Episode 34: Listener Mailbag Questions

You listen. You ask. We answer. Enjoy.

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:03

Welcome to the Flyover Guides, a show by two middle-aged Midwestern fellows who are just trying to figure out what was, what is, and what will be about aspects of American culture from our little potato toil here in the Heartland. So jump on board with this week's episode. It is reader mailbag time. Let's go. Um all right. Well, how's the dog days of summer?

SPEAKER_01 0:25

Not bad. Is it reader or listener?

SPEAKER_03 0:29

Listener. We yeah. That's that's a good sign.

SPEAKER_01 0:32

That means that we actually have people who listen.

SPEAKER_03 0:37

Yeah, because yeah, I don't even want to make a comment on that. Yeah. Good. I'm so scattered this morning. Um are you by the way, I meant to ask, how's our how's your World Cup viewing? Are you still in on it?

SPEAKER_01 0:50

Oh, 100%. Yeah, uh Morocco, France today. I'm ready for Saturday's uh England, Norway. That's my uh big one.

SPEAKER_03 1:01

So I I did check out tickets for Arrowhead for Argentina and Switzerland, and the cheapest I found was fourteen hundred dollars. Yeah. So I decided to hold off. Um, but yeah, I think I agree with you. Uh England, Norway, what is it, Holland? Oh, yeah. I mean, he lives up to every Norwegian stereotype, and it's like, let's go. So I'm all in on that. That's I think it's great.

SPEAKER_01 1:27

It's great. I think the stars have had really good tournaments, uh, like Messi and uh Mbappe and Mbappe and Kane and all. Harry Kane. But I think the guy who's come out of this on top is Holland from Norway. His obviously he's a great player, and everybody who follows Premier League and all this stuff knows about him already, but he has been the one whose stock I think has risen the most. So good for him, and I'm all on I'm now that the US is out, I'm I'm pro 100% Norway. Let's go. You're pro Norway?

SPEAKER_03 2:03

I'm I'm kind of whoever wins that match. Yeah. Norway, England. I think I'm okay with either one. So yeah, that's great. Um, okay. Well, so we asked online and in different places. So I've had people DM me and send me stuff online uh to our listeners about questions they have that can be anything. So we uh we will try to pour through as many as we can. So um there's the mail delivery. All right, it has arrived. So our first question, I'll throw this one to you. Um we've got a couple from a good man in Virginia, so I'll split them up. What was something from your childhood that you thought was great at the time, but in hindsight was terrible? And then conversely, something you thought was terrible that actually is great.

SPEAKER_01 3:01

All right, so you sent me how to come up with Yeah, you sent me these questions, and I think the overall strategy I have for this is I just kind of wrote down or thought about what came to mind first. So I'm kind of going with my my gut instinct here. I didn't overthink it, I didn't go deep into thought. So what was something that was great at the time but it's terrible? First thing that came to mind, easy cheese. Cheese explain cheese that comes in a like spray can with a little nozzle that you push down, and we used to just line crackers up and just pile that stuff on, and if we didn't have crackers, we would tip that sucker up and just spray it directly into our mouth. I think one one time I was in charge. I went to the store and my kids were like, What is that? They still make it, and so I was like, you know what, we'll buy a can of that. They never had it. Oh gosh, it's terrible. It's horrible.

SPEAKER_03 4:03

Yeah, I think people do that nowadays with like whipped cream. Yeah, but there was, it was like cheese whiz or easy cheese, yeah, and a cheese-like substance. Uh, I wouldn't even say it's a substance like cheese.

SPEAKER_00 4:16

It's not even cheese. That's a fat line. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:19

Yeah, that's um yeah. For mine, something I thought was great at the time and hindsight was terrible. I think hanging out in a gas station and playing Super Mario Brothers all day, I've decided that I thought that was great at the time where you spend like five hours and I'm just playing Super Mario Brothers, but I've just got the you know strangest cast of characters walking by. It's like, sup, man, you know, Lillian, and I don't know who they are. And you know, you're like in sixth grade and seventh grade, and I probably had a few too many people, uh, strangers who got a little too friendly wanting to know how I did at Super Mario Brothers. And and this is over uh this was on Hillside between Douglas and First, the same gas station. And and I still owe my father probably $50 in quarters because I think I took his quarters collection so I could level up at Super Mario Brothers. So yeah, I was great at the time when I made it to level 8, 4, you know, whatever it was, but I still think spending my afternoons at a gas station probably not the best choice.

SPEAKER_01 5:26

So yeah, I did that too.

SPEAKER_03 5:27

But all right, conversely, something you thought terrible, but was actually great. Could you think anything for that?

