Transcript
Conor Fowler: He's from a galaxy far, far away. ah Well, I don't even know that I have enough material to do that. um So we have with us here, Eli Porca, who is a better dressed person than me and also knows how to use a camera.
Conor Fowler: So I have some questions for him for my own edification. But before that, we will ah needle him with some that may entertain our audience.
Conor Fowler: Welcome and thank you.
eli: Thank you for having me. Excited to be here.
matt: Yeah. Nice. how's How's your Monday going so far?
eli: Um, I mean, it's, it's the day that it is, uh, I've been, I've been now, um, you know, yeah, it's an okay day.
Conor Fowler: Yeah.
matt: Yeah, yeah.
Conor Fowler: It's MLK Day.
eli: It's nothing else.
Conor Fowler: Let's not forget.
eli: Yeah. Um, I haven't, I haven't checked the news today at all. I assume there's nothing happening.
matt: Yeah.
eli: Um,
Conor Fowler: Yeah, I read one piece that I was like, fuck.
matt: yeah
Conor Fowler: Oh yeah, Biden pardoned his family. That's not good.
eli: Yeah, we don't I mean, we I don't really want to turn this into a political hour discussion.
matt: Yeah.
Conor Fowler: No, we don't we don't. We don't want to either. I would prefer it to be positive. if
eli: Yeah, i yeah.
matt: yeah but One positive thing is Leonard Peltier's sentence was commuted today, and he's going to spend the rest of his time at home confinement. So that's at least something positive.
eli: That's good.
Conor Fowler: Yeah.
matt: But yeah, so Eli, um we usually just kind of like to start um with a couple of basic questions. um First one being, where are you from and where do you live now?
eli: Yeah.
eli: I am from Bellevue, Washington, and I currently... Bellevue is a suburb of Seattle. It's about 10 minutes outside the city, so I grew up there, and I currently reside in Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle.
matt: Yeah, yeah. so it's in the I don't know what kind of music you're into, but aren't the Melvins from Bellevue?
eli: I'm not into that kind of music, so i' I'm not sure.
matt: Oh, okay, gotcha, gotcha.
eli: i've never I've never heard of this group before, so it's possible.
matt: Oh, shit, yeah, yeah.
Conor Fowler: Whoa, whoa. Well, so. Fuck, what was I going to say? What did you just say, Matt?
matt: Oh, I said the Melvins, I think are from Bellevue.
Conor Fowler: Yeah, yeah, so. I guess like what the. What the scene is like. That you are that you are involved in, I guess.
eli: Yeah. um Like with regards to what I do for work or what I do at home.
matt: just Just in general.
Conor Fowler: Music or clothes, something loose.
eli: um I mean, you guys found me because of clothes.
matt: Yeah.
eli: So I guess let's talk about that.
Conor Fowler: Yeah.
matt: Yeah, it's totally.
eli: um I guess I would classify myself as like a um
eli: I don't know, basic menswear guy with like, I kind of operate in the the triangle of Ivy Milserp and workwear. That's kind of my thing. Doesn't really relate to anything about where I grew up or what I do for work. It's just what I like. And that's how I dress.
matt: Yeah, so just and ah out of curiosity for our listeners, what do you do for work?
eli: currently i am a freelance production worker at a uh large tech company is is what we'll call it yeah yeah not that one um i don't know why they call it capital hill it's just a big hill um it's a very like it's like the
matt: Oh, sick. Okay.
Conor Fowler: Sure.
matt: Gotcha, gotcha.
Conor Fowler: So I was going to ask about Capitol Hill because of course there's another Capitol Hill.
matt: Yeah. so
Conor Fowler: I mean like is it is it no but is it just is it just like it's it's on the seat of the Capitol and Seattle?
Conor Fowler: That's enough for us.
eli: It's like the the cool, one of the cool neighborhoods of Seattle. It's very like demographic skewing young, lots of stuff to do. There's like a lot of shopping, ah food, all kinds of stuff.
eli: It's really cool. I don't want to say artsy because that's not really what it is, but it's just a cool young progressive neighborhood.
matt: no Nice, nice.
eli: Yeah.
matt: What's the shopping scene like in in Seattle these days?
eli: So there's, there's a, there's glass wing, which is like the big, um, they stock a lot of Japanese brands like capital or slow, that kind of stuff. Um, there's some hot, yeah.
matt: Oh, sick.
eli: So there's, that's the big one. Um, you know, you have your like Marine layers. I think there's a Taylor stitch coming in at some point. Um, but, uh, as far as for my purposes, I pretty much stick to, you know, good will crossroads of secondhand kind of stuff.
matt: Oh, yeah.
matt: Yeah, totally.
eli: There's, and there's a lot, there's a lot of that around here.
matt: Totally.
matt: That's cool.
eli: Yeah.
matt: Yeah. I remember years ago, there was a store called Blackbird that like did a, you know, they carry like Alden and, you know, some of the, some of the big brands. I think they're long defunct, but, uh, yeah, it was, I think they probably went out of business in like 2014 or 15, something like that.
eli: Yeah. I haven't heard of that.
eli: Oh yeah.
Conor Fowler: Yeah, they were like a darling of the of the early menswear.
matt: Yeah, they they were definitely like a style forum, you know, stuff, pilgrimage, that kind of thing.
Conor Fowler: ah Raw denim type place.
eli: Yeah. yeah
Conor Fowler: Yeah, for sure.
matt: How long have you have you been into clothes, Eli?
eli: Um, I started like the, I feel like everyone that's in like the online fashion space goes through the, like they discovered r slash male fashion advice.
eli: Um, so I just, I got into that, like just loosely following what was cool to Reddit in 2014, my freshman year of college.
matt: Right.
eli: Um,
matt: Oh sick, okay.
eli: Yeah, and so I kind of worked there, kind of just like saw what people were wearing. So it was the first time I took a serious interest in like my appearance and how I looked.
matt: Right.
eli: So I got into that like formula of, you know, OCBD, Uniqlo, Chinos, Clark's Desert Boot, kind of just locked into that for all of college. And then after college, I moved to Los Angeles.
eli: Right around the time, like Tyler, the creator, Brockhampton, those kinds of acts were blowing up and I kind of just got into like,
Conor Fowler: Can you hear me?
eli: colorful white person streetwear where like Like, uh, you know, like the Uniqlo Sesame Street cause collaboration was the coolest thing ever to me.
