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Episode 043 - Road to Celebration (Chapman's Version)
32 Plays11 days ago
Part 1 of our Road to Celebration series with special guest, Josh Chapman from Star Wars Spelt Out.
Check out Josh on Star Wars Spelt Out
Connect with us via our website https://justshillin.com or send us an email/voicemail at [email protected]
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Thank you to our good friend Chris Hall for the amazing cover artwork!
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Transcript
Introduction and Welcome
00:00:01
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the Twilight Zone where we live in a simulation and none of this is real. Just kidding, I'm kidding. You are listening to Just Shillin and I am one of your hosts, ah Sean. And I am your other host, Andy.
Meet the Guest: Josh Chapman
00:00:16
Speaker
And today, folks, as hinted upon a couple of weeks back or or over the last couple of weeks and now confirmed because he's right in front of me on my screen, we have an extraordinarily special guest today.
00:00:30
Speaker
um We bring you the great Josh Chapman. Josh, how are you, mate? Hi. Hello. you yeah you do You talk me up even more than Struthers. like can I never thought anybody would top the intro to to what you gave Eric Struthers when he was on this podcast, but it's lovely to see you guys. It's hello from Sunday over here. Yeah. You're in the future. I'm in the future. The sun's out. It's good.
00:00:55
Speaker
Excellent. Excellent. That is not over here, but yes.
Podcast Origins and Early Experiences
00:00:58
Speaker
Yeah. We've got Sean. We've got Sean Saturday afternoon. You got me Saturday evening and you're in the future on a Sunday morning. Um, but no, no, no. Um, Josh, you, you, you, you had to come on. In fact, you should have come on on a lot earlier. Um, uh, both Sean and I have talked about this a long time. You are equally as responsible for this podcast as Eric.
00:01:21
Speaker
ah In that Eric introduced us in the first instance so that so that um Sean and I could meet over a few ah Guinness's in in London that first night um But my very first podcast experience was on your pod and as I found out retrospectively It was Sean's as well So you're the man. Did you learn also that it's not that hard? Cause I, I recall trying to stick a phone in your face at celebration numerous times to try and get, try and get some content for my goddamn blog pods going, I'm just going to talk to everybody and get some fun. And you looked at me like I had stuck a poo in your face. You just scrunchie. We're like, Nope, Nope. I definitely can't be doing that. Nope. I won't be doing that. And I'm like, Oh, all right. Well, i you know, I won't push the envelope. And then.
00:02:10
Speaker
I think you sort of warmed up to the idea by the time we got to the, um I assume it was. We brought we broke we broke him.
Community and Inclusion in Podcasting
00:02:17
Speaker
We realized that we're all just charlatans and we're just normal, you know, idiots. There's nothing that special about it. Like I can do this.
00:02:24
Speaker
i wouldn't i wouldn't I wouldn't put it that way, but what I did realize is that very, very quickly you were actually genuine and normal people. You you got you got to remember the first time I met you when you tried to shove that you should try to shove that that that that recording device, funky recording device that you had in my face. you got I was an outsider. I didn't know any of you guys. and i um was very much in awe of what you did um as as as ah as a group of people. And so the idea of me contributing to your content was, quite frankly, laughable. um But but but in ah in my mind, but but over time, certainly on that weekend,
00:03:06
Speaker
And then over time after that, as I got to know you guys, it's like, actually, no, these, these, these, these dudes are really good. And there's no, there's no, there's no ego, ah which is the main thing. When we get to the celebration talk later, spoilers for later on, I think that'll sort of play into, I suppose, what, you know, what my attitude is to people who want to be involved as well. You know what I mean? Like, I think we'll get, we'll get to that. And I think that plays a part to it because we were,
00:03:33
Speaker
I'll save it till we get there, because it'll come up. So spoilers for later on. Sizzle. Little sizzle there. Sizzle for later on. Sorry, spoilers. Well, no, well well let's let let's let let's come out. Let's be open about it as normal.
Special Guest Episode Structure
00:03:45
Speaker
Those of you that that have stuck with us and may have listened to a a special guest um um episode before, ah we typically try and change the format because typically the first hour and a half or so, in fact, you'd argue you could argue two hours, is basically Sean and I just rambling on about stuff that's on top of mind that that we like and ah that we want to talk about. But we try to apply some structure when we have a special guest like Josh on. And so because Celebration is very, very close um or feels closer than it ever has because that's that's what they call time.
'Road to Celebration' Series Announcement
00:04:19
Speaker
um ah it It seemed really, really appropriate that we A, get Josh on and B, to talk about, for this to be our first episode, which we're going to coin the Road to Celebration part one. um But before we get there, we will have a little bit of preamble, if that's okay with everyone.
Media Consumption and Global Concerns
00:04:38
Speaker
um And just want to find out from you guys what you've been up to the last week or so, you know what What's been top of mind maybe what you've been consuming on on TV or the movies or what you've been reading um And any news that has has been top of mind that you know, we can spend five or ten minutes apiece on um and in traditional fashion our esteemed guests Josh and What have you been up to the last couple of weeks? What's been, what's got you excited? What's got you perhaps a little bit, a bit worried? um What's, ahs what's, what's rocking your world? Yeah. I mean, obviously the, the, the obvious stuff everybody's worried about and things that I don't think I'm um'm alone and we're.
00:05:18
Speaker
in a somewhat privileged position being in a country that's a long, long way away and but we we are influenced by all those things and the thing people wouldn't get empowered by certain things and think certain ways and think that they're right does influence us as well. So ah won't I won't dwell on all that but it's definitely front of mind and especially now that I have a lot of friends who live there and are in it and are affected and and are worried so it does bring it a lot closer to home and yeah I've talked to people, my family and other people friends friends as well who know I have American friends and they were sort of asking, I'm like, yeah, it's people, I can't believe you this. And I said, well, it's like, anyway, you get one nice people, you get weirdos, you get idiots, you get people who are just worried about their back pockets or have other fears that can be played upon and and and being told
Interest in Comics and British TV Shows
00:06:05
Speaker
anything. and
00:06:06
Speaker
And they'll go for it because they think it's better than what they have. And I won't dwell on too much of that. But it if I'd sort of just gone straight into like, oh, I've been doing a lot of Batman stuff at the moment. I think it would have been silly if I just touched on it. But um as far as stuff consuming,
00:06:21
Speaker
um I mean, a lot of stuff sort of just ended show-wise. So we were sort of looking for new things to consume. We've just started watching a show called Rivals. Do you know what Rivals is, Andy? He's making a face.
00:06:37
Speaker
um yes i Yes, I do. We've just started it though. Mate, explain it. It's hilarious. explain it So it's ah it's on Disney Plus and it's a show set in the 80s in Britain where The premise is essentially that Britain has the BBC, which is the great public broadcaster where all the prestigious content and all the content comes from the and the country pays for it and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But it's basically based around the rise of commercial television in Britain in the 80s that they started giving out licenses for other companies to make TV.
00:07:10
Speaker
So a lot of rich people started producing their own content. and And then there's all this kind of crazy money being thrown around at talent and to try to woo them over to these commercial things. And we've only really watched the first episode, but it's very um British.
00:07:27
Speaker
excess. Everyone's a bit randy. Everyone's a little bit outrageous. ah David Tenet sort of there chewing the scenery is only he can. And then you kind of go, Oh, there's somebody from the in between. Isn't that a no, there's the lady from the IT t crowd. And there's all these sort of, you know, ah as somebody who spent a lot of time in Britain, I sort of love seeing all those familiar faces and it being very British and outrageous and um it's good fun. So I would recommend it is good fun.
00:07:51
Speaker
It is good fun. And I just just for context, it's written rivals is a book written by a an author called Julie Cooper. Now Julie Cooper was extremely prolific in the in the 80s as ah being a lady that um ah wrote books most sorry focused on the aristocracy and the the elite of the UK, if you like. So you're talking about folk that have been built ah born with a silver spoon in their mouth and they're all a little bit raunchy. These books are all
Entertainment Recommendations
00:08:26
Speaker
rather raunchy. She's an extremely proper lady if you if you see her ever being interviewed.
00:08:31
Speaker
She's an extremely posh lady, but she writes she writes these... so she is the Yeah, she is the UK version of Jackie Collins. Does that make sense? she does that Does that provide context? So Jackie Collins, a bunch of raunchy Titillation books, novels, rich, about exactly. all yeah bit you know Lucky Bitch, all that all that, all those kind of, not that I've read many, obviously, like um but but but but she but she wrote all these books. And they are seen as wonderful, trashy novels. I mean, they are they are they are
00:09:10
Speaker
purposely trashy um And then and then you've got this new production which nobody saw coming and it's actually quite good Because it does it doesn't take itself seriously It is tongue-in-cheek the references they make to the 80s which is when it's set are really really good and the social political environment at the time are really really good and I rolled my eyes when Lucy and the girls started watching it and I became hooked relatively quickly. It's really, really good. It's really, really good. We just started it, but um yeah, we're in, but we were sort of just looking for that next thing to watch really. And um yeah, it's it's got that sort of silly, saucy kind of vibe to it, yeah yeah which is good. So we've been doing that and then um what we do in the shadows, final season started as well. So that's, where big we're a big fan of of of that crew. So it's good to have that back as well. And then there hasn't really been,
00:10:09
Speaker
much else that we we finished Agatha All Along. um That's one of the Marvel ones that I can bring Kat over on because she liked Wandavision, she likes Catherine Hahn, so it's a good sell. And she, you know, if I was saying, Oh, do you want to watch most of the other, you know, Hawkeye, she'd be like, Blurp, no thanks. But Agatha All Along was a pretty easy sell. And she enjoyed that. And I enjoyed that too. So that was good. And um Yeah, what else have I been consuming? i've I've been on a bit of a Batman kick at the moment, just in the comics, sort of just reading comics on my iPad, because the absolute Batman two, one came out. So, which is just a new run on Batman, which is written by a guy called Scott Snyder, who sort of wrote Batman when they relaunched it a few years ago in the new 52. And he's a really good Batman writer, and he sort of periodically comes back to it. And it's this sort of different take on Batman. they've got of This absolute run is where they kind of,
00:11:00
Speaker
reimagining, it's it's still Batman, but they're kind of reimagining the um the origin a little bit. So his his parents still get killed, but he's effectively he's not a billionaire. he's He's like a construction worker, but they've kind of made him so he's this massive beast of a man and he's kind of using his brute strength as much as he's as he doesn't have the resources that sort of Batman's always had. But I kind of went, oh, and I started reading that and then I kind of went back through stuff I had.
00:11:24
Speaker
on my iPad, so I started of have having a look at zero a year and long Halloween. And some of my really favorite ones, I was just like, I just started reading. When I would go out to lunch, because I worked from home, I would walk out and go have lunch somewhere and take my iPad and just read while I have lunch and be the sort of the dude in the corner reading his comics in the corner and things. So that's kind of, yeah, that's sort of what I've been up to the last few weeks as far as consuming media and the rest is just sort of home, family stuff. We've got a few more weeks of the year before, because Australia, we obviously our summer's the end of the year, so we wind we start winding down. School winds up in about six or seven weeks. I'm on holidays at the end of the year for a month. um They keep all the contractors out for a month at it for Christmas, so they which is good. They just say, don't come back till mid-January.
00:12:13
Speaker
And we'll just be at the beach, hopefully, for a few weeks, trying not to get started. Yeah, so mean know it'll
Star Wars and Pop Culture Discussions
00:12:20
Speaker
be nice. Terrible, terrible life, terrible life. What about, I was gonna bring up some that some of the recent news, but I know, I i listened to your recent pod with your recent episode. Oh, by the way, folks, if you don't know Josh, then I can't believe, you actually, yeah I can't believe you don't know Josh. if Then you're a liar.
00:12:40
Speaker
Yeah, so Josh obviously is the is the the everything the figurehead is is Star Wars spell out and his recent episode with Matt Moll talking about recent news and everything is is is actually really quite good. It's it's it's very, very good. um The goods and the bads and they that the the the the looking forward to the future. it's It's a really, really good episode. So I was going to talk about but that in ah in in in my part, but To save me doing that, what about the news that you've you've been hearing recently, both about anything about Star Wars, but also anything else that you may well have picked up on as well? Yeah, I mean, it's it's a confusing time for a Star Wars fan, um but I think it's the same for everything. ah
00:13:29
Speaker
We're sort of living in this weird post-Acolyte world, a show that I really, really loved. that didn't do as well as it they would have liked to based on what they spent on it I think is basically what it comes down to if the show had cost half as much or or less probably wouldn't matter as much but because of what it was, and it became more about what, it became about, less about what the show was and more what it represented, I think, which made it difficult because it had a queer lady who ran it. There was a tiny, tiny, tiny bit of gayness in it, which barely, which was less than Agatha all along, which actually had like a male and female gay kissing in it as well. um I don't know. I don't follow Marvel YouTube. So maybe they're all just as outraged, but who knows? I don't, I got no idea.
00:14:21
Speaker
Aubrey, Aubrey Plaza carries a lot of weight with with that group. They're like, oh shit's fine because because it's her. and We like her. what is it Why is that? Is that just because of Parks and Rec or is it just? um I think she's that. I um mean, i love I love Aubrey Plaza too, but I think there is a She is kind of like that ideal ah like for a lot of them. It's like, oh, she's funny, but like, you know, she's kind of mysterious like that unobtainable celebrity. She's white. I think that care goes a long way with them. Just kind of like dry and funny, but not overly funny, like not too funny. Like she just kind of sits in that like safe space for them.
00:14:59
Speaker
oh for a lot of them. But no, it's no shade against her. I love Aubrey Plaza. No, no, no, I've never heard I've never heard. I've never heard that theory before. I always just feel like she would be the she would just be someone to not pull any punches who yeah she might be polite to your face and probably tear you apart behind your back if she needs to. I think she she kind of has that snarky kind of ah like.
00:15:22
Speaker
I think they they like they relate to that like F your feelings kind of mentality. She's gonna say whatever. And it's like, yeah, she's she's not gonna be PC. It's like, I think you don't know who she really is. I think you know her character, but I've gone down the rabbit hole. No, no, no, no. I've just never heard that. It's really interesting.
