Transcript
Speaker: Okay, we're going. right. Well, I don't know. What? Pierce, don't you normally introduce people? Jesus, Derek. You're so against starting the podcast any sort of way.
Speaker: And somehow I'm in trouble just from having not spoken soon enough. Don't you take it upon yourself, though? It's ridiculous. No, I'm actually notorious for not introducing guests um until the very end.
Speaker: Matthew often set has something to say. I generally remain fairly mum for the first 15 to 20 minutes of the podcast and kind of fail to contribute anything.
Speaker: I feel like that's ah that's a nice long-standing tradition. um Josiah and Miles from the Millennial Excellence Podcast. Thank you for joining us. When I guest on shows, I actually often... And this is not a joke. I usually find myself interrupting the introduction because I'm trying to claim dominance and take over the show.
Speaker: But this time I didn't. So that says something. I don't know what it says. kind did, didn't you? Do you do that non-verbally by like just sort of clearing your throat and tapping the mic? Or are you trying to snipe in with a clever... Even right now, I was going to point out that I was the first person to pass the Zencaster health check as it was loading up because I thought that was kind of an interest. Anything that can be gamified and turned into a competition, I'm here for it.
Speaker: All right. Now I'm curious, Miles, ah what what did you want to have said earlier in the episode? I was kind of curious, what when do you need no introduction?
Speaker: The next guest needs no introduction. guess when they're if they're kind of nice. I'm kind of nice. Do you like nice with it? I'm kind of nice. Like, nice is a bad thing to be now, but I'm kind of nice.
Speaker: If you're kind of like a background extra on the podcast, we don't need to introduce you because there's a good chance you won't even speak. Yeah, this fly in the room needs no introduction.
Speaker: It's simply a need one. not relevant. Do you guys think it's millennial cringe or is it like Kaufman-esque magic to say this next guest requires no introduction and then to be silent than to just silently wait for the guest to appear on stage?
Speaker: Are those opposites? Are those two things opposites? Kaufman-esque magic and millennial cringe. Yeah, that's the that's the flavor profile spectrum that we're working with. How about this?
Speaker: What if you guys introduced us? That would be Kaufman-esque. That would be flipping the script. That's sort of a big so the old switcheroo happening. Yeah, that's um is there any comic who's famous for switching like switching people? A reverse of something?
Speaker: Yeah. backwards It feels more like magic. Didn't ah like Two-Face from Batman do or not? He wasn't a comic. guy He re reversed a coin. That's the Joker.
Speaker: Instead of so he's he you found up a clever way to use it to reverse the use of a coin. But certainly there must have been like an opposite man type character. I think that's Batman. Batman himself was the opposite of... The opposite of a man.
Speaker: He's more of a bat. he's He's rich, but he spends a lot of time with poor people. That's a reversal. He's the first rich He's in a cave instead of a house. That's different.
Speaker: Well, is different the same as opposite? Well, that's like, i mean, um a caveman spends more time in a cave than in a house, but does that mean that that modern man That's weird. Caveman is kind of like a superhero name as well. Batman should be called Caveman.
Speaker: Because he's fascinated by new technology, just like a caveman. he lives in a cave, and he barbarically beats the shit out of other people, and he has a healthy fear of creatures. He uses caves against the villains. Yeah.
Speaker: He beats up guys that are wearing suits. The Joker, Two-Face, Opposite Man, they all wear suits. The Joker is like a primordial sort of baboon with engorged ah puffy red features that naturally engender stress hormones in the mind of the caveman.
Speaker: But when a caveman beats someone, that's kind of a mating call, right? That's a sign of love. It's like they're kind of the earliest violent domestic abusers. And that is how early man outcompeted these rival factions of upright apes, right? They outbred them, essentially.
Speaker: They fucked them into our into the species. Yeah. But they were only doing that to impress other chicks. they didn't They didn't even care about ah having progeny. they they And essentially, I think a lot of a lot of early men, lot of children were conceived but and like three million years ago just just because the men were trying to impress other chicks.
Speaker: They're saying, I can knock up this i can knock up this near but only so that you can sort of get titillated by the sounds she makes. Catwoman.
Speaker: Even though Catwoman isn't in most of the episodes, she is the focus of Batman's efforts. And Poison Ivy has been a scourge upon cavemen as well.
Speaker: Yes, because they seduce Catwoman away from us. right Does Batman have a ah normal girlfriend? Or they all ah kind of have hobbies. What even is a normal girlfriend? yeah What does that mean? really like She has an Apple Watch and yeah goes to the gym.
Speaker: and And doesn't try to kill the Batman? um There's an episode of the cartoon where Batman dates Lois Lane. and What? super Superman doesn't like this one bit.
Speaker: Oh my god. Isn't that Superman's girlfriend? That's what Superman thought. He's having his soupy seconds. Damn. Okay, wait, but Lois Lane and Superman are actually made for each other, so isn't that kind of messed up of Batman to do that?
Speaker: yeah well Bruce Wayne, who is Batman's like real persona, he oration has reputation. Well, no, Batman's his alter ego.
Speaker: i would say that Bruce Wayne is his real persona.
Speaker: No. He has a reputation. It's interesting because Batman is sort of two-faced. I want to say so many comic book characters can be called two-faced. If only for... Batman or Bruce Wayne himself is is quite charismatic. He's somewhat of a joker, right? So actually all these characters, and like they encompass their entire rogues gallery with their attributes. I want to say that Predator is also Two-Face because of um his mask and that he takes off. and um
Speaker: Technically, all humans are Predators. Yep. And predators are two-faced because they trick or predate. Is there a guy named Dick something in Batman who's like Robin, but like not Robin? Dick Grayson? or That sounds right. me Who's that guy?
Speaker: What's the of that guy? He's just a boy that they have around? He's just another he's another obstacle in Batman's pursuit of having a normal girlfriend. He's just another... That's i Yeah, I do think spending time around a series of boys is an obstacle.
Speaker: do all major superheroes have catamites like that?
Speaker: but
Speaker: Are you failing to say kryptonite? What is catamite? catamite. It's a young young boy you fuck. Oh, Spider-Bucks. Batman's catamite slash kryptonite. Batman's kryptonite is boys.
Speaker: No, Bruce Wayne's kryptonite to having a normal sex with a human woman is his catamites, his male concubines, his wards, his cock blocks. Does Batman have kids?
Speaker: Has he ever? He has a few.
Speaker: yeah
Speaker: Which ones? don't know. and Just imagine they're in the cave. That's all you can really consider. Use your imagination. and you're the in you imagine a cave, your brain will start populating it with Bruce Wayne and Batman's children. yeah Do you think the cant like what's canon should be... you know the only Only the IP holder should have authority over that. We can determine Batman has boys in this cave. Yeah.
Speaker: that are his real progeny, not just like orphan acrobats or whatever his preference is. Yeah, he's not just interested in bats. He's also interested boys.
Speaker: Has Batman ever gone after like ah sex criminals? I feel like it's just like thugs who steal a purse, right? Are sex criminals afraid of bats and bat signals?
Speaker: Yeah, I don't think he does. I think like even if someone steals an old lady's purse, like, I mean, they're like, no, I'm a sex criminal. He's like, oh, never mind. Then all good. Free to go You're allowed to steal a purse. As long as you have an erection, you're you're good to go. You'll get off scot-free.
Speaker: Batman is so fear-based, and that and he correctly has identified that pedophiles, sex criminals, and serial rapists have transgressed the boundaries of human terror.
