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North Face Ablaze with Colin Hourihan
332 Plays8 months ago
Just like that, the number of Nobel Prize winners who have appeared on our program has increased. Prize aside, Colin has been to the ends of the Earth: sometimes providing life-or-death food, sometimes in hot pursuit of elite Jordan's.
We also talk about coffee, Renaissance graffiti, how to be and not to be a tourist, backpack evangelism, Tinker Hatfield, sneaker culture, hip-hop, our favorite bags, arguing with your tailor, the effect of the sneaker/dress shoe hybrid on the American Psyche, and The Magnificence of the Human Spirit.
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Transcript
Introductions and Traditions
00:00:07
Speaker
Welcome back, everyone. Happy New Year. I'm your host, co-host, Connor Nunez. And I'm Matt Smith. In the studio. And we have Matt Smith. And the other co-host that Connor forgot to name, Matt Smith. Right, right. So we have here in the studio a very, very special guest for whom I have written our customary intro
00:00:32
Speaker
somewhat edited by my mother, but I will begin nonetheless. So we have here the gallant genius in Geneva, the rowdy Roman raconteur, the diplomat with the logistics down pat. He puts the fun in UN. Here is a man who my girlfriend says is quote, more charming than me. My crass cocky and hyper competent cousin, the legendary logistics lion, the most accomplished person in my
00:01:01
Speaker
Try hard family, he'll hear no bells for the no bell. Colin, if you need anything, Operation Colin Thunder, my brother from another mother, Colin Ourhan. Nailed it, man. Thank you. Colin, just out of curiosity, have you listened to any other episodes where you've heard Connor do the most ridiculous intro as possible?
00:01:30
Speaker
That was my first one, I'm gonna be honest with you guys. You're allowed to, yeah, you're allowed to say no. Yeah, yeah. Not bugging you. This was a thing that has kind of happened from the beginning. And then we got tired of it. And then Connor got reinvigorated with it. So, yeah, it works. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's a good way to juice up the guests. It's a good way to get pumped. You know, it's a, I think that our, um,
00:01:58
Speaker
Elite listeners love it.
Colin Ourhan's Career Journey
00:02:03
Speaker
To begin, Colin, I was going to ask a question which we haven't really workshopped, but I think will work for you especially well. Could you give us a CV curriculum vitae in a minute? I'm not going to time you, but approximately a minute. Sure. Went to graduate school in Vienna, Austria.
00:02:28
Speaker
focusing on Thank you It's a great town man, I had a blast there great place great place to go to school So I did my master's in peace and conflict studies one of the earlier peace programs that was made available After that I was working for a non-governmental organization an NGO that was focusing on peace and reconstruction at the
00:02:56
Speaker
sort of the community level in Sri Lanka between the Tamils and the Sinhalese. So I did that for a few years. And then I flipped over to the United Nations. So I started working in the World Food Program about 2007, 2008, doing a bit of policy work, humanitarian principles, protection, sort of human rights based stuff.
00:03:20
Speaker
flipped to supply chain or logistics. So did that for about five, six years. It was there that I started doing an emergency sort of first group of people out the door. So I did that for about 10 years. So all the big emergencies around the world, whether it was natural disasters or civil wars, conflict, international conflict, I was one of the first people to be deployed out.
00:03:45
Speaker
Did that, again, did that for about five, six, I have more than that, 10 years now. And then I flipped to building the capacity for our organization with military. So how we interact with militaries, both international and national. So basically we work in really complex environments and there's always military actors running around doing stuff, positive things, negative things.
00:04:10
Speaker
And it's my job to make sure that we have connections and they understand why we're there, what we're doing, and we understand from an institutional level what they're trying to accomplish. And where there are synergies or common goals, like in a national disaster, we work together and when the goals are not aligned, we have a separation. There's a space allowed for humanitarianism. As best we can, do not look at the news. It's not always effective, but we try.
00:04:38
Speaker
diplomatic, extremely diplomatic. So Connor tells me you have laid your head many places all over the world for sounds like a good majority of your life. But where do you say you are from? It's a bit of a mix. It's I was born in DC, but formative years college was Hawaii, big island of Hawaii.
00:05:03
Speaker
Oh, I have a nice mix of West Coast mom from Hawaii, Big Island. And then but I grew up in Rome, my dad was my dad was a diplomat, focusing on gender issues. And so I grew up in Rome. So I think I'm a mix between got a little Washingtonian gallows lion. But in my core, I'm a Roman. Nice. And where where do you live now? Or I guess where you stationed? Like, primarily?
00:05:32
Speaker
Yeah, sure. I'm in Geneva,
Coffee Culture Exchange
00:05:34
Speaker
Switzerland. I'm right next to the partnership, right by the Liga Nations building, which is now the UN Palais. Wow. Impressive, man. How do they, how does Geneva, because I've never been to Geneva. I just have heard a lot about Geneva. How do they compare Rome and Geneva? Like, are they similar at all? I guess Geneva is very small. It's very small. It would be difficult to say that they're similar. The only thing that's remotely, remotely sort of
00:06:04
Speaker
Any kind of intersection is languages, right? Like Italian is a national language for Switzerland, so you can speak the language. And they have decent pizza pasta. Coffee is readily available. I mean, coffee. But otherwise, yeah, they're vastly different. I mean, Rome is a city, I think, of five, six million, and Geneva is about 500,000. So it's a small town, all things considered. It's very international. The Swiss don't even consider it Switzerland, because it's so international.
00:06:33
Speaker
That's true, man. You go across the lake, because I'm on the humanitarian side. On the other side is the banking district. So over there, you've got the Rothschild part of town, where it's like four or five blocks of Rothschild buildings. And it's their private wealth bank. So it's a weird juxtaposition of things. It's like Red Cross, Red Pressing here, the UN here, and then you got those guys over there. Right.
00:07:04
Speaker
Yeah. What's your go-to coffee drink just out of curiosity? Uh, depends on the time of day. Uh, but normally I will go with an Americano. I like just a shot of espresso with a lot of water and then after meals, espresso.
00:07:19
Speaker
Yeah, you have to. Do you follow the cappuccino tradition? No milk after lunch, man. Can't do it. No milk after lunch. Absolutely. What about late at night when you're eating peanut butter out of the jar with a spoon? Nobody needs to know about that, Connor. You don't want to drink milk in that time, in your time of need?
00:07:46
Speaker
Well, these are trade secrets, Connor, trade secrets. There would be one involved with that. We talk about milk on this show. We talk about milk. And I think, listen, it's foundational to Italian culture, right? Like, there wouldn't be shit without milk. So the Roman
00:08:11
Speaker
I mean, but you can still get the dairy, right? Like you can get mozzarella, you can get all the incredible cheeses. Like I don't need milk, not a milk guy, let me be honest with you. Yeah, same here. Never had that. Doesn't always agree with me, you know, so I avoid it when I need to. Yeah, I would rather save it for incredible cheeses and things where you absolutely need to have it. There you go.