SPEAKER_01 5:34

Yeah, I just again what came to mind first was I remember riding in the car with my parents, whether it was too I specifically, this is exactly what I thought of. I remember riding to like biddy basketball games um in the evening. Parents would get off work, and what was playing in the car none other than NPR news. And I hated it. I was I always wondered why we didn't listen to music. And then I came to appreciate in my adulthood that uh the programming, the news, the any type of comedy shows or whatever, and uh any of those type like Wolby Gone with Garrison Keeler and all that stuff. My dad used to listen to, and I was like, you know, it's it's actually pretty good. And when I became an adult, I used to listen to that. I I don't really listen to it much anymore, but um, or as much as I did. Because I I I actually kind of just shifted over to like podcasts when I drive. Yeah, yeah. So I don't really listen to radio or news that much, but there was a a good chunk of my adulthood where I I used to listen to MPR a lot. So that is solid answer.

SPEAKER_03 6:49

Yeah, that's a solid. I I would say the same, I would echo that same thing that I remember that would be on, and I'd be like, eh, come on, get on Duran Duran. Let's go, let's get on some real music or something. But you're right, I would say in my 20s through my 30s, I listened to M PR quite a bit.

SPEAKER_01 7:04

So I had that, and my other answer was MASH, the show MASH. I hated that growing up, but I came to appreciate the writing and the comedy. It was like my least my dad's favorite show and my least favorite show growing up, and and then I watched reruns and stuff, and I was like, you know, this is a great show.

SPEAKER_03 7:23

So and then you see what a genius Frank Burns really was. So yeah. Um, that's funny. I would probably say that about the New Heart show or something like that. Or um, okay, I don't know if I did a good job with this because I I assume people felt this was terrible because they got banned, but I still wish we had them was lawn darts. I loved playing lawn darts. We had a lawn darts set and we would throw them high in the air, and I'd try to kill my sister and just think it was hilarious. But I mean, I literally liked playing it. It's just a slightly more dangerous version of horseshoes, it seems like. Um, but I loved lawn darts and I wish they were still around and I can't find them. You can only find cheap plastic sets where they don't really stick into the ground. I mean, we had the hardcore, like heavy metal darts, and so I thought it was fun, but I guess that's why I'm I don't know if I did a great job with this, because apparently the powers that be banned lawn darts, and I think they're great. Uh it's great family entertainment.

SPEAKER_01 8:24

You know, the saying that they say they they don't make it like they used to, and let me tell you, they that even goes the toys too, man, just metal darts. So, you know, shout out to our friend Adam if he's listening. He knows my uh metal tip dart story. I it's too long to tell on this podcast, but yeah, we didn't we didn't ever have lawn darts, but we did have metal tip darts that we used outside that were not not healthy. All right, all right.

SPEAKER_00 8:59

The males here.

SPEAKER_03 9:01

Okay. Next letter. Uh this letter is what event would you consider our moon landing moment? What event would you consider your moon landing moment? And this is a s this is a tricky question. Um I I'm gonna say it's tricky because uh when I teach in class, I uh I teach a book about Chicago's World's Fair in 1893. You you read it, Devil in the White City. And part of what that book gets at um is America used to do big, big things. If it is the Transcontinental Railroad, the Panama Canal, Going to the Moon, what have you. Big, big things that the nation rallied around, and and you kind of thump your chest, go, let's go, America. And I always struggle with we don't have that sense. We we we we don't do those things. And people would say the Olympics. I'm like, well, but that's that's a world thing, and and that's so I would say I tried to come up with an answer, and I really struggled with this. I would say the the most moonlanding moment I took part in was being at um Barack Obama's first inauguration. Um, because you had a million plus people there. I'm not gonna get into a discussion about crowd sizes. I mean, I've been at Trump's inauguration, I've been at uh Obama's inaugurations, George W. Bush. But there was a joy and there was a camaraderie, and there was and I don't know if it had so much to do with Democrat, Republican as opposed to uh the first African American man. Yeah. And it w it was just one of those things that it you knew it was a historic day uh to be at that. And this would be something that would that matters in our history. Wherever you stand, it it does matter in our history. Um, so that's about as good as I can do, but I recognize there was obviously a significant segment of our population who was not happy with him becoming our president. So uh it's tough.