Speaker: And it's very hard to very hard to shock them. Well, they do say that um if you're ever afraid in the dark, ah you should just start jacking off.
Speaker: That's one way to fix that. Afraid in the dark? They say that if you're ever afraid, if you're ever scared of the dark or something scary is happening to you just start jacking off because then the that um will overpower your fear. Who says this?
Speaker: They. Well, I said they, but it's more of like a theory I'm positing to you now. um But I was trying to lend some kind of like authority to it. You were saying, think you were trying to say if you're afraid of the dark, but you said if you're afraid in the dark. No, I think it makes more sense.
Speaker: You can't just be afraid of the dark and start jerking off. Yeah, because you're surrounded by your fear. If you are in the dark and you happen to be afraid, your heart rate's going up. Sure, great time.
Speaker: I guess what I was pointing at was try to jack off with the lights off while afraid. But you can be afraid of anything, not just the dark. yeah I mean, if you're in the dark and you're afraid of jacking off, then jacking off would be the best way to confront that fear.
Speaker: Oh, in the darkness. It's true. In the darkness, yeah. oh Exposure therapy. Exposure is healthy under underposure therapy. therapy. Does this work if you're hiding from someone? A little bit.
Speaker: And the thing you're afraid of is being found? Yeah, just get found. Make a a loud noise and face the predator who's trying to get you. Get caught and captured.
Speaker: Get hurt by the predator. That's the best way. It's best to get harmed by the person who's looking for it. Because the fear is what you're actually afraid of. You should just peel off mandate and be found and be hurt.
Speaker: And by the way, to my who our guests, um you're free to disagree with us about some of this stuff. But by the way, who the hell is going to introduce me? One of you's got to introduce me tonight.
Speaker: You're the guest who does not need an introduction. My name bears no repeating. What about when you're like so famous that you get to be the and at the end of the credits of an introduction of a show? Oh, yeah. and There's also with.
Speaker: It's like oh with Tom and Jerry. Yeah. Tom and Jerry. with jar Tom with Jerry and Spike or whatever the dog's name is.
Speaker: It's Spike, yeah. So is this like a show where you just talk about different IPs the whole time? um I love it. Yes, this is a show where we talk about different IPs the whole time.
Speaker: But we' not dont think that that's the I don't think that's the tagline or anything. Well, actually, ah for this episode, I was thinking maybe we could talk about millennials. would Would you guys be interested in that?
Speaker: Sounds great. Yeah. Is this topic you dance around? Or try to tackle the record. It's a topic we dance with. you know Yeah, I grind with it. The topic puts its ass on my crotch and we kind of move rhythmically to crunk music.
Speaker: Damn. Wow. um And music can feel that? Or the ah the topic of millennialism can feel that? I would like to start us off maybe with a topic of discussion I found on the millennials subreddit. It's a question, so it'll tee us up. um maybe Maybe Pierce wants to read this.
Speaker: I'm just going go ahead and introduce our guests a little bit more thoroughly, but not much more thoroughly, and say that the reason that Derek decided to pick Millennial Questions is because Josiah and Miles have a podcast called Millennial Excellence.
Speaker: I said that earlier. Did you really say that? I thought someone was cross-talking with you. It bears repeating. It bears repeating. We, our guests here, do need an introduction. very This podcast... A very explicit introduction.
Speaker: It's the first Chamber of Reason sister podcast, and it will always be a sister podcast, a Chamber of Reason. Yeah, because your podcast is a girl. fuck.
Speaker: And ours, too. Oh, nice. Wait, if something is a sister of something, does that mean they're both girls? They're both ah made objects, so it says a lot about what we think of makers and what we think of...
Speaker: The maids. The maids. Yeah. i consideration Men are makers and women are maids. um Here's the question that Derek has selected.
Speaker: What happened to us? This is on the Millennial subreddit. What happened to us? We've never gone on here also. You know, this deep in, I never even thought to look. Don't bother. Don't bother. we already't have We already have this shit covered.
Speaker: Our brothers have done it. Our sisters. Early on, the first half of us millennials came of age as angry, loud, and passionate young adults. The establishment didn't want to hear from us, but we made them.
Speaker: In the 2010s and now into the 2020s, we seem to have become complacent and quiet sellouts. Took a lot more to make the hippies sell out than us.
Speaker: We seem to have sold out for mediocre jobs and just scraping by. Why have we, speaking generally, become more apathetic at accepting of our status?
Speaker: We seem to have turned inward upon ourselves and continued to be sarcastic and unsettled, but seemingly become okay with sharing our discontentment just among ourselves in the form of memes and jokes, instead of pressing for real changes.
Speaker: Our angsty voices were the loudest being heard around for a decade. We're the loudest being heard for around a decade. But politics, entertainment, and society as a whole, we just seem to be willing to allow our voices to be replaced by the externally younger members of our generation and the next generation.
Speaker: I think it's time for a millennial revival. We have far more to be pissed off about now than we did from 2002 to 2009. And we've gone quiet. Just my thoughts. What y'all think?
Speaker: I agree with the millennial revival.
Speaker: It's time. This is our time, baby. time to speak again. It's quiet, but it's time to start chatting away, sharing what we think little bit.
Speaker: I just love how like the millennial mindset, so to speak, is like yourre you' your like frontal cortex was formed by being on LiveJournal or something. So everything that you think and write is some sort of nondescript screed.
Speaker: like I don't even understand what they're saying, but it felt a lot like listening to the Barbie, it's hard to be a woman speech as well. kind of just Everything is about society wronged us. and An inspiring rant where we have to ah hard return to a pastoral age of of perfect millennialism. But what the fuck are they talking about? we Perfect millennialism. I love the sound of that. you were passionate, angry, loud young adults, but about what?
Speaker: and mean, what does that mean? Yeah, it's a lot of words to say. It's time to say. It's time to begin saying. It's time to start trolling John McCain and Mitt Romney again. it's time to start like doing sort of like jizz in my pants style music. Not this lame, please don't destroy shit, but like seriously cool. That's facts, though.
Speaker: You're basically doing an impression of our show, you know? That's what I said. But I guess I just I'm trying to figure out where the righteousness is coming from. Like where what there was no righteousness in the millennial experience.
Speaker: So it's kind of hard to be like, let's go back to when we were on the winning the winning team, the right in the right team. But isn't this just a feeling that everyone has when they turn a corner in their life? like Maybe it's like the it starts with the quarter life crisis or something. You're like, oh, we used to have things used to be so we used to have so much meaning and now we're paying but now there's no jobs and no hope.
Speaker: Skibbity. Yeah. A lot of lot of people my age seem to kind of settle down. It's boring. Yeah.
Speaker: It's funny to post this on the millennial Reddit too. like You're just browsing the millennial Reddit and you're seeing like the like, does anyone's back still hurt lately? Remember stepping on Legos and you're just getting so pissed off.
Speaker: Fuck this! We used to be something, man! Yeah, how come millennials are passing away? if you switch out the words like millennials with like, I don't know, adult ADHD or integer, like basically any descriptor, you could write the exact same post and put it on any subreddit and it probably get some updates out of it because it's just like things have changed and we should go back, you know?
Speaker: but Going back to that phrase that ah Pierce accidentally coined earlier, perfect millennialism, I do think there's something there that you know perfect millennialism has never been achieved.
Speaker: And I don't even know what it constitutes, but shouldn't that be our our aim? Couldn't there be a way to distill all of our millennial proclivities into something that is like reaches apotheosis and takes us into the next era and also supplants the the coming generations, destroys the Zoomers and Alphas completely, eradicates their lifestyle, their memes, their existences.
