#4545 Everything Happens For A Raisin

Summary

TBTL Episode #4545: "Everything Happens For A Raisin"

Date: September 2, 2025
Hosts: Luke Burbank & Andrew Walsh

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Episode Overview

On this lively post-Labor Day Tuesday episode, Luke and Andrew dive into an array of TBTL-esque themes: the emotional charge of late summer and "real life" ramping up, fruit metaphors for aging, comedic one-liners, magazine racks, movie misadventures with family, what makes a great (or ill-suited) horror film, podcast AI summaries, and the nuances of both literal and metaphorical garbage handling. The tone is casual, whimsical, and honest, full of asides and self-reflection—classic TBTL fare.

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Key Discussion Points

1. Post-Labor Day Vibes & Calendar Comforts

(03:25–07:52)

• Andrew relishes a calendar week where Labor Day aligns date-wise (Monday as the 1st, Tuesday as the 2nd, and so on).
• Luke expresses the psychological challenge returning from the "summer tap-dance" back to the workload of fall, mentioning several upcoming live events and looming responsibilities.
• Both hosts joke about their own avoidance tactics—Luke’s extended out-of-office replies and Andrew’s lateral “co-management style.”

Notable Quote:

• Andrew (04:31): “On Friday, as you say, getting ready to slide down the dinosaur tail or whatever you say. And it's got a five. It's like, of course it's Friday. It's the fifth day of the week. Beautiful. We're living it.”

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2. Anxiety Management & Standup Stand-Ins

(07:52–12:34)

• Andrew reveals a secret Twitter account where he posted one-liners as potential TBTL standup fodder, shares a few (including the titular “Everything Happens For A Raisin” pun), and encourages Luke to use them if he’s forced into a stand-up slot.
• The duo reflects on comedic timing, awkward silence as a comedic device, and the fine art of managing audience expectations.

Notable Quotes:

• Andrew (09:47): “Everything happens for a raisin.”
• Luke (12:35): “Pouring the jokes into a large glass vessel and letting them kind of air out a little bit anyway.”

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3. The Raisin Metaphor: Aging & Possibility

(12:39–15:56)

• Luke recounts reading an essay in The Sun magazine by a Minnesota inmate about resilience, inspired by the surprising nutrition of raisins vs. grapes. This leads to a meditation on aging, change, and considering the upsides of "becoming a raisin."
• They briefly fact-check the notion that raisins have more iron than grapes (they do, per several sources).

Notable Quote:

• Luke (14:38): “There’s something a raisin has going for it that a grape doesn't... That’s sort of a metaphor for getting older.”

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4. Fruit Talk & Food Philosophies

(17:16–22:43)

• Inspired by listeners’ tolerance for “mundane” banter (like onions and plums), the hosts swap fruit consumption stories—plums, blueberries, granola routines, and how shifting to more fruit led Luke to weight loss (and joy).
• Editorial clarification: the author Luke referenced was Elizabeth Hawes, not Sarah Hawes/Hayes.

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5. Magazine Racks, Reading Habits & The Sun

(22:43–27:19)

• Luke shares his quest to read more physical magazines as an intentional practice to boost focus and attention, while Andrew confesses he’s become a slow, phone-based reader due to eyesight and convenience.
• Discussion of The Sun magazine’s unique format—reader submissions on themes (this month: “getting dressed”).

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6. Movie Reviews & Watching With Parents—“Sexy Beast”

(31:02–37:55)

• Luke describes an awkward but fascinating experience re-watching Sexy Beast with his dad, Walt:
  • The film, far from being a straightforward heist movie, is a psychological dark comedy highlighted by Ben Kingsley’s menacing performance.
  • The heavy use of profanity, especially with captions on, made viewing with his parent uniquely uncomfortable.
• Andrew empathizes, sharing a story of watching the explicit A History of Violence with his dad—thanks to Genevieve bailing from the room at just the right time.

Notable Quote:

• Luke (35:17): "I'm almost 50. It's my HBO Max subscription. And yet I was cowering… Please, please stop saying the F word."

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7. AI Chapters & Summaries: TBTL vs. the Bots

(39:28–48:05)

• Listener Missy in Boston points out Spotify's AI-generated chapters for TBTL episodes. The hosts are amused (and a little mortified) by how well—or awkwardly—the bot captures their meandering conversations.
• Luke reflects on the value (and embarrassment) of transparent show summaries; Andrew reads out funny, oddly accurate AI chapter titles (e.g., “Luke's Magical moment with Star Jasmine,” “Taylor Swift and Travis Kelsey: Distraction or drive?”).
• The conversation moves to meta-anxieties: how AI recognizes sarcasm, and what it portends for human nuance and humor.

Notable Quotes:

• Spotify AI Chapter (45:08): "Taylor Swift and Travis Kelsey: Distraction or drive?"
• Luke (47:02): "...Luke responds sarcastically."

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8. Howard Stern Updates & Big Summer Hiatuses

(41:46–44:18)

• Luke provides a tangent on Howard Stern's unexpected post-vacation delay, contract speculation, fan “cancellation” theories, and his own deep investment in following the show’s drama.

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9. Donor Thanks & Blue Collar Humility

(49:15–60:16)

• Luke expresses gratitude for listener donors (full list read on air), contrasting his own failed DIY skills (specifically drywall) with his ability to make podcasting his career.
• Andrew shares a long-standing relationship revelation about a track lighting installation that (according to Genevieve) left a mysterious hole in their ceiling—a gentle but relatable story of partnership, perception, and domestic competence.

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10. Summer’s End Reflections & Listener Connections

(57:42–60:16)

• Luke shares a poignant moment at a family gathering, talking to a now-college-aged listener whose dad assembled his crib while listening to early TBTL, driving home the longevity and intergenerational reach of the show.

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11. Top Story: "Weapons"—Scary Movie Discourse

(60:18–75:03)

• Andrew gives a tense, spoiler-light review of the buzzy new horror film Weapons:
  • He describes the mixture of anxiety, dread, and even laughter, appreciating its innovative Rashomon-like structure (multiple perspectives, non-linear storytelling), magical elements, and immersive intensity.
  • Luke confesses he read spoilers because he was too scared to see the movie, before Andrew’s review tempts him back—though he still hesitates due to anticipated anxiety.

Notable Quotes:

• Andrew (66:11): “The thing about this movie is it's a mystery throughout... It’s divided up into five or six different people's perspective.... I left the theater feeling weird... That movie had a physical impact on me.”
• Luke (69:58): “Based on your description, I kind of want to, but I am legitimately kind of nervous about the sitting in the theater.”

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12. Other Cinema: “Naked Gun,” “War of the Roses” & Dysfunctional Couple Comedy

(72:26–75:03)

• The duo pivots to classic silly comedy (Naked Gun) as a cinematic chaser to horror, and discuss War of the Roses and its new remake—a meditation on how divorce comedy lands post-real-life experience.

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13. Listener Vmail: White-Glove Garbage Service

(75:24–78:57)

• Listener Justice or Justin details their childhood garbage service in Nebraska, involving curbside-to-garage can retrieval—a level of “white glove” service Andrew dreams of and Luke would gladly pay for in his rural setting.

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14. Voicemail Corrections: Willow & Warwick Davis

(79:08–81:04)

• Listener David from Tokyo gently corrects Luke’s earlier mix-up: Willow stars Warwick Davis, not NFL running back Warrick Dunn. Andrew and Luke banter about Davis’s various acting credits (Extras cameo included).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Andrew (07:52): “I promised myself I was never going to do this on the show, but... these are all one-liners... Everything happens for a raisin.”
• Luke (14:38): “There’s something a raisin has going for it that a grape doesn't... That’s sort of a metaphor for getting older.”
• Luke (35:17): “Please, please stop saying the F word, everyone. Please stop saying the C word. This is... And to my dad's credit, he was there for it.”
• Spotify AI (45:08): “Taylor Swift and Travis Kelsey: Distraction or drive?”
• Andrew (66:11): “You are truly terrified at times in a way that I felt in my stomach and that I don't ever remember feeling that way.”
• Luke (57:42): “...Just the idea that we've been doing this for that long, that I'm standing there talking to this very mature, very smart, very talented young person who was maybe 2 or 3 years old when their dad was listening to TBTL…”

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Key Timestamps

• 03:25 – Andrew’s calendar synchronicity joy
• 07:52 – Andrew’s secret standup Twitter account / “Everything Happens For A Raisin”
• 12:39 – Raisin vs. grape: nutrition and metaphor
• 17:16 – Fruit consumption, plums & blueberries, and food philosophy
• 22:43 – Print magazines and attention span discussion
• 31:02 – Watching “Sexy Beast” with Walt Burbank
• 39:28 – AI-generated chapters: the good, weird, and cringey
• 44:18 – Howard Stern summer hiatus speculation
• 49:15 – Donor thanks, drywall stories, and humility
• 60:18 – Top story: “Weapons” movie review (SPOILER-LIGHT)
• 75:24 – Listener vmail on Nebraska’s “concierge” garbage service
• 79:08 – Voicemail correction: Willow’s Warwick Davis vs. Warrick Dunn

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Tone & Takeaways

This episode offers everything TBTL diehards love—gently absurd, meandering conversations, emotional honesty, obscure references, food and pop culture tangents, and a sense that “everything happens for a raisin.” While Luke and Andrew spend much of the episode poking fun at themselves for their rambly style, they also celebrate its charm—bolstered, as always, by the unwavering support of their long-time listeners. Whether you’re here for the fruit talk, the movie reviews, the podcast existentialism, or just the feeling of communal oddness, this episode delivers a heaping helping of TBTL’s signature warmth and wit.

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Power out.

Transcript

[Andrew Walsh]

Ah, look at that kooky old cookie jar.

[Luke Burbank]

You like cookie jars, Kenneth?

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, I guess I've never thought about it that much. We had a nice one back home in Georgia. Had a bear on it. I remember when my mom's friend Ron would come over. They'd go into the bedroom to sort out their paperwork, and I'd just go ahead and stare at that cookie jar. It was almost as if I took every problem that I ever had and I put it inside that cookie jar and I sealed it up so tight that nothing would never, ever, ever get out. So I guess to answer your question, I'd give cookie jars about a B T B T el.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm starting my own podcast. Hey, that could be fun.

[Andrew Walsh]

All right, everybody, who's ready to laugh? Yeah, I can't hear you. That's not true, of course, but cheer louder. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Are you seriously detaining me again? Am I being rendered?

[Andrew Walsh]

No, you're being friendered. So just please accept our compulsory hospitality. If you had a favorite saying, what would it be? Life's a party. Rock your body. It stinks.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, all right. Hello, good morning, and welcome, everyone, to a Tuesday edition of tbtl, the show that just might be too beautiful to live. Oh, and the adventure begins again. My name is Luke Burbank. I'm your host. One thing we're actually good at, even compared to compared to other animals.