SPEAKER_01 11:10

Yeah, that's that's a great, great answer, in my opinion. Um, I'm gonna go on the dark side of the moon now. And I thought about this, and this is probably not a good answer. Um, but again, it's the first thing. I was thinking of a big event, and it and it just was a big event, but it was a negative thing, but it had a very positive outcome in my life. And I'm I remember in school, these two things happened right together. The Challenger explosion and and Haley's Comet. And the reason why we had this big buildup for Haley's Comet, I remember we had a big party, like a watch party, and then we couldn't see it. Uh, so it was just kind of like a dud. But I will say these two things are my moon landing because they made me aware as a kid uh things that were bigger than me, specifically just the universe. And yeah, and so space exploration and comets flying near Earth. I I I started watching uh a show on PBS called Star Hustler with Jack Horkheimer. I think he was out of like Florida or something. But I started to learn about space and and kind of become interested in that. But again, the the outcome of that is everything was just much bigger than what I'd I walked around as a kid just thinking this is where we live, this small town. And then I'm like, you mean the earth is spinning how fast? And we're traveling around the sun, and our whole galaxy is turning and and we're expanding in this universe. It blew my mind. So that's my long-winded answer for something that just kind of opened my eyes to something that kind of put me in my place. I wasn't just this kid that was on this little farm in a small town. So I was I was part of something that was just much bigger and more infinite, I guess.

SPEAKER_03 13:17

Yeah, that's really interesting. You said the challenger, because I remember being in in elementary school and and the teacher stopping class and explaining that and how upset the teacher was. Because I that's not that's both 1986.

SPEAKER_01 13:30

Yeah, that's like a second grader.

SPEAKER_03 13:32

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you're right. I to go home and to see people visibly upset about the challenger. Um, for whatever reason, I don't remember the Haley's comedy. I remember the Hail Bop. Now that might have been like 10 years later. Um, but that it's a great answer because it is. It's when it's one of the first times you come to grip, there's something beyond oneself. Uh when you're that when they're you're that young.

SPEAKER_01 13:57

And and and how those are how little like something very small uh mistake could have such large you know, we we can't tame science and space like we thought we could, and that but I don't I don't know. I mean uh the Apollo missions and the moon landing, all that went great. We just I just happened to have when I was seven years old the opposite. It it was like a big thing, and then it it really went bad. So but take away positives from it. That's what I've learned. That's what you always try to do. Uh shout out to Walter for sending in that question. Thank you. Yeah, that's a good one. All right.

SPEAKER_03 14:38

Let's see here. What is a fiction and non-fiction book everyone should read? That's tough.

SPEAKER_01 14:54

It's very tough. It's a good question. Yeah. And I don't know how you feel, but when you showed me that question, uh and you start to think about it, it's almost like uh the you know, the more you learn, the less you know. It's like there are so many books out there that I feel like I'm kind of an okay reader. I have a lot of friends who are a lot more well read that I'm kind of jealous. And and then you so don't listen. If you're listening to this, don't mine probably aren't that good, but um the first thing that popped into mind. I'll I'll give my nonfiction first. And I remember uh our friend Adam and I went to Kansas City and actually listened to this author talk at one of his uh book releases. Um the first person that came to mind was Malcolm Gladwell. So I just throw out like uh outliers. I I like that. Yeah, so I'd kind of recommend that. But these are well-known things that I'm gonna recommend.

SPEAKER_03 15:54

So it's not like well, reading's so personal, you know what I mean? Uh so when I saw the question, I'm like, oh, I love that question, but oh, it's also reading is such a a personal personal thing, and the goal in your life is to draw from your own personal intimate experiences to then expand out and to learn others. And so I mean, talk about opening up the universe. So all we can do is talk from our little corner of the universe. So I don't think there's a wrong answer. It's just does somebody else want to enter into that corner of the universe where you're residing at with something like a Gladwell book, which obviously a lot of people have. That's why there's not a there's not a bad answer for these. It's just this is where I'm residing right now, or where I've resided, and I really was impacted by it. So that's a good answer.

SPEAKER_01 16:41

And it could change in an hour. I these all my recommendations are like you said, just how do you feel at the moment, what comes to mind, and we could make a laundry list of for a lot of these questions. Uh, but that's what popped into my mind first, and I said from the outset that I'm just gonna go with my gut on these, so that's what I came up with. How about you?

SPEAKER_03 17:00

And that was your that was your non-fiction.

SPEAKER_01 17:02

Nonfiction, yeah. Okay. I just like his I like his research and how he tries to tackle some some big ideas, I guess.