Speaker: And then like basically a thousand year regime of millennialism is what we should aim for. Yeah. is there some Is there a way to build like a Voltron that comes in the deus ex machina of the Power Rangers movie of millennial culture?
Speaker: Or like a zoid, the ultra zoid of millennialism who has ah six special weapons that are forged out of millennial um archetypal symbols?
Speaker: But in it's is it possible to build that giant robot without just having it involve like McDonald's and jungle gyms and just normal shit from childhood? Blockbuster.
Speaker: Blockbuster.
Speaker: i I mean, I do think there are certain, um I mean, we like we called it millennial excellence because Miles said it it once and it made me laugh. I thought it was a good title, but we're already running into this issue where we're like, is it things that we think are excellent that are millennial or just things that are excellent at being millennial? Or like, I don't really know what it means. So that's one issue I'm having because so I don't really know what good or bad is anymore.
Speaker: But along those lines, I do think there are certain millennial millennially excellent things that are like leaving their mark on culture forever. like The real buzzer beater that millennials did was the corporate Memphis art style.
Speaker: Every like mid-sized city has a brand new mural. Probably even there's one in Montreal opened this week at the YMCA that has like the nondescript blobby people. like Those are going to be the murals everywhere for the next 20 years, I think. So that is...
Speaker: One millennial element that is here to stay for a long time. And I'm proud of it. Yeah. What are some other cool millennial things we could do? Meet your second wife at ah an all ages show.
Speaker: You can watch Pixar movies because I guess millennials didn't make Pixar. they Millennials just happened to enjoy Pixar first.
Speaker: You can like toys and then also make money from having them. Funko. I think that is what millennial excellence is all about. it' just liking things. It's just passionately having interests. I mean, this whole post is says nothing except we should be more passionately, outspokenly sharing our our views and our interests. and Isn't corporate Memphis just like a style devoid of any...
Speaker: like identifying qualities or signifiers. I would say the main disempowerment we feel as millennials is the value of our advertising demographic slowly going down.
Speaker: What we want really is to be targeted more by companies. Right. We should leave more Amazon reviews. Instead of like just kind of dunking on brands, we should like brands.
Speaker: Do you remember when we liked Doritos instead of trolling Doritos? used to try to seduce us. They used to try to appeal to us. Now they don't give a fuck. They want to go after Zoomers. It's not fair.
Speaker: i do kind of think that's the one point of this that does stand out to me is like millennials did... kind of have a pretty incredible relationship to selling out and just like gave in immediately.
Speaker: And for me, I wish it was a lot easier to sell out, to be honest. I've tried very hard in my life and it's it's an uphill battle. But and the like the first half of millennial domination, i think selling out was a big dub for us.
Speaker: because we yeah like I mean, we we used to run the Denny's Twitter account. Exactly. Yeah. Our generation, we did that. like we like The reason that South by Southwest became just like a CIA recruitment site instead of having DIY bands is because of meen it's because of Doritos actually as well. I think like you know i went to South by Southwest in 2009 and I saw the first Doritos stage be built. And then from there on out, it was like more and more Doritos stages.
Speaker: And then it was all Doritos stages. And then it was just a CIA recruiting site. so I was there at the first Doritos stage.
Speaker: What is the relationship between Doritos and the CIA? I'd love to know. i don't know. Yeah, i'm just i just know that now, like last year's South by Southwest was like, we're just not going to have bands anymore. And most of their talks are like about, I don't know, palanter and stuff.
Speaker: like Really? They don't yeah do music anymore? literally don't have bands at South by Southwest at all anymore. Oh, because that's spoken word. It's spoken word. exactly Yeah, It's still music. There's just no bands. Yeah, those speakers get on those stage. I'm being reductive, yeah. And rock the shit.
Speaker: It's some Miranda July-esque spoken word, I think.
Speaker: I like the ah the the ah intergenerational antagonism of this post, too, when he goes, the first half of us millennials came of age as angry, loud, and passionate young and adults.
Speaker: Yeah, the scrimmage. Yeah, the second half of you have been passive. They should call that Tower 1 and Tower 2 for the two different halves of the millennial generation.
Speaker: yeah I do think 9-11 is what splits one from the other. i don't know. i guess so I feel like they're they're way more in common than either one of them want to admit. also feel like Zoomers are pretty much identical to millennials. I feel like it's weird.
Speaker: it's just It's just iPad babies versus not iPad babies. That's the only difference I can spot. I mean, i hang out with a lot of Zoomers and I can hardly tell the difference between us. The only thing that really clues me in that I'm not one of them is that they call me Unk.
Speaker: Exactly. That ain't no thing. I just call him nephew. Actually, mostly niece. Yeah. Do your nephews and nieces ever sell out?
Speaker: Do Zoomers sell out? but Unfortunately, they don't know the meaning of it. For a millennial, selling out is a meaningful act. You know you have to choose to do it. But these kids, are they're just already opted they're just opted in.
Speaker: yeah already opted in I feel like it's cringe among like even people our age to even complain about selling out. Yeah, for sure. Right? It's it's seen as sort of like out of touch and snobby.
Speaker: Like, oh, you're out of touch with like the real material realities and you know needs of everyday people who can't consider, it's not an option to not sell out.
Speaker: Gotta make a buck. We're all trying to feed our families. That's one of the most ah memorable quotes from that ah Lonely Island ah movie, Popstar. Did you guys see that? Yeah. Not too much.
Speaker: There's one line in that where ah it's really the only thing I remember about that whole movie. But ah one of the guys says to the Andy Samberg character, aren't you worried about selling out? And then he goes, well, people used to worry about selling out, but now it's good to sell out because if you don't sell out, then people think that no one ever asked you to.
Speaker: And I think that did actually truly happen at some point. is that People feel the pressure to sell out because they don't want people to think that they were never approached by ghoul. ah And it's like a it's it's now truly a badge of honor to sell out. A sarcastic badge of honor.
Speaker: Like, yeah, I sold out, but it's only because if I didn't, you wouldn't believe me. And it doesn't conclude like doing something like... DIY or like interesting because that's that's just part of your selling out journey.
Speaker: Right, exactly. well When I mentioned the South by Southwest thing earlier too, I always think back to that because I am you know i am the Tower 1 millennial, unlike Miles is Tower 2. I do think the difference is I actually do have so many toys on my desk right now. I literally have so much shit all So much fucking toy shit.
Speaker: Miles has just this kind of nice, clean backdrop. you know I think that's the difference between Tower 1 and Tower 2. Millennials, perhaps. I've got objects, bro. I've got objects. Where's your object? Look, I'm even... I'm playing with this right now while I talk.
Speaker: This little... ah um But going to say, around the time of ah the Doritos stage at South by Southwest, there was literally a Sour Patch Kids recording studio that like punk and hardcore bands would record at and be like, oh, we recorded a new EP at the Sour Patch Kids studio.
Speaker: And people were mad about it at the time. And then it was that same sort of thing. Like, well, what? And I guess the other problem is without saying, is this the, is this why Nepo baby? I don't know. This show stands on Nepo babies. I haven't looked up your parents, but you know, is this is why the Nepo baby thing ah comes in because they're the people who don't have to do the Sour Patch Kids studio.
Speaker: or It's funny you mentioned the Sour Patch Kids studio because I know exactly what you're talking about. At the time, people made fun of it. But now people say, you can't get that sound anywhere else, right? And now they have all these VSCs and plugins just to emulate that room sound. Yeah, the sort of gummy tones of the...