Star Wars Project Speculations
00:15:38
Speaker
um So, but yeah, so now it's sort of like, well, given the scrutiny and the criticism and everything that had gotten the sort of the the weird celebration that it wasn't coming back and and also the despair from people who really loved it and and got a lot out of it.
00:15:50
Speaker
ah What is that mean going forward is it we've got skeleton crews comes out in a few weeks does it. Get the same scrutiny off the bat probably not because it's the guy who made spider-man is doing it so it it gets somewhat of a past before hand. And now they've just announced that they've got a guy called Simon Kinzberg who's going to do a star wars trilogy who.
00:16:14
Speaker
hasn't got the greatest track record as far as quality, but has made a lot of Marvel stuff and probably again, doesn't, won't invite that backlash until it's out. If it sucks.
00:16:32
Speaker
So until then, so basically there won't be any, there won't be the sort of like, they won't have the ammunition to basically go after it beforehand until they see it as far as like, we're just gonna pick the holes. you won't be There's no clear agenda that he will be running because he's just a white ah white dude making Star Wars. and far is there's no There's no lens that you're gonna be putting everything through beforehand. um For good or bad. Funny you say that, you use the word clear. And I think my biggest, um I wouldn't say a concern because quite frankly, I'll take whatever I get. you know it's not it's not i' I'm too old to get worried about stuff, but some clarity would be really, really good. because you've obviously got And you mentioned this with Matt, so don't I don't really want to regurgitate a very fine episode that other people should listen to, um but but some clarity around what's going on.
00:17:26
Speaker
i almost i almost Regret them saying anything. I i know that Star Wars themself. Sorry. I know that Lucasfilm themself haven't actually um publicly said something but the fact that a ah The media are now talking about and it's pretty much been confirmed by Simon on his social media It's like guys. Did you have to do this? because the more we see the more
00:17:58
Speaker
expectation there is, and when things do cause correction or need to change, the more shit you're going to get, you know the more the the more but the more nonsense is going to come out of our folk. and i just If it's going to happen, then great, but I would love to get i would love to get clarity as as to what it's about. you know Does it Is he now taking over the writing of the of the ah the Daisy film? Is the Daisy film part of this trilogy?
00:18:30
Speaker
um you you can't you In my mind, you can't you can't suggest something. in something as aggressive and visceral as the internet without there being some very, very clear guidelines or some very, very clear swim lanes as to what is going on and how it's going to happen. Like I said, it's almost worth them not doing anything at all. Yeah, I mean, there are very few, I mean, they've kind of, I mean, they've always been burnt by announcements before and it's hard because it carries scrutiny
00:19:06
Speaker
probably, well, probably Marvel aside, I'll probably par with Marvel, some DC stuff, but no other film stuff is scrutinized like this at all for anyone. So but millions of productions all come and go, have problems, lose directors, change hands, do things. I think it's a pretty common thing in the industry. And I think it's always like, well, they're trying to get this thing going and they're engaging and and things just don't work out. So it's either you do nothing,
00:19:37
Speaker
or or you try to do things in complete secrecy and then you drop it when it comes out, which is basically impossible. Or you get ahead of it. It's... Yeah. Well, I think, ah to Andy, your point, it's like I'm almost on the opposite side of the fence. It's like I because i think clarity doesn't help anybody. Like, it's... You're not going to satisfy...
00:19:58
Speaker
anybody like there's no like it's your we're bringing a rational argument and a rational thought process to an irrational internet and fan base like okay and that gives you basically something to so put it against if you came out and you said Simon Kinzberg is directing episodes 10 11 12 they will start race day in the new Jedi order and we're gonna have John Baiger we're going to have ah you know o Oscar Isaac are coming back and we got Adam Driver back and we did this and we did this and they're coming out on these dates and they're going to start production here, here, here and here. Then you've basically given them ah ah a laundry list of stuff to nitpick against if one or yeah more of those things don't happen. gas like well You said Oscar Isaac was coming back and now Oscar Isaac, you know,
00:20:36
Speaker
fell off a train and and got decapitated and he's not in it anymore. I hope that doesn't happen, but I was trying to think of an extreme thing to happen. but you know And then obviously we've had strikes, we've had COVID, we've had all these things that mess up people's schedules and you know it's hard enough to get people on a podcast on schedules, let alone just trying to make movies and things like that based on hundreds of people's schedules and things. but like Like you said, Sean, it's the internet will never be satisfied. And I think I mentioned that. I think it's impossible. I think you've just got to, it sounds corny, but you've just got to believe in yourself and stick to your guns and hope for the best. And, and you know, do the best you can and kind of go, well, it's going to get, it's it's not going to be for everybody. I know we say Star Wars is for everyone and and and it's designed for everyone to go and watch it and enjoy it, but everyone's not going to get the same thing out of it. I think it's up to you how you, what you bring to the table.
00:21:28
Speaker
It's like, don't, for me it'd be like, i be I would love it if Star Wars never addressed the, the that it's not even a rumor, like never addressed it until there was something tangible. Like I would love it if we'd ever heard about stuff until there was a poster. Like I'm i'm tired of the days of like seeing titles at like Hall H of like Lando or Droid Story or all the other things. It's like, yeah and they it's ah it is impossible to,
00:21:53
Speaker
like seal all the leaks like these industry insiders like yeah yeah you're gonna know yeah yeah you're gonna you're gonna know what contracts are signed you're gonna know all this stuff but it's like you can you can have a better working relationship with these these industry and insiders to say like hey can we can we kind of like cooperate here a little bit instead of just going for clickbait nonsense where you just leak everything that you have like because I feel like that, you're never going to get rid of deadline. And like to me, like I like deadline, but it's like they are the bane of my existence when it comes to social media and outrage online. It's like, just stop, just stop. I know you got to make money, but stop leaking stuff. Like, please. But is it more like if if they, you know, if they get an email or like they, whatever, someone goes like, hey, some kids was making episode new Star Wars movies and they go, great, publish.
00:22:42
Speaker
Do you think they get a moment of going, hey Lucasfilm, we've got this. you Do you wanna confirm or deny or get ahead of this? Or are they just literally like, we we've got something that is gonna blow us up for 24 hours. We put it out and we've got it. Like I don't think it even enters their mind that they they go to the table and and try to get loose traction on the story. Cause they're like, well, if we've got it, how do we know know that the next email is going through to moviepoopshoot.com or whatever and it's like, yeah My, my impression of like media is like, I think a romanticized 1950s version where they're like, we got the inside scoop. Yeah. I have no idea. Like his deadline, his deadline, literally just like a couple of people in a house. Did they have offices? Did they have, I've got no idea how big or small these things are. Like I know variety and entertainment tonight are reasonably big places. Um, but.
00:23:38
Speaker
Well, they have those websites where you can go and see all the public contracts and stuff for Hollywood, like all the Hollywood, like what, what's getting signed. And like, I think a lot of these places just use that kind of stuff to say like, sort of okay, when you start, yeah, you're trolling patents and things like that. It's like, Oh, the movie Disney registered this, these movie titles where they've, they've a lot, they sign these contracts for blah, blah, blah. And this, and they can start piecing things together. And then ask, Oh, is that where they, is that where they picked up on?
00:24:08
Speaker
a ah the Star Wars pirates being a trademark. Is that the kind of stuff that wasn't that one of those? I believe so. I believe. i believe later Yeah. was it Yeah. Yeah. So it's going back to fun of like these weird algorithm things just.
00:24:23
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, Sean, you're the tech man. You probably know, but they're just sort of hitting databases, continual on certain words. And if you get a return going, Oh, well, there's a new thing that pinged on Star Wars that wasn't there before or Disney Lucasfilm, you know, on a bunch of keywords, a really good example is yak face. If you follow yak face on Instagram, thats that's a waiting toy they the way they track down like Lego sets and Star Wars toys, like by their skews, they get registered. It's, I mean, it's, it's no different than that.
00:24:51
Speaker
It's interesting because um you're bringing me around, gentlemen, you're bringing me around because I guess, no well, no, no, no, no, about the detail side of things. We don't need the detail because I guess that if we cast our mind back, what, three, maybe four years where they had that, was it a shareholders meeting where you had Feige with the timeline, the Marvel timeline? And he's pretty much with the exception of um having to course correct over the Kang stuff. Yeah, yeah obvious field for obvious reasons. they've He's pretty much kept that timeline. whereas the start and and And then the Lucasfilm team came in almost 30 minutes later in the same investors call and did that timeline and well, that's that's shot to shit now, right? I mean, that doesn't... So you're probably right, less detail the better. What about...
Anticipating 'Skeleton Crew'
00:25:49
Speaker
What about the trader? and And again, I know you've spent some time on this. joellyrow Yeah. What do you think? I really enjoyed it. I love the light the um but the pace of it. And I think I mentioned on Spelt Out with Matt that, you know, i I watched it with my girls and there, this will be the first Star Wars thing that we'll watch together as a family. i'll do I'll watch it first to do the reviews with you guys. But as far as we'll sit, I think it will make it an appointment. Television will sort of go, all right, kids will sit down before bed and we'll watch skeleton crew because my kids still go to bed quite early so we can
00:26:26
Speaker
have some grown-up time without the kids around, but I think we'll go, hey, it's Wednesday night, 7.30, you guys can stay up a little bit and we'll watch skeleton crew before you go to bed. I think it'll be, at least we'll attempt it if they hold the interest, but it seems like it. Yeah, I mean, it just feels like good fun. I think it's- That's all we need more of. That's all we need more of. Yeah, I think it's just fun. And I was watching I watched Return of the Jedi on Friday night with my girls. no So Kat was out of the theater and Sloan, my youngest, hadn't seen Return of the Jedi yet. So that's where she was up to. She started at one and we'd gotten to six. And well, let's pop this on. It was quite funny because I also, i yeah I just tweeted, oh, we're just watching Return of the Jedi, you know, occasions to use Twitter. And Nathan Hamill replied back and said, what's that? but what but What movie is that? And it was quite nice. And I just said, I don't know, but they really liked the lightsaber guy.
00:27:21
Speaker
And he he liked that as well. So Nathan actually, we follow each other is a lovely guy, Nathan Hamill. But so that was quite cool. And um but Yeah, they really loved it. I was just kind of going, oh, just like adventure. I just, there was just some fun adventure in it. And you know, I don't have to explain how good Return of the Jedi is, but yeah, they really loved it. Sloane really enjoyed it. She got a bit freaked, the Emperor freaked her out a little bit, um which was reminded me of me when I saw it at the cinema in 1983. And I was probably almost exactly the same age. And, but she got through it and really loved the Ewoks and, and now we, we roll on to seven soon. So. so
00:28:01
Speaker
And then you've got that same, you've got that same wonder, I feel with Skeleton Crew as well. and so and And I, please rewind folks to the very, very beginning of, or the very, very, the origin of this podcast, but Skeleton Crew is the one I've been looking forward to the most.
00:28:23
Speaker
outside of Lando, which we didn't have, we which we still don't have as a solid project. But Skelet and crew, it's such the polar opposite of Andor. I'm really looking forward to it. and I'm looking forward, of course I'm looking forward to it. Sorry, i'll just say I just don't want to hear someone go, this just looks like it's been time for kids. I'm like, yeah.
00:28:43
Speaker
Duh, either your kids or the kid inside of you, if that's what it's for. like i don't And I think there'll be peril and there'll be and it'll probably have moments of of all that kind of stuff. I don't think it's going to be caravan of carriage level here. I think there'll be.
00:28:58
Speaker
And I don't think it'll be Stranger Things as well. I think it'll sit in that Goonies Explorers ET kind of middle ground where there's peril, but there's you know it's not going to get grim um particularly. But like you, like like like hugh I sat down, I very rarely am able to join any enjoy any Star Wars.
00:29:20
Speaker
with my family. They'll come to me when there's a new movie. They'll come with me when it's a new movie. On my third or fourth viewing, they'll be able to do one as a family. like um i'm down now so i can go and And typically, yeah, there's no way I'm going out with you at midnight, dad. You're ah you're a you're a damn nerd, there's no way. are you Are you an audible movie watcher for the first time? Like when you watch Star Wars, do you like a, hu whoa oh he yeah or is that like i could I'm not all. You can't be, Josh will back me up on this. You can't make any noise in the cinema in the UK. You're not allowed. It's just nots not. I remember going to a couple of um Midnight Star Wars, the new ones, ah when Starwalking put them on and and when Steel Saunders from Steel Wars was organizing them and sitting in a big theater.
00:30:05
Speaker
And, um you know, thanks for having me. You could just hear Steel like, ah, like down, like loudly, very excitable down there. So I don't, they were quite good screenings just to completely divert because it was the very excited, respectful crowd. Everyone's there for the same thing. Everyone cheered at the right time, but then stopped at the right time. Everybody was quiet at the right time. There was no like movie talkers or any of that kind of nonsense and stuff. That's why they,
00:30:31
Speaker
those screens were always good fun even though it's midnight and you you know the but the time you come out it up is down and you know you know yeah but but go back go go but go back to Andor so Andor is the only TV series that Lucy has sat down with me to watch and she sat down and watched it and begrudgingly and I said just watch just trust me um we've been together a while now just trust me I think you'll like this and she loved it and I've made something that I repeat every single time that I talk about Andor she loved it as a drama it just so happened to be in in in a star wars universe I showed her the um
00:31:09
Speaker
I showed her the trailer for skeleton tro Skeleton Crew and the minute it stopped, she said, that's more like it. That's more like it. yeah So so she she she she loves the polar opposite. She loves the drama of Andor. And she's she's really looking forward to the excitement that Skeleton Crew um ah promises. And anything else that she's kind of joined me with in the meet in the middle, including Mando, including Mando, it's kind of been like, yeah, but it takes itself so seriously.
00:31:41
Speaker
It takes itself way too seriously. So she's also agreed to watch it with me. So I'm i'm really looking forward to that. And then the last thing oh I'll comment on this was that the um the choice of music ah the the the the The rehash of Major Tom in the trailer was a stroke of genius, absolute stroke of genius. Getting the lyrics, and I think i think it's in Hutties, it may we bit well be an Arabic, but um getting that, it was like, this is what this film's about.
