I'm Your Buddy
A film and TV podcast hosted by best friends, Nick and William. Join us weekly as we watch imperfect but excellent works and discuss storytelling, friendship, and, in our current season, the film and tv scripts of Alex Garland!
I'm Your Buddy
Episode 232: Everyone Here's A Little Off
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This week we watch Attack On Titan S1E14 "Still Can't Look Him In The Eye/Eve Of The Counteroffensive, Part 1" S1E15 "Special Tactic Force/Eve Of The Counteroffensive, Part 2" and S1E16 "What Should I Do Now/Eve Of The Counteroffensive, Part 3". We discuss giving advice, a possible cultural shift, and the desire for better pacing.
Hello and welcome to season 11 of I'm Your Buddy with Nick and William, a podcast where two best friends are watching and discussing the anime series Attack on Titan. I'm William who's never seen this show.
SPEAKER_02And I'm Nick who has also never seen Attack on Titan.
SPEAKER_00And today we're going to talk about episodes 14, 15, 16. 14 is still can't look em in the eye slash Eve of the Counteroffensive Part 1. Episode 15. Okay, work of my breath control. Episode 15, special tactical force slash Eve of the Counteroffensive Part Two. Episode 16, What Should I Do Now, Slash Eve of the Counter Offensive Part Three. Okay. So that's more still slashes. We're getting the slashes. It's Eve of the Counteroffensive.
SPEAKER_02Yes. And yeah, that's very apt title. It is very much the Eve of anything happening. But build up. Uh we will get to that.
SPEAKER_00When you get there, there's uh a lot of different stuff here. Some changeups.
SPEAKER_02Sure.
SPEAKER_00Not enough for Nicholas. Spoiler alert, not enough for Nicholas. I don't know his thoughts on it. I have a hunch. Yeah, I really wish we were watching another show.
SPEAKER_02You know, how kind of, kind of. But I wish I was in a better mood because last episode of the podcast was such a puss. Bitch fest, I think, for both of us.
SPEAKER_00It wasn't too bad. I think I talked about being alone and how I'm right that I am alone in uh suffering. Sure. And then how I'm right about it. Yeah, how I'm right. And then everyone says no, you're not, and I say, prove it, and they go, Well, it's complicated. And I was like, Yeah, okay. So I think I'm right. It's just it's uncomfortable to say out loud. I think I nailed it. You're alone in suffering. Um, but uh you mostly just complain that you're in a bad mood because AI is bullshit and you're a slave to your phone and the algorithm's evil. A slave dog. And it just it it puts you in such a sour puss mood. And I did go home thinking about that, where I was like, I've never ever experienced that. The closest I've had is I will use my phone when I shouldn't, and I end up looking at something I shouldn't be looking at. Like I think I told the story of while I'm waiting for therapy, I was watching uh someone be murdered on Twitter feed, and I was like, I don't think you're supposed to watch this before therapy. That's crazy. I've like like I get on my phone when I wake up and I'm still in bed. I'm like, you shouldn't be watching GoPro footage of the Ukraine war when you're still like half naked.
SPEAKER_02Which actually GoPro today just got bought up, and they are gonna be they're gonna be pivoting towards uh military and industrial uh video and stuff like that. Yeah, nice, yeah. I don't I can't remember the name, but they acquired them for like 245 million dollars.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and that was my thing, is like why why don't you just use the internet for cool stuff and stop looking at the news? Why don't you just stay away from the news? Yeah. Does that help? Because I know there's a whole other part, which is it's a waste of time.
SPEAKER_02Well, you can't get away from it.
SPEAKER_00I feel like I'm okay at getting away from it. Yeah, I don't know.
SPEAKER_02It's a it's a weird balance of wanting to be informed, but then being annoyed that it's all the same shit.
SPEAKER_00This is true.
SPEAKER_02I made this joke in my text thread with Grant and Collin earlier today, but it's like you you want to know what's going on uh somewhat, maybe. You don't want to be an idiot, but it's you know how it is. It's it's a it's uh another day, another how can I distract America from being a billionaire pedophile president? You know, fucking all the arbitrary shit that he's doing and and the midterms are coming up and all stuff, but whatever. It's it's you mean Hunter Biden? It yes, President Hunter Biden. Uh which hey, the Democrats are gonna run somebody, I'm sure they'll pick him.
SPEAKER_00It's he's a better nominee than literally anybody else, and I guarantee you it's T minus three months before someone at the Huffington Post writes an op-ed saying maybe this year Kamala can do it. Oh yeah, it's coming. Oh, yeah. Of of course it is. Yeah, Lena Dunham, editorial Hillary, maybe, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Maybe the third times a try. Yeah. Uh or charm, whatever you say. Yeah, I'm too fucking stupid. Third times a thing of trying. Um, but yeah, it's a it's that weird balance of wanting to know what's going on, but then just the perpetual horrors of everything, you know. Um the horrors, horrors, horrors, um. But no, it's just you just lock in, you zone in. I don't know. I get it. I don't know. And I was I was in an okay mood, I think, early. And then just work was just man, fucking work today. Work sucks. Yes, I know. And there you go. And then which ties into why I I literally before we started recording, I was laughing to myself. I was gonna tell William something, and then uh it popped this thing popped in my head, and it's making me laugh because I'm such a fucking dumb person. It's so funny to me. But uh work was very frustrating today, just dealing with internal politics of uh the apartment that I work in, and uh just stupidity and incompetence, and I'm just burnt. I just don't know. I'm at a loss, I don't know what to do anymore. We'll see. I'm kind of trying to cool down, have a cool down period of a couple days before I talk to the powers that be to try to iron out uh some of these issues that I'm having. But literally, I was about to tell you, or no, I did tell you right before we started recording that I'm in a bad mood. Did I say that? Yeah, I don't remember. But this was literally less than 10 minutes ago.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, Nick forgot already because he's talking to William and he doesn't give a fucking shit about what he has to say.
SPEAKER_02Well, and that ties into a question I have this week, but we're gonna get into it. But as I was saying, I'm in a such a bad mood today, and then it in my head I was like, why do I have this song stuck in my head? That's what I was gonna say. And I was gonna say, why do I have Green Days nice guys finish last stuck in my head? And that's how pathetic I am. It's because in this scenario at work, I'm the victim, and I can't get anything done, and I'm frustrated with it. And what kicks on in my head? Fucking Green Days, nice guys finish last. How doof is my chills? It's horrific. So, really, I guess I do deserve this treatment.
SPEAKER_00I forgot what album that's on, but Nimrod, I believe.
SPEAKER_02When warning.
SPEAKER_00I forgot when that was out. This is um, I didn't know who I was as a kid. A girl had to tell I know exactly. It's a story of my life. Um, a girl had to tell me, hey, did you hear that Green Day? Blah blah blah. That song reminded me of you. And I was like, wait, what? Oh shit, is that me? Like, I didn't register at that age that I'm the nice guy finished last guy. Ah, yeah, yeah. Someone had to tell me of like, hey, this song about a loser, that's you. And I was like, That's brutal. I guess it is. I'll take that and I'll run with it for 20 more years.
SPEAKER_02Yikes. Yeah, that was Nimrod. I was right the first time, 1999.
SPEAKER_00Trust your gut.
SPEAKER_02So you were a child when someone told you that.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. Yeah, brilliant. It's cool. It's a random girl at school. Hey, kid, that's that's you.
SPEAKER_02It was one of your teachers.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. Yeah, vice principal.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you know, William, when I heard this song, I thought of you.
SPEAKER_00Could have been worse, could have been minority.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's true. Depending on where you were living at the time, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00How much does it bug you? It bugs me immensely. This is back to my Arctic Monkeys argument. Okay. Green Day used to be a bass, heavy, focused band. Cool bass riffs.
SPEAKER_02Sure.
SPEAKER_00Then American Idiot comes and they go, none of that shit, cut it out. Just hit a steady rhythm and let it go.
SPEAKER_02Like I mean, I think that album's a specific thing. It's going for a specific thing. I haven't listened to anything post American Idiot. I don't think. Like a full record of theirs can't get through them to know if that's true or not. I don't know.
SPEAKER_00Like, and I don't know if they've gone back to that. They had multiple songs where the bass was the focus. Mike I mean, that was the riff. Great bassist. Yeah, he was a very good bassist. And they leaned on it and I was like, you just but again, this this also falls into something that I've been thinking a lot of is like I'm loving bands that are uh with a talented bassist. Like I'm I'm enjoying that a lot lately.
SPEAKER_03Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_00But I was like, I don't think it makes for a good like pop song or a rock song. I don't think people relate to bass when it comes to rock that way. No, those aren't those aren't the songs where people are like, hell yeah. Yeah. It's hard to beat a cool guitar.
SPEAKER_02It's a bass is only appreciated by musicians. Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. And shout out less clay pool.