Speaker: Are you joking, Derek? Or is it true that that you it that people that people lionize this studio? that is i'm I'm joking, but isn't it true that... but isn't it Doesn't it say something about...
Speaker: Doesn't it say something? Didn't what I just say say something? It's up to you to figure out what it says, because I don't know. ah I think that it's also... It has to do with... them And I think this is why people like all the like sort of surrealist Steakums, McDonald's Twitter accounts or whatever.
Speaker: yeah we like that. Well, it's I think it's unanimous that... like I don't know. Have you guys seen that Helvetica documentary? Yeah. Where that one guy talks about how things used to be like... you know but All company names used to be like 45 characters long and they had like two family names and amalgamated widgets, I guess is like the example that he uses.
Speaker: um But I feel like companies used to be so nondescript and ah homogenized. And now companies have such a specific... but still like such a like lush, sophisticated ah family tree ancestry of brand identity that when you're trying to finally like pinpoint what the feeling of the brand is, it's just easier to be like, oh, it's like a candy.
Speaker: It's crazy candy. That's Sour Patch Kids. And then people are like, well, Sour Patch Kids doesn't stand for anything, but it's just an innocent, crazy candy brand. How could that be bad or good? It's just the feeling of candy.
Speaker: ah And I feel like that's why there's no such thing as selling out because it's just like, oh, well, Sour Patch Kids, that's that's crazy candy. That's not like... ah i don't know if I'm making any sense. What's wrong with that?
Speaker: The only companies that will ask you to sell out are it going to be crazy candies or spicy chips or sort of... For millennials, our companies are called things like Sour Patch Kids because we were just kids when we started those companies.
Speaker: growing up Growing up on the Sour Patch.
Speaker: Yeah, Sour Patch Kids is like Bart, you know, it like never grows up and it's sort of a troublemaker. And then i want to say that Wendy from Wendy's is similar to Lisa.
Speaker: The worst worst part about this is that like the the shorthand is always like Steakums, Wendy's, Denny's and... Unfortunately, I have had to work with a lot of marketing people in my life and they love to bring those things up.
Speaker: But that stuff happened 30 years ago, I think. I don't think anyone else has... Has there even been a clever brand since then? Not like a brand having a personality type thing? Yeah. Being like clapping back at the news or whatever.
Speaker: i think they all do now. or Yeah, they all... It's just the normal baseline. Yeah, they all do. Steak and Shake was ah endorsed by RFK Jr., right? true. They put beef tallow back in their they fry, their fucking... Their oil...
Speaker: Oh, yeah. I guess like even the White House unlike ICE is now doing like epic clapbacks at people. Yeah, they posted the Halo meme today.
Speaker: It didn't go away. It just kind of went... It went supersonic. Yeah. Yeah. It's colorless like the air.
Speaker: Hey, Matthew, I wonder if you might read this one for us. Also from the Millennials subreddit. happy to I'm happy to read it.
Speaker: ah Currently, what's the reason why some millennials look really good physically and some don't? At 38, I noticed some people really change and some don't.
Speaker: And it was most noticeable at my 20-year high school reunion. I expected everyone to look a little older, but man, some people really let themselves go. Some people look better than they did in high school.
Speaker: The people that really change typically put on weight, wrinkles, and just look older in general. Then I know some people who look like they almost did in high school. I bet it's some combination of genetics, lifestyle, stress, and who's married and who isn't.
Speaker: I love how effortlessly they repeated the same thing four times.
Speaker: Why are some animals cats and some animals dogs? Not quite. It's different. Okay, here's my premise. There's two categories. You can sort of divide these people in my high school reunion. Some was I found I was very attracted to. and Others, not no. um i wasn't.
Speaker: Let me stop you right there, Matthew. I have no fucking idea what you're talking about. Can you tell me more about what what does it mean for a person to look good? What does it mean for a person to look bad? And if you need, if you have to, use cultural touch points and nodes to help me understand.
Speaker: I think some of it boils down to aging and wrinkles. Some of these 38 year olds look better than 16 year old. It's remarkable, really.
Speaker: why is it that the older I get, the less time I spend with hot 16 year olds? It's just not working for me. Some 38 year olds really do manage to look almost 16.
Speaker: Are people replying to these posts? Oh, this has 68 replies. but Let's make it The replies are things such as a the long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists. Oh, shit. Whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience.
Speaker: inside now Don't forget to wear a sunscreen spoken word thing. spoken word thing. There was like a deaf poetry slam.
Speaker: think it was like, ah well, in Canada, at least there was a music video. There was that like Baz Luhrmann, don't forget to wear sunscreen graduation speech song. Do you guys know what you're talking about? Yeah. I feel like that, ah feel like that sort of helped solidify the idea that everything should be a manifesto when you write, even this is like, you know, repeating themselves to try to make sure that it's extra epic and believable.
Speaker: Oh, I see that. That actually is. Yeah, that's the lyrics from that song.
Speaker: Have you guys noticed that millennials ah who've been maimed tend to look pretty bad? Yeah, the scarring, the physical defigurement, the general maiming in general. Yeah, they tend to look maimed. Whereas the other ones been maimed. Yeah, after like major car crash or like motorcycle accident.
Speaker: There's just something about millennials that just looks scraped at the least. What if this what if this user went thought they were going to their high school reunion, but they went on the wrong night and it was just a prom?
Speaker: And they're like, oh my god, I look like a shit. It was a prom for a children's hospital. but Some of these children look old.
Speaker: Sickly. Some of them have progeria. Yeah. I don't recognize a single one of these. like Also, are any of these people your friends? Did you spend any time just catching up? Or were you just sort of people watching at your own high school reunion going, smash or pass?
Speaker: I wonder how this poster it fits on the binary. are they ah Did they put on white wrinkles and just look older? are they more... They retain their neo neotenetic...
Speaker: characteristics. It looked like you were looking at the wall. Do you have that word on your wall? Every day he hand writes Reader's Digest pages on the wall. Word of the day.
Speaker: I do think they are a real millennial because they didn't reach for the the ah jargon and say chopped. because that's That's true. Yeah, they just simply let themselves go. i mean, once you're able to let yourself go, then you are at a ah you're in the thresholds, a crossroads, where you're either going to look good for your age or not good for your age.
Speaker: So to say, yeah, some people let themselves go and others didn't. is there Is there some ah like linguistic acuity we can figure out about what does what does it mean to let oneself go? and It actually sounds so freeing.
Speaker: Let yourself go. It sounds great. three years Chopped as afar is a far kinder adjective, really, because it's with chopped, that's something that happens you. my maiming.
Speaker: yeah you've been mad You've been chopped by the world. Letting yourself go means even while you were a child, even while you were a baby, you were just simply holding holding tight, holding your youth close to close to your chest and resisting the aging process fairly well.
Speaker: Yeah. It's on you. Isn't it interesting, though, that um Zoomers say chopped, but us millennials are more tend to say chopped and screwed. and But for Zoomers, if you're chopped, that means you're unlikely to get screwed. Right. And then the foreskin, when it becomes chopped, they say it's that more people will screw you.
Speaker: But it turns out that ah they just ran through your foreskin into a machine. They ran it through a machine. You think you're going to become ran through, but instead you get a virus from Thru-Ron, China.
Speaker: you
Speaker: Thru-Ron. Yeah, generally. you think you're going to go viral, but instead you get a but virus from Thru-Ron. Are you guys all circumcised?
Speaker: I had a bris and everything. Oh, really? but do you So are brises, those are still, happy they happen in infancy still. It's not like a toddler rite of passage. Yes, it's infancy.
