#4588 Dots Cool

Summary

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TBTL Episode #4588 “Dots Cool” – October 31, 2025

Overview

On this special Halloween episode of TBTL, Luke Burbank and Andrew Walsh chat about their Halloween plans (or lack thereof), neighborhood trick-or-treating etiquette, nostalgic cereal talk, the dying art of going out, AI voice cloning in podcasting, and much more. The episode features the duo’s trademark blend of comedic banter, gentle ribbing, and meta-conversation about podcasting and community. Halloween and the existential state of live events frame their thoughtful yet funny discussion.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Halloween Plans & Neighborhood Trick-or-Treating (03:32–11:30)

• Andrew admits he’s not a Halloween guy (“I'm starting to feel like a corndog at a hot dog party. And it ain't flattering, I'll tell you that.” [03:24]), recounting his dilemma: leave his porch lights (and inviting garden lights) on and risk luring trick-or-treaters, or go “dark” and feel antisocial.
• Luke gently chides Andrew for not wanting to hand out candy (“I'm just surprised that you're not more intrigued by the idea of giving candy to adorable children…” [07:56]).
• Andrew clarifies the inconvenience: his hangout spot (the basement) is too far from the door, leading to a practical rather than Scrooge-like stance.
• Luke suggests a bowl of candy on the porch as a compromise; Andrew riffs about putting out black licorice or Good & Plenty to humor his reputation.

Notable Quote:

“If you want to really be like the hero of the neighborhood, become the guy who is known to give out full ass candy bars on Halloween. You will be a legend amongst the children in the neighborhood.”
— Luke Burbank [10:12]

Candy & Cereal Tangents: Nostalgia Unleashed (11:31–24:29)

• The duo discusses classic vs. unpopular Halloween candies (e.g., black licorice, Good & Plenty) and how these vestigial treats have survived.
• They riff on cereal box fruit imagery, reminiscing about adding bananas to their cereal—something no longer depicted on boxes (13:16+).
• Cream of Wheat/Farina nostalgia emerges (“We would put peanut butter in [Cream of Wheat]... that would be like a fun morning…” — Luke [13:58, 14:22]).
• The “demonic” Farina cereal box child leads to a deep dive: “He's really Hitler's wet dream. He's just blue eyed, Aryan blonde kid eating unflavored farina, just staring down the camera.” — Luke [15:43]

Interlude: Pizza Night & Fumbled Guilt (17:26–22:09)

• Andrew lovingly reviews a recent dinner at Sacro Bosco, praising friend Barry’s Roman-style pizza.
• Luke expresses guilt for missing the get-together despite the rescheduling (“I felt really bad because... I hate that when somebody is sort of driving the curriculum and then actually isn't gonna show up…” [21:59]). Andrew reassures him.
• The pair amiably tease each other about dinner invitations and Barry’s generosity.

Blueberry Market Woes & The Case Against Frozen (25:00–28:13)

• Andrew laments the end-of-season blueberry blues, prompting listeners to suggest frozen blueberries. Both hosts are skeptical—Andrew finds no joy in limp, defrosted blueberries, and Luke's partner Becca agrees they’re only good for smoothies.

Existential State of Live Events & Going Out (33:51–50:06)

• Luke describes intrusive marketing experiences (Golden Globes, Vivid Seats).
• The hosts discuss the downward trend in live events—citing the Kennedy Center’s declining attendance, the closure of local Seattle venues, and the broader malaise post-pandemic.
  • Luke references a “very sad story” on the Kennedy Center post-Trump and wonders whether the arts can recover (36:16+).
  • Andrew adds perspective from his volunteer group, observing a recent uptick in participation but noting how pandemic habits and exhaustion have reshaped engagement (41:45).
• Both reflect on the “cultural malaise” and its effect on energy to go out, go deep on how existential dread and streaming habits keep people at home.
• Luke notes how positive live experiences (boating with friends, attending a symphony) still bring joy when he makes the effort.

Notable Exchange:

“...when you're not feeling great about anything in life or about everything in life, it does not make you more likely to want to go out and party down. And yet every time that I actually do something... I personally feel a lot better for the experience. But it's very easy to not want to do stuff, I think.”
— Luke Burbank [49:27]

Sports & The Pain of Hope (52:56–61:44)

• The Mariners’ post-season blues are dissected, followed by surprises in the baseball World Series adding perspective (“But what I'm being reminded of is, you know, good pitching usually beats good hitting. And it's really, really hard to hit consistently on the national stage…” — Luke [55:00]).
• Andrew admits he’s grown as a fan, now able to root for the team that knocked out the Mariners (Blue Jays), thanks mostly to his deep-seated hatred of the Dodgers.

AI Voice Cloning and the Future of Podcasting (64:28–69:01)

• The hosts discuss a New York Times piece about AI-voice-generated podcasts—some shows created entirely by cloned hosts reading Wikipedia to soothe people to sleep.
• Andrew muses on AI tools appearing in everyday software (Adobe Audition's “Generate Speech” option) and ponders the blurring creative boundaries.
• Luke agrees AI voice cloning could be a practical tool for minor corrections, but is sketched out by its mainstreaming.

Notable Quote:

“Clone your voice and then just tell it to read Wikipedia and then just watch the liquid IV dollars roll in. That's one of the sponsors.”
— Luke Burbank [65:25]

Listener Voicemail: On Hair Dye & Owning Your Vanity (71:18–75:52)

• Listener Gillian calls in support of Luke possibly dyeing his hair, advocating openness: “...just be forthcoming with it. Just like, hey, yeah, spray my hair. And I look good, because that's how I do my spray tans...” [71:36]
• Andrew and Luke ponder why we’re open about some “vanity” adjustments (contacts) but secretive about others (hair dye, bald spot powder).
• Luke shares a story from a TV shoot where lighting rendered his hair “full on Steve Martin,” previewing his future looks.

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Memorable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• “You are boring me to death, and—” / “I am already dead.” (Halloween intro volley) [01:52–02:02]
• “I'm starting to feel like a corndog at a hot dog party. And it ain't flattering, I'll tell you that.” — Andrew [03:24]
• “I want people to not think of me, but if they think of me, not have bad thoughts...” — Andrew, on neighborhood rep [10:39]
• “How did [Good & Plenty] get off the ground?...I feel like Good and Plenty had to be from that era when it was like, this is just better than the alternative of eating dust.” — Luke [11:32]
• “He's really Hitler's wet dream. He's just blue eyed, Aryan blonde kid eating unflavored farina, just staring down the camera.” — Luke on the Farina box child [15:43]
• “No, I didn't know that those were emotions that...no, no, not at all. Like, you said you could make it, because it was just...we were just...” — Andrew assuaging Luke's guilt [20:24]
• “All of our cereal talk… Apparently people like cereal talk.” — Andrew [17:01]
• “I just don't want to be on the record as saying you putting bananas in your cereal is a weird thing.” — Andrew [14:27]
• “We're offering you options. Yes, yes.” — Andrew, on TBTL consumption vs. live events [52:03]
• “Are you still going to feel good about...hearing the Blue Jays, who I'm rooting for, blow this Game one open...oh, yeah, so that could have been Kale Raleigh.” — Andrew, on Mariners-induced hope/pain [61:20]
• “IVs are always liquid. Just always have to say. I just hate I forgot about them so much.” — Andrew, on podcast sponsors [65:25]
• “Would it be presumptuous if I got those same kind of cards that said I met Luke Burbank and he was lovely?” — Luke [76:04]
• “Please, sir, can we have more?” — Luke, on serving Farina to trick-or-treaters [77:35]

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Notable Timestamps for Key Segments

• 03:32 – Andrew's Halloween “scare-nundrum”: to light or not to light up the porch?
• 07:56 – Luke presses Andrew on finding zero joy in handing out candy.
• 11:32 – Candy nostalgia: the old, the unloved, the licorice.
• 13:16 – The absence of bananas in cereal box art.
• 15:43 – Infamous Farina Cereal Box Rant.
• 17:35 – Barry's pizza review & get-together debrief.
• 25:00 – Blueberry (and frozen vs. fresh) debate.
• 33:51 – The collapse of live events: Kennedy Center, Crocodile, Broadway.
• 49:27 – “Every time that I actually do something...I personally feel a lot better...”
• 52:56 – Mariners/Blue Jays/World Series emotions.
• 64:28 – AI podcasting and voice cloning segment.
• 71:18 – Listener call: “Go for it” on hair dye.
• 75:52 – Luke’s “Steve Martin” hair and reflections on vanity.

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Closing & Tease for Next Episode

• Luke will be broadcasting from Chris Hayes’ home studio in Brooklyn next week—a possible surprise guest cameo.
• Both wish the listeners a happy Halloween and a good weekend.
• “No mountain too tall...and good luck to all.”

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In Summary:
This episode showcases TBTL's quintessential blend: neighborly dilemmas, nostalgia, trenchant observations on cultural malaise, and meta-podcasting commentary, all delivered with irreverent, self-aware warmth. Whether you want insights on trick-or-treating protocol, why we’re all staying in, or how AI is coming for your bedtime podcasts, “Dots Cool” delivers—and makes room for jokes about Hitler Youth cereal mascots, blueberry woes, and the Manette real estate market. It's a rich, funny listen offering food for thought and plenty to smile about.

Transcript

[Andrew Walsh]

So a ghost walks into the bar. And the ghost is like. And the bartender is like, oh, God. Oh, sorry.

I.

You're a ghost with the sheet. I thought. And the ghost is like, that I'm a racist? And the bartender's like, yeah, you should probably do, like, a printed Stephanie. And the ghost is like, tom. Bartender's like, I haven't seen you since we went on that date all those years ago. What happened? And the ghost is like, I died. And the bartender's like, well, I guess that explains why I never heard back from you. And the ghost is like, oh, well, I. I actually. I actually died, like, a week ago. The bartender's like, it's fine. Water under the bridge. And the ghost is like, that's actually what killed me. The bartender's like, really? And the ghost is like, no, that's just a dumb joke. It was a car accident. And the bartender's like, well, regardless, it's really nice to see you again. The ghost is like, it's nice to see you, too. What do you say I buy us a first round and we catch up like old times? And the bartender says, well, I'd love to, but we don't serve spirits.

TBTL Please clap.

[Luke Burbank]

Here's the one zero.

[Andrew Walsh]

Swung on.

[Luke Burbank]

There it goes. Deep left center. That ball is high.

[Andrew Walsh]

That is far. It is gone by cord.

[Luke Burbank]

Wow, you're really good at puzzles. I did them all the time as a kid. As my mom used to say, when you're doing a puzzle, it's like having a thousand friends.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's a 164 with a loop at the hook. Freeze the bars and mute the quarter tones. If it ever feels like we're dragging, we're not. It's just that kind of tune.