Conor Fowler: Sure.
eli: And I had a pair of golf loafers and I was wearing like skinny light wash jeans. Um, and then as I aged up, I kind of, uh, fell out of clothes and just got into like, I didn't mean I was working in television.
eli: So working 60 hours a week, didn't really have time for like following anything outside of what I was working in. So I kind of just locked into like, I spent,
matt: Right.
eli: I spent like $800 at Everlane one time to just to just be done with clothes. I got like a whole bunch of you know plain colored flannel shirts yeah like shitty white t -shirts um and yeah I walked into like you know slim straight denim and chinos because that's not to me
Conor Fowler: Basics. Yeah.
Conor Fowler: And that's the outfit, the work outfit.
eli: Yeah.
Conor Fowler: It's like probably a final feature.
eli: And that's like, and I feel like that's the end game for people that were my age, like working in a professional environment. They didn't really care about clothes.
eli: They just wanted something that was like, set it, forget it, be done with it kind of thing.
matt: Right, right.
eli: But. I wrapped on um my last show in LA in November of 2022 and was told I was going to have like a three month hiatus, which later became an indefinite hiatus because the entire film min industry in Los Angeles exploded with the strikes and everything.
eli: um
matt: Yeah, same, same in Atlanta.
eli: Yeah, so I used my downtime. i kind of just like like It was the first time I'd had like time to myself in like six years.
Conor Fowler: Yeah.
eli: ah So I used that time to kind of get back into my hobbies. like I started cooking again and also started getting back into clothes.
Conor Fowler: Okay.
eli: I popped back onto r slash male fashion advice and actually started contributing. um I started just an Instagram account for myself to document like my daily outfits. Um, and with all this downtime, like I had a whole bunch of time and not a lot of money.
eli: So I started just going to thrift stores, uh, three, four, or five days a week. And I kind of just filled out my new wardrobe, uh, around that. Um, I lived in the South Bay of the Thai, which has a really good thrift scene.
eli: Um, I think you guys, I just listened to the Nick Andrey episode you guys did, uh, like a year ago at this point.
matt: Yeah.
eli: Um, but yeah, I was kind of, I was living in the same area he grew up in.
Conor Fowler: Yeah.
eli: Um, Yeah, did that whole thrift scene. And then, you know, film minist industry never really came back. So my wife and I decided, fuck it. We'll go back to where we're from. wck Back to where I'm from originally. Came back up to Seattle. And yeah. So I'm a pretty active participant in participants in, I guess, the online men's fashion scene uh r slash male fashion advice rolled over into a discord during the reddit api stuff um and i moderate i moderate that discord i'm a pretty frequent contributor and yeah that's kind of my whole i guess buttoned up clothing evolution for the last 12 years now yeah
matt: Right, right.
matt: Nice, nice. I went back to like the very first, or I guess the very start of your fits.
eli: Yeah.
matt: And i know I noticed that ah ah originally you were not showing your face and then,
eli: Yeah, I mean, that's just kind of what people did, like, on Reddit.
matt: ah
eli: And so, like, you know, I wasn't really that concerned with privacy, but it was like I was putting myself out there into a new space. That's just what a lot of people did.
matt: Right, right.
eli: And I wasn't really sure, like, if I was going to keep doing this, if, like, I wanted people I knew to know that I was doing this.
matt: Right.
Conor Fowler: yeah there is a weird shame about it right i mean
eli: that's like No, that's a shame so much as it's like I have I have I have a habit of like I'll start a hobby and then I'll just you know, I'll keep at it for like a week or two or three and then I'll stop doing it.
matt: right
eli: And it's like I wasn't sure when I started the Instagram, like how long clothing was going to be like an interest of mine, you know. So, yeah, I blur my face and at a certain point I was like tired of finding ah making the circle color match my outfit.
matt: yeah
matt: Right. right yeah Well, wait we had we we had John and Dan from We John's On.
Conor Fowler: yeah
eli: Sorry, I will fuck this.
Conor Fowler: That's funny as shit
matt: And Dan doesn't really seem to post much of himself in general. But like John, you know I feel like in the time that I have followed him, so I guess like a year or so now, like he went from you know trying to be anonymous to showing his face too.
eli: Yeah, I think that I think that I think John's I think if John's I don't actually know people's real names outside of the, but he's active in a couple of the spaces I'm active in and I kind of feel like the move from Reddit to discord made people a lot more comfortable with showing themselves because it's so much more it's like
matt: so
matt: Right. Yeah, totally. Because it's a it's a it's definitely more private.
eli: Yeah, it's a much more, and also like it's a much more intimate like group chat setting where you kind of become, you're able to have like more real time discussions with people and like become like closer friends with them, which makes more comfortable like putting yourself out there.
matt: Right.
matt: Yeah, totally. Well, part of the reason why we wanted to have you on is because John Bats for you. So, yeah, yeah.
eli: Oh, nice.
matt: He's a homie and any homie of his is homie of ours. So, yeah.
eli: Cool. Well, yeah, happy to be here.
Conor Fowler: So Seattle is the grunge Mecca was the grunge Mecca, right? yeah We were wondering what the what is the like, is there a scene?
eli: Yeah.
Conor Fowler: Is there like a is there like a Seattle kind of uniform still?
matt: there Is there a look?
Conor Fowler: Yeah.
eli: You know, I mean It's interesting because like I feel like it's, I don't think that Seattle is a city that you can really boil down to a certain aesthetic just because like it's now this huge tech capital of the country, the world, whatever, with like Microsoft and Amazon being here. um So you have a lot of people that are in very much like the you know, the late 2010s style of just like everything slim fit, you know, minimalistic white leather stickers.
matt: Right.
eli: And then like in my neighborhood in in the city proper, there's a lot more experimentation, I guess you would say a lot more stuff that isn't like
eli: norm core kind of stuff. But then you also have like like the like the so there's the stereotypical tech outfit, but then there's also like the Seattle outfit of like you have blondstones, little shirt and like dark wash jeans.
matt: Right.
Conor Fowler: Yes.
eli: There's a lot of that too, because there's a lot of like, you know, hiking clothes.
