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My Dinner with Wallace Shawn
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Join Josh and M over dinner as they discuss the recently deceased.
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Transcript
Casual Start & Parody Discussion
00:00:02
Speaker
So, this is the beginning of a podcast. i did Technically it is. Yeah. So Josh, what are we doing? We're doing some kind of version of My Dinner with Andre? Um, yeah. Who's playing Andre? Well, hang on, was Andre Wallace-Shawn was the other guy Andre? I have actually never seen it. I've only ever seen the community version of my dinner with um
Dining at Cuckoo & Vegan Menu Talk
00:00:24
Speaker
Andre. So I really actually can't make any claims about the film other than apparently it's very good. Yes, well, else we'll say you can be Wallace Shawn and I can be the other guy.
00:00:33
Speaker
you know the other guy's name? no Yeah, there lies the issue. So I'm Wallace Shawn and you are an everyone. I am possibly Andre, possibly not. we don't Andre the Giant?
00:00:45
Speaker
That'll do. Yeah, Andre the Giant and Wallace Shawn. yeah, wallac short been all yeah that was the there was the sequel that nobody expected but everybody turned out to want. It's all coming together now.
00:00:58
Speaker
So yes, so this episode is going to be episode with a difference and actually may not work in audio at all because we are going to dinner. We're going to spend that sweet, sweet Patreon money by buying expensive food in Auckland, a city which is expensive to live in.
00:01:15
Speaker
And we're going to an all vegan place called Cuckoo because I'm going to force Josh to eat healthy food, except it's Thai so you can have as much fatty stuff as you like. So we're going to
Celebrations & Cheese Mishap
00:01:27
Speaker
spend up large. The other guy was Andre Gregory, so he was on, so that was, they they they played themselves. ah So Wallace Shorten was Wallace.
00:01:35
Speaker
And the other guy was Andre. wonder I mean, they they they'd also should have have done a version of My Dinner with Sean. That would have been lovely. Okay, like you can use here we are. Hello. We have a booking for M Dentist.
00:01:55
Speaker
At 7pm. Yeah, for 2pm. Brilliant, thank you. Thank you. Okie dokie. Alright. Sunglasses. I did check out the menu beforehand. keep doking
Scott Adams & Controversial Views
00:02:08
Speaker
right sunglasses
00:02:14
Speaker
was did check out the menu beforehand I'm sure you did. if You have to make this audio gold. You can't just look at the menu. You need to consider through the things which you are... yeah i'm going I'm going to have an entree and a main.
00:02:34
Speaker
And I'm probably going to have the double crispy satay tofu, which is a small. That does sound nice. And then go for...
Erik von Daniken & Fraud
00:02:43
Speaker
Something duck versus vegan person does vegan duck, although they do also do... Good, thank you. Good, thank you. Have you had... I have, yeah. yeah So i've I've been to the CBD branch and the Ponspey branch. This my first time in the Milford branch. ah Yeah, yeah. Excellent food as always, yeah.
00:03:07
Speaker
Thank you.
00:03:11
Speaker
Brilliant, thank you. Yeah, excellent, thanks a lot. Also, i am going have a cook I am going to have a cocktail. A cocktail? Or a drink of some kind. I mean, I could get a mocktail. You could. But... That does actually sound nice, that one. I don't care. But, I think... I'm going to go for...
00:03:39
Speaker
Fumul crispy satay tofu and maybe a duck curry with roti. I do like a roti and duck curry. I was... I see, they're different. i When I looked in the menu before, they had a cashew vegan chicken one.
Aldrich Ames Espionage Tale
00:03:59
Speaker
When I was overseas in Thailand, that became my thing. which I don't know if that's like just ordering butter chicken at an Indian restaurant, but the cashew cheese, everywhere we went, I made up my point to compare. I feel if I get the same meal everywhere, you can there i can i can I can become an expert. There is nothing particularly wrong with that hypothesis.
00:04:18
Speaker
But I don't see that specifically. But the du you the duck does look nice, doesn't It it does. And they have they have the duck drunken noodles, the ducking good curry.
00:04:33
Speaker
That's a lot of duck. I do like a pad thai as well. And it's always a good dish to be testing how good a restaurant is. The restaurant is good pad thai.
00:04:46
Speaker
And the beefed up mesamam curry is also good. But yeah, the duck. The duck with the monkey. Yeah, think so.