00:08:34
Speaker
Yeah, this is I've been to Italy to Florence for work a few years ago, we flew into Rome, I didn't really spend any time in Rome and I've been to Vienna, the only two places that I've been to in Europe and
00:08:48
Speaker
One thing that really struck me, first of all, going to Europe made me enjoy hot espresso because I'm basically an iced coffee all year round person. The second thing, and I don't know if this is true for Geneva as well, in Florence in particular, there was a quote unquote American coffee shop that was like a budget Starbucks and it was like the worst coffee I've ever had in my fucking life.
00:09:19
Speaker
I don't know. And then, you know, there's no iced coffee in Vienna. We went to Budapest and iced coffee was coffee with a drop of ice cream in it. And I was just like, is this not something that exists in most of Europe?
00:09:34
Speaker
They do ice coffee, they do cold coffee in Italy in the summer. Usually pre-mixed with sugar and it comes almost in like a champagne flute kind of thing. Oh, that sounds terrible actually. It's not great. It's not my favorite thing. It's literally like, it's a shot of espresso with all the sugar you can imagine. So you're getting like wired immediately. But no, like a big cup with the ice is not really a thing. Yeah. And they kind of put it away if you ask for it.
00:10:05
Speaker
Those, can I cuss, Connor? Can I cuss, guys? Okay, absolutely. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Those motherfuckers are there, man. There's like three Starbucks in Rome now. They're doing okay, which is killing my soul. It's killing my soul. Yeah, that's sad as hell. Well, Domino showed up and they lasted about an hour and a half. That's like the title of a memoir, like the Rome Dominoes. That's like,
00:10:34
Speaker
Yeah, it didn't go well for them. It didn't go well for them. Were there protests? No, the thing is, is like, their whole, their whole deal, right, is delivery. Yeah. And they had, in some ways, bad timing, because COVID happened. And then all of Italy was like, Oh, delivery is kind of cool. And all the delivery companies showed up like Uber Eats and things, right? So every Korea in Italy delivered.
00:11:03
Speaker
Yeah. From what I remember, I mean, this was 2013, so over a decade or almost over a decade ago.
00:11:14
Speaker
Um, shit was like amazing food and Florence was absurdly cheap. Like going, you know, going into the, um, like the little bakery next to the, the B and B where we were staying, you know, get these little like breakfast pizzas. Don't really know what they were, but it was like a Euro 50. And I can't, I can't imagine Domino's trying to compete with like amazing Italian pizza.
00:11:40
Speaker
No American company will sell dollar food ever again, I don't think.
00:11:49
Speaker
Yeah, but I agree with you, Matt. I think it's a difficult market for them to crack. I think Starbucks
Impact of International Work
00:11:54
Speaker
has a shot just because it's not really coffee. They get a coffee cocktail. Yeah. There's enough tourists that people will go for it, but I think the locals will try it and then be like, yeah, why would I do that? I'm not waiting in a line for 45 minutes to get a coffee. Yeah. I mean, tourists want Frappuccino's all hours of the day.
00:12:14
Speaker
Starbucks and most American coffee of that ilk is basically a milkshake disguised as a coffee drink. Exactly. And they're not going to shame you for having milk after lunch, Connor. Right. That's the sweetest thing you've ever had.
00:12:30
Speaker
Connor, I like I like I'm American. I am American in like one way, maybe a couple or a few ways. But the milk thing really puts me into that category really, really struck a nerve on this one.
00:12:46
Speaker
I know. Yeah, well, it's like it's the fucking mother beverage. It's the like, edible cocktail. American milk is so pasteurized, like it lasts for six months. It's not even like, you got anywhere else in the world, you got to get new milk, like every other day. It tastes, it tastes completely different. Right. Dude, I know this guy, this guy who listens to this show, he drinks two and a half gallons of milk a week.
00:13:13
Speaker
I want his digestive system. That is incredible. Oh, shit. Yeah. Yeah. Jake is a Marine. He's like bonkers, but the milk thing is real. From the Midwest. Of course. Of course. Colin, having been exposed to so many different cultures throughout your life and career, how do you think
00:13:37
Speaker
seeing different parts of the world so frequently has influenced you? And have there been some places where you were really more blown away and influenced by than others? I know it's kind of an open-ended question. Yeah. You don't have to shit talk anyone either. No, I wouldn't do that anyway. But I think that there's
00:14:05
Speaker
Every time I go on a mission or travel or something like that, there's always pros and cons. There's only been a couple places on the planet where I'm just sort of like, I never need to go.
00:14:16
Speaker
There's just genuinely, this should be paved and turned into a parking lot for a Walmart distribution center. There's really two places in the world, I won't say what they are, that I'm like, no, nobody needs to be there. That is just, it is hell. Right. Without divulging, it's one of those in the Southeast of the United States because we might have something in common here.
00:14:40
Speaker
No. They're all in places run by dictators or warlords. And it's just, what are you going to do? You get there and you're like, any more money we dump in this place is probably not going to end well for anyone involved. Taxpayers are paying it. It's not going to the people that need it. It breaks your heart, especially as somebody who's normally trying to be
00:15:04
Speaker
a positive impact in the places that I work, it's tough to see because you kind of have to ask yourself, would this money be better spent in a place like Flint, Michigan than here? And I have a hard time as a steward of donor money to be like, yeah, we should definitely pour more money into this because clearly another million is what's going to solve the problem. So those aside, I think that every place has had
00:15:31
Speaker
an impact and influence. I worked a little bit in Afghanistan and Yemen. I was part of the Libya response in 2011 when Qaddafi was removed from power. So there's always places where you see the
00:15:49
Speaker
the magnificence of the human spirit, but you also see like the worst part of humanity at the same time. And it's, those things are like sort of, it's exhausting, but at the same time sort of fills your heart a little bit because you know, like when you make an impact, it carries you for the next six months, eight months, nine months when you're going through horrible things, you know? Like what's happening in Gaza right now, for instance, you know, we had a few of the team on the ground in Gaza and
00:16:16
Speaker
you know, moving national staff to guest houses so everybody was in one sort of facility with all their kids, family members were brought in to protect them almost like a human shield type scenario. It's
Historical Insights on Rome
00:16:27
Speaker
horrible. But the fact that, you know, our staff are rallying together to try and keep everybody safe and there's video footage of, you know,
00:16:35
Speaker
ex-military guys that are in the harshest situations, voluntarily going into Gaza when everybody else is trying to leave and they're sitting on, you know, swings, pushing kids and just trying to laugh for 15 minutes. Like how do you not get, you know, emotional about that? How do you not get inspired by that very basic humanity? And it's, it's a wonderful thing. So I'm not sure if there's a specific place. I think they all bring a little bit of value. There's probably a couple that have touched me more than others. I, I,
00:17:03
Speaker
I had a very interesting experience in Afghanistan. I was there in 2009 for a while, and I was not on the military side of things on the front line dealing with all of the provincial reconstruction stuff. I was much more on the humanitarian development side. So we were dealing with the different parts of the society, and you were dealing with the women that are trying to make a difference at that time.