SPEAKER_02Well, and and bassists generally are a joke.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02They're the the butt of the joke. I shouldn't say they're a joke, they're very talented, they're a necessary Nick.
SPEAKER_00Real quick, for the audience at home, what instrument did I play in your band for a short time?
SPEAKER_02Oh, bass, of course.
SPEAKER_00Well, there it is. But guess what?
SPEAKER_02We needed Lord you need.
SPEAKER_00I know. Yeah, but I filled it. But you're 100% right. Phil also played bass for us. Shout out Phil Meet, it's doxum.
SPEAKER_02But but yeah, they it's a completely necessary component, but they're always the butt of the jokes within bands, within the musical community. I think it's just easy to poke fun at a butt at a bassist because they do take that back seat and they are part of the rhythm section, they're a key part of the rhythm rhythm section. But guess what? Drums are louder and more fun. Yeah. Uh so the drummer's gonna get credit for that kind of stuff. Yeah, and it's very true. Like, dude, I I remember I was listening to shit, I can't remember. It was some YouTube video of one of the guys who mixed a blink record. And I'm a fucking nerd. He was taking I I don't know, I came across it on YouTube or it might have been. I should Google it. Sure, pull up Nick's Google history. I should Google that, but he was you know on the mixer taking down tracks and all this stuff, and he played it, was a I think it was a track from Enema, and it was just solo on Mark's bass. And I'm like, oh, it's doing things, he's hitting notes that I've never heard him hit before. Interesting, and I've heard that record hundreds upon hundreds of times, and I was like, I never pulled this out of the mix, so yeah, like I'm like, oh yeah, I forget that he's a really good one too. But yeah, they're just I think they're they're underappreciated for sure.
SPEAKER_00They're there as uh when it's done poorly, it's just a bed to service the rhythm at the bare minimum. Yeah, it's to bring a low. Just keep the time almost, and that's kind of it. Yeah, but that's what's cool is when uh bands utilize it in an interesting way. Yes. You saying they're the butt end of the joke and all of that bass in music, it always low ends meeting. Low end theory, the album. Don't worry about it. Q-tip, don't worry about it, no big deal. Um I'm pretty sure that's incubus. Is the 30 rock joke about when they're doing the oh, there's gonna be a Janice Joplin movie, Julia Roberts, directed by Steven Spielberg and written by the world's greatest or or the greatest screenwriter in Hollywood, and then he pauses and goes, Whoever that is, like no one gives me who its screenwriter name. That's so funny. I always love that joke.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, Janie Drumcow still.
SPEAKER_00That's one of the kit the hits keep hitting with Eardy Rock for me in my life.
SPEAKER_02Which they're doing a live reunion thing. Oh, cool. Radio City Music Hall in New York. That's a one-off thing. All the whole cast is gonna be there, I think, in October or something like that.
SPEAKER_01That sounds cool.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Let me just keep saying random things that I see on the internet boys. My whole life, Nick. So this is what I do. So yesterday, after the podcast recorded, we had a conversation, you know, and we get into Me and you?
SPEAKER_00When we were done kissing, we were talking about things like that. When we were done kissing Victory Kisses.
SPEAKER_02Yes, as that as happens at the end of every podcast. Nick and Williams victory kiss uh moment. Yet William is alone and nobody cares for him. But you know, I'm the one making the sacrifice here, folks.
SPEAKER_00Well, I didn't say what type of kisses and on what body part and who's doing what.
SPEAKER_02I mean, that's that's fair as well. We we usually talk on the podcast about our personal lives and stuff, but we of course we don't talk about everything and we talk about some stuff off mic, obviously. Yeah, you don't talk about how you beat your kid.
SPEAKER_01You can't even get it out, can't even get it out guys. So dumb.
SPEAKER_02So uh but you were talking about something which will remain private, of course.
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah, okay, yeah, but I remember.
SPEAKER_02But uh, and all I could do is really empathize with the situation, but I can't I didn't give any advice. And I'm like, and that and that's the thing with with men too, right? Like it's the stereotype of guys of like we're always offering solutions to our significant others, and the our significant others are like, no, I just want you to empathize with the sucks, right? And so I took that. I had that was kind of the route that I unintentionally took, was just like, yeah, dude, it's it's yeah, treating me like a shitty girlfriend. Yeah, it just kind of sucks. I don't, I mean, I can't tell you what to do.
SPEAKER_00You just listen and go, I heard you.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. I didn't offer any advice or anything like that, and then it popped in my head of like, I should ask William. Because you know, this year, probably in the of the podcast we've gotten into I'm exploring of how clueless I am as a friend due to my narcissism. And I wanted to ask, when was the last time I gave you good advice about anything? Because I'm like, I can think back and I'm like, maybe in high school. Like, you know, if you're going through something that I've gone through and it's like, oh yeah, trying to be supportive or something like that. But that's just in my mind. I don't even know if that's true. I don't know if I have ever given you good advice. And I've said this when Dave was here. I just think I'm a bad friend, and I've never realized it my entire life until now. I've had, I'm glad that I've had my friends tell me otherwise. Uh, but do I necessarily believe them? No. But I just, yeah, when's the last time I gave you good advice? And or have I ever given you good advice?
SPEAKER_01In any way, so besides just listening, being like, Yeah, that sucks, bro. Friend's a tricky word.
SPEAKER_00And good. What is good? Yeah, let's let's dissect. Yeah, the concept of good. Yeah. So goodwill hunting talks about no, I'm just kidding. Um, well, I mean, I'm half joking. But you're you're a good friend. You're not like there's certain types of friends. I'm not the leader friend. I don't schedule stuff. Sure. I don't, I'm not the buy the movie tickets and say, hey Nick, me and you, we're going Thursday. That's you. Yeah. You're the lead.
SPEAKER_02But that's my that's my spectrum adjacent brain. Yeah. And I have a kid and all this stuff. So it's like I gotta plan stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00You're the I'm the planner. Do you guys want to go? Okay, we're going Thursday, seven o'clock. How's that sound? I got the tickets, these are the seats. You're uh for the friend group, you're the planner, you're the this and that. So, like, there's there are different levels.
SPEAKER_02Surprise, surprise details.
SPEAKER_00Yep. Because you know the specificity matters to you, which this is a thing that people don't understand in relationships. If it means that much to you, it should be your responsibility. Sure. If you are so specific on how to load and unload a dishwasher, that's your job now.
SPEAKER_03Yep.
SPEAKER_00You shouldn't keep telling me to do it and then judge me for doing it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00How many relationships get that little thing wrong?
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So the fact that you do that shows you, in a way, of what you're paying attention to and you know who you are and that self-awareness. But that's that's the friend you are. You're not always the friend of like, hey, what's going on with you? Let me tell you my life experience and how to, you know, how I did that one time. Or yeah, you that's not your thing. Okay. So um, the last time you gave me good advice, I think you've given me sometimes it's passive. You're not assertive where you say do this or you should do this, or because I think sometimes it's smart to not do that because me and you are best friends, so no matter what the situation is, we're gonna stay friends. You don't want to pass judgment. You were very helpful in me separating in my big relationship because you were the one that's coming for me now. You were the one that helped the um you said two things. Okay. One, you said, I think you know what you want to do. You should listen to that. I think you know where you're at. Because the second thing you said, and it helped me get there. You didn't get there for me, you helped me get there, is you said you should try couples therapy. Neither of you are in separate therapy. Yeah, why don't you both go to therapy and why don't you both go to couples therapy? If you want to work this out, yeah, there's things you haven't expended, and that's where I told you. I was like, no, I think you're right the first time. I think I'm ready to make my decision because you showed me there's more work to be done if you want to do more work. Gotcha. And I was like, thank you, because I think you're proving to me I don't I did all the work I want to do.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And I think I'm ready for the next step.
SPEAKER_02Exactly. You know what decision you want to make.
SPEAKER_00And I think that's not advice, but you you helped me get to the solution that I think you probably felt within me. Sure. You helped me see that in that way. Um, that was a big help. And I think that's good. I think you're you're good at those kind of moments of a conversation can go a bunch of different ways, and you'll help me kind of get there sometimes.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Okay.
SPEAKER_00But yeah, you're not uh you're not a sit up on the porch and like talk down and give advice type of guy. You're not the oh, I've lived here. I hate people like that. Let me tell you how to do this. So I try not to. Yeah, you're not that guy.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you know, you can't stand people like that.
SPEAKER_00You're you're like that with like nerdy, like, hey, I'm getting a TV, get this one. This is what you need to worry about.
SPEAKER_02Well, I have an opinion on everything, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so you'll have that, but you're not a life advice type of person because I that's hard to pull off, that's hard to do. You have to have a confidence in yourself. Yeah, I don't know if you have, but also it's the how you connect with people.
SPEAKER_02On with relationships, that's the thing we've talked a lot about.