00:04:58
Speaker
yeah i think so
00:05:02
Speaker
Josh, you you had a birthday. I did. you You turned old. Officially old. Yep,
Chinese Food Culture & Spiciness
00:05:08
Speaker
even its the oldest I've you ever turned. Will you turn older? Well, I don't know I manage to keep topping myself every every year. Sorry, out of context. and That sounds like you've got older and you're constantly committing suicide.
00:05:25
Speaker
No, I have turned the right old age of 50 years old. A five zero. A five zero, which will... A round number and everything. And rousing speeches were given at your 50th? They sure were. It was a good time as had by all. It was. It was. Although i was I was disappointed to see that all of the potentially vegetarian food had a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese. Ah, yes. It was like it was talk taunting the vegan. guys and I mean, you could you could eat this, but we've ensured that you can't.
00:05:57
Speaker
Yeah, slight oversight there, I suppose. No, I think it was a deliberate slight against my... Probably. Probably, yeah. Because I'm going to take take it up with Royal Oak as an entire suburb. I think you should. me ah Did we have a... um Did we have, like, an agenda? Well, we've got the notes. Are we going to go through those? Yeah, because we're... I mean, this a lot of people seem to have died in the last month. Well, that is, not yes. That is what we had prepared. If we're going to be actually prepared... and
00:06:30
Speaker
fish and talk to topics and the like. it notes i thought tommy I thought maybe we should do them and in reverse order. given that the way they are in the notes is kind of most to least interesting. right, so you So think maybe we should do it around the other way.
00:06:46
Speaker
Which means we start with? We start with Mr. Scott Adams. Ah, Who left us on January the 13th. Now, Scott Adams is kind of an interesting character because some people who listen to the podcast might be going, but who is Scott Adams? Because his most famous creation, Dilbert,
00:07:04
Speaker
has a not been in newspapers for a while, and B, was really more of an American thing than an international thing. I don't know how widespread Dilbert was outside of the English-speaking world.
00:07:17
Speaker
I don't know. They've got a TV show. There was that cartoon. Yeah, but it wasn't that back in the Well, I don't know. Dilbert was pretty much back in the 90s. Well, precisely. He got... ch he got he got they they they They got desyndicated or whatever. People stopped publishing him. After he made an incredibly racist, anti-African-American slash black comment, basically justifying why white people shouldn't trust black people. Yeah, that wasn't... too
00:07:49
Speaker
That wasn't so great of him. No, that was actually kind of terrible. He was a man opinions. and... He had opinions was not afraid to share them. Yeah, so, I mean, it's kind of an interesting thing, because Scott Adams' Dilbert cartoon was kind of famous for being bosses are stupid, the workers are smart.
00:08:11
Speaker
But Scott Adams the man was the person who believed that the workers were stupid and the bosses were smart. He thought it was funny twisting it around the other way even though it became popular because it told the story about stupid employers.
00:08:28
Speaker
And yes, he was he was very much by the end of his days as the arch libertarian and the arch maha. So make America healthy again advocate, even though his advocacy basically meant the kind of cancer treatment he required was never going to be funded by the HHS.
00:08:48
Speaker
Yes, so I mean, he he he did what I believe is known as, he he did a Steve Jobs in that he got cancer that could have been treated but chose to pursue alternative remedies until it was too late to know anything about it. Yeah.
00:09:04
Speaker
He treated himself with good old-fashioned ivermectin and other things. Yes, but a deworming tablet for cancer does seem like strange and unusual thing to do. And ironically, I think they've just shown the COVID vaccine has been good for cancer patients because of how it juices up your immune system or something. And also, I mean, getting any kind of infection during cancer treatment is bad. And given the ubiquity of COVID at this point, even a mild COVID infection from a variant which isn't as virulent or as strong as others is still not going to be good for your immune system. COVID's very, very bad for the human immune system. Yes, it's not great. I've i've had a recurring sort of heart issue a little bit i mean since I had since i got COVID. Like I've seen a specialist and they did not prescribe any treatment. it's It'll get better on its own. It's just little my heart rate is a little bit out of whack. Oh, okay. So you've got a kind of mambo beat now to your heart. Yeah, if if i if I exercise a or do anything, my heart rate...
