The Smell You Can Lick

Summary

Distractible – "The Smell You Can Lick" (March 9, 2026)

Podcast Hosts: Mark Fischbach (A), Wade Barnes (B), Bob Muyskens (C)
Episode Theme: Exploring Sensory Imagination and Everyday Absurdities

Episode Overview

In this lively segment of Distractible, Bob takes hosting duties while Mark and Wade compete. The trio embarks on a journey through sensory imagination — focusing on how vividly (or not) they can conjure sights, sounds, smells, tastes, textures, and movement in their minds. Along the way, they riff on internet rumors, fame-related controversies, slander vs. libel, John Grisham novels, improv, and the existential horror of people who can vividly imagine licking feet. Layered with their trademark banter and self-deprecation, it’s an episode equal parts thoughtful, ridiculous, and surprisingly introspective.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Controversy, Headlines, and Fame (00:07–08:19)

• Mark’s Growing Fame: Mark describes being quoted out of context and sparking controversy over his filmmaking decisions—particularly with his VFX team for Iron Lung.
• Misinformation Online: The crew mock the bizarre headlines that result (“Markiplier ditched Iron Lung VFX over budget,” “Markiplier goes bankrupt”).
• Libel vs. Slander:
  • Mark: "I think this counts as libel. Is this libel?" (04:31)
  • Bob: "Libel is when it done been written." (04:35)
• Wade as ‘Slanderman’:
  • Wade riffs: “I’m going to grow a couple extra arms. Call me the Slander Man.” (05:03)

2. Life Updates and Small Talk (08:12–11:45)

• Bob: Recounts vet/dentist visits, struggles with reading at night, and working through John Grisham’s Runaway Jury.
• Mark & Wade: Both mention recently finishing or reading the Dungeon Crawler Carl series, marveling at the author’s escalating stakes.
• Media Consumption: Mark admits to bingeing the series, with Bob noting how audiobooks shape character voices in his head.

3. The Mind’s Eye and “Aphantasia” (14:13–23:54)

• Aphantasia Defined: Bob explains his lack of internal visualization (aphantasia)—the inability to conjure images in his "mind’s eye." Mark excels at visual imagery, Wade falls somewhere in between.
  • Bob: "I have complete aphantasia. I don't see shit. If I close my eyes and try and imagine things, I see, like, blackness." (14:16)
• Audio Imagery: Bob can’t internally "hear" music or voices, contrasting with Mark and Wade who can vividly recall lyrics and even specific voices (e.g., Jeff Goldblum, Christopher Walken).
  • Wade: "It's harder to hear the instrumental... I can hear the lyrics very clearly." (15:58)
• Impressions vs. Imagination: Discussion of doing vocal impressions, with the consensus that mental impressions always sound “perfect” internally—even when reality doesn’t match.
  • Mark: "That's in my head. It's, like, perfect. But if I tried to do this out loud... is the subconscious just a complete liar?" (19:04)

4. Sensory Imagination Across Senses (23:54–38:39)

A. Reading & Audiobook Voices

• Mark distinguishes between reading modes: slower, with voices; faster, with no imagery.
  • Mark: “Sometimes I'm reading the words in my head ... and then the characters ... it can be their voices.” (21:57)

B. Improv & Spatial Imagination

• Wade explains how visualizing a scene aids in improv.
  • Wade: “That's how I keep track of ... physically where things are.” (24:33)
• Bob, unable to visualize, feels "lost" on stage: “I might as well be standing in the middle of space ... I can't see.” (25:37)

C. Smell and Taste (29:07–35:17)

• None of the hosts can vividly conjure smells.
  • Mark: “I could not tell you what a thing smells like to save my life.” (29:07)
  • Wade: “I can't conjure anything. Even if it’s bad smells, like just poop, straight poop, I can't smell and I'm grateful for that.” (30:39)
• Taste is similarly vague; texture is easier.
  • Mark: “Texture I can picture vividly. ... Taste, though, is vague, ethereal, but it's there, but it's less concrete.” (32:45)

D. Texture and Licking Objects (35:17–38:36)

• Licking things is a universally strong sensory memory—often gross, sometimes funny.
  • Mark: “If you can imagine yourself licking something ... you know exactly what it would feel like.” (35:17)
• Bob points out the mental “ick” of e.g. licking hair or Styrofoam.
  • Bob: “My brain did something horrible where I got hair—like licking hair sensations.” (35:20)

E. Proprioception/Motor Imagery (38:55–45:48)

• Mark describes childhood and adult methods for imagining motion (e.g., feeling like he’s swinging, or moving invisible bowls while falling asleep).
  • Mark: “[If] I would imagine my whole bed was swinging ... I could feel my center of gravity shifting.” (39:36)
• The trio discuss studies showing athletes improving performance via mental rehearsal alone, highlighting the power of motor imagery.

5. Cars, Identity, and “Becoming the Vehicle” (47:53–50:44)

• A brief tangent on whether people feel a sense of merger with their cars.
  • Bob: “Not at all do I feel connected to it. Like you're describing, it feels like I'm driving the thing and together we're a team and the car is always separate from me...”

6. Podcast “Rules,” Meta-Jokes, and Wheel Spinning (50:44–End)

• The group debates punishment/reward rules for missing the use of their trigger word (“unfair”), and how the subreddit should be involved.
• The infamous “wheel” and “coin” mechanic yet again determines who wins—a recurring Distractible tradition ripe for meta-mockery.
  • Mark: “The coin is my favorite part of the whole thing.” (56:18)
• Points tally is humorously debated for its fairness, giving Wade an unexpected victory.
• Closing speeches: Mark indulges in exaggerated humility regarding his fame and fate, Wade basks in a rare win despite having “less points.”
  • Wade: “Even when I do win, I win with the same amount of points as somebody else. I’m never going to catch up...” (61:02)
  • Bob: “You actually won this episode with less points than Mark. To be clear, the score was 10 to 9 when it was declared a tie and we entered Sudden Death.” (61:31)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Mark on Controversy: “Every sentence I speak can be misinterpreted to make a headline for an article.” (02:11)
• On Slander/Libel:
  • Wade: “I’m going to grow a couple extra arms. Call me the Slander Man.” (05:03)
  • Bob: “Libel is when it done been written.” (04:35)
• Bob on Aphantasia: “I have complete aphantasia ... I see, like, blackness and I got nothing.” (14:16)
• Mark on Smell: “I sometimes wonder if I have a sense of smell and I go like no, I can smell that.” (29:50)
• On Licking:
  • Mark: “If you can imagine yourself licking something ... you know exactly what it would feel like...” (35:17)
  • Bob: “Markiplier licks feet live on Distractible.” (37:19)
• Meta-Commentary:
  • Bob: “I hope everyone finds it interesting. But I found it very interesting, which is all I care about.” (51:42)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:07 – Mark’s “controversy” and the VFX rumor headlines
• 14:13 – Introduce aphantasia and mental imagery tests
• 24:33 – Improv and visual imagination in performance
• 29:07 – Discussion of olfactory imagination
• 32:13 – Imagining taste and food texture
• 35:17 – Licking and tactile imagery
• 38:55 – Motor imagery and proprioception
• 47:53 – Sense of self vs. vehicle while driving
• 50:44 – Rules for “unfair,” subreddit involvement
• 56:00–60:00 – Wheel & coin chaos, Mark’s meta reflections

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Summary Table of Sensory Imagery (as discussed)

| Sense | Mark | Wade | Bob | |----------------|-----------------|-----------------|-------------| | Sight | Highly vivid | Moderate | Zero | | Sound | Vivid | Moderate-vivid | Zero | | Smell | None | Rare/specific | None | | Taste | Vague, partial | Vague | None | | Texture | Highly vivid | Highly vivid | Moderate | | Motion | Trainable/vivid | Moderate | Not a focus |

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Closing

The episode balances the show’s self-deprecating humor with genuine curiosity about the diversity of sensory experience and imagination. If you’ve ever wondered about how (or whether) your friends or idols visualize, hear, or even “taste” things in their heads, this is the episode for you.

Host Next Week: Wade will take over as host for the next episode.

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For more odd, insightful, and hilarious explorations, follow Distractible and join the subreddit to share your own sensory imagination stories!

Transcript

[A]

Good evening, gentle listeners or watchers, and welcome to Distractable. This episode, bombshell. Bob brings up bankruptcy, blows hard and investigates sensory imagination. West Wing Wade becomes slanderman, fixates on the Sahara and steps on granny. Media mogul Mark catches more controversy, consumes Carl pumps with fist, suffers aphanosia and tongues feet from cutting to black to car symbiotic.

[B]

Yes,

[A]

it's time for the smell you can lick. Now sit back and prepare to be distracted and enjoy the show.