00:32:15
Speaker
yeah It's a meta, yeah it's it's a descriptor for the film. This is what this, these are the vibes that this film, sorry, this TV series is, is is ah these are the vibes that this TV series are meant to give you. Do you remember this? In that case, that's what you'll that's what you'll get with it. I thought it was genius. It was also genius because it wound up a few haters on on the socials that clearly haven't watched.
00:32:42
Speaker
many other Star Wars properties or Star Wars films that also have a modern take on music outside of the main school. So yeah, no, loved it, loved it. Well, I think Jon Watts as well, like he having like with this Spider-Man stuff you really tapped into the teenage side of Peter Parker and really could capture the school teenage experience and it wasn't like probably some of the other Spider-Man movies where it was a bunch of 25 year olds being teenagers like the kids felt like kids and teenagers and you got that feel and you know one of my and I love Spider-Man and one of my favorite things in any Spider-Man movie is just him
00:33:19
Speaker
swinging through the building, like, whoo, like, he's just like, I'm having the best time, ah the the joyfulness of it, of ah ah of of doing that, the youthful exuberance of it, that, you know, that Tom Holland brings it, which is brilliant. So he's got that way of tapping into the young. um And i these kids are obviously a little bit younger than than Peter Parker is, but I, yeah, I just think it's gonna really revolve around these kids as well, which at the same time means that you know It's a little bit on their backs, I suppose, and I think it's why it's good to have a name like Jude Law in there as well because he can shoulder a lot of that and bounce off that. but um
00:33:57
Speaker
you know, it's the doe wide the excitement of having we haven't really had, you know, we've closest we've got is sort of like a caravan of courage where you've got to see in this through the eyes of a kid who sort of gets whisked off onto this thing. And I and i think there's a that's a very probably deliberate reason why the that was it take from Battle of Endor, whether it's the same creature or but I think very conscious of like, well, how do we tie this back to this slightly younger skewing adventures where you see this big galaxy through children's eyes and and what does that look like and um which is great for kids because they can really place themselves there they're not trying to be 30 year old Harrison Ford or even 20 year old Carrie Fisher it's sort of like 11 year old 10 year olds through there or whatever they're supposed to be so uh yeah I've got high hopes and um
00:34:45
Speaker
We'll see. ah like you know if it's If it's just like a little thing and it's an adventurer and like they get into some hijinks and they get home and everyone's safe, then great. Or if it turns out that it's we're actually just scratching the surface and it leads into this much bigger thing, then we'll see how it goes. Cool.
00:35:02
Speaker
Bring it on. Thanks, mate. I know you've been through this already. No, no, it's fine. I'm happy to talk about it. I want to get your take again for this particular episode.
Personal Experiences and Concerts
00:35:12
Speaker
Sean, buddy, how's your week been since we last spoke? Well, I'm home. How are you feeling, most importantly? And why would you? I have COVID, so that's fun. That's so 2020. Yeah, I'm just feeling really like I'm it's been it's been It's been a wild week, let me tell you what. na It's been a, I mean, for obvious for obvious reasons. ah Madison wanted me to start a new segment on the show called ah Just Immigratin' where we talk about how to apply for citizenship in different countries. um And she was like, I don't know if Andy and Josh wanna like fight over who gets you or fight to see who doesn't want you the most and like makes you go to the other country. So we'll maybe,
00:35:58
Speaker
we'll sort that one out in the future we got time but yeah madam i you hurt my are asking We are not. We might as well be. We have a mortgage and a car. Oh yeah. The same as me. and ka But you've got, that means you've got that little window of opportunity where you, you know, you could make some calls and you know, you've just, you've been quite cut off that i a possibility. yeah yeah she's She's so I did, I did. She's like, Oh, we could go to New Zealand. It's like, but Australia would be bad. I feel like there's more opportunity. So then she went down the rabbit hole on Wednesday and was like,
00:36:29
Speaker
yeah I think Melbourne would be a good, they they have a lot of opportunities there. They have, you know, we we could we could do this, this, this. And it's like, well, let's let's take it a day at a time. Let's not fill out the paperwork. Just yet. Just just yet. let But let's keep it let's keep it on the front burner and like, let's let's do some investigating and see how, and keep our keep our options open.
00:36:50
Speaker
ah But yeah, so there's that. um I believe I got COVID um at the era the Taylor Swift concert. If I had to guess, and I had to... put my finger on, it was probably the 69,000 people I was surrounded by. um One of them probably had it, so. How many of those are like, so I mean, I've been to a Taylor Swift concert, sorry to interrupt mate, but like. No, no worries. You, I know like Madison's like well into it and you know, you're going along because it's an experience and you know, I'll go along, I'll enjoy myself because it'll be an experience. Like how, are you sort of just surrounded by people
00:37:28
Speaker
yelling and singing almost the whole time as far as I go well I'm just getting people sort of with their mouths open singing the whole time and I'm just surrounded by this sort of or I will be honest long and yeah I think it I think it depends on the song and I think it probably also depends on where you are um i I will admit that's probably the craziest concert I've ever been to in my life. And I've been to ah i've been to a lot of concerts. like that was I'm glad I went. I'm not a Swifty, I'm not a huge, like I like her more now. I know some of her songs. i know like i I appreciate it. But going to that, that was like, oh, I get it. like I get why this has been a big deal.
00:38:10
Speaker
um The, it wasn't just a concert. Like I i was telling Andy last week, I'm like, oh man, I thought I was like, I'm like, yeah, I'll go. I thought it was gonna go and like show up for a concert, like a normal concert and it's gonna be a three and a half, four hour long concert. No, this was like, so our our concert was at Friday at 7 p.m. We got down to Indianapolis at five, like 6 a.m. We were doing, the they the whole city was like, the streets were renamed, everywhere had like specials and like custom coffees and
00:38:41
Speaker
Companies were handing out friendship bracelets. The whole the whole city was just completely Taylor Swift like we have is this bit Taylor Town They put her graphic on like this like 50 story building just top to bottom Just her standing in there like it this it was insane then going to this concert I was one of the ones who thought it would be like what other people have reported where you just have somebody kind of screaming in the back of your head the whole time and So like you can't really hear it. um I didn't have that problem, but it may have been because the speakers were so like so incredibly loud, like in a good way. like i couldn't I couldn't hear anybody. like the yeah the The show was just... I mean, I have my own complaints. like I don't like her newest album. I wish she didn't after the show. I think it was better. The other thing that made it nice was Madison and I both didn't...
00:39:34
Speaker
so Madison likes Taylor Swift, but she hasn't followed any of the stuff online. like she hasn' We haven't watched the Disney Plus show, the concert. yeah She hadn't shouldn't know anything about it, so she's just going in completely blind. and I do think that made it better because we were like amazed by everything that happened. um and Then when we came when we got home, we watched the Disney Plus thing and it's like,
00:39:55
Speaker
oh Yeah, I'm glad we didn't watch this later because that thing wouldn't have felt as special because it's done everywhere. And then also like, oh, we really like that song, but she didn't play that there. And just like you see, and it's not the same vibe. You have to be in that arena with 70,000 people just like.
00:40:13
Speaker
the electricity is this insane it's like it's like the celebration hall like the main hall when like they're announcing a new trailer or like daisy really comes out but like 70 000 people there yeah and it's just like oh my god this is crazy like you get goosebumps and just Like the the vibes were super positive and it was just, I could see over everybody. So I could see, it was fantastic. Yeah, right. Cause you'd be one of the taller people. yeah She came through in February in Australia. So, you know, it was the same thing for, you know, she did three shows at the MCG, which is our cricket ground. Andy, you'd be familiar with the MCG, you know, it's it's the biggest stadium in the Southern hemisphere. It's a hundred thousand. It's round as well. it's It's huge. So for the week that she's here, it's the center of the universe. It's, yeah.
00:40:57
Speaker
The same thing, it was the the businesses and the economy you know it's all good for the economy and blah, blah, blah. And because our stadiums are all near public transport, we don't have, they're not car parks, so they're all parkland around. People just take the train.
00:41:10
Speaker
station there. So it means that we got all the people who couldn't get in, we're all just having picnics around the perimeter of the the stadium as well. So it was this sort of double party where we knew people who were going, well, we didn't get in, but we're just going to go down and sit out the front and and listen to the show and, you know, take a bottom line. And good ah as an a aside, good venue for good venue for celebration in the future.
00:41:32
Speaker
yeah m j yeah Well, we we always sort of we'd so sort of talk about, we think Melbourne could pull it ah pull off an MC, pull off a celebration. and We do have a very good convention centre, but it'd be trying to get people on a plane to come down here, like punters and stars, but you never know. Otherwise it would be a lot of like, um celebrating episodes two and three that were shot in Sydney and we can pull out all the Australian soap actors who are in those movies. You might get more of a hunger for it this that this time round because you might get prospective people looking for
00:42:07
Speaker
new countries to live in. Are you thinking it'll be like when they, um you know, but they have the Olympics in some countries and and people from war-torn countries don't leave. You know, it's like the goalkeeper from the South Sudan team went missing in the hotel and things like that. Sean and Madison went missing in the Melbourne Convention Hall. Catch me with find you got to find me first. line back yeah Yeah. They were just hiding out in Northcote for a while. There's a local ne reference for you. But yeah, they so they but the so the show was crazy. so I was gonna say that, so the show was your was your final swan song before heading back home, right? Yeah, yeah, then we we went back, we stayed the night downtown downtown after that. I mean, I was up from 5 a.m. that morning until 3 a.m. that night, just doing all. That's probably why I have COVID, yeah, to be honest, yeah. the yeah
00:43:02
Speaker
And it was it was crazy. like i'm not like I my criticisms of Taylor Swift that nobody cares to hear, and I don't care to tell them, because it doesn't matter. um But I was um just infinitely impressed. It was crazy. What was really funny is we had Halloween then the night before at my brother's house, and my sister-in-law's dad, who I'm pretty sure used to be a secret agent, like but he will will not admit it.
00:43:26
Speaker
uh like a physically like a physically violent kind of one um like we he he found out we had tickets and he like at one point in time he's very dry like you can't tell when he like is joking or not like he came up to me and was like i'll give you i'll give you five thousand dollars like for the ticket and i'm like for both or just the one he's like just for one and at the time i was like oh no like she'll kill me like because i think the tickets were going for about three grand to eight grand depending on where you were where you were in the state that each per ticket. And I was like, oh, he's just joking. Like, I'm like, no, she'll kill me. Then later on that night, I'm like.
00:44:04
Speaker
Wait, I think he was serious. When we all started talking about it, he's like, yeah. like But the quote then it became the question of, like well, who did who did who is he buying it for? like Did he want to go? Was he buying it for my niece, who was like his granddaughter? $5,000 you can keep your legs as well. Yeah, it's like, oh, god. Did I just like did i just like lose points with him? like I thought fuck we were pretty cool. He kind of scares me. ah But it's like, no, no, no. He's like, you're an idiot. I'm about to give you $5,000 cash.
00:44:34
Speaker
For a ticket. It's like I thought you would joke. I thought he was joking, but I'm glad I went it was fun ah Crazy sure it's I mean it's it's hard to put into words just what it was What it was like and seeing like it reminded me of celebration like would just let the positive The positivity doing yeah, yeah, I don't know how people go to those concerts without earplugs though like it's It was um so I'm an earplugs guy now for concerts. It's so loud I'm going to Pearl Jam in two weeks. They come playing dead in Melbourne. So I'm really leaving my youth going to see Pearl Jam. And um I got Oasis tickets as well a few weeks ago as well, which was nice. Very good to be back in. It looks like Andy's cursing you, but we can't hear him. Andy's cursing you. I was. It's like he's gone mute. Oh no.
00:45:27
Speaker
Listen, I i i saw on the on the socials that you got tickets and I was thinking, of course he has. Well, I've course i'm got three and I bought two to take my dad and then i had i was gonna I had another one for one of my mates and I thought, oh, and then i the night is actually my mother's birthday.
00:45:46
Speaker
And I was like, oh, ah she probably, my parents are pretty cool with music, but they they go to concerts and stuff occasionally. But I was like, oh, maybe they'll want to go. And my dad was like, well, I'll go, but it's your mum's birthday. So, you know, if you don't, if you can find someone else that wants to go, that's fine. So Andy, if you can make it to Melbourne by next Halloween.
00:46:05
Speaker
There isn't always a ticket if you want. No problem. i'm not I mean, I haven't overspent on tickets to I've got, you know, i've just it's it's growing on trees at our place. Yeah, no problem. I'll be there. But no, I did i did i did see your ah did see your update and I'm thinking, well, like it couldn't happen to a nicer guy, but Fuck that guy. He's got tickets. It was, I had no business getting them because it was really, it was, I didn't get in the pre-sale and I have a friend, we have a good, I have a good friend who works at Ticketmaster who usually hooks me up and she hooked me up for Pearl Jam and Paul McCartney. And if it sometimes it's just, here's the industry access link that you can get in and you can use the allocation and there'll be good spots. And she just went, Oasis, we got nothing. Nobody got any allocation links. Nobody got any special treatment nobody even got any presale codes and i didn't get them so she goes monday is the presale day and then tuesday goes to the public and that's whatever's left is whatever's left and um marvel stadium is just not great for concerts unless you're at the very front so i think i think by the time it got to you guys i think that
00:47:12
Speaker
the boys' management team were a lot more heavily involved in the process, whereas they were't they certainly weren't when when the UK went up for sale. I mean, it was it was carnage, man. It was absolutely carnage. and And I'm not i mean i'm not i'm not gut it's so gutted for myself because
00:47:35
Speaker
They're okay, ah in my mind. not a be beyond and but you yeah but but but But for Lucy, they are you know they are everything. and um I really, really wanted to get them for her because it's our 30th next year. It's our 30th. It's just like, Oh man, that would have been such a good trip. but' been much closer too and You never know what will happen. Yeah, you'd have exactly. alien out and and exactly and happened But don yeah, I had no business getting them. And it just, that was 10% of tickets left on the Tuesday. And I got in with the public and got three in the in the front section. So I just couldn't believe it. And even my friend at Ticketmaster goes, I don't know how you did that. That should not have been possible. So it was an absolute fluke.