00:17:26
Speaker
um, local communities that are trying to rebuild after years of Taliban rule. Um, obviously that's all changed now, but just seeing sort of the hope and, and, and seeing it from a different perspective, seeing the change happening on the ground in 2009 was really powerful. And I kind of fell in love with the place then. I don't want to go back now. Um, but you know, it is what it is, but you know, you take those, those chunks of time and you, you try and, you know,
00:17:52
Speaker
see what you learn in them and move on. The old town in Sana'a in Yemen is spectacularly gorgeous. So I mean, you see what was created.
00:18:02
Speaker
a couple thousand years old. Don't test me on that. It's just incredible. Basically skyscrapers made 2,000 years ago. They're beautiful. Right. I have no frame of reference for that kind of thing because even the sparse parts of Europe that I've been to, the oldest buildings are not as old as so much in that part of the world.
00:18:27
Speaker
Exactly. It's ancient, truly ancient. True. I was walking around Rome with Colin and he pointed to this pharmacy and said, that's where they cured the bubonic plague. Wait, what? Yeah, it's one of the places where they started working on
00:18:46
Speaker
sort of the cures for, I think it was bubonic plague, but yeah, it was, pharmacy was founded originally in like 1400 something and I think it's, since then, and you can still go in there today and be like, yo, I need some aspirin. It's not.
00:19:01
Speaker
That that's, you know, yeah, that's one of the wildest or that's one of those like, like, what's a weird fact that, you know, Reddit threads that pop up on Instagram explore for me. And I'm like, my mind is blown at all of these things. Like this pharmacy has been in operation for 800 years.
00:19:18
Speaker
Yeah, it's nuts. And you know, it's two blocks away from where Cleopatra's residence was when she was there. Obviously, the pharmacy wasn't there. But when she was in Rome, hanging out with Augustus and I forget the other Marcus Anthony.
00:19:36
Speaker
They were all like, this is where she was hanging out. I mean, kind of Adjo when he was painting and running around, womanizing and sword fighting, that was all in the same neighborhood. I mean, it's like 510 square blocks and it's the red light district of Rome and it's just, there's just passion in the streets. You know, it doesn't ever change. It's still a party spot. Crazy. But how do you not love that history?
00:19:57
Speaker
Yeah, I don't want to answer your question, but it's hard for me to single out of place. No, that was a wonderful answer and very like, yeah, just very open-ended and enjoyable. What about a question we ask sometimes is what kind of clothes did you see growing up? I know we didn't put that on the question sheet, but like, so growing up in Rome, you must have seen like,
00:20:24
Speaker
There are stylish people there that just, it's not like America at all. Well, I think, you know, when I was a kid, I was in El Salvador in the Philippines, Guatemala. We moved around quite a bit. So you had a lot of sort of influences from a clothing standpoint, from Asia, from Latin America.
00:20:46
Speaker
But then, you know, you come back to the DC area and we're known for, you know, in the eighties, we were known for our style band, like the Sears and Robux catalog was, you know, hot. Those polyester suits. Oh, my fucking arch nemesis.
00:21:02
Speaker
Yeah. So, I mean, you go to Rome and you immediately start seeing all the Italian fashion. I mean, it's not quite Milan, but you have all the fancy stuff and you see the, you know, the, the women come out in boot season and then you, you know, you see the, the kind of vignette on their horses with their giant Prada riding boots and their flowing capes with the crimson on the inside. You're just blown away. Like this is what that's a cop. Like the Lamborghini police cars that kind of shit. Yeah.
00:21:30
Speaker
and they have their sabers. I mean, it's just you sort of get influenced by that. So I think.
00:21:36
Speaker
Italian fashion, Italian clothes was something that you can't avoid. And I always had a hard time coming back to the States because early on when I was a kid there, we didn't have the internet like we do now. So style fads were completely different, right? So I'd come back from the States and look like a freaking alien with my tight jeans and stuff like that. And then I'd go back to Rome with American stuff and they'd be like, what the hell is that?
00:22:02
Speaker
And then it's interesting to see sort of mid-90s when, you know, MTV sort of moving over and, you know, the baggy pants and the jersey showed up and you had this like cross-cultural thing happen and then, you know, hip hop took off in Europe and you had like, you know, the white Italian rappers. There was a famous one named Jovanotti who sort of paved the way in Italy and, you know,
00:22:24
Speaker
Great great music for for those of you who are Italian music fans, but so you do so you do know Left field hip-hop cuz like Italian hip-hop is not something that's ever occurred to me I'm not gonna quiz you on this, but I don't know anything about it at all The language to rap in I imagine it's they've got some good stuff man. I mean Italians I mean the time music you kidding me like talk about hundreds of years ago
00:22:49
Speaker
So they've got it all there. But Jovanati is sort of like, he's reinvented himself six times. He doesn't really rap anymore. But you have a whole subculture that are rappers and like, I think the biggest like Italian Instagram influencer person is Chiara Ferrani. And she's like a massive following. She goes to the Met Gala and stuff and her husband is an Italian rapper.
00:23:11
Speaker
And he's hilarious.
Italian Culture and Personal Interests
00:23:12
Speaker
I mean, he's super charismatic, super good, super famous in Italy. Yachts, the whole nine. And they just sort of adopt the culture, even though they don't really have that culture. So it's, you know, they bring that Italian flavor and they they add it to the Americana and they just they make it work, man. That's cool. Yeah. Well, would you be amazing? Would you be down to make like a 10 song playlist that we could post, Colin? Just of shit that you like or like Italian rap or whatever?
00:23:40
Speaker
I can try to put something together. It'll take me a little while because it's been a while. Oh, yeah. No worries. There's no time. There's no time. I'll be honest with you. It's not going to be current. No, that's good. I was going to say like, so some would say that American culture is like the dominant culture.
00:24:01
Speaker
That I think gives Caucasians a little more credit than it's due in terms of cultural creation, curation, all of that sort of stuff. But it's odd because it's like black culture and Italian culture are the two like dominant cultures, I guess of the Western world anyway, like, and they sort of feed off of each other in a way like,
00:24:28
Speaker
the Sopranos being the most popular TV show, like most critically acclaimed show about an Italian American family and the Godfather and all that stuff, like all of those movies. So I just think there's a closeness. Mario Puzo and, you know, yeah, the the length that the sort of the underbelly of the Italian culture has had on the Western world is pretty phenomenal. Yeah. Yeah.