00:10:14
Speaker
It doesn't get higher than it normally would, but it goes up quicker, if you see what I mean. It accelerates faster. But anyway. So you're saying you've you've mutated and got a hyper metabolism, and thus you are some kind of superhero now. Something like that, yeah. So that you suddenly, if if you do exercise, you get suddenly more hyperactive and stressed? I'm not sure how this is going to be useful, but we can make this work mill mystery man style. It's just just one more reason to avoid exercise of any kind really.
00:10:46
Speaker
But um... That's probably
Recording Logistics & Future Plans
00:10:48
Speaker
enough. About Scott Adams? As many people people have pointed out, he if he had died 10 years ago, people would say, it's so sad, but now now not so much. Ah, well. Yes.
00:11:02
Speaker
Yes, but um so that was that was January the 13th of this year. January the 10th of this year, we farewelled one Erik von Daniken. Ah, yes, a famous Swiss hotel hotelier, but I don't think he did anything else important.
00:11:15
Speaker
Well... Apart from plagiarism. Apart from... He... I mean, we've talked about... We've never done a full episode of that. We haven't. He's come up several times. We probably should do something about shift from...
00:11:31
Speaker
Chariots of the Gods? To letter books like In Search of Ancient Gods, which goes from ah hypothesis claiming, well, maybe, maybe ancient gods were, in fact, ancient astronauts, to no, no, no, they definitely were. And the interesting thing is, that particular shift was due to a Nazi.
00:11:52
Speaker
Is this the one who published his books or a different Nazi? No, no, the publisher of his books, you've got got the name his name on the notes there. Yes. I don't need to remember the names of Nazis. Yeah, Utterman. So he he was the who took the manuscript and basically turned every assertion into a question because he was very, very, very, very watery.
00:12:15
Speaker
about being labeled particularly as anti-christian apparently in the first draft of chariot of the gods it's a question mark did he put the question mark in the title he did yeah in the very early version even jesus was an ancient astronaut and this nut he's going oh no i mean i might be anti-semitic if i am pro-christian so i need to make sure that nobody thinks i'm questioning Jesus Christ, our Jewish Saviour. Yes, and to to give you this guy's qualifications, he was a former editor of the Nazi Party's newspaper, Wilke Schabeeobachter, and had been... He just rolls off your tongue there. Well, it's because I cause i took Germany for five years of high school.
00:13:01
Speaker
as to not And not for any other reason? For no other reason. Good. Good. So, yeah, so miss Mr. Von Daniken, Nazi adjacent, and fraudster.
00:13:13
Speaker
Yes. And apart from the obvious, like, scientific fraud. He largely stole
Video Games & Dark Souls
00:13:20
Speaker
large sections of Chariots of the Gods, question mark, from the book, is it In Search of the Magicians? Something like that. Yeah, which is an earlier text. which essentially was published, I think in French, and he went, oh, nobody knows about this text, so I can liberally adapt this.
00:13:38
Speaker
That's actually one of the other things the Nazi did, was actually put in more textual citations to work. He could work out that von Däniken had liberally borrowed from. So in many respects, we have a Nazi to thank,
00:13:52
Speaker
for at least some degree of academic honesty, which is a weird sentence to make, about chariots of the gods? Question mark. Yes, but um as well as as well as the scientific fraud, there was actual fraud, where he, as you say, had worked worked for a hotel, um and and while at working at the hotel, he embezzled around $130,000. which he then used to travel around the world doing doing research. And we say research here with with air quotes. Von Dänik had admitted later in his life... Like he brought his stuff Yes, he made a lot of stuff about things he saw or people he had talked to, objects he had touched.
00:14:38
Speaker
And he was one of those people actually quite happy to admit to the fraudulent nature of much of his research. Ah, fantastic. We are, thank you. Josh, you can start. um So actually I also have the double crispy satay tofu and then the pad thai with the chicken balls.
00:15:01
Speaker
um Drink wise? I'd like to try a pink vanilla zen. Alright, so I will also have the double crispy satay tofu and for my main I'll have the ducking good curry with the roti.
00:15:18
Speaker
Oh, thank you. Thank you. And drink wise, i will go for Mai Tai, thank you. Thank you. That's all for now, thank you. Thank you. Thanks a lot.
