episode wild fantasies and water bodies,

Terra Mizu 0:20

it was simple like Oh, wiggle your toes in front of the camera then you know maybe get tickled and a video and maybe pop some balloons or, you know pretend to get smothered by an armpit or you know, XYZ and then it it. It led on from there continued on. And I'm like, Well, how come you know you haven't explored this with your your wife or your partner or whatever? And they're like, Well, you know, I've had this fetish before the internet came out. So this wasn't something that I thought I was the only one. Yeah, it was like MTV Cribs but for your mouth. Yeah. And I thought foot fetish would have been that one. But it was actually mouse fetish. That was like a landslide for me. I was like, why is Why is now fetish. So popular with me.

Nick VinZant 1:04

I want to thank you so much for joining us. If you get a chance, subscribe, leave us a rating or review. We really appreciate it really helps us out. If you're a new listener. Welcome to the show. If you're a longtime listener, thank you so much for all of your support. So our first guest works in the adult industry. And she specializes in creating clips for just about every fetish and kink that you could possibly imagine. We're going to start off talking about foxy boxing. But she creates videos for everything from balloons, and mouth tours to session wrestling. This is Tara Misu. So like I've always heard of this referred to as foxy boxing. Is that still what it's called? Or like what what is this exactly?

Terra Mizu 1:55

There's so many different terms in different categories. Foxy boxing, I suspect would be more geared towards just sexy ladies just more or less pretending to box each other. It's more just for like the sexual gratification. Most of the time, they're either topless full nude or wearing like skimpy bikinis, or shoot basically two hot girls just pretending to box each other. It's super fake. But it's not even geared towards boxing so much. It's just watching the girls just like wearing the boxing gloves and just acting all and then just kind of just going out each other.

Nick VinZant 2:30

What's the attraction of it? I guess? Why do people like

Terra Mizu 2:33

it? It usually stems from something they've seen from a movie, or a TV show, especially at a young age. Something clicks with them at a certain moment in their life, and it completely changes things for them to the point of, you know, a fetish, or a fixation. So I mean, technically I actually filmed a POB boxing just the other day I released it last week, and I was topless or not necessarily topless. I was wanting kind of like a monokini. But my boobs kept falling out of it. So I was like, Whatever, I'll go with it. But yeah, I was like, using my boxing gloves and just you know, doing kind of like a domination type video and just kind of

Nick VinZant 3:20

thing. Is there. Like when you go in there and do it. Are there certain things that people want to see for I'll use myself as an example. Like, if I'm watching something like, oh, I want to see this, I want to see that. Like, are there certain things like alright, we're making this boxing clip or this wrestling clip, like, Okay, we got to do this, we got to do that

Terra Mizu 3:42

some producers like to film the talent, going back and forth with each other, and then one person eventually wins. Some producers have an audience that just wants to see like one particular talent, always winning or always losing, always jabbing. So I guess it just depends on the scene. Also, if it's a commission video, like if a fan, you know, wants to see a certain scene, they will give us basically an outline of the video that they want. And then we perform it. So that be like a custom video, in a sense. They just want to see, it could be any which direction I'm gonna switch on screen so I can perform like dominant roles and submissive roles. So I kind of like cater to a huge audience, where most others will be one sided.

Nick VinZant 4:38

Do most people who enjoy it? Did they want to see their favorite person win or their favorite person lose?

Terra Mizu 4:44

Yes. of both.

Nick VinZant 4:48

How many of these how many clips Do you think that you've made overall?

Terra Mizu 4:52

Several 1000

Nick VinZant 4:54

I mean, that sounds like to me like holy crap that

Terra Mizu 4:57

I've been in the industry for eight years. So Well, I mean, that's just what I've created for my sites. So I've also worked with a lot of producers since the beginning of my career. So a lot. I don't think it's exceeded, like the, like, 10,000, or anything like that, but I'm pretty sure I'll probably start getting there pretty soon. I would say like, I mean, I had a strategy coming into this industry to make myself as well known as possible, as quickly as possible.

Nick VinZant 5:35

No, do you need to make close to that number amount for it to be profitable? Like, do you have to, it's not like somebody can make one a week and make this their full time living.

Terra Mizu 5:48

So as a content creator, I mean, you yourself would understand this too, that the more you put out, the more you will be seen. So if you only put out like one video a week, and you're just starting out, nobody's gonna know you. Nobody's going to know anything about you. If you're like I started, I was putting out a new video every other day for like, a couple of years. I'm brand new content. And then I broke up my content into different sites based on certain niches, and starting to focus on those niches and building more content for those niches as well as my like, my main site, which is kind of like my catch all, like multi fetish site,

Nick VinZant 6:30

when when you film the boxing or the wrestling, is it just those two things? Are their sexual acts involved in it? Like how far do you yourself or to other people usually go?

Terra Mizu 6:42

For me, usually starts out with the fetish, boxing, wrestling, whatever, it could either end that way. So it could just strictly be just the fetish. Or we could lead it on to something else. I've done clips, both ways. I've done a video. I've done several videos before with somebody in the past for a different producer long time ago, but I just like, came to my head. They did, they had a shoot a clip, it was me and this other girl, I can't remember who was wrestling, we're doing the scene. And then the loser had to get humped at the end. So it was kind of like a we did several clips. So it was like the one girl won. And then I won. And then it was kind of like a I think she won a second time or something like that. But at the very end because we made this like deal. The very beginning of the wrestling scene, it was like, you know, Whoever loses has to get, you know, humiliated and hoped. I'm like, Okay, so let's just say I was the one that lost. So I lose the match. I tap out or I call mercy or whatever. And then she gets behind me and just started drawing humping me and I'm like, oh, no, please don't do I'm so humiliated. You know, like doing the acting and everything. And then she's like, behind me grinding on me and everything like that. But you know, after we cut, we're just like, Okay, next clip.

Nick VinZant 8:00

Right. It's a job. It's a job. Um, do other people go farther?

Terra Mizu 8:06

Yeah, we're, yeah, no, don't go go full explicit. I mean, they'll do hardcore scenes, things like that. There's sex wrestling. There's a producer in in the Northeast that does that. I work with him, but I don't do that type of content. So he and I usually just stick to just fantasy wrestling type scenes where we're fully clothed. And when I say fully clothed, I mean like bikini. He's wearing shorts. Yeah, yeah. But he also specializes in like oil rustling type stuff, too. So we'll shine up. So it like we glisten in the light kind of thing. And it looks a little bit more sensual than it actually is.

Nick VinZant 8:46

How come you haven't decided to go that route? That's just your personal the money's not worth it. Or like,

Terra Mizu 8:54

it's, it's personal. Um, I've learned in this industry that you don't have to even take off your clothes to make money. So I don't really shoot explicit content. It's just a personal preference. I just don't want that type of content out there of me. I have done simulated like a slight stuff that makes it seem like I'm doing something in that regard. But nothing explicit where there's penetration, or any kind of like, open like type content. It's just not for me, I'm not a sexy person. I'm a goofball.

Nick VinZant 9:34

How did you get into it?

Terra Mizu 9:37

Um, so after I moved back to Florida, my best friend, she's been in the industry since she was 18. She just retired this year, she saw that I was struggling in my current job, which was like, dead end, restaurant job kind of thing. I really wanted to move forward with my career and that and nobody was giving me the opportunity. So It was kind of like a side hustle at first. And fortunately, because she's been in the industry for so long, she introduced me to the right people. By that, I mean people who have a really good reputation. People who have a huge following, I really didn't know what I was doing. So they kind of just helped me along the way. And from there, I got references to more reputable producers and other talent that I could work alongside. And that's kind of how it all kick started.

Nick VinZant 10:34

The word that, like I heard a couple of times that jumps out to me is like reputable, like, are some of the do you have to be very careful of who you're working with? Yes. There are there, you know, either horror stories for you, so to speak, or for other people.

Terra Mizu 10:48

Yes. Not so many horror stories for me, but I've heard a lot from other people. Because they were not as fortunate to have the support system that I had, getting started in this industry. I honestly didn't even know this industry really existed until my best friend mentioned it to me. So I was just kind of like, okay, like, it was just kind of simple. At first, it was simple, like, oh, wiggle your toes in front of the camera, then, you know, maybe get tickled and a video and maybe pop some balloons or, you know, pretend to get smothered by an armpit or, you know, XYZ and then it it, it led on from there, I continued on into more fetishes. And then I started to see where my limits started to get hit with, you know, as far as sexuality and things like that. And then I was like, Okay, I'm gonna pull back these, these particular things are not from me, but these things are. So I'll keep going in this direction and go with that. But even so, you come across a lot of people in this industry that are not reputable. There's a lot of producers in this industry that have started off as FANBOYS. That one to two, you know, they want to they want to get in this industry to they want to dip in and get that dollar get that bag, which is fine. But everybody has to do you know, their ground work and learn. And they can't just jump in with their cell phone and say, Hey, I'm a producer, or I'm an aspiring producer, I want to take photos of you, you know, I'm gonna make you so much money. It's like, where's your following? Where's you know, how many? How much talent? Have you worked with prior to this? Anybody that I know, you know, it's IQ? Yeah. I've come across quite a few of those at the beginning of my career, I didn't know any better. I've been put into some questionable positions because of that.

Nick VinZant 12:54

When you're working with somebody, like how does that work? You they pay you a flat rate? Or is it based on the sales? Or, like, what is that? Usually

Terra Mizu 13:03

I don't, I don't work off of the royalties or the residuals of other sites, if they offer it to me that's on them. But I really, I can't keep up with all that stuff. I've worked with too many producers to try to, you know, chime in on their business and be like, Oh, how many clips Did you sell of me kind of thing. It's not worth it to me. We either do flat rate or hourly kind of gigs, depending on, you know, if it's, if they need to shoot so many scenes, or, you know, whatever, it's, yeah, it's just dependent on all that. So like, Yeah, I'll either charge per scene or I'll charge per hour, depending on what the content is,

Nick VinZant 13:42

you know, what they're doing to it and right, like, is that enter into your mind?

Terra Mizu 13:50

Do you hire me, it's worked for me. But I understand the Fetish enough to where I'm obviously making them want to do that. Because there's like, if we get into the session part of this conversation, I have clients who reach out to me, and they'll want a particular fantasy fulfilled, and they enjoy it so much more with me as a provider versus just getting a going to a strip club, or something like that. Because then they I've heard so many stories about clients that have told me Well, I wanted a strip club and we're gonna go off subject of boxing, we're just going to use feet, for example, because that's a common one is a common one for strip clubs. And then they'll, you know, they'll go into the private room for a dance, but then instead, they'll be like, you know, kind of rub your feet or, you know, can I, you know, stuck on your toes or something like that. And, and the performers are like, grossed out by it. Like they don't, they're like, why can't I just, you know, go grind on you and just call the day. Because they don't understand our industry.

Nick VinZant 15:05

So a session is that's in person like the person is there, right? How often do you do those?

Terra Mizu 15:13

A lot? And actually going on tour next week, I'm going to the northeast and I, for the third time this year.

Nick VinZant 15:24

Oh, gosh, is it? Is it hard to find people, it's easy to find people like I'm putting out these dates. Here I come,

Terra Mizu 15:34

they find man. I mean, I put myself out on certain websites, provider websites, or I go into certain forums, depending on the Fetish that I want to be known for. And I let people know, I just make myself a little mini ad, and put it out into the ether and the Internet and just say, Hey, come on, come into these cities, on these dates. If you're interested, hit me up. And, you know, put on my email, and people hit me up, and we negotiate. And if it works out, cool, if it doesn't, whatever.

Nick VinZant 16:12

I'm always fascinated too much by logistics. So it's like, well, where do you meet them? Like, how do you know? Do you just meet them in a hotel room? Like, do you have a

Terra Mizu 16:22

so you might as I usually do more upscale apartment type locations, I try to otherwise they would be more nicer hotels. It's my location, I host it. If sometimes I'll go to a dungeon depending on like the type of session that they want. And if you know the dungeon has certain type of equipment that I just can't cart around in my suitcase.

Nick VinZant 16:51

When you do a session like what kind of particular fetish or kink or whatever word I'm supposed to be using? Like what are they generally requesting?

Terra Mizu 17:00

Um, I do a variety. I do specialize in wrestling like fantasy wrestling sessions, I do foot fetish sessions, tickling sessions. I do some impact, like spanking or ballbusting. None of this is nude. There is no sexual activity in my sessions. I have no preference for it. Nor do I want to break the law. Um,

Unknown Speaker 17:30

what else do I do face sitting?

Terra Mizu 17:33

People do like some interesting things.

Nick VinZant 17:35

People like look, whatever. However, my personal opinion is as long as you're not hurting somebody against their will, whatever you want to do me and I don't give a shit.

Terra Mizu 17:44

Yeah, I mean, even if it if it was, if it was at will, I would still not go to the fullest extent that I could, because I'm still not trying to send people to the hospital.

Nick VinZant 17:58

Yeah, that wouldn't make sense, right? Did they get hurt? Do you like intentionally hurt people. And that came out in a certain way that like, look if that's what they want.

Terra Mizu 18:08

Now, because people don't realize their limits, they don't really take the time to learn them unless they've done so many years worth of sessions prior to meeting me. But most of the clients I have are newbies, they've never done a session before. They don't know what to expect. But they have it in their brains after watching so much content that they think they can handle it, but they can't. So I usually have my sessions are more lighthearted. Fun, and you'll give them a little bit of a sting, but nothing that they you know, they can still walk out of my room and one piece.

Nick VinZant 18:46

What are you usually doing to them?

Terra Mizu 18:51

I mean, if it's a wrestling, I'll just put them in a variety of like, wrestling holds. Kind of like, I like to do a lot of roleplay that kind of carries an entire hour of a session with me. Because otherwise, it's like, I could just perform the moves. And then that's it. And then it's like, okay, well, all right, that only took seven minutes. And we still got the rest of this hour. What do you want to do now? I don't want to be like that. So I'm just like, hey, let's do a roleplay scenario, do you want to be you know, Batman, and I'd be The Joker and you know, I'm gonna beat you up and you just you can't get one over me and I just defeat you or, you know, like something fun like that I kind of incorporate some fun stuff into my, my scenes. Or they have a fantasy that they've, you know, wanted to fulfill or something that happened to them early on in life that they want to reenact. And, you know, I also take the time to talk to them and just get to know them a little bit better because not like, granted most of these people how have similar fetishes but they're all just tweaked just a little bit differently.

Nick VinZant 20:05

So for like, alright, a private session, like, how much do you charge?

Terra Mizu 20:10

How much do I charge? Um, well, there's so many different rates. Well, not for me, I have a standard rate of 400 an hour, but some people will charge way less, some people will charge way more, it just depends on their preference. But for me, it's just, I feel like 400 is a standard rate for somebody who has been doing this for as long as I have. I've been doing sessions now for a little over four years. And I mean, yeah, just because they're, they're getting the novelty of me. And these aren't my fetishes. But I understand them to where I'm going to give them you know, an outlet, a safe space to explore their fantasies and their kinks, and things like that. Or, you know, they could take that $400 and spend it on a dinner, and a movie with somebody they don't know. And maybe weeks down the road or months down the road, they may secretly sneak it into one of their little play times. And then the other partner is just like, Oh, I'm not really into that. And then I'd be like, Oh, wow, time and money wasted. That sucks.

Nick VinZant 21:30

My assumption would be that that person would be doing something during that session, or like,

Terra Mizu 21:35

I don't allow that. Some people do some people allow the, you know, the release, or, you know, self service or full service. And I know no shade on on those providers. That's just not for me, I, I have done sessions with enough law enforcement to know what is and what isn't. Okay.

Nick VinZant 22:02

That's a great way to answer that question. Right?

Terra Mizu 22:07

And it's just personal preference. It just kind of goes beyond the boundaries of my personal relationship.

Nick VinZant 22:12

Is there a typical client that does the in person stuff like, right, like, I know that if I get a request, it's probably going to be a man or a woman of this age? Like, is there a typicality? That's not a word, but your typical is

Terra Mizu 22:27

male. I've never had a session with a female. And as far as age goes, I've had it is. is, like, early 20s. To is I've actually just had somebody recently, that's 85 years old. That just reached out to me.

Nick VinZant 22:49

I feel like that was his law. He like he's been waiting this whole life.

Terra Mizu 22:52

No, he's been doing this for a while.

Nick VinZant 22:55

I felt like a sweet old man.

Terra Mizu 22:57

There's people in this world that like, they've had their fetishes before the internet. Oh, yeah, I think they have been probably they have been, you know, finding their kinks through magazines, artwork, television.

Nick VinZant 23:16

The internet is an amazing place. I think that every man or woman listening to this has gone down like a Pornhub hole before, right? They like I did not know that existed. Yeah, it's interesting to see those things. I'm sure you.

Terra Mizu 23:31

Yeah. So like some of my older clients that have that I've seen. They've told me, you know, obviously, I come across a lot of clients that are that are either transparent with their partners or not, depending on their age, primarily, mostly because of their age. And I'm like, Well, how come? You know, you haven't explored this with your, your wife or your partner or whatever. And they're like, Well, you know, I've had this fetish before the internet came out. So this wasn't something that I thought I was the only one. I get that a lot.

Nick VinZant 24:05

So before the interview, like I went through your clip store, right? Like, Yeah, you like, man? I didn't know a lot of that stuff existed.

Terra Mizu 24:16

Oh, you went to my main site?

Nick VinZant 24:18

I'm not sure. Okay. So my main site, search. Sorry, I talked over you.

Terra Mizu 24:24

That's okay. My main site is terrorist temptations.

Nick VinZant 24:28

There's like there was things so how many fetishes do you is that is that the right word? Or should I be using King? Okay, you know, which ones? How many different ones do you do? Because I was looking I was like, Oh, my, I had there's a lot and a lot of things that like, Okay, I've never heard of that before.

Terra Mizu 24:49

I just so many, um, and I'm sure that there's still more out there that I've not done or that I don't know about. So especially when somebody reaches out to me either for a custom video or a session or something, they told me to give them like a laundry list of things that I'm willing to do. And I'm like, No, I'm not willing to do that. Because if you have a particular kink that I don't even know about, and I don't list it, then that's, that's lost opportunity for me to engage with you. So, I'm always like, open book, you know, you tell me what you like. And I'll let you know if it's something I'm willing to do no shade.

Nick VinZant 25:27

Right? Yeah, everybody's got something. If you were to kind of make a list, like how many what you do this, this, this, this, this and this,

Terra Mizu 25:35

embarrass naked female is one of my top selling videos.

Nick VinZant 25:41

Do you in that room? You're so you, you're doing

Terra Mizu 25:44

you're just I do it and that.

Nick VinZant 25:48

But who's embarrassed? You're embarrassed? You're like, how does it work? Okay.

Terra Mizu 25:53

It's mainly because I don't do bottomless for any other producer. It's a personal preference, I am not actually embarrassed. About my bottom half, I'm very insecure, I feel like that's different. So I am able to control what gets shot at what angles. Whereas if I were to shoot for another producer, they won't care what I look like down there, they are getting the content. And at that point, I'm signing away my rights for them to ever, like take it down if I ever wanted to, because that just one work. So I I'd rather have more control over that. So because of that. I only have E and F content of myself on my sites. There is one other producer that has some, but not, but it's very restricted of the type of content that I shot with him because he was the very first one that encouraged me to do it. And then from there, he you know, what's that? Oh, embarrassing female. Okay, okay. Yeah. And then from there, he encouraged me to help me start doing it myself. And then then I just started just becoming exclusive to my site with that content, because it saw how well it sold for me. But it's just because I'm exclusive. So all my sales show a reflect that. Another type of fetish that I excel well in is kind of busting.

Nick VinZant 27:29

kicking people in the crotch, right? Yeah.

Terra Mizu 27:31

So as I was telling you, yeah, as I mentioned to you before we started the podcast. My Mo is basically Jack asked me to Whose Line Is It Anyway, so I kind of like just do random funny stuff. That'll be it.