00:48:15
Speaker
and then they announced another show after that anyway, but it was like it was like a Tuesday night. This is a Friday night and I'm going to see Pearl Jam on a Monday night because that was all we could get, which is going to be a little bit weird, but it'll be all right. It's going to be a bunch of gray hairs and band t-shirts, but it'll be all done by 10.30, where everybody will be in bed by then, it'll be fine. Excellent. I'm going to get my sister-in-law's dad your information, see if he can get that ticket off of you.
00:48:42
Speaker
Sean, we haven't got around to the sub tonight's topic. um Anything else, mate, for this week? A couple quick ones. I did pick up a couple things that while on my adventures.
Art Collection and Documentaries
00:48:53
Speaker
I picked up some art. I got picked up on R2D2. Oh, that's nice. Sweet. From Vegas. He's kind of like super abstract, the local artist in Vegas. I also picked up this one because it's awesome. So are you familiar with the Vegas sphere, like the big ball? Yeah. in my so somebody There's an artist who made this.
00:49:08
Speaker
It's Yoda with the ball is the death star in Vegas. Nice, nice, nice, nice. And this this is the only one I really actually cared to show because this is my favorite. Let me see if I can skip back a little bit. So this one is um with the the theme of celebration.
00:49:26
Speaker
Oh, yes. Oh, it's got the thing in it. That's cool. So it's like a wave, but it's like the ice, the Skywalker with the X-wing in the water and the Death Star in the background. And it's awesome. And is that that isn't that the little skiff thing she rides on X-wing? isn't she Yeah, it's like the X-wing skiffy thing. Yeah. Yeah. Am I made from a wrecked X-wing or something? Who knows? Yeah. yeah No.
00:49:49
Speaker
So I'm excited about that. and that the same Is that the same artist that's done a lot of the celebration pre-art stuff? because that i do not believe I do not believe so. this This was just some random art in Midtown in Las Vegas, where we stay, okay and we're there. um But that artist who's doing the celebration stuff is sick, though, too. um Last things before.
00:50:13
Speaker
yeah Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, that guy, that stuff's sick. I'm excited for for celebration in that regard. Last couple things, I watched the John Williams documentary. It was good, not not spectacular, like nothing to be like. It's like, it's a documentary. I thought there'd be- I got quite emotional. I got quite emotional. I thought, you know, what ah what a charming guy and- Oh yeah, he's fantastic. but he's He's everything that I kind of thought he was gonna be. And I thought it would be,
00:50:42
Speaker
I like it landed as it should have done with me. I thought it was really, really good. I've heard that it's more career recap rather than really digging into the man himself. Yes, you're right. yeah yeah And i think that's I think that's what I wanted. I was hoping it'd be more, like there were pieces, there were nuggets of of more kind of talking to him but it was when they do the hard cuts and like and then he did this and then then he did that like the first half is fantastic and then the second half is kind of like bits and pieces from it was really good i still i still say watch it it was really good that's one kids see but i yeah it is it's really really good josh if you get your opportunity it's worth an hour and a half it's worth an hour and a half your time actually tibute to your point again i'm considering again shawn you're right twice in one in one app
00:51:29
Speaker
ah The first half is brilliant. He talks about his mom. He talks about his parents. yeah He talks about their influence his influence on them. And the rest of it is pretty much the accolades of what happened in his career after that. So I get it. But I didn't realize how much involved he was in more community-based kind of um yeah music, which really which really you really gave me the feels and just kind of underlined the fact that I think the guy's awesome.
00:51:56
Speaker
Final two things. This is the final week for the Penguin. Everybody loves the Penguin. Penguin's awesome. I'm looking forward to this finale tomorrow. um And I also watched Fall Guy, which I thought was really, really good. help I've actually got the a guy in that film, a bloke called Ben Knight, ah who, if you just watched the movie, that you know the great big redhead dude who's kind of chasing you a lot through me? He's an Australian, Melbourne-based stand-up comedian. So he's not a massive, massive comedian in Australia, but he's he's known, but it's just weird all of a sudden he was just in this huge movie with Ryan Gosling and really, really sweet dude and good on him for, you know. Yeah, it was really good. I was surprised at how good that movie was.
00:52:37
Speaker
like it was would watch would recommend but that's it that's all I got what about you Andy so I'm gonna I'm gonna skip the week um because ah I was away on holiday the last on annual leave for last week and there's a lot to catch up with you on that ah Most of it good, some of it bad. So I want to spend some time talking to you about that without bringing the show down, bringing the show. We've got a show now, have we? Sorry. Bringing the episode down with our guests here. So I'll talk a little bit about that when we when we go back to when we resume normal service. But the other other things I picked up on this week, which I was quite excited about was, was obviously, um, I picked up, I wrote down the skeleton crew trailer, the John Williams documentary, and of course the Simon Kinbert Star Wars Swords trilogy.
00:53:27
Speaker
One correction or one clarification from last week, the other program I was telling you that um I really, really enjoyed, but it was ended too quickly, was Altered Carbon. That was the program I was talking about. um So where i where I forgot what I was talking about. It's a show about basically the idea of this.
00:53:49
Speaker
um
00:53:53
Speaker
the ah The premise of the whole thing is that when you die, if you've got enough money, you can you you have a chip in the back of your neck and you can plug yourself into a donor body. um And there's a whole there's a whole bunch of... There's this two series around around that concept and it's really, really good. And that was the program I was talking about last week, but I won't go into any more detail on that.
00:54:16
Speaker
A couple of things in the last couple of days. Macaulay Culkins being cast for Fallout series 2. I love Fallout, you love Fallout. um And Macaulay Culkins being cast for season 2 which is going to be interesting. Apparently he plays an eccentric genius so very much in his wheelhouse.
00:54:36
Speaker
um And then lastly, today, I saw that Andor season two looks like it's going to be launched on the 22nd of April, which actually just saw that beautiful, beautiful segue into our next section.
00:54:50
Speaker
ah is that So that is literally a week after we leave celebration. So I'll leave that to Festa for a second while you guys think about that, while we get onto the main topic for our guests, which is really the road to celebration.
Star Wars Celebration Experiences
00:55:08
Speaker
And I've got three questions that I'm going to ask all three of us in sequential order um based on celebration, both past, present, and future.
00:55:20
Speaker
um So the first question, again, guest first.
00:55:25
Speaker
Josh, what are your experiences of past celebrations? So you are what I would consider a veteran. So just give us an idea of when your celebration journey started and the experience you've had over the years of going to them.
00:55:42
Speaker
ah Yeah, I mean, I haven't done as many as most. i If you throw a net out, obviously, there's been more of them. I've done three of them now coming up to a fourth. ah But Chicago was the first what we did. And it kind of just happened. I seem to recall it happened really quickly. um It sort of We'd sort of made these friends probably through the community that Steel Wars Podcast had put together. So we knew a few people and we know that people had gone to them. And Steel had done a few blog pods of ones that he'd gone to. And we sort of knew people through that, you know, really just online though. And then there was a sort of a crew of a bunch of Australians down here, people that you know, Turbo and Andy Campbell and Catherine.
00:56:25
Speaker
and um some of the other guys. And we just sort of kind of exchanging messages going, maybe we should like, would anybody be interested? You know, if we we did it, would it be something that we could pull off and go to Chicago? Would it be even possible? And um we just sort of started investigating it. And I think at the time,
00:56:45
Speaker
I think the tickets were coming up for sale. It was quite quick. I feel like there wasn't much time between when we'd sort of talked about it and the tickets were coming up. And and I believe that Kat was pregnant with Sloan at the time. And well, she was born in December and this was March, April. So I think Sloan would be born by then, but she would be three or four months old. So I think there was like a little bit of a snag, but I was also about to turn 40. So that was basically how I pitched it. I kind of went well.
00:57:13
Speaker
I'm going to be 40. This is something that I'd like to do. data down And, you know, why she's great. She's just like, yeah, we'll make it work. Just, you know, go for it. It'll be it'll be fine. So we sort of got the blessing to do that. And then I seem to recall that we there wasn't the mad scramble for tickets as it sort of has been the last few years. Like I kind of feel like we just sort of logged on on Australian time in the morning. They'd already been for sale for a few hours. We just got in and got the tickets and it was done. It wasn't sort of like every, you know, getting Taylor Swift tickets, or something, or Oasis tickets. It wasn't that mad scramble of everybody that has been the last few years where it's sort of become that. um And yeah, and we were like, okay, let's let's do this thing. And we started booking flights and accommodation and stuff like that. And there was this sort of weird feeling going in, because it was we were all going, all us Australians were going together. And we kind of knew this wider group of people were going to be there. But we didn't.
00:58:10
Speaker
really, you know, because people are excited like, yeah, yeah, we'll see you there. But you don't really know what that's going to be. The kind of double if I see a horse there, and I go, Oh, hi, horse. Nice to meet you. He's like, Hey, buddy, you know, thanks. Good on you. Thanks for coming. Good to see you. And then he goes off and that's the end of the interaction. You know, you don't know whether that's what it is. And we kind of went, well, if that's what it is, we will have each other at least. So we'll have a little crew. Yeah. And we can kind of rely on, on, on that. And, um, you know, we knew Steel was going to be there and, you know, we're friends with Steel, but also he's a man about town there. He's in a million places. So it wasn't like he's, we're going to be hanging off here from the whole time either as well. So we didn't sort of have that. So we were kind of like, well, we we've got, we've got us and then we'll just see how we go. And.
00:58:59
Speaker
And, you you know, we sort of got there in that first night, we got the yeah the accommodation, everybody started showing up and and um it was, we were sort of staying near one of the houses where there was sort of like the bad motivators guys were there and some of the scruffies were there and some other people as well. and and um we went around there and and then it was just like you there with all your mates and then ah we were there for a few hours and then everybody went to a hotel into the city and there was more people and then all of a sudden there was dozens of people and
00:59:30
Speaker
Then the next few days, everybody was there and it was a collective. and you know The first day we sort of stuck quite close to each other, because they did this weird thing on Chicago the first day, which was five days, which is insane, where it was the thing called preview day, where it was effectively there were no panels or anything. It was just like the floor was open and you could just walk the floor, um which just meant that it was absolutely rammed because there was nowhere else to go and nothing else to do. So everybody was on the floor.
00:59:57
Speaker
And it was very much like you're kind of like pushing past. And did it work? did Did you get your shopping done? We did shopping, yeah. And people did take the opportunity to shop. But I think the registers went down. I remember Horace got stuck in the line for the registers for like three hours for the store. Their networking stuff was all messed up. That was yeah horrible. Especially the store. The store register didn't get fixed for three days.
01:00:18
Speaker
And I guess the logic was to take the pressure off it in the later days so people could do all that stuff. But it just meant everybody was on, you know, so the first day was quite, you know, and I think it was quite ah overwhelming for for a couple of people. I know, you know, it was quite, I think Catherine was quite overwhelmed on the first day and, and kind of got into the groove. I think by the second day, she was like, all right, I'll see you later. And everybody was off, you know, and by the second time, yeah time everybody was off doing things as well. And it And we that was the first year they did the lottery system as well because we were kind of going, well, do we, you know, because we heard all these stories about people queuing overnight and and going, well, do we really want to do that? Is it cold? How does that work? You know, I'd been away for 30 something hours flying from Melbourne to by the time I got to Chicago and, and, um,
01:01:04
Speaker
And it was only quite late that the panel thing came through and we didn't even know if we'd got anything. And I think until I landed, um, in LA for my connecting flight and got back onto the internet. And we got like pretty much everything on that first one. We got like in the episode nine panel, we got in the Mandalorian panel, we got in it, which was crazy. We've never had that luck since, but that certainly made it even more special, but it.
01:01:28
Speaker
Yeah, it certainly set the template and and I think the fact that everybody was so welcoming and wanted to engage and and bring you in and look after you and and it was always just like, yeah, no, we're going here, we're doing this afterwards and then we're going out, of but we're going to to dinner and then we're going to and Steel had a a live show on the Saturday night at ah at a bar and and um Yeah, we we already went to that and then you would see people that you saw during the day there as well. And that's how I got to know Molly and Alex because i I'd seen them sort of on the floor surrounded by people and I gave them the beanie as well. And then they're at the pub, they're like, oh, hey, you know, talking and and other people were there as well. And.
01:02:09
Speaker
And I think that's where I met Arraj for the first time. And it it it was really just like everybody just wanted to engage and hang out and talk and things. So I think in subsequent celebrations as you sort of you go more times and you get new people who come in I think it just makes you very conscious that you want to give the same people the same experience and make them feel welcome as well if they've made the effort to engage and and all you can really do is say hey now we're doing this we're you know we're hanging out you know do you want to come along and give him the opportunity and some people will say yes some people say I've got something else to do
01:02:46
Speaker
and kind of go there like Jess Schrader, who's been on my pod a bunch of times. I didn't know Jess at all. And she knew Catherine and we were walking out of um Chicago, one of the convention center, one of the days, I think the Saturday and just, and Catherine was like, Oh, aren't you Jess Schrader? Oh, yeah, yeah, did it it. And she's like, I was there with my friend and she's left and said, well, come with us. She and she was coming to the steel wall thing and she sat with us. And then, you know, she's been to London and hung out and we've done everything. And she's been on the podcast a bunch of times and, and, and Yeah, it certainly helps to have that online relationship to a point. And then I was lucky enough with the podcast and I was conscious to sort of invite some people on beforehand going, well, it means that if I run into, I think I had Hawes, Struthers, Claire Stripling, maybe somebody else as well. People I sort of knew.
01:03:39
Speaker
I kind of thought, well, who knew would be there? And I would interact with it. So well, that'll help also that I've, when I see them in person, it's not the first time there is a little bit of a engaged, pre engaged connection. Yeah, got it. Which I may or may not may or may not have made any difference, but it did sort of help and I'm probably an exception rather than a rule for Star Wars fans. I'm quite extroverted. I don't have any trouble meeting people, making friends, going up, saying hello to people. You were over the place. I don't mind that at all. I i moved to a new country and knew nobody and made a whole new life. i don't you know But at the same time, I think I'm quite good at judges of characters and reading social cues and things and also being like, well, I'm not just going to put myself in the face of people, but at the same time be conscious of
01:04:27
Speaker
of including people as well, which I think make people feel comfortable as well. um which i because it's It's overwhelming. it's you know it's It can be really overwhelming if you've never been. And even when you have been, its especially those first days, um I'm sure sure and you probably feel the same. It always feels like the first day is the day where everything sort of needs the teething. And that's when everybody's hype level is the highest as well.
