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Tidbits Episode 3: JAMES D. STOPS BY THE TIDBITS TOWER!
28 Plays12 days ago
Holy Cabooses, folks — do we have a treat for you! The usual antics, yes, but this time a special guest is knocking at Tidbit Tower’s door. JAMES D joins us (!) with a strange yet profound tidbit that ripples further than you’d ever expect. Mike’s here to school us on Bennies at the Jersey Shore, Gaz dives into Orson Welles’ true magnum opus (trust me, there’s more than meets the eye), and Rob has a game afoot when a medical doctor gets meta-physical. It’s more fun than a ghostly séance with the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn!
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Transcript
Introduction and Listener Feedback
00:00:00
Speaker
I'm gonna fire spark. Both of the two of you try do less fidgeting. Okay, all right. I think you out now, There you go. Get it out. Get it
00:00:22
Speaker
in the tidbits tower with Prinker Buddies. Did you start a tidbits? Yeah, I just started, man. We did the sound check for you. It's me, tidbits Rob. Joining me as always in the tidbits tower is... Tidbits Mike. Hi, everybody. How are you this week? As always, gotta coax them to say it. We gotta coax them to say it. Who else is here?
00:00:40
Speaker
Hey everybody, it's me Gaz. How you doing? It is Gaz. It is Gaz. How you doing Gaz? Hey, before we get into anything, I just I wanted to go through the mailbag. We got some more positive feedback. Everyone enjoyed it. There are a couple people who pointed out that I was saying Percy Shelley and not Piercy Shelley. Wait, I was it's Percy Shelley not I don't know i was saying it wrong but the correct way. Is it Percy? Yeah, like per like Percy Jackson. But I can't. That's what i thought but I wasn't sure so I wasn't going correct you. i'm like, Oh, I guess I was wrong. And then somebody was very curious to know if I truly had stuck the drums on repeat and couldn't figure out or if that was performance art. I felt the need to explain that it was truly a mistake because these little sound effects I have up here, it says drums, big button that says drums, and there's this little teeny tiny infinity symbol. And if you hit that little infinity symbol, it ah it plays over and over. and then
00:01:30
Speaker
Wait, you guys hear that? Did you guys hear that? Is that the drums? No, it's not the drums. I think it's it's the door to the Tidbits Tower. Who could that be at the Tidbits Tower door? I'm more upset that the guard is just letting anybody right up to the door. what
Unexpected Guest and Serendipitous Story
00:01:45
Speaker
Wait a minute. It's James Daugherty. Daugherty here at the Tidbits Tower. Hey, James.
00:01:51
Speaker
Hey.
00:01:54
Speaker
That was truly unexpected. Welcome, James. ah Rob wanted me to say something really corny right now, and I'd better refuse to do so. Wait a minute, but wait. I sort of sensed that maybe you had a tidbit to share, and you found yourself compelled to travel over a Hill and Ditto all the way to the North Pole where the Tidbits Tower resides.
00:02:14
Speaker
is that Is that true? Is that true? I think that was the thing I refused to say, but I do have a tidbit to share, so. You do? I just got a tidbit to share. So I think the first question is, do we let James go first?
00:02:27
Speaker
Or do we make James go last? I think it's a guest's choice. Guest's choice. Well, i I want to make clear to all the pod listeners, that the millions of folks out there, that ah I am the least talented member of this crew. i have zero artistic skills or actor skills or playwright skills. I mean, the only thing... i mean, I know Mike from... We were on the championship football team back in 94. He was the QB. I was the receiver. We led our team to victory. So... That's how I remember that. but i have You know, otherwise boost his volume kind of boost his volume. Yeah. James is a little quiet. Here's how we boost it up. James. Pod listeners.
00:03:01
Speaker
Oh, now let's be clear. Remember here. I am humbled to even be invited, but I do have a tidbit to share. Are you ready? I'm excited. Yeah. yeah It's going to be a lot of fun. Is the sound better now? it is That's much better. Yes.
00:03:13
Speaker
Perfect. It started out as just another summer walk along the beach in North Wildwood, New Jersey. A man named Frank was out with his wife and granddaughter when he spotted something half buried in the seaweed.