Conor Fowler: Yeah, see, that's what I was looking for.
eli: and such's a huge high
Conor Fowler: I mean, it's the right.
eli: here that that kind of just drips into what people yeah And I think it's interesting that since I moved up here, I've become more, I've pivoted more towards like, like I bought a pair of Danner's.
eli: I'm wearing my Patagonia Retro X a lot more. um Yeah, it's interesting.
matt: Yeah.
Conor Fowler: Danners are one of the first like full price clothing items that I bought and I still have them and wear them. I mean, I think they're freaking awesome.
eli: Yeah, I used to get the ah whatever the the red lace ones. I think you have them, Connor. I've just got like a pair of dark brown leather ones I got in a thrift store for $30.
Conor Fowler: my My red lace ones are Eddie Bauer Women's.
eli: Great.
matt: Nice.
eli: Oh, really? Yeah.
Conor Fowler: Yes, they are like they don't make that colorway. Not that shoes are gendered at all, but I bought the ladies ones because they look fucking cool.
eli: Yeah. Yeah. Nice.
matt: Yeah. I guess being, being in the Pacific Northwest, like offers, you know, just, or kind of lends itself really well to like, I hate the fucking term, but quote unquote, Gore, you know?
Conor Fowler: Yeah.
eli: Yeah.
matt: five
eli: I mean, I think that also moving, like moving up here from L .A. was also just a big step for me fashion wise because in L .A. it's like 70 degrees or higher all the time.
Conor Fowler: Yeah, you can't really dress.
matt: Right. Right.
eli: Like limits like what you're able to wear.
Conor Fowler: Yeah.
eli: Whereas is here, like I actually experience seasons. So I actually like have seasonal clothes, which is a brand new thing to me in my adult life because I was I spent my entire adult life in California last year.
Conor Fowler: Yeah, and you can see it in your in your posting too.
matt: Right.
Conor Fowler: I mean, it's like,
eli: yeah like as soon as i oh as soon as i also got like the seattle backdrop the pacific northwest backdrop it's such a like it's such a uh like a steroid for photography as opposed to la which is just like it's always like overexposed it's always super bright uh yeah it's like it's nice i really like being back up here
matt: Yeah.
Conor Fowler: You seem you seem happier. Like ah I was going to say like. And this is my like pet question for the show, but like so the pictures are great.
eli: Yeah, thank you.
Conor Fowler: The physics are great. The big big bigs have been great since it the beginning. We found it. We found them. What is your process? I mean, do you are you just walking out into the alley of your apartment or whatever and like, yeah, no, this is just going to work great.
eli: Yeah. i mean um It's not so much a process, but my wife used to be a wedding photographer and I own a DSLR camera.
matt: Oh.
eli: So yeah, like we have that, that alleyway that like half, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Conor Fowler: So it's a team effort.
eli: So like, yeah, yeah, the alleyway that half my fitness are in Earth is like a 30 second walk from my apartment.
Conor Fowler: It's a team effort. Jesus.
eli: um So one day is that I'm ah um'm home. It'll just be, I'll have an outfit on, I'll buy her a coffee and then she'll take fit pics of me in the alleyway.
matt: That's adorable.
Conor Fowler: Yeah.
eli: Yeah, it's fun.
matt: Yeah.
eli: that kind of we kind We kind of started that whole like photography thing.
matt: Yeah.
eli: like The first ever DSLR fit that I did was back in like November of 2023, I was in the Discord fit battle.
eli: And I had been taking just like iPhone pictures the entire time I was doing this.
Conor Fowler: Yeah.
eli: um And then just for this like competition based outfit challenge, I just stepped it up, did a DSLR fit pic and I was editing the pictures and I was like, holy shit, these look really good.
eli: And it's like, it's like addictive to just see good pictures of yourself. And it really doesn't add that much more time since I have a DSLR.
matt: Right.
Conor Fowler: I wouldn't know.
eli: Yeah, it's just cool. um It's like very, very self -indulgent.
Conor Fowler: Yeah, but it's it a little journal.
eli: But yeah, it's fun.
Conor Fowler: It's a diary.
eli: And it's like, i don't I never really had good pictures of myself that weren't like with a mall Santa.
Conor Fowler: Yeah.
matt: Right.
Conor Fowler: No, exactly.
eli: So it's fun. Yeah, I really like...
Conor Fowler: it's good I feel it's a little therapeutic, you know?
eli: Yeah, it's like... um
Conor Fowler: I always thought I looked weird, but here I am looking pretty good.
eli: Yeah. Like, and then like color correcting yourself. So you look like you're actually in a brand look book. It's just like a fun little micro creative thing to do.
matt: Yeah. I also like the fact that you, um, like the way that, you know, you post the caption, it's like the date and the day of the week.
eli: Yeah.
matt: Like that's cool.
eli: Yeah, um that kind of just started because, like I mean, people people will caption their outfits with whatever and that's fine, but I really didn't want this to be anything more than just like, this is what I'm wearing today.
matt: Yeah.
eli: Here it is.
matt: Yeah.
eli: um I don't really think I need to... I don't know anything about clothes other than like just buying stuff. like I'm terrible at articulating why i why I wear things.
Conor Fowler: You were quoted in the Wall Street Journal.
eli: So I really don't have... i Yeah, that's true. that i don't I still don't understand why that happened. but yeah like
Conor Fowler: So you know what I'm saying? You know a thing or two, right? I mean, you aren't you are not actually an idiot, even though it is the name of your handle.
eli: well i know yeah i think that like um i just have zero clothing theory knowledge i just know like certain things work for me like i like yeah that's exactly it it's ah it gets it gets overused it's a word that gets overused so but like it really is like getting dressed is so
Conor Fowler: It's about, yeah, but it's about the, I hate the word vibe, but it's about the vibe, right?
matt: That's okay. Yeah, I think the path.
Conor Fowler: It's like picking something off the rack and being like, Right.
matt: Yeah.
eli: I'm gonna say it vibes base for me that it's like, I and and don't really buy into like that there's rules you need to follow.
Conor Fowler: Yeah, it really is.
eli: I think there's like good, I think like whatever the menswear rules are a good entry point.