[Luke Burbank]

All right, hello, good morning, and welcome, everyone, to a Friday edition of tbtl, the show that just might be too spooky to live. You are boring me to death, and.

[Andrew Walsh]

I am already dead.

[Luke Burbank]

You're boring me back to death. My name is Luke Burbank. I am your host.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm a monster.

[Luke Burbank]

Coming to you from the Madrona Hill studio, perched high above the mighty Columbia here on Halloween 2025, as we've made it, folks, to episode 4588 in a collector series.

[Andrew Walsh]

Let the fun begin.

[Luke Burbank]

Lots to talk about today on the program, including, well, another day, another AI topic, I guess, or maybe a voice clone topic is a more accurate way to put it. Story in the New York Times today about podcasts that are not secretly, but very publicly, basically using voice clone technology to recreate their own shows and put them out. Then I slid into my computer chair.

[Andrew Walsh]

And with a few clicks of my mouse, I became a mom on the net.

[Luke Burbank]

Speaking of podcasts, there's a new, old podcast out. There's the latest version of an old podcast, and it's really good. Yeah, everyone's got a podcast. Thought I'd tell you about that. What is going on in the world of podcasting and also what's going on in this guy's world. He is the longest running cobra of the show, maybe best known for his depictions of the tall ships. Of course it's Halloween. People are gonna be dressing up. There's gonna be all kinds of merriment. He will be the guy at the party who is not dressed up.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm starting to feel like a corndog at a hot dog party. And it ain't flattering, I'll tell you that.

[Luke Burbank]

But he's okay with that. He's Andrew Walsh and he's joining me right now. Good morning, my friend.

[Andrew Walsh]

Good morning, Luke. I'm gonna be at a. In a party of one, and it's gonna be me in the basement. In fact, I have a bit of a Halloween conundrum that I'd like to tell you about here at the top. Top of the show. And this is it.

[Luke Burbank]

Is it a scary conundrum? Is it a haunted conundrum?

[Andrew Walsh]

Scare Nundrum. It's a scare nundrum.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay, sure, I'll go with that. Really wanted to do better there.

[Andrew Walsh]

I really wanted to do better. I am not a huge Halloween person, as you know. I'm not a Halloween person, really, at all. And that's fine. We all have our own things. Genevieve is a huge Halloween person, and she is going to her, like, I think, 17th Halloween event tonight.

[Luke Burbank]

Is she doing yet another costume? We have Daria. We have Heliar. Is there a third?

[Andrew Walsh]

I think it's Heliar. I think we're rolling with Heliar. And she's going to this Halloween party event, drag show thing that I think is put on by the Seattle Ballet, I want to say.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay, sounds fun.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes. Do you want some more appropriate music.

[Luke Burbank]

Confused for talking about your Halloween plan?

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay, that sounds good. It's not a scary story, but. Well, it is now.

[Luke Burbank]

This will make it scary now.

[Andrew Walsh]

And anyway, so I, you know, that. That's great by me. I'm going to be home, you know, throwing darts, doing whatever. It's just another Friday night for me. And. But the thing is, we got a note from our neighbors, like, not next Door. But some folks in our neighborhood who have tots, young kids, and they like to go. They like to organize a pretty. Just a few days in advance, they sen out an email saying, hey, we're going to put together a little Halloween neighborhood crawl. You know, if you have the kiddos that want to go trick or treating, come meet at our house, have some apple cider with us, and then we'll all go around the neighborhood trick or treating. It all sounds very sweet and something that I am not going to participate in. But they put something at the end of the email that said, if you are, you know, somebody who lives here and you're handing out Halloween candy or whatever, please put your porch lights on. And if you're not handing out candy, please turn your porch. Porch lights off. And that makes sense. You don't want to waste everybody's time by knocking on a door that seems inviting and then nobody answers the door. Well, I don't plan on spending any time answering the door. I can't hear the door in the basement. I just keep the door locked. But all the time we have lights on in our yard that kind of gives our yard a little bit of life. We have these two strings of garden lights that you can probably picture the sort of the light bulbs that are the size of one of those small mandarin oranges. Is Mandarin the right word? You know what I'm talking about? They're not Edison bulbs because those are shaped differently. But you know, the nice little outdoor garden lights that a lot of people have, we have two strings of those along our walkway, which kind of really brightens up the place. We leave them on 247 and just a regular porch light. And it's always on. And it seems like I have absolutely no compunctions. Is it. Can that be plural? Compunction?

[Luke Burbank]

Sure. Can't.

[Andrew Walsh]

Can you have more than one compunction?

[Luke Burbank]

I believe so.

[Andrew Walsh]

The story is getting scary. Does Andrew know words? He doesn't.

[Luke Burbank]

Let's make it a little. Let's make it.

[Andrew Walsh]

There we go. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Let's make it less simple.

[Andrew Walsh]

Let's bring. Yeah. You know what? Thank you. The pace was really. The pace was flagging. I hear it. I hear it. So anyway, do you understand what I'm getting to here is.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, it's gonna look like you've turned on your heart light, but in fact, you have a heart of stone and you don't want to give cute kids cand. So you're gonna have a problem.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, because I don't. So what I. I realize what the polite thing to do is to turn, to unplug these lights and turn the lights off, which is gonna make our house, which is all. You know, we have a corner house. It's always well lit in the yard, hopefully. It kind of generally looks inviting, like a little secret garden if you can see through the hedges or whatever. And now we're gonna just go dark and it seems so rude. Like I don't wanna be rude. I just don't feel like spending my night waiting to see if somebody knocks on the door and like sitting in a room I don't usually sit in waiting for the KN end or whatever. So like I have no problem with people trick or treating, I just don't want them any part of it. But by turning, by going dark as if there's like a. As if it's like. Well, I was going to say something dark about World War II and not wanting the bombers to see us. But like just going dark just seems so antisocial and rude.

[Luke Burbank]

Well listen, I don't know how we have this conversation without me sounding a little bit finger waggy. I don't feel like this is gonna end well. But like I'm just surprised that you're not more intrigued by the idea of giving candy to adorable children because that is when I now I live in an area where like nobody trick or treats out here. There's not enough houses. But like there were so many Halloweens where I was sitting there with a giant bowl of candy waiting for any kid and their parents to come by for candy. And in fact there was, you know, nobody came by. There's not that much trick or treating I would. Because you do like kids and you are a fun guy. You are a sweet guy to kids and animals alike. I guess I would have expected that you might have been more into the idea of handing out candy.

[Andrew Walsh]

No, I mean it's just not practical. Like maybe if the door was near the area where I would hang out for fun, maybe I would. But I don't. Like first of all, like, like I say it's my Friday night, I'm going to be down here listening to records, probably maybe having my headphones on, throwing darts in the basem. Like I can't hear the front door from where I am. Which is a real invite for people to come into my dark yard tonight and break in. But like for me to participate it means I've got to like not do anything that I want to do and go upstairs until they said until 8 o' clock and like just Sit around upstairs waiting for the occasional knock that'll probably come, like, well, oh, and also if they're all going together, like I just wait around for one knock to come and then, and then I'm done for the night. Then I unplug the lights like I don't know, like just yet. And what am I gonna do upstairs? I guess if I were cooking or something, that'd be one thing. But I just don't, I don't feel like changing my plan so that I can hand out candy to strangers. I get no joy out of that. I'm not, I'm not.

[Luke Burbank]

That's what I'm surprised by. I'm surprised that, that the, the giving of candy to like some cute little kid doesn't, doesn't create joy for you. Because I would expect it would actually based on knowing you.

[Andrew Walsh]

No, it doesn't. I don't. And again, you don't want to be.

[Luke Burbank]

Full candy bar guy. I mean, you want to talk about having a friggin stellar rep in the neighborhood and that real sized candy bar guy.

[Andrew Walsh]

What about full blueberry pies that are straight out of the oven? I'm just in my kitchen making blueberry pies and just.

[Luke Burbank]

The parents would probably appreciate that. The kids less so.

[Andrew Walsh]

But like, I'm like, mom.

[Luke Burbank]

Yes. If you want to really be like the hero of the neighborhood, become the guy who is known to give out full ass candy bars on Halloween. You will be a legend amongst the children in the neighborhood.

[Andrew Walsh]

What makes you think I want to be the hero of the neighborhood?

[Luke Burbank]

Because it's fun.

[Andrew Walsh]

What about me has ever said I want everybody to know me in the neighborhood?

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, I think you want them to think of you fondly. Well, how about this?

[Andrew Walsh]

I want people to not think of me, but if they think of me, not have bad thoughts, basically, not, not fondly. I don't care if people think of me like, oh, what a great guy. Just like, yeah, he's okay. I don't want people to think like, that guy's a jerk. But I don't care about winning the hearts and minds of the neighborhood.

[Luke Burbank]

Here's my solution. Bowl of candy on the porch.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, you know, that is one thing that I was just, I was just thinking about that in the shower and I mentioned the. Everybody wins that, be practical. I just leave all the lights on, I get a little table, I put a huge bowl of candy out there and yeah, that, that's fine. I can do that. Yeah. I think that black licorice you're saying, God, no. Now I've tried. Now I'm trying to lean in Good and Plenty. I don't want people to think ill of me. I'm just going to put out a whole thing of Good and Plenty's.

[Luke Burbank]

How did that get off the ground?

[Andrew Walsh]

I actually, like, I said this the.

[Luke Burbank]

Other day about bananas. Like, I said, I feel like we were using bananas and things back when we didn't have as good of stuff. Back when that was a treat. Like, you'd get an orange for Christmas and it'd be like, amazing. We got an orange. Like, I feel like Good and Plenty had to be from that era when it was like, this is just better than the alternative of eating dust.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Like, it does not compete in the modern candy environment.

[Andrew Walsh]

I do like black licorice, and therefore I do like Good and Plenty. Plenty's. But the idea of them. But. But I underst. But I'm not disagreeing with what you're saying, because absolutely, it sounds. The idea of giving a child black licorice as candy is kind of like saying, oh, you want candy? It's like. It's like giving a kid a carton of cigarettes and so they smoke them all and then they'll never want to smoke again. Oh, you want candy, do you? Oh, I got something for you. How about some Good and Plenty? You want it? Hey, kid, you wanted candy, by the way, I'm glad you brought up the cereal thing, because I wanted to. I had this idea after the show or after the segment when we were talking about different fruits that we put in cereals. And I'm with you. Growing up, we put bananas in our cereal. I wouldn't do it anymore. But we were also talking about how on the covers of cereal boxes these days, and I don't know if it was true when we were growing up, but you never see bananas in cereal. You see strawberries and blueberries, and I think we saw one that put raspberries in their bowl of cereal on the front of the box. I have a theory, though, Luke, and I want you to go with me on this. What if I look up. Up the. The cereal box for, like, not granola. What is the word I'm looking for? Like oatmeal. Oatmeal. Don't you think that oatmeal might have bananas in it? Banana in it? Does that sound right?