00:03:25
Speaker
Nothing unusual, not driftwood shells. I mean, you saw that stuff on the beach all the time. This was different. It was an old bottle, greenish and scuffed, cork still in place, and inside folded neatly a note.
00:03:36
Speaker
Pried it open, unrolled the paper, and there it was. Greetings from Ireland. I've thrown this bottle into the sea for someone to find another day. Maybe it's traveled down to Africa or to Iceland. I don't know if any anyone found this, but I hope it's found. Aifa.
00:03:50
Speaker
The note was dated July 2019. It was now 2023. Think about that for just second. think about that for just a second A letter from across the Atlantic, bobbing in the ocean for four years, now in his hands on a random beach walk.
00:04:02
Speaker
Of course, Frank and his wife were floored. They showed it around. Soon the story made them local news. A mystery woman named Aifa, somewhere in Ireland, had just crossed oceans with nothing but a scrap of paper and a glass bottle. And here's where it gets better.
00:04:15
Speaker
The story went viral. Within days, the mystery Aifa was found. Aifa burned from Bray County Wicklow. She laughed when reporters called her. Just as a whim, she wrote it one summer. Tossed it into the water. a childlike gesture.
00:04:26
Speaker
Never expected anyone to actually find it. Musts left halfway across the world. Soon after, Aifa and Frank actually spoke on the phone. Strangers brought together by a bottle, a tide, and a little luck.
00:04:36
Speaker
The whole thing felt like a fairy tale written by the sea itself. One person tosses a thought out to the world. Years later, someone else catches it. my tidbit is it's sometimes the smallest gestures the ones you almost forget can ripple outward and come back in ways you'd never imagined can you imagine can you imagine that type of tidbit no i think that was fantastic what was this an a snap judgment this american life just snuck in here what's going on you know ga hold on a second rob if it's okay if can i can i
00:05:07
Speaker
bring up something for a second I thought very similarly that,
Ripple Effect of Actions
00:05:10
Speaker
um you know, like back in, um let's see, it was ah October 3rd of 2019 when Gaz threw out his little ripples out to all of the world where he posted on Facebook that he finally found the Final Wars version of Hedorah at Walgreens.
00:05:24
Speaker
And he posted this in nine different places. So clearly, sending his ripple, not just into one ocean, but his little message in a bottle into nine different places. And it's a very special way to make his tidbits work all across the world. what are we on night with this tibit Was that a Facebook memory or something? I think so, yeah.
00:05:44
Speaker
He must have seen that. I'm not sure how I can share it here, but yes, indeed on, on Facebook, yeah youve you posted it in wonderful places such as a Tahoe Kaju union and you know, many of your toy forums. I'm sure many of these are places where you do post as well. Yeah. I have that, that figure right over there in my Godzilla case. I was very happy to find that. That ripple just out in the universe, just tidbitting around. I'm angry at all the, the preface and the the disclaimers you gave when you just presented the best tidbit any of us ever have. It was like a polished piece of work you've just given it was It was a polished piece of work. yeah I liked the drama you brought to it was but something.
00:06:19
Speaker
I was kind of waiting for it to be like, and it was written by the Queen of England, but it was just some randos. yeah if a burn yeah Sometimes randos are important. Mike, do you have any places where you've thrown a ripple into the universe, similar in a tidbit type way?
00:06:34
Speaker
Oh my gosh, i got my mind has gone blank. I was thinking back on February 1st, 2018, when you posted on Instagram... A bag of haggis and cracked black pepper potato chips. That was one of the things that I thought you tossed that ripple into the universe and then just, you know, did that ever come back to you? Did that ever?
00:06:50
Speaker
Does everyone remember that? I feel like everybody remembers that time that I posted that one bag of potato chips. Actually, that flavor. was quite good. British potato chips, English potato chips are better. And that one was okay. Although once I did eat a fried haggis, I do not recommend it. It was as if I had eaten a cinder block. And that is the tidbit I'm now throwing out into the world to ripple. want to...
