The Anne Levine Show with Michael Over There
A weekly exploration of the BIG QUESTIONS, the beautiful, and the nearly interesting with Michael Over There.
Expect curious detours through brains, behavior, consciousness, comedy, cinema, culture, history, science, and the wonderfully unexpected. Every episode follows unlikely connections and asks the kinds of questions that are easy to understand but surprisingly difficult to answer. Sometimes we find answers. Sometimes we discover better questions.
Dedicated to the one and only Anne Hall Levine: a force of nature, the love of my life, and the one person who could make us all laugh.
The Anne Levine Show with Michael Over There
Samba, So Many Bees, and the Great Buffalo Controversy
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
A capybara sprints into freedom, a buffalo becomes a political lightning rod, and a cemetery turns out to be one of the biggest bee neighborhoods scientists have ever documented. That’s where we start, and it only gets better from there. We’re coming to you from Cape Cod with a grab bag of stories that sound absurd at first, then land with surprisingly real questions about attention, ethics, and what we choose to protect.
First up: Samba, the missing capybara from England’s Marwell Zoo, who keeps showing up in sightings and AI-generated social posts but still can’t be caught. Then we head to Bangladesh, where a rare albino buffalo draws crowds because it “looks like” Donald Trump, triggering a wave of viral fame, security concerns, and controversy over a zoo sign that doesn’t last long. We dig into why these stories spread, and what gets lost when an animal becomes content.
Then we slow down for a science gut-punch: researchers near Cornell University find an enormous aggregation of solitary ground-nesting mining bees in an Ithaca cemetery, potentially millions of pollinators living underfoot. From citizen science to pesticide-free habitat, we talk about what this discovery means for biodiversity, agriculture, and how to notice the natural world in places you’d never expect.
Finally, John from Silver Lake joins us for Waymo driverless car sightings, neighborhood change, indie film talk, and a trivia challenge that pulls real Los Angeles history into the mix. We wrap with books and movies, including “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” and a personal “found object” story that proves old stuff can still surprise you. Subscribe, share this with a curious friend, and leave a review if you like smart stories with a weird edge. What part are you still thinking about?
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Welcome From Cape Cod
SPEAKER_03Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Anne Levine Show with Michael over there. I am the aforementioned Michael, and this is indeed the Anne Levine Show. And thank you for tuning in, folks. I'm coming to you right now from uh the beautiful, beautiful Cape Cod. A little spit of sand sticking out into the ocean on the eastern side of Massachusetts. And boy, is it beautiful here. And it is uh it is time for everything to be happening, right? It is the season, things are going, things are moving right along, and we are headed straight into summer. And you know, it's the tourist season, so everything is open and all that stuff, and it's very cool. It's a great time to be here. It really is. It's this amazing time to be here. Um, but you know, it's kind of an amazing time to be anywhere, um, if you think about it, because you know, there's a there's a chance that uh that you couldn't be, right? And I'm and I'm glad that you are. So uh last week's show, I guess, went okay. Some people I got I got comments from some folks that uh that thought it was all right, you know, and um uh someone uh Nell was saying that uh one of the things that uh she thought was uh really interesting was the section on uh whether AI could create a religion and what uh Alexa thought that might be. And so that's good. I mean, uh I like the fact that people find it interesting because I find it interesting. This week we're we're looking at a bunch of other stuff, including uh a lost capybera, a buffalo that's got uh a controversial name and aesthetic. We're talking about bees and books and movies, and then we've got uh trivia with John from Silver Lake, who you know who's been on the show before, but we've got a special section where we're gonna talk to him and we got some trivia questions for him and see how uh see if he can win the grand prize. It's a
Missing Capybara Goes Viral
SPEAKER_03big deal. And we're gonna start off uh talking about Samba. Samba is a female capibara that's been missing for nearly three months now, and she's become a social media sensation. It's really, it's really kind of fun. Uh nine-month-old Samba escaped from England's Marwell Zoo on the 16th of March along with another uh buddy of hers. And although she's been uh reportedly spotted fairly frequently, they still can't catch her. In fact, the search has been so intense, they've had a team of dogs, they've had drones out uh to locate her, you know, and uh part of the problem is Capiberas, who are the largest rodents in the world, by the way, can run up to 22 miles an hour. So they're very fast, and you know, they're not they're not uh stupid, they're kind of clever. So two days after Samba escaped, she was reportedly spotted at a beer garden about two miles from the zoo. Emma Smith, the manager of the ship in, told the uh uh the news there that it's been proper crazy. This is just a little village, you know. Samba was also filmed sunbathing on the banks of a river and then going in for a dip by a dog walker named uh Claudie Paddock, who said it was bonkers. I didn't even know what a capy bearer was. And can you imagine? If you've not seen a capy bear, it looks like um, I don't know, maybe a tall guinea pig, but about 20 times the size. So they're very big. Um, you know, they're they're the size of a really good-sized dog, that's for sure. Anyway, as a result of uh her shenanigans, fans have started creating AI-generated images on uh social media. I've seen a bunch of them on TikTok and on YouTube. And um, what they've done is they've taken her and put her in different local activities. So she likes she's shopping at the mall, or she's getting her hair done at the salon, or she's watching a soccer game or something like that. It's been fun. The Marwan Zoo's most recent update included the most recent sighting, which is, I believe, on the 6th of May, saying the local area provides plenty of natural vegetation and habitat for Capibera, allowing Samba to find both food and shelter easily. This also means she's likely to stay well hidden, making the search more challenging. Despite this, our teams remain fully committed to the search and to bringing her home safely.