[C]

Hello, and welcome Back to Mindy St. Clair's favorite podcast. And if you don't know who that is, I'm not gonna explain it. My name is Bob, and I'm your host, and this is Distractible. I'm hosting because I won the last one, because the way this shitshow works is I. The way this show works. Regular show works. Two people compete and one person hosts. And whoever wins between the two competitors, they host the next one. Unless they don't, which has happened before, but not a lot. But it can happen. But it won't. But it could. But I'm joined by today's competitors and future hosts, Mark and Wade. Hello, I'm Mark.

[B]

I'm the other one.

[C]

Hello, other one. I'm dad.

[B]

Hi, dad. Man, that's a sentence I'm not going to utter in 25 years.

[C]

Yeah. Hey, wait a minute.

[B]

Whoa. Holy moly, man.

[A]

Quite the reveal in the last season here.

[C]

I can't believe that's the bombshell for the last episode ever. I've been doing that a lot with James lately, so. Sorry. Just. It just leaks out.

[B]

How do you cut the black in real life? You have, like, a curtain you carry around.

[C]

Yeah, it's just a big blanket. You know the trick with the birds where you're like, oh, oh. And then you throw it up and you run away, and then the bird is all, what the fuck?

[B]

I say with dogs, not birds. But I know what you're talking about.

[C]

All the same. Babies, birds, dogs. It's all the same.

[A]

They're all the same.

[C]

Before we get into the main episode topic, we do small talk. How you guys doing?

[A]

I've reached a funny new level of fame.

[C]

What's so funny about it?

[A]

Where every sentence I speak can be misinterpreted to make a headline for an article. Not that this hasn't happened before.

[C]

Mark, why are you sparking so many controversies? What are you doing?

[A]

Oh, man, I don't know.

[C]

I don't know.

[A]

So I get a. I get a text from Wes, you know, of burning tractor, the VFX company for Iron Lung that did all of that. And he tells me, hey, I know what you're talking about here, but I'm getting a lot of messages asking why you fired us on Iron Lung. So for those that don't know, Wes is the owner of Burning Tractor, a company that I've worked with on VFX for all of the bigger projects I've done with Heist and Space and now Iron Lung. I was on a separate podcast called the Lemonade Stand with Doug, Doug and his various friends of whose name I definitely remember. And this isn't a bad look. Here they are now. Wow.

[C]

Alien patriarch.

[B]

Wait, Markiplier left distractable to go to Lemonade Stand and then he burned a tractor and fired his VFX team.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, that's pretty much it.

[C]

That's the hard hitting news we report here.

[A]

Oh my God. See, the headline of this article is Markiplier ditched the Iron Lung VFX company over budget and turned his own bathroom into a render farm with old servers from ebay. Which is not what I said at all. What I said was we were subcontracting a VFX company to do some of the simulations for the blood in the opening sequence of the movie. The problem was the iterations that I needed because there were some translation differences between hiring them and what I would want, say I want, and what they would execute upon. The problem with simulations is they're incredibly computationally intense. They require a lot of hardware specialized for just doing simulations. It's not just about GPU power, it's about distributed CPU power. So the fidelity of the shot, it's like this is all me in. I'm reading my own quote, which is in this article here, and I remember

[C]

that that was accurate. That was just a quote. Because I did actually watch that and I somehow I'm remembering word for word what you said about that part.

[B]

He said he fired his blood company and forced his fans to donate blood for his movie.

[A]

Pretty much.

[C]

While you were saying it, I was thinking, man, Mark complained so much about how much he fucking hated Wes and he was so glad he fired those guys behind the scenes. So crazy. He's coming out. Yeah, no, I didn't. I didn't see that that was being quoted like that.

[A]

I think this counts as libel. Is this libel?

[C]

Libel is when it done been written.

[A]

Yeah. So saying that I ditched the VFX company, not only over budget, it's just such a disingenuous title is like, I feel my. You know how I always sue literally anyone at any opportunity. I'm like, nah.

[B]

Yeah, I heard you fired Amy, then slept with the director's wife.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, libel. I mean, slander.

[C]

That one. Slander. Get him.

[B]

Yeah, get me, get me for the right one, man. Come on.

[A]

I guess that one's true.

[B]

So I'm going to grow a couple of extra arms. Call me the slander man.

[A]

Why has no one done that yet? That seems obvious. Wait, that's so obvious.

[B]

Thanks. Thanks, man. That's how all my humor is.

[A]

No, no, I mean, like it's such a good idea. I feel like it should have been done at this point.

[B]

Maybe it was. I don't know. Sue me. Whoever I stole it from.

[C]

This.

[A]

It's, it's funny. I don't really mind because the benefit of having a YouTube channel is the ability to just like reach a lot more people than say, an article ever could. But also the problem with that is that Lemonade Stand podcast, you know, all the words are there. But even if I say a big stream and say all the words, people can just pick apart the words and do whatever they want, which is fun. Anyway, I didn't fire Wes.

[C]

I want to be famous. Like that. That sounds great.

[A]

Yeah. The main point was to get the hardware so that Wes and his team could use the hardware as many times as they needed and all I would have to do is the power. So it wasn't that VFX jobs were lost.

[C]

You know, I had that thought I hadn't seen any of this, but I did watch most of the Lemonade Stand episode and I was watching and I was like, this is like one of those things. They're going to quote him but they're going to like cut it up or take like five words and then there's going to be like gossip youtubers or like headlines or something of people be like, Markiplier puts somebody on blast about their involvement in Iron Log. Some stupid shit. I mean, you don't say stuff that you're not like allowed to say, but you don't play the game that people play. Where normally in an interview like that someone who's like a media trained professional in the industry would be like, oh, it's great. They're great to work with. Like they don't say anything, right? They say they were asking you questions and you were like, oh, it's so expensive. We had, we ran into problems, but I learned a lot. Like you just said, like, what happened?

[B]

Wait, Markiplier went broke and knew nothing about moviemaking. Before he started.

[C]

Yeah, just that one. That one clip where you're talking about the. The money and you're like. And the part that goes back to the budget, like, oh man, I'm so broke. Wait for that to get quoted like, Markiplier goes bankrupt.

[A]

Markiplier makes $24. Oh, fuck. I so fucked. So much money. Oh my God.

[B]

Congrats, man for making it.

[A]

Thanks, thanks, thanks. It's only up from here.

[C]

That's fun. Hey, all press is good press, right, Wes? I don't know Wes, by the way. I've never talked to Wes.

[B]

Do you have?

[C]

Oh, no, I have talked to Wes.

[A]

You've literally been on set with him.

[C]

But I don't know him like that. I don't know him to where I could be like, yeah, right. Wes, buddy, he did so good on space.

[B]

I'm sorry he had to fire him for iron long. That's so tragic.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

You know, hey, if he just got an ego and he got more expensive and you know, I can't have that.

[B]

We already have a three letter name on the podcast too. We can't have more of them in our lives.

[A]

I think the next headline is Markiplier replaces VFX companies with real good AI.

[C]

Yes, that's the move. That's what it is. It's secret plan for Mark to develop his own AI slop house.

[A]

No. Think of how much money I can save. Slash make, slash lose.

[C]

How do you cackle? Enrich. Yeah. Then everybody making AI stuff, only making money. It's great. They're all making huge profits. I think as far as I have heard, probably.

[A]

Oh yeah, no, they're spending money, that's for sure.

[C]

It's fine. It's gonna be fine. Huge profits.

[B]

I've been slightly distracted. I'm trying to think of a good pun for Sahara, but. But bald. Don't remember why, but that's what my brain's been working on. In case you guys are curious.

[C]

What is Sahara from?

[B]

Don't remember. Something about when Mark mentioned hairline like an hour ago. Don't even know if we were recording at that point. But my.

[C]

Yeah, that's before the episode.

[B]

I think brain got completely locked in and I was like, hairline. I like the Sahara bald. Hold on. And I've just been there this whole time.

[C]

So you're just not participating in any of the rest of this?

[B]

I've been participating. I just want. I'm slight. All my great slander. Remember Slander man.

[A]

He came with slander man. I do remember.

[C]

Oh, you did say Slander, man.

[A]

Is that one of those random like you just a speaking spell and that just happened to come out like you get. You take in information? Yeah.

[B]

You pulled the cord and it landed on Slenderman.

[C]

Pun, Wade Is our monkey with a typewriter.

[A]

I mean, yeah, that is a pretty fit description.

[C]

The monkey's still bald. Sorry, Wade. Well, that's fun. I don't have much to say about that. I don't think I'm ever going to encounter that sort of issue in my life.

[A]

Yeah, but it's okay. I don't mind at all.

[C]

I should just start saying more controversial shit just so I can get news outlets to misquote me.