[Andrew Walsh]

Podcasting.

[Luke Burbank]

Podcasting. Coming to you from the Madrona Hill studio, perched high above the mighty Columbia, where.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, Ma Pa.

[Luke Burbank]

It's just beautiful. Absolutely beautiful day in store here in early September. It's going to be warm today. It's gonna actually get up almost to maybe 90 degrees. But this is kind of the last of it, folks, this week. That's the saddest thing I've ever heard. Maybe we'll get lucky. Maybe we'll get a couple of weeks here in September where things stay nice and sunny and warm and dry, but we're getting down to the end of it. That's all right, though. We've got TBTL to keep us company here as we arrive at episode 4545 in. Hold on. Gotta get this bell working. 4545 in a collector series. Let the fun begin. Which is where we find ourselves on this Tuesday over the weekend. I know it's Tuesday, but we were on extra on tape yesterday because it was Labor Day, so I'm referring now back to the weekend. I decided on a whim to watch a movie with my dad, Walt. So who needs a movie May not have been exactly the right choice of movie.

[Andrew Walsh]

I wish I hadn't done that.

[Luke Burbank]

We can talk about that. Plus the fun weekend that I had sending my niece off to Scotland and visiting the Oregon State Fair down there in Salem. A lot has happened since we last yapped at ya. So we'll get into all of that with this guy. Longest running cobra of the show. Maybe best known for his depictions of the tall ships, I think it was that we had that kind of long weekend. We were on tape yesterday that he's coming back in on this Tuesday, newly invigorated and with a new appreciation for his job as cobra on the program. First things first, I love my job. He is Andrew Walsh and he is in fact joining me right now. Good morning, my friend.

[Andrew Walsh]

Wow, that's the most aspirational intro you've ever given me. None of that is true. It's just how you want me to be. You're just kind of like, if I say this, maybe he'll live it.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm trying to manage up.

[Andrew Walsh]

I noticed.

[Luke Burbank]

Or manage to the side because I.

[Andrew Walsh]

Guess we're sort of so excited to be here.

[Luke Burbank]

We are co. We are co equals. We are co owners of tbtb. And so I'm trying to laterally manage you into being the co pro that.

[Andrew Walsh]

I want you to be. He's definitely not dragging ass. He rolls in, he's not wakes up.

[Luke Burbank]

Late, he's not wearing his Tuesdays because it's case of the Mondays. Got a case of the Thursday, if.

[Andrew Walsh]

You know what I mean. By the way, speaking of Mondays, Thursdays and Tuesdays.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

I think keen eared observers of this show will know that this is my kind of week that we're living through right now. I don't know if you know this, but I got a thing for weeks that begin with a Monday that's a first and a Tuesday that's a second and a Wednesday that's a third. It all feels right to me. I know technically Sunday is the first day of the week, but it feels right when Monday has a one next to it and then all the.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

On Friday, as you say, getting ready to slide down the dinosaur tail or whatever you say. And it's got a five. It's like, of course it's Friday. It's the fifth day of the week. Beautiful. We're living it.

[Luke Burbank]

I love that too. I'm looking at it now. I hadn't even noticed it, but you're right. Now this is going to be a weird week because first of All I'm totally and completely off on the days of the week in terms of how my internal clock and calendar are feeling. Yeah, all day yesterday I kept thinking it was Sunday because we had pre recorded the show and because I had a nice little relaxing day that would typically be a Sunday for me. So I'm really thrown off. And now sometimes it's nice when you're like, wow, we already, we're already kind of in the beginning of the midweek where it's a Tuesday. Like this week is really flying by. Except it's also the first for me real week back into real life from the summer. Like I can kind of like, you know, tap dance and, and delay, delay, delay, delay. My like, you know, livewire job stuff and my CBS stuff and all the other parts of my life outside of TBTL in the summertime. I left my out of office email response on longer than I should have because it was buying me a little cover. And I think you were the one. Andrew, you emailed me, you said, just so you know, your out of office reply is still.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, were you doing that on purpose?

[Luke Burbank]

Not like, not, not, not consciously intentionally, but subconsciously intentionally. I think I was like, hey, if, if a few people out there in the world are, have even lower expectations for my email response time, it wouldn't be, it's not the worst.

[Andrew Walsh]

You know, put one on now just say that you're fighting dragons.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, I mean that is a story that I'm doing in a couple weeks for cbs how to fight your dragon. But, but you know, this, this week.

[Andrew Walsh]

Is just like fail to train your dragon. Yes, you fight and eventually cage your.

[Luke Burbank]

Dragon and then back about training your dragon. Andrew, what, what we don't talk about is fighting your dragon when they're, when they're becoming absolutely incorrigible. But no, this week is like a, this is kind of mentally and emotionally always a bit of a tough week for me because it's. Well, for instance, I've got, on Thursday night we've got a quasi livewire event. I'm, I'm interviewing someone who's going to be sitting next to a grand piano in like the middle of some sort of field in Silver Falls park in Portland. It's basically like a thing called In a place. These are these concerts that this, this musician puts on in very unusual places, like very beautiful natural settings. So basically I have a gig on Thursday night that's like work related. Friday night I'm, I'm hosting a comedy show in Laurelhurst park. That's called the Kickstand Comedy Festival. And I'm still unclear. This is also for Livewire. Not we're not recording it. It's just kind of community building. I'm not sure if I'm explor expected to do stand up comedy, which I don't know how to do. And then Sunday we have a Livewire event that's sold out. So I'm not going to try to, you know, promote it here, but it's just another thing. I've just got a lot of, like, my job life outside of TBTL that's kind of converging on me this week. And so even though yesterday was lovely and wonderful and it's really nice to have that kind of free Monday, it just, it just meant that I'm jumping in even with both feet, more into the deep end of my real job life this week. So that's the anxiety that I'm looking to manage here on a Tuesday.

[Andrew Walsh]

You know, I don't know if I ever told you this. I think I told you, but didn't reveal any of the things in it. A long time ago when I was still on Twitter, I created a secret Twitter feed. I'm trying to see if I can log into it. Now. I have not logged into Twitter in years and now I'm trying to log into my secret Twitter feed where all I did was tweet out jokes that I knew nobody else would like, but I thought you could use it as your as. As fodder for stand up in case you have to. So how many jokes I've got about, it looks like I'd only tweeted about 10 or 15 of these. Okay, are you ready? I'm going to start from the beginning. This first one was. These are all jokes. These are all the. These are all one liners. I promised myself I was never going to do this on the show, but the fact that this is from 2022 and is now 2025. I see you getting a sound machine. I'm going to tell you, Luke, you don't need the sound machine. You're going to laugh naturally at these jokes. They're that funny.

[Luke Burbank]

The first one, the master of understatement, Andrew Walsh, has logged on. The master of managing expectations.

[Andrew Walsh]

You are. I'm worried about it. Just take deep breaths because I'm worried about you laughing so hard, honestly, like hyperbole, oxygen. This was from January 20, 2022. Very first. Very first tweet on this account. I like relatable humor. Like that thing my friend told me about deeply not. He had to use two sound effects.

[Luke Burbank]

I think says it all.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay, all right. And here's another one. Someone's been working out. That's it. It's just someone's been working out. Chances are someone has been working out.

[Luke Burbank]

Is the G. I mean, it's fair. It's fair.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's fair.

[Luke Burbank]

That's accurate. That is a true statement. Okay, how about this? Lay it on me.

[Andrew Walsh]

Everything. Everything happens for a raisin. Oh, the puns.

[Luke Burbank]

I do like that. Everything happens for a reason.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yep.

[Luke Burbank]

I've been thinking about raisins a lot.

[Andrew Walsh]

Andrew, have you. Have you been eating a lot of raisins?

[Luke Burbank]

No, but I was. I read this really great. How many more jokes, by the way? I don't want to disagree with them all.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm looking at. I'm looking. I'm going to skip a bunch of them because these are. These are really bad. But I like this one. I legitimately like this one. This is from June of 2022. Not enough eggnog at this barbecue.

[Luke Burbank]

That's good, that's good, that's good.

[Andrew Walsh]

This sounds like a humble brag, but wow, I'm super good looking. Not even a sound effect.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, okay, hold on. I'll give you this one.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay.

[Luke Burbank]

I'll take a boner and just a sprawling.

[Andrew Walsh]

Wow. That was worth. Absolutely. This is it.

[Luke Burbank]

Here's the thing. I don't think I wrote.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, the bio for this account, by the way, is I'm like Jack Dorsey of Twitter. That's like the best joke on this thing.

[Luke Burbank]

That's pretty good.

[Andrew Walsh]

Sorry to cut you off.

[Luke Burbank]

I like that. I like that. Actually, it's a pretty good joke. All of those jokes are jokes that could work, I think, in the live environment, not where I'm going to be, which is like an outdoor comedy night at a. With a bunch of kid. Of families with their kids sitting on blankets in Laurel Hurst Park. Right. But I do think I could see you in a comedy show in a comedy club if you got the crowd with you. Like, if you basically got them into the sort of mental and emotional place to understand that they were dealing with an. An off label, off brand Stephen Wright.

[Andrew Walsh]

Right. Like, and also a lot of those only work kind of on Twitter, I feel like.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, I was gonna say, I think they could work in real life if you delivered them. Right. Like, if you were really comfortable with the discomfort. So, you know what I mean? Like, what was the first one? Can you go back?

[Andrew Walsh]

I have clo. I literally have logged out. And not only Have I closed the tab? But I literally went through and I logged out. That was the first time I logged into Twitter in a long time. The first was, looks like someone's been working out. I don't know.

[Luke Burbank]

I feel like those kinds of jokes, if you were able to. And I don't historically feel like you or I are great at this part of comedy. If you were able to deliver that joke and then just wait. You know what I mean? Wait for the crowd to kind of figure out that that's the joke.

[Andrew Walsh]

Because it's not words. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

In the words of Rainier Wolf Castle, that's the joke. Like, I think those could totally work. Like, I think I wasn't doing you any favors as the recipient of those jokes over this digital line we're using. But I. I don't think those are.

[Andrew Walsh]

Bad jokes for a while. I appreciate you letting the silence just, like, let me stew in it for a little bit there. You definitely. Yeah, you were slow on that button. And I felt like.

[Luke Burbank]

I mean. But I was letting him breathe. I was letting them decant a little bit.

[Andrew Walsh]

Exactly.

[Luke Burbank]

Pouring the jokes into a large glass vessel and letting them kind of air out a little bit anyway.

[Andrew Walsh]

You can. But you can have them, is my point.