Speaker: Yes. But they do it, I think usually they would do, a trained professional would do it at the hospital, but then a rabbi would do the ceremony later. the suck and spit. Yeah. Well, that too.
Speaker: Wait, so do they keep the foreskin for the ceremony? They like transport it? I don't know. Is it dried like in a dehumidifier?
Speaker: I think it's dried in a dehumidifier. yeah And you can rehydrate it on your hiking on your on your backpacking trips. and The foreskin is always kept. I mean, my parents have my foreskin still. It's not always kept, Matthew. Some people some people get rid of it.
Speaker: Well, if you love your kids, you keep their baby teeth, something to remember their kid by, you know, and their foreskin too. You should be able to detach the foreskin instead of simply like maiming the child permanently. It should be like, okay, we have made your foreskin detachable and reattachable.
Speaker: Or, yeah, just like you can put you can place it back on the head of your penis and put a few droplets of water from an applicator, and then it will reattach briefly for any sexual encounters or any photo shoots.
Speaker: And as long as you keep it wet, it can it can slide on like jelly. And they make you do a photo shoot when you're an infant? No, I'm talking about adulthood. I'm talking about you can bring back your childhood foreskin as an adult. Oh, like it fits? It will always fit. It still fits because of... Sisterhood of the traveling pants.
Speaker: It keeps growing? Well, I've been told that ah most of the nerve endings responsible for sexual pleasure are in the foreskin. So if I had my way, I would have the entire penis removed and just the foreskin left.
Speaker: So I could have good... Uh, you get good head or whatever. would keep the foreskin, but it would be detached still. So I could, I could like move it around on a surface and feel i feel the pleasure while I was getting serviced otherwise. So there, yeah. So would just be like this whole new world. So by keep the foreskin, you just mean continue to identify it as part of your body while after it's been chopped.
Speaker: You could try it with like food on food and stuff and just like see what other sensory things you could experience. I imagine doing it sort of like contact juggling, you know, when they have that ball.
Speaker: You know what I mean? Yeah. Would you have to stuff it? I continue to identify with my fingernail clippings once they've been removed. When they've been like flushed or like put in the trash, i I still think of myself as scratching all the things that the clippings are touching.
Speaker: Do you think that foreskin is like a fingernail? Kind of, right? it's just some useless... In a way, it is like a fingernail. Yeah, sharp as hell. you started with it and 20 questions, you would eventually get there.
Speaker: makes sense why people chop that stuff up. I just want to make sure that I didn't sound like I avoided the question. I am also circumcised, but I didn't have a brace. It was just you know chill, laid back blade back, no ceremony or anything.
Speaker: A civilian sucked it, not a yeah rabbi. It's not a brass. It doesn't count.
Speaker: A pedestrian. pedestrian. You just got a pedestrian sucked You wonder if you might read this one since I'm sort of assigning things.
Speaker: Did you idolize Bam Margera? Bam Margera is a millennial icon with Jackass, Wild Boys, Viva La Bam, and a pro skater. I know myself and many other people in my cohort idolize Bam Margera.
Speaker: Does Gen Z have a Bam Margera? Doesn't have to be a pro skater, but a figure who has very wild antics and edgy and appeals to the rebel teen male angst. I've noticed some strange grammatical things going on here.
Speaker: Doesn't have to be a pro skater, but a figure who has very wild antics and edgy. It sounds like Eric Ray Hill wrote it.
Speaker: Would you say that um you're kind of in an MGK, Machine Gun Kelly expert. you say that maybe he fills that niche of the current generation? He was he was in the most recent ah Jackass film.
Speaker: And even as the most staunch defender of MGK, I kind of hated it. He seemed really uncomfortable and like uncomfortable in his own skin. He doesn't have the same kind of swag as Bam did.
Speaker: but that's I feel like Gen Z is kind of like not as self-destructive, really. They're not as wild. They're not wild boys. They're not wild boys. ah Surely it's a streamer.
Speaker: ah yeah i was going to say I Show Speed is kind of up there. with But I Show Speed, like yeah he doesn't... he doesn't like um I don't know. i When I picture Bam Margera, kind of picture someone who's like giving themselves a swirly and doing something kind of humiliating.
Speaker: um Even when he's like technically being cool, it's like... fuck dude my ass hurts from fucking skating shit but I think I show speed would just be like well I don't know I don't know the guy that well but I'm sure he probably wouldn't swear about I'm sure would just be like um he would just doesn't fall right he doesn't fall down that much it's in the name he wants to show his speed he doesn't want to show his failure Yeah. Ban Margera is more like Mario and iShowSpeed is more like Sonic.
Speaker: Because they're fat they're both fast. These days, though, it's almost like Ban Margera is more like Wario. true i He's always been tragic. He he has like a tragic, dark, evil energy. Do you think Wario is tragic?
Speaker: Wario is tragic, yes. He's like a fallen he's like a fallen fo yeah He's like a fallen jackass. Did you guys ah idolize Bam Margera? No.
Speaker: I idolized like ah like respectable figures in my community. What about Rab himself?
Speaker: sir What about Rodney Mullen? I liked Rodney Mullen because I'm like a ah dork. So like skaters hate Rodney Mullen, but I think Rodney Mullen's cool. I like to watch his... very technical.
Speaker: What about that guy who's like a hippie that skaters hate? who's like ah I think his name's Rich something. Rob Dost.
Speaker: Ram Dass? Ram Dass, um dos yeah Skaters hate him. don't know if he skates, but skaters hate him. There's a guy named Richie. He does like weird old-timey tricks, and I feel like everyone thinks he's toy. or so Is that a skater term?
Speaker: Or is that a graffiti term? I always try to use that to call someone lame, that they're toy. think that's cool. But you like toys. I know, exactly. I'm trying to support You like toys.
Speaker: I got Alfred E. Newman right here, Funko. Oh, that is a symbol of rebel teen male angst, which our generation or the next generation really needs.
Speaker: I mean, Alfred E. Newman. Bam and Wee Man used to snowboard at ah Blue Mountain and Bear Creek, the two ah places you could ski in my hometown.
Speaker: I guess I remember like, oh, I like Jackass. and it's cool that I know people who have seen those guys. And honestly, they're my friends because we probably were in the same place at the same time.
Speaker: And I remember at the time, even feeling like this sort of betrayal, this internal betrayal, because i was like, I was always a Knoxville and Steve-O head. and Pontius had and then when I found out that they skied at the same ah place that I did I was just like no those are my actual guys though Wee Man and Bam and I kind of ah trade my own faves I don't feel that I don't feel the same affinity anymore for even Wee Man I met him at the comedy store once and I was like this guy's fucking short I don't think I'd be okay with a training Wee Man
Speaker: he was short tempered that what you're saying Yeah, just like really snappy and i want to say zippy and and like den like his humor is so dense and and light
Speaker: like a startly challenge He's vertically challenged to say the least. He's challenged, but he he surpasses the challenge using his skateboard and his tricks. Well, yeah, you can yeah jump using skateboard, but isn't that kind cheating if you're vertically challenged? Oh, jumped.
Speaker: I'm technically higher up. You just don't want him to win. He can't do anything to make you happy. He's higher up. What do you want? Who cares how he did it? he was double jump I always hated that band him that Bam Margera was obsessed with. And now I feel like the the skaters like it. ironic Is that the one? Yeah. The heart of Graham.
Speaker: The heart of Graham. Yeah. I saw a guy with, um, with long gray hair, like an old man wearing that shirt on my street the other day. Cool. He's probably from Jack. He was an old man or he had long gray hair like an old man.