00:15:30
Speaker
Actually, how how spicy is food in China? Is it a spicy food place? don't think of it as being spicy food place. So even Guangzhou, which is the Canton, it's not spicy at all. Cantonese people, by and large, do not like extremes of flavor. So they don't like things sweet and they don't like things spicy. So...
00:15:48
Speaker
Guangzhou food, not particularly spicy unless you're going for something like Sichuan cuisine or one of the more northern Chinese cuisines at which point you will find spices.
00:15:59
Speaker
So yes, it really does depend on which cuisine you're deciding to eat. There we go. really But away from spice and back to the spicy with Erik von Daniken.
00:16:11
Speaker
Yes, and essentially he had multiple convictions for actual fraud and embezzlement on account of the the defrauding and embezzling of his employers that he did to finance his... He wrote part of Chariots of the Gold, question mark, in prison, didn't he? He started it or finished it, there was yeah he had He had some time on his hands.
00:16:33
Speaker
So, fraudulent man writing fraudulent texts, continuing to commit as much fraud as possible. And then got published by Nazis. Yeah, and that's how his career took off, because that book...
Episode Wrap-up & Parody Nod
00:16:47
Speaker
Sold very well because the book was published with a contract that wasn't particularly conducive to the author. That's the reason why von Daniken ended up writing so many other books. He didn't see a lot of money from Chariots of the God. Which I assume was his biggest hit. Yeah, and the Nazi got most of that money. So he spent most of his time before he could get the rights back writing other books in the same vein.
00:17:13
Speaker
in order to try and capture that early success. But in many respects, Chariots of the Gold, question mark, really was the big hit of his career. And every other book was kind of a subsidiary sale of people who wanted to know more, as opposed to people who went, it's weird, but it doesn't quite work.
00:17:34
Speaker
So, yeah there we go. Erich von Derniken, born 1935. Died 2026. 2026. Which, that's not a bad run, really. Especially someone who's made their entire career out of fraudulently claiming ancient astronauts as gods and at one stage had a theme park.
00:17:59
Speaker
Did he? Yeah, there yeah no there was a theme park that was devoted to Chariots of the Gods? I don't think it lasted particularly long. I do believe it is one of those places that until it was demolished was a great adventure tourism location to kind of sneak into a theme park devoted to ancient astronauts and ride the slide, do the roller coaster, all that jazz.
00:18:27
Speaker
So, yeah, that was there with him. But um the main event, I guess, the one that... The death that matters. That made me think, talk talking about notable deaths since we last recorded an episode, because these have all been genuine from January of this year, was the death of Aldrich Ames on January the 5th.
00:18:48
Speaker
um Now the Hanson episode, that was a filler one I did, wasn't It ed was, yes. and And when I say Hanson, I mean Robert Hanson, not the band Hanson. Yes, if you'd done an episode on Hanson, I would definitely remember that. And also questioned as to why Mbom deserve 15 minutes of filler time. Although maybe it does, actually. Maybe we should do an episode on Hanson. There must be a Hanson conspiracy out there somewhere. Oh, you'd assume, yes. Yes.
00:19:13
Speaker
whether or not me and my two brothers were members of it. There's one that's come up with it. The 50th birthday party, you would have seen the slideshow of photos. I don't know if you contributed to it. I did, I contributed a number of photos. Yes, yes. know at least one that you took. Well, she said the the portrait.
00:19:33
Speaker
The photo they took with the iPhone, the photo of you and me at Auckland Airport, the photo of you and Isaac, that was also my contribution. I think there was a fourth as well. Yes, because there was one there was a picture of me and my brothers, which which somebody commented, is that them or is that actually the band Hanson?
00:19:55
Speaker
Although not none of us was blonde, so I don't know don't know why you can make that mistake. But anyway... We were three boys and it was the 1990s. So that makes you handsome by default. It does. It does. But it does make you Robert Hanson.
00:20:08
Speaker
Robert Hanson. So just a quick quick reminder. This was 2023 when he died, which prompted me to do a little fuller. I don't know what you were doing in the middle of 2023. I was in China. thick Yeah. Yeah. I was in i was in China at that point. Yeah. Yeah. there There was some reason. reason.
00:20:27
Speaker
um and that cop And I thought, well, that's a good idea. So basically, the FBI agent who sold a bunch of secrets to the Russians and got found out and spent the rest of his life in jail and also did weird sex stuff.