[Luke Burbank]

I think those are. I think those are good jokes. I've been thinking about raisins a lot lately because I read. Okay. I started subscribing to this magazine called the Sun. You're familiar with this? It's actually been around for a long time. It's published out of North Carolina. It's been around since, like, the 70s. And I don't know if I would call it a literary magazine. I've only received one issue of it. My sister Liz recommended it, and so I subscribed and I received my first issue, like, last week. And I just devoured it this weekend. It's so good. I'm really, really a fan of this magazine, the Sun. So people go check it out. But there was a. There was a sort of first person essay, I guess, written by a woman who's actually incarcerated in Minnesota. And she's writing about. Somewhat about being in jail, but also just about, you know, I don't know how to say this word, but there's this sort of Chinese energy theory called like qui gong or something. And she was talking about it. I'm not into any of that stuff, per se. And yet there are certain elements of it that, like, one of the things she says, she wakes up. I mean, this woman is doing life in prison with no possibility of parole, which is a pretty tough bid. And she wakes up in the morning and she says she's been really thinking about Qui gong for a while. And she starts her morning by saying everything is possible. That's a hard thing to say, I think, if you're incarcerated for the rest of your life. And she's saying it, which I find inspiring because I have a hard time saying it and I'm freely walking the world. But she mentions in this essay she's talking about raisins. And the interesting thing about raisins is that raisins have more iron and some other vitamins than grapes do. And think about what a raisin is. It's a shriveled up grape. What is it that is happening between when it's a grape and when it's a raisin? How can it have more of something as a raisin than it does as a grape? And they think it has to do with how the oxygen is working on the raisin as it's becoming a raisin somehow. There are some. There's stuff that raisins have going for them that they don't have when they are grapes. And that's sort of a metaphor for getting older. I think there's something about being. I'm. I'm not quite in my full raisin phase, but I feel like I'm more of a raisin than I used to be. And I always kind of think about that as a negative. And I lament the fact that my body's changing and my memory is changing and all of these things about my life. But also there's something very cool to me about the idea that there's something a raisin has going for it that a grape doesn't.

[Andrew Walsh]

Is it definitely true, though? Scientifically?

[Luke Burbank]

I mean, I tend to. I got it from this one article, but it seemed well researched.

[Andrew Walsh]

It was. It was like it was research. It wasn't just contemplative essay where it wasn't.

[Luke Burbank]

Let me put it this way. Yes, again, I have. I did not verify it outside of this essay from this writer who I think's name. I'm doing this from memory might be Sarah Hawes. H A Y E S and I believe, first name Sarah. There's a different writer by the same name who. It was a writer for the New Yorker and lives in the Hamptons, I believe. And this is not the same person. But anyway, it seemed, it had the ring of truth. Let me put it this way. It wasn't like I, you know, I heard this on the wind it seemed like it was pretty scientific to me.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's why I was trying to kick the legs out under the whole thing. But I just wasn't sure if it was. If the essay was based in science and they explained that at all, or if it was just like kind of a passing reference. That was a good metaphor. But like, should we actually make sure that it's real?

[Luke Burbank]

But do we believe AI overview?

[Andrew Walsh]

No.

[Luke Burbank]

Yes. Raisins generally have more iron than grapes.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, nice. Okay.

[Luke Burbank]

Does one raisin contain the same amount of iron as a grape? Do we believe in Quora?

[Andrew Walsh]

That's a, that's a crowd sourced. I mean, you know, but I mean, you're generally seeing it. That's fine. I feel like I've taken this in. What. What is that?

[Luke Burbank]

Do you believe something called straight dope message board?

[Andrew Walsh]

Of course. That's.

[Luke Burbank]

That's why Iron and raisins. Factual Questions from straight boards.straight dope.com.

[Andrew Walsh]

You know, if I can be honest with you, you were speaking very specifically about the iron aspect, which was lost on me. I thought that you. It was just saying that generally they're more nutritious. Not. Not this one specific thing, which.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, but anyway, so that's all that is to say. I've been really thinking about raisins this weekend and, and also I would, I would recommend if anybody's looking for something, something new to add. If you, like me, bought a magazine rack that you have to glue together and you're looking for magazines to fill it with, I would recommend this magazine, the Sun.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, you know, I'm about to tell you something about my fruit consumption recently, but I'm going to say it fully in the headspace of a conversation that I had with one of our dear friends and listeners, Mary, yesterday.

[Luke Burbank]

With yourself?

[Andrew Walsh]

No. Well, I do have a lot of those, but our friend Mary, whom, you know, as somebody who often writes in to the Seattle Times rant and rave column and she volunteers at the pop up volunteer thing I do on Sundays. And we were chatting and she said, I think she said she was maybe vacationing somewhere, visiting somewhere, and she was maybe like getting some fixing a drink to sit by the pool or something like that. And she's like, I'm listening to you guys in my headphones and you're, you're just talking about onions. And I said, oh, is your point that you don't know why we were talking about onions? She's like, no, I know why you were talking about onions. I don't know why I was listening. I'M like, yeah, that's on you. Mary, why were you listening to us talk about onions?

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, we put it out there. You choose whether you want to engage with the content or not.

[Andrew Walsh]

So let's talk about plums. I've been eating a lot of plums lately. I waited way late in the. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Are you talking about the ones. The ones in the refrigerator?

[Andrew Walsh]

All right, William, calm down. William wcw. They are in the ice box right now, as a matter of fact. And, But I, I, you know, growing up as a kid, summer fruit was such a thing. It really marked the season. You know, throughout summer, we were eating peaches and plums and nectarines and all those, like, stone fruits, right. And I still love them, but I, for some reason have. During the summers now, I buy more like, I make fruit salad. I'm buying, like, more like pineapple, strawberry, blueberries, stuff like that. But then I went to the store again in the, in the waning days of August, and I bought myself a bunch of plums. Luke. My God, they were perfect. I hadn't had plums all summer. How. Where. Putting the onion conversation aside, where are you on plums these days?

[Luke Burbank]

Well, I haven't been having a lot of them, but, but, but you bringing them up reminds me that I should, I should get out there. I've been really, for. This has been blueberry summer for me.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, yeah, I have been.

[Luke Burbank]

I mean, I was stopped by Trader Joe's yesterday, and one of the first things I go for is they. I don't. They have a very large thing of very delicious blueberries that seems reasonably priced by the current standards. It feels. It's like 8.99, but I feel like I'm getting like three times the amount that I would get at the other store for the same cost. But anyway, I'm big on blueberries, but I would very quickly integrate plums into the situation.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, let me ask you this. How are you eating these blueberries? Because I eat a lot of blueberries, but like I just mentioned, I am always putting them in some sort of a kind of. Kind of quickie fruit salad that I make often during the summertime. I always have a container that has, like, pineapples, you know, chopped up pineapple, chopped up, up strawberries, usually just cut in half. Blueberries, maybe blackberries, maybe raspberries, but essentially those three main ones. But what happens is the blueberries end up kind of on the bottom because there's so many of them, and they're not as easy to poke with a fork as my strawberries and my. And my pineapple. So how are you eating blueberries? Are you just pouring them into your mouth?

[Luke Burbank]

Like, like by the handful. Like a brown bear that's broken into a summer vacation cottage.

[Andrew Walsh]

That sounds great.

[Luke Burbank]

Just rummaging, like, seriously. I just like take a handful of them now sometimes because I'm also becoming a granola guy. There's this Elizabeth granola that's pretty, pretty decent. It's pretty high protein, relatively unprocessed. So sometimes in the morning I'll do a little Greek yogurt, I'll do some granola and I'll throw the blueberries in there. But I'll also just. What I'm doing now is transferring the blueberries from the like that plastic container they come in. That kind of whatever. I'll. Then I'll just like fill up a bowl with blueberries and I'll just like walk around the house carrying this bowl and just like popping blueberries in my mouth. That's about as complicated as I get with it.

[Andrew Walsh]

You know, What I'm realizing is it helps that you're not mixing them with other fruits. So when I'm eating them, they're already wet and sticky from the pineapple juice and the, you know, other juices of the other fruits. If you're keeping them separate like that, yeah, you can just stick your hand in there and eat them in a way that I can't. But this is about as far as we should probably take this conversation, I'm guessing.

[Luke Burbank]

Probably so. But back to the plums.

[Andrew Walsh]

I.

[Luke Burbank]

Before we run out of time on that, I should probably get some. This has been, I mean, really, I've talked about this far too much in the last few months. But like, it really has been eye opening to me to spend a year of eating fruit. You've heard of my. My year of living dangerously. You've heard of my year of magical thinking. Has anyone really gotten into my year of eating fruit? Because I love it. It's so good. It's such a healthy treat. And not that, you know, this is the goal of life, but it's been very interesting to me to see my actual weight go down as I've eaten more. More fruit in my life and less self denial, less intermittent fasting and less kind of like, you know, weird. All these kind of weird things that I've done over the many years to just be like, you know, why don't I just eat what I feel like eating, as much of it as I feel like whenever I feel like it, and then have that Be something that's leading to an outcome that I was kind of going for. It's a bit. I'm. I'm. I'm a. I'm very excited about that. I would also like to clarify one quick thing, which is that article from the sun magazine, which is actually called Eight Tenants. It was written by a writer named Elizabeth Hawes, not Sarah Haas. So I got the name wrong, the first name wrong, but anyway.

[Andrew Walsh]

And that's what the W. Right. I think you misspoke. Instead of Y before, so it sounded like Hayes or is it spelled?

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, yeah. So I think I got a lot of that wrong. My B.

[Andrew Walsh]

No, no, it's okay. I mean, I'm not.

[Luke Burbank]

Thanks for the clarification.

[Andrew Walsh]

No, just because I was trying to figure out if I want people to find. It looks like Haas, but it's spelled with a W. Okay, good. I can't remember what I was.

[Luke Burbank]

I've done well. Magazine talk, which I know also nobody dialed in on this Tuesday morning for. But I did get that magazine rack that I put together, and part of it was because I thought maybe if I have. I just have stacks and stacks of magazines. Primarily the New Yorker, but some other ones as well. Dwell magazine. I never have a problem getting through because it's mostly pictures.

[Andrew Walsh]

How I am with highlights.

[Luke Burbank]

Huh. For kids. Have you. By the way, have they published my drawing yet?

[Andrew Walsh]

I have not. Did you use your real name or do you use a nom de plume?

[Luke Burbank]

I use an omniplum. I used Andrew Walsh.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, I have not. I think that would have stood out to me.