[B]

Markiplier co host says Mark, that's your problem. I'll never have to deal with it. So you should.

[C]

Distractable. Ended over. Spat over Markiplier's newfound fame. Jealous co hosts could not.

[B]

Anyway, views over whether or not Markiplier should have fired Wes. Dissolves. Distractible.

[C]

Do you have any goofy headlines about your life, Wade?

[B]

No, thankfully not. I was at a vet or a doctor's office every day of the week last week and I've kind of just done with that. It was exhausting and tiring and annoying.

[C]

Were they trying to decide which one was supposed to treat you or.

[B]

Well, the only one that treated me was a dentist. That went well. I stuff all my teeth went pretty good, I think.

[C]

Success.

[B]

Yeah. I won't go into all the specifics because, you know, medical and hippos and whatnot. Not that I'm the doctor, so I guess I could share, but I won't. Anyway, it was just a long bleh week press. He didn't do well with the anesthesia, so we had like two days of misery with him and just a lot. And then it's tax season. It's been a lot of not fun stuff. So in my free time I've been re watching West Wing for some reason reading John Grisham. Still trying to finish that book. I've only read periodically, but I've tried to finish that book so I can start Dungeon Crawler Carl about halfway through Runaway Jury. Now, I was going to read more last night, but then I have like one of those little neck lights that you could read with in the dark. I didn't charge it, so the battery died in the middle of like a really exciting chapter last night I just went to sleep angry.

[C]

If only you lived in a house with lights.

[B]

Yeah, but I was comfortable in bed. I was going to like turn on the bright light while Molly's sleeping.

[A]

What did you do? Quietly in the pitch black room. You just wait. Just wait.

[B]

I have done that noise before out of frustration at night and woken Molly up. So I do that sometimes, actually.

[A]

That's very funny. That's very funny.

[B]

That and playing a bunch of random Pokemon games. Oh, I 100% berry, berry, berry. I went through an achievement hunted last night. Love that game.

[A]

I finished Dungeon Crawler, Carl. At least all the books that are available.

[C]

Oh, you've officially passed me.

[A]

Well, you haven't finished.

[B]

Where are you?

[C]

I'm on the. I'm on the last book right now. I'm like halfway through the last book that's currently out book seven or whatever.

[A]

I mean, I am impressed by the author's ability to constantly make the stakes go B.O. it's fucking nuts. Considering where it started. I'm just like, oh.

[C]

I think my favorite version of that is the transition from the end of the Butcher's Masquerade into the beginning of the next. Because at the end of that book, you're like, holy. Oh, my God. And then you start the next one and you're just like, oh, oh, my God. Holy. Like, it just keeps crazy.

[B]

I'll relate soon.

[C]

You'll get there, buddy.

[A]

You wouldn't think that it. Because, like, what the subject matter is. I mean, even if the setting is as apocalyptic as it sounds, it's like he. It just is a really smart, smart way of escalating. And there's a lot of complexity in there. And I think that it's impressive.

[C]

I like when the dungeon crawls, like

[B]

Star wars opening crawls or like crawls, like creepy horror movie at you crawls.

[C]

It's more like when they're trapped in the trash compactor on the detention level.

[B]

And there's no 3PO this time.

[A]

Was it 3PO or was it R2

[C]

is the one actually shutting down all the trash compactors on the detention level, I think. But 3PO was there.

[B]

That's true. But I think he was talking to 3PO on the thing. And then R2 is the one actually plugged in.

[C]

3PO did carry the microphone, walkie talkie, whatever the fuck that was. We all lead fascinating lives, don't we?

[B]

Really got all the trash compactors on the detention level.

[C]

They're dying, R2. Yeah, that's what we're talking about. That's the one.

[B]

Yeah, I was just. He's talking to three people. I just remember. I want to make sure my brain was like.

[A]

And now we're in legally troublesome waters. You did Too good of an impression of that scene.

[C]

Wade, you get a segue point.

[B]

One of us does.

[A]

Yay, Wade.

[C]

I said Wade.

[A]

Yeah, I did.

[C]

I did.

[A]

Wade. Yeah, sorry, Wade.

[C]

It was.

[A]

It was.

[C]

I. Oh, no, you know what? You're right. I misspoke. Mark, you get a segue point.

[B]

Wade, hold on. No, me, me, me.

[C]

Oh, you're the one. You're the one who couldn't listen to your own name being said in a sentence where I said five words.

[B]

I was so distracted by Mark thrashing around, I was trying to think of another headline for him.

[A]

Wasn't thrashing. This is. This is just pumping my fist in victory. But I'm sitting, and I only have so much mobility.

[B]

Yeah, but I can't see your full cutout, so it looks like you're just thrashing because you're just shoulders in the head.

[A]

I. The sudden urge to convert to standing but I'm not going to do.

[C]

Only ever goes well.

[A]

It's too dangerous. I can't. I can't do that to myself. I would never.

[C]

I actually don't think I can do that anymore since I moved to offices. I think if I did that, I would actually just disappear from the call forever.

[B]

I've tried to tell Molly I can't stand anymore, but she still makes me go places.

[C]

Yeah, I don't know if that's going to work. I appreciate the effort, though. Mark gets the segue point. Yes. Because Wade was trying to recall, and then accurately did recall a quote from a movie. Look, we're in the area of rehashing, right? This is. This is where we are as the show. There's nothing new under the sun anymore. But I was talking to Mandy recently, and we were talking more about Aphantasia, which is a thing that we've talked about on the show.

[B]

Great Disney movie.

[C]

If you haven't seen the previous episodes, Aphantasia is. You ever see that meme of where it's like, there's a real apple and there's, like, nothing, and there's versions of the apple in between? Aphantasia means that a person cannot visualize things in their head. They have no mind's eye. I have complete aphantasia. I don't see shit. If I close my eyes and try and imagine things, I see, like, blackness and I got nothing. I get no. But we were talking about that because we've talked about that before, and I find it really interesting because I think we cover the spectrum from me being completely nothing to Mark having really pretty vivid Realistic ability to picture things. And Mandy pointed out that that's one sense that your ability to see stuff and see things in your mind's eye is, like, interesting. But we have a bunch of other senses. Sexes. We have a lot of sexes on this show. But I want to talk about our senses. I wanted to just sort of like do some non scientific tests and talk to you guys about what level of if at all aphantasia or non aphantasia you have with other things. Because I realized in talking about it with Mandy, like, I'm a musician, not as a career, but I went to school to be a musician. And I played a lot of music in my life. I don't hear shit either. If I'm imagining, like a piece of music that I know or like a song I like. Like, it feels like I'm listening to it. If I imagine the song, I don't hear it. It's not like I'm playing the CD in my head, but I imagine both of you guys. If you're trying to imagine a song that you know and like, you just do you hear it in your mind's ear.

[A]

I mean, we've seen it with Wade, of him bopping to Shakira. We know every time you've got Shakira in your head, we see the little.

[B]

Oh, dude, I was just Enter Sandmaning right now. Metallica. Don't Sue Me. Yeah, I can. It's harder to hear the instrumental, I guess I can hear the lyrics very clearly. Like, now I'm gonna Hold on, I'm gonna Shakira for a moment. You guys talk.

[C]

We all know about your undying love for Shakira, but literally, for me, it's funny because, like, if I, like, you said Enter Sandman, know that song? I can sing that song mostly, probably. But if I try and, like, hear the opening guitar part, where it's just the guitar and the hi hat comes in. I know the rhythm and I know how it sounds, but in my head, all I hear is my breath. Because I tend to like, breathe in and out as a. I played a wind instrument, right? So when I'm playing music, a lot of times I'm like. I'm blowing on my instrument mentally, in a way, and all I'm hearing is, like, my breath. So it literally sounds like.

[B]

It's so weird.

[C]

It's fucking. I've never thought about it until Mandy brought this up. It's crazy. I feel like I'm listening to the song. Like, I know how much I like that song. And I feel like I feel the. I feel all the part. I can't fucking hear it. I don't hear anything. I hear my own stupid breath in my head.

[A]

I would love to hear the symphony of your breath in, like, a full orchestra. Now the bass. Not even, like, the buzzing of the lips for, like, the tuba.

[C]

This is my life, man. This is my experience.

[B]

That reminds me of the south park episode where they were doing the Guitar Hero thing, and they just brought one of the guitars, and it's like, play

[C]

Buckethead without the game.

[B]

Click, click, click, click, click, click, click.

[C]

No, literally. I appreciate why that joke is funny, but I was always kind of like, yeah, that's what it sounds like. But apparently other people could hear. Theoretically could hear the song.

[A]

Okay, so we're covering hearing first, right?

[C]

Yeah, we can talk about whatever I have. I want to cover all of the senses.