00:24:52
Speaker
I mean, you could just go into the documents and look at Trump's real estate businesses. But I mean, it's, you know, for another time. Yeah, that's another conversation. But I mean, for me, it's, it's
00:25:09
Speaker
Yeah, I can see what you're saying, Connor. I mean, it's definitely there, but I think there's been a lot of sort of back and forth with it. I mean, you can't escape. For instance, okay, here's an example. Basketball. Like, the Italian league is solid, and they've had a lot of great NBA players come across, or Italian players that have come across the NBA,
00:25:29
Speaker
Become famous in their own right they had a number one NBA draft pick years ago like There's solid basketball program and you get the NBA all over Rome like all over Italy you have you have all of the You see the jerseys there's um, there's sneaker shops everywhere basketball is a huge thing. I mean my sneaker shop in Rome It's called space 23. They've got all the good licenses. You can get all the different like tiers
00:25:55
Speaker
of of of nike's and they have a second floor which is dedicated like the bottom floor is all your your new balance and your inditas and all that stuff the second floor is only basketball and it's only it used to wardens and now it's it's la bronze jordan's curries and all that but it's a second floor dedicated just to basketball and the guy who owns it is um i think his name is matarazzi he's the one that did the headbutt in the world cup
00:26:20
Speaker
against Saddam and had Saddam. Oh, sure. Sure. That was like international news. Yeah. So this is the, and he opened up a sneaker shop and he's a huge Jordan fan. I think he's actually got a Jordan or a 23 tattoo. His jersey number soccer was 23. So he's a massive Jordan. See, here's the, here's the like mix of cultures again, like basketball is hip hop culture to an extent, like rap dancing and graffiti.
00:26:46
Speaker
So you see all that stuff there. I mean, you know, you can go back. Look at Kobe Bryant. I mean, Kobe Bryant grew up in Italy. He spoke Italian. Like there's a square. Yeah, that's right. That's right. And what's up with graffiti in Italy?
00:26:59
Speaker
I mean, there's some good stuff. There's some bad stuff like any place in the world. There's a big, there's a lot of, like good graffiti is spectacular, right? Like so, but the tagging, like, you know, the little assholes running around just writing their name on stuff. The bombs and stuff. Yeah. Like I don't, you know, Rome is so gorgeous. Like, and then you have to the tagging problem. Like if there's a place where you could actually give
00:27:24
Speaker
the artist a chance to do their thing properly. I think that could be really powerful, but it's just, it's not, it's not really there. However, in Geneva, right by, uh, sort of the lake is a whole area where they come in and they, they open up the walls in the summertime and all the graffiti artists come in and paint them up real nice. And then they will, they clean them up every year and that's a new, new thing for the summer. So that's, that's pretty cool. I enjoyed seeing that this time around this summer when I was here. Yeah, totally.
00:27:51
Speaker
So from that's like the way to deal with it though. Sorry Matt. I just think it's like Giving giving people whatever their thing is giving them a space to do that thing because they're gonna do it anyway
00:28:05
Speaker
Well, you know that I have that art background, right, Connor? So I used to apprentice for an artist that was responsible for overseeing the restoration of the Sistine Chapel. So I have like a formal art background for years. And one of the things that when I was doing my research with him and he was teaching me is that when you had Raphael and Michelangelo, so Michelangelo was working on the Sistine Chapel. Raphael was doing sort of the rooms adjacent to the Sistine Chapel where he painted the School of Athens.
00:28:33
Speaker
When they would, they were staying in Trastebre, right? By that pharmacy, right? Where you were living, right? Right there. And when they would come home at night, they would leave at different times and they would leave graffiti for each other. They're sort of testing one another. So they would just do a little doodle on a wall, a specific wall, and they would come and critique each other's work at night. And it was just like a playful banter between the two of them. Because one was, I mean, Michelangelo at this point was 30, 40 years older than Raphael.
00:28:59
Speaker
So they were vastly different human beings, but it was just a way that they communicated, sort of like leaving a, a, a, a tweet or a text message from one another, you know, 400, 500 years ago. Yeah. It's bizarre that it, I don't know, it's certain things have been around for so long. It's a little beautiful, I guess. Absolutely.
00:29:26
Speaker
So after you've kind of talked about growing up in pretty wide of sort group spots, do you have any kind of particular clothing memory from your early days, that could mean teenager or whatever, that still sticks in your mind? Man, I think it's gotta be Jordan's. Nice, nice. What was your first pair?
00:29:55
Speaker
Oh man, I think my first pair was 92. It was the year of the Olympics in Barcelona. So it was the dream team Jordans. I forget the exact, like the year of the Jordan, but it was 92. They had the triangle on the back. There was like a, the pull of that. Oh, that's the six, I think. Yeah, I think you're right. I think you're right. Matt is a fucking encyclopedia just of all kinds of surprising shit.
00:30:24
Speaker
But man, that was my first pair. And I fell in love with it. I begged my dad for months and months and months. He finally bought it for me. And then when I got a real job, I just started collecting joyables. So I've been collecting for years. Hold on. And I'm fact checking myself because I really want to give this right.
00:30:47
Speaker
That's so cute. The dedication is so cute. That's what our show is. It's cute. Yeah. I'm on the record. Dedicated cute ridiculousness. Oh, yeah. I had the like anthracite gray ones with the like almost tie-dye tongue. That's the one I have. Oh, that's the one. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Those are. It's the seven, not the six. I'm sorry. I apologize for my error.
00:31:17
Speaker
You were off by one. Who gives a fuck? Yeah, I know. But I... Yeah, my first pair were fives when I was in like fourth grade, I think.
Sneaker Culture and Collections
00:31:29
Speaker
And I wore them, I mean, they were expensive then. They weren't nearly, maybe with inflation, they're about the same price now. I don't fucking know. But I wore them for a year solid until I destroyed them and or grew out of them because they were expensive at that point.
00:31:50
Speaker
right? But that's when I mean, when you're in and you get something like that, I mean, you cherish them, you think you genuinely think you're running faster, jumping higher, like you believe. Oh, dude. Yeah. And I mean, I was like, I was a nerd.
00:32:07
Speaker
Yeah, I was a nerdy white kid trying to play like rec league basketball and sucking enormously. Yeah, Collin is sitting on the couch with Collin's bad hoop dreams too. Yeah, this is before I discovered or I really discovered music and playing music so like it was kind of the tail end of my like actual mainstream sport. I think your athletic ambitions are like the most ridiculous part about you.
00:32:36
Speaker
Yeah. It doesn't surprise me that you're athletic and good at it, but like, I don't know, but I guess if you're good at it, that's what you want to do, right? I mean, I was, yeah, I was not good at all, but, uh, you know, it is what it is. Uh, so, okay, we're going to, we're going to skip the second section, which we'll come back to you, but because we're on seekers now, but, uh, another question of mine is what is your favorite Jordan, uh, like year, like our model, I guess.
00:33:04
Speaker
Okay, so my favorite model, which I always go back to is always the Jordan ones. I like the Jordan one below, like, because I'm not playing sports anymore, man, I don't need a $250, like Park Titanium, you know, Kevlar's upper, like, I don't need that. I just don't like the lows. I'm not the biggest fan, but I can get down with it.
00:33:27
Speaker
They're usually the most options, but I don't limit myself to that. If they're cool and they're unique colorway or unique fabric, I'll buy them. I tend to gravitate towards the ones because I find them comfortable. When I see them, I'm like, I don't have that color.
00:33:47
Speaker
How are they received elsewhere in the world where people are not having Jordans? You're, I guess, not bringing your Jordans, right? Good. You'd be hard for us to go someplace where there's not somebody that knows what a Jordan is. No, I mean, there's penetration everywhere, but I'm saying what, I don't know, are people gawking? I don't know. I mean, if I wear a particularly interesting pair, I will get comments basically anywhere I go.