SPEAKER_00How do you connect with people? So, how do you connect with me? How do you relate to me? A lot of that isn't through lived experiences. That's not the thing me and you connect on. So the advice wouldn't come from, you know, uh this was my first real, true, honest breakup. You've had a few, maybe. That's not where me and you go in the conversation is like, okay, William, this is what it was like for me. That's not what those conversations are. So you don't we don't match on that.
SPEAKER_02So that's not where the well and everybody's tastes are different and everyone's looking for different people. Yeah, giving giving your friends advice on their relationships is a very tough thing to do, I think. Especially as an adult, it's just like you're you, you feel a certain way, you're attracted to a certain thing. It's like so I can't offer up advice that is applicable generally with anybody, you know what I mean? Everyone's got their own stuff, but that makes sense. But okay, that was so that was like two years ago. Three. Okay, go on.
SPEAKER_01All right, all right, going on four.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it was uh no, it's good. I'm glad when was the last time I came to you for advice and you let me down? That's a better question because that doesn't happen. That's every day. No. Well the joke is it's constant, you let me down, and that's why I feel alone. But the honest truth is I don't come to you going, hey, what do I do here? Yeah, yeah. That's just not how me and you navigate the world.
SPEAKER_02Well, I just don't know if I have the answers for that kind of stuff, you know what I mean? And I'm very conflict avoidant. And so generally, my I try not to give my advice because if someone comes to me and is talking about like something dramatic is happening in my life or something like that. Seriously, my solution always is get that person out of your life. I don't fucking just kill them. No, no, don't kill them. Just don't talk to them. Who gives a shit? Cut them off. Fuck those people.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Stressful. Cut them out.
SPEAKER_02Situations. I've been in those many, many times as a child and as a teenager. So now as an adult, I avoid them at all costs and it's not worth the energy. So that's but that's not always good advice. Yeah, I mean that's that's not uh is that my place to tell somebody to do that? No.
SPEAKER_00I mean uh uh before we recorded today, like I was kind of venting about my work situation and I need to do things, I don't have the mental uh headspace to do them. But that was that's an example of how me and you interact is like I wasn't asking you for advice, you also just listened to me talking. You didn't give me advice of like this is what you should do. It was uh you just kind of listened to it, yeah, and you're like that fucking sucks. I know like the song, yeah, Adam song.
SPEAKER_02I'm gonna let that one go.
SPEAKER_00Um yeah, no, yeah, you don't you're not the give advice type of guy. No, I don't like which I don't have a lot of people like that in my life. That's that's a rare breed.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's a rare breed. I've got some family members that are kind of that way, and goddamn it, is it annoying?
SPEAKER_00There's a weird thing where my dad's big on that with Sean, my younger brother, and Sean always bumps against it. Sean's so rebellious. That's probably why he just likes poking the bed. So, yeah, those two bump heads on that, but like my dad's not a too big of a give advice guy. Where that comes in is my dad will give me a lot of advice on work dynamics because you know that that's a big part of my dad's identity. And he's like, This is how you talk to a boss, this is how you step up, this is how you move to that next level. He'll give advice there, but you know, other than that, he's not a big uh relationship advice, life advice. He's he's not big on that. And then my mom is uh my mom, so it's completely different. Some people have a lot of opinions, like me. Yeah, maybe, and you probably have people in your life with a lot of opinions, uh yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, in different ways, but yes.
SPEAKER_00I'm curious how you handle certain people in your life talking about your art to you. Oh, this is why I never talk about my art to anybody until now. That sounds hard for you, and I can only imagine certain people that don't need to be named discussing your art because they may or may not immediately relate it to their art. Oh, of course, yeah, and then go, me and you are equals. Oh, yeah. I wrote a comic book one time, actually. Believe it or not, I had a sci-fi script idea. You should read it, it's very similar to yours. Your thing gave me a lot of ideas for my and I can just see you uh, you know, melting with the heat of rage when someone does that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I mean, we'll see how that goes. I do, I will read this a text from my mom. Okay, she means well, which has always been her excuse and get away, get out of jail card uh my entire life. How's the comic book merch coming along? Uh, will you have a signing event? And I said, Good. Shirts are done, half the prints are done, and we'll be waiting on the enamel pins next month. She says, Great, how's the writing of part two coming along? I am finally getting back to doing art myself. And she goes on to tell me all this. Yep. Which and I've told her before that this has long been written over a year, and I split it into two parts, so I'm not writing part two right now.
SPEAKER_00But the fact that she knows there's a part two.
SPEAKER_02That's good. That's good.
SPEAKER_00That means you two are communicating. Yes. And she's to an extent listening. That's cool.
SPEAKER_02So that's nice. Yep. And look, I don't ask people about themselves. So maybe that's part of it of like, oh, well, I'm gonna bring up now what I'm doing.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02But always to me, my negative point of view is just like, oh, you asked me about my art, so you can talk about yours. Yeah, it was a it was a quick lead-in so I can tell you my thing.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, exactly. Um her thing's way longer than your thing.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00The conversation's longer now.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, exactly. And it is, it was uh five lines about what she's doing. But hey, you know, she's asking, it's she's being polite, she's doing what she can. It may not be everything that I need or would like, but she's doing what she can, and I'm taking it as it is. Can't a tricky word.
SPEAKER_00Um doing what she wants to, doing what she can are I mean, people have limitations. It is tricky.
SPEAKER_02People are only so tall, true, people only have so much emotional bandwidth, you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_00I get and that's it. I truly mean that is tricky, is like here we go. Are you only doing what you want to do, or are you putting any effort into growth outside of that comfort and norm? And then what does that look like?
SPEAKER_02And so then no, because boomers only have to go to therapy once and then they're fixed. I don't I didn't know if you knew this, William. Yeah, uh, but that's what I hear from at least the boomers who have gone to therapy in my life. Uh they've gone before and they're fixed now. So they don't have to be working on stuff. They figured it out. They're fine. Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_00I know what's my thing. That's good.
SPEAKER_02They're they're good at everything.
SPEAKER_00I bet you those people would also say, I went to therapy, I figured it out. I'm a victim. Bad things happened to me.
SPEAKER_02A thousand fucking percent.
SPEAKER_00That lines up pretty quick of like, well, you know, woe is me. Yeah, I don't know if you've ever heard this before, but I had a rough go. Yep. And so um, I'm actually very brave and strong for overcoming what I overcame.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And uh just don't talk about me and what I did to you. Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_02It's all for everything's forgiven. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00No, I get that. Um, my older brother went and saw and stayed with my parents. Oh wow. Sure. And that was interesting. I think my mom and dad had a good time. My mom spoke about she tried something different. She tried to be engaging and not um the nice way to put it, and I do mean it, she sits in the tuck, she's in the cut, she lets my dad do all the talking, and she just takes it in. True, because she's not super, super social, and so she made the effort to communicate more, talk more, ask questions, and engage. Yeah, and I was like, that is new for you, that is crazy. How'd it go? She goes, I think it went great, I think it went really well. I was like, That's that's cool, and I'm happy that you did it and it worked out well. That's cool, good for you.
SPEAKER_02Um like that same tone of voice, very encouraging.
SPEAKER_00I tried to be uh more positive to it, but there's of course more to that conversation, but there is a thing of like you're in your 60s, you've changed a lot the last four years, and this is a thing you want to do and get better at. Change at any time is change, so if it's for the better, it's for the better, and I'm happy for that. Cool. Uh, that was that was for him though. So uh he got one. Me and you can talk if I get one, or if I experience the change, and if I do, I'll take it moment by moment, and I'm not gonna sit here and go, not good enough. Yeah, 38 years, you better catch up. Like I'm doing my best not to be such a petty asshole like that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, if if they're trying to put forth effort, that means something.
SPEAKER_00That's uh I am legitimately proud because more effort is hard, it's exhausting, and it's so much easier to be lazy and just do what you do. Yeah, so I I get that. The conversation always comes up and I laugh. She goes, you know, oh, and he asks, how's Sean? And talk about Sean, he asks how you are. I was like, what do you say when people ask how I am? And I said, Beyond I'm working. Yeah, what do you say? Yeah, because I get it, it's a tricky scenario.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Because uh a lot of times people ask, they don't give a shit. So the right answer is everybody's fine, they work, they live, they're fine, they're alive, yeah. Yeah, but it's family. So what do you say? Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02I'm always curious, and then she hung up and sent you a meme on Facebook.
