Episode 27 - Robot Killswitch

In this episode, Karan and Matt discuss the glory and grit of classic '70s films, the psychotic greed of certain corporate entities, and the challenges faced by people from conservative, traditional families who pursue artistic careers.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:17

I've quit mincing around. Give it to me straight. I can handle it. Why does everybody in old movies talk so fast? When I watch old movies, it's they're they talk really fast. Like they there's a little pause. There's a clip to it. Yeah, you know.

SPEAKER_00 0:32

It really is. Yeah. There's a real pace to it. It's it's a constant kind of it's kind of like a play. Yeah. That's like very rehearsed and very tight. And I think the dialogue was also sort of written to be made uh performed that way too.

SPEAKER_01 0:49

Maybe, yeah, maybe. Maybe they just didn't want to run on a reel before, you know, so they were like, you know, hurry it up, hurry it up.

SPEAKER_00 0:56

Yeah, Zashi and I watched this old movie with Cary Grant in it called His Girl Friday, uh, which was directed by Howard, I almost said Howard Hughes. Howard Hawks, I believe, is the is the name. I hope I'm not getting it wrong because he's actually a pretty important director in the history of films.

SPEAKER_01 1:15

I know, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:16

Howard Hawks. Yeah. It's like he definitely won in the cool name department. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. You got friggin' Ruben Alberstein over there, and then Howard Hawks.

SPEAKER_01 1:27

It's like, where do you I mean he that uh is that his real name, or was it like did he because you know everybody changed a name at some point?

SPEAKER_00 1:34

I don't know, but I feel like it was probably his real name, but I I don't really know, actually. It's a good question. Yeah. But we watched that old movie and the dialogue was just like you're describing super fast-paced, barely a breath, but very but very just like tight, you know, tight, tight, tight, tight, tight, tight.

SPEAKER_01 1:54

Those old movies, they're kind of fun to watch, you know. They they have like they have their own magic to them. Uh yeah. What I see, I saw a while ago um well the the movie I saw which was uh from pretty different time and era was uh Breakfast at Tiffany's pretty famous one.

SPEAKER_00 2:14

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:15

Like let's see what the big deal is about this one. And it's like, yeah, it's nice.

SPEAKER_00 2:19

I guess it's it blow your mind.

SPEAKER_01 2:22

It didn't blow my mind, but I liked it. You know, I was like, yeah, there's a I can see the charm to this movie, but um, I probably won't watch it again if you ask me to. But like, yeah, I definitely saw the charm to it.

SPEAKER_00 2:34

Um and it does kind of feel like getting into a time machine and kind of distances you a little bit from the importance of the times how important uh the times we live in currently can feel sometimes in a in a negative way that can be overwhelming. Oh, yeah. You just want to sometimes get in that little time machine and shoot back to the 1970s or something. We zashi and I had a 1970s kick, we kind of went on for a little while. Man, the 70s were a great decade for film, as far as I'm concerned. There were some great movies from the 70s. They were so oh, they were so gritty and so I mean, not cliche words, but they're just very raw, and you f you a lot of movies from the 70s, you get this feel like the sweat is on the celluloid. Like it's like you you could just feel how hard they worked making it, how much passion went into it, and that it could just never be done again in exactly that way. I mean, it's kind of and I will name one which is Apocalypse Now. Oh, and go further. Yeah, right, right. And when you and I, yeah, that carries the whole decade from where I'm standing.

SPEAKER_01 3:51

I don't know what I like more Apocalypse Now or the documentary of Apoc of making Apocalypse Now, where Francis Ford Coppler almost uh was having panic attacks on a daily basis.

SPEAKER_00 4:03

That's exactly right. And and and uh you know, we talked about Werner Herzog. I think his movie Agira The Wrath of God might have, I believe, was from the early 70s, if I'm not mistaken. Jeez. And so that's another really gritty film where you watch it and you're like, yeah, I would imagine most of the crew nearly died during the making of this. I can sense that.

SPEAKER_01 4:25

Yeah, it had a lasting impact. I used in when I was in Boston, I went to Emerson, which is a pretty far prominent film school in Boston. I didn't go for go there for film, I went there for something else entirely.