01:04:53
Speaker
but think it's as is it tall Especially in America, especially when the celebration is here, there are so many freaking people from like our circle. that's like that's what i That's one thing I think I liked about London that felt more approachable, where I felt like, okay, I can actually like get in and like yeah andy i can like really meet people. Because when you when we do it stateside over here, it's like,
01:05:15
Speaker
everybody that's everybody was at Chicago or in Anaheim. And it's just like, whoa, it's there's 80 people here that I parasocially know. So not that that's a bad thing. So Sean, moving on to you, what was what was your when did you first go? What was your, what's been your history? So my first like true celebration that like,
01:05:47
Speaker
I don't count the one where I like, I went when it was in Indianapolis and like, it wasn't like years and years ago. My first one was Orlando. ah My first one was Orlando. um And I think I spent a couple years kind of being on the outskirts and being that person who was like,
01:06:05
Speaker
being in my own head. And like I think it's like, that's why I'm so adamantly pushing people anymore to be like, dude, there's nothing to be afraid of. Like, you you you have this mentality in your head that it's, oh, it's going to be really clicky. They're not going to talk. I don't have a podcast. I don't have this, like, oh, there's all these like Star Wars podcast celebrity people that I listen to every week and they have no idea who I am. And I'm like, Hey, I listen to you all the time. And, uh, It's really cool to ah ah meet you and they're like cool. That's nice I mean like hey you want to hang out and we're we're doing whatever um So I think I spent two years doing kind of that like Orlando. I didn't really know anybody um That is where I got like I stayed off kind of off property I stayed in an Airbnb, and I think that's why I'm so adamantly against it and
01:06:52
Speaker
now ah because it was really far away from the convention center and i feel like it just ruined kind of my time there i love celebration but like i didn't really it wasn't really a part of anything um And I think I needed that year to really kind of figure out the the the way the convention works. And I think I take it try not to take it for granted now where it's like, okay, here's how the panels actually work. Here's how the floor works. Here's kind of like how your day kind of flows. So I did that that year. Chicago, I knew more people. I was a little bit more involved. I i think at that time, i wasn't I wasn't active on Twitter. And I think like Josh, kind what you're saying like having that social media presence at least a little bit,
01:07:31
Speaker
helps you get in, get into things. And so that one, I think it was more of a struggle because it's like, yeah, I know these people, but they don't know me because I don't really have a presence. So I knew some people, but like not in enough to like know what was going on. And I think things were also pretty Not intentionally segmented like there would be DM group chats and and things over here like now I think there's more like discords Larger kind of things where people maybe a little not more I don't want to say more inclusive because I think that makes it sound like it was Intentionally not back then but that's not the case um It's just I think it was this kind of
01:08:06
Speaker
this kind of culture and group dynamic was still kind of in its infancy and getting sorted out. There's also the just actor at Anaheim to where people were using it an evening to go to Disney and that sort of took away you know some people would go and do that and and do other things and you know still had his show so that was the thing as well and and sometimes it's kind of like who's just there at certain times sometimes there isn't a lot of rhyme and reason sometimes yeah there is a lot of rhyme and reason as well like we have that there were um we were in adenheim there there was like the um
01:08:40
Speaker
there was like ah ah a party at one of at a bar. It was all the sort of LBGTQ people party that they had. And um we knew a few people who were going and stuff was like, oh, you know, that that's cool. You know, wouldn't that be cool to do? But you know, we're over here where it turned out that that bar was at the end of the street where we were staying. We just didn't know, you know, so if we'd known, we would have just rolled down for an hour and said hello to everybody. But we just it's just sometimes you just can't keep track of all the things that people are doing. And like I said, there's so many people there as well. So you're not going to get 100 people in one place mostly. so Yeah. And I think as long as you don't you know't set your hopes on that, because I think there's been times where I've i've kind of talked to individuals, so they were like, they really want to spend 100% of that time with like the group. And that's just not, it's not going to be that way. um And i actually I actually encourage people to go do other stuff. Like if you have a group, like a social group like this,
01:09:30
Speaker
To take a day if there's something else going on go do it like I did that in Chicago like I wasn't fully in but like there was a night where I somehow got tickets. So funny story in Orlando.
01:09:41
Speaker
ah i got I was able to like get into, I was pretty drunk, and I was able to get into the 501st party. like I was walking by it, and this couple walked by, they're like, you want our wristband? I'm like, sure. Let's go solo party the rest of the night. And so I went in there, and it was just bananas. And so the following year in Chicago, they were having another one. And I'm like, I'm not in the 501st, but like it was open tickets, so I bought one. And so one of those nights, I went and like did that.
01:10:10
Speaker
where it's just like in the the museum of like ah science and industry or whatever. And it's like, it was fun. I got to meet different people. I got to get dinner, got to see all this other stuff, got to get incredibly intoxicated and play in a...
01:10:23
Speaker
so a tornado and a German U-boat while hanging out with Darth Maul. It was crazy. um So it's like, I do encourage you to like go branch out and do what things don't, don't be dependent on that group. But like, all that say, it's like, reach out to people like similar to what Andy and I did last time. It's like, we have nothing, you have nothing to be afraid of. Reach out and like, this is a welcoming group. It's a welcoming con. People want more people there and want people to feel included. and I wish I learned that sooner, because I think I would have had, not that I had bad time, but I you i think I spent so much time in my own head being like,
01:11:00
Speaker
Oh, i I don't want to come across as like somebody clingy and like fanboyish. That's the biggest fear. I mean, you guys know my story. i came to I've listened to a heck of a lot of you guys um for many, many years. COVID came in. I i didn't have a Twitter profile until COVID.
01:11:27
Speaker
because I didn't need one. I had no i was quite blissful in my and my ignorance and my um and and and being well and I'm watching from a sideline. And then I obviously started engaging with a few of you guys. um And then the opportunity for Celebration London came up and Lucy said, well, why don't you go? So I'm turning 50 this year.
01:11:52
Speaker
um I don't know anyone at all. I'll be on my own. Do you want to come with me? Hell no. no um um I'm not coming with you. um and And so I jumped in and I had the wherewithal to kind of reach out to you, Josh, before before we we first met.
01:12:12
Speaker
um i got to know relatively and very weirdly very very quickly the Scruffy Boys who obviously have become great friends since since then um and you and you very kindly invited me to meet up with you on the first night way before celebration had even started and I thought Okay, um I'll test the water, see how it goes. um Prior to that, Eric had obviously made introductions between myself and Sean. I didn't even know what Sean looked like. I ended up texting him and I ended up approaching a guy in a guy in the hotel bar that... and That's how the story starts, isn't it? I just... shortage short exactly sure shaun Sean texts me and says, I'm at the bar. I say, okay, so I go to the bar. I said, are you Sean? No.
01:13:02
Speaker
ah finally Finally, I find short. But I can be, yeah. yeah yeah What are you doing this evening? um and and and and i mean And then we wait we make we make our way to Hackney to see you guys. and um um not I'm not ashamed to say I was absolutely cacking myself. i was i was um I was really, really nervous. And I thought to myself, I'll go in, I'll show my face, I'll say, hey, I'll suck up to these these these people that i you know i really I really appreciate what they do. I'm a big fan, yada, yada, yada, get in a cab and go home. Good day all round. And maybe or maybe not, I might see them over the course of the three days. And you guys are so welcoming. And it was so easy to to jump in. And within minutes, um
01:13:48
Speaker
i you know I think I can hold my beer, but I but i was on some sort of some sort of euphoria where everyone was getting together. and and Yeah, we were getting a little bit drunk as well, but it just seemed relatively natural. It didn't feel forced in any way. um I tried. I said that you guys were going to get me home.
01:14:06
Speaker
Yeah, and it was well, we did that. if you We did that feeling that. Slightly selfish on my part because I i obviously was probably the closest to a local and inverted commas because I'd lived in London for 10 years and I knew my way around, but I hadn't been back for nearly nine months. But it weren't Josh. It worked so well. but i sort of when was Because I was very conscious of like, all right, well, it's a smaller group. We don't have people like a Raj and Steele and people who who in America, they kind of you know gravitate. They have big big plans and they do events and things like that. We didn't have that this time, but I thought, all right, well, and it certainly helped that the Scruffies had had already separately booked their accommodation in Hackney or near Hackney anyway. And I was keen to stay there because I knew the area. I used to live there. I'm like, well, and it's on the side of town, the convention center, at least it's not right there. But I thought, well, at least it's sort of close to there. And that was one of my favorite pubs.
01:15:00
Speaker
Um, you know, selfishly, maybe you would have gone, well, maybe we could have done something. Closer to the convention center, but there's not a much, it's not, it's not a lot very standard. It's not bad. So unless you're staying there, it's insanely busy. It's it's like the lines out the door. There were people who were, you know, groups of people that came over and they did, and maybe we could have done something there and you might've got people would have made the effort and you would have probably got some other people who didn't want to come to Hackney. But I thought this will be enough. And even if it's just us and the scruffies and a couple of of other people.
01:15:27
Speaker
I think it'll work really well. And but it wasn't was just the right size where it was, you know. You had 20, 25, you know, good 20, 25 people there at the end. yeah And I completely forgot that it was a Good Friday. It was a holiday. or it was Good Friday was the next day. So the pub was absolutely rammed as well. So it did it worked it worked extraordinarily well. and And my last, and I think it was that, Sean, keep me honest here, man. Cause you and I were going back to Docklands.
01:15:55
Speaker
Um, and we took that's the night. Is that the night that we took Brittany back to that place? you It wasn't, it wasn't the first, I don't think it was the first night. I thought it was a, okay. No, I think that was the night after. Yep. We took, we took one look at it and it was like, there's no way of staying here, man. And again,
01:16:13
Speaker
Why would I reach that kind of kula conclusion for someone that I didn't even know? And it was honestly, honestly, Josh, and um I don't mean to butter you up here, but I kind of am. The environment you created that first night, and it was intimate, it was really, really nice, um made me feel great. And then then and and and and then the the following three days, I learned very quickly that um once year once you're kind of You guys were so welcoming that I didn't I very quickly lost any fear I had of being on my literally on my own and not embarrassing myself and looking kind of desperate. um You know, we very quickly I realized that while I may come into the into celebration,
01:16:58
Speaker
into the event itself on my own, because we were all staying in different places, very quickly we were mustered together in one in one location. maybe we just speak a bean The beanies and the beanie definitely helped. ah The beanies are a work of genius, honestly. and but the But also yeah that that we we would all dissipate. i mean i've never I saw so much of Sean and so little of Sean at the same time, because he was wandering off on his own, doing his own thing. And I got used to that kind of ethic as well.
01:17:28
Speaker
in that it's okay to two to toit disappear do what you want to do. And then you regroup with everyone else. And there's still that vibe. There's still that welcoming vibe going on. Whereas perhaps going into it, I would have thought, well, okay, it was nice meeting them. I've done my bit, you know, slap on the back. I've done, I've done my bit. I'll now go. And if I kind of meet up with them later on, then great. If not, I've had a good time with them and that was it. But we just kept going for three days and it was so,
01:17:57
Speaker
nice and so liberating to feel comfortable in that kind of environment where I didn't feel as if I had to prove myself. I didn't i didn't feel that I had to certainly didn't have to come over as the you know if Star Wars biggest fan or anything. um It was just a really really good vibe and I would say hands down And okay, you could probably say, well, there wasn't an awful lot to learn when we were at celebration anyway. But I would say the friendship building, the conversation and the fun that we had was infinitely more important than the content we got.
01:18:33
Speaker
Yeah, we learned that pretty quick at Chicago, and that was that that was sort of the when we walked away from Chicago and I think we might have done sort of a roundup pod or we'd sort of, remin maybe there was when we reminisced a year later or whatever it was there's something in the in the archive somewhere, might have with Andy Campbell and Catherine and maybe even turbo that you know leading up, it was all about getting into stuff and seeing stuff yeah and getting into those panels. And Chicago, we got into those panels. We were in the episode nine panel, which was amazing, infinitely better than the film in my opinion, but whatever.
Planning for Japan Celebration
01:19:05
Speaker
but And it was great, but we walked away from that thing going, oh, well the panels were cool, but how amazing was it? We did this and we saw this person and we and then it became really, clear and then and at and Anaheim, we got nothing.
01:19:20
Speaker
I don't think we got a single panel at Anaheim. I think we might've got one overflow room or something for something and that was that. And then I think we actually got into the Obi-Wan premiere because I think Kimberly had some passes and they didn't go. And that's the only reason we got it. So we got nothing, but it was sort of like, ah well,
01:19:38
Speaker
doesn't matter. It's everything else. it it It didn't become the deal and all very really quickly. And that's what sort of made it important and you sort of focusing on just seeing people and and and having a good time and, and also like how can you
01:19:55
Speaker
you know, if someone's desperate to get into something, how can you, ah you take that pass. So you take that, I got a poster, ah you know, you you really, really want this poster. You have it. I don't need it. Or I got this patch or I got this, or you can have that. And it all sort of comes back ah around again. And, and, um, yeah, so Japan will be curious because it's, I mean, maybe we're not onto Japan just yet, but it, it still will be a smaller group. it It'll be a smaller group again, but it'll be, yeah.
01:20:22
Speaker
It'll be different. less Let's talk about Tokyo. So combining the two other conversations I had for you, what are your plans for Tokyo? Because I know that they're not locked yet, but what is rather say rather than call it plans, what are your intentions for Tokyo, yep both inside and outside the event itself?
01:20:42
Speaker
And what do you hope to see there? What what what what kind of news do you hope that that we get to see? I mean, bearing in mind, we're talking about we've been talking about the latest news, including Andor landing on the 22nd. So first of all, what are your plans um for you and the family? And um um what do you hope we get to see?