SPEAKER_03 17:10

So um I I've I would say one that really stuck with me the past few years is a woman of no importance. Uh I just I was mesmerized by that. It's the uh it's called A Woman of No Importance. It's by Sonia Purnell, uh, the untold story of American Spy. Um, and it's about Virginia Hall, who was like a Boston socialite, and she ends up becoming a spy in Marseille in southern France, and she has like a uh from a horse riding accident, I think, she lost one of her legs, and she and so she ends up becoming a spy, and the Germans who were occupying you know Vichy, France, they never gave paid her any attention because they didn't think uh a woman would reside in that role, and it is such a riveting story, and I guess that goes back to what you and I were talking about about trying to get outside of my comfort zone. You know, I think the common answer of World War II is oh, I'm gonna read about you know the Battle of the Bulge, or I'm gonna read Band of Brothers, and I'm not bagging on those by any means, but as you just continue on uh and s and learn more about things, you try to uncover chapters uh in hi in well for me in history that you know I've nobody told me about this kind of stuff growing up. About there was a war, there were women's spies. You know, she becomes actually the first female agent at the CIA when it's created. And I I read that I don't know if that was three years ago, and it was, it was just riveting. And so, like like you said, we we could come up with a bunch, and so I just kind of went with like what's one that stuck out to me recently, and um, a woman of no importance was mine. What about fiction?

SPEAKER_01 18:55

Again, I didn't even know where to start, so I just kind of went back to one uh that everybody's read that okay. So I think one of the positive things about reading is you you learn uh kind of like a moral, you can learn like a moral framework from a lot of these books uh through characters and stuff, or you can just read for entertainment. Um but to kill a mockingbird by Harper Lee is one that I think a lot of people should read. But these are I mean, these are like everybody's yeah. I mean this I'm not uh coming up with anything new here, but that was the first thing that came to my mind. And so if you just learn about some basics of just being a good human and empathy and all that kind of stuff, is that that's kind of what came to my mind.

SPEAKER_03 19:46

So I decided to stick with my World War II motif. And I think Philip Roth is one of the great American fiction writers, so I chose the plot. Did you read the plot against America? I can't remember. Um the plot, and I don't remember how long this came out. This probably came out 15 years ago. I should have looked it up. But it is the story as if FDR did not win the 1940 election, and Charles Lindbergh won. And Lindbergh was a part of a movement, was the was very isolationist, very accommodating to Hitler. Uh, he even received the Iron Cross from Hitler, I think, in 36. Uh, Hitler admired Lindbergh for his work with planes. And so Lindbergh keeps and so the book is obviously fiction, but it follows America in World War II as a neutral nation. And it Lindbergh is our president, so he's essentially a celebrity who flies around using his airplane, meets big groups of people rallying throughout his presidency uh to kind of rally the public, and you watch these growing anti-Semitism in America. Now it's very subtle, it's a slow burn, and most of it's set in New York, uh, in the boroughs of New York, but it just is so well written about how you know what happens. Well, our country's uh, I don't know if people don't know this or don't. Most of our country did not want to get involved in World War II. I mean, if Pearl Harbor doesn't happen, we may not have been in World War II. Um, and so he does such a good job with that dynamic of our country felt like we got burned by World War I, and so we're staying out, we're in the depression. Why on earth would we want to go deal with Europe's problems? So if anybody wants uh a slow burn of a book about how kind of racist attitudes sit beneath the surface and through the lens of anti-Semitism, and this whole idea of a celebrity president who wants to be America first isolationist, I mean, I think Philip Roth I I I should look it up, um, but I feel like Philip Roth Roth wrote this at least 15 years ago.

unknown 21:59

Um

SPEAKER_03 22:00

Um I had some of my students read it once. I I oh yeah, and they did make a they did make a mini series on it, which I didn't think was any good. Um I I don't think it got to I don't think it got to the essence of that book. But yeah. I guess like like you said, it can be anything. Uh you can choose all sorts. It came out in two 2004. Got it. Over 20 years ago. Yeah. 2004. So this has nothing to do with our current political climate. Um, but I just felt like it it's a it's a book that's aging really well, honestly. Um all right. Good question. Good question. Um let's see, next question. Sorry, gotta get my list up here. What's the best decade? Or excuse me, what decade was the best for pop culture? Oh man. Somebody know who knows our love for pop culture. Which decade was best obviously, again, very subjective. What are you gonna say? I've got an answer. I've definitely got my answer.

SPEAKER_01 23:07

I think the easy answer for obviously for me, I've already expressed I mean, we love the 1980s, but so if I had to throw the 1980s out, just because that's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_03 23:18

I'll choose a different candidate.