SPEAKER_00 4:38

But um I had a part-time job, and one day I walked by the uh the orientation of film kids, like the kids who are thinking about coming to Emerson, and the first thing they did was show like the first ten minutes of Apocalypse now, being like and it's like, you know, uh I know it has nothing to do with Emerson, but it's like it's hailed as one of like the like you know, p pinnacle of filmmaking, you know, and in terms of the technique and in terms of the amount of just blood, sweat, uncertainty, fear, t terror, chaos, uh that was required of Francis Ford Coppola and his wife, who was by his side through the whole thing. Right. Is insurmountable. It's uh it's uh it's uh indescribable. And if you watch that documentary that you just brought up, which I love, um Heart of Darkness. Yeah. You know, because it's you know like the Joseph Conrad class classic Joseph Conrad novel, uh Heart of Darkness, which I had to read in high school. I actually enjoyed enjoyed reading it. It's a very it's a book that paints vividly uh with words and just has this incredible heavy uh atmosphere that pervades the whole book. And um uh so it's a I enjoyed reading it, but it's it's uh you know, Apocalypse Now, it's not a it's not a movie that's about plot. No, it's much more about atmosphere.

SPEAKER_01 6:10

Yeah, because you know what happens, like you everyone knows the Vietnam War, everyone knows it was a mess, everyone knows a lot of GIs came back traumatized from there. Um so everyone knows it was just a bad, bad situation to be in. But yeah, like and there's a lot of movies made about the Vietnam War. Um that's true. Platoon. This one, yeah. This was probably one of the one of the more famous ones, and yeah, it definitely kind of captured all that, you know. When you watch it, you feel like, yeah, I'm glad I didn't go there. I didn't have to go to Vietnam.

SPEAKER_00 6:44

Yeah, it was very much like one of those things that was more about feel than about the plot. And I do love those kind of movies. I love because I think they require more talent from the director. Right. I think because I watch movies a lot of times, trying to view them from the standpoint of directing or what the director might have been thinking or going through. I do really love I love a lot of those 70s films because they rely so much more on the quality of the dialogue, the acting, and the cinematography to create the atmosphere for the film and give it depth and weight and make it feel real and and and crafted in a way that it will emotionally impact the viewers. And because it it put 70s films to me, they seem to prioritize all of that way above just the mechanics of the script in terms of plot. And I mean, look, there's some movies that do both. I mean, yeah, the Shawshank Redemption pretty much fucking does both. I mean, like Shawshank Redemption has an amazing plot, and also is really great in other areas too.

SPEAKER_01 8:05

Yeah, um, yeah, yeah, it's got great atmosphere and it definitely completely captures that just hopelessness of that whole situation of being in this prison and then desperation kind of like almost like you know, you you go through like the uh the uh emotions with Andy Dufresne, the main guy who has been sentenced to prison for a murder, which I'm not gonna spoil it for anybody, but if you haven't seen the Shawshank Redemption, come on, what are you doing? Go watch it.

SPEAKER_00 8:33

Yeah, and while you're at it, look up the Pledge of Allegiance and familiarize yourself with that as well. No, I'm just kidding.

SPEAKER_01 8:40

Welcome to America.

SPEAKER_00 8:42

Yeah, welcome to Earth, welcome to America.

SPEAKER_01 8:45

No, great, but but great movie. Just to quickly summarize it, like it's it really, you know, drags you down into the dumps from the very start. I know that I'm not selling it very well. Sounds like uh I'll I'll leave it like this. The payoff at the end is worth watching the whole movie for. Hell yeah. If you think it's just depressing all the way through, no, there are definitely glimmers of of light all through the movie that just lift you up slowly until the final payoff when you just you're just like, oh man, I feel great.