Nick VinZant 27:54

The other ones Okay. The other ones I saw was mouth viewing.

Terra Mizu 27:59

Oh, mouth fetish. I have a full website for that. I don't know if that was the one that you saw, then.

Nick VinZant 28:06

I don't like I tried to, like be aware, but not really look, because I feel like for me personally, like, people can do whatever they want. But I feel like I'm crossing a line. Like if I'm staring at you and then talking to you. Right like that. That then

Terra Mizu 28:23

it's all good. It's all good. I mean, cuz I'm just doing I'm performing a role.

Nick VinZant 28:30

That's the way to look at it.

Terra Mizu 28:31

So you know, like, you see me like, in front of a camera performing a role. It's not who I am as a person. It's just me just acting out that fantasy for the sake of you know, producing content for $1 amount.

Nick VinZant 28:47

So the mouth stuff is it looks like you're basically just showing your mouth.

Terra Mizu 28:52

Yeah, it was like MTV Cribs but for your mouth. Yeah,

Nick VinZant 28:55

that is what's the Why would somebody be attracted to that?

Terra Mizu 29:02

I think it's like an oral fixation

Nick VinZant 29:07

Oh, I did have a girlfriend with an oral fixation. Now it makes sense. Right? Okay. But

Terra Mizu 29:19

well, I created a whole niche store on that because when I first started my clip store my main one I was trying to I took the first six months to try to figure out okay what content sells the most for me because I know if I'm do a focus store that that'll help bring more income in and I thought foot fetish would have been that one but it was actually mouth fetish that was like a landslide for me. I was like, why is Why is now fetish so popular with me. I do know also, it's because I have a larger mouth like I can stretch my mouth to be really wide and you can See everything like if I get a light in there the right angle you can see down my throat and I now even go as far as I use an endoscope camera so I can have like a little, like long cord and whole thing. Yeah, and you can do extreme close ups now, and I can get as far back as seeing my epiglottis

Nick VinZant 30:20

I don't know what that. Okay, so

Terra Mizu 30:22

an epiglottis looks like a whale penis. It's basically just past your tongue. You can't see it like just looking at like through a regular camera. You have to listen. Okay.

Nick VinZant 30:35

Hi, there. Now I got a Google whale penis. Thanks. Why are you looking up whale peanuts? Well, it looks like internet provider. It's just like. Okay, so we got en F mouth. The word that I can't say busting?

Terra Mizu 31:00

Yes, you can. It's fine. I can't depends on the context. It depends on the context. If you're calling someone a cunt, that's different from saying cut busting.

Nick VinZant 31:11

No, I was like, when I was young. I remember a friend of mine was really mad at his then girlfriend and said that word and everybody was like, oh my god, like I was like new? Nope. Not saying it. Um, are there any other ones that we would say like, Okay, that one? Well, that's a that's a popular one.

Terra Mizu 31:33

Um, bondage is a popular one. It's kind of like a damsel in distress, where the female gets tied up and helpless. And that can go any which direction it could be any kind of scenario could be super heroine. A themed, like hero gets tied up and helpless. It could be like, girl next door gets tied up and helpless. Like she's being robbed. There's so many different ways of doing this. Um,

Nick VinZant 31:58

that's a traditional one, though. I feel like Right. Yeah, those additional being relative, right? Like, yeah, yeah, um,

Terra Mizu 32:06

because also, you gotta think back as far back as before the internet, think of comics, think of artwork, or things that you've seen on TV? Like, they had that type of stuff on there, too. So now it's being fetishized?

Nick VinZant 32:23

Are you ready for some harder slash listener submitted questions? Tear your most frequent request,

Unknown Speaker 32:29

I'm most pre going quest. Ah,

Terra Mizu 32:35

in terms of video or sessions, let's do both. In terms of sessions tickling.

Nick VinZant 32:41

I really like to be tickled to be honest with you, I just had that moment.

Terra Mizu 32:45

That's actually my favorite type of session. It is. And I'm a switch. So I love to receive and I love to give.

Nick VinZant 32:54

Is that weird, though, right? Like that you've got not weird and judging people, but in like, hey, this person that maybe I've never met is now tickling me all over the place? Or is that just like me, and it's Tuesday,

Terra Mizu 33:06

ah, kind of both. It depends on if I can establish a connection with them. And that's usually why like, in my sessions, I kind of like try to have some time some downtime to talk to them and get to know them a little bit more, so that I can kind of establish a little something with them. Otherwise, yeah, it is kind of creepy. And I could see that, right. I've, I've had a session once before, where a client made it very clear that he was only trying to get his money's worth out of this. And I was like, because I kept trying to like, like, at the beginning of every session, I like sit down, kind of just calm their nerves because, you know, novelty of me, and I'm just like, I'm just a regular person. But you know, obviously, I get you know, I'm an internet personality. But hey, let's talk for a second and like, figure out, like, tell me more about what you like, tell me more about, like, how you how you develop this and you know, so it's kind of like doctor patient kind of thing. Yeah. And then, you know, they'll open up to me, and I'm like, okay, cool. So, you know, we'll kind of like segue into it from there. And at least I established something with them, and then we'll kind of do a little bit of play, and then we'll take a break and then you know, I'll talk to him a little bit more and calm their nerves a little bit more and we get into it a little bit more depending on like, be one sided tickling or switch or whatever. And then at the end of it, it's it's fun, you know, like, I have a good time they have a good time. But yeah, like I had that one session. I was like, wow, you know, like, you don't want to get to know me at all, bro. Like, go tickle someone else then. Or go fine. How know like, yikes, it's just hard. Like I just was cringing the entire time.

Nick VinZant 34:50

Yeah, not judging people. Most interesting requests, like whoa, that was a little different. I had not experienced that one before.

Unknown Speaker 35:00

Oh god I've gone through so many Oh waters

Terra Mizu 35:05

like I'm completely like desensitized by most things already. I can't. One time I was I was trying webcaming out at one point. And someone asked me to rub a piece of paper on my chest. Just like I was just like, yeah, just just like just one here. So I immediately had to sync it up with ASMR.

Nick VinZant 35:32

That makes sense. Yeah. I think the Yeah,

Terra Mizu 35:35

yeah. You want to be topless. Just rubbing paper on my chest because he wanted to hear the crinkly noise. I'm like, Okay. i At first I was like, Oh, okay. Yeah, I like I have to, like, figure out what they're like, they may give me the request. And then I have to like, put two and two together and be like, Okay, what fetish is this? So that I know how to perform. Because if I'm just doing it randomly, I may be really awkward about it and not seem like I'm interested. And it's just like, it's not that I'm not interested. It's just I don't understand. And I need to understand in order to be able to perform the role.

Nick VinZant 36:12

That makes sense, right. Like, I think that a lot of times if you can understand why somebody is attracted to something, it does kind of make sense. In this in that regard, um, fetish or kink, you have no interest in fetish or kink that you like, oh, yeah, that is kind of your jam.

Terra Mizu 36:33

Um, I don't personally have any real kinks or, well, I mean, not that I'm willing to disclose. But as far as what I'm not into, I'm not into anything illegal. Or anything involving toilet fetish.

Nick VinZant 36:53

Boys toilet fetish. How do you know? No,

Terra Mizu 36:56

toilet fetish?

Nick VinZant 36:59

Like, scooping?

Unknown Speaker 37:01

Yeah, that's what somebody takes a dump on you or farts in your face or piece on you.

Nick VinZant 37:08

Oh, I thought it was actually involving, like, just sitting on the toilet.

Unknown Speaker 37:11

That too.

Nick VinZant 37:14

I don't have a sense of smell. So quite honestly, I wouldn't have that much of a problem. People farting in my face. Right? I could. I could be the single greatest producer of people farting in my face. That I miss my true calling. Yeah. Made but

Terra Mizu 37:35

I have tried other fetishes that I realized that I was that they weren't for me. But at least I can say I tried them. A addl

Nick VinZant 37:45

okay, I didn't hear what you said. But I want to try to guess. A beat. As balls. Take looking

Terra Mizu 38:00

what is a BDL adult baby diaper?

Nick VinZant 38:05

Oh, I said oh, like oh, yeah, yeah, so I saw that last week. Um,

Terra Mizu 38:12

there's like, age regression. Mixed in with that. Um, I don't, I don't throw shade. Like if they want to do it. That's cool. It's just not for me. I don't want to perform any kind of roles like that. I've actually just recently stopped in the last year stop doing anything leaning towards taboo roles or any kind of age play roles before I didn't really care so much because I was thinking in my head I'm like, this is a fantasy. This is not real. This is just an act. And I've realized that it's it it gives off a certain kind of I don't really know how to explain it. But it's it's encouraging certain types of behaviors that a lot of like non industry don't I don't want to say don't approve of and I'm trying not to fig make this seem like I'm King shaming in any way shape or form. It's just I'm personally uncomfortable with it.

Nick VinZant 39:22

of performers in your industry who's has the best like name, like stage name, stage name. A lot of like, oh, that's a good one.

Terra Mizu 39:38

I don't want to be for myself, but I really liked my stage name.

Nick VinZant 39:43

But isn't it Tara Mizzou, but yours is different than the desert, right? Tara? Meizu? Is that how you actually pronounce the desert?

Terra Mizu 39:52

No, Tiramisu is how you pronounce the desert. It's a play on words. If you break up the name tariffs Latin for Earth and Meizu is Japanese for water.

Nick VinZant 40:06

Ah, I didn't know that. I just assumed you liked that this is

Terra Mizu 40:13

actually a fun fact. It's not my favorite dessert. Grambling is.

Nick VinZant 40:18

You could have been crumble lay? Well, no. That's going to be my name for my new fart website. Yeah, Mr. Mr. Krim, Boulais Wow, let people

Terra Mizu 40:32

hey, you know, you can make anything work honestly, if you just believe that if you just believe,

Nick VinZant 40:38

you know, on kind of like a serious note, right. Like some of the things that you that we've talked about are kind of like, maybe not the things that a lot of people are familiar with. Are people. Ashamed of them?

Terra Mizu 40:52

The older crowd is usually

Nick VinZant 40:56

that's kind of sad. Right? It's like, it's

Terra Mizu 41:00

unfortunate, but you know, like, it's the generation. You know, like, like I said, before the internet came out. A lot of this was hush

Nick VinZant 41:09

hush. Yeah, that's true. So

Terra Mizu 41:13

they couldn't be transparent with their partners. And they couldn't be open about, you know, anything. Because they felt like they were the only ones. Now that we have the internet, like, some of the older crowd has been coming out about it, and being open and which is great and everything. And then the younger generations are all like, transparent as fuck, are just like, oh, everything's decked out.

Nick VinZant 41:46

Do people get into the industry? And then like, regret it?

Terra Mizu 41:49

Yes. Like, how

Nick VinZant 41:51

common would that be?

Terra Mizu 41:52

It just depends on. I mean, I have seen people come and go in this industry and come back again, it's almost like, I mean, sex work in general, a lot of people do it for the money, a lot of people do, because a side hustle. Then there's people like me, who turn it into a full blown career, and, you know, try to make a living out of it full time. But other people are just trying, you know, it's almost like, you know, stripping during college kind of thing. They're just trying to make their money and get out. Of this point, I don't try to encourage anybody to get into this industry anymore. I used to, I used to be like, Oh my god, so amazing. Like, you know, like, we have this whole amazing community, and everybody's, like, super open and super cool, and everything like that, but I wasn't thinking so much about their futures. Because, like, I wasn't necessarily just trying to think about, like, oh, how can I profit off of this person, but it was just kind of like a, I like to be, you know, including people and that's just the type of person I am. But now I'm just like, this may affect their life, like, all their entire life, and I may not be a part of that, you know, their entire life. So, um, you know, as much as I would love for them to be a part of this industry, like, the rest of the world is not as accepting of that. So, um, every time someone reaches out to me, it's just like, I'm gonna get into the industry. And I'm like, Okay, well, please understand, you know, the consequences that come with this, because there's a lot of them in terms of, like, you know, what type of work you're going to be doing in the future? Is this going to be your full time job, you know, are you going to be able to sustain it? Because this is also a very difficult industry to be in, it's very cutthroat we, it's oversaturated at this point, we are also mixed in with normal content creators that are trying to do anything to be you know, to try to get a hook and you know, get people to join they're only fans now at this point. So it seems like everyone's getting and all the fans now. Yeah, so or the type of job that they already have. I've had people in high profile jobs are saying like, Oh, well, I want to be in your videos. I'm like, you work for the military bro. Can't do that. Like how is that gonna work? Or, you know, like, you're if you're a teacher, if you're in politics or in law enforcement or you know, any kind of high profile job like that or anything basically in politics, law enforcement or kids involved. Automatically, it's a no,

Nick VinZant 44:40

is that's really all the questions. I mean, we pretty much covered everything. Is there anything else you think we missed or anything else that works for you?

Terra Mizu 44:48

Let's go on next for me. Going on tour next week. I'm gonna go the north east. It's going to be amazing. I'm traveling with one of my normal tag team partners. She goes by Megan Jones. She also an amazing session provider and now I producer. And we're just going to hit up all them states and work, work work, and I'm going to go home, enjoy the holidays and start all over the beginning of the new year.




Football Hooligan Expert Geoff Pearson

Geoff Pearson doesn't just research Football Hooligans, he became one. Studying the culture surrounding Football related violence by infiltrating the notorious groups. We talk Football Hooliganism, the most violent Firms, Police mistakes and why after decades of decline, Football Hooliganism is rising again. Then, we countdown the Top 5 Worst Team Names.

Professor Geoff Pearson: 01:51

Pointless: 37:30

Top 5: 1:00:05

nickvinzant@gmail.com (Show Email)

316-530-7719 (Show voicemail)

https://twitter.com/geoff_pearson (Professor Geoff Pearson Twitter)

Football Hooligan Researcher Professor Geoff Pearson: Interview

Nick VinZant 0:12

Welcome to Profoundly Pointless. My name is Nick VinZant. Coming up in this episode football hooligans and terrible team names,

Professor Geoff Pearson 0:22

vandalism, disorder, antisocial behavior, rioting in stadiums, mass disorder, more serious organized gang violence, the fighting that the firms do is only a very small part of what I'm about the method that I chose to investigate football crowd behavior than football crowd regulation was to go covertly. But yeah, the vast bulk of major football disorder. So those sort of major riots that we see from time to time, almost always caused by a breakdown in crowd management. Okay, the police have done something wrong.

Nick VinZant 1:02

I want to thank you so much for joining us. If you get a chance to subscribe, leave us a rating or review, we really appreciate it, it really helps us out. If you're a new listener, welcome to the show. If you're a longtime listener, thanks for all of your support. So our first guest researches football slash soccer violence and football hooligans all over the world. But he does this research in a unique way, by infiltrating these groups. And Matt has really left him with a unique perspective on why this is happening, who's doing it, and why this football related violence is suddenly on the rise again, this is Professor Jeff Pearson. The term that I always hear is football soccer hooligan. Does that still apply? Or is that kind of like a medium term that was come up with

Professor Geoff Pearson 1:59

I mean, it's it's a term that was created by the media in some time around the late 1950s. And is increasingly or was increasingly then used pretty much across the world to the third to lots of different types of misbehavior by football fans. So it could refer to vandalism, disorder, antisocial behavior, rioting in stadiums, mass disorder, more serious organized gang violence between different groups of crowds. So it was always a very imprecise label

Nick VinZant 2:36

is a hooligan the same as a firm? Or is that something different?

Professor Geoff Pearson 2:41

So a firm is a term that's used to refer to a gang of fans of a particular team that gather together with the intention of engaging in violence, usually against a rival firm supporting a different team. So if you define a hooligan as being somebody you could define hooligan, as being somebody that was a member of a of a firm, and a firm would be made up of hooligans, if you'd be using the term in that way.

Nick VinZant 3:14

Kind of sounds like a hooligan is somebody that might just be making trouble. A firm is someone that's there deliberately to cause trouble, and to go after the other team or the other teams fans, is that a fair assessment or not quite?

Professor Geoff Pearson 3:29

Well, I mean, a firm is a group. And it's a group that have the intention of confronting a rival group of say mine, so they're not just going to go after other fans of other of another team. They are looking specifically to confront a rival firm, it's all about reputation. And ultimately, if you're a firm that attacks ordinary fans have another team, your reputation is damaged, it's not enhance.

Nick VinZant 3:59

Where did this kind of all start from? Is there is there a point where you can point to and say, Okay, this is where we have the modern, quote, unquote hooligan slash firm like where did this come from?

Professor Geoff Pearson 4:11

It's really difficult to to answer that question. I mean, ultimately, we there has been violence and disorder associated with live football matches since the birth of the professional game in the 19th century. All the types of misbehavior that are reported, you can find back in newspapers going back to the to the 19th century. So the types of misbehavior have always been there. People have always been fans have always been fighting with each other at that football on occasion. The type of organized football violence that we see between groups, we tend to think of when that developed as being in the 1980s in particular, when we started to move away A from the mass disorder that we saw, particularly in the UK in the 1960s and 1970s. The 1980s, in contrast to seeing as being the birth of the firms, when smaller groups looked to engage in more, I guess, precise violence against the specific type of other fans rather than that sort of mass disorder, vandalism, antisocial behavior that would previously seen, but there would have always been groups of fans looking to fight rival groups of fans going back from the birth of the games, it wasn't like there was a start point.

Nick VinZant 5:40

Was there a reason it kind of picked up in the 1980s? Or was this just kind of a cultural thing that just happened?

Professor Geoff Pearson 5:48

Nobody knows. Is the answer when anybody tells you that they do know is lying, because there's a number of different factors in play. One of those factors is that the if we look at the increase in football disorder in Europe, in the in the late 1950s, through to the 1960s, what we're seeing is the baby boomer generation, combined with the fact that people started having weekends. So the weekend, entertainment culture started to appear, we started to see disorder from teenagers on that baby boomer generation that was associated with football, but also with music. So we have a multitude of lockers, for example, fashion, we have a teddy boys. So all this hype of, of misbehavior started really with that generation. What happened in the 1980s is, of course, these people have grown up a bit, they've got a bit more money, they're a little bit less interested in smashing up railway carriages, for example. It's both defeated. But for some of them, they got the excitement of the fighting at football. And actually, they wanted to continue that without the other stuff. So I think one explanation for what happened is that essentially, those people grew up, a lot of them would stop being engaged in that kind of lower level, misbehavior. But those that hung around wanted to retain the violent aspects of it. Another explanation is that the police just got better at preventing that kind of mass violence became more difficult to engage in that kind of mass disorder because stadium started to be redeveloped. Football policing operation started to change, and firms started to be sent to prison for relatively minor incidents of violence. So ultimately, if you wanted to have a fighter football, you had to be a little bit more organized. If your day wasn't going to be moving.

Nick VinZant 7:45

Here in the States, we have organized crime, right? Did the firm's rise to that level of organized crime? Or is it not quite there?

Professor Geoff Pearson 7:55

When we talk about organized football violence, we generally talk about groups that gather together before the match, and I'm talking about in the UK, talking about groups that gather together before the match with the intention that they may get involved in violence, on the way to all the way from the match. And they'll put themselves this group in positions where that violence may occur. So for example, they will they will take over a pub of a rival firms challenge, or they will watch it to march past that rival firms pub. And it may be that they even send a text message to basically say, Oh, we've just arrived walking up your street. So there may be that level of organization. But in the UK, that tends to be where it stops. We don't tend to get fans that will say, Look, we're going to have a fight on this car park at this time on this day. And of course, the fans could the you know, the firms could do that if they wanted. And in other countries, particularly in Eastern Europe, they do that quite regularly. So they will say Well hang on a minute with Vladimir Spartak Moscow. We want to have a fight with the firm of Lokomotiv Moscow. We're going to fight on a non match day in this carpark at midnight, because we know the police aren't going to do that. If you really were interested in fighting, that's what you do. And that's what some of the Eastern European firms do. In the UK. It's exceptionally rare that you would see that really, really bad.

