312: Outta the Blue

Summary

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Good Job, Brain!

Episode 312: Outta the Blue

Release Date: July 29, 2026
Participants: Karen (host), Colin, Chris, and brief appearances by Travis

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Episode Overview

This episode dives deep into all things "blue," from trivia and pop culture quizzes to surprising stories about blue cocktails, ice creams, and more. The crew—Karen, Colin, and Chris—school each other and listeners on a broad array of blue-themed facts, with their signature banter and love of offbeat knowledge. Play-along quizzes and pop quizzes feature everything from blue food and drinks, to Microsoft’s infamous blue screen, iconic “blue” songs and photos, medical scrubs, and surprising blue curiosities in nature and pop culture.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Opening Pop Quiz: Blue (and Christmas) Trivia

• (00:51–11:05)
  Karen brings out a mix of Trivial Pursuit and Christmas trivia cards:
  • Jimmy Buffett was born on Christmas Day, 1946 (01:59).
  • Christmas is... "a state of mind," per Mary Ellen Chase (02:14).
  • 12-pack of shiny-brite ornaments cost 39 cents in the 1940s (03:50).
  • Orson Welles played Henry F. Potter in the 1977 movie It Happened One Christmas (04:42).
  • The town of Rudolph is in Wisconsin (06:00).
• The gang moves to pop culture:
  • Andy Gibb (the Bee Gees' youngest brother) appeared on Punky Brewster (06:58).
  • Karaoke was invented by Daisuke Inoue (07:50).
  • Jean Claude Van Damme KO’d by Chuck Zito, not Steven Seagal (08:37).
  • Blind Melon released an outtakes collection named “Nico” (08:58).
  • The Manchurian Candidate was remade with Denzel Washington in 2004 (09:54).
  • Anastasia Myskina became the first Russian woman to win a tennis Grand Slam in '04 (10:52).

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2. Blue Hawaii, Blue Curaçao, and Cocktail History

• (11:26–22:30)
  Colin discusses the famous Blue Hawaii cocktail featured in Mad Men, its recipe (rum, vodka, blue curaçao, pineapple juice, sour mix), and the backstory of Curaçao liqueur:
  • The original Seville oranges brought to Curaçao by Spaniards couldn't survive; they evolved into the inedible but aromatic laraha orange, key to Curaçao.
  • The blue color is purely marketing—Curaçao is naturally colorless, and blue started simply as a way to stand out, particularly by Dutch company Bols who dubbed it Crème de ciel ("cream of the sky") (19:13).
  • The Blue Hawaii was invented for marketing by Harry Yee at Hilton Hawaiian Village in 1957.
  • Blue Hawaiian (the cocktail) is a similar but creamier, pastel version—features coconut cream (21:43).

"There's nothing about the process that was blue. It didn't, it wasn't necessary. It's just kind of just, hey, let's make this blue sells." —Colin (19:13)

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3. True Blue Quiz: Classic “Blue” Facts

• (23:11–36:09)
  Karen presents a “True Blue” buzz-in quiz:
  • Disney’s Star Wars park's blue, green, and pink milks—green from Thala-sirens, pink from poaxters (25:18).
  • The blue screen of death is being replaced in Microsoft Windows (26:26).
  • Blue Suede Shoes by Carl Perkins/Elvis starts with a nursery rhyme (27:41).
  • The most-photographed “full Earth” picture is called The Blue Marble (29:07).
  • The Kelley Blue Book was first named “Motor Car Values” (29:32).
  • The UN military force is nicknamed the Blue Helmets (30:06).
  • Architects’ blueprints got their color from the cyanotype process (31:09).
  • Scrubs are blue/green for better contrast and less glare in hospitals, and weren’t mandatory until the 1980s (32:59).
  • Only the green olivewing butterfly produces a true blue pigment; most blue in nature is from light reflection, not pigment (35:22).

"There's only one animal that we know of that can produce a blue pigment. ...It's a butterfly. Green olivewing. The only animal that produces... a true blue pigment." —Karen (35:22)

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4. Music & Pop Culture: Old Blue Eyes and Meg Foster

• (38:07–49:44)
  Chris hosts a blue-themed music and pop culture quiz:
  • Plays “Being Green” by Frank Sinatra, aka “Old Blue Eyes” (39:07).
  • Discussion of other blue-eyed celebrities, but focus shifts to Meg Foster—an actress famous in 70s/80s for her “ice blue” eyes, which were sometimes considered distracting and even got her recast or given colored contacts (41:26).
  • Mini Meg Foster quiz:
    • The Scarlet Letter (as Hester Prynne) with John Heard (43:46).
    • The Legend of Sleepy Hollow with Jeff Goldblum (44:40).
    • Jodie Foster starred with her in Carny (45:22).
    • She played Cagney (briefly) on Cagney & Lacey (45:50).
    • Two episodes on The Mod Squad (46:22).
    • Evil-Lyn in Masters of the Universe (47:03).
    • Starred in John Carpenter's cult classic They Live (47:45).
    • Appeared in Pretty Little Liars (48:17) and Twin Peaks 2017 (49:12).

“She had to play down her eyes because I feel like today it would be a little bit different.” —Karen (49:47)

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5. Karen’s Blue Ice Cream Origin Story and Regional Rundown

• (52:19–61:43)
  Karen shares her vivid memory of seeing bubblegum ice cream in an LA Target as a child, sparking a discussion on blue ice cream across North America:
  • Bubblegum ice cream debuted at Baskin Robbins in the 1970s—memorable for the blue color and embedded gum balls, though Karen finds the flavor challenging (53:44).
  • In the Midwest: Superman ice cream (red/yellow/blue swirl) predates Superman comic character; blue part is Blue Moon (Berry, banana-y, Froot Loops-like but not bubblegum) (57:52).
  • Moon Mist in Newfoundland: blue (bubblegum), yellow (banana), purple (grape) swirled together—distinctive regional treat (59:14).
  • Another Newfoundland classic: Grape Nuts ice cream (vanilla ice cream with Grape Nuts cereal mixed in).
  • These regional foods are highlighted through a children’s book Ice Cream Face and author Heidi Woodward Sheffield, who is from Detroit.

“I love, I love that you’re doing follow up research and due diligence on your bedtime story with your kids... you’re like, no, there’s more to this story.” —Colin (59:04)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “What could it cost? 95 cents.” —Chris, guessing the price of Christmas ornaments (04:04)
• “When you think of Curaçao, do we think of blue? ...It’s just food coloring.” —Colin (18:51)
• “You can’t make Curaçao and not have a blue vers. Right?” —Colin (20:16)
• “The blue in Star Wars... blue milk from Banthas. The green from Thala Sirens. The pink, from poaxters in the comics.” —Karen (24:44)
• “The blue screen of death... is no more. Not that the screen is going away.” —Karen (26:26)
• “Only the green olivewing butterfly can produce a true blue pigment.” —Karen (35:22)
• “It makes me sad that she had to play down her eyes. ...Today, it would be different.” —Karen, on Meg Foster (49:47)
• “There’s Superman ice cream, Blue Moon ice cream, and Moon Mist in Newfoundland.” —Karen (61:43)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

| Time | Topic/Quote | |---------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:51–11:05 | General trivia and Christmas questions | | 11:26–22:30 | The history and marketing of Blue Curaçao and Blue Hawaii cocktails | | 23:11–36:09 | “True Blue” quiz: Pop culture, science, and history facts with “blue” | | 38:07–49:44 | Chris's “blue eyes” segment: Frank Sinatra, Meg Foster, and blue-eyed celebrities | | 52:19–61:43 | Karen’s deep dive: The origin, myth, and regional forms of blue ice cream |

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Episode Highlights & Fun Facts

• Blue Curaçao owes its color entirely to food dye and smart marketing by Dutch spirit-makers.
• The town of Rudolph is in Wisconsin (but there’s also one in Ohio).
• Only one animal—green olivewing butterfly—produces a true blue pigment; most blue animals use structural color.
• Hospital scrubs are blue/green for visibility and eye ease; not mandated until the 1980s.
• Meg Foster’s legendary blue eyes were so striking she sometimes wasn’t cast, or had to wear colored contacts.
• Superman and Moon Mist ice creams are regional blue delights: one from the American Midwest, the other from Newfoundland.
• There’s a long tradition of “blue” foods, drinks, and trivia—from holiday carols to blueprints and pop music.