Conor Fowler: Mm hmm.
eli: So you're not throwing a whole bunch of random shit together and and it looks terrible. But I think that it's like the saying you need to learn the rules so that you can break them, I guess is the kind of, it's what I subscribe to.
matt: Right. And I've always thought that like, you know, whether or not someone can tell you the thread count on a fucking shirt is kind of pointless.
eli: Yeah.
matt: Like if there's no passion behind that, like not, not to say the two are mutually exclusive, but you know, like you know things because you're passionate about, about looking cool and what you like.
eli: Yeah.
eli: yeah
eli: Yeah. Yeah.
eli: Yeah. It's like why it's just's just just as an example, like I just learned like what chunky shoes were, like what makes a shoe chunky.
matt: So.
eli: I just learned yesterday, in fact, that it's about like the height of the sole. I always thought it was like the width of the shoe that makes something.
matt: Oh, right.
Conor Fowler: interesting well see i think you could go you could argue about that probably we're pro -chunk on this program for what it's worth
eli: Yeah, probably.
matt: I'm sure they're in the bowels of style forum or something. There's definitely arguments about chunk versus not chunk.
eli: Yeah. But yeah, it's all vibes. specific
matt: We are pre we are pro -chunk.
matt: Do any of your coworkers, like, are they clothes close people also? Or is it, like you said, kind of?
eli: No, it's definitely, yeah, it's like, but I was, one not really, I mean, I work in tech adjacent in a tech adjacent world so it's a lot of that and then like the days I the i the work I do is like you're on your feet the whole time so it's like when I'm at work I'm wearing just like functional comfortable clothes that I can stand for long hours of the day on
matt: Right.
matt: Yeah. Well, what's like a typical work fit for you?
eli: um I have this like so typically they want you to be wearing like show blacks for the kind of work I do just because it's like production dress code so I have I don't wear a lot of black but I have this
matt: Right.
eli: this palace adidas collab fleece zip up and then i have and then I'll just do like a pair of black 501s and vans usually.
Conor Fowler: see
eli: Any kind of sneaker and then like a beanie or a hat or something if it's an early day and I don't want to do my hair.
matt: pretty so Pretty solid.
eli: Yeah. Nothing. Nothing. Just a default outfit, I guess.
matt: Right, right.
Conor Fowler: It's a little bit like ah color removed Steve Zizzo, right? like
eli: Yeah, this kind of, yeah.
eli: this.
Conor Fowler: So much has been said of Bill Gates, even Bill Gates as concerns clothing. So we were wondering here if you in Seattle, the home of Microsoft had any anything any thoughts about ah business dress and Bill Gates at Microsoft and that sort of thing.
Conor Fowler: One company town.
eli: Yeah. um I mean, in general, I think that um Bill Gates and like the whole tech push in 80s and 90s into a more casual workspace has kind of done an interesting thing. And I think that it's touched on an amateur or articles of interest, one of those that in the 80s and 90s, we kind of moved away um from like a formal wardrobe in the workplace.
eli: And as a result, like Americans got rid of a lot of stuff. like They got rid of Levi's that are now considered vintage, all these like things that have like subsequently been brought up um and re yeah bought up and reproduced in and Japan.
Conor Fowler: one man's trash.
eli: And I think that I'm sorry, I really don't. I don't i don't know.
matt: ah
Conor Fowler: We're good.
matt: It's all good.
Conor Fowler: We'll get on to the next one. We'll get on to the next one.
eli: yeah
Conor Fowler: um yeah i mean is he is Is Microsoft still huge in Seattle? I guess it's there, but it's like
eli: Yeah, it's there it's i it's a huge draw like the town I grew up in Bellevue is basically exists to be a hub.
Conor Fowler: That's the town, right?
eli: Well, yeah, like Bellevue is like this soulless husk of a town that has no like, it's completely artificial. It has no culture, which is why I was so caught off guard when Matt said that a band was from Bellevue, because it just Bellevue is just not a place that things are from.
Conor Fowler: Oh, that's dude, and that's so funny because the Melvins are like not they not, they're not just any band, right?
eli: um like
Conor Fowler: I mean, I feel like they are, ah they probably are not Microsoft users.
eli: No, it's just like there's so like Microsoft and like the core company headquarters is in Redmond and all I feel like of the surrounding suburbs are like have just like because we moved to I was born in Wisconsin and we moved to Bellevue in 1998 when my dad got a job at Microsoft. So I got I got to grow up and watch Bellevue become like it went from like as a town, I guess, to like now it's got like a downtown like high rises and stuff and like all of this like expansion and modernization purely to meet the needs of Microsoft and then Amazon when Amazon got bigger. But it's ah it's just interesting because it's like it's grown so artificially because it was only pulling in people to work at tech companies that I really don't
eli: This could be, I mean, I could be ignorant of Bellevue culture, but in my understanding, Bellevue doesn't really have culture. It's kind of just a place where you lived because you worked at one of these tech companies.
matt: Uh, because we are serious journalists, I do have to correct, um, myself. I was misremembering the Melvins are from Montezano or um want to say montin I don't know how you say that.
eli: Ah, well, yeah, I mean, gotcha. Yeah, i imagine I just don't ever think there will be anything artistic of merit that comes out of Bellevue.
Conor Fowler: It's kind of amazing like because i mean I'm from a suburb of Annapolis.
matt: You could. very
Conor Fowler: They have built that up hugely. They have gotten rid of farmland and made it into subdivisions. But like skyscraper is like a different level of development.
eli: Yeah, it's pretty it's pretty remarkable how much it's changed and because like there's Bellevue like the east side where I grew up, which is like still very, very suburban, just like neighborhood cul -de -sac, you know, green space kind of thing. But then if you go into downtown Bellevue, it's It's just fascinating.
eli: It's just like there's all of these high rise buildings. There's like this gigantic mall that has like Hermes, all these high end Louis Vuitton, all of these brands have storefronts in Bellevue, Washington, which is because that's just where people live.
Conor Fowler: But that's like the first scene, right?
eli: and have a bunch There's just a bunch of money in the town and like the people
matt: Yeah!
eli: I can say it's just all as a result of this tech boom in the 90s. Like, um I think my parents house when they bought it was I think they bought it for like 200 250 ,000 and it's now well over a million dollars just by virtue of being in Bellevue.
matt: Jesus.
eli: Yeah.
matt: Right.
eli: um
Conor Fowler: What a strange, what a strange country.
eli: Yeah, it's it's just it's very, not dystopian, I wouldn't say, but it's just it's like, Bellevue is a result of pulling in a bunch of people who then made a bunch of money.