Nick VinZant 9:26

Kind of sounds like the difference between starting trouble and looking for trouble.

Professor Geoff Pearson 9:30

Yes, I think that's I think that's a good assessment.

Nick VinZant 9:33

Well, how does like the scene in the United Kingdom compared to other parts of Europe is UK the most organized and violent or like where were the different areas kind of rank on the scale?

Professor Geoff Pearson 9:47

So the UK got the reputation as being the home of football hooliganism in the in the 1970s and 1980s. Prior to that, it had always been assumed that it was is the Latin Americans, Southern Europeans that were the real Firebrand. So actually, UK, fans were incredibly civilized, then sort of in the 70s and 80s, it was the UK that got that reputation. It's not been the case that the UK is a home of hooliganism, or that UK football fans are more violent than other fans for a long time now, certainly not for any point this century. And now much more serious. Violence takes place in Eastern Europe, in Central Europe, in southern Europe. So you know, Poland, Hungary, Russia, Belgium, Holland, Italy, increasingly France, or have much more serious problems in the UK. When we

Nick VinZant 10:49

talk about like the level of violence, are we talking about just people throwing hands? Weapons involved? How bad does it get what's normal

Professor Geoff Pearson 10:59

to general it generally, it tends to be fists and feet, things that come to hand rather than going with knives or with battens? You know, there are, if you go to Italy, for example, knives have always been more of a part of that cultural culture than you have elsewhere in Europe. And there were particular forms of essential punishment by knives that were designed to be non fatal, but humiliating, that were utilized in the in the 1980s, and 1990s, particularly by some Italian Ultra groups, but generally it is hands and feet because generally, football fans don't want to kill other football fans, not least because you get sent to prison for it.

Nick VinZant 11:50

I guess, what's the point?

Professor Geoff Pearson 11:52

What's the point in in engagement in in football violence? Well, there's a number of different explanations, there isn't one simple explanation, because ultimately, people even people that engage in football violence, don't engage in football violence all the time, every match. That's the first thing to understand the vast bulk of matches take place perfectly peacefully. So you will have groups that want to engage in violence simply because they enjoy what it delivers to them personally. And that may be a psychological buzz, or it may be social currency may be individual reputation in their locality or in their fan group. Or it may be that they feel that that is the way that they need to represent their locality or represent their particular club. So there are individual reasons why people engage in that. But yeah, the vast bulk of major football disorder. So those sort of major riots that we see from time to time, almost always caused by a breakdown in crowd management. Okay, so the police have done something wrong, we've made a mistake or the crowd security at the stadium have done something wrong. And that has essentially caused a minor incidents of disorder or violence to exacerbate, which draws in fans who didn't have that predisposition to violence that weren't there to fight, but suddenly feel like they are under attack. But yeah, the vast bulk of major football disorder. So those sort of major riots that we see from time to time, and almost always caused by a breakdown in crowd management. Okay, so the police have done something wrong, they've made a mistake or the crowd security at the stadium have done something wrong. And that has essentially caused a minor incidents of disorder or violence to exacerbate, which draws in fans who didn't have that predisposition to violence that weren't there to fight, but suddenly feel like they are under attack, and then it is justified for them to fight back. And that's obviously major incidences of disorder occur. The little football firms themselves that have that predisposition, don't usually have the power to cause riots.

Nick VinZant 14:16

They don't want to put words in your mouth necessarily, but I believe the phrase there was like, okay, so if the police have essentially made a mistake, and that is what kind of turns a minor incident into a major one. What are those mistakes that they usually make?

Professor Geoff Pearson 14:31

Typically, those mistakes involve not engaging with the crowd, while it is peaceful. So if you've got a peaceful crowd, particularly if they are drinking, or the crowd management theory tells us that that is the time that police officers should be talking to the crowd and engaging with the crowd, assessing the mood of the crowd assessing where potential dangers occur, and looking to protect that crowd from attacks from outside the That's an opportunity for the police force and the police officers to basically gain legitimacy among those trials to try and be seen as facilitating their legitimate objectives. And what that means is that if problems occur later in the day, those police officers have come and see, to be able to say to the fans, you stopped doing that? Or can you please move in this direction? Okay, because they've gained that level of trust in the scene as being legitimate. So the first mistake that a lot of forces make is not being proactive and not engaging in what we call dialogue policing. The second problem, which leads to disorder caused by police is when the police use coercive force in an indiscriminate and disproportionate manner, which basically means that people that haven't done anything wrong, suddenly find themselves being pushed around being baton charge, being in a cloud of tear gas, and they've done nothing wrong. And then those fans, some of them may respond, for example, by throwing a bottle of beer that they're drinking back at the police. So those are the two first there's a failure to do something. And secondly, there is doing something indiscriminately and disproportionately, and those two factors of poor policing map into each other. Because if you aren't engaged in the crowd, and you don't have that intelligence and that legitimacy in the crowd, then it's much more likely that you are going to see an overwhelming response that is disproportionate coercive and violence as being legitimate

Nick VinZant 16:39

under reaction and then overreaction. So how did now Now how did you start studying this?

Professor Geoff Pearson 16:47

I was so I was always interested in in football crowds, I always found them fascinating. I love the noise that a crowd made. I love the way that crowds moved. I love the surges that you had on football, terraces, going back from being a kid in the in the 1980s. So I always wanted to do something, which kept me engaged in football crowds, and I wanted to learn more about them. And football hooliganism was seen as being a major social issue around the late 1980s. But at the same time, fans were seen as legitimate targets from the police. And I felt that was unfair. And then we saw what happened at Hillsborough in 1989, when 97 football fans were essentially killed by poor policing. And I felt it was something that I wanted to try and change if I could. So I did I did a PhD in the in the mid 1990s. Looking at how the law and policing and football crowds interacted and what were the best methods for successfully regulating football crowds.

Nick VinZant 17:52

But you observed from the inside, right, the you were in were you in a firm or

Professor Geoff Pearson 17:59

so I the method that I chose to investigate football crowd behavior than football craft regulation was to go covertly undercover inside football crowds, wherever new issues occurred. I wouldn't go as far as to say I infiltrated a firm because ultimately, when I started off with fans of Blackpool football club and then started following England abroad, there wasn't a firm to infiltrate. The disorder that we were seeing was disorder that was largely the result of breakdowns in in public order and safety management. So it's very spontaneous disorder that was occurring. So while I was in those crowds, and fans didn't know I was research, and the police certainly didn't know I was a researcher. I wouldn't I would never go as far as saying I infiltrated organized football firms because because that's what I didn't do.

Nick VinZant 19:03

What was that kind of experience like?

Professor Geoff Pearson 19:07

Well, it was it was it was fascinating. It was exciting. Yes, occasionally, scary, but mostly the disorder and violence that you saw was brief. There were not many people involved. It was fairly easy to stick stay away from the biggest danger, personally was always posed by the police, particularly away from the UK when I went to places like Italy or France with English football teams. We were subjected to very aggressive, violent policing. That was always the the biggest risk and where they felt the most uncomfortable.

Nick VinZant 19:50

Now did you have to kind of do anything to be a part of that crowd or just kind of go along with the crowd?

Professor Geoff Pearson 19:57

Mostly, I could just hang around In the crowd and act as they did, which was almost always in a non violent manner. There were occasions during my early research where they had to commit very minor criminal offenses, which are talked about and published about, for example, running on a football pitch, which is a criminal offence in the UK, or being drunk inside a football stadium. And if I didn't do that, then I would basically be excluded from the group I was, I was researching. But mostly, you know, the, the amount of the amount of actual fights I ended up in, and the amount of times I actually had to throw a punch in self defense was you and I could count on, on the fingers of one hand in 25 years of doing this work.

Nick VinZant 20:50

As a person, you know, who lives in the United States, the thing that I guess I struggle to kind of understand about it, right? Is it? Like, how bad is it? I guess, I mean, are people going to the matches, and they're just like, Oh, you got to watch out, I hope nothing happened. Or is this really kind of an isolated thing that happens amongst small certain groups,

Professor Geoff Pearson 21:13

it's the latter is pretty much something you need to look for. Certainly domestically, if you go to your average Premier League game in England, you're merely really unlucky if you see a violence incidents. And likewise, people that do want to get involved in fights, actually, it's quite difficult to go and look for that violence and define violence and and these spend a lot of their time they the firm's that are active, just being marched around by the football police in in England, who genuinely have good control of those small groups that are looking to engage in environments. So incidents do occur. But, you know, quite unlucky if you if you find yourself involved, and generally you know, where to avoid, and what behaviors to avoid doing. If you want to avoid

Nick VinZant 22:14

I'm a big numbers person and say, on a scale of one to 10, if one is the most peaceful community of happy fans that you could imagine, and 10 is the 1980s. Like, where do you think we are currently on that scale?

Professor Geoff Pearson 22:29

Well, maybe three.

Nick VinZant 22:32

That's like, that's not going to happen to you. But you knew, you know that you have to be aware that it is there.

Professor Geoff Pearson 22:38

Yeah. And I think they put it in is to put it in its context. I think pre lockdown we were to. So the has been on a post lockdown increase.

Nick VinZant 22:48

Do you think that does that mean that? Is that a trend where we're going to be going back up? Or is that kind of just like, alright, the pandemic is lifting for the most part, at least socially, in terms of social gathering? And this is a temporary thing, or do you think, okay, we're ramping back up here.

Professor Geoff Pearson 23:07

So I think it's a if we keep doing what we've been doing, particularly talking from the UK here, if we keep doing what we're doing in terms of good crowd management, I think it's just a blip. I think the self regulation and self policing longfeng groups will re establish itself. And I think the good football policing operations will also establish themselves and things will can't go. The risk is that it's seen by the authorities as being a trend. And it's seen that the previous things we were doing weren't working. And that therefore we need to up the stakes in terms of, for example, the number of police officers, the aggression of those police officers. And if we do that, then the risk is that you're going to make the situation worse. So it has the potential to get worse, I don't think we will ever go back to where we were in the 1970s or 1980s. Because I think things are just so much better now in terms of stadium infrastructure, legal infrastructure and expertise of police officers. But there is a risk that some police forces will essentially panic. And they'll make things worse, good football policing operations. I think we'll get this under control. And actually, there's all at the moment, there's evidence that things are already starting to come under control.

Nick VinZant 24:33

Are you ready for some harder slash listener submitted questions? Are Yes, when we look at football firms, who's kind of has the most dangerous reputation now, who was always the one that who's kind of like the, the most of all time, I guess?

Professor Geoff Pearson 24:51

Um, well, I mean, look you if Millwall play in a high risk match, they will always be In a group of people that I fight, every time there were there were an a way group that if confronted, you know, some of them will always fight back. And that has always been the case. It's established in the, in the culture there, the very cohesive unit. But I wouldn't want people to think that no, we're a team that went and attack people, because they don't, but you know, Millwall always have that reputation. Then you have fan groups that always take large numbers of fans that make themselves heard, and pose very serious crowd management challenges, should we say, and then that you would include Leeds United, and Manchester United, always. And then you've got groups in between, you know, I mean, Birmingham have always had a bit of a reputation. Aston Villa pose cloud management problems, when they when the when the attend. So there's, there's there's quite, there's quite a lot of all of the Premier League clubs, probably with the exception of Liverpool have a affirm of some sort. But they tend to be quite small, and tend to cause problems frequently.

Nick VinZant 26:27

If there was one that you would say, like, of all time, like, oh,

they were they were a problem.

Professor Geoff Pearson 26:34

I mean, in the in the 1970s, you would always say it was Manchester United, that were that were the were the worst team in terms of crowds disorder in the 1980s. You might say, well, perhaps it was Chelsea or West Ham. And more recently, you might say it's, it's some of those more smaller firms like, like Milwaukee that caused more problems. So there hasn't been a single one that has always been up there at the top.

Nick VinZant 27:05

Is it usually worse when you're talking about violence when a UK team is playing the UK team, or when Country X is playing country? Why?

Professor Geoff Pearson 27:16

As it as a general rule, it's always worth worth domestically. Because these are because when problems occur domestically, those two teams may be playing each other for months down the line, or that time next season. So you have that historical rivalry that develops. So if, for example, you have a situation where the firm gets it wrong, and attacks a group of innocent supporters of a rival team, then you've got to worry about what retribution there will be for that later on. Whereas, of course, when teams from different countries play each other, they may not play each other again for another 30 years. So as a general rule, it tends to be domestic live will be is that cause a lot of copies?

Nick VinZant 28:01

Is there a sense of reputation amongst the firm's themselves?

Professor Geoff Pearson 28:07

Yeah, I mean, reputation is really important. And it's not just reputation between the firm's its reputation between the team supporters, because even if you don't want if you if you travel regularly away from home, particularly if you're a young male, actually, a lot of the spotters that we speak to have a pride in their firm being active and having a good reputation, even if they are completely non violent individuals themselves. So the reputation matters beyond just the individual firms. But ultimately, particularly in the UK, you uno, the actual levels of interpersonal violence and organized violence are very low. And if you're the firm that's going up against another firm, and you've taken an absolute battering, it's equally likely that actually, you're not going to show up every weekend, because you don't want another kick. It's a bit different when we moved to sort of Eastern Europe and sort of these stones are more organized, more serious, more cohesive, and generally bigger, then you might get that, you know, the retribution aspects. But the easy answer to that question is reputation is very important and maintaining your reputation, if you can, is important, but if you can't realistically maintain your reputation, fans generally are members of them don't go in for an absolute kicking

Nick VinZant 29:26

if they can help. So people like fans do take a certain pride in it even if they're not participate. Yeah,

Professor Geoff Pearson 29:33

absolutely. And, and football fans will chant songs about football violence, even though they've never been involved in it themselves.

Nick VinZant 29:42

What's the song about football violence?

Professor Geoff Pearson 29:45

So for example, Manchester United fans will sing a song which goes we fought in France we fought in Spain, we fought in the Sun we fought in the main we took the cup and Chelsea too but what we like most is kicking a blow by blew them in Manchester City for these fans singing it have never kicked a Manchester City fan in the head. And that's what the city

Nick VinZant 30:07

everybody just wants to be part of something at the end of the day, right? You just want to you just want to say you were there to do any of the firms engage in organized crime outside of football.

Professor Geoff Pearson 30:21

I think it's more the case that people that are involved in organized crime away from football may also be involved in the essentially if you're if you're a juggler with absolutely loads of money to spare, then traveling around around the world, watching your team is something you might want to spend your match on. If you're particularly violent individual, you know, the chances are you can get involved in a scrapper game at some point. So, so there are overlaps between organized crime, and the firm's. And if we go to again, Southern and Eastern Europe and South America, you tend to see a lot of overlaps between things like drug dealing, and those and those firms and also corruption and local authorities and local governments. So there are those overlaps. But it's not the case that it's like the firm's read out into other types of misbehavior. It was more the other way around that involvement in football violence is something that that overlaps with can be an outcome of the other form of criminality and corruption.

Nick VinZant 31:34

That makes sense, right? I guess if like I was involved in narcotics or robbery or burglary, being a part of a firm would be a pretty easy hobby.

Professor Geoff Pearson 31:43

And it's an it's an It's social, good social currency as well, if you have a reputation of being a hard football hooligan. Okay, that helps you out. In, you know, if you're, if you're selling, you're buying drugs off somebody, it means that they're much less likely to cross you. If you need to get into a certain nightclub. And you've got a reputation as fighting football, again, it's much more likely to be helpful. We don't We shouldn't look at this as being mindless violence, it is sometimes very, very valuable for those people that need to use physical force in the course of criminal activities.

Nick VinZant 32:18

Now, did you get a reputation when you were infiltrating?

Professor Geoff Pearson 32:23

No, very, very, very brief and completely undeserved one, but you know what I was, I was, I was 21 when I started this and I couldn't fight my way out of the paper sack.

Nick VinZant 32:36

Best Movie about this culture.

Professor Geoff Pearson 32:40

That's an easy, that's a very easy question. The best movie about football violence is ID with Reese Dinsdale, because the because that's the only movie that gets the camaraderie and the humor about football violence, that actually the fighting that the firm's do is only a very small part of what they're about. It's about the camaraderie it's about the expression of identity. It's about representing your locality. And it's about humor funny things happening. An ID is the only film that nails that

Nick VinZant 33:21

which one makes your eye twitch like absolutely Oh god,

Professor Geoff Pearson 33:24

I can't I can't watch most I can't I mean green streets. I mean yeah, I mean, the idea that what's his face the hobbit from the Lord of the Rings would be involved in that kind of activity Elijah Woods it is just laughable

Nick VinZant 33:43

at what I guess what about it? What makes it so because he's not a big physically imposing person? Or what what makes it kind of like no

Professor Geoff Pearson 33:52

Yeah, I mean, the fact that there's nothing to suggest he's is capable of fighting and there's there's nothing to suggest that he's actually connected with what the firm's are doing and as I say, That's why ideas such as I mentioned a better Phil it explains ID why people might get involved in the fight, which you know, those films like retreat just just never did. It was just such an abstract concept. Whereas actually, when you go to the football even if you don't want to fight yourself, you can see why people would want to and why would people get involved in it?

Nick VinZant 34:32

What do you think of like the World Cup? Is the World Cup usually a place for this or like No, no really?

Professor Geoff Pearson 34:38

Dark pay the firm's never travel as firms to will welcome so the Italian Ultras don't go the the hooligans in Belgium and Holland don't go. The some of the English lads will go but they won't go to fight. They won't go either to fight with each other or to fight the police or the local groups. Occasionally, there has been the sort of the European football championships, for example, in Marseille in 2016. But generally the World Cups, you don't tend to get that violence disorder occurs, it tends to be because the police have messed up, usually involving England farms. But it's not an occasion where the firm's look to fight. The won't be any organized violence in Qatar.


Fire Knife Dancer Lopati Leaso

Lopati Leaso is one of the best Fire Knife Dancers in the World. But that title comes with a cost. Three years ago he was injured so badly doctors told him he would never perform again. We talk Fire Knife Dancing, performing with a warrior’s spirit and representing Samoan culture. Then, we countdown the Top 5 Ad Jingles.

Lopati Leaso: 01:39ish

Pointless: 34:42ish

Top 5: 05:20ish

nickvinzant@gmail.com (Show Email)

316-530-7719 (Show voicemail)

https://www.instagram.com/lopati_leaso (Lopati Leaso Instagram)

Lopati Leaso: Fire Knife Dancer

Nick VinZant 0:12

Welcome to Profoundly Pointless. My name is Nick VinZant. Coming up in this episode, fire knife dancing, and the best ad jingles.

Lopati Leaso 0:21

As a mindset when I'm on stage, I don't even look at it as a stage, I look at it as a battlefield. And the audience is the enemy, my fate whole face caught on fire. And I was left with like, third and second degree burns like all over the place, I look at the knife as a dance partner. And both you have to work equally, to create something. It's not just the knife, just dancing. It's not just you just dancing, it's both you that's dancing, that works in harmony, you're not just holding the knife, you're holding the country of Saudi oil in your hands, and how you represent it.

Nick VinZant 0:58

I want to thank you so much for joining us. If you get a chance, subscribe, leave us a rating or review. We really appreciate it, it really helps out the show. If you're a new listener, thanks so much for joining us. If you're a longtime listener, we really appreciate the support. So our first guest is one of the best fire knife dancers in the world. But that is a title that has come at a cost. Because just a few years ago, he was injured so badly. Doctors told him he should never perform again. This is fire knife dancer, low potty Leon so when I first look at this, it looks dangerous. Is it dangerous? Oh,

Lopati Leaso 1:43

yes. I used to post my injuries all the time. Now as a bragging, right, but it's just like just another day at the office type of thing. But uh, back in 2019 and February was probably like my worst accident ever. And that's my fate whole face caught on fire. Now I was left with like, third and second degree burns like all over the place in my on my lips in my nose, my ears, my fingers are all messed up. Everything else has been like burns here burns, air cuts here. Really nothing broken hand and stuff like that.