SPEAKER_00 9:15

Man, the Shoshank Redemption is one of those films that um is so famous and well loved. I actually don't know how it did in the box office when it was initially released. I like I just don't know. I would have to look it up. I know that there are some great classic movies that didn't do great in the box office at first, but they went on to just and it wouldn't surprise me well, it might surprise me a little bit, but it wouldn't massively surprise me if Shawshank Redemption was one of those. That movie is just a locomotive. It's there's so much inertia and momentum behind the like love uh uh from from the world towards towards that film just on a massive scale. And I don't know when that momentum built. Did it build in one or two days upon it for its first release in theaters? I don't know, maybe. But yeah, either either way, it's su that is one of the few massively popular and loved mainstream kind of movies that I just cannot uh I would just I that I really like. Uh you know, I mean it's kind of like I really like the first Jurassic Park, I really like the first Jaws. Well, okay, I'm not obsessed with Indiana Jones, but I uh you know it's it's great, like it's great. I I like it a lot. It has its place, like it's sure, you know. And those are all giant blockbuster mainstream films, and I like all of those, but a lot of big mainstream blockbuster films. I don't I don't, you know, uh like I said, it takes more than just a decent plot for me to love a film. I want to be immersed in it, not just be intrigued by it. Uh, you know, so that's why I love those 70s films, but that's why Shawshank is great because it does balance both those things. It has atmosphere and weight, and like these kind of original characters that you just never forget.

SPEAKER_01 11:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:17

Like the the the prison guard, that guy who know Andy Dufrain helps out, yeah. And he later beats the shit out of that horrible guy who fucked with Andy Dufresne. That there's just like moments woven into that movie that are so satisfying, yeah, that you're just like you want to stand up and applaud for Stephen King's writing or whatever.

SPEAKER_01 11:43

That's that's true. Uh by the way, yeah. The Shawshank Redemption was based on a book by Stephen King. Um was it a book or a short story? Oh, a short story, yeah. Short story. I think and then I think the name of the short story is Hope Springs. Oh, I think it's like the book itself is like season something, so uh it fits into that. But yeah, it's uh there there the movie changed a lot from the short story, but you know, it did it in a really good way, in a way that it still honored the story, but um it added on to the layering to just make it, you know, the like to make both of them worth indulging in. So like I would not say one is better than the other, they're both really, really good ways to spend your time if you want to like depend if you want to read or watch something, but um yeah, even Stephen King, super happy with how it turned out.

SPEAKER_00 12:33

And um even Stephen. Even Stephen, yeah, even Stephen.

SPEAKER_01 12:38

Yeah, and and they're not gonna be able to do it.

SPEAKER_00 12:39

Well he not always he isn't always he didn't like the shining.

SPEAKER_01 12:44

He didn't like the shining, he didn't like Stanley Kubrick's uh interpretation of the shining. Um which you know, you I'm sure you know people have different opinions on. Trust me, there are literally, I think, so many videos discussing you know the shining versus the book. Because you know, a lot of people love Stanley Kubrick's interpretation of of The Shining, and they they'll just love The Shining even if they hadn't read the book. But there are also people who have read The Shining who agree with Stephen King. So a polarizing subject for sure. Um me personally, I I've read the book and watched the movie, and I and I say the same thing. They're both really great. Like I would I would definitely recommend reading both and watching the movie. Um totally, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:31

Which I haven't done, I've only seen the movies, but it would be cool to see the to read it the short stories. I have a hard time with reading because um as much I really would love to just consume books and stories. I mean, I'm in a book club for God's sakes, but it's I mean the the good intentions are there, uh and I do occasionally read books, but it takes me a long time to get through them, you know. Um and I mean it's like I've been reading this Rick Rubin book, you know, that he wrote, and oh yeah. The creative act or whatever, and I've really enjoyed it, but it's I'm months and I'm still not all the way through it. But it's different, it's not a fiction novel where you're supposed to shoot through it and get addicted to it. You're supposed to kind of pace yourself and get one little Zen parable at a time out of it. Yeah. So I pay I leaf my way through it. But but the the that being said, I'm a slow reader. Um, I don't, you know, it's like there were area there's areas that I can excel in, and there were areas in school that I wo could excel in, but I was always a slow reader. It always took a little extra time and work for me to really absorb uh I don't know, you might even say my reading comprehension is is slow. I think that it's I think it has depth. I think I'm able to a lot of times glean things from the text that maybe other people who read it faster don't. Um and they also glean things that I didn't uh when I read it slower. But uh so I'll I'll get things out of it and I can read with attention to with with insights or with depth, but it's really slow. It takes, I'm a slow reader, my reading comprehension is not fast, it's not amazing. Uh, and I it takes extra work and time for me to get through a book. And um, and then on top of that, my memory uh of like learned data or facts is not amazing. I my brain doesn't really hold on to data unless it's actively serving something I'm doing or that I want to do or need to do. My brain almost like jettison it from storage, almost like deletes it or or or just files it so deep down that it's really hard to reach. Because it's like we won't be needing this. And and I'm like, oh, I wish you could just keep all of it up at the top because it's cool and it makes me look smart. If I but so I don't get to look as smart because I don't get to spout off facts uh like a dictionary. I wish I could, it would be cool. Um so yeah, when I read, it's almost like I love to learn when I'm doing it, but then I forget everything. So I ask myself, what's the point of reading? Because I don't remember the stuff that I learned. But anyway, it's long.

