Episode #894: Let's Party Down

Summary

Podcast Summary: TBTL: Too Beautiful To Live
Episode #894: Let's Party Down
Release Date: August 25, 2011

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Hosts: Luke Burbank and Andrew Walsh
Description: TBTL is a daily show hosted by two longtime friends who navigate the world with humor and camaraderie. In Episode #894, titled "Let's Party Down," Luke and Jen delve into a variety of topics ranging from personal anecdotes to pop culture discussions.

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1. Introduction and Banter (00:00 - 02:08)

The episode kicks off with Luke proudly displaying his personal awards, leading to playful banter about the origins of each accolade.

• Luke Burbank [00:17]:
  "These are my awards. The seal is for marksmanship, and the gorilla is for sand racing."

• Jen [00:09]:
  "Mother from army."

The hosts then segue into a light-hearted discussion about Luke's recent weight loss and his less-than-successful attempt at a healthy lunch.

• Luke Burbank [00:03]:
  "I've lost hundreds of pounds and gained hundreds of confidence."

2. Breaking News and American Life (02:08 - 04:05)

Luke shares unexpected news about his involvement with "This American Life," revealing that his segment was ultimately not aired.

• Luke Burbank [03:19]:
  "I was like, it was like 8:00 at night, Seattle time, 11:00. And I thought, that's not good news."

• Jen [04:05]:
  "I'm sorry. Sorry."

The conversation touches on creative differences regarding how his personal story was portrayed, leading to mutual understanding about keeping certain projects off the show.

3. Poster Party Announcement (04:05 - 08:03)

Luke and Jen announce an upcoming "poster party," encouraging listeners who donated to TBTL to participate in mailing out signed posters.

• Luke Burbank [05:39]:
  "There will be pizza, there will be soda to drink, and there will be fun."

They emphasize the limited availability, urging listeners to respond quickly to secure a spot.

• Jen [07:05]:
  "So just keep the people away who want to come help us for free to get the posters that they paid for."

4. Party Down Reuniting on Children's Hospital (08:03 - 15:04)

The hosts discuss the reunion of the "Party Down" cast on the Adult Swim show "Children's Hospital," expressing excitement and nostalgia.

• Jen [11:38]:
  "So the Party down cast all got together and they filmed apparently an 11 minute little sketch."

They reminisce about past live shows and the notable personalities involved, highlighting both the successes and the challenges faced during performances.

5. Top Story: Jen's Email Issue (15:04 - 28:39)

Jen shares a personal predicament involving her father-in-law unintentionally distributing her email address, resulting in unwanted mass emails from distant acquaintances.

• Jen [16:12]:
  "I want to call your dad because I don't want him to give out my email."

• Luke Burbank [22:16]:
  "I do think that it's something that happens to all of our listeners too, in this world of emailings."

The discussion explores generational differences in communication and the challenges of managing personal boundaries in the digital age.

6. Email Valedictions Discussion (28:39 - 45:33)

Inspired by an article from Hairpin.com, Luke and Jen delve into the nuances of email sign-offs, humorously analyzing various valedictions and their implications.

• Jen [35:27]:
  "It's called the valediction. Really is your sign off."

• Luke Burbank [36:43]:
  "I like it because it's kind of sort of formal enough, but it's not overly formal and it's wishing them something positive."

They discuss options like "Regards," "Best," "Warmly," and "Cheers," debating their appropriateness in different contexts and the potential perceptions they evoke.

• Jen [38:51]:
  "'Cheers' is a little dangerous because she says the alternatives to cheers are pip pip cheerio or pip pip cheerio."

The segment is filled with witty exchanges and relatable insights for anyone navigating the complexities of professional and personal email communication.

7. Day in TBTL History: John Supernow's Email and Reaction Time (45:33 - 49:26)

Luke reminisces about a past interaction with a listener, John Supernow, who initially sent a negative email to TBTL. However, the discovery of John’s song "Reaction Time" transformed the nature of their relationship.

• Luke Burbank [46:29]:
  "Reaction Time seemed to be the perfect."

He highlights how blending the negative feedback with the music created a more positive and humorous outcome, suggesting a creative way to handle critical feedback in the future.

8. Listener Emails and Hat Dilemma (49:26 - 56:56)

The hosts read and react to various listener emails, including stories about learning new words from pop songs and the ongoing debate about the appropriateness of wearing fedoras.

• Jen [50:09]:
  "My brother loved MTV from a young age and he, thanks to our babysitter, he was obsessed with Bobby Brown's 'My Prerogative'."

• Luke Burbank [51:32]:
  "He was sort of knee jerk and so Reaction Time seemed to be the perfect."

A significant portion is devoted to Luke’s dilemma over choosing a suitable hat for an upcoming cruise, leading to humorous discussions about fashion choices and listener input.

• Jen [55:03]:
  "Charlie shop wrote, maybe you should eliminate what you should not wear and see what's left."

9. Conclusion and Wrap-up (56:56 - 58:36)

As the episode winds down, Luke and Jen recap the highlights, express gratitude to their listeners, and tease future content. They play a musical piece, referencing classic songs and maintaining their signature blend of humor and camaraderie.

• Jen [56:56]:
  "Is that right, Jen? Did we manage to stumble through another hour of imaginary radio?"

• Luke Burbank [57:46]:
  "And good luck to all."

The episode concludes with a final musical interlude, leaving listeners with a sense of warmth and anticipation for the next installment.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps:

• Luke Burbank [00:17]:
  "These are my awards. The seal is for marksmanship, and the gorilla is for sand racing."

• Jen [05:39]:
  "There will be pizza, there will be soda to drink, and there will be fun."

• Luke Burbank [16:16]:
  "Really, Columbo?"

• Jen [35:27]:
  "It's called the valediction. Really is your sign off."

• Jen [50:09]:
  "My brother loved MTV from a young age and he, thanks to our babysitter, he was obsessed with Bobby Brown's 'My Prerogative'."

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Episode Highlights:

• Personal Anecdotes: Luke discusses his recent weight loss journey and his humorous take on a less-than-ideal lunch experience.

• Behind-the-Scenes: Insight into Luke’s interaction with "This American Life" and the challenges of portraying personal stories accurately.

• Listener Engagement: Announcement of the poster party and active encouragement for listener participation.

• Pop Culture Insights: Discussion about the reunion of the "Party Down" cast and its appearance on "Children's Hospital."

• Email Etiquette: An entertaining breakdown of email sign-offs, exploring their meanings and appropriate usage.

• Fashion Debates: A lively exchange about the popularity and practicality of fedoras, especially in the context of an upcoming cruise.

• Reflective Moments: Reminiscing about past listener interactions and how negative feedback can be transformed into positive experiences.

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Conclusion:

Episode #894 of TBTL: Too Beautiful To Live offers a rich tapestry of conversations that blend personal stories, pop culture commentary, and practical advice, all delivered with the hosts' trademark humor and warmth. Whether discussing the intricacies of email sign-offs or navigating the complexities of social interactions, Luke and Jen provide listeners with an engaging and relatable experience. This episode is a testament to their ability to transform everyday topics into entertaining and meaningful discussions, making it a must-listen for both regular followers and newcomers alike.

Transcript

[Luke Burbank]

These are my awards.

[Jen]

Mother from army.

[Luke Burbank]

The seal is for marksmanship, and the gorilla is for sand racing.