SPEAKER_00No, she um she she told me and she's like, I hope this is okay, and oh now I'm scared. I was like, literally anything you say is okay, you're my mother. Yeah, any way you represent me, also to my brother, yeah, all of it's okay, even if it's not the whole story or totally accurate. And the way she uh tried to do it, I thought was so fascinating. She talked about how, well, to be honest, William's not having the the best of time. He is having a rough go. So it's like, so my mom knows she's aware, she's not oblivious, and she's uh courageous enough to speak to it in this moment. Yep. Well, honestly, William's not having the rough time. It's a it's a rough go. The breakup was hard for him, and he's in he's in therapy, and I think he's trying to really figure out who he is before he dates somebody else. He's trying to take his time for that. And it was it was a hard one for him, and they talked about that for a while. And I told my mom, I was like, it's not that you said anything inaccurate. I was like, I I don't know, it feels weird. And I was like, mom, maybe we're not there or whatever, but I do want to just say for for me and you for the for the moment, that's not my big struggle right now. I don't talk about my ex in therapy, to be honest. Like that was three years ago.
SPEAKER_02You f figured it out.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it was three years ago, it was a decision I made, and I've had to make my bed. And if I felt like a failure, then I have to accept and move for whatever those feelings were in that moment.
SPEAKER_02Lonely, alone and move forward. Failure. Lonely failure.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. That uh I deserve all the suffering that I'm being put upon. And so I was like, that's not my like thing. And so she said something I thought was very interesting. She goes, Well, to be honest, William, because he's going through a divorce and he's dating someone new, and he brought this girl to meet and all of this. She goes, I was trying to kind of use you as an example that maybe he should go to therapy, uh, that it's okay to take time for yourself, and it's okay that these things are hard. And I was trying to show him that like other people go through that, so he's more susceptible to therapy. And I was like, Pretty cool. Yeah, yeah. That's interesting. That's a good play. For him, it's a pretty good play that my mom is using me to help him.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01For him, that's smart, not bad.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. I feel a way.
SPEAKER_02Sure.
SPEAKER_00It's another example of okay, well, then I'm not seen by you or him.
SPEAKER_02Correct.
SPEAKER_00So let's let's square that away. Yep. But I was like, not bad. I'm okay with it. I approve. I won't uh I won't get in the way of this and say you shouldn't do that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Because uh and all in all, I'm like, recognizing that what you're doing is healthy for them and could be beneficial to your brother.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. You're getting she doesn't know why she's getting help.
SPEAKER_00She's dismissive about me. You're getting help for something. Yeah. We don't know what. Exactly. But not important.
SPEAKER_02No.
unknownNo.
SPEAKER_00Carlos.
SPEAKER_01It has nothing to do with me.
SPEAKER_00It's all my older brother needs help. And so we're gonna recontextualize this narrative because that might help him.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And I was like, I definitely feel a way about that, and that says a lot about the dynamics of the brothers and the parents and everything. But I was like, at the end of the day, my mom's trying to help someone that needs help. I I I told her I was like, don't change anything. Yeah, yeah. Keep going. Yeah. How I feel about this is legitimately the least important part of this. So keep doing your thing, and me and you can work our thing out later. Don't worry about it.
SPEAKER_02It's not the least important part. But yeah, and we I mean we talked about this last week too, of like accepting people's limitations and parental limitations and stuff. And and it really often is with just the work that I've done. Oh god, fuck that. I hate that so fucking much. Put the work in there. The the process that I've uh it doesn't matter. It's not getting better, but I know what you mean. But it's it's not one step forward, two steps back kind of thing. It's usually like one step forward, three steps back.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02But you're still further ahead than you were before. Right? Because yeah, like you said, change is really fucking hard, especially the order older you get. So yeah, I mean that I think I think that's a win in a way. Even though you're and that's the thing, you're not gonna it's a it's a fucked up thing. It's not a win for me though. No, no, it's a win for you personally, not for your relationship. Not for your relationship for your mom necessarily. What's the win? It's recognizing and not being offended or feeling petty about it. It's about you saying, like, oh, okay, I see what she's doing. That is a positive thing she's doing. It's not a positive thing for me, yeah, but you even recognizing that your mom did something positive, I think that's a win for you. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_00Um maybe. Yeah, yeah, okay. I get that. I get that. You know what I mean? Yeah, not turning it sour and making it a yeah, you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_02I get that. That's valid. Because it's it's it could have easily gone the other way. And I talk about this all the time in therapy. I mean, this sounds like it's actually only a couple times a year, probably at this point. Sure. Because I've done so much work on myself, uh, as I previously stated. You're doing the process, yeah. But it's a fucking bummer to have parents who are never gonna know who you are as a human being, and maybe that's life. Maybe part of it is life where it's like parents can't truly ever know their children outside of that relationship. I and I can accept that to a point, right? But I can also choose myself to try to be interested in the things that Leo's interested in as he grows up, and I'm gonna make a concerted effort to do so and try to find out about the things that he really cares about, you know. So that's where I so that's that's where I can make a change.
SPEAKER_00Is I know and maybe I I think it's a cop-out, and I hate it, and I know so many people talk about it, but it is what it is, is like it might be generational because I know so many parents, our age, like you, and a lot of people I work with, they're heavily invested in their kids, and they know their kids, and they spend time with their kids. Yeah, and they don't make it look hard, they make it look obvious of like it's hard because it's exhausting, but it's like what's the alternative? You know what I mean? Like they make it look like this is the only way to do it.
SPEAKER_02I only had a kid to be in love and connected with, and it is a generational thing because it was having kids a hundred years ago was so different. That's a thing to do, yeah, and having kids 30 years ago is different, so I can it is different. I give a little bit of leeway, sure, and well, at least with my my mom at least, I know more about her upbringing where I'm just like, okay, I can empathize with her, yeah. So I can I can forgive her a little bit more, and even with my dad a little bit, you know what I mean? That's a generational thing too. And yeah, closeted latent homosexuality. And it's it's I can forgive them both a little bit, but still as an adult, it still sucks. Where it's like I can't talk forever about stuff, yeah. You know what I mean? Like I can't talk about them being ex excited about something, some art or or whatever, because it just it's there's no I mean, I could I could uh extend that branch out to my mom, tell her that a movie's good or something like that, but I can't talk to my mom about what it means to me, she wouldn't understand. And it's not a oh, she doesn't understand me. It's she is incapable of seeing other people's perspectives outside of her own. Um, so everything you throw at her gets interpreted through her own lens, which that's everybody, I guess, but it's a different thing. To an extent.
SPEAKER_00Uh when when my mom dies and I speak at her funeral, I will have to lie. And that's a crazy admittance I have to come to terms with is you can't be honest in that scenario. And I've already made a piece of it's not for me for the audience that's there, I will have to lie.
SPEAKER_02Well, because it's your personal relationship, it is what it is, and you're not it is for an audience, yeah. That a situation like that is for an audience, you have to set your personal stuff aside. Yeah, and William, you're the good boy middle child, you're gonna have to do it all. Yeah, that's that's your burden for your birth order, yeah. And that's not it's not fair to you.
SPEAKER_00No, it's and that's where I'm like, yeah, I've I've made my bet with that of like I know that is what that scenario will be, and it's like, yeah, it it won't change. It's also cool with the way we're talking about love, is it makes it transactional and also guilt-based of you don't have a love for your parents out of a deep connection, you have it because they did things for you and they sacrificed, and oh, I carried you and I took care of you and the house and I paid bills. Yeah, so now it's transactional, and so that it's cool that just stops at a certain age, and you don't carry that on in your relationships at all, and that does nothing for you going forward thinking people only love me through transaction, and I have to give part of myself to other people. Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and it's cool. No boomer parent whatsoever would ever bring up anything like that regarding about what they did for. They're gonna miss you're gonna miss them when they're gone. Yeah, all these kind of things. Just like you had me, but it you understood the responsibility that was coming with it. Don't act like you were doing me some fucking favor.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's yeah, that's my line is like, why'd you have me if you didn't want me? Don't don't put that on me. Yeah, that's you didn't ask me.
SPEAKER_02That's tough as a middle child. I don't envy you guys at all. I mean, I'm the baby, but I'm only coming from from two. It's true. It's different, but being that fucking middle child, it's a no-win scenario for you. It's frustrating. Sometimes you can get under the radar and just go and do your own thing. I mean, but like it's like, yeah, that's tough. That's tough. It's like, oh, yeah, so I was you were born, and then they're like, ah, I was drinking.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, literally, of like, ah that's the next one. I want another one.
SPEAKER_01That's the maybe we'll get around the third one. I want another one.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're still learning with you. And by learning, is I learned I don't want to do it with you. I learned you're not the one. And then the third one comes to go, okay, now I'm the now we're gonna parent.
SPEAKER_01But hey, you also gotta help me out. Because this old one's a fuck up. Yeah, this young one's a fuck up. Can you not be a pain in my ass? Exactly.
SPEAKER_00Can you not disappoint me? Can you watch the little one?
SPEAKER_02Will I will I deal with the oldest one?