00:34:17
Speaker
But especially Europe now, like sneaker cultures all over Europe. Asia is a big thing. The Middle East, you kind of find stuff. But everybody knows it, right? Because it's the NBA. And if it's got the jump man on it, that's it. Like somebody's going to know what it is. I mean, but it's really sort of the interesting pairs that we get attention, like just a pair of ones that are like, you know,
00:34:42
Speaker
orange and gray or something, nobody gives a shit about. But if it's something unique, then somebody will say something. I got a pair of- You say something, say something. Yeah. Well, I mean, one of my favorite pairs is a pair of Air Jordan Shine. I think they're about six, seven years old now, but they have the Bottega Veneta leather weave on them.
00:35:03
Speaker
So it's an Air Jordan 1, but the whole outside is like a Bottega, then it's a weave. And it's really nice leather. And those are just unique. They're just different. Like it looks like it could be a different company shoe, but it's a Jordan. You can dress them up, dress them up. Like I've worn them to work.
00:35:21
Speaker
If I'm feeling spicy, a little picante on a Friday, I'll wear some Jordans. My kids freak the fuck out. If I ever wear my Jordans to school, which I've done once or twice, it was like I was wearing the Grinch costume. They're screaming. There you go. There you go. It's all about impressing single-digit age children.
00:35:47
Speaker
I think they're ruthless and there's no filter. They're going to tell you exactly what they think. So if you're impressing them, that's genuine. Yeah, they did say I was wearing my white man shoes once I had on my Clark's wallaby lows in a 10 in a 10 suede, which I said.
00:36:06
Speaker
you are 1000% correct. You are a nail head exactly. Just a beautiful observation. Thank you. Wonderful. Wonderful. I think I last pair of Jordans that I had were the I got him. This is like
00:36:22
Speaker
I think I bought them in like 06 or something for very, very cheap on eBay, but they were the original 99 Oreo fours. God, I love those shoes so much. I wore them. And then of course they started crumbling. And yeah, I gave them to my V dealer at the time and he got them like totally remade, which I hope they're still going strong. I really do.
00:36:50
Speaker
what is the what is the furthest you have gone to to cop as they say it doesn't have to be sneakers it doesn't have to be sneakers it can be clothing also or whatever the fuck if it was like i know your apartment used to be like all remote operated uh so it was an electronic that you went to a great length that would also satisfy this question
00:37:15
Speaker
It's Jordan's, I think. Are you talking distance or are you talking like just length, like physical distance? I'm very curious to figure, I'm very curious to hear. Yeah. However you interpret that question. You want to measure it is good. We're fine with the multi-part answer. So you have the floor. So a very good buddy of mine who was working with me at the World Food Program,
00:37:42
Speaker
ended up flipping over to Nike. So he went to Beaverton and he worked through the ranks and became the director of innovation. So he was responsible for all the crazy fabrics. He would go source the fabrics and then buy the rest of the fabric, get all the patents and stuff so that the flyknit is only Nike, right? So there were years of preparation to get a specific pair of Jordans.
00:38:10
Speaker
that he could then take after he got enough credibility in the building, because he didn't give a crap about sneakers. He was just there because he wanted to get into corporate America and shoot to the ranks. So he became a bit of a sneakerhead, and he would always send me sneakers. So a lot of my collection just came from him. But we concocted a plug multiple years, and he pulled it off without telling me for my 40th birthday. And so I got a pair of Jordan 11s signed by Tinker Hatfield. Oh, shit.
00:38:40
Speaker
Those are my babies. That's awesome. Because that's one of the last designs he did, right? Yeah. And he doesn't sign stuff anymore. So this was literally a favor to a favor. And like, so those are just at home, never been worn, will never be worn. Of course. Yeah. But that's a year to pull off.
00:39:03
Speaker
That's fucking crazy. You want to explain Tinker as a figure for people who don't know? Because I do think he's not universally known information. What? I think when Phil Knight started Nike, he's not a co-founder, but one of the first people that was brought on board was Tinker Hatfield, who is the lead designer.
00:39:30
Speaker
for a number of the major shoes. So he came up with the Air Jordan 1, he came up with the Air Max, the Air Jordan 11. I mean, his list of shoes is... And it's like, even if you just did one of them, you would kind of be like an immortal. Yeah, he's basically the greatest shoe designer that has ever lived. And a couple of great documentaries about the guy and he's just like an old surfer dude that just like
00:39:55
Speaker
comes up with brilliant stuff. Like it's just what do you say? But so getting, you know, probably the only thing better than getting a pair of Jordan side by Jordan is getting a pair of Jordan side. It's the artist. So for me, like that was the big win. It's the artist. See, so that's what we have on the show is appreciation of art. And that's, yes. So for me, that was the big win. And I don't think he even
00:40:21
Speaker
I don't even think he's designing anymore, but basically it was sort of like, he was the passion behind Nike, he's the soul behind Nike the early years. And I don't think you have the...
00:40:32
Speaker
You don't necessarily have the scope or the brand recognition, the love affair with the sneakers if you don't have somebody like Tinker Halffield drive in the creative. But that's my opinion of it. I think that's a pretty well-respected opinion of that dude. Like he changed sneakers. Like Phil Knight was definitely, you know. Well, when you said he was the biggest, like the most influential sneaker designer of all time, I mean, or shoe designer, I think that's correct.
00:41:03
Speaker
Yeah, it would be hard to say otherwise. I mean, at least if you're not getting into the big, you know, marquee brands of like, you know, like Hawker Tour designer shoe companies. Well, who is bigger than Nike, like period in clothing? I don't think that I don't think that anyone has better name recognition. Probably not. Probably not. Yeah. Colin, did you ever get into Nike SB dunks like back in the day?
00:41:30
Speaker
Not really, honestly. I've never owned a pair, so I can respect them. Is it because people would have called you a poser?
00:41:42
Speaker
No, not at all. It was literally like... Most people that were wearing Nike SP were not skateboarders. I'm just joking. It's got nothing to do with skateboarding, right? I mean, Jordan 1s were a very popular skate shoe when they came out with like... But it's like you don't have to play basketball to wear Jordans. It's like a joke. Well, I mean, that's part of the reason why Nike went into the skateboarding shit was because they'd seen years of kids wearing Jordans that were like,
00:42:12
Speaker
you know, fucking Hessian through Southern California. And they're like, oh, fuck, we should probably tap into this. Yeah, absolutely. But I mean, there's some there's some cool ones that have come out recently. Mike, my buddy collects them, who's here with me in Geneva. And I can't remember what they're called. But there's a new pair that dropped a couple of weeks ago that looks like a like a karate gi. It comes with six sets. They're incredible. They're absolutely. Yeah. And there was another pair that
00:42:41
Speaker
sort of has a shark fin on them. I love those, but I just, you know, I love sneakers. I have probably between 70 and 80 pairs of sneakers. So I stopped buying them. I'm like, I have no more space. I have to burn through some of these. So I have not sneaked.
Backpack Adventures and Practical Gear
00:42:59
Speaker
You and the godfather of the show, Renato should have a conversation about sneakers because Renato is also a huge sneaker head.