00:07:12
Speaker
and i want to I want to point out, and i and I know why, James is wearing a Fordham t-shirt, and kudos for wearing something for my alma mater, although I know it's more than just my alma mater, if you want to talk about that.
High School Memories and Friendship
00:07:25
Speaker
So, Ra, back in 2002, went to Fordham, and that ripple made that Seamus, my oldest, is now at Fordham matriculating this year as well. ne I also wanted to say before James jumped right into his fantastic tidbit, I wanted to say that we all know each other from high school. James is a great old friend. I have known James since elementary school. Right around the corner from James's house was the best sled riding hill in town. And we would spend all winter at James's house and sled riding. I'm not sure i can approve of us changing the format of the show and giving any context whatsoever to who any of us are or any explanation about anything.
00:08:05
Speaker
That's not how this show works. We just randomly start screaming into the microphone. Ah. That was a good tidbit, James. is And hi agree thank you for joining us. Because know it was really long walk over Hill and Dale to the North Pole. Actually, yeah I'm excited that James is here because my tidbit, I feel like ah you maybe got to help us out with. So do you want to go next, Mike?
00:08:23
Speaker
We'll go next. Excellent. All right. Have
Jersey Shore 'Bennies' Explained
00:08:25
Speaker
at it. Though we don't normally explain much about who any of us are, ah the town in which we grew up in is very close to the beach. And i don't know if any of you guys, you spend a lot of time on the beaches growing up? Sure did, Mike. Sure.
00:08:38
Speaker
Do you know what the term bennies means? Yes. What? ah It's people from New York that come down and clog everything up for us locals in the summer. So you're partially correct.
00:08:48
Speaker
Does James Robb any idea what the term Benny's means? Nope. I guess I also always assumed it had something to do with Bensonhurst. ah So, yes, it is a derogatory term that we Jersey Shore locals have for people who aren't Jersey Shore locals.
00:09:01
Speaker
But the meaning of it actually part might be what Gaz said. It could possibly be a well, basically, they have a couple of theories about how the term came about. Either it's referring to people from Bayonne, Elizabeth, Newark, or New York, which is funny that we consider that like much further north than where we live, which is basically 10 miles north of here.
00:09:23
Speaker
Those northerners. Yeah, because we are where Middletown, New Jersey, is not especially far down south. So that is one that's one theory about why it's called why we call the people who come down to the shore Benny's, because they're coming from Bayonne, Elizabeth, New York, or Newark.
00:09:38
Speaker
um But the other theory is, that it was wealthy people, particularly women, who had mental ah mental issues going on oh from New York City. They're taking benzodiazepines. Nope. Good job almost stepping on this punchline again. These are wealthy people from New York City Wealthy people from New York City would send, I guess, or the wives or the wives would be sent by their wealthy husbands down to the shore when they're having mental issues to have beneficials. It was a beneficial thing to go out and get some sea air. And as I'm saying this, I should have probably written things down because I actually don't really know what I mean by mental issues. You know, women stuff. Yeah. Let me need things.
00:10:20
Speaker
She better go get some fresh air. And finally, they think possibly the term Benny's comes from ah people from out of town bringing their money to the shore. They're Benjamin Franklin's.
00:10:31
Speaker
Those hundred dollar bills. Benjamin's. and they throw around those bennies. So I don't know why we, us Jersey Shore natives, complain about that because that's good for us. But I will end with, we'll never actually know the true meaning or origin of the derogatory name bennies because you can't ask a bennie. They don't know that they're bennies. This is great. It's just such a callback to your first tidbit. I love it.
00:10:56
Speaker
In terms of its kind of fizzle. Like the little literal verbiage was the same. it was Thank you, Gaz, for noticing. Yeah, I did. I noticed as well. Thank you, James. I appreciate it. Gaz, you want to go next? I do, because mine is going to be the worst this week, so you should back clean up.
00:11:14
Speaker
Did you literally just put this together 10 minutes ago? Yes. Uh, I we normally record every other week and I forgot we were recording this week and I was busy with stuff and was like, Oh my God, I need a piece of trivia immediately. So your shit together, man, it's going to be short. Um, so, uh,
Orson Welles and Transformers Nostalgia
00:11:30
Speaker
Basically, let's talk about a great American filmmaker um and an influencer and political activist and trailblazer in in technology and storytelling. I, of course, am speaking of Orson Welles, George Orson Welles, who was born in 1915.