Conor Fowler: yeah
eli: And the town I think the town culture is a reflection of that.
matt: right
Conor Fowler: It's like the uncanny valley of towns.
eli: Yeah, it's just weird. I like i don't i don't like it. I really don't like going to Bellevue.
matt: hey no one says you have to like your hometown right right tech and shopping like that's yeah
eli: No, you know, um, yeah. And people say Seattle as a result has changed from what it used to be. And that's absolutely true. But I think at least Seattle benefits from being slightly removed and being like a fully fledged city that has other stuff besides tech. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Conor Fowler: It's like the Amazon town in Northern Virginia.
eli: Yeah.
Conor Fowler: like it's just ah It is just a huge mall.
eli: Yeah, there's this, like in Bellevue, like I went, when I first moved back up, um, I went and got drinks with some friends at, there's now a brewery in Bellevue that's like ensconced by high rise apartment buildings.
Conor Fowler: That's the whole thing. It's a mall and an airport.
eli: It's like this micro, like four or five square blocks of just like planned living so that you can have everything you want and then jump on a bus to go across the street to work at Microsoft.
Conor Fowler: to go work for 15 hours.
eli: It's, it's, there's just so many, like, yeah, so many, like.
Conor Fowler: Dude.
eli: how it's How fast it all popped up is just, it's so bizarre.
Conor Fowler: Well, I was using the word the phrase company town, but like that is what it is.
eli: That's what it is, yeah.
Conor Fowler: It's the new company town and it's, ah I don't know, I guess it shouldn't really come as any surprise, just like anything we have seen this before.
eli: Yeah, I would say it's, Bellevue's a strange place. I can't recommend anyone visit.
Conor Fowler: I wonder would what does it even look like?
eli: It's like, honestly, it's like when I was growing up, Bellevue was like, what you imagine like a, like if you see on television, a neighborhood, like in a family sitcom, that's what Bellevue is.
Conor Fowler: Oh, my God.
Conor Fowler: Yeah, it really is picturesque.
eli: or Yeah.
Conor Fowler: It's like it's like on the water.
eli: it's I mean, it's beautiful. It's done a really good job, like maintaining like green space. There's lots of parks. There's lots of like activities to do. Like as a kid, it was a great place to grow up, but like I can't imagine living there as an adult.
Conor Fowler: It seems like not a very diverse place would be my.
eli: I mean, it is just because of the diversity of tech. Like there's a huge Indian population. Like I went to a high school that was 50 % Southeast Asian.
Conor Fowler: Really.
eli: Yeah, I was, on my i was ah as a white man, I was a minority in many of my classes in high school.
Conor Fowler: That's pretty tight.
eli: So, I mean, seattle Seattle itself is not a very diverse city, but I think Bellevue within that is actually pretty diverse just because of where just because of tech itself.
eli: like Yeah, i mean i think I mean, tech companies, as you move up the ladder, it becomes less diverse.
Conor Fowler: I would have sort of expected the opposite.
Conor Fowler: Sure, sure.
matt: Right, right.
Conor Fowler: It's like who's them who is really making the money, I guess.
eli: Yeah, ah of course, we say that Microsoft has an Indian CEO right now.
Conor Fowler: Yeah.
matt: attic Right, right. Yeah. Well, there's, you know, things happen. So, how did you how did you get started working in film?
eli: Yeah.
eli: um I went to Washington State University with the intent of being a business major. um And then after a year or so, I realized I didn't want to do that. So I switched over to communication just because it was a broad major that sounded interesting.
matt: right
eli: And within the commit College of Communication, Washington State has a student -run um film production extracurricular, so I started writing and producing shows for that.
matt: Right.
eli: i Found out I really liked it then I cuz like and it never really occurred to me that you can just do TV is a job until It's like like when you're watching TV is like again.
matt: Right, right.
eli: You don't really think about it like that's somebody's job ah People do that for money um So yeah, I was doing I was pretty active in the student film Stuff throughout college and then after graduation my girlfriend at the time now.
Conor Fowler: Yeah.
eli: She's my wife and We just was like, fuck it, let's move to LA, see what happens. So we did, like we graduated college, loaded everything up into a U -Haul, moved down to Koreatown.
eli: ah We had, there's a pretty solid alumni network of people that did the same thing we did from Washington State. um So we had some connections down there were already, but yeah, we figured we were 22 years old.
eli: Let's try it, and yeah.
matt: Hell yeah.
eli: It was fun. It worked out for a very long time until COVID happened. And then right after we were getting back from COVID, everybody went on strike.
matt: Right.
eli: So it is what it is, but it was a good was a good eight year run.
matt: Yeah, so the you may have answered this question already in that response, but we' like were you into, or did you have an interest and in you know movie and television and stuff as as a young person before you kind of started just jumping into it?
eli: No, not per se. I was a big creative writer as a kid.
matt: Oh, okay, cool.
Conor Fowler: Interesting.
eli: When I was 19, I started doing stand -up comedy.
matt: Oh, shit!
Conor Fowler: I can see that.
eli: yeah yeah yeah I to LA with the intent of writing for shows, but of course, nobody actually gets to have their creative dream.
Conor Fowler: Yeah, I can see that. Definitely.
eli: um so that kind of just
Conor Fowler: Unless you're very, very, very rich.
eli: the like It's like it's like you know one in 1 ,000 or whatever the statistic is.
Conor Fowler: you well you're still doing a what You were doing a 1 in 50 million job right like to work on ah to work on TV at all.
eli: Yeah.
Conor Fowler: like No one can do that.
eli: Yeah. So I mean, so that, yeah, so, um, yeah, so my interest was never per se in television, just because, like I said, I didn't realize that that was something that you could be interested in as a career until I was like, you know, one year old.
matt: Right.
Conor Fowler: But you wanted to write.
eli: Yeah, I wanted to write. Um, yeah.
Conor Fowler: What kind of
eli: And so,
Conor Fowler: What kind of stuff has it inspired you or writing? I mean, like their movies, screenplays, poems.
eli: um, books. i I was a big book kid as ah they read a lot of books.
Conor Fowler: the Yeah.
eli: I wrote a lot of like terrible, like 30 page novels that are probably on my parents house.