Nick VinZant 2:22

So it's not even one of those things that like, it looks dangerous. But in reality, like it's not really dangerous. This is like, Oh, you really got to know what you're doing.

Lopati Leaso 2:32

It's no, it's extremely dangerous. Even just practicing just normal. I've had injuries, just doing that with fractured fingers and stuff. Because the thing we're spinning, it's not like a torture baton or anything. It's an actual blade at the end. That's a knife,

Nick VinZant 2:51

kind of starting at the beginning. Right? Like how did you get into this?

Lopati Leaso 2:56

It was a something my parents just kind of threw me in when I was little. I was kind of just that that little brother watching his sister do her hula classes and stuff just sitting there all bored and stuff being a drag along and they kind of just gave me something to do and said like, there's a thing called fire knife dancing and stuff. And maybe you can learn how to do it. And so I was teaching myself how to do it because I was given to I'm gonna sound really old right now. Have a tape for a VCR?

Nick VinZant 3:27

Oh, yeah, like a VHS tape. Yes. VHS. VHS? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Like that's back in the day where you don't even remember what they're called anymore, right? No.

Lopati Leaso 3:37

But yeah, I was given a videotape of the one of the biggest luau shows in lay called the Polish culture center at the night show. And I was just trying to mimic the guy on the videotape. But I finally got to teach her when I was about 12 years old, in Buena Park, in Los, California, and I started from scratch from there and kind of just went on from there. And I was learning from my teacher. Uncle Mailloux fall from the age of 13 to 16.

Nick VinZant 4:16

Isn't that hard of a thing to master where it takes that many years to really get good at it?

Lopati Leaso 4:21

It really depends on the person I believe. And there's some that are just gifted that they can just pick it up like that and those of people I'm just like, Get out of my face. It took me years to learn how to do that. But it really does depend on the person but it takes a lot of heart and dedication and years to perfect it and it doesn't matter how professional you get or how great you get you you will always get hurt

Nick VinZant 4:54

for people who are maybe familiar what is this? Basically like when fired how Did you define fire knife dancing,

Lopati Leaso 5:02

just to give a little background on what this is this fire knife dancing comes from the islands of Samoa. And back in the olden days, this was a war club made out of wood carved from a tree. And it was a war club. So when people went into battle with different villages, they use the war club to destroy their opponents. And at the end was a hook hook shape. And the reason for that was to just kind of like, cut them wherever they can get and whatnot, and, you know, grab their legs and pull it using this war club. And what they used to do is they used to walk back to their villages, with the heads hanging from the hook of the enemies that they just destroyed. And they go back to their villages, and do this thing called the Isla, which is spinning twirling of the knife or the war club. And the way they were dancing with their war club, they're NIFA OT is how they would demonstrate how they won their battles, versus today how we, we still want that same mindset when we dance on the stage. But we're also entertaining as well with traditional and modern movements, and just as what we dance with. So this is the hook. This is what modern looks like. This is when metal was introduced to the islands. Back in the olden days, this was a wooden, big, fat wooden club with a hook on the end. But this is metal. And this is what we use today to spin. So they use this hook to grab their enemies wherever they can hang the heads on the hook and walk back to the villages and dance with them to celebrate, and to demonstrate how they won their battle.

Nick VinZant 6:55

So the for people who are maybe just listening to the only audio version of it, it basically looks like a long wooden spoon with a fish hook on the end. I mean to kind of just create a mental picture, I guess. So then the knife part is really just that hook. Right?

Lopati Leaso 7:11

Yeah, that's the only knife part of the other arc. And we call it the buttoned. And that's this end right here that's also on fire. But yeah, it's a big, long handle with a big blade knife at the end. Because we used to carve these out of machetes. So that

Nick VinZant 7:29

was a traditional weapon, but they would just use the hook part why? Why wasn't the rest of it like?

Lopati Leaso 7:35

Well, the other part, we're used to to smack over somebody's head, the hook was just used to just get like get a grip on somebody.

Nick VinZant 7:43

So when did they decide to start lighting it on fire?

Lopati Leaso 7:47

So kind of fast forwarding for things. All the violence and war stopped between islands when Christianity came around, and was introduced the island. And it took a man named Freddy literally, from American sophomore who came over to the US in San Francisco. And he got the idea back in 1946. He got the idea when he saw a baton twirler and a Hindu fire river or eater at a talent show. Because back in those days in the 1940s they were just spending just a knife no fire just the blade itself and show how dangerous it was and whatnot. But he got the idea from watching these other acts and so that I believe it was that night that he decided to just grab towel, whatever fuel he can find and attach it to his knife and light it up and and the rest is history pretty much if you can

Nick VinZant 8:49

show me that again. Like Like, how are you keeping it on fire? Like how does it How does it work? What is what is it made out of?

Lopati Leaso 8:56

So a lot of people use different things, some use towels. Some use Cavalia. This is what we call soundboard, oddly enough, and you can get this at Home Depot or Lowe's. Depending what your case is for for hardware stores. And there's wire right here that we wired in. And this is we cut it to this shape to our liking to match the

Nick VinZant 9:18

blade. And the other end is kind of

Lopati Leaso 9:22

it's it's out of the same material. We just cut it differently into certain circles become donuts.

Nick VinZant 9:27

Is this still a mainstay in a lot of cultures?

Lopati Leaso 9:31

Oh yeah. Because of the men Friday literally deliver to the family. This has gone I think probably even more than they expected to where it's in The Lion King Show in Orlando, Florida on the animal kingdom. It's in circus Olay it's it's been in commercials and stuff like that. I've I've had the honor and privilege to share it with the world as well with you With TV shows and the news and stuff like documentaries, so this has been passed around

Nick VinZant 10:08

a lot. Is it a dance? Is it a performance? Is it a martial art? Like what what kind of category would it fit into? I guess

Lopati Leaso 10:17

I would say all the above because it's a martial arts and it is a dance. It's a war dance to

Nick VinZant 10:25

the thing that like look I'm not familiar intimately with with this threat, but it necessarily like I always think of the haka, or the is it hockey haka? Yes. Yes, haka. Okay. The problem is, I've been watching, I don't know if you know what one piece is, but I've been watching one piece, and it's hockey. And so I'm, I'm always like, Oh, wait, no, wait. So now does that does this go along with the haka, are those two completely different things.

Lopati Leaso 10:51

So those are for two different islands. Far enough dancing is from someone. And then haka is from Aotearoa, New Zealand. But it's, in a way, it's kind of the same, it is award dance, and haka was originally used to do to terminate their opponents to show Hey, this is what we're going to do to you. This is how we're going to destroy you. And if they brought fear into their opponent, the battle would not actually happen. But haka back then was to express warfare and what they were going to do to their opponent, and how they were going to defeat them.

Nick VinZant 11:27

Were you any good before you gotta teach her? Are we like,

Lopati Leaso 11:31

good, good in my eyes? In my mom's eyes.

That sounds like a real life. No. Right? Like, no, it's, it's, it's a soft, no. Well, I was improving.

It was in the latter stages of my journey.

Nick VinZant 11:54

So then, like, what is it? Are there certain moves that you do? Or is it just kind of, you're just expressing yourself how you express yourself.

Lopati Leaso 12:05

Um, we do have set routines. For those of us that want routines, there's people that freestyle, but when you intern like competition stuff, we all have set routines there, there's certain moves that are that you have to do that are required when you compete and whatnot. And that's pretty much the just the traditional stuff, the traditional moves, old school moves from the Oh, geez, back in the day, and how you dance and body language with your stopping of the fee, getting real loud and stuff like that showing that warrior spirit, when you're on stage, as you are in a battle. So for me personally, as a mindset, when I'm on stage, I don't even look at it as a stage, I look at it as a battlefield. And the audience is the enemy. And my best way is to get that showmanship and warrior spirit out to bring this character alive. And in a way it is expressing myself through joy, and love and passion for what I do. And like, hey, this I'm here. I'm going to I'm about to show you guys how much I love and respect this dance

Nick VinZant 13:15

that some of the like the traditional moves going

Lopati Leaso 13:17

around the neck and stuff like that, spinning it under the legs over the wrist tossing and catching it behind the back, you know, just along with body language and motion because I look at the knife as a dance partner and both you have to work equally to create something it's not just the knifes just dancing it's not just you just dancing it's both of you that's dancing that works in harmony. So when you're moving with you have to move with the blade to create the illusion to make even the most simplest moves look very difficult and like that wow factor.

Nick VinZant 13:55

Is it physically demanding like what what do you need to be good at it? I guess what makes you good at it?

Lopati Leaso 14:04

I would say it is it takes it does take a lot endurance and cardio for sure. You need to be healthy because if you're not that healthy and you're spinning this thing at lightning speed, your hearts gonna be pumping like crazy and stuff and where you feel like you're gonna have a heart attack or something.

Nick VinZant 14:19

I would imagine coordination is fairly like are you fairly coordinated person? Like more than other people?

Lopati Leaso 14:26

I would say so but sometimes I'm not too coordinated. It's the weirdest thing like I can I have balanced but then I don't at times at the most random times I don't have good balance. But yeah, I'm pretty coordinated i It has given me good reflexes stuff and I can see like stuff in the corner of my eyes, let alone I don't really have the best vision but side vision I have because there's some times we have to toss and catch it where we're spinning to at the same time where our focus is on this angle, but we haven't I overhear that spinning too. So we have to have that aside visions know when to catch it. I was 14 years old. Back in 2006, I competed in my first competition in Anaheim.

Nick VinZant 15:11

Did you do well right away? Or was it a real struggle?

Lopati Leaso 15:14

I did well in my eyes. I mean, it was my first competition and I was competing against kids that were doing it like when they were in diapers. Like, right when they came out of the womb, they were already given like a stick and knife to play with. I was a late bloomer, late

Nick VinZant 15:33

bloomer. But when, when would you say that you like, Oh, I'm, I'm really, when did you figure out that like, Oh, I'm really good at this,

Lopati Leaso 15:40

I would probably say when people started actually noticing it. Because I'm not someone myself. And so get receiving that respect from the main people, the Samoan culture and stuff like that. It really kind of like hey, like, I'm actually good enough to get the respect and to be noticed and be recognized. To actually be treated as one of them and to be adopted by the culture to where I end up adopting the culture

Nick VinZant 16:11

as you go going kind of through the competitions was the fact that like, you weren't Samoan did that ever hold you back to people kind of like oh, well this guy's he's one of us, so to speak.

Lopati Leaso 16:24

You you I mean, I don't want to talk bad about some someone people but I'd say around the world anywhere, you'll get those few people that are very discouraging and stuff, but for me, like I kind of feed off of that. It took gives me that push like, you know, just sit back, keep your comments to yourself for a bit and just watch. I'll get there.

Nick VinZant 16:48

Now is this Can you make a full time living off of it? Can people do that?

Lopati Leaso 16:53

You can't but it takes a certain purse dancer to be able to make a living off of this. And that's those are the ones that are really passionate about it and are driven and just don't ever even see themselves retiring. To work our shows for like circus Olay, The Lion King show enough Lando Florida, the other luau show and and at Disneyworld at the Polynesian resort to the big name Lou Elson. On the islands and

Nick VinZant 17:25

stuff. Now, is that kind of your goal or is that?

Lopati Leaso 17:33

Um, it is my goal. I'm not because yeah, it's it's a good paycheck and good health pay bills. But it's mostly like I don't see myself stopping doing this at all. I'll take this to my grave, or my ashes, whatever happens to me. But yeah, I really want this full time. And that's what drives me even more to work harder than last time is to just keep working at it.

Nick VinZant 18:02

My five minute Google search may be wrong. But now are you a national champion? You want a Big championships? Or you got first place or second place? Correct? Fill in the record for me that I'm missing.

Lopati Leaso 18:14

If it says I want champion. Thank you, Google. That's very sweet of you. But no, I have not won a championship yet. If, if that's God's will for me to win a championship and let it be if it's not, then I'm fine with

Nick VinZant 18:30

what was your most recent placing.

Lopati Leaso 18:33

I took I went to the Polish culture center this year, to compete at Worlds after being asked to do it for like, over a decade or so to compete at Worlds where all the top hard hitters go. And I finally decided to compete there because I'm not getting any younger. And it's something I wanted to do. So I competed there for the first time and I took home second place first runner up,

Nick VinZant 19:00

what makes you better than some of the people that you placed ahead of? What what did the person who won do that you did it?

Lopati Leaso 19:08

In all honesty, I don't. I don't really know. Because I wasn't even expecting to even make it to the next round. I even had plans with my girlfriend and my my brother KAPOOYA that we were just going to hang out the next day because I was like I'm not gonna make it to the next round. Let's plan to do stuff on why we're on the island and stuff. And then I made it and so I'm it hasn't even hit me from this day that I even took home second place and this happened in May this year. It just hasn't hit me because it's been such a dream and a vision of mine to even have my feet touched that stage. That it's still not real to me.

Nick VinZant 19:54

You're gonna go back again. 2023

Lopati Leaso 19:57

That's the plan. I know a lot of people are expecting me to the pressures on now. But yeah, it all comes down to how this person actually represents what someone's all about and how you handle that knife. Because you're not just holding the knife, you're holding the country of Saudi oil in your hands and how you represent it. There's some people that just it's it's sometimes to Baton looking quarterly, where it's just a bunch of fancy tricks versus the guy who's more old school and modern. So he has that mix up in it looks nice. But from mine, what I noticed is what stands out is when somebody is actually different from all the other competitors is when his his style is a lot different. It's it stands out in a good way, in a positive way.

Nick VinZant 20:54

That makes sense, right? It can't just be like, looking like somebody's just twirling a baton. It's got to look like, oh, this person could fuck you up. Right? It's gotta be like a warrior spirit to it.

Lopati Leaso 21:05

Yeah. And then he's the backstage guide. And he's like the sweetest guy ever helping everybody out with their costuming and all this stuff and everything and whatnot. But yeah, it's it's usually the meanest, most humblest unique person I've noticed from a champion. Are

Nick VinZant 21:21

you ready? For some harder slash listener submitted questions? Go for? What happens more? Do you get cut or burned?

Lopati Leaso 21:29

burned? Because even sometimes, we'll even burn ourselves on purpose.

Nick VinZant 21:34

Why are you burning yourself on purpose?

Lopati Leaso 21:38

It looks cool. But no, like, it's, it's like a cloud pleaser. So you know, I don't know if you've seen the dance already. But we put the fire on our tongue. And then we light the other side on fire. Some people like the whole death fire on their tongue for as long as I can. Because it looks impressive. Or we put the fire on our feet and try to hold it there as long as we can. Or on our hand. Because it looks impressive, like, wow, this guy's holding the fire on his hand for so long. Like, like, isn't he feeling any pain? And it's like, yes, we are. But we're used to.

Nick VinZant 22:15

Do you do anything to protect your skin? Or is it just kind of like, you just got to like, what? Protective elements? I guess do you use?

Lopati Leaso 22:25

No, none. I we don't use any, if anything if I had to guess. Myself personally, probably others just we just pray for we go. When we before we started dance and pray for that. No one else considered two

Nick VinZant 22:39

people get injured, though, or did they just get hurt? Right? And like I know, I think people understand the difference. Like oh, getting an injury is like, alright, that's serious getting hurt. You're like, alright, that just hurts.

Lopati Leaso 22:50

Well, it's both because we get hurt. But the serious injuries where people have gotten hooks through their hand that come out the other side, and their leg and stuff like that. Like I said, I've I've just I burned my whole face before where I was out for a few weeks. And I've sliced my leg open before where I had to get stitches. And I've even broken this hand dancing too. So there is a lot of risks involved.

Nick VinZant 23:20

I would imagine you learn how to do it before you set it on fire? Or do you learn how to do it while it's on fire?

Lopati Leaso 23:27

No. Well, I was I would say I was kind of rushed in it. Like once I just learned how to spin I did set on fire and stuff. But it was a little bit more safe because I was doing more safer moves. The more experience you get, the more technical you get the dangerous, it will become.

Nick VinZant 23:44

Easy move that looks hard, hard move that looks easy.

Lopati Leaso 23:51

When you do a simple move, where you make it look hard is when it falls into the whole calorie category of having body language and your stance to look like a warrior and how fast you're spinning versus somebody who's probably doing a move. That's a fancy trick. But he's just standing there doing that. Nothing no body language. It's just dead to where like, Yeah, I know how he did. Versus a guy who's doing a stomp and stuff where he has to look coordinated. Where he's dancing with the knife. It's like, and you're more wild about that. Then fancy tricks.

Nick VinZant 24:26

Is everybody pretty much doing the same things? Like is there only so many things that you can do with it? Or does every every once in a while somebody breaks out like oh, I've never even seen this?

Lopati Leaso 24:37

Yeah, you you you will get those people like I can't believe I didn't think about that. You'll get that one guy who's very creative and whatnot. But most most of the time, a lot of us do do the same thing. It kind of comes down to how he transitions from one move to the next how smooth it looks, how creative it looks, how the Warriors moving with the knife and stuff like that. Does that make

Nick VinZant 25:00

Some, yeah, that makes sense, right? Like it's style.

Lopati Leaso 25:03

That all takes accountability as well, is how you look physically and costume wise,

Nick VinZant 25:11

you know, like other sports or other things that are kind of physically based, right? Is this something that you can only do it for so long? The oh

Lopati Leaso 25:18

geez that I've seen today. That spin, obviously can't spin as they used to, but they still they still dance to some degree. And if they don't, they teach it. They teach it, they pass down their teachings to their students and stuff. But there is some out there that have been dancing this before I was even born, that are still doing this. And even running their own luau shows and stuff.

Nick VinZant 25:44

What and when you get burned, what end do you usually get burned by the pointy end or the non pointy end,

Lopati Leaso 25:52

it can be a mixture of both, it's most likely where the blade is up. Because when you spin the knife, you have to spin it a certain way. You have to always have the knife facing up, you can never have a face and down. Because again, this is a weapon. And so when you're holding a weapon, you have to hold the weapon right side up. It's almost like you wouldn't be pointing a gun with the with the gun facing you, you would have facing the your enemy. So when you toss and catch it, you have to catch it with the blade up. There's probably like 10%, where the knife will be upside down. But that's when you're going into a transition where the knife goes face and right side up at the end of the move. But yeah, it would mostly be the blade and where we get burned. Because that's the side that's up the most.

Nick VinZant 26:44

Who is there? Like who's the Michael Jordan slash LeBron James, this? Is there somebody that university like, oh, that's the best ever.

Lopati Leaso 26:53

There is there is a guy. If you I'm pretty sure if you ask Google who's the best fire knife dancer in the world, I guarantee he'll pop up his name is Mika la Allah. He lives right on the island. And he is a five time world champion, which is the record for foreign champions. I believe all competitions all together, he's probably 118 of them 18 or 19. And he runs a school called manga Moo. In Hawaii. What makes

Nick VinZant 27:28

him so much better than everybody else.

Lopati Leaso 27:33

It's it's his style, and how he presents himself. He's created a lot of moves that are not to outside of fire knife dancing. But he's created a lot of moves that people are doing now today to I wouldn't say copy him. But like they they've done his moves and put them in their own routines and stuff. But he's created and introduced a lot of moves that a lot of us do today.

Nick VinZant 28:03

Are you working on anything new now that to bring the competition next year?

Lopati Leaso 28:09

Oh, that's the so usually after competitions, I brainstorm I get all these ideas and stuff like that. It's like, oh, shoot, I should have done this and whatnot. This year, it's been kind of challenging, because I want to say I reached my limit because the sky's the limit. But it's been a little bit more difficult to come up with something different because you can't come back doing the same thing as you did the year before, because then someone else has done that. So you have to kind of like, find out what you can do differently if it's spinning the knife faster. If you're bending lower, again to a lower squat, dancing more like a warrior, or coming up with a transition during a transition that no one's not seen before or never thought of. But I do have some a few new moves that are that are in the works. Along with how I present myself on stage. That's more of a lawyer like

Nick VinZant 29:09

best depiction of this in a movie or TV show.