00:20:45
Speaker
Aldrich Ames was his his CIA counterpart. So basically he's the international aspect of... So Henson was the FBI, yeah national security. Ames was CIA, international security.
00:21:01
Speaker
But they both had access to a lot of the same stuff to the point that... and And I mentioned this at the time, that about some of Hansen's earlier secret selling, some of it overlapped with Ames, and that they both sold the same information to the Russians, and some of the stuff, some of Hansen's leaks, got put down to Ames to begin with.
00:21:23
Speaker
one And as I mentioned you back then, it wasn't until after Ames was caught that then the spotlight started to go on Hansen because you know they got rid of this guy who they knew was a ah mole and yet leaks continued to happen. So then it's like, okay, well, there's got to be another mole here and that's that's what got them onto Hansen, I think. but Aldrich Hayes and hazen ams I think was his name.
00:21:47
Speaker
um He joined the CIA in 1962. His dad got him a job there. Ah, a Nepo baby. The original Nepo baby. Probably not the original Nepo baby. I think Nepo babies have existed as long as, I mean, entire royal dynasties of most countries are Nepo baby after Nepo babies. I think that's probably fair to say. Yeah, yeah.
00:22:10
Speaker
Nevertheless, he was there. was the 1960s where, as we've seen in numerous other occasions, you could be a white man in a government job and just fail your way all to the top. You could drink and smoke your way to the top. It sounds like Ames really drank his way to the top. Yes, alcoholism was approached. To the effect of his alcoholism, apparently, was affecting his job. like it was It was noticed. all Oh, that's a pink cocktail. That's the best kind. Thank you kindly. thank Thank you.
00:22:41
Speaker
know No, no, I think it's fine. Yeah, it's fine to me. It's not in your face. Mmm, that's tasty. are Thank you patrons. yes we should slurp, let's go.
00:23:00
Speaker
Mmm, misophonia. I don't know if we have any yet any people suffering from misophonia. Well, you've just found out. Yep, you've just found it out if you do, yeah. um But no, he yeah so he apparently was not the best CIA agent of all time. I've read it, apparently, like, in in one case, he'd been pinged for a couple of different security violations, and one of them was apparently, like, leaving, he left a briefcase full of full of confidential information on the subway one night.
00:23:30
Speaker
it was from He was probably drunk. He was probably drunk. He probably was, yeah. i But yeah, like you say, that and in the 1960s, that didn't really stop you. he just They kept, you know, far from getting fired, they just moved him into difference. I mean, it does help being the Nepo baby in that particular case. He probably, yeah. probably I mean, aes if it weren't for your dad, we probably would have demoted you, but your dad kind of expects you to go places, so we'll get you a second or third chance. yeah
00:24:01
Speaker
So he joined in 62 as a young man, I'm assuming. 20 years later, 23 years later, in 1985, he was now grown man and starting to get him into financial difficulties. Yes, because he had had an ex-wife. Yep, he was on a second wife. Yeah, so he was paying alimony to the first wife.
00:24:23
Speaker
And apparently the second wife was high maintenance and that she was a shocker and he was funding this. Yeah. So apparently it was... Unlike Hanson where obviously the money was good but there was there's the whole thing people suggested there was an element of narcissism too and he actually enjoyed the idea that he was hoodwinking the two greatest nations on earth sort of thing.
00:24:48
Speaker
There was a lot of ego to it. Apparently with Ainsley it was just about the money. All about the money. He needed money and he could make a bunch by selling secrets to the Russians. His wife number two, who would eventually be arrested along with him as is an accomplice, they met when she was the cultural attache at the Tumblian embassy in Mexico and was a cia set CIA asset back then. So they met on the job. yeah and And, yeah, she she helped him out in it. I guess she was she was certainly reaping the benefits.
00:25:22
Speaker
um Now, I read one thing. I think it was the entry in Britannica that said he he eventually revealed the names of every U.S. agent working in the USSR slash Russia, which sounds like a lot. It does. I mean, i don't know how many agents they had behind the Iron Curtain at that time. might be that...
00:25:45
Speaker
Actually, there weren't that many agents. Because they'd be clustered around places like Moscow, St. Petersburg, and the like. So maybe there weren't that many active agents. Yes, maybe maybe it's not that impressive or unbelievable, I don't know. But at the same time, if you revealed every agent within a particular intelligence sphere... That's still a major breach of protocol. So that, were yeah, I only saw that claim in one place. but it was It was the Britannica entry, though, so it wasn't it wasn't like Wikipedia. So they may have, you know, take that as you will.