Conor Fowler: yeah
eli: But yeah, just really any kind of creative writing as a kid and that kind of evolved into stand up, I guess.
matt: Do you still do stand -up?
eli: Yeah. Yeah. There's a couple of comedy clubs up here that I perform at. every Yeah, I do a lot of open mics.
matt: Oh, that's sick!
matt: Yeah, yeah.
eli: I moved down to LA, and I did stand up down there, too. But like the open mic comedy scene in LA is just so depressing. And like i was and up on i was like I was working a full day, and then I would drive to like some shitty bar in West Hollywood and pay a guy $10 to talk for three minutes in front of like four other people that were just there to do the same thing.
matt: I can imagine.
matt: right right i can of i can only fucking imagine especially because of a has like yeah yeah and it's like it's legendary you know but
eli: ah like There's always so much of that you can take. but and like back there because Down there, it's like it's a lifestyle. People go down there to do...
eli: Yeah. And up here, like the pressure's off up here. It's a lot more fun. Like I have other things like when I was 22 and like broke as shit doing standup comedy, I was putting a lot of pressure on myself to like, this needs to work kind of thing.
matt: right
eli: And now that like older, um, my worldviews are a lot more evolved, which I think is important for doing standup.
matt: Totally.
eli: Like I look back at stuff I was saying when I was 22 and it's not like offensive, but it's just, I was 22. I was stupid. I didn't know anything.
matt: Right, right. Not like you were having a Michael Richards moment, but...
eli: Um, No, no, no, no.
matt: ah Yeah.
Conor Fowler: and
eli: No, just like stuff that wasn't thoughts I had that like weren't fleshed out. I wasn't like, my my brain wasn't fully developed.
Conor Fowler: Well, no one can I mean no no decent person would hold a 22 year old to any kind of standard about
eli: No, I think that I just, I mean, I think I hold myself to a standard and then I just like, like I went back and read the stuff I was running and I just didn't like it. It was just bad, not for like any reason other than I was 22 and was stupid.
matt: Right.
matt: Yeah.
eli: like i wasn't saying i wasn't saying I wasn't saying anything like it was just not funny.
matt: Yeah.
Conor Fowler: Yeah, it's nice to have that, right?
matt: so
Conor Fowler: Yeah, yeah, but it's like you you have your work, your old work to look back at, which is good.
eli: Yeah, so yeah, I kind of so I got back in and it been set up ah like six months ago up here because I realized that there's a comedy club I can walk to.
matt: Oh, that's sick.
Conor Fowler: Huh.
eli: Yeah, so it's fun.
matt: Yeah. Do, so do you, do you like sketch out like on paper or, you know, notes app or something like, Okay.
eli: Yeah, so um i have so i'll I'll get an idea, I'll write it down on my notes app, and then like I'll go to a coffee shop and flesh it out like on the computer or on the phone. And once like I'm happy with the joke, like i write I write all my jokes out like word for word what I'm gonna say. like i used to i Which is another thing that's kind of changed since I've gotten older. like I used to just go up on stage with like an idea of what I was gonna say, but now I'm much more into making sure like every word, the timing of every word is like as dialed as I can get it.
matt: yeah
eli: Um, so ah once like I'll run through it and then like run through it on a Google doc, say it out loud, see how it feels. And once I'm happy with it, I have a little notebook that I'll hand and write it out in just because like, I mean, that just makes it seem like final.
matt: he yeah
eli: Like this is like, I'll write it out in, like if when you write something down, like in pen, it's like permanent.
Conor Fowler: Yeah, yeah, no, it's good to hear that that that that sort of, I guess, fleshed out process exists still even.
matt: yeah yeah i
eli: Yeah.
matt: Yeah, yeah.
eli: Yeah, it's fun. It's a fun little hobby. and i think I really like Anthony Jeselnick.
matt: What are some of your favorite stand -up, comedians?
eli: um
matt: Okay.
eli: he's a Cause like, you know what, the whole thing that's happening in comedy is like, people like Dave Chappelle and Louis C .K. are like reeling against like this woke ideology of like, you can't say that.
matt: Right.
eli: And that's fucking bullshit. You can say a lot of things that just has to be funny. And I think Anthony Juslik is like, he like, his jokes are like super outlandish, but he's able to do it in a way that's A, not offensive to like a protected class, which is important.
eli: Um, and just, he, he uses, um, misdirection in a way that's just really, really admirable. And I think that um it's just a good foil to this bullshit idea that comedy is ruined because white people can't say the N word on stage anymore.
matt: Right, right, and the the the so -called canceled comedians that are still making, you know, millions of dollars on a Netflix special.
Conor Fowler: is what it is, right?
eli: Yeah, like no, yeah. Yeah. like Dave Chappelle just hosted SNL last week.
matt: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Conor Fowler: What the fuck was he wearing?
eli: Yeah.
Conor Fowler: I saw that on Throwing Fits. What was he wearing?
eli: Oh, I had to say something about it.
Conor Fowler: The sleeveless.
eli: I just know he was... I just saw he was doing I'm pulling up.
Conor Fowler: He was was wearing a sleeveless, what looked like a sport coat and like a kind of a priest. Collar, it was very strange.
matt: Ooh.
Conor Fowler: I would look it up if I were you, because I'm pretty sure the caption was, you're homie who has stuck with his New Year's resolution to work out every day.
eli: Oh my god, yeah. It looks like he ripped the sleeves off of it.
Conor Fowler: Which is another one of my favorite things in the world, the t -shirt from the boardwalk. I flexed and the sleeves fell off.
Conor Fowler: Yes, that will live a name for me.
matt: Okay, now now i have to now I have to look this up because it sounds absolutely terrible.
Conor Fowler: You gotta check it out, it's like it looks like a bit.
matt: Right.
eli: I'm sure this, us all looking up a picture of an outfit is going to be great content for this audio. yes
Conor Fowler: Well, we'll give everyone a chance to look it up in their own time.
matt: it's a Yeah, yeah. Anyone that's listened to any episode knows how how we go on tangents and dumb shit.
eli: Not really.
Conor Fowler: Do you have like a writer that has inspired you? I'm curious. like
eli: um
Conor Fowler: You don't have to.
eli: I think, no, I know, I think that I haven't like, I mean, I stopped, I used to consume just tons and tons and tons of standard comedy and when I was like in high school, early college, but like, I don't really, not really so much anymore. Like I have a couple of people like, and like I said, to Anthony, just look, I'll see what he's doing.
eli: landlord controversy aside, I think Hannibal Burris is still funny, but I kind of just like, it stopped being something that like interested me to consume.