Albino Buffalo Sparks Naming Backlash
SPEAKER_03Our second story also comes from a long way away from Cape Cod. It's from Dhaka. And with his shock of golden red hair and a trimmed 700 kilogram or 1,500-pound build, Donald Trump has been drawing crowds from across Bangladesh since he arrived at the National Zoo recently. This is a rare albino buffalo who became a sensation when a farmer noticed that his blonde tuft of hair kind of reminded him of the United States president. After a video of the pale-horned animal went viral on social media, large numbers of people started showing up at the farm to see him for themselves. The animal was originally meant to be slaughtered for the Muslim Festival of Sacrifice, but citing security concerns, the government ordered him transferred to the zoo, where large crowds are now braving the sweltering heat just to see him. On Tuesday, a week ago, visitors pressed against the fence against the Buffalo's enclosure, filming with their phones. You know, dads are got their kids on their shoulders to get a better view, all this stuff. A zoo worker pampered the animal, was up there brushing his hair to one side, hosing him down to make sure that he stays nice and cool. A student from DACA said there is a resemblance to Donald Trump in its eyes, hairstyle, and skin color. And just as Donald Trump has a distinctive personality and lifestyle, this buffalo, after going viral, is now living a similar kind of life, enjoying a lot of attention and special treatment. How about that? Local media reported that the exhibit in initially included a sign that had the name Donald Trump, which has since been removed, and the zoo curator was fired, though they gave no official cause for his dismissal. But some people clearly found, you know, that was in poor taste, I guess. Giving a farm animal the name of one of the world's most influential leaders was certainly the wrong thing to do, said DACA resident Mohammed Joinal Adadin, who visited the zoo to see the buffalo anyway. It seems disrespectful, he said, I think the farmer who did this made a poor decision. Now, this buffalo was sold ahead of the Feast of Sacrifice when the home minister Saluddin Ahmed ordered police to take the animal into custody. The authorities refunded the buyer, which I think is only reasonable, don't you? Rachel
Millions Of Ground Bees In Cemetery
SPEAKER_03Florida used to save money by parking at Ithaca's East Hill Plaza and walking through the East Lawn Cemetery on her way to work at Cornell University Entomology Lab. During one walk in the spring of 2022, she noticed something unusual. Bees were everywhere. She collected some in a jar and brought them to her supervisor, Brian Danforth, who was the professor of entomology at Cornell's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Bees are all over the cemetery, she told him. These insects were identified as Adrena regularis, commonly called the regular mining bee. A solitary wild bee species that nests underground and helps pollinate crops and wild plants. Rachel's simple observation led to an extraordinary discovery. Researchers found that the cemetery contains one of the largest and oldest known aggregations of ground nesting bees ever documented. Scientists estimate the site is home to roughly five and a half million individual bees concentrated within a one and a half acre area. According to the researchers, that's comparable to more than 200 honey bee hives and exceeds the population of Manhattan by more than three times. At least, you know, as far as density is concerned. I'm sure there are other large bee aggregations that exist around the world that we haven't identified yet. But in terms of what is in the literature, this is one of the largest, said Steve Hogue, a class of 2024, lead author of the study published April 13th in the uh journal uh Apidology. It's it spelled weird, folks. Hogue conducted the work as an undergraduate researcher in Dan Forth's lab. This study explored the biology of these poorly understood wild bees while also highlighting their importance as pollinators for valuable agricultural crops like apples, which is, you know, one of New York's signature commodities. Come on. You ever seen a Cortland apple? Come on. All right. The research elevates the value of solitary ground nesting bees and shows you just how abundant these bees are, how important they are as crop pollinators, and that we need to be aware of these nest sites and preserve them, Dan Forth said. Now, historical records showed that A. Regularis has been present president has been present at the East Lawn Cemetery since at least the early 1900s, and the cemetery itself dates back to 1878. Scientists say this discovery strengthens the idea that cemeteries can act as important refuges for biodiversity. Older cemeteries, especially in cities, are already known to shelter uncommon plants, insects, birds, mammals. I mean, think about Central Park. There are so many critters there that you really wouldn't expect, being in the middle of eight million people, but hey, they're there. It's pretty cool. Kevin Morse, superintendent of the East Lawn Cemetery, said he's seen deer, geese, hawks, foxes, coyotes, and countless bees during his family's 46 years helping manage the nonprofit cemetery. And of course, the bees, he said, have never stung him. So they're obviously very nice. Researchers explain that cemeteries provide especially good habitat for bees because the land is peaceful, it's rarely disturbed, and it's largely free of pesticides. And although honey bees receive the most public attention, about 75% of bee species are solitary ground nesters like this mining bee. It's absolutely the most common lifestyle for bees. When Steve Hogue began researching the species, he found surprisingly little scientific information available. How about