#4667 Bleu Collar

Summary

TBTL: Too Beautiful To Live

Episode #4667 – "Bleu Collar"
Original air date: February 19, 2026
Hosts: Luke Burbank & Andrew Walsh

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Episode Overview

In this Thursday edition of TBTL, Luke Burbank and Andrew Walsh, the "longest running Cobros," serve up their signature blend of quirky banter, listener engagement, and deep dives into the mundane turned magical. Episode #4667, titled "Bleu Collar," winds through a chaotic labyrinth of topics — from dubious sports rumors on social media, to wildlife sightings on the Columbia, to a heartfelt breakdown of a classic French film, and of course, their legendary listener-submitted Blursday segment. This episode exemplifies TBTL’s affectionate irreverence for both the important and the absurd, all laced with nostalgia for both their own show’s history and life’s smaller, weirder moments.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Red Carpet Role-Play and Opening Banter

• The show opens with the hosts riffing on a faux-Hollywood scene (00:01–00:12), packed with inside jokes and gentle mocking of celebrity culture and awkward introductions.
• Notable Quote:
  "Although love is love is love is love, as Linda Manuel once said. It's Lin Manuel. Miranda Lin, man. Who's Linda Manuel then, and why do I represent her?"
  – Andrew Walsh & Luke Burbank (00:11)

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2. Luke's Columbia River Wildlife Mystery

• Luke recounts his excitement at observing what he thought were dolphins or porpoises on the Columbia River, interrupting a previous show to grab his binoculars (01:49 on).
• After consulting with a friend and researching, they conclude it was likely harbor porpoises, unusual for that section of the river but attracted by a seasonal abundance of smelt (13:39–16:03).
• The discussion segues into broader observations about nature, regional wildlife, and the pleasures of witnessing unexpected moments.
• Notable Moment:
  "Unless these seals learned how to swim in tight formation, like in different pods and... grow a fin on their back, these were, I promise, not harbor seals."
  – Luke (14:29)

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3. Media Literacy and Sports Rumors

• Andrew details how a fake rumor about the Seahawks refusing a White House invitation began circulating on "Blue Sky" and how he briefly fell for it before fact-checking.
• The hosts use this as a springboard to discuss the spread of misinformation on social media (04:32–06:46).
• Luke and Andrew analyze the tradition and politics of championship teams visiting the White House, using the Seahawks and other pro sports teams as examples, and riffing on which sport’s athletes are "dumbest" (baseball, says Luke, tongue-in-cheek) or most likely to refuse a political invitation (10:27–11:33).
• Memorable Exchange:
  "I saw the post, I'm like, oh that's great. I hit like. But then I'm like, where's the story from? What are the details? I immediately Google it. … I unliked it and then liked somebody who said we should fact check this first."
  – Andrew (05:39)

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4. French Cinema Deep Dive – "Bonheur" ("Happiness")

• Luke watches the film "Bonheur" after Andrew's recommendation, leading to an unexpectedly rich analysis of its style, themes, and the effect of knowing little about a classic foreign film (44:23–63:42).

• They touch on:

  • The naturalism of the performances, notably the use of the lead actor’s real-life family as the onscreen family (46:33–50:25).
  • The humble, rural-yet-charming setting and the contrast to American suburbia (49:17).
  • The aesthetic beauty and innovative camera work for the era.
  • Themes of family, nature, and subtle undercurrents of privilege and masculinity.
  • The presence of cross-cultural motifs, like children in France playing "cowboys and Indians."
  • Whether the movie fits the "horror" label tagged by some critics.
  • A tangent on the fundamental differences between rural, suburban, and urban lifestyles in France.

• Notable Quotes:
  "Every shot was like, if I took one photo as beautiful as a single random shot in that movie, I could die happy."
  – Andrew (53:15)
  "I found the scenes with the children ... to be shockingly naturalistic. And now that makes sense, because they're literally the parents. That's extremely smart casting."
  – Luke (50:21)

• Fashion Fun Fact:
  Luke geeks out on the French “chore coat,” the classic blue jacket worn by workers in the film, and connects it to the etymology of "blue collar" (57:44–59:40).

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5. TBTL & Listener Nostalgia

• Reflecting on the show's longevity, Luke and Andrew exchange memories about their early interactions and the evolving TBTL community (28:12–32:37).
• Andrew recalls his first contributions and the specific days listening while packing up to move to Seattle — grounding the show’s cultural resonance for long-time listeners.

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6. Sports Ownership Anxiety & Local Lore

• Discussion of the Seahawks’ impending sale, unease about Jeff Bezos as a potential owner, and the legacy of bad (and good) sports owners in Seattle’s history—woven with personal stories (34:19–39:09).
• Luke mentions his well-known grudge against Howard Schultz for the Sonics’ move.
• Notable Moment:
  "My desire to be close to [the whales] would not supersede my desire for their life to be as uninterrupted as possible.”
  – Luke, on responsible wildlife tourism, tying human wonder to animal wellbeing (22:07)

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7. Dazzling Donors: Listener Appreciation

• As an all-listener-supported podcast, much love is given to community donors, including Barbara from San Jose and Aaron (aka "A-Aron") from Shoreline, Washington.
• Chat ensues about home improvement tips, notably bathroom shower waterproofing (Aaron plugs Hydro Block showers) and humorous confessions about kitchen sink substitutes (41:23–43:13).
• Memorable Exchange:
  "I will dump it into the bathroom sink, which feels very... there's something wrong about that, Luke."
  – Andrew (42:35)

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8. Blursdays – Listener Birthday Shoutouts

(63:50–76:25)

• A signature TBTL tradition: heartfelt, quirky, and sometimes hilarious listener birthday messages, including:
  • A listener grateful for TBTL’s longevity (Leslie, turning 60).
  • A family affair with sons Ezra and Iris sending golden birthday wishes to their mom.
  • An astrophysicist daughter sending cosmic love to her 84-year-old mom.
  • Many "golden" birthdays and reminders of the community's breadth.
• Notable Quote:
  “Mom, I love you to the edge of the observable universe and back. ... Let's keep doing nothing and see what happens.”
  – Summer (75:37)

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9. Meta Moments & Podcasting Chaos

• The perils of modern technology are hilariously illustrated by Genevieve’s laptop mysteriously playing religious audio to the bewilderment of their contractor, prompting a reflection on the random embarrassment factor of device autoplay (77:28–78:47).
• Andrew and Luke also commiserate on the agony of TikToks or YouTube videos repeating incessantly just out of reach.

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10. The Art of Video Editing – Viral Clip Breakdown

• Andrew and Luke wrap up the episode with an extended, joyous breakdown of a viral video (“Mentos-coke explosion” with aggressive edits), reflecting on why its comedic escalation is so effective (80:55–84:52).
• Notable Quote:
  "There’s something about how the joke is repeated and previewed in a way that just, like, really, really adds to the humor."
  – Luke (84:52)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Baseball are the dumbest athletes. Without a doubt. I would say football players are the smartest athletes ...”
  – Luke, with comic overstatement (10:27)

• "If you spent one second trying to understand an NFL play... I think it’s harder than writing an economics paper."
  – Luke (11:07)

• “A practical example of modern communication.”
  – Luke, after Andrew’s self-deprecating media literacy story (00:55)

• “People always tell me I should be a comedian. And that’s just one of the worst things you could hear at the beginning of a one hour excursion.”
  – Luke, recalling an awkward whale-watching tour guide (18:55)

• “You don't get to have that jaw and just eat a baguette like that.”
  – Andrew, on the unfairly handsome French film protagonist (62:05)

• “Do you think the French guy was looks maxing? … No, because he was not trying.”
  – Luke, summing up French/masculine effortless cool (63:30)

• “The more opinionated and uncensored, the better. See that? Andrew, A-A Ron would like some hot talk from us.”
  – Luke, on listener preferences (39:45)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Columbia River wildlife mystery: 1:49–16:03
• Fake Seahawks White House rumor / media literacy: 4:32–6:46
• Sports, the White House, and athlete intelligence debate: 9:58–11:33
• French film "Bonheur" discussion: 44:23–63:42
• Listener nostalgia & show history: 28:12–32:37
• Seahawks ownership anxiety: 34:19–39:09
• Shower waterproofing and NPR jokes: 41:23–43:30
• Blursdays: 63:50–76:25
• Genevieve’s computer and podcast mishaps: 77:28–78:47
• Viral video editing breakdown (Mentos & Coke): 80:55–84:52

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Tone & Style

True to TBTL’s reputation, the tone is rambling-yet-charming; the show walks a line between self-deprecation, affectionate nostalgia, and earnest intellectual curiosity, interspersed with inside jokes, absurd hypothetical debates, and relatable digressions. Both hosts’ banter is tinged with warmth toward their audience, celebrating ordinary life’s oddities and their close-knit TBTL community.

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Conclusion

Episode #4667 "Bleu Collar" is a quintessential TBTL journey through pop culture, sports, personal obsessions, and the world of its loyal listeners. Anchored by smart, silly, and sometimes heartfelt exchanges, it reveals how the ordinary can become extraordinary when filtered through the lens of two friends goofing their way through the world — the very ethos behind “Too Beautiful To Live.”

Transcript

[Luke Burbank]

Hi. Hey.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, my God. How's your first red carpet?

[Luke Burbank]

I can't believe they flew you all

[Andrew Walsh]

the way out here for this. Hey, hey, hey, hey. Nice to meet you. I'm Chase, Dream's manager. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Now, we met last week.

[Andrew Walsh]

We had a full meal together. Oh, gay brother and girl sister, right? Oh, you guys aren't getting married, are you? Because that would be bad optics for this guy right here. Although love is love is love is love, as Linda Manuel once said. It's Lin Manuel. Miranda Lin, man. Who's Linda Manuel then, and why do I represent her?

[Luke Burbank]

Tbt. She's buying, right?

[Andrew Walsh]

Because I will be ordering a bowl of soup as an appetizer, not a cup. Chuck, I know people say I'll fill up, but you have no idea how

[Luke Burbank]

my body processes soup.

[Andrew Walsh]

I love pickles. You know, it's my heritage. I love a pickle. It's embarrassing and it's gross, but at

[Luke Burbank]

least it's kind of funny.

[Andrew Walsh]

There you have it.

[Luke Burbank]

A practical example of modern communication.

[Andrew Walsh]

How'd it go? Well, he's gonna acknowledge me on Instagram, so I guess you could say I was one of best conversations of my entire life. You know, it's just living truthfully in imaginary circumstances.

[Luke Burbank]

So if you're out there, come find me.

[Andrew Walsh]

All right?

[Luke Burbank]

Hello, good morning, and welcome, everyone, to a Thursday edition of tbtl, the show that just might be too beautiful to live. Isn't that for techno geeks with spreadsheet? My name's Luke Burbank. I'm your host. I just want you to be normal, and clearly you're not. Coming to you from the Madrona Hills studio, perched high above the mighty and frigid Columbia. It's a cold day here in southern Washington. I can look across the Columbia river over to Oregon, and I can see that there is snow up on the hills. All the places that they just deforested are now covered in snow, snow, snow,

[Andrew Walsh]

and more snow, and you've got a really nasty mixture.