[Susie Burbank]

Tbtl.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, my goodness. That was one of the most amazing sand race performances any of us have seen. I think we can all agree to that. Hi, you guys. Welcome to a Thursday afternoon edition of tbtl, the show that's probably too beautiful to live. Well, I guess I just have my first taste of the filthy side of this business. My name is Luke Burbank. I'm your host. It's episode 894 in a collector's Series. I. I am, I have to say, starting to get my health on. I've lost hundreds of pounds and gained hundreds of confidence. Although I realized as I said that that just. Just behind me, Jen can see the remnants of my lunch, which started out healthy. There's a sandwich that was just tomato and avocado. Tomato, avocado? Well, it was tomato, avocado, and onion. But I didn't want the onion because I was trying to not, you know, small space here at the Cairo broadcast closet. And so I said, no onion. So then I thought, that's not bad. It's a delicious big, you know, fresh tomato, avocado. It's good, but the problem is they give it to you in a bag, and the bag also has a bag of chips in it and a delicious oatmeal chocolate chip cookie.

[Jen]

What's odd is that from the angle I am, this whole time that we've been in here, I've been looking at that, and I did not realize it was a cookie. I thought it was. I thought it was fried eggplant.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, it does look like what you'd get, like, in an Italian restaurant.

[Jen]

Yeah. And so I've just been sitting there thinking, who? And so then I thought maybe you had a sandwich that had fried eggplant on it. Pulled it off. Like, I've actually been having a whole, like, experience with that cookie.

[Luke Burbank]

Would of it.

[Jen]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay. That seems like the only.

[Jen]

Frankly, I would have taken half if it had been fried eggplant, because I love fried eggplant. Thank you.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, sure. Thank you. You're doing me a favor. You're doing me a huge solid. Yeah. Hey, so this is episode 894 in a collector series.

[Jen]

Hi, this is Luke's mom, Susie, coming tonight on tbtl.

[Luke Burbank]

We've got some TBTL breaking news to share with you. We've got some instruction on how to sign off at the end of an email. This is a. You know, this is a real hazard of the modern of the modern age, because we're all emailing each other all the time. And it's like, you don't want to go too far. You don't want to break out the XO before it's time. The XO really sends. Really sends a message, says that we're cool like that, and maybe it would like to be cooler like that, if that's possible. So we'll look to the wisdom of the hairpin.com and a whole bunch of other fun, interesting stuff, including an update on how TBTL is doing in the battle of the brands. Tbtl, by which I mean Chateau San Michelle, who at this point has just been subsumed into tbtl, Inc. That's gonna come. It's gonna come as a real shock to the people who own the most successful vineyard in America, probably. Anyway, lots of. Lots of fun stuff to talk about. One thing, though, that's a little bit less fun. I jinxed the hell out of it yesterday. Flash.

[Jen]

What do you mean?

[Luke Burbank]

You know how I said, oh, yeah, I'm gonna be on this American Life this weekend unless they kill it, which they've done many times before. Last night, after it was all done, get an email from the producer, can you call me at my house? And I looked at the. That's how she emails. She's not a good producer. That's not true. She's a great producer.

[Jen]

I was like, this has a mouse email voice.

[Luke Burbank]

I know. So I. I was like. It was like 8:00 at night, Seattle time, 11:00. And I thought, that's not good news.

[Jen]

No. They're not offering you the hosting job.

[Luke Burbank]

No, no. I mean. Which would have been a real shock to Ira to find out that they were giving me the job anyway. So they. Yeah, they killed. They killed my pee. So.

[Jen]

I'm sorry. Sorry.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, you know what? To be totally honest, I don't think they'll ever hear this, so it'll be okay. But I'm kind of okay with it because the piece was about being a teen dad, which is, you know, my real life. And it's weird when you're working with people who are editing your story about your real life. Not that anything was. Is ever being changed factually, but it's sort of like. It's just.

[Jen]

They're telling you what's interesting about you.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. And I may have disagreed at a few points. And so it had gotten into this thing where, I mean, I wanted to push forward because it's cool to be on that show and it's Be good for tbtl. Because people would hear us. But when they. When. When she told me, yeah, it got. It got spiked. I was. Some part of me was a little bit relieved. And I'm not just saying that to try to save face, but I am saying it to say if I ever have another project going for them, Jen and I ever mention it on the show, will you hit me with your shoe?

[Jen]

Yep.

[Luke Burbank]

Something.

[Jen]

Yep. No, I like hitting you with the shoe.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, see, this is good. This gives you an everybody wins. Yeah.

[Jen]

Ever since the Tina Turner movie. When will I have an opportunity to beat someone with a shoe?

[Luke Burbank]

Well, get me to stop jinxing things and it will allow you to get out some of your well placed and well. Well, I was gonna say well documented, but that sounds like it's in your personnel file, which I've been submitting to TBTL management. I was gonna say well founded frustrations.

[Jen]

This is Jim Halpern's file that Dwight has been like.

[Luke Burbank]

Precisely.

[Jen]

Complaints about.

[Luke Burbank]

Precisely. A couple of other housekeeping things right here at the top of the show. We are having a poster party on Wednesday. I feel like if I called a party, people will. People will get really pumped about it. We are.

[Jen]

People ask, I think an obvious question, which is, what is a poster party?

[Luke Burbank]

I'm glad you asked, Jen. We are finally mailing out all of the posters to all of you who donated to the tbt. Think of it as Christmas in August. That's how we've tried to spin it. Anyway, so we've got all these signed posters and we're gonna mail them out, but there's a lot of them. There's hundreds of them. So we're going to. We're gonna get a little crew together here at the radio station.

[Jen]

It's kind of like when you assign your kids chores.

[Luke Burbank]

That's right. And we're gonna time everyone and we.

[Jen]

Will have gold stars and a chart.

[Luke Burbank]

There will be pizza, There will be soda to drink, and there will be drinks, and there will be fun. And we're kicking around this idea of trying to record something that might be usable for the show. I'm trying to think, just interviewing people about poster rolling maybe. That sounds like a good. Probably knock an hour of the show out with that. Right?

[Jen]

I think we can come up with something better than that.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay, well, fine. We have that as a. Can we keep that in our back pocket?

[Jen]

Sure.

[Luke Burbank]

So anyway, it's coming up this Wednesday. Now I put a blog post up about it today. And I mean, probably close to 20 people have already volunteered, which I think is the maximum number of people that after that point, it won't actually be helpful. It'll just be too much. So I guess you can still email us. We're just going to take the first 20 people. What a racket, huh?

[Jen]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

So like, keep the people away who want to come help us for free to get the posters that they paid for. But anyway, it's really a reminder that.

[Jen]

You need to be checking our blog early and often.

[Luke Burbank]

Yes. Or you may miss the chance to come work for free and do chores with us. So that's coming up this Wednesday here at the radio station at 6:00. And if you want to email us about it, go for it. But again, there might be two spots left. In fact, while I've been giving this announcement, someone may have already emailed me because we're a pretty big deal. One other thing that's been.

[Jen]

So just to clarify, we will email you back to let you know. So just because you emailed us, don't assume that you're going to be on the. Because we have to turn in a list to the receptionist at the door.

[Luke Burbank]

That's a really, really good point. So we're going to email you if you were one of the people that responded to us, and we will let you know if you do not hear from us. We love you. We absolutely love you and your enthusiasm, but we'll be able to utilize it during future projects.

[Jen]

And you know what? I'll even give you five, near perfect 10 points.

[Luke Burbank]

Wow.

[Jen]

Just for having us.

[Luke Burbank]

You really are treating them like. You really are treating them like children.

