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00:00:01
Grahame Kent
398 Plays4 years ago
This week I unfriend my close Saskatoon buddy, Grahame Kent (Actor, founder of Buttered Ghost Theatre and Professional Dungeon Master).
We talk about echo chambers, Aaron Manke voice, short but intense friendships, All Elite Wrestling and my boo Kenny Omega, eating the rich, and our favourite PS4 games!
Check out Grahame’s podcast Dr Frightful Presents: HERE
And find me on all social media @friendlesspod
Don’t forget to buy the ebook BU TT HE AD at friendlesspod.com/shop
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to 'Friendless' Podcast
00:00:01
Speaker
Friendless is presented by the Saskatchewan Podcast Network.
00:00:14
Speaker
Welcome, welcome, once more my sweet babies. It's me, your host, James Avermanco, and you are listening to Friendless, the only show about losing all your Facebook friends one hour at a time. Of course, by yours, I mean mine. You can get rid of your friends at your own pace. That's totally cool. Or don't. It's been a weird year. I get it. We probably need all the friends we can get.
Guest Introduction and Discussion Preview
00:00:42
Speaker
This week, I have one of my closest Saskatoon friends on the show, Graham Kent. We talk about Echo Chambers, Aaron Mankie Voice, short but intense friendships, All Elite Wrestling, along with my boo Kenny Omega, Eating the Rich, and our favourite PS4 games. Stick around to the end of the show to hear about some really fun future plans for Friendlist, but that is then, and this is now.
00:01:07
Speaker
So for now, let's just dive right into my interview with Graham Kent here on Franless.
Challenges of Adult Friendships
00:01:32
Speaker
I, um, I'm so, you know, I, I was actually in preparation for this, for this interview. I was sort of going back over. I was trying to remember things and we'll talk about some of them as we go along, but like I was really remembering.
00:01:45
Speaker
like the first times we met and just the way we bonded was it felt like, you know, you're lucky if you get it a couple times in your life where it's very organic and there's no forced thing like we met at a, if I'm remembering correctly, we met at a theater, we met at a show.
00:02:07
Speaker
And then we went out drinking and just like found common interests, you know, and, and, and I don't know why that feels so unique because it feels like that should be how you make a friend. Oh, absolutely. That is like being able to just like meet people and talk to them should be how you make friends. But it's really hard to make friends as an adult because there's so many things you have to navigate.
00:02:33
Speaker
It's so hard, and I think especially now, you know, for good or ill, I have it, the jury's still up for me, but like the spectrum of...
Echo Chambers and Social Media Isolation
00:02:46
Speaker
what sort of boils down to almost like political allegiance gets really tricky. The whole idea of like navigating what people are okay with and not like I think I think we're worse at it now because of social media because we're so isolated and insulated from
00:03:03
Speaker
true, genuine human interaction. And so when we're met with, you know, because we create this bubble around us, right? You know, they talk about the echo chamber or whatever it might be. And so we're used to only hearing things that we agree with. So when we're out in public and we meet somebody and they say something we don't like, our inclination now is not to necessarily like unpack it and work through it and still be friends with them. Our inclination now is like, oh, you're now the enemy.
00:03:31
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. And I don't, yeah, and I guess I consider myself lucky that that hasn't happened with you, that I can think of. Has it happened with you? No, no, no, never. I'm, I,
00:03:48
Speaker
It's different for me, I think, because I was the shittiest person when I was younger. So I'm like, I have instant forgiveness for people, because like, if you have been kind to me and been a good friend, and then something bad happens, I go, okay, that's just, you know, a bad day for you.
00:04:09
Speaker
But because I'm so hard on myself that when I'm like, I can't be that hard on other people. So if you've ever crossed the line, it's always been like, I'm sure we'll work this out. And I work on like a strike system with people like after a while, I'm like, okay, you're toxic, and then we're not going to be friends any
00:04:26
Speaker
Yeah, enough's enough. But I tend to be quite forgiving with people. And then sometimes it comes to bite me. But I don't know, I think people should just be kinder to
Impact of Social Media on Judgment and Nuance
00:04:38
Speaker
each other in general.
00:04:40
Speaker
Well, God, wouldn't that be the fucking dream? Right. And the same thing, too, with the idea of like, you know, I do I'm really worried that I'm accidentally sounding like some kind of fucking Ben Shapiro shithead. But it's like I do worry that we are too quick to write people off for their different opinions. And now and now again, I've have you added this before, but I will say it again. There is a big difference for me between like.