00:11:43
Speaker
He died in 1985, but he was with us for about 70 years, and he was a giant both figuratively and literally. He was ah a large man with a large presence in He's most known for for two things. One, for being the filmmaker who created Citizen Kane, which for many years has been at least anecdotally regarded as the greatest film of all time. Now, that can be debated, but what you can't debate is that it had a huge impact.
00:12:05
Speaker
There were new camera techniques that were made because he, as he would say, he didn't know what he didn't know. He just asked if they could do things, if they'd cut holes in floors and you know make this whole new way of making films that was influential forever. And many of his films were very good. Later on, he did a lot of questionable stuff as an actor that wasn't so hot. But, you know, ah he also was very big in radio, specifically noteworthy as he did an adaptation of HG Wells' War the Worlds that was so realistic that people were running out of their houses thinking we were being invaded. This man was a giant.
00:12:34
Speaker
This man was on all the major talk shows. He spoke, people listened. He had a booming voice. He had a booming intellect. He was a political activist that was, you know, very progressive and ahead of his time. And the cool thing is that it wasn't until just before his death, days before his death, that he finally fulfilled his true destiny by playing the planet gobbling Unicron in Transformers the movie. What?
00:12:56
Speaker
film that was released in 1986 but which he recorded his lines for in 1985. After that, but before his untimely heart attack, he had an interview and this is his quote about this momentous role that capped off this grand life of art. He said, you know what I did this morning? I played the voice of a toy, some terrible robot toys from Japan that changed from one thing to another.
00:13:16
Speaker
The Japanese have funded full-length animated cartoon about the doings of these toys. which is all bad outer space stuff. I play a planet. I menace somebody called something or other, and then I'm destroyed. My plan to destroy whoever it is is thwarted, and I tear myself apart. On the screen, Orson Welles on his finer film performance.
00:13:33
Speaker
That's actually pretty fantastic. So I say it with jest, but as a kid who watched that movie and as an adult who still loves that movie, I loved that Orson Welles was unicron. As a kid, it was just a nice, deep, booming voice. And then when I got older and got into him as a filmmaker and watched a lot of these movies and learned about him, I'm like, I kind of love that his last role was ah planet in Transformers. Yeah. It's actually very funny that you you explain that because I knew Orson Welles from Transformers, the movie, but didn't realize he made Citizen Kane.
00:14:01
Speaker
You didn't know? oh it's so good that see we're learning. We're laughing and we're learning. I'm going to check that out. like I like that Erson Wallace had an untimely death at
00:14:13
Speaker
it was untimely because it was a heart attack due to poor health. and you know it wast You're right that he wasn't exactly a spring chicken. but he My math was bad. 70 is not that old. Never mind. Did you just remember how old you are?
00:14:27
Speaker
James is 69, so everyone knows. That's a really perfect example of like phenomenal actors. like Their last performance is like something completely weird. And I know there's better examples than this. i know Better examples than this? I don't think so.
00:14:41
Speaker
and Maybe may not. Are there examples of that? No, there are other examples. Like I know the guy, he played Superman's dad. Marlon Brando. Marlon Brando did something. Island of Dr. Monroe. No, that wasn't his last though. But that it was like, it was like worse than that.
00:14:54
Speaker
And I know um Michael Caine just came out of retirement and he's like 90 and he's going to do like Fast and the Furious or some shit with The Rock. like That's going to be, oh, I have a good example.
00:15:06
Speaker
Fred Astaire, you know, the great giant of dance and silver screen and musical theater. His last performance was Xanadu. The movie Xanadu from the 80s had to Olivia Newton-John. It was really like disco 80s pop. It was silly. It's kind of awesome in a weird way.