[Luke Burbank]

But I thought, well, you know, I've got these. Stack. This is. Again, this is the way I'm always looking for a. I'm always looking for some sort of an external solution for, like, an internal problem with me. And I don't know if you call it a problem, but I. I get the New Yorker. I get it delivered into my mailbox, and then I certainly listen to a lot of the articles on various apps. I end up. I end up ingesting a significant amount of each. Each issue of the New Yorker. But what I don't do very much anymore, sit down and read them. But I also cannot throw them away. I just feel like I'm throwing away knowledge and Tad friends best work. So what ends up happening is I just stack them and stack them. Stack them. So I thought maybe if I have a magazine rack where I put them in actual chronological order, so the newest one first, like a newsstand in my house, maybe I'll Be more inclined to walk over and grab one because, like, hey, the new issue of the New Yorker is sitting right here. It's at the front of the line. I'm going to read it. So I did that, and it seems like it's kind of working. Like, I read the New Yorker this weekend instead of just listening to it again. There's no difference. I'm not making a judgment for people. I guess what I'm saying is I feel like. Like starting with this sun magazine thing that I read, which didn't take me very long. It's not a very thick magazine, but like, I read through that, I said, oh, the other thing that they do is they give you a topic. You might like this, Andrew. They give you a topic, like, a few months in advance of the next issue, and then they take submissions on the topic. True stories about whatever the topic is. So this month the topic was getting dressed. And a significant portion of the magazine are just readers of the magazine sending in their little story about getting dressed. And they're short, you know, I mean, they're not. They're not fiction. They're nonfiction stories about something. When you hear the word, when you hear the prompt getting dressed, what is it from your life that you. That comes to mind? And these stories are fascinating. They're really good, like. And they're obviously varied. But anyway, because of that, I was sitting there reading, and I just found it for me personally. And again, I don't want to get into telling anyone how to live their life, but for me personally, as somebody who doesn't do this very often, sitting in a chair with a cup of coffee, reading a physical magazine, I actually thought of you a little bit because I think you read. I think you tend to read your books on your phone. Is that correct?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, I've moved. As much as I love the idea of print, honestly, my eyes are kind of bad these days, and I've gotten so used to reading things on my phone that, like, it's harder for me to read print that I can't enlarge.

[Luke Burbank]

But even so, you read books a lot? I think more than you talk about on the show. I feel like it's still part of your life. And it has.

[Andrew Walsh]

Other than I'm still reading the Account of Monte Cristo. I'm so close to the end. Nobody tell, nobody spoil it.

[Luke Burbank]

Other than. Other than, like, assigned reading for LiveWire, I find that I'm not. I haven't been very great in the last few years about sitting down and actually just reading stuff, whether it's even like a physical magazine. And again, I'm. Who care if I read it on my computer? It's not fundamentally different, but there's, there's something for me about the act of sitting down, like I did on whatever it was Saturday morning or Sunday or something with, with my, with a physical magazine, sitting in a chair with it for an hour. That felt good to me. When I was done with it, it was because it wasn't tick tock and it wasn't even. Again, there's nothing wrong with this, but it wasn't the robot of the New Yorker reading me the article while I. I jogged on the treadmill. There was something that felt kind of old school and like, good for me because I struggle with attention span stuff at this point. That's totally self created. And anyway, reconnecting with that, it felt, it felt good. It felt like, oh, this is positive for me. I need to, I need to make this a practice. And I also thought of you because again, even if you're reading on your phone, you are reading books like you're reading books in a way that I'm not. And I'm envious of that.

[Andrew Walsh]

I am a slow reader, though. I do start a book and it takes me forever to get through it.

[Luke Burbank]

What's slower than being a slow reader? Not even doing it. That's what I'm doing.

[Andrew Walsh]

You're doing a lot more reading for work. I'm reading, I'm rereading. It's because I am such a slow reader these days, I tend not to reread books. I always think, oh, God, I read that series and I loved it, but I don't remember much about it. I should reread it. But then I also think, well, you're a slow reader. Life is finite. Do we want to be rereading or do we want to be starting new journeys? And it's a little bit of both.

[Luke Burbank]

Question.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, it is both. It is both. I started rereading the Foundations the Isaac Asimov Sci Fi. That's not. No, that's not a big.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, you're thinking of the Fountainhead.

[Andrew Walsh]

You're thinking of Fountain Head. Yeah. Foundation is.

[Luke Burbank]

You misspoke. You said foundation.

[Andrew Walsh]

No, I'm reading Foundation.

[Luke Burbank]

That was a joke that you were reading Ayn Rand instead of Isaac.

[Andrew Walsh]

I did read. I read the first half of Atlas Shrugged when I was in college. And then I got to the second half of the book and I was like, what am I doing? I didn't even quite. I fully did not understand the Political implications of it. I just kind of was along for the story. Like, who is John Galt? I first I thought it was a mystery, and then it turns out it was a very boring book. But no, I'm reading Foundation now. Just kind of restarting that thing. And I don't know where it'll go. Did I tell you about the last book I read? I don't know if we feel like talking about this now, but it was that Ian McEwan book Saturday.

[Luke Burbank]

It was like, it's literary musician. He's really into reggae or something.

[Andrew Walsh]

His character is really into reggae's son is a blues musician. He's like. He's a doctor. He's a very rich doctor in London. It's more of an exploration of the post 911 years in this very introspective way. And the thing is, like, usually when I am reading, when I finally sit down to read, like, what do you call it? Literary fiction. Like that. That's my jam. A book that maybe it's just like, makes me think a little bit. Makes, you know what I mean? But it's not impenetrable. But it's very. Like, this book is very introspective. Not a lot. Hardly anything happens, sort of until something big happens. And it's just like minute by minute of this guy's day. I usually love stuff like that, but I found the charact is so unlikable. And then I found some of their. Some of their motivations just completely unbelievable. And it was funny because I. But I couldn't give it up. Like, I just kept reading it because I was like, I got to get to the end of it. I'm a completist in that way. And then weirdly, something really did in this book that all happens basically in a guy's own mind. Basically, it's him just taking almost every minute of his day and spending five minutes contemplating what is happening, sort of.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, it's tbto.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, right. Only without the laughs. At the very end, he's having his final contemplations in front of a window. There's so much window staring, Luke. So much standing by a window staring at me.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm listening.

[Andrew Walsh]

But I gotta say, at the very, very end, I'm reading it and I start wondering about some of the themes as they're sort of coming together. Because it's weird. It almost introduces some new information at the end, which you usually wouldn't want in a book. But I gotta say, I was telling Veeves because she bore the brunt of Me complaining about this book. She picked it up and read it, like, in a weekend or so. I spent probably a month reading it, and she's hearing me drag it out every day, grumpily saying, oh, I got to this part, and I'm like, so complaining about it. But then at the very, very, very end, as he's staring out his bedroom window one more time and thinking about things, suddenly something started to click for me. I still don't like the book. I still think it's a bad story. But never has a book I dislike so much stuck the ending. As far as making me think about themes and.

[Luke Burbank]

And.

[Andrew Walsh]

And whatnot. Themes and whatnot. I should have a literary class, an English class.

[Luke Burbank]

But anyway, realized I was talking to them.

[Andrew Walsh]

I was kind of glad I ended up finishing it because of that.

[Luke Burbank]

Good for you. I mean that, like, I mean that seriously. Like, this is. You said, like, I'm a completist. I have to. It's like, there's nothing I like more than giving up on something. It's one of my number. So my number one hobbies. Well, depends on the thing. Like, you know, if it's like, a book that I started or whatever. I'll tell you what, I didn't give up on, Andrew, even though I was tempted to watching Sexy Beast with my dad over the weekend, which I forgot. So I'm sure most of our listeners are familiar with this movie. It's Ben Kingsley and Ray Winstone. And, you know, it's. I was misremembering it as a heist movie.

[Andrew Walsh]

I thought it was, too, because you and I were talking about this when we were in Wisconsin. I always. I think there's a song I really like that's used. Well, I only like it because of the way it's used to be. Very, very in the movie.

[Luke Burbank]

Boy, your memory, like, your memory on. That is spot on, dude. It's really good in that opening scene of the film.

[Andrew Walsh]

Literally. Probably my favorite opening scene of any movie. Maybe Patton. Although that's a little bit trite maybe to say, but, like, it is probably my favorite opening scene of a movie as this guy is sunbathing and a boulder starts rolling down a hill towards him in his pool. Absolutely. Great. But then I do remember, I thought the movie takes a pretty hard turn into a heist where he's, like, sort of forced to get back into a life of crime, even though he want to. And they have to drill into something. Is that not the. Is that not the plot?

[Luke Burbank]

It is, but. And by the way, if you're still waiting to see the. What is it, 1998 film, Sexy Beast or whatever. Like, it may get spoiled here a little bit. I always. And that's why I thought my dad would like it, because, first of all, Ben Kingsley is in a variety of things that my parents watch, because my parents watch a lot of British stuff and. And. And things like that. Where Ben Kingsley is being, you know, like the lord of the manor.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

Some. He's just be. He's being very Ben Kingsley. And so I thought, well, this would be fun for my dad to see Ben Kingsley just be, like, thoroughly menacing.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

And. And. And. And. And again, my dad likes, you know, likes heist movies where the. Are they going to pull off the job? That's not what this movie is. The movie is like a psychological comedy where Ben Kingsley's character gets killed before the heist even happens.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, is that true? I didn't remember that. Okay.

[Luke Burbank]

And again, I'm sorry if I'm ruining that for somebody else.

[Andrew Walsh]

You gave us a spoiler at this point.

[Luke Burbank]

But basically, yeah. So Ben Kingsley shows up in Spain, where Ray Winstone's character, Gal is just, like, living his best life. Like, he's, you know, he used to be a sort of a bank robber or a robber with these guys, but now he's living in Spain with his wife, who he's deeply in love with.

[Andrew Walsh]

With.

[Luke Burbank]

And their little friends who are a couple. I presume that the. Maybe the guy involved himself was some kind of other underworld guy, but they just have their whole life going in Spain, and they love it. He sits by his pool and he roasts, and that's all he needs in a day. And Ben Kingsley wants to pull him into this job and won't take no for an answer. And pretty much the whole movie is Ben Kingsley just menacing this dude and his wife. And then. And then at the very end, the guy has to go to England for, like, 24 hours and drill through a swimming pool and then try to go home. But it's. It's very minimally the heist and very maximally Ben Kingsley using the F word and another word that starts with C. What I had forgotten was that there are, like, about seven words in the movie that are not the F word or the C word. It's easier to talk about the words that aren't the F word or the C word. And because of how my dad. And now I tend to watch television, we had the captions on, which really drove home how much F and C there was, because you're just not only are you hearing it, you're seeing it typed on the screen. And I was. We. I think we were talking about this the other day in the context of that commercial that you like, where it's like dads watching TV. Oh, yeah, I was. I'm 49 years old. And yet, Andrew, I was transported back to being an 11 year old kid watching something that I'm hoping my dad doesn't come into the room and start watching because he might be like, we got to turn this off. Except it's my house, it's my TV.