[A]

But can you guys. If you were imagining Jeff Goldblum saying something, can you hear his voice? Say things that you like? Because that's a common thing. Is like, oh, if I'm reading something, it's like, oh, it's like I'm hearing it in his voice. Can you guys do that?

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Nothing.

[A]

Christopher Walken.

[B]

Yeah, I just pictured him in the cowbell skit, and I heard him talking.

[C]

Yeah, I physically feel Christopher Walken in that. Like, I feel how I feel. What? I try and mimic his voice. Not that I do a very accurate impression. Right. But what I think, like, if I was trying to have him talk in my head internally, I'm like. Like, I'm mouthing the words, but it's dead silence.

[B]

I think repetition helps. Like, I'm trying to think of, like, a conversation with my mom, and I'm like, I'm having a harder time listening to my mom, like, imagining her voice than I am. Like, something I've heard multiple times over, like, a song or a skit. Like, those kinds of things I can pull back very easily. But just like, a random sentence or something like, that's harder for me to form, I guess I think I can do it, but it's harder to do than something I know I've heard and seen.

[A]

I have to, like, read words on that are on my screen to know exactly. Like, oh, there's that voice. But what's weird is, you guys know my impressions. Top notch.

[C]

Yeah. Only the best. Sure, sure.

[A]

That's in my head. It's, like, perfect. But if I tried to do this out loud, I mean, is that just me deluding myself? Am I as good at hearing it in my head as I think I am, is the subconscious just a complete liar?

[C]

I don't know if you've ever done this right, but if you, like, if you imagined Jeff Goldblum line or something. Right. Or if you imagine the, like, I need more cowbell sketch. And you. You hear in your head, you hear Christopher Walken, like, I put my pants on one leg at a time, whatever. And then you play that exact clip. I feel like you have a. Probably an accurate enough judgment to where you could be like, yeah, that was pretty. Like, it sounded like. I thought it would sound. It sounded like it hurt. I heard it in did. I think the problem is that doing an impression is not as straightforward as it seems.

[B]

Yeah. Because we're physically constrained.

[C]

I don't think it's that you can't hear the voices. I think it's just really hard to recreate someone else's voice because you're. Because of the physiological components of it.

[B]

Also, the way we hear things in our head is different than how they come out of our mouths. Because some of the impressions I do that I think are. Some of my best sound terrible out loud. But, like, the way I hear it, I'm like, oh, that's so good. And then the ones I'm like, yeah, that's okay. People are like, like, that's such a good impression. I'm like, is it?

[A]

I was driving just around. I can't. Nowhere particular, but I was driving and I was lost in thought. And I had this strange thought that kind of gave me, like, shivers down my spine. And I went like, does the voice in my head sound like me? Like, I. I asked myself that. And then I was talking to myself in my head. I was hearing my own voice. I'm like, doesn't sound like me. Like, if I was speaking out loud, sound like me. I'm like, then who is it?

[C]

Then who. Who is. Who's in my head?

[A]

So I was like, freak myself on my drive because I'm just like. But then after that, I was like, oh, wait, no, it sounds me. But did it before? You know? Like, is that just it pretending now to sound like me?

[C]

The other person in your head was like, oh, wait, yeah, how do I sound like Mark?

[B]

Hello, everybody.

[A]

Is that what I sound like to

[C]

you in your head?

[B]

Always, man, you go back to that video.

[A]

That's not even what I sound like there.

[B]

No, in my head, it's a perfect impersonation. Honest.

[C]

That little head bob. That's exactly right.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah. With them. With my not Face cam. Hello, everybody.

[C]

Well, another one that I think is interesting, and we're talking about Dungeon Crawler Carl. So this is a good thing to focus on. I never thought about this until I started getting into this specific book series. Because the audiobooks for Dungeon Crawler Carl are very popular. And it's because the voice actor who performs the audiobooks does a crazy good job. Almost all the voices, except for a couple exceptions, are from the same guy. And the voices are wildly varied and very good. And I kept seeing people being like, oh, I love the auto book. That's not how I thought Donut would sound. I have a totally different voice for whatever. And I'm like, I didn't think they sounded like anything. Like, what the fuck do you mean that's not how they sound to you? They sound like they sound when he sounds them. In my head, I don't hear. But apparently people, when you're like reading or whatever, you make a voice. Do you guys do this?

[A]

This ties into a very interesting thing that I think can finally relate some of this aphantasia to not. And it just made me realize I have two modes of reading, right? I have a mode of reading where I am sounding everything out and I am hearing the voices. And it's slower. It is just more involved. And it's like, I can't say that it's helping vividly imagine anything, but sometimes I'm reading the words in my head as I'm doing it. And then when the characters get there, it can be their voices. The other mode of reading is there is nothing happening as I'm reading. It is pure, just comprehension. That's when I'm moving fast that I think paints the better picture of things happening, but less about the voices. It turns into this different thing. Or sometimes it's just like I'm just comprehending because I'm like, yeah, I want to get through this section. Because it's like for some reason or another, I like, my attention lapses and I'm just like zoned out and I am understanding everything, but it's not translating to everything there. So I think actually I'm going to lump that middle one with the vividly just to the first one because it is slower and it's like taking your time. And it's like, oh, I want to really savor every word here. And then the other one is just pure comprehension. I don't have any imaginations associated with it. It is just word go in. It does not get it transcribed. It is just the information of it goes into the ether and it's darkness.

[C]

Do you feel like you comprehend less when you're reading, I don't know, sort of creatively or whatever when you're enjoying it, or is it just like slower?

[A]

I honestly don't know because I haven't taken a test between the two. I think it's probably about the same, but one is faster, much faster. Which might explain why you're so quick witted is because if you don't have to translate it into another like layer of imagination, then it can go like zaboom. I think that there is something about that when people are really good at what they do and really tuned in to what they need to make happen, it's unconscious, it's instinctive. And I think maybe passing through that instinctive layer removes any of the conscious imagination. Front area.

[C]

This is a thing that we've done. We have together. The three of us have done improv comedy in a lot of different. We do it on this show, but we've done it in a more traditional sense in person, on stage, where we're trying to build a scene, we're trying to do a sort of traditional improv. When we're doing that in person, are you. We're on stage and someone is like, oh, welcome to my ice cream shop. In your head, are you like, here's the ice cream. Like, this is the counter, here's the shop. Are you like crafting, are you imagining that into reality and like merging whatever, something you're imagining with what we're doing in the scene? In a way, yeah.

[B]

That's how I keep track of like, like physically where things are. Like if we use a broom, then we set it down, I'm like, there's the broom.

[C]

That would be so helpful. Yeah.

[B]

It's not perfect, you know, it's not like I'm looking at a VR headset and seeing stuff lying around, but it's like a quick sketch of like the area will.

[C]

Yes, but like, if you look back over your. Like if we're doing something and you look back over your shoulder and you're like, that's where the broom is or whatever. You have like some imagery of it or something.

[B]

Not perfectly, not always, but like, yes, to some extent the important things in the scene that we need to keep track of. Like whenever I do a good. There's obviously times where I'm like, oh crap, I just stepped on Grandma. I forgot that's where she was in the scene. But like, if I'm doing a good job on that particular scene. Then, yeah, I'm like, yes, that's the broom, here's the ice cream stand, there's the wood beams, and there's the sign that says ice cream. Like, I see those things in the scene while we're doing it. They're like rough sketch layout versions of it.

[C]

I can see that that would be really beneficial when we're doing oh.

[B]

Immensely. Can't imagine not having it.

[A]

Oh, you do. You do improv better than any of us. Like, you can't talk. Oh, you can't have all the benefits.

[C]

Yeah, but it's. I. It's like one line. I'm just. I might as well be standing in the middle of the space not interacting with anything and everyone else around me is doing. And I'm just like, ah, I can't see. So I don't know what we're doing right now. Like, ah, that would be. That would really change how that feels to me, I think. I suspect. But that's really interesting.

[B]

Yeah. We did a scene one time and I remember Ethan was like mining and I was like picturing him mining something. Like, I even saw a point where he like, looked down, like. Like I saw the rock break and fall that he hit with the pickaxe and I was like, oh, that's cool. Like, yeah, there's moments where I get really into it. Then there's moments where I'm like kind of half there because my brain's not functioning. I'm so worried about what I'm going to say that I kind of miss what other people are putting down. So there's definitely, as a not professional at it. I mean, there's definitely moments of, oh, I'm fully in. And there's moments where it's like, I can't keep up what's. What's there.

[A]

I think also it can be a detriment sometimes because if we're so caught up in the vivid imagination of things, we're not focused on what's actually happening because we're trying to like, juggle. Like, okay, the counter was over there and he wiped that and he was like, what did he just do?