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Summary for Newcomers

If you love fun facts, blue trivia, or just want to marvel at the oddities of color in our world, this rollicking episode of Good Job, Brain! has you covered. You’ll hear surprising backstories behind blue drinks, ice creams, historical trivia, and both classic and modern blue icons. The podcast’s signature quiz show format means you can play along and dazzle your friends with truly out-of-the-blue knowledge—delivered with wit, warmth, and a dash of competitive spirit.

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Find more at: goodjobbrain.com

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Transcript

[Karen]

You're listening to an Airwave Media podcast. Hello, Tutti frutti Never. Snooty beauties and cutie patooties, possibly from Djibouti. Welcome to Good Job Brain, your weekly quiz show and offbeat trivia podcast. This is episode three, 312. And of course, I'm your humble host, Karen. And we are your blubbering bluegills on Bluesmobile ordering blue bottle over Bluetooth.

[Colin]

I'm Colin.

[Chris]

And I'm Chris. I am wearing blue.

[Karen]

You are wearing blue.

[Chris]

I'm wearing blue.

[Colin]

Am I?

[Chris]

Wow. Interesting.

[Karen]

I'm not.

[Chris]

Your button is. Your buzzer is blue.

[Karen]

Getting in the. In the mood? Well, anyways.

[Chris]

In the mood for what?

[Karen]

Let's jump into our first general trivia segment. Pop quiz, hotshot. All right, Here I have two random trivia cards from a random assortment 12 pound box. You guys have your barnyard buzzers, listeners. Let's answer some questions. The two cards we have here are Trivial Pursuit, Pop Culture two from that edition of the game. And the other card here we have. Let me show it to the camera. Is not Trivial Pursuit. It is Christmas trivia game.

[Chris]

Wonderful.

[Colin]

There's enough Christmas trivia to power a whole game.

[Chris]

Yep, that's the gift that keeps on giving the whole year round, let alone

[Karen]

many Christmas trivia cards. To necessitate a trivia game, we get whatever card I choose. Here it is. Let's do Christmas time trivia game. All right, first category. Christmas carols. What singer, songwriter, famous for Margaritaville was born Christmas Day 1946? Colin.

[Colin]

Mr. Jimmy Buffett.

[Karen]

Mr. Jimmy Buffett. All right, next category. Stocking stuffers who said, quote, christmas children is not a date. It is a state of mind.

[Colin]

Oh, I don't know this person.

[Chris]

Interesting.

[Karen]

Look it up.

[Chris]

This is fictional.

[Karen]

She is a. She is a real person and is described as an American educator, teacher, scholar, and author.

[Chris]

Oh, interesting. American educator, teacher, scholar, and author. Marilyn Vo Savant.

[Karen]

It is Mary Ellen Chase.

[Chris]

Nope.

[Travis Hoyam]

Nope.

[Colin]

What's the quote?

[Chris]

One more time.

[Colin]

Christmas. Christmas is what?

[Karen]

It's a state of mind.

[Colin]

I like that. That's good. That's like Don Draper level.

[Chris]

That sounds like what my mom said when she forgot to get us Christmas presents.

[Karen]

All right, next category. Holiday traditions. How much did a 12 pack of shiny, bright Christmas tree ornaments sell for in the 1940s? Let's do closest to. Closest to.

[Chris]

Oh, really?

[Karen]

Yeah, because it's a random amount. Oh, it's not like a full number.

[Colin]

Okay.

[Chris]

Oh, really?

[Karen]

Oh, what?

[Colin]

All right. Okay.

[Chris]

You know what? I love Christmas trivia.

[Karen]

So how much did a 12 pack of brand name shiny bright Christmas tree ornaments sell for in the 1940s? Yes. Shiny bright.

[Chris]

That's a brand.

[Karen]

Shiny dash bright. R, I, T, E, T E. Are

[Chris]

we doing closest to the pin?

[Karen]

Closest to, Closest to.

[Chris]

All right, 95 cents.

[Colin]

I'm gonna say 79 cents.

[Karen]

The answer is 39 cents.

[Chris]

I was, I was, I was going really. I was going like a gold plated ornament.

[Colin]

It was the, it was the shiny bright that threw you, right? You're like, oh, I better bump it up.

[Chris]

Marketing. It's. It's just 12 ornaments. What could it cost? 95 cents.

[Karen]

All right, next category. Christmas movies. Who played Henry F. Potter in the 1977 made for TV movie It Happened One Christmas?

[Chris]

Wow. Wow.

[Karen]

It's a famous person.

[Colin]

Okay, okay.

[Karen]

Chris.

[Chris]

Jerry Lewis.

[Karen]

No.

[Colin]

Okay, all right, 77.

[Karen]

It has one person may perhaps had a hand in one of the most famous movies. Lauded movies. Praised movies of all time.

[Chris]

Wow.

[Colin]

Wow.

[Karen]

Colin.

[Colin]

Orson Welles.

[Karen]

Orson Welles.

[Colin]

Wow. Good hint, Karen. Just. Just enough to get me there. Wow. Okay.

[Karen]

Also, 1977 made for TV movie it happened One Christmas.

[Chris]

Yeah.

[Colin]

And that kind of fits where he was in, you know, sort of the cycle of his career in 1977. Yeah.

[Karen]

Oh, like older.

[Colin]

Yeah. You know, a lot more willing to do things like a made for TV movie. Certainly.

[Karen]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. All right, last category here. North Pole. What state is home to the town of Rudolph? One in 50.

[Colin]

Okay, let me just double check.

[Karen]

There is no two. Another town named.

[Chris]

Yeah, well, here's the thing. We gotta go with what's on the card.

[Colin]

Okay, well, you said 1 in 50, so that, I mean, you know, my, my first thought was I was going with like, all right, well, Alaska because it's got, you know, our furthest. Our furthest north. But the way you said 1 in 50, now it makes me want to change it to like Minnesota.

[Karen]

Not really, actually. But there are. There are two possible answers.

[Colin]

Ah, okay. All right, Even better. All right, well, Chris, I got one foot in Alaska and one in Minnesota.

[Chris]

Colorado.

[Karen]

It is on the card. The answer is Wisconsin.

[Colin]

Okay.

[Karen]

And it looks like there is also a Rudolph, Ohio. All right, next card.

[Colin]

All right, well, if that snow off your shoulders. Yeah. If that was just a little taste for you, you can buy a whole box of those.

[Karen]

Yes. You like Christmas trivia.

[IXL Announcer]

And enjoy.

[Chris]

They're sold. Sold at your nearest goodwill for 39 cents. Yes.

[Colin]

Karen will sell it to you by the pound. Yes. Can you give me three quarters of a pound of Christmas trivia?

[Chris]

Yeah, sliced thin, please.

[Karen]

All right, here we go. Trivial pursuit, pop culture 2. Blue wedge for TV. Which Gibb brother was reduced to appearing on Punky Brewster after his singing career faded?

[Chris]

Oh, no.

[Karen]

College.

[Colin]

Is that Andy? It's Andy, yeah. He was the. The. The. The youngest, I believe, of the.

[Karen]

How many brothers are there?

[Colin]

Well, brothers, there were. There. There were the three brothers in the Bee Gees, and then Andy had, like a. So he wasn't in the Bee Gees. He was. He was one of the brothers. They phrased the question very, you know.