[Luke Burbank]

I see that being. Yeah, maybe I'm thinking a swirl of, like a swirl of brown sugar.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, that's more like a pat of butter. That's more likely. Quaker Oats has Strawberries.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, come on. That's too edgy.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's. That's banana. Well, it's not bananas. No, they're. It's a. One raspberry and one strawberry in Quaker Oats. I am surprised. I thought Quaker Oats would drop some bananas in there, but yeah, maybe that's even grosser. Maybe they would just cook the banana more.

[Luke Burbank]

Did you grow up eating any Cream of Wheat, AKA Farina?

[Andrew Walsh]

I don't know about Farina, but I definitely. I loved Cream of Wheat. I preferred it over oatmeal.

[Luke Burbank]

Me too. I loved Cream of Wheat as a kid because we would put peanut butter in it and then I. Either syrup or honey, but we would always mix in a big thing of peanut butter. So it would kind of have a peanutty, nutty flavor and then there'd be some sort of sweetener in there. I was a big. I was into that as a kid. That would be like a fun morning if I. If I came up into the kitchen on the way to school and I could smell that there was Cream of Wheat being made.

[Andrew Walsh]

We did not put peanut butter. And I'd never heard of that before. I'm trying to think again.

[Luke Burbank]

Probably just a weird thing my family was doing.

[Andrew Walsh]

I don't know, maybe. But I definitely. And by the way, I just don't want to be on the record as saying you putting bananas in your cereal is a weird thing. I think it is.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, no. I think that was more common back in the day.

[Andrew Walsh]

But I think that if we put anything in our Cream of Wheat, it was a shake of cinnamon, I think, just like, not cinnamon sugar, but just like cinnamon, you know, the spice. And do you remember, Luke? I feel like this was sort of a invention in the, in the 90s. I feel like I remember when this was brought to market, but they were, they started advertising oatmeal that came with a packet that you could put the swirl on, like some sort of fruit flavored gel, like a blueberry packet. And they had these commercials where people were like putting swirls on top of their oatmeal.

[Luke Burbank]

Uh huh.

[Andrew Walsh]

You remember that?

[Luke Burbank]

I do, vaguely.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. Anyway, I'm just.

[Luke Burbank]

Right now I'm locking in on Farina was.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

I want you to. I need to send you this picture of this farina, this, this Farina product that was being sold because I was trying to figure out what are they putting in farina. And I'm seeing on some of the boxes it's. It's raspberries, it's blueberries. Andrew. And then there's just this truly demonic child who's just eating it. It looks totally plain.

[Andrew Walsh]

Is Farina a brand or just like a generic term? Like oatmeal?

[Luke Burbank]

I think it's. I think it's like oatmeal or porridge. It's like another word for that or another term. I don't think it's a. I think that's the name of the kind of cereal it is. Not the, not the brand. Like this is Enriched Farina Creamy Hot Wheat cereal made by. Looks like, well, Farina Mills. Which is. Which. Oh, like not General Mills, but Farina Mills. Let's see. Cereal box. I'm sending this to you. This kid is just raw, dogging this Farina. And I mean it's really. He's really Hitler's wet dream. He's just blue eyed, Aryan blonde kid eating unflavored farina, just staring down the camera.

[Andrew Walsh]

Have you already sent it to me? I haven't seen it yet.

[Luke Burbank]

I've emailed it to you.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay, I'll keep an eye on my email. I will say this, this is a kind of a coincidence. We literally just got like, literally as we're speaking here, got a text message in the text line from listener Sarah, it looks like here of Magpie Mouse Studios saying you guys are. I'm looking forward. I just saw it a second ago. I had to just turn off my kiln and have some cereal. You two are putting your evil inside of me. All of our cereal talk.

[Luke Burbank]

My phone.

[Andrew Walsh]

What's that?

[Luke Burbank]

I thought she was gonna say I had to turn off my phone because I couldn't listen to this.

[Andrew Walsh]

No, no. Apparently people like cereal talk. I got another note from somebody who said when I saw that there was a bowl of Grape Nuts as the show pick, I thought I wouldn't be able to listen to the show because I thought you guys were gonna be degrading or speaking ill of Grape Nuts. But instead it ended up being a Grape Nuts love story. So we're really keeping the P1s happy today, I think. Good.

[Luke Burbank]

Excellent. Hey, speaking of delicious foodstuffs, did you and Veeves end up going and sampling some of Barry's fine pizzas last night?

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, yeah, yeah, we had dinner with Barry last night at his new, well, new ish pizza joint, Sacro Bosco. There.

[Luke Burbank]

That looks so delicious. I saw a picture of it. I think I'm following them on Instagram or something.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, it's so good. Yeah, because we were making dinner plans as we like to do, and it had been a while and then he said, well, come down here and try some of the pizzas we've been making. And I want to say I'm sorry that I'm blanking on what neighborhood that would be. It was sort of a twisty way to get there because maybe it was like kind of rush hour traffic. And so we kind of came into the neighborhood. I want to say it's just south. Is it First Hill, maybe. I don't know if you can look that up. But it's Temple Pastries during the day and then Sacramento.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, it's on South Jackson. That's a 25th and Jackson.

[Andrew Walsh]

25Th and Jackson.

[Luke Burbank]

I'd call that the central. I'd call it central district.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, yeah, Central district. Of course. Of course. Boy, I'm kind of embarrassed that I used to be in the central district all the time when I lived on the hill. But anyway, yeah, it was. I mean, I'm honestly, I've been thinking about this and I seriously don't want to be hyperbolic, but, like, it's gotta be. I mean, certainly top three pizzas I've ever had. And I honestly can't even think of the other two. Like, literally, I might have had the best pizza I've ever had last night, to be honest with you. It's so incredibly good. And it's like, called Roman style pizza, which I'd never heard of before, but you've probably heard of it. It's more of it. It's like kind of a rectangular pizza. And since it's made by people with a background in, you know, as pastry chefs, it's like the. The crust, it's definitely the best pizza crust I've ever had in my life.

[Luke Burbank]

And it's probably from Seattle, Met magazine. Sacro Bosco is not a pizza restaurant. Thank God.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's not a pizza restaurant.

[Luke Burbank]

Temple Pastry's sibling serves beauty and a feast. God, this is. This looks incredible. Now, let me ask you a real question, Andrew. And I'm not trying. I'm not trying to. I'm not trying to make it awkward. Not trying to make anyone have the worst day at their job, but I felt bad because you had reached out to me and said, hey, we're going to go and get pizza at Barry's, and if there's any chance that you're in town or nearby, you know, you might want to come along. And I said, oh, I would love to do that, but I couldn't do Wednesday night because it was filming with this tofu thing. But I was like, maybe we could do Thursday. And then I think you guys shifted the night to Thursday on my account. And then I ultimately couldn't make the schedule work to come up to Seattle for this, and I felt really bad because you. You guys changed it to Thursday for me, and then I didn't even come. And then I sent the three of you a text profusely apologizing, and then I did not hear back from you or Genevieve, only Barry. Were you guys annoyed at me, or was it just like you felt like you got the message that you needed? Barry responded, we're all good. You guys weren't annoyed for moving tonight? And then no showing.

[Andrew Walsh]

No, no, no, no. Okay, go.

[Luke Burbank]

I felt really bad about that.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, really? No, I'm sorry. I could have let you off the hook. I didn't know that those were emotions that. No, no.

[Luke Burbank]

Complicated guy.

[Andrew Walsh]

But I'm being. But I'm being quite serious. No, no, no. Not. Not at all. Like, you said you could make it, because it was just. We were just. First of all, the thing that bothered me was that you called my bluff. It was just one of those invite. I was like, there's no way. There's no way. No, no. It's just like, we. You know, we like to have dinner with Barry from time to time, and it had been a while making plans. He's like, well, come down.

[Luke Burbank]

You like to get free stuff from Barry. That doesn't happen enough in our world.

[Andrew Walsh]

I mean. Well, that's the truth is, I just don't want Barry. I mean, Barry's been beyond generous to us in so many, so many ways. Us as a show, us as me and Genevieve, as a family. And I'm just. I'm always embarrassed at his generosity, to be totally honest with you. And so we have a rule that Barry is never supposed to buy us food ever again. We will always, always pick up the check. Except when you're eating at his restaurant. It got kind of awkward because I'm reaching for my wallet, but I'm know what I'm reaching for. But I don't want this to be the.

[Luke Burbank]

You could literally turn off the point of sale system, which is mine. You're in his layer of commerce.

[Andrew Walsh]

And it was one of those things. It's like, I'm not doing this for theatrics, but also, like, I can't. Like. But it was. No, no. But it was just dinner. And then when it became like, oh, let's try some of these pizzas, I just thought, hey, maybe it just sounded like something you would be Into. So I floated. You were into it, but you couldn't. But no, no, I don't think so. Like, nobody me. I. Me. I didn't change any plans. I don't think Genevieve did. And Thursday ended up being a good night for it, so. Okay, good, good.

[Luke Burbank]

I just felt bad because I hate that when somebody is sort of driving the curriculum and then actually isn't gonna show up at the thing that just. That. That felt a little rude on my behalf.

[Andrew Walsh]

On my. You know, honestly, thinking about it now, I think that was a better Thursday night than a Wednesday night anyway for me, because now it was like a nice Thursday night. And as you like to say, Thursday is the. Is the. What is it? The.

[Luke Burbank]

The Friday of the middle of the.

[Andrew Walsh]

Middle week that's going to be on my grapestone today. Yeah. And by the way, I'm a little distracted here because the eyes of the Farina kid are burning through my soul.

[Luke Burbank]

Pretty. Pretty crazy looking.

[Andrew Walsh]

My apologies if I seem to imagine.

[Luke Burbank]

Walking into a grocery store in 1950s America. That's true Halloween horror.

[Andrew Walsh]

His mouth is, like, stuck in a permanent. Like, it's. It's open, but it's open in a way. You can see both his top teeth and his bottom teeth as he apparently bringing too big of a spoon to his mouth. But he's just trapped in this forever state of.

[Luke Burbank]

And also, just what I can tell you about Farina Creamy Hot Wheat cereal is that sans some fruit or some cinnamon or some honey or something. It's a real boring situation. This is supposed to be basically a delivery, you know, a conduit, if you will, for delivering something tasty, butter or something sweet, but not the way this kid is eating it. Just ab. Just straight up, just plain old Furina. No, thank you.