[Luke Burbank]

It's episode 4667 in a collector series, Let the fun begin. And speaking of the natural world and the mighty Columbia, yesterday I interrupted the show rudely, some would say unprofessionally, others have said. Although I've blocked them on the various platforms. Because out there in the mighty Columbia, there was something going on that I had never seen before, which was. First, I just thought there was some kind of odd wave pattern, like the wind was hitting the water in an odd way. But it was. It was inexplicable. And so I broke out the binoculars. I interrupted the dazzling donor messages to break out the binoculars and look out onto the river. And what I thought I saw was a pod of like, black, like, dolphins swimming around chasing fish.

[Andrew Walsh]

Lou, what is that? What is.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm like, I don't know. I don't. What is it? The Internet didn't seem to give me any reason to believe that what I was seeing was actually the case. Anyway, I've been reaching out to some well placed people here in Southern Washington. We've got some clarity on what we think was happening yesterday. Also, last night I watched that French movie that Andrew recommended called Happiness, and I got thoughts on it. So we'll talk about that. Oh, and let's see. You know what? I was about to promote another story, but my friends here, 4,667 episodes, and I'm finally learning that if in my mind I already know we're not going to get to the story, there's no reason to. There's no reason to dangle it in front of all of your ears and then not get to it. So let's focus on something that we will get to, and that is the blurs days, because it's a Thursday. We'll definitely get to those, and we'll definitely get to this guy. Longest running cobra of the show. Oh, my God. He may be best known for his depictions of the tall ships. He's Andrew Walsh and he's joining me right now. Good morning, my friend.

[Andrew Walsh]

Good morning, Luke. Do you think that the Seahawks will end up going to the White House?

[Luke Burbank]

Well, then you better come up with tomorrow's show, brother. You get to. You get to find a story for tomorrow. That's your job.

[Andrew Walsh]

Now, do the listeners know why I am laughing so hard at my little spoofy spoof there?

[Luke Burbank]

Hold on. You know what? I need to just chill out, mon. Okay? I'm better.

[Andrew Walsh]

All right, good. I can't.

[Luke Burbank]

No, no, no.

[Andrew Walsh]

That. That's the. That's the story that you skipped on the show sheet. So I wanted.

[Luke Burbank]

I had already promoted so much st. I mean, yeah, whatever. Here's. Let's just do it. Let's just do it right now. Let's do it right now. Andrew, it's like me making you pack the smoke. The entire pack of cigarettes.

[Andrew Walsh]

No, we'll do. Oh, God, that sounds great.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, we'll smoke the entire story right now, buddy.

[Andrew Walsh]

I actually do want to say I'm not 100% sure of your framing of it, to be honest with you. So both. I'm Forcing the issue. And I'm attacking you right at the top of the show, just like the hot talk radio. But I will say that the reason I found some interest in this story was I saw a post from somebody that I follow and generally like and trust on Blue sky yesterday. And it was like a screen cap that looked kind of like an official like news breaking screen cap of some sort, but like, like, you know, something you might see on Instagram or something like a tile that somebody made with some text that looked professional enough that said, Seahawks refuse invitation to White House. And then I saw that passed around and then I was like, oh, this is great. And I even liked it. And then I was like, wait a second, where's the story, though? And then as soon as I. And this all happened within 30 seconds of me.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

Eating soup. And it was like, no, this has not been verified.

[Luke Burbank]

I have no idea how your body processes. And I. And honestly, I don't want to know,

[Andrew Walsh]

but I really did think it was an interesting. It was an interesting example of people.

[Luke Burbank]

Your media illiteracy.

[Andrew Walsh]

No, no, like I.

[Luke Burbank]

You liked it. It was a pretend story that was a 5% media illiterate of you.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, yes, but I unliked it within 30 seconds.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, you unliked it too. Okay.

[Andrew Walsh]

No, I'm okay, I'm sitting.

[Luke Burbank]

I didn't know about the unliking it.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, I didn't.

[Luke Burbank]

You got me on my heels. You really gotta matt me this morning.

[Andrew Walsh]

Gotta be able to finish this. I'm sitting there, I'm reading my Blue Sky, I see the post, I'm like, oh, that's great. I hit like. But then I'm like, where's the story from? What are the details? I immediately Google it. Go. Google says, no, no invitation has been sent. This all started with some person who just stated it on some. On Instagram or Blue Sky. And then it became a story. People started making badges of the story and passing it around. So I immediately unliked it and then liked somebody who said we should fact check this first. And so I'd been sort of following it. I'm like, where is this story from? And it seems to be the original story of like the Seahawks actually turning down an invitation. Seems to have just been made up. They tracked it back to one guy who just said it. And a whole bunch of people wanted to hear that news and just ran with it.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, the Seattle Times has been trying to get a comment from the White House, apparently. By the way, this is. I'm learning that the Seattle Times still has A DC correspondent or maybe recently hired one. Anamita Kaur, writing in your Seattle Times, Andrew, that basically the headline is Seahawks haven't received a White House invitation. Which is different, of course than Seahawks turned down White House invitation. And the Times reporter has been trying to get a response from the White House. The White House will not respond to this. So, I mean, here's what I think is really going on. I think that the White House, they also, by the way, like the President apparently rescinded an invite to the eagles back in 2018. So we're going way back now, first term after their super bowl win because members of the team, some members had announced they would skip the visit. And so then extremely secure, extremely mature person, current President Donald J. Trump then just said, well then you're not invited.

[Andrew Walsh]

Right.

[Luke Burbank]

Because some of you don't want to come here. So then fine, I won't even. Not even invited. And apparently it's created now this, I sort of have really actually stopped tracking this because of the fact that I haven't had a team, you know, that's been in, that's won the championship in a while. The team that I follow closely like the Seahawks. So I haven't been clocking how many teams end up going to the White House now when they win. Of course, it was a long running tradition, regardless of the particular party of the person in office. It was just kind of a thing. It was just kind of one of those ceremonial, perfunctory kind of things. And of course, nothing is like that anymore. So my sense is that the White House is not going to invite the Seahawks because the President is worried that some of the Seahawks will decide not to go and his fragile ego will not be able to handle that is where I think we're at with this. But all of this is a giant relief to me, honestly, because if the White House were to invite them and then some of them were to go, then I would have to have feelings about the some of them that went, which I don't want to have.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, now I'm with you that I'm guessing that the White House or Trump will see the writing on the wall and probably assume that the Seahawks don't want to come. But you mentioned the 2018 Eagles not going to the White House. But the 2025 Eagles did go to the White House and I'm pretty sure almost everybody showed up for that. So I don't kind of know what. Yeah, so it, my guess is whoever is making this decision from the White House's perspective is trying to get a beat on whether people show up because obviously, and I'll never stop, you know, highlighting this, that the, the Dodgers went there happily and celebrated with him.

[Luke Burbank]

Now I'm trying to remember, are you pro or anti Dodgers?

[Andrew Walsh]

I, you know what, it's complicated because it's like there's a, there's an amount of dislike and then there's amount of hate and it's kind of hard to say. But anyway, so I, my, I, my is that the invitation never comes. I mean, my hope would be that the invitation comes and all of the Seahawks are just like, no way, bro. That would be awesome. But my guess is, I'm guessing with you that the invitation will never come, but I guess we just don't know yet.

[Luke Burbank]

It's interesting too, which sport. And this is where I'm going to get into some absolutely gross. And I mean emphasis on the gross generalizations, Andrew. But there's. They're also based on some amount of time being me spending around pro athletes of all three sports, which, in which team sport would you think there would be the greatest likelihood that the team might say, no thanks. Would it be baseball, basketball or football? I can tell you, I can tell you right now, it's not baseball. It's.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Baseball are the dumbest athletes. Without a doubt. Without a doubt. I would say football players are the smartest athletes because the complexity of the game is wild. But basketball has long been considered, I guess, the most quote, unquote, woke, you know, and even the NBA is a little bit less punishingly sort of controlling around what its athletes do. So I feel like on, I mean, I'm obviously equating intelligence with not wanting to go to the White House for the record.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

But like, I just think football players, whatever. Like this idea that football players are lunkheads is so wildly off. If you spent one second trying to understand an NFL play.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, right.

[Luke Burbank]

I think it's harder than like, like right. In an economics paper or something. So I guess I would say maybe basketball play an NBA team just because it's a little bit more. It's just, it's a league where players did kneel and were not. Did not face consequences, you know, during the day and stuff like that. Whereas if obviously the NFL came down on Kaepernick, I don't. Again, what I can say is it ain't baseball. It ain't baseball.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, no, absolutely. The Mariners, that, that was a real, that was a real concern for me

[Luke Burbank]

because the Mariner concern going into this season, brother.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Because I wouldn't be shocked if we. If we get to the World Series.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, we'll see. So anyway, well, there I got to do my. I got to do my story now. What's going on with I. When you, when you kind of played that drop about that's a tuna bro, it never occurred to me how life has. How your life or the life of the show has bent around that piece of tape that we love from 10 years ago of two men. Two men trying to figure out what kind of a fish or megafauna they're seeing in the water.

[Luke Burbank]

I believe it was a sunfish that

[Andrew Walsh]

ended up being a sunfish. But here we are. You're having your own that's a tuna bro moment with the life in the river below you.

[Luke Burbank]

And I know that this is, even by my standards, truly terrible podcasting because it's like what happened was I observed something visually yesterday that is pretty much only interesting to me. It's nothing that the listeners could see, but it was to me, I don't want to say profound, but it was like incredible. I sit here anytime. I'm doing the show from home. I'm sitting here, Andrew, I'm talking to you. And I'm staring at this river for hours on end throughout all of the seasons. I'm very kind of tuned into what tends to go on and doesn't go on. And so when I saw like all of the first thing that my eyes were alerted to was this again, a bunch of white caps. Right. But it wasn't windy enough for white caps. So I was trying to figure out what is creating all those white caps kind of out in the middle of the river. That's when I broke out the binoculars. And that's when I saw these porpoise or dolphin like things swimming in like three different pods. And I could tell that they had that kind of classic fin. And you've seen that, Andrew, like when you and V's have been out, like maybe in Hawaii, whale watching or something, or just anywhere out in the ocean, particularly a little bit of a warmer place. You tend to see, you know, like again, maybe not full on dolphins, but porpoises and things like that are fairly common.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, of course.

[Luke Burbank]

And we all kind of know what that looks like, how they kind of. They sort of like come out of the water just a little bit. You just see their back and then they're fin and then they go back in and there's a group of them. So that's what I was looking at. And so I was Very excited by that because I've never seen it before. And I thought that they were probably chasing fish. And then I. But while we were talking, I continued to kind of Google what did I see. And there was no support for there being any dolphins this far down the Columbia. And also even porpoises, they supposedly don't really come down this far, generally speaking. Well, I was so amped when I got off, off the air with this. I was still searching around and I was telling my friend Spring who lives out in this way, I was like, you can't, you will not believe what I saw in the Columbia. And she was like, do you think it was a seal? And I was like, I know what a seal looks like. It's definitely not a seal.

[Andrew Walsh]

And.