[Karen]

Got it, got it.

[Colin]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So Andy was kind of like the. The little kid brother and guess he

[Chris]

was reduced to appearing on.

[Karen]

Yeah,

[Colin]

now that.

[Chris]

I mean, that would be a big step up in my career, you know, Punky Brewster.

[Karen]

All right, next category. Pink wedge for fad. What gadget invented by nightclub musician Daisuke Inoue in 1971 spawned an interactive art form popular in the 90s?

[Chris]

Chris, who, I believe spoke about this on a show. Karaoke.

[Karen]

Karaoke. The karaoke machine. Yes.

[Chris]

Karaoke machine.

[Karen]

Rest in power. He recently passed within. Yeah, a couple years ago. Thank you. Thank you for your service. Yellow Edge for Buzz. What martial arts star was KO'd in one blow by ex bodyguard Chuck zito in a 1998 club fight?

[Chris]

Oh, oh, oh,

[Karen]

Chris.

[Chris]

What? Okay, so this is a martial arts star star Chuck Zito. I remember this happening. I think it was. Was it Steven Seagal?

[Colin]

I was gonna guess Steven Seagal.

[Karen]

Close.

[Chris]

I thought you were gonna get it.

[Colin]

Is it. Is it jcvd?

[Karen]

Yes. Jean Claude Van Damme.

[Colin]

Okay.

[Karen]

Purple wedge for music. What 90s alternative band named a collection of outtakes and. And rarities Nico Nico, after the daughter of their late lead singer, Shannon Hoon?

[Colin]

Oh,

[Karen]

Colin.

[Colin]

Wasn't he singer of Blind Melon? Yes, yes.

[Karen]

Good pull. That's very 90s specific.

[Colin]

Extremely. Good job.

[Karen]

All right, Green wedge movies. What 2004 remake found Denzel Washington playing a film role originated by Frank Sinatra.

[Chris]

Okay, what year was the remake?

[Karen]

2004. You know, I recently watched this movie. There are a lot of stars, a lot of kind of. You know, they're big now, but they're so young back then.

[Chris]

The.

[Colin]

Frank Sinatra is throwing me here.

[Chris]

Interesting.

[Colin]

Yeah, yeah. Wasn't man on Fire. It wasn't.

[Karen]

It's a remake.

[Colin]

I mean, it wasn't Equalizer. That was from a TV show. It wasn't.

[Karen]

Was Manchurian Candidate.

[Colin]

Oh, yeah, of course. I forgot. I forgot that they remade that. Yeah, yeah, it was.

[Karen]

There was a young Anthony Mackie, a young Jeffrey Wright. There's, like, John Voight, Leaf Schreiber. A lot of people.

[Colin]

Wow, forgot about that one. That's right. Of course. Sinatra in the original. Yeah. Angela Lansbury in the original. A great, great role. Yeah. Yeah.

[Karen]

All right, next question. Last question here. Orange wedge Sports and games. Who became the first Russian woman in tennis history to win a Grand Slam singles title in 2004?

[Colin]

To win a singles title. 2004, was it.

[IXL Announcer]

Man.

[Karen]

Colin, did.

[Colin]

Did Anna Kournikova win a slam singles title? No, I don't think she ever won a slam. Okay. I wasn't sure.

[Chris]

All right.

[Karen]

I think people wanted her to.

[Colin]

No, they did, but. Yeah. Okay. 2004.

[Karen]

Anastasia, Ms. Keena.

[Colin]

Oh, okay. I was not gonna pull that one.

[Karen]

Anastasia, Ms. Kina. Good job, everybody. Good job.

[Travis Hoyam]

All right.

[Karen]

Look at you guys in your blue hoodies, blue T shirts. It's no mystery here. Our episode topic is blue. So this week, we're coming at you out of the blue.

[Colin]

If I recall correctly, you guys are or were Mad Men fans, right? The show. Yeah, I know. At least Chris was. I was pretty sure you were, too. Karen. I feel like there's been a resurgence of Mad Men discourse the last, you know, several months here. I. I feel like it. I. Maybe it's just my circle. Yeah, Well, I mean, I think. I think it's in part due to that the episodes became available on HBO, you know, not. Not too long ago, and in 4K as well. So it's, you know, it's kind of like a good time to either revisit this. The show, or watch it for the. Because, you know, maybe you saw it, but you didn't see it in forte or whatever. You may or may not recall the opening episode of season six of Mad Men, and we find Don Draper, our. I don't know, maybe not our hero, but our. Our main character. We find Don Draper and his wife Megan. They're on vacation in Hawaii. And in a very early scene, we see them sitting on the beach. It's just a gorgeous day. And Don is reading Dante's Inferno, you know, just deep in thought. And Megan is sunning herself next to him and drinking delightfully blue cocktails.

[Chris]

Yes.

[Colin]

All right.

[Chris]

Sure.

[Colin]

Yes. Yeah. Now, when we start, she's already on to at least her second, if not her third one. When we pick up with the scene. Now, it's not. It's not said explicitly. I believe it is implied and assumed that Megan is drinking a classic vacation cocktail, the extremely appropriately named Blue Hawaii.

[Karen]

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Colin]

Now, you've seen them, like, if you've been on vacation anywhere in Hawaii, you have seen the Blue Hawaii on the menu. You see it at, you know, tiki places. You know, it's a tropical, quintessential tropical drink. You got the fruit in there, you know, the fun glass and everything. What's. What's in a Blue Hawaii? It is blue. You got usually, usually a very classic recipe for a Blue Hawaii is rum, vodka, you know, as the base alcohols, Curacao, some pineapple juice, some sour mix, and. Yes, Karen, Some blue Curacao. Some blue Curacao. That is.

[Karen]

Oh, I knew there were so many ingredients in that. Can you. Can you run. Run through the ingredients again?

[Colin]

Sure, sure, yeah. Leaving the. Leaving the. The amounts out. A classic recipe, but might have some light rum, some vodka, some unsweetened pineapple juice, sour mix and blue Curacao. Making it blue. Making it the. The Blue Hawaii. Occasionally. Some places you'll see a Blue Hawaiian on the menu. Not. Not the same cocktail. Related, but not the same cocktail. We'll come back to that in a minute. In a minute.

[Chris]

Oh, interesting.

[Colin]

Okay, so what is the flavor of Blue Curacao? And it is, unmistakably, it is blue. It's not just a little blue. It's blue. Yeah, it's like.

[Karen]

I think I know.

[Colin]

Okay.

[Chris]

Oh, really?

[Colin]

What do you think it is, Karen?

[Karen]

I think it's orange.

[Colin]

You're right. You're right. It is. It is. It is, broadly speaking, an orange, Citrusy orange flavor. That. That is the flavor profile of Curacao. So. All right. Curacao, the liqueur, takes its name from the Caribbean island also called Curacao. Like, that's. That is. That is its home. That's where it comes from. It's not just, you know, a nod to it. Curacao, the island. It is a Dutch territory, as you may know. And prior to becoming a Dutch colony, originally in the 1600s, it was under Spanish colonial rule. While it was under Spanish colonial rule, these Spaniards brought over a variety of livestock and plants and fruits and crops to the island that were not native to Curacao. Okay. One of the things that they brought over was a. A plant, a. A type of orange tree called the Seville or. And the Seville orange is a. It's a type of bitter orange. And so they brought this over in the 1500s to, like, we're gonna grow this here. It grows well in Spain. We'll see if it grows well here. And you may know the Seville orange, the bitter orange, you don't really eat it. You don't just cut it open and just eat the flesh. The pulp of this type of orange. It's not edible. All right. It's just, it's too.

[Karen]

Oh, is it bred for the skin?