Speaker: He was wrinkled like an old man. he moved like an old man, but he had a heartogram like a Bam Margera. think he's been to his 20th high school reunion recently, maybe? And that's why... Oh, maybe.
Speaker: They held him down and put the shirt on him. Yeah. But i do feel like Gen Z is like good at sort of like copying the millennial thing of rehabilitating a band that everyone used to hate, but probably because I'm old, I'm like, why are you doing that band? like Why do you like him?
Speaker: That sucks, objectively. But I also love MGK. So, don't know. I might be the wrong judge of it. Maybe no music is really that good. Exactly. That's why the Doritos stage took over so easily. Because it associated music with like...
Speaker: MSG, like a craveable umami flavor. Madison Square Garden, exactly. yeah No, but you're saying like turn music into something like, you know, but people love the Beatles, but what if there was just a cracked out, crunchy, crispy sort of music?
Speaker: Oh, this is ah this ties right into our next question from the Millennials subreddit. Miles, would you care to read this one? Is a low key status symbol for life goals being able to take the whole clan to Red Lobster without sweating the bill?
Speaker: i get it. Can you start again? Yeah, yeah that that sentence is so powerful. That's a tough one. Dense. Is a low key status symbol for life goals being able to take the whole clan to Red Lobster without sweating the bill?
Speaker: I get that Red Lobster has gone downhill and we know it's not as swanky as we were conditioned to perceiving as kids. But still thinking is it unmentioned metric to success?
Speaker: but still thinking is it unmentioned metric to success Unmentioned metric. The bill don't sweat it. Damn.
Speaker: But still thinking, is it unmentioned metric to success? post on Reddit, the lobster is red shit.
Speaker: I'm fascinated by this one. it's I also like i like ah restaurants like this, and I know that Red Lobster is on the upswing again. so How's that?
Speaker: They say like they got a new owner and now you can go there and get like, uh, you can get, um, uh, Louisiana style shrimp boil for the whole table.
Speaker: Oh, they pour it out on the table and it's not super gray. It's got some color on it. Exactly. Yeah. Um, and they bought food coloring. then Yeah, they brought food coloring. brought you You can color your own color your own meal. You got salt and pepper and red food dye right on the table. i wish I wish getting a new owner made people want to hang out with me more. Matthew has a new owner. You should hang out with him. it's nice He's really... yeah His manager's changed. yeah He's being run so much more efficiently.
Speaker: and no waste. They got rid of the old stuff that we were used to and was of some kind of comfort and stability. But he'll make more money now. So this poster's wrong. Red Lobster has not gone downhill.
Speaker: It actually That's right. It's even swankier than we used to believe. As we were conditioned to perceiving. Yeah, we were conditioned to perceiving it as swanky. When you say the whole clan, how many people do each of you think is in the whole clan?
Speaker: I guess that's got to be ah you know at from booth. It's either... it's like a booth can fit at Red Lobster six people, i think, right? Three on each side.
Speaker: And then I think you have a more sort of party-style table that's going to seat about 10. so I'm saying anywhere from six to 10. We're talking like pre-birthday party, pre-work party, that kind of putting tables together. Are saying the size of your family should be based on the size of a Red Lobster table? Yeah.
Speaker: That's how people determine. Well, I guess we could have one more kid. No, no. Clan is going to be men that he's trying to men that he's trying to impress. The homies, so to speak. Oh, I interpreted it as a wife and 2.5 kids.
Speaker: um Really? wow yeah Yeah, definitely. We're having less than that. He's worried about sweating the bill with his family. He's like also yeah he's worried about he's worried the way that they were conditioned to conditioned to perceiving as kids. So is he worried about what how his kids perceive? Right. He doesn't know how to get an alpha to get into Red Lobster in the same way. So the only way he knows how to get his kids into Red Lobster in the way that he remembers being into it is saying to them, ribbing them in the shoulders and going like, Daddy isn't even sweating the bill.
Speaker: This is actually a low key status symbol for life goals. He was like, one day your, your life goal should be actually doing this low key status symbol with your kids champ. I think it's someone who thinks their fantasy football homies are the clan.
Speaker: And they're like, they're like, Oh yeah, it's lit at red lobster. They think of themselves as being like how Drake has a barber on the payroll or whatever, but it's like just right the red lobster.
Speaker: if If my man pays for my Red Lobster, I will follow him into hell.
Speaker: This question also, the way it's written, I mean, he he just clearly works for Red Lobster. I mean, it would there's no way that you could be curious about a question like this.
Speaker: Is it a low-key status symbol? I love also the doubling up of status symbol and life goals. Yeah. You know how some things are a status symbol for life goals?
Speaker: And it's just like, is it is it cool to have money and go to a restaurant? Yeah, it's cool. Low key it is. I've never been to Red Lobster, and I don't think we even have it in Canada, but I'm trying to understand. like It's expensive for dog shit that's at the mall, right? Or is it special occasion? It's not dog shit. It's real lobster. It's not dog shit.
Speaker: They have a new owner. But isn't it? I think the the desserts are dog shit and the appetizers are dog shit, but the mains are, you know, they're decent restaurants there. I think that's it. It's food. I mean, they like find the animal. That's the right animal.
Speaker: so You ordered lobster here. That is a lobster. like You don't want to go find the animal yourself, do you If you're going with the clan, you're saying skip the appetizers and desserts.
Speaker: No, I'm just saying the the appetizers are great. I mean, it's just like mozzarella sticks, buffalo wings, boneless. ah You can get an appetizer sampler, that kind of shit. Diner fare with a like reheated frozen delights.
Speaker: Okay. um You don't skip them. You get them, but you're just not expecting anything. They're just not going to be plated well. Why not just like say any restaurant? That's my point. yeah Red Robin. As long as it's red lobster.
Speaker: It's like a lobster. It's like Right. right Right. Lobster is a status symbol for like goals. Right. Because also, yeah, because lobster, they don't tell you it's like market pricing, which still always stresses me out too. I'm like, what if it's like a ah million dollars today?
Speaker: Yeah. and change that's not point It's the only way to go to a restaurant like that that's safe and kind of normie. However, there's still a dice roll, a macho sort of put your put your pussy on the table.
Speaker: I'm not stressing the market price because there's no way to do the status symbol at at Red Robin or TGIF because they have nothing there that's market price. it's all going to be sirloin steak for $24 and so on.
Speaker: If that factor of the fluctuation is what's stressing out, you already can't be afforded to take the clan out. Yeah, it's also like it's not a question of an um an emotional ah aptitude and like the the status symbol, it's strictly a ah matter of how much money you have. So yes, some things are low-key status symbols, but don't sweat whether or not Red Lobster is cool. Just stress about how much money you have.
Speaker: um Yeah, I'm trying to think also who's in the Klan, who's like, oh my god, dude, Red Lobster. like Right, no one's excited. no one's excited about being at Red Lobster. They're not even particularly excited that someone else is footing the bill. I mean, it's probably a minor relief. Isn't it more like you have to you have to meet your in-laws or your cousins or there's like something...
Speaker: Yes, that's why Klan is family. It's a cousin and in-law type joint. Yeah, that's who's at the booth is ah your wife's mother and ah her husband. guess you're probably right. And then the server, if you invite them to sit with you.
Speaker: They're a really good server and they get down on your level. and like ah Do they write their name with a crayon on the on the paper at Red Lobster? That could be a move they do. If you bring a crown with you. That's a paper.