Conor Fowler: in
eli: It's kind of just something I'm more like doing myself. um I don't know, I think
Conor Fowler: No, that's interesting, because I never have liked it. I like have never liked stand -up.
eli: Yeah, I mean, there's like, I forget who it is.
Conor Fowler: I always thought, why would I watch this?
eli: And this is gonna sound super pretentious to say, but like, there's this idea, like, there there was some sports commentator I listened to an interview with where he said he tried to never, he never watches sports with the commentary on, because he doesn't want that, like, that influence, how he himself commentates on sports.
eli: And I mean, I'm not saying like, I'm at the level of that, but I do think that I like to i don't I don't want to draw influence from anywhere because I want the things I say to be as much my own as they can be.
matt: Right, right. I think it was Marc Maron and Pat Nosvold on the, you know, Maron's podcast where they were talking about how like, as a comedian, you you know, if you do like a week, week run with someone, you kind of like,
matt: end up picking up some of their mannerisms at times.
eli: yeah
matt: And so, yeah, I feel like that's, yeah.
eli: yeah and Yeah, and it's like like for me Stan, it's one of those mediums where you don't really want there to be any question that what you're doing is 100 % you.
matt: right Right.
eli: It's not like there's no like cover comedians like there are.
matt: Right.
Conor Fowler: Right, right.
matt: Well, den Dennis Leary, perhaps, but breaking out all the references today.
Conor Fowler: Yeah, that's a good point.
eli: Yeah.
Conor Fowler: Yeah, yeah that's funny.
eli: so
matt: Uh, so, um, another, another clothing question.
Conor Fowler: move
matt: Um, so we just, just turn the corner on 2024.
eli: yeah
matt: Um, how, how was your, uh, clothing shopping in the past year?
eli: Yeah, it was good. um I didn't buy anything new in 2024.
matt: Sick.
eli: i
eli: largely for financial reasons but also like I'm like the way i I don't like I don't like doing online shopping I don't like going on essence or eBay even I kind of just like going to stores and digging through and finding stuff and I think that adds more meaning to clothes for me and it makes things the things that I have cooler um uh I think let me let me think of my top my top purchase
Conor Fowler: Still good.
matt: Totally.
matt: Definitely.
matt: Yeah, I was gonna say, you got a top you got a top three or five or something.
eli: Yeah, I got this, it's like this 1990s polo button -up shirt that has like this crazy like outdoors fisherman print on it.
matt: Oh, is it on the back?
eli: It's on, it's ah it's like the whole shirt is...
matt: Oh, okay, cool, cool.
eli: Yeah, it's a super cool piece. And like I picked it up at Crossroads with the store credit I had. It was like $15. Then I looked it up and it like on Grailed, it's going for $400 or $500.
matt: Yeah, yeah.
eli: That was cool, but it's just a really cool, like unique shirt. And I think that for how I dress, like I really like um dressing Ivy, but with like one weird thing.
eli: And vin good this is like a really good one weird thing for a lot of my outfits.
Conor Fowler: Oh, yes.
Conor Fowler: Oh, yes. I mean, it's good. It's like you your and your style is like you got it going on, man. You really do.
eli: Thank you. Thank you.
Conor Fowler: And it's true that it's getting to the stuff in the thrift store is it makes it better.
eli: It's just fun.
Conor Fowler: It's like all my shit is from the thrift store and that makes it better.
eli: It's like, yeah. Yeah. And like, I think that's, that's why it's just so heartbreaking that like stores like Goodwill and Valley Vision are like jacking up their prices.
eli: Like in Bellevue, the Goodwill, every single pair of jeans is $20.
matt: Dude, yeah.
Conor Fowler: yeah It's just going here like.
matt: I've pretty much just stopped going to Goodwill unless it's in, like, some just rural -ass town, because, like, it's always, A, inflated prices, and i don't know I don't know if this is something they did nationwide, but a couple of years back, they started, like, instead of color -sorting everything, they size it now.
eli: Yeah. Yeah.
matt: and like but the But they also took away the signs on the racks that tell you what that rack is, so, like,
eli: Oh, we still have that out here.
matt: Oh god damn, I'm so jealous.
eli: Everything's like, it's like, uh, everything's still pretty organized out here and it's like easy to find stuff. But like when I go to Goodwill, I feel like I'm competing against Goodwill to see how much more I know they do.
matt: Right, right.
eli: i Like I found.
matt: Well, chances are you're probably going to win that battle most of the time.
eli: Yeah, but it's like, it's just it's interesting, like the markups they have, like i like they mark ASOS designs stuff.
matt: yeah
eli: Like I found an ASOS designs jacket that Goodwill wanted $40 for.
Conor Fowler: good fellow that kind of thing like they love to.
eli: Yeah, but then again, but like just last week I went in and got like this vintage Woolrich made in England sweater for $7.
matt: Nice, yeah.
Conor Fowler: Yeah, no, because they really it's really it is really random and that's like the beauty of it.
eli: like
eli: yeah Yeah, it's like they know like big brand names, but there's still like a lot of stuff. like They don't know how to tag vintage military stuff.
eli: you don' and exactly They don't know that there's a market for that.
matt: Oh, yeah.
eli: They don't know if there's a market for vintage knitwear made in USA, i made in England kind of stuff.
matt: Right, right.
eli: So there's still stuff to be found, at least in my area.
matt: Yeah, yeah, I ah hate seeing these like, think pieces by fashion writers that are like, thrifts are dead, like blah, blah, blah, like, but yeah, yeah, and like, right, I mean, yeah, there's ah they're like,
eli: and
eli: You're not dead. The approach is just different. And it's not.
Conor Fowler: unless they are all gone.
eli: Yeah. There's still stuff to be had.
Conor Fowler: Then you have to go to estate sales and like Facebook marketplace.
eli: Yeah. I haven't gone into estate sales yet, but i've been I've been lightly entertaining that.
Conor Fowler: you there
eli: like i saw and ah There was an estate sale listing near me where it was like the guy must have been a Vietnam veteran because he had 10 pairs of OG 107s in his closet.
matt: it's
Conor Fowler: Damn.
matt: It's... Yeah, I bet there was some fucking former t -shirt dork sleeping outside.