SPEAKER_00I got a lot on my plate, kid. Like uh We're pals, right? Yeah, can you can you do your own shit right now? Yeah, can you do this? Because I I gotta fight the oldest one and I gotta raise the other one because the other one I kind of like because that's the one I wanted the whole time. So are you good to just step to the side? Yeah, yeah. Do you know how to cook by yourself? Yeah, can you just make your own dinner? So it's weird at the table. I gotta keep looking over you to see your brother.
SPEAKER_02You're kinda in the way. So crazy.
SPEAKER_00You know what I want to talk about? What's that? I want to talk about big fat Latina asses.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_00Grand Theft Auto 6 is coming out. Yes, it is. I think she's Puerto Rican. Okay. Maybe a bad boonie. Lucia, I think is her name, maybe. Sure. I don't know if you saw it. You're not a GTA guy, you're not a rock star guy, which is fine. No. Um too immersive for you.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I jokingly call it a life sim. Which it is.
SPEAKER_00They've turned it into that for sure. The fans, which I want to talk about. But we're on the precipice of something culturally significant that could potentially be happening right now. Okay. Craft Theft Auto 6 is coming out. Yes.
SPEAKER_02And it will be the fastest-selling video game of all time.
SPEAKER_00And Obsession was the highest grossing independent movie of all time. Yes. And she, a Latina, okay, got Castabe Rogue. Yes. In Marvel. All right. The biggest name in Blockbusters.
SPEAKER_02Yes.
SPEAKER_00White nerds might finally find out how hot Latinas are.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_00We're coming into this world. And I don't know if anyone's put this together the entire world changed when white people found out black ladies are hot.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_00That changed like the genetic makeup of women. Like they were like, oh, butts are cool. Oh, I see what you're saying. Like big butts. Beyonce, Rihanna. Like brought in this. Mariana Grande was pretending to be black for a few years. Like everybody wanted to be black. Again, Kim Kardashian's not black. She's Armenian. Yeah. But everybody was trying to be black for a good run because white guys found out asses are cool and black ladies are hot. Oh. It changed everything culturally. Like literally, it changed everything culturally. Sure. I think to a lesser extent, that kind of happened. Black culture's different. When they found Asians and nerd culture, that was its own thing because that's completely different to how white guys treat Asian culture. Okay. Um, the autism in black people when they found out Dragon Ball Z and Samurai swords are cool. That's unprecedented in levels of Thailand autism.
SPEAKER_02Just to clarify for the audience, at me saying yes and okay is not necessarily me agreeing with uh Williams' thesis here. I'm just letting him know that I'm listening to what he does.
SPEAKER_00Getting the minutes in before we can uh end this and you can go have dinner. You're doing what Stav does when uh Jordan Jensen's on his and he just says sure of you this is the dumbest thing I've ever heard, and I don't have time to even process. Yeah, yeah. So you just say sure to just keep it going.
SPEAKER_02No, I want to hear the rest of the thesis. I just want to you know clarify that I'm not necessarily agreeing with all this. I'm just letting William know that I'm listening to what he's saying.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's uh it's called words. It's an affirmation that I'm being heard keep going, not a preek brother. Yeah, yeah, not Nick's not standing up saluting me with the things I'm saying.
SPEAKER_02I don't I'm not aware of a lot of these things. I'm just hearing them for the first time.
SPEAKER_00Dude, there's a there's a portion of black TikTok where guys think they control the wind and they're in a parking lot, like moving their hands like an airbender, and then like a Coke can moves, and he goes, Yeah, I just fucking did that. Like black Asian nerd autism, like it hit profound levels of specificity. Wow, it uh there's a beauty to it. Um, and we all thought it peaked with Force Whitaker and Ghost Dog, and they took it and ran with it, and it's profit. It's beautiful, but white guys might start getting into uh Latinas, Puerto Ricans and Mexican women. Okay, this is exciting on a few different levels. One body uh types will shift because it's no longer you know fit thick.
SPEAKER_02Yes.
SPEAKER_00Uh short queens are coming now.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Boobs might come back. Shout out boobs. They've been gone for a while. Latinas bring boobs, so boobs might come back, but we might see new levels that we've never understood in our entire system on how we treat the police might change.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_00DV cases are gonna run amuck, and people don't understand a spicy Latina. The minute all these white nerds think to go get their Grand Theft Auto girl or their obsession girl, and they're gonna get a bottle up on the head because they said shut up once.
SPEAKER_02They're gonna get their the shit kicked out of them.
SPEAKER_00They're gonna get beat the fuck up. Yeah, they're not ready. And white people are gonna call the cops because that's what white people do. And all these white nerds are gonna get beat up by their Mexican girls, call the cops, and then the cops are gonna come go, what the fuck you want me to do? You are dating a girl with two Z's in her last name. That's on you, buddy. We got shit to do. There's black kids we gotta shoot, so we gotta get out of here. These white guys, this might actually bring about like actual like reform to law enforcement because the white people in power are gonna be like, these cops don't do shit. They don't do nothing. I see, and it could stem because of GTA 6, we might actually have uh law enforcement reform. We're coming to cultural changes that we don't fully understand yet. Yeah, I food's gonna get better.
SPEAKER_02Well, yeah. I mean, variety that's always made the food across the United States great. We we all know this, and every fucking Republican wants to act like uh it doesn't exist. Culture?
SPEAKER_00You wanna you wanna see color come back to like the Taco Bells and the restaurants, like this whole like deconstructed postmodern, like exposed wood and themes, yeah. This minimalist millennial uh white brick thing. Yeah, that's going away. We're going back to vivid primary colors, we're going back to like you know, these pastels, we're getting loud again. We're gonna be loud again.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I I think you're on to something, and usually you call things about 18 months in advance. So I I do want to revisit this probably in like 2028. Yeah. Because I do think you're gonna be right. I mean, GTA 6 is gonna be a cultural phenomenon.
SPEAKER_00You're gonna see a change in the GDP the day that comes out because so many people are gonna take that day off. Oh, yeah, of course, yeah. Like our economy, you will be able to track it when this game came out. So many people will not be working.
SPEAKER_02And yeah, I think it's a good, or I think it's a smart thing to predict about law enforcement. Uh we don't have to get into too many specifics because this is, of course, a comedy podcast. Sure. Satire. Yes. So I think you're on to something, and uh I mean, our audience here heard it first. Yeah, yeah. William, I mean, not only uh is he like Jim Jarmouche and that he's skinny and he has curly hair and he's kind of weird, and some people like him, some people don't. It's debatable, it's kind of complicated, love or hate kind of thing. Uh, but he's also known to be a prophet, just like he is.
SPEAKER_00I did tell him Night Shaman did do a serial killer movie, and then Trap got announced.
SPEAKER_02Now he's doing a Nicholas Sparks movie.
SPEAKER_00Shut up. Yeah. He has a YouTube video. He has a YouTube channel. Have you seen his videos?
SPEAKER_02No, but you sent me his announcement of it, and I think he reads his science diary.
SPEAKER_00He reads his science diary, and it's further confirmation that I nailed it he's not a human being. Yeah, I know it's his diary, and it literally is him going, we got some stuff done. Did a few shots today. Not too bad. It's like who talks like that in their diary?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I don't want to watch a video of a multimillionaire sitting outside of his fucking gorgeous estate, uh, talking about how genuine he is. Uh no. I my patience for M. Night Shamlan as a human being has been greatly reduced after watching his film. I just don't think he's a human.
SPEAKER_00No, he doesn't have human emotions and concepts that we do.
SPEAKER_02He's a silver spoon.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02A privileged boy. He's a he's a man of privilege, and it's been like that his whole life, and it shows.
SPEAKER_00I think.
SPEAKER_02The thing you just said, but I'm also not better at being a poor person and being bad with money.
SPEAKER_00And this is where me and you will uh have a disagreement because you were on my side, but now you're not. We've never fully talked about this. But what you just said is what me and you equally said with Bo Burnham's inside.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_00I don't want a millionaire white guy to tell me about depression. That's weird. That's a little annoying. Yeah. I think your tune changed when you saw it, I think. Oh you respect it now.
SPEAKER_02Oh yeah. Yeah, I think inside is the best piece of art to come out of COVID, I think. And yeah, I think the difference between I'm okay with someone like Bo Burnham, who is obviously rich and successful dealing with depression because it's specific enough that I know that it's I can tell that it's genuine, like game recognizes game, but also the amount that he cares about the construction of the piece of art also game recognizes game. I I just think he's functioning on such a high level, but it's also coming from a genuine emotional place, even though it is emotionally manipulative.
SPEAKER_00Off top of my head, without overthinking it, how to with John Wilson is the best thing that came out of COVID. Yeah, that's top how he tied that together to COVID. I think that's dude.
SPEAKER_02You see the trailer for History of Concrete? No.