[Andrew Walsh]

You're almost 50.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm almost 50. It's all. It's my HBO Max subscription. Like, and yet I was like, I was cowering. I was like, please, please stop saying the F word, everyone. Please stop saying. Please stop saying the C word. This is. And to my dad's credit, I guess, if you look at it this way, my dad was not like harumphing. He wasn't like, oh my goodness, he was there for it. Like he was trying to watch it. But like, I thought we were signing up for like a heist movie where Ben Kingsley is over the top. And what we signed up for was a psychological. I don't even want to say thriller because the movie is also sort of comedic, weirdly, like, it's a dark comedy, but it's the kind of comedy, I think that you and I go in for, Andrew. And just in the way that people behave, like, for instance, they're like, so Ray Winstone and his wife, like I said, they live in Spain and their best friends there in Spain are another British couple. And the way that that British couple is particularly the. The guy in that couple, he's got these big kind of capped teeth and he's kind of got this like sort of affect about him that's very funny. It's just comedic the way he is. So anyway, I don't want to say psychological thriller. It's more like a psychological comedy. But it's mostly that and it's mostly not. And what's interesting about it is, like, the cinematography of the film is spectacular. Like, there is a scene where Ben Kingsley's character is menacing Ray Winstone's character, who is also physically much larger than him, which kind of adds to the odd dynamic. And it's in the kitchen of their home in Spain and Ray Winstone's character is in the corner of this kitchen and he's the shot. It's just one shot. And Ben Kingsley is coming in and out of the frame in a way.

[Andrew Walsh]

That makes, like, vaguely remember this.

[Luke Burbank]

I think you would never. In film school, you would never teach this as how you filmed this scene. Right. One of the main characters is kind of like, keeps going out of frame and then coming back in randomly. And it's like he's saying lines, off, off, you know, out of frame or whatever. It's so compelling, though, visually. Like, the way it's. Anyway, it's just a really, really good movie. But it also is like, again, my dad, to his credit, he was. He was game. But at the end, I couldn't quite. I wanted him to just be like, that movie blew my mind. I've never seen anything like it. And he was like, is there any Haagen Dazs left?

[Andrew Walsh]

But at least there was no. Like, there's not a lot of, like, sex scenes or anything, like, really dirty.

[Luke Burbank]

Thankfully, that would have been. If there would have been like, yeah, a lot of graphic nudity and sex. I would have maybe actually turned it off, because that's just not like I used to say to Addie when she was younger, you know, when she was in her teens, and there would be, like, a hip hop song that was graphic. I would say that is a song you can enjoy in a song I can enjoy, but not a song we're gonna enjoy together.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

And this could have been that, but it wasn't. You're right.

[Andrew Walsh]

I think my dad turned on A History of Violence. I think is the movie I'm thinking of where there is a Vigo mortgage. Very explicit. Yeah. Yeah, it's Vigo, Morgan.

[Luke Burbank]

I always mix Eastern promises in History of Violence.

[Andrew Walsh]

I think those Both Vigo. I think those are both Vigo. Made by the same director, maybe. Am I wrong about that? I feel like there's some DNA between those. But remember, I was this. I've told this story before. I was visiting Cleveland with Genevieve. This goes back a long time ago now, but that scene comes on, and Genevieve, who's seen the movie before, just, like, gets up to go get a soda or whatever and just leaves me in the room with my dad while we're just watching one of the most, like, explicit scenes you could possibly imagine. You said something, by the way.

[Luke Burbank]

Both David Cronenberg films are absolutely right.

[Andrew Walsh]

There you go. I want to tell you about a movie I saw yesterday that, wow, really got in my head. But I want to, before I do that, share with you something that I can't seem to recreate on my own here, but I got an interesting. You said something that Reminded me of this. I don't know what it was, but I got a text message on the TBTL voicemail line. You can text us at 206-414-8285. And I got this text from Missy in Boston who says, not sure if you've seen these AI generated show chapters and Spotify, but they are a hoot. I love seeing the bots attempt to make sense of tbtl. So I can't recreate this for some reason on my apps. I'm looking around on the fly to see if I can opt into this or if I just don't have something turned on. But basically, Missy sent me a screen cap of our episode from last week. 4541 There will be blood Pressure.

[Luke Burbank]

Good title.

[Andrew Walsh]

And Spotify. And I only have what's in front of me here on the screen cap. It broke it into chapters for us and labeled each chapter. So the first chapter that Duplicating jokes in the TBTL 5000th episode. And then. So that was apparently about three and a half minutes. Then confessions of High Blood Pressure and Home monitoring, that's about another three and a half.

[Luke Burbank]

So this is the AI in Spotify breaking our show, taking the audio, converting it into text, and then analyzing it based on the words that it is. Pretty sure we said.

[Andrew Walsh]

Untouchables Trilogy and Modern Movie Lengths was another chapter. Unpacking the universal phenomenon of dads watching tv, Ninja Turtles, nostalgia, and west coast baseball rivalries. And finally, you'll like this one. Luke's Magical moment with Star Jasmine.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, that's. You know what? It nailed that one.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, it did. It kind of nailed them all.

[Luke Burbank]

This kind of raises a question for us, which, of course, my first impulse is like. Like, I cringe when I think about a human or an AI program summarizing what we talk about on the show. Because it's so kind of unfocused and all over the map. And as we often say, it feels to me like I'm spending way too much time on things that are not particularly interesting. So on the one hand, I'm, like, mortified at the description, and I'm like, don't do the description. Because part of me feels like the descriptions might be helpful to people because. Because, like, first of all, if I'm tuning into the Howard Stern show, which, by the way, question mark, question mark on if that thing's coming back, Whoa. I'll talk about that in a moment. But, like, if I'm listening to. There are a number of shows, but particularly the Howard Stern show now, where, like, there are the elements of that show that. The topics that come up on the show that I really just am kind of like, I just am not particularly interested in. And those include Howard Stern talking about white guitar players from the 70s, which is a big part of that show. But what you can do is you can just skip ahead. They break it up into chapters. What I'm trying to say. And if I see like Bobo calls in about how his penis pump surgery healing is going.

[Andrew Walsh]

How is it going?

[Luke Burbank]

It's mixed, Andrew. The actual recovery time was way more painful and it took longer than he was expecting. But he's still very optimistic about what his functionality will be when it's all healed. So he's still overall positive, but. But it was, it was really intense for him. That's one of the many things I was looking forward to hearing about when they come back. When they came back from their long summer break, they take like a three month summer break or two and a half month summer break. It was supposed to be today, was supposed to be. Phyllis Fletcher and I have been texting already all morning about this. This has been from like 6:30am We've been on this because they were supposed to come back today and they didn't. And they just put out some social media that they're returning next Monday. And it's unclear what exactly. Howard Stern, we think, is in a renegotiation for his new contract. And it's not clear if this is a negotiating tactic or if he's just legit burned out or if this is like his mother is very elderly and is about to turn 98 and she's had health problems. And it's unclear if maybe this is family related. Nobody really knows what's going on, but. But definitely. And then there was this kind of thing that went on this summer where they're calling it in the, in the subreddits, in the Howard subreddits, Andrew. They're calling it the, like the cancellation hoax. There were these stories that were kind of being planted in the New York Post and like social media things that were like, has Howard Stern been canceled? And pretty much right away everyone wrote it off as this is the Howard Stern show, trying to kind of amp up their relevance. In other words, they were creating this like, like, is it. Is Howard Stern being canceled? It's like, no one's trying to cancel Howard Stern. Like, it's not. That's not what's happening. And it felt astroturfed. It felt like a thing that they were trying to do just to kind of, like, keep the attention, because it's a bit of a problem. As Gary Dellibati would say, it's a bit of a stumble. It's a bit of a problem for a show to, like, literally go off the air for three months every summer but stay top of mind for people. So the question was, are they. Are the producers trying to gin up this kind of, like, faux. I don't know if you'd call it controversy or whatever about, like, is the show canceled? Just to try to stay of interest throughout the summer, but now the question is, did the fake cancellation stories, et cetera, actually backfire? And is Howard Stern now in a weaker negotiating position coming back, like, with Sirius Satellite? And what is going on with all of this? I don't know, but Phyllis and I are. We're processing this in a side conversation in a sidebar right now, asking each other how will we feel if this is really the end of the line for that show?

[Andrew Walsh]

By the way, just to go back to our chapters as Spotify breaks our show. I didn't know that I had more on this, but I realize now that Spotify doesn't show you the chapters on your computer. But if I open up the app on my phone, it breaks it up. So I'm looking at the same episode that Missy was talking about, and I'm scrolling down past where her screenshot was, and I want to read some more of these to you, please. So the annual challenges and culture of Burning Man. Very diplomatic way of putting that Jack in the box tacos and the Internet's content cycle, like, honestly, kind of getting. First of all, I just want to say. Yeah, that conversation was not really about the Jack in the box tacos. It was about the Internet's content style. Like, the machine is kind of getting in on that. But then this is the one you're going to love.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, no.

[Andrew Walsh]

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelsey Colon. Distraction or drive?

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, no, no. So the sarcasm meter.

[Andrew Walsh]

Joey's Wawa in a Wawa wild song, by the way. Nailed that. Totally nailed that and spelled everything right.

[Luke Burbank]

And a completely nonsense kind of wawa isn't a nonsense word. But, like, it's amazing to me. It got that.

[Andrew Walsh]

It totally got that. But I. Yeah, because you and I did a parody of Hot talk sports radio. We don't really care about Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce getting engaged. I'm happy for him. Hope it works out.

[Luke Burbank]

Let's just put it this way. We're not pro or con it.

[Andrew Walsh]

Right. Exactly. Distraction or drive? And so we tried to recreate kind of hot talk talk radio, like, oh, she's going to be a distraction for him. And I was trying to say, no, she's got drive. It'll rub off on him. Or whatever we were doing with our stupid hot talk bit. And now it's there for the ages. The AI overlords have deemed it chapterable.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, I mean, I think I read this to you because you weren't looking at it, but basically like I had an interaction with someone the other day where I was being kind of highly sarcastic. They were being critical of the show and I responded kind of like in a sort of sarcastic way, but in a way that I never said I'm being sarcastic. Right.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, that's right. Okay, I'm sorry. Yeah, the letter that, the email that came in from a list.

[Luke Burbank]

I got an email into the TBTL email and I thought it was a little, I thought it was a little harsh. And then I responded kind of sarcastically and then the person responded again and then because I don't haven't turned it off, I think it might be Gemini. I'm not even sure who it is in my email, but like some, some, some chatbot, some AI program was trying to, was summarizing the, the email chain and it said like so and so says don't do this and do that and da, da, da. And then it says like Luke responds sarcastically.

[Andrew Walsh]

Right. How did.

[Luke Burbank]

I don't understand how it knew it was sarcasm because again, what I, what I said was, hey, I was basically this, what I said was, hey, I'm, I'm trying to figure out the best way to respond to your very helpful email. Should I use these? Because you know, the, also the email, when you get an email in this program that I use, it literally suggests like three different responses.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, thanks for this. I'll check it out. Well, back to the drawing board. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, interesting. Yeah, okay, I'll think about that. Or whatever, you know, very, very whatever. And so I said to this person, you know, in high, in high sarcasm, like, hey, I'm, I'm not sure which one of these helpful auto generated responses I should use with this email. Should I use this, this or this? You know, thanks so much for your help. Whatever I said. And yes, it's dripping with sarcasm, but also, I don't know, know, how does the program understand that I'm not just like a very literal person or a very whatever that would be person who's like, hey, I'm curious how I should respond to this. Like, that is a version of a person who exists somewhere.