00:05:05
Speaker
You know, human rights aren't opinions, you know, like, like you can't, your opinion can't dehumanize somebody at the same time too. Like you can disagree on. Political economic, you can disagree with, with policies and, you know, there are elements of that. And I think the problem is that we're, we're really losing the nuance of situations. And I don't think it's necessarily just our fault. I think that we are being sort of conditioned to lose nuance because it's far easier to control
00:05:35
Speaker
a group of very angry individuals than it is to control a network of dissent, you know? Oh, absolutely. Right. And I think things like Facebook are key to keeping us all like lonely and angry. Right. Absolutely. Like it's very easy to enrage somebody and it's really hard. Like it's easy to lead
00:05:57
Speaker
through fear and anger than it is to lead through love. Because people can and like people naturally because we in you know, North American society are quite isolated and taught
00:06:10
Speaker
because of our puritanical values to be really distant with people, even our own families. So it like, it builds this, this world where we're just not willing to trust people when they are nice to us. So that we're like, hate binds us together, because you can say, well, you don't like that thing that I don't like, so we must be close now.
00:06:31
Speaker
Yeah, that's a huge thing for me right now. I'm so exhausted by what people are against. What I want to hear from everyone is what they're willing to prop up. What are you for? And that goes for everyone. And that becomes a problem with discussions with lots of people is this idea of like,
00:06:51
Speaker
you it's so easy to be against things the easiest thing in the world for a human to say is no what i'm interested in is like what are you for like what are you into what's the thing you've got to prop up and and celebrate and and make sure is is heard around the world right and and um because that's how we sort of you know that's how we i mean
00:07:14
Speaker
That's how we build, right? To be really cheesy. So, you know, we talked about, we met at some, it was probably like a live five show. I can tell you the exact show. Cause I remember this. I have a really good memory for like social interactions because I was so full of anxiety during this night because it was the week that, uh, Jenica started at Persephone. Um, and I had heard so much about you from Luke.
00:07:42
Speaker
that I was like, oh, my God, who is this person? Because it's like, yeah, like he works at Atomic Vaudeville and like he's like the super cool guy. And then I met Jenika and I was like, holy shit. Jenika is so cool. Like her husband must be so cool, too. And then you met me and you're like, wow, what a fucking loser. No, I was like terrified because we went to go see Naked Tour, Sacred Mountain. Yes. Live five.
00:08:07
Speaker
Yeah, and they had designed the the set design was on like a 90 degree angle So we were sitting in the corner, but the only three seats left You and Jenica were like looking at the stage and I was looking at you Because I was in that corner seat So like I spent the entire show being like don't breathe too loud. Whatever you do. Don't breathe too loud
Preference for In-Person Communication
00:08:29
Speaker
Because I was like, maybe a foot away from your face. And like, the profile of your face went up like 30% into my vision. So I was like, I was scared. And then afterwards, you're like, Do you want to go have a beer? And I was like, Yeah, sure. Awesome. And then after that, I spent like a week straight being like, Do I add them on Facebook?
00:08:49
Speaker
Is it, is it like, okay? Like she's, she works at, like, Jenica works at Persephone with me, but like, would James want to be my friend? I don't know. And then I did, you guys have become very close and be your friends. Well, and that's the thing too. And you know, I'm right there with you about like, you know, I've talked about it a few times. Um, and, but this idea of like,
00:09:10
Speaker
When I'm in person with somebody, it's really easy for me to just like, I love meeting people. I really love talking to people. It's just that for me, I love doing that in person. I'm very bad at...
00:09:27
Speaker
email, I'm very bad at text message. I'm very bad at, you know, I, I always, I'm constantly apologizing to people after I send emails because I inadvertently come across really harsh, really like overly direct and like very little, like it's almost like I have really bad bedside manner or something. And so quite often people will read my emails and be like, Oh, he's pissed or he's severe about whatever. And it's like, no, I just like, I just didn't want to waste your time because I'm not going to write like I talk because that's,
00:09:57
Speaker
You'll never stop. It'll be four pages before I get to the point. And so like like for me, I thrive off of in person and off of conversation. And so, you know, when we hung out, I was like, this is so fun. This guy's so cool. It's like it was like it was such a relief to like meet somebody so quickly and to be like, yeah, OK, this is going to work. This is going to be awesome. You know, because it's terrifying, right? It's terrifying to me.