SPEAKER_01 23:20

And we may choose the same, but um my my parents were born in 48 and they grew up in the 50s, and I think the 50s are fascinating, just with automobile culture and the the music, and you start to have the the movies, the sci-fi, the the space age really starts to set in. And I don't know, even today when I go if I go look at uh older houses and stuff, those mid-century modern even the architecture I I love, I think, more than any other decade that I've kind of in the last you know century or whatever. I just love the 50s. And you know, whether it's uh the athlete like you know, Mickey Mann and Willie Mays and Hank Aaron and Bill Russell and Will Chamberlain, and you know, you have the rise of Muhammad Ali and Elvis, and you start to get a mix of rock and roll, and there's everything TV coming about, so you have TV movies and radio. I mean, it's basically the second best thing than the 1980s, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_03 24:29

So okay, I'm gonna go a different way. I'm gonna roll with the 90s. Um because everything you said is true. I I get it about the 50s in pop culture. Um I think the 90s, and maybe I'm answering this almost from technology. 90s for me is a sweet spot because we have the the re-emergence of rock and roll. Uh rock kind of died in the 70s, and so we get a probably a five-year window in the early 90s where rock makes its final stand before it goes away, essentially. Um, I think television shows, there were still, this was still when we were unified in a national culture with TV shows. Um, I think movies, the 90s kind of echo the 70s, and that there's more of an independent spirit to it. So if people think of like early Quentin Tarantito, Steven Soderbergh, um, it seems like you had a variety of filmmakers uh who were starting to redefine what movies could be. And yet you still had the powerhouse, uh, you know, Steven Spielberg with Jurassic Park and all that. And and the internet shows up, and the internet is there, and so we're all exploring it in a very uh how do I say this, in a way that doesn't overwhelm our lives the way it does today. So we had remote controls, we had cable, uh, but we weren't consumed with it the way we are today. And I feel like the tipping point comes in the next decade with iPads, iPhones, all smartphones. So I find there's a great sweet spot there in the 90s where I think TV, music, movies, I mean, we were with this is the apex of Jordan, and I think we all were saying this guy's the best player ever. He's just the best player ever. And for your perspective, uh the Yankees, you got I mean, so you want to talk about a dominant dynasty, uh, the Dallas Cowboys. So when you think of like America's teams, the Yankees and Cowboys, and of course, obviously that's divisive. Chicago. Um, they had their they had their many runs. So it's just for me, I liked where technology was at in the 90s. And I obviously I'm being a bit of a homer because that's the decade, of course, you know, my late teens into my twenties. Uh you could argue any decade. And and I I I guess I started looking at it from technology. Yeah. See, there's there's drawbacks to to the other I I almost think you can't go pre-50s. Yeah. Um, I just don't know if there's there's choices. But I feel like if I chose any other uh decade after the that, I had to reconcile with okay, well, what's going on in society at the time, too? And obviously in the 50s, we still had big, big problems with uh civil rights, with women having no voice, and uh there there are some limitations on the 50s. Um Cold War was like I think politics, we win the Cold War in the early 90s. Let's go! We did it. All the 80s terrifying movies that we saw, it's like we did got to do a victory dance for a few years in the early 90s before it you know imploded. Um, I don't know. That might be a fun question.

SPEAKER_01 27:49

That might be the best case for the 90s I've heard. Usually it's just kind of and I, you know, I became a teenager and grew up in the 90s, and yeah, that's that when you put it like that, it was, it was great.

SPEAKER_03 28:05

It's there's certain like it's almost like if you take pop culture, it's like, what decade would you want movies? I'm like, well, the 70s. I think the 70s probably has the most innovative. That's where filmmakers had free reign over creativity, music. Well, then that's really subjective. Some people would say the 60s, some would say the 70s. Um, there's not a sports. I think you almost go. Do you go post-free agency with Kurt Flood in the early 1970s? That the Supreme Court case that gives us free agency, or do you go pre-free agency? And um that again, it it goes to personal preferences on that. I'm very fond of the 80s. Obviously, you and I've done a ton with the 80s, but I figured I was gonna try to make a case for the 90s. I like that you made a case for the 50s, too.

SPEAKER_01 28:55

And women and women's sports really in the 90s started to really World Cup. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 29:00

I remember watching the Women's World Cup and them winning it. Yeah, that was awesome.

SPEAKER_01 29:03

The WMBA and all that. I think that was all 90s, late 90s, and so it's very good.

SPEAKER_03 29:11

I'm still trying to catch up to that. All right. Well, speaking of decades, here we go. What is your Mount Rushmore of 1980s celebrity mustaches?

SPEAKER_01 29:22

See, I don't I think we may have two of the same. And we haven't talked about what each of us have had before this. We're just kind of going over it for the first time with each other, but uh I'll say one, then you say one. We'll just we'll just alternate.