SPEAKER_01 16:24

Yeah, yeah. I mean it's it's it's it's curious. Like these days, a lot of things are becoming irrelevant. I was reading the other day that the current generation, I don't know who come up came up with this, but they said the current generation um is not as cognitively capable as previous generations purely because um these days you can you don't need to learn things, you you can just pull it up on your phone. Um it's I think it's a wide generalization. I don't think it's a fair generalization, you know. Uh I think you know there'll always be people out there who love to learn and and read stuff, but I I guess the what the premise of this was is that technology exists today that you don't really need to remember everything. You don't really need to kind of like keep everything stored in your brain. You can just pull things up on your phone.

SPEAKER_00 17:12

Uh so maybe it's optimized for people like me.

SPEAKER_01 17:17

I don't know if I love to admit it, but uh it's I mean, yeah, uh definitely I guess you know I think with everything else with anything in the world, just you know, use it uh to help you instead of depending on it completely. Because uh yeah, tomorrow for some reason the whole grid goes down and we all have to like you know live rough.

SPEAKER_00 17:39

Yeah, if you start finding yourself beginning your chat GPT entries with sentences like, Good afternoon, chat. How's your day been? Then you might want to slow down on the the AI and the chat GPT if you're using it as a uh personal therapist and friend. I mean, because chat GPT can make you feel like that. Have you used Chat GPT? Oh, yeah, I use I use it a lot. I mean, it can it feels like it's your friend.

SPEAKER_01 18:08

Oh yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:10

I get like a warm fuzzy feeling when I use it. I'm like, I I want to come back for more. There's a I it's just and you know, but I will say this, which is sometimes chat is a little too nice. Because sometimes its advice will be like you should give her a kiss on the hand and a pat on the head. And it's like, this woman threw dirt in my enchilada. I don't want to congratulate her. Thank you very much. It's a nice thought, it's not helping me though. I need boundaries. Chat is not always realistic with no, yeah, it can be a little too nice sometimes.

SPEAKER_01 18:46

Yeah, I mostly use it to like to learn stuff. Um, but sometimes, yes, I you know, when I'm curious about things, I do ask it like a question being like, Can you like verify this for me or do this for me? But I also find that it makes mistakes a lot. Like I it makes a lot of mistakes. It does, actually. And I mean it does have a disclaimer there when you ask a prompt, it says it can make mistakes. Make sure you check it out. But yeah, I you know I've uh but that doesn't that's not just chat GPT, that's almost everything. Even Gemini makes mistakes. Um, you know, so it's like the it's but it's still amazing technology. The fact that you can just get it to do something for you so easily, it's really great.

SPEAKER_00 19:28

You know what really uh uh uh uh predicted chat GPT uh is 2001 a space odyssey. Speaking of Stanley Kubrick, yeah. Uh did that movie did that movie come out in the 70s, by the way?

SPEAKER_01 19:42

Uh good question. Let's look it up.

SPEAKER_00 19:44

I kinda want to know.

SPEAKER_01 19:46

2001, it's close, 1968.

SPEAKER_00 19:50

All right, pretty close. I think it was ushering in the 70s, maybe. Maybe. It came before Star Wars, right? So uh let's I think so. I think it definitely was one of those like revolutionary films, like you know, where just you know Well, I mean it did a terrible job in terms of predicting that by the year 2001 uh average people might be living in like that. Yeah, in space, in this big revolving, gorgeous, sterile spaceship. Yeah. I have no idea what is going on most of the movie, as I'm sure most of us don't, and even the ones who think they do really don't.