[Jen]

I know. Sometimes I actually am a kindergarten teacher, I think.

[Luke Burbank]

Do you think that you. I feel like you would have been great at that. Did you ever consider going into that?

[Jen]

Yes, I still consider it all the time.

[Luke Burbank]

Seriously.

[Jen]

I really. It was kind of a lifelong thing that I wanted to be a teacher.

[Luke Burbank]

Do you feel like you would not be? We have lots of teachers who listen to the show and teach the whole spectrum of ages of kids. Do you. Do you feel like. What I wonder about with teaching little kids like kindergarteners is there's the joy and the wonderment and everything. But then at some point, don't you want to have an adult conversation? Because like teaching seniors honors English sounds like that would be kind of cool too, because you get to. You can have a pretty heady conversation with a senior in high school. Right. What about you? Do you think you would be. Would you get bored of little kids if you were teaching?

[Jen]

Is that why I Actually started and ran a summer program. What? Yeah, for three to six year olds. And I did it for, I don't know, months. And I actually really loved it. Just because they're so funny and wacky and sacred.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, they say the darndest things they.

[Jen]

Do, but I think I would. I think junior high would maybe be more my sweet spot.

[Luke Burbank]

You like them pimply and just locked in.

[Jen]

Total self loathing, insecure. Yeah, I like to be able to mold. You've often kind of joked about, like, I clearly had such a specific taste in interns because I definitely liked people that I thought I could mold. And then what they proved to be is unmoldable.

[Luke Burbank]

I think that you've had a really positive effect on just about every one of the TBTL interns.

[Jen]

Oh, I think we had a great time. I just think that what I had to learn is just because somebody wasn't like me, Silent Nick didn't mean that there was something that I needed to fix. You know what I mean?

[Luke Burbank]

Right. Right. Well, I think you suffer from the same thing I suffer from, which is everyone else. Most of the people I meet become extras in the movie that I'm shooting called My Life. And I want to pose them, and I want. This scene's gonna happen at a malt shop. You stand right there. You stand right there. And I want so that my. So that the dramatic scene I'm gonna do at the malt shop works out the way I want it. Because the tableau, the backdrop, all that stuff works and is exactly. Everyone's just posed where I want them to be.

[Jen]

Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

Well.

[Jen]

And what I thought was Silent Nick was that somehow he was gonna come be my intern and I was gonna turn him into this loquacious person. And finally, at some point, it just became really clear that he wasn't gonna be my talking puppet. You know, he is who he is, and I'm so glad. And now to this day, we're friends.

[Luke Burbank]

He's pretty talkative with me.

[Jen]

Really?

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, yeah. He's just a motor mouth. So it might actually be.

[Jen]

Maybe it's me.

[Luke Burbank]

He may have personal. No, I'm kidding. I'm kidding. So that's the plan. On Wednesday night. Please, we will email you if we have room for your help. And if not, like I said, we'll come up with something real soon to get the rest of you in here because we love you guys and we like to hang out with you. We've got a little bit of TVTL breaking news. This is a biggie. And Another reason why you should download the show every day right after we put it up. Because this is only gonna be useful information if you've downloaded the show on this Thursday. But the cast of Party down is reuniting on the Adult Swim show, Children's Hospital tonight.

[Jen]

Yes, and I don't mean the actual. I'm not saying just the actors. The actual Party Down. Like, they will be in character in their catering uniforms.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, my God. That's like.

[Jen]

It's gonna be like Party down is happening again for, as Ken Marino put it, 11 minutes.

[Luke Burbank]

Is there gonna be. Are there gonna be some RDDs?

[D]

What don't you understand? It's crystal clear. Ron Donald, Dues. Okay, the four P's and one B. Politeness, professionalism, perfectionism, Proactive. Be on time. I have a proactive suggestion.

[Luke Burbank]

No, you know what? I think we get the system.

[D]

Okay, then what don't you understand? Kyle, what are you doing? Don't do that. Punctuality. What? No, don't do that. Now it's five P's. No, I already have four P's. That's an rdd. The Ron Donald do. No, Ron Donald don't.

[Jen]

Exactly. More of that. Genius.

[Luke Burbank]

I love that they're. I love. So they're catering something at the hospital.

[Jen]

So the Party down cast all got together and they filmed apparently an 11 minute little sketch. And he said it was so much fun and so great. And of course the idea of a Party down movie came up and everybody wants it to happen, but he said, you know, you never know. But I'm just glad they're all. I'm glad they can still access their.

[Luke Burbank]

Catering outfits other than. Okay, granted, Rob Cordry was pretty drunk at the TBTL live show. He was possibly making multiple passes at you. He did possibly want to fight you.

[Jen]

I think we were gonna fight. I think he was making passes at you. I think he wanted to fight me.

[Luke Burbank]

It's a thin line between love and hate. But don't you kind of feel when you hear about something like this, like, Children's Hospital, which is so funny and just has top to bottom, just these really funny writers and actors and actresses and everything. And then, like, Party down is the other thing that we love. And then, like, they all hang out. Like, they all. It's like, you know, Rob Cordry just gets on the phone with Ken Marino or Ryan Scott and is like, hey, you guys should. Is that his name? Adam Scott? Like, hey, you guys should come over. Let's do a Party down thing. And then, like, they all show up and like, wait, Lizzy Caplan's there? Are you kidding me? They all show up and, like, hang out and be cool together. I feel like there's this world of coolness going on that.

[Jen]

I know. It's awesome. I love that.

[Luke Burbank]

That we're not involved in.

[Jen]

No, our. The way we crossed through was very uncool because I've actually always blamed us for what happened to Rob Cordry that night.

[Luke Burbank]

Why?

[Jen]

Because the show was an hour later than it was supposed to be and he was sitting alone in a room with a huge bucket of alcohol.

[Luke Burbank]

He was.

[Jen]

Well, what was he supposed to do?

[Luke Burbank]

Our problem was that we poured all that alcohol into that bucket. I mean, that was just gross. After a while, he wasn't alone. He was hanging out with the other luminaries from that show. He was hanging out.

[Jen]

I was thinking he was up there an hour longer than he was supposed to be.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, that was.

[Jen]

Show was too long.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, that was my fault. I still. I will never.

[Jen]

This is our Apocalypse Now.

[Luke Burbank]

I will never, ever. I will never be able to get over the weirdness that was that show's rhythm. And also just how it wasn't. It was somehow less than the sum of its parts. I don't know how that works. We had. That was like. To this day, that was like one of the coolest lineups that's ever happened in Los Angeles. Yeah. Garfunkel and Oates, Dana Gould, Mark Marin, Marc Maron, Jesse Thorne. The band Princeton, who sounded great. Cordry, who. Am I. Am I forgetting?

[Jen]

Yes. Dinner Party Download.

[Luke Burbank]

Dinner Party Download. I mean, it was a star studded spectac. Adam Felber from Real Time with Bill Maher and wait, don't tell me. Was the announcer. It was just. I mean, there were like famous people that we couldn't even let them on the stage. And yet somehow it was.

[Jen]

I blame your throne. Honestly, you were sitting so much higher than everyone else on the stage. I don't think anybody could get over it. It just created.

[Luke Burbank]

It derailed everything.

[Jen]

Everything.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, anyway, everybody should, I guess, tune in. Although, you know, they could also watch it online, right? Children's Hospital. But they could. They could. They could t vote and. And watch it tonight. That sounds pretty amazing. I'm going to watch that. I'm very excited. You know the thing with Children's Hospital, every single time I watch it, I am dying at how funny it is. And yet I haven't, for whatever reason, gotten into the rhythm of watching it. You know how that is.