SPEAKER_00I need to see the rest of his stuff. But that season where he discussed and then COVID hit, I think that's so much more profound than a lot of the things that Bo Burnham did, but here's why I brought Bo Burnham up. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And that I think that is the perfect encapsulation of who we are and what we care about in terms of like that. I love that. Because I agree with I think top five uh John Wilson absolutely come out of COVID. He's one of my favorite things. Uh one of the good things about COVID, no. Um but I think that it perfectly sums up who we are as people.
SPEAKER_00Because it was weird, it was messy, it was a little odd, and then it hit a very poignant emotional thing at the end. Yes. Where I go, it's all worth it. Yes. All the mess, all the odd stuff, all the nonsec were worth it, that emotional thing hit me. Yeah. And I'm like, yeah, that's my thing.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_02And then same with me and the Bo Burnham thing. Really caring about our really caring structured structure about how literally everything functions, but also having genuine emotion to it. Even though it's manipulated. So it manipulates people.
SPEAKER_00My biggest problem with Bo Burnham's insight, I don't like theater kid energy, and he has too much theater kid energy. That's why I don't like his other stuff. When I watch and he does like a circus, the internet's weird song, I'm like, I can't do this. I'm crawling out of my skin. I'm gonna jump out of the window.
SPEAKER_02And I'm thinking of the production. I'm thinking about him setting up all those lights and how many takes he has to do. That's what I'm thinking of.
SPEAKER_00But that's what I'm saying. It's like, um, when he's doing the like, the internet is crazy. I'm like, I hate this sing song anything. But here's why I brought this up. I'm re-listening more and more to the Phoebe Bridgers album. Yeah, it's incredible. I'm loving it a whole lot. Dave uh had a very good point. There is more depth to this than Punisher, and there's more things to grab, there's more interesting concepts in song structure, and she's doing a whole lot more on this album. And I was like, I do agree, and it does take me more listens to grab all of it. So I am liking this album a lot, but then I remembered she has a cover of Bo Burnham's Funny Feeling song that will probably go down as a generational piece of art that that will never be replicated. Yeah, that is uh the most poignant in not important, but that is our millennial generational piece of art that if anyone is like, what's your thing? That's our graduate, that's reality bites, that's easy writer, that's that's what that is. Oh, yeah. That is uh uh the sex pistols, that is our that song, motherfucker, dude. That's so for him to write that and construct that and get off what he got off in what four minutes or five minutes or whatever. Oh, it's amazing, and then she does it and she makes it extra haunting.
SPEAKER_02And then you have the video of him in the crowd watching her perform it. Yeah, the before they were dating.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, it's that's that song is deeply important to what the millennial experience is. Yeah, and I don't think anyone's ever gonna be able to do what that song did. Oh, yeah, I will absolutely so good. No, uh, new album's very good. I am liking it. Yeah, I need more listen to it, the more I I uh do love it. Me and Sean, uh, you brought up not every riff deserves a song. Yes. And Sean, my brother, was like such a fascinating thing, and now he's listening to albums and music with that lens of does this deserve it? Oh, I'm sorry, Sean. I told them the greatest example of a riff that doesn't deserve the song that it has is that CKY song. Oh, yeah. It's one of the coolest riffs ever, and the song is garbage. It's just yeah, boring verse. You guys just had one riff and you're like, well, we gotta use it. And you didn't know how to use it. That song's not good. Yeah, the riff is awesome. Yeah, yeah. Such a cool, catchy riff. Yeah.
SPEAKER_0290s quite bitter beings, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's my example.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. But that riff does deserve a song though. They fucking it's not a great song, you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_00Oh, see, okay, yeah. Uh different argument I'll make than. Yeah, yeah. Great riff, horrible song. Exactly.
SPEAKER_02Squandered the riff. Yes, exactly. You wasted a great riff on a bad song. But that's beautiful.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. It happens. Yeah, for sure. I think Koei did that a few times and I had to back out.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Some bands just run out of hooks. Hooks are the hardest thing to write. Or interesting riffs. You just run out of them. Sure. But there's something. Music's hard. There's so much magic in music. Well, Nick Did you just say music's hard? Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Never heard that before.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Never thought about it like that. It's hard. That's crazy. Creating something, melodic, catchy.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah. It's hard to do, especially intentionally.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's music's hard because it's sentimental a lot of times. Like I I uh the comedian Big Jay Ogerson talks about it all the time. It's like comedians do sit around and they're like, Hey, here's my joke. What do you think? Even if they don't laugh, they go, You got something there. Yeah, that's a that's an angle, or that's a good twist, or that is funny. I'm not laughing, but I can recognize that's funny. Yeah, you should do that. He's he always talks about I can't imagine writing lyrics and then going to your friend and going, Hey, can I read you something? Yeah, and then your friend going, Yeah, that's beautiful. He's like, I could I would kill myself, other than try to sincerely take a song serious and go, Can you read this and tell me if that's a good song? So funny. Or just have someone, here's my voice no voice notes of me singing. Yeah, is this a good demo? He's like, How does anyone finish a song? Yeah, like how's that ever happened? That's how are you in a band going, guys? I think I got it. Listen to this I wrote, and everyone just doesn't beat you with hammers going, ew. Yeah, you should be embarrassed of yourself.
SPEAKER_02That's true. That's funny. I don't get it. I haven't thought about that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I couldn't I can't comprehend that.
SPEAKER_02Because you you know if something's good or you know if it's tickling uh whatever you're trying to do. Yeah, it's tickle what, Nick?
SPEAKER_00Where? Show me on this doll where the butthole general United States of Hypocrisy tickled you.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it tickles uh your mind, William.
SPEAKER_00US of H makes you think high school, Nick, you were on to something. US of H is pretty good.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, USH, United States of Hypocrisy won't that's pretty good. What's it? You won't won't brainwash you, won't brainwash me.
SPEAKER_00That's good. You goddamn right. Yeah. Uh you're the voice of a generation. All that shit I said about uh a funny feeling, I actually mentioned about United States, thank you. If I wasn't lazy, I'd I should just play the song right now for everybody on the box.
SPEAKER_01Just fade, just play the whole fucking song.
SPEAKER_00The whole thing. Do you even have any Phelps? Yeah, I have Phelps and Alabaster. Oh nice.
SPEAKER_02Okay, so you have the same stuff that I have then.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I have the same stuff you have. Okay. Yeah, whatever you have, I have. Yeah, I'm sure. Yeah. Yeah, it's the same thing. Speaking of- We talked about depression, we talked about music, we talked about art. I was gonna say You're a bad friend. I think we covered everything we've been covering the last like four episodes.
SPEAKER_02And I meant to I meant to end our my my question for you on saying now my new goal for next week is to ask you another question.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_02About you? No, but about you. You're crazy. Yeah, isn't that a that's a bold tough goal? It's beautiful. I love this. This was a question, but it was about me. Uh so my experience with you. I'm dipping my toe in the water. It's a good blend. Asking about someone else besides myself.
SPEAKER_00You're asking me in my experience to you. So it counts.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, but I'll ask a question about you that has nothing to do with me. Or my sexuality.
unknownDamn.
SPEAKER_02That's too limiting. Too limiting.
SPEAKER_01Uh I'm I'm not doing it now. Yeah. Never mind. Too hard. I changed my mind.
SPEAKER_02Uh, but no, I was gonna make the horrible transition about uh something about samurais or black nerds or something like that. Uh, an anime.
SPEAKER_00Uh insert really, really funny joke with uh random uh reference to nerd culture.
SPEAKER_02Yes, because you talk about ghost dogs, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, okay, yeah.
SPEAKER_02So shout out ghost dog.
SPEAKER_00Uh what did you think about these episodes, William? I like them better than the last three. Okay. And I'm here for the change. There's they're not great because they are uh more setup. We we set the table again. New group of people. Now we're with the scouts, new part of town, new intro and outro, songs, new music. Yeah, like everything's different as if it's a new season, but it's not.
SPEAKER_02Yes.
SPEAKER_00Here's that German playwright thing we always talk about form versus function. So I can't get comfortable with the show. If you did it enough, that's what the show is. It is going to constantly reset itself with these little arcs. I like that. Now I'm here for it. If you did this with the first handful of episodes, going, all right, this is what your show is, these are your main characters. Psych, they all get chomped. Yeah. That's ballsy, that's cool, that's a great concept. And then you go, okay, well, now you know what the show is. Psych, someone has superpowers and turns into a titan. Now, psych, we're not even fucking playing the same game. These are scouts, and for the first time ever, guess what? We're on the offensive, yeah, and we're going to kill. We're not being attacked, we're going to attack. I was like, okay, I'm just never gonna have my feet firmly planted, going, you told me what the show is, now I just sit in and watch it happen for 20 episodes. Gotcha, gotcha. I'm now in my head going, it will constantly change. All of these people could die. And then the next five episodes is another thing. So what you're doing goes to my uh my brain relates it to the show didn't do it, the show could have done it, the show played with it, Battlestar Galactica. Of every episode, she goes, There's 36 humans alive. Yeah, now there's 14. Like we're we're constantly setting, going, This is how dire our circumstances, because we're showing you how easy it is for people to die here. Yeah, I will kill main characters and you'll never see them again. And that's where that's that's the world you're in now. So I'm like, yeah, I I'm okay with this. If you spent three episodes to reset this, I'm excited for the next one.