Speaker: Can I have your autograph? Oh, they have coloring like menus? Any one of these places, if you bring a child, they're going to let you color. Any fancy place will let you color.
Speaker: Customer's is always right. long as you bring a child. just got to find a child. You got to get a child, then they give you crayons. For free? Life hack.
Speaker: Free crayons for life. just Yeah, if you work at a restaurant, dude, you can draw any kind of crap as long as there's no kids that need all the crayons. Most working artists work at Red Lobster.
Speaker: Yes, that's where a lot of people get their start. um Is Red Lobster like BJ's? Do you guys know Yeah, it's like BJ's. I think it's a little more elevated than BJ's. Blowjobs? Yeah, i was kidding.
Speaker: Well, it is a funny name for a restaurant. Yeah, let's get BJ's. Let's get BJ's. Low-key status symbol to get head. Get head with your entire clan. Okay. Is it locating the status symbol to get head from a from a chick and not even sweat about whether or not you have to get her off too?
Speaker: ah There's a question here from the Millennial subreddit I really want to to get to. um I'm going to read this sort of backwards and you'll see why. So the body of the post is what else doesn't exist anymore from your childhood?
Speaker: And um here's the the title. At some point, we all played our last game of Smear the Queer.
Speaker: yeah That sucks to realize. wow i never thought of that. What is Smear the Queer, actually? what What do you do in that game? How do you play? It's tag, but with some resentment for the gay community.
Speaker: i think. Or not tag. It's gang up on... It's yeah's a way to beat up one of the kids. but it But it is tag, and you and you you you tackle, essentially.
Speaker: It's tag, but it's reverse tag, because everyone's it except for the ah the queer. And you can't play unless there's a gay kid? Or you can't play unless you're gay? Or is it's prejudice in that way?
Speaker: Well, weirdly, this is also posted on Gen X subreddit. So maybe every generation has their own smear the queer. Oh, this post explains the game. It's a mashup of soccer, football, and rugby.
Speaker: It's not so bad. so oh it's a sport. It's a sport. Oh, it's not a ah sexual act. It's actually pretty fun. It's fun. They just need to come up with a new name for it.
Speaker: That's pretty much what all the rep replies say. It was fun. Yeah, we they keep saying we had a good time. Queer did not mean anything bad back then like it does now. And one of the replies on the Gen X version of this post says, Nah, I was too busy inward knocking random houses.
Speaker: I just read that one at the same time you did. What is that game? Well, I was just too busy doing that to do the other thing. I'm seeing on, ah i've I've left Reddit, I'm on Facebook, NFL memes.
Speaker: It says, no quarterbacks, no blockers, no receivers, no teams, every man for himself. If tackled, you throw the ball up and someone else grabs it and runs. Where you're from, what was this game called? Where I was from, we insensitively called it Smear the Queer.
Speaker: ah So Baby Boomers also had smeared... Is Gen Z the first generation to not have Smear the Queers? Or do they have their own version? Or for them, is it more like a cancelate? Like they're smearing a queer, canceling them for something they've done, perhaps.
Speaker: Yes, they're quite trigger-happy with these cancellations.
Speaker: Yeah. What's the new term for when you put bunch, when you're at a soda fountain and you put every flavor of soda in the fountain? Oh, not suicide.
Speaker: Yeah, that's what i'm saying. It can't be. Hurt members of the LGBTQ community. That's just our innocent term for mixing sodas. yeah Harm. ah
Speaker: I never knew that was called suicide. I think heard it was called swamp water or something. Same. Why is it called suicide? Because you'd be have you'd be off your rocker to want to mix Pepsi and Sierra Mist.
Speaker: And it tastes so good. Honestly, you're going to be at seventh heaven once you try it. You're going to blow your fucking head off. You can jizz yourself in the closet with a blue head.
Speaker: tend to be pretty depressed while they're drinking it. It's called a suicide just because it's like the edgiest thing that a child can do other than kill themselves is is put put a bunch of crap in a cup.
Speaker: You know, Dr. Pepper and lemonade, actually really good. What's the ratio? What ratio do you need for that? um I'd say four to one.
Speaker: There is someone on r slash Gen Z asking if anyone in their generation played Smear the Queer. So maybe it is maybe it will go on forever. and don't know. I understand the game name is not sensitive.
Speaker: That's the only name I've heard for this game. Yeah, it's not sensitive. It doesn't really seem like it needs much of a name, though. It's just like, ah play ball. Yeah, move. You're just playing ball.
Speaker: Yeah. get who's Get who's there. But I do think smear should definitely be part of the but name if there's a name. Because you're smearing, right? What is smearing? Isn't that just rubbing?
Speaker: yes Is it so bad to smear a queer anyway? It's just rubbing them, right? Right, that's true. Even if you're doing it literally. um game yeah be called Rub Rub him.
Speaker: or her. Rub him or her. or Rub them. them. Rub them. Rub them. Rub them. Rub them.
Speaker: I found a really good post here on the millennials subreddit. um It's a long one, but I really think we should kind of wade through it. It's going be It's long.
Speaker: This is going to be a long international movie with subtitles or something. Matthew, if I interest you, ah maybe you could read it. Ugh.
Speaker: Alright. The title of this post is The Weird, and it is directed towards all millennials. uh oh okay i'll read this damn it's long
Speaker: uh for those who grew up in the us south do you remember hearing about something called the weird before age 13. maybe something very hard to see possibly invisible Maybe as a spirit or some kind of force.
Speaker: Maybe just an idea, realist friendship. Maybe as part of a story. It was lots of things to lots of people. Probably it would have been suggested as a potential cause behind odd things.
Speaker: You'd be encouraged to keep your eyes out for things you didn't expect. And maybe to consider how they might have happened. Even how it was the weird might have done that. there may have been There may have been stretching involved and a little bit of meditation, probably ending, now, do.
Speaker: There may have been a succession of numbers, one to observe or discover, two to investigate, three or more talk, consider, do. If any of this sounds familiar, it probably came from camp or maybe daycare.
Speaker: If you heard it about it in school, please tell me about where you lived. i have no expectations, really. I know that by 1996, this concept had spread to at least 20K kids, mostly at a couple camps in Kentucky and Tennessee.
Speaker: I know that within two years of it starting, it was a thing, officially speaking, with about a quarter of all kids in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, mostly from daycare, and was most popular at the one that banned it.
Speaker: I know that there was at least ah one group about it on both MySpace and Facebook, though I wasn't on either platform. Anyway, if this sounds familiar to anyone, and it happened no earlier than fall of 1990,
Speaker: hi Chances are very high i am why
Speaker: Where did you hear about When? at what age? And what was part of it for you? If you are among those who might get in or out of trouble, I'd love to hear about that.
Speaker: And if you heard about it before 1990, that's even more intriguing. In 1990, I founded the cult of the weird on the school playground because of some things that happened on the school playground when I was in first grade.
Speaker: It spread to several of the local daycare centers and spread also to some very large summer camps, including by my peers who'd gone on to be camp counselors.
Speaker: They'd use it as a way to promote observation, team building, and focus. It was never huge, but 20K camp kids and a quarter of a measured town demographic isn't nothing either.
Speaker: Though was almost unknown to adults outside of those directly connected to my fourth grade class, until we aged into being those very same adults. By chance, is there anyone else here?
Speaker: but This is posted in the millennial subreddit? Yeah. Damn, he is casting the largest possible man in the head. Wow.
Speaker: Holy shit. I like that he can't he doesn't really describe what it is. It's sort of free of content. yes something There may have been stretching involved. There may have been stretching involved. It could be anything to anyone.