00:10:25
Speaker
And to come to a new place and to not know anybody except for Luke, Luke, who can like fuck that guy. Right. But like, but like, but then I understand completely that like the sort of anxiety around like, what's the like, what are what's the social etiquette around?
00:10:45
Speaker
adding somebody on Facebook like how soon do you do it and it's like am I projecting like and then we're gonna kiss or am I projecting like now we're keeping it professional you know so what got you um what got you to Persephone like you you you studied at the U of S I did yes um and so I guess what's the what's the like so if we were going to end the story at and then
00:11:08
Speaker
James and I went for a beer and spent the night doing Aaron Mankie voice. If that's, if that's, if that's, if that's the end of the story, then where
Graham's Journey into Theater
00:11:19
Speaker
does the spooky story begin?
00:11:23
Speaker
It's a complicated story. So I was cripplingly shy when I was younger. And when I went to high school, I started to come out of my shell because I had friends that were very boisterous. And I was like, oh, I can be boisterous too. Because I was a weird kid. And knowing as I do now in my adulthood, I have ADHD. I have social anxiety. And as a kid, you don't know how to project those feelings, how to explain them to people.
00:11:51
Speaker
I was just nervous all the time. And I was quiet and I didn't do well in school because I couldn't pay attention. And then I got to high school. And my high school, we had to take acting as part of our general fine arts class. And I loved acting because our drama professor, which was Blaine Hart, who's a super cool dude,
00:12:13
Speaker
um was just the kindest man and then I was like I really like this and how I got my start in theater is actually ironically I know that you introduced Megan already um I got into theater as a way to one up her because when we were teenagers we hated each other um and Megan was in uh it wasn't Joseph um Jesus Christ superstar um at at our high school and I was like I can do that so I did I auditioned for the show the next year and I was in my first play was catch 22 which is like
00:12:43
Speaker
Quite a large jump to go from the very first show I ever did I played a cow and to playing Captain Black and catch 22. And then I like fell in love with it and it was like, it defined me as a person because it was an outlet for like my creative energy.
00:13:00
Speaker
And, and like as a kid, I always like wrote stories and I talked to myself a lot, which is probably why I didn't have a lot of friends kid because I was like, why is that guy standing in the corner talking because I was telling myself stories. And so I left high school, went to university and I was like, I'm going to pursue this.
00:13:18
Speaker
I did the first and second year acting program. It was cool. It wasn't really for me. I was really interested in history. And then at the U of S, you have to audition to get into third year. And I made myself a promise that I would audition. And if I got in, I would switch from being a history major to doing theater.
00:13:35
Speaker
And I got in after my letter was in the mail and everybody else was like, I got into third year. And mine came like two months later. So I was a nervous wreck the whole time. But I went into the the acting program, worked very hard through my U of S time. And then after leaving school, I was like, I have to pursue this career because I've put so much of myself into it.
00:13:59
Speaker
And I also around the time I was in universities when I started writing and producing and I met a bunch of really brilliant artists who like helped me find my voice as a creator. And that's basically how I got my start in theater is a bunch of other people like prodding me in the right direction until I am where I am today.
00:14:26
Speaker
Um, so I'm going to ask you a really hard hitting question because here on my podcast called friendless that I'm stealing from you. I asked the hard hitting questions. I'm the, uh, the Anderson Cooper. Is he, I don't know if Anderson Cooper is a good person. I don't know. I don't know if he's hard hitting is the thing. Uh, let's go to Lloyd Robertson. He seems hard hitting, uh, your Ian Hanamansing. Let's go with Canadian clients. Um, can you tell me about the Genesis of the bard of legend slippery gym floors?
00:14:57
Speaker
Oh my god, well I have to first I have to give full credit well
00:15:04
Speaker
I don't have to give full credit, but I will give full credit to Jenica for the name. The origins of that name are murky because we were hanging out the two of us with my sister and brother-in-law. And through that sort of miasma, they're both really funny. We're both really funny. And we were just riffing off of something. And somewhere it came up that a really funny character name would be Jim Floors.