00:26:19
Speaker
But they do know he earned close to $3 million US dollars over the time. And, you know, this was starting in the 80s. That's $3 million dollars of 80s money. And got a bunch of people killed.
00:26:33
Speaker
They traced at least 10 people who were sort of outed as agents and then executed. That we know of, and may have been more. Nope. I thought it was ours. thought it was ours, wasn't it? Too soon. Too soon.
00:26:48
Speaker
um So, yeah, he he was, you know, a lot of people had a very low opinion of this guy before they really lost. I mean, when you're costing the life agent, how much do you really need this money?
00:27:07
Speaker
Yeah, well... Whether he needed it or not, he certainly got it. And that that that was part of the problem. I think he did, he he started living a particularly lavish lifestyle. Yeah, so he obviously started living a lifestyle where he said, you're not being paid enough to be able to afford this particular thing which of course will make agents actually suspicious let's say for example he's engaging in gambling and maybe he's borrowing money from the mob so you suddenly start going we should probably check where this money is coming from yeah but in this so apparently yeah he he he made no attempt to his money apparently he had suddenly he was he was wearing fancier suits he was driving a a fancy sports car he moved into a bigger house and
00:27:59
Speaker
He had, I think he'd got like dental work done, he had his teeth done, there was all sorts of stuff. So once the CIA and the FBI, I think they were working together for a lot of this, which is how sort of Ames and Hanson ended up, sort of being in the same basket.
00:28:19
Speaker
Once they were, that these agents were dying, they obviously, there was a leak, there was a mole they needed to find started looking and then yes, so this guy who was suddenly splashing around more money than a person should, his position should be able to earn.
00:28:33
Speaker
was i mean This is a classic case of having more money than sense. It does certainly seem that way. So as I say, A5 is when he started setting secrets. 94 is when he was arrested. So there was a ah good rewild he was at it. And the investigation into him...
00:28:55
Speaker
um they They took a while. It almost seems a little bit quaint, really, in this day and age, reading these guys, how they spent a hell a lot of time investigating them to make sure that they had the information to be able to get a warrant, to be able to... Like, they... um At one point they went through his trash. they like There was this complicated arrangement where they wait till he left, they stole his entire trash can, replaced it with an identical one, went through all his trash,
00:29:26
Speaker
It took the etia original one away, went through it all, and then put it all back once it was done. It sort of had the fake there so that no one would notice that this trash can was suddenly missing.
00:29:37
Speaker
That did apparently work out. They found they eventually managed to find a coded message in this trash that related to some of the meeting and with the Russians and Bogota or something like that.
00:29:49
Speaker
But they weren't super successful some it. They managed to get these warrants to have them little like fully wiretapped and under surveillance for quite a while. A couple of times they tried to catch him in the act, but they managed to to just get it wrong. Like one time, i think one one time he made the drop earlier than he normally did, so they were waiting for him at 6.30, but that day for some reason he'd done it at 6 or something like that.
00:30:16
Speaker
Another time, yeah they tried to catch him at one point, but he was he was too but he was already gone by the time they got there or something, so they... messed it up a couple of times.
00:30:28
Speaker
But in 1994, they'd got the warrant, they'd they'd tapped his house, they had all this ah actual incriminating evidence now, and then he was ah due to go off to Moscow for a conference. It's like, okay, well, we can't we can't let him go to Moscow, so that now now's the time.
00:30:43
Speaker
So they swooped in and arrested him in February of 1994, him his wife. And so they they, he was charged with with espionage and also tax evasion because obviously he was making a whole bunch of money. And you probably don't put on your tax, sources of income, CIA, sources of income, KGB, oh no, sorry, not KGB, GBK, it's a special investment firm, i do it's definitely not Russian, definitely Russian. Yes, so they,
00:31:16
Speaker
Yes, so he he got life for espionage and tax evasion. His wife got five years for tax evasion also and conspiracy to commit espionage.
00:31:31
Speaker
There was no no no no weird sex stuff with Ames, as far as I'm aware. Hans, if you recall, apparently he liked to video. He liked people watching him have sex. His wife did not know this.