[B]

Oh.

[A]

Oh, no.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So it can slow things down. Much like with the reading, it does slow things down. And you know, in the middle of a scene, isn't it a time to go around? Look. Ah, I'm enjoying this. I'm savoring this. Every word.

[C]

Oh, no. Oh, no. Is it my turn to talk?

[B]

To go back to the books part? I think I. I don't consciously like make or invent voices for people. But if there's like a movie adaptation or show adaptation of something I've read and it's not at all what like I guess I imagined I noticed that more. If it's. If it's close enough, I'm like, okay, that's fine. But there's been. I can't think of an example off top of my head, but there's been certainly times where I've seen like a show or a movie and someone talks is like, I don't imagine like the Book of Mice and Men, you know, if Christopher Walken played Lenny's like, I tend the rabbits, George. It's like, that is not what I imagine Lenny sounding like. I can't get into the movie because that character is so not what my brain thought he would sound like. Like I don't appreciate it whenever it's more like what I expect whenever it's the opposite or very different than my brain's like, wrong, wrong. Can't get into this movie. Can't get into this movie. Wrong voice. Bad voice.

[A]

Bad voice. You don't want the bad voice.

[C]

That's so funny. I've always thought people were just being ridiculous where they see a movie and they're like, that character is all wrong. That's not how Batman would talk and that's not how he's supposed. And I'm like, this is the one movie of this. He looks like he looks in the movie. I feel like. But they're, you know, they have read the comic books, they have read the non comic, regular books, whatever. They have these images. I don't have that problem. I'm easy going. I guess that's why I'm so casual.

[B]

I am vengeance.

[C]

Well, we wandered away a little bit, but. So you guys don't have any more or less aphantasia as applies to audio stuff?

[B]

I don't think so. I hear pretty well.

[A]

No. Yeah, I can. I can play pretty much whole songs

[C]

and I have about the same.

[B]

I think it's hard to hear the instrumental and the lyrics at the same time. I kind of have to. To focus on one a little bit more than the other. There's some parts where they overlap, but if I'm focused on the words, it's harder to hear the music. But then like as soon as like gripping your pillow tight, it's like. Then I hear like the drum drop.

[A]

What is that? What song is that?

[B]

Interesting, man.

[A]

Biting your pillow hard Flipping your pillow

[B]

to the cold side.

[A]

Mr. Slandman?

[C]

Well, I don't know if any of these are going to be different then I guess I was curious if it was like all the. So far we're all or all the same.

[A]

No one's the avatar of senses in their heads. I'm willing to bet.

[C]

I don't know, maybe Mark is Mark. Mark seems to be the strongest of us with the different types of bending we've discussed so far but. All right, next one. Smells nothing.

[A]

This is where I think I actually have a fan. Nogia. No, no. Fantasy nose Fantasia.

[C]

Oil factor. Asia.

[A]

I could not tell you what a thing smells like to save my life. I don't have strong smell memories. Some things will be like smell. And I'll be like oh, I've smelled that before. I really truly don't have a smell. Smell. Genation.

[C]

I hate that word but it's very accurate.

[B]

A handful I can go a rose. And gasoline I can kind of get the scent of if I imagine. But other things I'm like okay, garlicky mashed potatoes. I can kind of get the garlic, like a really strong garlic. But like if I'm just trying to like a steak I'm like come on, give me something. Like no, nothing really coming there.

[A]

I sometimes wonder if I have a sense of smell and I go like no, I can smell that.

[C]

Okay, well so, so yeah, so conjuring a smell is tough but what about if you. I don't know, you know, gasoline is kind of. What if it's like the smell of your house growing up or the smell of a grandparents particular cologne or perfume or something?

[B]

I'd have to actually smell it.

[A]

Yeah, I'd have to actually smell smell it.

[C]

But if I actually smell something it's like a smack in the face. Still like I do have a strong connection to it memory wise but I don't know if that changes whether I'm nose fantasic or not.

[B]

Smells a tough one. I, I don't have a lot of smells that I'm like yes I can, I can bring that out of nowhere. So like if I smelled that smell. Yeah. I'd remember it probably. I'd be like oh man, this reminds me of like bacon at my grandparents house. And I'd wake up and it was cooking. I smell it. But like right now I'm like come on, bacon smell, bacon smell.

[A]

And it's just not coming and I can't conjure anything. Like even if it bad smells like just poop, straight poop I can't smell and I'm grateful for that.

[C]

No, that is nice. That is nice.

[B]

I'm like, give me food. Mark's like, poop. Come on.

[C]

Poop.

[A]

No, I'm saying a strong smell, like a bad one. Because, you know, negative memories are stronger than positive ones sometimes. So it's like, I don't think that I can conjure that smell in my imagination. I wouldn't even know the capability of doing that.

[C]

I wonder if people can do that. That crosses a barrier to be like, where. If you're trying to imagine a visual or if you're trying to hear something, that's a thing where it's not completely tangible. I mean, audio is sound waves, so you are kind. But, like, when you're trying to imagine a smell or a taste, which we'll also talk about next, it is a thing where it's like. It's a chemical thing. It's not like your body conjures the correct chemicals and then you smell it. It is like, I don't know. Know.

[B]

Yeah. I can't tell if I. If it's like, the sensation of the smell or the smell, because sometimes, like, you know, your nose gets a tickle if you smell something like. Like the gasoline. It's like, it's right there. It's almost like whenever words at the tip of your tongue. It's like the gasoline's right there, but I can't quite smell it.

[A]

I can rotate the gasoline in my head. I can hear the sound of it glugging into the. Into the car.

[B]

I can picture me pouring gas all over myself at the pump, but I can't smell it.

[C]

Now. Imagine that. But all your other senses, and then you're just like, me. Me.

[A]

I can't relate to you.

[B]

No, I can't really can't imagine that couldn't be me.

[C]

All right, well, this one's pretty closely related, but then. So let's also talk about taste. Is it any different for taste for you guys? Can you conjure up a taste of a thing and have that?

[A]

Like, I think this would be, like, there's a vague outline of it. Because if I imagine sour, like, if I imagine biting into a lemon, I'll start salivating. Like, so clearly there is it.

[C]

And.

[A]

And my tongue will start to feel weird. Like, if I think of that Warhead video that we did, I'm like, I already got. It's already building up. So there' something there. I can vaguely be like, I think I know what turkey tastes like. I think I can kind of imagine that. That flavor. There's also texture to it, which is a hard Thing to separate out.

[B]

Yes, I'm with you on that one.

[A]

Yeah. Texture I can picture vividly. That's. That's no problem at all. The taste though, is. Is like vague, ethereal, but it's there, but it's less concrete.

[B]

Yeah. The other senses are coalescing and making it hard. Like I like biting into an apple. I can feel it. I can feel the juice. I can. I can almost taste or smell it, but like it's all the others. Like the sound of the crunch. Like all of that is there, but like the taste and the smell both are kind of eluding me. Again, garlic. I mentioned like the garlic mashed potatoes. I can feel them going into my mouth. Like even like occasional lump in it where it wasn't fully mashed. Like all that's there and there is the sensation of garlic. But I can't tell if it's the taste, the smell, neither. Both. It's too lumped in with the other ones. And the texture is a big part of that. Biting into like a skittle versus a steak versus a bread roll. There was a place called Grand Finale in Cincinnati that closed down and went a handful of times in the past. And they had these really great rolls. Like, I love their bread. It's right there going into my mouth and tasting. Even though it's been gone for like five years. But I just can't I stop right. Short of being able to enjoy it in my imagination, it's like it's going to my mouth, but gone.

[C]

This is a random tangent and I thought that's really fascinating. But the rolls. I have only been to the Grand Finale once. Costco's in house yeasted dinner rolls. You have to buy them in like a huge fucking bag. But those are close and they're insanely good. I got them randomly this holiday season because we hosted a bunch of people.

[B]

Tell me that name again.

[C]

Like, if you just go to Costco and go to the bakery, they just sell huge bags. And I think they're just called dinner rolls. It's just like the made at Costco made in house dinner rolls. They're like yeasted dough. They're fucking amazing. We hosted a bunch of family over Thanksgiving and Christmas this year. I swear, every person who was here was, where did you get these rolls? Did you make these? No, it's this huge fucking 10 pound bag of rolls from Costco. But they're really good anyway, random thing and you have to buy a whole lot of them. So it's kind of a. Like you can freeze them Maybe or whatever. But it's kind of a pain.

[B]

It's right there. Like the. The ripping apart. The little something in the center, the little circle in the center. I can see the butter melting on top. I just want to taste it again.

[C]

Try the Costco ones. You'll have to eat a lot of them, but they're real good.