00:15:29
Speaker
And then and then and then somehow it became slippery gym floors. And first he was like he was like probably going to be like a hard boiled villain, you know, like, I'll get you next time, slippery gym, you know. So that was sort of the genesis of that. And then.
00:15:46
Speaker
And yeah, and so the the true who who came up with it is lost to the ages. But Jenika is going to be so mad at me when she hears that. But.
00:16:01
Speaker
But then the character that I then played in D&D was more just I'd never played before and I and I always wanted to. And I actually I really regret picking a bard because I find bards insufferable. Now that I've played a couple different characters and in a couple different settings, I realize what a mistake it was to start with a bard.
00:16:27
Speaker
Um, especially with like the way the play style that I like to have, which is I try to be, um, I try to be sort of like with, uh, withdrawn the way a bar needs to be, but I still like to be able to deal damage and there's just no way for a bar to do that until God knows what level, you know? And so, um, so, uh, I much prefer wizards. I'm currently rolling a, uh, gnome wizard character named Virgil Wobbletops. And, uh,
00:16:55
Speaker
and he's just he's just the best that's awesome that's that's the origin actually here i'll give you he's got it because in in gnomish in gnomish culture the gnomes actually have multiple names and they they have names for every situation and for every relationship so quite often these characters will have like 10 names and so birgil's full name is actually
00:17:20
Speaker
Virgil Dimble, Della Bean Erky, Riddle Pop Wobbles, Rimple, Temple Toe, Waggle Top, otherwise known as Wobbles. That is amazing. He's great. He's a good guy.
00:17:42
Speaker
Let's pivot a little bit. This is, you know, to sort of I love that sort of specificity. I'm going to just whap the door open into just broad, just the chunkiest, big, broad strokes of a question possible. Yeah.
00:18:00
Speaker
So you know as i say this show very much is rooted in an exploration of have i been a good friend and is it possible to be you know to be to be a good friend and and i think at the at the very core of it what we have to figure out is what does
Defining Friendship and Personal Growth
00:18:19
Speaker
friendship even mean? And what does it mean to be a friend? And so I'm always endlessly fascinated by all the endless definitions. And I'd love to know how you personally define friendship. Well, that once that's a very, very broad question, big chunk. But what I would say is friendship is being there for somebody in good times and bad times, and like listening to them and loving them and taking care of them. But also
00:18:47
Speaker
giving them the resources that they need to grow in their own way. And sometimes I actually I had a friend who I met in my early 20s and they gave me this beautiful piece of advice and then immediately acted on it, which is sometimes your friend comes into your life for like a week or a month or a year and then they're gone forever.
00:19:09
Speaker
And this person was very close to me for a very brief period of time and I have not spoken to them in a decade And it was just that like they went in a completely different direction than I did and we had Coffee once when they were back in town, and then we have not spoken since I don't even follow them on like we're not Facebook friends. I don't follow them on Instagram They just they're they're very much like the
00:19:35
Speaker
this was our time together and we're done. So I guess it's like friendship is being in somebody's life for a good reason.
00:19:46
Speaker
wow that's a fantastic definition and you know it's funny that really that really gets me thinking about some of the most some of the most intense friendships i've had and intense in the best sense of the word right in the most like meaningful and impactful relationships have been very very short and very truncated and and
00:20:08
Speaker
sometimes I feel sad about that. Specifically, there's three guys that I befriended in Calgary, in my time in Calgary, who
00:20:18
Speaker
they all have their own, like they all run a little theater collective together. And as we moved to Calgary, they all sort of broke apart and moved away. So I didn't really get a chance to truly, truly know them, but the time that I did spend with them, they were each individually so incredible and then collectively so incredible. And I really regret not getting a chance to have a longer in-person friendship with them. And so just hearing that idea of like,
00:20:47
Speaker
Yeah. Of like, it just makes sure it's there for a right reason at the time. And if it's not, then it's cool. I love that. Yeah. Connects credit union is all about their members, improving their financial wellbeing drives everything they do. And that's not something they say. That's something I say.
00:21:12
Speaker
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Favorite Wrestlers and AEW Storylines
00:21:37
Speaker
Okay, so one of the defining portions of our relationship is professional wrestling because you and I were the tag team champions for a brief period of time in 2019. So I want to know who currently is your favorite wrestler or tag team?
00:21:56
Speaker
Oh, man. It's so hard because I like don't watch WWE anymore. I just watch it. I haven't watched anything of it basically since the pandemic started. But even before then, I was only really watching the occasional pay per view. So all I'm watching now is a W and I watch it.