00:15:20
Speaker
That's what remember. Sorry, this Transformers movie from 1986 is universally good or good to graz? Um, it is good to Transformers fans. I mean, I love Transformers. i'm I'm wondering if I should go back and watch this now. or Did you never see it when you were a kid? I can't remember now. Like, I've seen all the new Transformers movies for so long.
00:15:36
Speaker
I've watched a lot of Transformers. I just feel like I missed them. I don't remember. Well, I didn't catch that Orson Welles was Unicron. Ha ha. I was a Transformers fan. And I'm going to tell you that movie was not universally loved. That movie was traumatizing. Well, be careful. Because if you haven't seen it, let them enjoy it. No, Rob, stop talking. You have a chance to let someone enjoy a movie who hasn't seen it. You're like, let ruin it for you. Wait a minute, James. Do you care in your soul if I spoil the first 10 minutes of Transformers? I think there's a rule that movies over 40 years old, you don't have to say spoiler alert anymore. That's fair. except if you're about to watch it if you're like I'm about to watch this movie shouldn't he not tell you things in the movie I feel like I'm gonna add to it but it's James's call James do you want to hear it alright that's a thumbs up in the first 10 minutes of the movie all the main characters get killed just killed why would you do that now the movie's ruined
00:16:29
Speaker
Gaz, why didn't you warn me? Gaz, why did i say yes? Why did I agree to that? Mike, help me out here. Yes. Rob, come on. And Optimus Prime dies. Optimus Prime dies. I mean, like, i that was the first time i I don't know, threw my shoe through a television set.
00:16:43
Speaker
um but No, James, it yes, it made some kids sad, but it was generally well-liked by kids and Transformers fans. As an adult, I don't know if you'd enjoy it. I'm a big kid, so I enjoy it. But I will say, as a piece of animation, it holds up. it like The animation is really nice on that The soundtrack is great. It's got Weird Al Yankovic. It's very dated 80s, but it is quintessential How is our tidbit not that the 1996 Transformers movie said both Orson Welles and Weird Al Yankovic in the same movie? That is a good tidbit. Well, he didn't do a voice. It was, okay, Weird Al didn't do a voice in the Transformers movie. Don't spoil it, don't spoil it. But he had one of his songs, but it was Dare to be Stupid, which I'm not sure if was written specifically for the movie, whereas most of the other music was.
00:17:24
Speaker
However, years later in Transformers Animated, Weird Al did play Rekgar when he was reinvented as a garbage truck. so You are just filled with tickets. yes It was likely not written for the movie because it makes no sense in the context of the movie. Most of the other music was written for the movie. I think that was just when they got somehow. Well, that was great. I think that was all the time we had. We vote on the tidbits now and we move on? All right. Bye, guys.
00:17:48
Speaker
I'm torn between Mike and James. Wait a minute. I got my tidbit and I'm a little bit embarrassed because it's like a traditional, really well-crafted tidbit. Not as silly and off the cuff as... We changed the mood little bit here. Okay. Bring it home, buddy.
Conan Doyle and Surprising Beliefs
00:18:02
Speaker
It's a good one. I think it's... It's one. Here we Do have a mood changing vignette? Like, is there song that changes the mood for us that kind of helps us? Na, na, na, na.
00:18:10
Speaker
Super na, na, na. Heavy drama, super drama. Na, na, na, na, na. With rock. Wow. Okay. So in the early 1900s, there was a highly respected physician. He was an MD from the University of Edinburgh. He's named Dr. Doyle. His name isn't widely remembered now, but in his time, he was very influential. He encountered various medical challenges that influenced his perspectives of public health and wrote about them a lot. And so he you know was in newspapers and books.
00:18:37
Speaker
ah For instance, he was involved in treating typhoid fever in the Second Boer War. And he was largely he was a big factor in advocating for mandatory va vaccines because he saw these soldiers being devastated by by typhoid, even more than combat. And he helped kind of spread the idea of the importance of immunization in public health.
00:18:57
Speaker
And because of that, Dr. Doyle was knighted 1902 King Edward. He was known for being analytical, he was observant, he was well-trained, he could diagnose subtle illnesses that eluded lesser minds, like think Dr. House MD, but in like King Edwards, England, right?