that? One of the most detailed references dated back to 1978, giving them an opportunity to, you know, better document the biology of this thing. The females create underground nests and they place eggs in chambers filled with pollen and nectar. And then the larva develop there beneath the surface before they come out of the ground as adults. And they spend the winter in the ground. It's pretty rare, but that's part of the reason why they come out of the ground so early in the spring. They come out as soon as the apple blossoms come out, these bees come out. And it's almost always the males who do it first. And mostly because they're pretty smart. They know if that if they're out there first, and then the girls come out of the ground, there's somebody already there looking at them saying, hey, baby, let's make some children. So they have a better chance. If they're there first. That's really, you know, that's how things work, man. They're smart. So they pollinate apple trees, yeah. But they also visit other fruit trees and other wild flowers that bloom early in the season. In New York, they're typically coming around, you know, out in April. Cornell Orchards, which is located about a third of a mile from the cemetery, might be helping the massive bee population by providing a lot of spring flowers. Danforth also noted the bees prefer sandy soil, which the cemetery has got a lot of. So how do you count millions of bees? I wondered that, and then they told me. To estimate the bee population and to study their emergence patterns, researchers used a new method involving what they what they call emergence traps. And emergence traps are really just small mesh tents that uh they they only cover about a meter of ground, a square meter of ground, and there's a jar, like a uh on the end of it, and the bees they lay this on the ground, and all of the insects, and it's not just bees, come out and they're funneled in this net uh through into a jar. And they collected between March 30th and May 16th of 2023, in 10 traps, they collected 3,251 insects. And that's 16 species of bees, beetles, and flies. And of course, the uh the mining bees, the air regularis, was the overwhelmingly largest number. So then the researchers did nerd stuff and they estimated the total population of the bees ranged from about 3 million to 8 million, and that gives you an average of about five and a half. Well, very interesting, Michael, you might say all this stuff about the bees, but what does that have to do with me? Good question. To help locate and protect similar sites because they believe that they are very important and for reasons that we've already mentioned. Danforth and his colleagues have launched a global citizen science initiative encouraging people to record and report ground bees in areas that they encounter. I know I have some where I live. I've got bumblebees. Bumblebees live in the ground. At least mine do. I've watched them, I've followed them there. It's pretty cool. Some of these populations of bees are absolutely huge and they need protection, said Dan Forth. If we don't preserve these nesting sites and someone paves over them, you could lose in an instant five and a half million bees. And that is a problem because you're losing all of that potential pollination. So if you see ground bees, tell a science-y person to start keeping track of them, okay? That's all I'm saying. That's the important takeaway here. And I don't want to fail to mention that the study that we're talking about here, its co-authors included postdoctoral researchers Jordan Kuhneman, Catherine Oganaka, the aforementioned undergraduate student Stephen Hogue from the class of 2024, Cassidy Dobler of the class of 2026. Congratulations on your graduation there. And obviously, lab technician Rachel Fordyce, who started this whole thing. Just walking to work.
SPEAKER_01Delicious things to eat. The popcorn can't be beat. The sparkling treats are just cast beats. The chocolate barcode can be. So let's all go to the lobby to get ourselves a treat. Let's all go to the lobby to get ourselves a treat.
John In Silver Lake Checks In
SPEAKER_03Now it's time for our man on the street interview. And this week's Man in the Street is John in Silver Lake. Hello, John.
SPEAKER_05Well, hello, Michael, over there. It is so exciting.
SPEAKER_03How's it going uh over there in the beautiful uh neighborhood of Silver Lake?
SPEAKER_05It is so gorgeous. I am looking at a pink and orange boobandelia bush that is growing all over the backyard. Uh last night I heard all this noise. I think it was game two in the NBA final. A topic that I know nothing about, but there was a lot of celebration in the street last night. And and um we're doing great. I mean, all all I can say is since the last time I spoke with you, um, back in, I think it was the first week of March, there are waymo, way more silver like Oh really?
SPEAKER_03That is so funny.
SPEAKER_05It is mushrooming.
SPEAKER_03Wow, that is so you're like just tripping over robots everywhere?
SPEAKER_05I feel like George Jackson.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. That's really funny because I've been spending a lot of time on the on the show talking about robots and about how I'm thinking they're gonna be you know more common than microwaves.
SPEAKER_05Oh, it's coming out.
SPEAKER_03It's already already there.
SPEAKER_05It is so crazy. Um, and uh, you know, there still are the delivery robots, which I mentioned, but what's happened now is just there's so many more Waymo cars, and there's a new model um that can handle a larger uh crowd. I just saw one.
SPEAKER_03So what like four or six people or something like that?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, like like a sort of like a bigger taxi. Yeah. You know, in Manhattan. Something that that looks like a 1980s minivan.