01:21:01
Speaker
So the the big thing is that the we are planning and taking the girls to Japan. um Excellent. Who are still young. They'll only be six and and nine when they go. So they're not big still not big kids. So we've I've been to Japan before. and When I moved back to Australia, I went via Japan on the way and Cat met me there. And we had a week in Japan in Tokyo. So we've done it before. We loved it. We always wanted to go back.
01:21:29
Speaker
and said one day we take the kids and this sort of felt like the perfect time to do it. So the plan is that we will go because it falls in Australian school holidays that will probably go a week before celebration, do a week of stuff and then celebration will be at the end and then we'll we'll fly home at the end. So that plan hasn't changed. We haven't really booked anything yet. It's they've for some reason booked celebration right in the busiest tourist time in the year. It's basically this month is the busiest tourist time. They could have done it any other time but they for whatever reason they've done it now but I think obviously they want tourists there. It's financially probably better for them because they know they'll get the volume on top of the volume and it's more money or whatever whatever they've got to do. So well it'll be what it is. Everybody's going through that and knowing that the cost is going to be high but
01:22:15
Speaker
We probably in a weird position because we didn't get the hotels stuff because we could not, they did have, they had nothing for families. It was all one, two single things. So we're probably gonna have to stay a little bit further away and and commute over a celebration. We'll work that out. There's even some talk of maybe hiring a car cause we'll do some stuff, but it'll happen. We'll get it, we'll, we'll, we'll get it done one way or the other. It's not, it's not a problem, but um it does,
01:22:40
Speaker
mean that the dynamic will be slightly different because I would like to take my girls at least one of them um for a day. And I know it's only three days. So how is that going to work? Will they go the distance? If they don't go the distance, what's that going to look like? I know Turbo took his boys to London and they're a lot bigger and I think it was still a mission for them. So again, I have to just gauge it. If we get to sort of celebration and they're pooped and they don't, they're not interested. Um,
01:23:09
Speaker
I won't do it, but now Sloan is particularly getting into Star Wars. I mean, getting to go to a Star Wars celebration when you're six um will be quite amazing. I think there's a supernova convention, which is like a local convention in December. They're doing a winter one. I might try to take her to that just to get a gauge of her attention span. And if we get there and in like an hour, she's just like, I'm not, you know, I've had enough. I've seen a couple of people dressed up and that's it. We'll see. It might be a little bit much for her because as we discussed, there's all this other stuff that goes on with celebration as well. And if I've got a six-year-old and everyone's done and we want to do other things, it might be trickier to do that. um And the sense of leaving cat for the girls as well the whole time. I was about to say, what what one thing you what I love about us as a as ah group,
01:24:01
Speaker
um as a friendship circle as well, you you also know that will accommodate around you. At the end of the day, if you're you know if your if your family are battered, um because it's an awful lot on Yong, we'll come out to you if needs be. Yeah, so we'll we'll we'll work it out. um it it's um If it's too overwhelming, we'll we'll just play it by ear. And this is currently where we stand now. that Worst case, if absolutely everything goes wrong and it's too much, I'll be going regardless. And that's what has sort of been agreed upon. But the plan is to try and bring everybody up. It might be, we might offload the girls, um which we've done. We did for London and we might just go to to Japan for a week and do something like that and and cat.
01:24:49
Speaker
again, like she did in London, she's like, well, are you have your your little Star Wars fun and let me know after the beach at the bar and I can amuse myself in Tokyo as well. So we'll, we'll, we'll find a way to get through ah one way or the other, but I'm very i'm very keen. I'm, i'm I'm curious to see how it works in a country where language English isn't the first language. I'm just curious to see what Japanese Star Wars fans are ah ah like and um hopefully there'll be a level of interaction. I know there'll be there'll be a language barrier. For the most part, Japanese people I've met are always very friendly and they want to practice their English as well, um which is good.
01:25:32
Speaker
find a way I mean you know the podcast does fine I don't think we've got any listeners in Japan I would have any idea even how you would establish that or do that or get it in there or do any I've got no idea but um I'm not certainly expecting anybody from Japan to know who I am um which is fine and I still want to do the beanies as well and I'm hoping that yes I think ah um Because the previous years, for Chicago, i because I thought it would be sort of a one and only, I just gave them away. um And then I had to sort of cover costs the last two years and had to sort of say, oh, look, I'll do with them, but I'm afraid you'll have to just cover the cost of them and try to just do them for cost.
01:26:11
Speaker
ah It was mostly shipping to be honest, but I'm trying to figure out if I can have them shipped directly to Japan rather than Australia and then take them over to Japan and it's probably a matter of timing because I don't know if I can just leave a box sitting around because i you obviously have to have that buffer of knowing they're going to get there because in Anaheim obviously they turned up the morning of my flight because they got lost.
01:26:33
Speaker
um Amazingly, and I still got them. And in and then for the yeah UK, I did it in January, and I had them in a box for a month sitting here waiting for when I was going to take them over. So if I can get them shipped directly to Japan, which I think will be a lot cheaper, I will probably this year try to just give them away again. I won't charge.
01:26:51
Speaker
um I will probably and try and do more because I don't have to carry them. So normally that's about 50. If I can do, and I'll do an ask around like I normally do and gauge the interest. And there'll be a lot of people who aren't going who want them anyway. So they'll be put aside and yeah shipped back or whatever. But um yeah, I've already been asked if I can carry some Yeah, carry some back. It's actually the cost to make them actually isn't that much. So 50 to 100.
01:27:22
Speaker
of 75 or whatever, it's not a lot more really. so it's And like to have more of them and I would like to be able to just give them out a little bit more willy-nilly to people, especially locals as well, and just say, hey, look, would you like a gift? And I still haven't quite settled on the design, but trying to put a Japanese skew on them a little bit.
01:27:42
Speaker
and um And try to give them to people who I kind of know kind of who obviously everybody that we know who will be there is a default I'll get one don't worry but then sort of a slightly wider people I've interacted with who made the effort to come I'd like to say here you go you know have have have some as well so. I've just got to try to figure out can I get them shipped to.
01:28:05
Speaker
either where I'm staying or somewhere nearby. I know you can get them possibly to a hotel, but I don't think I can have them sitting in a hotel for a month. It'll have to be a few days leading up. So I've got to try to work that logistics as well. I've got to sort of get in touch with the manufacturers and work it out.
01:28:20
Speaker
but um And then, yeah, kind of do the maths and go, okay, there'll be X amount of people we know there. There'll be X amount of people who want some who need that need to go back with somebody to be delivered. um There'll be X number I need to bring back to Australia with me as well. And that was like, oh, we went to My family, we went to Queensland a few months ago for a holiday for two weeks. And um we were at the airport we unloading our luggage and I was just pulling into the airport. And I was just looking at this giant pile of luggage going, there is no way that we can drag this around Japan. I don't know how we're going to do this. And that was, we were pretty conservative and that was really just a suitcases kind of thing in a carry bag. And I'm going, oh my goodness.
01:29:08
Speaker
so that's We'll have to work that out. but Luggage delivery service all day. Yeah, well, we might have to. And we've actually spoken to some friends who did it with the kids and they actually hired a car, which was actually quite affordable. And they got around, did some trips and nice and had that. So there's potentially we could do that as well. And that's fine. I don't need necessarily need to drink that much or do I don't drink much these days anyway. So ah we'll we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. But as far as what I want to see,
01:29:35
Speaker
yes Sorry, before just just back on the beanie yeah side of things, that there's there's at least three folk in the UK that you know and love that um ah if it's okay with you, I'll be picking up. Oh, for sure. There's one guy in particular who happens to be very proficient at ah ah art and stuff. Yes, yeah and the just a lot t yeah he's got an empty skateboard at the moment yeah that is that is waiting a new a new beanie.
01:30:05
Speaker
um Yeah, and it's great that people love it. I'm quite happy to do it. And as long as I can make it happen and do it, this one's just a slightly, yeah, I would just like to throw some more out there and I'm quite happy to eat the cost, especially if the shipping's lower and it's not that expensive and it's just getting them there. I've just got to work that out. Yeah, but if part of the cost is to your point, you know,
01:30:33
Speaker
you're going to have to ship it and store it somewhere for a week prior to that. Then yeah, there must be a service or so. I've just had enough. There's enough of us. that There's enough of us that are interested to. Yeah. And I know that there's people who are actually. taking some of that yeah people who are staying right near the convention. so but But it's more going well, unless I can absolutely nail the timing going, you know it'll take three months dement three weeks to manufacture a week and a half to ship, and then it shows up the day of the, you know if I could land that that plane, which I think is probably almost impossible, but I can try. like I actually, not to get too much into the weeds, but i the first two times I did it, I used a local company,
01:31:13
Speaker
and it was more expensive to use them because they actually put their premium on them and they were the ones that basically lost it and you know blah blah blah were no help whatsoever and you know I got the shipping and it came from China anyway so they're effectively just the middle man on there yeah and because I have a design background I was kind of going I don't think I didn't need these guys to to mock this stuff up I can do it myself so I went directly to the manufacturer for the London ones and it was fine it was yeah any it was Easy I gave them everything they wanted it was it wasn't a a problem whatsoever So that did sit in the gate some cost on the last ones as well um And hopefully I can just do that again. I've just got to figure out the shipping stuff I assume they can ship to Japan from China, but we'll find out
01:31:56
Speaker
If not, we'll make it work. We'll work out the other. I don't know. The weather should be warm. oh I mean, that's the thing about the warm weather should be all right. where People probably wear them enough. London obviously was really good in Chicago. Anaheim, it was 35 degrees or whatever it was, 90 degrees or whatever it is in Anaheim when we were there. So it was really just as a keepsake that time. But um it was a bit funny because most people are in masks as well. So I'm sure people are going, well, I'm already wearing a mask, putting a woolen hat on my head in the hot weather is probably not really.
01:32:26
Speaker
what I want to do. It helps you identify friendlies. Yeah. And that was the great thing where you could spot people. Yeah, which was good. And people still ask about them and stuff as well. So it would be nice to be able to have a few more, if people were just kind of like, oh, well, I'd really like one and be like, here you go. And and Christian Ariel from the Star Wars show got one last time as well and we follow each other on Twitter. and you know There's one there if you want if if you're there and there's some other people. and I remember running into Bobby Moynihan on chicago on the floor of Chicago on the last day and not having any left and just going, oh
01:33:06
Speaker
you know, that's a real bummer. I would have loved to have given Bobby Moynihan one if I'd had the chance as well. So it'd be nice to just have a little excess of them. Yeah, make sure you get some reserves. But they do fill up the bag. Andy, give yours back. I want to give it to Bobby Moynihan. Yeah, sorry. but get back to the well i i ah I didn't have one. So I um I left Chicago without one because I got to the very last day and Dallas Wood from the Bad Motivators came up and was like, oh, how come everybody else got a beanie and I didn't get one? And I went, I gave you one on the first day. I'm like, oh, well, I've got none left. So I said, look, you take the one on my head, you have that one, because I had three or four that I'd left in Melbourne as spares. I said, you. So the one that I wore all through Chicago was given to Dallas. So
01:33:52
Speaker
Sometimes you've got to, and I didn't even have the one on my head to give Bobby Moynihan anyway, because it was already gone. So there you go. So what are you looking forward to? what what what what are you Sorry, what what do you what do you hope they show? Well, I mean, and or obviously they've dropped this release date, which is two days after celebration ends or whatever it is. So I assume that they will show the premiere there, how that works.
01:34:21
Speaker
will likely be that you've got to be in a certain panel to get a ticket to to do it. oh um which can be It's going to be the Japanese dubs too. Like no, yeah no English. nothing So it's long. I mean, I'd love to. If it's only two days later, I can probably wait. But obviously, I mean, I make sure Catherine's in that panel. As long as Catherine's in that panel, I'll be happy. um So But I'd love to see that. I'd love to see that they that they sort of, they lean in into the and or side of things. I'm supposed to, you know, we do the reviews. I don't know how I'm going to fit that in amongst all the other stuff that we're doing, whether we just, I wait till I get back to Melbourne and do it a few days after we might have to, that's logistics. But I think there'll be some Mando and Grogu stuff, is it?
01:35:08
Speaker
It'll be the year after that film comes out, won't it? yeah I know they just showed the trailer again at this D23 thing that was just happened overnight. Isn't it spring the spring of 26? Have I got that right? Yeah. of twenty So I think there'll probably be a panel for that, or at least they'll show something off the back of that.
01:35:29
Speaker
I don't know, like ah obviously some clarity on where we're at with Daisy's movies, who wish what she's doing. But again, like we said, we've sort of discussed this. It's all lip service until we're sitting in the cinema, really. yeah um I'd love to see some vision stuff, like lean into the visions. I think a visions panel ah and get the artists there and really lean into that. Maybe have some more shows off the back of that would be great. I'd love to see some really great visions cosplays and merch.
01:35:57
Speaker
and really lean into all those sort of locally produced characters and designs and stuff. I think that would be great. It would be great if Hasbro had an exclusive that you could get in person on the floor, um not that you have to mail away for. And I'm pretty sure Japan wasn't even on the mail away list. So if they do that again, you're giving out a card where you can't even get it in the country where you're from, um which Hasbro have been the busiest losers the last two celebrations, not having exclusives on the floor. It's just, I don't wanna buy one three months later. It completely negates the specialness of them. you know I've got the but Darth Maul and Obi-Wan exclusives still on my shelf and none of the subsequent ones I've even bothered with because they're just,
01:36:40
Speaker
like any other black series you can buy. Well didn't, it isn't that the only one that you could only get actually at the convention whereas every subsequent one has been, yeah you get a token? they They did a small run of those ones, you you could get them very briefly but they're still hard to come by and I got them just, I didn't get the um I didn't get the the the lottery for it, but I sort of queued up the day that the lottery ah was exhausted and you could get in the line and you could get them when I managed to get them. So that was sort of off the back of that. And I was happy to do that. that's cool But Hasbro has just dropped the ball the last few.