Speaker: were 20K kids and this thing, for some kids, it was jumping. For others, it was a number. But this concept, the weird thing.
Speaker: Watching your favorite cartoon might have been involved. Or perhaps even eating your favorite cereal. you remember waiting for your kid parents to pick you up from daycare? And do you remember there being a strange noise? was behind that. ah Yes.
Speaker: And do you remember that some kids would play it too rough and then throw rocks? Maybe not at you, but at a water?
Speaker: You have me to think. I'm Y. I spread this. I'm the one who spread childhood. I thought he was describing the rules of Smear the Queer. This is how we played Smear the Queer. We were stretching involved and now go.
Speaker: There may have been a succession of numbers. This literally, like until he said, um i'm why, I was like seriously feeling the same feelings that I had when I watched I Saw the TV Glow.
Speaker: This like kind of lost feeling of uncanny childhood and trying to figure out these. like just like If I Saw the TV Glow ended it with someone going like, actually, I made all that up and it's my game and we can keep playing it.
Speaker: but It does seem like simply a description of childhood. You're just saying, yeah, we had all these things we'd say. ah you know was a common among us kids. A body leader in my crib and picked me up.
Speaker: There's a mobile above my head. yeah And adults didn't know about it because it was our special thing, childhood. Until we grew up and we we all seem to remember our childhoods.
Speaker: Does anyone remember that fat kid Garrett that no one liked? Well, there were all sorts of nicknames that you may remember him being called. Nasty names. We used to throw things at him behind his back. I'm actually the one who invented him.
Speaker: I'm the one who spread him. I simply played him. He was my character. I was the one who decided to make fun of him in the first place. Did anyone reply to this? Did anyone be like, oh I know about the word.
Speaker: They posted the ah Tom DeLonge what the fuck gif, which you're probably familiar with. i've seen I have seen it. um Someone said, I am in Florida and sorry to say I've not heard of this.
Speaker: But camp kids. camp kids. That's... k camp kids. That's... camp Preschool. That ain't bad. That ain't bad. That's nothing to scoff at. twenty k That's a hell of a lot of kids.
Speaker: Each of those kids told a couple kids. po It's so mysterious. He said, i founded the cult of the weird on the school playground because of some things that happened on the school playground when I was in the first grade. Tell us more. That's scary.
Speaker: these nebulous events that happened to first graders and things spreading among the daycares affecting 20k kids does anyone remember a little nursery rhyme a dark nursery rhyme about well killing barney and maiming him i love you you love me try i hate you you hate me we're a bloody family does anyone remember a little Batman song about Robin laying an egg and Batman smelling and the Joker getting away. Yes.
Speaker: You have me to thank for these dark nursery rhymes. Yeah, you've been caught in my machinations. I came up with that song after some events that happened. Old MacDonald sat on a bench and squeezed his nuts with a monkey wrench.
Speaker: Yes, this isn't a song about learning animals. If you remember this, please updoot me to Reddit Heaven.
Speaker: Yeah, what age did you guys hear about that song, really? what I've been kind of curious about what age other people heard that song. It's spread, look at onerous. Spread. Spread.
Speaker: Saying it and saying it until they got old. And now it's my turn to remind you how cool things were back then.
Speaker: feel like I heard Batman laid an egg. 95. ninety five No? You guys love Batman on this show, I've noticed. Yeah, we're crazy about him.
Speaker: He's interesting. um don't really fuck with billionaires. so Just me. Fair enough. I didn't know he was wealthy until just this recording.
Speaker: So he's actually secretly a rich guy? That kind of ruins it, doesn't it? That man isn't wealthy. Oh, I see. Whatever his name is. Frank is wealthy.
Speaker: Alfred is wealthy. Alfred allfre steals money from the from the butler. This rich, ritzy butler. This Jeeves-esque butler. Alfred pays Bruce Wayne to board in his house. It's some sort of role play. It's the cycle of boy abuse and wards and things like that.
Speaker: Alfred had this... he wasn't He didn't fight crime at night, but he did have like hobbies at night that Batman would help with. Or sorry, that Bruce Wayne would help with. Yeah, don't reveal. Yeah, spoiler. Yeah, we should mark this mark this episode as containing spoilers. For Batman.
Speaker: For the weird. For the weird.
Speaker: um Well, I guess we can kind of end pretty soon. Well, how's how's your guys' this podcast going? Are you enjoying it? Yeah, we love it, right? You mean this one? Well, yes, this one, but also how's yours going? No, it's going great. I think it's... ah We actually... like I did a podcast for many years, and then I took a year and a half off.
Speaker: And I thought, oh, let's I want to start a podcast with Miles because this word this phrase, millennial excellence, is so funny. And I kind of thought that i could just wing it and go into it. And we did actually have to delete our first episode because everything was so uncomfortable. And I ah was so ill-prepared. Did Miles do something that made you uncomfortable? Or did you do something...
Speaker: I used to do a podcast with ah my friend Sam, who is like a YouTuber, and he was so good at being the like leader man. and then I was like the subversive little troll. And it didn't really work because Miles was also, I think we're more similar in that sense. Yeah, I did a podcast with a very quiet man, and I had to like tease out words.
Speaker: And Josiah doesn't need any teasing. The words just flow. Yeah, so it it was a really awkward It was so quiet that you had to tease out words. That's true. How did you tease them out? You started like, buh? buh?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: i would queue up I would queue up sentences. I would say like three-fourths of a sentence and then he would jump in and say something really interesting. Oh, you would just stop talking. You'd be like, dude, I think it's so insane, but honestly kind of go women.
Speaker: and just stop talking. Wait, your old podcast was about women? I gotta listen to this. ah It was about everything and and women are everything.
Speaker: True as fuck. but but i Also, like ah when I started Blink 155, I found Sam really annoying and that helped the energy of the show because I was always trying to interrupt him and like make him stop talking because I found him so annoying. But then we became really close friends, which is why I had to end the show.
Speaker: But ah Miles and I going into this, like I already liked Miles. so Yeah, we're starting out as friends. And then so we're going to become enemies towards the end. It's going to be the inverse arc. I mean, I do like to talk with our guests about ah various booking foibles and nightmares. And this one's been a bit of a journey you to book. Did you say that you...
Speaker: What kind of fights do you guys get into? Well, we that's a really good question. We also... We released the very first episode that we ever recorded despite my protestations. And I said that we should record at least four or five test episodes before we ever put an episode out. But we kind of just hit the ground running.
Speaker: But I just want to... Really quick before we go on. Did you say that you you ended your original podcast because... the adversaryship that you felt with your co-host ended and you thought that no point.
Speaker: That was part of it. Yeah. Because it was kind of like, like, I don't want to talk about pop punk music with my life. Like that's like, that was what it was about, but it's not what I want to do. I enjoyed ribbing and roasting him for five years but then by the end of it it was like I was the one booking these I was the one saying let's watch every MGK documentary film in its entirety and making him do all these things and then I was like hanging out with him and being like oh my god he has such a rich life that I'm robbing from him I care about him so much I can't be doing this to him oh wow
Speaker: I kind of ruined it. You know, I couldn't put him through the darkness. Yeah. So now I'm excited to do that to miles though. I think, I mean, someone needs to, he's sort of your ward. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. No, but we did release our failed first episode on Patreon. And some people heard it before the show. And honestly, they didn't know the difference. theyt The listeners are all fucking morons, no matter what show it is. So I think it's fine. Just put out whatever, in my opinion.