SPEAKER_03Wow. Oh, and now is this is this anything have you ever used it? Have you ever done you know gone that route?
SPEAKER_05I don't know. I don't know, Michael. I think the only time that I could ever use in Waymo was if um uh it's if I've been out to a party.
SPEAKER_03Oh, okay, right. And you've got no other way of getting home. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Seriously, yeah. Uh uh, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Now because is it because you you don't trust the the idea of it itself or it's too expensive? I mean, what's the what's the deal?
SPEAKER_05No, I just think it's it's this whole thing of driverless cars is being normalized so quickly and it's unreal. It's like um there are all these cars driving around with nobody driving them.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that is a little crazy. I I I agree. Although we were supposed to oh, I'm sorry, we were supposed to have flying cars by 2000, you know.
SPEAKER_05I know. Yep, yeah. Oh boy. Well, that'll help with the parking issues and so forth.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that uh I mean, and now flying cars with no drivers. See, I'm not ready for any of that. I'm not ready for a car with no driver.
SPEAKER_05Yes. That's just weird. That's just weird.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Yep. Yeah, oh my god. And I think there's a movie coming. Or is that just some crazy meme I've seen? I think there's a George Jetson movie coming. Oh right. Oh, right. Or I've lost my mind. I've lost my mind, and now I'll bleed anything.
SPEAKER_03Well, you know, that would be cool if there was like a live-action Jetsons movie. That would be pretty cool.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I think it's coming. I think it I think it's in the works. Um yes, everything is ship-shaped here on the east side of Los Angeles uh in Silver Lake. I'm I'm delighted to report.
SPEAKER_03Right on. Well, I am very happy to hear it. Uh tell me uh what is the weather like? Uh what's the weather like today?
SPEAKER_05Uh oh, it's been brutal. Brutal for a 66-year-old man who's going on a four-mile power walk at 85 degrees at the end of the afternoon. It's I wonder.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_05I wonder if that's a good choice for me. But it's been hot. It's been it's been quite hot here.
SPEAKER_03So when you go when you go walking, where do you where do you go? Do you go do you go to the reservoir? Do you go that far? Or do you just you're just walking around the neighborhood, or what are you doing?
SPEAKER_05What I do is I walk up to um I walk up to uh the Silver Lake Reservoir, and it's it's a little it's a little mini uh Central Park. Um there are people selling juice and there are people walking their dogs and people pushing baby carriages and people jogging with baby carriages. Um it's it's great. Yeah, it is it's so beautiful up there.
SPEAKER_03Well, that sounds awesome, actually.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, we we have Canadian geese visiting. Uh but it's it's wonderful, and you're out there and you're doing your power walk, and it's Los Angeles. So every now and then, more often than not, someone comes jogging by and they're like, they're ready to be freshly minted as a movie star.
SPEAKER_03Ah, yes, of course. Of course they are.
SPEAKER_05So that's that's that's what the backdrop looks like on a power walk.
SPEAKER_03Right on, yeah. Well, that sounds pretty cool. Um, the Brooklyn of LA, right?
Waymo Driverless Cars Meet Gentrification
SPEAKER_03I mean, is that what they people call Silver Lake? That's what I've heard.
SPEAKER_05Um, absolutely, it's the same sort of thing. The the streets that you would, well, what am I saying? The shops that you would find in Silver Lake, like the the corporate shops that you would find in an upscale neighborhood in New York City, they're all here. It's all the same brand. Um, and you know, but the sort of the sad thing is all the kind of groovy little antique shops and and secondhand clothing stores, all of those have pretty much disappeared because the commercial rent is insane in this part of Los Angeles right now. So the things that made the neighborhood groovy are leaving and we're sort of slowly and subversively turning into a billboard for cool and hipness. And Silver Lake is just a brand now.
SPEAKER_03Right, right, yeah, I get it.
SPEAKER_05Whoa, which brings me to another thing. I don't
An Indie Film Surprise Role
SPEAKER_05think I I didn't share this with you at all. So about two years ago, my friends put me into this little independent film, and it was one of these deals where the budget was like $500,000. And now that doesn't sound like an awful lot of money, but in the world of independent film, if you have a half a million dollars and you get all your friends, I mean that's a real budget. That I mean, yeah, honest to God, it's like um I mean, this is where the life of storytelling is in Hollywood right now, are all these little films that people are doing. So anyway, my point was the movie is called uh Situation. And um, boy, I'm not even I'm not even prepared for a press tour. Um the movie is Situation, it's about it's about a straight white guy and how he deals with uh this horrible breakup um with his girlfriend and how he uh finds his way out of it, and it's very funny, and it's very upsetting, and it's ultimately um uplifting, but there's some really great writing. There's some wonderful writing. So I'm not gonna say that's basically what it's about. Um and we had our opening. That's what I was trying to say. We had our New York our New York premiere was uh two weeks ago. Oh, yeah. And I had never seen I had never seen the film, and so I received it for the first time, and I was just sort of like, oh, very cool. There are there are so many, there's so many talented actors in Los Angeles. Oh, that's wonderful. This the these guys pulled together like such a tight group of film actors. I was just sort of blown away by the overall level of talent, and um they had a great uh DP and wow, wow. And you know, I'm I'm one of those actors that I don't need to, I don't like looking at me. You know, a lot of actors will say, like Leonardo DiCaprio will look at various takes that he's done to refine his performance. Oh, I want the last thing I want to do is look at myself.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_05And certainly, certainly I don't need to see myself like 30 feet by you know, 20.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that no, I would not be good with that either. I I would be criticizing every single thing.