[Andrew Walsh]

This is weird. In other versions of their cereal box, they have a smaller photo of him inset, and they've cut out the spoon. In fact, the version you sent. I almost wonder if they added that spoon later because it doesn't quite match the scale. But I will say it's kind of weirder without the spoon because now his face is in that position, but his mouth isn't open to accept any food. I don't know what's going on with this kid. I worry.

[Luke Burbank]

I was trying to figure out who this kid is, and I was like, who is the Farina boy? And it turns out there was a character named Farina in our gang, the Little Rascals. It was a young actor named Alan Hoskins who is not the person that I was trying to find no.

[Andrew Walsh]

And there's no connection. There's all. But I'm still confused. If Farina is a brand, I feel like Fina is not.

[Luke Burbank]

Or just a last name for the actor.

[Andrew Walsh]

Dennis I feel like Fina is a brand, not a, not a generic type of thing like Cream of Wheat is a brand. Right. Oatmeal is a generic term and I feel like Farina must be a.

[Luke Burbank]

You might be right. What happened to Farina cereal? AI Overview the brand name Farina Mills was acquired by Malt o meal in 2009 and is now manufactured and marketed under the new ownership. However, the cereal itself, which is a type of hot cereal made from milled wheat, is still available from various brands such as Bob's Red Mill or the original Farina brand may be harder to find. So I think you're right. I think it was. I think it was basically like a Cream of Wheat, but they called it Farina. That was the brand name.

[Andrew Walsh]

So listen, I need to talk about something here that I've been thinking about for the past 24 to 48.

[Luke Burbank]

Now that I know that you're not mad at me. I'm. I'm. I'm up for whatever.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm.

[Luke Burbank]

No.

[Andrew Walsh]

And I can't. I, I can't stress enough how much that is not a thing. And so I apologize for leaving you.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, sure.

[Andrew Walsh]

No, I wasn't feel that way. No. But I am actually quite. If that has been in the back your mind, I can't tell you. I can't stress enough how much it has not been in the back of mine. But I do have something going on in the back of my mind that involves me and my relationship with the listeners. I don't want to be insulting towards anybody, but I am kind of surprised at something and maybe, maybe I'm going to learn something after I. After I air this out. So the whole reason you and I were talking about cereal either yesterday or the day before was because of my blueberry adventures. And I was telling you how maybe it's because it's the end of the season or other factors, but the past week or so I have had trouble finding. Well, it's the classic story. I've been having trouble finding good, affordable blueberries. Right. Like the cost of blueberries are through the roof. And then I went to Sprouts Farmers Market or whatever they call themselves to buy some the other day and they usually have the best produce and they did have a decent price on it. But I was shocked at the fact that the Blueberries were like, they were sort of turning already. I was really shocked by that. That is not a. That is not typical of sprouts, but it sort of seemed like it was part and parcel of my blueberry hunt recently. And I've been hearing from a lot of people who have been suggesting for my cereal, blueberry intake, frozen blueberries. And a lot of people have said this, and I with. With true peace and love. I am very shocked by this because. And maybe I'm. Maybe I've just tried the wrong frozen blueberries. But, like, the whole thing of what I'm looking for are fresh blueberries that, like, are. They're like, plump and they pop. And for me, frozen blueberries are like, basically what I was dealing with in my. Like, when you defrost a blueberry, am I not doing this right? Like, you just let them out for a while, a lot of the freezer, but they're. They're limp and they're good for baking and putting into, like, blueberries or blueberry pie or a shake or something like that or a smoothie. But, like, for me, like, I've never had a. A defrosted blueberry that maintains its, you know, integrity. And I wonder if you're getting it wrong.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, I wonder if the technology now has improved and if maybe that is actually a thing that they can do, some kind of flash freezing. I can tell you that when I was at Costco with Becca some time ago, I went to grab. Because this is when I was beginning my, like, I'm going to start eating more fruit kick. And there was this huge bag of Costco frozen fruits, you know, blueberries, raspberries, the like. And I said, would this be good? She goes, that would probably be good for smoothies. It's not going to be good for just like, defrosting and popping those blueberries in your mouth. Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

So that's been my experience.

[Luke Burbank]

That would, that would support your. Your theory. Although, again, our listeners are smart.

[Andrew Walsh]

They're beautiful.

[Luke Burbank]

They're smart, beautiful. They're all above average people. And so I. I'm guessing that they're not just eating soggy, soggy blueberries and, and settling for that in their life. So maybe there's some. Maybe there's some innovation that I'm not. That I'm not familiar with.

[Andrew Walsh]

Can I say one other thing about our listeners? Just.

[Luke Burbank]

And I want to talk about sex again.

[Andrew Walsh]

Sex, Absolutely. That's it.

[Luke Burbank]

I mean, sex on a stick. Horny, horny on main.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay, you know what? So show a little restraint.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm trying to find out more about the, the Farina kid. And like the kid on the box of Farina. And I found basically, let's see, I got to go to the next page. I found somebody who had gone to a website called Posting Cool.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay.

[Luke Burbank]

And I can't actually get to the post because I don't have a membership to Posting Cool, but the person is apologizing for what they wrote about the Farina kid on Posting Cool. I can only read the preview and here's what it says. I'm starting to think my post about the terrifying kid on the box of Farina came across as a little mean spirited. So I would like to offer my apologies too. And then it stops. I can't see any further because I don't have a membership of Posting Cool. I'm not the first person to note that this kid is a bit unsafe. I mean, I basically said he was Hitler's wet dream.

[Andrew Walsh]

You didn't basically say that. You did literally say that.

[Luke Burbank]

So if this person's apologizing for what came off as a little mean spirit, I've got a lot of apologies.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's literally what I was going to say. It sounds like you're gonna. You're gonna need to make an account for Posting Cool and offer your own apology when the Farina heads get a hold of this podcast.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay, I'm going to set up. Let's see. I forgot my password. I'm. I'm gonna, I'm going to. I'm gonna try to register here at Posting Cool and see if by the end of the show, Andrew, I can get to the, the full post about the Farina Kid. That was mean spirited. And see if it was more mean spirited than and me calling him Hitler Youth. Also, speaking of logging into things and accounts, you know who will not leave me alone now, Andrew? The flipping Golden Globes.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, because you, you created a login just to see.

[Luke Burbank]

I created a login for the podcasting division or just I guess the whole thing to see, and now they are on my ass.

[Andrew Walsh]

For what? Like what? Just like giving you press releases or.

[Luke Burbank]

No, just like. I think I didn't finish signing up. I think what they really want me to do is pay $500 to submit something that they're never going to actually give a real consideration to.

[Andrew Walsh]

Of course. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

So that's, I think, I think that's the, that's why they keep. They keep making contact with me because they.

[Andrew Walsh]

There's the other one. You haven't finished yet. You haven't Finished yet. I'm kind of surprised that you. Do you not have any kind of a burner email that you use to, like, buy things or, you know, you're going to end up on a list, something like that? Like, I. I do have an old Yahoo one that I use for stuff like that.

[Luke Burbank]

No, I did, and then I just got lazy. I basically, my real email got compromised by, you know, signing up for too much crap. The one that really gets me is Instagram, because if, you know, in fact, some of these things now, it used to be that they were all saying, hey, do you want 10 off? Sign up for this. You know, basically agree to let us text you. And I would usually go for it because it's, you know, 10 off or whatever. And then I would, you know, maybe not even buy the thing. But they sometimes will make you do it early. There are ones now that literally won't let you look at the thing unless you register with them, which I think is insane.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's really weird.

[Luke Burbank]

What a bad idea. Like, I've gotten to some screens where, like, I literally can't X out of it and just get to the product. Unless I agree to sign up and save 10%, I'm like, that's a terrible idea. I will, on principle, not buy those things.

[Andrew Walsh]

I was really irritated by our local sports radio station, which we used to call 710 ESPN, but then they thought that was too confusing. So now it's just called Seattle Sports Today now or something along those lines. And I listen to them usually on my regular radio, my transistor radio in the kitchen. And I. If I'm listening to a ball game and I need to stream it on my phone, I use the MLB app. Or point is, I very rarely have to listen to this sports station directly via my phone, but during one of the playoff games, for reasons that don't really matter, I needed just access. And so the best way, if you're on your phone, walking somewhere, as I was, to listen to 710 ESPN on your phone, is to download the 710 ESPN app, which now it sounds like I'm doing an ad for them, but I'm not. Because after you download the app, in order to access the actual streaming service, you have to give them your personal information. You have to say, you know, not a lot, but it's like first name, last name, birth date, gender identity. No, I'm just joking on that one. But I don't, by the way, like, very big posting.

[Luke Burbank]

Cool. Did ask me my pronouns.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, but that one almost always, though. Then Says prefer not to say. Right. Or maybe not. Actually, I'm thinking about. I'm thinking about a survey I took for public transportation recently. And sometimes they say, you know, you can prefer not to say on some of those questions, but all of that is to say, I think that's kind of bullshit. Like, you shouldn't have to. Maybe they say, hey, listen, we could charge for streaming of our content. And we're not doing that. We just want your personal info. But I just don't know why Bonneville, which obviously already has my personal info, because I worked inside those walls. But I just, like. As just a person who lives in Seattle and wants to listen to your streaming service first, I have to give you my name and phone number and create a login for this. It just seemed a little bullshit to me.

[Luke Burbank]

The other one you don't want to mess with. I agree with you, by the way. That's annoying. It's a. It's not a paywall, per se, but it is a barrier to entry for me. And sometimes I'll just not engage with stuff on principle, because that kind of stuff. The other one that you really don't want to get sideways with is Vivid Seats.

[Andrew Walsh]

Vivid Seats, Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

So we're going. We're going to be in New York. I'm going to New York on Saturday with Becca, and I'm going to be out there next week. We're cheering on her brother and his wife as they run the New York Marathon. And then I'm doing some CBS stuff and. And a few different things. But we were gonna go see a Broadway show, and I was trying to find tickets, and I was trying to see if I could get maybe tickets a little cheaper or even just get tickets for certain. It's weird because there are all these stories out about how Broadway is just in an absolute freefall of the. I think it was, like, maybe 18 new Broadway productions that were launched in the last, like, season. All 18 are in the red. Like, nothing is. Is making money. I actually read this very sad story today in the Washington Post about the Kennedy center, and basically, since Trump took it over, it is an absolute ghost town. Like, they're selling zero tickets, and they. The Washington Post did this huge investigation into basically, like, what's going on at the Kennedy center in terms of ticket sales and attendance. They took tons of pictures of it, Like, a smattering of people in the theater as a performance is going on. And I was like, this is my living nightmare that we would be there doing Livewire and someone would document that we hadn't sold enough tickets. Like from an ego standpoint, it's exactly the most sort of crushing thing for me.