[Luke Burbank]

And then she sent me a news story about someone mistaking a seal for a dolphin. And I was like, I was like, unless these seals learned how to swim in tight formation, like in different pods and learned how to somehow grow a fin on their back, these were, I promise, these were not harbor seals. And so she reached out to a friend who works on the river and said, oh, no, those are definitely harbor porpoises from basically they mostly hang out at the mouth of the Columbia river where it meets the Pacific Oceans. That'd be out near Astoria, near, I think it's Cape Disappointment, which is this crazy. It's where the like Coast Guard, the most elite Coast Guard rescue teams train for doing like super dangerous, scary, kind of like open water, stormy rescues. Because it, because of the way that the Pacific Ocean and the Columbia meet. It creates this like, incredibly chaotic environment. So anyway, the harbor porpoises were chasing smelt because it's smelt season. I don't know who dealt it, Andrew, but I know that they smelt it because. And there are tons of smelt and they will sometimes come down this far if there are a lot of smelt. And that's exactly what was happening yesterday. So I, again, nobody except me cares about this, but I have some confirmation or at least some, some informed speculation that I did see harbor porpoises. They were all the way down here from Astoria. They were chasing smelt. And, and I was, I'm, I was very excited about that.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, the fact that you described them as, as black dolphins as well was confusing because I, and I totally, I mean, they, that could exist, but I was looking it up and it looks like there's something called black dolphins in a very different part of the world. You must have totally stumbled on that as well.

[Luke Burbank]

They're generally Gray, in my experience of seeing, I don't even, you know, to be honest with you, I don't know if I've ever seen, if I've ever seen real dolphins. I've seen tons of porpoises, tons and tons. But like, if we're talking about something like Flipper, if we're talking about something like you see at SeaWorld, I mean I've seen them maybe in like a aquarium or whatever, but like out in the world, out like, you know, Becca and I went whale watching the last time we were in Hawaii and stuff. We saw a lot of things that were dolphin esque, but I don't know if they were legit dolphins.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, I'm looking forward to that. We're going to be heading to Hawaii soon and that's always a big part of our. That's. Yeah, and end of March. And so that's always the big part of our trip is the whale watching, which it started, you know, with me, Genevieve and her like family going on these kind of bigger kind of booze, cruisy kind of boats, you know, like almost like a, not a ferry, but more like that with an upstairs and a downstairs you can look over the rails to.

[Luke Burbank]

Now we're like, we're like, you're now under the boat. You're in scuba gear being. Being hung from belief beneath the hull of the boat.

[Andrew Walsh]

We're like Bob Balaban in Seinfeld trying to. He joins Greenpeace and he's in one of those little rubber boats. Exactly. So that's what we'll be doing.

[Luke Burbank]

That's what you guys are in, huh?

[Andrew Walsh]

We do get in those rubber boats. Yeah, Sit on the edge of the rubber. I love that. And that way, because Genevieve is super, super, super into nature and learning about the animals and everything. And I'm there and I'm like, oh, this is interesting. But like also my mind will wander. I like to take photos and not even photos of the animals. Like you need kind of a telephoto lens to take some incredible photos of that, but like, you know, just of the surroundings. And I like dipping my hand in the water. I like just, I, I just like being out there for a couple of hours or a few hours or whatever it is.

[Luke Burbank]

We've got it. Next time Becca and I are over that way. That's what we've got to do. Because last time we were there we did the, we did the whale watching thing, but we were on one of those kind of. Yeah, one of those kind of. It's a boat it's got two different, like, floor, you know, two levels to it. And it was. To be honest, it was still cool.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, that's the thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Like, because we get out there and I'm like, are we even gonna see anything? And also we had. It was rough. I might have talked about this on the show. I can't remember if I was doing shows from Hawaii or not. I think I might have mentioned this, but we had like, the captain who was on the mic was like, this has happened to us now twice. Once in San Antonio, we did a river. The San Antonio, like, river tour. They have this like, kind of man made river that snakes through San Antonio. And the person leading, you know, the person on the mic on the little boat was like, people always tell me I should be a comedian. And that's just one of the worst things you could hear at the beginning of a one hour excursion.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, it is.

[Luke Burbank]

People always tell me I should be a comedian.

[Andrew Walsh]

It was brutal and, like, second only to, does anybody else smell that?

[Luke Burbank]

Yep. And so we're like. We're just like, oh, no. And yes, it was as bad as we were worried it would be. This person was just constantly trying to crack all these jokes and it was just. And there wasn't that many people on the boat. And I. I'm really uncomfortable when someone is making an obvious attempt at humor and. And I don't know how to react to it. Like, I don't. I can't do the fake laugh. Or sometimes I do, but then I hate myself for it. And. And, you know, if there's not a lot of people to spread that burden, that emotional labor.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's rough. Yeah, right.

[Luke Burbank]

This was a little better because there was a lot of people on the boat, so I didn't feel like I had to laugh at him, but it's just. Again, it was painful that he liked. I'm like, you're like a Captain Ron type. He was like a kind of a sunburn. I think he was maybe from New Zealand originally or like Australia. He was like a kind of a sunburned guy from. Who had an accent who knows all about whales and knows about running the boat, which. That's sufficient. That's all I'm looking for in this tour, sir. But anyway, that was. It was still really fun. And that was with us not actually being able to get very close to the whales. How close are you actually getting to those whales and that little Bob Ballabbed?

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, pretty close. There are rules about how close you can get and I think so. I don't want to make it sound like we're outside the law here.

[Luke Burbank]

No. But just a smaller boat, it would seem. Yeah, you can get to be a

[Andrew Walsh]

little bit more really close. Like, I have a photo of a whale breaching. I told you before, like, when you're taking photos with your camera, like, if people are showing up with their actual cameras, not their phone cameras or whatever, usually these are people. And sometimes they're very annoying, too, with like, you know, like a telephoto lens and something that can kind of zoom in well and have, you know, very. You don't really need the lens to be fast in that situation, but whatever. But the point is, I don't have that kind of stuff. I have a wide angle lens that I just like to take my weird photos with, but I usually, like, carry it with me anyway. But even with my. Well, not really wide angle, but my 55 millimeter lens, which is just like. It's just what the human eye sees. When you say 55, it's just like, that's what the human eye sees. Like, I have this photo of these whales that look like it's zoomed in. Like, we were so close to them. But I will say I've never been on a boat where I feel like they are Captain Ronning it too much. Like, it seems like even this last one we went on in Mexico where we were very, very close to the animals before we got on it. We had to sit through, like, I don't know, a 20 minute, like, really janky slideshow with mod. And the instructor had plastic models of the various, like, whales and, like, did a Q and A with us and everything. Like, they're very into the educational experience and I believe the safety of the animals as well. Genevieve always picks these places. I would feel pretty uncomfortable if it was like, hey, look how close we're getting to the animals. And they have a cigarette dangling out of their. No, I corner their mouth and they're holding a Coors Light. Right.

[Luke Burbank]

And I want to be clear, too, that our captain, he was very by the rules in terms of, you know, like, the boat in the distance and all that. It wasn't like he was. Honestly, his biggest transgression was his attempts at comedy.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, that's.

[Luke Burbank]

It wasn't anything. And I. And I also wouldn't want. I mean, yes. I'm so in awe of these creatures that I would. My desire to be close to them would not supersede my desire for their life to be as uninterrupted as possible. I would happily be further away from them because of the rules than closer to them. And in any way, like, making, like, ruining their day, you know, stressing them out, freaking them out. Like, I don't want any part of that. Now. When you say breaching, you mean fully jumping out of the water? Like, that thing's in the air. Like, it's out of.

[Andrew Walsh]

A whale is never full fully out of the water. That would be crazy. But, like. Yeah, but, like, you know, breach and then. And then blow. You know, it'll blow its water. Let me see if I can.

[Luke Burbank]

All right. Well, because I always think of breaching as, like, they. They're jumping most of their body out of the water.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. Like a. You'll see a whole. You'll kind of. Not all at once, but you'll see a big chunk of them kind of come up out of the water and then go back down. Then they'll go back down for a really, really long time while they get more fish.

[Luke Burbank]

But, like, actually, I think the coolest thing that we saw involving whales and breaching was not even in that boat. But I think later on that same trip, we were, like, driving around. It was me and Becca and her brother Scott and his wife Tiff. And it was just. It was like sunset, and we were, like, literally, like, in maybe. We were in maybe their rental car or something, and we just roll up to this beach and just happened to be sunset, and we didn't have, like, a blanket and a pillow. Like, we weren't there to do, like, a picnic. We're just like, hey, at sunset, let's try to catch a view of that. It's Hawaii. It's the sunset. We park, I think, illegally, because I think the place is already packed. We jump out, we run over, and literally, as the sun is setting, there are these two enormous, like, I'm gonna say humpback whales, although I don't really know what they were, but we're talking gigantic ones that just decided to put on an incredible performance where they were just jump, like, almost completely leaving the water and then slapping down, and then another one would go up and, like, as the sun is, like, setting behind them. Andrew, if you think I wasn't crying a little bit.

[Andrew Walsh]

It was like.

[Luke Burbank]

It was intense. It was, like, one of the coolest things that I've ever seen. So. But. But critically, and I think this is what the listeners are also curious about. Andrew, do I have it on my calendar that you're going to Hawaii?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, I think we've Talked about this a lot. You should. We'll talk about it more. It's at the end of March. It's. It's kind of a Genevieve birthday trip situation. By the way, I am sending you, end of March, a photo of.

[Luke Burbank]

I do not have it on my calendar. And that's. I'm sure that's not your fault. I better put it on there.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, yeah. I'll resend you the dates later. Sent them.

[Luke Burbank]

Let me check my Palm Pilot.

[Andrew Walsh]

But anyway, I did just send you a photo of Genevieve and dolphins. I just want to be very clear. When you open this up and you look, you're like, those are. Andrew thinks dolphins are whales. I just want you to know that the photo. The photo I could find on the fly was dolphins.

[Luke Burbank]

See, I don't even know. Maybe I have seen those, but I don't even know if I've seen something that cool in the dolphin space. I think I've mostly seen porpoises. And this is obviously Hawaii. I'm guessing this one here.

[Andrew Walsh]

Let me see. I don't know. I can't figure out if it was Mexico or Hawaii. Those.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay. Somewhere warm, though.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

We was hoping for some razzle dazzle. Razzle dazzle. That's right, man. Razzle dazzle. On your mark.

[Andrew Walsh]

On your mark. Get set now.

[Luke Burbank]

Ready? Ready.

[Andrew Walsh]

Go.

[Luke Burbank]

Everybody rattles Dazzle. All right, let's thank some dazzling donors. These folks are donating a dazzling amount of dough, and that's how this whole thing can work. That's how we can do this five days a week, all year long. It's 100% listener supported. Supported by folks like our friend Barbara west of San Jose, California.

[Andrew Walsh]

San Jose. Barbie.

[Luke Burbank]

Pronounce her or Barbie. I suppose. I don't know that. I suppose Andrew sounds like maybe. Maybe Barbara. Maybe we're. Maybe we're. We're entering a Barbara phase.

[Andrew Walsh]

Barbara explained this. Maybe last year, the year before that. She goes by Barbara, but I think when she joined the TENS community, maybe there was already a Barbara or something. There was some reason that she.