SPEAKER_05Well, yeah. Exactly, exactly. It's not helpful. But anyway, so we had a premiere. It was really um, it was really uh wild um and fun and around the corner here at uh at a movie theater, and here's where I'm not prepared for the press uh tour. Um we were hosted by a film society in Los Angeles that has a hundred and fifty thousand members. And it's like a hundred and fifty thousand doesn't sound like a lot of people, but in like it's a niche group. Yeah, yeah. I mean, there's there's this really cool group of people in Los Angeles that are making movies between uh, you know, five hundred thousand and one point five million dollars. All the these little these little films are happening. Yeah. And people are very passionate about it and they want to tell their story. And anyway, it was um, very excited. Yeah, I it was so crazy. And the thing is, is I didn't audition. My this is literally, hey, we're doing this movie. You want to be in it? And I'll sure I'll be in this movie. Um, and I didn't even audition for the director or the producers or the writers. You're just in the movie.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, right on. Right on.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_03So well that doesn't happen every day.
SPEAKER_05No, not at all. This is the sort of thing that honest to God, 35 years ago when I came to Los Angeles, this is this is all you know I wanted to do. So it's it's it's hilarious 35 years later, um, doing something uh that you wanted to do and you got to do.
SPEAKER_03It's gotta be cool.
SPEAKER_05So I didn't expect to share all that, but all of a sudden I thought got that.
SPEAKER_03Go right on.
Trivia On Disney And LGBTQ History
SPEAKER_03Well, we have been talking about Silver Lake, and uh and because of that, uh I have put together a few trivia questions for you. Oh wow. Okay, okay, let's see. And uh I want it, yep, that's right. And I will tell you there are four questions. If you get the majority of them right, uh you do win a prize. So it's pretty exciting. It's uh it's three sticks of gum from the pack of my choosing.
SPEAKER_05So it's a pretty big prize. Oh, I was hoping there was still some bad art in the vault.
SPEAKER_03Oh, well, I mean, we do have some. Yeah, we do. We'll we'll we'll get around to that one of these days. But anyway, it's that's what's in the prize closet right now. So okay.
SPEAKER_05I'm on board. Okay. I'm in this. All right, in this to win Michael over there.
SPEAKER_03Okay. Uh Silver Lake John. Where was Mickey Mouse born?
SPEAKER_05Wow. Oh, that's good. See, I want to say uh uh immediately I want to say Burbank, but it could be something, it could be something stranger with with where was Walt Disney before Burbank? Um I think I think uh God, it can't it can't be that obvious. It can't be Burbank. Um Okay. Well, can I tell you where United Artists started?
SPEAKER_03Uh no, no, I mean that wouldn't that won't answer this question. Okay, well United Artists started. That's one down. I will tell you where Mickey Mouse was born. Where? At 2719 Hyperion Avenue in Silver Lake.
SPEAKER_05No kidding.
SPEAKER_03They were there from 1926 to 1940, and not only was Mickey Mouse started there, but uh they did Dead Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs there as well.
SPEAKER_05Okay. I had I I didn't really know that at all. I didn't really know that at all. I do know this that around the corner here in Silver Lake are the um the uh Max no no no Max Senate Studios. That sounds like a that could be true. I mean I that comes out of my mouth, and that sounds like a lot of people.
SPEAKER_03Well, I do I do have another question sort of related to what you just said. So uh where was the first permanent movie studio in California located? All right, the hint is not Hollywood.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I'm gonna guess uh well I no no no, there's something across from the Hollywood Bowl. There's a barn. There's a barn uh across the street from the Hollywood Bowl where the Beatles had their last concert, um live concert. I there's there's something, somebody's barn across from the Hollywood Bowl, but there's also there's something here in Silver Lake. It's uh off of fountain, and it's either where uh Max Bennett Studios were or who else? Mark uh was it oh no, I don't know.
SPEAKER_03Well, uh you know well, I'm I'm I'm gonna sort of I'm gonna give it you you're really kind of close enough there. Um it's actually uh C League Polyscope was the name of the of the uh studio, and it started right there in Silver Lake. Yeah, there's what eventually turned into Max Senate Studios, but it started off as Sealag Polyscope in 1909.
SPEAKER_05So I actually knew something. Yes, I just said answered the crazy way.
SPEAKER_03That's right.
SPEAKER_05Okay. Okay. All right, bring it.
SPEAKER_03Question number three.