SPEAKER_03 29:35

Okay, so we have to agree. Our Mount Rushmore is gonna have four, right? Now, let me also ask, did you just tick pick four people, or did you do it like by what industry they're in? Because I have TV, movie, music, and sports.

SPEAKER_01 29:52

I kind of did a mix, uh but I kept it to America. I I mean there's like Salvador Dolly was still alive, but he wasn't American. He's an artist. I mean, he's a celebrity, but and he has one of the most recognizable mustaches of all time, but that's yeah, not in the 80s, yeah. When I think in 80s, Salvador Dolly. Yeah, he was pretty much. Okay, okay. Okay, so here's my first one. It's this first one that I have has real hands, but a fake mustache. And if I could give a clue, it'd probably be like Bork, Bjork, Bjork, Bjork. I got the the Swedish chef for the Muppet in the 80s. I mean, I know he probably came about in the 70s, but I watched him in the 80s, and I'm I'm going with the Swedish chef. I know he's probably not on your list.

SPEAKER_03 30:51

He's not, but obviously I mean, you said a Muppet, so obviously that wins my heart over.

SPEAKER_01 30:56

I think uh honestly he was the first thing that popped in my mind. And his eyebrows and his mustache, and uh we're gonna go with iconic, and I think he has an iconic mustache.

SPEAKER_03 31:09

So then I'll put up a counter candidate since I'm gonna count that in the in the realm of TV, uh like the Muppet Show. So my 80s celebrity uh mustache is uh every category I have multiple, but I don't in TV. In TV, there was only one.

SPEAKER_01 31:23

I do too, and I've got it on my list. Magnum P.

SPEAKER_03 31:26

Yeah, Magnum P. And he he was gonna be Indiana Jones, but he couldn't get out of his contract. And so the Detroit Tigers hat, the Hawaiian shirt, uh, that is quintessential 80s, where every other category I have multiple. This one I was like, nope, TV, it's just Tom Selleck and Magnum P.

SPEAKER_01 31:47

So Yeah, I knew two, I knew two of ours were gonna be the same, and that was one of them. So that was one of them. Yeah. Okay. I'll go with my my next. I already had Tom Selleck, so um I'll go with my the guy that's a a movie actor. And you know, I'm thinking cocoon, the thing, the natural oatmeal Wilford Brimley? Yes. He has an iconic mustache. You could just draw his mustache, and people could probably say that's Wilford Brimley.

SPEAKER_03 32:23

So Okay, well, I want everybody to pause the podcast and type in Wilfred Brimley 48 Tom Cruise, and you get pictures of what Wilfred Brimley looks like when he's 48 and when Tom Cruise is 48. And I mean Wilford Brimley looks like he's maybe 75 years old.

SPEAKER_02 32:39

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 32:41

Okay, you definitely chose somebody not on my list. Here are the here are my two candidates for movies. Um Burt Reynolds, Smokey and the Bandit, and then I just thought this guy was cooler than anything in the early 80s. Billy D. Williams, Lando Calrician, uh, Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi. So, man. Um, I don't know who I would put, like, I don't know who I'd choose between Wilfred Brimley, Burt Reynolds, or Billy D. For me, I'm probably a Billy D guy, but that guy was smooth. And he had the Colt 45 ads where you'd sell court for Colt 45. Okay, that's great.

SPEAKER_01 33:22

And the last one, I know we have the same one in sports.

SPEAKER_03 33:26

Okay. No, no, no, no. I have multiple.

SPEAKER_01 33:29

Okay. Well, mine is easy. I mean, it's Raleigh Fingers.

SPEAKER_03 33:34

Okay, let me guess. Let me guess. Raleigh fingers? Oh, you said it. You said it. Raleigh fingers. Okay. I had Hulk Hogan. Oh, Thunder lips.

SPEAKER_01 33:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 33:45

I think Hulk Hogan is Thunder lips. But Raleigh Finger, I literally wrote down Raleigh Fingers and Hulk Hogan. Yeah. So that's a tough call. I actually think Raleigh Fingers probably more.

SPEAKER_01 33:57

Baseball was just a bigger deal. Just put his mustache on if you just put it on a blank piece of paper. Just push the mustache. Probably guess nine times out of ten, Raleigh Fingers.

SPEAKER_03 34:06

So okay. So then in music, who would you choose? I'll give you three, and who would you choose? John Oates, Daryl, or Holland Oates, Weird Al or Freddie Mercury. Like I cannot imagine these guys without well, I can imagine Weird Al, so that might remove him. But Freddie Mercury and John Oates, I cannot imagine without mustache.