[Luke Burbank]

There was.

[Andrew Walsh]

I think she created that name specifically as, like, kind of her.

[Luke Burbank]

Her 10 handle.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. Nom de plume.

[Luke Burbank]

But I just want to make sure that Barbara, like, is still cool with that.

[Andrew Walsh]

Sure, yeah. I'm with you.

[Luke Burbank]

We just made a big production the other day about how we will pronounce your name. Ideally, correctly or even however you want it. Even if it's incorrectly. If your name is Des Moines, that's fine. We'll call you Des Moines. Barbara is in San Jose, California, says, wow, it's hard to believe another year has gone by. And I'm so happy that TBTL is still such an important part of my life. Aw, Barbara, I'm glad that it's part of your life, too. Like, I remember when Barbara entered the discourse, like, years and years ago. And I remember it being. It blowing my mind that we had someone listening in San Jose, California.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, all the way.

[Luke Burbank]

I feel like it was definitely still radio times, maybe. And just like, anytime we had somebody checking in from a place that wasn't, you know, Green Lake, it was just like, I can't believe this is traveling as far as San Jose. And so for this to be so many years later, so many episodes later, and Barbara's still listening and donating, it's just, like, incredible. I've still never missed an episode. And whenever the guys say, I'm sure everybody stopped listening an hour ago, I promise you, we haven't. TVTL continues to be a weirdly important relationship in my life, despite the fact that we're all imaginary radio friendos. You three business boys are such special people. And so are all of the other people who pop into the show, like Luke's mom, David Veeves, Bingo Pflech, and all the others who make surprise guest appearances. I'm looking forward to many more years of being able to support this podcast and the awesome community surrounding it. Ah, Barbara, well, thank you so much for. Yeah, just being a friend of the show for all these years and for giving me some early indication that maybe this was working, that maybe people outside of the immediate Cairo radio listening audience would have some interest in this.

[Andrew Walsh]

So eventually you'd reach as far away as New Hampshire. Hampshire and Japan.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, yeah. Did you ever interact with. I mean, I know you sent in some drops, right?

[Andrew Walsh]

I sent you that Bob. Not Bob Garfield, the Bob Edwards drop of. That's the saddest thing I've ever heard.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, that's. And that's still in heavy rotation, so good instincts on that.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, I think I've looked.

[Luke Burbank]

Also, I wouldn't put it past you to send me a Bob Garfield.

[Andrew Walsh]

Bob Garfield has made its way into. Let's see here. Here's the email that I sent to you on March 5th, 2009. So. March 5th. We're getting close to the anniversary of this thing, although I can't do the math. I wrote to you. Hey, Luke, Andrew Walsh here. The guy from New Hampshire. So apparently you. Apparently. I had reached out to you in some sort of correspondence before this. I would have guessed this was our first correspondence, but I guess, I guess not. Andrew Walsh here, the guy from New Hampshire. I'm attaching a two second piece of audio here. Genevieve and I play it for each other a lot. It's from a Bob Edwards Morning Edition interview. I can't remember the exact topic. Oh, you know what? I realize I might have. This is March of 2009. I'm already in Seattle. I must have come and visited you and then I must have captured this in New Hampshire and then sent it to you years later. Which is weird. I can't remember the exact topic. But his guest quoted a study that says people will eat a lot more food if they can order it from a machine instead of a person. So if fast food restaurants want to make more money, they should use robots and machines to take orders and sell instead of people. Something like that. Bob's response is attached. Hope you're doing well.

[Luke Burbank]

Saddest thing I've ever heard.

[Andrew Walsh]

That is all true. I remember that I'm sending that to you once. I was already in Seattle. I swore I had a memory of sending that to you when I was still in New Hampshire, but I guess not.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, again, you know, not to turn this into the Luke Appreciation Club, but it, I find it oddly gratifying, Andrew, that you, in New Hampshire, when we had literally never met, liked the show enough to kind of give it a listen and when again, a lot of that's probably Jen's energy and Sean and just like the overall whateverness of the show. But you know, you and I have a lot of similarities, but then also a lot of differences in our personalities. And I would be, I would have been unshocked if he would have turned it on and maybe it was just like a bad night for me or I'm just saying something silly or whatever. And you were just kind of like, I don't like this guy. Like, I wouldn't, I wouldn't have been shocked either if that was the response. But the fact that you were like, oh, yeah, okay, let me give this a listen. Let me, let me listen to this while I'm mowing the lawn. Let me, let me kind of engage with this content. Like, it's so weird for that to be really gratifying to me now that I know, now that I've known you for so long and so well. But like, I'm glad you liked the show back in the day or at least tolerated the show because, you know, it would be weird, It'd be really weird if you hated it and you Worked here.

[Andrew Walsh]

The thing to remember is there were fewer podcasts back then, so. No, I did. I'm obviously teasing you. I do remember it being a period that did help where I was trying to grab. You know, I was listening to a lot of podcasts. Podcasting was new, and you guys were doing a radio show, but putting out the podcast. And I did love it. I wish I could remember better, like maybe the first episode I listened to or something. But I'm sure I've said this to you before. When I think about those early days of me listening, I have a very specific memory of listening while packing up the house to move out to Seattle. And I don't know if you're like this, but there are certain things that I just remember exactly where I was when I heard it. I remember you're better at this than I am. The closet in this living room area, we had a closet, kind of a storage area. And I remember. I think Genevieve might have already been in Seattle. I was still back in New Hampshire. And I'm emptying out that closet and packing it up, and I'm listening to you and Jen and Tom Tangney.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, wow. See, Tommy T. Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

Boy, I just got in my head about that because everybody says his name wrong. And now I haven't worked with him in so long, I'm always.

[Luke Burbank]

He had a Tom Tang knee.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, I said it right.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, you said it right.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. I was just questioning myself because he had a co host who would call. Who couldn't say his last name. Yeah. And that made me so angry, and I was just double checking myself there. But anyway, it was the one where they. You all were reviewing Christmas movies, I think, and I think Jen got literally emotional and started crying while talking about Home Alone or something along the lines

[Luke Burbank]

of that sounds about right.

[Andrew Walsh]

And I just. I remember listening to that and emptying out my closet and being like, oh, yeah, these are my people.

[Luke Burbank]

And you remember thinking, someday, someday that'll be where I work. And in fact, I will have done, what, five, 4,000 more episodes than anybody on this thing except Luke.

[Andrew Walsh]

Someday this show will make me unemployable for any other job.

[Luke Burbank]

Someday this show will break me like

[Andrew Walsh]

all the pretty horses. Yep.

[Luke Burbank]

Maestro, on your mark.

[Andrew Walsh]

On your mark. Get set, get set.

[Luke Burbank]

Somebody's reading Cormac McCarthy.

[Andrew Walsh]

I finished that a while back. I'm kind of in between books. I'm reading the world's worst mystery novel right now. I was telling you off air by Truman or, I'm sorry, Harry Truman's daughter. Margaret Truman, Murder on Capitol Hill. I gotta get. I gotta find a better book to read this murder.

[Luke Burbank]

Bullfeathers.

[Andrew Walsh]

What is Bull Feathers? Is that a.

[Luke Burbank]

It's like a bar on Capitol Hill. Like a restaurant that people would go to.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'll bet you it's in the series.

[Luke Burbank]

Hey, look who we're thanking. It's our friend Aaron Schultz, who's in Shoreline, Washington. Aaron says Aaron is pronounced a. A Ron, of course, Key and peel style. And the last name is the name of the guy who stole the Sonics, but no relation.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay.

[Luke Burbank]

Because, you know, Aaron, if you've listened to the show for a long time, and you probably have, I've got that story, which I'll spare everyone from where I had a chance to finally give Howard Schultz a piece of my mind. And I opted not to because it was more important in that moment that I seem, I guess, what, wealthy? Cool. I don't know what I was doing. I was more interested in just being seen as his equal than letting him know. And that means I've still got some Schultz related anger I need to unload and I. But it's not going to be on you, Aaron. You really never be on you.

[Andrew Walsh]

You, I don't want to say, got in my head. You were sort of ahead of something. You were. Luke, you were ahead of my anxiety on something, which is when people were talking about the fact that the Seahawks will go up for sale after the super bowl, the one that just happened. And it looked like, yeah, oh, this is definitely in the works. You were the first person to say, oh, yeah. And, you know, could easily be somebody like Bezos. And then how am I going to feel rooting for the Seahawks? And then, of course, you know, now the news is official. It's up for sale. And the what is Seattle Times have but a big picture of Bezos is probably top contender. And it's like, oh, my. Oh, my God.

[Luke Burbank]

I know. You know, Becca texted me, like, she got a news alert. This is her level of engagement with the Seahawks. She got a text alert that said Seahawks for sale. She goes, is. Is. Is this an issue for you? And my first thought was like, well, no, because they're not going to move. I don't think there's any danger of them. Of them leaving Seattle. So that's always been my fear around my teams being sold because it almost. Well, actually it almost happened to the Seahawks. You know, they had moved their workout equipment to Los Angeles. Ken Baring had actually moved the. Had, like moved the Seahawks, like actual brick and Mortar stuff, like their weights and stuff.

[Andrew Walsh]

Was this after the Cleveland thing was just like after 95 ish.

[Luke Burbank]

I for. I think it was before that, really. I'm, you know, me, I'm terrible with, with dates, but it was, you know, the, the Seahawks ownership, this guy named Ken Baring, decided he wanted to move them. And I guess this maybe would have been a time when like LA didn't have a team or had one team. And there was, I remember there was news clips of like moving trucks, like packing up the, like Seahawks, like workout equipment and leaving, heading for California. And then the Mariners, same thing happened where they were. They were rumored to be going to Tampa Bay if they were sold. And, and of course, it really happened with the Sonics. All that is to say, my fear around the sale of my team is always, are they going to move? That's not my fear with Seattle. But then I also realized, man, good ownership really, really, really sets a tone for a team. And bad ownership also really, really sets a tone for a team. Yeah, you know, it's not a non factor in how the overall kind of like health of the team. It really does sort of seem to emanate from the owner because they, of course, have a huge say in who the coach is, who the general manager is. So it's all an extension and a reflection of them in a way. And I, like, I guess we got to give Jody Allen a lot of credit, really. I mean, she was sort of pressed into duty when Paul Allen died, but so anyway, I guess I went from being not stressed about it to now being more stressed about it.

[Andrew Walsh]

You know, it's funny, I was thinking against my own values this morning, because I don't, I don't. I'm not worried about the team moving either. And you're right, management does translate and ownership does translate into the product on the field. But aside from that, it's just been like, okay, Jody Allen, like, pretty innocuous owner, kind of like temporarily inherited the team to run it, has done a great job, made hiring decisions that led to a Super bowl, and also is just somebody who I don't have hate in my heart for, you know, and so I'm like, why can't Jody just keep the team? I mean, technically she's running it for the estate, but that's the craziest part

[Luke Burbank]

of this whole story.

[Andrew Walsh]

To me, they're selling it because there's a mandate for the estate to liquefy the assets and do good things with it, supposedly get it into, like, the hands of people who will make the world a better place.

[Luke Burbank]

Yes.