00:19:12
Speaker
So people trusted him. And then in 1917, he falls for something you wouldn't expect. There were these two young cousins, they were like 16 and 10 year old girls, and they claimed they had photographed real fairies in their garden. And newspapers picked up the story. The public was enchanted. And Dr. Doyle just glommed onto that. And he was convinced. And he wrote this big book about the coming of the fairies to support these claims.
00:19:35
Speaker
um And spiritualists, like people into supernatural stuff, started to point to Dr. Doyle as proof that the world was full of unseen wonders. ah By the way, as a side note, decades later, these girls, they admitted it was a hoax. They said they had kind of created cardboard cutouts that they staged in their garden to fool adults. But at the time, Dr. Doyle, who was this trained skeptic and great at deduction in medicine, he was one of those fooled adults.
00:20:00
Speaker
But getting back to it, he gets really deeper into the supernatural. He loses his wife and it kind of leads him more into supernatural stuff. He joins the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, which was a secret society into the occult and metaphysics and paranormal.
00:20:14
Speaker
And he writes books about spiritualism and he helps kind of spread spiritualism and my kind of supernaturalism. He was a big advocate of mediums. He became friends with Harry Houdini and he basically befriended him because he was hoping Harry Houdini could kind of help him prove that there was a bridge between the living and the dead.
00:20:30
Speaker
But ironically enough, Harry Houdini was was a skeptic. He was a big, huge skeptic. And he was really keen on pointing out that His art was skilled sleight of hand and stagecraft and not like actual supernatural magic. So even though they became really good friends, they famously started to feud and their friendship fell out and they became they became bicker buddies.
00:20:50
Speaker
But it buried the lead again. Here's here's the big the big thing. I mentioned that this trained doctor had been knighted by the king. Right. ah So he was a sir. And frankly, I don't know if you guys know this, Mike might know this because his family is British, but the knighthood title of sir supersedes the title of doctor in formal address. And after he was knighted, he started adding his double-barreled surname Conan because he was proud of his name. Yeah, Conan the Barbarian. So he was a sir and he was actually known worldwide as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
00:21:24
Speaker
Famous creator of Sherlock Holmes, who is still by today's standards, the most famously logical character. Sorry, Mr. Spock. Sherlock Holmes was a rationalist. He was an empiricist. He was a skeptic. He was anti-mystical. He was into forensics. He was into deduction. he was the embodiment of reason, almost a caricature of anti-spiritualism. And yet the guy who created him was like going to seances and like telling everybody fairies and ghosts existed. So this doctor of medicine, this knight, this creator of Sherlock Holmes, the most logical detective in the world, utterly duped by cardboard fairies, embroiled in a bitter fight over ghosts with the greatest illusionist of his time and arguably of all time, which just shows that even the sharpest minds can be swept away by a desire to believe in a little magic. Unless, unless, unless maybe he was right? i
00:22:16
Speaker
I was just waiting for you to be like, and it turned out it was the Queen of England, but that's okay.
00:22:23
Speaker
There was a king in this story. i do like how that kind of tied into mine from last week a little bit with the spiritualism and and the the fraud and that kind of stuff. You mean stole from your idea, I guess? I'm not saying stole, heavily borrowed. We'll call it an homage. Thievery is the best form of flattery, right? I did not know that about Arthur Conan and Doyle.
00:22:41
Speaker
That was a good bit. I mentioned Dr. House. Are you guys aware that House was based on Holmes? His sidekick was Dr. Wilson, posted Dr. Watson. They're both like, you know, skeptics and into, you know, solving puzzles and drugs. drugs they both They both did drugs. You're right.
00:22:56
Speaker
So I thought that was kind of cool because Dr. Doyle's, you know, practice in medicine informed the creation of Sherlock. Right. And Sherlock informs the creation of this character who's doing medicine. And that's all I got.
00:23:06
Speaker
That's almost like a ripple thrown out into a, like a bottle into the ocean. It just comes back around. Ha ha ha. And so it's exciting. we got four of us here today. So when we vote, we could have a tie. Just like, oh, mathematically, it's impossible, Mike. i don't understand what you're talking about. I had another secret to tell you guys. A secret? had a number. A secret. it was the first secret? The first secret was that it was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I don't, I don't know.