00:31:44
Speaker
So yeah, there was still some weird stuff there, but Aang's just in it for the money. um So I think the only the only real question remaining about him was what kind of name is Aldrich?
00:31:55
Speaker
Like I've encountered name Aldrich once before, and that is in the game Dark Souls 3, where one of the bosses you fight is Aldrich, Devourer of Gods. I've just got into Dark Souls 1. And then I bought it on the Switch when it first came out five years ago.
00:32:12
Speaker
And then because I managed to get a cold over New Year's, I spent most of the first part of New Year's on the couch watching someone do a playthrough Sekera. And I was going, I should get back into Dark Souls. So I started again from scratch and actually read some guides about how to do a decent pyromancer bill.
00:32:34
Speaker
And now I'm in a position where I have the Lord Vessel and have to decide whether I'm going to do Nito first or Seath the Scaleless and I'm at the point where i can get to both bosses. It's just a matter of working out which boss run I want to do. And I'm i'm really enjoying it, have to say. Really enjoying it.
00:32:54
Speaker
Yeah, I haven't... I've only played Dark Souls 3. I didn't play one or two. i started on Bloodborne. and everything else with after which everything else has been ah a bit of a disappointment, to be honest. And I think Bloodborne is the best of the bunch. Well, yes, people say Bloodborne was a reaction to Dark Souls, and then Dark Souls, you turtle with your shield all the time, and Bloodborne was going, nope, you just attack and attack and attack. And then Sekiro was a...
00:33:21
Speaker
reaction to Bloodborne. You do realise you can parry some of those attacks and then went for a parry mechanic. From Software is quite famous for going, you're playing the game in an interesting way, we're going to try and force you to play it in a different way this time.
00:33:36
Speaker
Yeah, that's what I've really disliked about the later ones. Like Elden Ring was fun, but so much of it... Like I was taken out of the game by the number of times where so there'd be a thing and it's like, okay, well that's obviously to make me play the game in a certain way, not because it's fun or, you know, it's notorious for the bosses that have these ridiculously long wind-ups on some of their attacks.
00:34:03
Speaker
And the first time it happened, it's like, okay, well that's there to make it harder for me to dodge. Like that that's why that is there. It's nothing to do with the story or the setting or the character or anything. Well often the story actually isn't there anyway. Well yes that seems like it. If people point that out.
00:34:20
Speaker
That's one. one That's one. I mean I guess because we're getting the same thing we can just... We couldn't, could actually just grab one each and we could do the same again.
00:34:38
Speaker
there I believe many people say the only FromSoftware game which has an actual storyline is Sekiro. A storyline which you can understand. That has a bunch of really satiric stuff. Mmm.
00:34:51
Speaker
Crispy.
00:35:02
Speaker
But yes, what else do you know about the name Aldridge? In this particular case, it was a surname. It was his mother's maiden name. That's why he was named it.
00:35:13
Speaker
Which, if I had been that name, then... Yep. Thank you. Yeah, if I'd been named that way, my mother's name is Murdoch.
00:35:25
Speaker
So I would be either the leader of the A-Team or MacGyver's greatest nemesis. Either of which is a great option. Did you at all watch the new Mugiver?
00:35:38
Speaker
Never watched any of the Mugiver, no. Apparently the actor who played Mithidot did you at all watch the new look over stimul you apparently the actor who played move adults ended up playing the mentor for the new actor who plays Murdoch.
00:36:02
Speaker
It seemed quite nice, especially since Richard Dean Anderson never appeared in the new MacGyver. Yeah, that was a bit of a shame. Like, Scott Bakula not being available for the new Quantum Leap. Mm-hm.
00:36:26
Speaker
Which I also never watched. Although I gather that we started going into um time travel into the future as well as the past.
00:36:37
Speaker
Yes, it seems that they they were trying to do something more with the setting than the original show never did.
00:36:53
Speaker
So what else do we need to say about A&M's? And our li and litany of the dead? That's about all really.
00:37:08
Speaker
Unfortunately, he's less of a character than handsome was. And as I say, his motivation, he was just in it for the money. no No ideological convictions, no weird ego stuff.
00:37:26
Speaker
It was just he needed money. Just money. And that was a way of him to get it. It's a nice bit of salt on that.