[Andrew Walsh]

But anyway, can I ask you a question about that? I have not read that story and that sounds actually kind of fascinating, but yeah, it isn't. Well done. You say. That makes me sad too. But it's also a double edged sword. Right. If it were thriving under these changing in this administration and they had some sort of like counter, you know, some sort of conservative programming or something like that, and it was like thriving. It was just like some sort of like it was some sort of a jukebox musical with all of kid rock music or something like that.

[Luke Burbank]

Basically that's what they've been doing, but with the Bee Gees, Andrew.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, seriously?

[Luke Burbank]

Very seriously.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh my God.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, their worst performing thing is a Bee Gees related jukebox musical.

[Andrew Walsh]

If you can't sell the Bee Gees, what can you sell? But anyway, in a certain way the fact that people are just kind of like, okay, well these assholes ruined this and we're not going anymore. Like, I'm kind of, I'm kind of glad that, you know, well, I guess the marketplace got to decide that. And the marketplace says you guys are losers for, for taking this over and basically ruining it. But of course I say that and that can sound very, very callous because what they've done is they've destroyed something beautiful.

[Luke Burbank]

Exactly. That's what really, really bums me out is they've taken something that was a real national treasure and they've just run it into the ground now. And like so many things in our society, the question is can, you know, I don't even know if the post is really posing this question, but my question is can it bounce back eventually when we have sane people running the government? And you know, so the knock on it was. You'll be shocked to hear the knock on it from like the Trump people was they were putting on too many woke performances and therefore ticket sales were down. And, and so of course they've come in and they've done their own version of this and ticket sales are so much, so much further down. It's going so much worse than it was before they took it over in terms of. Yeah, if they were going to, you know, supposedly just put out what people actually want to see, it's not, that's not working. I'm trying to get to the list here of basically how things. So Hamilton pulled out, by the way. Hamilton was going to be kind of a centerpiece of one of their seasons. And they just basically said we don't want to. And the Hamilton people said, look, this isn't even about Donald Trump because I guess they did Hamilton at the Kennedy center during his first administration. They said it's about what's going on at the Kennedy center right now. The politicization, the politicization of it. So the season opening gala concert, that one had zero seats available, that was sold out. And that was someone named Noceda and Yujia Wang. Then you had an evening with Beethoven that did okay. Only 25% of the seats were available. The Stuttgart Ballet did pretty well, 28% of the seats available. So in other words, you're selling whatever the math is on that. 72% of the seats. Sound of Music not great. 33% vacancy rate, if you will. The Princess bride in concert, 34% unsold seats. Stayin Alive, the Bee Gees and beyond with regaton 66% of the seats available. So I mean, I'm with you. I guess it's like it is on some grim level, it's, it's, I guess encouraging that this isn't working. Like it's not sold out because they're just putting up, you know, super kind of right down the middle, very, you might say, audience friendly content.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

But I mean, I don't know, this is something that's very much in my brain space because of doing a show like Livewire where we, we sell tickets as part of our budget. But like you saw that story that the Crocodile basically has had to like close two of its rooms that it had as part of that new facility. Because no one's coming out to things, you know, at least not things that are sort of up and coming bands, you know, Madame Luz and I think the hereafter were the two rooms that they had.

[Andrew Walsh]

Good remembering. Yeah, I could remember the names of the venues. So the Crocodile was a very long running club in Belltown in Seattle. But then right around the time of the pandemic or right before the pandemic, they were losing their lease. So they had to, you know, they faced a pretty big decision. And instead of closing their doors, they actually kind of did the opposite. They really expanded. They took over a space kind of like about, I think across the street and a block down or something. If I had a. It used to be El Gaucho for Seattle heads, but it was also. But kind of several of the, several of the buildings kind of all connected there. And so instead of like, instead of downsizing in any way. They totally took over the space, refurbished it. They created a little bar upstairs, like a.

[Luke Burbank]

Took over the hotel.

[Andrew Walsh]

They took over the hotel, made a little. They created a little modern bar that you could, you know, sip a martini at while you waited for your show to begin. They had a comedy club down below. They had just. They. They kind of expanded into this little complex, which is. So. I don't know if you've. Did you do any shows there or have you gone to any shows?

[Luke Burbank]

We did. We did a. Like a livewire pop up just in this kind of. In the hotel area. So not in one of the dedicated.

[Andrew Walsh]

Rooms, but it's so cool. And it was such a big swing, especially at that time. They were like, no, we're going to bet on the future.

[Luke Burbank]

And did you see that quote from the guy?

[Andrew Walsh]

No. Was that. Maybe I'm saying that, but I only read, like, sort of the first graph of that story yesterday and then scanned the rest. It was pretty. It was a pretty big bummer of a story. But no, I don't know if I'm accidentally quoting him or just.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, no, he said something. Let me see if I can actually find the article again. The guy basically said, like, we bet on the future, and the future didn't arrive in 2025.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, you know what? I think maybe that is why those words were in my head, because that does ring a bell. I. I think I read that and it's just such a. It's. It's a real bummer. Again, they're not closing down everything. The crocodile itself is not going away. But I just thought it was so admirable to, like, take a swing like that in this and in an incredibly uncertain environment with a global pandemic going on and everything, and people are just still not kind of going out. And I'm, of course, you know, me, I'm doing my part. I'm.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm not even going out of your basement.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm eating free pizza on a Thursday night. You know, you refuse to go to.

[Luke Burbank]

The upper level of your home.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's right. So. So I know that, like, you know, that I'm not, I guess, doing my part in that either, but it is a real bummer. I was sort of thinking after the pandemic for the group. So it's 2025 now. Right. So let's say that it was such a slow return to normal. There was never a time that you could just sort of say, the pandemic ended here. Right. And I know there's a lot of people who still have a lot of concerns about masking and health and stuff like that. So I don't know exactly where we draw that line, but let's just say it's been two and a half years. Would you say that's about right since like kind of the pandemic?

[Luke Burbank]

Two and a half, three years of requirements and things.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. In like kind of a turn to what would seem like normalcy, aside from some of the lingering effects and back to work stuff. But all that is to say, we noticed a huge hit on people interested in volunteering with my group. Like we used to. Like we used to. Before the pandemic, there were times where there were more volunteers tears out there than people like kind of grabbing food because it was like this huge thing. We'd set up all this hot food and it was like a neighborhood potluck. And then the pandemic, obviously everything kind of shut down. That's obvious. But then afterwards people were just. And I was reading stories about this being a national trend and then us being the tiniest of tiny little groups that just serve food under a bridge. But like, we just couldn't get a lot of the same commitment at all, which is honestly shout out to our friend Anna, who started volunteering several years ago and just been like a backbone of the opera. Because I. We were sort of like, we were just scrounging to get stuff done. And I've just noticed like in the last. And I'd have no idea if this is a trend or not, but it really has just been the last six months. I'm going to say that more and more, I'm seeing more and more new faces. They are volunteering and it's been great, honestly. It's just been fun to get to know more people, get to know more neighbors. And I am just wondering if I'm hoping that this is maybe a little. A little sample of hopefully what's going on in other communities as well. It just maybe people finally starting to come out of their shells a little bit more because, you know, it's bad. Especially for volunteer organizations.

[Luke Burbank]

Absolutely. And for nonprofits that are trying to sell tickets for their radio show tape. I don't understand. I mean, I feel like I can't attribute it all to people who are uncomfortable being in the public environment. I mean, I guess that's gotta be.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, you mean certainly health wise.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, I, Yeah, I don't. I wouldn't attribute it to that either.

[Luke Burbank]

You know what I mean? But they just. What you see over and over again, the Stories are, you know, basically things have not bounced back since the pandemic in terms of attendance of live things. And I wonder. So if we don't think it's. If we don't think all of those people who are staying away, if we, if we don't think all of them are doing it because of health concerns or concerns or up being in crowds like that, then what is it? What has changed? Did people just realize because we got to stay home for a couple of years that it's actually more fun being at home? Are tickets too expensive? I do think that there's an issue as well, which is that as you sell fewer tickets, you got to charge more for tickets to try to keep the bottom line. So now all of a sudden, it's like hundreds of dollars to go to something that maybe used to be 30 bucks or something. It's kind of a vicious cycle. Like, I just don't, I don't have the answer. I'm curious. I wonder what, I wonder what it is that has caused people to not return to these space used to go to. In pretty regular numbers.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. And here in Seattle, and you know, I'm a proponent of these measures, but I do know that labor costs have gone up as like, minimum wage requirements have kicked in and like removing exceptions for service staff or whatever, like the tip exception that we had here in the city. But it sounds like it's not a Seattle only thing, though, because this conversation started, I think, with you talking about Broadway. Right. Oh, in fact, it started with you talking about Vivid Seats, by the way. I don't know if we ever got to the. Got to the end of that, but I, but I was wondering, like, well, you know, how, how much of the, of the new costs of doing business here in Seattle are then affecting ticket prices as well? And I really don't know. And it does sound kind of all over, though. Yeah, that's what I was going to say. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

I see bands, like, when I'm looking at TikTok or Instagram, I've seen, you know, multiple bands say, like, hey, we're, you know, we're going to actually skip this tour. Or I've seen a lot of people getting really, a lot of performers getting really honest, like, which I, you know, I admire that because it's, it's, it's very vulnerable to say, like, hey, we wanted to do this tour, but we just weren't selling enough tickets to make it happen. And we kind of don't know why that is. You know, it's pretty Humbling to have to do that, but there just seems like there's something going on where people are. People are not coming out the way that they used to.

[Andrew Walsh]

So can I throw one more speculative log on this fire, which is really mushy and probably unnecessary as you were wrapping up the segment. But like, I do think, I think it's more of a habitual thing than a health related thing. As far as if you want to tie this to the pandemic at all, I kind of. Cause the story about the croc was that like coming out of the pandemic, we just haven't achieved these levels that we had prior kind of as a society. And I do sort of think that like the generation that was young people who are like, you know, spent a lot of time at home. The whole vibe for a long time after the pandemic has been like, yeah, like, stay at home and wear your soft pants. And like, you know, like that's just kind of the culture. And I'll be honest with you, I do wonder if just the cultural malaise that overhangs everything or maybe, I don't know if culture is the right word there, but the political malaise. Veej and I were just talking. I hope this isn't too private of a conversation, but she and I were talking about having to make a little bit of extra effort in our daily lives. And I'm not doing necessarily the best job of it of extending more grace than usual, maybe, or maybe not extending more grace than usual, but working harder to just casually offer people more grace in our daily lives because everything just feels so frayed at all times. And so when you combine the cost of everything, maybe habits changing, maybe the entire entertainment industry doing everything they can to keep us at home streaming things on these giant TVs, like all of this stuff. Stuff. But then also just the kind of like we're fucking exhausted all the time because everything. And scared. Because everything that we believed true about the backbone of this country, that we were taught to not just appreciate but celebrate and pray to in the classroom every morning as we put our hands over our hearts is just falling apart or being exposed in front of us to being so thinly protected. And it's just to carry this burden around constantly. It kind of makes it hard to say, like, hey, you want to go out and watch a band?