SPEAKER_05Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_03It's a big one. Name the birthplace of LGBTQ activism holding one of the biggest protests for gay rights in 1967, two years before Stonewall ever happened.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, it was uh Barney's Beanery on Santa Monica Boulevard.
SPEAKER_03Close. No, it was the Black Cat Tavern. Oh no, still in Silver Lake, yes. Oh my god, it's right around the corner. Yeah. It's right around the corner. That's absolutely true.
SPEAKER_05Okay.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that's right. Uh okay, one more final question. Yes. In 2001, the co-founder and the bassist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, who goes by the name of Flea, he co-founded a nonprofit conservatory of music for underprivileged children. Where is this organization located?
SPEAKER_05Wow. Well, I'm gonna guess I'm gonna guess uh Silver Lake.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, hey, very good. Yay! It's the actually it's called the Silver Lake Conservatory of Music, and it's still up and running. And uh yeah.
SPEAKER_05This is the hilarious thing. You mentioned to me that there would be a quiz, and I don't want to have a game show podcast handle, but you did mention to me before that the answer would be the same. I did tell you, I know I know, and wow man, that went right out of my head. Yeah, and it was like I was in like third grade taking those Iowa tests.
SPEAKER_03Well, we're gonna we're gonna call you the we're gonna call you the winner anyway. We're gonna say uh thank you. Yeah, and uh it's so you're gonna win the prize, obviously.
SPEAKER_05So yeah, great. Oh, excellent.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. All right. Whew. Well, good job with the trivia there. Um there is a lot of there's a lot of history right there, right around where you live. I mean, it's crazy, isn't it?
SPEAKER_05Oh yeah, yeah, and I think there's there's also you might want to look it in into this. There's some bridge. There's some bridge in Silver Lake that has that was designed by someone that had something to do with Disney. See, this is the kind of trivia I love. It's vague.
SPEAKER_03Yep. And then you well, and you have the stairs. Yes. Yeah, all through there, yeah. That uh that connect, you know, different parts of the neighborhood that were when people had to actually walk everywhere. Yeah. It seems very cool.
SPEAKER_05Um, it's a it's a neighborhood in transition, but one of the best things about it is it's just filled with 20 and 30 year olds.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_05And I always say this, but it's the truth. I'm like the oldest person in Silver Lake.
SPEAKER_03Well, it's great energy to be around. All kids.
SPEAKER_05It's all like young kids, listen to me.
SPEAKER_03Right on.
SPEAKER_05Um, but it's it's the energy is here. It's not it's not manicured at all on the on the east side. It's just kind of fun.
SPEAKER_03Well,
Renovation Prep And The Bandana Curse
SPEAKER_03uh speaking of speaking of transitions, um you're you're doing renovations on an apartment there.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, are you not? Yeah. How's that going? Yeah, we're well, we have been using the apartment um storing things in it. So it's been this for the last two weeks, we've been slowly preparing the apartment um for renovation. I see. Um, and we're looking at um we're looking at stackable washers and dryers, and we're looking um we I think we we have a uh a painter lined up. We're really we're positioning ourselves um to uh open up this unit. We've been using it as our um it's our guest cup.
SPEAKER_02Oh, okay. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05And and and we're about to open it up.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_05Well right. That was sort of a that was sort of an ominous slide.
SPEAKER_03It does did sound sort of ominous. You're about to open the apartment. Sound sounds like an Egyptian tomb. I know. Is there a curse? Do you have to have some priest come and bless the door before you open it?
SPEAKER_05Yeah. How the curse manifests is you start wearing bandanas tied around your head. Ah, okay. And you and you end every sentence with the word man, you know. And yeah, man. It's like everything ends with the word man. Every second.
SPEAKER_04I gotcha. Man. Just a minute, folks. Yes, that's all it takes to visit our refreshment counter in the lobby. There you'll find popcorn and an assortment of popular candy bars to play as every taste. Try one of these delicious candy bars. Big time, butternut, milk cake, payday, top with Hollywood super rich coating of the kind you like best. They taste wonderful, they're delicious, they're nutritious. Get one at our confection cover in the lobby now.