[Colin]

It's too tough and fibrous. It's bred and grown mainly for cooking. Particularly good for marmalade. The Seville or orange bitter orange is sort of the go to type of orange to make marmalade out of like it really stands up to it. But this plant could not, it just couldn't make it, it couldn't thrive under the harsher conditions of Curacao. It just the, the sun, the wind, the exposure, just all of it. And the Spaniards essentially gave up on it as a crop. But life finds a way, you guys, as, as they say, and over generations of plant time and plant original Seville orange plants, they evolved, they changed. They evolved to adapt to the conditions of Curacao.

[Chris]

Like in Jurassic Park.

[Colin]

Like in Jurassic park, eventually becoming so distinct a plant that it is a proper new botanical variety. So this new take was, it was smaller, it was more shriveled, it was, it was tougher. You know, it had to just sort of like, sort of withdraw and, and you know, just sort of get a little. Just nastier and tougher to survive and even less edible than the original.

[Karen]

Hard living.

[Colin]

Yeah, hard living. This plant became known as the Laraha or the Laraha orange. Okay. Again, a different variety, not the same plant anymore. And eventually it was discovered that although you can't eat it, you can use the very oily aromatic rind of the Laraha orange to make a uniquely flavored liqueur.

[Chris]

You can. Wonderful.

[Colin]

You can distill it, you can steep it, and you can use it as the primary ingredient in this special liqueur. Right. From, from Curacao.

[Chris]

Human beings are amazing in like the, just to sort of like just going down the list of like. Can you eat it? No. Can you make alcohol out of it? Yes. Okay, great.

[Karen]

Yeah, there's a, there's a step. Can you eat it? No. Oh, what happens if we cook it for a really long time?

[Colin]

That's right. That's right.

[Karen]

Juice it? No. Can we make it into alcohol?

[Colin]

Yeah. Well, there's still the sub steps too of like, well, someone died. But we think it's got promise. Let's continue research and see. So as it's produced in the natural process, there is nothing, there's nothing in this process that, that blue. There's, there's no, there's no, there's nothing in here that, that is blue. So why, why when we think of Curacao, do we think of blue? Curacao, you can get Curacao that's not blue. You can get it in other colors. You can get it in uncolored. And, and to be very clear, the blue, it's just, it's just food coloring.

[Karen]

Okay, so we've done. Good job, brain, long enough. Yeah, let me, let me just throw some things out there.

[Colin]

Okay. All right, all right.

[Karen]

You know, it might be like one distillery or one place wants to stand out from the crowd. And then of course, like, oh, let's color it. And then, oh, well, the only coloring we have is blue because nobody uses it. And so we're gonna put that in and then turns out it's a hit.

[Colin]

I, I'm gonna give you the point and just even give you just the most productive version, which is just marketing. I mean, you, you've got it just broadly right. It's just, it's marketing. There's nothing about the process that was blue. It didn't, it wasn't necessary. It's just kind of just, hey, let's make this blue sells. Yeah. There's a few slightly conflicting and overlapping histories, but typically the credit goes to the Bols B O L S. The spirits company. Dutch. Dutch company. So of course they've got a tight connection with, with Curacao. The company history is that Lucas Bowles, you know, an early figure in the company history, developed this laraha based liqueur and as one of the ways of marketing this liqueur, came up with a version of it called creme de seal or cream of the sky. And colored it blue. Yes, just to stand out, but yes, to sort of thematically the sky and the ocean.

[Karen]

Storytelling man.

[Colin]

And it became so successful, so popular that that really other Curacao manufacturers feel compelled to have a blue version. Like, you can't make Curacao and not have a blue vers. Right?

[Chris]

How are we gonna make a blue Hawaii?

[Colin]

So how do you. So how and why do you make a blue Hawaii? So the blue Hawaii, the, the cocktail, it was invented in Hawaii. It does have it. Like, it ties all these spreads together. The blue Hawaii was invented in 1957 by a man named Harry Yee. And Harry was the head bartender of the Hilton Hawaiian Village in wow. And a sales representative from the Bulls company pitched him and said, harry, I. We need you to design a drink to build a drink around our blue Curacao and just cement it for a new generation. Now, now, the. The creme de ciel, the original Blue Curacao like this had been on sale for decades at this point. I mean, going as further back as the 20s or even prior to that. But it was the. The sort of the nascent cocktail tiki culture taking off by the time of the setting, anyway, of the episode. Mad Men in question, you know, about 10 years after, would have been just right in the groove for this. This cocktail to be.

[Chris]

Yeah.

[Colin]

You could not go to Hawaii and sit on the beach and not get a blue Hawaii. Yeah. And treat yourself. I had to go down that rabbit hole. And I was just so delighted how it all tied together around just marketing at the beginning and marketing at the end. And that's. That's where we have a blue Hawaii. Oh, sorry. And to fulfill my own promise of the Blue Hawaiian. The Blue Hawaiian, very similar. Also has Blue Curacao in it. The main difference in a Blue Hawaiian is that I'll have cream of coconut in there. So it's cloudy, pastel blue. That's right. That's. That's the main difference between those two.

[Chris]

Yeah, I'll have one of those.

[Colin]

I'll have one. I'll have two.

[Karen]

Oh, that makes so much sense. The orange from Spain.

[Colin]

Yes, yes.

[Karen]

Love their oranges.

[Colin]

They do. And just total. Just colonizer attitude.

[Chris]

Right.

[Colin]

Well, hey, it's. It grows back home. We're gonna grow it here and just see. Yeah.

[Karen]

Is that why it's Valencia orange? Because it's from Valencia, Spain?

[Colin]

I think you're right.

[Karen]

Oh, my God. Valencia, California.

[Colin]

Actually, I'm not sure about that. See here, hold on. Yeah, it is. Yeah.

[Travis Hoyam]

Wow.

[Colin]

It is indeed. I read in the course of doing research on the oranges, I. I read that at one point, a huge amount of the orange crops being grown in Spain were actually being sent to England to be processed into marmalade.

[Karen]

Marmalade.

[Chris]

Oh, my gosh.

[Karen]

It's okay. Well, Paddington will be happy. All right, folks, I have a grab bag quiz for everybody about classically blue things. I'm gonna name this quiz True Blue. True Blue. Yeah, it's like the Madonna song. Also, shout out to my Australian husband and shout out to Madonna. Shout out to my Australian husband and Australian listeners. True Blue. Also a classic folk country song that embodies the Australian spirit. This is a. This is a buzzing. All right quiz. So get your buzzers ready. Here we go. The blue milk in the original Star wars film captivated everyone's imagination. You know, when the movie came out in 1977, and of course, it has been made real and available for purchase. That's right. At the Star wars portion of Disney parks. In addition to blue Milk, the Disney milk stand also sells what other two colored milks.

[Chris]

Oh,

[Colin]

Chris, you've been there, right?

[Chris]

I've seen green.

[Karen]

Yes. Ding, ding, ding, ding. Green.

[Chris]

What else would they do? Pink.

[Colin]

Pink or red.

[Karen]

You're right.

[Colin]

Yeah. Okay.

[Chris]

I'm just trying to think of like what. What else would it be? Like, what would somebody want to actually.

[Colin]

Yeah.

[Karen]

Blue milk, famously from Banthas.

[Chris]

Right.

[Karen]

The green milk shows up in the new trilogy from Thala Sirens. They're like these big ugly walrus Loch ness monsters. And it's kind of. It's very. It's very explicit how they show milk coming out of the animal.

[Colin]

Yeah. Detailed.

[Karen]

And then pink milk, though you might think this is like, oh, Disney's trying to sell another product. It is partially from Star wars lore. Pink milk comes from poaxters. Poaxers first appeared in the 2023 comic.

[Colin]

Which.

[Karen]

Which they were milking these animals. Pink milk. They're kind of cute. Now they're available for Purchase. Debuted in January 8, 2026. So early this year. Yeah.

[Chris]

Okay. I was wondering why I hadn't seen.

[Karen]

Because it's very recent. Yeah, yeah.