00:22:17
Speaker
borderline religiously like I watch I watch dynamite every week I watch dark as much as I can and you know I don't miss a pay-per-view and so I'm only really drawing from them
00:22:32
Speaker
personally speaking, I just, I love Kenny Omega so much. I just love him. I just, I, I, the stuff that they're doing, building his character slowly is just phenomenal. And, um, you know, we're recording this, uh, the episode will already be out, but, uh, but, uh, the build that they're doing for him versus John Moxley is absolutely incredible. Um, same thing too with John Moxley. I, I, I've never had such a turnaround in.
00:22:59
Speaker
an admiration for a wrestler as I think I have for Jon Moxley in that when he was Dean Ambrose in WWE, he was my bottom three wrestler. And now as Jon Moxley, he's a top three. And sometimes I worry that, you know, maybe he hasn't been on TV for a week or two and I'm like, maybe I'm a little burnt out from him. And then he comes on and I'm like, Nope, still love him. Like he's still so good. Yeah.
00:23:23
Speaker
Um, and so I just think that the creativity that those two guys are bringing to their character and to their storytelling is just, it's just unparalleled. Um, at least in a, in American wrestling, I can't speak much to Japan because I'm not watching it a lot right now, but, um, yeah, what they're doing is incredible.
00:23:40
Speaker
Um, and then like tank teams. I mean, fuck man. Again, it's just like, it's so hard to pick because there's so many doing such good work. You know, we finally got the, the young bucks versus the FTR match that everybody had wanted for years. And it was so good. Like it was such a good match. So, um, it's really hard for me to say one. And also like, that's just my, like, I'm, I'm, I'm terrified of commitment. So I'm going to just say,
00:24:07
Speaker
all of them i like them all can i just bring all my action figures to school please so this is a really fun question and i'm always really excited and we've sort of we've sort of touched on it a little bit already but i'm really interested to hear what
00:24:30
Speaker
Um, so what are your most vivid memories of our friendship? There's so many, um, our friendship is, as I said before, very dear to me, because every time you and I talk or hang out, um, it's like a gold star memory. Um, there has never, I've never had a bad time when I hang out with you and Jenica.
00:24:51
Speaker
like I do feel very lucky in that regard in that like I do feel like like if not every time at the very least like almost every time we leave with some new joke or some new thing or some new right and there's been a few times we're like oh yeah let's go grab a drink for like an hour and then like seven hours later we're like walking home because we live near each other too so we get a walk home together and then it's just like well I love you guys have a good night yeah like it's incredible we put in a work day of drinking yeah oh
00:25:22
Speaker
And there's been like one conversation that sort of harkens back to something that you were talking about earlier, with people like not canceling each other, not giving up on each other so easily, is that the night that you and I talked about the ethics of the guillotine.
00:25:39
Speaker
And I remember that conversation and being like, I really hope he doesn't hate me after this. And then like, um, and being like, uh, actually afraid that I was like, am I breaking this friendship? And then I was like, no, no, there's no way. Um, and then a couple months later, you being like, no, I, I see your point now. And I was like, okay, good. Um,
00:25:59
Speaker
So there's, well, it's just to sort of like, just to sort of like very, very briefly encapsulate that conversation. Cause I think it's a really important ethical quandary is the idea of, of like eat the rich, right? And it's the idea of like, from a, cause from a humanist perspective, it's gotta be live and let live. And then from a, if we're going to survive capitalism's perspective, it's we're going to need to eat these motherfuckers because like,
00:26:24
Speaker
every single day, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, all these pieces of absolute garbage, you know, decide not to end global hunger or whatever it might be, you know. And so so I think it is I we were also we were we had that discussion like two years ago at a time when I'm not saying it's like radically different, but like, you know,
00:26:47
Speaker
For instance, Bezos, didn't he double his total lifetime net worth in the first section of 2020 or some bullshit like that? Yeah, it's some ridiculous amount of money. I think I read a thing that said it was like, if you made $100,000 a year at the end of your six-year career, you'd have 0.002% of his revenue or something. It's just like, it's revolting. It's too much money for one person to have. He's a literal definition of a dragon. He sits on a hoard of money.