[Luke Burbank]

And yet I'm thinking about this because from where I'm sitting, Andrew, I'm staring out at the mighty Columbia and I'm actually staring at this little spit of land and it's this island called Cottonwood island, and it's a beach. And I was on that beach, I don't know, a few months ago now, when some of our friends towed their boat up to the area and put it in the Columbia. And I was saying on, like, the Friday before this was gonna happen, that I didn't know if I wanted to do it because it was like, I don't like getting sprayed in the face on the boat. I don't like boats going too fast for my liking. It was such an unbelievably great afternoon. Like, the weather was great. It was really fun to just get to talk to these people and, like, kind of sit on this beach and just have some snacks. And it was just like. It was a lovely afternoon, and I was so glad that I did it. I mean, this. I'm not. Again, I'm not blowing anyone's mind with this, but it's like, I'm totally with you. I think we. I just don't think. I don't think our current mental state, for a lot of us, lends itself to being like, let's party down, or, let's go see that show or, let's go. You know, it doesn't. It doesn't. When you're not feeling great about anything in life or about everything in life, it does not make you more likely to want to go out and party down. And yet every time that I actually do something, we went to that orchestra performance at the Portland Symphony, the scary music thing. And it was like, I was so glad that we did that. So I'm not telling anyone how to live their life. I'm not even telling you, Andrew, to leave your basement. But I think for me, I think I need to remind myself that when I actually do engage with life and do stuff, I personally feel a lot better for the experience. But it's very easy to not want to do stuff, I think. And I think you're right. I think that the general feeling of just everything is kind of bad and the worst people are getting the most. W's. It. It does not inspire one to want to go out into the world and. And make merriment.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's just so much easier just to stay at home and just say, I'm just gonna, you know, curl up and watch whatever the latest thing, and then.

[Luke Burbank]

Doordash.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Why are we. Why are we even. Why are any of us ever leaving our houses? So anyway. Well, I don't know if we solved that, but we talked about it. Oh, vivid Seats won't leave me alone. Because I almost bought some tickets to Death Becomes her musical. I ended up buying them just like from the theater or from the production. But I made the mistake of getting of like Vivid seats. Now has they know where I live and they just are constantly badgering me. Hey, you left something. Something.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Hey, you left something in your car.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, I get that from ebay from time to time. Because I'll look up something on ebay just for the show. You know, like we're talking about something nostalgic or something. And then it'll be like, hey, you didn't buy. Hey, you still interested in the child size California raisins painter cap from 1987 that you were looking at? And I'm like, I'm probably not going to be buying a children right now.

[Luke Burbank]

Perfectly preserved box of farina. Thank you, baby. We got to thank some donors. These are the generous folks who are supporting TBTL voluntarily with a donation of dough each month or maybe once a year or whenever the mood strikes them. And it is the only way this thing can exist is we're talking about arts organizations. I don't know if we consider TBTL an arts organization or not, but as we, as we talk about all the things that are. The headwinds that are. That are blowing across a lot of creative endeavors and things like that, we are so grateful to get to do this and we are so grateful to folks like Amy Bullock in Salt Lake City, Utah.

[Andrew Walsh]

Thank you, Amy. The thing about TVTL is you don't have to leave your house to listen to it, but you can leave your house to listen to it.

[Luke Burbank]

That's what's so cool about this. You can bring it with you.

[Andrew Walsh]

We're offering you options. Yes, yes.

[Luke Burbank]

We also want to thank Matthew Lee Ferris, who's in Henrico, Virginia.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, old Henrico.

[Luke Burbank]

Yep. Good old Henrico, Virginia. A place I just learned exists.

[Andrew Walsh]

Exactly. I had a couple of teddy bears named Henry. I could have called him Henrico.

[Luke Burbank]

Huh? Right. For some reason. So you played bat? No. You played Monopoly?

[Andrew Walsh]

I would play Risk while watching Batman. So, yeah, I understand the.

[Luke Burbank]

Did you ever. Did you do anything else? Did you guys go on any adventures?

[Andrew Walsh]

No, they were at home. My teddy bears or my stuffed animals were at home. Stuffed animals mostly. But yeah, we would play Risk and, you know, sometimes big Henry would win, sometimes little Henry would win. I played straight down the line.

[Luke Burbank]

Luke. Love that Alexandra St. Arnau is in Almonte, Ontario. Everything Alexander is very excited about the surging Toronto Blue Jays. Boy, I Didn't think they were going to be able to shut down the bats of the Dodgers not to get basebally on it, although I do know that Mindy Lum in Minneapolis loves it when we get baseball on it.

[Andrew Walsh]

Thank you, Mindy.

[Luke Burbank]

But I will say the way that this World Series now has unfolded has kind of made me feel better about the Mariners in a way I didn't expect.

[Andrew Walsh]

Tell me about this because I have had something I've been wanting to tell you. No, no, I have something I want to tell you that is in relation to something you were explaining to me the other day that I did not understand in the moment, but I do understand now and I wanted to clear the table on that. But what way? Homer, what are you talking about?

[Luke Burbank]

I thought, well, I do sort of want the Blue Jays to win because I don't want there to be a visit to the White House. But then I saw a blue sky post from a Toronto fan that really has been burning me up like a hot coal. It was, countries with democracies have better baseball. And I was just like, come on, dude, we also hate this. We also don't like this. What's going on in our country. Don't rub it in. And don't make that the baseball thing. Like, I don't know. That really rankled me for some reason.

[Andrew Walsh]

Like, he's like, I can say that. You can't say that kind of thing.

[Luke Burbank]

I guess I just, it felt like, well, first of all, we didn't vote for this regime.

[Andrew Walsh]

But who's we though? I mean, we the people did you and I didn't. But. But like we possibly veevs.

[Luke Burbank]

Although she won't tell me officially who she voted for.

[Andrew Walsh]

I know, we don't know. Isn't it weird how quiet she is?

[Luke Burbank]

Really quiet.

[Andrew Walsh]

Exactly. She changes the subject.

[Luke Burbank]

Uh huh. I don't know. There was just something, I guess I just feel like you're kicking me when I'm down already. I'm down about. We just talked about it. I'm down about the state of affairs in this country. I'm down about the Mariners not making the Super Bowl. The Mariners are. You know what, the Mariners are actually on a very long list of baseball teams. Never made the Super Bowl.

[Andrew Walsh]

It makes you feel better about things.

[Luke Burbank]

So, so what makes me feel better is that the mighty Los Angeles Dodgers, who spend, you know, more money than should be allowable and have this lineup top to bottom, that's just phenomenal of hitters even. They, their bats have gone quiet. And that was something that made me crazy about the Mariners throughout the season was we would have these great games and score a bunch of runs and then we would just have these stretches of just total, total lack of productivity. And it made me think there was something uniquely wrong or broken about us. But what I'm being reminded of is, you know, good pitching usually beats good hitting. And it's really, really hard to hit consistently on the national stage. Like the World Series. And even the mighty Dodgers have these spells. For some reason, that was kind of a balm for me about like times when I was mad at the Mariners in the season.

[Andrew Walsh]

I read or at least scanned a sort of breakdown of. Of the two games I want to say that were played since the 18 inning game. Maybe it was just a reaction, maybe it was just a study of the first game that was played after the 18 inning game. But basically looking at bat speed for the Dodgers and how that 18 innings ended up benefiting the Blue Jays so much more. Because the Dodgers, with their very, very mighty, mighty lineup, the bat speeds to catch up to the pitches were down significantly after like kind of that incredibly exhausting.

[Luke Burbank]

Like they're literally tired.

[Andrew Walsh]

They're literally tired out and because in the Blue Jays, you know, they don't have the same kind of hitting power. They have some powerhouses there, but it's like they're a little. They're just built a little bit differently. And so it kind of was Alejandro just built different. He is. He is. I don't even. I gotta say that's one of those names that I can't hear because I think about that. I think about that throw from. Who's our Italian right fielder. Who does the. He, he had that terrible.

[Luke Burbank]

Miles Mastroni.

[Andrew Walsh]

No, no, no, no. The guy that.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, Dominic Canzone that, that throws that. We have two very Italian sounding guys.

[Andrew Walsh]

On our team, but I say Italian in this case not just because of his name, but his whole branding is kind of like chef's kiss thing and everybody loves it. But. But that, that throw from Kanzone from right field, that, that was so off to not throw out the slowest baseball. Baseball will always.

[Luke Burbank]

We did win that game though.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, did. No, that was one that we won.

[Luke Burbank]

I thought we came back.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, okay. I think that's. I have the wrong memory of that.

[Luke Burbank]

I think we won that game. But that was.

[Andrew Walsh]

I trust you more than me. My brain. I'm getting these decisions, series, like really confused. But here's where I've been thinking about you because.

[Luke Burbank]

Thank you.

[Andrew Walsh]

You set up a scenario for Me, I think maybe we're talking the day after the Mariners were eliminated. Maybe it was a couple of days after we were still processing our feelings. And I've been saying that, like, I. And this is true, and I'm gonna restate this, that, like, I'm the type of person who's such an immature sports fan that I am not capable of rooting for the team that beat me, that beat my team, and then advanced. Right. Like, I just. I'm the same way, petty about these things, but this time, my absolute strong distaste for the Dodgers overrides everything. And also, and I don't know if I said this to you, I said this to somebody else. I literally think this Mariners postseason has clicked something in my brain that has made me a slightly mature, more mature baseball fan. I'm still not a mature baseball fan, but slightly more mature. That I don't have that kind of burning, petty hatred when I see them do. Especially, like, Vladi Jr. Like, I just. I'm not mad at him. And I am legit still rooting for them to beat the Dodgers. And it's not. It's not close. I don't have, like, a lot of. I'm not ambivalent about it. Like, I'm rooting for them. And when I listen to. There's this one radio host that I hear all the time locally, and he's a huge baseball fan. And, like, Row. He's Mike Rowe.

[Luke Burbank]

Exactly.