[IXL Announcer]

Folks.

[Karen]

Folks have said the pink milk tastes kind of like banana y. Bubble gummy. All of these milks, when you drink it, they. They all have vague flavors. It's not like one flavor. It's not like it's a mix of flavors that you were like, I can't really tell. It's kind of floral. All right, next question. After 40 years, really end of an era here, we recently had to say goodbye to what after Microsoft announced it was going to overhaul its design. After 40 years. We certainly had to say goodbye to what after Microsoft announced it was going to overhaul its design.

[Colin]

This design, Colin, is it the blue screen of death?

[Karen]

The blue screen of death. You can see it in your dreams. You can see it in your nightmares. Is no more. Not that the. The screen is going away. Like, we obviously need like a systems error screen.

[Colin]

Yeah. They're like, oh, don't worry. Windows is still going to crash on you.

[Karen]

Don't worry.

[Colin]

We haven't taken that part away.

[Karen]

Yeah, we're gonna, we're gonna change it to now black screen of death.

[Colin]

Which is okay. Yeah.

[Karen]

Not as fun. All right, next question. What classic blue title song, Song with blue in the title starts off with a nursery rhyme from the early 1800s.

[Colin]

Oh, okay.

[Karen]

Say maybe classic rock.

[Colin]

Classic rock song starts with Lines from a nursery. Okay. It's gonna be so obvious when she tells us, Chris.

[Karen]

Yes, it is.

[Chris]

I'm sure it is.

[IXL Announcer]

Yeah.

[Colin]

Okay.

[Chris]

Has blue in the title.

[Colin]

Blue. Yeah. I'm just. Okay.

[Karen]

Blue in the 1956. A classic famous song with blue in the title.

[Chris]

All right, well, I'm sure we can figure this out.

[Colin]

Is she gonna hit us with the Blue Hawaii? Is she gonna.

[Chris]

She can't.

[Colin]

I don't know that song.

[Karen]

You know what? You're closer than you think.

[Colin]

Yeah, yeah.

[Chris]

Oh, okay.

[Karen]

Than you think.

[Colin]

Oh, okay.

[Chris]

Oh, yeah. Yes.

[Colin]

Chris.

[Chris]

Yeah? Is it Blue Suede?

[Colin]

Okay. Like Carl Perkins, Right?

[Karen]

Yes, yes, yes. But made famous by Elvis Presley.

[Colin]

Made famous by Mr. Elvis Presley.

[Chris]

So the original one for the money

[Karen]

nursery rhyme is one for the money, two for the show, three to make ready, and four to go. So they altered the. The last two lines. This is a popular nursery rhyme from the. The 1800s. We weren't. We weren't there, so we don't know if it was really that popular. Hello, World. Hello, World is the name of the most recent photograph taken by a human of what they call a full Earth disc. You know, it's like a full Earth photo. The last time a human took a full Earth disk photo was back in 1972 aboard Apollo 17. The last lunar human Man. Lunar mission.

[Colin]

Yeah.

[Karen]

So this famous earth photo from 1972 is considered one of the most widely distributed photographic images in human existence because it's like the full picture of Earth. What is the title of this photograph?

[Colin]

Right, right, Chris.

[Chris]

Pale blue dot.

[Karen]

Oh, you're close.

[Chris]

Oh, is it? No, Something else.

[Karen]

It is the Blue Marble.

[Colin]

Oh, the blue marble. Okay, I've heard that, too. Yeah. Okay.

[Karen]

Because it's not a dot. It's huge.

[Chris]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Colin]

The other photo.

[Chris]

Right.

[Colin]

When it's at the great distance. Yeah, yeah. Ye.

[Karen]

Next question. What was originally titled Motor Car values back in 1926?

[Colin]

Colin, is that the Blue Book or the Kelly Blue Book? Kelly's Blue Book.

[Karen]

Kelly Blue Book. It almost was like an almanac. I mean, now it's like we go online and we're like, oh, looking at values of cars and whatever, but. But back then, it was in a little blue cover. And then before it was called Kelley Blue Book, it was called Motor Car Values by the Kelly Car Company. All right, next question. The blue helmets, A collection of military and police force is deployed by and associated with what organization, Colin?

[Colin]

I think those are United nations forces, right?

[Karen]

Yes, the United Nations UN Forces. Kind of love the idea that. That it's a collection of military and police force from different countries. They're asked to wear their country's uniform, but their helmet is a light blue. All right, next question. If you're a homeowner, you might be very familiar with reading blueprints, floor plans and such. It's funny because the blueprints today are not blue at all. They're just like a PDF or like a CAD file. They haven't been blue since the 1970s, when photocopying technology and Xerox became widespread. But before then, blueprints were blue due to what printing process, Chris?

[Chris]

Mimeography,

[Karen]

technically. No, I'm looking for. For something more. More on the nose.

[Chris]

Okay, okay.

[Karen]

The printing process known as cyanotype.

[Colin]

Ah, yeah, cyanotype. Cyanotype.

[Karen]

And what they used to do before we had Xerox and photocopiers. You have your big blueprint that someone probably drew by hand with a ruler and a T square. You have that drawing and then you put it over cyanotype treated paper, and then you shine light on it. And so the pieces where the light doesn't reach, which is like where the black lines are, they won't react. And so this is why you get blueprints where it's like the lines are white.

[Colin]

Right. Looks like a. Like a negative or an inverse.

[Karen]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Chris]

I thought it was mimeography, by the way, because I am. I am mimeograph machine. Old. Like when I was in second grade, they use a mimeograph machine.

[Colin]

My school. My school had a mimeograph machine. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Chris]

So you'd take. You'd write out the master copy on a sheet of, like, mimeograph paper, which, like, had the ink, like, in it, and then put it onto a big cylinder, a drum, and literally just crank it. That's how we ran off copies of the class newspaper that I started in the second grade.

[Karen]

Wow. What was it called?

[Chris]

It was called the. The room for roll because I wanted something that was alliterative, you know, Isn't it? Isn't it?

[Karen]

It's so telling what your future was going to be.

[Chris]

I looked grade class and realized we didn't have a class. I, with all my free time, would love to see.

[Colin]

There are too many untold stories here.

[Chris]

Exactly. So much going on.

[Karen]

All right, last question. Here in a hospital, what is the more common name for what's called surgical greens? Chris?

[Chris]

Scrubs.

[Karen]

Scrubs, yes, scrubs. The uniform which now are mostly blue or like a bluish green. Do we know why? Do we know why it's that color.

[Chris]

I do know. I do know why it's easier on the surgeon's eyes. Because if you have a bright light shining down on the patient and you're getting white, it's. It's reflecting off of white gowns all in the room. That's going to be harsh. And then it also provides, like, more contrast with, like, blood and things like that.

[Karen]

Yes, yeah, yeah.

[Chris]

Like, red would really decrease the visual. But then they'd be bleeding out on the operating table. You'd be like, oh, didn't notice.

[Karen]

Well, it's also easier to see stains. Easier to see dirt. Yeah, yeah. Because there was a time when.

[Chris]

Yeah.

[Karen]

There were no uniforms or.

[Chris]

Oh, right. Yeah, exactly.

[Karen]

Medical clothing was not required. Required. Nor was it a concept.

[Chris]

Yeah, exactly.

[Colin]

Tweed jacket. Yes.

[Karen]

They just, like, they just wore what they wore on the street.

[Chris]

Yep, yep.

[Karen]

Comes into the operation. Inside operation room. It's the operating theater where, you know, live audience is watching and they don't have gloves. They're just sticking their fingers in this poor person's body.

[Chris]

The barbecue apron on

[Karen]

for scrubs. It wasn't really a mandated thing until the 1980s.

[Colin]

That's so late. It's bananas to think about it. Yeah.