[Andrew Walsh]

And I'm kind of like. But I don't want to root for Bezos.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, totally. I've been going on the same journey. In my mind, it's like, this is ultimately, this is a very good thing from Paul Allen to realize that when he was long gone that there was no need for these, his like extremely valuable assets to what just sort of, I don't know, exist in perpetuity in his memory with a kid who knows even who would be running it. It was like, no, the money from all these things should be going to things that are important, you know, and that's actually a really good way to think about, you know, this kind of wealth that he amassed. So it's all a good thing, really. But yeah, it kind of bums me out because it's like, couldn't we go back and just like, maybe not do that? Can we just ignore this one thing from his will? Because it all seems to be going pretty well right now.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, exactly.

[Luke Burbank]

For the Jody Allen, who we like, the team is rocking. We got a young coach. We got like, like, in fact, that's. That's actually what Becca said was because I was. I keep telling her, I'm like, I think we're in a window here. I think we're in a window. I think we're like in about a three year window where the Seahawks are going to be phenomenal. And she heard her message, something like, does this mess with your three year window?

[Andrew Walsh]

Good. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Anyway, back to Aaron Schultz's dazzling donor message. Hello, Cobros. I'm excited to be able to dazzle you with my donation. This year. I was able to increase my contribution due to the construction materials company I independently present. It's called Hydro Block showers, which according to my accountant, I must mention twice for taxes. Well, I'll say it again. Hydro block showers. I appreciate all of the hours of entertainment and parasocial camaraderie you provide. The more opinionated and uncensored, the better. See that? Andrew A. Ron would like some hot talk from us.

[Andrew Walsh]

Ooh, okay, let me. I'm gonna be careful though. Really, really spicy for later. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Occasionally, opinions on products or services in the home remodeling sector will make me want to throw my phone. But in the end, this has helped me professionally approach my job as industry education rather than pushy sales to remarkable success because everyone has topics in which they are specialized. Anyway, if you want to correctly waterproof your next tiled shower or tub surround, whether in the construction Trades a homeowner hiring a pro or a DIY enthusiast. Check out hydro block ice out and remove the orange tyrant. Job done. AA Ron Aaron, would you believe that you can't see this because this is audio, but behind me there's a respectability bookshelf which features two of my Daytime Emmys and other TBTL stuff. Also a picture of the junior sluggers who are going to be getting back on the field pretty soon here, Andrew. Behind that, though, is a wall. And on the other side of that wall is a bathroom.

[Andrew Walsh]

And in that bathroom are two bobbleheads of you and me that watch people when they pee. Yep. Is that still true?

[Luke Burbank]

Not anymore. Not after the police stopped by. But there is a shower that is yet to be installed in there. And I mean, you know, it's framed and it's plumbed, but there's no tile, there's no drain. We were thinking. Get at me, Aaron. We were thinking about doing one of those schluter. Doing a schluter kind of shower pan situation. But I'm going to check out hydro block because when you say if you. If you'd like to correctly waterproof your next tiled shower, it's going to be a tiled shower. So I'm going to give that a look.

[Andrew Walsh]

See, I'm on the website now. Listeners can find [e-mail] you guys aren't doing any.

[Luke Burbank]

Nothing to do with your bathroom, with your downstairs project.

[Andrew Walsh]

Dare to dream at some point, but that'd be super far down the line. My bathroom's pretty jacked up, unfortunately. It's like a really terribly installed, very cheap shower tub thing that was installed so poorly that water doesn't drain right out of it. It's kind of a nightmare.

[Luke Burbank]

That's what you need. Hydro block.

[Andrew Walsh]

I know I need hydro block.

[Luke Burbank]

Looking at this right now, this looks a lot like. Excuse me, this looks. I mean, this is a shower pan. This looks a lot like what they do with that. With that schluter situation. So, yeah, Aaron, hit me up, let me know what I should be doing here because that's, that's a big project for like this summer is Walt and I are going to get in there and actually we're going to finish off the Madrona Hill studio, which means make that bathroom totally functional with a shower and then also finish the kitchen so that there's an actual. Right now. What happens every day when I finish the show with you, Andrew? I. I usually will take like my cup of coffee, which almost always has a little coffee left in the bottom of it. And I will dump it into the bathroom sink, which feels very. There's something wrong about that, Luke.

[Andrew Walsh]

I, you know, because our kitchenette is.

[Luke Burbank]

You're doing that right now.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, our kitchenette is all ripped out. I. To do it. Every now and then I'll dump a little bit of something wrong, but I will. Now I have a better situation than you because I have a kitchen right above me. You have to go outside. You know what I mean? So in that way, I mean, better. But so right now, when we don't have our sink in the basement, I can't tell you how many times I'm going there after the show with like a water bottle and a cup of coffee that I'm going to maybe just like rinse and drain. I'm like, oh, it's not there. And then I think for a second, will I go into the bathroom to rinse this mug? And I decide, nay, I shall go. I shall march myself upstairs. Because I don't. There's something weird.

[Luke Burbank]

Brown coffee into the bathroom sink. Just feels like I'm not living my best life for some reason. Yeah, it's very upsetting. Anyway, hey, thank you so much to our donors. Thanks for. Thanks for making TBTL possible.

[Andrew Walsh]

Hello and welcome to Top Stories.

[Luke Burbank]

So, Andrew, you were talking about this French film, Bonheur, which translates to happiness, that you just kind of randomly watched yesterday or two days ago or whatever recently on hbo. And last night, after I finished up a bunch of my Livewire research, by the way, tonight, Livewire, Alberta Rose Theater, 7:30. Come on down. I was like, let me treat myself to a little bit of the other two. And then I was going to watch that, but then I was like, oh, yeah, but Andrew mentioned that movie. Let me just like. I was like, I just kind of want to see what he was talking about. I want to see what the pacing of the movie is and what the color is and stuff like that. And so I, I went ahead and put it on and it. By the way, you had sort of mentioned when you were talking about it that the. I think you said like something like it wasn't a long film or something, but I mean, it's a standard length film. It was like what was like 80 minutes or something.

[Andrew Walsh]

But by today's standard, that's so. I mean, that's under an hour and a half. I just feel like movies have gotten so long and I've gotten to this point where it's like, oh, you really got to sit down and commit to it. It felt like And I did watch it, and this is not the best way to watch cinema, but I did watch it in a couple of different sittings because I kind of started it in the middle of the day. Just wanted to see what was. What it was about and then had to go on to do other things and then came back to it. But yeah, to me, 80 minutes just feels like. It just feels so doable by movie standards these days.

[Luke Burbank]

I was watching it probably in like the ideal circumstances, which was like the whole, you know, had the house fairly dim, I have pretty big tv, you know, and just like had the sound bar going. Although actually I would say the audio is a big part of it, or at least the. The music is a big part of it, you know? Yeah, it's funny, like in the music credits, it's like whatever. Mozart's I don't think I've ever thought about. I guess it's Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It's like music wa. Mozart.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, I didn't, I didn't notice that

[Luke Burbank]

I actually seen that name before.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's funny, I didn't pay attention to the credits, but that. But I looked up later what the music was because it was so. It was classical music, but it was very edgy at times. Near like, especially near the end. And I was like, what. What is this?

[Luke Burbank]

It's. I mean, and what you had said about the film was you watched it, you kind of couldn't stop thinking about it. You were still sort of trying to make up your mind a little bit about the film. And I would say that that's probably exactly where I am. One thing that I will say is I did not, as I so often do, experience this as a two screen situation. Which is to say at no time did I pull out my phone and start like looking at TikTok or other things.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Which is funny because, you know, you'd think, okay, this is, this movie, It's, I think, 1965. It's French. They're speaking French. It's kind of like nothing's going on really for most of the movie. It's just people are just kind of living their life. And so in a way you could say. And again, I also don't know if the acting is good or not because it's in French.

[Andrew Walsh]

Do you know, do you know about the actors? Do you know this dazzling detail?

[Luke Burbank]

I don't think so.

[Andrew Walsh]

The main.

[Luke Burbank]

Are they all. Were those his real kids?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, we and his real wife. Who are not actors. So the main act, the main character is an actor.

[Luke Burbank]

I Noticed they all had the same last name.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, okay. Yeah. Because you were looking at the credits.

[Luke Burbank]

I was looking him up to see if he was still hot.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes. He looks like Barry.

[Luke Burbank]

Bill Hader.

[Andrew Walsh]

Bill Hader. Barry from tv. And he looks a lot like Bill Hader. And I think Bill Hader is kind of hot anyway. But yeah, this is super hot Bill Hader.

[Luke Burbank]

Real steamy Bill Hayter.

[Andrew Walsh]

And there's something about the way he acts too. Just like small gesticulations. You could believe that there would be like some sort of relation there. I'm sorry to keep going here. But anyway, he.

[Luke Burbank]

I didn't know that was his real wife. That makes so much more sense.

[Andrew Walsh]

And I know until afterwards either that's his real. So she cast him who. He had a little bit of a. He already had a little cachet because he was in some TV show or somewhere and then. But she cast him and then cast his real life wife and two children. And those children are adorable.

[Luke Burbank]

This makes so much sense because. So let me just, if I can like in two minutes, lay out the basic plot, if you will, of this movie. And I don't. I'm not worried about spoiling it for people. Are you worried about spoiling it for people?

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, because here's why. And I was thinking about this yesterday in case we talked about it. I will say if we want to really talk about, like, what is really at the heart of this movie, we have have to spoil it. And I know that you could make the joke like, oh, it's 1965, it's been a long time. But there is a very real chance that people hear us talking about this movie that maybe they haven't heard of or meant to. And they're like, oh, I would like to watch this now that the boys, that's us, the boys are talking about it. So I will just say everything that I've just rambled for the past 15 seconds has given you plenty of time to skip ahead if you want because I think we will now enter into spoiler territory. And I may. I'll even try to put some timestamps in the show description. Maybe look in your show description and you can tell when to pick this back up. And now we're free and clear.

[Luke Burbank]

Although I was going to say I don't. I think we can talk about it without spoiling what I was going. What I was going to say was the, The. The movie basically involves a family. It's this guy and his wife and their two kids. And they're kind of living a. I guess it'd be technically called a suburban life. Although, boy, the suburbs of France don't look like the suburbs of the US Yeah. Still seems very beautiful and kind of. Of urban in a way. You know, just kind of a very charming, lovely little kind of scene.

[Andrew Walsh]

But do you mean urban or rural? Because the scene struck me as being very rural, the suburbs, I guess, although

[Luke Burbank]

they live with neighbors, you know, right next door to them, they have that little courtyard. Like, when I think of suburban, I think of American suburbs. And I guess what I mean is their immediate flat. They live in walking, you know, to get bread in the little town square. Like, it just. It felt very charming to me in a way that. I guess what I'm. What you're picking up here is I don't think of the suburbs as all that charming.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, okay, I'm sorry. Yeah. And I think you're right about that. I was surprised to hear it described as suburban because it seemed like very, very working class and rustic to me. Like, maybe not rural, but very rustic. I mean, literally, first of all, it's a different era. It's 1955. Their bed, I mean, they are living. This family is living a very, very modest living. Their kitchen sink is like a tub that has a hose coming into it.