SPEAKER_01 34:34

Freddie Mercury, because well, Weird Owl is out because his hair is so iconic that if you just took his mustache away, you'd still say that's you'll still know you're right.

unknown 34:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:45

But yeah, uh I mean they're both good. Freddie Mercury is pretty iconic.

SPEAKER_03 34:52

So okay, to be fair to the question, we each get two now. You only get two, and I get two. So our Mount Rushmore is who's your top choice? Uh, because we have like eight or ten, and we can't do that's not a Mount Rushmore. You only get four.

SPEAKER_01 35:06

I mine, you and I both had Tom Sell. I'm I'm putting Tom Sellick Sellick and Raleigh Fingers are my two.

SPEAKER_03 35:14

I okay. And then I would put Billy D. Williams, and then since I have to choose, then I feel like I should choose somebody from music. I want it. My head says Freddie Mercury, but my heart says John Oates. Because Holland Oates is so 80s. Yeah. Where Queen, you go back into the 70s.

SPEAKER_01 35:34

True. Yep.

SPEAKER_03 35:35

I remember my sister saw Holland Oates and she's like, I touched their hand, I'm never gonna wash my hand again. And I'm like, whatever, Holland Oates. But they've got some bangers. I mean, Rich Girl, that song endures. Okay, here we go. Uh speaking of Holland Oates, next question. What's the weirdest concert experience you ever had?

SPEAKER_01 35:57

This is a bad question. Weirdest concert. This is a bad question for me because I've only been to like five concerts, and nothing was weird. Nothing was weird enough. Nothing, yeah. So, okay, this is not weird, but um the first concert, what's what's weird is the first concert I ever went to was Taylor Swift. That's pretty solid. It was her first tour. First, where she headlined. So whatever Fearless or whatever that was, my wife and I went to that. So besides that, I'm I'm very I'm like lower than amateur status for music concerts.

SPEAKER_03 36:37

So just the fact that your first concert is Taylor Swift, in and of itself, makes it weird. I mean, that's it is very weird.

SPEAKER_01 36:44

You had she wanted to go to it, so so yeah, we got tickets and I went. So it was a good concert, though.

SPEAKER_03 36:53

I I was in Lindsburg, Kansas for a jazz concert with Branford Marcellus. I don't know if you remember him, but there was Winton and Branford Marcellus. One of them used to play on the Jay Leno show. He was like the band leader on Jay Leno. So between sets, I went down, and apparently in this auditorium, there's a bathroom near the front and the back of the auditorium. So I went to the front of the auditorium, and I'm going to the bathroom without being too graphic. He walks up and goes to the bathroom right next to me. And it's like, oh my gosh. So he kind of look, and it's kind of a unwritten rule for for men and at urinals. You don't talk to each other, you just stare straight ahead. You don't talk. But I was like, I don't remember how old I was. I was a teenager. But I go like, it's a good show, man. Good job. And he just kind of looks at me and he just kind of nods, and it's like, buddy, you broke the rule. You don't talk. Hopefully, you didn't. I didn't know.

SPEAKER_01 37:53

Hopefully, you just turned your head and not your whole body when you said that. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 37:57

I just remember going, I'm peeing next to the guy who's performing for everybody here. This is kind of weird.

SPEAKER_01 38:03

Is his leg wet is his leg wet? Why does he have stuff all over his leg?

SPEAKER_03 38:09

Where's that little teen white boy on the audience? What was he doing? So if I can think of weirdest concert experience, that's probably that's probably it. I I gotta think that's it. So, all right. Um, next one. We have a okay, you want to live out a scene in a movie. What scene do you want to live out? Now I thought about this as a kid, and so I didn't do one. They gave us categories. The person gave us categories, and I didn't do one for every category, but I have a couple. Um, so I guess maybe you we can indulge with one or two. That what would be a scene when you were a kid you wanted to live that scene out?

SPEAKER_01 38:51

I just have one that immediately came to mind, and it's from one of my favorite movies, Big. It's the scene where he's narrating the letter that he wrote to his mom and dad, and it's like a montage of him and his friend, and they're like going to the baseball game, and they're like playing basketball in his apartment, and has like Godzilla, and they're like fighting and playing like pinball machines, and and if I could live it out, that when I was growing up, I was like, how cool would that be to have your own apartment in New York and be able to go to Yankee games whenever you wanted, and and rent you know, arcade games and have uh trampolines, and so that was the thing that immediately came to my mind. And as a kid, I was like, what could be better?