00:27:16
Speaker
and kill people. And then you have all these like losers, these fucking mouth breathers who like defend him. Yeah. And who are like, well, you know, he's not actually worth that. Those aren't liquid assets or like whatever fucking garbage they like to spew. And it's like, shut the fuck up. You aren't going to get to suck Jeff Bezos's dick. Shut the fuck up.
00:27:44
Speaker
Or like you always hear that one thing about like, I'm opposed to taxing 400,000 plus because one day I might make 400,000. And it's just like, you fucking loser. Yeah. Like, well, it's loser. And it's just, it's just never going to happen. It's just like, you just have to accept you are not a millionaire. You never will be. And you will be so much happier when you accept that.
00:28:06
Speaker
Yeah, and like the real great thing that you could do rather than you know, founding a newspaper that will be around in 150 years and building your fortune off the back of other people, maybe be remembered by your family and friends for being a good person, like taking care of those around you because
00:28:23
Speaker
You can't take it to the grave. You never see caskets full of money. I guess you could see. You know what that is? I guess King Tut was buried with a lot of money. I was wrong. I was going to say, Graham, have you met the Egyptians? Yeah, you're right. You're right. But no, but I was thinking about how
00:28:43
Speaker
We are a culture that's obsessed with legacy and like, and, and I don't, I don't understand why, but I think a part of it is to do with the fact that we, we really romanticize people that we remember and we, and we really, we almost dehumanize them, right? Because like, for instance, in theater, right? We, we hear names of even recent past, we hear about, I don't know, Samuel Beckett.
00:29:07
Speaker
or we hear about Antonin Arto, or we hear about these people whose work we study. And so we, because we're studying them, you know, 80 years on, we think, oh, they must have had this lavish life and they must be so famous. And if we're not like them and living rich and living lavish, then we must be failures. And it's like, Antonin Arto, didn't he like die in an insane asylum? Like, didn't they, don't they all die penniless? Like,
00:29:32
Speaker
Like the concept of legacy is such a zero sum game. It's like it's like a false. It's like a false goal because it inherently makes us feel bad about the work we're doing right now. And it leads us to pursuing something that in the end won't matter. Right. Like Shakespeare doesn't know that we're still doing his plays. The guy isn't even worm food. He's already been dead too long. Yeah. You know, he doesn't give a fuck. He doesn't give a fuck about anything.
00:30:02
Speaker
Yeah. Definitely. I always wonder if the obsession with a legacy is that it makes your life matter. It means that I was here. It's a fear of death for sure.
00:30:19
Speaker
Which is it's very interesting to me because I like I also have like I need to create something that's important before I die. Totally. But at the end of the day, I'm like, but will it truly matter? And then I'm like, but it matters to me. So I guess it does matter. Like it matters that I'm creating art. So I'll continue to create art.
00:30:38
Speaker
Well, and that's what it's got to come down to, right? It's got to, what it's got to come down to for you is not about, I've made something important to someone else. It's I've made something that I'm proud of. Yeah. And then, and then, cause then the other thing too, is that it's completely arbitrary who becomes legacy. Like, like, cause you end up having somebody like, um,
00:30:54
Speaker
What's his name? Harold Bloom, just deciding what the canon is and just being like, well, these are the books I like. So these are the books that matter. And it's like like legacy is so arbitrary and so based on luck and aesthetic of the time and and how people gauge art at different times and what they value. And so it's like you can't
00:31:16
Speaker
Like it's impossible to discern what's going to matter in a hundred years. You can just do something that matters to you. And hopefully you speak honestly enough that it resonates, but it won't like, but who gives a shit? Like it doesn't, it doesn't matter. You know, cause you're dead. So fuck it. Yeah.
00:31:41
Speaker
What would you say are your favorite, your top five video games that you have played on the PlayStation four? Oh man. Well, like, and I, I have to just immediately jump to the binding of Isaac because I play it still religiously to this day. I got it, you know, I got it for free. Yeah.
00:32:01
Speaker
Uh, funny enough, you know, it's, it's, I don't, I don't tell this to be like a sad story, but, um, it was the, it was the free game the same month my grandma died. And so I very much played it as like a bit of a coping mechanism for, for, for going through that sort of grief cycle. And, and ever since it's become the, my, my mainstay of PlayStation has been to go back to that game. Um.