[Luke Burbank]

Yes. And it's also where he shaves, I

[Andrew Walsh]

think, and stuff like that.

[Luke Burbank]

So. But. But all that is to say the. What I was struck by immediately was the. The naturalism of the kids and the way that the. The husband and wife and the kids were all interacting. I mean, so much of the movie is literally them just like they're kind of at the park on a Sunday, and then they're getting in the Citron, which is the. The little car that I think he borrows from his uncle or whatever, and then they're like in their house. And I found the scenes of the. With the children and the way that the children were talking to the parents to be so shockingly naturalistic. And now that makes sense. Yeah, because they're literally the parents. That's extremely smart casting.

[Andrew Walsh]

It really is extremely smart casting. And they all do a really good job.

[Luke Burbank]

They do. They do a great job.

[Andrew Walsh]

The wife who like, okay, kids. These kids are like. One of them is kind of pre verbal. He doesn't really talk much at all. They reference that the little girl, who I guess is slightly older, does talk a little bit and is very charming, but it doesn't seem like acting, it just seems like. And.

[Luke Burbank]

But you need to cancel her over that. Like Native American headdress or Native what? I don't know. You what? I guess Native American. Because I don't think that was happening in. In France.

[Andrew Walsh]

No, it was. It was interesting to watch. I was like, are you kidding me? I'm watching a movie in France from 1965, and I can't get away from this racist depiction of kids playing, quote, unquote, cowboys and Indians. But, yeah, I guess it was so popular at the cinema from the Hollywood movies that it had made its way over to Paris. And so this little girl is kind of obsessed in part of the movie with, again, quote, unquote, cowboys and Indians, as they call it. But anyway, I think I interrupted you here.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, no, just. That makes. So I was really. Well, the way this started was me saying I can't really tell if the acting is good or not because it's in another language. And by that I mean the way that, like, the. Let's just say. So he's a carpenter. He works in this kind of carpentry studio, wood shop. And there's this one point where he comes in and he's got a couple of bottles of. Because I think it's maybe one of the guys that works there his birthday or something. And he gives the guy, like, a bottle of. And the guy says to him something like, you've, like, thank you so much. You're the best. You've been like a father to me or something. And it's like, is that the most naturalistic delivery of that line? I don't know. Is that good writing we have? There's no development of that character. Like, it's weird to watch this movie and interpret it through a little bit through the lens of, like, what now in my mind passes for a good movie in, like, 2026 versus what they're doing in this movie. But all that is to say, like, I was totally entranced by the whole thing. Like, whether or not I thought that maybe every line was beautifully written or every. Every line was delivered with, like, believability or what have you, or if I think even the plot development makes sense to me, I. I don't know if any of that even matters. I just couldn't look away from this film.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, one thing. And maybe I'm. I don't know enough about this, so maybe I'm giving it too many excuses. But I have a strong feeling that some of that dialogue also is lost in translation, quite literally. Like, that line that you say specifically, I'll bet you, has a different meaning and different nuance. In the French language. And I. There were a couple of times I was watching the subtitles and I'm like, I know that I'm. I know that I'm missing something here, you know, but, you know, not that this is. This makes it a good movie, but for me personally, it was like every shot was like, if I took. If I took one photo as beautiful as a single random shot in that movie, I could die happy. You know what I mean?

[Luke Burbank]

The color in the film is just color.

[Andrew Walsh]

And the way that she uses the camera. Agnes Varda is the director. The way she uses the camera and that it'll snap away to something else. And the edits and like, like, then I had told you yesterday that I was a little distracted because people had described it like, literally in some official, like, genres people had included in, like, the horror genre. And I'm a little bit unclear about that. I think that has to do with some. Some takes about what actually happens in the end of the movie. And then when you combine. Combine her style. But it's like I was telling you before the show, it's not a horror film. And you got that kind of was a distraction for me a little bit, watching this movie, knowing that, like, well, what's going to happen here? Although it might have been one of the reasons I was so glued to it.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, certainly I was the whole time going, like, when's the horror part? When's the horror part where you.

[Andrew Walsh]

Are you being serious? Even even though I said, try to get that out of your head, I then I didn't believe the misinformation even more. Yeah, and I. And I actually understand that interpretation and we don't have to kind of get into it now, but I think it's more of a movie about nature. The guy is obsessed with nature and it plays a huge role. Do you. Do you love it? I don't remember what the. There. What the. I looked it up later, but. But the opening scene is this family and they're playing out in the woods. They live in this sort of very, like I said, humble abode somewhere in what they call the suburbs. But they clearly love to spend their Saturdays or weekends or whatever just like with the kids rolling around in a field under a tree waiting for the kids to take a nap.

[Luke Burbank]

So the parents. Kids under a mosquito net?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes. And so the parents can have mommy and daddy time. And what I liked was on the actual opening shot, you notice that the mom, wife is wearing a really cute dress, like kind of a summer dress, but it's A little dirty. And I noticed she wears the same exact pair of shoes in every single scene in the movie. And so, again, sort of underscoring the fact that these are not rich people. But when the movie opens, I don't know anything about it. I'm like, is this a movie about people living in the woods? Is this a family? That a guy. Because the kids are sleeping, the parents are sort of lolling about or whatever. And I really like that. You see how dirty her kind of dress is at the hems because she's been tromping around in the woods. And then they end up. We learn that, no, they're just having a day in the woods or in a field somewhere. And it's just something that they enjoy doing as a family. And I think that that is a major theme in the movie. And I like when they come back to sort of quote, unquote, civilization and they go to visit his uncle, just very briefly. There's this weird scene where for some reason they just go and say a quick hello and then a quick goodbye. But the aunt and uncle have a TV in their living room and they're watching either a TV show or a movie. But it's an absolute echo of the scene that we just saw. It's two people sitting under a tree. And I really loved that.

[Luke Burbank]

And the woman is saying to the man, I love hearing you talk. Just say something.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, yeah, that's right in the.

[Luke Burbank]

And then he's just going into this very kind of eloquent thing that he's saying or whatever.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah,

[Luke Burbank]

yeah. I mean, there was one more thing that I wanted to say about. Oh, the camera work is phenomenal to me. There were so many. And maybe this is a new wave cinema thing that I don't know about because again, my knowledge of. Of. Of this. Of this period of cinema is very, very limited, actually. But I get the sense that, you know, cameras were big and bulky and kind of hard to do. Like, there was no steady cam. There was no guy wearing a harness that's like, you know, like with a. Some kind of gimbal on it, like. But there were so many shots where it's like. I don't know how she was getting this effect with the camera where you're like, in this apartment or in this flat or in this whatever, and the camera is just moving with people in this way that I feel like.

[Andrew Walsh]

I don't.

[Luke Burbank]

I don't. I've never seen a movie of this era where they could do that with the camera. It was so much More just like you had to lock it down. I don't even know if at this point that they really did the thing with like the tracks, you know, like a tracking shot very much like the camera was so intimate in these, in these rooms. There was also those edits that you were talking about where like it, like just it totally non non naturalistically like it just cut between something and something else and something and something else in a way that maybe under other circumstances would kind of annoy me because I'd be like what is this doing for the story? But it was just creating a vibe that was really like really interesting and cool to me. Also one deet. Oh, I meant to go find you know, the, the Andrew. If you think I'm not going to start dressing exactly like hot Bill Hader, actually I should really dress like the uncle. That's more my demo now. If you think I'm not going to start dressing like the uncle.

[Andrew Walsh]

He's kind of wearing work pants a lot, right? Am I doing that right? Totally.

[Luke Burbank]

That's like this like you know his, his uncle is also a carpenter and they're just wearing this like what's kind of working man's clothes but which are so stylish. You know what they actually remind me of a little bit. I don't know if you remember this as much as I do but in the movie her, the outfits they have Joaquin Phoenix in, it's a lot of like chore coats and barrel kind of barrel pants and like high waisted things. Did you. I just learned this recently. So there's a coat that the, the main, the main, you know, the dad, I guess the main character in the movie is wearing at one point and it's, it's like invented in France. It's called the chor coat and it's basically like, you know, it's kind of like a cotton and it's got two pockets on the front and it's blue and it was, you know, for working people. You could put your tools in the pockets but it was made out of a durable material that wouldn't, you know. And I own like two or three of them. They don't look as cool as on me as they do on that guy. Did you know that's where the term blue collar comes from?

[Andrew Walsh]

No, but that makes total sense.

[Luke Burbank]

That's the origins of blue collar work is from the French chor coat which this guy is totally wearing. Like not for effect but because that's what a guy of that era in France who had that job would Be wearing. It's just what you would wear.

[Andrew Walsh]

Do you know what? I always thought, I never reexamined this as an adult. Like, of course the phrase would go back further than this. But, you know, I worked for my dad, and, you know, I worked out in the shop, and there were, like, the people who worked in the front of the building, and that was the office where the engineers worked and the bookkeeper and whatnot. And then out in the shop, you had the guys like me who were like, you know, I was sorting scrap. There were other people who were welding and stuff like that. And the people, my people in the shop, we're all wearing those Cintas uniforms, you know, with a little name on it here. And our shirts were always that, like, light blue color. That shop blue color that you can picture on your classic work shirt. And that's why I just always thought, well, that's why it's blue collar. Because we wear the blue collars out here and they wear the white collars

[Luke Burbank]

up there, I think. I mean, it also may have just, like, been something that we said over here, like, concurrently. But I was somehow watching a mini documentary about the chore coat the other day, unrelated to this movie, and they were talking about that too. But, yes, the fashion in this movie, it just kills me. It's just like, I'm like, I gotta take notes, and I have to basically burn all of my current wardrobe and just start dressing like one of the people in this. In this movie, one of the guys in this movie, because it's like they're all. And again, it feels so not an affect. Like, of course, if I did it, it would be a total affectation, but there. It's not an affectation for them. I was also really obsessed with what the. What was going on with people's teeth in the movie. Because, you know, everyone except the two children is just chain smoking constantly, probably, you know, like, both in the film and not in the film, you know, because that's just what France. That was happening in France in 1965. So I tried to see, like, I don't know, trying to. I was trying to, in a way, get a sense of what actual 1965 France was through the actors and the people in this movie. Not even in the story that was being portrayed in the film, but in the. Like, the neighbor lady's teeth were very brown. And I was trying to imagine her life as an actor in France. Was she in movies? Was she a stage person? How did she get this role? Was she famous in France? I was like, I don't know. It's going in these weird places in my mind. But all that is to say thank you for the recommendation.

[Andrew Walsh]

What do you think about him stealing that bread from that woman walking across the street? There's so many. Now that we're talking about it, there's so many little details. And I know you're wrapping up, but do you remember he's just like. And I'm trying to figure out, is it just because he's got hot guy swag, or in the 60s, you could just do that. But there's literally. I mean, it couldn't be more Parisian, right. He's in the city and a woman is passing him, and she's got a baguette in her bag that she's carrying, and he's crossing, passing her, and he's like, like kind of in love and skipping. And he just rips a big chunk of her baguette. And she's. She gives him a look like, hey, what's. Hey, what's up, buster? But he's just like, shrugs.

[Luke Burbank]

But then she also smiles.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, she smiles. Yeah, exactly.