00:43:08
Speaker
I mean just another nice person just like another nice like very competent successful person Canadian so of course I mean just like Fucking salt of the earth. There you go You'd make a convincing Canadian colonizing I'm gonna be too decisive. I don't know if I'm nice enough. I've never well. Yeah, that's Yeah
00:43:37
Speaker
So we know that you have a backpack. I thought backpacks and Blunstone sounded like a nice subheading for the remaining segment of the show. Tell us about the backpack thing, your fascination with backpacks, your obsession with backpacks, your quest to find the perfect backpack. This is travel related. I have
00:44:07
Speaker
so many backpacks. And it's a theme in the humanitarian world. A bunch of us all collect bags and we will talk about our bags religiously. You'd be hard pressed to find a bag company that we haven't messed around with. I don't know how familiar you guys are with the backpack world, but everything from 8-yard and Mystery Ranch to North Face,
00:44:33
Speaker
uh, Sam Piper of California, you know, five 11 tactical, like I can go down the list. Like I, I have had, I don't even know how many backpacks trying to find something that, you know, can be, can double the go bag that I can take with me to a terrible place. Cause you never, like if you're going to a,
00:44:53
Speaker
Hurricane response for instance, like you're not taking your role on Samsonite like that that shit ain't happening Like it's just useless. Like if you're gonna be in you can't even take it on the helicopter. So like I One of the go-to ones is always the North Face like duffel bag. I Burned like I don't know how many of those and they're supposedly indestructible. I won't get caught on fire like using a it was an
00:45:18
Speaker
You had one, you caught on fire. Yeah, it got caught. It was just like the latex coating or whatever's on it, like the friction with the belt in some hellhole airport in the middle of nowhere. Look at me, it sounded like Trump Hellhole. In some developing regions under financed airport, it just got caught. And then all of a sudden, like, you could see smoke and I couldn't get to it in time and like a flame burst out and then they hit it with the
00:45:45
Speaker
extinguisher and a bunch of stuff on the bottom, like most of my underwear was burnt to a crisp. And I'm like, oh, that's great. Go and commando for the next six weeks. So you're constantly on the hunt for something that's going to allow you to move quickly, pack a bunch of stuff, and then collapsible so you can move it easily. So for me, that's the backpack thing. So I have not yet found one that fits
00:46:14
Speaker
everything that meets all of our criteria. So we know some of the guys. I don't know if you guys know Mystery Rant. We started by a bunch of ex-special forces guys. It sounds vaguely familiar. I don't know a ton about it. OK, they do good stuff. It's people that were once operators that come in with a very specific mindset, like modular things. How do you? Oh, OK, yeah. I know what you're talking about. I just googled it.
00:46:44
Speaker
Yeah. Like they're good stuff. But like one of the, one of the teammates is friends with one of the founders. So like we're, we would like to build our own backpack. Cause that would be fun project, a side project. I think like get into it and try and figure out like where you want the pockets. Where do you want the straps? Like how much ventilation do you want? Like what materials? What color? Hell yeah. Black. Only black? I was better than black.
00:47:14
Speaker
Yeah, the one thing at like, if you're a humanitarian, you cannot be using like, yeah, you should stay away from terry tones, right? And everybody wants to like, the amount of people I see walking around like camo, I'm just like, dude, guys, like, you're basically you're, you're, you're, you're, you're,
00:47:31
Speaker
you're unconsciously like, yeah, yeah, like I am a camera enthusiast. And if I were in this position, I would be like, yeah, anything even if it's fucking real tree is gonna make me look like an aggressor in this situation. Probably not the best idea. Exactly. So like, this was the problem with something like
00:47:52
Speaker
Mr. Brand is a bit better, but like Sandpiper California, which the acronym is SOC, SOC. So they sell it on places. And then you have like 5.11 Tactical, which is all like mercenary gear. So like, they're great things, but like, I don't want to look like a mercenary.
00:48:07
Speaker
Right. Like I don't want the watches on the back. So you want something that's sort of like a humanitarian version of that, if that makes sense. You want it durable. You're going to be in a refugee camp. You're probably not going to have someplace clean to throw it. So you're just going to go in the dirt. Like it's going to get nasty. I'm sure you are not out of like inspirations for this hypothetical perfect bag. But I want to throw two vintage items out there that you should you should check into for design purposes.
00:48:38
Speaker
Uh, number one is a World War II aviator kit bag. That's my personal go-to. Um, it is the best and like most spacious of design bags in like a very practical way I've ever owned for being like, you know, a very time specific kind of bag.
00:49:02
Speaker
And the other is the, I can't remember the exact nomenclature, but the World War II Marine Corps Backpack is just a monumentally good design and has like pockets and straps in all the right places, but like made out of normal or like newer, you know, veteran materials. Like that could be insane. Is that the one with the tool on the back?
00:49:32
Speaker
It like it kind of has a similar sheet to like some of the mystery ranch bags that like Taller modular backpack style, but like there's so many like yeah so many various pockets that come in really handy Like those are maybe my two favorite bag designs of all time and they're like, you know, if you made those in Cordura, they would be amazing You see and that I need to take a look but that's the kind of thing I think we're on the same wavelength like I got something where you have lost you want to be able to
00:50:02
Speaker
quickly get to things, quickly move around. You just never know, right? Totally. You don't have to be messing around with a giant cavernous North Face bag. They make great form of bags, but I don't need a 28 liter
00:50:18
Speaker
pouch. Yeah, I need something that's not hiking the Appalachian Trail. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So yeah, I mean, that's the backpack thing, man. It's just a I love them. I have a backpack with me at all times, tiny collapsible ones inside big ones. Like, I just have bags. I love bags. I can't help myself. That's it. I also have like, my, my body, like, cross body bag, like my messenger bag, which is my baby is like the first I got my UN contract. I was like, I'm buying myself a present.
00:50:47
Speaker
and I wanted a nice leather bag. So I have like everything from like the nice leather to my go-to that I wouldn't want to take to a meeting, but you know, you fall in love with the bag and then it just comes with you everywhere. You're in a nice suit with like a muddy terrible bag. There's a bag, you know? I am also a bag enthusiast and have way more than I possibly ever could need.
Fashion and Professional Attire
00:51:10
Speaker
But you know, it's one of those things when you find one that scratches the niche and like, yeah, I need this.
00:51:16
Speaker
But Connor knows I can't stay on suitcases. Like, I can't stay on suitcases. Oh, same here. They're annoying. So I've made him drag me when I'm back in the States to Ross to go buy the cheapest Samsonite that's marked down on clearance. I'm like, dude, will these three of the wheels work? Cool, because I'm going to break this thing in an hour. Right.
00:51:33
Speaker
I have crappy suitcases in various stages of disintegration around the world. They just break. They're just not designed for anything. Well, the wheel is, I am not an engineer, right? But to me, it seems like an obvious weak point. Oh, yeah. It's an absolute failure point.
