TBTL #4602: Two Baroque Girls

Date: November 20, 2025
Hosts: Luke Burbank & Andrew Walsh

Episode Overview

This episode features the quintessential TBTL mix of playful banter, oddball tangents, and surprisingly meaty discussions. Luke and Andrew open with vampire jokes and quickly settle into conversations about math confusion in the news, the perils of AI in documentaries, baroque classical music trivia, and Andrew’s immersion into the epic game Baldur’s Gate 3. As always, the pair zigzag through listener messages, musings on personal history, and pop culture rabbit holes. The tone is casual, meandering, and gleefully self-aware – a hangout for those who delight in podcasts where “anything can happen, but frequently nothing does.”

Major Discussion Threads & Highlights

1. Vampire Bits & Surreal Opening

• The cold open is a rapid-fire back-and-forth with vampire jokes, poking fun at the genre and the dramatics of immortality:
  • “The vampires are always like, oh, I'm a vampire. I'm immortal. I'm whatever. Well, okay, how about you go be immortal at brunch?” – Luke (00:17)

2. Math Meltdown: Parking Rates in Seattle Times

[03:00–07:57]

• Andrew is perturbed by a confusing Seattle Times article about parking rates:
  • “About one third of the city's parking rates increased by $0.50. Another third of the rates decreased, while 71% saw no change.”
• Both hosts obsess over the illogical math, toggling between fractions and percentages, and comparing numbers that add up to 137%.
  • “I think you should do percentages or fractions, but like in the same sentence, essentially… How does that leave 71%?” – Andrew (05:33)
• The discussion broadens to lament declining newsroom standards and the shrinking role of editors.
  • “There just used to be so many layers of editing…It’s just a small example of how editors do matter.” – Andrew (08:28)

3. Susan Orlean & The Evolution of Journalism

[08:28–13:30]

• Luke recounts an interview with author Susan Orlean, who reminisced about the three distinct phases of journalism—reporting, thinking, writing—and how these have collapsed in today’s media environment.
  • “We’ve collapsed the thinking… and the editor time. So almost none of those things that she mentioned really exist in most places anymore.” – Luke (08:28)
• Luke shares Orlean’s refusal to profile Macaulay Culkin for an “American Man” boys-of-all-ages magazine package, choosing a regular ten-year-old instead:
  • “If Esquire came to me at their height and said, we want you to do a profile of Macaulay Culkin, of course I'd be like, absolutely! Would never occur to me to say, no, that's not a good idea.” – Luke (11:36)

4. Tales from the Elevator & Religious Upbringings

[13:30–17:09]

• Humorous recollection of a D.C. elevator encounter where Luke was dubbed “a real man” just for wearing running clothes.
  • “Going for a run? … Now there's a real man.” – Andrew, riffing on Luke's story (13:30)
• Luke and Andrew riff on their contrasting childhood religious indoctrinations—Luke from an exclusionary evangelical sect, Andrew from Catholicism. The discussion pokes fun at the absurd boundaries between denominations and their status as “real” Christians.

5. Christian Science Monitor & Religious Sidebars

[16:00–18:49]

• A tangent on Christian Science Monitor, confusion about their beliefs, and the monitor’s historic reputation for solid reporting.
• Luke admits childhood indoctrination led to the assumption anyone outside his sect, including Catholics and Christian Scientists, was “going to hell.”

6. Andrew’s Journey into Baldur’s Gate 3

[18:49–29:35]

• Andrew recaps his introduction to the D&D-inspired video game Baldur’s Gate 3—including repeated re-starts, struggles with inventory management, character nudity surprises, and in-game decision trees:
  • “I think I just needed to talk. I didn't think about it at the time, but… I needed another human being to talk to who would know the language of the game a little bit.” – Andrew (20:00)
  • Andrew shares a string of texts with a friend, Libby, highlighting the game’s complexity and the accidental nudity of his “green lady” character:
  • “I found a cape or a cloak or something. I couldn't figure out what to do with it. And that's when I accidentally saw my character naked for the first time. It was surprising.” – Andrew (24:09)
  • Luke: “I'm just a naked green lady.” (28:29)
• Brief exploration of video games as immersive stories and Andrew’s aversion to online PvP with strangers, especially kids.
  • “I don't trust myself being in a competitive environment online with people I can't see.” – Luke (31:24)

7. Baroque Music, Wig Aversion, and the Definition of “Baroque”

[35:57–41:06]

• In a classic TBTL detour, Luke and Andrew debate what counts as Baroque classical music, confusing Tchaikovsky with Vivaldi and riffing on harpsichords vs. strings.
  • “I learned about it 'cause I learned it was the style of classical music that I liked — it’s called Baroque.” – Luke (36:35)
  • “Tchaikovsky is too much later, I think. And he's Russian.” – Andrew (39:44)
• Luke admits he likes Vivaldi “because I’m a basic B.”