01:37:17
Speaker
but without that. I think that's been a bit of a bummer. um Some great shirts, some designs. We spoke before about the the the artwork for the passes. I'd love to see that on a shirt. I think that would be great. They've got to sort the store out. I think I still think they need to have the store, but they need to have smaller pop ups all around the conventions and the arenas where you can buy some of the things and take some of that demand away, take the pressure off the store. I mean, I bought the ah Chicago celebration lunchbox one at the arena cuz they had a little pop-up with a couple of things in it and I didn't have to go to the celebration store and I'm kind of they'll You know, I'll go on the last day and and pick over the dregs sort of person I'm not going I've got to get there first because I need a dark little tiki cup or anything like that I I made that same mistake as well last year and I went in last day and I
01:38:10
Speaker
ah I picked up the dregs, but I didn't, I didn't curate it very well. So as a result, the majority of the t-shirts are now. Well, I've got like an extra large Luke Skywalker that doesn't, it didn't fit me before. And then I'm in kilos and it really doesn't fit me anymore. So it's it's a bag it's a very nice shirt, but it's just sort of like, yeah, but I got, I got, I got, I got some shirts and I've told Sean this story. I got some shirts last year and some are like a,
01:38:39
Speaker
almost like a tummy a tummy shirt. you know it's It's so high up. I mean, I'm six foot two, I'm not a small guy. It's it's so high up, it's almost like I'm gonna go hulata hula dancing. And there are others that are bigger than, it's like wearing a tent. There's no consistency in the QC at all. So what about you?
01:39:02
Speaker
Josh, my friend. My name is Sean. Sorry, Sean. Sorry, Sean. I'm looking at the questions, which is the reason why I got the name wrong. Hi, I'm Andrew. What are your plans for Tokyo, both inside and outside the event itself? And what do you hope we'll get to see?
01:39:26
Speaker
So in terms of before and after the convention, I think we're, we're kind of flipping what Josh did is doing where he's coming up before and then doing the convention at the end. I think we're doing the convention first and then Madison's going to come in a couple of days later and then we're going to spend, I don't know how much time you think I'd know. Cause we booked the flights. Um, yeah, a cup, like a couple of days or a week or whatever, after doing whatever stuff after, I think we're going to either go,
Logistics for Japan Celebration
01:39:53
Speaker
I think we're going to go South and visit our friend and, uh,
01:39:56
Speaker
Nagoya and maybe go maybe go south even further. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know exactly what we're doing. ah But the current plans haven't changed around like the hotels. We still have those kind of like intermediate hotels, the ones that we want. But like Josh was saying, like, ah they don't have like the bigger rooms up yet. So we're we're all kind of in like the singles right now, which I'm not worried about. Like I'm not I'm not stressing this this celebration as much as I have other ones, because I think it'll all just work out.
01:40:26
Speaker
like we've got we've got how We've got housing, we' so we're good in that regard. um Similar to what Josh was saying about like the kiddos and stuff, Madison's wanting to go one day, um but I think she's going to be in that same boat of like maybe do a lap around the floor and be like, yeah, that's that's enough for me. I think I'm going to be done now. So maybe we do that all on the same day for everybody. So that way there could be a cohort of people who are like, this is not my vibe. I've got a kid's pass. Passes were actually quite affordable, very affordable this time around. I don't know whether it was because the yen was struggling or whatever, but the kid's pass was cheap as well. And I just bought the three day and said, well, if they want to come, they can come. And if not, they don't have to come. So I know matters. I'll be honest with you guys. I'll be honest with you. I mean, Sean,
01:41:19
Speaker
Because the tickets went live in the middle of our night, I mean, I'm talking like one, two in the morning, Sean very graciously grabbed my ticket for me. And when I paid him, I couldn't believe the price. I thought the whole thing, I know what you're saying about the children's um the children's tickets, but even the adults were like half what half what I paid in London. Now I appreciate it's three days rather than four.
01:41:43
Speaker
but it's it's significantly better. It's only when I got to the flights that things start getting really expensive. ours ah ah Australia's flights aren't amazing, but it is a little bit better where I've sort of heard the reports from you guys. It doesn't seem to be a huge jump back or forth. We've got a lot of places fly there now and it's a pre-motor, but it is still that peak, that peak yeah season. So it's just, you know, we,
01:42:08
Speaker
We've just got to sort the logistics and things out, but we'll we'll get there. One way or the other, we'll get there. we we just I think I said this on my pod. We just did our taxes and we're getting our tax returns back. And we're like, here we go. you know we'll get it we'll get We'll get a little something that'll help ease the aids of the burden. And I got money back and Kat had to pay. And we're like, well, that threw a monkey wrench in that whole operation. but That's okay. We'll get there. um If there's any consolation to Kat, let her know. Me too. yeah i did mine I did mine just before we went away on leave. and um yeah the she's like she always got of because She was paying her university fees back and stuff. She's always got some weird thing going on with hers, but who knows. but um Sorry, i't I was just thinking about um
01:42:53
Speaker
Anything else that I like, I've never done a photo opportunity. I was kind of thinking the other day, like if Hamill was there, I might consider a photo. I kind of thought that might be the last, not the last chance, but you know what I mean? Like I kind of feel like that that was something I might consider. That's probably the only photo that I would be particularly interested in doing if Hamill was there. Um, but.
01:43:16
Speaker
I think, ah cause I was kind of thinking like, oh wouldn't it be cool if my daughter's got a photo with Daisy Ridley or something like that? But I think honestly, if there was ah somebody dressed as Ray on the floor, Sloane would probably just be just as excited. You know what I mean? Like if I went, oh look, it's yeah it's Ray.
01:43:31
Speaker
and Daisy really is just there in a t-shirt and a hat and she's like hello you know but then if she saw somebody dressed as Ray on the floor that would probably mean more to her because they as Ray like I think she would just go well I guess there's a like that's Ray but that's I don't think it would make that much difference and kind of going oh we spent $250 to you know get a photo with Daisy really really whereas the cosplay was more impactful but what I'm sure the cosplayers are gonna be in nuts from every time I've been from the time of it's kind of for around Halloween like their their their craftsmanship for costumes is Unreal, so um'm I'm interested to see that especially the competition. I may actually go to that this this time around so in terms ofs of The itself is like how big is the big hole is it comparative to I
01:44:20
Speaker
ah this I think this convention center is pretty big. I think this is supposed to be a pretty nice new one. Not new, but like nice and big. From what I've read, I don't know. yeah I can't speak authoritative. Which is sort of the main room, you know, the biggest what the biggest room holds, sort of all that kind of stuff. Like like obviously the London The XCO, its main wasn't huge. Like it wasn't a huge huge, you know, like Anaheim, they had the, the, um, the basketball stadium and Chicago. I still don't, and I still don't understand like what they did in London. I, I, the XL center is massive. It's absolutely enormous. And yet they seem to organize the so celebration in one.
01:45:02
Speaker
in half of it. but like And the rest of it was redundant. The crossing across the thing was weird. I did understand that. And then they had everybody crossing to get to both sides and then all the the big rooms you had to go through. So it was this weird. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, they kind of put all the chewing on that one side. I kind of got that. But yeah, they did make some interesting decisions on that.
01:45:21
Speaker
but But I had lot had a lot of ah love our friends you know that had obviously been to previous celebrations saying, wow, it's a lot smaller. The venue is a lot smaller than I thought. And it's like, actually, guys, it's not. It's huge. It's absolutely enormous. You should see where, because Sean was staying in a hotel quite close to the venue.
01:45:40
Speaker
And the hotel where he was staying at was at the redundant side of the of ah of the Excel Center. So he knew you could see for yourself, Sean, just how big the venue is. And they just didn't use it, which I think which i found really, really strange.
01:45:55
Speaker
To their credit, they they had their food options were great there. like At a time, it was a nightmare to get so anything to eat at any time. And it was all yeah a bunch of food trucks in one spot outside in the heat. There wasn't barely anything in the convention. So we just went hungry. I had breakfast and then dinner, and that was about it. But London had heaps of food. London had heaps of food. You could even get beer and ah in ah you know you could get beer if you wanted beer. and It, um, I think that really helped. There was more places just to sit and to mingle at places as well, yeah especially that, you know, the, the, on the four days, the Sunday, my experience, the fourth day is always, sorry, the second last day is always the hardest, the Sunday. Cause you have the big Saturday night.
01:46:37
Speaker
you're not fired up because it's the end at Monday. You're just sort of getting through on the Sunday. So I remember spending a lot of time sitting with the scruffies in that big sort of food bit there. And um that was the thing when we talk about Melbourne of having, you know, we've got a huge convention center that's right on the wall on on the water, right in the in the middle of the city in Melbourne. And it's got the ah planetary room, it seats 10,000 as well. it's It could be done. Like we've definitely got the um the facilities to do it. So hopefully, who knows one day,
01:47:07
Speaker
and you've also got You've also got an amazing choice of food out there, anyway, from my experience of being. um we've talked about you you've you've got the You've got the Western influences, but you've also got the Eurasian influence as well, and it's really brilliant. And we've talked about, and i've you know my head, back in the head, I've gone, oh well if they did do it in Melbourne, like what would that look like? would it As far as like, you know, if we got the the same number of people who would come to Japan or London, where it's a smaller, you know, devoted group of people and going, okay, well, you know, where would you take them? Where would you take them to dinner or there's a million places to, you know, my brother-in-law runs pubs. So there's a million bars and pubs that you could recommend. And, and what would that, what would that look like? And it's, uh, yeah, one can dream. You never know. But I think.
01:47:59
Speaker
I'm 99% sure that they'll do it the year after, like they'll do 20, 26, they'll do another one and it'll be in the States. They've got a movie coming out that year. They haven't been in America for four years or something by then. It'll be, um, I think that's a pretty safe bet, but there'll be, it'll, interest you know, you think getting tickets to Japan was tricky. I think every man and his dog will be. Yeah.
01:48:26
Speaker
yeah Yep. Yep. Yep. Sure. And what else are you looking for? Sorry, ah what else? What are you looking forward to or any other incremental plans outside of celebration itself? Uh, what I'm looking forward to mostly is the merch and the artwork and stuff that'll be unique to Japan. Not that I want to fill my house up with everything Japanese themed, but I do like that poster that it's on the floor. It's like, I'm looking for,
01:48:54
Speaker
stuff that I really can't get here with kind of that Kira Salwa theme. i'm I'm very excited to go and see the different types of vendors and artists that are there. That's kind of my, I think my biggest one. um I'm actually not Jonesing for panels or like oh expecting to see this or this is this it's like I'm I want like more of the The Japanese influence on Star Wars and stuff on there. I want the stuff on the floor. I want the art show um I'm interested to see how the cues work because cueing in Japan is
01:49:27
Speaker
top tier, especially going to like Disney and stuff. I'm curious to see what the halls, like the halls and stuff that the queues are for like the panels and things. The food, I mean, and just really hanging out with the the people that especially since it's shorter, I think it's going to be heart ah To quote Jimmy Dice, hard and fast, um just getting in and- I think they'll be less chopper. I think it'll be big. They'll be, which hopefully i um hopefully doesn't mean that, because they still do big panels in the morning and then, like you know, I hope that doesn't mean that all of a sudden there's huge panels.
01:50:04
Speaker
all day, every day. I think you need the time to be able to do other stuff and kick around. It'd be a bit annoying if you're like, well, I'm in a panel from 11 to 12 to three to four. And that does affect the small look. Cause it's, I like the, when you can't get into stuff, you're like, I'll go to the Kennet Toys one and roll down and and and and just check that out because that's what I can get into. And you can kind of mosey. And if they're go like, oh no, we've got to put big stuff all the time. But I do like kind of help three days.
01:50:30
Speaker
I'm kind of hoping that there's not as many big panels, because I know sometimes I'll do that big one at 10 or 11, and then that kind of next big one right after, which you can't hit both. And I think with three days, it's like, just make the big ones better. Like, just make them heavy hitters, get them done. and A movie panel, a TV panel, and then maybe it'll be video games, or I don't know, it was all...
01:50:57
Speaker
other stuff on disney plus or but know it'll be like mando verse panel shows or tv mando and or a soaker and then movies whatever that looks like and then
01:51:10
Speaker
Visions if they do visions or other stuff or whether it's video games or miscellaneous or but like we don't need the You know that they had the one Anaheim which was like the the documentary about ILM like that's great But it's not an 80-year panel. We don't need to be in the law. I don't need a bad batch season 3 Premier panel like that's like I went to it. and I loved it, but it doesn't need to be a a heavy hitter ten o'clock No, H. I know i um Catherine naturally and I went to an ILM panel that was run by an independent guy called Jamie belling Benning who basically is the guy who runs the filming mentored podcast and he had a very intimate very very intimate um panel with um the ILM guys that were working on Andor and that was a lot more insightful and
01:51:58
Speaker
in my mind better than the main ILM event itself because it was just, it was, it was almost too broad. It was almost too broad, but it didn't, it didn't kind of say a lot. You want to get in the weeds a little bit. Exactly. And exactly. And it was, it was, it was obviously, it helped an awful lot having Catherine with me because she's like losing her mind because it's Andal, right? So, um, she's, she's kind of losing her mind and it was, it was, it was so good and it was so intimate.
01:52:26
Speaker
and then another another I remember another panel I went to and it was and I chose that over the panel I got into because it was Doug Chang. ah i I was so close to actually shaking the guy's hand but I didn't i didn't have the nerve to do so and I wish I had.
01:52:42
Speaker
um But yeah, some of those smaller panels in particular, I find quite endearing. At London, they, because I think Anaheim, they had an issue where they sort of, some of the really small ones weren't very well attended. um And so some people running some stuff with not many people there and things sort of stuck at the end of the day kind of thing. And I think, yeah, London, they sort of changed the criteria on the smaller ones and made them more specific. um And I think they're all quite well attended. Some of the smaller ones I went to as well.