[Luke Burbank]

What I took away from that is because I saw that that was. There was that scene. There was another scene where he gets home and he's really hungry and he's like, what? You know, basically, how soon is it going to be dinner? I'm starving. And he also just like rips a piece of bread off. Yeah, he was just raw dogging that bread.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

No butter, nothing else. Just like. Just a piece of bread. Just a tip of a baguette by itself, which I thought was interesting move because it would never occur to me to eat.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, that didn't bother me.

[Luke Burbank]

That kind of bread without some butter on it.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, I'll bet you it's good. And I'm sure it is. I thought you were thinking about the carbs, because I was just like, it's not fair. You don't get to have that jaw and just eat a baguette like that.

[Luke Burbank]

No. I was, though, very fascinated with seeing what. That guy is one of the most naturally handsome people I think I've ever seen, like, effortlessly so. And I was very curious, like, what's the trajectory for a guy like that? Because. And again, you know, we're trying to be careful about how we talk about bodies and faces and looks and people and stuff. But, like, I just, as a person who would never had that particular thing going, like. Like, I'm always curious about somebody, particularly a guy, I guess, because that's how I relate because I am a guy of like what would it be like to be that dude in the world? Just like you look like that and you and like you just steal people's baguettes and they just go you. And then does that, does that prepare you well for life or does that actually ill prepare you for life as you get older, as your looks change as like you sort of come back down to earth a little bit with the rest of us, you know, what does that, you know, what does that look like? Or do you just get to be Ethan Hawke who just appears more or less unchanged, like he's been doing a lot of interviews lately and he's just like Ethan Hawke just is Ethan Hawke. He just gets to be Ethan Hawke his whole life. He doesn't ever have to be like a normal person.

[Andrew Walsh]

Do you think the French guy was looks maxing?

[Luke Burbank]

No, because he didn't. He was not trying. That's what makes him in clavicular. So different, Andrew. So different.

[Andrew Walsh]

There we finally got to the heart of the movie.

[Luke Burbank]

Thank you. There's a right way to rock get

[Andrew Walsh]

a wrong way to roll. You can't just listen to your song. Just remember that life is number one. You can be having so much fun. Just remember that life is much fun you can be nothing but one. We have a healthy amount of blurs days today. All right, Luke. Yeah. And this is the way you can wish yourself or someone you care about a happy birthday. You can email me andrewbtl.net that's andrewbtl.net, put Blursday in the subject line and just write a short little note wishing somebody a happy birthday. Toby says wishing the happiest of blursdays to my BFF and the other king of Park Hill, Corbin. So I'm wondering, is Toby. Are they co kings Toby?

[Luke Burbank]

And do they know about the no kings protest and do they know about

[Andrew Walsh]

that and how do they feel? Korb simply rules because he is the funniest, cleverest and most outstanding human.

[Luke Burbank]

Nice, huh?

[Andrew Walsh]

That's interesting. I thought I was. I guess I'm second to Korb. He also brought Hannon Oliver into my life and I love them so damn much I can't even handle it It Happy blursday, Corbin. Cute. Hey, speaking of Corbin, Robin and Tenver wants to shout out as well happy have blurzes to my pal Corbin in Denver. You're the nicest. So now we have nicest to add to the funniest, cleverest and most outstanding most liberal back in Parker. I know. Cheers. From what I've learned from reading the email. We have a lot of liberal back back in Parkers in our audience.

[Luke Burbank]

Joe in Winter Andrew, become the amount of, like, DMs that I'm getting on Instagram about back in parking and people either fur it or again, it. You'd be shocked.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. Out of everything that you've ever said,

[Luke Burbank]

definitely my brand now I really wish

[Andrew Walsh]

I could separate myself more from it. Joe in Winter Springs, Florida says, that's interesting. Winter Springs, Florida. Yeah, it's sort of like you think of Florida, you think of sunshine, but now you got me thinking, right?

[Luke Burbank]

It'd be like the Sunshine Coast, Nova Scotia.

[Andrew Walsh]

Exactly. Joe says, happy Blursday to my 11. Kim, you're the best person I know, and I'm so fortunate to share a life with you. You're a source of love and inspiration from me and our five. Claire, we're so proud of you for always fighting the good fight. Never forget how much you are loved.

[Luke Burbank]

Aw, that's cute.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's wonderful. Happy birthday, Kim, and good advice to everybody. Never forget how much you're loved. Leslie says, I want to say a happy blursday to myself. It's a big one for me. 60, and I can only think of a few things that would make it more special than a Blurs day. Shout out from my favorite Cobros. That's us. Happy Blur is day, Leslie. What? Ooh, you had a failure to launch there. Wow.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, I think it's supposed to be. This is what it sounds like. It looks like a picture of a hairdryer, but that's not what it is. I think it's supposed to be like a fanfare, but that's all it does.

[Andrew Walsh]

I kind of like it.

[Luke Burbank]

We got this one. The whistle is really warbling now.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, I like that. That's pretty good. All right, let's see here. Leslie does say that I've met you in Denver, Friendship, Minneapolis and Seattle. Also, P. Fletch and Stew and TB Tail has been part of my life since the radio days, so basically the longest relationship I've ever had. Leslie also says, while I'm at it, happy blursday to my birthday. Twin Emily, a fellow Minnesotan. Happy blursday, Leslie. And happy blursday to Emily. Chris says, oh, I believe. Let's see here. Yeah, this is Chris, our friend, over at a Tacoma little theater down there in Tacoma.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

Chris says, happy birthday to my 11 Mike, you let me drag you to all the live shows, and I know that you would never admit it. You're probably closer to a ten than you think. If I stop listening at two and a half speed or. I'm sorry, if I stop listening at two times speed, will you listen more with me?

[Luke Burbank]

I think it sounds like Mike might be. Oh my God. He admitted might be more of a listener than he'd like to let on.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's right. Welcome, Mike, and Happy Blurs day.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm with you though, by the way, Mike, I don't like the two and a half speed either. I'm not telling Chris how to live his life. But I'm just saying, like. Like sometimes I'll bump my phone when I'm listening to whatever and it goes even just to 1.5. And I know that for some people, that doesn't negatively impact their experience and it helps them get through the many hours of this. So, hey, do your thing. But for me personally, it's gotta be the regular speed.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, I hate to be this guy, but this is how I'm gonna combat it. I'm going to talk slower so that when you listen at high speed, it sounds normal. Okay, I can't keep that up. This is Ezra.

[Luke Burbank]

See how I was really curious to see how long you could stay in that space?

[Andrew Walsh]

I thought I felt like I could feel getting mad over there.

[Luke Burbank]

No, no, I wasn't getting mad. I was like, we'll see. I was like, I will. I. What's the over under on this draft Kings a minute.

[Andrew Walsh]

I got. I got this note. It says, this is Ezra and Iris. We are are our mom's fives and tomorrow is her golden blurs day. Here's our message. So I think this came in probably yesterday. That's why. So today's the golden blursday. Here's our message. Hi, Mama, I hope your birthday is going wonderfully swell. You've made it a great year for all of us so far. And with you, we know that the rest of the year will be TBTL too beautiful to live. Love, Ezra and Iris. Cute. That's awesome. Thanks, guys. Happy blursday to your mama. Ah, this message says, hey, Step, my TBTL progenitor. I just want to wish you a happy golden blurs day as that odometer that is life turns over one more time. That's from listener Alan to step. More gold Golden Blurs days in the news. Marshall in Amsterdam says, I want to wish my girlfriend Louisa a very happy golden blurs day. She's enjoying sunshine and carnival in her hometown of Rio de Janeiro while I'm here freezing in Amsterdam. You should be in Winter Springs, Florida. I'm so excited for you this year, finishing your PhD and becoming a doctor, exclamation point. And also finally getting permanent residency in the eu. You just need to pass that pesky Dutch language exam, but I know you can do it.

[Luke Burbank]

My plan was to move to the Netherlands, but I didn't know there was a Dutch language exam.

[Andrew Walsh]

I feel like Dutch is a tough one. Right?

[Luke Burbank]

It looks so hard when you see it written. And again, everybody. I mean, I've been to the Netherlands. Everybody speaks perfect English, which is incredible. But, yeah, when you see Dutch written, it is not. It ain't like Spanish or Italian or something where you can kind of piece it together. It is very, very different looking than what we're writing.

[Andrew Walsh]

Are there similarities between Dutch and French? Am I right about that? No, not really.

[Luke Burbank]

Maybe. I mean, look, I am so bad at this kind of stuff anyway. I don't want to say anything that causes someone to throw their phone, but like, it all. Yeah, it seems almost like it's got a little German going.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, I'm totally. I'm totally off on that. You're right. It's not. It's not.

[Luke Burbank]

I can't, like, literally, you know, I pride myself, Andrew, and being able to say like a word or phrase from a lot of places. And it's great, by the way, when you're with me and I meet someone from a place because I can say one thing to them and they love it. They're like, wow, I feel like a bridge has been built. I don't got one thing.

[Andrew Walsh]

Then after that, you're like, you're just destroying the bridge.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, I mean, that's. Honestly, you should interview the people who I built the bridge with. I think they enjoy it very much.

[Andrew Walsh]

No, I'm just saying that, like, at first you build a bridge by knowing a word, but then they want to continue the conversation and you have no more words and the bridge collapses. Is what I usually thought you were

[Luke Burbank]

saying as I'm getting out of the Uber and they're like, they're looking kind of confused, like, oh, yeah, yeah. Dasvadani. Yes. I am from Russia originally.

[Andrew Walsh]

Right.

[Luke Burbank]

But that is a thing. They say that there.

[Andrew Walsh]

Save it for the end, though, because then you can get out of there. I like that. I like that. By the way, I was looking up is any similar similarities between French and Dutch, and the answer is clearly no. But not far down the list of questions is a Quora question. Do the French like the Dutch? Which I think is very interesting. I'll be.

[Luke Burbank]

What are they saying?

[Andrew Walsh]

They say. Well, the AI Overview basically says that there doesn't seem to. They don't seem to have a clear cut opinion about the Dutch one.

[Luke Burbank]

By the way, Andrew, according to AI, Dutch is a West Germanic. Okay. So I was saying kind of German originated around the 5th century CE from Low Franconian, a dialect spoken by the Salian Frank. So when you see Franconian, okay, maybe a little French. Maybe. Maybe some kind of original mother tongue type of thing.

[Andrew Walsh]

Maybe if. Maybe if French and German had a baby, it would be Dutch. I don't know. I think that we're probably.

[Luke Burbank]

We're never gonna pass the citizenship test this way.

[Andrew Walsh]

This is it. This is the test. All right, here we go. You ready? Okay. Yeah, I'm ready. I'm just making sure you're ready. Rebecca in Philly says, happy golden blurs day to myself. So many golden blurses today. I'm impressed. Rebecca says, here's hoping 43 is all 360 spins and slam dunk pointers. At the very least, things are gonna start happening to me now.

[Luke Burbank]

To be 43. Yeah. That the world is just at your feet.