[Andrew Walsh]

And he's still so angry. And I appreciate this about him. He just keeps saying we were eight outs away, and it's still a lot of outs. But he was just saying we were eight outs away. And him. And he's from this perspective of just like, I cannot root for the Blue Jays. He's like, I just can't. And I. And I totally understand that. I feel like in a different season, I'd feel the same way. Or if we hadn't made it so far and I was just feeling pretty. I don't. Lucky that we did make it so far this time. And I'm hoping that we build on. And I've been optimistic in a way I'm usually not. And I'm rooting for the Blue Jays, but you had given me some scenario. Like, I know you're rooting for the Blue Jays, but. And I'm rooting for the Blue Jays, too. I think you said at the time, but there could be this emotional scenario that could make me feel bad. And I did not follow what you were saying at the time. I was Like, I don't quite follow that. And then that was before the World Series started. And I believe I was playing cards with Genevieve on the first night of the World Series. Totally not paying attention to baseball at all. Playing cards or something. And then at one point, we're done playing cards, and I flipped on the radio, and I happened to hear the grand slam. Was it a grand slam by Barger? Have you been following it at all?

[Luke Burbank]

I did see that, yes.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, actually, I turned away because I was making stir fry, but when I looked back, he was rounding the bases, and there was four runs coming in. By the way, he's a Bellevue kid, I think.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, I didn't know that. And so they got a grand slam. I don't know if they took the lead there or extended their lead there. But then in the same inning, I think got two more runs. And it was weird. Like, I was not paying attention to the World Series at all. This is game one. I just flip on the radio just to hear the very first bit of the World Series that I hear is the Blue Jays just breaking the game wide open in their favor on Game one. And I thought, oh, the Mariners had a chance. And I think that's what you. I think that's what you were trying to explain to me. But what if the Blue Jays go in there and it's not just them running straight into a buzzsaw, as we all assumed was going to happen? And then are you still going to feel good about. He's still going to feel okay. And I was like, oh, this feeling that I have as I'm hearing the Blue Jays, who I'm rooting for, blow this Game one open. And I'm like, oh, yeah, so that could have been Kale Raleigh. You know that. And then I was like, this is what Luke was talking.

[Luke Burbank]

I was saying that I would feel better, in a weird way if the Dodgers just swept them four. Oh. Because I'd be like, well, we didn't. We didn't want that.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

But now they're. But now they're. I mean, they're in the position to actually potentially win the World Series. And, yeah, it's. It's sort of like. Well, as we always say on the show, Andrew, hope is a very dangerous thing. And it kind of retroactively gives you.

[Andrew Walsh]

A hope, as you famously coined.

[Luke Burbank]

Yes, exactly.

[Andrew Walsh]

Anyway.

[Luke Burbank]

And as Laurel Robertson in Ferguson, North Carolina, famously likes hearing me say, yes, hope is a very dangerous thing.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's what Laurel always.

[Luke Burbank]

Is it Yanni or Laurel?

[Andrew Walsh]

I think it's Yanni.

[Luke Burbank]

I'll never get over that joke. Thanks, Laurel. Appreciate you for all these years. And then it's brilliant. Brooke Holst in Bremerton, Washington. There is this house, Andrew, in Bremerton, Washington, that is for sale. It's in the Manette neighborhood, and it is such a cool Craftsman house, and it's right there looking out on the harbor. And it keeps coming up on my Instagram feed. My Instagram feed now is just mostly like, real estate. You know, basically real estate agents walking through houses. This is the big thing in real estate now. Our friend Sarah Nicole Smith, who does real estate, knows all about this. But, like, the. The most of my social media content now is people walking through houses that they're listing for sale. And I. There's no end to how fascinated I am with these videos, but this house keeps coming up in Manette, which is basically an area of Bremerton. And it's so cute and it is so reasonably priced compared to, like, other place, Portland or Seattle or, you know, stuff like that that I'm like, could otherwise, maybe, maybe we move. This project's done. Maybe now we unload this crap shack and we move to Manette and we go live near where Brookholst is. That would be a little bit close to my parents, though. You want to have a hop on. My mom would probably be walking into the studio every day to do the podcast showing up at my house if I lived that close to them.

[Andrew Walsh]

Do you know that there's a Bremerton shuttle? Almost, said Sherry, which is a combination of shuttle and ferry. But no, it's not a ferry. It's a shuttle that goes directly from the airport to Bremerton.

[Luke Burbank]

No, like, oh, okay, so it's like a bus or something.

[Andrew Walsh]

I think I just looked it up. It's called the Bremerton Kitsap Airporter, the sound connection. I learned that because I was sitting on. And I was sitting next to a couple on an airplane recently from, I guess maybe my travels back from Arizona or something, and they were going to Bremerton and they were talking and I started talking with them a little bit, and they were concerned about missing the shuttle, and I didn't know what they were talking about. It turns out there's a shuttle that goes directly from the airport. If you can catch it on time, that takes you straight to Bremerton, which would be, I don't know, another point in your favor if you're planning to move to Bremerton by a boat. Yeah, I'm just throwing the boat it's.

[Luke Burbank]

Close to Seattle, but it's not so close that I wouldn't just be popping up at your house trick or treating without.

[Andrew Walsh]

Lights are off, bro.

[Luke Burbank]

Lights are off.

[Andrew Walsh]

Off.

[Luke Burbank]

And nobody's home.

[Andrew Walsh]

Nobody's home.

[Luke Burbank]

Hey, thank you so much to our donors. Thanks for making TBTL possible. We really and truly could not do this without you.

[Andrew Walsh]

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 right. We didn't have time to talk about AI and podcasting, but honestly, I think we've said what we need to say about it. I was just shocked to find out that there is a very popular podcast where the guide to just reads like Wikipedia. But he's. His. His voice is so, like, laconic that it is. It's literally designed to put people to sleep. That's the idea of the podcast.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, interesting. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

And so what he's done is he's basically used, like, what is it, like 11 labs, you know, one of those programs, I think, that we've even used at times that can clone your voice. And he's cloning his voice and then just telling his voice, this cloned voice, to read these endless pages of Wikipedia, which is a. Kind of an interesting. Because he's not doing, like, what we're doing right now. He's doing something else where it actually. I don't know. People don't seem to mind, I guess, but, I mean, that's a racket. Clone your voice and then just tell it to read Wikipedia and then just watch the liquid IV dollars roll in. That's one of the sponsors.

[Andrew Walsh]

IVs are always liquid. Just always have to say. I just hate I forgot about them so much. But I. I'm tempted to say something here, although I wanted to test it before this came up, and I kind of forgot or I ran out of time, or both. But yesterday I was editing the show. If you'll recall, Luke, there was something we had to beep out of the show yesterday. Some personal information.

[Luke Burbank]

Yes.

[Andrew Walsh]

From a voicemail. And I did beep it out. And I use a program that I've been using for decades and decades. The first digital. The real digital audio editor I ever used was called Cool Edit, which eventually was bought by Adobe. And it's still like, what I'm using. It's Adobe Audition now.

[Luke Burbank]

I have not thought of Cool Edit in a million years.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, that's what it was originally called. And then Adobe bought it. And I mean, that was Forever ago when it was called that. But just to make my point, this is like literally the audio program that I've been using since I was, I guess a teenager or maybe early 20s when I got into the industry. And so they're always adding more stuff to it. And even for something that I use so heavily, I only use like the very, very tip of the iceberg of its functionality, Melody. One of the things I do use from time to time is the beep function where you select a bit of audio in your audio file which has already been recorded and then you go up to a menu and it drops down and you choose, I think it's called generate. And you can generate some silence and you can generate tones. And tones are what I use for the beeping sound when you beep out your foul language. But then I accidentally clicked on one that I hadn't noticed before, which was generate speech. And I was in a real big hurry, so I did not actually play around with that. But I had no idea that this basic editor that I use has some sort of speech generation function. And I was wondering if I use that in the middle of a 90 minute file of you and I talking. If I just say generate speech, will Adobe Audition re cool it? It just generate our voices. I had no idea that was something that could even happen with this particular program, which, you know, doesn't have a lot of that AI stuff built into it. But I can maybe try doing an experiment over the weekend and playing it for you. But I was pretty shocked to see that my.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, that's one of the things they said, by the way, was a piece by Reggie Ugwu in the New York Times. And one of the things he mentions is that most of the programs that we're all using now to do this stuff already have this stuff built in. And they mentioned Riverside specifically. Oh yeah, Riverside will like AI generate your voice. It'll voice clone you. And then they interviewed Glenn Washington, our snap judgment buddy.

[Andrew Walsh]

Didn't you just bring him up recently on the show?

[Luke Burbank]

He came up on the show, but I couldn't remember what time stream we.

[Andrew Walsh]

Were doing when we brought up Glenn Washington.

[Luke Burbank]

But he made an interesting point. He said, well, if you're not near a studio, if you're the host and there's something, you need a pickup or you need a correction or something, and you, you're at the airport and you're not anywhere where you can actually like re record this one line. It might be a useful feature to just fix that one line, which I Kind of as a host and as somebody who's often on the go. I mean, I'm always bringing my gear around. But like I thought, oh, that actually is a defensible use of like voice closing, voice cloning. To me. If you just needed to say it was 15 of this thing and not 12 of this thing or the name of the book, you know, I. It was a plural, but actually it's a singular. I said it wrong or whatever, Whatever. That seems to me to be kind of okay.

[Andrew Walsh]

But yeah, one of the things I.

[Luke Burbank]

Took from was a lot of this stuff is already built into these systems.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, it's definitely built into. I did a whole hey Dummies about this a couple of years ago and people seem to be very interested in it. Like some of the built in AI stuff around photography is interesting because like, I don't want to use AI to create weird images. To use the example again of like Kid Rock praying over Donald Trump or those weird AI creations. But. But there is stuff like when you have to take a rectangular photo and then make it square, you can do it sometimes and create those big black sidebars or bars on the top and bottom. And that doesn't look so great. But if it's not that big of a space, you can now just sort of say, I want to expand this out a little bit in AI. Just try to guess what's missing basically, and it'll do it. And I use that sometimes for our show picks. And it's just a little bit around the edges. Like, oh, oh, this sign says Maz Chicken. Right. And so. But it's cut off at the E. But if I expand it, the AI knows enough to create an end there or something like that. The other day I was using it though for that photo of Genevieve in her costume and there was a bit of Camaro Kev in the corner. And so I expanded it out and we never saw his face, but his hair. The AI was just like, oh, it looks like there's a white man here. And just created. Created a Camaro Kev out of nothing at all. Which is a great karaoke song. And it was. I didn't leave it because he also had like sort of an extra arm.

[Luke Burbank]

Did you send him any of this?