[Jen]

Yep.

[Luke Burbank]

I don't Know if it's just a matter of I gotta start tivoing it or I've gotta make a point, but it's one of those shows that every time I interact with it, I'm just kind of thinking, why am I not watching this every single week? Because it is reliably so, so, so funny.

[Jen]

I feel the same way. I have to run across it on the Internet usually.

[Luke Burbank]

All right, let's talk about this Top Story, which I'm still actually getting a little. Hello and welcome to Top Story. I'm still getting some clarification, Jen, from you on this. You think that your father in law gave out your email?

[Jen]

Yeah, well, I mean, I'm on the case about what exactly happened. I'm having a date with Simon.

[Luke Burbank]

Really?

[Jen]

How did you get this email?

[Luke Burbank]

Really, Columbo?

[Jen]

Yeah, but I got a mass email that was like a. Hey everybody, so and so is having a baby shower for so and so's daughter. Please won't you all attend? And these are people that I have not been friends with in 20 years.

[Luke Burbank]

Are they Jesus creakers?

[Jen]

No.

[Luke Burbank]

It sounds like you don't want to be specific.

[Jen]

I don't want to be specific, but.

[Luke Burbank]

Do I know them?

[Jen]

No, it's this other group.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. Okay. You don't have to. I don't want you to get in.

[Jen]

Trouble Anyway, so the worst part about it is it wasn't just an email where this person who I don't really want to hang out with or talk to or be in their life anymore. It wasn't just that she has my email, but she did a mass email to all the other people that I don't want to talk to and don't want in my life and don't want to be friends with. So now all of them have my email.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, geez.

[Jen]

And so I was trying to. I'm going through the. I'm trying to figure out how did this first person get my email? Did one of these other. How would they have have gotten it? And then Jason said, wait a minute. And he pointed to one of the girls on the list and he said, isn't she friends with this other woman who is my father in law's neighbor? So I think that this is a.

[Luke Burbank]

Real CSI situation though.

[Jen]

Well, this is the thing. Giving out people's email I think is kind of rude.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah.

[Jen]

And so I said, I want to call your dad. And Jason said, okay, let's calm down. What is the purpose of calling my dad? And I said, because I don't want him to do this. And so I want to explain to him, I don't want you to give out my email. And I understand that you didn't realize that this time around and I totally understand that. But now what I'm asking you is going forward, please don't give out my email. And then Jason said, I, knowing my dad, I want to tell you that that's going to backfire because he is of a generation that is not going to understand that. Like they never let their phone ring without answering it. They would never not answer their phone. They are always available for guests. Like starting at 8 in the morning, they're receiving. You know, if somebody, if they are going to some town and you happen to mention you have friends who live in that town, they'll say give us their number because they'll call them and ask if they can stay with them.

[Luke Burbank]

Right.

[Jen]

Like they are of a generation that.

[Luke Burbank]

Just totally my parents, totally my parents aren't, aren't quite the age of your in laws, but my parents, that's exactly their move too. Like I will sometimes when I go to Portland to visit my family, I will sometimes stay in a hotel because it's like if it's overfilled or like I just want to be able to go to the bathroom when I want to go to the bathroom. I think you and I are from the generation, we're like, you know what? I'm going to drop $120 at La Quinta.

[Jen]

Yeah. If that means I have to eat pancakes every night for dinner for the next month, that's worth it to me.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, absolutely. Whereas our parents, at least my parents and your in laws, you know what it is, it's that also I think it has a certain amount of the sort of Christian, we're all brothers and sisters, communal living, you know, let's fellowship together kind of vibe, which, you know what, to be honest with you, I was raised this way as a kid. Right. We never stayed in hotels. I think that the first hotel I stayed in was like a Red lion when I was like 12 or 13. Previous to that, it was always we're just staying with people that my parents knew through church stuff. And those are some of the most fun memories of my life of being a kid. Even though as an adult, if I look back on it, it was probably mortifying. My parents in some funky Ford van, like half of the side of it was Bondo. They got like 9,000 kids streaming out of this van. It was always like the people didn't have quite enough room, you know, Like, Lord knows my parents didn't show up, you know, with like, you know, five Papa Murphy's pizzas they'd bought for it. You know what I mean? It was like a real drain on the resources and the time and everybody. And it's the kind of thing that going into it, I'd be like, this is going to be a horror show. And yet like running around as a kid in the backyard with other kids who you'd met and playing games and all this stuff. That stuff was so much fun. Maybe we're missing something, Jen, by not living the way that your in laws live.

[Jen]

I think there's probably a lot of truth to that. I think our generation is a lot more isolated and lonely as it goes. But that's not the point about this.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay, okay, I'm sorry.

[Jen]

So here's the thing. So I ignored this email, the baby shower thing, right? But then someone else on that email list saw my email. They wrote me, oh, no. And I ignored that one. So then she wrote me today. It's been like, it's been like 36 hours.

[Luke Burbank]

Was she writing you? Was her. Was the follow up email the second person saying, oh, are you coming to this?

[Jen]

No, it was, I'm so excited to find your email. I've wondered and wondered how you are and you know, that's kind of long.

[Luke Burbank]

That's like someone from the Bonanno crime family saying, Sammy the Bull. So glad to have your new name. Rick Johnson of Silver Springs, Maryland.

[Jen]

So I didn't do anything about the email because I was frustrated and I was actually in full on detective mode at that point. I couldn't deal with the emails because I was just trying to figure out where was ground zero on this thing.

[Luke Burbank]

Right. You had just gotten your trench coat back from the cleaners. You were buttoning that up, polishing up your magnifying glass.

[Jen]

So this is the email I get today. Jen, I can't believe you didn't write me back. I hope you don't think that you can ignore me just because you're on the radio now.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh.

[Jen]

So first of all, now I really know I don't want to be friends with you. And now I'm mad. And now you are going to get an email back. I'm still what Jason said, he goes, what I like about this is that now you're angry about that and you're really spending all your time on that and you've kind of put to the side calling my dad because he really doesn't want me to call his dad because he said the only thing that will come out of you calling my dad is A, they will decide that you're a rude person. B, they will sit around and talk to all of their friends and everybody about why you don't want them giving out your. Why wouldn't you want to meet new people?

[Luke Burbank]

Right?

[Jen]

Why wouldn't, why wouldn't you want to share? This is how they talk. Because they get excited and they're from Oklahoma. Why, why, why wouldn't you want to share your life with anybody who wants to?

[Luke Burbank]

Right?

[Jen]

Because I don't.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah.

[Jen]

So Jason's like, nothing good is going to come out of calling my dad. So just let my dad give out your email when he wants.

[Luke Burbank]

But I don't feel like that's a. And I, you know how I pretty much side with Jason in about 99% of these things. But I do think that it's because they are a link to a world for you that you probably want to be selective about how you interact with that world. It's not like this isn't going to come up again. I do think that maybe gently, maybe with a very loving tone, maybe when you guys are doing Thanksgiving you can say, hey, by the way, just so you know, here's the other thing you could do. Here's what you could do. Create a new Gmail account and then send it to undisclosed recipients. But it's really only going to your in laws. It says, hey, I've got a, you know, spam, I've got a new email. So they're going to have a different email for you and then that's where they're going to send and then you can just check it periodically.