Lopati Leaso 29:13

I know there's been a few movies out there with finite dancers slash TV shows. But there's it's always a small clip because they're the they're just the background people. One I do remember in particularly was the it was it was a movie with Adam Sandler in it.

Nick VinZant 29:34

And first dates. No,

Lopati Leaso 29:37

no, it was it was bedtime stories. I think it was called. Okay, okay. Okay, and there's a luau scene. And a friend of mine was in the movie called Miko. And he was spinning the knife in the background and I think somebody pushed him in the pool. It was one of the main characters who just shoved him Out of the way, and then the finest dancer went into the pool and whatnot. But he's one of the ones that you know he was doing it right. But most likely they're not going to hire somebody who does not know what they're doing. I've done a TV Disney TV show called Austin alley. And Gnosis like a camera just passing by me. You can hardly tell what I'm even doing.

Nick VinZant 30:22

Do you have a hard time getting health insurance?

Lopati Leaso 30:26

I know, a lot of people probably think I'm like, a regular at the hospital, where I'm just like a normal rate customer where I, I get in my car and they this punch it, stamp it like, Okay, you're almost to your free McFlurry right here. But no, the only time I've ever visited the hospital was for my face. And when I stabbed my eyeball with the knife as well.

Nick VinZant 30:52

What was the doctors reaction when he told him like, what were you doing? Like? Well, this is what I was doing.

Lopati Leaso 30:58

He was wondering what happened. And we explained to him what what I do and what what happened. And then he's just like, Okay, I think he was more stunned about when I asked him right afterwards, like, when do you think I can go back to dancing to work in again? And he just looked at me like, I'm crazy. And he was just like, I think you need to find something else to do. Because we don't know how you recover from this. And I kind of just chuckled a little bit because it's like, this doctor has no idea who I am. That's stopping his arm option.

Nick VinZant 31:37

How bad was it?

Lopati Leaso 31:40

I looked like I would say I probably looked like Deadpool with this mask off. I don't know if anybody knows what that looks like. Or like Darth Vader when his face was all messed up. But pretty much everything. It was this it was all gone. The only thing that were not touch were my eyeballs.

Nick VinZant 32:00

How did it happen?

Lopati Leaso 32:03

I was trying something new. And it just didn't work out on the way I planted.

Nick VinZant 32:09

Like the knife just hits you in the face or the fire came up and it was your hairs.

Lopati Leaso 32:14

It was all the fuel all the gasoline that kind of sprayed all over my face, mix with the fire at the same time. And so like I ended up setting my face on fire, but it just happened my front yard, it didn't happen at a gig. So I didn't even get paid for it. But I had all my friends there. So they were able to put me out.

Nick VinZant 32:38

Me and I bet that hurt me and the birds hurt.

Lopati Leaso 32:42

It did. Because I didn't even take painkillers or anything, too.

Nick VinZant 32:47

That's pretty much all the questions that I have man, is there anything else that you think that we missed or anything like that?

Lopati Leaso 32:56

I don't think so. I think that pretty much sums it up.

Garbage Musician "After Cooking"

Most musicians play on instruments, “After Cooking” plays on what he can make out of the trash. We talk Garbage Music , the strange looks he always gets and the best trash for making music. Then, we unveil a new Candle of the Month and Countdown the Top 5 Things you Always Mean to Do but Never Actually Do.

After Cooking: 01:41ish

Pointless: 23:52ish

Top 5: 43:40ish

nickvinzant@gmail.com (Show Email)

316-530-7719 (Show voicemail)

https://www.instagram.com/after_cooking/ (After Cooking Instagram)

https://www.tiktok.com/@after_cooking (After Cookinh TikTok)

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgZH2xjWqLIZ4SXVuR_bkUA (After Cooking YouTube Channel)

after-cooking@outlook.com (After Cooking Email)

“After Cooking” Artist Interview

Nick VinZant 0:11

Welcome to Profoundly Pointless. My name is Nick VinZant. Coming up in this episode, garbage, music and things we should do. But don't,

After Cooking 0:22

it's kind of a challenge to make actually good music out of something that people throw away. A little bit of background, this thing is always played with a just regular flip flop.

And it's causing only problems. And the thing is, at the same time, it's the best thing I ever made.

Nick VinZant 0:48

I want to thank you so much for joining us, if you get a chance to subscribe, leave us a rating or review, we really appreciate it really helps out the show. If you're a new listener, welcome. If you're a longtime listener, thanks for all of your support. So our first guest is a different kind of musician. Instead of using instruments, he plays on garbage, and it's really good.

This is garbage musician. After cooking? Did you start out with kind of traditional musical instruments? Or was this always the path

After Cooking 1:47

both ways that are kind of true, I actually started with playing on pots and pans. That was the first thing I ever dropped on. After that, I stopped playing on pots and pans and I started playing on a normal drum set. And on Sunday, I just went back to the pots and pans again.

Nick VinZant 2:05

What is it about them though, right? Like why? Why are you drawn to this style of music? Why

After Cooking 2:11

I think it's all kind of started more or less, actually, because I needed some money, I needed a job. And while my passion is to play drums, that always has been my passion. I was thinking well, I can get like a halftime job somewhere in supermarkets or at a bar doing that. Or I could try making some music on the streets drawing. The thing with drumming on street is, for one, if you have a drum kits, it's really heavy to transport that through the city, I mean, who carries the whole drum set with them, especially when you're working around all day. So that's kind of a big, big problem there. And garbage actually solves that problem. Because now I just have a big backpack full of pots and pans, I have two buckets that I can just carry in my hand. And then I'm good to go, then I can just go into the streets. Another really good thing about good thing about that, too, is that as soon as you play on something that is not usual, to people, they don't see that often at someone plays on garbage. As soon as we do that, it's more interesting for them. Especially when you play on the streets on the streets, you always need to have something that catches the eye of of the audience, something that is interesting, something that they have never seen before. And someone who dropped some garbage is for them much more interesting than someone who just plays drums. People are so attracted to it because it's so new. So interesting. So unusual to do.

Nick VinZant 3:52

Is it a novelty kind of thing, though, right? Or is the music really good? Like, oh, this kind of actually, yeah, it's different. But it does resonate with people,

After Cooking 4:04

I think, a combination out of those two. Apparently, I started to play better. Because people pay way more attention now than they did five years ago. I think five years ago, I was just literally someone who bangs on garbage on the streets, just making some noise kind of they hear something that sounds kind of like for example, techno drums, but they see someone who plays on garbage. And I think that's like the the magical thing about it.

Nick VinZant 4:36

Is it just pots and pans are what other kinds of instruments for you are garbage. I

After Cooking 4:41

used to have a lot of pots of pots and pans and different tonalities so they actually fit to each other. It took me quite some time to find something in key. So for example now if I play with other musicians, I can actually tell them okay, let's play in, in the key of D, D sharp minor, because my pots fit to that. On the other hand, I have buckets. The bucket just work as a kind of bass like a kick drum, then I have also like, plastic. Jerry, can

Nick VinZant 5:19

I obviously, it's not hard to find garbage, right? Like you can find that kind of pretty much anywhere. But do you have to look for a certain type of garbage, right? You mentioned like, Alright, I gotta get a pan that plays in D minor. Most garbage

After Cooking 5:32

doesn't play in any key. More or less a noisy thing. It's not something that makes a tone where you can say, oh, that's an A, or that's a D. But yeah, this definitely difficult to find them. For example, the pots that are used, they are not all of them are actually playable. Because you need something that when you hit it, it needs to stay in, it needs to sound for a longer time. Otherwise, it's not just like, you need something that makes more like a sound, something like that, to imagine something that resonates. Yeah. And so for that, it was pretty hard to find something that actually resonates. And I found out that there is one special way they made pots, they don't do it anymore, which is kind of a problem for me now. Because if I need to find some new pots, it's getting harder and harder. They're like those. I don't know, I don't know how to describe them. They're like little pots, which look like my grandma would have them in, in their home like old pots with painted flowers on them or something. They have like, no sheetrock, they have like, material they're made with a Meyer, it may, I don't know how it's how it's pronounced are called. Which, which makes that sound. And now everything is made from stainless steel or anything like that. The pots nowadays don't sound that good anymore. So I've kind of a problem if I want to find some new? Well, I think you can still buy them some places, but they're more and more rarely.

Nick VinZant 7:17

So where do you get them?

After Cooking 7:18

Like a market where people sell their stuff secondhand? I went there with with the drumstick looked at all the pots they have. And then I hit on them and said, Oh, no, thank you. And went on to find other things. So I don't know what they were thinking. I didn't have time to explain it to everyone. But yeah,

Nick VinZant 7:40

that's what kind of looks where you get in when you're just walking around banging on people's pants.

After Cooking 7:46

I don't know, I don't even know, you know, all kinds of looks I, I trained myself not to care. Because otherwise it would it would be too much. People are always looking weirdly especially for example, also when I when I start making music in the street, the moment that I unpack my things, you know, I'm just walking around to the backpacks for the city really big backfit that backpack though. And then I start to unpack it. And I only have garbage inside, I only have pots and broken metallic things. I don't know things people wouldn't have used for anymore. And I really started to concentrate to just do my thing and to not look at the people because they're always like, What is he doing? Why is he unpacking garbage in the middle of the in the city center?

Nick VinZant 8:39

You make the money playing on the street? Can you like is this? Is this something where you could go into a recording studio and make an album?

After Cooking 8:49

Well, no, not yet. The thing is, like one year ago, I I realized that I want to do a little bit more with it. Because there were a lot of people who talked to me on the street and said, Hey, we have an event that would be nice if you could come to us and and have a gig on stage. But that also is something I couldn't give to those people. Because what I do is, it's not that that much of of like it's not really music what I do. I mean, I make a few nice beats now and then and that's what people like. But I think also the beautiful thing about it what what people can see in it is that kind of live performance. Just that kind of the randomness. It's not about the music. It's about the event itself, that people find so great at the moment. But to put it just for itself on stage. I think that's rather difficult. So what I did since last year I wanted to take it a step further. And I specialized on exactly doing that putting getting it on stage, making it interesting enough to play it on stage. And therefore also making it installation interesting enough to get it into a studio to record it. I'm thinking all the time about making new instruments, what I could do that still fits into my kind of garbage music. And now I can finally say that I have something that I could actually that I can actually present on stage and also in the studio to, yeah, to make songs to make an album. And I'm making a few songs right now. The first one should be available soon.

Nick VinZant 10:47

So if the pots and pans in the bucket kind of simulates drums, right? What did the other instruments simulate the PVC

After Cooking 10:57

pipes? They sound like a bass? Like a bass guitar? Something plucky. I mean, if you put a lot of effects on it with the software then maybe even could sound more or less like a guitar, for example.

Nick VinZant 11:12

I see you have some in the background is there? Could you give us like a quick example on one of the smaller ones? I'm interested to see how you do this. Oh, yeah, that's like, two meters, seven feet, whatever the metric you want to use there.

After Cooking 11:29

A little bit of background, this thing is always played with a just regular flip flop. Oh, I

Nick VinZant 11:35

thought you were just I thought you just dropped.

After Cooking 11:38

I didn't drop my shoe that my, my my stick blades. I love I don't know why. But that's, that's kind of the best thing you can you can get for this kind of instrument that gets it gets really warm sound. Let me give you an example.

Nick VinZant 11:54

And for anybody listening to this, right, like, this isn't hooked up to professional microphones and all that kind of stuff. So.

Okay, so you got the drums? You got the guitar, the bass guitar? Is there any other ones that you're working on?

After Cooking 12:16

Actually, yes, there are a few other ones. Right now I'm experimenting with. With the razor, like an electric razor. If you take that sound, put it to a microphone, and then just pitch the tone. So pitching it higher or lower, then you can get the sound that is really close to just electronic synthesizers, sounds absolutely like something you would hear in every electronic song. And I also have a sore. It's just like a normal sore, but you can use a bow, just like for a violin. And then you can bow the saw and get a really weird sound out of it.

Nick VinZant 13:03

You know, for people who maybe aren't musicians, right? Like I get the immediate like, Oh, that's cool, right? Like, it's interesting to see how you can make musical sounds with stuff that's not necessarily an instrument for other musicians. Are they like, Hey, man, go for it with this experimental stuff. Are they kind of like, what's this guy? Do?

After Cooking 13:24

I think till now I only got great response. Because even for them, it's something new challenge. I'm challenging. I'm challenging myself to do something that people haven't done that much before. It's kind of a challenge to make actually good music out of something that people throw away.

Nick VinZant 13:45

Do you? Are you testing it out? Or do you feel like no, I can do this,

After Cooking 13:51

I really, really, really want to. And I believe that there's definitely potential in this kind of thing. And the big idea for me behind this is that I want to integrate more live music into the electronic scene, like the electronic music scene. The thing is, with electronic music, everyone loves it. But for me, What I miss is that you cannot relate that much to the sound. When you're when you're watching it like live on stage, you cannot relate this much to what is happening there. Then you can watching regular bands. And that's why I want to create something where people can actually relate to the sound. They see, for example, that big bass tube and they think Hey, okay, that's the sound you make when you hit on that kind of instrument. I hope that people can relate in that way more to what is happening like electronic music. That makes

Nick VinZant 14:52

sense, right? I understand what you're saying in the sense that like, I'm a fan of that house, electronic techno, whatever you want to call it. Music But for all I know, it's somebody up there just pressing play on their iPhone, right? Like you're not seeing someone make that music in real time. Are you ready for some harder slash listener submitted questions? Yeah, sure. What is a piece of trash? You've tried to make music on and was like, Oh, this, this is not going to work? Well,

After Cooking 15:20

that's a good question. Well, that's kind of a kind of struggle, I think it's, it's still the the big PVC pipe instrument, that's, that's more or less my greatest success right now, because that's what catches the eye the most at this moment. But at the same time, it's also kind of my biggest failure, because it's such a big instrument, it's nearly doesn't fit in my cart, it's actually I have one centimeter left. It's like, just by luck, I just close my doors of the car, just by luck, I didn't even try to calculate that before, it's like really big instrument really heavy to carry around the brakes all the time. And I need to put microphones on the end of that instrument. And if you have 12 of those pipes, ending at different spots, it's really hard to catch all the sounds at the same level. So it's with the same audio quality, live on stage, I'm getting a lot of problems because you have feedback, the sound from the speakers, or getting back into the microphone. It's just an instrument that is really, really hard to build to carry around to, to put mics on. And it's causing only problems. And the thing is, at the same time, it's the best thing I ever made

Nick VinZant 16:59

is is there any other example of this in like popular culture in the sense that like, some other musician has done something similar, or there's a sound effect in a movie, or anything like this, that maybe not like not to this level, but just like, oh, this person did this in this. And it's kind of the same thing that I'm doing.

After Cooking 17:25

Yeah, there are definitely a lot of people who are already doing something similar than I do. Especially as you said in, for example, effects for films for movies. I'm falling, I'm following a few people on Instagram. We're actually doing that and there are a lot of people in this world who already got really creative and made really crazy sounds out of naturalistic things. Just record it with a microphone. So yeah, there are definitely a lot of people doing that. But I haven't seen them I haven't seen any doing this kind of thing live on stage

Nick VinZant 18:06

so that you didn't then just like walk around banging on stuff all the time.

After Cooking 18:11

Not not as much as I would wish i It's definitely a good idea to just go around and experiment with things that are around you just to hear the sounds when I when I walk past like how to say it in English like a construction. Yeah, construction. When I see like a really long big pipe laying around. I would I would love it to just go there and hit on it. See how bass it sounds how sub bass that sound would be. But I don't do it since it's illegal. Most of the times they're working there, I guess. But yeah, I think it's a good thing to just experiment and find more things to make music with.

Nick VinZant 19:00

What is your overall favorite sound?

After Cooking 19:03

Doesn't have to be garbage. Just one instrument I'm cheating with and I love it.

Nick VinZant 19:07

Give me a garbage one and then a regular one. How about that? Yeah.

After Cooking 19:10

So garbage one. As I said, it's the one I love and hate the most the tube instrument. The other one that is not made out of garbage is a colomba Have you ever heard of a colomba? I don't it's like a little wooden block with metal things on it. If you if you let the metal thing vibrate, the block vibrates and that creates a sound this is one

Nick VinZant 19:41

oh I feel like can you strum it or play it or whatever real quick

is that is a cool sound. Now where's the From the like, what culture does that originate from?

After Cooking 20:04

I think original originally, it's somewhere from Africa. I don't know what count three to be exact.

Nick VinZant 20:11

Do you clean it off before you use it for everyone that we

After Cooking 20:15

are on the same page here, I'm not playing on things that are actually really, really dirty. So I mean, they're getting more dirty and the they are getting dirtier when I play on the street, for example. But I don't take something from from a garbage bell that is full of, I don't know, fungus.

Nick VinZant 20:39

Whatever you're saying, You're not digging out of the

After Cooking 20:41

drone. No, not at all. So and if I would do that, and yes, before I start playing it, I definitely cleaned. Clean it at least one time.

Nick VinZant 20:51

So now, can you explain the name after cooking after cooking? Yeah. Where did that come from?

After Cooking 20:56

Well, um, a few years ago, I think four or four years ago or something when I did the garbage drumming on the street thing for for a year. People asked asked me all the time, what my name is. So well, if they can find me on social media or, or anything. And I didn't have anything I didn't have a name. And then I started thinking about what I what I could do. And I don't know I didn't take it that serious. So I didn't think about a name that long. And at the end, I thought like, Okay, I'm banging on pots and pans. Normally, you cook on pots and pans. I do kind of a recycling thing with them. So I call myself after cooking. It's like, after you're done with cooking after you don't use this stuff anymore. I take them to draw on it. That's a good,

Nick VinZant 21:58

I like it, man. I like it. Um, that's all the questions that we have. Is there anything else that you think that we missed? Or? Well, there's

After Cooking 22:05

definitely one thing I would love to say. I just to let people know when when things will be happening. Because on my Instagram and Tiktok, a lot of people asked me when I will drop my first song or when I dropped something on Spotify. And just wanted to say that I've been working on it really, really hard. But it also takes a lot of time because I don't want to be my songs, just something that I have done in two days. I mean, I want to put effort in it, make it sound really, really good. And that's why it takes so long but my first one is finally ready. And now there are a lot of things that still need to be done. For example, music, making music video, thinking about our cover and anything, but my song should be out there on Spotify, Apple Music, or whatever you can think of. At the end of November, please support it because that's my dream. I would love to make more for for people. So yeah, I'm excited.


Vampire Scholar Theadora Jean

For hundreds of years stories about Vampires have scared and captivated us. But where did they come from and why are some people convinced they are real. Vampire Scholar Theadora Jean joins us to talk Vampire Mythology, the original Count Dracula and how Vampires went from scary to sexy. Then, we countdown the Top 5 Vampires.

Theadora Jean: 01:53ish

Pointless: 50:22ish

Top 5 Vampires: 01:17:35ish

nickvinzant@gmail.com (Show Email)

316-530-7719 (Show voicemail)

https://tsjharling.squarespace.com (Theadora’s Website and Author Page)

https://twitter.com/theadorajean (Theadora Jean Twitter)

Interview with Vampire Scholar Theadora Jean

Nick VinZant 0:12

Welcome to Profoundly Pointless. My name is Nick VinZant Coming up in this episode, vampires,

Theadora Jean 0:19

that just starts to be kind of rumors and folktales that emerge about people that are coming back from the dead and preying on the living in some way. And the other aspect of the vampire that I think will always hone our imaginations is its relationship to capitalism. It's kind of weird. It's kind of weird that this horrible 19th century story about a weird vampire that comes from far away to prey on people in London, then ends up as a kids car team,

Nick VinZant 1:00

I want to thank you so much for joining us, if you get a chance, subscribe, leave us a rating or a review, we really appreciate it, it really helps us out if you're a new listener, welcome to the show. If you're a longtime listener, thanks for all of your support. So our first guest is a vampire researcher, who has studied where the mythology surrounding vampires started, and how it has changed and affected society. As vampires have gone from scary, to sexy, back to scary and just about everything in between. And it turns out that the changes that vampires have gone through, also say a lot about the changes society has gone through. This is vampire scholar, Theodora gene, when we're talking about vampires, like where does the mythology around them start,

Theadora Jean 1:58

it rarely happens kind of 1600s, maybe 1700s. In Eastern Europe, there just starts to be kind of rumors and folktales that emerge about people that are coming back from the dead and preying on the living in some way. And the stories kind of vary. But then what happens is the kind of powers that be start investigating the stories, and take it very seriously, and start writing things down just on a kind of scientific basis looking into it, because they they genuinely don't know what is just fairy tale and rumor and what might actually be a dangerous thing that is happening. In essence, it gets investigated by the church and by scientists. But then right at that time, you know, printing press, text writing all starts to kind of become a bit more popular. And then it kind of leaps from a kind of almost like a tabloid story that's been investigated to something that becomes part of the literary imagination, certainly, in kind of Western Europe,

Nick VinZant 3:14

people thought that this was a real thing that was happening, and then it kind of just evolved into fictional stories.