[Karen]

All right, and our last question in my true blue quiz. What kind of animal? I don't need a specific name. I just need a general animal. Known to be the only animal that produces a true blue pigment. As we know, in nature, the pigment blue is. Is very rare for naturally occurring.

[Colin]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Karen]

There's only one animal that we know of that can produce a blue pigment. Go for it. What's your guess?

[Colin]

Well, because we've talked about associated colors, close colors before, I'm gonna say the snail. Maybe there's another snail because we talked about, like, the purple snail. Maybe there's a blue snail.

[Karen]

It is not a snail, but it is. It is a bug like thing.

[Chris]

Bug like thing produces a blue pigment. I don't know. So like a butterfly.

[Karen]

It's a butterfly. Green olive wing. The only animal that produces that can produce a true blue pigment. We see blue animals all the time. There's peacocks. Right. There are other flying butterflies and bugs, and their blue is more of what they call structure coloration. It's not that they're producing a blue ink. It's that they're. It's that their bodies are reflecting light to show blue.

[Colin]

Right, right.

[Karen]

To show top, the blue. The blue wavelengths and not because there's like an ink or a pigment that they're producing that looks Blue. But yeah, good job. That's my quiz. All right. And so we'll take a quick break and we'll be right back.

[IXL Announcer]

This episode is brought to you by ixl, an award winning online learning platform that fits seamlessly into the homeschool curriculum. It offers interactive practice across math, language arts, science and social studies from Pre K through 12th grade. Web based quizzes, activities, videos, educational games, study guides, all to help make learning more meaningful and effective. It's summer and lots of kids have summer reading challenges going on. And in my family, we like to switch things up. So in addition to reading books, we read karaoke lyrics, we read baking instructions, and we do reading games and activities on ixl. We can access IXL from the computer, from the tablet, or even from my phone. So make an impact on your child's learning. Get IXL now and Good Job Brain listeners can get an exclusive 20% off IXL membership when they sign up today at iexcel.com GoodJobBrain visit ixl.com GoodJobBrain to get the most effective learning program out there at the best price.

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[Chris]

You're listening to Good Job Brain. Smooth puzzles, smart trivia. Good Job Brain.

[Karen]

All right, welcome back. This week we're all about blue facts, blue trivia, blue quizzes. What do you got for us, Chris?

[Chris]

I have a blue quiz first. I'm going to start this off by. I want to just play you a quick one question music round.

[Karen]

One question.

[Chris]

I've got a musical track. It's a one question music round. Real quick. I just want you to name the singer. All right?

[Karen]

All right, here we go.

[Chris]

Let's, let's go.

[Colin]

It's not that easy being green.

[Chris]

What?

[Colin]

Having to spend each day the color of the leaves.

[Karen]

You can.

[Colin]

When I think it could be nicer being red or yellow or gold or something much more colorful.

[Karen]

I get it.

[Colin]

Yeah, I get it. I get it.

[Shopify Announcer]

You.

[Chris]

You get it?

[Colin]

I get it.

[Chris]

This song is called Being Green, by the way.

[Colin]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Chris]

You probably never heard this song before.

[Colin]

Somewhere in the punch, Colin do you

[Chris]

have a guess as to who the singer is?

[Colin]

I'm gonna go on the record with Old blue eyes himself, Mr. Frank Sinatra.

[Chris]

Yeah, that is Frank Sinatra. Old Blue Eyes. Hence the theming of the question, of course, as he was well known. All blue eyes. Frank Sinatra. He was. He was called this. And this. This got me thinking, are there other celebrities. Certainly there are other celebrities who have blue eyes. He wasn't called that because he was the only famous person with blue eyes. But I got me thinking, like, oh, were there other celebrities who are famous for, like, having, you know, blue eyes? And I started in on this, and I got exactly as far as one other celebrity.

[Karen]

I can think of one.

[Chris]

Who is. Who is. Who I want to talk about what, Karen, can you think of one? Who is your celebrity?

[Karen]

Oh, I have two. I have, like, a classic one and a. And a more modern.

[Chris]

Give me a cup, why don't you? Okay, let's improv this. Let's talk this up. Who are your celebrities who are famous for having blue eyes?

[Karen]

Elizabeth Taylor.

[Chris]

Okay. Okay.

[Karen]

Whose eyes are so blue that sometimes they're. They're violet. Described her as having violet eyes.

[Colin]

Sure. Yeah.

[Karen]

And then Paul Hollywood, the judge from Paul Hollywood, Great British Bake Off.

[Chris]

He does. He does icy blue and set off really across with the. The gray hair and everything. Yeah.

[Karen]

Sorry.

[Chris]

So I don't want to talk about either of those people. That's okay. No, it's. That's. It's interesting, like, who pops to your. To your head when you think about that. So I would like to talk about somebody who certainly in the 70s and 80s, I think, would have come to people's minds when they said, like, an actress with blue eyes. I want to talk about an actress whose name is Meg Foster. She had a pretty. Pretty deep career in films and television a lot in the 70s and 80s. Still working today. She's in her 70s. Her eyes, I would. I would call them. And other people have called them ice blue eyes. Eyes. They look like White Walker eyes from Game of Thrones. I am gonna. I'm gonna drop a picture into our. Our discussion channel for you because I. Karen, I want you to avoid going off and Googling it. You know what I mean? I know you can't resist. So I'm just gonna. I'm just gonna shoot you a picture of Meg foster in the 70s.

[Colin]

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

[Karen]

Oh, wow.

[Chris]

The eyes, they are. They're icy.

[Colin]

Yeah, they're like a husky.

[Karen]

Like a husky?

[Chris]

Yes, like a husky. Like the Night King. You would think that these These striking eyes would have been a huge positive. Right. For Meg Foster in her acting career. Right. Apparently they were not. And in fact, sometimes when she was, you know, working on a show, would be asked to wear colored contact lenses to dim her eye color because it was so distracting. Or that's certainly what either what the directors or whatever felt about her eyes. Her eyes did have their fans. Mademoiselle magazine named her eyes the eyes of 1979.

[Karen]

Do they name eyes for other years too?

[Chris]

They. They may have. It was like their. Jenny. I only got as far as looking back at the January 79 issue and they're like the eyes of 1979. This trivia. You'll often find this trivia tidbit kind of associated with Meg Foster that she had the eyes of 1970. In the same issue they named Brooke Shields Mouth the mouth of 1979. She does not talk about it as much, I don't think, or have it on her LinkedIn. So I have to. I decided to just go ahead. Looking at the incredibly prolific but sometimes like in the background career of Meg Foster, I decided to just do a whole quiz all about somebody who has also been called Ol Blue Eyes herself, occasionally prolific star of television and film, Meg Foster. Here's the Meg Foster quiz. All right.

[Karen]

Amazing.

[Chris]

Yes. Here we go. In 1978, shout out to Meg Foster. In 1979, rather, Meg Foster had a very high profile role in a widely watched television miniseries in which John Heard, that's the dad from Home Alone, played her secret lover, Arthur Dimmesdale. What was the name of the television miniseries?

[Colin]

Okay. Man, that was like a golden age for those TV miniseries.

[Chris]

It was. It absolutely was. I'm thinking it was Wide Thornbirds, but it's not that.

[Colin]

It was like Roots Thornbirds. There was so many flowers in the attic. Was it an. An adaptation. Yeah.

[Chris]

Of a period.

[Colin]

Okay.

[Chris]

Of a novel, Lolita.

[Travis Hoyam]

Not.

[Chris]

That was a little bit too hot for tv. Her character was Hester Prynne.

[Colin]

Oh, Scarlet Letter.

[Chris]

Scarlet Letter, very famously at the time. Lots of talk about, you know, her playing Hester Prynne, dad from Home Alone. Da, da, da. In 1980. A year later, Meg Foster played Katrina Van Tassel opposite Jeff Goldblum's Ichabod Crane in what made for TV movie Karen Sleeping Hollow.