00:51:58
Speaker
absolute failure point. They're like on a swivel, they're like gonna break on an escalator. That just is it's designed to break on an escalator maybe. Someone needs to make like the SUV style wheel for like suitcases. Like oh yeah I can drag this across rocks. This could handle an escalator. Just like like just like a large rubber wheel on a suitcase.
00:52:23
Speaker
Fan the economy of suitcases because like why is a suitcase like 600 bucks? This is not world-breaking technology. It's the kind of thing that they price higher because people think that it makes it better. Yeah, exactly. But then they're always on sale. It's all plastic anyway. Yeah, exactly. Even the new hard shell ones are like, yeah, okay, maybe it lasts an extra six months, but I've broken three of those. Right.
00:52:52
Speaker
You're just gonna have a baggage handler that's like, what this? I'm like a sprigger. So. Yeah. So aside from backpacks, Connor tells me you're also a Big Bonsunk fan. I love Blusters man.
00:53:07
Speaker
I have tried to boot there as imaginable. Best boots. When we were preparing for this, there's a company called Redbacks or something that's similar to Blountstone. That is the name of the company. Still made in Australia, and they're around the same retail, but I've tried to make myself like them for years, probably a decade at this point, and the soul just kills it for me. But Blountstones are- Do you know what they look like, Colin?
00:53:38
Speaker
They look almost identical to the Blenstone. It's a Chelsea boot. It's an Australian Chelsea boot still. But it has, Matt said it looks like Nike made a Chelsea boot, which is correct.
00:53:53
Speaker
thick kind of wedge, almost wedge keel. Yeah. It's kind of weird, like almost performance soul. I don't know. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. And like, like bloodstone souls are, are amazing. Like I had my pair that I wore probably 150 days or more a year at some point or another, and they lasted like almost a decade.
00:54:15
Speaker
Yeah. They go forever. They're comfortable as hell. I've basically seen waterproof. I haven't really tested it, but they're water resistant. Yeah. I mean, you're not going to wade into a river in them, but if you're caught in a rainstorm or in a snowstorm, you're solid. Yeah, exactly. Though I love them. I love them. I mean, I'm a Chelsea boots guy. I don't know how many pairs of Chelsea boots, but for work and other things. I don't know if you guys ever heard of Alaska. It's an Italian company. They make shoes.
00:54:46
Speaker
I used to check out Velasco. They make really nice stuff, but I think they sort of cut out a middle man. They make their own stuff. They have their own brick and mortar shops, but it's high-end stuff, but they keep the cost down by some way. I'm not entirely sure how. I see a lot of this stuff looks nice. Yeah. I mean, it's just classic men's shoes. It's nothing special, but they make a great Chelsea boot for the office type of thing.
00:55:14
Speaker
So like I'm gonna, if I'm not wearing a sneaker, I'm wearing a Chelsea boot. And so- Okay. They make a jog per two, which is pretty nice. But- And they make like a paraboot, Michelle, kind of wallaby shoe, which looks nice as well. I would recommend to our listeners to check out this brand. They make good stuff. I don't know if they have- They get sponsors. Sponsors. Right. Well, we'll advertise your brand.
00:55:45
Speaker
If I want something more formal, I do those because I've done the Todds and the Pradas and all that kind of stuff. They're great. Don't get me wrong, but I'm not trying to spend ... If you're going to buy one pair of jealousy boots, I'm probably not going to go Italian high-end. I'll go Australian high-end. Yeah. R.M. Williams. Yeah, exactly.
00:56:11
Speaker
I don't necessarily, I'm gonna be, I'm old now, so I'm gonna be like, I don't really need a $500 pair of jelsey boots at this stage in my life. Like I love them, they're beautiful. I'd rather get like three or four pairs of bloodstones. Yeah. Like when you're not in the field, what's your typical like, you know, go into the office or normal workday kind of kit? It sort of depends on the time of year, but like, you know,
00:56:38
Speaker
it's a formal setting, right? It's the UN. So if I'm not in meetings, like if I'm in meetings, I'm wearing a suit. So I'll switch between like, I have a tailored room that'll make me suits to measure for a fairly good price. So, you know, I'll go with the classics there. It's more of an obviously an Italian cut. So less padding in the shoulders, the pants, I argue with the guy constantly, because he's always like super tight. And I'm like, dude, I actually need to be able to sit down. But there
00:57:06
Speaker
He's like, you look great. I'm like, yeah, but I'm sitting at a computer, like, I'm gonna split my pants, which I've done, like, and then I take them back. I'm like, see, told you. But, you know, but they're beautiful. And then, you know, there's Italian companies like Boji from Milan, which is sort of like a Brooks Brothers and Italian Brooks Brothers that makes like incredible, sort of more modern fabric stuff that if you're just like, in the office in basic meetings with your team, you can get away with like,
00:57:34
Speaker
unstructured jackets that don't wrinkle like, oh, they make a blazer that's like, I don't know, 10 ounces or something ridiculous that doesn't wrinkle, roll it up and throw it in the backpack and then take it out and be like, and it's perfect. Oh, hell yeah. What's it made out of? I have no idea black magic, but I have four of them. Like I just, I always have them. And there's no, there's no lining, no nothing. So it's perfect all weather, sort of like, or in Europe. My preferred tailoring style, no bullshit.
00:58:04
Speaker
Yeah, I don't need all the silk and stuff. And so I don't need 17 pockets. I just need something that's like not going to make me sweat. Yeah. And then, oh, I love an Alexander McQueen tie.
00:58:17
Speaker
I collect those, I love those. But yeah, so I mean, if it's something formal, like a meeting with nations and it's a suit, if not, I'm mixing and matching different things, different textures, fabrics. Right now, I'm a big fan of wool pants. It's just the time of year. Oh, totally. The diplomats, I guess, are a pretty well-dressed group, right? It's not like a DC politician.
00:58:47
Speaker
We talk often about practicing politicians. It's all the nations, right? So it just depends. You have nations that are going to wear more traditional stuff, which is beautiful and spectacular in its own way. You have all the European nations that show up in their blue and gray suits. There's a suit to suit. So you can tell when somebody is taking a little bit more care if they're rolling with
00:59:14
Speaker
a three piece or they're doing a more interesting solid jacket or they've got like the, you know, the train ticket pocket or, you know, you can tell when somebody's going a little bit, you know, above and beyond. Like I got my boss here in Geneva wears ascots. Like I've never seen like, it's like three times, not ironically wear an ascot and he pulls it off. So like, I mean, he's Swiss Italian. So, you know, like some of the nations, you know, that are a little bit more fashion forward will
00:59:43
Speaker
look the part but you know you also just have American diplomats running around in their shoes that I don't know like they've got American shoes or not. How how often do you see these American these American diplomats or whatever running around in the in the uh like the sneaker dress shoe hybrids because that's that's a real pet peeve
01:00:07
Speaker
Yeah, I can't stand that, man. I can't stand that. With the dudes, it's almost 100% of the time. And I get the... Derek will be enjoying this, if he listens to the program.
01:00:21
Speaker
It kills me, man. Because they'll spend money on a suit. They'll get a nice suit from someplace, but it's like, you know, and he's tailored a little bit, you know, but they got the Velcro sneaker shoe and it's just like, oof. Jesus Christ. It's really a good way to throw it all away. And the socks, the socks play a part too. You'll see somebody with ankle socks or something like that. You're like, bro, it's a suit. God damn, yeah.