Theadora Jean 3:20

Yeah, yeah. That's what I would say, oh, people certainly weren't sure. Because, obviously, when we go back that far, whenever something strange happens, people kind of put a story behind it to try and make sense of it. Yeah. But what would have happened is if you have somebody you hear these stories, even now about somebody who certainly appears to be dead, but then kind of has a bit of time and then comes back, or, or you might have somebody who genuinely is dead, but something makes their body move or something. And so they can have the appearance of life, a dead body can have the appearance of life, even if the body is definitely still dead. So it's just these kind of little little things that have kind of, but people weren't sure about at the time and didn't have the scientific knowledge to explain.

Nick VinZant 4:10

When we think about like other monster creatures, right like Frankenstein, the Wolfman, the mummy. Yeah, they have that kind of similar origin. Were like, oh, is this real? Or were they always fictional characters, and the vampire is different?

Theadora Jean 4:28

Well, I would say the werewolf is very similar. So the werewolves and vampires actually are almost almost the same figure. The Vampire is also associated with the mean. So you think of the werewolf comes to life at the forming the where the vampire also kind of historically comes to life in kind of like the moonlight and also, vampires, often very associated with violence, but also with the animals. So Dracula is, you know, it's the Dracula Dracula is was associated with a bat. But he's also like the wolf and the dog and all those different things. So they definitely have a kinship. In terms of the other ones you mentioned, Frankenstein, I would say is definitely comes from Mary Shelley's novel. And the mummy. I don't know so much about I think you'd need somebody who knows about Egypt, Romania and things like that to come on your show to talk about, but I think the mummy is. It is a kind of a different category or by itself, I think, yeah.

Nick VinZant 5:34

When does the vampire become really popular? 19th century

Theadora Jean 5:38

is when it all kicks off. In a way it all really happens with Byron. We're familiar with Lord Byron. Yeah.

Nick VinZant 5:46

He's no longer with us, I believe.

Theadora Jean 5:50

Okay, so no, Byron was a lord in early 1800s. Very famous at the time for writing outrageous books, but also living in a very outrageous lifestyle, slept lots of people kind of the original rock star, he wrote a few things like, short story called The fragment, which kind of kind of flirts with the idea of the vampire, but then a doctor called John Polidori, who is actually a personal physician, he writes a novel novella called the vampire that along with a few others, similar time so sort of at 19 kickoff the vampire as we know it, a figure that's kind of walks among fast preys on people. It happens there. But then we also also in America, there is a another short story called The Black vampire, which is about a slave who comes back from the dead and wreaks havoc. Then you have a big Penny Dreadful called Vani. The Vampire, which goes for two years written by multiple people, and that really cements in the idea of the vampire as especially the kind of English aristocrat lives in a castle preys on people that really cements it in the popular imagination. But then you also have Camilla, that kind that is really famous book, which by an Irish author called Sheridan the Fanny. In that one, he basically sets up lesbian vampire queer, Love Story misunderstood. And then, at the turn of the century, we have Dracula in 1897, the well known story, and that's, that's where it all gets bedded in.

Nick VinZant 7:43

Dracula was the one that I always that jumps out to me, right? Yeah. Was that that big of a deal at the time? Or did that just kind of throughout as history is progressed, like we kind of not forgot about but the other ones got pushed to the back. And that one became the big one,

Theadora Jean 8:01

I think, okay, so when Dracula comes out, it's not this like huge, stupendous hit that changes literature forever is not that Dracula was written by a lot by Bram Stoker, and he was an Actor Manager. His his day job really was working in the theater, looking after some super famous actors and actresses. And he wasn't he was kind of like a midlist author who had who wrote regular horror stories, Dracula comes out. It gets met with like mixed reviews. But really the thing that cements it as this kind of iconic vampire King really is Nosferatu, the film that kind of brings the vampire onto the big stage has always been associated with Dracula. And really, Dracula has just gotten more and more popular as time has gone on, rather than less. I do have a couple of reviews that I could share with you really briefly.

Nick VinZant 9:09

This is for the original,

Theadora Jean 9:11

the original book when it comes out and 8097

Nick VinZant 9:15

Yeah, for would that be from Nosferatu then it's like that like that's scary. I remember maybe the way it was filmed with a grainy like a guy with those ears.

Theadora Jean 9:25

There is ya know, as far as he comes out, I think in 1922, so quite a while after, yeah, it never made him like big millions or you know, it never did. But I will just share with you. A couple that did did recognize the genius. Yeah. So weirdly is the Daily Mail that recognizes Dracula and says, the recollection of this weird and ghostly tale will doubtless haunt us for time to come. The eerie chapters are written together with concern Trouble art and cunning and unmistakable literary power. Persons of small courage and weakness should confine their reading of these gruesome pages strictly to the hours between Dawn and sunset.

Nick VinZant 10:12

Day. That's a good review.

Theadora Jean 10:15

Yeah, um, and I will also just share with you the American response, because I have the San Francisco Chronicle here, which says, the story is told in such a realistic way that one actually accepts its wildest flights of fancy as real facts. It is a superb tour de force, which stamps itself on the memory. So some people did like it.

Nick VinZant 10:39

Was it really that much better than the other ones? Or was it one of those things that like, it just hit at the right time, and it was pretty good

Theadora Jean 10:48

thing that made it into something more than it was really was the when the film came out long after he died, he never really got the recognition of the work that he did. I will tell you, famously, one of the things that he did was, so as I was saying, he was a manager of a theater. And he arranged for a theatrical performance of it in order to cement the copyright, because copyright laws were different them. And he wanted to make sure that if it did become big, and got put on the stage, and people made money out of it, he wanted his copyright. And in order to do that, he had to be the first to put on a production of it to cement that copyright. And the famous actor that he worked with was kind of like, I'm not gonna take part in this don't really, don't worry, I'm not really into this. And the script wasn't very good. So that that particular adaptation, it kind of sank like a stone,

Nick VinZant 11:50

I would imagine, right? And I don't know what I'm talking about. But I would imagine you go back into 18th 19th century morals, right, that this would have been like, oh, my gosh, was it just sensational? Or was that just Am I kind of thinking people were more crude than I thought that they were? I don't know if that's,

Theadora Jean 12:12

it's not that you're you're not wrong about the prude potentially being there. But the thing is about the book is the kind of like the way we see Dracula vampires today, they always have like, a bit of an erotic charge, you know, like the, the kind of, you know, the the physicality of it seems very obvious. But But the book itself, in a way, there's very much there's the good guys and the bad guys. And the bad guy is Dracula, and vampires. And there's kind of there are the scenes of gruesome violence, which are kind of recognized by the time by the reviewers and by the readers. But it's not seen in the same car. It's kind of just seen as just just plain old, horrible violence, just rather than having that kind of, like sexual undertone, if you see what I mean. So there was nothing when they're reading the text, they're reading it just as like, this vampire is taking the blog, they're not really seeing it as something that has any kind of subtext or anything beyond.

Nick VinZant 13:17

We're kind of I feel like we're used to sex and violence and they were used to violence.

Theadora Jean 13:21

Yeah, yeah, I guess you could say that. Yeah. But there's more that they're not seeing the sexual undertone.

Nick VinZant 13:28

But was it there? Because it seems to me like from the outside like Vampire, Dracula went from being scary to being sexy. Uh huh.

Theadora Jean 13:35

Yeah. Yeah. But I think when you read the book, it definitely, there's definitely a charge there. So when Jonathan is alone in the castle, there's just you know, there's the two men in the bed chamber for a star, then Jonathan gets approached by these three women that like, you know, licking their lips and climbing all over him. Like is there is just the Victorian audiences weren't so familiar with kind of sexual subtext. I would just say,

Nick VinZant 14:09

when would you say that it'd be kind of came, became overt, like as it goes out, like,

Theadora Jean 14:15

even Bela Lugosi kind of brings a kind of a seductive charm like he's alluring. He's kind of less kind of like ugly, Nosferatu strange, odd and more kind of dark, handsome heroes sorts of things. So I would even say from Bela Lugosi, and just I think just being on film, there's there's a real change from the text to something much more corporeal. It's like a very kind of physical male presence that is recognizably human. Whereas in the book, it's very much more is he even real? Is he not at home? I had a bad dream. Am I mentally ill. Is it a bat? Is it a wolf? Is it dust? Like what? What's happening there?

Nick VinZant 15:06

So in my mind, right, like, I go from Bram Stoker, like 1897. Yeah. And then I go to like, oh, and the next thing was twilight. Are there big vampire books, though in between that? Let's just call it 100 years.

Theadora Jean 15:22

Yes. Yeah. So there are a few. What I would say though, is 19th century does seem to be like core time for bedding in the vampire, right. But then after the Victorian era, when we're into the sort of war years, there aren't, I'm sure there are vampire stories, especially kind of beyond kind of UK, US. But in terms of the iconic ones that we would recognize as part of kind of the standard literature, I would really say, in 1954, when Robert Matheson rights I Am Legend, that is a biggie. They make three different films of that book. So there's that, but really, when Anne Rice and Stephen King in the 70s, Stephen King writes Salem's Lot, I think that's 1975. And then and Rice's interview with vampire is 1976. That along with the Film portrayals, so you have Frank Langella as Dracula in a Universal film, you probably won't remember it is kind of fallen by the wayside apart from myself, but at all. It was a big deal at the time, because Dracula becomes like it. Instead of the women being victims. They fancy him back, right. So there's a bit of a, we're changing now into the vampire as kind of not just kind of a seductive figure guys, like dangerous, but more one that is like a misunderstood other figure that has been unfairly maligned. I mean, an Rice's Interview with the Vampire puts you the all of a sudden the heroes of the story are the vampires. Right. So that really changes everything. But then you do have Twilight which comes out I think 2005 2006 That puts vampires back on the map again, of course. But there's also Octavia Butler's fledgling, which is science fiction. Bearing back more away from paranormal romance genre star and bit more into although it's science fiction, vampire, but still a bit more on the literary side. Yeah.

Nick VinZant 17:48

What do you think? It is about it that has always drawn us in?

Theadora Jean 17:53

Yeah, okay. So as long as you have k, the basic concept of the vampire, is this something that returns from the dead preys on the living sucks out the lifeforce that is a vampire. And that you can use that in so many different ways, right? Dracula is just one of many kinds of thought experiments that we can have about that kind of dynamic of something that lives on the threshold, something that is not alive, not dead, not not us, but sort of other at the same time. And the other aspect of the vampire that I think we'll always hone our imaginations is its relationship to capitalism, right. So Dracula has hordes of money. And famously, when he gets somebody tries to stab him in the book and outcomes a stream of gold, right? Because he has his lord of his manor. He's defeated lots of people and hundreds of years ago, and he has lots of different kinds of money. So that's Dracula. But even before then, the vampire the vampire isn't an aristocrat, right in your mind. Is somebody rich? Even? Yeah, lower

Nick VinZant 19:17

income vampire. Yeah,

Theadora Jean 19:18

exactly. Right. I'm sure there are some obviously, but that's that's what we think of the aristocrat in his castle. Yeah. So but then, even in something like in Marx's Das Kapital, right? He returns to the vampire language, or imagery in order to describe how capitalism works. And I have a little quotation for you. Can I share it with you? Yeah. Okay, so, Marx describes capital like this. Capital is dead labor. That vampire like only lives by sucking living labor and lives, the more the more labor it sucks, the time during which the labor works. The time during which the capitalist consumes the labor power that he has purchased off him. Right. So there is an AI and even if you think of Twilight, right, Edward is super rich. Yeah, that's part of his a lot. So as long as we have, I guess, an imbalance of resources, there's always going to be this concept of the vampire that can be moved around on different things with I guess, vampire is another word to explore exploitation, I think.

Nick VinZant 20:36

I guess I never really thought of it that way. But is that the original intention of the kind of authors? Or is that something though, that has evolved over time, and maybe people looking back? Like, oh, this is what they meant? Well,

Theadora Jean 20:52

I think I kind of think when Pete When authors write, I don't know if they always have like a specific like manifesto in that way. Yeah. But at the same time, if we go back, so I was talking to you about Byron, when his physician, John Polidori, writes the vampire, he is thinking, essentially, of Byron, as somebody that eases people, and drains them and ruins them. So even in fact, Varney the vampire, and Camilla, and Dracula, and all of these different ones, there's, there's some kind of way in which people are extracting, like a life force in whatever way you might want to take that is definitely embedded within the tax. That's kind of what being a vampire in some way is, is kind of taking taking some bits, like some kind of physical essence of somebody for your own regeneration.

Nick VinZant 21:45

Do you think most people kind of noticed that? Or is it one of those things that like we maybe we noticed subconsciously, right? Because I'm like, when I've read it, it's just like, Oh, it's a good story. But when you bring it up about like, oh, it could be a metaphor for capitalism, like, oh, yeah, I guess it kind of could

Theadora Jean 22:00

this. I mean, I wouldn't say the only way to interpret the vampire is to see it as a capitalist metaphor. But as long as we have capitalism, that's gonna be something that really easily can be used to talk about these things like in the Netflix film vampires in the Bronx, then if you've heard of that, haven't seen that one. Yeah. So funny little farm, where the vampires are property developers, which is perfect because it Dracula is a property developer, too.

Nick VinZant 22:32

Are you ready for some harder slash listener submitted questions? Yeah, sure. How can we always remember the vampire and not the other characters in the books?

Theadora Jean 22:43

I actually am really pleased with that question, because it really goes to the heart of the actual novel. In the book itself, there is no specific hero. There is no one narrator. The book itself is composed of lots and lots of different pieces of writing. So like, tabloid articles, or one person's diary or another person's letter to somebody else, right? There's not like, one person's first person narration where they say, I went to the castle, I came back, we I went on this journey to destroy the vampire. That's not what happens. There are lots and lots of different voices. But the one thing that is constant is the threat of the vampire, right? So it makes sense that in all the different adaptations the TV series, the film's the book adaptations, all of the things that come in response to Dracula, there isn't there are different ways in which you can make the kind of hero of your little TV series right you can make it that Lucy's fiance author is the staff you can make it that it's Jonathan, you can make it that it's the girls Mina and Lucy, you can make it that really is a battle between Van Helsing and Dracula, right? Because the book lends that lends itself to that because it it doesn't have one strict kind of master voice, but you're following through the book. Yeah, I

Nick VinZant 24:20

can't think of any vampire story in which I didn't focus on the vampire,

Theadora Jean 24:24

the villain. fun bit, right.

Nick VinZant 24:27

Who is the best character around Dracula though in any kind of fictional universe that you'd be like? Oh, that's that character is interesting, even though they're not Dracula.

Theadora Jean 24:39

Well, for me personally, my my research focuses on Mina will you remember her? Do you remember of us least seen the film with Winona

Nick VinZant 24:49

Ryder is Winona Ryder. Yes,

Theadora Jean 24:53

in a way for me if if there is a hero, it's meaner or maybe meaner and haha husband Jonathan, because it kind of centers around her in that her husband Jonathan goes off. Then we have some correspondence between her and her best friend Lucy. It's her friend Lucy that gets annihilated by first the vampire and then the vampire hunters, right. And then in the latter part of the book, she's the one managing all the knowledge. She's putting together the timetables, she's realizing that she can access what the vampire is doing because she has been bitten by him, which means he has a telepathic connection to him, which means she knows where he is. Right? And she kind of manages the group. She is also very interesting because she hovers between being a kind of conventional, attractive, kind of typically gendered woman in that, you know, she's engaged and then she gets married to Jonathan, she doesn't overstep the mark right she's not very overtly radical but in actuality what she's doing is she's she's she's kind of taken charge of the of the narration. And she's she's putting she's she's leaving the team, right, but she's she's not doing it with too much ego, right? She's just like, politely gathering everyone together.

Nick VinZant 26:24

Is there any other big character around kind of vampire lore? Besides Dracula, that really jumps are the only other one I would think of is like Van Helsing.

Theadora Jean 26:34

Van Van Helsing is has become very iconic in itself. So you even have a Netflix series just on the Van Helsing legacy now, as well as the film but there's also a film on Van Helsing but in a way that derives from the book Dracula. I would also say Camilla is like, like like a secret echo of Dracula. So whenever you think of like a vampiric female presence is normally like, in some way. It's been inspired by Sheridan, the Fanny's Carmilla also has this kind of iconic status that is just kind of just goes a little bit under the radar. But when you think of a woman vampire, when you think of some kind of like, formidable force that is kind of maybe has a bit of lesbian quality, and I don't know if Did you ever watch Castlevania? Yeah, yeah. Do you ever Camila. And that

Nick VinZant 27:41

started the first Caesars just like you are. So she Carmilla is now that that predates the kind of Bram Stoker stuff, or that is after it predates and that's more from a female Dracula dragon.

Theadora Jean 28:00

Yeah. So even though it was written by a man, the story is, there is a girl called Laura, who meets a woman or teenage girl, same as her who is a countess, and is basically sending her blood in the night. But they have a certain kind of friendship that goes that falls into romance. But the idea about Camila is obviously, the the narrator Laura believes that she is the same age as her but actually, no, she's hundreds and hundreds of years old and she has her own castle and all those things. Yeah.

Nick VinZant 28:40

What do you think that like Bram Stoker would think of all of the different interpretations, right where Dracula can be scary. Funny, sexy, unclear gender unclear sexual preferences. Like what do you think of it? I think most famous author would think about, like Twilight and interview with no, yeah, all those different ways that it has gone.

Theadora Jean 29:09

Honestly, Bram Stoker, we think of Bram Stoker as this weird little guy, but actually, he was the strapping strong, charming Irishman who loved socializing with people, and famously even jumped into the Thames to save somebody's life once or attempt to save somebody's life. He was a good guy. And I think that he would have been honored to see his creation on film in all the different permeations because obviously, he dies before we even really have film and cinema right. But he is in love with the London theatre scene and performance and storytelling, and I think he just would have been amazed to think of his work becoming a as well known, I mean, Dracula goes is beyond even the book now is part of our like discourse as to how we understand popular culture, you know, and I think in particular, he would have probably liked Christopher Lee in the Hammer Horror films. I think they're quite akin to the actors that he worked with Henry Irving, who famously did big performances of Mephistopheles, and he played a good villain, right? And Christopher Lee is quite, I think, is quite odd. In that vein in the Dracula movies, certainly, I know that Bram Stoker was very interested in gender issues. And he writes other things about men and women. And he's kind of intrigued by like the the new the new things that we can think about men and women. So for example, he writes about, Van Helsing in Dracula writes about Mina that she is, has like a woman's grace, but a man's brain she has like intelligence and adventure and all of those things. And he admires that about her. And I think that definitely comes through in the book. So I'm not sure that he would have, you know, been a total card carrying feminist in the way that we we would now think of those kinds of topics. But I know that I don't know. But I like to think that he would have just been, I've just been amazed by all the different interpretations and to just see his his construction on the big screen, I just think, I don't think he would have really cared what we made of whether it's what the vampire is or not just that that power, the power of the performance and the villain, I think he just would have been like life made.