00:32:26
Speaker
I love it, especially not only because I think it's a phenomenal game cycle, but it's also, um, you can play it on mute and so you can like, I listen to music or I listen to audio books, like I do other stuff. And I'm so, it's so entrenched in my like fingers now that, um, I barely even register. I'm playing like, it's almost like meditation for me at this point. So, so yeah, big time binding of Isaac. If you haven't played it yet, everybody go get a copy. It's fucking incredible. Um,
00:32:54
Speaker
And then in terms of like other games, um, man, it's funny cause it's like, I can't help but feel like so much of this generation sort of blended together into like one, like too big of a city where there's too much to do. And so I'm just anxious that I'm not doing something right. Um, I really liked watchdogs too. Mm-hmm.
00:33:17
Speaker
uh big fan of that one really like spider-man i thought those were great let's see that's three um oh man what did i like i love me i love me some assassin's creed so um but but again i feel like all of them could sort of blend together oh absolutely um i think i think uh the greek one is probably my favorite just because it's like there's no way to
00:33:40
Speaker
finish it because there's too much to do. Really liked the Greek Assassin's Creed. The official title, Greek Assassin's Creed. Coming up next, Assassin's Creed in England? Question mark? But early England, not the one with Victorian England. The other one. Yeah, the other one.
00:34:06
Speaker
Uh, let's see. You got one left. I've got one left. Oh shit. Um, oh man. Now I'm blanking on anything that I ever played, right? Now I'm like, I just stare to screen and it's all a simulation of me playing a video game. Um, Oh man. What did I really like? I guess, I guess, uh,
00:34:30
Speaker
I guess just like Grand Theft Auto. I don't know. Oh, oh, oh, fuck. No, no, I know. God of War, man. That game was incredible. Right. That's me doing a chef's kiss and not kissing my microphone. That this is me kissing the microphone. Oh. But yeah, no, God of War. I think that that game was incredible, especially because I didn't really like
00:34:59
Speaker
God of War 3 for the PS3. I thought it was just too much. It was overdone. But this was like, yeah, it was such a great. It was it felt like a coming back to what was really good about the character and then also just like a brand new thing. Yeah.
00:35:16
Speaker
Love me that setting. I think it's absolutely tragic that white supremacists have appropriated Norse culture. Yeah. Like, fuck that. Oh, yeah. Like, fuck these people because it's so fascinating and it's so endlessly. I think I think that Pantheon is so intriguingly human. Like, they're so it's why I really like Greek mythology, too, because they're they're they're just like they're just really powerful, but really petty. Yeah. I love that shit. Extremely flawed.
00:35:46
Speaker
Yeah, exactly, exactly. So I love those kinds of stories. So yeah, it got a war for me.
Being a Good Friend in Difficult Times
00:35:57
Speaker
So I'm wondering, what do you think in the face of everything that we are facing, whether it's, you know, all these, you know, quarantine and all this new waves and all these things, and people being isolated and lonely and all these things, what do you think it's gonna take to be a good friend heading into 2021?
00:36:22
Speaker
I would say, and this is something that is something I've discovered during the pandemic and something that I wish I had dug more deeply into before.
00:36:32
Speaker
which is care and forgiveness is what makes you a good friend because right now a lot of friendships are based around things that we can't do anymore. I for one really struggled when I had to switch from playing D&D with my friends in person around a table to playing in front of a screen because you lose the connection, the electricity in the air.
00:36:56
Speaker
And a lot of people's friendships are based around seeing each other at work or like going and grabbing a beer and we can't do those things safely anymore. Like I there was a couple times this summer where I let my guard slip a little bit and I would like go to a place with friends.
00:37:13
Speaker
um and we'd like grab a beer and then i'd be like this isn't safe like i'm putting them in danger and putting me in danger and putting the server in danger just so that i can have this connection and so i guess it's forgiving people for putting down boundaries and forgiving people for losing touch because i've also there's some people who are really dear to me that i haven't talked to a lot and i know that for them
00:37:37
Speaker
um they just needed the space they needed to be alone or not have to interact with the world because it's terrifying the world is fucking terrifying um i think a lot of the uh veneer of uh living in canada and being like everything's great
00:37:52
Speaker
has really been ripped off this year. And the underlying issues that go back hundreds of years are at the forefront for people now, and it's good that we're uncomfortable. But I think a lot of people are suffering right now, and the pandemic is making it worse.