00:23:30
Speaker
Okay. The real secret is that a lot of people were like, hey, I have an idea of what you guys should bet on. And I took my six favorites and I'm going to roll a die. And whoever wins gets whatever that prize is. I thought we were voting and whoever won got money or something. Yeah, we're not doing money. That's it. We're going to vote.
00:23:47
Speaker
Yeah. Whoever wins, I roll the die to see what they get. Okay. I love the professionalism of this podcast. For sure. I also love that it's the third installment and you've already abandoned. What did you call it? There used to be a thing where you'd say. The follow-ups or whatever that Mike invented. Follow-up. I love that. I kind of missed it this time around. Like we just jumped in. There should have been the, what are your follow-ups? We'll reboot that next time.
00:24:09
Speaker
ah Well, here's my follow-up to James. James, did you, that felt, and I don't mean this in negative way, but it felt like scripted, like like you you had worked on it and it wasn't just off the cuff. Was that just off the cuff? But if not, and I'm assuming I'm correct, did you write that yourself or were you reading from an article or what? under a lot of pressure rob told me like 19 things that i was supposed to accomplish and gave me a lot of kept following up and asking me if i was okay and if i was ready and i was like i this this had a lot more seriousness to me than i thought about it i better write something then i timed it i'm like it's a minute and 53 seconds is that too long it was a very like he did text me exactly how much time it took and i said beef it up little
00:24:45
Speaker
Well, there's also, I hear that, hey James, now that you're on the show, again, and good job, that was not a criticism. Mike has been pushing for us to all have shorter bits, and Rob has been like, let's have longer bits. so So you kind of hit the middle tidbit area, I think you did just that. Rob also concocted this whole secret thing, because he was afraid I was going to ask you or Mike for advice, and then he wouldn't be able to control my, you know, out throughput. Yeah, so i I did write it ahead of time, And then again, I also felt like you guys are so good at this.
Guest Experience and Podcast Preparation
00:25:09
Speaker
I felt like I really needed to step up my game to make sure I was at least not failing miserably as the first guest ever. Hey, wait, you definitely not.
00:25:15
Speaker
Is that well Rob? is Is there knocking at the tidbit tower door? Is there who's coming next? Who's there's nobody? I'm just kidding. I thought what i that was a sound file Rob was playing. That was you. This is how much we polished this. Rob and I did like five or six dress rehearsals of this. You got it going. It's a.
00:25:33
Speaker
i mean Meanwhile, 40 minutes ago, I was like, you guys, I don't have a tidbit.
00:25:39
Speaker
I knew you'd come through though. you know, Transformers, the movie from 1986. I think all of the tidbitters out there are going to be fascinated to know more about that movie. Honestly, part of part of my problem was I could think of lots of trivia that no one would care about. That was my biggest problem. i think The format of the tidbit makes I makes me I can care about almost anything for a tidbit.
00:25:58
Speaker
ah ah James, you you could be our marketing person. I think you got a handle on that the other. Now I kind of want the hermetic order of the Golden Dawn. Rob just mentioned that offhand like it was a thing we're all supposed to know what the hell it is. Yeah. Isn't that the coolest name of all time? I want to join the hermetic order of the Golden Dawn. It sounds like something out of like a fantasy novel. It sounds like a paladin. Tomorrow we all go get tattoos, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn right here. And then people can ask about it and you can be like, it's the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. You you know. Yes, absolutely. Yeah.
00:26:27
Speaker
All right, James, who's your vote? You can't vote for yourself. oh hes James is looking to the sky, maybe looking to the heavens. I'm going to go with Gaz because I can't stop thinking about the 1986 Orson Welles Omicron. I get it.
00:26:39
Speaker
again I think I'm going to go with, I don't know. It's it's actually, it's between James and Gaz. Only because I like James's because it was so, it was like poetry. It was like poetry. Very well written.