Nick VinZant 31:50

When you think of this interpretation of Dracula, what is your first kind of thoughts about it? So like Bram Stoker's Dracula,

Theadora Jean 32:02

I think of a sexual predator. That's what I think Bram Stoker's Dracula is about. The thing that he does is he invades bedrooms and he invades bodies. That's, and I think if we were going to have an adaptation that really spoke to that, it will be an 18th. And it would be horrible.

Nick VinZant 32:22

What did the movie like? How did how well did that kind of capture it?

Theadora Jean 32:27

Well, I don't think there has been an adaptation that is actually that close to the book, I think. And in a way it can't be right because the film adaptation or TV adaptation is always gonna have to fit the form right and adhere to the directors intentions and the writers intentions. For me, Nosferatu is one of the closest in fact, it invokes the strange ugliness, this thing creeping closer and closer and the characters can't get away from it. That kind of summons the like spirit of the novel for me. But I would also say Freddy Krueger is actually very Dracula for me. He comes in the night he's in dreams. You're not sure if you're awake or asleep. When he famously says down the phone, I'm your boyfriend now. Fast Dracula. I'm coming for you. I'm interrupting. Like, I don't know if you remember, but there's two characters. One is blonde one is a brunette in the Nightmare on Elm Street series. And they're very what what like, when you think of Mina and Lucy they're often blonde and brunette. And the brunette is the one that is sort of the final girl. I also think the Slenderman phenomenon is very Dracula. I don't do you know about the Slenderman? Yeah. So in terms of this fictional thing, so it comes up on the internet. So you're, you're in the ether. Now you're in cyberspace, you're in this sort of dream space, that isn't the real world, right? And there are all these multiple different ways in which the speaker can appear. This kind of Gothic dark thing that you can't put your finger on, but it's again, coming closer and closer. Like, is it real, is it not? And it seems to have kind of summoned lots of different interpretations. So if you go on the internet, there's loads of different kinds of pictures, but still kind of recognizable much like Dracula, in that there's, there's almost countless amounts of films, adaptations, literary versions, or rewrites as well as Sesame Street, Count Dracula, all of those different things right. And Slenderman is a bit like that. It can be put in diff When put in different modes, but still was recognizable as that same scary dark figure. That's kind of in the imagination.

Nick VinZant 35:09

Edward Cullen from Twilight,

Theadora Jean 35:11

I have no strong feelings. I think it's okay for people to have fun and have a gothic romance if that's what they want to do. I think there's better vampire books out there but you know, that's fine.

Nick VinZant 35:23

Our vampire scholar purists though a little bit annoyed that like that's, that's,

Theadora Jean 35:30

that's, that's the one that's the most I guess if you want to say vampire purist vampire critics, I think basically kind of ignore ignore the series because there's so many other interesting vampire books that you can talk about and look at. But I mean, I would say for me, I quite like when there are new series new adaptations, more kind of Gothic adaptations and things that bring back to life the kind of creepy the supernatural is always fun for me so so for example, with BBCs recent Dracula, I don't know if you saw it with close bang. No. Well, there's a three part series that came out. I'm not sure if it's in the US or not, but I hate I hated that series. I did not care for it one bit. I thought it was terrible, but it kind of it just kind of puts my work back on the map and it continues to discourses continues the conversation. So I think there's room for a bit of teenage crush on Edward Cullen, I think

Nick VinZant 36:43

better fictional vampire to count from Sesame Street or Count Chocula from cereal?

Theadora Jean 36:51

Um, is gonna be Sesame Street, right?

Nick VinZant 36:56

It does Count Chocula accurate in any in any way.

Theadora Jean 37:03

But what I will say is, it's kind of weird. It's kind of weird that this horrible 19th century story about a weird vampire that comes from far away to prey on people in London. Then ends up as a kid's car team thing like I don't really get it. But here we are.

Nick VinZant 37:26

vampire power you would like to have vampire power you would not want to have

Theadora Jean 37:32

I don't think I want any of that vampire share my life man. I'm happy to just die and be filled my grave

Nick VinZant 37:40

Yeah, the price is the price is too much.

Theadora Jean 37:44

I don't want to be damned. I don't want my other half to look at me and be like stay away. D

Nick VinZant 37:50

Yeah, that's comes it comes with too much baggage. So where does like the Vlad the Impaler stuff come in? Is that a later invention? Or was that always the basis for it or idea behind it?

Theadora Jean 38:05

Yeah. So Vlad the Impaler comes in really with Dracula. Right. So Bram Stoker spent about seven years doing his research for the book and writing it and making notes and things like that. And when he is doing his research, he goes to work B. He goes to Scotland and kind of sets up the atmosphere and things like that. And there is a kind of, I guess you could say critical debate as to whether Vlad the Impaler was a direct influence or if he had Vlad the Impaler in his mind when he writes Dracula. Some people think yes, he was inspired by the speaker and that is what creates Dracula. Some people say there's no evidence for that. But either way, it's he was definitely thinking of a kind of powerful Lord figure akin to Vlad the Impaler when he's creating the character of Dracula. And so after that, there's kind of it's kind of like in in the imagination of of us all really that it kind of makes us a little bit borderline is Dracula real was the real guy is a something that actually is still there lurking away in the kind of cemeteries of some strange Castle far away. So it's kind of a fun thing. But yeah, it's part of the potential mythology, not just around vampires, but specifically, Bram Stoker's writing of Dracula.

Nick VinZant 39:47

Best depiction of vampire in movies or TV shows worst depiction.

Theadora Jean 39:56

Best I'm gonna say I know I've mentioned this writer a few times, but I'm gonna mention those frosty one last time when he comes up on the ship. Do you remember that pop? Yes emerges and all of a sudden it's just this fucking weird thing and none of the guys can do anything about it. And he's comment, right? That is to me that's pure this pure drag, right? This is what I was saying about him his apprentice phase freakin scary. And he's coming and you're helpless, right? Worst? What did you say of Dracula or vampires? Either one? Yeah, I would just say I'll just say Twilight, the Twilight series. But I will also give a little shout out to near dark film about vampires. That was very good as well.

Nick VinZant 40:43

Have you seen any of the funny ones? Like what we do in the shadows?

Theadora Jean 40:47

Oh, yeah, they're really good, fun.

Nick VinZant 40:50

I, I am of the personal opinion that the energy vampire is one of the greatest characters of the last years. Like it's so well done. I love Colin Robinson.

Theadora Jean 41:03

Yes, he is very good. But can I give you some literary insight into that? Secretly when Dracula comes out in 1897, another vampire novel came out by a lady called Florence Mariette called the blood of the vampire. And this was a psychic vampire the story of a psychic vampire. She's Creole. And so at the exact same time as Dracula comes out, there's also this idea of less something that is preying on, like sucking blood from the neck, but is just every everybody basically everything she loves that she touches and loves. She basically destroys by taking that lifeforce. And yeah, so psychic energy vampire, but taking it seriously.

Nick VinZant 41:55

Has Frankenstein ever been as big as Dracula?

Theadora Jean 41:58

Ah, what a great question. Right. So Frankenstein. Okay, so how are we determining bank? Right? So it's difficult to say. In terms of adaptation, I would probably say Dracula, I think, I don't know, I don't have an encyclopedic knowledge of every film ever made. But I would say Dracula has probably been at, made into film or TV more times than Frankenstein. Right? There's even this there's two films coming out next year, just by Universal Dracula adaptations. There's Renfield, which is a riff on that character. And then there's also the last voyage of the Demeter which is just set on the boat. So that there's something about Dracula that people just love to mix up and remix and do something new with Frankenstein less so excepts, right. There is an idea that Frankenstein is actually the birth of science fiction as a genre, right? Not all critics will agree with me on this, some definitely see recognize Frankenstein as the beginning the kind of original science fiction novel, some will go a little bit earlier. Yeah, there's a whole minefield out that I'm opening myself up to with that, but I'm gonna lay my sticker on the table. Yeah, I'm gonna put my cousin's name on say, Yes, I would say Frankenstein begets science fiction, because it's the first kind of sustained attention to what I would see is what all science fiction comes down to, which is an introduction of a new technology. And then dealing with the consequences of that new technology. Almost any science fiction, whether it's set, 300 years in the future, 3000 years in the future, whether it's near future, and there's a virus, whatever it is, science fiction is always interested in that new technology plus a consequence. So you could then say Frankenstein has a far bigger impact, and more popularity, I guess you could say. I just want to give you an example. Right? Dress talk? Yeah. Okay, what happens in Jurassic Park, in science fiction, there's a science, there's a lab, a scientist takes up bits of different dead creatures and brings them to life. That's Frankenstein. And then they deal with the consequences, right? And that consequences is dangerous to the people that created the thing in the first place. This Jurassic Park is Frankenstein.

Nick VinZant 44:39

Now you can think of so many examples of that, right? Like the ones that just jump out of my head is like iRobot we can create robots that take over the world like Yeah, it's really interesting how there's all these different stories, but they come back to really all being the same story. Like there's only a couple ones, right? Yeah, kind of the same thing.

Theadora Jean 45:01

I mean, it's kind of true and not true. Like people have such rich imaginations. People are doing so like new different things all the time, right? But at the same time, yeah, there's there is this idea that there's a few, I heard this one thing that's like there's two stories. One is a person goes on a trip. And the other story is a stranger comes to town. Those are the two stories. I don't know. What do you think about that?

Nick VinZant 45:28

Yeah, they pretty much all come like all come together in that sense, right? That one seems to his Frankenstein changed in the same ways that that Dracula has changed over the years. Is Frankenstein always kind of Frankenstein?

Theadora Jean 45:42

Ah, to be honest, I just think that Dracula and Frankenstein are very similar in that for whatever reason. These two stories get written in London, England in the 1900s. And they create monsters, and for some reason, we've just not been able to get over it. 100 years later, we're still like, riffing off those ideas that those monsters kind of put into motion. I don't think there is another monster figure that is iconic and memorable in the same way like most kids will still know Frankenstein or like, ah, Dracula, like we as part of our popular consciousness as part of the mythology of like, it's part of our storytelling. Like,

Nick VinZant 46:37

I would go, Dracula one. Frankenstein to werewolf three.

Theadora Jean 46:45

I really agree. I would agree. Well, it's a kind of a funny one. I feel like people for some reason, vampire is kind of acceptable. Like, you can have a cool vampire. Right? You can have the last books. Yeah, yeah. But well, it's just always a little bit ludicrous.

Nick VinZant 47:05

Yeah, somehow it's too far fetched. It is.

Theadora Jean 47:08

I do find it strange. But also funny because I feel like a werewolf is also a little bit more possible, right? Because the only change is like into a different it's a different kind of animal. He hasn't died and come back to life. He doesn't have a mortal powers. He's just gotten a bit more in touch with his best your side

Nick VinZant 47:26

is much more limited. Right? Like that could happen.

Theadora Jean 47:30

Yeah, I get like you could get more hairy. You could get more doglike. I think right? Yeah.

Nick VinZant 47:35

It's weird how that works out.

Theadora Jean 47:37

But that like if you say well, was that just sounds silly.

Nick VinZant 47:41

Yeah, there's something about it you like? Um, that's pretty much that's all the questions that I have. Is there anything else you think that we missed? Or? Kind of people want to learn more about this one of their more about you? What should they?

Theadora Jean 47:54

Oh, wow. I guess I would say that if you want to know about me, I also write some Gothic stories. I've written a vampire story or to my time, a bit of flash fiction ghost stories ghost stories. My main thing probably, you can check out my work. My pen name is tsj. howling. So that's me. But in terms of Dracula, I would just say I guess I tell you what, I'll give you one other adaptation which you might want to check out. Yeah. Which is not strictly a Dracula adaptation. But Midnight Mass on Netflix, it's a vampire story. It's not strictly Dracula. But if you there's just a lot of similarities there and it's genuinely scary. And I like that about the about the about the series because like I say, like, I don't feel like like most Dracula is either kind of like 12 rating, whereas Midnight Mass actually did make me feel a bit uncomfortable and scared watching it. So yeah, check it out.

Nick VinZant 49:04

Is there one that's like really scary that like what would you say is the scariest of all the vampire stuff?

Theadora Jean 49:14

I don't know. I don't know that I've ever found that. I want I want that. 18 I want that. Right. Like I kind of think it's always too much. Because if you really go there is a horror is kind of a horrible story. Right? And it? I don't know that it would be popular with modern audiences like Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula they had to make him into a love a romantic figure to bring into life even though technically he like Francis will couple of would have you believe that the this is the most accurate and faithful to the novel adaptation that there is but that's not true. He invents a whole love story between him Amina, which is not in the book at all quite the opposite.

Demolition Derby Driver Bekkah Doyle

She’s now known as the Queen of Destruction. But there was a time when getting behind the wheel of a car was Bekkah Doyle’s greatest fear. We talk Demolition Derbys, the joy of racing and the most crash-resistant cars. Then, we countdown the Top 5 Scary but Real Places.

Bekkah Doyle: 01:19ish

Pointless: 35:42ish

Top 5: 52:38

nickvinzant@gmail.com (Show Email)

316-530-7719 (Show voicemail)

https://www.instagram.com/beingbekkah (Bekkah’s Instagram)

https://www.instagram.com/gofastgirls (GoFastGirls’ Instagram)

Bekkah Doyle: Demolition Derby Driver

Nick VinZant 0:12

Welcome to Profoundly Pointless. My name is Nick VinZant Coming up in this episode, go behind the wheel for some demolition. And then we'll count down the top five, very scary, but also very real places,

Bekkah Doyle 0:28

it's dangerous and stupid. At the same time, it is very much staring down your worst fear, you can literally feel the energy of the hit, come through your body. It is like a freight train that just goes through you. I've had cars where I'm like, I really suck. And then on the other side, I have driven a few Toyota Camrys that are just indestructible.

Nick VinZant 0:55

I want to thank you so much for joining us. If you get a chance, subscribe, leave us a rating or a review. If you're a new listener. Thanks for checking out the show. If you're a longtime listener, thanks for spending your time with us. I want to get right to our first guest. She's a demolition derby driver, Our Lady of destruction herself, Becca Doyle. How did you get into this?

Bekkah Doyle 1:20

Um, well, I went to my first demolition derby I think I was like five years old. My mom took me every year our account, like most county fairs have them. And I always was like, Oh, that's really fun. I could do that. But then in 2019, I actually had a real life car accident had pretty weak significant physical injuries. But I mostly had really bad PTSD in cars, like I was really nervous about having a another car accident. So once I got like, medically cleared to do whatever I felt like risking. I just I was just gonna go for it. And either it was gonna help me not be so uncomfortable and fearful in cars, or it was going to confirm my fears. But I wanted to just give it a try.

Nick VinZant 2:14

So I did it makes total sense and kind of makes no sense at the same time, right? I don't mean that to be offensive, but like, Okay, I go for it, right?

Bekkah Doyle 2:25

It's dangerous and stupid. At the same time, it is very much staring down your worst fear. But I decided to go for it. Because realistically for PTSD, your only option and fears are to be medicated for it and kind of live in a fog or overcome it as best you can.

Nick VinZant 2:48

Does it seem to have worked so far?

Bekkah Doyle 2:50

Yeah, I actually am really comfortable in cars. comfortable in the derby cars comfortable on my daily driver, I really only now get nervous in like traffic like stop and go traffic when I can't account for what the other driver is going to do. Or that's really when I get nervous. But it's not entirely eliminated that fear but drastically improved it. And each time I do it, I get more and more comfortable. It's a confidence thing. I feel a lot more confident that I know I can react to someone else. Very quickly.

Nick VinZant 3:29

I think that everybody is familiar with the basic idea of a demolition derby but what's kind of like what's happening.

Bekkah Doyle 3:36

So at demolition derby, you can start from different positions. Like if the cars are next to each other or back to back, the traditional one would be you have like a box on each side of the box is lines of cars, like trunks to trunks, you start straight back and RAM. And then from there, you drive hitting into each other until one car is running. You really want to hit with the rear end of your car to prevent any damage to your front end because again, you want to be the last car that's driving. So you really have to be good at driving in reverse. But there are no mirrors or anything to help you go in reverse so you are physically turning all the way around to look out the back of the car while driving it in the mud. Usually,

Nick VinZant 4:26

you're trying to drive in reverse the whole time. Yeah,

Bekkah Doyle 4:30

as much as possible. I only will drive forwards if I am like relocating within that box to get somewhere else. Or as you start destroying your car. Sometimes you lose gears or you can't go in reverse. Or it's like the end and you're trying to beat someone then I'll switch to driving forwards. But the majority of the time you are trying to drive in reverse as much as you can.

Nick VinZant 4:57

So like is there a generally kind of accept Did strategy to it besides just driving in reverse? Or do you have your own strategy or kind of like you go into a race, what's the game plan,

Bekkah Doyle 5:09

I will usually try to come off that start line as fast as possible to hit the car behind me before they realize I've done it, but also then pull out as fast as possible, get my front end in like a corner of the box. And then start work lines backwards, like as much as I can until there's much less cars left, because usually, in the beginning of derbies people are really, they're amped up, they're nervous, they're ready to go. And they kind of take themselves out by not being smart. So I tried to be smart and calm for the first chunk, let them kind of weed themselves out. And then I will adjust to more aggressive driving of like, you know, chasing people down in reverse moving a lot further around the box and stuff like that. But a lower car count is actually harder than a high car count. Because of the high car count. There's lots of things to hit. With only six cars in the box, you're chasing people and being chased. So you had to be really quick to react because with a lot of cars, you can kind of flop something you do have a time limit depends on the event that you either have one minute or two minutes that you have to be hitting something. So you can't be playing dead or, you know, avoiding people you have to be making contact every one to two minutes or you're ruled out. I honestly can't even tell you in the car. How long one minute or two minutes is it all feels like an eternity so I just hit whatever I can until I can't. It's

Nick VinZant 6:38

a good strategy. So what are the like what makes somebody a good demolition derby driver,

Bekkah Doyle 6:46

you have to have grit. You have to get in the car. These aren't luxury racecars. They're, they're out of junkyards and they're filthy, and they have lots of things wrong with them, you know, you're not going to buy a really nice car to destroy, you're gonna get it as cheap as you can. You're in the mud, it's dirty. But to be successful, you have to be calm in the car, you can't be freaking out. There's lots of things to react to lots of things that you can't expect or predict. So you have to be able to maintain your composure while things are seemingly out of control. And then also being able to be logical and multitask. So while I am driving, I am doing a lot of things in my head. I'm listening to the car to hear if it sounds funny if maybe I have damage. I'm looking at the smoke to see if my radiator smoking I'm looking at smells, I'm usually looking in a completely opposite direction of where I'm going to see where I want to go. As I keep my head on a swivel, because a hit can come from anywhere around me. I don't want to be hit. But I want to hit something. So you're kind of like an owl just looking around you at all times. And then on top of that, I have to watch the track officials for if there's any red flags or Black Flag, anything at all, I there's no race receivers in these cars, you are very much alone by yourself. So I have to be watching them on top of doing all of that, to make sure I follow the track orders.

Nick VinZant 8:19

Well was that first race like?

Bekkah Doyle 8:22

My first one actually wasn't great. I did a women's division in Chino. And I think I drove for like three minutes before my car just had random electrical failure from a radio getting hit out. Luckily, two weeks later, I was doing another derby. And it was my hometown derby. So it was the one that really meant the most for me. So I usually say that that's like my first real Derby gig came really full circle. It was the one I went to when I was five years old. My mom was there. It's that derby is actually only maybe three miles from where I actually had my car accident, like it's all very tightly knit together, like the cycle really was completed. And that one I was the only woman driving, which was really cool for me in my own hometown to get to have that experience to be the one representing for little girls. When I was a little girl going to those events. I never saw a woman in them. So getting to be that representation as an adult was really really cool. It was a big car derby. I usually drive compact derbies now. So it was a full sized Crown Vic in the mud avatar raceway. It was really fun. And from then I've been addicted.