[Andrew Walsh]

No, it was only in. And I'd have to recreate it now. I don't know if it would. I don't think it'll ever recreate the same exact thing twice. But anyway, having a little bit of functionality like that to help you in your daily work is one thing, but then to use it as a completely creative endeavor is something else entirely. But let's move on to a voicemail that I want to play for you. I thought this was very sweet. You were talking, talking on Monday's show about your Halloween costume last weekend and how you had used one of those Halloween, you know, hairspray things that dyed the grayish part of your hair, like, black. The way it looked when you were a younger man. And you were, like, kind of impressed with that, and you like looking younger, and you said, maybe I'll do this in the future, like, actually dye my hair. And you're interested in exploring that maybe. And we got this very encouraging voicemail from Listen, listener Gillian.

[Gillian]

Hey, guys, it's Gillian from Sammamish. Gillian with a hard G. I was just listening to Luke talking about maybe potentially thinking about spraying his hair a color. So I just want to say go for it.

[Andrew Walsh]

I.

[Gillian]

Because I'm a person that absolutely loves getting a spray tan. I'm sorry. I just like to be tan. And the way I get around or justify it to myself and everyone around me is just straight up telling people I have a spray tan. And so it kind of just like, takes away that, I don't know, Shame, less shame. So I say go for the hair and just, you know, just be forthcoming with it. Just like, hey, yeah, spray my hair, hair. And I look good because that's how I do my spray tans. I mean, the hands sometimes look kind of messed up, but anyways, love you guys.

[Andrew Walsh]

Power out. Here's what I like about that. Not to try to summarize it, but I will, I guess, out of instinct, but this idea of when we do things to modify how we look, like, let's say you. I. Let's say I was able to wear contact lenses, and I decided to wear contact lenses because I didn't like the way I look in glasses. I would have absolutely no shame telling people, yeah, I wear contact lenses. It's something that I need to see, and I look better this way. But then there are the other things that we do potentially that we don't want to tell anybody that we do. Right. Right. Whether it's using a special weight loss drug or dyeing your hair or. Honestly, I mean, we kind of joke around about it a little bit, but you look at Rick Riz, the baseball announcer for the Seattle Mariners, and he's been wearing a wig for so long that it. It doesn't. Like, there's no way he thinks he's fooling Anybody, Right. It's just like wearing a hat made of hair at this point. Right. Like, and I'm not even saying that to be question. And I'm. It's just sort of like. Well, some. It's like, it's only kind of cringy if you feel like you're trying to get away with something, maybe. But if you're just like, yeah, I dye my hair because I like the way I look with my dyed hair. Like, there's. There's something so, like, kind of freeing about that, I think is maybe what Gillian is saying.

[Luke Burbank]

I've also already copped to the fact that I put like, balding powder in my hair, which is way more embarrassing than dyeing your hair, I think.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

We've just gotten to the point in our relationship, five years in, where I'm comfortable with Becca observing me doing this in the bathroom.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, interesting. Oh, yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

You know, it's just like this little tube and it's just got this little dusty powder in it that's roughly the color of my hair or at least the part of my hair that's not gray. And you just kind of. You like, it's like you're putting pepper on top of your head. And it's always this, tell me when.

[Andrew Walsh]

Tell me when exactly.

[Luke Burbank]

And it's always been this thing where it's like, it just feels a little, little bit silly. But of course, Becca, also, if we're going out somewhere, she's putting on makeup.

[Andrew Walsh]

Right, right, right.

[Luke Burbank]

False eyelashes on. She might, you know, her, you know, lipstick is. Is an unnatural thing to do to look a way that she wants to look. You're exactly right. It's weird the things that we. That we have shame around and think the things that we don't. Now here's something else in the. In the hair story for me and the gray hair story is there is this clip I was. When we were doing this tofu. Well, we went to this vegetarian restaurant in Portland called Astro, which is, by the way, really cool. Very, very cool place. And tried some different tofu preparations. And I was chatting with the chef, it's a really sweet guy named Aaron. And he had his daughter Vivian there. And it was so cute because he had her dressed in a chef's outfit. Like an exact. But like for a child, for like a three year old. So he's in his chef's outfit and then she's in like a matching tiny chef's outfit. It was the cutest thing ever. And so we were just kind of joking around and I was joke interviewing the kid and he put it on Instagram and the kid is just so stinking cute that I reshared like I was in the story, so I reshared it or whatever. But part of it is probably the TV lights are kind of set up in a certain way. But, man, my hair doesn't just look like a little gray. It's like I got a full on Steve Martin situation going down like it is. Again, I think it has a little bit to do with the specific. Like those big box lights they set up for a TV shoot and I'm standing too close to one of them. This wasn't lit for me to interview the kid. We just were on the set, if that makes any sense. So I think it has to do a little bit with the specific light. But, oh, my gosh, I got a future. I got a preview of what I'll look like in about five years. It's fine, it's fine.

[Andrew Walsh]

But also, yeah, Steve Martin is not like an ugly guy. Like, Steve Martin.

[Luke Burbank]

Looks great.

[Andrew Walsh]

Great.

[Luke Burbank]

We love Steve Martin. We. Stan, would it be presumptuous if I got those same kind of cards that said I met Luke Burbank and. And he was lovely?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes, it would. You already have your own cards. It's you with a broken nose.

[Luke Burbank]

Would it be bad if I made some new cards and I put them out next to the bowl of candy at your house tonight for trick or treat?

[Andrew Walsh]

Now I am kind of interested. And we'll get out of here now, but now that, yeah, if I'm going with the bowl, I think that's what I'm gonna do. Bowl of candy and a little table at our front door. I'm not gonna like. Genevieve would, like, create a. Genevieve would go around the house, grab all of my clothes, create some sort of a dummy, and put, like a scary mask on.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, that would be fun.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, that sounds like a lot of work. I'm just gonna go buy some candy. But I've never been in charge of buying the candy before. I could. Well, I just end up getting one of those, you know, generic bags of the usual mix. Or will I get some more speedy?

[Luke Burbank]

Because, you know, there's probably all kinds of kids. It's hard for me to separate just what my personal preference is for candy. I've always been, like, more onto the chocolate side of things. Like, I've always been more of a Kit Kat or Nestle Crunch or Snickers or Twix kind of K than the Necco Wafers or the Even the, like, you know, warheads or, you know, I was always. I go more towards the chocolatey candies than the kind of like sour candies or, you know, Skittles or things like that.

[Andrew Walsh]

I mean, this is maybe a long shot. Pardon me. I'm getting kind of upset even thinking about it, but Farina. Just a tack bowl of Furina. I was gonna say packets of Furina, because I assume it comes in packets, but what if I pre made it? That's a really good.

[Luke Burbank]

Just a cauldron.

[Andrew Walsh]

And I put in. Of Farina and I put, like, a ladle in there or some sort of a serving spoon. Paper bowls.

[Luke Burbank]

Real Oliver Twist vibration.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Please, sir, can we have more?

[Andrew Walsh]

What did you put in yours? Peanut butter and honey. I can put out some peanut butter and honey. I can see it being a very clean, neat operation. You know, nothing. No sticky residue all over.

[Luke Burbank]

No. No bowls. Just right in the hands. Ladle it right into the mouth.

[Andrew Walsh]

Right? Exactly, exactly. And then some hand sanitizer there. Please clean.

[Luke Burbank]

There's going to be a whole other neighborhood email list started about you.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, yeah, I know.

[Luke Burbank]

They're probably the guy who put out the hot cereal.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, Hot cereal guy.

[Luke Burbank]

We got to talk about that guy on the corner who put out the hot cereal.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, my God. Oh, man. I'm looking for my Farina photo that I was gonna use for a show pic. I lost it. I had the perfect photo.

[Luke Burbank]

By the way, no update from Posting Cool yet as to if they've approved my membership.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, you probably do. You didn't get an email that, like, kind of confirmed your email address or anything like that?

[Luke Burbank]

Not yet. That they're basically. I have a feeling, based on the graphics of this thing, it's got real Space Jam. It's got real original Space Jam website energy to it.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

I don't know if. I don't know if anyone's minding the store.

[Andrew Walsh]

We got to break into there.

[Luke Burbank]

I don't know if anybody at Posting Cool. I don't know the last time somebody tried to register for Posting Cool.

[Andrew Walsh]

The weird thing is I was just looking up a comedian yesterday because I was listening to her on the Scott Hasn't Seen podcast. She was reviewing the movie Practical Magic and. Or, like, discussing it, you know, recapping it with the. With the guys. And I had not heard her name before, but when I said her name to Genevieve, she said, well, that's the name of the woman. The character from Legally Blonde. It's L. Something. Yeah. But this character, this person isn't A character. She's a real person and her name is Elle woods as well. That's her real life name, but it's spelled E L E. And I was looking her up to figure out, like, where the confusion was between me and Genevieve having this conversation, and I saw that her bio linked to her website, which was also a dot cool. I'd never heard of a dot cool before yesterday around 10:30, and now I've heard 2 dot cool since then.

[Luke Burbank]

But that, you know what that is, my friend? That's pretty dot cool.

[Andrew Walsh]

Certainly is. Sure is.

[Luke Burbank]

All right, my friends, that is going to do it for today's episode. And in fact, that will bring us to the end of our broadcast week. Thank you for spending all the time this time with us. Thanks for being so dot cool as to spend all this time with us. Hey, I'll be in New York City next week checking in, so I'm sure there'll be lots of adventures to report on.

[Andrew Walsh]

Are we. Are we able to tease at all what might happen on Monday, or is that still in the works?

[Luke Burbank]

No, it's, it's. It's all been agreed to. The contracts have been signed. I will be. I'll be broadcasting on Monday, I believe, from the Chris Hayes Kate Shaw straight studios there in Brooklyn at our friend television, Chris Hayes's home studio operation.

[Andrew Walsh]

And do you. Are you traveling with one of those really, really big hooks in case you need to grab him and bring him in front of a microphone? Can we. Yes. Can we get an appearance, do you think? Can you be nice enough?

[Luke Burbank]

We'll find out on Monday.

[Andrew Walsh]

The charmer.

[Luke Burbank]

I floated it. Yeah, I didn't get confirmation on the. I didn't get confirmation on the appearance. I said, of course, as always, you're invited. And then he said, oh, great. Well, how's money Monday? We didn't agree on the exact terms of if he's going to be on the show or not.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay, well, we'll. We'll see. We'll see.

[Luke Burbank]

Yes, we will find out together. So everybody tune in for that on Monday. It'll be fun. In the meantime, have a great weekend. Take care of yourselves, please. Go Seahawks. Yeah, we're back in action.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, we are.

[Luke Burbank]

And please remember. Nice. Oh, yeah. And please remember, no mountain too tall.

[Andrew Walsh]

And good luck to all. I like to be tan. It just feels good. Power out.