00:26:50
Speaker
But I think I got to go with my roots, which is Transformers fan from way back. so I got to go. i think I'm going to go with Gaz. But umm so fantastic job, James. Close runner up. Like right there, man. Mike, who's your vote for? ah You know what? I'm also going to vote for Gaz. Let's give him an overwhelming win. Wow.
00:27:07
Speaker
Well, all right. We've now taught Gaz to never prepare. What we've learned is that preparation is a horrible thing, and that could only go awry. so I have two pages of notes, which I spent like an hour writing up yesterday. and but That's great. That's great.
00:27:20
Speaker
It's great, Gaz. It's great that you won. So guys, you vote. I think I'm going to, can I give a three-way tie all three of you? I think that's all right. That's great. You've been great, everybody. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's really nice.
00:27:33
Speaker
I mean, I spent way more time than anybody, but that's cool. let's please All right, then I'll give a two-way tie to Mike and James. All right. yeah That's totally fair. There's no way you spent more time than me, Rob. It was like, you sent me this, like, hey, it's a lark, it'll be funny. And then you sent me, like, 19 texts of, like, what I was supposed to do and how I was supposed to approach it. And then it got very stressful.
00:27:53
Speaker
Let this be lesson to any future guests. I was trying very hard to make it so you wouldn't be stressed out by stressing you out. Don't talk over anybody, James. Well, that's just rude. We all talk over everybody. You're going to hold James to a higher standard than the rest of us? I did tell him unless unless it's hilarious and then it.
00:28:11
Speaker
ah Anyway, I'm going roll the dice and see what we got. putting You guys see we got a little tower here. Ooh, that's cool. Two. Oh, that's what I wanted. Okay, so it's going be, this a weird one, but Gaz, yeah here's what you've won. What have I won? You select Mike or I. Now, come next week, before we get started, you choose one word that that person cannot say when they do their tidbits or they automatically lose. So you can say, you know, don't say unostentatious, or you could say, don't say and, or don't say my, or don't say they. Just can' make it really hard. The word is um. No, you can't tell us now because then what we can rehearse. don't
00:28:46
Speaker
It doesn't matter. You're still going to say it. The word is um. Okay, so are you doing it to me or my... Well, we know Mike's not going to rehearse ahead of time, so it's not a problem for Mike. I didn't i didn't rehearse. I didn't write it. i believe I misunderstood. I thought I was supposed to... You said I have to choose now, so I chose now, but you meant the person. You choose the person now. Okay, Rob, I choose you, and I'll let you know the word next week. It's going to be... I'm going to practice all week not saying do I say um a lot? Everybody does. That's why I chose it. It's it's a no one. This is Kobayashi Maru. Good luck. Well, I'm going to beat the Kobayashi Maru and I'm going to sit there eating a green apple like all pompous because I'll know I have ah beaten a green apple. Sour apple. I just said uh not um.
00:29:26
Speaker
ah Is uh okay? Uh that right? That's not um. We can argue about that next week. All right. I think that's Back here on Kid Bits. There was, wait, there's one other piece of mail I promised I would say. Bitter Dory wanted us to bring up her name because she wants to be famous. Okay. And this is the route to fame.
00:29:44
Speaker
She was one of the few people who were really excited to know James was going to be coming in. So James, there are fans out there really excited about hearing you. And I know there's even many more, millions more, who had no idea you'd be showing up. And it's just going to be a pleasant surprise for everybody. And I love that surprise. I love James. And I'll give a shout out to Dory. Look, now I'm seeing her name as well. Congratulations, Dory, on that huge win. Everything in my picture. Right through a bottle into the ocean and it it really came back her. I think it was just now. That was her ripple that went out the world and came back to her.
00:30:18
Speaker
right, guys. I think it was a fun tidbit. Yeah. Good to see you, James. With the bicker buddies. Yeah, James. With the bicker buddies. And James, you're a bicker buddy.
00:30:30
Speaker
Yeah. He's a bigger buddy. It's great to see you guys. I had no idea there was a video component of this audio podcast. It could be a video podcast too, but it's not.
00:30:46
Speaker
And it seems gigantical scenes pouring in from your outer dreams, wrinkle mental stuff in your own stully hub.