SPEAKER_01 20:30

Sounds like a Stanley Kubrick movie.

SPEAKER_00 20:32

Yeah, I think Stanley Kubrick liked to fuck with people. That's why there's a whole because he knew that the more vague he could make things and the less he could explain himself, the more people would go nuts and go out of their mind trying to figure it out for like the next 70 years, and that's exactly what's happening.

SPEAKER_01 20:48

Yeah, sometimes there's a value in saying less, but saying less in a very beautiful way. Yeah. So that people don't dismiss you as being an amateur, but dismiss you as being an intentionally wake, so that way you you elicit more discussions. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 21:03

2001, dude, what it did predict was with that little robot or that blink yes, thank you, that blinking red light, Hal in the spaceship who com you know, the astronaut just like talks with him, and Hal becomes almost like a character in the astronaut's life. That that was fairly chat GPT like.

SPEAKER_01 21:22

Right, yes, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:24

Yeah, yeah. Hal reminds me a bit of Chat GPT.

SPEAKER_01 21:27

Yeah. I I th I mean I think that's the intention. It's to make Chat GPT very like not Chat GPT, just AI very warm and you know, kind of approachable.

SPEAKER_00 21:38

Harmless.

SPEAKER_01 21:39

Harmless, yeah. It's definitely succeeded in that sense. Um I just hope the people in charge have you know have watched Dominator as kids so they know to put like a kill switch in case it decides to start firing nukes and stuff.

SPEAKER_00 21:56

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 21:58

I mean I see pl I I see plenty of Fearmongering going on out there because you know, for sure, like it's it's it's a revolutionary technology, it is going to change a lot of things in the human landscape in the future. Um, and you know, I'm I'm already seeing robots coming out doing amazing things. I just I can't wait to see when I think it's gonna be soon, but I think there's gonna be like robot servants and stuff that you can keep inside your house.

SPEAKER_00 22:25

Yay, more jobs no one will have anymore. There was a there was a video of a uh this uh I don't know, I'm assuming he was uh an Uber driver of some kind or Lyft an Uber rideshare or something. Anyway, this guy was just attacking this Waymo. You know what Waymo's oh yeah yeah yeah. Yeah, I saw a news clipping about it, and it was in Los Angeles, I'm pretty sure. We have a lot of Waymos here in LA. Oh, that's crazy. Yeah, there's a ton of them in Hollywood, especially.

SPEAKER_01 22:55

So you'll like you'll just you'll just sometimes look to your left and see a self-driving car. Absolutely, every day. Every day that's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 23:04

It's sort of awesome. It's yeah, I don't know what to make of it. It is what it is. I don't know. Uh I mean it's interesting, I guess. It's also not, I just don't. Yeah. It's like, okay. I mean, what is you you ask yourself, what is the point of that? Who is it serving? And it's like, oh, well, it's serving the passenger. A little bit. I think it's the person that's serving the most is the person who doesn't want to have to pay drivers anymore.

SPEAKER_01 23:32

Kind, yeah. I mean, I I think it's serving the company the most, right? Because that's now the company can eat into like whatever Uber or whatever else may be. Fatten his wallet. If we know anything about the way things go in tech companies, Uber Uber would rather if Vaymo starts to gather speed, Uber will just partner with Vamo and then you know, maybe use less drivers.

SPEAKER_00 23:56

Um I mean, from what I understand, Uber would rather eat its own shoe than pay its drivers well. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:03

Did you ever see that video clip of that guy going viral? The CEO of Uber, I I forget his name, but he was confronted by like an Uber driver who said, like, you got you are like completely killing drivers with your business model. And he had a very like um capitalist answer being like, you know, it's not my fault if you can't make wage, blah blah blah, you know, figure it out, you know, be hungry, you know, usual kind of like start your own Uber business. Yeah, exactly. Usual kind of like do it on your own words that you know a pompa CEO might say. Uh of course, he like it that that clip went viral and he had to like apologize for what he for what he said because you know people were not happy.