SPEAKER_03Okay, so
Bill Bryson And Walter Mitty
SPEAKER_03let's talk about things that are literary uh in nature. Right? Uh I've got a short story I want to talk about, and then uh uh and a book, a short story, and then uh we'll get into some other things. One, uh a couple of them related to the short story we want to talk about. Anyway, here's a book that I recommend to everybody who is curious. It's a it's a great idea. It's called A Short History of Nearly Everything. And it is a um it's a book that basically explains at least according to the author, everything that's happened from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization, why Pluto is no longer a planet, uh, how the number of moons in the solar system has more than doubled in the last 20 years. Yeah, uh, how scientists have used genetics to discover there's an unknown species of humans that we never knew about way from way back when. It's a fascinating thing. The author is Bill Bryson, and he's making these really complex subjects clear and compelling for everyone who's got an interest in the world around them, which I very definitely do. Now the very first book. Because it's it's the second edition. So it's really a it's the same book, but it's fully revised and updated from uh the time that it was written to begin with, which was 10 years ago or something like that. And um there was an illustrated version of the first edit. And you can still get that, uh, which is actually pretty cool. I've seen it. And uh but there isn't one for the second edit just yet. So you know, hang tight because that's uh that's coming. Okay. I don't know. I don't know if it's coming or not. I don't know if the if uh Bryson did the illustrated version or not, or just you know, someone else added the illustrations. I don't know. I just looked at it, it wasn't my book. Okay, come on. Man, you people are you people are brutal. All right, let's talk about a short story that I absolutely love. The Secret Life of Walter Middy. It was written by James Thurber in 1939. And it describes Walter as a kind but mild man who's handpecked and harassed by basically everyone. And he escapes all of that by imagining himself leading exciting lives that are based on pulp magazines that he's read. And these daydreams frequently give him a lot of trouble. Is pretty dark and there's a sort of a convergence of fantasy and reality. But there's no there's no crossing that line, it's just a his indulgence into fantasy is causing problems in his real life. If you if you have not read the original short story, do so. But don't tell anybody that you haven't, because I actually think you're breaking a law and you could probably get in really serious trouble. I think everybody is by law required to read that. Uh a lot of people have gotten away with reading the short story by watching the movies that have been made of it. And let's talk about those because they're pretty great, actually. They're very different from each other, but they're pretty great. In 1947, Danny Kay starred as Walter Middy. And when you have Danny Kay at the very height of his popularity, what you do is you build around his talents as a comedian, singer, and a performer, right? That's what you do. So in this movie, Walter's pushed around by nearly everyone in his life, and he escapes into elaborate fantasies inspired by Pope magazines and adventure stories and so on. But eventually the elements of fantasy and reality start to overlap because he becomes involved in an actual criminal conspiracy. Okay, so that's that's a big difference right there. And here are things that stand out about this movie that I that I love. It is very much a post-World War II Hollywood comedy. And it's uh it's very fast-paced, it's got a lot of verbal humor, it's Danny Kay. There's a lot of musical numbers and comic, you know, sort of set pieces and stuff. It's it's a bit on the silly side, even. And for those of you who who like this kind of thing, Boris Karloff is actually in a supporting role. And I think if you like uh classic radio comedy like I do, having hosted a show for many years of classic radio comedy shows, and if you like old Hollywood musicals and and if you like Danny Kay, this thing is made for you. It's it's a great movie. Now, there's been another one made in 2013, and it stars Ben Stiller, and this one sort of transforms the concept of the story into a sort of modern day story about loneliness, uh, about the about corporate change and sort of the inevitability of that and personal reinvention. And Walter Walter works in a photo department of Life magazine as it is transitioning from the print version to digital, and somehow a photograph, a crucial photograph, has gone missing, and he is going out into the world to find it and actually going to places like Greenland, Iceland, the Himalayas, and so on. Here's why this mu movie is worth looking at. It's gorgeous, it's absolutely beautiful. The cinematography is incredible, it's a lot less comedy, and there's a lot more sort of emotional resonance going on in there. And there are, if you're a person of a certain age, there are themes about middle age and regret and taking chances and so on. It's got a really cool soundtrack. And here's what happens the fantasy sequences in the movie eventually sort of give way to actual experiences. Now, a lot of people who don't like Ben Stiller, uh, and and I think there are there are a few. I know I know a couple of them. Uh I don't agree with them. I think he's I think he's brilliant, but I don't I don't know. There's there's a lot of reasons for that, I think. But a lot of people who don't like Ben Stiller consider it like one of his most sincere and probably his most underrated film. And I can't really argue with that. He's really he's really very good, and it the story is good. It's not the short story from 1939, and it is not the 1947 film with Danny Kay. It's its own thing, and that's that's okay. Um, even though it's got the same name. And you know, you uh going into it, I sort of thought, okay, this is you know, we're gonna be looking at kind of the same thing. And while there is that, you know, that fantasy element of it, which they do uh they do a good job with, you know, it's it's definitely not the same thing. No, that's I mean, that's what I'm saying. Now let's talk about my discovery of the week.