[Andrew Walsh]

And that is. I mean, that's literally the language learning model, though, right? Like, it's just.

[Luke Burbank]

How does it know, though, when it's sarcasm and when it's sincere? That part really blows my mind, because the whole point of sarcasm, the whole way that it works, is it's faux sincerity. How does it figure out the faux part?

[Andrew Walsh]

I was trying to think of something sarcastic to say, and it was literally the one time in my life I couldn't think of something sarcastic to say.

[Luke Burbank]

I love it. We finally broken you. It's just.

[Andrew Walsh]

Do you want to just talk a little bit about the movie Weapons for a second? Because I am so glad that I went to the theater to see.

[Luke Burbank]

I do. But I have a lot of thoughts about this movie I haven't seen. Could we thank some donors and then talk about it? I really want to get into this because, like, I'm obsessed with this movie, and yet I'm too scared to see it. So what I do is I Google plot points from the movie. I know what happens in this movie, Andrew, and the various theories of what the ending means, and I've never seen the movie.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay. Yeah, well, we got to talk about it, because I went in knowing almost nothing.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay.

[Luke Burbank]

Thank you, baby. All right, let's thank those donors who are keeping TBTL going. Andrew, I've got some folks working here today. I don't think you can hear it, but one of the. One of the jobs that Walt and I do not try to tackle is the job of installing drywall. It is a. It is a. First of all, it's a very physically demanding job job. It's also an art to put up Sheetrock or drywall and then to put the tape over it and then mud it and then sand it so that it all looks smooth and solid. Like, that is. That is something that I don't even want to try to mess with or touch. And yet, here I am. I'm able to do this podcasting thing as my job, which is such an unbelievable gift to me in my life, because I would be very bad at hanging Sheetrock. I've tried it before, and it was. I've tried it two times. Once when. And my very, very many, many houses ago, when I lived on Beacon Hill, and we added a wall in the basement of the house, I tried to do one drywall seam, and I would mud it and tape it and sand it, and it would be so smooth, and then I would paint it, and it would just look like a horrendous gash right down the middle of the wall. And then I would sand it again, and I would mud it, and I would sand it, and I would be like, I got it. And then I would paint it, and it would. It was a disaster. The other time was when I drunkenly ripped a towel rack out of the bathroom at Carrie's rental house. Not intentionally. I took a tumble and grabbed the towel rack for support. And she said when she was moving in with me, hey, would you mind fixing that towel rack that you tore out of the wall and the rental house? I said, absolutely. I showed up with my drywall patch, My little square of drywall I cut, you know, around. I'd watched something on YouTube, and I put it in, taped it, mudded it, sanded it, put the thing back on, look good. And I would say one of the very last conversations that Carrie and I had during our time together, both as married people and the people who were being divorced, was she was like, I can't tell you how unconvincing that drywall job was, really. I mean, not. She wasn't saying it. She wasn't saying it to try to be mean. It was a running conversation throughout the relationship. It was the reason why I was never tasked with doing anything drywall related again. Even in Bellingham, when we redid that whole house, it was a sort of an inside joke slash running thing about how unbelievably non convincing this little drywall patch thing I did was at the rental house that she had had.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, you want to hear about. I'm going to lower my voice here for a second, please. You want to hear about. About a shocking revelation in my relationship?

[Luke Burbank]

Yes.

[Andrew Walsh]

So when Genevieve and I were living in New Hampshire, we had a home. We actually bought our friend's tiny little turn of the century home in Concord. And Genevieve, of course, is the handy one amongst us. But I was in my early to mid 20s at this point, maybe mid 20s at this point. And I don't remember what precipitated this, but we needed a new set of lights above our kitchen island. And it was like some sort of track lighting, or maybe it wasn't track lighting. And I wanted to install track lighting. So I got some sort of. What was then sort of modern, minimal track lighting to kind of put up there, you know, very simple. You literally put in the track. You have to like.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, it's like supply power to that electric connection, right?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, it's almost like. But. And the track lighting itself is Almost like it reminded me a little bit of, like. Like playing with trains when you were a kid. It's not the lights themselves that are electrified. It's, like, the track electrified. And then you just take that, and then they were. They would snap into place, and when they would touch the side of the rail, you know, they're powered. People have done this before, but I'd never done any kind of home project before, probably before this, and I had certainly never done any kind of electrical project. And I don't even remember the details of it other than doing it and being generally proud of it. And I don't think I've ever done anything like that ever since. And this was in. I mean, where do we want to put this? 2007? Let's say that's where I want to. Is that where you want to put it? And Genevieve and I, sometime in the past several months were. I don't think about that a lot, but every now and then I remember it, and I'm like, oh, yeah, that's right. I put in track lighting. You know, that was something I did.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

We're at work.

[Luke Burbank]

And that would mean you also wired it.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, I did it all. And then the other day, we were looking for lighting because I still. I need a better solution for my dartboard lighting down here. It's like, for my whole dartboard situation. It's just like, I've been talking about this forever. I need to install, like, a.

[Luke Burbank]

My buddy Evan has a special light that goes over his dartboard.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, yeah, I've seen those. I want one. Yeah. I kind of want. I don't want one that actually attaches to the dartboard. I've seen those. I know those are the professional ones, but then you have to deal with the cables hanging down the wall and everything. I have a perfect place up in the ceiling because it's an exposed ceiling. You've seen it. So I can kind of put a spotlight up there, I believe, and aim it right at the board, which will be perfect, but also not get in the way of the darts because we have a bit of a low ceiling. So I sort of have a plan. Vivs and I are like. I think we were at Lowe's. Buy something else. I'm like, hey, let's just look at our lighting options. As we think about that, we're wandering around, and I don't know why it comes up, but I'm kind of like, oh, yeah. And don't forget, you know, I installed that track lighting in New Hampshire, and Genevieve Says, yeah, you left a hole in the ceiling. I said, my ass, I did. What are you talking about? She's like, you left a hole in the ceiling. I would have patched it up. And I'm like, I literally don't know what you're talking about now. I can't even remember if it was like a chunk of drywall like that. Maybe, like, it didn't. Maybe the new track lighting quite cover up part of the old one. Or she's literally talking about screw holes. I'm not exactly sure anymore. She's like, well, Genevieve's sister still lives in that house.

[Luke Burbank]

Exactly.

[Andrew Walsh]

In the halls of. Or in the aisles of Lowe's.

[Luke Burbank]

Let's FaceTime her right now.

[Andrew Walsh]

Genevieve's like, she did. She texted her right there. She's like, hey, are there still holes in the ceiling above that track light or around that track lighting? And I guess Julia said, yes or something like that. And I don't know if she sent a photo. And I was just, like, stomping around and I didn't want to see it, but. But I could not believe that the narrative for me for about 20 years was I did that. I installed lighting, you know, and like, you know, and it was before you turned to YouTube for all that stuff. I was probably literally just reading the instructions. Not that 2007 was the dark ages, but it wasn't that era of everything, like YouTube University and everything. I'm sure I just, like, probably read the instructions and did it carefully and cut the. And I was just always like, oh, yeah, I did that. But in Genevieve's mind, it was always like, yeah, Andrew kind of half assed that he left a hole in the ceiling.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, man. Ah, now could you.

[Andrew Walsh]

So who was your lawyer when you guys divorced, is my question.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, I would. Don't use the first one that I used. Round one, I really overpaid. And one of the things I always tell people, don't overpay for your divorce.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

Round two. I kind of had it figured out. Exactly. My thought about the drywall was that. That I am so grateful to folks like Donna Meerdahl of Fullerton, California, and our other donors today, because only due to their generosity are we able to, Andrew, do this for our job. This thing that we're, I guess, kind of good at. I mean, I've just learned from Pablo Torre, finds out that this is one of the things that humans are very good at. One thing we're actually good at, even compared to other animals.

[Andrew Walsh]

Podcasting.

[Luke Burbank]

Podcasting. Like, we're able to do this thing we're good at because of the donations from our listeners, like Donna Mirdahl, like Katie Witham in Chicago, Illinois.

[Andrew Walsh]

I know Chicago, by the way, is there any chance, and I'm not, I'm not correcting you here, but just in case there is a chance, could it be Myrtle, Donna Myrtle of Fullerton, California? I'm just going to throw that out there as an option, just in case.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, absolutely. Let's cover all of the possibilities. I do think it's Burton Cooley, our buddy Burton, because I saw Burton at the Wisconsin get together.

[Andrew Walsh]

Burton was there. That's right. Right. Good to see you, Birdie.

[Luke Burbank]

Also, Jenna Fernandez Orand in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

[Andrew Walsh]

Interesting. Gaithersburg, yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

And I know Jenna's been donating for a while because I.

[Andrew Walsh]

You recognize that.

[Luke Burbank]

You remember that I've finally started to wrap my mind around saying a Jenna's last name, Fernandez Orand. I think that tripped off the tongue. Kind of like how you'll never mess up the town of Tooele, Utah.

[Andrew Walsh]

Nice. Look at you just pulling that out. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, it's like Willa Castle. Elliot Solomon is in Brooklyn, New York. I am learning how to say Brooklyn, New York.

[Andrew Walsh]

Are you sure it's not Brooklyn?

[Luke Burbank]

You're sure it's not Eloit? I'm going with Elliot Solomon. Thank you, Elliot. Really appreciate you. And then Daniel Villa is in North Miami, Florida. I'm hoping that's the part that's not going underwater as quickly. I, I think I was in. I was in south beach, which I'm guessing is south of North Miami, when I had spent my time staying there. And I do think that area is quickly, quickly being subsumed. But I'm, I'm hoping Daniel is doing well where Daniel is. And we appreciate the support. Thank you so much to all of our donors for, you know, for keeping TBTL going all of these years later. Like, it's. I was talking to some folks this weekend, so I went to my sister Hannah's place because my niece Maddie is going off to do a study abroad in Scotland. And it was a wonderful afternoon getting to see everybody. But I ran into some folks there who are friends of my sister and her husband who also happened to be tens. Well, I think at least Mike is a 10 or was a listener. And his wife Lisa and their kids, Austin and Charlotte had a fun time talking to all of them. But Mike said to me, I was talking to Austin, who's like a senior in college now and a very talented young artist. And Mike said, I remember listening to TBTL when I was putting this kid. Kid's bed together when he was like 3 years old or something. And I just, like. It sort of hit me standing in the, like, entryway of my sister Hannah's house, like, how long we've been doing this? Yeah, that, like, I'm talking to this young person who's a full. I mean, his parents would probably say he's not a fully formed adult yet, because I don't think you're ever really ready for your kids to be a fully formed adult, but basically an adult person who's having his. I don't know if it was his crib or his bed, but the dad was putting together. Let's just call it the crib. It makes the story better. Yeah. Dad was putting the crib together.