[Jen]

That's actually a great idea because I'm not interested in making a point. I just don't want them handing out my email. I don't want a big family to do about this thing. So this way it just is a little white lie that kind of cures the problem.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, what are you going to do? That other email you got that makes my skin crawl in the exact same way it makes. Because of course neither you nor I for one second would ever think that because we somehow engage in local Seattle radio, we are now too good to.

[Jen]

No, it's crazy.

[Luke Burbank]

And that confirms the worst fear you could possibly have, which would be that somebody thinks that you would be the kind of person who would react that way over something that's such. So microscopically celebrity based.

[Jen]

And now that's what they're gonna tell people, right?

[Luke Burbank]

Oh my God, that's so bad for you. Jen. I'm so sorry.

[Jen]

That's gonna be taking up a lot of my evening. Bottle of wine.

[Luke Burbank]

How are you gonna. Good plan. How are you going to say. Because the problem is anything you say if you're terse with them, all you're doing is confirming this notion they have that you're too big for your britches.

[Jen]

Now, I know, I know it's gonna take some finesse, but I'm doing it because now I'm mad.

[Luke Burbank]

You wouldn't just say. Because you know what I think I would be tempted to do? I'd be tempted to just say, I've just been crazy with work. I'm sorry. Anyway, I can't make it to that thing. But catch you on the flip side.

[Jen]

No, because now I have to address this really offensive thing that she said that isn't true.

[Luke Burbank]

But then the problem is she is going to turn around and say, you will not believe this email I got from Jen. I'd heard she'd changed, but I didn't believe it until she sent me this. Let me put it on the prayer chain. Jen's really going through a hard time. That's the worst.

[Jen]

I know, I know. And it just all gets back to this, giving out my email.

[Luke Burbank]

I do think that what you've got to do is you've got to create a shell corporation email. Because another thing you could say is, hey, you know what, guys, this email is getting really clogged up with. It's for work. For instance, I don't know if it was your TBT net or one of your other ones. But like you could now it is. You're going to email listeners. I mean, this does constitute a fabrication of sorts. But you could just kind of say like, you know, I'm trying to keep that email just for work stuff because it's easier. And that's the kind of thing that would work with your in laws because they would think, oh, that makes sense. Email's confusing. You know what I mean? If you're like, I need this email to just be for work stuff. So if anyone wants to email me about personal stuff, parties, fun stuff, and then you can put that little like semicolon brack, like it's winking.

[Jen]

I think at that point they'll think that I've had a brain aneurysm if.

[Luke Burbank]

I put that on a bertation. But no, I mean like, okay, fine, don't overdo it. But what I'm saying is you could describe it as being like oh, you know, this email and I gotta really keep it separate. And that in their brain will be like, that makes perfect sense.

[Jen]

No, that'll totally work. Because another white lie that I told them just a few months ago, which.

[Luke Burbank]

You didn't know you were setting it up, but you were.

[Jen]

I told them that I put a block on. I don't even know if this is a real thing, but they wouldn't know. But I told them I put a block on my computer against forwards because they like forward jokes and stats. They're old people. They forward like crazy. So I told them that I put a blocker on my computer against forwards. Not to do with them, but just because it was cluttering my inbox. Mostly from my nieces who send things like, if you don't forward this email to 10 people, then you're gonna have a curse on your house. Like, I don't need all that crap. So I told them all that I had.

[Luke Burbank]

This explains, by the way, why your house has been so cursed.

[Jen]

I know that water damage came from somewhere.

[Luke Burbank]

Yup.

[Jen]

So I told the whole extended clan that I had a block on forwards because they kept saying, did you get my email? And I'd say, oh, no, I didn't. I have a block on forwards. And so I already know they bought that.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah.

[Jen]

So I'm sure they'll buy my dummy Gmail.

[Luke Burbank]

I think that that is probably the way that will result in the least hurt feelings and also result in you getting the least. You know, here's the thing. I'm sorry, okay, but like, just because you sent someone an email does not obligate them to respond to it. It's not. If you. If you email someone and you ask a question of them and then they respond to you and then you don't. Like, if you initiate the. If you initiate the situation and then you at a weird point bail out of the situation, then maybe someone can be like, hey, what the heck? But if you just email someone out of the blue and then you're mad at them that they didn't get back to you, doesn't it feel like that's a really unfair thing to do? Right. Because now they're putting this person from your past is putting the onus on you to want to get into a thing. And another thing that I have been learning lately is a lot of times if you're getting a weird vibe from someone, you feel like they're kind of, you know, whatever, like just being evasive or like if you have a friend and you're kind of our schedules just don't really. And then you sort of go. You like, you basically call them out and you go, hey, what's going on? Sometimes the answer is, yeah, I don't really like you anymore. You know what I mean? Sometimes you got to let sleeping dogs lie. Right? Like, had this person just sent the email and you didn't respond to it and they just filed it under, oh, she's busy, or maybe it didn't go to the right account or whatever, whatever. But now she's like, what, are you too good? And it's like, oh, shit, now it's about to go down.

[Jen]

Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

People need to work on leaving well enough alone sometimes. Right.

[Jen]

Well, and the other thing too is that I would have eventually gotten around to writing her a quick little. We're doing great. It was nice to hear from you. I hope I'm very good at the cold Brush off. And so I would have been able to.

[Luke Burbank]

You're like the east coast, old and cold. That was mean. I'm sorry.

[Jen]

So anyway, that is the top story in my life right now because I've got, as you can tell, I've got. I'm fighting on like three fronts.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, you're like the US during World War II. I mean, you're stretched thin. You're fighting multiple theaters. That's. Well, I think that's an absolutely worthy top story today, Flash. And I think it's because I think it's something that happens to all of our listeners too, in this world of emailings that are going on. Hey, speaking of email and things that happen around the Internet, we are 26 minutes away from crowning a best brand in the Northwest. And would you believe there seems to be indications. Sweet berry wine, that it might be Chateau St. Michel. They're the official wine sponsor of TBTL and they've been in this contest with the Puget Sound Business Trail. Now, as we record this, it's 2:35 West Coast Time in the afternoon. The polls close at 3. CSM has 12,370 votes. Windermere Real Estate Company, their opponent has 8,266. Now, I don't want to jinx anything.

[Jen]

Please don't.

[Luke Burbank]

So I'll just say, keep voting, please. Although none of you are gonna hear this til after 3:00. So I'm trying to send a clairvoyant message right now to everyone out there. Okay, I just sent it. And then when you hear this, you'll know what that clairvoyant message that you received was. It was me at 2:36 saying, go vote in this contest because then they'll be the best brand in the Northwest. And you guys, the tens of listeners, will be responsible for it, which would be a pretty cool thing. And by the way, if you're in the market for some delicious wine and you're walking around the grocery store and you're in the wine section and it just seems overwhelming, reach for a bottle of Chateau St. Michel. Because I can promise you that of all of the wines in that wine shop, in that grocery store, they're the only one that helps pay for your favorite imaginary radio show. By which I mean WTF with Marc Maron. But they also sponsor tvtl, so we appreciate it very much. Shout out to San Michelle. They're the official wine sponsor of tbtl. Shout out to San Michelle, Woodinville, Washington. All right, let's take a quick musical break. I think this song is kind of old. Okay, I am by no means out in front on this, but I've been listening to. I know I just said this yesterday, but I've been listening to a ton of this 8tracks.com website, and I've been listening to a certain kind of summary playlist, kind of indie summer music. And this song keeps popping up. It's by this band, Empire of the sun, and it's just such a great summer party jam. And even though the reason, despite whatever other songs will be on these different playlists, mixtapes that people have made, this one seems a pop up on everyone. So I know for a lot of you this is not new news, but I thought we'd play it and maybe this could be a nice way that everyone can enjoy the last few weeks of the summertime because this is a great summer jam. This is Walking on a Dream. It's Empire of the Sun. Back with more TBTL in just a moment.