[A]

There is the strain. Strange association that we've talked about this podcast before. Whereas if you can imagine yourself licking something and you know exactly what it would feel like to lick it, not so much the taste, but just the texture, I don't know why that is so strong. Because if the taste is not that strong, but pure texture is like. Is that just tying into the whole body's ability to sense, like, touch?

[C]

Mark, you get another segue point.

[B]

My brain did something horrible where I got hair. Like, licking hair sensations.

[C]

No. Yeah, that's the next one. That's called tactile imagery. And it is different from smelling and tasting. It is specifically the texture, and it's involved in eating because you can feel any part of you that has nerve endings. You could feel a tactile sensation if you lick something or you touch it with your hands or whatever. This is one where I think I actually am not a zebra. Of all the things that I can't, like you said, wait, it's like dramatic things. Like, if I imagine licking a basketball

[A]

or hair, I can almost taste the rubber.

[B]

It's right there with the basketball. Like, I can feel.

[C]

This is the one where it's like, it grosses me out. This is why I'm sort of sensitive to textures and food. Because this is the one thing where it will gross me out. Where it's like, if I imagine the texture of a thing I really didn't like that I ate or that I had trouble. I can summon that a little bit and I can get that reaction where it's like, queasy. Whatever.

[B]

You brought me to Styrofoam just now that I'm not happy about it.

[C]

Yeah, I'm really glad I don't hate Styrofoam because I could totally probably summon the texture enough, but I could kind of do it, guys. But it sounds like it's really vivid for you guys. Like, it's crisp, sharp.

[B]

Texture is pretty strong.

[A]

It's pretty strong. It's to the point where if I imagine all the textures that I really, really don't like touching, it just makes me physically uncomfortable. Like what you're guys saying. Especially, like, the felt roof of an old car.

[C]

I'M literally fidgeting with two little pieces of felt right here on my desk because I think it's funny because it's. It's fuzzy.

[A]

What is wrong with you? What is wrong with you?

[C]

Well, look, these are like. They're like little feet you put on furniture. Right? They're just like. Yeah, I know.

[B]

I get it.

[A]

I'm licking them right now. I know what they are.

[C]

I'm not licking them. What? I don't like that. No, that's not good.

[A]

Yeah, see, See, I love the listeners

[B]

perspective of some of what we.

[C]

Oh, that tastes so much worse than the texture is. What does that taste like?

[A]

Glue?

[B]

Markiplier licks. Feet live on distractible.

[A]

I did not do that. That is not true. Slander. Slenderman.

[C]

There's nothing wrong with felt, you weirdo psychopath. Who doesn't like felt?

[B]

Not as bad as cotton or styrofoam, but it's not great. Like felt and velvety textures.

[C]

Yeah, cotton balls are concerned. Hate it.

[B]

Last night I sliced my hand open with one of those, like, Reynolds wrap little serrated edge things. Like, I could feel my thumb just running along the edge lightly. And I can kind of feel the cut again. And the cut part's not pl. Pleasant, but like, I can. I can feel those textures. I can feel the texture of the actual aluminum foil or plastic wrap. Like, texture to me comes very easily in my imagination.

[C]

Can any of us imagine positive textures or is it only the shitty textures that we hate that we could. Oh, like ice cream. I can imagine the like creamy, delicious texture of ice cream. That's a good one. Right? We can all agree.

[B]

Yeah. I like shakes with chocolate chips in them. Sometimes like a chocolate shake with hot fudge and like chocolate chips. I can feel the chocolate chips coming through the straw.

[C]

Or like the first lick of like a sucker. Like, you get your unwrap a Tootsie Pop, and when it's all. It's dry and you're like the little

[B]

edge, the little lumpy edge that you go and hit. Yeah.

[C]

And sometimes there's like chunks out of that or there's. It's a whole different again.

[B]

Mashed potatoes or steak or apple. Like, all those textures are there.

[C]

I think that's literally the only category where I feel like I'm not just a straight up zero.

[A]

So you qualify as human. I think if you can do that,

[C]

if you're all zeros across the board, you're not a human. But if you have any imagination in any of your senses, then you call, well, thank God I made it because I don't think this next one counts for me either. I don't even know if this is a sense proprietion anyway.

[A]

Yeah, proprioception, motor imagery, movement imagery.

[C]

I've always thought those silly wouldn't. There are things, right, where it's like, I'll teach you how to golf now. Envision your swing and your swing and I'm like, I just, just wagging my arms around. How is this going to help me actually golf? Is it. Do you guys. If you're imagining you're doing something, especially if it's a thing you know how to do, do you feel like you have a good vivid imagery of whatever, chopping an onion?

[B]

It's not 30 FPS, you know, if that makes any sense. Like I'm not getting full frames in my imagination. There's like missing sections, but like I can see a swing but like it's not a smooth. Just like. Ah, yes, there it is, is. There's pieces missing, but yes, this ties

[A]

into something that I experienced in my childhood. When I was going to sleep, oftentimes I would imagine my whole bed was swinging and I could feel myself swinging. I could feel like my center of gravity shifting even if I'm not moving. So I think that ties into that because it's like the body position thing. I stopped doing it for a while and it got like I lost the ability to do it for a little bit. But then a few years ago when I was trying to, when I was doing my polyphasic sleep bullshit, I'd be like, okay, I gotta force myself to take this 45 minute nap. I only have 45 minutes to sleep. I gotta get to sleep. So I would start to do that again. I'd be like, I wonder if I can still do that. And it was really weak, right? It was weak at first, but the more I did it, the more I practiced it, the more I got better at it. So it's one of those weird things where I think actually you can get better at that one. Because then eventually that evolved into something else I talked to you guys about, which is where I was trying to find meditations. What I would do is I was like, I would imagine myself sitting in a chair, I could feel my arm lift and there was this wooden bowl of wooden spheres. So I'd pick up a ball and I'd put it in another bowl and I'd be counting as I did. And I could feel the tactile less about the wood, but more about my position in my trying to Separate my clearly laying down body and me moving an imaginary arm. And it was the stronger that that connection got, the quicker I was able to just slip into something sleep. Weirdly enough, I don't know why that's really funny.

[C]

I never connected that to that you were really imagining the motor. I use that. I specifically that scenario of like sitting at the table and moving a thing from a bowl to another bowl. I use that. That does help me like fall asleep and or sort of meditate when I'm trying to focus and like quiet everything in my mind. Mind. But I don't at all. It's not about the sensation of the motor skills part of it. It's entirely about like using it as enough of a focal point to or it captures my attention. But it's not enough of an activity that it requires any serious imagination or thought because it's, you know, it's equivalent to like counting sheep or other things that people, you know, do and that come up examples of that. But part of it is that you feel the motor imagination and that's like what makes it calm me.

[A]

Yeah. And because I think it's like you're stepping out of your physical form into your mind which is where you are when you sleep. So it's kind of helps that. Right. And it's something you can get better at. I do think that it weirdly is the more you practice that one you can improve that. Maybe you can improve the other ones, but I don't know.

[C]

That was actually kind of my follow up question on this one too that you can get better at the imagining. Do you feel like if you were trying to learn something, if you were trying to learn how to chop an onion or how to cast a line with a fishing pole, do you feel like if once you've done it a little bit and you're imagining it, are you practicing that and does that help you get better at the actual activity? Does it translate back and forth or is it just that you can get better at imagining the sensations?

[A]

There are scientific studies that actually have shown that shadow boxing improves boxers performance. That if you're doing martial arts there's certain athletes that if they visualize the thing that they're trying to do, their performance does increase. The science study that I saw was set up in a way where it's like you had a control group of people that were actually practicing and you had a control group of people that weren't doing anything, no preparation and you had the test group which was they were only imagining doing the task and so they had a control of nothing and a control of actual practice. And where the imagination group was actually closer to the practice group, not to the level of the physical practice, but they were far away from the control do nothing group. They just showed up and they did it. They were still trained athletes to do the task, but it's like the certain metric that they were trying to improve did not get better. Or maybe they weren't as. I can't. I'd have to look at the study. But this. This does exist.

[B]

That's weird, because boxing. As soon as you said boxing, for whatever reason, my. I did a good job of like, I almost fully zoned out to visualize was like a full daydream moment. But I was like, okay, I'm in a ring. It's pure darkness. And like, Ronda Rousey standing across, trying to punch me in the face. And I could see it. And the swing went right, left, to the left of my head. It was like, oh, I hear the like as she. Like, that was close. Like, I could hear that and feel like the almost breeze. And it's like, oh, okay. But then I was like, well, let me try to visualize more. Okay, now there's a crowd. There's camera flashes. I'm adding a bit more to it. Now there's more noise. And like, I actually kept building and it went pretty well. That was. That was more frames in my imagination as I was moving and dodging and whatever. I wasn't swinging back. And her fists kind of became acme acre. Like, the glove just kind of launched at me and she was still as far away. So it wasn't perfect, but, like, it was building into something more and more interesting. And there were more sensations like the crowd making noise and the whooshing while. Yeah. So I. I was able to build upon it there, which was cool. Trying to think about the senses. I. I'm sure I've done that. I've just never consciously thought about the process of building the scene in my mind.