[Andrew Walsh]

Do you remember the time? I don't think you do. This was something that me and Genevieve. It slipped into our vernacular. It was a fleeting, fleeting, fleeting moment at the Sasquatch music festival when we were there with you and a bunch of other. Other people that we knew. And Shonda Torre was there. Japan's number one mixer.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

And there was some kind of crusty dude, I believe, who was, like, kind of coming over to our little camp area, and he had a dog on a rope. I don't. I don't even remember what happened or if there was any aggro ness between folks. All I remember is I was not super interested in chatting with him, but he seemed to be, you know, like the group absorbed him in some way or whatever. But then he was, like, leaving and walking away or something, and he just said, I got the world on a string. And without missing a beat, Sean Dettori said, and a dog on a rope.

[Luke Burbank]

That was one of the funniest things I've ever heard. I think about it to this day.

[Andrew Walsh]

You remember that joke?

[Luke Burbank]

It was so. I remember that specific moment.

[Andrew Walsh]

It was so, like, just like he didn't miss a beat. I'm so glad you remember that, because that's one of the. Those small, fleeting things in life. But Genevieve and I talk about.

[Luke Burbank]

I know. I know Genevieve is particularly a fan because I've heard her say it in the years. In the subsequent years, it pops up.

[Andrew Walsh]

All right, last one here. This is from our pal Summer, who says, I want to wish a very happy birthday to my mom, who is 84 going on 11, as in a TBTL 11. Nice indeed. She just blew out her birthday candles and a blurs day shout out out would absolutely make her day. Mom, I love you to the edge of the observable universe and back. And I'm so glad.

[Luke Burbank]

This is our friend Summer, Astrophysicist.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes. And I believe Summer and her mom had a big cross country move or a big significant move recently. And Summer says, I'm so glad we get to spend every day the good ones and the hard ones together. Let's keep doing nothing and see what happens. Summer, do you know what magic just happened? This has never happened before. The music faded out exactly as I finished reading your sentence. I didn't fade it out. The music ended. That was beautiful. What are you playing over there?

[Luke Burbank]

I don't even know. Just my computer just started firing something and I can't even get to the screen of where it is. And I just muted my computer. I thought that that was a nice end too, to the segment was a random blip of sound from somewhere in the bowels of my computer.

[Andrew Walsh]

We had. This is maybe last week or something. Genevieve and I were recording our podcast. That's right. It was the Monday after the Super Bowl. So we're recording a very long edition of our podcast.

[Luke Burbank]

Although I hear less long this year than.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, exactly.

[Luke Burbank]

Some previous dirty.

[Andrew Walsh]

Say that. Yeah. Was not four and a half hours this time. It was only. It was a mere three hours. We left a lot on the table, as you can imagine. But we knew our contractor, Adrian, was going to be coming over sometime while we were recording. Recording, which is fine. We just left the door unlocked for him and we heard him come in during the recording. And we didn't say hello or anything. We just kept on going. And then eventually he left and then we kept going. And then eventually we were done with the podcast and we came out of the podcasting room, this very studio here. And Genevieve's desk is set up in the basement in an area that doesn't have. Like, she doesn't have her own kind of walls or door like I do. She's just got a desk set up here in the basement and her computer, which looks to be asleep, is blasting through the tinny laptop speaker.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, no.

[Andrew Walsh]

Some audio of somebody going on and on about Christianity and religion or something like that. And we have no idea why Now, Genevieve was probably doing a lot of. She probably had a million tabs open and a lot of, like, YouTube tabs open for show prep before she came in here. But we can't figure out how this thing would have been fired because her computer was asleep. And it doesn't take too long for it to go to sleep. And we'd been in here for a long time. We're like, how long has this thing been droning on and on and on about Christianity? Just one male voice talking. We couldn't hear what it was. And she stops it. And then we're like, that's really weird. We're like, God, I wonder if Adrian heard that. Does he think we're crazy? Was he using your computer for something and bumped it? That seemed very unlikely. Again, the computer.

[Luke Burbank]

Was this his favorite show? And he just.

[Andrew Walsh]

Is this his favorite show? Like, what's going on? And then that was that night. And then we forgot about it. And then maybe. I don't know if the next day or the next Monday or something. The next time we're talking to Adrian, he's like, so, are you guys very religious? Which is an interesting question to ask somebody, but I think you could probably tell by this point that we don't come off as the super religious kind. Right. Remember an earlier question was, do you guys smoke a lot of pot in this basement? They're like, yes, sir, we do.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, I don't. I don't think. I don't. I don't know if you had mentioned that before. I didn't remember.

[Andrew Walsh]

Sure. Yeah. You mean, did you assume that we would, like, go outside or something if we're gonna.

[Luke Burbank]

No, no. I just didn't know that he had asked you that.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, yeah. Oh, that. He asked it. Yeah. So it was sort of like, I don't know. I'm sure, like, you know, we've been working with him for a while now. We joke around with them. We know each other's vibes. I think he was surprised to come in and just hear some random, like, podcasty thing going on and on and on about religion from what seemed to be a religious standpoint. And we're like, no, we have no idea what that was. He's like, I don't know. He's like, I recognize the voice because I've heard that same voice on podcasts that my son listens to about Machiavelli or something like that. I lost the thread at that point. I was like, I don't know what happened. I'm still curious how this computer just started randomly playing some audio that Genevieve would never have dialed up.

[Luke Burbank]

This is a weird hazard of the modern digital age. But sometimes I'll be doing something and I've got my phone going, and either I'm like, I'm watching something that I want to be watching, or maybe it's TikTok or who knows? But then I'm like, in the middle of something. I'm somewhere else in the room. I'm up on a little ladder or whatever, and it's either the same clip is just repeating a million times, or it starts. Yeah, going down some sort of playlist rabbit hole of. And then it's like weird ads for things that you don't care about and, like. And you can end up with something happening on the phone, but you're too physically far away from it to go change it, or you're too engrossed in what you're doing. What I've had the real version of this for me, is mostly TikTok related. I'm like, looking at a TikTok, but then I go do something else. And it's just whatever that tick tock is, let's say it's 43 seconds. I'll end up listening to it 15 times because the phone is across the room for me.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm.

[Luke Burbank]

Now I'm engrossed enough in something else that I'm not going back to the phone, but I'm still hearing it. Yeah, I know this crazy loop.

[Andrew Walsh]

I know exactly where. And sometimes I'll like, I want to listen to it twice. Maybe you've sent me something like, hey, maybe this good show tape or something. And then I'll listen to it and then I'll. I want to listen to it again, maybe without the visuals and see how it works. And. But then you set it down and then you're right. You just walk away a little bit and. And then you're like, oh, I can't reach that thing. And it's still. Still just going. And then you're, like, going insane. You're like, I will never use this tape because.

[Luke Burbank]

Exactly.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's making me angry. I'm scrolling and I'm trying to waste some time here because I'm trying to bide my time. I came across something the other day that was the funniest video I've maybe ever seen. I was going to bed and this came across my blue sky, and I'm scrolling so fast right now, hoping I can find this thing. And somebody said, well, this is if anybody wants to know the importance of editing this video will explain it to you. And I can't find.

[Luke Burbank]

I watched this.

[Andrew Walsh]

Do you know the one where the

[Luke Burbank]

sent it to me?

[Andrew Walsh]

Did I?

[Luke Burbank]

Or did I. I think I. Maybe I just see it on Blue Sky.

[Andrew Walsh]

I might have reached it.

[Luke Burbank]

I saw you referencing it on Blue Sky.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay, so at least you watched it because I don't think I can. That's right. I retweeted it. So maybe you were just seeing it because we follow each other and. Or whatever we call it. I don't say skeet. Anyway, and it's just like it's one of those videos where, you know, a woman who's, I don't know, maybe our age, maybe a little bit older, is putting like a mint into a 2 liter of coke and it's going to explode all over her. It's like a Mentos. And she's.

[Luke Burbank]

She's not our age. She's older than us.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, she's Maybe. Yeah, maybe 10, 20 years older than us.

[Luke Burbank]

Yes.

[Andrew Walsh]

And she. And it would just usually be a funny video because a woman would say, well, last time I tried this, I did something a little bit wrong, but I got a different kind of coke this time. Or something along the lines of that she seems.

[Luke Burbank]

She seems suspicious that it's going to actually create a big explosion.

[Andrew Walsh]

A big explosion. Like another. Like kind of a homemade volcano or whatever. But the thing is, whoever made this video that I watched was making a parody of some sort of video game, I guess, which will sort of flash forward. Oh, that sucks. Yeah, it kind of doesn't matter. But this person kept almost. Almost like the crazy edits in Lawnmower. It was just like they would take split second flash forwards of her after the thing explodes in her face. As it was. It kept on like foreshadowing what's about to happen. And then when it actually happens. I honestly can't remember the last time I laughed that hard by myself. The first time I saw that it came across my blue sky. I was going to bed.

[Luke Burbank]

You smoke a lot of weed in that basement.

[Andrew Walsh]

I was up in my bedroom. And I believe this was. I believe this was a sober brain. Although, who knows? Yes. But I'm. I open this thing up, I'm going to bed and I watch it. I can't get enough of it. I just keep hitting play. The whole thing is maybe 30 seconds long, tops.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

And I am. Genevieve's downstairs. I think she might have fallen asleep on a couch somewhere or something. I am clutching my stomach on the edge of my bed. Laughing so hard and laughing in that uncontrollable way. I hadn't laughed that hard, like, since I was a kid and I'd stayed up all night with my friend. And we no longer had any ability to contain ourselves. We're just laughing and crying. Only I'm up in my bedroom and I just keep watching it over and over and over again. So I don't know. It's very funny on Blue sky, if you're looking for.

[Luke Burbank]

I was a little. I wouldn't say. How do I put this? I was unsure what I was going to see because, again, your post on Blue sky was something like, I think

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm going, am I crazy or is

[Luke Burbank]

this the funniest thing I've ever. It was something where you were kind of like, I don't know if this is just me kind of deal.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

And so I was like, I don't know if it is just Andrew. And so then I'm watching it, and then it's like, there's something about the visual comedy of how it's edited and the kind of brute force of the imagery kind of like. And the just kind of like the weird. Like, we know how the story goes. She doesn't think it's going to explode in her face. And then it does, but there's something about. About jumping right to that part and then going to the kind of setup and then, like, it's just. It's a very interesting visual style, but it is, like, super duper funny and funnier than if it was just. I don't know if this is gonna work. I'm putting the things in now. It's blowing up on me. It's like there's something about the way that the joke is repeated and previewed in a way that just, like, really, really adds to the humor.

[Andrew Walsh]

And because she makes a gurgle sound at one point when it blows up in her face. So now that we've set that up like that, I will play the audio of this.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, I'm curious how it works as audio.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'll play the very end of the show after. After we saw a little Easter egg. Yeah. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay. So, all right, well, I guess that's our cue then, to wrap things on up on this Thursday. Hey, hopefully I'll see some of y' all down at Livewire tonight. For the rest of you, we'll be right back here tomorrow with more imaginary radio. So please do stop on by for that. In the meantime, everybody, have a great Thursday. Take care of yourselves. And please remember no mountain too tall.

[Andrew Walsh]

And good luck to all. You know, I found out the hard way the last time that I tried this. Oh, not again. And I haven't seen this done with any other sodas before, and I just don't think it's going to be as crazy. Power out.