[Susie Burbank]

Talking to myself Will I see again we are always running for the thrill of it Thrill of it Always pushing up the hill Searching for the thrill of it all along we are calling out not again Never looking down I'm just a narrow what's in front of me But I'll never see the love you found in me Loves changing all.

[Luke Burbank]

The time.

[Susie Burbank]

Living in a rhythm Waving in it's working all the time we are always running for the thrill of it Thrill of it Always pushing up the hill Searching for the thrill of it all and all alone now we are calling out not again Never looking down I'm just a narrow what's in front of me.

[Luke Burbank]

All right, welcome back to TBTL It's Empire of the Sun. There's a really great mashup with the. Well, it's like a Wiz Khalifa song that uses this and we'll never play it on the show because it's very inappropriate. But if you're a grown up and you like Wiz Khalifa, you should check that one out too. So there was a. There was an article up at the Hairpin. And it's funny, actually, the producer I was working with at this American Life, Jane Marie, she just left this American Life to go work at the hairpin.

[Jen]

Really?

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. Hairpin Be blowing up.

[Jen]

Yeah, they're good writers.

[Luke Burbank]

So the hairpin had up. What do they have? It was a. Was basically a little. A little kind of tutorial on how to sign off on an email.

[Jen]

Right.

[Luke Burbank]

And was it just across the board or was it. If it's a romantic email, here's how you ended. If it's a business email, here's how you would they break it down via.

[Jen]

They kind of give some advice about. It's. First of all, I didn't know this. It's called the valediction. Really is your sign off.

[Luke Burbank]

Huh.

[Jen]

And they basically start off by saying, probably. If you're like most people, this has become something you actually stress over when you're ending your email of how to end it. And so they said if you're feeling aloof, you can use regards.

[Luke Burbank]

Ooh.

[Jen]

Which I guess I've never thought of it as aloof, but I have thought of it as being very businesslike. Regards.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. Yeah. That's very formal. I.

[Jen]

Ending your message like this shows that you are calm, collected, and a little bitchy. And sometimes that might be what you want to communicate. I might use that for my.

[Luke Burbank]

We just heard about an email that might need to end with regards.

[Jen]

If you're feeling boring, they said you can just use best.

[Luke Burbank]

What.

[Jen]

Which I think is what most people these days use is just best. It's easy. It doesn't. There's no connotation to it.

[Luke Burbank]

See, I feel like someone used. I always use best. And I used best. I started a few years ago because someone sent me an email and signed it Best. And I thought, that's classy without being aloof. And it struck me I had never seen it before. I like it because it's kind of sort of formal enough, but it's not overly formal and it's wishing them something positive. And also it's also a way of making sure that the email doesn't come off as you're Trying to mack on the person.

[Jen]

Yeah, I feel like who started it was publicists in New York, because I remember there was. All of a sudden I started like every email from a publicist ended with best. And I thought, oh, that's nice.

[Luke Burbank]

It just seemed classy, non creepy, but friendly. But not overly friendly to me.

[Jen]

Yeah, but I think it's just now everybody uses it and so it's just kind of. I think it's a good go to. There's no question about it.

[Luke Burbank]

What about bests? What if you just put another S on it?

[Jen]

Well, they said the alternative to best would be thanks, so it's a little on the boring side.

[Luke Burbank]

See, I think. Because I think that thanks. I think that thanks has the. Thanks has the. Poses the danger of seeming sarcastic. Like, thanks. Like we really need people to start doing their own dishes in the Cairo kitchen because we don't want to do it anymore and it's disgusting. Thanks. You know? Yeah, yeah, I see that you gotta be worried about the tone of your email that precedes thanks. So that doesn't sound like you're. Well.

[Jen]

And also you don't want the implication that you assume they're going to do the thing you've asked for.

[Luke Burbank]

It's the implication.

[Jen]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Do you remember it's always sunny when they're talking about being on the boat? Wait, wait, this is getting a little creepy. No, no, no, nothing's going to happen to her. It's the implication.

[Jen]

Okay. The next one is if you're feeling affectionate. Warmest.

[Luke Burbank]

Mmm.

[Jen]

She says, wouldn't that just make you smile? Seeing that at the end of an email, Warmest.

[Luke Burbank]

I would go with warmly.

[Jen]

Warmly. She said, that's an alternative, is warmly or yours, but yours, to me that's like, crosses the line into that definite.

[Luke Burbank]

That sounds civil war. I hope you still want to have sex with me, even though I'm going to be missing at least one leg when I get back. Yours, Jedediah.

[Jen]

I love this one. If you're feeling British, cheers. But then she says, do not use this unless your native dialect is a variety of British English or you will look like a tosser, which means a tool. I think cheers is a little dangerous because she says the alternatives to cheers are pip pip cheerio or pip pip cheerio.

[Luke Burbank]

I definitely. I definitely have been. I've been guilty of cheers. Of saying cheers, not of putting it in emails. But I have a. I would never say it to my real friends because they're like, what are you talking about, dude? You grew up by Green Lake. Why are you saying that? But when I'm talking to people who I kind of don't really know, like, if it's like, I'm like, it's a work thing, and it's like, dude, bros. And I want to say something, I guess to say, like, congrats or like, I'll see you around. You know what I mean? Or whatever, I'll say, all right, man. Cheers. Like, it feels bro. Ish enough to me that it's like. As opposed to like, see you later or whatever. I don't know. There's a really specific time where it feels appropriate to me, but it probably isn't appropriate. I probably do sound like a tosser. And I gotta really be careful on that.

[Jen]

I love those. So my lifelong friend Amy, she moved to England probably, I GUESS it's been 10 years now. And she's picked up all of the idioms, you know? So she. It's always. She has to take a call on her mobile after she comes down in the lift from her flat. Cause she was just away on holiday. Like, she uses all of that.

[Luke Burbank]

It doesn't feel affected to you?

[Jen]

It totally does. It cracks me up.

[Luke Burbank]

What is she, Madonna?

[Jen]

Lived in America until you were 27 years old.

[Luke Burbank]

Your dad used to own the place that became Rick's.

[Jen]

Thank you. I mean, it wasn't a barbecue, it was a restaurant.

[Luke Burbank]

I just want everyone to know.

[Jen]

But, you know, she uses all of that. And anyway, so I've been out with her and her friends a lot, and they all use Cheers. And it's so effortless and kind of. They use it so easily, and I always like it.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah.

[Jen]

But now that I'm thinking about it, every time she says she was on her mobile, everybody rolls their eyes. So maybe you really do have to be a Brit to carry off.

[Luke Burbank]

Although, you know what? She should get a pass on mobile because she's been living there during the time when cell phones became popular. So it wasn't like she was calling it a cell phone in the US for 15 years. She went there and started calling it mobile.

[Jen]

That's a good point. But she did know it's a vacation. The whole. I've been on holiday, I always want to say, I don't know what that means. Okay, moving on. If you're a second grader writing a formal letter to your pen pal, you should sign off sincerely. Alternately, you could use cordially. So I think what she's saying is those are both far too formal for almost any scenario.