SPEAKER_02Sure.
SPEAKER_00But uh, I can't sit here and lie and say they were awesome because it was another reset. Yeah, it was three episodes to say, new people, new plan, and pretty soon we're gonna do the plan. Yeah. Any minute now, plan will go in motion. Yeah, that was the episode. So it was a sit around and wait type of experience.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, especially for three episodes. That's a challenge. But yeah, I do like the new elements that are introduced. We're getting to know the scouts a little bit. I'm confused about the geography, even though they try to keep showing it to us. I don't know where this little castle is.
SPEAKER_00These areas are bigger than I thought because the way they do it is it's like a big circle, and then these little protruding nipples are the cities, and those cities is what we've been living in. Now that they show the big circle, I was like, there's like farmland and empty fields, which they do show in the pilot episode, right?
SPEAKER_02They're out there, but it's like, but where they are now, are the titans still out there? And I actually respect uh the choice to there's no Titan action for three episodes. I like that. Even considering uh, you know, they're trying to figure out how they're gonna hone Aaron's skills, but hey, they haven't let him change into a Titan yet. Yep and I mean we do have the scientist lady talking about those ones, but it's no there's no Titan action. I agree, I like that too. So yeah, I that that kind of works for me. And I think I want to take your mentality on board of thinking, oh, I don't know where they're gonna go with each little mini arc, because I think that'll help me. So I'm gonna take it and then say it was mine, do it, and then in a couple episodes of the podcast, I'll reiterate it to you as if it were my own, and then you would say, Yeah, Nick, I told you that a couple of And I'll be like, what? What didn't you do?
SPEAKER_00And the way you can do it is go, William, they're doing this thing that I love, which is form follows function. I'm such a fan of this. Yeah, exactly. My favorite stuff does this. When let me explain to you how this works. And you'll know the German playwright that did it. And then you'll actually name drop them. I'll go, God, you're so fucking smart.
SPEAKER_02Exactly.
SPEAKER_00You're so much smarter than me.
SPEAKER_02Classic white person. Yeah. So I will be doing that shortly. So look forward to that in the next couple episodes. But yeah, I need to look at the show a little bit more like that because I am not having a good time. Well, it's just too slow. It's too slow. And Kira made the joke and she was joking. She wasn't actually serious. But at the end of these three, she's like, all right, and now the actual show starts.
SPEAKER_00I mean, literally, yeah. We could say that as like, okay, now we go. Yeah. Next episode. This ended with them running into battle. Yeah. So now it's all it's a war show, and we're attacking, we're doing the attack on the titans. But but we've never talked about Nick. That's the name of the show. Attack on Titan. Yeah. The Titans are the bad guys.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Up until now, we've never seen us attack on Titan.
SPEAKER_02No. They're attacking us. And is it? I wonder if it's plural in Japanese, because it's just Titan. I know. For since this has been out and it's been in pop culture, all I think is about like the funny. Yeah, like Josh. Space. Yeah, like spaceship, like Titan the Moon. Whose moon is that, Nick? What planet is it? I don't know. It's Jupiter or Saturn. I can't remember. I do know. I don't. I can't remember. Genuinely. It's one of those two. But that's what I think of. Uranus. Maybe. I don't know if Uranus has any moons. It might. A full moon of Uranus? I think it does. Some very distant ones. I can't remember. I don't have to. Don't quote me on my astronomy. It's been years.
SPEAKER_00Such a poor ass. It's just not there.
SPEAKER_02I don't know. I mean, just gotta start working them glutes.
SPEAKER_00Uh do I?
SPEAKER_02If you want an ass, yes. Do I? I don't know. I don't know what you want.
SPEAKER_00Me either.
SPEAKER_02Well, I think it's time to find out.
SPEAKER_00What does William want? Who knows?
SPEAKER_02You gotta write write that one down. Open a note. And that's the first question to ask your therapist, do I want an ass?
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Except I'll miss uh miswrite it, just do I want ass?
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And then you can go on your GTA 6. Hell yeah, and I put sunglasses. Big booty Latina William wants ass theory to her as well. Just so she you can have her make a note. Jiggle effects, insane. I know I need to watch that thing. Butts. Butts are cool. The GTA 6. Butts are fun. Um farts come from butts.
SPEAKER_00It is very funny. There's a hole in your body that makes a funny noise and it smells bad.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. That's beautiful. It's air that hangs out with turds.
SPEAKER_00That's I mean, if there's any uh proof of divinity, God literally gets a big thing. You got a sense of humor.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, he's like, I'm gonna give you a hole. And then your butt cheeks flap together makes a noise. And it stinks like shit.
SPEAKER_02You know, I think you're right, William. I do love that. I do now believe in God because of farts.
SPEAKER_00But God is love and love is farts, and farts is real. God is farts and farts are real.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I mean that's that's pretty close to the truth, I think. Uh you all are welcome for for for these revelations.
SPEAKER_00We solved it. We yeah. We can all stop having holy wars now. Yeah. Holy whole butthole wars. Yeah. Someone called uh the ghost of Charlie Kirk said, let him know. I I solved it for him. God's real, it's through farts. You can quit harassing college kids and they have it.
SPEAKER_01Call the ghost of Charlie Kirk. Someone get the ghost.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Poor Charlie Kirk in in hell just trying to debate the Columbine kids. Trying to do prove me wrong to Clebolt and Harris.
SPEAKER_02How has there not been an adult swim show set in hell and it's all those people? Yeah. Yeah. That's I'm sure someone's pitched it, actually. There's no way they have.
SPEAKER_00I'm still in love with how annoying it is the true honest uh of Cleebold and Harris's they weren't sick and twisted like Marilyn Manson evil kids. They were theater kids, and they were Monty Python Python kids. Oh there's a lot of first person accounts of they were literally quoting Monty Python skits while going. And that when I heard that, I was like, oh, I would have died then because I would have been hiding in the cafeteria under a table, and he's like, This parrot is deceased, and I would have been like, ugh, and they would have heard me and they would have killed me. Or I would have asked, like, can you me next? I can't listen to this. Yeah, yeah. I can't. Can you imagine him with his stupid Tech Nine doing that goofy Monty Python walk to the library? Like, get fuck. That can't be the guy that kills me. I hate that so much. Yeah, that's uh and I wouldn't have made it. I he would have saw my eyes roll. I don't like that I know that now. Yeah, everyone thought they were like evil, sick, and twisted. But no, they're Monty Python losers.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I mean Tipper Gore thought that, you know. Timely joke. What are we talking about again? Jesus Christ. Um Titan. But we did. I do like that we're getting a little more of the world, a little more of the sprinkles. Like, what are the scouts actually doing? Why are they trying to go out there? Why are they What is out there? What's it look like? Because it seems like they're not trying to take back lost ground necessarily. It seems like they're trying to expand out. They are scouting. What are they scouting for? What's the prime directive? But and yeah, we just get we get more repeat. Oh, we're so scared. Oh, we're gonna are we gonna join the scouts? Are we not? Oh, we're so terrified. It's like I I know, I get it.
SPEAKER_00But do you?
SPEAKER_02Because you disagree, you don't think it's that scary. I mean, I like that they have the brutality. This is a horrible thing to say of their burning their comrades' bodies. That's fucked up. Yeah, it's brutal. We actually get the flashback of whatever the fuck, the guy who died last time, where we're like, who is that guy? Yeah. I'm like, oh, it's the guy who complimented him.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Uh, which I wrote during that episode of like, oh, this guy's definitely gonna die. And guess what he did? Uh I was like, oh yeah, he's being nice to Jean shit. Yeah. So I'm glad that got clarified. But at the same time, them just being like, I don't want to go back out there. Oh, it's so scary. Like, okay, I know. I know you told me. Do it anyway. What fucking episodes are we into this already? I know you are scared of them. I I am so frustrated by the lack of fucking curiosity in this world. Like, I want characters to be more driven to see the outside world like Aaron is, like uh Armin is. That's their goal as kids. They're like, fuck this. Yeah. Like you just said last episode when he's on fire. This the outside world is my birthright. I want more people to be interested in that. Where we have like these heroic characters who are following, and they're all they're doing is just shitting their pants about how scary these things are. And the only other scientist lady's just like she's a weirdo about and calling the Titans pets and all the shit. She's having manic breakdowns. It's like, okay, I get it, anime. We we get it. But like, where's the fucking the stern guy who's really wanting to get to the fucking truth of what's actually happening out there? Like, I need that guy, you know. I I just need a couple more characters who are engaged with the world around them and who aren't just pissing their pants every fucking episode and feeling guilty about their friends dying, which is like, guys, you joined the fucking military. Did you not like literally it the Titans attacked four years ago? And then you joined the military after that happened. Did you not think you were gonna go up against and fight these fucking things? Like, that annoys the shit out of me. It's like watching a show about a cop who's scared of gunfire. It's like, what do you what do you mean? You're a cop. That's part of the job, it's part of the gig. So it's just kind of still frustrating me, and I think we'll get past it at some point. Well, unless that's the commentary. Yeah, and unless it actually ties into the larger themes, which again I've said this on every fucking episode. I've said it on every episode.