01:00:49
Speaker
Go to the night stock, you know? Yeah. Go no-show or go, like, calf. Like, don't go in this, like, weird athletic in between. Yeah, exactly. I mean, I'm sure no-show is also, like, not, you know, that's not business appropriate, but, you know, it's certainly better than a fucking cotton ankle sock. Hey, if you're doing it, if the pants cut a little high and it's a summer,
01:01:15
Speaker
and you're wearing like a nice shoe. I mean, I could see it, you could pull it off. But that's a tough move to make. That's a tough, and the American suit cut does not lend itself to that. That is a Italian suit cut. If you're gonna do, yeah. But yeah, I mean, you'll see everything here. But it's also, I mean, Geneva is extremely wealthy. So you just see,
01:01:45
Speaker
I mean, I've never seen so many supercars. I mean, so you just have everything here. Like you have bespoke everything. I can't, I don't know. There was like a DeLorean parked outside of my office. Like I've never seen a DeLorean in person. Like there's the, the, the, the, the Ferraris that you have to already own 10 Ferraris to buy like a late Ferrari. That's like $2 million rolling down the street. This is other than like being London, I've never seen such a, like a, a,
Realities of Crisis Work and Support
01:02:14
Speaker
Nucleus of wealth it's just stupid and ostentatious this level one of our listeners who I've told you about Is a banker in Geneva and this man is fucking kidded every single day he posts daily and every day almost every day he wears a suit and they are like
01:02:39
Speaker
They're wild. He has a red suit. You know what I mean? He has all of the suits, and then he has also a red suit, which he wears and looks good in. Hey, man, if you can... I mean, it's those private bank money, man. Good for him. Yeah, dude. Yeah, dude. He lives alike. Yeah. But I mean, you have it all here. If you want to go high end, you can go high end, but it's just a little bit out of my price range. I ain't trying to go to
01:03:10
Speaker
I get a bespoke suit made if I can Gucci his own in the price. I mean, honestly, your tailor probably makes just as fine of a suit as a bespoke Gucci. I don't know who they're using these days, but probably cost to value ratio, I'm sure is probably about or probably higher for you.
01:03:32
Speaker
No, yeah, absolutely. And you're going to get a lot of the same fabrics. I mean, like if you're getting a suit made in Italy, they're going to have all the L'Orbiana wool, like you can just get the wool and then they're going to cut it for you. But I mean, so yeah, you can get an awesome suit. I mean, Connor and I have talked about this, like getting a suit made in Thailand versus getting a suit in Italy versus, you know, like
01:03:51
Speaker
It just depends on, you know, what's that sweet spot, you know, you're going to get a cheap suit and it'll look good for a few years, but it's not going to be the best material necessarily. So there's like that sweet intersection between like the good quality materials versus the craftsmanship. Like I think the ties can, can cut a suit perfectly fine. Like, but I'm not sure they're getting the level of material. It's the backpack thing, right? It's like trying to get all the, all the elements right.
01:04:19
Speaker
Is a life it's a lifelong struggle. Oh, yeah, and it moves it's a moving target. So Yeah So do you have a go bag? I mean that you're able to disclose I Have a go bag when I need a go bag I don't just have one like I mean you don't have one on you don't have one on deck No, if I go someplace then I will have a bag it depends on where I'm going like when I was in Ukraine for a while I had a I had a backpack that was ready to go
01:04:49
Speaker
I mean, it was early days and everybody was a little bit unsure and there was just the air raid sirens going off all the time, like three or four times a day. And there's a point where every time the air raid siren goes off in the middle of the night, you're supposed to leave the hotel room that you're in and go to the basement of the bunker. And by like week two at three o'clock in the morning, the siren was going off and you're like, I'm not leaving.
01:05:14
Speaker
take me now but I'm sleeping. The thing is, if you get hit, you're not even going to know it, right? It's a cruise missile. Do you want to be in the bunker and get buried by an eight-story building or do you just want to go to the big party in the sky? At that stage, I had all my clothes ready to be put on with my one stone Chelsea boots, which are quick to get on.
01:05:43
Speaker
See this, maybe we can get Blunstone as an answer. Please, please, Blunstone, fucking I will sing your praises all goddamn day. Those are my like, let's get the hell out of Dodger. But yeah, so I mean, so yeah, I have a bag, but it's for specific.
01:06:02
Speaker
Specific reasons and it's got minimal stuff in it But then like, you know, the go-bag is one thing but depending on where you are you may have your your body armor and helmet as well so like You know you you want to be light you want to have some water you want to have some power bars like always have not necessarily the brand power bar but like a protein bar of some kind because you never know what you mean and so It's it's it's nothing too exciting like probably a headlamp some sort of like
01:06:31
Speaker
like a camping towel, like the ones that collapse really small, just so you have something, you know, stuff like that, depending on where I'm going. Like if it's, if it's sub-Saharan Africa, I probably am not going to have the same stuff I would have in like Ukraine. Like if, if I'm going to be exposed to elements versus like heat. So that'll be a deciding factor in what I'm going to pack. But usually it's a couple of like t-shirts I plan to not bring back with me, like almost disposable things like
01:07:00
Speaker
I'm leaving, I'm leaving at some place. Um, so yeah, it just really depends on whether it's a situation, but I always have a go back if I'm in a situation that may require me to leave and move quickly. Right. Well, holy shit, Colin, this has been a, a goddamn good interview. And, uh, just, I dunno, it, it spanned a lot of topics that we didn't even intend to cover. And yeah, it's been a pleasure, man. Thanks for coming on.
01:07:29
Speaker
Absolutely. My pleasure, guys. Thank you so much for having me. So we always give our guests a chance to shout out what they would like to. So please feel free. Oh, OK. I guess all I would say is have a look at the World Food Program. If you're in a position to donate to what we try to do, please feel free to do that. We're the largest humanitarian agency on the planet. We're feeding approximately 85 million people every year.
01:08:00
Speaker
Just like everybody else, we're dealing with funding cuts, so we're having to downsize programs around the world. We don't want to do that. We're in sort of all the big, high visibility operations, and I think we do a lot of really good work. So have a look. If you want to support, that'd be great. Yeah, that's about it, guys. Hell yeah. Well, we usually ask for a show donation and throw out ways to do that, but if you want to fucking
01:08:29
Speaker
make a donation to us, just please donate to the World Food Program. They're doing good work and they're good guys.
01:08:38
Speaker
Anyway, good guys as a gender neutral term. Good versus bad guy. Fuck it. I'm not going to explain. Anyway, one more time, Colin. Thank you so much. Everyone, thank you for listening. We will see you soon. I am Matt Smith at Rebels Rokes.
01:09:01
Speaker
And I'm Connor Nunez at Real Connor Nunez. At Apocalypse of Studs on Instagram, Apocalypse of Studs at gmail.com if you would like to give us something to read. Cool. We'll see you next week. Cheerio.