[Luke Burbank]

See, I like cordially. I think cordially is a little bit, like, best, where it's like, if someone signed an email to me cordially, I would be like, oh, they've taken the time. Because first of all, it's kind of a long word to type out, so you had to actually invest the time. And what you're saying is like, I mean this in friendship. I'm sending this cordially to you.

[Jen]

It still feels a little starchy to me. Cordially.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay, here's one that I use a fair amount if I'm trying to get a favor from someone. Appreciatively. I actually sign emails appreciatively all the time. Like, if I'm trying to get, like, you know, trying to get somebody from tbtl, you know, on the list for the thing or whatever. And like, anytime I'm trying to finagle, which is. This is a dead giveaway. If I'm trying to finagle anything from the listeners, they'll now know I'm trying to finagle a little bit. It'll be like, here's the email. Okay, is there any chance. And no pressure, but appreciatively.

[Jen]

Luke, I think that's fine. I often sign. I appreciate your time.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, that's nice.

[Jen]

That's a usual. That's one of my usuals. I have loves, which is how I always sign off to tens as loves or big kiss, which I learned from Scotty T. In Utah. And then if I'm feeling terse, which a couple of the listeners unfortunately, have been on the brunt of that, then there is no valediction.

[Luke Burbank]

It just says, Jen, isn't it amazing how much we can pick up from that now? Because, like, that reads, you know, the nose plays. That reads as like, oh, this person is bugged at me just based on, like, if they just, you know.

[Jen]

I do think, though, if there's a true. If it's a true love relationship, like, my sister always, always sends emails to me, always signs off xox.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah.

[Jen]

And it never fails to make me smile and feel kind of loved inside. You know, I think if it's a true love relationship, I think XOXO is awesome.

[Luke Burbank]

That's why people have to be careful with xoxo, though.

[Jen]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Because it really is. If it's a sibling, if it's a family member, then that's, you know, it is what it is. And if it's someone you're romantic with. But if I got XOXO from somebody and it was a girl, and I would. And it wasn't you know, family member or whatever. I would be like, oh, oh, okay. Well, that's what we're. So that's how we're. That's how we're communicating.

[Jen]

Oh, okay.

[Luke Burbank]

You know what I mean? Like, it's. It's a. It's not. I wouldn't. I wouldn't take. Don't take Xoxo lightly is what I mean. And it's fine to use, but just know that you're saying. What you're saying is like, I want.

[Jen]

To kiss and hug you.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, that's exactly right.

[Jen]

That's what you're saying.

[Luke Burbank]

That's exactly right.

[Jen]

Just really make sure that's what you want to say.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah.

[Jen]

And then finally she says, if this is all too stressful for you and it's freaking you out, you can always just write sent from my BlackBerry or sent from my iPhone. Which is true. It's so funny. It's like you can totally use that in place of a valediction. I know the mummies.

[Luke Burbank]

You know what the mummies is because you can obviously customize those things on your iPhone. Everyone changes them to, you know, or crackberry or whatever, which I went around and around. This is classically the kind of thing that really troubles me. Stymies me. When I figured out you could modify that, then it was like, what am I gonna. Like, I wanna come up with something that's so hilarious no one's ever seen it. But then anything I try and so finally it just says iPhone. But the mummies is sent from. I'm hooked on a feelin'it's one word. I mean, I don't know if he was in a B.J. thomas state of mind when he. When he wrote that. I don't even know what is. But that's like the probably the weirdest one I've ever seen.

[Jen]

I always like all those too. Like sent from the nearly completed Death Star. And I always. They always give me a little smile. All the. I love when people are being creative.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, the best. I guess it's actually Blue Suede who does Hooked on a feeling. I think the best one I've seen came from a 10. This was the best email auto signature which was many Bothans died to bring you this information.

[Jen]

That's awesome.

[Luke Burbank]

Isn't that good? Okay, well, look. Duly noted. Now everyone is educated on all of the ways that they should be. And of course you can also use the my favorite when it's an email to us. Nrn. No reply necessary.

[Jen]

Love it.

[Luke Burbank]

If you want us to love you in our hearts, write NRN at the end of your email, which means you're not expecting us to turn around and email you back, because we get like 100 emails a day and it's really a lot to do. Not that we're complaining, but NRN is just the greatest gift. In fact, if you put NRN in the subject line, we're probably more likely to read it because once we open it, then we feel like, oh, God, now we're obligated. So if you put something and then NRN, there's a probably a 90% chance we will actually read the email.

[Jen]

I would also say that if you actually do need a reply, don't put nrn, because then you'll just grow bitter. You know, if you actually do need a reply, you know, that's fine. We're happy to reply if a reply is necessary. But if it's not nrn, baby.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, let's do this day in TBTL history. This is when we take a look back at an important event in the history of tbtl. Because, of course, if you don't remember your TBTL history, you're doomed to repeat it. Does this need any setup flash?

[Jen]

I wouldn't even know how to set it up, honestly.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, in that case, take a listen. This day in TBTL history, if you remember, a guy named John Supernow wrote an email to us a few weeks back about how much he hates tvtl. And I read it on the air, and it turns out that one of our other listeners was in an electronic music club at, I believe it was Edmonds Community College with him in the 80s. And this other listener ran and found his vinyl album that was the. The sort of, I guess, final project of this music club. And he found the track on there that was penned by this guy, John Supernow, who hates us. And the song is called Reaction Time. And the first night I read the email from this guy, John Supernow, and my feelings were a little hurt. It was a pretty acerbic email. But what I realized once I got a hold of this song, Reaction Time is that it was actually and essentially these two pieces of art, his email and this song Reaction Time, were meant to be enjoyed together. And the next night, Shawn, I had you play Reaction Time. And I read the email over and it took on a completely different, completely different kind of tone. It was way, way cool. Yes, it became cool and fun and kind of made you feel like you might be able to, you know, create some kind of miracle on ice or be the starting power forward for the Chicago Bulls circa 1987, all kinds of possibilities were open to you when the song Reaction Time was being played. So I think that from now on, when we have negative emails, what we should do is read them set to the music of Reaction Time. I love that name though. It's like so perfect. And I don't know why, because it was a slightly reactive email for him. You know what I mean? He was sort of knee jerk and so Reaction Time seemed to be the perfect. Plus there's the robot who goes Reaction Time in the song, which is almost.

[Jen]

As good as Womanizer.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, it's definitely kind of on the same, you know, continuum. Sort of like craftwork, early craft. I think craftwork took a lot of their inspiration from John Supernov. I think so. Reaction Time this day in TBTL history. Oh, my gosh. I can't believe. I can't believe that that all happened and that. I can't believe how hard I called that guy out. This, by the way, for the new listeners, if you're curious.

[Jen]

Oh, Reaction Time for.

[Luke Burbank]

Do we have any negative emails we can read today? We can even read positive emails over them.

[Jen]

Yeah, I do have one. It's so long.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay, well, don't worry about it. Let's just read the emails that you were planning on reading.

[Jen]

Well, I just am having so much fun getting all this email from people about songs, big words that they learn from pop songs.

[Luke Burbank]

Right.

[Jen]

And I got this one from Lorena.

[Luke Burbank]

Mm.

[Jen]

My brother loved MTV from a young age and he, thanks to our babysitter, he was obsessed with Bobby Brown's My Prerogative. One day he asked my mom's friend why she smoked and she said, it is her choice. To which my four year old brother replied, right, it's your prerogative.

[Luke Burbank]

Wow.

[Jen]

And none of us ever forgot what that word meant after that. Lorena from Boston.