SPEAKER_00I hope that it ties in somehow to the narrative. Because there's there's two things they've alluded to. One came up more in these episodes, but like we've already seen, there is the whole classism have and have nots. There are people living fat and large in this world while these young kids, not grown adults, young kids are the military force. Yeah, there's something there. Yeah, they've set that enough where there's something there. The other thing, the fact that they're young kids and also women in the force. Yeah, that's fascinating to me. That says something. But this time, I don't know if you caught on, there's now a religious component.
SPEAKER_02Yes, yeah, I did like those two factions. You have the rich merchant pricks who just don't want to risk any losing any money because they have supply all this shit. And then you have the religious zealots uh who are just like, oh, he's an abomination. Let's kill him.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, one of those uh title cards back from uh commercial said they worship the wall like it's a deity.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, like it was a divine thing that was bestowed upon them after the original Titan attacks. Yes.
SPEAKER_00So this is we're getting interesting that there is a structural system politically, religiously at play that is keeping things the way they're supposed to be kept, which is protection on the inside. Yeah, the outside's fodder.
SPEAKER_02Which now the bread crumbing and your engagement in the bread crumbing is make more is making more sense with the from software. Now I'm like, oh, okay, this is why William Like says now it makes sense. Yeah, gotcha. It only took me how many episodes?
SPEAKER_00Yeah. I can't believe you played Elden Ring the way you did. But you almost speed ran that game. It was insane.
SPEAKER_02They brought back the CG Bell, and I know that bugged you.
SPEAKER_00That was so funny because I was like, I looked down because I was writing a note. I looked up and it was a full screen CG Bell. I was like, come the fuck on. What are you doing to me here?
SPEAKER_02Save the money, boo this money. Have it as a sound effect. Fucking animate one more fucking panel.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Boo this man. Yes. Yeah, I did see that. That girl's glasses with the weird reflection. Yes. Very gendo. Yes. I thought of that. How'd you like the Titans being captured? Yeah, I think it's cool. Creepy noises, weird chomping, like exactly.
SPEAKER_02And they are apparently run on sunlight. And they're horse solar. Yes. You chop off their arm and it's very light. They mentioned multiple times in the episodes of like, oh, I've been in here for so long, or Aaron's been in the scouts for so long. How long? Fucking tell me.
SPEAKER_00I lost a timeline on this one.
SPEAKER_02I fucking hate that. Yeah. Tell me how long it's been since that attack. Has it been a month? Has it been two months? Give me a fucking title card. Don't have the characters mention it multiple times in the fucking episode, and then you don't tell me. That was so frustrating to me. I'm like, I don't, I have no gauge of time which I don't.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_02It's making me not feel shit because I don't know if I'm supposed to be like, oh shit, that was a long time, or oh shit, that was just last Wednesday.
SPEAKER_00Like, for fuck's sake, people. The interior wall cinema, they showed it for a bit fancy. I thought that was interesting. Yeah, yeah. They're dressed fancy, it looks a little Victorian almost. Yeah, more ornate. Yeah. And um new intro song, German. They're speaking German.
SPEAKER_03Uh oh. It's weird.
SPEAKER_00It's militant in German. And then I wrote the outro song, it sounds like a circa survive song, and I kind of like it. I like it way more than the other one.
SPEAKER_02I think I gotta listen to him again.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, listen to him again, Nick.
SPEAKER_02Oh yeah, and I love Captain Levi calling the merchants and the and the fucking religious guy pigs. Yeah, fuck yeah. That was fun. So good.
SPEAKER_00And I thought him beating the crap out of Shinji, I mean Aaron was good too, because it did that whole like, you guys are scared, he's gonna turn and beat us all. I'm beating the shit out of him. Yeah. I'm in charge. He's actually. And he's a fucking monster. You you're scared of what I'm doing, and I'm kicking this guy's ass. I was like, that was that was well done. Very smart play, yeah. Yeah, I like that. That was clever and mean. I hated how their leader held his mug at dinner, though. He like covered his hand on the top and was like sipping between his fingers. It pissed me off so much. I didn't even notice that. I hated it. Rage.
SPEAKER_02Against the dying of the light.
SPEAKER_00More than a shame. More than meets the eye. Shout out, Kyle. RIP Peter Collins. That's what I thought you were gonna say. Oh yeah. Peter Collins died. And that dude from Est to Society died. Don't worry about it.
SPEAKER_02Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_00What?
SPEAKER_02I was gonna ask you what you think about Tupac's uh murderer being or not the the guy who like orchestrated it, he just got indicted.
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. That's going uh that's going to be a good thing.
SPEAKER_02The guy who shot him has been dead. Yeah, I forgot about that. Oh yeah. One of the facts also that we learned 57th recon mission. That's what they're going to think. Yeah, that's an interesting number to hear. They've done 57. But they all get capes at the end, and I'm like, if I just it's a cool little thing, but I wish it meant something. Like it means something to them, and we do see I like we see Aaron uh see the little kids. Yeah, they like it in the window. And I just wish earlier on in that those initial episodes, they would have made it a bigger deal than the scouts. Like, actually, like uh have it then be more heroic figures than what we saw at the beginning. Why? Why not now? Because then we could feel something for all of them when they get the capes. It's like, oh shit, this is really cool. They're gonna become these people.
SPEAKER_00Where but then you would have spent the whole time going, Why aren't the cape guys here? They're better at killing.
SPEAKER_02I but why I'm asking that question now. That's actually a good question. Why the where the fuck were they? Why weren't they on the front of the room? They do the outside stuff. Yeah, that's bullshit.
SPEAKER_00I thought it was weird when he listed off this is so-and-so, 18 kills, 47 assists. Everybody had so many assists. Yeah, it's like, hmm, there's something suspicious here. Like you guys are you guys like team up? It's like a 3v1, you guys don't like run a fair fade. It was weird. It's too many assists. I don't like it. I mean, yeah, I guess it depends on what counts as an assist. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Made me feel away. You just need to know the st the stats of Titan killing, yeah. Maybe we'll get into that. I guess.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I want to see w uh how you how you fight and what gives you an assist. I was like, yeah, it's kind of weird. It's a good question.
SPEAKER_02So yeah, next weekend again, the next arc is divisible by three. Yep. Uh there's six episodes. So we'll keep it going. Where we're gonna stick with three episodes for next week 17, 18, and 19 of season one of Attack on Titan. And I I just I just want I just want to be done with this first season. Let's just fucking move on. I just want to be done with it. Because I um again, I'm giving in the benefit of the doubt, better up of the first season, maybe is a little more rough.
SPEAKER_00I got a question for you. I got a question for you.
SPEAKER_02Yes, five, but it's thick.
SPEAKER_00What do you want that would help? Do you want uh for season one big revelation, or do you want a structure where it makes sense to you? I want what's a thing that you go, okay, season one, it had this, we're good.
SPEAKER_02I want better pacing, better pacing, okay. That would be my number one note. Yeah, the way that they're telling the story is like I said, I can get into that in terms of like, oh, little mini arcs and it resets every time. Yeah, that I can adjust my viewers' brain. But in terms of how slow and how quote unquote little happens in these, like it feels like inefficient writing to me. The rest of it, I'm like, it I can chalk it up to oh, this is the unique parts of this story and this series, the way that they're telling it. But yeah, god damn it. There's so many episodes that could be like these three we just watched, this could be one episode, easily. Yeah, you say that a lot. Easily, I get it. So just the way that my writer's brain works, I just uh I crave efficiency uh in in the storytelling, and there's just not a lot of it. But yeah.
SPEAKER_00Well, three more next week. Let's see if we get better pacing with a battle, offensive. Let's see how that goes.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I want to see what the scouts are doing. Yeah, we saw we got a little glimpse of it of them running in the woods and killing one in the first episode. So horseback sounds cool.
SPEAKER_00It's also if we're gonna be fighting in the woods instead of the same like Spanish tile buildings, yeah. Yeah, um, yeah, I'm I'm here for a switch.
SPEAKER_02Yes, William wants it bareback. We all heard it here. Uh, we'll be back next week. I love you, I love you too.