[Colin]

The Legend. Legend. Legend of Sleepy Legend.

[Chris]

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[IXL Announcer]

You're.

[Karen]

You're right to not give it to me.

[Colin]

Yeah, that's right.

[Chris]

Celebrity Jeopardy Rules. Yeah. Stuff. Yes. Yeah. She played. Yeah. So Jeff Goldblum was. That's Katrina.

[Colin]

Good, Good cast.

[Chris]

Yeah, she was doing a lot of work in the late 70s, early 80s. In 19. In 1980, Meg Foster appeared in a movie called Carney. This is a movie about a girl who joins a traveling carnival. Meg Foster did not play the girl. The girl was played by another blue eyed actress who was 17 years old at the time and shared Meg's last name.

[Colin]

Is that Jody Foster?

[Chris]

It was Jody Foster.

[Colin]

Age seemed right.

[Karen]

Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Chris]

It's right around the time. Yep, yep, yep. Couple Years later, in 1982, Meg Foster found herself at the center of some controversy. She was let go from this police procedural drama after just six episodes, even though she was playing one of the titular women detectives.

[Karen]

Oh, Cagney and Lacy.

[Chris]

Cagney and Lacy. She played Cagney, but only for the first six episodes. And she was, for whatever reason, not kept on.

[Colin]

Wow.

[Chris]

It was kind of a big thing, of course, because the show was pretty big, and she was dropped. Yeah. That was far from Meg Foster's first police drama show. Again, she'd be working throughout the, you know, 60s. And she actually. She guest starred two times in this 1968 series about three young hippies who become undercover cops.

[Colin]

That's got to be the Mod Squad.

[Chris]

That is the Mod Squad. The Mod Squad. Yep. She's been on a couple episodes of that. Now, the funny thing is, as I started researching this, this, this, I realized, oh, that's where I've heard Meg Foster, because it is not Mod squad. But in 1987, I saw Meg Foster in the theater because she was in Masters of the Universe playing. Playing opposite Frank Langella's skeletor as his evil henchwoman whose name is. What?

[Karen]

Oh, God. It's, like, really punny. Like, it's like really evil. Evil Lynn.

[Chris]

It's Evil Lyn. It's.

[Karen]

That's who it is. Okay, I know who it is now.

[Chris]

Yes, that's who it is now. Well, here's the thing. I mean, you. You watch her as Evil Lynn. The eyes are perfect.

[Colin]

Yeah.

[Chris]

Because it's just absolute, you know, icy death stare. It's wonderful. Evil Lyn, by the way, will be played by Allison Brie in the upcoming reboot film of Masters of the Universe. So. How about that? So 1988 may have brought us Meg Foster's most remembered role, because 1988 was the year that she starred alongside Rowdy Roddy Piper in this John Carpenter horror film.

[Colin]

They live.

[Chris]

They Live.

[Karen]

Was he good?

[Colin]

I mean, look, I'm a fan of John Carpenter's entire. Oof. Is it a very good movie? I will say it is a very John Carpenter movie.

[Chris]

So a couple more questions. Meg Foster also appeared in several episodes of this 2000 and tens teen drama series about a group of girls who receive mysterious threatening letters. Oh.

[IXL Announcer]

Oh,

[Chris]

Karen.

[Karen]

Pretty Little Liars.

[Chris]

Pretty Little Liars.

[Colin]

Oh. Never watched it my era.

[Chris]

And final question. Blink and you'll miss blinking. You'll miss those eyes. But Meg Foster made a brief appearance as a casino cashier in an episode of this long awaited third season of a drama that aired in 2017.

[Colin]

Okay. Long awaited.

[Chris]

Came back for one last season in 2017.

[Colin]

Casino.

[Karen]

Is it is a voice or is it her acting?

[Chris]

It is. It is not a cartoon. It is a live action supernatural drama.

[Karen]

Not X Foot.

[Colin]

We're gonna be so mad. I feel like.

[Chris]

I mean, you are gonna be mad. You are gonna be mad.

[Karen]

Is it just supernatural?

[Chris]

It's not supernatural. No, no, no, no. Kyle McLaughlin was in the casino.

[Colin]

Yes, of course. Twin Peaks.

[Karen]

Poor land.

[Chris]

Yes, Twin Peaks.

[Colin]

Yes, of course.

[Chris]

But yeah, Meg Foster, she's been, she's been working all this time. She is still out there. They got her in the Masters of the Universe cartoon. They just did a coup. Not playing evil Lyn, but playing another role. Yeah.

[Colin]

Because she knows the material. They're like, you're familiar with the lore. Yeah.

[Chris]

Certainly today, not as in the news as much anymore. But you know what? Still working. And I love that.

[IXL Announcer]

Yes.

[Colin]

The best kind of actor. Working actor.

[Karen]

I mean, it makes me sad that she had to play down her eyes

[Chris]

because I feel, I feel like today it would be, it would be a little bit different. Like, you know, there was that, that sort of push towards like conformity, you

[Colin]

know, I'm gonna try and reclaim old Blue Eyes on her behalf. Like the next time that come up, someone says like, oh, blue eyes. I'm like, oh, Meg Foster, you mean?

[Chris]

Yeah.

[Karen]

What a not annoying thing to do.

[Chris]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Karen]

It's so. Oh my gosh. Speaking of that spirit, that good job brain spirit, just today, this morning, me and my husband, after dropping out the kids, we went to a bakery. And this is a. A bakery that sells Asian baked goods. And it also includes malasadas, which are like the Hawaiian Portuguese fried donuts.

[Chris]

Yes.

[Karen]

And so in the display you see all the different malasadas. And then you see a beef curry pond, mostly from Japan, Asia, that's like has beef curry in it and it's like in a fried dough.

[Colin]

Sounds delicious.

[Karen]

My husband was telling the bakery workers like, oh, can I get one of those beef curry malasadas, too. And I'm like, standing there, I was like, you know, those aren't masadas. And then he's like, but they look the same. And then the person behind us in line was like, actually, it's made out of a different dough. So it's completely different. The malasada dough here has this amount of sugar, and the. The curry pond, or that kind of dough is more like a bread, like, and went off. And I was like, in my heart, I love this man because he just couldn't. He's hearing this discussion between me and my husband. He just can't. He can't stop himself. Like, he just had to correct us.

[Chris]

I have the facts. Yes.

[Colin]

I can't let a stranger be wrong.

[Karen]

No. But I love it. I love it. I was like, wow, that's awesome.

[Colin]

That is very much the good job brain spirit.

[Karen]

I'm not taking pleasure in that. You're wrong. But it's like, no, I got. I got more info about it. Like, isn't it cool?

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[Karen]

Here's my next Blue segment. I want to tell a quick story so longtime listeners and you guys know that I grew up in Taiwan. My family lived in LA before, but when I was born, we moved back to Taiwan. You know, where my parents are from. In 1987, during summer break, I was very little, my mom brought me and my sister back to LA for a visit. It and we landed. And I remember that day so clearly because. Because it was exciting. It was my first time in America where I was old enough to remember a day with a lot of firsts. I had. First time I had teriyaki chicken. First time I went to a mall. This is all on the first day, like, we landed.

[Colin]

This is, like, probably the best day of your life at that point, right?

[Karen]

First time going to a Target. And this is pre Target, if you know what I mean.

[Colin]

Oh, yeah. If it was. You said what, 80, 87. Yeah, yeah.

[Karen]

I remember the layout of that whatever random target in LA was. And we were checking out between the register and the sliding exit door, the snack bar. It had a classic round glass ice cream case there. It was blue ice cream in a tub and with gumballs, Rainbow gumballs peeking out. It was my first time seeing bubble gum ice cream.

[Shopify Announcer]

Okay.

[Karen]

And I feel like most of us remember the first time seeing bubblegum ice cream because it's so weird.

[Colin]

Yeah.