Unknown Speaker 9:41

What do you get the cars? I work

Bekkah Doyle 9:43

with a guy who he owns his own like junkyard and he gets cars that have been impounded or a really good deal and he builds them. He's very established in the Southern California demolition derby world. He drives demolition derbies and has for a long time I'm So he will build them for us. And then we give them back to him because he can put it out or put it into another car. And it's like a rental almost a lot of people will buy their own cars and build them. But for me, this has been an easier option because cars are quite expensive right now.

Nick VinZant 10:17

Like if it's your your average demolition derby car, like, what does it cost to get it going? To buy it all that stuff? Right? Like? Yeah, so get it to the derby floor? What do you what's that going to cost you?

Bekkah Doyle 10:31

It depends on what type of car and then wait, what type of Derby if you're doing a bone stock Derby, which is called chaining bang, where they chain the car shut, and then literally bang, you can get a pre ran car, sometimes in the like, three to $400 range when that's been already crashed, but it's still drivable, it still works, it just might not have the best steering or might have some kind of odd hiccup to it. Fresh cars in the compacts can usually be like 900 to $1,000 if you want like a fresh, fresh one. The big cars are where they become really expensive, like Crown Victorias are ideal for Derby driving. People also just love them in general. So they're pretty expensive. They're in the couple of $1,000 range. And then there's even a layer of demolition derbies where they are, they're like, fully built race cars in the $10,000 ranges where they have. They're reinforced with steel, and they have high power engines and all of this fancy stuff because they're intended to drive more than once. And then the really big derbies where you have like heat races, and then a main event. So they can get quite expensive. And it can also be quite cheap, just depending on where you end

Nick VinZant 11:53

up. How do you then recoup those costs?

Bekkah Doyle 11:56

When are you just like,

Nick VinZant 11:58

this is the cost of doing business. And this is what I like to do. Yeah, it's,

Bekkah Doyle 12:01

it's a bit of both you a lot of people are sponsored and have sponsors who work with local companies. A lot of the times, I will instead of a traditional sponsor, if I'm doing some type of special car, or event also spots on my car for people like I did a charity Derby for breast cancer. So I sold spots on my car where you could honor people with their names instead of a traditional sponsor of like a company. Sometimes I'll sell spots on my rear bumper for people you don't like, you want to put their name to get crushed. And then I work with some traditional sponsors as well where they can put their logos on the car and stuff like that. But the best way to get your money back is

Nick VinZant 12:44

to win. Cow much money we usually talk at first place

Bekkah Doyle 12:47

is usually for the compact cars roughly like $1,000. It can depend on how big the car count is, you know, the more cars the more money. So it's usually about 1500 to 1000 for first place, second places like 500, and then so on. And you can also win additional money for like the Mad Dog Award, which is it's usually like a combination of crowd favorite and most aggressive. So if you get that award, it's usually an additional PR on top of that.

Nick VinZant 13:20

Is it hard to find people to do it? Like how many people are usually involved in the like the demolition derby scene? Is this a popular thing becoming less popular, just steady?

Bekkah Doyle 13:33

I would say steady. There's always new faces always new people wanting to give it a try. Maybe less women than there are men giving it a try. But you'll always see kind of the usual suspects at the same events. Everyone's it's kind of like a family. You know, we're all hitting each other out there. But everyone knows each other everybody's friends. I'm part of a group called the damsels of destruction. They drive female only derbies together

Nick VinZant 14:03

for the people that kind of, you know, come and go right because I can imagine a lot of people's like, I'm gonna drive in one of these one of these days. Do they usually get hooked really like I'm not doing that again.

Bekkah Doyle 14:14

It's a 5050 split. I have seen some people where it's their first time and they make it pretty far to derby. And they're like that was the coolest thing I've ever done in my life. And I've also seen people intentionally park their cars and say I don't want to, I don't want to go any further. I've done you'll know instantly if you like it or don't like it.

Nick VinZant 14:34

Does anybody ever quit though before they get hit? Like Oh, no. Nevermind,

Bekkah Doyle 14:40

no, it usually is that first hit. That will be the deciding factor for people because you have to come off the starting line. Anyways, you gotta go somewhere, someone's gonna come at you because you're usually lined up across from someone. So if you're sitting there, I'm going to come hit you even harder because you're not moving and I've traveled a lot further by Usually after that first bump, people know either like, I'm really scared, and I don't want to do this anymore. Or though like that was really fun. I want to keep hitting things. How fast

Nick VinZant 15:10

are you usually going when you hit somebody?

Bekkah Doyle 15:15

It depends how fast they can get going. If the box is really small and narrow and muddy, my speed is pretty limited. If it's dustier and a big box, I can carry some good speed. My speedometer is never work. So it's all honestly, by feel maybe like, up there would be 1520 miles an hour, as you're trying to, like zip around the box to get to safety. If I'm trying to relocate within the box, like from corner to corner, or make a lap to see what's going on, I will drive as fast as that car will let me because I'm much harder to hit if I'm moving at a high rate of speed.

Nick VinZant 15:54

It seems like it should be really easy to hit somebody but then what do you think about a moving target? It's actually probably I would imagine, it's more complicated than you would think it's really

Bekkah Doyle 16:05

hard to because you have a helmet on a huge helmet, you can only see about this much, because the rest of your head is protected. You are physically turning around in the seat to look out where your rear window used to be. Now it's just a whole more you're looking over your shoulder out, you're like rear windows. But the thing that makes it really hard on top of all of that, because there's no mirrors, as you are hitting your trunk is going upward. It folds upward and in so it's getting taller and taller and taller. So at a certain point, it's really hard to see over that as well. It becomes very obstructed there.

Nick VinZant 16:48

I never thought and you don't want to hit people with the front of your car because that's where the engine is, I'm assuming,

Bekkah Doyle 16:52

right? Right. If you are going to hit someone, you would want to hit them as dead on as possible. But you run the risk of killing your own car. So the rear end is your best bet as long as possible. I want to hit somebody's front end where their radiator is with my rear end or their axles and pump their tires. Those would be the three, like kill shots that I would want to take. But I want to do all of that as much as possible with my rear end.

Nick VinZant 17:19

Like how many hits can the average car take?

Bekkah Doyle 17:22

You know, I've had cars where I was shocked that they were still moving the car I drove in Orange County, I I did a head on hit with someone expecting that to be like, okay, yeah, we're hitting head on this gonna kill my car and the car kept driving. Sometimes the stupid things can kill your car, though, like electrical things just get knocked loose, or all of a sudden your tire came off. And now you're just on rim and you're sinking in the mud with nowhere to go. It's honestly how you react to the damage you take will determine how long your car can survive. So if like again, like I said earlier, I'm calculating in my head what's going on. If I see white smoke, I know my radiator has seven minutes before it's just done out. So drive smart, don't speed up that process. If I can tell him losing gears or anything like that. Don't be really hard on the engine, try to make it last as long as possible. So that's what makes you the good Derby drivers reacting to what your car is doing to make it last longer. But it really could be the stupidest things kill your Carson.

Nick VinZant 18:32

Are you surprised at how durable most cars are? Or it how fragile most cars are?

Bekkah Doyle 18:39

Both. I've had cars where I'm like, I really suck. Like I drove it. I think it was a Chevy Cavalier and I snapped my own wheel off in a red era in the mud just like nobody even hit me. I snapped it off. And then on the other side, I have driven a few Toyota Camrys that are just indestructible. Like you can't kill a Toyota Camry if you wanted to.

Nick VinZant 19:05

Are you ready for some harder slash listener submitted questions? Yes. worst place to crash into somebody best place to crash into somebody.

Bekkah Doyle 19:15

It is against the rules that hit somebody in the driver's door. So that would be the worst place because you will be kicked out of the derby. You'll also probably get yourself in a nice fight in the pits later. There's not much in the driver's door there's one steel beam and however much padding the driver personally decides to put and that's all the protection you have between you and a car hitting you. The best hit would be a dead on hit to the radiator or snapping someone's axle. If you get their axle they're not going anywhere.

Nick VinZant 19:46

Where's the axle?

Unknown Speaker 19:47

Remind them we'll see axle is on a cart so

Bekkah Doyle 19:51

front wheels rear wheels that they paint lines on your front tires like an X or one line through. If I hit someone's driver's door in the wheels are spinning. I was on the gas. And they No, I did it intentionally. If they're not spinning, if that line isn't spinning, I was on the brakes and it wasn't intentionally trying to hit the driver's door. It just happened. So sometimes there's a little bit of overlap, but you try his best to not do that. Yeah,

Nick VinZant 20:19

I could see, I would imagine that people like I you can tell if that was an accident or not.

Bekkah Doyle 20:23

Yeah, undeniable. If somebody meant to hit you, you're, you're gonna know.

Nick VinZant 20:29

Hardest crash that you have ever been in.

Bekkah Doyle 20:33

Two weeks ago, I took a hit that knocked me out of the seat until the floor of the car. That one was pretty bad. I'd say that was the worst. I've I've been hit out of the seat twice.

Nick VinZant 20:42

It's weird. Like for people who've never been in a car accident. Like, you don't realize how hard it is?

Bekkah Doyle 20:49

Yeah. You don't realize you feel it? Like he goes through your body.

Nick VinZant 20:56

That's exactly how you obviously know better than I do. Right. But that's exactly how I describe it. Like it goes through you, like shakes you to the to the core.

Bekkah Doyle 21:05

Yeah, I would say that is the one time yeah, you can literally feel the energy of the hit, come through your body. It is like a freight train that just goes through you. So

Nick VinZant 21:19

then the people get to a point where like, oh, I can't do this anymore. I like it. But I just my body can't handle it.

Bekkah Doyle 21:27

Yeah, it's it's a tough realization that I think everyone who does this sport will have to at one point or another, decide when it's time to not do it. A lot of people get injured and keep going because they love it so much. But naturally, we will all hit a certain age where it's just, it's really risky. It is really risky. A lot of these cars, they're not set up like a traditional race car, you know, we're not strapped in with special harnesses and Homs devices, a lot of the time we're just wearing the original stock lap seatbelt, or the original seatbelt, but like my arm is over, it's under my shoulder so that I can turn around. So the safety inside the cars is quite minimal.

Nick VinZant 22:18

Is there any kind of a thing in which like, alright, so because of how hard it is on your body, people know I got 20 races, I got 50 races, I got 100 races,

Bekkah Doyle 22:29

I think it'd be it gets to a point where instead of doing like, like I did five of them between mid July and last weekend. Instead of it being like, Oh, I'm not going to do them anymore, you'll start cutting down to I'm going to do one this year, or I'll do two or I'm going to do one in the summer and one in the fall and really spread them out to give my body a chance to heal. Most Derby drivers, you will have to force them out of that driver's seat before they ever make the decision to not do it anymore. It really is. It's kind of like an addicting drug. Which once you really get into it and you're it's a lot of adrenaline that you you can't find doing probably almost anything else but drugs. So they'll all get that itch of like I want to be in the car like it does suck watching other people be in the car. You want to be in the car.

Nick VinZant 23:22

Yeah, I would imagine you you're all of your senses are kind of tuned in Right? Like there's a certain amount of rush to it.

Bekkah Doyle 23:29

Yes, the adrenaline when you get out of a car is really high half the time you don't even realize if you have an injury because you're just ramped up and then the next day who Oh sore.

Nick VinZant 23:41

Where is like, where is the big demolition derby like, some day, I'm going to drive there like every driver wants to be at this one.

Bekkah Doyle 23:51

Um, the biggest one in the country. I think it's in Ohio. It's called Blizzard bash, and that that one's pretty big. But for California, Chino, the Chino challenge is really big. I drive in the women's division in it already. But their unlimited division with the big, fully welded $10,000 Derby cars is kind of like the goal of where you would want to go if you want to keep going up the sport. But that's really expensive. But that one's a really big derby. It sells out every year the crowds really wild. It's just like a really great time. Can

Nick VinZant 24:33

you Can anybody have this as a full time living?

Bekkah Doyle 24:40

If you worked really hard at it, like really hard at it, but you couldn't live off of it. You're kind of unless you had really big sponsors that just threw too much money at you. You'll never be able to win enough money to like buy a house or anything. Most of the car ours, you can run twice, three times if you're lucky. So you're continually buying a new car each event. So I wouldn't want to make a living doing off of it. I work a full time job so I can do this for fun and not have to worry about, oh, if I don't win, I can't race anymore. And it takes that pressure off.

Nick VinZant 25:20

Best demolition derby car, worst demolition derby car.

Bekkah Doyle 25:25

I really like Toyota Camrys, especially like the late 90s ones are like nice and big and boxy. And if you look up their crash safety ratings are really high. I look up that sometimes out of curiosity just to see. And they're just like tanks and mean people still drive them as daily drivers so they can really go the distance. The worst one is that other than that Chevy, that snapped its own wheel up. I drove an Oldsmobile Alero. And it had no power steering. I did get second place in that car with no power steering. But it wasn't the most comfortable car to drive. That's the one I got hit out of my seat into.

Nick VinZant 26:09

Are there any cars that are like the phrase I always think of is like a glass cannon? Right? Where like this car is great for hitting people. But if you get hit you're in? Like I guess. Is there a car like that? Or are there any kind of cars like oh, you want to get one of these? These these? And don't get one of these, these these?

Bekkah Doyle 26:29

I mean, there's probably a lot of compacts. I wouldn't want to get in just because there's not much in the back like a hatchback. Right? There's no trunk. So you're hitting right at your own wheels. There's not much to it. I would probably prefer not to get in one of those. Anything that's really like newer cars that are mostly made out of plastic and not the metal. I would want to skip Nissan's do well. Camrys do well. I've never driven a Ford other than the Crown Victoria. That car did really well. It had a lot of run and damage early on. But it still wasn't in the winner's circle at the end it kept running even with all of that front end damage. Any of the like early 2000s, late 90s cars, I would say in that time rain is perfect. They're like really metal, really dense. well taken care of if possible. I probably wouldn't want to do it in a Pinto. That doesn't sound fun.

Nick VinZant 27:32

Is there any trash talk during the derby? Like are you yelling at other drivers?

Bekkah Doyle 27:37

Yeah, a lot of people. I have a neon pink helmet. So you can see my head usually bobbing around in the car. It normally not trash talking because everyone at least is this little circle in Southern California like knows each other. We're all friends in one way or another. So it's usually like waving at each other laughing at each other kind of like you know if we're under a red flag, and we don't know why we're like asking each other through the windows like what's going on. You'll see people signaling like this, if they're in a final two and they want to do a head on it instead of trying to battle it out and drag it out. I've thrown my face shield up at someone out of frustration. That's probably the most trash talky thing. But usually it's fun. Everyone's just kind of like talking to their friends. So the drivers window.

Nick VinZant 28:34

I don't know if this is going to be a great question. Or a question that I shouldn't really ask you.

Unknown Speaker 28:40

But

Nick VinZant 28:44

have, have you ever been surprised by a bodily function that occurred after being hit? I think that they mean to like if you ever like do people pee themselves or poop themselves know in the middle of a demolition?

Bekkah Doyle 29:01

Or they don't admit it. If they do. I've never heard of anyone doing it. I personally, all day I don't eat. I eat like a banana water, Gatorade, Red Bull, because I don't want to get carsick in the car. I personally haven't gotten carsick. I don't want to throw up in my helmet. I do know someone who's gotten sick in their helmet just from actually overheating. It's really hot in those cars and we have fire suits on and helmets and engines are kicking up a lot of heat and you're out of breath and you're huffing and puffing because it takes a lot of muscle and there's a lot of adrenaline so she just overheated and threw up in her helmet. That's my worst nightmare. I don't want to throw up in my helmet it is in your face. So I try to eat as little as possible. Drink enough to be hydrated but not have to pee my pants. If somebody were to hit me hard enough. I could see how if you got hit just the right combination of an Fortunately, events that something like that could happen

Nick VinZant 30:04

is a great way of putting it. Just the right combination of unfortunate events. Um, has, has it ever made you though want to run people off the road? During regular driving? Like, do you ever find yourself like, wait a minute, not in the derby here?

Bekkah Doyle 30:22

It doesn't it doesn't. It really highlights when I am swerving or reacting to someone's bad driving. You know, like they're texting or they're not paying attention. And then like, you shouldn't be driving that bad. But I never feel like well, I just want to ram this car. It's usually out of my system. Well out of my system,

Nick VinZant 30:45

is there like a Michael Jordan, or LeBron James or like, who is there somebody that like that's the best demolition derby that anybody's ever seen.

Bekkah Doyle 30:57

That's hard. I think the drivers who go to Blizzard bash are probably the most comparable in that sense. They're like the big boys. They spent a lot of money a lot, a lot, a lot of money. People watch Blizzard bash on TV. But a lot of derbies are more like grassroots in your local community, or, you know, they're a lot of them are at county fair. So it's like people who live within that region. So a lot of people will know, like local drivers. The guy who builds my cars, Dan Pachala, he's won a lot, like a lot. He's very, very, very, very well known in this world. The dams of obstructions are really, really well known. Anyone who you kind of see on the podium repetitively, or you can recognize their number or their driving style, like I always paint my cars, the same design so that people can build that car recognition of like, oh, that's Becca, that's her car, big Betty 1313, you know, but it's more on a local scale than how like the NBA is like that guy's from LA but everyone. It's more of within your community, who's who and even more on a granular level, it's more of the drivers know who, that's my biggest competition. That's where I gotta take out first. That's why I gotta look out for the crowd just wants us to hit each other as hard as we can.

Nick VinZant 32:31

Oh, is there a type of race that like is, that's the most extreme or the most risky, like this type of race.

Bekkah Doyle 32:40

I mean, they're all risky, honestly, especially with the limited safety protocols that you have to follow. The big cars are pretty dangerous because they're big, and they carry a lot of weight and they can hit you, the Weldon one rollover quite a bit, because their suspension is welded, so it's quite rigid, they kind of hit each other and bounce. So it's easy for them to roll, but they all kind of have the same level of risk. You know, even in the small cars while it's a smaller car, there's less Carter protect you. So that's almost equally as risky if you're to take a really nasty it. And there's always the risk of fire to all cars have that risk.

Nick VinZant 33:25

Yeah, that would be the one thing that I'd be like, Ooh, I don't want to mess with that. Yeah,

Bekkah Doyle 33:29

I've been on fire twice.

Nick VinZant 33:31

What do you just get out as fast as you possibly Well, the doors are welded. So what do you

Bekkah Doyle 33:35

if it's bad, what do you do? There's firemen around the box, waiting to come rescue you. Usually they'll get to you before you can get out. If it's bad enough. A lot of the time the fires just like a little flare up, they put you out you keep going. The first time it was in my rear end, and I could smell it. But it didn't know it was me. And they couldn't see it from the outside. So I just kept driving. The second time it was at the end of the event, a car caught my car on fire. They just quickly extinguished us while sitting in the car. So like before I had processed, I'm on fire. They were there to put it out. But we have fire gear. Yeah. You don't have to wear it. That's the thing. You can wear either long sleeves, long pants, or a fire suit. But we also have fire extinguishers in the cars with us.

Nick VinZant 34:27

So nobody's ever, like burned alive in water or anything like that.

Bekkah Doyle 34:31

No, no, not to my knowledge, but I've seen some cars fully burned, but the person got out

Nick VinZant 34:38

for people who maybe are interested in finding out more about demolition derby is more about finding out about you. Where can they find you?

Bekkah Doyle 34:45

I have an Instagram it's at being Becca ve KKH I encourage anyone who wants to get involved especially any female drivers reach out to me I love to help people get involved. I very much Emily in the past isn't where I am because somebody helped me took me under their wings. Most of the events are done for this year. Next year, usually July, there's Chino, there's a week long demolition derby event at the OC Fair, where every night there's different types of Derby. So usually in like, July and October, and those months in between, you'll see a lot of events in Southern California. fair season is when you see a lot of them.