Hidden Letter Under An Antique Drawer
SPEAKER_03Um, you know how like one day you're just wandering around your house and you're poking through drawers and you know, you're like looking in closets. Like, uh because I do this a lot. I mean, there are a lot of doors and closets and stuff in this house. It's an old house that's been added on to, you know, bit by bit for over almost three centuries. And uh there's always something to open. And I do that every once in a while because um well, um because it's fun. It's it's interesting to see, hey, what is behind there? Because I'm getting older, I've probably forgotten about it, and you know, and I may have forgotten about it because there's nothing back there, you know, that kind of thing. So you're just kind of doing that. You're looking in the closet and you're you're doing your normal thing, and then suddenly you find something that's been hidden and something special, and it's it's always been there. You have seen this object a hundred times, and you had no idea there was a a secret. Okay, not not you, uh me. That's what happened to me the other day. I'm wandering around the house, poking through the drawers, looking in closets, doing normal stuff. I mean, part of what I have to do is gather up everything here and um, you know, find something to do with it. There's so much stuff, and it's I'm just one guy now. I'm not a, you know, and I've got to, I've definitely got to cut down the amount of stuff. So that is really the reason that I'm doing it recently. But uh so there I am poking around. And I open a desk in one of the rooms upstairs, and it's a just a very plain looking desk. I can't even tell you from looking at it, because I'm not an expert in uh antique furniture, you know. I mean, I can tell you like what a federal style looks like typically, you know, because it's very, it's really kind of obvious. This, I I don't know what kind of style it is. It's got a lot of round things on it, but it's just a desk, and it's just a plain old wood desk. And and I'm I open the drawer not knowing what I'm gonna find. And and what I find is nothing except there's a piece of paper that has been glued to the bottom of the drawer. And I I was looking at it, and it looked like it's also at one time someone had taped it down there because there's lots of marks around it where there were there used to be tape. And um and a little later, when I when I took it out and flipped was flipping the drawer around and taking a look at it, I could also tell that the letter itself was probably nailed to the bottom of the drawer, on the outside bottom of the drawer, because there's a corner of an old piece of paper sort of still nailed to it. And it it comes fairly close. I, you know, not uh I don't know about forensically a match, but it's pretty close to a corner that's missing on the paper that's in the drawer. Anyway, okay, so there we got that. So there's a letter. And it's uh on letterhead from uh a company called Old Colony Railroad, which is very cool. Um Old Colony Railroad, by the way, went out of business in 1893. So we know that uh the desk, of course, has to be prior to that, at least we assume, because written on the desk or on the paper that's glued to the desk drawer, it are lines of text saying this desk was in a drawing room car for the old Colony Railroad. And on such and such a date, President William Harrison used this desk when he traveled from here to there in Massachusetts. And he used this desk when he traveled from there to the other place, and his wife used this desk when she traveled from here to there on such and such a date. And then uh another line that says, and then ex-president Grover Cleveland and his wife had the same situation, different dates listed where they were the where they rode in this train car and uh where they rode to, and the fact that they use this desk. I had no idea. No one had ever told me that. I know, I knew Emily Levine, the woman who you know owned this house. She never said a thing. Uh Ann never said a thing. I don't know if Ann even knew that that was there. That's the thing. It's right there in front of you, and it's been there forever. And how do you even know what it is? You don't. It's just a desk. And then one day you just look at it, and you find this really cool thing that was just sitting around long before I got here. And it had a a secret, and it had a very cool one. So let me ask, what kind of secrets have you found while just poking around? Because I know they're out there. I know you found them too. It's not j it's not just me. Okay, folks.
Takeaways Plus A Farewell Tune
SPEAKER_03So, what have we learned on the show this week? Well, I'll tell you. Most bees live underground. How about that? I I mean that is not something I knew. I knew bees lived underground, but I didn't know it was 75% of them. That's a that's a big thing. And there are immensely large hive situations in places you never would think, like the cemetery that uh next to Cornell in Ithaca, New York. A place I've been many times, by the way, through, have walked through the grounds many times. Uh, I probably have even walked through the cemetery when I used to live in that area of upstate New York in the Finger Lakes area. And uh Ithaca was a place that we used to go because, well, it was gorgeous for one. And um and we would often go there in the autumn because we really got you got we got really good views actually in that in that area. Although in upstate New York, in the autumn, it's all maple trees, so it's all gorgeous everywhere. But so what you do in a situation like that is you tend to go and try to find the most gorgeous of all of the gorgeous views. And quite often, Ithaca was leading the way there. Anyway, okay. So most bees live underground in Ithaca or not. And uh, number two, you can lead a Cappy Burrow to shelter, but you can't make them stay. Samba left within nine hours of getting there, and they still haven't found her. Silver Lake, California has got a lot of real history. Stuff I didn't understand, things I didn't really know, and things I'm very excited about. I think it's very cool. Um, because uh maybe uh well well uh I can tell you here, I'm I'm headed that way. Uh to to California. And uh, of course I'm taking the show with me. Anyway, let's move on to number four. Um, books when made into movies can very quickly end up being nothing like the original. I mean, and that makes that makes sense. Quite often, movies don't look anything like their original screenplay. So, you know, it doesn't it doesn't surprise me anything that uh at all that a you know a book or a short story or whatever might have a total transformation, but it's still it tries to you know pay homage in a way, you know, to the original. So that's that's at least good. Uh let's see. Oh yeah, and uh one more thing. Old stuff is still pretty cool. Old stuff, you know, not not not like people, like desks and stuff you find, you know. Uh whatever. For Anne Levine, folks. Please put a light on.
SPEAKER_00There's my new star in heaven tonight tonight. There's my new star in heaven tonight. I call it Father the Father 'cause it shine so bright. It's my new star in heaven tonight. There's my new star in heaven tonight. There's my new star in heaven tonight. For you, my new star in heaven. See my new star in heaven tonight. See my new star in heaven. Oh my brother. My new star in heaven. There's my new star in heaven today.