[Andrew Walsh]

Can we make it a race car bed? Can we make it a race bed? A race car crib.

[Luke Burbank]

The dad was putting the race car crib about to say something wildly inappropriate there. And I was taking the creation of this child back to its most original point. Andrew, if you can think about that. Anyway, just the idea that we've been doing this for that long, that I'm standing there talking to this very mature, very smart, very talented young person who was maybe 2 or 3 years old when their dad was listening to TBTL, and that we get to be here all these years later, it's just a real. It's a real gift to us from folks like our donors today. So thanks for making TBTL possible. We really, really do appreciate it.

[Andrew Walsh]

Hello and welcome to Top Story.

[Luke Burbank]

All right, dude, let's get into it. Weapons.

[Andrew Walsh]

So I am not a big fan of scary movies, even really good ones. I get really anxious about going to see them. But every now and then, a scary movie or a movie that would fit in the horror genre is getting so much buzz. I can't help but to want to know what everybody's talking about. As we said, Jordan Peele movies fit into that category for me. Because, you know, is it that you've.

[Luke Burbank]

Been seeing people in SARS just running around with their arms straight down?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes. Honestly.

[Luke Burbank]

And you were like, what's going on?

[Andrew Walsh]

A lot of familiar sights actually in weapons now that you. It's hard now that you.

[Luke Burbank]

Actually, SARS and weapons more overlap than anyone north of really wants.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, definitely.

[Luke Burbank]

Gladys just back somewhere in the.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

In the meat department.

[Andrew Walsh]

So funny that you even know about that. So here's the deal. I know that people were talking a lot about weapons. We mentioned it Briefly on this show. In fact, one thing I didn't realize, a listener told me, was you had also mentioned how you're getting a lot of old sketch comedy bits.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

Whitest kids, you know, And I didn't realize. And somebody's like, yeah, it's, that's in the, in the, the, in the air right now. Because this director who may wrote and direct this movie, I think the writer director. No. So anyway, that's. It's just sort of generally people are talking about weapons, but I think to their credit, most people are not saying much about weapons. I really appreciate this. Our friend Hannah, I saw her at Pop Up a few weeks ago. She's like, she did that thing where she's like, I saw weapons and her eyes got big and I'm like, I haven't seen it. She's like, but the only thing, and this is not a spoiler because this is the one thing everybody knows about the movie and it's revealed within literally the first like two minutes is the main plot point is a entire classroom or nearly an entire classroom of children goes missing. Just they don't show up the next day for school. And then that's.

[Luke Burbank]

But everybody else at the school is still there.

[Andrew Walsh]

Right. All the other, all the other classes are fine. It's just this one classroom of 18 children. It goes missing and then where does it go from there? And the thing is like, I don't know if this is going to be a reality based horror movie, if this is going to be a magic based horror movie. That literally what I told you, you is all I knew going in. And it was all I ever wanted to know. Because for stuff like this, I really do like to like kind of go in with as little information as possible.

[Luke Burbank]

May I ask one question? Yeah. You've just said you don't really like scary movies. What was it the, was it the buzz, the artistry that you perceive that what got you over the hump to go sit in a movie theater and watch the thing that you knew was going to kind of scare you?

[Andrew Walsh]

I just opened up Blue Ski one day and everybody was like, if you haven't seen weapons, you have to see weapons. Weapons. Just like the way people were talking about it, like kind of like Sinners, although a very different movie was just kind of like, you should see this. And I knew that if it, if it, if I don't see these movies in the theater, the chance of me ever catching up on them at home is very. It's diminishing. And it was never that great to begin with. Especially scary movies. I'm just never going to sit down at home, turn out the lights and watch a scary movie. So I wanted to see it. In fact, Genevieve and I also want to see that remake of War of the Roses that's out because the trailer.

[Luke Burbank]

Looked really, really good.

[Andrew Walsh]

And so Genevieve, we decided that on Labor Day we were gonna see a movie. And maybe we're having this conversation on Saturday afternoon and Genevieve's like, I really wanna see the roses. I'm like, yeah, that does look good. But it seems like weapons is something that is an event that people are talking about. And like, again, when Anna just told me that she'd seen it, her face said it all. Just like, I wanna talk about this movie with somebody. This is the movie you talk about. You see it. And so anyway, only knowing the very premise of the movie, the more I talked to Genevieve about it, and I think then she did a little bit of reading and she's like, yeah, okay, we should see this. So we still have not seen the Roses. We went in for a 4 o' clock showing on a relatively sunny day. Although you were right, we're starting to get a little crispness of fall in the air, which was really kind of appropriate this weekend. I felt like a lot of things sort of happened both in my life this weekend and in the weather that just sort of felt like closing some. September is still a very summery month in Seattle compared to other places. We're still gonna have a lot of warm, summery days. But there was something in the air this weekend in both in reality and in my head and in the weather that just really felt like we're sort of closing. We're softly closing a chapter of summer and moving into the fall here. And we went in on a sunny day to see Weapons. And I almost had the feeling of. Of when I would still go on roller coasters, but I was still anxious about it. I mean, a very small version of that, A very minimal version of that. Yeah, a little bit of like, I'm showing up at Cedar Point and I know that I'm going to have a good day, but I'm nervous about it. And maybe just with age, I'm getting less and less able to, like, kind of just roll with the scary punches of scary movies anyway. And I went in and I will just say this. I don't want to spoil it at all. I just want everybody to know what I knew going in. And you can do more research if you want. I don't want to be the one to spoil anything about it. But I will say, as you probably know from reading about it, Luke, there are magical elements. So, you know, sometimes that's a little bit on the edge for me. Like, I wasn't sure it could have been a horror movie. That is completely. Just because humans are being horrendous to each other. You know what I mean? You don't know what you're going in for. But no, there's definitely. There's a lot of. There's. It's a magic, it's dark arts. It's. It's dark magic in this movie. And I will say that. But what made it so good was, I think, because I loved it, like, never. I was so scared at times. And it's not just cheap jump scares. There are a couple of cheap jump scares or good jump scares, but it's not that like, it is. You are truly terrified at times in a way that I felt in my stomach and that I don't ever remember feeling that way. But it was never like, I want to leave. Years and years and years ago, Genevieve and I went to see House of a Thousand Corpses, the Rob Zombie movie in the theater in New Hampshire.

[Luke Burbank]

That's a horror film.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's a. It's a dark comedy. It's kind of a dark. It's like the rose.

[Luke Burbank]

It's like sexy beast.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's like sexy beast. Your dad would.

[Luke Burbank]

I thought that movie was about a thousand corpses, but it's really not. It's mostly Rob Zombie trying to talk someone into creating a thousand corpses.

[Andrew Walsh]

This isn't a story about a thousand corpses. This is a story about the human condition of a thousand corpses. So I remember leaving that movie very agitated. Like, I remember that movie having a physical impact on me, but not in a way that I liked. I just thought it was gross and upsetting. And I just remember leaving the movie theater and I kept saying to James of Eve, it was just unrelenting. It was just unrelenting. That was the House of a Thousand Corpses, where this movie really is well made now. It is a horror movie. If you're not into horror, you're not going to like it at all. But what I loved about it was I could be just. I'm not keeping up with modern horror well enough. But there was a certain era of horror movies where within the beginning of the movie, there's something mysterious and scary going on. But within the first third or the first act of the movie movie, you understand what the protagonists are up against. You understand, like, oh, we are living in a haunted house, or we are stuck in a graveyard, or this thing was built on a bearing, a sacred burying ground. You know, I mean, like, you understand usually in the first third of the movie what you're up against. And then how do we get. How do we get away from this scary house? Or how do we get dad to not be possessed by a demon or whatever? The thing about this movie is it's a mystery throughout and you're just learning little, but not in a. Not in a. Like, in a cheap way that the filmmakers do a very, very good job of getting you engaged in this story. And they do it in this sort of. As Genevieve said afterwards, not quite Rashomon, because it's not like people are telling different versions of events, but it's like the movie is divided up into five or six different people's perspective on the same things happening. But then the plot advances a little bit more each time. And it's so well done in. And I gotta say, I left the theater feeling weird. It's strange for me to leave a theater feeling like that movie had a physical impact on me. A lot of it was fright. But also. And again, now, I don't want to say too much, it builds your fright up so much that at certain climactic scenes, you will find yourself laughing so hard. And then you see where the dynamic of a comedian writing and directing this comes out. Out. But somehow. I don't know if what I just said makes sense, but it works. It's like putting shrimp in with sausage and saying, I don't know how that's going to work, but it's jambalaya and you like it. In the end, it was. I highly recommend people seeing this in the theater.

[Luke Burbank]

I. Yeah, I guess maybe I should go see it as well. I'll be totally honest, though. Like, I. I really, like. I decided at some point that I wasn't going to see it, which is why I read up on the plot that was me giving in to not seeing it, but because I was like. I watched the trailer. I was familiar with how it was being referenced in the pop culture, like, left and right. I see, like, high schoolers making videos where they're running around in the mall stiff armed, which is really funny.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, that's so funny. Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

Like, it's just been memeified in this way that, like, you know, that's where. That's where I tend to sort of find out about things is not even the thing itself, but it's like when. When 17 year olds start doing a joke about the thing itself, you know, Then I'm like, oh, what is this? What is this stiff arm running? I should be researching. But me, I was like, I need to figure. I want to know what the plot of this movie is because I don't think I'm going to actually want to go sit in the theater and watch it. But now I kind of, based on your description, I kind of want to, but I am legitimately kind of nervous about the sitting in the theater.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, here's the thing about. I worry about using it because it really does involve mechanics, magic, you know what I mean? Like the right.

[Luke Burbank]

And it's non linear. Right. Storytelling is kind of not. That's one of the.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, that's what I say. It's kind of like Rashomon a little bit. It's like everybody's version of event. So it's, it's, it's, it's kind of linear, but it kind of will, It'll be like Alex's story. And then you see. Well, I think that's near the end, but it doesn't matter these names. But like it's so and so's story and then you see it from her perspective and then you see it from somebody else's perspective. But each one moves it forward a little bit more. So yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. Well, I still need to see the Naked Gun. Could I do a double feature?

[Andrew Walsh]

Could I do weapons first?

[Luke Burbank]

Could I?

[Andrew Walsh]

You should I go see Naked Gun, Go see weapons and then go back to see Naked Gun in the same day?

[Luke Burbank]

Well, that's what I'm wondering. Maybe make it like a scary sandwich where I have like one slice of Naked Gun and then I get real scared, but then another slice of Naked Gun to make me less scared.