SPEAKER_00 24:48

His shareholders were like, Yeah, you're gonna apologize.

SPEAKER_01 24:51

His shareholders were like, listen, buddy, can you like tone it down, please? Can you tone down the uh the elitist kind of like lingo a little bit, please? Because you know, we still need everyday people to use our services. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:05

Well, you know, uh, a capitalist system is about uh it's about how hardworking you are, how capable you are, how talented you are, how beautiful you are physically, and how lucky you are. Oh, yeah. Nice be kindness, it's not part of the equation. I mean, you ha you have to fool at least a couple of people into maybe thinking you're kind. I mean, like for example, when I went through sales training uh at Yelp uh when I worked there, I mean, they would teach us things like now we're gonna give you a presentation about fear. Fear is a powerful emotion and we can harness it and we can use it, can't we? Yeah, we we can, can't we? Yes. We can use it to help us get more sales when we can show and instruct the person we're selling to in a way that amplifies the fear that they're feeling emotionally. This can help us to get over that finish line, right? To the sale. Yes. Yes. It was like that every day we had lectures like that. It was um I mean it's you know, psychotic, but it's also like it, I guess it works, you know, to to get what they want, which is sales. Um that's corporate sales for you. There's no it's you have to, I mean, it's good to be likable, but that's only something that's only a tool to be weaponized to help you to make more sales. It's not you don't actually have to be a good person. It's better if you're not a good person, because then you'll cross more ethical barriers that you mostly probably will get away with, and you might make more money from it. So yeah, it's it's all about deception. Um the the you know, I used to take issue with that saying nice guys finish last. Yeah. Um, and I mean I still don't like think it, I don't love it. Um uh because, you know, I think on the scale of nice to pure evil, I probab like to think I lean a little closer to the side that's nice. There's things that I have some integrity, like there are things I won't do. I don't care what the prize is for doing it. Um, and not I I don't think everybody's like that. I don't think I'm like patting myself on the back. I just think that's a part of my me that I feel I'm aware of. I there are things I will not do. Uh and and this obviously the same, I'm sure, can it can be said of you and a lot of other people in our lives. Um But that being said, it's like there is no prize for being a good person or being nice. Like that's not going to get you anywhere. Right, right. Um, it's I mean, it's just a tool, again, to be weaponized to help you appear in a certain way. And I mean it's you have to compartmentalize because it's very hard to fake being likable and nice. So you kind of have to be likable and nice, but you have to then harness it and restrict it appropriately. Um, that's kind of what capitalism requires of us, you know, to s to succeed. I um in in most in most industries, not in all of them. Yeah. Um, so yeah, I mean it's like, yeah, nice guys finished last. Yeah, in a in in a capitalist in America today. Uh I mean, um yeah, not always, but uh uh is being nice gonna make you win? Uh nah, no, not necessarily, you know. Yeah. So so yeah, there's a little bit of truth to it.

SPEAKER_01 28:41

Yeah, yeah. Like it or not. Yeah, unfortunately, yeah, that's true. I mean, I don't think it's if especially if you are going to business, um, I don't think it'll get do you any favors. Uh if you are, no, but you know, at the same time, like don't change your nature. But if you know, if something, if that's your nature when you and you you're not built for anything else, then you know, you can def you definitely be appreciated in the mental health or counseling uh section because that is valuable over there.

SPEAKER_00 29:10

Absolutely, and that is there, yeah, definitely there are industries and fields where a nice or good person who is not willing to compromise their integrity can still live a decent life, even in a capitalist system. Um, and and I think you have to be strategic about that. You have to know yourself. Um, and it was so funny because my mom, my entire life, I sometimes wonder if she knows me because like she'll just the careers she would suggest for me, it was always, and I mean, probably a lot of parents do this because their only priority a lot of times is that their child is safe and has a roof over their head and has food and blah blah blah. But it's like there is more to life than just paying your rent and eating food, you know, uh just breathing and eating and shitting. There's also what your interests are, what kind of personality you have, the kind of people you want to surround yourself with, what makes you happy, what makes you fulfilled, what drives you. But with parents, it's like, or at least with my parents, there's so much of this myopic like do something that you are good at, and that's that's all like that matters, like because you just need to make money and and feed yourself and pay your rent. And it's like, should I like what I'm doing? And they're like, that's not that doesn't matter, like that's not part of the thing. Like, you don't need to like your job, you just need to make money. And it's I mean, I don't know how many people from their boomer generation are that way. I think probably a lot of them actually. Yeah, but I mean, like, were your parents like that at all? Oh, yeah. Okay. I mean, at least tell me about that.