00:37:36
Speaker
about toenx nice but thear Now of course, in other news, we've got all the stuff that's been going on in many episodes.
00:37:54
Speaker
And I saw, as of time of recording, but who knows what it'll be like by the time this episode is released, Greg Pavino has been demoted and is no longer the commissioner at large for for eyes It looks like Kirsty Noam is about to be forced out as a consequence, and all eyes are now on Stephen Miller.
00:38:19
Speaker
Well, yes, her name has made a point of saying all of her talking points had come from him. Hmm.
00:38:33
Speaker
it all shows resistance to fascism is possible. am
00:38:42
Speaker
Of course, we also have the kidnapping of the president of Venezuela. But yeah, that was a bit of fun. With a thing that... I think perhaps we were saving for the bonus episode that supposedly used some sort of discombobulating weapon.
00:39:01
Speaker
Yes, the discombobulator, which may or may not be related to a a topic we've discussed a bit in the past, but we will save that for a bonus episode. yes In fact, we'll be saving it for, well, as we revealed at the end of last year, we now record bonus episodes out of sync with the episode, so God knows when that will work out.
00:39:28
Speaker
Although we did that because we got bit out of sync with the interview episode that you recorded that didn't require us to do an episode that week. Do we need to continue with the out-of-sync weirdness this time around? Or does it just confuse us to no tangible benefit? Well, it has been confusing for our coverage of the El Sehamo case, which I'm actually nowm not quite sure Whether we've covered it adequately in the bonus episode or not, but we will get around to actually doing a proper deep dive into the El Samo case at some point in the early part of the G.
00:40:13
Speaker
time It's quite a tasty entree I have to say. It is. And I just suspect, as you record a main, sorry, a bonus episode for release at some point, there'll be a tasty main to come with it.
00:40:31
Speaker
Mmm. So an entree with the main and a main with the... Bonus. Bonus. I don't know what we're going to do about dessert. Mmm. But we'll find a way to make it work.
00:40:46
Speaker
So is that it? I think it is. Alright. I suppose, now obviously we are in the same place at the same time, which is an unusual confluence these days. um what what are your What are your movements over the next wee while and how do you think they're going to affect things?
00:41:05
Speaker
Well I think we can we could probably try to record something end of next week, then the week after that, actually the week and a half after that, I'll be in Wellington, and then I will be in Kirikiriroa, Hamilton, helping Joe Ulitowski run the Conspiracy and truth workshop.
00:41:28
Speaker
So we will be looking at conspiracy theories and theories of truth and philosophy for two days down from our perspective in Hamilton, New Zealand.
00:41:40
Speaker
And then after that, back out to Auckland, and then I'll be around for about ten days, and then i return back to China. so I imagine we can probably, if we play our cards right, record two more episodes in person before I go.
00:41:55
Speaker
night
00:41:58
Speaker
And are you likely to be, will there an interview or something like that while you're off doing academic stuff? I am hoping to talk with Will Mittendorf whilst I'm in Hamilton, depending on how well things work with our schedules and all the extra-critical stuff that goes along with attending a workshop.
00:42:20
Speaker
But hopefully I'll get at least something recorded. Hmm. Hmm. Excuse me while I wipe satay sauce out of my moustache.
00:42:32
Speaker
And that is not a euphemism. That's actually actually something that happened.
00:42:40
Speaker
Well, assuming this has actually worked at all. Which we don't know. Which we don't know. We'll listen to it afterwards. your I think we're done.
00:42:53
Speaker
We are Just a little... A little fun one to get the year started. And if it didn't work, we'll have to do it all over again. I mean, we'll have to eat. We'll have to do while we're eating again.
00:43:09
Speaker
I suspect if it didn't work, till we ate this time. we have to, like, good neoliberal economists, we just do it again, but harder. In a noisier restaurant. Or just do it at someone's house and have a...
00:43:20
Speaker
about a home fucked me Home cooked meal in this economy. Actually, in this economy, that makes a lot more sense. That was a tasty mocktail.
00:43:37
Speaker
It was. Well, shall we call this part of the recording to a close? I think we should. All right. Well, from everyone here at the podcast's Guide to the Conspiracy, I shall say this was my dinner with Andre. And this was my dinner with Wallace Schroeder.
00:43:53
Speaker
Goodbye, everybody. Goodbye.