[Andrew Walsh]

The Naked Gun moves. I don't know if it, I don't know if it really needed a second watching from me, but it is just like kind of a shot of endorphins sort of. It just makes you laugh and I am glad I saw it. I don't know if I mentioned this to you on the show, but one of the things going for it is it's the perfect length for a movie like that. Like, I just love that it's a silly movie. It's not trying to do anything but to make you laugh with some really corny humor. But then also they don't have a need to tack on a whole, whole fourth or fifth act to it like so many movies do. It's just like if you. It's like Popping Candy, that Naked Gun movie is.

[Luke Burbank]

And did you feel like weapons. Same thing. Good length.

[Andrew Walsh]

You know, it seemed like it was an appropriate length for what it was doing. I do feel like I so often these days, I'm in the theater and you're like, oh, well, this is going to wrap up now. And then it doesn't. And I want to look up. Do you know what weapons run time is? I want to see. Because it was probably, oh, two hours and eight minutes.

[Luke Burbank]

So, you know, that's pretty long, reasonable time. But you think two hours is long. You like, 90 minutes.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's the. Well, it depends on the story, and it really depends on whether or not it starts to feel like it's dragging. I don't think this one felt like it was. Oh, God. Just seeing the, just seeing the poster for this just gave me a little bit. She liked it. I think she's glad that she saw it because, like, now that we've seen it, I think she understands why it is part of the discourse, and I think she's glad. But, and plus, you know, the Roses, I think, just came out this weekend. We'll see that. And I'm also very excited to see the new, that's a remake Anderson movie, War of the Roses with Danny.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, right. Isn't it the, you know, I, I, I didn't see the War of the Roses. I was, I'm aware that it exists because it was also, I think. What era would that be?

[Andrew Walsh]

The 80s, I think. Yeah. And who, who were the others? It's stacked with people, Right.

[Luke Burbank]

It's basically like a couple is, Are they getting divorced and they're fighting or they're about to be divorced or they're married and they hate each other. Like, I don't know. It's weird. It's like movies like that where it's just two people being mean to each other. I guess if it's funny enough, it kind of takes the edge of maybe getting back to, like, which divorce lawyer of mine I can refer you to. Maybe I've been through too many actual relationships that have crumbled to where, like, it isn't like a super dysfunctional relationship where the people kind of hate each other. I feel like, to me, that isn't the comedic premise that gets me into the theater personally.

[Andrew Walsh]

Although I do really like, I would divorce you if you exist.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, that kind of thing, you know, I mean, I say that on the show a lot, but I also don't know if I've ever actually sat down and watch who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf or something.

[Andrew Walsh]

I have read it. I have, and I never read it, but I watch it. But no, I couldn't agree with you more. That kind of stuff really stresses me out. And I'm actually. I don't actually really like who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf all that much because of that. I saw it once when I was in college, and I was just on edge the whole time. I'm like, these are awful people. I think the War of the roses does the original 80s movie. I think it does it better. But I do. I have heard that it is really devastating. Like, it's a true. It's Michael Douglas, by the way, Kathleen Turner and then Danny really, really is devastating. And I heard the new one, actually. Npr. I don't. I don't know who it was. An NPR reviewer was reviewing the. The remake called the Roses, which has a great cast. Olivia Coleman, folks. But they said it doesn't actually have the teeth that the first one had. That it's more a good comedy.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, the reason I just said wait a minute is because. So the War of the Roses, the original one about these people who are getting divorced and. Or just being really, really cruel to each other. This couple with Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner, they were also in Romancing the Stone.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, yeah, right.

[Luke Burbank]

Which is sort of like a. I also don't know if I ever saw it, but my sense of it was like an Indiana Jones, but heavier on the, like, rom com, heavier on the.

[Andrew Walsh]

Love, heavier on the lust, and heavier on the rom com that. I think I. I have seen that at some point, and I think that you nailed it. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Is War of the Roses, the sequel to Romancing the Stone? Like, they get out there, they romance the stone. It's all great. And then it's like the bloom comes off the rose, and now they're having a war about it. Now they hate each other. It's interesting when you have two people that were in a movie where they're presumably falling in love and then a totally different cinematic universe where they're falling very much out of love.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, it would be funny if. I'm sure somebody online does have that theory all mapped out about how they're in the same universe, but I'm sure they're not. Here I go once again with the email every week. I hope that it's from a female. Oh, man. It's not from a female.

[Luke Burbank]

All righty. Emails or vmails?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, let me. I'm looking through my text messages here too, because I feel Like I got a lot of good text messages today, but let me start by playing this voicemail that came, came in a week or two ago. This is from listener Justin. Hey all Justin from Portland here you talked about the idea of like a really white glove service for a trash pickup. Oh, I think I was talking. We were talking about little fires everywhere, which takes place in Shaker Heights, Ohio, I believe. And that got me talking about how in places like Shaker Heights in Lakewood, Ohio, where I grew up, these kind of planned communities had garbage service that would actually go into your backyard, go up your driveway and empty your garbage bins there. Because the original idea when they were making these little cities and towns was they didn't want to have garbage out at the curb because it didn't look as nice. So I think that's what Justin's referring to here. Hey all Justin from Portland here you're talking about the idea of like a really white glove service for a trash pickup. And a reminder people. It made me reminisce 30 years ago to a small town in Nebraska. It grew up in about 8,000 people. They would come and open your garage door and bring your trash cans out, put them in their little like golf cart style, like industrials, like three wheeled operations that would zoom around the street and take it back to the main trash can and then shut your garage door, put your trash cans back inside. Andrew's dream. I can imagine people would pay extra for this, but this was just standard where I grew up. It's kind of crazy. So I thought you'd find that interesting. You know, I might have mispronounced it. It might have been justice in Portland, not Justin. I couldn't quite tell there. But yeah, that's. That also makes. It still sounds like a very hard job, but it does sound like if you're one of the garbage collectors, you're probably saying I want to drive the little cart today. Right.

[Luke Burbank]

But here's what I understand. Do they have the code to the.

[Andrew Walsh]

Garages, how they get in? I think you leave your garage door open. Oh, you leave it open. That's.

[Luke Burbank]

That would maybe I just.

[Andrew Walsh]

That in. I don't know.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, but I get. I mean. Yeah, that is some. I would tell you what, I would definitely here where I live, I would pay a little bit extra for the garbage truck or the guy to come actually down to my house because basically like my. Where my house is is about, I'm gonna say 50ft past what is called the end of the county road. There's literally A sign that says end of county Road.

[Andrew Walsh]

I love that.

[Luke Burbank]

And then you hit and then, and then. That's Springsteen, right?

[Andrew Walsh]

I thought it was Waxahachie.

[Luke Burbank]

You like? So what I have to do, this is the whole issue for me is I have to remember and this happened the other day, man, I woke up on a Thursday morning like I bolt upright realizing oh my God, it's like 6:15am and I did not wheel the garbage the 50ft up the road to where the mailboxes are are. And also it was a week that my dad and I were here working. So like plenty of garbage was. There are weeks where it's like, eh, it's not the end of the world. This was not one of those weeks. And I like jump out of bed, throw on some flip flops and run up and grab this garbage can and drag it up the hill. I would like it if I could pay extra for them just to come get it so I don't have to constantly be afraid of forgetting about it. But I guess everyone, unless you're living up living in that dream world that that guy was describing, which I assume is the Truman shit show, they literally come get your garbage can out of your garage. I guess everybody else, including you, you have to put it out somewhere. Like if you were to not take it from your yard area to the where it goes on your street, it would also not get picked up.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, yeah, I got to do that. I got to drag it out. I take little photos of it every week. I have another email here I'd like to share with you. I think you're going to find this interesting. It's a small correction on something that you said, but I think you're going.

[Luke Burbank]

To find it interesting, not going to enjoy it.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, that's why I was trying to soften a little bit. But because David in Tokyo says, hey pod boys. Near the end of episode 4542, Luke made a reference to the mov movie Willow and I quote, starring Val Kilmer and Warwick Dunn. Willow starred Val Kilmer, but not Warwick Dunn. Warwick Dunn is a former NFL running back veteran. Eric Warwick Davis is who Luke was looking for there. Warwick Davis. To be fair, Warwick Davis. Of course, both are relatively short for their respective careers. Dave is famous for his many roles, including Star wars, the Harry Potter films, and most relevant to TBTL history as the eponymous character in the leprechaun films.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, I would like to point out another, another role of his that I find incredible and maybe this was even the reference that I was making at the time. No, I guess I was talking about Willow. He's in Extras. I believe he's even in that scene where Liam Neeson is doing improv.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's the only scene of Extras I've ever seen. It is one of the funniest things I've ever seen in my life and it is so inappropriate for this show.

[Luke Burbank]

I think Warwick Davis. Excuse me. Yes. Not Warwick Dunn, the. The. The Buccaneers running back. But Work Davis. I think he's also one of Stephen Merchant's clients. So Ricky Gervais is a client. His agent is Stephen Merchant in Extras. And I think Work Done is maybe one of the other clients. But he's often in these meetings, like where things are going sideways. So he's great. He's great in Extras.

[Andrew Walsh]

So he's the guy who's. He's the third person in the room or fourth person.

[Luke Burbank]

I believe so.

[Andrew Walsh]

I believe I got.

[Luke Burbank]

Or it might be one time. Tampa Bay running back. Warwick done.

[Andrew Walsh]

It might have been. Let's see. Warwick done Y. Warwick Dunn or Warwick Davis. I see. So anyway, thank you for that, David, and greetings and if you want to email.

[Luke Burbank]

If anybody wants to email me about things. Andrew's messed up. [e-mail] was messed up in the subject line.

[Andrew Walsh]

I thought you find that interesting. It is, yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

That was. You know what? That was Andrew. That was acting. That was me acting mad.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm not really mad. No, you're. You're losing your edge is my point. You're just.

[Luke Burbank]

If anybody wants to email me about Andrew, how Andrew is losing his edge. Luke.net put Andrew is losing his edge in the subject line, please.

[Andrew Walsh]

Andrew is losing his edge.com huh?

[Luke Burbank]

All right, everybody, that is going to do it for today's episode of tbtl. But we are going to be right back here tomorrow with more imaginary radio for you. So if you could please join us for that. In the meantime, have a phenomenal rest of your Tuesday. Don't be sad that real life is starting up again. It's okay. Everything is possible. As they teach you in the Qui Gon. Everything is possible, my friends. Everything is possible. Let's all just turn into raisins together.

[Andrew Walsh]

Everything happens for a raisin. That's how that all started. That's how it all started. From my stand up joke title sharing.

[Luke Burbank]

That's right. That's right. Love it. All right, thanks everybody. We'll see you tomorrow. In the meantime, take care of yourselves and please remember to mount Too Tall.

[Andrew Walsh]

And good luck to all. Power out.