SPEAKER_01 30:51

All in your parents are like that, like they they don't, you know, they they want you for the same reason that you said, like, they'll just like they push you into like safe jobs, like you know, the engineering, being being a lawyer, going into like medicine, because you know, these are professions that are pretty I mean, you know, I now AI has changed engineering, at least tech some way, but you know, um doctor is pretty much gonna be needed pretty much, you know, more 90% of the chance that's a very safe occupation.

SPEAKER_00 31:21

So like that's what there's a lot of Indian doctors. Is that a fair statement?

SPEAKER_01 31:26

That's why. That's that's the reason why. Yeah, yeah. Their parents are like are like, you know, I want I don't want you to do anything like um like this, you know, I want you to be safe.

SPEAKER_00 31:37

It's stable, it's predictable, it's safe, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:40

Yeah, exactly. But yeah, like I said, what were you gonna say? At the same time, they will also they will also like like on the other hand, look at like uh be watching like a talent show where they'll see like somebody singing really well and they'll be like, look at that, look at that kid, like isn't that amazing what he's doing? You know, why can't you do stuff like that? And you're like, Are you kidding me? You know, it's like you're you're you're simultaneously pushing me to like being you know, going into like a safe profession, and then you're like questioning. This isn't oh hello. Can you hear me, man?

SPEAKER_00 32:15

Hey hey, uh no, I could I was I was trying to say you probably couldn't hear me, but I was trying to say you were you're cutting out a lot for for a minute there. I couldn't I really wanted to hear what you were saying because it's a really interesting to me. By the way, to any of our fans, we do all of these remotely. I don't know if that's clear. I don't know if people I don't think everyone knows that. Maybe they do, but like we do all of these remotely. Like Curran is in Canada right now, and I'm in Los Angeles in you know, in my little studio, and he's up there in Canada at his house.

SPEAKER_01 32:47

So Yeah, I think my something went wrong with my internet. Uh yeah, so I must have. Sorry about that, guys. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:54

That's okay. I was just I took that opportunity to explain to them, like, guys, I don't know if you know this, but we do all these remotely.

SPEAKER_01 33:00

Oh, yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:01

I bet some people don't like know that. We are not thinking we're in the room together. No. No, we're not in the same room.

SPEAKER_01 33:06

We're not in the same room or in the same city or the same country for that matter. Yeah. We are on the same planet.

SPEAKER_00 33:13

We are on the same planet and we're in the same time zone, too.

SPEAKER_01 33:17

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Time zone thing helps a lot. It does. Uh but yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:22

So occasionally we may have glitches where you know one of us cuts out a little bit, and that's because these are done remotely. It's gonna happen. I've heard that happen in some of the biggest podcasts I've heard. So yeah, it happens to everybody.

SPEAKER_01 33:34

It's like it's not at this point, it's almost accepted as like uh, you know, like industry, you know, hiccup, occasional hiccup that people will experience like nothing.

SPEAKER_00 33:43

Totally. But getting back to what you were saying, because I'm I'm kind of disappointed I missed what you were saying. Uh it could you pick up because now that I can hear you, oh yeah. Could you pick up at the part where you were saying, um oh yeah, you were saying like Indian parents will sort of, you know, oh, you need to be a doctor, that's the only thing you can do, but then at the same time they'll be watching a talent show, and then you that's where I lost you.