00:38:09
Speaker
So forgiveness is really important because the world doesn't care, and I think we need to care for each other. There's a there's a quote from a game called A Night in the Woods. And one of the characters says something that I just I feel is really beautiful. And it's, I believe in a universe that doesn't care and people who do.
00:38:30
Speaker
because the universe doesn't give a shit about you, but the people around you can, and I guess being a good friend in 2020 and 2021 is just giving people the space to exist and being there when they need you.
00:38:47
Speaker
Woo! Grammy! Ah, man. I love you, man. I love you. I'm so grateful for you. You just mean the world to me.
00:39:04
Speaker
It sucks that we're at the point where I have to I have to do the mean part of the show. But I just thank you for that. That's that. That means that I really love that answer. And I really love that thought. And I am I'm really going to you know, I try to to bring that forward. But I'm it's a really nice reminder to to refocus on that. So.
00:39:27
Speaker
You know, I, I, I say it all the time, but I genuinely feel this here. Like, I feel like we, I mean, we know this, we could just talk all afternoon. I could just hit record and we could go for hours and hours and hours, but, uh, but unfortunately we, we have hit the time of the show where I have to pull up your Facebook page. So here we go. One last thing to do. Well, enjoy that beautiful profile picture I have up there. It's the last time you were going to see it. I.
00:39:53
Speaker
love that drawing so much. That's Maureen. Maureen did that. Her art is just absolutely incredible. She's a fucking genius. She's the fucking best. I mean, we have commissioned a piece from her and she showed us a very close to finished version.
00:40:15
Speaker
I don't even have the words. It's just mind boggling. It's more beautiful in person. I love it so much. Is it? Oh, I can't wait. The camera flattens it, and you don't get to see the rich layers of color she's put in it. She's like, I don't understand how her mind works. And that's just because we're two different types of artists.
00:40:34
Speaker
where she's like, she's able to work so methodically at creating an image. And when it comes to art, I have like slabs of meat for hands. So I couldn't draw something to save my life. So the stuff that she puts up is just like brilliant.
00:40:51
Speaker
Unreal, unreal stuff. I will have to have her on the show sometime when she's up for it. I think I have her on Facebook. I'm pretty sure I do. But that's a different problem now. Graham Kent. We are no longer Facebook friends. No, now I only have 659 friends.
00:41:15
Speaker
good lord that's too many friends grail i know but i was thinking the other day because one of the pretty questions is how many friends you have and i was like hmm 660 i need six more friends to get to the devil number now you need seven now i need seven or or you need 10 oh no and then you got nice
00:41:47
Speaker
you
00:41:56
Speaker
And that's it. Thank you once more to Graham for coming on the show. He's just the freaking best. One thing that I had to cut out of this episode, but I wanted to mention here was be sure to check out the podcast that he and I actually work on together, along with a huge cast of Saskatchewan actors. It's called Doctor Frightful Presents. The links are in the show notes. It's super fun. It's like a horror comedy send up. I can only speak from my experience, but I have an absolute blast writing some episodes and acting in them.
00:42:25
Speaker
Um, so be sure to check that out. It's a ton, a ton of fun. If you like the show, let your friends know, share the links, like the posts, review the shows, please, everything helps. I am working on building a deeper outreach program for friendless going into 2021, but I can't do it without you. Help me, Obi-Wan audience member. You're my only friend. God, that's a bad joke.
00:42:50
Speaker
One way that you can support the show is buying my ebook, Butt-Head, on sale now at the shop. It's just $10. Half of all the proceeds are going towards the Saskatoon Food Bank. The other half is going towards Development of Friendless. You can always skip the buying of the book and just make a donation to the food bank. Wherever you live, I'm sure they could use the help.
00:43:09
Speaker
Check out friendlesspod.com slash shop for details. You can find me on all, all social medias at friendless pod. I'm even on tick talk now. I'm not really posting anything, but I do have an account. So I think that's something. Anyway, that's it for me next week back by popular demand. I am presenting a very, very special episode of friendlies with special guests.
00:43:34
Speaker
The wife! That's right. Jenica, my sweet wife, is coming back for some special holiday cheer. You won't want to miss that. It's going to be a blast. But, as always, that is then, and this is now. So for now, I want you to be kind to yourself this week, and gentle with the world, and I'll catch you next time. Fun and safety, y'all.
00:44:02
Speaker
you