[Luke Burbank]

You know what I forget is that prerogative has an R after the P. It's like prerogative. It's like prerogative. Yeah, but I guess we just don't say the R because I've always said prerogative. Am I mispronouncing it? Should I be saying prerogative?

[Jen]

That's a good question. I mean, Bobby.

[Luke Burbank]

Bobby would know because I think he definitely said prerogative. That's how we learned it.

[Jen]

Well, I think we have to stick with him.

[Luke Burbank]

Obviously it's his choice.

[Jen]

Well, interestingly, Keith. Keith also emailed us about that and about that very same song and said I had to look up how to Spell it. I realized I knew what it meant, but not how to spell it.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm sure that's why. I'm sure that R was probably throwing you.

[Jen]

And then also I heard from dawn that she was obsessed with Lauryn Hill's Miseducation of Lauryn Hill album. And from the song the X Factor, she learned the word reciprocity. Oh, yeah, that's a great big.

[Luke Burbank]

I wish that Lauryn Hill hadn't gone basically cuckoo because that album is so good. I mean, so front to back, so good. Except for that stupid interstitial stuff.

[Jen]

And I actually. And I love that Fuji's album, too.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, absolutely. But who should have known when she'd have these, like, nine minute grainy recordings of kids talking about what love is like? Just get to Zion, please.

[Jen]

Then we also, we're receiving a lot of mail and blog comments about your hat dilemma.

[Luke Burbank]

Boy, who knew that we had an audience full of haberdashers?

[Jen]

I have to say, there's not a lot of love coming in for the fedora.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, I think most people. I think most people admit what I've admitted, which is the. The rampant popularity of the fedora combined with the office character, the BJ Novak character, who'd rather not say when Kelly Kapoor asks him where he got his fedora from. That's really kind of ruined fedora wearing. And it's a bummer because the fedora is a very functional hat. If you want to. Because I'm going to be on this cruise ship. I don't want to wear a ball cap the whole time. I actually don't want. And I also don't want to have such a pronounced brim that I'm not getting any sun. I just don't want to be baking in the direct Mediterranean sun. Hey, first world problem. I don't want too much of that Mediterranean sun to bake me on this cruise. But anyway, it's a bummer, though, because the fedora is a really functional hat. But it's just gotten. And apparently because Jen was telling you that I had looked at this straw fedora and you said, oh, yeah, straw, that's kind of cute. And that's a. And then someone sent me a link to, like a million articles from various New York fashion blogs about how everyone's wearing straw fedoras in New York and you can't get away from them and they're so dumb.

[Jen]

Well, I think that actually is true. But you're going to Croatia.

[Luke Burbank]

Yes, that's true.

[Jen]

And one thing that we've talked A lot about with Europe is it's confusing as to whether they're 10 years ahead of us or 10 years behind us.

[Luke Burbank]

Right, Right.

[Jen]

I'm never sure.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. So.

[Jen]

But they're not. What I do know for sure is they're not right where we are. So if right now Stroffadoras are the thing in New York, I guarantee you it's not the thing in Croatia.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm trying to find something. And here's the other crazy part. Flash I've now ordered because vintage hats are actually not that expensive. Like, if you're buying them on ebay or whatever, they might be. 10 bucks, 15 bucks. I have now, I think I've ordered six hats. I'm just like, anytime I see one, and if it's less than, like, 20 bucks, I'm sure. Why not?

[Jen]

Why don't you just go out and buy some?

[Luke Burbank]

Well, I'm going later to Utes Hats downtown to look at some. But I'm going to have, when it's all said and done, still like, six hats that are being mailed to me. Being mailed to me at Cairo. Somebody forwarded me. Jesse Thorne's really great writing on the topic because, you know, Jesse Thorne has that. Put this on, which is a great blog. What I'm basically getting down to, Jen, is it is going to probably be a fedora. It is probably going to be straw, but it's going to be old, like the oldest one I can find. So that it's the furthest cry I can get from the Zac Gaffron. Yeah, the. I'd rather not say. And the other thing I think I'm gonna do is I don't want the. That's called a stinger. I've learned a lot about hats when you've got that kind of Frank Sinatra thing where it's flipped up and back, but the front is flipped down. That's called a stinger. Can't do a stinger because that's what all the fedoras that everyone's wearing mostly look like right now. So I've got to do something that's kind of a fedora, but I've got to, like, make sure that it's rolled up at the edges all the way around because that just looks a little bit more approachable and makes you look like less of a. Kind of less of a. I don't know, whatever.

[Jen]

I thought this was an interesting comment on our. We have a blog post up right now where people. I think everyone should weigh in on this. I mean, this is kind of a family decision, obviously.

[Luke Burbank]

Absolutely.

[Jen]

What you wear on your head on your vacation.

[Luke Burbank]

No question.

[Jen]

Charlie shop wrote, maybe you should eliminate what you should not wear and see what's left. So he starts it for you. Construction workers. Hard hat. No.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah.

[Jen]

Indian headdress. No. Policeman's hat. White 10 gallon Stetson. A raspberry beret. A knit ski hat with large pom poms. A beaver fur stovepipe hat. A Napoleonic era tri cornered hat. A novelty headband with broken arrow sticking through. A Siemens cap. Alec Gilligan. I have to say a lot of people were going with the Gilligan.

[Luke Burbank]

I have the Seth Brolite I've considered.

[Jen]

You remember he wore like a Gilligan hat every day of high school.

[Luke Burbank]

I had, I had a major Gilligan's hat phase as well. Yeah, I. I'm pretty close to doing that because you know who else wore that? Hunter S. Thompson.

[Jen]

Oh yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

That was his look. So that's kind of. But I do feel like if I start wearing that hat, I'm. Next thing I'm going to drop 5,000 units of mescaline and start trying to actually be Hunter S. Thompson. I don't need that. Nobody needs that on this cruise. So. Well, anyway. Yeah, keep the ideas coming in, please.

[Jen]

Well, I thought. One other thing that I thought was helpful is from GK Macca who wrote Context. Hats blow off at sea. You will need something with a strap which really blows it wide open at that point.

[Luke Burbank]

As your attorney, as your attorney, I advise you to get a very fast car and a hat with a strap.

[Jen]

I would love it if you had one of those cowboy hats that have.

[Luke Burbank]

The little like a kid wears on their seventh birthday.

[Jen]

Or you can tighten it under your chin.

[Luke Burbank]

Whatever I end up rocking. We'll take some pictures and I'll send them back and everyone can, you know, decide if I did the right thing or not. So I think that's it for today's program. Is that right, Jen? Did we manage to do. We managed to stumble through another hour of imaginary radio, so yeah, it is.

[Jen]

Do we do everything?

[Luke Burbank]

Everything that's on that list.

[Jen]

Good for us.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, that's right. Good for us indeed. Take the rest of the day off. Okay. How about a little Hooked on a Feeling since in honor of the mummy. Thanks for listening you guys. We'll be back here tomorrow with another award winning show for you. Until then, have. Can someone please come up with an award and a word it to us so that I can then be accurate when I say that. Have a great Thursday. We'll see you tomorrow. Until then, no mountain too tall.

[Jen]

And good luck to all.

[Susie Burbank]

That you're in love with me. Lips as sweet as candy Its taste is on my mind Girl, you got me thirsty for another cup of wine Got a black brown you, girl? But I don't need no cure I just stay out? And if I can for sure.

[Luke Burbank]

All.

[Susie Burbank]

The good luck when we're all alone Keep it up, girl? Yeah, you turn me on.

[Luke Burbank]

Feel.