8. Top Story: Can You Believe the Documentary You’re Watching? (AI & Truth)

[41:44–57:02]

• The hosts dive into a New York Times article about the existential threat AI poses to documentary filmmaking.
  • How deepfakes could erode public trust: “We’re becoming more aware of how easy it is to create convincing fake videos.”
  • The “liar’s dividend”—the idea that anyone caught in an incriminating moment can now simply claim “it’s AI”; references to Trump doing so.
  • Luke’s core concern: “When we literally cannot believe our eyes, what are we gonna do? How are we gonna have any kind of an agreement about even, like, who literally is the president?” (55:12)
  • Both hosts reminisce on how even traditional docs use reenactments, but AI ups the stakes of believability and fakery.
  • Andrew: “A painting is obviously a painting. A reenactment is usually pretty obviously a reenactment... and with AI you have to have that same obligation to label it as such.” (51:45)
• Lighter moment: Luke jokes about a future where reality is so blurred, “The only thing we'll ever be able to believe is literally something we watched with our own eyes in the same room. Because everything else will just be kind of up for debate.” (56:32)
• A rapid “Shaggy” reference: “It’s like Shaggy’s wet dream.” (57:02)

9. Scatman's World, Baroque Melodies, and Listener Blursdays

[58:29–69:18]

• Andrew encounters “Scatman’s World” at an airport bar for the first time in the wild; both marvel at their late discovery of its popularity.
  • “Becky totally knew about Scatman… He's like, yeah, everybody knows about Scat.” – Luke (60:43)
  • Luke tries to draw a connection between Scatman and classical music, thinking the song riffs on Pachelbel’s Canon.
• Blursday birthday wishes for listeners interspersed with classic TBTL asides about Macbeth, aging, and “kick, stretch and kick” SNL references.
• Hilarious listener message:
  • “Happy birthday to my dad, Chris, thanks so much for not being a total turd sandwich this year.” – (71:15)

Notable Quotes

• On math confusion in media:
  “Like, that's a crux point of the article… How could you just put that in so wrong, so wrongly?” – Luke (07:27)

• On documentary filmmaking & AI:
  “When we literally cannot believe our eyes, what are we gonna do?” – Luke (55:12)

  “A painting is obviously a painting. A reenactment is usually pretty obviously a reenactment... and with AI you have to have that same obligation to label it as such.” – Andrew (51:45)

  *“It’s like Shaggy’s wet dream.” [About deniability with deepfakes] – Andrew (57:02)

• On Baldur’s Gate 3 Nudity:
  “I found a cape or a cloak or something... That’s when I accidentally saw my character naked for the first time. It was surprising.” – Andrew (24:09)
  “I'm just a naked green lady.” – Luke (28:29)

• On getting older:
  “I've been leaning on that as a comedic premise for so long because it was not really true … Now, that's just an accurate way to describe things.” – Luke (70:40)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:00–01:00 – Vampire banter intro.
• 03:00–07:57 – Seattle parking math confusion.
• 08:28–13:30 – Susan Orlean & journalism changes.
• 18:49–29:35 – Baldur’s Gate 3 “green lady” saga.
• 35:57–41:06 – Baroque music debate & trivia.
• 41:44–57:02 – Top Story: AI, documentaries, and the “liar’s dividend.”
• 58:29–69:18 – Scatman’s World, classical overlap, Blursdays & aging.

Tone & Style

Loose, tangential, and down-to-earth; affectionate toward their own and others’ confusion; a blend of nostalgia, gentle outrage at modern life, and camaraderie through shared ignorance.

Memorable Moments

• The real-time fact-checking of the Seattle Times math error and Andrew’s journey through the article’s comments section (06:41).
• Hilarious text exchange with Andrew’s friend about the steamy, baroque world of Baldur’s Gate 3 (24:09–29:35).
• Scatman's World epiphany: the hosts realizing they are behind the curve on the international Scatman phenomenon (60:43).
• The hosts’ faux-expert debate on what music counts as baroque (35:57).

For New Listeners

This episode encapsulates the freeform, affectionate, slightly bemused inquiry TBTL is known for. If you love podcasts that meander through pop culture, news, and nostalgia—punctuated by inside jokes and bursts of genuine concern for the state of the world—this one’s for you.

Power out.