01:53:12
Speaker
Um. And there's talk, like we've talked about like, well, will we throw our hat in the ring? Will we wanna do a panel? And I sort of like, oh, it'd be cool to say that you did it. um And it would be cool to invite friends and fellow podcasters and yeah, we're here, we're representing, we've got something to say, wouldn't that be an amazing thing? But at the same time it's like, well, what is it? Is it just because you can do it is it? Does it bring something? Is it stuff that people wanted to do? And also if you're not in a predominantly English speaking thing, if you go, we're gonna do a,
01:53:42
Speaker
Well, you know, 10 years of The Force Awakens or something like that um is enough interest. But again, if it's in English and everything, you've got 80% of people in Japanese and they're just going, well, what are you even talking about? it And it's just, it's so jokey and what is it? ah It's a big task as well though, mate. I mean, at the end of the day, it will change the dynamic of your trip. Absolutely. And if it's only three days as well. You'd want to do a good job. You'd want to do an amazing job. You want to make sure that, you know, that that that that there was good content for people to enjoy that that didn't know you.
01:54:11
Speaker
That's the thing, I don' think we could get off the, you know, the podcast and that's stress is, ah you know, and the podcast is fine, but it's not, we're not Molly and Alex and we're not still, we don't have those big, you know, the name you get by on that. And yeah so you'd have to be a bunch of people you don't know are talking about The Force Awakens, which, okay, people love it. It's a 10 year anniversary. Maybe you could do it, but at the same time,
01:54:36
Speaker
It's only three days. And like you said, if that if they're cramming everything into three days and I've gone, I've got to take half a day out to organize this thing. And I've got one of my kids there as well. It's just, yeah, I feel like it might just be a step too far as opposed to it I think if there was a Melbourne celebration and you were representing Australia and Australian content makers, I think you'd go.
01:54:58
Speaker
let's do something and I would bring in Australian content makers, whether that might be the Blue Banter Milk guys or Catherine or like the Ray side or um other people I know, Force Material, Baz and those guys and yeah who will be there and go, let's get some ah some local content creators and let's do something in mal in Australia and and do it from that point of view. I think that would probably make more sense. Ladies and gentlemen, your compare for this evening, if you Mr. Matt Mole.
01:55:26
Speaker
Yeah, that's right. and you know which And I think in that situation, it would it would could work quite well. so um I think at the moment there's too many unknowns about it. But yeah, but we'll say. well well There's plenty of other people who can do that. And I like supporting the little guys as well on those. Yeah, no but without a doubt without a doubt. And like I said, the the passion that goes into them and the content is a lot better. I'll be quick. I'll be quick because we're taking way too much of your time up. um so good for for it For me, for me um i'm i'm I'm hard and fast. so i'm
01:56:04
Speaker
I'm leaving the UK on the Tuesday. I arrive on the Wednesday, which gives me an hour. that Sorry, an hour. It gives me a day um on the Thursday to kind of acclimatize and work work a few things out and and and and basically um ah try and get over the lag and obviously try and work out what the next three days look like. And then on I fly back on the Monday morning. So I literally am going to
Cultural and Culinary Experiences in Japan
01:56:37
Speaker
be there. Hit and run. Just done. ya Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm literally there just for the event itself. Well, I think i think I've told you before, it's it's Lucy in my 30th wedding anniversary next year. So we we're planning a lot.
01:56:50
Speaker
Um, and so my holiday or my annual leave is is going to be a premium next year. And so yeah it'll be Easter holiday anyway. So that's sort of, yeah, yeah, yeah. I typically don't take that time off because it's, it's, I mean, it's, it's, it's crazy when you, when you, when you try and book something as, as I've found out already, we're in it, we're in the, we're in a very lucky position these days in that both of our girls have grown up and left home there. They're, you know, they're, they're independent ladies now that they're working.
01:57:19
Speaker
And so we tend to holiday outside of school holidays and national holidays so that we get that's the journey. Yeah, exactly. we know And we enjoy it quite a lot. And in fact, as a pope, and for economies of scale, what you can do is you can you can kind of squeeze in an extra holiday because you're not paying as much because obviously you're going you're going off peak. But anyway, so yeah, I am stuck for time a little bit because we've got our own we've got our own plans as a couple for next year. yeah um So it literally is, as Jimmy would say, hard and fast, in and out. um And so therefore, I'm not going to experience an awful lot of Japan or czec Tokyo. I'm not going to experience an awful lot of the culture. I'm not going to experience an awful lot of
01:58:03
Speaker
they the city, the city and the surroundings and so on and so forth, um which I'm not annoyed about because if I was gonna do that, I wouldn't do it with my wife anyway. so It's some place that we'd vote. You feel it as soon as you get there. Like it's different enough where it's, you know, even even if you go to a you know European country, obviously, you know. America or somewhere like that. you You soak it while you're in there, but Japan, you feel it. You'll you'll get this as you land. You'll feel immersed, even if you're there for a short amount of time. Well, well that's what I was going to say. What am I looking for? So with that in mind, with what I'm looking forward to the most, and kind of Sean stole my thunder a little bit in that I actually want celebration itself to be to be
01:58:51
Speaker
yeah as Japanese as possible, the artwork. they you know you We joked earlier on about you know would we see a dubbed version of Andor ah episode one, sorry, season two episode one. I'd love that. I would love that. That would for me would, because I can i can see it in my own language anytime I want. But to have that experience,
01:59:15
Speaker
um of and And maybe some of the panels may well be in Japanese. And again, I'd love that because I was feeling at the very least I was getting some kind of some sort kind of experience of the culture.
01:59:29
Speaker
and so yeah and and then and then like i mean i i love um Japanese artwork like Yusho and I love Japanese um take on things. I loved, is it the Toboyuki?
01:59:43
Speaker
kopauki Anyway, they the that the Samurai Vaders and the Samurai Stormtroopers. I'm trying to remember the name of the of the company that does it. and I'm doing a really bad. co Anyway, ah I'll fix it for next week. um with But yeah. You don't have any problem with the food?
02:00:01
Speaker
no No, no problem at all. No problem at all. I i love it. Absolutely love it. goes yeah i mean it's um i mean A lot of it is is a lot of the food that yeah like yucky sober and the rest of it, it's It's kind of like their junk food anyway. So I mean, I love it. I love it. You can get all the Western food if you want it. If you're kind of like, it's not for me and I just want a hamburger, you can get a hamburger or a pizza or whatever you want. It's it's very accommodating that way um if you need it. Because I love all that Western stuff as well. But if you want to get do you guys have any into the weeds. Do you guys have anything you have to eat while you're there? and any like Anything you're looking forward to?
02:00:43
Speaker
I mean, if I could get back to the, I think when I went the last time, it was just as the old fish market was closing and they were about to move into the new one. So I'd love to go back to the fish market, cause the food was phenomenal there. It was just like they'd have the fish market and there were just vendors and you could just get these huge bowls of of ah sushi and whatever you wanted. I'd like to go back to the to the new one and experience that and just sort of go to town on on that. um But you know, I love like,
02:01:13
Speaker
ramen's and all those sort of things. I just love when you go into a bar and because of their licensing, they have to give you food. So you sit at the bar and then they just get the little grill out and they'll just grew you a couple of little chicken skewers at the end of the bar. And they hear that that's with your beer. And it's just, it's great. And my my kids are actually really good eaters and they, ah they'll be fine. They'll eat most things without a problem. So we won't have to worry about that, which is cool.
02:01:37
Speaker
That's just one less thing we have to worry about. um um So, yeah. You never have enough time. No, no, no, no, no, no. To answer your question, Sean, I'm looking forward to the food a lot, a heck of a lot. Very, very rarely have I not had a good time experimenting. I'd say the only time I had a bad time with experimenting was when I spent about a month or so in Taiwan. So I was in Taipei city and everything that I was eating was, was, was great. It was fine. But I felt as if I wasn't being, I wasn't experiencing real what what the locals eat. And um ah yeah, a colleague of mine said, well, okay, if if you've got, if you've got the, um, if you're so inclined, come with me one night and I'll take you out for dinner and, um,
02:02:35
Speaker
I ate some very traditional um Taipei food that is the, ah like I said, it's the only food that I i really did not enjoy um because of what I was eating and how I was eating it and how it was cooked or rather not cooked. ah But anyway, yeah know but no, i'm I'm looking forward to it, mate. Wyatt, do you have any recommendations?
02:03:01
Speaker
Oh, I'm just I just want to get very specific ah handmade black sesame mochi. That's all I want. That's all I care about right now. OK, it's yeah, very specific, but that is what I want right now. but I know the cause of the context is when we were there last time we took we went to an old tea house on the Takeda Road and they had.
02:03:25
Speaker
handmade mochis that were like, they're so handmade that they had like charcoal like on them from cooking them. And it's just, that was the best thing I've ever had in my life. It's like, i I know I won't get that again, because that's way out in the sticks, but I want good handmade. Your approximation, whatever I can get it. whether Just go to the convention hall and ask for that. Give me the vending machine over there. Can I get that?
02:03:50
Speaker
Yeah, give me the convene or the 7-Eleven version, like I'll be fine. That's all. Well, the food, the 7-Elevens is great too as well. yeah i've told a little All the little stuff, fried stuff is great. So I'm just, yeah, we've we've talked about going back the moment we left really, and it's been bit a bit of a long road and it'll be a different experience.
02:04:08
Speaker
but Yeah, I'm really looking forward to it. It'll be a different celebration experience. But i'm um' like I said, I'm so confident that there'll be an American one. I'm quite happy for this one to be weird, whether it's bigger or smaller or more busy or because I've got my kids there and less you know hectic.
Community Engagement and Future Plans
02:04:27
Speaker
um yeah But I think it'll be cool. I think it'll just be fun. It'll be good that they'll be we'll have ah enough of a little crew of people that we know.
02:04:39
Speaker
And I think because of what it is, and I think because there'll be less people going, I think it's actually a good opportunity to mingle with other people we don't know as well, or maybe peripherally know a little bit who'll kind of be there as well. And and I think that's really great. So I'll probably try and get a little bit more active on some some groups and things and say, hey, we'll be here. and you know, come and say hi and just hang and and do some stuff. So I think it'll be a good opportunity. And like worst case, we've got each other. And so it's and so would be great just to see people, if nothing else, because it's going to be two years and two years is a long time to wait to see your mates. Exactly. Right. We've broken the seal, Sean, of two hours again. Done it again.
02:05:28
Speaker
I've done it with the guy that is the most proficient podcaster I know that is always on time. e e He runs a tight ship. Yeah, but I don't have to come i don't have to do anything on this. I can just hang up and go. No, you don't. Let you guys run. It's fine. It's good. It's a pleasure. Josh, buddy, thank you so much for coming on. Thank you for your friendship. Thank you so much for everything you've done for for Sean and I. um and um where can people find you, mate? And if you if you don't know, I'm doing this out of a courtesy, but to be honest with you, everyone will that listens to this already knows who you are. But anyway, where can everyone find you?
02:06:05
Speaker
ah we I do a Star Wars podcast called Star Wars Spelt Out where you can just find ah the usual places, um Spotify and Apple Podcasts and everywhere. And it's just a semi-regular Star Wars chat with people, friends in our fandom, friends we know really well, sometimes left field guests and stuff. And when the shows come out, we do the recap shows as well, which Andy is a regular on.
02:06:29
Speaker
And I do that and I also do a Peppa Pig podcast, which is dormant at the moment. We've taken the year off just because life's gotten in the way. But I recap Peppa Pig with my good buddy Matt Frost and we're hopefully there might be something coming before the end of the year, hopefully as well, which just there's no time limit on Peppa Pig. So it just bubbles away in the background. People listen to it, which is quite cool.
02:06:50
Speaker
as well but um you know it's just great i'm I'm just you know two guys who weren't on a mic before doing their own podcast and and being great mates is just awesome and it's really really heartening and and you guys are two of the most generous people I know you're always sticking your neck out for everybody else you're always helping out you're always doing things other pods you know speak so highly of you as well and it's just great to to be on. And I'll come back anytime and <unk> we'll get you guys both on on spelt out again. Maybe as a duo, I think we'll do we'll try and when the ah timelines align. And I know it's tricky, but we'll we'll find a way and we'll we do it. Absolutely worse. It'll be at celebration next year. I need to we need to get you back as well. Because when Sean gets around to it, I would like to know what you think of because you've completed Outlaws, haven't you?
02:07:41
Speaker
Yes, excuse me, yes, I have. Did the story anyway, I haven't done everything, but yeah. we need to We need to follow up on that. We need to follow up on that. Sean, buddy. um Sean, I think that I can safely say that um part one of the Road to Celebration was a great success. yeah um Look forward to talking to you regular time on Wednesday. So we're back to normal, busy as usual on Wednesday. Thank you for accommodating me.
02:08:08
Speaker
No, no, no, mate. I've just got back from holiday, so I wasn't around anyway. so the The stars are aligned, so it was absolutely perfect. But Sean, I'll speak to you again in three or four days. Love you, buddy. Give my love to Madison and take us out, mate. Well, my brain my brain's getting to the point of like mushy peas at this point. So if I if i fumble the bag more than usual on this outro, then yeah, it's COVID. What are you going to do?
02:08:34
Speaker
um Thanks, everybody, for listening. Thank you, Josh. Really appreciate it. Thank you for all the kind words. It's always a pleasure getting to be on pods and hang out with your friends and just chew the fat, as Andy would say. um Check out Josh's pod. Check out, if you want to reach out to us, you can find us at justshillin.com, ah where we've got links to everything, including emails and voicemails.
02:08:57
Speaker
Um, you can find me a lot more active on blue sky now because I think everybody's over there now and it's kind of, it's getting crazy. So yeah. Oh, that's a good point. so i so ah Sorry to interrupt. That's a good point. yeah Um, this is, this is, this is quite the momentous, uh, um, episode actually. Cause this will be a last, the last episode that, um, we publish or that we announce on, on X, uh, formerly Twitter. So, um,
02:09:26
Speaker
Me, Sean's already there, but me, ah Sean and the podcast are officially migrating over to to Blue Scry, henceforth. um So you'll find us all there.
Closing Remarks
02:09:37
Speaker
I'll put all the details in the um in the episode update. Yeah, thanks again. Until next time, this has been Road to Celebration, number one in the books, in the bag, whatever you say, I don't know. Down the road, the road to celebration.
02:09:55
Speaker
every watch shagger i along then i was like that i i get that later on that's nice co-opt it like it Have a good week guys take care Cheers guys. Bye