[A]

I think that to tie all that together, like, what you're saying is since I've started doing these, like, movies and stuff, there's a big part of directing, I think, that is, like, visualizing the shot. Right. Getting better at imagining what that. What that is. I don't think that my imaginations are any more vivid or clear, but there is a level of practice where it's like, I've seen more camera angles, I've seen more lens options. I've seen more positions where it can be. I Know the difference between a probe now, so I can apply those to my imagination and at the very least I can hold it in my head longer because my biggest problem is I can imagine things are a song, but I can't play it all the way through because it'll shunt to a different thought pretty quickly. So concentration, I think, and that kind of meditation of the focus in that space and in that state is the practice that you can do and the way that you can improve besides just experiencing new things. I think that the proprioception is one that you can actually tangibly get better at. I don't know why that would be, but I think because in my experience as a child, I did a lot more and then I fell out of it. I was worse at it, and then I got better at it.

[C]

Your out my ass conjecture would be it's because that's one you can immediately feel in real life. Like if you're trying to get better at that, but it's with smell or it's with imagining objects that you're like, seeing you might like. You'd have to have it in front of you, right? If you were trying to practice. If I'm trying to get better at picturing an apple, and I have an apple, and so you're like, don't look at the apple, look at the apple, don't. But when it's your body, when it's a physical motion, like you can you maybe not even doing it, but the. The pathways in your brain of like, and now I'm jumping, now I'm moving in this way. It's a constant connection that you have. You don't need a thing to look at or a thing that you're smelling or hearing to practice. You're constantly switching back and forth between I'm imagining what it might feel like and now I'm getting the real sensation of trying to fire these nerves in this way or whatever I imagine that has to do with it because almost all the other senses, it's like your senses a thing that's outside of you in some fashion. Maybe I can get better at it.

[B]

It's interesting to me that smell and taste are definitely the weaker 2 of all the ones we've talked about.

[C]

Which is funny because smell is supposed to be like the. Oh, it's your olfactory is your strongest side to memory is your strongest thing. But I guess that doesn't mean that it's a thing you're good at imagining inherently. In the same way I've seen some

[A]

kind of like mri, functional MRI scans that show the pathways of smell compared to a dog's. A smell for dogs ties almost everywhere into their brain, like the visual centers, the memory centers, stuff like that. Whereas for humans, it really doesn't go very far. It doesn't tie into all the other parts of the brain, whereas vision does. It bounces through the entire. Eyes are in the front, the vision processors are in the back, and it transverses through the entirety of it. I think similarly with audio, there's much more brain activity in those senses than smell. I don't know about taste, probably similar, which is weir considering how much humans like food.

[B]

Well, yeah, smell and taste are linked, right? So that would make sense that they would follow a similar path.

[A]

Oh, there was one more thing for the proprietary session. I wonder if this has to do with why people have a really interesting ability to kind of become the vehicle they're piloting. Because when you're driving you just kind of, I don't know, it's not like you become it, but you get integrated in it where you subconsciously can feel the car's movement and you kind of like personality wise, people have big trucks, not me, of course, but people have big trucks, are like, look how big I am, you know?

[C]

Is that what that's about? Wait, is that a sensation that you, both of you guys identify with where you feel like if you're in the driver's seat in some way, you're like becoming the vehicle? Because I exclusively feel like I'm in the driver's seat and I'm piloting the thing and I have an accurate perception of my car because I know how big it is and how wide it is, but not at all do I feel connected to it. Like you're describing, it feels like I'm driving the thing and together we're a team and the car is always separate from me and it feels like a thing I'm using.

[A]

I wouldn't say specifically, but I can't remember where I was reading this. This is more just like other observations of other people for these things. But there also is that trance like state where you lose all perception and the car is still going in the right direction and not crashing. And you have made exits.

[B]

Oh yeah. Where you zone out and all of a sudden you're just five miles further.

[C]

Specifically what you said that triggers it is how connected people are to what their car is and how that makes them feel. Like the joke about, oh, he must have a small penis because he's got a huge, huge truck or Whatever. I've always felt like the car I have or, like, I had a motorcycle in college. I always thought the motorcycle was cool as shit. And I knew that I looked like a. I was huge. Like, I'm this big, tall, fat dude on this motorcycle. I look like I'm a. Like a clown on a tiny motorcycle. I did not give a shit because the thing was cool. The car. The motorcycle is cool. Right now, I really like my car. Like, I'm. I missed my Subaru. But the car I have currently is a really nice car. I think it looks awesome. Awesome. I do not think it makes me look cool. I think I look like a huge dweeb when I'm driving along singing the System of A down in my BMW. But the car is cool as shit. But, like, if people feel like their identity merges with it somehow, like, that makes a lot of sense because people get obsessed with, like, how their car makes them look or feel, and it, like, becomes a part of their personality. Like, Jeep people become Jeep people when they get a Jeep. Never understood that. But it's a whole. It's a whole phenomenon.

[B]

Big of their ducks. Got to give a duck away. You see another Jeep, put a duck on it.

[C]

That makes a lot of sense. But I've never felt that in that way or anything.

[A]

I wouldn't say I feel it too strong.

[C]

I'm curious what the subreddit's gonna say about all this. That's the whole point of this episode, is I just want to put this out there, and then I'm gonna read all the comments that the subreddit leaves because I want to know what all these different people have to say about these things.

[A]

Things.

[C]

But that's really interesting.

[B]

I mean, you can feel your. Like, you get to know your car, right? So you can feel the bumps in the road. You can tell when something's, like, kind of off with the car because you get just used to the way it's supposed to feel. But I've never felt like the car and I have become one symbiotic being or anything. I. I can't feel like I've felt that merging. Plus, the. The Internet tells me I still don't have a car, so I wouldn't know that feeling anyway.

[C]

Yeah, someday you'll get one, and then you'll be able to talk about this one day. Feel bad for you walking everywhere.

[B]

All right, don't mind. Mind it.

[A]

I see how that. I see how that happened. I see how that's a point, buddy.

[B]

Thanks, Bob.

[C]

Hey, I didn't do it, and that's not fair to you. That was funny.

[B]

See, now I can picture the scene from. Was it Pulp Fiction where he's holding the pocket watch and talking to little Bruce Willis?

[C]

Well, this was fun. I love when we do episodes where we're just talking about a thing that applies exclusively to me. I did give you points, though.

[B]

If anything, I felt like it applied more to us because. Because we could visualize and experiment, experience more.

[A]

No, no. It's all about Bob.

[C]

I hope everyone finds it interesting. But I found it very interesting, which is all I care about. No particular order. Wade, you earned a segue point, but it's crossed out. You earned a mom point. Can't remember why. You earned a point for your impressions. You earned a point for bad voice. You earned a point for not being able to smell at all. You have medium tank. You have medium tactile. You can sort of imagine your motor stuff, and then you're walking everywhere, leaving you with a total of nine points. Mark, you earned a point for being so famous. You earned the real segue point. You were in the voices in your head point. You were in a reading comprehension point. You earned also no smell, medium, taste, another segue point. And then a good tactile sense point. And then you were to point for vivid motor imagery. 3. Which leaves you at a total. Wait, what? I have also nine. Wait a minute. Hang on. Let me count this again.

[B]

Why is that so out of the rageous?

[A]

But I should have been counting.

[C]

Okay, you both have nine points. I don't know. I just felt like I said a lot more stuff for Mark.

[A]

Yeah, it seemed like it.

[C]

Yeah, it seemed like he had more things listed under the point.

[B]

Yeah, man. I feel like I'm being treated fairly here. Wait, you did just did not nearly as good as Mark. I can't believe you're tied.

[C]

I just felt like Mark performed a lot better, but actually it's tied.

[A]

Great.

[B]

We all feel that way.

[C]

Congratulations. You exceeded expectations. Is now what you want.

[B]

I don't feel as good about it as you think I should.

[C]

You should feel great. You should be really proud of yourself, buddy.

[B]

I think you just don't want to see an even number here.

[C]

I would love not to see an even number here. How many wheel spins will there be? Oh, look at that. It's going to be three again.

[A]

All right, all right. It all comes down to this.

[C]

Who would have guessed that? Seriously, though, Three.

[B]

Three, Three.

[C]

Two. Okay, well, there's four twos in a row, but there's two Threes and whatever.