Conor Fowler: damn
eli: Yeah, but that's the thing, like you show up to those and I bet there's like, yeah, there's probably like 10 or 15 people that look just like me that are really the same reason.
matt: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I don't enjoy them as much as I as i did pre -2020. Yeah, 100%.
eli: Yeah.
matt: Um, yeah, the cool thing, like going back to, you know, the military and like other, you know, vintage pricing and Goodwill, like the cool thing about all that stuff is a, it was made in the fucking millions, you know, ah ah pieces and be like, it's, um, it's, it's kind of like generic in its look, so it doesn't look special.
eli: Yeah. this was differently
eli: Yeah, yeah, like you can you can see like felt like yeah, they do sort they sort by color and size so there'll be like just a rack of green pants and it's all about just like figuring out which green pants are the green pants because they do like kind of glance they all look the same.
matt: Right.
matt: Yeah, that's part of the reason I hate that fucking Target brand good fellow is because like, it, and also like, like night, like early 2000s banana Republican gap, kind of the same thing.
Conor Fowler: Yeah dude, it sucks.
eli: Yeah, um um yeah, there's so many times.
eli: Yeah.
matt: Like I'll see.
eli: Well, and then that company Shein, they have like this specific, they have this specific houndstooth pattern that just looks like that, like, you know, that there was like this Abercrombie coat that came out a couple of years ago that like everyone lost their minds over because it was like this beautiful like brown houndstooth pattern and Shein reproduces that.
matt: Oh, Jesus. and Fuck.
eli: on so many of their stuff. So I'll be like flipping through and I'll just see that pattern and I'll think I'll have something again. It's just fucking sheen and it gets everything out.
matt: Oh yeah, and and then you touch it, and I don't know, I don't know if you...
eli: Yeah, I'm disintegrating your hand.
matt: Yeah, and like, any time I touch, like, either A, like, really bad, like, Walmart -level fleece, or Chee -in, or something, like, i I almost dry -heave a little bit.
eli: Mm -hmm. Oh my god, yeah. Yeah, yeah.
matt: Like, it makes me feel disgusting.
eli: Yeah, that and like this stretch denim is another one.
matt: No.
Conor Fowler: Oh, yeah.
matt: Yeah. Yeah. Uh, another, another one is dry cleaned them.
eli: Yeah.
matt: Like dry cleaned, you know, starch to hell, anything like is kind of gross, but denim is particularly just. well
eli: yeah
Conor Fowler: Wow, guys, and we've even run through the sensory horrors of the thrift store.
matt: Yeah.
matt: Oh yeah.
Conor Fowler: no
matt: Oh yeah. I could talk about that all day.
Conor Fowler: Which there are many. I mean, of course, we haven't even delved into the amazing soundtrack that waits you at the thrift store.
matt: Yeah.
Conor Fowler: Matt knows every single song.
eli: They change them up out here. it's a different like i
matt: Oh, God.
eli: and all good ae
matt: I'm so jealous.
Conor Fowler: Wow, what the progressive, the progressive pick Pacific Northwest.
eli: i go off
eli: like I'll go to a Goodwill often enough that I'll kind of like get their rotation down of songs, but then I'll go like, yeah, they keep a good rotation at the Googles up here.
matt: Yeah.
eli: It's not the same.
Conor Fowler: Wow, must be fucking nice.
eli: Yeah, it is nice.
matt: Yeah, the a lot of the store chains that I go to that have like a handful of stores, there have been many, many times when I would hit you know two or three in a day, and I would catch the playlist at the same fucking point in each store.
eli: Yeah.
eli: Yeah, I would give that a lot more. I went to the South Bay because the South Bay, the South Bay good rules are all like that.
matt: Fuck.
eli: There was like three or four good rules in like a five mile radius that I could just one after the other.
matt: Right.
eli: And it's just, it's just like ingrained into your brain.
matt: yeah Yeah, I'm not one of those people that can tune out in music either.
eli: The progression. I don't know.
matt: like i I wish that I could.
eli: Mm hmm.
matt: Jesus, I wish I could.
Conor Fowler: I like my life because I can't tune out anything.
matt: was
matt: Yeah, yeah i'm not ah I'm not a thrift with headphones in person either. so um Anyway.
Conor Fowler: it it feels like It feels like a little, I don't know.
eli: i like
Conor Fowler: I mean, there's a thinking about people who are runners who run without headphones.
eli: I don't know how, I mean, I ran cross country in high school. I don't understand how you can run with headphones.
Conor Fowler: See, you're one of them.
matt: Yeah.
eli: I just like, I tried, I've tried doing it with like AirPods, but I just can't like, like AirPods, because they're wireless and it's like not like you don't have to hold anything, but like with
Conor Fowler: They fall out?
eli: wired earbuds, I don't understand how that wasn't just like a sensory overload.
Conor Fowler: If you have to hold it, that would be terrible.
eli: You know, because you'll see people with like, like their iPod touch area, you're just running with like, and then like the wires are bouncing around.
Conor Fowler: Holding their phone, like, yeah.
eli: I don't understand how that works. And then like, AirPods I get, but yeah, they fall out of your ears when you're running with them.
matt: Yeah.
eli: So I've never understood people that can run with headphones or anything on.
matt: Yeah, yeah.
Conor Fowler: it's ah It's a question of masochism, I think, degrees of masochism.
matt: and you it And you were born too late to have a Walkman with headphones that you ran with.
eli: yeah Yeah.
matt: ah
eli: Yeah.
matt: Well shit, Eli, this has been super fun, and thank you you know once more for coming on and shoot shooting the shit with us.
eli: Yeah. Thanks for having me.
matt: um Always like to give the guests a chance to shout out themselves, their account, whatever they would like to, so go for it.
eli: Yeah. Uh, you can find me on Instagram at idiot underscore clothes. Um, and now that Tik TOK is unbanned again, same account there. It's the exact same content I posted Instagram. Uh, but you can find me though there on Tik TOK too.
Conor Fowler: Wow.
matt: Hell yeah, everyone give a follow because definitely a lot of fucking really good fits.
eli: Oh, thank you.
matt: And a nice diversity. like It's not like you're in the same thing all the time.
eli: Yeah, I try not to be.
matt: Yeah, well, um everyone, thank you for listening. um If you would like to shoot us an email, it's apocalypseduds at gmail dot .com at apocalypseduds on Instagram. I am mattsmith at rebelsrogues.
Conor Fowler: And I'm Connor Flower at Connor Flower.
matt: And yeah, see you next week.
Conor Fowler: Ciao.