SPEAKER_01 34:08

Oh yeah, yeah. They'll be like watching a a talent show, and they'll see like a young kid like come out and just like sing really well or dance really well or play the guitar or something, do some something artistic really well, and they'll be like, Oh, look at that, you know, why can't you be like that? And you'll be like, Are you kidding me? Like, you literally discourage every time I try to like do something creatively, you your first instinct is why aren't you studying? Why aren't you why aren't you doing like you know something productive and sort of wasting your time with this stuff? So funny, very self-contradicting. It is very contradicting, and and I mean the the the truth of it is like they don't truly understand the um you know the amount of hard work it might it might take to you know make it somewhere creatively, you know.

SPEAKER_00 34:56

Yeah, parents contradict themselves. It's really funny. Like just the other day, my mom was uh saying, You I don't know if you should be doing that podcasting thing. I'm I'm w it may be a distraction from your music. And and mind you, this comes in the face of at no point was any of my family ever genuinely interested in or believing in me pursuing this crazy career of music. And so all of a sudden, she really wants me to finish my song and put it out and is invested in that. Yeah, I think she like liked the song or saw some sort of potential in it, which is remarkable that she does. Um so I'm grateful for that. That's the first time in my life that that has happened. Anyway, so it's like my whole life, she wants me to be a lawyer, wants me to be just anything safe, anything other than an artist, right? And then she's like, I don't know about this podcast thing because it might be distracting you from music. And then and then, like a week later, as in yesterday, I get a message from her that says Maybe you should try making episodes with a GoPro where you interview different people on the street. I've seen a man on YouTube who makes a lot of money and does very well with a GoPro, and it's like, Mom, my head is about to explode. You literally just told me to quit podcasting because it's a distraction from music, but before that I was supposed to not do something uh messed up like music. It's just I can't keep up. Can't keep up. Yeah, there's no pleasing family. No, I can tell you that.

SPEAKER_01 36:44

So you you and you you know you know better to try. So focus your efforts on something that you can control.

SPEAKER_00 36:50

I think I finally do. I think I finally I have entered an an a more peaceful era of my life where I've let go. I'm starting to let go of I haven't completely let go, but I'm starting to really let go of this uh my expectation for my family to sort of endorse everything I'm doing and think it's cool and special and I'm doing the right thing. And it's like it's really it's fueled by my own just the desire for your family to get behind you on something and sort of get what you're doing. But it's like one, they have no reference for it. They have no they're they're all doctors themselves. They have no doctors and nurses, they all work in the medical field, they all have safe traditional jobs, they have no point of reference for what I'm doing at all. Not one of them ever went out to Hollywood or tried to be an actor or a director or a musician. They have no point of reference for it, probably like a lot of Indian parents.

SPEAKER_01 37:49

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. They have no reference for that stuff. Um they're pretty much their you know, their understanding is like, you know, whatever uh I'm I'm doing like look, I made it in this, so it should be about the same steps that you might need to make it in every other field. But it's like, no, it's not the same. It's far from being the same. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:15

Did you have any updates? We haven't talked in a week or two, but did you have any updates you wanted to share from your life or from the past week or two?

SPEAKER_01 38:23

Uh no, not much, but I actually I actually will have to end it because it's one. I have to jump. Yeah, I have to jump to a meeting right at one right now. Oh, no worries. Yeah, but I mean this is like a short one, but um that's okay.

SPEAKER_00 38:37

It was lively, I feel like.

SPEAKER_01 38:38

Yeah, I mean, it's always always lively. That's true. But okay, let me just go ahead and quickly play us off. Needo. Yeah, but yeah, this uh short episode this time, guys. But we always as always appreciate you all stopping by. Yeah, and uh thanks guys. Yeah, we've got our Instagram and stuff up and running, so if you ever want to reach out, us talk to us about stuff, something we wanted us to talk about. We are always open to listening to what you guys have to say.

SPEAKER_00 39:20

Totally. We would love any comments or interaction that you might feel inspired to share.

SPEAKER_01 39:26

Yeah, and thanks for all the follows so far. It's great. We are getting up there.

SPEAKER_00 39:31

Um, we've gotten a few more, we've gotten a few more follows the last week or two, which is really nice to see.

SPEAKER_01 39:37

Yeah, hell yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:39

Nice. Okay. All right then, Matt. Well, I will we'll have to end it here. I'm gonna go ahead and stop. See you guys later.

SPEAKER_00 39:45

Okay, see you guys later.