[Karen]

And of course, I made my mom buy me a cone. And I remember, like, I'm holding the cone, I'm looking at this ice cream, and I'm thinking, almost like, I'm just like, wow, America is awesome. And then I proceeded to take my first bite, and I regretted it all. Because bubblegum ice cream, in theory, it's like, in theory, it's a great flavor for gum because it goes away. Ingesting bubblegum flavor is a different. Different story. It's a different experience.

[Chris]

Like swallowing.

[Colin]

Yes.

[Chris]

Swallowing it instead of just, like, chewing

[Colin]

it and spitting it out. Yeah, yeah.

[Karen]

And there's, like, gumballs in it. They're all, like, frozen.

[Colin]

They're hard. Yeah, yeah.

[Karen]

What am I doing with the gumballs that I'm eating? I'm not done with my ice cream. Do I save it on the side? Do I spit it out? Like, where do I put it? Do I just hide it in my cheeks? It was like, a logistical nightmare.

[Colin]

It's everything that would make sense to a kid to come up with the

[Karen]

idea for this episode. It got me thinking, oh, what is the origin of bubblegum ice cream? And what a wild and crazy thing. So. So we here at Good Job, Brain, we love sharing facts and trivia about regional foods.

[Colin]

Oh, yeah.

[Karen]

Local variants of foods. Coffee milk in Rhode Island, McDonald's in Australia. They have burgers where they put a slice of beetroot in it. Cheeseless pizza from New Haven, Connecticut. And there is a small sliver of regional foods that is the phenomenon of blue ice cream. So let's back up. Bubblegum ice cream. Its origin is mostly associated with and credited with Baskin Robbins, who introduced the flavor in the 1970s.

[Colin]

Ah.

[Karen]

Now, are there other classically blue ice creams in existence other than bubblegum? Because I think when. When I say blue ice cream, most people jump to bubblegum. And the answer was staring me in the face when I was reading a children's book to my daughters. Let me hold it up. This book is called Ice Cream Face.

[Chris]

Whoa.

[Karen]

Written by Heidi Woodward Sheffield. And on the COVID you'll see a little boy holding an ice cream and this ice cream is. Is a kind of swirl of red, yellow and blue.

[Colin]

Yeah.

[Karen]

And I'm like, oh, I guess it's like a rainbow, sherberty kind of color. You know, it's whimsical. It's a kid's book. There is a page, a spread in this children's book where the boy goes to the ice cream shop and they have a menu, you know, on a chalkboard. And I'll read out some flavors to you here. Chocolate, strawberry, pistachio, butter, pecan, mint, chocolate, Blue Moon and superhero. And I'm like, oh, it's a children's book. You know, they have like some fun names for flavors. I was like, what the heck is a blue moon? And what the heck is a superhero? So I looked it up. So on the COVID you know, this ice cream we see, which is a swirl of red, yellow and blue ice cream, is a real flavor called Superman. And it is available in the Midwest, mostly in Michigan and Ohio. Superman ice cream.

[Colin]

Because it's the colors of his uniform.

[Karen]

It's the color of his uniform. Funnily enough, this flavor existed before the creation of Superman. It was invented during prohibition. And it used to be called like, it used to be called like triple color or tri color or tri flavor. It's a very generic term. And so the red is cherry. Like whatever their red ice cream is mixed with whatever yellow ice cream is, it's usually lemon or vanilla.

[Colin]

Okay.

[Karen]

And then for the blue, the flavor is listed as Blue Moon. And I'm like, okay. Which is in the book. It's also listed as a separate flavor of Blue Moon. Blue Moon is another regional, Michigan, Midwest. Oh, never heard of this flavor. Blue Moon is just a pure blue ice cream. No gumballs, nothing in it, just a blue ice cream. And the flavor people say is kind of like Froot Loops milk.

[Colin]

Huh.

[Karen]

Kind of fruity, maybe a banana.

[Colin]

Y.

[Karen]

But it's definitely not bubblegum.

[Colin]

Okay. Okay.

[Karen]

So yes, in this area you have Blue Moon and Superman ice cream.

[Colin]

Never heard of either of them.

[Karen]

Never heard of either of them. And it's very popular. So popular that it's in a children's book. And for someone who is not from the area, I'm like, oh, it's just like made up, cool, cute, like kids illustration.

[Colin]

But that's absolutely what I would think too, if I was reading that with my daughter.

[Karen]

And I looked up the author, Heidi Woodward Sheffield. She's from Detroit.

[Chris]

Yeah. So for her, this is just very common.

[Colin]

I love, I love that you're doing follow up research. And due diligence on your bedtime story with. With your kids. You're like, no, there's more to this story.

[Karen]

There's something about Superman. The name never got trademark or didn't have, like, legal protection. So you can call super. You can call things super, Anything thing. And that's not all. There is another regional blue ice cream that is from New Finland. New Finland, Canada. And this ice cream is called Moon Mist. A classic, you know, ice cream you can get at a drugstore or a store. A moon mist ice cream. It is also a swirl. It is a blue swirl with yellow swirl with purple swirl. And what you end up is this preteen aesthetic, girl bedroom, really pretty pastel, a dreamy scoop of these colors. And it's called Moon Mist. Here are the flavors. So this blue is actually bubblegum. So it's. The blue is bubblegum, the yellow is banana, and the purple is. Is grape. And it sounds wild, but people love it.

[Colin]

Even just grape ice cream on its own is kind of a novel thing to me. Like, as a California kid, that was not, like a common ice cream flavor that I encountered.

[Karen]

Get this. Newfoundland has another regional ice cream. It's not blue. People who grew up didn't know that it didn't exist outside of where they lived.

[Colin]

Right.

[Karen]

And that is Grape Nuts. Grape Nuts ice cream. You didn't hear me wrong.

[Colin]

Grape Nuts, like the cereal.

[Karen]

Cereal vanilla white milk base with Grape Nuts.

[Chris]

But the important thing is if you take the Grape Nuts and you put them in the ice cream and you leave them there for a really long

[Karen]

time, they'll stay crunchy.

[Chris]

They're still totally hard as rice. I could see it.

[Karen]

I can see it again. This is not crazy new flavors. This is like decades and decades. You can.

[Colin]

100 years old.

[Karen]

I'm just so happy that there's this sliver of regional foods for blue ice cream.

[Colin]

Yeah, well, now I'm. I gotta seek out some of these flavors now. I don't know if I gotta.

[Karen]

We have. So again, let's. Let's recap. We have Bubblegum, which is more nationally distributed. There's Superman ice cream, which is the red, yellow, blue swirl. Then you have. Have blue moon ice cream, which is just the blue. And then you have moon mist from Canada, which is yellow, purple, and blue.

[Colin]

All right.

[Karen]

Yeah.

[Colin]

All right. I'm gonna hit up Michigan en route to Newfoundland.

[IXL Announcer]

Yes.

[Karen]

And that's our show. Thank you all for joining me. And thank you, listeners for listening in. Hope you learned stuff today about Meg Foster, about blue ice cream, about Blue Things About Blue Hawaii. You can find us on all major podcast apps and on our website goodjobbrain.com this podcast is part of Airwave Media podcast network. Visit airwavemedia.com to listen and subscribe to other shows like all the Books, Culture, Kids and Dressed, the History of Fashion and we'll see you next week.

[Colin]

Goodbye.

[Travis Hoyam]

Hey there. I'm Travis Hoyam, one of the hosts of Motley Fool Hidden Gems Investing. Each weekday on Motley Fool Hidden Gems Investing we talk through the business news you need to know and the stories moving stocks on Wall Street. On weekends, we game plan personal finance strategies and dive into the industries shaping tomorrow and host the experts, authors and executives that understand them. Tune in for insights and a long term perspective on investing and of course, stock ideas. Plenty of them. To quote a listener, it pays to listen. Check us out and subscribe. Wherever you listen to podcasts.