SPEAKER_03 39:41

It's such a great montage for Josh Baskin. What will I don't remember what was his buddy's name. That's such a great montage for Billy Gepeki, right?

SPEAKER_01 39:50

Billy Francis Kapecki or something.

SPEAKER_03 39:55

That's such a good uh yeah. Um okay, mine is probably more aligned with like preteen hormones or something. Mine was the Goonies. It was it was the Goonies, and when when uh Mikey he got pulled into the cave by Andy where she thought it was Brandt, and started kissing him. And he's and he's like, it's an older girl, you know, and he's only like 10 or 12 or 12 years old, and which would have been my age about the time. And you're like, man, kissing a girl, and and then to be on that adventure with your friends and to kind of live that out and see a pirate ship. Uh I remember that was so like that's the luckiest kid ever that he got to kiss Andy. And you know, that that's typical when you're about 10 years old, something like that. But yeah, that's either that or hitting the home run of the natural. Hitting the last home run in the natural was the other one. That's a good one. That was a great one, too. Yeah. All right, we got one left. Let's see. Um the last question. This is kind of a this is a simple little question. An underrated children's book. Is there a children's book that you read your kids that you just you love it?

SPEAKER_01 41:16

See, I didn't know I didn't know how what the age for a children's book was. So mine are not okay. So here's what here's what I immediately thought of. I did not think of me reading to my children. I was thinking I was thinking about what my my mom used to always want us to read a lot, and she would push books our way. Um, and I remember this is not my answer, but I specifically remember some of these books that she had me read. But when I was approaching uh maturing and getting older, she actually had me read Are You There God, It's Me, Margaret. And I was like, this is what Yeah, yeah. Um that's not but she also had me read like The Old Man in the Sea and things like that, which were great. Um but here's the one that I'm gonna say, and it's not overrated because it it's won awards. Uh so but what I do think is underrated about it is it it if you are going through issues, you could always connect with like the protagonist or whatever, but um, and learn lessons, life lessons. And Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary is a solid book to read as a child. Not it's not a one that you read to your kids. I guess you could read it, but it's also very unique. I think it was probably the first book that I read where it was like corresponding, it was letters that they were writing, um, which usually was just a narrative, you know, you just read a story, but this was actually, you know, him working out his issues with his parents getting divorced. And I never had to go through my parents getting divorced, but uh if kids did, which a lot of them do, I recommend a book like this that just kind of teaches a kid and how they can grow from that experience. That's very difficult life lesson. But I think that she captured that in that book of um it could kind of heal some of those wounds that you're going through in a very traumatic time in your life.

SPEAKER_03 43:26

So that's a fantastic yeah, that's a fantastic one. Um, I I I tried to go when I was little and I chose Where the Wild Things Are, Maurice Syndak. And uh I it's just such a vivid memory for me to Max in his white little suit with his crown or his wolf suit with his crown on and stomping around and being sent to his room. And and as a kid, for whatever reason, there was a window as a little kid where you're like, ooh, it's a Caldecott Medal Award winner. And like you thought that's a big deal if it's a Caldecott Medal Award winner. And I remember and I'll tie this back to something we said earlier. I listened to Maurice Syndak on MPR, and they were talking about him on the anniversary of this book. So this might have been in like 2004 or something. No, it might even be later than that. It was on the 40th or 50th anniversary of it. And they said, What do you say about criticism that this book was too scary for kids? And he's like, That's not a criticism. Kids need to be scared. It's okay to get scared, you have to learn boundaries. And this is a safe way for kids to learn boundaries. And I just love how he pushed back immediately and going, like, get over it. All right, it's okay for a kid to get scared. All right. And I just kind of, you know, driving home, just I just started cracking up, going, Yeah, yeah, that's that this is this is before I had so it had to be 04. This is before uh we had kids. And I just thought that's so refreshing to hear because we create an environment where we always want kids to feel safe and nurtured and and you know, confined and warm. And but that's not life. And and I just remember reading that again and again as a kid. Um that and that the cover art of the of it looked like to me palm trees, almost like red palm trees on the cover with with the with the sails, the yellow sails in the background. So it's it's a fun question. I don't again, I don't know if it's underrated. Um, but I I it's one that stands out to me that I I would hope every kid would get to read something exactly what you said and where the wild things are. So well, thank you, listeners, for sending those in. I hope I don't think we quite got to everybody. We left a couple off, but we're also at our mark, usually where most people are snoring at this point. Seems like it'd probably a good time. But we appreciate it. We appreciate you all listening. Uh, we will be back uh in a week or so, and uh keep on listening, everybody. Thank you. Thank you.