[A]

Yeah, suspicious.

[C]

Suspicious and not at all statistics.

[A]

I next constitution, we will have a suspicious be a trigger word for something.

[B]

Oh, I got yelled at by someone on stream. They were like, you guys said unfair twice in this episode and no one noticed it. And I was like, oh, well, it's part of the rule. We have to notice it.

[A]

That's part of the rules, everybody. If no one catches it, you don't get mad. I call unfair on the audience. Oh, it's unfair that they keep forgetting

[B]

how the rules work.

[C]

Well, I guess we have to get a meaningful head, a meaningful coin toss before we have to decide what it means.

[B]

We're all looking for meaningful head.

[A]

I think that they. They shouldn't be able to ever get mad if an unfair is not going to caught. And if we go heads down, it'll be.

[B]

They'll.

[A]

They are allowed to get double mad.

[C]

All right, well, I'm sure nothing bad will happen from this coin flip. I got a heads. No, wait. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I got tails. I got lion ass.

[A]

Oh, no, God.

[C]

Wait, so that means audience is allowed to get double. Oh, yeah. Mark wins if we get all heads. But we got all tails. Am I sure this is tails? Yeah, because the lady is heads.

[A]

Why don't you get a coin with actual heads and tails on it?

[C]

Because this one has a lion and he has a tail and that's tails enough. But it's not because I never remember.

[A]

So if we miss an unfair now, I guess we have to be punished for it.

[B]

Good thing this is the last episode.

[A]

I think the audience gets to decide what the punishment should be.

[C]

So if we miss an unfair and the audience catches catches it, the moderators need to make a thread on the subreddit and maybe the top comment will be.

[B]

Well, let's hold on. No, let's not give up. Too much power.

[C]

Has to be some discretion. No, if I've learned anything about the Internet, it's that you should never use the top comment for anything of value.

[A]

How about we let it'll be the top two comments or three and we get to veto. Like we have to pick which one. But you know, that way if there's two options. Three seems not. That's too loose. Two would be. That way they can't just make a joke. Top one.

[B]

Yeah. What is the top two comments are the guys in the podcast or the guys do an episode completely naked. Like I don't do either of those

[A]

because this is one one off kind of thing. Maybe we could make three. I don't know.

[C]

What if we each get a veto? So we have three vetoes and we just keep going down.

[B]

Or we do nothing and say status

[C]

quo and say no, the head. The coins have spoken. If we don't honor the coins, none of this means anything.

[B]

Next council dist. But we're getting rid of the coin.

[C]

I don't think that's going to. I love the coin. The coin is my favorite part of the whole thing.

[A]

I love the coin. The coin's great.

[C]

We might need to change the word because apparently we say unfair a lot and then don't notice it, but. So we. Does that seem like a. Do we each get one veto? Like, the vetoes are emergency escape hatches. We're not supposed to just all veto to get. But if there's three things that are like, they have sex and Wade kills Bob and whatever, like we can.

[A]

It's up to the audience to come up with serious punishment. This is a. This has a ripple effect.

[B]

So wait, does it punish all of us? Since we all would have missed the

[A]

unfair, it would be an arbitrary new rule I think that we have to apply. Or it's a straight punishment or something else. But it's every time we would miss it.

[B]

Well, as long as we don't look at the subreddit. That's not real.

[A]

But they can't defend you if you don't look at it.

[C]

What I'm going to add to the bonus point wheel is you get a point if you are the one who claimed unfair in the episode.

[A]

Oh, sweet.

[C]

Awesome. It's completely unbiased. It just so happens that Mark is the one who did that in this episode.

[A]

Hey.

[C]

But we all have the chance to claim unfair whatever. We so choose.

[B]

It's so weird hearing the word now every time you. Oh, you said it.

[C]

Unfair. Unfair. Get out of your system, boys. Unfair. Unfair.

[B]

Unfair, unfair, unfair, unfair, unfair, unfair, Unfair.

[C]

Anyway, we got three spins, and I'm sure that the subreddit won't do anything that will make us regret this and inevitably have to stop following this procedure because they're going to ruin it because the Internet's not allowed to have nice, nice things.

[B]

Makes you feel better. I already regret it.

[A]

I regret nothing.

[C]

All right, spin number one.

[B]

Bald.

[C]

Current record holder for most points.

[A]

Someone posted a spreadsheet of the points recently.

[C]

Oh, it was posted, like, yesterday. Yeah, yeah. Wait a minute.

[B]

Most points in a single episode.

[A]

Current record holder is Bob. But whether or not you want to apply the host rules to that second place would Be me. Third place is Wade for most points. Points total.

[B]

At least I meddled.

[C]

I guess I'm gonna say I don't get it. I'm gonna give it to Mark.

[A]

All right. Yes. Wade, you have 572, I have 649. Bob has 666 and a half.

[C]

All right, no more points for me. Leave it right there, everybody.

[B]

I must be too generous with points. That must be why I'm so far behind. I've given a lot more points.

[C]

You really are. I would say that you give out more points than Mark and I do, generally. So speaking Mark is stingy. Mark will have episodes where it's like five, five to seven.

[A]

Well, yeah, okay, you're right. You're right.

[C]

Which isn't wrong.

[B]

Mine are like 52 to 48.

[C]

There's no established scale for that. That's just how we've all. Wade will give out like 30 points an episode. I used to give out way more than I do now. Earlier on in this book here, I got episodes where it's like Mark has 36 and Wade has some other joke number.

[B]

I just have this whole bag of points I bought. I guess I just felt like I should use them before they explained expire expired points.

[C]

That's. That dates a lie. You have to listen to that. Oh, no. Oh.

[B]

Oh. Interesting.

[A]

Why? Hey, Click View stats real quick.

[B]

You've had some really bad wheel luck lately, Bob.

[C]

Gotta be kidding me with this.

[A]

Six for sudden death.

[C]

That's.

[A]

That's pretty, man.

[C]

Sudden death has hit six times, which makes it tied for third, fourth.

[A]

All right. Okay.

[C]

That's so unlikely.

[B]

Listeners are up seven to five over viewers.

[C]

I have it scribbled on the back of my notebook. It's not. Holy. I just got a cramp in my hand.

[A]

Yeah. Cuz we had two. We had two AD tens.

[C]

Currently, I have it written down that the winner's wheel is supposed to be at 28%. Mark Wade or One Man Show. No, no, no, no, no.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

My God. I mean, I wasn't worried. I could do it.

[A]

It's okay. Only a measly 2% gets added.

[C]

Yeah. What do we add? Is it 2%? Isn't it 6?

[B]

I thought it was 2%, which ended up being like 6 points.

[A]

I thought it was 2 because it used to hit a lot more, and then now we've gone out of our way to make sure it never hits.

[C]

All right, I'm going to say 2%. And I've documented. March 3, 2026, 30%. Wade wins. And nothing Else needs to happen. And that's the end. And let's stop threatening me with one man shows. Congratulations, Wade. Mark, would you like to give your loser speech?

[A]

Listen, the wheel speaks the truth, but you know who speaks harder truth? The coin. So I know it was my fault for calling this on you guys out there, but, hey, remember who I am.

[B]

If you don't remember, check the headlines. They always tell the truth about him.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Remember me? Hello, everybody.

[C]

Hello, everybody. Thanks, Mark. Wade Winterspoon speech.

[B]

Thanks. I'm glad that the coins and the wheels generally kind of give me a bit of a break because, man, it's tough to get points. I even whenever I do get the right amount of points to tire win, they're surprised. My co hosts are surprised. Like, I didn't think Wade was even in this episode. I'm surprised he tied with Mark. But the sad realization is that even whenever I do win, I win with the same amount of points as somebody else. I'm never going to catch up. I will always be behind. But maybe we'll get surprised Prize least point. Golf rules added to the wheel someday. So I'll have another chance.

[C]

You actually won this episode with less points than Mark. To be clear, the score was 10 to 9 when it was declared a tie and we entered Sudden Death.

[B]

I feel even worse about my victory. You.

[C]

You won from last place. It's a miracle.

[A]

Great.

[C]

Congratulations. Well, that's Wade's winter speech. I'm gonna end it there. Make sure you follow the podcast and then you'll know when new episodes spend some extra ones. You might have missed them. If you're not following the show, you never know. Make sure you follow Mark and mark flyerweight at Lordminion 777 or Minion 777. I am my skirm on the Internet. Make sure you keep checking the shop, Distractible Shop, because there will be merch there soon. That's the end of the episode. Wade is going to host the next one. I know we're all shocked, but it's true. Wade's going to host another next one. I'm sorry, Mark. I really tried. That's the end of the episode. So thanks so much for watching. See you next time. Podcast out.

[B]

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[C]

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